by Karen Lynch
I had no intention of staying cooped up here until she got around to making my clothes. Based on our short acquaintance, I wouldn’t put it past her to take her sweet time. I didn’t tell her that though because I wanted her to leave and let me enjoy my lunch.
As soon as she left, I exhaled loudly in relief and carried the tray out to the small table on the balcony. The food was delicious, especially the berries. I’d had some of them before, but there was one kind I’d never tried. They resembled red currants and tasted like a hybrid of mint and cherries. If I hadn’t filled up on soup and bread, I would have devoured them all.
After my meal, I wandered around my room – or rooms. There was the main living area, a large bedroom with another view of the valley, and a bathroom with a sunken tub. I loved baths, but they were a rare luxury when you shared a single bathroom with your parents. I had a feeling I was going to get a lot of use from this one.
An hour later, I was bored, and it hit me that I didn’t know how to find or contact Lukas or the others. There were no phones in Faerie. I was sure they must use some form of communication, but I hadn’t thought to ask.
I was on the balcony passing time by watching drakkans on the distant cliffs when I felt some discomfort in my stomach. I ignored it at first until a small cramp hit me, followed by a bout of nausea. I put a hand to my stomach. This is what I got for eating too much of the rich Fae food at once.
I sat at the table, hoping it would pass soon. It would be just my luck to get a tummy ache on my first day here and when Lukas had promised to have dinner with me.
A stronger cramp knotted my stomach, and I thought I was prepared for the nausea that would follow. I wasn’t. I doubled over, clutching the edge of the table for support. By the time it passed, my face was damp with a sheen of sweat, and I was shivering despite the heat of the day.
Needing to lie down, I went inside and got to the couch before the next cramp struck. I moaned and curled into a fetal position as knives stabbed my gut. The pain had barely subsided when my stomach roiled violently, and I threw up all over myself and the couch.
I struggled to sit up and get away from the foul smell of puke that made me want to retch again. I made it to a sitting position in time to throw up down the front of my once-white top. Hot tears poured down my cheeks as I slid off the couch to my hands and knees and crawled toward the bathroom.
My whole body seized with the next cramp, and I curled up on the floor, gasping. I barely had time to recover before another one came. “Oh, God,” I moaned. I had survived being shot and a conversion, and now I was going to die here in a pool of my own vomit.
Chapter 9
I wasn’t sure how long I lay curled up on the floor as wave after wave of sickness hit me. I’d given up trying to reach the bathroom. All I could do now was ride it out. There was nothing left in my stomach to throw up, but I retched until my throat burned.
“Jesse!” Cool hands brushed away the hair that had fallen onto my face, and I was dimly aware of Lukas’s raised voice. Was he speaking to me or to someone else? Did it even matter? Nothing mattered except this never-ending agony.
Someone picked me up and laid me on a soft surface. There were more voices, male and female, but I couldn’t distinguish any of them. My lips were pried open, and I fought when a bitter liquid dribbled into my mouth. But the hands that held me were too strong, and all I could do was cry as I was forced to swallow the awful stuff.
Two more times I was made to choke down the liquid until the spasms in my stomach began to lessen. The nausea stayed, but I was no longer heaving.
A kind female voice spoke in Fae as gentle hands cleaned my face with a wet cloth. She said something else, but I couldn’t understand it.
I didn’t have the energy to open my eyes as a second pair of hands lifted me to a sitting position. The two unfamiliar people stripped off my pants and top and ran a warm cloth over my damp skin before they dressed me in a soft, loose shirt. Someone put a glass to my mouth, and I drank deeply, letting the cold water soothe my parched throat.
The next thing I knew, I was lying in a bed with a blanket pulled up to my chest. My whole body hurt, especially my chest and stomach, but I was no longer racked with agonizing pain.
Lukas spoke in Fae from what sounded like the other room, and I shivered at the anger in his voice. No, not anger. He sounded enraged.
Someone answered him. It was the same female voice that had spoken to me. Whatever she said must not have been good because the next person to speak was Faolin, and it sounded like he was trying to calm Lukas down.
What is going on? I wondered, but my head was too muddled to think about it. Sleep pulled at me. Lukas said something else, but it came from a long way off as I let the warm darkness take me.
I dreamed of storms that ripped the sky apart and left towns burning. I watched it all from above, safe from the destruction but unable to help those on the ground. The scene changed, and I was watching my parents in our apartment, holding Finch and Aisla between them as a storm bore down on the building. “Mom! Dad!” I screamed, but my words were lost in the roar of the storm.
“Shhh, Jesse. You’re safe. Your parents are safe,” said Lukas’s soothing voice.
I flailed against the arms wrapped around me, but they were too strong. Didn’t he see that my family needed me? I had to go to them.
Conlan spoke in Fae. Then Faris. They sounded worried. Were the storms coming for them too? Suddenly, I was back on the ferry on the Hudson, watching people fall into the river. Only this time it was Lukas, Conlan, Faris, and the others. I tried to reach for Lukas and screamed his name as he disappeared beneath the roiling water.
I was vaguely aware of being lifted and held against a warm chest. “I’m here, Jesse. I’m not leaving you.”
A new dream enveloped me.
I stood on my balcony, watching storms rage through the valley. Rain and wind battered me, but I was frozen, paralyzed with fear and helplessness.
“Come, Jesse,” said a female voice.
I turned my head to see a tall, beautiful woman with long silver hair. Her face was young, but she radiated the power and wisdom of countless lifetimes. Her kind eyes met mine as she placed a hand on my shoulder. The moment she touched me, the storm muted, and I was able to breathe again.
“Do I know you?” I asked as she took my hand and led me from the balcony to the bedroom I recognized as the one in my new quarters at court.
“Yes.” She helped me into the bed and smiled down at me. “We will talk very soon. For now, you must rest.”
“But the storms… I need to stop them.”
“You will.” She laid a cool hand on my forehead, and warm lethargy stole over me. “Now sleep, my child.”
* * *
I opened my eyes and stared in confusion at the high stone ceiling. It took a minute to clear the cobwebs from my brain and to realize I was in my bed at the Unseelie court. I frowned. Why didn’t I remember going to bed?
I moved my legs – or tried to – but couldn’t because of a heavy weight across them. Lifting my head, I looked at Kaia sprawled across my lower legs. The lamal opened her eyes and gave me a disgruntled look before she went back to sleep.
The murmur of voices drifted to me from the other room, too low for me to make out what they were saying. In this world, faeries had normal hearing and couldn’t hear through doors like in the human world. Thank God for that. I couldn’t imagine living in a place where there was no privacy for anyone.
Sitting up, I freed my legs from beneath the annoyed lamal and got out of bed. I was a little shaky, like I’d been one time after a particularly bad bout of flu, and I suddenly remembered the attack of cramps and nausea and lying on the floor. My hand went to my stomach, but aside from feeling empty, it was fine.
I spotted a stack of folded clothes on a chair and went to check them out. They weren’t the ones I’d brought with me, and I was relieved when the pants fit. I didn’t see my old clothes, and I could onl
y imagine the state they’d been in covered in vomit.
After checking my appearance in the bathroom mirror and grimacing at my pasty complexion, I walked out of the bedroom. Lukas and the others all stopped talking when I entered the living area, and Lukas came to meet me halfway. His eyes were full of concern, and I had a memory of him telling me he wouldn’t leave me. Was that real or one of the strange dreams I kept having flashes of?
“I’m okay,” I said before he could ask.
His eyes searched my face. “You’re pale.”
“Thanks for reminding me.” I gave him a wry look. “It’s nothing a hot shower won’t fix. You do have showers here, right?”
Conlan laughed. “I think she’s feeling better.”
“Yes, there is a shower.” Lukas smiled and led me over to where he’d been sitting. He went to the other side of the room and returned with a tray of food.
My stomach growled, but the memory of what had happened the last time I’d eaten made me push the tray away. “I can’t.”
“It’s safe,” Faolin said from his seat directly across from me. “You won’t get sick from the food again.”
“How do you know? Maybe I’m not ready to eat all Fae foods.” I eyed the plate warily. It looked delicious, but so had yesterday’s lunch.
Lukas’s jaw hardened. “You got sick because you ate some acca berries. They are toxic to us and cause stomach upset.”
“I only ate what was on my lunch tray, and none of it tasted bad.” I tried to recall the assortment of berries that had come with my meal.
“Acca berries are sweet and taste like any other berry,” Faolin said. “Young children sometimes ingest them by mistake, but adults know not to eat them.”
My mouth turned down. “I wish I’d known that.”
“Whoever put them on your tray had to be counting on the fact that you wouldn’t know what they were.” Lukas’s knuckles whitened where they gripped the tray. “They meant to give you an unpleasant stomachache, but the berries had a stronger effect on you because you’re a new faerie.”
I took the tray from him before he accidentally cracked it in two. “So, they didn’t intend to kill me. That’s good, I guess.”
“When we find the one who did this, their punishment will be the same regardless of their intentions,” he said in a hard voice. “And we will find them.”
I looked at Faolin, who had a fierce gleam in his eyes, the same one he’d had on our first few encounters. I felt a moment of pity for whomever had played the prank on me – until I remembered writhing in pain in a pool of my own vomit.
Lukas let out a harsh breath. “This should not have happened to you. I promised you’d be safe here, and I didn’t keep my word.”
“That goes for all of us,” Conlan said without his usual grin.
“Stop. None of you is to blame for this.” I picked up a pastry and sniffed it before taking a tiny bite. Mmmm. I ate the whole thing before I realized they were all silent and watching me. “What? Don’t tell me there is some weird etiquette about how to eat here.”
Everyone but Faolin laughed, and Faris said, “It’s good you have your appetite back. The color is returning to your cheeks.”
“I feel better already.”
Faolin stood and looked at Lukas. “The king and his counsel are expecting you to join them shortly.”
“Duty calls?” I said as disappointment pricked me.
Lukas nodded. “We are meeting to discuss the damage to the barrier and to see if we can come up with a solution. I’m sorry to leave you so soon.”
“Fixing the barrier is a lot more important than keeping me company.” I smiled. “I think I can occupy myself with exploring this place.”
He frowned. “Perhaps you should stay here and rest today.”
“I can’t stay cooped up in here all day unless you want me to lose my mind. I need to start finding my way around, and I really want to go outside.”
“I will escort her and give her a tour.” Faris shot me a sly smile. “And do my best to keep her out of trouble.”
I opened my mouth to tell them they were overdoing it on the protection thing, but Lukas looked so relieved I let it drop. Besides, I enjoyed spending time with Faris, and I didn’t want to go it alone on my first day here. Yesterday had taught me two things: there was a lot I needed to learn about Faerie, and not everyone was happy to have me here.
“Good.” Lukas gave me one of those smiles that did funny things to my insides. “I will see you for evening meal, and you can tell me all about your day.”
I almost said “It’s a date” but stopped myself in time to avoid an embarrassing moment. Instead, I went with, “See you then.”
He left, followed by everyone except Faris. Before the door closed, Kaia raced across the room and slipped out behind them.
I looked at Faris. “Do you guys go everywhere with him at court? I thought that was only something you did outside of Unseelie.”
“It depends. At court, Vaerik can travel around without us, but everyone wants to talk to the crown prince. We can be a great deterrent. Outside of court, he always travels with at least two of us.”
I’d never really considered what life must be like for Lukas in Faerie. In my world, he somehow managed to fly under the radar, but that was impossible here where he was the second most powerful person in all of Unseelie.
“I don’t envy him,” I said.
Faris shook his head. “Nor do I.”
I finished my breakfast and went to shower. It didn’t take long for me to decide that the rainfall shower was my new favorite thing. There was an assortment of soaps and shampoos to choose from that carried the mild, pleasant scents of flowers and rain.
After I dressed, I towel dried my hair and watched in amazement as it continued to dry on its own into soft, shining curls. No-frizz, manageable hair was definitely one of my favorite perks of being Fae.
I hurried back to the living area. “I’m ready.”
We left my quarters and walked at a leisurely pace down the wide hallway. I still couldn’t believe we were inside a mountain, and I felt a bit claustrophobic without windows. One more thing to get used to.
“What would you like to see first?” Faris asked.
“Outside,” I answered automatically. “I’ve always wondered if the real thing looks like the paintings and drawings I’ve seen.”
He smiled. “None of them do it justice.”
We took the magical lift to the ground level, and Faris chuckled when I gingerly stepped onto the floating stone. I’d grown up surrounded by magic, but technology powered most things in my world. It was going to take a while to get used to relying solely on magic for certain things.
I caught glimpses of each level we passed, and most of them looked the same to me. A few times, there were faeries walking by, and they gave us curious looks. None of them seemed unfriendly like Sereia or the female we’d passed in the courtyard yesterday, which was encouraging.
The first things I noticed when we stopped on the ground level was that the hallways were narrower, and the walls were rough stone without the polished surface of the upper levels. They had the same lighting, but it felt more confining down here.
“Is there only one way into the mountain?” I asked as we walked toward an open area with wide doors flanked by two male faeries. They wore dark blue pants, matching tunics with silver trim, and long slender swords. Their expressions were impassive, but they inclined their heads to Faris when we approached them.
“This is the exit to the grounds. The main hall is larger and more formal. There are other exits used mainly by the guards and servants.”
Faris opened the door, and we walked outside into a courtyard with thick columns and a few unoccupied benches. Beyond it, I saw trees, bright colors, and blue sky.
We crossed the courtyard and stepped onto a path of crushed white rock. I knew exactly how Alice must have felt upon her arrival in Wonderland. Faerie was exquisitely beautiful but so un
like anything in my world. Faris was right. The paintings did not do it justice.
The trees drew my gaze first, in particular the ones that resembled weeping willows but with silver leaves that glimmered in the sun. There were other trees with green or red leaves, but they paled in comparison. Brightly-colored birds flitted among the trees, calling to each other, and what looked like two tiny lavender monkeys fought over some kind of fruit on a branch.
Flowers of every color filled the air with their perfume, but the most stunning were the hydrangea-like blooms that had to be two feet wide. Something moved inside one of them, and a little blue face peeked out at me. It was a sprite that looked so much like Finch I almost said his name.
We left the path to walk on the grass, and I crouched to touch it. It was a deep mossy green, and it was so soft it didn’t seem real. I ran my hand over it and marveled at the texture that was like a thick chenille rug.
“Are you going to roll on it?” Faris teased.
I smiled. “Maybe tomorrow.”
A cute little creature the size of a chihuahua ran up to sniff my hands. It resembled a black fox with long silver-tipped black hair, silver claws, and beautiful silver eyes. I reached out to pet it, but it ran off toward a couple walking ahead of us.
“What is it?” I asked as I stood.
“A rika. They are popular pets here.”
We started walking again, and I jumped when a pixie flew past me, its wings brushing my face. Then I nearly stepped on a white ball of fluff that was almost invisible against the path.
“Cina,” cried a child’s voice. A little blonde girl ran out in front of us and picked up the hama, hugging it protectively to her chest. She ran back to an adult I assumed was her mother, and I realized she was the first faerie child I’d ever seen. Her skin was like porcelain, and her features looked like they had been carved by a sculptor. If I had to choose one word to describe her, it would be angelic.