“Let’s get going.” Zarev sighs, his gaze meeting mine. “If all else fails, are we just going to throw them the rest of the way across?”
I shrug as Odette tightens her hands on my shoulders. “Kind of the idea. Don’t know if we’ll get that close if this doesn’t work out.”
“Splendid.”
“Now hold on–” Neve begins, and for once, Zarev is on the same page as me. We split into the shadows just as some of the Flowerborne appear, almost out of nowhere. Much to my dismay, Kael is with them.
Zarev follows my lead, and Odette holds on tightly when I jump off the side of the mountain. Theoretically, so long as I keep shifting in and out of the shadows, we can make it across. We’ll just be drained once we get there.
Slipping into the first shadow, I use the ice magic, as Neve suggested ,to propel us forward. It works well enough, shooting me further along than the shadows alone could carry me. I glance to the side to see Zarev and Neve moving along, but they seem to be silently fighting each other. There wasn’t a chance to practice communicating before we jumped, and they are traveling lower than I am with Odette.
My chest tightens, looking into the distance. We’ll have to hop at least thirty times, shifting closer not nearly enough each time, to get across and scramble up the other side of the pass where Wonderland drops off.
Without a passenger, and when I’m on my own without a care in the world, this is so much easier.
Blue light carries past us when I hop again, and Kael glares at us from the cliffs. I’m assuming that, as an Icebound, he doesn’t have this type of power, but it’s all a guessing game.
Odette’s shadowy fingers dig in as we hop again, and already, this feels like a terrible idea. Zarev and Neve move ahead, their shared powers making travel a little more manageable. Each time I adjust between shadows and ice, the magic in my hands flickers and wanes.
Zarev was right. This is a lot of magic to use. And the cliffs of Wonderland look so much further away than they did when I came up with this idea. At least the more we hop away from the Frostlands, the more distant the Icebound are, and it quickly becomes apparent that no one else is as idiotic as we are. No one follows us across the chasm.
The closer we get to the cliff, the higher the hills look. Wonderland lacks the mountain terrain we left behind, but the cliff is still a high rise in the Red Woods. Zarev and Neve fly ahead of us, my energy disappearing faster than it should.
Bringing along another person while I split my magic between powers is too much, even if Odette is light. After dealing with the problems near the dock and everything else since we went back to the palace, my magic hasn’t caught up yet.
The edges of the Red Woods come into focus. Right now, it looks like a regular woodland cliff, but in the fall, the leaves turn red. It should be where the name came from, but everyone knows the woods got their name because of all the blood spilled here.
I can’t hop as far anymore; the distance between us and the trees seems to grow as Zarev takes Neve closer to the edge. I see them shifting ahead, and Odette starts slapping my shoulders. We’re sinking.
They crest over the edge of the hill, and Zarev all but throws Neve off his back. Then he’s in the shadows again,moving with renewed speed when he doesn’t have to bring someone else along, heading back to us.
I hop once more to the next shadowy spot before he’s in my face, orange eyes shining bright before he splits into the shadows with us. For one single moment, he lingers outside the shadows to speak to me. “Let me hop with you.”
He grips my arm, and two shadow hops later, we’re tumbling into the grass. The exhaustion slams over me like a wave, and I groan on the ground instead of getting up to check on Neve like I want to.
Sleep. I rarely have the urge to sleep as a Reaper, but right now, it’s pulling me under.
“Ban?”
Icy hands cup my cheeks, Neve’s voice rolling over me. But I’m already too far down, and for the first time in ages, sleep pulls me under.
.
Part 5: Crossroads Between Friends
Chapter 32 Ban
It only takes me an instant to realize I’ve slipped into a dream, something that hasn’t happened in such a long time. I find myself suspicious as towhythis has happened. There’s no background around me, no setting to give any insight into what my subconscious is trying to tell me.
“You weren’t supposed to leave the Frostlands.”
Spinning around, I try to call my staff out of the shadows. Nothing happens, and I stare down at my empty hand for several moments in wonder.
“You won’t be able to use your magic here,” he continues, and my eyes narrow as shadows and sand float through the air until they form a figure. “You don’t need to fight, not against me.”
“Shadow Man,” I hiss, clenching my hands. “Or do you prefer the Sandman? Dreammaker, perhaps?”
A faint smile crosses his face as we circle each other, his arms folded across his chest as though we aren’t at odds. “Ban. This is not how I expected to cross paths with you again.”
