Uncertain Allies

by Mark Del Franco

  Briallen wrapped her arm in mine and escorted me out onto the landing. “Remember: This will either work or it won’t. If it doesn’t, we’ve lost nothing.”

  I kissed her on the forehead. “Okay. I’ll wait in the parlor.”

  She squeezed my arm and let me slip into the hall. Our eyes met as she pushed the door closed behind me. It will be fine, she sent.

  More spirals on the door flared as it closed. I reached out, wanting to help, but the dark mass in my head shot a dagger of pain down my arm. It wanted the essence in the door, maybe even in the people on the other side. I clenched my jaw as I backed away, trying to understand how to make the darkness behave. It receded either because of my thoughts or my moving away from the door.

  I descended the stairs all the way to the kitchen and made coffee. Trance rituals took time, and I had to distract myself. I brought a tray up to the parlor with some cookies Briallen had made. Only Briallen would think of baking my favorite cookies before embarking on a complicated essence experiment. I wished I was that attentive and organized.

  I placed the tray on the table near an armchair by the fireplace. The blue flames burned in the grate higher and brighter than usual. From my years living in the house, I knew they did that in reaction to essence in the house.

  I browsed through Briallen’s bookshelves. The fascinating thing about her library was that it always surprised. I couldn’t count how many times I’ve looked through her books, yet whenever I approached it with a new question, I found a new book. Part of that was the sheer wealth of information. Many times, I didn’t get beyond the first shelf before I discovered something I had to read right then. Like now, I started looking for something on powered stones and instead ended up seated with a book on dwarves and their customs.

  I startled at a noise and realized I had dozed off. My book had slipped to the floor, but that wasn’t what had awakened me. Something fell in the next room. I hurried across the second-floor landing to the workroom. Briallen crouched on the floor beneath a table, rummaging in boxes.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked.

  She didn’t look up. “Nigel is deep in trance. We need more crystal to anchor him.”

  I came around the table to help her. “What’s happening, Briallen?”

  She looked up at me, tired but pleased. “We found her, Connor. Her spirit was lost, but Nigel found her. We need to pull them back.”

  Relief swept over me. “What do you need?”

  “Orbs. Quartz crystal, preferably selenite. Check those shelves.”

  I pulled a large fabric box from a high shelf and placed it on the table, tossing aside paper wrapping. “You used to keep some in here.”

  She cocked her head at me. “And you know that how?”

  I threw her a guilty look. “I accidentally climbed up there once and found them.”

  She shook her head with amused annoyance. “Never doubt the inquisitiveness of a teenage druid.”

  I lifted a rose quartz sphere from the bottom of the box. “Here’s the one.”

  The dark mass in my head spiked as a wave of essence washed over me. I clutched the sphere to my chest to avoid dropping it. Another wave hit, crashing over me, and a spear of black shadow stabbed out of my right eye and struck the table. Briallen leaped out of the way, backing against the wall.

  The room trembled. Boxes and papers slid from the shelves. Glass bottles along the windowsill rattled against each other as the worktable danced in place.

  “Are you controlling this?” Briallen asked. Her voice sounded far away.

  I thrust the sphere at her, and she grabbed it. I slipped to my knees. My right hand curled into a stiff claw of black. Another wave of essence swept over me. I recognized it then, knew it as intimately as my own. Meryl’s body signature permeated the air. “It’s not me. It’s Meryl.”

  Shadow filled the room as Briallen stumbled out the door. I crawled after her, pulling myself to my feet. Out in the hall, Briallen struggled up the stairs. As the house shook around us, I followed, unsure if I would make matters worse or not. The darkness blinded me on one side but enhanced my sensing ability. The air seethed with essence, roiling clouds of angry colors grinding against each other. As we turned the stairs to the top floor, a concussion of air slapped us back. Briallen stumbled into my arms, knocking me off-balance. We fell, rolling to the landing, our fall cushioned by her body shields.

  The shaking stopped. The crazed essence that had filled the air retreated up the stairs. Briallen and I faced each other, our legs tangled where we had fallen. The darkness in my eye withdrew, a thick, painful ooze into my head. A heavy panting sound filled the silence.

  I pushed myself up. “Meryl.”

  I half ran, half crawled up the remaining stairs as I tried to move before my feet were under me. Meryl sprawled on the landing, her head propped up against the banister. She turned her head—my heart raced to see it—she turned her head to look up at me. I fell to the floor and gathered her in my arms. “Are you okay?”

  The warmth of her body pressed against me. She didn’t move at first, then her arms came up and hugged me. “Why the hell am I wearing a pink sweatshirt?” she asked.

  I laughed into her hair and kissed the top of her head. Pulling back, I held her face. “Are you back?”

  Her eyes went wide as she focused on me, then looked over my shoulder as Briallen arrived. “I’m fine.”

  “What happened? Is Nigel all right?” Briallen asked.

  Something in her voice—something horrified or angry—made me turn. The door to the sanctum was closed—not only closed but fused shut—the door and its frame one seamless whole. The circular stone had been burned white from essence discharge, a dark spot in the center where the bolt had struck.

  Meryl’s face pinched in anger. “Screw him. He tried to kill me.”

  24

  Meryl sat bundled in a blanket in front of the fire in the second-floor parlor. She sipped tea from a large mug. Briallen watched her either like a concerned mother or a bird of prey. “Sit down, Bree. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Briallen gave her some space, but didn’t sit. “Damn right, you’re not. What happened?”

  Meryl brushed her hair back from her forehead. “My hair feels weird.”

  “I wouldn’t let them cut it. I thought you would be mad,” I said.

  Meryl pulled several strands in front of her face and examined them. Her eyes went wide. “Shit. How long was I out?”

  “Almost three months,” I said.

  She sloshed tea on the blanket and almost dropped the mug. “Three months? Are you kidding?”

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” asked Briallen.

  I noticed a slight trembling in her hand as Meryl placed the mug on the table beside her chair. “I was with Eorla down in the Weird. We were trying to contain the Taint. Did it work?”

  I nodded. “Completely. Eorla absorbed it all and suppressed it inside herself.”

  “Damn, that woman’s strong,” she said.

  “You both passed out. I thought you were . . .” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Seeing Meryl collapsed on the street, no sign of life or essence, had torn something inside me that night. I lost control and went on a rampage.

  “Wow,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. We waited as she absorbed the news. “I ain’t gonna lie—it hurt like hell. I tried to wall off the pain, but every time I shielded myself, the Taint got stronger. I kept building the protection spell until I couldn’t even think anymore. I remember burying myself deeper and deeper in my mind while the Taint rushed through me. The next thing I knew, I heard Nigel calling my name.”

  “We took you to Avalon Memorial. Gillen tried for months to revive you. Nigel found the way though,” said Briallen.

  Meryl hummed in understanding. “Not surprised. He told me he was trance-lost once, and he got back by following a powerful essence.”

  “I never heard that story,” I said.

  Meryl s
hrugged. “I’m sure he told you things I never heard either.”

  Briallen paced in front of her again. “What did you mean he tried to kill you?”

  Meryl picked up the mug again, no tremor this time. “I was dreaming, then I felt this jolt that made my head feel hazy. The dream stopped, and I heard someone calling my name. Eventually, I saw Nigel’s essence. When I moved toward it, his essence seemed to push me away.” She turned to Briallen. “You were there, too, Bree. Why’d you leave?”

  “I was anchoring Nigel while he searched for you. When he saw you, Nigel said he needed selenite to boost his essence. He said you were too deep for him to pull you out. I was getting the crystal when you did whatever you did up there.”

  I pulled my chair closer. “You said he pushed you away.”

  She played with her hair, checking its length. “I realized I was in a trance, and when I tried to return to my body, he blocked me. Then he tried to rip my mind apart.”

  “Why the hell would he do that?” Briallen said.

  Meryl shrugged. “It wasn’t clear. My sense was that he was looking for information. Something he needed to know before he finished me off. Something about you, Grey. Something about an essence source.”

  I gripped the arms of my chair. Touching someone’s mind in a trance state was an intimate process. If someone you didn’t invite in gets into your mind, your defenses are limited. “I’m going to kill him.”

  Meryl batted her eyes at me. “That’s sweet, Grey, but I took care of it.”

  Briallen stopped moving. “Is he dead?”

  Meryl shook her head. “Nah. I locked him down in a suspended trance. By the way, nice sanctum you got there, Bree. It should keep him there a good long time.”

  “You have to let him out,” Briallen said.

  “No,” she said. Her tone said there was no arguing.

  Briallen back off. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “No. We won’t,” said Meryl. They stared at each other, both defiant. I was surprised when Briallen looked away first. Or maybe I wasn’t.

  “What essence source?” I said to break the silence.

  “I don’t know,” said Meryl. “I only sensed his intent, not his full thoughts. I was kinda busy trying not to lose my mind.”

  I took her hand. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t be too sure about that. I told you I was dreaming. I think the shit’s about to hit the fan.”

  Meryl was the only True Dreamer I’ve ever met. Her future visions were filled with symbol and metaphor, but she always knew what they meant. “What’s going to happen?” I asked.

  “The end of the world, I think. Is there any more tea?” She held out her mug.

  25

  Meryl agreed to come back to my place for the night. She didn’t want to stay at Briallen’s, and I didn’t want her to be alone. Going to her house was out of the question still. Meryl never let anyone in her house, not even me. I didn’t even know she had a house until we argued about where she would sleep. She had always referred to it as her place. She didn’t want me rambling around while she slept, so we went to my apartment. I understood. She was as nosy as I was, but I cared less if she rummaged through my stuff.

  We curled on the futon in the living room, Meryl’s head tucked under my chin, my arms wrapped around her. “I missed this.”

  “It feels like yesterday to me,” she said.

  “Yeah, that was sweet,” I said.

  She poked me with an elbow. “You have no idea how odd this feels, like time travel or something. Who’s president?”

  “It wasn’t that long,” I said.

  She giggled and shifted in my arms. “You know, people wish they can go to bed and wake up three months later and all their problems will be gone. I did, but now there are new problems to contend with.”

  “Don’t think about it yet. No one knows you’re awake except me and Briallen,” I said.

  “And whoever she’s told by now,” she said.

  I ran my hand along her thigh. “You told Eorla.”

  “You said she was upset about what happened. A sending was common courtesy,” she said.

  I tickled her. “Yeah, you’re sooo courteous.”

  She struggled against me, and I stopped. “Yeah, well, the bitch owes me. I lose three months, and she gets to be Queen of the Unseelie Court.”

  I laughed. “That’s a little exaggeration.”

  Meryl rolled and looked up at me. “Grey? The solitaries and the Dead have rallied to her cause. She took leadership against Maeve and Donor. That’s how the Unseelie Court forms. It’s a gestalt fey court with attitude.”

  I traced my finger along her chin. “You’re right. I assumed you had to be a solitary to lead the Court.”

  “Nope. Just angry,” she said.

  “That must be why Maeve’s so freaked out. Donor says she’s moving her troops into defensive postures,” I said.

  “Donor says? Since when do you talk to the Elven King?”

  I leaned over and kissed her. “Since he came to Boston to threaten me and Eorla. He’s much fatter in person.”

  Meryl propped herself up on an elbow. “The Elven King is here. In Boston.”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s bad,” she said.

  “Well, yeah,” I said.

  “No, it’s bad because the Elven King was in my dream,” she said.

  Meryl had a geasa on her for her Dreaming. If someone was in her Dreams, she was compelled to tell them. “Damn. Are you going to tell him?”

  She settled down on her side. “Hell, no. I have to tell people what I Dream if I meet them. I don’t have to seek them out unless I want to.”

  “What did you Dream?” I asked.

  She didn’t answer for the longest time. “I don’t remember.”

  Druids never forget unless, like me, something was wrong with them. “What do you mean?”

  “I can see the Dream, but only the shape of it. The details are vague. That’s never happened before,” she said. She didn’t speak for so long, I thought she had fallen asleep. “I’m probably burned-out out from knocking Nigel into the trance.”

  I debated whether to argue. Meryl liked to choose her discussions, and forcing her to talk about something didn’t work. I let it go. I had her back. That was all that mattered. “I wish I had been there.”

  “I took care of it, Grey. Stop with the he-man thing,” she said.

  I chuckled. “Oh, that’s not it. I wish I could have seen the look on his face when you beat him at his own mind game, then slammed the door on his ass. That bastard lied to me. He said it was safe. I don’t care what Briallen says. I’m glad you did what you did.”

  She leaned over and kissed me. Gods, I missed her kiss. For months I had pressed my lips against hers with no response. I pulled her closer. She nestled down against my chest. “I never trusted him, you know.”

  “I warned you,” I said.

  “Yeah, but you were angry and bitter about him. I didn’t trust him because Nigel never does anything without an ulterior motive. I liked talking to him, and I learned a helluva lot from him, but I always knew someday he would disappoint me in some despicable manner short of murder. I underestimated him,” she said.

  “You’re a lot smarter than me.”

  She patted my chest and sighed. “I know.”

  I poked her, and she laughed. “Why did I miss you?”

  “ ’Cause you were bored,” she said.

  “I wish.”

  Her breathing became slow and even. My eyes slipped closed in the dark. For the first time in a long time, I was happy—allowed myself to feel happy. Despite everything, the one thing I feared was not having Meryl with me. I don’t know when that feeling happened and didn’t know where it would lead, but I liked it as much as it scared me.

  “By the way, Grey, I love the plywood curtains,” Meryl said.

  I kissed the top of her head. “That’s why I missed you.”
>
  26

  A phone ringing in the middle of the night was never a good sign. I groped for my cell as Meryl groaned beside me. The caller ID showed Murdock’s number. Meryl mumbled a hello and pulled the covers over her head. Between the months lying helpless in bed and the huge expenditure of essence at Briallen’s, she was exhausted. Even powerful druids didn’t have the body strength of a Danann fairy. We needed sleep to replenish essence, to say nothing about improving our dispositions.

  “We have another body,” Murdock said, when I opened the phone.

  “Where?”

  “The Tangle. You need to see this one.”

  I dressed in the dark as he gave me directions. He offered to send a squad car to pick me up, but the Tangle was only about a mile off. It was faster to run—maybe walk—than wait for a car to make the lights to my place and back. He didn’t say more because he wanted me to have my own first impression. I kissed Meryl’s head before I left. She answered with a snore. After months of no reaction, she made me smile.

  I jogged down Old Northern Avenue, dogging through late-night crowds on the sidewalk. The party crowds thinned out as I reached the burned-out section of the avenue. No more buildings meant no more business. Boston’s World Trade Center and its boat terminal had escaped the fire, but it was locked down for the night. Not far past it was where we had found the first body.

  This part of the neighborhood was pretty damaged, but as I neared the Tangle, the rougher crowd that sought its entertainments began to appear. The local gangs had fragmented after last summer, but they existed in small groups. Elf and dwarf thugs eyed each other on opposing corners, flexing their muscles over turf. The groups were smaller, but it was only a matter of time before they started growing and taking over city blocks. Hard-core partiers dressed in leather and vinyl hustled their way along the sidewalk, searching for new clubs and drugs. Solitary fey lurked in doorways, their strange appearances adding an air of menace as they muttered their sales pitches for exotic spells and potions. No matter how beaten down the Weird was, it always managed to rise again in the same desperate ways.