Page 82 of Wilds of Wonder
El signed, and Aron nodded. “We’ll help you. We believe she might be located in the old star court arena, where the gladiator fights would take place.”
“How far is that from here?” Maverick asked.
“A few hours’ trek.”
Maverick blew out a breath and looked up at the sky. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to repay you for helping us find her.”
“We do not need payment,” Aron responded. “We’ll help you find her because it is the right thing to do.”
Maybe once we found Annalee, we could ask them about the bolt. For the first time since arriving here, I wondered if everything actually might work out in the end.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
EMORY
Later that evening, I trekked to the lake with a bucket to collect water. Aron and El had warned us not to look into the lake, but we could collect the water to bathe and drink. They hadn’t explained any further, both on the verge of sleep when I’d decided to get clean. El had mentioned many times a lake that could tell you your future, and I wondered if this was that same one.
I was willing to take the risk. I wanted the blood, the grime, the reminder of my near-death experience, gone. Then tomorrow, we’d find Maverick’s sister. We’d work with El and Aron to find a way out of this place.
And, maybe, just maybe Maverick and I could start planning a future together. I had no idea what that might look like. A life with Maverick. I imagined it would be filled with a lot of this: adventure, danger, passion. The thought of spending my days with him, of having an actual partner, terrified me, but it also exhilarated me.
I walked along the lake’s edge, keeping my gaze ahead to the flat clearing that surrounded us to the hills in the distance. I knelt by the lake’s edge, dipping the bucket in the water, careful to keep my eyesaverted. I just needed a few bucketfuls to wash all the mess from my skin and clean my cuts.
Something flashed on the edge of my vision. I shook my head, ignoring it and continuing to fill the bucket. A streak of silver shot through the water. White-blond hair floating on the peripherals of my gaze. My brain screamed at me to not look.
Do not turn your head. Do not turn your head.
It was like an otherworldly force was controlling my body, and no matter how hard I tried to keep my eyes on the ground, they slowly shifted over until I could see through the crystal-clear water.
I gasped when my gaze landed on what I’d been trying so hard to avoid.
It was me. Or someone who looked like me. She floated under the surface, staring at me with light-blue eyes.
I didn’t even register what I was doing. My legs straightened and began moving toward the lake, bucket forgotten. One slow step at a time. I told myself to stop. To turn around. To not look. But my body had other ideas. I took off my boots and dipped a toe in the cool water. All the while my gaze stayed trained on the woman. She swam backward under the surface. Her white-blond hair fanned out behind her, eyes sparkling with mischief. She beckoned for me to follow. Every instinct screamed at me to stop, to turn around, but the water felt so good.
I needed to go deeper, to immerse myself in it. To discover its secrets. Water Emory twisted her body like a sleek mermaid, her pale skin bright and glimmering, a thin white dress draping around her body. I lowered myself into the lake, my hair splaying out and floating on the surface, the water now up to my shoulders.
Water Emory wiggled her fingers at me from below, then curled one, once again beckoning me. She hadn’t just wanted me to come into the water. She wanted me to follow her. Yes, that’s what I would do. I would follow and discover everything this lake had to offer.
I took a deep breath, then plunged under the surface. Water Emory took off, legs kicking and arms wheeling as she glided along. I followed, the water so clear I could see her easily, even with how far ahead she swam.
Stones covered the bottom of the lake, all brightly colored, like arainbow had fallen from the sky and splashed down among them. Other than Water Emory, the lake was empty, no fish, no plants, no life at all.
Water Emory stopped abruptly, then turned, her smile growing wider as she waited for me. I pumped my arms and legs, swimming to her, burning to know what this lake wanted with me. What knowledge it would give.
The water swirled, a cyclone rising up and spinning faster and faster and faster, blurring my view. The cyclone pushed me this way and that, turning me so many directions, I was no longer sure which way to go. Then it all stopped, once again clearing. Water Emory had disappeared, and I found myself staring at the bottom of the lake. Stones covered the lakebed. Slowly, the colors of the rainbow stones began seeping out, bleeding into each other, mixing, creating new colors. Creating a picture. No, not a picture, exactly.
A vision.
One of me. I was standing inside the Academy of Scholars & Historians at the back of one of the classrooms. Students filled rows and rows of desks, all arranged in a stadium style.
My heart hammered, blood pumping in my veins.
I’d dreamt of standing in one of these rooms so many times over the years. Maybe I was a professor in this vision. Maybe I’d finally accomplished everything I wanted in life. The students’ backs were to me, parchments, pens, and ink pots sitting on their wooden desks. At the front of the room stood a podium and a large smooth stone wall where professors used chalk to write as they lectured. The room was magnificent, domed ceiling with beautiful stained-glass windows that depicted famous historical events.
My lungs squeezed, but I ignored the burning pain, the way spots dotted my vision as I tried to concentrate. I stood at the top of the stairs, wearing a long wool blue dress, much like what I wore in my everyday life before falling into the Wilds. This had to be a vision of me as a professor. I’d made it. I was seeing it all play out before me. Everything was going to work out exactly like I wanted.
In the vision, I walked down the steps, students turning toward me and nodding. Future Me nodded back, smiling at them. I couldn’t help but notice the sadness reflecting in her gaze. An emptiness. Mystomach clenched. If I was living out my dream, then what was the matter?
