Late Eclipses
Page 12

“I’ll get right on that,” said Walther slowly, “but I don’t know where Lily keeps her pearl.”
“Neither do I,” said Marcia.
“Right.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, reviewing our options. Finally, straightening, I said, “Screw it. Let’s ask Lily.”
Marcia’s eyes widened. “Do you think she’ll answer?”
“I think we’re playing with her life if we don’t try.” I started for the moon bridge. “Come on.”
They came.
The temperature in Lily’s knowe had dropped several degrees while we were outside, and the pathways were even harder to find. Her illness was definitely affecting the place, and that couldn’t be good. The three of us wandered lost for almost a quarter of an hour, seeing no one, before we found our way back to the willows. The handmaids were still there, waiting for Lily to need them. I asked if they knew where she kept her pearl. They shook their heads. So much for the easy way.
Marcia stopped a few feet from the entrance to the willow grove. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I just can’t.”
“It’s okay.” I glanced to Walther. “Stay with her?” He nodded. “Good. You two wait here. I’ll be out as soon as I can, and we’ll figure out what comes next.”
I walked into the hot shadows under the trees alone. “Lily?” There was no reply. I kept walking. “Lily?”
She came into view ahead of me, her skin impossibly pale against the black water around her. I dropped to my knees next to the pool, leaning in to put a hand on her arm.
“Lily?” I whispered. She didn’t react. She would have looked peaceful if she hadn’t been so bloodlessly white, and so cold. I risked giving her a small shake. “Please, I need you to wake up and tell me where you hid your pearl. We need it to save you.”
“She won’t wake up,” said a voice behind me.
“I had to try.” I twisted to look over my shoulder, not moving otherwise. “How did things go at the Queen’s Court?”
“I was politely asked to leave.” A flicker of amusement crossed Tybalt’s face. “Your Lady Fetch has a true talent for being insulting. I don’t think I’ve ever been called some of those names before, and I’ve been called a great many names. I believe your large friend was taking her home. I came to see if you needed any aid.” He walked over to offer his hand. I took it, letting him tug me to my feet.
“Not unless you know where Lily keeps her pearl.” Keeping my voice as level as I could, I repeated what the Luidaeg had said. He didn’t let go of my hand. “Oak and ash, Tybalt, I don’t know what to do.”
“You’ll do whatever needs to be done. You always do.”
“And if it doesn’t work?” I wanted to get angry. I wanted something to hit. But anger wasn’t going to help, and no targets were presenting themselves. “What then?”
“Then I suppose we’ll have a problem.”
I glared at him before letting out a heavy breath and tugging my fingers free. “I should head home. Will you—”
“I’ll watch them until Lily can tell me my services aren’t required.” He offered a small smile before he turned away, walking out of the willows without another word. There was nothing else I could do in the grove, and so I followed.
Marcia and Walther were standing on a patch of green a few yards from the trees. She was leaning against him and shivering, although it looked more like exhaustion than cold. Walther looked up when he heard us coming, and blinked at the sight of Tybalt, but didn’t say anything. The Court of Cats has been loosely affiliated with the fiefdoms of Golden Gate Park for a long, long time. Everyone who lives in the Park gets accustomed to the Cait Sidhe coming and going as they please.
“Lily isn’t waking up,” I said, without preamble. “I need you to ask around the knowe and see if anyone knows where her pearl is hidden. If she wakes up, ask her directly. All right?”
“Y-yes,” said Marcia. Walther just nodded.
“Good. Call me if you need anything, or if you find anything. I’ll check in tomorrow.” I hesitated before adding, “If Lily gets worse . . . ”
“We’ll call,” said Walther.
“Good,” I said. That seemed insufficient, so I repeated, lamely, “Good.”
Marcia took a deep breath, and said, “The rules won’t let us thank you, but we’re grateful you came. We know you don’t like us. So it was good of you to come.”
“What?” I frowned at her. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“We wouldn’t have blamed you if you never wanted to have anything to do with the Tea Gardens, or us, ever again. Simon hurt you here, and we didn’t stop him.”
“Marcia . . . ” I groaned. “Oh, root and branch.”
Sixteen years ago, Simon Torquill turned me into a fish and abandoned me in the Tea Gardens. I’m pretty sure he expected me to choke to death on the air. Subtlety isn’t a lost art in Faerie, and neither is screwing up. I couldn’t turn myself back, but when a tourist scooped me into the water, I could sure as hell swim for freedom. Furious, Simon wrapped the Tea Gardens in a shroud of forgetfulness, hiding them from the rest of Faerie. I don’t know how: he shouldn’t have had that kind of power. He did it anyway, and for fourteen years the people I loved thought I was dead, while the people who loved Lily forgot she’d ever existed.
As for Lily’s subjects . . . they couldn’t see her, couldn’t touch her, couldn’t even remember why they were there. They scattered, and not all of them made it back when the spell hiding the Tea Gardens from fae eyes was finally broken. As for exactly where they’d been and what they’d been doing . . . they’d never tried to tell me, and I never asked. I knew too well how hard Faerie can be on the weak when there’s no one to protect them. When the walls came down, they came home, and I’d let that be enough.
Some of the purebloods in the Tea Gardens had lived there longer than I’d been alive, and they’d just gotten their home back. Could they survive losing it again? “Lily matters to me,” I said finally. “I won’t abandon her because of what Simon did. I won’t abandon any of you.”
Marcia pulled away from Walther and flung her arms around me before I had a chance to react. She was sobbing in earnest now. I winced, beginning to stroke her hair with one hand. “Shhh, Marcia. It’s gonna be okay.”