In the Shadows (15 page)

Freya just nods, with tears streaming down her face like raindrops on a windowpane.

It can't be possible. I was just with her not even an hour ago right before I left to go home. She was supposed to be meeting up with Jacoby…

Elves are, by all rights and purposes, immortal. They can only die a few ways. Either they fall during battle, or they decide they have lived long enough and choose to depart from this life. When they choose to die, they return to nature--usually as a tree or a flower or maybe a gentle breeze. I don’t really know the logistics of it yet. All I know is that it is nearly impossible to kill an elf.

“How?” I’m completely dumbstruck and overwhelmed.

“Come with me,” Grey says, placing his hand at my elbow and leading me through the crowd. Once the elves realize it’s me trying to get through, they give me a wide berth.

As we enter the apartment belonging to Duchess Isobel and her husband Duke Finnegan, I’m shocked by how different the tension is in here compared to that just outside the door. The anxiety is still there, but instead of loud and buzzing in the air like a swarm of angry bees, it’s silent and heavy like a thick leather coat that encompasses the entire body, weighing it down.

I scan the room and notice the little round table in the middle of the sitting room. Isobel’s favorite teapot sits in the center of the table on top of the pale blue tablecloth along with the seemingly ever present plate of scrumptious cookies.

Then I notice that while one of the two teacups appears untouched, the second has been dropped on its side, the milky brown liquid pooling around it, the lumps of white tea leaves stuck to the inside of the cup. I watch as Adele picks up the cup of tea and carefully sets it upright. 

Finnegan stands beside Isobel staring down at the floor in shock. I may have had my doubts about his feelings toward me, but I have no reason to doubt his love for his wife. I have a sudden protective urge to console him in some way.  I’m not sure how he would respond to me though so I hold back.

Isobel’s lying on the bed. Someone has folded her hands neatly and rested them on top of her stomach. She’s completely still and sickly pale and the warmth that normally radiates from her is noticeably absent.

“What happened?” I ask Finnegan, but he just stares blankly at me, overwhelmed by his grief.

“We’re not sure.  Her heart is still beating, but barely. She’s alive but appears to be in some sort of deep sleep. We haven’t been able to arouse her,” Adele informs me solemnly. “Humans call it a coma.”

I approach the bed where Isobel is has been laid down and I press my hands to her torso. I concentrate on pulling the healing magic from within me and pushing it into her.  I feel the tingling sensation in my fingertips as I place my hands on her chest and shut my eyes.

I feel the power running through me but something is different. Usually the magic is a pleasant warmth pulsating through my veins, it reminds me of the way my skin feels when basking in the sun on a warm summer’s day just before the heat becomes so miserable that just the act of stepping outside causes sweat to drip from my brow.

This time, the heat isn’t remotely pleasant. It’s blisteringly and painful, like acid is being sucked back into my veins. It's almost as though the process is being reversed somehow and my body is fighting against it so instead of healing her, I'm absorbing her sickness into myself and infecting us both.

My veins feel like they are on fire and I can't breathe. I hold on as long as I can but the casutic burning continues to intensify and spread until it feels like it’s being leached into my entire body. I scream out in agony and someone pulls me away from her. I fall to my knees in exhaustion and Grey kneels down beside me.

Isobel still doesn’t stir.  

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Why isn’t it working?” I mutter weakly more to myself than anybody else.

Freya brings me a small glass of juice to sip. I wonder how she fetched it so quickly.

I’m surprised Jacoby isn't here. He and Isobel were supposed to have tea today so I assumed he was already at the castle. But if he was here in Álfheimr there’s no way he wouldn’t be in this room right now.  So where is he?

“Jacoby?”
I try to speak to him in his mind but he doesn’t respond.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Finnegan falls against the wall, burying his head in his hands, completely distraught. He looks up at me glaringly,

“Why didn’t it work? Are you just not trying hard enough?” Finnegan awakens from his trance, storming toward me but as two male elves hold him back. That doesn’t stop him from yelling at me, “Don’t you want to heal her?”

“Of course I want to!” I defend myself. “I don’t know why—”

“This was part of your plan wasn’t it? You and that Dark Elf want to take over the kingdom, don’t you? You both are good for nothing traitors,” he hisses.

“What?!” I gasp, taken aback. His disdain surprises me since he has been so nice to me lately. It feels like his sudden attack coming out of nowhere. I thought that we were past all of this. “Of course that’s not true!”

I try to stand up but my knees buckle beneath me. How can he say those things to me? There’s no doubt that the 'Dark Elf' he’s referring to is Jacoby, but even though the majority of the Light Elves don’t trust him, I would think as Isobel's husband, Finnegan would know better since Jacoby and his aunt are so close. No one could question their bond.

“Lies,” he continues to yell at me, eyes piercing me with such malice. “This is all your fault.”

“I—but, I—” The words stick in my throat.

“Mia, come on,” Adele whispers, gently placing her hand on mine. “Let's get you to your room.”

Adele puts her delicate arm around my back while Grey helps from the opposite side. They guide me down the hall toward the spiral staircase that leads to my bedroom.

“Stop here. I need a moment,” I tell them. I take a moment to catch my breath, leaning into Grey for support before turning to Adele and asking, “Where's Jacoby?”

I don't miss the sadness that flashes in her eyes, causing anxiety to rise from the pit of my stomach.

“Where is he? Is he—“

“He was the last person to be seen with her.” She pauses as though reluctant to speak. “Finnegan has ordered him to be locked in the dungeon.”

“But Jacoby couldn’t have done this to her! He adores her. He’d never hurt her!” My heart kick-starts and races into full speed with such vigor that I wouldn’t be surprised if it flew right out of my chest.

“I believe you. But, Mia, it doesn’t look good.  It took Finnegan all of thirty seconds to persuade most of the elves that Jacoby is guilty. You know they didn’t really trust him to begin with anyway. And now the fact that you were unable to heal her—”

“It’s suspicious,” Grey finishes for her with a scoff. “He might be able to persuade them that you are somehow involved as well.”

“Oh!” Adele suddenly gasps. “I’ll be right back.”

Adele takes off down the hall and I’m left seething, feeling sick and devastated and so many other emotions right now that I don't know how much more my mind can take before it’s just going to explode from all of the pressure like a soda can that’s been shaken up and opened.

Humans aren’t made to tolerate this much pain.

There's no way Jacoby's guilty. Whatever happened to Isobel was not Jacoby’s fault. And after everything, it seems unreasonable that the Light Elves could so easily believe that I would somehow have planned this whole thing as some evil ploy to overthrow my father. When have I ever given them the impression I have any desire to rule the kingdom?

“I have to see him.”

“You can’t. Finnegan has the dungeon locked down,” Grey informs me.

“How did he manage to do that?” I demand to know.

“Alberico is gone. He left Finnegan in charge.”

“But I’m the princess!” The energy that had started to return almost immediately after hearing that Jacoby was in trouble, now doubles. My adrenaline kicks into high gear and while only a minute ago I could barely walk without assistance, I'm now sprinting through the castle towards the dungeons where my boyfriend has been unjustly imprisoned.

“Mia, wait!” Grey calls after me but I don’t stop. I have to get to Jacoby. I have to know what happened and how Finnegan could accuse him of such a thing.

I dash down the stone hall toward the stairwell leading to the dungeon. Guards are stationed on either side of the door and as I approach they step in front of me, blocking my way.

“You can’t go in there, Princess,” says an elf that is barely taller than me.

“Move out of my way,” I demand, squaring up to the guard.

“Sorry, Your Highness, but we have our orders,” replies the other elf with hair as black as coal.

“Whose orders? Duke Finnegan’s?” I cock an eyebrow at him. “I’m the princess and I’m telling you to let me pass or I will report you to my father.”

I don’t like being so mean or using my title to get what I want, it makes me feel like a sleazy fraud, but I'm not going to let anything stop me from getting to Jacoby.

The guards exchange a look and finally the shorter one shrugs and they both step aside simultaneously.

“Thank you,” I say gratefully, exhaling the breath I didn't realize I had been holding. “Now give me the keys so I can free him.”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but that we cannot do,” the short one replies apologetically. “The Duke made sure to take the keys with him. I guess he knew you would try to free the prisoner.”

“Argh!” I stomp my foot like Maddie Rose does when she's throwing a tantrum. I push past them and head toward Jacoby’s cell.

He’s waiting at the bars for me. His green eyes are sad and his shoulders are hunched over in defeat.

“Oh Jacoby, what happened?” I ask as I gently intertwine his hands with my own.

His voice is quiet, but desperate. “I have no idea, I swear. I only stepped out of the room for a few minutes. One of the servants...Xavier, I think is his name, said that Alberico needed to speak to me. I thought that was weird because I knew he was supposed to be gone, but I went anyway and when I got to his throne room, he wasn’t there and another servant confirmed that he wasn't expected back until tomorrow.

“By the time I got back to Isobel’s room she was already on the floor—unconscious,” he barely chokes out the word. “I tried to revive her, but then Finnegan came in. I tried explaining what happened, but nobody can find Xavier now to verify my story so it’s my word against Finnegan’s.” He sighs in anguish. “Is she really dead?”

“No, I know she is still alive, I could feel that much but...just barely. When I tried healing her, nothing happened. It’s no good. What could have happened to her?  This is bad. This is so bad,” I can’t hold back the tears any longer. “Isobel’s dying— and you, you’re in here. And Hannah is—what are we going to do?”

“I told you, Lark, Hannah will come around.”

“No, she’s gone.” I shake my head realizing that I haven’t even had a chance to tell him about Hannah yet, and the tears begin flowing uncontrollably now. “I think they’ve taken her.”

I don’t need to say anything else. He knows who I’m talking about.

“I’m so sorry, Lark,” he says bleakly.

“Why? Why is all this happening? I don’t even know what to do or where—”

“
Noctis vigeo
” Adele interrupts from behind me as she and Grey enter the dungeon. She’s got a large, heavy looking leather-bound book with gold-tipped pages. “I’m almost positive it was in Isobel’s tea.”

“What? How do you know?” I ask as she hands me the book.

“I noticed that the tea leaves were white, which struck me as odd at first because I have had tea with Isobel many times and I had never seen white tea leaves before so I was surprised she tried something new. I couldn't stop thinking about those unusual white leaves and then it just hit me! They weren't leaves at all. They were petals. Here, look, her symptoms are classic,” she says pointing to a passage next to a picture of the now familiar but strange, white blooms that I immediately recognize from the bouquet Dugan sent me. “I remembered reading about it a year or so ago when I was researching the difference between our Botany and human Botany.”

“Why did you care?” Jacoby asks bluntly.

“I was interested,” Adele shrugs matter-of-factly, not fazed by his rudeness.

“Who finds Botany interesting?” He mutters underneath his breath.

“Just here, give it to me,” she says, taking the book out of my hands and reading out loud, “Noctis vigeo: more commonly known as Night Bloom can only be found in the Underworld. Appearance is similar to that of the Lily with crisp white petals and a black center. Can cause painful and paralyzing symptoms when consumed and may result in the victim being unable to move or speak while remaining completely lucid. May result in death. ”

“I don’t understand why I can’t heal her though? It doesn’t make sense. I’ve never been unable to heal someone before. There has to be some way to—?”

Obviously it’s beyond me. Maybe I am
broken
. I couldn’t even heal myself and had to get stitches. Maybe I’m losing my power?

“Well, there’s someone who might have the answers, but—“ Adele starts to say but Jacoby interrupts her.

“No.”

“But, it might be the only—”

“I said no.”

I glare at Jacoby for being so rude. “Adele, if you know something, please, you have to tell me. I have to heal her.”

Adele hesitates a moment, sparing one more glance at Jacoby before saying, “I could try to concoct an antidote, but we’d need the flower, several of them actually, in order to break down the properties.”

“Can you do that?” Chemistry seems like an odd hobby for a Light Elf, but of course so does Botany.

“Yes, I think so. I’ve read about it before.”

“I figured as much, but have you ever actually done it?”

“No, but isn’t it at least worth a try?”

“Okay, well, let’s go get some blooms and you can get started.”

“They are flowers of the Underworld, Mia.” Grey furrows his brow in frustration.

“I know what they are, Grey.” I shake my head with an exasperated sign. Surely no one will object to me transporting there to get the blooms to save Isobel. Everyone loves her. Maybe there’s nothing I can do for Hannah, but if it’s not too late to save Isobel, I have to try.  “Jacoby, where can we find the flowers? Do they grow in the wild or do they have to be cultivated under specific conditions?”