The Unready Queen, стр. 59

Cole took a deep breath. “There’s a pond,” he said. “In the northern part of the Wild Wood. There’s a girl there who can turn into a frog.”

“Ah,” said the woman. She took a deep breath. “What did Kallra show you?”

Reverently, Cole drew the slim stone from his pocket. He stared into it as if it might whisper secrets to him at any moment. The woman watched his thumb trace the etched lines on the artifact.

“Fable says Kallra’s visions show the future,” said Cole. “Is it true?”

“It is not healthy to dwell on the past, young man, nor to obsess about the future.”

“But is it true?” Cole’s voice cracked. “Because if it is, my father is still alive out there.”

“I see.” Raina pursed her lips.

Cole gave the stone a squeeze and then handed it to her. “What can you tell me about this?” he said.

She took the talisman and turned it over in the dim light.

“Is it a place?” Cole asked. “Or the sign of some secret group?”

“I’m sorry, Cole. I deal with nearly every faction in the Wild Wood, but I’m afraid I don’t recognize this symbol.”

“Neither did Fable,” said Cole, sagging. Then, abruptly, he straightened. “But the spriggan did! The one I hit. He looked furious about it when he saw it. It meant something to him.”

“You struck a spriggan?” Raina said. “You struck an angry spriggan?”

“The spriggans have to know what it means.”

Raina regarded Cole’s expression with concern. “Listen to me, child. You cannot seek out the spriggans,” she said. “We have reached a truce in the wake of this latest catastrophe—but if you were to enter their domain, there is nothing either Fable or I could do to protect you. They may have called off the war, but their feelings about humans in the Wild Wood have not changed. You must know that it would be beyond reckless for you to intentionally enter their territory. They will kill you.”

“I need to know.”

Tenderly, Raina handed him back the stone. “I don’t think there is anything to know,” she said, softly. “I’m so sorry, Cole. If your father had been living somewhere in my forest for all these years, I would know about it.”

Cole said nothing.

“Please,” she added, “don’t do anything foolish.”

Cole nodded, but his jaw was set and his eyes were rimmed with red. He sniffed. Without responding, he stuffed the stone back in his pocket.

The forest trembled. Deep beneath the leaves and fallen pine needles of the Wild Wood—far below the reach of the winding roots and the sounds of chirping crickets, past the broken bones of slumbering giants, and deeper even than the ancient spriggan tunnels—Joseph Burton crept through heavy darkness.