‘Fingers will be easiest,’ Tansy says briskly. ‘Should we gather them now – better here surely, without the night-birds to contend with?’
I chew my lip. ‘The letters didn’t say if the blood needs to be fresh for the rite, only that the offerings must be freely given… We can’t risk it not working.’
Astrophel frowns, his gaze drifting to my stained hair. ‘Should you be doing this? Orthriel warned you against invoking Shadow Lore. Aren’t you worried that—’
‘Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,’ I say, interrupting him. ‘We still have to defeat the night-birds.’
Astrophel is right to worry, and not just for me. We know, at least we think we know, the price of me invoking Shadow Lore, but who knows what effect a blood rite will have on the other members of the Quaternity? With the exception of Blayze, they don’t have brandmagic to protect against it.
‘First things first though,’ I say, turning towards the torrent. ‘We need to cross this waterfall. There should be a tunnel behind it leading down to the last cave.’
I clutch the feather tighter, lift it high in the air so it won’t get submerged, and turn to face the pool. Delphine is content exploring its depths, but every instinct tells me it’s dangerous, that I should run. But I can’t. Won’t.
Water sucks at my boots and my legs start to shake. My feet are lead weights. I try to lift them – just an inch off the ground – but they refuse to move. I take a breath, then another. But all I can think about is the burn in my lungs when I fell into the Fade Falls, blackness swirling in as I choked. I stumble. Astrophel darts to my side, but Blayze gets there first. He grabs my wrist, stops me from falling. The action, the tight bracelet of his fingers, takes me back to our first kiss. He held me in the exact same way.
‘Be careful,’ he murmurs, releasing me quickly to better support Serafine, still cradled in his arms.
It’s not much. Not forgiveness – not even close. But it’s a start, and it gives me the courage I need to step into the pool.
I gasp as icy water swirls around my ankles, calves, knees, waist. The bottom of the pool hollows out quickly, the water soon comes up to my chest. I dredge my legs through the water, crossing the pool as fast as they’ll carry me. I don’t want to stay submerged for a second longer than I have to. Soon, I’m in front of the cascade, water churning, splashing up at me, spattering my face.
I take a deeper breath, screw my eyes and lips shut and walk through the tumbling wall of water. The cold drenches my hair, soaks through the remaining dry patches of my clothes and trickles down my cheeks. The memories of Nimbi flood back thicker and faster, but I keep wading. I don’t stop till the waterfall is streaming behind me and the pool shallows again, a wall of moss-dappled rock rising before me.
My clothes cling heavy as I wave Serafine’s feather in a slow arc left and right, searching the gloom for an entrance to the tunnel. My hand stills. It’s there, just as the map promised. A ledge at about shoulder-height. Now to haul myself onto it.
The splash of the others wading into the pool behind me echoes around the cavern as I place the feather between my chattering teeth, freeing my hands to climb. The moss is slimy, and my shaking fingers can’t make purchase, my sodden breeches rendering my movements slow and clumsy. I lean my forehead on the cool, sludgy rock and let my shoulders drop. I stay like that for a count of five, then straighten, push the dripping hair out of my eyes, and reach again.
I clamp my hands on the ledge and heave, half-expecting to slip back again as I have half-a-dozen times already. But this time, when I drag myself up, arms circle my waist and lift me, bearing my weight so I can scramble onto the ridge. My heart soars as I turn. For one blissful second, I think Blayze has come to my aid again.
But it’s Astrophel standing below me, drenched and shivering.
I remove the feather from my mouth, smoothing its precious copper barbs till they all lie flat, and mumble my thanks.
Astrophel inclines his head towards me, then lifts himself onto the ledge with a groan.
There’s an opening in the rock face. I bring the feather close to it and instantly wish I hadn’t. This tunnel is smaller than I hoped, only wide enough for us to crawl through single file. Less a passageway than a slit.
Astrophel squeezes my free hand. ‘I’m right behind you.’
*
ISTOPONLYto wipe away water as it trickles into my eyes. These I keep carefully lowered, as I crawl and scrape my waterlogged body along the tunnel, taking care not to catch my palms or knees on the glistening, blade-sharp outcrops of starcrystal. I don’t dare check behind me, but the rhythmic slosh of wet fabric being shunted across rock must mean the others are still there. That knowledge eases my churning stomach, quietens all my brandsong’s whispered warnings of danger. I try to block these out as best I can, afraid if I allow my mind to wander, even for a second, panic will overwhelm me.
One step. One step at a time.
I close my eyes and repeat the mantra that got me up this mountain, imagine I’m crawling in an open meadow, even back on the freezing mountain face. Anywhere but here.
Slowly, the passage widens, veering to the left. Nearly there. My already shaking limbs tremble harder.
The feather I’m clutching looks fragile and insignificant. It’s hard to believe all our hopes rest on so slight a thing. I can only pray, when Serafine summons its power, this feather is enough to keep us safe.
A musky stench like urine-soaked sawdust hits me first, and then I hear it.
Not the murmur of a waterfall this time. The unmistakable whisper of wings.
ONE WISH
LEILANI
