Weald Fae 02 - The Changeling

by Christopher Shields

  “Maggie,” Tadewi said, “ignore us. I apologize. Thousands have fallen under Gavin’s spell, but you’re the one he fell for.”

  I exhaled slowly. “Adonis? Somehow that makes sense, I guess.”

  “The god of male beauty calling others narcissistic? That is the funniest thing I have heard in, perhaps, a thousand years.” Nodin said, still laughing with the others.

  “Well, he is the most beautiful…man…being…whatever… that I’ve ever seen,” I said defensively, my temper flashing.

  “Indeed, he is,” Wakinyan said. “He is beautiful.”

  “And?” I said testily.

  “And nothing,” Tadewi said in a soothing tone. “Even in his natural form, Gavin is unique in that regard. His physical form pales compared to his natural beauty. We mean no disrespect.” They all nodded their heads in agreement.

  “Gavin is beautiful, and courageous, but he is not humble,” Wakinyan added.

  “Well, no, he isn’t,” I said, smiling. “I suppose he’s the opposite of humble, but he’s in trouble and laughing at him isn’t right.”

  “Do not worry about Gavin,” Wakinyan said.

  “Why?” I snapped.

  “Besides his beauty, he is also unusually powerful for his age. Like Pavati, he rivals Fae who are several times older, and there are very few of us that old. He is also quite clever.”

  Tse-xo-be’s face relaxed and he spoke softly to the others. “Please, leave us. Cassandra has had time to inform Zarkus. The Unseelie may already be searching for our location, and more troubling, the Seelie might be as well.”

  They each took their natural form and departed, Amadahy first, Tadewi last. Before she did, she took my hand and smiled, saying, “I hope we meet again, very soon.” Then she was gone.

  “Why did that sound like a goodbye?”

  Tse-xo-be nodded. “If my suspicions are correct, it will not be safe for any of us to remain here, though I did enjoy being back.”

  “What does your name mean?”

  “Have you ever heard the story of the Osage Chief and the spider?”

  “No.”

  “It happened not far from here. You should find it on, I think the term is, Google.”

  I was confused and I knew it showed on my face.

  “Tse-xo-be is the Osage word for spider. It will all make sense to you in time, but for now, there are things I must tell you.”

  “Okay, but why leave so soon?”

  “We have done what we came here to do.”

  I thought about it for a minute, and it clicked. “Billy knew I needed to get into the cottage at the Seoladán. He couldn’t risk telling me because Ozara would know.”

  “Yes, and he knew of the danger. I know what you found, at least some of what you found. We do not have much time today, so I will be brief. I knew your ancestor, the one who wrote that journal in your bag.”

  “How did you know it was in the cottage?”

  “I told May to place it there fifty years ago for safe keeping when it was clear she was not going to be Maebown. Remember, my kind does not like lingering inside human structures,” he said. “It was hidden right there within Chalen’s reach for fifty years, perfectly hidden in plain sight. What you need to know for the next step of your journey is written in those pages—you will find the answers to many of your questions there, questions you want to ask me now, questions Pete O’Shea asked me one hundred sixty years ago. You will seek me out in time. Until then, read.”

  “Will you be close?”

  “Ozara will not permit that.”

  “Aether?”

  “Yes, even I am no match.” His face was solemn, wounded even.

  “Are you in danger now? What if Ozara finds you here?”

  He smiled. “She is not here. Ozara and the most powerful of the Seelie are in Europe hunting.”

  The blood in my veins went ice cold. I was worried about Gavin.

  Tse-xo-be read my face and must have guessed what I was thinking. “No Maggie, she is not concerned with Gavin. She hunts for the Second Aetherfae.”

  Heat slowly began returning to my body. I took a deep breath and relaxed as I slowly released it.

  “Tse-xo-be, if I need you, where will you be?”

  “There is a place several miles east of here near the Buffalo River. It is a place your people call Hidden Falls. I will not be far away.”

  “And if Ozara follows me, will you be in danger?”

  He smiled. “Can you keep another secret?”

  I nodded and he disappeared in front of me. I couldn’t sense him or see him. I was completely alone for a moment, and then he reappeared. A sharp breath caught in my throat and I jumped.

  “How did you do that?”

  “It is a technique not dissimilar to the one you learned with Billy.”

  “That’s how you seemed to appear out of thin air to save Tadewi today?”

  “Yes.”

  “Billy said that no Fae could disappear, that no Fae had ever…”

  “Billy is quite young. One does not exist as long as I have without learning a few tricks. This is one I keep to myself. Only a handful of us know how to perform it, and we guard the secret. You will learn yourself—use it wisely,” he advised.

  “Now, listen carefully. Sara knows nothing of my visit, she does not know what we have discussed, and you must not tell her. She will arrive shortly to take you back to the Weald. At Billy’s request, she will ask no questions and you will offer no explanations. You will find your brother when you learn to travel without your body.”

  “Astral projection?”

  “If that is what you wish to call it. I taught Pete O’Shea, and he left instructions in the journal at my request. Learn the technique. Remain calm and quiet when using it and you will not be detected by my kind, and I believe you know who to search for.”

  “Yes.” I did know. Cassandra.

  “There is something else. Your Air barrier is most impressive, as is your Fire element, and at the cabin you formed a barrier with Water, but what you don’t yet understand is that each element is meaningless without the other. Soil without sunlight, water and air will grow no seed. Air without Fire, Water and Earth is just as useless. Combine them and Cassandra will be no match for you. Combine them in different combinations and you will discover the tools you need to defeat her, including the one I just showed you.”

  “Will that protect me from Aether?”

  “No, nothing I can teach you will do that, but you will learn soon enough to master Aether. You are very special.”

  “Ozara is the only one who can teach me, and if I’m being honest, I don’t believe she’s going to do that…ever.”

  “I do not believe she will until it works to her advantage. She is foolish, though. I believe you will learn, with or without her help. Unlike her, you will learn that Aether is more than a weapon. She uses it to maintain her power with the Seelie Clan. She could be so much more. You should focus on the nuances she ignores.”

  “Has she always been so controlling?”

  “Ozara is impetuous. For millennia she was consumed by learning the power of Aether, regardless of the consequences. I tried to warn her, but my words had no effect. From the beginning of our existence, the Fae believed Aether existed. We found evidence here and there, but none of us dared conjure it. Until Ozara succeeded, it was merely a theoretical debate, a topic we used to illustrate ethical dilemmas. With Aether, she has become pertinacious and paranoid. She turned her back on the Ohanzee and began a war with a Fae she once counted as her closest ally.”

  “What? You mean Zarkus?” I didn’t believe it was possible.

  “Yes. He also sought the power of Aether, as did many others, but he never succeeded. As I said before, the Fae who call themselves Seelie and Unseelie once belonged to other clans. Ozara and Zarkus are only two examples. Divisions formed in every clan over the question of what to do with your species, but the debate remained nothing more than a debate. The Seelie
formed when Ozara conjured Aether. She destroyed any who challenged her. To protect themselves, the Fae who disagreed with her views on humanity formed the Unseelie. Both clans grew to massive proportions, eclipsing all the original clans. Were it not for the possibility of her own destruction, as she does have limits, she would have obliterated the Unseelie long ago. Neither clan has ever truly held the upper hand, but should she be destroyed, that will change.”

  “What about the independent clans…wouldn’t they support her and the Seelie?”

  “It is not likely. She has been heavy handed with the clans, forcing them to abide by her edicts. She forced the Ohanzee from the Weald and took it for the Seelie Council. Even more insulting, Ozara forced the Sidhe to feign defeat to the Milasians, a tribe of humans who invaded Ireland. Like she did with the Olympians, she ordered the surviving leader of the Sidhe, Danu, and her clan into obscurity. Many would welcome her destruction regardless of the consequences. Ozara tolerates the original clans so long as they obey her edicts, but her patience has waned over the centuries.”

  “Is there another Aetherfae?”

  “I do not know, but your existence suggests there is an imbalance that can only be caused by another. If a Second Aetherfae exists, it must be destroyed. An unopposed Unseelie Aetherfae is unthinkable.”

  He smiled and took my hands. “You are very special, Maggie. Your control of the elements is greater than any human I have ever encountered. It is my hope that you will learn how to avoid the fate of your predecessors.” Tse-xo-be took his natural form and moved quickly to the East, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  Twenty minutes later, Sara climbed out of Gavin’s Maserati. She was as radiant as ever, her golden hair impervious to the rain.

  True to Tse-xo-be’s word, she didn’t ask me why I was alone in the chapel when she embraced me. As we walked back to the car, the Buick from Kansas pulled up and the chapel attendant, a balding man with a happy but bewildered look on his face, climbed out of the backseat. He straightened his shirt and waved awkwardly at the women in the car. Bob passed us without saying a word. I tried not to think about it.

  “Thanks for coming to get me,” I said, as Sara started the car.

  “Maggie, there’s something you should know.”

  Her words made me nervous. My first thought was she’d ask me about what I’d been doing after all.

  “Doug, Ronnie, Rachel, and Candace were at the Weald when I got back with your parents. They know you didn’t go to the hospital like you said, and your parents are worried.”

  “Oh crap.” I sank down in the seat and tried to figure out what I was going to say to them.

  “There’s more, I’m afraid.”

  “Drevek?” I yelled before thinking.

  “No, he hasn’t changed. It’s Doug. I felt devastation and pure rage when he figured out that you’d lied to him, Maggie. The visions in his head were ugly, bordering on violent. He’s waiting for you, so I’m taking you elsewhere. You need to avoid him until he cools off. Now, call your parents.” She handed me my phone.

  “What do I tell them?”

  She grinned with her eyebrow raised. “Tell them the truth: you’ve been at Thorncrown Chapel working things out, and leave it at that.”

  FIFTEEN

  DÉJÀ VU

  After the events of the weekend, I was more preoccupied than ever. That also meant I was keeping to myself, so much so that the troops rallied to find out why. This time, rather than kidnapping me at the cottage, Rachel had made up an excuse about lip balm to get into my locker. She’d absconded with my car keys. After dumping the contents of my purse on the hood of the T-Bird, I’d figured out what happened when the Three Musketeers pulled up in Rachel’s Civic and flung the rear passenger door open. Billy was watching unseen to them, probably as a lizard or something. I didn’t look his way, but I felt him. He drew closer.

  “Great. How much trouble am I in this time?”

  “Heaps. Get in,” Ronnie commanded.

  They drove me to Candace’s house. Inside, I took my regular place in the bay window in her bedroom. Billy was there, too. That’s odd. Usually he kept his distance when I hung out with my friends. But instead, he hid on top of the canopy bed. I could see the shadow of a small lizard through the pink material.

  “No bull, what’s going on, Maggie?” Candace said. No pursed lips, no raised eyebrows—she was dead serious. Ronnie stared at me, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, and Rachel was curled up against a bedpost twirling her hair the way she always did when she was worried about something. This wasn’t the same kind of intervention as last time.

  “Nothing. I’m just worried about Mitch.”

  Candace’s face became red and tense. “Maggie, I know you’re keeping something to yourself.”

  “Spill it Mags. We’re on to you,” Rachel said, her voice excited and uneven.

  “You haven’t been to the hospital to see Mitch since we lured Doug away from you.”

  “No, I haven’t,” I admitted.

  The pissed look on Candace’s face subsided a little. “We want the truth, Maggie—the whole truth. I know something is wrong.”

  “You do, do you?” I shot back.

  The anger melted from her face and turned to concern. She fidgeted and seemed apprehensive when she said, “I know there’s something wrong with Mitch…other than him being in a coma. I have doubts whether that’s really him in the hospital.”

  How could she know that? I saw stars for a moment, and it only made worse when Billy silently said, careful Maggie.

  When I paused too long, Candace cut in again. “You see, Mags, I was in a coma for weeks, and when I visited Mitch in the hospital I noticed something was wrong—really wrong.”

  Billy urged me to get up and leave, but I knew it would do no good. Candace was Candace: too suspicious, too smart for her own good, and too tenacious to let go. “What did you notice?”

  “His hair and nails.”

  “I don’t follow,” I said, genuinely confused.

  “They haven’t grown since January. Not a millimeter. When I woke up, I did two things before anything else. I got a manicure and a haircut.”

  I had to admit, I hadn’t noticed Drevek’s hair or nails, but I knew she was correct. “Maybe the nurses trimmed…”

  She crossed her arms and shook her head, staring out the window.

  “You talked to the nurses, didn’t you?” I asked.

  She nodded her head, as did Ronnie and Rachel. Dang it. I wrote, Billy, help, in my mind. He responded immediately. She’s very clever. No wonder you’re friends.

  Thanks, Billy, that’s a big help.

  Find out what else they suspect. I can see images, but we need to know for sure, he said.

  Find out? Really? I wrote, Are you sure that’s safe?

  As humans are fond of saying, the die has been cast, he replied.

  “What else do you know? This isn’t about Mitch, is it?” I asked.

  Rachel exchanged worried but excited looks with Ronnie and Candace. Please don’t let it be, I thought. Candace walked to an antique, painted Victorian dresser and slid the bottom drawer open. She pulled out a stack of papers and newspaper clippings that looked all too familiar.

  For all that’s good in the world, I thought, how in the hell could I have forgotten about those clippings. I’ll bet the story about…that kid, John…or Jonathan…whoever—the kid who got chopped up in the lake by the boat propeller—is on top just like last time.

  “Wait…you’ve seen these before haven’t you?” Candace said, holding the stack in her hand, reading the look on my face. “We’ve had this conversation before, haven’t we?” Her face twisted, her eyes squinting like she was desperately trying to recall a memory.

  Ronnie laughed and said, “Come on, Candace, it’s hard enough for us to believe your conspiracy theory. This is going…”

  “Stop, Ronnie,” I said. The three of them looked at me with dumbfounded expressions.

&
nbsp; “Maggie, no. You know what happened last time—Candace nearly died,” Billy said emphatically.

  I scribbled, They know, Billy. Even Sherman couldn’t stop this from happening. It’s in her nature…

  But before I could finish, Billy’s voice filled my head. “Maggie, you aren’t this reckless. Think about it. You’d be putting them all in grave danger. Don’t say another word. I’ll compel them to forget.”

  They were all staring at me when I yelled at the top of the canopy, “No! I don’t want you to do that. It won’t work. It’s already too late.”

  Billy was silent. Candace was not. “Who are you talking to?”

  I shifted my stare from her back to where Billy lurked. Billy, you have to trust me, but I need your help.

  “Maggie, what’s wrong with you?” Candace demanded, staring up at the ceiling.

  Maggie, it’s your call, but I beg you…don’t go there. I’ll be gentle, I promise. We can push back the inevitable for months. Billy was pleading.

  “And what can you do that Sherman couldn’t?” I harped back.

  “Maggie O’Shea, I’m standing right here,” Candace said again, shaking the stack of papers in front of my face. “And what do mean, Sherman? Are you talking about Gavin’s dad?”

  I couldn’t keep all the talking straight and it frustrated me. I snapped at Candace a little more forcefully that I should have. “Shut up for a minute, will you, I can’t hear myself think.”

  Candace started to protest, but sat next to Rachel on the foot of the bed when she realized how angry I was getting. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was going to say, and I hated the fact that Rachel was in the room. Ronnie could keep his mouth shut, Candace too, but Rachel was a loose cannon. So I turned to her first.

  “What I’m about to tell you will put all of you in terrible danger, so you have to keep your mouths shut. That’s only the half of it, though. You see, we did have this…conversation…talk…whatever. And Candace,” I looked at her and paused, “you were in the hospital just a few hours later.”

  Rachel tried to cut me off. “What? You mean you…”

  “Be quiet!” I said forcefully. She stopped talking and twirled her hair even faster. “I’m sure you think you know what’s going on, but you don’t. None of you knows the half of it. I know you’re all here because you care about me, and that makes this even more difficult. Even though I wish I could make you forget all about this, it’s clear to me that can’t happen. You’ll just blindly dig until one or all of you end up getting killed. When I tell you this, you have to do exactly as I say. Agreed?”