I considered giving the bangle to a Council member, but then I’d have to answer questions about how and where I got it. I could give it to Ryn and ask him to keep my name out of it, but then he’d be under the spotlight. Better just to keep everyone out of trouble and leave the bangle where a Guild member can find it.
I walk into the library and head down one of the aisles, scanning the shelves as if looking for a particular book. I reach the other end, look around to make sure no one is watching, then remove the wrapped bangle from my bag. I place it on the floor before pulling the T-shirt off. Without pausing a moment longer, I straighten and walk back down the aisle. Now I just need to get my books and training bag out of my locker, and I can—
“Oh!” I jump back as I reach the end of the shelves and almost walk into someone.
“Oops, I’m sorry,” Gemma says, bringing her hand up to her mouth. “Oh, Calla, hey.” She gives me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, that was totally my fault. I was rushing in here to get my stuff. I’ve just been upstairs with, um …” She reaches up to touch her neck in a self-conscious gesture. “Well, there’s this guy. He’s a Seer trainee. You know the top three floors are for the Seers, right?”
I nod, hoping I don’t look as guilty as I feel.
“Yeah, so we don’t see them often because our training is completely separate from theirs, but I ran into him a few times when I started here because his mom is also an admin. I’ve kinda had a crush on him for, like, a year.” She rolls her eyes as pink appears in her cheeks. “We hang out sometimes. As friends. Because he’s awesome and I’m too shy to tell him I like him. Anyway,” she rushes on, “what are you doing here? I saw Olive just now, so I figured you were done for the day.”
“Yes, I just … forgot my books.” In my locker. Which is downstairs. Nowhere near the library. “And I was looking up something I didn’t quite understand in one of the lessons earlier,” I add quickly.
“Oh, cool,” Gemma says, without a hint of suspicion. “I’m walking home now. Do you want to join me?”
“Walking?” I follow her to a table where she retrieves her bag from a chair. “Don’t you use the faerie paths?”
“I do. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those extremists who hasn’t used the paths since Draven’s reign. I just like to take the Tip-Top Path when it isn’t winter because it’s so pretty. Have you been on it before?”
“Uh, no.” We walk out of the library and aim for the stairs. “I don’t actually live in Creepy Hollow, so if I were to walk home it would take a very long time. Faerie paths are my only option.”
“Oh, but you’re missing out. It’s so pretty up there. A little dangerous, obviously,” she adds as we descend the stairs, “but it’s a little dangerous everywhere in Creepy Hollow.”
“I guess I could walk with you for a bit and then take the faerie paths home,” I say.
After stopping by the lockers so I can fetch my things, we leave the Guild through the entrance room and come out of the faerie paths near the start of the Tip-Top Path. It begins at the base of a tree where large gnarled roots twist around each other to form uneven steps. Higher up, where the roots end, low branches bend around and over and under each other to form more steps. The uneven stairway continues in an easy gradient from tree to tree until it reaches the forest canopy. While the stairway isn’t steep, the bark is slippery in places where it’s been worn smooth over the centuries. I almost lose my footing several times, but it’s easy enough to catch hold of nearby branches.
The Tip-Top Path continues on for miles through the canopy, constructed from the topmost branches of adjacent trees. At intervals here and there, an uneven stairway like the one we climbed at the start leads down to the ground—which is so far down I can barely make it out between the tangled branches and leaves. The twilight sky is perfectly visible from up here, though. A pinky purple haze like watercolor paints bleeding into one another. In the fading light I notice minuscule glow-bugs far smaller than those that appear closer to the ground sitting on the autumn leaves. Umbrella sprites race each other along the smaller side branches, jumping and then opening the tiny umbrella-like appendages attached to the backs of their necks so they can glide from one branch to the next. Asterpearls, small white perennial flowers, grow here and there amongst the moss on the path. Their faint scent lingers in the air.
“You’re right,” I say to Gemma. “It’s really beautiful up—”
My words are cut off as a miniature sphinx jumps from the shadows onto the path in front of us and bares its teeth. Gemma clutches my hand. We both freeze. It’s the size of a large house cat but looks ferocious enough to do some damage. We’ve both been taught not to fight anything unless we’re first attacked, though, so we wait, motionless. After more growling, the sphinx bends its front legs and leaps away from us into the shadows on the other side of the path.
“Whew,” Gemma says, letting go of my hand and continuing along the path. “I think I’ve seen that one before. It always gets a bit aggressive, but it doesn’t attack as long as you don’t make any threatening moves.”
“Do you know this from experience?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I was with Perry. He did this weird arm-flapping dance thing, and the sphinx jumped and clawed his chest. He wanted to go after it when it flapped away, but I managed to get him to sit still while his wounds healed.”
I smile and step carefully around a small furry creature that decided the middle of the path was a good spot to have a nap. “Have you guys been friends a long time?”
“Since first year at the Guild.”
“Okay.” I nod. And then I nod some more because I’ve never been fantastic at making conversation with new people.
“So, um …” Gemma swings her arms at her side. “What do your parents do? Hopefully something more exciting than my parents.”
“Not really,” I say with a laugh. “My mom’s a librarian at that enormous library attached to Wilfred Healer School, and my dad works for a private security company. He used to be a guardian, but he stopped working after his first son died and his first union fell apart. After he met my mom, he quit being a guardian altogether. Deactivated his marks and everything.”
“Seriously? Wow. I don’t know anyone who’s had their marks deactivated.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s not common. The Guild reactivated his marks after the Destruction because they needed all the help they could get, and Dad didn’t want to hide in the shadows, even though my mom would have been happy with that. She was terrified every single day that she’d get a letter saying he died or had been captured and marked. Anyway, that didn’t happen, and after Draven’s reign was over, he left the Guild again.”
Gemma’s expression turns thoughtful. “I can’t imagine ever leaving.”
“Me neither.” I duck so I don’t walk into a procession of silver spiders crossing the path on a single silver thread. “Anyway, parents are boring. Tell me about this Seer you have a crush on.”
“Oh.” Gemma grins down at her feet. “His name is Rick. He’s good-looking and smart and funny and kind and just generally all-around perfect. He’s been girlfriend-less for four whole months, and I don’t know why because all the Seer girls want to be with him.”
“Well, maybe he’s Seen you in his future,” I say, nudging her arm with my elbow and wondering how many Seers have used that pick-up line.
She groans. “I doubt it. That’s not what he’s trained to See. I mean, sure, Seers are born with the ability to See pretty much anything in the future, but that’s why those who work for the Guild have so much training. They have to learn to hone their skills so they See the dangerous stuff that’s coming, not the frivolous stuff. That’s their focus, and all their magic goes into that. He probably doesn’t have much magic left to See visions of his relationship future.”
“Maybe he’s powerful enough to—Oh!” I grab a hanging vine as my boots skid sideways, almost sending me off the edge of the uneven path.
“Careful, that part’s slippery,” Gemma says, turning back and catching my hand.
“Uh huh.” I step over the smooth, shiny patch of bark and aim for the rough parts that provide a better grip for my shoes. “Anyway. I was saying maybe he’s powerful enough to See both the dangerous stuff and the frivolous stuff like his love life.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’d want to know that kind of thing ahead of time, if it were me. Takes the thrill out of it, you know? And Rick’s just a regular Seer, not super powerful or anything, so I’m sure all his magic goes into Seeing for the Guild.” She plucks one of the few remaining green leaves from a branch and twirls it between her fingers. “Did you know that the more powerful a Seer is, the further into the future he or she can See? Rick said his great-grandfather once Saw an attack fifty years before it happened. Guardians found the faerie who was going to do it. He was still a little kid, and it turned out his parents were abusive. The Guild got involved, the kid ended up with a new family, and fifty years later, the attack never happened.”
“That’s amazing. I wonder how many other events changed because the Guild intervened in that boy’s life.”
“Countless events, I’m sure. The future is always changing. You know how it is with some of our assignments. We’ll show up after being given the brief about what’s supposed to happen, and then it never does.”
“Really? That’s happened to you?”
“Yes. It means something else has changed, which in turn affected the event I was supposed to be changing.” She looks at me and frowns. “I think. It’s all rather complicated. Sometimes I glaze over when Rick tries to explain stuff.”
“That’s because you’re probably staring at his perfect eyes or his perfect lips or some other perfect feature of his.”
She attempts to look affronted, but then dissolves into giggles. “Yeah, that’s probably true.”
As our laughter subsides, I remember a question I’ve always had when thinking about the Seeing ability. “Sometimes I wonder why the Seers never saw the Destruction coming.”
“Ugh, yeah, you and everyone else. Rick and I almost had a fight over that issue because apparently everyone asks the Seers that, and they’re tired of it. It’s the only time he’s ever been upset with me.”
“But did he have an answer for you? Does he know why they didn’t See it coming?”
“Apparently someone from Draven’s special army, one of the first people who ended up on the Griffin List after Draven’s reign ended, was a woman who could block visions. The Seers always say that Draven was using her to block their vision of what was coming.”
“Oh, okay. Uh, what’s your opinion on the Griffin List?” I ask casually.
Gemma lets out a long sigh and drops the leaf off the edge of the path. “The Griffin List is stupid. I mean, think about it. These people and their special magic have existed for centuries and they’ve never bothered anyone before. It wasn’t their fault Prince Marzell rounded them up into an almost unstoppable army. They were under his and Draven’s control just as much as any other magical being. But then the Guild comes along and has to give labels to everything—Griffin abilities, Gifted people—and order everything on a registry the way they do for halflings, most of whom are also harmless. It’s just ridiculous.”
“I agree,” I say, “but on the other hand, you can kinda see the point of the list, can’t you? Some of these Griffin Abilities are really dangerous.”
“Well, yes, there are some dangerous ones, but that doesn’t mean the people who own them are dangerous. It’s just …” She hesitates, gathering her thoughts. “Criminals come in all shapes and sizes and races, from all kinds of backgrounds, and with all kinds of magic. Anyone could be a criminal, not just one of the Gifted. So why treat them differently?”
I’m liking this girl more and more. “That makes complete sense to me. If only the rest of the world saw it that way.”
“I know. But you can’t argue too much about it otherwise people start to think you’re Gifted.”
“Yeah.” I start thinking this is probably a good time to head home. It’s great that Gemma and I are in agreement about the Griffin List, but if we continue talking about it for much longer, I might end up giving something away. “I think I should probably get home.”
“Me too,” she says. “This is around about where I usually go into the faerie paths. My house is nearby, but it’s easier to take the paths than climb down all those stairs.”
We say goodbye and exchange a semi-awkward hug. Then I open up a doorway and walk into it. Instead of taking the faerie paths straight into my bedroom, I come out by one of the waterfalls near my home. We live in Carnelian Valley now. It isn’t a natural forested area like Creepy Hollow or Woodsinger Grove. The trees were planted specifically to be used as faerie homes. They’re arranged in concentric circles around a system of eight interlinked lakes at the base of the valley. It’s supposedly an expensive and highly sought-after area. Ryn said Dad must have pulled some serious strings to get a house here so quickly after Mom chose this area.
I stand with my hands on my hips and survey the area, comparing it to the forest I just walked though. The lakes and cascading waterfalls are beautiful, but there’s nothing appealing to me about the perfect circles of trees rising up the sides of the valley. I’d far rather have a home in the tangled forest of Creepy Hollow.
I head away from the water. As I near our tree, I notice someone sitting on the ground beside it. I stop and take a closer look. The moment I recognize him, I feel that familiar jolt in my stomach. Not as strong as it used to be, though. I think I’m getting over my silly crush.
“What are you doing here, Zed?” I ask as I stride toward him.
“You’ve been ignoring me,” he says as he stands. “I wanted to check on you.”
“So you decided to lurk outside my home? I’m surprised my dad hasn’t come out here to find out who you are and what you want.”
“Oh, I’ve met your parents already. I told them I’m one of the training instructors at the Guild and that I came by to organize a schedule for the extra training you requested. They said you weren’t home yet, so I told them I’d wait outside.”
I blink, then drop my bag on the ground and cross my arms. “So you didn’t come by to explain why you were hanging out with the drakoni who wanted to kill me?”
“Look, I didn’t realize he was such a guardian hater. I only just met the guy. He’s part of a group of people with … well, similar interests.”
“Similar interests?”
“Yes, it’s …” Zed scratches his head. “We’re all survivors who were locked up in Prince Zell’s dungeon back before the Destruction. It’s like … a support group.”
“A support group? Now you’re just making things up.”
“I’m not, Calla. There really is a group. I don’t know how these guys found each other, but they did, and now they’ve found me.”
“Well … that’s great.”
“What happened last night when you vanished?” Zed asks, stepping closer to me. “That was really weird.”
“Oh, that was nothing. Not a big deal.” I step past him and write a doorway onto the wide tree that conceals my home.
“Are you sure? Because you looked seriously—”
“I’m sure. It was just one of my illusions. I made everyone think I had disappeared. But then I couldn’t hold onto it because, um …” A jolt passes through me. Ripples radiate away from me. “Oh no.” I spin around and reach for Zed, but everything vanishes.
I find myself standing in the same scene I was in earlier. Zed is sitting beside younger me on the couch in the cafe, and younger me is saying, “… so glad you got out of there. I always wondered what happened to you. My brother said the Guild would rescue everyone, but I never knew for sure that they did.”
“No!” I shout. I’m not supposed to be traveling through time anymore. I’m nowhere near that stupid bangle. Why is it still affecting me?
“They didn’t rescue us,” Zed tells younger me.
“What? But then how did you get out? Did you … oh my goodness, did you have to fight for Draven? Did he brainwash you?”
I slide my fingers through my hair and tug at it. Take me back to the present. Back to the present. BACK TO THE PRESENT, DAMMIT!
“No,” Zed says. “They had to take us out of our cages to mark us, and that’s when some of us got away. It was … well, I won’t tell you how we did it because it was pretty gruesome. We were desperate. We knew by then that the Guild was never coming.”
“It wasn’t the Guild’s fault, okay?” I shout at Zed as he continues telling my younger self how he decided never to return to the Guild. “It’s complicated with the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The Guild can’t just go charging in wherever they like. They probably would have started a war a whole lot sooner if they’d ignored all the laws, and you know that.”
The scene vanishes along with that sudden rushing sound I’m becoming accustomed to. The nausea and dizziness hit me the moment I’m jolted back into Carnelian Valley. I try to steady myself against the tree and find the doorway into my home still open.
“What was that?” Zed demands. “What just happened?”
“H-how long was I gone?” I ask between deep gasps of air.
“I don’t know. Two or three seconds, like last night. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.” I push him away and drag myself and my bag inside. The doorway closes, and I drop into the nearest armchair. I lean forward and place my head between my knees. Don’t be sick, don’t be sick, don’t be sick.
“Hey, sweetie,” Mom calls from the kitchen. “Did you see that instructor outside?”
I take another deep breath and say, “Yeah, I spoke to him.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re home. Dinner will be ready soon, and you need plenty of food to keep your strength up for all this extra training.”