creepy hollow 05 - a faerie's revenge

  I console myself with the thought that at least I’m not in prison. At least I don’t have a Griffin List tag embedded magically beneath my skin so the Guild can track my whereabouts for the rest of my life. At least I have the chance to start over.

  * * *

  I wake up and reach clumsily for the two ambers beside my bed. My hand finds the new one first, and I look at it through one blurry, half-open eye. It’s blank. No surprise there. Zed’s the only one who has the ID so far, and he and I aren’t in the habit of sending too many messages to each other. The noise that woke me must have come from the older, heavier amber. I pick it up and squint at the words on its surface as they swim into focus.

  Congratulations, you’re an aunt!

  I blink. “What?” Then I sit up straight. “What?” I jump out of bed and grab my stylus, which rolls off the bedside table and disappears beneath the bed. After scrambling underneath it to retrieve the stylus and muttering about how this would all be a lot easier if I could just mirror-call him, I reply to Ryn’s message. Then I hastily change out of my pajamas and into some clothes. I drag my fingers through my hair and dash into the bathing room to brush my teeth. When I come back out, there’s another message from Ryn. I slide my amber into my back pocket and run to the door, then run back because I’ve forgotten to put shoes on.

  Through the door, I hear a familiar voice. I pause in the middle of pulling on a sock, just to make sure I’ve heard correctly. Yes, that’s Chase, speaking with Gaius—something about confirming that the Seers are indeed imprisoned at the lighthouse. Relief floods me. He’s okay! He probably won’t be pleased to find that I’m still here, but we can have that discussion later. Shoes on, I jump up and hurry out of my room. I run along the passage and reach the top of the stairs as Chase turns at the bottom and walks back up.

  “Hi, good morning, goodbye,” I say as I rush past him.

  “Hey, hang on. Where are you going?”

  I stop at the bottom and look up. “Creepy Hollow. Vi had her baby!”

  “What? That’s impossible. She’s barely pregnant.”

  “No, no, she spent some time on Kaleidos. It’s all fine. A little bit early, but Ryn says Vi and the baby are both fine.”

  “Oh, that’s good.” When I turn away, he adds, “Wait, can we just—” He jogs down and stops beside me. I notice now that he’s wearing the coat I finally returned to him. “Can we talk for a moment, or are you needed there urgently?”

  “Well, no, it isn’t urgent. I’m excited to get there, that’s all.”

  “This won’t take long. I just wanted to apologize for—” He cuts himself off as Lumethon walks out of the living room while flicking through messages on her amber. She heads for the stairs without a glance in our direction. Chase clears his throat. “I’m really sorry that I—” The faerie door swings open and a bald man I’m almost certain is a drakoni walks through it. He locks the door with a gold key, nods to us, then greets the spiky-haired elf who walks out of the living room. The same elf who worked as Chase’s assistant at his tattoo shop and then showed up in the healing wing after I woke from my Velazar Prison ordeal.

  The two of them begin chatting. Chase sighs, takes my arm, and opens one of the doors leading off the entrance hall. He pulls me into the room, which turns out to be piled high with old furniture as well as broken gadgets and half-constructed weapons that probably began their life in Gaius’s laboratory. Chase closes the door, leaving a small circle of light in the ceiling as the only source of illumination.

  “Sorry,” he says. “I forgot this was the storage room.”

  “You were saying something about not taking long?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry about the other night. I shouldn’t have spoken to you so soon after I woke up. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and everything felt a bit … hopeless.”

  “Well, to be fair, I was the one who fell asleep in your bedroom. You wouldn’t have had to speak to me if I hadn’t been there.”

  “True.” After a pause, he asks, “Did you sit next to me a lot while I was asleep?”

  I shrug, grateful for the gloomy light that hides the heat rising to my face. “Every now and then.”

  “Well, thank you. My dreams were … horrendous. It was a great comfort to wake up and find I wasn’t alone. And thanks for throwing my book at me. It helped.”

  “I didn’t really throw it at you.”

  “You should have. It might have knocked some sense into me while you were still in the room instead of a day or two later.”

  “Well, you know, I guess you needed a little more time to remember that you’re not a monster after all.”

  “Yeah. Being out in the light of day helped as well. Oh, and I’m glad to see you didn’t listen to me when I told you to leave. I’ve checked out Brigham Lighthouse, and it looks like a rescue attempt will go more smoothly if we have your illusions to help get us in and out.”

  “Of course.” With a smile, I add, “I never planned to listen to you when you told me to leave, by the way.”

  “Good. Because it’s also …” He takes a deep breath and rubs the back of his neck. “Well, it’s nice to have you around.”

  “It’s, um, nice to be around.” Fantastic. Now my face is definitely heating up.

  “Anyway, I’ll let you go now.” He opens the door, and the bright light that streams in is jarring. His hand brushes my arm briefly as he adds, “Please pass on my congratulations to Vi and Ryn.”

  Somewhere behind him, sparks shoot from a watering can spout and cartwheel through the air. I hurry away before he notices.

  * * *

  I sneak into the curtained healing wing cubicle where Vi is in bed with a little bundle in her arms. She looks up at me with shining eyes, and the first words out of her mouth are, “Isn’t she the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”

  I manage to contain my squealing as I fling my arms around Ryn and squeeze him tight. “Congratulations, big brother.” Then I hurry to the side of the bed and gaze at the little wrapped-up bundle. I brush my finger gently against her soft cheek. I look at her tiny eyelashes and sweet rosebud mouth. “She’s perfect,” I breathe. “What’s her name?”

  “Victoria Rose,” Ryn says, standing beside me and putting an arm around my shoulders.

  “So pretty,” I murmur. “Are they family names, Vi?”

  “Rose was my mother’s name,” she says. “And Victoria …” A sad smile crosses her face. “She was my mentor, but she was like family. She died in The Destruction. I only ever heard people call her Tora, but her full name was Victoria. I’m not sure what we’ll end up calling this little one. Victoria, Tora, Tori …”

  “Vicky? Vix?” I suggest.

  “Well, she’ll be Victoria when she’s in trouble,” Ryn says, “which is bound to be often, if she’s anything like me.”

  “Victoria Rose,” Vi corrects with a laugh. “Didn’t your parents always use at least two names when you were in trouble?”

  “So Victoria Rose when she’s in trouble,” Ryn says, “and perhaps Tori the rest of the time.”

  “And maybe she’ll be Ria to her friends,” I add, “because that sounds cool and exotic. What do you think her color will be?”

  “It’s too early to tell,” Vi says, stroking her hand over Victoria’s fine, dark hair. “It usually takes a few weeks to settle, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Ryn says. “But I have no doubt she’ll be just as beautiful as her mother, no matter what her color.”

  Vi shakes her head as she smiles at him. “Always trying to be Mr. Charming.”

  “Hey, it’s true,” he tells her, his smile matching hers. Then he sits on the edge of the bed and looks at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t message you sooner. Don’t hate me, but … she was actually born yesterday afternoon.”

  “What?” I give him my best glare. “And you waited until this morning to tell me?”

  “I knew you would have wanted to come here immediately, but the healers first need
ed to check that she was healthy—which she is; plenty of strong faerie magic pumping through that tiny body of hers, despite her early arrival—and then all the visitors started arriving, and it seemed easier to wait until after the initial rush. I knew it would be safer for you if there were fewer people coming and going.”

  “And safer for you,” I add. “I definitely don’t want you to wind up in trouble, which we both know you would be if someone saw me in here. Speaking of which,” I add, throwing a glance over my shoulder as footsteps approach the curtain. I quickly project the illusion that I’m not here.

  A healer looks in and says, “Ryn, is your father still around?”

  “No, he went back to work. Is everything okay?”

  “It’s better than okay,” she says with a wide smile. “His wife just woke up.”

  PART IV

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY

  I remain hidden in Vi’s room chewing impatiently on my fingernails while Ryn checks out what’s happening with Mom. He comes back to report that the healers going in and out of her room keep shooing him away. I pace around, my brain repeating, She’s awake, she’s awake, she’s finally awake! Nerves shoot through me. There’s so much I have to ask her. So much she needs to explain.

  Dad arrives. I want to rush into Mom’s room with him, but Ryn holds me back, telling me to give them a little bit of time alone. “He needs to explain all the things that have happened while she’s been asleep. The fact that we know about her being a Seer, and how she was abducted, and then your expulsion from the Guild. Just give her a few minutes for things to sink in before you go rushing in there. And while you’re waiting, make sure you’re still focused enough to conceal yourself. You don’t want to ruin everything now and wind up in a detainment cell downstairs.”

  “I hate it when you’re so sensible,” I mumble.

  He pats me on the shoulder. “I know.”

  Eventually, after about the fourth time Ryn disappears to see what’s happening, he returns to tell me I can go through to Mom’s cubicle. I take another moment to be certain I’m concealing myself properly. Ryn says, “Perfect. You’re completely invisible. I’ll come with you so I can stop anyone who tries to enter while you’re in there.”

  My heart flutters on anxious wings as I walk past all the floating curtains to the ones behind which Mom has been sleeping for the past six weeks. As we step between the curtains, Ryn sweeps his hand through the air. “Sound shield,” he murmurs.

  I stop just inside the curtain. Mom is sitting up, dwarfed by the oversized healing institute pajamas. Her wispy hair, white blonde and yellow, is tangled, but someone’s made an effort to tame it since she woke up. “Calla.” She smiles and reaches her hand out to me. Dad sits on one side of the bed, so I rush to the other side and take hold of her hand. My words tumble from my mouth. “Are you okay? How do you feel? Is it confusing to wake up after so long?”

  She places her other hand over mine. “I hardly feel any different than I would after waking from a normal sleep. A little bit confused at first, but otherwise normal. That’s the sign of a high-quality sleeping potion,” she adds, lowering her gaze as her expression turns to one of guilt. She shakes her head. “I’m so sorry I did this to you. It was the only thing I could think of at the time. I couldn’t let him know what I’d …” She trails off, then grasps my hand tighter and looks up. “Is it safe for you to be here? What if someone sees you?”

  “Ryn’s standing close enough to the curtain to intercept anyone who tries to walk in. That’ll give me time to conceal myself. I can do it quickly now. I’ve been practicing a lot lately.”

  She nods. “I know why. I’m so sorry. You know I didn’t really want you to be a guardian, but I never wanted it to end this way for you. Never.”

  “That’s not important now. Yeah, it sucks, but …” I push away the ache that resurfaces every time I’m reminded of my expulsion. “I’m just so glad you’re awake. I was really mad at you at first, but then …” I squeeze her hand as I feel tears threatening. “Why didn’t you tell me, Mom? About being a Seer. I wish I had known. It would have helped me to understand you better.”

  “It’s …” She shakes her head and looks away. “It isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. I’ve Seen so many horrible things. And it’s so disorienting, so … upsetting. I hate it. I’ve always longed to be rid of it. I just wanted to be normal, so I did my best to pretend that I was.”

  “But now that I know,” I say, looking down at our joined hands, “will you explain everything? The vision you had that made you run away, and why someone came after you for it, and why there are two other Seers involved in all of this? Please?”

  “I’ll have to tell the Guild anyway,” she says quietly, “so I should get used to talking about it. And you deserve an explanation, since you were abducted and almost killed because of me.” When she manages to meet my eyes, I see tears and the enormous weight of responsibility in her gaze.

  I give her a brave smile. “It really wasn’t that bad.” I don’t know how much Dad has told her, but she doesn’t need to know how truly horrifying that experience was.

  “Well then,” she says. “I should probably start at the beginning. I was born a Seer. I hated my visions the moment they first began. My parents understood and they only ever wanted me to be happy, but they were aware that any respectable faerie born with the Seeing ability should be trained to support the guardian system. So they sent me to the Estra Guild.

  “It wasn’t all that bad. I had friends. Tamaria and Elayna and I did everything together. Near the end of first year, we were in the library one afternoon when all three of us were struck by a vision at the same time. Different, but all related to the same event. The head librarian was there. Amon. He saw us collapse. He must have heard whatever we said while we were experiencing the visions.

  “When we woke, Amon rushed off to call one of our instructors. The three of us sat together, trembling, and we shared what we’d seen. We used to carry little hand mirrors around with us so we could practice transferring visions if we had them. So we did that, and we watched the horror of our future. Then I told Tamaria and Elayna that we couldn’t let anyone at the Guild see these visions. After all, they were the ones who were going to make this future come about.

  “I don’t know if they agreed with me. I don’t know what they planned to tell the Guild. But I took those three little mirrors and I ran. Guardians came to our house, of course, but I refused to tell them what I’d Seen. They tried to threaten me, but my father made them leave. When we were alone, I showed him and my mother the three visions. Then he understood. He packed up all our things and we were gone before the next morning.

  “Years later, he revealed to me that he had never destroyed those mirrors. I thought he was crazy to have kept them, but he said, ‘What if this future comes to pass one day, and the only way to fix it is from the scraps of information within these three visions? You will always know yours, but what if you need to be reminded of the other two? Don’t destroy them.’ I didn’t want to listen to him, but as scared as I was, I recognized that he was probably right.”

  Mom pulls her hands away from mine and slips her wedding ring off her finger. “I hid the mirrors away. I never even told your father I still have them.” She takes hold of the diamond on top of her ring and twists it. She twists until the diamond comes away from the ring. “I’m sorry,” she says, looking at Dad now. “I’m sure you never meant for this ring to be used for such a purpose.”

  “Uh …” Dad stares at the two parts of the ring, looking perplexed. “No.”

  Mom rubs her finger in circles over the diamond until it loses it sparkle and its shape. It melts away to reveal three tiny discs piled on top of each other. As she recites an enlargement spell, the discs expand. Within seconds, three small round mirrors—the non-reflective Seer kind—sit on her palm. “Still quite small,” she says. “Let me make them a little bigger.” She applies another enlargement spell, then lifts one of th
e mirrors so I can see it better. “This was Elayna’s vision,” she says as Dad’s quick strides carry him around the bed to stand beside me. She touches the mirror’s surface and the first of the three visions comes into view.

  A full moon hangs in a starry sky. A night creature chirps, and two sprites flit across the scene. Without warning, a jagged lightning bolt splits the sky in half, bringing with it a horrendous ripping sound that shatters the quiet of the night. When the bright light has subsided, I see a great tear in the fabric of the sky. The tear grows wider, and beyond it is … a different world. A different realm. The scene darkens and a shadowy figure appears. All I can see of his face is the green light glowing in his eyes. His quiet voice sends a chill along my skin: “The veil has fallen.”

  The mirror returns to its silvery non-reflective state. “The veil,” I repeat softly as I stare at its blank surface. “Meaning … the one between our realm and the human one?”

  Silently, Mom nods. She picks up the second mirror. “This is what I Saw.” Once again the scene is a night sky, but in the foreground is a stone statue of a trident pointing upward. The trident appears to be rising out of rough ocean waves also carved from stone, which in turn are mounted atop a wide cylindrical base with patterns carved into it. As I watch, a man walks to the statue and easily climbs up onto the stone waves. He stands beside the trident and wraps one hand around it as he gazes up at the sky. I can’t see the detail on his face, but I can just make out the green glow where his eyes are.