Page 45

“And they said this place is where, again?” I murmured. Even though I knew Typhon wasn’t here at Neverthorn, I couldn’t seem to stop casting nervous glances all around as we walked.

“Zeed said it was in the same direction as all the other hidden places on the island. Past the entrance to the Dark Wood, and then due west.”

I nearly skidded to a stop.

“Did ... did he say how far from there?”

Fable hadn’t realized I’d slowed my pace and continued on.

“About half a mile.”

Bandit shot me a glance. “Okay, so looks like we’re going to have to pass the wishing well. You think it’s going to be a problem? That sea hag is probably still pretty pissed that you got away.”

That had Fable pulling up short as she turned around to face me.

“Sea hag? Harlow, what is he talking about?”

I cleared my throat and started moving again.

“So, um, yeah. About that ...”

“Harlow and I took Opie to a wishing well so she could wish the two of them out of here, but there was this mermaid witch lady at the bottom of the well. She tried to kill Harlow, but Typhon saved her,” Bandit supplied as he took the lead, his chunky bottom wobbling as he walked.

I’d hoped to ease into that discussion with a little more finesse, but he wasn’t wrong, so I stayed silent.

“You were going to leave us? Without even saying goodbye?”

Fable’s face crumpled and she looked like she was about to cry.

Sheet.

“No, no. I mean, yes. But it was a long time ago.” I hooked my arm through hers and kept walking. We were on borrowed time. “Right after we first got here. I knew Opie was going to struggle to fit in, and I didn’t think I had the power to truly help anyway.”

She let out a sniff, and frowned, still looking unsure. “Well, what about now? Would you wish yourself away now if you could?”

I considered that and realized with a start that I wasn’t so sure anymore.

At some point, I’d started to wonder if I didn’t need to be here.

At least for now. Until I was sure that my friends had a fighting chance against Nocta, and I found out what the hell had happened to poor Lucy, it didn’t matter where I was.

Thoughts of Neverthorn would consume me.

“No. I would stay.”

I think?

I would get Opie the hell out of here if I could, but that wasn’t the question Fable had asked.

Fable managed a tiny smile and nodded. “Good.”

“We just need to focus on getting past the well without being detected, and finding the others before anyone else does.”

At least one thing was for certain now. If any of us were anywhere near Calypso, lives were definitely in danger, so my promise to Typhon was still very much intact.

We were still about a hundred yards from where I’d first met the sea hag when I paused and called my little battalion to a halt along with me.

“I’m pretty sure that Calypso can’t just snatch us from the grounds walking by. I think bad things are only set into motion by throwing an offering in the well. Still, let’s each toss a shielding rune over ourselves just to be on the safe side. Sound good?”

Fable nodded and quickly fashioned the required rune. It flickered for a second and then filled with energy. A second later, she all but disappeared from view, leaving behind just the merest hint of herself, like a translucent image with the lowest possible saturation.

“Nice!” I hissed with a silent clap.

I sucked in a breath and did the same hand motions.

“I can still see you,” Fable murmured.

“Yeah. I don’t think I’m doing it right.” I tried again, and Fable shook her head.

“You’re mixing up the last two motions. It’s swipe then curl to close.”

I almost snapped at her that I had done it that way, but as I repeated the process, the rune filled with energy, and I could sense a haze around me and Bandit.

“It worked?”

“Yup! Great job.”

Super frustrating that I was still getting mixed up, but I was relieved it was done.

“Let’s go.”

To my everlasting relief, we crept up to and past the wishing well without incident. I led us in silence due west, and it wasn’t long before Fable spoke again.

“All clear?”

“Yup.”

We let our shielding runes fall away.

“I had a feeling we’d be alright but she’s a tricky one, so better safe than sorry.”

“Should be pretty close now,” Fable said, her steps quickening. “Zeed said it should only be a twenty-minute walk from the school to the fairy circle.”

I scanned the grass for signs that they’d passed through this way but noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

“Probably better off sniffing the air to see if you can catch wind of Gary,” Fable said with a nervous chuckle.

Bandit thought that was hilarious and let out a chuffle, and even I cracked a smile.

But no matter how relieved I was that Calypso hadn’t shown herself, there was still something nerve-wracking about being out on the Eve of Samhain.

The Horned King himself could have made an appearance to demand a sacrifice, and I wouldn’t have been surprised.

Especially on the grounds of Neverthorn, where one bad thing after another had happened since I got here.

No way was I letting my guard down, no matter how quaint and sweet a frucking fairy circle sounded.

“I swear, it has to be right here,” Fable said as we came upon a copse of trees glimmering in the moonlight.

“Zeed said something about silver birches. But I don’t see any mushrooms. He said there would be a ring of giant mushrooms, and that if we stepped inside, and said some silly poem he’d found, the fairies would come out to greet us. ”

These were definitely silver birch trees, but I didn’t see any mushrooms either. I bit back a snarl of frustration and leaned against a nearby stump for a think.

“Maybe they kept going when they didn’t see –” I broke off and let out a grunt as the stump shifted beneath my ass cheek.

“What the fruck?”

As the tree stump shifted, so did the landscape around us.

One second, there was nothing but birch trees around us.

The next, twenty-foot-high stone walls rose from the ground, massive mushrooms sprouted from the dewy grass, and Fable and I both clapped a hand over our mouths to keep from screeching in shock.

“Whoa,” Bandit whispered as he scuttled behind me, weaving between my legs. “That’s so cool!”

“You guys found it! How? These walls totally weren’t here when we came by!” Ross called laughing. He and the others were to the left of us, appearing out of the trees like ghosts on the wind.

“Good job,” Zeed said, rushing forward and spinning around to take it all in.

The others followed and soon enough they were all chattering excitedly, seemingly unbothered by the fact that Fable and I beat them to it, and unaware that we’d come to rain on their parade.

“Who wants some brandy?” Gary asked, waving the half-empty bottle in my direction and laughing as Marina snagged it and took a long pull.

“How did you make the circle show itself?” Zeed was asking Fable.

But I barely heard all the talk. All my attention was zoned in on the wall farthest from me.

My feet carried me toward it as if of their own accord.

At first glance, it was a wall like all the rest. Roughly hewn of stone, dirt and vines clinging to its surface in spots.

But it was the crimson smears peeking out from behind the flora and fauna that had caught my attention.

Stop.

I was five feet away when the voice inside me snapped the command. But now that I’d gotten that close, there was no denying what I was looking at.

Blood. So much blood.

I stared at it long and hard, a sense of dread creeping up the back of my neck.

It was old, that much seemed obvious with the depth of the red tones.

But so much of it, it could be from nothing short of a massacre.

Maybe this had been some sort of hunting ground?

Or an ancient holy place where offerings were sacrificed to Hecate and her mate, the Horned King?

“This was a bad idea,” I whispered under my breath.

I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t stop myself. I just watched like a moviegoer at the drive-in as my hand lifted in front of me and pressed itself against the cold stone.

A memory was trapped in the stone, and now I was living it.

Violence, death, and chaos surrounded me.

Screams filled my head. Terrified, tortured pleas that pierced me to my very soul.

I turned toward them, feeling like I was stuck in mud.

Behind me, my friends were gone. No Fable, or Zeed, or Marina.

But other students had taken their places.

Younger students, some that I recognized from Phyllis’s pictures.

Mouths agape, eyes wide with horror as their very souls were sucked from their bodies. And standing before them?

Nicodemus Oliphant, hand extended, literally draining them of their life-force and pouring it into some metal machine with tubes sticking out of it.

I wanted to scream, to make him stop, but no sound would come. A dark figure came up behind him and rested its hand upon his shoulder. Young Nicodemus closed his eyes, and I could’ve sworn a tear leaked down his cheek ... or maybe I was just blinded by my own.

“Please,” I whimpered, trembling from head to toe as I tried to pull away from the wall .

.. to get to one of the kids – any of them – to help.

But when I turned away from their tormentor, I knew it was too late.

They were writhing on the grass, empty husks of people with twisted limbs and ruined faces.

“Harlow!”

Zeed’s voice penetrated the vision and a second later, I felt his hand on mine. I could sense his terror and heard him howl with the shock of it. Then he yanked me hard and both of us stumbled backward, landing on the grass as we tried to break one another’s fall.

Breathe, just breathe.

But I could barely do that. It was like the trap of the memory still had a hold on me, and I could do nothing about it.

Zeed’s hand tightened over mine and his eyes locked on me. “Harlow. What’s happening?”

A burst of light suddenly fluttered around his chest, settling over his heart. He stiffened and arched as the light slid through him. And then the world sped back up again, the others were yelling, but through the cacophony was a voice that struck through everything.

“Get back to the school, now !” Typhon’s voice boomed as I blinked and tried to get my bearings. It was an impossible task as the fairy circle disappeared, giant stone walls sliding back into the ground, mushrooms popping off into thin air.

“Zeed?” Fable’s voice called out to him.

The others were bolting back toward the school, but Zeed remained motionless on the grass beside me. The glow gone. His hand limp in mine.

“You okay?” I managed, barely able to get the sound from my constricted throat as I sat up and squeezed his fingers.

His skin was cold as ice.

“Zeed!”