by R L Medina
Her eyes landed on Grayson, all humor vanishing. “Shadow magic? But you’re human. How?”
All heads turned to him. He didn’t answer. Shadow magic? That wasn’t something I’d learned in the academy. What did it do?
“Keep your secrets then, boy. But not even the shadows will hide the truth from me.”
I gaped at him. “Grayson, what is she talking about?”
He looked away and shook his head. A clear sign that he wanted me to drop it. I frowned. He was angry with me for keeping secrets, yet he was hiding something too?
The fairy inhaled loudly and exhaled. “And you… babies. Witch babies.”
They scowled.
Before they could correct her, she held up a small pale hand and laughed. “Now, now, don’t cry, babies. What can I do for you?”
My eyebrows shot up. She was going to help us? Could she help us? It was hard to imagine this strange creature as princess of anything, but definitely not a place with shadow in the name.
“Ash, this was a mistake,” James whispered.
The fairy’s eyes shifted toward me, the same creepy smile plastered on. “Well, mistake or not, you summoned me. At least have the decency to tell me what you want? I’m busy. It’s All Hallows Eve. Don’t have time to stand around here all night long.”
Halloween? Was it only a week ago I was at Brady’s party? How was that even possible? Fear filled me. I shook my head. Had I really been trapped with the witches that long? Why hadn’t the GRIMM found us already?
“Well?” She tapped her foot impatiently, scattering my thoughts.
I gaped at her. “Uh… we need help to get out of here. The witches are holding us hostage.”
She pursed her lips together and tapped her chin thoughtfully, “A break out? Is that what this is?”
Ash nodded. “Yes. The Luna Negra means to use us as the sacrifices for their blood ritual.”
“Blood ritual, huh? What kind?”
The excitement in her eyes unnerved me.
“They’re trying to channel the power of the coven into the supreme.”
She arched a brow at Ash. “You don’t say? That’s a bit of a task.”
Her arm swept across us. “And what are you? The firstborns?”
I nodded. My heart thrummed in my ears. What if the witches came back? We needed to convince this fairy princess to help us and soon.
“Even you?” she asked Grayson.
“No.”
“Ooh. My, my. Aren’t we tall, tan, and mysterious?”
She chuckled to herself before turning back to us.
“If I help you, what do I get out of it?” Her words were soft and child-like, but there was nothing innocent or naïve in her gaze.
No. It was sharp and calculating. Ancient. The hair on my neck bristled. This was no ordinary fairy princess. She was dangerous and dark. As if sensing my apprehension, she turned to me and smiled.
“You didn’t think you could call on me for service for free, did you?”
James scowled. “We didn’t mean to call on you at all.”
“We wanted Lilith,” Ash added.
Her smile turned vicious. “Lilith is busy. It’s Halloween, idiots. I’ll have to charge you double for this.”
“So, you will help us?” one girl asked.
The fairy stilled. “If the price is right, dearie.”
I stepped forward. “What do you want?”
She circled me, her hips swaying to a silent beat. Was she… dancing? With a final pop of her hip, she stopped in front of me. Her ink drop eyes unnerved me more than anything. They were dark and fathomless. No hint of emotion and I wasn’t so sure the smile on her face counted as sincere. More like predatory.
I shuddered. This was a mistake.
20
“What do you have?” The fairy’s voice echoed around us.
The witches glanced at each other. “We can give you a spell.”
She cackled. “A spell? Please, you little witchlings couldn’t give me any spell I don’t already have.”
Her hand waved across us, a dark plume of smoke rising from her fingertips. The witches lifted their arms in unison, chanting something.
The smoke disappeared as quickly as it came.
“Just a little shadow magic, darlings. No reason to fret. Isn’t that right, darling?” she crooned to Grayson.
I pushed away the fear and glared at her. “Just tell us what you want.”
Her eyebrow arched. “Now, now. Don’t get snippy. You’re the one that called on me. As if I didn’t have anything better to do than help a bunch of baby witches. On Hallow’s Eve!”
“I’m not a witch.”
Her lips quirked into a smile. “If you say so, dear.”
Irritation flared inside me. We were wasting our time with her. She wasn’t going to help us.
She folded her hands together in front of herself, a mock look of innocence on her face. “I can help you, but you must give me something. That’s how these things work. Something valuable.”
We glanced at each other. What did a fairy consider valuable?
Clucking her tongue, she shook her head at us. “Nothing? Well, sucks for you then.”
“Wait.” Ash spoke.
She met the fairy’s burning gaze. “What about vampire blood?”
James shot her a dark look. I watched the fairy’s reaction. She was smiling. My lip curled. What could she want with vampire blood?
“From the queen,” the witch added.
A laugh escaped the fairy. “The queen? The vampire queen is going to give me her blood?”
Ignoring James’s adamant head shaking, Ash pressed on. “She’s trapped here same as us. If you help her too, she’ll give it to you.”
Another witch snorted. I shared the sentiment. What made Ash think the queen was going to agree to that?
“Trapped, you say? Oooh I do love a good plot twist.”
She clapped her hands together. “What makes you think I won’t just take the blood for myself and leave you to rot?”
“You can’t. We made a deal,” the witch argued.
“No. We didn’t.”
Anger stirred inside me. We were losing our chance, and it was their fault. I wracked my brain, trying to come up with an idea. What would the fairy agree too?
“Promise me your firstborn, and you have yourself a deal.” The fairy grinned.
My eyes widened. The witches gasped, but Ash just snorted.
“Fine. Dea—”
“Ashlyn, no. What are you doing?” James cut her off.
“Stealing humans is illegal,” Grayson bit out.
The fairy turned to him and giggled. “I’ll give her a fairy in its place.”
His brow furrowed. “Changelings are not allowed here.”
What was he doing? We needed this fairy to help us so we could get to Javi. He needed us.
“Let her make the deal if she wants. We don’t have any other options.” I heard myself speak.
James’s eyes shot to me. “Easy for you to say, GRIMM. It’s not you making the promise.”
I flushed. True. The wrongness of it wasn’t lost on me. A firstborn pledge was what led us all to our current problem. Making the witch vow the same promise wasn’t ironic—it was cruel.
“Deal.” The witch lifted her chin.
The fairy smiled “Done.”
She raised a hand over us.
I inched closer to Grayson, fear crawling up my spine. He raised his hand, chanting something.
“Easy, tiger. I’m just… assessing.” She tossed her head to the side, “Take me to the vampire and I’ll break the wards.”
Ash paused. “You can’t find her yourself? We don’t know where they took her.”
The fairy pouted. “No vampire. No deal.”
She turned to go.
“No. Wait. We’ll find her.” Ash’s voice rose with panic.
My own heart hammered against my ribs. The fairy was our only way out. We needed
her. Though something warned me she might not be completely trustworthy.
Her dark eyes roamed over us, sharp teeth revealed as she smiled at us. “Well, hurry up then, witchling. I don’t have all night. People to steal. Unlawful things to do.” She waved her hand with a careless shrug.
Grayson frowned at her. “The GRIMMs are on patrol. Full force tonight, I’d imagine.”
She laughed. “Yes, I know. That’s what makes it so fun. What’s the point in breaking the laws if there’s no one there to try to stop you?”
I was startled by her boldness. Who was this fairy princess that she could outwit the GRIMMs time after time?
“Can you… do you have enough power to stop the supreme?” My words tumbled out before I could stop them.
Her head cocked to the side. “The supreme? There are many, dearie.”
“Jimena. The Luna Negra supreme.”
She smiled. “Of course. She’s only human. Weak like all of you.”
Ignoring her jibe, I racked my brain for something that would sway her to help us. If she could stop the supreme… would she do it? Would it get me and all the others out of the blood promise?
As if reading my thoughts, she clucked her tongue. “But I don’t see any point in destroying her. She’s never done anything to me.”
“But… she’s trying to dominate all the extraordinaires here.”
The fairy snorted. “And I wish her luck with all that.” She splayed a hand over her chest. “I don’t really care what happens to your little world here. In fact, I admire her ambitions. Shaking things up and all. I might even extend my stay just so I can watch.”
Anger rushed through me. “The GRIMMs will destroy her. You want to stay and watch that?”
Her smile widened. “I don’t care who wins. I just like watching the bodies drop.”
Grayson’s arm landed on my shoulder. I turned to him. He shook his head at me. “It’s pointless, Rose. She won’t help us. Fairies only help themselves.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I may have fairy in my blood, but I’m still elf.”
Elf? I gaped at her. I’d never met an elf before. According to the GRIMMs, there were very few left. I couldn’t remember anything I’d read or learned about them. Nothing that would help me sway her.
“Now, let’s hurry this along, witchlings. I’m getting bored.”
I bristled at her casual tone. Was our fate, the fate of the whole world, so unimportant to her? My lip curled in disgust.
“We need something to track the vampire.” Ash spoke up.
The witches looked at each other. Folding her arms across her small frame, the fairy-elf glared at us. “You got nothing, huh?”
Ash hesitated. “If we can just find something that could link us to her…”
“What kind of witch can’t perform a tracking spell?”
Ash’s eyes flashed with anger. “I can. I just need the materials.”
“But, Ash… we can’t use our magic yet. It’s been too soon since the summoning. You need to rest,” James whispered to her. Or thought he was whispering.
With a heavy sigh, the princess spread out her arms. “Once again, everything is up to me. I guess this is part of the curse of being the most powerful. It’s a heavy burden to bear, but who am I to complain?”
The air grew colder as her hands flew, words spilling out in a chant. I stepped even closer to Grayson, unsure of what was happening. My skin tingled, and a shiver ran down my spine. More shadow magic?
Her eyes closed as she waved her arms in the air, wind stirred around her tutu and hair. As quickly as it had started, it stopped. Warmth returned to me, my fists loosening.
She opened her eyes and smiled. “Found her. No thanks to you.”
With that she turned. “Come along, witchlings. Unless you’d rather stay behind and be split in two atop the altar.”
I startled at her words, the image making me shudder.
“That’s not going to happen,” Grayson promised.
Nodding in acknowledgment to him, I followed the rest as they started for the stairs.
Once the others were ahead, I turned to him. “Are you going to tell me what that was about? With the shadow magic?”
He stilled. “I’d rather not.”
Anger rolled through me. “What are you hiding, Grayson?”
He whipped back to me. “What are you?”
My fist clenched. “I’m not one of them if that’s what you think.”
“I know.” His eyes searched my face, lingering on my lips.
My heart sped up. Heat spread across my skin and my throat turned dry. I didn’t move.
He glanced away, breaking the moment. “Why didn’t you tell me? Who you really were?”
“I couldn’t. Not with the compulsion ring—”
His eyes widened. “Compulsion ring?”
Right. He didn’t remember.
“Sorry. I forgot my tío erased your memory. To keep you from knowing who I was.”
A muscle twitched in his face. I didn’t blame him for being angry. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for someone to mess with my memory.
“I would have told you eventually… I just didn’t have time, Grayson. The attacks started as soon as I got to the academy and… everything else I told you was true. My parents are dead, and they left me with this mess.”
He nodded, face softening. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you felt you couldn’t trust me. I’m your friend, Rose.”
Warmth filled me. His mouth said friend, but his intense gaze said much more than that.
We were the last to climb the stairs. The fairy paused at the top and turned to us, a finger to her lips. “I can’t hide you all in the shadows, but I can make your feet silent. The rest not so much, so shut the hell up.”
My eyes widened at her.
“Once I have the queen, I’ll drop the wards and you’ll be free to go. Now, follow me and don’t make a sound.”
Dread coiled tightly within me. How was this going to work? There were fourteen of us. Fourteen that she had to lead down the halls into who knew where. What if they had guards set on the queen? Were we going to have to fight?
I bit my lip. I didn’t care about the vampire. I wanted to get to Javi. We were running out of time to save him.
Grayson walked beside me, withdrawing his gun from thin air. It was the same trick I’d seen Javi do so long ago in the cemetery. The memory was vivid in my mind. Oh, Javi. Please be okay.
We hurried to catch up to the others as the door opened. My heart hammered against my ribs and despite the pain that still wracked my body, I was ready.
The fairy led us down an empty, dimly lit hall. Where were the witches? Or the shifters or vampires? Hairs on my neck bristled. I could feel the presence of something. An invisible, powerful force. Magic? Unlike the others, I was still discovering it for the first time. It was hard to wrap my head around, but the sensation was as real as anything I experienced.
Real—actual, real magic.
I shuddered. All of it at the coven’s disposal. My eyes darted to Ash and the others. Did they have enough skill to face the older witches? Not to mention the shifters and vampires that were probably waiting for us once we found the queen.
Trying to stay positive and as confident as Grayson looked, I pushed down the emotions and steeled myself for what was coming.
After a couple of turns and twists, we found ourselves in a large room. Some kind of sitting area. The décor spoke of old money, a place where important people of the past gathered for drinks and gossip. Now it just looked like the perfect setting for a horror film.
Where were we? An old haunted house didn’t seem like the best choice for their hideout unless they wanted to be found.
The fairy turned to us. “Right down this hall and through the door.”
Ash stepped forward, but the princess held up a hand. “Hold on, witchling.” Her eyes swept across the room. “They got a lot of security in there. You, witchlings, ready for
a fight?” She grinned.
Her amusement and excitement made my stomach lurch. Grayson waved his gun in response. “Ready when you are.”
The others murmured their agreement. I nodded along, but inside dread rolled back and forth. I didn’t even have a weapon or magic.
“Here,” Grayson pulled out a knife and handed it to me.
My eyebrow arched. It was a different one than the one he’d let me borrow before. That one I’d lost. I squeezed the hilt, letting the cool metal warm in my hand and gave him a firm nod.
“Ready.”
The fairy swung the doors open.
21
Snarls echoed ahead, but I couldn’t see anything over the heads in front of us. The witches and fairy princess strode forward, Grayson and I bringing up the rear. We fanned out in the massive room and I stuck right by Grayson’s side.
The queen stood in the center, chained to the carpeted floor. From what it looked like, the room had been a large bedroom, but there was no furniture in it now. Three shifters and two vampires stood between the queen and us. All of them turned at our approach. My heart sped up as their eyes narrowed and faces morphed.
Before they could attack, the fairy princess raised a hand and a dark cloud rose from her palms. I watched, stunned as the clouds transformed into… dragons? One of the vampires made the mistake of standing in the path as one of the smoke-like creatures took flight. Bones snapped and the sound of ripping flesh made me turn my head. The vampire’s scream echoed in my ears followed by the unearthly shrieks of the dragons.
Not smoke monsters. Real—they were real.
The witches scurried back as the fairy unleashed more of the creatures.
“Stop! The others are going to come. Get the queen and let’s go.” Ash’s voice rose above the roars and snarls.
With another wave of her hand, the fairy sent the dragon creatures at the remaining guards. They made quick work, leaving their carnage behind. I turned my head and fought the rising waves of nausea.
The room fell quiet once more as the dragons vanished.
She glanced at Grayson. “The perks of shadow magic. I barely have to lift a finger. Of course, you’d never be able to do what I just did. Not in your short life, darling.” She winked.
