Anna Love's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Anna and Sasha took one last look at the cottage. "You can stay," Anna whispered. "It'll be a long journey." Sasha shook her head. Anna smiled. "Then you have to give me a ride." Sasha looked at the sky. Anna grabbed her, and was lifted and tossed, landing face-first in soft pink feathers. She laughed. Just then, Lilac Jane stepped to the doorway and threw something small. "Anna, catch this. It's a map that will guide you." Anna startled, but caught the wooden hair clip in one hand. Sasha took off. The wind roared. Anna almost slipped, then steadied herself and looked at the clip. Tiny carved lines showed forests, palaces, whole continents. They were in the forest. Turn left for the Palace. Anna didn't ask why her mother had this. She didn't want to. The sky in the fairy realm changed wrong. The sun didn't set so much as dim, like a candle pinched between fingers. Purple light bled across the trees. Sasha slowed, breathing hard. Anna gripped the clip tighter. Something far off made a sound that wasn't a bird. "We need to land," Anna said. Sasha dropped low between dark pines. Anna's boots hit moss. She turned in a slow circle. No caves. No hollows. Just trees and the wrong dusk pressing down. The clip warmed faintly in her palm, the carved sunflower steady against her skin. She held it like a small bright thing in a dark pocket. Then she saw it. Past a tangle of roots, a small weathered house leaned crooked against a slope. The wood was split. One window was boarded. The door hung loose. But it was walls. It was a roof. Anna ran. Sasha hurried after. Anna shoved the door, slipped inside, and pushed it shut with her shoulder. Dust rose. The floor held. She slid down against the wall and pulled Sasha close. Outside, something passed by — slow, heavy, sniffing at the boards. Anna pressed the hair clip to her chest and did not breathe. The thing moved on. The dark thickened. Anna stayed awake, eyes open, clip in her fist, and knew she had won the night. In the morning, she would turn left. In the morning, she would go on.