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We were almost to the cave when I heard the first call, deep within my heart. "Camille, we need you. Come to us, girl. You are as much a part of this as we are. "
"What? Who?" I stopped short, looking around.
"Who are you talking to?" Delilah asked, staring at me, a worried expression on her face.
"I don't know. I heard a command to go to the cave. The magic has been calling me since we first arrived on the land, and it's grown stronger with every passing step. " I bit my lip. "I need to go. I need to go into the cave. "
"We all need to go into the cave," Menolly said, still holding Chase firmly by the wrist. He was off in la-la land, that much was obvious, and I had my doubts he'd be any use at all to us until the charm of the meadow was broken or until we got him far enough away from the meadow to negate it. We should have left him home.
"What do we do with him? If we leave him out here, he'll be mush by the time we get back. If we take him with us, one of us will have to keep a watch on him. " I stared at Chase, trying to decide what our best course of action was.
"I'll watch him and make sure nothing happens. Come on, let's get moving," Delilah said. "I'm stronger than Chase, so I can protect him. "
"There's no help for it, then. " I motioned toward the entrance. "All right, I'm going in first, since I'm the one being called. I don't smell Demonkin here, so whatever's going down is separate from them. I hope. "
Smoky and Morio nodded and took their places at my side, then Chase and Delilah. Menolly swung around, skulking through the shadows so that she couldn't be seen. She'd be our invisible guard. Better than invisible, since she was silent and left only her scent in her wake.
I stared at the cave, now just a few yards ahead, and readied the horn, keeping it in the folds of my gown. Finally, I ran toward the entrance, Smoky and Morio on my heels. As my feet touched the first fingers of light emanating from the cave, the icy shaft of the Moon Mother's power impaled me, shattering into my heart with the echo of a thousand chimes.
I broke through the entrance and stumbled into the cave.
Morgaine and Titania stood beside a forest of crystals, guarding a woman trapped inside a huge stalagmite. Their grins feral and Fae, they beckoned to me.
Titania stepped forward, holding the short sword, which contained a faceted amethyst that shimmered under the shifting lights of the cave. The spirit seal. Just as Benjamin had said.
"We've been waiting for you, Camille," she said. "You will help us free Aeval. You have no choice. "
"What if I say no?" I stared at the two of them. Where before they'd been at odds, it was now clear they were working together, and that Titania had regained much of her former power.
Morgaine stepped forward. "Camille, you are the crux on which the equinox turns this night. You alone can help us raise the Unseelie Queen. We will bring her back to life and right the balance that so long ago was thrown off when the worlds were divided. "
"The scales will tip tonight. Tomorrow is the equinox, and the balance must shift. What has long been set askew can be righted this night. The powers that once reigned will rise again. You must be present to bear witness, and you must do what you can to help the shift occur. "
Grandmother Coyote's words echoed in my ears, drumming like a timpanist gone mad. And then I understood. She had ordered me to help Titania and Morgaine. The Courts of Fae were destined to rise again, and I was the one on whose shoulders the final decision rode.
If I didn't help, the balance would be thrown further out of whack. If I did help, who knew what I'd be setting in motion? And there was no time to weigh decisions. The demons were on their way from one direction. Benjamin was on his way from another. Feddrah-Dahns and Mistletoe were coming from yet another—from Georgio's house where they'd been hiding. And they were going to converge here, in this cave, before the night was half-past.
All of these images collided in my mind as I looked back at the others, who stood watching, saying nothing.
Smoky had a dangerous look on his face, Menolly one of disbelief. Morio just gave me one small nod. Delilah stood beside Chase, her hand on his arm. They were near enough the entrance that they could run if need be.
I turned back to Titania and Morgaine. "What do you want me to do?"
Chapter Twenty-six
Titania motioned for me to move beside her. She looked at the others. "You will not interfere. Do you understand?"
Smoky raised his hand. "A moment. Morio, cast your spell. "
I caught his drift. "Do it. I'm certain they're okay, but…"
Morgaine began to bristle, but Titania relaxed. "Be our guest, Master Fox. "
Morio nodded, stood back, and held out his hands. After a moment, he chanted something in Japanese, and a bright light filled the cave. There was a shimmer around all of us. As I watched, a series of rotating images flashed where Delilah was standing, alternating between her, her golden tabby shape, and her black panther form. Smoky, on the other hand, was swathed in a mist that mirrored the image of his milky dragon self. Chase—now. Chase was interesting. There was a glow to his aura that told me he was who he was and yet, there was more. Faint—a promise of things to come.
Neither Morgaine nor Titania shifted form, nor did the figure encased within the crystal change shape.
Relaxing, Morio shook his head. "They're not illusions created by the Raksasa. They're the real thing. "
"I guess we'd better get on with it," I said, looking around the cave. The chamber went back a long ways, covered quartz spikes with crystal formations jutting out from the glossy black rock. A crystaline sheet that resembled glacial ice covered the floor, reflecting a light that seemed to emanate from the very core of the walls.
A dais, also formed of crystal, rose in front of the stalagmite holding Aeval prisoner, and on that dais was a chalice blown from volcanic glass, and in the chalice a steaming brew, the mist overflowing the rim to slowly creep out into the air.
Titania motioned me forward. I gave the others one last look. "I have to do this. Grandmother Coyote foretold it. I have no choice. Destiny is too strong. " Even as I spoke, the energy of the chamber forcibly pushed me forward.
I quit resisting and joined Titania and Morgaine.
Titania motioned for me to flank her on the left. She stood in the center, Morgaine on her right. The Fae Queen emeritus held out her hand and instinctively, I placed my own hand, palm up, in hers. She gazed into my eyes, and the years rolled backward, the millennia sliding away as her power began to coalesce around her. A cloak of swirling magic, a nimbus of immortality. She straightened her shoulders. Morgaine gasped as Titania lowered all her masks, and her beauty and brilliance filled the cavern with an audible sigh.
I could only gaze up at her, filled with pride. Here was the noble Titania of legend and lore, here was the Fae Queen who terrorized and seduced mortals by the score. Here was the Lady who our own queen should be emulating. Titania knew how to be a true queen. She had only forgotten herself for a time, steeped in unhappiness and liquor. But now she was back.
She lifted the short sword with the spirit seal fastened in its hilt and brought it down on my palm, slicing through the flesh. My blood spilled into my hand and overflowed, drizzling to the floor.
"Join us," Titania said, pointing to the chalice. I raised my hand over the goblet and tipped it palm down, watching as the blood trickled into the liquid. The mist rising from the brew hissed and popped and billowed up with a violet flame.
Morgaine reached for my hand, and I let her take it. She raised it to her lips and kissed the wound, and the flesh began to heal, mending together as if an invisible seamstress were stitching it taut.
Titania turned to the dais. "Only the union of the blood of the Fae and the magic of the Moon Mother, bound together in a free agent, can free Aeval from her crystalline grave and restore her to the world of the living. I cannot strike the blow to shatte
r the spike since I am Aeval's opposite. Nor can Morgaine, since she aspires to the Court. "
She paused, staring down into my eyes. "But you, Camille, you have both Fae blood and you are a Daughter of the Moon. And you do not covet our crowns. You shall free Aeval. Drink the elixir and then strike the crystal with the sword. Break the spell cast upon the Queen of Unseelie by those who divided the worlds and disbanded the Courts so long ago. "
Her words reverberated in the chamber. Break the spell cast upon the Queen of Unseelie by those who divided the worlds and disbanded the Courts so long ago. So Aeval had been trapped since the Great Divide, and I'd be undoing a spell of immense power cast by… by… who? I cast an anxious look at Titania.
"Whose spell is it?"
She reached out and cupped my chin in her hands. "Four of the Elemental Lords joined together to forge the spell, even as they cast the spell on me to drain away most of my powers. I've managed to break free of their trap, but I cannot undo what was done to Aeval. "
"And you think I can…"
"Now that you possess the horn of the Black Unicorn, you have the strength to wake her. We know what powers the horn possesses… The Elementals within the horn can strengthen your magic enough to overcome the power of those who bewitched the Courts and brought them to their knees. "
Brought the Courts to their knees? I hadn't heard this part of history. "Are you saying that the Great Divide was actually a battle?"
Titania gazed at me. "Child, don't you know? The Great Divide was the greatest battle the Fae have ever waged among themselves. Those who feared the demons fought to divide the worlds in a way that unbalanced the entire sphere of existence, and things have been getting more and more skewed since then. Oh, for awhile it worked to keep the Demonkin at bay, but the system is breaking down, more portals are opening on their own. The seals long to be reunited to set the world at balance again. "
Morgaine spoke up. "The plan was flawed from the beginning. The victors turned their backs on their heritage as they left for Otherworld. After they decimated the Courts of Seelie and Unseelie. So much has been lost in obscurity, but those of us who led the Courts in battle remember all too well what destruction the war brought about. "
"Then, by doing this, I'm betraying my family, my home world—" Frozen with indecision, I felt like a fulcrum, caught between two worlds who balanced on my shoulders. Tonight was the equinox. Grandmother Coyote was one of the Hags of Fate. She told me that it was my destiny to help rebuild the Courts of Fae, Earthside. But what ramifications would that have back in OW? And wouldn't that just lead to more warfare?
Morgaine impatiently grabbed me by the arm and yanked me around to face her. "Your family got its start right here on Earth. You are indeed a daughter of Fae, but do you know who your ancestors were? Do you know where your father's roots lie?"
I shook my head, scared now. Something big was coming—I could feel it. Morgaine looked up at Menolly and Delilah. They were alert, ready for action.
"This involves the two of you, as well. Listen carefully. I wasn't going to reveal this, because some things are best left in the past. But if you need to feel like you aren't betraying your family, then perhaps you'd best know. Just where do you think your family tree leads back to? Well?"
"I don't know. Father said a lot of the records were lost eons ago. " My teeth were chattering now, and I could barely catch my breath. Her fingers dug into my flesh, bruising my shoulders as she shook me lightly.
"Camille, look at me. What do you see? Look at me. "
And I looked. Deep into Morgaine's violet eyes, into her waiflike face, at her raven-blue hair. And I saw. I saw what she was trying to tell us.
"Great Mother… you… you…"
"I'm one of your ancestors, you foolish child. You are from the same line that spawned me. We're from the original family who formed the worship of the Moon Mother long before the Great Divide. All three of you carry the same blood that I do in your own veins. Your father and I are cousins, of a sort. I may be only half-Fae, but my work with the Merlin extended my life by far longer than any mortal can ever hope to see. I will live as long as any of the full-blooded Fae. Your father was born after the worlds divided, but his grandfather and my father shared a common bond. I dug into the past when I first saw you a few months ago. Your blood sang to mine. "
I abruptly sank down on the floor. A glance told me Menolly and Delilah were struck speechless. "We're family?" My greatgrandfather had died long, long before I was born, in a battle against some nameless beast in the forest. Nor had my father met him.
The Great Divide had plowed forward, ripping the worlds apart, uprooting families, destroying records, tearing asunder clans and long-established communities. But we'd always believed it had been a necessary juggernaut, something that all Fae had agreed upon to prevent the demons from tearing through the world. Now a dark cloud settled over every stitch of history we'd ever been taught.
"You might as well call me cousin. Stand up and quit your cowardice. You know what you have to do—so do it!" Her eyes narrowing, Morgaine roughly hauled me to my feet and pushed me toward the dais.
"You have a lousy way of showing your love," I grumbled, but at least she'd managed to shake me out of my fear. Even if I forever ruined my reputation in Otherworld, I knew had to do this. Knowing what I did now—that the Great Divide had been forced on the Courts—at this point, I trusted Grandmother Coyote far more than I trusted anybody back home.
The crystals jutting from ceiling and floor began to hum as I accepted the glass that Morgaine handed me. The brew swirled within, dark and deep and rich with a dozen different herbs that I could smell. The mixture bubbled softly, and I could smell my blood in it, mingling with the lifeblood from Titania's and Morgaine's veins. A glance at Menolly told me she was holding up just fine, even though she had to be smelling the spilled blood.