“Bren . . .” I trail off. I don’t know what to say.
“It’s okay.” He pats my head. “It won’t come back.”
“It’s still alive?” I shudder at the thought.
Bren shakes his head. His normally jovial attitude is still gone. “It was never alive in that state; not really. But you can’t truly kill a reaper, since it’s technically already dead. You can dismantle them, though, and they turn into . . . well, you don’t need to know about that.”
“Know about what?”
Bren extends his hand, and I take it, letting him pull me up.
“It doesn’t matter. What does, is that you’re safe. Just don’t come out to the Wild Wood alone, okay? It’s still not safe, even for a gaia.”
I nod and blink back tears.
“Why are you crying?” Bren eyes me sideways, alarmed.
“Because I hurt you,” I choke. He looks baffled, so I continue. “I asked you about stuff too hard and too soon. You can keep your secrets, Bren. I didn’t know they were that important to you. I’m sorry.”
He looks away, his mouth a hard line. His body is all planes and angles, and he’s so still. Quiet.
“It’s okay,” he says at last. He looks at me and smiles softly. “I know you were just curious. It’s the nature of a Shore Watch member. You’re all as curious as cats.”
“Hey, that’s only partially true.” I nudge him in the shoulder and wipe at my eyes.
His smile ebbs. “But I’m not ready to tell you, Sophia. Not yet. I want things to stay the way they’ve always been. You just being you, and me watching; guarding. Just like always.”
Watching. Guarding. “I didn’t know you were my guardian,” I say.
Bren shrugs.
“Are you like a fairy godmother or something? Except for a boy?”
Bren sneers. “Certainly not. I don’t mind telling you that much.”
“Okay.” I pat his shoulder. It’s unusual for me to show that much affection to anyone, even Bren, but I feel like I owe it to him to show him I respect his wishes. “I won’t ask you any more questions—about your past or whatever,” I amend when he raises his eyebrows. “You can tell me when you’re ready.”
“Thanks.” And then Bren smiles, his eyes lighting up. “We should probably get back before your mum starts to worry.”
“She’ll be fine,” I say dismissively. “I’m always disappearing.”
“You probably should be a little more responsible about that,” Bren says. He sweeps his arm. “I mean, you just found yourself in a reaper’s lair, and no one had any idea where you were.”
“You did,” I say, and my heart warms at the pride in his eyes.
“I can’t speak to Eema the way you can,” Bren says, “but I still have a connection, of sorts. When Earth calls me, I answer.”
He grabs my hand. “Let’s go.”
Together, we walk through the clearing. I do my best not to look too closely at the bones. “I hope reapers eat animals.”
“They do,” Bren says. “They only eat humans when they can manage it.”
“You know a lot about them,” I say. “How come?”
“Breaking your promise already?” Bren’s tone is teasing, but there is a tightness about his eyes.
“Sorry.”
“I know a lot of things, Sophia,” Bren says after a moment. “Not so much by way of book knowledge, but I know the forest and everything in it. I know the rocks and streams. I know the trees and shrubs. I know the animals . . . I know the monsters.”
I wince at the last word. “I hope that’s the only reaper on the island.”
“Reapers are everywhere,” Bren says. “And while this one was only the one that I know of on the island, they have a way of finding old abandoned lairs and making it theirs.”
“Do they all look so—so awful?” ‘Awful’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.
“Yes.” Bren looks around as we step onto a trail I didn’t notice earlier. “They do. But reapers aren’t the only fae beings on the island. We have fairies, brownies, and dryads. We also have some . . . not as nice fae beings, such as trolls—not that they’re scary, so much as bothersome—and wraiths. Watch out for the wraiths.”
“What are those? Ghosts?” I feel more curious than anything, now. Bren has a way of taking away my fear.
“Evil spirits,” Bren says matter-of-factly. “They’re all over the place, here. They have a tendency to follow you around if you give them even the slightest reason to, and are quite annoying. I had to give one a what-for when he took an interest in you.”
My lips stretch in a grimace, and I eye him askance. “I’m glad I can’t see them.”
“You can’t see them yet,” Bren eyes me with pity. “Your connection with Eema will grow, and you will be able to see her children that have passed on, and the wraiths.”
I tilt my head at his choice of words. “The wraiths aren’t dead people.”
“The wraiths have always been spirits.”
Well, that’s creepy. “Huh. Maybe I don’t want my connection to get any stronger,” I muse.
Bren laughs, and the sound makes my stomach flip. Stars, I’ve missed that sound so much.
“It’ll come to you in bits and pieces. You have a lot to learn, Sophia, but don’t worry. You still have time.”
“Do I, though?” I mean it as a serious question. “The Earth is in pain. Someone or something is hurting her, not to mention the fact that she’s said she’s dying. Humans have polluted the land and sea. How can I possibly do anything to help, even with my connection to her?”
Bren eyes me for a moment before responding. “Only Eema can tell you that.”
I frown. “She doesn’t tell me anything.”
“She doesn’t want to tell you too much, too soon,” Bren says confidently. “She’s a mother, remember? She doesn’t want to give you more than you can handle.”
“That’s not
