Page 55 of Bonded Ever After

Serrill and Teth come to stand beside us, gaping. This feels unreal. Like magic. Like something that shouldn’t exist in the world.

“It’s the ancient path,” Veric says softly, and the minute he says it, I know.

“We’ve found it. We’ve found the way out!” I’m ecstatic.

This doesn’t mean our adventure is over. If anything, it means it’s just begun. We have to take this path through the mountains and somehow come out to the outside. Then, we have to find a way to survive in a dangerous new world we know nothing about.

Veric surprises me by taking my hand. Our eyes lock, and that tension that’s always between us sizzles the air. I want to be closer to him. I was to press myself against his big body and maybe not be strong for just a minute. Maybe trust someone else for the first time in my adult life.

But he turns to face the path, and we start walking.

Somehow, I expected the path to feel different, but it doesn’t. We just continue on it, knowing for the first time that we’re going in the right direction. That there’s a way out of our nightmare.

The hours tick away and the path stretches out before us. Teth and Serrill breathe heavily as we climb higher and higher, and I try to will myself not to be annoyed by them.Maybe at some point I’ll be grateful for them. Just not now.

“What’s that?” Serrill asks, pointing.

I follow his finger and see something strange, just off the path. It looks like a big wall of tangled vines, except there’s something green underneath. I know what it is. I’m probably one of the few people in Paradise Falls who have gone close enough to the wall to Neverwood to really see it for what it is.

“It’s an entrance to Neverwood,” I say, “but I never thought there was more than one.”

“Impossible,” Teth murmurs.

“Why do you think it’s here?” Serrill asks.

My mind starts working. “I wonder if some of the original families were able to go through the entrance.”

“Should we try?” Serrill asks.

Everyone looks at him in shock.

“Only the two families can step through,” I tell him.

He gives me a strange look. “Maybe. Maybe not. We’ve never tried, so how do we know?”

On one side of us is the entrance to Neverwood. On the other side is the path to the outside. For some reason, this feels like an important decision. A choice we can never take back.

What should we do?

TWENTY-TWO

Elora

The afternoon sunlight streams over us and butterflies flutter past. A field of flowers bend their heads in a breeze that sweeps through, and the trees drop their leaves. We walk together in a calm silence, just looking around. Each turn of the bend seems to reveal new and beautiful things.

Maybe we should stay here.The nagging thought won’t seem to leave me alone. I just keep wondering what the next realm will be like.How many more realms will we have to travel before we reach the end?Too many, probably, and yet some strange feeling keeps pulling me along, whispering that I’m not there yet. I’m close, but not yet.

“I can’t believe a place like this exists,” Callum says.

“Do you think it’s real?” I ask. “Do you think it’s really as safe as it seems?”

We’d slowly begun to shake off the fear of being uncertain if the path is still protecting us. We’ve seen no big predators. No creatures that make us wary. Nothing to indicate that there are secret dangers waiting for us in the shadows.

He sighs. “Honestly, this place is growing on me. I can’t imagine there will be a better place than this…”

I wait for him to say more. He doesn’t, which I’m grateful for. I know Callum thinks we should stay here, and I’m wavering enough that if he tries to convince me, I might crumble. But then I’ll be left with this nagging feeling I can’t seem to escape.

“What’s that?” Callum asks, pointing.

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