Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Heat and moisture in the air surround me, and I know instantly that we are back in Dawnlin.
Before I can even open my eyes, I feel Weston’s hands at the clasp of my cloak, his deft fingers undoing it and pulling it from my shoulders in anticipation of the change in weather.
He tosses it to the ground on the side of the plateau before pulling his off and tossing it away as well.
We didn’t dress for Dawnlin. The cold in Blackwood wouldn’t have allowed it, and it would have made it too suspicious as we tried to sneak past the guards, but the moment his garment hits the floor, excitement courses through me again.
“Are you both alright?” Edmond asks as he takes a step back, pulling off his cloak and draping it over his arm.
“I’m alright.” I finally take a moment to catch my breath, though my body hasn’t yet forgotten how long I spent here, and it isn’t difficult like it was the first time.
I glance around at the same view that enraptured me before and note the oddly uneasy feeling in my stomach.
It was mere days ago that we were trying so hard to leave, and I’m already back in a place I thought would be my home forever.
Not for long.
Weston stays quiet beside me, and I look up, squinting into the bright rays of the suns, trying to see if there’s something stopping him from answering his father.
“Are you all right?” I ask quietly. My eyes catch on the tick of a muscle in his jaw before he nods, looking down at the ground between us.
“Yes.”
I barely can get a sound out to ask something more, to figure out why he’s behaving so oddly…or more like he used to, but Edmond interjects.
“Then let us head to the mountain. I am sure you both know the way.” Edmond gestures down the pathway with a smile, and Weston’s hand settles firmly in the small of my back.
He leads me down the path, and I struggle to keep up with his brisk pace.
I sneak glances at him as we walk, trying to catch any sort of clue or expression that could give me insight as to what is going on in his mind.
Something doesn’t feel right. He’s quiet and tense, but it’s not just him that feels different.
The island does too, and I can’t figure out why.
Maybe it is because of the new Guardian, this being the first time he has stepped foot on the island since the magic claimed him.
Or maybe this is how it was supposed to feel, before the magic was cheated.
Pushing all the thoughts aside, I focus on the reason we’re here, not Weston’s mood, not Dane changing the magic.
We got a second chance, and all I need to think about is whether I will be worthy or not.
As we weave down the familiar trodden path, I feel a pang of sadness.
We don’t have to hurry, don’t have to look around or watch our movements.
There’s no one we are going to run into, no Voyager hunting us down, no Dane to contend with.
There’s only Dawnlin, and whatever obstacles we may run into the closer we get to the mountain.
It makes me miss everyone even more and feel guilty that, with all the developments in my kingdom, I’ve barely thought about anyone.
I won’t do that again, starting the moment we get home.
No one speaks as we traipse through the calm path, and I scan the surroundings in anticipation of the island changing beneath our feet.
Despite having found the waters before, we still can’t be too comfortable, and it’s hard to let go of the heightened awareness that I’ve become so accustomed to here.
We curve around the marsh, approaching the spot Weston and I met Mara and Roley barely over two weeks ago, and the sound of the rushing river below roars in the distance, just as the bridge comes into view.
Weston almost stumbles over me as my body jolts to a halt. My eyes widen and my jaw falls open as I take in every detail.
What the fuck?
“Lennox, what’s wrong?” Weston grumbles beside me, and I slowly raise my hand to point to what my mind can’t wrap around.
“The bridge. It’s perfect.” The words leave my lips in a rush, and Weston’s head snaps toward it in response. The moment he sees it, he takes a hesitant step forward, like he too can’t believe what is right before his eyes, how different it is from what he’s known to be here for twenty years.
Brushing past him, I run to the edge of the bridge, forcing myself to stop at the entrance and peer across.
My hands wrap hesitantly around the thick rope, as if it is going to disappear if I touch it.
The fibers are firm and solid beneath my fingertips, with no frays or wear from years of being exposed to the elements.
The wooden boards—the ones I almost fell through to a premature death—aren’t the same at all.
It’s as if no one has ever walked across them before.
Thick and solid, evenly spaced and polished, even the gaping hole where my body dangled above the monsters is nowhere in sight.
The monsters.
I bolt to the side and clamber up the boulder next to the bridge, leaning over the edge of the rock as far as I can to peer into the river below.
Weston’s hands grip my hips to keep me stable and stop me from leaning too far, but I don’t need to get any farther.
The breath is sucked from my lungs, and my eyes take in the gently flowing water, clear and sparkling underneath the evening sunlight.
Whipping my head over my shoulder, my voice rises, matching the mixture of confusion and excitement at war inside of me. “They’re gone. The monsters are gone!”
“Where the hell would they go?” He leans over me to look into the canyon himself before muttering under his breath. “Shit.”
“I was right.” I spin around and slide down the side of the rock, dusting the dirt and stray gravel off my backside quickly.
“The island was protecting the waters. All the dangers, all the changes, it was all because of Dane. Now that he’s not here to protect against, it’s like the island is restored. ”
“So it all disappeared,” he murmurs, catching my gaze before we both look back toward Edmond.
“Is there something you’re looking for?” he asks, a look of confusion on his face.
“I’ll explain after, Pop.” Weston takes my hand again, lacing his fingers through mine and tugging me back toward the path. “We need to get to the mountain.”
We walk faster than before, and my legs burn with exertion as I try to keep up with Weston’s long strides. The twists and turns wind us alongside the forest and bring us to the same spot I stood when I figured out the clues, when I saw the symbol of Dawnlin from the opposite side of the lagoon.
But just as the island had shockingly changed back at the bridge, the sight before us holds no symbol, no sign that anything is hidden, because on the other side of the lagoon, the mountain isn’t the same one we left behind.
My jaw falls open, and I tug on Weston’s arm, pulling him to a stop.
“Look!”
The waterfall no longer conceals the entrance.
The powerful wall of water that hid the doors now splits in two, the cascading veils following the curve of the stone door that sits between them.
The stone bridge is exactly the same, arching over the river and second set of falls and caves that the waterfall creates, but this time, it’s not just a bridge.
Another stone walkway connects to the side, extending right to the base of the platform, as if the island never wanted to hide the entrance from anyone.
Because it never had to.
A disbelieving laugh bubbles from my chest, and tears well in my eyes.
“You both know what to do,” Edmond says from beside us. “I will see you when you return.”
I can’t wait another second. Hope swells in my chest, and a grin splits my face as the feeling of triumph overwhelms me.
This feels real and so much different from the last time I gazed out over the lagoon after my map led me to it.
Squeezing Weston’s hand, I take off running.
My knees kick up the length of my skirts, and I wish, if not for this moment alone, that I had worn pants.
Weston matches my pace, reaching out to catch me when I stumble on some stray rocks as we get closer, then urging me on once more.
Not once did the island trap us.
Not once did our course change.
There was no flicker of a fin in the lagoon, no snap of a monster from the canyon.
The island brought us back to get the healing waters, and isn’t protecting them any longer.
Maybe we will be worthy after all.
Water glistens on the slick stone bridge, and Weston slows us to a walk so we can cross it without risking a fall.
I take in the sight of the new twin waterfalls cascading on either side of us as we slowly cross the new pathway to the platform.
Our boots barely meet the ground before a loud crack echoes around us, and a gap appears between the two stone doors as they swing inside, signaling torches to light down the tunnel.
“I can’t believe it. It was supposed to be easy,” I breathe.
My chest still heaves from the run, and now from the anticipation of the chambers that await.
I flex my fingers as the tips begin to tingle, curling them into fists to fight the eruption of emotions.
Weston reaches over, taking my hands in his and turns me to face him.
“Lennox.”
I drag my focus away from the entrance and bring it back to him.
He brushes a strand of hair off my face, and his fingers wrap around my head, but he says nothing, only looks at me with longing and hesitancy.
It’s a look I am familiar with. It’s the same way he looked at me before the night he saved me and got down on a knee to swear his oath.
“What’s wrong, Weston? You’re acting strange.” My eyes search his, but his only grow more intense. His other hand finds my face and tilts my neck gently as he takes a step to close the gap between us.
“Nothing is wrong,” he grumbles, but something deep in my stomach tells me I can’t believe him.
“Just remember, nothing could ever happen that will change how much I love you. Not here, not in Blackwood. Without you, I had no purpose, and you will be what I live and breathe for. My life isn’t worth anything without you in it. ”
“Weston, you’re scaring me,” I mutter just before he crushes me in a kiss, leaving me breathless before pulling away and grabbing my hand.
My mind spins with his words and the look on his face, but he doesn’t give me a chance to do anything about it.
Before I have time to think, or even try to decipher what he could be talking about in this moment we’ve both spent years waiting for, he takes the first step into the mountain, and the stone doors slam shut behind us.