Chapter Five #2
I took a few minutes and walked to a bench near the Hedge of the Butterfly Ward.
I sat down and tried to focus on anything…
Gideon, the shadow stone, the Priestess, my mom.
That was when I felt it. A quick glimmer of comfort that was quickly replaced with dread.
My mom was no longer in her own quarters.
I could feel it. The Priestess had placed her in the same dungeon she had tossed Gideon into.
I let out a shaky breath and reached again, this time feeling Gideon and Skonk, but they weren’t anywhere I recognized, and my pulse started hammering just as I heard footsteps.
I blinked my eyes open to see my dad in front of me. “You didn’t think you could sneak off without me, did you?”
I smiled and chuckled, hugging him as I stood.
“I was hoping you were still finishing your morning tea,” I said as I pulled back, though the relief of seeing him settled something in me I hadn’t realized was unraveling.
He gave me a wink. “Not a chance. Do you think you can run off and try to save the world without me?”
“At this point, I would just take getting mom back.”
He let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “I don't know what got into her. I really don't. But I believe she thought she could help somehow…Maybe talk sense into her mother. I think just the thought of you getting in the Priestess’ clutches scared her to death.”
I nodded and glanced back toward the Hedge, pressing my lips together as I tried to steady the rush of what I’d just felt, because it hadn’t been faint or uncertain.
It had been clear.
Too clear.
“She’s not in her quarters anymore,” I said quietly.
His expression shifted immediately. “Your mom?”
I nodded. “The Priestess moved her. The gargoyles reported it, and I felt it.” I exhaled slowly and rubbed my palm along my shoulder without thinking.
“She’s in the dungeons now. The same ones Gideon was in.
” My mind drifted back to when I found Gideon at the Priestess’ compound.
The chill of the stone, the absolute boundaries of the wrought iron gates, and the nonstop isolation.
“The thought of Mom thrown away is nearly paralyzing.”
My dad’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.
“I tried to reach further,” I continued, my voice lowering just slightly as I focused on it again. “I found Gideon… and Skonk.”
“And?” he asked.
“They’re not anywhere I recognize,” I said, shaking my head. “It felt… wet. Dense. Like the air was heavy. There was water, but not open water. More like marshland. Swampy. Thick.”
My dad’s brow furrowed as he listened, his arms folding across his chest as he thought it through.
“Not Shadowick?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “Not like what I’ve felt before.”
Footsteps approached from behind us, steady and familiar, and I turned just as Keegan stepped into view with Stella and Nova close behind.
Keegan’s gaze went straight to me. “You alright?”
I nodded once. “I saw something.”
That was enough to get their full attention.
Stella moved closer, her expression soft but sharp beneath it. “Well, darling, don’t keep us in suspense.”
I let out a breath and walked them through it, slower this time, making sure I didn’t miss anything, the damp air, the thick ground, the way the energy had felt tangled and unsettled in a way that didn’t sit right. Keegan’s gaze remained on mine as if he were imagining the place as I spoke.
I brought my gaze to Nova’s as she listened without interrupting, her green eyes steady on mine.
It felt good to be believed. That was one thing I remembered so often during my marriage to Alex…
the times I brought up concerns with him, mostly about his whereabouts, and he made me feel like I didn't know what I was talking about.
As wonky as some of my ideas had been once I arrived in Stonewick, no one ever made me feel like a fool.
When I finished, Nova tilted her head slightly, her expression shifting into something more focused.
“That sounds familiar,” she said.
I looked at her. “Familiar how?”
She glanced toward the courtyard, where the orcs still lingered in small groups, speaking quietly among themselves.
“There are marshlands beyond the outer regions where some of the orc hordes originated. What you’re describing sounds like what the goblin scouts reported back to us when they brought us the samples. ”
“That’s comforting,” Twobble muttered from somewhere behind.
“It means it’s a place that can hide movement,” Nova continued, ignoring him. “And it’s not somewhere most would think to look unless they knew the territory. I doubt the Priestess would think to look there.”
Keegan’s gaze shifted toward the orcs as well. “You think he went there on purpose.”
“I think he didn’t go alone,” Nova said. “And I think he didn’t choose it randomly.”
I nodded slowly, because that felt right. Gideon didn’t do random.
“Well, Skonk is with him.”
“True.” Twobble dusted his hands off from goodness knew what.
“I can talk with the orcs,” Nova added, already turning slightly. “Give them your details and try to have them help us pinpoint the actual area Gideon might be at.”
Stella placed a hand lightly on her arm. “I’ll come with you. It never hurts to have a little charm on your side.”
Nova gave the smallest nod.
Within moments, they were moving across the courtyard, their presence drawing the attention of the orcs as they approached, conversation shifting as they began to ask questions I couldn’t quite hear from where I stood.
I watched them for a moment before my gaze drifted back to Keegan, then to my dad, the weight of everything settling in again now that the vision had passed.
“I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing,” I said quietly.
Keegan’s brow furrowed slightly. “What do you mean?”
I glanced down at my hands, then back up. “Chasing the stone. Trying to find Gideon. All of this…” I exhaled slowly. “While my mom is sitting in a dungeon.”
Not much was said for a few minutes before my dad stepped closer, his voice steady. “It takes one to get the other.”
I looked at him. “You really believe that? What if I should be getting her out before I try to find the stone? What if I'm doing it in the reverse order?”
Keegan rested his hand on my shoulder, and I reached up and held it with mine.
“The Priestess wants that stone. If you get to it first, you take that advantage away from her. That changes everything. It will be much easier to get your mom back.”
Keegan nodded beside me. “He’s right.”
I swallowed, letting that settle, even as the doubt didn’t fully lift.
“Then why did Gideon leave with it?” I asked, more to myself than either of them. “He told us it was in a safe place. Why didn't he just leave it there?”
Keegan's eyes met mine. “How do you know he didn't?”
I dreaded that question because I hated the answer more. “I can feel it.”
Keegan couldn't hide his surprise. “You can feel the stone.”
It was more of a statement than a question, but I nodded.
Neither of them answered right away.
Keegan didn’t push, but I could tell he was thinking it through, piecing things together the way he always did.
I looked back toward Nova and Stella, still speaking with the orcs, and then out beyond them, toward the edge of the trees where the world shifted into something less certain.
Gideon hadn’t run.
He’d moved with purpose.
And whether I liked it or not, I had a feeling that purpose was tied to all of us, but maybe most of all, to me.
I just wasn’t sure yet if it was going to save us… or make everything worse.