We landed high on a thick branch of an oak tree at the edge of the clearing. My rescuer sat me down, and I straddled the tree branch and shut my eyes tightly. My body trembled as I dug my nails into the tree bark.
“Are you all right?” a merry, masculine voice asked.
I dared to crack one eye open and look up. He was squatting down so close to me that our noses were almost touching.
I screamed at him. I scrambled to get away, and almost fell off the tree branch.
“You can see me!” The stranger laughed. It was an infectious, rich sound. The sort of laugh that made you want to join in.
“W-who are you?” I whimpered as I slowly began inching toward the trunk of the tree. I felt safer when I could hold onto the trunk.
He cocked his head to the side like a confused animal. In fact, there was a lot about him that was animalistic. I mean, he was obviously a faerie. He had the face of a teenage boy with impish, mischievous features. He was tall and lean, with skin as pale as cream. His stark white hair was shaggy, and it fell sloppily over his long, pointed ears and golden eyes. A pair of black ram’s horns peeked out of his hair and curled around his ears. On his back grew two big, beautiful wings with black and white feathers like a snowy owl.
He was wearing nothing but a pair of gray pants that were torn off at the knees because from his calves down, his legs didn’t look like human legs. He had the big, feathery feet of an owl with huge black talons. Even his fingernails were long, black, and pointed like claws.
“Jack Frost,” someone else answered my question.
The boy snickered and bobbed his head in agreement. He seemed pleased that someone recognized him, and fluttered away from me as another winged being landed between us.
Only, I knew this one.
“I owe you one,” Zeph muttered like he wasn’t thrilled about that.
“Someone sent me a message,” Jack announced, springing nimbly from limb to limb around us. “It said there was a naughty Unseelie messing with my mother’s handiwork here. Quite the understatement! Then I saw this one about to be gobbled up by a spriggan. Seemed a waste, since she’s awfully cute.” He winked one of his yellow eyes at me.
Zeph bristled. “Cool it, lover boy. You’ve got enough girlfriends, and this one’s super high maintenance.”
“Guys,” I interrupted. Apparently, I was the only one still paying attention to what the monster was doing. “That thing is getting up again!”
Down below, the spriggan had managed to smash the ice off its arms. It was lumbering toward us with booming steps that shook the tree we were in. As it got closer, it let out a furious bellow that sent a blast of stinky swamp-breath straight at us.
Jack covered his nose. “A stubborn, smelly brute, isn’t it?”
I gagged, too. Rotting sewage probably smelled better. “Where’s Eldrick?”
“With Hank. The old geezer took a nasty crack to the head. I’ve about had it with this thing. We gotta find the centerstone.” Zeph snarled as he bared his pointed teeth. He stood, his gleaming wings spreading wide as he flicked a wild-eyed glance in my direction. “Stay put.”
I was still bear hugging the tree trunk for dear life, doing my best not to look down. “Do I look like a squirrel to you? We’re twenty feet in the air—where exactly do you think I can go?”
He smirked. With his wings stretched out, Zeph dove from the tree and into battle. Jack Frost followed him, but not before conjuring up a fierce, bitter cold wind to go with him.
Zeph fought with brute strength, bellowing like a lion as he hurtled toward the monster. He landed on the spriggan’s face and tried ripping it apart piece-by-piece. He must have been trying to conserve as much magic as he could.
Jack’s approach was much more calculated. He zoomed through the creature’s legs, building magical shackles of ice around its feet to keep it from advancing any closer.
“joooosie,” the spriggan wailed. It snapped free of one of the ice chains and grabbed Zeph in a big, gnarled hand, plucking him off like an insect and throwing him to the ground.
I winced.
The spriggan raised its one free arm, taking aim with a huge fist. Zeph was still trying to stand, staggering with his wings drooping.
Power—he needed my power!
“Zeph!” I screamed, nearly losing my grip on the tree. My heart hit the back of my throat.
Everything went white as a burst of brilliant light exploded in the air. Cold wind squeezed at my lungs. The spriggan howled and stumbled backward, swinging wildly at Jack as he darted past.
I squinted through the spots in my vision, looking for Zeph. He wasn’t anywhere on the ground. Had he escaped? Was he all right?
Jack’s blast was already wearing off. The spriggan beat its fists on the ground like an angry gorilla. My tree shuddered with every impact.
“This isn’t gonna work! Break the centerstone and it’ll crumble!” Zeph’s voice roared over the noise as he dove back at the spriggan’s head again.
Alive—he was alive!
He beat his wings hard, hovering in one spot as he pressed his palms together. As he drew them apart, a complex circular design of pulsing violet light shimmered in the air between his hands.
Bells tolled in the air, hitting my body like waves of warm energy. My breath caught. My body shivered.
“Ready?” he shouted.
“On it!” Jack howled back as he swept in for another attack. His whole body began to gleam, radiating that wintry magic that turned the air ice-cold.
The giant earth-creature saw it coming. But rather than running, it ripped up trees and threw them. It hurled boulders and chunks of ice.
I shrieked as a huge rock went sailing past, missing me by only a few feet and smashing through the forest.
I should have stayed quiet.
The spriggan turned its giant head to look straight at me.
Oh god.
In the blink of an eye, the beast was hurtling toward me.
My body went numb. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t blink. I couldn’t even scream.
“Josie! No!” Zeph was yelling.
The spriggan grabbed the trunk of my tree and plucked it out of the ground like a carrot. I hung on for dear life, my arms and legs wrapped around the trunk.
“to the maaaster!” The monster’s thunderous voice left my ears ringing. It opened its big, smelly mouth again and prepared to eat me—tree and all.
Was this really it? Was I going to die like this?
Two strong hands closed around my wrists and yanked me away as the first half of the tree disappeared down the spriggan’s throat. I yelped, clinging to the strong arms that reeled me in.
“Hang on to me,” Zeph murmured as guided my arms around his neck. He soared higher, glassy wings beating hard as dove for the forest. His expression was fierce, his jaw tight, and teeth bared. But something wasn’t right. His hair and face were dripping with sweat and his skin was flushed. The purplish runes on his skin were barely visible now. He was breathing fast, wincing with every wing beat as though he were in pain.
He was running out of energy. He couldn’t last much longer like this.
Zeph stumbled into a rough landing in the woods just outside the clearing and put me down. His violet eyes stared at me for an instant, but he was breathing too hard get any words out. I didn’t need to hear him speak to know what he wanted to tell me, though. I could see it on his face.
He wanted me to run.
“No!” I seized his arm. “Let me help you!”
Zeph frowned and started to pull away, opening his mouth like he was going to object.
Over the sounds of the spriggan bellowing in rage, I heard Jack Frost shouting at us. “Look out!”
I caught only a glimpse of what must have been the other half of my tree rocketing toward us through the air.
It was too late.
Zeph threw himself on top of me just as the forest around us
seemed to explode. Branches cracked and popped all around us. The trunk smashed into the earth.
Then there was silence.
I opened my eyes, squinting into the moonlight. Alive—I was alive.
Lying on my back, the peaceful winter sky winked with a thousand stars above me. There was dust and twigs all over my face. I tried to cough, but I couldn’t draw a breath because something heavy was on top of me.
It was Zeph.
He didn’t move from where he lay, his arms hugged around me to shield my body under his. His wings were sprawled out, battered, and pinned by huge branches that had fallen when the tree smashed through the forest around us.
“Zeph?” I squirmed, trying to get him to wake up or move. I managed to get an arm free and pat the back of his head to let him know I was okay. I could feel all my fingers and toes. Nothing was broken or hurting.
I realized I couldn’t feel him breathing.
As I tried shaking him, my hand bumped against something wooden. I couldn’t see what it was because of how his heavy bodyweight was pinning me down, so my fingers traced it. I could feel what seemed to be a broken tree branch. As I followed the branch closer to Zeph’s back, I realized it was wet with something—something warm and sticky. I felt around frantically, finding more and more branches that were wet, too.
My heart hit the back of my throat.
They were all sticking out of his back.
“Zeph?” I cried out again.
He didn’t answer.
I yelled at the top of my lungs, pleading for someone to come help him. My eyes filled with tears. What if no one came? What if they came too late?
Suddenly, Eldrick’s face appeared over us. I cried out for him to help, and he immediately pulled Zeph off me. My body felt hot and cold at the same time.
Zeph’s eyes were open, but they looked glazed and distant. There was blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, staining his ashen cheeks.
My heartbeat thrummed in my ears, snuffing out every other sound. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. Pain ripped through me as a garbled scream tore past my lips.
I lunged for Zeph. I wanted to touch him, to see him wake up and give me that wonderful sarcastic smirk.
Hank grabbed me. “Stay back,” he warned. He was staring past me down at Zeph, blood dripping from a deep cut on his forehead.
What? No! He needed me!
I tried to twist my arm free, but Hank held me back as Eldrick carefully laid Zeph’s body facedown on the ground.
There were five, big, snapped-off branches sticking out of Zeph’s body like jagged spikes. Eldrick stepped around him, testing the branches and giving some of them gentle tugs. Then he looked up at us, his gaze steely.
Hank nodded.
One at a time, Eldrick began pulling the branches out. It made a horrible, squishing, tearing sound.
It felt like someone was squeezing my lungs from the inside. My body went cold and my knees gave out. I crumpled to the ground. My stomach rolled. I wanted to vomit, but nothing came up.
Hank squatted down beside me. He put had a hand on the back of my neck, like he was trying to steady me. “It’s all right,” he muttered. “Breathe, girl. Just take some deep breaths.”
All right? How the hell was this all right?
The gory ripping sounds stopped.
“Well?” Hank asked.
Eldrick was standing over Zeph, still examining the damage. When he met my gaze again, I saw his brows draw up and his mouth scrunch into an uncertain line. “It’s bad.”
My body shook with a sob. No—oh please, god no.
“He’s not gone yet. But he doesn’t have enough power left to regenerate from wounds this severe,” Eldrick murmured. “We should let her try to revive him.”
“If she does this, we won’t be able to hide her anymore.” Hank didn’t sound hopeful at all. “There won’t be anything we can do to stop Fir Darrig and the rest of the faerie world from finding her, even if it doesn’t work.”
Why were they talking about me like I wasn’t even here? Shakily, I tried lifting my head. Zeph needed me to be stronger than this. But no matter how I tried, I couldn’t steady myself. My chest burned and ached, as though someone were ripping my heart in half.
Eldrick stepped over Zeph’s broken body. His silver eyes were focused upon the battle that still raged between Jack Frost and the spriggan. Magical explosions sizzled in the air, their chimes clanging and tolling, followed by the spriggan’s thunderous roars. The earth shook and the trees groaned. Jack was holding his own, but it was obvious that all he could do by himself was keep the monster contained in one area.
Eldrick’s expression sharpened. His hands curled slowly into fists and his head bowed slightly. The moonlight seemed to withdraw from him as though it were frightened. A whispering, sinister melody hummed in the air.
When he looked back down at me, our eyes met, and I saw something I wasn’t expecting. There was wrath blazing in his eyes like silver fire.
“You have to do this, Josie,” he said. “It’s time.”
Tears blurred my vision. I choked and fought for every breath. “B-but I’ve never tried to work a spell like this on my own! What if I mess it up? What if I do it wrong—what if I hurt him even worse?”
Eldrick bent down, grasping my chin and forcing me to meet his gaze. “Either you do this or the man you love dies.” His eyes narrowed. “Are you prepared to live with that?”
No—I couldn’t let that happen.
I shook my head.
“Then you know what you have to do.” Eldrick released my chin and stood, beginning to walk away, directly toward the rumble and roar of the battle. With every step, his tall frame flickered and dissolved, becoming something far more monstrous than a spriggan.
A colossal wolf with fur as black as a starless night sky took shape, standing almost as big as the moss-and-earth creature before him. His eyes and claws shimmered like platinum, catching in the moonlight with every stride. He stopped and threw his head back, unleashing a deafening howl. It filled the air with a piercing chime.
I covered my ears, clenching my teeth. The spellsong was so shrill, so intense. The vibrations made my skull ache and soul numb. I’d experienced Eldrick’s power before, but never like this. He’d tormented me out of fear.
But I’d never felt him be … angry.
The spriggan stopped, considering him with a tilt of its near-featureless face.
The ground flinched as Eldrick stamped his front paws. Magical energy snapped and popped off his fangs like an electrical current as his snout wrinkled in a snarl. The crown of long black elk-like horns on his head began to ignite with rings of intricate runes.
The spriggan lunged first, barreling wildly toward Eldrick with its giant mossy fists flailing. Eldrick surged forward, jaws open for the kill. Behind him, the white glimmer of Jack’s angelic form made the air go cold again.
“We have to hurry,” Hank yelled suddenly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
My hands shook as I dug into my coat pocket and pulled out my Sharpie. I held it up where he could see, the chill of Jack’s magic turning my tears to frost. “Yes.”
Zeph’s skin was cold to the touch.
Hank helped me roll him over, and I pulled Zeph’s head into my lap. I took one of his hands in mine and squeezed it hard. I was hoping to feel him squeeze back, but he didn’t respond. He wasn’t breathing. His eyes were fixed. The purple runes on his skin had all gone dark.
Hank moved in closer, his expression was grim. Blood still dripped down the side of his face, staining the snow pink. “You know the spell?” he asked quietly. “I never did this one, I don’t know the specifics. I can’t help you.”
I uncapped the Sharpie. “I don’t need your help. I can do it myself.”
I could. I believed that—I had to. Eldrick had taught me, I’d written this spell a dozen times. I’d even seen Zeph do it once before
.
I could do this.
Behind us, the roar of the fight between Eldrick, Jack, and the spriggan raged on. Trees were snapped in half like twigs. Eldrick was slinging magic in a reckless fit of anger. He was big enough to take the spriggan on, and they rolled and brawled like two rabid dogs.
I struggled to push those sounds out of my mind. Whispers of doubt immediately took their place. What if I messed up? What if I killed us both? What if I couldn’t save Zeph and was forced to face Fir Darrig without him at my side? Once I did this, they would come. Faeries and creatures far worse than spriggans would be drawn to me like moths to a flame, wanting to use my power or maybe even force me to do something terrible. I would see the darkest parts of the faerie realm.
But I was willing to face any measure of horror if it meant I could see Zeph smile again.
Putting the Sharpie between my teeth, I reached into the pocket of Zeph’s pants to get his metal Zippo lighter. I took a piece of a broken branch and lit it on fire, letting in burn for a few seconds before I blew it out. Then I handed it to Hank and spat the marker back into my hand. “I need two spellsong circles—both for containment to keep the energy focused in this spot. You can manage that, can’t you?”
He blinked in surprise. “Yes.”
“Good.”
While Hank used the ash from the burnt end of the stick to trace out the spell circles, I began drawing spellwork on Zeph’s forehead. My thoughts raced and my body shivered with a cold sweat from adrenaline. My hands shook so badly I could barely grip the marker.
Peeling off my coat, I quickly rolled up the sleeves of my blouse and drew the runes onto the backs of my arms and hands. The sketches in my dad’s journal had described how to do this in detail. I’d spent hours with Eldrick, reading every page and memorizing as many of those spells as I could. Why hadn’t I brought the whole journal with me? What if this wasn’t right? Was this even the correct spell? Was Zeph even still alive? What if I was too late?
I jerked back, uncertain, and accidentally dropped the stupid marker. I screamed a curse and dove after it.
Before I could reach it, Hank stepped in. He picked up the Sharpie and handed it back to me with a hard frown. “Breathe,” he muttered. “You can do it. You’re smarter than most people twice your age.”
Mad Magic Page 25