Dance with Darkness - Ghost Dance

Chapter 11

Dedicated to bluescrubs, Honorable Mention for aam123may.  Thank you both so much for your comments, they motivate me to keep going and just completely make my day!  <3

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Nakoma’s feet landed softly on a misty, tree-lined dirt path.  Looking around, she found the others standing nearby in the semi-darkness, just recovered from their fall through space.  A moment later, and Chase joined them on the path, hurtling through the sky in a blur and then suddenly somehow landing as light as a feather.

“Ugh.  I do not like doing that,” Chase said, looking a bit ill.

Evanna ignored him.  “So should we split up to make this easier?” she suggested.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Kamali said.  “Half of us will go to the Seelie territory, and the other half will go to the Unseelie territory.”

Chase raised a hand hesitantly, and Evanna sighed with annoyance.

“What, Chase?” she snapped impatiently.

“Uh, could I be in the group that goes to the Seelie Court?” Chase asked.  “The Unseelie are kind of…unfriendly.”

“I’d like to go too, if no one else minds,” Owen volunteered.  Somehow, he had managed to still hold on to his cup of coffee from earlier.

“Coward,” Evanna muttered under her breath.  Owen merely took another swig of his beverage and pretended not to have heard.

“All right,” Kamali said.  “Let’s not get into any arguments.  Chase and Owen can go search for Jin in the Seelie territory.  Who else wants to join them?  We should make the groups even.”

“I’ll go,” Thane said, stepping forward and jamming his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket.

Kamali turned to Nakoma.

“Do not look at me,” she said, crossing her arms.  “I am quite familiar with the air daemon’s reputation.  If Jin is here in Tír na nÓg, it is more likely we will find him in the Unseelie Court.  And I wish to be the one who finds him.”

“I’d prefer the Unseelie Court, too,” Louise said with a devious grin.  “That’s where all the fun is.”

“Well,” Evanna said, zipping up her black running jacket, “I’m not going to get stuck with those two.”  She indicated Chase and Owen with a scowl.

“Diane, would you mind going to the Seelie Court?” Kamali asked her.

Diane shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

“All right, that evens out the search party a bit,” Kamali said.  “Chase, Owen, Diane, and Thane will search the Seelie territory, and the rest of us will search the Unseelie area.”

Without another word, the hunters split up, half heading one way, and Nakoma and the others taking off in the opposite direction along the dark path.  The leafy trees all around were strangely free of the snow that had been falling earlier, though there was still a perceptible chill in the air.

I wriggled my way to the front of my mind again, itching for answers.

Where are we going? I asked, feeling like a little kid on a road trip.

Nakoma sighed aloud.  Did you not hear?  We are going to the Unseelie Court, of course.  Jin Amberley has an unfortunate tendency of interacting with the folk in the marketplace there.

But how do you know we’re going the right way?  What if we get lost? I asked, my thoughts layered with worry.

There is no ‘right way.’  This path takes one where one wishes.  You cannot get lost unless you do not wish to be found.  It will take us to the Unseelie Court in due time.