Professor McGuinness had been sitting on the sidelines, recovering from whatever blow he’d taken, apparently to the head. He got to his feet and came up to us. “Ignatius, your friends aren’t dead. I know I wasn’t one of the original crew. I chose safety and security over Samuel and his ideals, but I’m sorry I did. We might have had a bit of happiness before we were killed, and is a long life of security nearly as good as a short life of joy when life is already so short? I stand with you now.”
“Are we about to fight?” Harris’ mother asked incredulously. “Are you actually planning to fight us?”
“Aren’t you wizards?” Ina asked. “Too out of practice? Fighting is what we do.”
“This is ridiculous,” Harris’ mother said. “I’m not fighting you. Where is my son?” She took a step forward but Ina wasn’t having it. Ina actually just flat-out hit Harris’ mom in the face.
“My god, control yourself!” Harris’ father said, trying to intervene. “What kind of uncouth behavior is this?”
“It’s people like you who lock up people like me, and throw away the key—don’t want to look—don’t want to know how dirty your hands are. They put me here and I never saw the ones I loved, now a curse upon you, that your fate will be the same! You will never see your son again!” She was shrieking at Harris’ mother now, just before a whole bunch of witches and warlocks blasted her. Ignatius tried to deflect the spells but she still got knocked down, face meeting the hard floor.
Okay, I thought. It’s go time. Let’s see what I can do. Time to unleash my special attack, Super Sparkle Multi-Ghost Blast—
I heard a loud whoosh sound behind me. The entire color of the hallway changed slightly, like watching a film with a color filter, a rather lovely bluish light tinting walls and faces before the doors swung open. A brighter light poured out of the room, accompanied by the whooshing sound.
Or maybe I can put it off, actually. That’s cool.
Lord Cyrus of the House of Hemlock, liaison to Queen Morgana, stepped out of the humble room.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Charlotte
Faery guards in beautiful armor accompanied him, and despite the air of a dying land that clung to the faeries, it was impossible not to be impressed. Ina rolled over with a groan. Catherine Caruthers looked visibly distressed. A guy in Order of the Blessed Robes started murmuring something about, “Etherium protect us, let not this corruption sully thy name…”
“You, in the robes,” Lord Cyrus said, with a dismissive gesture. “Silence. Your religious blather means nothing. You don’t even believe it yourself.”
“How dare you—“
“I know charlatans,” Lord Cyrus said, with a small sniff of impatience.
“He reads minds,” I told Alec, Firian and Ignatius, plus anyone else in my general vicinity, which I think actually ended up being everyone because I get loud when I’m nervous. I reminded myself to whisper. “Just so y’all know not to think too much…”
“I am here to make an announcement on behalf of my queen. The realm of Wyrd has, as you know, stayed out of mortal affairs for centuries. Truly, we have no taste for fighting you. In Wyrd, we pride ourselves on our utter lack of interest in either causing chaos or maintaining order; in the end, you are two sides of the same coin. Always fighting.”
“We are not two sides of the same coin!” Father Bogdan said. “If you’ve ever stared down a demon, you know. If we didn’t fight back, the Sinistrals would rule the magical world.”
“I stand corrected,” Lord Cyrus said. “Now you are speaking some truth. And yet, I still don’t care. Nevertheless, our queen acknowledges that the world is at a tipping point where the belief of humans in our kind is no longer enough to sustain us. We must claim some ground of our own. If you stand in our way, we will have to engage you in battle. I hope, for the sake of fairness, you will acknowledge this list of the following sites that are currently or have always been in the hands of Wyrd. We know that for many years you have not spoken of Wyrd. The name has become taboo on your lips, knowledge that only the inner circles of magic are privy to. This will end now. Every wizard child should know the realm of Wyrd and the name of Queen Morgana and respect our status as an independent magical realm.”
Lord Cyrus made a scroll appear from thin air. “You seem to have some authority here,” he said to Catherine, handing her the scroll. “This is a list of parallels and magical sites that we claim for Wyrd.”
She snapped the paper open and read. “Merlin College?” she said. “You can’t claim our college.”
“It is the site of a Wyrd tree,” he said. “It was our land once, and Wyrd warlocks were always attracted to it. All of them wished for us to reclaim it. You will note that the queen is quite reasonable and has not requested the return of any more land in the eastern United States. We are only asking for seven new territories and all of them are locations of Wyrd trees.”
“What do we get out of it?”
“The faery queen will leave you well enough alone,” he said. “We will otherwise focus our magical efforts on drawing power from mortals.”
“We need to discuss this,” Mr. Coopman said.
“Yes…,” Catherine said.
“I’ll wait,” Lord Cyrus said.
They all started huddling to talk, but I could tell they were all wondering how much he could read their minds. I was trying very hard not to think about him at all, so I looked at Alec and thought about what it would be like if he just scooped me up and ran off with me while everyone else was busy, and nudged my underwear aside just enough to slide his cock up inside me, and I said, I have to pee, and he said, You’ll just have to control yourself, Princess, unless you want to make a mess, because you’re getting fucked before you do anything else.
“What are you thinking about?” Alec whispered. “Naughty girl.”
“I don’t know. Definitely not something sexual and embarrassing. Or if I am, you’re making me think it with your whole vibe.”
Alec chuckled while Lord Cyrus gave me an idle look and I quickly dropped my eyes to the ground and thought about porridge.
The witches and warlocks were whispering for a long time and Lord Cyrus looked at me. “This is not going well,” he said. “Humans are so tiresome. Where are the thirteen girls the faery queen asked for?”
“There,” I said, pointing at the group. I was surprised he even had to ask. It seemed obvious to me that the twelve girls huddled together looking nervous while everyone else was fighting were probably the ones.
“These are the girls,” he said. “The girls you expect the fae to take as brides.”
“Yes,” I said. “And you should be polite to them, because they all agreed and that was really awesome of them to agree to give up their entire lives and everything they know.”
“No!” the wolf girl said. “I won’t go. She tricked me. I wont’t go!”
“You shouldn’t have signed your name,” Lord Cyrus said, unsympathetically. “I count twelve.”
“There’s also Daisy,” I said. “With Orson. The faery queen said she could marry him if she found a way to free him.”
Daisy was working on some healing spells for Orson’s numerous wounds. He seemed in rough shape. She heard her name and peered out of the doorway. “Are we cool?”
“So you’re the thirteenth,” Lord Cyrus said. “Very well. At least you’re comely.”
“I’m the first, actually,” Daisy said. “You better not be complaining about my brides I found for you. Those girls have been through hell and they’re tough; they’re going to be a lot better than a bunch of prissy rich witch bitches.” She snapped her fingers.
Of course, Daisy herself had been complaining about them mere hours before, but it made sense that Daisy would be the type who didn’t allow an outsider to complain about her people.
“We must be prepared to exit this situation,” Lord Cyrus said. “This building is not an advantageous battlefield for my men and we try not to involve oursel
ves in the fighting of mortals. Once the Ethereal wizards come back with their response, if it’s as I expect, I will take you and the brides with me to Wyrd, as promised.”
“What about my mates? My friends?”
“You want Merlin?” Ignatius said. “Take us to Merlin. To the Wyrd tree. If you’re saying they won’t give up, then let us fight for it. We can take it back together. Merlin has been my home for the past couple decades. I know the place and all the forest around it. I’ll be the caretaker for you if you help me seize it back from the council.”
“All right,” Lord Cyrus said. “If you wish to help us recapture that territory, repeat after me here and now: ‘I pledge to fight for the realm of Wyrd and renounce my tie to Etherium or Sinistral.’”
The witches and warlocks were starting to break up their discussion, sensing that something was going on behind them. Alec and Montague, Ignatius, Ina and Professor McGuinness all repeated the oath. So did Firian and I. This was the path we’d set from the beginning. We were throwing our lot in with the faeries and hopefully, it was the right thing to do.
“But before we leave,” I said, “we need Stuart’s body.”
“He wouldn’t want to be brought back,” Ignatius said. “And you can’t do that twice, Charlotte. It’s too much.”
“Not to bring him back,” I said. “I just need to talk to him. We have to bring his body to Merlin.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Charlotte
“Oh, no. We can’t move his body through Wyrd,” Professor McGuinness said. “If we bring him to his home realm, he probably won’t come back to this plane.”
“So, let him return home,” Lord Cyrus said. “You can speak to him in Wyrd. But saying goodbyes to a dead man is never wise.”
“I don’t have time to explain,” I said, as Catherine Caruthers was walking up to Cyrus. “But I need him.”
Montague tapped a finger to his chest like, we got this. He nodded at the other guys.
“Good sir,” Catherine Caruthers said as she approached Lord Cyrus, forcing politeness onto her face.
“My name is Lord Cyrus,” he said.
“We have no interest in challenging the parallels that you currently hold,” she said. “We are pleased that they are in your hands and not the demons. We welcome the chance to tell our children about your queen.” I could see her straining to be gracious. “However, I’m afraid we can’t upend our own people from their homes and land in these locations with Wyrd trees. We would be willing to meet with your queen and council and negotiate a treaty that phases out the land from our hands into yours.”
“Well, I figured you would say as much,” he said. “But we don’t have the luxury of a century. The only reason we are opening our doors to any of your kind is because our isolation has cost us. We must have the land now or else we will be too weak to claim it then; you are betting on this.”
“We are not! Our word is good,” Catherine said. “However, we have no reason to want a treaty with you. These rogue witches and warlocks are the ones who contacted you. The Ethereal Council wishes merely to avoid war with the faeries, and in that regard we will allow you the realms you currently possess in Europe, the British Isles, Japan…”
“We need land in the Americas,” Lord Cyrus said.
“How are you going to anchor these realms?” asked Father Bogdan, looking suspiciously at the group of girls. “What sort of deal did you make?” He jabbed a finger at Ignatius, then me, then the girls. Just jabbing that finger all over the place, really.
I knew that spots where the realms connected needed some kind of an alliance between humans and magical creatures. Like, demons or faeries couldn’t go to Earth willy-nilly. They needed a human anchor.
“I’m taking those women,” Lord Cyrus said. “They have already pledged themselves, so this part of the deal is not negotiable.”
“We don’t want a deal,” Father Bogdan said. “The Order of the Blessed would rather go to war with you than allow you to take our women.”
Catherine looked unsure, but her focus narrowed to Daisy. “We want to avoid conflict with you, but sir, you must understand. You can’t take the Diviner and we can’t just hand over our valuable lands.”
“All the lands I am asking were once opened by Wyrd,” Lord Cyrus said. “Hence, the presence of the trees. I grow impatient. We either claim the girls and lands without a fight, or a fight we shall have.”
“We’re having a fight,” Harris’ mother said. “That’s all there is to it, then.” Her wand was at the ready.
“Queen Morgana anticipated this,” Lord Cyrus said. “That’s why she sent me.” He smiled in a way that was neither bloodthirsty nor excited nor scared. Just sort of all-in-a-day’s-work, really. He drew his sword. “Fair ladies, get behind me. My men will usher you to Wyrd through the portal.”
“I’m not going!” Wolf Girl said. “I was tricked.”
“You signed your own name. Is your word not your bond? Are you not a magical being? You should have asked a few more questions. I think a part of you is relieved to depart this place.” He gave her a merciless smile and she shook her head. One of the other faery soldiers nudged Wolf Girl along, while Daisy looked at us frantically.
“I—I guess this is goodbye,” she said. “I’ll be fine. I can live without TV or…or shopping. I would definitely rather marry a gruagach than be a prisoner of my own magic, so…see ya, girl, good luck.”
“It’ll be great,” I said. “Orson’s going to be a great husband and I’m sure the faeries have fashion. Dressmakers, or something fun. Like a princess.”
We were both lying hard, but that was about all we got because a fight was breaking out around us even as we spoke. And Lord Cyrus? Dude was not messing around. He had his sword in one hand, striking like he could read his opponent’s mind, which I guess he could. He seemed to be trying to avoid too much bloodshed, at least for now, but he was dealing out some nasty cuts and sent someone’s thumb flying. As if that wasn’t enough, he gestured with one hand and threw Father Bogdan into a wall with an impact that broke up the plaster. Ignatius and Ina were trying to help but they hardly had to do anything. Cyrus seemed like he could take on the whole crowd all by himself. The faery queen definitely sent her best. Harris’ mother withdrew and she was whispering spell words, holding up a piece of jewelry. Based on what I knew about the Hapsburgs, this was one of the magical artifacts that was about to unleash some crazy shit.
“Let’s go,” Montague said, hustling me out of there. The other guys were behind him, although Harris was looking back. I followed his eyes just to see one last glimpse of Daisy stepping through a portal. She seemed very alone, but of course, Orson was so sickened by the iron that she couldn’t talk to him yet. Once he had recovered, he would surely be there for her. I knew him well enough to trust him, right? He served me tea a few times…
Man, Daisy was pretty brave herself.
“We’d better run before my mother unleashes holy hell,” Harris said.
“Then what?” Alec asked. “How do we get out?”
Montague took keys out of his pocket. “I compelled a few guards. I wasn’t leaving here without my baby.”
“So that’s why you don’t have a pet name for me,” I said. “Your car already took it.”
“But just wait until you get to take a ride in her,” Montague said.
“Oh boy.” I didn’t want to hurt his feelings about it too much, but his car looked like it came from a Hot Wheels line on clearance. Clearance, I tell ya.
“It’s better than a dented low-end Kia,” Montague growled at Harris. “And anyway, I don’t see anyone else with a driver’s license or a vehicle.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Harris said.
“You were about to. I know you.”
We reached the chapel. A few guards lingered there, and they were putting Stuart’s body in a bag.
My heart dropped to my knees. I had blocked out what we were actually doing. I was trying to be
a badass necromancer and I figured necromancers could handle death without crying, but as soon as I saw Stuart just…helpless and…lifeless…
“Get away from him.” I ran toward them, almost tripping on the hem of the wedding gown.
They took defensive positions immediately. “Stay back.”
“Hands off the body,” Harris said, casting a spell that threw up a glowing force field around Stuart. Montague moved in and picked Stuart up.
“Halt!” One of the guards tried to freeze him in his tracks.
“Dispel!” Firian hastily blocked the spell. I shot a blast at them while Alec and Montague hustled Stuart out the door. One of the guards tried to get past me and shoot them, but Alec vanished before the spell hit, and it struck the ground instead, burning a hole in the carpet runner from the wedding.
“Let’s go.” Harris motioned for Firian and me to go to the exit while he formed a glowing, defensive barrier, gritting his teeth as the guards pummeled it with spells. Once we were all through the door, Alec reappeared with us in his demon form as we ran like hell to the main set of doors. His wings had destroyed his t-shirt and his sweatpants were so tight nothing was left to the imagination, plus they were barely staying on with his tail hanging over the waistband.
“Why did you tear up another set up clothes?” I asked.
“Damnit, I can’t seem to keep a human form in Sinistral,” he said. “As soon as I get there I smell other demons and I turn. Defense mechanism.”
I was afraid we’d have more fights ahead in the front hall, but it seemed like the place had been evacuated. The rooms stood empty except for a few women cowering behind desks; I recognized some of them as nurses or cafeteria staff. The main doors were locked. Montague tried to kick them open while Stuart was draped over his shoulder.
“All right, calm down, Bruce Lee, it’s a ward,” Harris said. “Just hold on a sec. It’s a tricky one.” He crouched beside the lock and cast a spell that made a glowing multi-layered pattern appear over the lock.
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