Chapter 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Today? But we still had thirteen days before the deadline. I was all for completing an assignment early, but were we moving too fast? I'd just de-curse-ified myself only a few hours ago. "But I'm t—"

His eyebrow cocked as I choked off my customary excuse. "Are you tired, Meadow? Truly?"

"N-no," I realized. Even after the day's events, I felt incredible. Fusing with my magic had unlocked a kind of stamina I'd never before known.

"That's what I thought," he chuckled. "Then we're going."

"Now?" I panicked. I wasn't packed, I hadn't said farewell to my friends—hadn't even invited them to join me in Elfame—hadn't figured out how I was going to sneak Sawyer in through the portal or if I was just going to leave him secreted away with Daphne and the others, I didn't have a weapon—did I even need one with such magic at my disposal? It would've been nice to have my iron knife, just in case, but it was still lost.

"Of course not now ," Ossian laughed. "Midnight. That is the witching hour, you know, when your magic is at its peak."

"So you found a summoning spot?" I asked excitedly.

"Everything is in order, Meadow. We were just waiting on you."

"I don't need to, um, practice first?"

He shook his head. "There's no need. It's a relatively simply process that just requires a lot of power. I'll guide you through it. And, if it's not a success, then… We'll try again. We're ahead of schedule, after all." The fae king swept the backs of his knuckles down my cheek. "Thanks to you, you amazing witch."

Ossian squeezed my shoulders, giving me a little push in the direction of the east wing. "Prepare yourself now, love. Take a bath then wear the dress I left for you. And the white fox-fur coat. We leave in an hour."

"But—"

The fae king held up a hand. "Mrs. Bilberry is in the process of packing us a supper, love, don't worry."

He knew me so well. Still: "But my friends."

"They've been informed and will make up their own minds whether or not to join us in Elfame after. We do not have time for lengthy goodbyes, Meadow. Off you go, love."

I obeyed, and at a quick march too, but only because if I hurried, I'd be able to keep the bath short and see my friends one last time. Ossian might be content with an Irish farewell, but I was not.

As it happened, neither were my friends. Or rather, just Shari.

The porcupine was waiting for me under the archway to the east wing, wringing her nimble black paws. "You can't go," she blurted.

"Shari, this was always the plan," I said patiently.

"No. No, it wasn't. You weren't supposed to stay ." With a trembling inhale, she twisted around and yanked off a ball of yarn and her current crochet project from where it was stuck on her quills and started crafting immediately. She coupled her work with several deep breaths, the frantic pace of her fingers slowing slightly.

"Kind of hard not to when we're bonded by fate." And besides my friends, there was nothing keeping me in Redbud, nor in this mortal realm, for that matter. The Hawthornes certainly wouldn't care if I left—they'd already disowned me.

The porcupine snorted. "If Daph were here, she'd say you were your own woman and can do whatever you want."

"Where is Daphne? And Flora?"

"They're happy for you. The honey badger, Meadow, is happy with something Cernunnos did. They're not coming to interfere."

"And you are… why?"

"Because I know what I saw!" The poor porcupine started hyperventilating, though her fingers worked just as furiously feeding yarn into the crochet hook. "On the bridge."

In the light of my premature exodus from this realm and Ossian's shared memories, I'd decided to let bygones be bygones about my closest friends deceiving me, and here Shari was dredging it up. "Shari," I sighed.

"I'm not crazy," the porcupine whimpered. The words were like a mantra she didn't quite believe but desperately wanted to. "Not like how everyone thinks I am. I have two memories, two truths, but Daph and Flora, they only have the one. I… I think… Does it have anything to do with why my thread was red?"

"You saw that?" I gasped.

Shari nodded, abandoning her project and reaching up to grip my hand in her paws. Thistle thorns, she was so much stronger than she looked. "I saw everything. And Cernunnos saw it too. He saw you undergo that, that metamorphosis , and… and—"

"And what?"

"I-I don't know, Meadow." She pawed at her head, scraping with her nails like she was trying to claw a memory loose. "I don't know. "

"He's a master of illusion," I explained, though that excuse did nothing to keep my stomach from souring at the sight of Shari experiencing the same turmoil I had mere hours ago. Cupping her paws, I pulled them gently away from her head and molded them around her crafting project. The porcupine immediately resumed her crocheting. "What he did on the bridge messed with both of us. I had him swear a fae bargain never to do it again."

"You did?" She brightened, but only a little. "And you're still going to Elfame with him?"

I shrugged helplessly. "Forgive and forget?"

"Never forget," the porcupine muttered. She stabbed her yarn and crochet project back on her quills and wandered off, still muttering, " Always remember."

Well, some goodbye that was.

Disgruntled, I let the porcupine go, wishing our last words hadn't been so strained and not knowing how to make it better. I had to go to Elfame. It was a visceral need I didn't fully understand, but a Hawthorne always listened to her instincts.