Fairy Keeper (17 page)

Keepers had a natural immunity to the effects of raw nectar, which made sense. Flight, though―that was nectar distilled to its strongest essence and mixed with other chemicals for ingestion. No one stood against it, not even keepers.

But who? If Jack wanted Sierra to fail, no doubt he only had to say the word to his enforcer. Jack wouldn’t even have to pay her to do it, either. But Sierra didn’t see why Jack wouldn’t want a queen back. Plus, when would Nell have slipped Sierra any elixir? Sierra was the one who did the majority of the food preparation. Maybe when they were asleep?

But no, as much as she wanted to blame Nell, that didn’t make sense. Jack wanted to find a queen, so subterfuge didn’t make sense… And Corbin would never betray Sierra that way. He wanted to find the queens as much as she did. Was someone else out there with them? An enemy they hadn’t seen? Surely Nell would have heard some evidence of other humans out here.

Sierra shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Who else but Nell could it be, if no one else was out here? Who said Jack had to tell her to do it? Maybe she got tired of Sierra’s interference and decided to suppress her natural attitude problems, soften her up a bit.

It was so hard to think, the world shivering like a big wet dog, sending colors flying through the air.

Corbin held his hand under her elbow, warm and strong, and guided her to sit on a fallen tree trunk. She wished she could lean into him for comfort like she could have a week ago, but instead she held her body upright despite how dizzy she felt. Things were obviously still not quite the same with them, and she didn’t want to ruin the progress they’d made when she hit her target.

Sierra ran her hand over her mark, and again heat shot through her skin, bowing back her head.

Touching her mark usually sent a warm glow down her spine, but this was like a flash fire, an explosion of pain along her spine and down her legs. She shrieked and clapped her hands over the back of her neck, as if she could hold in the pain and keep it from spreading. Her knees shook and she knelt onto the ground, needing to find balance. The clean scent of pine surrounded her as her knees crushed the needles, and she breathed in. The smell reminded her of home. It reminded her of Queen, of Corbin, of time away from Jack. She dropped her hands and bent her head lower down to get a good whiff of the scent. Her hair fell around her face, past her shoulders, off her neck, sliding cool against her warm cheeks. The scent cleared Sierra’s head, like wiping cobwebs from a crowded corner.

Corbin gasped. Sierra whipped her head around to stare at them, both leaning over her. Nell’s face paled. They scrutinized Sierra, shock evident from their expressions.

“What?” she asked, staggering to her feet, looking around for danger. She saw evergreens shooting up so high they hid most of the sky, but no wild animals, no magical creatures. They were only staring at her.

“Your mark―Sierra, it looks… darker.” Corbin swallowed and pressed his lips together. “Turn around.”

Shaken, she did as he asked. She wanted to touch the mark, but she willed her hands to stay still. Touching it might send shocking pain through her again. Corbin lifted up her hair, and the heat of his hand hovered near her mark. Nell approached, her soft stride a light whisper along the path. She sucked in a deep breath.

Sierra gritted her teeth. She felt naked, exposed, standing there with her neck bared. “
Well
?”

“The mark’s as dark as if made by your father’s branding iron, Sierra,” Nell confirmed.

Fear pitched in Sierra’s stomach.

Nell leaned in closer. “Hmm. And the wings are lacy-looking inside now, pretty fancy.”

“Have you ever heard of this happening?” Sierra asked Corbin.

He shook his head.

Nell looked at his mark. “They were the same color before,” she said to Sierra. “But only yours is different now. Not Corbin’s. Why?”

She shrugged. “Why did this happen to me at all?”

Corbin looked stricken, his big brown eyes wide. “It’s probably because you’ve got keepers all over the place in your family. Maybe your blood makes you a stronger keeper.”

He spoke so softly Sierra could barely hear him. She recoiled when she pieced together his words.

“What a crazy thing to say! Don’t be a lunatic, Corbin. No one’s a better keeper than you! The fact that you’re the first in your family makes you even more special. You’ve taught me everything I know.”

He muttered something incomprehensible and then shook his head and took a deep breath. “We’d better keep going, if you’re okay to walk, Sierra.”

This would have been a good time to tell them about the dreams, the weird taste of nectar, the dizziness. Clues most likely existed there, but she looked at Nell, at those cold blue eyes, and couldn’t get the words out. Sierra couldn’t trust her father’s enforcer. Maybe there was some other explanation for why she was hallucinating. It might have nothing to do with Nell. Maybe Sierra was dreaming even right now, but she was going to have to find out. She shrugged again and hoped she was wrong about Nell.

While they hiked, Sierra devised a plan. Close to their regular time to stop for the night, she said, “Hey, Nell, can you and I go hunting? I’m more hungry than usual.”

That part was true as far as it went.

Corbin smiled. “I could use more food too. Hey! Maybe I can try to hunt!”

“No!” Both Nell and Sierra spoke at the same time. They met eyes, and Sierra had to smother a grin. Corbin had proved to be a much worse shot than anyone anticipated. The girls exchanged the same look two adults shared when a toddler did something cute.

Nell told him, “We need you to guard camp. Get the fire going, and we’ll be back soon.”

Sierra almost expected to hear,
We’ll be home soon, honey
, but wasn’t forced to gag when Nell simply strode off into the forest, weaving easily between trees like a wolf. Or a snake. Sierra jogged to catch up.

They walked in silence for a few minutes to get far enough from the sounds of Corbin making camp, sounds that would scare the animals away. Sierra fell in step behind the bigger girl, trying to disturb the ground as little as possible. She hoped they wouldn’t find anything hunting
them
. Even if the myths of dragons and manticores turned out to be unfounded, there were still the average bears and mountain lions. They’d think the girls were a tasty meal, especially in the sparse winter months. That would put a real damper on her plans.

She ran her fingers up and down her bow, tapping her nails ever so lightly on the wood as she walked. If Sierra accused Nell wrongly, this would go badly. Another flicker of lights behind Sierra’s eyes made her stumble. Nell froze, then turned back. In that moment, in Sierra’s eyes, Nell looked like a ghost, a ghost on fire. Orange and yellow light streamed all around her like flames, but her skin was snow-white. Her eyes were solid black, like coal.

The vision lasted only a moment, enough to make Sierra lose her breath from fear, but short enough to make her wonder if she had imagined it. She shook her head, which sent the world reeling, and she had to grab onto something to keep from falling. Nell reached to catch her, but in a panic Sierra grabbed a tree limb that scratched red welts down her arms. She panted as the nausea vanished, and the chilly wind dried sweat from her brow.

“Are you okay?” Nell asked cautiously, her hands ready to grab Sierra if need be.

Sierra didn’t answer, not trusting her voice. The bow had slipped through her fingers at some point, and she slowly leaned down and curled her fingers around the smooth wood. She kept her head steady, afraid of falling off the small ledge that dropped thirty feet on their right.

She knelt and splayed her palms on the ground, letting the pine needles prick her skin. The forest floor reminded her of where she really was. It was one point of reality in a world that had blurred with her recent nightmares.

“It’s Flight, isn’t it?” she snapped when she caught her breath. “Or some new elixir from nectar Jack is testing?”

Nell took a step back, eyebrows high. “
What?”

“I’ve been hallucinating, seeing crazy colors, flashing images of fairies. I taste nectar, Nell. Are you going to stand there and tell me you don’t have something to do with it? Jack didn’t tell you to dose me with something?”

Nell’s eyes were wide, showing the whites around her blue irises. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but you’re sounding a little crazy.”

It had to be a lie.
Something
was happening. Her answer made Sierra’s anger boil over. Nausea and mistrust reared their heads, and Sierra sat up on her knees. She ignored the upheaval in her stomach and drew her bow, arrow ready. Nell reached for her own bow, but Sierra said, “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”

Nell continued to reach.

Sierra growled, “Try me.”

Her words were cold and merciless, even though she hadn’t really intended to draw a bow on the bigger girl. She allowed herself to sink into calm, into the cold place without fear, and she stared at the place under which Nell’s heart beat.

She froze, hand in midair. Smart girl.

Sierra’s head started to throb. More zig-zigs flashed across her vision. She tightened her grip on the bow, the sweat on her palms making the weapon hard to hold.

Corbin will hate me.
The thought whispered through her mind.
Corbin will hate me if I even threaten to shoot her.
She paused, the string loosening some. Maybe there was another way to get the answers she needed.

But as Sierra began to stand, the world dipped again, and a crash ripped through the air. The trees thrashed, danced, waved their arms, and she couldn’t keep the moan from escaping.

Don’t vomit in front of Nell
, she chanted to herself, as the world exploded all around.

But this time Sierra wasn’t hallucinating, because Nell shouted and tried to leap away from the edge. Tried and failed.

The forest floor split with a shriek that sent goose bumps racing across Sierra’s skin. She scrabbled through the dirt to wrap her scratched arms around the root of a giant tree. The ground rolled and tilted toward the ledge, and she cried out, swamped by her oldest fear. Dust filled the air as a giant wedge of land rose up from the earth like the dead coming to life. It shattered the soil, sending dirt spraying. The ledge crumbled in the space of a heartbeat. And then, before Sierra could move, Nell fell and disappeared.

scream ripped through the air, and Sierra wasn’t sure whose it was. Horror grabbed her by the throat and would not let her go. After what felt like years, but lasted only a few heartbeats, the ground stopped heaving, and she crawled to the edge to see what had happened. Nell lay sprawled fifteen feet down, a line of scarlet cut across her head. Her arm twisted at an unnatural angle. The ground looked like it had been cut in a circle and dropped halfway down the ledge. She was trapped unless someone helped her.

“Nell!” Sierra shouted, before thinking maybe she should feign unconsciousness and leave Nell to her fate. But she couldn’t really bring herself to ignore Nell and leave her stranded.

Nell groaned, stirring.

Sierra leaned as far over the cliff as she dared. “Nell! Can you hear me?”