Chapter 26
There were no more hidden gems in the Vitor library, but we spent another day looking before admitting defeat and heading back to Perga. We cut through the forbidden forest again, living off the land and staying in hunting lodges along the way.
Now, only a few drunken songs away from Perga, tightness grew around my chest. Usually when I drew close to home, I looked forward to seeing Paul and Sley.
Now?
Now, heaviness hung on my heart and made my feet feel ten times as heavy.
Eventually, I’d have to face my brother, but I didn’t want that to be tonight.
Were any of my brother’s actions redeeming?
He wanted to kill Ace. He failed to tell me my life was in danger. There was no coming back from that.
I stomped past the old oak with the large burnt branch. Something in my brain misfired and I stumbled to a halt.
“Everything okay?” Ace asked.
“The tunnel.”
Ace scrunched up his face and looked around.
“When Sley and I were investigating the thefts of the town’s communal winter supplies, we found a tunnel leading from the storage building to this tree.” I pointed aggressively at the oak tree. Not fair. It wasn’t the tree’s fault.
I stomped over to where the hidden trap door lay in the moss and reached down.
Brushing the dirt away, I found the latch and heaved open the door.
Moss and dirt poured into the entrance of the tunnel.
If it hadn’t rained so prolifically lately, I would’ve stood in a massive dust cloud.
Instead, the dirt just plopped to the ground.
“The Broken Tongue.” Ace pointed at the door.
Sure enough, a line of symbols had been engraved into the wood of the trap door. I’d missed them when I’d first travelled through the tunnel.
I scowled and released the handle, letting the trap door slam back in place.
Spinning on my feet, I walked over to the poor oak tree.
The gnarled branches reached overhead breaking the moonlight and making shadows dance along the forest floor.
More symbols were carved into its rough bark.
They were faint. I would’ve missed these, too, if I hadn’t been looking for them.
“They’re phaaning everywhere.”
Ace stepped up to the tree and leaned forward. He ran his hand along the symbols. “Three symbols,” he said. He glanced at me over his shoulder, his dark brows angled down. “The three marked tree?”
A sense of annoyance, anger, and relief washed over me as a piece to the messed-up puzzle fell into place. Now we knew where O’Reilly met his accomplice. But what good would it serve us? He was now dead, and his accomplice wouldn’t be hanging out in the bushes waiting for us to discover them.
“Come on.” Ace straightened and walked back to where I stood.
Exhaustion weighed down my shoulders, and I suddenly wanted to sleep for five years.
“Let’s use the tunnel to get back. It’s going to rain again and at least we can keep dry.”
“Can’t,” I mumbled, turning back to the trail. “Sley and I blocked it on the other end. A little ‘phaan you’ to the thief.”
Ace sighed. “Then let’s try to beat the rain.”