Of Witches and Wind (27 page)

I stared at my sword. Its magic had hiccupped. Just for a second. Just while I was defending Mia. I wondered if I'd given away Chase's secret and broken the Binding Oath.

The scarred witch tree lashed another limb at Mia. This time she dodged. The limb sailed toward my nose, and I was so stunned, Chatty had to shove me out of the way. Then she gave Mia a reproachful look that clearly said,
Even a new kid like you could have blocked that, easy
.

Mia clearly didn't mind if I got hit.

Suddenly I knew. The sword's enchantment wasn't wearing off.
It only worked if I really wanted to protect the person I was defending. I just didn't like Mia enough to keep her alive. I was a sucky warrior
and
a terrible person.

“Run, you guys. Seriously.” Darcy would have been a lot more convincing if she hadn't been sweaty with pain.

“We're not leaving you here to die,” Ben said, and Chatty nodded.

“Don't be stupid,” Darcy said grumpily. “They're metal trees. It's not like they can be killed. Once you get tired, those branches will get past your guard, and you'll die. And so will everyone else back at EAS.”

She had a very good point. The battle was more evenly matched with me and Chase there, but there wasn't much human kids could do against killer trees, except run. Running was how we'd gotten away last time. “We'll make a sling,” I suggested, turning aside a whip-thin branch aimed at my face. “We'll carry Darcy out of here.”

Mia shook her head. “No matter how far we run or how fast, they catch up. They've chased us from the beach all the way up here.”

So moving metal trees were more of a challenge.

The scarred tree smashed three branches down at once, scattering our line. I jumped back and nearly lost my balance when I glimpsed the huge ravine behind Darcy's boulder. The twenty-foot-wide crack stretched down and down and down, until you could barely see the jagged rocks and tiny waterfall winding its way through the bottom.

I swallowed hard, overwhelmed by the sudden urge to vomit.
Ugh. Not another battle around heights.

“Head in the fight, Rory!” Chase shouted.

My eyes snapped open. “We need a plan, Chase!”

“What makes you think I don't have a plan?” Chase ducked out of the way of a swinging branch and pointed back to a black mass of metal tree limbs. It had four trunks. He'd managed to get all the witch trees with the same
dodge at the last second
trick. “I tangle them all together. You make sure everyone else is safe. We questers go on our merry way while the trees spend all week trying to get loose. Simple.”

“Oh.” Ben straightened up, obviously feeling better about the whole situation. “Brilliant.”

“Exactly. Simple, but brilliant,” said Chase, grinning. Then Chatty hit my shoulder and pointed again at the clump of trees Chase had defeated.

They were untangling themselves.

“I hate to break it to you guys, but there's a hole in your plan,” Darcy said.

The four trees stood apart now, but even worse, with the rustle of red leaves and the earsplitting squeak of black metal, the roots slithered out of the ground and twisted themselves into two separate, near-identical pillars—I mean legs. And the branches twisted into two arms, complete with knotted fists. Perfect for smashing Characters with.

Worst of all, even though the trees didn't have faces, even though they didn't have
heads
, they whispered one word with voices like dead leaves crackling underfoot: “Aurora.”

“The Snow Queen,” I whispered, because I could only think of one bad guy who could do this. “She found us.”

“Oh,” said Mia. “I was going to guess that the Wolfsbane clan caught up to us.”

That made more sense, actually.

One of them lunged forward and punched.

“Chase!” I shouted, but he'd already leaped back.

“Okay. Now we need a new plan,” Chase said, frustrated.

Another tree ran forward. It wasn't very fast, its root legs were too stumpy, but it raised a hammerlike fist dotted with blood-red leaves.

Mia pulled Ben away, up the path, farther from the edge. Chatty hooked her arms under Darcy's and pulled. Darcy cried out as her broken leg slid over the ground.

The tree punched toward me. I blocked with my sword. A mistake. The blade flew from my hand and skittered to the side, stopping inches from the ravine.

I knew I was faster than the tree—I could grab my sword—but Chatty and Darcy had barely budged. They'd be smashed instead. I couldn't leave them.

The tree struck again. I pulled a Chase and dodged at the last second. The metal fist swung through the empty air beside me instead. The tree tipped forward, off balance and perilously close to the edge of the ravine, and I put two hands against its trunk and shoved.

It shot through the air and smashed against the rocks so hard it flattened against them, all bent out of shape.

“Wow,” said Darcy.

I stared at my left hand, at the West Wind's ring on the middle finger. I ran a little farther away from Chatty and Darcy, scooping up my sword and sheathing it on the way. “I'm Rory Landon! Me! Rory right here!”

The trees all turned at once, like they'd been waiting to hear my name. Then they staggered toward me on their stumpy legs.

“I don't think I like your plan!” Chase said.

I stood as close to the ravine as I dared, less than three feet from the edge, and watched the trees run closer and closer. Twelve feet. Eight. The closest one tried to clobber me, but I ducked.

The trees were five feet from the edge. That had to be good enough.

Aiming carefully, I punched the way Chase had taught me. My fist connected.

Pain flared over my left knuckles.

The tree I'd punched knocked into the one behind it, straight back toward the ravine.

That was all I had meant to do, but the trees had stupidly come at me too close together. All three tumbled like bowling pins and rolled over the edge, tangled together. They smashed into the boulders below.

I made myself step closer to check, but the trees were still. The West Wind's ring had knocked all the magic out of them. I waited for someone to tell me off for setting the Wolfsbane clan on us, but the other questers were just staring at me.

“Geez, Rory,” Chase said. “Three trees with one punch. I need to stop ticking you off.”

I didn't feel ticked off. I felt like I'd almost broken my hand. I was really glad I hadn't needed to shove all three into the ravine one by one, which had been my original plan.

“Hear, hear,” Ben said.

That broke the tension.

“Did you just say ‘hear, hear'?” Chase asked. “What decade do you think we're in?”

“You can't say stuff like that without a smoking jacket, and maybe a cigar,” said Darcy, sitting on the ground, her leg broken.

“Guys, it's time you all knew—I'm a huge dork. I hope we can
still be friends.” Ben grinned, only slightly sheepish, and then he threw up beside Darcy's boulder.

“I'll think about it,” said Chase, looking a little worried about him.

“We thought you were dead, dummy.” Darcy tried to sound irritated, but her voice shook. “You guys fell, and we were so high up. It was all my fault—I shot the arrow at the troll, and made it so angry . . .”

I didn't know what to say.

“Nah, I think it's safe to blame Rory and her bridge-breaking skills,” said Chase. “Luckily, one of us happened to have a spare boon from the West Wind.”

“The West Wind got there really fast . . . ,” said Mia. “And why didn't you just have him fly you straight back up to us?”

Ugh. Mia was always really logical at all the most annoying times.

“Didn't think of it.” Chase was much better at lying than I was. “We figured you guys would head this way, and if we wandered around for long enough, we would find you.”

Ben wiped his mouth. “Well, Darcy, your Companionship has been a real pleasure, but we should probably return you now. Your leg needs looking after.” Ben moved toward the carryalls, and now that we were talking about broken bones, both Darcy and Chase went suddenly pale.

Chase hated bones—you couldn't even mention them without him breaking into a cold sweat. He changed the subject, like he was hoping no one would notice how freaked out he got. “Good news, though—we ran into a friendly Fey on vacation. She said the Unseelie royals know where the spring is. You know, for the Water of Life.”

Hope flared across Ben's face. “And we're close to them, right?”

Chase nodded. “About a day's journey.”

Ben placed a ring of return in Darcy's hand. Her lip trembled as her fingers closed around it. “Bring the Water home, you guys. I would have poured it straight into Bryan's stupid little fawn mouth if I could have.”

“Of course we will—” started Ben, but Darcy was already gone. In her place appeared one of my least favorite people.

“I thought you were dead,” Kenneth told me, obviously disappointed.

“I thought your arm was broken,” I shot back.

“My shoulder was just dislocated. Good as new now.” Kenneth turned to Ben. “You're running through all the good fighters, man.”

“Can we eat? Where's the Lunch Box of Plenty?” Chase's appetite always astounded me. “Me and Rory haven't eaten anything since yesterday.”

•  •  •

Rapunzel had sent Chatty and Kenneth because there wasn't anyone else left to send. Kenneth told us that all the remaining healthy Characters had left. Their parents had found out about the poisoning and ordered them home. Only Jenny and Rapunzel were left at EAS to tend to the others. Jenny couldn't leave—she was in charge of Hansel's practice dummies, which Lena and Melodie had converted into an army of nurses.

Then Ben asked how everyone was doing. Kenneth just grimaced.

When I called Lena on the M3, her tears fell on the mirror and blurred her image. She only cried this much when she felt awful, like the time she'd come to EAS with the flu and botched a batch of M3s. I felt about five million times guiltier, wishing that I had realized they would all think we were dead.

“Sorry!” The mirror filled with Lena's purple sleeve as she wiped it dry. “I mean, I was hoping. Rapunzel kept saying you were alive, but the Director was so sure.”

Chase popped his head over my shoulder, his mouth full of chicken nuggets. “Hey, Lena—I'm still alive too.”

“Hi, Chase,” Lena said with a weak, watery smile.

But Chase had seen the tears. He hastily backed away to the Lunch Box of Plenty. Ben and Kenneth were still pulling handfuls of potato chips from it like it was a regular snack bag.

“Did you see his face?” Lena giggled. She almost sounded like her normal, healthy self, but then she coughed hard—like she'd choked on something.

“Are you okay?” I'd wanted to ask whether or not Rapunzel was really Solange's sister, but suddenly this seemed like a much more pressing question.

Lena nodded, her hand still over her mouth. She held up a finger and unwrapped a cough drop.

“Well, Companions, we better skedaddle.” Ben stood up, wiping the grease off on his jeans.

“ ‘Skedaddle'? Where do you
get
these words?” Chase asked.

Mia volunteered to scout ahead, and when Ben asked who wanted to go last and watch our rear, Chatty raised her hand, holding up a whistle—since she couldn't exactly yell for help.

We marched down a switchback trail that led to the sandy beach. I stared into the mirror, watching Lena's coughing fit subside, mainly to avoid looking at the drop.

“Your mom called a few times,” Lena said apologetically when she could speak again. Her voice was hoarse. “You have four new voice mails. I've been texting her back, pretending to be you, but she's starting to sound kind of . . . upset.” Lena was being nice. I'm sure Mom
had started threatening to show up uninvited on Lena's doorstep.

“Thanks. Just to warn you, it might get a lot worse,” I said.

Lena sighed. “I should probably let you go. I'm due for another dose of ointment in a minute. Jenny will kill me if I miss it.”

I was officially worried about her. “Lena, we'll get the Water for you.”

She smiled briefly, but she still looked tired. “I know you will. Bye, Rory.”

I closed the M3 cover and pushed it back in my pack.

Rapunzel was on our side. I was sure. Pretty sure.

But no wonder the Director had been so desperate to stop us. To her it would seem like a fool's errand: The Snow Queen poisons almost everyone at EAS, so the healthy kids follow her little sister's orders? Leaving the sick in Rapunzel's hands, unguarded, so she could finish the job?

But why didn't anyone suspect the Director?

I glanced around to ask the only person I could think of—Chase. I could hear him whooping down the beach.

He ducked past Kenneth's outstretched sword and slapped the back of his opponent's legs with the flat of his blade. Enraged, Kenneth stood-stock still in the middle of the beach until Chatty and I nearly caught up with him. Then he charged Chase with everything he had, his sword raised high. Chase disarmed Kenneth, tripped him, and tapped the back of his skull lightly with the pommel of his sword.

Kenneth glanced ahead. Mia hadn't turned around once. Then, still stomach-down in the sand, he must have said something amusingly murderous, because Chase and Ben fell over laughing. As Ben helped Kenneth up, Chase scooped the fallen sword out of the sand and passed it back, saying something—probably
explaining exactly what Kenneth had done wrong.

Chase liked them. He especially liked the way both eighth graders listened to his every word, even though he was supposed to be younger.

If it hadn't been for me and Lena, and if it hadn't been for the Beanstalk Tale and the mysterious destiny I couldn't shake, he would probably have hung out with these guys.