The Maebown

  Ozara seemed ready this time, and met Aether with Aether. The energy popped and sizzled but did nothing else.

  “So, you’re in league with the Second,” Ozara hissed, maintaining the Aether against Caorann, who was still invisible.

  “You’re the Second,” I screamed back. “I saw you kill Katarina and Miele at Caer Bran, saw it with my own eyes.”

  Ozara shook her head. “Lie,” she screeched.

  “Don’t deny it,” I screamed. “I saw you command Dersha to kill me and my family after you destroyed the Kabouter at Veluwezoom.”

  While maintaining the barrier against Caorann, she sent a finger of Aether my way. Ozara’s howling curse filled the valley and echoed off the mountains when I blocked it with Aether of my own. When the substances locked, I felt her fear and her strength as though it was my own. The Alliance Fae transformed into Naeshura and dove into the ground, retreating quickly under the mountain. With incredible strength, Ozara knocked me backwards and broke the connection between us. I struggled to find her, to end the war once and for all, but she shot over the mountain, blocking our pursuit. Then she was gone.

  TWO

  UNEASY

  Volimar slowly turned to face me, fear in his youthful-looking green eyes. “It is set in motion then.” He lowered his head and sighed.

  “Maggie,” Victoria said, “This is Volimar, Elder of the Kobold.”

  I was shaking when he took my hand.

  “It is true then,” said a brown-haired Fae. “There really is a Second, and a Maebown.”

  Caorann materialized next to me. The Kobold backed away from her. “You have been deceived. I revealed myself only yesterday.”

  “I thought you were dead,” Volimar said.

  “That is exactly as I would have it, but for the unfortunate turn of events.”

  He shook his head, “I found Victoria’s theory that Ozara had staged everything akin to the human belief in Santa Claus. I must admit, I’m even less impressed now.”

  “Volimar, before yesterday, I have never attacked our kind. That is my solemn word,” she said.

  “The balance of evidence would suggest otherwise.”

  “But it does not, my old friend,” Bastien said, materializing at my side. “I can bear witness to that.”

  “Bastien,” a dozen shocked voices said in unison.

  Bastien winked at me and moved to Volimar with outstretched arms. Volimar bowed his head and stepped forward, taking Bastien’s arms at the elbows. It was the same greeting I’d seen Billy exchange with the Ohanzee in Thorncrown Chapel. He turned to Caorann and nodded. “Forgive me. This all seems too…impossible.”

  “No offense taken.”

  “I hate to break up the reunion, but can you tell me what you want of us?” the brown-haired Fae asked.

  “Maggie, may I introduce Vanna, another Kobold elder,” Victoria said.

  She didn’t take my outstretched hand.

  “Yes, what is it you want from us—not that we have many choices now that you’ve attacked Ozara,” Volimar said.

  “I am a Maebown, not a seer. None of this was intended, but if I’d known your preference ahead of time, I would have let Ozara strike you down.”

  “I am grateful you did not, but another coincidence? One that pits us against Ozara and her horde?”

  “Not a coincidence, just fortunate timing—fortunate for you. Ozara did the same to the Ometeo,” I said. “I witnessed it.”

  “They will return for us,” Volimar said, ignoring me.

  Caorann nodded. “Yes, they will. That is why I ask you to accompany us to see Dana.”

  “You mean for us to fight on behalf of them?” Vanna ran her eyes up and down my body with a sour look on her face. “I will not risk my existence for humans.”

  “That has been clear for millennia,” Victoria snapped. “But perhaps you will fight for your own independence, rather than cower in the shadows like a frightened dog.”

  Vanna raised her voice to the point that it hurt my ears—intentionally, no doubt. “We have been given no choice.” She turned to Volimar, “Do not let them manipulate us into a war that we cannot win.”

  “We have already made inroads with the Alfar and the Portune—,” Victoria began.

  Vanna cut her off. “The Alfar are civilized and fair minded. But the Sidhe? They are power hungry isolationists hiding on that foul rock they call a territory. Did they come to our aid when the Rogues attacked our borders?”

  “They probably did the same thing you did when the Rogues wiped out the Kabouter,” I snapped, unable to control my temper.

  She locked her green eyes on me in a nasty glare. “Who are you to question anything, primate?”

  My temper flared and heat washed across my face. “I’m the one person in this world who can stop Ozara, that’s who I am.” Channeling my Cuban side, through clenched teeth I whispered, “Call me a primate again and see what happens.”

  Vanna’s face relaxed slightly and she turned her glare to Gavin, who laughed and put his arm around my shoulder.

  “This is precisely why I have avoided each of you for the last few thousand years,” Bastien said, pressing his fingers to his temple. “I understand the Kobold disdain for leaving your lands unprotected, and sadly I predicted your puerile response, Vanna…” His words seemed to take the fight right out of her. “…but Caorann is correct. Whether it happened today or a century from now, you must have known the day would come when you would be forced to make a decision. You are at a crossroads. Your choices are limited to fighting to retain what little independence you currently enjoy, and perhaps expanding it, or serving under a dictator.

  “Caorann and Maggie cannot win this fight by themselves. They cannot win it with the Kobold, either. You must put your differences aside and reach out to the other clans. You loathe Maggie because she is human, attributing to her all the damage her species has done to this world under the guise of ownership, but I ask you, aren’t the clans guilty of the same foolish beliefs? Have you not carved up territories? Have you not killed to protect those territories? How many of our kind have died to protect an invisible line in the grass?

  “I left Maggie O’Shea alone just yesterday, intending to disappear back into the world, but I could not get her face out of my mind. Give her a chance, Vanna. You will find she embodies the very best qualities. And heed her warning. I wouldn’t refer to her as a primate again, if I were you. Even I am not immune to Aether.”

  Vanna studied me, still glaring. I glared back until she diverted her eyes. What’s wrong with me? I’m not exactly winning friends or influencing people. I decided to leave them alone, at least until I could learn to keep my mouth shut.

  “Where are Candace and Ronnie?”

  “They are inside,” Sherman said, smiling. “Follow me.”

  The Kobold continued to argue with Caorann and Bastien about leaving their lands as I made my way to the timber-framed cottage. Ronnie burst through the door and flung his arms around me.

  “Mags, never, ever leave us again.”

  I squeezed him back and felt Candace’s arms wrap us both. “I’m fine. I told you I would be,” I said.

  “Fine? No, you’re freaking incredible,” he said. “You made Aether.”

  I felt a silly grin form on my face as the sensation of happiness, amplified to the point of giddiness, ran its course through my body. Ronnie stared at my face, laughed, and pushed me back a few inches.

  “What in the hell is wrong with you? Are you drunk?”

  “No, don’t be silly.” I cackled first, and then belly laughed.

  Candace fought with laughter, her hand curled over her lips. “Maggie, you are drunk.”

  “No, I’m not.” I managed to eke out. “It’s the Aether.”

  “Sure, Sunshine. Whatever you’re calling it, I want some,” Ronnie said, pulling me back to his chest.

  Candace sniffed my breath, and looked at Ronnie, mouthing the words, “Is she high?”

  ?
??Really?” I pushed Ronnie away and walked into the dark living room. It was small, stale-smelling, and the ceilings were barely seven feet. I plopped down on a rose-colored sofa and fought for composure. Candace and Ronnie sat on either side of me, staring at my face.

  “Really, it’s Aether. It amplifies my emotions. I’m having a hard time controlling them.”

  “So, who’s the blonde the Kobold are afraid of, and why is Jean here?” Candace asked.

  I fought the laughter—it was so absurd. “Jean…is Bastien. Ronnie…you tried to steal a car from a three hundred and fifty million-year-old Fae.”

  I cackled.

  Ronnie’s face went white. “That really isn’t funny if you think about it.” Candace wasn’t smiling either.

  “Okay, okay,” I said and took a deep breath. “The blonde is Caorann—in my journal, the story Gavin told me about the golden bird…”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Candace said. “That made me cry.”

  “Well, she’s the second Aetherfae.”

  “What?” Candace screeched.

  “Yeah, she taught me Aether.”

  “Isn’t she mad, you know, the Banshee of Ireland?” Ronnie asked, glancing out through the thick, wavy glass in the window.

  “She was for about two centuries, but not anymore. She learned Aether and found Ádhamh. They’ve been together for eighteen hundred years.” Tears welled up in my eyes, as I once again thought about spending the next few thousand years with Gavin.

  “You’re a mess. Is there anything I can do?” Candace offered.

  “Well, we can talk about something that isn’t funny or sentimental. And it would probably be best to avoid anything about Ozara or Chalen—don’t want to cause a crater in Austria.”

  “Germany. We’re in Germany,” Candace said. “Near the Austrian border”

  “Well, I don’t want to cause a crater in Germany, either.”

  “No crap,” Ronnie said. “You threatened Vanna.”

  “She called me a primate,” I snapped, my temper flaring again.

  “Calm down girl, technically speaking—”

  “Ronnie Mashburn,” I growled. “She wasn’t being technical, she was being a raving b—”

  “Maggie,” Gavin said, popping in the room at my knees. “Focus on my eyes.” He took my hand and instantly I felt better.

  “You’re compelling me, aren’t you?”

  He nodded.

  “And you’ve been doing it since Fontainebleau.”

  “I’m only trying to take the edge off. You haven’t slept. Let’s go upstairs and get you into bed while they work out the next step.”

  “Lucky,” Ronnie muttered.

  Gavin turned to Ronnie and zapped him with a mental blast. Ronnie passed out on the couch and began snoring.

  “Can you teach me that…please?” Candace said, laughing.

  * * *

  My mind floated above Gavin as he held my body, his muscular arms coiled around me like pythons. He shook his head and stared at the ceiling. “Make it quick. You need rest. It will help you maintain control.”

  “Be right back.” I responded.

  My mind raced through the void to Ozara, causing the nerves to tingle in my physical stomach back in Germany. Ozara and the Alliance Fae were moving en masse a few feet above the ground. Spread out across several miles, three massive groups streaked across a golden brown landscape dotted with green trees. The bulk of the center group advanced behind a Clóca barrier that Ozara created. Despite not being in my body, a sinking feeling filled my mind. Where are they?

  I scanned the area for clues, but it was wide-open farmland. Initially, I thought it might be Germany, but passing over a car parked at an isolated farm, I dropped out of the formation and saw a license plate. Oklahoma. My tether yanked me a mile across the field at a dizzying pace when it occurred to me that the Alliance was moving on the Ohanzee.

  Maintaining control was difficult with my emotions running wild, but I concentrated on Tse-xo-be. In a flash, my mind shot well ahead of the Alliance and planted me in a chamber I never wanted to see again—the place where I took my Earth trial. Tse-xo-be was in his natural form, along with Enapay, Amadahy, and several Ohanzee I didn’t recognize.

  “Tse-xo-be, you must leave. Now.”

  “Maggie, what is wrong?” he asked, materializing.

  “Ozara and the Alliance are headed your way.”

  “How many?” he asked.

  “It felt like all of them. Three groups. She’s using Clóca to hide the largest.”

  The rest of the Ohanzee shifted to physical bodies, glancing at one another’s worried faces. I wasn’t sure if Tse-xo-be was angry, but his grim steely expression left me with that impression.

  “Main force hidden, two smaller groups trailing…they must plan to take out the Seoladán. Amadahy, Enapay, gather the clan. We must leave now.”

  Amadahy and Enapay shot out of the cave. Their telepathic cries rang in my head as Tse-xo-be spoke again. “Maggie, please warn Wakinyan and the others. Tell them we are moving the Clan to Sidhe territory. If they stay where they are, they should be safe. We will return to them when we can.”

  “I will.”

  “And Maggie, warn Danny. When Ozara finds we’re gone, she will come after him.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  Tse-xo-be smiled. “You seem different.”

  “I am Maebown.”

  His slight smile broadened across his russet-colored face. I’d never seen him smile so broadly or imagined he could look so handsome. “Tell Wakinyan I won the bet.”

  “You bet on me…wait, he bet against me?”

  “I bet you would learn Aether in less than a month. He bet it would take you three.”

  He turned his head and stared past my shoulder, as if he could see through the cave wall. “They are assembled. We must go.”

  I nodded, sensing almost three hundred Fae on the second island.

  “Be careful. I’ll see you in Ireland.”

  He nodded and slid through the cave wall, casually taking his natural form in the process.

  A second later, I found myself in Danny’s office. He removed a pair of square glasses I knew he didn’t need, and turned his feline face directly to the spot I was hovering.

  “Tse-xo-be said you need to move. The Alliance is coming.”

  He studied the wall behind me and leaned back in the leather chair, closing his eyes. “Thank you for warning me—this day came sooner than I’d hoped,” he whispered. “Marissa, cancel my appointments. Have Pete take my cases.”

  A middle-aged brunette poked her head around the doorframe. “Yes sir, Mr. Johns. Gone for how long?”

  “I’ve just learned of a family crisis. I’m afraid I don’t know how long I’ll be.” He lifted a manila folder from his desk, a folder that hadn’t been there a moment before. “These are change of counsel motions for each of my cases. Please see that they get filed.”

  The chunky brunette took the folder, not bothering to hide the look of trepidation on her wrinkled face. “Yes, of course. Will—”

  “My instructions are inside. Thank you, Marissa.”

  She nodded spastically and closed the door as she left, pausing just a moment to look at Danny one last time. He was in Naeshura and bolting to the southwest before the latch clicked.

  Next, I concentrated on Wakinyan. My mind didn’t travel far, just a few dozen miles. I passed through Wakinyan’s Clóca barrier and came to rest in a sunny living room. My mind’s eye said it was a living room, one looking over an immense yard with huge white oaks towering over a city street. My senses, however, told me we were surrounded by limestone and very deep underground.

  Wakinyan may have felt me penetrate the barrier, but it was Billy who acknowledged me first. “Maggie, is that you?”

  “Yes.”

  His face relaxed, the frown disappearing beneath his perfectly trimmed goatee. “It took you long enough—your mother has been worried sick. So has the res
t of your family.”

  “Sorry, a little busy learning Aether.”

  His pupils dilated, shrinking the gray irises to thin bands. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

  “Billy, what’s wrong?”

  “I held hope that it wouldn’t come to this,” he whispered.

  Wakinyan put his encyclopedia-sized hand on Billy’s shoulder, as if he were a human comforting an old friend. Billy knew what it meant for me to learn Aether, and his reaction was just one more reminder that he valued my life above the outcome of the conflict. Emotion stirred in my chest half a world away.

  “I intend to beat the odds, FYI.”

  He straightened his back. “Forgive me, Maggie, I don’t mean to despair.”

  “Nothing to forgive. The sentiment means everything.”

  “If anyone can defy the odds, it’s you. You’re projecting…I can read your emotions, is something wrong?”

  “The Ohanzee have fled the Weald. The Alliance—”

  “Did the clan escape?” Wakinyan barked. His eyes bulged and the muscles in his square jaw flexed.

  “Yes. I warned them in time.”

  Through flared nostrils, Wakinyan drew in a quick breath, thrusting his chest tight against the material of his robe, before releasing a long, noisy sigh.

  “So much to tell you. Tse-xo-be says to stay put, they will come back for you after they meet with the Sidhe and the rest.”

  “Who are the rest?”

  “Not sure. The Kobold are meeting with the Sidhe. The Alfar, too.”

  “That won’t be enough,” Billy whispered to Wakinyan.

  “Oh yeah, and we have an Aetherfae of our own.”