Page 42

ELI

Anna and I moved to climb up a bank and over a mound of dirt before our eyes landed on a beautiful, well-kept, sunny village, brimming with smiling people bustling around.

Flowers and bushes in bloom lined the outside of the shops.

The smell of freshly baked bread danced under my nose, and it was almost enough to comfort me even in light of what had just happened.

Had this been here the whole time that we’d been in the stream? I had a pretty good sense of smell and I found it odd that I wouldn’t have noticed the baking bread, but then again, I didn’t have my powers.

“Are you hungry?” I asked. She shrugged, still upset. I didn’t want us to be upset with each other; I didn’t want the tension or anger. I liked her smiling. I still had to convince her to leave here, but I would be patient. We had a lot more tiers to go through.

We walked up the dirt path, our clothes weighing us down, heavy and wet from the stream.

Several fae approached us, and I immediately moved in front of Anna, remembering that we were in fact in a tier in Tartarus, but to my surprise, the owner of a nearby shop kindly offered us dry clothes, which we accepted and were pleasantly surprised when it was followed by a hot meal.

“You’re sure that this is okay?” Anna asked the old woman at the table.

“Okay? This is more than okay. I never have anyone to feed. It’ll be a nice treat not having to give the rest of my stew to the pigs.

” The old woman’s eyes glittered. “Dear,” she said to Anna, “I don’t know if you like jewelry, but there’s the most beautiful jeweler next door and I happen to know for a fact they have a few pieces that would look beautiful on you. ”

Anna’s eyes lit up like fireflies. I’d never thought to ask if she liked jewelry, though I knew from experience she liked my pendant an awful lot.

“Oh, I’d love to go look if you’re sure it’s okay.” She looked to me. Most of the anger from our fight had left her and now we were both left with a sort of sad frustration. “Will you be all right?”

“Will you be?” I asked.

“I’ll just run next door for a few minutes and take a look,” she said.

“I had no idea you were such a jewelry hound,” I said to her.

“Well, I’m not, but my dad is. Kaohs has been looking for a few new obsidian pieces and I thought I’d get him something for when he retires.” She said her last words with a hint of fire.

Before walking out the door, she set her plate and bowl in the large stone sink of the old woman’s kitchen. The back half was a cozy living space, while the front was a clean and tidy shopping area.

“Right, now that she’s gone, let’s get down to business,” said the old woman.

I let out a chuckle, surprised by her sudden change in tone.

She stood and looked out into the shop before closing the door to the kitchen.

Immediately, I knew something wasn’t right.

“All right, listen,” she said, “in the forest, just past the circle of dirt that you arrived on, there is a patch of berries. ”

I looked back at the door, feeling lost and confused. It was an abrupt reminder that I was in the tiers and not in the kitchen of a sweet old woman in the middle of a perfect town. How had she known we’d arrived on the platform?

“Pay attention,” she scolded. “Behind the platform is a patch of berries; these berries are poisonous. Remember that; it’s important.”

“Okay,” I said. Every thought I had was about wanting to run and find Anna. Was she actually next door? Had the fae here done something with her?

“Behind the berry patch, you will find a door that leads to nowhere,” she continued.

“Okay,” I repeated. “Just a door—a door that leads to nowhere.” My brain began working faster, filling with questions. I got the feeling she was helping me. “Does the door lead us out of this tier?”

A smile pulled at her lips, causing wrinkles to form around her wise eyes. “Not in the way you hope.”

Something stalled inside of me. For half a second, the sil- liest thought I’d ever had occurred: What if I stayed here? Was there a possibility that this was nicer than the Elysian Fields with my family? Would it be ridiculous to get everyone else out and…stay?

She let out a hoarse laugh before a cough cut it off. “Only one of you may enter the door and leave.”

“At a time,” I said.

“At all,” she corrected. “Only one of you will leave this tier while the rest of you remain here. Forever.” My heart began to race.

“Only one of you will be moving to the next tier. In order for the door to work, you must each agree on one person to leave. Only then will the door open. You may not pick your- self, only another person.”

“What?” I said, standing up. My wooden chair screeched as it slid against the floor. “But we will never agree on one person collectively!”

She shrugged and turned, collecting dishes off the table and continuing on as though she hadn’t dropped that barrel of sea monkeys on me—and not the human ones, the horrible fae ones.

“Anyway, if you and your friend”—her voice was sud- denly light again—“are interested, there is a beautiful garden and walkway out past the village. The two of you would love it. I doubt she would be able to leave this place if she saw it.” She moved her head and the candle on the table lit her eyes unusually.

“Thank you. I have to go,” I muttered. My heart pounded in my head, and even amongst the pleasant atmosphere and scent of savory stew, instinct told me to get out of that room and get to the others as quickly as possible.

I stumbled out the door, falling into Anna with such force, I had to catch her so I didn’t knock her down. “The woman— the old woman told me there is a door?—”

“In the forest, and only one of us can leave,” Anna said. We looked at each other, neither of us knowing what to say.

“We have to find Walter, Eletha, and Bexley,” I said urgently. “We know where Walter and your sister are, but how the fuck are we going to find Bexley?”

My eyes darted around chaotically and landed on a large sign for a tavern down the road. “The tavern! I’ll check for Bexley.”

“We need to meet back at the platform,” Anna said as she grabbed my arm. “I’ll go get Eletha and Walter. I’m sure they’ve just been told as well.” She looked a little shook up, as if she just realized that the prospect of her leaving without the pendant was real.

“Anna, are you okay? Did anything happen in the jewelry shop? Does anyone need to be killed?” I asked. I wasn’t joking. If someone had hurt or scared her, they would regret it.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Everything just happened so fast, it startled me,” she said as she raised her hand to show me a ring on her thumb with an Asscher-cut black stone. “I got him a tourmaline ring. He’s going to love it,” she said proudly.

We quickly parted ways. She took off to tell Walter and Eletha, while I made my way into the surprisingly clean and welcoming tavern.

Sure enough, sitting at the bar was a dirt-covered Bexley with a brown bottle sitting in front of him.

He bent his head and stared at it with a look that held a bit of disgust. He looked like he was really going through something and for a moment I hesitated.

I didn’t really know him that well, but I knew him enough to help if I could.

A part of me felt saddened by the fact that he had chosen to stay in the tavern, instead of enjoying this incredible place. Maybe he couldn’t help it though.

I took a breath and moved to him. As confusing as it was, I wouldn’t want someone to walk away if I was in need of a friend, and he looked in need of a friend.

Besides, I needed to bring him back to the platform had he not heard and I needed to make certain that he voted for me to be the one to leave.

“There you are,” I said, sitting down next to him. The tavern lighting was dark and moody and it smelled like mead with a hint of seared fish. “Bexley,” I said, hoping to draw his attention away from the death stare he was giving his drink.

Slowly, he raised his head. “Hey, Eli, right?” “Yeah, call me Eli.”

He nodded and took a drink from the bottle. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “This shouldn’t be your part.”

I gave him a quizzical look but continued, assuming he was already inebriated.

“This is surprisingly comfortable here,” I mumbled.

A friendly bartender came over, bringing another drink to Bexley even though the other one hadn’t even been halfway finished. “What can I get you?” said the kind, gentle-looking barkeep with coils of gray hair in a horseshoe around his head.

“I’ll have whatever he’s having.”

“Scale of the Wyvern, sure thing,” he said as he poured me a matching drink and set it in front of me.

I didn’t care about drinking. I wanted to tell Bexley to get his ass up and move back to the platform, so we could make our decision, but something about the tavern and the look on Bexley’s face kept me from grabbing him and leaving. It would give me more time to convince him to vote for me anyway.

“So you found out,” he said.

“Found out what?” I asked. An eerie feeling had begun to creep its way into the pit of my stomach.

“About the doors. They’ll only let one of us out. We all have to vote,” he said listlessly, taking another pull from his bottle.

A man wearing a leather apron came up and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll see you again soon, right, Bexley? Take care. Thanks again for all your help.”

I could feel how deep the line was between my eyes without the aid of a looking glass. “So you know about the voting?” I asked, wondering how he could possibly know so many people here in the short amount of time since we’d arrived.

“Yeah, I know,” he said with the countenance of someone who had just lost their pet.