Lucien’s hand is on the small of Cambria’s back, one eye on the ring like he’s waiting for someone to appear and shoot us. “I agree. That was the one that could mind wipe if I recall correctly, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out he was alluding to tampering with the memories of people in town.”
Cambria groans, pressing her fingers to her temples in frustration and massaging them. “So does that mean I never knew about this place, or that Illiah fucked with my head? Why would my mother kill him instead of keeping him around for the future?”
Atlas starts coming around, settling down a bit now that the immediate threats are gone. “If you want a secret kept, you tie up all the loose ends.”
“But Rickon still knew what was going on?”
Cambria takes a few breaths to compose herself, starting to dig around in the duffel bag to see if there are any more clues inside. “Illiah and Rickon were friends. So if Illiah knew something bad was going on, I wouldn’t put it past him to pretend to take Rickon’s memories. And if what he was saying is true, then this would be a pretty safe place when we have to come back here.”
I scrunch up my face, mulling everything over with the limited information we have to work with. “But the Queen would still know about it, and likely her consorts. Rickon. Who knows how many others? They might be operating under the assumption you aren’t aware of this place, but after enough time passes with you not coming home, they’ll wonder if you figured it out.”
Inside of the bag is money, clothes and some supplies, but that’s it. No information, but after the way he insisted on burning the photograph after she saw it, I’m not surprised.
“If he was planning for years to run off with you, he wouldn’t have wanted any evidence of where you were going or his plans in case someone came across the bag beforehand.”
As I say it, Lucien tenses, amber eyes promising murder. “He treated you like that for all these years, then just expected you to forgive him for all of it and run away with him? He’s deluded.”
Atlas joins in his fury, “With the way he was always trying to cop a feel on her, I’m not surprised,” he seethes.
“But he still stayed behind to give her a chance to escape,” I point out seriously as I watch Cambria’s growing discomfort while she wrestles with her conflicted feelings on the topic. “He didn’t refuse to help her unless she agreed to run off with him, didn’t make her choose between him or turning her over to her family. Despite the scenario he’d been building up in his head, he still ultimately tried to give her a fighting chance while he stayed behind. With the way he sealed off the forest, it’s not like we can pretend they won’t accuse him of treason. Even if we all hated him, at least give credit where credit is due.”
There’s a heavy pause as my words sink in, everyone taking them how they will. I’ll be the first to say I despised the man for the hell he put Cambria through, and his motivations don’t forgive that in my eyes, but I do understand him better. And I’ll never snub help if it means keeping her safe, especially now.
All of the torture her family put her through will pale in comparison to what will happen if they catch her. I saw the sheer loathing emanating from her father, Apollo, at dinner that night, witnessed her fear of him plain as day on her face. Hewillkill her, and I can guarantee he won’t make it quick either.
“So what now?” Lucien asks quietly, the three words carrying so much weight.
Cambria sighs heavily. “I need at least a few hours to recoup before we cross back over. If he’s right, we should be safe enough human side for a few weeks as long as we find a different ring to come back through. We’ll have to use that one to go back at least this time until we find another one, though.”
Atlas wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close, kissing the top of her head. “Alright, so explain to me how those things work while we look around. If we’re stuck here for a few hours, we might as well explore.”
We start carefully navigating the underbrush, not finding any discernible path. Everything is dark and we trip more often than not, the multicolored glow twining through the foliage not enough to illuminate the space well. It’s like the water the plants take in is made of a glowing dye, so there are haphazard veins of light snaking through almost everything. It’s stunning, no doubt about that, just not very practical. Though I suppose it’s still better than absolute darkness, so I should be grateful.
Cambria stands a little straighter, latching onto the gift Atlas gave her with that small request. With everything spiraling and so much unknown, just having something she’s an expert on means so much, helps her regain her footing as the world starts crumbling beneath her.
“Like most fae magic, fairy rings work off of intent. So you have to visualize where you want to go,” she starts explaining, but Lucien interrupts.
“Then that first day, how did we cross? We’d never seen this world before.” He pushes a small branch out of his way and ducks beneath it as we forge ahead in a straight line, so that it’ll be easier to find our way back to the ring.
“That’d be me.” I raise my hand, grinning. “I was picturing Cambria.”
She turns to look over her shoulder at me, a sad smile on her face as she tries to hold herself together. “I’m surprised that worked, to be honest. I’ve tried it before, just visualizing a person, and it never worked; I have to actually picture the place. Maybe that’s a difference between human and fae usage.” She shrugs.
Atlas perks up. “That’s good though, because it means they won’t be able to find us just by looking for you and showing up here.” Cambria dips her head in agreement.
“So, how do they appear? Or how do we find a new one when we get back home?” Lucien asks, focusing on the facts.
Cambria taps her chin. “I’ve just always been drawn to them instinctually, similar to how I connect with nature. I’m not sure how they appear; they’ve just always been there.” She sighs. “Fuck, I never really thought on the matter much, never had a need. I just loved that they let me escape this hellhole.”
We walk for a little longer, eventually a bright glow in the distance drawing our eye. The four of us debate the merit of just going back to the ring to wait out the rest of the time needed for Cambria to recover, but ultimately, we all end up in agreement. If we’re going to need to come back here for the foreseeable future, we need to learn more about this place and any potential dangers that might be waiting for us.
Atlas stays back with Cambria while Lucien and I trek ahead to investigate, not sure if that brighter glow is a sign of some type of village. We want to keep Cambria off of everyone’s radar as long as possible, especially until we learn if they would recognize her on sight and turn her over to her family.
We walk for about ten minutes before stopping dead in our tracks, gazing in wonder. Even Lucien looks impressed. The large pond trails off into a small stream snaking through the forest, fed from a larger river, but the trees are dense enough that it obscures the path. From the angle, I have to assume we’re on some type of mountain, or there’s one nearby.
We’ve been walking at a shallow incline, nothing compared to the last mountain hike Cambria led us on, but it’s not an impossible theory. The canopy is just so dense that I can’t see nearly enough to get a lay of the land.
I was right, and the water has to be what’s giving the vegetation its glow. It’s practically radioactive, emanating such a vibrant blue. It’s far easier to see with the light radiating off of it, and I don’t see another soul.
