We tore through the fabric of space and time and broke into a different kind of darkness. A canopy of night sky hung above us as our feet hit the dirt ground. Thick cherry trees line the property, leading up to a structure of wood and stone, and glass. Gothic peaks cut the sky, and modern wood covered parts of the exterior, mixing with windows and rock. Several chimneys piped smoke into the air.
“Where are we?” I demanded as thunder rolled in the distance.
“Where you belong,” she replied with a level of finality. As if this were the last task on her long to-do list. She reached for my arm, and I scrambled backward.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
Her tar-molten eyes flashed with anger and impatience. “You’ll come, willingly or not.”
Trees, nothing but dark cherry trees as far as the eye could see. Nowhere to run, no bodies of water. Just a dense forest and a creepy castle at the end of a very long path. I cursed my inability to wisp.
Or defend myself.
Evaine kicked my feet out from under me, and I hit the ground like a sack of meat, the air puffing from my lungs. I gasped to fill them as Evaine jumped on top of me and hastily tied my hands together. My legs kicked fruitlessly at her back, and she delighted in my failure, cackling under her raunchy breath.
“Let me go!”
Her clawed and blackened fingers pulled the rope tight when my wrists were bound and secure, and she stood over me. “I’d suggest you hold on.”
“What–”
Faerie’s assassin yanked, and my wrists screamed in pain. As Evaine dragged my writhing body up the log dirt path, I struggled and floundered to no avail. It was a good hundred yards to the stone beast in the distance, and my wrists would surely break by then, so I fought to grab the rope as the gravel tore through my clothes. I could already tell where it had worn completely through. My skin burned.
Finally, we reached the castle. But Evaine never let me get to my feet. She entered a narrow archway, and I welcomed the change of torture from jagged gravel to smooth stone, but my grip on the rope began to weaken.
Around a few turns and directly through the middle of several dimly lit rooms, Evaine finally gave one last haul on the rope and tossed me to the center of an ample space lined with open arched windows to the night outside. Thunder rolled again, followed by a bolt of lightning that crackled through the sky.
I shimmied into a sitting position and glanced around frantically. One way in, one way out. No–there were two doors behind a platform where a throne of obsidian held a man with pointed ears, long hair like the driven snow, and grey eyes so cunning they almost sucked you in, like staring into the eye of a storm.
The Dark Lord of Nightmares.
He gripped a long, black cane topped with some sort of bone carving. He stood up, adjusted his fitted black suit of leather and silk, and stalked toward where I sat on the floor. He towered over me with a look of disdain and sighed as he dragged his gaze toward Evaine.
“This is how you treat my special guest?” His baritone voice vibrated deep in my chest.
She only made some sort of wet sound with her mouth and sneered at me.
“What am I doing here?”
He arched a silvery brow as his pure white hair fell over his shoulder like a silky drape. “I would think it’s obvious.”
“Obvious?” I chortled and struggled with the ropes to no avail. “All I know is that bitch has been following me for weeks with unwarranted threats and even attacked one of my friends for no reason. And now I’m here–” I waved my bound hands in the air. “Against my will.”
He gave me a surprised look of bemusement. “Is it now?”
I shook my head in confusion. “What?”
“Is that all you know?”
The Dark Lord grabbed the knotted rope and hauled me to my feet with such ease. As if I weighed nothing at all. And I felt it, the thrum of his power. He exuded it. It rolled off his shoulders like a building storm, and I had to force myself not to get lost in his stare, so I fixated on his cane. The carving was clearly the head of a dragon.
He slid the tip across my neck and raised my chin until I looked into his eyes. They flashed with a warning and a promise, and I swallowed dryly. He held my stare for a moment too long for comfort and gently dragged the dragon’s head across my cheek.
“Show me,” he said calmly.
Confused, I replied, “show you what?”
“Your powers.” He grinned like a cat. “Let me see how beautiful they are. I’ve heard so much about them.” His cane continued to trail down my body, hugging my hip.
“I-I’m not a damn show pony.”
I felt something change in the air, almost a lessening. As if he turned down his power a few notches. The Dark Lord took a step back and examined me thoroughly, from head to toe. His expression was that of disbelief.
“Evaine, dear, you’ve brought me the wrong woman.”
“I assure you,” she said with an annoyed rasp. “This is her.”
I wanted to kill her for this and for what she did to Max.
His stormy eyes raked over me once again as he seemed to ponder. A breath solidified in my chest as he reached for me and pinched my hair between his fingers. He grinned to himself as if recalling a pleasant and funny memory and tossed it over my shoulder.
“This is her, milord,” Evaine assured him again. “She surrounds herself with the sea witch, Moya. The healer, Oliver, and other Solitary miscreants. Even a Therian bitch.”
“You take their names out of your disgusting mouth!” I yelled and spat. Evaine gave me a look that said, how dare you, while the lord chuckled off to the side. My skin warmed, building, and burning. My powers snowballed in anger, and this time…I let it.
That’s it, come on, I said to it. I won’t hold you back.
My sunlight blossomed in my chest, spreading through my veins and limbs, filling every inch of my body. I stared down at the thick rope around my wrists, and they burst into flame–a flame that didn’t mar my skin–and the fibers turned to ash. I shook it all to the floor as my power continued to grow.
I raised my stare toward Evaine as the Dark Lord observed from the sidelines. She almost looked bored, but I’d wipe that look off her face in two seconds–
Gone. It was all gone. Every ounce of my magic snuffed out like a candle. Panic flooded me, and I shook my hands, desperate for any remaining spark. But there was nothing. I whipped my head toward a low, raspy chuckle and froze as the Dark Lord stalked toward me again, slowly circling where I stood, sizing me up and down as he tapped a finger against his lips.
“W-what did you do to me?”
“If you don’t demand full control of your power, then someone with a greater power will,” was his reply. He wiggled his fingers, and I felt a gentle tug, a tether.
My magic, it listened to him like an obedient cat. Traitor, I hissed at it.
“I appreciate the little show,” he added and stuffed one of his hands in the pocket of black velvet slacks. “Evaine, be a dear and show our guest to her quarters.”
Evaine moved toward me, and I clumsily kicked at her, missing widely. “My what? You’re crazy! I’m not staying here!”
Her bare feet padded against the cold stone floor as she advanced. She stood between me and the exit and slowly pushed me deeper into the room, closer to the Dark Lord. Panic took over, and I immediately dove into a fight or flight mode. I needed my magic.
Come on, I begged it. Why are you listening to him? It was there; I could sense it. As if it waited behind a glass wall, taunting me. So easily accessible and yet…just beyond my reach. I closed my eyes and placed a hand of my mind against the cool glass. Please.
Just reach out, it spoke back to me in a musical voice, reminding me of the strange vision Solenna had induced in the Temple of Dreams. Take me, claim me. Set me freee…
I can’t, I replied as I sensed Evaine within inches of where I stood. My heart pounded in my ears. I don’t know how.
Just let go…
I can’t! Evaine’s claws wrapped around my arm.
Just let go!
My mind filled with the screeching sound of glass shattering as something broke through the wall, and my magic slammed back into me like a taut elastic, finally letting go. My eyes flew open, and the room was illuminated with my glowing sunlight. My heart raced from fear and exhilaration as my powers grew beyond my control and filled the room until it exploded from me.
The floor beneath me shook. Massive fissures split the walls, crawling upward. A giant chunk of the vaulted ceiling fell, trapping the Dark Lord behind it. More debris began to fall, and I dove out of the way, closer to Evaine, and she snatched me by the neck. Her black eyes were crazed.
“What have you done, you little shit?” she gritted between rotten teeth.
I kicked her shin, and her grip loosened. An elbow to her gut was enough to let me go, and I ran for the exit. But it was too late. The castle was crumbling; I was surrounded by shards of glass, heaps of jagged rock, and splintered wood. The exit was blocked.
Clumps of stone, wood, and glass continued to fall around us so fast I could hardly think. Everything was collapsing. But it didn’t stop the Dark Lord from coming for me. He blasted through the blockage and dodged falling debris unblinkingly, his stormy gaze fixated on me across the room.
I spun around, searching for another way out, just as a massive block of stone broke away from the cathedral ceiling and hurdled right for me. I closed my eyes and threw my arm out, but my magic didn’t respond.
Some other force slammed into me, and I flew through all the falling refuse, narrowly missing every piece until I skidded across the dewy lawn.
I gasped for breath and watched, wide-eyed in terror, as an entire wing of the castle crumbled to nothing but a hovel of everything it was made of. The Dark Lord and his assassin were trapped underneath.
It all happened so fast. One minute I was inside, flanked by two impossible threats, the next…I was on the lawn outside, where the painful silence of night fell on me like a heavy blanket. I didn’t know this place, but I couldn’t stick around to see if there were survivors.
I had to find water.
“Damnit!” I clenched my fists. If only I could wisp. A promise solidified in my mind. A commitment to myself. If I somehow made it out of this hell alive, I’d figure it out.
With a deep breath, I hobbled into the thick expanse of cherry trees. The aroma was a strange delight as I traipsed through the root-ridden forest where things rustled in the bushes and sprung from branches above, whispering in the distance. A cluster of different voices, too far for me to hear what they were saying.
No sound of footsteps followed behind, but I kept my head down and marched along. I only tripped once, but it was enough to cover half my body in the juices of fallen, half-rotten cherries. After a while, the ground dipped and turned, changing to an even denser bouquet of trees. Ferns and shrubs, pine, and other types I couldn’t name all twisted together in a creepy sort of harmony, like walking through a Tim Burton film.
It felt like hours had passed, and I was no closer to a body of water. But there had to be something. The forest was alive with…things. I could hear them bristling about, watching me, observing the strange new creature entering the woods. Those things had to drink water, didn’t they?
Something slashed across my arm, and I winced as I cupped my hand over the gash. But nothing was there. No cut, no blood.
“What the…”
Another painful sensation slit across the exposed skin of my thigh that poked out through torn jeans. I choked on the cry of pain as my stomach suddenly cramped, and I keeled over. My knees wobbled before I finally fell to them, and nausea swirled through my head as sweat broke out all over my body.
What was happening?
I felt clawed fingers crawl up my curved spine as I hunched over myself on the ground and managed a gurgled scream. Invisible hands, reaching from every which way, held me in place, stuffing my body with jolts of pain and sickness. I wanted to weep and scream and die all at the same time. I wanted forgiveness. I wanted closure, even revenge. For what? For things I didn’t even know or understand.
The darkness crawled over my skin, finding ways to seep in and burrow inside my fragile chest. But something else was there to greet the foreign emotions. Something dormant, petulant, and far more chaotic than anything this dreaded forest could throw at me.
My power.
Sunlight exploded from me, banishing the emotions and invisible creatures that leaked into me. Shadows skittered across the forest floor as the air filled with sounds of hissing and quiet shrieks. And just like a bomb imploding on itself, it was gone. Every last shred of warm, powerful sunshine snapped back into my body like an elastic band, and I was again in darkness.
Shakily, I stood up and fought to regain a steady breath.
A dense black shadow moved over the deadened bark of a tree. Followed by another. And another. And another. Fluidly, they curled around branches, crawled up and down trunks, and finally circled the ground where I stood. Trapping me in place. A puddle of blackness enclosed me, and my breath froze in my chest as I watched figures erect from the soil. They were solid, featureless, and ebbed like a pulse.
A little far from home, she is.
Returned home to us, she did.
Not returned…arrived.
Does her mother know?
She’ll shred her to ribbons and lace the great halls of the Seelie castle with her entrails.
Pity, such a pretty thing.
An invisible finger caressed my cheek. I spun around at the whispering–and strangely familiar–voices, searching for a way out.
“Who are you?” My jaw jittered. I stomped forward, and the figures pulsed as one, moving with me, giving me a berth but not an escape. “Get out of my way!”
Feisty, she is.
A fine queen, she’ll be.
A queen, she is not. Not yet.
A girl, she is. Knows nothing, she does.
The voices, they finally clicked in the deepest corner of my memories. I’d heard them before, in Tess’s garden…when I fell in the fountain.
Something slashed at my arm again, but this time it drew blood. Warm and sticky, it trickled down my skin, and I shook it off just as another gash sliced across my cheek. Hot blood slid downward as the sensation of a cold tongue swept upward.
Taste her.
The Lord won’t be happy.
The Dark Lord has plans for her. Plans for the queen.
Kill the queen.
Kill the queen.
Kill the queen.
The voices chanted in my ears, filling my mind and buzzing like a swarm of bees. I closed my eyes as the world spun and struggled to keep my footing, but it was no use. As my back hit the ground and the wind knocked from my lungs, the dirt turned to water, and I continued to fall.
Down, down, down.
The water seemed to never end. My limbs kicked and clawed for the surface, but there was only darkness all around. I refused to give up. With the last drop of oxygen in my lungs, I swam and reached for any shred of hope until my fingers felt the cool caress of air.
I broke through the surface and gasped for breath as I crashed against a hard, concrete ledge of something. I slung an arm over it to steady myself. A fountain. No… I was in Tess’s garden.
I’d wisped.
The night sky hung above, and the deadening sound of nothingness ebbed in my ears. The house–what was left of it–stared back at me like an injured animal. I couldn’t bare to see it. The reality of what I’d done hit me again. I’d wisped from one realm to another. Julie couldn’t even do that yet.
How did I do it?
I crawled over the ledge, and my drenched body hit the ground with a hard thwomp. My lungs protested, and I coughed water as my breathing settled. I had to get home.
Closing my eyes, I tried to recreate what I’d done, but it was no use. Nothing happened. I couldn’t even sense my powers. I was alone, injured, and stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way back.
I glanced at the fountain and heaved a defeated sign as I dipped my hand inside and concentrated. When I opened them, I knelt at the edge of the quiet duck pond in the Public Gardens–the Ironworld façade for the Sanctuary.
I was running on fumes, but I couldn’t afford to hang around if Evaine or the Dark Lord were already searching for me. Tess–I cringed at the thought of her name–had said I’d be safe at home, in the apartment under her wards. So, I used the last of my energy to run home.
The short journey was a blur as my mind threatened to go under, but I somehow found myself climbing the rickety stairs in the alley and burst through the door. I was met with my friends' muffled concern as their hands reached for me, and the cold, unforgiving floor rushed upward.
***
Something warm and moist touched my forehead, moving gently to my cheek in quick blots. I tried to place it as my mind swam to the surface, and my eyes fluttered open. The dimly lit room slowly became focused as I blinked away the remnants of sleep and the faces of my friends hovered over me.
Julie breathed a long air of relief as she patted my clammy skin with something. A moist cloth, I noted as she wrung it out in a bowl on the coffee table. Moya sat at my feet, spreading her hands over the space above my thigh. She gave me a kind smile.
“Av’,” Julie spoke calmly. “What the hell happened to you? Where did you go?”
Lattie fluttered about and came to sit on my chest, blinking with those massive, black eyes. A moan forced itself from me as I struggled to sit up.
Moya stood. “Perhaps you should continue to rest. Your wounds are fairly extensive.”
I glanced down at my arms and legs. No marks to be found. “No, I only had a couple scratches… I think…” I shook my head, and it spun inside. I braced my palm against it, only to find a half-dried gash across my forehead. “What–” I couldn’t remember getting a head injury.
“You fell on your face when your burst through the door,” Julie said. “You nearly gave me a heart attack from the sight of you. Torn and soaked clothes, cuts, and scrapes all over you. I thought you were covered in blood, but it’s just….” She pinched and tugged at my white t-shirt and leaned forward to sniff. “I think it’s berries or something.”
Everything came flooding back, and I groaned as I sunk back onto the sofa. “Cherries.”
“Can you tell us what happened after you fled the Summer castle?” Moya asked. Since I last saw her, she’d changed into a shimmery teal jumper, barely held up with thin straps.
“Tess…”
Julie put a hand on my shoulder. “She’s fine. We sent word that you’re okay and home.”
Lattie crawled around on my chest, sniffing at my skin and clothing. “You were in the Dark Forest?”
Their eyes widened as the air seemed to suck out of the room.
I guffawed. “That’s a fitting name for a forest from hell.”
“Gods above.” Moya pinched the bridge of her nose. “What were you doing in the Dark Forest? How did you even get out in one piece?”
I shrugged, but it killed my neck. “Not without great difficulty. There was no way to get home, no source of water to be seen around the castle–”
“Wait, what castle?” Julie breathed. “Oden’s castle?”
“Who’s Oden?” I asked.
Lattie rolled her eyes as Moya replied, “Oden is the Dark Lord of Nightmares. He rules the Territory of Nightmares, and no one, I mean no one, dares go there. Let alone brave the horrors of the forest he uses to protect his home.” She shook her head in disbelief, staring at me. “How did you ever….”
“When I ran from Tess, I found an exit and went outside,” I began. “I just needed some air, y’know?” My friends nodded in understanding. “I mean, holy shit. My entire life was turned upside down in the last twenty-four hours. Everything I ever knew was revealed to be lies. Everything. I feel bad for just running out like that, for leaving you guys to deal with her, but I just…I just couldn’t. Not after everything else I’ve dealt with since moving to the city. I never get a moment’s peace, no time to settle or digest anything before something else comes along.” Julie took my hand, her crystal eyes glossed with concern. “But Evaine was there. Almost as if she knew. Before I could call for help, she took me and wisped away. She dragged me to the Dark Lord’s castle and–” I flexed my shaky hands in front of my eyes. “My magic exploded from me; I was so pissed. Everything began to crumble and fall, the ceiling and walls caved in on us, but I somehow got out onto the lawn just before it all came crashing down.” I gazed distantly as I recalled everything. “They…it fell on them.”
No one said anything for a long moment. Julie and Moya exchanged a worried glance before my best friend squeezed my hand. “Well, that confirms who hired Evaine to follow you.”
“It was stupid,” I said. “I shouldn’t have run like that. What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” Julie replied. “You’re going through some serious stuff here, Av’. Take some time to digest it all, and figure some things out. In the meantime, stay home. It’s safe here.”
“Yes,” Moya agreed. “Evaine can only follow you in Ironworld, not take you. Tessana made sure of it. And the wards around the apartment are a bonus.”
“I can’t believe it,” Julie blew out. “All this time. Tess, the Lady of Summer, was right next door to me. And you…”
I raised my brows. “I can’t believe she lied to me,” I muttered, refusing to let Julie continue where she was going. I didn’t want to discuss who or what I truly was. Who my real mother was.
“She would have done it for a good reason,” Moya said defensively. “Tessana would never… There’s not a bad bone in her body.”
“Protecting the heir to the Seelie throne is a pretty good reason,” Lattie chimed in as she fluttered about the living room.
I chewed at my lip and caught Moya’s gaze. “How do you two know each other?”
She sucked in a deep breath. “It was Tessana who took me and my sisters in when were first came to land. Gave us a home at her family’s estate on the beaches of Summer.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a good ruler.”
Moya shook her head. “No, it goes beyond that. Tessana comes from one of the oldest families in Faerie’s history, and her parents had long arranged a union with Kheelan before she was even born. She saw duty in her position by his side, a duty she couldn’t ignore. We grew apart. The night of their union, I was on my way to the Summer castle to make amends, but…she’d disappeared. I wager that was the night she fled Faerie with you in her arms.”
Guilt slammed down on me, and I stifled a whimper in my chest as I curled my knees to it.
“Not to worry,” Moya said and patted my leg. “What’s done is done. All that matters now is that everyone is where they belong, including you. Stay put in Ironworld. You’ll be safe here.”
“Only from being taken,” I replied. “Evaine can still hurt me here. She can hurt all of you. She proved that with Max.”
God, the whole Max situation felt like a lifetime ago.
Julie chortled and crossed her arms as she leaned back. “That’s if they even survived what you did.”
My eyes widened. “You think I…killed them?” A dry tightness formed in my throat.
“It’ll take more than a bit of rubble to kill the likes of the Dark Lord and his assassin,” Moya said with a chuckle. “But keep practicing your magic, stay close to home, and assume your normal life during the day. Evaine only lurks in the shadows and darkness.” She tossed a dusty rose peacoat over her jumper and locked her eyes on mine. “You are the single most precious thing in our world right now. Keep yourself safe.” She gave Julie a firming look, and Julie nodded dutifully.
With that, Moya wisped into thin air, taking Lattie with her. I stretched my legs out on the sofa, surprised by how little they hurt. In fact, my whole body felt far better than it should have, considering the injuries I’d had.
“Moya healed most of your serious injuries,” Julie said quietly as if reading my mind.
She just stared at me in awe, and I hated every second of it. I didn’t want her to look at me any differently now that I was some sort of prodigal heir. She opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.
“Did you know?” I asked curtly. “Did you suspect it at all?”
“No, Av’, I swear,” she replied sincerely. “I had no idea who you really were or that Tess was otherworldly. She covered it well.” Julie paused to swallow nervously, and her cheeks flushed with guilt.
I managed to stand up from the sofa. “I’m tired. I think I’m gonna go to bed.”
I walked toward my room, and Julie followed.
“But I knew there was something about you.” Her voice was a pitch higher and soaked with worry. “At best, I assumed you were just a normal mortal with the Sight. But I’m sorry that I kept even that much from you. Moreso now.” I half turned to face her as I touched the doorknob. She smiled, but her glistening eyes begged for forgiveness.
“It’s okay,” I told her and turned the knob.
Everyone I love lies to me.