Traitor (37 page)

Aiden broke the near silence, which was only interrupted by the crunch of our shoes on dead grass or mulch, depending on the lawn we were trespassing on. “So, what do you need from us?”

I shifted the fire from both palms to one, creating a small bonfire of purple flames in my left hand. I took Liam’s hand in my right, and smiled at him weakly before answering Aiden. “I need reconnaissance.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

That was a good question. “Well, I haven’t really thought it all the way through, and don’t say a word, Aiden, because I know you want to.” I glanced at him to see his mouth hanging open, unformed around the question or snide remark he’d been about to make. “This is what I’m thinking, though, and I’m hoping you can possibly fill in the blanks. First, I need a way in and out of Neamar without Ankou knowing. I know I can get in, but I can’t get out without Dalbach or you, Jamie.”

Jamie looked simply delighted by this issue, although I couldn’t imagine why. She grinned, and slapped her hands together, which sent blue flames flying in all directions. It also illuminated a small figure behind her. “I think our old friend might be willing to help with that, now wouldn’t you, Dalbach?”

My mouth was probably on the ground. I felt like I’d have to roll it back into place. “What in the world?”

“Mr. Dalbach has never been too far from us, and with Aiden’s gift of being able to see Changelings in the human world, we found him outside the house after your minor outburst last night,” Jamie explained. “We thought it might be prudent to keep him around.”

“So we fed him until the cows came home,” finished Aiden, obviously disgusted by Dalbach’s presence. I could see him inching away from him as he spoke.

“Anyway,” Jamie continued, “I figured you’d come back with a death wish, and after bribing Dalbach to stick around since I was, he agreed.”

Dalbach stepped into my purple light, which left his already papery skin looking even more battered and bruised than usual. He smiled, and nodded toward Jamie. “Yes, yes, I have decided if Miss Jamie is going to go against Ankou, I can, too. I’m willing to help wherever you need it.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Liam’s grasp tightened on mine. “So, what’s the idea? You should probably get going before Memaw finds out.”

“Well that’s the thing,” I admitted, turning to the whole group. “I talked Antony, a Glaistig in Adaire, into keeping Reese as company for a few hours so I could get a head start. Memaw and Tess came to Adaire to stop me from going to Neamar, but I gave Memaw what she was worried about anyway – my part of the Trimulus.”

The group took a collective breath, but Jamie was the one who responded. “You did what? Ash, please tell me you put that in a safe spot!”

“I did. I gave it to Memaw and Roslin to protect. It will be fine in their possession. I trust them. That’s what I need help with, though. I knew Ankou would give me Dad if I gave him my part of the Trimulus, but I don’t want to do that. Making him any more powerful than he already is really isn’t in my plans. But, I need to know this: can I bring my Dad back without it?”

Aiden was the one to answer. “Yes. But it’s going to be risky to you.”

Liam immediately stiffened. “Ashlyn – “

I cut him off and directed my question to Aiden. “How so?”

“You’re going to have to channel your Changeling side more. Is that something you’ve been taught to do?”

“Of course not,” Dalbach interjected. “They don’t think we’re worth anything. That we’re all evil and hateful. Why would they teach her to channel those things?”

Everyone’s eyes were on Dalbach. The hurt that was laced in his words made it clear that decades – maybe hundreds of years – of being shunned were hurting him. It made me think of what Aiden told me at the coffee shop; that maybe if the Glaistig would embrace the Changelings, the hatred would stop. The war could stop.

Dalbach looked at me intently. “I will take care of what needs to happen, then I will teach you what you need to know of our ways.”

Aiden looked at him disdainfully. It looked like it almost pained him to have to acknowledge Dalbach, even though he had defended him when we last spoke. “She needs to know how to do it. You know you can bring her father back for her. That’s magic only the person who desires the deed can conjure.”

Dalbach licked his papery lips and sneered in Aiden’s direction. It was obvious there was no love lost between these two. “If you’re so well versed in our ways, Aiden Walsh, then why don’t you tell her what to do?”

Aiden clenched his jaw and acquiesced to Dalbach’s proposition. He turned to me, and there was a stiffness in his movements that made me wonder how much he really knew about what he had been arguing about. “Look, when you try to bring your dad back, you have to understand that he’s been cursed to stay there. There’s very few incantations that can truly break that curse.”

Jamie hissed in distaste. “Aiden, how do you know all this?”

He shook her words away from him like they were a particularly annoying fly. “I watched a Changeling perform and work a spell, and the only time I ever saw one work, was when it used the incantation
Ressurectium
.”

My heart stuttered at the word as though it weren’t supposed to even be in existence. “That’s all there is to it? That’s all I have to do: speak the word, and he’ll come back?”

“No,” was all Aiden offered at first, before he studied the lot of us. “You have to offer a blood sacrifice.”

Liam took a step toward Aiden, seemingly shocked that his little brother would even suggest such a thing. “You’re wrong. There must be another way.”

“No, he’s right,” sighed Dalbach. “I hate to admit it – and I am curious as to whom you witnessed perform this magic, Aiden – but he’s right. That’s what needs to happen. It doesn’t need to be much blood. A prick of the finger would do. It must be placed on the person returning to this world, and then the incantation will take effect. The other issue, which you’ve already mentioned, is that to bring the person back, the spell caster must be the one to cross the realms with the deceased.”

I swallowed hard. “So you mean I’m the one that has to cast the spell and bring him back.” There was no question; I was simply restating his words. Digesting them.

“Yes.”

“But I can’t. Ankou has blocked me from coming back.”

“And that’s where the danger is, Miss Ashlyn,” Dalbach said. It was the first time he’d referred to me like that, and it caught me by surprise. “It’s not just that he’s blocked you, he’s playing to the fact that he knows you would never learn how to use your Changeling side. Without harnessing it, you won’t be able to get back.”

Jamie had been awfully silent. I glanced her way, and she stood there, unraveling her dainty pink scarf into shreds. I let go of Liam only to stop her from completely destroying it. She stopped and looked at me as though she was seeing me properly for the first time. “Ashlyn, I don’t like it.”

“There’s no other way.”

“What if you can’t harness it? What if you lose?” She looked at Dalbach, panic in her eyes. “Could the Changeling take her?”

Dalbach shrugged his shoulders, looking genuinely saddened and concerned. “I have no idea, Miss Jamie. That’s something that no one has ever attempted. The only Bridgers are Miss Tess and Miss Ashlyn.”

Liam came up behind me and squeezed me. “What can we do? All of us? Just say the words, and we’ll get to work.”

I closed my eyes tight, willing myself to know what to do when the time came. I wrapped Roslin’s jacket tighter around me, and thought hard about what needed to happen. When I opened them, a steely resolve settled into the pit of my stomach. “Here’s the plan.”

L
IAM AND I
shared one long, last embrace amidst titters from the rest of the group.

“Guys, the sooner Ash leaves and gets back, the sooner you two can go get a room,” Aiden said as he smiled at Liam. I had to give it to him; he was strong for Liam, and I appreciated it.

He turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Come back quick, little sis.”

His gesture made me stop. “What?”

“I figure I might as well get used to having you around, and you’ve been unnaturally patient with me, so I’m going to call you little sis.”

I laughed. “Even though I’m older than you?”

He ruffled my hair. “Even though you’re older than me, since you’re shorter.”

He put his arm around Liam and did the typical one-armed guy hug. “She’ll be back before you know it, Bro. Her plan is actually quite decent, despite…”

“Despite its million glaring pot holes?” offered Jamie.

Aiden chuckled. “Yeah, despite those.”

Liam’s expression was strained with worry. His usually deep blue eyes were flat blue, his lips downturned with anxiety. “I don’t like this, Ash. I wish I could do more.”

I took his hands in mine and intertwined our fingers. The warmth was reassuring. “Liam, I’ll be back within two hours. Get everyone ready to do what they do best. I’ll close the crack as quickly as possible, and then we’ll figure out our next step, which is closing off Neamar permanently.”

“After we get my brother back,” Jamie inserted.

I nodded in her direction. “After we get your brother back.”

I pointed to Jamie and Dalbach. “James, you’re going to do what you do best, which is cause a diversion. I don’t care how you do it, but make it big and obnoxious.”

Jamie grinned devilishly, and I knew she was in her element. “Big and obnoxious. Got it. Those are two of my middle names.”

“Along with rude, loud, and untrustworthy,” muttered Aiden.

Liam laughed, but turned it into a hacking cough when Jamie gave him a death stare.

I turned to Dalbach. “You and I are going to get to the dungeons, where you’ll stave off anyone who would complicate matters.”

Dalbach gave two bony thumbs up, a diabolical grin playing across his face. It made him look even creepier than usual, which was saying something. “My pleasure, Miss Ashlyn.”

“We’ll meet back in the dungeons to escape. Aiden, I need you to get anything iron you can find. Go to the pawnshops, wherever, but find anything. We need to be ready, and iron is a biggie for them.”

“Don’t forget eggs!” Jamie quipped.

I smiled. “And eggs. Just keep those away from me.”

Aiden pulled me into a hug. “You got it. Iron and eggs. Sounds like some sick fantasy.”

“Kinda,” I agreed.

When I locked eyes with Liam, there were no words that could express what passed between us in that moment. Words would never be enough to convey the feelings we shared. We’d been through this together, and we would end this together. Tonight was one large step closer to the end. His smile, although ridden with concern, was genuine. “Go get your dad,” he said as he took me from Aiden’s grasp and into his own. “Get your dad, so I can have someone else to be terrified of.”

“He’ll like you. I promise.”

Liam shook his head in amusement. “Just get back here and we’ll find out for sure.”

We held one another close, and I pulled away just enough to drink him in one last time. “I love you,” was all I could say.

It’d never be enough.

His gaze was fierce and full of passion. “I love you, too.”

We shared one last kiss, but it was just as intense as the one we’d shared on the patio. I would be back for more of these.

Jamie broke into our personal bubble and brought me crashing back to reality. “Ash, let’s go. Dalbach’s opening a crack in the pine by the basketball courts!”

I sighed and kissed Liam quickly on the lips one last time. Jamie called once more, and I took off toward her, focusing on Shifting into a Changeling as I went. I felt my gait change in mid-stride, and knew I was one of them.

Dalbach disappeared into the crack as we got close. Jamie leapt through after him, and I followed suit. We landed hard on the cement surface of the dungeons, and Jamie stood to wipe the slime off her clothes. “Welcome back to the worst place on earth,” she muttered.

She couldn’t be more right.

I
T WAS ACTUALLY
kind of amazing and frightening at the same time to see Memaw so pissed. If she’d stop tearing into Antony long enough to cut through the magical bonds still holding me to this chair, I could really enjoy the verbal beating she was giving to the guy.

“Antony, you idiot, why would you allow Ashlyn to toy with an idea so dangerous? Why would you prohibit her Protector from doing his job? Do you need a lobotomy?”

For usually being so out of it, Antony sure was keyed into everything Memaw was saying right now. “Emily, please, she’s your grandchild. I’ve seen her fight. I’ve been in a fight with her. Do you really think I wanted to test her patience?”

Memaw was in Antony’s face before he could blink, and it didn’t look like Tess or Roslin cared all that much. “Do you really want to test
my
patience, Antony?”

His features turned into what I’d guess was pleasure. The guy had to be a masochist for enjoying this. “Ah, Emily, this reminds me of old times.”

Her eyes burned with a fury unparalleled to anything my mom had ever thrown at me. This woman was an assassin, and I could finally see it. She laced her words with velvet, but the poison was soaked through and through. “So help me, Antony, if you don’t release Reese and come with us to fix whatever mess that Ashlyn’s creating, I will have your head on a platter, no matter what argument the committee has with it.”

All the color drained from his moments-before smug face, and he blanched. He didn’t even look at me as he snapped his fingers, but the bonds melted away into nothingness as though they were simply smoke. They didn’t feel like smoke when they were around me.

His tone was even when he spoke, but I could see his heartbeat pounding in the vein on the side of his neck. “Happy?”

“Not really, but it’s a start,” she said as she turned. “Tess, Roslin, Antony, go ahead and find out what kind of fracas we’ll have to sort out. Reese and I are going to find Rebecca and Reuben because we will undoubtedly need bodies, and someone to heal those bodies.” She looked at me stonily. Her jaw was clenched and could tell she hated to continue with the words she had to say. “Because there
will
be bodies that need to be healed.”