THE THIRD

 

I tried to shake the chill on my spine as we rode further in, but the air in Winter felt sharper than I remembered. I studied the sky, wondering if it had always had a grayish haze to it. We passed a forest where glassy branches looked like they’d begun to crisp to charcoal at the points. My fingertips buzzed like the trees’ ash was beneath my nails, and I drummed them against my knees.

On the ride, Mirkra handed out baggies of chocolates. Kilen tore his open and shook the bag over his face to dump them into his mouth, but I studied the bag I was given; the light-brown apple stamped on the paper, and the gold-brown ribbon that tied it shut. It had Apple Dough’s style all over it, and I cracked a smile. But I set the bag on the bench, too worried about getting sick from the bumpy ride to eat.

An hour later, Kilen took my bag and dumped its contents into his mouth.

I stood when the spokes of the chocolate factory peeked over the snow. I wasn’t sure what I expected—gray clouds? Ash? I shook my fingertips to relieve the numbness and breathed a sigh of relief when we plunged over the last hill and I saw Zane waiting, leaning against the factory’s door with a smug grin.

My Patrolman glided over as we came to an unsteady stop. I was sure I would have barfed if the ride had gone on any longer—Kilen’s face had paled in the last hour; his hand hadn’t left his stomach.

Zane lifted me down, his brows tilting inward like he was seeing me again for the first time. I felt his gaze lingering even after I turned to accept Wanda’s slap on the shoulder as a way of greeting. The bug-eyed girl went inside, and I readjusted my coat which fit looser on me this year than it had the last. I fished an elastic band out of my pocket too, so I could contain my hair and stop scaring everyone.

“Trite,” Zane’s voice rose to stop me when I tried to follow the others in. I turned to find him chewing on the inside of his cheek. “Anything we should…talk about?”

“I’m fine. I need to meet with everyone. It’s important—”

He caught my hand and tugged me back to him. My muscles groaned from flexing, and I blinked back a rush of vertigo.

“Are you bloody joking?” Zane asked, all humour gone. “Helen, you’re a spinbug. What happened to you over there?” He locked his gloved hand with mine.

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” I snapped. I didn’t mean for it to come out harshly, but Zane blinked.

“Miss Helen!” Apple sang from the factory entrance. She was all bells and bows, wearing a dress made entirely of the same sparkling, gold-brown ribbons that had tied the bags of chocolates on the ride.

I untangled my fingers from Zane’s and bit my lips together. “Sorry. I’m just tired,” I muttered, mustering an apologetic smile. Zane put on a half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His stare followed me as I jogged up the factory stairs to where Apple swallowed me in arms and bangles.

“I’ve been counting down the days until I could see you again, friend!” she gushed, linking her arm through mine. Her earrings had gotten larger, her lipstick deeper. “By the sharpest wind, you look exhausted! Perhaps an orange tea would do the trick. I’ll brew one and you’ll be feeling yourself again in a pinch.”

Apple patted me on the hand, but I glanced back at Zane as I was pulled through the main space. He had already moved on to goofing around with Kilen. He scooped the boy up and tossed him over his shoulder while Kilen shrieked.

When I looked back at the factory, I halted. Hallways I swore hadn’t been there before split off the main room with warm, golden torches flickering down the lengths, and crystal archways led to large rooms I also didn’t remember. Above us, glittering, twisted staircases wove through the balconies, casting sparkles of light across the ceiling from the burning sun in the skylights.

“Ah, yes. Those have been showing up for a measure now,” Apple explained when she saw me staring. “In the beginning it was fun—we would race through the new hallways and go exploring. I’m certain the spirit of the library has followed the Patrol here and is expanding this glorious factory of ours. But now we’re used to new places showing up. I barely noticed yestereve when a door appeared across from mine in the hall. I haven’t had time to check what’s inside it yet.”

A Patrolman went barrelling down the rail of the staircase on his rear, and a series of others bellowed in laughter when he tipped off the end and couldn’t catch his feet. He tumbled right into the chocolate river. I recognized his fuchsia hair before it hit the brown liquid; he was the host of the competition Eliot had instigated last year to try and steal me from Zane.

My thoughts drifted to the new coat Eliot had been wearing when he’d arrived at Grandma’s house, and for a split second, I regretted leaving Kaley behind with him.

“That’s…amazing,” I said to Apple, taking in the splatters of stained glass that seemed to have spread in patches over the tall windows at the back of the great room, and the bows that lined every balcony railing in sight. All that magic that had been stolen by Asteroth in the fire was crawling back to the surface. “How, though?” I remembered flames, burning shelves, and melting cutlery.

“Oh, I suppose it was inside the Patrol all along. Cora Thimble claims a church isn’t a building, but a group of souls who come together. The church is here,” she nodded to the Patrolmen. “It’s inside of us. We are the library.”

I smiled. “What have you done this year?” My chest tightened as I feared they’d been up to wonderful things that I’d missed while I was trapped on the other side.

Apple’s deep lips curled up at the corners. “Well, my father and I aren’t exactly the legends we were in seasons past, I’m afraid. We still make chocolates of course, but for different reasons now. We make them for the children in the Ten Towns over the hills. It gives the villagers something to look forward to, and now that I have several hundred delivery boys at my disposal, the job gets done quite well.”

We paused at a table with a spread of chocolate treats, some with nut shavings, others with light pink hues and berries on top. I didn’t realize I was so hungry until the scent of the velvety rose-chocolate reached my nose. Apple nudged me toward the table. “Eat something, friend. I’ll brew you a tea. And then we’ll talk of everything that’s happened.” Her face fell as she said the last part. “Now that you’re here, perhaps we can come up with a thing to do about it all.”

I nodded. But I already knew what I was going to do about it; about Nightflesh. If everything had gone according to plan, Kaley would be getting off the train soon.

The moment Apple stepped away, a dozen Patrolmen inched toward me, some saying hello, others reaching to shake my hand, one bowing like a servant. Zane released his melodic laugh as he watched them flock me like seagulls.

“Ragnashuck sputtlepuns, mind your manners!” he said, but it was no use. As the news of my arrival trickled through the factory, young and old Patrolmen alike came to welcome me. Zane squeezed through the hoard and shewed them away, poking the closest ones with his Patrol staff. “It’s like they all sipped syrup before we came in,” he remarked.

“Well, I’m flattered.” I reached to snag a chocolate from the table. Then another. And one after that.

Zane tilted his head as I shoved the handful into my mouth all at once, but I was too hungry to care. I moaned as the sugar and cocoa rolled over my taste buds. Apple had every right to brag about her skills as a Chocolatier—her treats were marvellous. I used my thumb to slide a pink chocolate into the pocket of my cheek around the others.

“Are you going to take a breath?” Zane made a face, tucking his staff into the crook of his elbow and folding his arms.

I answered him by holding eye contact while I stuffed another one into the wad of molten cocoa waste between my jaws. Despite my ogre act, he didn’t look away. So, neither did I.

His mouth was twisted into a pinch when Apple returned with a steaming mug.

“Yum,” I said through the brown fence on my teeth. Apple’s eyes rounded when I reached for the tea and sipped it back to wash down my snack.

I didn’t miss the look they exchanged. Though the tea was piping hot, I winced as I tried to drink back a current, using it to burn my brain fog away.

They were dead quiet until I finished, and I slammed the mug down on the table.

I fought the urge to burp.

“Did you two know that Kaley—my sister—came to Winter several months ago?” I asked them point-blank.

Apple blinked in surprise, making it clear she knew nothing, but Zane’s face tightened. It seemed the handsome, black-cloaked snow-shepherd had finally caught on.

“Your sister? She was here? I didn’t realize that idea had taken flight.” Apple’s brown eyes grew wider.

I watched my Patrolman untangle his folded arms and stiffen his grip on the Patrol staff at his side. “The fairies mentioned a thing or three of it. I didn’t know anything for certain. Cane was heading up that bit.”

He couldn’t be serious.

“Cane? The former Red Prince, Cane? Brother of the viper-prince who tried to kill me?” I snatched another chocolate. I threw the thing into the air and tried to catch it in my mouth. It was an epic fail, but at least Apple laughed when it knocked off the edge of the table and skittered across the floor, rolling to a stop at Zane’s boots.

Apple wiped a bead from the corner of her lash before answering my question about Cane. “Yes, the one and only. He and the fairies have been staying with us since their ice caves were melted. In fact, Cane should be arriving in a measure. The other once-prince, Edward Haid—the Green—is with us too.”

I was having trouble remembering who Edward Haid was, but I waited for her to finish her story, stealing a look at Zane in the meantime. His electric gaze was still leveled on me.

“Cane is safer here with us these quarters. You see, the Silver Jubilee Renewal has the whole Red Kingdom in a buzz, but it was Prince Forrester asking Holly Kissing to marry him that really put an unmerry rash on Cane’s wellbeing,” Apple explained, and I raised a brow. It seemed Apple had no trouble saying Cane’s name aloud anymore.

“I think Forrester only did it to thrust a dagger of bad tidings into his renounced brother,” she went on. “Cane revealed himself to the believers nearly four quarters ago, and though we are good at keeping our secrets, we couldn’t stop the rumours from leaking across the Red Kingdom that Cane was alive and had befriended the Green once-prince, Edward. It’s why Forrester decided to propose, I imagine. Gossip claims the Crimson family began to suspect Holly of lying about her true identity after our heist in the season past. Forrester must have guessed who she really was. It’s all a pinch messy.”

I’d stopped eating. A chocolate melted between my fingers as I absorbed this news about people I had danced and dined with at a time that suddenly didn’t feel so long ago. Holly Kissing, despite her standoffishness, had tried to warn me at the Alabaster Ball. She’d tried to keep me from walking into a trap. Apparently, she found herself in one now.

I sighed, realizing my mind was sharper than it had been a moment ago. Apple’s orange tea must have had magical powers.

“Anyway, let me assemble the group. Everyone has been waiting to meet until you arrived, friend. I’m afraid we have much to discuss,” Apple said.

If only she knew.

The moment she fluttered off, my treacherous gaze flickered over to Zane again. He stared at me for a drawn-out moment before dragging a hand through his pecan hair. “I feel like I should know this but…are you upset that Porethius asked your sister for help?”

My answer was quick. “No.” I turned away and focused on my teacup and the chocolates.

“You’re lying.” Zane stepped to the table. “What did you expect me to do, Trite? Did you want me to try and stop an ancient war fairy?” he asked, and my gaze darted back to him. He blinked. “Ragnashuck, you did.”

I swallowed, the glory of my chocolate-eating-monster show wearing off. “We have nothing to discuss about it,” I said. But Zane drew closer, stealing my view. A flicker of hurt crossed his face and a rush of guilt moved through me.

“Helen,” he whispered. Though we were surrounded by background noise, I heard what he said next. “I missed you more these last quarters than I’ve ever missed anyone.”

Anyone. The word struck a chord, and I thought of his first Carrier, and Mikal.

My attention flickered back. Good grief, I was a monster. Even before I’d attacked the chocolate. I opened my mouth to tell him everything, but my throat swelled, and I closed it again. Instead, I moved in and wrapped my arms around his middle until he relaxed, and his arms came around my shoulders.

“I missed you too,” was all I said.