Florian pointed at the gnarled, thick tree. “There. If we go around to the other side, you should be able to see the doorknob...”
He took a few steps forward, craning his neck to see the other side of the tree. Coming up from the biggest knot near the trunk was a wooden doorknob, making him grin in recognition. It had been disguised as a mushroom the first time they came here, so this certainly was a warm welcome.
Kade was right behind him and spotted the knob, too. He grabbed Florian’s wrist to keep their group huddled close together; but when he spoke, he addressed Rune and Koji.
“She’s probably going to ask you guys some questions,” he said. “And she looks sort of scary. Just be polite to her and follow Florian’s lead.”
“Duh. We went over this already,” Rune interjected, but seemed to sober at the look Kade shot her. “Alright, I know, listen to Florian. Kraken-god knows I don’t want to insult a witch.”
Florian hesitated at the door, wondering if he should knock—had he knocked last time? He wasn’t sure now. The knob was there, though, a blatant invitation.
More decisively than he felt, Florian reached down for the knob and hauled it open. It was dark inside, just as he remembered; difficult to see and almost impossible to hear anything on the other side of the threshold. He waited for a beat, but when nothing happened, he gestured for the others to follow.
“Come on,” he said as he stepped through, the other three filing in behind him quickly.
Elodie’s home looked just as he remembered; kitschy and cluttered, with a cauldron held over a fire in the fireplace in the far corner of the room. Closer to them, the walls were covered in shelves that were crammed with all sorts of books, plants, and all manner of trinkets. Facing away from them, closer to the center of the room, was the massive chair Elodie had sat in when they’d first met her. He couldn’t quite tell if she was sitting there againor not. He took a hesitant step forward, and the chair swung around.
She didn’t look nearly as frightening as the stories once had him believe, though he could imagine her appearance was still unsettling to Rune and Koji, neither of whom had seen her pallid skin or too-long limbs before. Her eyes were enormous in her narrow face, a deep purple that gleamed as she smiled fondly at him.
“Oh, Florian,” she said, as if he’d only just left and was stepping back inside to retrieve something he’d forgotten. “You brought the rest of the clans. Good, good. Come sit down, I’ll start some tea.”
Four chairs came scratching along the floor, settling right in front of Elodie where she was standing up from her desk—her long limbs unfolded from the chair, somehow both oversized and not quite large enough for her.
“Hello,” Florian said, smiling as he gestured for the others to follow, moving to sit down. “I hope you don’t mind that we showed up unannounced.”
“Oh, I had an idea you’d be coming back,” she replied lightly, grinning at him. Then her purple eyes flickered away from him, glancing over each of them in turn. “Introduce me to your friends?”
“Yeah, of course,” he stammered, gesturing. “Well, you met Kade last time.”
“The wolf prince, yes,” she said, nodding at him. For a moment Kade was silent, his face tense, then he replied,
“King now, actually.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “But congratulations. You wear the title well.”
To Florian’s surprise, Kade looked rather ruffled by that, so he moved on quickly. “And this is Prince Koji of the dragon kingdom.”
Koji bowed slightly from where he was sitting on the other side of Kade. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
She laughed. “And so polite. You can just call me Elodie.”
He smiled, and to his credit, his reply was smooth. “A pleasure, Elodie.”
“And this is Princess Rune of the kraken kingdom.”
“Princess schmincess,” Rune interrupted, waving the title away. “But thank you for your hospitality, Elodie. We appreciate you welcoming us into your home.”
Elodie laughed again. “My home hasn’t been this lively in decades. I’m glad to have you all. The last time the four kingdoms were together here in my living room, the mood was much more dour.”
“We get along a lot better than they did, I think,” Florian said. “We came because we were hoping—well,Iwas hoping, but I guess everyone else is too—that is, we’ve gotten all but one of the Arrows. I’m wondering if there’s any way you can help us with the last one.”
Elodie’s head turned as she listened, considering. Before she replied, she gestured with her left hand, and a teapot with five cups came floating over from the fireplace, settling quietly onto the table in front of them. Each of them had a different shape and pattern, like they all came from various tea sets, and the teapot itself didn’t match any of the cups either.
“Go on,” she prompted him. As she gestured again, the teapot poured into each of the cups in turn. Florian watched it pour for a moment before answering.
“The last Arrow is around the Summer Court,” he said. “But getting there is going to be really difficult. Do you know if there are any curtains that still work? Or is it too dangerous to go through a curtain into the Blight?”
Elodie looked at him for a long moment, considering. “It would be unwise to attempt to pass through a curtain directlyinto the Nova Blight. I couldn’t say with certainty what might happen, but I can’t imagine it would be pleasant. At best, you would be stepping unprotected into the Blight. But I could imagine far worse things, too—if the Blight could somehow pass through and take hold on the other side.”
