He narrowed his eyes and smiled, cherubic face suddenly wicked. “Let’s go play.” He dragged me along behind him as he sped through the Paths. He kept changing direction, altering his course to the right or left as though following a constantly shifting trail. I’d never seen anyone go anywhere but straight ahead before.
“Do you know where you’re going?” I asked, increasingly nervous. I wasn’t keen on the idea of being lost in the Faerie Paths with Jack or anyone else. And the longer we were stuck in the dark, the more I had to fight the panic.
“It changes. Never in the same place twice. Makes it rather difficult to find, especially when one is being nagged, but now we—” He stopped, triumphant. “Here. Put your hand out. Tell me what you feel.”
Rolling my eyes, I put my hand out next to his, against the emptiness and—there was something there. Or not something, even, but the idea of something. It wasn’t tangible, and I wasn’t sure how I was feeling it at all, other than the slight stirring under my fingers, the recognition of place in the midst of nowhere. I imagined it was akin to amputees feeling phantom limbs, only in this case it was a phantom door. There was nothing there, but there should be.
Jack watched me intently. “You can feel it, can’t you?”
I shook my head. “I think so; I don’t know. It’s weird.”
“There’s no reason I can do it and you can’t. In fact, you can open a lot more than just doors. This would be easy if you’d put your busy little mind to it instead of worrying about grades and schools and kissing. Especially kissing. Nasty thing, that.”
“Yeah, nasty when it’s with you. But how can you do this?”
“I think the faerie food changes you a bit. Besides, if you watch long enough, and want something badly enough, you’d be amazed at what you can do. What you will do. The Faerie Paths meant freedom for me.”
My heart twisted sadly in my chest, reminded of Jack’s life with the faeries. Like Vivian, but Jack seemed so sure of himself, saner than she had been. Which wasn’t saying much, but still. He wasn’t completely unbalanced. “I’m so sorry about your childhood, Jack. That must have been hard.”
He grinned, a baring of teeth. “Ah, but look at what a fine young man I’ve grown into. I have no one but the faeries to thank for who I am today.”
“You can leave, though! Why do you still go to the Faerie Realms at all? Why not come back to Earth entirely, leave it behind?”
“Come back to what? Besides, you know that once you’ve tasted fey cuisine, you never go back. Can never go back.”
“Couldn’t you bring a lot with you or something? Store it?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid one way or another Faerie and I are linked. I’m not done with them yet.”
His smile seemed to me a more thorough glamour than any I’d ever seen. Just when I thought I was learning something about him, that smile would crop up, wiping away any real emotion. How could I ever read what was underneath it?
“Moving on,” he said. “The door. You can feel it.”
“What am I feeling, exactly?”
He traced his fingers almost reverently along the space where the door waited for us, staring at the blackness. “You know when you’re on the edge of wake and sleep, and the dream you’re leaving feels more real to you than anything the world has to offer? When you open your eyes, it’s as though part of you stayed, and you know you’ll never feel things quite as deeply, experience them quite as truly as you had in that tiny space of awareness between darkness and light. We’re going into that.” I held my breath, and he snapped out of whatever state he was in. Winking, he opened a door. “Welcome to the Faerie Realms.”
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Before I could tell Jack no, we were through the door and into the Faerie Realms. The only times I’d ever been there had been with Reth, in rooms of golden rocks, swirling meadows, and way-too-fancy furniture. I never thought I’d want to go back, but I’d take Reth’s rooms in a heartbeat over this.
The sky above was crimson red, a vast expanse broken by pinpoints of glimmering black, like the absence of stars. Although I could see clearly, the air was thick and heavy as a summer night, carrying a hint of charred cinnamon. We stood on the pitch-black banks of a massive lake, silver but completely unreflective in defiance of the sky. Hulking rocks broke the monotony of the plain around us, scattered as if by violence, twisted and tortured things. The entire scene was mesmerizing, beautiful but wrong.
“Jack,” I whispered, pulling on his hand. “We shouldn’t be here.”
“You’re right,” he said, and I let out a relieved breath. “Forgot the supplies.” He put his hand out and we slid sideways, the air shifting as the nightmare landscape was replaced by a room. I swayed dizzily.
“Sorry about that.” Jack let go of my hand and went to a table in the corner. “Once you’re actually in the Realms it’s easier to get from place to place. Takes some time to get used to, though. Mind the rug if you’re going to vomit.”
I clutched the edge of a couch for balance and looked around. This had to be the strangest room I’d ever seen. The walls were pale green rock and lit by an unseen ambient light, the furniture similar to what I’d seen with Reth, scrolling woodwork and rich velvets. However, scattered through all the faerie finery were dirty socks, discarded pants, and dingy sneakers.
Leave it to a boy to make the Faerie Realms look like a dump.
Jack lifted a tattered cardboard box and set it on the oak table, then grabbed a luminous fruit from a bowl. It looked like a peach, if peaches were blue and made from pieces of heaven. He closed his eyes as he bit into it, a rapturous, ravenous expression on his face. I’d never tasted anything as good as that fruit looked. I breathed through my mouth, trying not to smell it. After he finished, he offered me the bowl. “Want one?”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
He shrugged. “You have no idea what you’re missing. Ah well. I work better on a full stomach. Now that we’ve got supplies, we can get back to it.”
“Whoa, not so fast. What was that place? I don’t want to go there again.” Jack’s room at least was contained, closed off. On the banks of the strange lake we’d been completely exposed. I didn’t want to be in Faerie at all, but I really, really didn’t want to be there.
“Sorry, no time to lose. We’ve got a boat to catch.” Jack balanced the box against his hip and grabbed my hand before I could yank it away. With another stomach-churning shift, we were back on the shore of the lake.
But this time we weren’t alone.
A great ship, gleaming black as obsidian, silently passed us. The silver water was undisturbed in its wake, not even a ripple extending outward. I shrank back, but the boat went on without incident, coming to a stop against the next curve of bank. An arching bridge descended from the side. I was terrified to see who was going to get off.
“Jack?” I whispered urgently.
“Oh, right. We shouldn’t be seen. I don’t think they’d kill us, but one never knows.”
“I’m going to kill you!” I hissed as we ducked behind one of the horrible boulders. Jack peered around the edge. I cowered. I’d spent too long running from faeries to come here on my own, practically offering myself to them. “Let’s go!”
“You should see this.”
“No! No, I really shouldn’t, and you shouldn’t, either! Let’s get out of here.”
“Look.” Jack yanked me over until I could see, too. The procession was as silent as it was eerie. Faeries, beautiful and terrible at the same time, descended the bridge, their steps carefully measured. They had every color of hair imaginable—from black to blinding white—but their faces were sharp, cruelty etched into perfection. Their clothing, a singular shade of deep purple, floated around them on an imaginary breeze. Following the last member, the faeries all turned to face the boat. I held my breath in anticipation.
The next figures appeared, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out in horror. People—humans—crawled
on all fours, their heads shaved, completely naked save for brilliant silver patterns painted on their bodies. Supported across their back was a finely wrought platform, all scrolling silverwork, and they crawled in perfect uniformity so as not to disturb it. Without any signal they stopped, waiting. I fought back the bile building in my throat. Far worse than their stripped bodies, lean and sinewy, was the look on their faces.
They were happy.
More than happy, they were enthralled, their expressions bordering on ecstasy. “What are they for?” I whispered, but Jack cut me off with a quick glare.
I didn’t have long to wait. A woman, taller than the rest of the faeries by at least a head, glided forward. And in that moment I knew beauty and terror were one and the same, inseparable. How could anything less consuming than true terror ever be beautiful? Her hair swirled like black oil, dark rainbows undulating as it cascaded down her back. Her eyes were pure black against the alabaster of her skin, her violet lips full, cruel, flawless. Anything that fell from those lips would be pain and pleasure, inescapable, irresistible.
Here, then, was eternity. I would go to her—I had to go to her. In a world ever shifting, ever dying, she was an absolute, she was gravity, she was everything. I wanted to be lost in her forever.
Jack pinched my arm, twisting the skin between his fingers. Gasping, I turned to glare at him. He rolled his eyes. “Newbie. Try not to throw yourself at the Dark Queen, okay?”
I shook my head, trying to get the remnants of the desire, the need, out of my head. That had been close. Too close.
I hate faeries.
I turned back, determined not to lose myself to her pull again. I focused on anything other than her, watching her slaves instead. In unison the people dropped to their stomachs and she stepped onto the platform. Raised seamlessly into the air on their backs as they resumed crawling, she stared coldly past her entourage.
The faeries formed a line behind her and she was carried forward across the plain. The farther away she got, the easier it was to breathe. I leaned against the rock, exhausted from the effort of resisting the Dark Queen’s pull. If she was dark, that made her the queen of the Unseelie Court. The ones who made Vivian. The ones who wanted me dead. Great distraction, Jack. What was not getting into Georgetown compared to facing death and wanting to throw myself at her feet? Come to think of it, Jack had been giving me a lot of potentially fatal experiences lately. We’d have to talk about that.
He leaned over, rummaging through his box.
“Who were those poor people?” I whispered, still sick to my stomach from remembering the looks on their faces.
He shrugged without glancing up. “Not people so much, anymore. Unseelie pets don’t last long.”
I shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself. “You need to take me home. I think those faeries are looking for me, and I’d really rather not be found. Why are we here, anyway?”
Jack straightened with a wide smile that made me feel even worse than the slaves had. In each hand he held a glass bottle of amber liquid.
“You want us to get drunk?”
“Don’t be stupid. Getting drunk doesn’t make the Realms any nicer. Hold these.” He handed me the bottles, then grabbed two long strips of damp cloth, stuffing them down into the open bottles so that only a few inches were hanging out.
“What—”
“Do you ever shut up?” Finished with the cloth, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a book of matches.
Oh, bleep no. “Jack! What are you—”
He lit both wicks and grabbed one of the bottles. Grinning maniacally at me, he turned and hurled his bottle. It spun lazily, a trail of light until it disappeared behind the deck of the ship. Maybe it wouldn’t work. Maybe—
A massive fireball billowed up, scorching the air and flowering along the boat.
“Evie? You might want to throw that thing.”
I looked down in horror at my own burning Molotov cocktail, then flung it as far from myself as I could. It smashed against the side of the boat, most of the flames falling down into the silver water.
Which proceeded to catch fire.
“Wow. Didn’t expect that!” Jack nodded appreciatively as the flames spread, eating their way outward along the top of the lake. The boat, now engulfed, creaked and groaned its death cries. “Adding a touch of faerie liquor to the petrol gave it the extra kick, I think.”
An unearthly shriek ripped through the air, jarring me to the bones. I did not want to meet the owner of that voice.
Jack laughed, taking my trembling hand. “This is the part where we run.”
Old Friends
Jack!” My voice came out unrecognizable, nearly an octave higher. Part of it was terror, but most was a reaction to the thick, acrid smoke, solid as a fist, shoving its way down my throat. The air filled with it as the lake behind us became an inferno.
I could barely see Jack, his hand my only lifeline in this nightmare. “Get ready!” he shouted, and with a dizzying twist the landscape warped. We still stood on the same blasted plain, but far enough away to be out of danger. Tendrils of smoke clung to us like living things, and I tried my best to brush them away.
I watched as the dark clouds undulated sinuously up, blacking out the red night sky. The lake burned evenly, a single body of flame, the Dark Queen’s boat barely more than a pile of fire now.
Jack put his hands on his hips, surveying the scene with a satisfied nod. “That turned out much better than I’d hoped.”
“Please, let’s leave!” If we could still see the chaos, we were far closer than I wanted to be. I could imagine what the Dark Queen’s midnight gaze would feel like if she found us. My skin crawled—with fear or anticipation, I couldn’t tell. Neither was good.
“What’s your hurry? Let’s take a moment to bask in the satisfaction of a job well done.”
“I didn’t want to do that!”
“No?” He cocked his head and raised his eyebrows. “I thought you hated the fey.”
“I do, but that doesn’t mean I want to run around the Faerie Realms lighting everything on fire!”
“What’s the point in hating something if you aren’t proactive?” He put his arm around my shoulders, steering me to look at the inferno with him. “You can’t tell me that’s not satisfying, not after what you saw. Faeries care about very few things, but they’re quite fond of their little trinkets. That boat was a particular favorite of hers, not to mention the entire lake. All the centuries she spent crafting this landscape, then poof! One excellently thrown firebomb, and you’ve made her feel anger and pain more deeply than she’s probably ever known. And far less than she deserves to know.”
Watching the flames, it was as though the lingering smoke wove its way into my chest, dark and seeping, replacing my fear with anger. He was right. They deserved this. They deserved far, far worse than this.
I narrowed my eyes until the brilliant line of fire was all I could see. Come to think of it, it was exactly what this landscape needed. It belonged here.
I turned to Jack. “What else did you have in mind?”
His face burst into a dimpled smile. “I knew you weren’t useless. A quick stop to gather more supplies and—”
“You.”
We both jumped in shock, turning around to find the source of the horrid, rasping voice. Something crouched, feral and twisted. Wild and matted hair half covered sunken features. What had no doubt once been fine clothes were now filthy and torn beyond recognition. But then I found the eyes—her eyes. Ruby red eyes. Ruby red eyes that had once gone with a voice like shattering glass.
Fehl.
The last time I’d seen her had been in Lend’s kitchen, when Vivian tried to drain the life from her. She’d gotten away but was apparently much worse for the wear. Gone was the ethereal, disconnected grace of the fey. She was a thing gone wild, her eyes feverish, her movements jerky and darting.
“You did this to me.”
I held up my hands, taking a step ba
ck. “No, I didn’t. I’m sorry, but—” I paused. I wasn’t sorry. Fehl had squirmed around her binding IPCA rules to work with Vivian and bring me to what she thought would be my death. What nearly had been my death. Besides which, I saved her life that night by stopping Viv from draining her entirely. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have. I stood straighter. “I seem to recall you bringing this on yourself.”
She let out a laugh, somewhere between a croak and a cough. “Yes, a job well done and well rewarded. But if I finish—if I bring a prize back to my queen—she’ll love me again. She’ll fix me.” Fehl stood up straight, grimacing as though it hurt.
“You broke a faerie?” Jack edged away, not taking his eyes off her. “A little warning would have been nice. I don’t want to die now that things have finally gotten fun.”
“Relax,” I snapped. “We’re not going to die. She can’t hurt me.”
Fehl laughed again, a hint of her old glass coming through. “Little girl, you’ve no idea what I can do.”
“Can you handle her?” Jack asked, and I realized that, for the first time since I met him, he sounded scared. I didn’t want to know what he’d faced at the hands of faeries. Faeries like Fehl. I wasn’t about to let him get hurt again.
I stretched out my fingers, wondering what a faerie would feel like as I watched Fehl shift back and forth on her feet, twitching like a cat waiting to pounce. It wasn’t wrong, it couldn’t be wrong, to take some of her soul if it meant protecting myself and helpless people like Jack. It wasn’t much different than what IPCA did, anyway. I was like a human Tasey.
Fehl snarled, then jumped forward, covering the distance between us faster than I thought possible. I dodged, but tripped and fell back in my haste to get out of her way. She overshot, sliding along the ground before whipping around as I scrambled backward on my palms, trying to get more space between us.
She bared her teeth at me in a sick grin and stalked slowly forward. Jack was behind Fehl now, frowning as he watched. I wanted to scream at him to run, but he was probably in shock. Why didn’t he make a door away from here? I couldn’t get up without giving Fehl an opening to attack me. I wracked my mind, desperate for a plan, when it hit me.
Supernaturally (Paranormalcy) Page 18