Beth Wonders's Arc

Chapter 4 of 29

Beth walked hard for a mile before the trees changed. The shard sat warm inside her coat pocket now, not the mirror. She didn't trust the mirror with anything again. Elijah kept pace behind her, quiet as a shadow with feet. A small brown bird dropped onto a branch by her ear. Twigs stuck out of its head like a crown. It chirped once, sharp, then hopped down the branch and chirped again. "It wants us to follow," Beth said. "Or it wants a bug." "It's looking at me." She felt the thin patch in the air before she saw where the bird pointed. Magic ran shallow under the pines here, worn down by something heavy overhead. She looked up. A stone tower hung above the trees. No ground under it. A telescope stuck out the side like a brass finger. Colored light spun around the base in slow rings. "He's already asking about me," Beth said. "The merchant who sold me the star piece. I felt eyes at the last village. He wants his shard back before I can spend it." She watched the bird hop toward the tower. "I need to move it off my body. Somewhere he can't reach and Frostwyn can't reach." "Up there," Elijah said. "Up there." A rope ladder unrolled from a hatch and slapped the dirt. The bird flew up it. Beth climbed. Her wings itched but the branches were too close to open them. Inside the tower a starry worm hung from a beam. Its body was black sky. Two star-shaped eyes blinked at her. It had no mouth and spoke anyway, somewhere behind her ears. "Storage," it said. "You want storage. I smell it." "How much," Beth said. "No coins. I don't eat coins." The worm curled. "Trade me a thing you'll miss." Beth pulled out the branch-framed mirror. The glass was still cold from Frostwyn's work. "This. It's broken but the frame is real. Someone can fix it. I can't." The worm's eyes brightened. "Yes. Yes. Give." She set the mirror on the floor. She took the shard from her pocket. The worm opened a hole in its side, black and full of small stars, and Beth dropped the shard in. The hole closed. "Only you can call it back," the worm said. "Say my price and I hand it over. Not before." "What's the price to get it back?" "I'll think of one when you ask." Beth almost laughed. She climbed back down. The ladder pulled up behind her. The tower drifted a hair to the left, then vanished from that piece of sky. "He can hunt me now," she said. "He won't find it." "He'll find you." "Let him." She turned toward the crossroads. Empty pocket. Empty mirror gone. One shard hidden in a worm above the world.