The Boy with the Hidden Name (26 page)

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

It splinters all around him, almost in slow motion, slivers

cracking and then falling, drifting down like petals from a

flower. I duck instinctively, trying to shelter my head from

the onslaught of glass, but there is…nothing.

I lift my head and realize that we are in a tunnel, under-

ground, much like the one we walked through to get to the

court of the Hidden Folk. The bells have stopped chiming,

and Ben stops running, drawing to a halt. We all stop around

him, gulping down breaths.

“What was
that
?” Kelsey asks.

“The front door,” Ben responds. He still has the box

tucked against his side and is looking up and down the

tunnel intently.

“Oh,” says Kelsey. “Of course.”

“What
was
that?” Merrow demands.

“Seelies,” Will answers grimly. “That’s what we’re saving the

world from.”

“Where are we?” I ask Ben.

“I don’t know.” Ben sounds slightly panicked. He drops

my hand and takes a few steps in one direction then the

other. “I don’t know,” he repeats, and his panic is more than

slight now.

“How can you not know?” the Erlking snaps at Ben.

“You’re a— ”

“I know,” Ben cuts him off angrily. “Shh. Let me listen.” He

stares intently to his left and then his right. “It’s an enchantment,” he announces finally, shaking his head. “They’re

226

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 226

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

blocking me. The Hidden Folk or the Seelies or somebody. I

don’t know where we are.”

“What should we do?” ventures Merrow.

“You’re the one who told us to come here, and this is a

trap
,” Ben shouts at her. “This was always a trap! You led us here and I can’t get us out!”

“Hey,” Trow says, his voice hard. “That is not necessary— ”

“We needed to get whatever that is!” Merrow shouts back,

gesturing at it.

“It’s a
box
,” Ben says. “It’s
nothing
. I can’t even
open
it! It’s
broken
! And now we’re trapped here. Is that what you wanted all along?”

“Of course it wasn’t what I— ”

“This isn’t helping.” I stand in between the two of them.

“Please. We’ll figure this out.” I look at Ben. “We’ve been in

worse spots, you and I.”

“What does the precious
prophecy
say?” Ben snarls at

Merrow before taking a step away from her in impatience.

“We have to get to Thingvellir,” Will interjects calmly.

“That’s the way to get out of Iceland, remember?” He tosses

something up into the air. A tarnished brass arrow. It floats

over our heads. “Thingvellir,” he calls up to it, enunciat-

ing carefully.

After a second, the arrow swings around, pointing to our

right down the hallway.

Ben looks at Will in relieved astonishment. “I didn’t know

you could do that,” he says.

227

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 227

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

Will looks at him. “You’ve always thought you were the

only one with tricks up your sleeves.”

“I could kiss you right now,” the Erlking says.

“Maybe later,” Will replies. “Let’s go.” He walks resolutely

down the tunnel in the direction the arrow had indicated to

us, and we all follow him.

I think of the chiming bells that sounded right on top of us

in the museum. The tunnels are eerily silent by comparison.

“What time is it?” I ask. “Is it twelve o’clock?”

“Don’t worry about the time,” the Erlking responds shortly,

and then, after a second, he says almost apologetically, “but

it’s not quite twelve o’clock. We haven’t quite lost.”

“Yet,” I can’t help but mutter darkly.

“Can I ask a question?” Trow requests with the air of not

really caring what the answer is.

“No,” says Ben.

Trow ignores him. “They’ll know we have to get to this

place to get out of here, right? So shouldn’t we have a plan?”

“How is it you’re a fay?” Ben mutters. “How are all these

fays so obsessed with
planning
?”

“They’re all only half faerie, Benedict,” Will tells him. “That’s kind of the point. And we don’t have a choice,” Will says to

Trow. “There’s only one way out. And we have to get out.”

“So this
was
a trap,” Trow says.

“We needed whatever was here. The box,” Merrow insists

but with only a shadow of her former bravado, and her face is

very pale. I feel a bit bad for her. “We had to come and get it.”

228

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 228

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

“Don’t worry about it,” Will says breezily. “I am not a faerie,

and I knew what we were getting into, so I have a plan.”

Ben looks at him in evident surprise. I’m surprised too.

This is the first I’m hearing of a plan more detailed than “go

to Iceland.”

“What’s the plan?” I ask.

“We have to get to Thingvellir.”

“That’s not a plan,” I point out, annoyed. “That’s just

a destination.”

“What’s that noise?” asks Kelsey suddenly.

I’ve been distracted by everything that had been going on,

but I hear it now that Kelsey points it out. It’s a dull, thun-

dering roar, like a great rush of air somewhere in the distance.

Ben draws to a halt, and we all follow his lead, listening.

“Is it…what is it?” asks Safford.

“It’s a waterfall,” the Erlking says. “You’ve taken us

to Gullfoss.”

“I don’t think so,” Will responds slowly. He resumes walk-

ing, taking the lead.

Ben, clearly dreading the prospect of a waterfall up ahead,

drops behind him.

We walk forward more cautiously now. The air around

us is pounding, reverberating with the force of whatever’s

ahead. The tunnel begins to lighten, murky daylight filtering

in from an opening before us. We are all silent as we walk

through and emerge before a sheet of water.

It’s not a waterfall. Or at least not the kind of waterfall that 229

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 229

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

exists on Earth. In front of us is craggy, rocky land, uneven

and scrabbly, which drops off into an abrupt cliff. And just

beyond the cliff, a ribbon of water hovers in the air, a water-

fall tumbling down from another world into this one. It

stretches along the cliff in front of us, as far as we can see to the left and the right, dense and thick and silver. It looks as if we have reached the end of the world, like there is nothing to

do but turn around and go back.

The noise of the gushing water is so loud that it is impos-

sible to have a conversation without shouting. Ben is hanging

back, still in the shelter of the tunnel, looking grimly at the

water in front of us, and I stand next to him and stare at it

as well. Everyone else is standing out by the edge of the cliff, clearly trying to come up with the next step we should take.

I dimly hear Ben say something next to me.

I turn to look at him. “What?” I shout.

“We’re trapped!” he shouts back to me.

I shake my head, mostly because I want to come up with

something that will deny what looks to me like the inevitable

conclusion that we’re trapped. Will had a
plan
. Didn’t he say that he had a plan? But Will is just staring at the waterfall like the rest of us.

And then we hear the bells begin to chime, somehow

louder than the water in front of us. Everyone out by the cliff

looks to their left, and I look that way as well, edging closer

to Ben without even realizing I’m doing it, until my hand

curls into his.

230

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 230

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

Confusion has erupted out by the edge of the cliff. Everyone

is making a mad dash back to the safety of the tunnel, but

Seelies have begun swooping into existence off to our left.

They shine brightly in the gloom of the landscape, looking

cold and triumphant, and my stomach sinks in horror. I am

not sure what they will do, but I know it will not be pleasant.

Trow is the first to gain the safety of the cave where Ben

and I are standing, tugging Merrow in right after him. Kelsey

stumbles just in front of Safford, tumbling to the ground. I

utter a little cry, but Safford helps her up. The Erlking guards their escape, sword out as they run for the caves. I watch the

Seelies gather, somehow growing taller and brighter, swoop-

ing toward them, and I feel Ben’s hand tighten on mine, tug-

ging me back before I even realize I was trying to go to them.

And then the Seelies collide midair with something invis-

ible and fall to the ground. Will dashes by the Erlking, glanc-

ing behind himself at the contained Seelies.
There
, I think.

That
must
have
been
Will’s plan.
I have every confidence Will can block the Seelies and keep them safe.

I turn away from the Seelies, viciously banging on the invis-

ible wall, their faces contorted with murderous fury. Kelsey

is limping, supported by Safford as they make their way to

the cave, straggling behind Will, the Erlking bringing up the

rear. I rush over to them even as Will sweeps his hand impa-

tiently, a gesture that apparently has the effect of muffling the sound of the water so that we can hear.

“Are you okay?” I ask Kelsey anxiously.

231

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 231

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

“My ankle,” she says, wincing as Safford helps her to the

ground. “I think I twisted it.”

I look at her ankle, clearly already beginning to swell.

“How long will it hold them?” I hear the Erlking ask from

behind me.

“Not long enough,” Will responds. “We have to put the

plan in motion.”

The Erlking says, “I’m still not sure that I— ”

“It’s nonnegotiable,” Will snaps at him.

Something in me pricks in alarm, and I manage to turn

from fussing over Kelsey to look at Will. I want to ask him

exactly what this plan entails, but just then, Ben throws the

box violently to the ground, startling all of us.

“What the devil are you doing?” Will asks him in alarm.

“I’m trying to break it open,” he responds, frowning at it

when it remains intact. “We need to get into this box. How

else are we going to get out of this?”

“Stop it,” Will snaps. “Are you mad? You need whatever’s in

that box
intact
, not smashed to smithereens.”

“Do you have an
idea
, Will?” Ben shouts at him. “Because I would love to hear it. Your ingenious plan is only going to

hold them for so long, and in the meantime, I need to get us

out of here, and I can’t jump us from here, and one of us can’t

run
.” He sweeps an arm out toward Kelsey.

Kelsey looks from Ben to me. “I’m sorry,” she says, her

voice small.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say to her. “Do
not
apologize. It’s 232

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 232

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

my fault you’re here in the first place, and I have a key.” I say it in a rush as I suddenly remember. How had I not remembered before this?

“What?” Ben says blankly.

I rush from Kelsey to the box, fish the key out of my

pocket, stick it into the lock…and nothing happens. I can’t

turn it. I rattle it around in frustration. How can it not work?

Everything I pick up always ends up
working
. How can the prophecy be failing me
now
?

“I think Trow can help with the running at least,” says

Merrow as I continue fiddling with the lock. “With the

ankle. He’s…a caretaker.”

I have no idea what she means by that, and I’m still too

distracted by the key conundrum to care. Ben has dropped to

his knees next to me, trying to help but really just interfering.

Before anything else can happen, Will says, “I can take you

off the map.”

I don’t know what that means, but it gives Ben pause. He

regards Will for a moment, and then he shakes his head.

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.”

“You can’t take all of us off the map when there are Seelies

just outside. Stop talking nonsense. It would kill you,”

Ben bites out and bats my hand away to try jerking at the

key again.

“Benedict Le Fay,” Will says, but he hasn’t named him,

hasn’t said it with intent, because Ben doesn’t even glance

233

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 233

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

up at him, wiggling the lock back and forth in an attempt to

loosen it.

“What?” he responds absently.

“I’m sorry,” Will says.

“For what? This isn’t
your
fault. Well, not entirely at least.”

“For this,” Will says, and then he turns and runs.

There is a moment of stunned reaction time, and then Ben

leaps to his feet.

“Wait,” Ben calls. “Will! Don’t— ”

The Erlking lunges at Ben suddenly, grabbing his arm.

Kelsey gives a shriek of surprise. I am frozen, uncertain what

I should be doing, if I should aid the Erlking or attack him.