Page 55

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

W e stare at that yellow mass that floats in between the tree trunks almost like fine sand. It obscures the view of the forest ahead, turning everything into a murky yellow haze, and it spreads out on both our left and right.

Alistair raises his hand. “I vote for not walking into the suspicious yellow cloud.”

“Excellent idea,” we all agree.

Cocking my head, I glance between the cloud and the trees to our left, where another faction is still drawing closer. “Speaking of ideas, I might have one.”

Half a minute later, I’m standing alone in front of that swirling yellow cloud while footsteps echo between the trees on my left.

Sunlight, though slightly distorted through the half-transparent ceiling of the pocket reality, filters down through the gaps in the thick green canopy above.

It catches in that yellow dust, making the small specks appear brighter. I wonder what it is.

“You!” a furious voice snaps.

I gasp and whip around towards the source of the voice.

The entire White Faction stalks out of the woods. Anger now mixes with the excitement on their faces as they advance on me. Or at least on five of their faces. The sixth person only looks frightened.

“You broke Oleander,” the leader growls.

The words catch me off guard, and I flinch at how unexpectedly hard they hit.

My gaze darts to the tall and muscular man on the right.

Oleander Darkmane moves with his teammates when they approach, but he keeps another person between him and me, and his red and blue eyes are filled with fear as he watches me.

I swallow against a sudden overwhelming feeling of guilt. I did break him. I changed him with my magic, and now I can’t change him back.

At the thought, a sudden craving, a hunger, stirs inside me. And a small voice whispers there in the darkness. But the pleasure… Remember how good it felt? Do it again.

Blocking out the disturbing thoughts, I shift my gaze back to the team leader while taking a step back. “Look?—”

“No,” he snaps. “Shut up. Oleander was a crowd favorite.” He casts a glance up at the sky. “I hope they’re watching, because now, we’re going to make you pay for what you did to him.”

I raise my hands and take another step back. “You don’t need to do this.”

They continue advancing on me, malice glittering in their eyes.

“Need?” the leader says with a vicious smirk. “No, we don’t need to. But we want to.”

My heart patters nervously as I continue retreating, keeping my hands up, while they stalk towards me.

A blond woman on the left narrows her eyes at me. “Where’s the rest of your faction?”

“Oh.” I take another step back, passing right next to a thick tree trunk. “They’re over there, setting up an ambush.”

The entire White Faction stops dead in their tracks. Blinking, they stare at me in shock.

“What?” the leader blurts out. “What do you?—”

A massive storm wind slams into them from the side. The force of it is so strong, and it catches them completely off guard, that they only manage to cry out in panic before they’re sent flying right into that swirling yellow cloud next to them.

Since I’m standing so close, I’m also in the blast range, but the thick tree that I was passing takes the brunt of the hit. Branches rattle and leaves flutter down as the winds crash into the tree. I dig my heels into the ground, staying firmly behind cover.

Then the wind dies down.

A moment later, loud thuds echo through the forest as the White Faction lands somewhere inside the yellow haze.

Straightening, I peek out from behind the tree to find my friends strolling back out of the bushes they were hiding behind.

From inside the cloud, cries of alarm and panic start to rise.

“Where are we?”

“Why are you blue?”

“I can’t find my hands!”

“I think my hair is on fire!”

“I can’t find my hair!”

I flash my friends a satisfied grin. “Well, that should keep them busy for a while.”

Lyra laughs and elbows Galen in the side. He shakes his head but smiles as well. Next to him, Alistair casts a dubious look at the mass of yellow.

“Yeah, except now, the cloud is moving,” he points out.

Turning my head, I find that the cloud has indeed started to swirl violently, shifting it away from us and moving it more to the sides. I lift my forearm and hold it over my nose and mouth as those countless yellow specks begin spreading dangerously.

While taking a step away from the spreading cloud, Alistair shifts his gaze to Draven and arches an eyebrow. “Couldn’t have gone for more of a precision blast?”

Draven gives him a sidelong glance. “Loud and messy.”

Alistair snorts.

“Enough yapping,” Isera interrupts. “We’ve bought a head start. Let’s use it.”

Leaping into action, we spin around and take off in the other direction.

Not the one that the White Faction came from, in case they left some traps or other nasty surprises.

That yellow cloud is rippling and swirling after Draven’s blast of wind, but we keep a safe distance from the edge while running around it instead.

The panicked yells and incoherent mumblings of the White Faction quickly fade as we cover more ground.

But the farther in we get, the thicker the woods become.

Above us, the leaves stop rustling and the canopy grows so thick that the distorted sunlight can barely pierce it. Those curtains of purple moss hang unmoving like death shrouds from the twisted branches, and not a single bird or insect can be heard.

I pull at the collar of my fighting leathers. It feels as if the air isn’t moving at all in here.

While wiping sweat from my temple, I scan the area around me.

Alarm shoots up my spine.

I whip my head around, but when my gaze lands fully on the space between two trees, the looming shadow I thought I saw is no longer there.

My heart beats furiously in my chest, and I draw in a deep breath to calm myself.

I’m just jumpy from that encounter with those strange beings in bronze breastplates.

We continue deeper into the forest.

Those pale blue mushrooms that grow on the tree trunks look unnaturally bright in the gloomy forest, which seems to darken with every step. And the air is getting thicker. I pull at the collar of my clothes again. Why is it getting so freaking hot?

A dark shadow streaks past through the woods.

I snap my gaze towards it.

But yet again, I can’t see anything.

My heart pounds. I give my head a firm shake. Mabona’s tits, pull yourself together.

“Uhm,” Lyra says from a little to my left. “Not to be an alarmist or anything, but is anyone else seeing things?”

We all whip around to stare at her as we blurt out, “Yes!”

Surprise and relief crashes through our group like waves as we glance at one another. Apparently, we were all starting to hallucinate things. But just like me, no one else dared to say anything.

“We should probably get out of here,” Galen says, glancing suspiciously at the pink flowers and yellow lichen and pale blue mushrooms that seem to be getting more numerous. “There’s so little… air.”

“Yes,” I gasp out.

My heart is still slamming against my ribs, and the air seems to press in on me from all sides. It’s so warm and stifling that I can barely breathe. I pull at the collar of my leathers again. Goddess above, I want to take them off.

We pick up speed, trying to get past this section of the woods faster. The yellow cloud is no longer visible next to us, and I’m not sure when we lost sight of it. It’s getting increasingly difficult to keep my wits about me. To think at all.

Something is wrong.

The thought echoes through my skull. But I can barely concentrate.

“I’m not actually a descendant of the Seelie Queen,” Isera blurts out. “I just made that up.”

I snap my gaze to her, my mouth dropping open.

She stops dead in her tracks, staring down at her own chest with wide eyes, as if she can’t believe that the words actually came out of her own mouth. We all stop as well, blinking at her in shock.

But apparently, she isn’t the only one who suddenly gets the urge to spill her closely guarded secrets, because Galen blurts out, “I don’t know how to trust myself anymore. After I found out the truth about Draven, I don’t trust my own instincts anymore.”

“I don’t actually want to be alone,” Alistair says, his eyes as wide and stunned as the rest of us. “I’m just terrified that people will hurt me again.”

“I’m worried that I might be a villain.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.

It’s as if every safeguard in my mind is suddenly gone, and my mouth is just blurting out my deepest darkest secret without my consent.

“All my life, I’ve tried so hard to be good.

But if push ever comes to shove, I’m terrified that I might become a villain. ”

“I’m so tired of never being allowed to have a bad day,” Lyra picks up.

Her eyes are wild, slightly unfocused, as she gazes out at the rest of us.

“People always expect me to be cheerful, and when I have a bad day, everyone makes such a big deal of it. Everyone else gets to have bad days all the time. But not me. Why do I always have to be the one who has to lighten the mood?”

“If we win this war, I don’t want to go straight back to the Western Isles and be responsible for everyone again,” Draven says, desperation lacing his voice. “I want to just fly off and take decades to actually enjoy my freedom first. To actually be free for once in my life.”

Deafening silence settles over our group as we just stare at each other.

It hangs in the oppressive air above us like a sword.

Goddess above, I can’t believe that I actually admitted that.

That I actually said that out loud. And based on the way everyone is staring at each other, we’re all feeling the same thing.

Something is wrong , my mind yet again pushes. Insistent. Urgent.

“Azaroth’s flame,” Lyra presses out. “I’m so freaking hungry.”

I blink in surprise as she grabs a handful of pale blue mushrooms from the tree next to her and stuffs them into her mouth.

For a while, we all just watch her stand there and chew and swallow those strange mushrooms. My mind feels thick.

Like it’s filled with sludge. I know I should be doing something.

Trying to force a breath of clarity through my thick mind, I ask, “Are you sure you should?—”

Lyra stands up straight. Everything about her demeanor changes in a heartbeat. Blinking, she gives her head a quick shake. Then she looks down at the mushrooms. Then back up at us.

“You need to eat this,” she says. Her voice is suddenly crisp and clear. No trace of confusion or uncertainty. “Now.”

“No, thanks,” Alistair says, giving the weird mushrooms a dubious glance.

Turning to the nearest tree, Lyra rips off more mushrooms and holds them out to us. Her orange eyes are more serious than I have ever seen as she says, “Trust me.”

The sincerity in her tone strikes something deep inside me. And in the others too, apparently, because we all reach out and take some mushrooms. I pop two of them in my mouth, chewing carefully.

They taste surprisingly fresh. Kind of like a minty herb. But it’s not as if it’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.

I swallow, casting a confused glance at Lyra.

Why did she want us to?—

The fog clears from my mind.

That thick haze that has been pressing against my brain and making me feel as if I’m suffocating disappears as if blown away by a crisp mountain breeze. I suck in a deep breath, feeling my lungs expand and finally filling with air.

“What the hell just happened?” Alistair asks, looking stunned but fully present at last.

“I’m not sure.” Lyra holds up one of the pale blue mushrooms. “But I think these counter the effects of it.”

We all glance down at the mushrooms before meeting each other’s gazes again. Tense awkwardness suddenly hangs over our group. None of us clearly meant to share what we blurted out a few minutes ago.

“Have I mentioned how much I hate forests?” Alistair mutters, shattering the tense silence. “If I never have to see another forest again in my entire life, it will be too soon.”

We all draw in a small collective breath of relief. Perfect. We’re just going to pretend that we didn’t hear those secrets we just shared.

“Speaking of endless forests, how much time have we spent here?” Galen asks, worry crinkling his brow.

Draven tilts his head back, glancing up towards the sky. Except, we still can’t see the sky. Only a thick canopy of leaves meets us up there.

“I don’t know,” he replies at last, sounding troubled. “Can anyone remember when we stopped seeing the yellow cloud?”

We exchange a glance, but no one speaks up. Uneasiness slithers through our group like snakes. Whatever was affecting us earlier clearly messed with our senses. We might have lost a lot more time than we think.

And while we’ve been stumbling around in here, the other two factions have been getting closer to the portal. The only portal that leads out.

If even one person gets to the portal before us, we will be left behind in these poisonous woods in this foreign land with these dangerous fae-like beings.

My heart starts beating faster, and panic crawls up my spine.

How would we ever find our way back to our own world?