I wrap my arms more tightly around myself as I start to shiver in my wet clothing. “Maybe … maybe she got away. She’s been working at the palace for a long time, hasn’t she? She must have friends there. Maybe one of the guards or carriage drivers smuggled her out.”
“Maybe,” Aurora says quietly, though she doesn’t sound convinced.
Not too far from us, Calla says goodbye to Chase and walks toward us. Behind her, the mirror remains suspended in the air, its glossy surface having returned to normal. “Forgive me,” she says to Aurora, “but I’m still not sure we can trust you.”
“We can,” I say to Calla. “I’m sure this time. I told her not to lie. You know, with my Griffin Ability.”
Calla looks between the two of us, nodding slowly. “Okay. Good. Well done. But it’s probably still best if we go our separate ways,” she says to Aurora. “Em and I have things to take care of, and you—”
“No, no, no.” Aurora looks horrified. “Please. You don’t understand. I have no one. I can’t go back home because even though Roarke’s left the palace, I know he has other spies there. Spies who could make me disappear when no one’s looking. And my father would protect me, but he isn’t always there. Especially now, with all this mess going on, he’s probably meeting with important people, making it known that he doesn’t condone Roarke’s actions. I can’t go back home until this is all over.” Her pleading gaze moves back and forth between Calla and me. “Please don’t leave me on my own. It makes sense for me to stay with you. We want the same thing. We both want to stop Roarke.”
“You really want to fight your own brother?” Calla asks. “That might seem like it’s not such a big deal, but when you’re face to face with him and a lifetime of shared memories floods your mind, I doubt you’ll find it easy.”
Aurora pauses. “Well, I … I don’t know about face-to-face fighting, but I certainly want to help stop him. You must know the Unseelie Court doesn’t agree with what he’s doing, right? We were happy with the way things were. I was happy. And now Roarke’s actions have threatened to take away everything we care about. So whatever you’re planning to do to stop him, I want to help. I can tell you things about him. Give you information you might be able to use against him.”
Calla narrows her eyes. “What makes you think I’m planning to do anything about Roarke?”
Confusion flickers across Aurora’s face. “You’re part of the Griffin rebel movement, aren’t you?”
Calla doesn’t respond, but neither does she deny it.
“Yeah, so obviously you’ll want to stop Roarke,” Aurora continues. “I’ve heard about some of the things you guys do. Not the Guild stories.” She rolls her eyes. “Every Unseelie fae knows the Guild is full of tall tales when they’re talking about any organization other than their own. I’m talking about the other stories. The stories about how you help people—off the record. You’re almost as irritatingly noble as the guardians themselves, but, you know, since you’re breaking the law to do it, that makes you way cooler.”
Calla raises her eyebrows and looks at me. “When you told her not to lie, was that only to you, or to both of us?”
“Hey, I’m not lying to you,” Aurora exclaims. She looks at me. “I am not lying to her. I want to help. I want my old life back, and the only way that’s ever going to happen is if Roarke is stopped.”
Calla sighs and mutters something about possibly regretting this, but what she says is, “Okay. You can stay.”
Fifteen
We move again, Calla directing the faerie paths this time and not telling us where we are when we get there. Instead of a valley, we’re at the top of a hill this time. It’s one of many rolling hills stretching as far into the distance as I can see. Which is quite far, thanks to the bright moon above us. What’s strange about these rolling hills, though, is that the grass they’re covered in is blue. The trees and bushes dotted across the landscape have blue leaves, and the flowers blooming near the spot Calla’s chosen for our campsite are blue too.
Imperia sits, folds her gigantic wings neatly around her body, and lowers her head to the ground, clearly deciding she’s had enough activity for today. Bandit finally leaves the safety of my pocket, shifts into the largest cat form he can manage, and hesitantly sniffs Imperia.
I leave him to explore our new surroundings and remove the tablets and mirror from the backpack so I can suspend them in the air. The spell is so simple, it’s barely a spell at all. More like nudging magic toward the items to surround them and hold them in position. I’ve just left them lined up in the air when Aurora comes to my side and says, “The middle of nowhere? Seriously? Calla definitely doesn’t trust me.”
“She’s just taking precautions,” I say, looking over my shoulder to where Calla is walking around us in a wide circle, weaving her fingers through the air like she did at the last location and repeating the words to a protective enchantment. “She doesn’t know if there might be some spell on you that relays everything you hear or think back to someone else.” I pause and turn back to Aurora. “I assume a spell like that must exist? There seem to be spells for just about everything else.”
Aurora shrugs. “I guess. Maybe. But she could take us back to wherever you guys live and I’d have no clue where it is. I don’t understand why we have to camp out a billion miles away from civilization.”
I ignore her exaggeration and explain that because we tried to rescue several Griffin Gifted rebels from a Guild facility and ended up breathing in a tracking spell, we’re now constantly on the move.
“Oh. That’s unfortunate,” she grumbles as I crouch down again beside the backpack. “I was hoping to sleep in a real bed tonight.” I look up at her, and she hastily adds, “But I’m still grateful you let me come with you, of course. And the possibility of a bed was certainly not the only reason I said I want to help stop Roarke.”
“Good.” I tilt my head. “Where exactly have you been sleeping since you ran away?”
She seats herself on the grass beside me and says, “Uh, in a field a short distance outside Stanmeade. I slept right up against Imperia so she could protect me if a threat showed up during the night.”
“Sounds like a far cry from the palace luxury you’re accustomed to.”
She runs both hands down her dirty, crumpled skirt. “It was. But I was hoping you’d come back to Stanmeade at some point. I didn’t know how else to contact you. I hoped you’d do something magical and I’d somehow know you were there. Then I saw fire and glass shooting into the air earlier and figured I should check it out.”
“I’m glad you did. Oh, hey, you must be hungry.” I rummage inside the backpack and add, “I wonder if we still have any food in here.”
“Um, actually …” Aurora hesitates, then says, “I probably shouldn’t tell you I stole food and a few blankets from someone’s home.”
I shrug and continue removing items from the backpack. “You had to survive somehow. As long as you didn’t hurt anyone, I’m not going to judge you.”
“Of course I didn’t hurt anyone.” She cocks her head and points at the soft, pill-shaped object in my hand. “What is that?”
“A sleeping bag. A miniature version.” I shake the backpack, and what tumbles free looks almost like the contents of a doll house. Aside from all the miniature weapons, we’ve also got sleeping bags, pillows, a first-aid potions kit, empty bottles to collect water when we do our water-drawing spells, a notebook, and even a tiny pouch of toiletries. “We have quite a few things to carry around with us,” I explain, “so it’s easier if most of them are small. We didn’t shrink our clothes, though,” I add, pulling out a few crumpled items of clothing. “We don’t have many outfit options, so we didn’t think it necessary to shrink them. And they provide cushioning for all the miniature items.”
“Do you think I could perhaps borrow some of those clothes? You may have figured out I’ve been wearing this dress for a number of days. And, uh …” She scratches her arm and mumbles, “I w
as obviously never taught any cleaning spells. Or clothes casting spells. So I can’t even transform this dress into something more suitable for riding around on a dragon. I know a basic shower spell, thank goodness,” she adds hastily. “So at least I’m semi-clean. But showering the dress doesn’t seem to get grass stains out.”
I laugh. “We’ll make a plan. You won’t have to wear a dirty dress for much longer.”
She pokes through our collection of miniature belongings and picks up a tiny sword to examine it more closely. “Cute. But you know you’re using up magical energy every time you shrink and enlarge these things, right?”
“Yes. But it’s separate from my Griffin Ability magic, so at least I’m not wasting that. Besides, I don’t know how to do much with my normal magic yet, so I can’t exactly help in other areas, like casting protective enchantments and hurling combat spells at anyone who wants to fight us. I’m learning, of course, but since Calla’s the expert, she can do that stuff and I usually do the daily shrinking and enlarging of everything we have to carry around with us.” When Aurora doesn’t answer, I glance up and find her watching me with a smile I can’t decipher. “What?”
“You’ve learned so much since we first met at Chevalier. Do you remember how you could barely create a flame during that first lesson we had together?”
“You mean the only lesson we had together?” I ask with a wry smile. “Yes. I remember. It was so flipping frustrating.”
“And now look at you. Opening doorways, shrinking and enlarging things, plus all the things I taught you while you lived at the palace. And I’m guessing you’re a lot closer to mastering your Griffin Ability now, seeing as how you were able to command me at will earlier.” Her gaze slips down. “And you don’t have the bracelet anymore.”
“No. I got rid of it after I escaped the shadow world,” I explain as Bandit pads closer, shrinks into a rabbit, and hops onto my lap. “Calla thought Roarke might be able to use it to track me.”
Aurora frowns. “I don’t know. Perhaps he could have. Although … if he could track you, then he wouldn’t have needed to tell his glass faerie friend to go looking for you. Or perhaps that was another lie.” Her shoulders slump as she leans back. “It’s hard to know what the truth was now that I know how many things he’s lied about.”
“Yeah.” I enlarge one of the sleeping bags and roll it out. “But yes, to answer your question, I definitely have more control over my Griffin Ability now. I can hold onto it, using only little bits when I need it, which usually means I have enough to keep me going until it replenishes again. Although now that I’m using it for fighting, it probably won’t last nearly as long.”
“You’re using it for fighting?” Aurora asks. “How?”
I smile and reach for another sleeping bag. “I’ll show you tomorrow.”
“Okay, I think we should be safe here,” Calla says, walking over and taking a seat opposite us on the ground. She crosses her legs. “Thanks for doing the sleeping bags.”
“No problem. I just need to do one more. Good thing Chase threw a few spares in here.” I find another sleeping bag among the items spread out on the ground in front of me and enlarge it.
“Hey, uh, sorry to interrupt,” Aurora says, “but is that something we should be worried about?” She points past the mirror and tablets hanging in the air to where familiar gold numbers are counting down the time until we need to leave.
“Remember I told you we’re constantly on the move now?” I say. “The countdown reminds us when to leave.”
“Ah. Clever.”
I turn to Calla. “So what’s going on? What did Chase say when you spoke to him at the last stop?”
“It sounds like there’s going to be a meeting with the Guild Council, the Seelie King, the Unseelie King, and their respective advisors. A summit.”
“Seriously?” Aurora sits forward. “My father’s meeting with the Seelies and the Guild? That’s … I don’t think that’s ever happened before. At least, not since I’ve been living at the palace.”
“It is kind of historic,” Calla says, nodding. “It’s been proposed that the most important thing now is restoring the divide between the two worlds. Magic that has spilled into the human world must be removed, and those human soldiers who found their way into this world must be sent back. Seelies and Unseelies need to put aside their differences to accomplish both those goals. Afterwards, they can go back to their separate territories and hate each other from a distance.”
“I assume someone said that in more politically correct terms?” I ask.
“Hopefully,” Calla says with a laugh. “Anyway, Chase will get back to me when he knows more details about the summit. In the meantime—” she turns to Aurora. “—why don’t you tell us more about your brother? And I’ll see what food we have left in here.” She lifts the backpack and looks inside.
“I’ve already checked,” I say, pushing a small box toward her. “Our options are limited. Grapes, a few chocolate apples, and those dinner pop things.”
“Dinner pops?” Aurora repeats, referring to the bite-sized spheres that apparently contain a full meal’s worth of nutrition while managing to taste like nothing. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a position where I’ve been forced to eat a dinner pop,” she says. Calla arches an eyebrow and looks at her, and Aurora hastens to add, “Right, sorry, talk about Roarke.” She sucks in a deep breath. “Uh … let’s see. Well, he’s always been very ambitious. I thought that was normal for someone who was born to be a king one day, so I didn’t realize the full extent of his ambition until he started talking about claiming the shadow world without our father’s consent so he could rule it. I suppose that makes him impatient too. He never wanted to wait until Dad stepped down or … or died.”
Calla nods as she passes each of us a dinner pop. She balances a few grapes on my knee in front of Bandit and asks, “So he’s always been desperate to rule, to be in control?”
“Yes. And he always admired our Uncle Marzell. His life’s work, at least. Obviously we never met him. It always irritated my father whenever Roarke went on and on about the amazing things Uncle Zell could have achieved if Lord Draven hadn’t got in the way.”
“Interesting,” Calla murmurs.
I finishing chewing my tasteless dinner pop and lean forward. “Was this guy Marzell your father’s brother?”
Aurora nods. “You’ve probably heard about Lord Draven, the guy who almost conquered our entire realm. Covered most of the world in perpetual winter and brainwashed everyone. Well, it actually all started with my uncle. He was in search of a famous dead halfling’s power so he could consume it and become more powerful. He also figured out that some faeries had extra magic—this was before the Guild discovered them and called them Griffin Gifted—and he was hunting them down so he could make an army of them. Draven was one of these Gifted—also a halfling with a buttload of power—and after my uncle found the hidden power from the dead halfling, Draven killed him and took the power for himself. Roarke always said how unfortunate it was that it happened that way. If Draven had never got involved, it would have been our uncle who took that power. The Unseelies might have ruled the entire world by now. Or both worlds, actually.”
“Or whoever killed Draven would have killed your uncle. Someone did kill Draven, right? I think I remember that from one of the few lessons I had at Chevalier House.”
“Well, yes, but it’s complicated,” Aurora says. “Everyone thought he was killed. And he totally deserved it, the brainwashing bastard.” Calla coughs, interrupting Aurora’s next words, which is probably exactly what Dash would have done if he were here. Aurora gives us a guilty smile before continuing. “Sorry. Language. I know. Anyway, everyone thought Draven was dead, but then it turned out he’d survived somehow, and he ended up in the Seelie Queen’s custody. And then when that whole Velazar veil thing happened, he was consumed in an enchanted fire. So yes, he’s dead now. But if it had been my uncle in his position, he might have
survived all that. He might still be ruling today, and that’s what Roarke always liked to point out to my father.”
“No offense to your family,” I say, “but I’m glad that didn’t happen.” I look at Calla to see her response to this information, but she’s staring past Aurora with her eyes partially glazed over. “Calla?” I ask. “Are you still listening?”
She blinks. “Yes. Sorry. Just thinking of—the past.” She focuses on Aurora once more. “So your father didn’t like the idea of the Unseelies ruling an entire world—or two entire worlds, since that was Draven’s eventual aim—instead of just their own territory?”
“Well …” Aurora’s expression becomes thoughtful. “To be honest, I think he might have liked that idea if he’d been the one to come up with it. But since it was Uncle Zell’s secret plan, and he totally failed at it, Dad always said it was stupid. That Uncle Zell reached too far and it got him killed. But, you know …” She pushes her purple and dark brown tresses over her shoulder. “I’m pretty sure he wishes he’d come up with the idea first.”
Calla’s nodding again. “I see. And Roarke has always admired that idea, so maybe that’s what he’s trying to do now. Except he can’t have our world because he’d have to fight both the Seelies and the Unseelies, and he can’t have the shadow world because it’s tiny—and let’s be honest, it isn’t even a real world—so he’s left with trying to take over the non-magic world instead.”
“So the Haverton Tower Hotel and all the other incidents aren’t just part of some massive magical temper tantrum then,” I say. “They’re part of a last-minute disorganized attempt to take over the human world?”
“Maybe it’s not last-minute,” Aurora says. “Maybe he always planned to do this eventually. I don’t know.”
“Or maybe we’re completely wrong,” Calla says, “and Roarke’s just throwing his anger around the human realm because he has nothing better to do.”