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Trust the owl.
So I did.
With frozen feet and hands, I walked and walked, following those white lush wings, until the forest floor met an incline. I could no longer feel my limbs, and my nose had long ago been erased from awareness entirely, numb from the cold temperatures. When I seriously contemplated falling to the ground, never to get up again, the owl flew back, then catching sight of me, flew forward again, gliding into a dark hole where it disappeared. Maybe I had hallucinated him all along, I thought as I walked forward to the wall of nothing. But it wasn’t nothing. Among the foliage covering it, a cave entrance yawned. The ground became softer, smushy. Soil.
Dry soil.
I was fully awake now. I walked in the pitch darkness as far into the tunnel-like cave as I could go, using my hands to judge distance. A warm light glowed against the stone on the left, where the tunnel turned, ending in a tall, hollow space where a fire burned. Before that fire sat Phobius.
I started, confusion and wariness coming to the surface as it dueled with fatigue. But the pull of the fire was strong, and the dry environment won me over. With the greatest effort, I took the last of my energy to fall in front of that blessed heat.
A heavy cloak fell over my shoulders, and I looked up. Phobius had covered me.
“Glad to see you got away, Sierra,” he said.
So many questions flirted at my tongue, but I hadn’t an inch of energy to form them. Instead, I shut my eyes and let the fire thaw me to sleep.
I woke up to delicious warmth and the scent of streams and forests, a familiar scent that had me opening my eyes and examining my surroundings.
“You’re awake.”
Hearing that voice had my heart filling with joy. I turned my head on the warm cozy surface and realized I was lying on Demos’ chest. “Demos?”
His arms went around me and gathered me closer. “Melos.” He kissed my head and breathed me in.
“How are you here?” Then I remembered seeing Phobius, remembered being led here by an owl. The wagon. I tried to sit up, but his arms wouldn’t let me go. “Demos, there are Servants out there looking for me. We need to leave!”
“We’re safe,” he assured. His palm touched my cheek, and a flood of feeling replaced my fear. His blue eyes darkened. “Once Phobius comes back with some food, we’ll eat and head back to the city. Are you thirsty?”
I nodded absently, and he sat up, taking me with him, placing me on his lap. The cloak that was covering me slipped off, and I shivered. “How long was I sleeping?”
He passed me a canteen and as I drank, he said, “About nine hours or so. Tell me what happened.”
I drank my fill and handed the canteen back to him. “I—I ran. From the meeting. Something… Lucius and I, well, it doesn’t matter. I ran through the city and… Oh, gods. Demos, I met an elemental. I thought she was just someone who was a part of the Delphos women.” Then I remembered he probably had no idea what in Titus I was talking about, so I shook my head. “She must have given me something to drink, because the next thing I knew, I was in a covered wagon in the middle of a forest. Servants were driving it, and when we stopped, I made a run for it. And then an owl appeared, and… I know it sounds crazy, but he led me here.”
Crazy? Yes, no doubt about it. But it had happened exactly like I’d said. An owl had saved my life. If anyone believed me, though, it would be Demos.
He said nothing, only rubbed my back in soothing movements.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“We tracked you.”
“You and… Phobius?”
He hummed, his eyes taking in every inch of me. “The others will meet us along the way to Ghypsom. I’m afraid we’ll have to walk. No horses.”
“Then how did you two get here?”
“It doesn’t matter. I wish you had your shoes, though.” He held one of my sore feet, cupping the heel. My rapid healing had worked on the blisters, at least, and the fire had warmed them.
I made a face at having to walk out there on them again. But I found to my surprise that the inconvenience was nothing compared to what had happened before they’d found me. I was safe. Demos was here, I wasn’t alone, and this nightmare would finally be over.
“Why is the Owl doing this, Demos? What is it that they want from me?”
“Right now, it’s to destroy the Ongahri. They sent Lucius a ransom note. They meant to use you as bait to get to him.”
“But Lucius is nothing to them—” But that was no longer the case, I thought. Lucius was the Ongahri’s true heir, their rightful king. Did the Owl know this too?
