Chapter 36
Traveling with a blend of Fae magic and runes was nothing like normal spiriting.
Normal spiriting felt like getting tossed through space out of a catapult.
Rough, quick, and kind of nauseating. But this was different.
More like floating in the middle of a rainbow-colored ocean that was warm and soothing.
Vivid colors blurred all around me, greens and purples mixing with colors I couldn’t even identify.
It should’ve been overwhelming, but instead, I felt only peace.
Like this strange realm was telling me I belonged here .
. . a hand reached for me out of the colors, a voice calling my name that felt like home.
Connected to everything but tethered by nothing.
My friends were close, too. I couldn’t see them, but I could feel them there, in a way that went deeper than sight. Time ceased to exist, and I had no idea whether seconds or hours had passed as we drifted through space. Would we be stuck here forever?
Part of me wouldn’t have minded. Except something tugged on my brain . . .
Opie.
Neverthorn.
I jerked hard on the connection to where I wanted to be.
A second later, our journey came to a screeching halt, the swirling colors fading as quickly as they’d appeared. Darkness. The sound of owls in the distance. The lush smell of damp grass filled my nose, and I became aware of my own weight and the solid ground beneath me.
I looked around, trying to get my bearings in the moonlit darkness.
I blinked and then blinked again, but the view stayed the same. Neverthorn Academy was just ahead, the main gates behind us, the vines writhing as if they knew we’d slipped through.
“Holy crap, are we really here?” Fable marveled.
I glanced around to find eight sets of eyes on me. They had trusted, they had believed and yet . . . we all knew that it might not have worked.
I cleared my throat as if I’d never had a doubt. “Damn right we are.”
Gary’s mouth hung open and he finally managed to make it work. “Like, Harlow. What was that we went through?”
“Fae magic blended with runes.” I’d expected to be totally drained from the effort, but instead I found myself exhilarated and buzzing with giddy relief. “It worked.”
“You didn’t say it would be like tripping through rainbow soup.” Gary shook his head. “Seriously, like, did anyone else hear trees talking or was that just me?”
“I definitely heard some talking trees,” Zeed said. “I will unpack that one later because they had a lot of opinions.”
“Truly incredible,” Fable said. “No Dwimmer except Nocta himself has managed to pierce that barrier. You should be proud.”
The comparison to my father did not make me proud. Not one bit. I felt something cringe inside of me.
Typhon’s hand was on my lower back and a flush of soothing warmth rolled through me. Fable had already turned away as Typhon lowered his voice for me alone.
“You are not him, Harlow. What you did was all you.”
I looked back at him, relief and gratitude replacing the shame. “Thank you.”
His smile was just for me and again that feeling of connection flowed between us.
“What next?” Ross’s question broke the moment.
I turned to my friends. Now that I was free of the enveloping calm of my blended spell, the whole reason we’d taken the risk came back in a rush.
The school ahead was dark, the time difference, and whatever time we’d spent in the in-between landing us in the middle of the night. I gritted my teeth at the reminder of what was at stake.
“I need to get to Opie, that’s first.”
I raised my hand, fingers forming a quick, familiar rune.
‘Finders keepers’ had yet to fail me, and I pushed my magic forward to locate the necklace I’d given Opie before I’d left Neverthorn.
The tiny sparkling butterfly made its way from my palm, threading its way to a window on one of the higher floors.
“I think that’s her room, or close to it.” I counted the windows.
“Looks right to me,” Caterina said.
I’d taken one step before Typhon caught me, grabbing my shoulder.
“Hold. Let me go in first and feel this out. If I’m seen, no one will think twice about me being here. The moment someone – anyone – sees you, the alarm bells will be rung and Tarquinius will be on you.”
“But –”
He held both my arms now. “Not to mention that we have no idea what’s going on with Opie. Not that I don’t trust your vision, but that doesn’t mean every bit of what you saw was true. Visions are guides, not absolutes.”
I met his gaze and had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from asking if the part where we were best fucking friends as children was true or not, but I stopped myself.
He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I’ll go straight to Opie’s room. I’m not telling you to just sit here and wait. Go. Talk with Calypso. If something happened to Opie, she may know about it.”
I opened my mouth to argue but he held up a hand. “Listen to me. We need everyone alive and in one piece if we want to help her. Trust me on this.”
“He’s right, Harlow,” Marina took one of my hands, squeezing it gently. “I know it’s hard to have patience when you love someone who might be in danger, but the best thing you can do for her right now is not get caught.”
I stared at Typhon long and hard. But as much as part of me wanted to shove past him and run straight for Opie’s room myself, deep down I knew he was right. And I trusted him.
Squeezing Marina’s hand back, I let out a slow breath and tipped my head in a reluctant nod. “Straight to her room? Right?”
“Yes. And once I’ve delivered her to you, I need to find Tarquinius. There’s something . . .” He tapped two fingers to his temple and grimaced. “Something hiding in my head that I haven’t been able to shake loose. I want it back, whatever it is.”
“That’s disturbing,” Fable murmured, eyes narrowed with concern. “Your brain probably took quite a scrambling when you were trying to get through that curse of Mallachtan’s. You sure I shouldn’t be the one going in to check on Opie?”
Typhon shook his head. “No, because the same problems apply, Fable – someone could see you. It needs to be me.” He paused.
“Keep your guard up while here at Neverthorn – even if it’s only for a short time.
Things aren’t what they seem, and we must assume everyone inside is against us until we have reason to think otherwise.
” His expression was deadly serious. “Right now, the only people we trust are the ones standing here. Understood?”
I swallowed hard, hating that he was right. “We’ll go find Calypso and see what she knows. But if anything happens . . .”
“Nothing is going to happen to her on my watch,” Typhon’s voice softened as he locked eyes with me. “Stay together and keep your heads down. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes or less.” He paused for a long moment and then held my gaze. “If I don’t come back, you need to –”
“Bust into the school and start firing?” I asked, brows raised. “Roger that.”
He winced. “I was going to say hide out until you can get in touch with Liam, but I realize now that I’d just be fooling myself to think you’d listen.”
“Guess you better make sure you come back then, huh?”
He backed away, eyes still locked with mine in a silent promise, then turned and headed toward the dark looming walls of Neverthorn.
“Let’s go,” I motioned to my friends, not that they needed encouragement. “Calypso will know something.”
She had to know something.
The journey to the well felt longer than it had in the past. We were running, but fear and impatience made every step feel like we were slogging through mud.
The bone-cobbled well came into view, aged and covered in moss, but singing with power. More than a few skulls peered out at me, more noticeable now that I knew what I was looking at.
I slowed and turned to the others as I approached.
“You guys should hang back a bit. She can be a bit . . . moody in person.”
Ross snorted. “Because maybe she’ll try to trap one of us in a deal that would require us to go on another quest?”
“That too.” I couldn’t argue with that line of thought.
We did not need that right now.
The others exchanged glances and then nodded. “Yell if you need us.” Marina eyed the well with suspicion.
I sprinted the last few yards, gripping the cold stones at the edge as I peered down into the darkness.
“Calypso?” I called, heart jumping when my voice echoed hollowly back up at me. For a second, my heart stopped beating. Was it possible that she was injured?
Bryony had been confident that when the locket had gotten sizzled it was because of the Fae ritual, but now I had to wonder whether I’d been right in the first place. What if Calypso herself had blasted our connection because she was in trouble?
Or worse?
I started to swing a leg over the edge. “Calypso, I’m coming down!”
“Harlow!” A green face burst out of the water below, before I was fully over the edge. She grabbed the edge of the well and pulled herself fully up to sit on the edge.
The others all skittered further backward.
She reached for me, webbed hands grasping.
“Gods, I thought you might be dead. When the connection broke, I couldn’t feel anything.
It was like you’d vanished off the face of the earth.
I was so worried.” She paused, sounding suddenly self-conscious as she noticed the others, then coolly added, “About the coin, of course.”
“Sorry about that.” I took a second to process the fact that she was okay, and even let myself feel a rush of relief, but it was short lived. “Things got a little complicated and something went wonky with the locket. Look, have you seen –”
I cut off as a rustle sounded in a nearby bush. What the hell was this now?
I turned in time to see a small furry blur with a black mask racing straight toward me.
“Harlow!” Bandit howled my name, chittering as only a raccoon could before skidding to a stop by my ankles so he could scramble up my leg. “I knew it was you I smelled! At first I thought I was losing it but then no, I knew it was you!”