The Iron Traitor

by Julie Kagawa

Page 28

 

  I blinked. “Through the Between?”

  “Of course. ” Keirran looked back, confused. “How did you think we would get there?”

  “Uh, with my truck?”

  “It’s much faster to go through the Between,” Keirran explained. “Just like Faery and the trods, it doesn’t conform to normal space. You can walk from one end of the country to the other in a few minutes, if you know where you’re going and if you can find a place where the Veil is almost transparent. ” A faintly horrified look crossed his face then. “You didn’t. . . drive Annwyl up, did you? In a car?”

  “How did you expect us to get here?”

  Keirran shuddered, then slipped his hand into the air again and parted reality like a pair of drapes. I shivered, too. Call it what you wanted, that was just creepy. “Fine,” I muttered, bracing myself for more shadowy Between and coiling nothingness. “I hope you know what you’re doing. ”

  “Wait,” Kenzie said.

  We all turned to her. “Before we go anywhere,” she began, gazing especially at me and Keirran, “I have to go back to my dad. I want to tell him where I’ll be this time—not that he cares, but I don’t want to worry Alex or my stepmom. ” She gestured to the buildings around us. “I can’t just vanish in a strange city, with them having no idea where I am. Even Dad will freak out. ” She pushed back her hair, suddenly nervous. “So, can we make one quick stop at my hotel before we head out? It won’t take long, I promise. ”

  I held my tongue. I knew, by the stiff set of Kenzie’s shoulders, the tension lining her jaw, that she was waiting for me to protest, to tell her to stay behind. She was gearing up for a fight, and I. . . had no desire to argue with her anymore. I still wanted to keep her safe, but her last accusation had shaken me up pretty bad. Kenzie had gotten the Sight knowing exactly what it meant. She wasn’t afraid, though she knew the dangers just as well as I did. And I had shut her out, trying to keep her safe. As if I hadn’t heard everything she’d told me about wanting to live, and people treating her differently, and not having time to be safe. She’d told me all that before; I just hadn’t listened.

  God, I was a jackass.

  I looked at Keirran, nodded, and he sighed. “All right,” he agreed, and Kenzie relaxed. “One more stop, but then we really should go. Ethan, what about your family? Do you need to tell them what’s going on?”

  I shook my head. “They already know. Well, they know I’m here and that I won’t be back for a couple days. ” I just hoped we could figure this thing out quickly, that Guro would be able to help and that we could avoid crossing the Veil into Faery. I couldn’t keep this part of my life from my parents anymore. And if I had to vanish into the Nevernever again, I was not looking forward to that conversation.

  Not surprisingly, Kenzie had been staying at one of the nicer hotels close to Bourbon Street, a luxurious old building so far out of my price range, I felt scruffy just walking through the front doors. The receptionist behind the desk eyed me suspiciously as I followed Kenzie into the lobby, not seeing the two fey at our back. Keirran had glamoured himself invisible, and Annwyl seemed more spirit than flesh now, so no one even looked at them. Or Razor, jabbering nervously from Keirran’s shoulder, his teeth flashing blue-white in the dimly lit room. Me, however—a teenage thug stalking into a nice hotel in the dead of night—they definitely noticed. Kenzie gave the receptionist a bright smile and received a nod in return, but I continued to get the evil eye all the way down the hall.

  At the elevators, I sneaked a glance at Kenzie, knowing that if I had to do this—explain to her father what was going on—I would be far less calm. “Do you want us to wait here?” I asked, making her frown. I continued quickly, wanting her to understand I wasn’t abandoning her this time. “It might not be a great idea if you show up at four in morning with. . . me, and have to explain that I’m driving you home. ” I was going to say your boyfriend, but I wasn’t certain where I stood with her now. “We could wait outside, if you need to talk to them alone. ”

  “No,” Kenzie said quietly, facing the elevator doors. “I want you there. Dad needs to understand why I’m doing this, even if I can’t tell him the whole truth. ” She flicked a glance at me, and maybe she caught the apprehension on my face, because she added, “But you don’t have to come, Ethan. I understand if you want to stay here. It’s not a big deal. I can talk to him by myself. ”

  Right then, I would’ve liked nothing more than to wait in the lobby. I could just see Kenzie’s father glaring at me as his daughter told him she was taking off with the guy who’d just recently dragged her off to New York for a week. If he didn’t ground Kenzie for life, he would definitely blame me, maybe have me arrested and thrown in juvie for real this time. Even if that didn’t happen, I couldn’t imagine he’d be very fond of me after this, and Kenzie’s father was someone I really didn’t want to piss off.

  But I caught the underlying fear in Kenzie’s voice and realized she was just as nervous, though she would never show it. And now that she was here, I wasn’t going to let her do anything alone. Even if it meant facing her dad, I would suck it up and share the responsibility. It was my fault she had come, after all.

  “No, I’m coming with you,” I told her softly. “But you know your dad is going to hate me after this, right?”

  “He’ll get over it,” Kenzie said, though her voice had gone soft and bitter, and she stared at the elevator doors as if she could will them open. “Don’t worry. If he’s going to find fault with anyone, it’ll be me. He’s blamed me for everything else. Why would this be any different?”

  I wondered what she meant by that, but a second later, the elevator doors dinged open, and Kenzie stepped into the box. I followed, glancing back at the two fey. Annwyl watched me, looking a little dazed, as if she didn’t quite know where she was. I was about to say something, but she blinked and glided over the threshold, standing in the very center of the box with her arms around herself, as if trying to keep from falling apart. Keirran eased behind her, looking worried, but didn’t say anything.

  Kenzie pressed a button, the doors shut, and the elevator began to move. Toward Kenzie’s room, and her dad.

  It occurred to me then, in a strange, surreal moment, that I was pissing everyone’s parents off these days. Not only Kenzie’s rich lawyer father, but Keirran’s extremely powerful, immortal faery dad was after us, too. I shivered. If Ash knew Keirran and I were together, he’d probably go straight to my house, or he’d send someone there to wait for us. That meant I couldn’t go home now, not until this thing with Annwyl was finished. Keirran wouldn’t give up until she was safe.

  Speaking of Keirran and Annwyl. . .

  The Summer faery had been standing in the very center of the box, her arms wrapped around herself and her eyes closed. She looked pretty miserable, and just as I was about to ask if she was all right, she flickered, making alarm shoot through me.

  “Keirran,” Annwyl whispered in a strange, strangled voice and collapsed into his arms. My insides shivered as I saw Keirran’s arm through the faery’s transparent body, as the prince knelt with Annwyl in his lap, her hair spilling over the metal floor. Razor buzzed in distress, his voice echoing shrilly inside the box.

  “Annwyl!” Keirran grabbed her hand. The Summer faery gazed up at him, her expression resigned but calm.

  “It’s happening,” she whispered as Keirran looked stricken. “The Fade is taking me. I’m sorry, Keirran. I don’t think I can stop it this time. ”

  “No. ” Keirran’s voice was choked. He clutched her to him, his gaze bright and intense. One hand pressed to her cheek. “Annwyl, stay with me,” he whispered desperately. “Fight it. ” She closed her eyes, and Keirran gave a quiet sob, pulling her close. “Please. ”

  Kenzie suddenly slammed her thumb into the elevator panel, and the box lurched to a halt. The doors opened, and Kenzie spun on the prince. “Keirran, go! Get her out of here now!” />
  The prince didn’t hesitate. Scooping up the vanishing faery, he lunged out of the elevator, dropping to his knees several yards away in the hall. I sprinted up behind him, gazing over his shoulder at the dying faery. Annwyl was almost completely transparent now, a Fading shadow, though she was still hanging on, her eyes squeezed shut.

  “Nooo!” Razor cried, bouncing frantically on Keirran’s shoulder. “No leave, pretty elf girl! Stay, stay!”

  “Keirran,” I said urgently, dropping beside them both. “Keep her talking. Make her remember something, anything. ”

  He swallowed and looked down at the Summer faery, gently cupping her cheek and turning her face to his. “Annwyl,” he murmured, his voice suddenly calm, “listen to me. Do you remember the first night you agreed to meet with me outside the court?” Her eyes opened—colorless and blank—and shifted to him, and he forced a smile. “It was high summer, and I had to sneak out of Mag Tuiredh by train because Glitch was using all the gliders to practice aerial maneuvers. But we agreed to meet in the wyldwood, beside that waterfall. Do you remember?”

  I think I caught a tiny nod from Annwyl, and heard Kenzie’s footsteps just before she knelt down opposite me, her expression grim and horrified. I met her gaze, wishing there was something I could do, something more than watch Annwyl Fade to nothing in Keirran’s arms.

  “You were beautiful that day,” Keirran went on, his eyes never leaving the Summer faery. “You were standing in that meadow with the flowers in full bloom, surrounded by deer, and I remember thinking you were the most captivating sight in the entire Nevernever. If Glitch had caught me right then, I wouldn’t have cared, because I had already seen you. ”

  Listening to Keirran’s soft voice, I noticed with relief that Annwyl had stopped Fading and that color was beginning to creep back into her. If Keirran saw, he didn’t give any indication and continued speaking in that same quiet tone.