Wayfinders, p.19
Wayfinders, page 19
“go!” the dwarf shouts at the girl’s father.
The truck speeds forward, almost clipping the bikers before they can get out of the way. Jade leans forward to keep her balance, and the giant slides on his stomach across the newly dented floor, his head coming to rest near her feet. The two Basilisks swing around their rear tires to straighten out their motorcycles and chase after the truck again.
“I got this!” the dwarf says. He punches out a few pointy pieces of glass still clinging to the window and dives headfirst through the opening, landing with a thud in the bed of the truck near Baxley’s feet. He jumps up and stands like a boxer, his fists near his chin, as if to protect it, and his elbows tucked against his sides.
Jade grins and softly shakes her head. The dwarf clearly hasn’t thought things through. “Where is the girl taking the unicorn?” she asks.
“And why would I tell yeh?” the dwarf says, waving his fists a bit.
Jade demonstrates why by holding up her wand and muttering, “Ta neh decevor.” Threads of blue lightning curl around the wand’s tip
“Yer witchery doesn’t scare me!” the dwarf says, fighting to keep his balance as the truck follows a curve in the street.
“It should,” Jade says, still grinning. She drops to one knee and touches the wand to Baxley’s back. The unconscious giant spasms as electricity pours through his body, and Jade pulls the wand away before she kills him.
“Okay! Okay!” the dwarf says, holding his palms toward Jade instead of his fists. “I’ll tell yeh!”
“And don’t lie,” Jade says, electricity still crackling from the wand. “I’ll know if you do.” It’s the truth, and the dwarf probably knows it. Witches are good at realizing when someone is deceiving them.
“A waterfall,” the dwarf says. “In the forest.”
“What’s it called?” Jade asks.
The dwarf hesitates, like he doesn’t want to say, and Jade moves the wand closer to Baxley.
“Silver Falls!” he blurts out, bending his knees to keep balanced as the truck goes over a bump in the road.
Jade fixes her gaze on him to ensure he isn’t lying.
“Yeh know it’s true!” the dwarf says. He nods at Baxley, adding, “Now let him go!”
Jade’s grin widens again. “Who said anything about that?” She touches the wand to Baxley’s back, and the giant thrashes around worse than before, blue cords of electricity crackling as they course through his body, jumping across the gaps between his limbs and his torso. Seconds is all she needs to kill him.
But seconds isn’t what she gets, because the dwarf charges at her faster than she would have imagined. A few cords of electricity attach to his legs as he lands his feet in the open places around Baxley. He dives forward, plowing her against the tailgate, which drops down ninety degrees, the chains on its sides catching it.
Jade falls out of the truck, her arms flailing, and lands in front of a motorcycle, which turns sharply into the other motorcycle, causing both to crash. The witch topples and turns, her view switching between the road and the sky, her body bending in ways it shouldn't. The pain is so intense that she’s grateful when her head hits the pavement and the world blinks out . . .
. . . and then reappears as her two selves become one again.
She’s standing in the shadows near the open window overlooking the parking lot. Police are crouched behind their cars, their guns pointed at the building, and Axton is right beside her again. She reaches into her jacket to ensure her wand is still there. It is, but the one her other self lost on the road surely disappeared.
“The unicorn’s headed for a waterfall,” she says. “In the forest.”
Axton just stares at her, trying to figure things out, which makes sense because he’s never seen her bilocate before.
“Just get everyone ready,” she adds. “I’ll handle the rest.”
He stares at her a moment longer and then flees the room to get the other Basilisks.
Jade takes a deep breath and grips her wand more tightly. She takes a small step to the window, careful to keep to the shadows, and raises her wand, thinking of the most powerful spell she can conjure.
“Ut gestra,” she utters.
A blue bolt of electricity shoots from her wand and strikes the nearest police car, which immediately explodes, the front end flipping over. The officer who was crouched behind the vehicle is thrown backward. He tumbles across the concrete, his limbs flailing, and comes to rest about twenty feet from his car, which is engulfed in flames. He lies perfectly still, unconscious or dead.
For Jade, it doesn’t matter.
If the witch has her way, there will be many deaths to follow.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chloe leans forward and dares to bring Fable to a gallop. The sound of the unicorn’s hooves is a familiar rhythm in her head—a four-beat gait followed by a period of suspension. And the cadence is louder than ever as it echoes off the buildings and the occasional cars parked along the otherwise empty street. The building with the antiques store is a few blocks ahead. The police cars have left, undoubtedly summoned to the scene Chloe just fled, and the crowd has scattered.
As Chloe nears an intersection, she sits up, putting her weight on Fable to slow him down a bit, then uses her right leg to urge him to turn in the opposite direction. Fable hugs the corner so tight that he almost clips the stop sign. As he picks up speed on the new street, Chloe glances over her shoulder to see the bikers still on her tail.
She leans forward, her fingers still twined in the unicorn’s flowing mane, and squeezes her legs together, signaling Fable to go faster. A few nearby people stop what they’re doing, their wide-eyed gazes locked on Fable. A woman claps her hand over her mouth, and a man takes a step back and trips on the curb.
Chloe turns Fable right at the next street crossing, where a few surprised people are gathered outside a grocery store with a blue awning, and then brings Fable to a gallop again. She melts into the unicorn’s movements, just like Stacey taught her to do when riding bareback on a horse, and hugs Fable with her legs to help keep herself balanced. She tilts her head to see past the unicorn’s horn, which keeps stabbing skyward in sync with Fable’s strides.
An oncoming car pulls off the road, the tires on the passenger side bouncing over the curb. As Fable gallops past it, the driver practically presses his face against the window to get a better look at the unicorn. A strong breeze blows, sweeping colorful leaves across the street. Chloe passes a few houses with steep gable rooftops and then guides Fable to the next block. Fable leans to one side as he takes the turn, and Chloe struggles to sit tall, keeping a bend in her elbows. As Fable straightens out, Chloe bucks her hips upward to reposition herself on the unicorn’s back.
“Come on!” Chloe says, loud enough for Fable to hear. “You got this!”
Fable whinnies and picks up his pace, trampling through the blowing leaves. Another oncoming car pulls to the side of the road, and a dog on the sidewalk, startled by the unicorn, pulls his leash out of his person’s hand as he takes off running. The surrounding buildings are a blur, and then Chloe urges Fable right at the end of the block. She glances back and it seems like the Basilisks are no longer following.
She rides Fable past a few buildings and a scattering of surprised people. The street that she’s on ends at the main street through town, and a sign reading road closed blocks most of the passage. Chloe sits straight, slowing Fable to a trot, then veers around the sign and onto the street, which offers a direct route to the forest with Silver Falls.
Lakeview Drive is a straight stretch of concrete with storefronts on both sides. Booths are set up along the curbs, and banners celebrating the Fall Festival hang from light posts and the eaves of two-story buildings. The streets are practically deserted, and the people who haven’t left to join the scenes at the drawbridge or the antiques store are clustered in isolated groups, talking in serious tones. The forest is straight ahead, maybe a mile away, the tops of the leafy treetops looming over the edge of town.
Chloe trots Fable down the road because going faster could be dangerous to the people nearby—people who are gasping and staring and pointing at the unicorn, their expressions changing as quickly as their emotions. And if Chloe quietly makes her way up the street, she might not draw the attention of the Basilisks.
Her heart leaps in her chest as she fully realizes she’s riding again. But this time, it isn’t a horse beneath her. It’s a unicorn named Fable.
She blinks, half expecting the world in front of her to fade away. To find herself in class, staring at the whiteboard while waking from an elaborate daydream. But the world doesn’t change. Fable continues to trot, and as they make their way forward, more and more people begin to stare, to point, to holler.
Fable’s gait is a two-beat rhythm against the street, his diagonal fore and hind legs swinging together. As he passes beneath the traffic lights at an empty intersection, Chloe glances down the side street, looking for the Basilisks or the truck her father stole. Neither is there.
Fable passes a few empty booths with artwork on display, and then a line of abandoned food trucks giving off a variety of smells. When a group of teenagers spots Fable, they chant and throw their fists in the air, thrilled at the spark of excitement in their ordinary lives.
The forest seems to grow taller as it nears. Some of the branches and tree trunks become visible: dark, wriggly lines among the colorful clusters of leaves. Once Chloe reaches the woods, Silver Falls will be less than a mile away.
Fable trots through another street crossing and passes more booths set up along the curbs. People continue to gawk and point and shake their heads. A woman, her eyes as round as quarters, pushes her baby stroller into a building. An elderly man takes a step back on the sidewalk and drops into a seat on a bench outside an ice cream shop.
An engine growls somewhere close, and as Fable trots onto yet another intersection, Chloe glances down the adjacent street and spots a motorcycle a few blocks down. It seems the Basilisks who were trailing her have split up to cover more ground.
A few banners advertising the Fall Festival pass overhead, and Chloe rides through the country music blaring from pole-mounted speakers. People continue to point and stare, their eyes wide with wonder. She reaches the end of the area designated for the festival and continues through town. The stores become individual buildings, and occasional vehicles are parked along the curbs. Fewer people are on the sidewalks.
A growling engine gets her attention, and she glances behind her. Two motorcycles are headed her way. They’re a few blocks back but gaining fast.
Chloe’s muscles tighten in fear. She leans forward, matching the angle of Fable’s neck, and does what she can to displace her weight. Fable’s trot becomes a canter, the three-beat rhythm echoing off the buildings. Ba-da-bump, ba-da-bump, ba-da-bump. It’s the drumbeat sound of being alive—and Chloe has missed it.
The unicorn speeds through the red light at the next crossroad, causing a driver to slam on their brakes. The end of town is a few blocks away, and the forest looms taller than ever. Her heart sinks. A river runs in front of the forest, just past the last adjacent street at the edge of town. It’s maybe five feet across and set several feet into the earth.
Jump it.
The idea is like a voice in her head, demanding all her attention. If Fable can clear the river, the Basilisks won’t be able to follow her.
She glances back to find four motorcycles gaining on her. Then she turns back around and squeezes Fable’s sides with her calves, signaling him to go even faster. As Fable lowers his head and breaks into a gallop, the three-beat gait becomes a constant drumming, like the sound of a heavy rainfall. Chloe’s instinct is to rise off the unicorn’s back, but that’s not possible without a saddle, so she melts into his movements again.
The buildings are a blur along the edges of her vision, and Chloe’s heart races faster than ever. Fable must be doing thirty miles per hour. Chloe has never ridden so fast, especially without a helmet and saddle. A fall at this speed could kill her.
She pushes the horrifying thought aside. Getting the fairy-tale creatures to Brynmoor is worth any risk, and saving Fable is all that matters.
She glances back, nervous about losing her balance, and checks on the Basilisks. There are five motorcycles now, barely a block away.
Fable gallops through the red light at another cross street, narrowly avoiding a passing car. Chloe keeps her knees up and her calves against the unicorn’s side, still doing what she can to match the movements of Fable’s back. She continues to hold her chin near the unicorn’s neck and tries to keep her gaze steady. The horn, just inches from her eyes, repeatedly thrusts toward the treetops, its black color gleaming like wet marble.
The end of town is now only two streets away, and the river is perhaps the same distance beyond that. The riverbank, a bumpy dirt wall set into the earth, is as tall as her father.
As the traffic light turns red, they race through the intersection, and the two drivers on the cross streets hold their positions until the motorcycles get through.
Fable speeds past a few buildings and nears the final cross street. The roar of the motorcycles is louder than ever, which means the Basilisks are right behind her.
“We’re gonna jump that river!” she says, leaning close to the unicorn’s ear. Fable must comprehend at least some of her words, because he strides faster.
Chloe blocks out her fears, stays loose, and lets the unicorn set his stride. The traffic light at the final cross street turns green, making it feel like Chloe’s been cleared for takeoff, and Fable gallops even harder. Chloe doesn’t have to see his legs to know that they’re as blurred as the spinning blades of a helicopter.
They race off the street and onto the grass. The few people walking along a paved path beside the river scatter when they see Fable coming. Chloe leans as close as she can get to Fable’s neck and peers through his blowing black mane. She forgets all about Brynmoor and the Basilisks in her wake. All that matters is clearing the river, which is now less than twenty feet away.
She sits up a bit and relaxes her muscles, ready to absorb the new movements the unicorn will need to make. As Fable’s forelegs push off the earth, Chloe lets his wither rise and meet her chest instead of dropping her upper body forward. Then, when his hind legs launch and his back straightens, she pivots forward at her hips and does what she can to match his flat angle. And just like that, they’re airborne over the river.
Chloe feels the wind in her face, the mane in her fingers, and the hope in her chest. She keeps her head up and her gaze facing forward. It feels like the world is watching.
I’m here, world. This is me.
As soon as they’re across the river, Fable’s front legs unfold and his hooves land flatly on the earth, jolting Chloe. Then his hind legs land, jostling her again, and he safely completes the jump. Chloe sits up, cueing Fable to stop, and after he does, he turns his body to see behind him. The five motorcycles are stopped at the edge of the river, their handlebars turned at different angles. And the Basilisks, still seated, are glaring at Chloe.
She holds two fingers to her forehead at an angle above her eye—a salute her mother would be proud of.
“Let’s go!” she says.
The unicorn turns around and breaks into a trot, and after only a few seconds, he and Chloe reach the forest and disappear past the line of trees.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Fable trots down a narrow dirt road in the woods. Chloe’s been following signs to Silver Falls, and a recent one reported that the waterfall is up ahead.
“C’mon . . .” she says, scanning the forest. Fable snorts, as if to echo her concern. He sounds a lot like Kody when he used to get nervous.
As they round the trees on a curved part of the street, an empty dirt parking lot that might have space for twenty cars appears. They stop along the side farthest from the road, where a two-story drop in the ground is supported by a wall made of rectangular pieces of weighty wood. Just beyond the drop is a grassy stretch of flat land that’s easily the size of a football field. And just past this area is a waterfall.
“We found it,” Chloe says, her soft voice mixed with her breath.
Silver Falls, maybe thirty feet wide, drops nearly the same distance down a rocky cliff before splashing in a plunge pool, a depression in the stream at the base of the waterfall. The mostly idle stream quickly disappears behind the trees as it works its way into the forest.
As Chloe wonders about the hidden portal, a vehicle loudly makes its way up the same road she took. She peers through a grouping of trees that have been stripped of their leaves and spots a black pickup with oversized tires. Someone is riding in the back, an unnaturally large man with a shiny bald head. Baxley.
“It’s my dad!” Chloe says, talking to Fable the same way she once talked to Kody.
She turns the unicorn to get a better look at the truck as it rolls into the parking lot, kicking up dust. Her father pulls up beside Chloe and hits the brakes hard enough to send Baxley, who’s sitting on his rear end, sliding against the cab. Both doors swing open and everyone in the front spills out. Baxley jumps to the ground, causing the truck to spring up on its suspension.
“They’re coming!” her father says. He leans over the retaining wall to check the height of the drop.
Chloe’s insides swell with fear. “How—”
“Over here!” Baxley calls out, and everyone turns to see him. The giant is standing halfway down a ramp leading to the ground below, the fairies hovering around him.
Chloe turns Fable and heads down the ramp, followed by her father, Dar, and Adrina. The group races toward the waterfall, the fairies flying out in front of them, and when they’re halfway across the field, three motorcycles drive off a path in the woods near the river and speed toward them. Basilisks. They stop about forty feet in front of Chloe and her companions, blocking their path.
