Artemis's Arc

Chapter 3 of 9

Artemis stayed on his knees in front of the flower. The butterfly rested on the tallest petal, wings folded, watching him without moving. He understood he had to offer something. He also understood he did not know what this creature would want. Guess wrong, and it might close the bloom against him for good. He had used his last petal to reach this clearing. If the flower sealed, he would not leave these woods. He went through his pockets slowly. A folding knife. A length of cord. A handful of coins that meant nothing here. Near the bottom he found a small cluster of milkweed blossoms he had picked two days ago without thinking, pink and purple, still soft. He almost held them up. Then he stopped. He was about to offer a guard flower another flower, cut and dying in his pocket. He set the blossoms in the leaves beside his knee and left them there. He thought about what he actually carried that no one else could. He thought about the dream. The woman with dark hair and light eyes. Her laugh. The one where she was crying. He had never told it to anyone in years. He looked up at the butterfly. "I don't have anything worth this," he said. "I can tell you why I'm here. That's all I have left." And he told it. The child's dream. The face that would not leave him. The night she cried and he woke certain it was real. The women he had failed because none of them were her. The fear that she belonged to someone else. He spoke until his voice ran out, and then he stopped. The butterfly lifted from the petal. It circled him once, slow, close enough that he felt the air move at his ear. Then it landed on the back of his hand. The flower's light pulsed, and one petal at its outer edge loosened and fell into his open palm. Just one. The butterfly stepped onto the petal, folded its wings, and stayed. Artemis closed his fingers around both. He understood the trade. He had been given passage, and a witness. He stood up. The clearing was quiet. He had what he needed to keep going, and something now traveled with him that could be offended, lost, or asked again. He left the milkweed in the leaves and walked toward the trees.