“But…” Kenzie frowned, while Razor mumbled a halfhearted “bad kitty” from her shoulder, “how can they be remembered, when no one knows what they are?”
“That,” Grimalkin said, as I tried to wrap my brain around all of this, “is a very good question.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I shook myself and turned to Leanansidhe, who raised an eyebrow and puffed her cigarette flute. “I’m going back for Keirran, Todd and the others, no matter what these things are. We need the trod to Central Park right now.” Her eyes narrowed at my demanding tone, but I didn’t back down. “We have to hurry. Keirran might not have a lot of time.”
Grimalkin slid from the sofa, sauntering past us with his tail in the air. “This way, humans,” he mused, ignoring Razor, who hissed and spat at him from Kenzie’s shoulder. “I will take you to Central Park. Again.”
“Are you coming with us this time?” Kenzie asked, and the cat snorted.
“I am not a tour guide, human,” he said, peering over his shoulder. “I shall be returning to the Nevernever shortly, and the trod you wish to use happens to be on my way. I will not be tromping about Central Park with a legion of creatures bent on sucking away glamour. You will have to do your floundering without me.”
“Yeah, that just breaks my heart,” I returned.
Grimalkin pretended not to hear. With a flick of his tail, he turned and trotted out of the room with his head held high. Leanansidhe gave me an amused look.
“Bit of advice, darling,” she said as we started to leave. “Unless you want to find yourselves in a dragon’s lair or on the wrong end of a witch’s bargain, it’s never a good idea to annoy the cat.”
“Right,” I muttered. “I’ll try to remember that when we’re not fighting for our lives.”
“Bad kitty,” Razor agreed, as we hurried to catch up with Grimalkin.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Big Dark
One more time, we stepped through the trod into Central Park, feeling the familiar tingle as we passed through the barrier. It was night now, and the streetlamps glimmered along the paths, though it wasn’t very dark. The lights from the surrounding city lit up the sky, glowing with an artificial haze and making it impossible to see the stars.
I looked at Kenzie. “Where to now?”
“Um.” She looked around, narrowing her eyes. “The Ramble is south of Belvedere Castle, where we found Thomas, so…this way, I think.”
We started off, passing familiar trails and landmarks, though everything looked strange at night. We passed Belvedere Castle and continued walking, until the land around us grew heavily wooded, with only small, winding trails taking us through the trees.
“Where is this cave?” I asked, keeping my eyes trained on the forest, looking for ghostly shimmers of things moving through the darkness.
“I couldn’t find any pictures, but I did find an article that said it’s near a small inlet on the west side of the lake,” was the answer. “Really, it’s just a very small cave. More of a grotto, actually.”
“Best lead we’ve got right now,” I replied. “And you heard what Leanansidhe said. If these Forgotten things have a lair in the Between, size doesn’t matter. They just need an entrance in from the real world.”
Kenzie was silent a few minutes, before murmuring, “Do you think Keirran is okay?”
Man, I hope so. What would Meghan do if something happened to him? What would Ash do? That was a scary thought. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I told Kenzie, willing myself to believe it. “They can’t drain his glamour without poisoning themselves, and they wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of kidnapping Annwyl if they wanted him dead.”
“Maybe they want him as a hostage,” Kenzie went on, her brow furrowed thoughtfully. “To get the Iron Queen to do what they want. Or to do nothing when they finally make their move.”
Dammit, I hadn’t thought of that. “We’ll find him,” I growled, clenching my fists. “All of them.” I wasn’t going to allow any more people to be dragged into this mess. I was not going to have my entire family manipulated by these things. If I had to look under every rock and bush in the entire park, I wasn’t leaving without Keirran, Annwyl or Todd. This was going to end tonight.
The paths through the Ramble woods became even more twisted. The trees grew closer together, shutting out the light, until we were walking through shadow and near darkness. It was very quiet in this section of the park, the sounds of the city muffled by the trees, until you could almost imagine you were lost in this huge, sprawling forest hundreds of miles from everything.
“Ethan?” Kenzie murmured after a few minutes of silent walking.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you ever get scared?”
I glanced at her to see if she was serious. “Are you kidding?” I asked, as her solemn brown eyes met mine. “You don’t think I’m scared right now? That marching into a nest of bloodthirsty faeries isn’t freaking me out just a little?”
She snorted, giving me a wry look. “You could’ve fooled me, tough guy.”
All right, I’d give her that. I’d done the whole “prickly bastard” thing for so long, I didn’t know what was real anymore. “Truthfully?” I sighed, looking ahead into the trees. “I’ve been scared nearly my whole life. But one of the first rules I learned was that you never show it. Otherwise, They’ll just torment you more.” With a bitter chuckle, I dropped my head. “Sorry, you’re probably sick of hearing me whine about the fey.”
Kenzie didn’t answer, but a moment later her hand slipped into mine. I curled my fingers around hers, squeezing gently, as we ventured farther into the tangled darkness of the Ramble.
Razor suddenly let out a hiss on Kenzie’s shoulder. “Bad faeries coming,” he buzzed, flattening his huge ears. Kenzie and I exchanged a worried glance, and my pulse started racing under my skin. This was it. The lair was close.
“How many?” Kenzie whispered, and Razor hissed again.
“Many. Coming quickly!”
I tugged her off the path. “Hide!”
We ducked behind a tree just as a horde of Forgotten sidled out of the woods, making no sound as they floated over a hill. They were pointed, thin faeries, the ones that had threatened me and Kenzie, the ones that had given me the scar on my shoulder. They flowed around the trees like wraiths and continued on into the park, perhaps on the hunt for their normal kin.
Kenzie and I huddled close to the tree trunk as the Forgotten drifted past us like ghosts, unseeing. I hugged her close, and her heart pounded against my chest, but none of the faeries looked our way. Maybe they didn’t really notice us, maybe two humans in the park at night wasn’t cause for attention. They were out hunting exiles and half-breeds, after all. We were just another human couple, for all they knew. I kept my head down and my body pressed close to Kenzie, like we were making out, as the faeries drifted by without a second glance.
Then Razor hissed at a Forgotten that passed uncomfortably close.
The thing stopped. Turned. I felt its cold eyes settle on me.
“Ethan Chase,” it whispered. “I see you there.”
Damn. Well, here we go.
I leaped away from Kenzie and drew my swords as the Forgotten gave a piercing shriek and lunged, slashing at me with long, needlelike talons.
I met the blow with an upward strike, and the razor edge of my weapon cut through the fragile limb as if was a twig, shearing it off. The Forgotten howled as its arm dissolved into mist and lurched back, flailing wildly with the other. I dodged the frantic blows, stepped close, and ripped my blade through the spindly body, cutting it in half. The faery split apart, fraying into strands of fog and disappeared.
Oh, yeah. Definitely better than wooden sticks.
A wailing sound jerked me to attention. The horde of Forgotten were coming back, black insect eyes blazing with fury, slit mouths open in alarm. Howling in their eerie voices, they glided through the trees, talons raised to tear me to shreds. I gripped my swords and whirled to face them.
“Kenzie, stay back!” I called, as the first faery reached me, ripping its claws at my face. I smacked its arm away with one sword and slashed down with the other, cutting through the spindly neck. Two more came right through the dissolving faery, grabbing at me, and I dodged aside, letting them pass while whipping the sword at the back of their heads. Turning, I lashed out with the second blade, catching another rushing me from behind. Then the rest of the horde closed in and everything melted into chaos—screaming, slashing claws, whirling blades—until I was aware of nothing except my next opponent and the blades in my hands. Claws scored me, tearing through clothes, raking my skin, but I barely registered the pain. I didn’t know how many Forgotten I destroyed; I just reacted, and the air grew hazy with mist.
“Enough!”
The new voice rasped through the ranks of Forgotten, and the faeries drew back, staring at me with blackest hate. I stood there, panting, blood trickling down my arms from countless shallow cuts. The old woman with the cat’s body stood a few yards away, flanked by more spindly Forgotten, observing the carnage with cold, slitted eyes.
“You again?” she spat at me, baring jagged yellow fangs. “You are not supposed to be here, Ethan Chase. We told you to stay out of our affairs. How did you find this place?”
I pointed my sword at her. “I’m here for my friends. Keirran, Annwyl and Todd. Let them go, right now.”
She hissed a laugh. “You are in no position to give orders, boy. You are just one human—there are far more of us than you think. No, the lady will decide what to do with you. With the son and brother of the Iron Queen, the courts will not dare strike against us.”
My hands were shaking, but I gripped the handle of my swords and stepped closer, causing several Forgotten to skitter back. “I’m not leaving without my friends. If I have to carve a path through each and every one of you to the lady herself, I’m taking them out of here.” Twirling my blades, I gave the cat-faery an evil smirk. “I wonder how resistant your lady is to iron weapons.”
But the ancient Forgotten simply smiled. “I would worry more about your own friends, boy.”
A scream jerked my attention around. There was a short scuffle, and two Forgotten dragged Kenzie out from behind a tree. She snarled and kicked at them, but the spindly fey hissed and sank their claws into her arms, drawing blood. Gasping, she flinched, and one of them grabbed her hair, wrenching her head back.
I started forward, but the cat-lady bounded between us with a growl. “Not another step, little human!” she warned as I raised my weapons. “Or we will slit her open from ear to ear.” One of the spindly fey raised a thin, pointed finger to Kenzie’s throat, and I froze.
Razor suddenly landed on the cat-faery’s head, hissing and baring his teeth. “Bad kitty!” he screeched, and the Forgotten howled. “Bad kitty! Not hurt pretty girl!”