Tangled Souls by Denise D. Young

Author:Denise D. Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Denise D. Young
Published: 2021-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Evan

Hex didn’t lead us to a road or even a path. Instead, we traveled down the snowy mountain to a narrow valley where icicles dripped from leafless trees.

Despite the perpetual state of winter, strange flowers blossomed, deep green leaves and red and blue blooms against the snowy forest floor. And fruit still clung to some of the trees, deep red apples coated with ice waiting to be plucked by passersby.

An uneasiness came over me, as though, in all the wintry stillness, some darkness waited.

Something my father had said to me floated through my mind, but I gritted my teeth, forcing my mind away from the unpleasant encounter with dear old dad.

“So, uh, this wise woman?” I asked Hex, who was far ahead of us, zipping through the ice-coated tree branches. “What’s she like?”

“Ember is beautiful and wise,” he said, mid-somersault. “Old as time, some say—or at least, her magic is, passed down from one fae woman to the next. She has lived in realms of all four seasons, and when her time came to take up the mantle of wisdom, she came here, to the Winter Realm. It is the land of the crone’s wisdom, a place of stillness and deep knowing, she says. You will like her.”

Damn. I still didn’t want to trust the little bugger, but he was, well, sort of endearing, in a funny-looking sort of way. Like one of those dogs at the shelter that’s a mix of so many breeds that it’s strange and adorable at the same time.

I made a mental note not to say that out loud.

“How much further?” Bailee asked. “It’s free-eee-zing.” Her teeth chattered as she spoke, as if unintentionally driving home the point.

Hex frowned, slowing down and waiting for us. “I don’t know. I’ve never measured it. Next time I’ll count the trees as I pass them by, then I’ll know.” He hovered beside Bailee.

“If you’re cold, why don’t you have him conjure you something?” The frost goblin proceeded to glare at me, as if a decent person would’ve already conjured his companion a mink coat long ago.

“Um, what?” I asked.

Bailee looked at me and gave me a hopeful smile. “Vi conjured lightning.”

“In a life or death situation,” I pointed out. “I don’t think I can make clothing magically appear.”

“Part fae, and yet you haven’t mastered the simplest of fae abilities?” Hex said. “The oldest among us can conjure entire worlds, you know.”

Bailee looked at him. “Could you teach Evan how to conjure? He’s new to using his fae abilities.”

Hex eyed me, daggers of suspicion in that look. Bailee had won him over, but he still wasn’t one-hundred percent keen on me.

I sighed. “Please?”

He frowned, landing on a gnarled branch and crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure you want to learn. Maybe you don’t like being part faerie.”

Bailee remained silent, but her look said that she thought Hex was on to something. Generally, with Bailee, that silence meant something to the effect of “well, he has a point.

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