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Melodie stared at him, and there was fear in her eyes. “That is a lot of magical power for us to overcome.”

“I should have told you this before I asked you to come along, but I only remembered all the details this morning.”

“That’s what you were thinking about this morning, staring up at the ceiling?” she asked.

“No. That wasn’t what I was thinking about.” He bent his head and brushed a kiss on her lips.

The sound of something scurrying in the thick hedge that bordered the road forced him to pull back, listening.

“My ring is quiet,” Melodie told him.

He met her bright gaze, and gave a nod. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

He forced his attention from her and focused on the world around him. It seemed to fade away when he got too close to her, but now was not the time to enjoy that.

But when this was done, he would. He most certainly would.

They walked for another ten minutes, until he saw a path through the hedge. Given the footprints visible in the soft sand, he guessed this was the way to the meeting spot.

He stopped on the road, waiting for Melodie to reach his side.

“See anything?” he asked.

“No. Let me go first, though.”

He didn’t want to let her, but right now, she could see the danger better than he could.

He gave a nod, keeping close behind her as she began down the path.

The hedge disappeared in a few steps, and they were suddenly in a gloomy clearing, surrounded by young growth trees, which filtered the light green.

There was the bell, sitting on a massive tree stump.

Melodie moved around it slowly. “The bell is magical,” she said. “But that’s the only thing that is, that I can see.”

“I’m going to work my way through the trees,” Theo told her. He wanted to see if Marchant had a place where he could stand and watch Gus before he made himself known.

He found the gap in the trees which seemed the most likely place to enter the clearing from the opposite side, and a few steps back he found a well-worn spot with a clear view of the clearing if you crouched down.

He watched Melodie walking around, and then she stopped. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. He didn’t know if she was listening for danger, or enjoying the cool green of thewoods and the sound of birdsong and the babble of a nearby brook.

It was idyllic if you took away the reason they were here.

The light filtered through the leaves to touch her long dark hair, illuminating the golden strands within the dark brown, and gilding her beautiful face.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and she turned, looking toward the road.

He was in the clearing as fast as he could move.

Her gaze met his, and she lifted a finger to her lips.

He stepped close to her, and pulled her even closer before he bent his lips to her ear. “Danger?”

She shook her head, then hesitated. “Not sure. Someone is coming, though.”

He could hear them, too, now, coming toward them from the road.

With no good way out, and the possibility that someone was here to ring the bell, and draw Marchant to a meeting, he guided her with him between the trees, where he found a place to hide where Marchant, even if he crouched down in his hiding spot, wouldn’t see them.