Chapter 225

#Chapter 225 – The Falls “Come on,” Victor urges, giving my rear an encouraging little pat. I grimace, suddenly anxious. It was so nice in this little cottage for a moment. Couldn’t we stay here a little longer, just being together?

But as if in answer, the last little magic mote floats out of the house.

No, it calls to me. Time to go.

I sigh, nodding, and stand up. Victor follows suit, putting his arm around me and pulling me close, letting me know he understands.

“It’s okay, mama,” Ian says, smiling up at me. “We’ll stay here. We’ll be safe.”

“Oh,” I say, looking up at Victor and then back down at the boys. “I don’t know – I think we should all go –“

But even as I say it, I know it’s wrong. The forest wants us. This is about Victor and me, after all. The ceremony that Victor and I started. We have to finish it, and apparently we have to do it alone.

“It’s okay, mom!” Alvin says, nodding encouragingly at me. “Look, the cottage wants us to stay! It put out new food, just for Ian and me!”

“No baby,” I start, turning towards the table to let him know that the dinner it put out was for Victor as well. “It –“

But I stop, my words stolen from me by my shock and awe. The table has changed again, covered now in an amazing display of desert. My jaw falls almost to the ground as I take in the six-layer cakes, the mountains of meringue, the piles of cookies and sweets and ice cream.

“Oh my god,” I murmur, shaking my head at all the sugar. “Oh my god, they’re going to go into a diabetic coma while we’re gone,” I whisper, putting my hands over my mouth.

Victor just laughs at me. “Hey, at least we won’t have to deal with the sugar rush,” he says casually, giving a little shrug.

“Awesome!” Ian shouts, running over to the table. Alvin follows him, shouting eagerly to stay away from the chocolate cake because it’s his. I open my mouth to protest, to tell them to go easy on it. But then I close my mouth and just lean back against Victor’s chest.

“Screw it,” I murmur. “If the forest wants them to gorge themselves on sweets, then so be it.”

“That’s the spirit,” Victor responds, pressing a kiss to my head. “Come on,” he urges, giving me a little push and looking towards the door. “Let’s say goodbye – I’m getting the feeling that we’re supposed to move fast.”

I nod and move swiftly to my boys, who are each already filling bowls with a ridiculous amount of cake.

“Okay, darlings,” I say, giving each a kiss on the head. “While we’re gone, you stay inside the house, okay?”

They both look at me and nod, soberly, knowing that it’s important to give me peace of mind while I leave them behind.

“No adventures,” I warn, my voice serious. “No running off, or turning into wolves, or anything. When we get back here, I want to find the two of you here, rested, alone, covered in chocolate syrup. No funny business. Okay?”

“Okay, mommy,” Alvin says, putting his plate down and coming to throw his arms around me. “Good luck,” he whispers in my ear as Ian runs to jump in Victor’s arms. “We love you.”

I give my sweet boy an extra squeeze and then move to Victor’s side, giving Ian a kiss before Victor places him back down on the ground. The boys dash off to the table, and I’m grateful, suddenly, that the cottage has given them such a tempting distraction. I don’t want them to have a tearful goodbye with their parents. Not when, realistically, this could be the last time…

“None of that,” Victor murmurs, taking my hand and squeezing it. I look up at him, my eyes full of tears.

He just shakes his head and I remember, suddenly, that our new connection gives him uncanny access to everything I’m feeling.

Trust, he says to me simply, placing the word in my mind. This is not the last time you will see your boys.

No, I say, pressing his hand with my own and glancing back at the boys. It can’t be. Because if I die, there will be no one to make them wash all that chocolate off of their faces. And they can’t go through life like that.

Victor laughs out loud at this, leaning down to press a warm kiss to my mouth. We linger like that for a moment before turning towards the door of the cottage. And then, together, we step out into the forest.

The magic is waiting, of course. Right at the head of a path that hadn’t been there an hour ago. And, as we watch, it slowly begins to drift down that dark trail, beckoning us to follow.

And so we do. Together, as Alpha and Luna, hands clasped, we place our trust in the magic.

And let it lead us to her.

We walk for what feels like an hour or two, though honestly, I wouldn’t place any bets that my estimation is right. Time moves differently here, drifting in and out. But we move steadily, following our instincts, full of hope, secure. Ready.

“What did it say,” I ask quietly after we’ve followed the magic for quite awhile through the darkness of the woods.

“Hmm?” Victor asks, still holding my hand, turning his head to me. “What did what say?”

“The note,” I reply, looking up at him. “Edgar’s note – the one he left us, with the instructions.”

“Oh,” Victor says, producing it from his back pocket. I smile to see it and wonder what impulse prompted him to put it there last night, or this morning, or whenever. It’s literally the only thing except our bodies and our clothes that came with us from our campsite forward into this part of the adventure.

Victor hands it to me, unfolded, and a helpful little magic mote comes floating over to give me light by which to read.

“Thank you,” I murmur to the mote, glancing at it, and then turning my attention back to the page. I begin to read aloud. “If you reach the falls you’ve gone too far…Look at midnight to find the path. When you reach it, wait. When you’re ready, she’ll find you.”

“Your ex,” Victor says, looking forward and shaking his head a little. “Why do you always have to go for the cryptic ones?”

I scoff at him, glaring a little. “My ex? He was your Beta,” I reply, which makes him smirk. “Seriously, though, what do you think it means?”

“I think,” Victor says quietly as a soft rushing sound begins to fill the air around us. “That we’re about to find out…”

I don’t reply, my eyes focusing now on a faint blue light ahead of us. We both hasten our steps, following the magic through the trees and eventually stepping into a gorgeous clearing.

The whole space is lit by the faint blue light of the moon. We can see it now, though we couldn’t before, hovering just above the line of the trees. Soft green grass grows around the edges of the clearing’s ground, which slopes ever-downward towards a wonderful fresh pool that rests precisely at the center.

Behind the pool, providing it with a persistent source of fresh water, is a beautiful cataract. A wide, pulsing rush of water over a cliff high above, crashing into the still water of the pool and filling the air at the far end of the clearing with a fine mist.

I take a moment to marvel at the incredible sight before me and then frown, glancing between the natural beauty of this place and the note in my hand.

“Wait,” I say, confused. “But if we’ve reached the falls…we’ve gone too far?”

Victor says nothing, simply looking around in awe.

“But how can we have gone too far?” I demand, raising my voice so that the forest can hear me. “The magic lead us here?” I crumple the note in my hand, frustrated, frowning around me.

But the forest gives me nothing.

Instead, as we watch, each one of the little motes of the magic that brought us here quietly blinks out of existence, leaving us alone by the side of the pool.

“Well,” Victor sighs, giving my hand a squeeze. “I think it’s all on us now to figure out the way.”

“Great,” I grunt, sarcastic.

But in reality? I feel totally, completely lost.

And worse? With the disappearance of the magic, I feel a sudden heaviness in my limbs that I haven’t felt since yesterday.

It would seem that the forest’s magic grace period is up. And Victor and I are again on borrowed time.