“There are rumors,” Deirdre said, continuing her cleaning routine. “But knowing it was them who killed that poor pixie, we can be certain they have been close to Catháir. Perhaps that is not where they are hiding, but it is a place to start, I suppose.”
“Catháir?”
Deirdre straightened, looking at Kayla over the freshly made bed. “Yes, it is where the pixies live, in the Whispering Woods,” she said. “Now, when you are ready, there are two knights waiting outside your room.”
Kayla dropped the fruit. If they were taking her back to see the faerie cat again, there was something she had to get first.
One of the knights was Oilibhéar and the other a fair-haired faerie boy who Kayla had seen at the revel, dancing with Maeve. He introduced himself to her as Rhydian.
“The queen wishes to sort out matters with the faerie cat at once,” Oilibhéar said. “Considering current events.” His amber eyes rested on Kayla and she wondered if he was genuinely worried about her or simply following his duty.
“Fine by me,” Kayla said. “Where’s Fay?”
“Princess Fay will not be joining us today,” Rhydian said in a hiss. Kayla could have sworn his scowl looked exactly like Maeve’s.
They walked out of the Citadel, through the garden to the oak tree, and onto the Faery Path. There was little conversation, which suited Kayla just fine. She wasn’t interested in small talk.
When they emerged from the tree in Millennium Park, Kayla stopped for a moment to stare at the skyscrapers. Abby was probably close by. And so was the L line which would get her straight to Theo’s school. She couldn’t count how many times she’d picked him up from school to get some ice cream or to see a movie.
Kayla shivered as a freezing wind blew across the park. Winter had arrived.
Tires screeched as cars whizzed past them and the stench of garbage and other rotten things crept up Kayla’s nose. Those were things she’d never noticed before, things that were part of Chicago, but it was different now. The clamor of the city was like an assault to Kayla’s ears and nothing like the peace of the evergreen hills in the Seelie Court. With a start, she realized that she missed the smell of flowers and grass and fresh soil.
They made their way down the street and slipped into the warmth of Dahlia’s shop, where the faerie cat greeted them with a cunning smile.
“Well, look who’s made it back into the mortal world,” she said. She bustled through her shop, plucking herbs from different pots and stuffing them into her floral apron.
“How long has it been?” Kayla asked.
“It’s November 10.”
Kayla swallowed hard. Ten days were better than another month, but she was close to missing her brother’s birthday. “So better not waste any more time,” she said.
“I agree,” Dahlia said and led them upstairs.
While Dahlia was boiling water in a kettle, Kayla took her seat on the couch and Rhydian excused himself from the room again. He claimed he would take care of the shop in the meantime, but Kayla doubted he’d make a good florist.
“How are things at the Seelie Court?” Dahlia asked.
“Tense,” Oilibhéar said. “The council has been studying your report on the incident at the pier. Some are wary to trust your words, but most have accepted that we can no longer turn away from the possibility.”
“I can’t say I’m shocked by your people’s mistrust. What does your queen think?”
“That I cannot speak of.”
Dahlia went over to her worktable. “The faoladhs are still on alert,” she said. “But luckily there hasn’t been another incident.”
She put several herbs in a mortar, then crushed them with the pestle and added some hot water from the kettle. After pouring the result into a cup, she handed the drink to Kayla.
“Is that the same thing as last time?” Kayla asked and Dahlia nodded. “But it didn’t work. Shouldn’t you—?”
“I know what I’m doing.” Dahlia’s green cat eyes narrowed on Kayla. “Now, drink it.”
Kayla gave in and took the cup from Dahlia. Holding her breath, she swallowed the concoction in one big gulp.
Dahlia sat beside her as strange images began playing in Kayla’s head. A spinning pool of black-and-white images, except for the one vivid forest scene with the mesmerizing singing. It was like the first time, but the singing voice was even louder. It shook Kayla’s bones and gnawed at her heart, and she was sure she’d suffocate, right there, if she didn’t follow the voice.
But then everything stopped at once and Kayla resurfaced empty-handed, sweating, and panting. She shot up into a sitting position. “I knew this wouldn’t work!”
Dahlia’s face was plastered with sweat too. Oilibhéar beside her wore a flustered expression.
“I will need to go downstairs again. Can you lend a hand?” Dahlia asked Oilibhéar, who nodded in obedience. She glanced over at Kayla, eyebrows drawn up. “Try not to move too much. There’s some tea on the table.”
They both left, closing the door behind them.
Shivering, Kayla scooted to the other end of the sofa where she had deposited the pouch Deirdre had given her that morning. She’d known exactly what she wanted to take with her to Chicago this time.
Kayla pulled her cell phone out of the pouch and switched it on with trembling fingers. It had only a little battery left, but it would be enough. After a few seconds, the phone connected to the carrier and a series of missed calls and unread texts appeared on the screen.
Most of them were from her mother. She swiped them away, but not before she caught sight of one. Kayla, honey, please come back home. I can’t bear this any longer… I’ve lost your father. I can’t lose you too…
Kayla blinked back tears as she switched to the phone book and dialed. It rang only twice before Abby picked up.
“Kayla!” The line crackled as Abby yelled into the phone. “Oh my god! Where are you? Are you okay?”
Kayla sank back into the cushion, the palm of her free hand pressed to her heart. She’d never heard her friend sound so worried, but Kayla had never been more relieved to hear her friend’s voice. “Abby, I’m so, so sorry for leaving…”
“I just… I turned around for one sec and you, like, vanish! And then this weird dude shows up at your place, saying he’s your long lost cousin and that you went to live with some great aunt in Scotland, but I called bullshit. Please, Kay, are you all right?” Abby’s voice was choked with tears now.
Kayla cursed Ophira for deceiving her mother like this, but she reminded herself that her family was better off not knowing the truth. “Abby, I’m fine,” she said. “I’m sorry about the way I left, but I had to. You’re right. There’s no great aunt… I’m looking for my father.”
“Kay, what are you talking about?” Abby said. “We’ve been through this. Tell me where you are and I’ll get you.”
“I can’t say. I’m sorry…” Kayla’s eyes filled with tears.
“Please, where are you?” Abby asked. “I’ll come and get you and we can talk, okay? Let’s talk about this first, huh?”
“No, Abby, that’s not why I’m calling. I’m not coming back home. Not yet.”
“You’re not in Chicago then?”
Kayla closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m not.” A lump the size of her fist formed in her throat. She swallowed, which hurt even more. “Listen, I just wanted to call and tell you I’m all right. I miss you a lot. But I have… friends taking care of me.”
“Friends? What friends?” Abby said shrilly. “I haven’t heard from you in a month, you never texted or anything. Do you know how worried we’ve all been? You can’t just…”
“I am so sorry, Abs. I would’ve talked to you sooner if I could…”
“Yeah.” Kayla could picture Abby pacing up and down her room. “I’m not buying this. I know you and your mom don’t get along, but leaving like that? If you wanted to run away from home, why didn’t you talk to me first? I’ve never seen someone as devastat
ed as your mom…”
Kayla’s stomach twisted into a painful knot. For a second, she saw her mother at the police station, filing a missing persons report. What would her brother be thinking? That she had abandoned him? Hopefully soon he would learn why she had left. And he would finally get to meet his father.
“My mom can’t know about this,” Kayla said, fidgeting with the strap of her pouch beside her. “I can’t tell her where I am or why I’ve gone. It’s… too risky.”
“Kay,” Abby said so softly that Kayla barely heard her. “We’re all so worried about you. Can’t I at least tell her you’re okay?”
Kayla hesitated a moment before she said, “Okay. But nothing more. Please promise me that?”
“Will you promise me to come back soon? Or at least text?”
“Yes, I’ll try. I promise.” There was another pause. Several pairs of feet were moving around downstairs.
“And you really can’t tell me where you are?”
Though Kayla and Abby had their fair share of fights since the beginning of their friendship, they’d never caused each other pain. They always made up again, too worried about the other’s wellbeing. To hear the hurt in Abby’s voice now was a blow to their bond, and Kayla felt it shatter.
“You know,” Abby said, “I could really use my best friend now. I-I keep seeing things…”
“What things?” Kayla asked, but she was only partially listening to Abby. Heavy footfalls echoed up the stairs. “Crap, I gotta go.”
“Now? But Kay—?”
“We’ll talk again as soon as I can, okay?”
“Okay,” Abby said, sniffling. “Bye, Kay.”
The connection broke. Kayla listened to the beep-beep-beep and then pressed the phone to her ear a little longer, but there was nothing.
She was alone again.
When Dahlia thrust open the door with a flourish, Kayla shoved her phone into her pouch. Dahlia had returned with three potted plants balancing on her arms.
“Why haven’t I thought of this before?” she said as she sat down the pots on the table. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Raskovnik, the herb that unlocks anything that is locked.” She pulled a cauldron from under the kitchen sink and placed it on the stove.
Kayla wiped a few tears from her cheeks, then rose from the sofa.
“My dear, could you please hand me some of that wormwood and mugwort?” Dahlia asked. She didn’t look up from her cauldron as she poured a green liquid from a vial into it.
Kayla picked the containers with the labels Mugwort and Wormwood from the table and handed them to Dahlia.
“This will take a while,” Dahlia said. “You should head back to the court for now. I’ll send for you once it’s ready.”
“And this will work?” Kayla asked, her voice cracking.
Dahlia cast a glance over at Kayla. “Please,” she said, “stop questioning my abilities.” She gave her a final wink and then returned to her work.
Downstairs, Rhydian was pacing between the tables filled with plants and flowers. “It is about time. We have to get going.”
In the far end corner, on the top shelf, Kayla could make out Bran, the raven, perching in the shadows. He was watching them with his beady black eyes.
Kayla shuddered. “Let’s go.”
Kayla knew she’d messed up. She’d hurt her mother and brother and she’d abandoned the one person who’d always been there for her. But the damage was done. She couldn’t go back home, not until she’d found her father.
When they returned to the Seelie Court, the two knights left her outside the Citadel and she wandered the narrow streets by herself. She knew she should pay more attention to her surroundings or the trickster faeries might ambush her again. But her mind was already filled with thoughts of her best friend, her brother, and mother, all worried for her. She realized how little she’d thought about the repercussions of her vanishing from their lives. The hole she’d left behind, just like her father had.
And what for?
She wasn’t a step closer to finding him. She was blindly following the faeries, trusting the queen to keep her end of the bargain. So far, this hadn’t worked out at all. Her father was still out there, held captive by the violent Unseelies. And she needed to do something, anything.
Kayla stopped in her tracks. The tight cluster of houses had thinned and the path she was on continued past a field and toward the Whispering Woods. If she couldn’t find help in the Seelie Court, maybe she’d find it out there. Maybe the pixies knew something about the Unseelies that they hadn’t told Queen Ophira.
The sun was low in the sky, but there was probably enough time to cover some ground before nightfall. Kayla opened her pouch, glancing at the contents. She had her phone, the acorn, and a small vial she had grabbed from Dahlia’s shelves. She had no idea what it was for, but its label showed the small emblem of a skull. Whatever it was, it had to be enough in case Kayla came across the Unseelies.
Squaring her shoulders, Kayla started off down the path. She hesitated when a glint caught her eye. It was the sun that sparked off the Citadel. From where she was standing, she could still make out tiny shadows buzzing around in the garden.
Was one of them Fay?
Kayla shook her head and walked toward the forest again.
As soon as she crossed the border of the Seelie Court, the bargain would be broken. But if Kayla found the pixies and learned more about the Unseelies, she wouldn’t need Queen Ophira’s help anymore. She wouldn’t need Fay’s help either.
Before she could change her mind, she slid between two trees into the Whispering Woods.
20
THE TREASURES OF LIGHT
Weary from the council meeting, Fay walked down to Nooa’s hut to unwind. But when she found it empty, she made her way through the court without paying much attention. Most faeries coming her way greeted her, and she met them with a smile. She was way too tired to talk to any of them.
“Fay!”
A pair of hands closed around her arm from behind and yanked her toward a tree and inside, into its hollow trunk.
She spun at her abductor. “Nooa?!”
“Welcome,” he said with a smile, twiddling his pipe in his fingers. “Have a seat!”
Fay looked around. The inside of the tree was a narrow, circular space, with moss creeping in through every crack in the wood and ivy swaying up high. A fire crackled in a grate set into the ground, illuminating Maeve, who was bending over a table. One webbed hand pressed down on the table; the other was holding some papers. She glanced up at Fay.
“Glad you’re joining us.”
“Why are you hiding in here?” Fay asked, arms crossed in front of her chest.
Maeve huddled over the table like she was protecting a newborn. “Who says we’re hiding?” Fay raised an eyebrow at her. “Fine. But you never said we couldn’t help in a non-dangerous way, right? And unless Ophira has approved my knighthood…” She left the rest of the sentence unfinished, challenging Fay with her amber eyes.
“I talked to her,” Fay said, swallowing back the sharp sting on her tongue. “She said she’ll have to consider.” Ignoring Maeve’s suspicious frown, she turned to Nooa. “So, what is it you’ve got?”
But it was Maeve who answered. “Have you heard of the Treasures of Light?”
“No.”
“I figured. Since you missed out on most of our tutoring.”
“Trust me, if I could’ve come to this world sooner, I would have,” Fay said. “But it’s not that easy to find, you know?”
Maeve shrugged and before she could say another word, Nooa intervened. “Do not worry, Fay. You are here now,” he said and guided Fay over to the table where Maeve was still inspecting the papers. There were about six loose sheets, which were all yellowed with age and had several dog-ears and tears. The writing on them was in black ink that was smudged in some places.
Fay leaned in closer and saw that whatever language the writing was in used a similar system as Engli
sh. But there were some odd symbols too, some resembling the ones she knew from the Faery Path.
“This is about those treasures then?” she asked.
Nooa pointed at a book that was lying beside the papers. It was opened to a page that showed a poem.
O Tír na nÓg, thou hast given a home
To those who wander, to those who roam.
O Tír na nÓg, thou hast spread your wing,
And in thy praise the deities did sing.
Thy children were those of darkness and light,
Who wand’red the land and lived under sea,
And broke thy heart when they did fight,
Thy realm devoured by an evil banshee.
O Tír na nÓg, thou hast seen their despair,
And aid came anon to thine heir,
O Tír na nÓg, thou hast given thy sprite,
To forge the Treasures of Light.
The Sword to defeat the strongest of man,
The Spear that never misses its mark,
The Cauldron to call back the dead,
And the Stone that knows a true heart.
Fay lifted her head and faced Nooa. “I don’t understand…”
“You probably know parts of it already, but I will start from the beginning, just to make sure,” he said, sitting down in a chair. He was clearly enjoying this impromptu lesson on faerie history. “Legend says that the Deities—or Giants, like some call them—were the first to arrive here in Tír na nÓg. They settled in peace and brought mortals into the newly founded world. The magic of Tír na nÓg rendered them by giving them powers and abilities beyond the human notion. It turned them into faeries, pixies, and pookas, and many other creatures. But soon, two of the Giants turned against each other: Dôn, the mother of the Light Children, which are the faeries and pixies; and Llyr, the father of the Children of the Dark, which are the merrows and selkies. They were blind in their hatred, in their meaningless battle over land, that they did not see the real danger.”
Seelie Princess (The Crown of Tír na nÓg Book 1) Page 16