Temperance (5 page)

Miles and miles of giant, thick-trunked trees.
 

Where the… Where am I?
 

She gathered her legs under her and quickly got to her feet. Looking down at her white summer dress and boots, she saw a mossy carpet covered with fallen leaves and started to feel her chest tighten with anxiety. The roar of her own blood rushing around her ears was all she could hear as she tried to understand how she’d wound up standing in the middle of a forest.

The breeze that had first pulled her from her sleep whispered through the branches, and this time, it trailed across the back of her neck. It sent a chill racing down her spine as she turned on the ball of her foot to follow where it seemed to go, and that’s when she spotted her.
 

There, lying in amongst the tall grass, was Audra.

Racing over to her, Naeve heard the crunch of the leaves under her boots. She was relieved to see one of her sisters. When she reached her side, she knelt down and touched her shoulder.

“Audra. Audra, wake up.” She shook her gently and waited for her eyes to open. When nothing happened, she tried again. “Audra, come on. Wake up.”

After Audra made a soft groan, her lashes fluttered against her cheeks. As her sister’s eyes opened, Naeve looked around, trying to find the others. When no one else came into view, she turned back to see Audra sitting.
 

She was still dressed in her jeans and red tank—the same outfit from earlier when…
 

When we were sitting in a freaking tarot shop.
Jesus. Were we drugged?
It was possible.
But why? And why leave us here?

“Naeve?” Audra’s soft voice penetrated her thoughts. “Naeve? Where are we?”

“I don’t know,” she barely managed.

Audra looked around at their surroundings, and Naeve knew that, just like her, all she would see were the rows of towering trees. Maybe this was some kind of horrible nightmare after having had too much to drink, and any moment now, she’d wake up.
 

“The others?” Audra asked.
 

“I don’t know.”
 

“What time is it?”

Naeve looked down at her gold watch and saw that the hands had stopped moving, but the time read four thirty. Approximately the same time they’d been at the tarot reading. Distracted by that discovery, she didn’t answer.

“How did we get here?”

Snapping her head up, Naeve pinned her inquisitive sister with an exasperated look. “I. Don’t. Know.” She stood and threw her hands up, frustrated. “I don’t know!”

“Okay,” Audra conceded, standing up beside her. “Calm down.”

“Calm down? We’re in the middle of nowhere, and I have no clue how we got here.”

“Well, there has to be some kind of logical explanation, right?”

“Like?”
 

“Umm—” Audra started.

“I mean, how did this happen? And where are the other two? God, this place is creepy.”

Audra looked at the dark shadows the trees cast and agreed. “It is kind of creepy. But maybe it’s just the way the sun is setting behind the trees.”

“I can’t even see the sun—as if it even matters. This doesn’t look like anywhere in Wilmington. It looks more like Sleepy Hollow.”

As the words left her mouth, a loud, shrill noise pierced the air.
 

Naeve wasn’t sure if it was a natural survival instinct or some kind of inner one, but she immediately looked to Audra and jerked her head as if to say,
Get down. Now
.
 

They both fell to the ground, covering their ears, and burrowed into the long tangle of grass as the ear-splintering cry continued to echo throughout the damp air.
 

It was like nothing she’d ever heard before—almost otherworldly. The high pitch and volume alone had her drawing her knees into her body in a protective move, which Audra mirrored. She reached across to take her sister’s hand and felt her own shake.
 

We’re going to die here.

Her heart was pounding so hard inside her chest that she started thinking that whatever it was, whatever was making that sound, would hear and come for them.
 

She didn’t know anything about the wilderness. Their mother and aunt had never taken them camping as children. But as she lay there with her cheek pressed to the ground and Audra’s eyes focused on her, Naeve kind of wished they had.

There was a cracking sound directly behind her and she flinched, feeling her entire body tense. Audra’s eyes widened as she stared beyond her shoulder, and Naeve bit down on her lip, trying not to let out a terrified sob. She knew that whatever was there couldn’t be good. Maybe it was a wolf, a bear—
hell,
she didn’t know.
 

What she hadn’t expected was a hand on her shoulder.

* * *

“He found them.”

Those three words were exactly what he’d been waiting to hear.
 

Li’Am turned away from the West window in the Great Hall and aimed an expectant look toward his head guardsman, Ry’Ker. He stood front and center of the Imperial Guard, a battalion of mortal men who’d been trained to protect Castle L’Mere and their Commander against any outside threat.

“And where, pray tell, did he find them?”

The fully armored soldier stepped forward and informed him with unwavering confidence, “Exactly where she told us they would be.”
 

“Of course they were,” Li’Am acknowledged. Then he turned his back on the man. “She will be pleased.”
 

He surveyed the wide expanse of land below and felt the ever-present anger at its destruction swell inside him. As far as the eye could see, Arcania was diseased, and every day, that illness spread, stemming from the cause—his sister Seraphine, the crowned Empress of Arcania.

“Has he made contact as of yet?”

“Not that I am aware of.”
 

Li’Am placed his hands on the cool stone of the window and pressed his fingertips into it. Without looking back, he ordered, “Then don’t return until he does. Do I make myself clear?”

Several pairs of booted feet pulled together behind him, bringing the guardsmen to attention as they chorused, “Yes, Commander.”
 

They then spun on their feet and exited the Hall, but before Ry’Ker could join his men, Li’Am called him to a halt.

“It is time.”

He could hear Ry’Ker’s boots as his head guard moved closer.

“Sir?”

Li’Am looked over his shoulder at the man he’d raised as his own son. Dropping formalities, he lowered his voice and stated softly, “Ry, it’s time. We’ve followed her rules for far too long now. This is the time we’ve been waiting for. The time I told you of.”

Ry’Ker removed his helmet, revealing his closely shaved head, and gave him a look that was full of apprehension. “I understand, but is there no other way than to enlist
him
?”

Li’Am had tried to think of one, but the longer he ruminated over the matter, the clearer the solution became. “No, there’s no other way. He’s the only other who knows the Taise Forest as she does. And he is our only hope of getting them out of there without detection.”

Ry’Ker gave a swift nod of his head even as his mouth pulled taut in disapproval. However, loyal to the end, he offered up no argument. Instead, he silently replaced his helmet and turned to join his men.

* * *

Naeve rolled over and looked up to see Siobhan’s familiar face curtained by her fiery-red hair. “Shit,” she cursed then whacked her sister on the arm. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“
Shh!
” Siobhan hissed, bringing a finger to her lips as she crouched down beside them. “There’s something really fucked up going on here.”

Always one to state the obvious, Siobhan was right—there was definitely something screwed up about this situation.

“Do you know where we are?” Naeve asked, hoping she would magically have an answer.

“Be quiet, or whatever the hell made that God-awful noise will come back.”

Audra crawled closer to the two of them and whispered, “Where’s Fiona? Is she with you?”

Siobhan nodded and moved aside. When Fiona stepped into view, Audra leaped to her feet and threw her arms around her neck.

Oh, thank God,
Naeve thought as her eyes caught Siobhan’s. She wanted to ask how they’d gotten there, but she figured her answer would be the same as her own—
a big, fat ‘I don’t know.’

Instead, she watched as Siobhan walked several steps away from them. Standing, Naeve followed and stopped beside her to stare out into the eerie shadows.
 

“I keep trying to remember what happened, you know?”

She looked at Siobhan’s side profile and answered, “Me too. I mean, we didn’t drink that much that I’m dreaming this, right?”

“No. Trust me—you’re awake. It was the fortune teller. I’m sure of it. Something was off with her.”

“Definitely. She knew my name, Siobhan. How could she know that?”

They both stood there for a moment, and then Siobhan looked at her and admitted, “I have no fucking idea.”

As they stared at one another in shared confusion, Naeve wondered if this would ever make any sense.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep out here,” Siobhan finally confided. “And I swear… I know this sounds crazy, but ever since I woke up, I feel like I’m being watched.”

It didn’t seem
that
crazy. In fact, she’d had similar thoughts herself.

“This place is strange, Naeve. I’m tellin’ you. I have no idea where we are, but it sure as hell isn’t anywhere close to home. I mean, that noise...” She paused. “What the fuck was that?”

Naeve didn’t have any answers, only more questions, and with the look in her sister’s eyes, she knew now wasn’t the time. So she opted for the obvious.

“We just need to get some rest and then find a way out of here.”

“How? By hiking back to the main road? Look around. There is no road. All I saw when I was looking for you guys was forest. Trees, shrubs, a million fucking ferns, but no road. No path. So, how are we going to get out of here?”

Naeve put her hands on her hips, frustrated as she glared at her irritatingly logical sister. “You know what? We’re all scared, but don’t take it out on me. I’m just trying to think out loud like you are. To stay positive.”

Siobhan gave a laugh that was devoid of any humor. “Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but not even
you
have enough positivity to make something good come from this.”

She didn’t want to believe that that was true. But the one emotion she’d always come by so easily was elusive in that moment, and she feared that, if she lost hope for even a second, maybe she would never find it again.
 

* * *

She couldn’t sleep. She was too busy listening to all of the strange noises surrounding them. The odd sounds of an owl
hoo-ah-hooing
and the howl of what had to be several wolves had begun a little while ago. The sounds weren’t unfamiliar, but they were weird as hell when the only place she’d heard them before was on the television.

Audra and Fiona were somehow asleep, while Siobhan remained like her—wide awake and alert. She was sitting on the opposite side of their sisters with her back pressed to the trunk of the tree and her legs drawn up to her chest. Still dressed in her loose combat cargos, a black T-shirt, and zippered jacket, Siobhan was most definitely the tomboy.
 

Which makes me the girly girl.

“I’m sorry about before,” Siobhan said matter-of-factly as she stood and brushed her hands over her pants. She then turned to look down at both Audra and Fiona. “They need to wake up so we can get moving.” That was all she offered before she marched off to wait a little ways from the tree.

Great. This is all we need.
Siobhan in a bad mood equaled Hell on Earth, but at this stage, it was the only familiar thing around—so she’d take it.

After waking her sleeping sisters, Naeve got them up, and they made their way down to where their headstrong sister waited.

“We need to move. Probably best to start out now before the sun rises—if it even does. It looks like it’s going to rain.”

The three of them all nodded in agreement. At least, if they moved around in the shadows, it was less likely that whoever had brought them here would spot them.
 

* * *

Si’Bastian, son of Li’Am, crouched high on the branch of a giant Sequoia, watching the four women below. Several minutes earlier, they had started to move out.

When he’d first arrived, two of the four had been sleeping, and he’d known that hadn’t been the right time to approach. But now, as they all followed behind the redhead in front, the timing was perfect.

He stood to his full height on the branch and felt the rough scrape of the bark below his feet as he concentrated on the movement below. He hadn’t been told much by his father, just that he was to keep the women safe until the guards arrived—a task that seemed easy enough.

As the three of them followed their leader and chatted amongst one another, Bastian took form on the ground, hidden by the dense foliage. Up close, he noticed that each of the women was strikingly different, but it was the one at the back who caught his full attention. The one with the hair dark as night and a face that resembled a woman he’d never met.
 

She had the face of their lost Empress, Maeve.

His father had been right. Seraphine had done the impossible. She’d brought back to Arcania the children of their lost Empress.

Bastian studied them as they moved. Each of them was wearing strange attire that didn’t belong where they had awoken, and it made him wonder exactly where Seraphine had plucked them from.
 

Deciding that it was time to make his move, he figured if he could get to the front of the group without detection, then the shock value would work in his favor. He crept alongside them and was trying to choose the precise moment when the woman in the back, the one who had caught his eye, slowed her stride and turned to where he was standing.