The Faerie War (20 page)

We’ve got several hours to kill, so Max, Em, and Fin fill me in on their stories. Em’s parents, like mine, were killed on assignment before she graduated. Instead of scaring her off, it made her even more determined to be a guardian. Oliver is the only family she has left—he’s her father’s uncle or something like that—and she’s been with him ever since The Destruction.

Max picks at the laces of his boots as he tells me what happened that night. He had to watch Draven’s army carry away his parents and girlfriend, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it unless he wanted to wind up with the same fate. He hasn’t seen them since he joined up with Oliver and Em, but he still believes they’re alive. They were excellent guardians, he says. Draven would want them on his side.

Fin doesn’t want to talk, but he nods when Em asks if she can tell me what happened. He lost everyone he cared about. He was the only guardian in his family. His parents, older brother, girlfriend, and her family were crushed inside their homes when Draven’s enchanted inferno swept through the Estra forest and destroyed everything. He wanted to end his own life, but decided ending Draven’s would be more satisfying.

We sit in silence after that, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

Late into the night, with snow falling thickly around us, we arrive at Creepy Hollow forest. We glide above the trees until Ryn judges we’re close to where the Guild was before The Destruction. We descend slowly, everyone looking out for possible threats. We pull our jackets, coats, and hoods on—which I notice with a smile are all white now, just like the cloak Natesa made for me—and climb off the carpet. An icy breeze permeates my clothes immediately. I blow into my hands to start the charm that will heat me up while Ryn sends the carpet into the air above the trees to wait for us.

“Are we marking our hands?” Max asks.

Ryn shakes his head. “Not necessary this time. We’re not trying to gain anyone’s trust to get information. We just want to knock someone out and give him or her the cure. Let’s go this way.” He indicates for us to follow him. I pull my hood further forward to keep the snow from falling into my eyes. “And don’t worry about elevating yourselves this time,” he adds. “The falling snow will fill our tracks.”

The gathering breeze turns into a wind that sounds like distant screams. Draven must be in a bad mood tonight. I wrap my arms around myself and hug my magically heated clothes.

“Everyone got their extra weapons, just in case?” Ryn asks above the wind.

“Yes,” I say, along with the rest of the team. I’ve got a dagger in each boot and a knife strapped to the top of my right leg.

“Okay, I don’t know exactly what we’re heading toward. It could be a massive ruin, or it could be a brand new, completely hidden Guild. I don’t know if Draven’s people have finished rebuilding. So let’s split up here. Em, Max, Fin—go that way.” He points left. “V and I will go this way. Em, you’ve got those cures I gave you before we left?”

“Yes.”

“If you see someone alone, make them take the cure. Otherwise, stay hidden. Keep me updated on my amber. You’ve all got the voice-activated messaging spell, right?”

More nods.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

I follow Ryn. After several minutes of barely being able to see, the snow ceases to fall and the screaming wind disappears. I brush white flakes off my arms as we walk. “Out of curiosity,” I say, “what exactly do you mean by ‘just in case’? Shouldn’t we always be able to use our guardian weapons?”

“We should, but Zell had this method of blocking people’s magic. I’d be surprised if Draven isn’t doing the same thing to faeries. It’s—whoa. I think we’ve found what we’re looking for.” He stops and points ahead.

Through the trees I see a clearing. There are shapes that could be broken walls and piles of rubble. Piles a lot higher than the destroyed faerie homes I saw with Jamon. We head toward the clearing, navigating our way over fallen trees. When we can’t go any further without climbing onto the ruins, we stop.

Silence presses against my ears. The snow has returned, but it drifts down in tiny flakes instead of swirling around us in a blizzard. If I let my imagination go, I can almost smell the burning forest the way it must have been that night. The falling snow becomes ash in my mind, covering the landscape in black and grey. But the ash couldn’t bury this much wreckage, and neither can the snow. It’s still here, like a memorial reminding us of what we’ve lost.

“So this is what our Guild looks like now,” Ryn murmurs.

“This is the first time you’ve seen it?”

He nods. “I’ve been Underground a number of times since The Destruction, but I haven’t been here to the Guild.”

I think about how much worse this moment is for him than it is for me. He knows exactly what’s been lost. I can only imagine it. “I wonder how far the damage extends,” I say. It’s not like we can see much past the large amounts of debris in front of us.

Ryn reaches for the nearest branch and pulls himself up into the tree. “If we get high enough, we can see,” he says. I follow his lead and hoist myself up. I could propel myself all the way to the top with magic, but I enjoy the climbing. It feels like something my body’s missed. I advance from branch to snowy branch, following Ryn until we can’t climb any higher.

“Look at it,” he says quietly.

The snow-dusted ruins spread out before us as far as I can see. Silent. Unmoving. “I can’t imagine how this was all hidden inside a tree once.”

“And beneath the ground,” Ryn adds. “Really powerful magic, obviously.” He looks around. “I wonder where they’re building the new one.”

“We’ll have to keep searching.” I start climbing back down.

“Wait, look. Someone’s out there.”

I look up to see where he’s pointing and follow his hand to where three figures are climbing onto the ruins. “It’s the rest of your team, silly,” I tell him. “See Fin’s white hair when he moves past something dark?”

“We should tell them to stay in the trees.” Ryn opens his jacket and reaches inside, probably for his amber. “If we can see them, someone else might be able to—
Oof!
”

A dark figure slams into Ryn, and he goes crashing through the branches—along with the mysterious figure—toward the ground.

“What the . . .” I get ready to jump down.

“You’re about to join him,” a voice behind me says. With a gasp, I turn toward the voice. I catch a glimpse of a woman with dark curly hair before her foot connects with my stomach and shoves me out of the tree.

I slow my fall seconds before I hit the ground, which means I have at least some air left in my lungs when I jump to my feet brandishing my bow and arrow. Ryn struggles with his assailant and manages to flip him over his shoulder. The man scrambles on the ground for a few seconds before jumping up. Ryn backs away and slashes a sword through the air just as the woman lands beside her accomplice.

The four of us freeze, weapons ready, each trying to anticipate the next move.

Without warning, Ryn’s sword fizzles and disappears. “Mom?” he says.

“Oryn?” The woman lowers her bow and arrow but doesn’t let go. I don’t move mine an inch. “Ryn, it’s really you!” With a smile, she steps forward. “Where have you—”

“Stop.” A knife appears in each of Ryn’s hands. “Show me your palm.”

She hesitates. Her smile slips. “Ryn, honey, I’m so relieved you weren’t hurt. We need to talk about—”

“Show me your palm.”

Her bow and arrow disappear, but she doesn’t raise her hand. “It isn’t what you think, Ryn. It isn’t what any of you think. Draven isn’t this evil overlord everyone is making him out to be. He wants the best for our world. He wants everyone to be united, both Seelie and Unseelie.”

“You’re marked, aren’t you?” Ryn says, his voice hitching slightly.

“I’m loyal to Draven, if that’s what you mean.” She raises her right hand so we can see the open circle inked into her skin.

Ryn sucks in a deep breath, and I hear it shake slightly as he lets it out. Guilt washes over me. Why didn’t I think to ask Ryn about his family? I’ve been thinking of no one but myself.

“We have a cure you can take, Mom. You don’t have to serve Draven.”

She frowns. “But I want to. And you should too. You and Violet can come back with me and—”

“No.” Ryn shakes his head. “We’re not going anywhere with you. We’re going to cure you of the delusion Draven has placed on you. Then you’ll know the truth.” I see his hand move slowly toward his pocket.

Ryn’s mother looks over at her companion, a large man holding a sword in one hand and a sparkling metal disc in the other. Shadows make it difficult to see his face. The bow and arrow return to Ryn’s mother’s hands as she looks back at Ryn and says, “I don’t want to hurt you, but if that’s what it takes for you to come back with me, I’ll do it. I won’t lose my son again.”

Ryn shakes his head again. “Don’t make me fight you, Mom.”

“I’m sorry . . .” She raises the bow—then jerks forward and slumps to the ground. Unconscious. Em stands behind her, arms outstretched. The man in dark blue spins around and flicks his wrist. The metal disc sails toward Em, but it strikes an invisible barrier and disappears.

Max and Fin step out from behind the trees and move slowly toward the man, their hands raised as though pushing something through the air. “We’ve got a shield bubble around him,” Fin says. “Give your mom the cure.”

“You
stunned
my
mother
?” Ryn shouts as he dashes to the fallen woman’s side.

“Yeah.” Em rolls her eyes as she reaches inside her jacket. “Never mind the fact that she was about to
shoot
you, Ryn. And it was barely a stun. We didn’t have time to gather enough power for that. She’ll be awake in a few minutes. Here, give her the cure.” Em opens the pouch in her hand and removes a small glass vial.

“Hey, Vi, we could use your help here,” Max says. The man is throwing himself at the invisible barrier surrounding him. When he starts shooting sparks of magic at it, Max groans. “He’s really strong. I don’t know how much longer we can contain him.”

I run over and add my own shield around the struggling man. I look over my shoulder at Ryn and his mother. He holds her head up with one hand and pours the vial’s liquid into her mouth. “Come on. Wake up and drink it,” he urges. Moments later, she coughs and splutters and pushes him away from her. She rolls onto her hands and knees and crawls a few feet away. A shiver passes through her body, and she takes a gasping breath.

Please work, please work,
I chant silently. I stumble back as the man batters against my shield. I plant my feet firmly in the snow and strengthen the magic pouring out of me.

Ryn’s mother climbs slowly to her feet and looks around at us.

“Did it work?” Max asks. His face is twisted with the effort of keeping his shield intact. “Is she cured?”

She doesn’t respond. Her breathing is heavy as she watches the snow at her feet, her eyes flicking across it. Then she clenches her right hand into a fist and says in a dangerously low voice, “That was very stupid of you.”

I guess that’s a ‘no.’

Before I can think of what to do next, I find myself thrown backward onto the ground. I sink into the snow as I throw up a shield once again—to protect myself this time. Sparks shower down and bounce uselessly off the barrier between me and the man in dark blue. I jump to my feet, along with Fin and Max.

Ryn sends a flock of flapping birds at his mother. As she backs away, he drags Em behind him and gets his own shield in place.

“Are we going to do this all night?” His mother shouts from the other side of the shield. The flapping birds have vanished.

“Should we try to stun them and take them back with us?” Em asks. “Five against two. We should be able to do it.”

“I don’t know. Just let me—”

“Look there!” Max points past our two assailants to the old Guild ruins. Guardians are pouring out of a doorway in one of the broken-down walls.

“Oh . . . crap,” Em whispers.

Crap, indeed. We can’t fight that many faeries. Our best chance is to—