“All right,” she said, content to leave it at that.

They left together, walking out into the brilliant afternoon sunshine and coolish fall air, and he left her standing on the sidewalk in front of the harbor tours ticket booth, then limped across the street for the trolley. He looked older to her then, as if he had aged all at once, his movements more studied, his stoop more pronounced. She wished she could do more to help him with this, but she had done everything she could think to do.

Even so, she could not shake the feeling that it wasn’t enough.

Chapter 13

Nest was debating what to do with the rest of her day when Ariel unexpectedly reappeared. The tatterdemalion was gossamer thin and spectral in the sunlight, and she floated close against Nest, as if human contact had become suddenly necessary. Nest glanced around quickly to see if passersby were looking, but no one was. It was clear they couldn’t see Ariel. Only Nest could.

“Where have you—” she began, but the tatterdemalion cut her short with a sudden rush of movement.

“Did you say everything to John Ross that you came to say?” the forest creature hissed in her soft, childlike voice.

Nest stared in surprise. “Yes, I guess so, pretty much.”

Ariel was hunched close against her, and Nest could feel her small, transparent body vibrating as if it were a cord pulled taut in a high wind.

“Then stay away from him.” The tatterdemalion’s dark eyes were wide and staring as she watched John Ross depart. “Stay far away.”

Nest followed Ariel’s gaze across the roadway to where Ross was boarding the trolley. “What do you mean, stay away?”

The tatterdemalion darted behind her as the trolley moved down the tracks, and Nest realized that she was trying to conceal herself. Nest didn’t think Ariel was even conscious of the movement, that she was reacting to something instinctual. The vibrating had increased, turned to a violent trembling, and Ariel was pressed so closely against her that parts of them were beginning to blend together. Nest shuddered at the feeling of invasion, inundated by a wave of dark emotions and terrifying memories. She realized that she was reliving with Ariel snippets of the lives of the children the magic had assimilated to create the tatterdemalion, caught in their overpowering flow. She tried to close her mind against them, to seal herself away, but Ariel’s closeness made it impossible. Nest recoiled with the impact of their assault and stepped back in revulsion. She tried to move away from Ariel, to free herself of the other’s presence, and she nearly collided with an elderly couple passing behind her.

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” she said hastily, then turned away and walked to the railing overlooking the slips where the tour boats docked. She took several deep gulps of air, staring down at the choppy waters, waiting for her mind to clear, for the dizziness to pass.

Ariel reappeared at her side, but did not try to touch her. “I didn’t mean to do that,” she said.