A Faerie's Curse (Creepy Hollow #6) (18 page)

Gaius and Ana join the back of the line, and the rest of us stand to the side, holding hands. It seems silly, but we can't see each other, so this way we at least know where everyone else is. Quiet chatter fills the area, but neither Gaius nor Ana joins in. Before we left the mountain, I instructed everyone to keep their mouths shut. “If I need the baron or his daughter to say something, I'll imagine it happening.”

At the front of the queue, before climbing into a boat, each guest is required to present their invitation to the Seelie Court guard standing on the bank. When it's Gaius's turn to hand over his champagne-colored rosebud, the guard skims through the list of guests on his amber tablet and frowns. “Your reply indicated that you wouldn't be attending.”

“Oh? I'm terribly sorry,” I imagine Baron Westhold saying. “I thought I had contacted the palace to change that.”

“I'm afraid you did not.”

“Well, we're here now,” the baron says, with a chuckle that sounds as nervous as I feel. “Can we get into the boat?”

“Hold on.” The guard lowers his amber tablet, and the image of a face rises above it. “Please remove your mask, Baron Westhold.” I hold my breath and concentrate more fiercely as Gaius pulls his mask off. The guard looks back and forth between Gaius and the image of the baron's face. Satisfied, he nods. Then he turns to Ana and repeats the process, bringing up an image of the baron's daughter. He nods again and returns the rosebud invitation to Gaius. He holds his hand out toward the boat and says, “Thank you for your patience. Have a pleasant journey.”

Gaius and Ana climb into the boat, and the rest of us hurry to do the same, causing a little too much sloshing. With five additional people that no one can see, our boat sits far lower in the water than any of the others. The guard is busy with the next invitation, though, and no one else seems to notice.

I breathe more easily once we're moving, but I don't dare let go of the illusion. I'm aware of a growing weariness at the edges of my mind, and it scares me to know how quickly the curse's effects are working now. Definitely faster than before. I pat the front of my jacket and feel the comforting edge of the bottle tucked into the inner pocket.

When the boat journey comes to an end, we climb out and find a row of carriages each pulled by pegasi. The guard who greets Gaius and Ana checks their invitation, but there's no confusion this time about whether they're supposed to be here or not. The message must have been passed on somehow. Gaius and Ana climb into the carriage, but when the guard moves as if to climb in after them, I imagine the baron turning around and holding his hand up. “I like my privacy. My daughter and I will sit alone.”

The guard opens his mouth but hesitates, as if he wasn't prepared for this situation.

“Surely you have a seat at the front of the carriage?” Baron Westhold asks.

“Uh, yes, sir. I do. But the pegasi direct themselves, so … But it's fine, sir. I'll sit at the front. Have a pleasant journey.” He bows and strides around to the front of the carriage.

As the rest of us climb inside, I realize what a tight fit it will be. I hadn't considered this part. Will the guard notice the extra effort it takes for the pegasi to get us off the ground? I bite my lip as the carriage jerks into motion, continuing to chew on it as we speed up. Fortunately, these pegasi seem to be far stronger than I gave them credit for. With little more than a heaving creak, we're in the air.

Finally, I let go of the illusion. I figure we're safe for the next few hours. Gaius and Lumethon whisper to each other, and Kobe watches the sunset through the carriage window. Ana and Darius fight over limited space, elbowing each other repeatedly until Lumethon asks them to stop. Elizabeth tilts her head back and closes her eyes. From the way she remains perfectly still, I can tell she isn't sleeping. I look toward the window and pretend Chase can still hear my thoughts.
We're coming
, I whisper silently.
We're almost there.

* * *

Hours later, I'm roused from my half-asleep state when someone touches my knee. “We're descending,” Gaius says. He holds up the pouch I stole from Olive. “Hopefully this will get us safely through the entrance.” He passes it around the carriage, and we take turns sprinkling some of the powdery contents over our heads.

“I really hope this works,” Ana mutters.

“It will work,” Gaius says.

Moments later, the carriage wheels touch the ground. I remember the roof disappearing at around about this point last time, so I quickly picture the people who are supposed to be inside this carriage: the baron, Brynn, no one else. Seconds later, the carriage roof vanishes. Without looking too closely, I take in our surroundings. The trees that line either side of the avenue are strung with tiny lights, and the delicate scent of the blossoms drifting to the ground fills the air.

Up ahead, another carriage rumbles toward the archway. It reaches the waterfall, drives through, and disappears from sight as the water draws back over the space like a curtain. I tense as our carriage approaches the archway. My hands clasp tightly around one another and I prepare to be thrown backward by a wall of solid water. We're so close now. Almost there, almost there—

And then we're through. My sigh of relief isn't the only one. I strengthen my illusion once again as we enter a courtyard filled with the same pink- and orange-blossomed trees that lined the avenue. We circle around the edge before the pegasi come to a stop. Looking up and around, I see white pillars and towers, spiraling stairways and elegant balconies

No, stop, concentrate.

I can't afford to be distracted, no matter how beautiful my surroundings. Gaius and Ana—the baron and his daughter—climb out of the carriage. The rest of us follow just behind, reaching for each other's hands again once we're out of the carriage. The guard leads them to a second archway, where their invitation is checked for a third time and floating images of their faces are once again compared. “Walk around the fountain toward the wide open doorway on the other side of the courtyard,” the guard says, pointing through the archway. “That's the ballroom. You can't miss it.” Gaius and Ana walk below the archway, and ever so carefully, the rest of us slip through after them.

We've made it. We're inside the Seelie Palace.

C
HAPTER

T
WENTY

The open doorway on the other side of the fountain gives us a glimpse into a ballroom filled with masked fae, twirling dancers, magnificent gowns, and floating platters of exotic delicacies. “Good luck, everyone,” Gaius says, his voice as clear in my ear as if he were standing right beside me. “And remember, if anything goes wrong, get out of here. We can reassess on the outside and make another plan, but we're useless if we all get caught inside the palace.” He and Ana pull their masks down over their faces and disappear into the crowded ballroom. I let go of the illusion disguising them, focusing now on keeping the rest of us invisible.

“We need to head inside,” Lumethon says. “Find that passageway with the unicorn tapestry.” The invisible person in front of me—Elizabeth, I assume, given that I'm holding a gloved hand—veers to the left toward another room leading off this courtyard. It's open and airy with twisting branch-like banisters on the stairway and scenes of magical creatures carved into the pillars on either side of the room. Looking out to the right, I see lawns and rosebushes, statues and fountains, and the side of the ballroom. No glass covers the tall windows, and sounds of laughter, music and chatter reach our ears. “We should probably head down that passageway first,” Lumethon says. I don't know where she's looking, but there's only one passageway leading off this room, on the far side behind the stairway.

“I agree,” Kobe says. “It's unlikely the entrance will be upstairs, considering the prison is below us.”

I hang onto Elizabeth's hand and let her lead me through passages, around corners and across courtyards as I remain focused on the thought of empty space wherever we happen to be walking. When Gaius's friend was brought to the dungeons here, he was taken through an outside entrance some distance from the actual palace. But when it came time to leave, the guards accompanying him were in a hurry. They brought him out through a door within the palace itself. A door hidden behind a tapestry of a unicorn in a corridor with stars and moons painted onto the walls.

“Any luck yet?” Gaius asks. “My friend said he passed the ballroom on his way out, so I imagine you won't have to go too far.”

“Nothing yet,” Lumethon tells him. “Everything okay in the ballroom?”

“The Queen isn't here yet,” Ana tells us, “but I saw Princess Audra just now. She was dancing with someone, and at least six hundred guards were standing on tiptoe, trying to keep her in their sight.”

“Exaggerations,” Gaius mutters.

“Well, this is completely boring. I wish we were also searching for Chase.”

“Everyone has their part to play tonight, Ana,” Lumethon says, “and this is yours. So stop complaining and pay attention to whatever's happening in the ballroom.”

“Shh, here it is,” Elizabeth says. I look around as we walk out of a small sitting room and into a passageway painted midnight blue and sprinkled with stars and moons. The stars are specks of twinkling yellow light, and the moons glow silvery white, possibly painted with moonlight itself. The passage curves around, keeping us from seeing further than a few paces ahead.

“I'll go around the corner and look,” Lumethon says. I hear and see nothing, but I assume she's walking away. A few moments later, she says, “I'm back. I saw the tapestry. A guard is stationed beside it, so we may need an illusion to distract him. Perhaps the fainting one we discussed.”

“Let me try first,” Elizabeth says. “If I can't persuade him to leave his post, then Calla can project something into his mind.”

“Have you ever been unable to persuade someone?” Darius asks.

“Hmm.” Elizabeth releases my hand. “Chase has been oblivious to my powers for years, but men in general don't have the mental strength required to resist my persuasion.”

“Brilliant,” Darius mutters. “I'll try to remember never to piss you off.”

“A wise move,” she whispers, becoming visible as I adjust the picture I'm seeing in my head. She walks around the curve in the wall, swaying her hips and slowly pulling one glove off.

“Don't hurt him,” Lumethon murmurs as Elizabeth disappears from our sight.

“Just a precaution,” comes her answering whisper. Seconds of silence pass by. Then I hear her sultry voice as if she were right next to me, and a deeper, male voice, further away and hard to make out. She tells him how beautiful the gardens are tonight. She tells him he wants to find the nearest window and stare out of it until the sun rises tomorrow morning. Then she says, “All clear.”

I glance around to make sure we're still alone before dropping the illusion so we're all visible once more. “You'll hide somewhere out here, Calla?” Lumethon says to me.

“Yes.” I don't want to, of course. I want to go into the dungeons with them. I want desperately to be there for the moment they finally free Chase. But everyone agreed during the planning stages of this mission that I should hide somewhere on my own, keeping my mind clear of distractions and ready to force an illusion onto someone at a second's notice. “If you need me to imagine something, give me as much detail as possible.” She nods. “And be careful, please. All of you.”

Lumethon, Darius and Kobe hurry around the corner. I follow just far enough to see the tapestry and watch my fellow team members pull it aside and slip through the door behind it.

When the tapestry slides back into place, I lean against the star-studded wall and close my eyes. Exhaustion settles over me. Heavy limbs and sluggish thoughts. It's terrifying how quickly it's happening now. With shaking fingers, I reach inside my jacket for the bottle. I take a sip, give myself another minute or two, then push away from the wall. Though it hurts my head to picture it, I conceal myself once again as I head back toward the ballroom, my teammates' whispered commentary filling my ears.

“Oh, man, the stench is bad.”

“Why aren't there more guards down here?”

“I don't think it's the kind of place you break free from. They probably don't need many guards.”

“If you do come across a male guard,” Gaius says, “Elizabeth must try to get information about Chase out of him.”

“I know, Gaius. I was there for the planning meeting.”

“Oh, hell, there's a guy coming toward me with his hand out,” Ana says. “Calla, make him go away!”

“Seriously?” I ask, pausing in the room with the stairway.

“Yes! I can't—Uh … Hi, hello. No, no thank you. I … I don't dance.”

Darius's snort of laughter fills my ears.

“Would you shut up?” Elizabeth whispers fiercely. “Can you see where we are right now? You should not be laughing.”

As I cross the lawn toward the outer wall of the ballroom, Lumethon describes the dungeon in low whispers. Dark, cold and pieced together from uneven stone bricks. Thick metal gates and chains. The air thick with the stink of urine, blood and feces. Some cells are empty, while others contain bloodied, tortured fae, some moaning and crying, others silent and barely breathing. It's the kind of place I'd expect to find beneath Velazar Prison or perhaps the Unseelie Palace, not here beneath the blossoming flowers, bubbling fountains and merry chatter of the Seelie Court.

“No sign of Chase?” Gaius asks.

“Not yet,” Lumethon says.

“The Queen still isn't here,” Gaius adds. “Seems strange. Why would she miss her own daughter's birthday party?”

“You don't think she's down here, do you?” Darius says.

“If she likes witnessing torture, she very well might be,” Elizabeth murmurs.

The team falls silent for a while. I seat myself within the shadow of a rosebush beneath one of the ballroom windows. With a sigh of relief, I let go of my invisibility. I wrap my arms around my knees and listen to the music and laughter. As a headache begins to throb near my temples, I consider taking another sip from my bottle. I should probably save it, though. If I'm this weak already, I'm going to need a major boost before we leave—

“Oh no,” Gaius mutters. “Someone just recognized me. An old client of ours. She's coming this way. Calla, can you—Oh, hello, Madame Marlize.” Gaius laughs nervously. “However did you recognize me beneath this sparkly monstrosity of a mask?” As Gaius pauses for Madame Marlize's response—which I obviously can't hear—I stand up and peek over the window ledge into the ballroom. My eyes dart over a waterfall gown, a rainbow floating above someone's head, a skirt covered entirely in red roses, and dozens of other outfits before I manage to spot Gaius. “Ah, yes, well, I've had some dealings with the Seelie Court, believe it or not,” he says to the large woman in the yellow feather adorned dress standing in front of him. “All confidential, of course, but let's just say I managed to earn myself an invitation with my exceptional services.” He adds in another awkward chuckle, growing quiet as he listens to Madame Marlize, now pointing somewhere behind her. “The princess?” Gaius says. “That's very kind of you to offer. I actually haven't been introduced to her yet. I fear I've been somewhat …
distracted
since I arrived here tonight.”

Right. A distraction. That's what I'm here for. I ignore my pounding head as I concentrate on the feathers hanging from the bottom of Madame Marlize's dress. I imagine them catching fire, the flames spreading rapidly up the skirt. “Oh, goodness me,” Gaius says, stepping hastily backward. Madame Marlize might be halfway across the noisy ballroom, but I have no trouble hearing her shriek the moment she notices the flames. She grabs a drink from the hand of the nearest guest and throws it at herself. I let go of the flame illusion and instead picture smoke rising from the feathers.

“Excuse me?” Ana says. “What do you mean? Of course I'm on the list. You're the one who let me in here.”

Oh no.
I search the crowd, but I can't see Ana.

“What's going on?” Gaius asks, swiveling around.

“Shh,” I say. “Don't panic. I'll fix this.”

“Go with you where?” Ana demands, and finally I find her. She's standing near the back doorway in front of the guard who ushered us through the archway toward the ballroom.

“Don't panic,” I say again. “I'm thinking, I'm thinking …” And my head is pounding and the only thing my body wants to do is lie down.

Focus!
I yell at myself. “Okay, I've got it,” I say.

It's dangerous, terribly dangerous, but I picture Princess Audra herself. She slips into the ballroom through the door behind the guard and grasps Ana's arm. “There you are!” she says. “I'm so glad you could make it. I feel like it's been forever since I last saw you.”

The guard immediately straightens, his arms going rigid at his sides. He tilts forward in a quick bow, then says something to the imaginary princess. Something that I, of course, can't hear.

“She's quick, that's how,” Ana says with a laugh, answering whatever question the guard must have directed at Princess Audra.

Another voice sounds in my ear—Lumethon, I think—but I'm too focused to pay attention to it. “I have to be,” my imaginary princess says, “if I hope to greet everyone tonight. And we have so much to catch up on.” She smiles at Ana, then sends a somewhat annoyed look in the guard's direction. “That will be all, thank you.”

He bows again before marching hurriedly away. Instead of vanishing suddenly into nothing, I imagine the princess slipping back out the door before I let go of the illusion of her.

“That was awesome,” Ana says. “I thought I was going to be whisked into a hidden room and never seen again.”

“You're welcome,” I mumble as I sink onto my knees in the shadows, my eyes sliding shut.

“Lumethon, is something wrong?” Gaius asks. “You called Calla's name just now.”

Crap, have I managed to mess up already?

“It's fine, we made a plan.”

“A guard saw all of us,” Darius says, “but he's now locked in an intimate embrace with our half-siren accomplice. I think he—Ah, the intimate embrace has come to an end.”