The Angel's Fall (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 6) (6 page)

Before she could do anything, I said, “
ailadrodd”
and touched a strand of spelled lichen braided through a lock of my hair.

It was another spell that had taken much too long to make. One that would loop five seconds of time together, again and again, until it broke. The spell had one use only: it would buy me time to speak with Lila.

The time spell fizzed and pulsed as it surrounded us with a gentle yellow light, adding to the room's warm glow. As soon as I counted to five and nothing interrupted us, I relaxed. If nothing burst in on us in the first loop of time, then it wouldn’t. We were safe here. Well, safe from any outside intrusions. But would I be safe with Lila?

In all my days, I’d never met or even heard of a half-goddess and half-Marid. What was she, truly? I needed first and foremost to know that answer, before I decided whether or not I could rescue her. Was she still the Lila I loved?

I stared at her as my heart beat like a fluttering bird trapped within a small cage. The compulsion spell within me flared, and a wild desire to grab her and take her out of Hell screamed through me. But it wasn’t time. Not yet. I breathed through the forceful spell until it faded to a dull roar.

Lila watched me from the center of the bed. She pulled her long legs up to her chest. A thin band of blue magic circled her wrist and connected to a line of magic that ran along the ground and out the door. I stared at it and was able to divine little about it except that it was made of Marid magic and looked similar to her father’s powers. I had no ability to fight his magic, and knew it would likely be the same with Lila.

She noticed me looking at what was likely her leash, and hid her hand in her lap. I studied the rest of her. She wore the same kind of clothes the Lila I had known would have worn: skinny black jeans, a torn t-shirt that read
Wicked Witch
across the chest, and scuffed combat boots. My gaze lingered on her get-up, not quite willing to look at her face. Her blue face.

Lila breathed in deeply. The sound echoed through the room, much louder than any human’s. She raised one hand, fluttering her fingers through the air. “I like the feel and taste of your time spell,” she said softly. “It has this essence that I could never replicate. You really are here, aren't you? Things have been a bit wobbly. I’ve been… imagining things. Things that I wished were true, you know?”

“You've been imagining me coming and rescuing you,” I said. My mouth was dry. My voice was a cracked whisper.

She nodded and put her chin on her knees. “Childish, I know.”

“Nothing of the sort. I have been working to get to you, ever since you disappeared.”

She looked away. “Then why did it take you so long to get here?” “The door was closed,” I explained. What had being in Hell done to her? What had the time it took me to get here cost her? “It disappeared.”

“Weird.” Her voice, though it contained lower notes, still sounded like Lila's. And her intonation, and the way she cocked her head to the side and fidgeted: it was all Lila.

Mimicry or real? I wondered as she bit her lip and drummed her fingers against her white bedspread.

I glanced around for clues. The book nearest to her was
Caliban and the Witch
, a history book I'd long ago told her she should read, and which she had stubbornly avoided. A tarot deck sat on her nightstand with the three of swords card face up.

The card had a large red heart, pierced through with three swords. It commonly symbolized the pain your heart could feel, or the pain you could inflict on another. Three swords: three heartbreaks. But whose heart would be cut through today, and who would do the cutting?

“Yeah, right?” Lila said, following my gaze. “At least I didn’t pull The Empress today. I keep getting her, like, every day. As though I wasn’t more than aware of who was ruling my life.”

Every word was a word Lila would say. I wanted to believe she was still herself. I wanted to believe that with all of my heart, so I couldn’t trust it. Not yet.

“And
Caliban and the Witch
,” Lila added. “So good. But who goes to Hell and then starts doing her homework, right? What a rebel. I mean, I know it’s not my history anymore, or even my realm, but I like reading it. It takes me away from… here. I like all the Wiccan books about how to do magic, too. Sisters helping sisters. Not that I need it. Because I'm so magic it's ridiculous.” She swallowed hard.

I nodded and kept watching her.

“I’m also way smarter. Like, I know you’re trying to figure out if I'm still me, right? Because I’m so powerful that it might have totally changed me. You’re trying to figure out if I’m still your girl and I’m also smart enough to know that anything I say or do can’t convince you, because that could just be me trying to convince you so I don’t know what to do. And I know I should be doing the same with you, I mean, analyzing every little thing, but really? I’ve been so lonely, and you just, you just have to be you, Morgan.” Lila bit her lip and looked like she was about to burst into tears.

I ached to cast aside every one of my reservations and hold her. I crossed my arms over my chest and reminded myself that her Marid nature was vastly clever. To say nothing about her trickster goddess heritage. “Tell me, how have you been?” I asked.

She rubbed the tears away from her face. “I don’t know. Fine? Depressed? Weird?” She sighed. “I keep thinking about the last time I saw you, and how sorry I am that when I changed, I was all zombied out and just walked past you. I keep on thinking about that moment and how bombed out you looked. How destroyed, and it was just like, I was still there, after I transitioned, I was always still there but buried by all of the changes, you know? You have no idea how strange it was to one minute be Lila the girl who wanted to be a witch. Who wanted to carve a life for herself that was good and had meaning and was different, and then boom, here comes different, really really different, along with a leash and hardcore obedience and going to Hell. Real Hell, do not pass go, do not collect any dollars ever. For a while, I was just inside of myself going wow, really? I mean, in some ways excited and in other ways sad. Mostly sad, I guess.” She paused and bit her lip. “That’s how I’ve been. You?”

“I have been trying and failing to get to Hell and find you,” I said. “It has not been easy.”

She nodded and gave me a small smile. “Sorry, but also that’s good to hear. I’ve been so sure that no one cared, like everyone was just, oh well, she’s gone, sucks to be her because if you cared, I thought you would be here right away. So like, how’s Adam? He’s real, right? My hot werewolf boyfriend? I didn’t go crazy down here and make him up, right?”

“He’s… he really needs you to come back,” I said, not needing or wanting to go into his alcoholic downward spiral since she had disappeared.

“Come back.” Lila frowned. “I can’t, you shouldn’t think, it’s like, well, um, you know I would sort of have to hurt you so bad if you tried to take me from the Queen, right? And I know you are a truly excellent witch, but um, my powers, like, they are sort of bigger than anyone else's, maybe ever? So don't try to get me out of here, okay?”

I watched her and listened as she spoke the exact sort of thing my Lila would say, searching for any tells that she was not as she seemed. There were none. I started to imagine that in my list of all the things that could go wrong in Hell, that this one thing, the most essential of them all, was going to be all right. But was this truly Lila, or merely an excellent performance?

“Are you even listening to me, Morgan? You have to understand. Really truly, don’t try anything with me. I'm so flipping powerful who knows what I would do to you.” She attempted to give me an intimidating look, the kind of expression her father made effortlessly and constantly. But with her utterly adorable and non-threatening face, I knew with a great pulse of hope that this was no facade she wore.

I felt an unknotting around my heart. “Oh, my Lila,” I whispered as I feared I would burst into tears. “It is so good to see you.”

“Oh good, you’ve decided I’m not some evil automaton, huh?” she said. She rolled her eyes as she scooted toward me, but then hesitated. Insecurity fluttered across her face. There was something so small in that look. So young.

And the five second loop of my spell went around and around as I stared at her, and then hugged her. And didn’t let go. And wouldn’t ever let go. “I will get you out of here,” I whispered.

She fidgeted away from me. “It's a one-way door,” she said softly. “Hasn't that been explained to you yet? That's the one thing you can't do. Which may be okay. I mean, there are some really rough characters down here who shouldn’t ever leave. Not that they would bug me, but I've ridden out with the King and Queen to see their havoc and uh, punish them. It's like the worst video game times a thousand. At least there's a reset most of the time. A ‘hey, you were torn apart by magical green lightning bolts, but no worries, you get to resurrect and get torn apart all over again’. And what's so great about Earth anyway?” She gave me a smile. “Scruddy old Earth. And even if there was a way out, there's the Queen problem that we, um, need to talk about. Wow. I really like this time spell, by the way, it's really helpful because
…
.”

“Because you are beholden to the Queen and she has ordered you to take me to her if you ever see me, but you are able to wait five seconds before you fulfill her wish.”

“Smart witch lady, you took the sad words right out of my mouth,” she said, and chewed on her lip.

“Yet you cannot hold out for too long in this nether space, and are fighting not to take me to her right now.”

Lila swallowed and gave me a small nod.

“Fear not. I entirely wish you to take me to her, and will give you no resistance,” I said. “But hold fast. For there are a few things I must tell you first.”

“Okay,” Lila said. “But you know we will sort of have all eternity to hang out here and chat.”

I smiled and nodded, willing that her words would not come true. “First, I was wondering if you know that all djinn folk, and especially your Marid father, are excellent at interpreting the wishes given to them.”

“Totally,” Lila said and gave me a quick grin. “There's this cool sly energy that runs through, like my spleen or something? I love it. But the Queen….” She scratched her arm. “She’s really smart at contracts and sort of obsessed with legal language and loopholes and all that, and so far, she's real airtight with all of her requests.”

I nodded. At least she knew. At least she would seize any opportunities that might arise.

“And you said, my father? Like, you met him?”

“Yes, that is the next thing I must tell you.” I quickly told her about him and his own children who he made to slaughter and feed him, that he might stay vital and powerful forever, and how he would be waiting for her when she left Hell.

“Wait, so I’m a half-goddess, too? Like, my frumpy mom was immortal and a goddess and didn’t even know it and now she is hiding out somewhere from my Dad who wants to kill her and eat me?” She giggled.

“It amuses you?”

“The opposite. Just, I was so used to having a normal kind of life, and then here comes everything.” She fidgeted and clenched her jaw, clearly fighting her own magical compulsions.

I breathed deeply as a similar compulsion rose up in me to grab her and take her away. But not yet. Not without Merlin. And not until I’d seen the Queen, and more importantly, the King of Hell.

Lila matched my breathing, and it seemed to help a little.

“Tell me about the instability of this realm,” I said. I stood and looked out her window.

Far below us stretched a city. Some of it looked ancient: tall stone houses and cobbled streets. Other parts of it were thoroughly modern: cell phone towers and a ragged looking helicopter flying across the sky. On the streets I saw all manner of creatures and humans walking near each other. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but not this. It appeared mundane and orderly, though I knew full well that a city could easily hide all kinds of horrors within. As I gazed out at the large city, the sky pulsed and went strange, filling with the dusky nothing and wide strips of gray. They covered the sky.

Lila came to stand beside me, and we said nothing until they disappeared.

“It’s weird, right?” Lila murmured. “The King and Queen have been pissed about all the wobbliness.” As she said the word Queen, her fingers twitched and she glanced at her door. “They were wondering if you were responsible for it.”

“Not me. Curious.” Hell was a land of infighting and clever creatures. It could have been caused by any number of their machinations, except for the fact that it had started when Lila arrived. She might not have any idea what effect she had on this realm. “Tell me, how does it feel to you, when it 'wobbles'?”

She frowned. “Hmm, okay. So this one summer my Mom and I lived in San Francisco, in this crumbly place with a million stairs that felt like it was coming apart every time there was an earthquake. It feels like that. Like this place is all going to fall apart. A part of me likes the feeling, you know?”

I nodded and kept my face blank. Lila had no idea how truly powerful she was. I wondered at her saying she liked it. I wondered if some part of her that she was not yet aware of was causing the destabilization. If so, it might be leverage to get her out of Hell.