Darcelle’s grip tightened around her lute.
“Why?” “I don’t know.” Kyren thought of his changing eyes.
The golden Qidos.
Zamuraki responding to him.
The entire village waiting for him to become whatever hope they had imagined.
“That’s becoming a pattern.” Aven looked at him sharply.
It was almost the same thing Roselle had once said near the coffin, though Kyren had no memory of it.
Somewhere beneath their feet, something moved through the Jorogumo tunnel.
Aven’s head snapped toward the sound.
“Leave.” This time nobody argued.
They moved quickly toward Delasai.
Kyren looked back once.
Aven remained beside the hole with his bow drawn.
One golden eye.
One black.
A figure standing alone between the children and whatever lived beneath the forest.
Then the trees hid him.
Eria did not release Kyren’s arm until the lights of the settlement appeared.
“What were you thinking?” she asked.
“I wasn’t.” “Clearly.” Darcelle walked on Kyren’s other side.
“I would like it formally recorded that my lute saved his life.” Kyren looked at the cracked instrument.
“Your lute hit a leg.” “A dangerous leg.” “Aven saved my life.” “My lute contributed.” Eria stopped.
Kyren nearly walked into her.
“Neither of you tells Riss.” Darcelle nodded instantly.
Kyren looked at her.
“Seriously?” “Do you want to explain why we were outside the safe paths after dark?” “No.” “Do you want to explain the giant spider woman?” “Less.” “Do you want to explain the assassin?” Kyren thought.
“Actually—” “No.” Eria resumed walking.
“Nobody tells Riss.” Kyren followed.
The argument from earlier returned to him.
Two months to discover a talent.
He looked at the insects still crawling across the distant roots.
Perhaps he already had.
The thought did not make him feel better.
When they reached the edge of the settlement, Arkin and Aiko were waiting beneath a tree.
Arkin stood immediately.
“Where the hell were you?” Kyren stared at him.
“Where was I?” He pulled the note from his pocket and shoved it against Arkin’s chest.
“You left this.” Arkin looked down.
“I didn’t.” Kyren stopped.
Aiko took the paper.
Her face changed.
“I didn’t write this.” Kyren looked at the green heart.
“That’s your handwriting.” “It looks like mine.” “Aiko.” “I didn’t write it.” The four children became quiet.
Eria slowly turned toward the forest.
Darcelle stopped smiling.
Arkin examined the note.
“What’s Lyren Lis?” Kyren stared at him.
“You don’t know?” “Never heard of it.” Aiko shook her head.
“Neither have I.” The heart drawn on the corner seemed darker beneath the settlement lights.
Kyren remembered Lurline sitting at the piano as though she had known he would come.
Children who receive secret notes in the evening are rarely waiting for adults.
She had known about the note.
Perhaps she had written it.
Or copied Aiko’s hand.
Aven’s warning returned.
If someone knows something they should not know, you do not wait for an explanation.
Arkin looked at Kyren.
“What happened?” Kyren glanced at Eria.
She closed her eyes.
“You might as well tell them.” Kyren sat beneath the tree.
“I met a woman.” Arkin raised an eyebrow.
“Congratulations.” “She turned into a spider and tried to eat me.” Arkin’s expression disappeared.
Aiko sat beside Kyren.
“Start again.” Kyren did.
He told them about the music.
Lurline.
The piano.
Falling asleep.
Darcelle and Eria arriving.
The transformation.
Aven.
Lunar.
The webs.
The tunnel.
He told them Lurline had wanted him alive.
He did not tell them how frightening that part was.
When he finished, Arkin stared toward the Green Path.
“We’re leaving tonight.” Eria looked at him.
“You’re doing what?” All three children froze.
Aiko slowly closed her eyes.
Arkin whispered, “Fantastic.” Kyren looked at Eria.
She looked back.
For the first time since leaving Eranis, the decision no longer existed only among children.
“Leaving where?” Eria asked.
Nobody answered.
“Kyren.” He thought of Riss.
Of Roselle.
Of the sea.
Of Lurline’s mouth opening above him.
Of Aven standing alone beside the tunnel.
Delasai had always been dangerous.
Tonight something had changed.
The danger had learned his name.
Kyren looked toward the twenty moons visible between the branches.
“Outside the forest.” Eria stared at him.
“No.” “You haven’t even—” “No.” “Eria.” “Do you have any idea what exists outside Delasai?” Kyren almost laughed.
“That’s the problem.” “What?” He stood.
“Everyone keeps asking me that.” Eria looked at him as though seeing someone slightly different from the boy she had dragged to the breakfast table that morning.
“We know what exists outside,” Kyren continued.
“Vampires.
Jorogumo.
Things that can kill us.
Everyone tells us that part.” He pointed toward the trees.
“Nobody tells us about the ships.” Eria’s expression changed.
“Ships?” Aiko looked guilty.
Kyren continued.
“Or the cities.
Or the sea.” Eria stared at them.
“Where did you see those things?” Nobody answered.
“Kyren.” He touched the hidden memory records beneath his clothes.
Eria saw the movement.
Understanding came slowly.
“Oh, no.” Aiko whispered, “My grandfather gave permission.” Eria closed her eyes.
“Of course he did.” “He did,” Aiko insisted.
“I’m sure that will be extremely persuasive during the execution.” Kyren almost smiled.
That sounded like something he would say.
Eria looked at the four of them.
For a moment she seemed much older.
“You think the forest is a cage.” Arkin answered first.
“Isn’t it?” “Sometimes.” That surprised them.
Eria looked toward the dwelling where Riss waited.
“But cages can also keep things out.” Kyren thought of Lurline.
“Not anymore.” Eria had no answer.
Somewhere far behind them, deep inside the Green Path, a single piano note sounded.
Impossible at that distance.
Impossible from an instrument Darcelle had watched collapse.
One note.
Then silence.
Kyren slowly turned toward the forest.
Aiko moved closer to Arkin.
Darcelle gripped her damaged lute.
Eria whispered, “Inside.
All of you.” Nobody argued.
Kyren followed them toward the settlement.
Before entering the house, he looked back one final time.
Nothing moved between the trees.
Still, he knew something was there.
Watching.
Waiting.
The world beyond Delasai had seemed enormous when he first saw the sea.
Tonight he understood something else.
The world was not waiting for him to leave the forest.
Parts of it had already begun coming inside.