21 Rapunzel
We don’t waste time once I’ve regained my balance. Braiding my hair again is a must to shadow hop, and in the time it takes to secure the tie at the end, Zarev’s swept through the clearing, hiding our footprints and checking that no one is nearby before we move. He forces a handful of nuts and the water flask into my hands, and I greedily eat.
The letters echo in my head, a mystery I desperately need to solve, and I don’t think I’m going to rest until I get answers about Lady Tremaine.
Maybe she’s still alive somewhere. Banished, sure, and when she spoke with Zarev, Dahlia made it sound like she last swept through the tavern a number of years ago. If she hasn’t passed, she could be anywhere in Mystica.
She’s Anastasia and Priscilla’s mother. Even if they are cruel to me, they deserve to have her back, don’t they?
“Open your map,” Zarev says, resting the scythe across his back as he shoves a folded bit of parchment at me. I dig around until I locate the one I’ve been making notes on, holding it out to him. He points, showing me how close we are to The Barrens. “ Sherwood is pretty dense through here. But at The Barrens sometimes there’s travelers, or skeletons.”
I nod, eyeing him. “I need the map for this?”
“Most likely, we’re going to see spirits, mad ones who needed to cross long ago.” He twists his neck, popping one side then the other like a nervous habit. “They are probably going to be lost in their thoughts, muttering like mad. They drop random facts in that state, like names of towns or landmarks or royals. Really anything that makes them furious in the afterlife. I know that map by heart. You might want to check things out when you hear them.”
It’s kind of eerie thinking that we’ll see so many dead soon. “Why do they go to The Barrens?”
He purses his lips, looking wistful for a moment. “The Barrens used to be an area further north, covering a sparse landscape that stretched from the thorny barrier of Thornton Palace up to the edges of the Red Forest, closest to the Mad Queen’s court. It was just an area where life didn’t really grow. But when Legs started using her magic, and the Queen added in her dark twists and poisoned the land, The Barrens stretched further. The land couldn’t handle the evil that leaked from the lands, and many Flowerborne rose from that spot before the earth was too tainted for them to continue. The edge of The Barrens is also near the stone plates that fell on us, turning us to Reapers.”
My eyes widen, forgetting all about the map. In his tale the stones sounded far away near the castle, not close to where we would go. “But the stones don’t exist anymore, do they? Since you fashioned weapons to reap out of them?”
“There’s still one, another pile of stones a bit away. There used to be a blade plunged into it, but some years ago Arthur came through and pulled the sword from the stone. That’s Excalibur, the deadly blade he wields.”
Pieces fall into place in my mind. “The stone where Excalibur was found is on the Queen’s lands?”
His brow twitches. “Yes.”
“So…” I lick my lips, dread settling over me. “So if there’s truth to the soldiers crawling through Mystica, and allying to attack Tressa?”
“There could be,” he agrees. “As far as most of the country knows, Excalibur rested in Camelot until Arthur pulled it free of the stone. It’s a secret he keeps from outside kingdoms, and only the Knights of the Round Table know anything about it. They’ve had an agreement for a long time.”
I shift away when he moves to pull me in, calling the shadows around us. If we start hopping it’s almost impossible to talk, and I want answers. “So how do you know?”
He blows out a breath. “Do you think we ran back to our old lives after death greeted us? We traveled through the Red Woods for a time, and crossed back and forth between there and Sherwood trying to learn how to exist in our half-alive states. We found the stone when we were traveling. Legs saw us one day, warning us that the Queen’s guards trample through every so often, and if she knew we had died at that point, she didn’t let on. When Lucius asked about the other stone, she admitted it belonged to Excalibur. I didn’t know the relevance of that until a few years later when I heard of the King of Camelot making waves across Mystica.”
I hold out my hand, and he slides his fingers against my warm palm as I process what he’s said. “We better get going before someone finds us. But I do want to know about Legs and all these secrets that keep surrounding my life.”
Zarev gives me a half smile, before pulling me against his body. I close my eyes, enjoying the warmth of him before the shadows surround us, whisking us away.
I study the map that night and well into the morning. Zarev dropped us far enough from The Barrens that I didn’t hear or see much last night, and it makes me antsy for today. I’ve folded and unfolded the letters a dozen times while he studies our surroundings, using skills I don’t have to listen to the wildlife around us.
His fingers rub at his chest, and I worry that will be a problem he’ll have to carry forever. Midas’ gift is supposed to turn the living to gold. But if Zarev’s half alive, he’ll be half-turned forever, and I’m not sure I can live with the guilt.
His head cocks to one side, listening. “I’ll take us across quickly,” he says, but when I follow his line of vision I don’t see what’s caught his attention. Maybe he’s just lost in thought. “Once we shadow hop to the other side we’ll have to slip past the border and see who is hiding over there. You’ll see the spirits when we hop.”
Nodding, I shove the map into my pocket and double check the letters are secure. I need to focus, and Zarev is too tense for my liking. He stares off into the distance again, and I can’t help wondering if going to the Red Woods brings back unwanted memories. Has he avoided the place all this time?
It wouldn’t surprise me. The Mad Queen seems to make enemies out of everyone.
When he’s ready, he wraps his arms around me and we disappear into the shadows. Traveling the short burst from our campsite to the edge of The Barrens only takes a single jump, and my eyes widen when I get my first glimpse of them.
The land reminds me of sand, like the pale spots I saw along the far edge of the docks in Tressa. I’ve never spent time on a beach, and I’ve only seen sand in pictures or from a great distance.
But the barrens aren’t beautiful. It’s surprisingly warm as Zarev leaves the security of Sherwood, a humid wind slamming into the shadows. For a moment I wonder if his shadow magic can travel someplace without shade, but there’s rocks and dead trees across the space.
He uses those to hop, but a smaller landing space seems to cause him to move faster. He said that he has to use a shady spot to blend with the shadows, sliding the inky blackness across space to move almost invisibly. If the space is small, it's easier for the disguise to fade, so we move quickly across The Barrens.
Then I see the spirits.
At first we’re shifting too fast, almost at a blinding speed, and it’s hard to pick them out. But in the shade of a tree for a few seconds I catch the faces of a few.
I almost lose my grip on Zarev. It’s impossible to talk when we’re part of the shadows, which ’s the only thing that keeps me from screaming. Their faces are horrid, contorted, like they’ve been pulled and torn and twisted; their bug eyes are enough to convince me that these spirits are different from Modred or even the ones Zarev mentioned from the gingerbread house.
Then we’re off again, The Barrens zipping by, and we either move too fast or there aren’t any other spirits nearby as we finish crossing. When he touches down on the other side I gasp, staggering to my knees. Zarev helps me down, kneeling in dewy grass with me.
Grass. Not weeds or dirt or sand, but grass. Prettier and greener than anything in Tressa. I hold my head for a moment, one hand pressed to the ground as I try to catch my breath.
“Going through different climates is harder on the body,” Zarev explains, rubbing soothing circles along my back. “Take your time. It’s disorienting to go from a cool forest to the heat of barren lands into the humidity of the Red Woods.”
He’s right, it’s much hotter here than in Sherwood. How far did we go? He wrapped us in shadows before I could see the edge of Sherwood, and I couldn’t gauge how far across it was.
It felt like a lifetime, but maybe it was only a few minutes.
When I can breathe again, I lift my gaze. The weeping willows are some of the biggest I’ve seen, but they are a mix of teal, sunshine yellow, and blood red. Looking around I see there’s an assortment of different trees in every color imaginable.
“I thought this was the Red Woods,” I breathe.
“Red for the dirt that used to cover the land. The Red Queen took over and killed so many people here the water in the streams turned red too. But this is the edge of Wonderland, and everything here is beyond imagination.”
Standing, I look at rows of flowers so tall they match the trees, and a few caterpillars crawl on by that are the size of children. I shift away from those, trying to take in the strange opulence that’s on the other side of a wasteland.
I turn to Zarev. “All this beauty and yet the space between two woods is uninhabitable?”
He shrugs. “It can’t be undone. Wonderland gets much of its beauty from people with too much power and vivid imaginations. It doesn’t extend to The Barrens. That’s where magic goes to die. I am Death and I can’t even open the rift there. That’s why the spirits wander. Until they step out of The Barrens into another part of the land, there’s nothing we can do.”
It’s hard to imagine The Barrens when I’m staring at all of this. Distracted, I move forward and brush my fingers over some leafy greens, wondering what type of plant this is. “What about the Flowerborne?”
“They aren’t going to be this close to the border, Princess. If they escape Legs, they will rush to leave the woods. I don’t know if she’s maintaining them or not, but outside of here they don’t have someone to control them. Hanging by the border is the last thing they want to do. In The Barrens, if they cross there, it’s a fifty-fifty chance that they cross without wilting and dying. Most of those plant-people aren’t the smartest. Some are only alive for a few moments before Death takes them.”
I swallow, trying to wrap my head around the morbidity in such a vibrant place. “So, how do we find Legs?”
Zarev scratches his chin, looking around. “She used to keep her house a few miles in. We can hike there so my magic isn’t totally sapped by the time we arrive, and in case we encounter anyone from Wonderland.”
“Do you think the Queen’s guards would come this direction?”
His lip twitches. “I think her army is everywhere. But Legs always did her own thing, and if the Queen isn’t collecting her flowers, I doubt Legs would go through the trouble of reporting us to her majesty. The Queen isn’t exactly her favorite person.”
I nod, turning again to take in the sights. I’d rather stand here and admire the scenery instead of looking for someone who may or may not even want to talk to us. A couple pieces of paper and a man she barely knows are hardly convincing enough to make this person want to see us. And if she knows anything about Tressa, she might not even want to see me if she works for the Queen.
But what do I know? Midas could be colluding with the Queen and it wouldn’t even surprise me anymore. Just because there’s words in the wind that she might want to seize the land doesn’t mean they aren’t working together.
Zarev’s fingers brush along my spine, offering a sense of comfort. “Don’t step out, but if you peer through the trees here, you can see The Barrens. I could feel you pulling to look when we hopped but we can only afford a quick glance.”
I offer him a grateful smile. As tedious as it is, he's humoring my need to explore, and I’m happy he can indulge me for a moment even if the view might be horrendous.
Stepping closer to a row of green-blue trees, I peer through the leaves and branches. My breath catches when I spot a spirit only a few yards off, floating sluggishly across The Barrens. I can’t see his face from this direction, but two more going the other way distract me.
One is a woman, and it looks like someone used a pair of scissors to slice open her head. As horrifying as she looks, it’s the man next to her that makes my heart stop.
I jerk backward, running into Zarev’s chest. “That’s Modred.”
He leans around me, peering through the trees. “It is.”
“How did he get this far?” I try to remember what the spirit was doing the last time I saw him. Maybe he’s as directionally challenged as me, but I didn’t think we’d see him this far from the gingerbread house. “What’s he doing out there?”
“The Barrens trap the spirits,” Zarev breathes. “Once he crossed into the land he became stuck. The Barrens are a lifeless, hopeless place. They remind the spirits of what they lost and how they died.”
I swallow. “So, that’s why his face is half-melted off?”
“Yes. If it melted completely he’d be bones and spirits hold on to bits of their lives, no matter how long ago they passed. Modred got left back in Sherwood, and when Ray found us he dealt with the spirits those two mimics stole. If Modred had just waited, he wouldn’t be suffering this fate now.”
“So there’s nothing you can do?” I sigh, turning to look at Zarev and he shakes his head. Anger causes my pulse to spike and my voice to raise. “That isn’t fair! Killing him was a mistake! I didn’t know that I could hurt people, or melt them, or…”
“You don’t know anything about your gift,” he corrects and the reality of that stings. “You knew you could recapture youth, now you know you can heal but that’s all. Melting flesh? That’s apparently a part of you, too. Your hair is strong as rope yet you barely ever use that power.”
“Except to strangle that one mimic,” I mutter. My extracurricular activities with Zarev don’t count. I’m not working on strengthening my powers when we’re in the middle of sex, I’m focused on controlling him without pain.
Zarev nods, grasping my shoulder to turn me away. “I told you. There’s nothing to be done about this. If my magic can’t do anything to help them pass on, then stepping foot into The Barrens is a risk not worth taking. The spirits would swarm you, and enough evil and angry spirits can kill someone living.”
I shudder. That’s not a death I want to experience.
He guides us away from the treeline, walking aimlessly, it seems to me, through the garden. We avoid rows of lilies and daisies that are painted in colors that make my eyes bulge at their vibrance. There’s more life here than anywhere else I’ve visited, and it seems backwards since so much evil lives in Wonderland.
It's beautiful here, making me forget that Wonderland seems to be feared by so many. “Do you know how to find Legs?”
“I haven't been to Wonderland in a long time, but when we first stumbled here she had a large home that stemmed from the base of this big tree. She saw us walking past and tried to warn us away. that's when we got caught.”
Sadness falls over us. Zarev wouldn't exist in my world If Wonderland hadn't tormented him, yet some sick part of me is thankful he's here now. “Do you think that shadow man you mentioned is still here?”
“Who knows. I spent enough time searching. I don't know if I'll ever find him or what I would do if I did. He made the four of us into the hands of Death, and in turn we have no answers from the living or dead about what’s happened to us.”
I point to his hands as we walk, curiosity getting the best of me. He’s in a chatty mood. “Why carve spades into your hands?”
“Oh.” He rubs his hands together, like the question makes him uncomfortable. I’ve heard the explanation before, but not about his friends. “The Queen was once the Queen of Hearts. She loved cards and games and was kind until darkness corroded her heart. When she first started changing, people would joke and taunt that the men and women she kidnapped and killed were going to build her a deck of cards, a living, or dead, army to do her bidding. There were four of us who were there that day, one for each suit, and one of the ridiculous men in her court made the suggestion.”
My eyes widen. “So, Raymundo-”
“He has clovers on his palms,” he explains. “Lucius was a bit of a beast, a man who had a family but lost his way. He egged her on, so she stabbed through his eyes. He’s blind now. There was a heart she cut into his cheek, just on one side. His tortured screams caused her to stop.”
A sick feeling rolls through my stomach as we walk. There’s more noise in the Red Woods then there was in Sherwood, but he seems oddly calmer on this side. It makes me feel less bad about asking my next question. “And, the fourth?”
“Ban?” Zarev chuckles, shaking his head. “Diamonds, cut into his forearms. He got a lot of hits on the court and nearly struck the Queen. She wanted him to bleed out and be unable to do much of anything before the end. His scars look the worst.”
I wince. She didn’t treat any of them right, but at least Zarev’s are on the back of his hands and not marring his cheeks.
We walk in silence for several long minutes, my eyes drinking in vines that twist and curve up and down the trees. I see a few rabbits and other small animals, but nothing big or dangerous. I’m starting to think Legs’ garden is a completely separate place from the rest of Wonderland.
“It should be up here,” Zarev says, drawing my attention from the scenery. “I haven’t seen Legs in a while, but Ban visits her from time to time. She should remember me-”
Something flies through the air, and I’m too slow to react. Thankfully Zarev has good reflexes, and the shadows fly up in front of us to block the weapon.
It slams into the wall of inky blackness before falling to the ground. When Zarev scatters the shadows, I can see that it’s a small dart. Could be deadly, but it looks more like a warning than a threat.
“Legs,” Zarev calls, and I jump at his voice. It’s the loudest he’s been since the tavern. “Stop throwing pollen bombs!”
There’s movement nearby, and I look down the path, anxious to see this friend of Zarev’s.
But the person doesn’t come down the path. Instead the vines of a tree twist, and massive leafy hands reach from the shadows of a canopy to grab them, descending downward.
There appear to be two flowers coming towards the ground. I cry out, needing him to hear me. “Zarev! Flowerborne!”
He grabs his scythe, but holds me back as the flowers continue to twist out of their hiding place. They’re large and as the flowers open, I realize it’s two massive roses with dainty faces at the center, the leaf-like limbs long enough to reach the ground without letting go of the vines from halfway up the tree.
The two flowers each carry something between them as they descend to the ground. It takes me a moment to realize it’s a woman, with a cape of black and red flowing from her back. When she reaches the ground, I see another creature forming. I start to think I’ve hit my head as pollen that makes me sneeze lifts from the grass, leaves twisting around to form a -
“Oh, that’s rich, Legs,” Zarev says, propping the scythe on his shoulder. “You’ve gone and made yourself a horse.”
The woman smiles, her dark hair slicked to her head. The two roses set her on the horse’s back, and the creature trots towards us.
This is definitely the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a lot after traveling through Mystica.
“Zarev,” she says, the horse guiding her over. “Death looks good on you. You haven’t aged at all.”
He snorts. “You know I won’t.”
She grins at him, her teeth perfectly straight and white. The horse comes to a stop in front of us, pivoting a little at her command, and my eyes widen.
Her legs end at the knee, deep black trousers covering the skin and rolling where her legs end. I suddenly understand the animated plant that walked her over here.
“You have some balls coming back to the Red Woods,” she tells him, and rolls her eyes when he scoffs. “And you brought a girl? What is this, a morbid honeymoon?”
I cough, taken aback by how blunt she is. Her eyes swivel to me, so green they almost match the grass in this place. “Now, you-”
She cuts herself off, jaw falling open as she stares at me. I force a smile, feeling awkward, and the silence settles between us. After a few moments, I clear my throat. “I’m…” I look at Zarev, wondering if she’s someone to trust. He nods, and I start again. “I’m Rapunzel.”
Legs nods, urging her horse closer. She comes within reach, and I glance at Zarev who only shrugs.
Reaching out, she closes her eyes, her fingers playing through my hair as she sighs. “Yes, I remember you.”