Into the Wildewood (28 page)

“Whatever’s going around is rough. Some of the shops are closing.”

Laurie came over to them, holding out her hand as if she had a three-karat diamond ring on her finger instead of a plain silver band carved with stars. “Don’t you love it?” Raven and Keelie both nodded.

Keelie stood up, dusting off her pickle pants. “I need to get back to Heartwood. I need to talk to Dad. Raven, could you run in and get my jeans and T-shirt? They’re under the clothes rack opposite the Plumpkin head. I’m afraid to go back in.”

Raven laughed. “You’re not afraid of much, but I’ll do it for you.” She marched off, black skirts swirling as she scooted through the door.

Keelie and Laurie watched and waited. No noise, no talking. Then suddenly, an outraged screech split the air. Raven appeared in the doorway like a bat in the air, seeming to fly, with Keelie’s jeans flung over her arm. “Run!”

They turned and ran full tilt down the path, laughing and dodging Faire patrons until they got to the picnic tables. They fell on the bench, out of breath, still laughing, then ducked behind them as Finch whizzed by in her very nonperiod golf cart.

“What happened?” Keelie grabbed her jeans and pulled off the pickle pants, not caring who saw her underwear. The rose quartz was a comforting lump in her jeans pocket.

“Holy shit,” Raven said. “Old Finch took one look at me and she fired up her furnace. You’d think Keelie’s jeans were part of her personal hoard. Did I ever tell you about when I was Jill-of-the-Faire?”

“You?” Keelie hooted. “Oh, you have to tell all.”

Raven waved both hands dismissively. “I can’t top you, girl. You’re going down in history as the worst Jill ever.”

Laurie laughed, too, but she looked wistful. No stories to share. Keelie finished changing clothes and they walked back to Heartwood, leaving the pickle outfit draped over the picnic table.

As soon as they turned down Enchanted Lane, Keelie knew something was wrong. No birds were singing. She lifted her head to study the treetops, but there were no
bhata
around. Lulu’s shop was shuttered, and there were just a few people walking down Enchanted Lane. Keelie opened her mind to the trees, to Tavak, but something blocked her.

“What’s wrong?” Raven was studying her expression.

“I don’t know.” Keelie ran to Heartwood, followed by her friends. It was closed. Dad wasn’t there, but Knot sat at the entrance, his fur bushed to maximum fluff. Tufts of white cat hair were everywhere. ”Did you have a fight with the white stray?”

“Heartwood, come here.”

Keelie froze. It was Finch. She’d caught up with them, or maybe she’d come for the money. Or was she here to tell Zeke everything herself? Raven slipped away, the white kitty at her heels.

Finch still looked like a human-dragon hybrid with a mean Viking aura, but she didn’t seem to be about to barbecue anyone. Instead, she looked worried, and Keelie did a double take when she saw Sir Davey standing next to her, his face also lined with concern.

“Okay, Davey there she is. I’ve got to get back to the office.” She sighed. “Now that I’ve got both the EPA and the CDC to worry about, the heat’s on.”

“The CDC? That’s the disease people,” Laurie whispered.

Keelie felt cold. “Sir Davey, where’s Dad?”

Davey seemed to consider his words. “He’s sicker than we all thought. He hid it from you and from me, lass.”

Keelie’s heart raced. “Where is he? He was fine this morning.” Except for the dark circles. Except for the fatigue.

“He’s with the others at the lodge.”

With Elia and the elves. He wasn’t safe there. “I’ve got to go to him. He needs to be here with me. I’ll take care of him.”

“What’s going on?” Raven reappeared as Finch left. “Is my mom okay?”

“Zeke has been quarantined with the others at the lodge. Janice is fine, Raven. The CDC is investigating the source of the illness, and they’re trying to identify it.”

Keelie knew her face was bleached white from fear.

“If the CDC runs tests on them, then—then it’s good because they can find out what’s going on,” Laurie spoke confidently. “They can be cured.”

Keelie met Davey’s eyes. Not good, if they found out they weren’t human.

Raven still looked worried. “What about the Faire workers, crafts people, and mundanes—are they in danger?”

“Some Faire workers have become sick, but it’s mostly the folks at the lodge,” Sir Davey answered. “Raven, the only ones still here and healthy from that, er, group, are Elianard, Elia, Lord Niriel, and Keelie.”

All the elves were sick. Every one. Keelie was only half elven, so that might explain how she was not affected, but it didn’t explain why Elia and Elianard looked better than ever. Lord Niriel, too. She wondered what the three had in common.

Raven raced out the door. “Keelie, I’m going to be right back. I need to make sure Mom is okay.”

“Sure.” Keelie heard a sneeze at ground level. Knot sneezed again and pawed at the door of the shop, then meowed.

Even though he didn’t talk to her the way he talked to her dad, she understood. He wanted to go inside.

Sir Davey watched Raven go. “Zeke says work needs to go on as normally as possible. He says it will create a diversion for you. He wants you to remember that you’re a Heartwood, and he needs for you to help with … .” He inclined his head across the lane.

Keelie understood. “But I want to go to him. How will I know he’s all right?”

Knot meowed again.

Sir Davey seemed hesitant to leave. “I’ll keep you informed. I’ll be back to check on you in an hour.”

“I’ll help you, Keelie.” Laurie put a hand on her arm. “I guess I get to be a working girl after all. This is going to shock my mom, and you know hardly anything shocks her.”

Despite everything going on, Keelie couldn’t help being totally surprised by Laurie’s offer. “Are you sure?”

“Hey, I heard working builds character.”

Keelie stepped into the shop and ran her hand across the wood of a nearby chair. Elm from Maine. She had to hold back the tears. “Dad.”

Now was not the time to fall apart. Knot went behind the counter and scratched at a small cupboard, to the right of the shelves, that held receipt books, pens, and binders of furniture designs. Keelie opened it, and Knot pawed at something inside.

She bent down and reached for the object. It was a cell phone, or what looked like a cell phone—a flat wooden box decorated with a silver filigreed tree. When Keelie opened the silver-hinged lid, embedded, rune-like symbols glowed green. She could feel the chlorophyll from inside it.

She tilted her head and looked at Sir Davey. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Yep.” Sir Davey removed a small crystal from a leather bag tied to his belt. “It figures that Knot knew where he hid it.” He handed the crystal to Keelie. “This will boost your power signal. Zeke quit using it because it kept dropping calls.”

Keelie looked down at Knot. “I should kick you across the Faire for hiding this from me.”

Laurie leaned over the counter. “That doesn’t look like any cell phone I’ve ever seen. What company do you use?”

“Earth Network,” Sir Davey replied easily. “They’re an underground company working with natural resources. Zeke uses Northwest Sylvan.”

“Very eco-cool.” Laurie looked impressed. “So green.”

Knot placed a paw on Keelie’s arm, his claws hooked into her cotton shirt. She looked down at him. His eyes were totally dilated. He released her and pressed his paw on a spiral-shaped symbol.

The world tilted. Keelie closed her eyes; she felt like she was traveling through a portal of green. She was connected from forest to forest down the Appalachian Mountains. The feeling was similar to getting on Google and viewing satellite pictures. Images of forests flashed across her mind. And then she heard Sean’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Sean, is that you?”

“Keelie? Why didn’t you answer my letters?”

“I never got them, but we can talk about that later. I need your help. Everyone here is sick and the CDC is going to run tests on them. Everyone’s sick except me, Elianard, Elia, and your father.”

Laurie was watching Keelie with wide eyes. “Sean?
The
Sean?”

Keelie knew she couldn’t say anything about the unicorn in front of Laurie. She might already be saying too much.

“Keelie, you’ve got to stop the CDC. They cannot find out about us.” His voice sounded urgent.

“How can I?”

“Go to my father,” Sean insisted. “He’s the—

There was a sound like the rustling of leaves, and the plink of a harp string, then silence.

“Dropped call?” Laurie was sympathetic. “And after all that time, too.”

“You might say that.” Keelie put the wooden cell phone on the counter. “Guess we’d better get to work.”

twenty-three

Laurie turned out to be a terrific saleswoman, which was good, since Keelie had spent all afternoon and all that night keeping the oaks asleep. She’d channeled magic through the Queen Aspen’s heart, and her head throbbed from the effort.

“No more Tylenol.” Raven took the bottle away from her. “It’ll destroy your liver.”

Keelie sat at the sales counter of Heartwood, her cheek pressed against the cool wood of the countertop. “But my head still hurts,” she moaned. Her fingers and toes were getting a green tinge, too, from spending so much time talking to the trees.

“Mom fixed you something.” Raven pushed forward a dark blue glass bottle with a cork stopper.

Keelie opened one eye. “What is it?”

“Herb infusion with honey. Don’t ask me what’s in it, except for the honey. She said that was to make it taste good.”

“I’m for that.” Keelie sat up gingerly and pulled the bottle toward her. “How much do I take?”

“All of it.”

She would have shrugged, but it would have made her head throb more. The cork was jammed in tight. Keelie tugged hard and it came loose with a loud pop. A sweet smell wafted up from the narrow bottleneck.

Keelie took a breath, then put the bottle to her lips and drank it down. There wasn’t much in it, just about half a cup. It didn’t taste very good, but the honey made it tolerable.

Raven took the empty bottle and recorked it. “Give it a while to work. Mom says it’s foolproof.”

“I’d say you’re calling me a fool, but it would take too much effort.” Keelie put her head back down and watched as Laurie walked by, leading three very well-dressed women in period costume. Playtrons. That’s what the Ren Faire folk called customers in costume, patrons who enhanced the feel of the event for everyone by wearing costumes like the players.

Laurie smiled and gave them a finger wave. “These ladies didn’t know about the handcrafted wooden furniture on this side of the Faire.”

Keelie forced a smile. “Welcome.”

The three elaborately gowned women smiled, looking like taller versions of the three fairy godmothers in Disney’s
Sleeping Beauty
. One wore green, the other blue, and the third wore violet.

Knot staggered to the foot of Keelie’s tall stool and collapsed in a furry heap. The green lady smiled and bent over to pet his head. “I love shop cats. They add such a welcoming feeling to a place.”

Laurie motioned toward the back of the shop. “Ladies, if you follow me, this is where you’ll find those custom-designed dollhouses I told you about.”

The four swept away, literally. Their trailing skirts pushed leaves and acorns aside as they progressed down the aisle. Keelie watched them go, amused. Laurie actually enjoyed talking to shoppers. Who knew?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the trees. Something was moving quickly through the forest, and the trees followed its movements. Keelie couldn’t tell what it was. Probably not a deer. The trees didn’t care about the forest’s usual inhabitants, which meant that this probably wasn’t the unicorn, either.

Raven’s eyes were on her face, tense and worried. “Is it a Red Cap?” She’d seen the damage that the evil fairy had caused at the High Mountain Faire.

Keelie lowered her voice. “No Red Cap, thank goodness. This time it’s a unicorn. And Elia is looking for him.”

Raven gasped, then grinned. “No way. You’ve seen a real unicorn? There were always stories about a unicorn in the Wildewood. I thought I saw him once when I was about eleven, but everyone laughed at me, so I figured I’d made him up. You’ve actually seen it? Or did you say him?”

Raven could be trusted with her secret. “Him, definitely. His name is Lord Einhorn, and he’s really sick and needs my help.” The white cat leaped onto the counter. It sat, tail curled neatly around its feet, and stared at Raven.

Raven stroked the little cat’s head. “He’s been around the Faire for years, or his ancestors have. I played with his grandfather, probably, because there’s been one just like him since I was a kid.” The cat closed its eyes and leaned into her caress. “Keelie, it’s so cool about the unicorn. Not that he’s sick, but that’s he real.” Raven looked like a little kid who’d just glimpsed Santa Claus on his throne at the mall. “What can I do to help?”

Laurie interrupted. “They asked if you took Master Card or Lady Visa.”

Keelie stared at her blankly, her mind still divided between whatever was running through the forest and telling Raven about the unicorn. Laurie’s question finally filtered in. “Dad has a credit card machine somewhere.”

Raven walked to the other side of the counter. “Look under the shelves. Mom shoves hers under there when she’s finished for the day.”

She and Keelie poked through the shelves. Keelie’s fingers paused to touch Zeke’s green tea mug. Then she opened the cupboard door, seeing the vision of an Alabama pine forest, and pulled out a brick-sized machine covered in silver-filigreed tree branches. A plate at the bottom front read “The Bank of the Dread Forest” in calligraphic script.

“This must be it.” She touched the top and the machine whirred to life, glowing with bright green light. Her fingers tingled from the chlorophyll. Great, as if she needed more. She knew it came from the trees, but it reminded her of radiation, and she knew that too much exposure would make her sick.

Raven stared. “Wow, you didn’t have to turn it on. It just turned on when you touched it.”