The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages #3)(39)

“You brought us,” Finn accused. “The Travelers told me you’re the Gray Lady of Clan Liath. This place is in your blood.”

Anna craned her neck to roll her eyes at Finn. “Don’t be absurd. I simply see things that should not be seen. I don’t have true magic.”

Kai started muttering again in his sleep, and Finn hurried to his other side, taking his free hand as she knelt. “How are we supposed to help him now? We can’t even give him water if he needs it!”

Anna bit back her tears. Had she really somehow transported them all to this place? It didn’t seem possible. It had to be Finn. It was Finn’s fault Kai would lose his life in this place.

Kai’s breathing became ragged and all of Anna’s thoughts rushed away. Her best friend was about to die. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. The air she sucked into her lungs was dense and moist . . . wait, was that fog? Her eyes searched the expansive corridor, now slowly filling up with moist, white, bog-like mist

Finn and Branwen seemed to notice the mist too as it thickened. Anna felt compelled to keep silent, and it seemed her conscious companions did as well. Something about this mist was oddly familiar, and all she could think was, danger.

Movement caught her eye further down the corridor, a cloaked shape. It moved toward them, gliding smoothly as if its feet didn’t touch the ground, but as it neared, Anna could see that it actually walked, just gracefully. Feminine hips outlined beneath the thin black fabric of the cloak swayed with every step.

Anna watched awestruck, unable to move, until the cloaked figure reached them. The figure removed its hood, revealing a face startlingly similar to Finn’s, except her hair was dark, her eyes blue, and her features perhaps a touch more angular. Anna also had a sense of great age. She knew Finn was technically centuries old, but this woman before them somehow felt ancient.

“Did you bring us here?” Finn squeaked, her words seeming to pull Anna out of her trance.

She moved her gaze to Finn, who seemed frightened, but at the same time, angry.

The woman, Finn’s mother Anna assumed, chuckled. “The Gray Lady brought you here. I saw an opportunity to speak with you, and I took it.”

Finn’s face crumbled into confused lines, then she slowly seemed to grasp what the woman was saying. “I’ve been to the in between before, haven’t I? That’s how we were able to speak on the island.”

Finn’s mother nodded. “The Archtree’s presence made the barriers between the worlds thin. It allowed me to make contact without physically being in the same place as you.”

“I think I understand,” replied Finn, though Anna couldn’t say she agreed. Finn’s mother claimed Anna had brought them all to this place. It couldn’t be possible, could it?

As if reading her thoughts, Finn’s mother turned her cool gaze to Anna. “The seasons are changing,” she explained. “The barriers grow thin all across the land. The old bloods are returning. The Cavari, the Faie, and the elder clans, one of which is Clan Liath. Their blood runs strong through your veins. Magic is returning to the earth. It is returning to you.”

“It cannot return if I never had it to begin with,” she snapped, suddenly defensive.

Finn’s mother chuckled. “You’ll see in time. You are not the only one reconnecting with the power that should have been your birthright.”

Birthright? Anna wanted to ask her more, but Kai’s hand spasmed around hers, drawing her attention away.

“His blood has been poisoned,” Finn’s mother explained. “He will die.”

“No,” Finn argued, shaking her head over and over. “He cannot, I will not allow it. I will not lose another friend.”

“You wish to save him?” her mother asked.

“She does!” Anna interrupted. “Can you help us?”

Finn’s mother smirked, then turned her gaze back to Finn. “You truly have forgotten much, much I am loath to remind you of, but I will tell you this. Immortal blood runs through your veins. Share it with him, and he will be changed. He will not live forever, but he will be stronger than he once was, able to fight the poison within him.”

“How do I do it?” Finn asked frantically, staring down at Kai’s sickly face.

Something like hope blossomed in Anna’s chest.

“There are consequences to changing the natural order,” her mother warned.

“I do not care,” Finn replied. “How do I do it?”

“Cut your hand and his, place the wounds together,” she explained, taking a step forward. “This can only be done if you are entirely willing to share a portion of your immortality. If you do not truly mean what you say, it will not work.”

Anna searched her belt and found that both her daggers still rested there. She had not noticed them until then. She withdrew one, and hurriedly offered it to Finn, but Finn presented her palm instead. “Help me,” she urged. “We will save him together.”

Anna had never felt any love for Finn, but she would have kissed her right in that moment if Kai wasn’t slowly fading away between them. So instead of kissing her with her lips, she did it with her dagger, slowly drawing it across Finn’s open palm. She then took Kai’s hand that she’d been holding and spread it out, then sliced his palm in the same direction.

Finn leaned across his body and intertwined her bloody fingers with his. Deeply concentrating, her eyes drifted shut.