"There's this guy with her. He's dressed in black, in a black robe and hood over his face. He told her what to ask me while she was..." his voice trailed off and I didn't prod him any further.

:That would be this man who calls himself the priest.: Medbh moved up to stand between Ivan and I.

Ivan spotted her and his new beautiful eyes widened. "Medbh? Sweet Lady you look impressive. You're mobile!"

:You like it? I do. Much better than the head,: she pointed at him. :You took care of my head, didn't you?: "It's fine, Medbh, but this isn't getting us to Crwys." I stood and helped Ivan to his feet. He practically popped up like a prairie dog. His shoulders straight, a grin on his face.

:Not so fast. You, wolf boy. You should drink a gla.s.s too. And you really need to drink some, Sam. Your reserves aren't as good as they could be.: "My reserves?" I looked at the chalice in Bastien's hand. "Was us drinking part of the deal Bastien made with Tzariene?"

:You'll have to ask him. I'm just saying if you want to be at full capacity to deal with crazy bird up there, then you'll need the boost.: I looked at Bastien. He shrugged. "She didn't say not to drink." And as if to put a period on that statement, he dipped the chalice in and downed a full cup. When he finished he made a face too. "Merde."

So I took the chalice and filled it. I noticed there wasn't much left in the basin. I doubted what I left behind could even fill the chalice a quarter. I held my breath and downed the whole cup. I could taste it, and Ivan was right, it did taste like watered down hot sauce through a rusty pipe. I figured it was some kind of mineral water.

Wait...

"Lady Darksome!" I held the chalice out and stared down at Medbh. "We just drank something in Faerie! We're not supposed to do that!"

Apparently, we all had a temporary moment of stupid. We knew this!

:Keep your voice down! You didn't. Trust me. And Tzariene wants you out of Faerie. She's not going to have you drink something that'll keep you here.: "Oui, she's right," Bastien took the chalice and returned it to the alcove. "We should go."

I agreed. Something churned in my stomach and I thought for a second I was going to throw up. Arcane surged forward, from my chest, down my arms, and into my hands where I created two b.a.l.l.s of fire, one in each hand. They flamed and then disappeared.

"What the h.e.l.l was that?" Ivan said.

:It's her Arcane. That stuff gave it some needed boost. Okay, everyone ready? The spell's already started.: I whirled on the doll. "She's started the binding?"

:Yeah. We better hurry before your kissy-face is kissing somebody else.:

TWENTY FOUR.

Before we started out of the room, something ran into the back of my leg and I went down. I would have hit my knees on that hard stone if Ivan hadn't grabbed me.

"Sam! Sam!"

Cordelia. I caught sight of her as she ran around Ivan and I, and then stopped in front of Medbh. "This little thing is weird."

:Back at yah.: "Cordy, what are you doing here?"

"Cordelia came to help! The Summer Queen sent Cordelia because there is help to give. Cordelia can be invisible. Cordelia can be a distraction."

This was true. The Boggart could actually start fights, the way she did with Ivan and Kyle, and at the Aces compound. "Okay, but you have to do what Medbh says and you have to be quiet."

"Can do!"

Getting out of that weird room proved to be a bit more difficult than getting in. Medbh led us to a small groove in the wall, invisible if you looked at it straight on and in the eerie light cast by the symbols, but visible if you stood to the right of it. Now that Ivan was up and on his feet, fully sighted, Bastien insisted on taking up the rear again.

"How does she know these secret pa.s.sages?" Bastien asked.

"This used to be her palace."

The pa.s.sage narrowed before it widened, reminding me of Fat Man's Squeeze at Rock City in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mom used to take me there when I was smaller. The best memories of my life were of Mom and Dad having trouble through the closely fitted rock walls, while I just crawled under it, between their legs. There had also been this part of the park with fairies hanging above us, each a different color. I'd thought they were so pretty back then. Imagine my horror when I learned Faeries were real and not cute little cherubs with tiny wings.

We had to slide sideways, and Ivan took that opportunity to tell me how he was able to contact me from Faerie.

"That's what caught the Queen's attention, actually."

"What? That you somehow texted me? How did you do it? There isn't Internet in Faerie."

"There's not," he said as he pushed himself through a particularly tight spot. "But there is a kind of...I don't know...web of some kind. It's like this invisible connection between things. I can't say it's Cyber by definition, but it's there. So I took a chance and connected to it."

"Where were you when you did it?"

"The dungeon. I'd just had the c.r.a.p scared out of me when Hob appeared out of the back wall. I tried it, sent you a text and minutes later the armored guys came back and-" He stopped and when he didn't say anything else, I respected that whatever happened, he didn't want to talk about.

Then, "Anyway...my point is I can still feel it. It's there."

"Don't log in," I cautioned.

"Oh no. I'm not. But if we need to call someone in our world, I'm thinking I can do it again. Otherwise...I'm not really much help on this side of the looking gla.s.s."

I thought it was amusing that he also referred to Alfheim the way I did. Through the looking gla.s.s.

The entire time we crawled, twisted and turned, I noticed the path ascending. The road was steep enough I was breathing hard. I looked at Bastien a few times, but he seemed lost in thought. Medbh insisted the water wasn't tainted with Faerie dust and it wouldn't make it impossible to go home.

But still. Faeries. I have trust issues.

The air cooled again and I welcomed the breeze. The sound of singing and chanting increased in volume and I psyched myself up. I didn't really have a plan yet, simply because I didn't know what I would see or what I would find. Would there be an opportunity to offer the book in exchange for Crwys? Would we have to fight? Would we be able to stay together so I could use the wooden knife to get home?

When the pa.s.sage grew wide enough, I lowered my backpack and retrieved the knife. I shoved it through a belt loop and then pulled the bagged book out and tied the bag by the drawstring to a different belt loop. I felt better having those two things within easy reach.

I pulled out a bottle of water and the bag of metal ash. I wasn't sure I'd use it, but thinking it might come in handy, I opened the water and poured as much of the ash as I could get into the bottle, screwed the cap on and shook it. I secured the now iron infused water into one of the outer pockets of the backpack.

Our little procession stopped abruptly and I ran into Ivan. He grabbed me and put his finger to his lips.

Medbh moved from the front of the line to stand in front of us. She put her hands on her hips and started pacing, looking a lot like a football coach giving his team a pep talk. :The throne room is laid out like any other room built to make everyone else feel small and worthless. There is a door in front of us. When I open it, we'll be coming in from the right side if you were sitting at the dais. The n.o.bles and the soldiers, those that believe in whatever cause this crazy b.i.t.c.h has going, will be sitting to your right.: "Where is Crwys?"

When Medbh hesitated that ball of anxiety grew. :You'll see him. It's the getting to him that's going to be difficult. So if you've got something up your sleeve, I'd suggest you use that first. If not,: she pointed at the barely visible Boggart. :Start a bar brawl.: "And what will you be doing, Medbh?" I liked the way Bastien said her name. May-Eve.

:Don't worry about me.: I always worried about Medbh. But I'd started to feel something. A building of something. And on the edge, a peripheral whisper of something familiar as my Arcane reached out to touch subtle power, bubbling beneath the surface. Like a volcano rumbling under my feet.

"Wait...we can't step out there looking like this."

:Then glamour yourselves. It's not that hard.: "I've never used glamour. I have no idea how."

:Use Arcane. That's one of its basic uses.: It was?

-Allow me?- I agreed and stepped away as I raised my arms. Red sparkling Arcane moved around my arms and my body, my legs, my feet and up around my neck. Within seconds, the world became just Arcane as I blinked and watched as Bastien's and Ivan's jaws dropped. "What?"

"Tres belle," Bastien's smile widened.

I blushed. He needed to stop calling me beautiful.

"Sam...can you do that to me? I wanna cosplay."

Cosplay? I looked down at myself. I wasn't wearing my jeans anymore, but a gossamer gown of deep blue, with sleeves that fanned from my wrists and dragged the ground. I touched my now dry hair as it curled and bounced around my bare shoulders. The gown came off my shoulders!

I grabbed my ears and gasped. They were pointed!

The Arcane raised my right hand as the sparkling magic shot from my fingertips and covered Ivan. I watched as his t-shirt and jeans became a cla.s.sic n.o.ble youth's leather pants and soft red shirt. A jerkin of the same leather wrapped itself around his chest as knee-high boots covered his feet and calves. His dark hair lengthened and his ears pointed up through his hair.

He definitely looked like a Faerie. But... "Medbh, it's still our faces. Ivan looks like Ivan."

:To you. But not to them. And you don't look like Sam.: "Yeah, 'cause Sam would never wear a party dress," Ivan laughed.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," I muttered as I shifted my backpack. "I suppose the backpack looks like what?"

:A backpack. And the wolf?: Bastien held up his hand. "I'll shift. Grey told me about the Hunt beasts. I should blend right in." And as if to prove it, he shifted in front of us to the large red wolf.

Medbh ran to the wall and pulled on a handle I hadn't seen before, letting a bright light in as it outlined the size and width of the door. :It's time. Good luck.: That just didn't make me feel any better. I led the way out, with the invisible Cordelia just ahead of us. Ivan walked at my left while Bastien stayed at my right. I put my hand on his back just to keep from looking as scared as I felt.

The enormity of the room was the first thing I noticed. The ceiling made the grotto look small in comparison. The walls, ceiling and floor were what gave the queen and the palace their names. Every part of the structure had been crafted in obsidian. Smooth, lifeless, dead obsidian.

I spotted Brendi immediately since we stepped out facing the dais where she stood in the center. She had a smoking brazier in front of her, her arms lifted in the air. Wolves lounged around her, and if they noticed Bastien, they didn't show it. They didn't look like they cared. I thought of my mom in that position, serving Medbh, and I had to rein in the urge to kick that Kachina doll.

Brendi didn't look remotely human anymore. Her ears were the first thing I noticed, as I always did. She wore a black gown that hung from her shoulders and left her outstretched arms bare. Gold bracelets tracked up her arms from her wrists. They accented the gold earrings and the gold necklace around her neck. Her hair looked almost purple, under the bright lights of the room.

To our right were stacks of seats, like bleachers. I looked up to see the n.o.bles Medbh mentioned. All type of Faeries sat in the seats, many I couldn't label. I stepped further into the room and moved to the front of the bleachers where a few others stood. Ivan and Bastien followed me. Bastien had been right. There were other wolves roaming around the room, some sitting with their owners.

A matching row of bleachers roared on the side facing ours. The entire place erupted in a chorus of cheers as Brendi finished whatever it was she'd been singing.

And in the back of the room, suspended in the air, high above the cheering Faeries, hung an all too familiar figure.

Crwys.

My Crwys.

His arms were pulled out from his sides, wrapped in chains that held him. I could see more thick chains wrapped around his legs. I could see the gold glint against his chest. The arrow. His head was bowed and he wasn't moving. Not even struggling.

"Please...be silent," a voice echoed around the room. "The Queen has successfully bound the Destroyer to her with her magnificent magic. Now it is time for the joining." I tore my gaze from Crwys and saw a dark, hooded figure raise its head as Brendi stepped to the side. "But first, we must ask this a.s.sembly, we must beg you to look into your hearts and tell us of your doubts. If you have doubts, the spell will not work and the Destroyer will be free. We must have your hearts and your support, so that we may take the Destroyer and force the Autumn and Spring courts to fall down before us as the Summer court has done!"

The response was deafening and I put my hands to my ears.

:Tzariene told you what to bring. If you have it, present it now!: Nervous, terrified, trembling, I reached down to my side where the bag hung. I retrieved the book and held it with both hands. With a glance at Ivan, we stepped away from the shadow of the stands and approached the dais.

TWENTY FIVE.

It took all the self-control I have not to run to Crwys. But once I knew he was there, hanging so high above the floor, it was d.a.m.n near impossible for part of me not to reach out to him.

The hooded man continued addressing the crowd. Brendi saw me first and I waited for her reaction. For some recognition. The only emotion I saw on her face was annoyance.

The wolves all came to attention and greeted us with low growls. Bastien returned the greeting with a single bark. Ever wolf on that dais immediately sat and bowed their head.

Whoa.

The hooded man stopped his diatribe at the sound of the bark and looked at me. Well, he faced me. I couldn't see his eyes in the shadow of his cowl. "Who are you to disrupt this ritual?"

Think fast, think fast... "I have been in possession of something powerful, something I believe will serve the Queen better than the Drachen. I wish to offer it to the Queen," I kept my eyes on the hooded guy. "In exchange for the release of the Drachen."

The silence deafened me. I glanced around and saw every eye on Brendi. The hooded man's attention focused on the book. I held it up and the thing glowed. Was that something Ivan worked into the code or was it reacting to something?

"Where did you get that?" The hooded man asked in a low voice and no longer projected to the entire room. He intended me to hear the question. No one else.

Brendi's curiosity trumped the hood's question. "Approach," she said and beckoned us forward. I turned to Ivan and gave him a shake of my head and sent a word to Bastien through the link. Bastien sounded a little too...upbeat about that. I actually heard him laughing. I wasn't even gonna dignify that with an answer. I sent out a feel to get an idea of where everyone was in the throne room. The only position that alarmed me was Cordelia's. She'd moved to the back of the room, closer to Crwys and wasn't moving. Was she trying to use her influence on the crowd from there? I knew what he meant, what he was tapping into. I had felt it for some time. The coming of something...terrible."What is it you have that would be so valuable that you believe I would give up my prize?" Her eyes flicked to a spot over my head. I wanted to look at Crwys. But I couldn't. I had to hold myself together and not strangle the b.i.t.c.h.I held the book in front of me and stood less than two feet from her, so I knew she saw the book and I knew she sensed the dense concentration of Arcane within it. Once free of the bag, the sheer power of it, even though it was a copy, permeated the room. There was not a denizen of the gathering that couldn't sense its power. Their collective gasp was proof enough.Brendi's eyes widened as she stared at the book in my hand. "How did you get that book?""It was given to my family a long time ago. I searched my heart as was requested. And I feel your greatness, your reign, your success would be better served with the power within this book than that of a would-be Destroyer." I had no idea what I was talking about but I thought it sounded impressive.I tracked Cordelia moving with my feel. She climbed a column in the back of the room, her presence rising above everything else. Maybe she was getting a better angle? I was waiting on shouting and fighting as a diversion so I wouldn't have to actually pretend to give the book to her. Yeah it was a copy-but I didn't know if it contained the same Arcane spells as the original, and I really didn't want to be the Witch known for releasing the holocaust by giving a crazy Faerie queen the nuke b.u.t.ton.Brendi grabbed the end of the book closest to her. "Give it to me."I kept a death grip on my end. "Release the Destroyer. He's helpless, powerless. Surely you're not afraid of him in this condition?"Her eyes narrowed as she moved that gaze from the book to my face. "What is your name?"