Gabriel hesitated. “Raven’s been poisoning Heather with fountain water.”
Scarlet sucked in a breath. “No.”
Heather nodded. “She wanted insurance just in case you didn’t come through with the map.”
“Well that sucks,” Nate said.
“How much time do we have?” Scarlet turned to Nate. “Before Heather gets…sick?”
Nate twitched his lips and looked at Heather. “How long have you been without fountain water?”
“A few days. Maybe longer.”
He nodded. “Then you probably have a few more days.”
Scarlet’s mouth fell open. “Days?”
“Maybe a week,” Nate added hurriedly. “Maybe longer. It depends on how long Raven’s been poisoning Heather. The longer the water was in her body, the faster the she’ll get sick.”
Heather looked like she was going to cry and Gabriel shifted his weight so he was standing a bit closer to her.
Interesting.
“Raven mentioned something about the fountain having a cure,” Gabriel said.
“Oh, yeah!” Scarlet said. “There is a cure. The Avalon fruit grows at the fountain and it’s an antidote to the water. If we can reach the Avalon tree, Heather can eat the fruit and be cured.
“Seriously?” Heather’s face brightened. “Seriously?”
Scarlet nodded. ”But there’s only one fruit, which wouldn’t be so bad, except Raven just stole the map. And if she’s after the Avalon fruit…well, we just need to get to the fountain before she does.”
“Then let’s get going,” Gabriel said, straightening his shoulders.
Nate pointed a finger in the air. “Um, I’m sorry. We’re just going to hike, in the dark, to a bunch of deadly caves, when there are Ashmen all over the place?” He shook his head. “No. We need to regroup and eat and rest and maybe find a pair of shoes for Gabriel.” He gestured to Gabriel’s feet, then to Heather’s. “What’s happening here?”
“We don’t have time to regroup and eat and drink and be merry, Nate,” Gabriel said impatiently. “We can’t let Raven get that cure before Heather.”
Huh. Tristan had never seen Gabriel worry about any girl other than Scarlet before. It was…odd.
“I think Nate might be right,” Scarlet said, “Finding the cave entrance in the dark would be difficult and we could end up wasting time and energy searching for it. And Raven,” Scarlet and Nate glanced at one another, “Raven won’t be able to get what she wants tonight, anyway. So let’s find a safe place to camp for the night and start out at the first light of day.”
CHAPTER 38
Everyone sat around the campfire in silence, eating the cold sandwiches Nate had thought to pack everyone for dinner.
They’d found a hidden clearing in the center of several boulders. Raven might have the map to the fountain, but Scarlet had no doubt the witch would take any opportunity to capture one of them to use for the sacrifice. So hiding was key.
Scarlet looked at the stitches in her left arm, expertly sewn by Nate, and examined her wound. It ached a bit, but it would heal quickly.
Across the fire, Heather grapsed at invisible things in the air.
Gabriel reached for her wrists and gently lowered them.“There are no sparkles.”
“Oh no, was I doing it again?” Heather said. “Was I grabbing for nothing like a psycho?”
Scarlet’s heart twisted.
Tristan’s shoulder brushed against Scarlet and sent warm pleasure into her body.
She eyed him sideways. He was so doing it on purpose.
He gave her a devilish smile and the twist in her heart drew tighter.
Tomorrow, if things went well, Scarlet would be dead. She was not afraid of death and she would not hesitate when the moment came, but she knew it would break his heart.
He had lived so long for her and she was going to strip that away from him. She was going to do the very thing he’d been trying to do for years; end her life so he might live. But the alternative was worse. If she didn’t die, they would have no access to the fountain.
Tristan would die.
Heather would die.
And if she announced her plan—which she certainly would not—someone else might try to die in her place, and Scarlet would never allow that.
She took a bite of her sandwich and tried to think on the happy things the fountain would bring everyone else. Tristan would never be in pain again and he would live a healthy life. Gabriel could fall in love with someone in a real way—God knew he deserved to. Nate could truly live, without constantly being dragged into all their cursed mess. And Heather would be cured.
Scarlet looked at her best friend. Of them all, Heather deserved life the most. She had been nothing but positive and filled with hope in all this. The curse had not tainted her, had not made her a tortured soul like Tristan, or a hopeless romantic like Gabriel, or a lonely heart like Nate. Heather still had a chance at being bright.
If for nothing else, Scarlet would absolutely die for that.
Nate put the map copy away and grinned at everyone. “Whatdaya say we go around the fire and talk about how great it’s going to be to find the fountain and undo the curse and cure Heather? Gabriel, you go first.”
“Why do I have to go first?”
“Because I’m team captain and I say so.”
Heather rolled her eyes. “Two members of Team Awesome almost died today. I say we nominate a new team captain.”
“Hey,” Nate said, offended. “The captain’s job is to be a leader. Not a babysitter. Okay, Gabriel. What will you do with your curse-free life?”
Gabriel fiddled with a stick. “I would move back to my apartment in New York. Maybe I’d get a pet. Maybe fall in love. Maybe not. Either way, I’m staying away from witches. Permanently.”
“If only you’d had that philosophy five hundred years ago.” Nate grinned at him before looking at Heather. “What about you? What will do you with the rest of your life?”
Heather thought for a moment. “Try to get into a good college so I can study fashion. Ooh, and travel the world. And try new foods. And get married and have kids and become one of those fun grandma’s that always over-decorates for Christmas and constantly smells like cookies.”
“Wow. That’s…specific,” Nate said.
“I also want to eat grass and ride a bear,” Heather added with a frown. “But that could be the drugs talking.”
“Right.” Nate looked at Scarlet. “What about you? What will you do once the fountain makes you mortal and you only have one life left to live?”
Scarlet took a moment to control the ache in her chest at his question. “If I had only one life to live…” She shook her head. “I already had my one life to live in the 1500s when I was mortal and poor and surrounded by love. That was my life and it was beautiful.”
Nate exhaled loudly. “Way to raise the bar on the friendly fireside question, Scarlet. How is anyone supposed to follow that?”
“I’m just being honest.,” she said. “What about you Nate? What would you do if you only had one life left to live?”
He smiled. “I would find a time machine and go back to when I first met Molly so I could live my life with her all over again. She was the happiest I’ve ever been. Life after her is just…” he shrugged, “time. What about you, Tristan?” He turned to the very silent Archer beside Scarlet. “What would you do with one mortal life to live?”
“Marry Scarlet.”
Everyone stared at him. Including Scarlet.
How could he say that? How could Tristan so openly admit that without hesitating?
Scarlet’s heart tore down the middle leaving jagged pieces in its wake. The green-eyed boy beside her wanted to marry her and she was on a suicide mission to save his life.