by Jenna Black
“Perhaps you need some time to think it over. I’m not demanding that you make a decision this instant. You have my phone number now. If you decide you might like to negotiate after all, don’t hesitate to call me.”
Once again, I found myself at a loss for words. I expected the Erlking to hang up, or maybe give an evil laugh or something. But I obviously hadn’t come close to figuring him out yet, because he did no such thing.
“Remember what I told you when we first met,” he said. “I am not your enemy, even if we do at times find ourselves at cross-purposes.”
I remembered him saying that, though he’d also pointed out that he wasn’t my friend, either.
Thinking about our first meeting, I remembered the Erlking warning Finn and me that we had an imposter in our midst. A “token of goodwill,” he’d called it.
“It’s been a pleasure speaking with you,” he said, and I realized he was about to hang up.
“Wait!” I said, surprising myself.
I thought I was too late, but a moment later the Erlking said, “Go on.”
“Why did you warn me about the imposter the other day?”
“I suspect you’re clever enough to figure it out on your own. But then I’ve put you into a stressful situation, and I suppose that isn’t conducive to clear thinking.” He managed to say that without sounding particularly condescending, though I don’t know how he managed it.
“I want something from you, Dana,” he continued. “I want it very badly. If your enemies should kill you, they will ruin my chances of getting it. I am highly motivated to keep you alive.” He laughed a little. “You may not feel it, but you are safer now than you have been from the moment you first set foot in Avalon. I will not let any harm come to you.”
What the hell was I supposed to say to that? Thank you? Uh, no.
It didn’t occur to me until after he hung up that the Erlking was suggesting my life had been in danger when I’d been out with Fake-Lachlan. But the imposter had been meaning to kidnap me and take me to Aunt Grace. Aunt Grace wanted me alive, so she could use my powers to usurp the Seelie throne.
Either the Erlking was lying to me, or Aunt Grace’s plans had changed.
Chapter Fourteen
Over the course of the next few days, I tried to act as normal as possible under the circumstances. On Thursday morning, I had my regularly scheduled lesson with Keane. I still sensed a bit of strain between us, but on the whole it wasn’t too bad. I manufactured reasons to leave my safe house at least once a day, craving the sunlight and fresh air. Well, this was Avalon, so I got rain, fog, and fresh air instead.
I still hadn’t nerved myself up to calling Kimber, and every day that passed without me calling just dug the hole deeper. In my gloomiest moments, I wondered if I’d been wrong when I’d blamed my mom and her embarrassing addiction for my inability to make friends in the past. Maybe I just wasn’t good friendship material.
On Friday, I started my morning with a trip to Starbucks to replenish my coffee supply. Even though the Erlking had already done his worst, my dad still insisted I not leave the safe house without two guards, so I had Finn and Lachlan with me. I wondered resentfully if it had ever occurred to Dad that I’d had two guards with me when the Erlking had taken Ethan, and that those guards had proved useless.
My mood had sunk to an all-time low. I’d spent hours trying to figure out how I could help Ethan, and I didn’t have a single workable idea to show for it. My mind kept circling back to the same territory, the same useless ideas playing endlessly in my brain. I didn’t know who I thought I was kidding, how I thought I could defeat the Erlking when no one else could. It all seemed so hopeless …
While I was waiting for the nice lady at Starbucks to ring up my purchase, I heard the rumble of motorcycles approaching, and my day went from bad to worse. My stomach clenched with dread.
How did the Erlking keep finding me? Avalon is small, but it’s not that small. It couldn’t be a coincidence that of the handful of times I’d left my cave since he’d arrived, I’d run into him three times.
The other customers all fell silent, as did the baristas. Everyone turned to stare out the large picture windows that looked out onto Avalon’s main road. Finn’s magic prickled over my skin as he and Lachlan closed ranks around me.
“Don’t worry, Dana,” Finn said. “Neither Lachlan nor I will fall for any tricks he might pull.”
That wasn’t what I was worried about, but I didn’t bother to correct him. My instincts told me that the Erlking wasn’t going to attack anyone today. He’d already made his move when he’d captured Ethan. And I knew he was going to rub my face in it, remind me just what my refusal to make a deal with him was costing Ethan.
I should have closed my eyes, turned away, ducked into the ladies room. Anything to avoid letting the Erlking’s strategy work. Instead, I stood motionless by the window and watched as the Wild Hunt came into view.
The Erlking was at the head of their pack, as usual, though he wasn’t wearing his helmet. His hair blew free in the wind, and even though he was the enemy—no matter what he claimed—I couldn’t help noticing for just one moment the wild, masculine, dangerous beauty of him.
Then my eyes were drawn to his Huntsmen. Unlike their leader, they were all wearing their helmets, faces obscured behind the darkened visors. My eyes roved frantically from one to another, wondering if one of those nameless, faceless Huntsmen could possibly be Ethan. At first, they all looked the same to me, the differences in height and build not enough of an identifier. But then my eyes caught on the rider bringing up the rear. The height and the build were right for Ethan, but that wasn’t what drew my eyes to him. What drew my eyes were the wisps of blond hair that trailed from under his helmet.
There was not a hint of skin or hair showing on any of the other riders. Their bodies were completely encased in their leathers, and if any of them had long hair, it was kept under their helmets. Except for that one rider. It was not a coincidence.
The Hunt drove slowly by. The Erlking gave me a jaunty wave as he passed, but he didn’t stop, and the rest of his Huntsmen looked straight ahead. Except for the last one, who turned his head toward the window as he rode by.
My throat ached. Was that really Ethan? Unless he raised the visor on his helmet, I couldn’t be sure. I felt the pressure of his eyes on me, though I couldn’t see them. He made no gesture, and he didn’t slow down, his bike maintaining a perfect, uniform distance from the one in front of him.
Who was I kidding? Of course it was Ethan! The Erlking had gone out of his way to make sure that one Huntsman let his hair stray from underneath the helmet, giving me the clue I needed to differentiate Ethan from the rest.
Ethan turned to face front again. Even without seeing his face, I knew that look had been a cry for help. Maybe a cry the Erlking had forced him to make, but one I couldn’t refuse.
Everyone in the shop kind of held their breath for a minute or so after the Hunt had passed us by, wondering if they were going to come back and make trouble, but they didn’t. Finn and Lachlan were both visibly relieved that the Erlking and his Hunt were gone. I don’t know if either of them had realized the point of the Erlking’s display, or if they’d even realized that one of those faceless riders was Ethan. They might feel like the Erlking had left without attacking, but I knew better.
Seeing Ethan bound to the Hunt like that was a shock to my system; a shock that woke me up, shook me out of my despair.
* * *
I was having no luck trying to figure out how to defeat the Erlking. All well and good to label myself the only reliable person in my life, but clearly I couldn’t do this on my own, no matter how much I wanted to.
As Finn and I returned to my safe house, I thought long and hard about who I could approach for help. My parents were, of course, out of the question. Dad had already written the cause off as hopeless, and neither he nor Mom would let me take even the slightest risk to help Ethan. Finn and Lachlan were out for
the same reasons. After Keane had told me exactly how he felt about Ethan, I could hardly expect him to want to help me launch or even plan a rescue. That left me with only one option.
Once back at the safe house, I retreated to my suite and closed the door behind me. Then I retreated even further, to my bedroom. I grabbed the phone, then sat cross-legged on my bed and willed myself to make the call I so dreaded.
It took me forever to scrape up the nerve, but eventually I turned on the phone and dialed Kimber’s number. It would have served me right if she hadn’t been home and I’d had to spend hours upon hours working myself into even more of a nervous wreck, but fate—for once—took pity on me.
Kimber picked up on the third ring, although she didn’t say anything. She had caller ID, too, so she had to know it was me. Her accusatory silence made me cringe, and at first I couldn’t force myself to speak.
“Hey,” I finally said, then cursed myself for being so lame. Unfortunately, my brain had gone on strike, and I couldn’t think of what else to say.
“Hey yourself,” she answered, sounding cool and distant. When I’d first met her, she’d acted like the stereotypical Fae ice princess—just like this.
Words finally formed in my mind, though they weren’t any less lame. “I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. I…” My voice died. Anything I said to explain my silence would just be an excuse, and a sorry one at that.
Kimber sighed. “I could have picked up the phone, too,” she said, and she sounded slightly more like herself.
I shook my head, though she couldn’t see me. “It was up to me to make the first move, and I blew it.” Please don’t let me have ruined this friendship, I prayed silently.
“No, I blew it. You’ve been going through hell ever since you set foot in Avalon, and I’m supposed to be your friend. I just … I didn’t know if I could stand it if you blamed me for what happened.”
Blamed her? Surely she was joking. “I think we’ve got a bad connection,” I said. “I thought you just said you were worried I’d blame you for what happened. But that’s about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, so I must have gotten it wrong.”
“You mean you don’t?” she asked, her voice so tentative it made my heart ache.
“Of course I don’t blame you! Why on earth would I blame you when it was all because of me that the Erlking took Ethan?”
“Because neither of you would have been there if it weren’t for me. The spa trip was all my idea, and so was visiting the tea shop. And then I left the two of you alone.” Her words were coming out in an almost frantic rush. “If I’d been there with you, I could have stopped Ethan from trying to play hero. You didn’t want me to leave you alone with Ethan, but I thought I knew better. I—”
A laugh burst out of me, completely unexpected. “All this time,” I started, then the laughter took me again. I was bordering on hysterical, and I knew it. That didn’t mean I could stop. “I’ve been afraid to call you.” Hiccups joined the laughter. “I was afraid you’d hate me because it was all my fault Ethan got taken.”
Kimber caught a bit of my hysteria, and she started to giggle. “No way,” she said. “It’s not your fault at all!”
The laughter died as fast as it had started, which was just as well since it was hard to laugh and talk coherently at the same time. “Of course it’s my fault. The Erlking wouldn’t have had any interest in Ethan if it weren’t for me.”
Kimber sobered at the same time. “That doesn’t make it your fault,” she told me quietly. “Are you going to blame your mom, too? Because if she hadn’t given birth to you, you wouldn’t be here, and the Erlking wouldn’t have been interested in Ethan, and Ethan wouldn’t have been captured. So that makes it all her fault, right?”
“When you put it that way…”
“Besides,” she continued, “if you think it’s your fault just because you exist, then it has to be at least partly my fault for being Ethan’s enabler. By ducking out on you, I put him in harm’s way.”
“It’s not like you meant to.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh.” Hearing her lay it all out like that made me feel just a little bit stupid for having wallowed as much as I had.
Kimber blew out a deep breath. “Ethan isn’t blameless, either,” she said. “He knew the Erlking couldn’t hurt anyone in Avalon unless that person attacked him first. Why did he have to give the Erlking the chance?”
“I’m sure he didn’t have time to really think about what he was doing.”
She snorted softly. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Ethan is so full of himself he’s biologically incapable of resisting an opportunity to save the day.”
Her words were scathing, but I heard the pain under them. Ethan drove her nuts, but he was still her brother, and she did love him.
“I’m not giving up on him,” I told her.
“Everyone else has,” she said bitterly.
“I know. But not me. And, I hope, not you. That’s actually why I was calling. I was wondering if you could help me brainstorm a bit, see if we can come up with a way to help Ethan.”
She hesitated a moment. “What can the two of us possibly hope to do against the Erlking? We’re a little outclassed.”
“Maybe,” I admitted. Paranoia said that discussing possible rescue plans over the phone wasn’t such a hot idea. “Can I come over so we can talk about it in person?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a laugh in her voice. “Can you?”
I managed a feeble laugh in response. She could never resist teasing me about my misuse of the word can, and it had now become something of an inside joke.
“Sorry,” I said. “I forgot I was talking to the Grammar Nazi. May I come over?”
“Of course.”
“You know I’ll have my bodyguards with me,” I warned.
“I’ll make tea. They can stand guard in the living room, and we can talk in my bedroom. They’ll give you that much space, won’t they?”
“Yeah,” I said, though I figured it might take some persuading. “It might be a little while before I get there. I have to get hold of Lachlan and let my dad know where I’m going first. I’ll call as soon as I know my ETA.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
Conveniently—if completely by accident—I arrived at Kimber’s apartment right at tea time. Playing the gracious hostess, she served Finn and Lachlan a selection of finger sandwiches with their tea. I could tell Finn wasn’t comfortable with being treated as a guest, but Kimber pretended to ignore that, practically shoving the tea into his face until he was forced to take it. She then led me back to her bedroom, where she’d laid out a very different tea spread for the two of us.
I couldn’t help smiling the moment I stepped into the room and sniffed the air.
“Hot posset?” I asked hopefully. I’d never even heard of a hot posset before coming to Avalon, but Kimber now had me addicted to the hot milk-and-honey drink.
“Of course,” she said. “If there ever was a situation that called for hot posset, this would be it.”
Kimber had described it as a cure-all, and it certainly was comforting to drink. Too bad it couldn’t cure what currently ailed us.
We both sat on Kimber’s bed and picked up a mug. Having learned from painful experience in the past, I took a small, cautious sip before diving in. I wasn’t completely surprised to find that sip burning all the way down my throat and into my stomach. I blinked and shook my head.
“How much whiskey is in this?” I asked her. When she made posset for me, she used only a touch of whiskey for flavor, but I knew she liked it strong enough to make an elephant drunk.
She grinned at me over her steaming mug. “You don’t want to know. Now drink up.”
I eyed my mug doubtfully. “I don’t want Finn and Lachlan to have to carry me home.” I hated to admit it, but because of my mom, I was just a little afraid of alcohol. I never, ever wanted to become the sloppy, stupid drunk I’d seen my mo
m become. No buzz in the world was worth that to me.
“Trust me, it’s not that much whiskey. I know better, remember?”
I relaxed and took another sip. Kimber did indeed know better. I wasn’t all that good at trusting people, and Kimber hadn’t always played things straight with me in the past, but I believed I could trust her now. I’d just try not to gulp the posset down too fast, and I’d be fine.
“The Erlking called me,” I told her, and she practically choked on her swallow of hot posset. “Sorry,” I said, wincing as she coughed and put the mug down.
“He called you?” she asked, appalled.
I nodded. Here came the hard part. I really hoped Kimber would agree with me that I couldn’t make a devil’s bargain with the Erlking, because otherwise, this could get real awkward, real fast. “He wants to set up a trade. I take him and his Huntsmen out on a killing spree in the mortal world, and he’ll free Ethan.”
Kimber was naturally pale, but she became even more so as what little color she had faded from her cheeks. “You aren’t thinking of actually doing it, are you?”
I stared into my mug, afraid to meet her gaze. “What if it’s the only way to free Ethan?”
“Then he’ll just have to live with being part of the Wild Hunt,” she said. There was a faint quaver in her voice, although she still managed to sound firm and decisive.
I risked a glance at her face, and there was no missing the determination in her expression. “Are you sure?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’m sure. Ethan wouldn’t want to be freed if it cost other people their lives. He can be a selfish, egotistical bastard, but he’s a good guy at heart. And if you ever tell him I said that, I’ll never speak to you again.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I vowed, relieved that she and I were in agreement. “So, giving the Erlking what he asked for is out of the question. But there must be something else he wants, something that only a Faeriewalker can give him. I just can’t for the life of me think of what that might be.”