Excerpt of Chapter 6: The Beyond
The view was beautiful. Winnie couldn’t take in enough of it, darting her gaze with every twitch of a leaf overhead or a dazzlingly bright beetle underfoot.
The golden man watched her take it in curiously. “You like it.”
It wasn’t a question, but Winnie's gaze hardened in response. “It’s certainly overwhelming.”
He chuckled and repeated himself in confirmation, “You like it.”
And she did like it. The look of it, anyway. The sounds had yet to differentiate themselves from what she’d expect of Alder Creek, and the smell was simply that of woodland, which had always been pleasant enough. But this whole grove seemed washed over in an artist’s bright, yet tasteful, hand.
“So this is the Beyond,” Winnie murmured, swiveling to take it in.
It was nothing like she might’ve expected. When the book had warned her of its beauty, she thought that the world she entered would be wholly unfamiliar, an alien sort of beauty that caught her unaware and weaponized her sense of awe. Instead, she soon felt a settling calm over her nerves in its familiarity.
Perhaps that was part of the danger.
“Well?” the golden man asked expectantly. “Are we meant to stand around forever?”
Winnie rolled her eyes. “Just processing what I’m seeing. Where am I meant to find my br- the boy anyways?”
Her companion shook his head. “We didn’t agree on my guidance, only protection. Advice would cost you extra, friend.”
Well, that was going to slow them down. “But you believe you know who took him?”
“Yes.”
“So you know where he’s likely being held?”
“Correct.”
“And you won’t tell me?”
“We never agreed on sharing information.”
Winnie stared at him.
“This will go significantly quicker if you simply tell me where to go, you realize.”
“Then perhaps we should make a new deal.”
Hiding her face with her hands, Winnie let out a long sigh. This was fine. It would be fine. All she had to do was search an entire world for her brother with nothing to give her a clue to his whereabouts but a fae that refused to answer basic questions in any meaningful way.
Easy.
When she lifted her hands from her face, Winnie turned back towards Alder Creek - would this glimmering, azure stream still be considered Alder Creek? - and stepped out of the faerie ring.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that way,” the golden man said.
Winnie snapped back to glare at him. “If your world mirrors mine, this is where we’ll find signs of civilization.”
It seemed the best approach to take, anyways. But her companion was simply shaking his head again. Winnie gritted her teeth.
“This site is similar, yes. The world, less so. And unless you’d like to meet the more unsavory fae that live outside the Courts, I’d recommend staying on this side of the creek.”
His voice was harder, dropping the infuriating squeak of amusement. Winnie stepped away from the water’s edge, still careful to keep out of the ring of mushrooms. When the golden man stepped out on the opposite side, he sent her a passive glance, as though making sure she wouldn’t bolt.
Taking a couple steps away from the ring, in the opposite direction of her companion, Winnie was once again stopped by the interfering click of his disapproval.
“Will you just tell me which way to go?” Winnie demanded on her third attempt to leave the site of their arrival. The golden man had once again interrupted her within the first few paces.
“Of course not!” He sounded affronted at the idea of giving her a piece of advice for free.
“But you’ll let me know which way not to go?” She clarified.
“Sure.”
Winnie was going to tear her hair out before this conversation ended.
