Hidden Realm by Melissa McShane

Author:Melissa McShane [McShane, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The following Thursday, Malcolm steered the land yacht along the road paralleling the Washougal River. I’d let him drive in case the oracle felt like chiming in with a spontaneous prophecy, but now I felt glad I’d made that decision for other reasons, because the drive was beautiful. The river ran low and fast, surrounded by trees, making me wish wading was an option. The car’s robust air conditioning kept us comfortable, but the sun heated the window glass, reminding me that it was another unnaturally hot summer day.

On the other side, a cliff wall covered in chicken wire loomed up, with long-limbed shrubs clinging to its base. I didn’t know what the chicken wire was for, though I’d seen similar setups on the coast and guessed someone was concerned about erosion. It gave the cliffs a comical look, like cafeteria workers the size of office buildings in hair nets big enough to drag the ocean floor for fish.

“Almost there,” Malcolm said, glancing at the onboard map. I sat up and looked ahead to where a side road branched off the two-lane road I couldn’t bring myself to call a highway. This was as far as the map could take us. Cassie had said she would meet us at the end of this road and lead us the rest of the way.

In the back seat, Viv stretched and yawned. I heard her big Tinker Bell bag make a dull clink as her movement shifted it and its glass contents. Jeremiah, beside her, said, “This is pretty far out of the way, but there are still houses. I wouldn’t call it wilderness.”

“I guess Cassie’s definition of wilderness isn’t the same,” I said. Two cars passed us going the other way. “She said slips couldn’t exist in a city, so maybe that’s the key.”

Malcolm made the turn onto the side road. Immediately, the land yacht’s smooth ride roughened, bouncing us along the irregular surface of the unpaved road. I put a hand on the door to steady myself. On we drove, gradually rising until the cliffside had vanished and we were surrounded by trees that grew within a foot of where we passed. Their emerald leaves brushed the windows with the faintest scratching sound I could only hear because my head was so close to the door.

The road took a few winding turns, growing ever narrower, until I started to worry that we’d have to reverse all the way back to the main road. Then, as abruptly as a cork popping out of a bottle, we shot through the narrowest gap yet and into a clearing big enough for ten land yachts. It was unexpected enough I gasped.

The only other vehicle in the clearing was the big blue pickup I’d seen in the adepts’ garage. Gabriel was sitting in the driver’s seat with the window rolled down. Beyond him, I could barely see Cassie, and Milo sat behind Gabriel. They watched us come to a stop a short distance away, then got out.

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