Shadow Faerie

by Rachel Morgan

  A dark cloud draws across my elation. “What?”

  “The changeling spell was applied to both of them. To Dani and Ada. In order to properly remove it, the two of them need to be one again.”

  I look down at Ada, considering exactly what this means. “She’ll never agree to it, obviously, and it sounds like she’s strong enough now to resist, but I can command her to do it. To … reform with Daniela, if that’s what you call it.” I look back up at Zed. “I assume you know how to wake my mother from whatever spell Ada placed on her? Or I suppose I can just tell Ada to do it. She called it ‘irreversible,’ but if Roarke was planning to wake Mom, then Ada must have been lying about that part.”

  “I know how to wake her based on what I overheard from the prince,” Zed says. “But perhaps it would be better to command Ada to do it. She’s the only one who knows exactly what magic she used.”

  I glance down at the ruby on my bracelet. “So many things for my Griffin Ability to do.” Having recovered from my initial shock—physically, at least, if not emotionally—I climb to my feet. “I’d better go and get Mom so she’s here when my ability is ready to be used.”

  “On your own?” Dash asks, surprise coloring his features.

  “Yes. You said one of us should stay here, remember? And that was before Zed ran into the room and then Ada showed up. Now you have to watch both of them, as well as keep a look out for any new dangers. You definitely can’t come with me.”

  “Hey, haven’t I proven myself yet?” Zed asks. “I told you the truth. About everything to do with you and Dani and the changeling spell. And I helped stun Ada.” He looks at Dash, who is no longer holding a crossbow. His hands are steady at his sides, though, as if he’s prepared to grab another weapon at a moment’s notice. “You don’t have to worry about guarding me,” Zed says to him. “I’ll watch Ada if you want to go with Em.”

  “No,” Dash and I say at the same time. “I’m not leaving you alone here,” Dash adds. “But Em, maybe you should wait. We can go together later after you’ve used your Griffin Ability to—”

  “No. I don’t want to wait any longer. I’ll be fine, Dash. No one wants to hurt me where I’m going.”

  “Okay, but your mom is heavy. How will you carry her?”

  I walk to the sideboard and pick up one of the candles. “I’m actually not completely useless with ordinary magic, Dash. I can do this—” I snap my fingers and a flame appears atop the candle “—and I can carry my mom.”

  As bright light flares around me, I squeeze my eyes shut and picture the only other place I can think of that was safe: Dash’s parents’ home. When I sense grass beneath my feet, I open my eyes and look around. I expect to find the pretty garden—that’s what I was picturing—but I’m standing in front of a tall hedge. “Crap,” I murmur. I must be outside the property. I look hurriedly around, but there’s no one else here. And now that I’m alone, away from Zed and Ada, the protective enchantment over the Griffin rebels’ safe place allows me to once again think of and picture the oasis.

  I remove Aurora’s stylus from inside my coat and replace it with the candle. The candle might work to get me to the oasis, but I’m not sure. At least I know how the faerie paths work now. I bend down and write on the grass while speaking the words I thankfully haven’t forgotten. A thrill rushes through me at the sight of a doorway appearing on the ground at my feet; the novelty of performing magic hasn’t yet worn off for me. I sit on the edge of the dark hole and let myself slip into it. I might be falling, but I can’t tell. Everything is utterly dark and still as I focus firmly on the desert and the dome layer that shields the oasis.

  Then abruptly, my feet strike sand and I stumble forward. Hot air smothers me and bright light almost blinds me. I manage to catch myself before tripping onto my knees. After steadying myself, I squint and twist around until I see the faint outline of a dome and hazy shapes within it. When I left, part of me thought I’d never see this oasis again. I knew I might never return from the Unseelie Court. I hoped I would, of course, but I was willing to go through with that union as an absolute last resort if it meant healing Mom.

  Now, the thought of that union makes me want to be sick.

  I walk as quickly as I can across the hot sand and slip through the dome layer into the fresh, cool oasis air, hoping desperately that no one sees me. I don’t have time to answer questions or explain where I’m taking Mom. And I don’t have time to apologize—which I definitely want to do properly once this is all over and Mom is safe and healed.

  My eyes scan the oasis as I stride quickly—but not too quickly—toward the tree that contains the house I left Mom in. I lower my head and try to remain inconspicuous, but then I remember I’m wearing completely ridiculous clothing, and that of course I’ll stand out if someone sees me. But it appears to be the middle of the day here, so I guess everyone’s busy.

  At the base of the giant tree, I pause and look around again. Two kids sit beneath another tree eating something, but neither of them look my way. In the distance, someone leads a large creature—a gargoyle?—out from behind a clump of shrubs. But he or she is too far away to realize I’m not someone who lives here.

  My footsteps are silent on the many stairs winding around the tree. When I reach Ryn and Vi’s door, I listen outside for several moments, hearing no movement or voices. They’re probably far away on some important mission. They might, I realize with a guilty lurch, be searching for Dash and me. I almost continue upward, but my conscience gets the better of me. I duck into their kitchen, then pause for a moment to breathe in the smell of something freshly baked. I look across the counter tops and find a blank scroll and a pencil that keeps changing colors in my hand. Quickly, I scribble a note: Dash and I are fine. I’ve taken my mom. Will be back soon. I’m so sorry I left. Em.

  I leave the paper in the center of the kitchen table and place a vase over it just in case a breeze moves through here. Dash would do more than this. He’d go looking for someone he knows here. He’d explain things. He’d make sure that anyone out searching for us is notified immediately of our safety and our whereabouts. But I don’t have time for things like that, and I’m already aware that Dash is a better person than I am.

  As I head for the door, my stomach grumbles, and I realize suddenly how hungry I am. Hungry and thirsty. Telling myself it isn’t stealing—even though it kind of is—I grab the cloth-wrapped loaf of bread from the top of the stove, along with the contents of the fruit bowl, and drop them all into a backpack hanging from one of the chairs. I cast about for something to drink. Do they have bottles in this world? Something I can take with me? For some reason, I doubt plastic exists here. Then I notice an ornate glass shape with something that might be a cork in the top. After removing the stopper, sniffing the contents, tasting it and confirming that it’s water—and then taking a second, large gulp—I add it to the backpack.

  And that’s when I notice three glass vials lined up along the back of the counter. Vials the same size as the one containing the elixir to stimulate my Griffin Ability. Vials, I realize as I bend closer, that have my name written in tiny letters on them. “Perfect,” I whisper, silently thanking Ana for making more elixir for me. I remember her saying she would, but I knew I’d be gone by the time she was done with a new batch.

  I slide the vials into a pocket inside the backpack and hurry out of the house. I continue further up, just past the simple little tree house that was mine for the brief period I stayed here. Stopping outside the next room, I experience a sudden, irrational fear that I’m going to step inside and find the room empty. I twist the handle and push the door open—and Mom is exactly where I left her. Relief courses through me as I hurry to her side. Looking down at her unconscious form, I’m almost overcome by everything I’ve learned in the past hour or so. You don’t really know this woman at all, a tiny voice reminds me. But I can’t focus on that thought. For now, I need to get her out of here.

  I take a few steps back, recall the early sp
ells I practiced while at the Unseelie Palace, and mutter the words that will lift Mom from her bed. She slides sideways and rolls clumsily into the air. With fierce concentration, I manage to catch her and keep her floating there. Once I’m certain she isn’t going to tumble to the floor, I direct her through the air just ahead of me and walk out of the tree house. I manage to successfully make it all the way down the spiral staircase, though it takes me longer than I would have liked.

  I realize, as I reach the bottom, that this is probably the last time I’ll see this place. I once secretly dreamed of Mom and me living out the remainder of our days in this magical paradise, but that was before I knew she wasn’t just one person. That was before I knew that in order to heal her, she’d have to join with Ada, one of the most dangerous faeries I’ve met in this world. When the Griffin rebels find out who my mother truly is, I doubt they’ll let us return.

  I walk across the grass, keeping close to Mom as she floats next to me. As I near the dome layer, a shout reaches my ears. I look over my shoulder to see someone in the distance waving and moving quickly toward me. No time for that, I remind myself as I step through the protective layer of magic. Heat slams into me as I place Mom on the sand. I kneel beside her, hold tightly onto one of her hands, raise the black traveling candle between us, and light a flame.

  Thirty-Four

  Blinding light blazes around us as I shut my eyes and picture the room at the base of the tower in the shadow world. After a moment, I sense a hard surface beneath my knees, and the light on the other side of my eyelids begins to dim.

  “Em. You did it!”

  I open my eyes to see Dash in front of me, a bright splash of color against the muted tones of the shadow world. “No need to sound so surprised.” I let go of Mom’s hand.

  “No, I just mean that I thought someone would stop you. I thought someone—at least one person—would come back with you.”

  “I didn’t see anyone I know,” I tell him, leaving out the part about someone running toward me as I left. Zed crosses the room, kneels on the other side of Mom, and takes one of her hands in his. “I guess everyone must be busy at the moment. I did leave a note, though.” I can’t remember where, now that I’m in the company of someone who isn’t supposed to know about the Griffin rebels, but I know I left a note somewhere.

  “A note?” Dash says. “That’s it?”

  “Someone will see it soon, I’m sure. And besides, this will be over soon, right? Then you can return, and I’ll find somewhere safe for me and Mom. Hopefully once she’s a normal, healthy faerie again, she’ll be stronger than Ada, and Ada will never be able to get out again. Mom will be in control, and everything will be fine.”

  Dash and Zed both look at me with doubtful expressions.

  “What?” I demand. “It’ll all work out, okay?”

  Zed nods, returning his gaze to my mother. “It will. I’m just not sure it’ll be as easy as you’re hoping.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m used to that,” I grumble as I look across the room at Ada. She’s lying in the same position I last saw her in, but a semi-opaque spherical shape surrounds her completely. “What’s that?”

  “I put her in a bubble,” Dash says. “A shield. I figured she might wake up quietly without us noticing. She could probably turn her ropes to glass in an instant and shatter them, and if that happens, I want her to remain contained.”

  “Good thinking.” I remove the backpack from my shoulder. “I brought some food. Well, technically I stole some food, but hopefully Vi and Ryn won’t mind too much. At least we can eat and drink something while we wait for Ada and Mom to wake up.”

  “Waiting in this world is dangerous,” Zed says quietly. “We should go somewhere else. My home, maybe. No one important knows about it. No one would find us there.”

  “Great idea,” Dash says. “If only we knew we could trust you.”

  Zed looks up with a frown. “You haven’t forgotten that I love her, have you?” he says fiercely. “I’m not going to run away from this. I’m here to fix my mistakes.”

  “Look, this may be a strange world,” I say to them, “but it’s the safest place for us to be right now. The Guild doesn’t know about it. Most of the Unseelies don’t know about it. And the one other place that’s properly safe is impossible for us to get to as long as Dash and I are not alone. So let’s just be patient until Zed can perform the spell, and then we’ll get out of here. Dash, you can return to your Guild job—assuming you still have one—Zed, you can get back to your life feeling a little less guilty than before, and Mom and I … we’ll find somewhere safe to go.”

  Zed opens his mouth, probably to tell me where he thinks Mom and I should go, but I silence him with a glare. If he’s about to suggest we all live together as a happy family after the things he’s done to Mom and me, I might have to hurt him.

  I move to sit a little further away from Mom, place the backpack in front of me, and open it. “Look what else I found,” I say to Dash, holding up one of the three glass vials.

  He sits beside me and takes the vial. “Is this …”

  “The stuff that stimulates my Griffin Ability? Yes.”

  “Awesome.” He hands it back. “Now we don’t have to wait until tonight.”

  “Yep. We can get on with things as soon as Ada wakes up.” I remove the bread, fruit and oddly shaped bottle from the backpack. My parched throat is desperate for water, but before I can drink any of it, Dash places both hands around the bottle. He concentrates furiously, and gradually the bottle doubles in size. “That’s convenient,” I say.

  We pass the bottle around, each eagerly drinking from it despite the awkward shape and size. In the silence that accompanies us as we snack on chunks of bread, my mind begins churning over every detail of Zed’s story. It’s still hard to believe that my mother—Dani—decided to leave her own life behind and take over someone else’s. And Zed never mentioned exactly what happened to the original Macy Clarke after the changeling spell. She must have died, but … how long did it take? Did it happen in her own home? Did she know what was happening to her? And what did Zed and Dani do with her body afterwards?

  It’s so horribly morbid to think of, but I can’t help it. Macy didn’t do anything wrong. Zed randomly chose her, replaced her baby with an imposter, and then essentially killed her too. And Mom is the one who asked him to do it.

  I shrink away from that idea, not wanting to think of my mother as a murderer. She must have had a very good reason for taking over Macy’s life. Perhaps it was a reason Zed didn’t even know about. Something bigger, something that makes more sense. And she’ll probably tell me it was a horrible, awful mistake to have caused an innocent human’s death, and I’ll tell her not to regret it because it brought the two of us together.

  Even though I can barely think the words without feeling sick to my stomach.

  “Oh, we shouldn’t forget about Roarke,” Dash adds, interrupting my thoughts. “And his guards. They’re probably awake now, tied up with guardian ropes they hopefully have no way of breaking. I assume they’re protected from the shadow beings?”

  “Uh, yes.” I gladly latch onto this distraction from my disturbing thoughts. “Their amulets will protect them from the ink-shades. They should be fine until we can get back to them.”

  “Unless someone else finds them first,” Dash says. “What about Roarke’s sister? She knows about this world. She may have rescued him already.”

  “Yes, that’s possible.” I tear the chunk of bread in my hands into two smaller pieces. “Or maybe … there’s another woman. I didn’t see her, but I overheard her talking to Roarke. She knows about this world too. She might already have found him.”

  Dash’s expression darkens. “If that’s the case, then she might still be here. Looking for us.”

  “See?” Zed murmurs. “Staying here is a bad idea.”

  “Nothing’s going to go wrong,” I tell him sternly, wondering if I should get the elixir out of the backpack and put
some magical power behind that statement.

  Dash nudges my knee with the edge of his shoe. “Glad to see my positive vibes are rubbing off on you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Don’t get your hopes up. That’s about as positive as I’ll be getting.”

  Dash gives me a sad face, then pulls the oversized bottle closer to drink more water. I pop a piece of bread into my mouth and chew. Since thoughts of my mother are too confusing to face right now, I let my mind turn back to the start of Zed’s story. To the guardian couple he was told to steal a baby from. Fear tangles with a whisper of excitement. Do I want to know who they are? Do I want to know who I really am? Do I want to know what my name would have been, whether I have any siblings, where I would have lived?

  I clear my throat. “You said you’re here to fix your mistakes,” I say to Zed. “Do you mean your mistakes regarding my mother and the changeling spell? Or do you mean me as well? Because it wasn’t just her life you screwed up. You started with mine.”

  He looks away from me. “I wish I could say I can fix your life too, but—

  “But you only care about Dani.”

  He sighs. “It’s true that she’s my first priority. But if I could help you too, Em, I would. I just have no idea where your parents are now, or if they’re even alive.”

  I swallow. “What do you know about them?”

  “They were excellent guardians. Two of the best, so I heard, although that wasn’t what I experienced when I went to their home to take you. They were unprepared, and it was easy enough to stun them both. I don’t know what happened to them after I took you. They were related to an old friend of mine, but I never saw her again either.

  “The huge battle on Velazar Island took place not long after that. There were prisoners, guardians, witches, and even Lord Draven himself, with his own army of gargoyles. I still don’t know how that was possible; he was supposed to have been killed a decade before that. Some said afterwards it was all a lie, but plenty still believe it was actually him who was burned to death after the veil was ripped. Anyway, my point is that your parents were probably there. They might have been captured by the Guild after the head councilor at the time revealed all the Griffin Gifted. Because they must have had Griffin Abilities themselves,” he adds as he gestures toward me. “Your own Griffin magic is proof of that. Or they might have been killed in the fighting. I don’t know.”