A Faerie's Curse

Chapter 9

Nine

I repeat the faerie paths spell once more before lifting the knocker on Ryn’s tree and tapping it a few times. A doorway melts into existence with Ryn standing on the other side. His gaze moves past me, examine the forest before returning to me. “Are you sure it’s safe for you to cross this threshold?”

“I wouldn’t risk getting you and your family into trouble, so yes. I am certain.” I stood in front of a mirror back at the mountain just minutes ago, watching the cloud of glowing dust swirl above my head and then descend over my body.

Ryn steps back. “Come on in then.”

I step inside and pause for a second, just in case I did something wrong with the shield charm. But if I have set the alarm off, we won’t know until a guardian knocks on the door here, so I may as well relax for now. I lower my hood and walk through the hallway to the living room.

“What’s that on your fingers?” Ryn asks as he follows me.

“Hmm? Oh. Tattoos.” I almost add that it’s a tradition—that these marks signify my first successfully completed mission—but Ryn’s not supposed to know anything about what Chase’s team gets up to. “I’m now friendly with more than one tattoo artist, so I decided it was time for some ink,” I say instead. I raise my hands and display my fingers. “Do you like them?”

“I do, actually. They’re pretty cool. Look at you, my badass, tattooed little sister.” He swings his arm around my shoulders and gives me a sideways hug as we walk further into the living room where Vi is slowly pacing with a sleeping Victoria pressed against her chest.

“How’s she doing?” I ask as Vi places Victoria in my arms and heads for the kitchen.

“Better, I think,” she calls back to me through the open door. “She’s barely cried at all since Farah gave her that berry concoction. Don’t know if I should be worried about the absence of crying now …”

I look at Ryn and he shrugs and shakes his head. “She worries about everything now,” he whispers.

“What do you want to drink?” Vi asks. “We’ve got honey apple and sparkling mirror berry.”

“Honey apple, please.” Ryn checks his amber as I sit on the couch and rest my arm on an overstuffed cushion. Filigree flies to the couch as an owl and shifts into squirrel form before crawling across my shoulders, jumping down beside me, and nestling against my side. “Hey, Fili,” I whisper to him. “Are you not getting enough attention these days?” I scratch his furry head before returning my gaze to Victoria. I watch her frowning in her sleep, her forehead wrinkling as she unknowingly pulls the strangest expressions.

“Here you go,” Vi says, returning to the room and placing a glass of layered green and gold juice on the low table before seating herself beside me. “I probably didn’t need to give you a choice. You always pick honey apple.”

“Hey, maybe one day I’ll surprise you,” I say with a smile.

“I’m so sorry,” Ryn says, pocketing his amber. “I have to go back to work for a bit.”

“What?” Vi sits forward. “But my dad will be here soon. I thought you made sure to get this evening off.”

“I did, but this wasn’t planned. Hopefully it’ll be quick. It’s …” He glances at me, then back at Vi. “I’ll tell you about it when I get back.” He leaves through a doorway, and Vi leans back against the couch, watching Victoria with a tired smile.

“So you really think she’s getting better?” I ask.

“Well, she’s a lot calmer now.” She hesitates. “Very calm in fact.”

Something in her tone makes me ask, “Too calm?”

Vi groans. “I don’t know. It’s like she’s now limp and lethargic instead of squirmy and unhappy. I keep telling myself that at some point I have to stop worrying so much. It’s just … I never thought I’d love anyone as much as I love Ryn—and it’s not as though that’s diminished. It’s more like my heart has expanded and my priorities have shifted and now everything revolves around her.” She nudges Victoria’s little feet through her blanket. “Nothing has ever meant more to me. She’s the focus, and I’m still trying to figure out how to slot all the other pieces of my life in around her.”

“Well, at least you’re not a workaholic anymore,” I joke.

“Yeah, instant cure,” she says with a laugh. Her expression slowly turns serious once more. “I still wonder about her color, though. We haven’t seen any change in days. But then, some faeries have brown as their secondary color. It’s rare, but perhaps it will be that way for her.”

“Maybe,” I say, thinking of Gemma’s ebony and brunette locks. “And the birthmark?”

“Fading a little more every day.” On the table beside my drink, her amber buzzes. She leans forward and reads the message. “Oh, brilliant,” she groans, resting her head in her hands. “This evening just gets better and better.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My dad’s not coming anymore.”

My heart plummets as our precarious Seelie Court plan crumbles. “Why not?”

“Whatever he’s been so busy with lately was supposed to come to an end today, but apparently it’s taking longer than expected. He said he might be able to get here tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, okay.” So I may still get my chance. Good thing Ryn said I could stay over if I want to.

“Anyway, now we’ve got this wonderful dinner and only the two of us here to eat it.” She picks up her stylus from the table, sits back against the cushions, and writes across the ambers surface. “May as well invite some other people.”

Twenty minutes later, Vi’s friends Flint and Raven arrive with their son Dash. “That was fast,” Vi says as she lets them in.

“You mentioned food,” Flint says, “so I didn’t waste time.”

Raven rolls her eyes. “You’d swear I never feed him. Oh, hey, Calla.” She crosses the room and joins me on the couch with Dash, who must be nearing five months by now. “I thought you weren’t able to come inside this house without setting off some kind of alarm at the Guild. Have they removed that spell now?”

“No, but a friend of mine came up with a counter spell. So here I am continuing to break the law.”

“Oh, wonderful. Not the law-breaking, of course. Wonderful that you can visit your family while the Guild hopefully figures out who really caused that dragon disease mess.”

“Yeah. Anyway, what does Dash think of Victoria?” I ask.

“Uh, he’s smacked her in the face a few times,” Raven says with a guilty look in Vi’s direction. “But it was accidental, I promise. He just wanted to get a bit closer to her.”

“I know,” Vi says with a grin, watching both babies.

“Accidental, my ass,” Flint comments as he walks across the room with an oversized baby bag trailing through the air behind him. “You know how boys are. Always teasing the girls they like.”

Raven throws her head back and laughs. “A little bit early for that, isn’t it?”

“Just a little,” Vi says. “Give them a few more years before you start playing matchmaker, Flint.”

“He’s definitely fascinated by her, though,” Raven says, allowing the little boy to bob up and down on her lap as he giggles and reaches for her face. “She was squirming in her sleep the other day and Dash stared at her for ages.”

“That’s because my little princess is so pretty,” Vi says, chuckling as she leans down to take Victoria from me. “The boys can’t help but stare at her.”

“That must be it,” Raven says.

Vi moves toward the stairs. “I’m going to put her to bed now. She’s doing remarkably well staying asleep despite all our chatter, so hopefully she keeps sleeping while we have dinner.”

“I need to get this little one down too,” Raven says, standing and following Vi. “Could be a challenge. Can I put him in the study down here? I don’t want him waking Victoria if he starts crying.”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Vi says.

“Good luck,” I call after Raven as she leaves the room with the baby bag floating behind her.

Flint and I move to the dining room and get the table ready for dinner. Filigree shifts into cat form and follows me around, rubbing himself against my legs every time I stand still. “I feel like I must be putting you in a difficult position,” I say to Flint. “Being a guard at the Guild, you’re probably fighting the urge to arrest me.”

“Criminals are the only fae I get the urge to arrest, and you don’t fit into that category.” He places the last fork on the table and stands back. “I’ve never agreed with the Griffin List, so I fully understand why you didn’t add your name to it, and I know you didn’t kill your classmate and spread a deadly disease throughout the Guild.”

I smile at him. “Thanks.”

Vi comes back downstairs. When Raven eventually joins us, we begin dinner. We’re about halfway through the meal when Ryn returns home. He sits at the table without fetching himself any food from the kitchen, shaking his head when Vi asks if she can dish up for him. “Bad news,” he says. He focuses on me and adds, “Very bad news.”

I lower my fork as my insides squirm with apprehension. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Dad’s … been arrested.”

“What? The Guild only started their investigation two days ago.”

Raven covers her mouth and Flint swears beneath his breath. “They uncovered the bribes,” Ryn says. “They arrested him immediately while continuing the investigation. You know how strict they are about anything Griffin List-related. Too strict, in my opinion, but … that’s the law.”

I push my plate away and press the heels of my hands over my eyes. I shake my head. “This is all—”

“Stop,” Ryn says. “Just … Yes, we know he did it for you, but it was still his choice. You never asked him to do anything.”

“No, but I still have to live with knowing he’s in prison because of me.” I lower my hands. “I’ve sent my own father to prison.”

No one responds—probably because they all know it’s true. I stare at my plate, feeling sick at the thought of trying to finish the food sitting on it.

“He’ll be held in the Guild’s detainment area for now,” Ryn says quietly.

“If the news gets out about why he was arrested, there could be anti-Griffin List protests again,” Vi says. “Just like the last few times.”

“Maybe,” Ryn says. “Or maybe not. If everyone believes that the Gifted person Dad was protecting is the one responsible for the dragon disease that threatened so many lives, those fighting the list will probably be quiet.”

I push my chair back, startling Filigree, who must have been sitting by my legs beneath the table. He becomes a sparrow and flits out of the room as I stand and begin pacing. My throat tightens as I push tears back. Dad’s in prison, I say to Chase. Mom’s in prison. You’re in prison—well, worse; more like a torture chamber. I know I’m supposed to be the positive one, but it is getting really hard.

No answer comes. I assume he must be sleeping, but then I hear his voice. None of this will last forever.

I guess not, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

I know. Doesn’t make me feel any better either.

I reach the edge of the room and turn again. I ball my fists and release a groan. Why does everything have to go wrong at the same time?

“Cal, please sit,” Ryn says quietly. “Your pacing isn’t helping.”

The remainder of dinner is accompanied by stilted conversation, and when Dash starts crying, Raven says it’s probably best if they head home. Once they’re gone, I drop onto the couch and close my eyes. I try to believe that everything will eventually be okay. Ryn sinks against the cushions beside me and wraps one arm around my shoulders. “I won’t try to convince you that life doesn’t suck right now because I know it does. For multiple reasons. Do you want to stay here tonight?”

I lean my head against his shoulder and nod. “Yes. Thank you.” I need to focus on the faerie paths spell and the fact that I may get the chance to use it tomorrow morning. I might not be able to help Mom and Dad, but I will damn well make sure I can help Chase.

That’s the spirit, Chase says quietly in my mind.

A half-smile finds its way onto my lips. Are my thoughts slipping out again?

You’re tired, he says. You’re always less guarded when you’re tired.

Vi calls Ryn to help her with something. He heads upstairs as I fetch blankets and pillows from the hallway cupboard. I used to sleep in the spare room upstairs when I stayed over here, but that room is Victoria’s nursery now. After using the bathing room, I snuggle on the couch beneath the blankets and run through my plan for tomorrow. If Kale comes to visit—and he has to, since we have no other way to get to the Seelie Court—I’ll hang around until he leaves. I don’t know how long the journey to the palace will be, but I’ll follow him the entire way. Once that’s done, I’ll consider whether to risk visiting Dad or not. Last week I wouldn’t have hesitated, but I’m far more wary now that I’ve been spotted on a surveillance device.

I fall asleep with a string of images of the Guild and Dad and a palace I’ve only ever imagined running through my head.

At an undefined time of night, a heart-rending scream tears through the air. I wake with a jolt, my heart thrashing in my chest. The scream goes on and on, curdling my blood like nothing I’ve heard before. I throw myself off the couch and hurtle upstairs as icy terror closes its fist around my heart.