by A. L. Knorr
She gave a small intake of breath. "Isn't there any other way?"
I dragged my miserable gaze to hers. “Maybe. But maybe not.”
She squeezed my shoulder. "I don't know what's happening, but I know you. If you say there is no other way, then I believe you've looked. But, maybe there is some possibility you're not seeing. An option not visible to you yet."
“I hope so.” I chanced a sly look at her. “I’m surprised you’re so against it. I don’t think you’d hesitate to kill if you had to.”
“I wouldn’t, but …” Her hand tightened on my arm. "You're a Wise, Georjie. You've been given the gift of healing."
"I can also take health away."
"You mean your mom? That was an accident. You didn't know what you were and had very little control over your abilities. You wouldn't do such a thing now, would you?"
I shook my head.
"I don't think you were meant to kill, Georjie. Your powers are too beautiful for that. You bring beauty wherever you go. Even before you were a Wise.”
I glanced up. "So, you think it’s okay if you kill, but not me?"
"I’m a fire mage. Fire is destructive and dangerous. I’m less soft-hearted and emotional than I was before my burning. Mine seems like a power that is naturally meant to take. But Wisdom should be meant to give. Don't you think?"
"I do think so, but if I don't stop this ... person, then a lot of lives are at risk. The world as we know it would never be the same."
Saxony paled, quite a feat for her porcelain skin. "That sounds dire. Are you sure you don't need help?"
I closed my mouth, regretting how much I’d said. Any more and Saxony wouldn't leave and ... the memory of her screaming as she was sucked into the black of the ithe swept over me. Waves of gooseflesh crawled along my arms. There was no way I would let the ithe hurt her.
"Maybe I've dramatized a little." I found an encouraging smile for her. "You're right; there must be another way."
She studied me, her expression serious. If she looked at me like that for too long, I was liable to break down.
"So Brent isn't my real father," I blurted, wanting desperately to give her something and saying the first thing that came to my mind.
Saxony’s red brows jerked up. "Say what?"
I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. "I called him."
Her jaw dropped open. "You called ... what?"
"Yeah, do you remember this?" I put my hand into my pocket and pulled out the crumpled note with Brent’s handwriting on it. I handed it to Saxony.
She flattened the paper, staring at it. Her forehead pinched. "What is this?"
"It's his phone number. I told you he left Mom and me a note."
She frowned. "It's not like any phone number I've ever seen. And what is up with his spelling? I thought you said he was educated."
"What are you talking about?" I snatched the paper back and stared at it. I could feel my eyes stretching wider and wider, like they'd pop out of my head at any moment.
The writing on the note had changed. It still said 'for emergencies' but it was misspelled. Emergencies was now spelled with a 'j': Emerjencies. The letter j shimmered and sparkled and stood out from the page like a hologram.
The number was also different. Instead of a nine digit American residential number, it was five digits with a symbol between the first two and the last three. The numbers were barely legible, like someone had written them with too elaborate calligraphy. The digits also had the look of a hologram, like they wanted to jump off the page and stand in the air, though they never quite made it that far. I ran my thumb over the shimmering letter and numbers, but there was nothing to feel besides the flat surface of the paper. I gasped as the hologram showed through my fingers as they passed over it.
"It's changed," I breathed. "The number has changed, and there was never a 'j' in emergencies before."
"Why? How?" Saxony sounded as shocked as I felt.
"I have no explanation other than magic. Someone must be trying to tell me something." I looked at her. "Someone fae."
"Fae as in fairy?"
I nodded. "My biological father, whoever he is, is fae."
Saxony's head recoiled in shock, but her features softened, and she let out a long breath. "Of course, you're half-fae. Why didn't that occur to me before?" She cocked her head. "You're awfully big to be half fae, though. How do you suppose your mom pulled that off?"
I laughed at the mental image her words brought up. "The little fairies I told you about aren't the only fae. There's lots of different kinds. My kind is tall, taller than the average human."
"How do you know this?"
"I visited their world." I hadn't planned on telling Saxony this, but the shock at seeing how the note had changed had lowered my defenses. "I can pass back and forth between theirs and ours. It’s in another dimension, one that lays right next to ours. This castle is like a rivet that fastens one reality to the other, that's how I discovered it."
"I'm guessing that this foe you're talking about, the one you think you have to kill, they are fae?"
I shook my head. "She's a witch."
She absorbed this. "That's new."
"Actually, she's about four hundred years old," I said absently, staring at the note, turning it this way and that and watching it catch the light.
"Do you think the witch enchanted Brent's note?" she asked, taking another sip from her mug.
I thought about this, but it didn't make sense. "Why would she? Seeing it like this only makes me want to do one thing, go back to the fae world and ask a friend there if she knows what it means."
"You think someone is trying to help you then?"
"I don't know."
Saxony leaned closer, peering at the note in my hand. "It's funny, the 'j' in emergencies."
I glanced up at her. "Funny?"
"Yeah, it’s like the 'j' in your name. I've never met another Georjayna who spells her name with a 'j'. It's always Georgina with a g."
She was right. It was like the 'j' in my name. And it was also like the 'j' in Stavarjak.
"Do me a favor and keep this to yourself?"
"Keep what to myself?" Saxony asked innocently, then smiled. "You look a little less burdened, suddenly."
I looked down at the note. The weight on my shoulders had lifted a little, because now I had a direction.
I needed to go back to Stavarjak, to Fyfa. Surely, she'd know what the number meant.
Chapter Eleven
I felt like I had ants in my pants for the remainder of the visit. The one thing I was grateful for was that the rain didn't let up for the rest of the weekend, which meant I didn't have to make an excuse for not wanting to stray too far from the castle. But time was running out, and now I had only one week left before the full moon. I'd filled Lachlan in on my meeting with Queen Elphame in the privacy of our bedroom at night, and he'd passed it on to Jasher, who'd caught Evelyn up. I'd also informed them about the change in the note from Brent, and they were as eager for me to get back to Stavarjak as I was.
On the morning of the day all the guests were to leave, Lachlan volunteered to drive everyone to the train station. Saxony had to catch a train to Dover, and hers left before anyone else's, but her departure was close enough to Mom’s and Aunt Faith’s flights that it made sense for the group to leave at the same time.
I carried the last of my mother's luggage down the stairs and into the foyer. It was quarter to ten in the morning, and Lachlan and Jasher were due at the castle at ten.
My mother came down the stairs, tugging on her gloves and already wearing her jacket and scarf. "What a shame that the rain only stopped on our last day."
Aunt Faith emerged from the hall and followed my mom down the stairs, wheeling a carry-on bag behind her. "That's the Highlands for you."
"Yes, such a shame." I spoke with a regret I didn't feel in the slightest. "Have you got everything? Did you check the bathrooms and under the bed one last time?"
Sa
xony emerged from the opposite hallway to my mother and Aunt Faith, pulling on her jacket. She looked down at where I stood in the middle of the foyer with the luggage lined up like ducklings. She winked at me as she came down the steps. ”Honestly, Georjie. One would think you were eager to get rid of us.”
Liz reached the foyer and looked back at Saxony. "So it’s not just me, then? Georjayna you've been as fidgety as a hyper child for the last few days. One would think you had urgent, secret business."
I gave a nervous laugh as Saxony caught my eye. "Don't be silly."
"I think you're imagining things." My friend came to my rescue as she crossed the foyer and opened the front door. "Oh look, the men are here early. Good, maybe we'll have time to stop for coffee and a croissant before we hit the train station."
I swept my mom into a hug. "Good-bye then, Mom. Thank you for coming, it was such a lovely visit." I released her and moved on to my aunt, ignoring their looks of mild alarm.
"Aren't you coming with us to the station?" My mom tightened her scarf with quick, tense movements.
I was saved from having to answer as a vehicle pulled up in front of the castle. The Sutherland family and Ainslie joined us as we stepped outside on the gravel. There was a flurry of luggage being loaded, hugs and goodbye kisses, and people finding their seats. My mother took the front seat. As I shut the door on her, she rolled down the window, and reached for my hand. Her eyes glistened.
"I love you, Mom." I took her hand.
"I love you too, Poppet. Are you sure everything is alright? You've not been yourself all visit."
Pitching my voice low so only she could hear, I said: "Can you blame me? I've had quite a revelation, don't you agree? I'd say I took it rather well."
This seemed to be enough for her, and she nodded and patted the back of my hand before rolling up the window again.
Lachlan caught my eye and beckoned me over to the castle door where he stood a little way off from the vehicle. I crossed the gravel to him.
"I know you're eager to be off, but please be here when I get back. Something has come up. Something big." His face looked tense as he glanced at the waiting guests. The Sutherlands stood chatting with Saxony through the window, but everyone was all buckled up and clearly waiting for Lachlan now.
"I'm running out of time," I whispered. "Can it wait?"
Lachlan shook his head and ran his palm over the back of his neck. "No. I was hoping to be with you when you found out, but I guess you're right. The sooner you get to Fyfa, the better." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a torn page of rolled up newspaper. "Here. Don't read it until you're by yourself."
I took the newspaper and looked down at it, but Lachlan pulled me into a hug, pressing it between us. A hot coil of fear unraveled in my gut as I felt him tremble against me.
"Before we all die of old age?" Saxony teased from the open window of the back seat. Everyone laughed and the sound was the most carefree thing I thought I'd ever heard.
Lachlan didn't laugh. He released me from the hug and took my face in his hands, planting a kiss on my mouth. Then he was getting into the driver's seat, and everyone was waving. The vehicles pulled away, leaving me standing there clutching the newspaper and feeling breathless and worried.
Maisie came skipping over the gravel toward me. I folded the newspaper and tucked it in my pocket as she reached up and took my hand. "Want to read to me? It's my last day of Easter vacation."
My heart throbbed. "I would really love that, but I've got something important to do just now."
Maisie looked ready to pout, but Bonnie had heard and held her hand out to her daughter. "Come on, Maisie. Let's leave Georjayna alone. She's got schoolwork to catch up on."
I shot Bonnie a grateful look, and Gavin saw it. "You're welcome to shut yourself into my office if you need some quiet time. I won’t be using it at all today.”
"Thank you." I followed them inside and made a beeline for Gavin's quarters. Kicking the stone doorstop away from the door, I closed it and went to the desk. Pulling out the piece of newsprint, I unfolded it and laid it flat.
As I read, a hollow feeling carved its way through my torso.
Police Horrified, Small Town Shattered.
The image accompanying the article wasn't much to look at, but it was enough to make my belly clench—black-and-white, and the background was of thick trees. In the foreground stood a blackened post tilted at a drunken angle, protruding from the center of a pile of ash. But the smaller photo in the corner turned my heart to cold lead. A young woman's smiling face, eyes crinkled at the corners, hair in a cute pixie cut. The caption said: Kinrace residents fear victim is beloved local, Mary Gray.
I began to read silently, consuming the words like a starving wretch eating the first meal in days.
Human remains have been found in a remote forest glen north of the small highland town of Kinrace. The victim has yet to be identified but a few belongings, including an earring and a scarf, found not far from the site suggest the victim was a young woman. Residents of Kinrace fear the worst as Mary Gray, reported missing less than 24 hours ago, has yet to be found. "Everyone loves Mary," said her mother, making a public plea for her daughter to come home. "There is no one she didn't get along with, no one who hated her. She was a volunteer, and loved animals and nature. She wouldn't hurt a fly."
My lips had gone numb. I couldn't read any more because I couldn't see properly. I rubbed my eyes, smearing the moisture there across my cheeks. Daracha had found another victim. Mary Gray had to have been a Wise. Queen Elphame had been wrong to assume there were no more Wise without. She'd been wrong about me, and wrong about Mary Gray. Maybe that was the last of us, but it didn't matter, Daracha was one step closer to achieving what she wanted, and I was the only thing left standing between her and access to Stavarjak.
Everything Saxony said about there being another option, about not having to kill, flew apart like a scattering of startled crows. If I had been strong enough to do what needed to be done, this other Wise wouldn't be dead right now.
I put a hand over my mouth and choked off the scream building there. Rage thrashed my heart as I waged war against the terror rising up my throat, trying its best to choke me. Bracing both hands against the desk, I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth.
Shoving back the chair, I snatched up the newspaper article and balled it in my fist as I headed for the door. The sweet face of Mary Gray swam before my eyes, igniting my conviction like a sparkler.
Daracha was coming for me, but what the witch and her creepy little minion didn't know meant I had an advantage. She would underestimate me. She didn't know that I was coming for her too, and—if all went according to plan—I was coming with the power of Queen Elphame at my back.
Chapter Twelve
Fingers gripping the note in my pocket, I slipped through the castle's rear entrance and out into the cool, overcast day. Rose blossoms bobbed in the light breeze and seemed to beckon me to Stavarjak. My breath was shallow, and my chest felt tight with a tense kind of hope. When I reached the end of the garden maze I took a last glance at the castle and slipped behind a tall shrub. Stepping through the thin veil between my world and the world I hoped held the answers, a warm puff of air hit me in the face and made me blink. I looked up into a clear sky of radiant blue, the clouds of the Highlands banished in a moment.
Insects and birds chirruped and called to one another as I wound my way through the woods to the thin trail leading to Fyfa's cottage. Hands in my pockets and fingering the note, I took it out and looked at it now and again as I walked. Part of me expected the holographic quality to disappear, leaving me with no proof and no way of showing it to Fyfa. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened. The holographic effect and digits were there every time I looked. Was it possible that whoever tampered with this note had also tampered with Jasher's letter to me? Jasher's letter hadn't appeared holographic, it was all written in his uniform, slightly messy handwriting… but still. Notes being tamp
ered with. Twice didn’t make a pattern, but it sure was suspicious.
The scent of sulfur struck me and I waved my hand in front of my face, nose wrinkling. Then I froze as the air changed, and I realized the birds and insects had stopped singing. I was halfway to Fyfa's cottage, and not far from the river that burbled through her land. My heart ratcheted itself into a fearful canter and the hair on the back of my neck and forearms swept to standing. I was not alone.
An otrikar. Maybe even the otrikar. I'd never know since the amphibian was all but invisible. My eyes swept from side to side, straining for some telltale movement. I stood there on the trail like a mannequin, hardly breathing. My senses dulled as though a transparent cotton blanket had been thrown over my head. My mind searched for what Fyfa had said about the camouflaging amphibian from Gechridad. She said you couldn't see it if you were looking right at it, and that they were stupid creatures. The one that had attacked us, she hadn't seen coming, but she had heard it. My ears perked, struggling to detect the creature my nose told me was not far away.
When the first cold tentacle touched my skin, just beneath my ear, I closed my eyes against the horror. Fyfa had at first told me to be still, and when I'd recoiled from the otrikar's touch, she'd told me to run. So, maybe if I was still, it would just go away.
The cold, moist tentacle left a trail across the back of my neck before leaving its slime along the back of my jacket. It was joined by a second, which touched my knee and traveled up my thigh. It bumped over the rosehip in my pocket and slipped under the hem of my jacket. I took a slow, shaky breath as the tentacle touched the skin at my waist. This was a nightmare. My core was beginning to tremble, I thought that the effort to keep still was going to send me into madness. The amphibian was a predator, so that meant it was looking for food. Did that mean it had a big mouth full of teeth? Or a sharp beak to puncture and gouge?