Five: Out of the Dark (6 page)

We retraced our steps and met the other three on the sidewalk below. The baby’s mother slammed the window shut.

The binding spell on the Faerie wouldn’t last long without a continuous infusion of power—which was exhausting. So, our goal was to get her back to the Underground—to the pentacle—before the spell wore off. The boys bundled her into a large backpack and Alec carried her on his back. Johnathan handed the changeling back to me—lucky me—and we headed back toward the nearest boarded up stairway leading to the Underground. We knew where many of the stairways were. As we came upon new ones we would pry the boards away from the doorframes to gain entrance, but leave the boards on the doors so they looked undisturbed.

When we dropped to the floor of the Underground, I gave the Faerie an extra dose of the binding spell, just to ensure she wouldn’t get loose before we arrived. There were few things as nasty as an irate Faerie. They were stronger than they looked and had some really powerful magic up their frilly sleeves.

We made it back to our hideout without incident. Alec and Seth removed the Faerie from the backpack and laid her in the pentacle we’d prepared beforehand.

“This one sure is a beauty,” Alec said.

We’d discovered recently that he had a thing for Faeries, more so even than other sixteen year old, hormonal boys would have. They were beautiful creatures, and long known in folklore for their ability to draw men to them like cow manure draws flies. Alec ran his fingers through her silky yellow hair but stepped back out of the pentacle before Johnathan could yell at him. Another good reason to keep her bound until we could send her back to the Netherworld—Alec had almost been coerced into helping a Faerie escape a few days earlier. His will to combat her charms had been seriously weakened by her fluttering eyelashes and big alligator tears. He’d succumbed to her charm, and Seth and Halli had to hold him down while Johnathan and I sent her back and closed the gateway. Alec was totally embarrassed when the charm broke and he realized what had happened. Of course, we’d been reminding him about it on a regular basis since then.

The wriggling changeling I carried grew heavier by the second, and as I leaned over to set it beside the Faerie in the pentacle, the blanket caught in my gear belt made from a discarded fanny pack. The changeling unrolled from the blanket and, chittering incessantly, did a sort of lightning-fast monkey crawl out of the circle of the pentacle.

Standing beside me, Johnathan reached out to grab the horrid little creature before it skittered away. It clamped down on his hand like a needle-toothed vise.

Johnathan let out a horrendous, bellowing scream. It must have
really
hurt. I’d never heard him do more than grunt when in pain before.

I was locked in place, horror-stricken.

Whipping out her channeling rod, Halli aimed it toward the creature’s clenched jaws, “
Release
,” she hissed.

As soon as Johnathan’s hand was free, Halli followed her first spell with another.

“
Bind
!” she shouted, as the power of her spell sent orange sparks flying from the tip of her rod.

I dropped to the rubble-strewn floor next to where Johnathan lay writhing in pain, his injured hand grasped to his chest. “Johnathan! Oh, I’m so sorry! Let me see your hand.”

“Send them back,” Johnathan spat through gritted teeth. “Now!”

I scrambled to my feet. Seth grabbed the now-bound changeling and tossed it none too gently into the circle with the Faerie. I removed a stick pin from my belt and pricked my finger, drawing a drop of blood. I touched my finger to the circle’s border and closed my eyes.

Sending my will into the circle, I muttered, “
Close
.” I completely forgot to make it sound magic-y.

Nothing changed to the way the circle and its inhabitants looked, but I could feel the pressure of the force field surrounding them. I wondered briefly if I should remove the binding from the Faerie and ask her about the bite before sending her back, or at least try to get her name out of her so I could summon her again if I needed to. The twisted grimace on Johnathan’s face was too much for me to handle, though, and the sight of it wiped away my previous thoughts.

I gestured for Seth, Alec, and Halli to gather around the circle. We held hands and concentrated on the sending spell we’d all learned by heart. I spoke the words, “
Lacio expello locus exigo!”

A hole opened up inside the circle, and we caught a small, terrifying glimpse of the Netherworld as the Faerie and her changeling seeped into the void between our world and theirs.

As soon as the opening sealed shut, I broke the circle—which felt a lot like my ears popping—so it became just a drawing on the floor. I fell to my knees beside Johnathan once again and reached for his injured hand. I gasped at the sight. It was already swollen beyond recognition, red and mean-looking. The puncture wounds dripped with green pus and his whole hand was hot to the touch. The redness moved up his arm at an alarming rate.

“Johnathan, this looks horrible. What was that thing?” I asked. “Halli, get me some warm water and soap.”

“I’m not sure what it was, but I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well for me.” He closed his eyes. “I can feel the pain traveling through all my blood vessels, all my organs, my skin, my hair …” He swallowed back a groan.

Halli rushed over with the soap and a bucket of water she’d warmed with a spell. I dumped about half the water over Johnathan’s hand to wash away some of the green goop pouring from the wound. I slathered it with soap and poured more water over it. Johnathan had broken out into a sweat and his skin was a sickly color of gray. I sent Halli to refill the bucket with clean water, and I stroked Johnathan’s forehead. Using the sleeve of my shirt, I mopped some of the perspiration from his face. His eyes were closed tight, his jaw clenched in pain.

When Halli brought the bucket back over, I decided the best way to clean out the wounds was to plop his whole hand in the water and just soak it for a while. While his hand soaked, I scooted over, laid his head on my lap and continued to stroke his forehead and run my fingers through his sweat-soaked hair.

I murmured softly to him, trying to soothe him and calm my own fears. “I’m so sorry. You’re going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. It’s gonna be okay, you have to be okay.” I didn’t realize I was crying until several tears slid from my cheeks onto Johnathan’s face. He must have felt them land there as he forced his eyes open and tried a weak smile that was more of a grimace.

“Nothin’ to be sorry about, Paige-girl. Not your fault … You’re so beautiful, Paige … so beautiful. I think I might be in love with you … so-o beautiful …” His eyes closed again and his breathing returned to normal. The painful contortion of his face finally relaxed, and he fell asleep.

I, of course, was speechless. My mouth fell open, and I sat frozen in place.
Did he just say he loves me? The pain must be causing him to lose his mind—he usually acts like I’m just another one of the guys.
My frozen state was broken by Alec’s laughter.

“Bahahahaha! You should see your face! I can’t believe you didn’t know he’s got it for you—he stares at you all the time when he thinks no one’s looking!” Alec sure got a big laugh out of my apparent naiveté.

I closed my mouth, cleared my throat and cast my eyes down to look upon Johnathan’s glorious face.

“He’s delirious,” I said, without looking up, “He has no idea what he’s saying.” I touched his face again. “He’s burning up.”

“Whatever. His fever’s just like a truth serum,” Alec teased. “
John and Paige sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g …”
the childish brat chanted.

I
really
wanted to be mad at him, but it was hard when it was all I could do not to smile. “Shut up,
Alice
.” The new nickname didn’t seem to bother him one bit. “Johnathan is really sick. We need to figure out what that thing was and what we need to do to make him better. That was no normal changeling.”

I let Johnathan’s hand soak for a good thirty minutes before I put antibiotic ointment on it and wrapped it in clean bandages with supplies we’d found in our last batch of food from Joe’s
garbage
. I had Seth and Alec help me move Johnathan over to his sleeping bag, then I sat next to him.

I moved my gaze down to look at the pentacle drawn on the floor.

I shivered as the vision of the changeling biting Johnathan came to my mind. I gently touched his face and remembered his scream. I cursed myself for not questioning the Faerie before we sent her back to the Netherworld.

I stayed awake all night just to make sure Johnathan continued to breathe.

When he awoke the next afternoon, Johnathan seemed mostly normal except for a slightly swollen hand and a lingering low-grade fever. Either he didn’t remember what he’d said to me in the throes of agony and brain-frying high temperature, or he was
pretending
like he didn’t remember in order to save face. Either way, I was glad he didn’t mention it because I had no idea what I’d say if he did. I’d loved him almost since day one, but I wasn’t ready to reveal that to him. I’d already threatened to turn Alec into a toad if he said a word about Johnathan’s sick-bed ramblings. There are some advantages to being magical.

We decided to forego our routine patrols until we were sure Johnathan was okay.

ot a lot occurred during the week after the changeling incident. We patrolled as usual once we were sure Johnathan was okay. We did save a young girl, maybe eight years old, from a Troll that wouldn’t let her cross a bridge. Yes, Trolls did sometimes live under bridges, just like in fairy tales. Most fairy tales
were
based on true events. And, even though most humans were unaware of the dark and evil things out there, they were there, lurking just beyond their awareness—the chill that ran down one’s back, even in a warm room or on a hot summer day; the sudden feeling of fear after turning out the light that caused a person to run across the room and dive for the bed, for the safety of the covers; that strong sense of uneasiness that quickened one’s step when walking home after dark. In those times, when that feeling of being watched just wouldn’t go away—even in the safe confines of one’s own home, darkness and evil lurked close by.