Ever Winter (7 page)

Men and women rushed by in blurs. Long trench and winter coats wrapped around their bodies with thick scarves and knitted hats pulled over their frozen ears. Some braved the cold with nothing but thin sweaters and jackets but acted like it didn’t bother them whatsoever. Smells ranging from the cooking food and yummy coffee from a café to the foulness of car exhaust snaked past Shade’s nose, making her keenly aware that she had not eaten breakfast today. Her stomach rumbled under the many layers of clothes that didn’t seem to keep the cold out. It drifted through the clothes and through the tiny holes in the fabric, easily permeating her skin and freezing her enough that it hurt to breathe.

Dylan noticed her chattering teeth and shivering and pulled her to his side. He carefully emitted some heat from underneath his glamour, warming her up and making it easier for her to walk. It slowed them down somewhat as they weaved through the crowd, hurrying to keep up with Brisa and Soap, but it was better than her muscles
locking up from the icy weather. Her breath puffed out in front of her like thick, misty smoke, but she relished the personal heater next to her.

The city sights were amazing and captivated her attention as they continued on. Turning down busy streets and crossing the c
logged-up rivers of people, they finally came to stop before a decrepit, run down brick tenement. The exterior looked like it had not been cleaned or redone in a long time−some bricks were broken or missing altogether. The cement steps were in no better condition, and one of the handrails was missing on one side. The door was a faded green with aging spray painted tags etched long ago. It was hard to believe anyone lived here now.

Brisa waited at the bottom of the steps as Dylan knocked on the door. When no one answered, Shade noticed the small buttons in a call box near the side of the door. After pushing the one that said S. Ryker, the buzzer rang loudly and made Shade jump. Immediately, they heard a crackle as the speaker powered on.

“Go away!”

She turned to Dylan, wondering if this was going to be easy or not.

“Um, Mr. Stanis? I need to speak with you. It’s very important.”

“I said get out of here! Leave me be!” The voice was rough, like he’d smoked too much his entire life. Still, a slight, frantic desperation leaked into his words, and everyone looked at one another as they waited.

Shade cleared her throat, hoping to come up with the right words to convince him to open up. “Look, I’d love to go away, but Prince Lotinar sent me, you know… Ursad. He said you could help me. He said you owed him a favor.”

She waited as a crash sounded above them and through the speaker. The gritty voice cursed, obviously having broken something. After that, only static and silence greeted them.

“Hello?” Shade asked. She was beginning to think he wouldn’t come to the door. Maybe this was a huge mistake, and he wasn’t as good a friend to Ursad as Ursad had thought he was.
So much for that
. Now what?

A series of thumps followed by a huge crash against the door and a rattle of chains and locks preceded the door flying open to an older-looking man with wild grey streaked hair. He had partially tied his hair back in a disorderly ponytail. His face looked like he was maybe in his fifties, but the leathery look of his skin made him seem even older. He wore a pajama top with a stained blue shirt under it and a pair of hole-ridden jeans.

Shade’s mouth was on the floor, but she clamped it shut just as fast when Camulus’ voice broke the silence. “Stanis Ryker, it’s a pleasure to meet you. His Majesty, Prince Lotinar, sends his deepest regards and would love to have you visit him in the Glass Castle anytime you would like.”

Stanis stared at the elven-pixie, narrowing his wild eyes filled with distain. Shade gulped as she watched him. She was pretty sure that he would slam the door right in their faces. Instead, he opened the door wider while his eyes darted nervously around the street. “Get in, quick!”

Scurrying in, the five of them squeezed into the narrow hallway which led to an equally tight staircase. After Stanis slammed the door and locked a series of chains and deadbolts, he turned, squeezed past them and took the stairs two at a time. Shrugging, Dylan motioned to them to follow after the crazy man. Shade felt her gut tighten as they ascended after him, feeling that this was not going to go as they wanted it to, and it overwhelmed her senses. She tried to breathe in deeply in an attempt to relax the tension building within her.

Entering an apartment at the end of the hall off the stairs, they shuffled in and watched the man quickly lock another ridiculous amount of chains and locks on his door. Once he was done, he turned and eyed them once more. His lips quivered in disgust, but he waved to them to sit down on his thread bare couches. They took up the walls on the left side of the sparse, filthy room.

“Well you might as well make yourselves at home. Not like I can make you leave now,” he muttered, hurrying off to the open kitchen on the other side of the room facing the large, grimy windows that let in the bright sunlight streaming in in rays through the filth. Crumbled fast food wrappers littered the dirt streaked wooden floors along with cups and bowls stacked in odd places along the floor and in the middle of the room. Book stacks lined the walls near the door and were also randomly placed throughout the apartment and down the hallway.

The place should be condemned, Shade thought. She studied a dark moldy stain that was slowly spreading across the ceiling in one corner and the cobwebs that hung around it strung through the light fixtures. It made her shudder to think of what sort of little bitty creatures shared the apartment with Stanis.

He grabbed a chair from the small breakfast table, which was piled up with books and old paper cups, and brought it over to sit facing them. Sipping on a soda, he raked his eyes over each one of them, sizing them up quickly.

“So, why did Ursad send you my way? Faeries hate the city stench.” He wrinkled his nose and pulled out a used handkerchief, blowing out his nostrils before returning it to his shirt pocket. Shade held back a gag as she averted her eyes from his disgusting habit.

“We seek the Winter Ancient’s dwelling. Prince Lotinar stated that you, of all people, would know where to find his location,” Camulus answered.

Stanis cracked a smile where a few missing teeth left gaps in his yellowed array of enamel. He started cackling, letting it turn into a wheezing cough as he stood up and hunched over, hacking up a lung. Shade was left wondering how on earth this being was anything close to being a faery.

Once his fit had ended, he straightened and glared at Shade, letting his stare sear into her as she fidgeted under the weight of it. A sudden quiver in the air around him made the air ripple and send a whoosh of air throughout the room. Blinking, Shade laid her eyes upon a very handsome but tired looking faery man with brilliant brown wings neatly folded on his back and long grey brown hair tied back.

“This city stench is impossible to tolerate without glamour. I’m exhausted and tired of the iron that spills into my nostrils and wrecks my joints.” He rolled his shoulders and back, grimacing as though the room smelled of garbage, which it pretty much did. “What do you offer for this information? And, why exactly do you need it so badly?” He snickered.

Shade was really beginning to dislike Stanis.

“I need to find him. He bound my magic to him, and left me powerless. I need to get him to unleash his grip on me so I can claim the Summer Seelie Court; I’m the rightful Queen,” Shade stated. She kept her gaze focused on him. His good looks were not intimidating, which she thought was the reason he had shed his scruffy exterior. If he wanted to charm her, this wasn’t the way to do it.

He laughed sitting back down on the chair. His wings parted to allow him to lean on the back of the chair. His sinister eyes darted to Brisa and then back to Shade, making Shade’s skin crawl. They were a dark brown in color, nothing too faery about them, making her wonder if he had some human in him.

“You want to seek out the Winter Ancient? Ha!” He shook his head, crossing his arms as he shook his legs in a nervous, repetitive twitch. “You don’t know what you ask. But first,” he leaned forward, snarling at her with an evil grin spreading across his face, “what are you offering me in exchange?”

Shade pulled a tiny flask from her pocket. It glittered in the sunshine which bled across the room. It was barely an ampule with but a teaspoon of water in it, but she hoped it would be more valuable than anything else to this crazy faery. “Water, from the Santiran Fountains. It’s sealed so you won’t be harmed by it.” She tilted her head, watching his smile fade and a twisted fascination grow through his features. “Only I can touch it outside this glass, but I thought you might like it for your… collections.” Shade held it out, hoping he would grab it from her, accept it and send them on their way soon.

The faery licked his lips and rubbed his fingertips repetitively as he stared hungrily at the vial. If he leaned forward enough, he could snatch it from her grasp, but he seemed hesitant, almost afraid of the magical fluid swirling in the glass.

“Prove to me that it is Santiran water magic.” He raised his eyes to hers, looking more glassy as time went by. She wondered if faeries did drugs. He looked high as a kite. If he was human, she’d say he was tweaking for sure. His nervous twitches were making her jumpy but she didn’t dare ask.

Her heart sank.

“I can’t. I told you, I have no powers right now.”

Stanis laughed, but then continued to laugh until he was in some conniption fit of laughter. He almost fell of the chair that creaked under his weight. Shade felt her face flush scarlet, her temper rising as she stared at the insanity passing across his face. She jumped to her feet and headed for the door, already pulling at the endless chains and deadbolts as she frantically tried to escape. The room was already making her feel sick, and it grew smaller as each minute ticked by.

“He’s not going to help us. Let’s just go!” She yelled at the others, a sob gathering in her throat. How dare he laugh at her? He didn’t even know her. He knew nothing of all the hardships she’s had to endure for the Land of Faerie, for her heritage. He may be an exile, but he had no right to make fun of her.

Dylan and the others didn’t move, their eyes wide with the shock of the moment still sinking in.

“Come on!” She begged as she continued to struggle with the endless locks. Were they bespelled? There seemed to be more and more as she went down each row, loosening each one. It was never ending.

“Stop!” Stanis sprung to his feet now and slammed one hand against the door. All the chains, locks and deadbolts disappeared, including the entire door. Only a bare dingy white wall stared back at her. She flicked her eyes from the wall to Stanis, knowing he had bested her yet again. It didn’t stop her from sending daggers in her glare.

“Open the door, Stanis,” Shade hissed. “We’re through here.”

“Just a minute, princess. I have bone to pick with you.” He tapped the wall and moved so fast, only a blur appeared where he had stood. He was in the kitchen now and pulled out a small, blue glass bowl. Bringing it to her, he held it out toward Shade, pushing her to take it. When she did, he resumed his position on the creaky chair, motioning her to sit back on the couch. “Please, sit.”

“I’d rather stand.”

He groaned, rolling his head on his shoulders. His long brown hair spilled over the back of the chair as he did that. He looked like a drunk slumped in the chair, almost falling off the edge. “Suit yourself, changeling, but I highly suggest you sit. There are more ways than one to use magic, even bound up as you are.” His wild eyes seemed more sober now, and she felt a sudden urge to sit as told. The suspicion she felt that he was using magic on her was eating at her nerves. She hated being played, and he seemed a master at that.

“What do you mean, more ways?” She settled between Soap and Dylan and held the bowl out. It was small enough to fit in her palm.

“This is a Pith. It extracts your essence, therefore, your powers are given a release through this bowl. Even in your case, one’s powers cannot be completely contained, as one can never truly trap a mind. This Pith provides another route, another path for your magic to escape your body and work its powers. We’re only trapped by the binds we allow to be placed upon ourselves. This breaks through that. It will let you use your water magic, as though you’d never been bound.”

The others gasped, staring in wonderment at the ordinary blue glass bowl sitting in her palm. It seemed utterly mundane, no etchings on its hard surface, nothing to convey its powerful use. She wondered if he was pulling her leg or not, but it was worth a try.

“One drop into the bowl, Shade. That’s all it takes.” He gestured quickly, to make her move faster. She gulped, mesmerized by the glass. She silently prayed that it would work; if not, they were doomed. No…, she was doomed.