Page 120 of Wilds of Wonder
I stilled, staring at the dust as it swirled round and round.
“Are you okay?” Emory asked, putting a hand on my arm. “Apart from the obvious reasons why you’re not okay.”
“Tell the wind which way to blow,”I said.
Emory’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Yes,” she breathed.
“Great.” Driscoll threw up his hands. “So let’s tell the wind to blow us out of here.”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” I said, the realization hitting me as the dust blew with the wind, black motes dancing in the air.
“Well, he’s lost it,” Driscoll said.
“No.” Emory crouched down and swiped at the black dust. “He hasn’t. We can tell the wind to blow in the direction that Annalee and Bellamy went. And then the dust...”
“The dust will be like a guide, a visual path for us to follow,” Aron finished.
“Exactly,” I said, feeling just a little less devastated than I had a moment ago. “We might just catch them yet.” I glanced at Emory. “How much time do we have?”
She pulled the pocket watch from her trousers, clicking it open. “Not much. We might barely make it.”
I nodded. “Then let’s not waste any more time.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
EMORY
Sure enough, that damn nuisance of a dust finally proved useful. We followed its trail, swift and without taking any breaks. It took us hours to get to the border, and Aron was able to keep us from getting eaten by sinking sand, sticky trees, caterpillars as big as logs, and the bright hillsides.
Every time I stumbled, Maverick was right there to hold me up, to keep me going. We’d been through a lot over the years, and at least we’d gotten a few solid days to rest. Well, we were supposed to be resting. I couldn’t exactly call all the things Maverick and I had done last night rest. But it had been good. Beyond good. It had restored parts of me I thought lost forever. He’d lit a fire in me that melted all those icy walls I’d put up so long ago. Maybe it was better than rest. It was exactly what I’d needed.
“Up ahead,” Aron called from in front of us. He stood at the top of a winding path, the black shimmers of dust blowing past him.
Driscoll reached him, and Maverick grabbed my hand as we ran up the hill as fast as our legs could carry us.
At the bottom, Annalee and Bellamy faced a towering wall of fire,ice, earth, wind, shadow, and star. Vines made up the bulk of it, but they spit out fire, their exterior shimmering hard with ice, which would make it impossible to climb. Shadowy tendrils reached out, lashing at Annalee and Bellamy. Bellamy drew closer, and a blast of wind blew her backward. The seven swans surrounded her, flapping their wings and backing away. Her brothers. So she was taking them with her on this journey.
I admired her grit, but she’d never make it out of the shadow court alive with these seven swans. She’d never knit those sweaters of nettle. I wanted her to succeed. I wanted her to be reunited with her brothers. But not like this. Not when this was clearly a suicide mission.
I gasped as my gaze dropped to the bottom center of the border. There it was: a hole big enough for someone to crawl through. Annalee had been right. Of course she’d been. She was right about everything when it came to this place. That was our chance at escaping. I pulled the pocket watch out. The big hand was one tick away from the twelve. We had an hour, if we were lucky.
“Bellamy, stop!” Maverick’s voice rang out, and Bellamy whipped around, her long black hair whipping around her angular face.
“It’s okay, Mav,” Annalee said. “I wanted to help her.”
We all stumbled down the steep hill to the little grassy plain, the black dust that had led us here settling down on the tips of the grass. The wind calmed, Bellamy glaring at us while clutching the lightning bolt tight.
“Give us the bolt,” I said as we approached. “It’s not yours.”
She signed, and I understood enough of it.“Not yours either.”
I crossed my arms. “Except we’re the ones who found it. We need it. I need it. You don’t even know if that will kill Spirit Shadow. You have no idea the power it wields. What it might do. The consequences of using it. It needs to be studied, tested, kept in a safe place.”
From the hard set of her jaw, I could tell my words hadn’t moved her. The clock ticked steadily toward twelve, getting closer. “We don’t have time.” I showed her the clock.
Her gaze softened, and I thought maybe I’d gotten to her.
“What does the bolt have to do with you, Mav?” Annalee asked, staring at him curiously.
