Rise of the Fomori: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure (Faerie Warriors Book 2)

by J. A. Curtis

  “...get out! You’re surrounded. They’re moving in...”

  Dread stole through me. Who? Dramian? But he’d been alone. Who else was attacking? The dread tightened into a ball, twisting into a certainty.

  Margus and the Fomori.

  The light filtering in through the open garage door illuminated a hulking figure looming at the entrance. Arius charged forward, his stone golem rising to confront whatever was in the doorway.

  I spun on Chels, her face a mask of terror. “If you want to get through this alive, do as I say. Get in one of those cars, stay down, and stay silent.”

  Chels, though trembling, nodded and stumbled over to a blue sedan, throwing the rear passenger-side door open, climbing inside, and shutting it softly.

  I released my faerie guardian as Other Mina and stared into her brown eyes, considering my options. My fingers fumbled with the armband and the disc in my pocket.

  Arius still had the entrance bottlenecked with his golem.

  Everything went eerily still.

  Other Mina and I both rushed to the door. I hid behind it with my faerie guardian behind me, and peeked out. The lights from Kris’s boyfriend’s car shone on Arius standing outside the entrance, but he wasn’t moving. A black inky substance twisted around his body, pouring like water from his eyes, his nostrils, his fingertips. His golem shook as if straining against something, but it, too, remained unmoving.

  A woman rushed toward Arius, sword raised. A woman I recognized. Keera, Margus’s friend. She swung the sword back like she was about to casually lop off Arius’s head.

  “Move!” I screamed.

  There was no time. No time to stop her, no time to reach him, no time to save him.

  Tires ground against loose gravel. A car broadsided the woman, propelling her into the side of the garage. Kris sat, mouth open, hands on the steering wheel, a horrified expression on her face.

  Keera lay in the grass without getting up. A creature with horns and tusks shrouded in black appeared on her arm.

  Arius fell to the grass, and his golem dropped to all fours. More people raced toward us from different directions, swords in hand. I sent Other Mina lunging forward. She gathered Arius into her arms and dragged him into the garage.

  “Come on!” I motioned to Kris.

  She yanked on the wheel and slammed on the gas, kicking up gravel as the car sped into the garage before screeching to a halt.

  Wolpertinger swooped in right before I slammed the large sliding door shut.

  I tore both the armband and the disc from the sweatshirt, pushing the metal disc into Other Mina’s hands. She dropped next to a weakened Arius and attached it to his arm. His golem returned.

  Lifting the gemstone armband, I brushed the pink stone. “May the Mother Goddess Danu grant the protection I require.”

  The gem glowed, and I waved my hand toward the garage door. The entire structure took on a brief pinkish hue before fading into nothing. Panic gripped me. Had it worked?

  Something slammed against the garage doors. Then someone pulled. Another creature attacked the back window, seeking a way in. But the window held and the unlocked doors didn’t budge.

  I looked at the pink gemstone, a sigh of relief escaping my lips. We were safe. For now.

  Other Mina knelt next to Arius, and I dropped next to her. He was sitting up, examining the disc on his arm. Thank God he was all right.

  “What is this?” he asked.

  I pressed on the flat of the disc and yanked it off before he tried tearing at it. “I had to get your golem back before I put up the protective barrier. I... I didn’t know if it would come through it.”

  “Barrier?”

  I showed him the armband with the gemstones. “The pink one, if you know the right words.” I slid the sleeve of my sweatshirt up and attached the armband to my arm. As soon as I did up the clasps, it molded to my arm. I placed the disc in Arius’s hands, an idea already forming in my mind.

  “Take this, but don’t put it on, it cuts you off from your faerie guardian. The barrier will hold, but we still need a way out of here.” I paused. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better.” He stood as if to prove it.

  “Chels is in that car, there.” I pointed a finger at the car in which Chels huddled. A weird sense of déjà vu stole over me. “Get her and Kris out of here.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m going to lead them away.”

  The pounding on the garage had stopped. Whoever was outside must have realized they couldn’t bang their way in. Other Mina came back to my arm. I focused. If there was ever a time when I needed my faerie guardian to change into someone else, it was now. I released her again, and a replica of Chels stood before me. I breathed. For once, it had given me a new form exactly how I wanted.

  My hand then closed around the gemstone again, willing my mind to calm. For a moment I couldn't sense it, but then I did, it was like my terror made me connect with the power more. Like I was hyper-concentrating. I pictured Chels’s red satin dress, her disheveled blond hair and streaked makeup, and then I was her.

  One Chels they wouldn’t fall for, but two Chels might be enough of a distraction to keep them guessing.

  A pained look crossed Arius’s face. “Mina, no, don’t do this again.”

  “We’ve no choice.”

  I reached out a hand, but he jerked away.

  “Stop ordering me to leave you behind!” he shouted.

  A sad futility stole over me at the panic on his face.

  “I have to. I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Now go.” I brushed the pink stone on my arm. “May the Mother Goddess Danu, release this protective enchantment.”

  The walls of the garage glowed pink and then faded. Arius burst into motion, heading toward the car where Chels hid. I ordered Faerie Guardian Chels to open the garage door, and she complied.

  Faerie Guardian Chels and I ran into the early morning air, bolting in opposite directions.

  I ENVIED FAERIE GUARDIAN Chels’s speed and agility as I sped toward the trees. I couldn’t hope to dodge attacks or outrun giant monsters like my faerie guardian could. My best bet was to get lost in the forest and hide.

  I tore into the brush, cursing the fact that Chels was still in a dress as the red satin snagged and ripped on the twigs and branches. With trepidation on my lips, I stilled as I heard giant forms moving around in the trees both ahead and behind me.

  Hide, I thought. I searched for a spot, but not finding anything, I squatted down among the bushes and leaves. I prayed the tangle of underbrush would conceal me.

  My faerie guardian had outpaced those chasing her, but she had led them quite a ways from the garage, so I pulled her onto my arm. Hopefully, they’d search the forest for her too, before heading back. Plus, I might need the protection of my faerie guardian soon. I hadn’t made it half as far away as Faerie Guardian Chels.

  It turned out, popping down into the brush with giant monsters hunting me was a great idea. The faeries stood on one side of the forest but didn’t move around that much, seeming to prefer to let their faerie guardians do the work. Through the darkness, I saw outlines, but a few came close enough for me to see most of their form. A huge warrior with dark-metal armor, an ogre, and a multi-headed snake-like creature were closest to me.

  When they gave up, I breathed a silent sigh of relief. I was pleased with how long I’d gotten them to search for me. It wouldn’t be long enough for my friends to make it to the Haven, of course, but I’d given them a decent head start.

  I waited until long after they’d all left before rising. My Chels disguise had disintegrated not long after hiding. I picked my way toward the garage to gather my bearings before continuing on. Where would Arius take Chels and Kris? A nearby town? Or hide out in the woods? How would I find him this time?

  Perhaps I should head back to the Haven and get help. Finding Arius might be easier, and getting them to the Haven safer, if we had more faeries with faerie guardians to help
us.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  Something pressed against my throat, jerking me back against a wall of thin air. It pinned me, the pressure on my airway unbearable as I was lifted off my feet.

  I clawed at whatever lay across my throat. I couldn’t see it. But it felt real—like someone was choking me with their arm.

  Margus.

  My fuzzy brain somehow registered what was happening. I released my griffin, and it rushed, wings flapping, to take him from behind.

  He must have heard the rustle of feathers or the snap of twigs because he dropped me to the ground. I saw dry leaves crunch under his feet as he lunged out of the way.

  I pounded the ground with my fist and took in large gulps of ragged breaths, the fire lodged in my throat.

  His dark-scaled wyvern came after my griffin. Focusing through my pain, I changed my griffin into a large green dragon. It shot fire at the wyvern from above, but Margus’s faerie guardian expertly dodged the attack.

  “That was very clever, General. Fooled me. Fooled almost all of us,” Margus said.

  Almost all.

  Had Arius been able to handle those who hadn’t been fooled?

  I heard the crunch of his footsteps on the dry grass as he stepped toward me. A sharp point pressed against my unarmored chest, and the chain around my neck lifted. The gemstone ring dangled before my face.

  “I see you’ve learned how to use Nuada’s emerald. Impressive.”

  “It’s not Nuada’s,” I snarled. Scooting back, I jerked the chain off his sword point and pulled my dragon back onto my arm, then raised it, threatening to release it on him.

  “I see you are also learning how to fight with your faerie guardian.” Margus materialized, backing up, sword point down, hands raised. “But you really shouldn’t leave yourself exposed like this, cousin.”

  He looked up, and I followed his gaze. Margus’s wyvern dropped out of the sky, claws outstretched, ready to land on top of me.

  I released my dragon. It slammed into the wyvern, knocking it off course, but the wyvern used the momentum to flip up under my dragon, its long claws tearing at the plated scales underneath. Its teeth sank into my dragon’s left wing, the dagger-like points ripping and shredding right through the thin skin. The wyvern bit down even harder, and the long bone leading up to the top of the wing snapped.

  The dragon roared, and a cry of pain tore from my lips. I lay on the ground helpless, while my dragon plummeted to the earth, slamming into trees and brush.

  Hot waves of agony radiated through my back. The wyvern didn’t let up. It crashed down on my dragon and continued its attack, scraping off scales, puncturing flesh, breaking bones.

  I was going to fall. There was no way I could handle any more pain. I didn’t want to handle any more pain. My body had been shredded.

  The wyvern suddenly backed off. Maybe Margus figured I was a goner already and he didn’t need to keep going. His wyvern had done enough damage. I shut my eyes.

  A strange smell filled my nose, unlike any other I had ever smelled. It was bitter and nauseating. It burned my nostrils. Wrong. It smelled wrong. Nothing should ever smell like that.

  The world blurred as the last thought filled my mind.

  Smells like death.

  21

  Following Orders

  Arius

  “One day, the ones who outrank you will take over, Arius. You must prepare for that inevitability.”—Nuada

  GO BACK.

  The words tore at me for the hundredth time as Kris drove for the freeway. Gravel spit out from under the frantic tires as she gunned the gas, and we jolted onto concrete.

  I should be back there with Mina, facing off against Margus and who knows how many others—not in this car with two girls who mean nothing to me. I glanced back at a terrified Chels. The queen. That had once meant so much—something Nuada had ingrained in me. Find the queen. Protect the queen. But queen was only a title. It didn’t mean anything. Not really. And if Mina fell or died because I had to protect the sniveling pathetic figure sitting in the back seat—I slammed a fist into the door. I hated this.

  “I hit someone, I hit someone...” Kris had been muttering those words over and over ever since I’d loaded Chels into the car and told Kris to drive.

  “Stop it!” I shouted. “She’s a faerie. She can’t die. She’ll be fine.”

  I probably shouldn’t have yelled at her. She had just saved me from falling. But my words seemed to jolt her out of whatever state she was in because her mouth snapped shut, her shoulders lowered, and her driving became less erratic. Kris turned onto the on-ramp to the freeway.

  Something broadsided the car from the side.

  Glass shattered, and both Kris and Chels shrieked. I gripped the dash as the car skidded into the guardrail with a dull bang. Kris held the steering wheel in a death grip and Chels cowered in the back seat, her hands shaking as she brushed glass off herself.

  I released my golem outside the car. A huge muscular creature with one eye was bringing two humongous fists down toward the hood, prepared to smash it into the pavement. My golem launched at the cyclops, tackling the massive creature. The huge arms and legs locked around my faerie guardian. They rolled off the other side of the road into the dirt.

  An enormous pair of feet appeared outside Kris’s window.

  There was another one.

  “Itsss time to come out little queenie and meet your fate,” a shrill voice whispered, sending a shiver up my spine. Other than Mina’s faerie guardian taking on human form, guardians didn’t normally speak.

  The golem and cyclops wrestled on the ground not far away. His massive arms were still locked around the golem, making it impossible for my rock monster to pull back enough to get a good hit. The cyclops squeezed the rock golem tighter and tighter. So tight, I felt the pressure on my own body, pressing me. I gasped, gripping my shoulder as spider-like cracks split across stone.

  He was going to crush me.

  The giant stone head turned to get a look at the figure next to the car. A feminine figure loomed over the vehicle, bending over to peer in the car windows. The strands of snake-like hair sent warnings through my brain.

  “Gorgon,” I managed through the crushing pain splitting my body. “Don’t look her in the eye. She’ll... turn you to stone.”

  “What? You mean like Medusa?” Chels cried.

  “Shut your eyes!” Kris said.

  I forced my eyes shut. The hissing from the gorgon’s hair grew louder. “Ah, there you are, queenie.”

  The sound of metal ripping almost brought my eyes open. Instead, I looked back with my golem. The gorgon had ripped Chels’s door clean off. She dropped it to the street with a bang.

  My golem let out a roar. I needed a way out of this trap. The cyclops’s grip tightened and more rock was buckling, sending waves of agony through my back and arms. If I fell, both Chels and Kris would die.

  “Come here, queenie! AAARGH! WHAT ARE YOU? GET OFF!”

  I couldn’t help it, I risked a glance into the back seat of the car. Wolpertinger had ahold of the large woman’s finger, his teeth sunk deep into her skin. The gorgon tried to shake him off, flinging him around the car, but the little creature held on.

  My golem’s rock head reared back and rocked forward, ramming straight into the cyclops’s face. I rammed over and over, digging the harshness of the stone straight into the one eye, reddening—then bruising it. The creature let out a bellow of pain, and his grip loosened.

  That was all I needed. Dropping one shoulder and twisting, my golem freed one arm from the death-hold and pounded the cyclops in the face until its eye exploded and the faerie guardian flashed out of existence.

  The gorgon knocked Wolpertinger against the roof of the car, and he dropped to the seat, dazed.

  The all-consuming pressure vanished. I gripped the steering wheel.

  “Drive. Fast.”

  “But my eyes—” Kris started.

  “Now!”


  She opened her eyes and saw my hands on the steering wheel. Her foot rammed down on the gas, and I steered the car off the guardrail, the smashed side scraping loudly against the barrier. We sped away.

  Kris took the steering wheel from me, her knuckles white.

  I grabbed the rearview mirror and jerked it up. “Don’t look back.”

  I twisted to face the back seat. Chels sat pale, sobbing, but alive. Wolpertinger still lay next to her, his wings splayed out across the seat.

  “Wolpertinger, you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah, give me a bit,” he mumbled.

  The gorgon wasn’t half as skilled a fighter as the cyclops. It didn’t take long for my golem, which couldn’t be turned to stone by her eyes, to take her down. After dispatching her, my golem returned to my arm.

  Kris blew out a long breath. “Oh, my boyfriend’s going to kill me.”

  “Wait till you see your car,” Chels muttered.

  “What about my car?” Kris asked.

  Chels didn’t seem inclined to answer, and I ignored the question, glaring out the window. I didn’t care about the state of anyone’s car. I’d smash a thousand cars to have Mina sitting next to me.

  “Do you—do you think she’s all right?” Kris asked softly.

  I shrugged. Mina had an uncanny way of surviving situations that would have taken down the most well-trained faerie. She was clever. But she wasn’t invincible. Eventually she’d bite off more than she could swallow, and the painful piercings slicing apart my heart warned this might be it.

  And if by some miracle it wasn’t, it would be next time.

  Or the next.

  “Pull over,” I said.

  Kris started. “What?”

  “There’s no ditch. Drive as far as you can into the trees and stop.”

  “But we’ve out driven them. Shouldn’t we keep going?”

  “We’re almost to the turnoff. The switchbacks will slow us down. With Dramian most likely in front and Margus behind, we’ll be surrounded. Pull over.”

  “Okay.” Kris pulled the car off the freeway. Branches and brush slapped the car as we bumped across the uneven ground. When too many trees blocked our path, the car stopped and Kris cut the engine.