Realms of Mist and Ash: Fae Witch Chronicles Book 2

by J. S. Malcom

  Someone grabs hold of my hand and I expect to see Cade. Instead, an old woman looks into my eyes. She has silver hair and long slender ears. Flecks of green sparkle in her irises. “Come, come,” she says. “I do reading.”

  Her voice is accented with Russian, possibly Hungarian or Romanian. It reminds me that the people around me might be from anywhere on Earth.

  She seems harmless enough, and I try to smile. “Reading?”

  She nods repeatedly. “Yes, yes, palm reading. I do this for you. You need. I can tell.”

  Whether I need a palm reading or not seems beside the point, since she keeps hold of my hand. I don't want to hurt her feelings, so I let her lead me a few feet toward where she has a little wooden table set up beneath an umbrella. The table holds a deck of Tarot cards, an array of small vials. And, big surprise, a crystal ball. Apparently, even Silvermist has its share of schlocky psychics. Time to bail.

  “I'm Eva,” the woman says. “Much going on for you right now. Yes?”

  “Um…”

  “Yes. I feel it! Wait, you see. You thank me.”

  With her free hand, she selects one of her little bottles. She upturns my palm and, before I can object, shakes out a few drops of oil.

  “Hey. What's that?”

  “No worry. Feel good, right?”

  I don't know if I'd call it good, exactly, but I feel something. A warm tingling spreads through my hand. It sort of tickles.

  Eva starts nodding again. “Tincture tickles future out into daylight.”

  For some reason, a dark feeling comes over me. Maybe right now it's better not to see the—

  “Yes, you witch.” Eva runs her knobby index finger across my palm. Her touch increases the tickling, and it's hard not to pull my hand away. “I thought you witch. How else you be here? Me witch too. Half-blood witch. Mother from long line of Romani.”

  “That's nice. Look, I should probably—”

  Eva closes her eyes, and then she frowns. A moment passes as her frown deepens, almost like she's in pain. “Much more, though. Much, much more. I see nothing like this before. I don't under—”

  “I really should find my friend.” I try to pull my hand away, but the old chick has a seriously firm grip.

  “I see man in future!” Eva says. “Tall and dark…”

  Please don't say it.

  “And handsome. Very handsome.” Eva grins.

  Okay, definitely time to boogie.

  “Danger where he is. Much danger.”

  I finally free my hand from hers. “Thank you very much, but I need to go.”

  I know what Cade said, but I reach into my pocket and find a few crumpled dollars. I set them on the table and start to get up.

  Eva seems not to notice my attempt to flee. Her gaze now bores into mine, a little too deeply for my comfort.

  “Fae witch,” she says. “That's why I no see before. Fae witch!”

  “You mean veil witch,” I say, shooting her one last smile. “You probably never heard of it before. Have a nice day, okay?”

  I head out and she calls after me, “Fae witch! You see, Cassie. Fae witch!”

  Okay, well, no one said there can't be crazy people in Silvermist. Tall, dark and handsome? I mean, come on. Wait, did I tell her my name?

  “There you are! Where'd you go?”

  I jump as Cade falls in next to me. “Where did I go? I was looking at the trigoat thing and you were just gone. Some old crazy lady just tried to read my future.”

  Cade glances back over his shoulder. “Eva? She may be weird, but she sure as hell isn’t crazy.” He holds up a bundle of rolled up clothes. “Okay, I think we got what we need. Hope these fit okay. I had to guess your size after you took off.”

  “I didn’t take— Never mind.” I shake my head, then glance at the bundle he’s carrying. “Wait, did you—?”

  Cade follows my gaze. “What? No! Did you really think I’d steal from someone here?”

  We keep striding through the crowd. “Well, you are a thief. Isn’t that kind of what thieves do?”

  “Not in this case. Stealing from the Seelie is an act of resistance. Speaking of which, let’s get back and get you changed. It’s time to head over to Faerie.”

  We keep walking, but I can’t help but look back once more. When I do, Eva’s eyes meet mine from where she sits at her little table on the fringe of the crowd. She nods, and I’m the first to look away.

  CHAPTER 13

  As it turns out, Cade’s street ends at a dirt path leading into the woods I saw last night. We walk that path now as I wear a full-length, brown wool skirt, a white linen blouse with long puffy sleeves and a suede vest. Oh, and a pair of leather boots that Cade said Sloane left at his apartment. Why, he didn’t say, but I’m sure that will just make her love me that much more. Cade wears leather pants and a dark green tunic. Essentially, we look like escaped extras from a medieval reenactment.

  As we get deeper into the woods, the mist continues to thicken, to the point where it’s difficult to see more than a few feet. It swirls around us as we walk, sparkling silver and reflecting sunlight streaming through the thick growth overhead.

  “We’ll be there soon,” Cade says. “How are you feeling?”

  I shrug and say, “I’m fine,” but it’s not really true.

  Yes, I’ve been to Faerie before, but each time completely by accident. I didn’t have time to think about it. Now, my pulse is racing and I’m trying not to break a sweat. Of course, it doesn’t help that it’s warm in Silvermist, the temperature perfect for the t-shirt and jeans I was wearing before. Now, my clothes weigh like forty pounds. I check and it makes me feel better to see that Cade’s forehead also shines with sweat.

  “How about you?” I say.

  Cade glances over. “It’s always a risk going there.”

  “So, why are you?”

  I expect him to stop walking, to turn and face me, but he doesn’t do either. He just keeps going. “Let’s just say I’m curious, okay?”

  That’s not good enough. If I’m risking my life and possibly risking my chance of saving Julia, I have to know more. “Curious about what?”

  Cade at least slows his gait this time. “Curious to know if we can find your friend, and if we can help. Curious to know if we can—no, if you can get her out of there again. Because I know I can’t, not on my own. By now, if I could have helped them, I would have. You just have to trust me on that. You called me a thief before, and you’re right. But it’s not just about stealing objects from the fae. Sure, I turn a bit of a profit here and there—to pay for my rent in Silvermist, to run a tab at the Rowan and Thistle and to buy food when I’m staying in that realm—but what I want to know is if we can take back the power from the Seelie. That’s what I really want to steal, and I’m willing to do that in any way possible. If only by one little bit at a time, then fine.”

  Suddenly, a feeling comes over me. Another one of those psychic pings, bringing with it the image of a girl’s face. She’s a little younger than us, pretty, with brown curly hair and big brown eyes. And, yes, her ears rise to delicate points.

  This time I just say it. “They took someone from you too. Didn’t they?”

  Cade doesn’t look at me. It’s as if he can’t. After a moment, he says, “They keep someone from me. Can we leave it at that for now?”

  I look at his profile to see the truth in his tightly drawn face. I hit a nerve, that’s for sure. The feeling I get is that it’s not so much that he’s unwilling to talk about it, but that it hurts him too much to do so.

  “Yes,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

  The mist is at its thickest now, impossible to see through. I can barely follow the path we’re walking on.

  “It won’t be long now,” Cade says. “Watch your step here.”

  He reaches out to take hold of my hand, and I let him. He steadies me, as the ground suddenly changes beneath my feet. I feel the dirt and moss give way to a hard and level surface.

  “We�
�re on the bridge,” Cade says. “Keep your eyes ahead. There. Do you see it?”

  I take in a quick breath. Before us, the fog gently undulates, as if a breeze stirs the air in that spot only. I know what it means, of course, that just a few steps away there’s a doorway between worlds.

  “Everything’s about to change,” Cade says.

  And I have no doubt that he’s right.

  CHAPTER 14

  I brace myself for what’s happened in the past, that disorienting moment of finding myself standing within an alien landscape beneath a strange sky. Instead, we emerge into total darkness. I literally can’t see my hand in front of my face.

  “Where the hell are we?”

  “Don’t worry,” Cade says. “You’re fine.”

  “You know, you say that a lot.”

  Cade chuckles and lights up our surroundings with a glow that spreads from his outstretched hand. “Might as well use magic while we still can.”

  He flicks his wrist and the light source floats free, rising to the ceiling of what I now realize is a tunnel. Even with the light, I can only see a few feet ahead into the inky void.

  “What do you mean, ‘while we can?’” I think about when I tried using my magic in this realm before. The result had been a blinding pain.

  “That’s another thing the Seelie have a stranglehold on here,” Cade says. “Magic itself. Or what’s left of it. I’ll fill you in as we go, but for now, go for it if you’d like.” He gestures toward the darkness.

  I hesitate, then call up my magic. Like last time, I wince as pain shoots through my skull. A red light flashes behind my eyes.

  Cade studies me sympathetically. “Are you okay?”

  I close my eyes and try again, gritting my teeth as I fight back the pain. Suddenly, a current rises within me unlike any I’ve felt before. I shudder with pain once more, then cry out as a plume of light bursts from my palm, extending at least eight feet out in front of me. The thing is more like a flamethrower than a light source, with heat spreading and building fast.

  Cade jumps back. “Whoa, shit! Take it easy!”

  The problem being, I’m not sure how to stop it. Even as I fall to my knees, the fiery light continues to blast from my palm. It’s literally scorching the tunnel ceiling, a burning smell building around us.

  “Cassie, turn it off!”

  I plunge my palm to the dirt, finally killing the light. My breath comes in ragged gasps as the pain finally starts to subside.

  Cade drops down beside me. “What the hell just happened?”

  I shake my head, as I continue to take deep breaths. My voice comes out as little more than a whisper. “No idea. You tell me. What the hell just happened?”

  I reach for Cade’s hand, signaling for him to help me get up. He grips my wrist and hoists me to my feet. “You sure as hell tapped into something. Have you tried using magic here before?”

  “Just once,” I say. “I didn’t have any—” I stop as I reassess. Maybe it’s not that I couldn’t draw upon magic in this realm that last time. Maybe I was tapping into way more than I could handle. Which suddenly feels true. I don’t know how long I could have sustained what just happened, or what would have happened if I’d tried doing so.

  Cade continues to study me beneath the light hovering overhead. “No idea what that was,” he says. “Like I said, they have the magic blocked where we’re going. Usually, you can still get a little this far out, but you won’t have any at all. At least, that’s how it goes for us.” He digs inside his pocket and withdraws the amulet he borrowed from Sloane. He holds it out to me. “Here, put this on.”

  “Why, what’s the deal?”

  “Just a thought. Maybe whatever you just tapped into will help keep it charged for when we need it.”

  I hesitate, and then reach out to accept the offered amulet. I slip it around my neck, hiding the pendant beneath my shirt.

  Cade nods. “We’ll need to save that for an emergency. Can you walk?”

  Even now, I still feel lightheaded. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nod. “I’m sure. Lead the way.”

  We start walking, following the orb Cade cast as it continues to light the way.

  “You’re probably wondering about the tunnel,” he says. “The rifts used to take us right into Scintillia, but not these days. Same deal. Blocked. So, we managed to magically re-engineer one of them to drop us off in here. It’s not the best, but it works.”

  “What’s Scintillia?”

  “Oh, right. Sorry. That’s the Seelie city kingdom. Literally, the ancient fae word for magic. Goes back like a million years. By the way, you’ll be able to understand the language here. More or less. Some words won’t translate, but most will.”

  I think back to the few times I’ve been to Faerie, and he’s right. That aspect has never been a problem. “Right. I noticed that.”

  Cade laughs. “Bet it didn’t occur to you until now.”

  I’m too stubborn to admit the truth, that I’d assumed they were speaking English. “No, that occurred to me.”

  “Did you wonder why?”

  Even in the cold, dark tunnel, I can feel my face growing warm. “There wasn’t really time to think about it.”

  Cade seems to buy that particular line of bullshit, or at least pretends to. “I guess that makes sense. Anyway, that’s one of those weird things about visiting other realms. Somehow, you just know what people are saying. Must be one of those interdimensional deals, but I really don’t know. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. There used to be more city kingdoms, but it’s down to just the one now. I mean, there’s still a few outposts, but they’re just barely hanging on.”

  “What’s all that about?” Shit, I thought our realm was messed up.

  “Basically, think of it this way—as the magical resources kept dwindling, the Seelie kept fighting amongst themselves. They’re greedy by nature, so sharing was out of the question. And we’re not talking skirmishes. We’re talking full-on magical assault. Nothing like we’ve ever seen on earth, nuclear weapons notwithstanding. So, fast-forward a few thousand years and you’re down to one city kingdom. The rest of Faerie is basically a wasteland now.”

  My stomach drops as I recall the warm snow and “frozen” forests. “Wait, are you saying the snow is nuclear fallout?”

  “More like magical fallout,” Cade says. “That ash is a result of them sucking every last ounce of magical energy out of their dimension. I mean, except the magic they still hoard. Basically, they broke their realm. It’s not so different from what the human race is doing now, really. Quick interdimensional physics lecture, brought to you by me—planets aren’t really planets, they’re energy vortexes. Energy is magic, regardless of how you manage to get your hands on it. Each dimension holds only so much. You either share or you die. Those are the rules. Play by them or become history. The universe is really big, so it doesn’t give much of a damn either way.”

  An interesting concept, but I could swear I hear something huffing behind me. “Do you hear something breathing?”

  Cade looks over his shoulder. “Oh, shit. I forgot.”

  No, I don’t get the best feeling. I lower my voice to a whisper. “Cade, what did you forget?”

  “The bullmole,” he whispers back.

  “Bullmole?”

  In the dim light, I see Cade wince. “Yeah, this is a bullmole tunnel. Usually, I think to bring a ward, but there’s been so much going on. Anyway, run.”

  “What?”

  “Run!”

  We take off running, Cade’s orb just barely keeping pace overhead. The breathing I heard before turns into puffing, then grows louder to include a low-throated growl that shakes my eardrums. Quite possibly, the walls of the tunnel itself. I don’t want to think about whether bullmoles have horns, but why else would they call it a bullmole? And how fucking big, exactly, is a bullmole? The size of a bull? From what I’m hearing behind us, I’d have to guess that’s also the c
ase.

  Suddenly, the light around us starts flickering in and out.

  “The good news is that we’re almost there!” Cade yells. A split second later, the tunnel fall into darkness. “The bad news is that we’re almost there!”

  By which he means, we’re out of magic, made evident by the fact that our only light source just quit. Thankfully, another one soon appears, a painfully distant opening straight ahead.

  “That’s the end of the tunnel!” Cade yells. “Keep running!”

  I can't imagine what else he thinks I'd do, but the bullmole adds emphasis by bellowing out a roar.

  “He won't follow!” Cade yells. “Bullmoles hate sunlight!”

  I'm not entirely sure we'll live long enough to test that assertion, but the sudden infusion of adrenaline must do the trick. We make to the end just in time, and spill out, both of us losing our balance and tumbling into an alley that smells strongly of urine. Behind us, the furious bullmole lets out an indignant bellow of rage. But Cade’s right. It stays within the darkness.

  “Cool, we made it,” Cade says.

  We climb to our feet and dust ourselves off. It would appear that our arrival in Scintillia has been accomplished.

  CHAPTER 15

  Each time I've been in Faerie, I've found myself at first facing the stillness and silence of a dying landscape. Not so this time, as the sound of talking, music and laughter comes from whatever is beyond the alley. In a way, even the filth surrounding us is preferable to the desolation I've encountered before. In its own way, the grime and sour odor serve as signs of life.

  “Where are we?”