I rub my eyes to make sure I didn’t imagine it. Nothing. Then, a third ribbon of orange-red. Flickering. Fading. I did not imagine the two gold eyes that swung my way.
“Folost?” I scramble to the edge of the embers. There are circles of fire dotting the remains. The nearest is within arm’s reach, where a withered marigold has spilled out of a fallen clay pot.
I inhale sharply and rush to the well, immediately drawing a bucket and returning as quickly as I can without spilling. Slowly,I tip the bucket, quenching the earth with a hiss, cooling down a path safe enough for me to tread to where Folost burns—careful not to get him wet in the process.
The ground in Folost’s ring is singed…but it is not as burnt as the rest. Flooring I recognize is covered in blackened soot. The little fire spirit wasn’t strong enough to save the house, but he protected what he could.
“Folost, you’re incredible.” I crouch down, wiping my face with the heels of my hands. The grief is passing, taken over by motivation.
Mary’s pot has been cracked and is hot to the touch. She’s limp. Shriveled by the heat and losing petals. But I can still feel her presence.
“Hang in there. Both of you.” I carefully collect Marigold from the hot dirt, leaving the pot, for now. I rush her away from the smoldering ruin and settle her in the cool, damp earth. “I know you need water, but if I doused you now, it’d be a shock. Just wait a moment to cool some first,” I tell her before going back to Folost. “Thank you for saving her. Are you all right?”
Two eyes appear, then disappear, then appear. A blink, as I understand it. One blink means yes. I can almost feel the word echoing within me with pride.
“Thank you for doing what you could.” Even though my cheeks are still streaked with tears for all I’ve lost, I won’t lose sight of what I have. I thought everything was gone. But what was truly important was spared—my friends, the cape around my shoulders, the sewing satchel safely tucked underneath it against my hip. “This is a debt of gratitude I’ll never be able to repay, Folost.”
He burns a little brighter and higher, like a child puffing out his chest.
“Did Aurora get out?”
Yes.
I heave a sigh of relief at the blink of his eyes. “Where did she go?”
Tongues of fire point to the woods, as if blown in that direction by an unfelt breeze.
“Did she…start the fire?”
A blink. Another.No.
Another monumental sigh of relief. I was afraid that somehow she didn’t believe or trust me. That she thought I might try to keep her as trapped as the wolf king.
“She really is a spirit, too, right?”
One blink.Yes.
“I didn’t think she was lying, for the record,” I say with a side-eye to Folost that threatens to turn into a scolding if he ever told Aurora about my even asking. “How did the fire start?”
The little flames go rigid, the wobbling and variance small and tight. Four narrow pillars extend up, fanning out. At first, I think Folost is making trees. Something about the woods?No. The truth becomes as clear as daylight when another bit of flame extends from rear haunches. A column stretches to a snout and pointed ears.
Wolf.
Confusion is smothered by a rage unlike any I’ve ever known. For centuries, my family honored the treaty made with the ancient lykin. We preserved their lands, as agreed, performed the rites and kept well the spirits as best we could. We allowed the lykin to hunt in the woods to their stomachs’ content, free of human meddling.
Even last night, when the wolf king had us in his sights, he could not cross the barriers. Or, perhaps he could, but he chose not to. He wanted me to think the barriers stood and to feel safe. This act was one of spite—meant to threaten and scare me into quiet submission.
The wolf king toyed with us then destroyed my home and stole Aurora.
I dig my hands into the ash and soot. The wet, burnt wood, brittle from the flames and my dousing. My anger shifts, narrowing on the forest.
“I am going to get her back. I won’t let them have her.” Aurora’s haunted eyes still fill my vision. I can’t abandon her to them. Not when her magic is still within me. I made a promise to her, one I intend to keep.
The wolf king wanted to subdue me. To have me cowering in fear. All he’s done is removed all reason for me to stay. If the barriers cannot hold them back, there’s little point in maintaining them. If the lykin care not for our treaties and the goodwill of our ancestors, then neither will I. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by going after him and Aurora.
Folost sways eagerly at my proclamation.
“You want to come?”
