The Shattered Dark (32 page)

I try to take back my sketchbook, but he holds on.

“McKenzie,” he says, keeping his voice low. “Kavok found a fae who can bring her back.”

“He found a…” A
banek’tan
, he called it. A fae who can bring Kelia back from the ether.

“He’s been helping me research. He traced the lineages. He found someone who can resurrect
her, but he won’t give me the name unless they all make it out.”

“Finish the map.” Aren’s here now. He yanks back the sketchbook, shoves it into my
hands.

“Don’t do it,” Naito says. His voice is low. It holds a warning I’d have to be deaf
not to hear.

Could Kavok be telling the truth? Is this just desperation on Naito’s part? It’s clear
he believes it. God, I want to believe it, too.

“McKenzie!” Aren snaps.

I stare back at the shadows. Shit, they’re almost gone. I drop to my knees again,
start to draw a bend in a river, and then Naito loses it.

“I’ll kill you!” he snarls as he leaps at me. “I’ll fucking kill you if you read them!”

Naito’s almost on top of me when Lena steps between us. A slight wave of her hand,
and a gust of wind changes his trajectory. He crashes to the ground just two paces
in front of me. He’s blocking the middle of the fading shadows, but Tylan’s taken
Paige to the same place Kavok took Lee. I’ve seen enough of both to finish the sketch.

“Please!” Naito screams. The desperation in his voice rips at my heart. I know how
much he loves Kelia. He’ll do anything to bring her back. I’d do almost anything to
help him.

I watch as the last wisp of shadow disappears. It’s been too long since Kavok fissured
out. Aren won’t be able to capture him; he’ll have to kill him. What if a fae really
can do what Kavok claims?

I want to let them escape. I want a fae to bring back Kelia. I want her and Naito
to have their happy ending.

But I can’t put that before everything else.

“Coen.” The city’s name is just a whisper, but it’s loud enough for Aren and the nearby
rebels to hear. They fissure out, going to the west coast of Australia.

“No!” Naito yells.

Lena places her hands on his shoulders, shakes him. “Look at me, Naito. Look at me!
No one can bring fae back from the ether. Those books you read? Everyone knows about
them. They’re fables. They’re fairy tales, Naito. Kelia is dead, just like Sethan
is. Kavok tricked you.”

“No.”

“She’s not coming back, Naito. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“No.” This time, the word cracks into a sob. I’ve never seen Lena do anything remotely
tender, but she pulls Naito into her arms, holding him as he cries.

T
HE HAIL STORM
dispersed as soon as Kavok fissured out. A bright sun lights up the sky now, but
it does little to warm the air. I’m waiting with Trev for Aren at the silver wall.
Naito’s here, too, staring at the ground. He hasn’t said much since Paige and the
others escaped, just that Kavok approached him this morning, offering the name of
a
banek’tan
in exchange for help breaking Tylan out of prison. Tylan wouldn’t leave without Paige,
though, and the remnants need Lee if they want to get the Sight serum.

I still can’t quite believe Paige is siding with the remnants. I knew everything wasn’t
perfect. She wasn’t telling me the whole and complete truth, but I never thought she’d
run off like this. I thought I’d have more time to ask her about the remnants and
to tell her about the rebels. I mean, I
should
have had more time. I’ve been shadow-reading for the fae for ten years. She’s known
they’ve existed for, what? Maybe ten days? And she’s just going to choose her allegiance
without consulting me?

I can’t help but be angry.

And I can’t help but feel like a fool for letting Tylan steal her away. Never mind
that it’s not plausible for me to recognize every single fae who supports Lena, but
I should have been suspicious. I should have picked up a clue when Paige
interrupted Lee, telling him he could stay the night with her. It’s not like Paige
to forgive a guy without making him grovel a little.

I sag against the wall next to Trev. The betrayals hurt, Paige’s and Kavok’s both.
I keep trying to make excuses for them. Maybe Paige was under the influence of some
magic I’ve never heard of. Maybe the remnants found some way to blackmail Kavok.

“Maybe I’m just the world’s biggest idiot,” I mutter.

Beside me, Trev snorts. I throw a glare his way, a glare that doesn’t faze him one
bit. He’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his
jaedric
-armored chest. His sword is loose in its scabbard, not clicked more securely into
place, and no less than three knives are within easy reach in their pockets in his
belt. He might agree with my statement, but he’s here to keep me safe. He’ll be coming
with us to Boulder, too. We’re leaving for Nakano’s compound sooner than we planned
in hopes of beating the remnants there.

I tighten my grip on the strap of my sketchbook. If the remnants do make it to Boulder
before us, there’s a chance I might need to map their shadows. There’s a chance Paige
and Lee might be with them. There’s a chance the rebels might have to kill them.

We haven’t talked about that, Aren and I, but I know it’s a possibility. This is a
war. The remnants are our enemies, and it doesn’t matter that I don’t understand her
decision—Paige has chosen her side. There are consequences to that. There are consequences
to everything.

A lump forms in my throat. I swallow it down as Aren approaches. Nalst and the illusionist,
Brenth, are with him. If we need reinforcements, one of them will fissure back for
help. We don’t want to leave Corrist vulnerable while we’re gone. With Shane still
missing and Naito and me going to Boulder, Lena’s already short three humans, and
even if everything goes perfectly at Nakano’s compound, it will take Naito and me
a while to get back to the Realm. Boulder doesn’t have a gate, so we’re going to rent
a car—
rent
, I insisted, not steal—and drive to a small town called Wiggins. The nearest gate
is on a reservoir near there.

“Are you sure you’re okay to do this?” Aren asks, stopping in front of me. Whether
he’s asking if I’m willing to be involved in the death of my friend or if I’m physically
okay and ready to go to Boulder, I don’t know, but the answer is the same either way.
I’m going to do what I have to do to help Lena secure the throne.

“I’m ready,” I tell him.

“You don’t have to go,” he says. “Naito will help us get the serum and the documents.”

I focus on Naito, who’s still staring at the ground with his hands shoved into his
pockets a few paces away. Neither of us knows how dependable he will be in Boulder.
When Lena ordered him to go with us, he didn’t respond at all; he just showed up when
Trev and I left the palace.

“I’m going,” I tell Aren. “And I’m sorry about earlier. I’m sorry I hesitated. I wanted…”

“I know,” he interrupts. “I want Naito to be happy, too.”

Aren wasn’t able to capture or kill Tylan and Kavok because I hesitated. The fae double-fissured
with Paige and Lee. It didn’t surprise me to learn that. I was pretty sure the maps
led to the gate in Coen. When fae are running from a shadow-reader, they try not to
go to their final destination. Most fae have to wait a few minutes to recover from
their first fissure, but some of them have conditioned themselves to be able to fissure
quickly two or three times in a row. That’s what Aren did when he abducted me from
my campus. He didn’t wait more than a few seconds before pulling me into another gated-fissure.
Even Kyol can’t pop in and out of worlds that quickly.

Aren never saw Tylan and Paige, but he saw Kavok. The archivist had to wait to recover
before fissuring out with Lee. If my map hadn’t been such an inaccurate mess, Aren
would have spotted the fae sooner. He would have killed him, preventing the remnants
from getting Lee back. Lee, who can lead the remnants to his father’s compound just
as easily—maybe even more easily—than Naito.

“We should hurry,” I say.

Aren draws in a slow breath, nods, then turns to Naito. Naito and I are wearing normal,
human clothes. We’re
hoping the vigilantes have all left the compound by now, but if they haven’t, we don’t
want to show up wearing fae garb. That’ll just invite Nakano’s people to kill us.

Naito doesn’t look up when Aren stops in front of him. I don’t know what he’s thinking;
I just know that he hasn’t been thinking since Kelia died. He’s been trying to find
a way to bring her back, not trying to find a way to deal with his grief. He’s the
one who helped Tylan escape. He kept me from accurately reading the shadows, first
by trying to convince Aren and me that Kyol had ordered me elsewhere, then by physically
interfering with my drawing. He has a lot to account for.

Softly, he says, “Kelia wouldn’t want me to be like this.”

“No,” Aren agrees. “She wouldn’t.”

Naito’s mouth tightens. He nods. Another silence stretches out.

“I’ve been to my father’s compound before. That’s where he…” He clears his throat.
“He’s held fae there before. He does research there.”

He doesn’t have to say more than that.

The fae take up position around us, and we leave the Inner City, walking beneath the
silver wall, then crossing the plateau to the gate that Paige and Lee were taken through
less than an hour ago. I wonder if that will be the last time I see Paige. How far
will she go to help the remnants defeat us? Will she try to return to her normal life
back in Houston? Will the fae let her?

King Atroth is dead. So is his lord general, but there are other Court fae who are
as brutal as they were—the slaughtered humans in London prove that. Paige doesn’t
know what she’s gotten herself into.

We stop by the blur on the river. After Aren opens a gated-fissure, he holds out his
hand toward me. I hesitate. I want that opportunity to talk to Paige. If she’s in
Boulder using her newly acquired Sight to see through Brenth’s illusions, Aren might
be the one who’s forced to kill her. There’s already a long list of things I have
to forgive Aren for. Can I forgive him if he takes my friend’s life?

“McKenzie,” Aren says gently. I think he knows the
direction my thoughts have gone. I have to bottle them up and push them aside to think
about later. No matter what happens between us, we have to get to that serum before
the remnants do.

I place my hand in his, take the anchor-stone he offers me, then let him escort me
into the In-Between.

I’m not fully prepared for the soul-numbing bite of the cold. When we emerge into
my world, I’m shaking. I should have made time to drink
cabus
. This is my third time fissuring in a little over three hours. My body is so not
happy with me right now.

My knees buckle, but Aren’s there. His hands are firm on my arms, steadying me while
I convince my legs to hold my weight again. Aren’s touch helps chase away some of
the cold, especially when his chaos lusters find their way to my skin, sending enticing,
tingling pulses of warmth through my body.

“I’m not doing a good job taking care of you,” he says, as Naito and the other fae
join us in my world.

“It’s not your job,” I tell him. I’m balanced enough now to step away and take in
my surroundings. It’s night here. Or rather, early morning. A full moon is still in
the night sky. It’s bright enough to see the individual pebbles beneath my feet. We’re
on the western edge of Boulder, on a hiking trail that leads up into the mountains.
The trailhead isn’t far away. A parking lot is there. It’s empty. Hopefully, that
means we won’t come across any late-night hikers. They should all be asleep in the
city below. It’s still and beautiful from this vantage point, each tiny light a pinprick
that looks as innocent as a star, not like a piece of tech that can distract a fae
and weaken their magic.

Naito seems oblivious to its beauty. He doesn’t give the city so much as a glance
as he releases Trev’s arm and brushes past me on the narrow trail. I follow him. The
fae follow behind me.

It’s not a bad climb at first. It’s gorgeous here, and the tall grass on either side
of the trail seems to soak in the moonlight. The bright, vigorous green darkens when
the trail veers left, heading into a copse of pine trees. Even though I know
we need to be watching for vigilantes and remnants, it’s difficult not to be captured
by the tranquility of the setting. The Realm is exotic and beautiful, but there are
so many places in my world that are the same, so many places worth visiting.

I’m not sure how far we have to hike. Aren had to visit a stone-seller to get us to
this location. The palace didn’t have one for Boulder in the archives. I guess we’re
lucky it brought us to the west side of the city. If it had deposited us on the east
side, we’d have a much longer way to go.

“We’re heading up there,” Naito says after a while, pointing up and to the left. Despite
the size of the three-storied building, I wouldn’t have noticed it if the lights from
Boulder weren’t reflecting off its tall windows. It looks like an old resort, one
that probably went bankrupt in the recession a few years back. The green, sloping
roof and wooden façade act almost as camouflage, making the building blend in with
the deciduous trees surrounding it.