“Please.” It seemed unlikely that Cass would be stuck in any playing field the FFR organizers had designed. Was she free or still some prisoner of the strange blond faerie who had forced her to go? I'd not heard a peep from her since she left, but did that mean she was taken there rather than going of her own free will? But is it really free will if you’re threatened, or forced? My dreams of her leaving had gotten worse and worse since I'd found out I was going to be a competitor and now my mind was so messed up that I couldn't remember what was real about the day she left and what my brain had made up to fill in the gaps.
Niall downed his whiskey and poured himself another large measure. He was probably a lot drunker than he first appeared if the bottle was anything to go by. It was half-empty.
“The main city is Elfame, and it’s the only one you are likely to see. It’s where the Faerie king lives in his palace. That’s where they’ll take you between trials. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture—if you can call it that when it’s built by magic. His son lives there too.”
Tristam. “Tell me about him.”
Niall leaned in like he was sharing a secret. The sharp tang of alcohol tickled my nostrils. “The king is a friend of mine, and though I don’t like to brag, the FFR was actually my idea. Just don’t let the king hear me say that.” Niall winked, though he had mistaken my question. I’d wanted to know about Tristam, not the king. The more I knew about my opponents, the better. At least that’s what I told myself.
“What about his son?”
“Which one?”
“He has more than one?” I only knew of Tristam, and I was pretty sure there weren’t any other royal family members joining us in the race.
“The king has two sons…well, had two sons. Auberon, the eldest, died a couple of years back. Tristam, you must have met. He is one of your opponents. He’s a good lad. Not really much to tell though. He became the crown prince when Auberon died, and I think he finally got a chance to shine. Before that, he lived in his brother’s shadow somewhat. He’s been trying to prove himself ever since, and I think he joined the FFR to do just that.”
“I’d like to read your books if you have any copies available.”
Niall’s face split into a grin. “It just so happens that I do.” He leaned over the arm of the chair, teetering in the process, but managed to retrieve three books from the floor. He handed them to me. “These will give you a thorough overview of Faerwild. I’m not sure how helpful they will be in the race itself, but they should apprise you of the type of people and creatures you’ll encounter.”
Then he frowned. “Actually, these are my personal copies, with some notes in the margins.” He blinked quickly as if trying to focus. He reached out to grab the books back from me, but I moved them out of the way of his clumsy swipe.
“Please, I’d really like to read them,” I stood, cradling the books to my chest. Now I was curious about what he didn’t want me to see. Was it something that would give me a leg up in the race?
He seemed to consider and finally waved a hand. “It’s just mindless natter I suppose. Ramblings of a scholar about the brotherhood and such.”
“Great, thank you,” I said, eager to leave before he changed his mind. “Thanks for the whiskey,” I threw over my shoulder as I hurried out of the study.
Back in my room, I picked up the grimoire I’d thrown on the floor in a huff and put it at the side of my bed with the three new books.
Tomorrow after training, I was going to have a lot of reading to do.
The next morning at breakfast Gabe walked in looking particularly tense. Marching right past us, he headed to the buffet and turned to address us.
“Contestants,” he began loudly. There was a clatter of cutlery as people turned their attention away from their breakfasts. “I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. Niall was taken sick last night and has headed home to Ireland. It shouldn’t affect anyone’s training. You still have myself and Evaline, but if you have any concerns, you may ask me directly.”
There was a silence as we took the news in. He’d been fine last night albeit a little worse for wear for all the whiskey he’d consumed. I wondered if that was the real reason he’d left. Perhaps he’d been found drunk and sent home. My mind wandered to the books upstairs. At least he’d given me those before leaving.
After breakfast, I headed back upstairs to collect my FFR jacket as the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Something about the way Niall had been so secretive the night before and now his mysterious absence made me want to check the books out now. He’d mentioned something about writing in them which made me wonder if it was somehow connected to him leaving. When I opened my door and checked the nightstand, only the grimoire was there. I checked around the floor and even under my bed, but I already knew they were gone. Someone had been in my room.
8
Over the next weeks, Niall’s disappearance became less of a talking point as everyone hunkered down into their training. Mine was going as badly as it could possibly get. Evaline grew increasingly frustrated with me and I with her. We sat together for hours. She took over my study hall. We tried shaman magic, we tried djinn magic, we tried meditation and crystals and chakra alignment and chanting until I felt like I was living in a new age shop. Nothing worked. I didn’t know whether I was relieved or terrified to be going into Faerwild without a lick of magic. Both I guess.
But for better or worse, it seemed that I was the only human Evaline had ever come across that had zero magical ability. And it seemed there was nothing we could do to change it.
It didn't help that the fae used magic at every given opportunity. Whether they were just doing it to show off for the cameras that tracked our every move or if it was so ingrained into them that they couldn't survive without it, I didn't know, but it was seriously beginning to get on my nerves. If they weren't floating down the corridor, they were making things appear out of thin air. I was still waiting to see one pull a rabbit from a hat, but it had to happen. Any day now!
I sat eating my breakfast alone as I had every morning since arriving when a newspaper was dropped on the table in front of me. Without even glancing at it, I looked up to see who thought it was a good idea to interrupt me during breakfast.
Patricia slinked into the seat beside me, her crimson lips turned upward in a semblance of a smile. I’d done my best to ignore her for the past month. Unlike many of the others who courted fame, I’d taken every step necessary to stay out of its path. Fame didn’t interest me, nor did the prize money. There was only one reason I wanted to go into the faerie realm, and I didn’t particularly want anyone else to know that. I figured it was easier to stay away from Patricia and her shadow, the cameraman, than come up with some lie.
But, as she’d sought me out and I was kinda cornered, I picked up the paper and offered her an interested if not confused expression.
“Darling,” she mewled, taking the newspaper out of my hands and turning to page eight where there was a photo of me looking miserable next to the other competitors. I remembered the day it was taken, less than a week previously. Gabe’d had us training in the rain all morning, and I’d failed to light that effing candle yet again. “How can you not know anything about the media? You are from Hollywood aren’t you?”
I nodded suspiciously.
“When you came here, you were topping the polls. You were the hero of the hour, and everyone was rooting for you. A month of looking at that soggy, miserable face of yours, and you are now hovering at the bottom of the popularity ranking.”
“Oh,” I replied noncommittally. I didn’t give a crap how popular I was. I wasn’t going for prom queen here. Not that I could compete with pink-haired women or blonde weirdoes who could disappear by magic and reappear at will, usually right in front of me in the breakfast line. And unless Penn and Teller were planning on paying me a visit in the next few days to give me a crash course, I was never going to.
“You know, if you wore a little make-
up, you’d look as good as those fae girls and even better than some of the humans. Maybe if you smiled a little too,” Patricia suggested, reaching a hand out to try to grasp a strand of my ponytail that was hanging over my shoulder.
I jerked back, trying to control the anger bubbling up inside me. I couldn’t see the cameraman anywhere, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t around. Snapping at the woman hosting the show wasn’t going to win me any brownie points, as much as it might make me feel better at the moment.
“I’m not here to win a popularity contest,” I hissed, deliberately keeping my voice low. I could see some of the other contestants looking my way out of interest. “The only competition I’m interested in winning is the Fantastic Faerie Race.”
That wasn’t true either, but I was hardly going to tell her that the only reason I was here was to get into Faerwild to find my sister.
Patricia leaned in towards me, her flowery perfume making my stomach churn. “But you won’t win if you don’t know any magic.”
I sat back in my seat and folded my arms. “Who said I don’t know any magic?”
The tall white-haired fae, the one who’d stolen my place in the breakfast line and nabbed the last croissant, Yael was his name, snickered and I realized I’d not been as quiet as I hoped. My lessons with Evaline had been private, and I trusted her not to tell anyone about my lack of abilities in that field, but I could hardly hide it when the others were always showing off theirs.
“Maybe you’re a dark horse and know more than you are letting on, but maybe—and I suspect it’s more likely—you can’t do magic at all,” Patricia said. “If that’s the case, the studio execs are going to cut you.”
“Excuse me?” I recoiled. Cut me?
“It doesn’t matter to me one way or another,” she remarked, checking the polish on her nails, “but I thought it would be nice to have a fellow L.A. girl going in there and winning. It will make good TV either way.”
“What will?” I didn’t like what I was hearing one bit.
“Tomorrow is your final day of training. You’ll be asked to prove your magical ability. If you don’t show anything…well, it’s a third of the competition. They’ll replace you with someone else from the auditions. Someone who really deserves it.”
Patricia stood up and left me with my cornflakes and a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. No one had said anything about a test. Up until now, I’d not really been too bothered about the stupid TV show as once I was in Faerwild, I was planning to make a run for it. But if I couldn’t pass some stupid test, I might not even get in there at all.
I left my cereal half-eaten and rushed out of the dining room to find Evaline. I found her outside in the garden meditating.
“You never told me there was a test!” I shouted at her angrily.
She held one finger up to silence me and took a deep breath before exhaling loudly and opening her eyes.
“Jacq, how nice to see you.”
“Don’t!” I spat. “You should have told me.”
She picked herself off the floor where she’d been sitting cross-legged and walked over to me.
“I didn’t know about a test until this morning. I’m sorry Jacq. I didn’t hide anything from you. There was a meeting last night about your lack of progress. The fact is, you didn’t audition. The only reason you were here was because the public loved you. But with your lack of progress, the viewers back home have lost interest. If you can’t even garner interest as the underdog, there’s not much reason to send you in, over someone who is a real competitor. I’m sorry.”
I kicked a flower and watched its blossom sail through the air. I’d been so intent on keeping my head down and out of the limelight that I’d not considered how it would look to those watching on TV.
“Please help me,” I begged her. I needed to pull something out of the hat by tomorrow morning, or I was out.
She put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me through kind brown eyes.
“Jacq. You aren’t magic. I’m sorry, but you aren’t. If I were you, I’d spend the day sucking up to the cameras and being as interesting as possible so that execs can’t let you go. You’ll not get far over the Hedge, but at least you’ll make it in there if you can woo the public again.” With that, she turned back towards the house.
I walked through the gardens slowly, my mind spinning. I was more likely to pull a bunch of chrysanthemums out of my ass than become popular again in a day. I’d spent the best part of the month avoiding the cameras and had made no effort to be ‘interesting’ when they were around. What an idiot I’d been! If I knew Hollywood, and I did, anything amazing I did today would come across as insincere, and the public would hate me more.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
I looked up to find Tristam. He really was extraordinarily beautiful, but as with the other fae, I’d kept my distance. Even without the whole Cass mess, the fae just creeped me out, and the magical energy they put off gave me a headache, like the difference in magical pressure between them and the human world just set my teeth on edge. When I didn’t speak, he darted a graceful hand behind my ear and brought a penny out.
I snorted. “My dad used to do that trick on me and my sister when we were kids,” I said, then mentally kicked myself for mentioning Cass. He didn’t pick up on it.
“I bet he didn’t really conjure the penny out of thin air, though, did he?” Tristam asked in his easy-going manner.
“No, human fathers don’t generally have that ability. He hid the coin between his fingers,” I explained the trick. “It was usually a chocolate coin though.”
Tristam handed me the coin, and the second it hit my palm, it turned into a chocolate bar.
Despite my misery, I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
“It’s nice to see you smile. I get the impression you aren’t too happy to be here.”
I unwrapped the chocolate and sniffed at it. It looked real. I took a bite. It was good—dark chocolate with toffee bits.
“I want to be here,” I said, swallowing. “I really want to be here, but I guess I’ve been a little too focused. According to Patricia, I’m not interesting enough for the “viewers” without a bunch of fancy magic tricks and…fake chocolate.” I sighed.
“Hey, that’s real chocolate,” he said.
“If I don’t suddenly become a whole lot more interesting, they’re going replace me.” I don’t know why I was telling him this. I guess it was because I had no one else to talk to. Some of the others had formed alliances of sorts, but I’d been the loner of the group from day one. Well, me and Orin. He didn’t seem to talk to anyone.
“You know what would spice things up a bit? Some illicit romance. Tonight at dinner, storm across the dining room and kiss me within an inch of your life.” From his broad grin, I couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or messing with me.
My face heated. “Keep dreaming. Besides, I doubt another human throwing herself at the faerie prince counts as newsworthy.”
“Fine,” he countered. “Throw yourself at Orin. That'd make for some interesting TV.”
“Orin!” I shuddered. “He’d probably turn me into a toad or something.”
“Actually, we can’t do that,” Tristam said with a grin.
“See, that’s my problem.” I threw up my hands.
“What problem?”
I hesitated, glancing around me to make sure we were alone. None of the contestants knew about my complete lack of magic skills. I didn’t want to appear to be the weak one of the group, but at this late stage, what did it matter? He had offered to help me, our first day here. Maybe, conceivably, the offer had been genuine. I took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “I can’t do magic.”
Tristam arched a brow. Did he have to be so damn good looking? “None at all?”
I shook my head, praying I hadn’t just made a huge mistake, that he wasn’t going to use this to his advantage. “If I don’t either become the talk of the show or prove my magical abil
ity by tomorrow, they’re going to boot me out of here.”
In the distance, a horn went off, marking the start of our time with Gabe.
Tristam didn’t say another word as we walked back to the stretch of lawn where we worked out. The others were already there preparing for the last day of practice. I joined them, but my heart wasn’t in it. What was the point being brilliant at everything Gabe had to show me if I was going to be on the first plane back to L.A. tomorrow?
By dinnertime, I still had no idea what to do. I looked over at Tristam who lifted both brows at me. I shook my head at him, telling him there was no way I was going to create a scene by rushing over there and kissing him. He nodded towards Orin with a sly grin, to which I shook my head even harder.
I took my plate and headed up to my room to eat. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize.
Outside, the sun lowered in the sky, leaving my room dark as dusk fell. I was too miserable to even turn on the light. Although, as I had every night, I pulled out the grimoire and the candle and began to recite the nonsense words. I’d only been at it for a couple of minutes when I heard a knock on my door. Not caring if anyone saw my pathetic efforts anymore, I left everything out on the floor and opened the door.
I was shocked to see Tristam standing there; I’d been expecting Patricia ready to tell me to pack my bags. He cocked his head to look over my shoulder, taking in the grimoire and magical items on my floor. Without asking my permission, he grabbed my hand and pulled me from my room. It was so unexpected; I did nothing to stop it. “Come with me.”
As if he’d left me any choice in the matter. He wasn’t holding my hand with much force, but there was something compelling me to stay by his side. I could feel his energy running through me, right up my arm and I wondered if this was the quora that Evaline had mentioned. It was different from the innate energy I felt around the fae. This was much more interesting.
The Sorcery Trial Page 6