Smoke Rising: Book III

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"See me, why?"

"He wouldn't say. He's been... different lately. Distracted."

"Is he okay?" I shouldn't care. I don't care. But if he is not himself, that could mean the magic he took from me is affecting him negatively, and since he's the ruler of an entire continent, he can't afford to make mistakes. He can't afford to slip into madness the way that Eli almost did.

"Um, I'm not sure... is it safe to track you?"

I look around. There's no way anyone would be able to find Shadow Valley from this location. Not unless they were really trying.

"Who will you be sending?"

"Theo."

"That's fine."

"He can be there in twelve hours."

Alarms go off in my head. "Give me twenty-four." I don't mean to sound so panicked. "Please."

"Whatever you say, Princess."

Same old Mateo.

"Thank you," I whisper, and the stone's glow begins to dim.

"It's good to hear your voice Em. I'll see you soon."

The rock returns to its normal magical color, and my heart is beating so hard in my chest I can hear the blood slamming against my ears.

Twenty-four hours. That's all I have left.

This is a good thing, I think to myself. The faster I get out of here, the easier it will be to go. The sooner I can start my mission.

But I'm not afraid of the mission. I'm not even really afraid to leave Ella, though it does make me sad. More than anything, I think I'm afraid of fighting, not because I don't want to, but because I know my mother and Luke won't be the last people I lose if I go after the Chancellor. And I don't know if I can survive losing anyone else.

After putting the calling stone back into the pouch and placing it under the flat rock, I begin jogging around the mountain side. Looking to the right, thousands of trees arch downward. This high in the mountain, the air is cooler and thinner. But to my left, the mountain juts upward, the trees thinning, pine scattered among the rock. Through the darkness, I can barely make out the top of the mountain, a white and grey peak that bites into the clouds.

The paths along the way are uneven and dangerous. There are small cliffs I have to climb, but having been this way before, I'm prepared for it. I use the branches from the pine trees to help myself climb, holes I've dug out in the dirt slopes to keep myself from slipping. I'be even strung a couple of vines together in one spot to use to get over one ledge. By the time I reach the road leading to Shadow Valley, I'm covered in dirt, leaves, and pine needles. I brush myself off as I start down the road.

It's quiet tonight. There's an owl hooting in the distance, but the wind has settled and the sound of the river that runs through the mountain has long faded. When I reach the stone wall where the hidden entrance is located, I have to climb up the rocks to the top, and slip through the small opening above the hidden tunnel. Shadow Casters can slip through the cracks in their Shadow form and pull the lever on the other side to reveal the opening. But for a normal, boring human, it's a little more difficult. The opening at the top is barely wide enough for me to squeeze through, and last time I did it, I was covered in a blanket of spider webs. Thankfully this time, the webs have already been cleared.

My feet hit the stone ground with a thud, and I fall forward onto my hands. The pain in my ankle tells me I've landed wrong, but I try and ignore it. If it still hurts tomorrow night, I'll just have Theo heal me. For now, I limp down the road, my hands guiding me as they move over the stone wall in the darkness. I can't see anything, not even my own two feet until I step out of the tunnel and reach Shadow valley.

Everyone has gone to bed for the night, even the older kids who like to sneak out and go for swims in the middle of the night. I've managed to slip away and back in undetected for the fifth time, thankfully.

I make my way through the field that turns to grass and dirt. I was told that during farming season, the fields on either side of the grass-dirt path are filled with crops—corn, peppers, beans, tomatoes, and more. But right now, in the middle of Winter, even in the Southwest, very little is grown. A few blocks of carrots, onions, cabbage, spinach, and broccoli, just to get the people here through the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

As soon as I step onto the bridge, a cool breeze finds my bones. But there is rarely wind in this small valley surrounded by mountain stone. Which means either somehow the wind picked up outside and is pouring in through the top of the valley, or—

"Emery," Evelyn's voice causes a sickness to wash through my stomach. "Where have you been?"

She lands in a cloud of black-yellow smoke in front of me on the bridge, wearing her usual long, blue knitted sweater and brown slacks.

"I—" I need to come up with a lie, and fast. "I was just going for a walk."

Her expression doesn't change from friendly curiosity. "A walk outside the valley?" She cocks an eyebrow, staring me down until I break.

"Yes—well, no—just through the tunnel." I throw a thumb over my shoulder towards the road.

Her chin rocks back as she looks down her nose at me. "And swimming down the river earlier, I suppose you just went for a swim?"

She saw me leave down the river... did she wait for me to get back? Did she follow me? If she had, surely she would have stopped me from calling Mateo.

"Yes. Then I went for a walk."

It is clear that she doesn't believe me. "Eli was upset when I saw him earlier... wouldn't tell me why. Do you have any idea?"

I shrug too fast, and try to walk past her. "I'm really tired. If you don't mind, I'm going to go to—"

"Emery." Her hand lands on my shoulder, pulling me back. "You need to tell me who you just spoke to on that calling stone, or we're going to have problems."