The Secret of the Dread Forest: The Faire Folk Trilogy

by Gillian Summers

  The door opened and Keelie was surprised to see Elia walk into the shop.

  “There you are.” Elia looked around curiously.

  Keelie turned away and looked at the glass case where an assortment of belly button studs and rings were displayed.

  Elia walked over to the woman. “Hello, Zabrina.”

  “You know each other?”

  Zabrina nodded, and Keelie noticed a shimmer around her. She felt a surge of magic from the woman, a bright and sparkly feeling, like bubbles across her skin.

  “You’re not human.”

  “You’re not eighteen.” Zabrina snorted. “And you’re one to talk—you’re not totally human either.” The tattoo artist waved her hand and the shimmer grew, ringing outwards through the air in ripples. Her eyes were silver now, ringed in purple, and her skin glowed bright.

  Keelie felt the magic lap against her, as if it couldn’t penetrate her own. “What are you?”

  Zabrina smiled and lifted her chin proudly. “My father is one of the high court—my mother is human.”

  “The Shining Ones.” Keelie gazed at her.

  “And you’re Zeke Heartwood’s daughter.”

  “Yes. But how did you become a tattoo artist? That seems like the last thing a fairy would do.”

  “I’m good at it, and I have to eat, too.”

  “Don’t you go and live in the woods with the other fairies?”

  Elia snorted. “The Shining Ones stay to themselves. If they have half-human children, they don’t acknowledge them. That’s the way it is.” She gave Keelie a meaningful look that said, that’s the way it should always be.

  Keelie blushed. She’d thought she could begin to like Elia, but the elf girl was reminding her of exactly how hateful she could be.

  Zabrina sighed. “It is so. Still, the magic calls to our blood, and we have to be near it. That’s why some of the hikers leave with a special feeling. The magic in the forest calls to them.”

  Keelie thought back to the sprite in the woods. “Do you see the Shining Ones?”

  Zabrina nodded. “Sometimes.”

  Keelie turned to Elia. “Do you see them?”

  She shook her head. “The fairies don’t like elves—they prefer human company. They don’t show themselves to us.”

  “Shows they have good taste.”

  Elia scowled.

  Zabrina smiled. “Do you still want your piercing?”

  “You bet I do.”

  Zabrina handed Keelie a clipboard. “Read this carefully, then sign. I’ll get everything ready. Won’t take long.”

  Keelie read the disclaimer and signed it, then sat in the chair.

  “I’ll just tilt the chair back so that you’re lying down.” Zabrina hit a lever on the side of the chair and Keelie watched Elia’s face rise into view.

  “Are you going to watch?”

  Elia grinned. “Maybe it will hurt.”

  Zabrina glared at her. “It will not. Keelie, undo the top of your jeans and unzip the zipper a bit.” She sat on a rolling stool and scooted over. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt. Did you decide on a bar or a ring?”

  “A ring. ”

  “That’s the best choice. It’s easier to turn it at first and keep the area clean.” She snapped on rubber gloves, then got a big cotton swab and poured a solution onto it from a tall bottle. “This will disinfect the area.” She rubbed Keelie’s belly button and the skin around it. It felt cold.

  “Is that Sean?” Elia’s voice made Keelie turn her head to look out the door; then she felt something like a bee sting her belly.

  “Ow. I don’t see anyone.”

  “My mistake.” Elia smiled.

  “Okay, all done.” Zabrina was wiping up a couple drops of blood from Keelie’s belly. Where a naked belly button had once been, there was now a little silver hoop.

  “That’s it?”

  “Yup.”

  Keelie got up carefully, her belly sensitive, and paid for the piercing. She looked down at the silver ring and the slightly swollen, reddened skin around it. Finally. She couldn’t wait to tell Raven and Laurie, and to buy all sorts of cool jewels to wear.

  Zabrina gave her a bottle of antiseptic and directions for taking care of her new piercing, and the girls left the shop.

  Keelie looked at the elven girl’s haughty, aristocratic profile. “Sean wasn’t really out there, was he?”

  “No.” Elia was looking straight ahead.

  “You said that to distract me?”

  Elia shrugged.

  “Thanks.” The elf girl had actually done something nice for her. Amazing.

  They wandered around town, stopping outside a hardware store to admire some metal sculptures for sale; Keelie thought they resembled the water sprite. There was a sec-ond-hand clothing store. They stopped in at the diner for some coffee and herbal tea but didn’t stay long, since Elia was anxious to return home. Keelie’s belly button itched and she had to fight the urge to scratch it.

  Elia shook her head when she saw Keelie rub the skin around it. “It won’t heal if you touch it.”

  “I can’t help it. It feels hot.” They returned to the Swiss Miss Chalet, waved at Zabrina in the tattoo shop’s window, then climbed into the truck and drove back up the hilly road to the Dread Forest. Keelie fished in her pocket for her rose quartz, to keep the Dread at bay, and hardly felt it when they passed into the area protected by the spell. But her piercing felt as if it were on fire.

  “Something’s wrong,” she said, teeth gritted. She pulled over to the side of the road.

  Elia looked at the dashboard as if expecting mechanical problems. Keelie put the truck in park and lifted her shirt.

  She stared numbly at her belly. Elia cried out, her eyes wide and her mouth opened in an “O” of shock as she stared at Keelie’s belly button ring. It had turned to wood.

  thirteen

  Keelie couldn’t believe it. She ran her hand along her stomach, touching the belly button ring that had been sterling silver just an hour before. The itching was getting worse. This wasn’t supposed to happen—getting her belly button pierced had been a long-sought-after goal. Now she had a rash to go along with her transformed body jewelry.

  “I’ve never seen that happen before.” Elia frowned. “You’ve really got this tree shepherd thing in your blood.” She seemed to be assimilating the fact that Keelie was actually half elf, as if this was the first time she’d really considered it. Keelie wanted to smack her on the forehead and say, “Duh!”

  She turned the truck around and headed back toward the Magic Forest Tattoo shop. Zabrina couldn’t believe her eyes. “Weird, man.” She used wire cutters to break the wooden ring. “You need an enchanted silver ring. Let me see what I can do.”

  “I can’t afford another one.”

  “This one’s on the house.” Zabrina held the splintered wooden ring up to the light, examining it.

  “Does this happen to all the elves?” Keelie glared at Elia. She could’ve said something about the ring maybe turning into wood if she suspected this would happen.

  “I’ve only seen this once before,” Zabrina said.

  Keelie lifted her head from the piercing chair. “When?”

  “The transformation of one material to another should be impossible.” Zabrina looked at the ring closely. “Hard to tell by the wood grain what type of tree this is supposed to be.”

  Elia leaned forward. “Our lore has no tales of elves who can change silver to wood.”

  Zabrina held out the ring. “Apparently Keelie can.”

  Elia looked at Keelie with cold, calculating elf eyes.

  Keelie sat up. “What happened before? To who?” She pointed to the wooden belly button ring. “Did someone’s ring turn into wood?”

  Zabrina frowned. “It was one of the dwarves. He works at the hardware store, and he’s a really great artist, too.”

  Elia scowled. “A dwarf. There’s a lot of them around here.”

  Zabrina lifted her ha
nds. “I only know what I saw. This kid came in wanting an eyebrow ring.”

  “What happened?” Keelie’s heart raced with the thought that there might be someone else out there like her.

  “Pierced his eyebrow with steel. It transformed into a small piece of clear quartz—a teeny, tiny shard of crystal no bigger than the eyebrow ring. He didn’t get the rash.”

  Keelie leaned back against the chair, wondering where that guy was now. She didn’t want to give up on getting her belly button ring. “Let’s try the enchanted silver. It’s my tree shepherd ability mixed with my human blood—that’s all I can figure.”

  “Hey, honey, magic manifests itself in funny ways. Watch this.” She pointed to her fairy tattoo. Small sparkles surrounded the tattoo, and like an animated drawing come to life, the fairy flew from Zabrina’s skin and hovered near her. The fairy darted about the shop, then flew back to Zabrina’s arm and became a tattoo again.

  “That’s neat.” Keelie wondered if Dad would let her have a free-range tattoo like that.

  “I think so. Kind of freaked me out when it first happened, but I’ve grown fond of her.” Zabrina swabbed Keelie’s belly button and the skin around it with a clean cloth. “I named her Molly. Okay, let’s get you fixed up.”

  Keelie winced as the new ring was inserted, then sighed, relieved it was over.

  “Now that, I’ve never seen. Another first.” Zabrina frowned at Keelie’s belly.

  Keelie looked down and was surprised to see that the piercing had healed around the new ring and the rash had disappeared.

  She had to find Sir Davey right away. First the sword, and now the belly button ring. Dad had to know, but she couldn’t tell him without having a plan. Keelie didn’t like the fact that Elia knew about this, but she was careful not to show it.

  On the way back home, her skin didn’t itch. Good to know—she had to go with enchanted silver jewelry in the future.

  Elia remained silent. Keelie knew she had to be worrying about her dad. “What do you think they’ll do to Elianard when they find him?”

  “They’ll banish him like they did with Jake.” Elia sounded glum. She leaned her head against the window and stared out at the passing woods.

  “Are you going to stay with the elves, if a cure can’t be found for your dad?”

  Elia blinked several times. “I have nowhere else to go. I guess could go to the far north, to the elves who live in the Northwest Territory; my mother was from that clan.”

  “Your mother?” Keelie had never heard Elia mention a mother. Then again, she would have to have had one, unless Elianard had cloned a female version of himself.

  “Where is she?”

  “She faded after I was born.” Elia sighed.

  Keelie didn’t feel like she had a right to push for more information. She knew what it was like for people to want answers, the details, how you felt when someone close to you died, like your mother. Prying people lived vicariously through the grief, imagining how they would react when their own loved one died.

  Keelie drove on. She and Elia had more in common than she wanted to admit—a scary thought.

  It was noon when they got home. Dad was sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch. His ear tips were red and his face solemn, lips pursed in a thin line. “Elia, Lady Etilafael has asked for you to come to her house. She needs to speak with you. Your father is ill, child.”

  Elia nodded, ducked her head, and walked rapidly toward the elven village.

  Keelie felt sad for her. “Maybe I should go with her.”

  Dad stood and pointed toward the door. “Others will care for her. You—go inside. Now.”

  Still thinking about what was facing Elia, Keelie went into the living room and sat down in a comfy chair with plush, soft cushions. This was usually Dad’s chair, but she knew she was in for a long lecture and she might as well get comfortable.

  Dad paced back and forth in front of her. Knot sat on the arm of chair, purring happily like he couldn’t wait for the lecture to begin. The only thing missing was fishflavored popcorn. She remembered the fish sticks from the bizarre dream. She glanced at Knot, and he purred even louder.

  Instead of looking at Dad, Keelie studied the way the orange tabby stripes swirled in Knot’s fur. Strange—this was the first time she’d noticed a spiral pattern. As if sensing her thoughts, the cat turned around and blinked one eye, as if winking at her. Then he lifted his leg up in the air and began washing his behind.

  Gross cat!

  “Keelie, what were you thinking?” She startled and looked up. Dad had stopped pacing and now stood in front of her.

  “What was I thinking in reference to … ?” She waved her hand in a circular motion.

  She hoped Dad would just get mad, give her a lecture about driving, punish her, and move on, because the skin around her belly button had started to itch like it had before, but worse. She wanted so badly to scratch it.

  He arched an eyebrow. “In reference to going into town, especially after the incident in the woods. You know the danger. And I can’t believe you disobeyed me after I told you to stay here while I was at the meeting.” He shook his head. “I should’ve known I couldn’t trust you to listen to me.”

  “Dad, you can trust me.” His words hurt, and the skin around her stomach was itching in a bad kind of way. It was stinging now.

  “No, Keelie, I can’t. You lie to me. You disregard my rules, and you don’t trust me. Why were you in town?” He stared at her, expecting an answer. His eyes were a combination of sad and mad.

  This was it. She was going to have to tell him about the sword and the belly button ring. She couldn’t put it off any longer. She was going to have to trust him. She looked up at the wooden portrait of Mom.

  “I wanted to call Sir Davey.”

  Surprised, Dad stopped pacing. “Why?”

  She inhaled and then, with a deep breath, the words rushed out. “I needed to talk to him because I have a problem.”

  “You could talk to Sir Davey, but you couldn’t talk to your own father?” He looked hurt.

  “You’ve been busy. You’ve been Elf Dad.”

  “Elf Dad?”

  “You’re different here. It’s not the same as it was at the Ren Faires. It’s like you’re more elf than my father.”

  It felt good to tell him.

  “I’ve been busy. I have responsibilities here that I don’t have out in the world. I’m here, now, Keelie.” He sat down on the sofa. “What were you calling Sir Davey about? Let’s talk.”

  “I can turn metal into wood.”

  Dad blinked several times. “You can turn metal into wood? I don’t understand.”

  “When I was practicing with my sword the other day, Sean showed up. He wanted to explain to me why he was betrothed to Risa. I was mad, and I pointed my sword at him, but then this tingle went through me. And the next thing I knew, the sword had turned into wood. I’d show it to you, but it scared me so I gave it to the bhata to hide until I could figure out what was happening.”

  Dad paled. “The bhata came at your call?”

  “Yeah. Those little guys follow me around. They’re really nice.”

  “So, you chose to seek out Sir Davey’s counsel rather than mine.” His face was unreadable.

  “Yes. Because I thought it was Earth magic.”

  “But you kept it a secret.” 1 here s more.

  Dad ran a hand over his face.

  “Today when I was in town, I went into the Magic Forest Tattoo shop.” Keelie started to lift her shirt. “And I got my belly button pierced.”

  Dad slumped in the chair. “I’m too old to be a father. Keelie, honestly, I don’t mind that you got your belly button pierced. Let’s talk about the bhata.”

  “No wait, Dad.” Keelie lifted her shirt to reveal the red blistery swath circling her belly button. The enchanted silver ring had indeed turned to wood, and now little green buds were beginning to form. It was a solid wooden ring with no clasp.

&nb
sp; “Whoa!” Her father’s eyes bugged out. “What magic is that?”

  “I seem to have an allergy to metal.” She lowered her shirt. “I need to get this ring out. Otherwise, I’ll have a tree blooming from my navel.” Images of Pinocchio’s nose came to her.

  Dad’s face became even paler, and the vein in his neck was pulsing very hard. He squeezed his hand into a tight fist. Keelie didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. It was a good thing he was trying to remain calm, and it was a bad thing if he was envisioning squeezing her neck.

  “Funny, all these years I thought I had an allergy to wood—now it turns out to be metal.” She was trying to lighten the mood.

  He didn’t seem to appreciate her attempt and pounded his closed fist against the arm of the sofa. “Keelie!”

  “Yes.” She swallowed. Maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about a tree growing out of her stomach because she’d be dead before she ended up full of roots.

  He ran his hand down his face again. “I’ve never seen this before.”

  “You can’t fix this?” Keelie’s voice held a hint of panic. Dad stood up and waved his arms in front of him. “I don’t know what to do.”

  That statement hit her as if a redwood had landed on her. Dads were supposed to know what to do, especially magical tree shepherd dads.

  “Come on, I have an idea.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the Magic Forest Tattoo shop, and you’re going to tell me everything on the way there.”

  As Dad drove the Swiss Miss Chalet, Keelie told him everything that had happened, from the sword to the piercing. “Zabrina said a guy came in for an eyebrow ring piercing, and instead of turning to wood, it transformed into crystal.”

  Dad nodded. “Was there anything else unusual about this guy?”

  “Zabrina said he was little, a dwarf.”

  The car swerved as her father reacted to her words.

  “Keep your eyes on the road.” The memory of coming down the Wildewood mountain was still fresh in her mind.

  “We’ll have to find this dwarf. Maybe he has some insight about the transformation of one material into another. But right now, we need to get this ring out.”