“You answer to me, sidhe-seer,” she spat, “not the other way around. ”
“In whose warped fantasy?”
“While at my abbey. Now might be the time to take a careful look around you. ” It was a threat.
I didn’t need to. I’d heard the other sidhe-seers crowding close while we were arguing. The hall was large, and from the hushed murmurs, I guessed several hundred were behind me. “What have you done since the walls came down, Rowena?” I demanded. “Have you found the Book yet? Have you accomplished anything that might restore order to our world? Or are you still lording your power over a band of women who would do better with a little power of their own? You squeeze the heart out of who and what they are with your rules and regulations. You tie them down when you should be helping them learn to fly. ”
“And getting them killed?”
“In any war there are losses. It’s their choice. It’s their birthright. We fight. And sometimes we pay terrible prices. Believe me, I know. But as long as we breathe, we get back up and fight again. ”
“You brought us the Orb spiked with Shades!”
“You don’t believe that,” I scoffed. “If you did, you’d have killed me when I was Pri-ya, unable to defend myself. I’ll bet the very fact that I got turned Pri-ya is what convinced you that I wasn’t allied with the Lord Master. ” I shrugged. “Why turn a turncoat? There’s no need. ”
“There are spies within spies. ”
“I’m not one of them. And I’m staying right here, in your abbey, until you see that. ”
She blinked. I’d startled the old woman. I wasn’t angling for an invitation. I was staying with or without her permission. Openly or in hiding. I didn’t care which. There were two things within these walls I needed: my spear and answers, and I wasn’t leaving without both of them.
“We don’t want you here. ”
“I didn’t want my sister to be murdered. I didn’t want to find out I was a sidhe-seer. I didn’t want to be raped by Unseelie Princes. ” I listed my grievances but kept it brief. “In fact, I haven’t wanted a single thing that’s happened to me in the past few months. Fact is, I really don’t even want to be here myself, but a sidhe-seer does what needs to be done. ”
We stared at each other.
“Would you agree to supervision?” she said finally, very tightly.
“We can discuss that. ” Discussing is where it would end. I would take all her BS under advisement. Before I discarded it. “How’s the Book hunt going, Rowena?” I knew the answer. It wasn’t. “Has anyone spotted it lately?”
“What do you propose?”
“Give me the spear and I’ll go out hunting it. ”
“Never. ”
“‘Bye, then. ” I walked past her, toward the door.
Behind me, sidhe-seers exploded. I smiled. They were frustrated. They were tired of being caged and accomplishing nothing. They were primed for a little pre-mutiny meddling, and I was primed to meddle.
“Silence!” Rowena said. “And you”—she snapped at my back—”stop right there!”
The hall went still. I paused at the door but I didn’t turn. “I won’t go out hunting it without the ability to defend myself. ” I paused and bit my tongue hard before adding, “Grand Mistress. ”
The silence stretched.
Finally, “You can take Dani, with the sword. She will defend you. ”
“Give me the spear and she can come, too. And you can send any of your other sidhe-seers you want, as well. ”
“What’s to keep you from walking away, from turning your back on us the minute I give you the spear?”
I whirled. My hands fisted and my lips drew back. Later, Dani would tell me I’d looked half animal, half avenging angel. It impressed even her, and the kid is tough to impress.
“I care, that’s what,” I snarled. “I drove out here through a wasteland. I saw the piles and husks everywhere. I looked in the baby’s car seat before I took it out of the Rover. I know what they’re doing to our world, and I will either stop them or die trying. So get the feck off my back—where you’ve been since the night you met me—and wake up! I’m not the bad guy. I’m the good guy. I’m the one who can help. And I will, but on my terms, not yours. Otherwise, I’m out of here. ”
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Dani stepped past Rowena and joined me. “And I’m going with her. ”
I looked at her, my lips rounded on “no,” then I caught myself. What rights had I just argued for? Dani was old enough to choose. In my book, old enough to kill is old enough to choose. I think hell has a special place for hypocrites.
Kat stepped forward from the crowd. Of all the sidhe-seers I’d met, the quietly persistent gray-eyed brunette who had led the small group in the attack on me at Barrons Books and Baubles (BB&B) the day I’d inadvertently killed Moira seemed the most levelheaded, open-minded, and firmly fixed on the long-term goal of ridding our world of the Fae. She and I had met several times, attempting a tentative partnership. I was still open to one if she was. In her mid-twenties, she had the unassuming quiet confidence of someone much older. I knew she had influence over the others, and I was interested to hear what she had to say. “She’s a tool, Grand Mistress. And, like it or not, she may be our most useful yet. ”
“You no longer blame her for spiking the Orb?”
“She can stay and help us get rid of the blimey fecks if she’s so innocent. ”
“Language,” Rowena said sharply.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud, Rowena. It’s a war, not a congeniality contest. ”
Somebody snickered.
“Wars need rules!”
“Wars need to be won!” I fired back, to a satisfying chorus of murmured assents.
“What say you to a vote?” Kat proposed.
“Fine,” Rowena and I both snapped in unison, and looked at each other with distaste. I could tell that she didn’t believe for a moment I might win, or she wouldn’t have agreed to it. I wasn’t sure I would, either, but I figured high emotions and years of dissatisfaction with her rule gave me nearly even odds. Kat had a large following among the sidhe-seers, and she was arguing for me. Even if I lost, at least I’d know who I could count on my side.
Kat turned to face the hall, crammed to overflowing with sidhe-seers in the doorways. “It’s being left up to us, so think it through well and call it: Does she stay, or does she go? If you’re after her staying, raise your right hand and hold it high while I take your tally. ”
It was a tight vote.
I won by a narrow margin.
I committed to memory the face of every woman who voted against me.
“What the feck is V’lane doing here?” I demanded, the moment Dani and I were alone.
It was hours before we were. Rowena had decided to push me a little in front of the other sidhe-seers after I’d won the vote, to see if I’d bend. She instructed me to clear no less than a dozen Shades from the abbey before I ate or slept, in order to earn my keep.
I’d bent for her this time.
Not only did I enjoy tracking the Shades and driving them out into the late-afternoon light—I’d been watching them long enough as my neighbors at the bookstore that I knew all the places they liked to hide—but I’ve learned to choose my battles. I understood the importance of throwing a few of the smaller fights, to keep my competition off balance, underestimating me. Rowena would believe I was fully cooperative, right up to the moment her ranks rebelled and overthrew her. I had no intention of staying in the abbey long. I was here for my spear, answers, and to incite riot among the Grand Mistress’s followers. Wake them up to their calling. Get them to ditch the old woman and become all they could be.
“He showed up the day Barrons took you,” Dani said. “You shoulda seen it! When he heard you were gone, he went ballistic. ”
“The Fae don’t go ballistic, Dani. ” Impassive, they rarely
showed emotion. Not even V’lane’s recently acquired reactions could be construed as “ballistic. ”
Her eyes got big. “Dude, he iced Rowena. ”
“You mean turned her into a block of it?” Dani was so full of slang it was hard to know what she meant sometimes. Since Rowena was alive, I figured she had to be speaking literally.
Dani nodded. “From the neck down. Left her head un-iced so she could talk. Then threatened to flick her with his fingernail so she could watch herself shatter. It was wicked cool. ”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “He was überpissed that Ro let you go. I told him nothing coulda stopped Barrons, but that just seemed to piss him off more. Said he’d been stuck guarding the queen and couldn’t get to you. I think he planned to do what Barrons did, and when he learned Barrons beat him to it by a few hours, he totally melted down. I thought he’d ice us all. ”
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“Why is he still here? And after that little trick, how did he get to be such buddies with Rowena?” I tried not to think about what might have happened if V’lane had gotten to me first. It didn’t seem to me that sex with another death-by-sex Fae would have done anything but kept me Pri-ya. I could hardly imagine V’lane telling me stories of my childhood or showing me pictures of my family to help bring me back.
Dani grinned. “Easier to show you. ” She moved toward me so quickly that she blurred out of sight and was gone.
Then I was gone, too, or, rather, the hallway we’d been standing in was gone, and I couldn’t make out anything but blurs of motion and noise. I could feel Dani’s hands on my shoulders. She was whizzing me somewhere at an extreme rate of speed.
I banged my elbow on something that grunted. “Ow!” I said.
Dani snickered. “It helps if you keep your elbows tucked in. ”
“Watch where you’re going, kid!” someone yelled.
“Oops, sorry,” Dani muttered.
Something slammed into my hip. “Ow,” I said again. I heard someone curse; it faded quickly.
“We’re almost there, Mac. ”
When we stopped, I scowled at her and rubbed my elbow. It was no wonder she was bruised all the time. “Let’s just walk the next time, okay?”
“Are you kidding me? S’the coolest thing in the world to move like I do! I’m not usually so clumsy, but there are more people out of their rooms ‘cause you’re here and they’re all talking ‘bout you. I know these halls by heart. I can do ‘em in my sleep, but the fecking people get in the way. ”
“Maybe you could persuade them to start signaling their turns,” I said dryly. “You know, like you do when you’re bicycling around as couriers. ”
Her face lit up. “Think they would?”
I snorted. “Doubt it. We’re not exactly their favorite people. ” I glanced around. We were in a huge room filled with a U-shaped conference-table arrangement and dozens of chairs. “Why did you bring me here, and what—”
I broke off, staring past her at the enormous maps covering the walls.
After a moment, I turned slowly.
“We call it the War Room, Mac. S’where we keep track of things. ”
The entire room was wallpapered with maps, hung from ceiling to floor. There were notations everywhere, with Post-it notes stuck on some areas and enlarged inserts taped to others. Some of the cities bore the Sidhe-Seers, Inc. (SSI) emblem of the misshapen shamrock, our oath to See, Serve, and Protect.
“Where’s the key?” What did all these symbols and notes stand for?
Dani saw where I was looking. “The shamrocks show the headquarters of the foreign branches of Post Haste, Inc. Ain’t no key. Ro won’t let us write it down. Room’s majorly warded. ”
“We have that many sidhe-seer offices?” I was incredulous. There were more of us worldwide than I’d ever have guessed. SSI had obviously been global for a long time. Our “war” had also gone global while I’d been out of it. The Unseelie hadn’t stayed in one place once they were freed. They’d ranged out over the entire planet and, according to what I was seeing on the maps, certain castes seemed to prefer certain climes. There were drawings and notes scribbled everywhere. It would take days for me to absorb it all. I walked around the room slowly. “What are these?” I pointed to two areas close together, which were marked off with brown slash marks.
“Wetlands. There’s a caste of Unseelie that’s nuts about swamps, and they take you down as fast as Shades. We don’t go near them. ”
“And these?” Squares, heavily outlined in bold black marker.
Dani flinched. “Some of ‘em ‘ve been rounding up kids, really young ones. They keep ‘em for a while before they … do things with ‘em. We try to find where and break ‘em out. ”
I inhaled sharply and kept walking. I stopped when I reached a column of dates, with numbers written next to them that had been crossed out dozens of times.
The most recent date was January 1.
The number next to it was a few billion shy of the nearly seven billion it should have been.
I pointed a finger and didn’t even try to pretend it wasn’t shaking. “Is this date and number telling me what I think it’s telling me? Is that how many of us are left on this planet?”
“By our estimates,” Dani said, “total world population has been reduced by more than a third. ” It was one of the few complete, well-spoken sentences I’d ever heard pass her lips. I looked at her sharply and caught a split second of a completely different Dani—a geeky, smart thirteen-year-old abandoned by everyone she’d ever trusted or loved, in a world gone mad. It was so quickly masked by an insouciant grin that I wondered if I’d really seen it at all. “Dude. Pretty intense, huh?” Her green eyes sparkled.
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“Dude me one more time and you’re Danielle forever. ” I looked back at the maps. I was never going to be able to sleep tonight. A third of our world’s population was dead. “How long was I … out of it? What’s the date?”
“January seventh. And, sorry, it just slips. ”
“What does this have to do with V’lane?” Keep talking, I told myself, so you don’t melt down. We’d lost a third of our planet’s population! More than two billion people were dead! They’d been dying the whole time I’d been a mindless animal. The guilt was crushing.
I followed the maps around the room, looking for Georgia, feeling sick inside. The state had two inky spots smudged on it, one over Savannah and one over Atlanta, both of which were only a few hours from Ashford, Georgia, my hometown. Most of the spots on the maps were over major cities. “What are the dark smudges?” I asked tightly, afraid I knew.
“Dark Zones. ” My face must have betrayed my thoughts, because she added hastily, “V’lane checked on your folks. He says they’re okay. ”
“Recently?”
She nodded. “He keeps watch. Says he does what he can. ”
I drew a deep breath, the first since I’d laid eyes on the maps. “How did the Shades spread so quickly?” I demanded. “How did they even get overseas? Is the power out everywhere in the world?”
“V’lane says initially other Unseelie were helping ‘em, ‘til they decided the Shades were chewing up their new playground too fast. Now he says Unseelie are fighting each other for territory. Some of ‘em are even trying to get the power back up, to keep the Shades out. ”
I remembered the sky battle I’d seen, wondered what it had been about.
“One time when I went into Dublin looking for you, I saw humans walking with Rhino-boys, going down into a boarded-up bar. Didn’t follow, ‘cause it freaked me out so bad. They were girls, Mac. Dunno if they were Pri-ya, but they didn’t look like it. Looked like they went ‘cause they wanted to. ” Her lambent gaze clouded. “Mac, I think Unseelie are the new vamps to some fecked-up groupies out there. ”
“Does V’lane know all this? Are the Seelie doing anything about
it?” I was horrified. I knew my generation. We had a world of opportunities for instant gratification at our fingertips, with few or no censors, and most of my friends hadn’t had a daddy like mine, who said things like, Don’t confuse intensity of emotion with quality of emotion, baby, when I’d gotten tangled up with class heartbreaker Tommy Ralston. The more he’d hit on my girlfriends, the harder I’d worked to keep him. It was like I was addicted to whatever made me feel most intensely, even though it was hurting me. Pain is not love, Mac. Love makes you feel good. I missed my dad. I needed to see my parents. See with my own eyes that they were all right.
“V’lane says they’re trying to stop the worst of the Unseelie,” Dani said, “but they can’t kill each other, ‘cause they don’t die and we got the sword and the spear. V’lane says the Seelie want ‘em back, but so far none of ‘em have tried to take ‘em from us. He says it’s just a matter of time, though. ”
Chaos. It was complete chaos. Unseelie free, fighting Seelie, fighting one another, acquiring human groupies like Mallucé’s band of Goth worshippers. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mallucé’s cult had simply converted allegiance to the latest, greatest exotic danger in town.
A third of the world population gone!
All because we’d failed to keep the walls up on Halloween. Because I’d failed. I closed my eyes and rubbed them, as if it might somehow rub the horrifying reality of a world with a third less people right out of existence, or at least out of my mind.
“At first, we had no clue what was going on anywhere. No phones or text messages. No email. No Internet. No TVs or radios. S’like living in the Stone Age. Well, maybe not that bad,” she allowed with a grin, “but you get the picture. Then V’lane offered to help. Said he could sift around, gather intel, find out what was going on, carry messages, take Ro places. After he iced her like that, she didn’t trust him one bit. Not that she ever trusted him. But it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. ”
“What about the Sinsar Dubh? I take it no one’s gotten their hands on it yet?”
She shook her head.
“Has anyone seen it recently?”
She shook her head again. “I think that’s the real reason Ro let you stay, and would have even if they’d voted against you. Just woulda pushed you ‘round harder. Her and V’lane been swapping information, bartering with each other. She told him what I told her I saw in the street the day I rescued you—”
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