A Faerie's Curse

Chapter 6

Six

Perry lets out a giant guffaw when I exit the faerie paths at the old Guild ruins late that afternoon. “What is that on your head?”

“Um … hair?” I say, feigning confusion.

“It’s blue! And short!”

“I like it,” Gemma says, leaning back on her hands and examining my sleek blue bob. “It isn’t real, is it?”

“No, it’s a wig. I found it at the m—um, where I’m staying now.” Turns out Chase’s team has an entire costume closet of items to disguise one’s appearance, since most magical beings are immune to glamours. Gaius pointed the closet out to me this morning after my unsuccessful attempt at projecting multiple simultaneous illusions. “I thought it might be a good idea to hide my telltale golden hair,” I tell them, “since I almost got caught at the Guild this morning.”

“You what?” Gemma says with a small gasp, covering her mouth with her hand.

“I was invisible to everyone around me, of course, but a surveillance bug must have flown past, so someone watching the orbs in that department saw me. I had to run.”

Gemma drops her hand into her lap. “That was close. You shouldn’t do that again.”

“Yeah, probably not. I was sneaking around the lower levels.”

“Sounds like fun,” Perry says, rubbing his hands together. “What were you looking for?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I say with a sly smile. I sit beside him and Gemma in the shade of a cracked and vine-entangled marble alcove that was once part of the old Creepy Hollow Guild. The Guild Chase destroyed when he was possessed with power that wasn’t his. The thought of his past doesn’t twist my insides into nausea as it once did. Chase is nothing like the person he was when he ruled as Lord Draven. I focus on the papers and textbooks spread on the ground around Perry. “You’re acting unusually studious,” I tell him. “Is that homework?”

“Nope. Something way more interesting. I’ll tell you about my rule-breaking if you tell me about yours.”

I roll my eyes, but I already know I’m going to tell them what I saw in that blue-lit room. They know of so much already, like my Griffin Ability and the fact that it was Zed who killed Saskia, spread the dragon disease, and framed me for both. I haven’t told them who Chase once was, though, and they don’t know anything about my relationship with him or that he’s been captured. They do know about the prophecy that details the tearing down of the veil between our world and the human one. With Mom’s trial taking place over the past few days, I figured they might hear whispers of the prophecy anyway. Best to give them the real story instead of letting them believe rumors.

I cross my legs and lean back on my hands as I tell them everything I saw in that horrible room with the glass boxes this morning. “I have no idea what it was about, but I doubt it’s legal if they have to do it behind a locked door that only a handful of people are allowed through.”

“Ugh, that sounds so creepy,” Gemma says, pulling a face. “But you said it was Councilor Merrydale who came into the room? He wouldn’t be involved in anything illegal, would he?”

“Okay, maybe not illegal, but … you know. Something that wouldn’t be approved of if everyone knew about it. And that makes me wonder if maybe … it’s something to do with Griffin Abilities.”

“You think those were Gifted fae in the boxes?” Perry asks.

“I don’t know.” I pull one of his scrolls closer and write down the names N. Thornbough and J. Monkswood. “These are the two names I’m saw. I’m wary of going back inside the Guild if I don’t have to. Could you search the Griffin List and see if these names are on it?”

Perry nods and takes the scroll from me, putting far more distance between himself and Gemma than necessary as he leans around her. He tucks the scroll into his bag. “This is messed up,” he adds. “We’re supposed to be the good guys, aren’t we? Not the guys who put people into boxes and experiment on them.”

“Well it isn’t all of us,” Gemma says, looking at me instead of Perry, despite the fact that he’s the one she’s talking to. “Only a handful of guardians.”

“You know what I meant,” he mutters, turning back to the books spread in front of him, one of which looks like a Guild manual with the words Security Spells on the front and someone else’s name on a sticker. “Anyway, I think I’m getting closer to figuring this thing out.”

“The detection spell?” I ask, referring to the magic placed on the homes of everyone close to me after I escaped the Guild. Perry told me he was sure there must be a way around it.

“Yeah, so this manual—that was conveniently left on a bench in the Guild dining room by a guard I was most definitely not distracting at the time—explains how to remove the spell. Unfortunately, it has to be done by the guardians who cast the detection spell in the first place, so that won’t work. But I think I can put something on you to kind of … shield you from being detected.”

“If that works, it’ll be amazing.”

“Mm, so I’m just figuring out … if …” He taps his stylus against the side of his head as he turns a page. “Where was that section about a—”

At the sound of footsteps moving through the overgrown weeds, my head snaps up. I quickly imagine myself invisible as someone walks around the crumbling piece of wall the alcove is attached to. “Oh, it’s just you,” Gemma says to Ned, placing a relieved hand on her chest.

I’m about to release my hold on the invisibility illusion when Ned frowns at Gemma, looks around, and says, “She’s here, isn’t she.”

“Hey, Ned.” I reappear and give him a friendly wave.

Instead of returning the greeting, Ned frowns as his eyes travel over my blue hair. He lowers his voice and says to Gemma, “I told you we shouldn’t do this.”

“Do what?” I ask, but I’m already remembering what Gemma said to me the day we painted the spare room with paint balloons. Ned didn’t want to see me for some reason, and she told me he simply needed time to warm up to me. But perhaps it was more than that. Perhaps the real reason was that the Guild had already suspended me at that point.

In a flat voice, Ned says, “I just don’t feel comfortable hanging out with criminals.”

Well. From someone who doesn’t usually say more than five words in an entire conversation, I wasn’t expecting such blunt honesty. “I—I’m not a criminal, Ned. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

He meets my eyes for a second before looking away. “You’re required by law to add your name to the Griffin List. If you didn’t do that, then you broke the law.”

“Ned …” Perry says.

Ned shakes his head and turns away. “I’m not doing this,” he says, walking back the way he came.

“Ned, come on,” Gemma calls.

“I’ll go after him,” Perry says, jumping to his feet and hurrying after Ned.

I comb my fingers through the blue wig, wondering if I need to get out of here immediately. “Do you think … would he go back to the Guild and tell someone that I’m here right now?”

Gemma shakes her head. “I don’t think so. He’s a stickler for the rules, but I don’t think he’d go that far. But we probably shouldn’t let him know the next time we meet up with you.”

I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them. “I don’t want you to have to lie to one of your friends because of me.”

“Then I guess we’ll just … omit information instead of directly lying.”

“Isn’t that kind of the same thing?”

“Not really. And you know how I feel about the Griffin List, so the only law you’ve broken is one that shouldn’t exist.”

“Yeah.” I look around at the dappled afternoon light shifting across the overgrown ruins before returning my gaze to Gemma. “So, what’s going on between you and Perry? You’re acting really weird around each other.”

“What?” Gemma laughs awkwardly. “No we’re not.”

“Gemma.”

She blinks at me, then groans and covers her face. “Fine.” She lowers her hands and plucks a leaf from the nearest vine. She twirls it between her fingers as her face, growing steadily pinker, remains firmly pointed toward her lap. “Remember when I got sick? From the dragon disease?”

“Yeah?”

“Well … Perry kind of … toldmehelovesme.”

“Oh, finally!” I clap my hands together as Gemma’s head flies up.

“You knew?” she demands.

“Of course I knew. No one who’s spent any time around the two of you could possibly have missed it.”

“I’m such an idiot.” She drops the leaf and smacks both hands against her forehead.

“So what did you say to him?”

“I was kind of dying at the moment he said it,” she mumbles, “so, uh, I didn’t respond.”

“Okay, and after you recovered?”

“Um … I still haven’t said anything.”

“Ah. Well, no wonder things are awkward.”

“I know! But what was I supposed to say? I mean, it just came out of nowhere, and I have a crush on someone else, and Perry is … he’s Perry. My friend. The guy who teases me, not the guy who tears down a magically locked door to give me a cure while telling me I can’t die because he loves me.”

I rest my chin on my knees. “That’s quite heroic and romantic, actually.” Thoughts of Chase crowd my mind along with a desperate longing to feel his arms around me, a desire so strong that I have no doubt he’d feel it if I were wearing the ring right now. Fortunately, I’m not. Some feelings probably shouldn’t be shared yet. Feelings I haven’t had time to properly examine.

“It is heroic and romantic,” Gemma admits, “but I still don’t really know how I feel about him. That’s why I haven’t said anything. I’m just … confused. And there are so many other important things to focus on. Assignments, and all the stuff you’ve been telling us about—the dragon disease and guardian hater groups and a terrifying prophecy that some ex-spy of Draven’s wants to put into action. And now guardians are doing weird tests on unconscious fae. Next to all that, figuring out my love life seems completely trivial.”

“I know,” I say with a sigh. “I understand.” I’m trying to sort out all the same problems while at the back of my mind the memory of that kiss in the golden river teases me, tempting me to look away from everything important I’m supposed to be focusing on. “But maybe you should say something to Perry. Just to let him know you’re thinking things through rather than leaving him hanging after his declaration of undying love for you.”

“Ugh, I know. You’re right. It’s all just so—” She cuts her words off as a faerie paths doorway opens nearby and Perry steps out. “And, um, then Olive was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You can’t even do a triple flip? Who the hell let you into fifth year?’ And Lily started crying right there. You can imagine how impressed Olive was with that.”

I shake my head, smiling in amusement at Gemma’s abrupt change of subject. I wonder if the story’s even true or if she made it up in desperation on the spot. Looking past her, I ask, “Did you talk to Ned?”

Perry nods as he resumes his spot on the ground on the other side of Gemma. “He says he understands that you’re not a bad person but that rules exist for a reason and we’re supposed to follow them, whether we agree with them or not.” He spreads out a blank scroll and picks up a quill. “Anyway, it’s impossible to argue with him, so after making sure he wasn’t about to report your whereabouts to the Guild at this very moment, I left it at that.”

“Are you sure he won’t say anything?”

“He knows you’re not the one responsible for Saskia’s death and the disease spell, so he won’t say anything because he obviously doesn’t want you locked up for that. He does think your name should be on the Griffin List, though.”

“Well, now that the entire Guild knows I’m Gifted,” I say, a hint of bitterness creeping into my voice, “I’m certain my name has been added to the list.”

“That’s what I said. He still thinks you should have been the one to own up to it instead of waiting to be found out, but … whatever.” Perry moves two open books next to each other and pulls the scroll closer. “Okay. Let’s see if we can rustle up a shield charm specifically directed against this detection spell. There’s a charm here for a full-body shield—” he leans forward and runs one finger down the page of the first textbook before moving to the one beside it “—and this manual details the exact words for the detection spell. So I think if we take the words from one and insert them into the other spell, we could make this work. I’m just not entirely sure where to put them in. And isn’t there something else that’s supposed to be added when you mix spells?”

I nudge Gemma’s shoulder. “You’re really good at charms, aren’t you? You and Perry should be working on this together.” She looks at me with wide eyes, probably trying to communicate that moving closer to Perry is the last thing she wants to do. I roll my eyes and mouth, He won’t bite.

After sending a glare my way, Gemma shifts across the vines and twigs and picks up the security spell manual. “Okay, you don’t need to include this whole spell. Just take this bit here—” she lowers the manual and points to something “—and put it in the shield charm over here, between these two words. And you’re right. There’s that extra incantation that needs to be woven in when you’re blending two spells.” She pulls another textbook closer.

I straighten my legs out and lean back as I pick through my memory of the bazillion spells I studied before the Guild allowed me to register as a fifth-year trainee. “Is this the one you’re thinking of?” I ask Gemma before reciting the words that have come to mind.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Gemma says, flipping through pages. “But we should probably check to make sure we—ah, here it is.”

She and Perry finish writing out the words to their new spell within minutes. “Cool, let’s test it,” Perry says, quickly packing all his books and papers away.

“Now?” I ask.

“Do you have a better time in mind?” He stands and lifts his heavy bag into the air with a wave of his hand. It floats beside him.

“I guess not. Where do you want to test it?” Gemma and I climb to our feet, brushing leaves and dirt off our clothes.

“My house?” Perry suggests.

“What if it doesn’t work? You’ll have guardians rushing into your home to look for me.”

“Then you’ll just make yourself invisible and leave through the faerie paths.”

“And you’ll be in trouble with the Guild.”

“Why? I’ll just say I had no idea you were coming to visit me. Actually, no. I’ll tell them their silly detection spell is malfunctioning because if you’re not there, then who set it off?”

Raising my eyebrows, I say, “You really will wind up in trouble if you tell Guild security guards that their spells are silly.”

“Look, the spell’s gonna work, so I don’t know why we’re discussing this. Gemma and I make a great team, so there’s no way this shield charm is wrong.” A flush appears in Gemma’s cheeks once more, and Perry hastens to add, “A great work team. Obviously.”

“Okay, let’s try it.”

“Brilliant. Come over here.” Perry holds the scroll out in front of him and raises one hand just above my head. As he reads the words, I sense something moving in the air above me. I look up and find a cloud of glowing dust swirling around Perry’s hand. As he reads the final word, the dust descends quickly upon me, coating every inch of my body. With a final flash, the glowing dust vanishes.

“Is it supposed to do that?” I ask.

“Don’t know,” Perry says with a shrug as he folds the paper and pushes it into a pocket. “Let’s find out if it worked.” He leans into the alcove and writes a doorway spell onto the cracked marble. “After you, ladies,” he says as a dark space materializes. Gemma takes my hand and walks forward. I follow her, reaching back for Perry’s hand. It doesn’t escape my notice that Gemma put me between the two of them. I can’t help but sigh as I walk into the darkness and try to empty my mind so I don’t interfere with the destination Gemma’s thinking of.

Light forms up ahead. The nothingness beneath my feet turns into solid ground as I walk into a tidy kitchen. I tense and drop Gemma’s hand, looking around as if guardians might appear at any second. “Is an alarm supposed to go off?” I whisper.

“Not here,” Gemma says. “That manual Perry stole said an alarm will go off in the security department at the Guild if the detection spell is breached.”

“I should hide,” I say immediately. “Just in case guardians are on their way here.”

“I didn’t steal the manual,” Perry mutters. “Someone left it behind and I happened to pick it up. And what’s the point in hiding now? They’ll still have to bang on the door and wait for me to open it before they flash their permission scroll and barge in here.”

I press my fingers to my temples. “Ugh, your parents are going to be so mad if guardians come trampling through here.

“My parents are often mad at me,” Perry says, waving his floating bag toward the kitchen table. “It’s like their default setting whenever I’m around.”

“That’s because your default setting is to push boundaries, break rules and annoy your mom,” Gemma points out.

In the past, Perry probably would have laughed at a comment like that, but now he mutters something beneath his breath and walks out of the room.

Gemma looks at me with pleading eyes. “Help me!” she whispers. “I suck at this stuff. I just want everything to be normal again between us. I’d even take his constant teasing over this awkwardness.”

“You could go after him right now and talk it out,” I suggest. “I’ll stay in here and get ready to vanish at the first sign of guardians.”

Gemma looks terrified at the thought. “Maybe not right now,” she squeaks.

“You guys coming?” Perry calls, as if his exit from the room was entirely normal and we were supposed to follow him. “Bring a snack.”

“See?” Gemma says to me as she opens a cupboard and looks inside. “Now isn’t a good time. I’ll … talk to him later in the week.”

“Right,” I say, my voice filled with skepticism. Judging by the fact that she’s never told Rick the Seer trainee that she has a gigantic crush on him, I don’t expect this conversation with Perry to happen any time soon.

Gemma removes a bag of fizzing rainbow candies from the cupboard. I follow her into the next room where Perry is lounging in an armchair while tapping on an amber tablet. “No guardians yet,” he says, placing the tablet on the arm of the chair and catching the rainbow candy Gemma tosses his way. “Told you the spell would work.”

“Of course,” I say as I take a seat on the couch opposite Perry. “Because the two of you are so great at making magic together.”

Gemma looks utterly mortified at my words and Perry chokes on the candy he just put in his mouth. As he leans forward, coughing and smacking his chest, I hide my smile behind my hand and give Gemma a wide-eyed look of innocence. She takes another rainbow candy out of the bag and throws it at me before seating herself in the chair furthest away from Perry.

After another half hour or so of idle conversation and no guardians showing up, Perry says, “Well, I think we can call this a success, Calla. Someone would definitely have shown up by now if they thought a dangerous Griffin Gifted murderer was hiding out here.”

“Yeah. Wow, this is amazing,” I say as the new reality of my situation hits me. “I could actually go home now if I wanted to.” It’s a strange thought. I’ve become used to Gaius’s mountain home so quickly. “I mean, I probably won’t in case it’s the kind of charm that wears off quickly, and I wouldn’t want to get my dad into any more trouble than he’s already in. But at least I can visit my family now.” I look at Gemma, then back at Perry. “Thank you. I’m so grateful to both of you.”

Perry shrugs. “It was nothing.” Despite his indifferent tone, though, he looks pretty pleased with himself.

“I should go before your parents get home,” I say as I stand. “Wouldn’t want to freak them out.”

“You could just leave your wig on,” Perry says. “I doubt they’d recognize you. They only know what the Guild told them when they sent guardians to put the spell on our house.”

“I need to go too,” Gemma says. “I’m supposed to be making dinner tonight.”

Perry stands and fishes in his pocket for the folded up scroll. “Here’s the spell, Calla. Feel free to visit whenever you’d like to.”

“Thanks.” I take the paper from him. “Will I be able to perform the charm on myself?”

“I think so. There’s nothing about this particular shield charm that says someone else has to cast it. Oh, one other thing,” he adds. “I’m pretty sure the Guild is still monitoring our ambers, so I made another plan.” He heads to the sideboard and opens a drawer. “These mirrors are brand new, so they should be safe.” He removes two small circular mirrors, pushes the drawer shut with his hip, and hands one to me.

“Cool, thank you.”

“Hey, how have you been staying in contact with your family? The Guild must be keeping an extra close watch on all their devices.”

“We’ve been careful. You know those really old ambers? The ones that come in pairs and can only communicate with each other?”

“The ones that don’t belong anywhere outside a museum?”

“Yes. My brother and I have been using those.”

Perry nods. “Retro. Whatever works, hey.”

“Yeah. Anyway, thanks for this.” I slip the mirror and the spell into my jacket pocket. With a sigh, I add, “It’s ridiculous how badly the Guild still wants to find me.”

“Well, you know, you’re supposedly a murderer and all that.”

I shake my head. “I’ll figure out a way for them to uncover the truth one day.” One day when I’m not focused on rescuing Chase and stopping that veil-splitting vision from coming true.

“We can make that our next mission,” Perry says. “Or,” he corrects when he sees I’m about to protest, “you can wait until we graduate at the end of the year and get jobs as real guardians, and then I’ll obtain official permission to re-open this case. Then you can’t complain that I’ll wind up in trouble for poking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”

I smile. “Sounds like a plan.”