by Roz Marshall
CONTENTS
Copyright
Title page
Description
Quote
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
The wolf
A note from the author
Acknowledgements
The Celtic Fey Series
Elphin Irving, the Faeries' Cupbearer
Copyright © 2016 Roz Marshall
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. You must not circulate this book in any format.
The characters, places and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.
First published, 2016
Inspired by bestselling author Anthea Sharp's world of FEYLAND. Discover more at http://antheasharp.com/the-feyland-series/
Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at www.rozmarshall.co.uk
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Faerie Quest
The Celtic Fey, Book 3
by
Roz Marshall
About this book
Playing the virtual reality game Feyland wasn't supposed to turn out so—uh, real. But when things from the game start appearing in everyday life—like a unicorn, or Elphin, the strange creature who saved her life and became her friend—Scots teenager Corinne MacArthur has a problem. Of epic proportions.
And then she learns the truth about Elphin.
It's a truth that shatters her illusions about the world she knows and sends her racing back to Feyland on a life-or-death rescue mission. But Feyland is a game where trickery is an art form and magic is the currency. A game which can deceive the unwary and trap the naive. A game where legends come to life and shadowy figures haunt your dreams.
And Corinne's dreams are coming true. But not in a good way. They're more like a waking nightmare, and it will take all her talent—and more—to escape the otherworldly creatures who've invaded her life. A life which is about to become even more complicated…
“Once you eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains, no matter how improbable,
must be the truth.”
Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes
CHAPTER 1
CORINNE MACARTHUR PULLED off the VR headset, her skin prickling. She was not alone.
Logging out of the Feyland game always left her disoriented. But this time her senses were on high alert, adrenaline coursing through her veins and the hairs on the back of her neck standing to attention.
There's someone else here.
She'd booked the booth in the sim café for solo gaming, but the game had glitched and logged her out unexpectedly. And now she held her breath, pulse hammering in her ears as she strained to see through the velvety gloom. Who could be there? Is it the wolf again?
A movement in the corner of the booth had her scrambling out of the sim chair, reaching into her quiver for an arrow and aiming at the intruder.
"W—woah!"
Someone flicked the light switch and Corinne threw up a hand to shield her eyes.
Framed in the purple-painted doorway stood a greasy-haired youth in a vintage Def Leppard t-shirt, palms raised in front of his chest. The sim café attendant. Behind him, Mother's concerned face peered over his shoulder, caramel curls tucked behind her ears.
"Don't shoot!" The attendant's face was even whiter than his usual geek pallor.
Corinne dropped her arm. "S—sorry." She looked down at her hands. A willowy arrow with a sharp bronze arrowhead was nocked onto a magnificent maplewood bow whose inlaid silver scrollwork looked totally out of place in this modern setting. Especially since she was still wearing her gamer gloves.
Coming out of the game suddenly and unexpectedly like she just had, she was having a hard time getting to grips with reality. It had only been moments since a huge white wolf had attacked her friend Elphin, sinking its vile yellow fangs into his neck and knocking him to the ground. She'd responded without thinking, her arrow flying fast and true, thumping into the wolf's brawny shoulder and making the beast release its victim with a yelp of surprise.
But before she could do anything more, she'd been dragged back here to real life, leaving Elphin motionless on the grass, and half of her brain—and her heart—still in the game. I need to get back there. I need to help him.
Her archer avatar might not have the skills to heal Elphin, but she could try. Or find someone else to help. Or at the very least, kill the red-eyed beast to revenge her friend.
"Corinne!" Mother pushed past the attendant. "What's wrong?"
"Uh, I don't know. I was playing my game, and then I got kicked out or something." Corinne turned to the attendant. "Did I run out of credit?"
He shook his head, eyes still fixed on her longbow. "Dude, you're, like, not supposed to have weapons in here." Jerking his chin at a faded notice pinned to the wall, he added, "It's the rules."
"Oh, I'm really sorry." Reality was starting to come into focus now. But why had she been logged out, just as Elphin had been savaged by the wolf? And how did she have her bow, here in real life? What's going on?
The attendant was still staring at her, as if expecting a better answer.
Think of an excuse. Quick. "Uh, I'm looking after it for someone. Sorry."
Mother hustled across the booth and grabbed Corinne's elbow. "We're just leaving. Sorry for any inconvenience, and thank you for putting me in touch with my daughter. But I need to get her home."
Moments later, Corinne was standing outside the café on the kerb beside their parked car, blinking in the sunshine. Her thoughts were still in Feyland, mourning her friend Elphin. "Mum, I need to get back to my game. It's important. Someone's life is at stake."
Shaking her head, her mother blipped the car open. "This is important too. I got a phone call from the National Animal Protection Charity. They've had a complaint. They're coming to take the horse away!"
Take Ghost? Corinne's insides turned to ice. The horse was special—Mother didn't know just how special—a gift that she'd been given. A gift from Feyland, the game that was somehow more than just a game… "They can't take Ghost! We can't let them!"
"Someone said you weren't looking after him properly."
"What! How could they say that? Who would say something like that?"
But as the words came out of her mouth, she put two and two together. She knew who it would be. Sonya. Morticia look-a-like and queen bitch at the farm where they kept their horses, Sonya was a bad loser who'd been beaten by Corinne at show-jumping. So this situation had all the hallmarks of teenage retribution.
Setting her jaw, Corinne looked down at the ornate l
ongbow she still held.
In Feyland, she was an Amazonian warrior who'd faced unearthly foes and cheated death. A spiteful fifteen-year-old bully in real life held no fear for her now.
But that still left Elphin in Feyland, needing her help. What to do?
If saving Elphin is my quest, then surely the game will pause until I get back? Time moved differently in Feyland, she'd discovered. So although she wanted to get back in-game and help him, surely he'd be okay? Or okay until she could get back to Feyland and continue her quest?
Yes. Ghost needs me right now. She had real-life quest that needed her attention: to save her horse.
She squared her shoulders. It was time to stop being pushed around; time to start sticking up for herself. And time to get her horse back.
"Come on," she said to her mother, stepping towards their parked car. "I won't give him up without a fight!"
CHAPTER 2
"IS THAT THE horse?" The NAPC official pointed at the grey grazing contentedly amongst the herd of geldings in the back field, the man's too-tight tweed jacket straining at the shoulders as he raised his arm.
"Aye." Phemie jerked her chin in the direction of Corinne's horse. "Look for yourself. He's perfectly well looked-after." She crossed her arms. "And I'm mortally offended that anyone would think I'd allow an animal at my farm to be ill-treated."
The man made no response, but bushy eyebrows drew closer together as he scribbled in a spiral-bound notebook.
Phemie kept silent too, but her mind was racing. There'd been a complaint, the man had said, that Corinne wasn't caring for Ghost properly. Which was nonsense. The girl dotes on that horse. And the horse doted on her too. Laughter lines crinkled on her weatherbeaten face as she remembered Ghost and Corinne galloping up the stubble field and sailing over the stacked bales of straw as if they were a mere trifle. He jumps for fun. And Corinne trusts him with her life. There was no way that Corinne would mistreat that beast. "Who made the complaint, anyway?"
The official scratched his ear. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say."
Phemie's hackles raised under her Barbour jacket. She hated jobsworths almost as much as she hated tattle-tales and bullies. She pulled herself up to her full height, squaring her wiry shoulders. "Mr Ahearn, since it's my farm that's concerned, I think you'll find that…" she tailed off, as the final pieces of the jigsaw clicked together, and she worked out who had made the complaint. Sonya. Of course. That little…
Phemie's dark thoughts were interrupted by a frantic shout:
"Ghost!"
Racing around the corner came Corinne, brown hair streaming in the wind and feet flying over the rutted ground. She was followed closely by her mother, the flaxen-haired woman jogging manfully in footwear which was designed more for the office than the farm.
At the sound of Corinne's voice, the horse's head flew up, his nostrils flaring as he scented the wind. With a whinny of welcome, he cantered over to meet the teenager at the field gate, tail in the air and ears pricked.
"Does that look like ill-treatment to you?" Phemie narrowed her eyes at the official, indicating the scene in front of them. Ghost was standing with his face in Corinne's arms, arching his neck in pleasure as she scratched his ears.
Mr Ahearn grunted, and wrote something else in his notebook, black pen flying over the page like a demented spider. Then he tucked the notebook into an inside pocket and strode over to the field.
Phemie shook her head and hurried to catch up, her long farmer's stride quickly eating the distance between them.
-::-
"Mrs MacArthur?" The jowly red-faced man addressed Corinne's mother, ignoring Corinne as if she were invisible. "Tom Ahearn, district officer for the National Animal Protection Charity."
Corinne clenched her jaw. She knew that face. And she'd already suffered from his officiousness. He was the Show Secretary who'd disqualified her from the show-jumping after her crash hat had fallen off. Gripping the toggle on her hoodie, she pulled the zip up to her chin. The complaint about that was probably Sonya's work too.
Mother went on the offensive. "Glad to meet you. And thank you for entrusting Ghost into our care. As you can see, he's already bonded with my daughter and she's been doing a grand job of looking after him."
Miss Irving, the farm owner, had joined them, her arms folded and her face hard. "That's exactly what I was just saying."
Mr Ahearn puffed out his chest. "That's the thing, Mrs MacArthur. The horse should never have been left with you. It was a new member of staff who spoke to the police, and she didn't know the procedures. All lost animals need to be signed over into our care." He jerked a fat thumb over his shoulder. "I've got the lorry parked in the farmyard."
"But you can't!" Corinne stepped in front of him, her pulse racing. "Ghost's mine. I found him. I saved him." That wasn't strictly true, but the meddlesome man didn't need to know about how she'd tamed a unicorn in the Feyland game and how it had somehow followed her into real life. He'd think she was mad, and she'd have absolutely no chance of keeping Ghost then. "I'll look after him."
Cheeks wobbling as he shook his head, the official held up a hand. "You can apply to re-home him. And we'd have to carry out all the usual background checks and a farm visit. But—" his eyes narrowed as he looked Ghost up and down, "we'd probably send a valuable horse like this to auction if he's not claimed by his original owners within a week." Rubbing his hands together, his rubbery lips creased into a smile. "Raise valuable funds for the charity."
Mother stepped forward. "We'll buy him." She scrabbled in her handbag and waved a credit chip in front of him. Corinne could have thrown her arms around her mother in relief. "How much?"
"No can do, Mrs MacArthur. I have to follow the rules. Now," he raised an imperious finger, "take the horse to the lorry, please. I need to be getting away."
-::-
Dust billowed behind the rusty green lorry as it turned out of the farm gate.
Corinne stood watching it, tears coursing down her face and her breath coming in hiccups. The Amazonian warrior had gone awol and she felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and was disappearing down the road alongside Ghost. How could I have lost him too? It's only been weeks since Midnight died, and now Ghost has gone as well. A fresh wave of hopelessness overcame her, and her legs started to buckle.
Mother stepped closer and pulled her into a hug. "We'll get him back, don't you worry. And the man said you could visit Ghost."
"Yeah, like once a day between three and four. And I can't bring any treats or food. It's like he's in prison or something. And it's miles away."
"Still, at least you'll be able to see him. And after a week we'll be able to buy him. It can be your birthday present. And in the meantime I'll organise something so you can visit him even if I'm at work, since your father's away on business again next week." She paused. "He comes back tonight, remember."
A throat cleared nearby, and Phemie said, "Eh, I could take her to visit if you're no' able, Mrs MacArthur."
"Thank you, that's very kind." Mother's brown eyes crinkled at the older woman.
"But I won't be here. At the farm. If I've no horse to look after…" Corinne swallowed, and bit back more tears.
The two older women exchanged a look.
"How about you come and work wi' me on the farm? You can learn how to look after the Jacobs. Might even be able to pay you a wee wage."
Work at the farm? That was something she'd never thought of, but it had some appeal. It wouldn't leave so much time for gaming and reading—but at least she'd be outside and near the other horses. "Well…"
"I think that's a great idea," Mother cut in. "I can drop you here every morning on my way to work. Like I did for the horse."
"And I can drop her at a bus stop after we visit the horse," suggested Phemie.
I'm getting cornered again. Corinne straightened her back and looked the farmer in the eye. It was time to make some decisions for herself. "Okay, I will. But only if you teach m
e to drive a tractor. And put my wages towards Ghost's field rent." She crossed her fingers. "For when we get him back."
Phemie nodded. "You can start on Monday."
-::-
As they walked across the car park to their car, Mother's brown eyes turned to Corinne. "Now, we need to go and collect your father at the airport." A pulse throbbed in her temple.
"Could you drop me at the sim café on the way? So I can go help my friend?" Corinne hadn't been able to save her horse. Perhaps there was still time to save Elphin.
"I'm sorry, dear—" Mother checked her tablet. "His flight is due in the next hour. We'll only just make it in time." She blipped the car open. "And then we need to eat dinner with him. I'll take you there in the morning."
Her hand on the passenger door, Corinne's shoulders tensed. When Father got into the car, he'd not miss the ornate longbow and silver-inlaid leather quiver that she'd left sitting on the rear seat. And he'd be much less likely than mother to accept her 'looking after it for a friend' explanation.
Checking behind her, Corinne spotted Phemie at her garden gate. Could I hide it at the farm? But then she'd have to persuade the old farmer, which probably wouldn't be any easier than accounting to her father for the incongruous object.
Undecided, she pulled open the passenger door, and her mouth dropped open. The back seat was empty.
The bow had vanished!
Mother seemed oblivious. Surreptitiously, Corinne scanned the shiny plastic of the rear seat, checking the dark-carpeted floor just in case it had somehow fallen off without them noticing. But it had definitely disappeared.
Settling herself into the passenger seat, she frowned. Could someone have stolen it? But the car had been locked, so that was unlikely. Where on earth has it gone?
Unless… Maybe that was just it. It wasn't here on earth. She remembered back to when it had appeared, in the sim café when she'd thought she was in danger. Perhaps it appeared from Feyland because she needed it, and when she was safe, it disappeared.
