Fee sports a huge grin. “I feel it. I feel it!”
As I watch, a shimmering breastplate appears over her nightclothes. Her hair hangs long and free. Strapped to her arm is a crossbow. On the other is a falcon. “Oh, if those dowagers could see me now!” She adopts an imperious tone. “I’m afraid, Lady Ramsbottom, that if you should sneer at me once more, I shall have to allow my falcon to eat you.”
Ann looks at me hopefully.
“Here, give me your hands,” I say.
A moment later, Ann holds her arms out in front of her as if she can’t believe the miracle of her own skin. Tears stream down her face.
“I feel alive again,” she says, laughing through them. “I was so dead inside, but now…Oh, don’t you feel it?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say, thrilled. “Yes!”
Ann gives herself a medieval gown of spun gold. She looks the part of a princess in a fairy tale.
“Ann, you’re beautiful!” I call. I never want this night to end.
Felicity lets the falcon go. It soars higher and higher, making daring loops. It is free, and even the sky cannot stop it.
The river announces the arrival of something new. A great ship creaks upon the water. Along the bow is a massive fearsome creature with a green face, yellow eyes, and a head full of hissing snakes. The gorgon! I run to greet her, waving wildly.
“Gorgon!” I call. “Gorgon, it is I, Gemma! We’ve returned!”
“Greetings, Most High,” she answers in her slithery, whisper-thick voice. Her eyes register neither surprise nor happiness. She nestles into the grassy shore and lowers her plank, allowing me to clamber on board. The ship’s planks are a seaworn gray. Along the sides hang nets of silver and a tangle of ropes. The boat is large but dingy. Centuries ago, the once-proud warrior was joined to this ship as punishment for her part in a rebellion against the Order. She is free to leave it now, but she hasn’t yet. “We had expected you sooner.”
“I’ve not been able to enter the realms since I saw you last. I feared I’d never return. But we’re here now, and oh, Gorgon, you’re well? Of course you’re well!” I’m overcome with happiness, for the magic has returned to me. I feel it setting my blood aflame. Yes, we’ve come back to the realms at last. We’ve come home.
I venture onto the bow, taking a perch very near Gorgon’s giant green face. The snakes about her head slither back and forth, watching me, but they make no move to strike.
Gorgon’s eyes narrow as she looks out to the horizon. “The realms have been strangely quiet these days. I’ve heard nothing from the Winterlands creatures.”
“I should think that is good news.”
“I wonder…,” Gorgon murmurs.
“And what of Pippa?” I ask, out of Fee and Ann’s earshot. “Have you seen her anywhere?”
“No,” Gorgon answers, and I don’t know if I am relieved to hear it—or afraid. “I am ill at ease, Most High. I’ve not passed so many days without a single sign from those creatures.”
The air is scented with blossoms. The river sings pleasantly, as always. The magic sparks in my veins with such sweet ferocity that it is impossible to imagine that anything shall ever be amiss again.
“Perhaps they’ve gone,” I say. “Or crossed over at last.”
The snakes rise and coil atop Gorgon’s massive head, their pink tongues snapping into and out of their small cruel mouths. “I’ve seen no souls crossing the river.”
“That doesn’t mean they didn’t go. And it’s quite possible none needed assistance.”
“Perhaps,” Gorgon hisses, but the worry does not leave her face. “There are other matters at hand. Philon is asking after you. The forest folk have not forgotten your promise to form an alliance with them, to join hands at the Temple and share the magic. Shall I take you to them now?”
I’ve not been in the realms a half hour, and already I am burdened with obligations. “I think…” I look over at my friends scooping up handfuls of flowers and hurling them into the sky, where they fall in flakes of silver. “Not just yet.”
Gorgon’s yellow eyes stare through me. “You do not wish to part with the magic?”
I hop down and gaze at my reflection in the pleasant surface of the river. It stares back at me, waiting. Even it has expectations, it would seem. “Gorgon, I thought I’d lost everything. I’ve only just returned. I need to explore the realms and the magic, to sort out the best course,” I say slowly, thinking out loud. “And I’ve need of it in my world, too. I should like to help my friends, to change our lives while we can.”