by Leia Stone
After my scoop, Elle took the shovel and threw a pile into the hole, followed by Trissa, Jasper, and, one by one, Liam’s men. We went on like this until it was packed full and tamped down and she was finally laid to rest beneath the beautiful tree. I wasn’t sure when it became dark out, but suddenly I was alone, staring at the dirt with Liam by my side. His mother and Elle stood with Trissa a few feet away, and his men had gone back to the house a while ago with Jasper to make some food. A chill started to work through the open valley, and I realized everyone was waiting on me. Waiting until I’d done my grieving so we could move on.
Kneeling down, I did the only thing I could think of to honor the beauty and grace that was Mara. I placed my hand on the dirt mound and filtered my light into the earth.
Vibrant green blades of grass shot up out of the ground and then long stems of flowers, covering her gravesite.
Liam’s mother gasped and stepped closer. I’d have been worried if she weren’t already exposed to the magical side of our life, but she was no stranger to the supernatural. The stems grew buds that opened into a lush rectangle of peony flowers.
There. That was better. That was befitting of our Mara.
When I stood, Liam wiped a tear from my cheek, and we all made our way across the valley and walked inside the cabin.
Something delicious filtered past my nose, and I realized I was famished.
Joining the others around the kitchen, I gave Liam’s mom a weak smile as she handed me a bowl of chili.
The kitchen looked freshly cleaned and wiped down, but the rest of the house was coated in a thick layer of dust. Footmarks marred the hardwood floors, drawing streaks in the dust. Liam’s men were scattered around the living room and out onto the porch. I noticed she’d made grilled cheese sandwiches, pasta, and chili. Probably had to make multiple meals to feed some twenty-five people. They must have done a grocery run while I was out. Thank the gods the electricity was kept on or we’d be eating cold, canned beans.
“So let’s just let the elephant out of the room.” Jasper set down his empty bowl as Trissa, Elle, Liam, and Cam crowded around the kitchen island where I was eating. “We’re stuck here with nine crystals, and he will find us eventually. Shielding us against the king is taking everything I have.”
Now that he mentioned it, he did look pale and weary. “I won’t be able to sleep without dropping the shield,” he went on, “so I’ll have to sleep while we’re on the move.”
Okay, that was a bit worse than I thought. I assumed he could shield us a while longer and while asleep, but I could work with that. “None of the blue doors work without Mara, and I smashed the shell portal in Los Angeles to keep the king out,” I told everyone.
Silence descended on the group.
We were so fucked.
I mean we had crystals, which was good. No one would get sick without that energy, but the king and his men would be sick in a few days without it. They’d be gunning for us hard. My eyes flew to Liam’s mother, who washed dishes at the sink. She, on the other hand, would get sick if she stayed around nine crystals for too much longer.
Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I groaned. “Okay. Liam, when the king took you, Cam said he just appeared in the forest. He didn’t use Mara.”
Her name hurt to say; it was too soon.
Liam shrugged. “He compelled me with the sword and then knocked me out.”
Cam stepped forward. “I tried to follow them. They went near the healing pools, but that’s all I saw.”
Okay… even if we knew where the secret portal was in Faerie, that didn’t mean we knew where it was here on this end.
“Redwoods,” Liam’s mom spoke so quietly I barely heard her.
“What, Mom?” Liam turned to her.
She shrugged. “Your father told me there was a secret portal in the Redwood National forest and that it was guarded by some creature. He said it was a really dangerous creature, and so it wasn’t worth ever using.”
Okay…. Now we were getting somewhere. “But if he had a sword to compel the creature…” I asked.
She nodded.
“I’ll pack the cars,” Cam said. “We can drive all night, take shifts, and sleep in the car on the way to California.”
I nodded, and he left with Jasper trailing behind him.
“How will we actually find the door? The Redwoods are huge.” Elle frowned.
“Seek it,” Liam and I said at the same time.
If Liam was taken through there, even unconscious, he’d still have an energy signature imprinted somewhere in his mind that he could try to pull from. Meanwhile, I could try to seek the dark energy signature of a fae creature like the one Liam’s mom spoke about. It was a long shot, but I’d met the harpy, the stag, and a few others, so I could seek others like that once we were in the vicinity.
Liam looked at his mother. “Mom, I’ll get us a separate car to drive in, we’ll stay far enough back that the crystals won’t hurt you.”
His mom gave him a sad smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “Actually, I was thinking I would stay here, honey. If that’s okay?” She looked at me.
Silence descended on our group, and Elle and Trissa took this as their cue to leave the kitchen.
I swallowed hard. “Of course, it’s okay. We own the homes free and clear. Electricity and everything is paid for by a trust that’s set up. You can have the place—”
“No,” Liam growled. “You’re not safe here alone.”
His mother reached up and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Honey, I’m tired of the back and forth, of constantly being in danger of the energy of the crystals. Or that you boys are in danger without the energy. Now that I know the boys are safe in Faerie with you, I can live safely here with peace in my heart.” A tear streamed down her cheek as she held his face in her hands. “You can visit me every day. Once you find that portal in the Redwoods, you can use it and come here all the time.” Tears filled her eyes, and my heart broke then. I wasn’t a mother, but I couldn’t imagine having to live separately from my children just to keep them and myself healthy. Though, it seemed common with the halflings, a grim reality for them, a dance they had to do.
Liam swallowed hard. “What if Dad finds you?”
She shrugged. “I found a shotgun in the garage. I’ll blow his head off.”
Whoa.
I’d mistaken Liam’s mother for timid until that moment.
“Mom, I’m serious. He could overpower you.”
She squeezed his hand. “I have nothing left that he wants, honey. He wants you boys, he wants power. He doesn’t want me anymore.”
She said it with the sadness of a jilted lover.
He doesn’t want me anymore. Tears lined my eyes, and I wondered if I should leave the room until she reached out and took my hand, pulling me closer. “What you two have is special. I know you’re young, but promise me you’ll always take care of each other and remember the love that brought you together.”
The tears spilled over onto my cheeks, and I nodded.
She smiled. “And promise me that you’ll help take care of the boys when I’m not there.” She looked at me—as Liam’s girlfriend or the Queen of Faerie, I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
“I’ll treat them as if they were my own brothers,” I promised her.
A radiant smile crossed her face and then turned sad. “It feels right here. Out in the open with nature and with Mara.”
Mara.
Knowing someone would be here to look after her grave, bring her flowers once in a while, it filled a bit of the gaping hole in my chest.
“But, Mom—”
She dropped my hand and took Liam’s face into her palms once again. “Liam. You got the shitty end of the stick. You were the brunt of your father’s wrath, and you had to grow up way sooner than any child should.” She smoothed her thumbs over his cheeks. “Go restore Faerie. Go give your brothers the life you never had. Do it for them, and do it for me.”
H
oly fuck, I was sobbing. Legit sobs escaped my throat, and she pulled me into a hug with Liam. All three of us squished into this powerful woman as she held us both. It reminded me of my own mother’s hugs. Strong but gentle at the same time. Man, I missed her so much.
I missed mom hugs.
“Okay, Mom.” Liam’s voice was raspy as he spoke into her shoulder. “Okay. But I’m coming here every day to check on you.”
Not sure how he would do that with it being a twenty-hour drive, but I didn’t say a word. I knew from stories that the original portals were created by the Queen. Not the current Spring Queen Dahlia we had now, my mom-aunt, whatever she was, but Summer Queen Isana, ages ago. Still, if a Queen could make portals, maybe when we woke Queen Dahlia, she could make a portal leading here. I didn’t want to mention it and get their hopes up, but I was going to look into it when we got back.
When she released us both, we all wiped our eyes.
Liam’s mom looked around the kitchen and sighed. “It’s a wonderful home, so peaceful. I’ll be happy here.”
I didn’t even know what town we were in, where the nearest store was or neighbors, but she was right. The home had an energy to it. There was a sense of peace here that most would search their whole lives to find.
“What will you do for food, work, friends?” Liam said everything I was thinking.
His mom shrugged. “I saw a farm down the road. I was thinking of knocking on the door and introducing myself. Starting from there. I know how to care for chickens, milk cows, garden, do some canning and cooking. Maybe they need a helping hand.”
I’d forgotten Liam lived on a farm just outside Seattle. They’d had a barn with animals and gardens, so that actually sounded perfect, assuming these people needed help.
“Okay…” Liam breathed. “I’ll check on you in a few days and bring some food and money.”
She waved him off. “Jasper gave me his credit card and said I could buy groceries on that until I got settled. Don’t worry son. I’m going to be fine.”
Jasper?
Geeze, we had totally read that guy wrong. He was a teddy bear inside. Well, mostly.
When it was time to go, there were more hugs and more tears. Seeing Liam’s mom wave to us from where she stood on the front porch, wrapped in a blanket, brought warm fuzzies to my stomach.
She was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.
It had to be.
Chapter 13
We drove all night and the next day, taking turns at the wheel or asleep against the car windowpane. Jasper only slept in one-hour bursts so that he could bring our shield back up quickly, but we could see in the strain on his face that it was taking its toll on him. When we stopped for food, he ate enough to feed three grown men, but it did nothing to put energy back into his eyes. Holding this shield spell was obviously taxing. We were about ten minutes away from the general area that Liam said he felt pulled to. I didn’t want to say anything to anyone yet, but I’d activated my seeker power a few hours ago and felt for that darkness that I’d experienced in Faerie. I tracked it… and it was strong. Like scary strong, a darkness so powerful it made me feel nauseous to search it out.
I was hoping that if Liam’s dad had possibly used the sword to control the creature and gain entry to the portal, he’d killed it. But this dark creature I was feeling was definitely not dead. The closer we crept, the quieter the car became. Liam was sitting in the backseat next to Elle and me, eyes closed.
“Pull over,” he suddenly commanded, eyes springing open, and we stopped the car. Trissa pulled it into a canopy of trees where there was some parking for a hiking trail. The other cars in our caravan pulled over too, and we filled the last two spaces. It was dusk, just getting dark out, and hikers were coming in off the trail and to their cars.
“It feels very dark here,” Jasper observed.
We all knew he wasn’t talking about the setting sun.
Liam frowned. “I regained consciousness coming out of these woods; I didn’t know where we were exactly, but I touched a tree to catch my breath, and then they knocked me out again. I’m going to seek that tree now.”
“Seek a tree? Can you do that?” Elle looked impressed.
Liam simply nodded.
Seeking was hard to explain. Every object or person had an energy. We were all made up of energy. Once we experienced that energy, we could find it again.
I’d healed the final remaining crystals from Montana in the car ride, and now all nine of them were clean and ready to be placed at the base of the tree in Faerie.
We were in the home stretch.
“I’ll hold these. You lead us,” I told Liam, shouldering the backpack with the crystals as we got out of the car.
He nodded, nostrils flaring as he surveyed the woods around us. No one spoke; we didn’t dare mess up his concentration. Instead, we just followed him down the path, past a few human hikers and then off the trail and into the woods. Some heads turned, eyebrows narrowed at our little band of over twenty-five people stalking off into the woods, but no one said anything.
That dark feeling I was seeking got closer, and when I stepped on something hard, I glanced down to see that it was a piece of bone. Not a full bone, a piece. The ivory shard was attached to a ball joint, and it made my stomach roil.
“Getting creeped out,” Elle bellowed in a sing-song voice as we were plunged into darkness. Just like that, we’d walked into a thicket of trees, and the sunlight was so minimal it made it hard to make out the shadows before us.
“Screw this. I’m shifting,” Cam exclaimed, pulling off his shirt, which caused Elle to stare lustfully at his bare chest.
I grinned. Even in these dire times, my bestie’s mind was in the gutter.
Another one of Liam’s men pulled off his shirt, and he started to shift too. It was nice to have two beast shifters in our group so that if this evil creature was as bad as I feared, we had some fighting power. Now, not only were we plunging into darkness, but we were surrounded by the sound of cracking bones from their shifting forms.
Liam stopped dead and clutched his chest. At the same time, Jasper grabbed his head in pain.
“What’s wrong?” I pulled my sword and looked left and right, expecting a monster to jump from the trees at any moment.
“Oh, shit,” Jasper muttered as he waved his hands in front of him. Wisps of green and purple magical light flared from his palms, lighting up the woods.
“Jasper,” I growled.
He turned to face me, terrified. “Lily, fly away. Give me the crystals—”
“Jasper, fucking tell me!” I roared.
He looked around the forest as our group crowded into a tight circle and then swallowed hard. “You know the humans’ story of Satan in the bible?”
Okay… this could not be good. Whatever was going to come out of his mouth next was going to be very bad.
I nodded.
“We’re being hunted. By the creature whom Satan was inspired by.”
Okay, that was worse than I thought.
“Hunted? The HUNT!” I screamed; everything he said now made sense. In the dark times there was a hunt with a creature so dark and scary that all he could survive on were souls.
Souls. He ate fucking souls.
“Elle, take her away! I can lay the crystals at the tree,” Liam barked, still rubbing at his chest in pain. Why was he doing that? Why did his chest hurt?
My bestie and Trissa moved in to grab me, and I threw my hands out. “Touch me, and I’ll never speak to you again!”
They froze.
“We are a team, Liam. All of us.” Then, I looked at Jasper. “I’m just not that kind of Queen, okay?”
Jasper nodded reluctantly. “Then prepare to fight. He’s almost here.”
Chills broke out onto my arms at his words, and I moved closer to Liam, looking at his chest. “Why does it hurt?”
He shook his head. “I think… he is seeking me.”
Shit.
&nbs
p; Trissa pulled out two swords and jerked her head at Liam’s men while Elle pulled her gun. “Form a circle around Lily,” Trissa said. “Get her through the portal with the crystals so she can save Faerie. That’s the goal.”
Without question, they started to form a circle around me, and I shook my head. “We all go through the portal together. That’s the goal.”
But no one listened, they tightened a circle around me as the temperature dropped in the air. A chill plunged us suddenly into freezing temps.
“What are we looking for? A man? An animal?” I asked Jasper.
He looked over his shoulder at me like I was an idiot. “You think I’ve lived to see him and speak about it?”
I sent out my seeker feelings and felt something sickeningly dark just in front of us. With a burst of power, I shot sunlight from my hands to light up the space, and my eyes fell on the most terrifying creature I’d ever seen.
Holy mother of nightmares.
He was… a ghost. Or at least he appeared that way right now. His black semitransparent form rode a pale horse, and he wore a thin cloak. But his hands… there were just bones, and his eyes were sunken pits. When I looked closer, he appeared to be crawling with… bugs.
His horse charged full steam ahead, but my light had done something to slow him. The horse reared up, and that’s when he transformed. The bugs flew from his skin, surrounding us as they grew bigger and bigger. It was like something straight out of a horror movie. When they were the size of a small dog, I realized they were scorpions.
Fucking scorpions.
Ghostly scorpions.
How did you stab a ghost?
You didn’t.
We were screwed. Only Jasper and I would be able to fight these things I feared. Bursting through the circle of protection, I screamed. “Get behind me!”
The light still emanated from my palms and was creating some kind of shield because the horse and rider were holding back so that they didn’t walk into it. Same with the ghost scorpions.
Everyone seemed to notice and started to funnel behind me as I held my palms out and created a light barrier to encase us in.