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“I don’t know,” he said, his voice husky. “I feel . . . strange. It started just a few minutes ago. I’m . . . it’s hard to think—the room—” And then he let out a low groan and slumped against the door.
Peyton and I rushed over to his side just in time to catch him and keep him from sliding to the floor. His eyes were open, but he was unresponsive.
“Crap, help me get him onto the sofa in the living room. Then go call Rhiannon and ask her where Leo is—he’s the healer. ”
As Peyton helped me carry Kaylin to the sofa, I stared at his open eyes, rolled back in his head, and wondered if he was dead. We got him onto the couch and knelt by his side, feeling for his heartbeat. There it was, slow and steady. I shook him by the shoulder but nothing, no response.
“I’ll get Rhiannon,” Peyton said, springing to her feet.
“She’s out back, clearing the sidewalks. ” I turned back to Kaylin as she raced off. “Kaylin, Kaylin? Can you hear me? Dude, wake up!”
Frustrated and scared, I felt for his pulse again. It was slow and even, and he didn’t seem to be clammy or showing any other sign of a heart attack. I grabbed an afghan off the back of the rocking chair and spread it over him, not wanting to take a chance on shock. If he’d had an allergic reaction, he wouldn’t be breathing—I knew that much from experience. I carried an EpiPen wherever I went.
Rhiannon came on the run, shedding her jacket and gloves along the way. She pulled off her boots, then nimbly raced over to my side and slid down beside me.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. He just came into the parlor and said he didn’t feel good and then collapsed. No sign of shock, no clammy skin, his heartbeat sounds good. I have no clue as to what’s going on. ”
“We need Leo. I called him on his cell. He’s out doing errands for Geoffrey, but he’s just finishing up at the post office and will be here as soon as he can. Peyton, can you go into the herb room and find the smelling salts? My mother kept them around ‘just in case,’ as she used to say. ”
“Sure. ” Peyton headed out of the room.
“Good idea. If they don’t bring him around, then I don’t know what will. ” Medicine was a tricky subject with Supernaturals—the magic-born, Weres, the Fae; some meds that worked wonders on the yummanii would kill us, and herbs that would barely touch one of their illnesses might be a miracle cure in our systems. We didn’t dare give Kaylin anything until we knew more about what was going on. Because he was part demon, it could react badly on him.
But the smelling salts had no effect and so the three of us sat beside him, waiting for ten minutes until Leo came bounding through the door.
“How is he? Has his condition changed any?” Leo motioned for us to move and began to examine Kaylin. Besides his job working as a day-runner for Geoffrey, Leo was a healer and skilled with herbcraft. He asked Peyton to bring him the first-aid kit and slid the thermometer under Kaylin’s tongue, then glanced at it, shaking his head.
After a few moments, he sat back, looking puzzled. “I haven’t a clue as to what’s wrong with him. This is weird. There’s no sign of any problem other than the fact that he’s comatose. His temperature is normal. I don’t know—should we take him to the hospital?”
“I suppose we could, but . . . I have a feeling that what we’re dealing with isn’t medical—at least not in the traditional sense. I’m going to fetch Lainule. She can come help us for once. ” I put on my leather jacket and slid my keys in my pocket. “I’ll be back soon. I have my cell—keep an eye on him and call me if there’s any change. ”
“How are you going to find the Queen of Rivers and Rushes? She keeps out of sight, you know. ” Rhiannon frowned. “I don’t think I like her much. ”
“Don’t worry. I know where she is. ” With that, I slammed out of the door and jumped into Favonis, heading for Dovetail Lake, where Lainule kept her displaced Court.
The drive down was uneventful, even if I did pour on the speed. Fuck the cops. If they tried to stop me, they could face Geoffrey’s wrath. He ruled the town, anyway, and I had a feeling that the vampire would be willing to do a lot of minor favors for me as long as I asked with respect.
But nobody bothered me and I swung into Dovetail Lake and skidded to a stop in the parking lot. Jumping out of the car, I caught my balance as I nearly fell on my butt, sliding on the slick snow that covered chunky ice below.
“Lainule! I know you’re out here. I know you can hear me. I need to talk to you now! We need your help and I’ll keep shouting so everybody and their brother can hear me until you show yourself. ”
The Summer Queen didn’t like people knowing where she hid out. It was dangerous, and I knew I could get a rise out of her that way. Of course, she’d be pissed at me but right now, I didn’t care.
Sure enough, within a moment there was a shimmer in the tattered remains of summer’s rushes next to the lake, and one of her guards stepped out of the decrepit vegetation.
“What do you need?” He gave me an icy stare, but I ignored it.
“I need the Queen’s help. It’s an emergency. ” I wasn’t going to tell him anything that might lead him to decide I really didn’t need to see Lainule.
He paused, studying my face, then nodded for me to follow him. As I slipped through the portal in the dying reeds, a soft breeze swept around me and I found myself staring at a clear sky, pale blue with faint tendrils of sunlight breaking through a haze of distant clouds. The reeds disappeared and I was on the shores of a gorgeous lake, while a meadow spread out to the side. The grass was dry and soft, and butterflies wisped by on thin wings.
Lainule was sitting on a patchwork blanket by the water, staring silently into the gentle ripples. She looked up as I knelt beside her.
“Cicely—I did not summon you. ”
No pleasantries, but I didn’t expect them. She was as far removed from the Cambyra Fae over which she ruled as were the vampires.
“Kaylin is . . . there’s something wrong and we can’t figure out what it is. I thought you might be able to help. ” I gazed up at her eyes and she smiled then, softly, and the world brightened.
“You come for your friend, not for yourself. Bless you for that, child. I cannot come to your house—it is too close to my woodland and Myst. But wait—there may be a way I can help. ” She snapped her fingers, and one of her serving girls knelt beside her. “Bring me Astralis. ”
The girl silently jogged off. As we sat there, I longed to beg Lainule to reconsider, to find a way to save Grieve from Myst’s clutches, but I knew that might endanger her willingness to help us with Kaylin.
“Lady, may I ask you something?” I might not be able to ask about Grieve, but there was something I could venture to discuss.
“What, child?”
“My father. I’d like to meet him. ” I only knew that his name was Wrath, and that he was one of the Uwilahsidhe.
Lainule frowned. “It is not the time, but soon—soon, I think. There are so many things that could tip the scales of fate, Cicely. And I hold many of their threads in my hands. If you meet him, if you find out your parentage, how will it affect the war? And make no mistake: War is upon us. ”
I considered her words. Begging wouldn’t work, nor would whining, so I shelved the thought for the time being. “Then tell me, how can I keep out of Lannan’s clutches?”
This brought a cloud across her face. “Oh, my child, I wish I’d talked to you before you made your deal; I could have warned you about how to proceed. But we were worried it might change your mind. And we needed you to take the contract. These are dark days, and darker still to come. The world is clouded with pain, and Myst’s people are not confined to the Golden Wood. ”
“You mean there really are others?”
“While the Queen herself makes her home in my lands, her people have spread throughout the world. But if we can strike the heart of the hive, t
hen we have a chance to break all of the swarms. For there is only one Queen; there is only one mother of the race. And make no mistake: Myst would conquer the world if she could, cloak it in an eternal winter, and keep both the magic-born and the yummanii as cattle—one for soul drinking, the other for blood and flesh. ”
“What about Lannan?”
She hung her head and for once, she was no longer Lainule the tattered Queen of Summer, but a woman, like me. She reached out and took my hands. “I wish I could help, but oh my dear, there is nothing I can do to stop him. Regina favors him, and if I were to step in, she might break the pact and the vampires need the Summer Fae, even if they don’t realize it. They would not win alone against Myst and her people. ”
“So I’m sacrifice to his whims. ” I stared at her hands as they held mine. “I made the bargain, I didn’t think. I just was hoping . . . ”
“I’m sorry, so sorry. ”
At that moment, the girl returned with a silver bowl. Lainule motioned for her to leave, then dipped it into the silent lake, filling it full with the warm water of summer. She waved her hand over it, whispering something, and leaned close. As I watched, she breathed on the water and then closed her eyes.
Her eyes flew open and she looked up at me. “Cicely, Kaylin is in danger. He’s evolving on his path. His demon is trying to wake. Unless he receives the help he needs, he will slide forever into a dark hole in his mind and never regain consciousness. There is no time to waste. You must journey into the Court of Dreams and bring back the spell that will waken his demon. ” She placed her hands on my shoulders. “You must journey to the home of the Bat People. It is a long, dangerous path, but there is no choice. It’s the only way if you want to save Kaylin. ”
Chapter 4
I stared at the Summer Queen. “The Court of Dreams? You seriously want me to go into another plane in search of the Bat People?”
Lainule gazed at me. “It’s not what I want, child. The journey depends on whether you value your friend’s life. I would not have you go, except Kaylin plays an important part in your future—that much I can tell you. If his demon does not wake, you will never recover him and this will change the course of the war against the Indigo Court. Whether for good or ill, I do not know, but I don’t like playing with the future once it’s told me its secrets. ”
A hummingbird, sparkling green with hints of blue, darted around my head, beating its wings furiously. The creature was beautiful, almost ephemeral. A gust of wind could knock it senseless. A year or two and it would probably be dead. And yet still it fed, and seemed happy, and took no notice of the future.
“To be so carefree,” I whispered.
Lainule followed my gaze to the bird. “The hummingbird is no more carefree than you are. She must eat, and eat often. She must build her nest to lay her eggs and hope that predators stay away while she incubates them, and later, while she is off fetching food for the chicks. She must avoid flying into buildings or other stationary objects. She must avoid being caught by birds of prey and cats and anything else that might want to eat her. The world is her enemy and yet . . . ” Lainule held out her hand and whistled, and the hummingbird dove for her, perching on her finger, fluttering its wings a few beats every second.
“And yet, she trusts in the way of things. She brings joy in her wake. What lessons can you take from her?” She reached out with her other hand and gently stroked the bird’s head, then motioned for me to do the same.
I felt an odd instinct rise up, one I didn’t like. A part of me—my owl self—wanted to dart forward and snatch up the hummingbird. It was food, prey . . . And yet I was able to control the predator within and, taking a deep breath, I reached out and ran my finger along the back of the bird, reveling in how small and yet how incredible it was.
“You just faced what will become one of your greatest lessons, I think. When we automatically attack those weaker, we lose incredible opportunities. This is a lesson most of the Cambyra Fae must learn—to hunt only when necessary. What else, child?”
Exhaling slowly, I thought for a moment. “To persevere, regardless of the odds. To take joy in what I can. To attempt what seems impossible. To soar, despite the effort it takes. ”
“Very good. ” She flicked her finger and the hummer raced off.
I followed it with my gaze as it soared into the distance.
A lazy breeze wafted past, and I reached out on the slipstream to listen. The sound of fading summer ran through the currents, along with the whispering of leaves on the edge of turning color. The faint thunder of winter’s drums threatened in the distance. And then I understood. I turned to Lainule.
“Your Court is waning . . . Myst is sucking the life force out of your realm. ” My voice was hushed. The thought that the Mistress of Mayhem could destroy not only Lainule’s people, but her very realm, was terrifying. The long winter had truly come, riding the coattails of Summer, with wolves baying.
Lainule’s face—unlined and clear—fell into sadness, and I wanted to reach out, to wipe away the mourning in her eyes.
“Yes, child. She is slowly draining me. She has taken over the Golden Wood, and while I can set up Court elsewhere, the woodland contains the Alissanya—my heartstone. I did not have time to retrieve it when they routed us. There was so much terror that night. So many people screaming and so much blood. My guards fought valiantly, but the blood ran like a river through the throne room, through the halls. Even if we reclaim our rightful home, the scent of terror will never vacate the barrow, and the ghosts of my people will linger. I will forever remember their screams. And I could not stop her. Myst’s people fed well. ”