The Faerie Guardian

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

I tear back through the tunnel, shouting Nate’s name. I send my mind out, searching desperately. I don’t need one of Nate’s belongings in order to find him. I know him; the connection is already there. But for the first time ever, my mind comes up with nothing. Nothing.

It terrifies me.

I’m well and truly lost now. Ahead of me, the tunnel divides into two paths. A mirror hangs on the wall between them. Without looking into the mirror, I follow the path on the right. It curves slightly, then turns sharply to the left. It continues straight for a while, slopes uphill, then down, then a sharp turn to the right—and I’m standing in front of the fork with the mirror again.

Wait. That doesn’t make sense. How did I walk in a circle? I choose the path on the left this time. I walk in a straight line for what feels like ages before the path disappears around a corner—and ends up at the fork with the mirror.

I go left again, running now, and the path is completely different, and within minutes I’m back where I started.

“Stop it!” I scream out loud. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” I turn around and run back the way I came. I keep going. Going and going and going, and there’s no mirror anymore, just the light that bobs a few feet in front of me, and a voice singing somewhere in the distance.

 The voice is deep and rich, like velvet to my ears. I follow it, hoping that at the source of the voice is someone who knows what happened to Nate. The ball of light ahead of me never dims, which is strange. I spent a considerable amount of energy holding the water back earlier, and I used up magic to fight Angelica. And, of course, it took immense power to stun a creature as big as that troll. I should be exhausted now, my strength waning, my power diminishing.

I come to a complete stop as something registers in my mind. The griffin disc. Angelica must have told the truth about it containing power. How else would I still have strength? I continue forward once more, my mind ticking over the events of this evening. I think of the books I sent colliding into my shelf, and the glass ball I exploded in Tora’s library, and the light that nearly blinded Nate when we first arrived in this tunnel. All because I didn’t realize I had a booster pack of magic in my pocket.

My feet stop at the edge of a bare cavern. I’ve found the source of the voice: a centaur. The bottom part of his body is covered in sleek, copper-colored hair. It matches the hair on his head, which is tied neatly at the nape of his neck. He’s standing in the center of the empty space, facing a large stone that leans against the other side of the cavern. A shield is slung across his back.

“Excuse me,” I say, loud enough to be heard above his singing.

The abrupt silence rings in my ears. The centaur turns to me, and I see he’s carrying a sword in his hand. “Ah, you’ve answered my call,” he says. “I’ve been looking for you ever since you arrived here.”

“What?” I’m distracted, but only for a moment. “No, I need your help. It’s urgent. Have you seen—”

“You will come with me now.” He walks toward me, the clip-clop of his hooves echoing in the cavern.

“Stop.” I hold up my hands and place an invisible wall of magic between us. “If you’ve been looking for me, then you’ve also been looking for the boy I was with. Where is he?”

“You will come with me to the Silver Lady,” says the centaur. “She demands to see everyone who enters her labyrinth.”

“I don’t have time for this!” I shout, urgency boiling within me. I can’t remember the last time I cried, but I feel ridiculously close to tears right now. “If you know where he is, then tell me. If you don’t, I’d appreciate it if you’d get out of my way.”