Chapter 22
There was a very good reason my driver’s license listed the restriction that I could not drive at night.
I couldn’t see.
There was a dotting of streetlamps on some of the roads, but that wasn’t near enough light for my bad eyes. So I’d been stubbornly peering across the planes, but the chaotic mess of planes revealed the landscape to my mind instead of my eyes. It was not the best way to navigate a two-ton vehicle traveling at breakneck speed.
I ran two stop signs and a light before the fog of adrenaline-fueled flight thinned enough that I realized that while I didn’t want Tem to catch up to me, I also didn’t want to accidentally kill anyone, myself included. Thankfully, this part of town was fairly quiet, the streets more or less empty. That wouldn’t be the case when I reached a more populated area, though.
I slowed at the next intersection, in part because I was trying to figure out where the heck I was, and because, as I squinted at the traffic light, I couldn’t actually tell what color it was. Aetheric energy swirled everywhere, tinting everything with splashes of random color, and the stoplight itself looked like it was about to fall off the wire holding it, the land of the dead making it appear as if all the lights had been busted, the casing around them rusted.
Great.
I inched the car forward, checking that both directions were clear before crossing the intersection, still not sure if the light had been green or red. The next intersection was just as bad, but this one had an odd formless . . . something . . . hanging out at the corner of the street. The other problem about peering across planes? There were other entities that lived on some of those planes, and a lot of them weren’t exactly friendly. I sped through that intersection without stopping, but the next one actually had a car, which in my sight was such a rust bucket, if I hadn’t seen the soft glow of a soul inside, I wouldn’t have realized it was only stopped at the light and not parked.
This was not working.
In the seat beside me, the shadow cat paced, her tail whipping in apparent agitation. “I feel you,” I grumbled to her, though I had no idea how much she could understand.
She jumped onto the dash to pace there instead. “Hey. Don’t block my view.” I was having enough problems without adding a pacing shadow getting in the way.
I reached a major street, one I actually recognized. I could go left to head back downtown or right to cross the river and head toward the magic district. I needed to get off the road. Driving like this was insane. Leaning across the seat, I searched the passenger floorboard for my phone. I found it under my purse, the screen shattered, the plastic casing crushed. For half a heartbeat I hoped it only looked that bad because I was seeing it across the planes. But no. It really was smashed. Tem must have crushed it after spelling me.
Great. So that eliminated the possibility of calling for help. Hell, I couldn’t even summon a ride-share to come pick me up. It also meant I had no way to check in and see if the police were still looking for me. I glanced toward the Magic Quarter. I wanted more than anything to go home and curl under the covers with my dog, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything useful, and considering I needed to avoid both the human authorities and Ryese’s minions, it wasn’t a safe option. I could go back to the FIB headquarters; I was pretty sure Nori was loyal to winter, but after the last few hours, I wasn’t particularly inclined to take any chances.
Which meant turning left was my best option. I could head to my father’s just like I’d planned before I’d been abducted. I’d never told Tem where I’d been headed, so it wasn’t like I’d be easy to track, and I still needed to talk to the shadow court about a door for the independents. If Falin was still in shadow, it would be good to tell him what I’d learned about Ryese. The power-crazy fae needed to be stopped, and I doubted the fact that he was now the Light King would make things any easier. I had doubts I’d find Falin in shadow, though. He’d seen at least part of Tem’s attack before the troll had ripped the mirror off my car, and Falin wasn’t the type to wait around.
A car horn sounded behind me. Apparently I’d been sitting too long. At least that meant the light was green. I flipped on my blinker, pulling forward.
“Well, I guess I’m off to talk to your master,” I said to the cat, who was still swishing her tail. “Since you’re here, I assume that means he’s expecting me, at least.”
The cat cocked her featureless head as I pulled into the turn, heading toward my father’s mansion. Then she launched herself at the dash of my car. The rearview mirror was gone—Tem had crushed it before hurling it from the car earlier—so the cat melted into the front windshield instead.
Shadows spread like ink across the glass, blacking out the world beyond. I slammed on my brakes as the visibility through the glass turned to nothing, which, considering I was only partially using my eyes to see, might not have been that bad, but whatever communication spell coated the glass with the cat’s shadow also blocked my mind’s ability to perceive the road through it.
“I didn’t mean right now, you crazy cat!”
The darkness only deepened and another horn sounded behind me. I was still in the middle of the intersection, halfway through my turn. I released the brakes, letting the car roll forward.
A face appeared in my windshield, tilted, oddly distorted, and very concerned. Make that two very concerned faces.
“Alex, are you okay? Where are you?” Falin said.
“Driving!” Or trying to. I hit my window button, rolling it down so I could look out at where I was going. Because this hadn’t been hard enough before I had two fae royals blocking the road.
“You need to get to the pocket of Faerie,” Dugan said, and I nodded, angling my car toward the shoulder.
“That’s where I was headed. If I don’t get in a wreck on the way.”
“Are you driving at night?” Falin asked, concern thick in his voice.
“Yes. And you two need to get out of my window so I don’t crash.”
Dugan didn’t waste time with good-byes. He and Falin vanished, the shadows dispersing so that I could see through the front windshield again. That was good; now I was back to just the problem that I had to navigate Nekros while peering through the planes.
The drive was excruciating, and I was shaking with adrenal fatigue by the time I pulled into my father’s driveway. I wasn’t sure how many traffic laws I’d violated during the fifteen-minute drive, but I hadn’t killed anyone, wrecked my car, or gotten pulled over by the cops, so I was counting it as a win. It definitely wasn’t an experience I wanted to have ever again.
Of course, now that I’d reached my father’s, I had a new obstacle: I had to find a way inside. Earlier, there’d been a chance I could have talked my way in before his security or staff was informed about his disappearance. But, unless he’d reappeared while I was being held in Ryese’s circle, he’d been gone for hours now. It was almost a guarantee that everyone on the premises knew about his disappearance. They’d likely also been informed that an FIB agent had been his last visitor before he’d vanished.
I glanced at the huge electronic gate stretching across the front drive, an eight-foot wall on either side of it. I tried to imagine myself sneaking around to some dark corner of the property and scaling the wall, and I just couldn’t. I was too damn tired for that. I’d been held captive for most of the day, my magic being drained out of me; I’d fought and run, and just navigated through pure madness to get this far. I wasn’t an action hero who could bound over walls.
I hit the button on the intercom.
After a few moments a scratchy voice said, “State your name and purpose.”
There was almost certainly an APB for FIB special agent Alex Craft circulating. Most likely security here had been warned as well. But I did have another name, one that would have a lot more sway in this house, even if I’d had it legally changed as soon as I’d turned eighteen.
“Alexis Caine,” I said, the name rolling off my tongue despite not using it in years. “I’d like to see my sister.”
Security left me waiting at the gate long enough that I started to get twitchy. Had Casey refused my visit? Or was security actively calling the cops? I was the unacknowledged child, but I knew for a fact that my father had my real name on an approved list somewhere. My relationship with Casey was complicated, though, to say the least. She might not be my best ticket into the house.
We’d never been particularly close. She’d been a young child when our father had shipped me off to boarding school because I couldn’t hide my grave magic. I’d come home during summer breaks, but I’d always been closer to my older brother, not Casey. After he’d disappeared, well, she just became the symbol of everything I wasn’t. She was the pretty, perfect daughter my father kept, while I was the one with wyrd magic who he’d hidden away. It wasn’t that we disliked each other, we just led very different lives that had little reason to intersect. She hadn’t started actively avoiding me until after the events under the Blood Moon when she’d nearly been sacrificed by a psychopath. I’d been the one to stop him and save her, but now I was a reminder of that night. I hadn’t thought she’d refuse to see me, though.
Of course, it was possible she hadn’t even been told I was here. Maybe my license plate had been run as soon as I’d pulled onto the property and security was only going through the motions.
I was putting my car in reverse, about to get the hell out of Dodge and try to come up with some other way of reaching the pocket of Faerie—not that I had any idea how I’d accomplish that task—when a sharp buzz sounded. With a whirl of gears, the gate rolled open. I eyed the now clear path. So my sister hadn’t refused my visit? Or was SWAT en route and security was trying to keep me on the premises until they arrived?
“I can’t be skeptical of everything,” I muttered to myself, as I let the car roll forward. And I needed inside that house. The shadow cat had returned to the shadow realm after opening the connection in my window. I was sure Dugan would send her back if I didn’t get to the pocket of Faerie soon, but I’d rather avoid any more makeshift communication attempts.
The gate shut behind me, and I cringed with the sound of it locking into place. I was committed now. No easy way out. I just hoped I would find Casey waiting for me, not a small battalion of security guards.
It was with more than a little trepidation that I parked and made my way up the front steps. A butler met me at the front door, which I took as a positive sign. Even better, he led me to a small drawing room off the front foyer.
“Miss Casey will be around shortly,” he said, gesturing toward an ornate, but uncomfortable, love seat in the center of the room. “Would you care for some refreshments?”
I didn’t intend my meeting with Casey to take long, I’d simply needed an excuse to get into the house. I’d probably also need her permission to get upstairs and to the warded and locked suite that now contained a pocket of Faerie. But, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it had been a very long day.
“Refreshments would be amazing,” I said, my stomach rumbling at the thought of food.
He gave a small nod and then let himself out of the room, leaving me inside alone. I didn’t sit in the seat he’d indicated, but paced as I waited. The seconds ticked by, turning into minutes, and I fidgeted looking toward the door. Maybe I should try to sneak upstairs and skip seeing Casey at all. Of course, if I did that, there would be quite an uproar and security would be searching the house as soon as someone discovered I’d left this room. I could wait a few more minutes for Casey.
I continued pacing, walking faster as the seconds ticked by. There was a large mirror over the unlit fireplace, and I caught my reflection as I passed it. Then I stopped, wincing as I turned to study my face closer.
I had seen a lot of my reflection over the last few hours, but my grime-streaked face and curls caked to the side of my head looked a whole lot worse in this pristine sitting room than they had under the harsh lights of the stone room where I’d been held. The butler was clearly worth every penny my father was paying him because he hadn’t even blinked at my appearance.
I was scrubbing at the gray smudges on my cheek when the door finally opened and Casey walked into the room.
“Alexis, what is going on?” she demanded before the door fully closed behind her. Then her eyes landed on me and she stopped, whatever sharp words were on her tongue stalling. “Are you okay?”
I dropped my hand, giving up the futile attempt at not looking like I’d just been dragged through a war zone. Casey, of course, looked perfect.
She always dressed like she’d just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine, and today was no different, though the neckline of her blouse was perhaps higher than it would have been in years past and I could feel the tingle of magic from the concealment charms she wore to hide any remaining scars from that night nearly seven months ago. Her makeup and hair were perfect as she stood in the doorway, looking exactly like the socialite she’d been raised to become. Except that there was a fragility in her blue eyes now, a suspicion and distrust not of me but of the world, that had never been there before.
“I, uh . . .” I ran a hand through my hair, but my fingers tangled and flakes of mud fell from my curls to the very expensive-looking rug. “Hi.”
Casey frowned, finally walking the rest of the way into the room and letting the door swing shut behind her. With her initial shock at my bedraggled appearance having passed, her gaze turned to critical disapproval.
“What is going on?” she demanded again.
“It’s been a long day.”
Her frown deepened. “Do tell. The police were here for most of the afternoon. Daddy is missing.”
I’d been prepared to hear that news, and yet I still had to fight not to cringe, to school my face neutral. She studied me for several seconds, her lips compressed in a tight line. Then she walked across the room and settled herself into one of the chairs. Her posture remained perfect as she crossed one leg over the other. That was why the chairs didn’t have to be comfortable—you perched on them, you didn’t sit and relax.
“Imagine my surprise,” Casey said, smoothing the edge of her skirt over her knee, “when the lead detective held up a picture of you and asked if I recognized you. He said you were the last one seen with Daddy.”
“And what did you tell him?” Because my relationship to our father was relatively unknown, but not actually secret. Anyone looking hard enough could find it, but if the press caught wind of the fact that the governor’s estranged daughter was suspected in his disappearance, it would be quite a scandal. My mind flashed back to the last image I had of my father, blood seeping through his shirt and dribbling from the corner of his mouth, and a sick, guilty feeling twisted my stomach for my first thought being of what he’d think of the damage to his career. Wherever he’d vanished to, he might be beyond caring about scandal.
“I avoided the question, of course.” Casey hissed out the answer in a whisper as a knock sounded on the door.
The butler walked in, carrying a tray, which he placed on the small side table to the left of Casey. He filled two cups with coffee from a steaming pot and then looked to Casey, who nodded her thanks, dismissing him without either ever speaking a word.
I didn’t exactly rush the tray, but I’d grabbed my coffee before the butler even made it out of the room. I cupped it between my hands, letting the warmth sink into my fingers as I inhaled the scent. Casey gave me a disapproving look as she meticulously adulterated her own cup with cream and sugar. I ignored her as I examined the rest of the tray, selecting a large shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate before retreating farther away to devour my spoils. The coffee was strong and bitter and the cookie soft with just a hint of sweet. In other words, both were perfect and I made quick work of the cookie, wondering if it would be horrible to grab another, considering Casey hadn’t even selected her first yet. It wasn’t like I was worried about my younger sister approving of my manners, so I walked over and studied the carefully arranged tray.
“I need to go upstairs,” I said without preamble as I snagged a second cookie, this one gingersnap.
The color drained from Casey’s face, her gaze moving toward the ceiling as if drawn there against her will. There were two floors above us, and a lot of rooms, but I knew exactly which one painted the thin sheen of horror across her features. I’d had nightmares for months after the events that went down in Casey’s old bedroom. From the haunted look in her blue eyes, I guessed Casey still had those nightmares.
She tore her gaze from the ceiling and seemed to shake herself, her composure falling back in place as she took a dainty sip of her coffee.
“Did you know you’re glowing?” she asked, watching me consume my cookie with censure in her eyes.
Oh yeah. I’d forgotten she hadn’t seen me since that fun little change. Because this wasn’t already complicated enough. But I didn’t have the time or energy to have a heart-to-heart about all the changes in my life, and I doubted Casey would actually care. I shoved the last bite of cookie in my mouth, considered snagging a third, but decided that might be pushing it. Brushing my fingers off on my pants—which, considering everything those pants had been through today, probably actually made my fingers dirtier—I decided to simply ignore her question and repeat my earlier statement.
“I need to go upstairs,” I said again before taking a deep swig of my coffee.
“If there is something of Daddy’s you need, you’ll have to go through his aides or secretaries. Or the police.”
“I just need to visit a room.”
“Which room?” The question was so casual it betrayed itself, as did the way her knuckles turned white where she gripped her coffee cup.
I just looked at her.
She slammed the cup back on the tray, coffee sloshing over the rim, onto her hand, but she didn’t seem to notice, her eyes hard and fixed on me. “Why? Why would you want to go in there, Alexis?” She pushed to her feet and stormed toward me. My sister wasn’t a tall woman. Even in her heels she was a full head shorter than me, but right now, she looked fierce, her eyes shiny with tears that sparkled with hot anger. “Where is Daddy? Did you really see him today? What happened? Where is he!”
I didn’t step back, but the urge was there. Instead I let my mind travel back to this afternoon. A lot had happened since then, but the horror I’d felt when my father had collapsed was still there, and I let it show in my face. Even if we didn’t get along, he was still my father and what I’d witnessed had shaken me.
“I saw him today,” I said, again feeling the panic, the fear, the sorrow. I wanted to look away from Casey, to not share those raw emotions as she was more stranger than friend, even if we shared blood. My father had confided recently that he wasn’t actually related to Casey, she was just a backup of our mother’s DNA for his grand planeweaver breeding program. But he’d raised her, and she deserved to know what had happened to him. So I met her gaze, let her see the emotion in mine.
“I was there when . . . when it happened,” I said, biting my lower lip because this was hard, the words resistant to being spoken. “He . . . he was attacked. Hurt. And then he vanished.”
She studied me for several heartbeats, and then her eyes narrowed. She shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense, Alexis. What do you mean he was attacked and then vanished? People don’t just vanish.”
And hadn’t I had the same thought? But he had disappeared, not even taking his clothes with him. I had no idea how it was possible, but it was undeniable.
“Look at me, Casey,” I said. “Like you said, I glow. This is hereditary. Dad? He isn’t human. And he vanished.”
There was an edge to my voice, something sharp and cutting. I wasn’t yelling. Not yet, but that was a possibility too. I’d had a long couple days. This conversation? It wasn’t helping. I needed to wrap it up and get upstairs. To work out a plan to evacuate the stranded fae and to figure out what the hell to do about Ryese.
Casey stared at me like I’d sprouted a second head—or like I’d just stated my glow came from the fact that our father was fae. Wait, yes, that was what I’d just done.
She turned, her heels clicking on the ground. “You should leave, Alexis. I can’t have this conversation right now.”
Now it was my turn to blink in surprise. She didn’t spout denials, proclaiming the purity of our father’s humanity. She didn’t even seem that shocked by the news, only by the fact that I’d voiced it.
“You knew?” My question was a whisper because I’d had no idea until I’d seen the proof with my own eyes half a year ago.
“I live here. Daddy is . . . complicated. And then there is you. And you weren’t here before Bradley disappeared, but I was and he was doing things humans just don’t do, not even witches . . .” She trailed off. I gaped because I’d never known that. Our older brother had vanished when I’d been away at boarding school. I’d only found out when the headmistress called me into her office and let me know that my brother was missing but my father felt it would be best if I stayed at school and kept my normal routine.
“And now Daddy’s vanished.” Her voice quivered, but it didn’t break. “The investigators who were here earlier are questioning if you’re involved. There is video of you walking out alone, but they suspect that could be glamour because you look fae.” She paused to sweep her gaze over me, and I knew what went unsaid was that I didn’t just look fae, but she didn’t state the obvious. “And you’re saying Daddy was attacked before he vanished. By who? How?”
I stood there stunned. She stared back at me, eyes shiny like she was holding back tears but also sharp and decisive. I still saw that fragility there, but there was steel in her as well. My sister wasn’t half as broken as I’d suspected.
I hesitated a moment before answering her questions. She deserved to know what had happened to our father; the problem was that I didn’t have the answers she was looking for.
“I’m not sure. It must have been a magical attack.” Though I still hadn’t figured out how, as I hadn’t felt it and his wards hadn’t reacted, but what other explanation was there? “As to the who . . . I have a suspect.” Ryese was at the top of my list. I didn’t know how he’d accomplished it, but the spell in the roses with their sympathy card had carried the same magical signature as the circle he’d created and trapped me inside, and they’d shown up right after the attack. I didn’t know why he’d done it, if attacking my father had simply been to needle me or if there was some other plan in the works that involved stirring up the human world with an attack on the governor, but somehow this all came back to Ryese.
Casey bit her lips together, evaluating. “And now you’re here and want to go upstairs. That room, it . . .” She paused, a shiver running over her. Then she took a deep breath before continuing. “Is there something up there that will help you solve what happened to Daddy? Bring him back?”
I was rather doubtful of that last part, so all I said was “Before he vanished, he told me to come here.” Mostly true. He’d told me to use the space to evacuate the fae.
Again her gaze moved upward. “It’s locked.”
“I know.” I didn’t elaborate. Our father had taken me to that pocket of Faerie several times. I knew the wards he kept on the door and which glyphs would unlock it. I’d been back inside that room enough that it no longer haunted my nightmares—or maybe in the months since the Blood Moon I’d simply seen enough worse things that Coleman’s attack no longer ranked high enough to be what woke me at night.
Casey looked like she was going to protest, to once again suggest I leave. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if she insisted. I needed to reach that pocket of Faerie. How I was going to get the rest of the fae to it once I negotiated a door . . . well, that was going to be its own minefield. First I had to convince Casey to let me go up there. After a moment she sighed.
“Come on, then,” she said, turning toward the door.
I blinked, not following her. “You’re going with me?”
The color washed from her face and she shivered once more before shaking her head. “Never. But I’ll walk you as far as the stairs and I’ll let security know I’ve given you permission to head up to the second floor.”
True to her word, she escorted me to the stairwell, but she stopped before setting foot on the bottom step. She grabbed on to the banister, as if she could draw strength from the wood, but she made no attempt to follow as I began climbing. I had to wonder if she’d been up to any of the upper levels since the night of the Blood Moon.
“See yourself out when you’re done,” she said, and then she turned, her heels clicking on the marble flooring as she left me alone.