CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

No matter which way I turned the compass, the arrow remained infuriatingly steady, pointing straight across the water.

“The Silence has shifted,” Alaric said. “It has put the lake in our paths, though for what reason, I do not know. We must go around.”

“What about flying?” Miranda suggested.

“Despite what you may think, my powers are not limitless,” Alaric replied testily. “Every time I fly, it costs me. And I can’t afford to be powerless when we reach the castle.”

“Fine. Then which way?” I said.

“Left. That will take us farther away from the Gather.”

“I’m surprised you still know what direction the Gather is.”

Alaric looked away. “I always know. Because I always know where Katen is.”

Katen. As we started along the shore, the memory of our encounter reared its head once more. My wrist still ached where she had touched me. Which reminded me…

I looked over at Miranda. “When you explained blood magic to me, you said that a mage’s power depends on their knowledge of nonmagical trades. Do you know what Shale’s and Katen’s skills are?”

Miranda bit her lip, pondering. “They’re both so old, I’m sure they have a wide breadth of skills. And I don’t think either of them have needed to display their full strengths in a long time—their reputations carry a lot of weight. But Shale was known as a warrior once.”

That made sense. I remembered the fluid way he had moved in the hallway, the way he had wielded his sword. “And Katen?”

Miranda shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Poison, among other things,” Alaric said quietly. “She studied botany for years.”

Miranda turned to him. “And why are you telling us this? Aren’t you her servant?”

“That is not your concern,” he said, unblinking.

“Isn’t it?” she said. “You’re here to spy on us, to report back to your mistress, isn’t that right? The only thing I don’t understand is why you and Lena suddenly seem to be friends.”

The memory of Alaric’s and my first kiss, and everything that had come afterward, flashed through my mind. My cheeks flushed, and I looked away.

Miranda must have noticed my reaction, though. “Lena?” she asked, quieter. “What happened between you two?”

Before I could answer, the lake roiled behind us.

“What was that?” I said, turning around.

Alaric was already drawing his sword. “Get behind me.”

But Miranda didn’t move. She stayed anchored to the spot as the waters began to rise. In the distance I saw something break the surface. I drew my knife.

Ripples flowed toward us, marking the movements of something large underwater. I held my breath as they approached—then dissipated. The surface stilled until it was as smooth as glass. Then, at the center of the lake, a creature rose out of the water.

Its skin was green or perhaps blue—the color seemed to shift with the light—and rows of gills ran down the sides of its throat. Large, milky eyes were set above a wide mouth. It bared its fangs into something resembling a smile and raised long tentacles into the air. Feathery tendrils flowed like sleeves along the tentacles as it beckoned to us—and then a high, keening sound filled the air.

Sudden sorrow flooded through me, bringing tears to my eyes—and Miranda stepped into the water.

“Miranda!”

She did not react, only kept walking until the water was up to her thighs, her waist. Alaric sheathed his sword and ran after her. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back toward the shore—but beyond them, I saw another creature surface, and another. Soon there were twelve in total. Their keening multiplied, assaulting my ears. And slowly Alaric turned around to face them. And then he, too, began to walk out into the water.

My chest seized with panic. Miranda had told me of her encounter with mermaids that enticed humans with a song, but these creatures were unlike any mermaids I’d ever imagined. And for some reason I was the only one unaffected. I had to save them. But how?

This is Silence magic. “Help me!” I shouted.

But the voice was silent.

I had a knife, but what use would that be against such creatures?

I sheathed my knife and dug my hands into my pockets, rummaging around for something—anything—that would help. My fingers closed around the box with Alaric’s wings, and I pushed that aside. There was lint, mostly, and the gloves I wasn’t wearing. The dragon scale, the net, Rin’s pebble. And then I touched something else. The last acorn.

I ran after Alaric and Miranda, gasping as I splashed into the cold water. They were still ahead of me, the water now up to their chests. What would happen when they went all the way under?

In the distance, the creatures opened their mouths to reveal rows of sharp fangs. And then they began to close in.

I pushed my feet off the sandy bottom of the lake and swam. Alaric and Miranda were close to being submerged. As I approached, one of the creatures wrapped its tentacles around Miranda, dragging her under the surface.

I drew my knife and grabbed one of the tentacles, trying not to recoil from the feel of slime oozing between my fingers. The contact sent a searing jolt of pain through my body, and I screamed as we were pulled under.

I opened my eyes into white frothing water. I held fast to the tentacle as I flailed, stabbing at the creature with my knife. An enraged shriek pierced my skull, and tentacles wrapped around me from behind. They squeezed my torso, dragging me deeper. I was running out of air—water swirled around me as I felt fangs sink into my neck.

Blood stained the water red, and there was a sudden roiling as the creature recoiled from me. The pressure around my chest vanished—I was alone.

I kicked furiously to the surface and burst into the air, gasping. Water streamed down my face as I looked around. Where had the creatures gone?

Alaric was floating near me. I grabbed his arm and he blinked, shaking off his stupor. “What—?”

“No time,” I said. “Where’s Miranda?”

His face was a mask of confusion. I scanned the lake, my heart pounding. She wasn’t there.

Taking a deep breath, I dove back under. The water was clearing, and the creatures had disappeared. Where was she?

I spun frantically. There! A dark figure floated just below the surface in front of me. I swam to Miranda and grabbed her arm, pulling her up to the surface of the water.

Her face was pale, and her body limp. I couldn’t feel her breathing.

“Let me,” Alaric said hoarsely. He hovered one hand over Miranda’s throat, clenched his fingers, and then straightened them.

Miranda’s eyes flew open, and she began to cough. I pressed my lips together to keep from crying out in relief. Instead I settled for holding her tightly, keeping her head safely above the water. She looked dazed, but at least she was conscious.

With my free hand I flicked the cap off the last acorn. “I need passage away from here now!”

Something in the water brushed my leg, and I fought the urge to scream.

In the distance, one of the creatures resurfaced. I felt another brush against my leg, and I flinched. I looked down to see an eel, its dark head angling up toward me.

I flicked the acorn cap into the water, and the eel darted away.

“We need to follow the eel! Miranda, can you hold your breath?”

She nodded vaguely. That would have to do.

“Help me,” I said to Alaric. He grabbed Miranda’s arm without argument.

I took her other arm, nodded to Alaric, and we dove.

Near the surface the water was clear, but as we descended, there came a point past which I couldn’t see. I could only kick harder and hope that I wasn’t dragging us all to our deaths. I could see nothing, feel nothing except Miranda’s arm and the water moving around us, the heaviness in my limbs, the pressure in my lungs, demanding relief…

My every thought narrowed to one sharp point. Swim. The eel flashed light in the darkness ahead of us, the only indication that there was anything left in the world other than our bodies and this crushing black expanse of water.

Then something changed. The water seemed to level out somehow, as though our descent had stopped, as though the eel was now leading us up again.

And then, suddenly, there was air.

We surfaced, gasping, into darkness. Together Alaric and I dragged Miranda out of the water and onto cold stone. A light flared to life in Alaric’s hand. He held it high, and the light dispersed around us.

Miranda’s face was ashen, her hair plastered to her skull. But she was still breathing, still conscious.

“Are you all right?” I asked, taking her hands between my own. She was so cold.

She nodded, shivering. Her eyes darted first to me and Alaric, and then beyond. “Where are we?” she said, her voice frightened.

I looked around for the first time. We were in a large earthen cave—somewhere underground, judging by the roots that tangled across the ceiling and sank down through the walls.

“We should not be here,” Alaric said, his face grim. “This place is evil.”

Miranda was still shaking. I ignored Alaric’s warning and put an arm around her shoulder. She had succumbed to the creatures so easily. Even Alaric had been spellbound. Why had I been spared?

They cannot harm you. You are mine. They know that now.

These creatures were of the Silence. The Silence had intervened for me… but not for Miranda and Alaric. Anger sparked to life within me. What if it was more than that? What if the Silence had commanded them, somehow?

Did you try to take them from me? I demanded.

You are essential. But you risked your life for them in the Gather. You almost died. Without them, you are stronger. Less vulnerable.

“No!” I shouted. “You cannot take them from me. If you think I am yours—they are mine.”

There was a curious pause. I understand, the Silence said finally. I… miscalculated.

Alaric and Miranda looked at me incredulously. “What is going on?” Miranda said. “Who are you talking to, Lena?”

“Not here,” I said shortly. Alaric’s lights flared brighter, illuminating a path on the other side of the grotto. I helped Miranda to her feet. “We should move.”

We walked in watchful silence. The tunnel sloped upward and after a while opened into another cave, this one glowing with dim blue light. While the cave into which we had surfaced had been empty, this one was occupied by an enormous tree rooted at its center. Blue veins ran up the trunk of the tree, pulsing intermittently. At the base of the tree sat a person.

Miranda clutched my arm. “She’s dead!” she whispered.

She was right, I realized as I looked closer. And not just dead—this was a person who had been dead a very, very long time. The corpse was completely desiccated—almost mummified. Tree roots snaked in and out between its ribs, and small tendrils of green growth stretched out of its eye sockets and mouth.

Suddenly the ground pitched below me, and I stumbled forward. I threw out my arms as I fell, landing hard at the base of the tree. Vines curled around my wrist, pulling me toward the body. I watched in horrified fascination as my fingers touched its hand—

A bright light flashed before my eyes, and I found myself standing alone in a sunlit glade. Feathery ferns brushed against my legs, and a fox scampered past. In the distance, a narrow road cut through the trees. I felt strangely languorous, almost dreamy. This was the Silence, I realized. But it was safer, brighter—a memory of a time before.

Watch.

A girl appeared beside me. She was about my age, her hair dark, eyes flashing. In the way of dreams, I recognized her. Someday she would be the corpse at the base of the tree.

She looked at me, and then back at the road. Watch.

Another girl came down the road—no, the same girl as the one next to me, but there was a lightness about her, an innocence that was absent from the girl at my side. Flames danced along her knuckles as she walked, and she laughed, delighted.

Watch.

Three women followed her down the road. They met in the center of the grove, and I watched the girl’s expression turn from surprise to confusion to fear. They argued. The girl turned as though she might run.

One of the women pushed her down. The others held her arms as she struggled, fire sparking from her fingers. The first woman drew a knife. She knelt down and drove it into the girl’s stomach.

A strangled sound caught in my throat. I flinched, closed my eyes.

Watch.

I couldn’t bear to, but my eyes opened as if of their own accord. I watched as the woman stabbed the girl twice, a third time. Blood sprayed into the air and flames leapt high.

Red stains bloomed on the blouse of the girl standing next to me. The Silence began to burn, but she did not react. She watched her own execution impassively.

Why are they doing this? I asked.

I lived near here, once. They thought I was a witch. They feared my power.

The women left the girl’s body in a jumbled heap and ran from the burning glade. Blood had covered their hands, soaked into their clothing.

Time tripped forward—the flames flourished, then faded. I watched day turn into night in the blink of an eye. A sprout, a tendril—a sapling shot up through the girl’s chest. Her body moved and settled.

What are you? I asked. What did you become?

The girl’s lips twisted. They cut my throat and I died, but I didn’t stay that way. The Silence found me. When I woke, we were as one. It saved me. I killed the women who cut me down. And you can do the same. Join us. All you have to do is say yes.

If I do… we will be bound together forever?

The girl smiled a cruel, inhuman smile. With the power of the forest at your fingertips, you can exact revenge on all those who have harmed you.

Before I could reply, the ground trembled. My vision went dark, and the next thing I knew, I was back in the cave. Alaric was pulling me up, dragging me away from the tree—the body.

“Did it speak to you?” he was asking urgently.

How did he know? “I—”

“Do not listen.”

He wants you powerless. But I will give you power. All you need to do is ally yourself with me. I will give you new life, as I gave the first girl. Just a prick of a finger and a vow. Imagine the merfolk obeying the slightest twitch of your finger. Imagine commanding the ravens, the water, the earth—all of the forest at your beck and call. Imagine burying the Wolves, Katen, and Shale beneath your feet.

Against my better judgment, I took a step forward. Because if that was true—if I could command those vines, if I could tear up the bloodstones…

The corpse seemed to move—perhaps it was a trick of the light, but for a moment I saw the face of the girl she had once been—sharp-featured, dark eyes, long black hair.

What vow? I asked.

I could sense movement behind me, but I ignored it as the Silence spoke.

A simple trade. We are already tied, you and I. While you live, the entirety of my power will be yours. And when you die, your life force will join mine. You will be part of the Silence forever.

A globe of flame spun across my vision and landed at the base of the tree.

I blinked, disoriented, as the fire spread, crackling up the trunk. Suddenly an avalanche of beetles erupted from the tree, racing for the fire. They quickly crowded over it, starving the flame.

“Wait—” I began.

“More!” Alaric cried.

I turned my head to see Miranda lobbing globes of fire faster than the beetles could cover them. Smoke began to fill the chamber. Alaric grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back.

“There’s no way out!” Miranda cried, coughing.

Let us out! I cried.

They attacked me, growled the Silence. They caused this.

But we will all die if you don’t let us free, I said. All of us.

It was getting harder to breathe. I lowered myself to my knees, searching for fresher air. Where could we go? There was no way out of this chamber but back to the grotto….

Miranda grabbed my hand. “Look!”

My eyes were streaming with tears. I wiped them away with my sleeve and saw the wall of the chamber shift, roots stretching and parting to reveal a passageway. Water poured from its mouth, rushing to douse the fire.

“Come on!” Miranda charged forward, and Alaric took my other hand. We ran faster, faster, faster, sloshing through the muddy passage until at last we saw sunlight in the distance. We sprinted for it, bursting forth into open air.