The Gossamer Crown: Book One of The Gossamer Sphere

by Conway, Melissa

  “I don’t know. It’s dark.”

  “It’s not that dark, Caitlin. I can see you clearly.”

  A grating sound came from between her lips. It took him a moment to realize she was laughing. “You can see, can’t you? I’m so glad you’re coming in to your heritage.”

  He suddenly understood. The familiar smell of the place, the feeling of homecoming. He’d spent his life above ground, when his heart had always been below. He placed his hand on the ancient oak root and instantly felt a powerful presence, like a choir was silently harmonizing in his head. Disconcerted, he dropped his hand.

  “Did you find the crown?” he asked. “Does Griffey have it?”

  “No. Simon told him Werka took it away.” She reached out blindly and grasped Kevin’s arm. Her voice sounded stronger to him when she asked, “Where are Zach and Lizbeth? He’s much too dangerous for them to take on alone.”

  Kevin sighed. He didn’t want to leave Caitlin here, but if Zach and Lizbeth needed him…

  Then Caitlin astonished him by getting to her feet. Wolfdogge moved to her side and she grasped his scruff, allowing the dog to support her. “Let’s go.”

  “You can’t-”

  “I can. Humans were not the only ones affected by the biometal. This oak grove must have been home to druids long ago. The trees have given me back my strength. They did it the moment you gave them communion.”

  Chapter Forty-one

  East of England

  With trepidation, Lizbeth entered the dark interior of the house behind Zach and closed the front door behind them. So far, “Caitlin” seemed unaware that Kevin had run after Wolfdogge.

  Instead of following Caitlin into the room with the gruesome taxidermy display, Zach positioned himself in the doorway, effectively blocking Lizbeth from getting past him. She pushed, but he resisted, and she thought she understood. The longer they hid the fact that Kevin hadn’t come into the house with them, the better. If they lingered here, “Caitlin” would assume Kevin was standing in the gloom behind them.

  Caitlin turned and in a very un-Caitlin-like manner asked, “Are you kids alright?”

  Lizbeth panicked as it occurred to her that whoever was posing as Caitlin didn’t have to wait for a response. She could easily read their minds and find out for herself if they were “alright.”

  One of the first magic tricks Lizbeth had ever learned came to mind; misdirecting the audience to look at one hand while the other palms a coin. If she could misdirect the fake Caitlin long enough to prevent her from reading their minds, maybe Kevin would find the real Caitlin in time.

  “Actually,” she said loudly, “We’re not so great. After you left Felicity’s house, her dog came in, but it wasn’t her dog, it changed into Brian Griffey – the guy who was supposed to have died on the Titanic – right before our eyes, and then he found out that you were taking the ferry because he read Felicity’s mind, but before he could go after you, Zach went after him and they got into a fight, but then Griffey changed into a snake!”

  Halfway through her dramatic rant she stopped to take a breath. Zach turned to her with an appalled look on his face.

  “Lizbeth,” he said, but she ignored him. Her misdirection must have been convincing enough so far, because Caitlin’s eyes still looked normal.

  She launched into another effusive run-on sentence. “Then Zach was having a hard time because he had a huge green monster wrapped around him, so I took this dagger off the wall and stabbed it, and it turned back into a dog and ran across the room and then left, and then there was this earthquake, and-”

  “Yes, well, I wanted to talk to you about Mr. Griffey,” Caitlin said. “He and I had a disagreement, but we’re quite over it now, and I want to be sure you show him the respect he deserves.”

  Over Caitlin’s shoulder Lizbeth saw out the dining room window that Kevin had run into view. He was headed straight for the old oak grove. To ensure that Caitlin didn’t get distracted and turn around, Lizbeth barreled on.

  “Oh, and poor Kevin,” here she looked to the right as if she could see him standing there out of Caitlin’s sight, “found out that Griffey is his father. Or maybe his grandfather, we’re not sure, because Felicity-”

  That did the trick. Lizbeth had Caitlin’s full attention now, as she burst out, “What?”

  Lizbeth turned to the phantom Kevin again. “Wait, Kev, I’m sorry!” Then she looked back at Caitlin and said by way of clarification, “He went upstairs. Yeah, he’s all torn up about it.”

  A sneak peek at Zach told her his initial confusion at her misdirection tactic had been replaced with admiration. In her mind, she clearly heard the words, “I think I love you.”

  She didn’t take time to ponder whether he really meant it or if he was simply expressing approval for her strategy, because Caitlin sank down on the stiffly upholstered sofa.

  “It can’t be,” she said quietly.

  Lizbeth felt safe enough to step fully into the room now that “Kevin” had gone upstairs. She sat next to Caitlin and put her arm around her. “Why not?”

  Caitlin winced and scooted a few inches away on the sofa. Lizbeth trailed her fingers softly across the back of Caitlin’s shirt before dropping her arm. There was a raised bump under the fabric, probably a bandage from where Lizbeth had stabbed her. It was definitely Griffey, although Lizbeth had never doubted it.

  Caitlin-Griffey took a deep breath and tugged his collar as if it were uncomfortable. “Ah, well, Mr. Griffey couldn’t have been his father.”

  “So who was?” Zach asked.

  To forestall Caitlin-Griffey from denying any knowledge of it, Lizbeth prompted, “Felicity said you knew.”

  “There was a woman once,” Caitlin-Griffey replied, with a sideways shift of the jaw. “She died of an infection a few days after childbirth and Griffey’s name was on the birth certificate. He took care of the kid for a week, but it got sick and he didn’t know what else to do. He drove to a hospital in another state and left it there.”

  “That’s terrible. Felicity said babies between fae and humans rarely survived,” Lizbeth said.

  Caitlin-Griffey, eyes downcast, nodded. “I – he thought it was going to die. He couldn’t risk sticking around while the doctors tried to figure out why.”

  Lizbeth thought Griffey’s actions were indefensible, but she didn’t want to agitate him, so she said, “It wasn’t his fault. What else was he supposed to do?”

  Caitlin-Griffey lifted his eyes. They were swirling. Adrenaline flooded Lizbeth’s system, but before she could move, he clamped a hand on her arm. Within seconds, the Griffey they were familiar with was sitting next to her.

  He said, “I won’t hurt you. I promise. Just give me a few minutes to go upstairs and talk to my son.”

  At that moment, Lizbeth was simply grateful that Griffey’s eyes were normal. If he were still reading her mind, if he used his abilities to reach out for a Kevin who wasn’t there, they’d never get this chance again. The chance to run.

  She and Zach stood by the door as Griffey trudged slowly up the staircase. There were three rooms he’d have to look inside before it became obvious Kevin wasn’t up there. As soon as she lost sight of him on the landing, Lizbeth opened the heavy front door. Zach held it for her as she slipped out.

  They ran in the direction Kevin had gone, around the house and across the field toward the oak grove. As she ran, she saw ahead of her that Kevin had found Wolfdogge, and more importantly, the real Caitlin. He had his arm around her and seemed to be supporting her as they walked. A little closer and Lizbeth saw why – Caitlin’s shoulder and shirtfront were covered in what looked like blood.

  Over the rhythmic sound of her feet hitting the grass, Lizbeth heard a strange thumping noise coming up fast behind them. She glanced over her shoulder and did a quick double-take. A bounding kangaroo was rapidly gaining ground. She stumbled and fell in the grass. Zach stopped and put himself between her and the kangaroo, taking a defensive martial arts stance. But
the unmistakable growling scream of a big cat shredded the air and the kangaroo leapt past them to meet the white jaguar head on.

  Chapter Forty-two

  East of England

  From the amount of blood he’d seen on Caitlin’s shirt, Zach doubted she’d be in any condition to fight, even in the guise of a jaguar. She pounced, but the kangaroo shifted his weight to his thick tail and kicked out with a vicious swipe to the jaguar’s injured head.

  Zach bared his teeth, furious. If Griffey wasn’t going to fight fair, there was nothing stopping Zach from doing the same. While the jaguar shook her head and backed off, Zach ran straight for the kangaroo. He launched himself into the air with his left leg, spun around in midair and kicked down on the kangaroo’s back – right where he’d spotted the oozing wound Lizbeth had given the snake. The force of the kick sent the kangaroo lurching forward on his powerful hind legs. By the time Zach came around 360-degrees and landed on his feet in the tall grass, Wolfdogge joined the fray.

  Felicity told them that Wolfdogge’s kind had been bred for battle, trained to pull armored knights from their steeds. The dog would have never seen a kangaroo, much less know how to fight one, but after Zach unbalanced the big marsupial with his kick, Wolfdogge bit down on one of its forelegs. With snarling ferocity, Wolfdogge shook his head, tugging and grinding on the kangaroo’s undersized arm. For a moment, Zach thought the dog had gotten the upper hand. Then, in a flash, the kangaroo shifted its weight to its thick tail and kicked out at Wolfdogge’s underbelly with its wickedly sharp hind claws.

  Emitting a high-pitched yelp, Wolfdogge released the kangaroo’s arm and toppled backward in the grass. Zach only got a glimpse of the dog’s horrible wound, but with a twist of his heart, he knew it was fatal.

  As Wolfdogge fell, Caitlin went in for the kill. She knocked the kangaroo sideways to the ground, jaw clamped at his throat. For a moment, Zach thought the kangaroo was going to attempt to disembowel Caitlin, too. Instead, he changed back into Brian Griffey, lying naked under the jaguar, breath wheezing through his constricted windpipe, arm bleeding from the wound Wolfdogge had given him.

  “Caitlin!” he cried hoarsely. “I surrender.”

  The jaguar, claws digging into Griffey’s chest, hesitated. Zach saw her eyes, swirling as she probed for the truth. Finally, she must have been satisfied that Griffey had really given in, because she backed away and began to morph into her true self.

  As soon as her transformation began, however, the liar Griffey too began to shift. Zach readied himself to strike. Before yesterday, he never imagined he’d fight a python or a kangaroo. Now, as Caitlin became herself, crouched down in the grass, Griffey changed into a beast with the oversized head and wings of an eagle and the hindquarters of a lion. As a long-time player of online fantasy computer games, Zach recognized a mythical griffin when he saw one. He didn’t have time to marvel that a shapeshifter could become a nonexistent creature, because Griffey was instantly upon Caitlin.

  “No!” Lizbeth screamed from somewhere behind him. The quality of the scream changed at the end to sound like the piercing, distressed cry of an eagle. Zach looked over his shoulder to see another, smaller griffin, one wing beating ineffectively at the air while the other was tucked tight to its side holding the remnants of a shirt. It lurched awkwardly forward, tripping over a pair of jeans, head tilted to look at its own claws as they opened and closed spasmodically, all the while filling the air with its plaintive cries.

  Thankfully, the appearance of the newcomer was enough to distract Griffey from Caitlin. He tilted his head to turn a fierce eye on the stumbling little griffin.

  Zach took advantage of the momentary distraction. He had little useful knowledge of a griffin’s anatomy, but all vertebrates were vulnerable at the neck. His left hand shot out, gripping Griffey’s wing above the wrist. Griffey jabbed his sharp beak into Zach’s forearm at the same time Zach’s stiffened right hand chopped down with enough force to snap a plank in half. The vertebra at the base of the eagle’s head gave off a sickening crunch. The griffin stiffened, but before his body could collapse to the ground, Kevin came roaring in from the other side, tackling the feathered and furred creature like a defensive end. As they rolled to a stop in the grass, Zach grasped Kevin by the collar and hauled him off the now limp shapeshifter.

  His eyes cut to Caitlin. She’d donned her bloody shirt and pants and staggered to the flailing little griffin with eyes whirling madly. “Lizbeth! Be still!”

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, but it was only Griffey’s body changing again, this time not into the tall, distinguished Chief Inspector, but into the stocky, coarse-looking man from Caitlin’s album. His original form. Cautiously, Zach bent to press his fingers to one side of Griffey’s windpipe. He felt a weak pulse and Griffey’s eyes fluttered open, the pupils dilated so that even in the sunshine, his brown eyes looked almost black.

  Through lips that barely moved, the dying shapeshifter asked, “Where’s my son?”

  Kneeling several feet away, Kevin’s face had gone hard, but he said, “I guess that’s me.”

  “Come closer. Can’t move. Neck’s broken.” Griffey’s voice was thin.

  Zach stepped back, not convinced that the threat had been eliminated.

  Kevin crawled forward and sat back on his haunches, staring at Griffey dispassionately.

  “Didn’t know…you’d survived,” Griffey said.

  “Good,” Kevin replied. “My parents raised me right. You would have screwed up my life.”

  Zach glanced up as Caitlin came up next to him, leading a shocked and quivering, but no longer griffin-shaped, Lizbeth. She was dressed, but her shirt and Felicity’s jacket must have torn during the transformation, because she held the tatters together in front of her chest. He pulled off his own shirt and looked away as she put it on.

  Caitlin touched Kevin on the shoulder. He got to his feet and walked off towards the oak grove. She sat cross-legged next to Griffey and clasped his unmoving hand between hers. To Zach’s astonishment, tears flowed freely down her face.

  “It’s come to this,” she said, bowing her head.

  “Our race does not have to die,” Griffey whispered. “The crown can bring back our glory.”

  “The price is too great, Brian.”

  “Science can determine who will survive!” Spittle appeared on Griffey’s bloodless lips.

  “And war between the races would soon follow, just as it did in the past. Even if the crown’s purpose was to create a race of shapeshifters, it won’t matter if the earth is uninhabitable.”

  The sound of the wind in the grass was louder than Griffey’s voice. “What other purpose does it have?”

  Caitlin lifted his hand to her lips. Zach saw his eyes turn lifeless just before she responded, “To speak with the gossamer sphere.”

  Chapter Forty-three

  East of England

  Kevin had never liked dogs. They were slobbery creatures that shed hair all over the place and smelled bad. He’d barely even known Wolfdogge, but the sight of the brave canine lying so still in the grass made him want to sob out loud.

  He walked stiffly away and stopped just outside the oak grove with his hands jammed into his pockets. With one thumb, he rubbed the side of the little box with the nugget inside. He’d found it in Felicity’s bathroom. No one knew he’d taken it, but he suspected it didn’t matter either way. He’d survived the sickness and wouldn’t make the mistake of touching the nugget directly again. Still, even in its box, the iridium comforted him.

  The trees, the same ones he’d “communed” with earlier, towered before him, leaves flickering in the breeze just like any other grove of trees.

  For years he’d dreamed of finding his real parents, but nothing he’d imagined came near to the truth of it. He didn’t understand what Griffey meant when he said he hadn’t known Kevin survived, but he assumed it had something to do with his abandonment at the hospital. Maybe Caitlin could tell him. Maybe he didn’t r
eally care anymore.

  He looked over at them. Zach held Lizbeth protectively as Caitlin sat next to Griffey, rocking back and forth as if in mourning. He frowned. Was she actually sad that he was dead? Griffey killed Simon and Len, and he’d tried to kill Caitlin. Why was she so upset that a monster like him had gotten what he deserved? He shook his head, thinking about how cold she’d been to Bill Masters, someone who wasn’t perfect, but who probably deserved better. Kevin certainly didn’t understand women.

  He sighed. As much as he wished he could shapeshift into an ostrich to hide his head in the sand, he knew he had to join the others – find out what, if anything, was left for them to do now.

  When he reached them, Caitlin stood. Her tears had washed thin lines into the blood on her left cheek. The partially scabbed-over wound in her scalp glistened. She brushed her hands down the seat of her pants and faced Simon’s house.

  “Is Wolfdogge dead?”

  Kevin nodded.

  “That’s it then,” she said. “We’d best find Werka. Last I heard, flights are still coming and going out of Heathrow. She could be anywhere.”

  “What about him?” Zach asked, jerking his head toward Griffey.

  Caitlin began walking. “We don’t have time to bury him. Or the others. It goes against everything I believe in, but the crown comes first.”

  “What others…?” Lizbeth asked in a small voice, but Caitlin was out of earshot.

  “Len and Simon,” Kevin gestured to the patch of concealing bushes.

  Lizbeth went extremely pale under the creamy light-brown skin of her face. In a tearful voice, she asked, “He killed them?”

  “Yeah.” Kevin didn’t need Zach’s stern look to regret that he’d mentioned it. He tried to change the subject. “Are you okay? That was pretty cool, the griffin thing.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just-” she stopped. Her eyes drifted to Griffey’s toes sticking up out of the grass. Her lips parted and her mouth slowly dropped open as she stared. Pulling away from Zach, she went and stood over Griffey, looking down at him with arms crossed tightly over her ribs. For a panicked moment, Kevin wondered if Griffey had come back alive, but then Lizbeth said, “Can you feel him?”