The Changeling (47 page)

Sadness and fear dominated my emotions as it became clear the Fae were using natural disasters to kill humans. Trepidation followed. The Fae were capable of doing much worse. They could easily destroy nuclear power plants, start wars, or slip into a lab and release some deadly disease.

Ozara listened silently as several Council members argued that something needed to be done, that it was time to eliminate the rogues who the Council had identified as the most likely responsible. Sherman argued for patience and more evidence. He warned the rest of the Council that the independent clans were carefully watching the Seelie, and he believed that acting without proof would cause irreparable damage to the already pensive relationship between them and the Seelie. Both sides were right. It seemed to me like a no win situation.

“Wise counsel, Sherman,” Ozara said. “I agree. We should wait until we have more proof. Where is Cassandra?”

The tether between my body and mind sprang to life and threatened to yank me away.

Sherman spoke first. “No one has seen her.” Asharyu and Guanyin agreed.

“Perplexing,” Ozara said. “I know from the rogues we captured that she did not meet at the rendezvous the night the Steward retrieved her sibling. We’ve tracked their co-conspirators—Chalen and Dresha—but no sign of her. Most perplexing.”

The tether yanked me back several feet the moment she said Chalen’s name. So, she did know that he’d been released from Aether. I assumed she neglected to mention his name the night I rescued Mitch for my peace of mind. Apparently I’d misjudged her—she was trying to spare me any additional grief.

“I maintain that if we continue to look, we will find her,” Sherman said. “I believe the explanation may be quite simple: when she discovered her plans were foiled, she went into hiding. By now, she knows what fate awaits her.”

“I am not sure I agree, Sherman. When one disappears, there is always a trace. At the very least, there are scattered reports and speculation among the independent clans. No one has ever just disappeared without a trace. Though they have proven difficult to capture, we have received similar reports on Gavin and the Ohanzee,” Ozara said, slowly turning her head to face him. “Am I incorrect?”

“Perhaps this time. Bastien disappeared, so did Caorann, and there have been others,” he argued. “We’ve not heard a single report on Gavin’s location in more than six months.”

Though my body was a mile away in the cottage, I felt it relax.

“I suspect they have each met the same end as Cassandra,” she said.

Fear welled up in my mind when her words initially registered, but I knew better. Hadn’t Drevek spoken to Gavin just a month ago?
Yes
, I told myself,
Gavin is fine
.

“I have considered that as well, and you may be correct,” Guanyin said. “Each may have been destroyed. Perhaps the Second didn’t approve of Cassandra’s handling of the boy. She was, after all, outwitted by a human child.”

I liked Guanyin. It was a good argument. The Second had killed several members of both clans. While I knew the truth about Cassandra, they didn’t. That was as logical an explanation as any, and I would much rather them focus on the Second than on me.

Ozara nodded, “That is a possibility, but Sherman’s explanation is just as plausible. We should continue searching for her. Do we agree?”

The Council agreed.

“And the meeting at Caer Bran?” Guanyin asked.

I had no idea what she was talking about, and made a mental note to Google “Caer Bran.”

“I have decided that I will personally attend the meeting with Zarkus and the Elders. Our paramount concern must be to still the tension with the Unseelie while it is still possible to avoid a confrontation. My presence, I feel, is necessary.”

“Is it your desire that we all attend?” Victoria asked.

“No. I think it prudent to not show up en masse. I propose to take two of you with me, and a minimal security presence.”

“If you are intercepted by the Second while traveling with such a small number?” Guanyin asked, more animated than ever.

“That would be a most fortunate turn of events, would it not? I could end this conflict before another life is lost. The Second has not faced me for a reason. It has attacked only the weakest among us for a reason. It cowers in the shadows, like a Pyksie, plotting for a reason. It does not yet believe that it is powerful enough to directly challenge me. It has not challenged any of you, either. I realize that you may be correct, Asharyu. It is possible that the Second is exceptionally powerful and we will find it lying in wait for us and the Unseelie Elders at Caer Bran. Should we not learn what we are up against sooner rather than later—to draw it into the open?”

“Ozara, I am concerned that if anything happens to you, all will be lost. The child does not know the secret to Aether and none of us can change that,” Guanyin said.

I focused on Ozara’s next words as nothing else in the world seemed to matter.

“Do you suggest I teach her Aether prior to our meeting?”

“I would be more comfortable,” Guanyin said pointedly.

“So would I,” Sherman agreed.

“I would not,” said the exotic Middle-Eastern Fae with dark olive skin and braided black hair. She walked forward, taking a central position in the gathering. She surveyed each member with her huge exotic brown eyes, waiting for a reply.

“Anuket, surely you are not concerned about Maggie’s intentions. She has shown considerable restraint and followed our law to the letter,” Victoria said.

Anuket shot Victoria a stern look. “I’m not convinced. The O’Shea girl is duplicitous. She follows our laws because she must. With Aether, who among us, including Ozara, is going to say no to her?”

She was right, of course. If I could create Aether I probably wouldn’t listen to the Council. I certainly wouldn’t bend to their will on every issue like I had been.

“I agree,” said the dreamy Latin-looking Fae with dark skin and hair. At every Council meeting, he had made it clear he distrusted me.

“I disagree. I believe the girl has shown us her mettle,” Guanyin said. “She has been deceitful, but in her shoes, would you not have done the same, Anuket? The Jinn, I’m sure you will admit, were never known for their candor.”

“Guanyin, sister, neither were the Ancient Ones. Self-deification? You are not in a position to cast stones,” Anuket replied in a tone that sounded polite on the surface, but didn’t hide the venom underneath.

“How completely evasive and utterly predictable. You did not answer my question. We could debate the mutual failings of our original clans until time stands still and not resolve anything,” Guanyin said.

“You are both correct,” Ozara said. “Our original clans failed miserably, but this clan is founded on the indubious principle that we can and must do better. Right now I agree that we must be careful with whom we share the secret of Aether. I do not believe that Maggie O’Shea is ready. Yet. But Anuket, you do realize that we may have no choice, and that time may yet be upon us.”

“Yes. I am confident that if the threat grows, the human child will fulfill her role,” Anuket said. Her fierce look remained.

“Ozara, you intend to wait?” Sherman asked.

“Yes, for now. I think it is best to protect her. But there is another reason. If we teach her Aether, we may yet prolong the aggression. Given the history of Maebowns in the past, I believe the Second will avoid direct contact if Maggie becomes a Maebown. This conflict, I fear, may be drawn out even longer, until after Maggie’s death, if the Second learns that she has completed the fifth trial. Is it not better to take steps that may bring about a quick resolution than to teach her Aether and protract the danger?”

“So you are offering Maggie up as bait to draw the Second out with her vulnerability?” Victoria asked, disgust in her voice.

Ozara nodded. “In a way, I suppose I am. As I see it, preventing Maggie from learning the secret to Aether is our best opportunity to end this.”

“At what cost to her?”

Ozara snapped back, “Govern your passions, Victoria. Maggie is well aware that this conflict will take her life. She has told me so herself. She is quite courageous about it. She knows it is the price to be paid for being a Maebown.”

“Govern my passions? Indeed,” Victoria shot back, stern and fearless. Her eyes flashed as she focused on Ozara alone. “We have long disagreed on that point, but her
fate,
as you would have it, does not mean that we have the right to offer her up as a sacrifice.”

“Of course, I agree. I apologize. I do not mean to sound intransigent on the subject, or callous concerning Maggie’s fate, so please ignore my tone. I am deeply saddened by what I believe will be her fate, but I am committed to seeing our Clan and the human race through this peril.”

I wasn’t at all happy about playing the part of a decoy, but I did understand Ozara’s logic. Personally, I would much rather have had the ability to defend myself. That, however, was not my choice.

Before leaving the Council, I overheard Ozara ask Victoria if she wanted to accompany her to Caer Bran. Victoria politely said no, so Ozara picked Meili and Katarina to accompany her. Rarely speaking during the meetings, Meili was a mystery to me, but Katarina was the Council member Billy suspected of working with the Unseelie.

It was unsettling to think that Ozara was going to meet with the Unseelie, possibly facing the Second in an ambush, while being accompanied by an Unseelie spy. The tether pulled me back across the Weald and I sat up in bed. The alarm clock read eleven forty-seven, well past my curfew.

“Sara?”

In a few seconds she appeared in my room.

“I’m going to go see Billy.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes, it’s very important.”

“All right. I’ll accompany you.”

“Could you help with my parents?”

Her black eyes twinkled. “They won’t hear a thing.”

***

Billy was waiting outside Ronnie’s house when Sara and I pulled up. Sara didn’t ask any questions. She apparently knew I needed to have a conversation that couldn’t be overheard.

“Maggie,” he said as casually as if we’d just met for coffee.

“Billy, I really need your advice.”

“What, pray tell, has you sneaking around at midnight?”

“I’ve been eavesdropping. Ozara and two members of the Council are going to meet the Unseelie at a place called Caer Bran. Do you know where that is?”

“I won’t ask how you’ve come to this knowledge,” he said disapprovingly. “It’s the site of a Rath in Cornwall—that’s in southern England. It is the very place where the Pyksies were defeated four thousand years ago.”

“Some of the Council members think it may be a trap, and they’re worried that the Second may be lying in wait.”

He nodded. “It may be, but I don’t understand what you can do about it.”

“Billy, if something happens to Ozara before…”

“I’m well aware of the dilemma,” he cut me off, “but I’m not entirely sure what you want me to do about it.”

“Katarina is one of the Council members going with Ozara.”

Billy contemplated that before asking, “Who else?”

“The giant blond Viking-looking guy with the muscles, Meili.”

His face seemed perfectly calm, but I knew there was something bothering him. “What is it?”

“He was originally aligned with the Alfar, the clan that once controlled northern Europe. Like me, he’s Fire aligned.”

Northern Europe? That made sense. Meili had unreal blue-gray eyes, massive cheekbones, a cleft chin, and his pale skin seemed nearly luminescent. He was massive, the size of the Ohanzee, and his blond hair, which reminded me of corn silk, was radiant in any light.

“But?” I asked. I knew Billy was holding back.

“He is the youngest on the Council.”

“So he’s the least powerful?”

“He is exceptionally powerful, but yes, of those on the Council, he is the least powerful.”

“Billy, doesn’t that strike you as a little dangerous? If something happens to her…”

“I think you’re reading too much into this, Maggie. Ozara’s powers are without rival. During the last Fae war, she dueled with a powerful Aetherfae, a Sidhe, who was known as Dagda. He could not defeat her though he tried for two centuries. Zarkus is no match for her. I’m comfortable saying that she could destroy the Unseelie Elders by herself.”

“I know she’s powerful—I saw her destroy three rogues this afternoon. They didn’t even realize she was hunting them. I suppose you’re right, but I’d feel more comfortable if I knew how to create Aether.”

“I know you would. How did you see her destroy the rogues?”

“I have to divulge one of those secrets you want me to keep. Are you sure you want to know?”

“This, I’m afraid, I need to know.”

Nervous energy whirled in my stomach. This was very serious or Billy would not have asked.

“Simply put, I tracked her the same way I found Mitch. Gavin’s idea. If I concentrate on her, I can find her anywhere in the world…well, until she uses a Seoladán.”

“Fascinating. Where did this happen?”