“You very well could, Emma,” Lucien said. “In fact, you may have already gained some spark of an idea from them, even if you haven’t yet realized it. Your ancestors are here to guide you on your journey. If at some point you find yourself stuck, ask them for help. There could be memory in your blood that you could access which would enable you to succeed in overcoming whatever obstacles are in your path.”
“We’ll have to keep this in mind,” I said as I mused on the subject. This sort of thing wasn’t taught at Arcanea University, so the idea was new to me. Radical, even. But Odette was proof that it was possible, so maybe the theory of genetic memory could prove useful to us.
Neither of us slept very well that night. Emma and I both were excited to journey to the city, to see what it would hold. I felt more thrilled than anxious. We haven’t explored Edinmyre in a very long time, and the thought of going out and finding adventure again was like a promise that things were turning around.
The next morning, Emma created a portal for us in our bedroom. We had nothing but her sword and a couple of supplies that she carried on her back. We’d gotten up early to leave without saying goodbye to the others, just in case one of them… particularly Arthur… slowed us up with arguments about why we shouldn’t be going alone.
Emma had tried making a portal to the amethyst gate directly, but it failed to work. It seemed to get to the Unseelie stone, and to prove that we deserved it, we had to actually make the journey, and not take any shortcuts.
I stepped through the portal first, and Emma followed me. We emerged just outside of her cottage, facing the crystal cave. I hesitated outside the cave’s entrance for a moment, sniffing the air for potential predators.
Emma had no such reservation. She stormed into the cave like she was ready to get this over with. I hastily followed her, keeping my ears pricked for any unusual sounds.
The crystal cave was certainly magnificent. Light blue and white stones grew like icicles along the length of the ceiling and all over the walls, giving the cave a silver glow. There was no light inside the cave, but no light was needed, for the crystals glowed with magic to light the way. This cave must’ve been here for thousands of years, completely undisturbed. Truly magnificent.
“What kind of crystals are these?” I asked as we wandered through the cave.
“I think they’re a combination of opal and moonstone,” Emma said as she gazed at them. She put a hand on one of the crystals and paused. “We should stop to absorb some of their energy. Opal is good for protection, and moonstone will guide us along the path.”
“Good idea.” I put a paw on a large moonstone that was growing out of the ground. I felt my Unseelie magic draining the stone, funneling its energy into me. Once I’d finished siphoning power from the stone, it completely lost its glow, turning dark in the shadows of the cave.
The light resonating throughout the cave grew even dimmer when Emma had finished siphoning power from a large crystal. The amulet Lord Lucien had given her glowed, and she said, “My amulet stores more power than I can hold all at once. It’s a good reserve.”
“Quite a valuable gift from your father.”
We roamed down the length of the cave, until it widened up considerably. The cave continued to wind downward, until it sharply jutted upward again. I had to help Emma climb up some of the more difficult parts of the cave until the ground leveled off. The tunnel became narrow once more, and I smelled fresh air replacing the stale must inside the cave. I knew we had to be getting close to the exit.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black flash. There was clicking on the stone ground, like nails scampering over crystal, and a sharp smell, like that of another canine.
I instantly whirled around with a growl. I raised my lip to expose my teeth, but there was nothing there.
“What is it?” Emma asked. She put a hand on my shoulder in alarm.
“I thought I heard— smelled—”I sniffed the air again, and shook my head.The scent I had captured was completely gone, as if nothing had been there at all.
Even if something had wandered through here hours ago, I should still be able to catch the scent. I knew I wasn’t imagining things… but yet whatever I’d seen, heard, and smelled clearly didn’t exist, for if it did, my nose would give me the evidence.
She waited for my answer, until I finally said,“Never mind. It is nothing.”
Emma nervously looked behind her, and kept her hand on me as we ventured forward. Light began to shine through at the end of the tunnel, and I knew we were almost at the cave’s end.
“Do you find it disturbing that nothing bothered us in that cave?” I asked.
“No…” Emma said slowly. “Do you?”
I did, but I did not want to worry my mate, so I said nothing.
When we emerged from the crystal cave, I found myself walking in four feet of snow, with it getting thicker still. Snowflakes were falling heavily from the sky, already weighing my fur down. The clouds were overcast above our heads, and all around us were bare trees, vacant of any signs of springtime.
The crystal cave was certainly a portal, though a cleverly disguised one. Emma and I weren’t even sure of the point of transit within, although to my reasoning, we’d only been walking for a mile or so. The cave had taken us from the comfortable warmth of Edinmyre’s spring at Emma’s cottage to the dead of winter.
In the distance was a thin line of mountains. I knew we were headed that way.
“Odd for late April,” I said, looking up. The cave’s mouth closed behind Emma, leaving us in the gentle silence of snowfall.
“I think this is a part of Edinmyre that’s always winter… like the Spring Princess’ island is always spring,'' Emma said. She pulled her winter cloak tighter around her cotton sweater.
“Walking through all this snow will slow us up. We’ll get there faster if we fly,” I said. I ruffled my wings, shaking them of snowflakes as I said, “Hop on.”
