Author's Note: I KNOW! I KNOW! I FINALLY UPDATED! The reason I haven't for so long was that my computer battery broke, and I had to wait for FOREVER to order a new one online. I've also been out of town on vacation, and now I'm in Canada because a family member just passed away. But I've finally got my laptop up and running, so here's the 9th chapter. FINALLY!
Reviewers:
Phyllis Joy Wolfe – Well, I did pretty well on finals All As and Bs and one C. Damn Spanish. XD And yesh. I am thoroughly enjoying Val/Hermia love meself.
Princess Rainbow-Rose – OMG. HARRY POTTER. 7TH BOOK. AMAZING.
Dylan – YOU! I love you. Chocolate buttons.
Aleala150 – Valentine is a crafty, selfish character, and I love him for it!
Sabriel – Seriously, I'd love you if you do it. It'd give me more people to review!!! XD Bwahaha.
FireEyes – I shall write more!
Sonata – Haha. I actually never saw that connection. XD I feel sheepish. Baaaaa. But I'm glad to get some adult reviewers that like my story. I hate overdone, stale sotries as much as the next person.
SkwerlsGirlForeveranEver – See FireEyes. XD
Britney – I know what you mean! I always get all excited when a new mirrormask fic pops up!
Walking On Air
Chapter Nine
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It was a gryphon. Wonderful. I suppose that meant I was expected to answer some sort of riddle.
"Answer my riddle correctly, you may go safely. Answer wrong, and I devour you, bones and all."
Well, that answers that question.
Figures that Mum had to add a riddling cat right where I needed to go. Sure, Mum was good at riddles. She was fantastic at them. I, on the other hand, could never get my mind to stretch out past that proverbial box. I couldn't solve a riddle to save my life.
This was cruelly ironic, if you think about it.
"Riddle. Right…erm, go on then," I said, smiling weakly. I cast a nervous look in Laverna's direction. She had a much more confident air than I had at any rate. Maybe she could help.
"What is it that everything has?" the gryphon asked.
"A name."
I turned, surprised, toward Laverna, who was grinning widely. The gryphon looked put out; disappointed his riddle was solved so quickly. He grudgingly stepped aside, his wings fluttering in restless irritation. Well. That solved our problem pretty quickly, I thought with an exhale of relief as Valentine and I went after Laverna.
"You shall not pass," the gryphon stated sharply, stepping in front of us.
"What are you doing? We solved your bloody riddle," Valentine said.
"Correction; she solved the riddle," the cat replied smugly. "One per person, I'm afraid. No helpers." I grit my teeth in frustration. Wonderful. Now what was I going to do?
That nasty sense of control of the situation slipping from my grasp crept up my spine like so many icy fingers. I began to do something that everyone who starts to lose grip on a situation does; something I never did.
I prayed. I prayed, to whatever Riddle God or Goddess out there who might be listening to my dreams, that I would be given some miraculous spark of inspiration.
"Fine. Give us your next riddle," I said, trying to keep my mind from straying to that certain train of thought.
"What came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Valentine's face blanched. His face jerked toward me, as if checking to see if some sort of enlightenment had dawned upon my unmasked face. Tough luck for him.
"Oh, c'mon, that question has been asked for ages. There is no answer to it!" I said.
"Is that your answer?" The gryphon bared its fangs eagerly. I recoiled.
"Um…no," I replied hastily. I turned to Valentine, who seemed deep in thought. At least, he was frowning slightly and stroking his chin. He could have just been examining the dark, twisted tree over the gryphon's shoulder.
"How on earth can we answer a question like that? People have gone around in circles, with no end to that ridiculous question," I fumed in a low hiss. Valentine agreed with a soft grunt. Then, his frown disappeared, replaced by a jaw dropped by surprise.
"That's it," he rasped, spinning on his heel to face the gryphon. "I believe the answer is, 'a circle has no beginning'." It only glared at him and stepped aside again, ears laid back. A huge, relieved grin broke onto Valentine's mouth as his quickly crossed the border to join Laverna.
"How did you…?" I started, but then stopped, my eyes landing again on the gryphon, who was staring at me with a frighteningly intense gaze.
"Are you ready for the last riddle?" it asked silkily, its eyes hungry. I nodded. If Valentine is going to get a riddle, I certainly can. I squared my defiantly; contrary to my true emotions, of course. The gryphon smirked at me in a way that sent shivers down my spine. I was starting to get the impression that this beast knew the whole time I was a bad riddler. His kind could probably smell one a mile away, I thought dryly. I looked at Laverna and Valentine, who were waiting on the other side. Valentine gave me a (thoroughly helpless) smile and a thumbs-up.
"If you got it you want to share it, if you share it you haven't got it," the cat said, inspecting its claws…in a menacing way, if you ask me.
I took a deep breath. You can do this, Hermia, I told myself. The other ones were obvious. Hell, you were on the right track to the last one. Damn Valentine. At least he could have been a gentleman and let me figure it out…Ach! Stay on track, woman! Okay. Think. Is it…a bag of crisps? Eh. No. Maybe…a mask. No, that doesn't make sense at all. Maybe it's—what the hell is Valentine doing?
He was waving wildly at me, nearly jumping in silent eagerness.
'What?' I mouthed. He then violently shook his head and signaled for me to keep my gaze on the gryphon. I did, utterly confused. He was obviously trying to tell me something, so why was he now telling me to look at the gryphon—wait. Was he trying to give me an answer?
"Given up?" the gryphon drawled.
"I'm thinking," I snapped.
"Well, I'm hungry, so hurry up," he replied, unfazed, and going back to inspecting his claws. I took my chance to look at Valentine. He began mouthing something. Unfortunately, I'm just as good at lip-reading as I am at riddles. I shot him a confused look.
'Seh-grah?' I mouthed back. At least I could tell it was two syllables. He threw his hands in the air in frustration. He then repeated the first syllable slowly, pointing to his eyes and then forward.
Seh…sah…oh! See! Wait; see—grah? That doesn't make any—But then I watched Valentine pronounce the second syllable. Wait…that word ends with a hard consonant. A 'd' maybe? See—grad…see—krad…see—krat…see…cret. Secret! That's the answer! Is it? Or…does Val want me to get eaten? My company certainly isn't his favorite to be in, that's for sure.
Can I trust him?
Well, 'a secret' makes sense as the answer. If worse comes to worst, I'll make it an answer and say that it's the better on of the two.
Before I'm mauled, of course.
"Erm…is the answer a—a secret?" I said in a low voice, my heart beating in my throat.
"No, of course not!" the gryphon declared, rolling its eyes. My breath caught.
"It's…not?" I squeaked. The gryphon looked at me strangely.
"No. Don't worry; I'll tell you the answer when you guess wrong. Before I eat you, anyway," he replied lightly. I blinked a few times.
"I just answered it," I said slowly. The gryphon raised an eyebrow.
"You did? I guess I didn't hear it. What is you guess, then?"
"I told you, it's a secret," I said.
"I'm telling you; you might as well guess. Who knows? You might get lucky."
"What are you talking—?"
"What she means, I think, Mr. Gryphon," Valentine cut in. "Is that the answer is the word 'secret'." He emphasized with using his fingers as quotation marks. "Not that she can't say the answer."
"Oh. Well, erm. Yes, that's the right answer," the cat said, looking foolish. "You may pass."
"Thanks," I replied ironically. Disappointed and obviously furious with himself for not being able to thwart three trespassers, the feline border guard turned its back on us, muttering to himself furiously. The three of us quickly headed into the forest before the gryphon decided to take revenge. As soon as we were a good way into it, I turned and threw my arms enthusiastically around Valentine, pinning his arms to his sides.
"Oh my God…Valentine, I don't know how to thank you," I blurted, the shock of my near-death-experience finally slamming into me. "I'd be catnip if it wasn't for you." I then took a step away from him, holding him at arm's length. His masked face showed every bit of surprise as it possibly could. I barely registered it. "But…how did you figure it out so quickly?"
"I'm wondering the same thing, Valentine," Laverna said, looking amused. "Even I couldn't figure it out."
"That's because it was my riddle," he replied in an absent kind of tone, still staring at me curiously. "The, erm…cat from Giants Orbiting probably took it and shared it." I then realized that his attention wasn't on my face, but at my hands holding his arm right under the elbow. A few insights hit me at once.
I was suddenly aware that this is the first time I have touched Valentine's bare arms. I could tell that he was thin. But at the same time, his arms felt strong, wiry.
I was also aware of just how close we were; so close, I could catch his scent. It wasn't unpleasant. He smelled like—
Cotton candy.
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She smelled nice. And her hands were warm. Soft, too, come to think of it. She had long, thin fingers that were wrapped gently around my forearm. I had a wild yearning to touch the smooth, delicate-looking skin under her wrist. But I was frozen stiff by her contact.
For a few moments, that was all I could think of. Until Hermia slowly let go of me and broke the spell. Maybe it was just from adrenaline, but I could swear her face was taking on a slight pink tint. A cough that came from over Hermia's shoulder suddenly reminded me of Laverna's presence. There was a cold, hard look on her face that was anything but jealousy. It was a warning. I hastily took a step back from Hermia.
"Well, you're certainly welcome," I said, surprised to hear how confident and laid-back my voice was. It didn't sound the least bit…uncomfortable. My old smirk found itself on my mouth. "But this only means you owe me two saves in life-threatening situations." Hermia gave me another one of her strange looks. Good God, she might as well have a mask; her face allows feelings to come through as clearly as the Black Sea would. Well, assuming the Black Sea is, indeed, black. Which it probably isn't. A misnomer, most likely.
"Thanks, Val," Hermia said dryly. "I'll remember that the next time you need a favor. 'You can't get something for nothing', isn't it?"
"C'mon you two," Laverna interjected. "We need to get moving."
"Right. Onward and upwards," I said, flourishing my arm up toward the dark, thickly overgrown path. As we headed through the shadowed, menacing undergrowth and towering, blackened trees, I noticed that Hermia had her head cocked to the side, staring at me.
"What?"
"My mum said that all the time," she said. "'Onward and upwards'. Did you get it from her?" I snorted derisively.
"Me? Get it from her?" I exclaimed. "I've never heard her utter it once while I was with her! If anything, she picked it up from me."
"How did you come to know her in the first place?" Hermia asked.
"Helena never, ah, spoke of the first time she entered this world?" I asked tentatively.
"She talked about this world, but never the adventures she had in it," she said. "How often did she visit?" I suppressed a wince, forcing my face to keep relaxed.
"Only that one time," I told her lightly. "And that was to save the White Queen-slash-her mother, too, ironically enough."
"How'd she bump into you?"
"Well, that is an interesting story," I mused. She smiled at me expectantly.
"We do have time, if the map is right and we don't stumble into any Shadows," she urged. I thought about it. It's easy enough to leave out the more…unsavory parts. I could just say Helena had been kidnapped when I was looking for help. There. Easy. And when I found out she was gone, I had run to her rescue like a heroic knight. I can play the good guy when I want to.
Anyway, by the time Hermia found out the truth, I would be miles away from her accusing eyes with my fedora and pockets filled to the brim with precious, sparkling jewels. Business as usual.
I pushed away that uncomfortable fluttering feeling in my stomach.
"Well, the first time I met Helena, she was distracting my little company of performers while we were practicing. Then I had to save her from the Shadows, letting it devour my troupe in the process. A confused girl, Helena was. She didn't recognize her own world until she was already deep inside the streets of the City of Light."
"Did she recognize you?" Hermia suddenly interjected.
"No, I don't think she did," I said blandly. "Anyway, she coincidentally arrived just after the White Queen fell into a sleep that no one could wake her out of. I never asked her, but I think the White Queen had some connection to Helena's mother. She was always muttering something about her mum whenever the Queen was brought up." I paused in my story, mulling over this fact for a second. "Well, we had to find this Princess, who was suspected of upsetting the balance. This same Princess is the Queen of Shadows at the present, actually. Anyway, Helena dragged me all over the City of Light trying to find the key to restore the balance; the Mirrormask.
"Of course, we were on the run from the Shadows and sphinxes the whole time, so Helena didn't have much time to stop and wonder where exactly the Mirrormask was. Come to think of it, she was more interested in looking through windows to junk rooms. Well, all we had to go on was a key we picked up, and the testimony from a crazy, old Mask Shop woman. Somehow, we found ourselves on the border, and Helena had this crazy idea to create a little dome in the middle of a pool and what do you know? There was a pillar of key-holes. Unfortunately, the Princess was beginning to destroy the drawings that could be used to take her back into this world, so we ended up smack dab in the middle of the Land of Shadows, and Helena with a dislocated shoulder—"
"Wait a second, where was the Princess?" Hermia asked, looking a little lost.
"Oh, I forgot. I later found out she had stolen the Mirrormask and used it to go into Hermia's—your—world. In the meantime, though, I went to get help," I said. Well, now comes the easy part; summing up to the happy ending. "But before I could find someone, I realized that she had been kidnapped and brainwashed by the Queen of Shadows. Something about making Helena her daughter's replacement. So I was able to sneak into the castle, and found a way to break the spell." I paused, just like any good storyteller, waiting for the eager response—
"How'd you do it?" she asked with a wondering grin on her face.
"Why, by juggling of course!" I exclaimed. Hermia chuckled, shaking her head, her eyes fixed on mine. I could almost physically feel the sheer intensity of her attention on me, as if I was the only one in the world. It almost unnerved me, but in a strangely pleasant sort of way. "How else? As soon as the spell wore off, though, we were stumped on what to do next. We had no idea where the Mask could be, and time was running out as we overheard the Queen's Councils discussing bizarre disappearances of land. Finally Helena got the brilliant idea to check the mirror of the Princess's room.
"She was right; we finally had the Mirrormask! But then we had to go find a window; one that hadn't been crumpled up by the Princess. We tried to escape the castle without the Queen noticing, but unluckily a servant had seen us running away. We thought we were cornered; Helena was to come back and be enchanted again, and I…well, I was to be executed." I sighed in a theatrically pity-inspiring sort of way. "Then, I was reminded by Helena that I had a flying tower. I tried calling Her with our signal, but She didn't come. We had a bit of a spat a few days before, you see. Tower was being life-threateningly stubborn, so I had to do something that I hated doing. I forced myself to apol—" I nearly gagged on the word. "—apologize.
"Just in the nick of time, Tower swooped down and saved us from the Shadowy clutches of the Queen. We found a window, but the Princess got to it before we did. I remember everything went dark. But just as all hope was lost, Helena remembered the one window the Princess couldn't have crumpled. She said there was a window on a door in her world, on top of her building. Stumbling through the darkness, the two of us made our way to the top of Tower. Just as Helena said, there was a window at the top of the stairs to the roof."
I stopped then for a bit, at a lost for words to explain what happened next.
"And then?" Laverna urged.
"Well, that was it," I shrugged. "She switched places with the Princess and I ended up having to drag her back to the Land of Shadows before high-tailing it back to the City of Light before I was killed."
"And she never came back," Laverna stated. I had the suspicion that she didn't clarify who she was speaking of on purpose. I think I was the only one who caught the sly tone in her voice as those cat-eye holes in her mask faced me. After a moment she turned to Hermia. "I guess you could tell us what happened afterward." Hermia shrugged apologetically.
"I never even heard this story. The earliest event that occurred after, or before, that adventure that I heard of was when Mum met my dad," she told us. Her eyes flickered curiously to me.
"What?" I asked, uneasy.
"Nothing," she replied, a little too quickly for me to believe it. But I let it pass. She obviously didn't want to tell me what's on her mind. It's none of my business anyway, but I had this strange wish that she could tell me. It was if I wanted her to trust me, which was ridiculous, of course. She couldn't trust me as far as she could throw me, I knew that, and I think even Hermia knew that at some level.
"So…ah, where are we?" Laverna asked. Hermia took out the map from the velvet bag and opened it, flipping through a couple pages before stopping, her finger running down the page. I stepped closer to look at it over her shoulder.
"We're close to a landmark called the 'Lucid Fountain'," she said. "There's also a few mansions owned by Shadow Council members close by. We might want to lay low going around their places."
"Wouldn't dream of doing anything but lay low in this place," I commented darkly. Hermia jumped a little in surprise. I guess she hadn't realized I was right behind her. Then she did something strange; she took a deep breath in through her nose, her head cocked toward me, her face relaxing. Was she…smelling me? Normally, the simple idea of this would have caused me to laugh, but a warm feeling filled my chest as I slowly stepped back. I acted as if I hadn't noticed, but she seemed to be avoiding looking at me, her expression sheepish. I quickly glanced at Laverna to see if she detected the awkward moment. If she had, she didn't express it.
"The Fountain is on the way to the Palace, and then there's a few blank spots marked 'unknown' after it," Hermia said.
"Yeah, I don't like the sound of that," I said. "Let's choose a different route, shall we?"
"Unless we have the time to circle all the way to the front of the Palace, which wouldn't be a good idea if we wanted to sneak in, we're going to have to risk it," she replied.
"As if we're not risking enough at the moment," I said dryly.
"Oh, don't be such a coward, Valentine," Hermia said, rolling her eyes. I flinched, but this time it wasn't because of the eye-rolling. It was her calling me a 'coward'. Yes, I know I am a coward, and she had called me one before, but it stung for some reason. I wanted to argue with her, but I kept my mouth shut.
"Cool it, the both of you," Laverna said. "Valentine, we're going to have to take that risk if we want to have a chance to save—"
But Laverna was cut off by an ominous and familiar rumbling behind us.
"Shadows," Hermia voiced my fear. "Run." She didn't have to say it twice. The three of us bolted into the skeletal trees just as the Shadows oozed into the clearing behind us. I kept an eye on my robe flapping around Hermia's ankles as we tired to outrun the Shadows.
But somehow they were catching up. The roar became almost glass-shattering as it neared us.
"Valentine! Hermia!" Laverna yelled, motioning us to follow her. She disappeared as soon as I caught a glimpse of her. Hermia and I ran in her direction.
"Laverna, where—" I was cut off when something grabbed my leg. I crashed into a bush, Hermia not far behind. I flailed wildly to get away from what grabbed me, but Laverna hissed at me to shush and I stilled. The Shadows came into view as the three of us crouched low under the bush. It slowed as it came closer to our hiding place. My heart was pounding with fear, and one look at Hermia told me her reserve of control was dwindling as well. She crept closer toward me, as if to reassure herself I was there for her protection. It was an odd idea; she told me herself I wasn't much protection.
Then, as if the Shadows made up its mind that we weren't there, leached by. The sound of it made my nose wrinkle in disgust. As soon as it was way out of sight, all three of us sighed audibly in relief.
"Everything is going to be fine," Laverna said in an irritatingly calm tone.
"Great," I drawled, my heart still pounding. "I'll remember that the next time we're about to be eaten by a giant man-eating black blob."
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Author's Note: Again, sorry for the super-lat update!!!!!!! I'll be a good girl from now on, I promise!
