Catnip & Curses (The Faerie Files Book 2)

by Emigh Cannaday

  “Go closer. Find out what she has to say.”

  I entered the room, but it felt strange, almost wrong, like I was invading on this couple’s privacy. But they weren’t real, were they? This was just a dream. But it didn’t feel like just a dream. The people who stood in front of me were real. They looked so familiar, as though I’d seen them a hundred times before. A rush of warmth flooded through me.

  Sneaking closer, I approached my mom’s face, but she stared right through me like I was invisible. I wanted to reach out and touch her skin, wanted to tell her not to look so scared, but I couldn’t. All I could do was float there and listen as she lamented.

  “Oh, Niklas,” she said to her husband. “I know you try your best to soothe my worries, but I am so scared. I do not trust Solana’s obsession with ancient bloodlines. She has taken children from other noble houses. She will surely take our son if given the chance.”

  “Enough, Sanne,” said my dad. “I won’t hear any more talk of that banshee. She is poison, and any thoughts of her will only poison your mind.”

  “But the guards said they saw her around the castle walls only last night. And her henchman was with her.”

  My dad stiffened at hearing this, cupped my mom’s face in his muscular hands and looked into her eyes.

  “Tell me you didn’t just speak those words.”

  “I did and they are true!”

  “Solana’s henchman. That blue-handed fucking fiend.”

  “I know that blue hand!” I cried out, but neither of them could hear me. “That blue hand kidnapped me! He squeezed the shit out of me until I couldn’t breathe!”

  “Logan? What’s happening?” asked Patrick, his voice cutting through the room like the narrator in a film addressing the actors.

  “They’re talking about someone. The blue hand that kidnapped me from my crib and tried to kill me.”

  “Who is this person?”

  “I don’t know. The right hand man of Queen Solana by the sounds of it. What am I supposed to do?”

  There was silence for a moment. I continued to watch my parents, my eyes falling on the way the firelight bounced in a golden hue on my mom’s skin.

  “Patrick, are you there? Elena? Can either of you hear me?”

  There was no reply.

  16

  Elena

  I reached a hand out and shook Patrick on the shoulder.

  “What am I supposed to do?” asked Logan.

  Patrick moved to speak, but I shoved him enough to get his attention. He looked at me, confusion and mild anger in his eyes.

  “What is it?” he whispered angrily.

  “He can’t stay wherever he is right now.”

  “Why not? We’re just starting to get somewhere.”

  “It’s not just a dream anymore,” I explained. “You know that Queen Solana he just mentioned? Well, that bitch is real and she’s dangerous!”

  The second Solana’s name came out Logan’s mouth, I’d felt my heart jump and my stomach churn. Why was she back on our radar again? We defeated her. Sent her ass down a big hole in the earth months ago. How could she still be tormenting us? And through Logan’s dreams, no less? Would there never be an end to her?

  Patrick was looking up at me confused. He nodded towards the door and whispered, “Can we step outside a minute?”

  I nodded and loosened my grip on him. With both of us keeping our eyes on a still hypnotized Logan, we backed away from the bed and snuck into the hallway. Patrick still kept his friendly demeanor, but I could tell he was flustered.

  “Once a client is hypnotized and in a trance state, it’s dangerous to disturb them.”

  “I get that, but where he is right now is dangerous.”

  “And where is that?”

  “He’s talking about a real person. We’ve met her before. She’s pure evil.”

  He flinched slightly.

  “Who is she?”

  I thought of explaining it all to him, but we didn’t have time. And besides, even if he was sensitive to the other side and kept an open mind, I didn’t know him or fully trust him just yet. I wasn’t going to tell him all the details of my history with Solana.

  “It doesn’t matter who she is. She’s evil and dangerous,” I said firmly. “He needs to be brought out of this trance right now.”

  “No . . . ” Patrick pushed back, “Logan needs to finish what he started or it’ll all be for nothing. He needs to resolve his business on the other side.”

  “Resolve his business?”

  “Ever heard of the term used in the ghost world, unfinished business?”

  I snorted a laugh.

  If only this guy knew we were the FBI’s most knowledgable duo when it came to unfinished ghost business.

  I thought of poor Clyde still haunting the police station clinging onto something that stopped him progressing onto death. The love of his life, Li Mei, was dead and gone. He had unfinished business here on this realm of existence, but we had no idea what it was. Until we found out, he’d be trapped in a never-ending loop here on Earth.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” I said, lowering my head. “There’s no other way to get to the bottom of his dreams, is there?”

  “It’s the only way I know of.”

  I nodded silently, and Patrick gave me a weak but warm smile.

  “I can see you care about him a lot,” he said, resting his hand on my arm. “Don’t worry. He won’t get hurt. Not with you and me beside him.”

  Taking me by the arm gently, he guided me back into the bedroom. Logan still lay on the bed in a trance, unaware of the world around around him. He was so still he barely looked as though he was breathing. Even Lafayette had come out from under the table to observe what was going on with his person.

  For an awful split second, I thought he might be dead. Approaching him, I watched his chest, desperate to see the rise and fall of his lungs. To my relief, he eventually took in a long, deep breath.

  “He’ll wake up feeling fabulous,” said Patrick. “Now let’s get back into things, shall we?”

  He resumed his position beside the bed and laid his hand softly on Logan’s wrist.

  “Logan, I’m right here beside you. Elena’s here too. Can you hear me?”

  “Yeah,” replied Logan. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “You need to leave the room you’re in,” commanded Patrick.

  “But . . . My parents . . . ”

  “Don’t worry about them. Just leave the room.”

  “Okay . . . I’m leaving. But where am I going?”

  “Wherever your gut is telling you. What is your instinct saying?”

  “It’s saying . . . ”

  Still in a trance, Logan frowned and curled his fists up by his side.

  “It’s telling me to seek out Solana. To find her.”

  Patrick and I shared a look, but I didn’t argue with him this time.

  “And where will you find her?”

  “She lives in a crumbling house in the woods,” he said. “I . . . I don’t know how I know that.”

  “Your subconscious will tell you things you didn’t think you could ever know,” Patrick said in a soothing tone. “Trust what it says.”

  “Well, it’s telling me I need go to this shitty little house.”

  “Are you going there now?”

  “Yeah, I’m floating there. I’m up pretty high . . . like I’m a drone or a bird. I can see the treetops, and the roof of the castle I was just in. It’s actually pretty cool. I can see a town . . . looks like there’s a valley. Some of the trees are a really intense shade of green. They remind me of Elena’s eyes.”

  Patrick shared a smile with me and squeezed Logan’s wrist.

  “You are doing great, Logan. Tell us what else you see.”

  “The valley’s getting darker. Even the trees have started turning black. They look like they’re all dead.”

  “What else?”

  Logan screwed up his face as though he hated
what he was seeing. At his sides, his fists became tighter.

  “Aw, there's a terrible smell around here,” he said. “I’m looking down at these trees and they smell like burnt hair. It’s making my eyes water. It’s stinging my nose. Holy shit, it’s awful.”

  He slapped a hand over his face as though trying to stifle the smell and began to cough and splutter.

  “Don’t leave,” urged Patrick. “See if you can push through it. This is where your instincts told you to go.”

  “It’s so awful. So ugly. The whole place feels dark. Nothing lives here. Everything is dead or dying.”

  He screwed up his face as he continued to hold his hand over his mouth.

  “I’ve never felt anything like it. It’s like I’m being consumed by rot.”

  “Do you still see the dead trees?”

  “Yeah, and I see something else. It’s dark but I can make out the shape of it. It’s . . . I think it’s a house. Solana’s house. It has to be. It’s the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever seen. How can someone live in this shithole?”

  He spluttered again, but this time gagged as though he was on the cusp of vomiting.

  “Stay strong, Logan,” encouraged Patrick. “Breathe. Just know that this is where your subconscious has guided you to be. Elena and I are both right here with you. You’re safe.”

  “I don’t feel safe,” he muttered.

  “You are. Your instincts won’t show you anything you’re not ready to see. Trust it. It’s part of you.”

  Logan began to calm and lowered his hand. Even though he’d stopped gagging and coughing, he still looked miserable.

  “I have the strongest urge to go inside this house,” he said. “But it smells so bad. It’s feels like it’s filling up my lungs with a poisonous gas.”

  “Breathe,” instructed Patrick. “Take a deep breath and go into the house.”

  I crept closer to the bottom of the bed. I wanted to snap him right out of this place he was seeing, but I knew I couldn’t. I hoped that inside his trance, he knew I was with him.

  “Elena, are you there?” he suddenly asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” I said, squeezing his ankle.

  His face softened as he heard this, and his foot flexed in my direction.

  “You’re not alone,” said Patrick. “Me and your friend are both here to take this journey with you. Are you ready to go into the house?”

  “I kind of don’t want to, but I feel like I have to.”

  “Okay, just try to give us an idea of what’s happening as it happens.”

  “I’m dropping down now. Falling through the roof. Aw, shit—the smell is getting worse. And it’s so dark. It's like night, but it’s the middle of the day. I get the feeling this place never sees sunshine, or any light at all. There’s fog everywhere. There’s this mist that’s swirling up all around my feet. It’s so thick. It smells like a fucking sewer!”

  He began getting agitated again, so I gave his ankle another squeeze. This appeared to ease him somewhat, and he sucked in a deep breath before continuing.

  “There’s a fireplace,” he said. “It’s the only source of light. And the house is more like a shed, but I can see that someone lives here. There’s a bed, if you can call it that. Just a blanket on the floor in front of the fire. There’s a table with a bottle of wine on top and . . . and . . . ”

  He froze. Beneath his closed eyelids, his eyes moved rapidly from side to side.

  “I hear voices through the fog.”

  “Tell us what they’re saying,” urged Patrick.

  “I don’t want to get too close.”

  “You’ll have to get closer if you want to get answers.”

  Logan clenched his face up tight as though it physically pained him.

  “Are you seeing who is speaking?” asked Patrick.

  “I can see two figures below me. They’re too shadowy to tell who they are . . . or what they are.”

  “Go closer. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  “Fine . . . I’m right above them now. I can hear what they’re saying. They’re talking about . . . They’re talking about me!”

  “What are they saying?” asked Patrick.

  Logan held his breath, his hands returning to fists at his side.

  “Logan? What are they saying?”

  17

  Logan

  “My queen,” said a voice. It was one I recognized, although I never thought I’d hear again.

  I tried to see who was speaking, but there was too much fog, and both the figures beneath me were covered in black cloaks.

  “My Queen Solana,” rasped the voice again.

  It sounded like it should have come from a reptile. There was something so cold, so unfeeling and deadly about it. The sound of each word it uttered made icy shivers creep up my spine.

  “I have found where the baby slumbers.”

  “And where is that?”

  I recognized the second voice immediately. Solana. I’d remember it forever.

  “He slumbers on the second floor of the castle,” said the first voice. “I have been watching him.”

  “Can you get him for me?”

  “I can. I will take him this evening.”

  “Good. The sooner, the better. I need him.”

  I descended a little further until I was directly overhead, floating above them like a chandelier.

  “Queen Solana, I must ask you a question,” said the first voice. “I need to know, why that baby? There are plenty of lesser nobles who are easier to acquire than little Lord Niklas.”

  “I want him because he is special,” Solana snapped back. “A firstborn from Lord and Lady Tierstand’s ancient family bloodline will be the purest child in all the land. Maybe even purer than the little Princess Elena.”

  “Have you no plans to take the princess?”

  “Not presently,” said Solana. “She is too heavily guarded. The son of a marquess, on the other hand, is not. Little Lord Niklas will be easier to mold him to what I need him to be.”

  “And what is that?”

  Solana moved away towards the hearth and held her spindly fingers out towards the fire. Her head was bowed, the fire glowing orange around her shrouded head.

  “He will do my bidding when the time comes,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “He is young and easily trained. I can put whatever spells I like into his head. And because he’s elven, he will fit right in. His skin holds no shimmer like the faeries. He has no wings like the pixies.”

  “What about the ears?” her accomplice asked. “Elves have those pointy ears.”

  “That is what glamour is for,” Solana said with a nasty smile. “Once I cast my magic upon him, I can send him up to the human world. Make him strong. Place him in a position of power. And when the time comes, I will awaken him with a spell and he will carry out my work on Earth.”

  The figure across from her nodded his cloaked head.

  “That is most interesting, my queen. I have been reading voraciously about the human world. And they have a similar concept.”

  “They do?”

  “Yes. They are called sleepers.”

  “Sleeeepers,” hissed Queen Solana, pulling away from the fire and standing up. “I enjoy this term. After all, we are taking the young lord when he is asleep.”

  I felt the overwhelming urge to scream. I wanted to run over to Solana and push her into the fireplace until it collapsed on her. But I was powerless. All I could do was watch the scene unfold in front of my eyes.

  “Your plan could not have worked out any better, my queen,” said Solana’s henchman. “My spies in the human realm have found the perfect child for him to replace.”

  Solana threw her head back and laughed wickedly, her voice so loud and shrill it could have shattered glass.

  “Marvelous news!” she declared, clapping her hands together. “Who is this child?”

  “His name is Logan Hawthorne. He comes from a family of high ranking officers in their
government. I think you will be pleased to see the similarity he bears to young Niklas. You will not have to glamour him very much . . . aside from the ears.”

  Solana sauntered closer to her henchman, her cloak swishing against the stone floor.

  “I underestimated you,” she said, lifting her fingers to his cloak.

  Slowly, she peeled it back over his head, and for the first time, I caught a glimpse of my captor’s face. Limp, oily hair covered a mole-spotted face. A nose protruded out from his asymmetrical bone structure like the beak of a hawk, and his tubbery bottom lip hung wet and limp from broken, yellowed teeth. But none of that was as grotesque as the eyes.

  Milky white and oozing out the corners, they stared into nothingness. It was impossible to guess where they gazed, but it was also impossible to ignore the malice in them. Those eyes, no matter what their condition now, had seen unspeakable things.

  “I will take Niklas tonight,” he said to his queen. “You will have him by sunrise.”

  “And he will be in the human realm by nightfall.”

  They both laughed triumphantly at their wicked plan.

  “I will be most delighted to have finally taken the little lord,” continued Solana. “Watching his castle from these premises has made me most miserable. I miss my castle.”

  “Yes, yes, I can imagine. We will get you there soon enough.”

  “I know. Do you know when I first moved into this house all the trees and flowers around it were alive? It took me days to kill them all off.”

  “Yes, they look much better now.”

  “And the air was so sweet and clean. I had to fill it with this smog just to make it breathable.”

  Her henchman chuckled, his rotten gums showing as he laughed.

  “You are a loyal henchman, Sluagh,” said Solana. “I will repay you generously for your work.”

  Slowly, she pulled back her cloak until her face became visible in the roaring firelight. I expected her to look as hideous as him, but her face was perfect and smooth as though it had been chiseled from marble. But despite this, it was far from being described as beautiful. Her expression held nothing but the malice in her heart. The evil seeped out of every pore on her face. Somehow, she was even uglier than Sluagh.