“Just think about what I said,” Finlay noted. “Emma loves you, but you know what? I think she loves me, too. And both of us have to be willing to do what’s best for her. Even if one of us is going to lose at the end of the day. I care about Emma enough to let her make that decision. Do you?”
He spun on his heel then, leaving me alone to contemplate things.
That Saturday morning, my friends and I gathered at the forest gate to Arcanea University. The girls carried backpacks full of supplies, as we’d be gone all day. Theo, Alexei and Stefan were already in their shifter forms, ready to take off.
I scowled. I didn’t have my wings yet, so I’d have to ride with one of them. Emma was there with her wings at the ready, like she had been planning for this.
“You’re riding with Stefan,” she said. “No excuses.”
Let her tell you what to do, eh? Pathetic, the demon growled.
Shut up, I told him. Gods, he was insufferable.
I hated that Emma had to put in extra work because I was incapable of flying. But I didn’t complain. I got on Stefan’s back behind Delmare, and held on as we took off into the sky.
The dryca village was a long way off. It took us until noon to get halfway there. We stopped to eat and rest for an hour before we continued our journey. Emma was tired, so she switched places with Delmare, who used her own wings to carry her through the skies.
It was around four o’clock when we finally descended. I slid off of Stefan’s back and looked around. The druid village was a relic, long abandoned by the fae and ravaged by time. Remnants of old stone buildings lay crumbling beside twisted trees covered in vines. There were ropes that once held tents, and a stone well that had long forgoed its use. Wildflowers had taken over the large plots that the druids used to garden. Herbs that the dryca grew for ceremonies were untamed and wild amongst the tall grass. The fall leaves covered everything in a thin layer of red, orange, and gold, as if putting the village to rest. Odette walked around the area with a visage of grief plastered over her face.
“Look at this place,” she said. “The dryca were once here, and now they’re all… gone.”
Her words were lonesome. A thin wind brushed by, giving me a chill.
A relic of a time long gone by, the leshane echoed. The druids were useless. Save for when they provided a good meal.
Do you ever stop talking? My loathing for him was unmatched.
Only when the mission isn’t incredibly pointless.
This wasn’t pointless. This was our only lead to finding the alicorn stone.
Kiara began flitting around the area. She waved her hands in a particular way. “What are you doing?” Alexei asked.
“Putting a ward up so we don’t run into any monsters,” Kiara said. “Odette, I need you to help me. Your shield magic’s strong.”
Odette came by Kiara’s side. She raised her hand, and a soft pink glow shone from her fingers. The air weaved, creating a dome that encompassed the druid village. Odette sighed in relief— like the energy here was just too much for her to handle, and by creating the ward, she was able to keep some sort of bad spirit out.
I understood. I felt it, too. This place was haunted by the ghosts of the dryca that had died so long ago. Place nearly felt cursed.
As we walked amongst the ruins, a pool came into view, illuminated by sunlight. The pool was round, aquamarine and covered by a few lily pads. Reeds twisted in the wind, and dragonflies skimmed the surface. The water almost appeared like a mirror to the soul.
This had to be it. The Pool of Memory.
The eight of us knelt down beside the water. “So how does it work?” Alexei asked.
“We put our hands into the pool, then we can either ask the Pool a question, or we can be open, and it can show us what it wants us to know,” Theo explained. “Since Odette is a seer, whatever question she asks, the Pool has to answer in some way… though it might not be what we expect.”
Delmare went to dip her hand into the water, but Stefan stopped her. “Wait. Do you think Gabby and Elijah have used this Pool?”