Chapter 37
When Noctua played her lute to put the Old Ones to sleep, Erebus alone was left awake.
The cup’s shadow had warned him of the danger, covering his ears to block the music.
Solis fought him, but even her ring of light was no match for all his shadows.
Unable to subdue him, the Ancients combined their powers and banished him to a realm where he could harm no one.
—OLD ONES, ANCIENTS, AND THE FOLK
Giantess! Wake up!”
Thea opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor in the ballroom. A glimmer of light came from a single sconce on the wall. Her tree glamour was gone. Butterflies hovered around her. A silver pixie flew among them, his long hair tangled, his eyes wide in his small face.
Thea sat up abruptly. “Winter! Get out of here!” Her voice was shredded, barely audible.
Winter made a placating gesture. “It’s all right, Giantess. King Erebus is not here. What happened?”
Thea massaged her aching chest where her shadow shield had pressed into her, and assessed her wounds. The bleeding had stopped. “I set my shadows against his. He won.”
Winter clucked. “You’re not a silver tree and you’re not dead. I’d call that a draw against the shadow king.”
Thea pondered Erebus’s final words, how he had plans in Thirstwood. Her heart clenched at the thought. The shadows seemed to sense her distress, fluttering closer. “We have to get home,” Thea said.
“Yes,” Winter said. “Except we can’t. Our way out of here lies across the water, and that lumpy gray Seer took the boat. I can fly but…” He gestured to her, grimacing.
So Prospect had saved her life but taken the boat, leaving her trapped. Fickle Seer.
Thea bit her lip against a groan of pain and pushed to her feet.
The only light outside came from a handful of moon sprites that wheeled slowly overhead, far fewer than before.
It seemed they’d all but abandoned Damon’s castle.
Perhaps without his dance, there was no longer the right kind of magic to draw them.
Thea moved to the edge of the water, its soft lapping the only sound. “Is it safe to swim?”
Winter shuddered. “I wouldn’t. I’ve seen things in there. Things I can’t name. I suspect they’d find you a hearty meal.”
Thea exhaled a puff of breath. “That’s what I was afraid of.” She spoke to the shadows hovering around her shoulders. “Can you help?”
After a pause, the butterflies surrounded her, attaching to her arms, back, and legs. They formed something like a harness around her chest and waist, cinching tight as they lifted her feet an inch off the ground.
“Is this a good idea?” Winter asked, his face openly doubtful.
“It’s my only idea,” Thea replied, kicking experimentally to see what happened. The butterflies lifted her higher, making her gasp before she added, “Which makes it good enough.”
“Daft Sylvan logic,” the pixie muttered.
The butterflies flapped in unison, lifting her higher. She sucked in a terrified breath, her heart beating hard against her ribs as they took her over the water.
“If they drop you,” Winter said, flying beside her, “I’ll try to distract the ravenous predators while you swim to the other side.”
Thea couldn’t manage a reply. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t see the shapes moving below the dark, glassy surface.
In minutes that seemed far longer, she reached the opposite shore. When the shadows set her down, she took gulping breaths, relieved to be on solid ground. Her butterflies rested on her shoulders and in her hair. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“I’m glad they didn’t drop you,” Winter said, shuddering dramatically. “I wasn’t really going to risk my life to distract the predators. I only said that to make you feel better.”
Thea smiled wryly. “Very comforting.”
As Winter flew along gravel paths through the silver forest, Thea followed, her injuries slowing her steps so that Winter had to keep stopping and waiting for her. Finally, he pointed at a larger silver tree. “I remember this spot. This should be close enough. Root! Take us home!”
“You can command the root?” Thea was shocked. “Is that how you got into the shadow realm?”
Winter ignored her, his focus completely on his task. “By the power of the Sylvan queen,” he shouted, a hint of panic in his voice, “take us home!”
After a brief pause, a root snaked out of the darkness. Thea stepped on it, and the familiar portal of light grew and grew until it was large enough to walk through. Winter didn’t hesitate before flying forward. Thea followed, desperate to find herself back in Thirstwood.
Suddenly, the scents of the forest were all around her, the needle-strewn path under her feet.
Relief flooded her, making her lightheaded.
Night had fallen, but the area was familiar.
It thrilled her to be once again among real trees, poplars and firs and oaks, the smells so vivid and alive.
It brought an immediate sense of security.
She would never again take the forest for granted.
“How long have I been gone?” she asked, feeling comforted that her butterflies were still with her, though fewer than before. She didn’t know if some had been lost in the clash with Erebus’s shadows or if some had left her, but she was glad for the ones that had stayed.
Winter looked up at the moon as if for guidance. “I’ve lost track, but it’s been over a month.”
Thea’s chest ached at the thought of how long she’d been gone, but it had seemed like far more time had passed in the cave. She counted herself lucky to have escaped at all. “How did you manage to enter Iluna?”
“Veleda used the remnants of magic from a pair of slippers in your bedchamber to call the root of the walnut tree.”
Thea was glad she hadn’t thrown all the clothing into the fire.
She gave him a grateful look. “The pixies are indeed the greatest of the forest folk.” She lifted her head and sniffed the air. “Scarhamm is this way.”
Winter flew beside Thea, who walked as fast as she was able through impenetrably dark paths.
Sometimes, she had to feel her way along.
A few times, she stopped to rest, though she didn’t allow herself to stop for long.
Finally, Scarhamm’s towers came into view.
The lanterns on the walls had never been such a welcome sight.
But strangely, she saw no Huntsmen on the watchtower.
When she saw a guard on the wall, she lifted her arm and called out. “It’s me, Thea! And our good pixie friend, Winter.”
She expected an uproar of relieved greetings, but the guards were quiet.
She supposed the recent threats had everyone unnerved.
She hadn’t let herself think about what it would feel like to come home, but when the gates opened and a tall woman with greenish-gold hair swept from them in great haste, a sob rose in Thea’s throat.
“Mother?” Her heart felt as if it would burst.
“My daughter,” the Sylvan queen said, beckoning to her.
Thea ran to her mother, reaching out to pull her close. But she didn’t feel the embrace of warm, soft arms. Her mother’s arms remained at her sides.
Thea looked into her mother’s hazel eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Thank you for freeing me,” Queen Coventina said. “With your help, we will bring the rest of the silver trees into Thirstwood. And together, we will serve Erebus faithfully.”