Hidden in shadows a safe distance off, Hex watched the green and black ship land. He could not sense his niece's presence, but he still clung to the last thread of hope that maybe, just maybe, Charmcaster would walk out. The pain of losing the last tie he had threatened to suffocate him. He should have gone with them. Had he not promised his brother to keep his daughter safe? Hex wished he could turn back time, travel with them, but it was too late now. But they had come back. They had not died in that accursed world, as he had assumed they must. So hope he did. He hoped with all the desperation of a man approaching insanity.
Ben walked off the dock first, his mouth moving toward his companions. Eons later, the dark haired one followed, obviously not paying attention to whatever Ben was rambling on about. Gwendolyn followed, silent. Hex didn't know how to dissect her face, a terrifying mixture of sad and thoughtful. Hex felt his eyes strain toward the dark maw of the ship, waiting, watching. When the dock rose and the three started on their way, Hex felt his heart grow as heavy as to break his knees. There were no more passengers.
Hex didn't hear Gwen make an excuse to her cousin and boyfriend to get out of sight. Didn't see her duck behind a shed and focus. So when she appeared before him in his small shelter, he was mildly startled. Well, as startled as his heart could allow.
"Hex," Gwen started, and the urgency in her voice gave the magician pause. "Hex, Charmcaster is not dead." Hex was too shocked to comment. His mind froze.
"Where is she?" his voice was harsh with desperation and need. "What happened?"
"She remained in Ledgerdomain. Hex," Gwen implored, "she needs you now. She needs you there."
Hex remained silent, although Gwen saw the thoughts tumbling through his head. Worry, relief, and finally, determination. Eventually, he nodded wordlessly. "Then I will go."
Gwen handed him back the book she had borrowed. Hex took it, but there were no more words between them. Gwen vanished away, leaving Hex by himself. Hex stood there for a long time, long enough for the sun to bring its color back into his clothes. Charmcaster was alive. But she was in Ledgerdomain. Hex wondered why he was even going to save the ungrateful girl. All the times she had tried to steal his power, all the fights and storm-offs. Why did he care about such a pain?
Deep down, down in some part of himself that he didn't want to recognize, Hex knew he was going to save the girl that was his family. When he had believed he had lost her, it had crushed him. So he teleported to the door to anywhere and opened the book. The name of Ledgerdomain had ceased to change, which was a welcome relief. Hex steadied himself to face whatever might lie behind those doors and said the words with the calm force he had mastered over the years. The doors opened, taunting him to step through and face what he had run from for so long. Clutching the book in one hand, his staff in the other, Hex walked through.
The other side was the same and yet so different. Winding paths of hard unforgiving stone led to anywhere and nowhere. Hex felt the energy of the place in his spine, straightening it, straining it. His spine combined with the feeling in his stomach reminded him of the reasons for staying away. The lives lost. The evil lurking. But Hex was bent this wretched place would not claim another of his, so he strode out in search of his niece.
The journey was long and full of what Hex hated most. Memories. There was no sight, no smell that did not evoke what he had almost successfully suppressed for years. A swarm of scrutins flew in the distance and for a brief moment Hex paused, seeing the face of the man who was his best friend as he was carried away by those same creatures. Hex had never seen him again. But the creatures didn't seem to care about him and Hex regained himself.
Hex walked to where Adwaita's old castle had stood, but there was nothing left but rubble. Spells still hummed unseen, but they too had the feel of being cracked. Hex cast a quick spell of finding but found nothing but a faint sense of his niece. She had been here, it was true, but she was no longer. Hex homed in on her trail though, and began to follow it through Ledgerdomain. It wound and rolled on with no apparent destination, as though Charmcaster had simply struck off in whatever direction she chose. That may well have been the case, Hex thought to himself.
Eventually he found himself at the beginning of the Living Forest. Here, the trees whispered and sighed and had no age. Hex had always found solace in these trees, but now only slight trepidation came at the sight of the wooden giants. He felt his niece was near. Hex began walking forward, searching the shadowy trees for any sign of his niece. Suddenly, as flash of pink caught his eye, and he lengthened his stride over to what he hoped was his lost niece.
When he reached the base of the tree, Hex felt fear grip at his stomach. Charmcaster was here, yes, but there was no separation between her and the tree she was leaning into. Wood and flesh melded together, vines growing around the pair. Hex knew why the forest whispered, of course. All inhabitants of Ledgerdomain did. The trees, it was told, bonded with whoever chose to become one with them. Charmcaster evidently knew too, for her eyes, although open, showed a frightening lack of interest in the world.
"Charmcaster," Hex ordered his niece, "get away from there."
Charmcaster didn't spare her uncle a glance. Her face was downturned and her eyes looked to nowhere in the ground.
"Charmcaster, now!" Her uncle demanded, but to no response. Desperately, he looked around, searching the passive forest for answers. Seeing none, he took a few awkward steps closer to his niece, unsure of what to do.
"Charmcaster," he said more softly. He reached out to touch her arm, but paused. She was so empty. He hoped his niece was not too far gone. What had happened here?
At the touch, Charmcaster's eyes finally moved, although they did not lose their glazed appearance. First they looked at the hand touching her, then they traveled up the arm and to her uncle's face.
"Uncle?" Charmcaster asked in a voice that chilled Hex, hard as he was. Charmcaster's tone was so flat and distant, it almost didn't seem like a human was speaking at all. Hex knew that within perhaps a day, she would have been gone.
"Charmcaster, you have to move," Hex said, a bit more harshly than he had intended, but years of speaking in the tone had rendered his vocal chords rough and demanding. At the words, Charmcaster looked sad and perhaps even more detached than she had before.
"No, Uncle. I'm sorry," she continued in the same depressing tone. Hex's grip on her arm tightened.
"No! You will move," Hex commanded, the desperation in his voice leaking through. Charmcaster didn't respond though, and seemed to grow even deeper into the god forsaken tree.
"I'm sorry," she said one last time. Hex felt his heart speed up as he realized the last living remnant of his family was slowly fading away. In one last desperate attempt, he grabbed Charmcaster's face, forcing her to look him in the eyes, no matter how glassy hers were.
"Charmcaster," he said, his voice nearly begging. Charmcaster looked at him a long time, her distant eyes tightened around the edges as if in deep concentration. They held themselves this way for some moments, each striving toward each other, until Hex saw something flash in Charmcaster's eyes that left as quickly as it came.
Taking a deep breath to gather herself, Charmcaster began pulling herself out of the tree. It didn't go fast, the tree almost refusing to let her go. Hex stood back to give his niece room and watched the process. Finally, with an audible sucking noise, Charmcaster pulled herself free and looked at her uncle.
"Good." Hex stated. He took a hesitant step toward his niece. "Good," he repeated again, and turned to find the path out of this nightmare realm. Charmcaster looked back at the trees, but they were indifferent, so she inhaled deeply and began to follow her uncle.