Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kellan

We landed within seconds. Josie fell on top of me as my back hit a grassy hill. The field surrounding us was full of wildflowers and tall weeds and didn't look like it was used often for travel.

I sat up on my elbows. Cupping the back of Josie's neck, I made sure she was okay. Those too-blue eyes lifted to mine and covered me in warmth.

Besides leaves in her hair from the portal, she was fine.

Ernest sat several yards away. I watched as he wrapped something around his ankle. Fern landed on top of the hill. She stood and dusted herself off.

She looked down over the hill as I stood and helped Josie to her feet. "What is it?" I asked.

Fern shrugged. "Looks like an abandoned village. I don't know where we are."

It wasn't until I made it to Ernest to see he'd made himself a makeshift brace with some of the thick leaves settled in the weeds that I realized where we were.

It hit me when I smelled the strong scent of pine. There were only a few places in this realm that had such an amount of pine.

I walked up the hill and stopped at the top. The village below us was mine. The one Deidamia destroyed. The one where my family once rested their heads at night. A sick feeling twisted into my stomach. I hadn't been back since she gave me the elixir.

I took to the streets, looking for work and finally realizing I didn't do well with people anymore.

Any sense of kindness that was left in my heart disappeared. It'd been buried with my family in this very village.

Tears blurred my eyes, and even when I tried to blink them away, they came back.

"Where are we?" Josie asked beside me, dusting off her clothes and looking down at the village. "Definitely abandoned. Maybe it's a good place to rest—"

"No," I said, louder than I intended to. I didn"t want anyone to see it or be near it.

She looked up at me with concern on her face. "Well, you could have said it nicely," she mumbled.

Her words drifted out of my hearing as I took a step toward the valley. I felt my feet sliding down the hill until I was in a full run toward the village.

My memories surfaced, blinding all rationality in my head. My heart hammered into my lungs, making it hard to breathe. The cabins were mostly demolished; only worn clothes and knickknacks were scattered around what used to be my home.

I stopped in the middle of the village, where we had our get-togethers. The old fire pit sat under a mound of leaves and debris. The vision of our village lying dead slammed into my brain.

Because I loved to torture myself, I walked over toward where our cabin used to sit. I could still envision the flowers my wife had out in pots. The toys our baby girl played with on our porch. The one I built, so they could sit outside in the summer without burning to death.

I glared at the shutters of the cabin.

Images of Deidamia flashed in my mind. The blood on her mouth. The smile of joy she got from destroying everyone.

Caw. Caw. Caw.

The crow sat several yards away, cawing at me. Tears pooled in my eyes. I grabbed a rock and slung it right at the bird, knocking it onto its side. I grabbed another and aimed.

I hit him again. And again. Until it laid there gasping for breath. I stood over it, its red-rimmed eyes glaring up at me. I wanted to suck the life from it like Deidamia had sucked the life out of my family.

Ernest grabbed my wrist as I went to hit it again.

"Kellan," he said softly, slicing through my anger. "You're hurt. Stop. I need to show you something."

The crow laid there, gasping for breath, eventually hopping onto its legs and walking around the remains of my family"s home.

My fingers curled into fists at my sides. Fern and Josie stood to the side in the middle of the valley, with concern on their faces. I couldn't meet Josie's eyes. She'd been brave throughout this entire journey.

She knew nothing about this realm and was brave facing off with Deidamia. Was it because she didn't know how dangerous she was or because she was braver than I'd ever be?

Ernest pointed toward the forest. "This forest is connected to the Dark Woods—"

Caw. Caw.

I screwed my eyes closed, wanting to go back and kill that stupid crow.

"We're close to her."

"I know," I said, my voice low. "I used to live here."

Ernest's knowing eyes softened around the corners, and he patted my shoulder.

Caw. Caw.

I turned around, seeing that stupid crow holding something in its mouth. I stalled. I was surprised a book would have made it through the weather of decades.

I walked over, noticing the bird hadn't moved and snatched it from his beak. The book was familiar. It was a storybook that my wife would read to my daughter about dragons.

The cover was fading, but the pictures and words were still there. I traced the cover, remembering the joy it brought my daughter when the prince won in the end.

I smiled, a tear cascading down my cheek, cementing me to my spot. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to remember all the good things and forget the bad.

But the bad lingered longer.

I could hardly remember the smell of my wife's skin or the color of my baby's eyes.

But I'd never forget Deidamia's face.

I skimmed the book while crying. It'd been so long since I cried that I felt out of my body.

I had never wanted to come back here. Maybe this place was in the back of my mind, and the portal took me where I couldn't bring myself to come.

Ernest cleared his throat, and I slid the book into my back pocket. "We need to get out of sight. The bird is here, but we're a standing target for anyone she sends next."

I nodded and wiped my eyes. "You're right. Let's get out of sight and get the girls fed. It's past lunch."

Ernest grabbed my elbow. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I lied. I hadn't been fine since the day this happened. I walked toward the forest, hearing Ernest call the girls.

The forest was thicker than I remembered, but the trail was manageable. I slapped at thorns and branches until we made it to a small clearing by a pond that I fished in on the weekends.

I sat down at the base of a giant pine, feeling Josie's gaze on me, but she didn't come over. When I glanced up, I noticed she'd sat next to Fern and was digging out bread for all of us.

Ernest sat next to me with a groan. "You know that book?" he asked.

I nodded. "My wife read it to our baby girl. I'm surprised it made it this long. It's been decades."

Ernest pursed his lips. "That is strange. May I see it?"

I glanced at him. He looked worn down for his age, and his white hair had fallen from its tie at his neck. "Sure."

I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him. Then Josie walked over a loaf of bread for us and broke it into two pieces. I took it from her. "Thank you."

I wanted to tell her to stay, but I couldn't get my mind to work right. She sat back with Fern, and they whispered amongst themselves.

Ernest read the story to himself, becoming more and more still the further he got in the child's storybook.

"Have you never read a storybook?" I asked over a bite of bread.

Ernest didn't answer, he continued to read and stopped on the last page. "It's been torn out," he mumbled.

I shrugged. "I'm surprised it wasn't burned when she destroyed the village."

Ernest sat the book down and picked up his bread.

"Josie, did you bring any water?"

She jumped up and brought over a small cup of water. Her gaze settled on the book at Ernest's feet. "Oh, I had this book growing up." She bent down and skimmed through it with a smile on her face. "My mother read it to me growing up. The prince wakes the princess with a kiss—" She stopped and looked at me. Something crossed her face that I couldn't pinpoint.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You woke her with a kiss." Fern ran over, nearly tripping.

"I'm no prince," I mumbled over another bite.

"Do you remember what happens in the end?" Ernest asked, sitting up.

She nodded. "The prince kills the witch."

"How?" Ernest whispered.

"In her true form. A ... dragon."

The silence that hung around me deafened my own heartbeat. What were the chances of that? Josie looked at me with big eyes. "You kill the witch in her true form."

She turned the book around and showed me the prince. He was small on the page, standing on top of a hill with a sword and nothing else.

The woods he stared out were dark. Like the woods that surrounded her castle.

His dirty blond hair looked like it blew in the wind, but he stood proud. Like he was confident that he would succeed.

"Oh, my gosh," Josie whispered.

I shifted and chuckled lightly. "That's not me."

Ernest stared at the side of my face until I felt he would burn a hole in it. "Can I speak to you alone?"

I didn't feel like talking. I felt like sitting in my self-loathing and eating my bread in peace.

Standing up, I helped him to his feet as he took us several yards away. When he turned to me, he looked pissed. "Kellan, I took you all in because I believe in you. I don't know what's happened, but you have to get out of this pessimistic box. That bird picked up a book that should have been destroyed hundreds of years ago. What the hell is the matter with you?"

My anger boiled over like a pot, and I cursed under my breath. "I'm afraid, Ernest. I can't defeat her—"

"You can," he hissed, shoving his finger into my chest. "And you will. That was a sign."

"From who? God?"

"Yes," he belted out. "Who do you think brought you here? Deidamia? So, you can find the answers to defeat her? No, our creator brought you here to defeat the one witch that thinks she's a god. You're going to defeat her, bring Josie back home and marry her. She's your soulmate. Now get your head out of your ass and come on."

Ernest wobbled back to the clearing, leaving me standing in the midst of the woods with an outstanding burden on my shoulders.

I wasn't sure a storybook was my map to killing her, but what else did we have to go on at this point?