Page 73 of Down from the Tower

Saul. He’s the most outspoken of the three. Steven and Sammie are quieter, willing to stand back when their brother is worked up.

Dahlia scoots from behind the desk, and I crouch down in front of the three. They are young, young enough the terror in Saul’s voice is real. “Boys! What is it?”

The triplets peer up at their mom, the brave force against a never ending storm. “Ray said we had to come back here. Some men collapsed outside. They are bleeding really bad.”

“From Village Three,” Steven supplies, and I remember that it’s a puny, unmarked village a few hours from here. Less than fifty people live there, in houses spread so far apart claiming it’s a village is a stretch.

“Says the Flowerborne attacked,” Sammie breathes, looking up at us. He’s the most soft spoken of the three, and he looks close to tears. I worry that gentle heart will be destroyed when he can no longer hide in the shelter of the tavern.

“Flowerborne,” Dahlia gasps, turning to me. I nod, already knowing what must happen next. “An attack on my home? Absurd! Where are your siblings?”

“Genny went outside with Thomas,” Saul says again, muscling the toddler in his arms. “Elsie is getting all of us down to the bunker to hide. Ray just checked that the walls are secure.”

I remember the bunker. Dahlia put blood, sweat and tears into the structure when we were very young, before her other kids were born, claiming we needed somewhere safe if the Flowerborne tried to attack.

“Good,” she barks, grabbing two of them to spin them around. “All of you, downstairs. Get into the weapons cabinet if you must, but we hold our own here, boys. No one gets into The Missing Shoe and lives to tell the tale.”

I help Dahlia shoo the kids away, eyeing them as they hurry to the back and downstairs to a bunker that’s infused with magic and love. It’ll hold through any storm.

Strong fingers dig into my arm, and Dahlia drags me down into her face. “Get that princess and run.”

“We can help-”

“No,” she snaps, stepping back. “The Flowerborne could be scouts. If they see a princess of gold and a Reaper, it will be obvious who the two of you are. We can skate under the radar most times, but if Midas is at all looking for his child, the rumors will explode if the Flowerborne find you here. The both of you need to go. Surely you’re strong enough to shadow hop to safety, boy?”

My skin pricks. That sounds like running away, something I cannot stand doing. “Let Rapunzel hide with the kids and guard them. I can help.”

Dahlia pauses, placing her hands on her hips. “Don’t disrespect that girl by hiding her with the children. She’s strong Zarev, we both know it. Stronger than she can possibly know. The two of you will be fine so long as you leave now. If the Flowerborne are coming this way and pummeling through villages, they’re searching for something. Even if the two of you aren’t on their radar, you don’t need to be.”

I hate that she’s right. My instinct is to stand with my brother and my family and protect them. But if it does more harm than good I won’t be able to live with myself.

She shakes a finger at me. “Go. Take the bags we both know you packed and run.”

“Where?” I snap, flying through my options. I don’t have a plan where to take Rapunzel next. It’s part of the reason we’re still here at the tavern.”

Reaching forward, Dahlia fists my shirt and drags me down to her level. “That girl has the Golden Touch, doesn’t she? She glows like sunlight and heals like a balm. She burns brightly and can hurt those who hurt her. She’s resilient. She rises with the flames.”

I shake my head. Dahlia sounds nuts. “And?”

“And, my boy, she has the kind of crazy that comes with power untapped. You know the last place I saw something so pure it glowed golden no matter the time of day.”

My eyes narrow, but I know what she’s hinting at. The most colorful, bizarre, life altering place in Mystica.

“The Butterfly Garden.”

Rapunzel struggles to hold on when we hop. I dragged her back to the room despite her protest, forcing the bag Dahlia gave her across her back without so much as a goodbye to the family. She’s enraged about that and rightly so, but right now I need to make sure that agents of the Mad Queen don’t spot us hiding at the tavern.

She does understand that, though, no matter how angry she is. Once we’re ready with our packs, I pull her body to mine and wrap us in the shadows.

Hopping through the dark is a bit like diving into water with your eyes open. It’s a mad rush, leaving you feeling disoriented and a little off balance when you resurface. I can hop between the shadows across the land, and each time I touch down in a spot it’s like being shoved back beneath the waves.

Rapunzel’s grip is fierce as we move. Putting space between us and the tavern is the only way to ensure one of the Flowerborne doesn’t follow. It’s hard to catch a shadow, and I hop for several minutes before stopping north of the tavern, miles and miles separating us from the others.

She gasps when we stop, shoving away from me to be sick in the trees. I didn’t give her warning, not when I heard the inhumane screech of the Flowerborne just outside the tavern. Part of me wants to leave her safely here and go back, but that’s just unreasonable. Anything could happen out here in the forest.

When she recovers, she spins on me and shoves away the water flask I try to hand her. “You didn’t even let me say goodbye!”

“There wasn’t time.”

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