Hold Fast - Part Thirteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
Oh. Okay. So, um – what?
I just don’t understand. Neither do Aiden and Will, based on how they stare at the bear, then at Robin.
The person who seems to understand the least is Robin. She just stares at the massive bear, her eyes wide with helpless, overwhelmed confusion. Then she lets out a hysterical laugh, slumping back against the rock wall.
“I am still asleep,” she stammers, dragging a trembling hand over her forehead. “That – that explains everything. Sort of.”
You are not asleep, the glowing bear informs her.
“Wait a second, what…?” Aiden finds his voice again, shakes his head at the bear. “I don’t understand, you’re dead, Jamie heard you die! Violet told us all about it, she said that you-”
Violet? The bear draws back, caught by surprise. You know Violet?
“Yeah, we know like half of the Six – she’s our friend, and she told us that Nyx killed you!” Aiden manages.
The bear slowly blinks its white eyes at Aiden. Yes… so he did. He has always been the most powerful of the Six. And I was the strength of the Six, so it’s no surprise that he came for me first.
“But… how…?”
Aiden trails off nervously. The bear is gazing intently at him now, as if something about him just caught its attention. It stands up on its hind legs to peer down at him, rising to a height that briefly stops my heart.
Come closer, you.
Aiden glances anxiously at me, then pushes off the rock wall and takes a halting, reluctant step forward. I try to grab him or follow him, but I seem to have frozen up completely in the face of the bear. I know I’m sending instructions to my hands and feet. They have stubbornly shut down all communications, however, and refuse to listen.
So Aiden stops right in front of the gigantic, battled-scarred bear. It goes back on all fours, lowers its huge head until its eye is about even with Aiden’s eyes, then peers closely into them, its expression impossible to discern. Aiden timidly submits to this inspection, holding perfectly still, obviously poised to run.
The bear blinks hard, then draws back sharply, stunned and astonished.
Son of Fate, it breathes, in a reverential voice.
Then it tucks one forepaw, lowers its head, and bows deeply. Just like Thorn did when he met Aiden.
“Oh – no, please don’t do that!” Aiden blurts out, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Why are you illusions always doing that around me?”
The bear straightens up with a deep, growling grumble that sounds remarkably like laughter. As if it’s sharing a very good joke with Aiden, who turns around to shoot me a bewildered look, spreading his hands helplessly.
Then he freezes in alarm, getting a glimpse of the expression on my face. He swiftly crosses back to me, catches my wrists in his hands, and looks into my eyes.
“Jamie. Hey. Look at me. It’s okay. It’s not a real bear, remember? It’s an illusion.”
With an enormous force of effort, I pull my stammering voice back into existence. “If – if it’s a grizzly bear, y-you should – should-”
“Nope, whoops, okay,” Aiden cuts in gently, squeezing my wrists. “We’re not looking for bear attack advice anymore. We’re past that.”
“Because w-we already did the exact w-wrong thing? Screamed and ran?”
“No,” Aiden answers patiently, “Because it’s not a real bear, and it’s not attacking us. It’s a friend, even! Our new friend – sorry, what’s your name?”
He addresses this last part to the glowing white bear. It inclines its head at me politely, and answers: Daisy.
“Our new friend D-” Aiden breaks off in startled confusion, turning back to the bear. “Daisy?”
Yes, Daisy.
“Are you-? Oh. Okay. Um.” Aiden hesitates, squinting at the bear, then turns back to me. “See? She’s a friend.”
Yes, Daisy growls gently. I am.
I lift my trembling hand in an automatic wave hello. I’m only staying on my feet because Aiden is holding me there. Daisy has put away her lethally sharp fangs, but her claws are still extremely visible. The sheer size of her alone is enough to make a person freeze up in fear, and there are thick scars in her fur, like she’s won brutal fights before. She paints a truly terrifying picture.
Will doesn’t seem to be scared off, though. He’s still standing just in front of her, off to one side, staring up at her in amazement.
Before my horrified eyes, he lifts a hand and gently touches his fingers to the soft fur of her snout. I nearly scream in fear, registering all at once that Daisy somehow exists on the same ghostly plane as Will, which means that they can really touch each other and potentially really harm each other.
But they both seem so unspeakably delighted to be able to feel each other that my worries collapse before the panic wave can crest. Daisy turns her head and sniffs all over Will’s face, then softly prods his nose with her nose. I distantly recall that gently touching noses with each other is a way that bears communicate peaceful intentions. And Daisy does do it gently, at least by her standards. Will goes staggering back a step anyways, then whips around to look at us, overjoyed.
“My god!” he laughs excitedly. “To feel something new!”
Apparently Daisy is just as thrilled and delighted, because she enthusiastically rubs her entire face against his back, then straightens up looking slightly embarrassed, like she forgot her dignity for a moment. She blinks when Will whips around to face her again, absolutely beaming.
“I’m William Clarke,” he tells Daisy, then points to us. “You already seem to know Captain Robin Cole somehow, but it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Aiden Callahan, and Mr. James Keane is the one who looks like he’s – good god, Jamie, are you alright?”
Aiden drops his gaze to me, opens his blue eyes very wide in alarm, and gives me a shake. “Oh, shit. Jamie. You okay?”
“Calm – calmly back away and – don’t – don’t make – eye contact, if you s-surprised the b-bear-”
Aiden catches my chin and uses it to tilt my face up to his. “Jamie. Hey.”
“Hey,” I answer, without really hearing myself.
“Are you alright?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m f-fine.”
“Oh, dear,” Will murmurs, staring at me in alarm.
“Do I n-not seem fine?” I stammer, wondering distantly if I’m still standing up or if I sat down. “M-maybe I could use a drink, I guess? Some – some whiskey-?”
“Okay, I think I know what to do,” Aiden says gravely to Will, “But it’s going to be cruel.”
“Do it, man!” Will answers, peering worriedly into my face.
Aiden takes my jaw in his hands, looks right into my eyes, and says: “Jamie. You’re being rude.”
I don’t know why, but this statement punches right through the panicked swirling in my head and hits me like a lightning strike. I blink hard and fast, staring up at Aiden in bewildered dismay, snapped out of my daze with a violence.
“What?”
“Daisy is a friend,” Aiden goes on, pointing at her over his shoulder. “You’re making her feel like she’s scary.”
“Wh…?” I drag a trembling wrist across my forehead, then turn to Daisy, mortified. “Oh, god. I’m so sorry, Daisy! I never meant to be rude! It’s my own thing, I’m just – I have, um – fears.”
Oh, it’s alright, she assures me, with a certain pleased satisfaction to her growling voice. It’s nice to see that I still have some effect. There was a time when I passed for a real bear, you know.
Right… she isn’t a real bear. She’s an illusion, just like Violet or Thorn or Coral. That fact has been knocking on my brain for a while now. I didn’t let it sink in, in my sheer panic, but it’s true. She’s a being made of Guardian magic, the same magic Aiden has.
Robin seems to circle back out of her stunned, silent daze at the same rough moment that I do. She places her trembling fingertips to her temples, willing herself to understand everything that’s happening right now. Ghost illusions must be visible even to those without the Vision, I guess. Clearly Robin sees Daisy, and hears her.
What a night this is, Daisy rumbles, with a note of warm delight in her voice. One still afraid of me, one who can touch me, one Son of Fate, and, of course, you, Robin. The one I have called for.
“How can you be calling for anyone?” I stammer, finally getting some feeling back in my limbs and my fingertips. “How can you be a ghost? What happened?”
Daisy lowers her head to my eye level, her furry ears giving a twitch of unhappiness at the memory.
Nyx used his magic to destroy me. He tore me apart and stole my power… but in tearing me apart he left pieces of me everywhere.
“The threads,” Aiden realizes out loud.
Yes. So I remained here, but scattered, formless, in thousands of pieces. It took me some time to understand what had even happened to me.
Daisy’s great eyes blink a few times, growing sad at the memory. Will stares at her in sympathy, his expression full of understanding. He rests a comforting hand against Daisy’s side as she goes on.
My magic always ran best through dreams. All I could think to do then was dream. So I hibernated for a very long time, and eventually I dreamed back together most of the pieces of myself. I dreamed until I awoke in a patch of daisies, in my new form. She lets out a growling, rumbling sigh. Of course, I am without the power that was stolen from me. A ghost of what I once was.
For a moment she looks upset, but then she brightens up.
I do greatly prefer this form, though. I only wish I had the energy to fill myself in more. Add some color. I used to be a nice shade of brown.
“Oh, okay,” I answer weakly, struggling to process all this. “I – I thought I heard you tell Nyx that you were his brother.”
Yes, but now I have changed, Daisy explains. This is the form I dreamt for myself. My new form.
“Wait a second,” Robin stammers, breaking what’s been a very long silence. “You – you remade yourself into a female bear?”
I did.
Robin stares at Daisy with perfectly round eyes, then lets out a wild little laugh, burying her face in her hands.
This makes you happy? Daisy asks, puzzled.
“It does,” Robin laughs weakly, without lifting her head.
Interesting. Your mate felt the same way. She laughed like you did, like it was wonderful to hear.
Robin freezes, then slowly lifts her face from her hands. She stares at Daisy, her eyes gone perfectly round again.
“My mate?” she echoes faintly.
Yes. Daisy hesitates, the growl of her voice turning apologetic as she gazes down into Robin’s eyes. I am very sorry for taking her. But I did have my reasons.
Aiden seizes Robin’s arm, and my hands fly up to my mouth.
Robin stares at Daisy, wild-eyed. Her breathing grows fast and shallow, her voice falling to a trembling rasp.
“Taking her – took – what do you mean, you…?” She drags in a shaky breath. “You took Faith? What does that mean? Where is she?”
Daisy hesitates again. Her ghostly eyes somehow reveal that she’s suddenly a bit anxious.
There was -
“Where is she?” Robin interrupts, her voice caught in her throat.
If I bring you to her, Daisy says softly, You must promise me that you will let me explain before you do anything. Please. You must promise.
“Okay, yes, I promise!” Robin blurts out desperately. “Just please, please-”
With me, little ones, Daisy murmurs, taking a step forward.
We watch in blank confusion as she walks right through the rock wall. She just disappears right into it.
“What…?” Aiden murmurs, reaching out to touch the stone with his hand.
His fingers go right through it. He turns to stare at me, then at Robin as she goes rushing after Daisy. She vanishes into the wall of mossy stone, just like Daisy did.
Without a word the rest of us scramble to follow her. I shut my eyes and brace myself, half expecting a wall of rock to smack me in the face.
Instead I open them again to find myself standing in the very tall, wide mouth of a cave. Aiden summons a gentle golden glow into the space, lighting it up so we can see. Smooth, dark rock surrounds us on all sides, except at the cave opening. I can see right out into the moonlit forest, like that rock wall isn’t even there. The illusion must only work from the outside.
“Wow, that is seriously impressive,” Aiden tells Daisy admiringly. “You made that?”
Yes. When I had more power I could dream certain illusions into existence. That is how many things begin, as dreams. Daisy turns and begins to pad deeper into the cave, walking slowly so we can keep up. Now I am restricted to what little power I have left. I have tried to collect up all my threads, but those are sparse pieces of power. That is why I had to keep your mate, Robin. It may seem very selfish of me, but you must understand… I was desperate, and -
“What does that mean?” Robin asks, trembling as she follows Daisy deeper into the cave.
I have been in dire need of power, energy. I had very little left already, and it fades away with time. Time is running out for me. I have been at a loss for what to do. Daisy looks over her shoulder at Robin, her eyes softening. Then one night I found your little mate running through my forest. I’m designed to frighten humans, but she seemed so afraid already. She’s such a small thing, too, and she was all alone, I – I decided to see if I could help her instead. So I came out of the darkness and I spoke to her.
Robin is listening in stunned silence, trotting to keep pace with Daisy. She’s walking slowly, but a bear this size goes far with every step.
I made her understand that I wasn’t there to hurt her. Once she calmed down we spoke. She was very kind to me. Very understanding. She told me of her situation, and I told her of mine. In the end we agreed to help each other.
Robin speeds up to trot by Daisy’s head as we approach a bend in the cave passage. “How could she help you?”
She agreed to give me the energy I desperately needed. Her energy.
Robin goes very pale. “But what-?”
Shh… Daisy turns her great eyes on Robin, a gently chiding tone coming into her voice. Quiet, now. Here we are.
The enormous ghost bear stops where she is, letting Robin scramble past her to peer around the bend in the cave passageway.
She must see something, because she freezes to the spot, staring with thunderstruck eyes at the sight before her. A moment passes, suspended in silence.
Then Robin lets out a jagged, punched-out sob, her hands flying up to her mouth.
Aiden, Will, and I rush up behind her to take a look.
The cave passage slopes down ahead of us, ending in a snug, roughly circular hollow. There’s a gap in the cave roof above it, letting in a single beam of moonlight. It must also have let in some autumn leaves, and some seeds, given the blanketing layer of pine needles, leaf heaps, and shoots of grass. The cave floor actually looks pretty cozy and soft, given all that. And there, curled up in this bed made by nature -
Is the pink-haired girl who Aiden and I glimpsed in the window of the bakery in Port Sitka all that time ago. The one who was peering out at the ocean with her floured hands pressed to the glass, breathlessly excited for the sailors to come home.
Faith.
She’s deeply asleep. And she’s snuggled up with three tiny, glowing, ice-white bear cubs.
~~~~
One of them is draped across Faith’s stomach, its chin nestled between its outstretched little forepaws. Another cub is sprawled out flat on her chest, its tiny snout half-buried in the fuzziness of her pink sweater. The third is snuggled up under her arm, curled up into a perfect ball of fur. All three are sleeping as if utterly knocked out with exhaustion.
Turns out Daisy is a mama bear.
The sight is so painfully, overwhelmingly adorable that my hands fly up to my cheeks, Aiden lets out a little sputtering sound, Will laughs, and Robin instantly bursts into tears.
“Oh m-my god,” she sobs, then starts to rush forward.
Wait, wait! Daisy steps out in front of Robin, moving so fast that Robin pulls up short. You promised me you would not do anything until I can explain! If you wake her – please don’t wake her yet. I’m begging you.
“What-?” Robin seizes her auburn braid with both hands, panting with impatience. “Daisy, please, I-”
She’s the only thing keeping my cubs alive, Daisy interrupts desperately.
Robin freezes, staring up at the ghost bear with wide, tear-filled eyes.
“Is – is she okay, though?” she stammers, swiping tears from her cheeks and onto her sleeve. “Looks like she is… actually she looks so relaxed…”
Robin is right. Faith looks serenely peaceful, glowing with good rest.
Yes, Daisy agrees, moving aside so Robin can see Faith again. That is because she has been hibernating.
Robin lets out a sobbing laugh. “Hibernating? With your little baby bears?”
Yes. Daisy turns her adoring eyes onto her little ones. I always wanted my own cubs. I dreamed them up as soon as I had my new form. I knew Nyx would not bother with me anymore, so they would be safe. Aren’t they sweet?
“They’re – so – cute,” Robin sobs brokenly, dragging her fist over her eyes. “Oh, m-my god, the little babies…”
But I am running out of power. Daisy turns her gaze back to Robin, her growling voice turning anguished. I have so little left that I’ve had to put them into hibernation, so they spend as little as possible. It’s been so long since I could wake them up. I miss them terribly. Their little voices.
Robin stops still again, staring up at Daisy.
I want so badly to wake them again, but then we’ll all just… fade away. We are fading away as it is. Faith is the only reason we are all still here. The cubs are drawing on her energy instead of mine.
I finally manage to find my voice again. “Wait, so – Faith just agreed to give you her energy?”
She needed protection from her father. I needed help for my cubs. We decided that I would bring her here, to my den. That way she could hibernate safely until help came for her. I would reach out for you, Robin, so you would find her. And in the meantime she would keep my cubs alive.
“What – what?” Robin spreads her tattooed hands at Daisy in disbelief. “She thought somehow I’d manage to track her down here, in the den of a ghost illusion, after she disappeared without a trace? With the help of some dreams?”
She was firm in her belief that you would find her no matter what. She assured me that you would rescue her. Daisy tilts her head to the side. And she was right, no? After all, here you are.
“But – but-” Robin lets out a dazed laugh, turning her eyes back to Faith. “What was the plan for when I got here? How do we wake her up without cutting off the energy for your cubs?”
We did not have a plan for that part, Daisy admits. But she seemed confident that you would figure something out. In fact she promised me that you would help.
“Faith!” Robin lets out a rasping, half-hysterical laugh, tilting her head all the way back. “Figure someth- what in the f… why does she think that’s something I’m capable of? That’s absurd, that’s – ridiculous!”
Again, Daisy murmurs gently, Here you are, are you not? Her faith in you was not misplaced.
“I… but… I don’t…” Robin begins, then gives up and shakes her head, pointing at her sleeping fiancée. “How do we wake her up?”
You can wake her easily, at any moment. But then she will need her own energy again, and my cubs will have none. Daisy’s eyes fill with worry and love and a little bit of guilt as she looks over her sleeping babies. I know it was foolish of me to create them when I was so low on energy, myself. But female bears are smaller than males, so my new form left some remaining energy from my previous form for me to work with. And I wanted them so badly, I – I couldn’t help myself.
She pauses, swings her huge head around to watch as Will draws closer to the hibernation heap. He freezes uncertainly, watching her expression. Noticing that her ears instinctively swiveled to point backwards, and that she took a protective step towards her cubs.
“Should I not come too close?”
So long as you don’t touch them or wake them, Daisy answers, watching suspiciously all the same.
The whole team carefully draws closer, Robin heading us up. We make our way down the slope, encircling the sleepy pile.
I find myself smiling down at Faith. Robin is right; she’s not at all like Maggie. Even in her sleep there’s a shy timidness about her, in the modest way she has her cheek turned in towards her shoulder. She’s wearing a simple pair of loose-fitting jeans and a pink sweater that reminds me of the one back on Moondancer.
She’s plump and pretty, with the gentlest features, as if they were all painted by a very soft brush. The delicate pink of her lips, the soft strawberry blush to her cheeks, the twin curves of featherlight eyelashes. Even the shade of coral pink she’s dyed her hair is very soft, like the first signs of light before the full sunrise.
She looks like a very soft and cozy person. There’s not a hard, sharp angle anywhere in her features.
It’s hard to imagine her destroying an engine and then hijacking a boat – or befriending Maggie, for that matter – but this is her. Faith.
We found her. And she’s okay.
It didn’t really sink in until we got up close. Not until I could see her shoulder rising and falling with her sleeping breaths, the gentle but healthy flush to her cheeks.
I sink back against Aiden, pressing my fingers to my lips, ready to slump over in sheer relief.
Robin falls to her knees, tears spilling down her cheeks and sparkling on her lashes. She reaches a hand out for Faith, stops herself just short of touching her. Her trembling fingers hover tenderly over the curve of Faith’s cheek. Her brown eyes are swimming with passionate love and blazing devotion, behind all the tears.
I gently place a hand on Robin’s shoulder. She holds perfectly still for a second, then sits down hard on the cave floor, slumps back against the wall, and just stares at Faith, wordlessly letting tears of pure relief spill down her face.
“Of course she just agreed to help,” she rasps softly, gazing at Faith with besotted eyes. “Of course she did.”
She said she thought you wouldn’t want her to leave three bear cubs in trouble, Daisy answers.
Robin lets out an anguished, sniffling laugh, then tilts her head back against the cave wall. Looking up at the patch of night sky we can see through the opening overhead, like she’s asking heaven for help.
She drops her gaze back to Faith where she’s protectively cuddled around the cubs, starts to reach out for her, and stops herself again. She sits down on her own hands, pinning them in place.
“We need to wake her up,” she says breathlessly, turning to me and Aiden. “Like, right now. What do we do?”
I look at Aiden, the same question in my own eyes.
What do we do?
~~~~
Aiden, Will, and I come to the collective decision to tell Daisy everything. Who we are, how we met Thorn, Coral, and Violet, and what we’re trying to do to help the Six.
Daisy listens closely, for the most part. Occasionally she gets distracted by Will. Both of them are so cheesed to be able to touch something brand new that Daisy has abandoned all attempts to pretend otherwise and simply placed her entire enormous head in Will’s hands for a comprehensive scratch.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Bears like to give themselves a good rub or back scratch against a tree, and as a ghost those options aren’t normally available to Daisy. I keep having to fight back a laugh at the utterly blissed-out expression on her bear face. She looks like she’s in heaven.
Between that sight and the side view I have of the little cubs snuggled up with Faith, I’m also having a hard time concentrating. There are a lot of cute things happening in this cave right now.
Daisy is quietly thoughtful throughout the explanation we give her, but she lets out a big, blustering breath of relief when we tell her that Violet has been freed from the Sorcerer’s control.
I miss her dearly, she murmurs, her deep, growling voice full of old affection. I miss the days when we could walk through all the forest. Visit with each other. I miss Thorn, too, bossy old thing that he is. As for Coral… Daisy breathes out a rumbling chuckle. I suppose I even miss the way she’d take on her second form whenever she argued with me.
“We haven’t seen Coral in her scary form yet,” I realize out loud, vaguely alarmed by that thought. “Is it terrifying?”
Oh, yes. And loud.
“Okay, so let’s hope we can avoid that,” Aiden mutters beneath his breath.
“We’re hoping to make friends with her by giving her back the hydria,” I add. “Is it here somewhere?”
Coral’s hydria? Daisy hesitates, embarrassed. Yes, it was… I – I dissolved it back into energy. I did not mean to, but it seems I drew all of its magic into myself as I dreamed up my cubs.
“Oh, no,” I murmur, my heart sinking.
But I could speak to Coral on your behalf, Daisy offers. I haven’t been able to go to the borders of my territory in some time, because I haven’t been able to wake my cubs. I can’t stray that far from them. When I can wake my cubs, I could go and speak with Coral again. Her territory is right next to mine.
Aiden, Will, and I pause in surprise, glancing at each other. That’s not a bad idea. That might actually get us further than bringing her the hydria. If Daisy can explain everything to Coral for us…
“Okay, yeah,” I answer, breaking into a relieved smile. “Thank you, Daisy. That would be a huge help.”
“But how do we keep you and the cubs powered?” Aiden asks.
Daisy, who had closed her eyes to enjoy the scratches Will was giving her snout, opens them and fixes Aiden in her gaze.
You can help us. You are a Son of Fate.
She says it like it’s that simple. With total confidence. The same kind of uncompromising confidence that I have in my Guardian.
Aiden bites his lip, then slowly turns his head to look at Faith and the cubs. Robin is kneeling by Faith’s head, her hands tightly pressed between her knees so she doesn’t cave and reach out to touch her. It’s clear that she hasn’t heard a word anyone has said in a while. She’s just staring and staring at Faith, lost in a daze of relief.
But we haven’t exactly saved her yet.
Aiden gets to his feet, extending a hand for me.
“We’ll be right back,” he tells Daisy and Will, pulling me to my feet.
Take your time, Daisy says contentedly, pushing her nose against Will’s hands.
We go together around the curve in the passage. From here we can see the yawning mouth of the cave, so perfectly disguised from outside. The forest beyond it is silvery with moonlight, frosty with the wind. By comparison the cave – warmly lit by Aiden’s rich, orange-gold glow, blanketed with the blown-in leaves – feels like a cozy hideaway.
It’s an immense relief to have the cubs, Faith, Robin, and Daisy all safely tucked away inside. And it’s a good place to stop and think. To hatch a plan.
Good to be with my favorite partner in crime and magic. Even if our plans rarely go off without a hitch.
“Okay, what do we do?” Aiden whispers.
“Well, obviously we have to save the cubs,” I answer immediately, matching his confidential volume. “I’m willing to set my fear of bears aside when they’re that adorable. I know that now.”
He bites his lip, smiling down at me with his warm blue eyes. “I want to make a joke about how I’m shocked that you’re not terrified of those little cubs, but you, um – you ran right at a bear to grab me earlier when I was frozen, so I don’t think I can say anything about your fear of bears now. Possibly ever again.”
“Now you can say for certain that I really would do anything for you,” I laugh weakly, rubbing my eyes.
I said it as a joke, but when I look up it’s to find Aiden gazing down on me with a sweet, shy expression glowing on his face. He hastily drops it, clearing his throat.
“So. The cubs.”
“Right.” I twist the heist ring around my finger, trying to think. “Violet said you can’t just flood her or the other illusions with magic. It would mess with their, um – threadwork. It’s a big risk.”
“I know, otherwise I’d have done that by now.” Aiden bites his lip, lifts his snapback to run a hand over his hair. “Are we sure that Faith is alright, science boy?”
“I think so… I mean, technically humans can’t hibernate. Bears are different from us, obviously. They don’t have to worry about muscle or bone atrophy from laying down for that long, for one thing. It just doesn’t happen to them like it does to us.”
Aiden pauses in surprise. “Why not?”
“Scientists are trying to figure that out. If we could figure out how to replicate hibernation in humans, the possibilities are pretty much endless… like, um – you know how fast you have to act to save someone having a heart attack or a stroke, right? But if you could put the patient into hibernation, you could buy yourself way more time to get them help. Like, three weeks of time.”
“What?” Aiden draws back in surprise. “How’s that?”
“Their brain wouldn’t run out of oxygen and nutrients for way longer, because it would be demanding way less than normal if it was in a hibernation state – oh, and bear hibernation is also being studied for research on cryosleep! Did I ever tell you about that? In outer space exploration-”
I cut myself off, blushing, feeling myself getting what Ellen calls nerd sidetracked.
“Nerd sidetracked,” Aiden snickers affectionately, right as I realize.
“Oops!” I crinkle up my nose at him, letting out a flustered laugh. “Sorry, I’ll stop.”
“No, but like-” Aiden gives his shoulders a casual shrug. “Maybe finish what you were saying? And tell me more about it?”
“Later,” I laugh adoringly, shaking my head at him. “The point is, there are lots of reasons why bears can safely hibernate and humans can’t, but, um… I’m not sure that Faith is in a natural state of hibernation. She’s in a magic state of hibernation. It must be different. Otherwise she’d be starving, because she can’t slow her metabolism down, and extremely uncomfortable from laying down for so long, and…”
“She doesn’t seem to be any of those things,” Aiden finishes, then nods, relieved. “So you think we can safely wake her up?”
“Mhm. I think the question is, how do we safely wake the cubs up?” I tilt my head to the side, peering up into Aiden’s face. “And that’s a question for you, Guardian.”
“Jamie, if I knew how to make a ghost battery, we wouldn’t be out searching for the roots of the dead Guardian Tree in the first place-” Aiden stops, blinking fast, then slowly draws something out of his pocket. “Although… I guess… maybe we have one already?”
I drop my gaze to Daisy’s necklace, catching at his meaning.
“Oh my god, Sugar Maple, you’re so right! The necklace!”
“Sure, but-” Aiden turns the necklace over in his fingers, peering at it intently. “I don’t sense too much energy left in here. It’s been fading, just like the illusions have. It’s made of the same magic.”
“But you can restore it, even if it’s old!” I tell him encouragingly, fixing him with a trusting smile. “You’re an archivist, that’s what you do!”
“Mmm… well, no, you’re mixing up restoration and conservation. Conservation is about safeguarding things for the future, making sure they don’t fall apart due to neglect-”
“Which is exactly what you’d be doing here,” I point out, tapping the necklace.
“Okay, but you’re missing the point. Besides, you don’t add your own touch to restorations. You don’t put any of yourself into it, and you definitely don’t improvise. In fact, you’re not supposed to do anything that another restoration specialist couldn’t undo. If new information comes to light about what the piece looked like, all the restoration work has to be reversible, so it can be redone more accurately. That’s why if you’re restoring a painting you work on top of a coat of varnish-”
I smile up at him affectionately. “Nerd sidetracked.”
“This would not be reversible,” he finishes meaningfully, holding up the necklace.
I bite my lip, taking his point. I also do remember what happened to the last piece of jewelry that Aiden tried to do magic on. It was Will’s pocket watch, and it ended the day as fine golden dust blowing in the wind around the Ghost Office. We only got it back by traveling through time, which is not an option in this case.
Daisy’s necklace could be our one chance.
I take a deep breath, then put my fingertips to Aiden’s bearded cheek.
“You can do this,” I murmur softly, gazing deep into his anxious blue eyes. “It’s already made. You just have to fill it back up with energy.”
“That’s the problem, it’ll be very hard to only do that, and be sure that I haven’t done anything else. I’m afraid that some of me will go into this thing not made by my magic. And this necklace is an illusion tied to both Daisy and the cubs. Whatever I do to the necklace, if I fuck it up, it could change them-”
“You can do this,” I repeat, making sure he sees in my eyes just how much I mean it.
Aiden blinks a few times, gazing back at me, then wordlessly takes my hand.
The connection melts open, sending a rush of deep, intimate warmth and sweetness through me. I let out a quiet sigh, my eyes fluttering closed. No matter how many times the connection has been open between us, I’m never prepared for how good it feels.
I lapse into a silent, blissful daze as Aiden begins to carefully spill off a little magic into me. He’s going very slowly, sending it in gentle ripples, like he’s trying to swim without making a sound. Delicate and infinitely gentle, his sunlit magic feathers softly down over me, each time drawing out an answering burst of warmth and pleasure. The instant I absorb it completely, there’s another one. Over and over again.
I can feel the magic spinning its complicated, invisible web around us, weaving itself together. Drawing closer to the necklace pressed between our intertwined hands. The electric, sparkling rush tightens around our fingers, melts right through them in a wave of warmth, and finally sinks deep into the round wooden pendant, the long piece of leather.
Aiden softly seals off the magic and lets the connection slip closed.
I slowly open my eyes. It feels like coming out of a dream.
At some point Aiden and I sank down to the ground without knowing it. I’m sitting cross-legged in front of him, and he’s sleepily leaning his forehead into mine, exhausted. This piece of magic took a lot out of him.
Unsurprising, considering it took him all night. My drowsy, dazed eyes turn out to the cave entrance to find a forest full of peachy dawn sunshine. Rain is falling in fine, gusty showers through it, creating a blanket of white mist just above the forest floor.
Aiden and I stare out at it in surprise, then look at each other. As one, we drop our gazes to our clasped-together hands. Aiden draws back his fingers so we can see.
The necklace is gone.
My gaze snaps up to meet Aiden’s. We stare at each other in confusion and alarm, then scramble to our feet. Aiden leads the charge back around the curve of the cave passage, where we skid to a stop, panting.
Robin has fallen asleep on the cave floor beside Faith, as close as she can get without touching her and waking her. To my instant, immense relief, the cubs are still cozily cuddled up with Faith. They haven’t even moved in their sleep.
Daisy has fallen asleep curled protectively around all of them, and Will has fallen asleep on her back.
The bears all seem unharmed. Unchanged, too. They look no different, except… they were made of white light before, and now they’ve all turned a warm, rich gold in color. Like they’re made of sunshine.
Aiden anxiously rushes to the sleepy heap and drops down to his knee beside Daisy. I rush after him, my heart in my throat.
The necklace is around her huge neck. It fits her neatly and perfectly. The wooden pendant has transformed into a solid circle of shining golden light.
“Daisy,” Aiden murmurs gently. “Hey. Wake up.”
His deep voice also rouses Robin and Will. They both stir and drowsily sit up, then snap awake when they see Daisy lifting her now golden head.
Son of Fate? Daisy asks sleepily. Did you find a way?
Aiden lets out a sharp, jagged breath. I grasp his shoulder and squeeze it, weak-kneed with relief. Daisy still sounds and looks like herself. It’s the same bear watching us out of her half-awake eyes.
“Yeah, I tried something,” Aiden answers shakily, his deep voice full of exhaustion and elation. “How do you feel?”
Daisy sits up with a big yawn, shaking out her ears as Will slides down to stand in front of her.
I feel… something on my neck? Something familiar.
“It’s your necklace. I recharged it and put it back on you.”
Yes… I sense it now. Daisy’s eyes open up very wide. Oh… I haven’t had this much energy since…
She trails off, lost in silent excitement, then scrambles upright, causing me to instinctively throw myself backwards into Aiden.
Daisy doesn’t even notice. She’s already leaning over her cubs, eagerly nosing at their tiny faces.
My little ones… she murmurs lovingly, gently nipping at a tiny round ear. You can wake up now, if you feel strong enough…
There’s a silence, and then – a soft little squeak as one of the cubs sleepily rolls over onto its back, its eyes slowly blinking open. The movement causes it to go sliding directly into one of its siblings, who tumbles away with a squeal of surprise. Their sounds wake up the one tucked beneath Faith’s arm. It lifts its tiny head in bleary-eyed confusion, to reveal that it has the fur version of bedhead.
The newly-roused cubs scramble over to Daisy as she lowers her head into their midst. She closes her eyes, silently glowing with radiant happiness. Doing the bear version of purring, a sound I recognize from the rumbling necklace.
Robin freezes as Faith lets out a soft sigh in her sleep, stirring a little. Her fingers come up to curl against her cheek, her brow crinkling up. The cubs aren’t drawing on her energy anymore, which means…
She takes a deep breath, and Robin bends over her, gathers her up into her arms.
“Faith?” she murmurs, her breathless voice trembling.
Faith stirs in her arms, and – blinks her eyes open.
She stares dazedly up at Robin, then breaks into a slow, ecstatic smile.
“Robin,” she sighs happily, reaching up to touch her cheek.
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