Lure

  Chapter 11

  DAVID

  “Cearo!” Mom threw herself at the bars separating us from the girl. “Cearo, help. Please, help us.” Was that her name? How did Mom know her? The questions ran through my mind, but I couldn’t pull my focus away from her long enough to come up with answers. Her yellow eyes were trained on me. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Her face was carefully blank, but her rigid posture and clenched fists gave away that she was feeling something strong. I thought it might be sadness but I couldn’t say for sure.

  After a few more pleas from Mom that went unanswered, she tore her gaze away from me and put it on Mom instead. Her expression wasn’t hard to read then. She looked down at Mom with anger and disdain. Her tone matched when she spoke in a low voice, “Why are you here, Willa?”

  “One of the Seelie troops found us. Please, you have to get us out.”

  “You should have stayed out.” She had stalked over to the bars and was staring down at Mom threateningly.

  “I know…I know. I’m sorry. Please help us,” Mom begged. When that was met with silence, Mom sagged in defeat.

  Cearo continued to watch, letting our last hopes be dashed. But then, after a minute, she unlocked the cell and came inside. Still angry, she looked at me and instructed, “When I free you, you will climb to that window.”

  I noticed the small window near the ceiling of our cell. I didn’t think I could fit through the bars that covered it, and even if I could, we were several stories up so it wouldn’t do much good. But I nodded anyway.

  “You will jump out of the window.”

  What now? I wanted to argue that, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work. Hopefully my face said enough.

  She continued on, ignoring my expression. “You will not scream as you fall. You will not make a sound. You will give no one a reason to investigate this side of the castle. At the bottom, you will land on soft ground. The ground will give and drop you into a tunnel where you will wait for me.” She stopped and gave me a moment to process all this, then unlocked the cuffs around my wrists, setting me free. However, I had no chance to enjoy the feeling before she pushed me over to the wall right below the window.

  I couldn’t actually do this. I would die. Even if the ground was soft down there, we were high enough that it will feel like concrete. She stepped over to Eric, who also didn’t seem excited about this plan. He cowered away from her.

  She was unconcerned by that but seemed confused when she noticed I was still standing there. “Go,” she commanded as she grabbed hold of Eric’s cuffs.

  “Go, David,” Mom said. “Trust her.”

  I must have been insane, but I started climbing up anyway. I ended up with an arm through the window and my foot balancing on a tiny edge of a stone that was sticking out of the wall a little further than the rest. That was as far as I could get. The bars were really close together and my head wouldn’t fit through, let alone my whole body.

  “I can’t get through this.”

  “Pull the bars,” Cearo instructed. “They are rusted through.”

  Red and orange flakes covered most of their surfaces and sure enough, when I pulled on them, they either broke into pieces or disintegrated completely. I looked back one more time for reassurance, and Mom nodded. Eric was pushed under me, and I expected Cearo to then go unlock Mom. She made no move to do so.

  “Go,” she commanded again.

  “Get her, and we’ll go,” I said, nodding toward Mom.

  Cearo moved in front of her and Mom jumped up, ready to go. But Cearo stopped. Instead of freeing her, Cearo dropped the keys just out of Mom’s reach. “I helped free you once. This time you free yourself.” She turned back to me and gave her same command, “Go.”

  I didn’t move. I didn’t understand why she would do this. “I can’t leave without her.”

  “Me neither,” Eric said.

  “You can, and you will,” she stated.

  “No, we all go — ”

  “Just go, David,” Mom told us, stretching out as far as possible to reach the keys. I could already see it was hopeless. From any angle they would be just an inch too far.

  “We’re not leaving you.”

  “Yes, you are. You too, Eric. I’ll figure this out. Go with Cearo.” Her gaze left no room for argument. She was still exhausted and upset by the turn of events but also determined. “She is the only one of them you can trust.”

  This plan was crazy. On top of that, I had thought Cearo’s face was purposely blank, but maybe it was just empty. Was she really helping us? I didn’t know how I could trust her. But I must have on some level because with a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slid over the edge.

  I had to know when I was going to hit, so I peeked. That was a big mistake. The ground was rushing toward me way too fast. I had to fight every instinct not to scream. I braced myself. I hit the ground shoulder first but to my surprise, it didn’t hurt anymore than maybe a football tackle. That was due to the ground immediately breaking apart when I hit it. The thin layer had slowed me slightly, so after I’d fallen another ten feet I landed lightly in soft, squishy mud. Thank God. I breathed deeply to clear my head.

  I peered around. I was in a large hole. I tried to catch a glimpse of Eric to wave that it was alright, we’d live, but I didn’t get the chance. The ground above me shifted and the top layer reformed. I was sealed in. It was dark and a little claustrophobic in here, but I wouldn’t let myself worry. I just got out of the way so Eric could fall through.

  The ground above broke apart and Eric dropped in. He landed with a grunt before hopping to his feet. He jumped in surprise when the ground reformed again. The darkness swallowed us. I heard Eric scuffling near the wall.

  “I thought she said we’d land in a tunnel,” Eric said. “This is closed on all sides. How the hell do we get out?” His voice was panicked. He was patting along the sides, searching for a way out.

  “She said to wait.” As long as I didn’t think about how I wanted to scream from the fall and from being buried alive in this small space, it was actually sort of amazing. I wondered how Cearo did it. Could Cearo control earth like Mom? But Mom said she was too far to do anything. And yellow is supposed to control air. Eric interrupted my thoughts.

  “So? We don’t know her,” he shouted at me. “How do we know she isn’t going to do even worse shit to us? Like trapping us underground and leaving us to suffocate.”

  “Dude, calm down. Everything else happened exactly like she said. Just trust her.”

  “Trust her? She left Mom!”

  “I know, I don’t like it either, but we don’t have a choice,” I shouted back. I took a deep breath. One of us had to be calm. Besides, I really did think she could get us out of here. If she could do this…and whatever she had done to the guards…. “Mom said to trust her. Let’s just follow her away from here and then we’ll come up with a plan.”

  “That’d be easier if she were here. She’s gonna leave us buried.” But just as he said that, she came through and landed on her feet right beside him. Her eyes shined some light into the place — weird or cool? — as she looked at me with relief, followed by the same blankness as before. But there was one huge difference. Her eyes were green.

  “Your eyes,” I began, my confusion evident. “How — ”

  I didn’t get to finish. The wall of dirt behind me shook and crumbled. The cave was now extended in that direction. The dirt moved along the walls to the opposite side where it began piling up. Roots snaked inside the walls, helping it shift.

  Cearo stepped forward before she was buried. “Move.” She was back to commanding us. I stepped toward the new space. She and Eric followed and the walls continued moving around us. The earth was forming a tunnel for us as we needed it. Amazement renewed.

  Cearo prodded us on, with occasional directions when we needed to turn slightly. We picked up speed until we were running. I thought we must be under the forest by now. There wasn’t any way to tell though, until we
came to a stone wall and I was proven wrong.

  “What is this?” Eric asked as we came to an abrupt stop.

  “The town wall,” Cearo stated. “It continues underground to prevent tunneling in and out.”

  “So what now?”

  “We go up. Be quiet and do exactly what I do.” The ground opened up over us, just enough so that we could fit through one at a time. A mound formed down here so we could crouch in the small space under the hole. Cearo peeked through. Deeming it safe, she silently climbed out. I stuck my head out in her place.

  We were at a corner of the wall, in a narrow alley behind some thatched houses. No one was back here, but I could hear sounds from the town as people went about their business. The news of our escape must not have gotten out yet.

  Cearo moved over to the wall where the branches of a huge tree were hanging over it. The longest branch began to grow down to where she was standing. She grabbed on when it reached her and it quickly shrunk back to its original length, hauling her the twenty feet up to the top of the wall. She disappeared over the edge and I knew it was my turn.

  “Eric, I’m going. Watch me,” I told him before pulling myself out of the hole. I stepped over to the same spot and waited. How was I supposed to do this part? I couldn’t make a tree grow. But Cearo must have sensed I was there because the branch came down to me. I held on as it vaulted me over the wall.

  “Shit,” I muttered, scrabbling for something to land on. I lost my grip and nearly fell down the other side, but Cearo grabbed me under my arms and pulled me onto a branch. She held on for half a second longer than necessary. I wondered what that meant. I didn’t mind though. Her touch sent sparks through me. It wasn’t the fire that our captors had forced through my arm. These sparks were entirely different. They were good, and I would be totally fine with it if they never stopped.

  Sadly, they did fade when she slowly pulled away from me. I turned to face her. She took a deep breath as if she was also trying to calm herself after that touch. I wanted to say something, like thanks for saving my life, but those words didn’t come out. So of course that meant stupid ones would.

  “Your hair is pretty,” I said. Really? That’s what I say to show gratitude for not letting me plummet to my death? I would’ve kicked myself had I not been stuck in this tree. She looked surprised and her hands went to her hair like she didn’t know how to take that. But then the blank mask fell over her face once more.

  “Climb down,” she said, “carefully.”

  “Are we sure that’s a good idea? I mean after…” I made a gesture indicating my almost-fall. “I’ve never been much of a tree climber,” I said, trying to laugh and lighten the mood.

  “Yes, I can see that. I will not let you fall,” she responded. Her expression didn’t change, but I felt like that meant more than she let on. I felt safe and reassured.

  As I started down, the branch that had brought us up reached down again, presumably to pick up Eric. His landing wasn’t very graceful either, but at least he was able to catch himself. He said nothing to Cearo, just swung himself down after me. We all managed to make it to the ground without injuring ourselves, but Eric and I couldn’t match Cearo’s silence. Every time we made a sound she’d shoot us death glares. The last drop from branch to ground was longer than any of the others and Eric and I both landed with muffled grunts, earning us the scariest glare of all. Cearo landed as if she’d just stepped off a stair. None of the crazy fairies snuck up on us though.

  The forest here looked the same, but the view of the castle was different than when we were hauled in. The gate to the human world wasn’t on this side. Cearo led us straight into the forest anyway. We jogged to keep up with her, but Eric and I were still drained from yesterday, so we quickly slowed. Cearo had to double back to us when she realized how far behind we were.

  “Hurry up. They must have realized you are gone by now. They will be looking for you,” she said.

  “We can’t,” I got out between huffs.

  “Why not?” she demanded.

  “We’re tired. We walked for hours yesterday. We haven’t eaten in a day either.” I had to bend over to catch my breath. My legs were shaking, and I felt like I’d collapse any second. At the same time, my stomach let out a loud rumble. There was no way we were going on without food.

  She let out a frustrated breath and reached into the pockets of her dress and pulled out something that she threw at us. “Hurry up.” She climbed a tree and scanned the area.

  I picked up the object she’d thrown and realized it was a bundle of jerky. I gave Eric half, and we devoured it like we’d never had anything so delicious. When Cearo came back down, I asked through a mouthful, “Why are we going this way? Isn’t the gate to the human world on the other side of the village?”

  “We’re not going to the gate.”

  “What? Why?”

  “We are going somewhere else. Now stop talking and focus on chewing that fast. We need to go.”

  “How far is somewhere else?” Eric asked between bites.

  “An hour and a half if we keep our previous pace. Hurry up.”

  We started jogging after her again a few minutes later. We were still hungry, but we knew it had to wait. They were probably out searching for us already, so we needed to hide. Cearo ran like she knew exactly where she was going even though we weren’t following any discernible path.

  After countless random twists and turns, she stopped only a few steps from a tree. The tree wasn’t anything special. To me, it looked just like every other tree around here. Cearo reached down and touched one of its roots. The tree rose up on its roots like a person might stand on his toes. It went just a couple of feet into the air, revealing an opening in the ground directly beneath its trunk.

  After a moment of awe, I noticed her motioning for us to go through. The opening was just big enough to fit a person. The tunnel was so narrow that I had to army-crawl through it. I was a little claustrophobic to begin with, and this was downright suffocating. When I heard the tree shift back down, I knew she must be behind us now, so I asked, “Can’t you use your magic to make this a little wider?”

  All I got in reply was, “No.” Liar, you just don’t want to, I thought. Oh well, deep breath. The upside to the too-narrow tunnel was I could feel the direction I had to go in. There was no light ahead to show me, so I kept a hand gliding along the wall the entire time.

  The first part was a steep downward slant until it evened out maybe fifteen feet down. Then it straightened and suddenly there were no more walls for me to touch. I shimmied out of the tunnel with my arm stretched out before me and stood slowly, just in case the ceiling was lower than expected. I still couldn’t see anything, so I felt around for Eric. Then we stood there waiting for instruction.

  “Where are we?” I asked Cearo.

  I saw her once-again yellow eyes emerge and move away from me. Then a spark ignited and a torch lit the room. I thought I’d seen her eyes flicker red for a moment, but it was probably just a trick of the light from the flame. That’s what I wanted it to be. The red eyes some of these fairies had freaked me out a lot more than the other colors. She began to walk around the perimeter of the room lighting more torches. Oh wait, not a trick. I definitely saw red. I was relieved that they’d changed back to yellow by the time she faced us. Phew.

  As the light grew, the room’s purpose became clear. Set far enough away from the walls, so as not to catch any extraneous sparks, were shelves weighed down by books. There must have been thousands. The room stretched on much farther than I would’ve guessed, and every shelf was so full they looked ready to collapse. When there was no more room on the shelves, the books were just piled on the ground, forming neat columns, then haphazard mountains as they went farther back.

  “This is one of my libraries,” Cearo said.

  “One of them? You have more?” Eric asked. Even the biggest bookworm would’ve been intimidated by the sheer number of books in this collection.

 
“It would not be wise to keep all of my information in one place,” Cearo replied.

  I stepped closer to examine the nearest shelf. I found the oddest thing. This whole section seemed to be full of teen paranormal novels. These were regular books that you could find at any Barnes and Noble. Even Twilight was here. I held up one about pixies and asked, “Really?”

  She seemed to understand my question because she explained, “I like to keep up to date with what humans think of us.” She pulled out a small, black book and turned away. Before she disappeared behind the stacks, she said, “We will stay here for now. Rest. I will get food soon.”

  “Wait,” I said. She stopped but didn’t turn around. “Why did you take us here instead of the gate? And what about our mom? We have to go back for her.”

  “They expect you to go to the gate. Your mother will have to find her own way out.”

  “How is she supposed to do that? You left her chained up. And if by some miracle she does get out, how is she going to find us? Judging from the secret tree entrance, I assume you don’t mention this place to everyone.”

  Cearo stayed quiet and frozen for a while. I didn’t think she was going to answer. I thought I’d finally shamed her and she realized how wrong it was to leave Mom like that. But then she looked over her shoulder at me and told me calmly, “If chains are enough to hold her there, then she is much weaker than I thought. As for this place, you are correct. No one other than me knows of its existence…except her.” She stalked off.

  I turned to Eric and could see the skepticism on his face. “You really think Mom would be able to find this place?”

  “I don’t know…I don’t know how she found it,” I said, referring to Cearo. “There was nothing distinguishing about the tree, and our path to it seemed totally random.”

  “Then we have to go back and get her.” He waited for me to agree.

  I shuffled my feet.

  “Why not?” Eric demanded.

  “If we go back, what if we get captured again? We’ll be back to square one. Or if we don’t get captured, where do we go from there? I sure as hell can’t find this place again.”

  “We go to the gate.” He said it as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. And that was the problem. It was obvious. Too obvious.

  “No, Cearo was right. That’s the first place they’re going to look for us.” I could tell he wasn’t happy with this. I wasn’t either, but we needed a better plan than just charging back blindly. “I’ll go find her. I’ll try to convince her to help us go back for Mom. You should rest while you can.” Eric turned to the books to find something to pass the time, while I went looking for Cearo.

  I found her in a small alcove, scribbling furiously in that little book. I didn’t say anything, but she must have heard my soft steps. Her head shot up and her hand stilled. “Just wait,” she said. I knew she was talking about Mom even though I hadn’t asked yet.

  “How am I supposed to wait?” I whispered.

  “Just wait. Trust me.”

  I did.