The Steward

  “You have to admit, the timing is just too coincidental. Dad sees Kyle die when Sara first believes that Dad may be the next Steward. Then Dad’s parents die before he’s supposed to start training. Aunt May is getting old, so we move here and I start training. Before my training is complete, and a year and a half before I’m supposed to take over, Aunt May is murdered. As hard as that was for me, it’s been a thousand times worse for Dad. Now, he’s simply the most unreasonable person in the world.” Heat and tightness gripped my throat.

  Billy nodded his head in agreement.

  “As soon as her Will is through probate—next week, and more than a year before I can stop him—he does the unimaginable. I think Chalen’s been compelling Dad, and I think that’s why he’s selling everything.”

  Sara scowled and turned to Billy. “Selling? What is he selling?” She asked.

  Billy spoke up. “He is working on a deal with a development company. They want to buy the Weald and develop it—one acre lots filled with stick-frame homes. Wretched.” He twisted his face as if he’d just eaten something bitter. “David has agreed to a price and they’re only waiting for the Will to probate—everything is frozen right now. Danny and I believe it is tied to a larger scheme. One designed to remove the O’Shea family. I think Maggie is correct in her assessment, but I disagree on one part. Some of this has been directed at her. The attacks on her friends, I believe, were designed to isolate her from people here. Simplistic, but potent enough to drive a young girl back to Florida—it all fits—although, as of yet, we don’t know why. The timing is ingenious. Chalen baited Gavin at the Fire trial, and the Council showed up just in time to see Gavin breaking the boundary at the Seoladán, and just soon enough for Chalen to be spared. That was no coincidence. The Fae behind this also devised a plan, albeit a sloppy one, to get you out of the way for months, Sara. Take no offense, but all of us know how you feel about compulsion—predicting how you’d react in that situation was not much of a challenge. I’m convinced it is all tied together.”

  Sara nodded and stared out the passenger side window. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she was fuming.

  “Wait,” I said, “you believed me after all?”

  “Yes, Maggie, of course, but I wasn’t about to send you to the Water trial distracted by a head full of conspiracy theories. I’m sorry. I only misled you to protect you.”

  “No, that’s alright. I’m actually relieved you don’t think I’m crazy.”

  Sara glanced at me, her brow furrowed, and she turned to stare across the river. “The question of why, though, is our paramount concern. There is more here than we’re seeing, and that bothers me. When the Unseelie scheme on this level, they do so for decades. There is always a heavy price to pay.”

  “Chalen showed fear when I figured out that freezing the water in the fountain was the answer to the trial.”

  Billy nodded. “Yes, but there is more to it than that, Maggie. What you’ve told me suggests that this plan has been in place for a long time, perhaps before your father was born. Had you been a Maebown, certainly that would have made things more difficult, and it would have meant the unimaginable—another Aetherfae.”

  Fear made my stomach churn.

  “I agree,” Sara said.

  “Do you think the Council is in on it?” I asked.

  “I don’t trust the Council, but I cannot fathom that,” Sara said. “If the entire Council was complicit, there would be no need for scheming. It would be done. Someone on the Council, though, is certainly involved.”

  “Could it be Ozara?” The prospect was so dire it nauseated me.

  “No,” Sara said with a laugh, “Ozara may be obdurate to her detriment, but she is the reason there is a Seelie Council. It’s someone else. I’m sure of it.”

  “I agree, it is not her,” Billy said, nodding. “Katarina, perhaps, but not Ozara.”

  “Katarina?”

  “Air inclined. And ancient, even by our standards—more than twenty million years old. Exceptionally powerful. She distrusts you more than the rest of the Council members,” Billy said softly.

  “It could be Katarina, but until we know unequivocally, we should say nothing. Trusting any of them means trusting all of them—that’s how the Council works. We will tell Ozara in time, but not until we have something tangible,” Sara said.

  “There is something else you should know.”

  They both looked back at me.

  “Chalen told me not to interfere. He told me that on New Year’s Eve, before I give the Council my decision, I’m supposed to find him. He wanted me to promise him that I will decline the stewardship. He threatened me and my family.”

  Anger flashed across Sara’s face.

  “There’s more. When he said it, he spoke collectively. He said we. I think he meant the Unseelie want me to go.”

  “Relax, we will figure out what to do,” Billy said.

  “Billy is correct, Maggie, please relax.” She twisted in her seat, and looked back across the river. “First things first. We need to block the sale of the property before the Council has to step in and do it. They would never let that happen, but if David gets any closer, the Council may force your family off anyway.”

  “Danny will take care of that,” Billy smiled. “The developers have human lawyers. As long as Chalen doesn’t have any idea that Danny is involved, the sale will be simple to avoid.”

  Sara nodded, but didn’t say anything—she seemed deep in thought, apparently running everying I just said through her mind.

  “This is important Maggie—were any Fae around when you called Danny?” Billy asked.

  “No, I waited to explain it to him until I was away from them.”

  “Good, now, did you think about any of this at your trial?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “That’s good. You were leaking images and emotions like an old faucet,” Billy said, disapprovingly.

  I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t leaking—at least not accidentially.”

  “What do you mean?” He asked, a hint of irritation in his voice.

  He’s going to be pissed. “Well, since this is confession time, I have a couple.” They both stared at me, Billy glaring. “First, I used the technique you taught me, Billy. I knew Chalen would try to read my emotions and catch glimpses, like all of you do, so I let him see what he wanted to see. He was so egotistical and sure of himself, it worked.”

  “Maggie, that was too dangerous,” Billy scolded me again.

  “What technique?” Sara asked

  “I’ll explain later,” Billy interrupted. “Maggie, why would you take such a risk? I told you not to.”

  “I didn’t think it was much of a risk—I fooled you all the way to the Weald. And I knew I had Chalen convinced the whole time. Then after the trial, both you and Sara thought I was dejected.”

  “You were, I could sense it,” he said.

  “I could too, and with good reason,” Sara added.

  “No. I’m not dejected—and I wasn’t afraid at the trial. That was a ruse for Chalen and the rest of them.” I studied Billy’s disapproving eyes as I continued. “After you acted like you didn’t believe me last night, I decided I had to do what I could to uncover the truth. I knew Chalen was concerned that I might be a Maebown, and if I failed the trial—well, I guessed that he would gloat and brag, and maybe I could learn a few things. It worked.”

  “Incredibly dangerous!” Billy said. “He could have...”

  “No, he couldn’t have. You were there, Billy, and you wouldn’t have let him. I trust you.”

  “And if I hadn’t been willing to break the rules and attack Chalen?” He shook his head.

  I lashed back, “Well in that case, I guess it was a big risk. But 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 Maebowns. 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 through 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—the 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. The 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 than 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 she 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 cough.

  “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.

  “My dad. He is not the same person,” I said. Tears 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 an
d 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.”

  “Sherman is helping?”

  “Yes.”