A Faerie's Secret (Creepy Hollow Book 4)

  “Ready to join the Creepy Hollow Guild?” Ryn says the moment I swing the door open.

  Excitement explodes inside me. “Really? Are you serious? They’re letting me in?”

  “Of course.” He tilts his head forward, giving me that overconfident grin of his. “You didn’t doubt I’d be able to make a plan, did you?”

  I let out a wordless squeal and clasp my hands tightly together.

  “I don’t know what you’re getting so excited about,” Ryn says as he walks past me. He swings my desk chair around and sits. “Guardian training is seriously tough.”

  “I know.” I pretend-swoon onto my bed. “It’s going to be amazing.”

  He laughs. “You might want to look up the definition of ‘tough’ in the next few hours, or you could be in for a nasty surprise when your training begins.”

  “I don’t care how tough it is. It will still be amazing.” I grab the nearest cushion and hug it to my chest as I sit up. “So when do I start? Did you convince the Council to let me join the fifth-year trainees?”

  “Hey, it was hard enough convincing them to let you join at all. They gave me their usual story about statistics showing that those who begin training at a younger age make better guardians than those who start later. So I reminded them that your father was an excellent guardian before he left the Guild, and that your half brother is possibly the best guardian the Guild has ever had—”

  “You so did not say that to the Council.”

  “—which means you’ve clearly got stellar guardian blood running in your veins. Then I told them you’ve been training in private for the past four years, and they found that very interesting. I even included the story of how you heroically rescued your mother from a dangerous intruder who was bent on killing you both.” Ryn pauses as a smile stretches across his face. “They liked that bit.”

  “So …”

  “So here’s the bottom line: You’ll be allowed to start with the fifth-year trainees if, by the time the new training year begins, you’ve managed to pass the final written exam for first, second, third, and fourth year. You’ll also need to complete ten different landscapes in the Fish Bowl, ten assignments with a mentor assisting, and ten with a mentor observing.”

  I stare open mouthed at Ryn. I told him I could manage this, but now that he’s saying it out loud, it sounds like an impossible amount of work. “And I need to complete all that in two months?”

  “One month.

  “One?”

  “First years get two months over summer break. After that, everyone gets one. Unless you’re a particularly enthusiastic trainee, in which case you continue with your own private training during vacations.”

  “One month,” I murmur. “I can do that. I can make it happen.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’ll just spend every waking hour either studying or training. It’s a lot, but I can do it. And hopefully Mom won’t mind me coming home at odd hours after the assignments. I mean, she’s cool with this whole guardian idea now, right?”

  “Well, I actually spoke to your mother about that.” Ryn tilts the chair onto two legs, then lets it drop back onto the floor. “If you’re going to pull this off, you need to be completely focused on training and studying. No distractions. Not moving house, or painting, or drawing, or those arguments you and your mom like to engage in at least once a day.” He gives me a knowing look.

  “Those are called discussions,” I tell him matter-of-factly.

  “Those are called loud. I’ve heard far too many of them.”

  “So what’s your solution?”

  “You come and stay with me for the next month.”

  I pause, gripping the cushion tighter. “Seriously?”

  “It makes sense, considering I’ll be the one mentoring you until the new training year begins.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  “THAT IS SO COOL! Oh, wait.” My shoulders sag as I realize there’s one person, aside from Mom, who might not be wild about this plan. “How exactly does your wife feel about someone else living in the house with you guys?”

  “His wife,” says a voice from the doorway, “is thrilled to have you staying with us for a while.” Violet leans against the doorjamb and beams at me. “I might even assist with some of your training if I’m allowed to.”

  “Yes!” I fist-pump the air, then jump up and throw my arms around Vi. “Okay, let me try that reaction again. THAT IS SO COOL!” I shout. “Ryn, you’re gonna be the best mentor ever. And I can’t wait to come stay with you guys.”

  “Hey, keep it down.” Vi steps into the room and shuts the door. “Don’t let your mother hear how excited you are to leave her.”

  “And I am going to be the strictest mentor ever,” Ryn adds. “I told everyone on the Council that you’d easily be ready in a month, and I had to convince them I wasn’t just saying that because you’re my little sister. So I’ll be making sure you work your ass off to prove to them that I’m right.”

  “And to prove it to myself,” I add as he stands, “because I know I can do this.”

  “Good. Anyway, I need to meet with my team now and explain that I’m taking on the temporary position of mentor for the next month. They’ll have to get on with saving the world without me.”

  “Whatever.” I grab my abandoned cushion from the bed and throw it at him. “You’re not really in the middle of saving the world, are you?”

  “Apparently he’s always in the middle of saving the world,” Vi says, rolling her eyes before removing her amber from her pocket to check a message.

  “Since it’s confidential,” Ryn says with an annoying smirk, “you’ll never know.”

  “Fine. One day I’ll have top-secret assignments too, and you’ll wish you knew all about them.” I try to look as smug as he does, but the moment is ruined when I remember something important I wanted to ask him. “Oh, hang on.” I lower my voice and lean forward. “Did you find any record of someone called Tamaria?”

  “Tamaria?” Ryn asks without blinking.

  “Oh come on, I’m not an idiot.”

  “Meaning …”

  “Meaning I know there’s something weird going on here. Mom was adamant that I’d never attend a Guild—right up until the moment I mentioned the name Tamaria. Then suddenly everything changed. She said she doesn’t know anyone by that name, but obviously she’s lying. And I know you can’t stand unsolved mysterious, so I’m pretty sure you went straight back to the Guild and searched their records for someone named Tamaria.”

  Ryn watches me carefully, the hint of a smile on his lips. “I’m also not an idiot,” he says eventually. He leans against my closed door beside Vi and folds his arms. “Who were you talking to when I knocked on your door just now?”

  Shoot. How long was he listening outside my room before he knocked? I fold my arms over my chest to mimic his stance. “If you’re not an idiot, then you already know.”

  He nods slowly. “I’m curious. Do I know this private trainer of yours?”

  “No. He was never at your Guild.”

  “Ah, so he’s a guardian. Interesting.”

  Vi elbows him as she writes a reply on her amber and absently says, “Don’t be nosy.”

  “Thank you,” I say to her while mentally kicking myself for revealing that Zed is a guardian. “I’m not telling you anything more about him, Ryn. He’s been helping me out all this time, and I don’t want to get him into trouble.”

  “Okay,” Ryn says with a shrug. “You know I’m going to find out eventually, though, right? Just like I’m going to find out more about this Tamaria person and who the intruder is.”

  “So you did look her up,” I say with triumph.

  “I did. I found three women by that name who’ve been mentioned in Guild records over the past few centuries, but none of them were involved in any criminal activity. Is there anything you can tell me about the intruder that might help?”

  I lean back o
n my hands, picturing the intruder in his hooded coat. “Well, I’m pretty sure he was a faerie, since he had two-toned hair. Black with dark red, maroon streaks. And his eyes matched the maroon, of course. What was weird, though, was the scar running down his left cheek. Because if he really was a faerie—”

  “—then his skin shouldn’t scar,” Ryn finishes.

  “Right. Unless, of course, he was exposed to that metal Prince Zell was so fond of.”

  Vi lifts her head as Ryn pulls up the sleeve of his right arm and looks at the pale scar that rings his wrist. A memento from an encounter with the Unseelie Court years ago. Vi has one just like it. “Interesting,” he murmurs, then lowers his hand. “Thanks. That’s helpful.”

  “So will you tell me if you find out anything?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Ryn!”

  “Hey, remember the part about you fitting four years of training assessment into the next four weeks?”

  I bite my lip. “Uh huh.”

  “That starts tomorrow. No excuses and no distractions. So you’d better rest well tonight, because you’re about to work harder than you’ve ever worked before.”

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

  “I don’t have any socks!” I yell as I run down the stairs. “How can I not have any socks, today of all days?” I barrel into the kitchen, startling Filigree. He shifts into eagle form and swoops past me, knocking a pile of reed paper off the kitchen table in the process.

  “Just transform some of your other clothing,” Ryn says as he hurries to pick up the scattered pages.

  “What? I don’t have time for clothes casting, Ryn. I need actual socks!”

  “Take some of mine,” Vi says, gathering up the breakfast dishes with a wave of her hand and sending them through the air to the sink.

  “Thanks.” I turn and dash back up the stairs, then stop halfway. “And have you seen that notebook I made all my summaries in?” I shout back to them.

  “Bathing room,” they both say at the same time.

  “Right,” I mutter, continuing up the stairs. I must have left it there when I was studying for my last exam while trying to relax myself in a pool of bubbles.

  “Hurry up, Cal,” Ryn calls after me. “We’re going to be late.”

  “I KNOW!” I yell back. After my non-stop training and studying over the past month, I received the news that I’d passed everything, danced around Ryn’s living room for at least five minutes, then collapsed in an exhausted heap and slept for seventeen hours straight. It was the best sleep of my life, but it meant I ran out of time to move my stuff back home before my first official day at the Guild. So Mom and Dad showed up this morning to wish me well for my first day. Dad went on and on about his first day as a trainee, and Mom spent the whole time looking close to tears. And I’m pretty sure they weren’t proud-parents tears. No, they looked more like I’m-terrified-for-my-daughter’s-life tears.

  When Ryn pointed out that we needed to be at the Guild in forty minutes, they finally left. Things got a little crazy then as I searched my room for all the things I figured I’d need on my first day. When I couldn’t locate a single sock, I panicked. How could I wear my new boots without socks? How did I run out of socks in the first place? What kind of guardian runs out of socks?

  Now, I force myself to walk calmly into Ryn and Vi’s bedroom and take a pair of socks from the chest of drawers. Back in my room, I pull them on before stepping into my new boots. They’re similar Vi’s boots—the ones I’ve always looked at with longing—but the heels aren’t quite as flat and the laces are blue instead of black. I run my hand through the air from my ankle to my knee and watch the laces do themselves up.

  I retrieve my notebook from the bathing room and finish packing my bag. Lastly, I lift the trainee pendant from the bedside table and loop it over my neck. Councilor Merrydale presented it to me the first day I went into the Guild to begin my summer training with Ryn. It’s flat and oval-shaped, made from silver, with a clear stone set in the middle. I turn it over and brush my thumb across the engraved name on the back: Calla Larkenwood. This pendant is my security pass into the Guild. It also carried the spell that first gave me access to my own cache of invisible guardian weapons. It has protective charms that make it harder for me to be influenced by dark magic and that aid in healing when I’m injured. When Councilor Merrydale gave it to me, he explained that one day, when I graduate, the pendant will be replaced by the markings on my wrists. The protective charms will be transferred to those markings.

  “Cal, come on,” Ryn shouts from downstairs.

  “Coming!” I drop the pendant against my chest, then grab my bag off the bed. After slinging the strap over my shoulder, I hurry downstairs.

  “Oh, wow,” Vi says as she walks from the kitchen into the living room with her eyes glued to Ryn’s amber. “Are these Calla’s results from the fourth-year exam? They’re a—”

  “Aaand I’ll take that,” Ryn says, deftly swiping the amber from her hands as he walks past her. “Confidential, remember?” He kisses her cheek before pushing the amber into his pocket, then grabs a mug from the coffee table and downs its contents.

  “Why does everything interesting have to be confidential?” I demand, jumping down the last two steps.

  “And since when do you follow the rules, Ryn?” Vi asks with a teasing smile.

  Ryn sighs, looks at me, and asks, “Do you have everything?”

  “I think so. Notebooks to write in, that textbook Vi said was really useful, clothes for training in, snacks for lunch time, that letter you gave me from the Chief Examiner, and my—”

  “So, basically, you’re completely overprepared.”

  “Ryn!”

  “Ryn, that’s not helpful,” Vi says as she crosses the room to the hallway. “You know how nervous she is for her first day.”

  “Of course I know. I can feel it. She’s being ridiculous, though, since she has nothing to be nervous about.”

  With a groan, I push past my insensitive brother and head for the hallway. “Are you coming with us, Vi?” Please, please, please say yes. I need someone who actually gets how important this day is to me.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t.” Vi gives me an apologetic look as she removes a weapons belt from the hallway cupboard. “I need to be Underground in fifteen minutes to set up that workshop for new instructors. Besides, if you want to make a good first impression today, walking into the Guild with me at your side isn’t going to help. You know how they feel about me.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Ryn strides past us and raises his stylus to the hallway wall. “They love you.”

  “Right.” Vi secures the weapons belt around her waist with a loud click. “Do they use the words ‘Guild traitor’ for everyone they love?”

  “Well, no, but you’re married to the Council’s newest and sexiest member, so they can’t really hate you, can they?”

  “Fantastic,” I say, grabbing Ryn’s arm and facing the doorway he just opened. “Now that I’ve had to listen to my brother call himself sexy, can we please go?”

  “We can.” He blows a kiss to Vi and says, “Have a good day, my sexy Guild traitor.”

  Shaking my head, I tug Ryn into the darkness of the faerie paths.

  “So,” he says, “calling you ridiculous didn’t help your nerves?”

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry. I was trying to make you see you’ve got nothing to be nervous about.”

  “Shh, I’m trying to focus.” I picture the small entrance room next to the Creepy Hollow Guild’s main foyer. We step out and find a guard standing there. He scans the markings on Ryn’s wrists with his stylus, then does the same to my pendant when I hold it up. “Thank you,” I say, giving him a wide smile. I still get excited every time I arrive here.

  The guard steps aside and allows us to pass through the door and the curtain of invisible magic that exists there. It’s meant to detect dangerous magic, strange enchantments, and other threats. In the main
foyer, I look up and admire the swirling cloud of protective enchantments in the domed ceiling as Ryn leads the way across the marble floor. We reach the grand staircase. An emerald green carpet that never seems to get dirty covers the stairs. The wooden banisters are decorated with carvings of curling patterns. I run my fingers over the grooves as we climb.

  “So we’re meeting with Councilor Merrydale, right?” I ask.

  “Actually, Head Councilor Bouchard is here. I got the message this morning.”

  “Head Councilor?” My anxiety kicks up a level. “Like, the bigwig in charge of all the Councilors?”

  “That’s the one. He’s based at the French Guild, but he visits the other Guilds periodically to check on things. I guess it’s our turn today.”

  I clench one fist and press it against my lips. Why, why, why did he pick today? I’m nervous enough as it is without having to meet some scary Head Councilor.

  “Hey, it’s fine. Don’t panic.” Ryn reaches for my free hand and squeezes it. “Trust me, there’s nothing intimidating about this guy. He’ll introduce you to your mentor and explain a few things. That’s it.”

  I lower my fist to my side and release it, breathing out slowly. “Okay. You’re right. I’m sure I have nothing to be nervous about.”

  “Of course I’m right,” Ryn says, flashing me a grin.

  We continue climbing the stairs until we reach the floor housing the Council members’ offices. “Are you getting an office up here?” I ask.

  Ryn shakes his head. “They offered me one, but I declined. Since I’m still leading a guardian team and don’t have many Council responsibilities yet, I’d rather continue working on the same level as my team members.” He looks over his shoulder, then adds in a low voice, “It’s far too boring up here.”

  If nerves weren’t currently twisting my face into a pained expression, I’d probably smile at that. We stop beside Councilor Merrydale’s office, and Ryn knocks while I take another slow breath that does absolutely nothing to calm the building anxiety in my stomach.