“It’s good,” he said. “Delicious. They taste like…”
“Light,” she said. “These are Golden Sun apples. They are full of sunlight. So much sunlight they turn the color of the sun. Where you’re going, there’s no sunlight. No good light. You take the light with you.”
Rafe took another bite. The taste was so familiar.
Why could his hands remember this world when he painted or carved something? Why could his body remember how to ride horses and his tongue remember the taste of the golden apples, but his mind couldn’t remember a single moment he’d spent in this world with Jeremy?
“You’re a prince. You’re a knight,” Granny said. “In the Ghost Town, you both are dinner. If you don’t want to be eaten alive, you’ll do what I say.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rafe said. Jeremy silently nodded.
“Take these. You keep the apples until you need them. You stay together, because if you get separated, you may never find each other again. Or worse, you’ll think you’ve found each other, but you won’t like what you’ve found. Stay together. Say that to me.”
They looked at each other, then repeated, “Stay together.”
“That place casts a dark spell. Don’t think you can’t fall for it. Anyone can fall for it. If one of you sees the other begin to fall, do whatever it takes to snap him out of it. Better to lose a hand or an eye than your whole soul to that place. Do whatever it takes. Say it.”
“We’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Good,” she said. “Watch for sleeper spiders. They live there too. And the Bright Boys are at their strongest in that blighted place. Only dunking in water can kill them for good, but there’s no water in that place, so there they are truly immortal. Worse, they can and will trick you. Everything will try to trick you. Don’t be fooled. Don’t believe your eyes. Say it to each other.”
“Don’t believe your eyes,” they repeated.
“The Ghost Town changes form, changes name. I don’t know who or what you’ll find there, but whatever it is, it’ll haunt you if you let it. Don’t let it. The ghosts can’t die, but they can kill you, so they have the high ground. Don’t trust your eyes. Trust your heart. You have hearts, and they don’t, so there, you have the high ground. Now go. The sooner you get in, the sooner you get out. If you get out. Now promise me you’ll get out. Say it.”
“We promise,” they said again.
“Tricked you,” she said. “That’s not a promise you can make.”
With that terrifying statement, she left them alone. Rafe looked at Jeremy across the table.
“Now I’m scared,” Rafe said. “You?”
“Scared shitless and witless.”
Rafe finished his apple with one more bite. If he died in the Ghost Town, at least he’d go out with the taste of Shanandoah sunlight on his tongue.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The rock formation ahead of them looked foreboding for reasons Rafe couldn’t explain to himself. At first, he thought it was the high wall of an old cathedral or something, like in photos he’d seen of medieval ruins. But then, as they got closer, he saw it wasn’t anything man-made. A high natural wall, fifty feet or more, with three empty holes, tall and narrow. Like doors or…
“The Angel Windows,” Jeremy said, answering the question Rafe hadn’t asked.
“Why are they called that?”
“They say because only angels are brave enough to go in there. But even they’re afraid to use the front door.”
“We go through those? There’s nothing but fields behind them.”
“It’s hidden. It’s not just a town for ghosts. The town itself is a ghost.” Jeremy brought his horse alongside Rafe’s, and they trotted to a halt, the rock formation only about a hundred paces ahead. “We have to walk through them. And we can’t take the horses. I wouldn’t do that to them anyway.”
They rode to the Windows and dismounted.
“We’ll be back soon, lads,” Jeremy said as he gave both horses head scratches and more berries. “Head to Granny’s house. She’s got apples for you both.”
The horses stubbornly refused to budge.
“Typical,” Jeremy said.
Even with his bow and a quiverful of arrows, Rafe already felt woefully outgunned as they walked to the rocks. He stood before the tallest of the three Windows. Looking through it, all he could see was more of the same world, more Shanandoah. A field of violet flowers, yellow butterflies, and enormous rocks strewn all over with no discernible pattern, as if some ancient structure had collapsed eons ago and the world had reclaimed most of it.
“Ready?” Rafe said.
Jeremy took a long breath, then said, “To quote the great lion Aslan, ‘Further up and further in.’ ”
Rafe started up and into the Window, but Jeremy put his hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“The knight goes before the prince,” Jeremy said.
“Is this a chess rule or something?”
“It’s the Jeremy rule.”
“Granny told us to stay together. Remember the creepy kitchen chanting exercise? We go at the same time. You can go through that one.” He pointed at the opening next to him. “I’ll give you a half-second head start. Okay?”
“Acceptable.”
Rafe started forward again, but Jeremy’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.
