A warm pegasus nose bashes me in the face, waking me in the most familiar of ways. Lenox is back. I sit up in a rush and accidentally whack him in the muzzle with my nose. He throws his head up.
"Oh, so you don't like when I do it to you."
I wrap my arms around his furry neck and squeeze. "I love you so much. I'm sorry I'm the reason you're dead. I would give anything, seriously Lenox, anything to have you back. If I could trade years of my life, or an arm, or whatever to undo this, I would do it without a thought."
His nose taps my shoulder as he chews on my hair. I push away. "I'm trying to have a moment. Could you please cooperate?"
He runs his muzzle through my hair. I laugh because he's funny and sweet. "I understand the elf party now. This is how I need to remember you. How you lived, not how you died? You were my first friend. You were the first one I ever loved. And you were the first one I ever told that too. I miss you, and I will love you forever."
I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him tight, but I'm waking up. Reality is setting in like a nightmare. "Goodbye, my beautiful boy."
My eyes fly open. I'm in the woods. Jonah's staring at me. There's Carfron sleeping by the fire, or more correctly, in the fire. His entire left foot is in the flames.
"How are you?" I hear the concern Jonah's trying to mask. Could he sense my dream?
"Hungry," is the only word that comes to mind. I'm still dazed but not sleepy. I'm so energized I could run home. Jonah tosses me a biscuit. "Lenox visited me last night." It's the first time I can say his name with a smile. "I'm glad I know what happened to him. When my hope of finding him vanished, it was like my soul was leaving, but now...I don't know."
"I wish I was better with words." I stuff the biscuit in my mouth and talk while I chew. "I don't think that was a dream. He came to see me to make sure I'd be okay. To remind me of who he was and get me back to who I am. I can't explain it, but it was too detailed and too vivid to be a dream."
Jonah smiles at me. "I'm glad he came to check on you. I was hoping he would. Does it give you peace?"
"Yes!" I shout, waking up Carfron. "That's it. That's what I have, peace...Oh, wait, Enjoyment in peace be upon you. I get it. I thought it was just a bunch of words that didn't translate well, but I understand now. This is the feeling I should be striving for, not happiness and joy and stuff, but peace. Something really awful happened, but it's okay. I'm at peace with it. So it's not just be in peace but enjoy it. Strive for it. Wow."
"Do you feel better?" Jonah asks.
"I feel lighter."
Jonah tosses me another biscuit. He's exceptionally quiet.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yes, I'm happy for you."
"You don't look happy."
"What's Carfron doing?"
I look at him, and that prompts him to speak. "We need to fly."
"He just woke up, but he says we need to fly."
"He was asleep during your exchange with Lenox?" Jonah asks, then shrugs. "Well, are you ready to fly back?"
A moment of panic passes through my body. "I don't think I should leave Lenox. Can we take him back with us?"
"No. He's at rest here," Jonah answers. "I could make arrangements to bring him back, but we can't take him with us."
"Oh, maybe I should leave him here. Maybe he'd like to be with family at home. I could visit him and stuff, but maybe I wouldn't visit as often as I should, and he's better off here."
"You don't have to make a decision now. We can't take him. Until we get back to Cromsmead, there's no point in trying to decide."
"I want him home," I say with conviction. "He shouldn't be resting in the place where something bad happened to him."
"Very well. I'll make the arrangements when we get back."
I pick some wildflowers and lay them on his grave. "Goodbye, Buddy. We're going to come back and get you real soon. You'll be home before you know it."
I have to call Gretchen. It's a betrayal. I've replaced him. I even use his whistle to call her. "I'm sorry, Buddy. She's not you."
Gretchen is in front of me within seconds. She's covered in leaves and flowers. "What were you doing? You're a mess. Let's clean you up before everyone sees you." I scold her, but I'm smiling. She's like a silly dog that does stupid things that make me laugh.
I pull a lot of the debris out of her feathers and smooth down her mane, or do I call it a crest? "Are you ready to go girl?" She doesn't respond. She does whatever I ask because that's what she's trained to do.
We fly all day with only a few short breaks. Carfron's surprisingly quiet, and so is Jonah. Something is bothering him, but he won't say what. I hate when he does that. It's clearly about Carfron, and he's definitely going to tell Dathid and Solara immediately.
Turns out I'm wrong. Jonah sits beside me and asks me where Carfron is as soon as we're back.
"He's only a few steps away. What's up with you?" I ask.
"I'm working on a theory, but I don't know anything yet. I'm not being quiet because I'm upset. I'm thinking. Be careful what you focus on. You should sleep as best you can."
I have no idea what he's saying. He's talking in code because he doesn't want Carfron listening. Jonah often speaks in riddles when he's trying to be clear, and now that he's purposefully trying to be sketchy, I'm lost. I understood sleep well. I'll go do that.
The faeries brought tents resembling colorful bushes that expand to a small dome shape. I climb in and sink into spongy moss. I collapse face down in its fluffy softness, and the moss grows over me like a cushy sleeping bag. The dome is just branches—Dathid's standing outside giving the bush tent instructions.
I get a small surge of frustration. "Hey! Why haven't we had..." the bush blooms into a thousand tiny white flowers. And I'm encased in darkness. It was so sudden that I get a little scared.
"I need light," I yell to Dathid, and small berries glow dim at first but gradually get brighter until the tent is fully eliminated. "Can you turn it down a bit?" The berries dim their light.
I wake up to find Solara and Faphee asleep next to me. It's dark in the tent, even though it's sunny outside. I lay back and rest my head on the pillowy moss. The quiet is nice.
I didn't have a nightmare last night. The last time I slept this soundly was in the Chimnocki village. That was ages ago. That was a different person ago. I miss the person I used to be. Young and stupid. I didn't know how wonderfully naiveté was until I lost it. Ignorance is bliss. Unfortunately, only with wisdom could I understand that.
I am older and wiser than that girl. I wish I would've known the price of wisdom. I wouldn't have paid it. What would life have been like if I hadn't gone with Jonah? That was so stupid of me to leave in the first place. I can't believe I hopped on a subway with a creature I just met. He was demonic looking and everything.
I could've gone back to Auntie. She would've forgiven me. I would've tried to read the Orb and failed. And then what? Now that I know Auntie was my prison guard, I have to admit she was a good one. What made her collect garbage? I wonder what she would've been like if she had a family of her own. Did I keep her from having that happiness? Is that why she was so angry? Sometimes I miss her and Uncle, but I never saw him much. I miss the idea of him.
It's been a long time since I could lie in bed with my thoughts in the morning. I am enjoying my solitude until Faphee gets up.
"Good morning," she croaks while stretching.
Faeries even wake up perfect. Her movement rouses Solara, who bolts upright and stares wide-eyed at the two of us.
"Well, I tried it," she says, sounding fully awake. "I don't enjoy sleeping in the dark. It's unnatural and disturbing."
"So is sleeping on the ground," Faphee says.
Solara moves to the wall of the tent. "How do I get out of this thing?" she says. She usually wakes grumpy, but today her mood is foul.
Faphee asks the tent to make a door, and it obliges. The inpouring of sunlight blinds the three of us, and Solara's mood worsens. Solara leaps through the hole as if she's escaping. Her night was clearly more distressing than she's letting on. Faphee follows her out. I'm still encased in moss, not wanting to move. I love this tent. I'm glad I didn't have one until now because if I did, I would have never known how wonderful it is to sleep under a pegasus wing.
I'm alone. I sit up and scan the tiny tent. "Carfron?"
He pops his head through the opening. "Good Morning," he says with a ridiculous grin taking up too much of his face. "We need to fly."
I crawl out of the tent. Dathid's there holding a cup of breakfast. "What did he say?"
"The same thing he always says. We need to fly."
"Did he give you any indication about how he knew where Lenox was?"
A shiver runs down my spine. I was wondering the same thing, but I didn't want to voice it. I'm obviously not hallucinating. I would've never looked for Lenox where we found him. He's also not part of the Orb because finding Lenox has nothing to do with finding the key. I don't say any of this to Dathid. Instead, I shake my head. "Nope."
We're in the air soon after that. We're flying home. This doesn't make sense. Why did we do this?