Pixel and Crow returned Shanara to Rawn, and were greeted by Helaine and Score with a large and sumptuous breakfast. Score never brought up his nightmare, and neither did Helaine. Everyone settled into an easy domesticity as they waited to hear from Bryndis.
It was two months later.
Helaine leaned eagerly over the parapet of the highest tower, tilting her head into the frisky autumn winds. The summer gold of the plains had been replaced by a resplendent and heavy bronzed blue, the sky a brilliant iced violet. Cheeks flushed, she turned to Pixel, who stood sensibly bundled out of the wind. "They're coming!" She shouted with glee, her breath snatched away in little steam puffs. Pixel rolled his eyes and handed her a warm beverage.
"We already knew that. This—" He waved his hand at Helaine's tumbled hair, and at the brisk weather in general "—is fairly unnecessary. Flame contacted you mind-to-mind two days ago."
Helaine ignored Pixel and sipped the malt. She loved watching the return of the unicorns, their beautiful bodies pouring from the gap in the woods like a stream of rainbows, snorting and prancing in the musky fall sunshine. Pixel enjoyed watching their pageant, certainly, but enjoyed staying warm just as much. Score on the other hand...
Helaine turned towards him, shielding her eyes against the sun. He perched on the parapet, leaning dangerously into the wind, only his magic to keep him balanced. Helaine jumped up next to him and pulled him back to stand next to her, offering him a sip of her drink. He gulped greedily and beamed, nose starting to run from the cold. He shouted something at her over the wind that she didn't catch.
"What?" She roared, stepping forwards onto a slick spot of moss. Helaine slipped, banging her left knee against the stone before tumbling towards the ground. Score dropped the mug and immediately jumped after her.
Now, gravity on Dondar being approximately similar to that on earth, Score knew that he, a 160 pound human in free fall, would accelerate at a rate of about ten meters per second. This meant that the thirty meters or so between himself and the ground were covered in about 2.3 seconds. Of course, this was not something he contemplated on his descent, but rather a thought that occurred much later. Luckily, this was just enough time for him to transform the ground beneath them into a deep pond. Complete with ducks. Score barely had time to register this before he splashed down into the frigid water. His body went rigid with cold shock for an instant before he burst up, gasping. Helaine surfaced next to him, spluttering. Score swam into her, knocking against her, pushing her long sopping hair out of her eyes.
"Are you okay?" He asked, treading water, one hand clutched protectively against her back. In the back of his mind he thanked the Ninety-Second Street Y for their swim classes for "guppies".
"You foggy idiot" she managed, coughing water. "Why did you jump after me?"
They bobbed for a little bit while Score ran possible answers through his head. Because I was frightened for you? Because I would follow you anywhere? "Because I wasn't sure you could swim" He replied. Helaine shivered. The water was wretchedly cold. The two paddled the short distance to shore. Pixel waved down at them and disappeared, probably descending in a more conventional fashion than jumping. Helaine shook herself, a bit like a soggy dog. "Thank you." She said, impulsively throwing her arms around Score. "For saving me from a lot of broken bones and that nasty healing concoction. But next time, let's try for some warmer water."
"Next time?" Score demanded. He felt a little dizzy.
"Brr" she whispered, looking up to catch his eyes even as a delightful heat spread from the pit of her stomach to her cheeks.
In retrospect, Score realized he really had no choice. Her body, defined so clearly through her drenched tunic, pressed so nicely up against his, breathing so hotly on his face, was the cause of all the trouble. The physical contact must have started a chemical chain of reactions that were beyond his control. What resulted in no way represented any conscious action or feeling on his part, naturally. It was simply the logical conclusion to a series of events: the fall, the fear, the rescue, and...
The kiss.
There was no time for comprehension. Their lips snagged and meshed for one thumping bumping heart beat and it was over.
"Oh..." Helaine said finally, bright red. Score blinked, and stepped away from her.
"I'm sorry" he said.
"It's okay." She replied, busying her hands with her wet clothes, looking down.
"That shouldn't have happened" he said shakily.
"It was an accident." She agreed
"I mean, I don't..." he flushed.
"Me either."
"I know."
"Fine."
"Fine."
They both looked down. A duck quacked. Score gave a brief look at the pond and smiled.
"It was a pretty good idea, though."
"The ducks were a nice touch."
"I do try."
"I know."
More silence.
Pixel came bounding out with two oversized towels, Crow hot on his heels with a blanket. He coated them in the towels and wrapped the blanket around them both before giving the newly made Siamese twins Score and Helaine a little shake. "That's what you get for leaping around on that old wall! I told you it was safer to watch out the window!" He shepherded the two back to the castle, while Crow pestered Score with questions about how he'd made the pond so fast. They stumbled in a mob, and at some point Helaine's hand brushed Score's.
*There's no need to tell Pixel about...* she began
*Oh no. Definitely not.*
Helaine sat, a tad grumpy, at the kitchen window, watching the crack in the forest intently. She was dry, thanks to a spell, and perfectly safe, despite Pixel's mothering and worrying, and very, very, very preoccupied. Kisses kept popping into her mind like mental hiccups and distracting her. She thought very hard about the unicorns... how much fun it would *kiss* be to have them back in *kiss* talking distance again and how much had *kiss* happened since they'd left. Like kissing.
"AUGHHHH!" Helaine gave a tortured yell and clumsily threw her blanket against the window. This was not terribly dramatic, so she stormed out of the room and slammed the door, just for effect. Pixel laughed a little. "I will never understand that girl." He turned to Score, only to find his friend staring at the slammed door with a distressed visage.
"What's the matter?" He asked, only vaguely concerned. Score often looked distressed, and normally an angry Helaine broke dishes or made rocks explode, which made door-slamming quite tame in comparison. Today was shaping up to be rather mild, despite the excitement of the pond.
"Nothing." Score muttered, equal parts melancholy and anger. In the distance Pixel heard a rock explode.
"She got out there fast" he commented, largely to no one. Crow, who had watched this exchange with little interest, shook her head violently.
"That's not Helaine."
Pixel, by now used to Crow's uncanny knack of prediction, peered out the window. "You're right. It's the unicorns." At this Score managed to tear away from the door and join Pixel in admiring their hoofed friends. A sulky Helaine slipped in at one point, and stood behind Crow. The orphan was delirious with glee at the fantastic sight, a joy the other three had forgotten in their various personal woes. Eventually all came around and burst out of the castle, tumbling to touch the unicorns at last.
But something was wrong.
Helaine recognized this immediately. It might have been her sixth-trouble-sense, or something in the air, that tipped her off. Or it might have been the human sitting on Flame's back. Helaine blinked in disbelief as Flame trotted up and the female dismounted as though she'd been riding all her life.
"Unicorns are not horses." Helaine spat with some disgust.
"They shouldn't be schlepping humans around." Score agreed, moving to stand beside her, obviously disturbed.
"Hello!" Pixel said brightly.
"Hello." The stranger returned.
*Helaine!* Flame gushed *Isn't she wonderful? We found her just outside the herd lands and she's my best friend!*
Helaine stared, openmouthed. Score stared too. The stranger stroked Flame's nose. "Don't be mad. Do you think you could help me?"
"Probably not." Helaine said icily.
"We're not very useful." Score chimed in.
"I'm sure we could help you easily. We've got lots of energy and time. Any friend of the unicorns is a friend of ours!" Pixel beamed, and took the woman's arm, leading her towards the castle.
"Pixel you absolute goon!" Score snapped, forgetting about talking on a more private channel. "You can't just bring a complete stranger into the castle!"
Thunder sidled up to his human friend, speaking for the first time. *She has been traveling with us for several days, and has done nothing to harm us yet. Most of the young ones absolutely adore her, although I'm not sure why.*
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Thunder." The stranger said, without the slightest snap of sarcasm. "But I would like to do this by myself. Without my magic." There was a faint hum, and suddenly it was as though a glamour had been removed. Immediately the young males in the herd stopped posturing and preening and turned their attention to their own kind. Flame sidestepped away, still cheerful, but now she bounded towards the three.
*Helaine!*
Helaine smiled tersely at the acknowledgment, allowing herself a brief moment of pleasure in stroking Flame's mane. "So... you had them under some kind of spell?" She asked.
"Not exactly...What's wrong with him?" Helaine followed the stranger's stare to Pixel, who had a vaguely smitten smile wreathing his face.
"Oh, nothing. He's often like that." Score shrugged. Pixel blushed
"I am not!"
Helaine headed off another one of those arguments. "Sorry, but who are you?"
The stranger smiled. "My name is Amaruit." Score and Helaine exchanged a look that said 'ah-ha!' The stranger continued. "I'm trying to find somebody called Helaine."
"So you can kill her." Score snorted. Amaruit looked confused.
"Actually, no. At least, I don't think so. You won't believe this but—"
"You want us to help you track down and kill Bryndis so you can destroy the Diadem and take over the universe. No thanks." Score crossed his arms. Amaruit had the grace to look baffled.
"What? Who? Are you being silly?"
Helaine bristled. Silly? Score put his hand on her arm. *Careful now* he mind-whispered.
"We already know what you're like. We've met your kind before." Helaine snarled, thinking of the Triad. Crow tugged her tunic.
"That's prejudice." The girl's voice was accusatory. Helaine blinked. To her complete and utter surprise, Amaruit began to cry.
"I just want to go home." She sniffled. "This has been a lovely adventure but I just want to go home now. Please."
Pixel moved to comfort her, speaking for the first time in awhile. "Er... I'm sorry... um... could we continue this discussion inside, Miss Amaruit? It's freezing."
"Just Amaruit." A faint whimper. She stared at Pixel suspiciously. "And of course, assuming... that your friends don't mind."
Score was about to open his mouth and mind very much but it was Helaine's turn to silence him. *Careful now* she mocked. They looked at each other and thought about the secret they shared.
A short while later Amaruit collapsed on the sofa. "You have no idea." She said. "It started with this crazy man in all black—"
"Oracle?" Pixel demanded.
"It was not I who found this bright mind. It must have been another of my kind" On cue, as always, Oracle blossomed into being.
"He sort of looked like you...but he didn't rhyme. And he seemed...less sad." Amaruit stuck her hand through Oracle, who was doing his best doom-and-gloom impression. "But I could do that to him, too."
"He doesn't have to rhyme either." Score glared at Oracle. Crow jumped up on the sofa next to Amaruit.
"Don't worry," the girl said. "It all turns out happy."
Pixel smiled at the resident clairvoyant, although he was not at all mollified. Crow's predictions sometimes took a lot of work to come true. "So anyway. Somebody like Oracle here betrays you and then you get tricked into leaving your home world. Then what? A series of baffling clues? Power-hungry wizards trying to suck your magic out of you?"
"Hardly..." Amaruit screwed up her face. "He just wanted me to follow him to another city on my planet. He grumbled something about it taking a long time for me to grow into my powers and how annoyed he was. Then, we got to this place, and he had me touch some glowing crystal thing. But nothing happened. He got really angry and just left. That was when I discovered this book." She drew out from her knapsack a thick, familiar, leather-bound volume. Opening the cover, she pointed to an inscription. "Property of Helaine." She read aloud.
"Hey, that's mine!" Helaine said, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to know who Helaine was.
"Oh! You're Helaine? Fantastic!"
"Shit" Helaine grumbled. She tried to call her book to her, to see if the girl had a duplicate copy. Nothing happened. The tome before her was hers, the one she'd had since she'd swiped it from Aranak's library. "You...how did you... thief!"
Amaruit was appalled. "No! Never! It was just sitting there... it sort of... called to me. But that's why I'm here. I figured since this was your book, you might be able to help me."
"Helaine, Cigam fo Koob called to you that night, in the library. I think it knows who needs it. Or maybe who it needs." Pixel reminded her.
Helaine softened. That was true. "But somebody is lying. And it's either Bryndis, or you."
"This makes sense, Helaine. Think: imagine Amaruit is in our position a few years ago. She's confused, wields magic, and is generally a good person." He threw a fond look at her. "But Bryndis is the one who told us a convoluted story, whose explanation had gaps. If she was a wandering soul, why could she do magic? The Triad locked up all their magic in babies, remember? And that doesn't explain Destiny still. Amaruit must be the one telling the truth."
Score sighed. "I want to believe you Pixel, but you're acting a little... lovesick. It might be messing with your judgment." Score noticed Amaruit shuffle a little in her seat as he said this.
"Er... about that..." she sighed. "I think it's my fault."
"I doubt it." Helaine said with a short laugh. "Pixel is just very... emotional."
"Not your fault at all." Confirmed Score. Pixel looked vaguely annoyed.
"Okay..." she sounded doubtful. "Then could you help me? What exactly is going on?"
There was a brief mind-to-mind conference.
"Here's what we know. We were born Score, Helaine, and Pixel in three different worlds around the same time..."
Helaine rummaged through a closet. "What, are we were running a hostel here?" She muttered to herself. After letting Amaruit in on an abbreviated version of their lives, Pixel had insisted the brunette stay with them until they figured out what to do with Bryndis – whoever she was.
Finding the bedding she needed in fairly decent shape, Helaine proceeded to yet another of Garonath's many empty rooms and used a spell to dust and make the bed. She needed time alone to think. First there was the kiss, then this stranger. She could understand why Pixel fell for her, but Flame and the other unicorns? Was there a giant banner proclaiming Amaruit the most amazing person in the Diadem that everyone could see but her?
Her and Score, that is. Her and Score. Score and her. It wouldn't be horrible. Might actually be nice. Great, even. She thought then, too, about the kiss. The secret. Their secret. It existed solely and wholly between the two of them, but it was something separate and beautiful—something they'd created. Long after she died the secret would still exist, part of her and part of him, intangible.
"Oh sweet damn." She whispered, plopping down onto her guest's bed. "When did I fall in love with him?"
Oblivious, Score entered the kitchen, where he found, to his delight, an enormous soda fountain glass, the kind in old Coca-cola signs. It was filled with a pink-orange frothy foam and smelled delicious. A note was attached.
Pixel: this might help.
-A
Score looked around furtively, then look a long sip. He was wiping the foam off his upper lip when Amaruit came in.
"Oh you didn't!" She looked positively horrified.
"Er... sorry." Suddenly his vision cleared and he saw Amaruit as a vision of loveliness, his heart's true desire. What on earth...?
"You idiot!"
"What? It's not the end of the world... my sweet" Score blanched. Did he say that?
Amaruit moaned. "Love."
"Oh I do!" Score exclaimed. Privately he could not believe the tripe coming from his mouth, but he didn't seem able to stop it.
"No no no. That's my talent. That's my inborn magic. People fall in love with me. I have to turn it off if I want them to behave normally." She rubbed her forehead, which in Score's opinion was the most perfect forehead he'd ever seen. "It doesn't work if people are already smitten with someone else, but when I stifled my magic, Pixel still acted... enamored. So I made an antidote."
But if I wasn't in love with her in the first place, what happens to me if I drink it? Score wondered. His thoughts were getting a little fuzzy."But you weren't in love with me in the first place, as you must know, so the antidote has reversed effects." Amaruit sighed. "What a mess."
"I will love you for all eternity, my heavenly princess." Score vowed, thinking for the briefest of seconds that something was amiss. Something about Helaine? No. There was only Amaruit.
His darling sighed. "I'm afraid you will."
********
Do you hear that cackling sound in the background? Oh yes, that's definitely me.
Happy New Year everybody, chapter 26 coming out sometime after January 15.
As always, feedback appreciated.
Aroo!