BRIDGER (36 page)

I smiled, but inside I was reeling.
 
How old was she? Obviously she wasn’t as old as Roslin, but definitely much older than anyone human could be. “Are we going to her now?”

“Yes ma’am, she’s in her quarters this way.”

We reached the enormous stone archway that began the monstrous estate.
 
Passing under it, we walked under a stone overhang, columns of grey marble with intricate carvings holding it up.
 
The magnitude of everything was almost overwhelming.

Coming to the giant marble doors, Roslin pulled them open and we entered the silent entryway.
 
The doors shut without a sound behind us. I jumped at the sound of the man’s voice that had been in the meadow.
 
He sounded as bored as ever.

“You brought the Changeling, did you?”

I turned and was face-to-face with the most gorgeous man I had ever seen in my life.
 
Leaning down to see me, his auburn hair was in natural disarray and his honey-brown eyes were taking me in.
 
He ran his hand through his hair, scratching his head as he came closer to us.
 
He was a good six inches taller than me.
 
The muscles in his arm rolled as he rubbed the back of his neck.
 
My breath involuntarily quickened at the sight of him.

He had an English accent.
 
Glaistig were from all over the world, apparently. “You’re too short, Changeling.
 
I got a crick in my neck trying to see you properly.”

Roslin laughed.
 
“Antony, she’s no Changeling.
 
Do you think she would’ve gotten this far if she were?”

He dipped his head back down to my level, as if to get one more good look at me.
 
“Has she done anything interesting to prove otherwise?”

I looked away, trying not to be disgruntled with this guy.
 
He was handsome enough to earn a bit of redemption, but his lazy disinterest was offending.
 
The fact he was so aloof sent me over the edge, considering he had allowed Memaw to writhe in pain when we first got here.
 
Focusing on Memaw, I allowed the electric current to wash over me.
 
A moment later I felt myself shoot four inches taller, matching Memaw’s height.
 
In a flash I pinned Antony to the marble wall, a small dagger to his throat.
 
“Is this interesting enough for you?”

To my chagrin, he still looked as bored as ever.
 
“Well, you just proved you were definitely part changeling, as you can shift.
 
However, your quickness with your blade does show Emily has taught you a few tricks of
our
trade, as well.”

Like a lightening strike, he flipped me over his head, my face pushed into the marble with my left arm pinned painfully behind my back.
 
He was good.
 
He laughed as he antagonized me.
 
“Ready to say ‘Uncle,’ little grasshopper?”

I sideswiped him with my right foot, taking his knees out.
 
In his moment of surprise, I broke out of his arm hold and spun around to kick him in his gut.
 
He flew backward and Roslin jumped out of the way.
 
She was watching the entire fight in amusement.
 
Antony skidded across the floor, his head smashing into the wall on the other side of the entryway.
 
I sprinted over to him, straddling him to put my knees on his hands on either side of him.
 
Less than thirty seconds after the fight had begun, he was pinned.

He licked his lips hungrily, eyeing me up and down. “You’re feisty.
 
I like a girl that knows what she wants.”

I felt the back of my shirt being yanked up, choking me in the process.
 
“Are you done flirting yet?
 
You have a boyfriend, Ashlyn.”

Memaw pulled me to a stand and we stared one another down.
 
I couldn’t believe she had recovered so quickly, but there she was, standing in front of me.
 
As usual she was her fierce, immortal version, yet she wasn’t wearing her usual bloody ensemble.
 
Instead, she was wearing dark blue jeans and a knee-length wool pea coat.
 
The collar pulled high, it brushed her strong jaw line.
 
She tugged at the base of her leather gloves. “You do a wonderful rendition of me, Ashlyn.
 
Now change back.”

I sighed, closing my eyes.
 
Once again I shuddered from the electric sensation that coursed through my body, then opened my eyes again.

“She’s quick.
 
She’s good,” Roslin said appreciatively.
 
I looked over to her and smiled.

Memaw put her gloved hand on my shoulder and steered us away from the heap that was Antony.
 
He sprang up, rubbing his head. “Emily, leash your little experiments from now on, would you?”

I was smug to have done damage in a petulant way.
 
That man would acknowledge me, even if I had to beat him senseless to do it.
 
I walked forward, half under Memaw’s power and half on my own.

Memaw continued forward without glancing back at him. “You shouldn’t have provoked her.
 
You know we McVeans have short tempers,”

He ignored Memaw’s comments, instead muttering to himself.
 
“Figures she has a boyfriend.
 
All the good ones are always taken.
 
She busted my head open, too.”

Memaw waved a hand behind her.
 
“Roslin, heal him so he’ll shut up, please.”

I heard Roslin giggle.
 
“Can do, Em.”

Curiosity got the better of me.
 
I turned to see what Roslin was doing.
 
What she was doing was amazing.
 

Small, wispy, balls of light were hovering in her cupped hands.
 
She smiled as Antony pulled his head back in protest.
 
“It doesn’t hurt all that much, really.
 
I can make do.”

Roslin snorted.
 
“Be quiet and take it like a faerie, Antony.”
           

She moved forward and pressed her hands against his temples.
 
I thought the balls would stop her from physically touching him.
 
Instead, as she pressed them against his skull, they sunk into his skin and disappeared.
 
His skin took on a faint glow.
 
The cut along the side of his head stopped bleeding and then vanished all together.
 

Antony wrinkled his nose in disgust and shook his head.
 
“God, now I’m going to have a headache for an hour while this all clears out of my system.
 
Thanks a lot.”

No one paid him any attention.
 
We continued to walk for another ten minutes after the miracle healing.
 
My mind was reeling.
 
Was anything impossible here?

Along the wall there was a coat rack that held three more coats perfectly identical to the one Memaw was wearing.
 
Each was sized differently to match their wearer.
 
We stopped as Antony and Roslin paused to retrieve their own, buttoning the three silver buttons on them, the collars resting against their jaw lines as well.
 
Memaw pushed me behind her as Roslin and Antony took their place on either side of her.
 
They continued forward like a lethal black wave, capable of annihilating anything that came across their path.
 
I couldn’t decide if this made me feel safe or vulnerable. I decided it was best to stay on their good sides.
 
Even Antony.
 
For the most part, anyway.

I stared at the backs of their heads.
 
All three were tall, but Memaw had the others beat. Memaw felt like the unspoken leader of the clan, so I directed my question to her.
 
“What are we doing?”

“We’re convening.
 
We’re discussing you and then we need to head back to the human realm.
 
Liam will be worried by now,” Memaw said, terse.
 
She seemed worried about this meeting, although I remembered her and Tess being excited about this very event in conversations.
 
What had changed?

Antony looked back at me, clearly irritated.
 
It was good to know that he was capable of emotion.
 
“Would Liam be this boyfriend of yours?”

I smiled back at him sweetly.
 
“Why yes, he would be.”

“Is he mortal?”

“Yes, he is.
 
So?”

“Nothing.
 
Just figures.”
 
With that, he turned back around, shaking his head and rubbing his temples.
 

Roslin looked back to wink.
 
“Don’t worry about Antony, he just hasn’t been beat by a girl in a while.”

“Ever,” he corrected, “Still haven’t, actually.
 
Emily broke it up before I had a chance to make my move.”

Memaw didn’t have a trace of humor in her response. “Trust me, I did you a favor.
 
She’s learned from me.”

“In a small space of time, it seems,” Roslin noted. Memaw didn’t respond to the comment. There was no way to tell if that was a good or bad thing while looking at her back.

We came to a set of marble doors that dwarfed the entryway we had entered through earlier.
 
The carvings within the marble were otherworldly.
 
I assumed it had to do with the Glaistig or faeries in general.
 
It seemed to have writings as well as pictures.
 
Although I couldn’t understand it, the magnificence and beauty was something I could appreciate.
 

“Your turn, Emily,” Antony said in his bored, toneless voice.

Memaw strode forward and placed a hand on either door.
 
A light blue hue illuminated around her hands and then engulfed her as well.
 
I started forward in a panic, but Antony and Roslin barred me, each sticking a hand out.
 
I watched as Memaw was lifted a few inches off the ground.
 
She went limp for what seemed an eternity, then was put gently back onto the ground.
 
The instant her feet touched the ground, she came out of her trance-like state.
 
The doors opened slowly.
 
Roslin and Antony strode forward, passing Memaw without a second glance and leaving me stunned.
 
Memaw swayed for only a second before I was by her side, helping support her weight.

“What was that?” I asked, horrified.

She smiled, trying to shrug off the incident as commonplace.
 
Grabbing my shoulder to direct us and also for support, we went into a perfectly circular room. “To open the door, one must give some of their life force.
 
It’ll return, as I’m immortal, but it’s disorienting for a little while.”

This room was subtle.
 
Not nearly as large as the grandiose doors made it seem, it was only the size of an average bedroom.
 
The wallpaper, while pretty, was starting to peel at the edges and needed replaced.
 
The deep brown carpet was pushed down from what might have been eons of use.
 
The style of this room left something to be desired, but what stood out the most were the chairs.
 
I felt let down by the lack of amazement that I had been expecting after the buildup of the rest of the tour thus far.

Instead of the thrones that I had expected, there were five reclining chairs in various states of dilapidation lining the circular wall.
 
Each had a more gaudy print than the next.
 
My favorite was the far left purple armchair with a bright orange paisley print.
 
The stuffing was threatening to come out of the hand rests and the right front foot was leveled out by a thick book.
 
It couldn’t have been more outrageous, even with polka dots added.