I’d been so afraid, so panicked when I first came here that I hadn’t reallyseenhow absolutely beautiful this place was. Secluded, hidden away, green and bright andmagical.The large lantern on the other side, the vines, the flowers that still glowed, catching the starlight over us like dew.
“I call it the Lantern Tower. I found it when we first woke up, and I was searching for a higher ground to see all our surroundings,” he told me.
“Wow,” I whispered. “What is that thing? Is that really a lantern?”
“Yep.” March was grinning.
“Why is it so big?” I doubted I’d ever seen a bigger lantern before.
“Come on, let me show you something.” He let go of my waist, took my hand, and walked us over to the lantern.
“I’m not sure who made it or why. My best bet is that it was made for an old Turning Trial at one point. Sit down,” he told me, and fell on one knee in front of the giant lantern. “The stone gets warm right away. Sit.”
I did.
I watched in awe as he put both hands onto the fogged-up glass of the lantern and released magic into it.
“What are you doing?” There was already a fire burning in there, though it was small and pale.
“I only learned three nights ago that if you give it magic,thishappens.” March was smiling. His eyes, half red and half chocolate-brown, were sparkling. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him as excited before. He sat down with me when his magic faded on the surface of the lantern and said, “Watch.”
I was still looking at him, at the way the light hit his profile, the way heglowedin my eyes—until the light began to flicker.
Then I looked at the lantern, and I was in awe all over again.
The glass was no longer as fogged up but much clearer. The flame in the middle of it was much brighter, more golden, and pieces of it were detaching like layers, pure light reshaping itself into these little figurines no taller than my hand. They were shaped like people, men and women, except they had wings on their backs, too, and when they flew, they left a trail of golden glitter behind.
“Time’s Teeth—what is that?!”
“I think they’re fairies,” March said, watching the little lights as they flew around the flame,dancingas they went.
So graceful. So beautiful. The figures were dancing to a melody we couldn’t hear, and their shadows were as big as uswhen they cast through the glass and onto the walls of the balcony.
“I found drawings in a book at the library. They were believed to be creatures from another world that came through here at one point—through what the books callThe Rabbit Hole,” March said.
“Another world?” I said in wonder, my eyes on the fairies, at least twenty of them dancing around the fire. When their shadows fell on me, it felt like they were caressing me.
“Yes. You remember Darton’s theory on timelines,” he said, and I nodded. We all learned about it in school. Darton was a Timekeeper, a philosopher who lived some six centuries ago, and according to him, Time supplied a lot of worlds in the universe, not just ours. According to him, all timelines in all worlds happened at the same time—we just didn’t remember. There was an infinite number of versions to everything and everyone, continuously, forever.
“Well, according to this book, there are these Rabbit Holes, like portals that have been used to cross over worlds and timelines. These little creatures were one of them. People like us, too—but without the ability to use Sparetime to do magic.”
I shook my head, in awe at the very idea. “They’re amazing,” I whispered, and now I was so entranced by their every movement that I couldn’t look away if I tried.
“They are. I’ve been wanting to show you. It just never seemed to be the right time,” March said.
I understood exactly what he meant. The past days had been…strange, to say the least. I’d sat on the bed or on the floor, meaning to dosomethingbut I just couldn’t figure out what or when it needed doing.
“We’re forgetting, Heartling,” I whispered because I knew it was true. Not just because Mimi said so, but because I felt it.
I felt theabsenceof what I once knew.
“Is that what that is,” March said, and it wasn’t a question. He wasn’t surprised, either.
“I don’t remember a lot of things, I think.”
His hand fell over mine on my lap as we watched the fairies dancing still, now slower, though, like they were able to match what we felt.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d forgottenyou,too. It’s why I came looking for you. I didn’t dare try to remember by myself.”
