Entering an apartment at the end of the hall off the stairs, they shuffled in and watched the man quickly lock another ridiculous amount of chains and locks on his door. Once he was done, he turned and eyed them once more. His lips quivered in disgust, but he waved to them to sit down on his threadbare couches. They took up the walls on the left side of the sparse, filthy room.
“Well you might as well make yourselves at home. Not like I can make you leave now,” he muttered, hurrying off to the open kitchen on the other side of the room facing the large, grimy windows that let bright rays of sunlight stream in through the filth. Crumbled fast food wrappers littered the dirt-streaked wooden floors along with cups and bowls stacked in odd places along the floor and in the middle of the room. Book stacks lined the walls near the door and were also randomly placed throughout the apartment and down the hallway.
The place should be condemned, Shade thought. She studied a dark, moldy stain that was slowly spreading across the ceiling in one corner and the cobwebs that hung around it, strung through the light fixtures. It made her shudder to think of what sort of little bitty creatures shared the apartment with Stanis.
He grabbed a chair from the small breakfast table, which was piled up with books and old paper cups, and brought it over to sit facing them. Sipping on a soda, he raked his eyes over each one of them, sizing them up quickly.
“So, why did Ursad send you my way? Faeries hate the city stench.” He wrinkled his nose and pulled out a used handkerchief, blowing out his nostrils before returning it to his shirt pocket. Shade held back a gag as she averted her eyes from his disgusting habit.
“We seek the Winter Ancient’s dwelling. Prince Lotinar stated that you, of all people, would know where to find his location,” Camulus answered.
Stanis cracked a smile where a few missing teeth left gaps in his yellowed array of enamel. He started cackling, letting it turn into a wheezing cough as he stood up and hunched over, hacking up a lung. Shade was left wondering how on earth this being was anything close to being a faery.
Once his fit had ended, he straightened and glared at Shade, letting his stare sear into her as she fidgeted under the weight of it. A sudden quiver in the air around him made the air ripple and send a whoosh of air throughout the room. Blinking, Shade laid her eyes upon a very handsome but tired-looking faery man with brilliant brown wings neatly folded on his back and long, grey-brown hair tied back.
“This city stench is impossible to tolerate without glamour. I’m exhausted and tired of the iron that spills into my nostrils and wrecks my joints.” He rolled his shoulders and back, grimacing as though the room smelled of garbage, which it pretty much did. “What do you offer for this information? And why, exactly, do you need it so badly?”
He snickered as he waited for their answer. Shade was really beginning to dislike Stanis.
“I need to find him. He bound my magic to him and left me powerless. I need to get him to unleash his grip on me so I can claim the Summer Seelie Court; I’m the rightful queen,” Shade stated. She kept her gaze focused on him. His good looks were not intimidating, which she thought was the reason he had shed his scruffy exterior. If he wanted to charm her, this wasn’t the way to do it.
He laughed, sitting back down on the chair. His wings parted to allow him to lean on the back of the chair. His sinister eyes darted to Brisa and then back to Shade, making Shade’s skin crawl. They were a dark brown in color, nothing too faery about them, making her wonder if he had some human in him.
“You want to seek out the Winter Ancient? Ha!” He shook his head, crossing his arms as he shook his legs in a nervous, repetitive twitch. “You don’t know what you ask. But first,” he leaned forward, snarling at her with an evil grin spreading across his face, “what are you offering me in exchange?”
Shade pulled a tiny flask from her pocket. It glittered in the sunshine which bled across the room. It was barely had but a teaspoon of water in it, but she hoped it would be more valuable than anything else to this crazy faery. “Water, from the Santiran Fountains. It’s sealed so you won’t be harmed by it.” She tilted her head, watching his smile fade and a twisted fascination grow through his features. “Only I can touch it outside this glass, but I thought you might like it for your… collection.” Shade held it out, hoping he would grab it from her, accept it and send them on their way soon.
The faery licked his lips and rubbed his fingertips repetitively as he stared hungrily at the vial. If he leaned forward enough, he could snatch it from her grasp, but he seemed hesitant, almost afraid of the magical fluid swirling in the glass.
“Prove to me that it is Santiran water magic.” He raised his eyes to hers, which were looking glassier as time went by. She wondered if faeries did drugs. He looked high as a kite. If he was human, she’d say he was tweaking for sure. His nervous twitches were making her jumpy, but she didn’t dare ask.
Her heart sank as she realized that she couldn’t fulfill his request. “I can’t. I told you, I have no powers right now.”
Stanis laughed and continued to laugh until he was in some conniption fit of laughter. He almost fell of the chair that creaked under his weight. Shade felt her face flush scarlet, her temper rising as she stared at the insanity passing across his face. She jumped to her feet and headed for the door, already pulling at the endless chains and deadbolts as she frantically tried to escape. The room was already making her feel sick, and it grew smaller as each minute ticked by.
“He’s not going to help us. Let’s just go!” she yelled at the others, a sob gathering in her throat. How dare he laugh at her? He didn’t even know her. He knew nothing of all the hardships she’s had to endure for the Land of Faerie, for her heritage. He may be an exile, but he had no right to make fun of her.
Dylan and the others didn’t move, their eyes wide with the shock as the moment still sunk in.
“Come on!” she begged as she continued to struggle with the locks. Were they bespelled? There seemed to be more and more locks as she went down each row, loosening each one. It was never ending.
“Stop!” Stanis sprung to his feet now and slammed one hand against the door. All the chains, locks and deadbolts disappeared, including the entire door. Only a bare, dingy white wall stared back at her. She flicked her eyes from the wall to Stanis, knowing he had bested her yet again. It didn’t stop her from sending daggers into him.
“Open the door, Stanis,” Shade hissed. “We’re through here.”
“Just a minute, princess. I have bone to pick with you.” He tapped the wall and moved so fast, only a blur appeared where he had stood. He was in the kitchen now and pulled out a small, blue glass bowl. Bringing it to her, he held it out toward Shade, pushing her to take it. When she did, he resumed his position on the creaky chair, motioning for her to sit back on the couch. “Please sit.”
“I’d rather stand.”
He groaned, rolling his head on his shoulders. His long brown hair spilled over the back of the chair as he did that. He looked like a drunk slumped in the chair, almost falling off the edge. “Suit yourself, changeling, but I highly suggest you sit. There are more ways than one to use magic, even bound up as you are.” His wild eyes seemed more sober now, and she felt a sudden urge to sit as told. The suspicion she felt that he was using magic on her was eating at her nerves. She hated being played, and he seemed a master at that.
“What do you mean, more ways?” She settled between Soap and Dylan and held the bowl out. It was small enough to fit in her palm.
“This is a Pith. It extracts your essence. Therefore, your powers are given a release through this bowl. Even in your case, one’s powers cannot be completely contained, as one can never truly trap a mind. This Pith provides another route, another path for your magic to escape your body and work its powers. We’re only trapped by the binds we allow to be placed upon ourselves. This breaks through that. It will let you use your water magic, as though you’d never been bound.”
The others gasped, sta
ring in wonderment at the ordinary-looking bowl sitting in her palm. It seemed utterly mundane, no etchings on its hard surface, nothing to convey its powerful use. She wondered if he was pulling her leg or not, but it was worth a try.
“One drop into the bowl, Shade. That’s all it takes.” He gestured quickly, to make her move faster. She gulped, mesmerized by the glass. She silently prayed that it would work; if not, they were doomed. No… she was doomed.
She uncorked the tiny ampule and let one single glistening drop fall silently, like a tear, into the center of the bowl. Pushing the stopper back into the vial, she held the bowl, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.
“Shade,” Dylan reached over to her, clasping her hand which held the ampule. Grinning, his smile felt reassuring as he continued. “Just let go. Let it work; you know how to use it. Let it out. Relax.”
She breathed in deeply, nodding softly as she concentrated on the one drop within the bowl. She slowly felt a familiar tingle on her skin directly underneath the bowl. Excited, she deepened her concentration and thrust it all into the drop of water.
Suddenly, the drop quivered, splitting into five drops at first, and then each floating out of the bowl to hang in the air as they grew and grew into five separate orbs of water. They looked like water bubbles glistening in the air as they began to turn and then dance around each other midair. Shade giggled, finding the little dance exhilarating as the water moved faster and faster. She could feel the tingle traveling up her arm and deep into her chest.
She knew then that he was right. Her magic might have restraints on it, but it was still there, deep within, desperate to escape. It felt amazing, like a part of her heart had been reanimated after far too long. She made the orbs collide into one big ball until it shrank down to its original size of a drop and plopped right back into the bowl.
It had given her the same euphoric feeling it had at the fountains and whenever she had used her water magic. It was always the same. Whenever it spilled onto her skin, it would leave her drugged in bliss. She wanted to use it even more now, but this tiny bit of exertion had already left her exhausted. She uncorked the ampule and watched as she willed the drop to slip back into the vial before she closed it once more, holding it out to Stanis.
His eyes were no longer greedy, but were wells full of awe and admiration.
“Thank you for showing me that.” Stanis nodded toward her and plucked the ampule softly from her fingertips. He studied it closely, rolling it between his slender, twitchy fingers.
“Fascinating magic,” he whispered, almost to himself.
“Now, will you tell me? Please? How do I find Corb, the Winter Ancient?”
Ripping his eyes away from the vial, Stanis nodded. A dreamy look had overtaken his features and the entirety of his demeanor was tamer than before. “Of course, princess. Anything you ask.”
Chapter Eight
LEAVING STANIS’S TENEMENT felt a lot different than when Shade had arrived. The sun was brighter and the air seemed less confining somehow. She was exhilarated that she’d been able to use some of her water magic again with the Pith. Even though it only worked on elemental magic, as Stanis had stated afterward, it had been enough to rejuvenate her quest to gain her powers back from Corb.
They shuffled out into the less crowded, but still thick, evening throng of the city. They walked less urgently, now that they knew where they were heading. Returning to the Glass Castle was a must to obtain a more suitable wardrobe for the freezing temperatures where they would be heading: the depths of the Arctic.
Shade wasn’t sure she ever had even thought of visiting the Arctic, let alone combing through it to find an ancient kingdom. She was certain she’d hate the freezing, below-zero weather and wasn’t looking forward to going there, not one bit.
Dylan and Soap stopped in their tracks, causing a small congestion of bodies in the middle of the sidewalk. Dylan grabbed Shade while Soap pulled Brisa against the stone wall of the nearest building. Their faces were concerned, their senses on high alert. Shade felt the tension seeping off them like waves and darted her eyes down both sides of the street.
“What’s going on? Something happening?” she whispered to Dylan as he immediately drew an invisibility shield around them. To an outsider, they would have been standing there leaning against the wall one minute and then gone the next.
Dylan pulled his sword out, as did the others as they stood there, still studying the crowd for something Shade couldn’t see. When nothing happened, she began to wonder if they were just being paranoid. What would attack them in broad daylight, on a street full of people? Just then, Dylan grabbed her hand and began running through the crowd.
Glancing back, she could see Camulus had Brisa in his grip and Soap followed close behind them. She still couldn’t see what was chasing them, but a fear crept up into her as they continued on, dodging thick bottlenecks of people as they eased their way through the more dispersed patches.
“Dylan? What’s going on?” He continued to tug on her arm, making her wrist scream in protest. “Dylan?”
They turned down a dark alleyway and waited until Soap slipped in with them. There they kept their eyes on the opening and heard a loud explosion in the distance.
“What was that?” Brisa peeled her eyes at the noise, stepping closer to Shade and grabbing her other arm. “What was chasing us?” Screams filtered down from the direction they had come and the crowd just outside the alley began moving faster, some running around like a chaotic mess.
“A darkling spotted us. He must’ve set off the explosion to clear his way.” He turned toward Camulus and nodded. “The chaos probably wasn’t what he expected. Take us to the Glass Castle, quickly!” They all grabbed onto the elven-pixie and the sway of the land had just begun when, at the mouth of the alley, Shade saw the darkling, a shadow with searing white eyes. It screamed as it watched them about to disappear and catapulted toward them as they began their jaunt away. One cold, black finger grazed her arm before it disappeared from her vision and the world swirled away.
Shade’s ears rang from the darkling’s screech, and she had the sudden urge to let go of Camulus and Brisa to cover them and make the noise go away. She resisted, afraid she’d end up in some weird teleporting limbo if she dared disconnect from Camulus now. She endured the pain and felt Brisa trying to tug away from her, too, probably also in torturous pain. Digging her nails into her friend’s arm to keep her from letting go, she prayed for the end to come. The trip could not have ended sooner, and she found the entire bunch writhing on the floor from the darkling’s searing call.
Shade followed suit, collapsing to the ground and grabbing at her ears. Moments passed before the relentless ringing faded away, leaving them all breathing hard and sweating buckets. Shade pulled her hand away from her ear to grasp her other arm, which was now throbbing with pain. Slowly opening her eyes as she breathed deeply in and out, she saw why her arm was hurting so much. A black spot where the darkling had touched her right before they had teleported away stood stark against the pale skin of her forearm. It sent spikes of pain radiating up her arm and through her elbow, across her shoulder and into her chest. She gasped, gritting her teeth from the agony.
The others were now finally getting to their feet, some still dazed from the deafening screech. Dylan held his hands on his knees, crouched down as he shook it off his senses. Noticing that Shade was still on the ground, he hurried toward her and knelt down, lifting her up into his arms. She was grabbing her left arm and shaking uncontrollably. Tears leaked from both her eyes, and her face was screwed up in pain.
“Shade?” He pulled her up to sit against him, but she could barely open her eyes to register him.
“It’s burning!” she gasped, clutching her arm against her chest, cradling it softy.
“What happened?”
“The darkling, it touched me before… before we left.” Shade tried to breathe the pain away, but it was winning, and she wasn’t sure how long sh
e would stay conscious. “What is this?”
“A darkling’s kiss.” Soap slid down to check out the wound. It was hot around the edges, but the black spot wasn’t growing. Still, Shade grunted through the torturous agony. “When a darkling marks you, it dies. In death, its touch slowly poisons your blood until all of your blood turns black and you either become a darkling or….” He cleared his throat, looking solemn. “Or you die. It takes just a few days.”
Brisa was shifting between her feet, nervously listening to what they were telling Shade. At Soap’s statement, she huffed away and ran through the gates of the Glass Castle, screaming for help. Dylan nodded for Soap to follow her as he picked up Shade. Cradling her close to his chest, he felt her body convulsing against him. She had already lost consciousness as her body twitched and slowly went limp in his arms. His face was furrowed as his fear crept up, making him break out into a run toward the castle.
Camulus had teleported somewhere else the moment he’d seen Shade’s condition. Where the hell did he go? Dylan though.
“I need a healer!” Dylan called out to the guards inside the castle. One ran off down the hall while the other directed him to the infirmary. It was rarely used, but was still a necessity in such a large palace. Dylan placed her on one of the beds and waited for the healer to arrive, holding onto Shade’s now relaxed hand. He studied the dark spot on her forearm and wanted to yell out at the world for help to save her.
How dare a darkling touch Faerie royalty? The Unseelie Queen Aveta had surely sent them on a mission to get rid of Shade. Why hadn’t he seen it coming? He was so upset, he wanted to scream. His fingers flexed and dug into his palms as he watched the healer rush in and begin to examine her.
Shade was deathly pale, and the black spot looked like it was starting to bleed, spreading across her skin like webs of veiny ink sprawling across paper. The healer was a short but thin woman with light brown hair that hit the small of her back and was as straight as arrows. Her full hazel eyes were closed as she held Shade’s hand in her grasp. She muttered a spell over Shade. A wisp of smoke puffed from the black spot and dissipated into the air. The healer opened her eyes and stared at the sliver of mist as it vanished. She shook her head and resumed chanting, keeping her eyes open this time and staring intently at the spot. Another and then another wisp of smoke seeped from the spot but failed to change it. She continued on and her voice got louder and louder until she was practically screaming. She finally collapsed to her knees from the effort.