Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone #1)(32)
Author: Alexandra Bracken

 

“Do you think that’s enough?” Cabell asked.

 

“It better be,” I said, kicking the loose soil back into the hole. I crouched down, patting it firmly in place just to be sure.

 

We waited and watched. And still nothing happened.

 

I shook my head, making a noise of disgust at the back of my throat. Anger burned in the pit of my stomach. Typical Nash, playing stupid games like this just to seem mysterious.

 

“Maybe it takes a minute?” Neve suggested. Her eyes were soft in a way I instantly hated.

 

“You can wait a thousand years and I promise that nothing will ever come out of that dirt,” I said, sitting beside my bags and wrapping my jacket tighter around me.

 

“It was worth a shot,” Cabell said. Disappointment was etched into his face and seemed to weigh heavy on his shoulders.

 

“So,” Emrys said into the silence that followed. “Now that we have that out of the way, are we good to work together, or do we need to stand here and argue about it for another ten minutes?”

 

I rolled my eyes. “What do you bring to this again? Other than preening and striking dramatic poses, of course.”

 

“Hilarious, Bird.”

 

“That’s not her name,” Cabell snapped.

 

“Tamsin thinks she knows where Nash went based on his note,” Emrys said. “And if my hunch is correct, it’s not in this world.”

 

For the first time, Neve’s excitement dulled. “Not in this world? You think he went to one of the Otherlands?”

 

Cabell turned to me with an encouraging look. “Go on, Tams.”

 

“Not until we get some kind of assurance from Dye that this isn’t a trick,” I said.

 

Emrys groaned. “You are so damn stubborn. Fine . . . here.”

 

He took his pack off his shoulder and retrieved a palm-sized bottle, setting it on the ground between us when I didn’t immediately take it. “Madrigal gave this to me.”

 

“Madrigal?” Neve said, perking up. “Is it true she turned her last lover into a chandelier?”

 

“No,” Emrys said. “But thank you for that horrifying mental image. She thought there was a chance the ring had crossed into an Otherland and gave this to me to summon the Hag of the Mist. She’s the only creature outside the Wild Hunt capable of manipulating the mists that separate our world from the Otherlands. We can completely bypass the original sealed pathways.”

 

Neve frowned. “Are you sure we should be summoning primordial creatures? Don’t they always want something in return for their service?” “Hence the offering,” Emrys said, gesturing to the bottle. “To summon her.”

 

I bent to retrieve it, holding it up in one of the shafts of light sneaking in through the walls around us. Leaves I didn’t recognize, several quartz crystals, and three glowing fangs were suspended in thick, dark blood. The clear glass bore the sorceress’s mark—a chess piece with a reverse crescent over it.

 

“We just have to find a liminal place to call her,” Emrys said. “Like a crossroads.”

 

“What about a cave?” Cabell suggested.

 

“That would work,” Emrys said. “Merlin’s Cave, between land and sea.”

 

I leveled a look at him. “If you’re so sure he went to an Otherland, why do you need us?”

 

“Well, for one thing, it seems useful to have a sorceress around,” Emrys said. “And for another, I think Nash went to one of two Otherlands tied to Arthur and his knights. I’m not sure which, and I only have one offering to make to the hag.”

 

“What are your guesses?” Cabell asked.

 

“Either Avalon, where the ring was created,” Emrys said, “or Lyonesse, where it’s said the darkest and deadliest treasures known to man were hidden before it was splintered from our world.”

 

I schooled my expression, revealing nothing. The kingdom of Lyonesse, a contemporary of Camelot, was believed by mortal men to have been drowned by a monstrous storm, slipping into the sea and largely out of memory.

 

“The treasure hoard is only rumor,” Cabell said, shaking his head. “And if it’s true, then the part about the terrifying monster protecting it is also true.”

 

“Precisely why I am desperately hoping Tamsin is about to tell us it’s Avalon,” Emrys said.

 

The darkness crept in so slowly, I didn’t notice that the others were fading from sight until they were nearly gone. What little sunlight had managed to reach us through the cracks in the old wood faded to complete darkness.

 

“What in blistering hellfire . . .” Cabell bumped into me as he felt for the shed’s door.

 

“Open it,” I told him. “It’s right behind you.”

 

Cabell’s voice was strangled. “It is open.”

 

Neve gasped as she felt her way forward, trying to follow the sound of our voices out. “What’s happening?”

 

The world around us had been submerged in impenetrable darkness. As my eyes adjusted, I could just make out the shapes of the buildings around me.

 

“Is it an eclipse?” I asked.

 

“An unforecast one?” Emrys scoffed. But after a beat, he added, “You don’t think it’s the coin, do you?”

 

“No way,” I said. It couldn’t be. Something that small couldn’t contain enough magic to do this.

 

Other voices joined ours from the nearby buildings, shouting questions and calling out for their loved ones.

 

But as quickly as the darkness had come, its stain began to lift, lightening to a funereal gray before the blue of the sky peeked through.

 

“Whatever just happened can’t be good,” Cabell said. “I say we get a move on.”

 

“It would help to know where he was going,” Emrys pointed out, turning to look at me. I bit my lip, swallowing the last of my misgivings.

 

The ring will win the favor of her heart.

 

With one last look at my brother, I said, “Avalon. I think Nash went to Avalon.”

 

A sharp laugh split the air. My chest hollowed at the sound of it, even before the others joined in.

 

One by one, Hollowers stepped out from behind the surrounding fences and buildings, circling in tight around us. Neve started to reach for her fanny pack, but I gripped her hand, stilling it just as Septimus appeared, leaning against the pub’s exposed frame.