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Aiden, swirled around by the many dancers, struggled to keep an eye on Keera and Alice. He turned his head this way and that, while fae loomed in and swung away, always perfectly poised, their uncanny faces smiling to reveal sharp teeth. Keera, normally so light on her feet, was struggling. She whirled close, and Aiden reached out, only to be pulled away.
Alice had swung away from it all. She was on the outskirts of the dance, talking to some of the less courtly fae as if they were old friends. She seemed in control of her dancing, and not nearly so confused by the dance as either Keera or himself. Maybe she’s organising our escape? He whipped his head from side to side to get another glimpse. Alice peered up at Queen Persephone and ducked back under cover. She’s been here before.
The changeling and the fae were pulled back down to earth and taken to the cage where Ruby was crying.
The queen’s soldiers attached a silver chain around Nada’s ankle—and to the bone bars. Fae was trapped. Fae kicked out and changed half a dozen times, but could not escape the enchanted shackle.
The changeling sighed and patted Ruby’s shoulder. “Both stuck.”
The tender moment was ruined as Aiden tripped over his own feet and landed face-first on the churned moss.
Alice turned blank eyes on Aiden. Watery darkness weaving through the whites of her eyes like an oily shadow, or a weird trick of the light. Alice frowned and blinked.
“What’s the matter,” Aiden asked as he was picked up and whirled past.
“I surely don’t know what you mean,” she replied.
Whatever had got into Alice, he couldn’t say. But that didn’t change the mission. Send Ruby home. It’s just that they were relying on Alice’s navigation of the Silver Paths of the Dead to not be stuck in one of the fae’s seven-year time warps and get them home in reasonable time. And to keep them safe from possession by demon.... No! The thought hit him like a tonne of bricks. What if the oily shadow wasn’t a trick of the light, and Alice is succumbing to the Silver Path’s biggest danger? If that were true, he could only pray she held on a little longer.
