Twisted Fate

by D. N. Hoxa

  “No.” I remembered. My heart remembered, too.

  “And your answer? What will it be, Pain Seeker?”

  What he asked for was absurd. The Heivar army building a fae Court? It was completely senseless.

  It was exactly the kind of thing I’d have wished to see in a new Gaena, a better Gaena. It was the change I wanted to bring to my world—elf and fae working together.

  Was I crazy to even think of this? Was I crazy to be excited at the idea of elves building a fae kingdom, a kingdom that would not be an enemy, but an ally? A friend.

  “Are there other Spring fae out there?” I asked instead.

  “There are. Not many, but a few. Enough,” Daredevil said. “Your army, Pain Seeker. That’s all I want.”

  “Without an army, my house would be defenseless.”

  “Without me, you have no chance of beating the purple-bloods. I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I trusted you enough to seek proof for myself, and I’ve seen. Now, I ask that you do the same. Your home is what you’re doing this for. That is what you said.”

  With every word, his voice raised higher, his anger more intense.

  And I understood it. I would never hold it against him.

  “And I meant it,” I said with a nod. Gaena was what I was doing this for. If I didn’t stop the sidhe, there would be no more elf Houses or fae Courts at all. “I also mean this: if we defeat the sidhe, and I get my House back, half of my army will be yours to command for a sun’s trip around the world.” It was the best I could give him. I couldn’t leave my people defenseless.

  The fae smiled. “Don’t you care about what the other Houses will think?”

  “They will think of me as their enemy. I have faith that I can convince them otherwise with time.”

  To help the fae went against everything elves stood for. But change couldn’t happen if we didn’t take the first step somehow. Even if all elves hated me, I would take it. I could handle their hate for as long as it took them to see that we could all have a better life.

  “And I have faith that they’ll kill you before you do,” the fae said. “Such a shame.”

  “They can certainly try.” They’d tried once, and I’d been unprepared. Clueless. Vulnerable. I was neither of those things anymore. “But, eventually, fae and elf will have no choice but to accept that we can live together. The world is vast. There is space for all of us. It can be done.” I raised my arms around us. “Just like they do here.” A beautiful dream that Mace and I shared.

  “Elf and fae will never learn to coexist,” he said.

  “Of course, they will. They just need to be taught how. You didn’t mind that I was elf, did you? I don’t mind that you’re fae.” It’s people like him who could start the change. People like me.

  “I don’t believe you,” he said, but I wasn’t sure he meant it.

  “The man I love is fae.” He couldn’t hide the surprise from showing in his face. “I have no reason to lie to you. My deal is final. Half my army for a year. It will be enough to rebuild a kingdom with the proper management.”

  He squinted his eyes at me. “How old are you?”

  I had never been asked that question before. It took me off guard. “Old enough to be tired of the way we live.”

  Daredevil took his time to think about it. He watched me through his witch stone once more before he finally made up his mind.

  “I’ll take it,” he said, and he might as well have handed me the world on a silver platter. “If you don’t keep your word, your life is mine to take.”

  “And if you don’t keep yours, you will truly not have a home anymore.” Gaena would belong to the sidhe, not the elves or the fae.

  “Right.” He finally moved away from me, allowing me to breathe freely. “How many more purple-bloods will I get to kill?”

  Chapter 18

  Chapter

  * * *

  The mattress underneath me was uncomfortable. The tent we were in did nothing to stop the sounds of the outside from coming in. I wanted to ask the Shade to keep it out, but I didn’t have the heart. I usually loved the sound of nature. The fabric of the tent did nothing to block out the light, either, and it was impossible for me to sleep.

  When we’d told Daredevil what happened, he’d offered us tents to sleep in. According to him, his circus was the safest place in the Shade because of his deal with it. I didn’t ask for specifics. I was grateful for his offer. It was better than wandering the streets without any idea where to go next. Now, Hiss, Faceless and I slept in mattresses laid on the ground, in a tent barely ten feet wide.

  No—Hiss and Faceless slept. I stared at the dark brown fabric that moved slightly with the wind every once in a while.

  Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up as quietly as possible, and I made my way out of the tent. Hiss had been asleep until then, but I had barely made it outside when I heard him slithering behind me.

  “You should have slept,” I told him and kept on walking. It was so quiet here now that there were no shows. Things were thrown all over the ground, and the brown tents, some big and some small, were everywhere. Everybody was still asleep, even though dawn had come almost an hour ago.

  “I’d rather be awake with you,” Hiss said. “What troubles you, my dearest Pain Seeker?”

  “Everything. Does it not trouble you?”

  “I’ve already chosen to have faith,” he said. “Come.” He made his way to the right, through another pathway between tents as large as the one Daredevil stayed in. “What do you think of him?”

  “I think he wants to hate me but can’t bring himself to without reason.” And for that, he had my respect.

  “I think he’s been waiting for you his whole life,” Hiss said. “He just didn’t know it.”

  “I think it isn’t going to be enough. There are too many sidhe out there.”

  Hiss chuckled. “I think you will be just fine, Elo.”

  At the end of the pathway we were in was a fountain. Water sprayed up from the ground, a healthy amount, creating small streams on all four sides. A single tree was at its back, providing shade against the rising sun, and in front of the fountain, there were animals playing with the water.

  “By the gods, look at them,” I said in wonder. There were six of them, and not one looked ordinary. I didn’t know whether they were familiars or perhaps Earth animals I’d never come across in books, but they were all magnificent.

  “They’re enjoying the peacefulness. There’s nothing quite like water,” Hiss said, and when I stopped a few feet away, afraid I’d spook them, he said, “Come, don’t be shy.”

  I went closer to the animals and inspected them as they played. They saw me, too, but they didn’t stop moving. They were all fairly small, the biggest of them a sort of a dog maybe, the size of a small Beagle. I thought I saw it the other night, performing a show at the circus, but I couldn’t be sure.

  When I was three feet away from them, I squatted on the ground and watched them. They were all very aware of me now—I was close enough that the water from the stream sprayed on my face. It was cold and refreshing, and for a moment it made me believe that I was rested, too.

  But through the corner of their eyes, they all watched me as they jumped on each other’s backs and pushed each other playfully to the ground and in the water.

  Eventually, I sat down and allowed their good mood to rub off on me. To look at them playing was to feel like nothing was wrong with the world. The spirit of the New Orleans Shade was in them. They were simply celebrating life, a new dawn, a new day.

  I heard somebody approaching me from behind, and I thought it would be Daredevil, but the voice of a woman reached my ears.

  “They do this every morning,” she said and continued to come closer until I could see her clearly. She was terran, and one of the animals that looked like a tiny grey cat with a tail no longer than my thumb jumped in her arms instantly.

  “They’re enjoying themselves so much,” I said t
o the woman. She was a bit taller than me, her short brown curls going in every direction. Her eyes were warm, though. Brown and crystal clear.

  “Why wouldn’t they? They’re alive, they have food and water, they have each other,” the woman said. “That’s all we really need.” She sat on the ground next to me. She didn’t mind her clothes getting dirty and wet, either.

  “True.” I offered her my hand. “I’m Elo.”

  “Sandra,” she said with a smile that felt genuine. “And who is that marvelous creature?”

  “That’s Hiss,” I said, patting Hiss’s head. He always liked it when I did that.

  “I’ve never seen a snake familiar before, especially one with eyes like his. He’s gorgeous,” Sandra said.

  “He really is,” I said with a nod. Hiss was a creature to behold. “What are they? Are they all familiars?”

  “She’s mine,” Sandra said, pointing at the grey cat that had gone back to playing with her friends. “That’s Rita. The yellow one who looks kind of like an otter is Cleo’s familiar. She’s asleep right there.” She pointed at the tent behind us. The familiar she talked about indeed looked like an otter, except it was smaller, and its fur was pale yellow, not brown. “The rest are animals we’ve found along the years.”

  “Really? I don’t think I’ve ever read about any of them,” I said in wonder.

  “That one’s called a quoll,” Sandra said. The small creature with orange fur and white dots turned its head our way, as if he could understand her. “His name is Nikko. And that one’s an armadillo. A very strange kind of armadillo, possibly touched by magic in some way.” The armadillo was pink with a shell-like surface over half his back and a pink nose paired with two huge black eyes. “His name is Armando. Cleo named him that. And that right there is what they call a frella. It’s from Atlantea.”

  “Wow,” I whispered. Atlantea was a planet that was inhabited by animals. People could cross to it through the Gateways, but as far as anybody knew, nobody had made a home out of it because of the huge number of animals and the small size of the world. It was fully occupied from what I’d read. “How did you bring it here?”

  “We cross through worlds sometimes, and when we find lost animals, we rescue them—provided they can be tamed. Tata here is perfectly polite, even if her claws are a bit sharp.” Sandra giggled, but she was right. The frella was only as big as my palm, with a white coat and a tail three times the size of the rest of her body that she kept curled in a perfect circle over her back. She had three ears over her small head and a tongue as long as Hiss’s, except hers was bright pink. Her claws were bigger than her paws.

  “And the other?” I asked, looking at the creature with dark green fur that looked more like spikes on a hedgehog. It was close in size, too, and the mousy face said they could definitely be related, but I was surprised again.

  “That’s an aranthrax,” Sandra said. “They actually only live on Shade grounds in Protarius. It is said that they have seer blood in them, too.”

  “Animals with seer blood?” I’d never heard of it, but I had heard of Protarius. The planet was as big as Gaena, and the people who lived there all had active magic that mainly affected the nature that surrounded them.

  “Yes, but he can only see his own future, what happens directly to him. Not like a homo sapiens seer,” Sandra explained.

  I knew about a seer, too. The Seer Eye.

  The flesh on my arms raised in goose bumps. Could the Seer Eye that Signora Vera so wanted actually tell me the future?

  The need to know gnawed at my empty stomach. Why hadn’t it occurred to me before? Why hadn’t I used the Seer Eye until now?

  How would one use a Seer Eye in a box?

  I talked to Sandra for a little bit longer, but soon impatience got the best of me. I wanted to know how to use the Seer Eye, to see what lay ahead of me, and Hiss wasn’t going to speak to me about it in front of her. So, I thanked her for the stories she’d shared and made my way back to the tent that was given to me and Faceless to rest in.

  I didn’t go inside, afraid I might wake Faceless up. I also didn’t want her to hear what was on my mind, at least for now.

  “The Seer Eye,” I whispered to Hiss. “Can we use it?”

  Hiss wasn’t surprised. I was starting to think that nothing surprised him anymore. “To see into the future?”

  “Yes, that’s what a seer does, right? Why else would it be called the Seer Eye?” And I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.

  “But do you know how to use it?” Hiss whispered.

  I flinched. “I was hoping you did.”

  “I don’t. I’ve never come across a Seer Eye before,” Hiss said, and I could tell from his voice that he was already curious.

  “Can you find out?” I would ask around, too. I would ask Daredevil because he seemed to be a lot older than me, and maybe he’d heard about it before. But I didn’t want anyone to know that I would see into the future because who knew what the future held? There was an entire philosophy about seer predictions being right or wrong. The future is not set in stone. It can be altered by any decision, no matter how small.

  But there was also proof for centuries that what seers predicted came to pass. If there was a chance that I could see even a little bit of what the sidhe intended to do, or maybe find out where they were hiding, it was worth it. Even if it led me astray, it would still be something.

  “I can try,” Hiss said. “Go on, get some sleep. I’ll be back.” And he slithered away from me on the dusty ground. I watched after him until he disappeared behind a tent. Hopefully, by the time he got back, I’d have slept, and I would have enough energy to take a trip to Manun’s Waterfall.

  I slept for a couple of hours. Horrifying dreams made it feel like an eternity, and when I woke up, I breathed a sigh of relief. It had happened before. After my parents died, sleep had been a torment, so much so that I’d keep myself awake for days at a time, just to avoid it. Eventually, I couldn’t even sleep when I tried. I’d felt completely trapped then.

  I felt just as trapped now.

  When I woke up, I was completely alone. Hiss wasn’t there, and neither was Faceless. Noises came from outside the tent. The people were all up and about their business. My stomach growled when I attempted to straighten my hair with my fingers. I had no idea how I looked, but I needed to use the bathroom, and I needed food.

  The sun shone brightly, taking away my vision for a moment when I stepped out of the tent. There wasn’t as many people around me as I’d thought, but there were enough to make me feel completely vulnerable. Any one of them could attack me behind my back. Any one of them could stab me through the heart and reset my clock all over again. It was difficult not to let paranoia get the best of me.

  When I found the toilets, I made good use of them and the cold water they offered me in a bucket. Daredevil must have already told people I was to be trusted because every person—staff and performer—of the circus was perfectly kind to me. They didn’t look at me in any kind of funny way, which meant Signora Vera’s potion still held.

  I washed my face and straightened my clothes as well as I could before I made my way to the center of the circus and to Daredevil’s tent. I’d been there before with Charlotte the night I met with him, so I knew where I was going. And when I got there, I found everyone was already waiting for me.

  Faceless sat in one of the chairs, with a brown-colored teacup in her hand. Julie was across from her and to their side was Mandar. Charlotte and Lola were standing, a look of adoration in their eyes as they watched Daredevil across the room. Until I walked in, he’d been staring at the ground, lost in thought, playing with his stubble, as if he couldn’t tell there were other people in there with him.

  “Good morning,” I said, even though it was almost noon.

  “Took you long enough,” Daredevil said, and he walked closer to the others when I did. There was only one more free chair, so he grabbed another from across the tent and brought it to
sit in—two feet away from the rest of us. Everybody looked exhausted, except him. He looked showered and dressed in fresh clothes. Even his bed to our side was perfectly made.

  My eyes immediately went to the bowl of fresh fruit on the small table, still wet from being washed. There were no strawberries, but there were apples, bananas, oranges, and some blueberries, too. It would be more than enough for me.

  I sat down between Mandar and Faceless and tried not to look too eager when I reached for a green apple. My mouth instantly watered before I took a bite.

  “I’m sorry I’ve kept you waiting,” I said with my mouth half full. The way they watched me said they were impatient for me to say something, so I did. “I didn’t realize what time it was.”

  “Did you rest?” Mandar asked, but Daredevil didn’t let me reply.

  “The plan of action,” he said. “You do have one, don’t you?”

  The apple suddenly refused to go down my throat. “I do have a plan, and that is to kill all sidhe who are trying to get to Gaena—or at least their leader.” The man who’d fought in the Shade that night, the one who’d almost killed Mace.

  “What do they want with you? Why were they there last night?” Faceless asked.

  “And don’t you find it odd that they found you just as the Guild officers did?” Julie asked, squinting her eyes at Mandar.

  “So far, my contacts haven’t been able to find anything. As far as the Guild records are concerned, there are no orders to bring you in or even search for you,” Mandar said.

  Exactly what I’d feared.

  “Is it possible that they weren’t there by a Guild order?”

  Mandar nodded. “That’s what I suspect. Even orders given to agents have paper trails I can find.” And he hadn’t found any.

  “The Winter King.” Shivers washed down the length of me when I said his name. The apple didn’t seem as delicious anymore. “It was him.”