Chapter 1
The great horned owl sat in the oak.
I could see the bird
from my window as it huddled in the sparse branches, trying to
protect itself from the snow. I longed to join it, to strip off my
clothes and turn into my owl self, to fly free under the haunting
winter moon, but the weather was harsh and cold. And Myst was out
there, hiding in the forest with her people, waiting.
And somewhere, hidden in her mists and shadows, Grieve is
there, captive, caught in Myst’s web. Can he still possibly love
me? Can he still be saved from the blood that flows through his
veins? How can I let him go, now that we’ve found each other
again?
I opened the window
and leaned out, glancing down at the yard below. The snow gleamed
under the nearly full moon, a crystal blanket of white flooding the
lawn. The Golden Wood—or Spider’s Wood, as I called it—was aglow as
usual, with a sickly green light that I’d seen every night since
returning home to New Forest. A thousand miles and years seemed to
separate me from my former existence, although it had been only a
couple of weeks since I arrived back in town. But in that short
time, my life had turned upside down, in every possible
way.
The wind called to me
to come and play and I closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of the
breezes lashing against my skin. My owls shifted, urging me to fly.
The tattoos—a pair of blackwork owls flying over a silver moon
impaled on a dagger—banded both arms.
Slipping on my
leather jacket and gloves, I cautiously climbed out on the
shingles, making sure that the snow that had built up didn’t slip,
sending me sliding to the ground, but it had turned to ice. I
scooted until my back rested against the window, then brought my
knees up, circling them with my arms, and nestled as best as I
could against the cold.
As I stared up into
the oak, the great horned owl let out a soft hoot, stirring my
blood. Over the past month, he’d taught me to shake off the fear of
falling, to soar through the unending night turning on a wing,
catching mice in the yard, while always, always, keeping an eye on the forest.
You are Uwilahsidhe. You are magic-born. You must keep
watch for Myst, he constantly reminded me. The Queen of the Indigo Court seeks to destroy
you.
I raised one hand in
salute, the snowflakes softly kissing my skin, and he hooted again,
a warning in his tone.
“What is it?” I
whispered. “What are you trying to tell me?”
Ulean, my Wind
Elemental, swept around me like a cloak, answering for him.
He fears for you. There are ghosts riding the
wind tonight, and the Shadow Hunters are out and about. There will
be death before the morning.
More death. More
blood. My stomach churned as I thought about the four killings
reported over the past two days. One had been a child. All had been
torn to bits, eaten to the bone.
I gazed at the
forest. What were Myst and her people up to tonight? Who were they
hunting? The bitch-queen was ravenous and without
mercy.
There has been so much death over the past few days. They
are terrorizing the town and now everyone fears them, even though
they don’t know from whom they run. I leaned against the
gentle current that signaled Ulean was embracing me. She had been
my guardian since I was six years old, bonded to me through ritual,
a gift from Lainule, the Fae Queen of Rivers and
Rushes.
And they should fear. Myst won’t just go away. She is here
to make her mark and conquer. She is here to destroy. Ulean
caught up a skiff of snow and sent it into the air, spiraling
around me.
I glanced back inside
at the clock. Seven P.M. Another two hours before we were to meet
with Geoffrey. Finally, after five days of silence, the Northwest
Regent of the Vampire Nation had summoned us. Five days after we
had rescued our friend Peyton from Myst. Five days after I’d lost
Grieve. Five days during which the Indigo Court had rained hell on
the town, killing eight people.
The owl hooted again
and as I glanced in his direction, a shadow of movement caught my
eye from below, over near the herb gardens.
Crap—something was rooting around down there. Not
an animal, so what was it? Another glance over at the Spider’s Wood
showed nothing amiss, but we couldn’t take any
chances.
Ulean, do you know what that thing is?
A moment passed and
then she drifted gently around me again. Not
one of the Shadow Hunters, but I have no doubt it belongs to the
Indigo Court. Myst is attracting the sinister
Fae.
I leaned forward,
trying to keep it within my sight.
I need to know what it is. We can’t take a chance on
letting it prowl around our land.
Scrambling back
through the window, I paused just long enough to slip on my wrist
sheath and make sure my switchblade was firmly affixed. Grabbing my
fan from the dresser, I slipped back out on the roof and edged my
way to the overhang.
The two-story drop
was problematic, but a couple of days ago I’d installed a roll-up
ladder. I’d been out flying and landed back on the roof, only to
discover that somebody in the house had thought I was off shopping
and had shut my window and locked it. I’d been stuck out in the
snow, naked, too tired to change back into owl form to fly down to
the ground and come through the front door. Now, I had the option
of climbing down, which was a whole lot easier than shapeshifting
when I was exhausted.
I rolled the ladder
over the edge and was about to swing onto the rungs when Kaylin
stuck his head through the window.
“What are you
doing?”
“Goblin dog or
something of the sort in the backyard. I was going to check it
out.”
“Give me ten secs and
I’ll come with you.” He ducked back through the window as I headed
down to the ground. A moment later, Kaylin was shimmying down the
ladder to land next to me. The dreamwalker was far older than his
looks belied, and he was far more skilled in fighting than I was.
Having him at my back made me feel much more secure.
“Where are the
others?” I hadn’t seen my cousin Rhiannon all day.
“Rhiannon is out
shopping, and Leo is on a last-minute run for
Geoffrey.”
Leo was a day-runner
for the vampires. More specifically, he worked for the Regent,
running errands that Geoffrey and his wife couldn’t do during the
daylight hours.
“What about
Chatter?”
“He’s in the
basement, working on charms against the Indigo Court.”
“I thought the house
seemed quiet.” I moved forward, cautiously.
The backyard of the
Veil House was more like the back forty. Filled with herb gardens,
stone circles, and fruit trees, it lay blanketed in a thick layer
of snow, and the rising moon set off a bluish tinge to everything
around. We stopped, listening to the owl as he hooted again, his
warnings echoing through the yard.
We were as quiet as
possible, but at one point I stepped on a fallen branch, buried by
the snow. It snapped in two. The creature, which had apparently
been working its way toward the house, heard us and
froze.
This way, Kaylin mouthed, circling around
it.
I followed his lead,
edging closer to whatever it was. We managed to slip behind a
nearby bush before it could back away. There didn’t appear to be
more than one, and we were able to get a good look at
it.
The creature was
about four feet tall, with a bloated stomach and long bony arms
that dragged along the ground. Its head was distorted, elongated
and elliptical, with longish ears. The eyes were wide-set and
cunning. As it drew back its lips into a grimace, drool dripped
from between its needle-sharp teeth.
“Have any idea what
it is?” I whispered to Kaylin, wishing he could talk on the
slipstream. It was much easier to avoid being overheard when
sending messages along with the currents of air.
Kaylin cocked his
head, his ponytail shifting slightly. “Goblin. One of Myst’s
toadies, no doubt. If we let it live, I guarantee it will bring
others. The dark Fae can get through our wards where Myst’s Shadow
Hunters can’t, so she’s probably testing how far she can push into
our land using her allies.”
“Kill or wound as a
message?”
“Go in for the kill.
If we just wound it, we’ll have yet another nasty enemy on our
hands.”
I gave him a short
nod, saving my breath as we burst out of the bushes and poured on
the speed. As we caught up to the thing—the goblin was terribly
quick—I pulled out my fan, whispered “Strong
Gust,” and snapped the fan open, waving it
twice.
A quick blast of air
slammed against us—and the goblin. Startled, the creature skidded
to a halt at the edge of the forest, looking confused. Kaylin dove
forward, rolling to come up in fighting stance. He kicked it in the
chin. As the goblin lurched back, I slipped through on the left
side and brought my switchblade down on its arm, stabbing it
deeply.
Kaylin fumbled for
his shurikens as an icy gust of wind came whistling from the
direction of the forest, and a shadow figure loomed at the border
dividing the woods from the magical barrier we’d constructed. A
glimpse of pale skin with a cerulean cast to it told us all we
needed to know. One of the Vampiric Fae. A
Shadow Hunter.
“Shit,” I muttered,
steeling myself as the goblin launched itself at me.
The Shadow Hunter
raised a bow, his sight intent on Kaylin. He might not be able to
set foot on our land, but his weaponry could. I shouted a warning
to Kaylin and waved my fan in the direction of the Vampiric Fae,
whispering, “Strong Gust.” The arrow
came zinging our way, but missed by inches.
The goblin landed on
me and we both went down, rolling into the snow. I couldn’t use my
fan in such close quarters, so I struggled to catch the creature by
the throat. I was bigger than the goblin, but not as tough. After
thrashing against his leathery skin, I finally managed to get one
hand on his neck.
Gnashing his teeth,
the goblin lashed at my hand and I pulled away just in time. Even
if I didn’t lose any fingers, chances were good he had some nasty
bacteria in that mouth and I wanted no part of any infection he
might be carrying. We wrestled, me trying to force back his hands
as he scrabbled to reach my face. One swipe of those clawlike nails
could take out an eye. The stench of the creature was putrid, like
a combination of gas and vomit, and his eyes were round and
lidless.
I sucked in a deep
breath and heaved, pushing with both hands and feet, and managed to
roll on top, trapping him between my knees. I squeezed my thighs
together, trying to keep the goblin from slipping away from me. At
that moment, Kaylin let out a shout and I jerked around. A muscle
pulled in my neck.
“Fuck!” The Shadow Hunter’s second arrow had grazed
his arm.
The bolt had
penetrated the heavy leather he was wearing but looked like it
hadn’t gone too deep. Kaylin yanked the arrow out, tossing it to
the ground, and dashed over the boundary line. The Shadow Hunter
hadn’t been prepared for him to go on the offensive and went down,
Kaylin atop him in the snow, a flurry of fists flying.
I turned my attention
back to the goblin. If I let this thing get away, he’d be back,
with reinforcements. I flipped the blade on my switchblade and
paused. Killing creatures—even our enemies—was still new and did
not come easy to me. I sucked in a deep breath.
You can do it. Steady. Aim for the forehead. Goblins are
vulnerable in the third eye area. Ulean flurried around me,
trying to keep the snow from blinding my vision.
With a surge in the
pit of my stomach, I brought the blade down, wincing as it slid
through the goblin’s head. New Forest had become a town of
kill or be killed. We no longer had the
luxury of allowing our enemies to live in peace.
I drove the blade in
to the hilt. The goblin screeched, loud and jagged through the
twilight, and then fell limp as a fountain of blood stained the
snow red, diluting into petal pink. The scent of the creature
lingered, joined by that of blood. I withdrew my blade, yanking
when it resisted.
Another shout. I
looked up to realize that—in my fight—I’d also passed the boundary
line and the Shadow Hunter was on the run, aiming directly for me.
I froze, but he merely shoved me aside and fell to the side of the
goblin’s body, his face pressed against the creature’s
wound.
As I backed away,
horrified, he lapped at the blood, and then began to transform, his
mouth unhinging like that of a snake as he shifted into a doglike
monster, his jaws lined with spiny teeth. With ravenous fury, he
bit off the head, chewing it, spattering bits of brain matter every
which way.
Kaylin brushed his
fingers to his lips and slowly edged up on the Shadow Hunter. He
brought out a short dagger, serrated and coated in a magical oil.
As he plunged the knife into the side of the Vampiric Fae, aiming
for the heart, the oil encouraged the blood to flow and the crimson
liquid stained the snow still further.
The Shadow Hunter
turned, but I was quicker, stabbing his haunch with my blade and
dragging it through his tough hide. Then Kaylin and I lightly
danced backward, out of reach of those deadly teeth.
A voice echoed from
behind us and I turned to see my cousin Rhiannon, panting as she
stretched out her hands, a small red charm in the palm of her
right. She whispered, just loud enough for us to hear, “Flame to flame, bolt to bolt, fire to fire, jolt to jolt.
Lightning, let me be thy rod.”
All hell broke loose
as a bolt of snow lightning came forking out of the gathering
clouds, ripping to the ground to shatter the Shadow Hunter into a
thousand pieces, as if he were a glass dish smashed on
concrete.
As soon as the spell
sang out of her body, Rhiannon collapsed and Kaylin raced over to
catch her. I stared at the remains of the Shadow Hunter and the
goblin. Not much left. Nothing to take home with us, except two
more notches on our belt, and the hope that we’d be able to sleep
soundly, knowing there was one less member of Myst’s court in the
world. One less toady of hers to slip onto our land.
Kaylin shivered. He
was bleeding through the rent in his jacket from the arrow. At that
moment, I noticed a trickle running down my own shoulder. I glanced
down. A puncture wound had penetrated my jacket. I slipped it off
to see blood saturating my top. The goblin must have stabbed me
with its claw. I hadn’t even noticed.
“We’re growing numb
to our pain,” I said as we turned away from the carnage we’d just
inflicted.
“We have to,” Kaylin
said. “We have to learn to weather the battles because there will
be far more to come before things get back to normal. If there even
is such a thing as ‘normal’
anymore.”
I nodded and looked
at Rhiannon. “You saved the day.” The thank
you was implied.
She slipped her arm
around my waist and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “I just got
home and saw the commotion from the car. Leo’s still in town and I
don’t know where Chatter is.”
“In the basement,
working with the charms.”
“Ah. Good. We’ll need
them.”
“I guess we’d better
get back on our land, before anything else comes out of the woods.
We need to tend to our wounds and make sure they don’t get
infected.” I wearily turned back to the house.
As we crossed the
demarcation line that magically divided the Golden Wood from the
Veil House, I couldn’t help but shudder. Like it or not, we were
pawns in a war between two powerful enemies—Geoffrey and Myst—and
we were doing our best just to stay alive.