“Huh, that’s weird. What happened?”
“Uh, Razor?” I stared at the gremlin, who looked almost as confused as we did. “I don’t think this is the right place. Did you forget where the trod actually is?”
“Noooo!” Razor flattened his ears and scurried forward, ducking through the arch. He appeared on the other side, same way as we had, blinked and scuttled through again. To the same effect. “Is trod!” the gremlin cried, leaping to the top of the pillars, glaring down at them. “Razor not forget! Is trod to Scary Lady’s house!”
“I am afraid the Iron abomination is correct,” said a new, sibilant voice, seeming to come from nowhere. I spun, raising my swords, as a tall, slender form turned out of thin air, smiling at me from across the pool. “That was the trod to Leanansidhe’s,” the Thin Man said, observing us from profile, his spiderlike hands folded before him. “Unfortunately, due to certain events, the roads to the Exile Queen no longer exist.”
* * *
“Hello, Ethan Chase,” the Thin Man greeted, raising one pale hand to wave at me. “We meet yet again.”
“Kenzie, get back,” I growled, as Razor bared his fangs with a hiss and leaped to her shoulder. “Grab your knife and any iron you may have. Razor, stay with her. Don’t leave her side for a second, understand?” The gremlin buzzed an affirmative, and I heard her scramble away, shrugging out of her pack, but didn’t dare take my eyes off the faery in front of us.
The tall fey blinked calmly, a faint smile on his narrow face, as if he thought I was being unreasonable. “You can relax, Ethan Chase,” he said in a cool, serene voice. “I am not here to fight you.”
“Yeah? Then you can leave.” I jabbed a sword toward the entrance of the ruins. “Right now. And don’t pull your damn disappearing act, either. I want to see you go.”
He sighed. “Well, you said he would be unreasonable,” he stated, to the empty air, apparently. I scowled in bewilderment. “I suppose I should have listened and let you explain things from the start.”
“A common lament,” purred another, familiar voice, coming from the top of the arch where Razor had been a moment before. “And one that nobody realizes until it is too late.”
I grimaced. Well, you did wish he was here earlier, Ethan. This is probably your own damn fault. And the gremlin is going to start screeching right about...
“Bad kitty!” Razor wailed as I turned back. “Evil, bad kitty! Drown in lake! Shave off fur! Burn, burn!” Kenzie, wincing at the shrill gremlin voice two inches from her ear, pried Razor off her shoulder and told him to shush. Grimalkin blinked at us lazily, bushy gray tail curled around himself, looking smug. I eyed him and the Thin Man in turn, feeling utterly confused.
“What the hell is going on?”
Grimalkin twitched his tail. “I knew you would come here eventually,” he said, as Kenzie finally got the gremlin to calm down. “It was only a matter of time before you sought out the Exile Queen, and, as you have discovered, the trods to the Between no longer work.”
“Why is that?” Kenzie asked, coming forward as she frowned up at the cat. Razor mumbled something that sounded nasty and vanished into her hair. “Does it have anything to do with the Veil disappearing a few months ago?”
“We are uncertain,” the Thin Man said from across the pool. I glared at him; he wasn’t moving any closer, but all he had to do was turn his paper-thin body to face me head-on, and I would lose sight of him. And he knew how to move around so that it stayed that way, essentially becoming invisible. I’d been stabbed enough times with a crazy thin sword that appeared out of nowhere; I really didn’t want to go through that again. “We do not know what has happened to the Between, exactly,” the Thin Man went on, “but I suspect that is the case. You will not be able to reach the Exile Queen by trod. If you want to get to Leanansidhe, you must travel through the Between itself. But I don’t recommend you go alone.” He steepled long fingers in front of his face. “The Between is...not friendly to those who do not know the way. If you are unsure as to where you are going, you will quickly become lost and wander for eternity.”
“Let me guess,” I said flatly. “You can take us there.”
Atop the arch, Grimalkin yawned. “Do you have a better idea, human?” he asked, slitting his eyes at me.
“I’m not letting him take us through the Between,” I snapped, gesturing sharply with my blade. “We’re going there to find Annwyl, and last I checked, he was trying to drag her back to his creepy Forgotten town. Oh, yeah, and kill the rest of us.” I fixed him with a hard glare. “What’s to stop him from leaving us in the Between and then going to Leanansidhe’s himself for Annwyl?”
“No, Ethan Chase.” The Thin Man’s voice was suddenly quiet, lethal. “It is far too late for that. The damage is done. Taking the Summer girl would have no effect on the Iron Prince now. The prophecy has been set into motion.”
“What does that have to do with anything? You still tried to kill us.”
“I never personally wished you harm, Ethan Chase,” the Thin Man almost hissed at me. “I was simply trying to restore the balance, to prevent the rise of the First Queen. But you have started something that could tear the fabric of this world apart. Because of you, the prophecy came to pass. Because of you, the Veil is now weak, unstable. And after the First Queen eliminates the courts and takes control of the Nevernever, she will attempt to destroy it again. Permanently.”