*****
Phoenix turned to glance over his shoulder at Jade. She seemed a little calmer, at least. As he watched, she placed something pink into her mouth and chewed slowly. Truda sat beside her, patting her hand and nodding like a wise old lady. Jade blinked, the frown clearing from her smooth brow, her expression turning blank and serene. He looked more closely. What on earth was she eating?
Two long strides brought him to her side. With an angry exclamation, Phoenix snatched the flower from her hand and tossed it to the ground. It lay there, a broken, bleeding heart on a patch of dirty white snow.
“What is that?” he demanded angrily of Truda.
The child shrank from him, her big blue eyes wide.
“Just a waterlily,” she said. “They just make you happy when you chew them. Everyone knows that. Jade was all worried and look,” she pointed at Jade’s beautiful, now-calm face, “see, she’s fine.”
Catching Jade’s face in his hands Phoenix slapped her cheek gently. She turned glassy green eyes on him.
“Oh!” She smiled with childlike delight, her words slurring almost unrecognisably. “Red water lily! Of course. Now I know where we are...” She giggled and her eyes drifted closed.
“Jade!” Phoenix shook her slim shoulders. Her head rocked a little but her blissful expression remained unaltered. When he let her go, she simply sat there, smiling. He rounded on Truda, fear lending sharpness to his voice. “You drugged her! She said she knows where we are!”
Truda ducked behind Brynn, who half-turned as though not sure if he should protect her.
“But Uncle Loki gives it to my brothers, Magni and Modi, all the time,” the god-child wailed. “He says it settles them down. Jade was getting so upset...” she bit her lip, burst into tears and hid her face in her hands. “I’m s.sorry. I didn’t know it was bad. It usually takes heaps to make Modi go quiet.”
Phoenix stepped forward, reaching out a hand to throttle her. He checked himself, threw up both hands and made a noise of sheer exasperation. Girls! Why did they have to cry at you?! How did he explain to a six year old that a worried, anxious, alert Jade was better than a peaceful, stupefied one who couldn’t do anything now to save herself – or them.
Aaarrrgh!
Taking several long, slow breaths, he tried to calm himself. OK. Truda was just a kid. She didn’t know any better. So, with Jade in la-la land, they would have to be extra cautious and really watch out for whatever she had been scared of. Knowing exactly where they were would have to wait until Jade was back to normal.
“Is there an antidote? How long will the effect last?” he demanded, trying to speak calmly when he wanted to shout at Truda.
The girl shrugged. “I dunno but it won’t hurt her.” When Phoenix scowled at her, she hastened to add more. “Unca Loki gives Mag and Modi two or three flowers each and it just makes them kinda dopey for a little while.” She gave a sheepish little smile. “He hates it when they make a racket and tease him. He says he just wants them to stop being pests.”
“I know how he feels,” he muttered, glaring at her. “But,” he frowned at Jade’s blank stare, “she only had a small part of one, so why should she be so out of it?”
“Perhaps,” Marcus’ deep, thoughtful voice intruded, “she’s more affected because she’s a half-elf?”
“You could be right,” Phoenix agreed.
Elves were closely bound and connected to all things natural. It made sense that Jade would be more affected by a natural sedative than the children of a god.
“Dammit!” He slapped his hand on a tree trunk. “Talk about bad timing! OK,” he drew a long breath and tried to think logically. “Brynn,” he laid a hand on the youngster’s thin shoulder, “you’ll have to keep us heading northeast as planned. Think you can? Keep an eye out for any kind of shelter, though.”
In a flash, the young boy’s troubled expression cleared. Giving Phoenix a mock-salute, he skipped a few steps in the right direction. “Course. Follow me.”
Phoenix grinned at the youngster’s infectious enthusiasm. “Marcus, you go next with Jade.” The Roman nodded and took Jade by the hand. She moved without resisting, like a sleepwalker.
“You, young lady,” Phoenix shook his finger at Truda, “will stay with me where I can keep an eye on you. No more surprises like that, understand?”
She bit her lip and nodded, falling into step with him.
“By the way,” he asked after a few moments, “where did you get that lily?”
“Oh, they grow in the lake.” She waved a hand in that direction.
He glanced out across the water. The lake was just as empty as before. There were no scarlet flowers anywhere. No plants of any sort; not even any birds.
He eyed the girl suspiciously. “There’s nothing there. Where did you find it?”
She blinked up at him and shook her head. “I didn’t find it,” she said, “I growed it, silly.”