by Chanda Hahn
His face turned a weird shade of brown. “Uh, I might have mentioned it.”
Mina rolled her eyes and continued to watch one of the most beautiful scenes she had ever seen. One horse, then two, turned and disappeared into the river’s waves. Then a third left, followed by a fourth. They were leaving. Only one kelpie remained with the white one. It was a smaller horse by a few hands and it still looked young, but it followed the white horse bravely to where they stood. When the little horse reached the embankment and stepped out, his watery coat turned a dark red.
Mina stood and stared at his coat. This wasn’t a shade of red that had ever appeared on a horse; it was blood red. She had to wonder if the other kelpies had actually stepped out of the water, what color their coats would have been. This was the Fae plane. Nothing came in average packaging.
Both horses came and stood in front of them. The white one leaned down, and Nix nimbly leapt upon his back. The red one followed suit, and Mina did her best to not embarrass herself as she fumbled onto the kelpie’s back.
The horses turned and began to run alongside the river. Mina couldn’t help but feel the excitement of riding a mythical creature in a foreign land and grin. She laughed out loud and wrapped her fingers around the red kelpie’s mane. Nix looked over his shoulder and laughed with her at their exhilarating ride. They ran unbelievably fast. The trees, boulders, and forest whisked by, and with every step the kelpies took, a clear wet hoof print was left behind.
She reached down and patted the horse’s neck, and whispered, “You’re magnificent.” She wasn’t positive, but it seemed like the horse shook his head at her and proceeded to show her how magnificent he was by racing ahead faster, catching up to Nix’s horse and then passing him at a river bend. Mina couldn’t help but turn around and blow a playful kiss at Nix as they sped past him. His face showed complete shock, but he leaned forward and whispered to his horse, and then the race was on.
The kelpies raced neck and neck through the woods. They were as playful on land as they were in the water, taking turns, letting one horse run ahead, then running up a separate pass to jump in front of them in surprise. When Mina was once again in the lead, they ran too close to the riverbed, and a huge wave erupted out of the river to dump right on her head.
“EEEEEEK!” Mina shrieked as Nix ran past again. “That’s not fair!” she called after him. Red, for she had no other name to call him by, took off like a cat after a mouse and did something completely uncalled for. He jumped into the river and disappeared beneath her, forming into water again. Mina flailed in the water, thinking the horse was completely gone, but then she could feel him, like a giant current that had her in the palm of his hand, and they were speeding along the river at breakneck speeds, even passing Nix and the white horse.
It was the oddest and scariest thing she had ever done, to whiz down a river at such speeds. She thought she was going to smash onto a large rock, but the current of water that was the kelpie moved her out of the way. When they were ahead of Nix, the current picked up Mina and literally threw her out of the river toward the rocky embankment. Mina screamed and flung her arms out in front of herself to try to break her fall, but at the last minute, the wave flowed after her and then under her. Reappearing as the red kelpie, the horse made a watery snicker and kicked up its heels at the horse behind them.
She clutched his mane and cried out loudly, “Please don’t do that again. Or at least give a little warning next time.” She wasn’t sure, but she thought he bobbed his head in agreement.
The horses calmed down their crazy Kentucky Derby after Red was the obvious winner, and then they slowed to a peaceful pace.
“So tell me about yourself,” Nix said.
“What? Now?”
“Yes, I want to know what it’s like to be human, and why you would sacrifice everything to save your brother.”
Mina thought for a minute and then began to tell him about her life. How they always moved from state to state until the curse found them. She told him of how her friends would sometimes get wrapped up in the tales as well. When he became increasingly interested, she decided to tell him a little about each of her friends.
“Who’s Nan?” he asked when she described the Snow White quest.
“Well, Nan has been my best friend ever since I moved to Kennedy High School. She kind of took me under her wing and refused to let me become the obvious wallflower. She adored my brother Charlie, is a huge reality TV fan, and loves…loves her cell phone.”
Nix’s face took on another odd expression, and she realized that he didn’t know half of what she was talking about. He probably didn’t know what a high school was, or a TV, or a cell phone. It was so easy to just assume that since Jared and Ever knew, that all of the Fae on this world also knew.
“Brody is—” She sighed and felt herself get a little dreamy. “Brody is the most handsome, most popular guy I know, and he also happens to be really sweet. He plays on the water polo team at school, and I think you would like it. It’s a game with a ball and net played in a swimming pool.”
Nix’s eyes lit up at the mention of water polo. He made Mina spend the next half hour describing everything about this wonderful game played in the water. Mina was sure that she only knew enough about the sport to fill two minutes, but she found out that she knew more than she thought she did.
“I sure would love to play this water polo here on the Fae plane. Might be a little difficult finding a water creature with the right appendages and limbs to play.” Nix then became lost in thought as he obsessed over trying to re-create the game here. “I could make a net out of the forever weed.”
“What’s forever weed?”
“A weed that lies in the deepest parts of a river. If you wander through it, it wraps around you forever…until you die.”
“And you want to make a net out of it? What if someone crashes into it? And it wraps around them and won’t let them go?” she blurted, horrified at the thought.
He looked at her as if she was dumb. “Well, any real water creature knows that you just don’t crash into it.”
She let him ramble on until the conversation became quiet again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t let you finish,” he piped up.
“Finish what?”
“Your story about your friends. Do you have any more? I would like to know more about your life. Raina was my only friend, and now that she’s gone, I-I think you are my only friend now.”
Mina felt her throat contract with emotion, and she had to force back the tears that threatened to spill forth. What if everyone in her life turned or changed into some kind of a monster and she lost them forever, and she was left alone. Would she be willing to live a life of solitude and die young? Or would she choose the path of darkness? A shiver ran up her spine, and she couldn’t help but feel a tingling of apprehension. She had almost given in to the power, and used it once to cause a terrible accident that killed her friend. Until the Fates, or Maeve, the Queen of the Fae, intervened and made a bargain with Mina. Save her son, save her friend. Just one more reminder to never trust the Fae completely.
The horses slowed and came to a halt overlooking a cliff. They were still traveling parallel to the river, which now barreled over the same cliff into what looked like a 300-foot waterfall. It was the first time Mina could actually see the Fae world from a high viewpoint, and what she saw took her breath away. The world was similar to her own human world but completely different. There were two separate suns and three moons, two of which were already making their appearance in the sky. The mix of the suns setting and moons rising created a kaleidoscope of colors painted across the canvas of the sky. If she turned her head, she could see a shooting star trail across the dark blue heavens and disappear into the pink sun. It didn’t make sense, it couldn’t possibly make sense, but it felt so right.
“It’s beautiful,” Mina whispered.
“It can be at times,” Nix said wearily. “At others times it’s too perfect.” He
waited until the final sun had almost set, and then he pointed in the distance, to what looked like a white snow-capped mountain surrounded by a beautiful crystal lake. “There. That’s where we’re going.”
“I don’t see anything.” Mina strained and tried to stand taller on the horse to look. She saw a small carriage in the distance, pulled by what looked like a chimera, approach the south side of the lake. The carriage and beast crossed onto a large stone bridge that blended perfectly into the shimmering hues of the lake, unless you were looking for it. She looked ahead to see what was on the other side, but the bridge looked unfinished—like someone had forgotten to complete the north end. The carriage never slowed and didn’t seem deterred by the lack of a road. One minute it was there, and the next second the carriage had disappeared into thin air.
“Where did it go?” Mina gasped.
“Wait for it. Wait for it,” Nix chanted, and pointed to the sinking sun and the middle of the lake.
Mina strained her eyes, staring at the spot that Nix had referred to, and then as the sun sank below the horizon, it appeared: the rest of the completed stone bridge that led to a double arched white and gold gate and up to the front steps of a glorious palace. In the moonlight, the walls sparkled and shone, reflecting back the last of the suns’ rays.
Her breath caught, and a single tear slid down her cheek at the magnificence of the Fates’ home. The north side of the palace nestled into the mountain, protecting it from an invasion. Towers pierced the sky, seeming to disappear among the soft white clouds. Torches inside the castle were lit, and window by window the castle was alight in a soft ethereal glow.
Nix explained that the palace could only be seen at sunset and sunrise, and was hidden the rest of the day. Something flew over the castle, and Mina thought she saw a griffin patrolling the sky. A second one came to land on an outcropping on the mountain and glared watchfully over the lake. Of course the Royal Fates would be protected. She scanned the main entrance into the palace and saw what the veil had hidden. On the other side of the bridge were guards. Not small human guards—the giant variety.
A second later the veil was back up, and the palace disappeared behind its protective glamour once more.
She swallowed nervously. “Now what? How do we get inside with all of the guards?”
“Oh, the giants and the griffins are the least of our worries. We aren’t sneaking into the palace by land or air.”
“Of course we’re not,” she replied sarcastically.
“The kelpies once told me of another way in.” His smile widened.
“Uh, Nix?” Mina called out worriedly, but it was too late.
Nix smiled. He nudged his horse forward, and it took off running toward the waterfall, then dove off the cliff. Her horse, without prompting, followed the white one and leapt into the air.
Chapter 23
“Oh, no, no, NO NOOOO!” she screamed as the horse underneath her flew through the air to disappear once again. She felt herself falling, and every inch of her body flailed, trying to stop the terrifying descent. She couldn’t catch her breath; she could no longer scream. The jagged rocks at the bottom of the waterfall came rushing toward her, and just when she thought she would be crushed to death, a ball of water appeared around her like a protective bubble and she hit the water hard, but not hard enough to cause any damage.
Inside the bubble, she bounced and moved and was bashed around by the rocks, but nothing could pop the bubble. She was still holding her breath, and a few seconds later they cleared the rocks and dangerous falls. Her bubble appeared above the water, and then a few seconds later the transparent horse was once more securely underneath her. He was swimming quite happily along the stream.
“Holy waterfalls! Let’s not do that again…ever!” Mina gushed, holding onto Red for dear life, scared that he would disappear again.
Nix was farther up, and she heard him laugh out loud. Mina looked underneath her and was surprised that the kelpie now resembled a hybrid of a horse and seal. Its long tail was powerful and beat against the river currents rapidly. She was cold and wet, warmed only by the heat from the kelpie itself. She was now extremely grateful that they had traveled by land most of the way. Within minutes they drew closer to where the palace lay hidden.
There was a slight buzzing and pop! as they passed through an invisible barrier and the glamour dropped, and there before her was the Fae palace. There wasn’t a storybook in all creation that could capture the beauty of the palatial structure. The palace walls shimmered as if they were covered in mystical fairy dust. The arched gate was made of silver and gold, and a sun and moon were prominent in all of the decorations and flags that adorned the castle. Even from a distance she could see the sun and moon shapes embedded into the stone bridge itself. Even the street was made of marble pieces in the shapes of silver moons and golden suns.
Mina’s heart began to beat wildly when she saw one of the giants harassing and arguing with the driver of the carriage. Apparently, he was not welcome, and a second later a scream and a whoosh was heard as the carriage, driver, and chimera went flying into the air off the bridge and into the water.
Within seconds two pairs of green eyes glowing in the shadows appeared from beneath the bridge and started toward the shocked driver, who was struggling to make it to shore. Nix leaned over and whispered trolls to her. Mina didn’t need the prompting; she knew exactly what they were. The chimera was able to quickly get out of the water, and flew to the bridge and took off running, but the Fae carriage driver was not so lucky.
The kelpies had stopped around the last little bend of the river before the palace and carefully treaded water, keeping their distance from the trolls and their victim. Within seconds the sound of gasping and splashing water disappeared, followed by a scream. A long minute later, the green eyes popped back up under the shadows of the bridge, signaling the trolls’ return. They were now even more watchful.
“What do we do now?” Mina whispered, shivering either from the cold of the water or the fear that penetrated her whole body. “I don’t have the Grimoire to help me. I have nothing to capture them in on this plane.”
Nix rubbed his hand through the kelpie’s mane and studied the layout of the palace. He looked concerned as well, but gazed at her in disbelief.
“Are you kidding? Mina, look at me,” he commanded.
Shivering with uncertainty, she looked into Nix’s green cat-eyes and saw utter faith.
“You don’t need a weapon,” he said softly. “You are your greatest weapon.”
She closed her eyes and let his confidence and words soak into her very core. He was right. If this Fae believed in her, then she wasn’t going to let him down.
“Let’s do this before I change my mind,” she said firmly. “Now, how do we get in?”
Nix’s face lit up with excitement, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, I’ve got a plan, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
She stared at him through narrowed eyes. “Nix,” she said in warning tones.
His cheeks turned that odd brown color again, when he blushed. “Um, it requires us to swim underwater from here under the bridge, past the guards, up to an underwater duct that leads to an indoor waterfall that empties into a bathing chamber.”
Mina quickly calculated the distance and knew there was no way she could hold her breath that long. She looked at Nix’s blushing face and back at the water, and she knew exactly how he was planning on getting her that far.
“Uh-uh, I would rather go through the front door and tackle the giants than have to life-saving-suck-kiss you for five minutes. How in the world am I going to explain this to…” Her cheeks also turned deep red as she imagined explaining this to Brody. And then she remembered she wasn’t dating Brody, and she wasn’t even sure how Jared would feel about her kissing someone. He probably wouldn’t even care. She thought of Charlie in a fiery prison, and that clinched it.
She wasn’t going to let her own modesty and shyness
keep her from her goal. She was in another world, playing by different rules, and if she wanted any normal chance at a relationship…with anyone…then she needed to finish these quests. All of them.
Nix wasn’t offended in the least by Mina’s rejection of him. In fact, he looked a little relieved himself. “Well, I might be able to distract the giants from the gates, and you can run across, but the trolls would be on the bridge in seconds flat.”
“Okay, okay. I like your way better. Under the bridge and under the water it is.”
He shrugged and wouldn’t look her in the eye. “All right, then. Life-saving-suck-kiss it is.” He pinched his lips together and quickly turned away, but Mina could see his shoulders rising and falling in rapid succession. He was laughing at her. And then she realized how absurd it sounded and started laughing, too.
Even the kelpies seemed to pick up on their laughter and started to dance in the water. Which drew attention to their area of the lake.
“Uh-oh.” Nix calmed down instantly. “They know someone’s here.” The trolls’ green eyes were moving in their direction. And even the giants had moved to stare out across the water.
“We need to move quickly,” Mina hissed.
“Yes, it’s now or never.” Nix slid off the kelpie, and Mina followed suit. He quickly leaned in and pressed his head to the white kelpie, and she knew he was trying to give him instructions. A moment later the red kelpie stepped out of the water in full horse form and began running toward the bridge, then stopped right before it. Rising up on his rear hooves, he was a magnificent creature and the perfect distraction. The white kelpie did the same thing and took off in the water toward the trolls, dancing and frolicking mere feet from them, taunting them mercilessly.
Nix held Mina close in the reeds, hiding until he knew that both the trolls and the giants were distracted.
“You ready?” he asked.