The Changeling (20 page)

She leapt into the air as he came in for another attack, and tried to climb up the bluff face, but the rocks crumbled to dust each time she managed a grip. Then they turned to spikes. He was Earth aligned.

Clutching her wound, she leapt over his head and healed before she hit the ground. When she landed, spikes rose from the ground and tore through beastly feet and calves, holding her there as the giant boar charged again. The sound of her shins snapping from the impact echoed off the bluff walls, and she rolled into a heap forty feet away, bleeding, moaning, and panting.

The Wise One stomped at the ground, and then turned to Tadewi. The instant I wondered whether she was dead, Cassandra spun to her feet and stumbled to a tree. I watched in astonishment as she healed in seconds. She directed a potent Air attack at the back of the gigantic boar, pushing him forward a few inches, but the attack caused no damage to him.

Cassandra seemed to sense the next attack coming, as she leaped into the air just before more spikes burst though the soil where she stood. They missed her hind paws by inches. Dozens of vines snaked out across the ground, rising into the air like cobras, reaching for her as long thorns formed on the ends.

Cassandra changed forms, growing an eagle’s head with a lion’s body. She hovered off the ground on enormous wings. A griffon from childhood tales, her amber eyes focused on Tadewi, who was struggling to sit up. She looked back at the Wise One.

I sensed more Fae approaching, and my body began shivering violently.

His voice was musical despite his formal tone. “Do not be foolish, Cassandra, leave this place or I will do to you what you intended for Tadewi.”

“Tse-xo-be, you fool, I’m not alone.”

Two Fae entered the clearing, taking the shape of the hybrid wolf-bear beasts I had seen on the island. Tse-xo-be ignored them and went to Tadewi, taking human form in the process. “I did not come alone either,” he said, laughing.

He retrieved Tadewi’s severed hand and bent over her broken body. Turning his back on the others, he began healing her.

“You are not going to win today,” he said aloofly. “Wakinyan, it is time.”

Wakinyan, the Fierce One, came into my range from high above us, swooping down in a dark, swirling cloudbank that moved quickly, like a tornado reaching for the ground. Struggling to find an opening with a better view, I twisted my head. As I watched, trying desperately not to make a sound, the scene became both fantastic and horrifying at the same time. Barely visible in the dark, twisting cloud, I could just make out black wings, fiery red eyes, sharp talons and an enormous eagle’s beak—then lightning. Immediately I recognized the shape from Gavin’s stories. It was the Thunderbird of Native American lore. The beasts in the clearing dodged the bolts by diving into the underbrush, and Cassandra narrowly avoided one that crashed and sizzled in the ground a few feet from her.

From the side, two more Sasquatch-like creatures entered the fray, roaring fiercely as they traded blows with the wolf-bear hybrids. I was on the verge of hyperventilating when lightning struck again, temporarily blinding me.

When my vision returned, I watched as not more than thirty feet in front of me, the Fae I called the Strong One gripped a hybrid behind the neck and pinned it to the ground. He stomped, snapping its back and then flung the wounded mass over the treetops and out of view. The Coy One landed a powerful blow to the head of the remaining hybrid, quickly pinned it to the ground, and bared his fangs before sinking them deep in the helpless Unseelie’s throat.

Cassandra directed a powerful assault at Wakinyan. It rushed into the sky with so much ferocity that leaves and branches were sucked into the wake. It was powerful enough to obliterate, I thought, but it only made him angry. He came into full view as he dove out of the clouds, his talons larger than meat hooks and spread wide, ready to tear her apart. Cassandra screeched a warning, her front legs spread wide waiting to slash with massive claws, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

Thunderbird met Griffon in the air, spinning and slashing, until Cassandra’s form was flung into the bluff and out of my view. The Fierce One followed her shape, screeching, his blazing red eyes full of malice.

Cassandra had apparently thought better of it. “It’s done, this time,” she screamed. She turned into her natural form and moved quickly away. The two Unseelie shifted and followed her with the Ohanzee, taking their natural forms, in pursuit.

Cassandra didn’t turn. I felt her retreat back toward the Seoladán and out of my range. In all the excitement, I hadn’t realized how fast my heart was beating or how heavy my breathing had become. After several seconds, I began to calm down though I was still whimpering.

Tadewi stood and then shifted into human form, her preferred form. Like Tse-xo-be, she looked Native American, with flawless russet skin, though he towered over her. Long, lustrous black hair framed their high cheekbones and full lips, and both were adorned in robes the color of buckskin. She smiled and bowed her head as he held her shoulders. A gentle expression filled his face as he closed his eyes and appeared relieved.

“Maggie, are you ready to come down out of the bluff?”

“Yes!” I screamed, though my voice sounded muffled from inside the stone sarcophagus. The stone pulled back and I slid down to my feet. Pausing for a second to catch my breath, I walked slowly toward both of them, clutching my backpack and trying to manage a smile.

She was poised, smiling even, when I got close. Her brown eyes were much lighter than mine, and kind. She was exquisitely beautiful. Tadewi returned my smile and walked to me with her hands stretched out for mine.

“I must apologize for the way we met—I didn’t mean to be so rough…”

She stopped talking when I walked past her hands and embraced her. Emotion got the best of me and I began sobbing.

“It is fine—you’re safe for now.”

“That’s not it. You saved my life…risked your own, why?”

“Some people are worth saving—at any price.”

I let go of her and stared into her face, swallowing another sob.

“Your name is Tadewi?”

She smiled broadly. “Indeed, that is what I’m called, and this is the eldest of my clan, Tse-xo-be.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, even if I don’t know why you’d risk so much. Are you all right? Your hand…” I said, staring at it.

She cut me off. “We heal quickly.”

“But I…” It was all I managed before Tse-xo-be interrupted me.

His voice was deep and resonated pleasantly in my head. Like hers, his accent was foreign but seductive. “We need to leave this place before Cassandra returns with reinforcements. We are stronger, but they are greater in number.”

With that she transformed back into a Sasquatch and lifted me into her arms, cradling me like a baby. Even though I trusted her, it was completely unnerving and I couldn’t look at her. Tse-xo-be shifted into a giant boar and we headed further away, off the Weald and through the mountains. I shifted my connection from the rocks to the midday breeze so I would remain hidden.

After ten minutes of cutting through the woods, circling around homes and gliding over dry streambeds, we crossed Highway 62. Five minutes later we were miles away standing in the woods above a parking lot. All eight of my stalkers, the Ohanzee, were there when Tadewi set me on my feet.

“There are humans in the structure,”
the Coy One said silently to the others.

“Not for long,”
the Fierce One replied as he drifted down the wooded path to the north. A few minutes later, two elderly women and a man climbed into a Buick with Kansas plates and quickly drove away.

Rain began to fall as they led me down the path. The sound soothed my frayed nerves. Though I’d never seen it in person, I recognized the building as Thorncrown Chapel.

FOURTEEN

DOUG

All of the Ohanzee changed into human form as we walked to the door of the chapel, all except the Cautious One. When Tse-xo-be insisted that she assume a shape less frightening to me, the Cautious One morphed into a white tail deer and bolted into the woods. Tadewi whispered in my ear, telling me that her name was Amadahy, a Water inclined Fae who’d never taken human form. Like all of the Water inclined Fae I’d encountered, Amadahy struck me as a deep thinker, but there was something else: she despised me. I guessed my being human was an unpardonable offense.

Amadahy patrolled the outside of the chapel while the rest of the Ohanzee followed me inside. Even though two of these Fae had confronted me at the abandoned cabin, and one had thrown things, big things, and called me
fragile
, I wasn’t scared. It was probably a natural reaction, I thought. Anyone would find it easy to relax in front of seven Fae who looked like Native American supermodels. It was certainly less intimidating than having a snarling ten-foot-tall Bigfoot slinging old tires across a field.

“Why did you protect me? Why risk your lives?”

“
Good question
,” Amadahy said silently, unaware I was listening in.

Tse-xo-be ignored her. “We were asked to keep an eye on you.” His tone was still formal. It struck me that of the Fae I’d met only Billy, Sara, Danny and Gavin used contractions.

“By whom?” I asked pointedly.

“A mutual friend and ally.”

I exhaled loudly and crossed my arms, staring directly into Tse-xo-be’s handsome face, wondering whether any Fae was capable of giving a straight answer.

“We will not linger here for long,” Tse-xo-be said, pointing toward the front of the room where nine stool-sized, stone seats grew out of the floor in a circle.

Tadewi laughed quietly and sat down, looking up at Tse-xo-be. “He did say she would demand full-disclosure.”

Tse-xo-be smiled, slightly, for the first time, and the rest of the Ohanzee took seats. The Fierce One sat opposite me. He stared without blinking or smiling, his lips pressed thin in a flat line. I sat when Tse-xo-be motioned to the stool at his right. Perhaps it was their dress, or maybe their erect postures, their reserved and solemn expressions, the way they sat in a circle—whatever it was, I felt very out of place. I felt like I was crashing a sacred council fire.

It was obvious who was behind the Ohanzee being there. Billy’s reaction in the woods replayed in my head, and his reassurances that they posed no threat to me finally made sense.

“Billy asked you to come, didn’t he?”

Tse-xo-be had a deep timbre to his voice that resonated as he spoke, reminding me of the narrators in movie trailers. “Yes, we have been watching you for some time. Although, and you have my apology, we did not realize that you could sense us, and more surprising, that you could do so from such a distance. Your Treorai failed to mention that.”

“He doesn’t know what my range is.”

“Ah. It was not our intention to alarm you. Billy told me how much you detest the Seelie guards at the cottage.”

He nodded to the Fierce One. He was the tallest of the group in human form and strikingly handsome despite the stern look consuming his face.

“This is Wakinyan.”

“Umm, nice to meet you?” My voice was more awkward than I’d hoped.

“Do I frighten you?” he said, staring intensely into my eyes.

“Honestly? Yes, a lot. Especially when you’re crushing kitchen appliances with your bare hands.”

His face softened into a broad smile and he chuckled.

“Oh-kay.” I said quietly. Playing dumb, I asked him a question to which I already knew the answer. “You were the one who took the form of the giant bird today, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, staring without blinking.

“Was that like the Native American legend of the Thunderbird?”

“I AM the legend,” he said slowly, his husky voice reverberating off the glass walls. Wakinyan’s expression remained stern for a moment, making me uncomfortable. When I felt my face blush, he loosed a raucous laugh. “By the way, nice choice of automobile. I find it flattering, even in pink.”

He was having fun, testing me to see how I’d react. A smile stretched across my face, but I looked back to Tse-xo-be when Wakinyan’s expression grew stern again. I refused to play the game on his terms.

“This is Sinopa,” Tse-so-be said, taking my cue.

The Coy One, I thought. Her expression never changed, but she did nod to acknowledge me. I should have called her the poker face, because she gave me no clues as to her mood.

Sinopa’s face was round with pronounced features. She was extremely attractive. Her eyes were the same light brown color as the rest of them, but her hair was braided into a thick, intricate rope that fell two feet down her back. Sinopa was Earth inclined, Tse-xo-be said, and I got the impression that she was quite old.

“And these Fae are Enapay and Nodin.”

The Strong One and the Playful One, with faces so similar they looked like brothers. They were both Air inclined, but Enapay was more muscular than Nodin—his shoulders were broader and more defined. Either could have been a fitness model, however.

“You have met Tadewi, Amadahy and me—that leaves Pavati.”

“Greetings, Maggie.”

I’d named her the Fearless One because she exuded courage, more than any Fae or person I’d ever met. Pavati’s face was exquisite, perfectly symmetrical and angular—too perfect to be human. She was tall and chose a very slender physique for her human form. Her raven-black hair was the longest of the group, trailing loosely down her back below her waist. Pavati’s large eyes seemed almost doll-like, and I knew from sensing her on the beach that she was Water inclined.