Ever Shade Read online

  Chapter Eleven

  The murmur of voices seemed amplified in the growing light of the morning. Shade moaned and wished she had thought of bringing earplugs. She rolled over, stuffing her pillow onto her head, hoping to muffle the noise. It can’t be morning already! She felt like she had just laid her head against her pillow and closed her eyes. Hiking was definitely not on her cool list right now as her muscles ached and burned.

  “Shade, get up, we have to pack and get going. I brought you breakfast, you’re gonna need it.” Shade felt her pillow fly off her face. Dylan stood crouched at the entrance of her tent, his lips tight with disapproval. He looked wide-awake; she wondered how long he had been up. Or was it possible he didn’t need to sleep? He motioned to a plate of food and drink he had laid by her; then in an instant, he was gone.

  Shade blinked and rubbed her eyes. She grabbed her pillow and stuffed it under her neck, sighing. She wanted to sleep more, sleeping in seemed like a pleasure of the past now. She glanced at the food he had brought her; bacon and fresh scrambled eggs with a bread roll, were still steaming. It looked amazing and smelled even better. This coaxed her out of her warm bed, and she pulled the food and drink towards her. Inhaling the food, she was amazed by how starved she now felt. She allowed herself to scarf down the sweet and warm tea that Dylan had provided; instantly it made her feel alert. She wondered what was in that drink that seemed to revitalize her so fast, she’d have to ask someone. She was also curious how they managed to have bacon and eggs so fresh out here in the wild. She crunched on the rich thick slices of bacon and enjoyed every bit. Well, this is a bright spot for out here in this hellhole. She sighed, frowning at her empty plate. Good things just don’t last around here. She stretched and fumbled through her bag, pulling her brush, washcloth and towel out of her bag, hoping there was somewhere to wash up. She pulled her shoes on and wrapped the blanket like a cape around her. Stepping out into the cold morning air was like being electrocuted. The cold stung her cheeks and sent a thrill down her body. Winter… She wondered how it seemed to be a different season every place they went here in the faery lands. She couldn’t believe that back home it was spring.

  Walking up towards the main fire, she took a look around. She wanted to ask Braelynn or Sary where she could get some water to wash up, but it was Soap who popped up in front of her instead. He smiled at her, as always, showing his pearly white teeth. “Where do you think you’re sneaking off to young lady?”

  Shade froze in her tracks. Slowly, she tilted her head and gazed upon his, still smiling, but suspicious face.

  “I’m not sneaking off anywhere; I just want to wash up. Do you know where I could, um, go to uh, freshen up?” Her face flushed up scarlet under the cold air. Soap wasn’t the one she had wanted to ask.

  “It’s down that side of the hill a bit. It’s a large tent, girls on the right, boys to the left.” He winked and turned back to the camp. Shade stared back at him as he walked away, more like skipped away cheerfully. She shook her head. He was so strange. They hadn’t spoken much since they had arrived to the Teleen caverns. She wondered if he was just being cautious with her since a Teleen had attacked her. She sighed, it was something she would have to talk to him about later.

  For now, she turned back toward the way he had pointed her, gripping her towel, washcloth and the extra set of clothes, she moved on. Approaching the bathroom tent, she paused and stared. It didn’t look like anything special. She wondered how it was even big enough to hold two dressing rooms. She shrugged, too tired to contemplate it for too long. She willed herself to get moving. When she got inside, she was shocked at how warm and humid it was. It smelled like flowers blooming in the springtime; and the tent was bigger than it appeared on the outside. It could be described as a foyer, and in front of her was a table; and to the right of the wooden table hung one red and one blue curtain. She supposed the colors were to separate the women and men.

  She went through the red drapery, assuming it was for women, and followed as the hallway turned to the left. At the end it turned again to the right and opened to a fairly large room; it had mirrors to the left wall and chairs. On the right were stalls with toilets and two showers next to the stalls with sliding doors. This reminds me of camp. She was impressed but not curious enough to wonder too long how the heck this was possible; she was just grateful it was all here. She laid her stuff on one of the chairs and pulled it near one of the shower stalls. She relieved herself first and was definitely surprised and amazed by the actual flushing toilets! Really I can’t believe the fey have all this. She just shook her head in disbelief and undressed, stepping into the shower stalls. There was soap, shampoo and conditioner provided, and she was thankful the water was hot. The steaming water sprayed on her skin and eased her aches. All too soon she had to step out of the stall and get ready. She dried her body and hair and pulled her fresh clothes on. She then ran her brush through her tangled hair and pulled it back into a tight ponytail.

  Shade stared at her reflection in the mirror for the first time since the attack. She sucked her breath in; her face had small healing pink lines, like spider webs, on her right cheek. She looked down at her arms where she saw more of the same thin scars. They’re all over me…. She traced them with her fingers; they were smooth and a soft pink, nearly invisible to anyone who wasn’t really looking. She stared into the mirror for a bit longer, making sure it didn’t ripple or look magical. She did her best not to be reminded of Darren. When she was satisfied it was just a normal mirror, she turned away from it and finished dressing, topping off with the blanket Dylan had given to her the night before. She wrapped it around herself and definitely realized she was in need of a coat. The weather here is so annoying. She didn’t want to think about the scars, at least not yet, so in a way the blanket served like amour, in covering them up, and for that she was grateful. She bundled her old clothes in the towel and turned to leave, running right into Sylphi. Shade gasped and stumbled back, her eyes wide as she regained her balance.

  “I’m so sorry Shade, did I frighten you?” She was smiling slightly as she studied her. Sylphi’s jet black hair was down and a bit tousled, like she had just rolled out of bed but it still managed to have some shine. It fell down and spilled to the small of her back. She held a bundle of clothes and towel in her arms too and it pressed to her chest.

  Shade gave a small laugh. “Oh, um, hello Sylphi. No, well, maybe just a little. How long were you standing there?” She tried to swallow her anxiety and stood a bit straighter. Nothing about Sylphi made her feel warm and fuzzy. The girl radiated cold like an open window in the late fall.

  “Not for too long really, I was just going to freshen up.” She smiled her sickly, sweet smile. She continued to stare at Shade with her intensely black eyes and didn’t make a move to get ready. Her eyes were so dark it was like staring into a pair of black holes.

  A chill ran through Shade but she pursed her lips tight and smiled at the faery. The sight of her was unnerving to say the least. “Well, ok, I was just leaving. See you later.” She had to side step a bit to get around Sylphi, who was not budging from her spot that was blocking her path.

  “Why don’t you just go home, Shade? No one really wants you here.”

  Shade hung in mid step as she listened to Sylphi’s icy voice. The woman was still not moving but slyly smiling back at her. “You are too weak for such a quest. Why don’t you give up before you fail miserably? No one wants to be out here, in this forsaken wilderness with you anyway. Do us a favor and quit already, half-breed.”

  Shade stared at her in disgust. Shaking her head she grinned back. “I’m not a quitter, Sylphi. I believe that I need to do this and nothing you say will change my mind. I don’t believe you have to be here, though. You came by choice remember? So did I…maybe you should go home.” She dodged around Sylphi and stepped hurriedly through the doorway, and ignored Sylphi’s snide laughter. I wonder what the hell her problem is.

  The cold air slapped her hard
and her hair felt instantly frozen, once she left the facilities tent. She didn’t stop though; she hurried as fast as she could until she reached her own tent, or what should have been her tent. All she found was Dylan sitting on the ground patiently waiting next to her pack.

  “What the, where’s my stuff? What’d you do with my things?” She felt her anger tipping the scales and tried to grab a handle on it, before hollering at him. She breathed in slowly and deeply as she glared down at him. It wasn’t his fault that Sylphi had such a strange effect on her. Her breath steamed like clouds floating out her nose and mouth.

  He rolled his eyes with her almost as impatiently as she had jumped on him.

  “Well, Dylan?” she snapped

  “Ok, calm down, I so graciously put it away for you, since you were taking so long in the bath. We are leaving in just a few minutes.” He stood up and held out her pack.

  She snatched it from him with her free hand, biting her lip, as he walked off to the main camp without another word. She sighed pressing her lips together, realizing she had not even bothered to thank him. They seemed to clash over everything; and if they were going to be forced to spend so much time together this would have to stop. She knelt down and opened her pack; she pulled out a sack for her dirty clothes. She stuffed them in and shoved it back into the pack.

  This will just have to do until we all reached the river, The clothes had a slight odor and they needed to be washed. She marched down the path to the main camp, joining the rest of the group. Ewan was already waving his arm around to capture everyone’s attention. She chose a large boulder to sit on and rubbed her sleepy eyes. It already had been a long day for her. And it’s only the butt crack of dawn.

  “Alright, everyone, is everybody present? Soap, Jack, Braelynn, where’s Sylphi?” Ewan called, heads whirled around and searched the group.

  “I just saw her in the bath tent. She’s probably still there,” Shade said.

  “I’m right here.”

  Sylphi stepped out from behind a tree and smiled at the group. Her hair was dried and slicked back into an even tighter ponytail than Shade’s. She looked radiant in the morning sun, all dressed with her pack strapped to her back. She waved at Shade, a sly smirk on her face. Shade smiled back but not as confidently. She wondered how Sylphi had bathed, dried, clothed herself, packed and made it to the group so fast. It’s probably a fey thing.

  “Alright, that should be everyone; and we are heading to the great rivers. We will be getting wet by the way. Shade, see Braelynn for any water repellant charms so your stuff doesn’t get soaked,” he added as a side note, and then continued on. “We will be camping in the middle of the river lands. It is made up of seven rivers that wind and turn and meet together at the Pacific Ocean. The rivers are pure fey territory. There is to be no wandering across the borders, because the iron cites are too close to the coast.

  He held up a large piece of parchment with a drawing of the rivers, they twisted and curved around the vast green areas on the map. He pointed out the boundaries and again warned of the dangers of wandering too near a human city. Shade stared confused at the map. It looked utterly unfamiliar. If her sense of direction was right, they had to be near the coast of California and Oregon. She didn’t recall seeing such a tangle of large rivers before. She waved at Ewan.

  “Those rivers are not on ordinary maps. You said it is purely fey territory? Does that mean that it is hidden from humans?”

  Ewan nodded and smiled largely for her. “Why yes, Shade, aren’t you just sharp as a knife this morning. Yes, human maps look quite different from faery maps; but we have the real world maps. Mortal’s maps are only splices of the actual world. They don’t know it though; there are vast areas of fey lands that are protected by enchantments. So, in essence, their land is a lot smaller than ours.” Ewan continued on letting his finger trace along the borders on the paper. He then quickly rolled up the scroll map and told everyone they were prepared to leave.

  The desert wasteland twisted and blended into the lush forest of emerald green leaves and bushes. The land seemed riper and more fertile here, almost an artificial vibrant green. No matter which trail they took, Shade could hear rushing water in the distance. It surrounded them like endless background noise. The river lands were strange, there were islands between some rivers where they intersected and weaved together. Then there would be long stretches of land that didn’t run into a river at all. Some of the islands were covered in bridges, while with others they had to wade through carefully. Even with the waterproof charm Braelynn and Sary had placed on everyone and their items, Shade couldn’t help but feel the cold embrace of the water all around her. It flowed around her thighs and the cold seeped through her clothes.

  She was stiff from the cold, though with the charms, she did not feel wet, but felt quite dry. It made her teeth chatter and her body shake, making her relieved every time they emerged from the cold, wet trek through a river. Once she emerged from the water, the sun warmed her immediately. Relief washed over her as they moved from the river but her stiff and freezing clothes stuck to her, and it was like trying to battle the remnants of a watery grave.

  After about four more of these immersions, she was ready to smack Ewan. Did they really have to walk through muddy, cold and swirling water that much? Her love of the outdoors, what little she did have, was washing away with the swirling froth of the moving stream.

  They had stopped to rest, eat, and do their best to warm up. Shade pulled out the warm blanket Dylan had given her from her pack, tightly wrapped it around her body. She then turned her head up to the sun, soaking up its strong rays. It felt amazing, like hot cocoa warming the core after playing in the snow and getting frostbite on your toes and fingers. She closed her eyes and didn’t want to move. She was dry but she felt frozen down to her inner marrow, her lips were chapped and surely were blue after spending most of the day in the water.

  “Shade, drink some hot tea. It will warm your soul.” Dylan handed her a cup and had his own securely in his other hand.

  “Thanks, Dylan.” She happily accepted it, wrapping her fingers around the warm drink; the very thought of it soothed her. She drank it down in a gulp. The warm fluid felt great against her throat as the heat warmed her from the inside out. She was still huddled in the blanket, afraid she would break her cozy warm cocoon if she dared move.

  “Tired of the rapids huh? They get really old really fast,” said Dylan sounding after a moment, and sounding almost friendly. “I don’t miss crossing them at all. You’d think some idiot would have put a bridge or something on every river by now. Faeries are lazy too, you know, they’d rather fly right over these banks any day. Of course we aren’t all able to fly, let alone carry anyone else with us,” he said with a sigh. “So we have to do it the tried and true way, on foot. I think it’s because fey don’t like to disturb nature too much, so progress is limited.” He chuckled, shaking his head as he took another large sip of tea.

  He was sitting next to her now, their sides touching slightly. Shade turned and watched him closely. His steel eyes glinted in the bright sunlight. He seemed to relax more as they ventured deeper into the wilderness, his face seemed softer and younger in the light of the afternoon. She wondered if nature gave off some kind of natural Xanax to the fey. Everyone seemed at ease, maybe just a touch tired, but no one was complaining. She guessed that it was better than having a group of grumpy, pissed off faeries. Who knows what they were all capable of doing if pushed far.

  She stared as he swallowed his drink. His hair was still short but growing, faster than a human’s hair would. It was shiny with silver highlights peppered through it. He had shaved that morning and his skin still shone smooth, no lines to betray his age. She wondered suddenly how old he was. Ilarial had mentioned that they were immortal. Besides Soap, no one had volunteered how old he or she really was.

  “Dylan? Can I ask you something?” He turned towards her, eyes wide with surprise. She should probably speak to him softly
more often because it was kind.

  “Yes, of course. Go for it.” He placed his cup on the dirt in front of him and sat Indian-style. His arms relaxed on his thighs.

  “How old are you? How old do fey get?” She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs, clinging to the blanket and keeping it shut.

  “I’m two-hundred and forty-six years old. My brother Darren is only one-hundred and fifteen. We are immortal but only to a certain extent. The fey are kind of delicate in a way, more so than humans. A child’s unbelieving heart can make us wither away, and it serves as a severe injury. We barely exist on the little strength that human hearts give us. Imagination and strong belief in us keeps us going, your world is fragile when it comes to this matter. It’s almost like a human curse.” Dylan paused glancing at Shade but quickly turned back to stare down at his cup as he continued.

  “We can choose to leave this world as well. Our mother was five-hundred and three when she decided she no longer had enough in her to carry on, and allowed herself to wither into dust. Just two days it took, just two days and slowly, what was a strong, bold, and amazing woman turned into dust and ash,” he said with a hint of emotion. “Life is not easy for the fey. The exiles wither fast because of the toxicity of living in or near the iron cities, and smaller fey go faster. We have stronger clans, and other fey like the Guildrin Clan, and our enemies, the Lonares are much stronger than our group. We are closest to humans that the fey can get; and our people, the Teleen, are dying off. Very slowly of course, there are not many Teleen born each year so our numbers have dwindled as some of us die. If the world was stronger, we could be true immortals and live forever.”

  “Why is that? Why is your clan dying? I would think you would be the strongest since humans have a lot of iron in their blood. That would be hard for any fey to live near us or among us, but you guys are fine with it.” She paused. “I just find it all so intriguing but it scares me so much sometimes. I’m good as dead out here against other fey.”