“Nobody asked,” he replied simply. “Besides, I didn’t know you didn’t know. You’ve been here before. Meera here is the one who asked the good questions. I left and told you all not to get eaten. You’ve done a fine job of it. Congratulations. Now keep heading north.”
“For how long?” I frowned, wondering how long it had already been. I sort of didn’t want the exact answer.
“Hard to say. I can check in on you from time to time. Bring you food as you need it. Some canned salmon too. Drayden won’t open them for me, the stooge.” He mumbled in cat, clearly displeased. “The passage of time is weird here, as you’ve noticed. You’ve got a few days at minimum, assuming the land doesn’t go topsy-turvy on you.”
“The Fold is dangerous. I wonder if there was any way to bring the portal to us,” Damon mused, crumbling up his protein wrapper and stuffing it in his pocket. Sadie looked at him curiously. “What? It feels weird to litter. Just because this is hell doesn’t mean I need to leave my trash here.”
She shook her head and shrugged. “I got nothing. I actually agree with you.” He smiled cautiously, right before she added, “Probably won’t happen again any time soon, of course. Sort of shocked that a princeling knows how to throw away his own garbage.”
“There she is,” he muttered.
Corvo tsked. “Damon. I see you reading in the libraries. I’m assuming you read and aren’t looking for picture books.” Vareck studied his nephew intensely.
“Libraries? Plural?” he questioned, crossing his arms. “You’ve been inmylibrary?
“Is this really the topic of conversation we need to be having right now?” Damon shot back defensively before he addressed Corvo. “I understand the complexities of this realm. I was just thinking out loud. Problem solving? Wondering if the portal can be made to follow you, the demon god cat, so you can bring it to us, but obviously we cannot.”
“Portal magic doesn’t work like that. It’s a doorway, ding dong. And you’re stuck in a realm that doesn’t exactly have a map of its terrain. It’s not like I can give them coordinates. A—a witch made the portal. They said it must be in the Fold. Something about the ley lines converging there. These realms don’t exist on the same timeline, and as you discovered, they aren’t mirrors of each other. What’s here isn’t there. The Fold exists on both sides. All things considered, a waterfall sounds pleasant. Be glad the Fold doesn’t exist in the thorn fields of Eversus.”
There was so much to process. I had no idea why Damon would feel the need to guard himself over being in the library, and I also had no idea why it mattered to Vareck. Books were for everyone. But I had to agree with Damon. This wasn’t what we needed to be talking about, and Corvo had given us a direction. There was comfort in knowing this location didn’t move around on us. I placed my hand on Vareck’s arm, feeling the tense muscle. “He’s right. We need to get to the portal.”
“Listen to your woman, Vareck,” Corvo advised. “She knows what she’s doing.”
Well that was a lie. I knew jack all about surviving here. I had no idea what I was doing. I had proven that enough already. I just wanted to go home.
Sadie barked a laugh. “She knows about as much as the rest of us. No offense, sister.”
I snorted in return. “None taken.” I tapped my temple twice and then pointed to her. “Same thought.”
Corvo tilted his head, his golden eyes standing out starkly against his black fur. “Oh, she knows far more than she realizes. You’ll see.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Vareck asked.
“Well, time for me to go. Head north. Drayden and Kaia will be waiting. Probably. Assuming he doesn’t get eaten. Honestly, he is such a grumpy fucker, you’d better hurry up or else he just might leave you all here.”
Then Corvo winked out of existence, leaving us all with his cryptic comment and half-assed goodbye. Three pairs of eyes looked at me. “What? I don’t know what he’s talking about either.”
Vareck growled softly, putting his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to his side. “I don’t want you getting too far from me once we head out.”
His body felt warm against mine and I nudged him with shoulder playfully. “C’mon, Vareck. It’s Corvo. He likes to be a pain. Do you think he really meant anything by that?”
“I don’t know. This realm already wants you. I can feel it.”
“But it’s not like Corvo’s being serious. He doesn’t want me to get hurt. He’s just fucking with you because he knows he can.”
I said the words, but I wasn’t sure I even believed them. Something about this place continued to make me increasingly uncomfortable. The land was supposedly sentient. It was watching us. Following our every move. The Nameless were out there waiting for us. Hopefully the murder bears weren’t tracking us. Gods knew what else lurked in the shadows. We were all on edge to an extent, but I felt this current of uncertainty just beneath my skin. Something far more than danger. It was a fear I couldn’t yet name, and it followed me as we trekked our way north.
“I half expected you to rub two sticks together,” Sadie said, bickering once again with Damon while we all sat around a small campfire in the middle of nowhere.
“You knew I could start a fire. I had one before you dropped into the cave. Are you always this bitchy?” he shot back while he prodded the kindling, stoking the flames.
“I’m saving it all for you, dumpling.”
“You spend most of your time alone, don’t you? No man in his right mind would stick around long.” I winced as soon as he said it. Our sisterly conversation about the past was still a freshly picked wound and he unknowingly just rubbed salt in it. Sadie could talk a big game, but she’d been hurt something awful, and her inability to be in a relationship was proof of it.
Her jaw set and she narrowed her eyes. “I hope you step on a nail and get tetanus.”
“You see any fucking nails around here?” Damon dropped his stick and threw his hands up.
