Chapter 2
Atlas
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“Gonna turn into a fuckingglow stick.” Cupping my hands, I take another reluctant sip of the luminescent water. “Snap my neck and use my damn corpse as a nightlight.”
My head is still spinning, fading in and out of consciousness over the last who knows how long. In the shadow court there’s no way to tell time, and they took my watch and both phones in that warehouse before beating the shit out of me.
The others had to have made it with me, or we’d all be dead. Cambria told us once that we couldn’t cross over without each other, hence why we didn’t just part ways the second we received the marks carved into our flesh, binding us to her. If she’d been left behind on Earth after all of this time with the state she was in, she’d be dead by now, and we would be too.
“She said the necrotic rings spit you out at random and hurt like hell.” Sitting on the grass, I lean back on my hands, staring up at the hypnotic canopy above me. It completely blocks out the sky, but the bioluminescent streaks running through the foliage are more interesting than constellations anyway.
“Okay, think.” Shutting my eyes, I flop backwards onto the soft grass, waiting for my head to stop swimming. “Same general rules apply, but the one I created was different. Not only how it looked, but to get it to work, it needed to soak up a few pints of blood.”
I keep my voice low, not sure who else might be nearby, but it helps combat the oppressive silence. There aren’t even any squirrels running around in this place or birds chirping. It freaks me out, truth be told, but at least now that we’ve met Achlys, I’m less concerned about the fae from the shadow court ripping my head off.
Besides, now you can just play with your bloody flowers and wish yourself away.Mentally scoffing at how absolutely ridiculous my life’s become, I scrub an exhausted, shaky hand down my face.
“Explains why I feel like shit; it used me like a damn battery.” My eyes fly open and widen as things start to slowly click into place, though it inspires another question. “So what powers the normal fairy rings?”
Naturally, no one responds, but I can feel the answer on the tip of my tongue. If it wasn’t for the simple fact that the rings in Elorie’s kingdom still work, I could argue that she was stealing their power along with the rest that she hoards. And more importantly, we don’t even know what she’s hoarding powerfor.There has to be more to it than just a greedy queen that wants to secure her title.
Rubbing my fingers over my temples, my headache grows until I’m forced to stop trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe. I can mull over theories while I walk, and ultimately, finding the others is my first mission. With a groan, I get to my feet, absolutely starving. But while I may be desperate enough to risk drinking the water, with my luck, any plant I try to eat will be poisonous.
Glancing around, I don’t have a damn clue what direction to start heading in. No sun to figure out North or South, and even if there was, I have absolutely no lay of the land in this world. Add in the fact that everything in this forest looks the same, and I’m left flipping a coin and just praying for the best.
And as a kid whose prayers were never answered, I’ve long since stopped giving any weight to the concept. But standing here, halfway towards death’s door and desperately missing the people bound to the other side of my invisible chains, I need...something. Any sort of tether that I can latch onto is a mercy, and even if it’s all pointless, the only hurt that can come from it is the inevitable disappointment.
Trudging on, the minutes turn into hours, but it may as well be days. I’m so fucking burned out it’s obscene. Not just hungry and exhausted, but every fiber in my being wants to throw in the damn towel. It’s just...too much. Abducted, tortured, abandoned; you can only push someone so far before they break. As much as I’m thrilled that we pulled off a miracle and escaped that hellhole, I just want to quit. There’s too much coming at us from every side, and while Cambria is the best thing to ever happen to me, nothing’s ever easy anymore.
I’d choose her every time in a heartbeat, but I can still wish things weren’t so hard.
The life in the forest gradually drains away the farther I go, the light dimming and the rich colors along with it. First thought would be that the plant life out here is just too far from a water source to thrive, but the more I press on, the more I’m frowning.
Carefully, I brush my fingers over the bark of a tree and the path that I trace disintegrates into ash, leaving a chunk missing. Quickly curling my fingers into my palm, I glance down at my feet and then behind me. For the last several yards, the faint impressions of footsteps turn into a clearer trail, giving an obvious path for anyone to track me. The ground stilllookslike soil, but it crumbles like dried mud.
Pausing, I weigh the merits of turning around, retracing my steps and starting over in the opposite direction. But ultimately, there’s a nagging in the back of my mind that’s keeping me rooted to the spot. Maybe it’s the simple fact that I’m a glutton for punishment, that I’m drawn to the desolation.
In a land that thrives on deceptive beauty, this place just seems like the closest thing to home. They can fake their wealth and power until the bitter end, stubbornly clinging to their delusions, but even the fae can’t hide from death forever. And that’s exactly what this area screams; forgotten wasteland.
