Faerie (19 page)

Kieran fell silent for a moment, staring down at the taser, but not really seeing it. He looked up then and his face was grave.

“Do you really think they’ll come after me and the kids?” He said it so quietly that Lily could hardly hear him; it was almost as if he was afraid to hear his own words.

“I wish I could say ‘no’, but I honestly don’t know. I can only tell you that I’m doing everything I can to keep you safe, and I would die rather than let him hurt you or the kids. I’m hoping the tasers will help, but only use these in an emergency, right. Don’t go zapping Claire with it.” She forced a smile.

He laughed.

“Don’t tempt me.”

Lily fell silent for a moment, wondering how on earth she could broach the rest of her revelations to him. In the end, she realised that all she could do was to come out with it and pray to the Powers That Be that she’d say the right thing.

“Kieran I need to tell you something else... I was going to say you won’t believe it, but truthfully, after everything that’s happened, I think you probably will. You remember the other day I asked you if you’d ever heard of the fey?”

“Yeah, that’s what these things are, right?”

“Yes, but there are many different kinds of fey, those are the dark kind, but there are others – good fey. You might know them better as..” she drew in a deep breath and braced herself. “Fairies.”

There was a little twitch of a smile at the corner of his lips.

“You don’t believe in fairies, do you?” he asked, scornful, but trying to joke it off.

Lily looked him straight in the eye, stared hard and said:

“Kieran. I am one.”

He just stared hard at her, realising that she wasn’t joking. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, eyes wide, pulled a few faces and finally said:

“You’re a fairy?”

He wore a slightly terrified grin, hysterical laughter bubbling from his throat.

Lily gave a great sigh. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Is that so hard to believe? You can believe in the Shadow People, you know they’re real –why is it so hard for you to believe that I’m one of the fey?”

“You haven’t got any wings,” he said, looking between her shoulder blades as if he actually expected to see the stumps of wings there. He was still giggling, although it sounded eerily insane.

Lily rolled her eyes.

“Not all fairies have wings, you plonker. There are lots of different kind of fey, elves, goblins, pooka, banshee – all the ones you read about in the fairy tales – they’re all real. You've been conditioned to think of fairies as cute little creatures with fairy dust and butterfly wings, but we are nothing like that at all. Some of us look as human as you are, some can shape shift, some can’t even exist in this reality at all. We are a dangerous race, descended from beings as old as time itself, dark and deadly if anyone crosses us. We are not Tinkerbells.”

He continued to stare at her thoughtfully for some moments, his face showing an uncomfortable mixture of disbelief and fear, but hidden beneath it she could see something else, a kind of naive wonderment – and she knew that he wanted to believe.

“So you’re not human?”

“No, I look human, but I’m not.” She gave him a moment to let that sink in. He seemed to take it with surprising good grace. “That’s why I had to wear a disguise. I was afraid that humans would see me for what I am.”

She willed that last little bit of glamour to drop away and found to her surprise that it worked. She finally seemed to have mastered the art that had eluded her for so long. She could see from Kieran’s face that he could see her true self, every bit of disguise removed from her.

“Oh fuck, you’re glowing,” he said, real fear creeping into his voice.

“That’s what the fey do, Kieran.”

She lifted her hand, palm upwards and conjured a flame in her hand, burning from the centre of her palm; she morphed it into a fire rose, twisting elegantly in her palm, then turned it to ice. It shattered and sprayed the room with ice crystals. Then she made it snow, just a sprinkling, dropping down over the bed. Kieran reached out with a trembling hand and caught a snowflake in his palm, watching the crystal droplet melt against his skin.

“It’s real snow,” he said, his voice holding nothing but incredulous awe.

“Do you believe me now?” Lily asked. He just nodded dumbly, his eyes bright and dazed.

“Can you fly?” he suddenly asked, the smile coming back.

“I wish I bloody well could. We can’t fly as far as I know, but some say that we can. But there are lots of things we can do – curses and charms. Like I said, we’re not all sweetness and light I’m afraid – in fact, even the best of us can be quite vindictive.”

He gave an ‘ahh’ and grinned at her.

“You did that, the other day, didn’t you? Gave me that migraine.”

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I just lashed out in anger. I really am sorry. I took it off as soon as I got outside.”

“I know. I asked for it, anyway, I shouldn’t have punched you, sorry—” almost stopped mid word and said, “We really are in a lot of trouble, aren’t we?”

“A lot, but I will keep you safe... somehow. Get some sleep. I’ll stand watch.”

She settled him down and kissed him on the cheek, and Kieran reached up and picked up her braid, giving it a little tug.

“A fucking fairy. Shit. You'd get like a zillion hits on youtube.”

“Don’t even think about it,” she said, with a smile, and walked over to the window sill to stand watch for the rest of the night.

Next morning Lily came downstairs, her brain pickled from too many thoughts and not enough sleep. She had no idea how many hours sleep she’d actually had in the last few days, but it only amounted to a short cat nap at best. It felt as if an entire marching band, complete with baton twirlers, was performing Rocky’s theme tune in her head. She shuffled her way into the kitchen, heels dragging, in full zombie mode and blinked at the several cards and parcels laid out on the breakfast table. For a moment she didn’t register what she was seeing, just stared through a haze of sleep at the table. Then she smiled. It was her birthday and she had totally forgotten. Liam and Sarah were already at the table, beaming at her as she walked in.

“I’d forgotten,” Lily said, flushing scarlet. “Wow.”

Liam thrust the very grubby envelope at her; it was covered in tiny finger prints and what looked like a bogey.

“Open my card,” he said, with a wide, gappy smile.

“It’s mine as well,” Sarah said, indignant. “I drew most of it, you only put on the spider.”

Lily opened it carefully and there was a hand drawn card, scribbled in crayon, of a barely recognisable toadstool, with two stick-figure children standing in front of it, holding hands. A strange looking Lily hovered close by. Inside was written, in Claire’s hand, ‘Happy Birthday’ – Liam and Sarah had signed it, after a fashion.

“It’s perfect,”  Lily said, giving them both a hug.

She looked back at the picture, and realised that it really wasn’t a bad effort – then she saw something she’d missed the first time. There, hovering in the corner was another stick figure, a woman with long golden hair.

“Who's that in the background?” Lily asked.

“Oh that’s the fairy that comes to see us when we’re asleep. Her name's Ginny,” Sarah said. “She’s nice.”

When she looked closer, Lily could see something else: The Lily stick figure was holding something in her hand – it looked like a green piece of material or clothing, trailing down to the floor.

“What’s that in my hand?” she asked.

Sarah grinned.

“Ginny told me to put that in, it’s a... blanket, or something, you put it round your shoulders.”

Lily couldn’t ask any more, because Claire had come back in from the kitchen and was thrusting her card at Lily.

“Happy birthday. All grown up now. Eighteen, ay?” she said, smiling for once.

Lily opened the card and there was a very bland generic picture of hollyhocks – rather ironic considering, and a gift token for ten pounds inside. Well, at least it was better than a set of adjustable spanners. Kieran came in, yawning, and looking desperately tired. Lily thought that he’d probably lain awake most of the night after Lily’s little revelation as well.

“Wotcha, Happy birthday. I didn’t get you a card, they’re a waste of money, but I got yer this.”

He thrust something at her as if he were handing her a grenade that was about to go off. It was a strange shaped parcel, barely wrapped in Christmas paper, covered in sticky tape.

“Thanks,” she said, holding it in her hand and testing the weight of it. It felt like a house brick.

She opened it and found it was a glass snow globe of what looked like a fairy castle, set in a winter landscape. She shook it and the snow fluttered down on the spires and turrets. Lily screwed up her face in puzzlement.

“It’s lovely but...”

“I bought it a while ago. I just saw it and thought it was... I dunno, just right for you. Weird ay?”

Weird indeed.

“It’s perfect.” She bobbed up and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.” He flushed scarlet and brushed the kiss away with his hand, giving a scowl and a ‘yukk,’ under his breath, but when he thought she wasn’t looking he gave a little smile.

She opened the present from Liam and Sarah and found that they'd made her a macaroni necklace, painted in gold; it was positively hideous, but she draped it around her neck and wore it as if it were something from Tiffany & Co.

“Kieran helped us paint it,” Sarah said, beaming with pride.. “Cos it was big boys’ paint.”

Kieran blush turned into a fiery red, and he mumbled, ‘didn’t want them to get it in their eyes’, under his breath to excuse himself.

“Thanks, all of you. It’s the best birthday ever,” Lily said, and giving the snow globe another little shake, she sat down to breakfast.

Chapter Sixteen.

It was 9.45, the breakfast things were washed up and Lily had put her presents away, telling the kids that she didn’t want to spoil her lovely new necklace wearing it while she was doing housework. They had gone to play upstairs, but Claire was hovering around and Lily had to pretend to be busy, even though she was desperate to ask them more about the dreams they’d been having. Her first thought was that the piece of green material had to be the shawl that Lily had been wearing when Virginia brought her through to this world. What else could it be? One small part of her was disturbed – it didn’t seem as if Virginia was unsettling the kids with her nocturnal visits, in fact quite the opposite, but why was she visiting them? It was a question that needed to be answered. Lily wasn’t entirely sure she trusted Virginia, but really why should she doubt her, she had never done any harm to either her or Connor – quite the opposite in fact.

Lily walked out into the garden and let out a strangled moan of misery and despair when she saw what awaited her. Practically every flower, every plant, every herb in the garden was dead or dying. The hollyhocks were a shrivelled mass of dried flowers, not just wilted, but decaying and useless for her potions and ointments, the marigolds the same. Herbs that she’d tended with loving care over the years were nothing but dried stalks, useless and foul smelling. Nothing had been spared. When she looked more closely, even the insects that had been near them were dead, lying in heaps of decay around them in the dirt. Something truly malefic had passed through her garden, the angel of death, killing everything in its path. She moved aside one of the crumbling and decaying bushes and stared down at the mummified corpse of a mole. Everything, literally everything in the garden was dead.

“Fucking bastard!” she yelled to the air “Fucking evil, shitting, sodding bastard!”

She was so enraged that for a moment she couldn’t think, totally consumed by her anger. She ran out of the gate, not really knowing where she was going or what she was doing, until she’d actually arrived at the gate of the house next door. She looked over into Mrs Threshers once beautiful country garden, and stared across at the same utter devastation. On to the next, and the next and every garden in the row was blighted, dead, useless. She’d like to bet that every garden in the village was the same. Her anger was replaced by sadness then, so many people suffering because these creatures wanted her to suffer. She wandered back home and slumped down on the low garden wall, just staring out into nothingness, shocked and bewildered. She knew how much Mrs Thresher loved her garden – it had been her husband’s pride and joy until he’d died last year and she was tending it lovingly in his memory. She was going to be heartbroken. Lily’s fey magic wasn’t strong enough to undo powerful dark magic like this. Worse, she wouldn’t be able to make any more ointment for Connor. She realised with growing dismay, that there was nothing she could do about it – she’d cleaned out her savings buying the tasers, so couldn’t buy any new plants from the local garden centre. Chances were if she tried, that would suffer from a sudden attack of blight as well, and she’d ruined enough people's lives without adding more misery. She couldn’t help but wonder how the authorities would explain this disaster  – it was bound to hit the news. Things like this just didn’t happen  – oh, wait a minute – yes it did. Wasn’t this just another strange occurrence to add to the growing list? Still, the authorities couldn’t just ignore it. Great – that was all she needed, ministry scientists and busy bodies prowling all over the village, asking questions that nobody could hope to answer. Well, there was nothing she could do about it – it was just one more problem to add to the growing list.

Lily went back upstairs, reached under the bed and pulled out the old cardboard box where she stored odds and ends that she either had no use for, or that she had forgotten about. Lying on top of the box was the plastic wrapped shawl that Maggie had found her in that day she was left on her doorstep. Maggie had told her what it was, of course, explained how she had found Lily, and it was Maggie who had put it away in that plastic bag, telling Lily that she should always treasure it. Lily had never taken it out of the bag, although she had been tempted quite a few times; she’d always been able to feel the magic, even through its plastic wrapper and just not been confident enough to lay bare flesh on it. She reached in and with gentle fingers pulled it out, laying it on the bed. It was the softest pistachio green, with tiny flecks of darker green in it. It was so soft, like silk, but not silk,  more like finest wool and decorated with a very tiny pattern. Beautiful. Why would Virginia draw her attention to it now?

Lily draped it around her shoulders, and the world, this world instantly disappeared; she was back in Elphame, and this didn’t feel like illusion – it felt as if she were really there. She could feel the grass under her feet, smell the rich clean air, even hear the birds in the trees and feel the wind on her cheek. She let the warm sunlight kiss her face and revelled in it. How was this possible? Had she somehow been transported back home? Then she understood that she was still in her bedroom, standing beside the bed, the shawl draped over her shoulders – she was just seeing the Otherworld, and although it was a disappointment – it was also a relief.

She looked around to see where she was. She was standing in the middle of a forest clearing, and close by was a pillar of carved stone. It was more of an obelisk than a stone, about eight feet high, with a pointed top. Around the apex were carved stone symbols, which she didn’t recognise as being fey. She had a feeling that whoever had put this here had done so long ago, perhaps even before there were fey in Elphame. It had a feeling of great age, and when she touched it, a strange tingle ran through her fingers, as if she were somehow touching her past. There were strange markings on it, and as she looked she found she could read them. It was the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the old race and how they had travelled out into the world of men, in order to protect mankind from the djinn and other dark creatures. They had thrived in the new world, spreading out across the globe, working together with men to help them thrive as well. Always, though, the djinn fought against them, trying to subvert men, and turn them against the Tuatha Dé Danann, whispering lies in their ears. But suddenly that wasn’t enough to satisfy the djinn, and the most powerful of them, the Black King, decided that more drastic measures were needed. Mankind had to be wiped from the face of the earth, then the djinn could take back what they believed was rightfully theirs. She was right, then, what she had told Kieran was right, even though she had only been guessing. She continued read down the stone, and the words she read made her tremble:

And the earth became a wasteland, a fiery pit of desolation, where the djinn could thrive and feed on the dead souls that were trapped there for eternity. Mankind was no more.

Was this a prophecy?  It felt like it. Lily pulled the shawl from her shoulders and dropped it to the forest floor... and found herself back in her bedroom, disoriented and afraid. She put the shawl away, still shaking violently, confused, miserable, and she realised that right now, despite her realisation that the whole of creation was in terrible danger,  there was nothing she could do. As soon as she could, she would tell Connor what she had seen, and see if he understood it all any better than she did.

She came out of her room to go and check on the kids. She had left Kieran in there, playing with them, although there really didn’t seem any need for him to guard them so ferociously. He hadn’t let them out of his sight for a second in the last couple of days. Paranoid as she was, she really didn’t think that any harm could come to them in their bedroom in the middle of the day. As she got out onto the landing Kieran was just coming out of the loo, doing up his flies. When he saw Lily, he looked up, a mixture of embarrassment and guilt on his face.

“I only left them for a couple of minutes,” he said, anxious. “I needed a pee.”

Lily laughed and gave him a hug.

“You don’t have to watch them every minute of every day, you doughnut,” she said, and he gave a wobbly smile.

“I don’t mind. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to them. What happened to the garden?”

Lily grimaced.

“The Black King thought he could stop me making Connor’s ointment if he killed all the plants. It’s not just the plants – he killed all of the animals and insects as well, and not just in our garden. I daren’t even think how far this has spread. He’s a monster. He really seems to be doing everything he can to cause trouble and not just to us. I really think that this is the beginning of a war that he believes mankind can never hope to win. He’s wrong, trust me on that. I don’t know who, or what is going to stop him, but someone will.”

Lily opened the door to the children’s room and stared at... an empty room. Her immediate reaction was panic which almost instantly gave way to the thought that the kids had simply gone back downstairs again while Kieran was in the loo. But hadn’t she just come back upstairs? They hadn’t passed her on their way down.

Kieran just stood there, staring at the emptiness, his brain not quite kicking into gear.

“Go and see if the kids are downstairs,” Lily ordered. Kieran just corpsed for a moment, as if he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the two empty beds, but then bolted for the door and onto the landing, almost toppling down the stairs. Lily listened, praying that she would hear him call back his relief, that the kids had just slipped down and she hadn’t noticed. She heard footsteps racing up the stairs at breakneck speed, and she didn’t need to hear the hideous news.

“They’re not down there,” he panted. “They’re not in the garden. Where the fuck are they?”

Lily had no idea why she looked across at their beds, but with a dreadful feeling of sheer despair she moved closer and saw the two black pebbles, one on each of the children’s beds. She sank to her knees, her hands over her head as if she could shield herself from the terrible truth, and wailed.

“Where are they?” Kieran asked again, his voice hardly more than a whisper, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her. Lily couldn’t stop the terrible noise that came from her throat, a keening sound that just kept coming. “Pull yourself together,” Kieran ordered. “You can’t do this, not now.”

“He’s taken them,” she whimpered. “He’s taken them.”

It didn’t matter how many times she said it, she still couldn’t really believe it. They were going to walk through that door any second, and she’d scoop them up into her arms, angry, but so, so relieved. Only they didn’t come through, and she knew that unless she did something about it, they never would again.

Kieran joined her on the floor, his face like putty, his eyes wild.

“I was only gone for seconds, just seconds,” he said. He sounded so lost, and Lily could feel the misery pouring from him in waves, a terrible tsunami of guilt.

Lily closed her hand over his, as much for her comfort as for his. She was drowning, and at that moment he was the closest piece of driftwood she had to cling onto.

“It’s not your fault, don’t you dare blame yourself. This is all down to me,” she said.

She had expected Kieran to answer, but there was silence.

Lily looked across and stared at him, and knew, just knew that there was someone else in there with him. She backed away, scuttling back across the floor.

“Don’t be afraid,” Kieran said, in a gentle voice. “It’s me, Virginia. I can’t hold this body for long. Listen.”

It took Lily a few moments to take in what was happening – she was in shock, she knew it, and the whole world had taken on a feeling of utter unreality. This was just one more madness to add to it. She just stared at Kieran for a moment, and when she looked into his eyes, she saw Virginia, a floating image behind his eyes, as real as she was. Lily leapt to her feet, and towered over her.

“How dare you!” Lily raged. “How dare you take his body without asking!”

Virginia stood, fists balled and face set in something close to anger. It looked so alien on Kieran, an expression that she had never seen on Kieran’s face, a kind of cold intelligence.

“We have no time for niceties,” Virginia snapped back. “Do you want to save your children or not?”

Lily forced back her fear and anger and said:

“Sorry, yes of course. Sorry.”

She slumped down on the bed and Virginia-Kieran sat down beside her.

“Then listen. As you have already worked out, the Black King has taken the children to his realm, but he won’t hurt them – at least not do any permanent harm to them, not yet, at least. He needs them alive to use as a weapon against you, and leaving sentiment aside, he will try to keep them happy because it will serve his purpose to do so. You can save them. You and Connor must come to me, I can send you back to Elphame and from there you can find your children.”

It didn’t slip past Lily’s notice that Virginia had called them, ‘your children’. When it came down to it, isn’t that what they were. Lily let the information sink in for a few heartbeats, and realised that Virginia was right. The Black King didn’t really need to hurt the children, because his enjoyment was in knowing just how much Lily was suffering, just imagining what he was doing to them. But knowing how cruel and malicious the Black King could be, Lily couldn’t just leave it at that, she couldn’t rely on common sense alone, she needed to believe it. 

“How do you know he won’t hurt them?” she asked.