Fury Rising (Fury Unbound Book 1) (26 page)

“We have to, yes. Don’t question. Follow single file in my tracks. There’s a hidden stair and it is steep and treacherous, so be cautious. Jason, you could probably fly down but I doubt that Tommy-Tee can make it on his own, so if you could stay in human form to help him, it would probably be best.” And with that, Tam vanished over the edge.

My stomach knotted. I waited for a moment, then gingerly followed his tracks to the edge of the crater. In the dark, so it was hard to see the path he was taking, except for the luminous glow emanating from the World Tree. The incandescent green light lit up the air. Tam’s footsteps leading down the slope toward the crater glittered with sparkles.

Hesitantly, I stepped over the side. Beneath the sand, I could feel the steps hidden under the dunes. They were slick because of the sand, but I was able to follow the sparkling pattern of his steps. I cautiously began to make my way down, one step at a time, holding my breath. A hundred-foot tumble down into a crater of sand would still smart.

“Crap, I hate this,” I muttered to myself. But I fell into a rhythm and the descent grew easier.
Take a step. Pause, make certain I’m on a firm foundation. Take another step. Pause.

The minutes wore away and I lost track of the time because the descent was so slow. There would be no hurrying, no rushing. We couldn’t afford to make a mistake. We were so close to the World Tree that I could see the portals from where I was. They were flat against the trunk, swirling vortices of energy plastered against the bark. Where they led, I didn’t know, but the last thing I wanted was for some Abomination to come zipping through while I was trying to keep my balance on the side of the crater.

A shower of sand poured around my shoulders, startling me, and I heard Jason’s muffled curse from up above. Tommy-Tee muttered something. I didn’t look up—I didn’t want sand in my eyes—but I could guess what had happened. Tommy-Tee must have slipped and Jason caught him. As we descended farther into the crater, the rest of Seattle seemed to fade. Even thoughts of the quake vanished as I focused on my steps and my breathing.

“Fury?”
For once Queet’s voice was soft.
“I don’t want to disturb your thoughts, but I wanted to let you know I’m here.”

I was counting the steps by now to keep my focus. The sparkling sand scared me. The glittering grains were rife with rogue magic. For some reason, the thought of falling into it frightened me more than the thought of an Abom coming in off the World Tree.

“Thanks,” I said to Queet. I paused in mid-step, not wanting to mess up my coordination. “How long have I been moving? Hours?”

“No, but time in the Sandspit runs oddly. It’s not like time outside. Think of it like being out on the Crossroads. You can be there for what seems like an eternity but only a blink of an eye might have passed back here. I’ll be quiet and let you finish.”
And he was good to his word.

I went back to descending the hidden stairs until I happened to glance over at the tree and realize that I was nearly at the bottom. The sound of the winds was cushioned down here, with only a light breeze to shift and move the sands of the dunes. As I stepped off the last stair, Tam was waiting. So relieved to be down safe, I fell into his arms, holding him tightly.

“I feel like I’ve come through another world,” I whispered, my head on his shoulder.

“You have,” he said, his words a whisper in my ear. “You’re okay, Fury. The descent affects everybody that way. We all feel it when we come down here. You’re traveling through history, through layers of magic, through worlds dying and being born. I can’t explain it, but you are no longer where you started out. That may sound obvious, but…”

I looked up into his face, shivering as his silver gaze held me fast. I wanted to kiss him, to feel his lips on mine again. His arms were warm around my shoulders and I wanted his fingers to linger over my skin, to caress my breasts, my stomach, my…

“Later.
I promise.
Later.” His words shook me out of my reverie and I blinked.

“How did you—”

“I feel it, too. But right now, we should focus on what must be done.” And with that, he slid his arm around my shoulders and I turned to face Jason and Tommy-Tee as they stepped off the stairs. Both looked shaken, though Jason more so.

“Everybody okay?” I asked. “I thought I heard someone almost fall.”

Jason nodded somberly. “You did. I slipped and Tommy-Tee managed to grab me when my boot slid off a rock. I hope we didn’t hit you with too much sand on the way down.”

I shook my head, surprised. That Tommy-Tee managed to not only think fast enough to grab for Jason, but actually
managed
to catch him, surprised me. I was suddenly grateful Jason had insisted we bring him along.

“Look at that—the tree is on fire.” Tommy-Tee pointed to the trunk of the World Tree.

The tree wasn’t actually on fire, but it was glowing with flickering waves of energy—of magic. Green and blue, orange and purple, all entwined like snakes in a mating dance. The flames ringed the trunk, crackling softly in the night. The roots of the giant oak dug deep into the earth, and as I looked down at the roots that trailed near my feet, I could feel the pulsating energy flow through the lignified veins that dug deep into the earth. I knelt, holding my hand over the wood. The radiance swirled around me, catching me up in the warm resonance of magic.

“I could stay here all day and just float in the waves.”

Tam and Jason joined me, and after a moment’s hesitation, Tommy-Tee crossed to my side. A blissful look swept across his face and he let out a sigh.

“I remember this,” he whispered.

“Remember what, Tommy?” Jason tilted his head, seeming as loath to move as I was.

“I remember the night this happened. I remember when the Tree was born.”

We all stared at him. Tommy-Tee couldn’t possibly remember the World Tree’s birth. It had happened centuries ago, long before my time. Long before Jason’s time. I wasn’t sure about Tam.

“Tommy-Tee, are you
sure
you remember when the Tree arrived?” I asked.

He nodded, the blissful look spreading across his face. “I was down here, hanging out on the tracks with some buddies. The storm…it was terrifying.” His voice took on an anxious tone. “We tried to run, and I managed to get on top of one of the railroad cars. Then, the lightning hit, and the world went sky-high as metal twisted and screamed. Everything shifted and a lightning strike hit the yard and formed the crater. The Tree was born that night. I remember crawling to the edge of the crater and looking in, and there it was. The doors opened, and then…”

He paused, holding his hands out toward the tree in a beckoning gesture. “Then I don’t remember anything…not for a long time. But I do remember crawling down into the crater. I sat here for a long time. So long that the world seemed to turn to stone around me.”

His eyes suddenly clouded over again and he pressed his lips shut, the vacant look returning. He pulled his hands back as a tear rolled down his cheek. “I’m sad,” he whispered. “I want… I don’t know what I want. I need a hit.”

I motioned to Jason and Tam and we moved off to the side a bit. “What do you think?”

“I have no clue except that was the most lucid I’ve ever seen him. But…and this is a
big
but…can we trust what he said? He seems agitated now.” Jason shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“It’s probably time for his Opish. He may have some on him, most of the addicts do. Check his pockets,” Tam said.

Jason moved off to help Tommy-Tee while Tam scouted the area. I stood, arms folded, staring at the World Tree. The trunk was at least twelve feet in diameter. Branches sprang out beneath each portal to a network into a set of natural stairs—or rather, limbs that could be used as stairs. It would require some climbing, but as far as I could see, it would be possible to reach any of the vortices from ground level.

Jason found Tommy-Tee’s stash and helped him pop one of the tablets. Opish could be either taken internally or smoked. Most O-Heads preferred the smoke, but we didn’t have time for Tommy-Tee to light up. But he seemed to be content swallowing the tablet and a few minutes later, the blissful look returned to his face, only this time it was the bliss created by the drug rather than the magic.

Tam returned. “All right, I found what I was looking for. Follow me.”

We followed him around the base of the World Tree, stepping over limb and branch and root. The tree radiated like I imagined the nuclear power plants had so long in the past. All of the power plants fueled by reactors had been torn to bits during the World Shift. As far as I knew, Gaia had negated the radiation in them and now our power was generated by wind, geothermal energy, and solar power.

As we crossed another quarter turn around the gigantic tree, Tam veered to the left, toward the wall of the crater. We followed. There, in the dark of the night, was an even darker mouth of a cave. The opening was only five feet high. Tam ducked inside. I followed, with Jason and Tommy-Tee right behind me.

As I straightened up, I gasped. We were in a large cavern. A twenty-foot ceiling extended farther than I could see. The walls glittered with sparkles of rogue magic that gave off a dim light. I realized that the sand had been compacted. It was smooth and shiny, so dense that it had become hard as stone.

The cavern was empty, as far as I could see, but it didn’t
feel
empty.

“What is this place? Does the city know about it?”

Tam shook his head. “No. This tunnel belongs to my people. It leads to a safe space. Don’t worry about it collapsing if there’s an aftershock. I guarantee it won’t.”

As we approached the back of the cave, Jason exclaimed as he pointed to the ceiling. Inlaid against the roof of the chamber was a star-shaped pattern of glowing crystals. They were blue and green and they shimmered, brilliant against the dim light that pervaded the chamber.

“What’s that?”

“That is the symbol of my nation. The Tuatha de Dannan. What you call the Bonny Fae. We go back farther than the Weather Wars, you know—a lot farther. My people originally came from a land called Eire. We have a history so steeped in magic and legend that it would put modern history to shame if they were to record it right.”

“Why don’t we know about this?” I asked. “I never learned anything about your people in history class, not even when we studied the cultures of the Otherkin.”

“Because the corporatocracies don’t want you to. Not only are they leery of the Otherkin—which is why we’re banned from holding public office—but they don’t want you to know about life before the Weather Wars. You only know what they want you to know. For example—Jason’s people? The hawk-shifters? They come from the land of Black Forest, but from a time when the actual Black Forest existed as a woodland rather than a city. Long before the rise of nations and the rise of technology. The time of the Weather Wars isn’t ancient history. The time of the Weather Wars is
built
on ancient history.”

At that moment, Tam led us into a narrow passage leading away from the main chamber. As we headed in the general direction that I gauged the Bogs were in, Tommy-Tee suddenly spoke up from behind me.

“I’ve been here before,” he whispered. “I remember this place, too.”

As I glanced over my shoulder, Tam suddenly vanished through an opening ahead. I stumbled over a root, catching myself as I came to the edge of the archway. As I peeked in, Tommy-Tee’s words vanished from my thoughts.

“Welcome to the Court of the Bonny Fae, welcome to the home of the sons and daughters of the Tuatha de Dannan,” Tam said, leading us into a brilliant throne room filled with Fae. As a group near us stopped to stare, Tam inclined his head as a collective gasp ran through the room.

“Lord Tam O’Reilly, Lord of the Barrow! Welcome home, Your Highness,” one of the men said, as everyone—man and woman—dropped into curtseys and bows.

Jason and I stared at Tam, who merely winked at me, then strode to the throne in the center of the room and there, he took his place.

Chapter 20

“
Lord
Tam?” Jason stared at him, incredulous.

“I am at that, Jason. Lord Tam, Prince of the Northwest Clan of the Bonny Fae. I’m Lord of the Realm here.” Tam sprawled out on his throne like he’d been born to it. Every one of the Fae in the room had cast a reverent eye on him.

As we cautiously approached the throne, I looked around the room. The chamber was so large that I couldn’t see the far end. The ceiling stretched beyond my sight, the apex lost among the flickering lights emanating from the walls of the chamber. Furnished with benches and long tables carved from some dark hardwood, the cavern seemed sparse, nothing like I would picture a throne room. Except for the throne itself.

Tam’s throne had been hewn out of what looked like black marble, etched over every inch with knot work carvings. What I first thought was Wandering Ivy covered the base, but then I realized the plant growing around the base wasn’t sentient. Holly branches broke through the cavern floor to flare out from the other sides of the throne. Crystals—shimmering and clear—sparkled from the back, above where Tam’s head rested, and silver spines jutted out to the side along the back, forming a gleaming row of threatening spikes.