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“I have a memory of her telling us,” he said, tapping the back of his skull. “It’s in here somehow, even though it never happened. She confessed to keeping the devorium for herself. She said she didn’t know what would happen, so she chose not to use it to save Timmons. I don’t agree with her decision, but it doesn’t matter now. She died getting us out of there.”
She died because I decided to save you instead, Ren thought. Instinct had taken over. She liked Cora more than Theo. Ren respected any girl who was so similar to her, who’d ground her way through Balmerick to earn a brighter future. But Theo was her path forward. It was a selfish decision, prodded on by preservation. How many times would she have to make that decision to keep rising, to keep surviving? The guilt settled on her shoulders like a weighted cloak.
It took a few minutes for Ren to set those feelings aside. Compartmentalize. She needed to place those thoughts in a small box for later, leave them there, and focus on what actually mattered. Survival. She turned her attention back to Theo. He was waist-deep in the pool, using his hands to scrub at bare shoulders and under his arms. They had no soap, but a little water would go a long way to feeling refreshed. They’d been on the move for half a day. Ren waited until she caught his eye.
“What?”
“I was getting brief flashbacks of that dance you did.”
He managed to smile. “Pretty sure whatever you’re thinking about involves exerting energy, which we have precious little of.”
She raised one eyebrow. “Very well. You win the prize for most responsible boy. Let’s sort through the pack and figure out what to do next.”
Ren opened their lonely satchel. Cora’s devorium was there. It looked like it had been run over by a carriage. The amber light was gone now, leaving a patterned discoloration. It was still warm to the touch. She shuffled it aside, reaching for the item she’d placed in the bag.
“Well, that’s not good.”
Her mother’s bracelet. She held it up to the light. The dragon-forged veins were a dulled color. Ren slid it onto her wrist and attempted the simplest spell she knew. There was a sharp fizzle as the magic sputtered and failed. That earned Theo’s undivided attention.
“Did you just mess up a spell? Did I just bear witness to history?”
“No, you prat.” Ren held up the bracelet. “Cora’s devorium drained the magic from it. They must have been touching inside the bag when she activated the spell. There’s nothing left. All the ockleys I’d stored in there were burned out.”
Theo pointed to the wand hanging from her belt loop.
“What about that one?”
“I’ve got… maybe twenty ockleys? I stored most of my allotment in my mother’s bracelet. How do things keep getting worse? If we survive, I’ll never spend another day in the woods.”
She’d been keeping such a close count. If the bracelet hadn’t been drained, she’d have had more than enough for a quick duel. Now all they really had were Theo’s vessels. At least five hundred ockleys, if her count was right, but she could offer only a few paltry spells. That would be just fine if this ended up being nothing more than an uneventful hike. Not so well if either of their hunters caught them.
Ren dug through the knapsack and pulled out her stolen way candle. In the front pouch she found the earring that Timmons had kept from the start. She slipped her own earring out and replaced it with the humming-sword bird. It dangled for a moment, turning slowly, until a faint voice emanated.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome. This next one is a timeless tune. You’ll recognize it.…”
Ren looked at Theo before unhooking it. “I think we have two options. Put your clothes back on. I’m not going to mess up details because you’re being promiscuous.”
That earned another laugh. Ren was trying to keep the mood light. The rest of their day would be gritted teeth and straining muscles and staring death right in the eye. Ren knew they both needed these moments to get them through what was coming. Theo dressed as she washed the dirt from her own hands and feet. As he buttoned up his shirt, she broke down the situation.
“First option is to keep going. At least three full days of hiking. We’ve got a breath lord trailing us with a tracking hound. We have no idea if they’ve got other contacts out here or other farmers who are loyal to them. We have no idea if they’ve got a supply of waxway candles that might let them jump ahead of us to cut off our escape. But one thing we do know is that they’ll know all of this territory better than we will. If we keep moving, there’s a decent chance we stay ahead of them and Clyde, but it’s far from a guarantee.”
He nodded. “Three days is a long time to keep up this pace.”
“The other option is to walk as far as we can tonight,” Ren explained. “No stopping. No breaks. We find a spot that’s defensible. Choke points and wards and all of that. Once we’re bunkered in, we light the way candle. It’s the standard size. That means it will take at least three hours to burn all the way down. Which also means that all we have to do is stay alive for three hours. That’s a lot easier than three full days. And then we port back to Balmerick.”
She saw a trace of fear in his eyes. Their last trip through the waxways had been the cause of all of this. Lost in the woods, hunted by a friend-turned-revenant. It took a moment for Theo to steel himself to the possibility that they’d need to travel through those dark passages again.
“You’re sure we can port that far?” he asked. “Safely?”
Ren held up the earring. “If this is clear enough and loud enough, I think we’ll be in range. And we’ll follow the proper methodology. None of the usual shortcuts. No borrowed lights. No early snuffs. We won’t take any of those risks this time. We light this candle ourselves. We meditate and focus the entire time it burns down. And we let it burn all the way through, instead of dousing it before its ready. I promise you, Theo, we’ll do it the right way. The safe way.”
Theo was nodding. It was the affirmation he needed.
“Besides,” Ren said, saving her best card for last, “I have a secret I forgot about.”
She reached into the small pocket on the front of her plaid jacket. She hadn’t mentioned it to the others. It felt like offering a false hope. Her palm spread. Five blades of faded grass. Theo lifted one of those perfect eyebrows.
“Do I have to ask, or are you just going to explain it?”
