The bird hops from branch to branch and tree to tree. I have to run to keep up with it. I am entranced by its beautiful song and soft white feathers and cannot tear my attention away from it. I frantically increase my speed as we reach a clearing and the bird soars into the empty sky. As I look up to watch it fade into the distance, I trip on a rock. My ankle twists as I fall to the ground and a small scream escapes my mouth.
My eyes fly open. I am shaken by the vision the pendant has just showed me. “I saw Natalie. I mean, I was Natalie. I saw everything through her eyes.”
Zoë and Charlie look at each other with both confusion and concern sweeping across their faces. “Do you know where she is?” Zoë asks.
“I think so.”
I begin to walk away from them and they follow me without question.
The terrain gets rougher as we trudge on. It doesn’t take long before walking becomes a daunting task. Exposed tree roots create bumps and rifts as the ground becomes steeper and more difficult to navigate. As our walk turns into a climb, we begin to hear unidentifiable creature-made noises.
“Why do I feel more scared than you two look?” Charlie asks.
Zoë chuckles. “Because we know what’s at the top of this hill, and you don’t."
“Can’t you do some sort of magic to make this a little easier on us?”
“Unfortunately, no. If I change the walk, Natalie might not be in it. We have to stay on Emma’s course.”
“So you didn’t control what we walked into when we passed through the archway?”
“Nope. That was all Emma. I’m just the bodyguard.”
I laugh at Zoë's declaration.
The higher we climb, the rockier and more precipitous the ground becomes. Small stones give way under my feet and tumble downward. I turn around to warn Zoë and Charlie of the changing terrain, and am shocked at what I see. What lies behind us is not the slowly inclining hillside we have been climbing, but instead a steep drop off into a seemingly endless black pit.
A small moan of fear escapes my lips and I fall back onto a boulder, grabbing haphazardly for something to hold on to. Zoë sees my face and quickly turns around to see what I am looking at.
“Oh my God!” she exclaims. “Where did that come from?”
Charlie nearly loses his balance when he sees what has startled us. “What the hell is happening?”
“I don’t know,” I reply. “Let’s just get out of here as quickly and carefully as possible.”
We step lightly to make sure we have good footing on the treacherous hilltop. I reach the peak of the hill first. As I step over the last boulder onto the lush green grass, it quickly becomes evident where we are. The rock mountains, the steep cliffs, the flourishing greensward—this is where Cardine lives.
“Wow, how did you find this?” Zoë asks me as she steps off the last boulder. “That wasn’t even the way the pendant showed us the other day.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“What is this place?” Charlie asks.
“Cardine’s house,” I answer.
“House? All I see is rock wall.”
“Yeah, I think that’s the idea.”
I slowly wander away from them, toward the area in the rock where the small windows are carved. They follow closely behind me, Charlie objecting to my fearlessness and demanding I wait for him, Zoë once again reassuring him that I know what I’m doing.
As I approach the door to the home, a musty odor wafts outward and takes my breath away. I hesitate for a moment before slowly sliding the heavy stone door open. I have to force it over the overgrown dirt and grass to make a space large enough for us to pass through.
The space is nearly an exact match to what it was when Zoë and I viewed it through the pendant. Spider webs decorate the corners of the room and creep down to the furniture. A wooden table rests in the center of the room, covered in dust. The floor has a thick layer of moss grown over it.
“It doesn’t look like anyone has been here for a while,” Zoë says softly after a moment.
I walk over to the front corner of the room. The tea kettle that Cardine always used to heat water sits on a shelf, draped in spider webs. A pile of books on the table wears a quarter inch of dust. My