Chapter 32
Idon’t know about the others, but I slept like the dead, and woke up . . . well not refreshed, but not stumbling on my feet.
Blurry eyed, I stared at the ceiling from my spot on the oversized chair. This was my last day at Heathermoor, and I . . . didn’t want to go. Yes, I wanted to go get Opie, but other than her and the coin, I wanted to stay here.
With these teachers.
With Thalienne mentoring me.
Zeed mumbled in his sleep. “No. No, no more weaving.”
A moan from him and then he was quiet again, his dream of his mother making him knit sweaters as some sort of punishment fading.
Groaning, feeling every one of the last few days in every protesting muscle, I sat up and forced myself to move.
One footstep on the front step, and I was in a crouch, a blasting rune ready, as Liam quietly let himself in, the click of the door soft.
He didn’t look like he’d slept much. “You okay?”
A shrug. “I was busy last night. Mallachtan and the Runecoats won’t be long.” He ran a hand over his head and gave me a weak smile.
Gary sat up and looked to me, his eyes swollen as if he’d been fighting in his sleep. “You two going? What do you want us to do?”
Zeed and Ross sat up, Zeed shooting up like someone had spiked him in the ass, his face drenched with sweat, his breathing hitched. “Shit. It’s time?”
I looked to Liam.
“Go to your dorms, pack whatever things are yours. Get breakfast and extra food. But pack light.”
All good advice.
“I don’t know how long this will take,” I said. I had no idea what Thalienne had planned for me. She’d mentioned a last-ditch option during one of our lessons . . . something about a Fae ritual, but I doubted even Fable knew anything about them.
“But if you need us, like, we can just use the stones, right?” Gary stretched and pushed to his feet.
I frowned and mentally reached for the stones but instead found myself brushing up against the connection directly between us.
Not unlike when we’d worked together to survive at Neverthorn.
Or when dealing with the Snatchlings. The moments of life and death that we’d lived through were binding us tighter.
I took my hand away from the pouch and deliberately made a mental reach for the connection to Gary again and tugged on it, crooking a finger.
Hard.
He took a half-step and his swollen eyes widened.
“Oh, shit, that’s, like . . . that’s cool. Does it go both ways?”
It was his turn to frown. Cat, Fable, Marina, and Ellie joined us as Gary crooked a finger at me.
There was the tiniest bump at the back of my right knee, like a dog booping me with its nose, and a whisper of Gary’s connection pulled me in his direction.
“Yeah, it does. I can feel you pulling at me.” I high-fived him, my energy spiking with this new feature. “I think I could find you anywhere. Maybe even feel your emotions without touching the stones. I don’t think we need them except for specific messages.”
The others didn’t do more than nod. Even with some sleep in them, it was clear they were still exhausted. We’d been running off adrenaline, and a weird time warp – both of which were clearly gone.
I scooped up Calypso’s locket and tucked her into my front pocket, reflex more than anything. Her presence was nearly as comforting as Bandit’s, strange as that seemed. I knew she’d have my back.
Liam put a hand on my arm. “Let’s go, Harlow.”
“Wait.” Ellie stepped forward. “Every bit helps.” She took my hands in hers and her healing flowed through me, wiping away the last of my fatigue; my muscles relaxed and I took a deep breath.
Ellie slumped only a little. “Go get it done, Harlow. You got this.”
My friends each added their words to hers, their arms to hers, and then it was time. The light of the morning sun was not yet here, but close. I grabbed my bag and Liam led the way as my friends broke off in six different directions.
Even with my exhaustion gone, I was strung tight as a bow as Liam led me across the grounds.
“I spoke with Thalienne last night. She’s expecting us at her home.”
“Home?”
“You didn’t think she slept in her office, did you?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
Small talk? You bet. And once it was done, there was nothing but silence for a solid ten minutes. I wanted to ask about Typhon.
“Thalienne’s cabin is tucked away in the forest behind Heathermoor, on the northern side, an area that is not on the student maps.” His voice sounded loud as a shotgun and I actually jumped.
“Right. Keeping herself some peace and quiet,” I nodded.
Liam fell silent again. As much as I wanted to break that silence, there was nothing to say that would make things better. I’d hurt him when I’d pulled away from his embrace, from what he had hoped would be the world-shattering kiss of a love nearly lost.
Fuck.
I wracked my brain for something to talk about. Not Typhon. Not the Fae initiation I was walking into. Mallachtan and the Runecoats had been accounted for.
Opie’s bracelet.
“With everything else, I haven’t had the chance to ask, what happened with Bellamy?” I said, as much to break the tension as to get the answer to the question. “Was he mad about the rock?”
Liam shot me a quick glance and then stared straight ahead, pointing at a thicket of brambles that arched over a pathway into the forest.
“He wasn’t surprised, to be honest. Without it I couldn’t convince him to give me the bracelet back. He said if I could bring him something ‘even juicier,’” he wrinkled his nose in disgust, “that he’d consider parting with it. He also said he doesn’t appreciate being taken advantage of.”
“Great,” I said, shoving down the bitter disappointment at the permanent loss of my gift from Opie, “I’ll add his name to my growing list of enemies.”
We stepped under the bramble arch and in front of us was Thalienne’s cabin.
This cabin looked less built than grown, as if the forest decided one day to make a room for itself and tolerated Thalienne afterward.
The building was low and stone-heavy, crouched into the earth, almost as if sinking back in rather than growing upward. Moss blanketed the roof in thick, velvety layers, not wild or unkempt, but curated. I could almost see Thalienne’s hand in the runes keeping it all kempt.
Ivy threaded along the stone walls framing the arched doorway.
The doorway itself was tall and narrow, not unlike the Fae Sage. Dark wood was polished to a soft sheen, with glass panes that glowed faintly from within. The light was warm but restrained, again, like Thalienne.
I’d been to a great deal of hidden places all over the world, and this one felt . . . different than every single one of them. It was not a place for lingering curiosity or casual questions. But a place where you arrive because you have been summoned, or because you have decided to be brave.
“She knows I’m coming?”
“Yes.”
Brave it was then.
We followed the narrow path that wound its way to the door. While I doubted many came here, the path was worn as if countless feet had walked it.
Was I stalling, drinking in the cabin and the gardens around it? You bet.
Ferns and low plants crowded the edges of the path, thriving under the canopy of ancient trees.
Then we were at the door and there was no turning back.
I stared at it and waited for the panic to come, for the anxiety to dig deep into my spine. But that part of me was quiet. I touched the wooden door with the palm of my hand and a zing of power flicked across my skin. Not comforting, exactly.
But it felt . . . right.
Liam rapped on the door, and I jerked my hand back as we stood to wait.
The seconds turned into nearly a minute. Maybe she wasn’t home?
“Liam . . .” I said, not even sure what direction I was going in, but feeling like I had to explain why I’d pulled away, that I hadn’t meant to lead him on, that Typhon was just . . . that I’d just –
The door swung open, and Bryony, not Thalienne, stood there, her pale face cast in the bare light of the morning.
“Thalienne is waiting.” She stepped back and waved us in.
The cabin was as lovely and serene inside as out. The backdrop full of countless green plants and earthy smells. I breathed in, calm flowing through me.
“Harlow. Liam.” Thalienne’s voice drew us forward.
She sat with her back to us, on an armchair in front of a crackling fire.
There was a pair of couches to either side of her. Liam and I sat on one, Bryony on the other.
“I must say . . .” Thalienne murmured, eyes locked on the flickering flames.
“That there has never been a moment that I have been prouder of my students. You faced an impossible task, together, and showed the world what you are truly made of. Well done.” She dipped her head in a graceful move, her white hair falling forward.
My throat tightened. So, unlike the blustering windbag Tarquinius, she wasn’t even trying to take credit as our teacher. And in all truth, she could have. It had been her words that had been the key to unlocking the curse.
This was a woman worth following, a leader worth fighting for.
Her hands rested in absolute stillness in her lap.
“I regret to inform you that the Senate believes that I, and my Fae bloodline, are what caused the training curse to go rogue. Mallachtan reached the Senate before we could alert them to the situation. He said, and I quote, ‘the half-breed’s wild magic caused this curse to turn on the students. I was able to weaken it, which is the only reason they survived.’ End quote.
Mallachtan and a massive team of Runecoats are on their way to relieve me of my position, by writ of the Senate. ”
Bryony banged her fist on the knotty coffee table. “All of it is absolute rubbish!”
Liam leaned forward. “Sage, I have every intention of leaving this morning and I’ll do my best to hold them off. Hopefully it will give you time to make plans . . .”
Thalienne held up one hand. “Even with you slowing them, Liam, they will be here by afternoon at the latest. Only because you survived, and you helped the others survive,” her eyes finally found mine, “am I not being sent into Everdark.”