I turned, narrowing my gaze. “What do you mean?”
“Pah, boy. Can’t you smell it? I guess you wouldn’t.” The Wolf turned as well, lowering his head so we were face-toface. “Your girl is hiding something, little prince,” he said in a low growl. “She reeks of sadness, of indecision and guilt. And desire, of course. It’s even stronger than yours.
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Oh, don’t pretend not to know what I’m talking about. Both of you smell like rutting deer that don’t know whether to f lee or just get on with it.” He bared his fangs in a brief smile as I glared. “But I would be careful around her, boy. There’s something she hasn’t told you. I don’t know what it is, nor do I care, but she doesn’t want this journey to end.
You can see it in her eyes.”
I glanced at Ariel a, knowing the Wolf was right. She was hiding something, something more then her emotions or her visions or the many futures I knew she had seen. I saw the gleam of golden eyes on the bench and knew Grimalkin was watching me, but at that moment I heard the f lapping of wings, and a large black bird swooped in to perch on the deck.
It changed to Puck in a swirl of feathers, making the Wolf wrinkle his nose and sneeze. “Heads-up,” Puck announced, raking feathers from his hair.
“We’re coming up on the Briars, and it looks like the river goes right through it.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
THROUGH THE BRIARS
The Briars rose before us like the black face of a cliff, an endless wall of thorns, vines and branches, clawing at the sky. From a distance, they appeared to move, swaying and writhing, never still. Of all the places in Faery, the Briars were the most mysterious, and one of the most feared. It was here long before the first faery emerged from human dreams, and was said to encircle the entire Nevernever. No one knew how it came to be.
But everyone knew about it. Within the thorns, the trods to every door and gateway in the human world lay hidden and well protected, waiting to be discovered. Find the right trod, and you could go anywhere in the world. That is, if you could survive the things that lived in the thorns.
And the Briars themselves were always hungry.
No one had ever traveled all the way through the thorns; there were rumors that the maze went on forever. But if what Ariel a said was true, the End of the World lay beyond the Briars, and somewhere beyond that lay the Testing Grounds.
The five of us—myself, Ariel a, Puck, Grimalkin, and the Wolf—stood side by side at the front of the boat, watching the Briars loom before us.
The river wound sleepily toward the wall of thorns, into a tunnel of in-terlocking branches. As we drew closer, we could hear the Briars move, creaking and slithering, eager to welcome us into its embrace.
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“Quick question.” Puck’s voice broke the silence. “Did anyone think to bring a can of Off?”
The Wolf gave him a confused look, and I raised an eyebrow. “Do we even want to know?”
“Mmm, probably not.”
Ariel a leaned forward, gazing up at the looming expanse of black thorns, awe written plainly on her face. For a moment, it reminded me of the first time I had seen her, that pretty young girl staring at the winter palace in amazement, still innocent of the ways of the Unseelie Court.
But she was different now, not the girl I had once known.
Ariel a caught me looking at her and smiled. “I’ve never seen the Briars,” she said, glancing back at the wall of thorns. “Not like this.
They’re so much bigger in person.” The Wolf snorted, wrinkling his nose. “I hope you know where you’re going, girl,” he said in a dubious voice. “If we get lost in there, you’ll be the first one I’m going to eat to keep from starving. Well, after the cat, anyway.”
I glared at the Wolf, but Ariel a shook her head. “We won’t have to worry about getting lost,” she said in a distant voice, not even looking at us. “The river will take us where we need to go. To the End of the World.”
“Great,” Puck said, grinning and rubbing his hands. “Sounds easy enough. Let’s just hope we don’t fall off the edge.” 182/387
Gripping the railing, I stared up at the moving wall. This is it. The last barrier before the End of the World, and one step closer to keeping my promise. Meghan, I’m almost there. Wait for me just a little longer.
As the ferry slipped beneath the Briars, what little light there was dimmed to almost nothing, leaving us in pitch darkness. Extending my arm, I drew a tiny bit of glamour from the air, and a globe of faery fire appeared in my palm, washing everything in pale blue light. I sent the ball ahead of us, lighting the way down the channel, where it bobbed and weaved and cast weird shadows over the bristling tunnel walls.