Page 15 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

T he crowd began surging forward again. I stood on my tiptoes, craning over the floating souls to try to catch a glimpse of the Head Shade once more.

Everything he’d said about Charon and the Ether and Shades had left me reeling, but he was the one leading this crowd.

In my mind, that also made him the person most likely to have the answers I needed, and since I’d already been spotted I might as well approach him.

I ducked and wove through the crowd, feeling only a little guilty when I bumped a few swaying and floating individuals.

“Sorry,” I murmured to a woman who didn’t even spare me a glance.

The ground had shifted from fairly flat to rolling hills, with even more wildflowers.

“Please excuse me.” I slid between two men who looked like they were from Mejje, their already billowing pants swaying as they floated along.

I’m surrounded by victims of the hour. Dead people. Likely good people who lost their lives just for being in the wrong place at the worst time. I should be screaming, or sobbing .

But I couldn’t quite manage it. The rest of the Thipp’s must have worn off.

I was still uncomfortably cold, but my limbs felt lighter.

A nervous energy ran through me, fighting against an undeniable buoyancy brought on by my success.

I’d made it! Whether this place was even real, and if I could get here, had been a massive hurdle in my plan.

The difference between death and victory.

The difference between never seeing my father again and having the means to find him.

No doubt I would eventually have to grapple with more obstacles. I’d been unconscious on arrival, so I really didn’t know how to get back. Was time still frozen in Emrys? Was it already January first? Would the antidote get us home, or would it even help if the Thipp’s no longer had an effect here?

All problems for future Celia. I’d spent over a year working toward this destination, and I needed to focus and continue with what I’d set out to do. This journey couldn’t be for nothing.

The Head Shade, as he’d called himself, was only a handful of rows in front of me.

Another one of the illuminated orbs floated past. This time I reached out and placed my palm under it. It was warm, but not burning hot like fire in a lantern.

“We’re here,” the Head Shade’s voice rang out.

I released the orb, and my fingers curled, already lacking the small amount of warmth it had provided.

There were more and more people surrounding us now, and I guessed this was the resting place of Shades. I could see people in clothing that I knew was from the fashions of generations past.

The chill in my fingers had spread, and my extremities were growing numb.

If I couldn’t find my father quickly, I’d need somewhere warm to rest until I could look for him.

My body was getting stiff, this time with chill instead of the effects of Thipp’s, but my mind raced.

I spun in place, looking at the new faces for my father.

I didn’t see him anywhere, but my hand flew to my mouth when I spotted a familiar face: a man whose name I couldn’t recall, but whom I recognized from Fox Haven.

He’d been a woodworker. I had gone along with my father once to have a table made for our entrance hall.

The man had been kind and welcoming, asking my opinions and thoughts on the craftsmanship, and smiling at my answers.

He’d disappeared years before my father. The woodworker’s shop had been closed for months after his death, and for the past ten years it had been run by another man in town.

But he hadn’t aged a day. Aside from the pallor of his face, and his floating form, he looked the same.

It made sense that the dead, or the Shades, as the man had called them, didn’t age. But it was disconcerting, seeing familiar faces after so long, when only I had changed.

The Head Shade called for attention.

“This”—he gestured at the rolling hills, littered with trees—“is the Meadow. You are free to remain here. In this form you will have no need to sleep, or eat.”

A few of the faces had slightly widened eyes that might have registered surprise, but for the most part no one showed an outward reaction. It was as if the farther they went into the Ether, the less engaged they became. The Shades were aptly named: mere shadows of whoever they had been before.

I, however, was no Shade, and I did not intend to fail due to starvation or succumbing to the elements before I located my father. Not after coming this far.

“Excuse me,” I said, quietly at first and then louder when the Head Shade didn’t respond.

“Excuse me! What do you mean ‘ new Shades’? And where is the Ether? And what are the options if we do need shelter and food? Or sleep?” I’d intended to ask only one question, but once the first had spilled out, so had the others.

I clamped my mouth shut as the Head Shade turned toward me, a frown on his face and his grey eyes flashing. The ridiculous thought that he was even more handsome when he was incensed entered my mind, but I dismissed it when he started moving in my direction.

He shoved back through the crowd until he was face to face with me again.

“Keep your voice down,” he urged me. “Now that we’re here, you will be in the presence of Charon at any moment. You don’t want to draw his attention, trust me.”

He’d said it with a glance to each side, and a worried look that told me it was a bad thing.

But from what he’d told us earlier, didn’t he work for Charon?

Besides, the deity of this whole place was even more likely to have answers than the Head Shade.

I’d spent my whole life praying to Day and Death, even if I hadn’t been convinced of either’s interest in my world.

I was already in the Ether, and if addressing a god was the next step in finding my father, I’d gladly take it.

The Head Shade turned away from me, but I couldn’t afford to let him dismiss me.

I followed him.

We walked in silence for a few moments before he turned again.

“What do you think you’re doing? Go back into the crowd and try to blend in!”

“I’m not trying to frustrate you, but you’re the only one who will talk to me and I need your help. You see, I came here to?—”

“ Came here? On purpose? Are you completely mad?”

I took a step back, his words hitting me like a slap. Not that he was wrong; it’s what many people would have thought if I’d told them my plans back in Emrys.

“I had to. But now that I’m here, I can finish what I came to do and then I’ll be on my way.

If you don’t want Charon to know about me, that’s fine.

If you could tell me what I should be doing in this place as a not dead, dead person?

” I faltered then, still questioning the status of my own mortality.

Being dead would ruin all my plans.

The Head Shade sighed.

“You’re not dead. Not technically. But unless you’d like to be, I advise you to keep your head down and stay near the back of the group.”

“Why? What’s going to happen if I stay at the front?” Was there something dangerous here? Something aside from the god?

While I wasn’t a soldier by any means, I was strong. I rode Pellix and hiked through the hills around the estate. I lifted heavy things in the garden. I wasn’t skilled, but I wouldn’t be going down without a fight.

“Maybe I can help,” I offered.

“While I appreciate the offer, the only person in danger here is you, and you’re in way over your head.”

I gave him a good look then, waiting to see if he was the threat. But he just kept watching me, blue flecks in his eyes glinting. When I lowered my arms, he spoke again.

“Please. Hide now, and I’ll promise some answers later. It would be better if we had something to conceal you.”

I debated whether I should listen to him or take my chances when Charon arrived. I was drawn to the Head Shade, but that could merely be because he was the first and only person here to speak to me.

I was in an unfamiliar place, and he was someone who looked refreshingly alive. A reminder of everything I was trying to return to as soon as I found my father.

But if the Head Shade was to be trusted, then Charon was a god. Likely the god responsible for this hour, or the damage it wrought. And if that was the case, then he really could be trying to protect me from an angry deity who wouldn’t like finding a living soul in his realm.

The Head Shade came upon a gentleman I judged to be several years Ambrose’s senior.

He reached out and pulled at the cloak the man wore. It came loose with no sign of protest from its former owner.

“Just going to borrow this, if you don’t mind,” he told the man.

The Head Shade passed it to me, and I hesitated before taking it.

“Won’t he be cold?” I gestured at the floating man.

“They don’t feel cold. Make sure to tuck in your hair, and look down so your eyes don’t show. The color is too saturated for a Shade.”

After another moment’s hesitation, I tugged on the deep grey cloak, yanking the hood over my hair.

The strands were a mess, some in the front determined to stick out, but I pulled the remaining pins out from my ruined hairstyle and used them to pin the hair framing my face down.

I’m sure I looked laughable, but the Head Shade still wore a somber expression.

“Better,” he acknowledged, “but remember what I said about keeping your head down. Your eyes would reveal you right off.”

When he said it, another strange look played across his features. It was gone before I could question it, and he returned to the front of the crowd, walking until he stood under one of the trees that topped the nearest hill.

Head down, hair hidden, wrapped in a cloak taken from a dead man, I watched the Head Shade until he came to a stop, then turned on my heel and worked my way to the back of the crowd.

As I reached the last few rows, the already wintery temperature dropped starkly. I clutched the cloak tight and looked up to see a figure descending from the sky.