Nevermor Page 17

  “I won’t make that mistake,” Wren assured him, but immediately felt she shouldn’t have said it. He gave her a strange look, but it faded quickly. He didn’t question her, instead lifting his face and pointing up into the trees.

  “Look there.”

  Wren considered the spot where he had directed her, seeing several bulbous sacks in the treetops. They seemed to be made of dirt and twigs and glistening fibers like spider webs. They encompassed whole portions of the tree trunks, and there were a great number of them, of varying sizes.

  “The wisps live in those, so if you notice them in the trees, it’s probably best to stay away. They sleep in the daytime, but at night the orbs are lit like moons and you can see them well. Easier to steer clear.”

  “I’ll bet it’s very pretty,” Wren said, imagining the forest alight with these natural lanterns in the treetops. Stuck on this, it was as though she had forgotten what he’d just told her about the wisps being dangerous. “Would it be possible to see it? If, of course, it would be safe to do so without them killing us.”

  Despite how dangerous Rifter had tried to make them out to be, she couldn’t help thinking how lovely it would be to see the fairies floating around all at once. Would they swarm like wasps, or flutter like butterflies?

  Rifter gave her a sideways look. “No one has ever asked me that,” he said, but she thought he looked intrigued. “You’re either very daring or very foolish. I haven’t decided yet.”

  Wren didn’t feel like arguing over it, but instead tried to push her luck. “So we can?”

  “I’ll think about it,” he told her. It was no secret that he liked to keep her hanging – thinking he wouldn’t bend to her whims – but she could see that he was interested in her request. “It’s not quite dark yet, is it? There are other things I have to show you first.”

  He hadn’t said yes, but Wren smiled at him anyway, willing to pretend that she didn’t know that they would. Rifter didn’t manage to escape it quickly enough to keep from smiling back at her. They were caught there for a moment, looking in each other’s eyes—

  —and then Whisper swooped down between them again, hissing in that horrid way that hurt Wren’s ears. Rifter looked at the wisp angrily, but she’d done what she’d set out to do. She’d stolen his attention away.

  “Alright, alright,” he said heatedly. “Don’t complain so much! Keep it up and I’ll send you back home.”

  Whisper drifted away, muttering quietly to herself.

  “She’s sulking,” he said to Wren apologetically. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her lately. She’s usually pretty agreeable.”

  You really don’t know? Wren could see it clearly, but of course she was the one on the other end of the pixie’s hatred. But Rifter didn’t see? In that moment, she realized that he really knew nothing at all about women.

  2

  They spent a while wandering around in the woods as the day continued to fade. Rifter showed her several of the entrances to the tunnels, as well as a few traps that had been laid throughout the forest to catch intruders. He’d told her she shouldn’t trigger them and she intended to take his advice.

  He showed her an assortment of plants that could be found in the woods, some that were good to eat and others that she should never touch – including one with great briars that was nourished by blood.

  The forest was larger than she’d initially thought, apparently stretching out from the beach for quite a distance before it came out on either side to some other type of terrain. Rifter didn’t take her that far. There were plenty of things in the woods to be described. They had only passed through a few acres before he had decided to turn them around and take her back to the fairy nests.

  Wren could already see them through the trees in the distance before they ever arrived. The orbs were lit, just as he’d said. More than that, she could see them off in nearly every direction through the trees, some closer than others. She didn’t know if they were coming upon the same ones that he had shown her before, but she trusted that he knew where they were. She was utterly lost by now.

  They were still a distance away when Rifter stopped.

  “Whisper.” The pixie had not gone very far from them the entire time and had truly been well-behaved for the last while – doing exactly as he had asked – and she came forward now to hover in front of him attentively.

  “Go back,” he told her. “You know you can’t be seen by them.”

  As agreeable as she had been so far, Whisper began to argue heatedly, but Rifter wasn’t having it.

  “Go!” he scolded her, and the wisp shot away in an angry rush until her light was gone – which only took as much time as it did for Rifter to lower his pointed finger.

  “She seemed angry,” Wren said, finding that she felt sorry for the fairy, despite everything. She supposed it was the compassion only one woman could feel for another when she recognized unrequited love.

  “It’s for her own good. The others will kill her if they sense her. She’s unclean to them.”

  Wren remembered what he had said about their bond, and how Whisper had chosen to save his life. All that was still an incredible mystery to her, but she didn’t ask about it now. Her attention was drawn by the prospect of what she was about to see.

  Rifter led her over near a large tree and urged her to sit on the ground with him. From there, they had a decent view of the orbs above that were glowing faintly in the dark branches.

  “They’ll grow brighter as the wisps wake up,” he explained.

  Wren nodded silently, never taking her eyes away. She felt like a child anxiously awaiting a magic show or a display of fireworks. Her full attention was absorbed in the globes above, not wanting to miss a moment – until she realized that he was staring at her.

  Her face grew hot when she met his eyes. “What is it?”

  “I suppose you’ll want to ask me more questions,” he said suspiciously.

  “If you don’t want me to ask questions, then don’t arouse my curiosity,” she said as-a-matter-of-fact, but she guessed there was no hope of him doing that.

  He smirked, but didn’t say anything. It was a contest now, was it? It was a battle of wits to see if she would be first to ask a question or if he would give in and talk about himself without her having to bait him. They looked at each other silently, and then Wren caught sight of something hanging inside his coat.

  “Tell me about your flute,” she said. To be fair to the rules of their game, it wasn’t a question, so she hadn’t lost.

  Rifter took the reed flute into his hand and looked down at it.

  “It’s just something I made to pass the time,” he confessed, but as he looked down at it, he let out a short laugh. “I saw a picture in a book of a man playing one like this. There was a story about how the music called a bunch of mice, and then later he used it to call children. One day I thought: why not try it to call others here? I was kind of surprised when it worked.”

  “I certainly heard you playing,” she admitted.

  Why did you call me? She wanted to ask, but she was afraid of going too far.

  Don’t ask him anything that he might not remember. That thought was still on her mind.

  “I guess I should have been careful,” he said as if mirroring her thoughts. “Not everyone I’ve called has been good for this place.”

  Rifter leaned back on the ground and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed pose. His coat of leaves was pulled open a bit and the toned flesh of his torso was spread out in front of her. He didn’t seem to care, completely comfortable with how he appeared. She tried not to look at his body – but the only thing that kept her from it was the first flash of light that darted by above them.

  Wren looked up, seeing that the fairy wisps had begun to stir. A few zipped out, looking around to be sure it was safe and clear, and then more of them began to emerge, filling the forest with light. They were like giant fireflies that never went out, or paper lanterns that dipped and soare
d in all directions.

  “They’re beautiful,” she gasped.

  But dangerous, she reminded herself, like fire.

  Rifter sat up beside her, watching her instead of the wisps. He seemed to be drinking in her awe – though he might have been entranced by the way the light lit up her face.

  “Do you want to go closer?” he asked. “Get a better look?”

  “You said it was dangerous!” she reminded him.

  He laughed lightly. “Yes, well what I meant was that it’s dangerous when you aren’t with me. They recognize me as part of the world. They won’t hurt me.”

  Did that make sense? Perhaps he was part of the world, but he was also bound to Whisper. If she was unclean to them, then wouldn’t he be also? Wren wasn’t sure she understood it.

  Rifter stood up and reached for her hand, and she forgot about all that. She couldn’t hide her excitement. She trusted that what he said was true, but perhaps that was giving him more credit than he had earned.

  “Stay close,” he instructed, and she didn’t mind that. She gripped his arm and kept near him as they stepped out into the open.

  The fairies drifted all around, undisturbed by their presence. A few of them stopped to peer at them, but then went on as if the two humans were as common as trees in their midst. The fairies danced through the air, twisting trails of light all around. It was the most beautiful, magical thing she had ever seen.

  “It must be amazing to fly like that,” she said, enchanted.

  “It is,” he told her. She felt a little foolish, having forgotten that he could fly too. Of course he knew what that was like. “It’s complete freedom. There are no straight lines or rules to follow. You just go, and nothing can hold you back.”

  She had yet to hear him sound so passionate. He had already taken her into the air once, and she remembered going over the ocean, searching, but that was only in a dream, and she didn’t think she could say that she had actually done it.

  “You do like your freedom, don’t you? That’s why you live here.”

  “It’s what I’ve always strived for,” he agreed, “to keep that freedom – to never let anyone take it away from me.”

  She smiled as she thought of what it must be like to be completely free, with no worries or cares about tomorrow.

  “I’d like it if you’d teach me sometime. Flying, I mean. You said before that I couldn’t do it without you.”

  “Don’t ever try,” he reminded her again.

  Standing there with him, talking about freedom, she nearly forgot all her troubles – until the one thing that was still bothering her pressed on her mind.

  “Rifter, about my brothers…”

  He smiled and laughed incredulously, already knowing what she was going to say.

  “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

  “No, it’s very important to me,” she said seriously. She searched for a way to explain it, and she supposed that the truth was the best option. “They’re my family. I’m supposed to look after them. I’ve pretty much promised them that. If I don’t go back, or if I can’t find a way to bring them here, then it’s like I abandoned them. I couldn’t live with myself if I did that. I couldn’t be happy here if I knew that I had left them.”

  That seemed to have an effect on him, though she wasn’t sure what. He studied her carefully as if to decide whether she was bluffing.

  “You’ll forget about it eventually,” he said, sounding so sure that he was right. Perhaps that was how it happened for him, but not for her.

  “I won’t,” she promised. “That’s not something I would be able to forget. And knowing that they won’t ever forget it either would bother me.”

  He was quiet again as her words sunk in.

  “It means that much to you?” he asked, finally understanding.

  “Yes,” she assured him. “It really does. It’s the one thing I’ve been focused on since we’ve been on our own. I just want us to be together – to live on our own terms without having to worry about tomorrow.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. It took him a few moments to mull it over, and he looked somber as he did. Eventually, he met her eyes again.

  “Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll go after them tomorrow. For you.”

  Wren was so overcome with happiness that she couldn’t say anything for a few moments. Her face lit up as she looked at him, near tears for her joy.

  “Thank you!” she gushed, clasping her hands to her chest in relief. “Thank you so much!”

  Before she could stop herself, she had thrown her arms around him in a hug, not even considering that he might push her away. After she had done it, however, she was quick to catch herself. She didn’t linger, retreating from it almost as quickly as she had put it on him.

  “I’m sorry,” she said in embarrassment, pulling back. “I’m just...”

  She hadn’t quite managed to get away before she felt his hands on her back, holding her in. Her body seized up, her muscles rigid. She took in a sharp breath and forgot to let it out again, and then she was looking into his eyes as he peered back into hers.

  He was close enough that he could have kissed her, and she secretly wished that he would. A tingle of excitement ran through her at the thought. She’d never kissed a boy – not legitimately; not since she’d been old enough to understand what it meant, and she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather share that with other than him.

  He looked into her eyes, examined the shape of her mouth. Her heart was pulsing rapidly inside her, anticipating, but instead of moving to claim what he could have had, he only smiled.

  “We should probably be getting back,” he said, taking her away from that moment. She didn’t want to seem too anxious for something that wasn’t even on his mind, so she broke free of her romantic haze and nodded in agreement.

  He took her hand and led her away from the fairy lights, back toward the home in the underground cave. Despite how he had denied her, Wren was pleased with how that had gone. It hadn’t been as hard as she’d thought to convince him about her brothers, and there was another thing to be happy about: he was still holding her hand.

  Silently – and with pleasure – she wondered if that had anything to do with his cooperation.

  Chapter Fourteen

  1

  When they came back into the den, none of the others seemed to be there. Wren guessed that maybe they had gone to the beach even though Rifter wasn’t with them, but when he turned to her with a sly expression, she sensed that something else was afoot.

  “One second,” he said, holding up a finger, and then he had walked off down the tunnel that led to the boys’ rooms. She was suddenly aware of noises and whispers coming from down there, and though she tried to peer forward from where she was, she could not see.

  Rifter was gone for a few moments, during which the whispers grew with more energy, but Wren couldn’t hear what they were saying. She didn't have to be told that the others were down there too. She had figured out that much. What were they up to? Shortly, Rifter reappeared.

  “Come on.” He motioned to her with his head, indicating that she should follow him down the tunnel.

  She agreed, and while she thought a surprise might be nice, she didn’t know how she should feel about a surprise from them. From what she had seen so far, she didn’t know what to expect. They were as likely to present her with a bloody sow's head as they were to give her a bouquet of roses – perhaps more the prior. It was with caution that she followed, and it wasn’t long before she was able to see all of them standing there – with the exception of Nix – waiting for her.

  She was even more suspicious now.

  “Every one of us has his own space,” Rifter said, “and if you’re going to stay, I figured that you should have your own room too.”

  My own room? Her eyes were glowing with pleasure, and she knew now that she had been accepted by them. They stood back out of the way and Rifter lifted the curtain that was behind him to let her lo
ok through. Wren was excited to see it, and she went in eagerly as the others watched for her reaction.

  The space wasn’t any bigger than the others, but the ceiling was rock, with a lovely striae of color. There was a light in the corner, made of three iron arches that each held a candle. A level tree stump there could be used as a chair or a small table. A square in the floor, surrounded by a pattern of stones, was set as a place where she could build a fire. The bed was a round disc that was suspended from the ceiling by netting, stuffed with down and covered in soft furs. It looked so welcoming that she wanted to go to it straight away, but it was not quite time for that yet.

  Looking around the space, she saw that they had all given her a gift – taking from their possessions so that she would have some of her own. There was a book on the bed, no doubt given by Sly. She suspected Toss for the lamp, but he had also given her one of his twisted sculptures that she had been admiring before. There was a piece of a mirror that she was sure had been given by Finn judging by the way it was held to the wall by spare hooks and pieces of metal. The twins had offered up a pair of rugs that were vastly different – one was tiger and the other was fox. She was touched by this show of acceptance, but at the end of that, it didn’t escape her that one was missing.

  Nix had not given her anything, but she had to shrug it off. How could she have hoped to win all of them over so quickly?

  “Do you like it?” Toss asked.

  She turned to see them all standing there, waiting for her reaction, yet she didn’t think she could hide her elation if she’d wanted to.

  “It’s…” She was at a loss for words. She was sure they would have laughed at her if they’d noticed that she was tearing up a bit, but if they caught onto it, they didn’t say anything. “It’s wonderful! You all did this for me?”

  They all looked very happy that she was pleased, and were even more so when she hugged each of them. They must have been working the whole time she was gone with Rifter, and Rifter seemed to know about it, which meant they must have planned it ahead of time. She was sure they didn’t know it, but this was more than anyone had done for her in a long time.