Bailey Baz's Arc

Chapter 13 of 44

Malachar's voice faded from the cracked totem, but Cora still shook. Bailey knew his history now. He had traded a memory to learn it. He had been Malachar's murdered nephew, kept frozen to carry his uncle's debt. But one gap remained. He did not know why the swamp had chosen him for the warden's role. Without that, he could not trust the debt was truly gone. He needed to see the day the vines took him. Cora dug through her stained robe and pulled out a broken mirror. Its glass was cracked from a hole in the center. A worn handle held a slot shaped for a wand. "I found it in the den years ago," she said. "I never knew what it did." She slid her cracked wand into the slot. The glass shivered. Colt watched from the doorway, one clouded eye behind his lens. "I've seen that thing wake before," he said. "It shows what the water remembers. Careful what you ask it." Bailey took the mirror. His reflection broke apart. In the cracks he saw a boy in a purple cloak with a golden crest. The boy ran through the swamp, calling a name. He was searching for his uncle. Then the water rose. Vines wrapped the boy's legs. Bailey watched himself drown. He leaned closer. In the mirror, the drowning boy did not fight. He reached back toward the shore, toward his friend, a boy slightly younger than him. The boy tried to push the younger boy to safety even as the vines pulled him under. The mirror showed the swamp's choice. It had not picked Bailey for his blood or his uncle's crime. It had picked him because in his last breath, he tried to save a child. That was the warden's purpose. Guide the lost to safety. The debt had used his own heart against him for a hundred years. Bailey lowered the mirror. His hands were steady now. "It chose me because I saved Evan," he told Cora. "Even dying, I reached for Evan first. That's all the warden ever was." Cora's eyes filled. "Then it's over? The debt's gone?" It has to be.” "It's gone from me," Bailey said. He looked at the black totem at her throat. The crack still leaked thin smoke. "The vines have no hold on me anymore. I know why they took me, and the reason is finished." Colt grunted. "Boy talks like a free man." But the smoke from Cora's totem thickened. It curled up her neck and gathered at her jaw. Bailey watched it move with purpose. Malachar's debt no longer lived in him. It lived in the stone around his sister. And now the smoke was climbing toward her mouth, reaching for a voice. Cora's lips parted. When she spoke, the words were not her own. "You freed yourself," said Malachar, through her. "Now watch me take her instead." Bailey grabbed the totem from his sister and ran outside. He tossed the totem into the deep waters of the swamp. He knew Cora would be upset at first, but at least she would understand why it needed to be done. Due to Bailey’s quick thinking; Malachar’s attempt to possess Cora failed. The totem buried itself into the deep waters; down to Malachar’s prison. Finn appeared to Bailey once more and said to him, “I, the swamp thank you. I’m no longer burdened by the evil that lurked within my lands for these last couple thousand years. I owe you this, both of you.” He looks over at Cora who approaches behind Bailey. He holds out his hands, in one hand are two red mushrooms and in the other are two green mushrooms. “Eat of the red mushroom and I will spare your life. You can rest forever. Or eat of the green mushroom and I can return your life from the spirit realm back to you. This will allow you to live a life until you die of old age or other causes. Which will you choose?”