The Water Witch (36 page)

“I’m sure you’ll do your best,” Liz said, patting my arm. “But just in case I’ve asked Joan Ryan to step in as interim dean—and I’m hoping you’ll help her. Goodness knows what will become of the college …” Her eyes filled with tears and I squeezed her hand.

“And take care of
this
.” Diana draped something pink and scratchy around my neck. It was the scarf she had knitted to heal my spine, now a good six feet long and knitted in an intricate pattern that resembled the runes and spirals I’d seen on Skald’s phone. “I knitted extra protection spells into it. It should keep you safe … and remind you of your friends.”

I would need it, I thought. All my closest friends—human and fey—were leaving me. The one remaining chink of my wards grew heavier as I watched, with blurred vision now, the procession pass by me. I began to wonder if I really would be able to keep the Grove from closing the door. I had bound the door to my heart, but how reliable was that? And where was Frank? If he didn’t come with a means of destroying the Nephilim, would I be able to stand against them?

The last person to approach the door was Soheila, accompanied by three women, all with Soheila’s dark hair and flawless olive skin. Her sisters, I surmised, come to depart this world with her. Her sisters wore expensive designer clothes, as if they were going out to lunch instead of to Faerie, but Soheila was wearing a ceremonial caftan embroidered with a
pattern of feathers. Her long dark hair was loose around her shoulders and seemed to move in a breeze of her own making. She smiled and I felt a warm, spicy breeze against my face that dried my tears and filled me with a sense of peace.

“Be well, Cailleach McFay,” she said, letting her sisters go on ahead of her. “Don’t forget us.”

I was going to tell her that I could never forget her or any of the remarkable creatures I’d met this year, but a loud shout stopped me.

“Wait!”

Soheila and I turned to see three men enter the glade—Duncan Laird, flanked by Frank Delmarco and Bill Carey. Frank and Bill each had a hold of one of Duncan’s arms.

As the three men approached, Adelaide stepped between them and the door.

“I’ve had enough of these histrionics, Dr. Delmarco. If you want to go to hell with your succubus girlfriend, go ahead. But do it now. The door will be closed soon.”

“You’re counting on this creature to close it, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her eyes passing over Duncan as if he wasn’t there and focusing instead on Bill. She frowned, looking puzzled. “What
are
you?” she asked.

“The question is what is
this
creature?” Frank said, pushing Duncan forward. Adelaide recoiled, as if afraid to come into contact with Duncan. There wasn’t much Adelaide was afraid of.

Frank dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of powder that he threw in Duncan’s face. I smelled clary sage and bluebells, the same herbs I’d used in the unmasking spell, and another herb I couldn’t identify. Frank uttered a few words in what sounded like Gaelic. Duncan growled and wrenched his arms free of Frank and Bill. Both men fell back,
thrown by a force I felt from several feet away. A great whirling maelstrom was pouring out of Duncan’s arms as he stretched them out to either side. A blazing gold light burst from him, blinding me. I closed my eyes against it. When I forced them open again, Duncan stood before me, but it was no longer Duncan. Giant wings had sprung from his back and were beating the air into a froth. His skin beneath the tattered scraps of his torn shirt was golden, his eyes colorless ciphers. His hands had grown long, sharp claws. He raised one of the claws and I stepped back. He stepped with me and laid one claw beneath my jawbone.

“Is this what you wanted to see, Cailleach?” His voice had turned into something strangely musical, like harp strings plucked by steel claws.

“Stay away from her,” Frank and Bill shouted at the same time. They moved to stand on either side of Duncan and me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blond twins—also now transformed into winged monsters—moving toward us, but the Stewarts stepped in front of them and raised their shields.

“Ye wee bastards!” growled Angus Stewart in a surprising reversion to a Scottish burr. “How dare ye show your faces in my town?”

“These are the creatures who are behind the Grove’s attempt to close the door,” Frank said in a loud voice so that those remaining in the glade could hear. “They are the ones who attacked the fishermen in the woods and made it look as if it was the work of an undine. Look at the scars on this one’s back.” Frank pointed to the marks that Duncan claimed had come from the bat-winged imp. “Those were made by Nephilim claws. They’re liars and fiends who are able to get inside your dreams …” Frank looked at me, and I recalled how Duncan had claimed it had been Lorelei who had tried to drown me in my dream. It had been Duncan all along.
“… and would enslave you all.” Frank began to recite a string of Gaelic words. Duncan flinched with pain. The spell was working, but then he recovered, flexed one wing and knocked Frank backward as lightly as if he were swatting a fly.

Duncan turned to me, smiling. “Yes, we are Nephilim, the sons of angels …”

“The sons of bastard elves,” Frank muttered from where he lay on the ground.

“No,” Adelaide said, stepping forward. For a moment I thought she was going to defend me and my heart warmed. I realized that I’d never entirely given up on the idea of my grandmother loving me. But then she crushed that hope. “That’s a false story. The Nephilim are the sons of angels, not elves. They’re the only creatures who don’t need to go back to Faerie for Aelvesgold. They create it themselves. Look.” Adelaide stepped closer to Duncan, bowing her head reverentially, the first time I’d ever seen her do such a thing. She whispered something in a language I didn’t know. His upper lip twitched into a sneer that I could see, but Adelaide, on his other side, could not. Then he bowed his head and plucked one of his own feathers out of his wing and handed it to Adelaide. She brushed the feather against her face and the lines of age fell away, her hair turned from silver to gold, and her skin glowed with youth … and Aelvesgold. “Who but an angel could do that?” Adelaide said, practically purring with pleasure. “This is why the fey were jealous of them.”

“The fey recognized how dangerous they were,” Soheila said. “They were mating with humans, creating a race of heartless monsters. They would have destroyed the human race.”

“Which would have been very inconvenient for those of you who feed on humans,” Duncan snarled. “That is why the
fey imprisoned us. But now we are free, and once the door closes there will be no one to stop us.”

“I won’t let you close it,” I said, and then repeated the words of the heart-binding spell.

Duncan’s lips curved into a slow, sensual smile. He ran the tip of his claw down my throat and between my breasts. I took another step back from him, still repeating the words of the spell, appalled that I’d ever let this creature touch me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bill step toward us.

“Are you sure, Cailleach? I’d rather keep you alive. I’ve enjoyed our time together, despite your reserve. I’m sure we could break through that in time.”

A growl came from Bill that wasn’t entirely human.

“I’d rather die,” I snarled, and then repeated the spell, louder now.
“QUAM COR MEA APERIT, TAM IANUA APERIT!”

“Ah,” Duncan said, “A heart-binding spell. How clever of you. But surely you read the caution in Wheelock? The best way to disarm a heart-binding spell …” He lifted his hand, one claw poised in the air as if he were making a point. “… is to stop the heart of the doorkeeper.”

I felt the disturbance of air as his claw descended in a violent swoop toward my throat. I raised my hand to ward off the blow and his claw sliced through my flesh. His hand raised again and I saw the flash of gold-tipped claws coming toward me, but then something moved between us. It was Bill, riding a stream of moonlight that moved fast as quicksilver. He pushed me aside and took the blow meant for me. He fell to his knees, his hand to his neck. I dropped down beside him, my hand meeting his over the gaping wound in his throat.

“Bill!”

Hot blood poured over our joined hands. He looked down at it, surprise widening his eyes. “Callie, look! I’m human.
That must mean you …” He slumped in my arms and fell across the threshold of the door, his blood spilling on the wet ground with the last beats of his now human heart.

“Bill!” I cried, cradling his face in my hands. For a moment I saw Liam’s face superimposed over Bill’s, then the face of the incubus I’d seen in Faerie, and then just plain Bill. The man who had fixed my roof, removed a splinter from my hand telling me he was sorry he’d hurt me, and who had made love to me the last two nights. The man I finally understood I loved—a moment too late.

I looked up at the winged creature above us and something broke inside me. The last ward shattered in a million pieces. Maybe it was finally understanding that I loved Bill—or maybe it was the clarity of hating Duncan—that burned it away. I felt the last coil unwind around my heart and my full power surge in its wake. I stood and held up my arms. A great wind roared through the glade, knocking all the humans in the glade to the ground. Even Duncan stumbled backward a few feet, but he held his ground and started to laugh.

“Ah, so you’ve discovered your power, little witch. It won’t be long until you join us. I’m glad I won’t have to kill you after all. It looks like a drop of your blood mingled with the blood of one who loved you is all the blood sacrifice needed to close the door.”

I turned and saw Bill’s body dissolving into light. When he was gone, the door filled with a red-gold glow and then exploded into a fireball. The force of the explosion rocked the earth and knocked me off my feet. I felt myself hurtling backward through space—and then nothing at all.

W
hen I came to, Mac Stewart and Frank were kneeling beside me.

“Thank goodness, she’s alive,” Mac cried.

“Of course she’s alive,” said Frank. “It takes more than a firebomb to take this girl out. Right, McFay? And you didn’t really need those eyebrows.”

My hands flew to my face. My skin felt hot to the touch and suspiciously smooth above my eyes. I sat up and looked around the grove. The ground was scorched black, the honeysuckle trees gray skeletons against a smoky sky. A wraithlike creature in a long tattered dress appeared out of the smoke and hurried toward us. I thought it was the angel of death until she got closer and I saw it was Soheila, her face covered with soot. She held a dripping piece of cloth in her hands. “From the Undine spring,” she said, pressing the cold wet cloth to my face. “It will heal you.”

“What happened to everyone?” I asked. I shuddered, recalling the claws that had ripped through Bill’s throat. I didn’t ask where Bill was. I had seen him vanish before the door closed. I would never see him again.

“The Stewarts helped anyone who was injured to the hospital,” Frank told me. “The two pipers who were by the door were badly hurt. The Grove has beat a tactical retreat, along with the Nephilim …” Frank hung his head. “I’m sorry, Callie. I thought the spell would be enough to destroy them.”

“You couldn’t have known how powerful they’ve become,” Soheila said. “They said they’d be back in the morning to discuss the ‘new administration.’ I think they plan to take over the college.”

“We’ll fight them,” I said, pushing the wet cloth away and struggling to my feet. Frank and Soheila each grabbed an arm as I started to sway.

“I’m afraid we’re not strong enough. All our people have been sent away.” Soheila looked longingly toward the charred remains of the doorway.

“Nonsense,” Frank said. “Did you see McFay knock that Nephilim bastard back on his ass?”

“I think I budged him a couple of inches,” I said. “I finally got rid of the wards on my power. If you two will work with me, maybe I can learn to use that power.”

“What do you mean two?” Mac said, hurt in his voice. “I can help. And my family, too. The Nephilim are the ancient enemy of the Stewarts. We were able to hold back two of them and it was my nan who gave Mr. Delmarco the spell, wasn’t it, Mr. Delmarco?”

“Yes, Mac, it was. Your grandmother once told me your family had encountered the Nephilim before. We’ll welcome the Stewarts’ help. We’ll have to rally everyone who’s left—the witches, the vampires …”

“There were some creatures who went underground,” Soheila said. “Who chose to exist without Aelvesgold rather than leave this world.” She looked toward the door as if realizing for the first time that she was in the same predicament.
Without Aelvesgold, she would begin to fade—unless she went to the Nephilim to get it. I didn’t think Soheila would, but I wondered how many of the fey left behind would be tempted to do just that in the coming years. Frank glanced from Soheila to me, perhaps thinking the same thing.

“Do you think you’ll be able to open the door?” he asked.

I stepped toward the smoking ruin where the door had been and knelt down, placing my hands on the charred ground where Bill’s blood, mingled with mine, had been spilled. I tried to feel a remnant of his spirit, but felt nothing. I tried to feel some connection to that other world, but even the memory of Faerie seemed to be draining away from my mind as swiftly as Bill’s blood had soaked into the ground. I had bound my heart to the door and when I finally realized that I loved Bill and watched him die for me, my heart had shattered—and so had the door.

“No,” I said. “There’s no door here anymore. It’s gone.”

We walked back through the woods, making our way slowly over the charred, smoking ruins of the honeysuckle thicket. Frank and Soheila walked on either side of me, supporting me. The blast had scorched the whole forest. There wasn’t a trace of Faerie left in the woods. I was weaker than I first realized, drained by that explosion of power inside me. Frank and Soheila discussed what they each knew about the Nephilim.

“We’ll have to find out all we can about them to defeat them,” Frank said, exchanging a look with Soheila that made me want to disappear and leave them alone. They had a lot to talk about. When we reached Honeysuckle House they both offered to come in with me, but I assured them I was all right and sent them away.