Read Online Between by Megan Whitmer - Free Book Online Page A

that?” I ask. I take a step to the side and take it all in. The painting on the wall stretches from the corner by the fireplace to about halfway across the room, covering the wall from ceiling to floor.
    “That,” Seth turns around, “is a map. What you see there is the entire mystical realm.”
    It becomes clearer as I approach. “Ellauria” is written in large script, slightly off-center. I recognize a miniature Artedion drawn there and run my fingers along the broad, painted brush strokes, tracing the path back to the unicorn’s field, noting the library along the way. A giant lake sits at one end of Ellauria, and an apothecary center beyond a vast wooded area marks its western boundary. Ellauria is the largest, most detailed section of the map, but there are several other clusters of drawings outside of it, each labeled in the same curved script with names like Ether, Hollow, Gelata, and the Territory of Giants.
    Giants! Giant people? Giant plants? I chew on the inside of my lip, reading the names of these places again. What do they mean? Who lives there? I wonder how many of the Grimm’s fairy tales are based on actual events. I walk from one end of the wall to the other, scanning the locations. “Will I get to see all these places?”
    “Eventually. But for now,” Seth plants a finger on Ellauria, “you stay here. Apprentices aren’t allowed outside Ellauria’s borders without an Aegis.”
    On a scale of one to ten, rating how tired I am of being told what I can and cannot do or feel or know, I’m about a thirty. I file this little Ellauria rule under “To Be Ignored.”
    Seth leads me around a corner and down a narrow hallway that ends at another door. Beyond the door, we climb one of the staircases that encircle the outside of Artedion. Halfway up, he stops and nods toward the ground. “See that field?”
    I lean over the railing. There’s a flat, vacant area behind Artedion, about the size of two football fields, with a wooden platform on the end closest to me. I spot a line of fairies cutting across it. From this high up, they almost look like dragonflies.
    “We call that the Clearing,” he says.
    Of course they do. The Between is between the realms and the Clearing is a clearing in the woods, but I’m the one that needs the thesaurus.
    “The Fellowship holds a meeting there every week,” Seth continues. “Creatures come from all over the mystical realm for updates on Fellowship activities and missions. You’ll attend those meetings every single week to learn more about how we do things. The next one is tomorrow morning.”
    I gaze at the Clearing, now empty as the last fairy drops down the slope on its far side. Creatures from all over the mystical realm? From Ether and the Territory of the Giants and everything? Tomorrow morning, I’ll see for myself while I listen to the updates.
    Will I be part of the update? Because of the Mothman?
    We continue up the stairs, and I gaze above at the network of stairs that lead to different landings in the tree. There must be nearly a hundred Apprentices living here.
    Seth stops in front of the door at the top of the first landing and turns to me. The sun slips lower in the sky, casting his face in a golden-pink that makes his brown eyes look even darker.
    “This is your suite,” Seth says. “First things first—all of the Apprentice rooms are charmed. Only you, as the occupant, and I, as your Aegis, are able to unlock the door. There are no keys, and there’s no way anyone can get inside without our permission, okay?” He waves his hand over a barely discernible knot in the wood, and the door slides open. “Go ahead.”
    I step inside and stop. My “suite,” as Seth calls it, is more of a studio apartment. It’s one deep room, with a bed in the back, a living-room setup in the middle, and a kitchen here at the front. Everything has a vintage feel to it, with painted white furniture accessorized in bright colors. It’s exactly how I