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“We’ll keep watch,” he rasped. “We’ll keep you safe while you do it.”
I believed him. I nodded, hugging him back, trying not to dig my spindly branch fingers too hard into his shoulder.
“Most of us do this at fourteen.” Gillie chuckled, ruffling my hair. “You’ll be fine. Honestly.”
I flushed at that, wanting to smile when Nua hissed and smacked his arm.
“It’s not Ash’s fault he couldn’t do it at the right time. Andmostof us don’t have an entire court’s guards trying to hunt us down.”
“I’m just saying.” Gillie looked at me, eyes uncharacteristically serious. “We wouldn’t let you do this if we couldn’t keep you safe, Ash. We’ll make sure you get there and back alright.”
I nodded, looking down at the bowl. “I know.”
“Come on, then.” Gillie led me outside. “Eat up.”
I wrinkled my nose as I eyed the mushrooms. “Are they… What do they taste like?”
“Oh, they taste fucking awful,” he said brightly. “You don’t eat them for the taste, lad.”
I swallowed. “How soon will they kick in?”
“Almost instantly.”
I let out a hard breath and picked out one of the mushrooms with my branch fingers. I grimaced as I chewed it slowly. Gillie was right—it tasted like shit. I forced myself to eat all three and passed the bowl back to him, then exhaled again and turned to face the forest.
“S-see you soon,” I said as I started walking.
My mouth tasted like sour earth. I wanted to have a sip of the tea Gillie had given me, but didn’t want to risk making the mushrooms wear off before I found Ogma. The forest was cool and dark and quiet as I made my way hesitantly through the trees. They were massive, looming above me, their tops seeming to undulate as sunlight pierced through the leaves and glimmered.
At first, I didn’t think the mushrooms had worked. But then I realised—all the trees I was passing looked like tall pillars of suspended, flowing liquid, their trunks moving in sinuous swirls. I reached out to touch one, swearing I could sink my hand right into warm goo.
Tiny pink and purple flowers close to the forest floor opened and closed like they were breathing in time with my heartbeat. I could hear them exhale, like tinkling, whispery music, which brought a smile to my face. I apologised to one that I accidentally kicked, wincing when it let out a little shriek as its petals scattered.
Something small and dark darted between two trees, but I wasn’t afraid. I smiled widely when a huge, hazy shape lumbered in front of me, pausing momentarily to look over at me. Its eyes were tiny white pinpricks in a blank, shadowy face, and I waved at it before it moved on.
I kept on walking, laughing as I stumbled a few times. There was a tiny creek to my right, and when I gazed at it the surface of the water wobbled like blue jelly. Then it swelled up, over the bank, and moved closer with wet, slapping footsteps.
“Ooh shit,” I breathed, but didn’t move, awed as the big water feet slapped closer until they morphed into a blob that wrapped around my ankles.
I peered down at it, but my boots didn’t feel wet. The blob undulated around my feet, then jumped away and turned back into jelly feet that ran quickly into the creek.
“Bye.” I waved at the water and kept moving forward.
Something that looked like a bright green flowerhorn fish, with a bulbous head bump that throbbed and glowed blue, swam languidly between the trees ahead of me. I realised there was a faint voice off to my left, something whispering continuously in low words that I couldn’t hear.
I jumped, then burst out laughing when a creature shrieked nearby in the woods. I was grinning widely when I tipped my head back and looked up at the trees—at the impossibly long strands of thick black hair that were descending, swirling like they were underwater.
When a face appeared in the centre of the mass, with glowing orange eyes and a grinning mouth crowded with sharp teeth that stretched too wide, I just smiled back.
“Hello.”
The grin stretched even wider as it loomed closer, until it was inches from my nose.
“Hello, Hunter King.” The voice was faint and whispery, like it was shouting at me from a great distance even though it was right in front of me.
I burst out laughing. “I’m not a king.”
“Thrice-lived, twice-died.” The face spun in a complete circle, making me go a little dizzy. “You’re halfway there.”
