She cocks her head. “Really, Em? Are you that stupid? I’ve been in control since the moment I woke up from Zed’s reversal spell.”
“But … it was my mother—it was Dani who—”
“What, you think I can’t act? You think I can’t pretend to be exactly like her after sharing my body with her for most of my life?” She stands a few feet away with her hands on her hips and light flickering across her face. In her jeans and shirt, it’s difficult to imagine her as the deadly glass faerie in the sliver cloak and black mask. But it’s her, no matter what she looks like now. “You’re an idiot, Em. An idiot for believing Dani would ever be strong enough to take control of our body after we merged again. She’s so weak, I can’t even hear her. She may as well be dead. And since I’m the one in control now, she’ll never be able to use her Griffin Ability again. She’ll never be able to force us to split.”
“If you’re so brilliant at acting like her,” I say bitterly, “then perhaps you shouldn’t have suggested that our mother-daughter bonding include killing people.”
Ada rolls her eyes. “If you knew Dani as well as I do, you’d know that she’d be just as likely to suggest using an insignificant human to gain power. But you don’t, Em. You’ve never known what she’s really like.”
“But you should have known me,” I tell her. “I grew up in that world. Did you really think I’d be happy killing one of its inhabitants? You’re the idiot, Ada.”
She shrugs. “Yeah. I’m the idiot with an Unseelie army on my side.”
I look out at them again, fear tightening my stomach. “It shouldn’t be possible,” I murmur, trying to fathom how they can be here. “I said they would never enter this world.”
“Yes, but you also made the mistake of saying this world belonged to me as much as it does to you. So I gave the Unseelies permission to enter. As easy as that.” She twists her hand in the air, and a small sandstorm attacks the shield layer. I duck down, but the shield remains intact. “Impressive,” Ada says. “You clearly forgot to mention you learned how to cast a shield.”
I say nothing as I straighten. I have no idea where the shield layer came from, but I’m not complaining about it as long as it separates me from Ada and the soldiers behind her—and the heat of the flames. “You should hate the Unseelies, shouldn’t you? Zed said you guys were tortured by a former Unseelie Prince. So why would you bring them here?”
“Come on, Em. I can’t hold an entire family responsible for one prince who decided to go rogue and build an army to take power for himself. That would be unfair of me. The people I do hate, however, are guardians. There are plenty I still need to get rid of, and that kind of thing is easier when you have friends to help you. Ah, and there he is,” she adds, looking past me. “One of my newest friends.”
“Guardians are gathering at Velazar II,” a voice says from behind me. A voice I’ve come to hate. “They’ll be starting the ceremony soon. Ah, you retrieved Emerson. Well done.” Roarke strides past the fire circle and stops beside Ada. And with him is—
“Clarina?” I say.
Still in her handmaid’s uniform, Clarina folds her arms across her chest and stares directly at me. “I think I’m enjoying this shocked expression I keep seeing on people’s faces. Aurora, these men and women behind us, and now you. It almost makes all the years of waiting worth it.” Her voice is devoid of its usual respect. I realize abruptly that this is the woman I overheard in Roarke’s bedroom.
“Wow,” I say, shifting my attention to Roarke. “I didn’t take you for someone who’d fall in love with a lady’s maid.”
Roarke snorts. “Clarina isn’t a lady’s maid. She’s a spy. My spy.”
“And I am, in fact, of noble birth,” Clarina adds.
“Ah, well that makes sense then. A prince of the Unseelies would never shack up with the hired help.” I look at her, thinking of all the times she’s seen Roarke and me together. Not once did she seem upset, even when she caught us kissing. “You’re a good actress. I’ll give you that, at least.”
“I’m a very good actress,” she corrects. “And now the pretense is finally paying off.”
“Why? What was the point?” I look at Roarke. “Who were you spying on?”
He smiles. “Everyone.”
“Where’s Aurora?” I ask, suddenly realizing I haven’t seen her since the night she warned me about Roarke’s plans. “Is she also—”
“It’s none of your business, actually,” Roarke continues, “and we have more important things to do now than tell stories. I would take you with us, Emerson—I suspect your Griffin Ability might actually be powerful enough to tear the veil open further—but I can’t risk losing you to the Guild. I might never get you back, and you’ll be worth more to me in the future than you would be today.”
“And why bother with Em when you have me?” Ada adds. “I’ve gathered far more power than she’ll probably ever have.”
“That’s true. For now, at least.” Roarke breathes in deeply. “Okay, get rid of that shield of hers,” he says to Ada, “then hand her over to Clarina. She knows where to lock her up.”
“With pleasure,” Ada answers, raising both hands. Behind her, several soldiers do the same. I duck down again as hundreds of stones bombard the shield. Within seconds, the rippling shield magic vanishes with a flash. Heat sears the air around me. I carefully raise my head enough to peer over the top of the flames, already planning my escape route.
“Where the hell is she?” Roarke yells, his eyes sliding past me.
What? I look down, but as far as I can tell, I’m still visible.
“Dammit, where did she go?” he shouts, walking right up to the circle. Is this world protecting me, perhaps? Because I told it I’d be safe here? I don’t know, but I’m not wasting this opportunity. Turning away from Roarke, I bend my knees, then kick off the ground with as much force as I can muster. My knees come up to my chest as I sail across the fire circle, clearing the ring of dancing flames. I hit the ground with both feet and straighten immediately. Then, with no candle to get me out of here, I take off in the direction of the wall that conceals the veil tear.
“Find her!” Roarke shouts. “And the rest of you, follow me to Velazar.”
Crap. That’s the same way I’m going. A glance over my shoulder tells me the soldiers aren’t marching slowly; they’re running. And Roarke and Ada are rising into the air on the back of my ink-shade dragons!
Anger flashes through my chest. Those are mine! I want to shout at them. But I need to get to Velazar before they do, so I force my legs to move as fast as I know they can. Roarke may have forgotten what time of night it is, but I haven’t. My Griffin Ability is almost ready to be used, and if Roarke thinks my magic is powerful enough to open the veil further, then it must be powerful enough to close it. All I need to do is hide somewhere and say the right words as soon as I’m able to, and I could save countless lives on both sides of the veil.
An unexpected thrill races through me, along with the terrifying thought that I might be edging near hero territory. If I had enough breath left in my lungs, I’d probably laugh at myself. Does it count as being a hero if you hide while you’re saving the world? I don’t think so. I think it just counts as doing the right thing.
With ink-shades streaming past me on both sides, I push myself faster than I’ve ever run before. I slow a little as I reach the wall and veer to the side so I’m running along it. When I reach the door, I tug it open, run through, and slam it shut. Then I face the great big gap in the sky, my lungs burning as I gasp for air. As I stop near the edge of the opening, I see figures in black, some lined up, others walking around. While it’s almost midnight in the shadow world—at least, the enchanted version of midnight—it looks like late afternoon over Velazar II Island.
Hoping that I’m still somehow invisible to everyone else, I step quickly onto the monument, swing myself around the trident, and jump to the ground behind it. I crouch down, listening carefully through my heavy
breaths. When I don’t hear any shouts or hurried footsteps coming my way, I relax a tiny bit.
“Don’t scream,” a voice says right beside me.
I can’t help my involuntary gasp as Calla appears out of thin air right beside me. “What—where did you—”
“I’ve been with you since you were summoned,” she whispers. “I masked myself with invisibility.”
“So—the shield was yours? And now, when they couldn’t see me …”
“Yes, that was me. Sorry I didn’t conceal you sooner. I needed to find out what was going on, so I shielded you instead, hoping they’d tell you something useful. And they did.” She leans a little to the side and looks past the monument. “I need to warn the others.”
“Others?”
“Yeah, they’re here somewhere, watching. Keeping an eye on things.”
“Violet and Ryn are here?”
Calla looks at me. She places her hand on my shoulder and squeezes it. “Yes. And we’re all going to get out of this alive. You’ll get your family reunion, okay? I’ll make sure of it.”
“Before we begin,” a voice shouts out, “there is an important matter we need to take care of.” I lean far enough to the side to catch a glimpse of the person standing in front of the monument addressing everyone. I recognize her as the woman who came to Chevalier House to take me away after I revealed my Griffin Ability to everyone there. Head Councilor Ashlow. She nods toward someone I can’t see—
And then the strangest thing floats into view just in front of her: a chair with a man securely tied to it. And though he’s facing away from us, I can see enough of the side of his face to recognize him.
Dash.
Forty-Three
“Griffin Gifted rebels,” Councilor Ashlow shouts in a magically magnified voice, “we know you’re hiding here watching us. We know that Dash Blackhallow has been working with you. And if you don’t hand yourselves over to us now, we will kill him.”
I clap one hand over my mouth. Calla’s grip on my shoulder tightens.
“You have two minutes,” Councilor Ashlow adds. “Then we will carry out the execution.”
“How can they do that?” I demand in a low voice. “Surely that’s against the law, even for people who make the laws.”
“They’re desperate,” Calla says darkly. “They’re so afraid of us that it seems they’ll do anything these days to apprehend us.” She pulls her head back behind the monument, adding, “Chase needs to be here.” She retrieves her amber and stylus, scribbles a few words, then returns both to her pocket. “Okay, I need to help the others. And you need to get away from here. Do you have a stylus?”
“I—yes, I do, actually.”
“Open a doorway and get yourself back to safety.”
“But I can help—”
“No. I refuse to lose you again, do you understand me? If Ryn and Vi were hiding here with us instead of somewhere else on the island, they’d say the same thing.”
“But my Griffin Ability can—”
“No, Em. I mean it. We can stop Roarke and his soldiers without you. His army isn’t that big. It’s nowhere near the size of the entire Unseelie army. And you are too important to us.”
I know there’s no time to argue, so I don’t. I nod, even though I have no intention of leaving this place. If Roarke tears the veil further open and this island is consumed, the majority of the family I have left will die. There’s no way I’m letting that happen when I know I can stop it with only a few words.
“Okay.” She gives me a brief hug. “See you when it’s over.” Then she vanishes. I don’t hear her footsteps, but, looking closely at the rocky ground surrounding the monument, I see small pebbles moving here and there as she walks away.
Since I’m not leaving the island, I should probably find a better place to hide than right behind the monument the Unseelies will be targeting the moment they get here—which, now that I think about it, should have happened already. Where are they? Those soldiers were moving almost as fast as I was, and the ink-shades can be quick when they want to be.
I look around. The closest form of cover is a collection of rocks a short distance away. The only problem? I’ll almost certainly be spotted as I run toward it.
“Is no one interested in saving the life of this young man?” Councilor Ashlow shouts. She waits another few seconds. “No? Well then. I guess we’ll get started with both the execution spell and the veil restoration spell.”
Several guardians form a tight ring around Dash while another few climb onto the cylindrical base of the monument. I can no longer see what’s happening to Dash, but I tell myself not to panic. Calla won’t let anything happen to him. Neither will any of the other Griffin rebels. They must have a plan.
I throw my hands out as the ground suddenly shudders beneath me. I push myself a little further away from the monument and look up. The gap in the veil is difficult to see from this angle, since it’s almost directly above me, but I think the edges are beginning to move.
A loud cry makes me look around the side of the monument again. Not Dash, not Dash, I plead. But it’s Councilor Ashlow, flat on the ground with blood seeping from her shoulder. Guardians rush to her side, while others raise their weapons toward the slowly diminishing gap. And then, with a cacophony of whoops and roars that chills my blood, the Unseelies leap through the tear into this world, brandishing their weapons.
Chaos follows, and in the midst of it, I jump up and run to the rocks, hoping like hell that no one notices me. I drop down behind the rocks and press my back against them. I look up and around, but I don’t see any ink-shade dragons. They must have remained in the shadow world. My gaze drops then to the ruby, but its color isn’t quite full yet. So I press my hands against my ears, trying to drown out the clash and clang of blades, the roar of wind, the shouts of men and women. Come on, come on, come on, I silently urge, as if that might possibly help my Griffin Ability replenish faster.
“Stop her!” Someone’s voice rises above the noise. “STOP HER!”
I risk a glance around the side of the rock and see a woman—Ada—racing for the monument with glass slivers streaming from her fingertips. And Ryn, sprinting just behind her, expertly dodging the glass. No! I want to scream. Don’t touch her! He lunges for her, brings her crashing to the ground, and she kicks him in the face and scrambles away—which I’m almost thankful for because it means she hasn’t turned him to glass. Ada throws herself forward, grabs hold of the edge of the monument, and the entire thing becomes gleaming, faceted glass. She pulls herself up and gives the monument a good kick accompanied by a flash of magic. A crack zigzags all the way through the monument. Then she dances away from it, glass shards raining down from her fingers and rushing to form a glass wall. I suck in a gasp as Ryn rolls out of the way just in time. He leaps to his feet just as the monument shatters into thousands of glass pieces on the other side of Ada’s wall.
I look up. My stomach turns. The gash in the sky is now growing larger instead of smaller. I see the field on the other side, and it seems to roll toward us as both worlds are consumed by the shadow world. I grasp my wrist and look down, but the darn ruby is still missing a fraction of color. “Dammit!” I moan, tears of frustration welling in my eyes. “Just hurry up!”
With my hands tugging uselessly at my hair, and almost everyone else on the island still fighting each other, I watch the hole in the sky widening and moving closer. It reaches Ada’s glass wall—and it stops. “What the …” I mumble breathlessly. I don’t understand why. The monument had ancient power or something, but Ada’s glass wall has … what? The power of all the people whose energy she’s consumed recently?
My momentary relief vanishes when I realize the human world is still being consumed. Our world is fine, but the other one still seems to be slowly rolling toward us. The field is gone now, and then the road, taking two people with it. Then another field, and a tractor with a man on it, and the side of a building—
I can’t look. I p
ull my head back behind the rock, hating myself for being such a failure. I have so much power, yet I can’t do a damn thing right now. I grit my teeth and clench my fists and try not to count every second that passes. Time goes on. And on. And on.
Then finally—finally—that familiar tingle radiates throughout my body. My eyes close for a moment, forcing tears down my cheeks as I relax for the final few seconds it takes for my power to reach my voice. Then I twist around to look at the veil. I don’t shout anything out. I don’t move any further away from the rock. I simply focus fully on that rapidly increasing gash in the sky and say, “Stop growing bigger. Start closing instead. Close completely so that the veil is fully restored.”
I slump sideways against the rock as my power rushes out of me to do my bidding. All of it in one go. Dizziness wraps around me, but it lasts only a few seconds. The fighting pauses. The island becomes almost quiet. We watch as the edges of the tear move rapidly toward each other. They meet, light flashes in a jagged line, and then it’s over, leaving no sign that there was ever any imperfection in the sky.
It’s done.
I did it.
I experience a single moment of satisfaction before noise assaults my ears once more. I look further past the rock and realize that despite having succeeded at something so huge, my world is about to shatter anyway. Because everyone is fighting with renewed fervor instead of retreating, and near the edge of the island, Ada’s got a circle of glass enclosing Dash. And beside him, standing back to back with glittering weapons raised, are Violet and Ryn.
No no no no no. I press my hands against my cheeks, searching the battle for the other people I know. Where are Calla and Chase? Or any of the other rebels I met? There must be more of them here. But there are so many people, so many weapons, so much magic flying around. How the hell does anyone know what’s going on? And why doesn’t anyone seem to care that the veil is now closed, dammit!
Then I notice the other movement inside Ada’s glass circle, and my anxiety ratchets up a notch. What the heck is that? They look like the people I’ve seen Ada transform into glass statues, except they’re moving. She must have animated her statues instead of shattering them. And I see at least seven—eight—inside the glass circle with Violet, Ryn and Dash. Dash is free of his bonds, so at least he can fight, but the glass statues seem, oddly enough, just as quick as if they were made of flesh. They dodge the glittering weapons and block the magic hurled at them.
Shadow Faerie Page 36