“Please, Celia. Your House needs you more than mine needs me. I’ll follow as soon as I can.”
“You’ll both go now,” a new voice said.
Friedrich stepped toward Solomon. Beyond him, the hunters shifted eagerly.
Celia saw what was happening. They, or whatever controlled them, was unsure of Solomon. They weren’t going to flee, although they were in no hurry to attack either. But if Friedrich was left to guard their backs, they’d swarm him in moments.
“They can’t all get through the door at once,” Friedrich said to Solomon, as if he were reading Celia’s thoughts. “I’ll hold them.”
“For what?” Solomon asked. “I told you I’m not leaving until I’ve figured out how to—”
“And you can’t do that from here,” Friedrich said. “Lyssa isn’t here. None of them are. She’s somewhere else, if she’s still alive, and we all know it’s through that big gate. But you can’t go there yet. You’ll die as sure as anything. You’ll need help, so go home and get it. If everyone there is like you two, whatever is beyond won’t stand a chance. Please. It’s Lyssa’s only hope.”
Celia wanted to scream. After all this time, it was coming to this. Lyssa was gone, maybe truly dead. And now they were supposed to abandon this place and the people she’d come to care so much about?
There was no way Solomon would agree to that. Yes, it was against his code, but also it would rob him of his chance to be the big man, the one who saved the day again.
She watched in awe as he moved back a half-step, still keeping his eyes on the hunters, and carefully handed the sword to Friedrich.
“No!” she screamed, at the same time the whistles cut into the air and the hunters moved.
Solomon turned and sprinted. Celia tried to move but he was too fast. He grabbed her around the waist, lifted her as if she were a child and ran for the gate to the Greenweald, her undrunk cup of tea flying from her hand.
She only had time to see Friedrich awkwardly swing the blade at the first hunter who reached him before a brilliant, dark green light washed over her.
She was falling, Solomon’s arms still around her. Her breath was gone from her lungs and she struggled to draw any more in. Her body spun in rapid circles and forced her to close her eyes against the vertigo.
Then, she was lying on a rough stone floor. The nausea was gone, the dizziness faded.
Solomon was no longer holding her.
With a groan, she rolled over, pushing herself up from the floor onto her hands and knees.
“Damn you,” she moaned. “Why?”
“It’s the only way to help them,” Solomon answered quietly.
“You don’t know that, you arrogant, selfish….”
She trailed off, and he didn’t answer her.
Finally, she sat up and looked around. They were in a cave, bare of anything except for a glowing stone set into the ceiling, filling the chamber with a weak light.
She could feel the trees outside. She was home.
Chapter 71
“Of course, there are other gates,” Thaddeus said. He still sat with his back against the wall. Willow may have healed Melanie, but she’d made no sign of doing the same for him and he was exhausted. His foot was throbbing, and even the old wound in his hand seemed to be making itself known.
“Why do you say that?” Darius asked.
“Think about it. Think about what you know about Malachi. If he has some way of bringing those things in from other worlds, and if he’s been communicating with these mysterious ‘friends’ of his, do you really think he’d let everything be so far out of his control? No. There are other gates, probably the main ones, and they’re hidden somewhere in Subtle Hemlock.”
“Then we go after them,” Melanie said. “Shut them down.”
“Sure,” Thaddeus snorted. “And how do we do that? Shut them down, I mean.”
“I don’t know. Magic.”
“I don’t think my use of fire and light is going to do us much good. And there are no minds there for you to try to get into. How about you?” He turned to Darius. “Any special gifts for shutting down gates you haven’t mentioned?”
Darius shook his head.
“Didn’t think so,” Thaddeus said. “Which leaves us with what? We’ll go fight our way through the whole place, find these hidden gates and hope there will be instructions for how to turn them off printed on the wall?”
“All right,” Melanie said, “you don’t have to be such a condescending ass about it.”
Thaddeus took a deep breath.
“You’re right. Sorry. I’m tired. And sore. And I don’t see a way for us to end this.”
“I might,” Willow said.
“Then, please, almighty Healer, educate us.”
Thaddeus drew his knees up, crossed his arms on them and let his head sink down. He needed rest. Let Willow have her say.
“We need help from Towering Oaks, or what’s left of it anyway.”
Thaddeus started laughing, not lifting his head from his arms. “Sure, sure. I’ll go ask.”
“It’s why we came here originally. To get Jocasta to agree to work with Towering Oaks to help take down Subtle Hemlock. That won’t work now, obviously. We need a new plan. And I think our best option is still to go get as much help as we can.”
Thaddeus looked up at the Head of House Whispering Pines.
She sat at her apparent ease on the stairs leading up to the second level of the main tree, an expression of almost amusement on her face.
“Well?” he said. “What about it, Jocasta?”
“What about what?”
“Are you in, or out?”
“You’re asking me to crawl Towering Oaks, begging for them to come help save my House?”
Thaddeus shook his head, unable to believe his own
