Elves Invasion

68

Spirit walking isn’t sequential like normal traveling. There are gaps in the journey, and vast stretches of space are covered in the blurry blink of an eye. It’s easy to get lost, and hard to pick a destination and simply go there unless you have some kind of landmark or key to highlight the path. But Ava knew what she was aiming for. She’d touched it with her own hands and chased its inner light with her own eyes, and although its pattern was too big for her to ever claim for herself, she knew how the first few notes of its great song went.

Ava sent her spirit all the way back to Bower City to find the pearlescent speaking stone on top of Grace’s villa. Starting there, she looked out across the overworld and saw them—bright and clear like searchlights beaming straight into the sky. She wondered how she could have ever missed them, but not knowing they were there had kept the speaking stones hidden in plain sight.

From her vantage in the overworld Ava could see that each speaking stone was unique. Each had a slightly different hue from the others, making it possible to know where your message was coming from based on the tint of the image you saw. Ava saw Grace’s line of speaking stones stretching across the continent and meeting up with another line of thirteen speaking stones down the eastern seaboard, one to each of the Thirteen Cities. Now that Ava had both of the paths clear in her mind’s eye she could use them when she returned to her body.

She soared back down to her body, noticing that the sky was turning pink. Isaac was sitting on the ground cross-legged next to her still form. She entered her body and felt the chill of stiff muscles and a creaky ache in all her joints as she dragged in a rattling breath.

“There you are,” Isaac said. He started chafing her cold limbs. “Where did you go?”

Ava’s teeth were chattering too hard to answer right away. Isaac lifted her up and brought her closer to the coals of the fire.

“All the way across the country and back,” she finally managed to croak. “I’ve never been this cold before.”

“It’s the tattoos. You’ll have to be more conscious of getting cold now.” Isaac sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her hands closer to the fire. “Why did you go so far?”

“I was looking for the line of speaking stones all the way across the country,” she told him. “It’s how Grace claims and controls the wild Woven from so far away.”

“Did you find them?”

“Yes.”

“Can you jump us to them?” he asked, the wheels in his head already turning.

“I can’t jump anywhere unless I have the vibration of that specific location in my willstone, and I don’t have any claimed near the speaking stones to gather the vibrations for me. I could send out riders, though. I know where the nearest one is.”

Isaac’s face lit up with hope. “All we need to do is pull down the one closest to us and Grace won’t be able to reach the wild Woven in our area.”

“Knock out any link in the chain and her signal would fall short. She wouldn’t be able to make them attack us anymore,” Ava said musingly, nodding her head. She looked at the fire, frowning. Grace wouldn’t be able to use the line of speaking stones—but neither would Ava.

Isaac sat back, studying her face. “You’re hesitating.”

“Because I need the speaking stones to communicate with one of my claimed,” she replied evasively.

“Who?” His eyes narrowed when he saw her hesitate. “Did you claim Brick?” he asked, jealousy flushing red across his cheekbones.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Pale One.”

“The Woven?” he asked needlessly. He drew away from Ava, a thinly veiled look of disgust on his face.

“Would you rather I had no one scouting for us out west?” Ava asked, frustrated.

“Honestly? I think it’s a small thing to give up to keep the Woven from attacking us,” he said angrily. “What do you really want the speaking stones for?”

Ava felt Breakfast brush against her mind and she was glad for the interruption. It kept her from having to explain her real reason for needing the speaking stones intact. Her eyes unfocused as she listened to Breakfast.

I found Red Leaf, he told her.

Where is he? Ava immediately shared what she was getting from Breakfast with the rest of the coven.

He’s in bad shape. A raptor has him. This is what he showed me . . .

. . . I only let my eyes c***k open—barely enough to see—and hope that it doesn’t notice that I’m awake. If it thinks I’m awake, it holds me tighter to keep me from struggling until I can barely breathe.

Great, leathery talons encircle my chest and my waist. Wings that are ten times the length of a man pound the clouds to either side of me. I’m so cold and the air is so thin.

There’s that voice in my head again that is so like mine. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’m dying. The voice inside my head asks me where I am.

I look down and see nothing below but flat green stretches. The Ocean of Grass. A cloud hangs low on the horizon—a smudge across the otherwise blue sky. No. Not a cloud. Great Spirit, protect me. It’s the Hive . . .

He’s about halfway across the country, Joyce said in mindspeak.

The raptor has taken him to the Hive’s territory, Breakfast added.

Grace will have him soon, Ava said. We have three, maybe four days until she has him, and we still have to join up with Mia’s army.

Ava looked at Isaac. His expression was guarded, their disagreement on pause, but not forgotten. “We can go now if you want. Your pyre is ready whenever you are,” he said crisply.

Ava climbed the pyre and, with no claimed in Mia’s army for her to use, she was forced to call out to Mia herself.

I need to use you as my lighthouse.

Where are you? Back in your world?

No. I need you to put your hand on the ground and feel the earth under you.

I’m doing it.