11. Miri
11
Miri
T he closer we got to Killwater, the more uneasy I became. Fear lined the inside of my stomach like lead, pulling me down into the watery depths of near hysteria. The last time we’d come here, the trees warned me we would find nothing but chaos in Faerie, and that was exactly what happened. We should have listened to them.
“Imagine a sanctuary,” Donnelly said, bringing me back to the present. We were currently on the tail end of a three-hour drive from Dublin to Killwater, where the lieutenant had taken the opportunity to teach Ivy and me those mental barriers. “One surrounded by a shield only you can manipulate. It could be anything…a stone wall, a field of thistles, a deep body of water. It should be personal to you.”
The thistles had worked to keep the king and the queen out for some time, until they didn’t. A symbol of House Stuart, I’d always identified with the plant. It had thorns and grew so fast it was nearly untamable, but when it bloomed in bright magentas, maroons, and whites, it reminded me that even grumpy, spiky things could be beautiful. Even weeds had their purpose.
Today, I envisioned a stone tower sitting atop a seaside cliff, like the ones near Aberdeen, the ones where ancient kings put their forts so everyone who visited knew they held the highest position of power in the area. It looked out over the ocean so the only way to penetrate would be from the front. I’d see anyone coming days before they attacked.
The walls were solid stone, the kind my ancestors had used to build their immortal monuments to conquest. No one could get through, not without laying a siege that would last a lifetime.
“Focus on reinforcing those shields,” Donnelly continued, his voice like honey as it washed over me. “Make this place as sacred to you as you can, so that you can come here whenever you feel him breaking through.”
“Mental manipulation is about making that person think what you want them to think,” Siobhan said. “If the king invades, go to your safe space. He won’t be able to break through, and you won’t have to worry about which memories you’ll reveal to him.”
“It’s that simple, huh?” Ivy snorted out a disbelieving laugh. “I would have thought I’d be better at this after all these years.”
“I’ve lived for centuries, and I’m still learning how to reinforce my mental walls,” Finn said from the driver’s seat.
I glanced in the third row to find Diana and Poppy huddled together. They hadn’t said much since we got off the plane, but after everything they’d been through, I didn’t expect them to be particularly loquacious.
“Again,” Donnelly said, drawing my attention back to him. “The more unique and personal it is, the harder it will be for him to get in.”
He drilled us the entire way, to the point that Lex and Carter joined in as well. They’d never had the same problem as Ivy and me. The king didn’t seem to pay them much attention, choosing instead to focus his assaults on the two of us. I wondered what that could mean, but before I went down that mental pathway, the vehicle came to a stop.
“We’re here,” Finn said.
Well after midnight, I stepped out of the SUV to the same sense of foreboding I had at Samhain. The windows lining the cobblestone streets were dark, hinting how long ago its residents had gone to bed, and most of the shops were boarded over or painted with ‘for sale’ logos. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the place had been abandoned. Or worse.
“Help us,” the trees hissed, sending a vibrant shock wave of desperation my way. It rattled through me, stirring my dinner and sending it up the back of my throat. I swallowed it and gasped, clenching my eyes shut as the trees sent another plume of magic toward me. “ Help us. Help us. Help us.”
I curled in on myself, the next bout of trepidation hitting me right in the chest. It sounded like the trees, true. But it also sounded like Lizzie and Kit. It reminded me that Jon and Edward were also missing, that the king had our loved ones and we needed to find them just as badly.
Lex glanced around. “This place has gone to hell.”
“Miri?” Ivy said, wrapping an arm around me. “Are you okay?”
“It’s the trees,” I said, catching Siobhan’s and Finn’s attention. “They’re…” My heart pounded against my rib cage. This was so much different from the last time we’d come here. Then, they had warned me to turn around and go home, to take my beloveds and keep them safe. We would only find danger if we took that route. Now, they beckoned me toward them like I held the key to eternal life, like I could lay my hands on their roots and cure them of whatever sickness had taken hold of their magic with such a fierce grip. “They’re sick. They’re rotting from the inside out.”
Siobhan exchanged a worried glance with Finn and Donnelly, who both echoed her concern with furrowed brows and clenched jaws. “We need to hurry.”
“What does that mean?” Carter asked, wrapping his arms around me and rubbing his hands soothingly over my upper arms.
“It means we’re running out of time.” Siobhan shook her head and ran her hands over her face.
“This place is very deeply connected to the magic in the woods,” Finn explained. “The veil is thin between our world and yours. If the trees are rotting, then it’s only a matter of time before it spreads.”
When Diana and Poppy got out of the SUV, they both froze, as if immediately sensing the same thing I had. Whatever had infected this place ran deeper than the woods. It had taken the very essence of Killwater and warped it into a dark, vile monstrosity. I didn’t want to stay here. I wanted to get back in the vehicle and run to safety. But if we didn’t do what we’d come here to do, there would be no such place.
“I can sense him,” Ivy said, bringing the attention to her as she gripped at a temple. “Siobhan, you were right. He’s trying to break through my mental barriers. He’s close…he followed us here.”
At her words, I shivered and reinforced my stone tower, determined to keep him out.
“We need to find the Fianna and the battle maidens.” Donnelly made eye contact with me before glancing to Ivy. “Wait here. Keep reinforcing what you’ve built. The more mental energy you put into it, the stronger it will be, the more it will keep him out.”
“And try to heal the queen,” Siobhan said, nodding. “If putting your hands on her helped her before, then try again.”
Finn translated all of this to Diana, and she gave a hesitant nod of approval, her fearful eyes peering around at our dark surroundings with the same skepticism I felt brewing in my belly. This wasn’t a good place, and everything about it warned us to stay away.
“We shouldn’t be here,” Poppy said, rubbing her swollen, tear-stained eyes as she clung to Diana’s skirts. “It doesn’t want us here.”
“I hate to say I agree,” Carter added. “It gives me the fucking creeps.”
The atmosphere reminded me of an old horror movie where the protagonists leave town for a night, only to return and find it desolate and abandoned.
“Stay,” Siobhan said, nodding toward the path that led toward the woods. “And if the world burns down, use the ring to get in touch with me.”
Ivy glanced down at the metal decorating her right ring finger. “I can do that?”
Siobhan nodded and took off, her commander and lieutenant following on either side of her. I turned to my spouses, hugging myself as the foul, disgusting ache in my stomach writhed around my heart. We weren’t meant to be here, and the sooner we did our business and left, the better it would be for everyone.
This would be the last time I ever stepped foot in this place, and once we defeated the king, I would make it a point to never come back. Even as a twenty-two-year-old senior in college, the old town had contained a mystical quality that separated it from the rest of the world. This far north, it had been sheltered by a lot of the politics that shaped the country. The residents of Killwater still believed in the old ways, and the fact we found the place entirely derelict hinted at the terrible things that must have happened to it.
“If their magic is so connected to Killwater, what do you think happened to make it look like this?” Carter asked, walking up the steps to the pub that had once been owned by Siobhan. By Samhain, an older couple named Bill and Keely had turned the upstairs into a bed-and-breakfast. However, Carter yanked on the doors and revealed a darkened interior with leaves and dust decorating the ground. The windows had been left open, exposing it to the elements, so the place had become overrun with insects and plant life.
“The king and queen are gone.” Ivy glanced around, gesturing to a booth for Poppy and Diana to sit. Still unable to separate, they did, clinging to each other’s hands with identical looks of confusion in their eyes. “Remember what Siobhan told us? Faerie can’t survive them being absent for long, and our realm can’t tolerate them being here.”
“We’ve upset the balance.” Lex whistled and glanced around, pursing his lips as he wiped a finger down the bar top and examined the inch of dust left behind. “We must pay the sacrifice.” With an indignant snort, he rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Whatever the fuck that means.”
I didn’t like the sound of any of this, but I’d admit, it was difficult to focus over the warning hiss of the trees.
“Help, help, help,” they cried, vibrating with a weak sort of helplessness. “ Come quick!”
I shivered against it and clenched my eyes shut, holding myself tighter, wishing I didn’t know what they were saying. It wasn’t a good thing they were so insistent we come closer, and I feared whatever was polluting them would inevitably drag us down with it.
Diana whispered something to Poppy, drawing my attention back to her. This time, a faint shimmer twisted around her head, almost like…almost like a dust cloud had formed in dark crimson swirls.
“What do you think it means? The sacrifice?” Ivy slumped into the booth behind Diana and Poppy, and I followed her, sitting across the table while Carter and Lex raided the fridge behind the bar.
I focused on the shimmering spirals around Diana, now picking up speed as it continued circling the queen. Could no one else see this? Was I the only one?
“Nothing, obviously.” Lex grabbed a few bottles of water and walked back to Ivy and me, handing one to each of us before opening his own and sitting down next to Ivy. “Prophecies are bullshit, or have we forgotten Poppy is supposed to be the almighty key that will reunite the fairies and the humans?”
She was, at least according to Ashley. But I wouldn’t hitch my pony to that cart quite yet. Some chosen one Poppy had turned out to be. She’d hand delivered my cousin and extended family to the king, which in turn had led to the deaths of my parents, Lex’s brother, and almost Carter’s father. Lex told us we shouldn’t have trusted her, and despite his involvement in honing her new ability, using it to our advantage had been a terrible mistake.
“I won’t use my power again,” Poppy said, shaking her head. “I don’t care what he does. It was horrible…I was too upset to teleport. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get back.” Diana hugged her tighter, murmuring something in Faero-Gaelic that sounded soothing and maternal. Poppy seemed to eat it up, but we all knew better. She played the part of a twelve-year-old, but those eyes told a different tale. I looked at her, and an old soul peered out.
“Are you sure about that?” Lex raised an eyebrow at the changeling, which got my attention. Of course, we shouldn’t use her power again. Messing with time was never a good idea.
“What are you thinking?” Ivy asked, clearly already onto Lex’s ulterior motive.
“What if she went back in time and asked the fairy queen how they kept the king out the first time?” Lex shrugged. “What if she asked her how to fix the ruby dust and where the king would keep our family members?”
I immediately hated the idea for reasons I couldn’t explain. The dust around Diana’s head spun faster, growing more frantic the longer we talked. The queen winced, grimacing through it, almost like she could sense the same thing I could.
“That feels like cheating,” Carter said, rubbing a hand over the back of his head as he sat down next to me. “She might not tell us, even if she knew.”
Lex looked at Diana, narrowing his gaze on the queen of fairies. “You’ve been awfully quiet since Finn told you what was going on.”
She glanced down to the table between us, shaking her head like she didn’t understand him. But something had changed in her since we touched her yesterday, and now that we were in Killwater, she had a glimmer to her eyes that almost reminded me of when she’d been at the height of her power.
“We should try to help her again,” I said, squinting at the queen as I held my hand out. “I see what’s wrong with her now.”
Diana glanced down at it, biting her bottom lip before looking at Poppy. The young girl nodded and shrugged as if to say it couldn’t hurt.
“What do you mean?” Carter stood and came closer, placing his hand in mine, palm up, his scars on display.
“I can see the ruby dust around her head.” I told them what I suspected, how it felt similar to when I connected with the earth’s energy. “I think…I think I can heal her.”
“You can?” Poppy’s eyes grew wider. “You have to help her. Please, Miri. Please.”
“And why should we listen to you, huh?” Lex sneered, raising an eyebrow at her. “Didn’t you run off to betray us at the first opportunity?”
“Lex, cut it out.” Ivy stood and walked to stand next to Carter, putting her hand over his. “Poppy already feels bad enough.”
There would be time to admonish the changeling for what she’d done. I understood her reasoning, even if I didn’t agree with her choices. It didn’t matter anymore. We were here, staring down the end on the horizon. We had to keep plowing forward; we didn’t have a choice. Diana still hadn’t moved, almost like she was apprehensive of joining in. Had it hurt last time? She’d yanked her hand away rather suddenly.
“For goodness’ sake.” Poppy grabbed Diana’s arm and put her hand in Ivy’s. “It’ll be fine. Right, Carter?”
Carter nodded, but he had no way to know that. Of course, his fairy curse had made him the luckiest person on this side of the realm. So if anyone was going to give us a boost of confidence, it was him. Once the four of us were connected, Lex opened his mouth to speak, but I shushed him.
“Allow me,” I said, closing my eyes while I let the energy of our connection flow through me. “ Heal .” I sensed the sickness in her the same way I knew when a plant was dying or thirsty. It started in her heart, a decaying vibration that had spread to her brain and stomach. It picked away at her sense of self, removing her further from who she truly was every day it went untreated.
Ivy gasped, a visceral pulse shooting from her hand into the rest of us, combining with Lex’s frigid ability to seek the truth. Carter radiated fortune, amplifying the warmth and light we’d need to find the darkest parts of Diana. The queen squirmed, groaning as I poured all of it into her, nearly trembling with the potency of our combined gift.
“ Heal,” I said again, my voice deeper and more robotic. It sounded properly demonic, but it contained the strength to break through. The crimson particles swirled faster, the cloud around her growing more dense, so thick it became impossible to see her through it. My heart pounded and my hands grew sweaty, shaking as the rush of our power roared again.
Diana tried to pull away, her soft panting now more alarmed and terrified. But no, we were almost there. This was for her own good, for the good of the world, for all of fairydom and humanity. We needed the queen back. We needed her to help us fix this, to set everything right.
There. I saw it, deep down inside of her, a faint burst of light that hummed with the radiance I associated with her. It had been tucked away, hidden behind a cloud of impenetrable red magic. I went closer, making sure to hold on to my spouses while I did. Ivy and Carter mentally urged me on, and when I visualized them in my head, I saw the four of us standing in the woods at twilight. A soft peachy haze coated the sky, painting the world in soft blushes and violets.
A few feet in front of us stood an enormous white tent, like the one she’d occupied the first time we met her. Rustling inside got my attention, and I climbed the steps to the porch, taking a deep breath as I walked toward the entrance.