Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
He grunted and thankfully fell silent.
We reached the path that would lead us toward Granny’s cottage. My lantern glowed in front of me and he stayed back a ways, not needing its light. The trees once again crowded in, leaning overhead, branches tangled along the sides. The longer we walked, the harder it became for the moonlight to reach the path, until it disappeared altogether, my lantern now the only light I could see by. It didn’t take long for emberflies to drift in, sensing we weren’t danger and dotting the path and between the trees with pricks of light. Too bad they didn’t glow any brighter or maybe they could’ve filled in where my lantern struggled.
Halfway there, and not yet at the place where I’d had that vivid hallucination, I veered left, holding my lantern high so that I could slip between two slim trunks.
“It was somewhere around here,” I said softly, scanning the ground.
“I ain’t never seen as many of these bugs in one place as I do around this village,” he said, his voice too loud for the serenity of the night. “They must like your stink.”
“Or maybe they don’t like yours. Hush now. I’m working and you can help.” I described the pulse of the flower and where exactly to look, quickly mentioning that if he helped, we wouldn’t have to be out here for as long. I knew that would shut him up. “If we wander, you’ll know the way back home, right?”
“How do you not know your way around?”
“I do know my way around . . . when I can see more than a small ring around my feet. Otherwise, I have to rely on my directional sense.”
“And?”
“I don’t have one.”
“What a shitty life,” he muttered, tromping through the brush. “How can you live like that?”
“How can you make so much noise?”
We walked at a slow, measured pace. Emberflies dotted the way, occasionally going dark as they drifted behind trees, only to lazily pop out again.
“Have you noticed the emberflies kinda seem like they are keeping pace with us?” I murmured, not really caring if he heard or if he answered. “We’re not really passing them. They seem to be moving with us as a horde. Usually they kinda drift on their own. I wonder what the deal is.”
“They are keeping pace, yeah. It’s fucking annoying. It’s messing up my vision.“
“How so?”
“My eyes keep trying to adjust to their light, as feeble as it is, and it’s harder to see in the dark. It feels like I’m not able to peer through the shadows.”
“My lantern can’t be helping either, then.”
“I can kinda . . . shield that a bit, but the bugs are everywhere.”
“They have a name. Ember—“
“I don’t give a shit. They’re bugs. We need a bunch of birds to swoop down and eat the fucking things.”
“I wish they had stingers,” I muttered, “and an inclination to use them on you.”
Onward we went, creeping almost. I walked at random, willing a flower to make itself known. The foliage was thick here, though, dense. Heavy leaves, vines and tangled moss could be caging in the light. These flowers didn’t shine like a beacon; it wouldn’t be hard to contain their glow. Even if I was right on top of one, my indigo light would wash away the faded pink of the flower.
“Okay, new plan.” I stopped. “I’m going to turn off my lantern. You’ll need to direct me, okay? Maybe . . . get in front?”
“You can’t see at all? Like . . . not even enough to walk?”
I rounded on him, my temper flaring. Work topics so often blotted out reason, eclipsing my fear of him. “Is pretending to be stupid your natural high? No, I can’t see in the dark. You know this. Everyone knows this. Why do you think Granny got me this lantern?”
His power surged alongside his dissatisfaction at my insubordination. I was too frustrated with him and my situation to let it cull me. “She got it because it’s a faerie lantern and you have some huge bullshit love of faerie shit. Keep you happy, keep our clients happy. That’s why she got it.” He paused for a beat, staring me down. “And because you can’t see in the dark, yeah. But like . . . not at all, though? The moon is out tonight.”
“It’s barely a sliver!” I looked up at the dense canopy. Even if there was space up there between the reaching branches, the weak light from a sliver moon wouldn’t do much to help me. “I need your help. It’s why you’re here.”
He heaved a loud, exasperated sigh. “I see now why you don’t have a mate.”
“I’ve always seen why you don’t. Come on, hurry up. I really want to find one of those flowers tonight.” I reached out and took his arm, only to have him rip it away again. “Fine, move on your own. Just move.”