She knew the second they crossed through the portal from Phaedra, into the cave. All the heat from the desert disappeared in an instant, replaced by cold damp air.
It swirled around her legs and feet, colder than it had been when she had left with Seth.
“We made it.” The man did not sound relieved, though, as he pushed her forward. “This place is freezing.”
“How far do we take her?” the second woman asked, a shudder in her voice.
“As far as we can. She can’t find her way back.” The first woman pulled Cora’s upper arm. “Move.”
They came to a stop at what must have been the entrance to the cave, and a blast of cold air hit them.
“How did they even find this place?” the man asked.
“It’s awful,” the first woman commented.
They moved through the cave more slowly than they had through Phaedra, stopping short at the edge.
“How are we supposed to get down from here? Jump?” the second woman beside her.
“No. There’s a path here,” the man said from somewhere to her right.
They fell silent and all Cora could hear was the shuffling of feet on stone. Loose pebbles fell over the ledge near her feet, just in her line of sight. At the bottom, she could see nothing but snow.
“Alright, follow me,” the man called. “Watch out for that white stuff though. It’s ice cold!”
Cora braced herself for the snow on her feet as they pushed her along after the man. The path down was too narrow and covered with snow except for where the man had stepped, leaving footprints for them to follow. She was shivering by the time they reached level ground at the bottom. The wet snow covered her feet, sending cold throughout her whole body.
“Let’s hurry up and get this over with. I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to,” the second woman complained. Her voice came from just behind Cora.
“Which way?” the man asked, pausing.
“Just keep going. We want to get her as far away as we can and leave her there,” the first woman commanded.
They moved ahead at a painfully slow pace, leaving footprints in the snow. Cora wondered if they were feeling the cold the same way she was. If they were, surely they couldn’t take her much farther. They’re going to stop any minute, she kept thinking.
When they started uphill, the ground became harder to navigate, loose stones hidden beneath the snow threatened to bring them to the ground with every step.
A commotion behind her brought the procession to a stop.
“I’m fine,” the second woman called. “Just keep going.”
The very next step Cora took sent her to the ground. She landed hard on a rock that stabbed into her hip.
“Get up,” the man said gruffly, pulling her back to her feet by the arm.
The cry she let out was muffled by the fabric still covering her mouth.
“Keep going.” He pushed her forward, leaving no time to recover from the fall.
“Look,” the first woman said from right behind her. “That looks like a city. Stop here.”
They came to an abrupt halt and the hood was pulled back from Cora’s face.
She blinked hard against the bright light reflected off the snow. It stung her eyes, making them water all over again.
“There. We brought you home,” the first woman said, shoving her to the ground. “Now you can go back to your life here and our city can go back to normal.” She stood beside Cora with her hands on her hips, staring ahead at the looming city.
“What if she finds her way back?” the second woman wondered. “It won’t be hard with the tracks we left.”
The first woman scoffed. “She won’t. She knows she doesn’t belong in our world. Don’t you?” she waited a beat, as if she expected Cora to answer.
“What if he comes looking for her?” the second woman asked.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“He won’t,” the first woman responded shortly. “Even if he does decide to look for her, Idris will never find her here. The magic can’t travel this far.” Then she met Cora’s eyes with a stare as cold as the snow that surrounded them. “If we catch you back in our world, then next time we won’t be so nice.” A satisfied grin grew on her lips as she spoke. “Next time, we feed you to the Shadow-Walkers.”
Then she turned away from Cora, toward her companions. “Let’s get out of here. It’s freezing!”
The second woman cackled. “I’d hate to have to live in a place like this.”
Cora watched as they disappeared down the hill, wishing harm on all of them. As soon as they were out of sight, the cold came to the forefront of her mind. Their complaints had not been far off. If she stayed where she was, she would freeze to death before tomorrow came. Struggling against the bindings, she somehow managed to get her hands free. Red marks encircled her wrists, burning when they met the cold air.
As soon as her hands were free, she ripped the fabric from her mouth and threw it as hard as she could.
They were right. No one was going to find her. Seth wouldn’t even be back to visit his family for another year. Even he would forget about her.
She had known the time she had spent in Phaedra was too good to be true. Now, she kicked herself internally for believing it could be.
She pushed herself to her feet with a heavy heart, her cloak wet with snow. Snowflakes fell as she trudged into the city, hood half-heartedly draped over her head.
Her winter hideout would be around the other side of the city, above the library. The attic had a small hole in one wall, partially hidden by a tall tree. She looked around before scaling the tree, and let out a breath when she found the space empty. She crawled in and curled up, wrapping the cloak around her. Then, the tears fell.
She lay there on the hard wooden boards and stifled the sobs that shook her whole body. The draft that blew in through the hole chilled her wet cheeks, burning them red with cold.
When the tears finally stopped, she sat up, searching for something to cover the hole. In the past she had used an old board, and she found it shoved to the side right where she had left it. She propped it up to block the wind and took her cloak off.
A fresh wave of tears sprung forth at the sight of the metal band Idris had given her. It was no longer shiny gold, but had turned dull and gray. While it had stayed firmly in place in Phaedra, now it easily slid down her arm, landing with a clatter on the wood beside her. The woman had been right. The magic of Phaedra did not reach into this world.
Nobody would ever find her.
Cora had never thought of being on her own as a bad thing. Sure, there had been many times in her childhood that she had wished for a family like the ones she saw walking the market on sunny days, but she had learned quickly how to fend for herself.
The loneliness that surrounded her now, after finding herself in the presence of others who saw her as someone significant, bore down on her like boulders piled high. Their weight pressed her down to the floor. She curled up and draped the cloak over herself, shivering in the cold that seeped through the thin fabric.
She didn’t know how long she stayed up in the attic hole. The desire to move was crushed by the weight she felt pressing her down. Behind the board blocking the wind, she watched the clouds make way for the sun as the snow stopped falling. She watched the shadows shift as it moved across the sky.
The night went on for what felt like an eternity. Warmth from the library below barely reached her through the boards beneath her and she shivered violently until her body ached.
By the time the sun rose, chasing away some of the bitter cold, she felt exhausted. Her stomach twisted with hunger pangs, and she knew she needed to find warmer coverings as well.
Waiting until she heard the din of busy streets, she left her hiding place, covered by the cloak, and headed for the market street. The crowded city teemed with shoppers and sellers, all in a hurry to get what they needed and get out of the cold. Everywhere she looked, people wore heavy winter coats and hats, boots and scarves.
No one noticed the girl in the dark cloak walking alone.
Stealing from stands was a quick way to get food, but it was also a quick way to get caught. She considered picking pockets, but her hands still shook from cold and her numb fingers would likely drop what she grabbed before she could get away. The third option would have to do.
Slipping into an alley, she walked past wooden crates stacked high and filled with jars. She reached up and took one out, opening it to smell its contents. Soup. She slipped it under her cloak and moved toward the next pile of crates. It held the same thing so she grabbed another jar to go with the first. What she really needed was warmth, but warm things would not be stored in crates outside.
She headed for the back corner of the alley, startling a boy who looked quite a bit younger than she was. He had his own jar, half gone already, and watched her with suspicion as she sank to the ground.
The soup was cold but delicious and she drank half the can before the boy had finished his. She forced herself to stop and put the lid back on. Hunger would be back, stronger, later and she knew from experience that it was best to eat small amounts at a time to avoid getting sick.
Avoiding eye contact, she stood and tucked the jar back under her cloak. Then she hurried from the alley, checking for signs that she had been noticed. When she saw none, she made her way down the street, merging with the crowd as she did.
Finding something warm proved easier than expected. A laundry line hung across an alley, filled with clothes. The line bounced, lightened when she took the coat from one end. It was not entirely dry, and clearly intended for someone larger than her, but she was not about to be picky. She threw it over her shoulders and left the alley as quickly as she could. The missing coat would be noticed much more quickly than the cans she had taken from the crates.
Merging with the crowd once again, she made her way back toward the library, ducking down side streets to avoid being noticed.
She managed, by some sort of miracle, to get back to her hideout without incident. Inside the shelter of the hole in the library, she opened the jar once more and drank another quarter of the soup. Stomach full, she replaced the lid and closed her eyes. Behind her lids, she could see the kitchen where Seth had brought her when they had first arrived and the market where more foods than she had seen anywhere else could be found, and the table she had shared with Idris.
She did not bother to try to stop the tears that slid down her face.