Nada's Escape

74- Unrelated.

I trail Amy and Macie through the dark gravel streets to Percival's house, eager to discuss the revelations from the library. The feyfly lamp in my hand makes us a beacon I notice, so I pause beside a deserted garden bed to release them. As I unlatch the opaque lid, their glow reaches up to me and ignites wonder in my chest.

The feyflies pass me in a breeze of fluttering eyelids and ruffling hair, whispering just for me, "We know what you seek. Boreas."

They are gone too quickly, snatching the gold and russet light away with them. Amy and Macie crouch behind me, confused, but silent.

I glance around. This house, this tiny garden bed seems dark and uncared for, so I beckon them closer to the reaching tendrils of the bush I'm huddled beside.

"So it's just a battle thing?" I say, disbelief ringing in my own ears. "This thing between me and Finley. A battle bond."

I rake the dirt with my fingernails, churning over what I want from this conversation. "You two don't really believe that do you?" I ask.

Their cheeks glow in the half light, eyes masked by shadow. Their expressions are silhouettes, harder to read than the hiss of their breath, the sound of parting lips.

"Actually I do," Amy swallows my confusion with her own certainty. "It makes sense." I blink, zeroing in on her in the dark, hair still bright, shimmering waves of grey.

"How?" I ask, trying not to sound as flabbergasted as I feel.

"Well, you're not enthralled. I'd know." Amy starts.

"But you have always been connected to Finley." Macie tacks on, strangely in sync with Amy's train of thought tonight.

I feel a bolt of cold to my intestines. "Always?"

I had been scrolling over the last few weeks for answers. Since the ladder escape, no earlier. How could anything have been going on longer than that? I push back the memory of that first enthralment. That's not special, that's just what powerful enthralment is like. You're not supposed to realise that you're losing your willpower.

"As long as I've known you, you've always known when he was coming visiting. I began trying to beat you at it, but I never could. Not once. You know how crazy that is?" Macie explains, voice rising.

I narrow my eyes at her simplification. It had been a game of sorts in Seven, Macie trying to set me off by talking about Finley, me appearing unconcerned, which in turn made Macie seethe under her worm facade.

I shrug, "You're mistaking sharp eyes and ears for magic, Macie."

"She isn't," Amy's tone brooks no argument. Her lips pull down in an apologetic grimace, exaggerated in the shadows. "Even when I was with you, you knew Finley was on his way way too soon."

I don't bother catching my gaping jaw. If these two agree then they must be right... Which is impossible because there's never been anything telling me about Finley's whereabouts. I'd just known.

I interrogate that last thought with the sinking feeling that I'm losing my grip on reality. I'd just known? Just known? Sure, they'd never been an internal compass to look up. And most of the time I'd seen something, one of the wardens had dropped a hint beforehand... enough that I'd never second guessed the knowledge ferreted away inside my own mind. Could what they're saying be real?

"Why has this never occurred to me before?" I weigh them both in my gaze, willing them to tell the truth. If I can trust anyone its these two.

"Because you hate Finley," Amy says, at exactly the same time that Macie says, "Because you like Finley."

I almost gag. Seriously? Amy and Macie's heads turn towards each other, revelation in the hint of their shared smiles.

"Because you hate what liking Finley means," Macie adds, tilting her head so that her eyes catch some stray light. The shine on her eyes reminds me of her vengeful determination the night I'd set out to kill Tobias.

"And you're afraid to be enthralled which is not unjustified. But I think, given everything," Amy nods to my hand, the one with the symbol on it. "You probably don't have to be anymore."

I nod sagely at Amy, pushing all the consequences of that thought from my mind. After all there are some things that haven't changed in all the Huntsmen drama. My mouth twists in an echo of the emotions flailing within me.

"I'm glad, at least, that I have you two on my side." I whisper. "I'd trade a score of Huntsmen like Finley for you." Macie leans forward so that I lose sight of all but the top of her head, her hands pressing down on mine in an almost hug. Amy nods, hair hiding her cheeks for second. She knocks my shoulder gently with a fist, as much of confession of friendship as any warmer gesture.

"We'll see you tomorrow, sport." Amy says, her voice all smiles. I mock salute, excited for what tomorrow means.