“I’m only saying I would have picked ‘Edge of Seventeen’ or maybe ‘Stand Back.’ I like her solo work better.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“I have never denied that.”
“It’s a good thing I love you,” Rafe said.
“Or what?”
“Nothing. It’s just a good thing I love you.”
Jeremy grinned. “It’s a very good thing.”
Rafe got them to Red Crow in what was probably record time, even for him.
The day was nothing like the day they had left with Emilie. Spring instead of fall. Sun instead of rain. Wildflowers blooming instead of leaves dying. And when Rafe stepped onto the path, he felt—
“Nothing,” he said.
“You sure?”
“Last time I felt something pulling me in. Not now. I mean…I know the way, but I don’t feel that, you know—”
“Magic?”
He nodded.
Jeremy shoved his hands into the pockets of his fleece jacket and shrugged.
“We can still look. Why not, right?” Rafe said.
“Can’t hurt to try. Lead the way.”
Rafe did remember the way, more or less, though he had to go more slowly and pay attention.
They found the game trail to the Goblin Falls without any trouble, and then a little farther in, they found the hill. Last time they’d scrambled up the steep eastern face of it, but this time they took the long way up the southern slope, as if they both wanted to put off the inevitable.
They reached the top and found the strange tree.
Jeremy went to the hollow and put his hand inside it.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Skya warned us.”
“I know,” Jeremy said, “but then why…bring us here?”
Rafe didn’t answer. Jeremy answered himself. “Maybe they didn’t. Maybe we just wanted to believe.” His exhalation turned to mist in the cool morning air. “It was such a good dream, though. Emilie was so happy to see us.”
“Come on,” Rafe said. “Let’s go home.”
They took the long way down the hill, following an ancient deer path.
When they reached the bottom, Jeremy pointed ahead. “That’s where that nurse and her boyfriend found us. I wonder what ever—”
“Jay?”
“Look.” He grabbed Rafe and turned him forward.
A break in the tree cover let sunlight spill onto the forest floor like a window. And in that window of light, Sunny and Freddy drank water from the Goblin Falls.
“Lads!” Jeremy called out. The horses raised their golden and red heads, then galloped toward them, hooves clopping on the stony path.
Rafe and Jeremy stroked the long necks of their horses, ran their fingers through the thick manes. They were real.
“Missed us, did you, lads?” Jeremy asked. “We missed you too, you mangy beasts.”
“How?” Rafe said, laughing. Sunny whinnied softly as he demanded more scratches on his head. Already Rafe was plotting logistics. Where to board them until he could build the stables, where to get a horse trailer, what to tell his mother…
“Skya did tell us the door’s only locked from the inside,” Jeremy said. “We can’t go back, but they can leave, remember?”
Rafe’s fingers felt something tucked under Sunny’s saddle. A small square of paper. He unfolded it, read it, passed it to Jeremy, who read it aloud.
“Dear Rafe and Jeremy, Your lads missed you too much, so I’m sending them to you. By the way, when I said I would see you again, I meant it. The secret the mermaid told me was this…A day will come when we will eat Golden Apple Christmas Cake together as snow falls on Halfmoon Hill and on that same night, I will—”
Jeremy looked up sharply at him.
“I will dance at your wedding.” He read the rest of the note quickly. “She said I wasn’t allowed to tell you unless I wrote it to you in a letter and sent it far away. I didn’t understand it before but now I do. Until we meet again. Love always, Princess Emilie & the Duke and Duchess of Fritz. P.S. Yes, Fritz finally has a rat friend! I realize this is not particularly important information, especially considering the circumstances, but I wanted to tell you anyway!”
