Page 127 of Wings of Lies
“It’s… terrible. This power was never meant for someone like me. So, I try not to use it. Unless, you know, we get chased by crazy ass Powers.” He gave me a weak wink, finally revealing how he managed to get us away. “But shadowing. That’s the only part of my power I like.”
I gestured for him to explain.
He smiled, one of those sneaky ones he had. “I can hide from demons, humans, and most angels. Everyone’s a little scared of the dark, so when I wrap that fear around me, they subconsciously don’t want to look. It’s very handy. ”
“But it doesn’t work on me,” I said smugly.
His smile dropped. “Yeah. But the moment I met you, I could tell you were strange.”
I rolled my eyes. A piece of bitter tension chipped away from the wall I put up between us. I forgot how much I enjoyed Oliver’s sarcastic commentary.
With the sun’s departure, the forest turned black. Oliver became a barely visible silhouette beside me. But it didn’t last long. The tiny flowers on the forest floor glowed with a white light. And they weren’t the only nightlights. The blue mushrooms erupted, glowing neon, along with the orange moss. Their glowing colors lifted my lips, but the trees dropped my jaw. Each trunk erupted in light-blue shimmering veins of light, stretching to their leaves.
“Did you know this happened?” I asked, feeling like a little girl lost in a fairyland.
A genuine smile lit Oliver’s face. He marveled at the spectacle as much as I did. “I heard stories. I’ve even made up some of my own and spread them. So, I never knew which ones were true or superstitious shit.”
I was curious about the other stories, smirking at the thought of what rumors Oliver spread when that same feeling of urgency reared its ugly head.
“Where are you leading me?” I asked. We needed to find a place to hide, food, and water.
“I was following you.”
“You just told me how skilled Aspen is at tracking, and you’re choosing to follow me nonchalantly through a forest in a world I know nothing about?”
The glow of the trees illuminated a funny look on Oliver’s face. “I asked you if you had any ideas! You never answered, so I assumed you’d take us somewh…” He trailed off at my disbelief. “Okay, okay.” He threw up his hands. “So, where do you want to go?”
“To find water, food, and Magda. In that order. Do you know where she lives?”
He whipped his head to stare at me. “The wicked witch of Elora?”
“That’s what she’s called?”
“No.” He snorted. “I just liked the ring of it. But yeah, I know where she lives, and that’s where my knowledge ends, not counting all the rumors about her.”
“Bad rumors?”
He mulled over my question. “Yeah, I’m trying to figure out how a fence full of decapitated skulls could be a good rumor, but I’m coming up blank.”
I side-eyed him. What an Oliver thing to say. “She answers all your questions, though, right?”
“So I’ve heard. If you can pay her price.”
“I’ve already paid plenty of prices. What’s a few more?”
Oliver groaned. “Comeon,Lucy, you can’t possibly be thinking of going to that witch. She has a fence of skulls! That doesn’t exactly scream,please come and join me for a cup of tea and answers,” he said in a high-pitched voice, holding an imaginary teacup.
I threw my hands in the air. “How else am I supposed to find my mom?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe from the nice male who likes to invade our minds?”
Nice?Yeah, that wasn’t the word I’d use to describe the male who used ice claws to stab my brain.
“We have no idea when he’s going to contact us next. What if we go to Magda, ask her questions, and if I can’t pay the price, we leave?”
He opened his mouth, clearly about to protest, and I said the only thing I knew that’d convince him and take my guilt away.
“I know a way into the Tenebrous Kingdom. But I’ll only tell you after you take me to Magda’s,” I said.
