Darion and I ran out of the Last Lantern with smoke billowing behind us.There were bruises on his face, but he wore a smile that said he couldn’t be happier to see me.
“How?”was all I could say.
“Later.”
“But…you’re alive.How did you find me?”I asked as we ran along.“Was that you watching me from outside the bar?”
“Later.”
He dragged me into the first alleyway, and we weaved through the maze of streets—left, then right, then left again.Boots clomped behind us, but with each turn, they got fainter.
“Down here,” Darion said, descending a flight of stairs that ended at a closed front door.It appeared to be the entrance to a basement dwelling, but it looked as if it had been years since the door had been opened.
Darion put his index finger to his mouth, and we waited in silence.Minutes passed.The road above was quiet.
Even with adrenaline coursing through me, my brain was still fuzzy from ale.I put my hand to his face.I meant to do it gently, but it turned out to be more of a slap.
“Ouch!”Darion whisper-shouted.“Right on my bruise.”
“Sorry!”I said.“A bit tipsy.”
Darion pulled a vial from his belt.“Here.Drink this.Brightleaf potion.It’ll clear your head.”
I swigged it down in one gulp.My mind immediately sharpened—almosttoomuch.A torrent of thoughts rushed through my head, all the things I had tried to forget.I’d been sure Darion was dead and that I was the cause.And now, days later, here he was, somehow both finding and rescuing me.A strange mix of relief, anger, and desire swirled through me.
“Wherewereyou?”I pleaded.“What happened to your face?”
“It’s a long story.But the short version is, I ran into some guards.”
“What?”I nearly shouted.“Did they capture you?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
A barking dog and a loud thud came from behind the door we stood at.I supposed it wasn’t as abandoned as I’d thought.
“Let’s go,” Darion said with a cringe.We hurried up the stairs and ran down the street.
Once we were clear of the house, I turned to Darion.“Can you please tell me the rest of what happened?”
“Yeah, but not here,” he said, smiling.“I want to show you something.”
“That’s mysterious.I’m not sure I can handle mysterious right now.”
“I think you’ll like this.”
Darion led me through various alleyways, and we soon entered a part of the Underworld I’d never been to.This was the second time I had trusted him to guide me.I was on high alert despite the fact that he’d just rescued me andIwas the one who’d nearly gottenhimkilled.I couldn’t control my suspicions any more than I could stop breathing.And yet I desperately wanted to trust him.
Darion guided us to a narrow cave-like opening and then down into a tunnel covered with the blue phosphorescent moss that lit much of the Underworld.It clung to every surface, denser than I’d seen anywhere else, casting us in an eerie blue glow brighter than a full moon on a cloudless summer eve.Darion’s smiling face shone in the light.
“Where are you taking me?”I asked.
“Almost there.”
The passage opened up onto a massive cavern with a moss-dotted ceiling that soared high above our heads.Large mounds of the same glowing moss covered the ground, creating the illusion that we were standing on a grassy hillside under the starry sky.Farther into the cavern, a small tree sprang from the moss.A twisting trunk led to boughs full of pale oval-shaped leaves.Next to the tree was a shallow pond of the clearest water I’d ever seen.
“How is there a tree here?”I asked.
“It’s a night willow,” he said.“They’re very rare and only grow in the light produced by the moss.Its roots drink from this pond.”
