Endlessly

I wondered what more Lend could possibly have in store when I saw the light, bobbing and twinkling on the trail that led to his mom’s pond. It winked on and off a few times, then slowly started moving away.

I bit my lip and smiled. He must have gone around the back way. I couldn’t imagine what surprise he had for me at the pond, but I couldn’t wait to find out. I stepped off the porch and followed the light as it stayed always the same distance ahead of me, barely visible.

I could just make out where the edge of the pond would be through the trees; dozens of pale lights shimmered around its edges. He must have set up out here, too. I shivered, anticipating spending time with him, alone, on such a magical night.

Then I came through the trees and saw that Lend wasn’t there and the lights weren’t lights at all.

They were people.

Well, no. People was definitely the wrong word.

My eyes flicked around the group gathered at the edge of the frozen pond. I saw the three black-haired and mournful beauties from the diner—now definitely floating above the ground, their filmy dresses fluttering in a nonexistent wind. Banshees? Then there were Nona and Grnlllll, who had that same glowy salamander thing on her arm I’d seen them talking to once. The dragon, because this situation couldn’t suck as much without a dragon. A little furry thing that looked sort of like Grnlllll but with massive, luminous orbs for eyes. It was holding up a small lantern—the source of the winking light. Of course. A will-o’-the-wisp, how fabulous that I’d meet one now. At least it hadn’t led me to my death in a bog. So far. Kari and Donna, the traitorous seals. And there, floating over the pond, bleep! It was the stupid sylph who had flown off with me. I still had a part of its soul crackling around in me, and neither of us was happy about that.

The lights I’d seen around the pond were obvious now—the glow they each had centered around their hearts, their bright, immortal souls like dim lanterns behind fabric.

No faeries, though. That was something, I suppose. I didn’t like my odds against most of these things, but at least I didn’t have to worry about being whisked into the Faerie Paths.

“Child,” Nona said.

“Stop right there. Enough with this ‘child’ nonsense. In case you hadn’t noticed, I had a birthday. Which makes me seventeen. You are welcome to use my name, but if you’re going to ambush me like this, the least you can do is treat me like an adult.”

“Happy birthday, Evie!” Donna said, grinning.

I couldn’t help but smile, exasperated by her enthusiasm. “Thank you. But somehow I doubt this is another party.”

Someone in all black melted out of the woods next to me and I tensed, shocked to see Arianna. I frowned. “You’re part of this? Did you set all this up?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please, so not my crowd. I saw you wander off into the woods alone and followed.”

A huge crack echoed through the air, and water and ice shot up in a fountain from the middle of the pond, slamming back down and breaking more of the frozen surface. The fissure pushed straight through to the bank in front of me, water spraying up as the ice creaked and groaned and moved to the sides. The pulsing cold in my veins left over from the fossegrim I’d partially drained swirled as if in recognition. It had better not be him in there.

I stepped back, waiting to see what would come out of the water. It bubbled up into the form of a woman, and I let out a surprised breath. Cresseda—Lend’s mom. Lend’s mom whom no one had seen in months.

“Evelyn,” she said in her rushing-water voice. As usual she glowed from the inside, far brighter in the night. Her features were perfect and strange and beautiful, and I could see points of starlight through her.

“Did you want to see Lend?” I asked. He’d be relieved to see her, even if I wasn’t.

“I am not here for my son. It is time to take your path.”

“You do mean the path back to the house, right? Because that’s the only path I’m considering right now.” I bit my lip. Maybe I shouldn’t mouth off to the elemental I kinda hoped was my future mother-in-law.

“Eyes like streams of melting snow,” she said, and it was all I could do not to roll my melting snow eyes. “Cold with—”

“I know the prophecy,” I said, holding up a hand to stop her. “I already did that. I let all those souls Vivian trapped go. Just like you told me to.”

Cresseda shook her head, droplets of water flying everywhere and turning to ice before they hit the ground with musical plinks. “That was not the end of your journey. You have more to do.”

I sighed, clenching my jaw. “What’s that?”

Nona stepped forward. “You will send us all home.” She smiled gratefully at me, reaching out to take my hand in hers. I folded my arms tightly in front of my chest again and stepped back.

“So you guys want me to open a gate now, too? Is that why you’re working with Reth? Did he make you do this?” I scanned the tree line but didn’t see him anywhere. Didn’t mean he wasn’t around, though.

“It is because of the faeries we are all here.” Nona’s voice was sad.

The three floating banshees drifted closer. They opened their mouths and spoke as one, their voices full of grief and the promise of death, mournful and tired and beautiful. They made me want to cry myself to sleep as they harmonized in chant.

“Greed and desire

Not peace, but fire

Coveting creation

Created damnation

Pulled alongside

A gate thrown too wide

Now our home calls

And darkness falls.”

I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on. “A for effort, ladies, but F for clarity. You do realize that your weird poem things never explain anything.”

Donna bounced forward. “I can explain! I can explain!”

“Be my guest.”

“The faeries didn’t like where we were. They wanted more, so they opened a gate! Using all our energy! But it was too big and they couldn’t control it, and we all got sucked through, straight here! It was scary, and cold. The faeries wanted to be able to create, because they couldn’t before, but here they could. But being here is wrong, and it’s killing all of us, slowly, changing us from what we should be. And pretty soon we won’t be able to leave, ever! So now you can open up the gate and let everyone go back to where they should be!” She paused, then leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered, “But I like it here. It’s more fun.”

“So, wait. You’re all here because of the faeries?”

Kari and Donna nodded enthusiastically; everyone else nodded somberly.

“All the paranormals in the world, all the elementals, everything supernatural—you were never here to begin with?” That meant Lend wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the faeries. Then again, I wouldn’t either. Dangit, maybe I did owe them, after all.

“No, child,” Nona said. “We were victims of the faeries’ pride and greed.”

“Victims? Sorry, but most of you don’t seem very victimish to me. What about hags, and fossegrims, and redcaps, and all the other sharp-toothed nasties”—I looked pointedly at the dragon—“in your group? I don’t feel very bad for anything that’s spent all those centuries preying on innocent people.”

“It makes sense,” Arianna said, her voice soft but thoughtful.

“What?”

“When you introduce an alien species into a new environment, it has to adapt or die out. And usually the way it adapts is by preying on the native species. Look at the dodo birds. They were fine until people came to their island with cats and dogs and pigs, then they became prey.”

“You do realize you just compared our entire race to dodo birds.”

She shrugged. “If they were never meant to be here in the first place, it’s not their fault they had to become predators.”

“Thank you, Animal Planet.” I turned back to Nona. “But what about vampires? And werewolves? Even zombies. They started out normal; they didn’t come here with you.”

“Vampires were created by the Dark Queen in an effort to make an Empty One. You know this. The others I cannot explain, but even without our kind your world has mysteries of its own.” She smiled.

“Okay. Fine. So, you were all brought here against your will and now you want to go back. You want me to just throw open a gate and let your little group skip on through?”

Cresseda shook her head. “No. All will have a choice this time. We have already started the Gathering.” Paranormals had a way of talking with capitalized letters I still didn’t understand. “It is nearly complete. And when we are together, we shall all leave this world.”

Arianna drew in a sharp breath next to me.

“All all?” I asked. “Like, every paranormal in the world? Including the faeries? And just how big a gate do you think I can make? Because I don’t think I can make another one, period. Last time it was mostly an accident, and it almost killed me.” The night felt even colder against my skin as I remembered what it felt like to channel all those souls through a gate in the stars. The burning, the agony: I really thought I wouldn’t survive.

It wasn’t that I didn’t get what they were saying or what they wanted, or even that I thought it was wrong. It wasn’t their fault they were here, and I knew they deserved a way home, wherever that might be. But the idea of making another gate terrified me, and I wasn’t willing to risk dying to try. They shouldn’t expect that of me. They couldn’t.

“I tire of this,” the dragon said, and when it opened its mouth I could see embers glowing from within. “The wee thing talks too much.”

“Evelyn,” Cresseda said, drawing my attention back to her. “Come with us now. We will help you do what you were made for, and make you whole.”

I looked from glowing paranormal to glowing paranormal, finally settling on Cresseda. They’d been here for thousands of years already; surely they could tough it out a few more. “I wasn’t made for anything. The faeries created this problem; they can solve it on their own. And I don’t need anyone to fix me.”

I turned my back on them and walked away.

I was halfway to Lend’s house when a huge spurt of fire shot up into the sky from the pond. I yelped and ran, the afghan trailing behind me like a dark shadow. It slipped and I looked back to grab for it, slamming right into Lend.

We both fell on the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked, searching my face. “What was that?”

“Probably the dragon. I think I pissed it off.”

“The dragon’s here? Why? What were you doing?”

“I got lured down to the pond by a bunch of paranormals. Including your mom.”

“She’s there?” He sat up and looked in that direction; the fire was gone now, thank goodness, but I thought I heard voices arguing.

“Yeah. Listen, Lend. They want me to open the gate for them and all the other paranormals. Your mom asked me to.” And suddenly it hit me—when she said all the paranormals on earth, she was including Lend in that. Ah, bleep. “They want to leave. All of them. Go back to wherever they came from. Probably with you,” I whispered.

“What did you say?” I couldn’t tell from the tone of his voice how he felt about it.

“I said no. I just—I’m done. I don’t know how to do what they want me to, and the idea of trying terrifies me. I’m done with the supernatural drama, tired of being caught up in the middle of it, tired of being a pawn in their stupid prophecies and petty fights. After everything that happened with Vivian and Reth, even Jack—I don’t want any of it. No gates, no other worlds, no being used. I just want here. With you.”

He was quiet for a while … too long. Oh no, what if he wanted to go with them? What if he thought his mom was right and that I should try to open a gate for them? Would I try if he asked me to? Would he take me with him? Did I even want to go with him if he chose that? If I survived opening the gate, that was.

He reached out a hand and stood, helping me up. With one last look in the direction of the pond, he put his arm around me and turned us so we faced the house. “It’s your choice, Evie. And for the record, I think you made the right one.”

“Yeah?”

He squeezed me. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

“I don’t think we should go,” Lend said, frowning at his dad the next morning.

“Nona asked very nicely. They only want to talk,” David said.

“I’ve already heard what they had to say.” I sat next to Lend on the couch with my arms crossed. His thumb pressed circles into the tight muscles along my neck. “I’m not interested.”

“She implied there was more to it than you let them say last night. Something with what the Unseelie Court is doing.”

“Again, not my problem. I didn’t ask to be involved in any of this.” It was easier to be annoyed with them than to feel compassionate. If I was annoyed, I could dismiss what they wanted instead of feeling guilty for not helping.

“But you are,” Arianna said softly from the doorway. I hadn’t heard her come in. She looked beyond tired, her shoulders stooped, hands shoved in the pockets of her black jeans. “At least get all the details before you decide to turn your back on them.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Fine. We’ll go to the diner, Nona can tell me everything, and then I can say no. Okay?”

David and Arianna nodded, and Lend stood. “Let’s get it over with, then.”

We piled into the car, Arianna in front with David. He looked at Lend in the rearview mirror. “Did you talk to your mother last night?”

“Nope. And I’m not going to if she’s trying to take advantage of Evie and force her to do something she doesn’t want to.”

I put my head down on his shoulder. We were in this together, and Lend was right. We made our own choices, regardless of where we came from or what we were. He’d taught me that. I wasn’t going to choose to be used. I put my hand over Tasey’s reassuring bulk in my purse. I didn’t belong to IPCA or to the paranormals.

The diner was empty when we got there except for Nona, Grnlllll, and the selkies. Scowling, I sat down next to Lend at a table. Arianna hesitated, then muttered something about picking up some of her stuff and walked straight back through the kitchen and upstairs. I guess she didn’t belong at this conversation anyway since she wasn’t one of the paranormals looking to go back home.

David pulled up a chair and Nona sat across from me. “Thank you for coming, Evelyn.”

Well, at least she wasn’t calling me child. “Yup. I’m here. So talk.”

“It is not only for our sake that we ask this of you. I know how you have struggled to build a place for yourself in this world. But even that place is threatened by the faeries’ continued presence here. We have indeed been working with the Seelie Court.”

“I knew it!”

“But only because their desires align with ours. We have let go of our ancient enmity in order to move forward. I would ask you to do the same.”

I sat back and shook my head. “It’s not your place to ask, Nona. I’ve got nothing against you, really, but I don’t like any of this. You’d make me sacrifice everything I have—quite possibly my life—for something I don’t think I can even do. And I don’t want to. If the faeries got you all here without an Empty One, they can figure out a way to get you back.” There was no reason for me to be in the middle of this. I was sixteen—wait, seventeen now—and this shouldn’t be my problem.

“It is not simply that. Being here has separated all of us from what we were and should be. We have dwelt here too long, and we can feel that the time is drawing quickly to a close where it will be possible for us to rejoin eternity. If we cannot get back soon, very soon, we will become permanent fixtures of your Earth. Some of us have been too far removed already. But it is more than concern for ourselves. The Dark Queen has been making—”

Light drew my eyes and I whipped my head to the far end of the diner. A faerie door traced itself onto the wall and, in all his golden glory, out stepped Reth.

“I can’t believe you brought him into this!” I said to Nona, standing in a rage.

“Time to go, time to go, time to go,” Reth said, striding straight toward me and grabbing my arm. He looked strange, though, his usually pristine clothes slightly rumpled and an expression on his face I’d never seen there before and couldn’t quite place.

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I yanked my arm back, and then I realized what the look on his face was—panic. Reth didn’t do panic.

David and Lend both stood, and Lend put himself in front of me. “Get out,” he said.

Reth ignored him. “Nona, we’re discovered. Gather everyone; I will do my best to keep Evelyn alive long enough to meet you.”

“Excuse me?” I stretched my fingers out, eyes narrowing. I hadn’t forgotten Reth’s part in all this, what his court did to my mother—using her to make me and then discarding her, letting her die somewhere, broken and alone, while my alcoholic faerie father lost me. “The last time we were together I said I’d kill you if I ever saw you again. Do you really want to find out if I was serious?”

“I sincerely hope I have the chance to. But now we are leaving.” He shoved Lend aside and wrapped an impossibly strong arm around my waist, pulling me backward. I screamed as Lend and David jumped on him, but Reth flicked his free hand and tossed them both aside. “I am sorry about that.”

“Stop!” I shouted, bucking my legs to try and throw him off balance long enough to get my hand around to his chest. He grabbed both my wrists with one of his long-fingered hands to immobilize my soul-sucking powers, but then froze.

“Wretched fates. Too late,” he whispered, staring out the window. I matched his gaze and was nearly blinded as white light exploded in the middle of the street, followed by a window-shattering boom.

My mouth opened in a scream, but I couldn’t hear anything as I ducked my head against Reth’s chest. I blinked rapidly, trying to get my eyes to adjust, then looked back out. Where the street should have been was a wall of black nothingness. And stepping out of it was the most terrifying creature I had ever had the misfortune of seeing.

The Dark Queen.

She was just as I remembered: hair pooling down her back, iridescent like oil in the sun, skin pure white, lips violet and full and cruel. Perfection, terrifying and overwhelming. And in her whirlpool eyes I saw death.

Nona stood straight in front of the gaping window frame. My ears finally cleared and I caught the end as she said, “You have no claim.” Her voice took on a deep echo, a cracking and groaning of growing things unnaturally accelerated. She raised both hands in the air and roots shot up, slamming through the asphalt and wrapping themselves around the Dark Queen’s legs beneath her gossamer white dress.

The Dark Queen smiled, a knifing look, and her mouth moved in a whisper. Nona trembled, and the roots shook, faster and faster until they split into pieces. Nona shrieked and fell to the floor, her glamour falling away as small cracks spread along her oak-brown skin.

Grnlllll ran forward, jumping up onto a table and out the window. The roar that issued from her tiny gnome frame made the ground tremble and buck; I fell to my knees as the tiles beneath my feet rolled. The road, already broken up from the roots, crumbled into jagged pieces around the Dark Queen. She flicked a hand, sending Grnlllll flying into the side of the building.

The ground immediately stopped shaking, and her bottomless black eyes looked straight into the diner. “I want the Empty One.” Her voice rippled out like a shock wave; I felt it go through me, felt it pierce my heart, overwhelm it, leave nothing in its wake but a vacuum that only she could fill. Yes. I would go.

I started to stand, but Reth pushed me to the floor and put a hand over my heart. I gasped as the heat invaded, pushing out the vast emptiness the Dark Queen had put there.

“Give her to me, you golden fool, or I will unmake you.”

I felt Reth’s hand tremble on me; he’d turn me over. He had to. He wouldn’t die for me. I was shocked to realize I didn’t want him to die here, either.

Suddenly Arianna’s voice rang out from above us. “Hey, witch! That’s the fugliest dress I’ve ever seen!”

I looked up to see the Dark Queen pelted with the contents of our apartment fridge raining down from the second floor window. She raised a hand and I screamed. Not Arianna, I couldn’t lose her, too. Then a plate smashed against the Dark Queen’s perfect white arm from the side, distracting her.

Kari and Donna stood in the doorway of the diner, loaded with every dish they could hold, throwing them with remarkable aim. Cups and bowls crashed off the Dark Queen, not doing any real damage but sure as anything pissing her off.

“Dad! The pans, in the kitchen! Iron!” Lend said. David nodded and ran back.

“Behind the counter, now!” Lend hissed, grabbing Reth’s arm and pulling us both back to the flimsy shelter where we all crouched. “We’ll wait until my dad distracts her with the iron and then get away through a faerie door.”

Reth nodded, and I let myself hope for one second that we’d get out of this, that we’d escape her and somehow be okay. Then there was a horrible noise like an animal in pain that cut off far too sharply, and Donna screamed, sobbing Kari’s name.

“Enough,” the Dark Queen said, her voice pushing out and somehow making the very air feel different, thicker. Reth’s golden eyes widened in horror; he put a hand out on the wall.

Nothing happened.

Lend watched, and I saw his face as it sank in. We weren’t going to get out.

“It’s okay,” I said, my voice breaking. “It’s okay. You guys stay back here. Try to help the others. I can’t let her hurt anyone else. She won’t leave until she gets me.”

“You,” Lend whispered, then looked at Reth. Something unspoken passed between them. “Keep her safe,” Lend said fiercely.

Reth nodded. “Always.”

Lend leaned forward and smashed his lips into mine, kissing me desperately, then pulled away. “I love you,” he said, his glamour melting off so it was him, just him for a heartbeat, and I got ready to stand and be lost forever. Then he replaced his water self with: Me.

“No!” I screamed, but Reth wrapped his arms around me and traced one finger down my throat, freezing my voice.

I screamed and screamed, ripping my throat to shreds but no sound came out. Lend-as-me stood up, lifting both hands in the air.

“I’m coming,” my voice said. “Stop.”

He walked out from behind the counter and I couldn’t see him and she’d kill him and I’d lose him forever and I couldn’t live in a world where he wasn’t.

I kicked against the counter as hard as I could, trying to force Reth to let me go, but his arms weren’t flesh, they were permanent, there was no give. I slammed my head back into his chest again and again, but then I felt more than heard her faerie door closing as the air thinned again and I knew it was over and my world had been destroyed.

Lend was gone, and it was my fault.

I slammed my head against Reth again in rage; he pulled me closer and said, in a voice tender and sad, “Sleep.”

And then it was black.

Shh, shh,” Vivian said, cradling me and stroking my hair in our dark, star-filled dreamscape. “Where have you been? I’ve been feeling strange lately; I wanted to tell you. But what’s wrong? What happened?”