Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (20 page)

He took
her
by the elbow and gently led her to the tree line where he held branches back for her to pass through. The trek through the wooded land was a little harsh here, which was likely why the Harpies counted this as their base on Túir, but as soon as it opened up, they were met with beautiful widespread meadows. Dani’s intake startled him, and he
glanced
at her quickly. He calmed, seeing that her eyes were filled with awe.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered.

“Yeah, things are pretty different here,” he explained.

“I can see that,” she breathed. “What
is
that color?”

Garrick followed the direction she was pointing and saw a small tree near the middle of the meadow. “That’s called a mian. It’s a wishing tree. Everyone sees different colors in it.”

“Really?” she asked, turning toward him.

He snorted at the innocent expression on her face. “Come see.”

They walked through the quiet meadow with only the sounds of the breeze wafting through the tall
,
multicolored grasses. They stopped a foot away from the branches and he looked over and watched Dani’s eyes as she beheld the colors swirling
within the leaves and branches themselves.

“What do you see?” he asked, stepping closer. Everyone’s first gaze upon a mian was a truly amazing experience, and he wanted to watch her reaction.

“I see
…
well, I think they’re reflecting my image.”

Garrick nodded. “It sees you. Legend says that mian trees are good judges of character, and that once it understands your soul, it can
either
show you what your soul wishes for most
or show you what your future holds
.”

“What? Why would a tree need to tell someone what they want most? Don’t people know that on their own?”

“You’d be surprised. Tell me I’m wrong. Do you still see yourself?”

She focused on one of the leaves again. “I see
myself as a Harpy,” she said quietly.

“It’s still reading you then. Keep watching.” He watched Dani as she watched her reflection in the tree. Different expressions crossed her features and he found himself nearing ever closer, just to get a glimpse of what she was seeing and what she was thinking. He flicked his gaze to the mian
. I
nstead of s
how
ing Dani’s reflection immediately, the mian reflected him. His own image shimmered over the leaves randomly before focusing on Dani once more.

Dani. In all her images. Human, Harpy, and the golden goddess he’d seen earlier today. Each of her images reflected off the leaves in swirls of lights and colors.

“What i
s it showing you now?” he asked. All he could see was her.

“My parents
.
”

“Do you miss them?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I do.”

“That’s why the mian is showing them to you. Your soul aches to see them.”

She pulled her gaze from the tree and glanced over at him. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see them again. Not with how I am now.”

“With how you are now?” Garrick asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. “You look perfectly human to me at the moment.”

“At the moment. But not all the time. I’m
a
…
monster now.” A single tear welled in each eye.

He
moved to swipe them
away, but caught himself before he got too far. Dropping his hand to his side, he said, “You’re not a monster, Dani. You’re nothing like the Harpies we just met. You’ve proven that to me.” And there, standing in front of the mian tree, he realized that was the truth. Dani may not be human anymore. She might partly be a “monster,” as she’d called it, but she wasn’t one of the Harpies. “Do you want to see your parents?”

Her
gaze
met his as she fought more tears. Her lower lip trembled as she nodded.

His heart wrenched at the sight and he pulled her in for a hug. “Then I’ll make sure you see them again.”

The journey had taken hours before they saw any signs of life. During their travels, Garrick had filled Dani in on the ways of his realm. Certain villages would likely seem very renaissance
-like
to her, while others would appear g
y
psy-like. Those seemed to be the easiest ways to explain what she should expect. He’d explained both options to her, because he wasn’t sure which one they’d stumble upon first.

“We’re not technologically advanced,” he admitted. “That’s really a human thing.”

Dani squinched her nose and cocked an eyebrow. “That’s a human kind of thing?”

“Yeah.” Garrick coughed into his hand, covering the smile that had formed, though she still caught sight of it. “I haven’t been to other realms—I doubt anyone has been to
every
realm—but from what I’ve heard, humans are the technological race. It makes sense. Other creatures have special abilities and don’t need to rely on technology for survival.”

“Hmm.
”
She continued to face
forward as they walked on the compacted ground. They’d finally met up with a dirt road
,
which helped them cover ground more quickly. The sun was starting to make its descent in the sky, making a lovely
violet
color filter through all of the forestland. Every once in a while, she would catch different colors as the sun’s rays filtered through the myriad of different colored trees, making the forest look like something from a dream. It was just too beautiful to be real.

And yet, it was rea
l. This was Garrick’s home.

“Ah, g
y
psy it is,”
he
said quietly, having picked up on sounds of laughter. Dani looked ahead, catching sight of brightly colored cloths draped in a tent-like fashion.

Holy cra
p, it was actually a g
y
psy camp!
She hadn’t been able to hide her reaction as to how well Garrick had pegged them. This
wa
s exactly what she’d remembered of movies whenever there were gypsy camps. Only, there was a Fairy-flare this time too. There were tents of all sizes and colors huddled together, people milling about, some dancing as others played pipes. Everyone here was scantily clad, barely covering body parts that were normally well covered at home. Around the Fairies flew tiny globes of light, hovering to and fro, as if they too were dancing to the music.

“Pixie camp,” Garrick said.

“Those are pixies?”

“The tiny ones are. These particular Fairies have taken up camp with them.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

He shrugged. “It happens. Pixies are very
…
convincing when they want something.” A smile curved his lips and he raised a hand as though he were about to recite a poem. Which he did. “They whisper ideas into your ear and tell you things you want to hear. Pixies are a loving kind, but some’d as
soon
pinch your behind,” he finished in a rhyming tone. “That was a small lyric I heard growing up. Basically it means that they’re our friends, but some of them are devious little buggers, so watch it.”

Dani snickered and fell into step with Garrick as they neared the camp. Not escaping notice, Fairies slowly turned toward them in interest, offering smiling faces at once.

Garrick spoke to them in what sounded like
another
language that she’d never heard before. This one sounded less intense and angry, nothing like what the Harpies
’
did. It was gentler, and flowed from his mouth like a caress. And so did the other Fairies’ repl
ies
. At first unsure of where they’d come from, apparently Garrick’s introduction of both himself and Dani had turned their unsurety into an outright welcome.

“What did you say?” she whispered.

He quirked his lip and looke
d at her.
“I’m giving you something, but don’t make me regret it.”

“What?”

“Here.” Garrick took her hands and closed his eyes as a flow of energy lit between them. That familiar mixture of warmth and coolness traveled from her hands up her arms and spread throughout her body. She’d never get sick of the sensation, loving every second of it as they shared a deeper connection than she’d ever thought possible. Even the Fairies surrounding
them
made hushed whispers to each other.

And then it was over.

Everyone was silent for a little while until one gypsy cleared his throat. “Well, what did you do that for, lad?”

Dani took a double
take. She quickly looked down at her hands, noticing that Garrick wasn’t even touching her.

“Hey, I understood that!
” she exclaimed before clasping her hand over her mouth. She looked at Garrick. “Did I just…
.
Am I?”

“I gave you another piece of me,” he said. “You can understand our tongue now.”

“You can do that? But I thought you were afraid of—”

He cut her off with a warning glare. “Don’t worry about it. I couldn’t just let you feel like you couldn’t understand anything, and I can’t translate everything for you, or constantly be touching you.”

For some reason this caused a small pang in her heart. He hadn’t said it rudely, but that small bit of contact they’d had on
Harpy
Island
had been somewhat comforting. She didn’t want to lose that comfort.

Nothing in life made sense to her. Not anymore. Before Ekhart’s men had captured her and Karena, she’d had a boyfriend, d
one
pretty sucky in school—but who didn’t?—and had a pretty good life. Ever since that night though, nothing had felt right. First with Karena’s failing health and then her death. And then Dani’s own experiments that rendered her begging for death on what was probably a daily basis. The weirdness that had started and the changes that had taken place in her own body. It was all chaos. All of it. Everything.

And then there was Garrick. He was something of a miracle himself. He’d been kidnapped the same as Dani had been and yet he had never given up. She could read his face, tell when he was contriving ways of breaking free of the Institute. She’d failed in that regard; had always wished for a way of escape but had never really thought of how to do it. Until he came along. He’d offered her comfort. Silent, at first, but still comfort. His presence alone made
every
thing infinitely better. And then when he did magic through the glass, it was so much more. Like there was a connection between them. Maybe she felt a connection with him sim
ply because she was so lonely. M
aybe not. Really, she didn’t care. She’d hold on
to that connection for as long as she could.

As long as Garrick would allow it.

“Well, with that settled…” the burly-figured gypsy guy said. Dani returned her attention to real
life, leaving her own inner turmoil behind. Now, looking at his friendly face and jolly figure, she decided that he wasn’t actually
fat
, but would be considered so compared to most of the others in camp. Mostly everyone here was of slight frames, some tall, some short. But he was slightly rounder than the others. “It looks li
ke you’ve had quite the travels.”

A part of her wanted to respond, really, but she clammed up, seemingly unable to talk. She’d gone for years without a friendly conversation. Only arguing with Pyro and, more recently, escape talks with Garrick. She’d outright yelled at the Harpies earlier, but she’d been in her other form, angry and uninhibited. Now, there were people all over, all with friendly, curious faces, and she found she couldn’t say anything. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“Uh yeah,” Garrick replied. “We were being tracked by Harpies for a while. Had to hide out in the brush.”

The gypsy’s eyes widened. “Well then, why don’t you two sit down and eat with us?”

“Thank you, but we really should be on our way.”

“Nonsense. You have time to sit with us. You’ve got a lot of ground yet to travel if you’re heading to
Túir
Cathair. By the way, I’m Angus,” he said
,
stepping toward her. His hand hovered between them, palm up.

Dani
froze at first, willing herself to shake his hand. It took some internal convincing and she finally
moved to shake it, but Garrick stopped her.

“Here, we just touch palms,” he explained. “Like this.” He gently set his hand over Angus’s and they gave a light nod in greeting.

“Now for the lady’s turn,” Angus said, his r’s rolling.

She reached out, gently tapping their palms together. She waited for Angus to nod and then she did the same. Garrick leaned close to her ear, whispering, “Ladies also curtsy.”