Last Car to Annwn Station (26 page)

Mae looked at Mirallyn. She had only just found the woman and now her mother talked as if her death in the imminent confrontation was foretold. “Mother…”

“It is a possibility. A strong one, in fact, and there is nothing to be done about it except that I shall strive to survive the night. Now, Mae, open the door, please.”

Mae licked her dry lips and took one deep breath. She blew it out in a loud sigh, her shoulders rising and falling with its force. She lifted the revolver and twisted the knob. Mae pushed the door open and took two steps into the room. She stepped sideways to her left, allowing her mother entrance.

Mae had an instant to take in the scene before her. A group of men and women, dressed in formal wear, stood in a semicircle around the room. Mae recognized several of them instantly: William Hodgins, surprised and angry. The three Arnesons, the two elders in shock at her appearance, Marie in tears. County Attorney Backstrom turned to look at Mae, horror on his face. Jill’s brother, Robert, stared like a rabbit caught in the headlights. The dark-haired woman Hodgins had called Ilona. The two others—a young red-haired woman in a green dress and a large blond man—seemed familiar, but she did not know their names.

Sitting in wooden chairs were two little girls. One was small and fair, with slightly pointed ears. She resembled Mirallyn and was slumped back, her eyes closed and mouth open. The other child was Chrysandra Arneson. Chrysandra’s skin was the pallor of the dead and mottled red, her hair mostly fallen out, her lips black and cracked.

Behind them was the frame of a mirror and in the place the glass should be was the frozen landscape of Annwn. Mae felt cold air rushing into the room through the portal.

Jill lay on a table with grooves carved into it. Her eyes were open, but unfocused. A slight trickle of blood ran from her nose. Her arms were out-flung. The hem of her dress was pulled up to her waist, exposing her underwear. Someone had drawn dotted lines on the inside of her thighs and arms. Her brother stood over her, holding a scalpel. There was a glint of red on the polished blade. A slow drip of blood ran down Jill’s left arm where Robert had begun to cut her.

Mae felt a surge of anger. A feral thing welled up inside of her, hammering at her chest, begging for release. Mae lifted the revolver and stepped deeper into the room.

The first bullet took Robert Hall in the head. He fell backward, the scalpel flying from his hand toward Ilona, who was reaching for the choker around her neck.

Her next shot missed William Hodgins by a good foot. It smashed a hole in the dark wooden wall, sending small splinters flying. Mae tried to track on Hodgins as he ducked for cover, ignoring the screams of the room’s other occupants.

The third bullet struck James Arneson in the shoulder. He cried out in pain and fear, dropping to his knees. His wife knelt beside him, trying to cover his wound with her hands.

The blond man Mae did not know, but whom she now recognized from a recent cover of a local business magazine, rushed her. She fired point-blank, shattering his face. Mae took a step sideways to avoid his plunging body as it crashed at her feet.

Her fifth shot grazed Hodgins’s back as he dived for the portal. It traveled on, smashing a glass bottle filled with clear liquid on a low table. The room filled with the smell of alcohol.

Mae caught a quick glimpse of her mother, changed into her more horrific aspect, standing before the portal.

Mae saw movement to her left and turned. Ilona was charging her, a small curved blade held high.

The final shot passed harmlessly over Ilona’s shoulder, striking the wall next to the red-headed woman, who screamed and dived to the floor.

Mae threw the empty pistol at her opponent, forcing Ilona to break her stride as she ducked the impromptu projectile.

Mae took a step backward and reached into her back pocket. She withdrew Jill’s baton. As she snapped the baton to full extension, Ilona cut her with the curved knife, slicing down the front of Mae’s shoulder. Mae took another step back and lashed out with the metal rod. There was the sharp snap of impact. The mage screamed and dropped the knife.

Mae turned at movement to her right. Her mother was standing in front of the portal, back to it. She was surrounded in a yellow glow. On the floor at her feet lay the girls, Fay still bound to the tipped-over chair; the undead child lying on her stomach, working on the fabric binding Fay.

Hodgins, Backstrom and Marie Arneson stood in front of her mother. Hodgins and the Arneson woman were holding hands, Hodgins chanting fast and furious while Marie wobbled on her feet. Backstrom had produced a crystal sphere, similar to the one Hodgins was using. They held their crystals at eye level and advanced on the small faerie woman, chanting loudly in a language Mae did not recognize.

It was up to her mother to close the connection to Annwn.

Ilona and the redhead slammed into Mae. She collapsed under their combined weight, losing her grip on the baton, which slid across the floor. Mae tried to roll away, but the women held her fast, pinning her to the ground.

Mae lashed out with her fingernails, ripping one of her attackers across her eyes. The redhead screamed and grabbed at her wounded face. Ilona slapped Mae. She felt her head roll with the blow as darkness and a terrible buzzing threatened to overwhelm her senses. She tasted blood in her mouth and blinked back stars as the woman cocked her arm and hit Mae again. Mae felt her teeth rattle, and tears of pain and fear welled up in her eyes.

“Goddamned bitch!” Ilona had produced another knife, this one short bladed and double-edged.

Mae spit a mouthful of blood up into the woman’s eyes. She knew she was going to die, but she would be damned if she would die whimpering. She steeled herself for the blow.

Jill, standing on wobbly legs, her dress a disheveled mess, her hair a wild tangle, appeared behind Ilona. The redhead cried a warning. Ilona turned to look over her shoulder as Jill struck downward with the thick end of the baton, screaming like a demented banshee. The heavy piece of metal took Ilona near the temple with a dull thud. Jill lifted the weapon again as her first opponent toppled over like a felled tree.

The redhead cried out and lunged over Mae’s prone body toward Jill, hitting her at the knees. Both fell to the floor, struggling for control of the baton.

Mae sat up, dazed and bloodied. She heard a scream—high, mournful, filled with pain. She looked at the source.

Mirallyn stood silhouetted against the opening to Annwn, her arms out flung, her long silver hair whipping around her head, stirred by the force of the cold winds blasting into the room from the Underworld. Her head was thrown back, the terrible scream issuing from her throat.

Around the small faerie sorceress, the mortal mages, now joined by the two elder Arnesons, were pressing in.

“No!” Mae’s own voice joined the high pitched cries as her mother disintegrated, bursting into a vaporous cloud of red and silver in front of the portal. Her heavy robes, bloodied and torn, fell to the floor, empty.

Most of Mirallyn’s remains were sucked into Annwn, covering the fresh white snow with a dark crimson smear. What did not fall through the portal to the Underworld landed on Chrysandra and Fay.

Mae climbed to her feet. Bloodied, wobbling and unarmed, she moved toward the mages who had killed her mother.

Hodgins, his face and upper body drenched in sweat and blood, gave Mae a panicked look. He released Marie Arneson’s hand and, grabbing the unresisting Fay and a startled Chrysandra, dived through the open portal into Annwn.

Marie Arneson collapsed to the floor and lay on her side, her brown eyes wide and unblinking. Her lips kept moving, muttering something Mae could not hear.

Backstrom dropped to his knees. The sound of the older man retching was nearly drowned out by the heart-wrenching wail of Mae’s lover.

Mae turned at the sound of Jill’s anguished scream. Ilona and the redhead had overpowered Jill, straddling her body and pinning Jill with their weight. Mae watched as the redhead lifted Jill by the straps of her dress, raising her head and shoulders off the floor, then slammed her back down. Jill made a whimpering noise and the redhead raised her again.

Mae changed directions, charging into the fray. The redhead was too intent on Jill; she never saw Mae come up behind her. Mae lashed out with a booted foot, striking the woman in the side of the head. She tumbled sideways as Mae lost her balance and fell to the floor next to Jill.

The heavy smell of burning wood heralded the arrival of Kravis ap Thimp. He was covered in soot, his coat missing and his clothing scorched in places. He was holding his sword in his left hand. Black smoke filled the doorway behind him. Wordlessly, he reached down and lifted the red-haired woman from the floor. She trembled and stared at him like a frightened animal.

He stabbed her in the stomach with a quick thrust and dropped her again. She curled up, screaming and crying.

Mae gasped. Kravis’s eyes were wild and he laughed aloud at Mae. Mae felt a chill. He was standing in front of the only mundane exit from the room, the building burning behind him, smoke pouring in, a bloody sword in his hand.

“Kravis!” she screamed.

“Take your lover into Annwn, Mae Malveaux! There is no other escape!”

Mae grabbed Jill by the front of her battered black dress. She needed Jill on her feet. She needed to rescue Fay from Hodgins. They all needed to escape before the remaining mages could rally and overwhelm them.

“We have to go!” Mae cried, rising to her feet, trying to steady Jill.

Jill wobbled up to a standing position, constantly blinking, as if trying to focus her eyes. Holding tightly to Jill’s arm, Mae turned toward where Hodgins had jumped into Annwn with her sister and Chrysandra. Marie Arneson had somehow passed through the portal and was running toward the forest and calling Chrysandra’s name. Mae pulled Jill forward and pushed her through. Jill landed in the bloody snow and sat up, looking around. Before crossing, Mae looked over her shoulder at the scene in the room.

Ilona screamed and leaped toward the portal, smashing into Mae and knocking her down. Mae grabbed the woman’s left foot and pulled, stopping Ilona halfway into Annwn. Ilona twisted around and lashed out with the curved knife. Mae turned her head in time to keep from taking the brunt of the attack on her face. The sharp blade raked her across the right side of her neck and her ear.

A pair of hands grabbed Mae by her sweatshirt, lifted her off the struggling body of the woman and threw her through the faux mirror frame. Mae felt her body surge forward. She collapsed in the snows of Annwn.

Mae sat up on her knees. Jill was next to her, still looking slightly stunned and bleeding from her head.

Mae looked back into the mansion. Smoke had filled the room and there was the bright glow of fire flickering in through the door.

James Arneson was dead, cut down by Kravis. The Arneson matriarch knelt at her husband’s side. The red-haired woman, whose green dress was drenched in blood, crawled steadily toward the portal, hoping for escape from the burning mansion. Backstrom and Ilona were struggling with Kravis for control of the sword.

Mae looked through the portal at the mansion. There was a heartbeat of calm, a heartbeat of cold, frozen silence.

They came with the sound of razor wings: a rustling, shrieking, tortured cacophony on the air. The occupants of the burning mansion looked toward the smoke-and flame-filled doorway. The sound grew and burst into the room, heralding the arrival of a flight of silverware. The polished metal slashed through the room. The animated silver swirled around Backstrom and Maureen Arneson, ripping and tearing at them as they wailed. Mae turned her eyes away from the massacre.

The injured redhead made a desperate run for the perceived safety of Annwn. She dove through the opening and fell to the ground with a graceless thud. Ilona stood over Kravis’s body, dark blood dripping from her curved knife. The woman looked up toward the ceiling an instant before it collapsed in flames around her.

The portal before them shimmered and wavered for an instant, and the scene of slaughter vanished as if someone had turned off a television, leaving only the cries of the wind and a vast expanse of white landscape before them.

Wednesday, 1
^st
of November

Mae looked to Jill, who was sitting in the snow, blood running from a nasty-looking wound on her head. Near Jill lay the red-haired woman, whose breaths were coming raspy and shallow. Around them was a dark smear on the snow that Mae wanted to ignore but could not. She turned her eyes away from the grim sight. She would grieve for her mother later. For now she needed to focus on the living.

Mae leaned in to her lover. “Jill? Jill, are you all right?”

Jill gazed at her in confusion. “I—I think maybe.” Jill leaned into Mae’s arms, the cold making her body shake. “I hurt everywhere. Especially my head.”

Mae looked down at the shivering woman. She needed medical attention. It was obvious Jill was suffering from a concussion.

As for the red-haired woman, Mae doubted there was much anyone could do to save her. The woman was covered in her own blood, pale and gasping, her lips opening and closing as she tried to suck more air into her lungs.

Mae glanced around at the empty desolation of Annwn. There were footprints, four sets of tracks heading toward the frozen forest. She stood, helping Jill to her feet, and turned in a slow circle, looking at the horizon.

“Please…” a weak voice whispered behind her.

Mae looked at the dying woman. She lay on her back in the snow, her red hair fanned out around her head, her skin so pale it was blue, the front of her dress covered in dark, drying blood. Mae moved to kneel by her side.

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do for you.” Mae wished there was some way to end the woman’s suffering. She frowned and took the woman’s hand. She heard footsteps behind her, crunching in the snow. “Death is your only escape now.”

Mae looked up into the star-filled eyes. Death stood over the two women holding his briefcase. “And here he is,” Mae whispered.

“Hello, Maeve Kathleen Malveaux.”

“Death,” Mae replied, nodding to the woman in the snow. “Here on business, I see.”

“Yes, though my business is not with this unfortunate.” He took off his suit jacket and placed it around Jill’s shoulders.

Mae frowned at him. She glanced down at the woman and back to Death. “You can’t just leave her to suffer. That’s—it’s inhumane.”

Death nodded. “Agreed, Maeve. But I have no power over this one’s fate. Only the rightful lord of this place may give her surcease from her suffering.”

Mae gave him a fierce glare. “The ‘rightful lord’ of this place is frozen on his throne, bound by a man who wants me several kinds of dead. The ‘rightful lord’ of this place caused this mess.”

“Mae,” Jill said softly, touching her arm.

Mae’s hands clenched. “The ‘rightful lord’ is why Hodgins has so much power. I don’t think Gwynn ap Nudd is going to be riding in with the Wild Hunt to end this woman’s pain anytime soon,” Mae said through gritted teeth.

Death stared at her, watched her for so long that Mae started to shift from one foot to the other, though she held his gaze in her own. At her feet the red-haired woman made small whimpering noises.

“What did you tell your lover when you feared she would die in this place?” Death asked, nodding toward Jill.

“I told her she couldn’t die here. That if she did she would be trapped forever.”

“Why would she be trapped here? Is not Annwn a place for spirits to rest before rebirth?”

Mae frowned and looked from Death, to Jill, to the dying woman lying at her feet. “Yes. But since Jill doesn’t believe in this afterlife, her spirit would have been trapped here.”

“You know this how?”

Mae looked up at him. She opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. “I just knew. I—”

“When you challenged the alpha of the C
n Annwn, what happened?”

“He submitted to me,” Mae whispered.

“And did the pack leave as you ordered?”

Mae nodded.

“And your streetcar, it brought you and your lover safely out of Annwn at your command?”

“Yes.”

“Are you cold? You are, after all, standing in a frozen wasteland.”

“No.” Mae said, shaking her head. She had not even considered the fact that Jill was shivering while she seemed unaffected by the cold and wind.

Death smiled at her. “You did not believe I hung you from the Great Oak of Annwn for my own amusement, did you, Maeve Kathleen Malveaux?”

“I died,” Mae said, her brow was furled in thought.

Death nodded. “Yes.”

Mae gave him a worried look. “I’m not
still
dead, am I?”

Death chuckled. “I believe Jillian Lorraine Hall would attest to your corporeal existence.”

“Definitely
not
dead,” Jill confirmed, pulling the jacket tighter around her shoulders.

“I don’t get it. I’m not a—” Mae stopped. She was, in fact, connected to this place by her mother’s blood. She might lack the magic of the fae, she might not resemble them except for her small stature, but she was still one of them.

She was a half-blood member of the Tylwyth Teg. Annwn was inside of her, a part of her being.

Mae remembered what Death had told her during their last conversation in Annwn, when she had asked if Arawn had a daughter, he had replied, “Not Arawn, but the later lord of this place, Gwynn ap Nudd
.
”

Gwynn ap Nudd was not the first lord of this place. And he had fallen, the Champion of the Tylwyth Teg.
Mae knew the myths.
A fallen Champion had to be replaced.
She understood now.

Mae frowned and looked back down to the red-haired woman. The woman’s eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling in an irregular rhythm. Tears stained her face. Mae knelt next to her and touched her blood-covered arm. There were things she wanted to know. Mae needed to understand why. The woman opened her eyes.

“What’s your name?”

The woman swallowed and grimaced as she took a breath. “Lara, Lara Campbell. Please help me.”

Mae reached out and brushed Lara’s hair from her face. “I will. I
will
help you, Lara Campbell, but first I need to know something. I want you to answer some questions for me.”

Lara nodded.

“What was Hodgins planning to do to my sister?”

Lara’s eyes became confused. “The faerie child? She is your sister?”

“Yes. I want you to tell me what Hodgins planned for my sister.”

The woman lay quietly for several seconds as Mae gently stroked her head and waited. Mae knew the woman was trying to decide how loyal she felt to Hodgins, or perhaps how afraid of him she was.

“William Hodgins and the others will not be able to hurt you. You’re dead, Lara Campbell. All that matters now is what you do with the rest of eternity.”

The woman swallowed again and took a ragged breath. “He planned to place his daughter’s spirit in the faerie child’s body.”

Mae nodded solemnly. “Go on.”

“William and Marie were trying to attune their daughter to the magic. She had reached puberty, and it was time to discover if she had any power or aptitude. There was an accident. Something went wrong with the casting. None of us were told the whole story, but most of us thought it was because Marie could not handle the power properly. Everyone knew she had a drug problem, and everyone knew she could barely control the magic she wielded.” The woman frowned and tried to shake her head. “And Chrysandra seemed to attract ill-luck when it came to magic. She was always getting injured by stray bits of rituals and workings, no matter how well we shielded the space.”

Mae nodded. It made sense and it dovetailed nicely with the reports of injuries to Chrysandra that had been filed with Child Protective Services over the years. Lara coughed, dry and raspy. Mae gathered some clean snow and pressed it to the woman’s mouth. Lara stopped speaking. She took two hard and ragged breaths. “Then the hounds caught the faerie child and brought her to Hodgins. That’s when he started working on a way to save his daughter. It presented him with the perfect opportunity to keep Marie sane long enough to save his child and convince the rest of us to expend the power needed to keep Chrysandra in one piece for an extended period.”

“What was the plan? I mean besides saving his daughter’s life?”

Lara gasped. “Once Chrysandra was firmly inside her new body, he planned to use his daughter to destroy the rest of the faerie folk. Any magic we burned up would be gained five-fold once we gained access to their stronghold.”

Mae kept her voice calm as she asked, “And what would have happened to my sister?”

Lara hesitated before she answered. “She would have been trapped in Chrysandra’s dead body. I suspect Hodgins planned to withdraw the magic keeping his daughter’s body running after that.”

Mae nodded, showing no emotion. “One more thing, Lara Campbell. Why were you going to sacrifice Jill?”

Again the red-haired woman was silent for several moments before answering. Her eyes flicked to Jill and back to Mae. “She was the blood sacrifice needed to power the ritual. As she bled to death, her fear and the power of her soul leaving her body would make it easier for the rest of us to work the transfer.” The woman smiled grimly. “The fact that she was Robert’s sister would make the magic stronger and solidify his position in the circle. He considered his sister a disgrace to his family. Killing her and destroying her soul would have put him nearly in the same league as Hodgins in magical power.”

Mae felt her insides chill. She had come perilously close to losing her sister and her lover.

Lara reached up and touched Mae’s arm with a bloody hand. “Please, you promised me.”

“That I did.”

Mae looked over her shoulder at Death. He stood watching with an impassive expression. Mae realized he would be no help. She would need to figure out what to do on her own. Mae looked into the frightened and pain-filled eyes of Lara Campbell. “You understand that by dying here, your spirit will be trapped in Annwn forever?”

“Yes.”

Mae leaned forward and placed a hand over the woman’s heart. “Then come with me, Lara Campbell, and leave this ruined shell behind.” As Mae stood, the spirit of Lara Campbell stood with her.

The spirit looked around. “Is this hell, then?” she asked sadly.

Mae frowned. “Perhaps for you it is. Do you think you deserve any less?”

Lara knelt next to her own dead body. She touched the place on herself where the sword had stabbed her. “No. I suppose this is my punishment.” She stood and glanced at Mae. “What now?”

Mae turned to ask Death. He was gone. Mae sighed. His business in this place was apparently finished.

“Mae…” Jill whispered.

Mae turned to her, grabbing Jill by the arm to steady her. It was obvious Jill was barely staying upright. There was no way Jill would be able to keep up, and Mae refused to leave either Jill or Fay behind and alone in Annwn as long as Hodgins was alive. She lifted her chin and spoke into the empty air.

“Now would be a good time for some transport, Mr. Lowry. A nice streetcar ride would do us all.”

The yellow streetcar came at her call, rolling down metal tracks as they materialized in front of it. Mae read the sign over the top of the motorman’s window. Annwn Limited. The big machine stopped next to Mae. The red door opened.

“That’s a beautiful sight,” Jill muttered.

Mae stepped into the car, leading Jill to a seat and paying Jill’s fare. “I need you to stay on the car when I confront Hodgins.”

“Mae, your eyes, they’re—they’re full of stars.”

Mae nodded. “I know. I’ll explain later. Promise me you’ll stay on the streetcar.”

“Mae—”

Mae grabbed Jill by the arms. “I need you to do this. You’re in no shape to fight, and I need to know you’re safe while I deal with Hodgins.”

Jill frowned. “I want to go with you.”

“I know.” Mae released Jill’s arms and stepped away from her companion. “I’ll get Fay back from Hodgins and we’ll go home.”

“Promise?”

Mae smiled gently. “I promise.” Mae took a quick step toward Jill and kissed her, soft and gentle. “I love you.”

“And I love you. Now go do whatever it is you need to do to the bad guy and get your ass back to me in one piece.”

Mae kissed Jill again and backed away. She looked at the conductor and the motorman. “Follow me,” she said, stepping out of the streetcar.

The shade of Lara Campbell stood waiting for her. She locked her eyes on the spirit of the woman. “Now, Lara Campbell, you run with the Wild Hunt.”

Before the newly dead spirit could answer, Mae turned, adjusted the messenger bag on her shoulder and started toward the forest. She knew Hodgins would be there. Mae knew the forest was where she
needed
to be.

She began to run, first in a slow jog, but she gathered speed as she went, her short legs pumping hard. Around her, mist and spray rose up from the windswept snow. Shapes began to loom, low to the ground, four-legged.

The C
n Annwn, red-tipped ears flattened against sleek white bodies, gathered around Mae, running with her, surrounding her. Mae laughed aloud and pushed herself harder. She looked over her shoulder to find the spirit of Lara Campbell running among the hounds and the big yellow streetcar carrying Jill following along on tracks that appeared before its wheels in the white snow.