by H A Titus
"Hard to miss, aren't I." With a flourish of his coat, he sheathed his knives. "Eliaster told you who I was, didn't he?"
"How do you know him?"
"Only by reputation."
"Okay, so how did you just happen to show up when I needed help?"
Coriander shrugged. "I saw Eliaster at Aifric's and wanted to know why he was back in Chicago, so I tailed him. Saw that Unseelie ambush you. Thought maybe my help might be needed. Lucky for you I was right."
I dropped the sword point to the ground. "Thanks."
"I should be thanking you. Having a favor owed to me is always handy."
Agh, he's right. I gritted my teeth. "Great. How will I know when you want to cash in?"
"You'll know." He dipped his head in a sardonic bow, turned, and walked off.
Crap. Owing Eliaster was bad enough, but now a fae I didn't know held a favor. Who knew what he'd call it in for.
Eliaster. I was going to get an earful. I shoved my sword into the sheath and ran back the way Llew had taken me.
When I reached the street where I'd last seen Larae, it wasn't hard to spot them again. Eliaster had clambered onto a rickety bench not far from where Llew had ambushed me and was scanning the crowd. When he caught sight of me, he jumped, momentarily disappearing before bursting between a small group of people with no regard for where his elbows landed.
He grabbed my shoulders. "What happened to you?"
David and Larae followed a few seconds later. Larae wasted no time in throwing her arms around me for a hug. Her body was soft, despite her lean build, and my heart rate spiked in a way that had nothing to do with adrenalin.
I squirmed away as quickly as I could. "What happened—"
David thumped me on the back, nearly sending me into Larae's embrace again. Eliaster shot him an annoyed look. Efran finally showed up, brows drawn together in a frown.
I coughed. David's thump had jarred something loose in my throat. "Llew's here. He's working with Blodheyr's thugs."
Larae stepped back from me and ran her eyes around the street. "What do they want?"
"Me, obviously. They're probably not getting anywhere with Marc." I looked at Eliaster. "I thought Llew and his buddy weren't associated with Blodheyr."
"I didn't think they were any longer either."
Eliaster's eye color spiked a muddy green. "The more important question is, how did they know we were here?"
"And I suppose you think it was me, right?" David growled. "Or Larae. Surely not your precious pet project."
"Again, really?" I muttered.
Eliaster smirked. "Your willingness to jump to that conclusion certainly begs the question, doesn't it?"
David took a step toward Eliaster, chin thrusting forward. A smirk curled one corner of Eliaster's mouth, and he angled sideways, fingers curling.
I grabbed his arm. "Let's not do this here." I turned to Efran. "Aifric's house was our destination, I believe."
The thin fae shrugged and started off again. With a last glare at Eliaster, David followed.
"Nice save," Larae said, nudging my shoulder with hers as she stepped past.
I grinned.
As we followed Efran, Larae and David stayed on either side of me, and Eliaster tagged along so closely that he stepped on my heels a few times. I finally threw my elbow back into his ribs. He got the hint and backed off a little.
"Do you really think they wanted you?" Eliaster asked.
I shrugged. "The only other thing I can think was that they were going to kill me. But if they'd sent Llew to do that, why did he drag me off to meet other Unseelie? Why not just cut my throat and let my body drop? It's not as if anyone would be paying attention or care in this crowd."
Eliaster eyed me with approval. "A week ago, the mere thought of dying would have had you whimpering in a corner. This is an improvement."
I frowned. I didn't like the thought that I'd changed so drastically in such a short amount of time.
"How did you escape?" David asked.
I didn't want to tell anyone about Coriander's help, so I just shrugged. "Kicked Llew in the nuts and ran."
The three of them burst out laughing, and David thumped my back again. I smiled, but my thoughts were already drifting back toward Eliaster's last comment.
Maybe I didn't necessarily change. I remembered how quickly I'd been able to shove away my fears and act, as if on autopilot, until danger had passed. I'd done that a couple of times now, in fact. Maybe I've had the capacity for this all along, but my circumstances just never brought it out until now.
It wasn't a comforting thought.
#
We made it to Aifric's house without further incident. From the outside, it looked huge, but we didn't get to see much of the interior, just a side entrance, a staircase, and a couple of hallways. Efran immediately showed us to Aifric's guest rooms, one for each of us, tucked into a quiet corner of the mansion.
"I'm going to enjoy the last long, hot shower and good amount of sleep I'll probably have in days," Larae announced. "See you guys in the morning."
"Smart. She's bugging out before Eliaster starts squawking," David muttered.
Eliaster gave no indication that he'd heard the none-too-quiet complaint. "She's got the right idea. Rest up for tomorrow—we'll be heading out before breakfast."
He shoved his door shut with his foot.
David and I were left standing in the hall.
"You tired?" I asked him.
"Nah. You?"
"No. Wanna hang out?"
He looked surprised, but shrugged. I stepped into my room and gave it a quick glance. It wasn't too much bigger than the room I'd had at Roe's, but an open door led into a tiny bathroom. I dropped my messenger bag on the desk, unzipped it and took out my laptop.
"What're you doing?" David asked, flopping into the recliner set between the bed and the desk.
"Just gonna check…email…" I snorted and threw the power cord back into my bag. Right, no wifi. When was the last time I'd even thought about checking email, or my phone? "Nice to know I haven't changed too much." I pulled my phone from my back pocket and sat down in the desk chair. I had one bar of reception. When I swiped across the screen, five notifications—two texts and three missed calls—popped up. They were all from my parents.
I groaned and dropped the phone in my lap.
David leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands between his knees. "Are you doing all right?"
Was I doing all right? I had no idea. At least I'm still thinking about normal, human things like making sure my folks aren't worried. I'm not turning into a robot. Or a fae clone. Or whatever the correct analogy would be here.
I shrugged. "Are any of us doing all right? Nothing I can do about it, I guess. The Underworld changes people's lives, or so I've been told by just about everyone."
David snorted. "Heh, I suppose it does. For the better, in my case, I'd like to think."
I gnawed on the inside of my lower lip. "Guess we'll just have to see how I end up."
We sat in silence for a minute.
"So…" David leaned back in his chair. "Did you ever think about what I asked?"
It took me a second to mentally switch gears. "You mean about teaming up with you, and leaving the fae to their own devices?"
"Essentially."
"I don't know anything about you."
"You don't know anything about Larae or Eliaster, either."
"They're not the ones asking me to ally with them."
David sighed. "Fine. Born and raised in Springfield. Played high school football for Kickapoo, was your typical selfish, spoiled jock. Thought I was headed somewhere with sports until I got mixed up with the wrong group, half of whom happened to be Unseelie. Larae befriended me, got me straightened out. Couldn't play football anymore, so I started working in the Underworld as a bodyguard. That's where Marc met me. I introduced him to Larae. They started dating about a year ago, and then this spring, he asked me to help him wit
h this mess." He spread his hands out. "So there you go. My life story in a nutshell."
The story sounded fairly typical for a normal Midwestern boy, up until the Unseelie part. I nodded, slowly. "I'll think about it."
David rolled his eyes. I ignored it. I just didn't want to end up in debt any more, not since I already owed favors to two fae. And I had a feeling that no matter how much spin David put on it, this alliance he wanted was more about covering his back than it was mine.
David stood up. "Well, if that's all—"
I cleared my throat. "How come everyone keeps calling me 'Eliaster's pet project'? Even Llew alluded to it."
David laughed as he turned back to me. "Wondered when you were going to ask about that. You remember at Cormac's place, when he mentioned Iain?"
I nodded.
"Iain was Eliaster's older brother who was raised outside of the Underworld by their mom's dying request. When Eliaster finally met him, Iain had already met Llew and Ghurdan and was, for all intents and purposes, an Unseelie. Eliaster took him under his wing, tried to help him. It didn't end well. Rumor is, Eliaster not only caused his brother's death, but he disobeyed a direct order of the Springfield Seelie lord and caused the death of a curator. I've heard it said he killed the curator himself, just because she got in his way."
That actually explained a lot—Eliaster's feud with Llew and Ghurdan, the tension between him and his father, even Eliaster's attitude. "So people see me as another Iain?"
"Basically."
I grimaced. And this was the guy who was trying to be my mentor? He saw me as the little brother he couldn't save. Awesome. Why hadn't he mentioned this before? "Eliaster needs to stop keeping secrets."
"Yeah. Good luck with that." David rubbed his chin, palm rasping across the three-day growth of stubble. "Listen, if you want to bail, I'll still cover for you."
"You already asked me that. Why would my answer change?"
He shrugged. "Just thought I'd offer again." He pulled the door open and stepped out into the hall.
As the door clicked shut behind him, I rubbed my hand over my face. I wanted nothing more than to accept his offer, but I couldn't. Too far in to quit. I picked up my cell phone again and stared into the blank, dark screen, wondering what my parents thought was going on.
Chapter 16
David and Eliaster's voices in the corridor woke me the next morning. As I rolled out of bed, my shoulders twinged. Why were my muscles so tight?
I opened the door. Eliaster jerked back, his hand raised as if ready to knock on my forehead.
I grinned. "Beat ya to it."
He rolled his eyes. "Don't get used to it, punk."
I grabbed my messenger bag and pulled on my shoes, getting out into the hallway as Larae emerged from her bedroom, looking gorgeous in a turquoise tank top and close-fitting black pants, her leather jacket slung over one shoulder.
She wrinkled her nose at me. "Those clothes look like they could stand on their own."
The sound of her voice turned my stomach. Why? I forced a laugh and shrugged. "Hard to change when your only other pair of clothes was ditched because they were full of goblin blood."
"Oh, right." She pursed her lips. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"If any creatures attack us on the trip, I'll blame your smell," Eliaster called over his shoulder.
Larae walked past me and gently brushed my arm with her fingertips. Her touch made me go cold, and my mind flashed back to the dream I couldn't remember until now. Larae, her touch just as icy cold as it had been now, sliding a knife across my throat. I'd bled out on the floor while she kissed a man whose face changed from David to Eliaster to Marc.
I twitched my shoulders, trying to get the image out of my head. It had just been a dream, conjured by my over-tired brain and the stress I'd been under for the past week. It's not like Larae and I have ever been more than—well, can't even really call her a friend. Stupid dream.
That explained my sore shoulders, though. I'd probably slept like the bed had been made of rocks rather than a down mattress and feather pillows.
As if on cue, our guide from yesterday, Efran, appeared at the beginning of the corridor. "Aifric would like you to join him in the dining room."
Eliaster groaned. "Does the man ever sleep?"
"That's ironic, coming from you," I said.
He shoved me into the wall and headed after Efran who, as usual, hadn't waited to see if we were following him or not. We walked through a few more halls and an atrium that looked like it was the size of my parents' entire house before entering a small room just off the kitchen. Aifric was there, seated at a table that could hold about ten people.
He smiled and pointed his fork at his plate. "Breakfast?"
"Since you won't let us leave without one, sure." Eliaster hooked a chair with his foot and flopped into it.
I waited until Larae sat down, then headed around the table and chose a seat diagonal to her. As she sat, she made eye contact and smirked at me.
What was that about? A few minutes ago she'd been friendly, now she was making faces because I didn't sit next to her? I rubbed my forehead. This was why I'd never had a steady girlfriend before.
A servant set a plate full of hash, pancakes, and bacon in front of me. It was a relatively mundane breakfast after thedinner that Aifric had treated us to last night, but it felt good to see something mundane again. I dug into the food, and for a while, the only sounds were of forks clinking off plates.
Eliaster finished about half his food before shoving the plate away and eyeing Aifric. "So?"
Aifric raised an eyebrow. "So?"
Eliaster sighed. "Did you find the sniffer?"
Aifric glanced at Efran, who had been leaning against the wall next to the doorway. "Please bring Dywor in."
Efran ducked out of the room and returned a moment later leading a light-skinned fae with bleach-blond hair. The first thing I noticed about the newcomer was the twitch. Though he held his left hand loose and casual, his fingers bounced toward his palm, like he was constantly reminding himself not to ball them into a fist. His left eyelid was more subtle, but after watching for a moment, I could see that it had a continual tiny tic to it.
Eliaster gave Aifric a quick frown.
Aifric waved one hand while heaving himself up using the other for leverage. "Dywor. How good of you to come."
Dywor shrugged. "Needed a job." His voice was raspy. He scanned the group. "Big group to be taking through the tunnels. Too big. Too many Overworlders. Too noisy."
"That's not your concern," Eliaster said.
Dywor grinned. His teeth were stained brown. "Is if I'm to guide you."
Larae sat up, spine stiff and shoulders thrown back. "I don't know that I like the thought of a rager guiding us."
"Of course you don't," Eliaster muttered. "You haven't liked anything on this trip so far."
Aifric glanced between the two, and his eyes narrowed.
"Just give it a rest," David whispered to Larae.
Aifric frowned, his forehead wrinkling until it was all loose skin.
Eliaster stood, slapping his palm against the table. "If it's agreeable to you, Dywor, we'll negotiate on the way there."
Dywor nodded.
As the others headed out, Aifric caught my eye and beckoned me close. "I don't like it."
"What?"
"Much of it. Eliaster and Larae. David and Larae. Too much conflict. I thought perhaps that Dywor being a rager would be a problem, but it has revealed to me more than I ever thought—"
I waited for a moment, hoping he would continue. The image from my dream popped up again, but I pushed it away. "What, Aifric?"
"C'mon, Josh!" Eliaster shouted from the atrium.
Aifric shook his head, his eyes darkening with spikes of midnight blue. "Join your friends. Keep an eye out for yourself and Eliaster." He reached out, clasped both hands around one of mine, and murmured, "Go dte tu slain I gcomhluadar De."
It sounded similar to the Gaelic blessing Cormac Tyrone had said as I'd left his place. Aifric released my hand, and I nodded, acknowledging his words, then joined the others in the atrium.
Efran pushed open the doors for us, and we stepped into the Chicago Underworld. Dywor wound through the streets at a long-legged lope, forcing the rest of us into a jog to keep up. I stuck close to Eliaster. I still felt jittery from my dream, and unnerved by David's revelation last night of why Eliaster protected me. But even with all that, he was protecting me. At this point, I didn't think it was wise to abandon that, just based on rumors David had half-heard.
I nodded to Dywor. "A rager?"
"Addict. In the old legends, fae are supposed to be warded off with branches from rowan trees. In reality it makes us go insane while we're in contact with it. Within the last century, some dimwit figured out that it's addictive. I've never seen a rager completely under the stuff, but I've heard that some of the more hardened addicts have to be tied to a bed for the safety of everyone around them."
"It can also be used as a poison," Larae interjected. "Like deliberately overdosing someone on Overworld drugs."
I glanced up at Dywor. The barrel-chested, lanky-limbed fae slowed as he rounded a corner and came to a section of the tall, wooden wall that fenced in the entire city.
"Up and over," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
Larae narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"This side of the city, the gate guards won't let us through unless we have written permission from a council member. I'm guessing you don't have time for that."
"Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Keep a sharp eye out for guards," Eliaster said to David and Larae. He looked at me. "You first."
"Got it." I set down my messenger bag and took off my sword. With my luck it would probably get caught in the fence.
"Watch yourself, then," he said, bracing against the wall and making a stirrup of his hands.
I set my foot in his hands and grabbed for the top of the flat fence. Dywor gave an extra shove on my free foot. I almost went tumbling headlong, but managed to latch on the top of the wooden fence and steady myself. I swung my legs over and dropped to the ground. My sword hit the ground a second later.
