Innocent Darkness (13 page)
Authors: Suzanne Lazear
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic, #Steampunk
A strange sensation, one both hot and minty, filled Noli as she sat in the faerie tree. Just as she thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eye everything began to spin round and round like she was on the carousel at the pier back in Los Angeles. It made her feel odd, even odder then the time she’d gotten drunk on wine leftover from a party at V’s house.
The air shimmered with colors—pinks, blues, and golds. Little lights danced around her and she gripped onto the branch with all her might, afraid she’d fall off.
Perhaps she was reacting to the drugs.
Or going mad.
Yes, that was it. The isolation and everything she’d
Holding tight, she sat back, enjoying the colors and sparkles.
Suddenly, they stopped, jolting her back to reality. She looked around. She still sat in the tree—the same tree. But she no longer sat in the faery garden in the back of Findlay House.
Yes, she’d most definitely gone mad. How could she not be in the garden?
This was a garden, a wilder one, the colors more brilliant. Everything shimmered and sparkled as if dipped in diamond dust.
Tiny balls of light flew around her. One landed on her hand and it tickled softly, like a butterfly. Upon closer inspection it seemed to be a glowing butterfly.
A glowing butterfly with the body of a person?
Noli shook her head, startling the little ball. They’d put poppy syrup in her food to keep her passive and she fell asleep in the tree. She needed to wake up and go back to the house or she’d be in trouble.
“Wake up, Noli, wake up.” Her eyes squeezed together. When she opened them, she still sat in the strange garden. The sky above held stars unlike the ones she’d gazed at so many times with V. This dusky rose sky held no moon.
She pinched herself hard, but that didn’t work. Neither did slapping herself. She jumped out of the tree. A pain shot though her foot.
Ow.
Dreams didn’t hurt. Did they?
The little balls of light surrounded her as she sat on the ground, cupping her bare foot. They reminded her of illustrations of faeries from a book.
That was silly. It was all a hallucination. Faeries weren’t real. Science said so.
V said they were. But that was V. He always spouted nonsense about faery trees, faery flowers, faery rings …
She drew in a sharp breath as a realization cascaded over her with the force of a punch in the stomach. All those things V had told her to watch for, things she’d discounted as poppycock, were present in the garden—the giant oak, the wildness, flowers faeries liked, a ring of mushrooms. A little ball of pink light landed on her hand.
Carefully, she examined it, studying it like she might a plant or an engine.
Little eyes blinked at her, as if it examined her right back. Blue eyes, attached to an all too human-like face. Pointed ears peaked out of blonde hair flowing down to her shoulders. Truly, the creature in her hand looked like a miniature person with translucent wings. Her pink dress resembled flower petals.
“Faeries are real?” She scrubbed her eyes with her free hand then looked again. No, it was still there. Gently, she touched the hair of the creature with her finger. The creature flew off her hand as if startled. She flew closer, tugged on an escaped strand of Noli’s hair, then flew a few feet away in a fit of giggles. A few other balls of light joined the pink one. A purple one flew up and perched on Noli’s nose, making her go cross eyed.
No this wasn’t a hallucination. Everything she knew about science and the world collapse on her, making her gasp for breath. They were little people, real things with curiosity.
If faeries were real, what else existed?
Her heart thumped at the thought of things like ogres and trolls.
Right now the bigger problem was how she’d get back to Los Angeles. “Where am I?” she asked, hoping they were intelligent.
The little faery joined the others and they flew around her as if trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t quite understand. Wherever she was, it was wild and beautiful. There was no Miss Gregory, no Dr. Martin.
But no Charlotte. Or V. Or her mama.
A crack of a branch made her head whip around. Her body tensed as she tucked her necklace away. “Who’s there?”
“Hello, Magnolia.” A figure emerged from the shadows. Even though there seemed to be no moon in this place, she could see him perfectly. There stood the man from next door. The one who spoke with her and Charlotte. The one who called himself Kevighn Silver.
The Otherworld
Noli’s heart raced as the strange, ethereal man approached her. The faeries swirled around her like a miniature battalion of protectors.
“Who are you? Where am I?” Her voice came out as the barest of whispers.
“I won’t harm you, Magnolia.” The words dripped from his lips like liquid silver.
His black hair hung loose and piercing yellow eyes sparkled wildly in the moonless night. He was a beautiful man, like a Greek statue from a picture in one of V’s books. Kevighn may be dressed as a gentleman, but tonight it seemed out of place, as if he wore a costume.
Yes, Kevighn Silver seemed far too untamed—ferocious even—to be a true gentleman. Yet he didn’t seem to be a truly dangerous hooligan, like an air pirate.
“How … how do you know my name?” she demanded. Something about the way he spoke her name made her uncomfortable, but not in the same way Dr. Martin did.
“How did you come to be here?” Smiling in a way that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, he gestured to the shimmery, magical faery garden they stood in.
“Where are we? Who
are
you?” she retorted.
“I’m Kevighn, as I told you before.” He looked around. “I’m not precisely sure where you’ve brought us, just that we’re someplace in the Otherworld.”
It took a moment for his words to register and when they did, made fear, confusion, and anger rumble in the pit her belly.
“Me?
I
brought us here? How could I bring us here? And why would I bring
you
, Mr. Silver?” Her voice rose in pitch. If she’d bring anyone it would be Charlotte or V, not some man she didn’t know.
“Your wish, Magnolia. You brought yourself here with your beautiful wish. I was simply caught in its magic. Didn’t anyone ever tell you to not make a wish in a faery tree under a full moon on the night of the solstice?” He arched an eyebrow as if she’d ignored a basic rule.
“What are you talking about?” Perhaps she truly was in some poppy syrup-induced dream. It was easier to believe that than her wish bringing her someplace … else.
“Words have power, especially on nights such as this. The magic heard your wish and brought you here.” He flashed her a smile which did nothing to reassure her.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “There’s no such thing as magic.”
A dark eyebrow rose. “No?”
“No.” Her voice soured to hide her fear. Standing, she brushed off her grey nightdress. “If you’ll excuse me, I need return to before I’m missed.” Turning on her bare feet, she started towards the exit of the strange garden.
“Magnolia, wait,” he called.
Ignoring him, she ran towards the familiar walls. When she reached the gate, she threw it open. Instead of being greeted by the familiar, orderly garden, she saw only chaos.
Chaos. That best described the disordered wilds stretching before her as far as she could see. For a moment she simply stood there, one hand on the gate.
“This part of the Otherworld isn’t safe for you, Magnolia.” Kevighn stood behind her.
She wasn’t in San Francisco anymore. That thought chilled her to the bone and she wrapped her arms around herself. “Where am I?”
“You’re in the Otherworld—a place very different from your own realm.”
“Another world? Are you serious? That’s even sillier than magic and wishes. Everyone knows there’s no such thing.” As she looked around she knew in the pit of her belly that she could be nowhere
but
some other realm. The realization turned her knees to jelly. Panic sent her heart racing. “Where exactly is this Otherworld? I have to get back to Los Angeles.”
“What is in Los Angeles?”
Turning to face him, she blinked in surprise. “My home. Certainly, I’m not returning to that dreadful place.”
Not even if they made her.
“Of course not.” He smiled in a soothing way.
“But I don’t know how to get to Los Angeles from here.” Her voice became a hushed whisper as she tried not to tremble. Little fairies settled on her shoulders in reassurance. She looked at Kevighn who seemed to be not be bothered by this situation. “Can I get to Los Angeles from here?”
“The Otherworld isn’t on any of your maps, and you can’t get there by steamer, train, or even airship. You can only get there by gates, like the one you brought us through. These gates connect our two worlds at many, many points. You can’t get there from this place specifically but, yes, you can get to many places from the Otherworld, Los Angeles included.”
Relief flowed through her, causing her tense muscles to relax. “Will you please take me there now?”
Trusting this stranger was better than getting lost in
that.
She didn’t want to think too hard about his rather convenient appearance. Instead, she’d concentrate on getting back to Los Angeles. To her mother. To V. She hoped they’d
both
be happy to see her.
His frowned and shook his head. “I’m very sorry, but I don’t know how.”
Noli bit her lip and twisted her hands.
“Don’t fret. You can come with me to my home and we’ll figure it out from there.” He offered her his pale hand.
Noli hesitated. It was one thing for him to take her home; it was another for him to take her to
his
home. She could take her chances and just try to find Los Angeles herself. One glance at the chaos beyond the gate told her that the notion was utterly ridiculous. Could she get back through the tree? But if she could do that, which also sounded ridiculous, it would bring her back to Findlay. Kevighn, at least, had the ability not only to take her away from this garden in the middle of nowhere, but to take her
home.
She looked at the tree, then back into the chaos. No, she wouldn’t take her chances in the chaos. But to go to the
house
of a strange man? “And then we’ll go to Los Angeles?”
“Come with me, and I promise that everything will be fine.”
Noli cocked her head. Really, she didn’t have much choice. “Promise?”
“Promise.” He smiled and his face lit up like sunlight streaming in through stained glass in church. How could one not trust such a smile?
Noli took his outstretched hand.