The Lost Prince (38 page)

“You all right?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” she replied, as the Forgotten made a tight circle around us, hemming us in. “I’m fine. But if they touch me again, I’m going to snap one of their stupid pointed legs off and stab them with it.”

Jokes again. Kenzie being brave because she was terrified. As if I couldn’t see the too-bright gleam in her eyes, the way she looked back at the place where Razor had fallen, crumpled and motionless.
I’m sorry,
I wanted to tell her.
This is my fault. I never should have brought you here.

The circle of Forgotten began to drift forward, poking us with bony talons, forcing us to move. I looked back once, at the shadows that held the limp body of the gremlin, before being herded into the trees.

* * *

The Forgotten escorted us through the woods, down a winding path that looked much like every other trail in the Ramble, and deeper into the forest. We didn’t walk far. The narrow cement path led us through a dense gully of boulders and shrubs, until we came to a strange stone arch nestled between two high outcroppings. The wall was made of rough stone blocks and was a good twenty or more feet high. The narrow arch set in the middle was only five or six feet across, barely wide enough for two people to pass through side-by-side.

It was also guarded by another Forgotten, a tall, skeletal creature that looked like a cross between a human and a vulture. It squatted atop the wall, bristling with black feathers, and its head was a giant bird skull with blazing green eye sockets. Long talons were clasped to its chest, like a huge bird of prey’s, and even hunched over it was nearly ten feet tall. Kenzie shrank back with a gasp, and the cat-thing sneered at her.

“Don’t worry, girl,” she said as we approached the arch without the giant bird creature noticing us. “He doesn’t bother humans. Only fey. He can see the location of a single faery miles away. Now that the park is virtually empty, we’re going to have to hunt farther afield again. The lady is growing stronger, but she still requires glamour. We must accede to her wishes.”

“You don’t think the courts will catch on to what’s happening?” I demanded, glaring at the Forgotten who poked me in the back when I stopped to stare at the huge creature. “You don’t think they might notice the disappearance of so many fey?”

The cat-faery laughed. “They haven’t so far,” she cackled as we continued down the path, toward the arch and its monstrous guardian. “The Summer and Winter courts don’t care about the exiles on this side of the Veil. And a few scraggly half-breeds are certainly below their notice. As long as we don’t bother the fey in the Nevernever, they have no idea what is happening in the real world. The only unknown factor is the new Iron Court and its half-human queen.” She smiled at me, showing yellow teeth. “But now, we have the bright one. And
you.
”

We’d come to the opening in the wall, directly below the huge bird-creature perched overhead. Beyond the arch, I could see the path winding away, continuing between several large boulders and out of sight. But as the first of the Forgotten went through the arch, the air around them shimmered, and they disappeared.

I stopped, causing a couple of Forgotten to hiss impatiently and prod me in the back, but I didn’t move. “Where does this go?” I asked, though I sort of knew the answer.

The cat-faery gestured, and the Forgotten crowded close, making sure we couldn’t back away. “Your Dark Muse isn’t the only one who can move through the Between, little boy. Our lady knew about the spaces between the Nevernever and the real world long before Leanansidhe ever thought to take over the courts. The cave here in the park is only the anchor—it exists in the same place, but we have fashioned it to our liking. This isn’t the only entrance, either. We have dozens of tunnels running throughout the park, so we can appear anywhere, at any time. The silly faeries that lived here didn’t even know what was going on until it was too late. But enough talking. The lady is waiting. Move.”

She gestured, and the fey behind us dug a long talon into my ribs. I grunted in pain and went through the arch with Kenzie behind me.

As the blackness cleared and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I looked around in astonishment. We were in a huge cavern, the ceiling spiraling up until I could just make out a tiny hazy circle directly overhead. That was the real world, way up there, beyond our reach. Down here, it looked like an enormous ant or termite nest, with tunnels snaking off in every direction, ledges running along walls, and bridges spanning the gulfs between. The walls and floor of the cave were spotted with thousands of glowing crystals, and they cast a pale, eerie luminance over the hundreds of Forgotten that roamed the cavern. Except for the thin faeries and the dwarves with killer hands, I didn’t recognize any of these fey.

The Forgotten escorted us across the chamber, down a long, winding tunnel with fossils and bones poking out of the walls. More passageways and corridors wound off in every direction, bleached skeletons staring at us from the stone: lizards, birds, giant insects. I saw the fossil of what looked like a winged snake, coiled around a huge column, and wondered how much of the cave was real and how much was in the Between.

We walked through a long, narrow tunnel, under the rib cage of some giant beast, and entered another cavern. Here, the floor was dotted with large holes, and above us, the ceiling glittered with thousands of tiny crystals, looking like the night sky. A burly fey with an extra arm growing right out of his chest stood guard at the entrance, and eyed us critically as we approached.

“Eh? We’re bringing humans down here now?” He peered at me with beady black eyes and curled a lip. “This one has the Sight, but no more glamour than the rocks on the ground. And the rest of the lot are all used up. What do we need ’em for?”

“That is not your concern,” snapped the cat-faery, lashing her tail against her flanks. “You are not here to ask questions or attempt to be intelligent. Just make sure they do not escape.”

The burly fey snorted. Turning away, it used its extra hand to snatch a long wooden ladder leaning against the wall, then dropped it down into a pit.

“Get down there, mortal.” A jab to the ribs prodded me forward. I walked to the edge and peered down. The ladder dropped away into black, and the sides of the hole were steep and smooth. I stared hard into the darkness, but I couldn’t see the bottom.

Afraid that if I stood there much longer I’d get forcibly shoved into the black pit, I started down the ladder. My footsteps echoed dully against the wood, and with every step, the darkness grew thicker, until I could barely see the rungs in front of me.

I hope there’s not something nasty down here,
I thought, then immediately wished I hadn’t.

My shoes finally hit a sandy floor, and I backed carefully away from the ladder, as Kenzie was coming down, as well. As soon as she hit the bottom, the ladder zipped up the wall and vanished through the opening, leaving us in near blackness.

I gazed around, waiting for my eyes to adjust. We stood in the center of a large chamber, the walls made of smooth, seamless stone. No handholds, no cracks or ledges, just flat, even rock. Above us, I could barely make out the hazy gray circles that were the holes in the floor above. The ground was covered in pale sand, with bits of garbage scattered here and there; the wrapper of a granola bar or a chewed apple core. Something had been down here recently, by the looks of it.

And then, a shuffle in the corner of the room made my heart skip a beat. My earlier thoughts were correct. Something
was
still down here with us.
Lots
of things. And they were getting closer.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kenzie’s Confession

Grabbing Kenzie, I pulled her behind me, backing away as several bodies shuffled forward into the beam of hazy light.

Humans. All of them. Young and old, male and female. The youngest was probably no more than thirteen, and the oldest had a gray beard down to his chest. There were about two dozen of them, all ragged and filthy-looking, like they hadn’t bathed or eaten in a while.

Staring at them, my nerves prickled. There was something about this group that was just…wrong. Sure, they were ragged and filthy and had probably been captives of the Forgotten for a while now, but no one came forward to greet us or demand who we were. Their faces were blank, their features slack, and they gazed back with no emotion in their eyes, no spark of anger or fear or anything. It was like staring into a herd of curious, passive sheep.

Still, there were a lot of them, and I tensed, ready to fight if they attacked us. But the humans, after a somewhat disappointed glance, like they were expecting us to be food, turned away and shuffled back into the darkness.

I took a step forward. “Hey, wait!” I called, the echo bouncing around the pit. The humans didn’t respond, and I raised my voice. “Just a second! Hold up!”

A few of them turned, regarding me without expression, but at least it was something. “I’m looking for a friend of mine,” I went on, gazing past their ragged forms, trying to peer into the shadows. “His name is Todd Wyndham. Is there anyone by that name down here? He’s about my age, blond hair, short.”

The humans stared mutely, and I sighed, frustration and hopelessness threatening to smother me. End of the road, it seemed. We were stuck here, trapped by the Forgotten and surrounded by crazy humans, with no hope of rescuing Keirran or Annwyl. And Todd was still nowhere to be found.

There was a shuffle then, somewhere in the darkness, and a moment later a human pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He was about my age, small and thin, with scruffy blond hair and…

A jolt of shock zipped up my spine.

It was Todd. But he was
human
. The furry ears were gone, as were the claws and canines and piercing orange eyes. It was still Todd Wynham, there was no question about that; he still wore the same clothes as when I saw him last, though they were filthy and ragged now. But the change was so drastic it took me a few seconds to accept that this was the same person. I could only stare in disbelief. Except for the grime and the strange, empty look on his face, Todd seemed completely mortal, with no trace of the faery blood that ran through him a week ago.

“Todd?” Kenzie eased forward, holding out her hand. Todd watched her with blank hazel eyes and didn’t move. “It is you! You’re all right! Oh, thank goodness. They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

I clenched my fists. She didn’t know. She couldn’t realize what had happened. Kenzie had only seen Todd as a human before; she didn’t know anything was wrong.

But I knew. And a slow flame of rage began to smolder inside.
Well, you wanted to know what happened to half-breeds when their glamour was drained away, Ethan. There’s your answer.
All
these humans were half-fey once, before the Forgotten took their magic.

Todd blinked slowly. “Who are you?” he asked in a monotone, and I shivered. Even his voice sounded wrong. Flat and hollow, like everything he was had been stripped away, leaving no emotion behind. I remembered the eager, defiant half-breed from before; comparing him to this hopeless stranger made me sick.

“You know me,” Kenzie said, walking toward him. “Kenzie. Mackenzie, from school. Ethan is here, too. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“I don’t know you,” Todd stated in that same empty, chilling voice. “I don’t remember
him,
or school or anything. I don’t remember anything but this hole. But…” He looked away, into the darkness, his brow furrowing. “But…it feels like I should remember something. Something important. I think…I think I lost something.” An agonized expression crossed his face, just for a moment, before it smoothed out again. “Or, maybe not,” he continued with a shrug. “I can’t remember. It must not have been very important.”

I was shaking with fury, and took a deep breath to calm myself.
Bastards,
I thought, filled with a sudden, fiery hatred.
Killing faeries is one thing. But this?
I looked at Todd, at the slack face, the hollow eyes, and resisted the urge to punch the wall.
This is worse than killing. You stripped away everything that made him who he was, took something that he can’t ever get back and left him…like this. To keep yourselves alive. I won’t let you get away with that.

“What about your parents?” Kenzie continued, still trying to cajole an answer out of the once half-faery. “Don’t you remember them? Or any of your teachers?”

“No,” was the flat reply, and Todd backed away, his eyes clouding over, into the darkness. “I don’t know you,” he whispered. “Go away.”

“Todd—” Kenzie tried again, but the human turned away from her, huddling down against the wall, burying his face in his knees.

“Leave me alone.”

She tried coaxing him to talk again, asking him questions about home, school, how he came to be there, telling him about our own adventures. But she was met with a wall of silence. Todd didn’t even look up from his knees. He seemed determined to pretend we didn’t exist, and after a few minutes of watching this and getting nothing, I walked away, needing to move before I started shaking him. Kenzie’s stubbornly cheerful voice followed me as I stalked into the shadows, and I left her to it; if anyone could persuade him to talk, she could.

Weaving through hunched forms of indifferent humans, I wandered the perimeter, halfheartedly searching for anything we might’ve missed. Anything that might allow us to escape. Nothing. Just steep, smooth walls and sand. We were well and truly stuck down here.

Putting my back against the wall, I slid to the floor, feeling cold sand through my jeans. I wondered what my parents were doing right now. I wondered how long the Forgotten would keep us down here. Weeks? Months? If they finally let us go, would we return to the mortal realm to find we’d been missing for twenty years, and everyone had given us up for dead?

Or, would they simply kill us and leave our bones to rot in this hole, gnawed on by a bunch of former half-breeds?