Elfhame (Skeleton Key) by Skeleton Key, Anthea Sharp

cedar and hemlock issued from the forest. She quickened her step, but as she came closer to the forest, the spark receded, dancing back into the shadows.
    She stopped, and the light stopped, then bobbed again. Clearly it wanted her to follow.
    Mara glanced up at the tall trees, the peaks of the evergreens feathery against the starlit sky. What if she got lost in the Darkwood, or fell into a sinkhole, or was attacked by a wild beast? Her family would never know what had become of her.
    Ahead, a second light joined the first, darting and dancing around the hemlocks as if urging her to hurry.
    Standing just outside the forest, she knew she was on the edge of something momentous. This choice would never come again—return to the cottage and the safety of her familiar life, or go forward to meet the dancing sparks beneath the trees.
    Now , the forest breathed.
    Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the Darkwood.
    The two motes of light twirled up into a spiral, then parted and continued to float expectantly beneath the boughs.
    “I’m coming,” Mara said softly.
    Gathering up her skirts, she strode through the sparse underbrush. The forest floor was soft beneath her boots, and faint starlight filtered through the trees, giving her barely enough light to avoid tripping over downed logs and getting tangled in briar thickets.
    She glanced up from navigating around one such thicket to see that her guides had doubled in number. Now four sparks glimmered through the forest. They seemed a bit larger, too, as if she were closer to them.
    What could they possibly be? Not fireflies, as her parents had suggested. They did not pulse and glow as insects did, and their movements were far more purposeful than the random flittings of bugs.
    Increasing her stride, she made an effort to catch up to the motes of light as they wove in and out of the trees. The smell of moss and loam filled her nose. Around her, the wind stirred the trees and they sighed and whispered in the language of the forest. The sparks—now numbering five—glowed ahead, shedding a golden radiance through the Darkwood. But no matter how Mara quickened her pace, she couldn’t draw any closer.
    A sound came from behind her, a low, guttural growl filled with menace. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she cast a fearful glance over her shoulder. The forest revealed nothing; only tree trunks receding into shadow, with pure blackness behind.
    A sudden flare of light made her look up to see one of her elusive guides hovering just above her head. She sucked in her breath when she saw it was a small creature made entirely of light, its slim body borne aloft on butterflylike wings.
    Her temporary wonder was smothered by another growl, closer this time. The light-creature fluttered urgently. Mara grabbed up her skirts in her clenched fists and ran, as fast as she could.
    The bright flyer kept pace, lighting her way while the other sparks flew ahead, marking the path she must follow.
    A rank scent drifted in the air: matted fur and old meat. Lungs tight with panic, Mara leaped over branches and dodged around tangled underbrush. Whatever was following seemed to be gaining, the crash of its passage growing louder as she sped through the forest.
    Please . Just the one word, keeping time with her gasps for breath. Please .
    The lights winked out, and she lost her footing in the sudden dark. A roar sounded from behind her as she tumbled over the edge of a hidden precipice. Stones and roots scraped her hands as she tried to slow her fall. After a sickening eternity she landed, dazed and breathless, at the bottom. She scrambled into a crouch, heart pounding, and fumbled for her kitchen knife. At any moment the dreadful creature chasing her would leap down to devour her.
    Nothing happened.
    No wild beast crashed over the bank. No growls filled the air, not even the crackling rustle of the underbrush. Only the rasp of her own breathing. After a few moments where she was not, in fact,