Chapter 43
I t says a lot about my parents that when they answer a call from a strange number to find out it’s me and that I need them to drive forty-five minutes to pick me up from a trailhead in the foothills, they don’t question it.
They agree, shove the dinner they were preparing in the fridge, and come at once.
A far cry from the hikers I met, who, while polite and helpful, keep sharing pointed looks at each other all the way back to the trailhead and ask about five times if I’m sure there isn’t someone else they need to call. You know, like the cops or something like that.
The fact that I tell them my boyfriend dumped me while we were LARPing during a camping trip probably doesn’t help.
It’s the first thing I can think of that might explain my outfit and why I was alone and visibly upset.
But they don’t even know what LARPing is, and trying to explain it to them and why we were so far off the trail and that I don’t have any stuff with me, only makes them look at me even more sideways.
Oh well. They can think what they want. My parents, however, get the truth. Well, most of it. And they manage to take the fact that their daughter was in Faery, in the Unseelie lands, remarkably well, all things considered.
I mean, Dad almost crashes the car, but hey, who wouldn’t at such a revelation?
I probably shouldn’t have told him those things while he was driving, but I couldn’t very well not explain what had happened either.
But all my wild stories and their shock at where I’d been have nothing on what follows after we get home.
A miracle. That’s what people will call it.
How else could it possibly be described when someone’s internal organs repair themselves and a terminal illness suddenly and dramatically reverses course?
God will get the credit, and I’m cool with that. It’ll be easier for most to digest than the truth—that I managed to bring back a healing potion from Faery that hasn’t been used in literal ages. Only my parents and Matt know that, a fact I manage to get them all to keep quiet. For now.
Word will get out that I’m home. Sooner or later, the coven will learn that the Unseelie King has marked a human. That his sword is restored and he’s more powerful than ever. That I failed to lead him into a trap to destroy him.
Powering him and his sword was the literal opposite of what I was supposed to do. There will be consequences. I told my parents as much on the drive home. That didn’t bother them nearly as much as I thought it might. Though after everything else, it was probably the tamest of the revelations.
We’ll get through it. It’ll be fine as long as we’re all together.
I wish I had their optimism.
We’re so glad you’re home safe. Can this really save Matt? After all these years of trying?
It should be the best moment of my life, watching Matt take the potion, the minutes and hours afterward, as it becomes clear that it’s working. There are so many happy tears and hugs, ones I share gladly.
Disbelief.
Then pure joy.
I saved my brother.
I finally accomplished a goal I’ve had for pretty much my whole life. I’ve never seen my parents so happy. Never. Nor have I seen Dad cry. He always said Mom had enough tears for both of them, which is probably true. But he cries now. Freely. Joyfully.
There is so much of everything in the room.
So why does it feel like I’m watching it from a distance? Why do I feel numb instead of elated?
Mom and Dad are loath to leave Matt’s side, probably worried that it might be some illusion and he will regress again.
Or just ready to bask in a moment of happiness after so much hardship.
Who can say? But I’m just…there. It’s late.
I am empty. So, I go to my room and utterly collapse on the bed, falling asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.
That’s where Matt finds me hours later.
The creak of the door and light spilling in from the hall wakes me.
At first, I think it’s a dream. There is my brother, steady, smiling, surrounded by light.
Then I panic, thinking he’s an angel visiting me one last time before moving on.
It isn’t until he climbs on the bed with me and wraps me in a hug that it sinks in that he is real and everything floods back.
I sob into his shoulder, crying tears I didn’t know I had left.
When they finally slow, Matt says, “Tell me, Aimee. Tell me everything.”
And so, after grabbing some much-needed food and water, I do, managing somehow not to cry anymore. I guess the tears really have run out.
My parents got pieces of the story, just enough to understand where I’ve been and what I returned with. But Matt? I do exactly what he asks and truly tell him everything.
He listens intently, eyes going wide, mouth gaping open at times. There are hugs, hand squeezes, and soft smiles. But no judgment. No criticism. Well, other than a rebuke about what I was thinking risking my life for his.
The journal I kept for him is lost. Maybe burned or tossed out at this point for fear it could be tracked. Who knows. I suppose it really doesn’t matter in the end. My memory is sharp, and it will take many more nights like this one to give him all the details about the fae that I know he craves.
“The hikers were shocked, of course, but they let me borrow their phone and make a call,” I say, finally getting to the end of my tale.
“The doorway was remarkably close to home. Maybe the magic knew that somehow? Anyhow, they insisted on waiting with me until Mom and Dad arrived. The man totally whispered to his girlfriend about calling the cops, but thankfully, she cowed him into not going that.” I shrug.
“They probably thought I was on drugs or something.”
“Who cares what they think,” Matt blurts. “Aimee. He loves you!”
“The hiker?” I’d been staring at the pale blue comforter and finally snap my gaze up to his.
“Uh, no, the king. Elias.” He practically bounces on his knees on the bed. “He loves you!”
Hearing his name wrenches something in my heart. “He sent me away.”
Matt rolls his eyes and lets out a little groan. “To save you . Because he loves you.”
“I betrayed him, Matt.” I spread my arms wide in exasperation. “I was bait. I used him for my purposes, and the moment he found out why the coven had sent me there and what they were planning to do, he opened that door with his sword and literally shoved me through.”
“You cannot be this dense.”
I rear back like he’s slapped me.
“He kissed you. Left you the potion. And sent you basically straight back here to me and away from that asshole who wanted to kill you, and got you away from the coven and whatever they might have been planning. He sent away a human , with his mark, who could give him more power than he’s ever had. ”
Okay, when he puts it like that…
“He loves you, Aims. It’s obvious.” He pokes me hard in the chest. “And you love him.”
“Oww.” I rub at it, leaning away from him. “I…” Shit, there is no point in denying it. “It’s that obvious?”
“Ugh.” He tugs at his hair before flopping back on the bed. Seeing him move so much, so easily, it’s strange and exciting in and of itself. “You’re the smartest person I know yet so stupid sometimes.”
“Thanks,” I deadpan.
“But what I want to know is why you’re here crying over him instead of going to Faery and saving your man.” He gives me a pointed look, clearly waiting for an answer. I open my mouth to reply, but he adds quickly, “And don’t even think about mentioning that he sent you away again.”
I close it. Damn it.
“What am I supposed to do?” I say in exasperation. “The coven controls the only door to the Unseelie realm. They are not going to open for me again, not after I failed.” In fact, there’s a good chance they could show up at our door any minute, pissed as hell.
Matt’s features darken as he sits up abruptly.
News of the coven’s plans and secrets hit him hard, especially that Selena was involved.
I’ve honestly never seen him so furious.
We don’t know that she knew about the tracking spell or that they weren’t going to let me back until I fulfilled my side of the deal, but in his mind, she’s guilty by association.
I know it hurts more than he’ll say. Apparently, she has been checking in with him while I was gone—messages, video chats.
Because she was generally interested in him or just to keep tabs on me? Either way, it stings, for both of us.
“Come with me,” he says, leaping from the bed with unnecessary enthusiasm. Now that his body isn’t fighting him, he seems ready to see what all it can really do, even simple things like standing up.
I follow him out of the room and down the hall.
“What time is it?” I ask, noticing the quiet of the house and the pitch blackness outside the windows.
“Late. Midnight?” he says with a shrug.
Midnight. Gosh, I must have slept for a full day and not even known it.
Back in his room, he literally kicks aside the medical cart—which we thankfully don’t need anymore—grabs his laptop, and drops onto the bed as he flips it open. Moments later, he’s on the coven message boards. His fingers still on the keys, lips thin.
I lean in and quickly see why. A new message from Selena.
“Should you check it?” I ask.
“No.” But he doesn’t move, still frozen.
“It might tell us if she knows something,” I say.
His lips thin further before he blows out a breath. “Fine.”
He clicks it open. It’s an innocuous “hey, how are you doing today?” message.
“See. Nothing,” he says before closing it out but not before I catch the end of their last conversation and the little heart emoji she used and he returned.
Ouch.
His fingers fly across the keys again. He reads something I can’t quite make out. Grimaces.
“What is it?” I ask.
He’s trying again. I start to wonder if he’s heard me when he says quickly, “I’ll tell you later.”
“Matt,” I warn. It’s not good, whatever he’s seen. I can tell just from his tone. He’s never been able to hide things from me. “If there’s news, I need—”
“Ah, here it is,” he says a little too cheerfully, pointing at the screen.
“What?”
He turns, a satisfied upturn to his lips. “Our way back to Faery, so you can help the king and stop a war.”
“I can’t stop a war.” No matter how much I might want to. A humorless laugh falls from my lips.
“With what you’ve told me, I think we can.” The laptop clicks shut, and he slips off the bed again. “Quick. Pack a bag and let’s get moving. I’ll tell you my idea on the way.”
“Wait.” My mind struggles to catch up as I watch him pull a backpack out of the closet that he probably hasn’t used since he was a pre-teen. It still has old anime patches sewn on it. “What do you mean, we ?”
Matt shoves his laptop into the backpack before turning back to me. “I’m going with you.”
“You are not!” I nearly shout before covering my mouth with my hands.
He shushes me aggressively. “Don’t wake Mom and Dad!”
“You’re not coming,” I repeat more quietly but with far more determination.
“I just— You just—” I gesture to the bed then the medical cart, his wheelchair, struggling to make everything I want to say come out.
I just healed you. You were just dying. What if this is temporary?
What if it really kills you? There’s a bloody fae war happening!
“Aimee.” He sighs before stalking over to me, his bag forgotten.
Tears start to blur my vision. “I can’t—”
Matt takes my hand in his. “You risked your life to save mine. You spent years studying for a cure for me before that.”
“I did that for—”
He gives a sharp shake of his head. “Don’t deny it. I know you did it for me.”
I swallow. Damn him for knowing me so well.
“I should probably be dead by now, but I’m not. You gave me a new life, Aims. You saved me. Now let me help you.”
The tears well and fall. “But what if you—”
“Die?” He interrupts with a little shrug. “I’ve spent years of my life stuck in this room, dreaming of a different life. I have it now. Let me live it.”
My chest squeezes in a vice, shoulders shaking around the sob I try to choke down.
“I know you want to protect me, but you already have. Now it’s my turn. You want to save him, don’t you?”
“Yes.” More than anything. So much it scares me.
“Then let’s do it. Together.”
I sniff and manage a weak smile. “Okay. Together.”
“Good.” He releases my hands and resumes packing. “Now get your stuff. We need to hurry. They know the king has repowered his sword, and armies are gathering near the border.”
My heart skips a beat. “What?”
“Shhh!” He turns to me with a finger over his lips.
Elias. My God. A tingling sensation courses up and down my limbs. Without thinking, I reach for the mark on my hip, centering my palm over it.
“I don’t need anything,” I say. “Let’s go. Right now.”
Matt glances at my feet, then raises his brows. “Shoes?”
I wiggle my bare toes. Shit.
“Make sure you bring the rest of the potion too. We might need it.”
“It only works once,” I remind him.
“To trade,” he says, as if that should be obvious.
Fine. He’s got a point there. We’ll need everything we can get.
“I’ll meet you at the car in two minutes,” I say.
He fist-pumps the air. “All right, let’s go save your man!”