Elixir by Ruth Vincent

Author:Ruth Vincent
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-03-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

I heard the slow sound of dripping water. There was a dull, throbbing pain at my tailbone and the skin on my knees felt burning and raw. I rolled over, groaning. Everything hurt. What the hell had happened to me? And then I remembered the fall . . .

The Elixir must have worn off by now, because all I could feel was pain. Slowly, I managed to sit up. Everything around me was still pitch-­black. I blinked, but it didn’t matter if my eyes were open or shut—­I was surrounded by darkness.

Where the hell was I? It didn’t seem like the Vale, but it was certainly no longer Times Square.

I heard a low, rumbling groan. It was Obadiah. My fingers reached out in the dark and connected with his. He squeezed my hand.

“Good, you’re alive,” I heard him mutter.

“Barely,” I said, rising to my feet, wincing as I moved. I must be covered in bruises.

My eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, and I could see the big, hulking shadow of him, staggering to his feet. Painfully, I moved towards him.

I reached my hands out to steady myself, and he caught me, helping me balance. My other hand brushed against a wall, its surface cool and smooth and slightly slick, like the skin of a frog. At first I recoiled, and then I reached out to touch it again, fascinated. As I drew my hand back, I could smell it on my fingers—­that crackle of a thunderstorm—­Elixir. . .

“Obadiah?” I asked, my heart pounding. “Are we in the Vale?”

“Sort of,” Obadiah said. “We’re in the subterranean passages. This is how I smuggle the Elixir,” he explained. “But yes, as soon as we get out of these passages you’ll be back home.”

Home!

A lump of joy was forming in my throat.

It had been so long since I’d been home. I couldn’t quite believe it was really happening.

“I never thought I’d be able to come back,” I said, my voice hushed with amazement.

I didn’t even know where I wanted to go first.

The thought of my old House Tree danced in my mind. I could still picture it—­all the knothole windows lit up in the enormous trunk, the clotheslines flapping like prayer flags in the breeze, the little fairy orphans playing up in the branches, throwing acorns at one another and laughing.

“I haven’t been home in twenty-­two years,” I said softly.

I could sleep in my old bed tonight—­fall asleep listening to the sap whooshing rhythmically through the trunk of the tree like a heartbeat. I felt warm and happy, and for a moment, I forgot all about the pain in my body, the stress of how much I needed to set right, the anxiety of what the future would bring.

I wondered if any of my old childhood playmates still lived at the House Tree. Surely Ursaline, my old bear nurse, would still be there? She’d be so glad to see me.

“Obadiah,” I asked, “after we find Eva, would you like to come

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