Not going to lie, I was pretty confused.
I was also comfy.
Asher had refused to take a seat in one of the chairs in the sitting room to which we’d been shown. The fireplace—twenty-feet long, covered by an ornate metal grate—roared cheerily at the back of the room, burning a soothing incense that calmed me down. A little. My leg still bounced like a dog who’d figured out he was going for a walk. I itched to take a drink of the water the Fae had provided on the table beside me, but the part of my brain that wasn’t snug as a bug refused. We might not have technically been in the Fae realm, but that didn’t mean I was going to risk getting trapped here.
“Anybody else think this is weird?” Mia said.
Asher went over to the door again and tried the handle. Still unlocked. The strangeness didn’t escape me. I felt less like a prisoner here, in a supposed enemy’s home, than I ever did among our allies.
Asher peered out into the corridor. “I don’t see him. Or anybody else.”
“I think it’s just him,” I said. I wasn’t sure how I knew that. Not that I wanted there to be more than one. A single Fae was plenty, thanks. But I think I was right. Despite the warm room, the castle felt empty somehow. And I’d had some experience hanging out in castles.
Asher continued pacing for another minute until Colson rumbled, “Can you sit? You’re giving me a headache.”
Asher reluctantly did. The moment he did, footsteps sounded down the corridor. I itched to reach for Valkyrie, to feel her comforting weight in my hand, but stopped right before the door swung open and our “host” swept in.
The thing about the Fae is that they’re all about illusion. They use it to trick, to lead astray, to beguile, to get what they want. With the Fae, nothing is how it appears.
This guy wasn’t like that at all.
For one, he was old. Like ancient. That was something I’d never seen with any of the very, very few Fae I’d gotten glimpses of. They usually kept up the guise of youthfulness even if they were hundreds of years old.
The second thing was, though he had the glimmer of Fae magic surrounding him, I didn’t feel uneasy. In fact, my body relaxed even further. I wasn’t sure if this was part of his magic, or he truly was as benevolent as he appeared. He certainly looked the part of a jolly old man: pearl white hair brushed back from his lined face (some of it sprouting in tufts out of his ears). A ring of jewelry hung around his neck, jangling every time he turned. I could almost see, if he was about a couple centuries younger, the guy would have been a total looker. Even still, there wasn’t any sign of the impossibly good looks other Fae favored.
The Fae placed a golden tray piled high with fruit and meat on the table. He spied the untouched water glasses and his face crinkled into an understanding smile.
“Drink and feast, children. These foods won’t poison or bewitch you.”
None of us moved. The Fae gave an airy sigh, like the wind brushing through branches hung with lightly tinkling bells. “If I must convince you then I surely will. For one, you found me, and I did not lead you here. If I had wanted to trap you, then you would surely be doomed already.”
I shared a look with the others. It was what we’d been thinking, but still wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“Secondly, I have no association with my sisters or brethren of either the Day or the Night Court. Their tricks are not mine, their ways not mine. Such has it been for a long, long time. I desire nothing more than to be steward of this forest and live my life free of strife and conflict.”
“So you’re like a taller forest Yoda,” I said.
Mia shot me a look, but the Fae smiled. “I assume this is a human reference, and if it makes you feel better, then yes, I am this being you speak of. My name is Radell, once a member of the Day Court of the Northern Isles.”
Radell gave a low, sweeping bow. “Now, please, quench your thirst and satiate—”
A low boom rattled from outside the room. All of us were up in an instant, but Radell raised a placating hand. “Not to fear! That is simply—well, I suppose you’ll see in a moment—”
The rest of Radell’s words were drowned out as the door slammed open and an enormous head stuck itself in. I had a second to register intelligent, liquid amber eyes, a snout half the size of my body, completely covered in luminous green scales, before a tongue was slathering me with slobber.
“Is that…a dragon?” Colson said in disbelief.
“Whatever it is, can you please get it off me?” I said as the creature continued assaulting me with kisses, bowling me onto my back. Hot breath caked my face. A sulfurous stench assaulted my nose.
“Not to fear!” Radell said again. “He’s just very excited to meet new friends!”
Oh good, I was its playmate. And nobody seemed too inclined to stop its aggressive greeting. At this rate, Radell would be yelling ‘Not to fear!’ with me halfway down the dragon’s esophagus.
I shifted until I was able to wrap my arms around the dragon’s snout, closing me off from its tongue. Its luminous eyes blinked down at me. Now that I was able to get a good look, I could see it wasn’t full grown—at least from what I remembered from Master Scalius’ Beastology classes and the few times I’d actually looked in the textbook. It’d only managed to wedge its head and part of its neck into the room.
“Easy…boy…girl…thing,” I said in my most calming voice. “That’s it, easy…”
The dragon peered at me a moment longer, then closed its eyes in contentment. I heard increased loud thumping from the hallway outside, like it was pounding its foot happily on the ground.
“You guys seeing this?” I whispered. “I calmed him down!”
“Great job, Skylar.”
I peeked around the dragon’s head to see Colson scratching behind his ear. The dragon detached from me and leaned farther into him. Colson’s smile grew.
Grumbling, I pushed myself up, slipping a little on saliva. Asher stifled a snort. Mia covered her mouth with one hand, trying not to laugh.
“Not. A. Word,” I said, flicking some of the gobs of slobber off.
“How about a sentence? You’re covered in spit, Skylar,” Asher said.
I growled.
“I’m sorry, he just gets so lonely being here with just me,” Radell said. “Which is…part of what I wish to discuss. If we can have a moment of peace, of course. Here now!”
He coaxed the dragon—who reluctantly detached itself from Colson—back outside the room. “I’ll be right back,” I heard Radell assure it. “Right back, and then we can play, I promise!” He closed the door and let out a sigh. Loud thumps echoed away from us, followed by a loud crunch of sharp teeth cracking something that sounded disturbingly like bone. “Now, where were we?”
He motioned to the still untouched food. “Would you please indulge me?”
After wiping myself as clean as I could with one of the napkins, I tore off a bit from the block of cheese and ate it as the others did the same. It instantly melted on my tongue, setting off fireworks on my taste buds. Like the forest outside, it was somehow more, somehow better. For now, I didn’t feel any different. Not like I was enslaved to remain in the land of Fae for all eternity.
“I can understand your reluctance,” Radell said. He’d taken a seat on our other side, nimble legs curled beneath him, spritely fingers posed in a steeple beneath his chin. “I’m afraid, as you know, our kind and yours have rarely gotten along well.”
“We didn’t mean to offend you,” Asher said diplomatically. “But…yeah, it usually doesn’t end well.”
“It is, I suppose, an inevitable outcome. With different powers come different perceptions. My kind find it difficult to truly understand the struggle humanity and the rest of the Supes face. And likewise, most Supes cannot comprehend the sometimes-unbearable weight of near-immortality.”
I paused, about to take a drink. For just a moment, Radell had tilted his head, and it was as though his glimmer of magic, what little he had, had almost slipped off. Beneath he was still old, but there was another weight to it, like the entire world rested atop his shoulders, pulling on his skin, pressing on his back, curling him forward like he might snap with the weight. It was the weight of time moving ever onwards; a river cutting through an immensely dark loneliness of existence, and he was nothing but an occasionally unwilling passenger being swept along with it.
Then he straightened and the moment passed.
“We have Fae near where we live,” Mia said. “They…seem nice. I mean, I suppose they’re nice—I’ve heard they’re nice…We don’t talk with them much,” she finally admitted.
“And I assume that they do not attend the Academy as you do?” Radell said.
All of us tensed. Radell let out a chuckle. “Children, please! Do not be alarmed. I make it a point to know all my guests, and my observations are not a slight against you or any of your kind. I try to be ever watchful, ever aware. I keep my senses open, for it’s a poor Fae who loses touch of the world around him. If he forgets the world, then he forgets his place in it. I must admit, you four in particular have been showing up in my awareness more frequently than most.”
He leaned forward and raised a hand. A small bunch of grapes soared off the plate and into his fingers. He plucked at them one by one, managing to somehow eat delicately and talk without being disgusting. “I know of the struggle between yourselves and those who call themselves the Society of the Fallen Star. I’ve heard them traversing through my woods, followed them, even, to ensure they had left for good.”
“Are they still here?” Colson said.
Radell shook his head. “They’ve been gone for a couple days. And I am more than grateful for it.”
My stomach sank. It was good the Society wasn’t anywhere nearby. That meant whatever dreamlike vision thing I’d had with Kasia couldn’t have possibly been real, as a part of me had feared it’d been. But if they weren’t here, then where were they?
“We were hoping you could help us,” I said. “A friend told us you might know how to find something.”
The room seemed to hold its breath. Radell finished stripping the grapes off the stem and tossed it into the fire. It spat and hissed. “You seek the Cursed One.”
I tried not to let my surprise show. “Yeah, we do.”
“While I trust your intentions are purer than others who are seeking it, do you know what you must do if you are to guarantee this Society can’t use it?”
“Sacrifice,” Asher whispered.
Mia and Colson both looked at us, alarmed. Asher, too, glanced at me, as though reconfirming what I’d already told him.
“Sacrifice?” Colson said. “Nobody said anything about that.”
“It is the only way to keep it out of anyone’s hands,” Radell said. “Assuming you find it.”
“Please, could you…” Mia seemed to have trouble finding the words. I was sure the whole sacrifice thing was undoubtedly pressing on her. “I know we might not have gotten along that well in the past, but if you could help us…we’d be really grateful. If we don’t find it, if we don’t stop it…somehow, then everyone could be in danger.”
Radell was quiet so long I thought for sure he was going to refuse. I imagined his jolly, way-too-nice-to-be-for-real façade dropping away and he’d reveal himself to be the conniving, plotting Fae I’d always heard about.
“Do you know why there are none of my kind at the New York Academy of Magic?” he finally said, voice sad. “At any Academy of Magic, actually?”
I sucked in a shallow breath, not liking where this question was headed.
“I always assumed it was because—well, because you didn’t like us,” Mia said. She winced. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, but the Fae don’t like us, do they?”
“Most are indifferent, I believe. But still, some would benefit from what is taught there, I am sure. Yet that is not the reason. Do you know why, Skylar Rivest?”
Radell’s deep eyes turned to me, and I felt like I was being called on in class, forced to answer a question I knew nothing about. “I don’t.”
“Your mother killed Segur, Queen of the Night Court, Mistress of the High Fae.”
The entire room seemed to close in. I swore the lights dimmed. My muscles involuntarily tensed, and I could tell the others had as well, except for Asher who looked as though he’d already known this. Had he? Had he not told me so I wouldn’t see my mother in a bad light?
“She…that can’t be right,” I said, my voice sounding strangely detached. “Why would she do that?”
I knew my mom had killed Supes before. It had never bothered me because I also knew she killed because she had to. She did so in order to keep everyone else safe. There were beings far, far more dangerous out there than I could even imagine, and she had to do whatever it took to make sure they didn’t get to us.
But killing a queen of the Fae?
I sucked in another sharp breath, carefully now, feeling as though whatever I said next was perched on a precipice, either ready to pull us back into civilized conversation, or threatening to topple us over into the abyss. Radell watched me, gauging my reaction.
“I had no idea,” I said.
“There are two sides to every story,” Radell said. “The stories we tell our own, and those you tell yours. I can only guess at the reasons behind each, or the truth behind what happened. We may never know. I tell you this because I want you to understand that though you may not trust my kind, we have a reason for acting the way we do.”
He stood gracefully, limbs unfolding. “Regardless of the past, I say it’s time we start putting it behind. For both our races’ benefit. Whatever happened, it happened, and no amount of conflict in the present will change that.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Asher said, nodding. “Best one I’ve heard in a while.”
I wanted to agree with him, but I was still stuck on what my mother had done. I was sure she’d had to. She wouldn’t just…she couldn’t kill like that without a reason.
What’s she hiding, I wonder, Skylar?
Nothing. Nothing that would change how I felt about her, and how much I loved and trusted her. Kasia, even dream-vision Kasia, couldn’t change my perception of her like that. Kasia was just out to twist the truth until I didn’t know my right from my left. She’d do whatever was necessary to tear me apart.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mia said in a reassuring voice, hand clasping mine. “We can ask your mom when we get back and I’m sure she’ll tell us all about it. She’ll clear it up, you’ll see.”
“Assuming we aren’t in trouble. Again,” Colson said.
Yeah, and assuming I wanted to know the truth.
“Excellent! Now that we understand each other a little better, that brings us to what I need you to do,” Radell said, clapping his hands together. Just like that, the tension in the room dissipated. It was easy to breathe again.
“What you need us to do?” I said.
“You seek the Cursed One, and I can help,” Radell said. “I may not completely trust the Academy, but I trust you. At least, I trust you more than I do the Society. I’m afraid I can’t leave it alone, because if left alone the Society will find it, no doubt. But I will lead you there first. Or rather…”
He paused as another round of rambunctious booms rattled the stone walls. Radell flicked a finger outside. “He will lead you there.”
“Why do I get the feeling that’s a really bad idea?” I said.
“It’s a great idea,” Colson said, eyes shining the way they sometimes did when potentially deadly creatures were involved.
“That’s the spirit!” Radell said. “I have not named him—I did not want to get attached, you see, before I had to let him go free—but the dragon will take you to the Cursed One.”
“But it’s not in one place,” Mia said. “I thought the Cursed One moved around based on magical concentration.”
“Exactly, it’s completely random,” Asher said.
Radell nodded seriously. “This is true, on both accounts. However, it does have an anchor point on this plane. A place magically tucked away within the folds of the everyday world. As a Fae, I sense magic different than most other Supes. I’ve sensed this Cursed One more strongly than my brethren in the Day and Night Courts who have yet to return from their planes. But you can be assured that as soon as they return, they will also sense it.”
His meaning was clear: if the other Fae came back before we’d secured the Cursed One, then we’d have a real problem on our hands.
“How can you predict where it’ll be long enough for us to get to it?” I said.
“The anchor point, the anchor point!” Radell said. “The natural location the Cursed One resides in when it comes to our plane. However, the further it pushes into our plane, the more it gets tugged around, pulled by the various spikes in magical energy. Yet no matter how many places it is pulled, like a bird flying home to roost, it will always return to one.”
Radell waved his hand and sparks from the fire flew to his command. With a few more flicks, the spark rearranged themselves as a dotted map in a shape I recognized as northern Europe. A lone ember glowed brighter than the rest somewhere in southern Germany. I assumed that was where we were. Radell pointed north, up to…
“Norway?” Asher said.
“Norway,” Radell agreed. “The part of it that remains one of the few truly wild places left on earth.”
“Um, no offense Mr. Radell, sir,” Mia said, “But how are we supposed to get all the way there with a dragon?”
Radell smiled, his eyes twinkling. I knew exactly what he was going to say, even before Colson let out an appreciative grunt. “Flying. Great idea.”
“Horrible idea!” I said.
“The dragon knows the way. He’s ready to leave and return to his home.” Radell paused. I saw tears bead at the corners of his eyes. “I cannot leave the forest unattended, so all I ask is that you let him take you, and make sure he arrives safe.”
“Safe? Dragons his size are rare,” Colson said. “I doubt anything would want to mess with him.”
Mia put a hand on her hip, giving him an incredulous look. “Are you saying you don’t want to ride a dragon?”
“Of course I do.”
“Wonderful!” Radell said. “It really will be easy. Once he gets there, he’ll find adults who can help him hunt. And you will hopefully find what you seek as well.”
Easy. Right. All we had to do was hitch a ride on a several-thousand-pound beast with the disposition of a golden retriever.
What could possibly go wrong?
“Just put your hand right here and pull yourself up,” Colson said. “No, up here—that scale right there’s a foothold—you’re putting your hand too far away—”
“From his mouth,” I said. I moved away again. The dragon gave another excited leap, nearly tossing Mia off.
“Dragon!” I pressed my hands down on his scales until he stopped for a half second, panting with eagerness. I tried not to hang my head and give up right there. At least he kind of responded to the nickname Dragon. It was easier than calling him The Slobbering One, or Creature That Wouldn’t Stop Bouncing and Let Me On His Back So We Could Get This Over With.
That last one was a mouthful.
“Skylar, hurry, please,” Mia said. She looked a little green in the face. Asher, too, appeared as though he’d rather ride a roller coaster without a seat belt than risk cross country dragon riding. Only Colson was having any fun.
“Here.”
With a massive hand, Colson reached down from where he sat, gripped the back of my jacket, and practically heaved me over the side. I flailed for a bit until I could sit up and grip the thin, makeshift saddle Radell had fastened to Dragon’s back.
“Very graceful,” Asher said from behind me.
“Keep commenting on it and when I hurl I’ll make sure to aim it at you,” I said.
“Excellent!” Radell finished tightening down the last of the straps (a lot. A whole lot, since we’d all asked him to triple check them). “You have no need to worry. He knows where you’re going. And is eager to get there!”
As if to prove his point, Dragon gave another exuberant leap. His wings, membranous and dipped in a beautiful, lustrous gold, flared out to either side. His tail swung joyfully from side to side, felling a small pair of snow-covered trees.
Radell gave a tinkling laugh. He patted Dragon’s head again, then pressed his forehead to his. I expected Dragon to try to smother him with licks, but he went still, his scaled eyelids flicking shut for a brief moment.
“I’ll miss you, my friend,” Radell said. “Grow big and strong. Perhaps one day we’ll see each other again.”
He pulled away. Then Dragon smothered him with kisses.
Radell laughed again. He stepped back and gave all of us an approving nod. “Remember what I said. Our kinds are not so different. One day I hope that the wounds of the past can be healed and we can come together in harmony.”
“We will,” Mia said. “I’m sure of it.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. Radell was cool, so unlike the Fae I’d seen or heard about. If there were even a handful of others like him, then reconciling would be no problem.
Tears of happiness were shining in Radell’s eyes again. “When you arrive at your destination, I believe you’ll want to—”
He stopped. He turned to peer into the forest surrounding us. I tried to figure out what he’d heard, then realized it wasn’t what he had heard, but what he hadn’t: everything had stilled. The trees cloaked in moonlight didn’t sway in the soft wind. The vibrancy of being so near Fae power seemed to slough away for just a moment, leaving the air raw.
“What is it?” Colson said.
Radell looked around a moment longer. He sucked in a deep, prolonged breath that seemed as though the entire earth was breathing with him. The vibrant magical filter returned. “It’s nothing. I have much in my domain I need to attend to. Fly safe. Fly fast. And may what you seek be what you find!”
By now, Dragon had begun bouncing so much again that I barely caught the last part.
“Easy,” Colson said, voice firm and commanding as he patted the back of Dragon’s head. “Let’s get there with all of us still attached.”
“That’d be ideal,” Asher said.
“Maybe we’ll do one barrel roll. Just to see who’s paying attention.”
Asher glared at him.
Dragon’s wings flared wider. He began to flap, the wind scattering the snow until it resembled a frigid crop circle. His body beneath me began to heat up.
Then we were lifting off the ground, hovering for a brief moment, before Dragon gave a final, enormous pump of his wings and we soared into the sky.