Page 22 of The Gargoyle's Glade
“How are your lessons with Ophelia going?” Lovette asked.
“What do you know about that?” I barked.
She only snorted at my outburst.
“Your visits to the sorceress are not a secret, Coltor. What other reason could take you there so often? So. What is it you’ve learned that’s got you so twisted up?” Imogen asked.
Panic settled in, smothering the anger that had started to rise up. If I couldn’t trust my sisters, who could I trust? They were smart, capable. They’d both been students of Ophelia’s as well. Maybe they knew something I didn’t.
After much internal debate, I chose faith in my sisters. I vented and cursed and complained all over them and myself, as much as I could without exposing my gift in its entirety. Such a thing was too dangerous to be common knowledge, especially as I hadn’t yet mastered it. I focused on my fear of Merry—or anyone else, now that Emry had landed in the infirmary—coming to harm, the amount of distracting noise I was struggling with. How I’d barked at Merry not meaning to, invaded her privacy trying to help after hearing her scream. Imogen nodded sagely, and Lovette chirped encouraging words. They didn’t minimize my frustration, but they also didn’t have an answer for it.
“That sounds really difficult, Coltor. I’m sure you’ll figure it out though.” Imogen reached across the table and patted me on the shoulder. “We’re always here, for whatever you need.”
“You should ask Greta about an elixir,” Lovette suggested. “If anyone is injured, you have a whole host of healers you can turn to. Me, Hailon, the archmage… his whole household, basically.But perhaps there’s something she can make up as a preventive. Or a charm maybe, from the archmage? Something to put your mind at ease a bit.”
“That would require you speaking to Merry about your worry, of course. Being honest. And apologizing for your earlier, perhaps less-rational reactions to your fear. Surely there’s a good reason for it?”
Both of my sisters stared at me as though they were waiting for me to have an epiphany. But I was just as perplexed as I had been after talking with Ophelia. Disappointed, they looked at one another, and a short time later, we said our goodbyes.
Imogen was right though. Our conversation had brought me back to my original dilemma, and I was in a right foul mood about it the rest of the night.
How exactly do you go about telling someone you’ve had a vision of them dying?
Chapter 10
Merry
“Tap is … overwhelmed. It’s getting better, but be warned that sometimes conversations with him can be a bit confused. Scattered. His mind moves from one thing to the next without finishing sometimes, but he always comes back around eventually.” Seir smiled softly, and in it I could see the affection he had for his brother. “He’s managing a lot, always has. Coltor and I have been able to relieve some of his burden, but perhaps you can offer aid of a different kind.” He led me toward the portal, glancing over his shoulder at the animals that had followed us from my cabin. “There are… alotof them, aren’t there? Good morning, everyone!” He waved at them cheerfully.
There were now seven birds, the two rabbits, a racoon, a family of quail, and a young deer following me around the glade. I caught the birds sleeping on my roof and the rest huddled around my porch when I left.
A carving of a hawk had also been sitting on the railing right next to the stairs. I could only assume it was some kind of peace offering from Coltor. I’d left that right where I found it.
“Yes, it seems there’s something new following me every time I turn around. I have to keep my eyes either straight ahead or on the dirt so I don’t accidentally make eye contact. I can still hear some of them, though, even if we don’t look at one another.” That had been a surprising development, but also comforting. The voices weren’t nearly as troublesome when they didn’t come with a side of paralyzation.
Each of them had communicated with me at some point, and all had left me frozen for at least a few moments as they made contact. It was disconcerting still, but I was getting better at preparing myself when I sensed a new creature near me. None of them had done more than greet me, though I’d gotten several variations of requests. Mostly the request was some combination of the wordshelpandfriend. I felt terrible that I had no clue what to do for them.
“May I?” Seir asked, gesturing at my arm. “I just want to be sure we both end up where we should.”
“Oh. Sure.”
He tucked my arm through his, patting it reassuringly as we stepped right up to the edge of the portal. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s g?—”
His word was cut off as he took one big step, pulling me with him into the magical doorway. I gripped his arm and screamed internally as the portal turned me inside out and sideways, then back again all in the span of seconds. Together, we stepped out into a wide hall filled with other doorways.
“Welcome to the crossroads,” an unfamiliar low voice intoned.
I blinked and sucked in a slow breath through my nose as I oriented myself, willing my breakfast to stay put. I was going to have to start traveling with snacks in my pockets and forgoingmeals if portals were in my plans. Seir embraced the tall man after pulling his arm from mine.
“Merry, this is my brother Tap. Tap, this is Merry.”
Tap bowed his head slightly. His black hair was trimmed close to his scalp to above his ears, then longer on top. Some of the longer strands fell into his eyes when he bent forward. “Pleased to meet you, Merry.”
“Thank you for inviting me.”
