Page 50 of Silver Linings

As much as I wanted to protest, I knew he was right. Getting lost in the forest just because I didn’t want to stay here by the standing stones and the glowing plants that surrounded them seemed like the height of stubborn stupidity.

“All right,” I said, knowing I sounded way too cranky. “I just wish I knew why the unicorn brought us out here, only to abandon us.”

“I have no idea,” Ben replied. “It could be that there was something here he wanted us to see.”

“More than those standing stones?” I asked, and his shoulders lifted.

“Possibly. We really haven’t explored all that much.”

Well, that was true. He’d looked at the carvings on the one stone in the circle, but other than that, we hadn’t done much to take stock of our surroundings.

And since it seemed as if we were going to be here for a while, we probably should take a real look around.

“All right,” I said, then managed what I knew must be a lopsided grin. “Maybe we’ll find a better place to sleep.”

He smiled in return, but I could tell he was indulging me. Whatever the circle of stones might be hiding, I doubted it was a futon…or even a couple of sleeping bags.

By some unspoken agreement, we went off in two different directions, with me going to the right and Ben heading to the left. However, I’d only walked a few paces past the standing stone with the Ogham letters carved into it before I noticed a couple of odd, bare patches in the glowing moss at my feet.

Were those footprints?

I bent closer to take a look, gladder than ever that the moss provided its own illumination.

Yes, definitely footprints, around the size of my own when I glanced down for a quick comparison. Two sets, I thought, one just slightly bigger than the other, the main thing differentiating them the tread they’d left behind.

Why would those footprints remain here when it didn’t look as if my own passage across the moss had left a single trace?

Two sets of footprints….

A trickle of cold moved down my spine, one that had nothing to do with the cool night air.

Could it be…?

“Ben!” I called out.

He hurried over from the opposite side of the circle of standing stones, although I noticed he was careful not to pass through the center.

“What is it?”

I pointed at the footprints. “I think those might belong to my mother and grandmother.”

Rather than tell me that was crazy, that there was no way their footprints could have survived all these months, he knelt next to me, keen hazel eyes surveying the two sets of prints. Now it seemed obvious there were six in all…and they disappeared as soon as they crossed into the center of the stone circle.

Now I was gladder than ever that Ben had come around the long way. If he’d walked through the middle, would he have disappeared, too?

I didn’t want to think about that.

“Do you recognize the treads?”

Despite the unease humming along every nerve ending, I had to shoot him a sardonic look. “Sorry, I didn’t have those memorized. But I know my mom and my grandma had feet around the same size as mine. Grandma’s were a little bigger, so I have a feeling the ones on the left must be hers.”

“And they vanish as soon as they go into the stone circle.”

I swallowed. “Do you think it…swallowed them up or something?”

Ben’s eyes narrowed. “After seeing the unicorn, I’m ready to believe almost anything is possible. And I’ve read that some people believe circles of standing stones can act as portals to other worlds.” He shook his head, adding, “It’s not like we have any evidence to the contrary.”

No, we didn’t.

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