CHAPTER 167

CHAPTER 167
The petal remained untouched until the afternoon.

Emerald sat motionless for hours. The fire had burned out hours ago, and yet she made no demand on the butler to relight it. They did not speak to one another. The tension was too great between them, the unspoken words and the realization that something had stood in the doorway pretending to be Joel.

And yet he wasn't back.

More than anything else, it consumed her.

She slowly stood and approached the door. The red petal was a throb on the wood, a splash of color in a landscape of ice. She extended a hand to touch it. and the wounds on her palms flared briefly.

The butler rose from behind her chair. "Don't."

"I have to," she whispered.

She touched the petal.

Did not disappear. Did not disintegrate. Did not vibrate with electricity.

Merely. lying in her hand, warm on her skin.

That's a universal phrase.

She swallowed. "This one isn't a warning."

"No," the butler responded, his tone low and husky. "A message."

Emerald stared at him. "From Joel?"

His silence was explanatory.

She entered the room and placed the petal into a little glass jar and tightened the lid. She sat down and uttered the words neither of them wanted to hear.

He isn't coming back, is he?

The butler remained silent for a considerable period. His answer, when it arrived, was subdued. "Not as himself. Not yet."

She wrapped her hand around the jar. "He knew what would occur. That's why he left me behind."

"For your protection."

"No." She grew bitter. "So I would not follow. So I would not intrude."

She got up again and began pacing.

The thing that arrived at the door. it carried his voice. It wasn't just mimicking. It knew things. His rhythm. His cadences. She spoke to the butler. "That implies it’s gotten close to him. Closer than we anticipated."

He nodded grimly.

Emerald finished pacing.

He testified that it was bleeding.

The butler leaned forward. "What?"

The object. It knocked. It uttered, 'I'm bleeding.' It would never ever do something like that.

His brow furrowed. “Because it  was.  Or. because  Joel  was.”

She closed her eyes.

Joel bleeding.

Joel dying possibly.

Instead of fear, however, what overwhelmed her was something even colder: determination.

She glanced at the butler. "What would Joel do if he learned I was in danger?"

Brought to earth to find you.

She nodded. "Then certainly it's time I return the favour."

His teeth were clenched. "You're not ready."

"I may never be," she snapped. "But I am something. This line. These markings. The tree. Whatever it is. I am not helpless any longer. And I tire of being left in the dark."

He was firm.

"I'm leaving," she said. "With you, or without you."

He gazed at her, face blank. Finally, he sighed. "Then I'm coming along with you." The Best Seller

This trek in the woods was longer this time.

All was different.

Trails curled back into themselves. Trees leaned at angles they never had. The wind whispered names unheard in years. And the further they went, the stronger the burning on her palms. as compass needles spun to point to something below.

They trekked for hours and arrived at the ravine.

The snow had receded from there. The ground was black and pulsed with life. The stone bridge was gone. had collapsed. Only a lone slender beam was left, spanning the ledges, glazed with ice.

"Do we cross here?" the butler inquired, wincing.

No choice, she answered.

She climbed onto the beam.

Below her, the wind howled, a plummet into emptiness. She stretched her arms to balance. The ground tilted. A misstep and she'd be falling.

However, she didn't.

She reached the opposite side and turned.

The butler entered later. More slowly. His coat flowing behind him.

He was pale and sweating by the time he made it over. "I miss the cabin."

Emerald smiled wryly. "You didn't mention it last winter."

Last winter wouldn't even attempt to eat our faces.

They went ahead.

When they crested the next ridge over, the sky darkened. No clouds. but shadow.

A dark cloud swept over the trees, swallowing sound. The forward forest was completely silent.

No birds. No wind. No breath.

That cold, dead silence which could only signify something had taken over the land.

Emerald wrapped her coat around her. "This all starts here."

The butler nodded. "The Northern land."

She stepped forward. and the flashes on her hands appeared again.

Not suffering.

Direction.

She faced slightly east.

"What's wrong with you?" he queried.

She gestured. "Something's summoning on the left side."

He eyed her distrustfully. "To the accursed valley?"

She didn't respond. Kept walking.

They arrived at the edge of a cliff. Below lay a clearing of dead trees and ancient rocks, half-hidden by a blanket of fog. No path. No trail. Only seemingly endless crumbling ruins.

Emerald gazed downward.

He's present.

The butler caught her arm. "You don't know that."

I do. She freed herself. "That's where the bloodline ends."

He hesitated.

And then they started coming down.

The valley floor was colder than the top of the mountain.

The fog was a solid wall. Trees were petrified, bark stripped off, color bleached away. All of it seemed.  older  than time. As though it existed prior to naming.

They withdrew quietly, warily.

Then Emerald stopped.

A campfire lay in the crook of two twisted trunks a short distance ahead.

Still smoking.

No one around.

She drew near, sitting beside the embers.

Still warm.

There has been someone around here.

There was a piece of fabric stuck beneath the rock. She pulled it out.

Joel's perfume. Powerful

She addressed the butler. "He was here."

Recently.

They rose and the ground shook.

A faint one. Hardly a shake.

However, it was adequate.

Emerald spun around. and saw a figure standing in the fog.

Not Joel.

Too tall. Too skinny. Too long arms. Too crooked neck. Too wide opening of the mouth.

. and remained silent.

Yet her palms cried out.

She went back.

Together, the butler shoved, knife in hand.

The figure remained stationary. Only watched. Observed.

Then it raised a hand.

And he fell.

A locket.

Emerald identified it immediately.

Joel

Her legs buckled.

"Where is he?" she whispered.

The object smiled. Neither cruelly. Neither kindly.

Simply. Purpose.

Then it vanished.

Ever quietly into the fog.

Emerald reached out swiftly, grabbing the locket.

That was her face.

Not as she appeared now.

As she was. Prior to the markings. Prior to the bloodline stirring.

The butler knelt at her side. "This isn't a message."

“No,” she whispered. “It’s a  reminder. ”

"Of what?"

That he still believes in what I once was even if he lost himself.

She stood.

And for the first time in days, her eyes flamed with a fire. not of magic, but of determination.

"We forge ahead."

Darkness fell shortly.

Too soon.

Though they never abated.

Emerald's palms hurt now in time with the thudding of her heart. Each step made them beat, the light increasing, the summons louder. It wasn't hurting now, it was an enticement.

Then they arrived at a clearing in the valley.

There, in the center, lay a circle of stones.

Ancient W.

And in it, Joel.

On their knees. Bowed head. Hands bound by silver chains.

He opened his eyes upon hearing her.

And they still belonged to him.

"Emerald," he cro

She began to walk ahead. but the butler caught her arm.

See.

She spun.

Scores of black petals, partially buried in the ground, surrounded the ring.

Like a graveyard blooming.

He struggled against the restraints. "Don't go in. It's a trap."

"Why are you here, then?" she screamed.

To stop it. To keep it at bay. It needed a host. I supplied my own.

She stared at him aghast. "You let it in?"

No, he replied. I caught it. But the sealing has already opened. I am not sufficient now.

The petals started to rotate.

Howled the wind.

And from the shadows.

Lena stepped forward.

Not a dream.

Not a ghost.

Whole

And smiled.

"Hi, sister," she said.

Emerald straightened. "That is not possible

"Oh, but it is." Lena's tone was soft, melodic. "Because death didn't want me either."

She stepped over to the edge of the circle of stones. "You were supposed to replace me. You resisted, however. So we will attempt again."

Emerald stepped forward.

Then Joel yelled out, "Don't!"

Too late.

Her hand tattoos began to glow. And the petals danced. Necklacing all of