New Plans
wishing she could turn invisible. All her tiredness and sleepiness washed away in a single moment, as though splashed with icy cold water. Her hands trembled at the sight of the familiar silhouette. Her constant staring at him in the past few days made enabled her to recognize him anywhere.
Ever.
“Moira?” His voice was as dark as the night. Gone was the warm, friendly tone she had begun to associate with him. Was he going to hurt her?
She could not find any words, tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.
When he stepped into the library, the floor creaked under his weight. Three long strides, and he stood right in front of her, so close she could see the vein pulsating on his forehead. An aroma of fresh, open fields and a faint, sweet trace of mead hung around him. With his dark brown eyes, he stared down at her, noted the lantern and the book under her arm, and his gaze made her feel smaller than she had ever felt before.
“Are you stealing from us?”
“I…” The word barely crossed over her lips. Paralyzed with fear, her body would not respond, and she could not muster the courage to speak.
He was so tall, his shoulders wide. She had enjoyed his arms wrapped around her once when he had tried to teach her archery, but now his size appeared a threat.
“Is that how you thank us for our hospitality?” He gestured to the book.
“I’m not stealing—” Her voice sounded strange to her own ears, subdued and cowardly. She was a princess, not a servant who should know her place.
Ever snorted disbelievingly at her words. “And yet you sneak around in the middle of the night with one of our books under your arm?”
“I just wanted something to read. I couldn’t sleep.” The lie came from nowhere, passed her lips easier than she had thought possible.
He raised a disbelieving eyebrow, then picked the book from her and read the title aloud. “And that’s why you’ve chosen ‘Maps of the World: The Brilliant Book of Maps’?”
“It was—” Moira did not know what to say.
“What are you really looking for?”
He took another step closer, almost leaning over her, forcing her to bend her neck to look at him.
“I—”
“Do you think I’m stupid?” He hissed in a voice Moira had never imagined he could use. “A little girl who claims to live in the woods and got lost in a storm, but who somehow still knows which cutlery belongs to which dish, and who doesn’t have even the slightest hint of hardness in her hands? Who doesn’t know the slightest bit of archery when the livelihood of forest people depends on hunting? I’ve met people who live in the forest, and you’re not one of them.”
Her mouth was dry, her palms were damp, and she was shaking.
He knew.
He knew that she was not a lost child of the forest, that she had lied.
But how much of the truth did he know?
Moira’s mind raced through endless possibilities, and she searched for an appropriate answer. He scrutinized her with an intensity she both adored and despised. Finally, when she could not come up with a solid lie, she settled for a twisted version of the truth.
“Okay, I don’t live in the woods,” she whispered. “I’m like you—I’m a treasure hunter. I’m looking for a map, and when I saw your library, I thought…”
Deafening silence filled the library as her words died away.
He stared down at her with dark, unreadable eyes. “What kind of map are you looking for?”
Honesty was the best policy, or so she ironically hoped. And one truth spilled out of her.
“I’m looking for Ea.”
Her words hung between them for a moment, and then he blew air through his nose. A snort, or a laugh—Moira could not tell which. “Ea, huh? In that case, you’re suicidal.” He shook his head. “Do you know how many people have died trying to get there? Not to mention the trials on the island. They’re well known to be brutal. Deadly.”
Moira looked down, trying to bring her innocent image back up again. The half-truths had to seem complete.
“I have to. I—there’s something I need.”
He backed up a step, his voice less threatening when he spoke. “Something worth risking your life for?”
“Yes?” She did not mean for it to sound like a question.
He turned and paced back and forth. The floor creaked under his feet, and Moira worried his parents would wake up, but she did not dare say anything. What if he wanted them to come down and kick her out of the house?
“You won’t survive.”
Ever’s words brought her back to the present and her response came before she had time to think. “Then come with me.”
Moira was as surprised with her words as he. And then the lines from the spell book played in her mind. They needed to be four. A quartet—and they still lacked one. Considering what she had just blurted, she realized Ever would be an asset—they could use an excellent archer with experience. Moira knew he could handle other weapons as well. Even though they had a dragon, none of them knew what trials Ea would subject them to. Apart from it all, there was a tiny part of her that wanted Ever along, perhaps the same one that had wanted Nerida.
He stared at her grimly, astonished at her blatant proposal of an impossible adventure. But then he laughed. “To Ea? I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, but not that stupid.”
She took a chance. Hands coming up to land on her hips, she looked at him with defiance in her eyes. “Are you a coward?”
His response was a grin. “Wherever you come from, you’re a tiny, tough cookie.”
“I’m going to go to Ea,” said Moira, ignoring his semi-insult. Pouring all of her nervous energy into sounding as convincing as possible, she said, “I’m going to find the map, here or elsewhere, and I intend to find the island and then—”
“Yes, all right, I get it.” He held up his hands, and she stopped talking. He looked between her and the bookshelves, and he shook his head and sighed. “Start by putting that book back because you won’t find a map for Ea in there.”
He walked to the bookshelf, the same section she had been at but three shelves higher up where Moira could not reach, and grabbed a thick leather-bound hardcover. “Here.”
Flipping through the pages, Moira wondered how he knew it was the right book. But then he was an adventurer—maybe he kept track of treasure maps, whether or not he planned to go places.
He held out the book to her, showing a page with a map, but Moira could not find Ea.
She raised a questioning eyebrow at him. “Where’s Ea?”
He shut the book and ignored her question. Voice serious, he said, “Moira, I’m not kidding. That place is deadly. It’s not like I haven’t thought about it. Considered it even, to save—but it’s too dangerous. What could be so important that you need to go there and risk your life? Mom likes you. You’re welcome to stay here. I certainly wouldn’t mind.”
His melodious voice had returned, so much softer now than when he had entered the library. Like he was a different person. Moira much preferred this version of Ever.
“I wouldn’t mind either.” Her voice was quiet, and she studied the floor. “But I can’t stay here. I have to—I can’t get home without going to Ea, and I have to get back to my family.” She looked up pleadingly, praying he would understand.
Now that the idea of him coming along had taken hold, she did not want to let go of it. She did not want to let go of him. “Who is it you want to save? Is it the person you and your father spoke about? If you don’t mind me asking,” she added quickly at the end.
“My dad’s sister is sick.” Ever sighed. “Well, dying, I suppose, is the better word these days. She got sick about a year ago. She’s a really great person, has always been there for me—and I’ve been out there trying to find a cure for her. Dad’s convinced that modern medicine will save her, but so far, it hasn’t.”
“But the healing well at Ea—”
“If I brought some of that water back, it’d save her, I’m sure. And it would shut my dad up.”
Moira wondered if saving his aunt or shutting his father up was the most important thing to Ever.
“Come with me?” she said. “Two is better than one.”
He wandered back and forth again and again, and seconds passed as he walked, looked up, turned away, and walked again.
After what seemed like a century to Moira, he sighed. “You make me do things I really shouldn’t.”
She smiled widely.
Although he shook his head, she caught the smile playing on his lips. More to himself than to her, he mumbled, “It’ll take a while to get there, the terrain isn’t the greatest for hiking, and we can’t take the horses because what are we going to do with them when we go out to sea? And how do we cross the ocean?”
Moira took two steps towards him and placed her hand on his arm. His skin was warm against her icy fingers. “We’ll figure it out when we get there. Who knows what’ll happen along the way?”
When Ever met Pyrros, he would realize they did not have to worry about crossing the sea to get to the island, but for now, it was better if he did not know about her dragon friend.
“Mom will be upset that I’m leaving again already. I’ve promised to at least be home until my sister comes back.” Ever shook his head.
“Sister?”
“She is away on training to take over the family business. It’s two years of education, but there’s supposed to be a big party for the king soon, and she has to attend that.” He scratched his neck. “I’m lucky she exists. Since I’m the oldest, I should take over after my parents, but honestly, I can’t think of anything duller.” Ever shook his head. “Let’s just disappear. I’ll handle things when I return.”
“Disappear?”
“Yes. Now.”
Moira’s heart skipped a beat.
Leave Gereon at three in the morning?
Walk into the darkness outside the wall?
How could she take Ever to the meeting place without explaining to him that a dragon would be waiting for them?
“Are you in? You’re the one who wanted this.” He took her hand, and she felt safe, although nothing was dangerous here.
Ignoring the part of her wanting to just return to bed, get some beauty sleep and stay in Gereon forever with Ever, she nodded. Fatigue and excitement pulled her apart, but she shook herself out of it.
“Great. Pack what you need, and we’ll meet up and sneak past the kitchen to fix some food to bring along, and then we leave.”
Had he done this before? It hardly sounded like his first time running away from home, avoiding dealing with his mother.
An hour later, they were on their way.
Moira carried a leather bag she borrowed from Ever, and she stuffed it with the most practical of the clothes she had received from the overstess and one of the pink towels. Ever filled the remaining space with “stuff that’s good to have,” as he called it, and some food he whipped up.
“Ready?” His smile made her feel protected.
She was on her way to Ea, and soon she would see Pyrros and Nerida again. Her worlds would merge, and everything would be as it should be.
She nodded.
Leaving the house behind, Ever let the door fall shut with a soft click. The streets of Gereon were deserted in the middle of the night, at least in the nicer neighborhoods. Further down, closer to the wall, solitary figures wandered around in the dark. Moira stayed close to Ever, heart beating fast. The shadows chased her as though she was doing something illegal.
The large gate she had entered through a couple of days ago was guarded by gatekeepers who looked at least as foreboding as the guards who had come out to meet Moira.
“How are we getting out?”
Ever answered her with the tiny curve of his lips. He pulled out a purse from his pocket, and from it, he picked a gold coin. Then he walked straight up to a gatekeeper, mumbled something, and handed over the coin with a firm handshake.
“Nothing that a little gold can’t solve,” he said when he returned to Moira.
Moira jerked at the sound of clanking chains that disrupted the stillness of the night. The gates opened, and the fields came into view. The gravel road divided the fields and disappeared into the darkness.
He took her hand again. When she peered up at him, he looked back with a soft smile.
They started walking.
But they did not get far.