Page 10 of The Garnet Daughter
Breathe.
Fold and breathe.
My lids squeeze shut as the sound around us changes, both our breaths unifying in their rhythm. The ground beneath my feet softens, my boots sinking into a welcoming cushion. The air encompassing us is no longer dry and spiced with temple smoke. It’s thick with humidity and flora.
I lift my head from August’s steady shoulder and dare to view our final destination, sobering.
Moss.
Moss everywhere.
We have folded a great distance. Farther than I have ever traveled or thought possible.
I inhale the undeniable scent of my home planet.
The smell of the forest of Frith.
Chapter
Five
The moment August realizes where we have folded, his whole body goes rigid in my arms, but he says nothing, just holds me perfectly still. His heartbeat thumps against his chest, the muscles in his back flexing as the sounds of the moss layer sing around us.
How is it possible we stand on Frith? I have never folded more than a few miles. Folding between worlds . . . How did we survive?
“Calliape, are we?” August whispers.
I nod into him. “Yes.”
The dominant arm he holds across my back moves down to check his waistband for a weapon. When an animal screams in the distance, he withdraws it and keeps it loosely at his side. “Fold us back.”
I close my lids again, relying on him to keep my balance, and press on my gift. The tendons in my eyes strain as they roll to the back of my head from the force of focusing. But there is nothing to grab onto. The distance is too great. I cannot take us back. I am terrified to even attempt it.
“I can’t,” I whisper.
“Try again.” His voice is impatient, his gun now raised and pointing at the sounds that come from the darkness.
“There is nothing on the other side.”
He pulls away just slightly to look at me, his expression battle stricken and wild. “We folded between worlds.”
I nod.
“How?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking of a destination.” My head spins with the stark contrast of being in the temple, of the wind and chaos happening all around us, to now standing in the serene forest. “I’m sorry, August.”
His attention snaps back to me from peering out into the tree-dense terrain. “Don’t be. We will figure this out. We always do.”
His answer is sweet, but it does nothing to ease my worry.
The familiar sound of rain begins with a mist coming through the canopy overhead, filtered by an endless amount of leaves and vegetation. Instincts specific to the forest ground me in our situation, ones I have not used since departing this world resurfacing, pushing aside emotions that will not serve us at the moment. I force myself to pull away from his embrace, one that held me up when my legs gave way in the temple and kept its hopeful grasp on me with the possibility of folding back to Cosima. We are here now, and there is nothing within my power that I can do to change it.
“We should get moving,” I say. “This is just the start. The tree leeches will come out soon.”
“Tree . . . leeches?”
I find my footing among the moss-covered rocks. I am familiar with this portion of the forest, but that advantage won’t matter if we do not get out of the elements. “Yes, and the temperature will drop quickly. This way, there is shelter not far.”
