Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
EMORY
A roaring sound filled my ears, and my vision went hazy. Maverick had said the Deadlands. We were in the Deadlands. That couldn’t be true. No one went to the Deadlands. Not after it had been closed off all those years ago after the horrors of the Shadow War.
My heart hammered in my chest so hard it ached, and I was having a hard time catching my breath. I faintly heard the sound of a body thumping to the ground, of Maverick grumbling to himself, but it was hard to focus on anything but his words echoing in the empty chambers of my mind.
“Welcome to the star court.”
“Will you help me, for spirits’ sake?” a voice yelled, distant, hard to focus on.
“Welcome to the star court.”
If we were in Shiraeth, then we’d never leave. We’d fallen through a hole to get here. A hole we wouldn’t be able to climb back up. I whirled around and my vision cleared as I saw the entrance to the tunnel we’d come out of closing, vines and ice and fire and water all mixing to create prison bars that looked impenetrable.
“Welcome to the star court.”
“Help me get him up, damnit!”
Everything snapped back into sharp focus. Maverick knelt on the ground next to Driscoll, who was unconscious, his head bleeding. I ran to him, lifting his head, parting his coiled hair to look at the wound on his scalp, a bloody rock next to him that he must’ve fallen on.
“It’s not deep,” I said. “Just a superficial cut. He likely fainted from shock, not blood loss.”
“I told you not to follow me.” Maverick glared at me from the other side of Driscoll with those coppery brown eyes that held so much passion, so much ire. All directed at me.
“I told you this wasn’t one of our games,” he continued. “Why wouldn’t you listen? Now you’ve made a complete mess of everything.”
He shrugged off his coat, revealing his white button-up with those damn fitted trousers and suspenders that hugged his muscled arms and chest.
“Me?” I placed a hand on my chest. “I’ve made a mess of things? You’re the one who had to drag me into your office and question me.”
“I saved you.” He scoffed. “If I hadn’t insisted you come with me, you’d be at the frost castle right now, likely being arrested and thrown into the ice prisons.”
That was a valid point, not that I’d ever admit it.
“And you stole the bolt,” I said. “You stole it from them.” I gestured to Driscoll’s unconscious form, shifting so that his head lay in my lap.
“Only so you couldn’t steal it first.” He shoved the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows, revealing his muscled forearms. Scars and red markings covered his arms and hands. I knew every one. He’d told me about them. I’d witnessed him get some of them as the bone collector.
I could close my eyes and I’d still see them, know them as well as I knew my own features.
Blood and frost. How had I never put this together?
I swallowed, meeting his gaze and flushing when I realized he’d caught me staring. I ran a hand over Driscoll’s head in a soothing motion .
“I told you in confidence I was looking for the bolt,” I snapped. How stupid of me to think I could trust him. How stupid of me to open up to him like that. But that was when I’d thought he was someone different. Someone like me. “So you just wanted it to get the best of me? How mature.”
“Why I wanted it is none of your business,” he snapped back. “You’re not the only one after that bolt. It doesn’t matter anyway because now you’ve gone and lost it. Not only lost the bolt but also the white wolf.”
It hurt that I’d trusted him with that information. I still remembered how we’d lain together on that hill in the highlands. Side by side, both our hoods up, darkness cloaking us, and I’d told him my stupid aspirations, that I’d hoped to use the bolt to gain entry into the academy. He must’ve been laughing at me the entire time, knowing he wasn’t just part of the academy—he was the face of it.
I shook away the memory, shook away the tears threatening to fall.
Instead, I summoned another glare that I hurled his way. “I think we have bigger problems on our hands. Like how in the bloody frost we’re supposed to escape this place.”
“You can do whatever you’d like.” He stood abruptly, wiping his hands of the peculiar black dust coating them, coating the ground. “I have no intention of leaving.”
I stilled and slowly came to a stand. “You wanted to come here?”
His gaze was hard, unwavering, and his expression betrayed nothing.
I gazed around the strange landscape, unable to make sense of any of it. “Why would you want to come to the Deadlands? Everyone knows there is no escaping this place.”
Yes, I might have fantasized about exploring the mysterious former star court, but I never would’ve been crazy enough to do it.
His jaw ticked. I’d struck a nerve, but I didn’t know why. “As usual, little rabbit, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t call me that,” I said. At one point, the term had felt like an endearment. Now it felt like a mockery.
“What would you prefer I call you?” he asked. “Lady Growley?” He tsked. “Ah, but no. You can’t be called that anymore. Not after you murdered your husband. ”
I flinched like he’d slapped me. “Now who’s the one with no idea what they’re talking about?”
He crossed his arms. “This is where we say goodbye. It’s your fault you’re here, so you can deal with the consequences of your actions.”
It was as if he were a different person. The teasing, fun bone collector gone. In his place was a serious, very annoyed man. It was as if I’d never known him at all.
He scooped up his satchel and stalked away, feet crushing the little trees scattered across the ground. They squealed as his boot crunched over them.
“Where are you going?” I called, unable to help myself.
“None of your concern,” he called back. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t follow me again. You can see how well that worked out for you the first time.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not very good at taking orders,” I said.
He didn’t respond, just continued his way through the path of giant flowers. Some of them shuffled as he walked past, others dipping like they might brush against him. He paid no mind to any of it.
I couldn’t believe he’d come here on purpose. Was this for his job? Some research expedition? He had to know it was a fool’s errand. A one-way trip.
One of the flowers dipped down, its bright purple petals unfurling and hovering over his head. He stilled, looking up and shooting out a hand. Fire erupted from his fingertips, sizzling against the flower, which shrieked and straightened.
“You guys, I had the weirdest dream,” Driscoll said, sitting up and rubbing his head where he’d hit it. “Maverick said we were in Shiraeth. Can you imagine? That would basically mean we’re dead. Like completely dead. I’m talking no chance at surviving—” He stopped, eyes widening as he took in the landscape around us, gaze slowly working up to the twilight sky above. The dark purple twinkled with stars, ribbons of green undulating through the sky.
My breath caught in my throat. I’d heard about this, how the sun never shone here, the sky always dusky and twinkling. Even sixty years after the star court was destroyed, that still held true .
“Oh, fuck me.” Driscoll’s eyes widened. I held out a hand and helped him to a stand as he said, “That wasn’t a dream, was it?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it was.”
He scratched his head, frowning. “Why is everything so...?”
“Off?” I finished for him, then sighed. “I don’t know. I have no clue what’s going on or why anything is the way it is. I don’t know what we might face here, what the dangers are. I don’t know how we’ll ever escape.”
He planted his hands on his hips. “You’re the white rabbit. Figure it out. That’s what you do, right? You research and find unfindable things and somehow manage to steal them and hide your identity.”
I straightened at his description of me. He was right. I’d never let anything stop me from getting what I wanted. Not my mother. Not the Academy of Ladies. Not my husband. And certainly not the bone collector and his mysterious motives. Now, at a time in my life when I most needed to step up and be the white rabbit, I was shrinking away, acting like some hopeless, lost woman.
I was better than that. Stronger than that. I’d been through too much to give up. Now was not the time to fall. It was the time to rise.
I threw my arms around Driscoll, and he stiffened. “I don’t know you that well, but thank you for reminding me of who I want to be.”
His shoulders slumped. “Great, does this mean you’re going to save us?”
“Yes, yes it does.”
I unwrapped my arms from him, and he pointed. “Hey, where’s he going?”
I glared at Maverick's form, shrinking into the distance as he stalked farther away. “He’s not our concern anymore. He can do whatever he likes. My only motivation is getting us home safe.”
Driscoll raised a black brow. “What about the bolt?”
It would pain me to leave something like that behind, but we couldn’t go traipsing around the Deadlands looking for it. What I’d said was true. I knew nothing of the dangers here. No one did. And this... this strange world where nothing was as it seemed... it wasn’t a place I wanted to be for any longer than necessary .
“Our goal is to survive,” I said.
“Maybe Leoni will get help.” Driscoll shrugged. “Then again, we had our worst fight ever before I fell, so maybe not. Maybe she’s happy to finally be rid of me.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. They’d bickered a lot, but there seemed to be a fondness there. “I’m not good at relationships,” I said slowly. “The only ones I’ve ever had involved people who didn’t care about me, who only wanted me to exist for their benefit.”
My mother had reminded me again and again how a good husband would provide for me. That she’d spent our life savings for me to attend the Academy of Ladies and find a wealthy husband so I wasn’t a burden on her. That’s all I ever was to anyone.
If only she were still alive for me to prove her wrong.
Then, of course, there was the one relationship that had been the most real in my life. The one where I’d felt safest, where I felt like I could be myself. And it had all been a lie.
“Well, that sucks.” Driscoll kicked some of the black dirt, and it flew up in the air, a puff of ebony motes floating before us. “I’m not good at relationships either. Clearly. Probably because I’m too selfish.”
So Leoni’s words had gotten to him.
“Well, screw them,” I said.
His head shot up. “Who, exactly, are we screwing?”
“Everyone who doubts us.” I spread out my arms. “We’ll prove them all wrong.”
“I like your spirit. So where do we start with the screwing?” His face twisted. “Yes, I did just hear how that sounded.”
I took a deep breath, looking around this land of wonder. “I had some old maps of the star court stashed in that bunker. I’ve studied them a time or two, though not as well as I studied maps of the frost court and the sky court.” I crouched down, using my finger to sketch a rough outline of the star court as I remembered it.
“Wow, he must think highly of himself.” Driscoll nodded to my drawing.
I tilted my head, realizing it definitely looked like a very well-endowed man. “This is Shiraeth,” I clarified .
“Oh.” He knelt beside me. “Did not get that at all. Thought you were doing something with that screwing analogy. You know, like an erotic picture?—“
“I get it,” I cut him off, then glanced behind me at the massive mountains that rose to the sky. We’d come from the Glacier Mountains that bordered the former star court. I dragged my finger to the border. “We’re here,” I murmured, trying to remember the important locations.
The star castle was in the west part of the court. We were in the north. But where was the library? I remembered staring at drawings of it and being mesmerized by the structure. It had been so beautiful with its tall silver walls, ivy hanging down. And the inside. It had stairways that led to levels upon levels, secret passageways where one could get lost but find the most amazing books. It had levels upon levels, and more books than any other library in the seven courts. And it had been destroyed during the war.
“Are you okay?” Driscoll shot me a concerned look. “Is the shock finally hitting you? Are you realizing that we’re probably going to die? It’s okay. Let it come.” He cocked his head. “Hey, what’s that?” He pointed at something glinting on the ground.
I reached out and grabbed what looked like a chain, lifting the object up from the swath of dust surrounding it. A pocket watch. Silver and tarnished, the glass cracked, but the hands ticking away. I studied it. Ticking backward.
“Oh good, a broken clock,” Driscoll mumbled. “Just what we need.”
“Maybe it’s not broken.” I looked up at him. “Everything else in this world is warped. Maybe the clock is too. Maybe it’s supposed to tick backward. Like a timer.”
“Except what is it counting down to?” Driscoll gulped.
My stomach twisted. “I don’t know.” I stuffed it in the pocket of my trousers. Just another mystery to solve. But not the most important one currently.
“So what’s the plan?” Driscoll planted his hands on his hips.
I pointed to my drawing. “We’re here. The old library is somewhere around here.” I pointed south of us. “That’s where we should go. ”
He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think now is the time to go check out books. Besides, everything has been destroyed.”
“History is never truly gone,” I said. “It gets buried, misplaced, lost. But it can also be found. We’re going to that library and we’re going to get answers about how to get out of here.”