Page 21 of Prince of the Northwest Forest
I might as well tell him. It’s not like he’s going to spill the secret to the Fire Realm. “I’m here—there—because my brother ran away. At least, we can’t find him.”
Justice’s eyes are sympathetic. “Oh, man. That sucks. Do you know what happened to him?”
I shake my head, then take a deep breath and continue. “Talking to animals is a hallmark of the aristocracy of the Northwest Forest. While my mother, father, youngest brother, and I can do it, Mats, instead, can read people’s minds. Or, I should say, is unablenotto read them. At times all of the information and noise gets to be too much for him. I can hear the animals talk, and if I try to tune into all of it, it’s too much. Hearing every human thought might be worse.”
Justice’s eyes widen. “No wonder he ran away.”
“Yes. Though, of course, we can’t be sure he did run away—he’s a prince, after all, and it’s possible someone abducted him.” I don’t like to entertain that idea, but I have to consider it. “I think it was probably his choice, though. He’s gone missing before and come back hours or even days later with nothing amiss. I figure he’s just … not paying attention, perhaps. That he goes somewhere where he doesn’t hear all the chatter of people’sthoughts, and he can finally rest. And then maybe, I don’t know, he loses track of time.”
“So you think he’s in some secret location?”
“I do. None of the animals know where he goes at these times, which is weird. He can’t talk to them, so I don’t think he’s asking them not to tell us. He just … disappears.”
“Have you come up with any leads?”
I scrub my face. “No. Not a word from anyone. I even came across a tech prince in the hall at the hotel and asked if he had some special way of tracking people down. But nope.”
“I feel bad for Mats,” Justice says.
“I do, too. I complain sometimes about hearing the animals, but if they don’t talk to me, I don’t have to listen to them. Mats has these intrusive thoughts from other people no matter what he does. And besides that, I imagine he’s feeling a lot of pressure because he’s supposed to be married soon.”
“Oh, shit. Is his partner worried about him?”
I shake my head. “Not to my knowledge. My parents are trying to keep the situation secret from her realm. Mats doesn’t really know her anyway.”
Justice’s face scrunches up into this charming expression of confusion. “Wait, he doesn’t know his fiancée?”
“Not well. Their union was arranged by our families.” I drop my voice and look around. “It’s for an alliance with the Fire Realm, to stop them from harming our lands. Do you know where that is?”
“Kind of,” he says. “Like, the Northwest Forest is here, but it’s also part of Oregon, right?”
“Correct. If there is a forested area, it’s our realm. Our lands extend over much of the wooded area of Western North America, from what is called Oregon, through Washington and Canada, and up to Alaska.”
“Why haven’t I come across others from the realm before?”
“Anyone can enter the forest, and they will be in our realm. But to find our settlements, like Wakerobin Village or Huckleberry Castle, a noncitizen must be looking for them.”
Justice tilts his head. “Then it’s enchanted?”
“Kind of.”
“So you’re magical?”
“No. I’m a regular human, apart from my ability,” I say. “I’m not sure how Northwest Forest royalty came to have that ability, but it’s useful, since we don’t use phones or the internet. We can communicate over a wide area by using animals. They are our subjects, and we treat them well. In return, they relay messages for us.”
“I get it. There’s chatter at the café about the different realms, but I never know what’s just gossip. My understanding is that the realms are part of this world but also not. Is that correct? Like the Fae Realm is accessible through ours?”
“It overlaps with or is superimposed on our realm, and you can access it through fairy circles and a few other ways, like portals. Similar to how the Northwest Forest consists of the trees, the rivers, and the other parts of the forest, the Fae Realm is an area of magic and air.”
“That’s what I was told. No wonder it’s so hard to find,” he mutters.
“Who told you about it?”
“My mother. I don’t know how she found out. She didn’t seem to know herself.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Hmm. But to answer your question, the other realms—Icedonia, the Fire Realm, and the Northwest Forest—those, like the Coral Kingdom, have jurisdictional components in addition to the land area. Who has control over plants and animals, snow and ice, fire and lava, the oceans. There are many more realms than I just mentioned, of course. Those are simply the ones that are my immediate concern.”
“Is the Fire Realm just Mount Pátu?”
