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Zoe clutched her side as she stumbled through the castle doors, trying to catch her breath.
Silver came down the steps and into the entrance hall. “Hey, are you hurt?”
“No. Maybe. Yeah,” she gasped, pushing her hair off her face. “I ran all the way here. Nick’s nagging must be paying off. I never could have run all the way here without using my powers a few weeks ago.”
Silver snorted. “Don’t tell him that.”
“Hopefully I’m getting the hang of this guardian thing,” she said. “I got your message about the latest victim, is Nick here?”
“Not yet. I’m just about start to work, want to come and look?” Silver motioned for Zoe to follow her, not waiting for an answer.
She shrugged. “I already have nightmares. Seeing you cut into a few dead bodies will add some changes.”
“I’m not cutting the body open yet, I’m doing some tests first.”
Zoe followed Silver up to her lab. “So what kind of fey is it?”
“Not all Magickind are fey,” Silver pointed out.
“Fey seem to be the most common.”
“Fey is just a general term for certain types of creatures. There are three different types of Magickind, fey, witches and shifters, but the fey aren’t as varied as they used to be since we’re going extinct.”
“Nick says no one knows why.” Zoe had always been curious about the fey’s dwindling numbers. Didn’t the fey themselves, or even the Circle, want to know why so many of them were dying out? She knew why she and Nick were the only two guardians left, but if there were so many different types of fey, what was killing them?
Silver shrugged. “My guess would be humans over-populating the planet, messing with the natural world. At least, that certainly doesn’t help.”
Zoe told her about the attack she’d experienced the night before, shuddering at the memory. “Any idea what it might be?”
Silver shook her head. “Sounds like it could be some kind of spirit, but that’s not my field of expertise.”
Zoe pulled out one of Raf’s books. She loved exploring his library. He had dozens of books on every kind of fey and Magickind. She’d been fascinated to learn there were also a lot of different kinds of shifters, and witches with a wide variety of gifts.
Zoe sat reading, and watched Silver take blood from the body of a woman. To her surprise, she didn’t feel as grossed out she had before. “What are you looking for?”
“I’m trying to figure out what killed her. I haven’t been able to figure out what she is so far, which isn’t helping.” Silver glanced over. “Maybe you could help with that.”
“You want to scan for weird symbols again?” She hopped off the table she’d been sitting on and put the book down.
“Guardians can sense what different species are—not just fey,” Silver said. “Try it.”
Zoe walked over and held her hand over the woman’s forehead.
“Skin to skin contact might make it easier.” Silver held up a spray bottle. “Use this sealant, that way you won’t contaminate the body.”
Zoe sealed her hands, placed her palm on the woman’s forehead, and closed her eyes. “Nick makes being a guardian look so easy.”
Silver snorted. “You should have seen him when we were growing up. He was a nightmare! He went off the rails for a while—not surprising after everything he’s been through.”
Zoe frowned. “How do you mean?”
Silver shook her head again. “His mum died when he was young, and his dad didn’t treat him well. He lived on the street until Raf found him.”
Strange, Nick had never mentioned any of that—not that he ever spoke of his past other than to say it was best forgotten.
“What’s with him and Sabine?” Zoe asked. “I know they were a couple once, but why does he hate her so much?”
Silver laughed. “I wouldn’t call them that. They were together a few years back when Nick’s guardian powers started emerging,” she answered. “Sabine likes powerful lovers, it doesn’t matter if they’re male or female. I think she messed him up, it’s not easy for him to get close to anyone now.” She grinned. “You like him, don’t you?”
“When he’s not nagging me, yeah.” She chuckled. “He’s been a good friend.”
Silver disappeared out of the room to grab something while Zoe continued to try and sense what the dead woman had been.
Still nothing.
Just when I thought I’d got a hang of this guardian thing. She drew back and closed her eyes again, letting her senses roam over the body. The sensing seemed to produce different feelings, so she waited to see what happened.
Come on, I know I can do this! Energy hummed from inside the body, Zoe’s eyes turned bright amber she felt her magic flare. Show me what you are.
The woman’s body started twitching and she suddenly gasped as she sucked in a breath. “Oh god, what’s happening? Where am I?”
Holy crap, did I just revive a dead person?
Zoe’s heart started pounding in her ears.
“Tell me what you are,” she hissed, her voice low and harsh.
“I’m a witch, but...” The woman’s eyes rolled back as light poured out of her mouth.
Runes appeared on the body. Zoe grabbed her phone and took a shot of it. She gasped as the feeling of power faded. Touching the woman’s throat, she felt no pulse there.
The sound of footsteps echoed as Silver came back down the hall.
The Circle were suspicious enough of her already. She didn’t want to give them cause to question her further.
Maybe it’s a guardian thing?
Zoe took a deep breath. You can’t tell anyone what just happened. Keep it together.
“Er...I-I sensed she’s a witch, and I got this.” She held up her phone. “More runes.”
“Great, Nick or Raf should know what they mean. I found something for you.” She held out a leather-bound tome. “It’s Raf’s history of the guardians. You should read it. It’ll answer more questions than any of us can.”
“Great.” Zoe took the book, settled down a chair and flipped it open, hoping it’d prove a good distraction after what had just happened.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You look a bit pale,” Silver remarked.
“Headache,” she lied, forcing her attention onto the book. Oh god, how did I revive the dead? No one’s mentioned that. Isn’t it supposed to be impossible?
While Silver worked, Zoe forced herself to read. Maybe this book would be able to give her answers.
It spoke of certain fey being imbued with power, who later became known as guardians. They protected humans from supernaturals and in turn prevented the magical world from ever being exposed—just like what Nick had told her so far.
She carried on reading, wanting to absorb every detail, but ended up skimming as she flipped through, noting drawings of different runes. The book spoke of how guardians had been killed by one of their own, woman called Elena.
“Who’s Elena?” Zoe asked.
Silver flinched. “I wouldn’t mention that name. Elena was a guardian—a really powerful one too—but she turned and started using her powers against humans, witches, everyone and anyone who got in her way,” she answered. “No one talks about her anymore. She almost wiped out the guardians, and a lot of other fey.”
“What happened to her?”
Silver shook her head. “No one knows. She disappeared decades ago during the Guardians’ War. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Circle did something to her.”
Zoe laughed. “As if they could. She sounds badass.” Idly, she started humming.
“What’s that song?” Silver said.
Zoe shrugged. “No idea, it just popped into my head.”
“Sounds like an old fey lullaby.”
“Maybe I’m starting to remember something.” She frowned, trying to place the song.
Silver’s phone chimed, and she glanced at the screen. “It’s a message from Raf. He says he wants to see you in his office. Now.”
Zoe shifted from foot to foot she waited outside Raf’s office, wondering why he had suddenly called her there. She’d have been happy to stay in the lab with Silver. She glanced around the hall, noticing the portraits of men and women from ages past. I wonder if they’re fey or some other Magickind.
She guessed Nick must have told him about her bathroom incident the night before. She didn’t mind Raf, he seemed the least frightening out of the entire Circle. Yet he hadn’t been the most welcoming when she’d first discovered the whole guardian thing.
She knocked once, and the door creaked open.
“Ah, sorry, please come in.” As she pushed open the door, she noticed Raf, dressed in a red waistcoat, black slacks, and shiny shoes.
“Do I need to have more tests done?” Zoe asked, clutching the amethyst pendant at her throat. Carmel had given it to her on her twenty-first birthday four years earlier, and she always clutched it when she got nervous. It was shaped like a heart with her name on it. Her heart ached at the thought of Carmel, who lay in a room on the floor above her.
“No, no. I heard about your attack, and I thought it was time I gave you some training myself,” Raf said as he closed the door behind her.
Zoe’s eyes widened. Raf had never shown any interest in training her before. “You’re not a guardian anymore,” she pointed out.
He nodded. “But I’ve been around a long time. I’ve taught a lot of guardians over the past century,” he told her. “I have no doubt Nick’s doing a good job. I mentored him after his mother died.”
Zoe frowned. Nick never spoke about his family, but she’d learnt from Silver that his mum had been a guardian too. The power had to be passed down from a parent. She had even tested to see if Zoe and Nick were somehow related but hadn’t found a match. That meant Nick’s mother hadn’t been the only surviving guardian.
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “Nick has already gone over most things. I know how to banish things, and I’ve gotten pretty good control over my powers now.” She’d taught herself control long before she’d ever known about guardians. She’d had to, growing up with humans. Before Carmel, no one had ever understood her strange abilities.
“You know most of the world’s dark fey—the worst kinds, at least—were banished during the Guardians’ War.”
She nodded as she sat down on the leather visitors’ chair. “Yes, Nick told me about that, and I’ve read about it in your books.”
“That doesn’t tell the complete story, and it’s important for any guardian to know. You see, a thousand years ago, there lived a group of fey called the Tuatha De Danann. There were other fey who wreaked havoc on humans and Magickind alike, and Queen Aine of the light fey decided to use her abilities to enforce peace between the different races,” Raf explained. “A group of De Danann volunteered to undergo changes, so Aine and the witches used the powers of fey, witches and shifters, combining them together to create the very first guardians. Their numbers grew over time, and they worked alongside the Circle for centuries. Until Elena McKenzie came along.”
“I read about her. She’s the one who started the Guardians’ War, right?”
Raf nodded. “I have never met a more powerful guardian. She had the ability to force her will on others. Being a guardian was never enough for her though. She was much more ambitious and even became a Circle leader,” he said. “I worked at her side for a few years.”
Zoe’s eyes widened, though she still wondered why he had told her all this. Then again, if training meant a history lesson, she was fine with that. History in general had always fascinated her, which was why she’d moved to Britain’s oldest recorded town.
Elena seemed fascinating too. Guardians were meant to serve the greater good.
She leaned forward. “What was Elena like?”
“Powerful, strong, wilful. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” His lips curved into a smile.
“Are you afraid I might turn out like her then?” Zoe asked. “Because I’m strong and...well, unusual.”
“The Circle are fearful of that, yes, but personally, I don’t think you’re like her,” Raf said. “People are made good or evil, even if they have power. It’s the choices we make that define who we are.” Raf straightened. “Has Nick ever shown you the barrier to the underworld?”
“No, but he’s mentioned it.”
“A century ago when the other guardians and I banded together, we used all of our power to banish Elena and her followers to the underworld.” Raf held out his hand. “I’d like to show you.”
Zoe bit her lip. “You want me to go into the underworld?” She doubted being around a place full of murderous dark fey and a scorned former guardian would be much fun.
Raf laughed. “No, I can show you the barrier. I want you to practice how to close it,” he said. “Perhaps then you’ll truly understand what it means to be a guardian.”
She reluctantly took his hand, and light flashed around them.
They reappeared on a beach filled with stones that dug into her shoes. The smell of salt and seaweed filled the air. “Where are we here on Mersea Island?”
“On the northern side of Mersea Island. The water surrounding this place stops any miscreant fey from leaving or coming over.” Raf let that go of her hand. “Now, I don’t have the power to directly reveal the barrier, but you do. A guardian’s most sacred duty is to make sure the barrier between the worlds never falls. In her desire for power, Elena brought things out of the underworld that should never have entered this plane. She broke the natural barrier between the worlds, and the other guardians and I had to restore it, sealing off the underworld.”
Zoe hesitated, her heart pounding. She’d feel better if Nick were with them. If something went wrong, he’d know how to fix it. She doubted Raf would be much help, since he had very little power now.
“Okay, how?” She clutched her pendant again.
“Raise your hand and reach out with your senses. All guardians can sense the barrier between realms, because this one was made with guardian power,” Raf said.
Zoe raised her hand, light flaring between her fingers. She sent her senses out into the world, her mind moving beyond the confines of the tiny island. Her magic flowed from her, illuminating the horizon. She hoped no humans saw it.
“Concentrate only on the barrier,” Raf told her. “Think of nothing else.”
She tried not to think about the creepy shadow that kept following her, or what she’d seen in the mermaid’s mind. Is Raf really training me, or is this another test? She wondered. Does he think I’ll turn out like Elena?
Light flashed around her, but she couldn’t find the barrier Raf mentioned.
“Concentrate. You’re safe here. Nothing can harm you,” Raf said.
“I know. If something goes wrong, you won’t go blabbing to the Circle?” she challenged, raising her chin.
She couldn’t trust this man, not really. He might be a former guardian, and Nick’s friend, but that wouldn’t stop the Circle from turning on her. Dorian certainly wanted to lock her up.
“I’m a guardian first, the safety of this world is more important than the Circle. Both humans and Magickind alike would die if the creatures ever got out.”
Zoe gasped as something at the edge of her mind the pulled her like a magnet. A glowing wall of green light appeared, extending skywards around the tiny stretch of beach.
“Whoa, that’s...wow!” she breathed. “You and the other guardians created this?”
“There’s already a natural barrier between this world and the underworld,” Raf explained, staring at the glowing green light. “But yes, this is made from guardian magic to seal the worst kinds of fey in.”
Zoe moved forward, examining the glowing wall. The hairs on her arms stood on end as static charged against her. The power emanating from it sent her senses reeling. She imagined this must have taken dozens of people to erect.
“Aren’t all the dark fey on the other side of this?” She ran a hand through her hair. “Would they all still be alive?”
“Most fey can survive for centuries so yes, most should still be alive,” Raf replied. “Every so often, one or two manage to slip through, especially the more powerful ones. Spirits can pass in and out.”
“Like the thing that keeps following me?” She shivered.
“I don’t think that’s just a spirit, more a projection of something or someone. I wouldn’t know for sure unless I saw it for myself.”
Zoe backed away as a shadow moved past the glowing wall. She caught a flash of dark eyes. “What’s that?” Her hand went to the knife in her jacket.
“The fey on the other side will sense you.” Raf explained as he moved to her side. “The barrier isn’t as strong as it once was, so more fey will start coming through. That’s where you come in. Let’s begin. Reach out with your mind and feel the barrier.”
Zoe doubled over as pain stabbed through her skull. She closed her eyes and saw shadows coming through the barrier in her mind. “How many fey have come through this thing recently?”
