“Opinions are good,” she says after a while. “When you have thoughts about stuff, it makes you question the facts more. Like now, for instance. We know there’s a beanstalk. We don’t know where it goes or why. My opinion is that waiting to explore it any longer is dangerous.”
“That’s the only thing we’ve agreed on so far.”
She sends me a grin, gripping both straps of her bag. “See? We can agree on something. Now let’s see where the clouds lead.”
I follow Odette, mostly because I don’t really know where to go. If we look around, it can bring peace of mind to the people below in Sherwood, and so long as the beanstalk doesn’t pose a threat we have no reason to try and get rid of it. It’s so large, it would probably cause more destruction if we tried to cut it down. Maybe Dahlia could charge money for people to come see it…
“Not much of a talker, are you?” Odette says, interrupting my thoughts.
Sighing, I glare at her. “I’m starting to see why Ray calls you Birdie. Always chattering.”
She scoffs, shoving my arm. There’s still a smile on her face, and unlike me, Odette bleeds positivity. It’s almost annoying how upbeat she is. “I’m trying to be friendly, Zarev.”
I roll my eyes at her before sweeping my gaze away and looking around at the clouds. We seem to be following some sort of path, the clouds thick, billowing a little higher around the edges like a border. There are more off in the distance, but they don’t seem to be part of this.
This high up, I expected the sun to be painfully bright. But with the haze, it’s almost dulled. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise, wondering what we’ve walked into.
The longer we walk, the more irritated I become. Looking back over my shoulder, I pause altogether. “Odette.”
She turns, stiffening beside me when she looks. We’ve walked for at least half an hour, and when I look back, we’re still only a few feet from the beanstalk.
“We’re not moving,” she whispers, eyes widened in surprise. “How does that happen?”
“Not sure,” I say, flexing my hand. “Here, hang on. Let’s see if the shadows can bend through here.”
She shrugs and grabs on, and I’m careful not to completely throw her around like a rag doll when we step into the darkness. I didn’t notice anything particularly interesting in the shadows when we arrived up here, and she gives me a look before I try hopping.
This time, wedomove. Instead of getting stuck walking through the haze, it’s like something’s thrown us forward, and we burst through the clouds into the bright sunlight I expected, tumbling out of the shadows. There’s pressure between my shoulder blades, forcing us out.
We slam into the clouds again, and these are still puffy and absorbent like the earlier ones. Odette scrambles up with me as we look around, my fingers tingling as I call out my scythe.
Unlike before, there’s no haze here. The clouds are a brighter, almost painful white, and instead of emptiness, there’s debris everywhere.
After exchanging a glance, we slowly rise. Ray’s sister Genevieve gave Odette a small dagger for protection, which she tugs free from her leg holster and holds out in front of her. I watch her angle it in the wrong direction, and if she falls or pulls it out randomly during a fight, she might stab herself.
Someone probably should have given her a lesson. I gently push the knife in the right direction and she gives me a surprised smile.
“Let’s keep going,” I say, my eyes dancing away from Odette and toward the unknown. The clouds no longer fan out in a path, but stretch as far as the eye can see in a blinding, white pathway. There are random things strewn nearby, like bags, weapons, and even clothes. It’s a strange hodge-podge, and it gives me a bad feeling.
Odette nods, dropping her arm but keeping the dagger handy. We begin moving again, my eyes scouting around for anything else amiss. We could probably jump into the darkness and see where else we’re moved to, but I don’t want to risk missing something if my magic keeps reacting weirdly.
“That wasn’t a normal shadow hop, right?” Odette asks, eyeing me. “That was like… it felt like we fell through something.”
“No,” I agree. “It felt like something pushed me. This is anything but normal.”
She doesn’t comment, poking at one of the bags we pass as we wander. It’s still filled with supplies when she opens the top, shooting me a look. Thinning my lips, I gesture for us to walk on.
Something isn’t right up here.
We move quietly, checking more and more bags as we go. They are all littered with supplies, all sorts of clothing dropped along the clouds as we move. The further we go, the more items there are.
“Zarev,” she hisses.
Glancing her way, I spy the structure in the distance. It’s not a castle, not even really a house; it’s more like a really big square. I give her a look before we start jogging in that direction. There’s nothing to hide behind as we move, so if someone is watching us, all they have to do is wait for our arrival.
For all we know, we’re walking into a trap.
The more we run, the closer the square gets. Not like a normal run, where it gradually gets closer. After only a minute or two, we stumble, and suddenly, we’re right in front of it.
