“If you want to find Dace, you’ll have to return to the last place you saw him. Am I correct in assuming that would be the Lowerworld?” At the slightest tip of my head, she says, “I will drive you to the vortex. But first things first.”
Paloma turns away, makes for her office, as Xotichl says, “I’m going with you.”
“Me too!” Lita echoes. “I’ll sta
rt by digging the Jeep out of the snow.” Before anyone can stop her, she races for the door. Shooting me a look over her shoulder, she adds, “And speaking of, when you get a chance, can you please make it stop snowing? Now that you’re back, it seems a little redundant.”
eleven
Daire
Paloma’s old white Jeep bucks and jumps over the poorly lit, deeply rutted dirt roads as she cuts through the reservation and heads for the grove of wildly twisted juniper trees marking the vortex.
“It’s not too late to bail.” I swivel toward my friends huddled into the small space in back, deciding to give them one last chance to opt out. “And trust me, if you’re smart, you will.”
“I’m not smart.” Xotichl turns to Lita.
“Nope, me neither,” Lita echoes, busily inspecting the ends of her hair. “Dumb as a doorknob, in fact.”
I glance at Paloma, and seeing her nod of approval, I say, “Okay, but just to be clear, the journey is extremely unpleasant. And Xotichl, you’ll have to leave your cane since it involves tunneling through deep layers of dirt. And while it doesn’t actually take all that long, the first time feels like forever. You can’t breathe, can’t see … oh, and did I mention the worms?”
Xotichl shrugs, flips her ponytail over her shoulder, and says, “Bring it.”
As Lita steadies her gaze on mine, and replies, “I’m not exactly the princess you take me for. I don’t mind getting a little dirty now and then.”
Paloma parks just shy of the trees, turns to me, and says, “I will wait here until you return.”
I try to protest, telling her I have no idea how long it will take, and how worried I am by her weakened appearance, but she’s not having it.
“Do not worry for me, nieta. Keep your focus on the task at hand. The Lowerworld is not as you left it. Though much like Xotichl, you don’t need to rely on your vision to see.” She hugs me tightly to her chest, and despite her frail state, her touch fills me with enough strength to lead my friends toward the trees with more confidence than I feel.
“Just follow me, and do what I do,” I tell them. “And no matter how tempted you might be, do not try to stop the fall, or worse, claw your way up. It never works, and it’ll just make the trip take that much longer. Allow the fall to happen naturally, without resistance. And the second you sense the first hint of light at the end of the tunnel, try to curl your body into as tight a ball as you can. It really helps to cushion the landing, which can be a little rough.”
I glance behind me, and seeing they’re not the least bit inhibited by my warnings, I launch myself forward. Aware of them falling behind, one by one, as we’re swallowed deep into the earth, before landing in a hard bank of snow with Lita flailing beside me in a crazy tangle of limbs, as Xotichl exits last, rolling to a stop just as I coached.
“You really weren’t kidding about the dirt.” Lita brushes her hands against her knees and begins plucking pebbles and twigs and assorted debris from her hair.
“Or the worms.” Xotichl straightens her coat as I help her to her feet. “I felt one skim right past my cheek. Luckily it was gone before I had a chance to properly freak.”
I squint against the glare and take a good look around, unable to determine just where we’ve landed since all of the usual landmarks are covered with a heavy dusting of snow, with more accumulating each passing minute. Paloma was right about it not looking at all like I left it. Hopefully the snow-stopping ritual I worked just before leaving her house will begin to kick in without too much delay.
“So, this is the Lowerworld.” I glance at my friends. “What do you think?”
Lita places her hands on her hips and takes a good look around. “Well, I’m sure it’s really nice. But at the moment, there’s so much snow, it looks a lot like Enchantment.”
“Trust me, underneath the snow it’s far more beautiful than Enchantment.” I shove my hands under my armpits in an effort to warm them, and continue to survey the area. Dismayed to find it absent of spirit animals, including Raven who’s usually waiting to greet my arrival.
Have the animals been forced into hibernation because of the snow?
“Is it always like this?” Xotichl asks.
“No.” I frown, not liking what I see. “While I’ve never visited in the dead of winter, I’m sure this place doesn’t change seasons. Before Cade corrupted it, it pretty much existed in a state of eternal spring. The flowers were forever in bloom, the grass was lush and green. Like golf course grass, only better.” I sigh at the memory. “But despite Cade turning it into a wasteland, last I saw, just before I left, it was definitely returning to its usual springlike state once again.”
“Since this is where our spirit animals live, do you think we might meet them?” Xotichl’s face is lit with the possibility of meeting Bat who’s been guiding her since the day she was born, and I hate to disappoint her.
“I was hoping they’d be waiting for us. They usually are,” I tell her. “But with all of this cold and snow, I can only assume that they’re hibernating.”
And since they can’t guide us if they’re sleeping, that can’t be a good thing.