Eirnin smiled. "The third task," he said, "is to experience true love's kiss."
"Seriously?" Naji asked.
"Quite. You'll have to find someone who loves you for who you are." He paused. "And good luck with that, murderer."
Something brightened in my heart, like the first star coming out at night. But then Naji opened his mouth.
"Leila," he said. "She's the only one…"
The light blinked out. I got real hot and looked down at my hands.
"Leila!" Eirnin roared with laughter. "That woman has never loved another human being in her entire life, and never will. I wouldn't put all my eggs in that particular basket, if I were you. Which, fortunately, I'm not."
Naji stood up and hurled his mug against the wall. I jumped at the sound of breaking porcelain and twisted my hands up in my dress. I wanted a way to get out of that house without anyone knowing why. And to get away from Naji, the Otherworld be damned.
Naji stalked out the front door and slammed it so hard the foundation shuddered.
"Looks like it's just you and me," the Wizard Eirnin said.
I stood up and straightened out my skirts. Worthless, this old man was. What a waste getting blown out here, away from civilization and people who could actually help us, to some place that used to belong to a nightmare world.
"The stories are true. This place did spawn itself from the Mists." Eirnin leaned forward. He was so pale he looked like a ghost. "They won't hurt you, you know. Not if they think you can help them. Remember that, my dear, the next time Echo comes calling. That's what she called herself today, isn't it?"
I stumbled backward at the sound of her name. "I should go." I hesitated, knowing that you never want to cross a wizard the wrong way. "Thank you for the clothes and the…" I waved my hand at the mug. "And for helping Naji. I mean, I wish you could have done more–"
"I'm sure you do." He gave me this weird knowing look that I didn't like one bit. "You be careful out there, little pirate. Things come out of those woods that know how to get at you. The Mist's not the only thing you need to worry about."
I stared at him. "I ain't little."
Eirnin grinned. That was it. I slammed out the front door.
I hadn't been walking long when Naji stepped out of the shadow of a pine tree. I shrieked so loud my voice echoed through the woods. I'd been mired in my own thoughts. Cause I was trying not to think about Echo and the mists, I thought about Naji instead, and the thing I learned in the Wizard Eirnin's house. I'd handed my heart over to him, a damned blood-magic assassin, without even realizing it.
"I told you I don't want you wandering off alone."
"Stop talking to me like I'm a little kid. You're the one who left me."
Naji fell into step beside me. "You left the water jar behind."
"Kaol and her sacred starfish!" I stopped in the middle of the woods, whirled around in the direction of his house. "Damn it, I'm not going back there." I pushed my hair out of my eyes. "At least he gave us something to drink."
He snorted and took off into the woods, paying no mind to the snapping of branches. I trailed behind him. "So now what?" I said.
"We go to the shack," Naji said.
"That ain't what I meant." I ran up beside him. "I mean with the curse. You know a way off the island? You said the Order was protecting you – why couldn't they just bring us both back? Don't tell me it ain't possible, I know the stories."
He stopped. "How did you know?"
"Know what? About the Order?" I almost laughed. "You mean they can actually do that?"
"Of course they can." But then his expression changed. It went from hard and anger to… almost sad. "I spoke to them this morning. Magic is strong here. They'd certainly be able to send an acolyte through Kajjil."
Water dripped out of the trees and landed in dark spots on my new coat. "They aren't coming, are they?"
Naji looked at me, and then he shook his head.
I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
He walked off, his face tilted down to the ground.
"And why not?" I called after him. "They don't want to bother with you when the Mists are on your tail? Or are you damaged goods now that you got that curse?"
He stopped. The wind rippled his hair and his new clothes. When he turned around his face was a mask.
"They wouldn't have rescued you," he said. "They wouldn't risk bringing an outsider through Kajjil."
"Guess I just ruin everything for you, don't I? Give you headaches and keep you from getting rescued–"
"I told them no," he said, "even when I thought – when I hoped – that Eirnin would have cured me."
The entire world suddenly seemed to stand still. Naji and me were statues. The forest was no longer shaking with wind and rain. Even the dripping had stopped. But my heart was still beating, pounding too fast inside my chest, threatening to break me open.
"What?" I whispered.
"Give me your hand," Naji said, and then he walked over to me and grabbed it without waiting for me to move. The shadows crowded in around us. I didn't quite understand what had happened until we were standing in the shadow of the pine trees that grew beside our shack.
"I didn't feel like walking through the woods again," Naji said, and he stalked into the shack, leaving me shaking outside.
"Hey!" I shouted. My voice disappeared on the wind. "Naji!"
He didn't come back out, and so I went in and found him staring at the fire.
"Did you mean that?" I leaned up against the doorway. "About staying with me even if you were cured–"
"Yes." He looked at me over his shoulder. "Close the door, please. The wind will blow the fire out."
I stepped inside and sat down on the floor beside him. The fire crackled in the hearth.
"It was the only decent thing to do," he said.
My heart warmed, and for a moment I thought about leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.