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ic folded his arms. “Too close to what?”
“To the mist.”
Her companion turned his head to glance into the thick, rolling brume. “What… the fog?” He laughed as if it were nothing. “It’s misty out,” he said. “So what?”
“So what?” Melody growled. “So what?”
She was long past being angry. Beyond being locked in her room, or treated like a fool. Melody looked over at the group that skirted the edge of the mist, their backs completely to them. She turned to face Eric again.
“Go on,” she told him.
“I thought we were both going,” he said.
“If it’s just a little fog,” she challenged, “then step into it. I want to see you do it, Eric. Actually, I’m dying to see it.”
All at once he looked uncomfortable, even worried. She found herself enjoying his discomfort.
“Go ahead,” she urged. “I’ll wait right here.”
He shook his head. “Not sure what your problem is,” he told her. “But we don’t have time for this.” He pointed back at the group. “Look. They’ve stopped.”
Not far from where they stood, the group of parasol-wielding women were gathered around in a semi-circle. They were still very near the edge of the mist, but none of them had broken it.
“Don’t know about you,” said Eric, “but I’ve got an artifact to recover. Stay here if you want to,” he sneered. “I’ll be doing my job.”
He stormed off, leaving her feeling alone… and a bit foolish. But was she being foolish? Or just cautious.
Up ahead, one woman looked older and smaller and more wizened than the rest.
Lady Neveux.
Melody watched her, noting her body language. Noticing how the other women swarmed around her, bending low to attend to her. She had to be the Lady of the House. Or at least, someone just as important. Beyond the U-shaped ring of their group, the mist still swirled and churned. But for now, it remained where it was.
That’s when Melody noticed there wasn’t a sound. Not a single bird, or an insect, or anything at all. She couldn’t even hear voices, although it looked like the group was talking. It was as if, noise-wise, the fog swallowed everything.
Screw it.
Angrily Melody crossed the distance to where the rest of the group was standing. Yet the closer she got, the more obscure they became. It was almost as if they were fading into the mist, rather than the mist rolling over them. One by one they disappeared; first the woman she’d marked in her head as Lady Neveux, then those nearest to her.
She picked up her pace, keeping her eyes on the mist. She could smell it now; an electric smell. A wet, ozone-like scent that reminded her of walking around after a thunderstorm.
Melody looked up again. She blinked her eyes, but could barely make things out anymore. As the last of the figures faded into the grey, she stopped walking. Only she and Eric remained.
“Where’d they go?” she asked in wonderment.
Eric shrugged. He was staring into the mist.
“Eric, I said—”
“I don’t know, okay?” he snapped. He wasn’t angry though. He looked more confused than anything. Even… frustrated.
He knows… but he doesn’t know.
It was an impression she got. A reading. And it was probably right. Melody decided to back off. She glanced around, and suddenly realized they were standing in the middle of something.
“Is this the Veranda garden?”
Eric shook his head solemnly.
