The Boy with the Hidden Name (23 page)

friends. Trow looks a bit bemused.

“Excellent,” says Will as if there is nothing more to discuss.

“We’ll leave immediately.”

x

Ben says he feels well enough to jump all of us to Iceland.

Except that he can’t jump the Erlking due to the fact that he

can’t work when the Erlking is touching him. The Erlking

says not to worry about him— he has other ways to get to

Iceland— and then he leaves the house.

“He’s going to meet us there, right?” Kelsey says to me as

we watch him go.

“Definitely,” I say, feigning a confidence I don’t feel.

Kelsey can tell. “Do you trust him?”

I look at Ben, who is listening to something Will is saying to

him, his nose wrinkled in displeasure. “I don’t trust anyone,”

I say.

“Yeah,” echoes Kelsey as she rests her eyes on Safford. Poor

196

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 196

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

Safford, who seems so sweet and straightforward and may

have the world’s most terrible fashion sense, but other than

that just seems
lovely
.

“I don’t know that Safford’s like that,” I tell her, feeling bad that I’ve colored her crush with the whole disaster that happened with Ben.

“Never trust a faerie, right?” says Kelsey, sounding half-

grim and half- wistful.

“It’s so great to meet you,” Merrow gushes, coming up to

me. “I feel better now that we’ve got three of us. We’ll go to

Iceland, find the fourth, and rewrite the story.”

“Rewrite the story,” I echo.

“It’s what my mom told me we have to do. We have to

rewrite the story to…fix a lot of things.” Merrow is speak-

ing bouncily and sunnily, but there’s a shadow lurking in

her eyes. I feel bad. Something tells me she has just as much

inner turmoil going on as I do; she’s just hiding it better.

“You guys should have some sort of secret fay handshake,”

Kelsey says, and I wonder if she feels a bit left out.

Trow smiles at Kelsey. “So you’re not a fay?”

“Not a fay,” Kelsey agrees.

“How’d you get roped into this?”

“I’m just the world’s greatest best friend,” Kelsey explains.

“She speaks the truth,” I contribute and turn to Merrow.

“So you know…everything?”

Merrow snorts. “I wish. No. Not even close.”

“How much do you know?”

197

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 197

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

“She knows just enough to be dangerous,” says Trow.

Merrow ignores him. “I know there are four of us. I knew

you were here because the stars told me. I know we have to

go to Iceland, although I can’t tell if that’s because the other fay is there. It doesn’t feel right, but I don’t know what else

it could be. And I know we’re supposed to rewrite the story.”

Merrow pauses then says slowly, “My mother is…Whatever

they did to her, it’s…”

I think of Trevor and Milla, the little children I saw named

right in front of me, for no reason other than because the

Seelies
could
. I can’t help but shudder. I don’t know what I would have done if that had happened to my aunts or my

father, right there with me watching. If Merrow had to see

that…“I’m sorry,” I say, aching for her. “It’s…horrible.” It is

hardly an accurate word but it’s the best I can do.

“Did they attack your family too?”

I look at my aunts, who are standing in the corner, looking

terrified and heartbroken. “Excuse me,” I say to Merrow and

go over to them.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Aunt True says, her voice

laden with tears. “We can’t keep you here. We can’t stop you.

And they have Etherington…”

“I’m going to get him back,” I vow. “That’s why we’re going

to Iceland. We’re going to find the other fay, take on the

Seelies, and get Dad back. I promise.”

“Oh, Selkie.” Aunt Virtue looks at me, and her eyes are wet.

She looks as if she is trying to catalogue everything about me,

198

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 198

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

as if this might be the last time she ever sees me, and I can’t

bear the thought of that.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” I say desperately. “We’ll

be so fast.”

“Please be careful,” Aunt Virtue says. “Please don’t be
heroic
.”

“I’m never heroic,” I say, confused.

Aunt True and Aunt Virtue both make noises that could be

close to laughter.

“I’m
not
,” I insist. “It’s just that sometimes…I have to do stuff. But I’m not— ”

“Just be careful,” Aunt Virtue repeats. “We’d come with

you, except that we’re two more people to worry about, and

Boston’s defenses need all the help we can give them, and— ”

“We’re going to keep everything here safe for you,” Aunt

True tells me with the air of a promise.

“Good. When I get Dad, we’re going to bring him home.”

I’ve made this decision already. We can figure out some way

to accomplish this. Maybe we can even make him better.

Maybe Will knows some kind of spell. Maybe Ben can help.

I hug my aunts, refusing to hug them for longer than I

would normally hug them, because I want this to be just like

any other parting.

And then I turn to the knot of people in the center of the

room. The people I’m supposed to save the world with.

Ben says, “Ready?” and I nod.

199

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 199

6/9/14 1:15 PM

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 200

6/9/14 1:15 PM

w e are outside, in darkness. It is cold, and we are sur-

rounded by a wet, drizzly fog that presses against us.

I am near enough to Ben to feel him flinch and hear the curse

that he mutters under his breath at the damp.

“Where are we?” Merrow asks cheerfully.

“
Iceland
,” Ben half snaps at her. “Isn’t that where you told us we had to go?”

“It’s awfully dark,” says Merrow, undeterred. “How do we

know it’s Iceland?”

“It’s Iceland,” says the Erlking suddenly from somewhere in

the darkness. “And it took you long enough. It’s 11:48 now.”

“How did you get here so quickly?” Kelsey asks in surprise

as the Erlking strides up to us, slightly darker than the night.

“Who says I got here quickly?” the Erlking replies mildly.

“It’s possible I took the long way around and just happened

to meet up with you.”

Kelsey stares at him. “No,” she says. “That’s not possible.”

The Erlking ignores her and says to Ben, “It was obvious of

you, wasn’t it? Coming to this part of Iceland?”

“Isn’t it the right part?” Ben asks. He is suppressing shivers

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 201

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

now, and I can tell the wetness all around is seeping into his

bones. I have a vivid recollection of the way he was in Tir na

nOg. “Aren’t we near the Hidden Folk? Certainly this place

is covered in magic.”

“You’re quite close,” the Erlking agrees. “I just thought

landing so close to where you wanted to be is
obvious
.”

“Or sensible,” says Kelsey.

The Erlking shrugs. Then he takes a few confident steps

away from us and disappears. I blink in confusion then realize

that there is a rock ahead of us, with a gap in it: the entrance to a cave.
Shelter
, I think, and I am relieved.

The Erlking’s head reappears, poking out of the cave.

“Come along.”

We follow him obediently. Will sends one of his lighted

orbs up to the ceiling of the cave, where it floats, illuminat-

ing the size of the cavern. It’s really more of a passageway

than a cavern, a narrow hallway hewn into the rock. There

isn’t much to see, but I don’t know what we’re looking for.

I glance at Ben who looks drawn and exhausted, droplets of

water shining in his dark hair.

“Take your coats off,” Will tells him. “They’re getting

you damper.”

Ben obeys, slipping out of his trench coat and pulling the

windbreaker he’s wearing underneath it over his head, leav-

ing his hair in unruly and wet disarray. The blue and white

striped long- sleeved polo shirt he’s wearing over a bright tan-

gerine shirt seems mostly dry.

202

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 202

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

“What’s the matter with him?” Merrow asks, sound-

ing curious.

“He doesn’t like water,” I answer.

“He doesn’t like water,” repeats Trow, as if trying to make

that make sense.

“Here,” the Erlking says and carefully hands across the cape

he’s taken off.

Ben looks both surprised and jubilant. He wipes his face

and towels off his hair with the inside layer of the cape,

which seems to have remained dry, and then hands it grate-

fully back to the Erlking, careful that they don’t touch each

other. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” The Erlking twirls the cape dramati-

cally around himself and fastens it back around his neck.

“This way.”

We set off following the Erlking, although I’m not sure

where it is we’re going. The Erlking moves slowly, cautiously,

and I sense that he needs it to be quiet. None of us says a word.

We’ve only gone a few dozen feet when the Erlking, in a

movement so quick that I don’t even see him execute it, pulls

out his sword and points it toward the wall. I’m confused,

wondering if he’s suddenly lost his mind, and then I become

aware that he has pinned a
person
there, up against the wall of the cave. A person who is a stranger to our group. A person I

didn’t notice until just that moment.

“Where did he come from?” Kelsey whispers beside me,

clearly as shocked as I am.

203

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 203

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

The person is a young man. His face is sculptured and

striking, beautiful bow lips and lovely high cheekbones, but

the effect is somehow not attractive. His eyes dart around at

us from underneath a mop of thick brown hair falling over

onto his forehead. He is dressed in trousers and a filthy blue

shirt, tucked half in and half out, and his shoes are on the

wrong feet.

And he says, “There’s no way that you can see me.”

The Erlking smiles a wicked, terrifying smile and edges

the point of his sword closer to the man’s Adam’s apple.

“Reconsider,” he suggests smoothly.

The cornered man gulps and tries to look cross- eyed at the

sword cornering him. And then he frowns. “Hang on just a

pig’s whisper,” he says and looks up at the Erlking in amaze-

ment. “Is that goblin silver?”

The Erlking smiles again, a bit more nicely this time but

still silkily. Then he lowers the sword and bows gracefully, his cape swirling about him dramatically. “I am the Erlking of

Goblinopolis,” he announces.

The man blinks in astonishment. “Are you really? Well,

isn’t this amazing!” He launches himself at the Erlking, and I

flinch, expecting it to be an attack, but he simply shakes his

hand enthusiastically. “It’s wonderful to meet you.
Marvelous
to meet you,” he exclaims.

The Erlking looks as if this is to be expected. “Thank you,

thank you,” he says, although he might as well be saying
Of

course, of course
.

204

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 204

6/9/14 1:15 PM

The Boy wiTh The hidden name

“What brings you to the humble land of Ingolfur

Arnarson?” the man asks.

“A quest,” answers the Erlking. “A most important quest.”

He steps aside, gesturing to Merrow. “These are the fays of

the seasons— ”

“The fays of the seasons!” the man interrupts, sounding

astonished. “Well, why didn’t you
say
so? You will need to see their majesties.”

x

We follow our guide. He is chattering a mile a minute to the

Erlking, and I can’t really follow the conversation. It doesn’t

seem as if the Erlking is either; he just keeps hmm- ing every

so often to keep up his end of it. The walls and floor of the

hallway are covered in red carpet so plush we sink into it and

leave footprints as if it is snow. Golden sconces line the walls, candles burning merrily. Over our heads, from the ceiling of

the cave, chandeliers drip delicate crystal and blaze away. It

seems to be an entire palace existing in a cave.

Eventually, the hallway opens into a large room. The floor is

stone, like the floor of the cave itself, but it has been polished until it gleams like a mirror, reflecting the chandeliers high

above it. Looking into it has a dizzying effect, the doubling

of the world at one’s feet. I can’t look away from it, staring

into my own startled eyes. It isn’t like looking at a reflection, not entirely. It’s like looking into a puddle, like there’s a me 205

BoywiththeHiddenName_INT.indd 205

6/9/14 1:15 PM

Skylar DorSet

on the other side of it also looking into a puddle, and I lean

closer to it, inexorably…

And tumble in, through cold marble that gives way with

a splash, and then I find myself struggling my way out of a