The Changeling (23 page)

“Stop, Ronnie,” I said. The three of them looked at me with dumbfounded expressions.

“
Maggie, no. You know what happened last time—Candace nearly died,”
Billy said emphatically.

I scribbled,
They know, Billy. Even Sherman couldn’t stop this from happening. It’s in her nature…

But before I could finish, Billy’s voice filled my head. “
Maggie, you aren’t this reckless. Think about it. You’d be putting them all in grave danger. Don’t say another word. I’ll compel them to forget.”

They were all staring at me when I yelled at the top of the canopy, “No! I don’t want you to do that. It won’t work. It’s already too late.”

Billy was silent. Candace was not. “Who are you talking to?”

I shifted my stare from her back to where Billy lurked.
Billy, you have to trust me, but I need your help.

“Maggie, what’s wrong with you?” Candace demanded, staring up at the ceiling.

Maggie, it’s your call, but I beg you…don’t go there. I’ll be gentle, I promise. We can push back the inevitable for months.
Billy was pleading.

“And what can you do that Sherman couldn’t?” I harped back.

“Maggie O’Shea, I’m standing right here,” Candace said again, shaking the stack of papers in front of my face. “And what do mean, Sherman? Are you talking about Gavin’s dad?”

I couldn’t keep all the talking straight and it frustrated me. I snapped at Candace a little more forcefully that I should have. “Shut up for a minute, will you, I can’t hear myself think.”

Candace started to protest, but sat next to Rachel on the foot of the bed when she realized how angry I was getting. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was going to say, and I hated the fact that Rachel was in the room. Ronnie could keep his mouth shut, Candace too, but Rachel was a loose cannon. So I turned to her first.

“What I’m about to tell you will put all of you in terrible danger, so you have to keep your mouths shut. That’s only the half of it, though. You see, we did have this…conversation…talk…whatever. And Candace,” I looked at her and paused, “you were in the hospital just a few hours later.”

Rachel tried to cut me off. “What? You mean you…”

“Be quiet!” I said forcefully. She stopped talking and twirled her hair even faster. “I’m sure you think you know what’s going on, but you don’t. None of you knows the half of it. I know you’re all here because you care about me, and that makes this even more difficult. Even though I wish I could make you forget all about this, it’s clear to me that can’t happen. You’ll just blindly dig until one or all of you end up getting killed. When I tell you this, you have to do exactly as I say. Agreed?”

Candace nodded, Ronnie stared, and Rachel mouthed the word “killed” silently on the bed.

“No, I mean it, you all have to agree, or I’ll walk right out the door and ignore each of you. I’m prepared to do it. It’s my terms or nothing. Agreed?”

“Yes,” they said in unison.

“Candace, tell me now, are you about to ask me about the Fae?”

Maggie, be completely sure you want to do this,
Billy said.

“Ummm…Yes. Yes I was,” Candace replied. I’d caught her off-guard.

I rolled my eyes, “And that’s why Ronnie and Rachel are here, isn’t it?”

Candace confessed, “They don’t believe me, but wanted to find out what’s going on.”

Ronnie interrupted. “I never said I didn’t believe you, I just…well…I just wanted to go to the Weald and check it out…you know, find more proof.”

“You see,” I said, looking back up at Billy.

“Mags, who are you talking to?” Ronnie asked.

“She’s talking to one of them,” Candace said, “and she’s here right now, isn’t she?’

Ronnie grinned and looked back at me. Rachel recoiled and moved further back on the bed.

“Yes, one of them is in the room. He’s been here the entire time.”

“I don’t believe you, Maggie. Stop! You’re freaking me out,” Rachel said, looking around to the closet door.

“Billy,” I said, “Will you help me out.”

No one moved anything except their eyes for several seconds. Ronnie started to laugh and shook his index finger at me. “You really had me going there…”

He stopped mid-sentence when Billy took human form in the middle of the room. Ronnie’s mouth dropped open and both he and Candace jumped when Rachel screamed.

Billy looked at her, “For sanity’s sake, would you stop screaming?”

Rachel shuddered, gasping, but managed to stop shrieking.

“Thanks, Billy,” I said.

He shot me a nasty frown, but eased up as we began taking turns telling them about the Fae. I told them about the Seelie and the Unseelie, and how each group felt about human beings. Then he focused on how dangerous it was for them to know about the Fae, and how the Fae could read the images and emotions in their heads. Rachel squirmed, but Ronnie looked skeptical. Billy turned to him first.

“You, young man, have a vivid imagination and seem to be preoccupied with…shall we say…
intimate relations
. Shall I go on?” Ronnie shook his head and blushed as Billy turned to Candace.

“You are feeling a deep sense of relief, presumably because you were correct and Maggie trusted you, and you keep envisioning me wearing robes…like these?” he asked, before transforming again, his goatee disappearing and his shirt and jeans morphing into golden robes that pooled at his feet.

“Oh my god,” Candace said to herself.

Billy turned to Rachel who was cowering against the headboard with her eyes down. “And you, Rachel, are terrified. You should be. While I mean you no harm, I’m afraid not all of my kind will feel the same way.”

She glanced up at him and wiped a tear from her round cheek. “I’ll be fine, I’m just a…it’s a lot to take in,” she said, wincing and looking back down at her hands.

“Indeed, we can see everything you picture in your minds. My kind can take any form.” He transformed into Rhonda. “I’ve seen this image in your thoughts, Rachel.” She wiped another tear and laughed. “What Maggie has chosen to confide in you is exceptionally dangerous.”

“Is Maggie in danger like Candace said?” Rachel asked.

“I didn’t hear what Candace said, but yes, Maggie is in danger. She has been in danger every day since she arrived here, but none of you have to be.”

“Why, what’s going on?” Candace asked, staring at Billy.

“Before he goes on, Candace, you need to know more,” I said.

“Okay, tell us,” she said, keeping her eyes on Billy, who changed shape back to his usual form.

I didn’t have to answer. Billy’s voice was calm when he said, “All three of you were on a collision course with my kind. Maggie has tried to protect you, but like some of the people in these clippings, you were only going to get yourself hurt…or worse. Many of them came searching for my kind—I would tell you the firsthand accounts of what really happened to several of them, and I should, but it would keep you up at night…and I’m not
that
cruel. I hope I’m making myself perfectly clear,” he said sternly.

“Not only can we read images,” he continued, “and take any form your human brains can conceive, we can do many other things.” Billy created Fire in his hand, and as they watched, he changed it to a blue ball of electrical energy like the one I created at the Fire trial. He let it spark and shoot small bolts to the bedpost, carving a Celtic knot in the surface. Then he restored it like nothing had ever happened.

“I could burn this house to the ground in seconds if I wanted to. I could boil your blood with little more effort than a thought, but that isn’t the worst thing we can do. I can make you all feel fear.”

I felt him conjure fear and compel them. Each was visibly disturbed.

“You see, some of my kind feed on the type of emotion you’re generating. They find it irresistible.

“I can also make you feel happiness.”

I felt the energy change and I saw each of them relax.

“And if I want, I can make you see things that aren’t there, or ignore things that are,” he said. A moment later they stared around at each other in utter disbelief. For a brief moment, we were all in the cottage garden. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves in the enormous white oaks, and caused every flower petal to dance. Then he dropped the compulsion and we were back in Candace’s room.

“The point is,” I said, “it’s very important that you stop digging around. The Fae want their secret kept and they’ll kill if necessary.”

Rachel composed herself, and slid back to the end of the bed, taking her place next to Candace.

“You’re much safer if you don’t know anything. I don’t have a choice, but you do. Billy can make you forget what you’ve just seen and heard—you’ll go back to the way you were. It’s painless, but it’s your choice,” I said.

“How much danger are you in, Maggie?” Ronnie asked.

“A lot,” I admitted.

Ronnie crossed the room and took my hand. “I’m with you, Maggie.”

“So am I,” Candace said, joining him and visibly angered.

“You really don’t understand what you’re saying yet, but should you change your mind, just let me know and I’ll…help you,” Billy said.

I noticed that Rachel hadn’t said a word. She stared out the window. “Rachel?”

“I’m thinking,” she said.

“There’s nothing wrong with deciding not to know,” I said. “It won’t change how much I love you.”

“I know, but that’s not it,” she said, turning her focus to Billy. “We’re in danger anyway, aren’t we?”

He stared at her.

She continued. “I mean, Candace is right, isn’t she? That’s not Mitch in the hospital, is it? Any of us could be…I mean, we’re all in danger already. Tell me the truth. Was it like Candace said, that a Fae hurt Rhonda last year?”

Billy didn’t see that question coming. His face was perfectly relaxed, but I sensed him working things out in his head. “Yes, Candace is right and so are you. Your friendship to Maggie puts you all in danger.”

She turned to me and then to Billy. “Well, I’d rather know there’s danger than wander into it blindly. Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves?”

I spent a few minutes telling them how I blocked my thoughts from the Fae, and how I tricked them into reading the wrong emotions. Step by step, I told them how it worked and Billy began testing them. He was the insurance I didn’t have last year with Candace, and after what had happened to Patrick, Billy wasn’t leaving anything to chance. If any of them didn’t pass the test, I would let Billy erase their memories, although I didn’t tell them that.

Probably because she was motivated by fear, Rachel learned to block her thoughts the quickest, but Ronnie and Candace weren’t far behind. Billy continued to working with them until Candace asked the question I dreaded.

“What really happened to me last year?”

Pain shot through my chest. Billy compelled calmness—he knew this could go very, very badly. The fear of what might happen didn’t stop me, though. I told Candace about our conversation last year, that I’d tried to teach her the technique to block her thoughts, but none of it mattered. She didn’t flinch when I explained that Chalen had taken my shape and slit her wrists, that Gavin and Sherman had healed her, and that I swore I’d never put her in that kind of danger again. Her eyes misted over and she smiled when I told her that it was Gavin and Sherman who’d made her scars disappear. Trepidation filled my body. I was afraid she’d hate me, but she seemed unusually calm.

“That makes so much more sense,” she said to herself. “I couldn’t remember ever wanting to hurt myself.” Her face contorted with an expression of understanding followed by pain. “I’m sorry, Maggie, I’ve done it again, haven’t I?”

“This isn’t your fault, Candace—it wasn’t last year either. Billy can make you forget too, though it will probably take some follow up…”

“No, Maggie. I know myself. I’ve been fascinated by this since I was a little girl, just like Mom. Billy can’t change that.”

“No, I can’t,” he agreed.

“Chalen didn’t want me dead, did he?”

“
She is exceptionally bright,”
Billy said silently.

“No, he used you to get to me. He was trying to isolate me from all of you.”

“Why? Why do this
to you
? What happened to Mitch?”

“The Unseelie want me to leave. They kidnapped Mitch…”

“Changeling!” she gasped.

“Yes, it’s a changeling in the hospital. Mom and Dad don’t know—they can’t know, nobody can. The Fae who have Mitch promised to give him back if I agree to leave and have my memories erased. They took him on New Year’s Eve. I’m running out of time.”

Rachel sobbed quietly.

“Son of a…you’ve been dealing with this the entire time?” Ronnie asked.

I nodded.

Candace stared at the ceiling for a few seconds and then trained her hazel eyes on me. “Maggie, why do they want to hurt you? What haven’t you told us?”

I didn’t know where to begin, or even if I should, but Billy answered that for me. “She is very important to the Seelie clan and poses a danger to the Unseelie.” Billy explained that I was selected to be the Steward of the Weald, nothing but a human caretaker, but had since proved to be even more important. He told them about the trials, and then he turned to me and nodded.