A Faerie's Curse (Creepy Hollow #6) (13 page)

“What's wrong? Is everything … Have you spoken to Chase yet?” I walk toward him and hold my hand out for the ring. It's been far,
far
too long since I heard his voice.

“Calla,” Gaius says slowly, removing the ring from his pinkie finger and placing it on my palm. “I haven't been able to get hold of him. It's been over a day now and he hasn't responded. We don't know what that means, and we can't assume the worst, but we need to be prepared for … well, for anything.”

A chill settles in my bones as I allow myself a glimpse of a dark future in which there is no Victoria, no brother who loves me unconditionally, and now no Chase. I shy away from the image with a shudder as I wrap my arms tightly around my chest and press my lips together. I don't think I can speak, so I simply nod as Gaius reaches up and squeezes my arm. Trying to comfort me, no doubt, but when I look into his eyes, all I see is the same hopelessness I feel.

C
HAPTER

F
IFTEEN

You're not dead
, I whisper silently the next morning as I get dressed.
You're not dead, you're not dead, and I
will
find you.
Despite the fact that I get no response, I tell myself that somehow Chase can hear me.

The witch's warning echoes at the back of my mind as I walk into the Guild under the cover of invisibility. I know it will weaken me to conceal myself, but this is too important an opportunity to pass up. With the Seelie Palace party only four days away now, this could be our last chance to find a way there. Wearing a brunette and orange wig and a tan jacket borrowed from Lumethon in place of the black one I always wear, I climb the stairs to Olive's office. Filigree's small shape is a comforting warmth in my pocket. I considered telling him to go back to my room when I found him hiding in the jacket earlier, but facing a full day of camping out in enemy territory felt easier with an accomplice at my side—even an accomplice as small as mouse-shaped Filigree.

Olive's office is near the end of a corridor where a group of chairs and a table form a small waiting area. I walk past her door, pick up a random textbook from the table, and settle into one of the chairs. As I lift the textbook to conceal my face, I pull my illusion back. My imagination is once again hidden behind a mental fortress, and I'm completely visible now. My heart pounds at the thought of my vulnerability.
Anyone
can see me sitting here! But I have to conserve my strength. I need all of it for the Seelie Court mission, and I have no idea when the witch's curse will begin to take a toll on me.

I hear footsteps and Olive's voice. I swallow and tighten my fingers around the open textbook. She probably won't notice me sitting here, but if she happens to see my face, she'll recognize me. I watch her feet beneath the bottom edge of the textbook. She continues past her office, moving toward me, but turns into another office before reaching the end of the corridor. I force myself to breathe out and relax my grip on the book. I'm not going to get caught, I tell myself. And even if I am caught, I can fight my way out of here. I've done it once before, so surely I can do it again.

For the next hour or so, I observe Olive coming and going from her office. For one terrifying moment, I'm certain I'm about to be discovered when a mentor I only vaguely recognize stops in front of me and asks why I've been sitting here for so long. I try to imagine Gemma's face instead of my own before lowering my book and saying that my mentor tasked me with memorizing two full chapters before she quizzes me about them. Fortunately, the mentor standing in front of me seems to accept this. After wishing me luck, she continues on her way. Before raising my book once more, I see Olive closing her office door and walking away with a trainee at her side. This is my chance.

I make sure no one is watching before imagining myself as invisible once again. I walk to Olive's door, test the handle, and find it unlocked. Glancing around to make sure I'm truly alone, I open the door and slip inside. Without wasting a second, I move to the desk. Olive might be doing training now, but who knows when she'll lose her temper, give up on her trainee, and come back upstairs. I search across the desk's untidy surface, looking for these supposed scrolls with the Seelie Queen's seal. Finding nothing, I move to the drawers. I open and close them, riffling through the jumbled contents. Nothing. Next, I move to the filing cabinet. I've just slid the top drawer closed when the door handle turns.

I rush to conceal myself, holding my breath as Olive pushes her door open and enters the office. She walks to her desk, frowns as she looks down at it, then grabs the stylus sticking out of a dirty mug before turning away. As the door bangs shut, I slowly release my breath.

I search the rest of Olive's office—with Filigree's assistance, though I'm not sure he understands me when I tell him what I'm looking for—and find nothing. I wonder if Perry left signs of his search here. Signs that would raise Olive's suspicion and cause her to hide the scrolls elsewhere.

I return to the waiting area, picking a different chair and a different textbook this time, and keep watch for Olive. By the end of the day, the only remotely interesting thing she's done is stand in the corridor and shout at Ling—her supposedly perfect fifth-year trainee—for failing to place in the top five for the knife throwing competition that I gather, based on her words, was held on Saturday. She adds that both she and Ling will be spending all night in the training center perfecting her technique and that she couldn't care less about the fact that Ling's parents will have to eat dinner without her.

I'm guessing this means Olive's not going anywhere exciting tonight, so as other mentors lock up their offices and head downstairs, I join the stream of people leaving the Guild. My restlessness rises a level as I think of my complete waste of a day. A day I could have spent searching for Zed or the witches. A day I could have spent sneaking into the French Guild, tying up Head Councilor Bouchard, and forcing a truth potion down his throat so he'll tell me everything he knows about the Seelie Court.

Gaius looks thoroughly alarmed at my suggestion when I lay it out for him that night. “No,” he says. “Absolutely not. Capturing the Head Councilor is out of the question.”

“We're running out of time, Gaius! If anyone at the Guild knows anything about the Seelie Court, it would be him, right? He could be our only option.”

Gaius cautiously pats my arm as if soothing a wild creature. “Following your old mentor seems far more sensible, Calla. Give it one more day, okay? Then we'll reassess.”

So I give it one more day.

I can't hang out in the waiting area any longer without raising attention, and I don't want to project an illusion for hours at a time, so I slip into Olive's office while she's busy speaking with a mentor in the corridor and hide beneath her desk. I stay there for the remainder of the day, observing her. I conceal myself when I have to, but mostly I rely on the solid, old desk to hide me. I was worried she might kick me when sitting at the desk, but she piles so many things on her chair throughout the day, that she doesn't actually sit on it all that often.

As the afternoon draws to a close and my body begins to ache from being crouched in the same position for so long, I start to consider the Head Councilor plan again. I'll need to steal a truth potion from somewhere. It's the kind of potion that would be kept in a locked room or cabinet along with other dangerous substances, but as long as I'm not seen by a surveillance device, I can probably get hold of one.

I wait for Olive to leave again before crawling out from beneath her desk. I'm about to stand when her door opens and she strides back in. My projection of invisibility snaps over me immediately, but her attention is on the amber in her hand so I doubt she'd have noticed if I'd been a little slow to conceal myself. With a grumble under her breath, she slips the amber into her pocket. She turns back to the doorway and stops just outside it, leaning into the office next to hers. “Something's come up,” she says. “I can't work tonight, and I'll only be back midmorning tomorrow.”

“Seriously?” comes the response from Olive's neighbor. “Another one of your random emergencies? I can't cover for you every time you have to go off on another trip.”

Another trip? A trip to the Seelie Court, hopefully. I tiptoe out the door as Olive says, “I'll make it up to you.” She walks back into her office, retrieves her jacket and a small pouch from her top drawer, and locks her office door. Anticipation pounds through me as I follow her downstairs, practicing the words of the faerie paths spell in my mind. Thank goodness Gaius made me memorize them. They're scribbled onto a piece of paper stuffed into one of my pockets, but it would be too much of a distraction from my invisibility illusion to have to take the note out and read it. I've managed to repeat the tongue-twisting words twice by the time we reach the little room off the side of the foyer where Olive will leave through the faerie paths. I realize that I never asked Gaius if the spell will work if the words aren't uttered out loud, but fortunately it's noisy in here with two guards chatting to a flirtatious trainee. I wait for Olive to raise her stylus to the wall. The moment she begins writing the words to open a doorway, I start whispering the words. The doorway opens. As she walks into the darkness, I hurry after her, continuing with the spell as quietly as possible.

I say the final word. Darkness surrounds me, and I have no idea if it's worked. No idea if I'm trapped here. Then, up ahead, light appears with Olive's silhouette framed against it. I almost laugh in relief as I hurry after her. I find myself on the bank of a wide river filled with the clearest water I've ever seen. The riverbed is covered in sand so white it seems to reflect the silver glow of the moon. Luminous fish-like creatures zip here and there through the water. The moon itself hangs low in the sky, but I can't tell if it's rising or sinking. I'll figure it out soon enough, then we'll know what time of day we have to leave the mountain on Thursday.

I remind myself to remain concealed as I pay careful attention to my surroundings. The slim, elegant trees, and those bushes of luminous purple flowers and blue leaves. I'll think of that when we need to return here on Thursday. I return my attention to the river as a white boat with a seahorse's head rising from the bow slips silently toward the bank. It must have magically appeared while I wasn't watching, and since no one is inside, I assume magic is what steers it. It stops moving when it reaches the bank and bobs gently in the water. I watch Olive carefully and make sure to climb inside the boat at the same time she does. She chooses one of the parallel benches, and I pick the bench furthest away from her.

As the rocking of the boat subsides, it begins to glide away from the bank. With her usual expression of boredom, Olive examines messages on her amber. I, however, keep my eyes peeled, taking note of the overhanging branches, the lush vegetation on both banks, the pattern of stars sprinkled above us. I need to remember everything, just in case.

Before long, the boat comes to a stop against the other bank. I move at the same time Olive moves, being careful not to make any noise on the bank as I step onto it. My boots form indentations in the grass. I could extend my illusion to hide the footprints as well, but Olive's attention is pointed the other way. I follow her gaze and see a closed carriage pulled by four white pegasi.

“Hey,” she says to the guard who steps out of the carriage. They exchange greetings in a familiar way that suggests they know each other. They both climb into the carriage as I consider how best to follow them. The carriage door shuts.

Shoot.
Well, sitting inside the carriage with them for a journey that could last hours probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway. I hurry over to the carriage and hoist myself onto the back. I probably shouldn't try to cling here the entire way, so that leaves … the top? If I were brave enough, I'd consider sitting on one of the pegasi, but I don't want to upset any of them, and I don't want to have to remain invisible for the rest of the journey. I'm already feeling the ache of weariness at the edge of my mind.

Keeping as quiet as possible, I climb onto the top of the carriage. As it rolls forward with a jerk, I remove my belt and quickly lengthen it. I tie one end of the belt to the decorative wooden carvings on the left side of the carriage top, loop it around my waist, then tie the other end to the right side. I lie down on my stomach and direct a stream of magic toward one end of the belt to tighten it further. Then, as the rumbling beneath the wheels vanishes and the carriage begins to tilt backward, I hang on for dear life and try to convince myself that this isn't the worst idea I've ever had.