Addie liked the sound of that. The Kin could come out of hiding. They could have everything Normals had—libraries and candy stores and lives that didn’t skip across time like a stone skimming a pond. The protective instincts of the Stone of Fal swelled within her. Addie had been the one chosen to end the exile of her people and win them the happiness they deserved.
If you call it winning when you’ve been chosen by an evil goddess of destruction and chaos.
Addie blinked. Jax had said those words back when they saw the Washer Woman. Why was she remembering his sarcastic comment now, when she was on the verge of getting what she wanted?
Because it wasn’t like the Morrigan to deliver happiness. That wasn’t her function.
Addie gripped the Spear tightly and narrowed her eyes at the being sharing this platform with her. It wore the body of a teenage girl, some Normal probably stolen from her bed the same way old Mrs. Stanwell had been stolen when the Crone appeared to Addie in Vermont. Poor Mrs. Stanwell hadn’t survived it. What was going to happen to this girl? For the first time, Addie wondered who she was, who was missing her, whose lives would be bereft without her.
Behind the blankness of those eyes, was she screaming silently in terror? In warning?
On the other side of the river, the mountainside was in flames. Addie assumed the Aerons were still wreaking a path of destruction through the forest, and by the gunfire rumbling in the distance, the Transitioners were fighting them. Down in the valley, Addie’s sister was alive and free of Griffyn, but what about Condor and Ysabel? Was Evangeline at their mercy? And the Morrigan hadn’t actually said Jax was okay, just that he’d done his job.
The Morrigan was sounding more and more like Bran, manipulating Addie with a mix of truth and lies. There were no candy stores and libraries on offer here. The Morrigan was the Morrigan and she always wanted the same thing. Death. Chaos. Turmoil.
The powers of protection and intention warred within Addie, and her uncertainty must have shown on her face, because the Morrigan’s words grew more forceful. “Break the spell, Adelina. The time has come for you to pay for the gift you were given.”
“You’re not supposed to pay if it’s a gift,” Addie argued.
The Morrigan snarled like an animal, contorting the face of the Normal girl. As the howl wound down, her lips peeled back against her teeth, and she hissed, “Do as you are told!”
Addie had heard that command many times in her life, and her reaction to it was always the same. “No.”
For once in her life, it was more than just contrariness prompting an automatic response. This time, Addie understood that if she did what she was told, the Kin—and the Transitioners—and the Normals—were all going to suffer for it.
The water tower shook with the Morrigan’s rage. The crows launched themselves upward in alarm, their wings flapping frantically. Addie braced herself with the Spear to keep from losing her footing.
“You want to break the Spell!” the Morrigan exclaimed.
“Yes, but not if you want it this much,” Addie said. “I guess you should have picked someone more obedient. Or more easily fooled.” Although I was fooled. For way too long. Her hand ached from gripping the Spear tightly in anger and disappointment. After all she’d been through, she wasn’t going to get what she wanted! Or what she thought she had wanted . . .
“You are a fool.” The Morrigan’s expression had returned to a deathlike vacancy that was somehow all the more foreboding after her display of fury. She sheathed the Sword of Nuadu.
With a sinking feeling, Addie realized that the vengeful magic of the Sword had left her. It had gone dormant now. And her hand was stinging not because of how tightly she was gripping the Spear of Lugh, but because it was starting to reject her. She had stolen it from Bran when she thought she wanted to break the Eighth Day Spell, but she wouldn’t do that on the Morrigan’s orders. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore, and the Spear would never accept an owner without a purpose.
As for the Stone of Fal—Addie tried to cling to its warm power, but who was she trying to protect? Her people? Her sister? Her vassal? It occurred to Addie, as the Stone’s magic slipped away, that she’d be lucky if she could protect herself. Moments ago, she’d been full of limitless potential, capable of taking on the Morrigan. Now she was just a foolish girl who hadn’t thought things through before defying a goddess.
The platform jerked beneath Addie’s feet and the entire water tower started to shake like it was coming apart. Addie hung on to the Spear in spite of the pain radiating up her arm and grabbed the railing for balance. Over a hundred feet below, the stagnant floodwater she’d trudged through to get here had become a raging torrent beating deliberately against the support legs of the tower.
Addie backed away from the Morrigan, who simply watched her with a knowing smile and a malevolence as old as time. The ladder was on the other side of the tank, but Addie couldn’t climb down into that churning water, even if the structure lasted long enough for her to do so. The tower was coming down, and Addie was trapped.
Then the air shimmered above the walkway, and a single brownie dropped onto the wooden planks and bolted straight for Addie, ears plastered unhappily against his head as if he knew exactly what was standing behind him. Addie didn’t need the telltale white tuft to recognize him. Jax had sent his pet for her, just like he promised he would.
The Morrigan didn’t stir, but one of her crows dived for the brownie, its outstretched claws narrowly missing his head. More of the crows flew at him, trying to spear him with their beaks while Stink darted back and forth, dodging them. He could have popped out of danger the same way he’d arrived. Addie had seen him do that before. But he didn’t do it now. Stink was coming for Addie because Jax had sent him, and the brownie was as loyal as his master.
Addie charged forward. “Get away from him, you filthy crows!” She swung the Spear of Lugh at the hovering birds, hoping to bash them out of the sky. But the Spear was too heavy, and the pain of holding on to it had become too great. When the wooden shaft knocked against the water tank, her hands, numbed and clumsy, lost their grip. The Spear slipped between the tank and the walkway and vanished into the water below.
Addie barely registered its loss before Stink leaped into her arms. She squeezed his warm body—a welcome antidote to the cold, searing pain of the Spear—and the brownie squealed in protest. Or maybe he was squealing because the water tank was looming over their heads . . . and the platform was tilting wildly . . . and the Morrigan’s crows were flying straight for them. “Get us out of here, Stink!” she shrieked.
The brownie tried to twist free of her hands. But Addie was afraid to let go. She hung on, closed her eyes, and pitched into the empty sky with him.
37
JAX STOOD ON THE flooded street in his soaked clothes next to Evangeline, whom he’d led away from Griffyn’s dead body, and stared up at the mountainside. The fog was finally dissipating—only to be replaced by smoke from the fire. Jax watched the distant flames worriedly while Albert Ganner radioed for help transporting the unconscious Condor, Madoc, and Gawan—and the fully awake and glowering Kel—to a secure location. “You know there’s innocent kids out there in the fighting, right?” Jax asked one of the Dulac clansmen.
The man nodded. “The Morgans are doing their best to extract them.”
“I’m sending Jax and the Emrys leader back to headquarters via the brownie tunnels,” Ganner reported into the radio. “Under guard. Jax seems to think the other Emrys might arrive on her own. Keep an eye out for her.” He signed off.
“Evangeline’s not a prisoner,” Jax objected. “She doesn’t need a guard.”
Ganner was unapologetic. “With one Llyr still on the loose and a whole lot of crazy Aerons trying to burn down the mountainside, it’s for the protection of both of you.”
Ganner’s man didn’t let go of either Jax or Evangeline as they entered one of the brownie holes on the street and jumped, with brownie assistance, back
to the Bedivere house. The high-ceilinged entry hall was a beehive of activity centered around Sheila Morgan, who wore full combat gear in spite of being stationed at the mansion. Their guard tried to direct them toward her to give a report, but Jax resisted. “I need to see Riley first, let him know we’re okay. Then we’ll tell you guys anything you want to know.”
“He’s in the banquet room,” the man said, pointing. “Make it quick. We still have people in the field needing any intelligence you’ve got.”
Jax took off in that direction with Evangeline right behind him. “You’re sure Addie will meet us here?” she asked.
“Stink will bring her,” Jax insisted, faking confidence, because he really wasn’t sure—not until he threw open the banquet-room doors and heard the commotion inside. Riley was bellowing and slapping at his leg. His jeans were wet, and Tegan held an empty metal pan in her hands.
“Really?” Riley exclaimed indignantly at the Kin girl on the other side of the room. “We save your life, and you set my pants on fire?”
“Where are my sister and Jax?” Addie shouted back, clenching her hands like she was preparing to call up fireballs.
“Addie, we’re here!” Evangeline rushed into the room and flung her arms around her sister. Addie cried out and returned the hug enthusiastically.
Stink scampered up Jax’s clothing and onto his shoulder. Jax grinned at Riley and offered him a fist bump. “Got ’em back. Told you I would.”
Riley knocked his knuckles with Jax’s. “Don’t get cocky, squirt. Things didn’t go exactly as planned.”
“When do they ever?” Jax shot back. But it’d been mostly his plan—and most of it had turned out the way he wanted. He’d gotten everything he wanted . . . except for Lesley.
“Bran Llyr is dead.” Addie pulled out of her sister’s embrace. “And Griffyn is too, right? Jax killed him?”
“What?” Riley looked stricken. “Jax—”
“I didn’t!” Jax protested. “The Morrigan took the Sword. She’s the one who did it.” Jax didn’t know Addie well enough to hug her, so he punched her lightly on the shoulder in greeting. “Hey, I’m glad you’re okay and everything, but did you have to set Riley’s pants on fire?”
“They were only smoldering.” Addie punched Jax back. “Your brownie dropped me in a room with strangers instead of taking me to you and Evangeline! And one of them was a Pendragon. What was I supposed to think?”
Riley approached Evangeline. “Are you all right?” He could see she was unhurt, so Jax suspected he was really asking: Are we all right?
Evangeline looked up at him. “Riley, I’m sorry I left without telling you. I did what I thought I had to do to reach my sister.”
“I know you did,” Riley said quickly. “I never doubted it. I overstepped my bounds, keeping information from you, and I—”
He froze when she held out the pieces of his dagger. “I didn’t want to do this,” she said. “But they were hurting Addie, and they made me break it.” To Jax’s surprise, she burst into tears.
“Whatever you needed to do to save your sister was the right thing to do.” Looking panicked by her tears, Riley whipped out Excalibur and extended it toward her, hilt first. “I can offer you another blade to settle things between us.”
Evangeline shook her head vigorously. “I’m not going to take Excalibur from you! I don’t need a blade to represent our . . . alliance . . .”
“Then . . . what’s wrong?” Riley looked at Jax for help.
Jax shrugged. You’re on your own, dude.
“This was your childhood blade,” Evangeline explained, holding out the broken pieces. “I know it had to be a gift from your father. It was important to you and maybe a family heirloom.”
Riley nodded, understanding her at last. “This,” he said, waving Excalibur, “is a family heirloom.” He chucked the ancient dagger onto Bedivere’s table, where it spun around and almost went over the edge. “You’re important to me.”
Dropping the broken pieces of his dagger, Evangeline gave a little leap and threw her arms around his neck. Riley lifted her right off the ground and kissed her.
Jax retrieved Excalibur from the edge of the table before it fell off. “That was pretty smooth,” he whispered to Addie. “But I’m betting he actually wants this back.” Then he noticed Addie’s mouth hanging open in astonishment. “Oh, you didn’t know about those two?”
“No,” Addie said faintly, staring at them. “Emrys and Pendragon . . . that’s not possible.”
“Sure it is. Why not?” Jax glanced at his friends, then looked away and said loudly, “But I wish they’d knock off the PDA. Nobody wants to see that!”
“You can say that again!” snapped Sloane, flinging the banquet-room doors open. Riley and Evangeline broke apart reluctantly as Sloane stalked across the hardwood floor, followed by Bedivere and someone Jax thought must be part of Sheila Morgan’s mercenary crew. “Jax, we need a report now on what happened out there and—” Sloane broke off when she spotted Addie and called back over her shoulder to the Morgan vassal. “The other Emrys is here. Inform Sheila.”
“Tell her Addie says the Llyr lord is dead, too. At the water tower, I expect.” Riley held a hand out to Jax, and Jax wordlessly passed Excalibur back to him.
“How’d you know that?” Addie asked as the Morgan vassal stepped aside to speak into his radio. Her eyes scanned the pans of water on Bedivere’s table, the packets of labeled hair, and Tegan, who looked bleary-eyed. “You. Were you scrying for me?”
“You were the hardest one to reach,” Tegan said. “But yeah, I spotted you on the tower.”
“I stole hair from your room when I was on the island,” Jax explained. “Tegan’s been keeping an eye on all three of us—you, me, and Evangeline.”
“I sensed someone watching,” Evangeline said, “and made sure not to fight it. But you must be exhausted.” It was the first time Jax had ever heard Evangeline praise Tegan.
Tegan shrugged and rubbed her eyes. “I had support, first from Gloria Crandall and then Riley, or I wouldn’t have been able to keep it up as long as I did.”
“You sent the brownies,” Addie said to Tegan. “The ones that caught me.”
“Well, I saw you were in trouble, and Riley sent the brownies.”
Bedivere, who’d been speaking to the Morgan vassal during this exchange, turned to Addie. “Are you sure the Llyr lord’s dead? We sent military forces to that tower as soon as Riley and Tegan reported your location, and they witnessed unnaturally turbulent water knocking it down. That has to be weather-working magic, and if there’s a Llyr out there, we need to know. There are still many of our people out on that mountain.”
Addie shook her head. “It was the Morrigan. She knocked the tower down.”
Sloane slapped both her hands on Bedivere’s table in frustration. “The Morrigan was at the tower and on the main street? Can anyone explain to me why we didn’t get her? Finn has a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and very little memory of events. Dorian looks like a drowned rat, and he’s practically incoherent. Jax, what happened?”
So Jax told the story as briefly as he could, explaining how the Morrigan had tossed Finn Ambrose aside and used the Sword of Nuadu to kill Griffyn.
“You were trying to capture the Morrigan?” Addie asked incredulously.
“We were trying to rescue the girl she stole,” Jax clarified.
“That accounts for one Llyr,” Bedivere said. “What happened to the other one? If he had the Spear of Lugh, wasn’t he protected?”
Everyone looked at Addie, who quickly said, “It was the Morrigan. The Treasures don’t affect her, right?” Her eyes darted around at everyone. “She, um, threw Bran off the tower.”
“Why would she do that?” Bedivere asked doubtfully.
Addie shook her head and shrugged at the same time. “Well, I guess she was angry things weren’t going her way. She thought Bran could break the Eighth Day Spell while the Treasures were all active and they had
me prisoner. But he couldn’t, and she got mad. If Stink hadn’t rescued me, she would’ve killed me next.”
Jax and Evangeline exchanged dubious glances, but Bedivere seemed to accept her explanation. “We have an Arawen on the run, and an unknown number of Aerons to subdue,” he said to Sloane. “But no one can damage the Eighth Day Spell if we have both the Emrys heirs, and Sheila will be relieved to know we won’t be dealing with any more tornadoes and lightning.”
“As long as there’s fighting, we might still see the Morrigan,” Sloane said. “We can’t send Finn, but she didn’t respond to him anyway. She did react to Dorian . . .”
“You can’t let him go after her again!” Jax exclaimed.
“Of course not,” Sloane snapped. “I’ll just have to hope someone on my security team will have better luck—move faster, get that cuff on her. Something!” She strode toward the doors, her face like a thundercloud and her hands clenched at her sides. Bedivere followed her.
Addie shuffled nearer to Jax. “Do you know she”—Addie pointed at Sloane’s back—“is one of the Dulacs who held me prisoner?”
Riley beat Jax to an answer. “We know. But she’s also the reason you’re still alive. She’s trying to save Lesley Ambrose, and thankfully that meant protecting you, too.”
“My dad sniffed you out,” Tegan said. “He found where all of you were hiding over the last week. That house in the mountains. Sheila Morgan wanted to bring out the bulldozers and demolish the place.”
“But Sloane voted with us to lure the battle here instead of taking action at that house,” Riley explained. “Normally, I wouldn’t trust Sloane Dulac as far as I could throw her, but where Lesley’s safety was concerned, she was unmovable.”
Jax sucked in his breath, realizing he and Evangeline and Addie could have been snuffed out of existence without ever knowing what happened—if it hadn’t been for the Morrigan taking Lesley. “She wasn’t there, you know,” he said. “It’s not like the Morrigan hung out with us.”
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