by Tamara Blake
The next second, Violet’s knife flashed through the air. Ruby ducked, and the blade flew past her ear by millimeters. Ruby didn’t stick around to enjoy Violet’s shriek of frustration. She scrabbled up from the scattered jewels and took off again.
This time, she could hear more footsteps behind her as the others picked up the sound of breaking glass. “She’s mine!” Ruby heard Violet scream, but the footsteps didn’t lessen; in fact, it seemed like the entire hunt had found her out. Yahoos and whoops dogged her, spurring her on. Her desperation cranked higher as Ruby after Ruby flashed past, each one less like her real self than the one before it.
“I thought I saw her!” she heard a girl’s voice shriek behind her. Skye. “I wanna try scalping—her hair is so pretty…”
Terrified and revolted, Ruby hurled herself around a corner and blundered into another mirror. She caught herself before she fell, and came face to face with a reflection. The Ruby gazing back at her was crack-head thin, gaunt, and sweaty, with huge ugly bags under her eyes…
“I’d like to braid her hair into a belt.” Skye’s shrill voice went on. “Hair accessories are so cool, especially if you know who used to own the hair…”
She was such a sicko. Ruby almost stumbled on, but then something made her pause and consider the reflection again. Was this Ruby really her—but as she was now? Could two weeks at Cottingley have turned her into this?
“Game over, trailer trash.” Violet had rounded the corner, knife in hand, a pack of masked fairies behind her. “It wasn’t nice knowing you.”
She pounced at Ruby, knife slashing. Ruby didn’t even think about it; as the knife whispered near her skin she lurched back and drove her elbow into the mirror.
The glass detonated into a plume of gemstones just as Violet shoved her to the floor, her knife pressed against her throat. Ruby hit the ground so hard the wind was knocked out of her.
I’m dead, she thought.
Instead, bright light flooded the room. The mirrors slid away and retracted smoothly into the paneling. At the end of the hall, a door flew open revealing the library.
“Shit, she figured it out,” one of the fairies said.
Violet remained crouched over Ruby, keeping the knife against her throat. Her emerald eyes blazed within the gold mask.
“Do it anyway, Violet!” Skye squealed. “Kill her!”
“She can’t.” Yukio lifted his mask. So did the others. “A bargain is a bargain. She’d be an oath-breaker!”
“No one will know,” Skye pouted.
Violet pressed the knife a little harder against Ruby’s skin, right above the necklace. She winced as she felt the sting of the blade, slicing ever so slightly into her flesh, but she refused drop her gaze from Violet’s eyes.
Suddenly, Violet shook her head. “She’s not worth breaking immutable law.” She lifted the knife from Ruby’s throat as she rose and stepped back.
As soon as the knife was no longer pressed against her windpipe, Ruby sat up, coughing and scrambling backward before she got clumsily to her feet. She ached all over, exhaustion making her feel lightheaded, but she straightened her shoulders and, facing Violet with a bravado she didn’t feel, said: “So I win?”
“For now.” Violet lifted off the mask and regarded her coldly. “But I’ll win the last challenge. The one that counts.”
Hush fell over the fairies as they gathered around, eager to hear what the next stage of Violet’s game would be. In the silence, Ruby could just hear the sound of a child crying. A little girl who sounded terrified.
“No,” Ruby whispered. This could not be happening.
The crying grew louder.
“NO!” Ruby screamed.
She’d recognize the little girl’s voice anywhere. It belonged to Shelley.
Chapter Twenty
“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you!” Ruby lunged at Violet, but before she could reach her, Stefano’s hand hauled her back. “Where is she?” Ruby demanded. “Where’s Shelley?”
Violet flicked a bit of lint off her sleeve. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie, for sure you know where she is. Tell me!”
“Ruby, she doesn’t know.” Tam stood at the library’s entrance. “It’s the truth.”
He came toward her and the fairies let him pass, muttering under their breath.
“If it isn’t the betrayer,” Violet said. “It’s pretty ballsy of you to show up after giving our secrets away to save this insignificant human, Tam. You’ve shown your true loyalties at last.” She hurled a word at him that hurt Ruby’s ear, a harsh sound like a gull screeching.
Fury blazed in Tam’s eyes. “You forget who you’re talking to, Violet.”
“You’ve broken an immutable law. I could have you banished over this.”
“Save your scare tactics for little kids and old ladies. Your word isn’t law in this household.”
“Yet. My word isn’t law at Cottingley yet.” She turned back to Ruby. “But it will be. I’ll finish off this human, and then I’ll come for you.”
Ruby jerked free from Stefano’s grip. “She has Shelley, Tam. She’s got to know where Shelley is.”
Violet gave an exaggerated sigh. “Tell me again exactly what you see in this servant, Tam? She seems to be mentally deficient. I already said I don’t know where your grubby little sister is, human. That is the final challenge. Your sister is hidden away, somewhere in Cottingley. If you find her before I do, you’ll win. But if I find her first, your mother will die, and we’ll watch the necklace strangle you. Oh, and your sister will be my forfeit. She’ll become a fae under my protection.” Violet’s smile was cruel. “And I’ll teach her everything I know. You can go to your grave knowing she’ll be in safe hands.”
A chill ran through Ruby. “I’ll kill you first.”
“Empty threats,” Violet said.
“Let’s see if it really is empty,” Tam interjected. “Ruby has a right to know the rules of the challenge.”
Violet shrugged. “Oh yes, the rules. I’ll make this simple so even your stunted intellect can handle it, trailer trash. Neither one of us is allowed to call out to your sister. But we are allowed to have help in the search. Who will stand with me?” she asked the fairies avidly drinking in the drama.
Every one of them shot their hands up in the air.
“Who will stand with this human?” Violet then asked.
“I’ll stand with her,” Tam said.
Violet rolled her eyes. “Big surprise.”
She clapped her hands. To Ruby’s horror, the necklace around her throat began crawling up her neck. It felt like a snake slithering up over her skin and she started to yell, but the ruby pendant slid over her chin and covered her mouth, silencing her. Ruby tried to say something but couldn’t. The pendant gagged her completely.
Tam took the scarf now hanging limply from Ruby’s neck and tied it around Violet’s mouth. Violet’s eyes popped open in surprise when she tried to make a sound but couldn’t.
How does it feel, bitch?
“Let’s go, Violet!” Skye flushed with excitement. “I wanna play with the little girl. Does she like to eat spiders?”
Violet quirked her brow at Ruby as if to say, “Let’s find out, shall we?” With a vicious glare at Tam, she beckoned her followers. Together they rushed from the library, leaving Ruby and Tam alone.
The sound of Shelley’s crying filled the room as Ruby gazed at him hopelessly. How the hell could she find her sister before Violet did? Violet had been living at Cottingley for centuries and knew every nook and cranny. The challenge was gamed to Violet’s advantage from the start. Ruby would never win. And Shelley—she’d be lost forever to Violet’s evil.
Silent tears seeped down Ruby’s cheeks.
“Don’t, Ruby.” Tam grasped her shoulders and squeezed them. Hard. “You’re the bravest person I know—human or fae. Stay strong. We’ll find her.”
Ruby drew in a shu
ddery breath and blinked back the tears. Tam was right. If she didn’t even try, she would be condemning Mom and Shelley to their fates.
“Good.” Tam gave her shoulders a final caress before reluctantly dropping his hands. “I think we should split up. If I find Shelley first, I’ll hide her from Violet until I can bring her to you.”
Ruby nodded.
“If you find her first the spell will lift right away, and Violet will have to abide by the bargain. But she’ll find other ways to hurt you, or trick you into getting yourself killed. So as soon as you find Shelley, you both haul ass away from Cottingley. Okay?”
Ruby caught his hand. He looked down at where her fingers tangled with his. Then he said softly, “I know it doesn’t make up for everything I’ve done to you, but maybe you’ll think a little better of me now.”
Then he pulled away and started jogging down the hall toward the tower staircase.
Ruby watched him go. Maybe it was a good thing she couldn’t speak right then, because she would have said something stupid like she trusted him.
Or that she still had feelings for him.
Stupid, stupid things.
The sound of Shelley’s sobbing got louder. Ruby dragged her thoughts away from Tam and focused on identifying where the sound was coming from. She ran through the corridors, trying to pinpoint the noise. Was it louder near the dining room?
She followed the crying to the main hallway, which was always dark and creepy even during one of Cottingley’s massive parties. She ran through the hallway, listening intently, and found herself outside that strange, locked blue door with the gold hieroglyph painted on it. Just as she remembered from her first visit to Cottingley, a trail of glitter ran right underneath it. And Shelley’s crying was coming from inside!
She rattled the knob, shoving her weight against it as she expected it to be locked, but to her surprise the door opened, and she went tumbling to her knees.
Ruby blinked. She was in a field, the long green grasses dotted with flowers swaying in the breeze. It was cool on her face, and she sucked a deep breath into her lungs. She touched the grass to make sure that it was real. It was. What the hell?
She looked up, expecting to see some kind of ceiling, but instead there was just a blue sky, cloudless, the sun shining gently overhead.
There was something familiar about the field, and it took her a moment to realize why. She’d seen it in her dream, the night after she’d first visited Cottingley. There was a storm in the dream, and she’d been dancing with Tam…
It was so warm and so beautiful, Ruby just wanted to lie down in the grass and close her eyes. She had a dim memory that there was something she was supposed to be doing, but it didn’t really seem important any more.
There were three figures approaching through the grass, and as they came closer she caught her breath. They were dressed in shimmering robes, like people but taller, stronger, and infinitely more beautiful. Vast wings quivered on their backs, and they shone—actually glowed—with a golden radiance, as though lit up from within. It hurt to look at them, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
“Ruby,” said one, and her voice sounded like a peal of bells—the sweetest Ruby had ever heard.
“Where is this place?” she asked. Somehow, she could speak.
“This is the Realm,” said another of the winged beings. His voice was low and soft, like the distant sighing of the sea. “Here we are our true selves. Here we need not hide our radiance.”
“You’re so beautiful,” said Ruby in wonder.
They laughed, a glorious sound that made Ruby happier than she could remember.
“You can be beautiful too, Ruby,” said the second creature. “Soon. You’re going to be just like us.”
Something about the way he said it jolted Ruby. Scared her. And then a sound carried to her on the wind. The crying of a young girl.
Shelley!
Ruby spun around and saw the doorway, standing on its own in the field, leading back into Cottingley. She stumbled toward it.
“Do not turn your back on us,” said the first of the figures, and it sounded like a warning rumble of thunder. “How dare you, human?”
But Ruby wasn’t stopping now. She recognized the voice. That was Cosette. Some even more beautiful version of her. With butterfly wings. So beautiful it had messed with her head—but not any more.
She dived through the door, slammed it shut behind her, and bolted down the hall. At last she reached an alcove off the main dining area, a dark and secret cubby which happened to be one of the most popular make-out areas in the house, and flung herself in it, huddling on the loveseat with her legs drawn up to her chin. Her thoughts spun wildly. Did that just really happen? Or was it some weird hallucination conjured by Violet?
No. It was real. She was sure it was. Was that the fairies’ real form? Tam had said they all wore a glamour. But she’d guessed it was to make them more beautiful, not less. Her head ached, and her stomach was churning.
Tam. He was one of them too. So what did his true self look like? Ruby clutched at her temples and groaned. She needed to focus. She needed to find her sister right now…
Wait! Ruby groaned again. She could make sounds—she just couldn’t speak!
Okay, then. She needed to get smart about searching for Shelley. Running all over the mansion randomly opening doors wasn’t going to help, and besides, Violet with her mini-army of fairy minions had the advantage there. The rules said that they were forbidden to speak. But they weren’t forbidden to make sounds, right?
She hummed the first bars of “Scarborough Fair.” If there was one tune Shelley would know meant Ruby was close, that was it.
She marched through the first floor, humming “Scarborough Fair” as loudly as possible. The sounds of Shelley crying had stopped, but there was still no way of telling what room she was in. Unless Ruby could cover the entire ginormous mansion with its secret passages and hidden rooms, humming her face off, she’d never find Shelley in time. Or, more likely, she’d blow out her vocal cords trying.
Desperate, she ran along the hallway, through the main door, and down the steps onto the lawn. She began circling the house. The windows stared down at her, the windows of at least fifty rooms, and yeah, this was a long-shot, but she had to go for it. Ruby hummed “Scarborough Fair” until her throat killed and her ears were ringing.
When she reached the front of the house again and stood on the gravel driveway humming her brains out, the big oak door swung open and Tam came out. “What are you doing out here?” he asked in disbelief. “We’re supposed to be looking for Shelley.”
He seemed so normal, so human, that Ruby couldn’t connect the strange beings of light with the handsome guy standing before her. But she’d worry about that later. She pointed to her throat and kept humming “Scarborough Fair.” Her voice was fading though. It was barely a hoarse growl. She pointed to the windows.
“Uh, okay, I get what you’re doing. Sort of.” He hummed a few bars. “I recognize the song…it’s very old.”
Tam began singing, but in a weird accent, and the words weren’t quite English. Ruby was dimly aware he had a lovely singing voice, which was good because by then her humming had dropped to a croak. Tears welled up. No way would Shelley be able to hear them. This was never going to work.
Just when her voice gave out completely, a window on the second floor creaked open. A small head appeared, a familiar face—Shelley!
Hope flared inside her. Ruby waved madly, though Shelley didn’t seem to respond, and pounded Tam on the arm. He looked up where she pointed.
“I know where that room is,” he said. “It’s one of the bedrooms. Come on!”
He grabbed Ruby’s hand and together they sprinted inside and up the stairs to the second floor. As soon as they reached the corridor, Ruby heard footsteps rushing below. Violet and her posse were closing in!
Tam heard them too. He made a throwing motion with his
hands and the sounds disappeared.
“Shelley should be in here,” he said, and flung open a door at the end of the hall.
Ruby’s vision dimmed with tears of relief. Her little sister was standing by the window in one of Cottingley’s decadent bedrooms—silk drapes, tacky furniture, unmade bed—her arms wrapped protectively around her tummy. She was wearing her favorite Princess Jasmine shirt, and her hair was tousled like she’d just woken up from a nap. She looked so vulnerable, so Shelley, that a wave of love and homesickness swept Ruby. She rushed over to her sister and pulled her into her arms.
But Shelley didn’t return the hug. Instead she stiffened, then pushed her away.
“Who are you?” Shelley asked. “Tam, who is this?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Tam sent Ruby a ‘stay cool’ look. “Shelley, it’s Ruby. Look again.”
“Why does she have that thing on her mouth?” Shelley’s eyes were dry, with zero traces of being red and swollen. The crying sound must have been an illusion from the start, designed to lure Ruby into the giant room.
But Ruby had been crying a ton, and she thought she’d lose it if Shelley was under some awful fairy enchantment. She tried to pry her jaws open to speak—and this time the ruby pendant fell from her lips. “Shelley!” she croaked.
Shelley turned from Tam and suspiciously studied Ruby again.
Ruby tried once more. “It’s me, girlfriend. Ruby.”
“Ruby?” Shelley took a step forward. “Is it really you? You look weird.”
Ruby thought of the hall of mirrors. It was true that she looked like a wreck. But she’d recognized herself under the gaunt face and sunken eyes. She couldn’t have changed that much, could she? “It’s really, truly me.” She croaked a few bars of “Scarborough Fair.” “It’s Dad’s favorite song. You like Cocoa Puffs and drawing pretty pictures. You hate strawberry-flavored milk and creamed—”