Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 92: Cage

Edie hoped it wouldn't be too much of an adventure. But then, she didn't really know what she was hoping for. She wanted to find Leila, but what possible conclusion could there be? Either something had happened to her or she'd taken the memory blocks off Edie on purpose, and either way, Edie had to get an explanation as to why she'd put them there in the first place. It was possible that someone else had somehow gotten in to her brain to place them, but that wouldn't be a good ending, either.

The woods seemed dark and empty. Of course, it was a winter evening, and it had gotten darker while they were at Leila's tree. Edie held Corrie's arm more tightly. They didn't speak as they approached the place where the court faeries were.

At last Edie saw the lights in the trees. They appeared to shine through the windows of a huge hall. "Is that them?" she whispered to Corrie as softly as she could.

Corrie nodded. She put one hand in her pocket. "Yeah, I can see them now. Don't you have a four-leaf clover with you?"

"Oh, I think I do." Edie fished around in her pocket until she found it. The walls disappeared and the lights changed when she did; now it looked like a large clearing in the forest, with flickering firefly-like lights hovering above it. From here, she couldn't make out individual faeries, but as they approached she could resolve a cage in the middle, with Mardalan inside. She shivered.

"I don't see Leila," Corrie whispered. "Or Ever."

"How did we find her before?"

"Tom found her for us. Or she found us that other time, when Leila and Mardalan fought, but there was a lot of commotion so it was probably easy to locate us." Corrie looked around. "Maybe we should look for oak trees. She seems to have a connection to them."

"They're going to be hard to spot without leaves," Edie said. She could probably recognize the bark if she could see it clearly, but it was dark.

"Well, let's try to look anyway. Maybe she'll find us. Or maybe we'll be able to see something. How close do you think we can get?"

"I have no idea," Edie said. "I'm surprised we haven't set off the alarm yet."

"Ever thought it went off because we were hanging around for so long. Hopefully, if we keep moving, we'll go under their radar." With that in mind, they started off again, walking slowly and quietly. At least there weren't too many dead leaves in this area to crunch under their feet.

They got as close as they dared, far enough from the hedges that surrounded the court that they could see over them, but hopefully wouldn't be seen in the darkness. Edie could now see Belara and Feloc on their thrones, as well as three faeries that looked like tall, slender women who were singing an eerie, high-pitched, wordless song. The rest of the space was filled with faeries who were dancing slowly, eating, or sitting together on rocks. Edie didn't see Ever or Leila.

She didn't want to look at Mardalan in her cage, but she forced herself to as they crept around the clearing. The cage looked like it was big enough for her to stand in, but only just, and she sat on her knees, white hands holding the bars. She was facing the dancers, but did not appear to be watching them. Or at least if she was, she wasn't enjoying what she was watching.

Edie's stomach gave a wrench and she looked away. She hated Mardalan, but she also pitied her now. True, the faerie had tried to kidnap her once to gain leverage over Leila, but she'd gotten what she deserved for that. She didn't deserve to be locked up in a cage among the people she had once ruled, who didn't seem to be paying attention to her. Edie looked up at her again; she didn't seem miserable, but she did seem angry.

Suddenly Corrie clutched Edie's arm tightly. At the same time, Edie heard a noise from their left. She turned, heart pounding in her throat, to see someone crawling out from under the hedges they were walking past. When she stood up, brushing herself off and grinning, Edie saw to her relief that it was Ever.

"I wondered if you would come," Ever whispered. "Isn't it freaky to see her like that?"

Edie nodded. "Should we go somewhere safer to speak?"

"That's a good idea." Ever looked around. "Is it just the two of you? I'm not sure it's safe to go in such small groups."

"The rest of our friends are back at Leila's tree," said Corrie.

"Really? She's letting you use that as a meeting place?" Ever shook her head in surprise. "I would have thought she'd like to come see her caged sister herself."