Pixie-Led (Book 2 in the Twilight Court Series)

by Amy Sumida

  “Welcome, yes,” Mufasa cocked his head. “Safe?” He shrugged.

  “See?” Tiernan grimaced at me.

  “At least the flowers seem to be safe,” I observed grimly as we left the garden.

  “Are they?” Mufasa passed by us so he could lead again. “Or are they like the rest of us, blooming as fully as we are able until the blade comes to cut us away?”

  “Morbid much?” I glanced at Tiernan but he only shrugged.

  “I would call it accurate,” Mufasa glanced over his shoulder at me. “This way, Princess Seren.”

  He led us up the stairs on the right side of the entrance hall. Up and up we went until we came to a landing on the sixth floor. There we went down a hallway, this one was lined in warm oak paneling and carpeted in deep gray. I guess the stone corridors with their bats and moss were reserved for the lower levels of the castle.

  “Were the dragon djinn all black-skinned?” I asked Tiernan.

  “No,” he glanced at me suspiciously. “Raza's skin is from his sidhe blood.”

  “Midnight skin,” Mufasa added.

  “Like the opposite of moonlight skin?” I asked.

  “Yes, precisely, Princess,” Mufasa confirmed. “They are unseelie traits.”

  “As the seelie have their sunlight skin,” Tiernan added. “Like Queen Iseabal and her son, your Uncle Shane.”

  “Oh, that pale gold is called sunlight skin,” I mused. “What about twilight fey? Do we have dawn skin or perhaps dusk skin?” I grinned.

  “Actually,” Tiernan smiled back. “We do. It's called sunset skin. Gradh has it.”

  “Oh,” I stopped to stare at him. “Her skin is beautiful but I'd never thought to ask about it.”

  “Yes, it's lovely,” Tiernan nodded and gestured us forward before we lost our guide.

  “I guess it is kind of a sunset color,” I went on. “Pinkish bronze. Damn, I wish I had sunset skin.”

  “You have star eyes, aren't they enough?” Tiernan slid me a teasing smile.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I gave a dramatic sigh.

  We reached the end of the hallway and turned left to go down a slender flight of stairs. I was about to ask Tiernan why the unseelie had two types of skin while the seelie and twilight only got one, when we emerged from the stairwell into a long passage and the words died on my lips.

  The passage was lined in display cases. Behind the glass panes were glass shelves full of corpses. I guess I should call them specimens or pieces of taxidermy but although there were quite a few animals on display, most of the bodies were fairies. So corpse seemed a more appropriate description. We were walking through a hallway of preserved corpses.

  I gave Tiernan a horrified look but he just shook his head at me in warning. I guess I wasn't supposed to mention the elephant in the room... which was actually a bunch of dead fairies. Since Tiernan seemed so upset about my run in with Raza, I didn't want to push him any further by making a scene but it was hard to keep silent.

  With train-wreck curiosity, I peered at a tiny pixie man displayed on the end of a cord, to simulate flight, and cringed. He reminded me of Rath, a pixie I'd met when I'd first come to Fairy. This one was dressed similar to the way Rath had been, with a jaunty green cap and a mischievous smile set on his face. The smile kind of creeped me out even more. I've never thought smiles were appropriate on corpses. A corpse should be serene, shouldn't it? There was a little brass plate beneath the pixie, inscribed with; Seelie Pixie, adult male, prvd. 4805.

  “What does prvd. 4805 mean?” I whispered to Tiernan.

  “That's the year, the subject was preserved,” it was Mufasa who answered, turning back to admire the pixie with a satisfied smile, as if he were the one who'd done the preserving. Who knows? Maybe he had.

  “Four-thousand eight-hundred and five?” I blinked.

  “The fey started time keeping awhile before the humans did,” Tiernan took over. “We don't use the terms BC or AD as they don't really apply to us. There is just recorded time and time that was unrecorded.”

  “How much earlier did you start keeping track of time?” I couldn't believe I'd never thought to ask what year it was in Fairy.

  “About three-thousand years,” Tiernan considered for a moment. “Three-thousand-sixteen to be exact. We are in the year 5031.”

  “So this fairy was preserved in 1789, human time?” I shook my head and looked back at the pixie. He was in perfect condition, so perfect that I kept expecting him to move.

  “Magic,” Mufasa shrugged. “Preservation spells work wonders.”

  “If I could put a preservation spell into a face cream, I could make a fortune selling it to humans,” I mused and then immediately put my hand to my mouth in horror. “Oh that was bad. I need to get out of this hallway.”

  “Right this way, Your Highness,” Mufasa waved a hand and I followed him out of the Hall of Dead Fairies (as I would forever call it in my head). I made a mental note to ask him if we could leave via another route.

  After we left the hallway, it was just a little further before we entered a small room. Uisdean stood in the center of it, looking wickedly fabulous. He wore his usual black, this time in the form of a silk tunic over leather pants. Over this was an extravagant velvet cape lined in gray fur. How he managed to look so masculine in it, I'll never know.

  “Greetings, Daughter of my Brother,” Uisdean smiled at me expectantly, waiting for my usual comeback.

  “Greetings...” I glanced at Tiernan and he shook his head adamantly at me until I sighed and added, “Brother of my Father.”

  “Trying your hand at diplomacy, I see,” Uisdean teased. “Thank you, Mufasa,” he nodded to the djinn and Mufasa bowed, then left, closing the door behind him.

  “Trying?” I huffed. “Forced into is more like it. So what is it that I needed to come all this way to see?”

  “I adore how direct you are,” Uisdean glided forward and his elegant hand flowed out to stroke my cheek.

  “I abhor how creepy you are,” I grimaced as I pulled away from that hand, and Tiernan groaned. “What?” I looked from Tiernan to Uisdean. “I thought we were having an honest exchange.”

  “Oh always,” Uisdean chuckled. “I'd prefer you to be honest, Seren. It suits you; so base and abrupt.”

  “And I'd prefer you to be sane,” I countered and Tiernan groaned again. “What? He just said he prefers me honest. He likes my abrupt baseness.” I frowned and rethought the word. “Basanality? Basility? What is the proper word for crude behavior?”

  “Baseness is fine,” Uisdean smiled and for once, it didn't look wicked or conniving, it was just a smile. It looked good on him.

  “Your Highness, please,” Tiernan shook his head.

  “It's quite alright, Lord Tiernan,” Uisdean waved his white hand airily. “I think my niece and I have come to an understanding.”

  “Yeah, Danu says hello and that she loves you, by the way,” I sighed. How was that for being understanding?

  “What did you say?” Uisdean's face went slack with shock.

  “Danu says hello,” I grinned. I'd said it in the vein of honesty but now it was getting fun.

  “The rest,” Uisdean drew close to me, close enough for me to feel the warmth radiating off his skin and to smell the scent of apples. Apples? Really? The Unseelie King smelled like apples?

  Then I remembered Danu's orchard and I looked around suspiciously. Was she spying on me? That little sneaky deity.

  “She said she loves you,” I confessed, still glancing around the room. “She also said it was her right to punish your sins and that I should simply try to understand you and accept what you've done. Kind of ironic since you say we have an understanding now.”

  “She said all of that?” He blinked his stark white lids over his startling black eyes and then ran his hand through the hair at his temple. His mouth parted on a sigh, the firm line of his lips softening slightly as he glided over to sit on the bed in the center of the room.

  “Does that
surprise you?” I walked forward but Tiernan and Cat kept their distance. I don't know if they were wary of Uisdean or simply in shock of our conversation.

  “She hasn't spoken to me in a very long time,” Uisdean whispered. “I guess I've wondered if she still cares about us, about me. What was it like to hear her voice?”

  “It was...” I paused and then shook my head.

  “Indescribable,” he smiled softly. “Yes, I recall it now.”

  “Did you go to the grove too?” I asked.

  “The grove?” He frowned.

  “Oh, right, that's in Twilight,” I shook my head.

  “We have our own sacred places in Unseelie,” he frowned. “Each of them are surrounded by apple trees. Did you... did she give you an apple?”

  “Yes,” I said immediately and both he and Tiernan inhaled sharply. “I didn't realize that was something unusual.”

  “You didn't...” Uisdean started to laugh but it was a self-deprecating sort of laugh. The laugh a man makes when he's standing on a sinking ship and realizes that the last lifeboat is filled with his enemies. “I guess she's shocked us both.”

  Cat was suddenly beside me, leaning into me as she regarded Uisdean solemnly.

  “And what do we have here?” He peered intently at my puka. “You heard her too, didn't you?”

  Cat huffed and tipped her nose up.

  “Did you see her?” He continued talking to Cat in much the same way as I did. It was kind of annoying.

  Cat huffed again and then edged forward to nudge Uisdean's hand with her nose. He inhaled sharply and then laid his palm on her head. The puka and the fairy king stared at each other for a few moments and then Uisdean nodded.

  “Thank you, Catriona of Twilight,” he gave Cat a scratch beneath her chin and then she returned to my side.

  “What the hell... I mean; what the dickens was that?” I glared at Uisdean as I laid my hand on Cat, pulling her against me protectively.

  “Just a little glimpse,” Uisdean shrugged. “You have an amazing companion there.”

  “I know,” I snapped. “Stay away from her.”

  “I like pukas,” Uisdean held his hands out in appeasement. “I would never hurt one.”

  “No, just use them to hurt someone else,” I grumbled but I had no anger to hold onto, so there wasn't a lot of heat in my words.

  “I am...,” Uisdean cleared his throat and started again. “I regret my actions.”

  “What?” I gaped at him.

  “I shouldn't have killed your mother,” he sighed.

  “Is this a joke?” I gaped at him.

  “Not at all,” he took a deep breath and something shifted across his face. His expression smoothed and he composed himself. “If I hadn't killed her, you probably would have stayed in the Human Realm. I made a very rare mistake. I should have let things be. At the very least, my pukas would still be alive. I deeply regret the loss of them.”

  “And... he's back,” I shook my head. “Perhaps you should just show me what I'm here to see.”

  “Oh,” Uisdean blinked and stood. “Yes, of course.” He went around to the trunk at the foot of the bed. “This is Cailleach's bedroom,” he lifted the trunk's lid, “and this is the clue she appears to have left for you.”

  Inside the heavy wood trunk was a chunk of quartz about the size of my palm. It was holding down a sheet of paper with the words “Do not touch unless you are Her Royal Highness, Princess Seren Firethorn of Twilight” written across it. I gaped at the paper.

  “Tiernan, it has my name on it,” I glanced over to him. “My new name.”

  “Impossible,” Tiernan rushed over and stared down into the trunk with me.

  “I had wondered about the strange surname,” Uisdean said slowly. “Then I spoke to my brother and he told me of your new magic. I admit, I'm rather upset that one of my hags has better intel than I on the Twilight Court. But no matter,” he waved at the stone. “The crystal is a record keeper. It can hold messages. This one in particular seems to be enchanted to allow only you to see the recording.

  “What if someone else had touched it?” I asked Uisdean.

  “They would regret it... briefly,” Uisdean said cryptically.

  “Well that doesn't reassure me,” I grimaced at the rock. “What if this is just a trap and it kills me?”

  “Then the Sluagh would hunt Cailleach for you,” Uisdean shrugged. “It would solve one of your problems.”

  “And yours as well,” I huffed and Uisdean smirked.

  “Cailleach wouldn't kill you like this,” Tiernan was staring intently at the stone. “Go ahead, Seren. For some reason, this seems to revolve around you.”

  “Still not reassured,” I grumbled but I also reached into the trunk and took the crystal.

  Instantly, my vision changed. I was flying over water, being swept inland by a strong force. Over a bridge. Along an inlet. It opened up into a bustling port filled with fishing boats and ocean liners. A city was spread out at the base of sheer mountain peaks so high, the tops were lost to cloud cover. I kept going, straight into the streets of the bustling city.

  The houses were an eclectic grouping of vintage and new. Brightly painted wood and striped awnings. There were homes in crimson, baby blue, and sunshine yellow. It reminded me of San Francisco. There was even a trolley car ambling down the road. Where was I? I looked around desperately, knowing this was where I'd find Cailleach. For some reason, she'd left me a trail but I sensed that it wouldn't last very long. I needed to find out where this was and fast.

  I began to run down the crowded streets, my body insubstantial, just passing through the pedestrians as if I were a ghost. A large building painted rust brown had an odd looking face beneath the words; Gallery of the North, North Native American Art. Okay, so that was a clue. I kept going, racing past quaint street lights designed to look like gas lamps and hanging pots of blooming flowers. There was one of those poles with wood arrows on it which showed the direction and distance to famous cities around the world. Honolulu was 2818 miles to the left and New York was 2852 to the right. Great, so I was somewhere smack dab between Hawaii and New York. Which was where exactly?

  Finally, I came to a long building with a sign that proclaimed there was a post office inside. Right beside it was another sign declaring that you could also find native carved ivory and soapstone within. Native to what? Can we get a little more specific than North America? Where was I? I nearly screamed in frustration, looking up to the imposing mountains in supplication. That's when I spotted it, a sign which read; Mt. Juneau Trading Post.

  “Juneau,” I whispered. “She's in Alaska.”

  A rumbling started from above me and snow began to pour out of the sky. It coated the streets, the buildings, and the cars. It piled on the mountain tops, thicker and thicker with alarming speed until finally it came roaring down the sheer cliffs, right on top of me. I screamed and covered my head with my arms.

  “Seren!” Tiernan was shaking me and Cat was whining. The crystal was at my feet. I must have dropped it.

  “I'm alright,” I blinked my way back to reality. “It was just an avalanche.”

  “That's definitely Cailleach,” Uisdean gave a huffing laugh. “She likes to sign her messages with an avalanche.”

  “So that wasn't a warning?” I asked. “Juneau's not going to be wiped out by snow?”

  “No, I'm sure the cold city is fine,” Uisdean sighed. “It's one of ours after all. Cailleach wouldn't destroy a place under unseelie authority.”

  “Alaska is connected to Unseelie,” I growled. “It's not under your authority.”

  “Words again, my darling niece,” Uisdean shrugged. “Just words.”

  “She's in Alaska?” Tiernan asked, ignoring Uisdean.

  “Looks like it,” I frowned. “Juneau. I think that's Alaska's capital.”

  “You think?” Uisdean lifted a brow. “Don't you know all the capital cities of your world?”

  “No,” I growled. “I had other thing
s to learn, like how to kick your ass.”

  “What is it the humans say?” Uisdean mused. “Oh yes; bring it on.”

  “I can't believe you just called me out,” I gave up and giggled.

  “I'm certain the day will come when we face each other in battle, Sweet Seren,” Uisdean stood and walked over to me. “But today is not that day. I know exactly where Cailleach will be in Juneau, she has a house there. She's the Hag of Winter after all and she likes the cold. Come along, I'll find the address for you.”

  We began to follow Uisdean out of Cailleach Bheur's bedroom but he stopped suddenly.

  “And take that with you, if you please,” he pointed dramatically to the piece of quartz on the floor.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Getting to Alaska was a bit of a bumpy ride. I mean that both literally and figuratively. First, we had a bit of luck; there was a fairy mound which connected directly to Alaska, specifically a rath on the outskirts of Juneau. Brilliant. Then came the problem of getting to the fairy mound which, of course, was on unseelie soil.

  Unfortunately, that soil was on a little island off the coast of the Unseelie Kingdom. We had to travel through some dense forest to even get to the coast and then we'd have to take a boat over to the island. A ferry actually; a fairy ferry. I may have giggled over that a bit and Tiernan may have given me a nasty look for it.

  Uisdean wouldn't allow us to roam so far into his kingdom without an escort. So we were stuck with a group of unseelie knights, which doubled our original number. We couldn't take the Star's Guard or Cat into Juneau (can you imagine?) so that meant that they would have to camp out on the island with the unseelie. Awkward.

  I agreed to Uisdean's terms simply because I didn't have a choice. I needed to get to Juneau and I needed to do it fast. Going back to Twilight to travel to a fairy mound there and then take a plane to Juneau, would take far too long. I could have tried my new trick of riding the In-Between but then I wouldn't be able to take Tiernan with me. So I found myself settling in with Tiernan and Cat for a long carriage ride through the Unseelie Forest.