The Iron Traitor
Page 8

The knot of fury loosened a bit, and I gave her a half smile. “You know they’re going to talk about us,” I said as her warm hand came to rest on my knee. “This will be all over school tomorrow.”
“Let them talk.” Kenzie shrugged. “It’s not like my life isn’t under constant scrutiny as it is.” She snorted and gazed out the window, her face darkening. “Everyone thinks they know what’s best for me,” she muttered. “I wish they’d just let me live my life.”
A lump settled in my stomach. I swallowed the last of my anger and checked my watch. “It’s still fairly early,” I said, determined to salvage the rest of the evening. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”
“Um, actually...” Kenzie gave me a sideways look, suddenly shy. “I was wondering if we could go to your place for a while.”
“My place?” My stomach twisted at the thought of her in my room, but I tried to sound casual. “I guess. It’s nothing special, and my mom will be home.”
“That’s fine.” Her fingers drummed my knee. “I just don’t want to go home yet, and I’d like to see where you live, if that’s okay.”
I eyed her warily. We’d pretty much avoided talking about the un-normal parts of my life until now, but Kenzie and I were far from normal, and bringing her into my home would only prove it. “You might see a few of Them hanging around the yard,” I warned her, not liking the way her eyes lit up. “There are a couple piskies who come by every so often, and a brownie shows up occasionally, hoping I’ll let him into the house. They’re not dangerous, but it’s better if you don’t acknowledge them. Don’t give them any attention, or they’ll just keep pestering you for more.” I paused, running through the list of wards in and around my property, wondering if this was a good idea after all. “Also, if you see something weird, like a bunch of plants tied together in the tree or a line of salt across the windows, don’t touch it. They’re protective charms to keep out unwanted guests. And don’t say anything about Them to my mom. She knows about the fey, but she can’t see them like me.” I exhaled, gazing out the windshield. “And really, she’d rather pretend they don’t exist.”
Kenzie nodded, looking sympathetic. “I won’t say anything,” she promised. “And I won’t move any of your anti-faery charms around unless you tell me to. Anything else?”
“One more thing,” I said, thinking that I’d probably put the news off long enough. I really didn’t want to bring it up, but Keirran was her friend, too, and she deserved to know what had happened to him. “It’s about Keirran.”
“Keirran?” Her eyes went wide. “Is he all right?”
“Far as I know. But he’s missing. Meghan came by last night and said he went AWOL not long after we went home. No one knows where he is.”
Kenzie looked grave. “Do you think he’s with...her?”
The Forgotten Queen. I shrugged. “I hope not.”
She was quiet until we reached the familiar streets of my neighborhood. There were no faeries on the sidewalk in front of my house or hanging in the trees next door. I saw Kenzie looking for them, scanning the trees and branches and the dark shadows of the yard for invisible fey, but she was disappointed. I was relieved. I remembered the fey I’d seen earlier, that brief glimpse of something tall and thin lurking around the yard. Call me paranoid, but that was no harmless piskie. Whatever it was, I did not want to run into it again.
Mom was on the couch watching television when we came in, probably waiting up for me, and seemed completely charmed when I introduced her to Kenzie. Of course, I couldn’t imagine any parent not liking Kenzie; she was cute, perky, intelligent and knew how to handle herself around adults. I was the one they’d worry about: the brooding thug, the dangerous hooligan. All I needed was a motorcycle and a cigarette hanging from my mouth to be the Every Parent’s Worst Nightmare poster child.
I finally managed to get Kenzie away from Mom’s relentless questions, blaming Kenzie’s nonexistent curfew, and steered her out of the kitchen and down the hall to my room. “Sorry about that,” I muttered once we were in the clear. “This is the first time I’ve brought someone home. I think Mom was testing to see if you were, in fact, a real person.”
“It’s okay.” Kenzie smiled. “At least your parents actually take an interest in what you do. And your mom seems nice.” She stopped at the end of the hall, in front of a plain white door with a nail poking out near the top. “So...this is your room?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah,” I muttered, because everything was not how I’d left it. There was supposed to be a twist of Saint-John’s-wort hanging on the nail, a final deterrent for faeries wanting into my room. The nail was empty, and both my parents knew better than to take it down. Something else had removed it.
I took Kenzie’s wrist, gently pulling her behind me. “Stay back,” I warned. “Something’s tampered with my door, and it might be in there right now.” I wished I had the swords my kali master had given me, the twin short blades I’d used in my last battle with the Forgotten, the ones crafted especially for my hands. But they were stowed away in their case under my bed. Even my wooden practice sticks were on the other side of the door. I’d have to go in weaponless, unless I wanted to grab a knife from the kitchen, which I did not want to do with Mom still out there. Fortunately, I could handle myself pretty well empty-handed, too.
Keeping myself between Kenzie and the entrance, I slowly turned the knob until it clicked, then flung the door back.
There was a girl sitting on my bed. A lithe, beautiful girl in a green-and-white dress, long chestnut hair tumbling down her back. The tips of her slender, pointed ears peeked up through the shining waves, and her large moss-green eyes regarded me solemnly.
“Annwyl,” I breathed as Kenzie quickly stepped through the door and closed it behind us. Seeing the Summer faery caused a flood of apprehension to surge up with a vengeance. There was only one reason she could be here, one reason she would come. “What are you doing here? What’s happened to Keirran?”
CHAPTER FIVE
THE VANISHED PRINCE
At the mention of Keirran’s name, Annwyl shivered. I breathed deeply and tried not to let my prejudice of all things fey cloud my reasoning. Annwyl didn’t deserve that. Still, sitting in my room, on my bed in the mortal world, the Summer girl was even more obviously fey. Her dress, made of leaves, petals and wispy cloth, left her shoulders and arms bare, and her skin gave off a faint glow as if sunlit, even though it was the middle of the night. Light and warmth seemed to pulse around her, and my room smelled of cut grass and leaves. I also noticed that vines were crawling up my bedposts from the carpet, coiling around the frame like it was a tree. A huge orange moth fluttered by my head, alighting at the top of the post, and I waved a hand to shoo it away.
“Annwyl,” Kenzie said, stepping around me. “What’s going on? Are you hurt?”
“No,” Annwyl replied, looking up at us. “I’m...well, I’m not fine, but this isn’t about me.” She brushed back her hair and sighed. “I apologize, Ethan, Kenzie. I know this is unexpected, and I didn’t mean to barge in. But I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. It’s...about Keirran.”
A chill ran through me. “What’s happened to Keirran?”
“I don’t know,” the Summer girl whispered. She looked tired, worried and frightened. “I haven’t seen him. Not since...that night.”
“How did you even get in here?” I asked, frowning. “The whole house is warded, not to mention all the deterrents outside. Not that I was trying to keep you out, but I make pretty sure no fey can get in unless I want them to.”
Annwyl fidgeted, nervously brushing back her hair. “The protective charms and wards around your house are quite good, but they are also very old. I’ve seen them before, back when my sisters and I still accompanied the Summer Queen to the mortal realm. Lady Titania was very good at finding loopholes in the protective wards. I learned from her.”
Well, damn. I was going to have to find some new anti-fey charms. Something that would deter even the sidhe of the Summer and Winter courts. Less plants and more iron, maybe. It made me think, though. Should I be concerned about Annwyl? She was so unassuming and quiet, easy to overlook. But she was an ageless Summer sidhe, just like Titania and the most infamous faery of the Seelie Court, Robin Goodfellow. I knew that if Puck wanted to get into a house, no anti-faery charm in the world would stop him short of building the whole place out of iron. And even then, he’d probably find a way. Annwyl might not be on that same level, but the fact that she’d gotten around my wards and into my room was proof that she was more than she appeared.
“I am sorry, Ethan Chase,” Annwyl went on, perhaps sensing my unease. “I did not mean to alarm you. I would have waited for you outside, but—” she shivered “—the Thin Man was coming, and I had to get somewhere safe.”
I jerked up. Annwyl saw my reaction and wrapped her arms around herself, looking frightened. “I don’t know what he wants, or even what he is,” she said. “I think he might be a Forgotten, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him. He was waiting for me at the trod to Leanansidhe’s when I went to find you. I would have come sooner, but when I left the Between, the Thin Man came after me, so I ran back to Leanansidhe’s mansion and used another trod to the mortal realm. Perhaps he is also looking for Keirran and hoped I would lead him to the Iron Prince.” She frowned and lowered her arms, her voice taking on a faint edge. “He would be disappointed.”
Everyone was looking for Keirran, it seemed. And now I had another faery nuisance hanging around my home, waiting for Annwyl. Great. “So, you don’t know where he is, either,” I said. She shook her head.