Scarlet and the Keepers of Light Read Online Free Page A

Anderson’s yard.
    Yet every time Scarlet thought this must be the end—now they must be emerging into the beginning of Mrs. Anderson’s backyard—the woods only seemed to multiply, growing both in density and scope.
    And something else strange was happening. The snow kept falling more lightly, until it had faded completely away. That might not have been so strange, but the air seemed milder too, and suddenly Scarlet realized that everything around her was green. Green, lush forest unfolded endlessly before them, velvety clumps of moss underfoot, like the plushest carpet, beneath the emerald canopy. The world was spinning—it was beyond comprehension—and yet there it was, for them all to see and hear and feel. The trees became larger as the group moved along underneath them, towering taller and wilder. The leaves thickened until the world was a sea of green.
    Cricket ran effortlessly just ahead in the expanding forest. She seemed overjoyed at this phenomenon that was making Scarlet’s senses reel. “It here!” she called back excitedly, frolicking like a pup. “It happening, just like Dakota say!”
    Scarlet wanted to ask what she meant, but she could barely catch her breath. She was an active girl, but she’d never run so far in her life. Her amazement at the ever-expanding forest that had once been only a skip or two in her backyard was gone. Now she just accepted it, almost her entire mind consumed by the burn in her failing muscles, fear driving her on as she dodged the massive trunks of trees and ducked under low-hanging branches.
    Once she glanced behind her at her father, doing his best to shield Melody from the branches and leaves that whipped at them as he ran. It was a comfort to have him at her back.
    What was happening? How was any of this possible? She tried to shake off what must be a nightmare. Surely she must be back in her dream.
    A low branch struck her in the face, a sharp pain radiating back from her nose. You can’t feel pain in a dream, she thought. Not actual pain.
    It had to be real. This was all really happening. There would be no waking up. Something incredible, unbelievable, was happening, and it was happening to her.
     
     

     

4
    An Infinite Forest

    Dakota was furious with himself. There was no reason to be; he could have done nothing more. It was all a part of the magic that had brought him to this world as Scarlet’s guardian. He’d known it would take time to reach his full strength, and that even when he had recovered, he could never again be what he once had been. Never again would he resume the body that had once been his, the body that had been born the Lord of Wolves. That had been part of the sacrifice—a fruitless sacrifice, if Scarlet didn’t escape from the hunters in time. Nothing was more relentless, more evil, than the Mortada. Theirs was the darkest magic, and in his new form he was no match for them. As it was, he’d barely held his own against the three of them, and if the Stidolph hadn’t come when they had—well, no matter now. They had. He hoped they’d bought the Hopewells enough time.
    His mind churned with questions. How had the Mortada found them? How had they crossed over? Had they been wandering, lost between worlds, as he had?
    It had taken him fourteen years to find Scarlet. In that time, he’d had no contact with anyone or anything. Everything could have changed. The world he thought he was leading Scarlet toward, a world where she would be safe, where she could be trained to fulfill her destiny, might offer no safety at all. But there was no alternative. Not with the Mortada on their heels. Even if the prince had overrun Satorium, their only hope was to get Scarlet to Xavier.
    Still, Xavier’s plan had worked. Somehow he’d held open the crossing for Dakota and, when the time came, for the Stidolph as well. Maybe that was how the Mortada had crossed. He hated to think what that might mean for Xavier. Luckily something about the crossing had