A Faerie's Curse (Creepy Hollow #6) (24 page)

“No, my mother's interrogations began the day after that.”

“The Guild is probably planning an attack as we speak,” Chase says. “Who knows, we may even end up fighting beside them tomorrow morning.”

“Ugh, what a nightmare,” Ana says. “Let's make sure to stay out of their way.”

“Perhaps we should rest,” Kobe says, “seeing as we're not doing anything until dawn.”

“Yes, good idea,” Gaius says. “Chase and Calla can sleep, and the rest of us can take turns to keep watch.”

“Oh, I'm fine,” I say, not wanting any special treatment. “I can also keep watch.”

Elizabeth stares me down. “You were fighting while we were resting. You need to sleep.” I can hear the threat behind her words. The threat to tell everyone about the curse if I don't make sure I'm properly rested. I want to remind her that sleep doesn't do nearly as much for me as her tonic does, but that would require explaining myself to everyone. I almost decide to do it, to blurt everything out instead of keeping the curse a secret from Chase and the rest of the team, but I remind myself that we may very well need my Griffin Ability to help defeat Angelica tomorrow. I can't have everyone babying me and telling me not to use it.

So I keep silent as everyone shifts around, removing jackets to use as pillows and trying to make their tiny space as comfortable as possible. We're all squished against each other, except for Lumethon and Gaius who agree to stay awake for the first part of the night. My exhausted body thanks me as I lower my head onto my rolled-up jacket. Chase, lying right beside me, reaches for my hand. My lips curl into a smile as my eyes slide shut, and I fall asleep with his hand wrapped around mine.

C
HAPTER

T
WENTY-
S
IX

An hour before dawn the following morning, we're all ready to bring the threat of this veil-tearing vision to an end. Well, almost all of us. I had hoped to be more rested, but I'm nearly as tired as I was last night. Instead of dwelling on what this means about the curse and how far it's progressed, I focus on our plan: find Angelica and stun her. Find the witches and stun them. Immobilize all three women and wait until the Guild arrives before disappearing back through the tunnels.

Yeah. I'm almost certain it isn't going to be that easy.

Getting back into the tunnel goes smoothly enough, though. Darius and Kobe draw the centaurs away from the trapdoor, then circle back to join us in the tunnel. At the other end, we place the communication spell on ourselves before Chase carefully opens the trapdoor into the greenhouse. We thought guards might be stationed here, or even the witches. We considered magical beasts, or weapons rigged to fly through the air as soon as we climb out of the tunnel. But nothing moves to attack us as Chase pushes the trapdoor back. He stays on the stairs and throws a stone up through the opening. An alarm that sounds like voices screaming blares through the silence.

“Well, there goes the element of surprise,” Ana says.

“Yeah, but we didn't think we'd have that for long.” Gaius replies.

Elizabeth peers up the stairs. “So that's it? Just an alarm?”

Chase throws another stone, but nothing else happens. We ascend the stairs and push bushes aside as we step into the greenhouse—and that's when the real obstacle becomes apparent: A translucent layer of silver—a miniature version of the dome-like shield protecting the palace—covers the whole of the greenhouse.

“So she plans to trap us here,” Chase says above the screeching alarm. “That's probably why it was so easy to draw the centaurs away from the tunnel. They
wanted
us to get inside. No doubt they've returned and will do everything in their power to keep that trapdoor from opening.”

“Horrible woman,” Ana says. “She's probably on her way here right now.”

“Let's not waste any time then.” Chase pushes his way through the bushes to the path running along the center of the greenhouse. “Now would probably be a good time for everyone to block their ears. And perhaps cover your eyes. Actually, use a bit of magic and cover yourself with a shield. I think I'm about to bring the greenhouse down.”

I do as he says, pressing my fingers into my ears and covering myself with magic. Seconds later, bright light illuminates the world beyond my eyelids and a crack of thunder rips through the air. Glass shatters around me, glancing off the layer of magic that envelops my body. Silence reigns as the pattering of glass comes to an end. I guess Chase's magic shattered through the screaming alarm as well as through the glass. I peek through one half-open eyelid. “Did it work?”

“Not yet,” Chase says. “I thought that would be strong enough, but … I'll try again.”

“Are
you
strong enough?” Darius asks.

“Yes. I just wasn't expecting this much power from the witches.”

The second flash of light is almost bright enough to burn through my eyelids. The crackle and
crash
, the shudder of earth, the shockwave rushing through the air—it's enough to leave me breathless. I open my eyes and slowly remove my fingers from my ears, which are ringing despite the fact that I blocked them. “I'm guessing that worked?”

“Yes. Come on, let's get moving. Spread out and begin searching,” Chase instructs. “Gather stunner magic as you go. Don't hesitate if you see a witch or Angelica. If you can get them into the dungeon while they're stunned, even better. And keep verbal communication to a minimum; it can be distracting.”

We step out of the greenhouse into the quiet, still gardens. Stars still sprinkle the sky above us, but along the horizon, a patch of purple-gray indicates the coming dawn. “Hang on.” I point to an empty patch of the garden. “Isn't that where we saw the monument?”

“Damn, that thing must be easier to move than the merpeople let on,” Darius says. “Was there anything in one of the visions that might indicate where the monument needs to be for the spell to happen?”

“There was a tower,” I say, “although the actual spell didn't happen there, and I don't remember the tower in the vision looking like the towers here. So perhaps the spell can happen anywhere as long as Angelica has the mer statue and a full moon.”

“Well, keep an eye out for the statue while you're searching,” Chase tells everyone. “Let's go.”

We separate into our smaller prearranged groups. Darius and Kobe remain outside to begin their search of the grounds. Ana, Lumethon and Gaius aim for the thick, twisting vines covering part of the walls on the left side of the palace. Vines they climb easily before hoisting themselves onto a balcony and slipping through an open door. Chase, Elizabeth and I hurry toward the right side of the palace, where we duck into the courtyard that leads to the elevator.

We choose a symbol at random on the dial—a tiny picture of a book—and the elevator carries us up, sideways, and up again before opening into a library far grander than any I've stepped foot in before. Endless shelves of gold-embossed spines rise from floor to ceiling. Does anyone ever read these books? Are they real, or simply empty pages displayed for show?

“I doubt Angelica's in here,” Chase whispers, “but let's take a quick look anyway.”

I remove my two knives from my boots and grip them tightly as we peer down rows of books and into the recesses each tall window is set into. Cushioned seats form comfortable reading nooks beneath each window, but each is as empty as the last. We tread silently on the carpet, and the only thing I hear are the occasional words whispered directly into my ear via the communication spell. As long as I don't hear urgency in anyone's voice, I ignore the murmurs from my teammates who are searching elsewhere in the palace.

As we reach the other end of the library, Chase stops and raises a finger to his lips.
Listen
, he mouths. I stand still, barely breathing as I listen intently. Seconds of silence pass before a faint echo reaches us. The echo of footsteps.

“How can there be footsteps,” Elizabeth whispers, “if the library is carpeted?”

I look up to the second level of the library, a mezzanine filled with more towering shelves of books and ringed by an ornamental railing. “Perhaps there's no carpet up there.” We head upstairs and find the same carpet covering the floor, but the footsteps are still audible, closer now than before. We follow the sound, but every time I dart around a shelf, convinced I'm about to see something, I find the space empty.

“Split up,” Chase whispers. “Look out for doors along the edge of the room. There may be passages running through the library walls.”

We move off in different directions. My solo search turns up no doors or hidden passages. At one point, I hear the footsteps above me, but then they sound to my left. I'm almost certain now that this is a spell of some sort, not genuine footsteps, but I continue left anyway. I peek around another shelf and narrow my eyes at the empty space on the other side, wondering if something invisible is waiting there, watching me. As I continue staring, I feel a presence behind me, a tingle of magic in the air. With my heart thumping in my chest, I whip around, slashing an X through the air with both knives—but there's nothing there.

“They're playing with us,” I whisper, slowly turning on the spot and looking all around me.

“I know,” Chase replies from wherever he is. “Taunting us. I'm getting tired of it. If they won't come out and face us, then let's—”

At that moment, the reverberating clang of a bell breaks through the silence. Over and over it rings, the sound bouncing across the library. “I'm by the stairs!” Elizabeth shouts into our ears.

I spin around and run as the clanging of the bell comes to a sudden stop. I'm out from between the shelves and racing alongside the balcony when I see her at the top of the stairs, her arms raised and magic flashing in the air above her. The bell lies discarded on the floor. Chase reaches her side before I do, but she's already got things under control. Within a spherical shield of magic, a black form rebounds in every direction off the inner surface of the shield, rapidly stretching apart and pulling together, and occasionally shifting into black smoke. A morioraith. “I got it,” Elizabeth says breathlessly as I stop beside her.

Gaius's voice sounds in my ear: “Everyone okay?”

“Yes. I saw it coming. Got the bell out just in time.” Her arms move in response to the twisting, reforming sphere. “Can you get rid of this thing?” she asks Chase. “I'm kinda struggling to keep it contained.”

He lifts his hands and adds his own magic to the sphere. “I've got it. You can let go.” He moves toward the nearest window, so I run ahead of him and push it open. Outside, the edge of the sun has just broken across the horizon. I step aside. Chase stands at the window with the sphere floating just ahead of him and throws his arm forward. The trapped morioraith soars through the air. A second later, lightning zigzags down and strikes it. In the thundering boom that follows, I search the air and the garden, looking for black smoke or a dripping black creature. “I don't know if that worked,” Chase says, “but I don't see it anywhere.”

We head downstairs and out a different door. We've barely looked both ways down the corridor before laughter echoes toward us from the left. “More games?” I murmur.

“Probably trying to lead us somewhere,” Chase says, “so I vote we turn right instead.”

We turn right, walk to the end of the corridor, and enter a wider hallway. We continue, but not a minute passes before we hear the laughter again, up ahead of us. “Infuriating,” Elizabeth mutters as we stop and look around. The laughter sounds again, more childlike this time. Chase clenches his hand into a fist. Thunder booms loudly and unexpectedly, rumbling and echoing off the walls. In response, the laughter increases in volume, coming at us from all directions. High-pitched, wild, overlapping in layer upon layer of sound.

“Just keep going,” I say, wishing I wasn't holding knives so I could instead cover my ears. “They're watching us from somewhere, but if we keep looking, we'll find them eventually.”
I hope
, I add silently.

We move swiftly along the hallway and into smaller passages, looking in every room we pass. The wild laughter follows us. At the end of another corridor, we find ourselves in a room full of bathing pools. Steam rises from each one and petals float upon the water. White columns wrapped with ivy and glow bugs stand between the pools. I breathe in the rose-scented air and cast a longing gaze at the pools before turning away and leaving the room. If only I could soak in steaming water and forget every care and concern.

With a sigh, I follow Chase and Elizabeth back along the corridor and down the stairs we decided to ignore until after we'd checked the remainder of this floor. As the stairway curves away from the wall, I look out a window—and see a moving figure.

“Oh! A witch!” I blurt out. “Down there by the maze.” As I say the words, laughter shrieks right beside me, causing me to flinch, and the woman far below in the garden turns and looks directly up at the palace. Up at
me
. It's so creepy that I shrink immediately away from the window.

Elizabeth climbs back up a step and looks out the window. “Are you sure? I don't see anyone there.”

“It was definitely one of the witches. Long blonde hair, and those smoky dresses they seem to be so fond of.”

“Smoky dresses?” Elizabeth repeats, looking at me as her eyebrows pull together.

“Yes, well, they look like they're made of smoke.”

Elizabeth returns her gaze to the window, seemingly perplexed.

“Let's get down there,” Chase says, already hurrying down the stairs two at a time. We reach the floor below and have to find another set of stairs before we can descend to ground level. I wonder if anyone who lives here ever knows where they are; I find it utterly confusing.

The rosy golden light of sunrise floods the garden by the time we make it outside. Beyond a small pavilion and a little bridge curving over a stream rise the outer hedges of the maze. Without pause, we run toward it. At the entrance, I hesitate, knowing this has to be some kind of trap. Elizabeth, who seems to be having similar thoughts, says, “Can't we burn it down? That seems safer than entering.”