Realm of Mirrors (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 3) (17 page)

We hung there suspended as the banshees circled faster and the wind picked up strength, until I had to squint my eyes against it. There was a tremendous whistling sound, an almost human wailing.

Suddenly, there was nothing but the wind.

We spun and tumbled through a vortex of blinding sound, a dark strobe formed by stuttering shrieks of air. I had time to think this was probably what it felt like to get sucked into a tornado—and wonder if they had a way to land us without breaking every bone in our bodies.

Then we were standing on firm ground again, as a dying wind shivered around us.

The banshees broke apart and formed ranks behind Pan. “You lot still in one piece, are ye?” she breathed.

The three of us let go all at once, and I patted myself down with hands that trembled slightly. “Seems like it,” I said. “What about you guys?”

“Fine,” Uriskel said roughly.

Sadie shivered and crossed her arms. “Wow.”

“That’s a yes.” I turned to Pan and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. DeathSpeaker.” She winked and spread her arms out. “We’ll take our leave, then,” she said. “Fare thee well, all of ye.”

The banshees faded from sight one by one, until only Alice was left, grinning like the Cheshire cat. She giggled and waved her fingers, then pinched her nose and sank into the ground.

Leaving us to face the Unseelie Wood.

C
HAPTER 23

A
t least the ground was dry.

Unlike the rest of Arcadia so far, the Unseelie Wood was straight out of a fairy tale—one written by the Grimm Brothers. Dark and spooky didn’t even begin to describe it. The trees weren’t as massive as the Trees of Ankou, but they were tall and leafless, forming random, ominous corridors. Moonlight filtered through the jagged branches to create shifting patterns along the forest floor. Quite a few of the trees wore dark green coats of moss. Rocks and boulders were common, and I spotted more than one deep cave guarded by glittering stone spires.

And there were sounds in the dark. Rustling, clicks and shuffles, the occasional distant cry of something at once mournful and chilling.

“Don’t you have leaves in your realm?” I said as we passed a thick tangle of thorny, bare bushes.

Uriskel snorted. “This
is
the land of the Winter Court. Have you leaves in winter?”

“Uh, no. Guess I should be glad it’s not snowing.”

“Indeed, you should be.” He looked around uneasily as a flurry of dry snaps echoed from somewhere. His stare settled on Sadie, and he shook his head. “That clothing,” he said. “You’re practically a beacon for the wild ones. Perhaps you should roll in the dirt for a bit, so at least they’d not spot you from a league away.”

She frowned at him. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

“Wait a minute.” I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of this before. “I can just cast a glamour on her.”

Uriskel looked dubious. “Really. You are aware that laying glamour on another is quite different from generating your own,” he said. “It is difficult, and the results are often muddled.”

“I guess. But I’ve done it before.”

“Have you?”

“Yeah, and I think that’s a much better idea than rolling in the dirt,” Sadie said as she slowed to a halt. “Go for it.”

Uriskel stopped and hung back with a watchful expression.

“All right.” I faced Sadie, feeling a little self-conscious with everyone staring at me. I’d go with the clothes she wore here, the ones that got destroyed when she went wolf. Black shirt and pants, green tunic, brown boots.

The moment I pictured the outfit, she was wearing it.

“Whoa.” I drew back and glanced at Uriskel, who looked just as surprised. “I’ve never done it that way,” I said. “I mean, that was fast. Usually I have to think about it a while, and concentrate, and…Jesus Christ.”

Sadie stared down at herself. “Holy shit. Even Taeral can’t do me like that.”

Okay. I was
not
going to think about how much innuendo that statement was loaded with. “Any idea what the hell’s going on?” I said to Uriskel. “It happened before, while we were hunting. That arm shield…I shouldn’t have remembered the right words until I was already dead. I never do.”

“It is Arcadia,” he said softly. “The magic, the moonlight. You’ve accelerated what should have been a natural process—one you’d been denied as a changeling.”

“What process?”

“The process of becoming Fae. Of using your abilities, strengthening your spark,” he said. “Being here has given you all that you’d have developed, if you’d known of your heritage from the beginning.”

“Hold on,” I said. “You’re telling me I just picked up twenty-six years of missing magic in one day?”

“Aye. And you should also have a greater understanding of the Fae language.
Bèhful grah a’gat ahn caélyn?
”

“
Tae’s li moh daartheír.
” The words left my mouth angrily, before I could even think about what he’d said—or how I’d respond.

Do you love the girl?

And I’d answered
she’s with my brother.

“That much, I knew,” Uriskel said with a smirk. “But you’ve answered my question as well.”

Sadie gave me an incredulous smile. “Holy crap, Gideon. You can speak Fae already?” she said. “What did he say? What did
you
say?”

“I merely asked him how he was feeling,” Uriskel said.

“Yeah.” I glared at him. “And I said none of your business.”

“Well, you definitely sound like a Fae.” She took my hand, and I tried not to shudder too hard. “You know, maybe we can do this,” she said. “The wolf is really strong over here, and you’ve got all this new power. And Uriskel has, um…”

“Two hundred years of hatred and rage,” he intoned. “And a deck of playing cards.”

“Right. That.” She flashed him a look of confused sympathy, and then turned to me. “We can get them back. Can’t we?”

I wanted to say yes, and mean it. But the simple little syllable refused to pass my lips. Maybe I did have more power, but I sure as hell didn’t know how to use it. Except for compelling dead people. And I wasn’t even sure about that. “We will,” I finally said.

My hesitation had cost her some of the hope in her eyes, and I hated myself for it. I had to look away, so I lifted my gaze to the trees, trying to pull it together.

And found a pair of bright orange eyes staring down at me.

“What the hell’s that?” I said, stumbling back a few steps as another set of eyes appeared just above the first. Then a third beside that one.

An awful, dry rattling sound filled the air, like a plague of demon locusts. Suddenly there were orange eyes glittering from every treetop.

I expected Uriskel to brush it off, to say they were Arcadian flying monkeys or something, just another charming fairyland critter that could probably kill us, so don’t worry. And here I thought he’d said we were safe from the trees.

But he didn’t brush it off. He looked downright horrified. “The Orendl,” he said hoarsely. “They gather when they sense that blood is about to be shed.”

Great. So they were Arcadian vultures.

“Aye, they do,” a strange voice said. “But the truly unwelcome news is, ye’ll be the ones to do the shedding, dearies.”

All three of us turned in unison toward the sound, and I recognized the short, green-clad figure with the red hat standing in the path ahead. It was a Redcap—and not just any bad-tempered vampire leprechaun. The same one I’d bashed back across the Veil in Central Park.

And he’d brought company.

C
HAPTER 24

T
he grinning trio behind the Redcap were Fae. I could actually sense that now—but I didn’t need to, because they weren’t wearing any glamour.

Two had different shades of green skin, and the third was necrotic purple. Scarified tattoos marked most of their exposed skin, including their faces. They all had pointed ears, hair like shredded vines, long arms, fingers tipped with thorns. They wore belted layers of dirty cloth and no shoes, and their eyes held a feral gleam.

So now I knew what the wild ones looked like. And for all our glamour and disguises, we didn’t exactly blend.

Before anyone could react, Uriskel stepped in front of us. He was glowing, the way Taeral did when he got lethally pissed off—but his light was a dull, angry red. “I’ve laid claim to these outsiders,” he snarled. “Touch them, and I’ll scatter your entrails to the winds.”

Whatever he was doing, I had a feeling they weren’t in the mood to listen. I figured now was a good time to arm ourselves. I yanked my pack off, pulled it open and handed one of the guns to Sadie.

I took the dagger. At least I had a chance of hurting something with it.

The Redcap opened his too-wide mouth and laughed, showing all of his sharp, yellowed teeth. “Me wild friends are not here to challenge ye, Sidhe. We’ll be takin’ that one,” he said, pointing a gnarled finger at me. “Ye’ll not escape again, me little bargaining chip. Not when I know how truly valuable ye are to her Majesty.”

Uriskel cut a glare at me. “What is this putrid halfwit babbling about?”

“I don’t know, man,” I said. “We ran into him in New York, months ago. He tried to take me to the Unseelie Queen then, too.” I stepped forward, holding the dagger. “I think I’ll pass on that, Lucky.”

“What business have you with Moirehna?” Uriskel snapped at the Redcap.

“None that’s yours,” he said. “But as I’m a reasonable putrid halfwit, I’ll make a bargain with ye.” A grin crawled across his face. “Give us that, and we’ll let ye and the female live—after me friends have a wee bit of fun, that is.”

My gut clenched. “Over my dead body.”

“Oh, we can’t be havin’ that. She’ll want ye alive, yet.” His grin vanished. “Kill the female and the Sidhe. And make that one bleed.”

Damn. I really didn’t want to do this.

Uriskel moved first, gesturing with both arms as he shouted, “
Céa biahn!
” All four of them flew back a good ten feet and crashed to the ground.

But they didn’t stay down long.

As Uriskel charged them, Sadie took aim with the gun. In a flash it occurred to me that a gun going off in this world would draw attention we didn’t want—and I had an idea of what to do about it.

I shoved the dagger in my belt and grabbed the muzzle of the gun. “
Cíunaas.
”

Sadie gave me a frantic glance. “What the hell—”

“Just shoot. And don’t go wolf.” I couldn’t let her risk hurting someone she didn’t want to. Plus, I really didn’t want to get mauled.

“Fine,” she spat as she pulled the trigger.

There was no sound. But one of the Fae went down with the shot.

I grinned and thrust my pack at her. “There’s more ammo. Keep going,” I said, and sprinted for the fight.

The other two wild Fae held Uriskel, and the Redcap was going for a bite. Remembering Sadie had said to aim for his cap the last time, I grabbed the little bastard by the arm and tore his hat off before he noticed me. It came away hard, smearing blood all over my hand.

But the bald head beneath was undamaged. It wasn’t his blood.

With a hellish shriek, the Redcap wrenched from my grip and lunged at me. I sidestepped, held the bloodsoaked cap over my head—and caught sight of the Fae who’d been shot charging me from the other direction.

I gestured at him. “
Céa biahn.
”

The voice that came out of me was hollow and deep. I recognized the booming tone with a nasty start. The one I’d used the first time I accidentally called on magic against the Valentine brothers…and again when I’d removed my humanity with a drug and went full, cold-blooded Fae.

This time I didn’t have a drug to blame.

The charging Fae flew through the air and smashed hard against a tree. At the same time, intense pain surged through my leg.

I glanced down to find the Redcap gnawing on my shin like a chicken bone.

“Destroy it!” Uriskel called as he elbowed one of the wild ones in the face. There was a crunch that could’ve been the Fae’s nose breaking—or my leg. “The cap! Destroy it…it’s the only way to stop him.”