Page 23 of What Is Dark Within Me

“I’ll go,” she said. Her gaze swept across the cabin, landing on a heavy coat draped over the back of the chair. The coat hung over her shoulders like one of the ghost costumes her grandmother had made her every year for Halloween. Laurent had fled in only a thick flannel shirt. Unless he had some secret means of transportation, he wouldn’t be going far.

“You shouldn’t go out there. Laurent will return when his fingers start to freeze off,” Nicolas said.

“You’re free to come with me, but I’m going either way. I’ve waited too long for a lead to let him slip away.”

“There is a blizzard, and this forest might as well be endless. If you get lost, your new gifts will merely prolong your suffering as you freeze to death.”

Aleja had lived in the northwest long enough to see the sense in his words, but Laurent’s trail was still visible as she leaned out of the doorway. A blast of cold flakes hit her face. If she waited any longer, the footprints would be snowed over.

“Alejandra!” Nicolas called as her legs sank into the snow. There must have been another few inches of accumulation since they’d left her car. Nicolas did not shout her name again, but she caught his winged shadow sweeping across the snow—black on white, as stark in contrast as a checkerboard.

“I’ll wait by the fire,” Garm yelled from the doorway.

With a slam, the door closed and there was nothing except for the crunch of her boots and branches creaking under the weight of snow. Even these sounds were muffled, as if the world had sensed some intruder and tucked itself away until the danger could pass. She resisted the urge to call Laurent’s name as she followed his erratic footprints, which did not veer toward the snowed-in truck in the driveway, but into the forest.

Summoning a mageflare would be as good as announcing their position to Laurent, so Aleja pushed forward in the dark, grateful for her newly sharp eyesight. A sudden snap, like a branch breaking, followed by a clamor of birds broke the silence.

“Alejandra!” Nicolas called after her.

She didn’t stop to respond. Didn’t stop to look back.

Violet’s face flashed through her mind and she knew she was breaking the rules her friend had diligently explained every time she dragged Aleja into the woods. Never let your partner out of your sight. Never leave the path. Always look behind you to familiarize yourself with the forest from a different angle. It was easier to get lost than anyone would think. You could be a few feet from the trail and never see it.

A man’s voice—a shout, too high-pitched to be Nicolas’s—cut through the silence. Aleja knew if Nicolas were to leave her here, she might never find her back to the cabin, and would probably die of hypothermia before the sun rose.

But Laurent was close.

Something hit her on the back, and she was suddenly falling. Whenever she thought she might catch her breath and grab hold of something, her body slammed against a rock, against a tree, against a log that rolled with her, crushing her ankle before continuing its path into the gully.

It felt like being trapped in a snow globe someone had shaken violently. She didn’t think it was possible for a body to fall for so long, but in this daze, Aleja remembered the sheer drop to the side of her car as they’d driven to Laurent’s cabin. At least if she fell forever, she would never have to deal with the way her body splattered at the end.

But her body didn’t splatter. It thudded against a large boulder. The crack echoing across the snow-quiet forest did not come from the stone. Her head dropped to the side, and when another face stared back at her, she couldn’t react. Laurent’s eyes were open, snow on his pupils, bright against their yawning darkness.

He had taken the same fall. But he, unlike her, had died on impact. As she tried to steady her pounding heart, she wondered if perhaps she wasn’t so far behind him.

Aleja was barely aware of a voice calling her name. Of a dog’s warm nose snuffling against her cheek. It was the second time she had felt herself dying with her only comfort the smell of damp fur, but before she could reflect on the irony, everything went black.

* * *

A Spell to Clear an Overgrown Path

Some paths may disappear for a reason. If you decide to walk down a trail others have abandoned, be cautious.

Set forth alone, carrying an iron nail and a length of twine in your pocket. As you walk, listen to the world for signs you should turn around. If you encounter one, turn back immediately.

If you find you are welcome, drive the iron nail into the ground and secure one end of the twine around it. Tie the other end around the index finger of your left hand.

Ask the Otherlanders for permission to walk their path.

Do not untie the twine from your finger for any reason. It is your only chance of finding a way back.

A note beside the entry,in neat handwriting:

I wish I had listened to every old fairy tale warning humans against dealing with Otherlanders. Agnes is going to help put me back together, but I can tell they’re afraid of me, afraid of it. I gave Agnes the scrying mirror with the hellhound as an act of good faith, but for a bunch of dark magicians, I don’t think her Society ever really wanted to meet an Otherlander.

Or someone playing host to one.

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