The Maebown

  Candace nodded. She looked brave, despite the danger never being greater. Poseidon, Tadewi, and a handful of Fae were staying behind to provide protection. The rest were spreading across the globe to try to put a damper on the Green Death.

  Gavin entered the lower Seoladán with Aphrodite, Zeus, and four younger Olympians all headed to Southern Europe. Wakinyan and Pavati were taking a similar contingent to South America. Dozens of groups comprised of one or two elders, and several less powerful Fae were headed to the hot spots. They would eradicate as much of the virus as they could and return here in six hours. It was a bandage, but it would buy time.

  I shot across the formless void the instant Gavin reemerged in the Alps. The last time I’d visited that place was when Ozara killed a patrolling band of Kobold in the valley a few miles distant. At the time I assumed they were Rogues. I only learned a few weeks ago that they had been friends of Volimar’s—loyal only to the Kobold.

  It was late evening, nearly dusk, when Zeus emerged. “Are we alone?”

  I sensed no Alliance Fae in the area. “Unless they’re cloaked, you’re alone,” I projected.

  Zeus created Clóca and the small band moved quickly to the west. I projected ahead of them, keeping my mind spread as far as I could manage. I sensed no Fae. I concentrated on Billy, who was travelling with Hera and three more Olympians. I found them several miles to the north. They were in a small city that straddled a quick moving river. As the five went into the first hospital, I spread my senses wide, once again making sure there weren’t any Alliance Fae preparing an ambush. A stone fortress atop a hill silently kept watch as the five began working from person to person.

  The plan, to heal as many people as they could in six hours and then regroup, seemed daunting, especially since the Kobold and the Alfar had refused to help. Fearing an attack, those clans remained hidden. It infuriated me, but Wakinyan had predicted as much. I only hoped when the time came to confront the Alliance they’d be more willing to come to our aid.

  I focused on Gavin, and finding his team in Venice. They followed a similar plan, moving quickly from person to person. In twenty minutes, they’d cleared a huge section of the city. There was still no sign of Alliance Fae, and that made me nervous. Rather than check on the other groups, which had been my plan, I concentrated on Ozara.

  An enormous Clóca field surrounded her, larger and more powerful than I’d ever felt. She and Zarkus stood among more Fae than I could count. The Alliance, all of it, was in Europe. I didn’t remember much of my time in Germany, as I’d slept through most of it, but I did recognize the place where I’d last seen her with my physical eyes. The Alliance had converged at the edge of the Kobold stronghold of Berchtesgaden. I concentrated on Volimar. My mind moved only a few miles.

  Freya, the Kabouter I’d saved at Veluwezoom, Volimar, and Avery, were among the many I recognized. “Volimar, Freya,” I projected.

  “Maggie?” Freya asked. “Why are you here?”

  “The Alliance is massed just north of here. You need to escape—now.”

  Before I’d finished projecting those words, Kobold and Alfar began disappearing into a Seoladán.

  Volimar smiled as dozens disappeared. “Is the entire clan here?”

  “I think so. Ozara, Zarkus, all the Alliance elders. They’re moving under Clóca.”

  As the last few Kobold disappeared, Volimar turned to go, but then paused. “I apologize.”

  “For not helping? You should. A human just saved your clan. Remember that.”

  He nodded and disappeared. The forest was quiet for a few seconds before the unnatural glow of Aether lit it up. Several thousand Fae descended into the area. Ozara took human form and cursed. “Seoladán,” she barked. “They were warned…Maggie, are you still here?”

  I concentrated on Billy. He, Hera, and the three Olympians were far too close for comfort. They were spread out, each working their way through different parts of Salzburg.

  “The Alliance is not far from here—just across the border in Germany. Went after the Kobold.”

  “Are they coming this way?” Billy asked.

  “Don’t know. Ozara is furious. I warned the Kobold. They all escaped.”

  “How many of the Alliance?” Hera asked, closing the distance on Billy in a flash.

  “All of them.”

  “They’re not worrying about us. That’s brilliant. While we are occupied, they’re going to destroy entire clans. Can you warn the others?”

  “I can, but please be careful.”

  As quickly as I could, I went to each group and sounded the alarm. None of the groups had encountered any resistance. Intuition told me that the Alliance was looking to strike another massive blow. My intuition was always correct.

  In a maelstrom of Fire, Quint, Plasma, and Aether, I found Ozara, Zarkus, and their hoard attacking a band of Sidhe near Lough Gur. While Dana directed younger Sidhe to safety through the Seoladán, Caorann fought to keep her Aether barrier in place.

  Why were the Sidhe in the open? It was the question dominating my thoughts as I tried to connect with Aether to help Caorann. I forced my consciousness to her side. She strained, her beautiful face twisted. The Aether barrier she struggled to maintain was melding with Ozara’s, allowing gaps. Plasma tore at the ground around her in the brief moment that a hole opened. She closed it, but her shield weakened, shrinking.

  Dana turned and attacked a tear, blowing a Jinn into pieces. Several Alliance Fae also exploited the opening, destroying two young Sidhe. The tear sealed. The barrier shrank. Dana whirled and attacked another rift, missing an Alliance Fae. Dana crumpled when Quint scorched her legs.

  Caorann moved backwards, shrinking the barrier and strengthening it. Each band of Aether she attempted to direct at the Alliance on the other side was countered by Zarkus. Briefly, my mind connected with Aether, and I sealed a hole ripped open by a dozen Fae, catching one inside. He flashed out. Caorann smiled, just for an instant, recognizing that I was there in the field with her.

  Dana healed as the last half dozen Sidhe disappeared into the power well and escaped the danger. She stood to fight, shoulder to shoulder with Caorann.

  Despite the tortured look on her face, Caorann’s voice was soft and reassuring. “No, Sister, you must leave.”

  “I will not leave you,” Dana cried.

  “I will follow once you are safely through. Now go.”

  Tears streamed down Dana’s face, and her body shook with rage. “You promise to follow me?”

  Caorann nodded, twisting the Aether barrier, attempting to break loose from Ozara’s hold.

  Dana shifted to Naeshura and disappeared into the Seoladán, leaving Caorann alone at Lough Gur. Against Ozara and Zarkus, she couldn’t keep the barrier in place and shift herself. As she backed toward the Seoladán, Anuket and a dozen other Fae concentrated Plasma, Quint, and lightning against her. Ozara moved forward, cutting off Caorann’s escape. They struggled for control, wrestling over the small Seoladán opening. Zarkus directed Aether into the ground and I felt the portal disappear. He roared in triumph. Caorann’s face relaxed. The green dome around her shrank to a few feet. A silvery form took shape next to her.

  She turned to Ádhamh, and smiled. “On to the next life, my love.”

  He nodded. Ozara’s cackles echoed in the valley as Caorann shifted to silver and took Ádhamh’s hands. Caorann kept her eyes focused on his, as the last flicker of Aether disappeared. The next moment, Caorann, the fourth Aetherfae, flashed out of existence.

  TWENTY-NINE

  REPERCUSSION

  Most of the Fae believed Tse-xo-be had died a few weeks before, so the news of Caorann’s death was going to devastate the clans. Who could blame them? I knew the truth and her murder shook me to the core—her death flash was stuck on a playback loop in my mind. She wasn’t killed with Aether—she was struck down in a barrage of Quint and Plasma. In the end, she didn’t even fight back. I didn’t return to the Weald immediately. I waited until the entir
e Alliance force disappeared. I had held some small hope that Caorann would turn up alive, like Tse-xo-be had. I prayed that everything had been an illusion. What I found was incontrovertible proof to the contrary.

  I spoke to her, like I had to my dad, in the few moments her essence remained at Lough Gur. If there was anything positive to take away from what I’d witnessed, it was the absolute assurance that she and Ádhamh would be together forever. Before the lovers transitioned and moved on to wherever they went, Caorann tried to comfort and encourage me.

  The words, “Keep your faith, Maggie. This is not done,” rattled though my head. Sure, I kept thinking to myself.

  My mind floated over the ocean in a controlled descent into chaos. Resisting the urge to snap back to my body, I tried to work things out. I had to make sense of it all, but if I had been unsure of what course to take with Caorann’s constant guidance, what was I supposed to do without her? It was fear that forced me to surrender to the pull of the tether, which yanked me violently back to the Weald. Panic twisted in my stomach and forced my heart into spasms. Candace and Ronnie recognized something was wrong when I finally opened my eyes. They didn’t say a word, and hushed Sean when he asked what had happened. Words refused to form as I scanned the area around the cottage and focused on the simple things. Yes, Mom and Mitch are safe…Grandma and Grandpa are safe.

  Vivid and in full color, Caorann’s death flash burned through my mind’s eye, accompanied for the first time by an aching emptiness in my chest, and sweat, as fear and uneasiness turned up my internal thermostat. What in the hell am I going to do?

  Candace and Ronnie didn’t protest when I sprang to my feet and wobbled up the stairs. I couldn’t concentrate long enough to blow my bedroom door shut behind myself, so I had to do it manually. Oh my god, what am I going to do? With trembling legs and too much dizziness to remain standing, I leaned against the chestnut-colored plank door and sank to the floor in a heap. A wave of nausea caused my mouth to water. It subsided only after I stuck my head between my knees. For a few minutes, I focused on nothing but filling my lungs with cool air. In the back of my mind, I sensed the Sidhe at the island Seoladán. I heard them questioning one another as each waited for Caorann to materialize from the vortex. Shit.

  * * *

  It took thirty minutes to rein in my emotions and twenty more to work up the courage to tell Dana and the Sidhe what had happened. By the time I made it to the island Seoladán, the youngest Sidhe were pensive. The older Sidhe maintained a sober stoicism, but I knew that would not last. Indeed, it didn’t. Tears flowed down Dana’s face when I projected Caorann’s end. Their emotions were too much for me to handle at the moment, so I left them to mourn and returned to the cottage as the first bands of Coalition Fae began to filter back into the Weald.

  The Ohanzee and the Olympians took the news almost as badly as the Sidhe. For a few hours after the last Ohanzee returned, the three clans sought the company of each other. The peace did not last, as blame was cast from one clan to the next, and discord over the future took hold. The Sidhe remained through the evening, but I didn’t believe they would stay in the Weald for long. Confidences were shattered, optimism vanquished, and shortly after the last group returned, Ozara showed up. I couldn’t read anything but her essence, but I knew she enjoyed watching it go down. Like an annoying gnat, her consciousness drifted in and out of bickering groups of Fae.

  The hopes I once nurtured for the Coalition hung by a single thread, one that I was about to snap. The elders returned to the old argument concerning who among them would learn Aether. If a consensus was possible, they would probably expect me to abide by it, and I didn’t know if I could. In Ireland, Caorann told me the decision would be mine—she even tried to prepare me for it.

  As I reflected on all the things she’d told me—the things she tried to tell me—I think she knew she would die. She seemed to have faith in me, but that didn’t make any of this easier. I honestly expected her to be there to keep the clans in order when I died. I had counted on her being the last Aetherfae standing, to be an unrivaled force that kept the Fae in line and protected humankind when the Alliance threat was eliminated.

  I didn’t know what to do, and that terrified me.

  Not only did I have to figure out how to kill two Aetherfae by myself, but I had to select another to take over. Good lord, who? It had to be someone I could trust with the fate of the human race, as well as someone the clans trusted. Impossible.

  I intended to plead with Bastien or Tse-xo-be, but the former hadn’t come to the Weald, and the latter was incognito. Bastien had already turned me down and I suspected Tse-xo-be would too. Wakinyan, my third choice, already told me he was not a good option—at least he was honest. I stared at my reflection in the mirror above my dresser. Tears rolled down my face and that pissed me off. Get it together, idiot. You’re the last chance.

  A shudder ran through my chest. This is hopeless.

  Gavin, Sara, and Billy joined my family in the cottage. So I went downstairs to them, fighting to hold on to my sanity. Billy kept his eyes on me and forced a reassuring smile, but Sara was pensive and distant. Caorann had been her kinsman, so I understood. Gavin was only concerned with my wellbeing. As always, he was my rock. He compelled calmness and I let him do it—I needed it. In a moment of clarity, I tried to think about the situation and my alternatives.

  “The four of us need to talk. Alone,” Gavin said.

  “Let’s go upstairs,” I whispered, just before setting my Air barrier around us.

  I felt exhausted, like my legs were made of sponge and my shoes weighed a thousand pounds. Tromping up the stairs, I thought about our allies. The Kobold and the Alfar were hiding, as were the rest of the northern clans. I could find them easily enough, but at the moment, I didn’t have anything to say. When they found out about Caorann, I feared they would be tempted to join the Alliance out of self-preservation. That left few allies. The Ancient Ones? Maybe. A desperate sigh escaped my lips.

  The virus was still spreading, and people were still dying. The intervention had helped. Even though the small groups had saved thousands of lives, however, they had only postponed the inevitable. With the clans at each other’s throats, the chances of organizing another round of antiviral carpet-bombing was out of the question. We need a win, a big win, and we needed it soon.

  I pushed the door closed behind me. Lost in thought, I glanced up to see Gavin staring at me with a calm expression that didn’t fit the situation.

  “Maggie, you need to address the Elders. They need to see you,” he said.

  Sara stirred from her daze. “He’s right. You need to project confidence. You need to be calm.”

  “What am I supposed to do? You don’t really think they’re going to listen to me, do you?”

  “Stop sulking,” Billy said, as only he could. “You are the only reason they’re still here.”

  His words worked their way through the mush in my head and I realized he was right. It didn’t help, though.

  “If they see you like this—beaten, insecure—they’ll be gone in minutes. What they need is—”

  “A leader?” I snapped.

  Billy rolled his eyes. “Don’t be difficult. They need to see that you’re in control of your emotions—that you still believe.”

  I didn’t mean to huff, but I couldn’t help myself. Believe? I didn’t know what I believed. Billy frowned and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow like he did when I struggled with the Earth element. With that one look he told me to shut up, get a grip, and do my best to try. It worked.

  “Okay, point made, but what if I can’t deliver?”

  “Maggie, this isn’t an essay—they’re not assigning a grade. If you don’t believe, fake it.”

  “Fake it?” I protested.

  “You’ve done it before. For the Coalition’s sake, for your family’s sake, you need to convince them you believe—until you actually do.”

  “Until I believe again? Believe what, exact
ly?”

  Sara shot Billy a quick look and took my hand as she sat next to me on the bed.

  Billy scowled. “Don’t give me the pathetic look, Maggie O’Shea. I know you better than that. You will believe again—you must. Caorann believed in you, Bastien believes in you, everyone down the hill believes in you—and more importantly, I believe in you. You wouldn’t dare let me down, would you?”

  I really didn’t want a lecture and blew air out of my nose as noisily as I could.

  “I understand—you’re upset and you needed a few minutes to wrestle with your emotions. You’ve had a moment, now get over it. I need you to pull yourself together, and I need you to do it now.”

  In my peripheral vision, I could tell Sara’s eyes were glued to my face. “Billy—”

  “No, Sara,” Billy barked. “The pity party ends now.”

  Sara growled softly and telepathically blasted him. “You oaf! You’ve been playing with tigers too long. She is a girl. Perhaps a little compassion—”

  “Compassion? No, that will get us all killed.”

  “Pushing her too soon will get her killed.”

  “You’re underestimating her.”

  Sara’s voice boomed in my head. “And you, Billy, are so bent on revenge—”

  “Revenge?” he snapped aloud.

  A deep wrinkle formed above Sara’s tiny nose as she slowly twisted her black eyes to him. “Don’t play coy with me. As Maggie’s powers have grown, so has your taste for avenging Patrick. Do you not see her as a vessel to deliver upon your enemy two centuries of anger and hatred?”

  Billy turned his head, vibrating with anger, and glowered. “That is the cruelest thing anyone has said to me since Patrick died.”

  Sara’s face was stone-hard. “Are you really going to stand there and tell me it’s not true?”

  “Enough,” Gavin said in a hushed, condemning tone. “You’re both acting like Unseelie.” He turned to Billy. “Of course you’re driven by revenge—and fear. You’re afraid that your chance to rip out Ozara’s throat just suffered a tremendous setback. You are pushing Maggie much harder than you normally would.”