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"Well, I don't know. It's bound to be exciting, if nothing else. I think I'll see this one through. "
"Really?" He was free-completely and totally. And he was still here. He might have been sincerely sorry, after all.
He flashed an impish grin at me. "Really. Maybe we can light something on fire again. "
"We can only hope. " I smiled back at him, surprised and happier than I thought I could manage right now. With the two unlikeliest of allies, I was going to save Lend or die trying.
It wasn't a bad way to go, really.
"Off to it, then," Reth said, and the city snake-scape twirled away, replaced by. . . the most breathtakingly beautiful place I had ever seen in my life.
It was a riot of color, explosions of flowers carpeting every surface. Trees in the most brilliant shades of orange, red, and pink were clustered together, arching overhead and filtering the light so that everything was somehow softer and brighter at the same time, like your eyes were finally working how they were always supposed to. Jewel-toned butterflies the size of my face fluttered lazily on a breeze that smelled like sweet, sleepy contentment. The whole place was warm, and gorgeous, and very, very not scary. I turned to Reth, angry. "Where are we?" Of course he wouldn't have brought me where I asked him. I don't know why I expected anything different.
"Welcome to the Dark Court," Reth said.
Well, bleep. Not quite what I'd imagined.
Chapter Fourteen
DANCE, DANCE REVOLUTIONS
I looked again at the obscenely serene and beautiful scene around us. There was nothing sinister, nothing threatening, nothing even remotely creepy about it. Unless you had really bad allergies, in which case the flowers might be considered evil.
"Are you sure?" I asked Reth, still dubious.
"Positive. " His eyes darted around, scanning our surroundings as though he expected something horrid to come screaming out of the candy-colored trees.
"Well. Okay then. " I was so confused. Why was this the Unseelie headquarters? Compared to that silver lake with black shores and red sky, this was somewhat lacking in the intimidation factor. I couldn't imagine the Dark Queen in all her soul-sucking black hole glory anywhere near this idyllic setting. "Any idea where they keep the prisoners?"
Reth waved a hand at the entire forest. "Anywhere around here. "
"No jails? Or cages? Or, you know, chains?"
"You underestimate the power that comes with making humans happy and content. I seem to recall you overlooking several key problems with our relationship back when you allowed me to warm you. "
I scowled. Oh, I so didn't like him. But he had a point. I hadn't cared that I was fifteen and he was ageless, or that we were entirely different species, or that he controlled every aspect of our time together. This was the same way, all happy and warm and nice smelling. Who would want to escape? "Let's find Lend and get out of here. "
Maybe the Dark Queen wouldn't even be here. This didn't seem like her scene. It could be just a huge, elaborate, bizarrely butterfly-filled prison, after all. All we had to do was find the area Lend was in and hope he wasn't permanently screwed up by being in Happy Land for too long. Oh, please, please don't let him be permanently changed.
One of the huge butterflies alighted on my outstretched hand, fluttering its wings slowly. I looked closer, and realized that the brightly colored blue-and-purple scales all looked like miniature eyes. Interesting camouflage.
Then the eyes blinked.
"Bleep!" I shouted, shaking my hand until the creepy bug flew away. Jack gave me a weird look. "It had eyes! On its wings!"
"Of course it did," Reth answered, annoyed. "They already know we're here. "
"Fabulous," Jack said, reaching down and plucking a crimson flower. A small scream sounded from it as he severed the stem. He smiled maliciously, then started stomping with abandon through the beds of blossoms, a chorus of tinny, shrill screams punctuating every step.
"Maybe you shouldn't aggravate the flowers," I hissed. "Let's find Lend and get out of here!"
"Lead the way," Reth said wearily.
I frowned and scanned the trees around us. There seemed to be a path through the flowers winding around the trees to our left. I figured it was as good a bet as anything. A path meant someone was using it, which would hopefully lead us. . . somewhere.
I walked over to it, followed by Reth and Jack. "I really need better plans. "
"I wasn't going to say anything, but. . . wait, I already did. " Jack shoved his hands in his jean pockets and whistled tunelessly. I scanned the trees constantly as we walked, but the only movement was those creepy butterflies, tranquilly drifting through the trees.
