Chapter 12

 

Grady held the empty globe in his hands. He looked up at an ordinary moon, then behind his shoulder before placing the lantern back on its pole.

“What was that?” He peered inside the globe. “Where did you go?”

Serah caught her breath, smiling at the sensation of air filling her lungs. She hugged herself against the night’s chill as she stepped out of the shadows, her feet and body no longer made of flame.

“I’m here—”

Grady turned and coughed as she neared, frowning until she was close enough that the top of her head reached the tip of his chin. His eyes grew wide with a twinkle of recognition. He pointed to Serah, then to the empty globe.

“You’re—the girl who was in the lantern?”

“Yes, Grady.”

His eyebrow lifted, and he scratched his head. “So that’s what your voice sounds like,” he said, grinning.

Now that she could see more than a face, or a nose or an eye, pressed to glass, she noticed his clothes were like nothing she’d seen before. His breeches were blue and unlike those worn by boys and men in Havenbrim. Red and black checkered boxes covered a thick, collared tunic. His bright eyes and smile were fully locked on her, his expression a mix of surprise and suspicion.

Serah blushed. Her hands moved to smooth the folds of her dress. He must find me strange as well, she thought. Especially given how I showed up here. If this isn’t Havenbrim, where is here?

Her fingertips stumbled across an object caught in the fabric. Moonlight bounced off a surface, a flash of brass, and fell to the ground.

Squinting, Serah lifted what had fallen.

“What is it?” said Grady, stepping closer.

“A tiny door made of brass.” She stared at the object. “It has a plate with the letter K etched into it.”

Grady frowned. “Does it have anything to do with how you got here?”

“I don’t know. Where is here?”

“In the woods behind my house.”

Serah blinked. In the darkness, the trees were no different than those in the forest between Machin’s cottage and Havenbrim proper. “What is the name of your village?”

Grady began to laugh.

“Where am I?” Serah said, her voice serious.

“We’re in Smyrna, Tennessee.”

“I’ve never heard of such a place.”

Serah dodged his look of surprise by focusing on the brass door that fit neatly in her palm. She turned the door over and inspected its other side. A brown tag was attached to the object with twine. She read the tag, “Knock twice before opening the locket to find Havenbrim on the other side. I wish you the best, Machin.”

“Havenbrim?”

“That’s my home, my village,” said Serah. “Havenbrim, Llum.”

Grady scratched his head. “What’s Llum?”

“My country, of course.” Her voice was tight. Why would Machin send me here only for me to go back to Havenbrim? She frowned at the tiny brass door. This looks exactly like the door to my parents’ home.

She pulled at a doorknob the size of a pea, careful not to accidentally knock first. Finding it empty, she sighed. Like my father said, there’s nothing for me there.

She closed the door and tugged at the twine. The loop stretched wide enough to fit around her neck. She slipped the locket over her head. Then, remembering her manners, she smiled up at Grady.

“I don’t know how I would have escaped the lantern without you,” she said. “Thank you for finding me.”

“It was easy enough with all the flashing light pouring out of the lantern. The same thing happened last night.” He tilted his head to the side and grinned. “That was an amazing trick. How did you do it?”

Serah creased her brow. “There was no trick. It really happened.”

“I’m sorry, little flame-girl, but I don’t believe you. I can think of all kinds of ways to do that with lighting and technology. I’m just curious about what you actually did, and which of my friends put you up to it.”

“But I don’t know your friends. How could I have survived inside the globe, alone, with no food or water?”

“Like I said, I think it was a projection inside the glass, which means you were actually somewhere else.” His arms crossed his chest as he inspected the lantern and its pole. “Though, I haven’t worked out the part where the globe started swinging back and forth, or how you got outside so quickly.”

He scratched his head and murmured, “Or maybe the projection was recorded, and you were standing out here the whole time.”

Serah blinked. His explanation of what had happened seemed wrong, somehow, but no less mysterious than Machin’s methods.

“No worries.” He winked. “If you won’t tell me, one of my friends will eventually fess up. It’s Halloween night, and most of them will be at Abigail’s party. I think you should go with me.”

“A party?” Serah looked down at her dress and wrinkled her nose.

“Yeah. You’re already in your Halloween costume, right? Either that or dressed up for a Renaissance Fair.”

“Costume?” Serah brushed off her skirt and fussed with the braids piled on top of her head. “A…what kind of fair?”

Grady chuckled. “And you’re exceptionally good at staying in character. So what do you say? Will you go to the party with me?”

Serah looked around, frowning. Her fingers slid across the locket. I don’t have anywhere else to go but home. And I don’t know anyone else here.

“Yes,” she said with a shiver. “I’ll go with you to the party.”

“Good. Here, take my jacket.” He removed the red and black garment Serah had thought was a tunic and wrapped it around her. “We have just enough time for me to get changed first.”

Serah looked back at the lantern, one last time, before following Grady through the woods.

The farther they walked, the more the trees thinned. When they stepped into a clearing a farmhouse came into view. The garage next to it was painted like a barn.

“My father works on a farm,” Serah said with a bittersweet smile. “Your manor house is larger than our lord’s, though. You must be wealthy.”

Grady gave her a funny look. “Um, no. My parents are both in the writing business. Mom works for a publishing company, and Dad writes from home.”

“They’re not lords of this manor?”

He shook his head with a smirk. “They bought an old farmhouse and fixed it up. They say it’s peaceful here.”

“Then you live here?”

“Yes.”

“What is a publishing company, Grady?”

“You don’t have to stay in character around me,” he said, chuckling. “You can save it for the party.”

She balled her fists. “I don’t understand.”

Grady opened the front door to the house and leaned in close before motioning for her to walk through. “You already fooled me with your lantern prank, Sara. You’re not going to get me with your girl-from-the-past routine, too. I’d never hear the end of it.”