Rise of the Fey (17 page)

“You know, there’s a legend about this place,” Daniel says, misinterpreting my reaction for fear, “about the Hill of the
Dead. It’s where the natives buried all their warriors who died in a long and bloody battle with the French.” He steps closer to me in an ominous way. “There’s at least a thousand dead people at our feet right now, all killed in the most horrific, bloody way—”

“Can it, Daniel,” Keva says. “Those stories may scare you, but it’s not working on us.”

Daniel pauses, momentarily taken aback. “The dead call to the dead,” he says uncertainly. “And you know that attracts the Dark Sidhe.”

“There’s dead people everywhere around the world,” Keva says, “every place can attract the Dark Sidhe. How can you be such a sissy?”

As the two of them continue their quarreling, I move up the trail, my eyes locked on the conflagration ahead, flashes of color streaking the sky as the fighting goes on.

“Not every death is equivalent,” I hear Daniel say, getting riled up. “A murder’s different from a suicide’s different from a fatal disease.”

“There’s going to be another murder here if you don’t shut up,” Keva threatens.

“Something’s strange,” I say, cutting them off. I tilt my head as I try to put my finger on what it is that’s making me feel on edge, besides the battle that is.

“You mean all those Fey over there attacking humans right on our turf?” Keva asks petulantly.

“No, she’s right,” Daniel says. His hand drops to his sword as he scans our surroundings. “What happens when there’s a big accident?”

“People die?” Keva says, looking more and more puzzled.

“People stop and stare,” Daniel says. “Or they go out of their homes to have a look.”

I can see now why KORT’s decided to turn him into a knight. Every line of Daniel’s body is taught, ready for anything that might spring on us.

“Maybe they’ve been evacuated?” Keva suggests, but she doesn’t sound too certain herself.

Daniel’s sword rings as he pulls it free of its scabbard. “Wait here,” he says. “I’m gonna go check it out.”

“You can’t go out there alone!” Keva shouts. “You’re supposed to stay here with us.”

“Just shut up and hide if ya want,” Daniel says. “But I’m gonna go catch me a Fey!”

“Really?” I say as Daniel sprints away. “All he cares about is showing off?”

“It’s Daniel,” Keva mutters, as if that answers everything. “Besides, it must rankle him that he’s been made into a knight before the rite of passage. Even Brockton made fun of him for it, though that ended him in the infirmary.”

“What rite of passage?” I ask. Then, remembering the knighting ceremony during Samhain, I add, “You mean a jousting contest?”

“I mean his official first Fey capture,” Keva says.

I watch the spot where Daniel disappeared, angling away from the fire and the fighting. And away from any potential backup.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I say. “We better get him back.”

“What?” Keva asks. “Now?”

“You can stay here if you want,” I say, already running into the trees after Daniel.

Keva lets out a string of unladylike curses then hurries after me. Branches snap in our passage as we follow Daniel’s trail. We emerge onto a quiet street: Large houses surrounded by large
gardens, all covered in a thick blanket of snow that scintillates like diamonds in the light pooling out from the houses. All is peaceful and quiet, except…

“The door’s open,” I say.

I turn to look across the street. Same thing.

“OK,” Keva says slowly. “Definitely getting the creepy vibe here. Now what?”

Green light flashes from behind one of the homes.

“He’s using his oghams!” I exclaim, cutting through the tree-filled yards towards the back of the house as snow starts to fall.

“Morgan!” Keva whines. “We should get back to the cars and wait for the others there. It isn’t safe this close to—”

A loud explosion rends the air and I instinctively duck as a tall column of fire reaches down from the heavens to hit the remains of the bridge. Clouds of dust, smoke and debris blast outward from the impact, reaching out like the tentacles of some giant squid.

“You think they’re alright?” I ask, swallowing with difficulty.

“They’re knights,” Keva says. “They can handle a little fire.”

I look down as another blast hits the wreckages then suddenly grab Keva’s arm.

“Look!” I breathe, pointing at the ground.

“Oh, goody,” Keva says sarcastically, slapping my hand away, “tracks.” She pauses before adding in a more serious tone, “Lots and lots of them.”

“And all going in the same direction,” I say, “away from the houses—”

“—toward the train tracks,” Keva says. “Guess we know where our missing people are.”

We look at each other for a moment before Keva nods, and we both dash into the woods that separate this tranquil neighborhood from the highway.

The ground grows muddier as we reach the train tracks, and the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. I gag as I take in a lungful of a strange, cloying smell that hangs about the area.

“Ugh,” Keva says, covering her nose with her coat sleeve. “Smells like we landed in the sewers!”

I slowly face north, where the sharp smell of rotting eggs is stronger.

“This way,” I say, dashing forward again, wondering if Daniel’s gone that way too, and hoping we don’t get to the townspeople too late.

As we make our way along the tracks and away from the roar of the fire, a soft melody rises in the air, its strange notes compelling us forward.

“You don’t think this place is haunted, do you?” I ask, slowing down as Daniel’s tale of the bloody fight comes back to me.

“Ghosts don’t exist,” Keva says.

“I dunno,” I say, darting glances about. Night is falling steadily, and the Fey fires are now too far behind to provide much light anymore, leaving us to make our way in ever-deepening shadows. “I feel like something’s watching us.”

“If there’s something funky going on,” Keva says without a grain of doubt, “that only means—”

“—trouble,” I say as we hit a crossroad.

I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Without a second thought, I grab Keva’s arm and wrench her out of sight behind a squat warehouse before anyone can spot us. From behind our cover, we can finally see the dark outlines of hundreds of people lining in the middle of the street, heading slowly towards a faint light somewhere by the lake’s frozen shore.

“Jennifer was right,” I whisper. “That fight back there is just another diversion. The Fey are after these people.”

Keva nods emphatically next to me. “The question now is: Why?” she says as we watch the laymen sway on their feet to the rhythm of the music, some of them already in their pajamas, oblivious to the biting cold.

“It’s like they’ve all been hypnotized,” I say, blinking snow out of my eyes.

“Let’s get closer,” Keva says. “It sounds like there’s something really good going on there.”

Frowning, I turn towards her and find that she’s already halfway down the street, her head bobbing in time with the music.

“Keva!” I whisper harshly. “Get back here!”

I catch up with her towards the end of the road, grab her braid and yank her down behind a tree, our fall cushioned by the snow.

“Get off of me!” Keva yells, struggling to get free. “I have to go out there, they’re waiting for me!”

I slap my hand over her mouth, and have to clench my teeth together to stop myself from screaming when she bites into it.

“Snap out of it!” I say, slapping her face so hard her lip cuts open and starts bleeding.

Kava’s vacant eyes momentarily focus on my face and I shake her forcefully.

“W-What’s going on?” she asks, her voice shaky.

“Have you gotten your senses back?” I ask, still not letting her go.

Keva reaches towards the back of her head and winces. “My head hurts.”

“Don’t listen to the music,” I say, slapping my hands over her ears.

“Ow, do you mind?” Keva asks, trying to pry my fingers away but I shake my head.

“You’re gonna get sucked into it again,” I say. “And then you’re fodder for whatever those Fey are doing to these people.”

Keva’s eyes widen as she takes in the crowd moving beyond our hiding place towards the shore. She nods then places her own hands over her ears.

I scan the crowd, in search of the Fey, amazed that we haven’t gotten caught yet. My gaze stops on a couple of shadows at the very front. A flash of purple lights them up, and for a brief moment I think I recognize one of them.

“Go back and get some help,” I tell Keva urgently.

“What about you?” she asks.

“I’m gonna figure out what’s happening,” I say, “and see if I can’t find Daniel.” She’s about to protest, but I cut her off, “I’ve got my own superpowers now, I’ll be alright. Just hurry.”

Keva finally nods. “Don’t get yourself killed before then,” she says before sprinting back toward the train tracks, her feet kicking up snow.

I turn back towards the Fey and nearly throw up as another wave of the sweet smell of decay grips me. “I’ll try not to,” I whisper back.

I force my legs to keep moving, trying not to think about what I’m about to do. Staying low to the ground, I creep down the small path between the house and the pockets of bushes that form the hedge. I sink into the snow behind a shed as another flash of purple illuminates the long field that separates me from the lake’s shore.

The line of people moves up, still swaying to the music’s soft rhythm, and the man at its head steps forward before dropping out of sight in another deep purple flash.

I stifle a gasp as I realize the flashes are coming from a Fey circle of some kind. Just beyond it, I can make out the outlines of the two Fey themselves—one hovering about the portal, the other sitting to the side, hunched over a long, curved flute.

My heart skips a beat as I watch the Fey standing beckon the next in line, an old man with a shock of white hair, to come forward. But at the edge of the circle, the old man seems to hesitate, wobbling on his feet. I hold my breath, hoping against hope that
the man’s going to escape, but the Fey pushes him over and his snowy hair disappears down the hole in another flash.

I grind my teeth together as my suspicion about the identify of this operation’s leader is confirmed, the purple glow from the circle highlighting his tattooed face—he’s the one who threatened Lugh and came to fetch Carman upon her liberation!

I nervously scan the horizon, expecting the Fey witch to show up at any moment and blast me to bits. Keva was right, I should’ve stayed by the cars. There’s nothing I can do here.

But as I make to backtrack, I see a little boy come to stand at the circle’s perimeter and my blood runs cold. The child can’t be more than seven!

Anger swells within my breast, and I feel my fingertips crackle in response. I throw my hands out and twin bolts of fire shoots out, hitting the ground far off to the left in a blast that sends flurries of snow high up into the stormy sky.

Cursing at my inability to aim, I quickly push myself up and aim again when a large, furry face springs in front of me, pale spikes growing out of its skull in dangerously sharp rows. I barely have the time to turn away before the monster’s heavy paw rakes across my shoulders. I drop to the ground with a cry, but the Fey yanks me up by the leg, and I find myself hanging upside down, my ankle held firmly by a tail covered in glistening spikes.

“Put me down!” I shout.

The tail tightens its hold around my ankle and one of its barbs pushes into my flesh. I scream in pain, blood dripping down my leg, warm and slick.

I try to bat at the creature, but it swings me up into a wide arc then whips me back down onto the frozen ground.

My teeth smack together, biting my tongue, and the metallic tang of blood floods my mouth as my vision blurs with hundreds
of tiny stars. I feel the tail unwrap itself from my leg, and I scream and the spike rips itself free.

But my Fey side quickly takes over, dulling the pain and closing the wound up. I blink my tears away to see the monster readying itself to charge me again, and I force myself to get back up, the wound in my leg already a memory.

“You’re messing with the wrong girl,” I wheeze, trying to stop my legs from shaking. I point forward and say, “Fire!”

A few sparks come to life, quickly snuffed out by the bitter air.

I blink—that’s not how it’s supposed to work. With a hacking bark that sounds strangely like a laugh, the Fey lunges forward, spikes pointing straight at my head.

“Fire!” I yell again.

This time, I don’t even get a spark in response, and the creature lands on me, burying one of its long horns into my shoulder.

Tears spring to my eyes and I gasp as the monster’s weight slowly crushes my thorax.

“Can’t…breathe…,” I gasp, my vision tunneling.

My fingers grope about my waist, trying to reach the dagger Arthur gave me, but the blade is stuck between my back and the ground, and I can’t pull it free.

Finally, the Fey pushes itself off me, before its tail whips back down, its cluster of spikes aimed at my head.

The knife finally comes clear of my belt, and I swing my arm back in front of me, gritting my teeth against the force of the impact. I feel the double-edged blade dig past fur and into the Fey’s tender flesh with a loud hiss.