by A. L. Knorr
“How is this possible?”
“Think of the castle like a rivet.” Laec’s voice came next to my ear again, soft, nearly a whisper.
“A rivet.”
“The without and the within exist on different planes, normally inaccessible to one another. But there are a few places in the world, Blackmouth Castle being one of them, where the mantle between our worlds overlaps. It becomes penetrable to some.” He gestured toward the slender silhouettes of the partiers decorating the castle. “Like some of them.” He looked at me. “And you.”
I was so astounded I could only stand there and take in the view before me.
“The important thing is that you act as though you belong here. No one should bother you, though some will want to talk with you. Smile and move on. The vial you’re looking for is kept in the queen’s apartments on the top floor of the eastern-most turret.”
“Gavin’s library.”
“The basic structure of the castle is the same, but once you’re inside, you’ll see how things are different. Try not to lose your way.”
My gaze flew to his face in alarm. “I thought you were coming with me.”
“I’ll distract the queen’s guards for you. You’ll only have a few minutes. The vial should be easy to spot, it’ll be the only one with clear liquid inside.”
My heart had begun to pound hard as what we’d come to do began to sink in. “No, wait. This is crazy.”
“Do you want to save your friend?”
“Of course, but…”
“Then you must. It’s the only way.”
“Why can’t you get the vial?”
“Would you rather distract the guards?” Laec’s tone had turned impatient.
My mouth felt like a desert, my tongue a roll of carpet. I shook my head. “I guess not.”
“Okay then, let’s go.”
I felt his hand at my lower back and my legs locked up. “Wait, just wait a minute. I’m not ready.”
Laec sighed audibly.
Ignoring him, I turned away and moved into the cover of the trees. Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths and visualized the interior of the castle. Going in through the back––the nearest entrance––meant passing through a wide, exposed foyer with very tall ceilings. A sweeping staircase leading to the second level went off to the left and to the right. I would have to take the right one, then make my way down four different corridors until I found the narrow door opening into a spiral staircase. At the top of the staircase, another narrow door opened into a circular room with windows overlooking the maze and the east gardens. Once there…well, I didn’t know what would happen. Find the vial, take it, and get out.
“Georjie, the night isn’t getting any younger.”
I opened my eyes and took in the handsome, red-headed fae.
“I don’t know whether to thank you or throttle you.”
He gave a grim smile and swept his hand toward the party, adding a little bow. “You’ll be in and out before anyone knows who the pretty blond is.” He dropped his hand and cocked his head, eyes sweeping me again.
A hand at my lower back, which was not Laec’s because he was standing where I could see him, shoved me forward. I gasped and glanced behind me but there was no one there. Laec hooked his arm through mine and I felt myself being dragged toward the castle.
Squeezing my eyes tightly shut, I thought, for Evelyn.
Fixing a serene expression on my features and listening as Laec began babbling in a language I’d never heard before, we approached the partiers in the garden.
It was impossible not to stare. Beautifully dressed fae gathered in clusters on the broad stone terrace that lay between the maze and the castle. They were tall, slender, and dressed in flowing clothing. I found it impossible not to rubberneck. Their hair came in every color of the rainbow, and their eyes were bright and too big for their faces, just like Laec’s. Their ears were pointed, but varied wildly in size from tiny to long and sweeping out to the sides. Skin glimmered with a pearlescent sheen and clothing was minimal. There was no footwear, only some foot and ankle jewelry. The smell of flowers filled the air and I noticed exquisite blossoms around which tiny faery lights danced and from which little birds sucked nectar.
“Put your eyes back in their sockets,” came Laec’s voice beside my ear. His mouth continued to form those foreign words and his expression didn’t falter. He appeared to be walking with a friend and discussing some pleasant topic or relaying some delightful story.
Fixing my eyes on the ground ahead of us and cocking my head slightly to show I was listening, I let Laec lead me through the party-goers and in through the open double doors. Avoiding eye contact with everyone we passed, I watched my feet as they stepped over the threshold and onto a fantastically colorful tile floor, which was nothing like the pale gray flagstone of Blackmouth.
Colors swirled, stripes and flowers, vine patterns and constellations of blossoms passed beneath us as Laec––my arm tightly looped through his––led me to the wide staircase. We began to ascend. Every stair was made of a different pattern of tile, it was a little like the hand-painted tiles Saxony had shown me when she’d returned from Italy. Only these were more elaborate, more colorful, more intricate. I wished I could go to my knees and look at them all more closely, as each one was its own unique piece of art.
Up, up, up the steps we went, passing clusters of seated fae partiers deep in conversation. In my periphery I caught a few glances but no eyes lingered on us too long; no one seemed suspicious. At the top of the steps, Laec released me.
“You know where to go.” That voice near my ear again.
My hands and armpits had begun to sweat. My forehead and the back of my neck felt damp. My expression fixed, I turned down the long corridor, weaving through laughing partygoers. I overheard conversations in that foreign tongue Laec had used, but I also heard accented English words as I walked the hall like I had every right to be there.
The castle felt surreal. It was the same and yet not the same. I passed paintings, fountains, and sculptures I longed to stop and take in. Open doors drew my glance as I passed, where fae lounged and drank and conversed. It was a world I longed to explore, filled with creatures I longed to know. Some rooms had their own musicians, but the music within matched the music played elsewhere in the castle, never out of tune, always in key.
At the end of the corridor came the narrow doorway leading to the spiral staircase, and here I stopped, because there was no staircase. Poking my head into the circular tower and looking down, I saw a well-lit drop ending in a glimmering pool of blue water. It swirled and swirled, slowly and lazily, with what looked like colored petals drifting and turning in the current. Looking up revealed a clear view of the night sky and flashes of tiny colored fairies. Though I’d reached what appeared to be a dead end, the sight of the little fae made me smile. A tiny green light, half the size of my pinky fingernail, came to bob in front of my face. A feminine form was barely visible inside the light.
“Hello, little one.” I held out my hand without expectation and was pleasantly surprised when the little green light landed on the pad of skin between the base of my thumb and my forefinger. Soft as a butterfly’s touch and with a little glow of heat, the fairy landed and took off, landed and took off.
I was about to ask what her name was when she lifted off for the final time and drifted down toward the water. When she hit the level of my foot she stopped completely. Kneeling down and putting my hand out, I felt a solid but invisible surface.
Sweeping my hands slowly out before me, my fingertips crunched up against something hard. I traced the shape vertically until it flattened again.
“Stairs.” I smiled at the little green light. “Thank you.”
The fairy winked like a firefly, then fluttered out the door and down the hall behind me.
I continued up the invisible stairs, keeping my eyes on the walls and trying not to let vertigo overtake me. It was disconcerting to have a four-story drop vi
sible below my feet. Arriving at the doorway, I stepped into a hall I could see, with a sigh of relief.
Pausing there, my heart leapt into my throat when I caught sight of two tall fae males standing on either side of the door leading to the queen’s chamber. I almost turned around and went back down the stairs, cursing Laec under my breath, when the two guards shared a startled look and went running down the hall in the opposite direction. I hadn’t heard or seen whatever the guards had seen, but I knew it wasn’t a coincidence.
Heart pounding in my throat, I advanced on quiet feet and slipped inside the door the fae had left unguarded. The room before me had the same size and shape, the same windows and ceiling line as Gavin’s library, but that was where the similarities ended. On one side, framed by two narrow windows, was a large bed dressed with bedding so light the fabric looked to be woven from clouds. More breezy looking textiles hung from the ceiling rafters on what had to be invisible wire, except that the reams of gauzy white rolled over lazily and drifted around as though they were actual clouds.
Opposite the bed was a wide dressing table with a mirror hovering above. Jewelry hung on invisible hooks, turning slowly like it was on display. Colored jewels sparkled subtly in the dim light, and rings orbited one another like tiny planets caught in one another’s gravity. A shelf recessed in the paneling behind the dresser revealed a line of small vials, and it was toward these I went.
Had I not been terrified of getting caught, I would have explored every nook of the enchanted room, but already I could hear silvery voices in the hall. If they were the guards, there was no place to hide except for under the bed.
A vial in the middle caught my eye, as it contained a clear liquid. I reached for it but paused. Three vials down was another little diamond-shaped bottle with a crystalline liquid inside. Cursing Laec under my breath, my gaze darted between these two vials.
“Which one, Laec?” I whispered, hoping against hope that he might hear me with his magic and his voice might appear beside my ear again.
“That depends,” replied a soft voice that didn’t belong to my fae assistant.
A shriek escaped my lips as I whirled around. I thrust my hands back against the dresser to prevent me from falling into it. My heart did a fantastic leap.
The statuesque fae woman standing in the open doorway––with one of the guards visible over her shoulder––could not be anyone other than Queen Elphame herself.
Piles of glistening moon-colored hair made her even taller than she already was. A sparkling tiara as fine as spider’s web perched on piles of soft curls. Her golden gown hugged every curve and gleamed where it swept over her breasts and hips. Her tapered fingers lay against her flat stomach, the nails long and white. Her eyes––naturally too large for her face and upturned at the outer corners––did not blink as she gazed at me without any expression. The irises were blue. A glint passed over them as if headlights had gone by and they darkened to violet.
I opened my mouth to say…I didn’t know what, apologize, maybe. But she lifted a hand and passed it slowly, palm out, from one hip to the other. My mouth closed and my body stilled. Even my heart calmed and my eyelids felt heavy. I felt as though I’d had a little too much wine and I fought not to sag against the dresser.
She moved through the doorway and stepped aside, leaving room for the guard. He came to stand beside me and I felt a hand slip around my elbow. I stood there, helpless to do anything other than stare at the queen, as the guard held me and waited for orders.
I felt remarkably calm, considering I’d just been caught stealing red-handed from the queen’s own bedroom. I wondered where Laec had gotten to and, almost without any feeling, wondered if perhaps he’d set a trap for me.
These fae had strong magic, magic I couldn’t begin to understand. My own supernatural abilities were rooted in something I could wrap my mind around—soil, plants, trees. But to still my voice with a wave of her hand? That was something else entirely. I thought vaguely and without alarm, that I might never see my family or friends again.
“What were you after?” The queen’s question slid past my eardrums like the warm furry body of a cat coming to lie beside you while you’re mostly asleep.
The image of Evelyn rose in my mind, her pale face against her pillow, the dark circles pooling under her eyes. That glorious dark hair draped over the white fabric of her hospital sheets.
“My friend,” I managed with great effort, the words coming out slowly and very calmly, almost in a monotone. “Evelyn…will…die.”
I tried to lift my hand to point at the vials, but my hand only drifted up and slowed to a halt, as though trapped in cooling caramel.
The queen’s amethyst eyes drifted around my face, then she slid aside as though standing on a moving platform.
“No one steals from Queen Elphame,” she said, almost sweetly.
The guard’s grip on my elbow tightened and I found myself being pulled toward the door. The edges of my vision darkened and everything grew soft. The ceiling drifted into view and something hooked me behind the knees.
I drifted, in some twilight zone, and watched with dull fascination as the ceilings of the castle floated by. A sensation of sinking slowly to the bottom of a deep lake overcame me. All became peaceful and I wanted nothing more than to sleep. So I let sleep take me.
Chapter 21
With a gasp, I jolted awake, heart racing, eyes wide and searching. All of the fear and stress that I should have felt when I’d been caught stealing came rushing forward like a runaway train. Queen Elphame’s magic had released me. My hands flew to my cheeks where my skin felt flushed and hot. My eyes pooled with unshed tears of humiliation, embarrassment, horror. Through a film of moisture, I looked around the room I’d woken in, felt the thin burlap mattress I’d woken upon.
I was in a cell and still dressed in the clothing Laec had loaned me. A bona fide stone prison cell with actual bars over the high, narrow window and crisscrossing the small square window in the middle of a thick-looking wooden door.
“This can’t be happening.” My voice was a whisper of terror. I couldn’t be locked up in some fae prison.
But it was real. The stone was hard and cold, the mattress scratchy and rough against my skin. The air was cool and smelled of…actually, it smelled of moss and mulch and soil, a pleasant smell for a jail. The room was only large enough to accommodate the mattress, a bucket, and a few steps of space. The window was at least nine feet above the floor and through it a hint of morning light fell in a rectangle across the stones.
Getting to my feet, I crossed to the door and tried to peer through the small square window set in its middle. My view was another stone wall.
“Hello?” I called. “Is anyone there?”
Except for the distant sound of a bird cooing from well beyond the window, there was no reply. I tried a few more times and waited. Nothing. Grabbing the pail from the corner, I overturned it and stood on it, reaching for the window sill. My fingertips were still inches from the sill. I’d have to jump to catch it.
“Oh, this is a bad idea.” I imagined missing the windowsill and landing crookedly on top of the pail, overturning it, and breaking an ankle.
I jumped anyway, hooking my fingers over the stone edge. Upper body strength had never been my strong suit. I was well acquainted with the embarrassment of never being able to do a single chin-up in gym class. My arms were too long and thin to pull my body weight up more than a few trembly inches. I never thought I’d mourn my decision to scorn weight lifting, leaving it to the shorter women who could easily gain the enviable firm curves of hard work. I had to admit, being able to do a few chin-ups would come in handy now.
Grunting and straining, I pulled with everything I had. True to form, my frame slid a few inches before my muscles refused to lift me any farther. Letting my arms go straight, I spread my legs apart so I wouldn’t hit the pail and let myself drop. My kneecaps bashed against the wall, and I let out a few choice curses.
; Pacing, I rubbed my temples as though a good old-fashioned massage would release the best ideas. I was an earth elemental, I had powers. There had to be a way out of this. And where was Laec? He’d gotten me into this mess, so I hoped he was trying to figure out a way to get me out of it. Did he even know I’d been caught? What had I been thinking? Of course I couldn’t just sneak into some magic castle and steal whatever I wanted. Why had I let Laec convince me to try? I felt like an idiot.
My eye, attracted by morning light growing slowly brighter, caught on something small and green at the lip of the windowsill. A thin curl of vine––making its life where the seed had fallen––in the dirt between the stones.
I was about to rush forward and commune with the little plant when a rusty hinge squeaked somewhere beyond my cell. I went for the door instead.
“Hello? Is someone there? Please, I’d like to talk to Queen Elphame.” Did that sound as ridiculous as I thought it sounded?
To my shock, her face slid into view. Those sparkling amethyst eyes locked on mine through the tiny square in the door.
“I’m so sorry, my…your majesty. I don’t make a habit of stealing. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it except that my friend is dying. Laec told me it was the only thing that could help her.”
At the mention of Laec’s name, those eyes widened a fraction, but her words weren’t friendly. “Do you know what we do to thieves, here in Stavarjak?”
I swallowed. “I never even knew you existed.”
“You say Laec put you up to this?”
“He said it was the only way. Please, please let me out so I can go home. I promise I’ll never come back here.”
At that the eyes did widen and something strange flickered in them just before they narrowed and grew cold. “We take even less kindly to liars than we do to thieves.” She vanished from view.
“Wait! I’m not lying.” Desperately, I wrapped my fingers around the bars and pulled my mouth to the window. “Please, I’m telling the truth!”
