The Faerie Ring

by Kiki Hamilton

  Tiki glanced over her shoulder, an eerie sense of being hunted making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. But Marcus was gone.

  Chapter Sixteen

  THAT night, Tiki woke to what sounded like a catfight out in the alley. Hissing, yowling, and screeches split the night. She rolled over, closing her eyes again. Strange noises in the alley were common around the full moon. She’d learned to sleep through them.

  It was the shout of either rage or pain that made her bolt upright from her pile of blankets. She was wide-awake now, her nerves tingling as she listened for other sounds.

  “What was that?” Fiona whispered through the darkness.

  “I don’t know,” Tiki replied in a quiet voice. She got to her feet and tiptoed toward the back entrance. Silently, Shamus fell in step behind her.

  “Did you hear it?” she whispered over her shoulder.

  “Yes. Sounded like somebody getting stabbed,” Shamus said.

  Stabbed? She hadn’t thought of that. Goose bumps popped up on her arms as she carefully opened the back door. They wound their way through the short tunnel to the entrance that opened out to the alleyway.

  “Let me go first.” Shamus put his hand on the door above Tiki’s head before she could open it.

  “Suit yourself.” Tiki shrugged, taking a step back so Shamus could move in front of her.

  Shamus pulled the door open just enough to put his eye up to the crack and survey the area outside. “There’s somebody backed up against the wall,” he whispered. “He’s got a knife.”

  “Who is it?”

  “It might be Rieker.”

  “Rieker!” Tiki’s voice came out much louder than she intended, and Shamus turned back to glare at her.

  “Quiet. Do you want him to hear you?” He put his eye back to the crack. “God’s love, I think he did hear you. He’s looking this way.”

  Her heart crashed in her chest in an unsteady rhythm, making her breath catch in her throat. Who was out there? Tiki balanced on her tiptoes to see around Shamus’s shoulders. She squinted through the dim shadows. With a start, she realized there were other figures—really more like shadows—in the alleyway.

  “There are three others, can you see them?” Tiki whispered.

  “Where?”

  “Right there.” Tiki pointed.

  One of the shadows moved, and for a second Tiki thought the person was looking at her. She gasped as she was able to discern his features and clutched at Shamus’s arm.

  It was Marcus. And he was looking their way.

  His mouth curved up in an evil grin as he took a step toward her. Suddenly, the person against the wall moved and Tiki recognized Rieker’s tall form. What was he doing in this alley in the middle of the night? He raised his arm, and in a blink everything happened at once.

  One of the shadows lunged at Rieker. Another moved toward them so fast, he was just a blur. Shamus sprang through the door with a knife drawn, but somehow Rieker got there first. With an animal-like growl, he sank his fist deep into the dark shadow’s stomach. Tiki heard a strange keening sound, like the wind high up in the trees in St. James’s Park. Then, as she watched, the shadow folded and disappeared.

  Tiki’s mouth dropped open in horror. Who were these people? What were they?

  She looked to Rieker for his reaction, but he and Shamus had moved to face the others still hovering in the alleyway. The moon emerged from behind a cloud, and a shaft of light pierced the dimness. At the far end of the alley, watching from a distance, Tiki recognized another shadow.

  Staggered, she reached for the brick wall to brace herself. The girl from King’s Cross. From the hospital. Clara’s hospital. What was she doing here? Tiki wanted to cry at the thought that she knew where they lived. Was there any place they were safe?

  As if sensing they had lost the advantage, Marcus and the other shadow shimmered and were swallowed up by the night. Tiki tried to track which direction they’d run, but they were gone as if they’d simply disappeared on the wind. She glanced back toward the end of the alley where she’d seen the girl, but the spot was now vacant.

  “Rieker.” Tiki hurried through the door.

  Still in a defensive crouch, Rieker glanced at her over his shoulder. “Go back inside, Tiki,” he said. “It’s not safe out here.”

  “He’s wounded, Teek, help me get him inside.” Shamus stepped up to slide his arm under one of Rieker’s.

  “Wounded?” Tiki ran forward to see for herself. Three long claw marks had ripped a bloody path down the front of his left thigh, and blood had soaked through the leg of his trousers. Aghast, she looked at his face and saw another cut running along the line of his chiseled jaw.

  “Who were they?” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just trying to protect you, Teek.” He grinned, his teeth gleaming in the darkness. Tiki wondered if he enjoyed the danger.

  “Stop talking and get him inside.” Shamus slung Rieker’s arm over his shoulder to bear the weight of his wounded side. Scrambling around him, Tiki grabbed his other arm and a sticky warmth squished between her fingers that felt suspiciously like blood.

  As they came through the tunnels, Tiki could see Toots and Fiona watching wide-eyed by the door. They had lit several candles and the room held a soft, welcoming glow.

  “Did you capture someone?” Toots asked. The young boy was barely able to conceal his excitement. “Who’s that with you?”

  “It’s Rieker,” Shamus said in a calm voice.

  “R-Rieker?” Toots’s mouth formed an O of amazement. Fiona scampered away like a little field mouse and burrowed into some blankets in a far corner, her gaze transfixed on their visitor.

  “Put him over here.” Tiki pointed to one of the rickety chairs.

  “I’m fine,” Rieker said, but he seemed grateful to sit. His eyes circled the long room, taking in the blankets on the floor, the stove in the corner, and the upturned crate and piece of wood that served as their table. Without commenting, he glanced down at his leg and scowled. “They’ll pay for that, I promise you.”

  “Who are ‘they’?” Tiki asked. She wasn’t even sure where to begin with all of the questions rolling around in her head. Instead, she focused on his injury. Should she try to clean the wounds on his leg? But he would have to remove his trousers.… “Is your arm cut or is that blood from the first wound?” she asked instead.

  “My arm?” Rieker looked down in surprise at the blood dripping down his sleeve. Fiona let out a squeak from the corner at the sight of the blood. Tiki ran to grab a cloth to stanch the flow as Shamus helped Rieker peel his coat off.

  The makeshift bandage that Tiki had wrapped around Rieker’s arm earlier had been torn away during the fight, causing the wound to bleed freely again. She grasped his wrist and pulled his arm forward to get a better view of the injury. Her fingers tingled with an unusual warmth when they brushed his skin. Surprised, she glanced at his face to see if he had felt the same thing. Expecting his usual aloof expression, she saw instead that his smoky eyes were locked on her face and the walls that he usually hid behind were gone. There was something that looked almost like longing in his expression.

  “What do you mean, you were protecting Tiki?” Shamus asked in a low voice. Thankful for Shamus’s interruption, Tiki tightened her grip on Rieker’s wrist and dropped her eyes. She focused instead on pressing a corner of the cloth against the cut to stanch the flow of blood.

  Shamus pulled up a chunk of wood they used as a stool and sat down across from Rieker. “I didn’t know you two knew each other that well.”

  Tiki ducked her head to hide the guilty expression she was sure was on her face. Had Toots and Fiona wondered why she’d been talking to Rieker so much the past few weeks? Especially after she had protested against asking him to help pawn the ring. Shamus was probably wondering why she was willing to help him now.

  A surprised frown etched across Rieker’s brow, and his eyes shifted over to Tiki. “You haven’t told th
em?”

  Shamus’s eyes went from one to the other and back again. “Maybe you’d like to tell us now.”

  “Tiki wouldn’t hide nothin’ from us,” Toots said. Then he turned to her and whispered in a loud voice, “Teek, are you hidin’ something?”

  Tiki glared at Rieker, but he returned her look with a steady gaze, one eyebrow slightly crooked, almost as though daring her.

  She would not be the first to flinch.

  The seconds ticked by.

  “Do you want me to tell them?” Rieker finally asked. “It’s your choice, Tiki. But you have to understand that tonight was more than a warning. The fey are looking for something and they think you or I know where it is. To get to me—they’ll attack you. To get to you…” His words died off as he looked from Shamus to Toots to Fiona and then dropped down to his bloody leg. His eyes returned to Tiki. “I think you get my meaning.”

  A chill filled Tiki. “That was Marcus…,” she said hesitantly.

  “Yes.” Rieker nodded, a grim look on his face.

  “What are the fey?” Shamus frowned, looking from Tiki to Rieker.

  “Do you know the girl?” Tiki’s gaze was fixed on Rieker.

  “The blond one? Her name is Larkin,” Rieker replied. “Though I didn’t see her tonight.” A shadow crossed his face. “She’s worse than Marcus. Much worse.”

  “Blast it,” Shamus said heatedly. “Who are you two talking about?”

  If Rieker was surprised at Shamus’s outburst, he didn’t show it. “The fey are ancient creatures of old that occupied this world before humans,” he said. His tone was as casual as though he were talking about the weather. “They’re still here, of course. We share the same air with them, but we can’t see them unless they choose to let us. We are slowly taking their world from them, and they want it back.”

  “Ancient creatures?” Shamus asked, his frown deepening.

  “Most mortals know them by the name faerie,” Rieker said.

  “Faeries!” Toots repeated in a breathless shriek.

  “Like the Faerie Queen in ‘Tam Lin’?” Fiona whispered.

  “Oh, stop it, Rieker,” Tiki interrupted. “You’re going to scare everyone for no reason.”

  “There is a reason, Tiki. And you know what it is.” Now he sounded angry. “I’ll protect you as long as I can, but everyone’s at risk.…”

  “I saw the girl tonight,” Tiki said in a low voice. “She was at the end of the alley.”

  “What girl are you talking about?” Shamus interrupted again. “I didn’t see a girl.”

  Tiki jerked her head in his direction. It was unlike Shamus to interrupt. “You didn’t see her either? It was the same girl I pointed out to you in the waiting room when we took Clara to the hospital.” A thrill of fear went through her, causing her voice to waver. “I’ve seen her other places, too.”

  “What do you mean, you saw her at the hospital?” Rieker asked abruptly. “And what other places?”

  “I think she’s following me,” Tiki admitted softly.

  “She’s dangerous, Tiki.” Rieker’s words were low and urgent. “You’ve got to stay away from her. Don’t talk to her. Don’t even look at her.”

  “But what does she want?”

  “Why do you need to protect Tiki?” Shamus raised his voice above theirs, his irritation obvious. “Just what in bloody hell is going on?”

  Rieker’s gaze was heavy on Tiki, and she fought not to squirm under the accusation in his eyes. “The fey are after something I think Tiki has,” Rieker replied. He didn’t take his eyes from her face, as though by staring at her he could force her to confess.

  Tiki dropped the cloth on Rieker’s arm and sat back with her arms crossed over her chest.

  “And what do you think Tiki has?” Shamus’s eyes narrowed.

  Tiki and Rieker answered at the same time. “The queen’s ring.”

  There was a moment of total silence.

  “Rieker thinks the queen’s ring holds a truce between faeries and the royals.” Tiki spoke quickly. “If the ring is unguarded, faeries can attack and destroy the truce.”

  Shamus’s eyes drifted for a moment, then came back to Rieker. “A truce?”

  Rieker nodded. “If the truce is broken, then faeries will overcome London. Already there’s been bodies being pulled from the Thames that have strange marks on them. Savage wounds that are out of the ordinary. And the weather has been unpredictable. Floods, storms. I heard there was an earthquake up round Liverpool yesterday.”

  Toots inched closer, his eyes shining with excitement and a hint of fear. “Faeries?”

  From the corner, Fiona held a corner of a blanket up to her chin, ready to cover her eyes if need be.

  “And they’ve done that”—Shamus nodded at Rieker’s leg—“to you because they want the ring?”

  Rieker nodded again.

  Tiki looked from face to face, then finally settled on Rieker’s. She had to admit that Fiona was right. Rieker was handsome. The wild waves of dark hair that framed his face created shadows under the angles of his cheekbones. His straight nose somehow gave him an aristocratic appearance, and his firm jaw was shadowed with a hint of dark whiskers, making him look dangerous somehow. But it was his smoky eyes framed by those long black lashes that Tiki found most captivating. What secrets did those eyes hold?

  “Can’t we just tell the faeries I don’t have it anymore?” she finally said.

  “Where is it?” Rieker wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look as angry.

  “I put it back.” Tiki braced herself, somehow knowing her answer would make him mad.

  “You put the ring back?” He enunciated every word, as though he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “Put it back where?”

  “I put it back in the palace.” Tiki raised her chin and braced herself.

  “When?”

  “Three nights ago. At the masked ball.”

  Rieker’s face twisted into a strange expression.

  “What’s wrong?” Tiki asked.

  “You were at the masked ball?” Rieker asked.

  “Yes.” Tiki’s lips were pressed together.

  Rieker chuckled and he stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then his eyes raked Tiki up and down. “Excuse my ignorance, but what do you own that could possibly be suitable to wear to the queen’s masked ball?”

  “I bought a dress.” Her voice could have turned water to ice.

  “An’ she looked like a bloody princess, she did,” Toots added in a rush. “All gold and shimmery, with her long dark hair done up fancy-like.” He smiled at Tiki with dreamy eyes. “You were beautiful, Teek.”

  Rieker nodded, a disbelieving smile playing about his lips. “Did you talk to anyone there?”

  “As a matter of fact, I did. I talked to a young man named William Richmond, and I danced with Leo.”

  “William Richmond,” Rieker repeated. “And you danced with Leo.” He paused. “Prince Leopold?”

  “Of course.” Tiki knew she sounded snobbish and full of herself, but Rieker deserved it.

  Rieker nodded for a long time, his eyes far away.

  “So can’t you just tell the faeries that the ring is back where it belongs and they’ve missed their chance?” Tiki asked.

  “You really put it back?”

  “Well, not in the same spot.” Tiki’s lips curved into a smile despite her attempt to stay irritated at Rieker. “That’s the best part of the plan. The ring’s back in the palace, but it’s in a place where it will never be found unless I tell them where it is.” The white of her teeth flashed in the candlelight. “Of course, I intend to collect the reward before I do that.”

  Pleased with herself, Tiki sat back. “There’s no way they can accuse me of stealing it, because the ring’s already back in the palace. So, nothing has really been stolen at all.” As far as she could see, it was a foolproof plan. She just needed the royals to return from Balmoral. She leaned forward to press the cloth against Rieker’s arm where the b
lood was starting to drip again.

  “We’re gonna be rich!” Toots’s voice was loud with excitement.

  “Toots, quiet. Remember it’s still the middle of the night.” Shamus reached out a hand to calm the younger boy.

  “So, do you feel better now, Rieker?” Tiki asked. “I don’t have the ring. Now we just have to let the fey know that the truce is intact and they have to continue to live by the agreement.”

  Rieker leaned back and ran his hands through his hair. “No, it just means that we have to steal the ring again.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “STEAL the ring again?” Tiki jumped out of the chair and clenched her fists at her side. “Why in bloody hell would we do that?”

  “Fight, fight.” Toots giggled, scooting back in the corner closer to where Fiona sat.

  “Wait a minute.” Shamus stood up, holding his hands out for calm. “What’s this about a truce?”

  Rieker shifted his gaze to Shamus. “The truce is an agreement for both sides to live in peace. But not all of the fey want to abide by the truce. There are courts within the world of Faerie, just like the Liberals and Conservatives in the House of Commons; factions who band together and believe one thing or the other. In the Otherworld, there are those in the UnSeelie court, faeries who have fallen from the grace of the Seelie court, who do not want to live by the truce. The UnSeelies are the most malicious, malevolent, and evil faeries. They take great pleasure in harming humans.”

  “So they attacked you tonight believing you had the ring?”

  “Yes.” Rieker nodded.

  Shamus glanced over at Tiki. “Did you know about this truce?”

  Tiki shrugged. “Rieker mentioned something about it the other day.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Tiki tried to ignore the guilt that crept through her. “Shamus, I wasn’t sure if I believed it myself. I thought Rieker was trying to get the ring so he could claim the reward.”