Cave of the Cait Sith
I jerked upright, pushing off the bag. The motion sent a blaze of agony across my back and shoulder. Clenching my jaw, I struggled to my feet and searched for the source of the elusive voice. We were in some sort of a cave with a sandy bottom and a small pool near the back. Along the walls, enormous spotted toadstools glowed with eerie luminance. Tiny glowing balls, like blue and green fireflies, drifted over the pool, throwing rippling splashes of light over the cavern, but I couldn’t see anyone besides Kenzie and myself.
“Who’s there?” Kenzie demanded, in a far more steady voice than I’d expect. “Where are you? Show yourself.”
“As usual, you mortals have not the slightest ability to see what is right in front of your faces,” continued the voice in a bored tone, and I thought I heard a yawn. “Very well, humans. Up here, if you would.”
There was a shimmer of movement along the far wall. I followed it up to a rocky shelf about fifteen feet off the ground. For a moment, the shelf appeared empty. Then, two glowing yellow eyes blinked into existence, and a second later a large gray cat sat there with its tail curled around itself, peering down on us haughtily.
“There.” It sighed, sounding exceptionally weary, as if it had held this entire conversation before. “See me now?”
A memory flickered to life—the image of a metal tower, crumbling all around us, and a furry gray cat leading us to safety. A name hovered at the edge of my mind, eluding me for the moment, but the image of the golden-eyed cat was clear. Of course, it hadn’t changed a bit.
Kenzie took two staggering steps backward, staring at the feline as if in a daze. “O-kay,” she breathed, shaking her head slightly. “A cat. A cat that talks. I’m going crazy.” She glanced at me. “Or you slipped something into my drink at the tournament. One or the other.”
“How predictable.” The cat sighed again and stuck its hind leg into the air to lick its toes. “I believe there is nothing wrong with your eyes or ears, human. My previous statement still stands.”
I glared at it. “Lay off, cat,” I said. “She’s never seen one of you before, let alone been here.” My arm throbbed, and I sank onto a nearby rock. “Dammit, I don’t know why I’m here. Why am I here? I was hoping I’d never see this place again.”
“Please,” the cat said in that annoyingly superior voice, eyeing me over its leg. “Why are you even surprised, human? Your last name is Chase, after all. I was expecting your arrival any day now.” It sniffed and glanced at Kenzie, who was still staring at it openmouthed. “Minus the girl, of course. But I am sure we can work around that. First things first, however.” The golden eyes shifted to me. “You are dripping blood everywhere, human. Perhaps you should try to put a stop to that. We would not want to attract anything nasty, would we?”
I exhaled, hard. Well, here I was, in the Nevernever. Nothing to be done now but try to get out as quickly as I could. Pulling my bag toward me, I tugged it open and rifled through it one-handed, biting my lip as pain continued to claw at my shoulder. Blood still oozed sluggishly down my arm, and the left side of my shirt was spattered with red.
“Here.” Kenzie suddenly knelt across from me, stopping my hand. “Don’t hurt yourself. Let me do it.” Taking off her camera, she started going through the bag. “You have gauze in here somewhere, right?”
“I can get it,” I said quickly, not wanting her to see my old clothes and smelly belongings. I reached forward, but she gave me such a fierce glare that I sat back with a grimace, leaving her to it. Setting her jaw, she rummaged around, pushing aside rattan sticks and old T-shirts, pulling out a rag and the roll of gauze I kept for sports-related injuries. Her lips were pressed in a thin line, her eyes hard and determined, as if she was going to take care of this little problem before she faced anything else. For a second, I felt a weird flicker of pride. She was taking things remarkably well.
“Take off your shirt.”
I blinked, feeling my face heat. “Uh. What?”
“Shirt, tough guy.” She gestured to my blood-spattered T-shirt. “I don’t think you’re going to want it after this, anyway. Off.”
Her words were almost too flippant, like someone forcing a smile after a horrible tragedy. I hesitated, more out of concern than embarrassment—though there was that, too. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
“Oh, do as she says, human.” The cat thumped its tail. “Otherwise we will be here all night.”
Gingerly, I eased off my shirt and tossed the bloodied rag aside. Kenzie soaked the cloth in the pool, wrung it out, and crouched behind me in the sand. For a moment, she hesitated, and I tensed, suddenly feeling highly exposed—half-naked and bleeding in front of a strange girl and a talking cat. Then her fingers brushed my skin, cool and soft, and my stomach turned into a pretzel.
“God, Ethan.” She laid one palm gently against my shoulder, leaning in to examine the tears down my arm. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to relax. “These are nasty. What the hell was after you, demon cougars?”
I sucked in a ragged breath. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Oh, I’m willing to believe just about anything right now.” She pressed the cloth to the jagged claw marks, and I set my jaw. We were both silent as she dabbed blood off my shoulder and wrapped the gauze around my arm. I could sense Kenzie was still a little dazed from the whole situation. But her fingers were gentle and sure, and I shivered each time they touched my skin, leaving goose bumps behind.
“There,” she said, dusting off her knees as she stood. “That should do it. Those first aid sessions in Ms. Peters’s class didn’t go to waste, at least.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. She gave me a shaky smile.
“No problem.” She watched as I reached into my bag and pulled out another T-shirt, shrugging into it with a grimace. “Now, before I start screaming, will someone—you or the talking cat or a freaking flying goat, I don’t care—please tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Why are mortals so boring?” the cat asked, landing on the sandy floor without a sound. Padding toward us, it leaped atop a flat rock and observed us both critically, waving its tail, before its gaze settled on the girl. “Very well, I will be the voice of reason and sanity once again. Listen closely, human, for I will explain this only once.” It sat down with a sniff, curling its tail around its feet. “You are in the Nevernever, the home of the fey. Or, as you mortals insist upon calling them, faeries. Yes, faeries are real,” it added in its bored tone, as Kenzie took a breath to speak. “No, mortals cannot normally see them in the real world. Please save all unnecessary questions until I am finished.
“You are here,” it continued, giving me a sideways look, “because Ethan Chase apparently cannot stay out of trouble with the fey and has used a token to bring you both into the Nevernever. More important, into my home—one of them, anyway. Which begs the question…” The cat blinked and looked at me now, narrowing its eyes. “Why are you here, human? The token was to be used only in the most dire circumstances. By your wounds, I would guess something was chasing you, but why drag the girl into this, as well?”
“I didn’t have a choice,” I said, avoiding Kenzie’s eyes. “They were after her, too.”
“They?” asked Kenzie.
I scrubbed my good hand over my face. “There’s something out there,” I told the cat. “Something different, some type of fey I’ve never seen before. They’re killing off exiles and half-breeds, and they’ve taken a friend of mine, a half-phouka named Todd Wyndham. When I tried to find out more…”
“They came to silence you,” the cat finished solemnly.
“Yeah. Right in the open. In front of a couple hundred people.” I felt Kenzie’s gaze on me and ignored her. “So,” I asked the cat, “do you know what’s going on?”
The cat twitched an ear. “Perhaps,” it mused, managing to look bored and thoughtful all at once. “There have been strange rumors circling the wyldwood. They have me curious.” It yawned and casually licked a foot. “I believe it is time to pay a visit to the Iron Queen.”
I stood up. “No,” I said a little too forcefully, though the cat didn’t even look up from its paw. “I can’t go to Meghan. I have to get home! I have to find Todd and see if my family is all right. They’re gonna freak out if I don’t come back soon.” I remembered what Meghan said about time in the Nevernever, and groaned. “God, they’re probably freaking out right now.”
“The Iron Queen needs to be informed that you are here,” the cat said, calmly rubbing the paw over his whiskers. “That was the favor—should you ever use that token, I would bring you to her. Besides, I believe she will be most interested in what is happening in the mortal world, and this new type of fey. I think one of the courts needs to know about this, do you not agree?”
“Can’t you at least take Kenzie home?”
“That was not the bargain, human.” The cat finally looked at me, unblinking. “And, were I you, I would think long and hard about sending her back alone. If these creatures are still out there, they could be waiting for you both to return.”
A chill ran down my back. I glanced at Kenzie and found her looking completely lost as she stared from me to the cat and back again. “I have no idea what’s going on here,” she said matter-of-factly, though her eyes were a bit glazed. “I just hope that when I wake up, I’m not in a padded room with a nice man in a white suit feeding me pills.”
I sighed, feeling my life unravel even more. I’m sorry, Kenzie, I thought, as she hugged herself and stared straight ahead. I didn’t want to drag you into this, and this is the very last place I want to be. But the cat’s right; I can’t send you back alone, not with those things out there. They already got Todd; I won’t let them have you, too.
“All right,” I snapped, glaring at the feline. “Let’s go see Meghan and get this over with. But I’m not staying. I have to get home. I have a friend who’s in trouble, and I have to find him. Not even Meghan can help me with that.”
The cat sneezed several times, curling his whiskers in mirth. I didn’t see what was so funny. “This should be most amusing,” it said, hopping down from the rock. “I suggest you remain here for the night,” it continued as he padded away over the sand. “Nothing will harm you in this place, and I am in no mood to lead wounded humans around the wyldwood in the dark. We will start out for the Iron Realm in the morning.”
“How long will it take to get there?” I asked, but there was no answer. Frowning, I glanced around the cave. The cat was gone.
Oh, yeah, I thought, remembering something then, from long ago. Grimalkin. He does that.
* * *
Kenzie still seemed unnaturally quiet as I sat down and started fishing in my bag, taking stock of what I had. Rattan sticks, extra clothes, bottled water, a smashed box of energy bars, a container of aspirin and a couple of small, secret items I kept handy for pests of the invisible variety. I wondered if my little charms would work in the Nevernever, the fey’s home territory. I would find out soon enough.
I shook four painkillers into my palm and tossed them back, swallowing them with a grimace, then sliding the bottle into my pocket. My shoulder still ached, but against all odds, it seemed to be nothing more than a flesh wound. I just hoped the strange, creepy fey didn’t have venomous claws.
“Here,” I muttered, pulling out a slightly crushed energy bar, offering it to the girl sitting across from me. She blinked and stared at it blankly. “We should probably eat something. You don’t want to take anything anyone offers you here. No food, drinks, gifts, anything, got it? Oh, and never agree to do someone a favor, or make any kind of deal or say ‘thank you.’” She continued to watch me without expression, and I frowned. “Hey, are you listening to me? This is important.”
Great, she’s gone into shock. What am I supposed to do now? I stared at her, wishing I had never pulled her into this, wishing we could both just go home. I was worried for my parents; what would they say when they found out yet another child of theirs had disappeared from the face of the earth? I’m not Meghan, I promised, not knowing if it was to Mom, to Kenzie or myself. I’ll get us home, I swear I will.
The girl still wasn’t responding, and waggling the energy bar at her was getting me nowhere. I sighed. “Kenzie,” I said, firmer this time, leaning forward over the bag. “Mackenzie. Hey!”
She jumped when I got right up in her face and grabbed her arm, jerking back with a startled look. I let her go, and she blinked rapidly, as if coming out of a trance.
“You all right?” I asked, sitting back, watching her cautiously. She stared at me for an uncomfortable moment, then took a deep breath.
“Yeah,” she finally whispered, making me sag in relief. “Yeah, I’m good. I’m fine. I think.” She gazed around the cave, as if making sure it was still there. “The Nevernever,” she murmured, almost to herself. “I’m in the Nevernever. I’m in freaking Faeryland.”
I watched her carefully, wondering what I would do if she started to scream. But then, sitting there on the log in the middle of the Nevernever, Kenzie did something completely unexpected.
She smiled.
It wasn’t big or obvious. Just a faint, secret grin, a flicker of excitement crossing her face, as if this was something she’d been waiting for her whole life, only she hadn’t known it. It raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Normal human beings did not react well to being dropped into an imaginary place with creatures that existed only in fairy tales. I was expecting fear, anger, rationalization. Kenzie’s eyes nearly glowed with anticipation.
It made me very nervous.
“So,” she said brightly, turning back to me, “tell me about this place.”
I gave her a wary look. “You do realize we’re in the Nevernever, home of the fey. Faeries? Wee folk? Leprechauns and pixies and Tinkerbell?” I held out the food bar again, watching her reaction. “Isn’t this your cue to start explaining how faeries don’t exist?”
“Well, I’m a reporter,” Kenzie said, accepting the food package and fiddling with a corner. “I have to face facts. And it occurs to me that one of two things is happening right now. One, you slipped something into my drink at the dojo, and I’m having a really whacked-out dream. And if that’s the case, I’ll wake up soon and you’ll go to jail and we’ll never see each other again.”
I winced.
“Or two…” She took a deep breath and gazed around the cavern. “This…is really happening. It’s kind of silly to tell the talking cat he doesn’t exist when he’s sitting right there arguing with you.”
I kept quiet, chewing on granola. You couldn’t fault her reasoning, though she was still far more pragmatic and logical than I’d expected. Still, something about her reaction didn’t feel right. Maybe it was her complete lack of fear and skepticism, as if she desperately wanted to believe that this was really happening. As if she didn’t care at all about leaving what was real and sane and normal behind.
“Anyway,” Kenzie went on, looking back at me, “you’ve been here before, right? From the way that cat was talking to you, it was like you knew each other.”
I shrugged. “Yeah,” I said, staring at the ground between my knees. Memories—the bad memories I tried so hard to forget—crowded in. Fangs and claws, poking at me. Glowing eyes and shrieking, high-pitched laughter. Lying in utter darkness, the stench of rust and iron clogging my nose, waiting for my sister to come. “But it was a long time ago,” I muttered, shoving those thoughts away, locking them in the farthest corner of my mind. “I barely remember it.”
“How long have you been able to see…um…faeries?”
I flicked a glance at her. She sat with her knees drawn to her chest, leaning against a rock, watching me gravely. The fluorescent toadstools on the walls gave off a black light effect, making the blue in her hair glow neon bright. I caught myself staring and looked down at the floor again.
“All my life.” I hunched a little more. “I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t see them, when I didn’t know they were there.”
“Can your parents—?”
“No.” It came out a bit sharper than I’d intended. “No one in my family can see them. Just me.”
Except my sister, of course. But I didn’t want to talk about her.
“Hmm.” Kenzie rested her chin on her knees. “Well, this explains a lot about you. The secrecy, the paranoia, the weirdness at the tournament.” My face heated, but Kenzie didn’t seem to notice. “So how many…faeries…are out there in the real world?”
“Sure you want to know?” I challenged, smiling bitterly. “You might end up like me, mean and paranoid, staring at corners and out windows for things that aren’t there. There’s a reason no one ever talks about the fey, and not just because it draws their attention. Because normal people, the ones who can’t see Them, will label you weird or crazy or freak, and will either treat you like you have the plague or will want to throw you in a cell.”
“I never thought of you like that,” Kenzie said softly.
Anger burned suddenly. At myself, for dragging her into this. At Kenzie, for being too damn stubborn to leave me alone, for refusing to stay away and not hate me like any normal, sane person would. And at myself, again, for allowing her to get this close, for wanting to be near someone. I had let down my guard the tiniest bit, and now look where we were.
“Well, maybe you should have,” I said, standing and glaring down at her. “Because now you’re stuck here with me. And I really don’t know if we’re going to make it out of here alive.”
“Where are you going?” Kenzie asked as I stalked away toward the mouth of the cave. Ignoring her, hoping she wouldn’t come after me, I walked to the entrance, just a foot or so from the edge of the cave, so I could see Faery for myself.
Peering into the darkness, I shivered. The wyldwood stretched away before me, tangled and ominous in the shadows. I couldn’t see the sky through the canopy of leaves and branches, but I could see glimmers of movement far, far above, lights or creatures floating through the trees.
“Going somewhere?” came a voice above my head. Grimalkin sat in a tangle of roots that curled lazily from the ceiling. His huge eyes seemed to hover in the darkness.
“No,” I muttered, giving him a cautious look. Grimalkin had helped my sister in the past, but I didn’t know him well, and he was still fey. Faeries never did anything for free; his agreeing to guide us through the wyldwood into the Iron Realm was just part of a deal.
“Good. I would hate to have you eaten before we even started,” he purred, raking his claws across the wood. “You appear to have the same recklessness as your sister, always rushing into things without thinking them through.”
“Don’t compare me to Meghan,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “I’m not like her.”
“Indeed. She, at least, had a pleasant personality.”
“I’m not here to make friends.” The cat was bugging the hell out of me, but I refused to let it show. “This isn’t a reunion. I just want to get to the Iron Realm, talk to Meghan and go home.” Todd is still out there, counting on me.
The cat stretched lazily on the branch. “Desire what you will, human,” he said with a knowing, half-lidded stare. “With your family, I have found that it is never as easy as that.”