The Faerie Plague (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 5)

by Michelle Madow

  Reed glared at him. “You mean the part where you showed up?”

  “Whoa.” Aiden held his hands up in defense. “Didn’t mean to anger the mage.”

  Reed’s eyes flashed black, he ripped his gaze away from Aiden’s, and stared into the hearth with his hands curled into fists.

  Torrence rolled her eyes and gave Aiden an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry—it wasn’t you,” she said. “He’s like that all the time.”

  “No, I’m not,” Reed said, his eyes back to normal now.

  “Yes, you are.”

  The two of them stared each other down, both as stubborn as ever.

  What’s going on between them? And how did his eyes flash black like that?

  Sage looked back and forth between them, sat forward, and crossed her legs. “It sounds like I should take over from here,” she said, and she continued on to tell me about the zombies they’d fought when they’d arrived at Princess Ryanne’s villa.

  “You should have seen them turn the afflicted to ash,” Aiden said once she was finished. “It was just like what you can do with your lightning.”

  “My lightning can’t do that to the zombies,” I said. “But from what you’re saying, the holy weapons can.”

  “Yep,” Sage said. “And the holy weapons turn zombies to ash in the exact same way that they turn demons to ash.”

  “I get that. The question is, how?”

  “We’ve been wondering that ourselves,” Thomas said. “Especially because the zombie blood had a bit of a smoky smell to it. It was hard to distinguish under the rot and decay, but it was there.”

  “Only Thomas and I can smell it,” Sage added. “Thanks to our wolf sides strengthening our sense of smell.”

  “But only demons have a smoky smell to them,” I said, and they nodded. “So are you saying that you think the demons are related to the zombies?”

  “Practically sure of it,” she said. “And the items the Empress is bringing to us are going to help us prove it.”

  10

  SELENA

  THEY EXPLAINED THE PLAN, and as we continued sharing more about our journeys, the sky that was already dark from the Red Storm grew darker.

  Sorcha returned right before sunset. She was back in her white, poofy empress dress, and she held a satchel of items on one side.

  Julian stood at the other.

  I stood and rushed into his arms, holding him tight.

  He gazed down at me and brushed his thumb over my cheek. “Did you think I wasn’t coming back?” he asked with a slightly teasing smile.

  “Did you find your friends?” I asked in return.

  “I found what I was looking for,” he said. “But my friends aren’t the important ones here. Don’t you want to introduce me to yours?”

  “Yes.” I nearly jumped up in excitement, and proceeded to introduce him to Torrence, Sage, Thomas, and Reed.

  Torrence waggled her eyebrows and winked in approval when Julian wasn’t watching.

  When I looked back at Julian—who was getting along remarkably well with Thomas—my heart was so full that it was about to burst.

  I didn’t think I’d feel any happier until I was back on Avalon and my mom and dad were there, too.

  Reed wasn’t particularly warm while meeting Julian. It didn’t surprise me, since it was the same way he’d been toward me. Apparently, that was just his personality.

  Sage’s eyes kept darting in Julian’s direction, full of suspicion.

  She doesn’t like him.

  But why?

  I didn’t know her well, but wolf shifters were territorial. She was probably always cautious around people who weren’t from Avalon, or who weren’t members of her pack.

  Hopefully she’d warm up to him soon.

  Sorcha had a guard take the empty tray of food and replenish the carafes of juice. “Would anyone prefer wine?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Aiden said, at the same time as the rest of us said, “No.”

  Once the guard left, Sorcha used her magic to lock the door. Then, she placed the satchel on the coffee table next to the juice and wine. “Everything you requested is in here,” she said.

  Torrence opened it and looked inside. She nodded approvingly, brought the bag over to an empty spot on the floor, and settled herself down on her knees so she was sitting on her heels. We all moved to stand around her, and she removed the objects one by one.

  A green candle, a red candle, a blue candle, and a yellow candle. Then she reached to the bottom of the satchel and pulled out a slim, leather-bound book. The parchment inside was thick and uneven, and it smelled like dust.

  She opened it, flipped through the pages, and frowned. “There isn’t much detail in these.”

  “We don’t keep many maps in the Otherworld.” Sorcha straightened and raised her chin slightly. “Fae travel by our innate connection with nature. This was the best I could find.”

  “All right,” Torrence said. “I suppose it’ll have to do.”

  She opened the book to a map of the Otherworld. But it wasn’t the entire Otherworld. The top of the North was cut off. An arrow with the word Hypernia underneath it pointed upward.

  I shivered at the memory of the arctic tundra.

  “There are no maps of Hypernia?” Torrence asked Sorcha.

  “Hypernia’s a cursed, icy wasteland,” the Empress replied. “Fae can’t survive up there, so we haven’t been able to map it.”

  “Hopefully the demons won’t be up there,” Sage said.

  “They won’t be,” Thomas said. “Demons are from Hell. They hate the cold. If Hypernia freezes out the fae, it should freeze out the demons, too. In theory.”

  “Right,” Sage said. “In theory.”

  “We’ll find out when I do the spell,” Torrence said, and she placed the candles around the book. Each color represented an element, and each element correlated to a direction. The green one—earth—was above the book, the red one—fire—was below, the yellow one—air—was to the right, and the blue one—water—was to the left. North, South, East, and West.

  I’d learned all of this at Avalon Academy.

  And now…

  “Maybe I can help,” I said. “With my witch magic unbound, I can do spells now.”

  Torrence glared at me, and I froze. “My mom taught me this spell when I was a kid,” she said. “I don’t need help.”

  Her words were knives to my chest, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. “Of course you don’t,” I said, relieved when her gaze softened. “Sorry.”

  I hated saying it the moment the word came out of my mouth. I had nothing to apologize for.

  But the apology seemed to appease Torrence, and she refocused on the setup in front of her. She picked up the green candle, walked over to the hearth, and lowered the wick to one of the glowing embers. It caught flame, and a woodsy, earthy scent filled the room.

  I could have easily lit the candle with my electricity. But after her reaction to my offering to help with the spell, I didn’t suggest it.

  She settled back into her spot in front of the book and used the green candle to light the others. They each smelled like the element they corresponded to.

  Once they were all burning, a light breeze circled around Torrence.

  She took a deep breath, unclasped her necklace, and held it up. A clear quartz set in diamonds and shaped like an upside-down pyramid dangled at the end of the thin gold chain. A pendulum. I’d given her the necklace for her thirteenth birthday, and she’d been wearing it ever since.

  “Sage,” she said. “Your slicer.”

  Sage pulled a plain, steel dagger from her weapons belt and handed it to Torrence. Apparently, that dagger matched the one her best friend Noah had used when she’d joined him in the first ever demon hunting mission appointed by my mom. She’d been using it to kill demons for nearly as long as I’d been alive, so it had seen its fair share of demon blood.

  Its memory of that blood was a key part in locating whatever dem
on—or demons—had infiltrated the Otherworld.

  Torrence gripped the dagger in one hand, and used the other to dangle the pendulum over the book. She started to speak the Latin words of the spell… but the pendulum began swinging after the first syllable.

  That shouldn’t happen.

  Spells needed to be spoken before they activated.

  But none of the others looked surprised.

  Maybe the magic of the Otherworld was enhancing Torrence’s power?

  I didn’t know, but whatever she’d managed to do, it was working. The pendulum directed her toward the west of the map. It stilled, she raised it, and the pages flipped themselves.

  They settled on a zoomed-in version of the western part of the realm. The pendulum started swinging again, and Torrence repeated the process until we finally had a location.

  The westernmost part of the Western Wild Lands, on the cliffs near the ocean.

  The crystal glowed, and Torrence took another long breath, her eyes closed.

  “There’s only one demon,” she said, and then the candles snuffed out, and her eyes snapped open.

  We silently looked around at each other with shifty eyes, and Torrence handed Sage back her dagger.

  “The demon must have been here for a while,” Sorcha finally said. “Since the plague originated in the west.”

  Right. Before becoming known as simply “the plague,” it had been called the Wild Plague, since it was said to have come from the Western Wild Lands.

  “It must have,” Thomas said. “And now that you know where the demon is, Avalon will be open to negotiations regarding how to help the Otherworld. In return, you’ll remove the dome imprisoning Prince Jacen and Bella at the Crossroads, and let the four of us return to Avalon with Selena.”

  “And with Julian, his mom, and his sister,” I chimed in, although Julian refused to meet my eyes.

  The Empress paused, pursed her lips, and said, “We have no holy weapons. If you leave, the Otherworld won’t be able to defend ourselves against the afflicted and kill this demon.”

  “We’re carrying two holy weapons each,” Sage said. “If you agree to the terms, we can leave them all with you.”

  I held my breath, waiting.

  Can this actually work?

  “No,” Sorcha replied, and my heart dropped. “Given how widely the plague has spread, eight holy weapons won’t be enough. We’ll need far more.”

  “How many?” Sage asked.

  “With my strongest living chosen champions on the job, we’ll need one hundred, at the very least.”

  My eyes widened.

  Thomas remained unfazed. “We don’t have that many holy weapons to spare,” he said simply. “The Earth Angel is the only one who can create them, and the process is neither easy nor quick.”

  “It sounds similar to the process of creating portal tokens.” Sorcha sighed. “I suppose I can make do with fifty weapons. But only you and Reed may leave to retrieve them. I’ll enchant the tokens so they can only be used by the two of you. If you try to break the enchantment, the tokens will self-destruct. Once I have all fifty weapons, and proof that they’re true holy weapons and not imitations, I’ll have the dome at the Crossroads removed.”

  “And our second request?” Thomas asked.

  Time slowed as I waited for her answer.

  “Selena can still do much good in the Otherworld,” she said, and then she focused on me. “Unless you want to bequeath the Holy Wand to me?”

  “No.” I held the wand closer to my side. “Never.”

  “As I thought.”

  I tightened my grip on the wand and looked to Thomas. “Make the deal with the weapons,” I said. “Free my dad and Bella from the Crossroads.”

  Uncertainty passed over his eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m not giving anyone the wand. The Empress and I will come to another agreement that will allow me to go back home.” I glanced at her, and she nodded. “For now, I want my dad freed.”

  “This is crazy.” Torrence stepped toward me, her expression wild. “Give her the wand. Come home.”

  “I’m not giving anyone the wand,” I seethed, and she flinched back slightly. “This is the Holy Wand. And it’s mine.”

  I narrowed my eyes, willing her to understand.

  You know about the prophecy. About the Holy Objects, and the Four Queens.

  Her mouth opened slightly. Then the meaning of my words must have set in, because she shut it. “I’m not leaving here without you,” she said.

  “I’m not asking you to.”

  Neither of us moved.

  Finally, she nodded, even though she still looked pissed.

  Thomas remained focused on me, studying me. “I’ll do this for Prince Jacen and Bella, but we’re not leaving here without you,” he said, and then he faced the Empress again. “To most easily get you the weapons, Reed and I will need tokens that can bring us straight to Avalon.”

  “No tokens can bring you straight to Avalon,” she said. “If they existed, we would have used them by now.”

  “Fair point,” Sage said.

  “But I do have personal tokens that will bring you from my house to the Trevi Fountain in Rome,” she continued. “From there, I expect Reed will have no issues teleporting the two of you to Avalon and back.”

  “None at all,” Reed said.

  “As I thought,” she said, still focused on Thomas. “I accept your deal.”

  “It’s done, then?” he asked.

  “It’s done.” She nodded, and looked over at all of us. “Now, follow me to my side of the portal, and we’ll see Thomas and Reed off to Earth.”

  11

  SELENA

  SORCHA’S QUARTERS were the size of a house, and she led us out to her private atrium.

  Red lighting flashed in the night sky, thunder rumbled through the thick cover of clouds, and heavy raindrops splattered against the outside of the dome. Torches along the walls lit up the area, but the flashes of red reflected everywhere.

  A woman stood next to the square fountain in the center of the atrium. She wore a sleeveless sky-blue dress, a red tattoo circled her bicep, and her wings glimmered gold.

  The same color as Bridget’s.

  This woman was one of Minerva’s chosen champions. A previous winner of the Faerie Games. Which meant that like Bridget, she had future sight.

  The Empress walked forward, her glass shoes clacking against the tile floor, and joined the woman by the fountain.

  The woman lowered her eyes, and the gold pointed cuffs at the tops of her ears stuck out through her hair. “Your Highness,” she said.

  “Aeliana,” the Empress said, and the woman—Aeliana—raised her gaze. “I assume you already know why we’re here?”

  “I have news for you,” she said. “But it’s something you must see for yourself.” She reached into a small satchel tied at her waist, removed two tokens, and looked to the group of us waiting by the entrance. “Thomas. Reed. These are for you.”

  They walked over to her and took the tokens. The rest of us followed, so we stood around them. Julian was at one of my sides, and Torrence was at the other.

  Sorcha turned to Thomas and Reed. “Hold out your hands with the tokens so I can bind them to you,” she said.

  They did as she asked, and Sorcha turned her palms upward to create two orbs of diamond-colored magic. The orbs floated forward, surrounded their hands, shrank down, and disappeared into their skin.

  They each opened their hands, took the token with the other, and flexed their fingers like they were getting rid of pins and needles.

  “Until I remove the enchantment, the tokens are bound to you,” the Empress said.

  “All fae can do that?” I asked.

  “Only the fae who created the token. And few fae are both powerful and skilled enough to do so.”

  Thomas moved to Sage and pulled her in for a kiss. “I’ll see you soon,” he promised.

  “I know,” she said. “I’d w
ish you luck, but—”

  “I make my own luck.” He smirked, and she smiled in return.

  I leaned closer to Julian. “How much longer until we start finishing each others’ sentences like that?” I asked.

  His expression hardened, and he looked away from me.

  Torrence glared at him.

  My best friend just saw my soulmate acting like a jerk to me. Great. I was never going to hear the end of this.

  Although it would also be good to have someone to talk to about it.

  “We’ll be back with your weapons soon,” Reed said to Sorcha, and then he turned to Torrence. “No more deals until we’re back.”

  Torrence bristled. “I can’t promise that,” she said.

  “I know you won’t. But you should.”

  They stared each other down—again.

  “Don’t worry,” I broke the silence, although they didn’t look away from each other. “Julian’s well-versed in the games of the fae. None of us will get roped into any more tricky deals.”

  Reed ripped his gaze away from Torrence’s and stepped up onto the ledge of the fountain. Thomas joined him, and together, they tossed in their tokens.

  We all stared at the water, waiting for the tokens to expand into a purple galaxy of stars.

  Nothing happened.

  Sorcha’s brow knitted so much that her forehead creased. She placed her hand gently on the ledge and gazed down into the water, looking as confused as the rest of us.

  Reed spun around and stared down at her. “You lied to us,” he said, and he jumped off the ledge. Thomas did the same.

  Sorcha remained focused on the water. She might as well have not heard him at all.

  “Fae can’t lie,” Julian said. “If she didn’t want to give us the tokens, she wouldn’t have agreed to the deal.” He turned to Aeliana—the only one of us who didn’t look confused. “I’m guessing this is what you wanted us to see for ourselves?”

  Sorcha straightened and looked to Aeliana as well.

  “The Red Storm is blocking anyone from leaving or entering the Otherworld,” she said. “Our realm will be blocked as long as the storm rages on.”