“Yes, but we don’t know what she is. We just know that she isn’t really related to me. This means she probably isn’t a witch.”
A puzzle for another time. “We’ll deal with that later. We need to remove the curse so that you can get the Aufero back.”
She nodded. “The Tre’ase that created Maya, I really want to know who it is. After all, my survival is based on his. If he dies, so does Maya and so do I.”
I agreed. Unfortunately, there was only one way I knew to identify the specific Tre’ase, and it was going to cost us. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. “When we get back, we should pay Logan another visit.”
I rose to leave, then hesitated. “Skylar,” I said, drawing her from her reverie. “Don’t make things awkward between us. Okay?”
Her nose scrunched as if she’d just caught a noxious odor. Her lips parted, but then she abandoned her snark for a simple nod and returned to her reverie.
“Go ahead Sky, ask,” Josh said from the backseat of our rental car as I drove us into Brooklyn.
“I just don’t get it,” she said from her seat beside him. “Fae magic is vastly different from the witches’. How will they be able to help? What are they going to do, will the curse away?”
He happily explained. “Yes, the majority of fae magic is limited, but just like we have levels, so do they. There are some that are quite strong, and their minor spells are not very trivial at all.”
“But it’s not the same. You told me that elven, fae, and witch magic worked differently, like being on a different frequency. How will a fae be able to remove a curse made by a witch?”
“Just think of it like opening a door. Using a key is ideal, which would be equivalent to a witch removing it, but a sledgehammer or locksmith tools will do the trick.” He grinned. “Let’s just say that if these fae can help us, it will be like taking a big axe to the door.”
Austin answered the door, sporting a full brown beard that contrasted with his bald head. Long red sleeves continued from beneath his short-sleeved green Kermit the Frog t-shirt, and he’d taken to wearing black square-rimmed glasses that distracted from his pale golden eyes. It had been a while since we’d seen him last, but his affection for us hadn’t changed. The feeling was mutual. In the doorway, we exchanged hugs, slaps on the back, and loud exclamations about how long it had been.
Sky watched our collegial display with pleasant surprise. Austin and Orchid were unlike any faes she’d encountered, or likely ever would. They were entirely original.
“Austin,” I continued the pleasantries. “Thank you for meeting with us.”
“Orchid, they’re here!” he shouted over his shoulder as he directed us into their living room.
The decor of the brownstone reflected the differing personalities of its occupants. On two redbrick walls hung metal sculptures, while modern abstract paintings stood out against cream-colored plaster. A delicate, mother-of-pearl fabric couch was accompanied by a coffee table built from a shaped piece of charred wood framed in brass.
Orchid appeared, grinning and squealing as she jumped into my arms and kissed me directly on the lips, a formality I’d have preferred to avoid, but she caught me by surprise. With no other choice, I returned the kiss. When she finally withdrew, the taste of menthol lingered on my lips. She turned to Josh, who accepted her kiss readily. I turned to Sky, wondering if she’d be spared, but that wasn’t the case. At least I could enjoy the utter look of surprise as Orchid hugged Sky tightly and kissed her.
Like all faes, Orchid possessed the ability to compel truth with a kiss. In exchange for the use of her gifts, she required full and unvarnished truth from her customers. She made no exception for old friends or trusted companions. As a practitioner of tactical lies, I appreciated the expedience of her requirement, though I didn’t like it.
As she withdrew from Sky, I saw her cheeks flushed. Josh hadn’t warned her, I realized. I smiled, wondering what must be going through her mind.
In contrast to Austin’s pop culture style, Orchid wore a muted plaid shirt that blended shades of yellow, gold, and beige. Strands of black hair streaked with sapphire protruded from the edges of her ivory slouch beanie. Her pale eyes were the same color as Austin’s.
“Come in, have a seat,” she declared, pulling Josh and me farther into the living room.
She guided us to the couch, where Sky joined us, then disappeared into the kitchen. A moment later, she returned with a bottle of water, a glass jar of milk, and a plate of five homemade marijuana cookies, which was also expected.
“Have one,” Austin said, lifting the plate to Sky. “That’s all you’ll need.”
She wrinkled her nose at the contents of the plate. Out of politeness, she reached out to the smallest cookie until I gently clasped her hand.
“Thank you for the offer.” I said politely, “Unfortunately this trip is strictly business.”
Austin smiled graciously and set the plate on the coffee table in case we changed our mind. He sat across from us in a brass-framed wooden chair, the companion piece to his coffee table, while Josh bent over to reach the plate. Seeing my disapproval, he sighed and wrapped three of the cookies in a napkin that disappeared into his pocket.
As she read our expressions one by one, Orchid’s smile thinned. “So, Marcia must really be causing trouble,” she said as she slipped into Austin’s lap, resting her head against his neck.
“What isn’t she doing?” Josh said.
She glanced from him to me. “Ethan, what brings you to us?”
The pull of her magic, driving me to answer her with every unvarnished detail, nearly overwhelmed me. “We discussed what I needed on the phone,” I stressed. There was no need to repeat the information.
“Ethan,” she sighed, “I am stronger than I was as a teenager; you aren’t going to be able to resist it. Just relax and talk to me.”
“We discussed it,” I repeated, resisting the slow strangulation of my throat as the words she wanted accumulated there. “On the phone.”
Frowning, she turned to Sky. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“I would prefer to handle everything,” I insisted.
“Of course you would. Ethan, I understand your need for discretion in many things, but I need as much information as possible.” She grinned. “You are going to hurt yourself trying to deny me my answers. I can’t do that to you. Skylar, please answer my question.”
I sighed, stifling my irritation as she launched into her story, beginning with our attempt to steal the Aufero from the magic shop. I found myself holding my breath, hoping she would leave out certain details that would lead Orchid to pry into my family background, but she was a skilled interrogator. She chuckled when Sky related how she’d stolen the orb back from Marcia, nearly drowning the witch in her own swimming pool before Quell intervened.
My eyes widened in surprise. She’d never told me. By preventing Sky from killing, he’d spared her a lifetime of regret, but I wondered why.
I tensed as she began to describe performing the ritual in my home. Orchid interrupted, asked her usual pointed questions. Her eyebrows rose in surprise as Sky revealed that my grandmother had been a dark elf, that I’d inherited her magic, and that we’d used the Aufero to remove the magic from me. Orchid accepted the news as if absorbing an exciting bedtime story, while Josh grew increasingly frustrated, shooting me angry glances.
At her urging, Sky continued, describing the ritual the Creed used to curse her. Here, Orchid asked a number of questions, ferreting out even the smallest details. She took particular notice of the words used, the description of the animal, and the mysterious witch who had participated in the ritual.
Austin shared his partner’s intrigue.
Once Sky finished, the room was quiet for a long moment as the faes absorbed the information, silently communicating while revealing nothing in their expressions.
Eventually, Austin asked, “Will we be the first to try to remove the curse?”
Josh answered.
“The moment I bring up Marcia’s name, most witches refuse to be involved. Even those that I know despise her will not do anything to provoke her wrath. And the rest don’t like to mess with curses, it is too dangerous.”
The faes exchanged another inscrutable look.
“We will not be able to remove the curse,” Austin announced, “but we can weaken it. Josh and Ethan, we will need you for it.”
I nodded readily, as did Josh.
Sky glanced between us, then asked Austin, “How do you plan to do this and why do you need them?”
Orchid smiled at her. “I like you. We will dilute it. I will find which of my animals is your compatible and transfer it through them and then transfer it back. It will need to be done quickly, because I don’t want to kill them.”
Sky’s expression tightened, her concern unswayed.
In response, Orchid sang a single, melodious note, slowly rising in crescendo from bass to near falsetto. At its apex, the note suddenly ceased. A wave of sound lingering in the air became a ripple of gentle magic that filled the room with its sustained vibration. A moment later, a number of snakes appeared, twenty-four in all, slithering their way toward us from beneath the furniture and around the corners. Sky tensed, raising her shoes as snakes passed beneath her.
As the serpents gathered at our feet, Josh and I shared our calm with Sky, but the display was unusual. Orchid worked with a number of animals, but I’d never witnessed her using so many serpents at once.
The faes reached down and each picked up one snake, staring into its eyes for a few seconds before releasing it back onto the floor.
I could feel them slithering around my legs, over my feet. Sky gritted her teeth as she tried not to squirm. The mass of serpents slithered among the three of us. Slowly, three separated from the rest, each sliding its way to the feet of its chosen person.
A black snake with odd patterns draped over my shoes, flicking its tongue over the laces, while Josh’s compatible coiled around his ankle, rubbing its head against his sock. The serpent that chose Sky wrapped its silver-and-rose body up her ankle and around the first half of her thigh. She blinked down at it, forcibly calming her breath.
At Orchid’s signal, a low throaty bass sound, the snakes reared back and sunk their teeth into our legs. Each one of us hissed at the unexpected pain as our compatibles forcibly sucked blood. I glared at Orchid. I’d never known her to use blood and I didn’t appreciate the lack of information.
Sky gasped from the pain and cursed under her breath.
Orchid remained surprisingly indifferent.
When Sky gasped once more, I’d had enough. Wrapping my fingers around the now-bloated black snake, I tugged at it. When it refused to let go, I forcibly pried its jaws open and dislodged its teeth from my flesh.
“Ethan,” Orchid whispered a sharp warning as I held the snake at arm’s length, “let go of Franky.”
I happily dropped the snake to the floor. When it reared up and hissed angrily at me, I dared it to strike. After a brief standoff, it slithered away to join the mass of snakes beneath Austin’s chair.
I glanced at Sky, who seemed to have abandoned her fear. Josh remained engrossed in the ritual. While their compatibles continued to feed, Orchid played with the other snakes, snuggling and kissing them as if they were pets.
Once Josh’s compatible was satiated, it withdrew, joining the others. Sky’s compatible opted to climb up the couch and wrap itself around her arm, gently nuzzling her shoulder. I tensed anxiously, but she accepted the creature’s apparent affection with an enamored smile.
“Very well,” Orchid announced. “I will need a couple of hours to get the others. I suspect I will only need two more faes.”
She ignored my scowl as we rose and walked toward the entryway. Each of us received one more kiss to remove the truth spell, while Austin gently unwrapped the serpent from Sky’s arm. He favored her with a hug, something he rarely offered to strangers, then opened the door for us to leave.
After climbing into the BMW, I slammed the door.
“Relax,” Josh said, stoking my anger.
Sky glanced out the window, either lost in thought or doing her best impression of not giving a crap over yet another example of my brother starting a pointless argument.
“Did you know she was going to use blood?” I demanded.
“News to me,” he admitted, “but strong magic often requires a powerful catalyst like blood. If you want to talk about someone leaving out important information …” he said with a dark look as he let the thought trail off.
“You didn’t need to know about the dark elf magic,” I growled, turning the car into traffic.
“That’s very parental of you.”
“If I’d told you,” I said carefully, “your life would’ve been in danger.”
“That’s not the point, Ethan.”
“Could you have done anything about it?” I demanded, throwing him an impatient glance before turning toward the bridge.
Josh thought for a moment. “No,” he begrudgingly admitted, holding on to some of his anger for the sake of obstinacy.
The rest of the drive back to the hotel was tense, but quiet. Thankfully, we had separate rooms.
Two hours later, I felt the increased presence of magic as we returned to the brownstone. Aside from Austin and Orchid, we were joined by two other faes, who watched our entrance with nervous anticipation. At Austin’s direction, we joined them standing around a wooden table that had been placed in the living room.
Orchid’s gaze was fixed on the center of the table, lost in deep concentration. After a long moment, she acknowledged us for the first time, offering a confident smile. After steadily glancing around the table, she placed a large black stone at the center, surrounding it with sprinkles of powders and salts. Satisfied, she lifted the three compatible serpents from earlier and placed them on the table to slither over and around the stone.
“Are you ready?” she asked, glancing between Josh, Sky, and me. After we nodded, she gently lifted each of the compatibles and handed them to us. I scowled at mine. Perhaps expressing its own displeasure, it reared up and hissed just before sinking its fangs deep into my arm. Grimacing, I endured the sharp pain—sharper than before—as it gorged on my blood. Sky and Josh seemed at relative peace with their compatibles. I offered mine a faint, appreciative smile and the pain seemed to ease, but only slightly.
Once bloated, the snakes withdrew their fangs and retreated to take positions around the stone. Orchid placed a small pale stone in front of each compatible, then sprinkled powder around them.
The faes chanted in unison while she drew out a ceremonial blade from a scabbard at her hip and pierced the skin of my compatible, just enough to draw blood that she then dribbled onto the circle of powder. Blood and powder combined to form a foam that expanded to cover the small stone at the center of the circle.
While Orchid worked, Austin and one of the others did the same with the other compatibles.
Once complete, the chant grew faster, more urgent. The calming magic that had previously filled the room grew chill, raising the hairs on my arms. As the temperature in the room dropped, I saw the steam of our breath converging over the table.
The pale eyes of the faes were almost entirely white.
In answer to Orchid’s spell, a fiery force burst from the center stone, buffeting us. Every nerve ending in my body ignited in pain. I buckled, clutching at the table, but managed to hold on, gritting my teeth against the pain. After a moment, the pain subsided as the force contracted back into the stone. I had just enough time to see Josh and Sky recovering before the force pulsed outward once more in a torturous ebb and flow of agony.
The faes continued their chant with added urgency, while Josh began a rapid chant of his own. Sky and I could only concentrate, resisting the pulse through sheer will. The pain proved to be too much. Josh was the first to buckle, falling to one knee. Despite his grimace, his chants continued as he moved from one counter
spell to another. Orchid’s pale eyes rolled back into her head just before she collapsed sideways and fell writhing on the floor. Austin immediately collapsed next to her, followed by the other faes. Within their circles, the compatibles writhed as well.
Sky and I held on to the table with a white-knuckled grip, but Josh had yet to find an effective counter, and we had no chance against the magic without the faes. Straining against the magic, I reached out and swept salt and powder from the table, then smashed each of the stones with a closed fist. Brittle from the magic, they shattered easily, but the pieces continued to glow.
Suddenly the compatibles ceased moving. The faes stopped as well. The magic force ceased and the glow emanating from the chunks of rocks faded until they returned to their natural color.
I collapsed to my knees from the shock of relief, then quickly pulled myself back up. Josh did the same, while Sky stumbled to Orchid and knelt beside her, checking for a pulse. Josh and I staggered around the table to help.
Even before Sky started CPR, I knew that Orchid was dead. A quick check revealed Austin and the others had stopped breathing as well, but Sky refused to give up, giving rescue breaths between series of chest compressions.
“Come on!” she growled, working.
Her determination jolted Josh and me into action. While he worked on Austin, I alternated between the other faes, but there was no chance. After several minutes, Sky finally conceded. They were all dead. Staring at the lifeless bodies of my friends, I wondered if I could ever take enough vengeance on Marcia.
Knowing we’d attempt to lift the curse, she’d made sure that anyone who tried to cancel her magic suffered the same fate that would befall Sky if she came too close to the Aufero. Of that, Marcia hadn’t bothered to warn us. She’d wanted us to try and suffer the loss of someone we trusted, someone who dared challenge her power. Her cruelty was limitless.
Already the smell of death rose from the bodies.
“Josh,” I said. He looked up from his place next to Austin, his expression somber, wounded. I continued softly, “Leave the bodies as is, but you will need to remove all evidence that we were here.”
Midnight Shadows Page 32