Rise of the Darklings

by Paul Crilley

  After a few minutes, Corrigan spoke. “Stairs ahead,” he whispered. “Watch yourself.”

  Emily found a step and hesitantly put her weight on it, pulling William along with her. The Dark Man had brought her to the cell from the opposite direction, so she had no idea where Corrigan was taking them.

  She counted the stairs as they climbed. After thirty-two steps, Corrigan opened a door into a corridor. A bright light shone from the far end of the passage.

  They hurried along the corridor and through a door that took them into the main body of the house they had used to enter the Queen’s Court. Corrigan paused and listened, then hurried down another passage.

  All the corridors they passed through were filled with dead leaves. The walls and roof were festooned with spiderwebs.

  Corrigan stopped before another door and put his ear to the wood. He listened carefully for a few seconds, then stepped back and pulled it open.

  He ushered them through, and Emily found herself back in the foyer that led to the front door. Emily saw the look of worry on his face as he reached out to touch the doorknob.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Jack.

  Corrigan hesitated. “It’s the Sluagh,” he said.

  “What of them?” said Emily. “They let us enter the garden.”

  “Yes, but that was because they sensed our motives. They get inside your head. They’ll know we’re not meant to be here now.”

  “Then we run,” said Emily. “No tricks or anything like that. We just run as fast as we can.”

  “Easy for you to say,” said Corrigan.

  “I’ll carry you.” She turned to William. His face was pale, his eyes wide with fear. “William? We’re nearly there, all right? I’m going to get you to a safe place, a place where they won’t be able to find you. But I need you to do one last thing for me. I need you to run with Jack as fast as you can. Don’t stop for anything. Don’t stop until you’re in the street outside. Can you do that?”

  William nodded. “What about you?” he whispered.

  “I’ll be right behind you. Don’t worry.” She turned her attention to Jack. “Get him out of the garden as quick as you can. Don’t stop for anything. And don’t come back in once you’re outside. Promise?”

  “Emily—”

  “Jack, we don’t have the time! Just promise.”

  “You sure about this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I promise.” Jack took William’s hand. “You ready, squire?”

  William nodded. Emily turned to Corrigan and held out her hand. The piskie scampered up her arm and sat on her shoulder.

  “You’d better hold on tight,” she said. “If you fall, I’m not coming back for you.”

  “There’s gratitude for you,” muttered Corrigan, but Emily could feel his small hands tightening around her coat. “Now listen to me. You have to think that you belong here. You have to believe that this is the only place in the world where you should be. Maybe it will confuse them long enough to get out.”

  Emily nodded. She placed her hand on the doorknob. “Ready?”

  “No, but get a move on, anyway,” said Corrigan.

  “William?”

  “Ready, Emily.”

  “Jack?”

  Jack nodded.

  Emily pushed open the door.

  It was dark outside, and the air had the damp feeling of rain about it. Emily looked around but couldn’t see anything suspicious. The stone trail beckoned invitingly, a clear path through the overgrown garden.

  Emily took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind of fear. It wasn’t easy. She told herself how inviting the garden looked, how nice it would be to walk among the flowers, how she had every right to be here and nothing could change that.

  “Run,” she whispered.

  William and Jack darted into the garden, Emily following close behind. William ran clumsily onto the path and headed for the gate, looking neither right nor left. Jack stayed right behind him, his hands held out in case Will stumbled.

  They were halfway through the garden now, still running hard. Emily allowed herself a brief flash of hope. Maybe the Sluagh weren’t as bad as Corrigan thought. Maybe they wouldn’t even see them.

  Then she heard it, a low hissing sound that seemed to enter her mind directly without traveling through her ears. It vibrated in her head, causing her ears to pop. Corrigan groaned in fear. Emily looked up and saw the cloud, just as she had seen it before, an oily, writhing, serpentine mass that looked like ink in water. Except now, Emily could see faces inside the cloud. They pushed against the smoky substance, stretching it out as if they were trying to escape.

  The cloud was heading straight for William and Jack. They were close to the gate, just another few steps …

  It was no use. Emily could see they weren’t going to make it. She kept running, wanting to get as close to the gate as she possibly could. But then, just before the cloud reached William, she stopped moving and dropped her guard. She thought about the Queen, how she had escaped her. About how angry she would be.

  “What are you doing?” hissed Corrigan from her shoulder. “Keep going!”

  The cloud halted. It roiled faster, as if a wind was blowing it from inside. Emily saw William and Jack reach the gate, saw Jack yank it open and push William through. They were free. She felt a wave of relief that quickly turned to horror when she saw the faces appear at the back of the cloud, looking directly at her with black eyes, mouths wide as if they were screaming. But all Emily heard was the hissing. It filled her head, growing louder and louder until it drowned out everything around her. She was distantly aware of Corrigan shouting at her, telling her to run, but all she could do was stare at the faces and let the hissing wrap itself around her mind. There was no escape. She knew that. She would be sucked into the cloud and forced to become one with it, trapped for centuries with the other dead souls.

  Emily was vaguely aware that these were not her thoughts, that the Sluagh were in her mind and feeding her despair. But at the same time there was nothing she could do. She wasn’t strong enough to fight. How many people had been drawn into the cloud? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? How was she supposed to fight something like that?

  But then she saw another face push out of the mass, squeezing between two snarling masks of hatred. This face was different. It wasn’t screaming. It wasn’t angry. It just looked … sad. Other faces appeared, snapping at it with wraithlike jaws. Emily thought she could make out the features of an old, terrifying woman, and another wearing an old-fashioned helm. Like some kind of knight. But the face ignored them. It stared at Emily, and Emily stared back.

  “Go now,” said a voice in her head, and Emily knew it was the face talking to her. “I have waited many decades to repay my debt to you, Emily Snow. It is done.”

  The hissing in her head faded until it was nothing but a background buzz. Emily stumbled forward, almost falling to her knees as she became aware of her surroundings again. Corrigan was shouting at her. William was standing at the gate, tears streaming down his face. Jack was in the garden again, heading along the path toward her. The face was slowly fading, sinking back within the cloud.

  “What are you waiting for?” shouted Corrigan. “Run, you stupid girl, run!”

  Emily ran, skirting the black cloud. She could just make out howls of anger at her escape. Faces pushed forward, mouths snapped as they tried to stop her, but the cloud itself didn’t move. Whoever had spoken to her was keeping it back.

  Jack waited till she drew even with him, then pushed her ahead. William was holding the gate open. Emily sprinted through, followed closely by Jack. She quickly turned back and slammed it shut. She saw the face again, and this time saw it was the face of a girl. It gave her a ghostly smile. Then it drifted back into the cloud.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  In which Emily and Corrigan part ways and Emily receives help from an unexpected source.

  SIX O’CLOCK IN THE EVENING

  ON THE SECOND DAY OF EM
ILY’S ADVENTURES.

  An evening fog was forming, creeping through the streets and casting everything in a shadowy yellow half-light that made Emily wonder if they really had escaped the Faerie Queen.

  Emily kept hold of William’s hand. They hadn’t stopped walking since they’d left the garden, and she didn’t plan on stopping until she saw something, anything, that showed her she was back in her own familiar world.

  Except that her world would never be familiar again. Her world would never make sense again. What had the voice meant by saying the debt was repaid? What debt? And how had it known her name? It was yet another in a long list of things that she didn’t understand, things that implied she had more to do with events than she actually did. Everything the Queen had said about Emily causing harm to the fey, about being a pest to them—how? She hadn’t even known about them until yesterday morning.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Corrigan, giving her hair a sharp tweak.

  “We’re far enough away,” he said. “They won’t find us for the moment.”

  For the moment.

  Emily ignored Corrigan, pulling William through a mews that led to a dark, misty street. Jack followed, lost in his own thoughts. She heard sounds of life somewhere to her right, a fiddle playing a drunken tune, the crash of something breaking, then the roar of laughter. Familiar sounds. Human sounds.

  She let go of William’s hand and shrugged her shoulders.

  “Off,” she said to Corrigan.

  “Off? We still have to—”

  “I said off. Now.”

  After a moment, Corrigan climbed down her back, muttering beneath his breath. He looked so small standing there in the hazy half-light, Emily thought. She steeled herself.

  “Now go.”

  Corrigan didn’t say anything for a moment. “Go where?”

  “I don’t care. Just leave me alone. I never want to see you again.”

  Jack looked between Emily and Corrigan, confused. “Snow? What’s going on?”

  “He betrayed us, Jack. They all did. The whole thing was a trick.”

  “What?”

  “It was the Queen who kidnapped William. Or at least, she ordered it. They pretended it was the Unseelie so I would get the stone, hoping they’d use it to find Will. But they just wanted the stone for themselves.”

  Jack turned to Corrigan. “And he knew all the time?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I rescued you!” said Corrigan. “I thought you’d forgiven me.”

  “Forgiven you?” Emily took a deep, steadying breath. She wouldn’t let Corrigan see her tears. “You lied to me. You tricked me. You kidnapped my brother. We could have been killed! Everything about you from the time I saved your life has been a lie.” She paused, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “Or was that part of the lie, as well? Was the fight in the alley a show, put on for my benefit?”

  “No! That was real. Emily, what did you expect me to do? She is the Queen. You saw her. You saw the Dark Man. You don’t betray the Queen. Not if you value your life.”

  “No,” said Emily softly. “You just betray everyone else.”

  “I had no choice!”

  “You always have a choice. I’m twelve, and even I know that. How old did you say you were again?”

  Corrigan ignored the question. “She’ll send the Dark Man after you, Emily. You need my help.”

  “Your help? Look where your help has gotten me so far. Just get out of my sight.”

  Corrigan didn’t move. Jack pulled out his rusty knife and took a threatening step forward. “You heard her. Get lost!”

  Corrigan gave him a contemptuous look but didn’t budge. Emily grabbed William’s hand and turned away, stalking silently along the street. Jack spat on the pavement next to Corrigan, then hurried after them. Emily looked back once and wished she hadn’t. He looked so lost, standing there in the fog, fear clearly visible in his eyes. Emily hesitated. Maybe he was telling the truth. And if he was, what would the Queen do to him for helping her escape?

  “Emily?”

  She looked down at William.

  “Can we go? I really don’t like it here.”

  Emily steeled herself and kept walking. She had made the right decision. She couldn’t trust Corrigan. She had no way of knowing whose side he was really on.

  After a few more steps, she turned one final time. The fog had swallowed Corrigan up, as if he had never been there.

  It took them an hour to reach Somerset House, but it seemed far longer. Every time she turned a corner, Emily expected the Dark Man to be waiting for her. But all she saw was the normal, everyday life that was London: A lone coffee seller shivering by his pot. A fight spilling out of a pub, which they had to cross the street to avoid. Young children tumbling and somersaulting in the street to impress some theatergoers. It was the kind of thing she was used to seeing, and it should have been a comfort.

  But it wasn’t. Everything had changed. It was as if she were watching her old world from a distance, or through a window she couldn’t open. It was there, same as always, but removed from her in a way that made her incredibly lonely.

  Except, she wasn’t quite alone.

  “What’s your plan?” asked Jack as they emerged from a side street and stopped opposite Somerset House.

  What was her plan? She had been thinking about it ever since they escaped. All she knew was that before she did anything else, she had to get William to safety. That was her main concern. If the Queen thought Emily had lied about the riddle, she wouldn’t rest until Emily was her prisoner again. If William was safely hidden away, then at least the Queen couldn’t use him against her. But once William was safe? What then? What would happen tomorrow? Or the next day?

  Should she arrange passage out of London for the two of them? She didn’t really want to do that. London was her home. Why should she be forced to run because of the Queen? No, leaving London was a last resort. There had to be another way to deal with the Queen.

  She leaned close to Jack. “The main thing is to get William to safety,” she whispered, careful that her brother didn’t hear. He hated being treated like a child, and he would definitely have something to say about going into hiding. She still wasn’t sure how she would break it to him.

  “What makes you think he’ll be safe here?” said Jack softly.

  “Corrigan said they haven’t been able to get inside the Invisible Order for two hundred years. Too much iron. It’s the best place for him.”

  “What about Ravenhill?”

  “I reckon he’ll be out looking for the stone,” said Emily. “If not, we’ll just find an old office or something to hide him in.”

  Jack thought about this, then nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Is the boat still there?”

  Jack added, “At the bottom of the stairs. Tied it up when I made my escape.”

  They crossed the street, retracing the steps they had taken the previous night. The fog was so thick now that they almost missed the alley opening. She led William blindly down the lane and finally bumped up against the metal railings. She groped along until they reached the steps leading down to the Thames.

  She could hear the water lapping sluggishly against the wall. Once again, the smell was almost overpowering: a mixture of sewage, rotting food, and the putrid stench of something that had died.

  They descended the steps. The water lapped gently against the stone, leaving behind a dirty scum that clung tenaciously to the stairs. It was almost as if the river was trying to claw free of its ancient banks, trying to escape the rubbish that now fouled its waters. Emily didn’t blame it.

  Jack helped William into the boat. Emily was about to follow when she slipped on the step. One foot plunged into the water, and Jack lunged forward to grab her arm. She smiled nervously at him and climbed carefully aboard, taking her seat on the bench next to William.

  Jack followed and took up the oars.

  Three miles away, the Thames swirled and eddied around
the barnacle-covered hull of a steamer. Ripples spread out from the large, silent ship, forming tiny whirlpools that skated slowly across the water. The whirlpools grew in size, then joined together to form two deep depressions in the river.

  Two heads rose slowly out of the black holes.

  Black Annis raised her head to the fog and sniffed deeply.

  “She’s in our water, Jenny. I can taste her. Disgusting little child.”

  Jenny Greenteeth smiled. “We’ll get her this time, Miss Annis. You see if we don’t.”

  “And our debt to the Dagda will finally be paid.”

  Jack guided the boat up to the pier, and they all climbed out and hurried to the door of Somerset House.

  Emily hesitantly touched the handle, carefully pushing it down. She heard a click, and then the door swung slowly inward. She had been worried about Jack “fixing” the lock to keep it open, but it seemed he had done his job properly.

  They retraced their steps through the building. The doors whose locks Jack had picked were still open. Up ahead, she saw the door leading into the Invisible Order’s headquarters. This was where their luck had nearly run out the previous night. She quickened her steps, dragging William behind her.

  It seemed their luck was to stay the same. The door was locked.

  Emily stared at the handle, then tried it again in case she was mistaken. She supposed it made sense. This was the door that led into the offices of the Invisible Order. They wouldn’t just leave it unlocked. There was too much they needed to keep hidden.

  “Emily? What’s wrong?” asked William.

  Emily locked eyes with Jack. He shook his head. “Don’t have my tools,” he said. “The fey made me drop them when they caught me trying to get into the garden.”

  Emily knelt in front of William, trying to look calm. “Nothing’s wrong. We just have to find another way in, that’s all.”

  There was a clicking sound from behind her. Emily spun around, her throat tight with fear, and found herself looking into the surprised face of Sebastian, the young man she had tricked into showing her the way out.