The Iron Traitor

“Like you don’t know.” Kingston sneered. “Don’t play stupid, freak. I told you to stay away from Mackenzie, didn’t I? I warned you what would happen, and you didn’t listen. Everyone knows you dragged her off to New York last week. I don’t know why the cops didn’t toss your ass in jail for kidnapping.”

“She asked me to take her,” I argued. “I didn’t drag her anywhere. She wanted to see New York, and her dad wouldn’t let her go, so she asked me.” Lies to cover up more lies. I wondered if there would ever come a point where I didn’t have to lie to everyone.

“Yeah, and now look where she is,” Kingston shot back. “I don’t know what you did to her while you were gone, but you’re gonna wish you never came here.”

“Wait. What?” I frowned, still trying to keep the jocks in my sights. “What do you mean? Where is Kenzie now?”

Kingston shook his head. “You didn’t hear, freak? God, you are a bastard.” He stepped forward, eyes narrowing in pure contempt. “Kenzie is in the hospital.”

CHAPTER TWO

MACKENZIE’S FATHER

My stomach dropped.

“She’s in the hospital?” I repeated as fear and horror spread through my insides. I remembered something Kenzie had told me about herself while we were in Faery, something big and dark and terrifying. “Why?”

“You tell me.” Kingston clenched his fists. “You put her there.”

Pain exploded through my side; one of the other jocks had lunged in with a punch to my ribs while I was distracted, knocking me to the side. I gasped and staggered away, ducking beneath the other’s left hook and raising my fists in a boxing stance as all three came at me.

Kingston swung viciously at my face; I jerked my head back, letting the knuckles graze me, before lunging forward with a body shot that bent him forward with a grunt. At the same time, one of his friends hammered a fist into my unprotected back. I winced, absorbing the blow, then spun around Kingston to use him as a shield. He snarled and threw an elbow back, trying to bash me in the face. I caught his arm, pivoted him around in a circle and threw him into his friend.

As they both toppled and rolled to the concrete, the last jock slammed into me from behind, wrapping me in a bear hug, pinning my arms. I jerked my head back, cracking my skull into his nose, and the jock shrieked a curse. Slipping from his grasp, I whirled behind him, drove my foot into the back of his knee and yanked down on his shoulders. He hit the pavement with a gusty whoof, expelling all the air from his lungs, and lay there dazed.

But the other two were climbing to their feet, looking homicidal, and I didn’t want to stay any longer. Breaking from the fight, I leaped into my truck and slammed the door. Kingston stepped up and smashed a fist into the window as I pulled out, glaring at me with murder in his eyes. A hairline crack appeared where his ringed knuckle struck the glass, but thankfully nothing more, as I maneuvered the vehicle around the jocks out for my blood and fled the parking lot.

* * *

It took a few minutes on my phone to find the hospital closest to Kenzie’s house, and I drove there immediately. I was supposed to go straight home from school, and probably should have—my parents still weren’t recovered from my trip into the Nevernever—but all I could think about was Mackenzie. And how I was the reason she was hospitalized. Maybe not directly, but it was still certainly my fault.

Kenzie had leukemia, an aggressive type of cancer that affected the blood cells. She’d told me as much when we were stuck in the Nevernever, and the prognosis wasn’t very hopeful. That was the main reason she’d wanted the Sight, why she wanted to stay in Faery. She didn’t know how long she had, and she wanted to see everything she could. Her illness also made her relatively fearless and a lot more daring than she should have been. Even when offered the chance to go back home, she’d refused to abandon me, sticking it out through sword fights, kidnappings and near-death experiences, tromping from one end of the Nevernever to the other while dodging faeries, Forgotten and other things that wanted to eat us.

And now she was in the hospital. It had been too much. Everything had finally caught up with her, and it was all on me. If I’d never brought her into Faery, she would be fine.

I pulled into the crowded parking lot and sat there, gazing at the big square building in the distance. A part of me, the part that had withdrawn from the whole world, the part that kept other people at arm’s length to keep them safe from the fey, told me not to go in there. That I had already screwed up Mackenzie’s life by dragging her into the hidden world, and the best and safest thing for her would be to stay far, far away from me.

But I couldn’t. I’d already promised her I wouldn’t disappear, and honestly, I didn’t want to. Kenzie had the Sight now, same as me, which meant the fey would be drawn to her. And there was no way I was going to let her face them alone. Besides, she would never let me get away with that.

I crossed the parking lot and entered the hospital, finding a waiting room full of bored, solemn and worried-looking people. Ignoring them, I approached the reception desk, where a frizzy-haired nurse was sitting behind the counter, talking to a policeman.

My heart jumped a little, and I backed up, watching the officer from an inconspicuous corner. There was no need to be twitchy, I told myself as the nurse laughed at something the cop said. I wasn’t in trouble. I’d done nothing wrong. But I’d also had my fill of talking to cops for the day, and I wasn’t winning any Upright Citizen awards with my appearance. If the officer thought I looked suspicious, all he’d have to do was pull up my file to see a list of crimes staring back at him. It wasn’t worth the risk or the hassle.

I hung back in the corner until the policeman finally left, then approached the desk.

“Excuse me,” I said as the receptionist lifted her gaze and raked me up and down from behind her glasses. “I’m here to see a friend of mine. Can you tell me which room Kenzie St. James is in?”

The nurse gave me a doubtful look. I could see her stamping the hooligan label on my forehead even before she informed me, in a voice of strained politeness, “Visiting hours are almost over. Are you a friend of the family, young man?”

“No,” I replied. “Kenzie is a classmate of mine. We go to the same school.”

“Mmm-hmm.” She gave me another skeptical look, as if questioning that I even went to school, and I bristled.

“Look, I just want to see her for a few minutes. I won’t stay long. I just want to make sure she’s okay.” The nurse wavered, and I forced out a near-desperate “Please.”

She pursed her lips. For a second, I thought she would refuse, tell me to get out before she called the policeman back. But then she gave a short nod toward the hall. “Very well. Ms. St. James is in room 301, on your left. Just keep it short.”

Relieved, I thanked her and hurried down the hall, checking the number beside each door frame, passing identical rooms full of beds and sick people. As I wove around a janitor’s cart, a woman and a young girl, maybe around nine or ten, came out of one of the rooms ahead of me. I stepped aside to let them pass, feeling a jolt of recognition as they walked by without glancing at me. I didn’t know the tall blonde woman, but the little girl I’d seen before. She had been in a key-chain photograph with Kenzie, both of them smiling at the camera.

Mackenzie’s stepsister. Alec or Alex or something like that. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she wore a blue-and-white school uniform as she trailed beside her mom, heading back toward the waiting room. I watched until they turned a corner and disappeared, wondering if Kenzie’s sister really knew what was happening to her stepsibling. When I was her age, I didn’t understand why I never saw my older sister; I only knew she wasn’t home, wasn’t part of the family, and I missed her. I hoped Kenzie’s sibling never had to go through that—the pain of knowing you had a sister, and then you suddenly didn’t anymore.

The doorway they’d exited shone with a faint blueish glow. Peeking into room 301, I swallowed hard. Against the far wall, Kenzie lay in a white hospital bed surrounded by softly beeping machines. Her black hair was spread across her pillow, and her eyes were closed. A round table overflowing with flowers and get-well-soon balloons hovered next to her.

Guilt stabbed at me, raw and painful, but it was nearly smothered by the worried ache that spread through my chest when I saw her. The Kenzie I knew was never still—she was always bouncing from place to place, smiling and cheerful. To see her like this, pale, fragile and motionless, filled me with dread. Ducking into the room, I crossed the floor to her bedside, gripping the rails to stop myself from touching her. If she was asleep, I didn’t want to wake her, but as I approached the bed, she stirred. Dark brown eyes cracked open blearily, confused as they focused on my face.

“Ethan?”

I forced a smile, even as I cringed at the sound of her voice, so faint and breathy. “Hey, you,” I said, sounding a little faint myself. “Sorry I couldn’t be here sooner. I didn’t know you were in the hospital.”

Her pale brow furrowed. “Oh, crap. M’fault. Phone was dead when I got back.” Her words slurred together, either from exhaustion or whatever drugs they were giving her. “Was gonna call you when it charged, but I got sick.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I dragged a chair from the corner and sat down next to her, reaching through the railing to take her hand. “Are you okay? Is it...?”

I trailed off, but Kenzie shook her head. “This is nothing. I just picked up some nasty virus or something while tromping around ‘New York.’ My immune system isn’t that great, so...” She shrugged, but that didn’t stop the guilt that continued to gnaw at me. Kenzie smiled weakly. “I should be out of here in a day or two, at least that’s what the doctors say.”

Relief swept through me. She would be all right. Kenzie would be home soon, and then we could get back to “normal,” or whatever passed for it with me. I wanted to try for normal, give it my best shot at least, and I wanted to do it with her.

I reached out with my other hand and stroked her cheek, feeling her soft skin under my fingers. She closed her eyes, and I asked, “What did your dad say when you came back?”

Her brow furrowed, and she opened her eyes again. “He actually had the gall to be upset that I didn’t call him. He said he had the police looking for me for days, and was angry that I never told him where I was. He never took an interest in my life before. Why bother now?”

“Maybe he was worried about you,” I offered. “Maybe he realized he made a mistake.”

She sniffed, unappeased. “I vanish for a few days and now he’s interested in being a dad? After ignoring me for years and not caring about anything I did?” She wrinkled her nose, bitterness coloring her voice. “Too little too late, I’m afraid. I don’t need him looking out for me.”

I didn’t answer. It would take a lot of talking, tears and forgiveness for Kenzie and her dad to settle their differences and start to heal old wounds, and I didn’t want to be that mediator. Not with my own screwed-up family. As if reading my mind, Kenzie asked, “What did your parents say when you got back? Were they very mad?”

“No.” I shrugged. “They...sort of had a visit from the Iron Queen before I got home. She talked to them, told them where I had been, that it wasn’t my fault I disappeared.”

“Have you talked to Keirran since New York? Or your sister?”

I shook my head, my mood darkening at the thought of Keirran and Meghan. “No. I don’t think I’ll see either of them for a while.”

“I’m worried about him,” Kenzie muttered, sounding as if she was fighting sleep. “Him and Annwyl both. Hope they’re all right.”

A nurse peeked into the room, saw me and frowned, tapping her wrist. I nodded, and she ducked out.

I stood, wishing I didn’t have to leave so soon. “I have to go,” I told her as she blinked sleepily up at me. Reaching down, I gently brushed the hair from her face. “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”

Her eyes closed once more and didn’t open this time. “Ethan?”

“Yeah?”

“Bring chocolate? The food here sucks.”

I laughed quietly, bent down and kissed her. Just a brief, light touch of her lips to mine, and she sank back into the pillows. Already asleep. I watched her for another heartbeat, then turned and left the room, vowing to come back as soon as I could.

As I stepped into the hall, a shadow pushed itself off the wall and moved toward me, blocking my path. I blinked and stumbled to a halt as a tall, dark-haired man loomed over me, cold black eyes regarding me with suspicion. He wore a business suit that probably cost more than my truck, a large Rolex on one wrist and an air of aggressive superiority. He didn’t look distraught. In this corridor of rumpled, haggard-looking people, he was tall and clean shaven with not a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his clothes.

We stared at each other, and I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t like the way this guy was looking at me, like I was a stray dog wandering around and he wasn’t sure if he should call animal control. I was about to shove past him when his lips twitched into a cold, unamused smile, and he shook his head.

“So.” The man’s voice wasn’t loud or even hostile. It was cool and pragmatic. “You’re him, aren’t you? The boy that took my very sick daughter away from her family, and her medicine, and her doctors, to go gallivanting up to New York for the week.”

Oh, crap. You had to be kidding me. This was Kenzie’s father. Kenzie’s very rich, very powerful lawyer father. The father who, by Kenzie’s own admission, had had the entire police force searching for his missing daughter all week.

I was in trouble.

I didn’t answer, and Kenzie’s dad continued to regard me without expression. His voice didn’t change; it was still perfectly reasonable, though his eyes turned steely as he said, “Explain yourself, please. Tell me why I shouldn’t press charges against you for kidnapping.”

I swallowed the challenge on the tip of my tongue. The unfairness of it all burned my throat. He wasn’t making idle threats. I’d dealt with my share of lawyers, though they were all public defenders, not the same caliber as Kenzie’s dad. If he decided to press charges against me, there was little I could do. My word held no weight; if the cops did get involved, who would they believe—the rich lawyer or the teenage thug?

I took a deep breath to cool my anger so when I spoke I wouldn’t sound like the delinquent brute he thought I was. “Kenzie wanted to see New York,” I began in the most reasonable voice I could manage. “She asked me to take her. It was a split-second decision and probably not the smartest thing we could have done, but...” I shrugged helplessly. “We should have talked to you about it first, and I’m sorry for that. But it’s done now. And you can try to keep me away, have me arrested, whatever. But I’m not abandoning Kenzie.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow, and I wanted to kick myself. Nice, Ethan. Keep antagonizing Mr. Big Shot lawyer; that’s a great way to stay out of jail. But he was still waiting calmly for me to go on, and the next words out of my mouth were the absolute truth. “I swear, I would never do anything to hurt her. I wouldn’t have taken her anywhere if I’d known she’d end up here.”

He regarded me with a practiced blank expression, giving no hint of what he was thinking. “Mackenzie speaks very highly of you,” he said. “She told me that while you were in Central Park, you fought off a gang of thugs who tried to hurt her. She has never lied to me before, so I have no reason to doubt her words. But I think, in this case, I must ask you to stay away from my daughter.”

I blinked, taken aback by his quiet bluntness, unsure of what I’d just heard. “What?”

“You are not to see Mackenzie anywhere outside of school,” Mr. St. James continued, still in that cool, unruffled voice. “You are forbidden from calling her. You are not to speak to her if you can help it. If you come around our house, I will call the police. Do you understand, Mr. Chase?”

“You can’t be serious.” I was torn between laughing and wanting to slug this guy in the jaw. “You can’t forbid me from seeing anyone. And good luck getting Kenzie to agree to anything like that.”

“Yes,” Kenzie’s father agreed. “I know my daughter. And I know I cannot control what she does. But I can make your life very unplesant, Mr. Chase. Which is why I am asking you, politely, to stay away from Mackenzie. I think we both know that you’re no good for her. I think we both know that she ended up here—” he gestured back to Kenzie’s doorway “—because of you.”

That hit me like a punch to the gut. I stared at him, unable to find the words to defend myself or disagree. Kenzie’s dad regarded me a second longer, then moved aside. “You should go now,” he said, a hint of warning below the smooth tone. I glared at him, then shoved past. I was tempted to tell him to go screw himself, just to prove he couldn’t order me around, but tempting fate right now seemed like a bad idea. There was nothing to be gained from it tonight.

“Think on what I said, Ethan Chase,” St. James added as I stalked down the hallway, silently fuming. “I will protect my daughter at all costs. Do not think you can fight me on this. You will lose, and you will lose badly.”

I continued to the parking lot without looking back. I saw the cop standing in the waiting room again, and he might’ve given me the evil eye as I ducked out. Maybe Kenzie’s dad had said something to him before confronting me...I didn’t know. I did know one thing—there was no way that A-hole would keep me from seeing Kenzie.

As I climbed into my truck and yanked the door shut behind me, my phone buzzed. Digging it out of my pocket, I checked the number and winced. Mom. Damn, I hadn’t called to let her know where I was. Guiltily, I hit the answer button and braced myself for the explosion. “Hey, Mom.”

“Where are you?” her frantic voice screeched in my ear. “I told you to call me if you were going to be late!”

“Um, yeah, sorry. I’m...uh, I’m at the hospital.”

“What?”

“Visiting a friend,” I added, mentally kicking myself. “I’m just visiting a friend.”

A long, shaky sigh, the kind that hinted she was holding back tears. “Come home, Ethan. Right now.”

“On my way,” I answered softly, and she hung up.

I expected a lecture when I got home. Something along the lines of “It’s only been three days since you vanished into Faeryland for a week, do you know how worried we were, you’re supposed to call if you’re going to be late.”

You know, the normal issues.

However, when I walked through the front door, bracing myself for scolding or yelling or general parental displeasure, it wasn’t Mom who rose from the living room couch to greet me.

It was Meghan.

CHAPTER THREE

THE IRON QUEEN’S WARNING

My stomach flip-flopped. My half sister, the queen of the Iron fey, was standing in my living room, looking as normal as any average, non-faery-related teenager. Almost. She wore her standard jeans and T-shirt, and her long, straight blond hair was pulled up behind her head. Only the slender, pointed ears gave her away; though the glamour concealed her true appearance, making her look perfectly human to mortals, my Sight always let me see through the disguise.

I cast a furtive glance around the room for other fey, well, for one faery in particular. For a long black coat and a glowing blue sword, silver eyes appraising and wary. Was he in my house, lurking in some dark corner? He’d never come inside before....

“He’s not here,” Meghan said quietly. Embarrassed, I flicked my attention back to her, finding her solemn blue eyes on me. She looked...tired. Worried. “I need to talk to you, Ethan,” she said. “In private, if we could. I don’t want Mom or Luke overhearing us, and there are some things that need...explaining.”

“Yeah. There are.”

I motioned her down the hall to my room, following her through the frame and closing the door behind us. Meghan perched on my bed while I dropped into my computer chair, facing her.

So many questions. So many secrets she had kept from me, from Mom, from everyone. Where should I even begin? I opted for the largest one.

“Keirran,” I said, and she closed her eyes. “When were you going to tell us? Or were you hoping to keep him from us forever?” When she didn’t answer right away, I nodded slowly, even though she couldn’t see. “That’s why you stopped coming around, isn’t it?” I muttered. “You never wanted us to meet. You didn’t want Keirran to know about his human family.” My chest squeezed tight as I thought of all those years, waiting for my sister to come back, just to visit, and she never had. “Are you ashamed of us?”

“Ethan.” She sighed, and the pain in her voice made me wish I had never opened my mouth. When she opened her eyes, I caught the sparkle of tears on her lashes and felt like a complete ass. “I’m sorry,” Meghan whispered and took a deep breath, composing herself. “I’m sorry,” she said again in a stronger voice. “No, I’m not ashamed of you, Ethan. I love you, and Mom, and Luke, more than anything. You’ll always be my family, even if I can’t be here.”

“Then...why the big secret?” I had to swallow the lump in my throat to continue. I remembered, suddenly, Puck’s look of concern when he’d seen Keirran and me together; Keirran’s own words about secrets being kept from him by everyone. “It’s not just you,” I said, watching her reaction carefully. “There’s something about Keirran that has everyone nervous. What’s going on?”

“I...can’t tell you.”

Stung, I stared at her. Meghan paused, seeming to gather her thoughts, her face suddenly pinched and agonized. “I know I’ve failed you, Ethan,” she said in a shaky voice. “I wanted to protect you from Faery, from everything. I wanted...” She swallowed hard, and her eyes glimmered. “I wanted you to know Keirran. I wanted Mom to meet her grandson, and it killed me that she might never know him.”

Meghan sniffed, then composed herself once more. “You don’t understand now,” she said, “but there are reasons why I chose what I did, why I decided it was best that you and Keirran stay away from each other.” She sighed again, but her voice was steady when she continued, “I am sorry, Ethan. I know how hard it’s been. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you and Mom, but I thought this was the best choice.”

I wanted to be angry with her. For years I had blamed her for abandoning us, for putting her life as a fey queen before her own family. But...maybe she couldn’t come back. Maybe it was just as hard for her to stay away. I didn’t understand why she was still keeping me in the dark about Keirran, but there was something else going on here.

“Well, I guess Keirran and I sort of screwed that plan up, didn’t we?” I said, wanting to ease some of the tension in the room. My attempt at a joke did not have the effect I wanted.

Meghan’s brow furrowed. “From the moment you walked into the palace, I knew what was going to happen,” she murmured, almost to herself. “I even sent someone to track Keirran down once you arrived, but he pulled one of his vanishing acts before we could find him. Then when I heard he’d helped you and Kenzie sneak out of the palace...” She shook her head. “He has no idea what this means, what it has started. Neither of you realize what could happen now. Ethan...” Her blue eyes met mine, angry and pleading all at once. “Where is he?” she asked. “Please, if you know where he is, tell him to come home.”

I gave a start. “Who? Keirran? Why would I know where...” I stopped as the very obvious answer hit me in the face. “He’s gone, isn’t he?” I guessed. “That’s why you’re here. Keirran’s run off again.”

“He disappeared not long after you went home,” Meghan replied, her face lined with worry. “No one has seen any sign of him since.” She looked around the room, as if hoping to catch him hiding in the closet or something. “I was hoping...he might’ve come here.”