The Aetherfae (6 page)

“I’m very afraid for them. They’re travelling without protection. Yes, I’d like to bring them here,” I said without acknowledging Amadahy.

“Where are they?” Gavin asked.

“On I-40, near some place called Jackson, Tennessee—I’m not sure where that is.”

“I do,” Gavin said, “it’s between Memphis and Nashville.”

“I see no point,” Amadahy said aloud. “We have already risked our clan to save you. If you are the Maebown, you should have been able to protect yourself.”

“I am going to be a Maebown, and I can protect myself, but I need time to learn how to produce Aether. “

“And how do you plan to do that? Return to the Weald? Ozara tried to erase your memories for a reason—perhaps she doesn’t trust you, ” Amadahy said.

“I’m not going back to the Weald, at least not yet anyway. I…listen, I don’t know how I’m going to learn Aether…I haven’t been able to try. Ozara has had me watched constantly since I tried last summer. That’s beside the point.”

The red fox turned its head and focused on me for the first time. “That is hardly beside the point, human. Fae much smarter than you have been trying to discover the secret of Aether for millennia. You are either incredibly arrogant, monumentally naïve, or hopelessly stupid to believe you can learn Aether without Ozara’s assistance. It is folly to encourage the child. It is suicide to aid her.”

“I need to leave my family in…I need them safe so I can focus. I will figure Aether out—I’m destined to. Safety for my friends and family, that’s all I’m asking. This is my best option, and under the circumstances, I think it’s your best option, too.” I turned to Tse-xo-be. “Can you protect my family? Please?” I pleaded.

“This is not a decision I will make alone,” Tse-xo-be said. “The decision is all of ours to make, but once it is made, each will be bound.”

Tadewi spoke first. “Amadahy raises many valid points and legitimate concerns: we are in danger. Protecting Maggie’s family places not just the elders at risk, but all three hundred of our clan. It is pointless to deny the danger. We must ask ourselves whether protecting her family is prudent given that Maggie will be attempting to learn Aether on her own—a task that seems to me, unlikely…”

My heart sank.

“…However, I believe in balance—balance in all things—that is our way. We have a duty to seek balance, to encourage it when we can, to protect if we must. As unlikely as Maggie’s task may appear, she has come to us for a reason. Like the Maebown who came before her, I recognize the necessity of it. For my part in this decision, I believe it is prudent to help Maggie.”

“For my part, I agree.” Wakinyan said.

“Yes, for my part,” Sinopa agreed.

Each elder, with Amadahy’s exception, agreed.

“Then it is settled,” Tse-xo-be said. “I will remain and protect the family, Wakinyan, can you retrieve Maggie’s friends?”

“What can I do?” I asked.

“You are going, of course. You will direct Wakinyan. Gavin, Pavati, Nodin, remain close to her,” Tse-xo-be said.

“We leave now,” Wakinyan said, a smile spreading across his broad face.

“How are we going?” I asked, standing.

He laughed and fixed his intense stare on me. “By Thunderbird, of course.”

I knew by the look on his face he didn’t mean my pink one—wherever it was now. The size of a Cessna, he took the shape of the terrifying bird I’d seen battle Cassandra. “Climb on,” he commanded.

“Really? Can’t you make a helicopter out of a Honda or something?”

Wakinyan flexed his meat-hook talons, sinking them into the soft soil. “I’m faster. Climb on.”

When I hesitated, Gavin lifted me onto Wakinyan’s back and fashioned a harness and saddle of sorts that wrapped around the giant black eagle’s neck. Sliding behind me, his arms around my waist, Gavin grabbed the harness and said, “Hold on.”

“You might think about using your Air barrier—it gets windy up there,” Wakinyan quipped before launching us into the night sky.

With my Air barrier in place, we soared above the house and into the starlit sky. Riding on the back of a giant bird left me unnerved, but having Gavin’s muscular arms cradling my body, well, it was surreal. For the first time in two days, I began to laugh. I laughed at the absurdity of taking a midnight flight with Adonis atop the
mythological
Thunderbird.
If I survive this, who is going to believe me?

“What time is it?” I asked Gavin.

“The watch I gave you?”

“On the dresser.”

“That’s a great place for a watch. It’s 1:00 a.m.”

I gently pushed my back into his chest, ignoring his attempt to humor me.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them before anyone else does,” he said.

“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about Mom. I’ve never seen her so…you know.”

“I sensed confusion, fear, and concern, but…”

Gavin didn’t say emptiness, pain, or loneliness. He was sparing me. I knew she felt those emotions, too. And anger.

“She is a strong woman. She’ll recover.”

“I know that…” I said.

“And she will forgive you—I know that’s what you’re worried about. She’s lost so much in the last two days—more than you can imagine.”

His words infuriated me and my first instinct was to thrust my elbow into his ribs. I’d just lost my father, for crying out loud. Almost immediately, however, my little voice chimed in.
From his perspective, you idiot, there is nothing worse than losing a partner.

So rather than throw an elbow, I leaned my head against his cheek. I wondered whether he was thinking about losing me.

“Gavin, there is so much I need to tell you…so much you don’t know.”

“Whenever you’re ready, I’ll listen. I will never leave your side again.”

I thought about his words and I knew that wasn’t the case. He meant them, I know, but I would have to leave him soon. In my gut I knew I had to leave all of them. Intuition told me as much. I didn’t know why I knew it, but I’d learned to trust my gut. It had never been wrong. We could have that discussion later.

Wakinyan dropped out of the clouds, while Pavati and Nodin kept pace just feet away in their natural forms. I spread my mind out to search for Fae. There were none. Below the clouds, the twinkling outline of cities and towns appeared across the darkened landscape. Pairs of red and white lights slowly streamed in different directions along a road. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Candace again. She was still asleep in the back of Doug’s Jeep, but Ronnie was driving now. He and Doug chatted about college. Searching the signs along the road, my mind raced past them. Several miles ahead, I saw a sign that said Interstate 24, and a distance to Chattanooga. I sensed something else, slipping in and out of passing cars.

Oh god ..
.

Snapping back into by body, I screamed, “They’re on a different road, I-24, about ten miles from Chattanooga—Dersha is there waiting for them, she has company. Gavin—”

Gavin didn’t wait for me to finish; he changed into Naeshura instead, relaying what I’d said to Pavati, Nodin, and Wakinyan.

“Maggie’s friends are too far ahead for me to catch them. Pavati, stop them before they get closer to Dersha—don’t be seen,” Wakinyan said.

Pavati streaked ahead, accelerating beyond my range in a few seconds. Until I had learned her name, I’d called Pavati
the fearless one
. When I saw her the first time I had noticed three things: long beautiful raven black hair down to her thighs, the exquisite round features of her face, and her intrepid nature. She was more confident than any being I’d ever met. Still, Nodin was older and more powerful, so at first I didn’t understand why Wakinyan had sent her ahead.

Wakinyan veered right, away from I-40, and accelerated. Miles passed in complete darkness, with only the occasional yard light streaking by underneath us. Then, in Pavati’s wake, fog formed across the horizon.

Of course, she’s Water-aligned. The fog is brilliant: stop the traffic and provide cover.

I clutched the harness as Wakinyan flew even faster, the ground a foggy soup a few hundred feet below us. My head began to spin.

Gavin reappeared behind me. “Don’t look down. Close your eyes.”

I tried, but couldn’t. It seemed worse to fly at breakneck speed with my eyes closed. Wakinyan glided above the fog, over a mountain peak, and down the other side back into the blinding mist. Below us were lines of cars, pickups and semi-trucks. I-24, I assumed. They had slowed to a crawl in both directions. Wakinyan dove to just above the rooftops, gliding silently and invisibly past all the motorists. A few miles further and the fog was so thick I could only make out headlights during the split second we passed them.

“The cars have all stopped,”
Pavati said in a silent Fae conversation. “
We are not detected—yet
.”

Wakinyan slowed. “What am I looking for?”

“A Jeep, black, three passengers.” I said.

As if the fog wasn’t there, Wakinyan scoured the line of cars with his enhanced vision, reeling off his progress. “No, no, no,” over and over until finally, “Yes. I have them.”

I sensed Pavati and Nodin nearby. The fog grew thicker—I couldn’t see Wakinyan’s head in front of me. I felt his wings flex beneath me as we quickly descended. Soon I heard a crunching noise, as if something were cutting into metal like a giant can opener, followed by muffled screams and bellowed profanity. Wakinan beat his wings and immediately ascended, gaining altitude while clutching the vehicle beneath us. Gavin shifted into Naeshura, moved below us, and then took human form again. The yelling peaked for an instant, and then it stopped.

Above the fog, we flew back toward the west, Doug’s jeep dangling from Wakinyan’s talons. Back over the mountain and down the other side, we stopped in a small field adjacent to a two-lane blacktop. I dismounted and ran toward the jeep. Inside, Candace, Doug, and Ronnie sat erect in their seats, blank expressions filling their faces. Each stared at the enormous bird. I yanked the driver side door open and flung my arms around Ronnie’s neck.

“I’m so sorry about that.”

He stirred to life and hugged me back. “You’re alive, thank god, but holy shit, girl.”

“You’re safe,” Gavin said.

“Did that really happen?” Candace muttered.

Ronnie turned to Gavin. “Safe? Great to see, you too, buddy, but what the hell? Couldn’t you have just called and said, you know, pull over? No, ya have to scoop us up like a baby rabbit and fly us over a mountain in a Jeep!”

“That wasn’t my idea,” Gavin said, trying to hide his amusement.

“It was like being in a nature documentary—I expected to be dropped into some big ass baby bird’s squawking mouth!”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “You have a flair for the dramatic.”

“Dramatic?” Ronnie squawked. “I’m all about a dramatic entrance, but crap…one minute it’s foggy and I’m trying to stay awake. The next minute, huge talons everywhere, and wings—holy crap, now I know what a mouse feels like.”

“Oh shut up and let me out of the backseat,” Candace said, her eye fixed on me.

Wakinyan shifted forms, taking his imposing human shape. He smirked at Ronnie, who diverted his eyes.

“You’re really here?” Candace said, tearing up. “I was so afraid they got to you.”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I embraced her. “I’m fine.”

“We watched the news, saw what happened in Miami. Your house was destroyed,” Doug said, shooting Gavin a quick glance. “Your family, are they…?”

I choked up. “Mom, Mitch, and my grandparents are okay.”

Candace gasped. “Your dad?”

I shook my head, trying to control the spasms in my chest, “He…” I took a quick breath through trembling lips, “…he didn’t make it.”

SIX

QUANDARY

“W
e must leave this place,” Wakinyan said.

He scanned the area around us for effect. I knew he wasn’t relying on his mortal eyes to search for danger. It had a profound effect, nonetheless. Candace and Ronnie searched the darkened sky as well.

“How are we going?” Doug asked, running his hand on the hood of his Jeep next to the shredded sheet metal. “I don’t think this will make it very far, thank you very much.” Doug’s poor Jeep had seen better days. Besides the hood, the top was torn and two of the tires were flat.

“My apologies,” Wakinyan said. His words sounded completely insincere. “Would you like to fly?” Wakinyan asked.

Ronnie backed up a step. “Like that? Oh, hell no.”

A sadistic smile spread across Wakinyan’s face. Pavati shook her head. “He is joking,” she said.

“Well, driving it is.” Wakinyan mused. With a glance, he made the damage to the Jeep disappear. Doug yanked his hand back.

“How fast is this?” Nodin asked.

“Not,” Ronnie said.

“That simply will not work.” Nodin shook his head. “We need to get you away from here as soon as possible.”

“Why? Are we being hunted?” Candace asked.

“Yes,” I said. “We’re all being hunted.”

Doug’s face went white and he exchanged a quick look with Ronnie. Candace gasped. “Oh god, what’s happening? Has the war started?”

I cupped Candace’s slender shoulders in my hands. “I’ll tell you when we’re on the move. Wakinyan is right, though, we need to go.”

“They will be looking for this vehicle,” Wakinyan said. Before our eyes, the old Jeep flattened out into a sleek Jaguar sedan. “Sorry about that, I’ll change it back later.”

“No, that’s all right,” Doug said, “I’m good with this.”

Doug slumped when Wakinyan asked Pavati to drive, saying he would keep us hidden. A minute later, the black Jag streaked down the two-lane road at over a hundred miles an hour. Wakinyan hid us in Clóca. Gavin and Nodin compelled other drivers to move out of our way. Ronnie turned green and buried his face in his arms.

“I think it’s better if you keep your eyes open,” I offered.

“No. Tried that. I’ll be fine.”

“I have Dramamine in my purse. Want some?” Candace said.

“Yes. You’ll never let me live this down, will you?”

“Your secret is safe with me, Mr. Mashburn. This is one time when being freaked makes perfect sense…as long as you don’t hurl.”

By three in the morning, we were halfway through Kentucky. When the car reached its maximum speed, I sensed Nodin using his power with Air, forcing the car to go faster still. Despite being hurled down the interstate at more than two hundred miles an hour, I felt relaxed. “Candace, you got my journals?”

“Yes, I promised you I would. It wasn’t easy. The Pembreys were there the day you left—they’re the new family if you didn’t know. The son, Dylan, he’s the new Steward.” Candace said.

“I know. Fire inclined. How did you get them out?”

“I flirted—you owe me big.”

Ronnie snorted. “Flirted? Whatever, the girl is a succubus. Are you sure you’re not Fae?”

Doug and I chuckled. Pavati even joined in.

“You feeling better?” Candace asked Ronnie.

“Uh huh!”

“Pity. Don’t listen to him, I wasn’t that bad.”

“She batted her auburn lashes, flicked her fiery tresses, and then she freaking owned him when he gazed into those hazel man-traps. He’s been following her around all summer.”

“Well, anyway, back to the story,” Candace said, rolling her eyes. “I flirted—”

“Seduced—”

“Shut up, Ronald…flirted, and he invited me to see the cottage. His parents were gone, so I suggested we go swimming…”

“Skinny dipping. You have to tell it right, Candy,” Ronnie quipped.

“No you didn’t.” I stared at her.

“Well, I did offer to, but I wouldn’t have gone through with it. The little perv just dropped trou right in front of me.”

From my astral visit, an image of Dylan setting paper on fire flashed through my mind. It was quickly replaced by one of him fumbling out of his clothes and I laughed. “What did you do?”

“I tried not to laugh. I told him to meet me at the dock, and out the door he went, running down the path buck naked.”

I cackled. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t mind having that memory erased,” she said, closing her eyes and wincing. “I went upstairs to your old room. There was a poster of a half-naked girl and a corvette on the wall. Repulsive. I knocked a hole in the plaster, right where you told me, grabbed your journals, and put the poster back up. Done.”

“And nobody found the hole.”

“Yeah, that. Well, Sara fixed it.”

“Sara?” I was confused now.

“She knows a lot more than you think. Always has. When you left, she stayed near me for days. It was unnerving. Then she came right out and asked me.”

“Candace, she asked you what?”

Candace looked down. “She asked what I knew, asked me who taught me to hide the images in my mind, project false emotions. I was stunned.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I told her everything. She asked me why I wasn’t more upset that your memories had been erased. I tried to tell her that I was very upset…”

My head spun. “She knows it didn’t work.”

“Yes, Maggie. I denied it, I swear. But she knew better. She told me to pass along a message: find her. Then she left. Is she okay?”

The new information swirled in my head. I’d often thought Sara was on to me. That confirmed it. She left the Seelie and went back to the Sidhe because she knew. The Sidhe had banned any non-Sidhe from Ireland.
Oh my god, she went there to protect me.

“Yes, I think so. I believe she’s in Ireland.” I finally answered.

“What about Billy and Faye? They disappeared, too.”

“They’re waiting for us.” I wanted to change the subject. “Tell me, what did you do with Dylan?”

“I left him a note and split. What would you have done?”

Ronnie chuckled. “I bet he stayed in the lake for an hour. Candy, you’re totally cold-blooded.”

Candace ignored him. “I hope you don’t mind, I read the journals.”

I thought about it for a second. “No, I don’t mind.”

“Good, ‘cause I sorta read them, too.” Ronnie said sheepishly.

A knot grew in the pit of my stomach. “Doug?” I asked.

“Yes, me too—a few pages.” he said just above a whisper.

Yikes. I felt embarrassed. There was so much in the Journals about him and Gavin. It couldn’t have been easy for him to read. Candace mouthed the word “Sorry.” I patted her hand.

“What happened that day, the day you followed Ozara?” she asked. “You didn’t write about that.”

“When I got back, I came looking for you but everyone was gone.”

“We were in Fayetteville with Billy, Faye, and Sara. Your family was there, too,” Doug said.

“Oh,” I said. “Well, when I couldn’t find you, I…” With Doug listening, I didn’t want to say I went looking for Gavin. “…I went back to my room and projected. I got yanked back to my body and Ozara was there with Zarkus. She was trying to erase my memories.”

“Why didn’t it work?” Candace asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe because I was, well, out of my body. Maybe my brain works differently. Maybe…really, I don’t know.”

Candace turned to me, frowning in deep thought before saying, “Mom has experimented with astral projection—she says she’s had out of body experiences unconsciously, but she’s been trying to learn how to do it…on demand, I guess you could say. She not at all good at it—nothing like you—but she’s read a lot. She told me that some experts think you have an astral body that detaches from the physical body. So, I guess if your consciousness in in that, well, other part of your body, then maybe there was nothing to compel.”

“But you knew I wasn’t compelled?” I asked.

“Yeah. You gave me tons of clues. You said a
few things
…” she directed her eyes to Pavati in the driver’s seat, apparently not wanting to reveal our code word. “…and it was written all over your face.”

Ever observant, she always knew when I was keeping something from her. “One of these days you’re going to have to tell me how you do that.”

“Never.” She smiled.

By six o’clock we had crossed Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania, and were darting east through New York State. In the Utica, we veered off I-90 and took Highway 29 through a patchwork of rolling farmland and trees, then 29A, where the woods grew much denser. Pavati silently told me that Wakinyan wanted to stay away from the interstate as we got closer to Vermont. The two-lane road seemed especially narrow at our velocity, and Ronnie began to moan.

Candace cooed, “Ronnie, I have to tell you, that is the most beautiful shade of lime green I’ve ever seen.”

He glanced at her, his pupils dilated. “My eyes? I’ve heard that before.”

“No, your skin.”

“Cow.”

“So, Kermit, how much will you give me for another Dramamine?”

“You would do that, wouldn’t you?” he groaned. “Name your price. I’m dying.”

“Relax, Ronnie, I can eliminate your nausea,” Pavati said. “Place your hand in mine.” She reached back with her palm outstretched.

“Shouldn’t you have both hands on the wheel?” he asked, eyes watering.

“Give me your hand, or empty your wallet for a drug that will not be half as effective,” she said.

Ronnie gently grabbed her hand and then relaxed in the seat, exhaling a long slow breath as she worked her magic.

“I guess the Fae don’t believe in capitalism,” Candace said, grinning.

Pavati laughed. “No, I believe in balance in all things. There is no balance in a world where a few own a lot of things they do not need, and a lot of people struggle to find the things they do need, now is there?”

Candace nodded and sank back in the seat, her eyes focused out the window at the passing landscape of evergreen and deciduous trees. We drove through the forest past a place called Pine Lake, and then southerly through a more mountainous area. It was all very striking—I’d never pictured New York as a place filled with forested hills and small lakes. Pavati pulled off at a small store, brown with a green roof and a couple of gas pumps in the parking lot out front. It stood in a stand of tall pines with a lake as a backdrop.

“Stretch your legs, get something to eat, and we’ll be leaving in ten minutes. Do not use your cell phones, though.”

“Why no cell phones?” Doug asked.

“If my kind are looking for you, it will not be long before they check phone records. Use cash.”

Doug’s face turned red. He got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.

“Doug, are you okay?” I asked after catching him by the parking lot.

He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. “Why shouldn’t I be all right? I didn’t know if you were dead or alive, Maggie. I didn’t even know if you’d remember who I was.”

“Doug…”

“Don’t start apologizing again—that’s all you did before you ran off to Florida. I get what happened—what’s still happening. Just own it, but don’t expect me to be all, hey, it’s cool you’re not dead, and by the way, what classes are you taking this fall. I’m a little freaked, Okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

He frowned, looking up at me out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t know what to think about being hunted, and don’t get me started on the giant bird thing last night. Ronnie wasn’t the only one who thought he was about to die. What in the heck are we doing? Why are we headed to…well, first questions first: where are we headed? Crap, I haven’t even asked.”

“Vermont, for the time being.”

“Vermont. Why Vermont…oh forget it, I don’t even want to know. What I do want to know, and what nobody seems to want to talk about, is for how long?”

“I don’t know, Doug. I don’t.”

“A week?” he asked, crossing his arms. “A month? A year?”

“Like I said, I don’t know, so I can’t tell you that. I just know that they were coming after you. If we hadn’t found you…”

“I know—we’d be dead. I’m not mad at you, Maggie. I owe you my life. It’s just so much to handle right now. I can’t even call my parents to let them know I’m okay. You know, with practice starting in a few weeks, my dad didn’t want to let me go. I’m supposed to be on campus in eighteen days. Dad’s going to start worrying when I don’t call him this morning. I promised, 10 a.m. That’s in fifteen minutes.”

“Crap. We’ll find a way, I promise.”

He shook his head. “It’s okay. I’m eighteen. I’m supposed to be rebellious, right?”

“Well, when you call him, you can always tell him a giant mythological bird snatched you off the road, transformed your Jeep into a Jaguar, but wouldn’t let you phone home.”

He laughed, “Yeah, I know.” The smile disappeared from his face and he stared at me. “How long has Gavin been back?”