Page 23 of Beneath Swan Lake (Deadly Endings #2)

I lose sight of Odette when the water slams into us, and her hand is torn from mine. I can’t get it back, and for a moment I fight against the water with the intention of reaching her again.

It’s no use. It’s almost as if a dam broke, filling the space with more water than I ever could have imagined. I struggle against the waves for a moment before giving up and letting the shadows slide over me. Beneath the water, it’s a bizarre feeling. Due to the constant movement, I find I can’t stay in one place and yet, I still don’t see Odette anywhere.

I just hope the water dispersing means the Queen can’t come through. I don’t know of any magic that would give her the ability to breathe underwater like this, so maybe she would be just as screwed as we are.

Across the water, I catch a brief glimpse of solid ice and realize it must be Ban. There’s no sign that he reached Odette, so without hesitation, I turn away and begin searching again.

Moving in the water is difficult with the pull of the current, and it takes several moments to find my way to the surface. When I break free, I circle above it in the shadows, looking desperately around for a sign of either of them above the water .

Nothing. No feathers, no ice, nothing. No one else is above the surface. I don’t see the Flowerborne that we heard approaching, nor any sign that the Queen managed to cross through into Swan Lake.

Panic seizes me. I need Odette to be okay. If she dies down here I’ll level the caves, the lake, and anything else that stands in my way. Of all the things she deserves, this pain isn’t it.

An eruption catches my attention, and I swivel around to see Ban break the surface. He spins above the water, ice shooting out in a layer around him. He gasps for breath above the water, slamming down into the ice where it cracks again.

His magic isn’t strong. Whatever the wizard did to him has lasting effects, and he’s had zero time to rebuild energy. The water slams into his ice plateau and shatters it, but Ban manages to launch up after the temporary reprieve, the shadows carrying him above the current.

Breathing heavily, he spots me a moment later. “Where’s Odette?”

Ban shakes his head at me, calling back across the space. “I thought you had her!”

Panicked, I continue to move around the space. If she doesn’t surface in a moment I’ll dive back down into the water, but I need her to be safe.

There. Her head bobs above the surface for a moment before she slips beneath the water again, and I rush over to dive down and grab her.

The wisp of a shadow cuts between us, and my brows knit together. Perhaps Ban has more strength than I thought, and he’s trying to help .

Something snags Odette out of the water, and I see her zipping away in the shadows. I don’t even question it as I give chase to the shadows. We can get out of the caves, away from the deathly looking glass, and figure out what’s happening from there.

The man with the timepiece is obsolete. It doesn’t matter what his device counted down to. He’s deader than he was before, and this much water should drown any Flowerborne who happened to be in the caves.

“Ray!”

I falter in the shadows, turning back to look. Ban should be in front of me.

The Ice Mage appears at the entrance of the cave. Before there was no water this close to the main, large room where Dima held his experiments. Now there’s a stream of water that splashes at his feet. He’s breathing heavily and leaning on the staff. “Who are you following?”

For a moment, I slide out of the shadows and stare at him. “The shadows… I thought I was following you.”

“I can’t move that fast, b-brother,” he pants, shaking his head. “I’m not the person holding your princess.”

Then who the fuck is?

Ban gestures with his hand, leaning on the staff. “Go! I’ll be fine! Find out who has her.”

I nod, glaring down the cavern tunnel. We’re on the edge of the room Dima used, but his spirit is nowhere to be found. Neither is Ban’s friend Barty.

The shadows rise and I sink into them, a renewed sense of urgency sweeping through me. Ban wouldn’t send me on if he wasn’t certain of his capabilities, and I need to focus on whoever grabbed Odette.

There’s only four Reapers. Zarev would bring Odette to me, Ban would grab the both of us, and Lucius doesn’t leave his palace prison. Who is this?

I make my way out of the caves much faster this time, hurrying desperately as I search for any sign of a swan or a shadow. I’m still trying to figure out who could mimic our magic when the morning sun blinds me, and I draw my bow and an arrow before jumping from the shadows.

A man stands not far from the exit point of the caves, a long cloak billowing down to his feet. He turns when I appear, and I spot Odette on the ground just behind him.

She’s looking at her hands. With two eyes.

It makes me pause just long enough to focus on the man, and the tension in the pull of my bow wavers. “Y… you.”

He nods, a face I can never forget gazing back at me. “Thank you for taking care of my friend, Raymundo. She became a casualty of the wrong kind of magic. Magic fueled by blood will always lead to nightmares in the end.”

I’m staring, and my jaw falling open as my arms drop. I’ve waited more than a decade to see this man again, and he’s oh so casually standing before me now. “Shadow man.”

He nods, stepping away from Odette. It’s almost strange to see her now with two eyes, both a bright green tinted by gold, and she looks as perplexed as I feel. “It’s nice to see four jokers turned to knights.”

I don’t respond, too bewildered to come up with a response. Already he’s fading, not like the shadows but like a dream, the edges of his body and billowing cloak going out of focus and slipping away. Our gazes meet, and his impossibly dark eyes remain the most solid part of his form. Even his hair as it catches the wind seems to be fading, and I get the feeling he’s going to slide back into the shadows soon enough.

Odette stands behind him, looking between the two of us. She seems to be alright, other than being sopping wet and looking like she’s seen a ghost.

I’m still staring as an icy breeze hits my side, and I don’t have to look to know it’s Ban. Still stuck between anger and confusion, I don’t know what else to say.

The Shadow Man looks between the two of us, keeping his back to Odette. “Boys. You’ve done well so far. I’ll see you soon, my dark nightmares.”

Ban and I react at the same time as he begins to fade. We’ve waited years for this moment, and we can’t just stand by and let him disappear. I cast shadows to try and stop his retreat, and Ban slips to his preferred power and attempts to capture him within an icy dungeon, his voice ringing out as he tries to keep the Shadow Man here. “Hey!”

Ice and shadows do nothing to stop him. Shadow Man slides through the ice and doesn’t even notice the shadows, his figure fading into nothing within a few seconds, leaving the three of us staring at the space where the shadow man disappeared.

Odette takes a deep breath before looking over at me. “That was him,” she breathed. “The man who saved me from Death when Dima ripped out my eye.”

~~~

We move further from the caves. I hopped around in the shadows before sapping my power. Ban did the same, but there wasn’t much he could do. His energy was drained, and being trapped down there for a significant amount of time, he would need time to recover. We tried searching, looking high and low, but there’s no sign of the Shadow Man.

When we wandered right up to the edges of Ravens Wood, we set up camp. The three of us won’t be able to travel far like this, and we could all use some rest.

I don’t know how or when he managed to locate it, but he’s been twirling that spinning needle he had been so fixated on since we sat down to eat. It’s bigger than a regular needle, belonging on a spinning wheel that one would use to spin silk. Why it was in a cave beneath the lake is beyond me and an even bigger mystery was why Ban was searching for it.

I want to hear Ban’s story about what he’s doing this far south. Instead I eye Odette, silently keeping track of every detail about her to ensure she’s not hiding any secret injuries or experiencing any more trauma than she already has. Her dress is an utter mess, soaked and stained, but the feathers held up remarkably well considering we all nearly drowned. We need to get better clothes for her, like the leathers I wear, if she plans to continue her travels.

Glancing towards Ban, he looks like a different person now that he’s shed some of the dirt from the caves. He took a quick dip into the lake before devouring every scrap of food he could get his hands on, and finally he looks less like an escaped prisoner and more like my old friend. His clothing is in ruins so I’ve tossed him one of my shirts. It’s short in the arms and torso because he’s taller than I am, but it fits fine elsewhere. Until he’s back in the Frostlands or decides to come to the tavern and share what’s going on, there isn’t much to be done about the sizing issue.

“So you’re originally from the Frostlands?” Odette asks, picking at the last bits of a meal. She scarfed down plenty of food too, and given what’s happened over the past day I didn’t argue with either of them when they kept grabbing at more food.

Ban takes a sip of water before he answers her, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. “Born and raised. I’ve lived in the Frostlands my entire life until I fell through a frozen lake and died.”

She looks between us, confusion coloring her eyes. “I thought you died in the, well… with the other Reapers. ”

He shrugs. “Then. Before. Death is a longtime friend of mine. I gained ice magic the first time I died, and the second I was cursed to siphon the dead.”

She stops eating, eyes going wide. “So you’re twice dead?”

He snorts. “You could call it that. I died in an accident, received a gift of life, and then became cursed with Death.”

She nods, chewing slowly before setting aside the last little bits of food. Wiping her hands, she ghosts her fingers over her eye. It’s in place, and seems to not be giving her any troubles. We tested it several times, and her vision seems to be unaffected by its return. She can see fine, and neither of us can feel Death on her. The orb should be lifeless and incapable of reattaching, yet the Shadow Man had no trouble restoring what was lost.

Even after her story, I still don’t understand him.

“So,” I say, nodding to his hands. “The needle?”

Ban shoots me a grin. “Aye. I’ve got to prick a frozen queen.”

“You don’t mean-” I hiss, the same time Odette sits forward and speaks.

“The Ice Queen?”

He smirks, looking between the two of us. “Yes, her. You know the tale. A subject of hers pricked her finger on a spinning wheel and cast the Queen into an endless sleep. Probably a spy from Wonderland intent on upending the north. ”

“But the Frostlands are ruled by the wealthy,” Odette replies, her brows furrowing together. “Icicle Pass limits trade. And the North Mountain is impenetrable. The whole range is. What good does it do anyone to cast the Queen into an endless sleep when the north needs a ruler?”

Ban chuckles. “You’re right indeed, Princess. It doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

Odette shrugs. “My parents sought different suitors for me. Some came from the Frostlands, but the heir to Swan Lake won’t move there and none of the wealthy bigots wanted to come down here, even for the throne. I learned quickly that the Frostlands aren’t all that friendly. Sorry to say but I’m glad I won’t be forced to marry someone from up there,”

Ban snorts, eyeing me before looking at the princess again. “That would be a tragedy indeed. You must be familiar with courting by this point, princess. You’re of age to wed yet Swan Lake still has no future King to take over the lands.”

She scoffs. “The last time I went on a journey with a suiter I was twenty, and Dima killed him. I’m not interested in finding a husband to crown King. I have better things to do with my time.”

Ban hums. “Interesting. You’re full of fire, aren’t you? I always thought your curse set in as a teenager during a bad outing with a date.”

“No, that’s a rumor, and there’s no sense listening to those. Like I said, I was twenty, and Dima killed the poor guy.” She tilts her head, looking thoughtfully at Ban. “I suppose everyone up north can’t be all that bad. Dima hailed from my own kingdom and he was a nightmare in disguise.”

“The people up north aren’t very friendly,” the Ice Mage agrees, his eyes drifting to the needle. He purposely doesn’t comment on half of what she just mentioned. “The Queen least of all.”

I purse my lips, trying to recall anything about the Queen of the North. An icy heart, no allies, and a tyrannical rule. She wasn’t blood-thirsty like the Mad Queen, but evil in her own right. Ban’s older than either myself or Zarev. Dying in the Frostlands changed him, and the Reapers curse changed him again.

“You’re going to wake her from a frozen sleep?” I ask, concern leaking into my voice as I steer the conversation back on track. “Is that good in a time like this?”

He shrugs. “She might turn into an ally for us, but more than anything she’ll be against the Mad Queen. And that’s what we want.”

My fingers press to my pockets, digging around for -

My eyes widen, and I yank the book free. I’d forgotten about Through the Looking Glass , and the volume is damp when I drag it from my cloak.

“You’re still carrying around the book?” Ban asks, and I glance at him. He’s giving me a quizzical look, one that matches Odette’s. “Is it any good?”

“It was.” Scoffing, I toss it to the side. The pages are all stuck together now and the binding is shot, but it was in bad shape before the lake tried to drown us. Odette shoots me a look before grabbing the book. “It had some interesting tidbits on Swanling, the Fountain of Youth, and a couple other places. They were supposedly sites that held a looking glass, I think.” I stopped to ponder when the pieces fell into place. “Hmm. The lake let us see the Queen, and according to Zarev the Queen stepped through the fountain in Tressa too. The book may be correct.”

Ban narrows his eyes at me, and I’m reminded of how disconnected he’s been for weeks. In my peripheral I see Odette reaching for her soaked bag, and she starts digging through it as Ban speaks. “What book?”

“I’ll fill you in later,” I grumble, watching Odette. She tugs out another book I didn’t even realize she had, and she stares at it before holding it up.

“Look,” she hisses. “Dima’s spellbook.”

“Did you say spellbook, Birdie?” I ask, surprised. I was focused on Ban from the moment I spotted him, and once I realized Odette was gone, I didn’t take much stock of the rest of the room. I didn’t even go back to see if anything in the main room survived after the flood in the cave below.

She nods. “I saw it in the cave and thought it might be useful.” She looks down, opening the cover and leafing through the pages. “And look. It’s not even damaged.”

“Huh,” I say, even as Ban reaches for the book. Odette doesn’t fight him, handing it over. “I guess he did something useful with his magic after all. ”

“Do you need this?” Ban asks her, glancing up. “Are you looking for something important?”

Odette shrugs, shooting me a look. “No, not exactly. I thought we could look through it-”

“Do you mind if I borrow it?” he interrupts, her brows drawing together. “Just for a little while. See this page here? It talks about the spinning needle.”

Leaning in, I see he’s right. There’s even a picture of it. It seemed like Ban knew just where to look in the book for this information. I glance over at him but his eyes are locked on Odette as he waits for her answer.

She looks a little uncomfortable but ultimately shrugs. “I’d like to be able to study it sometime, but if it’s that important to you right now, fine. Take it.”

Ban shoots her a wide grin, flipping the book closed. “Excellent. I am in your debt, Princess. I’ll repay you somehow.”

“Yes,” she agrees. “I’m sure you will.”

Ban nods, turning to stuff the book into the shadows. The spellbook couldn’t be in a safer place right now.

“Wait,” Odette says, startling the two of us a moment later. “Don’t looking glasses work both ways? You know, there has to be another access point on the other side to see into our side of the looking glass.”

My eyes widen. I’d almost forgotten that we had been talking about that. “Lake Wonderland. It’s in the book. There was another location too…”

I try to remember the name as Ban shakes his head. “Lake Wonderland. Of course she would have access to a looking glass so close to home. Maybe that’s why she started guarding her castle even more after the King of Diamonds died. She discovered the lake was a looking glass and wanted to keep it to herself.”

“It would make sense, but she didn’t have access to the others it seems.” I purse my lips, the name of the fourth pool escaping me. It’s such a miniscule thing after the day we’ve had, but it’s going to bug me. I’ll still bring the book with me, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything with it now that the text is ruined.

We fall into silence, the weight of too many questions and not enough answers settling between the three of us. Odette braids her hair, feeling her face constantly, and I try and puzzle out the name I’ve forgotten. It’s on the tip of my tongue.

Ban stands a few minutes later, stretching before grabbing his staff that’s leaned against a tree.He fidgets and adjusts the sleeves so they roll to his elbows. “Well, I best get going.”

Before I can say anything, Odette stands with a gasp. “Your scars.”

In the sunlight instead of the cave our scars are more pronounced. Mine are still significantly easier to hide on my palms, but the crudely cut diamonds on Ban’s upper forearms catch the light. She leans forward, eyeing the cuts before pulling back as though realizing what she's doing.

I chuckle. “You know we're used to the looks, Birdie. Ban used to gloat about those scars way back when. Perfect way to get women to feel for you and slide into bed with them.”

“I didn't gloat,” he replies with a scoff. “I bragged. To face the Mad Queen and live? That makes me legendary.”

Shaking my head, I can't help but smirk. “Maybe in your own head.”

He chuckles, and Odette is still watching us like we're putting on a show. “Well, travel safe, you two.”

“You really aren't going to come back to the tavern ?” I ask him, truly surprised. “Mum will be heartbroken if you don't say hi.”

“Good old Dahlia,” he says with a grin. “Tell her I'll make her an ice sculpture next time I visit. But I really need to get going. I'm already a month late.”

My brows shoot up. “To see a sleeping Queen?”

He throws his head back, roaring with laughter. “No, brother. The Queen’s not missing me one bit. Before that wizard interfered in my search I was on my way to see Legs. And you know how she gets when you blow her off.”