Chasing Princes

by ERIN BEDFORD

  “Be careful with that!” Pat jerked the mirror from my hands. “These things are fragile, you know.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered while rubbing the back of my neck with a shrug.

  Pat’s furry eyebrows came together in the middle of his forehead, making them look like one big, long, caterpillar. I placed a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing as he berated me on the importance of taking care of things that didn’t belong to me. Really, how could anyone keep a straight face with those eyebrows wiggling around like that?

  “Are you listening, girl?”

  I dropped my hand, swallowing a smile as I nodded at him. “Yes, I understand. I’ll be more careful with it.”

  “You better be.” He shoved the mirror back into my hands and then turned toward the front of the shop. “Now get out of my shop. I have things to do.” He opened a door that chimed as it hit an old fashioned kind of bell hanging from the top of the frame.

  “Wait.” Alice stopped us before we could take a step. “Where are we going?”

  I was glad Alice had asked, because my head was so out of sorts I would have walked right out the door without a clue of where to go next. At Alice’s question, though, my father seemed a bit reluctant to answer. He shuffled his feet and looked around the room.

  “Well, you see…” he trailed off scratching the back of his head, a gesture we seemed to have in common when we were nervous. “There’s only a few ways into the palace that would get you in undetected.”

  “Then why can’t we just use a mirror?” I directed my question toward Pat. He still had the door open and waiting for us with an impatient frown.

  “You could do that,” Pat started. “If you want to land right in the lap of the court guards.”

  Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I waited for my father to continue. If he didn’t want to tell us where we were going, it probably wasn’t anywhere I wanted to be. Not that I would know since the most I’d seen of the Seelie Court was the same as when I was the princess.

  “Well?” I prompted him to continue. “Where are we going?”

  He gave an unenthusiastic sigh before beginning, “You know your mother is being quite difficult as of late, and so she has tripled the guards as well as put the whole palace on high alert for the Shadows and you.”

  “Me?” I pointed at myself. I knew that people would be looking for me, but I had thought it was more because they wanted my help than because my mother was being a right bitch.

  By the door, Pat gave a morbidly delighted chuckle. “Your little performance with the guards the last time has spread all over the court. It is making the people question the queen’s ability to rule. If she can’t even keep her own daughter in check, how is she going to keep us safe from the Shadows? It’s no wonder she should have stepped down ages ago—”

  “As I was saying,” the king cut in, glowering at Pat. “You won’t be able to just walk into the palace this time. You’ll have to go through one of the lesser known entrances. That’s why we brought you here, to Summerville. There is an entrance into the palace not far from here on Juba Drive that comes out into our library.”

  Our library he said it like it was still mine and his.

  When I lived in the palace, the library was my one sanctuary that I could go to get away from my overbearing mother and the palace gossip. Father would frequently meet with me there. We’d spend hours there reading anything from the history of the Underground to mythical tales of heroes and heroines fighting evil and falling in love. It was one of our things, and the only time I felt like I was actually truly loved by at least one of my parents.

  It was funny how I still loved the library in my human life. I guess some things never changed.

  “So, we get to the library and then what?” I asked. “We just waltz into your bedroom? Won’t we get caught?”

  “No, once you get to the library you can take the mirror in there to the Memory room. That will at least get you half way. After that, you are on your own. I suggest keeping your glamour on until you make it to the room.” He pulled out something from his pocket and handed it to me. “And this belongs to you I believe, it opens more than just the door to the Underground. It might come in handy.”

  It was a key. The one I had lost when I passed out at the glowing tree. But where did he get it?

  “I found it,” he answered my unasked question. “At the base of the tree you were found at. I had always liked that tree, and used to visit it from time to time before…” he trailed off his eyes going sad, and then just as quickly, his face smoothed over replaced with a small hopeful grin. “Well, that was before. Now it’s a reminder that what is lost can always come back to you when you least expect it.”

  The smile he gave me made me feel like a little girl again, and all I wanted to do was be enfolded into his arms. Both the human and Fae part of me were daddy’s girls and it seemed we both missed them.

  Placing the pink ribbon around my neck and tucking the key into my shirt, I followed Alice to the door. I paused and turned back to my father who hadn’t followed us.

  “You aren’t coming?” I frowned, disappointment filled my voice.

  Guilt covered his face, but he didn’t step forward to comfort me. “As much as I’d love to help you, dear. Your mother would have my head if she knew I helped you. King or not.”

  “I understand.” I knew a little too well. He might have said before that she didn’t have any intentions of hurting me, but I could tell we both knew that wasn’t entirely true. If it suited her she could hurt just about anyone who got in her way.

  “If you need anything just call on that mirror. Really anything at all. Don’t worry about Pat. I’ll take care of him.” He stared hard at the older Fae, daring him to contradict him.

  “Bah.” Pat waved a hand at him and left the door, leaving me to catch it before it closed.

  I stood in the doorway half in and half out of the shop, just taking him in. The thought of leaving him there didn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t help but feel like if I walked out this door I would never see him again. A burning sensation pricked at my eyes, and I forced myself to look away.

  “Well, I guess I’ll be going now,” I said lamely, clearing my throat of the thick lump that had formed there. “Um, bye.”

  “Good-bye. Lynne.” His words resonated with me as the door closed behind me.

  Chapter 6

  Juba drive

  STANDING OUT IN front of the shop, the anxious feeling I had was briefly forgotten at the sight before me. Unlike the UnSeelie Court that was all gray stone, Summerville had a deep, rich, brown-red brick stone that lined the ground like a road. Pat’s shop was made of the same stone, but more worn. The shop had gears sticking out of the walls, as if the wall had grown around them. A sign hung from the roof, and in sharp mechanical writing said: Pat’s Portals and Gadgets.

  The rest of the buildings were similar to Pat’s. They seemed more like they had sprouted out of the red stone than to have been built. Each one of them was covered with their own unique style.

  One that could have been a clothing store had huge scissors jutting out through the middle of the building. Another one had to be a coffee shop. While the building was made of the red brick, it was shaped like a cup with a handle, and I could have sworn there was steam coming from the top of it.

  Did Fae even drink coffee? I’d never had it when I lived in the palace, never even heard of it. But then again, I wasn’t allowed Faerie wine either, not until Dorian snuck me some one time. Thinking about that night made my face heat. It hadn’t just been the first time I’d had wine, but also the first time we had kissed. Thinking about it now made me sad to know how much we had fallen apart. Where was he?

  “What are you waiting for?” Alice jabbed me in the side, jerking me out of my thoughts. “It’s not like you haven’t been here before.”

  “I haven’t.”

  “How is that even possible?” she flipped
her brown hair over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips, looking very much the diva she was portraying. Alice made the skin she was wearing look natural and not at all like she was afraid her magic would slip at any moment. Not like me.

  “I never left the palace before now.” Shrugging, I moved away from Pat’s shop and started down the road in the direction my father had instructed. I kept my eyes forward and tried to become invisible, even though the few Fae on the street were staring at us hardcore.

  What are you looking at? Just some normal Fae walking down the street, nothing to see here!

  “Well, that is complete rubbish.” Alice scoffed catching up to me, not seeming to care that the locals were eyeballing us. “What is the point of being a princess, if you are confined to one place?”

  “The kind whose mother was overprotective.” I glanced around looking for the sign that would point us in the right direction. There were so many signs jutting out of walls and floors, each street name more unusual than the last. Cheaters Street. Wrong Way Lane. Liars Be Here Avenue. Were they trying to warn someone with these signs, or did someone just have a messed up sense of humor?

  “Are you sure the queen was being overprotective and not just a nasty witch?”

  A few Fae stopped to stare at us. I gave them a nervous smile and grabbed Alice by the arm and dragged her into the nearest alleyway.

  “You probably shouldn’t talk bad about her in her own court. You’ll draw the wrong kind of attention.” I kept my eyes on the entry to the alley, watching for anyone who would have followed us. No one did but several dared to sneak a peek in our direction as they passed by.

  “Pfft. Like I care what any of these ninnies think. It’s not like she can do anything to me anymore. The Shadow man is out and about now, there’s nothing in the Hall of Mirrors to be afraid of.” I slapped a hand over her mouth as her words got louder and louder.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I growled, hiding her with my body so that the onlookers couldn’t see what I was saying.

  Alice kept talking against my hand, trying to be heard over the muffling of my hand. In her glamoured form, she was almost a head taller than me, making it awkward with my hand so high above my head. When I didn’t remove my hand, she jerked her arm out of mine and pointed at something behind me.

  Turning around, my gaze trailed up to the sign she was pointing at. ‘Loudmouth Alley.’ I read. “Well, that explains it,” I said to myself. “But why didn’t it affect me?”

  Alice gave me a ‘you got to be kidding me’ face. I didn’t blame her. The question was pretty stupid. Nothing had affected me the same as the rest of the Fae, why should the magic on the streets be any different?

  Grabbing her hand, I replaced mine with her own. “Keep that there until we get out of here, all right? We don’t need any more attention drawn to us.”

  She nodded her hand firmly over her mouth and wrapped the other one around her waist as if to help keep quiet.

  When we stepped out of the alley, most of the onlookers had gotten bored and had gone back to their business. Lucky for us, we weren’t interesting enough to cause much of an alarm. I led the way back onto the street and resumed my search for Juba Drive. It was the only street name that wasn’t named after something weird, not that Juba was in anyway normal.

  After a moment or two of searching, I was jerked back by Alice’s hand on my elbow. I turned to ask what the problem was when she pointed down a narrow path between two buildings. There was nothing lighting up the pathway, the walls surrounding it were broken down and neglected. At the entrance to the alley was a half-legible sign with its name handwritten in red paint.

  Juba Drive.

  “This must be it.” I checked down each side of the street making sure no one was paying us any mind. I wouldn’t want to get caught now after we made it this far. When I was sure no one was going to follow us, I gestured to Alice, and we made our way down the dark pathway.

  “It’s so dark,” I stated after a few moments of walking with no light in the distance. It was just a bunch of pitch-dark nothingness. I reached my hands out in front of me to search for anything that could try to jump out at us.

  When my hands touched a solid, rough surface that I assumed was a wall, I let my hand trail along it as a guide into the dark. We walked for a good five minutes or so with nothing but the wall as our hint to where we were going.

  Alice tugged on the back of my shirt.

  “You could use magic you know,” Alice whispered next to me. Why she was whispering I didn’t know, but it seemed like a good idea considering we didn’t know if we were actually alone.

  “Magic? I do plant life not balls of light,” I reminded her. My footsteps became slower as I realized I could fall off a cliff and not even know it. What did she think I was some anime character that could shoot magic out of my hands at will? I was lucky I could do the things I could. Pushing it didn’t seem like a good idea.

  “When has that ever stopped you before?” she placed a hand on my shoulder stopping me in place.

  She had a point. No matter the challenge, I always seemed to be able to do more than I should be able to. Why shouldn’t I be able to conjure light out of thin air?

  Turning around to where I thought we came before, I noticed the entrance was completely gone. We were in complete darkness now with no way to get back. There really wasn’t a choice anymore. It was go forward and blindly hope we found our way or try to create a miracle.

  “Here goes nothing,” I mumbled, placing my hands in front of me. How the heck was I supposed to make light? Should I say some kind of magic word? Or was it as simple as my glamour and just thinking about it would make it happen?

  “What are you doing?” Alice asked next to me, her hand still on my shirt, I assumed so as not to lose me, but I was happy to know I wasn’t alone in here.

  “Trying to make light, duh.” I rolled my eyes, though I knew she couldn’t see me.

  “Oh, well, do you think you could hurry it up?” her voice was impatient and filled with just a hint of fear. Could good ole Alice be afraid of the dark? With what lived in here I wouldn’t be surprised. I was afraid too.

  “Do you want to do it?” I dropped my hands and glared in the direction Alice’s voice came from. When she didn’t answer, I put my hands back up. “That’s what I thought.”

  I stared hard at where my hands were in the dark and thought for a moment this was silly. I couldn’t make light appear out of thin air. It wasn’t as easy as a snap of my fingers. Or was it?

  Praying to whatever deity was listening, I placed my forefinger and middle finger together and snapped. The sound reverberated through the area, echoing off the walls we couldn’t see and further into the distance. The sound settled and where my fingers were pressed together, a small ball of light emerged.

  “You did it!” Alice jumped up and down in the dim light.

  “I guess I did.” I smiled at my accomplishment. Who said I couldn’t make things out of thin air? Certainly, not this girl.

  The light wasn’t big, about the size of a regular light bulb, but it was enough to see a few feet around us, showing that we were no longer surrounded by red brick walls. In their place were dirt walls that curved overhead to create a cave like area. The ground was littered with rocks and debris; I wondered why I hadn’t fallen flat on my face yet.

  My victory was short-lived, though, because shortly after the light filled the cave, a scratching noise came from further in. Alice and I spun toward the sound. My little ball of light followed my gaze.

  “What was that?” I squinted into the dark, trying to see further than the few feet the light provided.

  Alice stepped next to me, her hand coming up to her face as she also tried to see what the noise was. “Should we investigate?”

  Wasn’t that the beginning of every horror film ever created? A noise in the dark, that for some unknown reason, the main characters decide it is a great
idea to go find out what it is, usually, without a flashlight or any kind of protection.

  But we weren’t like those idiots. We weren’t defenseless, and we weren’t without a light. I didn’t know if I could maintain the light and fight, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to die in this cave. There were people depending on me. Chess was depending on me. Hell, I was depending on me!

  “Oh my Lord,” Alice stuttered, “It’s…it’s the JubJub!” Alice pointed at the shadow that had stepped close to the edge of my magically induced light.

  “The what?”

  Large talons clacked against the stone floor as a bird like creature stalked toward us. Its wings expanded out four feet in both directions, while its sharp beak snapped at us. Its bloodshot eyes bulged from its head, where its skeletal-like frame was covered with feathers that looked like they had been glued on rather than grown.

  Alice grabbed me by the shoulders, giving me a little shake. “What the hell are you waiting for? Run!”

  She didn’t have to tell me twice. Turning on my heel, my feet pounded on the ground beneath us, each step causing a crunching noise. The little ball of light led the way, giving us just enough light not to trip over ourselves.

  The JubJub chased after us. Its claws and wings scraped the ground and walls around us, causing the cave to shake and dirt to fall onto us. I kept my hands over my head, so as not to have an unexpected concussion, but my foot caught on a stone. I was thrown to the floor. A roar cried out behind me, and as I turned to look back, the ball of light followed my line of sight lighting up the cave behind us.

  Gleaming red eyes bore into me, and for a moment, I was trapped. I couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. All I could do was listen to the rampaging beat of my heart as the JubJub came closer and closer…

  “Ouch!” I jerked my eyes from the monstrous bird to glower at Alice who had stepped on my hand with one of her low-heeled boots.

  “Don’t look it in the eyes, you idiot!” her voice was a nasty snarl that I had never heard before.