Page 85 of A Simple Truth (the Freckled Fate #2)

84

FINNLEAH

I had fallen asleep sitting up.

My back was now aching terribly as a reminder of that poor choice. I stretched from the crouched position, gradually getting up from the bed. The storm outside had quieted, the plants soaking up all the moisture, turning a potent green as a light fog settled in between the houses.

My eyes darted to the small nightstand near me, then around the room, only to find it empty. My stomach twisted with a tight, painful knot at the sight. Nothing. There was nothing.

My mind scattered all my thoughts in panic, leaving only a lingering feeling of devastation inside.

I waited all night, but Gideon had not replied.

He did not reply.

I told him I dreamed of him, of our future, and got silence as an answer.

My mouth turned dry as I tried not to think about it too long.

Fate’s justice was cruel, but in the end, I got what I deserved.

“We must go,” Aurelia protested as she jumped off the cocoon-like swing hanging from the center of her glass-dome room.

“We can’t, ReyRey,” I objected, leaning back on the beautifully made rocking chair.

“But didn’t you say you wanted to go to the places you saw in your visions? You had one of the Desolate Desert. We can go there.” She turned to me; her right brow perked up.

“Sure…” I reasoned, watching Aurelia return to the large, brown dresser, pulling out the bottom drawer until it thumped on the floor. She feverishly started throwing out all of the clothes out of it, clearly looking for something specific. “But I’ve been to the Desolate Desert and this place looked slightly different.”

“But it’s not the place, it’s the book that we need, isn’t it? And you saw the book.” She pulled out what I guessed were the only pair of pants she owned; her lips tugged down with a displeasing frown. “Hello, my nemesis, we meet again.” Her eyes narrowed at the fabric. A second later, she huffed, shoving her thin, long legs into the pants, underneath the dress she was still wearing.

“The thing is, I have a gut feeling that’s the book we’ve been looking for, but I am going off nothing but strong feelings. And those can turn wrong in the blink of an eye.” I swallowed, trying not to let my thoughts linger on the fact that I had yet to hear from Gideon. “Plus, the whole theory about the book of spells was a wild one to begin with.”

“Nah, you said it yourself that the papers Gideon had, seemed copied, too many abbreviations and shortened words. And they had to be copied from somewhere. A book of spells seemed to be the most reasonable answer. People love the dramatic feel of books. It’s simple math.” Aurelia spun around, though clearly hating the pants, she was pleased enough to see her flowy skirts swirl. “Though, I detest math. My dad loves it, and I pretend to like it, so he doesn’t feel sad sometimes. But it’s so-o-o boring. I don’t know how one can enjoy it.”

“Even so…even if our theory is correct, even if there is such a book to exist… I’ve been to the Desolate Desert. And it didn’t look like the place I saw in the vision. The place I saw had red, stone-like mountains, not just sand dunes.”

“You are a Seer…you now saw the image of whatever book we are looking for. Isn’t it your job to locate missing items and find them?” Aurelia interrupted as she scavenged her messy jewelry box, picking out a large beetle brooch, immediately tagging it on her shirt. “This will do.” She patted the embellishment, happy with her finished look.

I opened my mouth to object. But she was right. I could at least try and locate it. And perhaps, if I got lost in between threads of Fate, I wouldn’t have to come back and figure out what to write to Gideon tonight. I could be patient for a day, I told myself. I’d let him think over my words. Let him have that control over my heart. But a day was all he would get to ignore me. Then, I would write everything that laid heavy on my heart, words that demanded to be said.

“Fine. Do you have a map?” I sighed, getting up from my chair. Aurelia wickedly smiled as she tied a ribbon in her hair.

“I have all of them,” she replied, and she was not exaggerating. Within a few minutes, Aurelia waltzed into the room with scrolls of all kinds, small and tall, thick and thin, held loosely in her long arms.

“This is one map of all the rivers, this one is of the cities, this one” —she unrolled one of the scrolls— “Svitar, won’t need that one.” The maps chaotically rained on the floor.

“Here is the one with the Desolate Desert.” She opened a large map of all Esnox.

“Okay, but we are just looking on the map, nothing more…” My eyes silently cautioned her.

“Sure thing,” she sweetly cooed, already going through her hat collection, looking for what she referred to as her ‘adventure hat’.

After a little trouble concentrating, my mind slipped into a trance, diligently looking for that building amidst the silver threads of Fate. I had to find that grand painting and that book behind it that I so vividly saw in my vision last night. The vision that Aurelia had been working really hard to trigger since the moment we had come up with that wild theory on one of our morning walks.

We had tried everything. From scribbling on my skin so I could look like a book, to sleeping on a book instead of a pillow, to eating a piece of a paper (not my proudest moment) but I was desperate, desperate enough to say ‘book of spells’ two thousand times and to listen to Aurelia saying it back to me five thousand more times. Nothing worked.

Until now.

“There.” I pointed at the map to a tiny square, right on the Elfland border. “It’s there. Granted, it could be there years from now or in the past, I couldn’t find the mark of time in the vision.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“It’s there,” Aurelia confidently stated, placing another silky ribbon in her hair. A soft knock sounded, jerking our heads to the door.

“What are you two up to?” Lady De Villiar poked her head out from behind the door.

“Um…” I looked for words, yet came up blank, a part of me not wanting to give false hope about the insane theory we’d come up with.

“Nothing, mother.” Aurelia sweetly blinked at her. Fleur’s brown eyes narrowed at the sight of her daughter as she took in her chaotic outfit.

“You forget, daughter, that I was raised in court. I can smell a scheming lady a mile away.” The corner of her mouth went up. “And you are wearing pants. Where are you two going?” She interrogated.

“It’s my vision, Lady De Villiar, we had this theory about—” I started rambling, but Aurelia interrupted me.

“Ladies don’t reveal their secrets, mother, you know that. But if you must know, Finn is doing her Seer stuff, and I am helping her. The real question here is, are you going to help us?” She folded her arms, striking a very confident and powerful pose, as Lady De Villiar looked at her, assessing.

“It’s about time you went on a real adventure. What is it you two need?” She smirked, making my eyes widen.

“We are going to steal a dragon. And since I am banned from flying,” Aurelia said, also earning a surprised look from me. “Yeah, I tried to become a bird once, it was a good time. But they don’t let me fly anymore,” she explained, “Anyway, Finn is also not allowed to get close to the island, so we will need someone with a good reputation to get us near.” Her eyes sparkled with scheming thrill.

“Your father will not be happy, but I’ll see what I can do.” Lady De Villiar closed the door, leaving me behind, stunned.

“Oh, she is soooo going to get banned from that island too.” Aurelia smiled wide, full of excitement as she turned to me. “Wait, is this what you are going in?” She gave my sloppy outfit a scrutinizing look. “We might be scheming, but we are still ladies. Here.” She grabbed a shirt out of her dresser, throwing it to me.

Lady De Villiar did not waste any time, promptly returning in her outdoor dress with a sun umbrella.

“Ready, girls?” She put on her lacy gloves. Aurelia adjusted the frog ring she added to her outfit. I nodded. “Fly there and fly right back home.” Lady De Villiar instructed.

“A quick day trip, nothing more, mother. Just to see if that place is even real.” Aurelia squealed as we made our way to Dragonfly Island, unable to hold back her excitement.

I wasn’t sure how I had agreed to this. How I thought this was a proper way to spend my one day off from training with Xentar while he recovered from last night’s celebrations. But on the other hand, this was still a better alternative to being stuck at home all day, contemplating why Gideon had not responded.

“Keep her safe,” Lady De Villiar whispered just loud enough for only me to hear, and I nodded. She then cleared her throat. “Okay girls, go have fun and stay safe!” She landed a kiss on her daughter’s cheek, making Aurelia squirm, but she still smiled at the gesture. With that, we took a few final steps reaching the top of the island with dragonflies appearing in our view.