Chapter 6

• I looked back to the palace that was at the top of the road. If anyone had told me I’d be out on a stroll with Alterealm’s princesses a week ago, I would have sent them to medical to have a brain scan.
• “At least the weather is nice.” Bethany said.
• Daxx stopped and looked back at Tim. “Is it ever not here?”
• He grinned. “You’ve been here since spring.”
• Daxx nodded. “This is fall now?” She turned to Alona, “how long have we been here?”
• Alona hesitated for a moment. “I have no idea. It feels like a minute some days, then eons the next.”
• “Does it snow here?” Kara turned around to look at her guard.
• Bart nodded. “It does snow in Alterealm.” He motioned around us. “Not in this area though.”
• “I can’t wait to see snow.” Crissy sounded excited. “Vic said we would go to the cabin when it does.”
• “There’s a cabin?” Paisley snapped another picture of the view, then tucked her phone away.
• “It’s called the cabin, but it’s more of an estate in the northern mountains.” Felix said.
• “An estate.” Daxx looked at Alona.
• “Who do we speak with to find out what the family owns, I wonder.” Alona mused quietly.
• “I’ve barely adjusted to a palace. I don’t know if I can digest anymore.” Reagan said with a grin.
• “There’s a path this way.” Autumn stopped walking.
• “Is there a shortcut down?” Daxx looked from the path to the road. “This feels like it could take all day on this road.”
• “If I were on team bad, I would use a path and stay off the road.” Bethany said as she nodded.
• “Makes sense.” Autumn started walking down the path.
• I looked up at Woods, wondering if the guards should go first. He gave a brief shake of his head. Sighing, I continued to follow without comment.
• “That is a pretty lake.” Paisley took a picture.
• “It’s a bit swampy in that area, princess.” Felix said loud enough she’d hear.
• Her shoulders slumped. “That’s too bad, it looks so nice from up here.”
• “We are not going near any water.” Kara said looking at Crissy.
• Crissy nodded. “Water and floating rocks.”
• “That.” Kara pointed at her then looked around slowly.
• “Maybe the floating rocks were the portal markers Arwan was using?” Reagan offered.
• Crissy stopped and looked at the ground. “I don’t think those were it.” She looked back to her, “the markers. They weren’t big enough.”
• “How big are these floating rocks, Criss?” Daxx didn’t look happy.
• “Big.” Crissy nodded and started walking again.
• “Oh jeeze.” Daxx hissed out a breath and followed.
• I looked at Bronx. “Floating rocks?” I kept my voice down.
• He nodded. “Her latest visions are of bad water and floating rocks.”
• I opened my mouth to comment, then realized there was nothing I could really say. “Got it.” I said softly, then stared at a boulder as we went past. I was beginning to second guess my decision to tag along. Standing around the palace in case Rena wanted to go somewhere was mind numbing, but at least I didn’t have to worry about bad water and floating rocks—whatever that was.
• “It’s like a stream used to run here.” Reagan stopped and looked down at the rut we were standing in. She turned to Derian.
• He shrugged, “I don’t know, I was never stationed up here.”
• “Is that a cave entrance?” Autumn pointed.
• “They love the caves.” Daxx went past her and walked off the path.
• I hurried to follow the guards as they rushed to see what they were talking about. My gut was starting to turn into a tight knot. I wasn’t sure why, but something was not right with this whole scene.
• “It is another cave.” Kara pulled the case off her back and made fast work of assembling her bow.
• I watched the other women get various weapons out, but noted none of the guards were, so I left the blade on my back.
• Reagan went over and looked in the cave.
• “What do you see?” Daxx watched her intently.
• “Green.” Reagan said in an exasperated tone.
• “Crap.” Daxx looked at Bethany. “Think you can take a look?”
• Bethany nodded, then turned to Reagan. “Can you make yourself invisible and come with me?” She gave her a wide-eyed look. “It freaked me out last time, going in alone.”
• Reagan nodded and blew out a breath. “I can only do it for about a minute before I lose focus.” She rubbed her hands together. “Prince Bastian says it’s all about holding the thought in the mind, but apparently my mind is scattered and short term.” She grinned.
• I moved away from the guards to stand closer to the women. They may have seen all this before, but it was new for me and more than a little exhilarating. Reagan pulled a surijin from a pouch on her belt. She held the handle in one hand and the weighted end in the other. When she nodded to Bethany, she slowly disappeared. Bethany moved her hand down her own body and vanished as well. Everyone stood silently watching the entrance to the cave. I’d seen a lot in my years, but nothing like that. I glanced around at the other princesses and none of them seemed awed. I lived in a realm where our people could do things that were considered amazing and impossible and now, I was learning that our once human princesses were probably more powerful than my own people. I frowned, I needed to rethink my whole belief about these women—and possibly humans in general.
• Bethany appeared first, then Reagan right behind her.
• “There’s nothing in there. It’s a long tunnel.” Bethany looked at Reagan. “Was there more haze?”
• Reagan nodded. “Yeah. It got thicker as it went down.”
• “The tunnel goes down?” Daxx asked, then looked at Tim. “Are the caves in this area mapped out somewhere?”
• Tim pulled out his phone, “I can ask.” He tapped the screen, then put the phone to his ear as he stepped away from the group.
• “Do we call the guys?” Paisley asked.
• Alona tucked her nun-chucks under her arm and hugged her waist. “They’re currently taking turns trying to get more information from Willis and his top people.”
• Kara nodded, “Izzy is helping with that. She’s listening in, trying to hear anything useful.”
• Daxx put her hands on her hips and looked at the ground. “I don’t want to pull them away from that.”
• “We could give them a heads up.” Paisley said. “We have eight,” she looked at me, “nine guards with us, surely that counts for something.” Her look wasn’t as hopeful as her words implied.
• Alona nodded slowly. “Who do we call?”
• “Neither king.” Daxx said quickly.
• “Definitely not Arius.” Paisley added.
• “Or Michael.” Autumn looked unamused. “He’ll start talking variables and all that stuff.”
• “I’ll call Vic.” Crissy nodded as she pulled out her phone. “He’s the most reasonable one of the brothers.”
• Daxx laughed quietly. “Maybe to you.”
• “It’s true.” Alona smiled, “he will see the whole picture and has lately been coming to our defense.”
• Daxx nodded slowly, then turned back to Crissy. “Okay, Criss. Give it a shot.”