Glints of light bounced off the walls from the glittering black chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Black and white stripes were painted on the walls, which was a nice change from just solid black.
“Are none of you going to have a drink?” Goji asked, gesturing to the small table by the door, adorned with wine glasses and bottles of wine.
“Don’t need to tell me twice.” Driscoll rose and strode across the room, pouring a drink for himself.
He returned and fell back onto the couch, peering at Goji. “So what happened to you?”
Leoni and Driscoll had told me a little bit about Goji. Mainly that she’d died. Sacrificed herself to save their friends. Yet here she was: clearly alive.
Goji drained her glass, looking out the open doorway and biting the inside of her cheek. “There’s really not much to tell. I was dying. I’d used almost all my magic to give Gabrielle and Bastian a chance to escape. Master Kairoth found me, brought me to his castle, nursed me back to health.”
I’d read somewhere that the pixie’s lives were connected to their magic. Every time they used their magic, their life force drained away.
“So you can’t use your magic?”I asked.
Goji got up, filled her glass, then came back and sat in her chair. “No,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “I have a very small amount left. Once all our magic is gone, so is our life force. Simply put, if I use the small amount of magic I have left, I will die..”
“Did he punish you?” Driscoll asked. “For letting Bastian and Gabrielle get away like that?”
She raised her chin, and my anger flared at the thought of him hurting her for doing the right thing. For helping people escape his awful island.
“No,” she finally said, and I wondered if she was lying, covering for him for some reason. Maybe she was afraid she’d get in trouble if this conversation somehow got back to him. “But he was disappointed. He trusted me. Not something Master Kairoth does easily, and I betrayed that trust.”
“But you saved my best friend,” Leoni said. “Saved the love of her life.”
Goji winced at that, and Driscoll elbowed Leoni. I wasn’t sure what that was about.
“Yes, well, I’m glad they’re happy together.” Goji took another long drink. “I did the right thing, saving them. But I wished it didn’t come at the expense of hurting Master Kairoth. He didn’t deserve that. Not after everything else he’s been through.”
I peered at her, wondering what that meant. Was she brainwashed or was she being genuine? I wished I knew. I wished I could trust anybody here to tell the truth. To give answers. But it wouldn’t be that straightforward.
Goji stood abruptly. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m getting quite tired.” With that she fluttered out of the room, neither Jerome nor Wesley taking notice as they continued to sing and play the piano.
“Wow,” Driscoll said. “Poor Goji. Sacrificed herself for the man she loved, and now she’s here, stuck in this castle with Shadow Daddy.”
Leoni bit her lip. “She did an amazing thing. I wish she wasn’t so sad about Bastian.”
I stared at them.“Goji is in love with the pirate lord you always talk about? That’s why she saved them and helped them escape?”
Leoni nodded. “She was willing to die for him.”
I couldn’t imagine loving anyone, other than my brothers, enough to sacrifice my life. Certainly not some man.
I’d debated going back into Kairoth’s dreams today, but after our meeting on the terrace last night, I wasn’t sure I’d wanted to see him again.
He wasn’t like what I imagined, and it was disconcerting. For a bloodthirsty god, I’d expected him to be more... bloodthirsty. He was broody, grumpy, terse. But he didn’t strike me as evil. Then again, I’d grown up in the Wilds. Instead of playing with children, I played with monsters. I wasn’t exactly the bestjudgment of evil. It almost seemed like he had as much disdain for the gods as I did.
Driscoll leaned over Leoni to look at me. “Enough about Goji. Can we go back to that part where you told us there’s someone trapped in the east wing? You can’t just drop a revelation like that and then go all introspective and say nothing else about it.”
I pressed a finger to my lips, shooting a glance at the pixies, but the piano and the singing were so loud it drowned out our words.
“A prisoner,”I said. “I accidentally came upon her cell.”
Leoni translated, and Driscoll’s eyes widened. “A prisoner?” he whispered. “Who do you think it is? Did she tell you her identity?”
I shook my head, then jumped as Wesley pounded his fingers on one of the keys, the note echoing around the room.
“Are you going to go back?” Leoni whispered. “Do you think this prisoner is powerful, that she could potentially help us stop Spirit Shadow?”
