by Anthea Sharp
Vonda studied her face, then exhaled sharply through her nostrils. “I don’t know what you’ve gotten into, but I can give you an hour. One hour, that’s it.”
“Thank you.”
“I bet you haven’t eaten breakfast.”
“Not yet, but—”
“Whatever’s going on, you need to eat. Raid the room’s snack bar.” Vonda held up her hand. “Don’t argue. You’re the only one who never touches it. Niteesh decimates his, and the Terabins always eat the most expensive stuff.”
“Okay then.”
Spark opened the hotel fridge and pulled out a couple nut-packed candy bars and cans of soda. However Aran had gotten here, she’d bet he hadn’t stopped for a hearty meal along the way.
“I’ll let you into the conference room where we’ve set up the systems,” Vonda said. “And I’ll tell the others not to barge in. But when your time’s up, we talk.”
She glared at Aran, then swung back to Spark.
“Right,” Spark said. She tossed a bar and a can of soda to Aran. “Let’s go.”
***
Aran silently followed Spark and her manager to the conference room with the FullD set-ups. On the way, he ate the candy bar and chugged the soda, grateful for the sugar rush clearing his head. It still wasn’t enough to wash away the guilt.
This was going to be tricky, in more ways than one.
He had to fix the code without giving away the fact he’d been trying to hack Feyland all along, try to get Spark to forgive him, and—hardest of all—escape the wrath of the Dark Queen.
He geared up while Spark argued with Vonda about wearing an oversized gaming glove. They sorted it out, and soon Spark was ready. She gave him a sharp nod, and he logged in, sending his avatar into Feyland.
Golden light swirled around him, making his stomach churn. He clenched his teeth against the sensation, and a moment later his Saboteur materialized in a faerie-ringed clearing full of shadows.
Spark’s Kitsune flickered into being beside him.
“Good,” she said. “We’re in the right place. I wasn’t sure this would work.”
“Meaning?”
“I’ve already fought through two of the game levels, so we’re getting close to the Dark Court. This place,” she swept her arm out, “has the right mushrooms, and it’s night.”
He looked up at the dark blue sky speckled with stars. “Night, but not midnight. No moon.”
“Yet.”
She cupped her hands, and a second later held a glowing ball of flame. It rose into the air to hover a few inches above her head, casting a reddish illumination over their surroundings.
“Now.” She turned to face him, her expression stern. “What did you do to open the gateway, and can we fix it from here?”
He glanced around the clearing. The place was completely unfamiliar. No mirror images, no wall of code. At least, he didn’t think so. He went forward a few paces, hand outstretched, stepping over the pale mushrooms to the path leading between dark trees. His questing fingers met no resistance.
“Can’t do it from here,” he said. “We need to get closer to the court.”
“Great. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
“Good thing you’re with me.” His weak smile faded under her narrow-eyed stare.
“Come on.” She started down the path, the ball of flame bobbing overhead. “And don’t do anything stupid. More stupid than you already have, that is.”
“Wait.” He caught up to her and took her arm. “I get it. I totally screwed up. Believe me, I feel like crap about it, and I’m trying to make amends here. So you can quit riding me.”
She stared at him a minute, and then her gaze dropped to the leaf-strewn path beneath their feet.
“It’s not just you I’m riding,” she said. “I failed. If I’d pulled you out earlier, when I saw you in-game, none of this would have happened.”
“I wouldn’t have come. Stop it.” He held up a hand as she started to speak again. “You were hurt, the hunt was on your trail, and I honestly don’t think you had the time to fight me into submission and drag me back, one-handed, to the mortal world.”
She pulled a breath in through her nose, then let it out. “Fine. We’re not done with this, but for right now let’s focus on closing that gateway.”
The night forest rustled with strange noises as they continued along the path, and Spark’s ball of fire made the trees loom ominously. Shadows flickered over the trunks, and Aran set his hand to his long-knife, senses on full alert.
“Halt!” A figure leaped onto the path, blocking their way. “You may not pass.”
Firelight shone off his sword and the burnished bronze of his chest piece and helm. Aran drew his blade and called upon his skills as a Saboteur to melt into the darkness surrounding them. He stepped off the path, carefully setting his feet on the dark patches of loam and avoiding any telltale twigs. If Spark kept the guy distracted, Aran could sneak around for an unexpected killing strike.
“Stand aside,” Spark said to the armored figure.
The attacker moved closer to her, and Aran drew his blade. No way was he going to stand by and let Spark get injured again in-game. He lifted his knife and lunged forward in a deadly strike.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Spark?”
The warrior lowered his sword and pulled off his helmet, to reveal ordinary human features. Aran paused—but didn’t sheathe his knife.
“Roy?” Spark said. “Aran, stand down! This is a friend.”
“You sure about that?” Aran said, dropping his stealth mode and becoming fully visible.
The guy spun around, raising his weapon. “Who’s there?”
“Roy, meet Aran,” Spark said, striding forward. “What are you doing here?”
“Guarding, of course.” Roy pushed his hair back with a tired gesture.
“You’ve been here all night?” Spark asked. “You must be exhausted.”
“I’m fine.” Roy shrugged, but Aran was sure he was lying. “I said I’d message you when I got out. What, you think I forgot?”
Aran shot a glance at Spark. This guy had her private number? He shoved down the hot stab of jealousy. After all, he had no claim on her—and in fact had blown his chances pretty spectacularly. Even if she did keep the rock he’d given her on her nightstand.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Spark turned to him, her magenta hair extra red in the firelight.
“Put your knife away,” she said. “Roy is one of the Feyguard. And he’s been doing his job of protecting the border.”
“Spark, I know why you’re here,” Roy said, then tipped his head at Aran. “But what about him?”
“Aran’s going to help me close the gate,” she said.
“He is?” Roy raised one eyebrow. “Should I be jealous?”
“No.” Her voice was firm. “You should be logging off and getting some rest. We’ll stand watch here until you get one of the other Feyguard in.”
“Zeg was here until recently. I send him to get some rest. I can handle this.”
Aran snorted. Roy’s voice held a ragged edge, and clearly the dude was trying to play tough just to impress Spark.
“Watch it, pretty-boy,” Roy said to him.
“Roy.” Spark set a hand on his arm. “Please.”
Roy’s look of resolution softened at her touch, and Aran couldn’t blame him. He’d cave, too, if Spark looked at him that way.
“Okay,” Roy said. “I’ll gather the others and send them in. Be careful.”
“Don’t worry.” Spark stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek.
Not the lips. Aran filed that bit of information to ponder later.
“You better do everything you can to protect her.” Roy gave Aran one last, narrow-eyed look, then strode away toward the clearing.
“Nice guy,” Aran said, finally sheathing his blade. “Are all your friends so sweet? And what’s with the super-secret Feyguard club?”<
br />
“What do you think?” The warmth that had infused Spark’s voice left when Roy did. “Somebody has to make sure the human world is protected. No thanks to you.”
“How many are in the club?”
“Not nearly enough.” Her shoulders dipped.
“Like, a hundred?”
She shook her head. “Try seven.”
“What? That seems… inadequate.”
“It would be plenty, if not for your idiotic choice to fling the gateway wide open!”
“Shh.” Aran held up his hand. “I heard something.”
The underbrush crackled again, and he whirled, going into a fighting crouch. Two spots of brightness blinked at him, and an instant later, a familiar, tattered figure sprang onto the path.
“Puck!” Aran and Spark exclaimed at the same time.
“Hist.” Puck grinned at them. “I am come to offer aid.”
Aran narrowed his eyes at the sprite. He didn’t trust the little creature—not after the way he’d “helped” Aran previously.
“What did you have in mind?” Aran asked.
Puck ignored him, and floated up to hover before Spark.
“You bear an injury,” he said to her. “I shall heal it, should you desire.”
“That would be great.” She held out her left arm.
The sprite set two of his long, spindly fingers on her wrist. Greenish light flared, and Spark let out a yelp. Aran took a step forward, ready to bat Puck out of the air.
“I’m all right,” she said. “That feels much better.”
Puck gave a sharp, satisfied nod. “You are mended, across all realms. But now, ‘tis past time you mortals continued on your final quest. Go! I shall guard the way.”
“I don’t think so,” Aran said.
Now that he knew how utterly serious this gap between the worlds was, he was committed to closing it—and making sure that nothing else slipped through in the meantime.
“We can trust Puck,” Spark said. “Look, he fixed my wrist, and he’s helped out before.”
“Better if we wait for one of your Feyguard buddies to show up. What if Puck lets something get through? Don’t you think having a faerie guarding the way sort of defeats the purpose?”
“We don’t have time,” she said. “Vonda only gave us an hour. We can’t waste it hanging around here, especially when someone else is volunteering.”
“Something else, you mean.”
“The lady speaks truly,” Puck said. “Even now, the Dark Court may be massing, ready to push into the human world. Quickly now.” He gestured down the pathway.
“Come on.” Spark grabbed Aran’s arm and towed him into movement.
Grimly, he followed deeper into the dark forest, hoping they hadn’t made a huge mistake by leaving the sprite in charge.
“What’s this quest Puck mentioned?” he asked, once they’d gone some distance.
“An extended questline I’m on. If I’m right, we need to find a golden apple.”
“Sounds mythic.”
She shook her head, her bright hair shining in the firelight. “No gods and goddesses in the realm. Just the fey folk—who are probably older than human history.”
The memory of the Dark Queen’s timeless, beautiful face sent a shiver down his back. He’d bet Spark was right.
Ahead, a glimmer of light shone between the trees, and the scent of wood smoke twined through the air. They hurried along the path and came to another clearing. This one held a fire in its center, and beside the fire sat a hunched figure in a gray cloak.
Aran and Spark paused at the edge of the trees, and the figure lifted her head. Long white hair spilled from her hood and framed her wizened face.
“Who comes?” she asked, in a voice as thin as cobwebs.
She turned her head, seeking, and Spark leaned close to his shoulder.
“She’s blind,” she whispered, her breath a feather against his ear.
“Ah!” The old woman’s face fixed on them, her eyes blank sockets. “I hear you. Come to the fire, so my hands may learn your features.”
“Is that a good idea?” Aran whispered back.
Spark pulled her bow out. With one smooth motion, she nocked an arrow to the string. “You go. I’ll cover you. Ask her for a quest.”
Great.
Slowly, he approached the fire. The woman kept her blind eyes turned to him. Just in case, he slipped one of his knives free of its sheath.
“Now, now,” the old woman said. “No need for that. Put your blade away, young man.”
“I thought you were blind.” He halted and re-sheathed his dagger.
“Ha! My ears know what my eyes cannot see. Tell me, your companion, does she stand, weapon at the ready to defend you from such a fearsome creature as I am?” The woman cackled, shaking with laughter.
Aran glanced over his shoulder. Spark, arrow still nocked, nodded at him to keep going. When he reached the fire, the woman stilled and held out her gnarled hands.
“Let me see you,” she said.
“How about you give us a quest.” He didn’t want to go any nearer the old woman and her eyeless face.
“Favor for favor,” she said.
Gritting his teeth, he leaned forward, close enough that she could reach up and touch his face. Her fingertips felt like moth wings against his skin.
“Aye,” she said softly. “A tarnished hero, seeking redemption. It will be within your grasp, have you the courage to seize it.”
“Okay.” Aran pulled back. “My turn. Do you have a quest for us?”
“So impatient, the young.” The woman shook her head, the firelight casting odd shadows across her face. “I could tell you more, of pasts and futures, should you linger.”
“No time for that,” Spark called.
“Sharp-eared, that one.” The old woman beckoned to Spark. “I will read your face as well, girl.”
“No, thanks. Hurry it up, Aran.”
“Very well.” The old woman pointed one twisted finger off to the right. “In yonder stream resides the creature who will lead you to what you seek—but she is a wary thing and must be coaxed forth with a hazel wand and a bright berry.”
Aran waited, but the woman said nothing more.
“That’s it?” he asked.
“It is enough.”
“Thank y—”
“Never give the fey your gratitude,” she said. “It will earn you more enmity than you could guess.”
“Okay then.”
Moved by some impulse, even knowing she couldn’t see him, Aran put his foot back and dipped into the formal court bow. A smile crossed the old woman’s face, and for a starlit moment her features were those of a beautiful young woman.
“Come on,” Spark said, beckoning.
When he rejoined her, she gave him a look. “What was that? The bowing thing.”
“Just something I picked up,” he said. “Let’s go.”
The path curved around in the direction the old woman had indicated, although when they’d first stepped into the clearing, Aran could have sworn it went the other way. Soon they left the firelight behind and the night closed in around them. An owl hooted nearby, and the wind creaked the dry branches overhead.
“Does this really have to use the soundtrack from a lame horror vid?” Aran asked. “All we need to complete the effect is—”
“A monster,” Spark said, her voice tight. “And there it is.”
Something shambled in the darkness in front of them, then lurched forward, illuminated by Spark’s fireball. It was a huge man, wrapped round with clanking chains and carrying a wickedly spiked mace. From his chain belt swung three severed heads, their dead eyes open and staring.
“Fee, fi, fo,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. “Jack smells lovely flesh and blood. Come play, my pretties.”
With a roar, he lifted his mace high overhead, then smacked it down hard onto the path. The ground trembled, and Spark glanced at Aran, wide-eyed.
He shared h
er worry. This giant looked to be severe trouble.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Pulling his blades, Aran melted into the shadows. He ghosted silently to one side of the path. It would be foolish to meet their adversary head-on, but the giant’s back was unprotected.
Faster than his bulk would suggest, the giant pivoted.
“I smell you!” he cried, then smashed his mace down, way too close to Aran.
He leaped clear, heart pounding. Okay, it wasn’t going to be that easy.
An arrow zinged through the air—Spark, taking advantage of the giant’s distraction to mount her own attack. Their enemy batted the arrow out of the air as if it were a crippled mosquito.
“Stings and pokes?” The giant laughed, showing huge, blackened teeth, and the heads hanging from his belt swung back and forth.
“How about this?” Spark said, holding her hand palm-out toward their enemy.
She chanted a string of guttural syllables, and from her outstretched hand a wall of flame whooshed. It hit the giant and he yelled, beating at his rags as they caught fire.
Aran darted forward and sank both knives into the giant’s thigh. The neck would have been ideal, but it was above reach. Still, maybe the blow would bring the giant down.
Their enemy yelled again and swung his mace in a low, vicious swipe. Aran caught hold of the giant’s chain belt and pulled himself out of the way, grimacing as one of the severed heads brushed against him.
“Off me, pest!” the giant cried.
Too quickly—Aran really had to stop misjudging their enemy’s speed—the giant’s meaty hand lashed out and grabbed Aran by the shoulders. Damn. He twisted, bringing his blades around as his enemy lifted him high into the air.
Aran stabbed the giant’s wrist, but that only enraged him more. With a snap of his arm, he flung Aran through the air.
Trees spun past his vision and Aran desperately tried to orient himself. A trunk loomed ahead of him, and he brought up one arm to shield his face. The impact was going to break him. Dimly, he heard Spark yelling the words of another spell.
Everything slowed down, the air growing thick as honey. Aran hit the tree, the collision softened, though still incredibly painful. He bounced off the rough trunk and fell to the piney forest floor.