“I-I can’t. I-iron.” I can barely get the words out I’m so weak.
His face scrunches as if he smells something sour and his skin darkens to a tree-trunk brown before he melts into the dark recesses of the forest. Great. He’s going to leave me here to slowly die. I close my eyes. But then what can he really do? He’s too small to move the heavy iron, or even me.
I can’t die now. Kera needs me. But no matter how much I want to live, the effort to move is too much.
I hear Bodog whining in the distance like a scared puppy. That’s not good.
As I lie fighting the pain that’s eating at my body, a shadow falls over my face. I crack open my eyes and see Wyatt. He squats beside me and tsks his tongue. “Once again, you look like crap-encrusted gum on the bottom of my shoe.”
“Statues. Get me…away.”
“I get art is all about personal taste, but aren’t you acting a little overdramatic about it?” I moan, and he grabs my arm and pulls me up and over his shoulder. When he puts me down, he dumps me near a clump of bushes. I spy Bodog’s pinched and suspicious face before the little guy hunkers into the shadows.
I focus my attention on each breath and say to Wyatt, “Thanks for—”
“Saving your ass, again? Don’t mention it.” Wyatt bends, propping his hands on his knees. “Seriously,” he says, giving me a once-over, “you look like death. Is there something I need to know?”
The leaves rustle, and Bodog’s thin, wavery voice says, “Iron burns. Kills his kind.”
Wyatt smirks at the bushes, then slumps to the ground beside me. “Then you’re lucky I happened along.”
A loud harrumph sounds from the bushes. “Bodog needs no help helping.”
Wyatt leans close. “I thought a dog had attacked you. I didn’t know it was your creepy little friend. He’s not your normal everyday dwarf, is he?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on.” He lowers his voice for my ears only. “You’ve got eyes. He’s beyond only-Mama-can-love-me ugly.”
I don’t know why, it’s not like I haven’t thought the same thing, but I take offense at Wyatt calling Bodog ugly. “He can’t help the way he looks. He’s different, shy at first, but he’s okay.” I notice a flashlight in Wyatt’s hand. “What are you doing out here so early?”
“Looking for Reece. I’ve tried everywhere. It’s like he disappeared into thin air.”
A mental picture of Leo flashes in my head. “Yeah, people tend to do that around here.”
“I’m beginning to wonder if one of your monster friends ate him.” The intensity in his face reveals he’s really worried.
“No…”
Why didn’t I think of that? Then again, each one was very specific as to whom it went after. Conviction leaks into my words this time. “No, dude. Your brother will show.”
He relaxes a bit. I tell him to point the flashlight into the bushes behind me, and we see a pair of big eyes blink. “Come on out, Bodog. Wyatt’s not going to hurt you. I promise.”
Grumbling floats toward me as Bodog scrounges in the underbrush. I’m not sure if he’s heard me or not. I’m about to call him again when a triumphant cry sounds, and the little man steps free of the bushes, holding a lizard between his thick fingers. He plops down beside us. Wyatt stiffens, unimpressed with Bodog’s crackly brown skin, googly eyes, and big ears, not to mention the drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth as he stares at his catch. It’s not a pretty sight.
One bite of Bodog’s jagged teeth, and the lizard’s head is gone. Three more bites see the remaining body parts eaten. Putting his hands to his face, he snuffles and snorts as he enthusiastically licks the lizard blood clean.
Wyatt grimaces. “Does he have to do that?”
I swallow with difficulty and say, “You get used to it.”
“Yeah…I don’t think so.”
Bodog springs to his feet with the help of his stick and nudges me with the end. “Up, up, up. No time to waste.” He delivers Wyatt’s chest a sharp poke and hops out of reach. “Quickly, quickly.”
“Okay, okay.” Wyatt stands up. “I’m not the fainting type. He is.”
The guy is so not my friend right now. Tugging on my shirt, Bodog pulls me up after him. I stumble, light-headedness making my world reel for a second before I shake off the last effects of the iron.
“Where are we going?” Wyatt asks.
“Teag,” Bodog says.
“Wyatt’s not going to Teag.” It would be a huge mistake taking him there.
Bodog blinks at me. “He wants answers.”
“Are you telling me Reece is in Teag?” I put my hands on my head to keep my thoughts from spinning. “Not good.”
Wyatt’s glance bounces between Bodog and me. “If my brother’s there, then that’s where I’m going.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into.” It’s Leo and Jason all over again. Only this time, I don’t know what I’ll find waiting for me on the other side.
“By the look on your face and the sword you’re carrying—’cause you know, that’s totally normal—I’m walking into trouble.” He flashes a big grin. “I’m down with that.”
Not surprising.
Bodog grunts his approval and takes off. He moves fast, weaving in and out through the trees and disappearing and reappearing like a blinking light in the midst of the dark forest as we follow. I tell Wyatt what I can about where we’re going, warn him that he could die. The more warnings I give, the more determined he is to come along. That same curious glint he had when he wanted to see me light up is in his eyes.
Ten minutes later, we’re at a section of the barrier that corresponds with the village. It flickers weakly. Whatever magic kept it hidden before has deteriorated, showing the wall’s broad expanse and the ooze of mist. We stand facing the crackling barrier. Bodog steps forward and pushes his hands through the magic, ripping a hole between the first and human realms like a surgeon cracking open his patient’s ribs to see the moist lungs. I’m speechless. Thick mist rolls out, wraps around Bodog and pulls at his small body. Glancing over his shoulder, he nods, and as he disappears, I hear his gravelly voice call, “They wait for us. Hurry.”
Wyatt rakes his fingertips along the wall, his steps slowing as he comes to a point where his hand easily slips through. He pulls his hand free, clutching a fist full of mist. It slowly dissolves. “I’ll be damned,” he whispers more to himself than to me. Without any qualms, he rips open a section of the wall in front of him and dives into the mist. I guess once you’ve seen a guy self-combust, nothing fazes you.
It’s me who stands there alone, unable to believe what I’m seeing. The ease with which they break through the wall...it’s chilling. A shiver of alarm spikes the hair on the back of my neck. Anything, great or small, could pass between the realms. And Bodog thinks I can fix this, and return his world to the way it was?
Yeah, right. He’s a delusional, mythological creature on a magic mushroom high.
I can’t fix this. The problem is too big for one person. I’ll be lucky if I find Kera. Have a life. Live free. I know the truth. I’m walking back into disaster. It’s just waiting to happen.
Even knowing that, I can’t turn back. I slide my hand into the weakening fabric of the wall and a band of wetness spills out. Thick, misty fingers twirl around my arm. The air grows heavy. A crushing weight slams my chest. I’m pulled through vapor and spill out on the other side into Kera’s village and right next to Bodog…who’s got a sword point tucked beneath his quivering chin.
I hate it when I’m right.
“Dylan, look out!” I hear Leo shout.