Shadows of the Woods

Chapter 17

"You were a little bit off." Roan said, looking around skeptically.

"Sorry, I did my best." I scowled at him, rearranging my hair. Since my hood had disappeared with Apollo and the others, I'd discarded my suit. It was useless without the hood. "You taught me barely five minutes ago."

Roan turned to grin at me, unabashed. "Well, I guess it's good enough that you didn't kill us."

The silvery light of the forest around Feloix Felaii filtered down on us through the tall, thin trees; Roan had taught me how to do an elvish vortex as we sat stranded in that field in India. When I'd asked him how he knew how to do one, seeing as he wasn't an elf, he'd given me a deeply sarcastic look. I'd completely forgotten that he was an information dealer - elvish magic was probably in the guide book.

"How far are we?" I asked him as we started forward. In every direction I looked, everything looked exactly the same. It would be really useful if they had signs leading to Feloix Felaii - a newbie like me would probably wander around for days before finding the city.

"Maybe ten minutes." Roan squinted at our surroundings. "I've never been in this part, I don't think."

"Alright." I hurried my pace a little to keep up with him; although he was walking leisurely, his long legs covered more ground than mine.

On his shoulder, Bono was perched casually. As I looked at him, he turned to look at me with his huge, dark eyes. It might have been my imagination, but it looked like he smiled at me before turning forward again.

"So." I said, filling the silence with conversation. "Why Bono?"

Roan glanced back at me as we walked. "You're seriously asking that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you were a human." He elaborated. "You knew U2, right?"

"Sure, but how do you know them? I thought everyone in the magical world hated anything to do with humans."

"Not everybody." Roan turned so that he was pacing backwards, his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he faced me. He smiled cheerfully at me. "I lived in Chicago for a year a few years back."

"Really?" I blinked. "Why?"

"Why not?" He turned to face forward again, so I trotted forward so that I was beside him. "The world is my oyster, Lilah." He smirked to himself, and I wondered what he was remembering. "Anyways, I got into rock music while I was there, and U2 was my favourite. I found Bono a little bit after that, and the rest is history."

"Alright." I pondered that. Knowing human girls, I was surprised he didn't immediately become a model, or an actor or something while he was there. In the magical world, everyone was used to extreme beauty, but the human world wasn't as conditioned. "So why did you come back?"

I looked up at him to see that he'd pursed his lips. He glanced coolly back at me. "Well, let's save that story for another day. It needs a good drink to be told properly."

I blinked and looked forward again, saying nothing. Apparently I'd stepped somewhere delicate.

"Back to the problem at hand." Roan cleared his throat, clearing out the faint air of awkwardness. "What's your plan, mighty Lilah?"

I looked at him suspiciously to see if he was mocking me - I'd been called many things, but "mighty" wasn't one of them - but his face was open and friendly. I was a little taken aback; the trust in his face was kind of unsettling. He barely knew me, for heaven's sake, and he looked like he was ready to follow me even if I said we were gonna toss ourselves into an abyss.