by J. S. Malcom
Kezia seems lost in thought for another few moments. Then she gestures toward Cade and offers him another soft smile. “Now this one, I met when he was little more than a boy. Not long after you first started coming over, as I recall.”
“That’s right,” Cade says. “I was thirteen at the time.”
“Thirteen.” Kezia speaks softly, as if she can barely remember being that young. Which, I suppose, might very well be the case. She turns to me again. “Cade used to attend my lectures at the library. I still offer them once a week, to anyone interested in Silvermist history. As well as Faerie, as best I’ve been able to piece it together. Which, believe me, isn’t easy to do, given how seldom we come across reliable resources. They can be difficult to procure. Can’t they Cade?”
A smile passes between the two of them. Cade—my nerdy, thieving, hyperbolic friend—blushes bright red. You can’t help but love the guy
In that moment, the back of my neck tingles as an image comes to me. I see a young version of Cade slipping across the bridge into Faerie, to bring back something valuable to a woman he admires. A mentor. A respected friend. How I know, I have no idea, but the image of a book flashes inside my mind. And somehow I also know that’s where Cade got his start stealing from the Seelie.
“Getting certain artifacts can be problematic,” Cade says.
Kezia narrows her eyes at him, even as her gaze gleams with fondness. “As in, bringing them back could easily get you killed. I certainly hope you’ve grown past that point in your life.”
Cade hesitates. “I’m much more careful these days.”
Kezia sips her tea. “I’m glad to hear that. So, what brings you two young people by this evening? I assume you weren’t just out hunting for a good cup of tea. Although, if I do say so myself, I might well have perfected the art by now.”
She says it just as I swallow my first sip, which tastes like herbal nirvana. What the hell is it with beverages in Silvermist?
“Well, now that you mention the library,” Cade says. “Do you still keep some of your books here?”
A smile plays on Kezia’s lips. “In fact, I do.”
Cade looks at me. “Kezia is a bit of a bibliophile, just so you know. Kind of like your friend at Grimoire. What’s her name again?”
Right, Cade had been spying on me for weeks before I met him. Amazingly, I’ve managed to move past the weird stalker part of our relationship. “Maggie,” I say. I turn to Kezia and add, “She runs the bookstore where I work part time. She’s pretty much devoted her life to rescuing obscure volumes.”
“Well, I’d love to meet her,” Kezia says. “Perhaps one of these days I will.” She shifts her attention to Cade again. “Was there something here you were hoping to see?”
Cade nods. “Actually, it was one of the first items I brought back. Right after I started attending your lectures.”
Apparently, Kezia makes the connection immediately. “The one that most certainly would have gotten you killed if you’d been caught.”
“Well, they kill us if they can anyway,” Cade says. “And I had a reasonably reliable tip that a certain monastery archive would soon need to be relocated. It seemed a chance worth taking.”
“Which you can only say because you’re still breathing.” Kezia nods. “I still have it, of course. The Book of Temporal Projections. It remains where it has since you brought it to this realm.”
“If you don't mind, I'd like to show it to Cassie. One part, in particular.”
Kezia sets her cup and saucer on the end table. “Of course I don't mind. Let's go to the study.” She rises from her chair with no effort, nearly springing to her feet. She might be seriously ancient, but she's definitely not showing it.
We follow Kezia further into her amazing house, where she leads us into a room lined with bookshelves holding row upon row of books, most of them thick and bound with leather. Like the rest of the house, the ceiling is high enough that there's a library ladder on rollers. The room also features lustrous mahogany walls, a gleaming cherry wood desk and plush leather wing chairs. One of those chairs is occupied, although I'm the only one who seems to notice the woman sitting there.
She appears to have been about fifty when she died. Although, no longer being alive doesn't seem very much on her mind as she relaxes with a book of her own, presumably a spectral version of one of those held within this room. She glances up just briefly, her eyes lingering on Kezia for a moment as a soft smile graces her lips. Then she returns to her reading.
“I remember this room.” Cade says, his tone nostalgic. “You've kept building your collection, haven't you?”
Kezia’s gaze runs over the shelves of books. “A little. Perhaps not with volumes quite as unique as those you supplied, and definitely not as much since my wife passed away. God rest her soul.”
Cade speaks softly. “I heard Josephina had passed. I was so sorry to hear it.”
Kezia sighs. “Well, it's been a few years now. You know what they say. You don't get over it, but you do get used to it.” She turns to me and brightens her expression. “Of all the rooms in this house, this was Josephina’s favorite. She hardly ever stopped reading. In fact, she kindled my love of books to begin with, a very long time ago.”
I glance over at the ghost again. Being the topic of conversation appears to have caught her interest, since she's looked up from her reading.
“Oh, well,” Kezia says. “I'm sure she's here with me in spirit.”
“I'm sure she is,” I say.
Kezia looks around again. “Now where is that book? I swear sometimes I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my neck.”
“I believe it's up there,” Cade points to one of the highest shelves.
“Isn't that funny,” Kezia says. “Josephina always felt we should keep the more obscure items higher up, while I argued that those books were the ones we'd most often reference. Apparently, she keeps getting her way since, no matter how often I move them down, they somehow find their way up there again.”
Josephina looks up again, this time her eyes meeting mine. She nods almost imperceptibly, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
“I guess those books must just want to live there,” I say.
Kezia chuckles. “Well, I guess so.” Without another word, she grabs hold of the library ladder, rolls it along the wall and climbs up with the agility of an acrobat. She hops back down to the floor, now holding what I'd guess to be one of the thicker volumes, bound in brown leather and its pages edged with gold leaf. She brings the book to the desk, where we gather around it.
Kezia looks at Cade. “Now, which part did you want to share with your friend?”
“In one of your lectures, you talked about the section on Sativola.”
Kezia’s gaze drifts to me again, her expression returning to that inquisitive look she displayed when asking when I'd first started visiting Silvermist. “That's certainly an interesting passage,” she says. “Perhaps one of the most interesting in the book.”
Kezia gently opens the volume, her fingers quickly finding their way to pages nearly at the back. I gasp inwardly at the richly colorful illustration that page holds. Depicted there is a striking woman wearing a flowing black dress and a gray fur robe. She has long red hair, high cheekbones and dark eyes that seem somehow luminous even in the pages of a book. I recognize her instantly as the woman I envisioned when I discovered the alcove in Luchtane Ferndelm’s study. It’s the same woman I instinctively thought of as a queen of the witches. I can still hear her voice within my mind, from that moment when she guided me to safety. Use your magic while you can.
That page, and the one across from it, are also lined with an ornately rendered, flowing script that at first glance reminds me of calligraphy seen through Julia's eyes, back when she took an interest in dead languages. Sanskrit is the one that comes to mind. As I stare, the letters blur and then transform, becoming crisp again before my eyes.
“These pages are written in ancient fae, a language
called Eredine. I'm afraid you won't be able to read it, but I'm more than happy to—”
“I can read it.” My words come out before I think to stop myself, even as an icy sense of foreboding rises inside me at making the truth known.
But it's already too late and I've spilled my secret. Kezia and Cade share an intense, silent exchange, their expressions revealing shock at what I just said. But my attention immediately returns to those pages, as my eyes travel down the text written there: Of Unseelie Prince Galen and Human Witch Sativola, Chronicled by Breslor, Born of the Human Realm and Scribe for Emiron, Leader of the Human Tribe Called Milesians, as Transcribed by Kordec of the Seelie Winter Court Following the Battles of Tailtiu and Meath.
Yeah, it’s a mouthful of a title, but immediately I have to wonder. What could a human have written that the fae felt important enough to steal and translate for future generations to be preserved within a monastery archive? I keep reading, the rest of the world forgotten, as within me that sense of foreboding continues to grow.
CHAPTER 4
The pages tell the story of a human woman named Sativola, who was considered to be the most powerful witch of her time. It was said among humans that she could open the veil between this world and the next, that she could prevent unwanted intrusions into the human realm, and that she could step out of her body and walk with the dead.
When the fae first took their place alongside mankind, they were welcomed as benevolent beings of light, noble gods who could perform amazing feats of magic. To the humans, they were known as the Tuatha Dé Danann, meaning “tribe of the gods.” In the human realm, these beings were immortal, further confirming the belief that they were deities.
Sativola fell in love with one of these gods. Galen, the High Prince of the Summer Court, who was in turn taken with her exotic beauty and power. Those of the Summer Court had been the first of the Tuatha Dé Danann to evolve toward a state allowing them access to scintillia, the elemental forces that the humans called magic, and it was believed by the humans that those forces had been bestowed upon them because they were noble and good.
Galen had been the sole heir to the crown, and was next in line to become the leader of his people as High King. Afraid of his growing magical power, as well as his influence and esteem amongst the humans, the Winter Court launched a plot to murder both Galen and his father, bringing an end to the line of those upon whom the forces of magic had been originally bestowed. The Winter Court nobles cast the blame for those crimes on the Summer Court, declaring them the Unseelie, those not worthy of holding magic.
Unsure herself who to blame, Sativola turned against the fae race as a whole. In the wars that followed, as the humans fought to expel the fae from their realm, Sativola played a pivotal role, both advising the human armies who'd joined together from different regions, and uniting her fellow witches in the struggle. It was the witches who brought about the turning point, eventually accomplishing the banishment of the fae, and it was Sativola herself who cast the spell closing the veil to a race of beings no longer welcomed by mankind.
According to the narrative later stolen by the fae, over a year later Sativola found herself to be pregnant. In that time, it was said she hadn't been with a human man. It was within this first half-fae, half-human child that Sativola somehow passed on the magic used to create the spell closing the human realm to the fae, and that this same incantation would be carried forth in all future generations of this same bloodline. One human witch would always carry the key within her.
If what I’ve read is true, it provides the answer to one of the questions that has been plaguing me since all of this started. What advantage did the fae find in physically inhabiting the human realm? Now, it looks like I finally know.
I look up, my eyes meeting Kezia’s. “Is it true, that in our realm they were immortal?”
She nods. “Yes, in that they didn't die of natural causes. For over five-hundred years, not one of them passed away. Humans thought they couldn't be killed at all until the wars proved otherwise. If gravely wounded, and denied the chance to heal themselves with magic, they succumbed. What the humans discovered was that the fae were impervious to disease and aging, but a good old iron sword could put an end to them.”
Well, there it is. It looks like Cade’s theory about the fae and iron really does have a basis in history. But it’s the veil witch angle which piques my interest most. In particular, that the human realm once again proved to be a very valuable piece of real estate for interdimensional intruders. That same treasure of immortality is what also drew the Vamanec P’yrin, although in their case immortality was achieved through continually inhabiting one human body after another.
In many ways that's similar to what the fae achieve through their changelings, but there must be some aspect for them that's not the same. Could it be a matter of distance, that changeling magic provides only a muted sort of access? That has to be it, that they can be both in the human realm and not at the same time, the experience somehow filtered. Like remote viewing, but using what amounts to a flesh and blood robot.
As for the rest of what I read, it leaves only more questions. Sativola was a veil witch, obviously, and the idea of her being the most powerful witch of her time I find both exciting and a little frightening. As I have so many times, I think about how Autumn and I were first met with fear and suspicion by our fellow witches. We came to learn that veil witches had been thought to no longer exist, but also had a history of possessing a kind of magic both different and more powerful than that of other witches.
And what of the part about Sativola being able to leave her body and walk the realm of the dead? But it's not even that aspect causing the chill within me to keep spreading. Instead, it's what was at the end of the passage I just read.
I look back and forth between Kezia and Cade again. “Is it possible that she could somehow pass down this magic within her bloodline?”
They regard me solemnly for a moment before Kezia speaks.
“The idea made me curious too,” she says. “Enough so that I've researched the idea. First, though, may I ask you a question, Cassie?”
I feel pretty sure what that question is, but I keep my eyes on hers. “Of course.”
“Are you a witch?”
I hesitate, and then nod. “Yes. Why did you think so?”
“Well, it's what you said before. You only recently started coming here. Typically, those of us with fae blood find our way here much sooner, but something kept you from doing so.”
“Oh, I'm not—” I stop mid-sentence, as the chill keeps spreading. Could it be possible? Suddenly, I think of how little I really know about myself. I only recently learned that my great grandmother had been locked away in an asylum for claiming to see supernatural beings, and that despite attempting suicide on several occasions, she was unable to die until old age took her many years later. Neither my sister nor I even knew we were witches until this year. Who can say how much more we don't know?
As if suspecting the connection I just made, Kezia waits for me to look at her again. When I do, she says, “There are two reasons why this world calls out to us. One of them is because part of us belongs here. This is the world of the half-fae, after all. The other reason is to possess that which we don't in the human realm, that other part of our birthright.”
“Magic,” I say.
Kezia nods. “Exactly. To possess magic. However, as a witch you weren't denied magic, were you?”
I hesitate again for just a moment, but then say, “No, I wasn't.”
I may not have known I was a witch, but magic found me all the same, appearing first in the form of glowing orbs floating toward my outstretched hands when I was five years old.
“And you also found your way to the magical community that most strongly called out to you? That of your fellow witches?”
“Yes,” I say, because essentially it's true. My journey was circuitous, to say the least, my path blocked by forces beyond my control. Still, I
arrived within that community all the same.
“Thank you for satisfying my curiosity,” Kezia says. “After all, I couldn't help wonder why Cade wanted to share this particular aspect of human and fae history.”
Unfortunately, his reason for doing so seems perfectly clear. He suspects a connection. Given what I've experienced, I can't help but suspect one too. And the idea terrifies me.
Kezia closes the book, trailing her slender fingers along the length of its cover. “To answer your question from before, my research taught me a few things about how magic differs between that of witches, that of half-bloods and the fae. For example, like witches, the full-blood fae can cast certain kinds of spells. The magic we possess in this realm as half-bloods may be wondrous in many ways, but it's limited. One of those limitations is that we can't cast spells upon each other. In the human realm, of course, we possess no magic at all other than the ability to cast simple glamours. But there's another aspect to casting spells I never knew of before. Not until that particular passage piqued my curiosity.” Kezia softly taps the book for emphasis. “And that involves what's called a living spell. Whether this applies to the fae or not, I can't say. However, I've read that certain human witches, those with sufficient power, can keep a spell in place even after leaving their realm.”
“You mean after they died,” Cade says.
“Exactly. As indicated here.” She taps the book again. “And a living spell can't be achieved using an object. While a charmed object can help safeguard a spell—give it a fighting chance, if you will—the only way to keep a spell truly alive is by passing along the incantation used in creating it to someone still living.”
I speak softly. “Even if they remain unaware.”
“Apparently,” Kezia says, lifting the book from the desk.
“Tell her about the other part,” Cade says. When Kezia cocks her head in curiosity, he adds, “When you lectured, you mentioned something about the Seelie hold on power.”
Kezia shifts her attention back to me. “Well, it's believed by some that those of Galen’s line were the true heirs to magic in the faerie realm, and that it was only by ending their line that the Winter Court was able to seize control. It’s also believed that it will be one of Sativola’s descendants who will bring about the downfall of the Seelie. You can imagine why so many wish to see that happen. For the Unseelie, that would mean an end to oppression. For our kind, it would mean there's no longer anything stopping us from coming and going from Faerie. Perhaps living there, if we so choose.”
