If the underground lake was her favorite part of the castle, the library was a distant second, although the third option, her room, was even further behind. The library was a labyrinth of curving bookshelves and wild plants. The bookshelves themselves held a hug array of books, from ancient books handwritten in monasteries, to trashy romance novels, rolls of scrolls, and even a shelf that held nothing but dead e-readers.
“Why the e-readers if they don’t work in the Wild Wood?” Audrielle asked. It was well known that anything that ran on electricity from the human world didn’t work in the Wild Wood.
“They work just fine out of the Wild Wood,” Admani said. He lifted an ornate wood box off the shelf above the e-readers and set it on a nearby table. Curious, she followed him. When he lifted the lid, Audrielle laughed with delight. The box was divided into small cubbies, and each held a charging cable.
“So why are they here?” Audrielle asked.
“Each of these holds hundreds of books. They are easy to carry and convenient.” Admani said.
“Why are the in the library?” Audrielle clarified.
Admani looked at her, baffled. “They hold information. The library is where they belong.”
Audrielle considered his statement and nodded. “So, any thoughts on where I should start?”
Admani snapped the lid shut on the box, his brisk impatience returning to his expression with the movement. “You are the one who wanted to come here.”
Audrielle glanced at the books high above her head. “Yeah, I was just hoping you could point me in the direction of a secret.”
“Nothing in this library will help you with your curse,” Admani said.
“Then why are we here?” Audrielle demanded. She was tempted to stomp her foot, as Chastity often did when she was frustrated.
“I thought you wanted books to pass the time you spend locked in your room,” Admani said. “I would.”
Audrielle opened her mouth the reply, closed it, then opened it again. She did love reading and was surprised to realize there was someone who loved the pastime as much as she did. She thought of the e-readers pictured Admani in a quiet human park, passing the day reading and bit back her smile. “Thank you,” she said finally.
Admani looked at her, then began to pull books off shelves, seemingly at random. In less than a minute, he had a pile of books. “These are books on Fey customs and history. Considering the circumstances, I thought you would find them relevant.”
Audrielle held out her arms to take the books, but Admani didn’t relinquish his burden to her. Instead, he began to walk to the door. “Stay with me, Human.”
“Audrielle,” she sang as she trotted to catch up to him.
After he locked her in her room, she opened the first book and began to read. It was an encyclopedia on fey. Normally a reference book wouldn’t have captivated her, but each description was new, and many entries had short anecdotes on the creature described and beautiful pictures.
Audrielle sat engrossed in the book until the natural light began to fade and she realized she had forgotten to eat the lunch that had appeared on her table hours before. Suddenly ravenous, she hurried to the table and began to eat with unapologetic enthusiasm. As soon as she ate the last chunk of seasoned potato, her dinner appeared, the fresh steam and aroma of spices curled her stomach and she backed away from the magicked table.
Determining that her best course of action would be to change into a nightgown and sleep off her overfull belly, she walked to the wardrobe.
Inside the wardrobe, she found her nightgown next to the flame inspired ballgown and the ballgown next to a sheer cloak. Curious, she pulled the cloak out of the closet and threw it over her shoulders. As soon as she tied it closed, her hands vanished.
“A wraith cloak,” she gasped, remembering the entry for the item in the encyclopedia. She ran to her mirror, to find she truly had no reflection, and as she spun around, she felt the cloak pull to her left. A brief search revealed a key in the pocket of the cloak. She turned to the door, suddenly daring.
She unlocked the door and crept out of the room. “Where do I go?” she whispered to herself. The whisper was enough to alert a servant, and she saw a torch float off the wall and down the corridor.
Audrielle bit her lip. She knew Admani wasn’t exaggerating when he told her the Wild Wood was dangerous. After reading the encyclopedia, she knew the danger of following an unknown into the dark. It wasn’t courage that propelled her to follow the torch, but the grim realization that if she didn’t do something she would certainly die. However, if she followed the torch, she might either die faster or find a way to live.
The torch led her down to the dungeons, to the lake of glowing lilies. It stopped near one of the boats, there was one missing. Audrielle carefully climbed into the boat, and settled on the far end, so the servant holding the torch could join her.
As soon as she sat down, the torch fell into the water, and Audrielle felt the boat pulled forward. She didn’t move as the boat float quickly and smoothly across the lake. There was a tunnel at the far side of the lake, but it was more than wide enough for all three boats to float side by side. The glowing lilies were in the tunnel as well, although as they passed through the tunnel, the lilies were replaced with white orchids that glittered like diamonds and cast silver light on the boat.
The boat passed out of the cavern and onto a huge lake with a small island in the center. The island was well lit, and as Audrielle’s boat approached it, she could hear discordant, wild, music.
The boat floated to a crowded dock and Audrielle climbed out of the boat. She realized there wasn’t any rope to attach the boat to the dock, and that there hadn’t been any at the underground dock. Audrielle watched the boat for a moment then considered the lake. She supposed she could steal another boat if she had to.
Audrielle crept down the dock, toward the music.
She found a huge pavilion, filled with people in grotesque masks and elaborate costumes dancing wildly in an elaborate, tangling, series of circles. She stepped back against a pillar and watched as they rushed by her.
She found that despite the dance, not a single dancer smiled. Not a single dancer moved out of unison. She dashed from pillar to pillar, careful not to get in the way of the dancers, and eager to get a different viewpoint.
On the other end of the pavilion, there was a raised dais with four thrones occupied by two men and two women. Admani sat on the throne closest to her. He turned and looked in her direction, then slowly turned and glared at the woman sitting next to him.
She was beautiful, in a cruel, hard way, with chiseled features and perfectly braided hair. She was the only one smiling, although Audrielle hated that smile, and she was the only one who didn’t wear a mask.
Audrielle moved to get a better view of the other two. The man next to the cruel woman had a mask made of scales, and his clothing looked like it was made of shells and seaweed. The woman next to him had fur on her face and wore a beautiful dress that shimmered in the light.
Audrielle moved to get a closer look, but Admani stood and shooed her to the side.
Offended that he saw her, despite her wraith cloak, Audrielle stayed where she was until he motioned again. As soon as she returned to her hiding place near the pillar, he sat down.
“You are restless tonight, my love,” the cruel woman cooed.
“Go to Hell, Willa,” Admani snapped.
“Oh Darling, Hell’s not the prison everyone believes it to be. One can escape with the right motivation,” the woman, Willa, said. She stood and the music stopped.
When the music stopped, the dancers stopped their dance and hurried to the back of the pavilion, where they were as far from Willa as possible.
“Every night you dance for us,” Willa said. She didn’t shout, but her voice echoed through the room. “And every night I ask the same question.” She snapped her fingers, then pointed at the shadows.
A heart wrenching scream cut through the pavil
ion as two lupine men dragged a teen girl to the center of the pavilion. They pushed her to the ground and held her there as she sobbed.
“Tell me, is this the girl?” Willa asked as she walked down the dais.
“No, Willa, you already killed her,” Admani whispered. His voice didn’t carry through the pavilion as Willa’s had, but it carried enough for Audrielle to make out the words.
“Not yet, not ever,” Willa said as she knelt next to the sobbing girl. “Pretty. Little. Princess,” she spat.
The girl screamed as Willa cut her own hand and let the black blood drip onto the girl’s face. She thrashed and the lupine men released her. The girl gasped, then fell, motionless to the ground.
“Oh,” Willa cooed. “This isn’t Pandora either.”
Willa stood and made a shooing motion to the dancers. “You may leave.”
One of the dancers sprinted across the pavilion and picked up the unconscious girl, then vanished into the fleeing crowd.
Willa walked to the dais and picked up a small box that had been sitting with her on the throne.
“Until tomorrow?” she asked with a sweeping bow to the four thrones. She then disintegrated into wisps of smoke and vanished.
“I hate her,” the woman with the fur face said. Her voice croaked when she spoke.
“As do we all,” the scaled man said. He turned to Admani. “Was there truly only one human strong enough to withstand the immediate effects of fey blood?”
“Willa killed her,” Admani said. “Then realized her mistake.”
Audrielle stepped behind the pillar, her heart pounding. She hadn’t even realized Deleta’s blood had made her into whatever this Willa wanted. She knew she had to have been different, she certainly hadn’t passed out from the experience.
Admani made another shooing motion and mouthed Human Girl, leave. This time, Audrielle snuck away from the four, back to the dock, where only four boats remained, including her own. She sat in the boat, and like before, the boat floated over the lake and through the caverns. The flowers were gone, however, so as soon as the moonlight vanished, she was in complete darkness until she reached the cavern with the dock. A torch floated near the end of the dock, and Audrielle was grateful for the scant light that better illuminated the dock than the dimming moss. She followed the torch back up to her room and locked the door behind her.
Audrielle took off the wraith cloak and put it back in the wardrobe, but she didn’t return the key. Instead, she found ribbons in the vanity and made herself a necklace long enough to wear the key as a concealed pendant under her nightgown.
The next morning, Admani’s knock woke her.
“Just a minute!” she shouted as she quickly changed into the dress the wardrobe provided her. It was long, but the neckline plunged more than she was comfortable with. She lifted the neckline and glanced at the door.
“Okay,” she said.
Admani opened the door and looked at her with pity. “The rose wilted more. You have until tomorrow morning.”
Audrielle nodded. She had hoped there wouldn’t be a change with the rose until after she told Admani she uncovered another secret, for that dance certainly wasn’t common knowledge, but she expected him seeing her there was enough.
“Am I Pandora?” she asked, voicing her most pressing question.
Admani motioned to the bench near her vanity. “May I sit?”
Audrielle glanced at the bench and nodded. She moved to the bed and sat so she was facing him as soon as he settled onto the bench.
“Pandora isn’t a person, at least, not anymore,” he said slowly.
“Okay?” she prompted.
“Pandora is any princess who can withstand the immediate effects of fey blood. It’s a rare strength.”
“I’m not a princess,” Audrielle said firmly.
Admani shrugged. “You may be descended from royalty. Willa thinks she needs to find a literal princess, but her stupid dogs just bring her any girl someone calls princess. She’s taken toddlers, teens, even a few old women. She can create a Pandora though, by creating thirteen sets of thirteen human fey. That girl was the twelfth of the thirteenth set. Tonight she’ll make a Pandora.”
“Does she know that?” Audrielle asked.
Admani shook his head. “If she knew she could create a Pandora, she wouldn’t be kidnapping one girl at a time night after night. She would have just kidnapped 169 girls and turned them all into fey in one day.”
“So what happens when she finds a Pandora?” Audrielle asked.
Admani scowled. “She forces the girl to open that box.”
“And terrible nightmares rush out to torment all of humanity?” Audrielle joked.
“No, Human, you are thinking of the original contents of the box, not what it currently holds.”
“What does the box hold?” Audrielle asked.
“A stone, made from the souls of dead gods. Willa wants it to control all fey. She means to make slaves of us all, body and mind.”
“Can the stone be broken?” Audrielle asked.
Admani looked at her, appalled. “No one knows what will happen if that stone breaks.”
“No, but we know what will happen if she uses it, all fey will be slaves, right?” Audrielle asked. “And if no one knows what will happen if the stone breaks, then I say that would be the biggest secret in this place, right?”
Admani stared at her. “You mean to break it? You could die.”
“I’m dying, Admani. You just told me I have until tomorrow morning. At least this way, I have a chance at survival, and besides, if she wins, and I figure out a different secret, then I’ll live to be her slave, which would suck.”
Admani nodded. “You’re not wrong, Human.” He took a deep breath and stood. “Let’s go find Deleta, she may know how to break a god stone.”
The day passed too quickly for Audrielle. Knowing it would likely be her last, she desperately wanted to go home, to tell Chastity she wasn’t angry, she didn’t blame her. It would have been a lie, Audrielle’s predicament was entirely her sister’s fault, but that didn’t mean Audrielle wanted Chastity to live with the guilt of her death.
Instead, she settled for writing a letter and leaving it on her vanity. If she survived, she would destroy the letter, if she didn’t, maybe Admani would get it to Chastity. She didn’t tell him about her sister, instead she left a letter for him, with an explanation, assurances that her death wasn’t his fault either, and a request that he deliver Chastity’s letter. She suspected he would. He was abrupt and harsh, and he never called her by her name, but he also took her to see a beautiful lake, gave her books to enjoy, and protected her from a mad woman. She suspected that the impatience, the curt attitude and scowls were a protective cover to shield a kind man from a harsh world.
As she dressed in the flame inspired gown and fixed the mask to her face, she realized she wasn’t mourning her life as she faced the likely hood of death in the morning. She mourned lost time with her sister and father, but more than that, she mourned the fact that she would never see the softer side of Admani. She would never hear him laugh, or see his smile. Those things were so small, so insignificant against the countless other things she would never experience, yet they mattered to her more than her lost dreams of becoming a scientist, more than her dreams of traveling the world. Seeing his smile was almost as important to her as telling her sister she loved her one last time.
Audrielle closed her eyes against the burning tears that threatened to drop onto her mask and ruin the feathers. She knew she would never again have this moment to mourn her impending death, but at the same time, she couldn’t drown in self-pity. Admani had agreed with her, the aftermath of the stone breaking would be an extraordinary secret, one that would help her curse, but neither of them mentioned the lie she would need to expose. It was too much to ask that she could find the time to do both. Instead, she would do what she could to save Admani and Deleta, and hope that fate would expose a lie for her.
; “Human?” Admani called through the closed door.
Audrielle smoothed her hair and opened the door.
“Well?” she asked as she turned slightly.
Admani didn’t respond.
“Do I look fey?” she pressed.
“Yes,” he said quickly. “No one who looked at you would know you were human.”
“Like no one could see me in the wraith cloak?” Audrielle teased.
Admani tapped his mask. “My spirit animal sees through magic illusions.”
Audrielle smirked. “You haven’t taken your spirit animal form.”
“Not quite yet,” he said. He glanced behind him and held out his arm. “Are you ready?” he asked.
Audrielle took his arm and together they walked down to the dungeons. When they reached the boats, Admani helped Audrielle into one, then he surprised her by climbing into the same boat.
“They’ll see us arrive together” Audrielle objected. They had not discussed this part of the plan, but they had agreed it would be best if Willa didn’t realize she was with Admani.
“Doubtful, but do you want to ride alone?” he asked.
Audrielle bit her lip. No, she didn’t want to spend her last night alone.
Admani correctly took her silence for consent to his presence and the boat pulled away from the dock.
“The flowers are back,” Audrielle whispered as they entered the tunnel.
“They rise to the surface every evening, and when midnight comes, they sink back into the water to be eaten by the merfolk,” Admani said.
“Merfolk?” Audrielle asked.
“Who do you think is pulling the boat?”
Aurielle turned, but Admani grabbed her hand. “Don’t touch the water, Human.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said defensively.
“They won’t reveal themselves if they don’t have to. You won’t see anything from the boat.”
Audrielle slumped, disappointed. There was one more thing she would never see, a real mermaid.
“Human?” Admani said.
“My name is Audrielle,” she said quietly. There was another thing she would never experience, hearing him say her name.
The Beauty and The Fey Page 3