Satisfied that the other passenger was the person promised and not a potential meal, the demon flowed back into the hollow belly of the cycle until only its head stuck out of the hole that had once held a light.
Adjusting the straps of his pack so it settled comfortably against his back, Sebastian mounted the cycle behind Teaser.
Since the demons had the ability to float the cycles above the ground, they didn’t need roads, but this one followed the lane from the cottage back to the main street of the Den, then beyond the crowded buildings to the open countryside.
About a mile outside the Den, they stopped at a wooden bridge that crossed a stream.
There were two kinds of bridges. The stationary bridges linked one or more specific landscapes and were usually a reliable way of crossing over from one landscape to another. Resonating bridges allowed a person to cross over to any landscape that resonated with that person’s heart. Most of the time, focusing the will was sufficient to reach a particular destination. But there were other times when a resonating bridge ignored the will and listened only to the heart—and a person ended up in a landscape that wasn’t remotely close to where he intended to go. Which made traveling in Ephemera a gambler’s adventure.
And this was a resonating bridge.
Teaser looked over his shoulder. “Will this do?”
Sebastian took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “This will do.” It wasn’t as if he had a choice. There weren’t any stationary bridges that linked any of Belladonna’s landscapes to the landscape that held Wizard City.
He got off the demon cycle and walked to the edge of the bridge. He tried to clear his mind of everything but the need to reach Wizard City.
“Sebastian?”
He looked back.
Teaser shifted his shoulders, looking embarrassed. “Travel lightly.”
Heart’s Blessing. It warmed him to hear someone say it. “I’ll be back soon.” He hoped.
Wizard City. Wizard City. Other images tried to intrude—the feel of sand beneath his feet—but he chanted the words “Wizard City” under his breath as he crossed the bridge.
The land didn’t look any different, but the sky was now a predawn gray or the fading light of dusk. And when he looked back across the stream, there was no sign of Teaser or the demon cycle.
So. He’d crossed over. Now all he could do was hope he’d crossed over to the right landscape.
A rough cart path led away from the bridge. Settling the straps of his pack more comfortably on his shoulders, he followed the path to wherever it would take him.
Glorianna walked into the alley, then stopped and opened the lantern’s shutter to illuminate the ground as much as possible. One cautious step, then another. Always studying the ground, the walls, the shadows. When the light found the bones and the rust-colored sand, she stopped. Crouching, she touched a fingertip to the ground, then studied the grains of sand clinging to her skin. There were a few landscapes that had that color sand, but combined with clean bones…only one.
So this was the source of the dissonance she had felt when she’d walked through her private garden to check on her landscapes. She’d felt a ripple of uneasiness a few days ago and had intended to visit the Den and talk to Sebastian, but there had been stronger ripples of dissonance in two other landscapes. She’d crossed over to check on the disturbances in those landscapes but had found nothing unusual, so she’d decided a wizard must have been passing through those places, since their presence always created a dissonance in her landscapes. By the time she’d returned home, the ripple that had disturbed the Den had disappeared.
Until now.
She rubbed thumb against finger until she was absolutely certain she was clean of every grain of sand. Then she rose and carefully backed away.
Glorianna, these past few nights I’ve had dreams full of disturbing images, and a…sense…that something old, something evil is swimming beneath the surface of the world.
I know, Mother. I’ve had the same dreams.
She went back to the mouth of the alley, opened the pack she’d left there, and took out a jagged piece of stone. Then she walked back into the alley and carefully studied the ground, looking for the grain of sand farthest away from the bones. Setting the stone on top of the last grain of sand, she called to the world.
Ephemera, hear me.
The currents of Dark and Light power that flowed through the Den mingled with the currents of Light and Dark inside her while the world waited to manifest her will.
Take the sand before me and send it deep into the place of stones. Let the sand have the bones. They belong to that landscape now. Let nothing remain here that does not come from my heart.
She felt the currents of Dark power flow into the alley, along with a thread of Light. She watched the sand and bones disappear, along with the jagged piece of stone that would act as the anchor point connecting the place of stones to the bonelovers’ landscape.
She watched Ephemera manifest her will, responding to her in ways it responded to no other Landscaper.
Her resonance filled the alley once more. But there was still a tingle of fear where the blood had seeped into the ground, and that fear would linger, smearing the heart of every person who passed the alley.
She felt a playful tug from the currents of Light. Before she could respond and impose her will, shoots pushed up from the hard-packed ground, rapidly growing into lush, dark green leaves. Within a minute, the blood-soaked ground was covered in living green.
It was an awkward place for plants to grow, to say the least.
There’s no light here. Even moonlight won’t reach the plants. They can’t survive here.
The Light would give them what they needed. And seeing them would make the hearts happy. Wouldn’t it make the hearts happy?
Ephemera was alive, but it didn’t have an intelligence of its own. At least, it didn’t think in a way that people would consider intelligent. But long ago, Ephemera had harnessed itself to the human heart, and it constantly made and remade itself in response to those hearts. Since it responded to her heart over any other in her landscapes, the plants must have been Ephemera’s response to her desire to somehow soften the violence that had filled the alley.
She sighed, but she also smiled—and wondered what the Den’s residents would say when they discovered the greenery.
Stepping out of the alley, she picked up her pack and looked around. She could spare an hour or two. Might as well take a stroll along the main street and listen to the hearts of the Den’s residents before she went searching for Sebastian.
Lynnea slipped into the dark kitchen. But as she breathed a sigh of relief, she heard the scuff of a slipper, felt the stir of air before the heavy leather strap hit her across the back.
She cried out, but softly, knowing the punishment would be worse if she made any noise that was loud enough to wake up Pa or Ewan.
One of Mam’s strong hands grabbed her hair, yanking her head down to hold her in place, while the other hand worked the strap with brutal efficiency up and down her back, buttocks, and thighs.
“Trollop,” Mam hissed. “Slut. Whore. You think I don’t know what you’re up to?”
“I didn’t do anything bad. I just went for a walk.”
“I know what kind of walk girls take when they slip out of the house at night. I didn’t take you in and raise you up so you could run off and keep house for some man. As if something like you deserved to have a husband and children. You’re nothing but trash abandoned by the side of the road. Just trash I took in out of the goodness of my heart, hoping I could raise you up to be a decent girl. But you were born trash, and you’ll always be trash. Should have left you to die. That’s what I should have done.”
“I just went for a walk!”
The protest made no difference. The words and the blows continued until Mam had said what she wanted to say. Until Lynnea’s back ached unbearably from the strap and her heart felt scoured by the words.
/> Then a creak of a floorboard upstairs had Mam giving Lynnea’s hair a final yank before she stepped back.
“The man’s up. Get out to the henhouse and fetch the eggs.”
Lynnea shuffled over to the wooden counter next to the kitchen sink. Her hands shook so badly, she spilled the matches all over the counter when she opened the matchbox to light the lantern.
Cursing quietly, Mam grabbed the box and lit the lantern’s candle. “Useless. That’s all you are. A waste of time and money. Git out there now. Git.”
Taking the lantern, Lynnea moaned as she bent down to pick up the egg basket.
“And don’t you be whining and moaning,” Mam said. “You got less than you deserve, and you know it, missy.”
Another floorboard creaked.
Lynnea left the kitchen as fast as she could. If Pa came down and realized something was wrong, things would get worse. Much, much worse.
But when she got to the henhouse and hung the lantern on the peg by the door, she just stood there, staring at the sleepy hens.
This was her life. Nothing but this.
She couldn’t remember her life before the farm. Didn’t have her own memory of how she’d come to live with Mam and Pa and Ewan, just Mam’s story about finding a little girl abandoned by the side of the road.
I found you by the side of the road, and I can put you out again just as easily, and don’t you forget it, missy. You earn your keep or you go back to the road with nothing more than the clothes you’re wearing—just like I found you.
There had never been any kindness in Mam. She seemed to love Ewan and Pa in a cold sort of way, but she’d never shown even that cold kind of love to the little girl she’d taken in. Maybe she’d longed for a daughter of her own and that was the reason she’d stopped that day to pick up an abandoned child.
Why didn’t matter anymore. Every mistake—and a child could make so many—had been followed by the threat of being taken down the road and abandoned again. She’d never felt safe, had lived in fear that this would be the day she would make the mistake that would end with her being tossed out like a used-up rag.
And yet, when she tried to remember that day on her own, she remembered it differently. She could feel herself as that little girl, happy and full of anticipated pleasure as she roamed the edges of a clearing and then followed a path in the woods, picking flowers for her mama. When she came out of the woods, she was standing on the edge of a road, holding a double fistful of flowers. And her mama had gotten lost.
Then the lady, Mam, came by with the horse and little wagon. She stared at Lynnea, who was trying to be brave and not cry because her mama was lost.
You’re the answer to a wish, Mam said as she got down from the wagon. What’s your name, child?
Lynnea. I picked flowers for Mama, but she’s lost.
I’m going to be your mama now.
Mam picked her up and put her in the wagon. Not on the seat, but on the floor. Then Mam climbed into the wagon and slapped at the horse to make it run very fast.
Lynnea used her sleeve to wipe away the tears. She didn’t know if that was a true memory or just wishful thinking that changed Mam’s story so it didn’t hurt so much. Just as she didn’t know if she really remembered a man and woman calling her name, over and over, as if they were searching for her.
Didn’t matter now which story was true. It had all happened a long time ago. Sixteen years, in fact. She knew that because not long after she’d come to live with Mam, Ewan had his sixth birthday and Mam had baked a cake as a special treat. That evening, when she was getting ready for bed, she’d told Mam her birthday so Mam, who was her new mama now, would know what day to bake the cake.
But she didn’t get a cake for her birthday. Not that year, not any year. Because cakes took time and money to make. Cakes were for real children, not someone like her.
She no longer remembered when her birthday was. Didn’t want to remember. And she couldn’t remember how old she had been the day Mam found her by the road. But she knew it had been sixteen years ago because Ewan had turned twenty-two last week—and Mam had baked him a cake.
I wish I lived in a different place. I wish someone could love me.
Foolish wishes. Just like every other wish she’d ever made.
Wiping her eyes one last time, Lynnea began collecting the eggs.
Muttering to herself, Glorianna tromped down the lane toward Sebastian’s cottage. She’d seen him and Teaser zipping down the main street on a demon cycle, heading for the other end of the Den, but there hadn’t been time to call out. Sebastian had a pack, so he must be planning to cross over to another landscape for a visit.
Opportunities and choices. She’d missed the chance to talk to Sebastian, so another pattern of events would take shape. That was the way of the world. That was the way of life.
She had known from the moment she’d looked into the green eyes of a wary boy and felt his heart’s strong desire to belong in the nice house with the kind woman and the children who weren’t being cruel that her connection with Sebastian was different from her connection with Nadia and Lee. She had known, in a child’s instinctive way, that she and Sebastian would have a powerful influence on each other’s lives. She hadn’t known then that loving her cousin and wanting to help him would break the pattern of her life so completely, but…
Opportunities and choices. She had made the choice because of Sebastian, but it had been her choice. And even though she’d never been able to put the pattern of her own life back together in a way that made it whole, she didn’t regret her choice. Had never regretted her choice. Because it had saved him.
“Sebastian,” she said—and smiled.
A swell in the currents of power washed through her, leaving her breathless. She stopped walking, just stood in the middle of the lane while she absorbed the feeling that had touched her.
Heart wish. A powerful one. The kind that would send ripples through the currents of the world.
“Sebastian?” she whispered—and felt the heart wish wash through her again.
So. The heart wish had come from him. Maybe that was the reason for his urge to visit another landscape.
Despite what she’d seen in the alley—and her suspicions of how that particular landscape had been inserted into her own—she felt her heart lift. There had been so much possibility of Light in Sebastian’s heart wish. He’d had opportunities to leave the Den and cross over to another landscape, but he’d been blind to them because, despite wanting a change, he hadn’t been ready to change his life. Maybe this time he would follow his heart.
The Den wouldn’t be the same if he left, but the Den, too, had been changing over these last few years, so this might be the time for the man and the landscape to go their separate ways. A bad time, to be sure, but a Landscaper had no right to interfere with a person’s life journey, no matter the cost.
She started walking again, anxious to reach the cottage. Sebastian wouldn’t mind her bedding down on his couch for a few hours. She needed some time to rest. She needed the peace of solitude so she could think.
But when she got close to the cottage, another swell in the currents of power washed through her. This one was fainter, as if it were a ripple of something that had begun a long way away, but no less powerful.
Another heart wish. And something more.
Glorianna reached under her hair and rubbed the back of her neck to get rid of the prickly feeling.
For good or ill, a catalyst was moving toward the Den—a person whose resonance would bring change. And that change seemed to center on the cottage.
She went inside and hoped Sebastian hadn’t rearranged the furniture since her last visit. Feeling her way in the dark, she reached the couch without tripping over anything, dropped her pack beside it, then slumped in one corner, knowing that if she stretched out she would never make the effort to get up and rummage for something to eat.
Nothing to be done about the heart wishes or the catalyst. Things
were in motion, but a hundred possibilities could change the pattern that might bring those heart wishes and the catalyst together. Right now she needed to think about the alley and a landscape that had been taken out of the world long ago and shouldn’t be able to touch the rest of Ephemera. And she needed to think about a possibility she didn’t want to consider.
Sighing, Glorianna rubbed her hands over her face.
Only one way to find out. After she got some rest, she would go to the Landscapers’ School and look at the forbidden garden, just to reassure herself that the Eater of the World was still contained behind a stone wall.
Chapter Four
“Hoo-whee! You lucky I came along,” William Farmer said.
“Yeah,” Sebastian muttered. “Lucky.”
“Don’t usually pick up strangers this close to a bridge. Can’t never tell what might be crossing over from another place. But you look like a regular fella.”
The farmer spent a minute making various noises at the two horses pulling the wagon, which didn’t seem to have any effect on the animals. It certainly didn’t increase their speed.
Travel lightly. Sebastian closed his eyes and tried to feel grateful that the farmer had offered him a ride. Even if he’d followed the cart path that had led from the bridge, he could have spent days trying to reach Wizard City, getting detained one way or another over and over again. His reluctance to get anywhere near the wizards was at odds with the knowledge that it was what he needed to do. But Ephemera responded to the heart, not the head, so the landscape would have provided obstacles to keep him from reaching the city, turning the journey into a battle of wills—his against Ephemera. He still would have reached the city eventually, but the people he’d left behind in the Den didn’t have time for eventually.
So when he’d reached the spot where the cart path joined the main road at the same moment the wagon was passing by, he’d accepted William Farmer’s offer of a ride for what it was—a sign that the journey would go smoothly if he didn’t turn away from the gifts that were offered.