by Linsey Hall
“You aren’t worried about the VDBs?” Cade asked. “It can’t be easy to drive and fight them off at the same time.”
“Nah.” Emrys shook his head. “My horses are fast, and the carriage is protected by a concealment charm. The VDBs can’t see us in this.”
“Handy,” I said.
“Yep.” Emrys frowned. “Though I’m a bit worried about the sand plains across the river. The increased weight of the carriage might wake the sand skeletons.”
“We can fight them off,” I said. “As long as there aren’t hundreds.”
Emrys made an unconvinced noise, as if there might actually be hundreds.
Despite Emrys’s assurances that we were hidden from the VDBs, I stayed alert on the ride away from the Fae city. The land spread out in either direction, packed tan dirt that reminded me a bit of Death Valley, but without the insane heat. The sun was bright overhead, making it easy to spot any oncoming attacks, but there were none.
Yet.
“Almost to the river,” Emrys said.
I could feel it inside my chest—a strange knowledge that we were close to a large body of water. What the heck was my new magic?
The roar of rapids hit my ears before I spotted the river. “Where is it?”
“Down low, in the gorge.” Emrys directed the carriage closer.
As we neared, I realized the land dropped away in front of us. Stone bridges made from the earth itself arched over the gorge, bisecting and joining up with each other in a lattice of rock. There were dozens of them.
“It’s a mile across,” Emrys said. “Widest river in all the realms.”
“No kidding.” It felt like my whole body was suffused with the water. Like I was one with it. And there was a lot of it.
Emrys directed the carriage onto the first arched stone bridge. It was barely as wide as the vehicle, and the drop was thousands of feet to the river below. I leaned over and looked down, spotting the water rushing by, slowly carving away at the rock posts that supported the arched bridge.
The horses were quick as they crossed this section of rock and moved onto the next, as if they’d come this way dozens of times before.
“These are natural rock formations?” I asked. They were fabulous—ornate and delicate. A true fairy land.
“Yeah. Really old, too.” Emrys directed the horses onto the last stretch of bridge.
My shoulders relaxed when we arrived on the other side. Solid ground felt good, no matter how much control I had over water.
“Yah!” Emrys sped the horses along.
They picked up the pace, galloping across the dirt toward a massive forest ahead of us.
“Be on the alert,” Emrys said. “This is where the sand skeletons dwell. They normally leave me alone, but with your weight on the carriage, they might wake.”
Please don’t wake. I’d had enough of skeletons in Venice.
I peered around, ready for an attack. Next to me, Cade was alert and ready.
Nerves tightened my muscles. I loathed waiting. Would they attack? Wouldn’t they?
Screw it.
Just attack already!
When the first rumbling in the ground made the carriage vibrate, I grinned savagely, relief flowing through me.
“The wait is over!” I spun around on the seat, searching.
Behind us, the ground shifted and caved slightly. Then a sand skeleton burst forth. It was easily fifteen feet tall and made of the packed dirt that formed the ground below. It was shaped roughly like a skeleton, but that was where the similarities ended.
More popped out of the dirt. Six in all. They charged, chasing after the carriages, their footsteps pounding the earth.
“Try your sonic boom!” Cade said. “Remember what we talked about.”
I scrambled to my feet, climbing onto the back cargo platform of the carriage. This was pretty much like fighting from the buggy. I was in my element, and I liked it.
“Hurry up!” Emrys shouted. “If they catch us, they’ll crush the carriage.”
I called upon my magic, clearing my mind in the way Cade had taught me. Though I could feel my magic inside me, strong and fierce, I couldn’t find my gift of the sonic boom. Normally, it felt distinct.
But now, I felt nothing.
The sand skeletons charged toward us, gaining by the second.
“Go on,” Cade said. “It’s not the time to dawdle.”
“I’m not dawdling!” Frustration welled inside me as I tried to get a handle on my sonic boom.
It thrashed in my chest, flickering and faint. I grabbed hold of it, imagining a huge sonic boom, and hurled it out toward the sand skeletons.
Nothing happened.
“What’s wrong?” Cade demanded.
I tried again, hurling my magic toward the skeletons.
Nothing.
My skin grew cold, fear lancing through me. This had never happened before. Sure, the boom might go haywire or be too weak, but it’d never disappeared.
I tried one last time, desperation fueling me. The sand skeletons were nearly to us. Out of time.
I hurled my sonic boom.
And nothing happened.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I sucked in a ragged breath and called upon my new gift over water. Now wasn’t the time to panic. The sand skeletons were only twenty feet away from swiping at us with their massive hands.
The water in the river called to me, connecting with my magic and my will. It was strange and foreign, but I went on instinct, envisioning the water rising up from the gorge and smashing the sand skeletons.
“Bree, do you need help?” Cade asked. His desire to leap into action vibrated on the air. The sand skeletons were so close.
“I got this!” I said, praying to fate that I really did.
I called to the water, using my new magic. It felt like manipulating putty with my mind. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening—that I was just going crazy.
But then the water rose up from the gorge behind us, a massive fist formed of glittering liquid. It reached out toward the sand skeletons, crushing them into the dirt like I’d imagined.
They turned to mud, washing away. Water splashed us.
“Holy fates.” Cade’s voice was low with awe.
“What the heck was that?” Emrys yelled.
“Nothing!” I said. “Just keep driving.”
My mind buzzed with what had just happened, my breath coming quick. I kept my gaze glued on the terrain around us, praying there were no more sand skeletons. We were far enough from the water that I could feel my grip on it loosening.
I wasn’t like Caro, who could create the water. I needed to be close to it to use it. But boy, could I use it.
“We’re out of their territory!” Emrys finally yelled.
My muscles were still vibrating with tension as I returned to my seat. Cade was looking at me with some serious interest, his gaze glued to my face.
“What happened there?” he whispered at my ear, so quietly that Emrys wouldn’t be able to hear over the rushing wind.
I shivered at the feel of his breath, but it was shock over what had just happened that loosened my tongue. “My sonic boom power is gone.”
“Gone? That’s not possible.”
“Apparently it is.” When had it happened? Just recently, since I’d used it only a day ago. “It wasn’t there when I tried to call to it. And I can’t feel it anymore.”
“But you can control the water. You have more power than a hundred Water Mages.”
I nodded, unable to deny what he’d just seen. A giant freaking fist made of water had reached thousands of feet up from the river to crush my opponents.
Holy crap.
Something was definitely happening to me. And it was freaking serious.
Chapter Nine
Thirty minutes later, we reached a steep mountain range. Emrys directed the carriage through a deep valley between the mountains. The horses galloped through the passage. On either
side of us, the mountains rose high into the air.
Eventually, the passage ended, opening up to a grassy plain that stretched ahead of us.
“That’s it up ahead,” Emrys said. He pointed toward a grove of massive trees about three hundred yards away. Each one had to be a thousand feet tall. They put the redwoods to shame.
Awe filled me at the sight of them towering far overhead. Huge branches extended outward, each dotted with black specs.
“Are those black things the VDBs?”
Emrys nodded. “It’s why they like that area so much. They don’t care much for the town, which is in the middle of the grove, but they love the trees.”
“How do you get across? Just hope that your spell will keep you concealed?”
“That might work, but normally I play it safe.” He jumped off the carriage and tied it off to a large rock. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
Cade and I hopped down and followed Emrys to a break between two rocks. It was a skinny opening, but wide enough that we could fit. Barely.
Emrys pointed into it. “You’ll go in there. It leads one way—straight into town. I think it used to be an escape route for the town in times of war, but now it’s unused.”
“You sure you won’t come with?” I asked.
“No way in hell. Just be careful in the tunnel. It’s lit by the glowing amber, but don’t touch it. The pixies won’t like it.”
“Aye, we won’t.” Cade stuck out his hand. “Thanks, mate.”
“Do you need a ride back?”
Cade shook his head. “This sounds like what we’re looking for. Once we’ve done some recon, we can use a transport charm to get home.”
“Good. Be safe. And don’t let the VDBs see you. They’re always hungry.”
I nodded, shivering at the memory of their long fangs. “Thanks again, Emrys. And thanks for the drink at the bar.”
“Good luck,” he said. “You need anything to help with this, let me know. I want it gone from this realm.”
“I don’t blame you.” I shook his hand, and he made quick work of leaving. I turned to Cade. “Ready?”
“More than. I’m ready to get out of this realm.”
“Me too.” The dangers here made Earth look like a kid’s playground.
I followed Cade into the darkened tunnel, my eyes adjusting to the low light. As Emrys had said, veins of amber ran through the walls, glowing with a golden sheen. Pixies floated near the ceiling, shining with their own light. They were amazing.
“I’ve never seen anything like them. Normally, pixies don’t like it underground.”
“They feed on the amber.” Cade set off down the tunnel.
I followed, my gaze tracing over the jagged rock and gleaming amber. The pixies floated around my head, tiny fairies that peered closely at me before darting away.
The air smelled dusty and dry, and the farther we got into the tunnel, the darker the amber grew. I peered at it, realizing the dark curse was staining the surface.
“It gets worse,” I said.
“There’s barely any glow up ahead,” Cade said.
He was right. A hundred yards ahead, there were no more pixies and the amber was so muted that it was hard to see.
“Oh, this curse sucks.” I shivered, horrified at the idea of this curse spreading far enough to break down the Fae city and eventually the Protectorate.
“We’ll stop it.”
I liked the certainty in Cade’s voice.
Finally, we reached a larger opening. The room was entirely black, with only the slightest glow allowing me to see the ladder that rose up along one wall.
“That way.” I pointed to it.
Cade, of course, managed to get to the ladder first and go up, but I was right behind him.
The stench of the curse—which I thought I’d become inured to—made my eyes water anew and my gag reflex act up. I swallowed hard and kept climbing, desperately trying to focus.
By the time I climbed through the trap door into the room above, my heart was thundering with anticipation and fear.
What would we find here?
The room that housed the trap door to the passage was small and nondescript. Piles of blackened wood rested against the walls, and a quick inspection revealed that it was furniture—destroyed by the curse.
“Holy fates.” I stepped back, horror opening a chasm in my chest.
“Come on,” Cade said. “We shouldn’t spend long here.”
“No kidding.” I followed him to the door, which had completely decayed away, and peered out into what had once been a central square in town.
A massive well sat in the middle of it, big enough to drive a bus into. All around, the buildings were black and decayed, crumbling on their foundations. The trees rose high above the town, the bottoms of their trunks blackened.
“I hope this doesn’t kill the trees.” I’d never seen anything so magnificent.
“It’s doing us a small favor though.” Cade pointed up. “No VDBs in those branches.”
I squinted upward. He was right. They were bare. I stepped out of the doorway, ready to get this over with and check out the portal. “Come on.”
We hurried across the square to the portal, which gleamed with the same oily black sheen as the one leading to the Protectorate’s castle.
I stopped when I was still about fifteen feet away. This was more than close enough to see—and smell. The stench of rotten eggs was so strong that my eyes burned.
“This place feels haunted,” Cade said.
“Agreed.” I stared hard at the oily surface of the portal, trying to see through it to the other side. It was an impossible endeavor, but I was desperate. “Ready to go in?”
“Aye.”
I climbed onto the low, stone wall that surrounded the well. Cade joined me. I held out a hand. He took it.
He counted down. “Three, two, one.”
We jumped, plunging into cold, oily water.
Shit!
I hadn’t realized it’d be full.
I called on my magic, forcing the water down through the well. We fell along with it, whooshing through the tunnel until the ether sucked us in, taking control.
It thrust us out onto hard ground. I stumbled, falling to my knees and barely stopping myself with my hands. Gravel cut into my palms.
I looked up. My skin crawled.
This was hell.
The sky was black, cut through by frequent lightning strikes, and thunder shook the earth. Far in the distance, a large building sat on a hill, surrounded by a wall.
The curse came from there. I could just feel it. The magic was so strong here that it made my insides feel tainted. Polluted.
Between us and the building were rows of protections. Massive monsters prowled just outside the building gates, an unidentifiable species from this distance. They looked tiny from here—but the fact that I could see them at all indicated how big they really were.
Then there were rows upon rows of thorny brambles. The spikes on the edges of the branches were at least a foot long, and I’d bet money the brambles could move, striking out at a person.
But closest to us were the same kinds of oily monsters that had attacked us at the other portal. They were tall and slim with elongated heads, and their skin was covered in shiny black oil that gleamed whenever the lightning struck.
As if on cue, they turned to us.
Then they charged.
I looked at Cade.
“We need reinforcements,” Cade said.
“Yep!” I turned.
Together, we leapt back into the portal. This time, it easily sucked us through, spitting us back out in the Fae realm.
I’d never have thought this place felt safe, but life comes at you fast.
Panting, I turned to look at Cade. “I hate to run from a fight, but that was a good move.”
“Aye. If we tried to cross that wasteland and failed, the Protectorate will fall. They won’t have time to learn what we’ve learned. We
need to come back with something that will destroy this portal from the other side.”
“And get us across that land so we can get some answers. Because whoever is sending that curse here—they’re protecting themselves. They don’t want us to stop them.” I turned to study the oily surface of the portal, trying to see through it to the other side.
When the sleek, faceless figure pushed out of the black surface, reaching for me with a clawed hand, I jumped backward.
“Breeeee,” it hissed. “Come to me.”
“Oh, crap.” My heart thundered.
But the figure couldn’t escape—all it could do was reach for me and call out.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Cade said.
I hurried to him as he pulled a transport stone from his pocket. I grabbed his hand, and he hurled the stone to the ground. As I stepped into the cloud, the creature called my name again.
“Breeeeeee.”
Chapter Ten
When we arrived back in the forest at the Protectorate, dread filled me. The trees were now covered with a blackened film, and the ground was entirely dark. The fairy lights that normally sparkled between the trees were faded and dim.
“Oh, no.”
Cade grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
I followed him, hurrying out of the forest. Halfway out, I realized I was still holding his hand. He seemed to notice at the same time, too. He loosened his grip. I pulled away and blushed.
Getting caught up in the stress of the moment was one thing—holding hands all the way out of the forest? Nope—not professional.
Especially since it heated my insides. Which just made guilt flare. This was not the time.
The sun was setting behind the mountains when we exited the forest, sending a golden glow over the massive castle and the mountains surrounding the exterior walls. The stone battlements nearest the forest were blackened with the curse, and even the castle itself was starting to turn a light gray.
“We’re running out of time,” I said.
“Aye, but we’ll stop it.”
I clung to his certainty as we ran across the lawn. I didn’t want to lose my new home. Especially to a threat that might have something to do with me.