"Rhin? Are you still in there? I said we should get going if today's the day."

  I looked over to see him standing near a door which hadn’t been there a moment earlier. The Library was clear with its expectations. Now we’d been fed and watered, it was time for us to get off our butts. I reluctantly got to my feet and joined him.

  Gwen was a half-step behind. When I hesitated, she laced her fingers through mine. "We're with you all the way. Nothing they throw at us will make me quit on you."

  "Or me." He chimed in.

  I smiled, hoping it was the case. Because as I knew all too well, anything could happen inside the heart of the Library. While my friends might be certain they wouldn’t falter, I was terrified I would.

  My eyes widened as we stepped through the door into a large, white room completely devoid of furniture. There were no bookshelves, no chairs, nothing. We were in a vast white nothingness. The walls and ceiling seemed to glow around us like the summer sky on a bright day if it had been wrapped in fog.

  We could see each other, and only each other. I looked at my feet, reassured by the sight of my scuffed shoes against a plain white surface. Without any distinguishing features to tell me otherwise, I could almost imagine I was standing on a cloud.

  "So, you've decided to join us." The booming voice I recognized instantly as Deirdre echoed in the vast emptiness.

  I fought the urge to bow, lowering my head instead. "We're here. I have no idea if we’ve been found worthy, only that you've allowed us this far, to whatever this room is. I hope you're not mad I brought my friends. I've done my best not to give them the information you didn't want me to share.

  The same rippling sound of wind through the leaves whooshed across me. The Library was laughing. I hoped it was a good thing.

  My friends looked around.

  "Can you hear it?"

  Wide-eyed they both nodded.

  "Oh good. I'm happier than you realize to hear that. I was fairly sure I wasn't going crazy, but it helps to know other people can hear them speaking."

  The rustle of laughter came again. "No, my little Librarian, you aren't going crazy. But the challenges which lay before you and your friends may make you question yourself more than you do now. You haven't yet proven your worth as a team."

  I bowed my head again, ashamed yet not surprised. I recalled my failure the day before at detecting the glamour before my friends suffered emotional turmoil.

  "It isn't yesterday of which I speak, Librarian. As we've shown you, Suun did come to us for help one day, so many years ago in terms of your creatures, a mere blink of the eye for our memory. He failed. Partially because his friends abandoned him either through frailty, or poor circumstances. He failed because they were not strong enough to stand by him at the end. For your friends to be allowed to continue with you, they must first be tested and found worthy as well."

  I swallowed hard. Anxiety caused my pulse to quicken.

  Gwen squeezed my hand tightly and smiled resolutely.

  Will shot me a wink in support.

  I tried to smile at their bravery. "We think they're ready. Test us if you must, but we're a team. I can see no way to achieve our goals other than together. Without them, I'm not nearly as strong."

  Silence filled the room, and when the voice came again it was somehow warmer, almost purring with approval. "Your words are bold. I hope for your sakes they are also accurate. If you wish to continue, the trials begin now. Remember, once the trials begin, the only way out is through success or death.”

  With only a flicker of surprise, I felt Will’s hand snake its way into my empty one. We stood together silently, a united chain of three as we waited. For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then the room began to spin, the white rapidly darkening into a tornado. Thunder crashed as lightning blinded me. We drew closer until our shoulders were touching.

  I couldn't feel their hands anymore.

  I was a small child.

  Horrible names were bombarding me as rocks and rotten fruit flew toward me. Other, older children sneered at me as I flinched and stood, wiping tomato off my face.

  A tall, thin elf of maybe fourteen stepped forward, crossing his arms as he smirked down at where I shivered. "You know what would be really funny? If you tie her to the tree over there. Let’s leave her for the wolves to eat."

  He laughed; a harsh, evil sound far too large for someone so young.

  I stopped wiping, stunned at his words. Before I could react, hands grabbed me tight by the arms and legs, dragging me backward.

  “No! Stop!”

  My voice sounded funny, but as ropes wound around my ankles and bound my wrists securely to the branches, I couldn’t resist the overpowering force of the crowd of children.

  I felt tears rolling down my cheeks as I whimpered, helpless to do anything other than cry as they left me alone. It was now almost dark, and the howl of approaching wolves shot terror through my heart.

  "Help me, someone!"

  As I screamed into the quiet forest, I realized I knew the voice, but it wasn't mine. It sounded like a much younger version of Gwen. As recognition dawned, so did the knowledge I wasn't a child.

  Could I possibly be inside her memories? As I searched my surroundings for clues, I recognized the area. It was the outskirts of the Low Forest Village, near the hanging grounds.

  A skeleton hung high on a tree across from me.

  I had never been here in person but knew of it. Prisoners and criminals were hung for grave crimes as punishment. The ones hung by their wrists and ankles the way the children had hung me were for offenses not considered bad enough for instant execution.

  If those prisoners survived the night, they would be set free in the morning. It was a small chance, as I knew from stories my brother had shared, most didn’t make it. Even those who did were never the same.

  The sound of wolves grew louder as I watched myself cry silently. I took a chance and tried to speak. "Gwen, are you in there? It's not real. I think it’s a test."

  Somewhere inside the body I shared came the faintest flicker of intelligence. I chased it inward, hoping to find her. As I got nearer, I knew it wasn't Gwen I sensed. "Will? Are you there?"

  Another voice came as a thought in my head. "Rhin? What's happening? Where are we? Why am I a girl?"

  Amid my terror, I had to bite back a laugh at the indignant sound of his voice. "Seriously? We're tied up as dusk falls in the forest where wolves are howling, on a tree across from skeletons, and you're worried about being a girl?"

  "A man's got to have his limits. There's a lot of things I can handle. Being a girl isn't one of them. You've all got bumps in funny places."

  Now I did laugh. We may have been trapped inside Gwen’s memories, but we still had our freedom of thought. "Can you sense her?"

  I waited as he searched. It felt strange, almost like he was walking around inside a dark cavern. I felt him shake his head.

  "No, I think she's too far buried in memory. Seems like she might really be reliving it."

  I grimaced. "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. We need to snap her out of it. I'm not sure if this really happened or how it ended, but I can feel myself crying and shaking. It’s really painful. This isn't the Gwen I know and I'm worried about her."

  I felt his grim acknowledgment. "Me too. I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work."

  "I'm open to suggestions. What is it?"

  Another howl came, this time, it sounded as if it was right behind the tree we were tied to. We had run out of time.

  "She gets her wolves, yeah?" His voice was rushed.

  I nodded, not sure where he was going with his line of thinking. “Yes?”

  He continued hastily. "Okay, so how does she speak to them?"

  "Um, I don't know. They seem to do some sort of a mind-meld thing. She looks at them, they look at her, but she doesn’t usually speak."

  "Okay, that's what I thought. We need to get her to look at whatever wolf approaches first. Maybe today is when she learned she could speak to them."

  "Sure, but how?"

  “Can you wiggle our nose?"

  I paused, attempting it, delighted to find I could. "Hey, that's pretty cool!"

  "Okay so if we work together, even if we can't get her to answer us, at least we can keep her eyes open long enough for her to communicate with the wolves. How does this wolf-walker thing work, anyway?"

  "Honestly? I don't have any idea. Elves who hang out with wolves are generally shunned by the others. I had no idea this was how it started for her. Stupid policies," I grumbled. "All I know is they're supposed to have some sort of connection, whether it's through innate nature magic, or something else I don't know about. This kind of emotionally charged experience could certainly be what created the link for her."

  We froze in our shared body as a solitary wolf stepped cautiously toward us. His head held high. While his steps were slow, I sensed no fear in him. The wolf had white fur which shone in the light of the mother moon, his eyes glinting a color as icy blue as the smaller moon.

  My heart leapt in our body. If I wasn't mistaken, it was a much younger Swift standing in front of us. For the first time since waking up here, I hoped his crazy plan would succeed.

  "Is that...?" His voice sounded in my head.

  "Yes, I think so. On the count of three?"

  "One, two, three!"

  Focusing with every bit of mental energy I could, I focused on turning our eyes to stare into those of the wolf standing almost at our feet. I could feel him straining as well and sent a plea to her for help.

  "Gwen, please! Open your eyes and join us. Come on, it's Swift. Your first bonded mate. Please, we can't do this without you."

  As if struggling to wake up from beneath six feet of dirt, a flutter of consciousness beat against the boundaries of my thoughts, like a butterfly's wings on a windowpane.

  "Rhin?"

  I almost shouted with joy before I remembered the wolf at my feet. "Gwen, you need to look now. Talk to Swift."

  I felt her surprise, terror, and immediately after, I was flooded by a calm acceptance as together, the three of us relived her defining moment.

  I felt the child she'd been give up as she looked into the face of what she expected to be her executioner.

  In a moment of despair as poignant as the acceptance which followed, I watched as recognition bloomed in the blue eyes watching us.

  For a long moment they just stared—a victimized girl tied to a tree to be dinner for the wild animals of the forest, and the shining white wolf.

  In my peripheral vision I saw other wolves gathering behind him. They stopped, waiting for a command as their alpha unexpectedly remained still to watch the helpless elf pup.

  Swift approached, his head going to our feet. My stomach lurched as he began to nibble at the ropes. Gasping, I fell to the floor, my palms flat against the white ground.

  I panted with remembrance of what I’d just seen.

  I had been terrified, but Gwen … I pulled her close against my chest as she began to sob.

  Will wrapped his arms around her from behind. For a moment, we held onto each other, cradling her between us.

  After a long, long while, her tears slowed, and she took a deep, shuddering breath. When she finally looked up, her face was pale and tortured, but instead of defeat, I saw peace replace her tears.

  "Why didn't you ever tell me?" I spoke softly, not wanting to sound accusing, but unable to understand how I'd known her for so long and never known the story of how she'd ended up an outsider.

  She shrugged, a half-smile flitting across her face before it vanished. "How could I? It's not exactly light conversation. Besides, did it matter? To be honest, I've repressed the memory of that day so deeply I haven’t thought of it in years. I have no idea how the Library pulled it out."

  Understanding filled me. "The Library has ways of bringing our deepest fears to life. It wants to see what we will do."

  She smiled again, this time looking more like herself. "Well, I'm sure I failed the test miserably."

  "Oh, I don't know," he replied, thoughtfully looking around the empty room.

  She turned and we both frowned at him.

  "I think most people would have had a heart attack, or maybe wet themselves. What I noticed was, even as a child up against five or six people twice your size, you fought them until they tied you down." He shook his head, his eyes shining. "I knew you were tough. I had no idea how tough. Even when I felt you give up, you didn't cry. You faced death head on, looking a wolf right in the eye."

  He paused and I realized he was choking back tears of his own. It had been all I could do not to cry, but it had never occurred to me he’d been affected so deeply as well.

  Her eyes sparkled from her earlier breakdown and now she blinked away fresh tears.

  "Maybe I felt you guys with me. Like I said, I haven't thought about it in years. Now I wonder if the reason I was able to accept it so calmly is because I knew I wasn't alone. I felt you there with me today, but strangely, I think I felt you with me last time, too."

  We sat stunned, holding back tears, as the same voice full of power echoed through the white room.

  "Sometimes, the best way through adversity is not to continue fighting and to accept your fate instead. Through acceptance, you can find the path forward.

  Before I could answer, the voice vanished, a swirling wind grabbed us, spinning me into whiteness. My vision clouded. This time when I opened my eyes, I was on a farm.

  I didn't recognize anything, but after what we'd seen before, I knew it wasn’t going to be a simple day in the country. Seconds later, I heard a scream. My suspicions had been correct.

  It had come from somewhere in the distance. I glanced down, grateful to see my own feet. At my sides with equally confused looks were my friends. Together, we raced toward the cries for help without hesitation until when we came closer.

  When I saw the person hanging on desperately from a branch high over a chasm, nausea filled me.

  The blood drained from Will’s face, my hand went to my mouth.

  "Mom!"

  She was holding on with two hands to a single branch the size of her arm and appeared terrified. I took in the broken ladder at the base of the tree next to a turned over apple basket, and the danger of the situation was immediately clear.

  Looking around for a way to keep her from falling, he took charge.

  He turned to Gwen. "Go back to the house. Behind the door, there should be several large blankets. Bring them back. Hurry!"

  Without a word, she dashed off. I bit my lip, helplessly looking at the woman dangling twenty feet above us, and the yawning gap below her feet. "What do we do?"

  He shook his head, desperation on his face as he watched his mother where she hung on, too high for us to easily grasp her. "I don't know."

  I searched the area. The ground was clean, with nothing save smooth, rolling grass beneath the tree until it fell away into the hole. I could see no way for us to catch her, even had we been able to touch her feet. We couldn’t stand beneath her even if we tried. It was as if the ground had simply vanished in one spot. "It's a test. We're still in the library, right?"

  He looked at me helplessly. "I don't know. Whether it's a test or not, it's obvious we must rescue her. It's my mother, Rhin. Everything I do is for her; to protect her, to feed her. Ever since my father died…" His voice choked. I could tell it was all he could do to meet my eyes.

  I squeezed his shoulder. "We're here. We’ll find a way."

  I bit my thumb, spitting out a fragment of nail. Think, Rhin think.

  I looked at my supplies, seeing only my satchel with the books and knife. Neither of which would be helpful. The ladder had fallen on the other side of the hole and we had nothing to grab onto. It was too wide for him to try jumping over, and he couldn’t lay across it either.

  Gwen returned, panting from exertion just as his mom shrieked.

  An ominous crack came from above as the branch dipped further beneath her weight. A gaping wound split the branch at the base. She didn’t have much time.

  The strong, spirited woman I’d met only once was looking at Will, her eyes wide as tears tracked down her cheeks. "I love you, son. Be well."

  To my horror, she let go.

  I caught a last glimpse of her as she fell. She closed her eyes and we all reacted without thinking.

  Will leapt into the chasm, his arms stretching out wildly even as we lunged for him.

  Somehow, my hands grasped and caught, wrapping around his ankles. I held on for everything I was worth. I opened my eyes to see Gwen hanging on beside me as sobs came from below. I took a deep breath and peered down into the darkness below.

  It was no longer empty. I could see the soles of two worn, standard issue military boots, tightly laced in regimental fashion at the ends of my arms.

  I turned to Gwen with wide eyes. "Quick, we need to pull him up."

  He was so heavy, I didn't know if we could, but we had to at least try. There was no way I was letting him go.

  "I sure wish you had some of those amazing fighting skills now, except instead of fighting, it was upper body strength." Her muffled grunt came as we heaved against our load.

  Slowly, we inched back from the ravine. It was painstakingly slow at first and I wasn't sure we were making any progress. Yet with continued, halting effort, I began to see more and more of him.

  First his entire boot, then his knees, thighs, and finally, his upper body.

  "Gwen, you're stronger. I want you to hang on, keep him right here. I'm going to try something a little crazy."

  She looked at me with alarm.

  "Trust me, I have an idea."

  I knew she wasn't pleased, especially since I hadn’t even explained it, but I’d remembered something Will had mentioned earlier. I inched forward, not letting go, moving so I was laying on top of him. When I sat on his stomach, a muffled groan of complaint told me he was awake. Good. He could yell at me later. Right now, there was something I needed.

 

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