Smells Like Finn Spirit by Randy Henderson

Author:Randy Henderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan Books

22

TWO PRINCES

We stepped out of a gray stone trilithon onto a grassy hill at the edge of an emerald lake. From the center of the lake rose shining white cliffs, and atop those cliffs stood the gleaming castle of the Silver Court.

Dawn and I looked at each other for a minute, then grabbed each other in a hug, holding each other as close as we could.

Now that we were free, or at least free of the Shadows Demesne, I could admit the fear of losing Dawn forever that had been looming over me since our arrival in the Other Realm. We were not yet free, but for the first time I had real hope we might both get out of this alive, hope that wasn’t one-half self-deception, one-quarter false bravado, and one-quarter gut-wrenching guilt.

We finally stepped apart. Dawn looked behind us at the trilithon, the portal now gone.

“That was surprising,” she said.

“What? That we survived?” I asked.

“That Odysseus helped us like that for Aly’s girlfriend.”

“I don’t know,” I replied as I examined the trilithon for convenient written instructions or a big shiny Portal button. “Maybe the Odysseus part of him remembers what it was like to be parted from his love for decades, and sympathized with Alynon.”

The trilithon held no clues as to how to reopen a portal within it, let alone open a portal back to Earth. Damn.

“Maybe,” Dawn said, looking up at the castle on the cliffs. “I assume that’s not just a model. So how do we get up there? Or do we even want to?”

“I think we do,” I said. “We still need to find Fatima, and figure out what is being done with the exiles, why the Shadows are sending them to the Silver Court, and how to stop them from becoming weapons.”

“Do we?” Dawn asked. “Not to be selfish, but now that we know Fatima’s with the good guys, can’t we just go back home and send them a warning? Won’t they send her back once they know?”

“That’s not selfish,” I said. “If I could send you home, I would. But I don’t know how to open a portal from this side.”

“Send me home?”

I sighed. “I need to find Fatima, to free her. It’s my fault as much as anyone’s that she’s here. And I just can’t face Sammy again unless I have Fatima with me. That is selfish, I know, but—”

“Well then,” Dawn said. “On to Camelot then.” She began marching, and sang, “Weeee’re … knights of the round table!”

I watched her a second, taking the moment to appreciate how lucky I truly was. Then I sprinted to catch up with her, singing, “Let’s hope this isn’t fatal.” And with that, we began our hike down toward the lake, singing increasingly ridiculous lines as we went, our voices sending ripples out through the ether of the Other Realm. Which, I thought, would also serve as a warning of our approach to any Fey we encountered.

Yet nobody appeared as we crossed the shining white

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