Meadow Faeoria's Arc

Chapter 7 of 12

Meadow sat where the woman in roses told her to sit. The willow made a low roof. The field went blue with dusk. Her wand's star still burned green, but the old woman's face she wore was starting to slip. Her hands looked younger than her sleeves. She had maybe an hour left of the disguise, and her legs would not carry her to the palace even if she had a full day. Her brother was already at the palace, listening. He could find Cinder. He could not speak to Cinder. That was the flaw she had not seen until now. Zagreus dealt in shadows and pressure and the feeling of a hand on yours. A girl in a ballroom would take that for a chill and keep dancing. Meadow turned to the blonde girl under the willow. The girl still held the bottle in her lap, thumb on the label. She had a black band in her hair and dirt on her white apron. She looked at Meadow the way she looked at everything, like a door she had not tried yet. "You came up out of a hole an hour ago," Meadow said. "You said you don't know how." "I fell down a rabbit hole," the girl said. "Every door since has been worse. I'm looking for a garden. I haven't found it." "You've been through a lot of places." "Yes." "Can you get to a palace before midnight if I point you at one?" The girl thought about it. "I can get somewhere. I can't always pick which." Meadow took that. It was more than she had. "My brother is at the palace. He's finding a girl in a blue gown. He can't talk to her. He needs a mouth. Yours." "What do I say." "When the clock starts on midnight, tell her to run. Tell her the gown goes, the carriage goes, the shoes stay. Tell her not to look back at the coachman." The girl repeated it once, flat, in order. She got every word. "Why me," she said. "Because you fall through floors," Meadow said. "A ballroom door is nothing to you." The woman in roses opened her eyes for the first time. She watched, and did not stop it. Meadow lifted the wand. The green in the star pulsed. She spoke into it. "Zagreus. She's coming to you. Blonde, apron, bottle. Let her through the doors. She's your mouth tonight." The pressure came back over her hand. Yes. The girl stood. She uncorked the bottle and drank a small mouthful, testing. Nothing changed yet. She corked it again and put it in her apron pocket. "I'll go now," she said. "While I still know which way is which." She walked out from under the willow and into the blue field. Meadow watched her go until the field swallowed her. Then Meadow lowered her head onto her arms and waited for midnight.