“Well, th—” I had to stop myself before a “thank you” slipped out by mistake. The last thing I wanted to do was offend the little creature. “I know it can’t be fun to be away from all the others.”
“It’s okay, Missy. I’ve got you.”
“Yeah.” I forced myself to smile. “We’ve got each other. And the boys’ve got you, too.”
“Of course, Missy.”
Twelve
In a town this size, the gossip spread like an oil spill. I felt weirdly exposed in my borrowed clothes, the secondhand sign that I’d lost everything, including the clothes off my back. I didn’t look like me. I didn’t feel like me. I didn’t even bother with makeup or any jewelry besides my nail. None of it felt right now. People looked at me differently, and unfortunately nobody had invented an armor for pity.
As I opened my locker, two cards tumbled out and onto the floor. The first one had a drawing of me and what looked like Jasika Witters, both of us in bright blue capes, signed by her little sister, Jade, in clumsy cursive with a note that read I’m sorry about your house. Just one of many that shared the same sentiment, most of them from the Witters clan. Three or four came from well-meaning teachers or student council representatives who didn’t otherwise take note of me. On top of them all was a simple card with Jasika’s careful script.
Bryn
I’m so sorry about what happened. If there is anything I or my family can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask. Remember, you’re not alone in this.
J. W.
I glanced over my shoulder, but Jasika was nowhere to be seen. Of course, she’d probably tucked these into my locker well before I arrived. Why that made my heart twinge with disappointment, I couldn’t quite say. I tucked the cards into the back covers of my government and health textbooks.
My morning classes were a buzz of chatter and the uneasy sensation of eyes on the back of my neck. I’d somehow sprouted a shining neon sign hovering above my head: SEE THE INCREDIBLE HOMELESS KID! MARVEL AT THE GIRL WHO LIVES IN THE GLORIFIED STORAGE UNIT! Worse, they weren’t looking at me the way they usually did. Nobody, not even Brooke Tanneman, so much as glanced with anything more than gut-churning, gag-me pity.
By lunch, all of the silent judgment had eaten through my limited patience. I didn’t even bother taking my paper sack into the cafeteria. The librarian shot me a warning look but didn’t stop me as I curled up at a table in the far corner, nibbling at my sandwich while I tried and failed to not feel sorry for myself. It was hard, everything considered. I tried to focus instead on the three words itching in the back of my brain.
Gwella, Gwybodaeth, Freuddwyth
Healing, Knowledge, Dreaming. Mum had said them when she’d told me to stop the Fae for good. Right after I’d found her book. Was she telling me those were the spells I needed? The thought made my heart skip. Human magic was one thing. It had rules. Ingredients and candles and incantations. It came from your intent and your mind-set. Fae magic came from somewhere else. It would be like a Roman centurion fooling around with an atomic bomb. Then again, maybe it was just a dream. I could have been scared and just wanting to dream about my mum. For that matter, who was the woman in the gray gown? Nobody sensible, that was sure. I was definitely assigning too much meaning to a dream.
I was halfway into a decent sulk when I saw him. A stack of fantasy books in his arms. All gangly limbs and wide mouth pulled not into a pitying frown but a smile of relief. He was probably the first person all day who hadn’t looked at me with pity. I blinked.
“Dom?”
“Found you.” He sprawled in the chair beside me, dropping his backpack on the floor and the stack of books next to it. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Le Morte d’Arthur. How traditional of him. Looked like he was taking the revelation that magic was real very well.
“I see you’ve been doing a little light reading,” I mused.
“I see you showed up at school. I thought for sure you weren’t coming today.”
I wrapped the remainder of my sandwich in foil and stuffed it back into the paper bag.
“I didn’t want to just sit around the church all day.” Because, really, what better way to remind yourself that you didn’t have a home than to sit in your shelter and feel sorry for yourself? I took a deep breath. “I hope I didn’t get you in trouble at home yesterday.”
Dom shrugged. “Helen didn’t even notice. But I couldn’t sleep last night. I think I was up till two researching all this…” He waved his hand indistinctly. “… stuff.”
“You mean the Unseelies?”
He nodded, his expression grave. “I had no idea that fairies were … I mean. It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “And magic. Apparently ingredients don’t matter? But maybe that blog was just written by a lazy witch.”
“Human magic’s got a lot to do with your personal belief and intent,” I explained. “But maybe. I dunno.”
“And fairies! All the stories, and so many of them disagree. Don’t you think it’s nuts?”
Honestly? I wouldn’t know. I’d been raised on the idea that fairies existed. As soon as I’d learned to walk, I’d learned how to look for sprites in the woods. But if finding out magic was real was anything like watching your home go up in flames … I nodded.
“All the fairies yesterday, um, the shadelings. They were so scared of them.” His brows twitched as that wide, expressive mouth of his pulled into a frown. “I never thought of fairies as trying to hurt each other.”
Sweet thing. He didn’t need to be around all this violence and ugliness. Not if his heart was this tender for a collection of creatures he’d barely met.
“Yesterday was an unusual move for them. You’re not seeing normal behavior from their kind. They’re adapting to the defenses my dad and Father Gooding put up.”
“Right. But some of them are good. See, I found out a lot about the water wives, too, but your little goblin friends…”
“The shadelings? No. You won’t find anything about them anywhere, except a Dungeons and Dragons manual. And that’s not the same. I think they’re … unique.”
“And you’re sure you can trust them?” Dom’s brows furrowed. “I mean, they move through shadows. Aren’t shadows kind of a dark, bad-guy thing?”
The notion would have seemed absurd, had I not briefly considered the same thing myself not so long ago. Suddenly, the idea that I’d ever doubted the shadelings made my stomach turn. They’d been with me for almost a decade and look how quickly I’d doubted them.
“The shadelings are fine,” I promised him. “They were loyal to my mum. Not sure why. They won’t say. But they hang around us.”
“So they’re like your servants?”
Yeah right. I snorted. “No. Not really. They try to help out around the house. I think they want to earn their keep, but otherwise, they’re just sort of there. Eating any food we leave out. Keeping an eye open for the Unseelie. Trying to keep me alive. I think because they know I’ll protect them.” But now they were all gone. All except for the one last night. The purple one. My stomach flipped. Maybe there was a little bit more to why they hung around after all.
Dom chewed his lip and drummed his fingers against the table. “Right. And they were in danger, yesterday. Do these Unseelie want to go after them, too?”
The suggestion stung unexpectedly. I’d always worried about other humans getting involved in this nonsense. If I’d thought about it from a fairy’s perspective, yesterday might not have happened. Leave it to someone with a gentle heart to see what someone like me couldn’t.
“You know, you don’t need to be involved,” I reminded him. “I mean, thanks for your help yesterday, but I never asked you. Probably better if you just keep a wide berth.”
Dom arched a brow and shrugged. “If I’m going to live in some crazy town with killer fairies, I just want to make sure I understand everything I’m up against.”
“It’s probably safer if you don’t.”
&
nbsp; “When I didn’t know, you almost stabbed me with a nail, and I wound up running headfirst toward a house fire. Yeah. Real safe.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look. Magic is real. Fairies are real. You can’t expect me to see all of that and just ignore it. I mean, this is huge!” There was a sparkle in his eyes like … well. Like he’d just found out magic was real. No shoving that rabbit back in the hat.
It was Jasika all over again, but I still had just enough guilt about the nail incident that I couldn’t quite say no to him.
“Well, I doubt you’ll find much in those books,” I sighed, nodding at his little stack. “I’m pretty sure Merlin wasn’t a real guy.”
“Yeah, but he was from Wales,” Dom pressed. “Just like you. Just like the water wives. That can’t be a coincidence!”
Yeah, and I’d thought a new guy in town couldn’t be a coincidence, either. Live and learn.
“You’re getting excited over nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Fairies are real.” Dom leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “And I want you to help me with one.”
I frowned. “What? Do you have one in your house or something? I’m pretty sure Helen would have called Father Gooding by now.”
Dom shook his head. “No. She’s fine. It’s nothing in the house. But, see, since I moved here, I’ve seen something in the trees. I thought it was like a coyote or something, but since yesterday, well, I think you might be able to figure out what it is and how to, you know…” He made a shooing gesture with his hand. “Make it go away. Or at least keep away from Helen. I don’t know how to talk to them and the internet says they get offended really easily.”
“What makes you think it was something I can take care of?”
Dom dug into his pocket and pulled out … my fairy stone. Well, son of a bitch.
“This is a fairy stone, right? Well. I looked through it, and, well, whatever I saw, it wasn’t human. Now, I’ll give this back to you if you at least come and check it out.”
He wanted me to go to work. Without Father Gooding. Of course, he didn’t know about Father Gooding. He was new and totally ignorant about the way things worked here. He didn’t know about redcaps or brownies or any of the Fae. And he was trusting me. Well, nice to know that somebody still did. For all the good it did. I reached forward, snatching the stone from his hand with a scowl. Dom didn’t even try to fight for it.
“I’m not exactly invincible,” I pointed out. “You saw that yourself yesterday.”
Dom leaned forward, his expression sober. “Maybe this thing has something to do with the ones that are after you. Or maybe it doesn’t. But Helen’s old. I don’t want her getting caught in the crossfire, you know?”
I thought back to Mum’s book. How many spells were in there? How much might it help if I could use them? Catch a Fae right there in the woods before it could hit me? My insides squirmed at the thought.
“I’ll take a look. But you stay in the house. That’s the deal.”
Dom shot me a crooked grin. “Aye aye, captain.”
The bell rang. Dom grabbed his bag and straightened, once more serious.
“Meet me in front of Helen’s house,” he said. “I’ll show you where I saw it. And … thanks. Seriously.” He smiled, offered me a little half salute, and spun around to saunter out the library door. Weirdo.
* * *
IT WAS DISORIENTING walking to Postoak during the day, unaccompanied by Father Gooding. The eerie quality of the homes faded away without the shadow of evening to cast a dark tone over everything. Cheerful flower beds and tinkling wind chimes actually managed to give the whole place a pleasant facade. Even so, I clutched my backpack’s straps a little tighter, feeling the weight of Mum’s book inside. There was a good chance more than a couple of nosy creatures watched me from their hidden perches.
Helen Grady, and consequently Dom, lived in the single most protected house on the street. Gooding had brought me here years ago to teach me how to place wards. Every little lawn ornament and hummingbird feeder was in some way inundated with anti-fairy protections. No surprise. Helen Grady lived right next to the woods at the very end of Postoak Road. Had things gone the way they were supposed to, it’s entirely likely that Dom could have made it all the way through the school year without noticing the trouble so many of his neighbors had with the creatures.
As I came to the line of landscaping rocks at the edge of Ms. Helen’s iron fence, I saw Dom kneeling at the gate, setting out a bowl of milk. He was a quick study. When he saw me, he jumped to his feet, wearing the biggest smile I had probably ever seen on a human being. Somehow, beyond all reason, he looked positively thrilled to see me.
“Hey.” He looked like he might just hug me. I jumped half a step back, hand tightening on the strap of my backpack. Dom’s wide mouth shrank into a frown, brows furrowing as he looked me up and down. Damn. Had I offended him? Why did I keep doing that to everyone who seemed to like me?
“Hey,” I offered in return.
We stared at each other silently for a few seconds until, at last, Dom cleared his throat.
“So, uh…” Dom shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Every time he leaned closer, I could smell the same spicy aftershave Dad used: the cheapest brand the store sold. Dom cleared his throat and jabbed a thumb toward the woods. “I’ve seen something out there. A few nights, now, actually. I figure if we try to catch it during the day, maybe it’ll be weaker.”
“Not a bad idea,” I allowed, and Dom positively lit up. Oh boy. I was encouraging him, wasn’t I? “If I can find it,” I added. “You stay in the house, remember? That was the deal.” And the light went out. Sweet boy. Definitely not cut out for this.
Dom chewed on his lip but nodded. At least he could follow directions.
I tugged my nail down. Here went nothing. I crept onto the rough path that snaked between the trees, the light around me darkening under the canopy of the trees. A few meters in, something tucked against the foot of an ancient maple caught my eye. It was a little gathering of sticks and leaves, wilted flowers shoved in between the cracks, forming a tidy arch. Right above it, carved into the tree, was an odd symbol that I couldn’t quite place—sort of like a scribble, but there was more to it than that.
“What the hell?” Fairy houses in an actual fairy-infested forest. Dumb kids probably had no idea what they were doing. But whatever this symbol was, it didn’t look random.
I tugged a few twigs out of place, effectively dismantling the fairy house, and turned …
Right into the face of a shriveled crone. Not a court Fae or a drone. Her hair fell like crinkled straw around her shriveled, mud-smeared face. In one arm, she clutched a crude sculpture of a baby, one leg longer than the other.
In the span of a blink, I knew what she was.
Bendith y Mamau.
The fairy named after the blessing of the mother, or rather, mother of blessings … and of changelings.
Before I could so much as raise my nail into the air, she swept her gnarled hand across my cheekbone, sending me crashing against a birch. Pain burst across the side of my face and, oh Lord, how was I going to explain this to Dad?
Something moved in the dark beyond the trees. Ice flooded my veins. Stupid! Of course they’d have lower courts or wild creatures to protect them.
The bendith hissed and swept up to me, her thin lips pulling up over her teeth. I kicked out, my boot catching her right in the chest. She crumpled to the ground in a heap of rags and gangly limbs, but she wouldn’t be down long. I staggered to my feet. Whatever was in the woods, it was getting closer. Reinforcements? Did it recognize me? Fine. I could do this. I had my nail, and the shadelings were no doubt lurking nearby. They had to be pissed about the loss of their home, too. Maybe I’d get a little help.
The bendith clambered to her feet, ancient joints popping and squeaking like unoiled hinges. I squeezed my nail tighter. Come and get it, bitch.
“FWEEEEEEE
EEEEE!”
The sudden burst of noise made my heart skip a beat. The bendith’s head jerked around, eyes widening in shock at Dom, who still held his fingers to his lips.
My blood froze. What in the actual and non-figurative hell was he doing here?
“Uh … balls,” he swore, taking a step back. “I think we should run now.”
“No shit, Sherlock!” I snapped.
The bendith straightened, cocking her head to one side. For some reason, she stared at Dom the way most people stare at modern art. Perplexed, torn between amusement and annoyance. She took a shambling step forward, extending one gnarled hand. Then, between the space of one step and the next, she transformed. The withered crone disappeared, her hunched frame giving way to a beautiful woman with curves that just wouldn’t quit. She looked like an exaggerated version of a new mother, with shining, golden hair and perfectly sun-browned skin. A mother of the earth. I blinked and tried to relax, tried to see the hideous crone beneath the beauty. There wasn’t so much as a flicker. This wasn’t a glamour. It was as much her as the other form.
“Come with me,” she crooned in a voice like honey.
The bendith reached out, taking his hand, a small smile playing on her wide, soft lips. Dom’s mouth bobbed open and closed. My stomach churned. This was stupid. This was so stupid. What the hell was he thinking? But if I moved too quickly, I’d spook her. And she was touching Dom.
The bendith stared straight into his eyes as she began to hum. A shiver ran down my spine. The tune was haunting, and beautiful. I could feel my blood chilling, my heart breaking, and my throat aching like I’d just been crying.
Dom stared back at her, his jaw slack, and I knew that whatever I felt, he felt tenfold. He didn’t so much as twitch as she swayed back and forth, the haunting melody picking up speed. Shit, it looked like he was mesmerized.
“Get down!” a voice cried over the humming.
I had only a second to drop to the ground as a new figure flew through the underbrush, hurling an iron net toward the bendith. Dom scrambled out of the way, half crashing into the underbrush as the net slammed into the bendith. She hissed and yowled, trying to buck it off. Ugly red welts rose under the poisonous iron netting, an awful sizzling noise filling the air.
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