Chapter 4 #2
I can only imagine what ‘control nature’ means. We humans have tried. We’ve paved the wild places, razed the , irrigated deserts, buried megatons of plastic in landfills—and the consequences have been catastrophic.
Because nature seeks a balance.
But with powerful faerie magic, could this ring completely override nature’s laws? “That’s why all the freaky stuff happened on Browne’s Hill, right? The mutations and all that?” The stuff everyone’s hoping I’ll be able to feel.
Rime nods and answers with a disheartening, “Yes.”
Across the river, the low winter sun shines pink through the trees.
It’s one of those fleeting moments when the beauty of nature leaves me aching for some long-forgotten part of myself.
I’m floating a foot above the ground, still in disbelief that I touched a wild kingfisher.
The way it trusted me, and the way all three of them trusted Rime—I witnessed something sacred today.
And that’s why they’re so worried about the macguffin.
If Brier wants to use it to control nature, that sacred bond would be broken.
No, more than broken: corrupted, desecrated, destroyed.
No more beautiful, trusting birds, no more sunlight streaming through the leaves.
With the flick of a hand, he could blast away an entire forest or kill off an entire species.
We have to find this thing. Fast.
I swallow. “Any news on Brier’s search party?”
Rime shakes his head.
“Would you recognize them?”
“We’d recognize River, but since fae can’t use glamours on one another, we’d know the others, too.”
“Oh, so then all you’d have to do is look for pointy ears?”
He grins, probably wondering why I’m so obsessed with this one feature. “Yes. Or people no one else can see.”
Can you tell by looking at someone that no one else can see them?
It seems absurd, but when I think back to the times Leo glamoured himself invisible, there were signs: Lara’s confused expression when Leo was there one moment and gone the next, Zander not reacting at all to Leo sneaking out of the O-Chi pantry right behind him.
A samba tune blasts from Rime’s chest. He takes out his phone and swipes. “Leo’s here.”
I choke on a breath. Here? Hopefully, that means he’s waiting up in the parking lot, not rapidly approaching.
Rime asks, “Do you want a ride back to your dormitory?”
“No, thanks. It’s actually faster for me to walk.”
As we tromp up the path to the practice fields, I match Rime’s quick pace, hoping I can clear the area before Leo decides we’re taking too long and gets out of his car to find us.
But no such luck. As we crest the hill, I see him, an elbow on the tennis court fence and his head bent over his phone.
The match is over and the crowd gone, leaving me nowhere to hide.
When Rime whistles, Leo looks up. Right at me.
He flicks his wind-blown hair out of his eyes but holds my gaze—the entire century it seems to take for Rime and me to reach him.
“Did you find the spot?” he asks, flipping up the corner of his jacket to stuff his phone in his back pocket.
“We did,” Rime replies. “Well, I should say she did. She wouldn’t let me tell her where it was.”
“I wanted to see if I could feel it first,” I explain.
Leo almost smiles. At me. “Smart.”
It’s Rime who describes what I sensed, because apparently the cat got my tongue and threw it in the river. I recognize that half-smile, that I-knew-you-could-do-it look in Leo’s eyes. I could dismiss it as condescension, but the admiration I’m picking up from him is hard to ignore.
When Rime admits that I nearly collapsed, Leo’s eyes flash and his expression hardens. Voice gruff, he asks me, “Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
He shoots a skeptical glance at Rime.
“He was great,” I rush to say. “As soon as I started to freak out, he got me away.”
Rime shrugs, looking smug and unbothered with his back against the fence and his elbows propped on the top rail.
Leo asks me no more, but his concern and indignation say enough. Did he carry you like I did? Did he hold you while you cried? Did he promise he’d never let anything hurt you again?
Pulse racing, I look away.
“She’s fine, Hawthorn,” Rime says through a barely concealed smirk. “She’s tough.”
When I snort, both guys’ heads snap to me. Rime is still smiling, but Leo’s brows are so low and pinched I can barely see his eyes underneath them.
I don’t tell them what I’m thinking. That I have so much work to do, and no time in which to do it. I need to practice. I need to be as tough as Rime claims I am. This mission is only going to get harder and more dangerous the closer we get to that weapon. And when we finally find it?
I gulp.
I need to be able to face it. Without a babysitter. Without someone to carry me away and let me cry on their shoulder. There’s no time for that. Not when there’s an entire realm to save.
I thank Rime for helping me today, and with a wave, start off for my dorm. Turning and walking backwards, I add, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find any real answers.”
Rime shakes his head. “Don’t underestimate yourself, little psychic.”
For once, Leo agrees with him. “The information will prove valuable in the long run. I know it will.”
Maybe.
But will I?