by Julie Kagawa
Cawing, the ravens swirled together, forming a whirlwind of feathers, wings, and talons right above the Monster’s skull. With a final raucous caw, the flock scattered, flying away in different directions, and with a loud whoop, I dropped from the mass of feathers onto the Monster’s head.
“Hey, ugly! Guess who it is!”
The Monster jerked, throwing its head back. I grabbed one of its antler tines and waved at the eye that rolled back to glare at me. “Oh hey, fancy running into you here. I was in the area and thought I’d drop in to say hello. You don’t mind, do you?”
It snarled, and the tentacles on its neck and shoulders flailed, lashing out at me. I dodged one, swiped at another, and scrambled farther up the Monster’s bony skull, away from the writhing shadows. “Whoops, guess I came at a bad time, then. No, no! Bad tentacle, no touchie!” I spun and danced on the Monster’s head, avoiding the lashing tendrils while sparing a split-second glance at the figures below. “Hey, ice-boy, not that I don’t enjoy monster-skull tap dancing by myself, but feel free to jump in anytime!”
With a howl, the Monster lowered its head and charged a pair of statues standing together against a corner of the courtyard wall. I saw what it was intending and leaped off its head with a yelp, just as the Monster’s bony skull slammed into the figures and shattered them into tiny marble fragments. The tentacle-covered ground rushed up at me, but there was a pulse of static filled glamour that sent lightning coils across the ground, and the carpet of black vanished into mist.
I hit the flagstones with a grunt and immediately scrambled back as the Monster’s claws smashed into the ground where I’d just been. The creature lunged at me with a roar that made the ground shake, and more shadowy tendrils erupted all around me. I could feel the rage and hatred pulsing from them, from the Monster, from the dark corners of my own heart. I could feel the fear rising again, seeking to drag me under, to suffocate me.
I laughed instead, and a strange thing happened. The tendrils reaching for me drew back, just slightly, as if recoiling from my presence. Of course, that didn’t stop the Monster’s talons, which came scything down with the force of a missile. I ducked beneath them, wincing as flagstone chips peppered my back.
“You know, for a big, scary monster, you’re awfully clingy,” I called up to the creature, who curled a lip at the sound of my voice. “Do you want to kill us, or do you just want a hug? I’m getting mixed messages here.”
It smashed a fist at me. I leaped back, grinning. “Okay, so not a hug. Maybe you just need a friend? Are you a lonely monster who’s just misunderstood?”
With a roar, the creature barreled right at me, coming in shockingly fast. I scrambled back, but with no room to move aside, my choices were either leap into the tentacles or get stomped by the Monster. I saw its gaping, fang-filled mouth coming at me, gripped my dagger, and leaped straight up.
The creature’s bony head hit me square in the chest, driving all the air from my lungs, but I raised my dagger and stabbed it into one blazing white eye, before the force of the blow hurled me back several feet. As I flew into the air, I heard the Monster let out a scream of pain at last.
I hit the ground on my back and felt the tendrils latch on, coiling around my waist, arms, legs, and chest. Cold burned my skin, images and emotions flooding my mind, even as I tried blocking them out. Rage. Betrayal. Despair. I felt the darkness rising again, trying to drown every good emotion and memory I had.
Nope, not this time, big ugly. With a deep breath, I closed my eyes, summoning the courage for what I should have done a long time ago. Are you listening, then? I forgive Ash. I forgive Ash, and myself, for everything that happened between us. I forgive myself for that thing with Ariella, I forgive Meghan for not loving me, hell, I’ll even forgive Oberon for being such a jackass all these centuries. Let’s start over, clean slate, blank everything. Free love for everyone, whaddya think about that!
The coils around my limbs vanished, and the bleak emotions trying to suffocate me disappeared. Panting, I struggled to my elbows, then looked up into a pair of familiar silver eyes. Ash gazed down at me, glowing blue sword unsheathed, his face shadowed with concern.
I grinned up at him. “A little late there, ice-boy. Why do you always have to wait until the last dramatic moment?”
A relieved expression crossed his face, and he held out a hand. I grabbed it and let him pull me upright, meeting Meghan’s worried gaze as she joined us. Several yards away, the Monster was howling and thrashing about, crushing the stones and the statues around it with its tantrum.
“Puck, are you all right?”
“Never better, princess.” I offered a real smile, which startled her for a moment. “Just had to find a little piece of me that was lost for a while. I’m good now. I’m back, and I’m here to stay.”
“You hurt it.” Ash sounded surprised, but there was something else in his voice that wasn’t there before. Hope. “It didn’t ignore it like last time.”
“Yep, I did, didn’t I? It looks like the invincible monster isn’t quite as invincible as it would have us believe.” Still grinning, I turned to look at the Monster, who had lowered its arm and was now glaring at us with the coldest hate, its ruined eye now an empty black hole. “You know, I think I’ve figured this thing out,” I said, smiling with the realization. “I believe our big ugly friend feeds on negative emotion. That’s why we couldn’t hurt it, and that’s why it tries to evoke those emotions whenever it can. Things like rage, fear, and despair only make it stronger.”
“So, the answer is not to feel anything?” Ash wondered.
“Not necessarily.” I shot him a challenging grin. “If rage and hate make it stronger, then we should do the opposite. Maybe you should try smiling, ice-boy. Oh, and laugh a little, I think that really pisses it off.”
The Ice Prince gave me a pained, weary look. “What are you talking about?”
Some distance away, the Monster bared its fangs, then reared up with its loudest, most terrifying roar yet. I looked at Ash, who had a dire, determined look on his face as he grimly raised his sword. I watched him steel himself for battle, him and Meghan both, and a wicked idea floated to mind. A ridiculous, inappropriate, completely Puckish idea.
“Hold on, ice-boy.” Reaching back, I plucked something from my hair and held it up: two jet-black feathers that fluttered in the breeze. “Before we start again, we have to set the mood. This could be our last stand, after all. And what’s a last stand without some cool battle music?”
I tossed the feathers into the air, sending a pulse of glamour after them. There was a soundless explosion of smoke and feathers, and two more Pucks stood a few feet away, watching us with twin smirks. One held a lute, the other clutched a panpipe under his lips, ready to play. As Meghan blinked in astonishment and Ash frowned, I regarded the duplicates critically a moment, then shook my head.
“Huh, something is missing,” I mused.
Across the courtyard, the Monster snarled again and prowled forward. Its steps were measured and unhurried, and tentacles sprang up once more, creeping toward us as it came. Meghan and Ash gave it wary looks, but I ignored it, tapping a finger to my chin as I pondered.
“What is it, what is it? Oh, I know!” While he was distracted by the Monster, I slipped behind Ash, grabbed a single strand of jet-black hair, and tugged it free.
“Ow.” The Ice Prince stepped back and glared at me. Not long ago, that sort of action would’ve required me to dodge a swat from his sword or an ice dagger hurled at my head. Now he just gave me a look of resigned exasperation. “What are you doing, Goodfellow?” he snapped.
“Help me out, ice-boy.” With a grin, I raised the strand of hair between my fingers. “Remember that period of time where you were trying to learn a new skill?” I went on and watched his brow furrow in confusion. “I think it was to impress Ariella? You spent an entire summer trying to perfect it. Did you ever
tell Meghan about that?”
For a second, he continued to frown in confusion. Then his eyes widened, and his face took on an expression of alarm. “Goodfellow, don’t you dare—”
I released the strand with a little nudge of glamour. It soared over to the pair of Pucks, and with a poof of smoke, a second Ash appeared between them. He was a bit younger than the Ash standing beside me, dressed in a fine suit with tails, his hair pulled back, and in one hand he held an elegant white-and-gold violin.
Meghan’s eyes went huge, and she clapped both hands over her mouth in both amazement and utter delight, forgetting, for the moment, the huge creature still stalking toward us.
I chuckled and looked at Ash. “I seem to remember you played quite well, ice-boy,” I said, grinning as the Ash double expertly raised the instrument and placed it under his chin, touching the bow to the strings. “Why don’t you start the final battle, then?”
Ash glowered a moment longer, then let his head fall back with a long sigh, raising an arm toward the trio of musicians waiting off to the side. “Goodfellow, I am going to kill you for this,” he muttered, and snapped his fingers.
Music filled the air, haunting violin chords that soared up and around us, followed by the sounds of lute and panpipes. The melody swirled around us, rising toward a crescendo that pulled at your emotions, dramatic and exciting and completely epic. It drowned out the snarls of the approaching Monster and made my heart soar in response.
I laughed and looked at Ash again; the Ice Prince stood there glaring at me, but there was the faintest of smirks hiding behind that silver gaze, and Meghan was smiling broadly.
“There now, ice-boy, who said you can’t have any fun?”
With a roar, the Monster descended on us, smashing its claws into the middle of our little party, and we scattered. The musicians leaped back, filling the air with a rousing chorus, even as the Monster howled and slashed at them. The two Puck musicians danced as they circled the Ash in the center, eyes closed as he deftly sawed at the strings. The whole thing was so ridiculously wonderful that I laughed out loud, even as I ducked beneath a pair of flailing tentacles and darted close to the flailing Monster.
“And this little piggy went ‘ow!’” I said, stabbing my dagger point into one big, hairy toe. The Monster jerked, pulling his foot back like he had just stepped on a hairpin. I danced away, grinning at Ash who was circling around the creature with his sword raised. The Monster’s head followed me, eyes blazing with fury, and I shot Ash a gleeful look.
“Come on, ice-boy, I can’t be the only one doing all the work. So far, the score is two–zero in my favor.”
He gave me a brief, half-annoyed smile as glamour started swirling around him. “Stubbing its toe counts for nothing, Goodfellow,” he returned.
I dodged a swat from a giant talon that swooshed over my head. The musicians danced around us, continuing to fill the air with song, the melody rising to fever pitch. “Well, it’s better than you’re doing, prince!” I challenged, and pirouetted away from the second swat. “I’m still waiting to be impressed. When are you going to start stabbing things?”
“Right now.”
The creature bellowed. Tendrils rose up, surrounding me in an inky black forest, but the air turned frigid a moment before ice froze them all in place. The Monster smashed down with its claws, and I danced out of the way as the blows shattered the tentacle forest into tiny pieces.
I grinned, seeing ice-boy on the Monster’s other side, hand outstretched as his glamour turned the air frigid. There was a streak of white, and Meghan darted past him, sword upraised. She sprinted at the monster, and with a gesture from the Ice Prince, a series of frozen pillars appeared in front of the Iron Queen, each taller than the last. Meghan bounded up these icy steps, leaped at the Monster just as it was starting to turn, and brought her sword slashing down across its face.
The Monster screamed and reeled back, one hand going to its eyes. Unlike the wisps of shadow from before, dark liquid oozed between its fingers and dripped to the ground. The Iron Queen landed and rolled away as the creature’s claw hammered down, shattering flagstones and sending ice chips flying.
“Ooh, nice one, princess!” I grinned as the Monster growled and turned on Meghan, its one remaining eye blazing in fury. “Okay, fine, that was impressive, you two. Now, let’s see if you can bring it home.”
The Monster took a menacing step toward the Iron Queen. I darted behind it, drew my arm back, and stabbed the point of my dagger into its rear haunch, right below its buttocks.
“Oh, that wasn’t nice of me, was it?” I grinned as it whirled with a yelp. “You know, there’s still time to work this out—sit down, have a cup of tea, cry on each other’s shoulders. No? How about a dance, then?” I danced a little jig, dodging a couple vicious swats, as all the while, the music continued to play, filling the air with emotion and triumph. I laughed again, just because I felt like it, hearing my voice echo over the battlefield and join the rising music.
“You know,” I told the creature, smiling as I backed up and it loomed over me, baring its fangs, “you may be one scary mofo, but you’re not very bright. Anyone of average intelligence would know that I’m very clearly the obnoxious decoy, and you’re about to get your ass handed to you by the real powers. So, yeah, have fun with that.”
For just a second, it seemed to understand my words, for it paused and turned its head to where Meghan and Ash had stopped a few yards away. The Iron Queen stood with her eyes half-closed, palms turned up and glamour swirling around her like a whirlwind. Behind her, Ash stood with his hands on her shoulders, adding his own icy power to the mix, and the storm of magic around them caused the air to flicker and frost to spread out over the ground.
The Monster gave a snarl of what almost sounded like alarm and turned, intending to charge the pair, just as the sharp clatter of hooves over stone rang over the courtyard.
With Nyx on his back, Coaleater charged around a broken wall, barreled toward the Monster, and slammed his powerful iron body into a thick hairy leg. The was a crack, and the fiend staggered with a roar, as Nyx leaped from the Iron faery, vaulted off the Monster’s thigh, and brought both moonblades slashing down across its neck. The Monster gave a shriek, flailing wildly, and Nyx sprang away from the lashing tentacles, landing on Coaleater’s back like they had practiced this move for decades.
I grinned as my heart soared with relief and pride. “When did you guys decide to join the party?” I called as Coaleater spotted me and galloped over, snorting steam. On his back, Nyx smiled down at me.
“About the time the music started,” she replied. “We were letting our host chase us around the courtyard, but when the music started playing, it was like he remembered who he was again. Or at least, the Monster’s influence started to fade.”
“Where is he now?”
A massive shadow leaped to the top of the courtyard wall, eyes blazing. With a roar, the beast sprang at the Monster, landing with his full weight atop its back and driving it to its knees. And at that moment, the rulers of Iron unleashed their glamour.
The ground trembled, and enormous roots erupted from the earth, breaking through flagstone and shattering the stones around them. The roots coiled around the Monster, thickening and tightening, becoming as gnarled and tough as tree trunks. They also radiated cold. Even from my perch, I could feel the icy waves, see the tendrils of mist and frost in the air as the roots continued to coil around the Monster like massive pythons. The creature snarled and thrashed, raking the ground and causing several roots to snap, but with a shimmer of glamour, the roots turned to steel cables and the cold grew even sharper.
A coating of frost crept up the Monster’s legs, turning to ice as it rose higher. Ice covered its bottom half, freezing it in place, and continued to climb with sharp crinkling sounds.
I saw what was happening, and an evil, Puckish grin spread over my face.
“Puck.” Nyx saw my expression and immediately held out a hand. I grabbed it, and she pulled me up behind her, balanced on the Iron faery’s broad metal back. “Where to?”
“Right at it,” I answered. “As close as you can get.”
We charged. Coaleater’s hooves rang against the stone as he cantered toward the looming mountain of Monster, still thrashing against the web of ice and iron holding him down. Snorting fire, the Iron faery dodged a flailing claw and swerved close, leaping over the tangle of tentacles sprouting around the Monster. At the peak of his jump, I sprang off his back, landing on the slippery, ice-covered slope of the fiend’s shoulders.
Farther up the back, the beast turned and gave me a look as I sprinted toward him, dodging the final few tentacles as I reached its head.
“Hey, beastman, give me a lift!”
He scowled in confusion for half a second, before understanding dawned in those blue eyes and he crouched, opening his paws for me to step into. I sprang onto his palms, and he rose, hurling me straight into the air and over the Monster’s head.
Throwing back its muzzle, the Monster let out a final bellow of fury before the growing layer of ice reached its skull, flowing over its head, covering its antlers. And suddenly there was an enormous frozen statue standing in the center of the courtyard. Right underneath me.
Pulling my daggers, I grinned down at it. “Checkmate, big ugly.”
I plunged toward the Monster, bringing both daggers point down on its skull, and the creature shattered.
With the sound of a million china cups crashing to the floor, the fiend that had terrorized Phaed and the Nevernever, turned me into an evil bastard, and had very nearly killed us all exploded into thousands of glistening crystal shards that scattered throughout the courtyard. There was a rush of wind, a howl that curled my insides, and a choking cloud of darkness emerged through the falling ice, fraying apart as it spiraled up and vanished into the night.
