Rise of the Darklings (34 page)

“Nothing,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”

She stepped outside and was immediately buffeted by a cold wind. She shivered. “Do you think Mr. Pemberton’s all right?”

“I’d imagine so,” said Corrigan. “No matter how irritating he is, Pemberton’s not stupid. If the odds get too much, he’ll call a retreat.”

Emily sighed. What should they do now? They had to solve yet another riddle before they could get the second part of the key. Who knew how long that would take them?

“Maybe we should go back to Mr. Pemberton’s place. We can try and solve the riddle there,” she said.

“I’d rather not,” said Corrigan. “I’ve had my fill of gnomes for the night.”

“Riddle?” said Jack sharply. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s another riddle,” said Emily. “The key is split in two. We only got one half.”

Jack scowled. “Why was this Christopher Wren so obsessed with riddles?”

A large bang echoed from somewhere within the cathedral. It sounded like the front door being slammed open.

“We should go,” said Jack nervously.

“But where?”

“I know where, dearie,” said a voice from the darkness.

Emily’s blood froze in her veins. Corrigan cursed and tried to pull out his sword, and Jack fumbled for his knife, but it was too late. A dirty sack fell over each of them. Black Annis stepped from the shadows, upending the sacks and lifting them effortlessly into the air.

Black Annis leaned in close to the sacks. “You two be good, yes? Otherwise I might have to let Jenny get ahold of young Emily here.”

Emily turned around, intending to run for her life, but standing immediately behind her was Jenny Greenteeth, her black eyes shining with feverish hunger.

Emily pulled up short, looking around for another way out.

“Same goes for you, dearie,” said Black Annis. “Try to escape, and I’ll slice your friends open from neck to stomach.”

Emily stared at the old woman in despair. Why did they have to catch up with her now? Just when she had got the first part of the key?

“You wondering how we managed to track you?” asked Black Annis. She nodded over Emily’s shoulder at Jenny.

Emily looked and saw Jenny Greenteeth raising something to her thin, cracked lips. What was it? Her black tongue lashed out, catching a strand of hair and bringing it into her mouth.

“Your hair,” said Black Annis. “I pinched it off you back at the Order. We tracked you with it.”

Emily vaguely remembered something snatching at her hair in the thick fog.

“You can’t escape us, Emily Snow. As soon as you touch water, we know where you are. But even on land, we’ll catch up with you in the end. We need something personal, of course. Blood’s preferable, but hair will do. How does it taste, Jenny?”

“Like fear, Miss Annis,” replied Jenny. “Lovely, juicy fear, ripe for the bursting.”

“Bless her,” said Black Annis to Emily. “She likes the taste of fear, don’t you, Jenny?”

“I do, Miss Annis. It makes me shiver.”

“Right,” said Black Annis. “Come along. Before that wretched sneak Ravenhill thinks to check out the back.” She turned and set off down the dark street, the two sacks thrown casually over her shoulder.

Jenny Greenteeth gave Emily a shove. “Where are we
going?” Emily asked in surprise. “You’re really not taking me to the Queen?”

Black Annis spat on the ground. “Never. She’s a traitor to the fey. She sold her soul to get where she is today. It’s the Dagda who wants to speak to you, my poppet.”

Half an hour later, Black Annis led them through the massive arches at Hyde Park Corner, following the road that ran along the Serpentine. The last of the clouds had vanished from the sky, blown away by the chill winter wind. The full moon hung crisp and bright, casting a white light over everything around them. Emily saw the stone parapets of a bridge arching across the river as they walked along the path, just as Black Annis turned onto the grass, walking between sparse trees until they came to a small hill. A large oak tree grew at the base of the hill, its naked branches casting dark shadows on the grass.

“He’ll be here shortly,” said Annis. “And you be polite, otherwise I’ll pull the skin from your face. Understand?”

Emily nodded mutely.

“Good girl,” said Annis. “Come along, Jenny.”

They turned and walked back along the path. Black Annis tossed the sack that contained Corrigan to Jenny, while she idly swung the bag that held Jack. Emily could
hear distant conversation drifting back to her on the wind.

“…  don’t see why I couldn’t eat an arm. Or even a foot. She can still talk without an arm.…”

“Forgive them,” said a voice behind her.

Emily whirled around and saw a tall figure leaning against the oak tree. He straightened and walked toward her, the shadows of the branches crawling across his features as he did so.

His face was thin, his features harsh and sharp. Like a lot of the other fey she had seen, his eyes were black. But it was his pupils that drew her attention. They were shaped like hourglasses and sat sideways in his eyes like a goat’s.

The effect was unnerving. Emily took a step back. The figure stopped moving and raised his hands in the air.

“I mean you no harm,” he said.

Emily thought about this, then for some reason burst into laughter. She couldn’t help it. After all that had happened to her over the past days, his words sounded ludicrous. Her laughter sounded loud and strident to her ears, and she forced herself to stop.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked.

“You’re the Dagda.”

He smiled. “Correct. And just in case you are not aware of this by now, everything the Queen told you about me was a lie.”

“And I suppose you’re going to tell me that if I help you, you will take all the fey back through the gate to Faerie?”

“No,” said the Dagda, much to Emily’s surprise.

He gestured at the tree he had been leaning against. “This is where the gate appears. Did you know that?”

Emily turned to look at the tree. It looked just like any other of its kind. Nothing different to show it was a hidden doorway to a magical world.

“I’m not going to tell you that I’ll take all the fey back through the gate. I respect you enough not to lie to you. Besides, I think we have as much right to be here as you.”

“But not a right to try and kill everyone,” said Emily hotly. “Not a right to try and destroy London and everyone in it.”

“No,” replied the fey. “That is a right I do not claim.”

“Then what?” asked Emily. “What do you want of me?”

“As I said, if you give me the key, I won’t take all the fey back through the gate. But what I
will
do is send Kelindria back through. Her followers will be given a choice. Join her, or remain here peacefully. Then we can return to the way things were. Kelindria has grown arrogant. She lusts after power.”

Emily searched the Dagda’s eyes, looking for some sign that would tell her whether he was lying. If only he was telling the truth, she would have an ally at last. Someone who could help her finish this. But what if it was another trick?
She had been lied to so many times she didn’t know who to believe.

“How can I trust you?” she asked. “Everyone tells me something different, something they think I want to hear. I don’t even know what the truth is anymore.”

The Dagda pointed at her coat pocket. “You have the first half of the key there. I can sense it.”

Emily clamped a hand over her pocket, her eyes darting around for an escape route.

“I can take it if I wanted to. You know I can. But I will leave it with you. You found it, so it is yours by right.” He smiled. “Would Kelindria be so trusting?”

No
, thought Emily. She would torture Emily and her brother to get hold of it.

“We want the same thing,” explained the Dagda. “We want Kelindria gone and for things to return to the way they were.”

“And what is it you want me to do?”

“Find the second half of the key and bring it to me. At dawn this morning, I am meeting the Queen here. If you can bring me the key, I will force her through the gate.”

“Why are you meeting her?”

“I told her I wanted to put our differences aside so that we can join forces and destroy the Invisible Order. We are meeting to discuss plans to attain this goal. I will have
one or two helpers hidden away. If you can bring me the key in time, I will open the gate and make sure she is sent home.”

Emily allowed herself a brief flicker of hope. The Dagda seemed sincere. Could he actually be telling her the truth? Maybe they could end this after all.

A thought struck her. “Do you know where Merlin’s Tower is?” she asked.

The Dagda shook his head. “I do not. But you are aware that Merlin was part of the Invisible Order? I’m sure someone at their headquarters will know.”

Emily thought back to the history book Sebastian had shown her. Hadn’t he said it contained the whole history of the Order? Would the answer be in there?

It was a good possibility.

“One more thing,” said the Dagda. “To seal our trust, I will tell you something more.”

Emily looked up into his strange eyes, and his next words chilled her to the very depth of her being.

“Your parents are alive.”

Emily could only stare at the Dagda in shock.

“I do not know who took them, or why, but they live.”

“Where …?” she whispered, her voice caught in her throat. “Where are they?”

“I do not know. They are not in London, I know that
much. I have had my people out searching ever since I discovered the truth.”

Emily tried to think through the whirling torrent raging through her mind. Her parents. Alive! After all this time …

“But … they’ve been gone for years.”

“As I said, it is a puzzle. Although I have no idea who that person is, someone has known who you were for some time. Emily, if you give me the key, I will help you get your parents back. I promise you this.” The Dagda looked up to the sky. “Now, if you want to find the second half of the key, I suggest you be on your way. There is not much time left.”

Emily shook herself from her daze. “What will happen if I don’t get the key in time?”

The Dagda shrugged. “I will make plans with the Queen to destroy the Invisible Order. If I cannot rid myself of one of the banes of my life, I will settle for the other.”

Emily stared hard at him. “Fine,” she snapped. “But you tell that Black Annis not to hurt Corrigan or Jack. If she does, the deal is off.”

The Dagda smiled, a whisper of amusement. “Then I should away and warn them off. Doubtless Jenny Greenteeth is already begging to eat them. Till dawn,” he said, then stepped back into the shadows and disappeared.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-SEVEN