Inimical

by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge

  Roue gets it immediately. Somehow Reinghûl and Aldebaran broke free.

  They’re attacking my father.

  “We have to get to OverHill.” Everyone is looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. I don’t care. Maybe I have. I switch to sending. “The harrow-stitch. If we can reach it—”

  “On it.” Roue grabs me, and the next thing I know, we’re speeding through the dark tunnels beneath the Diamond.

  The harrow-stitch is right where we left it.

  Only now, the greenish-black vortex is swollen like a tick. Faerie energy is already Bleeding out of it. Roue and I slog our way through bunches of red toadstools. Psychedelic aura colors riot up and down the walls, giving me a Fae-sight headache. The stitch looks ready to blow.

  I stop. “We shouldn’t use it.”

  But we don’t have a choice. My father is in mortal danger.

  I step toward it.

  That’s when it tears wide.

  Without ceremony, my father staggers out and into my arms. “Dad!” It takes me two seconds to see he’s really hurt. The coppery scent of blood hits me, scarlet gushing to the concrete floor. I sink down with him in my arms.

  “Dad! Dad?”

  His eyes are glassy. The wound is… I can’t even look at. It’s like his heart’s been flash-burned out. I summon my white flame, but it only flickers over the ragged hole.

  His heart’s gone. I can’t heal what’s not there.

  My throat closes, and a new type of agony seizes me. “No. I just found him again. No. Please. Please! I’ll forgive him. I’ll be a good daughter!” I say all those things a person says when someone they love is dying.

  I look up at Roue, but she gently shakes her head, wrapping me in her love down the bond.

  My dad barely stirs. “Aldebaran…”

  My anger flares, but my concern for my father is stronger. “Dad, don’t talk.”

  “Syl, he has the hearthstone. He’s set the Inimical to infect all of Fair Faerie.”

  Fear and despair well up inside me. “Dad, you have to rest.” If only he would rest, he’d get better. I’m sure of it. “Roue, make him rest!”

  He grabs my arm but his strength is failing. “Syl… He’s bringing the hearthstone to Reinghûl. Once Reinghûl has it, he’ll use it to make sure Dark Faerie swallows all of Fair Faerie.”

  I barely hear his words, pressing my hands against his heart. “Dad, I have to save you.” My eyes sting as I struggle to hold in the tears.

  He shakes his head. “Save Fair Faerie, Syl.”

  He touches my cheek. Then his hand falls away, leaving a smear of blood.

  My heart shatters. I scream and scream and scream.

  38

  ROUEN

  In the blink of an eye

  Everything can change

  Except my love for you

  - “Blink of an Eye,” Euphoria

  * * *

  One day, I might be queen of the dark Fae, in charge of all my people and their protection. But when Syl screams herself hoarse, I can only wrap her in my arms and hold her, not knowing how to feel or what to say. I’m not half as close to my dad as Syl was to hers.

  I send my love, my strength and support down the bond. I can only hope it’ll be enough.

  Because this isn’t over.

  First, Aldebaran killed the King of Fair Faerie. That means, he escaped the Ebon Vault and so did my father.

  Second, the harrow-stitch is blown.

  Behind us, the ghoulish green-black vortex swells like an overstuffed garbage bag, the excess Faerie energy vomiting out of it into the tunnels beneath the Diamond. Toadstools, bluebells, and blackthorns rip along the walls, the floors, the ceiling, and the scent of Fair Faerie gusts out, in dandelions and summer heat.

  The Shroud between realms is weakening.

  When it tears, it’ll set every single realm, dimension, and demesnes crashing into one another. Realms will swallow realms, dimensions will crush demesnes, others will fuse together. Still others will be lost forever.

  We can stop it. If we stop the Great Convergence.

  “Syl.” I try to be as gentle as I can, edging us away from the belching, bloating harrow-stitch. “We have to—”

  Ba-boom! Without warning, the harrow-stitch explodes. Faerie energy blasts us in a wave, and we’re thrown against the tunnel. I grab Syl, protecting her from the impact. Wham! Pain shoots through my back and skull. The wall crunks into a spiderweb of cracks beneath my body. I slide down it, still cradling Syl, and fall to my knees.

  Fat red toadstools rain down on us. Plop, plop, plop.

  Urggg…not my finest moment.

  Or the Diamond’s either.

  Because the Bleed rushes up over the tunnel, Faerie power seeping in to the concrete, turning everything into a mind-bending swirl of color and energy.

  Volatile energy.

  A full Bleed.

  Above us, the Diamond pitches and shudders.

  This is so not good. Syl and I meet gazes. Instinctively, she reaches for her dad, but his body only dissipates into sunlight and seed pods. They float away on the air, leaving my girl with nothing.

  Syl chokes back another sob. Hurt and pain stab down the bond, bright and sharp. I want nothing more than to hold her, soothe her, but right now, the Shroud is tattered, tearing…

  The Great Convergence is nearly at hand.

  “Syl…” Gently, I hold her at arm’s length and meet her grey eyes. It kills me to push her right now, but I have no other choice. In a burst of winter, my fairy wind gusts around me. “We have to get to Dark Faerie.”

  Syl senses my urgency. She sniffs hard and dashes her tears away. “Okay. I-I’m ready.” She’s not, but we’re going to fake it till we make it. With a burst of Summer heat, she summons her fairy wind.

  I’ll be as strong as she needs me to be. “There’s only one way we can get there.”

  We both say it at the same time. “Miss Jardin.”

  Fast as we can, we windwarp back toward the field.

  Even at a distance, we hear the dim roar of panic. The laughter and cheering from the stands turned to horrified screams and panic. Chills spike down my spine.

  A full Bleed. So many people…

  Please don’t let them all eidolize. Because hundreds of people suddenly becoming Wakeful and able to see Faerie energy—not to mention the dozens that will actually transform into their Faerie aspect—would be all kinds of bad.

  I can only hope our luck, and the Shroud, holds.

  Pouring on the speed, Syl and I get to the field.

  My heart skips a painful beat.

  The Bleed has seeped up from the tunnels, the energy of Faerie a wave of psychedelic color splashing up toward the stands. Toward the people.

  And then the panic really begins.

  A number of mortals, the already Wakeful, see the crushing wave coming. They fight, pushing and shoving to escape. Screams light the air. Fights break out. One girl goes down in the sea of people. She doesn’t get back up again.

  The Bleed pumps and pumps Faerie energy into the Diamond. Blackthorn roots rip through the stands, shattering seats and buckling supports. Bluebells and toadstools pop up in the cracks, levering them wider. Spilled popcorn and empty cups swirl and dance in the air, caught on stray fairy winds.

  With a great, ruttering roar, the massive seats and bleachers shift and buckle. The monitors smash out, the gigantic Jumbotron snapping free of its moorings, listing over the field. Screams of terror punctuate the thunder of so many people trying desperately to get away.

  It’s bad with a capital B.

  “Roue!” Syl’s concern for the people shoots down the bond. “We have to help them!”

  So much for getting to Dark Faerie.

  But she’s right. “Will do, princess.”

  Before we can move, though…

  Whoosh! In a rush of summer wind, Aldebaran speeds onto the field. His skin is threaded with black veins, and his Inimical power burns around him like
an unholy beacon. Darkfire sears the ground at his feet.

  Worse, his chest is torn open, and the hearthstone burns inside the bloody cavity like a ghastly heartlight. Golden energy flashes wildly from its facets.

  “Ugh.” Syl eyes the source of power for all Fair Faerie, pulsing like a stolen heart. “Why does everyone do that?”

  “Lack of originality,” I deadpan, throwing up a don’t-see-us Glamoury.

  Aldebaran advances toward us, darkfire dripping molten from his fingers. “Broke your little shield, Syl.” He grins widely, showing all those sharp teeth. “Both of them, in fact.”

  Syl cries out, the anguish from her father’s death fresh and raw.

  “Yes, give me all your pain.” Aldebaran drinks it in the way a vampire drinks blood.

  Anger surges up in me, a cresting wave of Winter. I sing it to my fists in crackling violet lightning. “I am so going to enjoy knocking your block off, pally.”

  I stride toward him, Syl at my side. He turns to square off against us.

  We’re just about ready to clash, when he jerks, his face twists, and his Inimical circuits flare, a glowing red signifying my father taking control of him.

  Blast and bane!

  His face goes blank, mindless. The runes on his cheek glow, and his eyes flush fiery red. He forgets all about his vendetta against us.

  In a burst of bitter darkfire, he blasts the stands, sweeping the sticky black fire across the bleacher supports like raining down napalm. The entire thing goes up, tinderbox-style. Leaping flames and smoke blot everything out in heat and panic.

  People trample one another in their fear.

  “Roue!” Syl races toward the stands. She’s already pulling the power of Summer toward her. And she doesn’t waste any energy on a Glamoury.

  White flames burst around her hands, wreathing her.

  Oh well, goodbye anonymity.

  But there’s no help for it.

  The wave of Faerie energy hits.

  The stands rock as the psychedelic wave of energy crashes over it. Green vines rush up along the support pillars, tearing into them as the Bleed rushes over everything. Gnarled trees rip up from the ground, sending cascades of dirt flying. Merchant carts explode, pennons and flags coming to snapping life. The entire side of the Diamond lurches, about to come off its moorings.

  I race toward it. “Syl, back me up!” I’m strong, but I’m not exactly Supergirl.

  “Got it!” Syl blasts Aldebaran back. He hurtles into a half-broken pillar, taking it out with a loud cruuunnnccchhh! The rest falls, burying him.

  If only it’d squash him like the cockroach he is.

  The bleachers tilt, and I race toward them, Winter winds carrying me toward ten thousand pounds of crashing-down stone and mortar.

  Yay, fun!

  Syl fires her white shield in there to protect the people, but the stands are crumbling, torn apart by wild Faerie energy. The shield can’t protect them from the impact.

  The humans seem to know it, even if this is the first they’ve seen of Fae power.

  The crowd in the stands stampedes every which way, their movement causing the bleachers to collapse like a sinkhole. The Bleed rushes up the stands, casting white flowers. Birds explode from the flowers. Summer heat melts the stone.

  Everything is Fae and chaos.

  On my periphery, I see Becca and her posse join the crowd, running like their lives depend on it. Becca’s eyes are wide as saucers. A huge chunk of bleachers breaks away and careens down at her.

  Midstep, I sing my lightning to my hands.

  If only I had my violin! I blast the falling stone, hoping to break it apart, lessen the impact. And then, my hands meet the falling stands.

  Wham! Ten thousand pounds of concrete slam into me, nearly tent-pegging me into the ground. “Ngh!” My shoulders creak and scream. I blow out a hard breath, half the Diamond balanced on my shoulders.

  My world is all weight and muscles screaming.

  I can’t get to Becca.

  Whoosh! An ice-blue ghost zips past me. The Xi grabs Becca and whisks her away. Just in time. The bleachers slam down. Becca’s high-pitched squeak tells me she’s fine.

  That makes one of us.

  Syl shields people from falling rock. And me? I’m slowly being hammered into the ground, more and more weight on me as the bleachers all slide my way.

  “Roue!”

  The massive weight bears down on me, threatening to crush me like a tin can. Gah! I rest it on my shoulders and bolster it, letting the mortals escape to safety. They drop to the ground around me, and Syl uses her white flame shield to protect them as raining debris crashes down all around us.

  My shoulders scream, burning, taxed to the limits of my strength.

  “Syl, hurry!” I grit my fangs, the massive slab of brick and mortar tilting.

  My hands are slipping…

  “Here.” Strong hands grip the bleachers near me.

  The Xi!

  “Why are you helping?” Not that I’m not grateful or anything, but seriously.

  The Xi looks toward the exit. Becca turns back, and they meet gazes.

  “Oh. I get it now.”

  The troll assassin turns about ten shades of pink, but says nothing as they shoulder some of the burden.

  I chin-nod. “Thanks.”

  “You are welcome, Your Majesty, but I would do anything for her.”

  “Yup.” My gaze finds Syl as I’m crushed into the ground. “I hear ya.”

  The Xi and I stand together, holding the Diamond up as people run in panic. Syl uses her white shield to keep them safe.

  All of us look very Fae and very much supernatural.

  I wonder how it will play out. Like in X-Men, where we’re considered mutants and hunted by the government? Or will they kidnap us, try to harness our Fae power for military purposes?

  My phone goes off in my pocket. 11:45 a.m.

  The Battle of Wits and War!

  Syl made me set an alarm for it. Good thing, because we only have fifteen minutes to get there, beat my dad, and stop the Great Convergence.

  No pressure or anything.

  “We have to get to Dark Faerie!” Syl sends, blasting chunks of falling debris.

  “I know.”

  Boom! Boom! Boom! One by one, the Diamond’s upper supports explode, even more of the bleachers sliding toward me and the Xi into a slow collapse of weltering stone.

  The last mortal leaps free. “Ready?”

  The Xi nods.

  “On three. One…two…three!”

  Grunting, the two of us heave the bleachers to the side. Wham! Crash! They explode in a massive shower of stone and dust. The mortals have nearly made it across the field. They’ve crammed the exits, fighting to get out.

  If we don’t do something, dozens will die.

  Crunk! Aldebaran shoves the collapsed stone aside and steps out, looking furious, magma and darkfire burning around his fists.

  I shift my focus. “Syl!”

  She turns from shielding the people. “I’ll take care of him. You help the people!”

  I nod, and step to center field. There’s only one way to stop the madness.

  My Euphoria power.

  I take in a deep breath, touching the Adamant Queen on its thong for strength. When I belt out my song, I put all my personal power into it. My voice hits the air in a shimmering wave and surges over the people, bringing them peace, calmness, euphoria.

  I sing “Awaken,” one of my ballads—they’re always better for calming—and the crowd nearest me stops pushing and shoving.

  Perfect. Now for the entire arena.

  As much as I hate tapping into my residual Circuit Fae power, my need is dire. Bending, I lay my hand on the ground, dowsing for the electrical system. Copper floods my mouth, my fingers tingle.

  There!

  I tap in. Circuits light up across the ground, zipping up the broken stands in glowing violet veins. The PA system kicks on.

  With my conn
ection to the electrical system, I flood the arena with my song.

  Everything is going crazy as the Bleed rips open wide, rippling out from the Diamond across Richmond. In hours, the mortal realm will be inundated with unbridled Faerie energy. A brilliant blare of sunlight from the other side of the arena tells me where Syl is.

  I feel her battling Aldebaran, feel her double over from a blow, her world warring white fire and dark.

  A jolt seizes my heart.

  I want to help her, but my whole world becomes saving mortals.

  They’re moving quickly toward the exits, no pushing or shoving or stampeding, but I have to keep singing.

  “Syl!”

  “Roue, he’s trying to stall us, to keep up from making the duel on time!”

  “I know,” I send as the alarm goes off in my pocket again.

  11:50 a.m.

  Ten minutes left. If I don’t duel my father before the realms of Faerie crash into each other, it’ll mean total genocide. Only one side will win.

  Syl and I will be forced into our nightmare.

  One of us will kill the other.

  The people are nearly free, but not yet. I have to keep singing.

  And yet, my song falters. Syl needs me. My girl means more to me than anything. I hesitate, turn toward her.

  “No, Roue! Save the people!”

  Syl’s so resolute, so earnest, I have no choice but to do as she asks.

  Blasted by Summer heat, knowing my girl is in danger, I sing.

  39

  SYL

  Should two Fae royals

  Ever fight for supremacy

  It will tear the realm apart

  - Glamma’s Grimm

  * * *

  This is it. The big showdown. I stand amidst the chaos of the Faerie Bleed. I’m untouched and wreathed in my white flame, but I’m not okay. My heart’s a torn, ragged mess.

  Resolve and agony burning inside me, I turn to face the man who murdered my father.

  Aldebaran.

  He stands there like a zombie, the hearthstone blazing in his gory chest cavity. Corrupted sunfire bursts up from his palms, licking out from his cracked skin. It’s pure black, sucking in all the light around it. It licks at my white flame, trying to consume it.