9

It was strange to trust Henry as much as she did after knowing him for only a day. However, she knew it was all right. No one else would believe her story, even if she told it to the police. They would simply brush it off as an insane young woman with too much time on her hands spinning such a ridiculous tale. She knew better now, she knew she was the only one who could set things right, and she was going to try her damnedest to do it this time as well.

They met at the appointed time in the parking lot of the ice cream shop. He wore a similar gray and purple shirt with long, dark pants as he had the day before. When she arrived at the parking lot, he waved and grinned. "Good morning, lady explorer extraordinaire, did you sleep well?" he asked.

Cynthia let out a small laugh. "Well enough, I guess," she admitted, "Did you?"

"To be honest, I hardly slept a wink at all," he admitted, "but I don't think I've ever felt so energetic before." He shifted from foot to foot, eager to get going on their journey; however, it seemed as though his need for sweets overrode that. "Shall we get something before we go off? It'll be my treat, as a way of saying thanks for saving my skin there, yesterday."

"Whatever suits you, I'll have whatever you have," she said with a small smile.

"Awesome! Two sundaes with whipped cream, cherries, nuts and... hmmm... should I add fudge sauce on top? Do I look like a fudge sauce kind of guy today?"

"I think you look more like caramel sauce, but you know what? Whatever floats your boat."

"Fudge sauce it is then!" he said with a grin and nearly skipped towards the counter to place his order.

~~~

She had always sworn about "whipped cream and cherries with nuts and fudge sauce on top" when she was a child, though she didn't think she would actually be eating a sundae like that one day. It had been a childhood dream of hers to have an ice cream date with a cute boy and giggle about silly things while sharing an ice cream. The fact that she was actually doing what she had imagined in her younger years made her feel slightly sheepish; not only was her life on the line in the coming hours, but the cute boy she was sitting next to was already taken by none other than a higher forest spirit. To mess with the worlds more than she already had was not a good idea, especially then.

She could at least enjoy her company and the delightful ice cream in her hands for a little bit before they got down to business.

"So," Henry began, in between large spoonfuls of sundae, "did you come up with any brilliant ideas?"

"Hmm, not really, but I did get a gift from the queen herself last night," she said, thoughtfully holding her spoon in her mouth and replaying the recording in her mind.

"Whoa, really? What was it of?"

"A proposal. I find her in the next twenty-four hours and she'll let all the hostages she's got that are alive go free."

"Wait, What?! Twenty-four hours?! Why are you sitting around and enjoying ice cream?! Shouldn't you be panicked and looking under every rock for the gate to her chambers?!"

"Well, I technically know where it is already, but I'm not a hundred percent sure which one it is..." she began, "She left a clue in her little gift and I can't quite puzzle it out."

"Well why don't you let me see it and we'll go from there!"

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties up in a bunch, I thought you were the one who wanted ice cream!" she grumbled.

"And I thought you were the one who wanted to fix things!" he shouted in return.

"You were the one who told me to calm the fuck down, remember?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I -- but-- wha-- I..."

"Whatever," she said with a shrug, throwing out the melted remains of her ice cream. "Let's go, you're right, we don't have much time left," she said and headed to her car to retrieve the tape and the portable cassette player she had found in the garage earlier that day. There was no way she was going to find a plug anywhere nearby for the one that had come in the package.

She handed the two to Henry and let him listen to what was on the tape. Cynthia watched as Henry's expression changed from surprise to horror to something she couldn't quite describe when he finished listening to it. He sat there staring at the tape in his hands without saying a word. She sorely wished she knew what was going on in his mind at that moment; however, she let him think in peace.

"You were right, you know?" he said when he finally looked up. His dark eyes glimmered with a hope. "You know how you said that her chambers had to be close? That it had to be somewhere near where we last landed? I think I know where it has to be!"

"Wait, what? Really? I stayed up forever last night trying to figure out where it could be!"

"Melrose and Peters Creek!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "It makes perfect sense!"

"Not... quite following you, last time I check, Melrose wasn't exactly a major street compared to Peters Creek," she reasoned.

"But what do they on the other side know about that? For all they know, they're more major than others. Think about it. There's a stop light there, and both have a good amount of traffic passing through them, there's no reason why they shouldn't be the right ones."

"True, but I want to try the others just to be sure. The directions are vague enough for us to at least scout them out."

"There's no time for that," he hissed, "Who knows how long twenty four hours is to the queen, you know how strangely time passes on the other side, for all we know, she could have killed everyone already!"

The thought of Tate dying because she didn't take a risk to find him made her stomach churn. She had already failed him in so many ways, she couldn't bare to do it again.

"Let's go then," she said, standing up suddenly and making her way to her car.

~~~

"Maybe... it wasn't the best idea to go at this time of the day," Henry said when they stood at the corner of the two streets and stared at the oncoming traffic. "I mean, we are supposed to be standing in the middle of all of that and reciting some prayer, aren't we?"

"Well, yes and we have to follow the lines to where they meet, so the crosswalk is out of question."

"So... what do you suggest we do, then?"

"We play the waiting game until there aren't any cars around."

"Uhm, look, not like I think it's a bad idea or anything, but do you know how long that'll take?"

"Well, do you have any better ideas then? If this is the right one, then so be it. I'm going to stay here until we get a clear shot at this," Cynthia crouched at the curb and stared at the dotted lines, finding the center where they should meet with her eyes and planning her actions. They were probably going to have only one chance at doing this, and she could not risk messing up. Doing so would probably end with them being run over by any cars not paying attention.

"Oh hey, you know that fae paths to the other side are distinctive, right?" he said after an hour or so of watching the traffic go by. There were times they thought it was clear; however, there would always be one or two other vehicles which would approach the lights before they could make their move.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you see. If this isn't the right one, then even if we follow the directions perfectly and everything, it wouldn't work and the gate won't open."

Cynthia's gaze never left the flow of traffic as she listened to his explanation. "Well, then you best pray that this is the right one," she said, "We've got one shot at this and I'm going to take it with all I've got."

"Tehee, you're a strange one, you know that?" he asked, grinning at her. "But hey, that sort of bravery is probably what made the prince choose you in the first place," he said.

"Then we best pray his choice was right too."

~~~

The sun had long set by the time they finally had their chance. The cars and trucks had died down until the street was pretty much barren. Cynthia took a deep breath and walked halfway out onto the street where Peters Creek met with Melrose. She took a deep breath and stood on the lines that marked the turn lanes. Behind her, she saw Henry take his position as well.

Now or never, let's do this, she thought to herself and took the first step forward.

Nothing happened. Nothing happened after her second step, either. No signs of magic after the third, fourth, or fifth steps out into the middle of the intersection. She continued walking, subconsciously counting her steps, until she found the very center where two dotted lines met. There, after twenty-eight steps into the middle of an abandoned intersection, she found her destination.

"Gods hear me. Grant us safe passage through..." she mumbled, thinking of a prayer on the fly. "Take us to the land we wish and bring us there unharmed." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing.

"Uhm... Cynthia..." Henry murmured behind her, tugging at her shirt. "I think there's something coming up towards us there..."

"Gods hear me. Grant us safe passage through..." she said again, this time louder, clearer, hoping they would understand her this time. "Take us to the land we wish for and bring us there unharmed." She could sense the bright lights from the incoming big rig coming in from the side.

Still there was no response from the ground below.

"Cynthia....." Henry was getting more and more panicked now. Both of them were wearing rather non-reflective clothing, and the incoming vehicle wouldn't see them until the very last minute. The headlights got brighter and brighter every second they stood in that spot. "Can you please hurry it up."

"GODS hear me," she half demanded this time, "Grant us safe passage through. Take us to the land that we wish for and bring us there unharmed." Her voice shook, and she dared not open her eyes, though she could see the light passing through her eyelids as it came closer and closer. She could hear the loud horn sounding and feel the heat from the engine as the huge vehicle came closer and closer.

"GODS, JUST LET US THROUGH ALREADY!" Henry screamed, clutching onto Cynthia tightly and bracing himself for the worst.

The last thing she heard was the deafening sound of the big rig's horn before the ground gave way and gave them the passage they wished for.

~~~

She should be used to falling for long periods of time by now. After having done that several times the day before, she imagined that she would be used to the gravity defying falls that came with entering the darker parts of the other side. There was a sense of relief when she felt herself fall through. She had trusted the right person, taken the right risk and now, hopefully she was going to the right destination. Throughout the whole fall, she felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her chest; and she felt laughter rise from the pit of her stomach.

It wasn't like the day before when the world came crashing down around her, and she felt complete and utter despair engulf her. No, it was a pure, blissful sort of joy that came from her being. She was alive, Henry was alive; and if she could make it on time, Tate would still be alive. During her fall, she felt something come out of her pocket; and when it passed her head she gasped when she realized that it was Luce.

Frantically, she tried to grasp at the orb of light but to no avail. She was falling faster than the stone, and Luce was lost to her as she knew it. She did one thing right, and something wrong had to follow suit. "No..." Cynthia whispered, watching as the tiny speck became smaller and smaller. "No... You were supposed to come with me, back to your master... I can't... I can't do anything right at all..."

A tiny squeak and the soft flutter of wings beside her head told her otherwise. Her eyes widened at the palm sized sprite that fluttered in front of her. "Luce!" she squealed and reached out for him. He gave a disgruntled grumble in his language before flitting between her and Henry. At that moment, the laughter she had been trying to hold in finally broke loose; and she realized how wonderful it felt to be truly alive in the best way possible.

~~~

As it had been with the other day, their landing was surprisingly soft and cushioned by some muddy, gritty texture beneath them. By Luce's glow, Cynthia could make out the bodies of crushed insects and spiders. She glanced around and saw that Henry too had landed safely next to her. Looking upwards to where she came from, she saw a vast network of webs which outlined the streets of Roanoke above her. It probably sprawled for hundreds of miles, but she didn't have time to admire the work of the spiders at that moment. She had work to do.

The path before them was quite straight forward. There was only one way to go, and that was down a tunnel with a dim, flicking light at its end. Cynthia took one last deep breath, grabbed Henry's hand and dashed towards the light. She was so close to the end, and she knew it. Here, she could finally prove herself.

"This is it!" she cried out, her voice echoing around her in the tunnel. "It's now do or die!"

She didn't know why, but she was smiling. There was that same thrill of just being on the verge of death that threatened her, and she knew at any moment, she could be at the mercy of an extremely large and angry spider. However, it was that very essence of adventure that urged her forward to grasp at the unknown and make the best of what she had. It was the essence that she had grown up with all her life but had ignored. Now was the best time to take it and make the most out of what she had.

The light steadily grew larger and larger. There was no fiddling with distances this time. She was determined to get to the end and the end seemed to comply with her will. The flickering at the end of the tunnel seemed to slow the closer she got to it. Though her lungs burned, though it hurt, through sheer force of will, she saw it through to the end and kept on running until that end was found.

There, she found herself in audience to the queen of spiders herself, in the grand cavern which she called her throne room.

Her throne was made of the bones from various animals. Skulls stared back at Cynthia as she met the queen eye to eye for the first time. "I'm here..." she started through panting breaths, "to take back my friend!" finishing her announcement, the moment she saw the silhouetted figure in the dimly lit room. Luce buzzed around her head as if to agree to what she had said.

"Oh, so the earth child finally arrives," the low, sultry voice said. Even though Cynthia couldn't see her face, she could almost tell that Gertrude was mocking her. "I was getting tired of waiting, you know," she murmured. "Almost thought it was time to carry out my end of the deal since I thought you were never going to find your way here. Oh, but it seems like you did." There was a hint of sarcastic disappointment in the queen's voice. "Ah well... I suppose, it's time for you to hold up your end of the deal. Your life, for the life of everyone else in this room. Are you ready to pay that price?"

As much as she wanted to believe that there was another way around it, she knew it was the only way to settle everything. She had to keep her end of the deal to keep everyone around her safe. These were friends she had only known for a short while, but they were friends she planned on keeping alive. They were only in trouble because of her own stupidity, so it would be through her own stupidity that she would right everything that was wrong.

Cynthia could feel her voice waver as she prepared herself. Her heart beat wouldn't stop racing no matter how many slow, calming breaths she took. She was so close do fixing everything. All she had to do was tell the queen that she accepted her death as it was. It was so simple.

"I... am ready," she said, staring straight at the shadowy figure with as much determination she could muster.

"Lovely...." the queen purred, turning just so the faint glowing lights of the room could show her features. "I do love it when my dinner squirms."