Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,64
is that damned Scourge, you’d think one ogre and a handful of shades are going to stop him?”
“True. But there are other ways to escape besides the looking glass. Via car like they’d originally decided on. Another rabbit hole. Maybe the Cheshire’s found some new transport. But what I am very sure of is that once a looking glass is destroyed on either end, there is absolutely no way to get back in.”
Tala paused. “They did escape, right?”
“I believe so.” Loki paused. “As you know now, your father is…resourceful. So are the Katipuneros. They’d never go down this easily.”
Tala nodded, rising to her feet. Loki had a quiet way of instilling belief, and for now she was willing to accept their hypothesis. Her titos and titas were gonna be all right. Lola Urduja was gonna be all right. Her father was gonna be all right. Even if he was the…
She swallowed, unable to finish the thought. Her father, Ryker…so many parts of her life were lies.
“Well, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Zoe said.
“We’ve never been in Kansas,” Loki said.
“I’m quoting the Wizard of Oz movie, Loki. The old historical one, with Judy Garland—look, never mind. I don’t suppose any of you have an available compass on hand?”
“Well, we don’t even know if this is actually Avalon,” Ken protested.
“No,” Alex said quietly. “This is Avalon.”
“How can you know for sure?”
“I know.” Alex stretched his hand up into the air and closed his eyes, as if he could sample that knowledge with a touch of the breeze.
“I mean, more along the lines of whether you recognize certain landmarks or if you’ve been here in this specific place before or—”
“I know my own kingdom, Ken.” Alex sounded irritated.
“His Highness is right. This is Avalon.” West pointed at something in the distance. “See that? That big spirally thing? With the towers and the green flag and the windows?”
“You mean the castle?”
“That one. It’s my uncle’s. Maybe we can reach it before dark.”
“West,” Ken said, skeptical, “that castle’s too far away for you to know if it belongs to your uncle. And you have a terrible sense of direction. I remember you getting us lost inside a manor once.”
“Manors are huge places.”
“It was your own house!”
West looked hurt. “It’s a really big house. And it is my uncle’s castle. See that flag? He’s the only one with that color. I’ve been there before. He lives with my great-aunt Elspen. She’s one of the Hundred Seers.”
“I don’t believe in seers,” Ken scoffed.
“Tell that to my great-aunt Elspen. She told my dad he’d get a golden tongue one day, and he did.”
“So he’s a good orator?” Alex asked.
“I wouldn’t know,” West said. “A piece of gold falls out every time he opens his mouth, so he doesn’t talk much.”
“I can believe he’s got an uncle in that castle,” Loki said. “West literally has hundreds of uncles. If he isn’t somehow related to every clan with a longstanding lineage in Avalon, he comes pretty close.”
“That’s one huge family tree,” Alex murmured. “I’m not even sure my family can beat that.”
“Mum says it’s more like a forest,” West said proudly.
“The sooner we find food and shelter, the better,” Zoe decided. “The others will be sending out search parties, but they won’t know where to begin looking. Maybe there’s a way to bring down the barrier from inside Avalon so they can find us.”
“Avalon’s a big place,” Cole said quietly.
“I’m sure we’ll find a way. For now, let’s make for the castle. Wandering around these forests after dark is a definite con on my list.”
“We’re gonna need to hide it once we reach the castle.” Ken pointed at the firebird. “It’s going to raise a lot of questions I don’t care to answer.”
“Then it’s settled!” West turned and marched off, in the wrong direction. Ken sighed.
“Loki, you better take the lead.”
Tala was glad she had worn comfortable sneakers. It was a long walk, and in the withered forest there were no defined roads. Every step filled the air with the crunching of snow underfoot. Icicles hung down every tree, and the ground was unexpectedly wet in some places, forcing them to slip and slide along. There were no other animals that she could see, like the frost that had overtaken Avalon had robbed the kingdom of all life. It had been night back in Invierno, which meant it was probably sometime in the afternoon here, but very little of the sun filtered through the overhead branches. Dark