Free Agent (26 page)

Something crashed into his head, and he fell forward. I winced as the apple bounced down the stairs. Tiny cracks split open on its surface as it rolled up to me, and it bubbled on the broken edges.

“My name is Ari. It's not a hard name to remember.” Ari stepped out of the shadow of the stairs. She had a cut on one side of that cute little face and a black eye. Her scalp showed where several patches of her hair had been torn out, but she was alive, and she ran down the stairs to me.

“Marissa! It's here. I can feel it.”

“The fae Seal? Grimm said it wasn't anywhere. He was thinking maybe on a different plane.”

“It's here, I'm certain of it. It's near my cell.” She looked down, and saw Evangeline. The color drained from her face and she took my hand. “I'm sorry, M. I'm sorry.”

“I'm going to kill someone for her, that's a promise. Starting with the prince.” My hands shook, and my eyes blurred with tears that were neither fear nor sorrow. That's when the spell hit. A standard binding spell, nothing fancy. I wasn't watching and I wasn't ready. It hit me so hard it knocked me off my feet.

Ari managed to stay on her feet. In fact, the spell hardly did anything to her besides ruffle her hair. One of these days I have got to be a princess. She looked up to the stairs, where Queen Thromson stood in a completely impractical gown. Sweeping and shiny, and leaving absolutely nothing hidden. She might as well have been wearing plastic wrap.

“Gwendolyn,” said Ari.

“Arianna, I told you to call me Mother.”

“And I said to call me Ari. You are not my mother. Let us go. There is still time to get the Seal back to the fae before they destroy the city. How could you do this?”

Ari's stepmother—I mean, Gwendolyn—walked slowly down the stairs and knelt by Mihail.

“Why would I give it back? It took me so long to take it from them. Daughter, war brings opportunities. The Kingdom authorities will suffer heavy losses. There are bound to be casualties in the Court of Queens. And who better to lead as High Queen than your mother? The fae believe they come unopposed, and they will die by the thousands.”

“So will most of the people in the city.”

“There are people who matter, daughter, and people who don't. Get used to it. You matter. Your friend there does not. Who should I spare? You or her?”

Mihail rose to his feet, looking more than a little bleary. “Neither. Kill them both.” He walked over to the queen and kissed her, softly at first, and then with passion. “How do you like that, little princess? Your mother is ten times the temptress you are, and luscious in ways I would love to show you.”

Ari giggled. “I'm so happy for you. The prince I can't stand and the stepmother I hate. I hope you two have a long life together. I do.” I felt the power rushing into her, and the spell around us lessened. The queen felt her magic too, and a look of rage passed over her face.

“Magic? You have taken the path of the witch? I'll kill you myself before I let a child of my house do that.”

“I am a seal bearer, Gwenny, and not part of your house any longer.”

The binding spell on me weakened. I could move, though it still pressed in like being smothered under a mattress.

“You have used your power before touching a seal, Arianna. You are a witch, tainted with wild magic. And as such, I will strike you down.” The queen raised her hand. When Ari did magic there was this feeling like water drifting over your skin. When the queen did it I felt like I stood in a whirlpool. Ice grew at the queen's fingertips, absolute elemental cold.

I stood, but I couldn't quite aim, and running wasn't an option under twenty tons of spell.

She flicked her hand at us, and an orb of pure cold floated lazily our way, freezing the stone underneath. Ari hadn't moved, not one inch. In the midst of the queen's magic I hadn't noticed that she'd built a spell of her own, a round disk that grew darker and darker at the edges. She spun a shield. The winter orb struck her shield, and for a moment everything stopped. The orb exploded, unleashing a blizzard.

I'm convinced Ari's shield saved us. I had ice on my skin and the floor was covered in snow, but a cone of protection extended back from where she stood. I could finally move. I couldn't sling a spell to save my soul, but I could toss an apple. The broken apple at my feet lay coated in ice. I grabbed it and did my best baseball impression, hurling it straight at the queen. It was a thing of beauty, right up until she caught it.

She held the apple an inch from her hand by pure willpower. The apple's protective shell shattered and magic oozed out onto its skin. The queen tossed it aside without regard, and as it passed, it touched Mihail. Brushed his hand, really, but a sliver of candy fell from the apple, and I saw for a moment the spell contained inside. A spell designed to twist and destroy magic. Magic like princes have.

He screamed as it crawled up him, leaching out of the apple shell like an ooze and devouring him. As it did, he stumbled backwards. How he ran, how he moved at all, I can't say, but his wailing trailed off up the staircase.

“Burn,” said the queen, and I realized too late she had gathered another spell. Not ice. Fire. The hellfire wreathed her hand like a thing alive, and I knew Ari was too weak to block it.

“I don't think so,” said a voice from the dungeon tunnel, and Liam came running out. His wrists had cuts from the manacles, and the marks on his face were probably all bruises. “Don't you dare touch her.”

The queen glanced at him and flicked her wrist, letting the flame go. It leaped out at him, wrapping his form, so hot I had steam burns from the ice melting. The hellfire raged and leaped across the furniture, burning the dirt and wolf bodies. In the inferno, something moved.

Liam came out of it wrapped in fire, clothed in it, covered in it. He shook his hands, wringing the flames from them like water.

He glared at her, his mouth pulled back in a thin smile. “That tickles.” In his voice I heard the curse speak. “I've got a little fire of my own.” Smoke began to billow from his mouth as the fire welled up inside him.

I pulled the trigger.

I'll never know how she got the first spell off in time, catching the bullet. Anything else, I think she'd have stopped cold, but this was no apple tossed by an angry woman. I shot her with a magic bullet, designed to kill magic things, and it didn't stop, it slowed down. As it did, the bullet changed, becoming something like a tiny death reaper.

The queen screamed and with a surge of power threw the bullet into the stone. So I gave her another one, right between her eyes, and again she caught it. With each spell, she changed. White streaks rippled through her hair like water, and as she forced the bullet to the side, wrinkles dripped like rain down her face.

“I've still got one more.” I carefully put the sight on her chest.

She ran, and I wasn't about to waste my last bullet on a bad shot. Liam grabbed me and nearly crushed me in a hug. The fire raced along him but felt cool to the touch.

He leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I have these dreams. I used to think they were dreams. Dreams of fire and rage and destruction.” He let me go for a moment but kept his head close to mine. “I would wake up and tell myself it wasn't real. It couldn't be. Then you showed up and it's trolls and wolves and people with guns, and I needed it to be a dream.”

Outside the hall, I heard the screams of wolves and the sound of armored feet approaching. Help was on the way. I considered how the rest of this year had gone, and I knew it was more trouble.

“I can hear inside it. I remember. Did you mean what you said there?” I couldn't speak, I could barely nod, and then he swept me up into those arms so I could smell the smoke on him. “Then I don't want it to be a dream anymore.”

“Ahem,” said a voice, and I looked back. The hellfire had gone out, and Liam was very naked. I also didn't appreciate where Jess was looking, and I'm pleased to say Ari had found a convenient speck of dirt on the ground to study. About then the wolves came back, and they brought company. Big company in suits of armor.

“This day just doesn't quit,” said Jess. “I'll deal with the wolves, you three go find the queen.” The armored creatures marched forward, clattering swords and shields. I felt in my purse for another clip and shivered as the Root of Lies caressed my fingers. I'd have to ask Liam to burn the thing later.

Liam walked toward the wolves like he was going out to greet friends. “You know, up until now my curse and I haven't agreed on much. When it comes to you, we're on the same page.” He glanced at me, and his eyes shone as if they were on fire.

I think for a moment the alpha wolf considered running. Did I mention that wolves were stupid? It leaped at me and Liam caught it like a bug, slamming it into the ground. A growl came from deep in his chest, and he swung it overhead by the arm, slamming it into the ground again. He wrenched over like he was vomiting, and fire belched out, blanketing the wolf.

Liam looked up at me, a tiny drool drop of fire hanging from his lip. “Get out of here. I've got serious mood swings.” I had trouble understanding because his teeth were changing.

I ran for the tower, and realized that Ari limped along behind me. “Ari, stay here. I'm going after the queen.”

“Not without me. I've got a score to settle with her.” She wiped blood off her cheek and ran after me.

I helped her up the staircase, looking back to see my boyfriend one last time. He was mostly dragon now, and even though he had scales and horns and was ripping the entrails out of a wolf, he made my heart thrill. “Grimm,” I said, and there was no answer. “Grimm, are you there?”

When he spoke, his voice broke up. “She knows you are there, Marissa. Hard enough to keep in contact at all.”

“The Seal is here. Ari can feel it.”

His voice came through louder this time. “My dear, that's not possible. The fae would have simply taken it.”

“Grimm, she's hiding it. Even you can't sense it here. How would the fae?”

He paused for a moment, long enough that I thought perhaps we'd lost our connection. “A locus. She's joined her demesne to the castle, creating a locus of power. It's like a black hole for magic, it would conceal even a fairy. If you can get the Seal far enough away, the fae will be able to sense it and they'll come for it. They won't be able to put it back in place, but they'll stop the fighting. They have already begun their attack.”

“Fine. One Seal, coming right up.”

“Get going. I'm going to tell the fae you have the Seal and are bringing it to them. Don't make a liar of me.”

IT SHOULD BE
a law that if you put in a tower, you have to put in an elevator. At one point, the castle had a large lock of golden hair, but the cost of detangler spray and a bout of lice spelled the end for it. Any way you look at it, a staircase that long was a violation of common sense. How you'd get a princess in a wheelchair to the top, I had no idea.

It didn't help that Ari was worn out from her spell battle. After the first three-dozen landings, we came to one where a door lay open. Two goblins sprawled on the floor, their heads split open.

Ari gestured. “That's where they were keeping me.”

I looked inside. Standard princess prison cell. Rose-scented stationary was a dead giveaway. “Wait. You killed two goblins?”

She blushed. “I meant to knock them out.”

“Use the flat part of the axe next time.”

She held up her hand, as if reaching for something. “The Seal's near here.”

We followed the stairs on up, and I threw open the last door. We stood at the railing, on top of the old castle tower. To the east, I saw the lights of magic like fireworks at ground level, blinding sweeps of white light, as the fae swept their death magic to and fro, and red explosions as apples rained down on them. Ari pulled my hand, hauling me back inside.

She had her eyes closed. “When Moth—when Gwendolyn hit me, it nearly knocked me out. I realized I can see magic without using my eyes.” I had a brief shiver as I thought of the Isyle Witch and her eyes without pupils.

She reached into the stone. “Here.” It rippled under her fingers. Something clicked, and a hidden door swung open to a room that would have hung in the air beyond the tower. Inside it, a lightning storm raged a thousand times over. As I looked at it, I realized it was only one ball of lightning. It was the Seal. The walls and floors were mirrors.

Ari looked at it with her eyes closed. “How are we going to get that to the fae?”

“We aren't. You are.”

She snapped her eyes open and glared at me. “I can't use my magic. You saw what happened last time.”

I had. I also saw what happened to the queen, and I didn't want that for Ari. “I don't think it's something you do. It's something you are. You are the seal bearer for your family.”

“That's not what that means. I have the family seal on me, and that's what gives me magic.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Think about it. The royal families weren't given magic to use against each other. They were given it so that they could seal the realms. When the Fae Mother spoke to you, she said you had to become what you are. You are a seal bearer.”

Ari shook her head. “That's not what she said. She said I would become a witch.” She started toward the door. “I'll try.”

“Wait,” I said. “Grimm said it would be in Fairy Godmother's demesne. It's kind of like a gateway to where she actually lives, and I'd bet anything magic entering there will raise all kinds of trouble. Stay here at the door, I'll bring the Seal to you, and you can carry it out to the fae.”

She reached inside the hidden room and touched the floor. It rippled under her fingers, and as she pulled them back a drop of glass fell to the mirror. After a moment, it became solid again. I pushed on it, and felt only glass.

I thought for a moment about Grimm's warning, but as long as Ari stayed out of the room, I wouldn't be going through the mirror. So I stepped out of the stairway and into the hidden room. The mirrored floor held my weight, thank goodness, and I walked up to the Seal. It looked like the foxfire Ari had summoned, only bigger, angrier.

I reached out toward it, and flashes of light played across its surface. Grimm had said the Seal was alive, so I figured maybe it could be reasoned with. “I need you to come with me. My friend there is a seal bearer, and she'll take you home.” The room shook in a way that felt far too familiar.

“Hurry! Your blessings are hungry for it,” Ari yelled.

I remembered what had happened to Ari's foxfire and grabbed the Seal. It burned like I'd grabbed a power line, sending pain rippling through my hands and down my body, but I forced myself to take a step. I could move it.

“Child,” said Fairy Godmother, “you are foolish beyond compare.”

I took another step, and my arms jerked back and forth as the Seal resisted me.

“Come on,” Ari said. “One of your blessings is fighting with the other one.”

I hoped my blessing was fighting to keep my curse away, but it was equally possible they were fighting over who got the first bite. That's when I realized I could see Fairy Godmother in the mirrors. All of them. She was no longer the beautiful gray-haired Queen; she was the emaciated woman in a gown of woven bones.

“Once you strike at me, and thrice I return it. Few receive my third gift.”

I managed a couple more steps. Just a little farther to the door. The mirrors went blank, and then lit up. It was like looking out a window on a hurricane. They no longer reflected the Seal. Instead, black clouds boiled in them, and an eerie green light filled the room. “Come,” said Fairy Godmother. I felt the floor change. The next step, my foot sank into the glass an inch, and I pushed the Seal toward Ari. The next step I sank up to my knee. When I raised my foot, glass pulled like taffy along with it.

Ari leaned in and snagged the Seal. It clung to her like a child, zipping in circles around her and sending bolts of lightning off. In the reflection of the mirror, I saw my harakathin drawn to it over and over, but each time they approached, a glow surrounded Ari and pushed them away. The glow drifted off from Ari like a cloud, but as the Seal orbited her, the glow drew inside her until her skin shone like she was on fire.

“Take it to the fae,” I said.

Ari held on to the door frame and leaned out, hanging over the floor. “Give me your hand.”

I sank to my waist in the mirror, and swung my purse like a rope toward Ari. It hit something invisible in the air and bounced to the side. In the mirror, I saw my curse hovering there, his eyes glowing. A claw wrapped around my waist and pulled me under.

I fell through the mirror and beyond.

 • • • 

I LANDED ON
grass and clamped my hands over my ears. If the voice of the fae had sounded like thunder, the sounds of birds twittering rushed through my brain like the squeal from a microphone, and the bright glimpse of green seared into my brain. The intensity of this world washed over me like a wave, tearing at my mind. Even the softness of the grass brought pleasure to the point of agony. Then Fairy Godmother spoke.

“Hush,” she said, and the world grew quieter. I opened my eyes, and I lay on a vast field of green as far as I could see. My purse had fallen through the mirror, and my driver's license and everything else lay scattered in the grass. “You must not go mad yet, darling, or you will not appreciate your third wish.”

I looked for Prince Mihail. “Where are they?”

She floated backwards a few steps. “The queen and her pawn? This was not their checkmate.”

“I've won. Ari will take the Seal back to the fae and end the war. They will know what you did. You took the Seal. You hid Mihail. You took the child.”

“And then what, darling? What will the fae do against one of us, the old ones? They are only our dreams, born when our minds wandered. Not unlike yourself.”

“Why? Why start a war?”

“The fae kill the Kingdom, the Kingdom kill the fae, and the people of your miserable slice of world belong to me. Such an irony, in that dull, dreary world, the people grow magic.”

“You started a war for magic?”

She tipped her head. “What else would be worth it? Humans are unremarkable. They grow and die in the blink of an eye, and when they wield magic, they are feeble and clumsy. Still, I assure you—if you took every bit of magic and killed every dream in that city, tomorrow something amazing would happen. Do you know what it is?”

My bracelet glowed white as Grimm tried to reach me. “Enlighten me.”

“They'd get up and go about their miserable little lives, and before they could even make it out the door they'd have a tiny hope. Maybe today they wouldn't get yelled at. Or today they'd win the lottery, or today they might find love. That pitiful race creates magic it can't even use. But I can.”

I spotted something lying in the grass and smiled. “It is beautiful here.”

She returned the smile. “I am glad you like it, darling. You will never leave.” She swept her hand, and the sun swung toward the horizon. “I like it best at sunset.”

Rising to my feet, I took a few steps away. “How far does it go?”

“Beyond forever.”

While she spoke, I picked up the gun and hid it in my palm, and picked a glorious pink flower. “I have something for you.” I turned to her and held out the flower.

She bent to smell it, and I pulled the trigger. The gun roared, a muffled, mechanical noise foreign to this world, sending out that last magic bullet in a burst of smoke. The bullet exploded into a cloud of butterflies.

I knew she had toyed with me, but she wasn't frowning. She was smiling. “So clever. So cunning and courageous. No wonder he took you as his agent. No wonder she marked you as her own. So stupid.”

My hands felt like lead, and my arms hung limp.

“You don't like that gun,” she said.

Fear gripped me as I realized I didn't. I hated it, in fact.

“You want to throw it far away.”

My arms shook as I clenched my hands down on the grip.

“You need to throw it.”

This was a thousand times worse than Grimm compelling me. That felt like someone else moving my arms and hands. This was different. She spoke of need, and I felt it. I threw the gun with all my strength, flinging it away. I swung at her with my fist.

“Back,” she said, and I was flung through the air, landing in the pile of debris, where my purse overturned. Something streaked through the air, whistling like an incoming missile. Two Harakathin, one golden white and one sparkling purple. They flew at her, biting and tearing and scratching.

I rolled to my feet in the grass and a gleam caught my eye. In my purse had been the Root of Lies. In my world, it was an ebony claw like tree roots, but here it was dull bronze. I touched it. It ran like liquid in my fingers, becoming a curved dagger. A weapon. I picked up the Root and held it against my arm. While I held it, her power over me seemed weaker.

Fairy Godmother crossed her arms before her. “Away.” My harakathin were flung out of sight, but I knew they'd be back. I stood and walked toward her. “Yes. Come to me, darling.” She reached out to embrace me. I flipped the dagger over and sliced up and back, attempting to cut her throat. On the upstroke I missed her artery by a centimeter and the downstroke cut her cheek clean through her lip so her teeth showed.

“
Down!
” she screamed.

The world crushed me to my knees. It felt like the sky lay across my back. She bled, and the drops turned to Glitter as they fell. “Never has one dared to strike at me in my home. Never has my blood been shed. You will wish for death, and never find it granted.”

The Root of Lies lay a few feet from me, the blade writhing as it drank the fairy blood. I saw two comets come shrieking through the sky, blessings and curse returned, but they bounced off of her like she was stone.

“I will devour your curse children later, but first I must complete my promise to you. I owe you your third wish.”

I laughed at her.

“You don't think I can hurt you more,” she said, and she waved her hand. The sky became a mirror, and I looked out at the main hall of the castle. Ari walked like a sleepwalker, carrying the Seal before her, right through the middle of the hall. Wolves lay shredded or burned, and only the armored knights remained. Liam tore the head from an armored knight as it approached Ari, and sent a burst of flame at the others.

“I can be her.” She shifted, her face running like wax until Ari stood before me. She spoke in Ari's voice. “I can be your friend, darling. Or I can be him.” Now Liam stood on the grass plane. “I will sweep you off your feet. You are mine now. You agree to it.”

As she spoke the words I felt something snap into place between us. A feeling I recognized from the night I was sixteen. I forced my image of her, demanding she appear as the gray queen, and she did.

Blessings
, I said in my mind. Their faces snapped to me, watching with eager round eyes. They could hear my thoughts, something I probably should have realized.
Please, take the Root of Lies and stab her with it.
Beatus immediately flew to it and seized it, but before he could turn around, he was tackled by Consecro.

“Your playthings amuse me,” said Godmother. “As does your request to them.” She could hear my thoughts, which definitely was not good.

She held out her hand along mine, and beckoned to them. “We will play a game. Let them decide.”