Into the Wildewood (20 page)

Keelie slipped outside, latching the door carefully behind her. The air was crisp and cool and, above, the almost-fullmoon’s light blocked the stars and illuminated the ground before her like a giant lantern. Farther away, stars shone like little diamond points in the sky. Keelie thought of the starbursts on the unicorn painting at the crystal shop. She touched the rose quartz, easing the flutters in her stomach, missing the tektite she’d left behind. She stopped to get her bearings. The path the tree had shown her started behind the RV. The campground was quiet, and few lights glowed in the tents.

Tree Shepherdess, follow the cat.

Knot ran before her, then stopped and looked back as if she were being too pokey. The walk to Rivendell was easy, and they didn’t encounter anyone but a few
bhata
who followed along in the bushes by the path. Keelie ignored them, knowing from experience that if she looked at them they might attack, pinching and tugging her hair. It was nothing deadly, but neither were wasps, for most folks.

Party central at Rivendell was a canvas tent, which sat at one end of the fenced pasture where the jousting horses were corralled at night. Large bodies shifted, and ears on massive heads twitched as she and Knot went by. It looked just as Keelie had imagined it.

Outside the tent, someone strummed a guitar, and the notes seem to linger in the air as if Keelie could reach out and touch them with her fingers. Magic was all about her. Her body tingled with it. She skirted around the edge of the tent, staying out of sight, and entered the forest. Knot hurried, and she sped up to reach him. Twenty feet into the woods she could no longer see the lights of Rivendell when she turned.

Then, a dim glow ahead resolved itself into the unicorn. He was standing in a ring of pines, and seemed brighter as her eyes grew accustomed to the dark. The scent of forest loam tickled Keelie’s nose, and the thick bed of old needles was like a cushion under her feet. It broke her heart to see the unicorn. His coat seemed even more tattered and lackluster; he looked like a sick, ill-used horse, with a fake horn stuck to his head. She had to help him.

“I’m here,” she said aloud. “What can I do to help you?”

He nodded his head and pawed the ground, but said nothing.

She opened her mind and the trees crowded in hungrily. She quickly pulled away.

She had no idea how to talk to a unicorn. She may as well chat with Knot. She pulled the rose quartz from her pocket and held it up. Closing her eyes, Keelie opened herself to the trees.
Help me to speak with him.

A chorus of green filled her mind.
We are here for you, Tree Shepherdess.

Why can’t I speak with the unicorn? What does he want of me?

Tavak’s voice crowded out the others.
He does not speak directly for fear the others will hear him and know he is here.

What others?

Those who seek to capture him for his power.

Someone was out to catch the unicorn, but there weren’t many who could even see him. She had an image of a group of evil virgins chasing him. Maybe she could just cure him and go back to bed before Dad found out she was gone.

The rose quartz glowed as she held it out. Earth magic and tree magic might be the combination to cure Einhorn. These were the only kinds of magic that she knew. She grasped the amulet on its silver chain. From the charred aspen wood, warmth flowed through Keelie’s hand. Magic, green magic, streamed through her body, tingling sharply.

Tavak warned,
Someone comes.

The tingling increased, becoming a stabbing, shocklike pain. Keelie released the amulet; the warmth faded away, and with it the magic did too.

The unicorn pawed the ground. He tilted his head, staggered a bit, and then gathered himself and ran past her, heading deeper into the forest. The horses at Rivendell whinnied to him as he galloped away.

The light of the rose quartz grew fainter until it was completely extinguished, like a dying candle flame.

A stick snapped nearby. She jumped and whirled, expecting to see Elianard. But it was Laurie, standing in her red plaid pajama bottoms and her Baywood Academy T-shirt.

“What are you doing here?” Keelie asked.

“I knew it. You’re a Wiccan, and you’re doing some ritual. You going to show me?”

“I’m taking a walk.”

“At three in the morning? You’re doing something, I know it. Margaret Seastrunk is a Wiccan, and she says she performs rituals under a full moon, but I don’t think it’s real, because she learned it from a book. Plus, she sings in the choir at Greater L.A. Unitarian.”

Keelie interrupted her babbling. “What did you see?”

Laurie frowned. “Chill, Keelie. I heard you leave, and followed your pink flashlight. You don’t have to get all huffy.”

Pink flashlight. The rose quartz must have been giving off light the whole way. She’d been visible to anyone who cared to look. “You didn’t see anything else?” The unicorn must have sped right past her, within touching distance.

“Just that crazy white horse. Did you let it out of the pasture?”

Keelie stared at her friend. Just a horse? Who was keeping secrets now? Her mind swirled with a thousand questions she wanted to ask. Laurie would’ve told her if she’d had sex. Something like that was monumental, the kind of event that best friends shared. They’d told each other everything growing up. Suddenly, she was sad.

“Hello?” Laurie waved her hands in front of Keelie’s face. “So are you going to tell me what you were doing out here?” The jousters’ horses whinnied in the background.

“My cat. I was following Knot.” It sounded lame.

“Uh-huh, right! What’s the big secret? I’ll bet it’s a guy.”

“I was following Knot. That’s all. ” Keelie was beginning to sound like Dad when he denied he could speak to the cat. She lifted her gaze up to the treetops, and she saw the silhouettes of several
bhata
moving in, around, and among the tree limbs. To the unknowing eye, it appeared as if a breeze were blowing.

The horses turned and ran to the center of the pasture, spooked. A dark figure came out of the Rivendell tent, and as it moved away from the tent’s shadow, she saw that it was one of the jousters. He circled the perimeter of the fence, sword in hand, and watched the horses run.

Laurie inched closer to Keelie and grabbed her hand. “Is that him? Your secret boyfriend?”

Keelie rolled her eyes. “He’s just a jouster. Probably in charge of the horses. I don’t have a secret boyfriend.”

Laurie moved forward, releasing her hand. “A real jouster? Like he does it for a living?”

“Yes. They travel from Faire to Faire. Kind of like a medieval PGA Tour.”

Blessed by the moon’s silver glow, the meadow with its ivory-colored tent looked like a medieval tapestry. It was oddly quiet, though, even for this time of the night. Back in Colorado, the Shire’s night owls had kept the music and conversations going until dawn, especially on weeknights, when no one had to perform the next day. Were that many people sick? Of course, she didn’t know how many actually stayed on site, and how many were at the lodge in town.

The figure returned to the tent, as the tent door opened, the light from inside briefly illuminated the man.

The lone guitar’s music began anew and added to the mystical ambience, but it brought Keelie back to the reality of her situation. She and Laurie needed to sneak past before the man with the sword noticed them and got word back to Dad. They’d said they were going to work together to help the unicorn, and if he found out that she’d come out here alone, especially after the last tree incident, he’d be furious. She didn’t want to worry him, even if he was feeling better.

Laurie climbed up onto the pasture’s wooden fence. “Listen, Keelie. Hear that music? Someone’s playing the guitar out here in the middle of nowhere. This feels like a dream.” In the moonlight, Laurie’s face changed from dreamy musing to comprehension, as if she’d just figured out a piece of a missing puzzle. “You are so lying, Keelie Heartwood. Your secret boyfriend is down there in that tent.”

“I am not! I was trying to find the stray white cat that’s been hanging around and I thought Knot would lead me to him, since they’re buddies now. I’ve been worried about it.”

“Prove it.” Laurie crossed her arms over her chest.

“Prove what?” Keelie answered. “I don’t have to prove anything.”

“That you don’t have a secret boyfriend at this Faire. I mean, Sean’s in Florida, and he wouldn’t know if you were seeing someone on the sly.”

“Sean and I weren’t really dating.” Keelie’s face burned, because she had been having some naughty thoughts about the Robin Hood actor. Not that it was a crime to think about someone else, but it seemed to be sort of cheating to think about someone—you know—naked, when you’d been out with a guy you really liked and were desperate to hear from again.

“Okay. Don’t be so touchy. I mean, you never know when someone will cheat.”

Keelie definitely picked up an undercurrent of bitterness. Sounded like Laurie might be talking about Trent. They’d been tight when Keelie had to leave after Mom’s death. Funny how Laurie hadn’t mentioned his name since her arrival. Of course, Keelie hadn’t asked, but maybe he’d been the one. Laurie hadn’t seen the unicorn.

Her friend was looking longingly at the golden lights of the tent. “Let’s just go down there and check it out. Who knows, there may be a party.”

“I don’t hear one. Besides, I can’t. Dad will kill me.”

“He doesn’t have to know. We’ll stay an hour, and then rush back to the camper. Who’s going to tell him?”

“Knot.”

“Yeah right, the cat.” Laurie trucked off toward the tent. “I’m going.”

“Laurie,” Keelie whispered as loudly as she could from the safety of the trees’ shadows. “Get back here.”

No answer. Once Laurie got started partying there would be no stopping her.

Knot glared accusingly at Keelie, as if she could control her friend or had put the idea of going down to the tent into Laurie’s head. She glowered back down at him. “This is your fault. I need your help to get her back to the RV.”

He blinked at her, then sauntered off after Laurie, his fuzzy orange tail held high. Laurie pushed aside the heavy canvas door of the tent with her hand, and a soft golden glow from inside illuminated her. She held the tent flap back as Knot entered, like a VIP guest at a Hollywood party, then followed him. The flap dropped behind them and the light was gone, leaving Keelie in darkness.

She pulled herself over the fence after them and crossed the meadow, glancing back toward the dark woods. Einhorn was gone, and she was going to be in so much trouble. She already imagined the conversation she would have with Dad: “I had to follow her. Laurie’s not used to Ren Faire party types.” As if Keelie was. The unicorn would be no excuse, either. Dad would be furious and frightened that she’d tried to help Einhorn by herself. But the trees had called to her, not to Dad.

She entered the tent. Inside, lanterns hung from hooks atop long, twisted iron poles that were stuck in the ground. The floor was a jumble of bamboo mats, revealing meadow grass at the tent walls. An area had been partitioned to one side with wooden screens, and at the far end of the tent, long panels of colorful gauze hung down, forming another room. The warm light of the lanterns cast a flickering spotlight on the Faire actor who played Robin Hood. He strummed a melody Keelie recognized: “Scarborough Fair.”

Tonight, Robin Hood wore jeans and a light blue polo shirt with a black, long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. Whether in tights or mundane clothes, the guy was hot. He sang, looking into Laurie’s eyes as she stood watching him adoringly, like an idiot fan. Any minute now she’d start drooling.

Suddenly self-conscious, Keelie wondered what this guy, who had hundreds of girls swooning at his feet every weekend, thought of two teenage girls wandering around in the middle of the night in pajama pants and T-shirts.

The song ended. Robin Hood smiled up at Laurie. “You’re new.”
³¹

Laurie’s lips curved up. “Please keep playing. I’m Laurie. What’s your name?”

Robin Hood grinned as if he’d been offered a box of candy. “Hey there, Laurie. I’m Jared. What are you and your friend doing out in the middle of the night?”

“Stargazing.” She batted her eyes.

The flirt! Keelie quickly sidled up to her.

Robin Hood arched an eyebrow. “I know you. Weren’t you Plumpkin?”

“What’s a Plumpkin?” Laurie frowned, unhappy that his attention had strayed.

“I’ll explain it later.” Keelie blushed all the way down to her toes. “Yep, lost the head and almost lost my job. You wouldn’t happen to have seen a white cat? He belongs to my cat, Knot.”

“Your cat has a cat.” Laurie rolled her eyes.

Keelie wanted to stomp on her friend’s foot for pointing out how ridiculous it sounded. Laurie didn’t know the half of what Knot could do.

Jared laughed. “I haven’t seen a white cat, but I did see you and that white horse. He came right to you. He’s a wild one. A lot of the jousters have been trying to catch him, yet he seemed charmed by you.”

Keelie suppressed a gasp. It occurred to her that she might be giving off that cinnamon smell, too, when she worked magic or communicated with the trees. She realized Laurie and Jared were looking at her, expecting a reply, and shrugged. “I just have a way with animals.”

He smiled, and dimples popped out in his cheeks to match the small indentation in his chin. Too cute. “Your cat likes to come down here and listen to the music.” He gestured toward Knot, who was washing his tail. “He likes to hang out, although he hisses at the jousters sometimes.” Knot rubbed up against the guitar and purred.

“Really?” Life wasn’t fair, Keelie thought. First, Knot had hung out with the pirates at the High Mountain Faire, and now here he was with Robin Hood at the Wildewood. Of course, he’d traveled with Dad for decades. He’d probably seen lots of fun acts at Ren Faires throughout the years.

“Well, if you haven’t seen the white cat, Laurie and I need to get back to the campground.”