Chapter 18

The Straight and Narrow

The path curves away into the trees, fading gradually into the twilight. It twists and turns unnecessarily veering first left then almost doubling back on itself.

I point ahead with my foil. “We should just cut across.”

Alice shakes her head. “No. I don’t think that’s wise. Let’s stick to the path.”

“But we can save ourselves a tonne of time.”

She stops and looks at me. “Remember when I told you Dad used to say sometimes it’s better to walk the longer more interesting path?”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t talking about an actual path, was he?”

She bites her lip. “Maybe not. But I get the feeling that here in Fae actual things and other things might be one and the same.”

I nod, but there’s still a strange urge pulling at my insides, a hook in my heart that wants to yank me from the path.

As we walk on the trees become bare and blasted. They twist upwards, gnarled and vicious looking. Vines wrap around, strangling them, the ends dangling down like fingers about to grab us.

Alice grimaces. “I used to like fairies when I was younger. This isn’t where I imagined they’d live.”

I look up and gasp.

The creepy castle is much closer now than it should be. It towers above us.

My insides feel like they’re being pulled backwards through me.

From here on the path starts to rise. Our shoes slip and scrape as we push our way up, my leg muscles tight.

The strangled trees line the path as it snakes up towards the castle, bending first one way, then almost straight back on itself, twisting endlessly. The vines hang down, thick and matted, from every branch: obscuring what’s behind them, like the ribbon door Gran has in her kitchen. But there’s no colour, just a greyness that reminds me of old, rotten food.

The feeling from before grabs my heart in its fist, tugs. My feet veer towards the edge of the path and I wobble uncertainly on my legs. Reaching out my hand I shift the vines to one side and look through. It’s just bare earth before the path snakes back on itself. Alice is a few steps ahead.

In an instant I’ve made the choice. I sheath my foil in its scabbard before stepping through.

Everything goes into slow motion.

The earth falls away leaving my foot hovering over an abyss so deep and dark I can’t see the bottom. My weight is all forwards and I grab wildly behind me, just managing to curl my fingers around a vine. A gasp escapes me.

I stare into the abyss, one foot on solid ground, the rest of me dangling uncertainly.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The scrape and crack of stone makes my head snap up. The pathway is shattering, a crack like a huge lightning bolt snaking its way towards Alice.

Eyes wide she straddles the path as the crack passes underneath. “Brad! What did you do?”

My fingers grip the vine, its hard bark biting into my skin. I swing out further over the abyss and warm air wafts upwards, a gentle rush that seems to contain a voice: old, slow and hungry. My stomach contracts as I look down one last time into the nothingness below me then give an almighty tug and heave myself back to the path.

Pirouetting like a ballerina I spin around, find a safe bit of ground and leap, landing hard on solid ground.

I breathe out heavily. That was close.

The path has splintered between me and Alice. The chunk she’s on has tilted over slightly and she’s balancing, legs spread, arms out. I tiptoe towards the edge that separates us. “It’s too big. I can’t jump that.”

A huge, gnarled tree leans over the gap, its huge branches directly parallel with it.

“I told you to stay on the path!”

“There’s something in there.” I point to the crack.

“What do you mean?”

“I heard something. A voice, I think, and then warm air floated up.”

She steps closer to the edge and holds out a hand. “I can’t feel anything.”

“I felt something, honestly!”

Her expression softens. “I believe you. But let’s get the heck out of here first.”

The ground creaks and groans as a tremor passes under us. Some loose rocks shear off and drop into the crack. I wait for the impact at the bottom, but it doesn’t come.

How deep is it?

Alice cups her hands around her mouth and yells. “We need to get you out of there.” She looks around, then down at her sword. “Cut one of the vines and tie it to that branch. You can swing across.”

“This isn’t Star Wars, Alice.”

“Yeah, and I’m not Princess Leia. I can save myself thank you very much!”

Despite everything I grin.

A huge chunk of stone drops away close to my feet, and I skitter back.

Alice’s eyes meet mine. “You can do this,” she says. “Focus.”

A steel ball seems to form in my stomach. Strong to the core.

I check the vines near me, find one that’s thick and sturdy but still twists. I draw my foil then pull the vine tight. “Nexum proxi futuro est.”

Bringing the foil across I slice at the vine and pull. It comes away easily.

Alice nods. “Go Brad.”

Slipping my foil back into its scabbard I tie the vine to the tree branch with a reef knot, thankful that Josh talked me into going to Scout camp with him before we left for Bledgley.

I pull back on the vine with all my weight. The tree creaks a little, but everything holds and a spark of hope ignites in my belly. I heave a few times more until I’m sure nothing will break then wrap the end of the vine around my wrist and hold tight with the other hand.

“This is going to work, B,” Alice says. Her eyes stay locked onto mine and I feel strength flow into me. She points a finger at her own eyes. “Look here. At me.”

I stare back at her, take a deep breath, then run. The cracked edge of the stone comes ever closer. Everything in me is screaming ‘Stop’ but I keep looking at Alice, keep my fingers tight on the vine and jump, swinging my legs upwards. There’s a jolt in my shoulder as the vine tightens. The branch holding all my weight gives a sickening creak. My stomach drops into the abyss. Alice seems frozen, her arms out towards me and then her hands close around my ankles and for a second, I’m horizontal.

“Let go,” she yells.

My fingers feel stiff as I open them and I yell out as I fall, a second later hitting the solid ground on the other side of the chasm.

I made it.

Alice’s arms close around me. “We did it.”

I stop for a moment and just breathe. Before tapping her arm gently. “Thank you.”

The sound of tinkling glass fills the air, buzzes through me. Everything stops for a moment and then there’s a blinding flash of light. Alice screams beside me as I throw my arms up to shield my eyes.

When I remove it the path is no longer broken, and where the gaping abyss was, there’s mud again. My heart thuds wildly. “What the cack-monkey just happened?”

“Brad…” Alice whispers. She points up towards the castle.

The path towards it no longer twists upwards. Now, it’s straight as a ruler.

“Looks like we’re on the straight and narrow, Alice.”

She frowns. “What’s that mean?”

“Mum says it all the time. I think it means we’re doing the right thing.”

She clicks her fingers. “Maybe I was right about this place, maybe it does all mean something.”

I push myself up. “Yeah, maybe. Come on. De Silva’s in there somewhere. Let’s do what we came here to do.”