I’d protect Sparky from more than physical blows. I’d end this quick, and keep his innocence intact. It was the least I could do for drawing him into the utter mess of my life.
“Let us go, Kaye,” I said. “Last chance.”
“How dare you give me orders?” she asked.
A copper bowl lifted from the counter, suspended in the air for a second before plummeting to the stone floor with a loud, metal clang. Kaye ceased waving her hands, and began to massage her temples with tattooed fingers. The skin on her hands had been free of tattoos just a week ago. What the Hell had the witch been up to?
I extinguished the wisp flame I’d held at the ready, and I lifted my left hand, palm out. The right hand I kept pressed to my side as if reaching for my injured hip. Pain flared and I winced, adding to the ruse, my knife at the ready.
No matter how badly I wanted to talk Kaye down from this ledge of my own making, I knew better than to face her unarmed. As it was, she had me at the disadvantage. Even with my newly heightened senses and increased speed, my position was all wrong for an accurate throw of my knife. I’d need to step forward with one foot, and raise my hand above my head if I had any hope of finding my target. At the moment, that target was Kaye’s right shoulder, but that could change.
She was faster, stronger, and the madness and compulsion driving her made her actions unpredictable. So focused as she was on revenge, she might take unnecessary risks. The jury was still out on whether that would work in my favor, but it didn’t look good. So I kept an eye on the shoulder of her dominant arm, hoping to reduce her ability to cast spells if she pushed her attack.
“Come on, Kaye,” I said. “I’m not giving you orders. I’m just trying to help. You’ve got to see that.”
Arachne let out a whimper at my side, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Kaye. My chest tightened, and I struggled to keep my breathing steady. I needed to calm Kaye down, but it was obvious that even now, she hadn’t let up on her assault. Arachne was struggling to hold a protective barrier between us and her former mentor, but we continued to be buffeted by an angry wind.
What would happen when Kaye realized I had absolutely zero intent of ever getting her a piece of Herne for her spell? I needed to get through to her before that happened. As it was, she was already recovering from her momentary lapse, shaking her head as she lowered her hands from her temples.
She blinked, and an off kilter grin spread across her face. Her eyes shone with a feverish gleam, and I had to remind myself that she was sick. Power and age had corrupted her mind, but there still might be a woman worth saving trapped inside. Maybe.
With the flick of her wrist, a row of jars struck Arachne’s shield, and I had to renew casting a protective arc of flame around us. The flames shot up just in time, since Kaye’s magic had lifted a canister of long-handled wooden spoons, throwing each utensil at us like tiny javelins.
“You’re sick, Kaye,” I said, lifting an arm against the maelstrom. Racks of spell components were being pulled from the walls to fly toward us. My flames burned most of it to ash or knocked it back, but all it would take is one fork through the eye to lose this fight. I shook my head. “This isn’t you.”
“You have no idea who I am,” she said, spittle forming at her lips. “You call yourself a hero, but I was saving this city when you were in diapers. And I am saving it again.”
The objects flying through the air may have been deflected by my flames and Arachne’s protective shield magic, but I still felt like I’d been punched in the gut. Kaye might be crazy, but she wasn’t wrong. She had been a hero to this city, risking her life to protect its inhabitants from harm. Most of those threats were fae, a fact I was painfully aware of.
I had to force myself to remember that it was her recent actions called into question, not the woman herself. That was a job for a jury of her peers, something that the Circle might already be putting in motion, but we needed to all stay alive long enough to make that happen. Perhaps if I could appeal to Kaye’s love of the city, I could get her to back down, and stop trying to impale us with kitchen implements.
“I know what the barghest did to your friends, but there are other ways to defeat Herne’s hounds,” I said. “We don’t need your binding spell to save the city.”
I looked around, searching for an opening, some way to end this quick and painless. I was especially keen on that last part. I was all for avoided maiming or worse. We’d all been through enough already, and the true battle facing this city hadn’t even begun.
Arachne was shaking, and her skin had taken on a grayish pallor. The kid was running on empty. If only we could get inside the silver-lined spell circle set into the kitchen floor, we’d stand a chance. But there was a crazed witch between us and the circle.
It was then that I noticed the basket of silverware beneath a cloth napkin that was flapping in the artificial wind. The basket was on the floor as if it had been hastily set there to make room for Sparky’s body on the table. I hooked the basket with the toe of my boot, not daring to look down at it again and draw Kaye’s notice.
I knew from the way that Hob coveted those forks, knives, and spoons that they were made of pure silver. Shiny silver was the brownie’s weakness. I drew a breath and flicked my hand, sending a ball of flame to singe Kaye’s skirts, and buy us some time.
I inched closer to Arachne, but still had to shout to be heard.
“Can you make a protective circle?” I asked.
She nodded, but her hands shook.
“I can try, but I can’t hold it for long,” she said. “Not against Kaye.”
I pushed the basket between us and kicked it up against her ankle.
“What if your circle is outlined in silver?” I asked. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip, but nodded. That was all the encouragement I needed. “Good. I’ll cover you on three.”
I widened my stance, and lifted my arm, a throwing knife pinched between gloved fingers. Kaye cackled, but I held my ground.
“You think a mere blade can harm me?” she asked.
Dark tattoos swirled along her arms, but I shrugged, keeping her angry focus on me.
“One…two…THREE!” I shouted.
Kaye frowned, her head tilted to the side, but Arachne dropped to the ground. From the clatter at my feet, she was hastily forming a circle with the silverware. But she’d need a few seconds to build that perimeter and infuse it with magic. It was my job to give her those seconds.
“Kaye!” I shouted.
I stepped forward, and threw my knife. I intended for the butt of the knife to hit her in the shoulder, but Kaye used her magic to swat the weapon aside like it was no more than a mosquito. Sadly, that’s all we were to the witch. To someone of Kaye’s power, we were no more than a minor nuisance, insects to be swept away—or exterminated.
“Give me the ingredient!” she shouted, sending a large metal cauldron flying toward my head with the flick of her wrist.
By ingredient, I wasn’t sure if she meant the piece of Herne she so desperately sought or Sparky. Either way, she wasn’t getting what she wanted. I’d tried to reason with her to no avail. I felt Sparky stir on the table behind me, and I lifted my chin and set my jaw.
I was fresh out of patience.
Chapter 33
Kaye had done more than threaten my well-being, she’d threatened my family. She’d forced Arachne and Humphrey do things against their wills, things they may never recover fully from, and put Sparky in harm’s way. Even now, Arachne and Sparky’s lives were at risk.
I’d tried to give Kaye a chance to back down. She was a friend, a mentor, and a former protector of this city. I didn’t forget the part I’d played in Kaye’s descent into madness, and I wasn’t ready to give up all hope for the woman’s redemption. But I’d had enough of her threats and demands, and I was done handling the old witch with kid gloves.
My time in Faerie had taught me a valuable lesson, one I focused on now. If those with power become obsessed with g
reed or revenge, they need to be brought down. Madness and obsession had driven my uncle’s actions, and people suffered. I’d made the hard calls then, and I’d do it again now.
That’s what heroes do.
I sniffed, and blinked away tears. I knew that what I was about to do was right, but that didn’t make it easy. Hurting a friend should never be easy, and if Kaye was of sound mind, she’d be the first to tell me that I was doing the right thing. Innocent children had to be protected, at all costs.
“Arachne, you got that spell circle ready?” I asked.
“One more second,” she said.
Her body trembled, but her voice no longer shook. The kid was brave, I’d give her that.
“Let me know just before it closes,” I said, keeping my eyes on Kaye.
I threw another knife, but Kaye deflected it easily. She strode toward us, hair writhing in a mass of curls. Spittle foamed at the side of her mouth as she began a new incantation, and I knew instinctively that I needed more than mere blades to keep her at bay.
Arachne held up three fingers, beginning her countdown. It had become too loud for words. The walls shook, and sections of roof began to tear off the building like cast off wrapping paper on Christmas morning. But there was no happy surprise inside the Emporium, only the specter of pain and death.
That promise was evident in Kaye’s wide, unblinking eyes and in the teeth she now bared as she lurched toward us. Those teeth swirled with indigo and black arcane symbols, and Arachne’s hand shook as she lowered one finger and then the other.
Three, two…ONE.
A mere breath away from Arachne closing the protective circle, I stepped out of the ring of silver utensils and spread my wings. Pain tore through my right wing, but I forced it open wide. Without Arachne at my side or Sparky at my back, I had room to maneuver my wings. More importantly, I’d felt the influx of magic as Arachne set her circle. My ears popped with the shift in pressure, and the tension in my shoulders eased.
No matter what happened next, Arachne and Sparky would be safe inside that circle. I just had to have faith in Arachne that she could hold her spell in place long enough for me to take Kaye down. I tried not to think too hard about what I might have to do to end this threat. It was past the time for that. I’d do whatever was necessary.
Mind made up, I shot into the air, taking advantage of the sections of missing ceiling. The kitchen was large, but it was the gaping holes in the ceiling and roof that really gave me room to maneuver. I might have gloried in my second time flying here in the human world if it hadn’t been for the witch trying to squish me like a bug.
Chunks of wood and stone joined the kitchen utensils shooting through the air and the projectiles had one target, me. That suited me just fine. The longer I kept Kaye’s focus off the kids, the safer they’d be.
I had the witch’s attention. She was on a revenge kick, but even more worrisome she was hellbent on saving the city by taking control of the supernaturals here, starting with Herne’s hounds. Demonstrating my otherness with wings and wisp magic was a surefire way to get on her radar, and I’m pretty damn sure her lasers weren’t set for stun.
A bolt of lightning shot from her fingertips, and I had to duck and drop like a stone to avoid being barbequed. She’d guessed my trajectory, and I narrowly missed an entire block of sharp, pointy knives. Oh yeah, I definitely had her attention and from that last attack, it seemed she wanted me dead.
I soared through the room, rolling, dropping, and rising as needed. Taking flight on faerie wings had only enraged Kaye further, but I wasn’t done. I was just getting started.
Wings spread wide, I let down my mental barriers and allowed the cacophony of wisp voices to scream inside my head. It didn’t terrify me. In fact, knowing that Arachne and Sparky were safe inside a dome of protective magic had eased the band of pressure around my chest and loosened something inside my mind, leaving me in a Zen-like state of calm.
Thankfully, I can move like greased lightning when I’m all Zen. Tattoos crawled over every inch of Kaye’s body, but I caught the movement just as she unleashed an orb of endless night. The ball of shadow tore through the room, eating wood, brick, and mortar with a glutton’s appetite. It sank into the floor, and I had to wonder if it continued all the way through the center of the earth and out the other side of the planet.
Kaye couldn’t be allowed to unleash that kind of magic on the world. She had to be stopped.
Wisp voices buzzing in my head, I began to glow. Light filled the room, and I tilted back my head, basking in the power of my people. Then, I began to sing.
Not all folktales are true. The wail of a banshee doesn’t always presage death (though it does often enough to raise the hairs on my neck when I hear their cries), kelpies don’t all hunger for human flesh (thank Mab), and pixies aren’t cute little cherubic faeries who wear buttercups on their heads (if you believe that, I know a troll with a bridge to sell you). But sometimes, the old stories get it right.
Wisps have long had a reputation for luring their victims into the watery graves of swamps, marshes, and bogs. Some stories say we use our glow to lead travelers astray. Some say we wisps sing a beautiful melody that forces men to dance off the safe path and to their doom. Both stories are true.
We can do both.
I lifted my voice in a humming, haunting tune that vibrated through the kitchen, drowning out the wind and the incessant crash of support beams and roofing tiles. I’d long denied my wisp heritage here in the human world, believing that part of me to be something monstrous. Even after all of my training in the wisp court, and the discovery that I was, in fact, full-blooded fae, I’d doubted my ability to draw on my powers away from Faerie. Those worries were unfounded.
I am wisp, hear me roar.
Have you ever heard the cry of a mother bugbear for her cub, or the shriek of a harpy for her chicks? My body continued to move with a relaxed, fluid grace, easily avoiding the magic thrown at me from Kaye’s tantrum, but I was no longer void of emotion.
With the lifting of my voice, and the collective hum of my people, I filled the room with wisp song. The music gathered and built with a crush of power that rode over the kitchen in waves. It pooled in corners, rose in crescendos, crashed upon my enemy, and returned to me to do it all again, the song a constant tide of energy and power.
I was a conduit for a kind of primal magic that required the full commitment of the user. I glanced from tiny Arachne huddled over Sparky’s fragile body to Kaye’s wrathful scowl and mottled skin, and gave the song my full conviction. I embraced my love for them, and my anger. Kaye had threatened my family, and for that I would lead her to her doom.
My wings joined the song with a strange chirping vibration of their own, and Kaye’s eyes widened. Even in her madness, her judgment clouded by rage and a desire for revenge, she hesitated. She’d miscalculated, only now becoming aware of the true extent of my transformation, the realization that I was my father’s daughter and my mother’s daughter, no matter the nature of my upbringing.
Kaye had known me as human, and more recently as half wisp, but that had been a lie. I was fully fae. The early deception was a trick of complex magic spells to keep me safe and hide me from Mab and her network of spies. I’d begun to mature into my powers with age, and the spells keeping me human would likely have worn off with time. Cracks had recently begun to form when more faeries had entered my life, but it was my trip to my father’s court that had shattered the spells that kept me human.
Faerie had changed me. Kade, with his endless, brutal training sessions and his ultimate betrayal, had molded and shaped me. Sorrow, guilt, and loneliness had hardened me. I was no longer the naïve, young human girl with an unusual psychic gift and a strange aura.
I was the daughter of Will-o’-the-Wisp and Mab the Queen of Air and Darkness. No matter the circumstances of their union, they’d borne a child with extraordinary power. I smiled, baring my teeth. I may not yet know the bounds of that power, but I wa
s willing to test its limits.
Kaye’s hands moved in a frenzied dance, hurriedly trying to bring me down, but she was too late. Another wave of wisp song crashed over her, and blood oozed from her ears. I swooped lower, tossing a ball of fire at her feet, and she barely managed to deflect it. The fireball hit the ground mere inches from where she stood, and she had to divide her time between defending against my attacks and using water magic to douse the flames.
All the while, my song lured her closer to the door and farther away from Arachne and Sparky. Getting her away from the kids was good. Trouble was, my wings wouldn’t fit through that doorway. To get her out of the room, I’d either have to relinquish control of the wisp song and retract my wings, or grapple Kaye and fly her out through one of the holes in the ceiling. Neither option was without risks.
I was eyeing the door, calculating the force I’d need to try to blast away the adjacent wall, hoping to give myself a third option for taking this battle out of the kitchen, when movement caught my attention. Someone lobbed a cloth bundle at Kaye, and she froze.
The effect lasted only seconds, but it gave Fern Greatoak and the other Circle members the time they needed to make their move. A web of blue and green lines lit the room, quickly spinning to ensnare Kaye.
Kaye fought the magical shackles, but I added my own magic to the attack. Veins burning, body trembling, and chest aching, I gathered more power and pummeled Kaye with wisp song. She sagged, slowing her struggles against the Circle’s entanglement spell, but my elation was short-lived.
I listed to the side ungracefully, fatigue and my injured wing making it increasingly difficult to stay aloft. I’d channeled too much wisp power, and my body was reaching its limits. Adrenaline was wearing off, making me aware of dozens of painful bruises, cuts, and a possible tear in my right wing.