Chapter 17

The pillow was damp beneath my head. I'd held my tears, my pain, my panic in for too long and now I could hardly stop. But I had to stop. Tears never got anyone anywhere. If I was stuck in this world, then I would figure out a way to make it bearable, and when I got back to Rhode in fifty years, well, then I'd have to explain it all to her. She'd have to live for the next fifty years and we'd both be old biddies together. I sniffled and swiped my hand under my nose and eyes. I sat up and began to pace back and forth. Monty sat at the foot of my bed. His head popped up as I rose to my feet and began to pace back and forth.

I needed a plan to get out of here. But at every turn, the castle was a fortress with soldiers patrolling the corridors. Escaping unnoticed would be nearly impossible now, and after my little show, I had no doubts Avalon was right outside my door waiting and watching my every move. Monty jumped up on the bed and darted toward the window. It was still dark and the sun would start to rise any moment. It was the time between sleep and awake when the world was just on the brink of life.

Monty darted back from the window and ran up my leg and straight onto my shoulder, but instead of curling up like a scarf, he pressed his paws into my shoulder and held his head high and aimed at the window. His head bobbed up and down like he was studying the window. I glanced toward the thin layer of crystal and tried to look out. But it wasn't like looking through glass. Everything I saw was wavy and distorted.

"What do you see, boy?"

I was about to take a step closer to the window when there was a high-pitched whistling sound and then the window exploded inward. Pieces of crystal fired everywhere. I threw my arm up to cover my face. When I glanced up, Malotte was crouching on the windowsill. She wore a long white cloak, a white shirt, and thick white pants. Fur stuck out from the top of her cloak and the bottom of her pants. Two white horns poked out through her wild curls.

"Malotte, what—"

"—You know how to get to my father?" She flicked her wrist and wind whipped through the room, sending my furniture flying through the air to land in front of the door.

"What? Yes, I think so." Confusion riddled my mind. "Why are you here?"

She jumped in and landed on the floor next to me. "If I give you a message and get you out of here, will you give it to him?"

"Of course I would, but he'd want to see you." Banging came from behind the door and then shouts from the guards to let them in.

"I can't go there. I can only survive here in the castle high above everything else. If I do this, will you bring him a meassage from me?" Her eyes were wild with panic, and she glanced toward the door.

"Yes, I will."

She grabbed my jacket off the bed and threw it at me. "Then we have to go."

"Out the window?" Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I shoved my arms into it.

"It's the only way." She grabbed my hand and dragged me toward it.

"Hold on, Monty."

Malotte rolled her eyes. "Should've known you'd have a ferinx. Just tell it not to kill me while we fly."

"Holy shit! You can fly?"

She hopped up on the windowsill and stepped out. Foggy white smoke poured from her body and she hovered there for a moment, just floating with that cloudy mist below her feet. She held her hand out toward me. "Come on!"

BOOM!There was a bang on the door like they were trying to break it down. I jumped up onto the windowsill. "Now what?"

"Now we're about to get really close really fast." She took my hand and yanked me toward her. I jumped out and she wrapped her arm around my hip and held me at her side while I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. Her power swirled around our legs like a foggy tornado, and I felt us flying up into the night sky.

Behind us shouts were still coming from the castle as she brought us higher. The air was cold around us, and I felt Monty's body start to warm like a heating pad as he curled around my neck. He tucked his head into my neck and just kept heating me up. The air flew against my skin and tiny, icy snowflakes formed over Malotte's cheeks, yet the cold didn't seem to bother her much.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to try to fly you as far as I can into the Slate Lands so you can get to my dad. He'll be able to help you from there. I'm hoping he can get you to the Swamp Lands. It's the only place where Avalon and Dacio can't go." She glanced down at the destitute ground. "I can't land there, but I'm hoping to get close enough to drop you."

"Drop me?" This was going to hurt, but I'd have done anything to get out of that castle.

"Yep. I can't touch down or I'll start to sicken. Even now I can feel my power fighting to continue." She pressed her lips into a hard line, looking determined to keep us afloat.

This high up I could see the different clans and how the land actually looked. Each clan was on a peninsula that stuck out from the island like fingers reaching into the water. To the north and at the top was the Swamp Clan, then below that was the Slate Clan. Below Slate was the Tempest Clan, and farthest to the south and at the bottom of the island was the Cinder Clan. Rivers ran between the lands and led from the mountains out toward the sea. It was actually more beautiful than I thought possible.

"Oh shit." Malotte's words drew me from looking at the clans.

"What?"

"Avalon." She hissed and glanced over her shoulder. "He's behind us."

My heart started racing as I looked back and saw his bright-green smoke gaining speed and getting closer. "He's gaining!"

"Change of plan." Malotte turned to the side and flew even higher but now toward the Tempest Clan.

"What are we doing?" The closer we got to the Tempest Clan, the faster she got. My hair flew back from my face and Monty's tail grew longer and snaked around the front of my neck. He wrapped his paws around his tail, turning himself into a wraparound scarf.

"I'm going to take you to the Tempest Clan and try to see if we can make a run for it. At least I'm stronger there. Here I'm struggling."

"Okay." What else could be done? Avalon was hot on our heels, and if he caught me, he would drag me back no matter how much I fought.

We soared high above a river, and I could see where the water turned from rough purple-colored rapids to calm blue waters. The jagged peaks and snow-covered caps of mountains rose up in front of us. Clouds hung lower in the sky here, and the moment Malotte came close to them, she gained speed. It was like a power boost to her system. When I glanced back, Avalon was a small, glowing speck. She twisted to the side and we flew in close to one mountain. I could see roads that'd been carved into the sides of the mountains that wound up toward the tops.

She turned to the side once more and we drifted around another mountain. It was so different than the Slate Lands. Their buildings were cylindrical towers that were tucked closer to the sides of the mountains. There were winding paths between each one. The roofs of each of the buildings came to sharp points that let the snow slide right off them.

Malotte glanced over her shoulder. "I think we lost him for now."

She dropped down lower and hovered just a few feet off the ground. "We'll see if you can survive here. If not, I'll try to fly you out somehow."

"Okay." I let go of my grip on her shoulder and slid down from her. She dropped me to the ground and hovered over me, waiting for something.

I took one step, then I took another. I spun around in a circle, waiting for something to happen, some kind of pain or trouble breathing or something that'd make me feel like I was dying. But there was no pain, only freezing temperatures. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself pulling my jacket in tight to my body. Malotte dove down and was about to grab me up, but I held my hand up. "I'm just cold."

She dropped to the ground next to me. "That's it? Just cold?"

"Well, yeah, it's freezing here." I blew out a breath and it looked like a foggy puff. Monty's tail grew thicker and spread down my front all the way to my waist. Warmth spread all down my chest and stomach.

Malotte pulled the long white cloak from her shoulders and handed it to me. "Here. Take this so we can keep moving."

"What about you?" I pulled her cloak around my shoulders, and instantly my back was warm down to my legs.

"I'm used to it." She turned down one of the winding roads and started walking. "It's always cold in the world of Tempest."

We hurried down the path, and as we walked, I noticed the people huddled in on themselves. Their lips were chapped with cold, and they held a pale blue tint to their skin. Snow fell in light flurries all around us, and from here the clouds seemed thicker in the sky. The sun had begun to rise, and we needed to move before Avalon spotted us. I pulled the hood up over my head to hide my wild emerald hair.

"You can't have fire here either?"

Malotte shook her head as we walked. "We've tried to figure out a way to keep it burning over here, but we never can. It's always cold and so dark."

"Are you the leader here too? Like your dad is for the earth demons?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I didn't even know he was the leader, if I'm being honest. Dacio keeps what little ways we have of communicating or sharing to a minimum. And what he doesn't control, the way our powers are bound by the land does."

"It sounds so confining." I pulled the front of the cloak closed and Monty gave a little cooing sound.

"It is. I think we might be the worst off of any of the other clans. It's difficult to get food this high in the mountains. Some of us can travel down to the valleys and find small animals to hunt or some vegetables to gather. But it's few and far between. We've tried to grow things, but without water and warm sunlight, it's difficult. At night it's the worst, with only the wind to listen to." Just then a bunch of wind chimes sounded and clinked together. Instead of sounding beautiful and fun, they sounded ghostly and spooky. She gave a humorless chuckle. "Well, except for those."

"In the underground, they have glowing butterfly things."

"I noticed those in Dacio's castle. But they can't survive here." She motioned to the snow. "Too cold."

The houses were tucked into the sides of the mountains, but I also noticed how snow was packed in tight around them, like it was the best kind of insulation they could possibly get. Demons huddled together as they passed us and mothers held their children within their clothing to use body heat. Demons couldn't live like this. It was a miserable existence. Even the ones who could fly over here only did so for short periods.

"Is there any way to make it better? Does your leader even try or are they committed to Dacio?"

She stopped and pointed up high into the mountains toward a small round castle tucked on the side of a mountain and facing the Cinder Lands. It wasn't extravagant or fancy in any way. In fact, I wouldn"t have noticed it there if Malotte hadn't pointed it out. It consisted of four tall cylinders all built next to each other to form one building. Their heights varied, giving the structure some dimension. Each of the roofs came to a point that looked like fat raindrops that'd fallen on the roof and frozen there. Ice dripped down the sides of the cylinders, giving a beautiful shine that the sun glistened off of. There was a single balcony on the side, and a tall man stood on the balcony looking out over the river.

"That's Herlandis. He's our leader and a fairly good guy. He'd wanted Dacio to pick one of us from Tempest Clan in the hopes it might strengthen something and help the people. Penned was his best bet, but she died. I was a lost cause from the beginning because I hate the self-appointed Duke King as much as my father does."

Herlandis was tall and broad with short blond hair and light-blue eyes. His face was as pale as the snow that fell around him. Even from here I could see a sadness about him that made my heart ache. It was a sadness I saw in myself most times. "It must be difficult."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Dacio doesn't make it any easier."

There were empty baskets and stands every few feet, like no one had anything to trade. There was no food or water or goods to be had here—the things demons needed to survive—and Dacio didn't give a shit about that. He wanted to make himself great no matter the cost to his people.

"He really doesn't."

She glanced up toward the sky. "I haven't seen Avalon, but we have to move faster. There's no telling where he is."

I nodded. The last thing I wanted to do was run into him now. She wrapped her arm around my hips and held me close to her side and started to fly down the paths. We twisted and turned, and I was beginning to feel like I was on a rollercoaster the faster she moved. We dipped, turned, and twisted our way through the mountains. People and buildings flew by us so fast that everything looked like a blur and my stomach felt like a twisted mess. Just as I was about to ask her to stop, a ball of fire flew by us and smacked into the side of the mountain.

Malotte darted to the side to avoid the ball and twisted. There, high above us, was Avalon. His face was a mask of anger as he looked down at the two of us. Avalon held another ball of fire in his hand, ready to toss it our way. Malotte held her hand up and blew across it like Kelda had done to Tendreece yesterday. Avalon's eyes widened and she hit him right in the chest with a shot of cold air. He flew off higher in the sky, giving us some space. She propelled us faster and I could see us getting close to where the Tempest mountains ended.

"When I drop you, run. Run as fast as you can to the castle. You'll find safety there, and Lundra will help you."

I yelled over the sound of the whipping wind. "How do you know?"

"Because she hates Dacio and Avalon like no one else, which means she'll like you." She smirked and pointed to where the land grew flat and darker. A few hundred yards beyond I could see the bright orange glow of lava. "She'll know a way to get you to the Swamp Lands and you'll be untouchable."

She dropped to the ground and sucked in a deep breath like the flight was exhausting. I knew we were too far out of her lands. "I can't thank you enough, Malotte, for your help."

"I have no idea who or what you are, but your power is something else, Lily. I know it. You can help us. I can't tell you how or why, but deep down I feel it."

I gave her a quick hug and pulled her cloak off and threw it over her shoulders. I didn't know what to make of her words or if I even could help these demons, but if I could . . . I would. "My real name is Morgana."

She smirked. "You looked too sweet to be a Lily. Now run, Morgana, and don't look back."

I dropped our hug. "It's good to hear my real name."

"Go!"

I turned and pumped my arms, running as hard as I could across the land. I didn't know why but I felt powerful and energized with every step I took. My hair streamed out behind me, and I was sprinting toward a towering castle with rivers of lava running down its sides. When I glanced back, I didn't see Malotte, but there was a ball of bright green smoke hovering over the mountains and still looking for me. He hadn't spotted me yet, but I knew Avalon would be close by . . . he was always close by. I pumped my arms and sprinted harder, praying I would get to that castle before he got to me.

"LILY!"

. . . not fast enough.