The Torn World: The Harvesting Series Book 5

by Melanie Karsak

  “You know, that accent you hear in his voice sometimes. The one he tries to hide.”

  She was right. I had noticed the accent, but I just thought it was an odd coincidence. But then again, the light around Logan was always a bit different, a swirl of indigo with other opalescent colors shimmering just around the edges. “Are you saying Logan is like Madame Knightly?”

  “How the hell do I know? I mean, I wasn’t the one who saw her turn from a cat into a woman. We’ll ask them. Both of them. Later. In the meantime…I guess I better grab the soup bowls?” Zoey said, arching her eyebrows as she shrugged her shoulders in confused disbelief.

  “Yeah,” I said absently as my mind quickly patched everything together. What had Madame Knightly asked Tristan? Something about his wards? His wards. What did it all mean?

  As Zoey pushed open the door to the dining room, she grinned then leaned toward me. “Suppose we have any more cat people in our midst? Should I grab the Meow Mix too?” she whispered.

  “That’s not even funny.”

  “You sure?”

  “Well, maybe a little,” I said with a wry grin then followed Zoey back into the dining room.

  CHAPTER 4: LAYLA

  I STARED AT THE ELABORATE TABLE setting in front of me. I could hear the others asking Beatrice and Zoey questions. Why had Tristan brought us here? What was I going to do now? What happened to Jamie? Even if he was changed, I couldn’t just leave him there like that. I was just beginning to understand that not all the undead were so dead. Vella had called them ghouls. Maybe. Certainly, they were not quite human anymore. But they weren’t quite dead either. Maybe all hope wasn’t lost.

  I looked around the room. Darius was whispering in Ariel’s ear, trying to comfort her. Tom, Will, Elle, and Frenchie were keeping busy trying to entertain the girls. Chase nervously tapped his finely-polished fork against his plate while Amelia tried once more to give Kellimore something for a headache.

  I gazed across the table to find Cricket staring at me, her forehead furrowed.

  “Ya know what,” she finally said, “when I was real little, my Grandma used to make me sit at the kids’ table at Thanksgiving. We ate at the card table while the grownups sat around laughing and having a great time. I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like it now. How about you, Layla?”

  I nodded. “Agreed.”

  With that, Vella, Cricket, and I rose and headed toward the kitchen.

  “Do you need something?” Amelia asked.

  “Yes,” I replied. “Answers.”

  My words silenced the room.

  “I’m sure Madame Knightly—”

  “We’ve seen enough, been through enough, to afford us a little impatience. Excuse us,” I said to Amelia then turned back toward the kitchen.

  The girl opened her mouth to speak once more, but her dark-haired friend set her hand on Amelia’s shoulder and shook her head.

  Vella, Cricket, and I passed the butler’s pantry and entered the narrow kitchen. Tristan sat with Madame Knightly and a young man about Amelia’s age. I cast a glance at Vella whose eyes narrowed as she looked him over.

  “Cricket?” Tristan asked, standing.

  “We decided we weren’t keen on waiting around to see what y’all decided,” Cricket told him.

  Madame Knightly looked from Tristan to Cricket and raised an eyebrow, a slightly bemused expression on her face.

  “Who are you?” I asked the young man.

  “I’m Logan. Your name is Lay—”

  “Are you fae too?” I asked.

  Logan balked. He looked as if I’d slapped him in the face.

  “They know,” Tristan explained. “The unseelie revealed themselves to Layla and her people. And Layla knows Peryn. They know the truth about who we are and what the unseelie have done.”

  A guilt-ridden look crossed Logan’s face. “Yes, I am. But Amelia and the others don’t know about me.”

  Feeling annoyed, I turned back to Tristan. “I need to go back. I heard Jamie. He’s not gone. I heard him. I need to go back.”

  Tristan nodded. “I was just telling Logan and Madame Knightly about some of the unusual things we’ve seen, how the unseelie’s plan to wipe out mankind wasn’t quite as effective as they hoped.”

  “It’s the first I’m learning of the living dead, as it were,” Madame Knightly said.

  “We’ve stayed sheltered here in Witch Wood,” Logan added.

  “How?” Vella asked.

  “I enchanted the grounds, pulled us a vibration or two out of sight from the human eye,” Madame Knightly explained. “It’s kept us out of view from the undead and the dark fiends.”

  “Then you know about the strigoi?” Vella asked.

  “Oh my dear, they have always existed. And they will perish now that the world has died.”

  “And that fox woman? The kitsune or whatever? How many of her are creeping around?” Cricket asked.

  “Many,” Tristan replied then turned to me. “Layla, Witch Wood can be a new start. Madame Knightly has been training Amelia so she can—”

  “So I can what?” a voice asked from behind me.

  I turned to find Amelia standing there, a stack of bowls in her hand.

  “So you can help keep everyone safe,” Madame Knightly answered.

  “That’s all well and good for people here, but what about everyone else? What about other survivors, assuming there are any?” Cricket asked.

  “Here, you are safe from the undead. But as long as the kitsune roam, mankind is in jeopardy,” Madame Knightly said.

  “Not to mention the strigoi,” Vella added.

  “Luckily, we’ve had no issues with them here,” Madame Knightly assured her.

  I felt relieved to know that the others, especially Kira and Susan, would be safe at Witch Wood—at least for the moment. But it wasn’t enough.

  “Tristan, I need to go back,” I said then, looking from him to Madame Knightly. “And not just for Jamie. I know what happened to him. Doctor Gustav was experimenting. She infected him on purpose. But she never would have done that if she didn’t truly believe she’d found a cure. The doctor may be dead, but her notes and everything else are still at Claddagh-Basel.”

  “Claddagh-Basel College?” Amelia asked.

  “Yes, that’s where we were. I could go back to the lab and see if I can recover the doctor’s work.”

  “Even if we find her notes, or the antidote, who among us will ever understand?” Vella asked.

  “Beatrice,” Logan said then looked at Madame Knightly with a surprised expression on his face.

  Madame Knightly nodded.

  “Will you take me back?” I asked Tristan.

  “Yes, he will,” Madame Knightly replied for him. “So, with that decided, let’s eat, shall we?” she said then rose.

  The ancient matriarch came forward and took my arm. “You’ve seen a lot. I know. Remember, we are here to help you. That is all we ever wanted. I will do everything I can. There is still good in mankind, as there always has been. The kitsune are blind to it, but we are not.”

  “How can we ever defeat them and survive all the rest?” I wondered aloud. Even if I could locate the cure, even if someone at Witch Wood could reproduce it, the world was still overrun with the undead, and vampires lurked in dark corners. All at once, it felt as if we really had no place left in the world.

  “Well,” Madame Knightly said kindly, patting my arm with her hand, “let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “With all due respect,” I replied. “The bridge is on fire, and we’re standing in the middle of it.”

  “Then I guess we’d better figure it out quickly.”

  CHAPTER 5: AMELIA

  “AMELIA, WAIT UP A MINUTE,” Logan called as Madame Knightly led the others back into the dining room.

  I turned and looked at him, once again seeing a shamefaced expression. I suddenly felt like I’d missed out on the best part of the conversation. As it was, my mind was still bog
gling over the idea that Madame Knightly and Bastet were one in the same. And what was the other thing they were talking about…strigoi? What the hell were strigoi? “Logan, what’s going on?”

  “I need to tell you something,” he said. Taking the stack of bowls from my hands and setting them aside, he led me toward the front of the house and out the front door. It was very dark. The sky overhead was full of glimmering stars. The moon shimmered brightly.

  Logan took a deep, shuddering breath. Gray energy swirled all around his normally indigo-colored aura. He was confused and scared.

  I smiled gently at him then touched his face. “It’s okay,” I whispered. At once, the cloudy energy vanished.

  “All right. Well…it was no accident that I came to Brighton. I was sent here,” Logan explained.

  “By whom?”

  “My people.”

  “And who, exactly, are your people?”

  “If I tell you, I’m not sure you’ll believe me.”

  “Well, I just saw Bastet turn into Madame Knightly. Try me.”

  “Amelia…I’m not human. I’m fae.”

  “Sorry?”

  “I am a son of the Tuatha de Dannu, the old people. I’m one of the seelie.”

  “The seelie?” I asked, my mind racing back to the legends of the old faerie people Madame Knightly had me reading about all winter.

  “And so is Madame Knightly. And Tristan.”

  Well, that explained her reading selections. “But how? Why?” I said, not really even sure what questions to ask.

  “My people foresaw mankind’s end. I was sent to Brighton to keep watch on Miss Beatrice. The elders sent me, since I am, even among my own people, just a teenager. They asked me to attend the high school. They wanted me somewhere where I could be close to both Beatrice and you.”

  “And me? Why?”

  “The elders saw that certain humans will be terribly important as the world crumbles. You. Beatrice. Some of the newcomers. The fae have been watching over you.”

  My heart was galloping. Logan had always felt special, but I’d just assumed it was because I’d pretty much fallen in love with him. Of course he was special. I never would have guessed there was so much more. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

  “I couldn’t. For one, I didn’t have the words to explain it to you. Two, Madame Knightly told me not to. And we aren’t supposed to get mixed up romantically with humans.”

  “Tristan and that girl with the blonde hair—”

  “Cricket.”

  I nodded. “They seem to be—”

  “Much to the elders’ frustration. Amelia, you know I have feelings for you. With Madame Knightly here it wasn’t possible to say more. Now, at least, I can explain. Madame Knightly is one of our chief elders. Even among the fae I’m still an apprentice. I had to do as she commanded.”

  The worried expression on Logan’s face softened. I could tell he wasn’t sure what to expect, if I’d be angry or sad. Goddess knows I’d never expected anything like this, but I didn’t want to give Logan any pain. I cared about him too much. I smiled. “So, can you turn into a cat too?”

  Logan laughed. “No. I tried to turn into a bear. Ended up with a nasty beard. It’s not a skill I’ve mastered.”

  I chuckled. “Your aura…you were always different. I just didn’t know why.”

  “And now you do. And I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you.”

  “I understand.”

  We stood there for a few minutes, gazing into one another’s eyes. He’d never kissed me. Never confessed anything to me. But I knew his heart was mine. Gently, I took his hand then led him to the fountain. We sat along the edge.

  “Layla said there might be a cure. Is she right? Do you really think there could be some sort of antidote, and that maybe not all the undead are lost?” I asked.

  Logan nodded. “And there is more. Some of the undead seem to have transformed into a new kind of being. Layla has been able to communicate with them.”

  “Seriously?” I asked, thinking about my mother. Was there any hope for her? What if the cure actually worked? For all I knew, she was nothing more than a rotted corpse walking around my back yard. But still.

  “I don’t know. The elders never spoke of it. Our plan was only to find those humans to whom we were led and keep them safe.”

  “Well, so far so good,” I said. “And now I know why Madame Knightly has had us cleaning all week.”

  “She must have known they were coming.”

  We both nodded.

  Just then the door opened, and Zoey came outside.

  “Any more shapeshifting cats out here?” she called.

  I grinned wryly. “No. Just a faerie,” I began then turned to Logan. “A faerie what? Are you a prince or something?”

  Logan laughed and shook his head.

  “Just some faerie dude pretending to be human,” I told Zoey.

  “Oh. Awesome,” Zoey answered sarcastically.

  “The girl with the curly dark hair said there are these things called strigoi lurking around. What are they?” I asked Logan.

  He frowned. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Try us,” Zoey said.

  “Strigoi is another word for vampires.”

  “Vampires?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you were right, I didn’t want to know,” Zoey said.

  Logan shifted uncomfortably. “The night walkers. They do exist, but in dwindling numbers.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” Zoey replied. “So, you’re fae?”

  “Yes.”

  “Interesting. And we also have vampires. What about werewolves?” Zoey asked.

  “Myth.”

  “Mermaids?” Zoey asked.

  “Don’t know. I don’t swim.”

  “The kitsune? What are they?” I asked.

  “Evil fae. They hate your kind and mine.”

  “Got it. So far, we’ve got vampires and really evil faeries but not werewolves and maybe mermaids. How about swamp creatures?” Zoey asked. Linking an arm in mine and the other in Logan’s. She led us back toward the mansion.

  “Myth.”

  “Unicorns?”

  “Alive once. Dead now.”

  “Well, that sucks.”

  “Yes.”

  “Dragons?”

  “Same as unicorns.”

  “Damn. Cyclops?”

  “All dead.”

  “Zoey?” Logan said then.

  “Yes?”

  “Shut up,” he said with a laugh.

  Zoey grinned. “Aliens?” she asked as we made our way back inside.

  CHAPTER 6: LAYLA

  THE CHATTER IN THE DINING ROOM seemed strange and distant. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. Unmoored from myself, I stared down at my plate. How could I just sit there and eat when I felt like a piece of me was missing? I cast a glance at my engagement ring. Blood was smeared on the diamond. He was just gone. How had this happened? Jamie had died trying to find a way to save everyone, not just the Hamletville survivors but everyone. And me, I’d let the undead woman, Elizabeth, kill the only person who could have saved him.

  Maybe, just maybe, if everything hadn’t gone wrong, we would be working on producing a cure, undoing what the kitsune had done. Instead, Jamie had been turned into a…ghoul. Not dead. Not alive. Something different.

  I pulled off the ring and slipped it into my pocket then cast a glance around the room. Everyone was eating, was trying to be okay. I couldn’t fake feeling happy.

  I rose quietly and exited the fancy dining room. The building was large and silent. I passed through a small parlor and down a long hallway until I found myself in an immense old library. I sat down and put my head in my hands and wept.

  I had failed at the Harpwind. I had failed at Claddagh-Basel. I had failed to save Ian. I had failed to save Jamie. And I had failed Ethel and Summer and Kiki and Buddie and all the others from Hamletville.

  I wept softly into my hands.

&n
bsp; What was the use of trying anymore?

  If I found Jamie, then what? What if he was gone or he tried to eat me alive? Or worse yet, what if he was whole inside his undead body? What was I going to do? I sat there and wept until I felt completely hollow. What was I going to do now?

  “Big place,” a voice said from behind me.

  I turned to find Kellimore looking around the room.

  “Not much for libraries. Spent more time on the football field, but I always loved history.”

  Shaking my head, and feeling miserable and stupid, I wiped away tears. “I…I worked at the Smithsonian.”

  “D.C., huh? I thought about Georgetown. The University of Alabama offered me the best scholarship, but I declined it. I wanted to stay in Ulster, go to Claddagh-Basel. My parents were pissed. I took a year off and coached at the high school. They were even more pissed. So, the Smithsonian, huh?”

  “I was a curator, ancient weapons expert.”

  “Well, that’s a good choice for a fencing coach,” he said with a soft smile as he sat beside me.

  “I need to thank you. You saved my life at Claddagh-Basel. I just…froze.”

  “Your boyfriend,” he said then shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry. He seemed like a good guy.”

  “He is…was. I’m going back to Claddagh-Basel. I need to find Doctor Gustav’s notes.”

  “That’s what I heard,” he said then rose. “Tell you what, I have a mammoth freaking headache and need some sleep. Tomorrow, let’s get a plan going. In case those things are still there, or if the zombies, or vampires, or whatever else might be creeping around show up, we’ll be ready.”

  “You don’t have to go. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. Tristan said he would take me—”

  Kellimore puffed air through his lips. “Tristan. Sure, he knew the college, but not the town. I know that town. Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll get you in and out of Ulster safely,” he said then smiled gently at me. Though his words sounded prideful, his expression told a different tale. He wasn’t bragging. He wanted to protect me.

  “Kellimore...wait, that’s your last name, right? What’s your first name?

  “Yeah….well, it’s Kelly. Don’t tell Elle. I don’t want her to have something new to give me shit about,” he said with a grin. “They are sending people upstairs to rest. Big house. Why don’t you get some sleep? It’s been a shitty day.”