The Steward (49 page)

I lashed back
,
“Well in that case, I guess it was a big risk
. B
ut it was one I had to take. Sorry.”

“Do you mean to tell me you intentionally failed the trial?” Sara asked, her eyes wide.

Billy’s expression morphed from disapproval to confusion and then to shock as her words registered.
I pulled the blue stone from my pocket.
“
This is my second
confession, and it’s a whopper,” I said as I held it out, glowing, and sat it on the console between them.

They were completely stunned—totally silent. While they wrestled with the truth of what I had done and what the glowing stone meant, I pulled a water bottle from my backpack and twisted the lid off. With little effort the contents swirled and came out of the bottle. I formed a small disk with the
triangular
Water sign imprinted in it
,
and froze it.

“Gavin gave me the idea—unintentionally. The day after the Earth trial, down on the beach, he told me what happened with the other Maebown
s
. I asked him if I could purposely fail a trial to avoid being one. He said that it wouldn’t accomplish anything. Either I was inclined, or I wasn’t. It occurred to me that the trial was just a formality. Last night, in Rachel’s bedroom, I learned I could control Water—well, it was a forty-four ounce diet coke, but, you know. Anywho, I made the Water sign and the rock started to glow.”

“Chalen didn’t see the rock at the trial?”
Billy asked in little more than a whisper.

“
No.
He only asked if I had it. He didn’t ask me to produce it, thank goodness. I was really nervous about that. I was also afraid he might sense the energy th
r
ough my pocket, but he was too busy, like all of you, trying to see what I was thinking. So I
intentionally
leaked as much as I could.”

“Genius,” Sara whispered to herself.

Billy looked like he’d just seen me for the first time. “You had me convinced
—t
he technique is incredibly effective,” Billy said
,
with
satisfaction in his voice as he turned to Sara.
“My idea, by the way.”

“Still, I wish you would have told me ahead of time,”
he said
with
a feigned scowl on his face. He was impressed—he couldn’t hide that.

“Uh, those who live in glass houses...”
I smirked.

“Fair enough, but we do have a dilemma.”

“Yes, we do—several actually,” Sara agreed with him.

Billy looked at her.
“The Council doesn’t know she is Water inclined. When they find out
,
they will insist she take the fifth trial.”

“Agreed,” she
said, turning
to me
.
“
You probably have no idea what we’re talking about, do you? To be a Maebown, you’ll have to take another
...”

I interrupted her.
“I know.”

“How?” She
asked
, puzzled
.

“Chalen told me. He didn’t think I’d be smart enough to complete it.”

“Well, he has always been a poor judge of human intelligence
. T
he irony is, he spends so much time in human form, he’s begun to think like one,” Billy said.
“No offense, Maggie, you’ve proven to be much more ingenious tha
n
I’d guessed, and as humans are fond of saying, I set that bar pretty high in your case.”

Like I did with any compliment, I blushed and fought with my goofy smile.

“Your fifth trial is not like any other, and you won’t be able pass it using
a
diet coke.”
Sara laughed. “Only Ozara can administer it
. She created the stones and s
he alone knows the secret
to conjuring Aether …
I think you know where
the Aether trial
will take place?”

I remembered Aunt May showing me the stones in the Gazebo. The elemental symbols carved into the walls flashed in my mind.
Each one had a place for a stone—Aunt May told me I couldn’t put them in the openings yet. Before the memory faded, I recalled the mosiac symbol for Aether in the Gazebo floor. “I know where.”

Sara smiled at me. “Maggie, I think you were wise to keep your inclination with Water a secret
,
and now I want you to hide it for a while longer. If possible, we should wait to reveal the truth to the Council only after we’ve discovered what the larger plot involves.”

“I’m good with that,” I said.

“You don’t quite understand. There are members of the Council who don’t trust you because you used your Air inclination against those who attacked you. Others have an issue with your ability to hide your thoughts—unique among the Stewards I have known. More than that, since you now seem to be capable of masking your thoughts completely while misleading us with images and emotions, their suspicion of you will only grow stronger. When they find out you faked a trial
…
well, no human has ever done that. I’m not sure how the Council will react. Nonetheless, they will find out. Until then, I must discover who can be trusted.”

I nodded.
She’s right, I’ve given them more reason to distrust me. That’s funny—Granpa Vic is fond of saying ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Now I know what he means.

“There is more, Maggie. If you do become
a
Maebown, and certainly you will if you choose to stay, there is most certainly a reason. That reason is much bigger than the Unseelie wanting your family off the Weald.”

I knew that
.
I’d been wrestling with the nightmare of it all since I created the Water sign last night—the nightmare that something important, something enormous, rested squarely on my shoulders. Every part of my body went cold. “Sara, Billy, the truth. If there is another Aetherfae and the Unseelie win, what will happen?”

Sara looked at Billy before turning her eyes to me. “If the Unseelie prevail, all of us who refuse to join them will be destroyed, but that is nothing compared to what they will do to humanity.”

“Extermination
?
” I
asked
.

“I’m afraid so, Maggie.” Her voice was soft, just above a whisper, and full of sorrow.

A tear rolled over my lid.
Is this too big for me? Everyone will suffer if I can’t do this.
I struggled for breath and tried to smile, but it was all I could do to keep air in my lungs. Their stares, kind as they were, felt accusatory. I imagined they were asking themselves the same questions. It was my turn to divert my eyes, staring at the quirky bridge as I tried
to mask
the sobs
that rumbled
in my throat with a c
o
ugh.

“So, we are agreed,” Billy said, quickly trying to change the subject to something
a little lighter
. “We keep Maggie’s Water inclination hidden from everyone for the time being. We stop the sale of the Weald, and we covertly tackle the biggest piece of the puzzle—discovering who is behind whatever this is.”

Sara nodded.

I was terrified, but excited. I had Sara back
,
she was as suspicious of the Council as I was, and we had a plan. I refused to think about the rest of it at this point.

“I agree,” I said. “But there is one more thing I need your help with.”

“What?” Sara asked.

“
M
y dad. He is not the same person,” I said
. T
ears welled up in my eyes, and my voice
broke again
. “Please, I want my dad back.”

Sara looked concerned. “I had to leave the day you mentioned this to me, and I’m guessing Gavin’s exodus occurred before he could
help
?”

“Yes, sorry,” I said
,
wiping my cheeks.
This
is
insane.
I could hold it together when danger or pain was
aimed at
me, but I lost control anytime my family or friends
suffered
.
They will not, cannot suffer because of me. I won’t let that happen, no way.

“No need to apologize,” she said.
“I’ll take care of it.”

In her Irish accent
, Sara swore
, “I won’t leave you again—you have my word on that, you do. Besides, me thinks
it
high time your parents meet Sara Ann Byrne, Gavin’s Irish, seventeen-year-old cousin.”

THIRTY

CHOICES

In a gentle voice, Sara indicated it was time to leave.

“We should get you home.”

Sara’s words struck me like a thunderclap. All day I tried to forget that I would have to go back and face Dad. He would be furious with me for walking out on him, and his fury would grow even more when Danny blocked the sale of the Weald. The dread of seeing his face afterwards, and I knew exactly how he would look, gave me second thoughts before we even got back to Rachel’s house to pick up my car. My stomach churned, but this time I wasn’t forcing myself to be sick like I had earlier—no furtive finger in my throat.

Sara rode with me from Rachel’s, and Billy followed in his natural form. I still wasn’t used to her appearance—so radiant she practically glowed. Unlike Gavin, she looked and sounded seventeen. The Irish accent disguised her voice completely. I might not have recognized her if I hadn’t seen this younger visage at the Air trial.

I stopped at the top of the hill, before turning down the drive, and took several deep breaths. I calmed my stomach and focused on my heartbeat. It lowered, gradually, to a steady pace and I pulled forward. I didn’t sense any Fae until we were halfway to the cottage. Three Fae were between us and the garden wall, but they were milling about like usual. All the Fae in the garden were back and in their usual positions. The familiar sensation of being in confinement took hold of me. I hated the feeling.

Near the bottom of the drive, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a silver car through the trees—I was ready to blow the developers back to Bentonville, literally. When we pulled closer I realized it was Sherman’s S-Class Mercedes. With another deep breath, my pulse slowed back to normal before we parked.

Sara pulled the doors shut on the toy box and asked me to wait for a minute. She “popped out,” startling me, and I waited in the dark room. The smell of gasoline mixed with my nerves and made me queasy, but I managed to subdue it. I looked around at the shapes under the tarps, minus the Mustang, and knew I didn’t want to give any of it up. The cars themselves didn’t mean anything to me, except that my great-grandfather and Aunt May had cared enough to stash them here. I needed to protect each, if for no other reason than Mitch. Sara popped back, startling me again.

“He is ready.” She said.

Of course, she had gone ahead to mellow his mood.

“He is angry, but not with you—he’s filled with a sense of impending peril. It’s stronger than I’ve ever sensed in a person. Maggie, I think he is utterly terrified of what might happen to you and the rest of your family if you remain here.”

“Why? Aunt May?”

“Perhaps, but it will take me longer to know for certain. I’m not as gifted at this as Sherman, and even he is having a difficult time sorting through the images and emotions.”