The queen was convinced Nina wanted to control the worlds. But Adi was pretty sure that on top of all of that, Nina wanted Honi back. And if Adi was in the way, Nina would kill her. She’d said as much.
Stuffing a spoonful of cereal and milk into her mouth, Adi considered her options. Maybe Nina wasn’t aware of what she was doing. She was a bitch, true. But there was still a big difference between being a not-so-nice person and a megalomaniac out to rule the world.
Adi snickered so hard, she dropped the spoon into the bowl. She shook her head while wiping at the tiny droplets that had splashed onto her shirt. What was her life? Fighting a comic-book villain who wanted to rule the worlds? Seriously? She sighed as her thoughts turned serious again. It was time to have the long-overdue chat with Nina. Surely there must be a way to get through to her, to tell her how dangerous the things were she was playing with.
She checked that she had the bungalow key with her before pulling the door shut. Clouds were moving rapidly against a dull sky. The good weather was finally breaking. Honi had told her there was very little chance of tornadoes in fall. The last twister in Lawton had happened back in 2013 with nobody killed or even injured. Still, there was a yellow tinge to the underside of the clouds that worried her.
The closer she got to her destination, the more nervous she felt. She held her hand out just to confirm to herself that, yes, it was shaking. She knew she wasn’t afraid of the tall woman, but Adi would rather walk over hot coals than enter a confrontation willingly. And she knew this might end up in a fight if the queen was right.
Nina’s bungalow was identical to the Fishers’ house. This late in the day, the building was fully shaded by the forested hill behind it. Moss covered most of its roof. As Adi walked towards the front door, Nina exited from the side of the house with trash bags in her hands.
Adi sped up, hoping to confront Nina without getting anybody else involved.
"Nina!"
Nina turned around. The moment she spotted Adi, her face shuttered tight. Adi felt her hackles rise in response. Nina’s body language made it clear they were never going to be best friends. Nevertheless, Adi had to try. She walked towards Nina until she was right in front of her. For a moment, they stood, staring at each other.
"What do you want?" Nina finally asked. The ice in her voice could have solved global warming.
"I need to talk to you."
Nina looked like she might say no, but then changed her mind.
“Let’s walk,” she suggested with a scowl. As they moved side-by-side back down the main street, Adi racked her brain as to how to start the awkward conversation they needed to have. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Nina beat her to it.
"So? What do you want?"
Taking a deep breath, Adi said, "You need to stop."
"Stop what?"
There was an expression in Nina’s eyes that made Adi want to slap her. Nina knew exactly what Adi was talking about, but she wanted her to say it out aloud. Well, if that’s what she wanted, she’d get it.
"Don’t play stupid with me. You’re playing with fire. Do you know who I am and what I do?"
Nina shook her head, defiance and anger visible in her scowl.
Adi continued, "I make sure that the borders between the worlds stay stable. Your actions have the potential to create a catastrophe. You need to stop messing with things you don’t understand."
Nina glared. "And if I don’t?"
Adi hesitated before plowing ahead. "I won’t allow it. If you destabilize the worlds, you could wipe out the human world, the spirit world, and even the world of the dead. Do you understand how your life is not important in the scheme of things?"
Nina stepped back, her facial expression turning from arrogant disdain to fear. Adi stared at her, frowning. What the hell? A familiar voice behind Adi made her jump.
"Adi? Were you just threatening Nina?"
Adi whirled around. Honi stood in front of her, his arms crossed in front of his chest, every pore of his body exuding anger. He was pissed, alright. Adi stammered for a moment, before gathering her thoughts. How much had he heard?
"I was telling her to stop messing with things she doesn’t understand, Honi.
Honi stood even straighter, his posture rigid and furious. "I don’t know what’s going on. I thought we were on the same level. And now I’m finding out that you’re hiding things from me. Things that I need to know. I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
His body sagged as he took a deep breath. He suddenly looked years older, defeated, saddened. “You’ve abused my trust, Adi. I don’t even know you anymore."
Adi stood stock still with shock. Where did that come from? Why was he so angry with her? She had told him about Nina, hadn’t she? There was only one thing she hadn’t told him. One glance at Nina’s smirking expression told Adi everything she needed to know. Somehow Honi had found out about her deal with the faerie queen. This was a disaster. My God, if the queen finds out that Honi knows, his life is forfeited.
Her body went ice-cold with shock. Everything she’d gone through, everything they’d endured together could be at risk because of this little bitch playing them against each other. Adi needed to fix this. It was even more important now to stop Nina in order to get in the queen’s good book. Adi knew what the creature was capable of. But on occasion, she had shown herself to not be entirely unreasonable. If Adi could just convince her it hadn’t been Adi who’d spilled the beans about her deal with her, surely that had to count for something?
Adi turned away from Honi and Nina, her steps heavy. She needed to get away from them, to find a quiet place to think, think, think. If she got this wrong, Honi would die. If she got it right, Nina would die. It wasn’t a difficult choice. She knew what she had to do.
30
She made it back to the bungalow just before the storm broke. Big hailstorms plummeted from the sky as she fumbled with the key in the lock. A couple of them stung the back of her neck as the door finally gave way.
Back in her room, she stared out of the window, mesmerized by the way the marble-sized ice pellets smashed into the driveway, each impact throwing up a tiny plume of dust. The sky had darkened to the blue-red hue of a fresh bruise. Adi shivered and cuddled under the warm blanket Honi had brought her when she’d complained about the cold last night.
She closed her eyes and stilled her mind. Time to travel again. After so many trips to the spirit world, she was amazed at the speed with which she passed the barrier between the human and faerie world. Normally, it took a bit of effort, but not today. More evidence that the queen was fading fast.
As she entered her private room, Adi stopped short. She’d expected the ruler to stand, staring at the intruder imperiously. Today Adi couldn’t see her. Wait, no. There was a bed in the center of the room with somebody sitting next to it.
Keenly aware of the chill in the air, so different from when she was last here, Adi cautiously moved closer. Her eyes grew large as she approached the still figure in the bed. Captain Diarmuid sat by the queen’s bedside, clutching her hand. Whereas before she had been supernaturally tall and powerful, she now seemed to have shrunk to the size of a child. She lay so still that Adi was afraid it was already too late.
Stepping as closely as she dared, she saw that the Queen was breathing shallowly, her eyes half closed. There were dark shadows under her eyes, the only color among the whiteness of bed sheets, her skin, and her hair. Diarmuid’s deep voice, for once devoid of all humor, startled Adi.
“Why are you back? You haven’t finished your task. She would be better if you had.”
Adi nodded. There was no mistaking the fear and apprehension in his voice. She was about to answer when an unpleasant smell made her wrinkle her nose. The air in the faerie realm was usually scented with the perfume of roses and lavenders, lilacs and honeysuckle. Compared to that, the stink of exhaust fumes and rotting garbage on collection day nearly made her gag. The smell was familiar to her as
part of living in the human world, but it had no place here. The barriers between the worlds were breaking down faster and faster. Adi walked to the window to find the source of the stench. Her eyes widened, the sight shocked her so much that she forgot to breathe for a moment.
The usual sunny sky was an angry purple, streaked with yellow. It reminded Adi of a squashed plum, unappetizing and unpleasant. Underneath the impending storm, hundreds of spirit animals covered every square inch of the queen’s once pristine gardens. The last time Adi had seen a congregation like that, she and Honi had been fighting for their lives on top of a tree. Here, the creatures whined and cried, turning their faces to her as if she were their savior. Adi stared back, humbled and overwhelmed.
“They know you are the only one who can save us.”
Adi turned around and looked into Diarmuid’s desperate eyes. “How am I supposed to do that?”
The faerie knight stared out into the garden over her shoulder. “I don’t know. But you have to do something.”
The desperation in Diarmuid’s expressive face took her breath away. Nobody should suffer the way he did for his loved one. Because that’s what the queen was, no matter how much she derided the notion of romantic love. It made Adi determined to help. But there was one thing she needed first.
“You asked me once what you could do to help. Well, I need you to lift the thrall on me. I can’t be held back when I’m risking my life for you.”
“And for yourself, don’t forget.”
Adi nodded. “So can you help me?”
The fire extinguished in the man’s eyes before he dropped his head.
“I’m sorry, I cannot. The only one who can lift this kind of thrall is the queen herself. She is too weak to do it now. I can’t help you.”
Adi closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. She should have guessed it wouldn’t be that easy. Her biggest worry was if the queen died and Nina took over, the thrall to obey the queen would be transferred to her successor. Every attempt to refuse an order would result in Honi’s immediate death. There had to be another way around this, if only she could find it.
“What about Honi? The queen said he would die if he found out about the deal I made with her. I need you to remove that threat. I can’t do this without Honi by my side. And if he were to find out by accident about the commitment I’m under, I don’t want him to suffer for my mistakes.”
For the second time since Adi had known him, respect crept into Diarmuid’s steady gaze.
“That I can do. There was no magic to that threat, only the queen’s words. I promise that if you get rid of Nina, of the threat against the worlds, I will vouch with my life for Honi’s safety.”
Their eyes met in silent understanding between two people afraid for their lovers. Adi turned back towards the bed.
“How much time do you think she has left?”
The captain frowned. “I can’t tell you, Adi. It would be safest for us all if you went back and took care of Nina as quickly as possible.”
He swallowed. “Although I fear it may already be too late for her.”
The pain in his expressive eyes was nearly too much to bear. Adi nodded.
“I won’t let you down.”
She stuck out her hand. Diarmuid looked down at it in confusion, and Adi rolled her eyes.
“I thought you’d been around humans enough to know we seal a deal with a handshake.”
The captain grinned just for a second. Adi’s hand was clasped in a warm, reassuring handshake. With one last look at the dying queen, Adi closed her eyes and visualized Heota in her mind.
31
The hail stones were still hitting the windowpane. Adi listened for a moment, grounding herself in the human world before opening her eyes. She bit back a yelp of surprise. In front of her stood an enraged Honi, his eyes black with anger.
“Where did you go this time?” he hissed.
Adi’s heart sank. For the first time, she felt an ice-cold weight in her stomach. They’d fought plenty of times in the past, but she had never seen him so furious that shouting wasn’t enough any more. Small tremors were running up and down his entire body. He vibrated with tension, and Adi wasn’t sure she wanted to be around when he finally exploded.
She scrambled to her feet. No way was she having this conversation sitting down. Quickly, Adi drew herself up to her full five-foot-six inches and crossed her arms. It was hard, hanging on to her composure under the waves of anger streaming off him. She had to explain, had to make him see.
“I went to see the queen. I needed her permission to tell you some things.”
That took him aback.
“What do you mean, permission to tell me? When have you ever needed permission to do anything?”
There was no banter in his voice, and the cheap shot hurt. Adi took a deep breath. It was bad enough he was losing it. She needed to keep her temper under control for both of them.
“Will you please calm down? There is a very good reason why I went to see her. Do you remember last year, when you nearly died, and she saved your life?”
His mouth curled up in disdain. “Of course I remember. I was there. And it was her fault I nearly died in the first place.”
Well, he had a point. “Yes, but what you don’t know is that she made me swear an oath to her, to be available whenever she needed me. Breaking my promise not to tell you about it would have meant your death. The reason I went to see her today was to ask her to release me from my oath.”
That caught his attention. Honi stared at her, eyes wide open.
“What are you saying? That if you hadn’t sworn that oath, I would have died?”
Adi nodded. Her relief at finally being able to tell him the truth about what had happened was short lived.
“I find that hard to believe. You seemed very friendly with her when I saw you.
When had he seen her with the queen? This was important—she could feel it.
“How did you see me in the first place? How did you know where to find me?”
Now it was Honi’s turn to look flustered.
“Nina took me. You were right about one thing. She is a spirit walker. And a powerful one. She brought me to the queen’s castle, and we saw you palling up.
Adi shook her head vigorously. “We were not palling up. The queen asked me, begged me, to help her. She told me about the danger our worlds are in.”
Honi opened his mouth, but before he could continue, Adi held up her hand.
“No, let me finish. Remember who she is. She is the creature that balances the worlds. Without her, everything is going to be wiped out.”
Adi started pacing, too agitated to stay in one place.
“It was awful. She just lay there, unconscious. The captain was there, holding her hand. Honi, I felt the barrier break down. I could smell garbage that drifted across from the human world.”
Honi shook his head. He swayed a little before regaining his balance.
“I don’t know what to believe. When Nina talked to me about this, it made perfect sense. But now you’re telling me something else.”
It was as if every time Adi had filled him in on the threat posed by Nina, he listened, absorbed, and then promptly forgot it. As if something kept wiping his mind, filling his memory with false images.
A heavy, warm body pushed against Adi’s legs. She turned around. Ho’neo was back. The wolf leaned heavily against her butt, his gigantic head pushing in under her elbow. She smiled briefly, grateful for the comfort, and petted the rough fur. A content growl rumbled up from his chest and vibrated against the back of her legs.
But when she turned back towards Honi, she recoiled at the renewed anger in his eyes.
“What is this? Where the hell did Ho’neo come from all of a sudden? I haven’t seen him for days, and the first thing he does is cuddle up to you? You instead of me?”
He took a deep breath, glaring daggers at Ho’neo. Adi could understand his anger. She had no idea why Ho’neo hadn’t bee
n around, and why he chose right now to show up. Weird timing. She was so busy petting the animal, she nearly missed Honi’s tirade continuing.
“I followed you into the faerie realm. I saw you with the queen. Nina told me you were the one who controlled the spirit animals. That you had grown so powerful nobody could stand up against you anymore. I brought you here so that my family could meet you. And you’ve done nothing but pitched us against each other. Twisting my mind until I don’t know what to believe anymore. My own spirit wolf is turning against me. Why is Ho’neo taking your side? Have you influenced him? How are you doing this?”
Adi had been listening with growing alarm. No matter what she said, Honi seemed to believe the worst of her. This was the first time Honi had admitted listening to his former girlfriend. How long had he known Adi? How much had they gone through? Yet here he was, taking Nina’s word over her own.
Adi knew there was something else going on. This wasn’t the Honi she had grown to love—the sensible, courageous, protective friend and lover. No, the young man in front of her was a stranger to her. This was way beyond a fight between two people who loved each other deep down. He glared at her as if she were a threat to him.
The shock about what was happening went so deep that Adi was at a loss for words. She knew now that no matter what she said, he wouldn’t listen to her. That whatever she said, whichever way she tried to reason with him, it would only result in more misunderstanding.
“You better get out of here.”
Adi’s head shot up. She had feared this was coming, but now he’d actually said it, it felt like the words were gutting her open. She stared at him, the small glimmer of hope, of being able to sort this out and have him by her side in the upcoming fight, draining away from her.
Her limbs as heavy as an old woman’s, she turned away, her head low, and without a backward glance, she walked to the room where she kept her suitcase. With numb fingers, she slowly balled up her clothes and threw them carelessly into the bag. When she was done, she sat on the bed and allowed herself to break down one final time. It wasn’t until a cold tongue licked the tears from her face that she noticed Ho’neo had followed her and was trying to comfort her in the only way he knew how.
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