Brightly (Flicker #2) (27 page)

Lee shrugged. “Kill me, if you feel like you have to. But it won’t end there. A dead girl is worse than a captured girl, and plenty of your fey would probably benefit from ratting you out. Can you really silence all of them? Can you be
sure
that nobody—not one knight, not one attendant, not one random faery—would ever find out?”

“You assume that my fey are disloyal,” said Merrin coolly.

“Presumably, you know them better than me,” Lee replied. “But you also know that everyone has a price, including your fey. It’ll come down to how much they think that piece of information would be worth to Umbriel, and what they stand to gain for bringing it to him. You have another option, though.”

Merrin’s brow knit. “What’s that?”

“Let us go, all of us,” Lee said, “and you’ll be able to tell Umbriel that you did a kindness to one of his favorite humans. You can tell him that, once you realized who your knights had captured—once you realized I was his—you released me and my friends out of respect for him. Now, that’s a story that will make you look great. That’s a story that will make Umbriel happy with you. And the best part is that it will be true.”

Lee took another step toward Merrin.

“Don’t kid yourself,” she said. “If you do anything other than send us back the way we came and leave us in peace, Umbriel will know. And somehow, I don’t think your king will be very forgiving.”

Merrin glared. Lee’s insides churned, but she refused to flinch or look away. She was exaggerating, extrapolating, bluffing like she did when she played poker with the boys. She had no real way of knowing if Umbriel would come for her personally, or send someone in his place, or even care at all—but Merrin didn’t know for sure, either.

Maybe nothing would happen if she kept Lee and the others. But maybe the wrath of the Summer King would fall upon her. Was she willing to take that risk?

At last, Merrin exhaled through her nose and she drew herself up straighter. Lee could see fury burning in the faerie woman’s eyes.

For a moment, she thought Merrin had called her bluff and was about to release the hounds. Then a thin, cold smile curled Merrin’s mouth and she said, “Clever, for a human, and bold. Very well. Never let it be said that Lady Merrin does not appreciate those who drive hard bargains.” She waved to one of her knights. “Take them back where you found them. They do not belong in my forest.”

Merrin’s expression remained composed, but Lee got the distinct feeling that she was trying to save face after being cowed by a human girl.

Even as a group of knights began herding them together, Lee allowed herself a small smile. She always won at poker.

Chapter Fourteen:

When they stumbled out of the tree tunnel and back into the forest, it was still night and still misting rain. But as far as Lee knew, those hours in Merrin’s sunlit court had spanned years in this world. At least everything looked the same as she remembered.

In fact, as she looked upward, Lee thought that the moon looked like it was in about the same place as it had been when they left. Something like hope fluttered in her ribcage. She tried to push it down.

“How long do you think we were gone?” she asked, shivering.

“My watch stopped when we passed through the tunnel earlier,” Davis said. “It’s still not working. I have no clue.”

She let out a slow breath. “I guess we’ll see.”

“I guess,” Davis said, fiddling with his watch and frowning thoughtfully. He didn’t seem terribly worried. He didn’t know what it was like to lose seven years in what felt like a day.

Nasser edged a little closer to her. “Try not to worry about it,” he murmured, and she nodded, but they both knew she couldn’t do that.

As they retraced their steps through the dark trees, heading back to the bridge, Lee felt her body winding tighter and tighter, her nerves stretching thinner. Her last foray into Faerie, for Umbriel’s coronation revel, had felt like a few hours but was truly almost two weeks. Lee knew she couldn’t predict what they would find.

Nasser held out his arm, signaling her to stop. “Look,” he whispered.

When she peered through the trees, Lee’s knees almost buckled.

Red and blue lights flashed in the distance, on the road that led to the bridge. Low voices drifted through the air. Lee glimpsed silhouettes—cops, she thought, and maybe firefighters—moving beyond the trees.

For a second, she stood clutching Nasser’s arms for support, dizzy with relief. As she stared at the lights, tears burned in her eyes, but it was a good burn.

“Are you okay?” Clementine asked slowly. Her pale hair seemed to change colors with every flash of light: red, blue, white.

Lee nodded, wiping her eyes with the heels of her hands and smiling. “Yeah,” she sniffed. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s the same night. We’ve only been gone a few hours.”

Clementine was looking at her strangely, but Lee didn’t mind. Happiness was still bursting in her veins.

“Personally,” Jason said, “I’m just ready for this night to be
over.
Let’s find the Maiden and get the hell out of here.”

“Do you think we’ll have to go back to Rosario Beach to call her?” Alice asked.

“We don’t need to call her at all,” Clementine said. “We should be able to find her in the pass. She’s here. She can’t be far.”

“How do you know?”

Clementine hesitated. “When I went after Henry, I could barely keep my head above the water. We were both going to drown. Then I remembered what Filo said. I thought about her, the Maiden, and it was like I could see her behind my eyes. Her hair. All of a sudden, I could fight the current. I was strong enough. And later, when I got sucked into the pass again, I kept thinking about her… and it was like something
else
was carrying me to the shore.”

Clementine cleared her throat, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

“Well?” she prompted. “What’re we waiting for?”

They’d walked far enough that the bridge was no longer visible. It was unlikely that anyone would find them slinking around in the mist. Fog still drifted over the pass, and in the dark, this stretch of beach looked like another world, an in-between place. The logical part of Lee’s brain knew what lay on the other side of the water, but another part of her reminded her never to be so sure. There were so many things in the world that she simply couldn’t see.

Clementine’s voice was a harsh whisper, but it still carried across the black water. “We know you’re out here!” she called, hands cupped around her mouth. “Come out. Please. Henry did what you wanted.”

In answer, an otherworldly wind swept down the beach, tangling Lee’s hair and making her shiver. She turned her face away from the wind and squinted into the darkness.

“You have done well,” said a low, cool voice. “Animal talker. Master of beasts. You kept your end of the bargain, so I will keep mine.”

Lee whipped her head toward the sound. Ko-kwal-al-woot bobbed gently near the shore. Her long hair streamed around her, rippling gently in the current, and her strange, seawater eyes were fixed on Henry.

“How is it done, then?” he asked, taking a tentative step toward the shore. “How do we break the curse?”

Drifting closer, Ko-kwal-al-woot said, “Forms are fluid. Living things are always changing. Long ago, we learned to use our magic to change humans into merfolk—sometimes out of love, sometimes out of necessity. But that magic was never intended to change merfolk into humans. For that transformation, we needed a tool: a certain crystal, one that grew deep in an underwater cavern. It calls to our essence. Its magic can pull the sea water from our blood and give us legs, though it cannot completely erase the nature of one who was born in the sea.”

“That’s how your husband came on land,” Filo said. “He used the crystal to turn himself into a human, and later, the colony used their magic to turn him back… and to transform you.”

Ko-kwal-al-woot nodded.

Clementine’s eyes sparkled. “So if we find these crystals, we can use them to trap the curse and break it?”

“You could,” said Ko-kwal-al-woot. “But the crystals cannot be found here anymore. The cavern where we gathered them collapsed, long before any of you were born. That magic has been lost to us ever since.”

“But there has to be a way,” Davis pressed. “Some other place we can find them.”

Ko-kwal-al-woot tilted her head. “There is one place I can think of,” she allowed. “It’s a place I’ve never been, and one I think you would have a difficult time getting to. The caves below Otherworld.”

“Caves?” Henry echoed.

“Innumerable tunnels and caverns,” she said, “bigger than the human mind can fathom, winding beneath Otherworld like a spreading of veins. This world and the other are like twins. They mirror each other—not exactly, but closely. What can be found on one side can be found on the other, if you are brave and willing. Somewhere in those caves is one that mirrors the place where the crystals grew.”

“If the caves are so big, how are we supposed to find anything in them?” Henry asked.

“That is for you to discover,” said Ko-kwal-al-woot. “But remember that the worlds have parallel pieces. If your spell work is clever and careful, even if you are hundreds of miles from this spot, you could cut through to Otherworld very close to the corresponding place.”

“But how will we know when we’ve found it?”

“Hold out your hands,” she said.

Obediently, Henry did. Ko-kwal-al-woot lifted her hand above the water. Her arm was covered in barnacles, like bizarre constellations. She placed something in Henry’s waiting hands: a rough chunk of crystal, a little bigger than a plum, glowing with violet light that shimmered and pulsed across his face. It looked like an alien heart beating in his palm.

“This,” said Ko-kwal-al-woot, “is the very last piece of crystal gathered from the cavern on this side. It is too small to transform even one person, but you can use it to find others like it. This crystal will resonate with the others. When you are close, its light will be brilliant. That is all I can tell you. That is all I know.”

“Your people,” Henry said. “We need to be able to send them back.”

Ko-kwal-al-woot pulled one of the shells from her hair. “Show this to them,” she instructed. “They will know it is mine and that it is time to come home. They will not trouble the people of your island again.”

Dipping his head, Henry accepted the shell. He opened his mouth, possibly to thank her—but when he looked up, the Maiden of Deception Pass was gone.

They trudged south, toward the campground where they’d left the van, lights glowing in their cupped palms to illuminate the path. Lee jumped at every rustle in the brush beyond the trail. She had to keep reminding herself that it was probably just coyotes or foxes watching from beyond the trail, drawn to Henry’s odd magical shine.

“I saw a photo the other day, mixed in with the others,” Lee said gingerly, glancing at Henry. “‘Anna and Maggie waiting for the ferry.’ They knew each other, didn’t they?”

Henry’s face was drawn. “They both grew up on the mainland. On the same block. They were friends their whole lives.”

“Is that why Neman and Morgan brought you to Anna?”

“That seems a little sentimental for them. It was probably just convenient.”

“What do you mean?”

“Anna knew them,” Henry said. “I never found out how she first met them. When I was a kid, all she ever said was that they helped her when nobody else could. They helped her three times in her life, so she was thrice in their debt. She didn’t tell me what they did for her until I was fourteen. That was the same day she sat me down and told me she wasn’t actually my mother—which, in all honesty, I’d already kind of guessed. Not that it mattered. It never did. Maggie Wright was my mother… but Anna Heartstill was my mom.”

“So how did they help her?” Nasser asked.

“The first time was when her best friend disappeared in Deception Pass State Park,” Henry said. “That’s why Neman and Morgan came for her—Maggie, I mean. That’s why they brought her back.”

“That’s some favor,” Filo said.

“It was. Anna didn’t care. She would’ve promised anything to get Maggie back. And she did. In exchange for their help, she owed Neman and Morgan a single favor, to be called in any time, without question. Whatever they asked—and they might ask for anything—she agreed to do it. Those were the terms of the deal. That was what she gave, three times.”

Jason asked, “What were the other favors?”

“Her brother was stabbed in a drug deal that went wrong,” Henry said. “He was in really bad shape. She asked Neman and Morgan to save his life, and they did. He survived long enough to die of an overdose a few months later.”

“And the third?” Lee asked.

Henry was silent for a long moment. “The third favor was similar to the first. One day, Anna got a message from Maggie’s husband. The two of them had been driving to Oregon, and on the way, they stopped at Deception Pass. He just wanted to tell Anna what happened and what he was planning to do, in case he didn’t make it back.”