Chapter Twenty-Eight
Into the Dysterwood
Standing at the edge of the meadow, tucked just behind a scraggly bush, Oliver spread out the blanket he had borrowed from Mr. Allen and let out a contented sigh. It was perfect. It was cool enough to be pleasant with only their jackets on, the flowers were open and swaying in the breeze, and the shallow hole in Felipe’s leg had already closed overnight. If they were lucky, Felipe’s arm would be healed by the time they went into the Dysterwood on Sunday. Oliver glanced at his pocket watch. He had left Felipe at the inn to finish shaving and getting ready, but he would be there any minute. Reaching into the wicker basket, he quickly pulled out all the things he and Gwen had bought at the general store and pharmacy. It looked excessive, but Felipe deserved a treat. Oliver had arranged the crackers, jam, cheese, and peanut butter half a dozen ways on the blanket before he realized something was missing.
“The sodas,” Oliver said aloud. He looked around the empty meadow and the too quiet road, but there were no people or animals to speak of. If he ran back to the inn to collect them and Felipe, he doubted anyone would bother their things, but one could never be too careful. Feeling around the bottom of the basket, Oliver pulled out the ring box. He bit his lip as he opened it, watching the sun gleam across the amber and gold. My light in the darkness . Felipe had proposed first, but still, he hoped he would say yes and that he liked the ring as much as Oliver liked his. Unlike so many things in his life, proposing to Felipe felt right. As he went to put the box in his pocket, a metallic click sounded behind him.
Oliver froze and turned, his heart pounding in his ears. Standing in the field of flowers at the edge of the trees was Daphne Stills. Leaves clung to her faded red hair and color rose in her cheeks as she pointed a gun at Oliver. Somewhere in the trees, he thought he heard the clink of glass and a gasp, but he didn’t dare turn his head to look.
“Give it to me,” she demanded. Flowers flattened beneath her feet as she drew closer. “Now.”
“Give what to you?”
“Don’t play stupid. The ring. I know you have it.” She motioned to the box with the muzzle of the gun. “Hand it over, nice and slow.”
Oliver blinked and followed her gaze to Felipe’s ring. He distantly realized she was mistaken, and the urge to correct her rose unbidden. Let her have it . Will had been terrified his aunt would get her hands on the signet ring and make a new bargain. He didn’t want to give her Felipe’s ring, but it would give them time to get a plan together. When she realized it wasn’t the right ring, she would be furious and probably throw it in the swamp. His heart sank as he pictured the gleaming amber. He could get him another ring. Leaning forward with his hands up, Oliver hesitantly held the box up for her to take. A ghost of a smile played on her lips as she snatched it from his hand and tucked it into her dress. The grass crackled beside him as roots sprung up from the ground quick as snakes and twined up his left arm before jumping to his right. Oliver struggled against his binds as the roots pulled tight.
“Get up.” When Oliver didn’t move, she yelled, “Get up!”
Oliver’s pulse pounded with dread, but as he slowly stood, he glanced to the side and found Gwen watching him with wide eyes and the bottles of soda clutched to her chest. For the briefest instant, he locked eyes with her and nodded toward his neck where the signet ring hung from its chain. Take it , he silently pleaded. She knew the plan. She knew what had to be done. He felt her invisible fingers on the back of his neck, and the chain slid down the length of his body. It hit the ground and slithered across the grass out of sight as Daphne came up behind him.
“Let’s go.” Daphne jabbed the gun into his back and nudged him toward the trees. “Call for help, and I’ll blow out your kidneys.”
Walking through the meadow with the gun at his back, Oliver held tight to the tether and their half-concocted plan. All he needed to do was stay alive long enough for Felipe to reach him. If he followed Daphne’s rules, she wouldn’t shoot him; he could do that. He believed in very little for certain, but his belief in Felipe never wavered. He would find him.
***
Standing at the shaving mirror, Felipe focused on the spangles of anticipation flitting from Oliver’s side of the tether and smiled. The previous night’s horrors had faded to stains on the carpet and a bottle of alcohol turned wet specimen, but the echoes of panic still haunted him at how close he had come to dying again. He trusted his ability to heal, but not that much. Unknotting the sling, Felipe stretched his arm with a wince. The bruise on his collarbone was breaking up and the ends of the bone no longer ground together when he moved his arm, but it still hurt. Another day of babying it, then. Felipe had just slipped his injured arm into his jacket sleeve when he felt it, a flash of fear and the steady, focused kick of adrenaline.
Oliver . Grabbing his knife and his gun from the nightstand, Felipe hammered down the steps. The moment he reached the bottom, the tether sagged in his chest like it had been made of taffy. No. No. No. They were supposed to go in together. Felipe’s mind raced as he stuffed the knife into his pocket and the gun into the waistband of his trousers. Oliver would never go in alone, not after last time. Throwing open the front door, Felipe collided with Gwen. Their foreheads knocked, and glass exploded at their feet as they jumped apart.
At the sound, Mr. Allen appeared from the hall with Argos at his heels. “What is going on in here?”
“Daphne Stills has Oliver,” she cried the same time Felipe said, “Oliver’s in the Dysterwood.”
Felipe stared at Gwen as the words sank in. “I’m going to go get him.”
He had nearly pushed past her when her powers slammed into him like a wall.
“Wait! Take this,” she said, freeing the signet ring from its chain with shaking hands. As if expecting him to bolt, Gwen held tight to the ring and his gaze. “Remember the rules. Do not leave the path. Do not call for the Lady, only Oliver. Do not forget that the woods can’t hurt him, but it can hurt you. Say it back to me, Felipe.”
He didn’t have time for this. He needed to get Oliver. When she didn’t let go, he stepped back and repeated the rules back to her. The Dysterwood and the Lady can’t hurt Oliver , he repeated to himself again and again. That one was going to be the hardest to remember.
“Good.” Staring into Felipe’s eyes, Gwen said solemnly, “Do not make me go back to New York alone, Felipe Galvan.”
“I won’t.”
With a nod, he slipped on the signet ring and took off toward the trees at the end of the road as fast as his legs would carry him.
***
The light in the Dysterwood was wrong. It had gone from a bright morning to a foggy evening the moment Oliver tumbled through the trees. His sinuses burned at the wave of magic washing over him, but there was no time to acclimate. Daphne urged him forward at a steady clip. Her gaze swept over the woods as if looking for something before she shoved him off the path and into the mossy underbrush. Oliver’s stomach twisted at the transgression, but Daphne Stills didn’t care. She trod over bushes and through spiderwebs without a second glance, as long as it led her deeper into the woods. Oliver silently apologized and hoped the woods would understand that he was doing it under duress. When they were deep enough that she was confident Oliver had nowhere to run, she stuffed the ring onto her finger and tossed the box into the brush. Her green eyes lit up as she slipped it onto her finger.
“I demand an audience with the Lady!”
She raised the ring skyward and waited but nothing happened. She tried a second time, but the silence only grew louder. Oliver watched her, hoping she wouldn’t suddenly remember what the ring was supposed to look like. Then again, it had been nearly forty years since it disappeared. After what he had heard, he doubted she would spare his death a passing thought if she realized he tricked her.
“Damn that woman. You can’t ignore me forever!” Releasing a huff of frustration, she stormed back to Oliver and put the gun against his back again. “You call to her.”
He swallowed hard. He needed to wait for Felipe. “What makes you think she’ll listen to me? I’ve never seen her.”
“You came back out of the Dysterwood after I shoved you in, so I know you’re Stephen’s brat. You are the heir to the Dysterwood. She has to listen to you.”
She said it as if it was distasteful to her, and the trees gave a menacing shake. The energy in the forest was shifting, like they had stretched the limits of the Dysterwood’s goodwill, and one false step would end in them getting torn limb from limb. He didn’t want to attract the Lady’s notice. He needed Felipe for that part. Oliver took a slow step back. Take me back to the path , he thought, please . He took another blind step backward, and his heel hit solid wood. A silent sigh escaped his lips as an animal screamed and chattered in the distance. Daphne gave him a queer look; the trees around them had shifted from oaks to rows of towering pines between one step and the next.
“What did you do?”
“We have to follow the path. That’s how I reached the center of the forest before. It’s about faith.” Daphne looked like she was going to hit him until he said, “There are no shortcuts to reach her. You have to do it.”
“You had better not be leading me in circles.”
“Why would there be a path if you weren’t supposed to follow it?”
“Save your proselytizing for Willard and get on with it.”
Before she could jab him again, Oliver started forward and kept his eyes on the worm-eaten boards ahead. Take me to my mother, he thought. Holding the image of her face in the photograph and the face in the gnarled bark in his mind, Oliver hoped it would be enough. The treads under his feet dipped into the spongy ground, and fog obscured the path ahead, but the moment Felipe entered the Dysterwood and the strange slack in the tether disappeared, Oliver knew where he was going. Releasing a relieved breath, Oliver quickened his pace.
Protect Felipe like you protect me, he silently pleaded as he headed deeper into the labyrinth.
***
Felipe didn’t like the Dysterwood from the moment he set foot in it. He had been in murder towns before, and while Aldorhaven had been tame, apart from the necromantic worms, the Dysterwood was closer to what he had expected. Everything about it felt wrong. It wasn’t as strange as the desecrated cathedral, but the trees were too large and too perfect. The longer he stared at the ferns growing along the edge of the path or the beetles crawling up the tree trunks, the more obvious the uncanniness became. He pulled his socks higher up his calves before stepping on the first tread. The smell of rot and blood flooded up with each step as Felipe trained his gun ahead and moved as quickly as he dared through the woods.
All around him creatures stirred. He could feel their eyes on him in the treetops and brush, a million eyes for one entity. Whatever the Lady was, he could feel her presence lurking in every shadow and creature. As the sky darkened into a stormy evening, the noises and shadows began. Just beyond the trees on either side of the path, Felipe heard unseen things crunching through the brush. His instincts screamed at him to hide or stop, but if he left the planks of bone and wood, it would give the woods an excuse to claim him. Trust the path, he reminded himself. The deeper he got, the more the creatures tried to lure him. More than once, he thought he heard Oliver crying or saw a shadow that looked like Teresa or Louisa running, but it couldn’t be them. Oliver was right; the trails were Orpheal. One look back or one foot off the path could spell doom.
When he passed through a copse of bare, jagged pines and heard voices, he suspected it was another trap until he found Lucien Stills trying to drag Will Jarngren to his feet. At first, Felipe merely watched them from the shadows a few paces away. Will let his pale head fall back and his legs buckle under his own weight. He was dressed in a robe and trousers, but he looked even more disheveled than before. Lucien chastised him and tried to coach him on how to walk as one might do to a drunken friend, but Will wouldn’t cooperate. Felipe couldn’t tell if he was drugged or if he was purposely going limp as a ragdoll as Teresa had often done as a child when she didn’t want to go somewhere. When Lucien dropped Will in frustration, Felipe stepped closer.
“Where are you taking him?” Felipe called, tucking the gun close to his leg out of sight.
Lucien spun in search of the source of the voice and nearly dropped his cousin again in the process. Relief and confusion flashed across his face when he spotted Felipe standing between the trees.
“Inspector Galvan, what a relief, though if you’re here, you must be as lost as we are. I don’t know if you know this, but only the descendants of the Jarngrens can walk in the woods unscathed. If you come with us, we should be able to keep you safe.”
Felipe doubted that, but at least Lucien hadn’t noticed the signet ring. “What’s wrong with Willard?”
“Mother sedated him again this morning, and she must have given him too much. We are supposed to meet her in the Dysterwood, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to get Will there if he’s like this. She forgets I don’t know the way. Going into the Dysterwood is her and Will’s thing, not mine, and if he’s knocked out, he’s not going to be able to give me directions.”
Will murmured something that sounded like, “She’s going to kill me,” as he sank to the moss again.
Lucien rolled his eyes and hauled Will onto his feet. “She is not.”
“I don’t think he’s wrong, Mr. Stills. You two need to get out of the Dysterwood.”
“Get out? Inspector, even if I wanted to get out, I don’t know the way. Mother will know. I just need to find her. I assume the path will get us there or lead us back home eventually.”
Will gave Felipe a wild-eyed, pleading look. Daphne Stills had Oliver, and she was either going to try to sacrifice him or make a new covenant, whichever worked first. The only reason she would bring Will was as a sacrifice in case she couldn’t kill Oliver. He knew her sins after all. Felipe stared at the two men. He had to do something before they interfered with their plan. Will probably wouldn’t stand in their way, but Lucien— Felipe needed to take care of that. Pulling out his gun, Felipe aimed it at Lucien. The other man’s eyes went wide as he let go of his cousin’s arm.
“Let me make myself clear, you have two choices. You can either take Willard and get out or you can help me stop your mother from killing my partner. I can do the latter with or without you, but if you interfere, I will not hesitate to shoot you.”
The color drained from his face as he stared down the barrel of the gun. “Why— why do you think Mother is going to kill Dr. Barlow? What reason would she have to do that? ”
“Because he’s our cousin,” Will answered, his voice slurred. “She’s killed all the others. Why not him? Why not me?”
“Stop saying that! She hasn’t killed anyone. Mother would never do that.”
“Your mother kidnapped my partner this morning and marched him into the Dysterwood when she realized he was Stephen’s son if that’s any indication of her character.”
Lucien shook his head. “That can’t be. Mother would never do that. The stress of all this, of almost being killed, and the dead, and Father’s unpleasantness… She must be having some sort of nervous breakdown. She must not be in her right mind.”
“Lucien, wake up,” Felipe snapped. “Your mother has been killing people for years right in front of your eyes. Do you think your entire family tree dropped dead without help? Your aunts, uncles, cousins, Will’s sister, she killed them all.”
“But why? Why would she do that?”
“Greed. Power. You need to give the Lady blood to make iron. If she wasn’t making enough iron, Aunt Daphne simply gave her more blood, our blood.” Will rose to his knees with a watery laugh. “Grandfather told you being a Jarngren requires sacrifice. What did you think that meant?”
“Hard work and discipline! What person in their right mind would think he meant murder?” Lucien’s auburn brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you know it did?”
“Because your mother made me help!” Will yelled, his voice raw. “She couldn’t let you get your hands dirty. You were too sensitive and dense not to tell everyone. She knew I could keep a secret, and even if I couldn’t, she made sure no one would believe me. She couldn’t do that to her perfect son, the next mayor. She needed you for plausible deniability and to do her bidding.”
Lucien froze as if he had been slapped. He backed away from his cousin and nearly stepped off the path before catching himself. Felipe thought he might be sick, but he just stood there, staring at the trees. Helping Will to his feet, Felipe tried to catch Lucien’s eye .
“You two can finish this conversation later. Right now, I need to find Daphne Stills before she kills Oliver. Are you coming with me or leaving the Dysterwood?”
“Coming with,” Lucien replied without looking at them. “If what you say is true, Mother needs to be stopped once and for all.”
“Good. Then, let’s get going.”
Ushering the cousins forward, Felipe focused on the tether running from his heart to Oliver’s. Somewhere nearby, Oliver was waiting for him. He clung to that as the paths darkened and the shadow creatures encroached. The Dysterwood might be treacherous, but there was no path back to Oliver he wouldn’t follow.