The word had no meaning for me, but the sharp look in Tegan’s eyes told me there was recognition from him. He lifted his narrowed eyes to the stranger before us and held up the card between two fingers. “Why would such an ‘illustrious’ citizen of Dimness wish to see us?” A memory clicked inside my mind. That was the name of a human place.
The figure shrugged. “Perhaps nothing. Perhaps everything. I am only instructed to hand the card to very, shall we say, unique individuals and anyone who manages to escape a prime Key office is certainly unique.”
Tegan tucked the card into his pocket and shook his head. “We’re flattered by the offer but we have little time for chatting.”
A soft chuckle came from the figure and they raised their left hand to reveal a black glove. They pointed a finger at the woods at our backs. “It appears your time has run out.”
We whipped our heads around and beheld two familiar figures hurrying toward us. One was tall and the other short. Whalen and his Key.
“I can save you from this trouble,” the figure spoke up, drawing our attention back to him. “That is, if you agree to see him.”
Tegan pursed his lips and his eyes flickered down to me. He’d made the fateful decision last time. I stiffened my jaw and nodded. “Let’s go with him.”
He studied me a moment longer before he returned his attention to the stranger. “How do we get out of here?”
The stranger flung their right arm upward and a soft greenish-brown glow emanated from their hand. A row of trees sprang up in front of our pursuers, blocking their path. The figure swung his arm to his left in a straight line and held up the palm so it faced away from them. The tree parted and revealed a hollow nook in its trunk.
“Hide in here. Otherwise, you’ll only get in my way.”
I wanted to ask why but Tegan hurried me forward and we squeezed ourselves into the tree. The moment we stepped inside the figure dropped their arm to their side and the hole closed behind us. Complete blackness dropped on us like a load of bricks, as did a sensation of suffocation.
Panic overtook my mind as claustrophobia reared its ugly, terrified head. I flung myself at the wall that had just been our entrance and my fingers dug into solid wood. That only increased my panic and I pounded my balled hands into the wood. I felt the earth shake outside the confines of our prison and a faint noise of shouts rang out.
“Let us out!” I shouted as I slammed my fists against the entrance.
I started back when a soft white glow burst out of my hands. The space was so small that when I leapt backward I slammed my back into Tegan’s chest. My heart felt like it was going to thrust itself out of my chest as the light began to spread up my arms.
“What’s going on?” I shouted as I tried to rub the light off me. A great pressure built inside me as the glow only quickened its pace up and neared my chest.
I would be engulfed in a matter of moments.
Tegan grabbed my wrists and drew me against his chest. His gentle heart rate was in stark contrast to the thumping noise inside me.
He bent down and his lips brushed against my ear as he spoke in a whispered voice. “Focus on my heart and nothing else.”
“But-”
“Nothing else.”
I shut my eyes and took a deep, shuddered breath. My eyelids blocked out the abyss and the strange light that surrounded us, and my body filled with the vibration of his steady heartbeat. Slowly my own heart began to match his and the tension left my body.
I opened my eyes and was met with darkness, but for the first time since entering this tree, I was okay with that. The glow on my arms had vanished. I rubbed my limbs and tried to study my fingers, but the pure darkness meant I saw nothing.
Out of habit, I lifted my eyes to look up at Tegan. “That was my magic?”
He raised his eyes to the heavens and furrowed his brow. “So it would appear, though I’m surprised you showed so much this late in the day.”
I bowed my head and bit my lower lip. “I. . .it didn’t feel nice. I thought I was going to burst.”
“Your emotions caused a flare-up. It’s a natural occurrence under extreme stress and without training.”
A thought made me wrinkle my nose. “So does that make me a day witch like that woman?”
“Undoubtedly.”
I stuck out my tongue. “I don’t want to be anything like her. Any way I could change to nighttime?”
A soft chuckle came from him. “I’m afraid not.”
The entrance opened and my relief was immense. The stranger in the cloak stood there and beckoned to us. “It’s safe.”
I stumbled out and Tegan followed, but I stopped dead in my tracks after only a few feet. The area around us had drastically changed from an ordered park to a wild wilderness. The sheered remains of vines and branches littered the area and there were more trees and brush than I remembered.
Tegan slipped his hand into mine and studied our savior. “You’re a master of plant magic, but are you a Clasp or Key?”
The stranger chuckled. “Neither. I’m my own person without the confines of the offices or the Senate. Now follow me.”
He turned without waiting for a reply and hurried through the woods northward. We had no choice but to follow, but I couldn’t help but be worried as we traveled in the same direction from where Whalen and his Key had come. The pair were nowhere to be seen.
“What did you do with our followers?” Tegan asked our guide.
He turned his head as he passed a short tree and knocked on the wood. A strange muffled noise came from inside the plant. “I imprisoned them, though I must admit it took more of my power than I expected. You have powerful adversaries.”
My heart skipped a beat at the thought of being confined again inside the wood. “Let them out.”
“They’ll be free the moment I travel far enough from this point,” the man assured us as he seemed to study me a moment before turning his shrouded face forward. “You have very little knowledge of magic. Far less than should be expected.”
I snorted. “Me not knowing stuff is a running theme with the people I meet. Just give me a few months to catch up.”
“If what I felt from inside the tree is any indication, you will need more time than that to master your power,” the man mused.
“You overestimate her power, but her fear cannot be overstated,” Tegan countered.
I glared up at him. “Whose side are you on?”
“The side of modesty,” he countered with a look of warning in his eyes.
We fell silent, as did our cloaked companion. The day grew old as we traveled up the river and I glimpsed a large bridge that spanned the watery gap. The bridge was just a hundred yards below a pair of short waterfalls that were the two rivers I’d glimpsed from the main road outside the city. Their soft but incessant crashing echoed down the channel that became the Cumann River.
We stepped out of the woods and into the flow of traffic that traveled across the stone overpass. The river flowed twenty feet below us as we kept against a low wall. An elevated walk path separated us from the wheeled traffic. Moss and a few bits of stumpy grass covered the ancient stones that made up the low wall, and I couldn’t help but notice a slight greening of the foliage. I was reminded of Whelan and his Key, and how I’d felt something off about the air around them.
I caught Tegan’s attention and nodded at the growing moss. “Is there a way to tell if someone has magic?”
He smiled down at me. “I think you’ve already answered that question yourself, but yes. They have a small influence on their element even when they’re not using their magic to control it.”
I raised one hand and studied the palm. “So what am I controlling?”
Tegan’s good humor faltered a little and he grasped my raised hand. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out.”