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“I don’t see this mark,” Keira squinted.
“It couldn’t be clearer.” Riley stood several feet away from the body. He rested his hands on his hips.
“No, I see nothing. They look like normal feet to me. Well disgusting ones anyway – pale and crusty.”
“Clearly she didn’t get your eyesight,” Riley laughed uncomfortably.
“You really can’t see the mark?” Luza leaned down and poked the middle of the dead man’s right foot.
“Stop it! That’s sick even for you.” Keira pushed Luza out of the way.
The white-haired teen looked up at her annoyed traveling partner. “Put your eyes closer. When you see it, you’ll never miss it again.”
“Just stop pawing his feet Luza. You better wash your hands.”
“Yes, mother, I’ll get right on it.” Luza grabbed Keira’s hands and pulled her down to foot level.
“Yuck! I can do it myself.”
“She’s really creeping out over a foot after all this blood and other stuff we’ve seen.”
Riley stood between the two girls. He helped Luza up and with a firm tone said, “You can stop now.”
Luza rolled her eyes at the boy before pushing him gently.
She focused on the knife, glistening from the rock floor below. Luza stepped away from the pair.
“He’s got the mark of the faerie,” Riley explained.
“Really?”
“Those three freckles aren’t random.”
“I see those. That’s what you were talking about, three freckles? I have freckles on my arms, that doesn’t me make a faerie.”
“Trust me, he’s got their blood. We have to get out of here. You don’t want to be here when they arrive.”
Riley motioned to Luza.
“Shouldn’t we bury him or something?” Keira wondered aloud.
“Why don’t we burn him, that might make things better,” Luza added.
“I thought faeries didn’t come here anymore,” Keira said.
“They will if they lost one of their own.” Riley stepped away from the body.
“How would they know?”
“It’s complicated, but they know. It doesn’t matter where.”
“And who told you this?”
“Stop all the twenty questions, Keira,” Luza snapped from across the cave.
“I think we should at least bring him to the pond.”
“So you kill the guy and now you want to honor his life. Let them sort it out,” Luza said.
“It’s about common decency.”
“You sound like your father,” Riley said.
“I imagine it’s what he would do.”
“I’m not doing anything. But I will take this since you don’t want it.” The white-haired teen picked up the jagged blade.
“Can you just leave the knife?” Keira couldn’t believe her audacity.
Luza gave Riley a final look before leaving the chamber.
“She’s been through a lot.”
“Don’t defend her, it’s not like I haven’t, or you either I imagine.” Keira looked away from Riley and back at the dead man’s feet.
“Still, let it be,” He knelt down to the body. “You really want to bury him Keira?”
“Carrie said it takes them days to get anywhere.”
“When it suits them. I’ll do what you wish Princess, but let’s not waste too much time here. We need to be gone before the day’s end.”
“Do you think I want to stay here and have a picnic or something?”
Riley gasped, “You got me.”
“So how are we going to do this?”
“There’s the slow way or the fast way,” Riley offered.
“Fast if you don’t mind.”
“I thought you would say that.”
* * *
The boy didn’t mind being the carrier of Bilal’s body. He found it ironic that the man who practically killed him and had sworn to end his life was being carried out of the ancient cave on the back of the same buck he used and tormented. With some ingenuity, Keira managed to lift the body up and over Riley’s back so they wouldn’t have to contend with dragging the heavy corpse down the wet passage.
Riley was careful to stay away from the waterfall. He didn’t have to tell Keira to stand to his right and balance the body.
She saw what the water had done to Riley. Like the boy, she didn’t want any chance of Bilal coming back to life on the way down. While her hand steadied the body, she barely touched the cold skin. Riley had tied Bilal’s boots and had them swung around his massive neck.
“I saw how quickly you changed. There really is no clicking of feet,” Keira said.
“Did you do that when you shifted?”
“No. I didn’t do anything. It just happened.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to work. Your instincts take over. They respond.”
“But then why shift back and forth Riley? Why not just stay in one ...”
“Because I like sleeping in a bed, for one. I can eat more food I like.”
“That makes sense. Lane never changed in front of me till what, a few nights ago. I get it, I guess.”
“What is it Keira?”
“No, it’s stupid.”
They were almost at the end of the passage. The roar of the waterfall and the light from outside the cave grew brighter with each step.
“Come on, just ask it.”
“Fine. Your clothes. Where are they now?”
Riley laughed. “Did you change your clothes when you shifted?”
“No I was on the table.”
“Exactly. They stay on and our skin grows over them.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“I don’t know how else to explain it. You are the mold and the animal shape takes form over you.”
“Are you really asking that now? This is so not right,” Luza interrupted.
“At least you didn’t run off.” Keira spotted the teen.
“Thanks for your concern, Princess. I’m not stupid enough to run off without my backup in this new getup.”
“You weren’t wearing clothes when you shifted, were you?” Keira asked.
“No, dummy. Why else would I wear this ensemble? Ask Riley. He saw.”
“Saw what? Keep me out of this. I was in the water when you became that.”
“That?” Luza’s eyes tightened. “Give me a break. Now you’re going to get it.”
Luza stormed over to the boy. She could barely reach Bilal’s dangling leg but she managed to grab hold of the corpse.
His body thumped onto the ground. Luza slapped Riley on the side.
“Can you feel that, big boy? Pretending you didn’t take a look. You know what, if I had to do it all over again, you could have just stayed up there. At least I wouldn’t be like this.”
“Luza, stop. It’s not his fault. He didn’t know it would happen.”
Riley faced Luza as she continued to batter at his sides.
“Yes, I did.”
“How?”
Riley’s doe colored eyes looked longingly at the frustrated white-haired teen. A single pair of tear drops fell from Luza’s eyes.
“Of course he knew. He knows everything. Don’t you?”
She swatted the buck one more time. As her hand wound up for another swing, Riley transformed and grabbed her approaching hand.
“I did what I was told. The ceremony had to take place. You know that.”
“But you knew what would happen to me.”
He nodded and quietly said, “I knew it was a possibility.”
“Wait, how did you know? Whose side are you on?” Keira trembled.
Luza took a step back from the boy. She raised her arms in a sweeping motion.
“Don’t leave, not yet,” Keira insisted.
“Don’t worry about me.”
Keira turned to Riley.
“What do you want me to do about her?” Riley held his hands out in front of him.
“Go after her! Protect her!”
“And what about you?”
“Go, I can handle this. If your faeries show up, better me than you, huh?”
“Oh, women!” he screamed. Riley’s face reddened. He knew he blew it.
Keira gave the boy a severe look of distrust and anger. “Don’t start with me. This is your problem now.”
“Fine, Princess. Just don’t be long, and when you’re done, head for the truck.”
“I know. Maybe after you get her settled, you can figure out what you’re going to tell me, because I’m not happy either. Nor do I want to be traveling with someone full of secrets.”
“I can tell you everything now, Princess.”
“No, she’s the one who needs help right now. Just go!”
Riley shrugged. He turned from Keira and walked to the tree line.
“They’ll be here within the hour.”
“How do you know?”
There was no response. Riley vanished into the woods, leaving Keira with Bilal’s cold body.
“What is going on?” she said.
Keira was more annoyed than anything. She had vowed to be in the loop, to know what was going on, and yet she was in the dark over what just happened.
Looking at Bilal and his stark, grim expression, she felt mixed emotions.
“You didn’t leave me another option. I don’t want to be a killer.”
Keira picked up a large rock from the water’s edge and placed it on the side of the man’s body.
“I know why you liked to kill. You have total control over someone else.” She could feel her heart pacing and a tightness forming in her chest.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take pleasure. Yet there had to have been another way.”
Keira picked up more rocks and carefully lined them around his entire body.
The princess worked quietly and efficiently, taking more rocks from the water’s edge. She next took stones from around the base of the quarry.
The work suited her temperament and while the others didn’t see the point, at a deeper level Keira felt it was necessary and the right thing to do.
* * *
Luza’s eyes were red from crying. She had never cried like this in her life. Now she couldn’t stop even if she had wanted. There were many conflicting emotions going on inside and worst of all, she knew it was wrong to be mad at Riley.
They both met with the Great Mother. As much as she wanted to hate him for doing what was necessary, the girl yearned to be back running through the woods on all fours as opposed to this hybrid human.
She could hear him coming. After her ears twitched, so did her nose. He wasn’t being careful with his steps. None of his strides were measured and they were sloppy and loud.
He would have overtaken her earlier but the boy knew what Luza needed. She required space and he needed a walk to process this ordeal.
His mother had told him it wouldn’t be easy. How true her words were.
Riley could hear her soft voice echo in his head.
“She’ll need you most afterwards. Don’t leave her side.”
Her words drifted away as his feet crunched across fallen leaves.
“What am I going to tell her?” He said under his breath.
Luza was only a hundred feet ahead of the boy.
“You can apologize,” she cried out.
He smirked, “At least you didn’t lose your hearing.”
“You’re an elephant in this dead waste.”
“I’m not that loud.”
Luza looked up from the log she had been sitting on. She held the jagged knife in her left hand. With her right, she ran her fingers through her hair.
She had an icy glare for the approaching teen.
“You could be quieter.”
“I could, but we’re safe for the moment.”
“Are you sure, or is that your way of making me feel better?”
Riley reached for the knife.
“What do you need it for?”
“I’ll give it back. I just want to see it up close in the morning light. There is an inscription.”
“Words? Where?”
“Did you even look?” Riley smirked.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not.”
“Are you sure?” Luza playfully jabbed at the boy’s direction. “It’s not like I can read it anyway.”
She held the blade out for Riley. With both hands he gently took the blade from Luza.
Luza quivered at his touch. She squeezed his hand. Riley ignored the blade and pulled the girl closer to him.
He hugged her. Neither one of them said anything as Luza let her guard down. She wrapped her arms around the gangly teen.
Luza nestled her head against his chest and got lost in feeling so close to the prince. Riley was careful to not cut Luza with the blade as he shifted both arms around her small frame.
With his free hand, he parted her long white bangs from her glistening bluish amber eyes.
“I’m sorry, Princess.”
“Shh... I’m imagining we’re back in the cabin.”
“On my shoulders?”
She poked him in the rib. “You had to bring that up?”
Riley nodded.
“Do you know if this is permanent?” She took a deep breath.
“No one knows how prophecies work.”
“But you knew I would change and now Keira gets to have all the fun.”
“Fun is not the word I would use. Burden might be a better word choice.”
“Whatever. She can be an animal and I can’t.”
“Maybe you have the best of both worlds. I don’t know. Clearly part of her is still with you.”
“Yeah, but look at me.”
He smiled. “You still give off a lot of heat. That’s positive.”
“You focus on my warmth, but not on me saving you.”
“You know I’m thankful, and when we get out of here, I will find you a box of Cheez-Its.”
“You really know how to treat a girl.”
Riley held her closer.
“Cold again?”
“Shut up for once.”
“What are we going to do about Keira?” Luza whispered in Riley’s ear.
“Right now?”
“I guess.”
“Nothing. She’ll figure it out as we go along.”
“You and I?”
“I guess we’ll wait and see.”
Riley had so many other things to say, but he got lost holding the last of the Arctic foxes and the Princess of the Northern Wood.
* * *
For the first time in an hour, Keira felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She added the last rock of Bilal’s makeshift burial mound. She took a moment to survey her work.
Stepping back to the pool, she put her cracked and raw hands into the water. Within seconds they felt warm, smooth, and healed.
“It didn’t have to be like this,” Keira said staring back at the mound.
“How right you are, Princess,” Carrie’s familiar voice filled the air. “I’m surprised you made it this far.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. I apologize in advance but the others are not around to share in your company. Isn’t that a shame since you’re alone.”
“Don’t patronize me, Princess.”
“Patronize? Big word for a little person who tried to kill me.”
“I could have killed you, had I the permission.”
“Then do it now if you’re so eager.”
“Don’t you have an attitude?”
Keira felt her face growing flush. Her blood began to boil and without even thinking, she transformed into the mountain lion that had killed Bilal hours earlier.
“Aren’t you a pretty cat.”
Carrie wasn’t intimidated, to say the least. The faerie stood her ground a few feet from the burial mound.
Keira snarled at the red-headed faerie, wearing her orange sweater dress and brown hemp belt.
“You can’t do anything to me here.” Keira stepped closer to the faerie.
Carrie vanished and then reappeared a second later on the burial mound.
“Oh yes, the Great Mother will protect you. We heard your pathetic cries for help in our pool of memory. If my son had simply been less cocky, he wouldn’t have met his match.”
“Your son? What? He said he killed his mother!”
“My son was a good liar. Like it matters now? I’m not here to fight you girl, but I won’t forget what you’ve done.”
“So you’re here for him?”
“It’s our way. A mother always comes for her child to bring him or her home.”
“Giordino delle fate?”
“You ask too many questions that don’t concern you.”
Keira lowered her body. She felt more in control as a lion. Carrie didn’t scare her.
“I think they do concern me when it deals with him. Why don’t you tell me what is going on? Why did he need to avert the — ”
“Prophecy. You shifters are always so fixated on that stupid word. Prophecy is what happens when you take away the homes of the native inhabitants. Prophecy is a coin word to disguise sinister intentions or to help those pathetically existing in their daily lives.”
“I should have assumed you wouldn’t give me a straight answer.”
“Like I owe you as much, little girl.”
“I wouldn’t have killed him, had he left me alone.”
“The animal part of you tells me differently. Look at you, you’re a killer. I bet that even now if I gave you the chance you would end my life.” Carrie vanished. “Why not, right? You think you’ve been wronged, you naïve child of the wood.”
The faerie reappeared only a few feet away from Keira’s left paw.
She could swipe at the woman. The princess felt the genuine disgust. She could see the hatred in Carrie’s eyes. They were reddish green and intense.
“So now you want to bait me?”
“You’re not the first mountain lion I’ve faced. Did my son tell you how your mother met her end?”
“She’s not dead. You’ve been misinformed.”
Carrie laughed. “Misinformed? I was there, you foolish gnat.”
Keira couldn’t restrain herself. With superfast reflexes, she grabbed onto the faerie and squeezed with her claws.
“I’m letting you do this. You know that, right?” Carrie didn’t fight the ever-tightening grip.
“All you are doing is proving my point. You’re a killer and you won’t listen to reason. A pity you are their hope.”
“When do you shut up, stupid sprite? Take back what you said about my mother and I will ...” Keira felt her eyes welling up.
“You’ll what? She died a coward’s death. At least you have some sass. I will give you that. Your mother did nothing as we struck her down.”
Keira fought back the tears. She wanted to squeeze the faerie until she was dead. Instead, Keira slowly released her grip.
“I won’t kill you,” Keira cried.
“Then you are a fool.”
“So be it,” Keira stepped away from the faerie. As she lowered her head, she felt her body shifting back to her human form. “I don’t care what you say. All of you faeries are a bunch of liars. Take your son, do a prayer. I don’t care, just be gone with you.”
Carrie clapped her hands two times. On the second clap, the faerie disappeared and the mound of rocks collapsed. Keira was alone again. She had a lingering feeling that her journey and challenges had only just begun.