Shadow Faerie (Creepy Hollow Book Eight) - Rachel Morgan(ang)

SHADOW FAERIE
RACHEL MORGAN
Shadow Faerie
By Rachel Morgan
Copyright © 2017 Rachel Morgan
Cover Design by Rachel Morgan
Summary:
Having made a deal with a prince in order to get her sick
mother healed, Emerson enters the dangerous world of the
Unseelie Court. But how far is she willing to go to save her
mother?
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and
incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or,
if real, used fictitiously.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without
prior written permission from the author, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For
more information please contact the author.
Mobi Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9947154-2-5
Epub Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9947154-3-2
**
PART ONE
PROLOGUE
DASH
DASH HAD BEEN AT HIS DESK AT THE CREEPY
Hollow Guild for less than ten minutes when his
amber, sitting beside the goblin abduction report he
was working on, shivered and emitted a chirp.
Glowing gold words rose to the surface of the
rectangular device. Recognizing Violet’s
handwriting, Dash quickly pulled the amber closer.
His eyes darted up to check who might have been
standing close enough to his desk to have seen the
message. The open office area was filled with the
bustle of morning activity: a junior guardian team
returning from a night mission; two trainees
delivering scrolls; and his own teammate, Jewel,
hard at work on something. It was highly unlikely
any of these people would know who the message
on Dash’s amber was from, but it still made him
nervous corresponding with Griffin rebels while
beneath the Guild’s own roof.
He leaned back in his chair, schooling his
expression into one of nonchalance, and read the
message: Do you know where Em is? I can’t find
her. Ice chilled Dash’s veins as he struggled to keep
his expression neutral. If Vi couldn’t find someone,
that meant serious trouble. Thanks to her Griffin
Ability, she should be able to find anyone who
wasn’t concealed by some form of magic. Em’s
Griffin Ability, however, was a whole new story.
Was she playing around with it? Testing whether
she could hide herself? Dash reached across his
desk, grabbed his stylus, and wrote a quick
response on his amber. No. Are you sure she left?
Check orbs.
Vi’s reply came seconds later: Checking now.
I’m on my way over, Dash scribbled as he
pushed away from his desk and stood.
“Leaving already?” Jewel asked. Dash looked
up as she stood and walked around her desk. “You
only just got here.”
“I need to check on something. One of the
witness reports from the goblin abduction case. A
few details are missing.” Dash cringed internally,
hating having to lie to one of his best friends. “I’ll
get one of the guards downstairs to open a doorway
for me,” he added quickly. Like Jewel, he wasn’t
supposed to be able to open doorways to the faerie
paths anymore. An annoyance Em’s Griffin Ability
was responsible for. Em had since reversed the
magic’s effect on Dash, but Jewel didn’t know that.
The only thing Jewel knew was that Em had
escaped the Guild’s clutches and disappeared.
“Do you need me to go with you?” Jewel asked.
“No, don’t worry. It’ll be quick.” He gave her a
smile, which he suspected looking nothing like his
usual easygoing grin.
“Okay. Hey, is everything all right?” Jewel
caught his arm before he could turn away. “You’re
not normally so serious first thing in the morning.”
Her hand lingered a moment too long on his arm,
and the conversation he’d had with Em came to
mind. She’d pointed out that Jewel clearly wanted
to be more than just his friend, a fact Dash had
somehow been oblivious to until this moment. How
had he missed it? And why had Jewel never said
anything to him about her feelings for him? She
must have exceptional control over them. He
hadn’t noticed any random magical outbursts.
Not important right now, Dash reminded
himself. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m just … more
tired than usual.” That, at least, was the truth. He’d
been up late the night before talking with Chase,
discussing when to return to Tranquil Hills
Psychiatric Hospital to examine whatever records
were on file for Em’s mother. With unknown magic
preventing her from waking up, she wasn’t in a
position to explain why she and her daughter had
lived for so long in the non-magic world,
masquerading as human. Hopefully Em’s father
could provide some answers instead. Em said she
knew nothing about him, but if he was the one
who’d been paying Daniela Clarke’s medical bills,
the hospital must surely have his name and contact
details.
“Okay. See you later then.” Jewel returned to
her chair.
Dash should have left then—he wanted to leave
—but he couldn’t ignore Jewel’s desire to be more
than friends now that he knew about it. “Hey, do
you want to hang out this evening?” he asked
before he could change his mind. “We should …
talk.” It would no doubt turn into the most
awkward conversation they’d ever had, but he
needed to do it. It wasn’t fair of him to allow Jewel
to continue hoping for something that would never
happen.
“Yeah, okay. Great.”
“Cool.” Dash hurried down the Guild’s main
staircase, across the foyer, and into the room with
bare walls used for accessing the faerie paths. “Do
you mind opening a doorway for me?” he asked the
woman standing guard just inside the door.
“Still haven’t found that Griffin Gifted girl,
huh?”
“Nope.”
“I hope you do,” the woman replied as she
walked to the wall and raised her stylus. “I heard
she’s a dangerous one.”
“Yeah,” Dash muttered. “Extremely dangerous.
I plan to find her.”
The woman stepped back as part of the wall
pulled away to reveal the darkness of the faerie
paths beyond. Dash walked forward. Once the light
had vanished behind him, he focused his thoughts
on the oasis hidden in the middle of a desert
thousands of miles away.
Minutes later, he hurried up the porch steps of
the little white house on one side of the oasis, past a
few closed doors, and into the surveillance room. A
row of glass orbs lined three of the four walls, and
within each orb was a miniature form of a different
part of the oasis. Magic connected each orb to the
enchanted bugs that flew around outside, displaying
everything the bugs saw. Vi was bent over, staring
intently into one of the orbs, while Calla and Chase
sat in front of another one. “What can you see?”
Dash asked, not bothering with a greeting.
“Oh, Dash, hey,” Vi said as she turned to face
him. “The orbs show that Em left during the night.
Just beyond the dome layer, she opened a doorway
to the paths and went through it.”
“She must have taken someone’s stylus.”
“Yes. There was one missing from our kitchen
this morning.”
“I just don’t understand,” Calla said, her finger
swiping repeatedly across the orb in front of her as
she moved backwards in time through the scenes it
displayed. “Why would she leave?”
Vi shook her head as she shrugged. “Any
number of reasons, I suppose. Maybe she wanted to
see one of her old friends. Or maybe she
remembered something that could help her mother.
What’s far more worrying is the fact that I can’t
find her. What could possibly be shielding her?”
“Nothing good,” Chase muttered.
“Dash, you never told me what happened when
I couldn’t find you and Em yesterday,” Vi
continued. “Remember, when I came to meet the
two of you at her aunt’s house?”
“Oh yes.” Dash cursed inwardly—with the kind
of words his mother wouldn’t approve of—at
having forgotten, yet again, to mention that strange
place and the people who had taken him and Em
there. “I don’t know where we were, but it was
weird. Everything seemed drained of color, and
parts of it were sort of … smudged. Unclear or
unformed. And we couldn’t access the faerie paths.
We ended up running from some shadowy creature
I’ve never seen before, and somehow we found
ourselves near the tear in the veil. But not on the
human side, and not on the fae side. Somewhere …
I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t even real. Maybe it
was some kind of hallucination. Anyway,” he
continued with a deep breath, “we were there
because of the Unseelies. The prince and princess.”
“Seriously?” Chase looked away from the orb
he’d been examining.
“Yes. That girl who was at Chevalier House for
a few days—Aurora—is actually the Unseelie
princess.”
“So that’s what she was doing at Chevalier
House,” a new voice said from the doorway. Dash
looked around and saw Ryn standing there.
“Aurora wanted Em to run away with her. She was
obviously planning to take Em back to the Unseelie
Court.”
“You didn’t think to mention any of this last
night?” Calla said to Dash, an accusatory edge to
her voice.
“To be honest, I didn’t think of it at all. Em said
she was going to tell me what happened later—
since I was, uh, stunned and unconscious for part of
the time—but then that glass faerie showed up, and
we almost died, and then we raced off to get Em’s
mom, and … I didn’t think of the Unseelies again
until late last night when I got home.”
“Great, so we have no idea what they told Em,”
Calla said, crossing her arms and frowning at the
floor.
Dash said nothing. It was unlike Calla to be so
ticked off at him, but he couldn’t blame her. He
was furious with himself for not asking Em about
that strange shadowy world last night. She’d
seemed distant and unhappy, and, like an idiot, he’d
tried to distract her with dancing. What the hell was
wrong with him? How could he just forget that two
members of the Unseelie royal family had
transported Em to a strange place and then
mysteriously let her go?
“So …” Vi rubbed her temples. “The fact that
we can’t find Em now might have something to do
with the Unseelies.”
“Unless she herself doesn’t want to be found,”
Chase said. “She left voluntarily. She might have
used her Griffin Ability to shield herself somehow.”
“Whatever her reason for leaving, she must be
planning to come back,” Ryn said, walking into the
room and taking a closer look at one of the orbs.
“Her mother is still here, after all.”
Dash shook his head. “She may have left of her
own accord, but what if the Unseelies got hold of
her once she was out there? They let her go
yesterday, but they definitely still want her. They
might be holding her against her will now.”
“So what do we do?” Vi asked. “Wait to see if
she comes back? And if so, how long do we wait?”
“She has to come back,” Calla murmured,
chewing on her thumbnail as she stared unseeingly
at the floor. “She has to.”
Ryn looked across the room. “What’s wrong?”
Calla lowered her hand and frowned at her
brother. “Don’t do that.”
“Hey, I’m not trying to feel what you’re
feeling,” Ryn said, holding his hands up in defense,
“but your anxiety is just about giving me a panic
attack. I’ve been trying to ignore it but it’s
practically assaulting me.”
“Anxiety?” Chase moved closer to her. “About
what?”
“Jeez, people,” Calla exclaimed. “I’m just
preoccupied with another case. Everything’s fine.
Can we focus on how we’re going to figure out
where Em is? Just in case she is someone’s prisoner
now?”
“I have some Unseelie contacts,” Chase said.
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Good. I’m getting back to work on other stuff
then,” Calla said. She crossed the room and left
without a word, leaving several moments of
awkward silence in her wake. With a frown, Chase
followed her.
Dash cleared his throat. “The Guild also has
Unseelie contacts. I’ll ask if anyone knows
anything. And I’ll question our Seelie contacts as
well. It’s possible they found Em but haven’t
informed the Guild yet.”
“Thanks,” Vi said.
“Let us know as soon as you discover
anything,” Ryn added.
“Of course.” Dash turned and strode out of the
room, already reaching into his pocket for his
amber and stylus so he could contact the Guild’s
Unseelie liaison. He paused near the front door as
he wrote a quick message enquiring whether the
liaison had received any news regarding a Griffin
Gifted girl.
“… something going on?”
At the sound of voices, Dash leaned to the side
and peered out the window. Calla paced back and
forth across the porch. “She has to come back,
Chase. She has to.”
“Okay, seriously.” Chase caught her arm and
pulled her to a halt. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Dash knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but
if it was something about Em …
Calla took a deep breath. “I saw something.
Last night. When I went up to ask Em if she
wanted to join us this morning. It made me hope
that maybe … somehow …” She shook her head.
“I mean, I know it’s crazy to even think it. My
brain is still playing through everything that
happened back then and how it could even be
possible. But if it’s true …” She grabbed the front
of Chase’s T-shirt in both fists. “Chase, if it’s true,
then we have to make sure Em comes back.”
Chase took Calla’s hands in both of his.
“You’re not making any sense. What did you see?”
“You can’t tell anyone, okay? Not until I know
if it’s true. I don’t want to be responsible for any
more broken hearts.”
“Broken hearts? When did you—”
She leaned closer to Chase and whispered, her
words too quiet now for Dash to hear through the
window. He watched as Chase’s brow furrowed
further. “Not possible,” he said as Calla stepped
back. “Or … is it? When I first saw her, I thought
…”
“Thought what?”
Chase’s gaze became unfocused as he stared
over Calla’s shoulder for several moments, clearly
lost in thought. A small smile stretched his lips as he
returned his attention to her. “I think you could be
right.”
Her answering smile lit up her face. “I think so
too. But I don’t know for certain, and I refuse to
get excited until we confirm this. I know someone
who can tell us beyond a doubt, but I don’t know
where he is. You need to help me find him.”
“Vi can help if she has …” Chase’s words
trailed off as he shook his head. “But you don’t
want her to know.”
“No. Not yet.” Calla took his arm and pulled
him down the stairs with her. “We first need to find
out if it’s true.” Her voice grew fainter as she and
Chase headed away from the house, leaving Dash
with more questions and no answers. He had his
own mystery to solve, though. Where are you, Em?
he wondered silently as he opened the door and
stepped onto the porch.
His amber shivered in his hand, and he stopped
to read the Unseelie liaison’s reply: No recent info
from the Unseelies. Nothing interesting anyway. Of
course not. The Unseelies would never choose to
inform the Guild if they happened to be in
possession of a powerful Griffin Gifted girl. But
Dash had to check, just in case the liaison had
heard something. Now he’d have to contact the
Seelie liaison. After that, it would be time to move
on to unofficial channels. “Somehow, Em,” he
muttered as he strode away. “Somehow, I’ll find
you.”
ONE
THINGS I NEVER IMAGINED: ONE, ESCAPING THE
miserable town of Stanmeade long before I ever
dreamed it possible. Two, becoming almost-friends
with the guy I hated for years. Three, climbing the
outside of a faerie palace tower with a stolen stylus
in my pocket so I can hide at the top and open a
faerie paths doorway with magic. Oh yeah. And I
never imagined using words like ‘palace tower,’
‘faerie paths’ and ‘magic’ without sounding like an
inpatient at a mental institution. But that was
before I discovered I’m a faerie, and that a hidden
world of magic exists alongside the one I grew up
in. That was before I landed at the top of
everyone’s most-wanted list for possessing a unique
and dangerous faerie superpower. And that was
before I took the biggest risk of my life and agreed
to marry a faerie prince of the Unseelie Court in the
hope of saving my mother.
So yes. I imagine things now that most people
from my old life would consider impossible. Like a
dark hole of nothingness materializing across the
gold-veined marble walls at the top of the tower
I’ve climbed. I needed to get away from the
watchful eyes of the palace guards, and this turret
forming the highest point of the Unseelie Palace
seemed like a good spot. Unfortunately, the spell
I’ve been whispering and the words I’ve written
repeatedly across the wall seem to be producing
nothing.
I heave a frustrated sigh and clench my fingers
around the jewel-encrusted stylus. I stole it from
Aurora’s room yesterday. Only the best of the best
for a princess, so I doubt there’s anything wrong
with it. Which means … perhaps my magic is the
problem? I place the stylus on the turret floor and
cup my hands together, then breathe out slowly and
feel for the core of power within me. Almost
instantly, a roughly spherical shape of white glitter
and wispy fragments hover above my hand. It
seems almost easy to produce magic now, after
having practiced so much in the past few days. No
need to squeeze my eyes shut, furrow my brow, and
imagine dragging the magic out of myself like a
mouse tugging on a truck.
So if my magic and the stylus aren’t the
problem, and the spell itself is correct—which I’m
certain it is, given I used it to leave the oasis—that
leaves only one answer: the faerie paths are not
accessible from this tower.
“Dammit,” I whisper. I shove the stylus back
into my pocket and stare out across the endless
lands of perfect summer. Brilliant green lawns,
flowers in every color, enchanted water features
surrounded by shrubs clipped into ornamental
shapes, and various areas for entertaining: a pergola
here, a gazebo there, the queen’s bower off to the
right beyond that little bridge. And just beyond the
palace grounds, the turrets of manor houses
belonging to Unseelie nobles rise above the trees.
And almost none of it, according to Aurora,
accessible via the faerie paths. No one leaves this
palace and no one arrives except through the main
entrance. “It’s not as though you need to go
anywhere else now,” she told me when I asked
about the faerie paths. “Just relax and enjoy your
brand new palace life.”
Relax? I don’t think so. If almost no part of this
palace and its grounds can be accessed by the
faerie paths, that means there must be some areas
where doorways can be opened. And if I’m hoping
to escape once I’ve learned everything I need to
know from Prince Roarke, then I have to find at
least one of those areas. If I can’t, I’m going to
have to get creative with my Griffin Ability. And
that will require figuring out how to actually use it.
“My lady?”
My body tenses at the sound of the unexpected
voice. I whip around, my heart already thrashing in
my chest. But it’s only Clarina, the handmaid
Aurora ‘gifted’ to me upon my arrival. She stands
beside the ruby-studded gold trapdoor. The open
trapdoor I’m certain was locked until now because
I found my way to the other side of it yesterday
afternoon and couldn’t get through it. I wouldn’t
have bothered opening one of the lower windows
and scaling the wall otherwise. I clear my throat
and clasp my hands together. “Um, yes?”
“Her Highness, Princess Aurora, sent me to
fetch you,” Clarina says, her eyes fixed on the floor
near my feet. I’ve told her not to worry about
averting her gaze when speaking to me, but it’s
made no difference. Just like when I told her I’m no
‘lady’ and she doesn’t have to refer to me as such.
“But how else will I show you respect, my lady?”
she asked. “I can’t simply call you by your name.”
I told her that of course she could, but that didn’t
go down well either.
“How did she know I was up here?” I ask.
“One of her guards saw you from a window.”
I wipe my hands on my jeans. “Did, uh, did it
sound to you like Aurora—Miss—Her Highness—”
Darn these stupid titles. “Did it sound like she was
angry with me for being up here?”
“No, my lady,” Clarina says. “She was
concerned, but not angry. She reminded her guards
that you’re welcome to explore your new home,
but that they’re also supposed to keep you alive.”
“Right. Cool. That’s what I thought. I mean,
about the exploring part.” Aurora gave me a brief
tour when I arrived three days ago, then told me I
could go pretty much wherever I wanted, other
than people’s private suites or chambers or
whatever she called them. Since then, I’ve
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