Chasing Princes

by ERIN BEDFORD

  Chapter 15

  One Last Message

  A HOLE BEGAN to open up inside me the farther I ran from them. It widened and stretched and forced my run from a sprint to a slow trot. If this was what it was going to be like every time Chess and I separated, I didn’t know how we were going to be able to live without each other.

  I could still feel his pain. His wallowing despair that ate me up inside and told me the Shadows had not killed him after I left. It was a small blessing, but also just as much a curse. I couldn’t handle my own emotions half the time, I didn’t know if I could deal with both of ours at once. There had to be some way to shield myself from him. Some way to have some peace.

  At that thought, I took a moment to take in where I had ended up. Running in the Underground wasn’t like running in the human world. You might run down the same road every day and the scenery would never change, but here, things were ever changing and moving. If someone had ever made a map of the UnSeelie Court, it would change before you got a chance to use it.

  Twisted trees with leafless branches lined the path. Darkness and an eerie calm filled the area. As my feet hit the dirt, a creeping dread accompanied the hole inside me. I knew where I was, but how I had gotten here was a mystery.

  The Veil of the Faeries was not a pleasant place to be. The last time I had been here I’d been attacked by a horde of nasty little bug-like creatures. Though, if there were any kind of bug in the human world that could argue with you and call you names, we’d be in a world of trouble.

  My feet moved on their own as if they knew something I did not, while the rest of me was tense and cautious of any faeries waiting in the brush. If I was lucky, they were still in the human world causing havoc. I’d been unlucky a lot lately, and I wanted to be prepared.

  As I made my way down the path with nothing jumping out at me, my shoulders began to relax and that creeping dread all but disappeared. When I wasn’t running for my life, the place was actually not that bad. A few sprinklers and a good gardener, and it would be good to go, that was until a familiar tree came into view.

  The last time I had seen the talking tree it had been decaying with only enough energy to talk to me through a dream, and even then, it had been overtaken by the Shadows. Now standing before it, I knew without even asking that the tree was good and truly dead.

  Its bark was blackened and dry, its branches no longer held fruit or leaves. I couldn’t feel any life coming from the tree and wondered how in the world it had ended up here. I stood there staring at the tree, not sure what to do, or where to go from here.

  My feet had other ideas. I stumbled as they were forced forward and toward the tree. I held my hands out in front of me as they led me right up to the trunk. It was a good thing I had, because my feet didn’t stop until I was good and pressed against the base of the tree. The moment I touched the tree, I knew that I had been wrong about it.

  It wasn’t dead. Not completely. It was barely hanging on and was using the last of its energy just to get me there. To show me one last thing. How I knew this I could only guess, it was projecting into my mind, like it had so many times before. Though, this time it was different, when it entered my mind to show me what it needed me to see, it wasn’t a whole complete picture.

  Jumbled images invaded my mind, and they were so sharp, so severe that they caused me to wince. The images were of my friends, Mop and Trip, even Chess was there. They were being absorbed by the Shadows, their very beings joining the collective of Fae that made up the forgotten Fae. The worst part was the face of the Shadows. It still held Dorian’s body captive as it used him as a puppet for its own games.

  It was a warning. What I could expect if I failed. Like I needed it. I knew what was at stake, but what I didn’t know was why they would waste their last bit of energy to remind me?

  Do not…

  I jumped in place, my hand still on the base of the tree as the words whispered through my head, pained and so quiet I could scarcely hear.

  …let…your love…get in the way.

  “Don’t let love get in the way?” I asked out loud and shook my head. “But how can I do that, when love is the final ingredient for the spell?”

  I didn’t get an answer for that one at first, and then when it did speak, it wasn’t the answer I was looking for.

  Love…will…win.

  And then it was gone. It was like a rush of wind had come out of the tree. Maybe its soul was leaving? Did trees even have souls?

  I stepped back from the tree. My feet crunched on the dirt beneath my feet. It didn’t make sense, any of it. Don’t let love get in the way, but love will win? It was a complete contradiction.

  A flapping from behind me pulled me around to see Seer landing on the ground a few feet away. For once, she was wearing something modest and that didn’t scream sex. Her six arms came out the sides of a long, pale blue maxi dress. Her feet were bare, while her periwinkle blue hair was left wild and untamed. Her pale blue face had a hint of red, and her breathing came in pants as she placed one of her hands over her heart.

  “Where have you been? I have been looking for you everywhere,” she said between breaths, her vibrant, cerulean wings sagging behind her.

  “Here.” I shrugged gesturing around me with a frown. “Why were you looking for me?”

  “I had a vision of you facing the Shadows, and then something about a gaping hole.” She made a confused face and clasped my hands in hers. “It sent everyone into a panic. We didn’t know where you were or if you had failed. When Chess came to me, I could tell something was wrong, but he wouldn’t say.”

  I looked away from her inquiring eyes and wrapped my arms around myself tightly. I knew why he was upset. Being this far away didn’t keep me from being able to feel his pain. To know how sorry he was for what he had done. He wanted to make up for his mistake, and I wanted him too. He so easily lied to my face before and I didn’t feel a thing. How could I trust he wouldn’t do it again?

  “Lady?” Seer placed a hand on my arm, and I turned my gaze to her, not liking the pity in her eyes. “Whatever has happened between you two can be fixed. You can’t let the Shadows win.”

  Suspicion crept in and my eyes narrowed at her. “I thought you didn’t know what happened?”

  She gave a small, nonchalant shrug. “Sometimes it’s better to let others tell me than to let on all that I’ve seen. Most people don’t particularly like me to be in their personal business.”

  “I can imagine,” I muttered, pulling away from her to put some distance between the tree and me. It couldn’t help me anymore, and being here just felt morbid. Like I was hanging out by someone’s grave.

  “Where are you going now?” Seer’s words followed me, her feet padding along the ground. “We really shouldn’t stay here. The others are waiting.”

  “Others?”

  A slight breeze ruffled my hair as her wings flapped. I glanced to the side where Seer landed. “Yes, others. Don’t you want to see your friends? They are all waiting for you back at my home.” One of her main hands gestured toward where I could only assume she lived.

  “Of course I do, but I have to talk to my mother. I need to end this once in for all.” My feet kept moving, not worried about her keeping up. She could fly if she got tired, or she could just hover.

  “Yes, yes. Don’t worry. I have a mirror back at my place, you can contact her from there, but really, Lady,” she paused her dark eyes searching around her, a wariness in her voice. “We really shouldn’t loiter here.”

  This time I stopped. “That is the second time you have tried to get us out of here. While I don’t disagree, it’s pretty creepy. It doesn’t look like the faeries are home. So what gives?”

  She visibly gulped and lowered her voice as she leaned into me. “There is a reason only the faeries live here and why everything is so…” her gaze flittered around. “…dead.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me,” I whispered back, a
nnoyance starting to inch up in my voice.

  If she noticed, she didn’t say, her attention was too focused on the world around us. “This is a graveyard. Not just because of the dead plants, but this is where all Fae come when they die.”

  “I thought Fae couldn’t die. That you were immortal?”

  “Bah.” She made a face. “You know better than to think that, you died.”

  “Yeah, but that was caused by magical forces, it’s not the same thing.” I held my hands up with a shake of my head. “And Chess already said you couldn’t starve, well not right away anyways. It would take a long time, like centuries.”

  “See, we can still die.” She pointed a finger at me. “And there are other things too. We might heal fast but you could still kill one of us with iron or a good chop to the head.” Her hand sliced down in front of her as she demonstrated. “Then the remains are burned and brought here.”

  I stared down at the dusty gray ground and had a sudden urge to jump up onto a rock or something. Who knew whose remains I was standing on? That still didn’t explain why we needed to leave so quickly.

  “I see you will not take my word for it.” She sighed, a bit irritably, shaking her head. “I’m surprised you have lasted this long without dying because of your stubbornness.”

  “I’m not stubborn. I’m just not an idiot who believes everything anyone tells me,” I said, defensively.

  “That remains to be seen.” Her eyes lit with laughter and then her face sobered. “The faeries feed on the ashes of the fallen Fae, and in turn, they produce a sort of substance that can be harvested and put into our wines. In a way, we are taking back in the Fae who have left us, which is why humans get intoxicated quickly on it. There is a buildup of leftover magic in each drink, that shouldn’t be ingested by mere mortals.”

  “Ew.” My nose wrinkled, and I had the urge to wash my mouth out with soap. I was never drinking faerie wine again. Circle of life or not, that was just disgusting.

  “But that’s not all.” She shook a finger at me, silencing my disgust. “Fae aren’t like humans whose souls know where to go when they die, they have to be coaxed out. Thus, why we burn the remains to make them seem less attractive.”

  I nodded my head like it made sense. The Fae were self-absorbed and shallow in life, why should they be any different in death? At least humans had the decency to know when you are down to stay down.

  “So where do the souls go?”

  “Ah, that’s the thing. They don’t go anywhere. They stay here.” She swept an arm around the veil. “Another job of the faeries is to make sure the spirits stay here, so that when the Reaper comes by they will be ready for him.”

  “Reaper?”

  It was her turn to nod, her hair falling over her face. “Yes, and no one knows when he will come by, so, it is best for us to be on our way and not get in his way.”

  “Why? What will happen?” I cocked my head to the side, curiosity eating at me. I had heard talk of the Reaper before. My mother had made a deal with him to get rid of the Shadows. That obviously didn’t go over too well, and if I saw him, I’d like to have a word or two with him for making the deal in the first place.

  “How should I know?” Befuddlement caused her brows to bunch together between her eyes. “No one has been here when he came —at least no one that survived to tell the tale.”

  “But what—” I started, but a sudden chill overcame me. It wasn’t like my mother’s icy glare, where it was sharp and meant to hurt. Or like the Shadows where they couldn’t help the magic leaking off of them when they spoke causing your insides to freeze. This was a different kind of cold.

  The kind that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up but when you turned around no one was there. This was a feeling that made you want to go screaming into the darkness, because whatever was coming was so much worse.

  It was that very feeling that kept me from arguing when Seer grabbed my hand and said, “Run.”

  Chapter 16

  Those We Fight For

  I RAN FOR the second time in less than an hour, but this time I had a reason to run.

  Seer pulled on my hand, trying to make me go faster. I could tell by the fluttering of her wings that she wanted to take flight but couldn’t, because I was slowing her down. I almost told her to go on without me. The cold that I had felt seemed to trek after us as if seeking out our warmth. If it caught up with us, I didn’t want to be found on my own.

  We were almost to the woods; the trees were just a few yards away. I pushed myself to go faster, though my lungs burned and my knees ached. Just as we were about to cross the line of the trees, the cold feeling turned into a numbing sensation. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it reached out to touch my shoulder. Before I could turn to see what it was, we crossed the trees and the presence faded away.

  Seer collapsed against a tree, her wings hanging down to the ground as she caught her breath. I fell to the ground, not caring if I was getting myself dirty. My eyes were on where we had come from, where all was silent and nothing moved. Just how close to death had I been?

  “Best not to dwell on it.” Seer moved away from her leaning post and held a hand out to me. I gave one more cursory look toward the veil before placing my hand in hers, letting her pull me to my feet.

  I let her lead as we made our way through the dark forest. The night had begun to wane and light poured through the treetops. The forest changed from dark and ominous to gray and dreary. Cheerful really wasn’t a word that could ever be used to describe it.

  “Where are we going?” I kept pace with Seer as she maneuvered through the trees and over branches like an old pro.

  She didn’t slow down or turn to me as she spoke, “Back to my home. Everyone is waiting for you.”

  “But can we get there through the forest?” I swept an arm around me, the forest not letting up the further we walked. “I went through the hedge maze the last time and that isn’t anywhere close to here.”

  Seer snorted and rolled her eyes. “That’s because you came the back way. Not like it matters, you know how fickle the Underground can be. North might be north one day but the next it could be south.” She crossed her arms to demonstrate. “You try giving directions when your home keeps moving on you. The only place that doesn’t seem to move is the palace. Probably some kind of trick to it but of course the queens aren’t sharing.” Bitterness dripped from her voice as she frowned, but then she turned to me with a smile. “But that will all change once you are queen, won’t it?”

  I winced at the question. Queen. How did I tell her that I would never be queen? At least not until my mother stepped down, not that she would, or I wanted her to. I had no intentions of being queen, even if given the chance. I was happy enough to stay in the human world where at least I could find my house without a magical low jack on it.

  Seer’s smile lowered at my expression. “What is it? You do want to be queen, don’t you? The people are already loyal to you on both sides. You could be Queen of the whole Underground with a snap of your fingers and no one would argue the point.”

  “My mother would,” I interjected. “You know she won’t give up her power to anyone, not even her daughter. Besides, I don’t think I would make a very good queen. I can’t even keep a job.” I shook my head at the memory of the one job I had gotten since moving back from New York.

  Everyone told me going to school for English Literature was a bad idea. They’d said I’d never find a job. And they were right. Unless I wanted to be a writer, or had an in with a publishing house, the only other options were being a teacher or a librarian. The last option was the one I had been reduced to when I came back to Iowa and I’d already lost that job because of the whole Fae fiasco.

  It was hard to keep a full-time job and save the world. Just ask Superman! Then again Superman could move at the speed of light and didn’t have a snotty mean girl for a boss.

  “Pfft.” Three hands waved
me off. “Don’t sell yourself so short. Maybe you aren’t good at the human jobs because you were meant for something else? Something magical? Hmm?” her eyebrows rose as she gave me a knowing look. “You’ll never know until you try.”

  I chewed on my lip, and not wanting to burst her bubble, I gave a noncommittal answer, “We’ll see.”

  “That’s right we will!” her hands clapped together and her face lit up with glee before three hands stopped and pointed. “Look, we are almost there!”

  An archway in front of us made of two trees that had been bent and twisted into each other stood a few paces ahead. On the outside of the trees there was just more forest, but through the opening of the arch, vibrant, multicolored mushrooms grew from the ground. I didn’t know how long it had been there or if it just magically appeared. Either way, I probably would have never found it on my own.

  As we approached the arch, I let Seer take the lead. Cowardly? Probably. But I’d learned my lesson about going head first into doorways on my own, and while I could see what was on the other side, I still didn’t completely trust the magic of the Underground. Jaded? Who me?

  “Come now, let’s get you back. We have to contact the queen as soon as possible.” Seer stepped through the archway, and when she didn’t immediately disappear, and was still there on the other side surrounded by mushrooms, I stepped through after her.

  When my feet went from dirt to cushy green grass the hole in my heart grew just a little bit smaller, and I knew I was close to Chess. I followed after Seer, and with each step, my heart thudded harder and my hands began to sweat.

  Why was I nervous? It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Chess in a while. Yes, we had just declared our love to each other, and then he went and lied to me, but I also didn’t stay to let him explain. I shouldn’t be this nervous, he should be. That’s when I realized, it wasn’t just me, but it was Chess too.