“What’s wrong with you?” Astrid asked. She looked from Thaddeus to where Fetter and Teofil stood arguing and back again. “What’s going on? You know something. Tell me.”
“Fetter’s suggesting Teofil ask the wood fairies for directions to the Well of Tears instead of a route through the Lost Forest.”
“What?” Astrid was on her feet in a moment. “When was this decided?”
Thaddeus stood up as well, holding his hands out to Astrid in an effort to get her to stop. Panic surged within him, making his heart pound and his breath come in short pants. He was going to get all three of them mad at him, and then he really would be all alone. “No, no, no. Astrid, you can’t get involved. Let them figure it out.”
“Forget that,” Astrid said, stomping up to her brothers. “Hey! We should all have a say in where we go.”
“Astrid, calm down,” Fetter said.
“I’ll calm down when I’m good and ready to calm down!” Astrid shouted at him. “Is it true what Thaddeus told me?”
Thaddeus groaned and walked up to stand just behind Fetter, his arms tight over his chest, looking at anything and everything except for Teofil. He didn’t know if he could take receiving an angry look from him. Or, even worse, a disappointed one.
“I don’t know what Thaddeus told you,” Fetter said in a condescending tone of voice. “So, I can’t tell you if it’s true.”
Astrid glared at him a moment, then pointed at Thaddeus who hovered just behind Fetter’s shoulder. Thaddeus flinched and took a step back, still not meeting Teofil’s gaze. “He said you’re suggesting Teofil ask the wood fairies to tell us how to get to the Well of Tears instead of how to get through the Lost Forest.”
“Then, yes, it’s true,” Fetter said.
Astrid crossed her arms. “I think it’s a bad idea.”
“As do I,” Teofil said. “We have to find Thaddeus’s mother.”
“But his father is dying,” Fetter said, waving a hand toward Thaddeus. “We all know it. Why aren’t we talking about it?”
Teofil’s voice was low and cold. “Because we care about Thaddeus and don’t want him to feel any guiltier than he already does about leaving his dad. We have an important mission, Fetter. In case you’ve forgotten, a dragon is loose in the world, and Thaddeus may be the only person she recognizes. And the Well of Tears is story, nothing more.”
“Why don’t you ask the wood fairies if it’s real?” Fetter suggested. “And if it is, see if they’ll tell you how to get to it.”
“Even if the well does exist, we don’t have time to go there,” Teofil said. “You know what’s at stake.”
Thaddeus couldn’t stand back any longer while they argued. He moved up beside Fetter and forced himself to look at Teofil. He stared back, anger darkening his blue eyes. A chill went through Thaddeus at the sight, but he stood his ground. “Can you at least ask the fairies about the well?”
“What good would that do if we don’t intend on going there?” Astrid said.
Thaddeus said, “If the well does exist, and the water inside of it is as powerfully magic as the stories say, not only could it help my dad, but it might be able to change my mom back.”
Teofil took a deep breath. When he let it out, Thaddeus saw some of his anger deplete with the exhalation. He felt a tremulous bit of hope Teofil wouldn’t stay angry for long.
“We’re already running behind,” Teofil said, but it sounded like a weak argument.
“But we don’t know where Isadora is,” Thaddeus said. “Or if she even knows my mom… er, the dragon, is loose. The dragon carried the Bearagon off, remember? For all we know, the dragon is hiding up in the mountains. But if we find her, what are we going to do with her?”
“Oh,” Astrid said. “I hadn’t thought of that. We’re supposed to meet Leopold and Vivienne, but where do we find them?”
Tiny lights slipped past, heading for the fairy circle.
“We’re running out of time,” Fetter said. “Do you want Thaddeus’s father to die a horrible, painful death from troll poison and his mother to remain a dragon forever?”
Teofil glared at Fetter, fists clenched at his sides. “You’re making me out to be bad, and that’s not what this is about. Mum and Thaddeus’s dad trusted us to complete what we all set out to do. Now you’re making me choose, and that’s not fair.”
“Why not?” Fetter took a step closer to Teofil. “You seem to have assumed the role of leader of our happy little band of travelers pretty quickly, making our decisions about camp and how to get directions and where we go from here. Is it because you were special enough to be sold off to Leopold?”
“Stop!” Thaddeus shouted and put up his hands as if he were being arrested. Silence thick with tension fell over them, and he took a deep breath and let it out before he spoke. “Look, this has all gotten very emotional, and I’m sorry it became so twisted up. But Fetter is right. I wanted to come ask you to talk to the wood fairies about the Well of Tears and find out how we can get to it if it exists. You saw how sick my father is. He’s really bad off. And this may be difficult for you to understand, but he’s more real to me than my mother, if that makes sense. I understand the threat she presents to the world in her current form, I really do, but I don’t know her, and my father is very sick.”
Thaddeus’s voice caught in his throat, and he looked off into the woods until he had his emotions under control. When he looked back at Teofil, he was glad to find his features had softened even more. “We all know he’s dying, Teofil. And he’s all I’ve got left. If I lose him, I’m all alone. So, if you ask me if his life is more important to me than tracking down a dragon that just happens to be my mother under some kind of spell, then I would have to say yes. His one life is more important to me than all of that. He’s the only family I have.”
Teofil looked at him for so long Thaddeus started to worry his words might trigger a backlash of sorts, the complete opposite of what he’d intended. Finally, Teofil gave him a single nod, then looked at Fetter and Astrid.
“Do you agree with Thaddeus?” Teofil asked.
“I do,” Fetter hastily replied. “Yes, I do. Come on, the fairies are gathering in the circle, Teofil. We don’t have much time.”
Astrid looked off into the woods, and Thaddeus followed her gaze to see more of the fairies, glowing like fireflies as they floated toward the small clearing. When he turned back, he found Astrid looking at him steadily, but he couldn’t read her expression. She gave Teofil a single nod. “I agree. If I stood where Thaddeus stands, I would most likely feel the same.”
“So be it.” Teofil turned and strode into the woods without a second glance at Thaddeus.
Thaddeus’s heart raced as he watched Teofil through the trees. He was concerned not just about his father—and his mother, for that matter—but also about this strange and precarious place he suddenly found himself: in a relationship. And not just any normal kind of relationship, but one with a gnome surrounded by danger and close family members.