“And I made myself alone.” Tobiah looked up at me. “Because I was embarrassed. Because I thought I had to be alone to think and plan. Because I thought no matter who was with me, I was alone. I wasn’t thinking about you suffering, too. I’m sorry.”
My hand twitched, as though I might touch him, comfort him, but I caught myself and pressed my palm to my thigh. “I’ll tell you what happened in the wraithland,” I said. “But not for you. I’ll tell you because I need to stop the wraith, and the only chance I have of accomplishing that is with your help and cooperation.”
“I understand.”
When I’d dragged a chair closer to the boys, I opened my notebook to the sketches and entries I’d made during my time in the wraithland. I indulged a moment of hesitation before I handed it to him. Voice dropped low, I told him how I’d slipped out of West Pass Watch and stolen down the mountainside. He turned the pages along with my story, never looking up.
“I collected several pieces of the barrier from beside Mirror Lake. I don’t know if they will be useful, but I wanted to offer them to your committee for study.”
“Thank you.”
“Did you already know that Liadia had broken the Wraith Alliance by pouring magic into the barrier?”
He shook his head. “We heard the same rumors you investigated, but there was no proof beyond refugee claims. But with the pieces you brought back, it can be verified.” He dropped his eyes to the notebook again and brushed his fingers over a drawing of the locust-covered village. “What happened here?”
My voice tightened as I described the blackening sky, the bugs falling to their death when they flew too close to the lake’s reflection, and the pattering of their bodies all around me.
“The locusts were everywhere, smothering me. They were in my hair, my mouth, and even my nose. I couldn’t get away, so I used my power.”
Tobiah’s fingers clenched around the notebook. This was why I hadn’t told him, even as Black Knife. I didn’t need to see the disappointment in his eyes; no one was more disappointed in my weakness than I.
Ignoring his reaction, I continued. “Usually, I have to touch things, so I reached out for the air. I told it to wake up and save me, but it wasn’t the air that I awoke.”
“It was the wraith.” He stared at the sketch of the field of dead locusts, and the clear sky above.
“Yes.” I rubbed chills off my arms. “It drained me to use so much magic. I passed out for at least a day, and when I woke up, it was gone. The whole area was clear of wraith, because the wraith I’d brought to life had left.”
“But when you returned to the Indigo Kingdom, it followed you.”
“It followed me through the mountains, but then the mirrors on West Pass Watch frightened it away. It must have found a different path later, since the castle is still standing.”
“When you found it in Skyvale, why didn’t you tell it to go back to sleep?”
“If I had, the wraith would have stayed here and corrupted the city. I thought by making it solid, I could take it back out to the wraithland. I didn’t expect it to become human.” No, not human. Too easily I could remember the wraith boy’s body stretching, growing claws. Too easily I could imagine how quickly he’d have killed Tobiah before James or the other guards had been able to move at all. “Human shaped,” I amended. “I don’t know what he is, really. My power isn’t supposed to work like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was young, before I understood, I animated my toys to play with me. I thought I was bringing them to life. But I wasn’t. Not life. Rather, I gave them the ability to do what I wanted them to do.”
“But not life. You say ‘wake up,’ but you don’t really awaken it.” He glanced at James, finally understanding why I couldn’t help his cousin.
“What happened in the wraithland was different, and I don’t know why. I don’t know how. Just that I’ve created this thing and I don’t know anything about it or what to do with it. I wish I hadn’t.” But giving life to the wraith boy—like this sudden and uncomfortable confession to Tobiah—was something I couldn’t take back. It was done. And I would have to deal with the consequences.
The wraith boy wanted me to go to the wraithland with him. In the spaces between breaths, I could still hear his whisper in my ear: Come to the changing lands with me. Come back with me.
Tobiah closed my notebook, and his fingers stroked the worn leather cover as though it were a pet. “Do you think what you did mitigated the wraith’s approach any?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could you do it again?”
“Possibly.” Probably not. Just the once had nearly killed me; I’d never animated anything so large before, and giving life to something was completely new. “But I don’t know if it would help. I don’t know what the consequences would be.”
He nodded and studied the front cover of my notebook, as though deciding whether to open it and start from the beginning. What would he think, seeing the writing of a nine-year-old girl there? But he didn’t open it. He handed it back to me, and seemed suddenly unsure what to do with his hands. No notebook, no weapons, no one safe to touch. “I may be able to modify the language of the Wraith Alliance to allow for experimentation. It would cover what you did in the wraithland and the other night.”
“Would the other kingdoms sign it?”
“There aren’t many left. They’re as desperate as we are. They’d sign it.”
We sat in awkward silence for a minute before I said, “I know who killed your father.”
Tobiah jerked straight. “Who?”
“The same man I suspect tried to assassinate you.”
“Who?” The prince flashed a desperate look at his unconscious cousin.
“Patrick Lien, the son of the general who kidnapped you.” I rested my hands on my knees, forcing my voice even. “Patrick confessed that he assassinated your father, and that he intended to have you killed, too. The last time I saw him, he said he was heading to Aecor to amass an army. In my name. He’ll claim you’re holding me hostage.”
Tobiah stared at me.
I slumped, exasperated. “Obviously, this isn’t something I asked him to do.”
“Then he’s a traitor not only to the Indigo Kingdom, of which he is technically a citizen, but a traitor to the vermilion throne as well.” Tobiah rubbed his temples. “The guards I sent after the shooter never found anyone. You’ve heard nothing of your wraith boy?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know why he hasn’t returned yet.” There were too many options I didn’t like: that the wraith boy didn’t have to do my bidding, like I’d thought; that Patrick had been able to outrun the wraith boy; that the wraith boy had been captured. . . .
“Melanie is with Patrick. She’ll get word to me before he does anything else.” I hoped. I’d trusted her when she took that step toward Patrick but held my gaze, but I couldn’t forget how passionately she’d felt about him before.
“I’ll have my men begin searching for him. If I asked whether you know where he might be, would you tell me the truth?”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to my people. Not the Ospreys who went with him, or whoever might be sheltering him. If you can promise their safety—”
“My orders will be to spare them.” Tobiah met my eyes. “I cannot promise more than that.”
It was better than I’d expected. “I’ll give you the locations I know about, but he might not go to them.”
Tobiah rose and pulled out the chair to a writing desk. “I want us to work together, Wil. I know you’re angry with me, and you have every right to be. I’m angry with myself, too.” He pulled out a few sheets of palace stationery and a writing box. “But I am willing to do whatever is required for my kingdom’s security, and I think you are, too.”