Feet sinking into the dirt, she paused at the mouth of the forest and let her eyes roam. After a moment, she realized that no matter how long she stood there, her eyes were not going to adjust. Not when the reddish-black sky swallowed the light whole. Her guides let out a huff as she resumed walking. Unafraid, the two dogs moved swiftly into the dark.
The naked trees and their branches scraped up like spindly fingers, curving and pointing with gothic judgment. It felt as though the forest mocked her. As if it knew she was unprepared for what was to come. The quiet patter of her canine guides kept her placing one foot in front of the other despite her instincts. She couldn’t help but wonder if their ease was misplaced. The forest was silent. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t danger.
It was the silence before the sky fell and beneath these naked trees, there would be nothing to break its fall. Her steps hurriedas her mind twisted, thoughts turning as gnarly as the forest around her. She wanted out of here, wanted to find the god of this realm and be done with this.
The pup in her arms squirmed, begging to be let down. Once on the forest floor, the three dogs sat down, no longer interested in racing ahead. She tried to walk past them, but one of the short-haired dogs grumbled and circled around her until she was back where she started. Hands in her pockets, she studied her surroundings.
What had been one simple worn path now split into four. All dark and unlit. All likely terrible options.
“A crossroads,” she murmured to no one.
One path behind her. One path before her. One path to her right. And one path to her left.
A woman slunk out from behind the pin-thin trees, moving like the night itself. She had wood-brown hair cropped to her chin and smart gray eyes that tracked Elysia’s movements. A few freckles stood out faintly on her fair skin. Wrapped in a light pink ankle-length dress with chunky boots, she seemed both out of place and completely at home in the forest.
Her entrance had been as silent as the woods around them and there was an air to her that reminded Elysia of the women in her city who tended the dead. An ease that only came from looking death in the eye over and over again until the false enmity faded into something gentler. Elysia couldn’t say she understood, but between the hangings and the death moths she had developed something of a fascination with death. One of many secrets she never told. Good girls and daughters of the Crown didn’t wonder about such things.
The woman’s voice was soft, caught somewhere between youth and the adult body she bore. “Elysia Parker. The fates do have their jokes, don’t they?” She stared unflinchingly, taking in the measure of her, before gesturing almost demurely aroundthem as if this were a throne room instead of the most unnatural forest Elysia had ever had the misfortune to enter. “You’ve come upon a crossroads.”
Elysia met her gaze, thinking that she seemed familiar. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
The woman’s face didn’t so much as twitch, but a pleased mischief entered her stone-colored eyes.
“Don’t you?” Her lips almost smiled. “You can call me Maya.”
She sat on a fallen log with perfect posture. Her palms turned up, gesturing to the paths surrounding them. “This is only your beginning, Elysia Parker, and your indecision will ruin you before you even embark on your true quest. So, I have come to grant you a boon.”
Apprehension skittered through Elysia. “And what is the price of your gift?”
Maya’s mouth curled up, pleased at her question. “Our goals align for the time being. No cost.”
Before Elysia could respond, the woman, who appeared perhaps a decade older than her, stood and her tone turned brisk. “The choosing of the path—fate’s first query into whetheryouare worthy.” Hands inside the pockets of her dress, Maya surveyed the four paths.
Elysia eyed the woman as if she were possibly mentally unstable. “I think there’s been a mistake. I need to speak with the god of the dead. If you could point me in the right direction that would be much appreciated. No need for…this.”
“And you will. But first, your decision.” Seeing Elysia’s expression, Maya continued, sounding exasperated. “Look, you came here and clung to a tree like a barnacle. It caused a stir. And now you drugged yourself to get back here and speak with himagain. For better or for worse, you’ve got the fates’ attention after those little stunts.”
A flash of frustration coursed through Elysia. She forced her voice to remain even. “Those were notstunts. I simply have something to discuss with the god of the dead.Fatehas nothing to do with any of this. Besides, where I’m from, the gods and fates do not hear nor care.” Bitterness darkened her voice.
Maya smiled at Elysia’s rancor, but a strange pity softened her eyes. “Hardly the truth, but I believed that once, too. Either way”—she gestured around them—“you still have a path to choose.”
Elysia threw her hands up. “Fine. You want me to pick a path?” She started to fling out an arm, but Maya caught it in midair.
She lowered Elysia’s arm slowly, anger swirling in her eyes. “You would do well to respect what you do not know. And if you cannot respect it, then at the very least have curiosity.”
Embarrassed, Elysia intuitively knew she had almost just made a possibly mortal mistake. She stopped, closed her eyes and breathed. Nerves needled under her skin now. She had no idea how to find the god of this realm, or which way to go. It wasn’t like she’d been dropped off with a map and a bundle of snacks for the road.
“I am sorry.” She spoke stiffly, the words unfamiliar and unused on her tongue.
Maya relaxed, stepping back in wordless acceptance of the apology. “You will find your magic is accessible here. I imagine it mayilluminateyour path.”
Elysia’s eyes shot to her new guide’s in surprise. People from Kava were magicless no matter which land they slipped into—sure, someone like her would retain the crumbs they had started with, but it wouldn’t bloom into anything more just because they crossed a border. A painful feeling of vulnerability overcame her. She had no idea how to use her magic properly. If anything, her magic used her.
Nervous, she scanned the four paths surrounding her. Even as she strained to look beyond what was visible to her physical eye, she saw nothing but dark empty paths cutting deeper into the woods. Eyes closed, she listened, hoping to hear what was hidden out of sight, but not from someone like her.
At first all she could feel was tension, all she could hear was doubt. Muscles knotted and feet aching. Thoughts as twisted as the trees around her, telling her she never should have left Relaclave. But then the silence that had smothered her sunk into the spaces between her thoughts, quieting and soothing until she could finally hear.
Inside her mind’s eye, it was the breaking of dawn. The sun she barely knew, cresting the land—its light just enough to see within the shadows. Through the light and beneath the shadows, she found the truth. Sepia-toned images flashed through her mind, faster than she could track. Music overlaid the images, adding texture and depth to what she saw.
