Pickup Styx (2 page)

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. Tell me what they want. Stop trying to scare me.” I was near my breaking point. My stomach knotted, my head throbbed, and magic collected under my skin. I wasn’t sure how long I could hold back the sheer panic that wanted to destroy everything around me.

“I do not know. You must ask them yourself.” She hobbled out of the crypt and shut the door.

One by one the candles in the room snuffed out, and thin wisps of smoke rose through the air. I looked around slowly, but no one else was there. The smoke trails didn’t dissipate. Instead, they swirled and fluttered through my hair. They moved faster and faster until I was encased in a solid white haze. Whispering voices flitted past my ears, too fast to catch more than a stray word or two. The heat and the chaotic movement of the smoke made me dizzy. I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to my chest, trying to find my center. The energy pressed closer. The chatter increased and grew louder with each passing second.

“Let’s keep her,” a high-pitched voice whined.

“No. Send her,” a deeper voice said.

“She has power,” came from a female voice.

“She may succeed,” the deeper voice said again.

“We could come back,” the woman said. “The risk is worth it.”

“What a waste,” the high-pitched voice said before everything went completely silently except for my own panting breath.

“The Pole of Charon,” the woman’s voice rang out.

I opened one eye and then the other. “What’s the Pole of Charon?” No one was there. The smoke was gone. Re-lit candles flickered around me again.

“On the evening of the fifth moon, you must return,” the voice said, and then the door to the crypt opened.

I stood on unsteady legs and left as fast as I could, drinking in the fresh night air.

“They decided not to keep you,” Antoinette said as she closed the door behind me.

I straightened and turned toward her. “They wanted—”

She held up a hand to stop me. “What they want is between you and them. It’s no concern of mine. You best be going, child. The hour for dark approaches.”

I shook my head and headed back down the path.
Never again. If I live a thousand years, I will never mess with hoodoo again.
I walked faster, wanting to talk to Baker about the Pole of Charon. I wasn’t certain I knew what that was, and I definitely didn’t know where to find it. Five moons—five days—was my deadline. I eyed the gate to make sure it wasn’t still moving before I pulled it open. The tremendous relief of stepping out of the cemetery made my knees buckle. I steadied myself against the planter I had been sitting on earlier.

“Baker?” The only sound on the street was the hum of the lights.

A moment of panic seized me. What if this was all an illusion? What if they hadn’t actually let me go? I looked back at the gates and then down the street.

“Baker?” I called again.

As much as every part of me didn’t want to, I had to make sure I could go home. Antoinette would know if I was still in the other world. I tugged on the gate, but it didn’t budge. Another shriek sounded from inside. Now that my mind wasn’t clouded with fear, I recognized it. A banshee.

I backed away slowly. I couldn’t go back inside the fence—and I couldn’t stay here. Banshees were no joke. If they were close enough that you could see them and they wailed, you died. I started down the empty street, worry sinking in. When I hit a main street, however, I saw cars and people. I wasn’t trapped in some alternate world. Humans and the occasional Abyss resident, who the humans were oblivious to, walked past. Some of the tension eased from my shoulders. I studied the street more carefully, but the shifter wasn’t there.

Damn it. Where the hell was Baker?

I didn’t have time to look for him. I was working against a deadline. I only had a week to locate and obtain the Pole of Charon or I’d be one of those lost souls in the cemetery—and, um, no thank you. I shuddered at the thought before I retreated to my empty street and transported home.

Would I ever be able to watch Selene walk away without feeling like the world was collapsing on me?

She left with the shifter, Baker, trying to appear calm, but I could see the nerves in her rigid movements. I waited until she was completely out of view before I turned back to her cousin, Sy. His silver eyes had darkened to the color of pewter, and worry etched a thin line across his forehead.

“She’s tougher than she looks,” he said, trying to convince himself more than me. “She always has been.”

“What kind of fae makes an open-ended deal?” I said, shaking my head. I knew why she’d done it, but I still couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought it through better. Memory or no memory, she was a half-elf and a member of the fae race. Loopholes and contract wording were sort of our specialty, yet she backed herself—and me by association—into an impossible corner. If this got out, it would be yet another reason for our people to rebel against her—which was the last thing any of us needed.

“A desperate one.” He clapped his hand down on my shoulder. “Your council awaits.”

I led the way through the door though I no longer felt like having a meeting. Endless worst-case scenarios rioted through my mind. I had envisioned life with Selene as being easy and simple because I loved her and she loved me—but so far it had been a continual state of dealing with crises, one after another. It was hard not to question whether or not it was worth it. I met each council member’s gaze in turn: the wise patience of the High Elf Adan, the irritable resentment of the dwarf Beleg, the mischievous twinkle of the goblin Turin, the calculating, hooded glance of the fairy queen Alanna, and the steady eyes of both Sy and Sebastian—who were probably the only people I could fully trust here, though they would both hold Selene’s interests above my own.

“And where, pray tell, is our fearless Queen?” Alanna’s voice could lure a ship ashore, but today I found it grating.

“She had a prior engagement,” I said.

“Something more important than our meeting? Should I be offended? Had I known you weren’t taking this council seriously, I would never have joined.”

I rubbed my forehead.

“Cheney is here. Perhaps he should be offended by your implication that he isn’t living up to his responsibilities,” Sy retorted.

“Yet his Queen is not. We all know he follows her around like a lovesick puppy.” Her eyes drilled into me. “Doesn’t bode well for our little venture if there is trouble in paradise.”

Alanna thought she knew me. She thought she could read me and manipulate me. She was wrong. We’d been lovers for a brief time, but she never had the slightest hold on my heart. Selene had kept it firmly since the day I met her, and there was nothing I could do about it—though I had certainly tried to be free of her over the years. No, frustrate me as she might with her poor decisions and rampant impulsiveness, I needed Selene.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining. If Selene were here, you would only torment her,” Sebastian said.

“Oh, so the Queen is scared of little old me.” She pouted.

“Enough,” I snapped, slamming my hand on the table. “Selene regrets that she could not be here. Something of grave importance arose, and that is the last I want to hear of it.” I mentally counted to ten before continuing in a more civil manner. “We need to discuss how to move forward with uniting the races under a government where everyone feels they have a voice.”

My family had ruled the fae races for the better part of three millennia. Recently, some of the old rules were being challenged by the younger generations and change was upon us all. It was Selene’s idea to form a council of the races to give each one a say in how they were governed. Despite these steps forward, more people than ever were protesting—including the full elves, unhappy about having a half-elf queen. The kingdom was on shaky ground and it needed stabilizing before something happened that would tear it apart for good.

“Elections,” Beleg said. “Let the people pick their own ruler.”

I smiled thinly, understanding fully what he meant. Sebastian spoke first.

“Not probable at this point. There is too much general unrest, and if we expose ourselves as being weak and not united, we will be open to attack from stronger races. Your people must have a record, Beleg. You must have heard what it was like before we united.”

He grumbled and huffed but dropped the subject.

“You need to get Selene out to the forefront,” Turin said. “Make her the people’s Queen. She will win them over. Even Beleg likes her.” He hooked a thumb at the dwarf. “If they get to know her, they will respond to her.”

Beleg pursed his lips but blushed under his coarse beard all the way to the tips of his ears.

“I agree with Master Turin,” Adan said. “Let her show the world what we have all seen. Heritage matters little when led by the heart. The populous will settle when they feel there is someone on their side. Both you and Selene are new to ruling, and they do not yet know you. How can they trust you?”

“What about her protection?” Sy asked. “There have been threats against her life. Taking her on a campaign trail seems like a good way to get her killed. Selene is not a puppet for political advantage.”

Sy also had a point. Painting a bigger target on her back was risky. Even if someone didn’t try to kill her, they might be tempted to dig more into her past, and Selene had enough skeletons to fill a cemetery. I had doubts that even I knew them all. On the other hand, charming her way out of messes was what she did best. She knew how to use her beauty to her full advantage and had no qualms about doing so, but that would only win over half of the population.

“If she can’t handle a few death threats, she shouldn’t be in politics.” Alanna waved a dismissive hand. “I personally don’t see whatever you guys see in her.”

Sebastian was being too quiet. He had an opinion. He always had an opinion. He had been my most trusted advisor at one point, but now I wasn’t sure what to do with him. “Sebastian? Care to weigh in?” I asked.

He took his time answering. “There is a lot to consider. Truthfully though, we can make all the plans we want about turning her into a figurehead or ruler or branding her as the savior of us all, but unless Selene accepts and believes that our plan will work, we will fail. I think it would be best to shelve this discussion until we have a chance to speak with her. Selene will tell us what she wants to do.”

He was right, of course. Once again, though, his concern was for her and not the kingdom. It was one thing for me to be focused on her. It was another for my advisor to be. I needed someone neutral—what I used to think Sebastian was. “I agree.”

The meeting went on, making very little progress about any particular concerns. After we disbanded, I went to my study. Selene should have been back by now. How long did it take to find out what she had to do? I poured myself a drink and paced in front of the windows, watching for her. A knock sounded on the door.

“Come in.”

Sebastian and Sy entered, shutting the door behind them. “Any word?” Sy asked.

“Not yet.”

“There has been an attack in the forest at Southbend,” Sebastian said, folding his arms behind his back as if waiting for orders.

I ran my fingers through my hair. “What happened?”

“Gemini twins, both dead.”

Great. Just what I need.
“What were Geminis doing at Southbend?”

“That is a good question.”

I couldn’t leave the castle tonight. Selene would need me when she got back, and we would have to start working on whatever the spirits requested from her. The twins would have to wait. “We’ll go look tomorrow and see if we need to place a bounty.”

Sebastian looked at the ground.

“Spit it out, Sebastian.” My temper was shaky every time I looked at him, and on top of worrying about Selene, I was in no mood formality.

“I think this is a problem you need to handle and not contract out. The people need to know you care for them.”

“Of course I care for them.”

He nodded but didn’t look convinced. I looked back out the window. I did care for my people, but I cared more for Selene. That was never going to change.