They arrived so soon after his call that they had to have been very close by when Sophie disappeared. Just a few seconds, he thought, a few seconds sooner and maybe they could have stopped her. “Now what do we do?” he demanded as soon as they were in earshot.
“We can’t get into the Realm,” Amelia said. “There’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry.”
“It’s up to Sophie,” Athena said.
“She has a plan. She’s not just giving up,” Michael said, as much to boost his own spirits as to reassure them.
Athena nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised. I would just feel better if she weren’t alone.”
He saw a glimpse of white out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a little white cat, like the one he’d freed the night before and seen again that morning. It ran up to him, hissed when Beau barked at it, then twined itself around his ankles. He knelt to scratch it behind the ears. “Hey there,” he said softly.
“What is that?” Athena asked, leaning over.
“Last night when I was following Sophie to the market, I found this cat tangled up in some wire. I helped it out.”
The women exchanged a look. “He is a third brother,” Athena said with a smile.
The cat stepped away, heading toward the rocky embankment beneath the park’s walls. It paused to glance back at them and flicked its tail.
“Is it my imagination, or does it look like it wants us to follow it?” Michael asked.
“It’s worth a try,” Amelia said. “It’s an animal that was helped by a third brother. Let’s see where it takes us.”
With Beau leading the way, they followed the little cat, who waited for them to catch up before continuing. “Okay, it definitely wants us to follow it,” Michael said. The cat led them to a gap between two large stones.
“This could be a passage,” Amelia said. “There are physical passages into the Realm, but you have to be careful with those because the Borderlands between our world and theirs are dangerous. Take the wrong passage, and you might never actually make it into the Realm. We’ve never dared enter the Realm that way because we lack the crucial information.” She addressed the cat. “Is it safe?”
The cat meowed and ran between the rocks. “She seems to think it’s safe enough,” Michael remarked. “I’d better go in first, though.”
“Which of us has magical powers and two good arms?” Athena replied with a wryly raised eyebrow. “I’m not even sure you’ll fit.”
“You’re not leaving me behind.”
A meow echoed from the passage, and Beau headed between the rocks. “Here goes nothing,” Athena said, taking Beau’s leash from Michael and crawling in after the dog. Amelia followed her. Michael hesitated, realizing that Athena had a point. It was going to be a tight squeeze, and crawling on one arm wouldn’t be easy.
It turned out that the gap between the rocks was the hard part. Once he was all the way through, he was in a larger tunnel—too large to be hidden in Central Park. A light flared, and he blinked to see that Athena had a flashlight. “Come on,” she called to him.
The flashlight barely made a dent in the darkness. He hardly noticed when they left the tunnel because it was too dark to tell that the walls were no longer an arm’s length away. He could only tell that their footsteps made a different sound.
All he could see was a shining woman in white who waited near the end of the tunnel—the woman he’d seen in the park that morning and, now that he thought about it, who had tried to get him to dance the night before. “Come,” she said. “I will guide you safely through the Borderlands.”
“Lead on,” Amelia said with a regal wave to the woman, who darted ahead into the darkness. To Michael, she added softly, “Don’t thank her directly. Direct thanks and direct payment are avoided here. She’s obligated to help you to release the debt she owes you. They don’t like owing anything. But if you thank them, that makes you obliged, and that’s not a position you want to be in. Now, keep your eyes and ears open. It could get dicey around here.”
They were walking through what seemed to be a very dense forest full of thick, twisted tree trunks. Then he realized that the trunks were actually the roots of trees above. “Are we under the park?” he asked.
“In a sense,” Athena answered. “We’re between worlds.”
“I’m assuming you know how to get out of here.”
“We retrace our steps,” Athena said with a too-casual shrug. “But that’s a worst-case scenario. With any luck, we’ll have Sophie to help us out.”
The woman came to a stop and said, “I must leave you here. I can go no farther into the Realm. Follow the light.” She raised her hand, and a small spark floated upward and hung in front of them.
“Th—” Michael began before remembering Amelia’s lecture. “You’ve been a big help.”
“As were you.” She ran one small, white hand up his arm before running back the way they’d come.
“Now what?” Michael asked the sisters.
“We follow the light,” Amelia said. The spark moved forward through the dense root forest. Michael was sorely tempted to chant about lions, tigers, and bears, but he suspected the women wouldn’t be amused. They moved confidently forward, following the pinpoint of light and neatly stepping over any roots on the ground. Michael wasn’t as sure of his footing, and since his feet were bigger than theirs, he couldn’t step between roots as easily as they did. Once he stumbled so badly he nearly fell. Amelia caught him by his good arm and held him upright. “Are you sure you’re up to this?” she asked.
“To be honest, no. But I have to do it.”
“Very well, then. Watch your step. We can’t carry you.”
“Is there anything else I need to know while we’re here?” he asked, mostly because the dead silence was getting on his nerves, but also because he had a feeling that the slightest mistake could be dangerous in this place.
“Don’t drink or eat anything a fairy offers you,” Athena said. “Eating the food here can trap you. Don’t assume they’re all enemies, but don’t assume that the friendly ones are your friends. Their idea of morality is different from ours, and a ‘good’ fairy is generally one whose goals coincide with yours at that moment. Don’t harm any trees or bushes or pick flowers. Be careful about gifts. They often comes with strings attached or with strict rules.”
They moved onward. Something rustled in the darkness nearby, and he stifled a gasp. “What was that?” he whispered.
“I’m not sure,” Athena whispered back. Beau barked at the sound, which soon stopped. “Good boy,” Athena said to the dog.
It might have been Michael’s imagination, but it seemed to be growing lighter. There were real trees growing out of the ground mixed in with the root trees. “Looks like we’re almost there,” he said.
“Be on the lookout,” Amelia warned.
“For what?” He’d barely completed the question when something jumped on his back, on his left shoulder where he couldn’t reach it with his right arm in a sling.
Forty-two
The Realm
Meanwhile
Sophie steeled herself as she entered the Realm, expecting to find Maeve’s people lying in wait for her. No one was there, but she suspected Maeve’s ever-present spies would know the moment she arrived. Sophie supposed she should act as though she was going somewhere. They might get suspicious if she just sat there, waiting for them to catch her.
It was even colder than it had been the last time she was in the Realm, and the grass around her was dry and brown. Snowflakes fluttered to the ground, dusting it with a fine coating of white. Winter had come to the summer country, and that couldn’t be good. She thought she heard a faint chorus of voices saying, “My lady,” but she didn’t see anyone nearby, just a never-ending expanse of dead grass. With the feeling she wasn’t getting the whole picture, she lowered herself into a crouch to get a closer look, and then she couldn’t hold back a gasp of surprise.
There was a whole world down ther
e, populated with its own breed of fae creatures. These were tiny, no larger than her index finger. They wore bell-like flowers as clothing, but these creatures were nothing like the little flower fairies from a preschool ballet recital. They were ugly, more stick insects or praying mantis than human. Still, they had a glow about them so that from a distance they looked like fireflies flitting from place to place, and that gave them their own kind of beauty.
“My lady,” they said, speaking as one, but not quite in unison. “We would offer our aid to you.” Sophie wondered how they could possibly help her take down Maeve and free her captives. Maeve could grind them to dust with one stomp of her foot.
The grass around Sophie rippled subtly, then began to glow softly as more and more of the tiny creatures gathered around her. It might have been the effect of the glow, but the grass seemed to have come back to life. “Thanks, I’ve got things under control,” she said.
A bluebell-clad creature that looked like a wizened stick insect flew up to her and perched on the hand she held out to it. “We are many. We may help,” it said in a reedy voice.
Feeling like she was trapped in some twisted version of a Disney cartoon, she addressed the creature perched on her finger. “If I need you, I’ll let you know.”
“Call upon us whenever you wish,” the creature said. The creature fluttered back to the ground, and Sophie stood and brushed the dirt and grass from her skirt. She’d be in dire straits, indeed, if she needed to be rescued by creatures such as that. Now, where were Maeve’s goons? Did she have to wait around all night? Honestly, how did Maeve expect to rule the entire Realm when she couldn’t manage to capture someone who was trying to turn herself in?
It looked like she’d have to meet Maeve halfway. Even in the Realm, she had to take care of the important things for herself. Now very conscious of how she placed her feet, she began walking, heading in no direction in particular but hoping that moving around would bring her within sight of one of Maeve’s spies.
Finally, when she was ready to look for a place to sit down and rest, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. One of Maeve’s Rat Pack goons lurked behind some nearby trees. Sophie’s instinct was to prepare to defend herself or to go on the attack, but she squelched it.
Another goon showed up in a cluster of trees on her other side, and she was fairly certain there was yet another ahead of her, while she felt the itch between her shoulder blades that told her someone was watching her from behind. So far, though, they were all keeping their distance. She was tempted to play damsel in distress and say loudly, “Oh my, here I am, all helpless and alone,” but after her previous encounters with Maeve’s people, she had a feeling they’d think it was a trap. And it was, just not in the way they thought.
It looked like she’d have to make at least a token show of resistance before they’d make a move. She whirled as if just becoming aware of the follower, saw him, and took a few steps backward, feigning shock and fear. She felt the others close in on her, but they still kept their distance. When the silver chain flashed out from the hand of one of the men, it took all her willpower not to repel it or catch it and use it to disable her attackers. Instead, she shuddered as it circled her, binding her arms to her sides. Only when they had her securely bound did they approach her. Two of them grabbed the chain from either side and forced her to move forward.
“We’re taking you to her majesty,” one of them said, making it sound like a threat.
Sophie bit her tongue rather than say, “Finally!”
Forty-three
The Realm—Maeve’s Apartment
Meanwhile
“No, that’s not it!” Maeve shouted as Emily botched yet another verse of the song.
“That’s how I remember it,” Emily said with a shrug. Two small sips of the fairy water had left her so energized that she felt she could keep this up for days. It was actually kind of fun.
The apartment’s front door opened and a cluster of goons entered, surrounding a prisoner. Had they recaptured Eamon? The lead goons looked awfully pleased with themselves. They knelt in front of Maeve and said, “Your majesty, we have done your bidding.” Then the goons parted, revealing their bound prisoner, and Emily’s heart sank. It was Sophie.
“No!” she couldn’t stop herself from blurting. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened. If her sister had swung in through the terrace doors with a dagger in her teeth, that would have been risky, considering that Sophie seemed to be the key to Maeve gaining power, but at least Sophie would have been in control of the situation. As a prisoner, with her arms bound … Well, that was a worst-case scenario.
But then Emily noticed that Sophie’s hair was barely rumpled and her dress was only slightly wrinkled. Her captors were unharmed. Emily remembered how the others who’d tried to capture Sophie had looked after their ordeal, and she knew her sister fought like a wildcat when cornered. Sophie had to be up to something.
Emily tried to catch her sister’s eye to verify her suspicion, but Sophie avoided looking at her directly, instead facing a Maeve who was too stunned with delight to speak. “You needed me. Now you have me. You don’t need my sister anymore, so let her go, and then I’ll help you win the throne,” Sophie said, her voice calm and conversational, but with that bitchy undercurrent she got when dealing with someone who got on her nerves.
Maeve laughed harshly. “You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Well, yes,” Sophie drawled, sounding like she was losing patience. “That was why I asked for it. Now, do you want to be queen, or what?”
Maeve approached Sophie and loomed over her. “No, I think I’ll keep her awhile longer, in case I was mistaken about you. She will come with us.” She turned to address her court. “As will all of you! You will see my moment of triumph.”
Maeve waved her arms, and her glamour shifted so that she wore a gown that looked like it had been woven from spun gold. It had a low-cut bodice and the kind of high collar usually worn by a Disney villainess. The long sleeves came to points on the backs of her hands. A snug straight skirt hugged her body, and a puffy half skirt flared out behind her, trailing onto the ground. Emily was pretty sure she’d seen a dress like that in a movie, but she couldn’t recall which one. Maybe it was pieces from various movies.
A flicker of a smile crossed Sophie’s lips when Maeve wasn’t looking, confirming Emily’s suspicions that Sophie was up to something. She probably had a whole fairy army lying in wait for a major ambush that would rescue all the human captives. When Maeve least expected it, Sophie would open a can of whoop-ass and do her thing. Emily actually felt sorry for Maeve. She thought she had Sophie trapped, but Sophie wasn’t someone you wanted to catch. It would be like setting a trap for a kitten and instead snaring a wild bobcat. Even freeing the cat could be hazardous to your health.
Maeve gestured for her guards to open the front doors. Two of them led the way. Maeve swept after them, and the other guards brought Sophie behind her. Emma/Jen and Leigh hooked their elbows through Emily’s, bringing her along with them. They passed through the lobby, where the rest of the court joined the procession.
After walking for some time, they entered a narrow gap between tree-crested hills. It was the perfect site for an ambush, and Emily readied herself for a fight. She scanned the hillsides, looking for evidence of hidden warriors, but either they weren’t there or they were very well hidden. She looked to Sophie for a cue, but Sophie was walking with her usual grace that made her look like she was floating, even with her arms bound against her sides. Nothing happened. There was no signal, no war cry, no sudden flurry of chaos.
And then the whole procession was out on the other side, totally unscathed. Emily felt the first stirrings of dread. Was Sophie really sacrificing herself for her?
The procession stopped at a wide, weed-choked stream. On the other side lay a tangled mass of thorny vines that might have had a wall beneath it at one time. Emily wouldn’t have been surprised if Sleeping Beauty
’s castle lay behind those vines. Maeve made a good candidate for the role of evil fairy in that story.
The guards shoved Sophie forward to face Maeve, who was gloating so hard she glowed even more brightly than normal. “Here we are!” she said with a gesture toward the water and the vines on the other side. “This is why I will be queen. The other rulers don’t even know where to find the palace, but I found this long ago. All I needed was to learn how to get into it.”
“And that’s where I come in,” Sophie said, sounding suspiciously calm. Maeve didn’t know her well enough to recognize the danger she was in from that tone, but Emily had heard it before. That tone tended to come up when Sophie let others talk about what they wanted to do before she let them know that she already had everything arranged.
Maeve gave a laugh that sounded more than a little unbalanced. “Yes, that is where you come in. You never knew what treasure you held, all this time. Your grandmother’s song that you sang so sweetly to us when you were a mere child is the key to winning the throne.” Her tone grew darker and she seemed to grow as she moved closer to Sophie and bent to stare her straight in the eye. “And now you will give that song to me.”
Forty-four
The Realm—on the Banks of the River
Immediately Afterward
It took every ounce of Sophie’s formidable self-control not to reveal the turbulence inside her. She had to count to five with each breath to keep from gasping. Michael had been right about the song. It was instructions. And here was the lost palace, behind the vine-covered walls.
A Fairy Tale Page 24