The Shadowed Path

Prologue

Prologue

Aria

A knock at the door of the shop made me look up from the order screen. The charms I'd made for Fae-Con had depleted my stock, and I needed to re-up them for the inevitable rush of parents and teens looking for bags of Remember and Summer Love, as exams and then summer break would be around the corner. I wasn't expecting anyone, and all I wanted to do was finish the order, take a long, hot shower, and go to bed. There might have been some ice cream in my plans as well. The lure of Ben & Jerry's dairy-free Chocolate Fudge Brownie almost made me ignore the visitor, but my intuition told me I should at least see who it was.

The person who stood at the door wasn't a person, but a Fae. Princess Reine gave me a smile that appeared to take some effort, and her perfect green eyes sported red rims and puffiness. Had she been crying? The predominance of blue and gray in her normally colorful aura confirmed her grief and tiredness.

Ah, Doctor Lawrence Gordon, gargoyle and handsome scientist, must have found out the secret she'd kept from him—that her brother had killed the gargoyle's father in a case of mistaken identity. I imagined that hadn't gone well. But that wasn't any of my business, and I had other things to ask about.

I'd barely gotten the locks open and door cracked before my curiosity made the questions escape. "Did you get the soul-eater? Did the charms help?"

Her pet, a gray cat named Sir Raleigh, slipped through the door and set about sniffing around the shop. She gave him an indulgent smile, then said, "We got it. It's now sealed in a vampire's menagerie, although gods know what she'll do with it. Not sure of the point of an invisible pet."

"And the charms?" I couldn't keep the eagerness from my voice.

"They helped keep enough people safe from the monster's influence. Thank you. I'm here to pay you for them, and for something else."

"That's not necessary, to pay me, and I am happy to give you whatever help you may need." I stepped back and allowed her to enter.

She took a few steps inside, then frowned. "That's odd. Normally the stones greet me."

I hated to tell her, but I had to. "They know of the hurt you caused the gargoyle, and they're not pleased."

She took a deep breath, then nodded. "I'm truly sorry for any pain he feels that I am responsible for, and I am saddened for the rest."

My jaw wanted to drop—a Fae apologizing?—but I kept it in place. "I'm not the one who needs to hear the words, Princess."

She shrugged. "I tried. It didn't do any good except to help me throw off the soul-eater." Her lips twisted into an ironic grin. "It didn't like the taste of shame and vulnerability."

"Fae don't feel shame," I said before I could stop myself. Then, because I did regret my words and I didn't want her to curse or otherwise send bad energy my way, "I apologize, Princess. That was out of line."

"It's all right. Most of the time we don't. I suppose I've learned some things from humans during my time here. As for paying you, please. I've learned you're attached to activities like paying rent and eating."

I laughed. "That's not it. Doctor Gordon already paid for the charms."

She winced at his name, and I bit my tongue on another apology.

"My other piece of business—I need a journal for Kestrel, and I need you to help me put a spell on it so that only she and I can read it."

"Isn't a spell like that within your ability?"

"It should be, but in my current state of exhaustion, I don't trust my powers. I'd rather not accidentally curse it or make it so that she and I are the ones who can't read it."

I led her to the bookshelf, which held several blank notebooks and journals. She selected one with a red and gold diamond pattern and a dark blue one with white swirls and silver sparkles around the image of a full moon. She frowned.

"I feel drawn to both of these."

"Then you must be meant to have both."

She took a deep breath. "I'm too tired to argue with fate or whoever is guiding me at the moment. Which should we bespell for Kestrel?"

"Let's do both." An idea had formed in the back of my mind when she’d apologized for hurting Doctor Gordon. "Is this so she can better keep track of her power surges?"

"Yes."

I waited for a beat for the rest of the answer. "But that's not all."

"No, that's not all. I can't tell you more."

Fear for my friend clutched my throat with icy fingers. "Is she in danger?"

"She could be." Reine rubbed her eyes. "Fine, I'll tell you this much. We're going on a journey. She'll need to record her impressions and reactions in order to give us information for the end."

"All right."

She frowned. "That's it? 'All right?'"

"Look, I want to know what you're getting her into, especially now with her being so vulnerable, but this all feels like it's part of some larger pattern." My vision went gray, and glowing white lines appeared around and through her. I had to tell her what my sixth sense showed me. "Please, though, be careful. I see a spider web, and one misstep could make it tighten until it chokes you and all you care about." I blinked, and the colors returned to the room.

She didn't appear to be concerned. In fact, her mouth puckered into a resigned smile. "That's pretty much Fae life."

We performed the spell on both the journals, and as I wrapped both in plain brown paper as per her instruction, I had another thought that demanded to be voiced.

"Perhaps the other journal is for you. You didn't say what you were hoping to find on this journey for yourself."

She chewed on her bottom lip—a surprisingly human gesture—before replying, "I'm hoping to regain something I lost a long, long time ago." She gave me her credit card, and I rang up her purchases.

I nodded and handed her the packages and her card. "Good luck, Princess. It may be that the other journal is for you. What is a journey for, if not to discover something important about one’s self?"

She laughed. "Indeed. Farewell, Aria. May the gods smile on you for all the good you do."

"And you as well."

She and the cat exited the store and faded into the darkness. I returned to my order but found myself unable to concentrate. Concern for Kestrel kept pushing at the edges of my attention. Her mother had just died, and now she was going to Faerie. The least I could do was check on her. I pulled my phone out and texted her.

Hey! What's up? You hanging in there?

She didn't respond. Ten minutes later, I tried again.

Hey, please don't go wherever you're going without saying goodbye. I'm worried about you.

This time she responded.

Hey, sorry, packing. Not sure how long I'll be gone. Bye and thanks! Wish me luck.

Good luck.

If she wanted to tell me more, she would. I pondered warning her—it was never a good idea to get involved with a Fae, but she knew that. I only hoped she would remember when it was important to do so.