There was a plant out there that could cure a Redcap bite. A flower that could save someone’s life.
I didn’t understand the how or why of it, but a lot of things about Otherworld didn’t make sense.
After changing into sweats and a tank top, I settled into bed with the books, scanning the words until my eyelids finally drifted shut. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there like that until a long, sharp screech whispered through my open window. Immediately, I was on my feet, eyes wild and heart pounding madly in my chest.
The curtains fluttered in the soft summer breeze, bringing with it the stench of sweat and blood. And then a long, sharp claw slid onto the window-frame, hooking around the wood.
I stumbled back, wildly casting around my eyes for anything I could use as a weapon. A broom handle. A kitchen knife. Anything at all.
But I only had me.
Another claw hooked around the frame, and I watched in horror as a Redcap slid through the billowing curtains, landing heavily on the hardwood floor of my room. My heart thundered in my ears as the dark creature, covered in mounds of grimy black fur, cocked its head and stared at me.
Those eyes, I thought as I stumbled back another step. They were a rich, deep blue. So different than the black eyes of the Redcap I’d fought on the cliff. For a moment, I almost forgot I was facing off against the creature of my nightmares with nothing but my fists. There was something so familiar about those eyes. And they looked so horribly, horribly sad.
The creature began to shudder, its dark mangy fur trembling in the night air. For a moment, I thought it was a strange form of pre-attack, like it was readying itself to launch my way with its claws. But then something different began to happen. The fur transformed, the thick darkness of it melting away to reveal pale skin.
The fangs began to shorten, and the claws disappeared into long and slender fingers. I stumbled back, barely believing my eyes. For the first time since I’d arrived in Otherworld, I suddenly wondered if I was going crazy again. Because the beast was melting away, to reveal a form that was very much human.
A human that looked a whole lot like...
A girl, one with long dark curling hair that was matted around a pixie face. The girl glanced up at me from where she heaved deep breaths, clutching the ground as her entire body trembled. Those deep blue eyes locked on my face, and everything within me exploded at the sight.
I stumbled back, eyes wide, my hands clutching frantically at my throat.
“Bree?” My voice was small and timid. My mind was unbelieving.
“Oh, Norah,” she said with sob. And when I heard my best friend’s familiar voice, all I could do was fall to my knees and weep. I crawled toward her and took her dirt-painted face in my hands, searching those familiar eyes for the truth.
“Is it really you?” I asked as the tears streamed down my face. “I thought you were dead. That thing. It killed you. How are you here? How are you alive?”
And why did you look like one of the monsters two seconds ago?
She shuddered, her body soaked in sweat. In an instant, I ripped the sheet off my bed and draped it around her shoulders. Her body felt like ice. I stayed there silent next to her while her chest heaved, waiting until she felt as if she could speak.
Finally, she said, “When that thing attacked me, it turned me into one of them. I’m a Redcap now, Norah. That’s how I’m here. And it’s how I’m alive.”
With a deep breath, I shook my head, even though I’d seen her transform right in front of my eyes. “That can’t be right. It must be something else. Some kind of weird magic that makes you look like one.”
“No,” she breathed as she slowly lifted her eyes to meet mine. “And it’s worse than you think.”
“What do you mean?” My heart hammered hard. I couldn’t even wrap my head around Bree being alive, much less the fact that she was now one of the very monsters I’d been training to fight. She was Bree. My best friend. My family. And now she was here. Alive and well, though a hell of a lot worse for wear. All I wanted to do was hug her tight and wipe away the tears, but there was a cloud of dread hanging over our reunion.
“I followed you through the Faerie Ring,” she began. “At first, I was going to try to talk to you, but you’re constantly surrounded by those four fae who would kill me in a heartbeat if they saw me.”
Frowning, I shook my head. “They wouldn’t.”
“Yes, they would,” she said in a harsh voice, wrapping the sheet tighter around her shoulders. “To them, I’m a Redcap. A thing to be hunted and killed, even though they are the ones who created them in the first place.”
Dread dripped down my spine. “That can’t be right.”
“Oh, it is,” she said bitterly. “When I realized I couldn’t get to you, I went in search of other answers. I ended up stumbling on a pack of Redcaps, ones who can still change back into humans like I can. Have they taught you where the wolves come from yet? Have they told you what happens to the human babies they steal?”
My heart jumped around in my chest. Because I knew without a doubt that I would not like whatever would come next. These had been questions I’d been asking. Questions that had been expertly dodged for days. The Academy didn’t yet want the recruits to know the truth about the human changelings, a fact that had been niggling at me since I’d arrived. And yet, I’d blindly accepted it. The vague answers. The dodges. The carefully changed conversations.
“Tell me, Bree.”
She winced and placed a trembling hand on her neck. Deep red scars crisscrossed her skin. The place where the Redcap had slashed her with its massive claws.
“The pack of Redcaps told me that the humans who are brought to Otherworld are corrupted by the magic and the power here. Humans weren’t built for this world. So, they change. Into something dark, something vicious. Something part-fae themselves. They become these monsters.” She took a deep breath. “And then they’re let loose in the human realm, spreading their disease with a swipe of their claws.”
“No,” I whispered, eyes full of burning tears. “They must have been wrong. The fae wouldn’t do something like that.”
Or would they? I’d only been here a couple of weeks and already I’d come face-to-face with how devious, dangerous, and dark they could be.
“It’s part of their Tithe to the demon realm,” Bree continued. “In exchange for the demons leaving Otherworld alone, the fae create sixteen Redcaps every year. On the Summer Solstice, they’re sent to prey on humans.”
With a shuddering breath, I stood the floor and began to pace across the hardwood. As happy as I was to see Bree, the news she brought me was worse than anything I could have imagined on my own. To hear that the fae were behind this...
“But they have a team specifically formed to fight the Redcaps. Why would they—”
“The Tithe only says they have to return the monsters to the human realm. It doesn’t say they can’t kill them after they do. And don’t forget that it’s more than just the human changelings who get transformed. Any innocent who comes into contact with one, well...look at me. I got attacked, and now I’m one, too. And there are hundreds of us. Some have come back to Otherworld, like me.”
“Hundreds,” I repeated before I dropped to my knees in front of her. “But Bree, you seem so...”
“Normal?” She let out a bitter laugh. “I’m far from it. When I’m in my wolf form, all I can see and smell is blood. I haven’t killed anyone though. Not yet anyway.”
That last bit she muttered so softly that I almost didn’t hear her.
Her hand snatched my wrist, and her fingernails sunk into my skin. So hard that my veins began to pulse. “Not all of them are able to control themselves as well as I can, Norah. They’re more beast than human. I came here to warn you. You need to learn how to fight. One day, they’re going to come for you.”
Soft footsteps thudded on the living room floor, and Bree’s body went razor sharp. She stood, letting the sheet pool around her feet. Slow
ly, she backed up to the window, her eyes so wide that they reminded me of twin full moons.
“Norah?” Sophia called out. “Who are you talking to?”
“Go,” I whispered furiously, my gaze locked on Bree’s waxen face. “If you’re right about all of this, you need to get out of here.”
“You’re not safe here, Norah,” she hissed back.
“I’m safe enough.” In two quick strides, I crossed the room and took Bree’s arms tight in my hands. She was so solid, so real. And I had to make sure she stayed that way. “I don’t know what they’ll do if they find you in here, and I don’t aim to find out. There’s a few small villages on the edge of the Autumn woods. Go there. Hide. Steal food when you need it. I may be able to fix this, but I need some time.”
A soft knock sounded on my door.
Bree swallowed hard and nodded. She backed up to the window and disappeared behind the billowing curtain just as Sophia cracked open my door. I stayed there, gazing outside with my back turned her way. My heart trembled, but I suddenly felt a clarity of mind that calmed the frantic beat in my chest.
Bree was alive. She might be in some serious trouble, but she was alive.
“Norah?” Sophia’s voice held a frown. “What are you doing? Is someone out there?”
I took a moment to ready myself, but then I turned her way with an expression of intense weariness painted on my face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Kael has me learning about some plants, and I have to recite a bunch of stuff out loud to him tomorrow. I was just practicing.”
She scrunched up her face, her eyes flicking to the discarded bedsheet on the floor. “I could have sworn I heard another voice in here. A girl.”
I laughed and shrugged. “Must have just been me talking to myself. I think I’m so tired I’m getting delirious.”
“Okay.” A pause. “You should get some sleep. We have History of Fae in the morning. It’s so dull that you’re going to nod off if you’re this tired.”
“You’re right. I should get some sleep,” I said with a nod. “Probably a bad idea to burn out during my first month here.”
With a smile, she moved back to the door but hesitated before she left my room. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.”
And I was. For the first time since I arrived at Otherworld Academy, I felt as if I knew exactly what I needed to do. I would no longer flail around, seeking answers to questions I didn’t even know I was asking. I would find a way to cure Bree, even if it meant lying to every single person here. And if any Redcaps came at me? I’d be ready.
Chapter Sixteen
Finn taught History of Fae. Despite his upbeat personality, even he couldn’t make the long, boring tales he shared sound interesting. It was a class we had every Tuesday and Thursday, yet it felt as if we’d covered no ground at all. Maybe because he was keeping the juicy parts of history to himself.
So, I decided to rectify that.
Halfway through class, I raised my hand and gave him a steely smile. I’d been waiting for this moment all day. Hell, I’d been waiting all night. After Bree had disappeared through my window, I hadn’t been able to sleep, too worked up by the knowledge that my fae instructors had been lying to us.
Finn’s sparkling green eyes caught mine. It was hard to imagine he could be behind something like this. Rourke, I could believe. Maybe even Kael, though his anger toward the Redcaps would seem to suggest otherwise. Liam? It certainly wouldn’t be the first thing he’d hidden something from someone.
But Finn?
“What is it, Norah?” he asked. “Do you have the question about the lineage of Sterk, the great fighter from the Age of the Moon?”
I didn’t even know who he was talking about. I’d been so zoned out that I hadn’t been listening to the long list of Sterk ancestors. None of us had.
“Sterk was clearly awesome and all,” I began, shifting on my seat. “But I think I can speak for everyone when I say that what we’d all really like to know? The history of the changelings.”
Several of the other recruits murmured in agreement.
Finn raised his eyebrows. “I see. Unfortunately, that topic isn’t on our syllabus for today.”
“It’s not on the syllabus at all,” I countered. I knew. I’d looked in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. “Look, we all know you don’t want to tell us, so it must be something pretty bad. But that isn’t fair on us. These are our lives. We deserve to know the truth about where we came from and why we’re exchanged with human babies. Not to mention, what happens to them after you send them back to the human realm?”
“Yeah,” Griff spoke up from behind me. “What happens to the humans?”
Liam crossed his arms over his chest and scanned the room. “Do you all want to hear this then?”
Every single changeling in the room spoke with a resounding yes.
“Very well.” His eyes flicked to mine, full of amusement but something else. Suspicion, almost.
Still, he carried on. Most of what he told us, Bree had already explained to me. The Tithe. The human transformations. I was relieved to see that everyone was just as horrified as I’d been.
“Can’t you do something to stop it?” Lila asked, her voice shaking.
Liam merely shook his head. “The Tithe cannot be broken. If it is, both the human and faerie realms will suffer. Yes, what happens to the human children is terrible. I hate it as much as you do, but we don’t have any other choice.”
Sam raised a hand, and Liam nodded to her. “What exactly is the Tithe? Is it sending sixteen changelings into the human realm or is it taking sixteen humans?”
“Ah.” Liam’s smile widened. “Clever girl. It is taking and returning sixteen humans each year. The fae changeling swap is merely a bi-product of that.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Why swap at all?”
“Another good question,” Liam said with a nod. “Our realms require balance. If we take sixteen souls, we much give sixteen. So, each year, when we take sixteen humans, we must give sixteen babes of our own. And when we return the humans, we are able to bring you back home. In fact, we must bring you back home, or else the balance of our realms is disrupted.”
“Disrupted how?” Griff asked.
At that question, Liam merely gave a shrug. “We have never tested it, and we do not intend to. I think I can speak for all fae when I say that we will not do anything that would risk the safety of our people.”
Five more hands shot into the air, but the bell interrupted our questions. Grumbling, everyone stood to gather their books and papers, readying themselves to head to the next class. It was the first time anyone had seemed even remotely reluctant to leave History of Fae, though I had a feeling we’d be bored stiff in our next class. Liam had indulged us, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t again.
“Norah?” he called out as I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Can you stay after class for a moment?”
Uh oh. I might very well be in trouble. I’d kind of taken control of the class and run with it, but I didn’t regret it in the least. Now, everyone else knew the truth about the changelings, and I’d gotten more answers, though I still had so much I still wanted to know.
The classroom emptied as I walked up to his desk. He perched on the edge, tossing an apple aimlessly in the air. He didn’t even glance at it as it landed perfectly in his open palm.
“Interesting discussion today,” he said.
“Yep. I thought so.” I crossed my arms and met his steady gaze. “That’s why I asked the questions.
“Indeed.” A pause. “Though you didn’t seem particularly surprised by my answers. One might think you already knew.”
Uh oh. Time for a diversion. I didn’t want him to get any weird ideas in his head, or to wonder where I’d gotten my information. If he discovered that Bree had come to visit me—in Redcap form, no less—he might tell the others. And the others would insist on tracking her down.
“You know
, I’ve been thinking a lot about what Court I might belong to,” I said in a teasing, singsong kind of voice that sounded a lot like the way he spoke. Smiling coyly, I stepped closer to him until my hips brushed against his.
Amusement flickered through his eyes, and he raised his brows. “Is that so, Norah?”
“It just seems—to me, at least—that Winter and Autumn don’t make sense.” I shifted slightly closer. So close that the wild, fresh scent of him filled my head. “For one, I’ve never really been fond of the cold. And they’re just so serious, you know?”
His green eyes sparkled. And, this time, he was the one who shifted closer. Now, his mouth was only an inch from mine. My heart raced through my chest.
“Something tells me that you’re suggesting you might be mine,” he said, his voice dropping an octave. “You know what they say about Spring mates, don’t you?”
“No,” I whispered.
He grinned. “When true Spring mates make love on the ground, flowers bloom all around them at the height of their pleasure.”
I swallowed hard, and my cheeks blazed. Was he serious? I couldn’t be certain.
“So, if you truly think you’re my mate...” He slid his hand around the back of my neck and massaged my hot skin. With a gasp, I dropped back my head and stared up at the ceiling, my skin sparking from his touch. “I can throw you over my shoulder and carry you into the forest where we can test it for ourselves.”
Oh my god.
He was still massaging my neck, something that felt so good that I could practically melt into a puddle on the floor. And how he was talking about carrying me outside. I knew firsthand that he wouldn’t hesitate to throw me over his shoulder. But would he really take things further than that?
My heart pounded against my ears.
I had feeling that he most certainly would.
“Or,” he said, dropping his hand away. “You could be trying to distract me from the fact you knew about the changeling humans before you asked about them in class. Have you been talking to the older recruits?”
A Dance with Darkness Page 13
