Page 61 of Search for the Lost

“What am I, minced wherebeast?” Thea sounded her usual amount of morning annoyance, which was as thick as Mrs. Turtlerump’s rizzberry crumpet glaze.

Dietrich sighed, his chest deflating a little. “If all of you are ready, maybe we could get this expedition on the….” His gaze drifted down to the crumbling end of the road. “Into the woods?”

Aspin crossed his arms and nodded. “Finally, someone making sense.”

Crispin grumbled under his breath and then brushed his peevishness aside. “So, what do we do?” He put his hand on Dietrich’s shoulder—the man loved a good warm shoulder touch. “You’re so good at this.” Crispin glanced at Leo to see if he was setting off any seethings of jealousy, but his face was studiously neutral.

Dietrich, however, puffed up even bigger than before. “Well, ah, yes. So you see, your mother had an innate mastery of both Chaos and Order. They were the keys that let her walk through this black place unscathed, though she lost a few of her contractors the first time or two⁠—"

“Contractors?” Leo raised an eyebrow. “What did she need contractors for? Unless that means something different here than back home….” He blushed. “Is it a sex thing?”

Crispin grinned. Poor Leo was adorable when he embarrassed himself. “No, same thing as back home. She needed them to build her cottage.”

“What, she couldn’t just magick it up or something?”

Crispin laughed. “No, our magick runs more to the… subtle and influential than the practical. Though my Great Aunt Velosha was able to move things about with her mind, as long as they were a certain shade of green.”

It was Aspin’s turn to growl.

“All right. Let’s get on with this,” Crispin said. “What do we do, Deet?” He hated himself a little for purring the nickname.

Dietrich blushed. “We, um, as I was saying….” He swallowed hard. “Have you two had any practice using your abilities together?” Since Crispin had filled him in the night before on Leo’s abilities and heritage, he’d taken on a whole different attitude toward Crispin’s partner.

Crispin looked over at Leo, who was definitely fidgeting now. And blushing. “A little.” Half of it had been in bed, but there’d been a few real-world adventures too.

“That’s good. The Black Forest is innately chaotic. It will respond well to Leoford’s unique form of magick.”

“Leopold.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s Leopold, not Leoford.” Was that fire in Leo’s eyes, or was Crispin just imagining things?

Crispin removed his hand from Dietrich’s shoulder and took a quick step back, and the fires cooled to embers.

“Ah sorry. Leopold. My mistake.” He looked at Crispin’s withdrawn hand wistfully. “In any case, the forest will reach out to you….” He was distracted by a stray forest vine, doing just that, its questing tendril stretching toward Leo with unerring accuracy. Dietrich pulled the sword from the scabbard at his back in one smooth motion and lopped off the end of the vine. The rest of it squealed and withdrew into the darkness under the trees.

“Yowie.” Leo stared at the spot where the vine had disappeared and he shuddered. “What would happen if it reached me?”

“Yowie, indeed. It would wrap itself around you and try to keep you.”

“That would be bad.” Leo frowned. “It seems like a rather dark and dismal place to be kept.”

“Bad for you, but not so bad for the forest. It does get lonely at times.” Dietrich cleared his throat and went on. “What most don’t realize is that Chaos craves Order, too.”

“It’s true.” Leo piped in, and winked at Crispin.

Dietrich snorted. “While Leobur may like to joke about things, this is a very serious affair.”

“Leopold.” Leo did not sound like he was joking at all, and the fire in his eye was back.

Crispin stepped between the two of them and addressed Dietrich. “Why don’t you just tell me what I need to do?”

Crispin wiped the sweat off his brow.

They were making progress. He knew they were. And he usually loved progress. But this progress was exhausting.

He looked over his shoulder. The dense jungle receded behind them, surrounding a narrow tunnel. A great rustling heralded the closure of that passageway as the vines wound their way across the open space in the distance. The dark wood reclaimed its own not long after he and Leo carved a space through it.