Despite assurances that she was fine, my worry for her gnawed at my insides. After the whole dream encounter and our stammering, awkward conversation, she seemed distant and withdrawn, more so than usual. With every step, she grew more shadowlike, more insubstantial, until I feared she would fade away like the mist in the hol ow. I tried talking to her, but though she smiled and answered my questions and told me she was fine, her eyes seemed to stare right through me.
I couldn't get Meghan out of my head, either. I wished I had told her what I was doing. I wished I had said more, argued more. Maybe then I wouldn't have this hol ow ache in my chest whenever I thought of our parting words. Had she already moved on, forgotten me? In her position, what she said made sense, but the thought of her with someone else made me wish I had something to fight, to kill , just so I could forget. Between Meghan and Ariel a, I felt like I was being torn in two.
So I really wasn't in the mood to talk when Puck ambushed me, coming out of nowhere with that faint smirk on his face, looking for trouble. I knew I wasn't going to like his next question, but he stil surprised me when he asked, “So, what did Meghan say when she saw Ariel a?”
I glanced at him sharply, and he grinned. “Come on, iceboy. I'm not stupid. I can put the pieces together well enough to figure out what happened. What did she say?” When I didn't answer, he suddenly reached out and grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around. “Hey, I'm serious, prince!”
I drew my sword in an instant, cutting for his head as I turned. Puck was already bringing up his dagger to block, and the two blades met in a screech of sparks.
Puck glared at me over the crossed blades, eyes gone hard and cold, ref lecting my own expression. Dragonf lies buzzed around us, and the forest threw odd patches of light over his forehead, almost like war paint. “You're wavering, Ash,” Puck said quietly, his eyes glowing like the woods around him. “I've seen how you look at Ariel a of late. You don't know what you want, and that indecision is going to destroy you, and the rest of us along with it.”
“I gave you the choice to leave,” I said, deliberately ignoring the accusation. “No one is keeping you here. You could've gone back to Arcadia, Puck. You could have left if you wanted—”
“No.” Puck's eyes narrowed to green slits, and he spoke through clenched teeth. “I'm not going back to explain to Meghan that I left you here alone, to tel her I don't know what happened to you. If I go back, it will be to tel her that you're gone for good, or I won't go back at all .”
“I see.” I smiled without humor. “You want me to fail. If I die, then you'l be there for Meghan. You're hoping I never come back.”
“Ash! Puck!” Ariel a's voice broke our standoff as she rushed up, white-faced and frightened. “Stop it! What are you doing?”
“It's fine, Ari,” Puck said, not taking his eyes from me. “Ice-boy and I are just having a conversation, isn't that right, prince?”
I held the stance a moment longer, then stepped back, sheathing my blade. Puck grinned, but the look in his eyes told me this wasn't over yet.
“If you two are quite finished,” the Wolf growled, circling back, his voice tight with irritation, “we're almost there.”
This far into the Deep Wyld, the River of Dreams had widened into a wide, sleepy canal of pitch-black water ref lecting the darkened sky.
“I wouldn't stand so close to the edge if I were you,” the Wolf warned Puck, who was about to skip a pebble along the glassy surface. “We're stil very close to the nightmare stretch of the river, and we wouldn't want you pulled in by something nasty. I'd hate to go in after you again.”
Puck grinned and f lung the rock over the mirrorlike surface. I counted five jumps before something huge and scaly erupted from the water, snapping up the pebble in a fine spray before sinking into the depths once more.
We moved back from the edge.
“How far is it to the Briars?” I asked Ariel a, who was sitting on a rock several feet from the bank, looking exhausted. Grimalkin sat beside her, washing a front paw. The Wolf wrinkled his muzzle at the cat but didn't lunge at him, so hopeful y they had gone back to pretending the other didn't exist.
“I'm not sure,” she said, staring down the river as if in a daze. “A long way, I think. But at least we won't get lost. We just have to fol ow the river…to the end.”
“Wish we had a boat,” Puck muttered, tossing another rock into the current. Another splash and a f lash of scales erupted from the surface, making him wince. “Then again, maybe not. Our last little trip didn't work out so well , what with the giant eels and arrows and bloodthirsty newts. Guess we're walking to the End of the World after all , unless anyone has a better idea.”
The Wolf sat down, his dark form outlined by moonlight, and gazed out toward the water. “There is another boat,” he said in a solemn voice. “I've seen it sometimes. A ferry, always unmanned, always going in the same direction. It never appears to stop, and the river nightmares seem unaware of its existence.”
“Mmm, you are speaking of the ghost ferry,” Grimalkin said, pausing in his grooming to look up. “One of the more common legends, I believe. There is a similar ship that haunts the Broken Glass Sea, a pirate vessel made of the bones of men. Or something like that.” He sniffed and shook his head. “According to certain legends, the ghost ferry always appears when there is need.”
“Well, there's need here,” Puck said, gazing up and down the dark river. “We need it, because I don't want to go tromping down the river for who knows how long until we reach the Briars or the End of the World or whatever.” He cupped his hands to his mouth and bel owed,
“Do you hear me, ferry? Need! Here! We need you now!”
Grimalkin f lattened his ears, and the Wolf 's hackles went up as he looked at me. “How did he ever survive so long without something tearing his throat out?” he growled.
“Believe me, I've wondered the same.”
“The ferry will come to us,” Ariel a said, causing everyone to turn and stare at her. She gazed down the river, her eyes glazed, distant and a mil ion miles away. “I've seen it. In my visions. It will appear, when it is time.”
“When will that be?” I asked.
“I don't know. But it will not be here. I've seen the boat, and a long, long pier. That is all I know.”
“Well …” Puck sighed, grabbing another pebble. “I guess we're looking for some kind of dock. Anyone know where we can find one?”
There was no answer to that, and he sighed again. “Guess we're hoof-ing it, then.”
The forest on our side of the river soon changed, almost as abruptly as a door slamming. The lights faded, and the trees became twisted, warped versions of themselves, branches creaking and groaning though there was no wind. The stars disappeared, and the river turned even blacker, ref lecting nothing but a sickly red moon, peering through the clouds like a lone bloodshot eye. I figured we were stil in the nightmare stretch of the river, and hoped nothing would come lurching up from those dark waters or out of the trees, both much too close for comfort.
“Don't stare into the forest too long, prince,” the Wolf growled, as something rustled in the bushes to the side. “Direct eye contact will draw attention to yourself from the things that live there. And they aren't pretty, trust me.”
“You mean they're even scarier than you?” Puck joked, and the Wolf gave him an eerie smile that was all teeth.
“I was born from human fear and suspicion,” the Wolf growled, sounding proud of the fact. “Their stories, their legends, gave me power. But these are creatures of human nightmares, pure, mindless, screaming terror. They come crawling out of that river and escape into the forest, and the forest twists and warps into a landscape of what humans fear the most. If you want to meet some of these creatures, feel free to draw their gaze. Just try not to go insane when you finally see one.”
Puck snorted. “Please. Who do you think you're talking to? I caused some of those human nightmares. I've seen it all , Wolfman. There's nothing that can freak me out any—whoa!”
Puck leaped backward, almost tripping over himself. Grimalkin hissed and vanished, and I drew my sword. On the banks of the river, holding a fishing pole in two white, longfingered hands, an enormous, wild-haired creature turned to stare at us.
I stared at it. It was fey, it had to be, but I'd never seen anything like it.
It didn't have a body, just a huge, bulbous head covered in shaggy white hair that hung down to its knees. No, not knees…knee. The giant had one thick stump of a leg ending in a massive clubbed foot, dirty yellow toenails gripping the ground like a giant claw. Two long arms sprouted where its ears should've been, and a pair of huge, uneven eyes gazed down at us with detached curiosity.
I tensed, ready to attack should the giant lunge at us. That single leg, once taken out, would make it easy to bring this huge creature down.
But the giant only blinked at us sleepily, then turned to gaze at the river again, where the string of his fishing pole met the water.
The Wolf panted, grinning at Puck, who had leaped to his feet, furiously brushing mud from his pants. Ariel a stepped up beside me, her apathy forgotten as we gazed up at the strange creature, continuing to fish as if nothing had happened. “What is that?” she whispered, clutching my arm.
“I've never seen a creature like this before. Is this some kind of human nightmare?”
“It's not a nightmare,” the Wolf said, sitting down to watch us. “It's fey, just like you, but it doesn't have a name. At least, none that anyone can remember.”
“I did not think any stil existed,” Grimalkin said, reappearing on a piece of driftwood, his tail stil f luffed out to twice its size. He peered up at the oblivious giant and sniffed. “This may be the very last one.”
“Well, endangered or not, maybe it can help us,” Puck said, edging up to the giant's treelike leg. “Oy, stumpy! Yeah, you!” he cal ed as the giant's massive head swiveled around to stare at him. “Can you understand me?”
The Wolf blinked at Puck, astonished, and Ariel a pressed a little bit closer to me. I could feel her soft fingers gripping my arm, and casually reached for my sword hilt. “I'm not about to scrape you off the bottom of its foot, Goodfel ow,” I warned.
“Touched that you care, prince,” Puck cal ed back, retreating a few steps to meet the giant's gaze, craning his head up. “Hey there,” he greeted, waving cheerfully. “We don't mean to intrude, but would you be able to answer a couple questions?” He blinked as the giant continued to stare. “Uh, bob once for yes, twice for no.”
The faery shifted, and I tensed, ready to attack if it tried to stomp Puck like an irritating cockroach. But the giant only pulled his line out of the river and turned to face Puck square on.
“What…do…you…want?” it asked, very slowly, as if it was just remembering how to talk. Puck's eyebrows shot up.
“Oh, hey, you can speak, after all . Excel ent.” He turned to grin at me, and I stared back, unamused. “We were just wondering,” Puck continued, giving the giant his best charming smile, “how much farther to the End of the World? Just as a curiosity. Do you know? You look like a local, you've been here awhile, right? What do you think?”