His stomach turned at the thought as he stared at the oncoming storm and his mistress framed before it. His fists clenched. Perhaps, in their deaths, the queens of the fair folk had taught him something that, if he were a better man, he might have learned long ago. In the face of fear, life becomes a dim and listless shadow, and that evil must be opposed, even to the last gasp.
Morrow got to his feet. Perhaps there was still time.
Solstice
Maddie watched numbly, magic surging through her altered form as her power tore a bleeding slash across the sky. The mist poured in through the gap, escaping the vacuum between realms and spilling into the Veil. The World Curtain. The clouds rolled, growing as they drew closer. The Foxglove’s eyes penetrated the gloom, and through them, Maddie could make out the distant outline of a landscape on the other side. The original home of the fair folk.
The mists would remove their memories. Gwynedd, protected by the power of the Foxglove, would doubtless remain unharmed. There would be nothing to stop her from installing herself as a new ruler, and the people would never be the wiser. Only Maddie would remember, trapped in the prison of her own mind, howling for eternity as eons passed and she descended into still, silent madness.
The curtain drew nearer.
Maddie watched her future come to an end as the shroud that cloaked the world swept in to claim them.
A shriek pierced the stillness, and Maddie’s head snapped around. Gwynedd fell backwards, pinwheeling off balance as she screamed. Morrow stood behind her, arms bent around her chest and neck as he dragged her back. The witch’s hand slipped out from Maddie’s body as they tumbled to the floor.
Gwynedd snatched her knife out of her belt and stabbed it into the prince’s side. Morrow cried out as he struggled to maintain his hold.
His eyes rose up to meet Maddie’s. “Do something!” he shouted.
Maddie felt a tingle in her arms and legs as her feet touched the floor. She tried to step back, but it was as though her body was full of cement. Her limbs were alien, and her mind railed against them as she struggled to lift her feet and cross the floor.
“I…” Her voice broke like a sonic boom. The floor shook. Morrow let go of Gwynedd and gripped his ears. Gwynedd did the same, dropping the knife to clutch her skull as she screamed. There was blood on her hands as they came away from her head.
She snarled, “No!”
Gwynedd lunged towards Maddie, and Morrow twisted, grabbing her ankle. The wound in his side gushed blue blood. Gwynedd’s hand stopped an inch from Maddie’s chest.
“I can’t hold her!” Morrow grunted.
Maddie staggered. A pressure grew in the space behind her eyes. Her ears filled with whispers, rising rapidly to shouts, until finally her head shook with a roar so loud that it drowned out all her senses. She collapsed onto the floor. The towering tsunami of the Foxglove’s consciousness enveloped her senses and smashed her thoughts to scrambled fragments.
Until, like a bell in a quiet room, she heard her name.
“Maddie.”
She knew the voice, but her words had left her. She twisted her head around and saw Maeve, lying in a coma on the floor. Her eyes were bloody and glazed over, staring into an aimless abyss. Nevertheless, her mistress’s thoughts found her.
“It’s me, Maddie,” Maeve said.
Maddie clenched her teeth and forced her mind to frame an answer. “What’s happening? Why can’t I see? Why can’t I move?”
“It is the Allsight. You must open your mind.”
Maddie squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to hold her thoughts as they threatened to tear apart. The roar in her head rose, and the sounds merged into a reverberating thrum that peaked and fell in pounding waves, pressing on the trembling walls of her psyche. She pulled her hands up and held her palms against her temples, eyes wide and drifting in the grip of a thousand migraines.
“I… can’t,” she said. “I’ll die.”
Maddie felt the figment of a smile brush over her face. “You are the Foxglove,” Maeve said. “The Allsight cannot hurt you. It is the power of life. All life.”
“But how do I control it?”
“You do not have to, Madeline Foster,” Maeve said. Her voice began to fade. “It is not a part of you. It is who you are.”
The noise crashed in again as her mistress’s voice disappeared. Maddie looked at Morrow and Gwynedd. Blood pooled on the floor, and the prince’s body sagged. Maddie saw his grip loosen as his eyes fluttered shut.
What a frustrating destiny to have, she thought. To be born, to live, and grow, only to be lost. Has this been my fate all along?
Maddie refused to believe that her life was only spare change in the pocket of magic. All the hours she’d spent building a life, agonizing over test scores, and learning who she was could not have been for nothing.
She glanced at Rose, lying on the floor. The queen wouldn’t have hesitated.
I guess dreams don’t get any bigger than this.
Morrow’s body went slack. Gwynedd broke free and turned, reaching out to Maddie with furious intent. Maddie let go of her mind, and the vast horizon of the world pulled her apart.
Foxglove
Morrow blinked. Am I dead? he thought.
The world had turned white. Light filled the whole sky. As he lifted his arm, he could barely see his hand in front of his face. Every shape in the room had turned to a streak of shadow. Every shape but one.
The Foxglove floated in the middle of the room, its face a mask of quiet serenity. Its flesh and form blazed in the luminous space. Morrow could feel its massive emotion in the warmth of his chest, and his own heart resonated with it. The creature was not simply aware of him; they were one. It was him. It was… everything.
Gwynedd hovered, frozen in place, diving towards its body. The burning eyes of the Foxglove turned to look at her with an expression almost like curiosity. Light seemed to fold around the witch’s form. An instant later, she vanished. There was no sound, only an impression of movement too rapid to be perceived, and she was gone.
The Foxglove turned to the mist and the churn rolled away, funneling backwards as though driven by an unseen, unfelt wind. It collapsed in on itself as it slithered through the gap where it had emerged. The Foxglove brought up a hand, fingers outstretched, and with imperceptible gestures, it knitted the sky together until only the smallest fleck of the tear remained. Then, with a gentle hand, it reached up and plucked the ragged hole from the horizon. There was subtle pulse of color between its fingers as it closed its palm. When it opened, a rainbow-colored diamond tumbled to the floor. And then it turned to Morrow.
“Maddie…” he said, trying to shuffle back. “Can you hear me?”
It drifted forward. Morrow scrambled weakly across the floor until his back pressed against the broken wall.
“P-please,” he stammered. “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to everybody, I promise!”
He swore over and over again as the Foxglove approached and leaned over him. Its luminescent hand reached out. Morrow flinched, pressing his eyes shut as he waited for the inevitable. He prayed that it would be quick, but instead of pain, a strange sensation of warmth washed over his side, reaching into his ribs and across his abdomen. It passed in an instant. Morrow remained still, frozen. When he opened his eyes, the Foxglove was back across the room, and his wound was gone.
Something rumbled deep within the earth. Morrow rushed to the edge of the balcony and stared down as the city shook. Like a great beast rising from a long slumber, the massive roots of the city-tree broke from the ground. The great tree moved, sliding through the forest, bringing with it a mudslide of stones, brush, and soil.
Morrow felt a sudden pressure on his eyes as the forest rose up around them. The trees darkened, the air grew warmer, and a cloud of magic settled into the air like a haze of drifting pollen. The city was moving, not just along the ground but down, plunging through the layers of the Veil, deeper and deeper into the tangles of its most secret lands.
/> The light of the Foxglove began to fade. Night fell once more, and Morrow felt his legs go slack. He coughed, breathing in the thickening magic as he slumped against the railing. His neck felt heavy, and his head fell back. As he looked up, the twisting vines of a thorny brier closed around the city, tightening as they wove together and locked out the sky.
Loose Ends
Maddie woke in her bed. She lifted herself off the pillows to scan the room. Confusion flitted about the corners of her thoughts.
Someone had dressed her in a nightgown, and she’d been washed. The blood, dirt, and sweat of the battle were mercifully absent. She stared down at her hands and arms and found them to be completely whole and normal. In fact, the only thing that felt amiss was a peculiar cold.
She brought the blankets up and rubbed her shoulders to fend off the chill, but the feeling didn’t go away. It was on the inside, leeching out to freeze her limbs. It wasn’t until she considered walking to her closet to find a sweater that a terrible thought alighted on the surface of her mind.
Maddie threw her blankets down and opened her shirt. The scar on her chest had turned an oily black, and it had spread. It covered her chest, running like a disease from her stomach to her neck, stretching over her shoulders. Maddie remembered what had happened as her breath caught in her throat.
Gwynedd’s heart beat in her chest, fused with her own.
The last thing she remembered was lying on the floor, watching Gwynedd wrestle with Morrow. After that, there was nothing.
The door opened. Maddie pulled her clothing shut and yanked up the blankets as Ebba walked into the room.
“Maddie!” the girl squealed, running across the floor. She leapt onto the bed and buried her face in Maddie’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“All in one piece,” Maddie said, wrapping her up in a hug.
Ebba sat back on her knees. “Nobody would tell me what happened. They just said they found you, but you wouldn’t wake up. It’s been almost three days!”
Maddie’s jaw fell open. “Three days?”
“You must be hungry,” Ebba said rapidly. “I’ll go get you something. Soup? Broth?” She jumped off the bed. “I’ll be right back. The others will want to know you’re awake. Prince Finn especially. There’s a lot going on, and he needs your help.”
Maddie’s chest ached at hearing the prince’s name. She kicked her feet off the bed, feeling sick as she remembered the events on the balcony. Finn didn’t even know what she’d done. Despair and sadness churned in her throat. She needed some fresh air, or she was going to throw up.
“Wait. Let me get dressed,” Maddie said.
Ebba replied, “Are you sure? You should rest.”
Maddie threw on her witching robes and wobbled over to the door. “I’ve rested enough,” she said, heading out into the hall. “Is everyone okay? What happened after the battle?”
Ebba followed her. “Some people are okay. A lot’s happened. Are you really sure you should be up?”
“I’ll be fine,” said Maddie. “Please, just… take me outside.”
The palace corridors were filled with refugees. They were tired and hungry, but they didn’t look like they were injured.
“Where did all these people come from?” Maddie asked.
“The city,” Ebba said, picking through the mass. “Some of them got here during the battle, but a lot came after. The buildings in town were destroyed, so Rain is keeping as many people as she can in the palace until the wardens say it’s safe to go down to the ground.”
Maddie tripped on someone’s leg. She apologized and steadied herself against the wall. “Safe?” she said.
Ebba stopped to help an older woman off the floor. “That’s right,” she said. “They’re not taking any chances since we moved.”
“What do you mean, moved?”
They came to the palace door.
“It’ll be easier to explain if you see it,” Ebba said and pushed it open.
Soft mushroom light illuminated the courtyard, where the wounded lay on the ground, bandaged and moaning as they huddled under thin blankets. The palace staff wandered among them, bringing water and small comfort, while above their heads, a towering canopy of thorny vines blocked out the moon and stars. Maddie stared up. She could hardly see the sky between them.
She asked, “Where are we?”
Ebba took her out. “Nobody knows.”
“And the people?”
“We ran out of blankets and pillows on the first day, so we collected these from what’s left of the city. They’re still trying to figure out how much of it can be fixed, but it’s a big mess. When the tree moved, it was like an earthquake.”
Maddie didn’t understand. Why can’t I remember? she thought, straining.
“How did the tree move?” she asked.
Ebba hopped over a sleeping soldier. “It happened at the end of the battle. Nobody will tell me how. People are saying that something happened in the palace. Gwynedd is gone, and our soldiers captured the people from Aster and the Erlkin, and…” She trailed off.
“Rose?” Maddie said.
Ebba sniffled. “She’s dead.” Tears started running down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, Ebba,” Maddie said, gathering the girl up into her arms. She didn’t have the heart to tell her what she’d done.
“Maddie?!” someone shouted across the yard. Rain came sprinting across the crowded space, leaping over people and beds to catch Maddie up in a bear hug.
Ebba squawked. “You’re squishing me!”
“After everything that happened, we were sure you would never wake up,” Rain said, easing off.
“I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on,” Maddie said.
Rain glanced down and knelt in front of Ebba. She pointed across the yard where a line of women were washing sheets in steaming water. “I need a hand with the bedclothes,” she said. “Would you go help?”
Ebba groaned. “Fine.”
“Is Kidhe okay?” Maddie asked after she’d gone. “And Finn?”
“They’re fine. Kidhe has a broken leg. I’ll take you to him. Before you ask, Earnest is okay too. They’ve got him in the aviary, and they’re taking good care of him. He’s one of the only birds left in the city. Most of them were blown away in the storm.”
Maddie’s eyes suddenly sprung open. “Oh my God! Theresa?”
“Missing,” Rain said with a worried look. “They found you unconscious in the throne room after it was over. No one knows what happened. Rose is… She passed. Finn was unconscious, and Maeve is in some kind of coma.”
All my fault, Maddie thought. I should have fought harder. I should have realized before it was too late. She felt a tear slip down her cheek. “I couldn’t stop it. Rain, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t do anything.”
“Don’t think like that,” Rain said, holding her close. “It wasn’t your fault. It was Gwynedd.”
She doesn’t know. She doesn’t know how it happened. None of them saw.
Maddie thought about confessing. She wanted to, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her friends would never forgive her. Finn would never forgive her.
Rain led Maddie across the courtyard to a bed near the edge. Kidhe’s leg was bound with cloth and a pair of long boards.
“You’re awake!” he said, leaning up. He tried to stand, only to wince and slump back down.
Maddie ran over and knelt down beside him. “Stay down, please! You’re injured.”
He fell back onto his rumpled pillow. “It’s so good to see you,” he said. “I was worried you might…”
Maddie kissed his cheek. “I’m fine. It’ll take more than a world-ending disaster to keep me down.”
He chuckled, flinching as he said, “I think our camping trip might have to be put on hold.”
“It’s okay,” Maddie said, massaging his shoulder. “I’ll take a rain check.”
He lay down and took a few long breaths, staring at the thorny
ceiling.
“You’ve been all over the Veil,” Maddie said. “Do you know where we are?”
“Only partly,” he answered. “I’ve never been this deep. The magic is so thick here it’s giving people headaches. My best guess is that we’re in a delve. Beyond that, I have no idea.”
“So, how do we get home?”
“Maddie, I don’t even know how we got here.”
She sat down beside him.
“I wish I knew what happened,” she said. “Didn’t anybody see anything?”
“There was only one other person with you in the room,” Rain said, her voice dropping low. “And he’s refusing to talk to anyone.”
Maddie’s eyes narrowed. Her voice emerged in a low rumbled as she got to her feet. “Morrow.”
Same as the Old Boss
Morrow lay on the floor, bound hand and foot with thick leather cords. The palace didn’t have a dungeon, and the only jails were down in the city, so the guards had removed the furniture from one of the bedrooms to keep him. A tall bucket sat in the corner.
“They’re still trying to figure out what to do with him,” Rain said.
Maddie stared at the Erlkin prince. He was a man again. Gwynedd’s magic had worn off. His eyes were clamped shut as he slept, but even asleep, his body shook and his limbs twitched in fits of paralysis.
“What’s wrong with him?” Maddie asked.
Rain shut the door. “We don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. Cedric thinks he’s sick, but he doesn’t have a fever, and Maeve’s in no condition to examine him.”
Maddie gave a grim nod as she stood over Morrow. “He told me he needs Gwynedd’s blood to survive. He’ll die without it.” She kicked his boot, hard. “Isn’t that right?” she said as he started awake.
His eyes trembled as he looked up at her, but his expression was not one of fear. He was merely resigned.
“You’re here,” he said. “I told them to bring you, but they said you were in a coma.”
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