Ironspark

by C. M. McGuire

  Dom jumped between us, arms out. “Hey! The last thing we need is to start fighting each other.”

  “Look at her hand,” Ash shouted. “The iron burned her. She’s been screwing with the Fae, too!”

  “Bryn.” Jasika’s voice was so full of something in that moment that I couldn’t stand to think about it. Later. If we all made it out of tonight, I’d stop to consider whether it was love or fear or just plain old disappointment.

  “Yeah. I have.” I eased past Dom and stared down at Ash. He looked so furious. He looked so much like me it hurt. I swallowed and shoved the nail into his hand. “And I regret it more than you could possibly know.” I turned to Jake. “I am stopping. I buried Mum’s book because all it does is create a straight path from Mab to us. I’d rather fight this fight as a human and come home at the end of the day.”

  “You buried the book?” Jake’s voice sounded a bit lighter.

  I nodded. “Didn’t you want me to be safe? Same as I want for you?”

  Jake’s lips twitched into a small smile rendered only a bit disturbing by his clown makeup. Ash’s fingers curled around the nail.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “But we should fix you up after we kill the queen.”

  “I agree, but I don’t think she’s coming.” A queasy feeling rolled through my gut. Mab hadn’t come to the school. Something was wrong.

  “Then where will she be?” Jasika asked. The boys stared up at me expectantly. Dom crossed his arms. They all looked at me like I had all the answers. If they had any idea how desperate I was, they’d probably all collectively wet themselves.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. But let’s find out.”

  Thirty

  We dodged between princesses and frogs, banshees and superheroes as the Halloween Haunt raged around us.

  Not for the first time, I felt that old longing. I wanted to be out there in that circle. I wanted to know how to do that. I wanted to stay here all night and slow dance with Jasika. Maybe this December, at the Prancer Dance. Or, hell, even prom. Once Samhain passed, there wouldn’t be another thinning of the veil until Beltane. That would give us more time to prepare. If we could just make it through the night, we could afford to breathe for a little while. But I doubted Mab would give up just because one door had closed.

  It took me five minutes to discreetly retrieve Gooding’s duffel bag from under the table in the hallway. Ash and Jake helped themselves to the candy strewn across the fortune-teller’s table, stuffing whatever they could reach into their creepy clown pockets.

  “You’ll give yourself a stomachache,” I warned, slinging the duffel over Jake’s shoulder.

  “Your face’ll get a stomachache,” Jake countered.

  I turned back to Dom and Jasika. “Thanks. For all of this. But we need to get ready in case Mab tries something else.”

  Jasika arched a brow. “You think she’ll try coming through the woods instead?”

  “It would be the next best thing,” Dom pointed out. “If she couldn’t get at the three of you directly, all she has to do is send a weaker Fae through to open up a door for her. Then she might come looking. So what it’s going to come down to is keeping you away from her without drawing her close to anyone.”

  Easier said than done. “All right. First stop, we get back to the church.” I took Jake’s hand first, then Ash’s. My palm burned at the contact, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through as I led them out of the school. It was probably pretty telling that, for the first time since they were six, neither of them argued.

  We stepped into the crisp outside air as one. The doors slammed behind us, muffling the music and the noise of the crowds. And that’s when I heard the sirens.

  An ambulance zoomed past us, red and blue lights punching through the dark as it sped toward the church.

  “Oh my God,” Jasika breathed.

  Ash tried to dart forward, but I tightened my grip on his hand. My heart throbbed. Off in the distance, a glow lit up the old building in front of the woods.

  “Bryn, come on!” Dom’s voice sounded far away as he raced ahead of me.

  Mab was one heinous bitch, and the night wasn’t over. I steeled my nerves and forced one foot in front of the other, then again, then again until I ran with the boys toward another broken home.

  The church blazed before us like a torch. The reek of smoke clogged my nostrils. The flames roared as they consumed the old brick and wood. The heat pounded against me like a hammer on an anvil. Oh God. The whole second floor had been packed with children and parents and volunteers. Had they made it out? Marshmallow. Father Gooding.

  “It’s them,” Ash cried, skidding to a halt in front of the burning building. His face paint melted away from the heat, leaving only the terrified expression of a kid. For all that he wanted a fight, he’d never seen their work in person.

  I grabbed his shoulders.

  “Listen, I’ll take care of this. We just make it through the night, okay? But tonight, she can get to us more than ever. You two need to get somewhere safe while I take care of this.”

  “No, we have to go after them together!” Ash jerked away, his chest heaving.

  “I’m not going after them; I’m securing the church. In the morning this will be over.”

  “It won’t be over!” Ash shouted. “It’s never going to be over until we stop every single one of them.”

  “We can’t!” I snapped.

  “They’ll keep coming.” Jake’s voice came out so small, I thought it might break my heart. He looked ready to crumble where he was, the duffel bag from the school so big around him it threatened to drag him down to the ground. He met my eyes, and he looked so young. “You promised me that you wouldn’t let them get you.”

  I had, hadn’t I? “They won’t. Stay here,” I said firmly, glancing between them. “I’m going to check the tree line. It’ll be just a few minutes. If anyone tries to talk to you, use what’s in that bag. Make sure they’re human first. Make a circle of salt around you. Plug up your ears; there are earplugs in one of the pockets. The Fae may try something else tonight.” I started to pull away, but a hand caught my skirt.

  “You can’t do this!” Ash grabbed my skirt, tears in his bloodshot eyes. “This is what happened to Mum. She split away from us.”

  He was scared. Of course he was scared. It meant he wasn’t crazy. I bit my cheek and closed my hand around his fist still clutching the nail.

  “I’m not Mum.” I squeezed his hands, forcing them off my skirt. “I promise. I’m coming back. Just stay here. Keep this close. Stay safe.” And Lord. I hoped with all my heart that I hadn’t just lied to them.

  I raced around the far end of the church. Parents gathered their children close, a safe distance from the oppressive flames, kissing their little heads and promising it would be all right.

  One of the congregants, Mrs. Perez, stumbled around outside, looking stunned. I reached for her arm. “Did everyone make it outside?”

  She started and nodded, taking a deep breath. “Y-yes. I think so.”

  Okay. Nobody was hurt. Probably the same move they’d pulled at the house, trying to flush everyone out. They couldn’t have known, then, that the twins had gone to the school. But they had still gone after them, which meant Mab wasn’t completely married to the whole firstborn idea. If tonight didn’t work out, she’d still take the boys.

  I pushed through the crowd, trying not to gag on the taste of soot on my tongue or the horrible mix of hot and cold battling on my skin.

  “Jasika!” I called out. “Dom!”

  “Missy,” a small voice squeaked. Marshmallow quivered on the ground, her long fingers wrapped around her thin shoulders as she crouched near the corner of the convent. I sprinted forward, gathering her into my arms. Wordlessly, she returned my embrace, her small body trembling. If anyone saw the small, dark figure in my arms, none of them said a word. They had bigger problems right now.

  “Bryn!”

  I glanced up to see Jasika kneeling
next to a figure on the ground. How had I missed it? I scrambled to my feet, not daring to take my hands off Marshmallow as I stumbled over.

  The front of Father Gooding’s sweater was singed. His arms and a good portion of his cheeks and neck were covered in burns, bright and blistered pink against his tan skin. I stared in horror, cold sinking in deeper and deeper for a few seconds until I saw movement in his chest. He was still alive.

  Jasika dug through her tote, pulling out another Tupperware container of her healing salve. “Help me get it on him.”

  “Okay. Marsh, I’ve got to put you down for a little bit. Stick close to me, okay?”

  Marshmallow gave another little shiver, then nodded, reluctantly loosening her arms so I could lower her to the ground in front of my knees. Jasika popped the top off the Tupperware and I dug my fingers in, spreading the goop across Father Gooding’s burns. And all the while the chorus played in my head.

  My fault. My fault. All my fault …

  “Evan!” a scream tore through the night.

  I whirled around to see a small child flailing in her mother’s arms, trying to pull away. His glassy blue eyes were fixed on the woods. No. Not just him. Every child from the church party strained against their parents, struggling toward the woods. One little girl sobbed, trying to hurl herself from her father, her arms outstretched toward the woods.

  “Get her in the car,” cried what looked like the girl’s mother as she scooped up a toddler who whimpered, his eyes fixed on the distant trees.

  And the longer I stared … the easier it was to hear the soft strains of an oddly familiar, lilting lullaby, soft and breezy as the wind rustling through the leaves. Clearly the Unseelie were fans of the Pied Piper.

  Jasika dug through her bag and swore. “Bryn, have you got any Saint John’s wort left?”

  What? I took a deep breath and turned, my gooey fingers and bloody palm reaching for a bag that wasn’t there.

  “I gave it to the boys,” I whispered. Then sucked in a sharp breath, reaching into my boot. “But I have some rowan ash.”

  “That’ll work.” Jasika snatched it from my hand and raced forward, something long and thin bouncing in her belt. She screwed the lid off the flask, dropping it on the ground as she dumped some of the ash into her hand before scrambling up to little Evan squirming in his mother’s arms.

  “Ssh,” she hissed, pressing her wet palm to little Evan’s head. “Don’t hear them. Don’t hear them.”

  Evan blinked up at her, stunned. Jasika nodded and turned to his mother. “Get him home now. Don’t stop for anything until you’re inside!”

  The mother nodded and scrambled toward her car. Jasika jumped to the next child and the next. I reached for Father Gooding’s throat and checked for a pulse. Still there. For now.

  “Has someone called 911?” I shouted, but fresh sirens interrupted me, distant but drawing nearer. I squeezed Gooding’s hand. “The paramedics are close. You’re going to be all right.”

  He probably couldn’t hear me, but Marshmallow sure as hell could. She latched on to the front of my dress again, babbling and shedding fat tears.

  “Came right through the windows, Missy. She got flying nasties on her side. Threw them right with the ittie bitties. They got burned, Missy. She’s angry. She’s trying to get at you.”

  “Are you hurt?” I demanded.

  Marshmallow shook her head, but she didn’t stop sobbing, rubbing her sooty face into my dress, leaving behind awful black smudges. I wrapped the hand that wasn’t in Gooding’s around her.

  “You will not have them!” Jasika shouted.

  I whipped my head around, just in time to see her yank what looked like a carefully sanded wand with a little bit of quartz at the end. The kind used by people who knew how to play with energy and the like. Proper witches. She cast it in a wide circle around herself and shouted at the woods again. “Relent!”

  Children screamed and lunged against their parents’ arms. Jasika tightened her grip on the wand, squaring her shoulders as she held it aloft. “You will not have them. Relent!”

  Wails rose up among the children. So many parents from the better parts of town, who had never in their lives had to experience something like this, cried out, pleading with their children to calm down, to stay with them. The ones from Postoak went still as they stared at Jasika.

  “Relent!”

  I don’t know what shifted, but Jasika stood there, and she was power. I could feel it deep in my bones, rattling from my teeth to my toes. The spell strained like a glass dam against a flood, but Jasika was the flood. She whipped her wand through the air again and the spell shattered. The children burst into wild sobs, shrieking in terror of what they weren’t sure had just happened.

  Jasika lowered her wand, wavering in place. Her eyes were wide. Her chest heaved as she turned back to me. I had to catch my breath as I took a step toward her. But before I could reach her, a voice called out.

  “Miss, what happened?” I jumped and turned around to see several paramedics kneeling on the ground next to Father Gooding.

  “I … He got burned,” I stammered. “I wasn’t here. I was at the school. I heard the sirens. I thought…” It didn’t matter what I thought. It wasn’t true. He would be fine.

  The paramedics nodded and lowered a stretcher, helping Father Gooding onto it before rushing him to an ambulance. I watched, my heart in my throat. Still more paramedics rushed onto the scene, checking over the families. Somewhere in the throng, Dom appeared, his face ashen.

  “Where are the boys?” I demanded.

  Dom’s mouth bobbed open and closed for a moment. Behind him, plumes of smoke belched up into the air as the firemen aimed their hoses at the chapel. I clutched Marsh a little tighter and moved back. My foot plunged into the dirt, and I stumbled onto the cold ground.

  A hole.

  Where I’d buried the book.

  Oh God, oh God, someone had the book I thought it would be hidden I thought …

  The cold settled on me, in spite of the heat from the church. I rose and turned back to the woods. Jasika was making her way steadily toward us, stopping here and there to make sure everyone was all right. More than a few parents looked like they needed reassurance that wasn’t coming. And beyond them … the woods.

  Everything fell into place in that moment. Ash had already been screwing around with magic for God only knew how long. He wanted vengeance. Jake wanted to keep me from charging into danger. I wasn’t sure if they’d seen me that night or if they just saw the fresh plot of earth and guessed well. I had told them I’d buried it, after all.

  But Mab’s backup plans just took a book of Fae magic and charged right into the woods. Right where she’d want them.

  Stupid, stupid boys.

  “Ash!” I cried out, jumping to my feet.

  “Wait, Bryn!”

  “Where are you going?”

  No. God, how had I been so naive? Ash knew Mab’s symbol. Ash knew about the magic. Of course he’d try this. But Jake! He was usually so much more sensible.

  I skidded to a stop. Gooding’s duffel bag lay abandoned on the ground.

  The ground rocked beneath me.

  “I have to go after them.”

  Marshmallow wailed and clutched at my dress, and I didn’t want to put her down. I didn’t. But I had to. “Try and follow Father Gooding,” I instructed. “The hospital’s not guarded, but it’s full of iron. You have to be careful. Don’t touch any of it. There’s plenty of food for you. I’ll come back for both of you when this is over.”

  “When what is over?” Jasika demanded, grabbing my shoulder. I spun to face her. Some of her makeup had started to melt, creating a ghoulish effect in the flickering light from the fire.

  “Bryn’s brothers went into the woods,” Dom explained. “I tried to get them back to Helen’s house, but they got away from me.”

  “And my mum’s book is missing,” I bit out. “This is just the sort of boneheaded thing Ash would do. And Jake wo
uldn’t let him go alone. They want to strike the Unseelies now. To stop them from coming after us ever again.”

  “This is insane!” Dom cried. “You said yourself the veil is thin. The Unseelie will be everywhere.”

  “Which is exactly why they think they can hit them hard,” I snapped, setting Marshmallow down on the ground. “Go follow the ambulance. I’ll find you there when this is over. Go!”

  The shadeling stared up at me with wide yellow eyes. Then, ducking her head, she plunged into the shadows. She would be safe where she was going. Safer than we were about to be. I shouldered Gooding’s duffel bag and rose, turning back to the others. “You two should stay here. This is officially my fight now.”

  “No way. We’re part of this fight, too.”

  My stomach lurched, and I realized that I’d never told her what Mab had told me about him. The elf-shot. The aneurysm. It was only because of me and my family that her cousin had even ended up like that.

  “Jasika—”

  “Bryn.” She grabbed my right hand and pulled it out, forcing my fingers open to reveal the blood that coated my still-stinging palm. It was only here, fully exposed and lit by the dying flames, that I could see the angry blisters, some swollen, some popped. Dom swore. Jasika fixed me with an even stare. “I don’t know what you’ve done to yourself, but you need support. A little human muscle on your side.”

  Human. Did that mean she didn’t think of me as a human anymore? Was I? My ears started to ring. Something tightened around my chest. No. No, not the time. I forced myself to take a deep breath. Later. When the boys and the town were safe, I’d deal with it. I jerked my hand back and stared at the woods.

  “I am human, Jasika.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant. I…” Jasika ran her fingers through her hair, ruining her perfect coif. “Shit. How could this happen?”

  “Doesn’t matter. You’re not going in there alone, Bryn,” Dom insisted. “It’s suicide.”

  I turned back to them, my heart in my throat. I wanted to grab them both and pull them into a tight hug, but if I did that, my heart would burst open and I wouldn’t have the strength to go on. So I nodded and took a deep breath, looking them over. “Dom, you still have that frying pan?”