by Sarina Dorie
We’d already agreed to use Khaba as the gift, Lucifer in exchange for Aubrey, Maddy in exchange for Imani, and the spell to create Red affinities as the icing on the cake. If we were providing a demonstration, I supposed we could offer to leave Hailey as a gift for Vega’s life. It was all for show anyway.
“Mark my words, this is a trap.” Thatch said. “The Raven Queen is using Vega.”
“So we know it’s a trap,” Elric said. “We already knew she would probably double-cross us. If we pretend we don’t know that and pretend we believe her, we can plan for whatever she might have in store for us and surprise her.”
I pointed to the letter, wondering whether I was reading more into Vega’s words than she intended. “Here Vega says she needs your help or else the Raven Queen will send you her head on a silver platter. This is what Quenylda wrote to Jeb in her letter. She said she would send the Raven Queen Alouette Loraline’s head on a silver platter.” I hadn’t known Vega had read that note, but it seemed she was making a reference to it.
Or the Raven Queen was. If the Raven Queen knew Vega was a Red affinity like my biological mother, she wouldn’t want to give her up. She wouldn’t want to behead her if she knew she could use her. So either she was bluffing to entice us to rescue Vega, or she wasn’t aware of what Vega was. If she wasn’t aware of what Vega was, there was a chance Vega had gotten caught intentionally.
Only, it was odd that Vega made no reference at all to the Ruby of Divine Wisdom. She didn’t say the Raven Queen had it. She didn’t hint she had it or had hidden it so no one else could use it. Then again, perhaps she couldn’t because she truly was the Raven Queen’s captive.
It was just hard to believe that someone as brilliant as Vega would be captured so easily.
“Is it possible Vega isn’t conning us? She’s conning the Raven Queen?” I asked. If she had the Ruby of Divine Wisdom, she probably had the skill to conceal her magic from Fae.
Vega might have turned into a self-serving demon, but that wasn’t too far off from how she usually behaved. She wasn’t out of control like a freed djinn. She was a master of herself and her magic.
Elric squinted at the paper. “I think there’s a secret code in this message.”
“You figure it out and let us know,” Thatch said. “Oh, wait, I think I see it too.” He pointed to the parchment. “Vega’s secret message is . . . ‘Don’t . . . trust . . . the . . . Raven Queen.’”
I ignored his sarcasm.
The blessing I had received from Yin and Lee of the Dragon Court was that I would be granted the wisdom to walk away from a battle or know when to initiate one. Thatch thought this was a trap. I didn’t. I trusted my instincts.
I turned to Elric. “Do you think you can get everyone together tonight to expedite our plan?”
“This is madness,” Thatch said. “We should move the children from this house to a new location, somewhere safe that Vega doesn’t know about. We should ignore—”
“I will not listen to this.” Elric put up a hand, Thatch’s voice cutting out as Hailey’s had the night before.
Thatch’s lips pressed into a line. Perhaps Elric had been responsible for that trick the previous evening.
“We need to trust Vega,” I said.
As much as that sounded like an oxymoron, I had faith in myself that I was making the right decision.
“I agree,” Elric said.
“Also,” I said. “You’re going to need to brew a fresh pot of coffee. We’re going to need the magic of caffeine—and anything else we can get our hands on.”
I prayed we were making the right choice.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Haunt for Red October
Josie and Pinky set out to be captured immediately. They were together at least, but I worried about them all the same. I had counted on this plan taking several days. It might rouse suspicion if a bunch of Witchkin were captured or asking for work all in the same day.
I dressed in my witchiest attire—hot-pink striped leggings under a black dress. I topped my head with the striped witch hat Thatch had given me as a gift the last Christmas that I’d been awake. The point kept flopping over, limp and pathetic—possibly just like my plans.
This wasn’t a sign, I told myself.
I used the magic-tape charm Josie had taught me during my first year as a teacher at Womby’s to stick my wand inside to hold it up. It wasn’t long enough, plus I suspected I actually might need to use it. If I had a unicorn horn, that would have held my hat up. I sorted through the bag Thatch had brought back from the school. Elric and Thatch had destroyed the Chinese finger trap that had somehow made it into my bag. I found an empty plastic water bottle and a vibrator with dead batteries inside. Both were technically contraband items in the Faerie Realm. I wasn’t likely to be allowed to keep either. Then again, Fae also usually insisted I change into nonsynthetic clothes as well. When I stacked the vibrator on top of the water bottle, the additions actually held up the hat pretty well. Probably I would have to trade in all these items at the door. Fae castles were stricter than the TSA at the airport.
Gertrude Periwinkle arrived with Lucifer Thatch well before midnight. Khaba joined us moments later, carrying a clay bong a student had made in my art class—without my permission—years before. Hailey, Maddy, Balthasar, and Ben arrived at eleven o’clock. Darla came shortly after that. More than ever, I feared what would happen to these people if I failed. I suspected I would need all of their magic to help me complete that rainbow within me. I needed to be able to reach within to ignite my magic so I could transport myself to that other realm if I needed my own Ruby of Divine Wisdom.
There were eleven of us, two short of a coven of thirteen. Probably the number of Witchkin and Fae didn’t make a difference. It was the collective rainbow of all the affinities that would lend me power. Something about the assembled group still felt incomplete. Maybe it was just my nerves talking. We had Elementia, Celestors, Red affinities, and Fae.
“Wait,” I said. “We don’t have any Amni Plandai. I think we need someone with a plant or animal affinity.”
Josie and Pinky had been present the night before. They weren’t here now. I needed to create a rainbow of affinities, a balance. I didn’t have balance. I didn’t feel balanced. I was too nervous.
“It isn’t too late to forget this entire plan,” Thatch said quietly.
Hailey looked to Maddy. “We could get Greenie, but she’s watching the baby.”
Greenie couldn’t come. She had a family and obligations.
“We haven’t any time. We need to be punctual and arrive at midnight,” Elric said.
“You don’t need an Amni Plandai,” Gertrude said. “You have a Celestor. I can work any kind of magic.”
She’d studied hard and developed the skill to be able to work all magics, including the most difficult, but her magic didn’t taste like flowers and animal musk. Her magic smelled like starlight and sounded like the burble of stream water. She was an Elementia and a Celestor, a rare double affinity.
“This isn’t balanced.” My nerves rattled inside me. I wasn’t going to panic, I told myself. We weren’t even at the Raven Queen’s castle, and already things were going wrong. First Vega, then my flaccid hat, and now the lack of Amni Plandai.
Elric touched my shoulder. “I have two Amni Plandai. I’ll be right back.”
Thatch leaned closer to me, pleading in his eyes. “It isn’t too late to—”
I held up a finger to stop him. “Don’t start. If you don’t want to go, stay here.”
His lips pressed into a line. I didn’t even have to use magic to silence him.
Elric appeared with two staff members a moment later. One was a Fae dressed in the attire of one of Elric’s guards.
“This is Desdemona.” Elric waved a hand at the woman. “She is a double affinity, animal magic and stars. Had she attended a Witchkin school, you would consider this the equivalent of Amni Plan
dai and Celestor magic.”
The guard bowed.
“But she’s Fae,” Hailey whispered to Maddy loud enough for everyone to hear.
I also had always assumed Elric’s guards were pureblooded Fae.
“Desdemona isn’t completely Fae. Some of my guards are seven-eighths Fae,” Elric said. “Technically that makes Desdemona Witchkin, but she is powerful enough to serve among the ranks with Fae guards.”
“And you would come with us?” I asked her. “You understand what’s at risk?”
“It is my duty to serve His Highness. I will go where he goes. I will protect him and do as he bids.” She bowed to him.
Elric grinned, pleased with her. He waved his hand at a young man who couldn’t have been much older than my former students. His arms were scrawny sticks and his face dark brown from days in the sun. I had seen him out in the garden several times. On sunny day, leaves grew in his dark brown hair, and lines split across his skin like the bark of a tree.
“This is Yoshi,” Elric said. “He is a true kimura yokai.” From all Josie had told me, I had learned this was a Japanese tree sprite.
“Wow! Are you related to Miss Kimura?” Ben asked.
“No.” The young man crossed his arms, disdain on his face.
I wondered whether Kimura was even Josie’s real last name. It was a good way of misleading people. I hadn’t suspected she was a jorogumo because of it.
The young man bowed to Elric and then to me. “I am a free Witchkin. I serve Prince Elric to repay the debt I owe him for saving the lives of my family.”
That didn’t exactly sound like freedom if he owed a Fae a debt. I didn’t like using another Witchkin this way, but I also knew I would need plant magic. I looked to Thatch, wanting reassurance, but he had turned away, sulking.
We had a rainbow of affinities. My wand was tucked up my sleeve. The baby growing inside me represented life and goodness. Vega would be there, and her desire for necromancy would represent death. I had the blessings of the Dragon Court with me. Even so, anxiety danced inside my belly.
Maybe that was just early morning sickness.
I didn’t trust Thatch to carry the potion to turn Hailey into a Red affinity so I had given it to Elric to carry. Khaba held the bong in one hand, a pretty Middle Eastern lamp in the other. The bong was the real object to which his indenture would be tied. What else did we need?
“Do we have the Psalms of Solomon?” I asked.
Elric tilted his head to the side. “I beg your pardon?”
“The Seal of Solomon,” Gertrude Periwinkle corrected.
Ben and Balthasar burst into giggles. I also laughed at my mistake. It was my nerves. I had swallowed Thatch’s competency lozenge a few minutes before. Obviously, it hadn’t set in yet. By the time we arrived at midnight, I would feel smarter, stronger, and be brilliant. It wasn’t the Ruby of Divine Wisdom, but it was something.
With Elric’s assistance, we used the magic decoder ring that he’d borrowed from his father to bind Khaba to the bong. It wasn’t bright flashy magic. Elric simply touched it to Khaba, and then the bong. I recited a few words in Hebrew, and he was done.
“Well, that was underwhelming,” Hailey muttered.
“Djinn of the bong, return to your vessel,” Elric commanded.
Khaba disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“Now,” Elric handed the bong to me. “Rub the vessel and wish for Khaba’s essence to appear to be bound to this lamp, so when the Raven Queen accepts it, she’ll think it contains him.”
I rubbed the bong, rusty clay dust dirtying my hands. Khaba appeared in another puff of smoke.
Fae could be quite pedantic, so I was careful in my wording. “I wish for Khaba’s essence to appear to be inside the lamp so that the Raven Queen will think he’s inside.”
“Your wish is my command, Master.” He winked when he said it and disappeared.
The moment the ceramic bong broke, Khaba would be released from his true imprisonment. Since it was made of clay, it was brittle enough that breaking it wouldn’t be a problem.
I placed the bong in one of the pockets in my skirt.
“Whoa, is that a bong in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” Balthasar asked.
Ben chortled. Maddy rolled her eyes.
“This is not a time for jokes,” Thatch said. “We are facing a life-or-death situation.”
It was a good thing he didn’t know what was propping up my hat.
At a quarter to midnight, we crammed into the coaches Elric had provided. I was afraid we wouldn’t arrive in time. The Raven Queen’s castle had to be far away from Elric’s. But time and distance distorted strangely in the Faerie Realm, and Elric understood the workings of his homeland better than I did. The path outside the window rushed by at light speed.
In five minutes we’d arrived at the Raven Queen’s castle. The night was clear and starry. Moonlight shone on the towers and turrets of the castle, glistening like black icicles in the dim light. I stepped onto a path that led to the front doors. The sticky mud on the ground sucked at my feet as though it wanted to swallow me up.
“Remember, Witchkin remain silent unless addressed by our Fae hosts. I will do the talking,” Elric said. With his flowing white robes and crystal crown, he looked like an elvish prince out of a Tolkien novel.
I scanned the trees, trying to find an oak among the other trees. All the branches looked barren here, as if the land was stuck in a perpetual winter. I didn’t see Abigail Lawrence standing with others. Even reaching out to prod at the magic of this lifeless land, I didn’t sense her.
Thatch took my hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. “Stay here with us.”
I knew he was correct. I needed to focus on the mission at hand, not use remote viewing.
Odette waited at the entryway with two dozen warriors clad in leather armor. Some were winged. Some had the beaks of birds. They escorted us inside, surrounding our group.
Odette’s face remained stony. She held herself tall like the princess she was. She didn’t even look at me or her brother. From her letter to Thatch I knew she was pregnant, but I didn’t know how far along she was.
“Our servants will search your persons for forbidden magic and Morty materials that may harm Fae.” She waved a hand at two sasquatches, gray with age.
They waved their hands around each individual as webs of magic shimmered visible and then invisible. I knew sasquatches were good at constructing wards and glamours, but I hadn’t known they were good at detecting them.
One of the sasquatches, breathing heavily as he leaned on a cane, paused as he came to my hat. His brown eyes looked into mine and then away.
“Clear,” he said.
Three more sets of examinations came from servants. Desdemona had to give up her sword. Elric had to give up the lamp.
“That is a gift for Queen Morgaine,” Elric said. “I wish to give it to her myself. It’s my right as a guest to present her with an offering.”
“I will hold on to it for you,” Odette said. “If there is a djinn inside, we wouldn’t want it to be released prematurely, would we?”
He lifted his chin, affecting a petulant air perfect for a Fae prince. “You must promise me not to take credit for my gift.”
Past our security checks, we were led into the castle proper. It was a gloomy place, reminding me of a vampire bordello with all the red brocade and gilded frames. The walls oozed evil. I would swear they whispered malicious deeds they had witnessed. I was so enthralled by what I thought I heard, I bumped into Hailey.
She started and gave me a dirty look. Probably I’d scared the fire right out of her.
Elric took my elbow. “Careful, love.”
I nearly stepped into a crimson puddle. A drop of blood plopped into the liquid. Elric glanced up and quickly away as he ushered me forward. I turned over my shoulder to stare upward at the furry mass. The sasquatch’s fur was chestnut like
Pinky’s but soaked and matted with blood.
My eyes traveled up the length of the furry form. The figure dangled from hooks in his chest that had been snared under his skin, blood dripping down his legs and splattering the floor. I tried to swallow the rising fear for my friends.
Elric leaned closer. “It’s all right. It isn’t anyone you know.”
“That’s right,” one of the guards to my left said. “I’m certain even a mere Witchkin wouldn’t consort with a sasquatch rebel sowing seeds of discontent among the servants.”
I couldn’t tell whether it was Pinky. It wasn’t the right angle to see his face. Nor did I think Elric could recognize Pinky even if it were him.
I fought to keep my breathing under control, to show I wasn’t upset, but I didn’t have Thatch’s poker face. Thatch nudged himself between me and the nearest guard, placing a hand on my back.
“Breathe in. Breathe out,” Thatch said. He stroked my back with the tenderness and pleasure my affinity needed.
It was the comfort I needed to feel reassured.
At last we were brought before the Raven Queen. Classical music played on creaky violins came from the ballroom. I hesitated in the entryway, taking in the party. A crowd of goblins and creepy creatures danced and feasted. I had a feeling the Raven Queen had invited us to a party where she hoped all her subjects would witness my downfall.
I hadn’t counted on there being so many. I swallowed.
Elric muttered, “This ball would be improved by some muse magic and proper musical entertainment.”
Unlike the Silver Court’s balls, the people here were costumed in gray and black. Most wore feathers, but some appeared to be cloaked in shadows. The dancing was mechanical, the music droning more than peppy. The Raven Court wasn’t an imaginative bunch. But that was one of the advantages Elric had claimed I possessed over the Fae.
My superpower was creativity.
Trumpets blared, announcing our arrival. The music cut out. Dancers halted and drew back. The Raven Court scurried to the perimeter of the room, the sound of their legs reminding me of the scuttling of insects. A guard prodded me out of the doorway. There was no place to go but forward.