Fire flashed in the creature’s eyes, then it smiled at him.
Its bat-like ears swung forward and it lifted its snout high in the air, breathing deeply. Then the creature howled, a long haunting note that slid deep into the shadows of the wood. Those burning eyes met Elric’s again, before it fell on its paw-like hands and loped off down the slope of the bluff. It disappeared deep in the shadows of the woods.
Elric let out the breath he was holding. The creature was gone. They were safe, and yet, he had never felt more vulnerable. The crack in the shield remained.
He turned and ran to Elk’s side, lifting his teacher’s arm so he could help carry him to safety.
“That was very brave,” Elk said, his deep voice resonant, but lacking the strength it usually carried. “Risky, but brave.”
“It’s still out there, somewhere.” As they crested the hill, he saw Zephyr lift Fox to her feet, then Zepher flew over to them. He carefully tended the wound in Elk’s neck, with Elk offering quiet guidance.
Fairies always spoke as if they were immortal. Now Elric wasn’t so sure. After all, the queen’s daughter had died as a baby.
Zephyr looked over at him. “Are you harmed? I really don’t know how to heal mortal wounds.”
“I’m fine,” Elric mumbled. “Scratched up a little, but I’ll live.” He brushed grit out of the scrapes on his palms. Something wasn’t right. The reaper didn’t act as if it had been driven off. Something had distracted it, called it away. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Elric’s stomach, but he did his best to ignore it. This was his first battle. He had won. He had protected the fairy realm. Why didn’t it feel right?
Elk’s dark eyes met his. His teacher nodded at him in approval.
Elric had done his job. He’d given the reapers a target. Now he had to see to his sister. He turned toward the palace.
Zephyr flew up beside him. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“I need to find Wynn. I left her alone.” He jogged down the hill toward the great tree. “I need to get her back to her room.” Really he just needed one of her hugs. The kind where she didn’t let go until she almost knocked him over.
Besides, he had promised her that he would return as quickly as he could.
“I’ll come too,” Zephyr said, flying ahead of Elric and turning backward as the breezes that constantly surrounded him cooled Elric’s heated skin. Fox supported Elk, keeping her wounded arm close to her side, even though the silvery light had stopped flowing from her shoulder. The guards spoke together as they started toward the palace. Zephyr stayed close to his side, and Elric wondered if the young and uninjured fairy was on orders to protect him.
It didn’t take long before they reached the gardens and found the shimmering sand paths leading through the roses. Elric wound through the garden trails until he reached the place where he’d left Wynn waiting.
She wasn’t there.
A scattering of petals blew across the swirling patterns she must have traced in the sand. “Wynn?” he called.
He hated when she wandered off, but she wouldn’t have gone far. “Wynn! I’m back! Wait until you hear what happened.”
His voice drifted off over the silent gardens. An uneasy feeling crept over him. “Wynn, where are you?”
“Maybe they brought her inside,” Zeph suggested. He rose in the air several feet and looked around. “I don’t see her anywhere out here.”
“Look.” Elric bent down and picked up a dark feather. He touched the sand. It still faintly glimmered from the pronged footprint of Wynn’s hen. “Mildred must have found her.”
The uneasy feeling lingering in his stomach reached up and grabbed his throat. Wynn would follow that hen anywhere.
Zeph bent down beside him to look at the marks in the sand. He waved a hand over them, and they glowed slightly brighter. One footprint with the impression of toes, and another muffled outline of a foot wearing a shoe. Wynn only had one shoe on. The prints led in a direct path out of the gardens toward the field beyond.
Elric’s heart sank. She couldn’t have. Wynn wasn’t foolish. She wouldn’t have left the garden.
He ran to the edge of the garden path, following Wynn’s footsteps, only to see another path of trampled grasses leading across the meadow. Zephyr gave him a worried look and followed him as Elric tracked his sister’s trail through the grass until it disappeared through the shield.
“Wynn!” Elric screamed. “Wynn! Come back!”
Zephyr blew through the shield, flitting over the small clearing on the other side. He paused and picked up something from the ground, then floated back through the shield.
He was holding up a silk ribbon from Wynn’s dress.
Wynn was gone.
CHAPTER FIVEWynn
WYNN FELT THE GROUND TREMBLE. Maybe it was her. She felt shaky as she looked up at the branches of the tall trees. They were so thick, like a thatched roof, but ugly and twisted. She was turned around. She didn’t know which way to walk to go home. There was no path to guide her. She hadn’t been in the dark for a long time. In the Between, everything glowed around the fairies. Even nighttime was full of light under the dome. The woods were full of shadows that made Wynn feel afraid. She had never been afraid in woods in the Otherworld before, even when she was alone. These woods were different. They were cold and damp, like a rainy day in the fall just before the rain turned to snow. The chilled, wet air clung to her face and felt heavy, like sadness.
“What do we do?” Wynn picked up Mildred and cuddled her. She wished Elric were here. She didn’t wait for him in the garden. She should have listened. The snake tricked her.
Mildred’s feathers felt soft against the side of her face as her tears wet them. The
