21 Shades of Night, page 153
“She told you that?”
Mrs. Graves fixed me with a cold eye. “She didn’t have to. She’s scared, Liam, and you’ve done nothing but give her a taste of her power and frighten her more. She’ll go to the person that she thinks will give her the truth.”
“She’s not ready.”
“Ready or not, it’s happening, dear.”
How did this turn into such a disaster? I had her. I had her in my home, safe and working with me. I trained her. I exposed her to the Sidhe abilities and how to protect herself, and now all that hard work was in the hands of an enemy. “If the Queen gets her, especially now that she’s learned how to rummage through a person’s mind…” I couldn’t complete the thought. Mrs. Graves laid her hand on my arm and squeezed. “Otherworld will continue its decline and Nadya will never claim her destiny.”
“You’ll get to her first.”
I leaned down and kissed her on the both cheeks. “Not if I have to deal with Colleen. Her performance has been disappointing.”
“Let me handle Colleen.”
“You?”
She gave a sharp nod. “I think I’m more than capable, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I agreed. I checked my watch. Time was running out. “Thank you.”
“Make sure you stop her, Liam.”
I left through the side door without another word. I wanted to promise that I would, that after all these years we finally had Nadya in our reach. We had a chance to make things right. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Too many variables and too many of them not in our favor.
Chapter 26
Nadya
GRACE MANEUVERED THE the car through the Nomad parking lot toward the back hangar like I directed. We had no choice but to use the portal—the trick was doing it without getting caught.
“How did you enter last time?”
“Well, you know how your gift relies on the ability to seek the truth from people? How you can read the past?”
“I guess so.” She didn’t need to know how I was still working it out.
“I’m skilled in the use of travel magic. The portal is able to monitor most Sidhe coming in and out, but well…” She stood and from her back unfurled a set of beautiful blue wings.
“Oh my god. You have wings.” I reached forward to touch them but she shied away.
“I’m a fairy,” she said with a shrug. “Some of us actually have wings.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Do I?”
“No.”
“Huh.” I was unreasonably bummed by this. “So you can just fly through?”
“With a little spell work, yes.” Without warning, her wings retracted and disappeared. I peered around her shoulder but saw nothing but the smooth lines of her back. “You’re aware that your people monitor the portal, right?”
“Yes, my mother’s people.”
“Well, my people—those of us with wings, used to be the ones that assisted transport. In modern times, when the humans became prevalent in this area, we were no longer able to fly freely from one side to the other. Human transportation took over and everything changed.”
“Like Liam and his plane?” I interrupted.
“Yes, the Guard over took the system using modern machinery to reach the portal, and we were basically shut out.”
“That stinks.”
“It does.” She grabbed a bag from the car and we walked close behind the hangar—out of sight. “But just because times change doesn’t mean I don’t have my ways of beating the system. I just have to be sneakier about it.”
Trying to process the information, I asked, “So just to be clear, you’re going to fly us out of here. Like, you’re going to carry me.”
I saw her laugh, but the sound was muffled by the loud buzz of a plane taking off. I shaded my eyes and saw Mr. Johnson’s white and red plane lifting toward the sky. My father would wonder why I wasn’t at work—again. And Liam? Surely he would wake up soon. I absorbed a lot of his juice but he was strong. I had no guarantee on time. “Not exactly. Ever heard of fairy dust? Peter Pan?”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said, with zero trace of humor.
“Most things come with a speck of truth.”
Two months ago I would have thought this entire conversation was insane. I’d have been inside that airport reading my horoscope and planning what to make my father for dinner. Nothing new, maybe curious looks at Liam as he came in and grunted a hello. Instead, over the last 48 hours I’d danced and drunk my way through a bar, killed a Sidhe soldier sent to track me down by some crazy queen named Eleanor, and screwed up whatever legitimate relationship I had with Liam by going succubus on his ass. All to travel on my own to Otherworld with a scheming fairy and her pixie dust to confront this Queen Eleanor on my own. What the hell had become of my life and when did I get so stupid?
“We better get moving,” Grace said, fastening a satchel around her waist. I slung my backpack over my shoulders.
She moved into the sunlight and held up a small pouch. A sudden burst of nerves flared in my stomach. I grabbed her hand and said, “Wait. What’s going to happen to me over there? What if you’re lying to me?”
“Don’t be afraid, Nadya. Otherworld is a wonderful place. It’s your home—your mother’s home. But if you want, you can do that brain scanny thing you’re so great at.” She tilted her head forward. “Go ahead.”
I wanted to believe her. Well, I did believe her, but I also knew my mother lived on this side of the portal. For my father, and they both sacrificed everything for my safety. But what if he was wrong? What if Liam filled his head with lies? “No, I’m just confused. I’m ready.”
“I need to mark you with cloaking runes,” she said. “Or the workers in the tower will see us enter the portal. Doing so breaks a multitude of rules, on both sides of the portal. We can’t be seen exiting or entering either side without a proper escort.”
She held up a dagger, one with a sharp tip. Liam had a similar one that he kept strapped to his side. “You make them with that?”
“Yes, they’re burned temporarily into your skin.”
“Liam had those markings on his body before I…” I searched for words. “Drained him.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you absorb the power of the markings as well?”
“I don’t know.” Grace lifted her the blade and took my hand but paused when blue jeweled ring on her finger lit up like a beacon. “What is that?” I asked. “Where did that light come from?”
“It’s a signal. They’re coming. We must go before the Guard arrives.” I heard the squeal of tires and the familiar roar of Liam’s car as it approached the hangar. The old car, the one with the rumbling muffler.
“What about the runes?”
“We have to take our chances that you absorbed them from Liam.” Increasingly wary of this entire situation, I glanced quickly at Grace, whose bright eyes held mine. She looked sure and in return my confidence, some I had stolen from Liam, surged. Again I watched in wonder as her wings unfurled, the tips grazing the pavement. She opened the pouch and poured dark, chalky looking sand in her hand. “Ready?”
I held out my own hand and replied, “Yes.”
The car came to a screeching halt and Liam’s head popped out of the open door. “Nadya,” he yelled. I looked over, even though I didn’t want to. He looked better—but not whole. He was missing something, something that brought fear to his eyes, a hesitancy to his step. The confidence that I now possessed.
I had it. It was mine.
“Don’t do this,” he said. Brayden and Daniel chased at his heels. “You don’t understand the Otherworld. I’ll take you if you want. Don’t go with her.”
“You’re all liars. I don’t trust any of you, but I’m going.” I glanced at Grace. “At least she’s giving me the chance.”
Grace dumped the powder over my head and snatched my hand. A gust of wind knocked me off my feet, but my hand was clutched tightly in hers. Grace’s wings caused a backdraft and looking down I saw Liam’s hair caught in the breeze. Even from the increasing distance, I saw how his blue eyes begged me to stay. Daniel drew back and a flash of silver spun through the air.
“Grace!” I yelled in warning, but the sound of her wings flapping was too loud. The blade sliced across my wrist and landed in her side. She cried out in pain, and blood sprang from the wound. I looked down and saw Liam turn on Daniel, pushing him to the ground. “Can you make it?”
“Yes,” she sobbed. “I’m almost there—the portal will do the rest.”
We were far from the ground. Too far. Grace struggled to push forward, but I was weighing her down. I slipped the straps of my backpack off my shoulder. The bag dropped quickly, crashing to the tarmac, landing mere feet from Liam.
“Hold on tight,” Grace called. Slippery blood seeped from her side and dripped down my fingers, coating my hand and arm. I strained to keep from slipping to my death.
“I’m falling,” I said, looking down, but a draft caught my legs and breathed life into Grace’s wings and we flew upward. Something shiny caught my attention. Liam’s plane, which looked like an ant from up here, rolled down the runway. In my heart I knew better than to think he wouldn’t come after me. I turned to the sky, terrified and exhilarated at the same time, and found myself in the middle of the cloud that hovered over the airport. Blues and reds swirled around me like a moving rainbow, and we floated in the air around the portal. I pulled Grace into my arms.
“We made it,” she said. Her eyes shone, glassy and weak. Blood oozed through her shirt, making a wide, dark stain. He wings beat slowly against the warm air in the portal. We’d made it into the portal but not through, and I had no idea how long we could stay here. “But I don’t know if we’ll make it back down to the Otherside.”
I brushed back her windblown hair and touched her cheek. She felt clammy and cold. Her skin pale as ash and lips turning blue. On instinct I ran a thumb over the bottom one and watched it blush pink. “Hold still,” I said, as the wind circled around us. I pressed my hand against her side and she gasped, seizing from the pain. I pressed my mouth to hers, lip to lip, and her eyes fluttered shut. Hazy light passed between us, reflecting the colors of the portal. I kissed her, encouraging her to respond, to absorb the energy I was offering. With a little coaxing she returned the kiss. Color spread across her cheeks and I felt her wings flap with strength. Pulling back, I inspected the wound, now nothing more than a fine line.
I had healed her.
With renewed energy Grace took both my hands and dove through the air like a bird hunting prey. I shrieked, fear bubbling in my stomach from the dips and turns. She made a beeline toward the horizon, colors zipping past us, and I shut my eyes as we burst through the clouds.
I opened my eyes and blinked.
We had arrived. We were in Otherworld.
Chapter 27
Nadya
AS REACTIONS TO new places went, I had no idea where mine fell on the scale of normalcy. Nothing about this moment could be considered normal. The view of Otherworld as Grace and I burst through the portal had felt like waking in a dream. Acres of green, fertile, rolling hills with small buildings dotted the horizon. The treetops looked like small green cushions while narrow, reddish-brown paths crisscrossed the way our own highways marked the land back home. From this vantage I was able to get an impressive view, including the fact that passages stretched in four distinct directions.
“Where do those lead?” I asked.
“Various towns throughout Otherworld,” Grace replied. “There are two major kingdoms in this part of the world and several large towns designated in both. The roads to these cross here, at the entrance to the portal.”
The wind from Grace’s wings blew my hair into my eyes and I brushed it back, afraid I’d miss something. Too soon, Grace lowered us to the ground in front of a small stone building with ease and precision. The hair on the back of my neck prickled as several people approached us.
“Who are they?” I asked, eyeing their uniforms. Long sheathed swords hung from leather belts. They wore leather coats and baggy trousers.
“They’re guards. Like Liam, but for this side of the portal.”
“Oh.” At the mention of his name I wondered how quickly Liam would catch up to us. He’d been taxiing his plane as we crossed the portal.
A guard with a long red beard laid his hand on the base of his sword. His eyes shifted back and forth between the two of us but his focus lingered on me a little longer than felt comfortable. “Stand down,” he declared. “There is no approval for transport like yours on the schedule.”
“I’m here on orders from Eleanor,” Grace said, wings retracting. She pulled a roll of paper out of her pocket. “You can read them yourself.”
He took the paper and skimmed it. He glanced quickly at me, the weariness from before changed to outright curiosity. Guess they don’t get too many humans around here. Or half-humans. Without another word he passed back the paper and Grace rolled it back into a tight tube. He waved over several guards and said, “Escort these two to Ravenwood.”
“Escort?” I asked.
“It will make the journey go faster, as they know the roads and we won’t be stopped.” She looked at the sky behind her. “We need to leave quickly. We were being followed on the way here.”
The bearded guard frowned. “By who?”
“Liam Caldwell.”
His eyes widened. With another movement to the guards he said, “Get the horses and start on the road. You need to move swiftly.”
“I’m sorry, did you say horses?” I asked. Everyone moved quickly around me and sure enough, two horses were brought from behind the stone building. “Can’t we just do that flying thing again?”
“Nope, not without attracting the wrong kind of attention.”
“I don’t ride horses.”
“You do here,” Grace said with an amused smile. “Otherworld doesn’t have the same advancements as you do at home. No electricity. No automobiles. You’ll get used to it.”
“I doubt it,” I mumbled under my breath. Moving to the horse, I looked up at the giant gray and black flecked beast and tried to figure out the best way to get on. It didn’t matter; one of the guardsmen assisted me and I mounted the horse easily.
“Thank you,” I said.
“At your service,” he replied, eyes on the ground. I assessed the other guards. Several were openly gawking at me, but shifted their eyes quickly. Only Grace and the head guard would look me in the eye.
“We need to go,” Grace said, snapping her reins. I did the same, pretending to know something about riding a horse. It worked and the instant her horse started off, mine followed. The two guards and their horses traveled in the front and rear.
Once I’d sort of adjusted to my transportation, I called out, “So what’s Ravenwood?”
“That’s Eleanor’s Kingdom.
“Ravenwood? That sounds a bit ominous.”
“If anything it’s probably a little obvious. The whole dark/light thing. There’s no such thing as black and white in my opinion—it’s all varying shades of gray.”
“Light and dark?”
“It will all make sense when you meet the Queen. She’ll answer all your questions.” She flashed me a grin. “Trust me.”
As we rode through the thick forest, lush with vibrant life, I had time to question the blind faith I was putting in Grace. I knew coming here was risky but at the same time, comprehending an entire other world with different landscape, politics and rules wasn’t easy. I didn’t have much choice but to rely on her. A worrisome thought crossed my mind.
“Do you have indoor plumbing?”
“No, but we have servants.”
Any response to that was cut off by the guard at the back of our group rushing forward. “Someone is coming,” he said. “We need to move faster, Ravenwood is just over that hill.”
The sound of racing hoof beats echoed down the trail and the guard raised his hand, smacking the backside of my horse. It leaped forward and my body followed, lurching forward unexpectedly.
“Hurry,” Grace called, her body bouncing up and down on the horse. She had a measure of control, unlike myself. Each movement jarred my body sending shocks of pain down my arms and legs. This would suck later and I wouldn’t have Liam around to heal me.
I had a feeling if he caught up to us, healing me would be the last thing on his mind.
Grace turned around and looked over my shoulder. She threw powder into the air, much of it showering over me and my horse. “What was that?” I yelled.
She placed her finger to her lips to shush me. “A glamour. To cloak us visually. It will only last a couple of minutes and if Liam catches a hint of us,he can break it. I’m just hoping we can make to the Ravenwood gates first.”
Fear flittered through her eyes and I realized how afraid she was. Afraid of Liam. Personally, I knew he’d be pissed at me but would he hurt me? Doubtful. Would he hurt the girl that took me? In a heartbeat. Her fear was contagious but I fought against it, spurring the horse along with my heels.
We reached the top of the hill, and I almost fell off my horse at the sight before me. Ravenwood Castle stood before us, surrounded by a large stone wall. I could spot the peaks of the rooftop hulking behind the gate and a strong shudder rippled through my body. Ravenwood held the promise of power. I could feel it in every inch of my body.
“Nadya!” I heard my name called from behind us. “Do not go behind those walls.”
I looked behind me and saw Liam had caught up, barely three horse lengths behind. His beast, something between a horse and a dragon, burst through the glamour, scattering dust in all directions. He caught my eye.
The guard nearest me rushed at him with extreme speed. Liam reacted to his sword with one of his own, swiping it at the man. The blade cut the guard across the arm and Liam used his foot to kick him from his horse. He flew off, tumbling onto the dusty ground while his horse ran forward. Liam charged in my direction.
Once he was close enough he said, “Don’t do this.”
