I dropped to the ground and tried not to think about what I was crawling through. My fingers clawed in moss and mud, and I could feel my knees sinking in the muck as I pushed forward. Sweat and smoke stung my eyes and made them water.
“Beezle, shout out, would you?” I called. “I can’t find you in this mess.”
“To your right,” a growly voice said in a long-suffering tone, and it was not three inches from my ear.
I turned my head to see Beezle watching me frog-crawl through the mud.
“That look really works for you,” he said.
“Why is it that I wanted you back again?” I said.
I came to my knees, inspecting the cage. There didn’t appear to be any kind of door or lock.
“How does this open?” I asked.
“Antares sealed it with one of his momma’s spells,” Beezle said.
“Antares took you?” I asked. “Did he throw the bomb through the window, too?”
“Yup,” Beezle said. “He came up on the house under a cloak of invisibility and then manifested in front of me. Before I had a chance to warn you he had me magically bound and was tossing the bomb.”
“Then he came back and took you to the portal in the alley,” I finished. “Do you know if he was the one who put the portal there?”
“I don’t think that he did,” Beezle said thoughtfully.
“It seemed like, from the many evil-villain mutterings that I could catch, he was using someone else’s portal for his own device. He seemed to think he was being pretty clever.”
“He usually does,” I said. “But why would he send me that note when he clearly wants me to get blown up? What’s the point?”
Beezle frowned inside the cage. “What note?”
“The one that said, ‘I know where they are keeping him,’” I replied, running my hand around the seam of the cage. I could sense the spell that Antares had used to seal the cage shut. It was imperfect, and when I prodded it gently with my own power I could feel the spaces in the magic where it would give way. The only thing that I was afraid of was a booby trap. “Do you know if Antares wove anything dangerous in with this seal?”
“It didn’t seem that way, unless there’s a trap already inside the spell. He was in kind of a hurry.”
“Trying to avoid the big monster that lives in the swamp, I bet. Well, there’s nothing for it but to try.”
“Says the woman who’s probably not going to get splattered into a million pieces if you’re wrong.”
“Do you really think I’d let you get splattered into a million pieces?” I said, and tried to keep the uncertainty that I felt out of my voice. I wasn’t going to let Beezle get blown up if I could help it.
I carefully found a weak spot in the spell and pushed my power through it as gently as I could. The top of the cage flew off with a surprising amount of force and clocked me in the chin.
Beezle snorted a laugh as he flew out of the cage.
I rubbed my chin. “And I say it again: why was it that I wanted you back?”
He shrugged as he hovered in front of me. “Because you’ll never survive without me?”
I pushed wearily to my feet. “I may not survive with you at this rate. Now, what the hell happened to my useless fiancé?”
Beezle pointed into the woods. “Like I said, he went that way.”
“I wonder if he got knocked out,” I said as I squelched my way through the mud toward the trees. “Nathaniel!”
He didn’t answer. The heavy mist and the shadows of moss cascading from the branches made everything look eerie. I kept thinking that I saw a person in the mist, but when I looked closer I would see that it was nothing but the twisted claw of a tree or a shifting bit of moss.
After a few minutes I stopped. Beezle, who fluttered just next to me, took the opportunity to rest on my shoulder.
“Why are we stopping in this creepy place?” he asked.
“Because I don’t think I should go any farther and get myself hopelessly lost. As it is, I’m not sure that I could retrace my steps back to the swamp.”
“Just follow your nose,” Beezle said. “I’m sure the stink of burning monster carcass will lead the way.”
“Nathaniel!” I called again.
We waited in the silence, and as we did I realized something. There was no noise in this place. No buzzing of insects, no chirping of birds, no slosh of toads as they leapt from lily pad to pond.
I stepped back, all of my self-preservation instincts coming to the fore. If you walk in the woods and you hear no noise, it’s usually because something big and scary is on its way. “I’m not sure that we should stay here any longer.”
“What about Nathaniel? Azazel won’t like it if we leave him here.”
“He’s an angel. I think he can take care of himself,” I said, and turned on my heel. And stopped.
Standing in front of me were three people aiming bows and arrows at us. They were all male, tall and thin and dark haired, and the tips of their ears were just slightly pointed. They were dressed like refugees from Peter’s Lost Boys—animal-skin pants and leaves woven into shirts.
“Faeries,” Beezle mumbled.
“Got that much figured out, thanks,” I said.
The faerie in the middle, a middle-aged male, spoke. “Who are you that dares to breach the realm of the most glorious Queen Amarantha without permission?”
“Amarantha,” I repeated in a monotone.
Of course. Antares had led me right into the kingdom of the woman I was supposed to negotiate with as Lucifer’s ambassador. I really should give Antares more credit. Looks like my half brother knew what he was doing after all.
8
“DO YOU THINK YOU’LL GET YOUR HEAD CHOPPED OFF in front of the whole court, like Lucifer’s last ambassador?” Beezle asked quietly.
“Can we not talk about separation of my extremities? It gives me the queasies,” I said out of the corner of my mouth.
“Answer me, intruder, or you will be executed here and now for your crime,” the middle faerie said, and he tightened his grip on the bowstring to show me he meant business.
I held my hands up. “Peace. I am Madeline Black, Agent and daughter of Azazel. I came here unwittingly through a portal looking for my gargoyle.”
I jerked a thumb at Beezle, who was still perched on my shoulder. He gave the three faeries a little finger wave.
The faerie frowned. “Daughter of Azazel? You are Lucifer’s ambassador?”
“Yes,” I said warily. “And who are you?”
“I am called Ivin. If you are the ambassador, then why are you here instead of at court?”
“I didn’t come here with the intention of negotiating today. Like I said, I didn’t even realize this was Amarantha’s kingdom. I was looking for Beezle and kind of ended up here by accident.”
Ivin’s face hardened. “Accident is no excuse. And besides, we are well versed in the duplicity of your kind. How am I to know that you did not come here with the intention of spying and gaining some advantage before the negotiations begin?”
“I give you my word as an Agent that I did not come here to spy,” I said. I was starting to get a little nervous. I knew that whatever happened here would probably make my task as negotiator that much more difficult. But even more than that I was wondering whether I could outdraw three archers with my magic should they decide that the best option all around would be to shoot me then and there.
“The word of an Agent may be worth something, but the word of the fallen is less so,” the faerie said.
“I’ve never fallen from anything,” I said.
“Your father is one of the Grigori, and thus you are one of their kind.”
Just then there was a rustle of leaves in the trees a few feet away, a thump, a cry. It sounded like there was a struggle going on just out of sight.
Ivin, who was obviously the leader, gave a hand signal to the faerie next to him and that man disappeared into the woods. A few minutes later he
and a fourth faerie appeared holding Nathaniel between them. My fiancé’s hands were tied in front of him with a thin cord that looked like vine, his hair was rumpled and filled with feathers and his pale blue eyes were icy with fury.
I sighed. I didn’t know if Nathaniel had been trying to sneak around and save me from the faeries or sneak around to the portal and save himself, but either way it was apparent that reconnaissance was not one of his skills. I really, really, really missed Gabriel. In a survival situation, he was significantly more competent than Nathaniel.
“I found this angel attempting to slip past us,” the fourth faerie said to the leader.
“Nathaniel ap Zerachiel?” Ivin said, and his voice was astonished. “You, who have always come to Amarantha in good faith?”
“Ap Zerachiel?” I muttered to Beezle. “What’s that all about?”
“Zerachiel is his father,” Beezle whispered back. “One of the archangels, before the Fall.”
No wonder Azazel wanted me to marry Nathaniel. Azazel probably wanted me to make some kind of super-angelic baby. Between my mother’s bloodline as a direct descendant of Lucifer, Azazel’s own power and Nathaniel’s heritage, we would probably make a monster. I shuddered involuntarily. Just one more reason to make sure this marriage never, ever happened.
Nathaniel bowed his head curtly. “And I continue to negotiate with your queen in good faith on behalf of my lord. I had been separated from Madeline and was attempting to reconnect with her.”
“But what were you doing here in the first place?” Ivin asked.
“I believe Madeline told you we were here to rescue her gargoyle.”
“So you lurked in the woods to spy on our conversation? If your conscience is clear, why not simply rejoin your party?”
Just as Nathaniel was about to open his mouth and respond, yet another faerie came trotting out of the woods from the direction of the swamp. This one, too, was tall and thin and dark haired. They all pretty much looked the same, like they’d been cloned.
The new arrival stopped in front of Ivin and reported. “The leviathan has been killed. Burned to death.”
Ivin’s eyebrows winged up to the top of his forehead. He turned to look at me accusingly.
“It was going to eat me,” I said. “What did you want me to do?”
His eyes hardened. “I should kill you here and now for this offense, but since you are Azazel’s daughter I will take you to the queen for judgment. Bind her hands.”
I wasn’t willing to jeopardize all of our lives by doing something foolish, and I didn’t think Lucifer would appreciate it if I spoiled his negotiations before they even began by knocking all these idiots out with my magic and running away. But there was no way in hell they were going to bind my hands. I would not be brought before Amarantha like a prisoner. I may have been covered in mud and dressed like a homeless person, but I was still Madeline Black. I had some pride.
One of the faeries came forward with the vine cord. I stepped back and conjured a ball of nightfire, holding it in front of me. The other four faeries made ready to fire their bows.
“You’re not putting those on me,” I said softly, and I felt Beezle on my shoulder twitch in surprise. I didn’t look at him. If I did, I would doubt myself, because I was sure he had a what-in-the-four-hells-do-you-think-you’re-doing look on his face.
“You are to be brought before the queen for judgment,” Ivin shouted.
“And I’ll go. But you will not treat me like a criminal,” I responded. I wondered if I could make the nightfire scatter, like a shotgun blast. Of course, maybe now was not the time to be contemplating new and exciting ways of using my power.
“In my eyes you are a criminal. You have trespassed on Amarantha’s kingdom with foul intentions,” Ivin responded.
I drew my power around me like a cloak, pushed it up and out so that all in the clearing could feel it. I wanted them to know just who they were messing with. All the faeries took a little sidling step backward, not a lot, but just enough for me to know that they felt my magic, and it gave them pause.
“You will not bind my hands,” I repeated. “You will treat me with all due respect accorded to an ambassador from Lucifer’s kingdom.”
“I could kill you before you wielded your spell,” Ivin said, and he pulled his bowstring tighter.
I narrowed my eyes at him and pushed more power into the ball of nightfire that hovered above my palm. “Care to try me?”
I knew that I put Ivin in a bad position. He was the authority here, a representative of the queen, and it would be difficult for him to back down in front of his men. On the other hand, my sympathy only went so far. I had enough sense to know that I needed to come to the queen on my own terms or else she would never respect me.
Everyone in the clearing was still. Ivin and I had our eyes locked on each other, each waiting for the other to make a move. The faerie who had approached me with the vine cord seemed to be holding his breath. I wanted to look at Nathaniel, to see if he would help me if it came down to a firefight, but I didn’t want to release Ivin from my gaze.
A minute passed, two. I readied my power. He wasn’t going to give in. I wondered how many of them I could take down, and if I could avoid ending up looking like a pincushion filled with arrows.
Ivin abruptly dropped his bow. The other faeries paused a moment, as if in astonishment, and then dropped their weapons to their sides.
He gave me a little bow. “Welcome to the kingdom of Queen Amarantha, Ambassador Black. We would be happy to escort you to our queen.”
I closed my hand and the ball of nightfire disappeared. I gave Ivin a regal nod. “Would you please unbind the hands of my escort?”
Ivin looked like it would pain him to do such a thing, but since he’d already embarked down this path he had to see it through. He nodded at one of the other faeries and the cord on Nathaniel’s wrists was cut. Nathaniel gave the faerie who had fought him in the woods a look of venom. If I were that guy, I would avoid being caught alone at night by Nathaniel.
Nathaniel came to my side. The leader stepped around us, another faerie next to him, and indicated that we should follow them through the woods. We walked behind them in silence.
Even though Ivin had spoken the correct words and released Nathaniel, it still felt like we were prisoners. Two faeries walked in front of us, one behind and one on either side. Their weapons had been returned to their backs but all five faeries were tense and watchful. It was clear that they didn’t trust us and that any false move on our part would result in someone getting bloody.
The terrain did not improve significantly as we moved away from the swamp. The woods became thicker, the trees larger. The way that we followed didn’t really seem like a path. There was no tramped-down dirt to indicate the crossing of many feet. Gigantic roots jutted from the ground; large branches reached into our way. Small bushes with prickly thorns scratched and caught at my clothes.
The faeries leapt lightly from root to rock, easily avoiding creeping branches and reaching thorns. They seemed to slide through the woods like water. I was more like a stumbling rhinoceros. I tripped over every obstacle, got grabbed by every jutting piece of greenery. After about twenty minutes I was sweating like a pig under my winter overcoat.
I might technically approach Amarantha like an ambassador, but I was certainly not going to look like one. I don’t generally think of myself as vain or girly, but I was sweaty, bruised and covered in dried mud from head to toe. Nobody wants to appear before a queen like that. I shuddered to think of what my hair looked like.
We walked for what seemed like an hour. After I’d tripped over my nine hundredth tree root, I decided to break the silence.
“How much longer?” I asked Ivin.
He looked back at me. “The court of Queen Amarantha is approximately a day’s walk from here.”
I stared at him. “A day? Are you crazy? I can’t take a day to walk to court. For chrissakes, Nathaniel and I can fly. Surely ther
e’s a quicker way than walking.”
“You can fly but we cannot,” he said. “You entered the queen’s kingdom at the very borders of her authority. It is not my fault that you chose to come that way.”
“Believe me, it’s not a choice I would have made if I had known,” I grumbled. “What about a portal?”
“We do not have the ability to create portals. That is solely the province of your kind,” he said.
“Then Nathaniel can make one. This is ridiculous. Do you seriously think that I am going to . . .” I trailed off as the ground beneath me trembled and all the faeries went still. “What is it now?”
The leader looked alarmed. “We must go now. As quickly as you can, follow me.”
“What is it?” I asked again, but all the faeries had disappeared into the brush.
The ground shook. I heard something chittering and clicking in the darkness of the trees. It sounded like several legs thumped on the ground. Dead leaves crackled and twigs snapped as the creature approached. There was a heavy scrape of furred body on bark as it pushed through the woods.
“That sounds like a—” Beezle began, but I cut him off.
“Don’t say it. It’s not allowed,” I said, and I pushed my wings out. I have a mild to moderate case of arachnophobia. If that thing was what I thought it was, then I would probably pass out right there and wake up to find myself in a cocoon hanging from a tree. “Come on.”
Nathaniel and I flew up toward the top canopy of trees, but the branches were tightly woven and it was impossible to get above the tree line. My clothes and wings snagged on everything and my face was horribly scratched after a few minutes.
The chittering and clicking came closer. Nathaniel looked at me in alarm.
“We can’t get through,” he said.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I muttered. “Beezle, can you squeeze through here and try to get above the trees, maybe find a place where we can fit through?”
Beezle looked at me doubtfully. “I can try. But how will I direct you from up there? You’ll never hear me, and you certainly won’t be able to see me.”
Nathaniel broke a small branch off one of the trees. He snapped it in half, muttered a word, and the ends of each branch started to glow.
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