Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
BELLAMY
F or four days, I’d tried to figure out how to get out of the castle. Well, the castle wasn’t the problem. It was the village below. Jungle surrounded the village on all sides, shadows lurking under the canopies, keeping anyone from getting out or in, as we’d learned when we’d gotten inside.
I needed to go during the day when Kairoth was sleeping, and Driscoll and Leoni needed to distract the pixies long enough for me to escape, so I wouldn’t be able to rely on either of them for help.
Which meant I was stuck until I figured out what to do. My hands had healed some as a result, but my mood had soured. I’d had barely enough fibers to start on the third sweater.
I paced on the farthest edge of the mountain plateau, which looked down over the village, trying to think up any solution to this problem.
“How long has she been doing that?” Driscoll asked from behind me.
“About an hour,” Leoni responded.
We hadn’t talked much since that day in the garden, and they’d given me my space, which meant I’d successfully pushed them away, and for whatever annoying reason, I missed them.
“I don’t know how to leave.” I turned.
Leoni took a step forward, peering at me. “And why do you need to leave?”
I gestured toward the garden. “No more nettle weed. I need to find more.”
“Could you just ask Spirit Shadow to fly you down there?” Driscoll asked.
“One of his rules is no leaving.” I sighed. “He won’t do that for me.” I rubbed my arm, looking away. “I also haven’t spoken to him in four days.”
“Well, that’s an interesting development.” Driscoll crossed his arms, smirking.
“Are you two going to help me figure this out or not?”
Driscoll waved his hand in the air. “Yes, yes. Of course we’ll help you.” He looked over at Leoni. “Go ahead, shorty.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, we would have to stay here to distract the pixies. You need to go during the day when Spirit Shadow is sleeping.”
Every time they said spirit, I winced. I knew how much Kairoth hated that term. It made him feel like a ghost, unimportant, forgotten. But I didn’t feel like correcting them right now and getting off track, so I remained quiet.
“Can you fly by any chance?” Driscoll asked.
I just stared at him.
“That’s a no,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Well, that was my only idea.” He clapped his hands together. “Who’s hungry?”
Leoni shoved him.
“Fine, let’s keep brainstorming.”
“Too bad the pixies can’t help with their magic,” Leoni said. “Their dust is powerful.”
Driscoll gasped. “That’s it. Bloody earth, how did we not think of this before?” He looked at Leoni, who was frowning at him. “Pixie dust. Penn used pixie dust to break the curse keeping Liliath’s father stuck in that mirror. Pixie dust can undo dark magic.”
I didn’t understand half of what Driscoll had just said, but I heard one part loud and clear: pixie dust had powerful properties.
“So we get the pixies to sprinkle some of their dust over Bellamy’s brothers and poof, they’re back.”
That sounded wonderful.
Leoni’s frown had grown deeper, and my heart sank. “But Bellamy had a specific vision of knitting these sweaters to free her brothers. Plus, every time the pixies use their dust, some of their life gets drained away. Once they’ve used all their dust, they die. Asking a pixie for dust is a huge request.” Driscoll opened his mouth to speak, and Leoni held up a hand. “Also, we don’t even know where Bellamy’s brothers are. They’re scattered all over this island, and we’d have to find them, which we can’t do because we don’t have our shadows. We have to stay here unless we want to die.”
It was well-known that you were bound to the place your shadow was taken. If you left, your life slowly drained away until you either returned or got reunited with your shadow.
“You’re a real buzzkill,” Driscoll said.
Leoni was right. I’d seen what I needed to do. The pixie dust might work, but it wasn’t the path I was meant to take. I focused my attention back on the horizon.
“Forget the pixies. The shadows are always there.” I pointed to the tree line in the distance, red eyes peeking out from the dark.
“And they’ll keep you from escaping if you go near them,” Driscoll murmured. “Might even hurt you. Or deliver you to their master...”
So far, all Driscoll had done was restate my problems without giving me any solutions.
“So what am I supposed to do?” I asked, a pit of despair opening up inside of me.
“Okay, I have a crazy idea,” Leoni said slowly. “Once the stars are out, you’ll have your powers, right?”
I nodded, unsure where he was going with this. “But Kairoth—Spirit Shadow will be awake by then.”
“She’s right,” Driscoll said. “He’ll know if she’s sneaking out and using her magic against his shadows.”
Leoni held up a finger. “Unless we distract him and give her a chance to escape.”
“Who is we?” Driscoll planted his hands on his hips and faced Leoni. “Am I included in that ‘we’?”
“What do you think?” Leoni asked.
“How are you going to distract him?” I asked.
“Am I included in that ‘you’?” Driscoll asked. “Because I have not agreed to anything yet.” He glared at Leoni. “Are you crazy? He is a spirit. He might have a soft spot for Bellamy, probably because she’s almost as scary as him. But he’s not going to give us the same treatment, especially if we trick him in his own castle.”
Leoni rolled her eyes. “We’re Bellamy’s friends. He’s clearly taken an interest in her, so I highly doubt he’ll hurt us.”
“And how are we supposed to distract him, exactly?” Driscoll asked.
Leoni turned toward me. “You know him the best. So what do you think? What would distract him?”
Me, I thought, but I didn’t say that out loud.
“ Maybe if he thought I was in danger... or doing something else I’m not supposed to be doing.” My gaze trailed to the tall towers of the east wing behind them.
“The east wing.” Leoni snapped her fingers. “We can make him think she’s gone into the east wing.”
The east wing that I hadn’t been to in weeks. I wondered about the prisoner. How she was doing. I should visit her again, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to knowing what she’d told me about Kairoth and their relationship.
“And when he discovers she hasn’t actually gone to the east wing?...” Driscoll gestured. “Then it’s just our heads?”
“He won’t kill you,” I said.
“Really?” Driscoll gestured to the jungle in the distance. “Because he kind of has a bad track record when it comes to that.”
Leoni sighed. “Driscoll . . .”
“Fine, but if he kills me, you are so getting haunted.” He jabbed a finger in my direction.
Leoni stepped forward. “Just get down the mountain and to the wall. When the sun sets and the stars appear, be ready. We’ll make sure he’s distracted enough that you can get over that wall and disappear into the jungle. The rest will be up to you.”
I swallowed. I still wasn’t exactly sure how I could use my magic to defend myself against the shadows. But I supposed I had a long walk to figure it out.
I moved to go, then stopped. “Thank you,” I signed. “For helping me when you don’t have to.”
Leoni shrugged. “It’s what we do.”
Driscoll pressed a hand to his chest. “Well, I get dragged into it.”
Leoni swatted the back of his head.
“Ow.” He rubbed his head, curly hair now tousled, as they turned and walked back toward the castle. “You didn’t have to hit me that hard.”
“I was hoping it would knock some sense into you,” Leoni shot back.
“You’re kind of mean sometimes.”
Their voices faded, and I turned on the cliff, looking out over the jungle, wondering where the nettle weed might be and if I would be able to find it before he found me.