Chapter 1 #3
Before long, the narrow road that wound up the mountainside came into view, and I found that Jon had missed the turn in the path that should have led us to the cabin we were "borrowing".
This area of Colorado was so remote that passing cars were few and far between, but the Challenger’s sleek form was idling on the roadside.
Exhaust curled like a plume of fog in the cold.
The driver’s side of our new car was occupied.
Even from a distance, I knew Cliff’s silhouette, but he made no move to exit the car.
He gave a slight tilt of his head when he caught sight of Jon—obviously having been waiting for us.
“What are you up to?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at Jon.
His inscrutable expression wouldn’t budge, but the warmth in his voice betrayed him. “We want to show you something.” He held out his hands, finally breaking into a smile. “Close your eyes.”
I worked my jaw as my ears popped in protest against the climbing elevation. Hearing snow lightly batter the windows, I was all the more confused about where the boys were taking me.
“Why do I feel like a hostage?” I asked.
“Because you’re overdramatic,” Cliff said.
“Excuse me, I’m reasonably dramatic.” I discreetly tried to peek between my fingers and only glimpsed white landscape before Jon noticed.
“Keep your eyes covered,” Jon insisted, pulling me further from the window.
“Don’t you ever get tired of being so observant?” I grumbled.
But I knew as well as anyone that his vigilance had saved me for the umpteenth time that night.
Despite the boys’ strange giddiness, unmistakable tension still clouded the air after Jon had shared the news of the harpy with Cliff.
The matter was far from being laid to rest. This little venture was only a pause.
At long last, the car leveled out and came to a stop. Doors opened, letting in the chill that battled the car’s heater. Jon carried me outside and stepped away from the car for several long paces.
“Okay,” he said. “Open your eyes.”
Blinking, I fluttered out of his hand and gasped.
The treeline was behind us, and the sky blossomed overhead in a dizzying, cloudless expanse.
A valley of frost-covered greenery stretched toward sloping mountains, looking ancient and holy.
Everything was kissed in a majestic deep purple as night closed in.
“Thought you might want to soak in the view before we hit the road to scope out new locations tomorrow.” Cliff didn’t bother to hide his boastful tone as he drank in my slack-jawed stare.
“It doesn’t even look real,” I sighed. “Definitely worth being mysteriously kidnapped for.”
Cliff gave a soft snort of laughter. “We’re out here for more than the view, though.”
I turned to find him fiddling with a lighter, catching flame to a single pink candle atop a frosted cupcake absolutely packed with chocolate sprinkles. The wick finally took, and he brought it closer to me. I looked between him and the cupcake, puzzled.
“Happy birthday,” Jon said, breathless as though he had been holding in those words for some time.
“W-what?” I sputtered. “How—how do you—”
“You said you were born under the last new moon before the winter solstice, right?” Jon grinned when my eyes widened. “We did the math and a little internet scouring. Twenty-two years ago, the new moon would have fallen tonight. Today’s your birthday, Sylv.”
Perhaps I should have expected something like this. The boys had acted strangely when I mentioned that fairies didn’t celebrate individual birthdays the way humans did. We commemorated the passing of each year in small, family gatherings. Nothing elaborate and lavish like so many humans did.
I couldn’t even follow their calendar well enough to know when my own birthday landed, but they had done it. Had I not known them well enough, this attention to detail would have been disturbing—hunters researching, cataloging information, knowing far more than they ought to.
“Fucking stars, I almost got eaten by a harpy on my birthday.” My casual attempt at a chuckle was a pitifully strangled noise as I looked between the boys with unbridled affection. “I—what do I do now? I don’t know what to say.”
Jon beckoned me closer. “You don’t have to do anything—just enjoy. We have gifts for you.”
I gasped. “There’s more?”
Cliff dug into his jacket pocket and produced my snowflake charm. He had restrung the plastic bauble on a stronger chain, the previous one having been worn down from our adventures. Another charm rested against the snowflake—a circular golden token etched with stars.
“You’re going through my things now?” I half-heartedly smacked Cliff’s hand as I accepted the gift.
“Hey, you loot through my stuff every other day to add to your stash. At least I’m giving this back, with interest.”
“I suppose I’ll forgive you.” I wound the necklace around my waist, the weight of it both familiar and new.
Jon pulled an envelope from his pocket next. “I realized you don’t have any pictures of home. And I know there’s no looking back, but it doesn’t hurt to have a piece of it.” He reverently unveiled a sturdy piece of paper and turned a glossy photo toward me.
A small noise of awe escaped me. I brushed my fingers over the image of a painfully familiar type of forest, with lush branches cloaked in an autumn mist.
“It’s a postcard of North Carolina,” Jon explained. “The closest area to Elysia I could find. I’ll keep it in the sun visor for you. We can pull it down whenever you want.”
Smiling through tears, I wiped my face. “Thank you.”
I zipped to each of them to embrace them.
“Told you she was gonna cry,” Cliff grumbled with a manner of begrudging fondness that only he could achieve.
Still, he didn’t whisk me off when I hugged the side of his neck. His thumbs brushed my wings affectionately before he blew out the candle. “Dig in before the snow gets to it.”
They led me to a cluster of rocks near the edge of the overhang that offered a perfect view of the landscape. The boys settled in, sharing a thermos of whiskey and taking small pieces of the cupcake I couldn’t hope to finish.
Even as the sweetness of the treat filled me with warmth, the energy shifted in the air as we beheld the view. Looking west meant looking toward an ever-uncertain juncture. Tomorrow, we’d try our luck with tracking down Aelthorin, though it was far from our first attempt.
Once again, I pictured Mother pressing the old map into my hands.
I had revisited the memory hundreds of times to assuage myself, unable to shake the fire in her gaze on the night of my banishment.
I’d never seen that look on her. She wasn’t simply guessing about Aelthorin’s existence and safety.
She wouldn’t lie and send her child toward nothing.
The silence was broken by Cliff’s phone chiming in his pocket. He ignored the sound until it buzzed a second time. And a third.
“Can’t believe we even have signal out here…” Cliff trailed off as he caught sight of the alerts populating his screen.
“Cliff?” Jon studied his face.
“It… It’s Tammy,” Cliff said slowly, like he couldn’t believe it himself. “Shit.”
Jon checked his own phone as though expecting to find a twin message waiting.
Nothing. He leaned over to read Cliff’s screen, and I wheeled around in the air to do the same over their shoulders.
There was no contact name associated with the message, but that wasn’t surprising; Jon had told me how paranoid Tammy and other hunters were when it came to cycling through burner phones numerous times a year.
I thought we had things under control, but I may need my boys for this one. Things are getting damn dicey. Get here, and find Eros. —Coach
“Coach?” I asked.
“That’s what we called her when she was training us up,” Cliff murmured.
I frowned at the message, then at the boys’ grave expressions. “Is that as bad as it looks?”
“For her, yeah,” Jon said. “Tammy’s been hunting for like twenty-five years—way before she started training us. She’s a fucking veteran.”
I’d only seen a few pictures of their former mentor: early fifties, deep brown skin, and dark hair usually pulled off her face.
After warning Jon and Cliff about the bizarre witchcraft and gem-like occurrences plaguing cities in this mountain range, she’d fallen out of touch again.
The news reports about the strange activity had dwindled to nothing, and we’d assumed the matter was handled.
Perhaps the fact that I could still sense a gemstone in the area was more of an omen than I gave it credit for.
Something tugged uncertainly at the back of my mind. All of this felt like gazing into a dark hallway and knowing that someone was standing at the other end, but being unable to see them.
Cliff tapped out an urgent response. Address? Coordinates?
The minutes we waited for her response were filled with a silence that had teeth. Then, his phone chimed.
Aspen. 1189 Ponderosa Avenue. How soon can you get here?
The three of us exchanged a tense look before Cliff responded.
Looks like we’re two hours out. How’s the weather?
“The weather?” I asked in bewilderment. “She’s in danger, why the hell does that matter?”
“It’s a code phrase,” he said. “Been using it for years. If one of us compromised, it’s a way to nail down the severity. ‘No clouds’ means we can take it easy. Whereas ‘stormy skies’ is more like fucking step on it.”
Tammy texted back a single word.
Hurry.