Chapter Twelve Odessa
Twelve
Odessa
“Do the orange ones next.” A sweet, musical voice pulled me from a dreamless sleep.
My eyes were slow to open, my lids heavy. Above me was a cerulean sky and treetops with green and yellow leaves.
The last thing I remembered was an iridescent tunnel and a black pool. Where the hell—
“Evie,” I gasped, sitting up too fast. Blinding pain shot through my neck, turning my vision white. I winced and rubbed at the ache. “Ouch.”
“Dess!” A small body crashed into mine, sending me flat onto my back again. “You’re awake.”
My arms wrapped around her as the pain faded and the spots cleared from my vision.
“You’re okay?” I felt up and down her shoulders and back, her head and arms, making sure she was whole. “You’re okay.”
She climbed off of me, grabbing my elbow as she hauled me up to a seat. “You’ve been asleep forever.”
There was a log behind me, a backrest to my bedroll. I sagged against it, blinking away the last of the fog as I took in Evangeline.
She looked…fine. Perfectly dry and alive and unscathed. She plopped down on my lap, her knees on either side of my legs. “I got kind of scared, but Brother Skore promised you’d wake up.”
“I’m sorry.” I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, then took in our surroundings.
We were camped in a grove of pretty trees with white trunks and spade-shaped leaves. The grass around us was spotted with wildflowers. The horses were drinking from a stream that cut through the grove, and our saddles were hitched over the log at my back.
Seated on a log of his own, across a smoldering pile of ash and coals from last night’s campfire, was Brother Skore.
“What happened? Where are we? And how long was I asleep?”
“Two days.” Evie climbed off my lap and went to Skore, plucking a bundle of white flowers from his hand. Their stems were braided together.
Beside Skore on his log was a pile of orange blooms she must have picked from the field.
The apprehension she’d shown before the waterfall was gone. She seemed as comfortable around Skore now as she was around me. Still, I didn’t want her anywhere near the Voster, not after what had happened in the tunnels.
“Evie. Come sit with me.” I waved her back, breath held until she was at my side.
She handed me the white flowers as she knelt on my blanket. “These are for you.”
“Thank you. They’re beautiful.” The relief that she was unharmed, that there was even a smile on her face, was as welcome as it was exhausting. Part of me wanted to curl up and go back to sleep. “Where’s Faze?”
“Hmm.” She tapped her chin as she scanned the grass, eyes narrowed. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and let out a cooing noise, not quite a whistle, more like a birdsong.
A few moments later, Faze bounded over the log.
“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, scratching Faze’s ears.
“Brother Skore taught me. We’ve been practicing. Faze gets a treat when he comes.”
She leaped up, and before I could grab her, she went to the priest, Faze following close behind. She took a piece of dried meat from Brother Skore’s hand and gave it to the tarkin.
The entire time, the Voster’s endless gaze stayed locked with mine.
“Why don’t you get me another bouquet of flowers while I talk to Odessa?” he said.
She frowned but obeyed, trudging through the grass with Faze on her heels.
“What happened in the tunnels?” I asked once Evie was far enough away she couldn’t hear. “What was wrong with that water?”
“The way you phrase your questions always interests me.” Brother Skore stood, shaking out his robes.
“What. Happened?” I shoved to my feet but swayed, the blood draining from my head so fast I had to sit on the log so I wouldn’t fall over.
“Rest a while longer. This is a safe place.” He walked away and toward the horses, taking the rope around his mount’s neck.
I stood again, slower this time, as he brought the horse over to his saddle. “Where are you going?”
“Follow this stream. It will take you south to Norcrest. If you leave soon, you’ll be there by nightfall.”
“Wait. You’re leaving us?”
“Yes,” he said. “I must go. I’ve already delayed too long.”
It seemed too good to be true. I’d been dreaming of a way to escape. Now, we were free.
Lost.
But free.
“Wait.” I rushed for his saddle to stop him from lifting it off the ground, but with a sharp sting of his magic, a gust of wind rocked me on my heels. “Where do we go after Norcrest?”
“South, across the Harrow. When you reach the bogs, you will find people who know the way to Quentis.” He saddled his horse as he spoke, not sparing me a glance. “Do not delay.”
We’d be gone as soon as I could load Freya. But if this was the last time I saw Skore, I wasn’t losing my chance to ask about the tunnel.
Not caring how much his magic hurt, I marched to his horse and ripped the lead rope from the priest’s grip. “What was in that tunnel?”
“Liberty.”
A frustrated growl rumbled in my throat. “That’s not an answer.”
“Tell no one of the waterfall. Your father’s life depends on your secrecy.”
“What does the waterfall have to do with my father?”
He pulled the rope so hard I had no choice but to let go so it didn’t rub my palms raw. We stood close enough his magic should have been uncomfortable at the very least, but other than that single moment, it was gone.
“Why can’t I feel your magic right now?”
He raised a hand, bony fingers opening wide. One breath, I felt nothing. The next, it was as if a thousand spiders were crawling up my arms and legs.
I scrambled backward three steps, jaw dropping. “You can stop your magic. H-how?”
Brother Skore went back to saddling his horse. “There is a warrior in Calandra. A warrior who will save this realm. Find her.”
It was almost comical that he was leaving me to traverse the continent alone yet still delivering orders. “Sure. Do you have a message you need me to deliver to this all-powerful warrior? Does she have a name?”
Surprise to no one, he ignored me.
Gods, my headache from the tunnel was coming back.
“I am not your enemy, girl.”
I scoffed. “You touched me, and I was unconscious for two days.”
“I’m letting you go, just as you asked. I ended your pain in that tunnel and brought you here.”
“Where exactly is here?”
“We are half a day’s ride from the waterfall. I brought you and Evangeline down from the mountain to rest.”
Did he expect a thank-you? Well, he wasn’t getting one.
“We will meet again,” he said. “It is my destiny.”
“When?” Not that I was looking forward to that reunion.
“After you fulfill yours.”
It had been a while since my destiny and fate had entered the conversation. I hadn’t missed it. The only thing I cared about for my future was that Evie survived and I found Ransom.
“Are you returning to the High Priest like Brother Dime?”
“Heed this warning.” He looked down his hooked nose to make sure I was listening. “Stay away from the High Priest.”
“But Ransom trusts him.”
“You cannot.”
I swallowed hard. “He asked about my mother. Why? Could she feel Voster magic, too?”
“Very few in the brotherhood knew your mother before she died.”
“Did Brother Dime?”
“Follow the stream. Find the warrior.” The sting of his magic returned, pricking my skin like needles and sending me back another step as he swung into the saddle.
He kicked his bare heels into his horse’s flanks.
And then he rode past me, forcing me out of the way.
Skore galloped through the grasses where Evie stood with two hands full of orange wildflowers.
Then, he was gone.
It should have been a relief. It should have loosened the knot in my stomach. Except now we were alone and vulnerable. The only person who could save Evie from a monster was me.
So we were not sticking around.
I hurried to the log and my blanket spread out over the ground, then quickly balled it up. “Evie, come on. We have to go. Get Faze.”
She dropped the flowers and ran for the tarkin, scooping him up and bringing him over.
“Put everything in the saddlebags,” I said, stuffing in the blanket. While she collected her things, I hurried to catch Freya and get her saddled, then I stomped out the last of the fire.
“Where are we going?” she asked as I lifted her onto Freya’s back.
I turned away from the trees and toward the stream. “What happened in the tunnel? When Brother Skore came out?”
“He was carrying you,” she said. “He put you on his horse and said he had to tie you up so you wouldn’t fall. Then he made me ride Freya and carry Faze while he walked.”
“Did you go back through the canyon?”
She nodded. “It was really scary at night.”
“I bet it was.” I gave her a sad smile, wishing I hadn’t blacked out for so long. “Then what happened?”
“We came here, and he said we’d camp until you woke up.”
“Other than me, did you see him bring anything else out of the tunnel?”
“No.”
Damn.
“But he did take something out of his bag and sneak away to the trees last night. He thought I was asleep.”
Pride swelled in my chest. Gods, this girl. My tiny little spy. “What was it?”
“Something round and shiny. Kind of clear, too. It was this big.” She showed me with her hands, making a shape about the size of a melon.
An object that size could have easily been in the bottom of that pool in the tunnels. But if he’d had it with him, shouldn’t I have felt it today? Unless he’d taken it into the forest and my body had finally recovered enough to wake once it was gone.
Was it a source of magic? Did it bolster his own powers? My stomach knotted at the realization I’d helped him find it in that cave.
“Okay. Let’s get out of here.” I climbed into the saddle behind her, settling in for another day’s ride.
“Where are we going?”
“South,” I told her.
“Where’s south?”
I barked a dry laugh and urged Freya forward to follow the stream. “Your guess is as good as mine, little star.”