A Faerie's Curse (Creepy Hollow #6) (23 page)

His eyes close as his brow touches mine. “Did I tell you I dreamed of kissing you?”

My hands rise again and gently clasp his face. The air between us fills with specks of golden light as my thumb brushes over his lips. “Yes.”

His head tilts to the side. I feel his apple-scented breath on my skin.

Then he freezes.

“What's wrong?” I ask, my eyes flying open.

Chase frowns as he focuses on something over my shoulder. “That had better not be a full moon.”

I twist around and see the silvery orb hanging above the horizon. “No. Full moon is tomorrow night.”

“
Tomorrow—
Are you serious?”

I turn back to him. “Uh, yes.”

“We have to go back. Immediately. We have to stop her.”

“Of course we have to stop her, but you and I can't do that on our own.”

“Actually, we can,” he says, moving past me to climb out of the water. “I don't generally like to bring this up, but I single-handedly destroyed large parts of the fae realm once upon a time. As long as there's no morioraith around, I can probably take out my mother and a pair of witches.”

“I'm fully aware of the devastation you're capable of
on a normal day
,” I say as he pulls me from the pool. “But several hours ago, you were close to death. Your wounds may have healed, but you're still weak. You haven't eaten in days—and no, the apples don't count. You need to
rest
!”

Chase stops on top of a rock and looks back at me as he drips water all around him. “So what do you propose? We find something to eat, rest here for the night, and take on Angelica some time tomorrow?”

“Yes. That sounds infinitely more sensible.”

He nods. “You're right. I'm sorry. I'm going to blame the hunger for my illogical Plan A.”

“Since we're no longer rushing back to the palace, would you like to add ‘fix torn T-shirt' to Plan B?”

“Ah, yes.” He looks down at himself as if just remembering that he shed the tatters of his T-shirt. “Unfortunately, I'm not very good at clothes casting.”

“I'll do it quickly,” I say, bending to retrieve the T-shirt from where he dropped it earlier. “It won't be neat or clean, but it'll at least be whole.” When I've joined the torn pieces with my limited clothes casting knowledge, I hand it to him. “So what now?” I ask, rubbing my hands up and down my arms as I begin to shiver. “We scour the nearby trees for anything edible?”

“Yes.” Chase climbs back down beside me, wavering a little on unsteady legs, and raises his hands. A blast of warm air spins around me, tangling my hair and drying my skin in seconds.

“Stop wasting your energy!” I tell him when he stops.

“Stop worrying. I've got all night to recover. Are you dry yet?”

I pat my pants. “Mostly. My clothes are still a bit damp.”

The blast of hot hair comes again, wrapping around us both this time. It's almost impossible to breathe with the air being continually sucked away from me, so I'm breathless by the time he's done. “Okay, let's start looking. There must be something edible out here.”

I push my arms into my jacket sleeves and pull my boots back on. “Not that it's important,” I say as we climb over and around rocks toward the trees on the other side of the pool, “but what were you doing looking over my shoulder when you were supposed to be kissing me?”

“It's dangerous out here,” he says. “I was just making sure we were still alone.”

Hopefully that's the truth. Hopefully he wasn't bored before our kiss even began.

Not wanting to alert the centaurs to our presence, we search as far into the trees as we dare, finding nothing more than a clump of roots that Chase assures me are edible. He grasps the purple leaves and yanks the bulbous hairy root from the ground. “You're sure we can eat that?” I ask, my tone doubtful.

“Yes. Luna often cooked with this.”

“We're not exactly equipped to boil stuff out here.”

“That's what magic is for,” Chase says.

We return to the rocks, which feel safer to hide amongst than the trees. I lean over the pool and clean the mottled roots, then lower my head further and splash water onto my face, doing my best to clean the remaining black makeup off. Chase holds the roots one at a time between his hands and heats them until their skin begins to split. Then we sit together in the darkness, our only light the luminescence glowing from the pink buds in the nearby trees, and eat our meager dinner.

“Hmm,” Chase says. “They're pretty bland. And not quite the same as if they were boiled.”

“But good enough to … fill an empty stomach.” My jaw strains as I yawn widely in mid-sentence. I rub my tired eyes.

“You need to sleep, Miss Goldilocks. We need to be—” He straightens, his gaze pointed toward the sky. “Did you see that?”

I blink. “See what?”

“The shadow that passed across the moon for a moment. It looked a bit like … a flying creature.”

I grip Chase's arm. “Like a dragon or a gargoyle? Do you think it could be Gaius or someone else we know?”

“I'm not sure. I'd rather not send up a signal, and then it turns out to be an acquaintance of our new Queen.”

“That would suck.”

Chase stands and looks around. “I'm going to send the signal over there,” he says, pointing to a flat, open patch of ground beyond the trees. “We can remain hidden here, but we should be able to see who it is. And if the centaurs notice the signal, it won't bring them directly to us.”

“Okay. What is this—” A second later, a skinny fork of lightning zigzags down and strikes the ground Chase was pointing at. “Right. That kind of signal.”

We duck down and keep watch between the rocks. I count the seconds. Nothing happens for almost two minutes, but then a large, winged shape swoops down and lands almost exactly where the lightning struck. “That's a dragon,” Chase whispers. “It could be Gaius riding it. He's not a fan of the gargoyles.”

“Is anyone a fan of the gargoyles?”

“Uh … not really.”

A much smaller shape slides off the dragon and lands on the ground. It walks to the side, past the dragon, and I can now make out its silhouette. Tall, lanky, with a tuft of messy hair. “Yeah, that's Gaius,” I say with a smile.

Chase raises his hands and forms a ball of light, dim as a dying candle, between his palms. It takes Gaius a few moments before he notices it. When he does, he ducks down immediately. “He doesn't know it's us,” Chase murmurs. He rotates one hand, and the light begins to shift and change. Slowly, it transforms from a ball into a zigzag. A perfect miniature lightning bolt.

Gaius jumps up and hurries toward us. He pauses to flatten himself against a tree, looking around, before continuing. “Chase?” he whispers once he's almost at the rocks.

Chase allows his light to vanish as he stands. “Looking for me?” he asks.

C
HAPTER

T
WENTY-
F
IVE

A second dragon arrives carrying Elizabeth and Lumethon, along with four gargoyles, one each for Darius, Kobe and Ana, plus a riderless gargoyle. Ana dashes through the trees, leaps over the rocks, and flings herself at Chase. “You're alive, you're alive, you're alive,” she whispers as she hugs him tightly.

“Of course I'm alive,” he says as he embraces her. “It takes a lot to finish me off.” He meets my gaze over the top of her head. I look away as I try not to think of how close to death he was when I found him. How much longer would he have lasted without access to his magic?

Chase's reunion with the rest of his teammates is more contained but no less heartfelt. “You braved the gargoyle cave for me?” he says as he clasps Darius's hand. “Thanks, man. I'm impressed.”

“Yeah, well, don't expect it to happen again. Damn thing nearly bit my arm off.” A low growl comes from the gargoyles' direction.

“I think he heard you,” Ana says with a low giggle.

“Well done, Calla,” Gaius says as he pulls me into a brief hug. “We were all so worried after you suddenly stopped responding last night, but I told everyone you'd be fine. I told them you'd rescue Chase.”

“Oh, yeah, you sound super confident
now
,” Ana says, giving Gaius's arm a playful shove. “You were just as freaked out last night as the rest of us.”

“Hey, can we all get down amongst the rocks?” I whisper. “Centaurs are guarding the forest, and if they weren't sure where we were earlier, they'll have no doubt now.”

“Your illusion told them to guard the trapdoor,” Chase says as we all crouch down and make our way back to the pool where the rocks form a natural barrier around us. “Hopefully they'll continue to obey that instruction.”

Something soft touches my arm before a smooth, cold object is pressed into my hand. A little glass bottle. I look around and find Elizabeth just behind me.
Thanks
, I mouth to her as I wrap my fingers around the bottle. I know exactly what's in it.

It's a challenge to fit eight of us into the small space beside the pool, but somehow we manage it. As we shuffle around, I remove the lid from the bottle and tip the contents down my throat. By the time we're all settled, the empty bottle is somewhere behind me and I'm already beginning to feel better.

Lumethon faces away from the group and raises both hands. I sense a prickle of magic in the air above us. “You talk,” she whispers to the rest of us. “I'll fortify the area.” Kobe lifts one hand and adds his magic to hers.

“How long have you been searching for us?” Chase asks.

“Several hours,” Gaius answers. “We started on the ground, which meant we couldn't cover much area, but we wanted to wait until nightfall before taking to the sky.”

“We didn't know if you'd made it out of the palace, of course,” Elizabeth says, “but since we can't get past that dome-like shield and back onto the palace grounds, we figured we'd just keep searching out here. Darius,” she adds. “The backpack?”

“Oh, right, the food,” Darius says. “And clothes.”

“The statue is here,” Chase informs the group. “The Monument to the First Mer King. Angelica's obviously going to try to tear through the veil right here at the Seelie Court.”

“I saw it too,” Gaius says, “from the carriage as we were flying away last night. That's why we came back prepared. Flying creatures, more weapons, unbreakable rope, food.”

“Food,” Chase repeats with a low groan as Darius unwraps several delicious smelling bundles. Cold meat, fruit, a mixture of nuts.

“Yeah, we figured we wouldn't be leaving here again without a fight,” Ana says.

“And given the, uh, state you were in when we last saw you,” Gaius adds, “we thought you might need some … sustenance.”

“What happened to you after Angelica pulled her insane stunt?” Darius asks. “We were running out of the dungeons so we missed it, but Ana filled us in pretty quickly.”

“I wasn't aware of much,” Chase says as he passes me some food after pulling on a clean T-shirt. “I was taken to a room in one of the towers. I faded in and out of consciousness until Calla showed up some time this afternoon.”

Everyone turns to me to fill in the rest. “I, uh, stopped responding because I kind of … passed out. I think it was from overuse of my Griffin Ability. It drained a lot of my energy.” Which is the truth. No need to add that there's a curse involved. I quickly fill the team in on everything that happened after I woke up amongst the rose bushes this morning. I crunch on a handful of nuts and add, “What happened to all of you?”

“We got out of the dungeons fairly easily,” Elizabeth says. “There was no guard by the tapestry. Plenty of screaming coming from the direction of the ballroom, though. We were completely visible as we ran back through the palace, but no one paid any attention to us. Once we saw the madness in the ballroom and the terrified guests flooding out, we realized why. Everyone fled to the carriages, so we joined them.”

“I wanted to get Chase off the platform,” Ana says. “I mean, he was
so close
. Right there in the same room as us. But Gaius said we wouldn't be able to get through the witches' shield and that we had to stick to the plan. Get out and regroup before attempt number two.”

“Yes, and I still think that was the right thing to do,” Gaius says.

“We did search for you, Calla,” Lumethon adds, looking over at me. “We didn't just abandon you. We called and called, we searched the crowd, we looked around the courtyard and the nearby rooms, but eventually we had to leave. We got one of the last carriages.”

“I understand,” I tell her. “That was the plan, so I'm glad you stuck to it. If not, you'd probably be trapped in the palace and we'd be out here waiting for you to come find us.”

“Fine, I guess the plan was sensible,” Ana admits. “Oh, and Gaius made us sleep in the carriage on the flight back. Can you imagine that? Trying to sleep after seeing the Queen beheaded and Chase looking like … well … you know.”

“Considering we planned to remove our costumes and gather our things immediately upon getting home and come straight back here to fight our new Queen,” Gaius says, “sleep seemed like a good idea.”

“So what's our plan now?” Kobe asks, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. “How will we get through the dome of magic protecting the palace?”

“We don't have to,” I say, since Chase's mouth is still occupied with his dinner. “We can get back in through the royal family's escape tunnel. Chase can open it for us since, you know, royal blood and all that.”

“Wicked,” Ana says with a grin.

“We'll just have to draw the centaurs away from the tunnel trapdoor.”

“Easy enough,” Darius says with a shrug. “Cool, so shall we go now?”

“Well, Chase … hasn't yet regained his full strength,” I say, trying to avoid offending him by using the word ‘weak.' “We were planning to go back tomorrow. Early in the morning before it's light.” And I'm trying to avoid using my Griffin Ability to conceal everyone.

Darius looks around the group with raised eyebrows. “Am I the only one feeling a sense of urgency here?”

“No, you are not,” Lumethon says with a sigh. “But taking Angelica down is likely to be a whole lot easier if Chase is as strong as possible.”

“Unless there's a morioraith hanging around,” Chase says. “We'll need to be prepared for that.”

“We are,” Gaius says. “We brought bells. Not ideal, but I'm afraid I don't own any gongs, and attempting to create some would have taken time.”

“Bells?” Chase repeats. “That old set of handbells from the storage room?”

“Yes, the ones my father owned. If you enlarge them before ringing them, they produce quite a deep, full reverberation. Should be enough to get a morioraith to back off.”

I look at Gaius's backpack, which isn't all that big. “I assume you shrunk these bells before coming here?”

“Oh, yes, of course. They're tiny. We can each take one in a pocket. Just be ready to use an enlarging spell.”

Chase nods. “Okay. Everything will be fine, then. Angelica can't begin the spell until the moon is high tomorrow night. We'll have stopped her by then.”

“Wait, hang on,” I say as my mind runs once again through the details I saw in the visions. “If Angelica doesn't have you—” I look at Chase “—how will she produce the massive amount of energy required to tear through the veil? You know, that lightning bolt from the visions.”

“That energy doesn't have to come from me,” Chase says. “In fact, in the original visions, I don't think it was ever meant to come from me.”

“But … in the vision my mother had, there was a man—which would have been you if this had been carried out years ago—who climbed onto the monument. He held the trident and it started glowing as the witch began her spell. I assumed the glow and the bright flash at the end both resulted from your power.”

“That was my first thought, but then what about the third vision? Remember all those people in the tower? The dozens and dozens who were killed?” I nod as I reach forward for another few strawberries. “The amount of magical energy released from that many people would be far more powerful than any lightning bolt I could produce.”

I pause with a strawberry halfway toward my mouth. “You're saying the energy could come from …
people
?”

Beside me, Ana nods. “Elizabeth was explaining this on the way here. You know what happens to magical energy when someone dies, right?”

“Yes. It's released into nature. It can't be captured. Although,” I add as my mind spins back through everything I've heard, “Tharros somehow did it, didn't he? He stored magic in those griffin discs.”

“Possibly,” Chase says, leaning back on his hands now that he's finished eating. “I've done a lot of reading on the subject, and the stories have become mixed up over time. Some say Tharros had those six discs long before he was killed and that he used witch magic to transfer his—and possibly other fae—magic into the discs. Others say the discs were created after his death in order to lock the chest, and during the magical locking process, some of his power was transferred into those discs. Others say that both stories are true: The discs were already in existence, and the reason they were used to lock the chest was because Tharros's magic was so powerful it could only be contained by equally powerful magic. In other words, his own.”

“I think the Guild's official explanation is the second one,” Gaius says. “They obviously don't like to make reference to any story that could include the capturing of a person's energy.”

“So … is it possible then?” I ask.

“Yes.” Elizabeth leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “The witches have rituals for capturing energy from other beings. Other fae have learned these rituals over time.”

“So
that's
why Angelica and Amon are working with witches,” I say. “Well, just Angelica now, since she's clearly going ahead without Amon.” Now the words I overheard yesterday make sense.
We prepared for this before leaving Creepy Hollow. Together, we have the magical energy of at least fifty men.
I shudder at the thought. Did all those men come from Creepy Hollow?

“So that's why I think the power to rip through the veil was never meant to be
my
power,” Chase says, “I assume that in the vision, I was the one who absorbed all the released energy from those people and channeled it into the trident. But I think anyone could do that part. Anyone who knows the witch rituals, at least.”

“What do you think the Guild's doing about this?” Ana asks. “I bet they're feeling like total idiots for letting Angelica go free.”

“Well, if the Queen—the previous Queen—told them to free Angelica,” Gaius says, “they probably couldn't say no. And the Guild didn't know about the visions at that point, did they?” Gaius looks at me.