by Isa Medina
I couldn’t agree more. Getting caught at this stage of the game would royally suck.
I joined him at the door as he opened ita slit. No sounds came from the outside, which made sense—if this was one of those secret portals Ren had talked about, it would be situated in a low-traffic area.
The hallway outside was narrow and as bare as the room. We took it silently, moving carefully but fast. A set of stairs at the end brought us to a fancier area of the house. The corridor widened; decorations graced the walls. Beautiful Faerie crystals in their elegant sconces gave a welcoming light, and a soft tinkling filled my ears, letting me know this was a safe place, a wonderful place. A place that would erase all my worries and would bring me eternal happiness.
I shook off my stupor then elbowed Lockhart hard to wake him up. He bit out a curse, holding his side and glaring at me. Oops. Must’ve been his injured side.
“Stupid Fae tricks,” he grumbled, moving along the hallway.
Following him, it dawned on me that there was something familiar about the color of the walls and the style of decorations. The molding on the ceiling tugged at my memory, and the feel of the wards—of the house itself—reminded me of something.
Were all Fae houses built in a similar style, or…
Greenie popped out of a wall. Lockhart shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air.
I opened my arms happily. “Greenie!”
The hound head-butted me, tongue lolling in happiness.
“Good boy,” I told him, scratching him behind his huge ears.
“Jesus, woman. That’s your hound? It’s the size of a small horse!”
Greenie bared his teeth at Lockhart. The sorc held up his hands and stepped back. “A very nice, good-looking horse.”
“Okay, Greenie,” I told him, dragging his head to look at me. “Can you take us toe the surface?” I pushed my magic into him, bringing up a
particular room in my mind.
Greenie gave an affirmative yip, wagged his tail, and darted down the corridor.
“With us on top,” I called after him.
“We are so screwed,” said Lockhart, something akin to despairing disbelief showing in his voice.
“We’ll be okay,” I told him, starting after Greenie. “Hurry, or we’ll lose him.”
But the deeper Greenie took us into the house, the more I realized it wouldn’t matter if we lost sight of him. And when we took a bend in the corridor and the hallway turned from cold stone into a mix of more stone, warm bricks, and polished branches, I knew it without a doubt.
We were in Lord Velei’s house.
And Lockhart’s dampening spell was no match for Lord Velei’s wing, because the instant we crossed inside, the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood straight. Our steps slowed as we digested the
sudden power surge.
A door slammed open somewhere above us. Someone shouted.
“They know we’re here,” I whispered.
“No kidding,” Lockhart said, glancing behind us. “Are you sure your hound is leading us the correct way?”
I was pretty sure my hound was leading me straight to the Green Room, which might or might not be his favorite room, rather than a useful room. “It’s okay. I know the way.”
“You’ve been here?”
I nodded, going down a familiar corridor, my steps sure over the carpeted floor. “Once.”
Greenie had disappeared from view, but I knew where to go.
A Fae tumed a corner ahead of us, a small crystal blade in his hand. “Halt,” he ordered.
We froze.
“Where’s your hound?” Lockhart muttered. “Unleash it on him.”
“Dude, he’s not going to eat a Fae for us,” I said. Although he had
before, but only because it had been a soulless Fae. A whole different scenario.
The Fae in front of us arched his eyebrows at my words. His gaze flickered to something over my shoulder, and | realized another Fae must be moving stealthily behind us.
“What a nightmare of a day,” Lockhart complained.
As if it were the most bothersome task ever, he sighed heavily and pressed a hand against one of the branches in the wall.
Magic rippled out of him. The branch shook, and for a moment, I thought he was going to rip it off and use it as a weapon.
I should’ve known better—Lockhart didn’t seem to be the kind of guy who bothered to learn fighting skills, not like Aidan.
A new branch erupted from the tree trunk by the Fae’s side, its surface covered with golden swirls. It lashed at him, curling around his wrist in a vicious grip and pulling him right against the wall.
Behind us, a shout of pain told me the other Fae had suffered a
similar fate.
“Go, go, go,” Lockhart urged, breaking into a run.
The Fae lunged for us, but Lockhart batted his hand away, a flash of magic erupting where their skin met. The Fae shrieked in pain and doubled over, holding his hand against his stomach.
“What was that?” ] asked, breathless, sprinting along the next corridor. We needed to go back down again.
“A little something special for people thinking they can manhandle me,” Lockhart said with a note of evil glee in his voice.
Probably had some sort of spell on his skin. Smart.
The corridor ended in a set of stairs, and we trotted down the steps. On the lower landing, Lockhart took a hold of my T-shirt and dragged me to the wall, putting a finger to his mouth.
Shouts echoed from above. I was anxious to keep moving, but I forced myself to keep still, Somewhere around the corner ahead, the
sound of soft footsteps reached us. Unhurried but steady. When they
faded from hearing, Lockhart nodded, and we peeked at the corridor.
It was empty. We slipped inside, and I took the sorc to the Green Room.
At the last minute, I changed my mind and led us away. Lockhart narrowed his eyes at me, suspicious I had lied and had no clue of where I was going.
Something about the whole situation reminded me too much of my escape with Aidan and how we had found Lord Velei waiting for us in the Green Room. Lockhart and I had made good time. Perhaps the Fae Lord hadn’t yet gotten an idea of who the intruders were. Did part-Fae like us have a magical signature he could sense through his link to all his wards and the house? I had never heard of something like that, so I doubted it. Still… Better safe than sorry.
Once we were on the surface, we wouldn’t have to worry about him knowing who exactly had invaded his house.
The room Aidan had used for teleporting his way in and out of
Faerie hadn’t changed in the least. Bare, windowless, matching the branches-stone-brick theme of the rest of the wing.
I pointed at the center of the room. “Aidan was able to use a portal spell there. Can you?”
Lockhart crouched and touched the hardwood floors, a thoughtful frown creasing his brow. “Maybe.”
As if guessing we weren’t going to the Green Room, Greenie popped out of one wall, nearly flattening us in the process. Nothing like a giant Fae hound to make a room feel small.
“Greenie,” I muttered, trying to peek over its head and torso, “let the sorcerer work.”
The sorcerer let out some deeply unflattering things about my hound. He got to his feet and glowered at us. “It’s possible, but it’s going to take a lot of effort connecting to another portal. I’m not even sure what portal to connect it to.”
I had the feeling he knew perfectly well what portal to connect it to
but didn’t want to risk bringing me to another of his safe houses. Deep suspicion still lingered in his eyes whenever he looked at me.
That was okay. I wasn’t interested in his hidey holes. “Can you open a portal into the ley lines?”
“I can, but..we can’t really traverse through them. It wasn’t made for part-Fae like us.”
I patted Greenie. “No worries. I got that covered.”
&n
bsp; He appeared surprised, then thoughtful. He had probably tried going into the ley lines before—anyone with his amount of power and skill would’ve, if only out of curiosity. Aidan had mentioned the ley lines affected Fae strangely—something to do with the amount of raw magic coursing through them—so it wasn’t the way they chose to trav-el. It hadn’t affected me in any way, but it had made Aidan a bit dazed.
I sensed Lockhart crouch, and I coughed.
“Yes?” came the voice from the other side of Greenie.
1?”
“Can you do it on the wal
“Horizontal surfaces are easier.”
Interesting. I had always wondered about that—physical portals being vertical, portal spells being on the floor. Maybe something to do with gravity or ease of movement?
“It won’t sustain for long,” Lockhart warned as he moved around the room. “The wards here…this Fae Lord is too strong.”
I grinned. “Even for you?”
“Unprepared, yes,” he said seriously.
I had my doubts he’d be a match for Lord Velei, prepared or not, but he did seem to mean his words. Something to store for later, in case Lord Velei did come to the surface looking for me.
“Are we ready?” Lockhart asked impatiently. “I would like to get out of here before any more Fae try to catch us.”
Right. “Greenie,” I told my hound, “lower down, please?”
Greenie must’ve sensed the urgency in my voice because he did so
immediately, instead of getting a laugh out of my attempts at getting
onto its back.
As soon as | got on top of the hound, Lockhart activated the spell. The hardwood floor within his circle melted into a silver surface, illuminating the room harshly. Lockhart jumped onto Greenie’s back, landing right against me and circling my waist with his hands. His touch felt impersonal, cold, so different from having Aidan back there—and I was glad for it.
“Go,” Lockhart barked.
I lowered to whisper our destination into Greenie’s ears, picturing it in my mind. “Go, Greenie. Take us there.”
Greenie didn’t even yip in answer; he simply launched forward into the pool of golden liquid. It expanded like plastic, layering against us until it shattered and allowed us through. The strange feeling of being in the ley lines invaded me immediately, awakening something in my blood. Lockhart’s hands tightened on my waist. I kept myself low
against Greenie, as if doing so would give the hound extra speed.
The strange cobbled and watery walls of the ley lines rushed by. My ears filled with the familiar, incessant rushing noise of being inside the ley lines. Greenie kept up his sprint, leaping from tunnel to tunnel until, at last, he made a final swerve into the wall. Instead of a pool of silver, we dove right into the black, inky goo Fae hounds liked to use as their own portal system.
We landed in a shadowed room illuminated softly by six Faerie crystals placed on the ground. I slid down Greenie’s side and fumbled my way to where I knew the light switch to be. The overhead light came on to show me Lockhart getting off Greenie and stumbling drunkenly into the wall. His eyes were wide and glazed over, not really seeing anything around him.
Why Fae never use ley lines if possible Exhibit A.
I turned my attention to the nearby cabinet and shelf—the reason | had brought us here.
Not only did Aidan store useful magical things here in his
basement, like portal spell ink, but he for sure was the kind of person to keep a go-bag for emergencies. Knowing Aidan, he had kept this room a total secret in a way that even if people knew where he lived, they wouldn’t know about this place.
Behind me, Lockhart mumbled unintelligibly. Greenie barked. It came out thunderous in the close space.
“Greenie,” 1 shushed absentmindedly. The shelf contained a few books, a set of headphones, a coil of rope, and other random bits. | turned to the cabinet. Two drawers on top, closed doors below. The doors rattled under my inefficient attempt at opening them. Locked. | studied the small keyhole with an expert eye. I had no hairpins on me, but maybe if I shoved the end of the Eye-dagger in there? Who locked a cabinet in their super-secret cellar, anyway?
Greenie’s barks rose in volume. | could see him bouncing in a tight circle on the edge of my vision. Lockhart’s murmurs popped here and
there between the barks. I pulled at the cabinet doors again, more
forcefully. They were plywood. How hard would it be to—
Something fell on my head, and I yelped. 1 sent an accusatory glare at Greenie and Lockhart, but the sore was still in his own world, and while Greenie was no longer going in circles, he was still bouncing and barking my way. I felt around the top of my head, and my fingers brushed something solid. At least it wasn’t hound spit, 1 told myself as I brought it to view.
Nope. It was a big tooth.
I shrieked, dropping it and scrambling away. Greenie barked again, a happy sort of thunder in my ears. A low rumble came from above. I looked up in disbelief.
Lord Velei’s goo-pet was stuck to the ceiling, its bizarre collection of different-sized teeth on full display. It bounced up and down in rhythm with Greenie’s barks.
“What the heck!” I screamed, moving away on my hands and knees.
The goo-pet followed above, its bizarre purring intensifying,
becoming demanding. Did…did it want me to throw the tooth back at him like Lord Velei had? I leaned forward, poking the tooth with a grimace, finding it dry and free of goo. Greenie began jumping in close
circles again. Lockhart was slumped against the wall, still on the best ride of his life. And then the door of the cellar opened.
8
So there we were—me on the floor, tooth in hand, Greenie barking and jumping like he was in a bouncing castle, the goo-pet rumbling from the ceiling, and Lockhart dazed out of his wits.
Aidan took the scenery in with an impressive amount of aplomb. The man didn’t even blink.
“Aidan,” I exclaimed, the biggest smile of relief stretching my lips up to my ears. I wanted to jump up and hug the life out of him. He looked so solid, and warm, and…whole. He had changed into a clean Henley and fresh jeans, his jacket folded over one arm.
He did close his eyes then. Kept them shut for a few seconds, then shook himself, came the whole way into the room, and closed the door behind him.
“Greenie,” I urged the hound, who was still barking in excitement. The hound quieted, going for the expectant lolling tongue thing instead.
Aidan crouched by the cabinet, and I hurried to his side, still somewhat in awe at seeing him here, not a scratch on him. | had imagined so many awful things being done to him, so much torture—teeth gone, eyes gouged, tongue cut…
“Aidan?” I whispered, suddenly uneasy. “You’re okay?”
He rolled his eyes—brown, and bright, and wonderfully there. “Of course I’m okay.”
Phew, important head bits accounted for. “How did you—”
“Later,” he said, grabbing a small key from one of the drawers and opening the cabinet doors. Damn, why hadn’t I thought to search there?
With economic movements, he grabbed a small duffel bag from the open cabinet—hah!—and shoved his jacket and a few glass vials inside. After zipping the bag, he shoved it into my arms.
I hugged the bag close, watching him rummage some more and retrieve a thin chain with a ring dangling from it. He threw it over his
head and stood in a smooth movement
I got to my feet and followed him to the etched floor circles at the other end of the room.
“What’s wrong with him?” Aidan asked, blinking at Lockhart.
“Ley lines.”
“Ah.” He produced the small bottle with the transport ink.
“Are we going somewhere?”
Aidan let a few drops fall on the lines. Golden swirls ran the circle and met on the opposite side. “That’s the idea.”
“We should probably take
him.” ] gestured toward Lockhart
“Probably,” Aidan agreed in the same emotionless tone he had used so far. Hard to tell if he was angry, exasperated, shocked, or our presence here had forced him beyond human emotion and into a plane where nothing would ever shock him again. He looked at Greenie. “Lower.”
Greenie wagged his tail.
“Greenie, lower, please,” I told him.
Greenie lolled his tongue, all signs of his earlier easy acquiescence gone. Perhaps, connected as he was to me, he felt the same sense of overwhelming relief that if Aidan was here, nothing could go wrong, and thus he was allowed to play with us—okay, me—again.
Dangerous, these feelings of complacency.
“Greenie,” I told him sternly, “you can play later. Lower so we can drag Lockhart somewhere else. You can nibble him after if you want”
“Huh?” came from Lockhart. His eyes began to focus, his mouth no longer slackened.
“Nothing,” Aidan said, going to his side and putting the sorc’s arm over his shoulders. With a grunt, he helped Lockhart stand.
Greenie let out a little whine of disappointment but lowered obediently. I hopped on, sliding as close to his neck and forward legs as possible, securing the bag against my chest with one arm and holding on
to Greenie with my other hand.
“He’ll have to go between us,” Aidan warned.
“No,” Lockhart protested weakly. “I’m okay. I can do this.”
“Are we going into the ley lines?” I asked. Lockhart did seem to be recovering, but if we went back there, we’d lose him for sure.
“No.”
Aidan dropped Lockhart behind me. The sorc leaned heavily against my back, and once more, ] was amazed at the difference between hav-ing this guy so close and having Aidan. Like ice and fire.
“All right,” Aidan said. He touched the shimmering circle to activate the portal pool then took the last bit of available space at the rear of the hound. Greenie was a big animal, but we were pushing it.
Greenie seemed to agree and huffed loudly as he straightened his legs and took a step forward. Aidan was pushed against Lockhart. Lockhart’s chin slammed into my head. I clenched my jaw. From now on, Greenie was a two-rider-only kind of hound.
