Rootbound

“I will try,” I repeated. “I . . . may not be here.”

Her eyes closed. “Be safe then, for I believe you may hold the world in your hands.”

A chill swept through me. “Advice, or insight?”

Her eyes fluttered open. “Aria left me the gift of sight. It comes now and again. Our world needs you alive, Lark. For whatever is coming is worse than even the demon hordes.” She shuddered and took her hand from mine. I gritted my teeth on the chill that made them want to chatter.

Shazer took a leap, and the Sylphs around us swept us upward on a monster gust of wind. He laughed and his wings beat to keep the momentum going. “I think I like them.”

Another time I would have laughed. But not now. Not with what I knew I was going to do.

“Where are we going exactly?” he asked. Peta looked up at me, concern filling her eyes. I knew she could feel the anxiety growing in me, the fear and the feeling of inevitability. The knowledge that I was most likely walking into a trap, and a bad one at that.

I closed my eyes and let my mind relax, thinking about where I needed to go. I had all the stones, all of them. That was a lie, but it didn’t matter. I knew she would believe me. I’d never tried to lie to her before. A picture floated across my mind, the hanging trees, the thick moss, the stagnant water and rotting trees. Why was I not surprised at what I was seeing? Finley said Cassava took Ash to the same place. The irony was not lost on me.

“The cypress swamps.”

Shazer didn’t argue, just swept us back to the North American continent. I pulled Peta into my arms and buried my face in her thick fur. Her front legs swept around my neck in a hug, her paws kneading the back of my head. “Lark, I have never felt fear like this in you.”

I lifted my head. “Shazer.”

“Yeah?” He was oblivious to my distress. That was about to change.

“When we land, I want you to fly back to the Eyrie.”

“What? Why?”

I locked eyes with Peta and she slowly nodded. “I am with you, Lark. Never doubt it.”

Shazer shook his head. “Talk, woman, or I’ll dump you off my back right here.”

“I think I know who is behind everything. I know who made the stones, I know who made you. And she’s still playing us.” I whispered the words, as if she could hear us. For all I knew, she could.

He seemed to stall mid-air, his wings stilling as he stared back at me, understanding slowly dawning. “No. You can’t possibly mean her.”

I nodded slowly. “Yes. I think . . . I think the mother goddess is not who she seems to be.”

And I was about to face her not as a child of hers, not as a favored chosen one.

But as an opponent and a rival to her power.

CHAPTER 21

hazer flew hard and fast, never stopping once. As if we had a demon tailing us with our names engraved on his sword. Yet it wasn’t what was behind us that hurried his wings.

My request for speed was the only reason he flew as fast and as hard as he did.

“Why would you hurry?” he called out between gulps of air.

“Because she thinks I believe we are on a deadline, and that Raven is behind us, chasing us. I doubt that is the case now, but I need whatever surprise I can get. I will pretend I know nothing.” I had a hand on the leather pouch at my side. Four of the five stones rested there. The fifth was still buried under Griffin’s hut—the pink diamond that controlled Spirit.

The cypress swamps swept into view on the horizon as the sun rose behind us, dispelling the long night. My legs ached from gripping Shazer’s sides and the anxiety that filled me was almost too much to contain. For a split second, I wished I could have someone at my side. Not Ash, though, and that surprised me.

Raven. He was strong enough that maybe with the two of us working together we could stop her.

What the hell was I thinking? Exhaustion was making me stupid, that was the only answer. Shazer brought us to a bare section of beach, landing and dropping immediately to his knees. He blew out a long breath.

“I cannot fly back to the Eyrie. I must rest.” He groaned and flopped onto his side, his wings stretching out behind him.

“Go as soon as you can. At least . . . get away from here.”

He raised his head. “Ash will be trapped forever as an eagle if you die here.”

I took a deep breath. “Then I leave that in your charge. Tell Samara, maybe she can help . . . if I don’t make it.”

Peta stood in the sand beside me, shifting into her leopard form. “We must hurry.”

Her unspoken words were as clear. If we wanted the ruse to hold, we had to move as though we believed we were being chased by Raven. I had one more thing to do, though. I went to my knees beside Shazer and opened the leather pouch. From it I poured all the stones, sorting them into two piles.

“What are you doing?” Shazer asked.

“If I die, you hold the key to defeating her,” I whispered. “I do not know who you will trust, but I trust you.”

I hurried, my hands shook, and I knew this was the only chance I had to beat her. A gamble was ahead of me, and I was banking everything on it.

A curse.

The stones.

The mother goddess. I prayed I was right.

I nodded and we jogged across the small patch of sand and into the cover of the trees. The dense vegetation pulled at me. I let it for a bit before connecting with Earth to move things enough that the path was clear. Peta frowned up at me. I couldn’t explain now, we were too close.