You know they aren’t around, Cicely. Their spirits have moved on.
I know, Ulean, but the poetry of it . . . Sometimes the gesture is more important than the meaning behind it. I don’t know if I’m explaining that right, but sometimes . . .
I know what you mean. Let it rest, girl. Take your shower. There is much to do today, and just because you now know how to destroy Myst, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a walk in the park.
I nodded; then, feeling I needed to say something to Peyton, I opened my mouth. But by then she was back to her knitting and looking quietly content, so I picked up my towel and cinnamon-scented bath gel, and headed in to take a long shower.
As I lathered up, I ran over what I remembered about the night before. The images from my journey were clearer now. A good night’s sleep had provided enough distance to give me insight to everything I’d seen.
The Barrow in which I’d seen Myst hide her heartstone? I knew the lay of the land around it. I vaguely remembered seeing an area deep in the Golden Wood that resembled it. Had Myst created the Barrow centuries ago? Thousands of years ago? Even if she’d deserted it, chances were I could find it again. And if I did . . . could I possibly find the entrance to where she had taken her heartstone?
I scrubbed my body thoroughly as I thought over everything that had happened. Violet—she’d been important to meet, and while I still wasn’t sure why, I felt whole now. Meeting that part of myself seemed to have given me back some joy robbed from me during my childhood in this life. Violet hadn’t been unhappy. She merely realized she was in the wrong time period, and so she had found a way to leave it.
By the time I finished lathering and rinsing my hair, I was deep in thought, trying to sort out where and when I had seen the area surrounding Myst’s Barrow. It was definitely deep in the Golden Wood, long before there had been a New Forest to border it. Long before there had been a Seattle . . . or a United States of America to mark borders and territories.
I knew it was farther back into the wood than the Twin Hollies. So deep that we never routinely passed by it. And then . . . then, a memory tugged at me. I knew where it was. One day, a long time ago when Rhia and I were five and just starting to know Grieve and Chatter, we’d gone for a walk and gotten lost in the woods. We kept going, certain we’d be able to find our way out again.
The drowsy bees had bumbled by, a deer had brought her fawn out for us to see, and she had stopped, allowing us to pet the young doe. We were totally unaware of how rare a gift she’d given us. At one point, we lay down and took a nap around noon, in the shade of a giant cedar. An hour or so later, we were worried—home seemed so far away, and we’d gotten turned around, no longer sure of where we were. So we kept walking.
By early evening, we came to a stream and followed it, and then . . . A flash of memory showed me a mound in the earth nearby. We were headed toward it, pulled toward it, but the next thing I could remember, we were back at the edge of the Golden Wood. Dazed, but none the worse for wear, we raced out across the yard, safe into the house.
“I had totally forgotten that memory,” I whispered to myself. “The Barrow—that had to be Myst’s Barrow. We were far too deep in the woods for it to be the Marburry Barrow, or even the Eldburry. And we didn’t make it through any portal. There was no shift there that I can remember.”
Focused, I hopped out of the shower and quickly slipped into clean underwear, jeans, and a pre-laced corset that Druise had sent from home. This one had a zipper and I quickly zipped it up and then slid on a pair of ankle boots. Sturdy, they had a platform heel that I could run in. I pulled the brush through my hair, sleeking it back, not worrying about drying it, and plopped my crown on my head, then—sans makeup—ran downstairs.
“I remember! I know where her Barrow was!” I skidded to a halt in the kitchen, staring at the group of solemn faces sitting around the table. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
Ysandra put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me and poured me some coffee. “The Shadow Hunters hit again, though this time they left the police station alone. But they’ve attacked over in Snoqualmie. They are branching out, and there seem to be far more of them now. Myst has called in all her reserves.”
“What about defense? The police? The National Guard?” Even as I spoke, I knew that the National Guard would be of no earthly use against them. The Shadow Hunters could be killed by bullets, yes, but they were deadly foes, and crafty, and they were adept at culling their victims without being seen.
She shook her head. “You know as well as I do that the police don’t know what to do, and I gather they were talking about calling in the military, but you see . . . a blizzard has sprung up near there. And I do mean a blizzard. The storm is moving in quickly, spreading over the entire northwest. No helicopters can fly in it, or planes. Driving is hazardous at best. We’ll soon be in whiteout conditions as it spreads. Myst has started her march, and if she can hold the weather steady, she has a good chance of gaining a stronghold before anybody can do anything.”
Nature could still put a stop to even the most devilish of mankind’s machinations. Blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes—not much of our weaponry could do anything against the natural forces of the world, and it seemed that the more we tried to control it, the more the world fought back. This time, there just happened to be a mad queen at the helm.
“Have you contacted the Consortium? Have they gotten off their asses about this matter?” I was growing very weary of the noninterference policy the magical group was taking.
“We do have the warriors they sent—the Elite Unit. I was in charge of one just like this, you remember, not long ago. But they are few, and the enemy is strong. I called the council again this morning, but the phone lines are down. The storm is close enough to be driving static between us and the outer world. I expect the winds and snow to pick up within the next couple of hours.” Ysandra stirred a spoonful of sugar into her coffee, frowning.
I dug into my breakfast, needing the fuel. Between the fighting and the journey I’d taken last night, I was famished. “Regina and Lannan are asleep, of course. Did they contact you last night after I passed out? Do we have any news from them that I should know about?”
Rhiannon cupped her hot tea, and the longer she held the sides of her mug, the more it steamed. I laughed when I noticed it. “You can warm up your food no problem now.”
She snorted. “Yeah, but you should see me with ice cream—not quite the effect I want.” With a laugh, she raised her mug in salute.
I grinned at her. “Well, you ever need me to freeze it again, just call.” Sometimes it took a joke, however feeble it might be, to lighten the mood.
After that, she leaned back, her eyes crinkling. “Lannan sent word this morning, before dawn. They’ve got one of their strongest day-runners on the switchboard. If anything comes down, anything, call her—her name is Dakota—and she’ll get the information to them as soon as possible. She also has the authority to dispatch day-runners to us, should we need them for anything.”
“We’d better send her the info on what’s going on near Snoqualmie, if you haven’t already done so.” I paused, then looked up. “I suppose you’re waiting for me to ask ‘What’s our next move?’ but the truth is I know what we have to do. We’re taking the offense. We have to find that Barrow, see if we can unearth Myst’s heartstone, and then destroy it. Even though I think I know where it is, this is going to be a rocky journey. We can traverse the wood, no problem, but if she has any clue we’re on her trail, then you can bet we’ll be facing a gamut of her monsters. And this time, it might not be just her Shadow Hunters.”