Page 30

“How?” Nathan maintained the protective bubble, muscling between me and this strange man who claimed to be Fergus McLeod. It made me wonder how secure these defenses were if he felt the need to act as a human shield.

The red-headed man turned up his nose. “What d’ye mean?”

“How can it be you? No offense, but you should be dead.” Nathan discreetly pushed me further behind him. I appreciated the heroic sentiment, but I was more concerned about scanning the area for my pixies.

My heart wrenched as I saw the tiny bodies on the ground—far more than three. I counted twenty in total, prompting bile to rise up my throat. Only three had called out in their last moments, while the rest had died in stoic silence. Was it any wonder I’d felt their anguish and fear as though it was my own? The surviving half congregated around the fallen, bowing their heads and weeping quietly. I saw Boudicca among the living, crouching to press her tiny palm to the chest of one of the dead, and I breathed a small sigh of relief. Still, the guilt lingered for the ones who hadn’t been so lucky.

Shouldn’t the dead Purge beasts be turning back to smoke? I knew that was what happened to Purge beasts when they died, but the twenty pixies on the ground didn’t seem to be transforming. Perhaps the realm we were in prevented it.

“I am dead,” Fergus shot back, as if he thought we were idiots. “Do I look alive to ye?”

I turned to him. “Actually, yes.”

“Well, I ain’t. Me corporeal body turned te dust like bodies do, but me spirit stayed on. I bartered for it to stay in here, with them what forced my hand.” Fergus glared at the Wisps in the distance, which seemed frightened of him. They darted out of sight when his gaze rested on a group, hiding wherever they could. “And this is me own personal paradise, or me own personal hell—depends on how ye look at it, I suppose.”

Does that mean…? If he’d become a spirit, what about the others? Were they already dead, too, and we just couldn’t tell? I shook away the thought, unwilling to accept it. My friend couldn’t be dead. She looked so… solid, albeit dazed. Then again, Fergus didn’t look dead, either. But he was moving around however he liked, instead of being stuck on a loop. Perhaps that meant he was the only truly dead person here, no longer bound by the endless cycle of thoughts that held the others captive. Or maybe I just didn’t want to see the truth—that we’d arrived too late.

An idea came to me as I crept back toward the fizzing shield. “You don’t like the Wisps much, do you?” I nudged Nathan and mouthed “specterglass” at him. He nodded back discreetly and dug into his jeans pocket for the lens.

“Don’t matter whether I like ‘em or not. I’m stuck with ‘em.” Fergus ground the end of his riding crop into his palm. “And they might not have brought ye here the proper way, which don’t sit too well with me. But ye’ll be joinin’ us regardless, now yer here.”

I looked to Genie, who stood as still as a statue. “No.”

“Yer what now?” Fergus scowled at me, his emerald-green eyes glinting with annoyance. A band of Wisps came to hover on either side of him, like his own personal guard. If they were singing their hypnotic song, I couldn’t hear them.

“I said no.” I stood my ground, feeling defiance build in my chest. “Why would we want to stay here? This place isn’t real. It’s just an illusion that you asked some Child of Chaos to create a long time ago. And even you can’t decide if it’s a heaven or a hell. These people—all of these people—belong outside, in the real world. My friend belongs there, and you’ve got no right to keep anyone here.”

Fergus eyeballed me. “Ye seem te know a lot, lass. I’d ask how, but it don’t matter to me. Naught matters much in this place. That’s why it’s better for everyone.” He swept his riding crop around at the motionless zombies, while two Wisps came closer to the protective shield. “People can be at peace here, not worryin’ about who’s goin’ te bother ‘em. A happy purgatory for folks who need a bit o’ quiet.”

“Purgatory isn’t living, Fergus. Why don’t you tell us why you’re really doing this?” I nudged Nathan again, so we could use the specterglass to see who was truly dead and who wasn’t. But he wasn’t responding.

Turning slowly, I gasped at the sight of him. His eyes had glazed over, his mouth moving in a frightened whisper. “What if I can’t make a difference?” he said. “What if I can’t defy the order of things? What if I’m not doing enough to prevent future harm?”

No… The Wisps flanking Fergus must’ve launched a sneak attack at Nathan when I wasn’t looking.

I grabbed Nathan by the shoulders and shook him hard, just as the defensive shield failed with a frazzled crackle of magical sparks—in his hypnotized state, he couldn’t hold it anymore. “Nathan, don’t listen to the Wisps! You have to ignore the music. Please!” I shook him so hard my own teeth chattered, but I refused to give in.

Fergus smirked in my periphery, giving a small nod of approval to the guardian Wisps. With his focus distracted for a second, it gave me the chance to palm the specterglass in Nathan’s hand and slip it into my own pocket before Fergus noticed. I had to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what this Wisp trance did to people. And I prayed that when I looked through that lens, it wouldn’t show me they were all dead. My heart wouldn’t be able to take it.

“Why are you doing this?!” I screamed. “Give them back. Give them all back, or so help me, I’ll rain monsters down on your little paradise until you can be certain it’s hell.”

I had enough panic coursing through my veins to make good on that promise, though I was surprised at the ferocity in my voice. It didn’t sound like me talking. It sounded more like… No, I wasn’t like him. I wasn’t anything like him. I would not fall prey to Leviathan’s will. This was about Genie and Nathan, and all the people Fergus had taken. Nothing more.

Fergus laughed coldly. “Aye, o’ course ye will. And I’m Queen Mab.” He whispered something, and the Wisps came spinning back. For someone who obviously loathed these beings, he seemed to rely a whole lot on their obedience. “Ye’ll be a lot happier when ye stop fightin’ it, lass. I suggest ye give in.”

Not a chance. I didn’t have useful abilities, but if the Wisps attacked, I’d do what I could to punch and swipe them back. Plus, I supposed I had my not-so secret weapon: the creatures I’d created. As if sensing my need for help, they rallied to my aid. The pixies might’ve been decimated, their number halved, but the remaining horde left their dead and hurled themselves into the air, coming to my defense. The Wisps wanted to take me, but I’d stopped hearing their music. The voices had to be singing somewhere, or Nathan wouldn’t have fallen under their spell, but I was deaf to them. And I had no idea why. Was it Leviathan, somehow protecting me from afar? Or the pixies? Or had the Wisps’ song just stopped working on me?

As the Wisps made their charge, the pixies formed a protective circle around me, their pulsating lights on full blast. They joined hands, forming a chain. A moment later, they lit up like a Christmas tree, chanting in their pixie tongue. Fizzing threads of dazzling purple light shot down their arms and into their neighbors’, connecting them as one entity, with me in the center of their defensive ring. Their voices grew louder until an almighty explosion of violet-tinged energy surged from them in a juddering pulse, pushing the Wisps back. Nathan toppled like a domino, too, though it didn’t seem to affect him. He kept right on repeating his mantra, curled on his side with that blank look in his eyes.

They’ve adapted. There might’ve been fewer pixies, but their strength didn’t necessarily appear to depend on their number. Their survival instincts had kicked in, and they were stepping up their game to avoid a second round of decimation. It seemed they were willing to throw everything they had at these Wisps… and all to protect me. Why? Was there so much power in being their creator? I didn’t know. But I did know that if we made it out of here alive, I would give the pixies what they deserved for this—their freedom.

“You asked a Child of Chaos to build this realm for you, to trap the Wisps. You obviously hate them, yet you use them to round up people for you,” I ranted, trying to buy the pixies some time. Fergus clearly controlled the Wisps, and if I could keep him talking, perhaps he’d call them off. “You can’t possibly believe this is the best place for anyone. Even you don’t want to be here—I can see it in your face. I want to know why you’re doing this.”

He paused, and so did the Wisps. “Ain’t it obvious?”

“If it were, would I be asking?” I retorted. So far, the plan to keep him talking was working.

“Color me surprised, since ye seem to know so much already.” Sarcasm dripped from his tongue. “Aye, I did ask a Child o’ Chaos for this world. I called te Gaia, and she answered. I did it for love, and I’d do it again, a thousand times over.”

I frowned in confusion. “Love?”

“I asked her for the power te make this world—many centuries ago, now. I lose count—for me and me beloved, Lorelei. For years, I been waitin’ for me love te come back. I lost her ‘cause o’ these Wisps, and I asked Gaia te punish ‘em for it. She agreed, and now they’re paying the price. They answer to me now. I get ‘em to take people from around the gateway in the hopes that they’ll bring me Lorelei too, someday.” He sighed, showing a flicker of emotion for the first time. “Life, death, and everythin’ in between ain’t worth a damn thing without her.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” I kept my hand closed around the specterglass, waiting for the right moment. “Why would taking living people bring your love here? If you built this place a very long time ago, then she must be dead, too. If you loved her at all, you should wish she’s in the afterlife, safe and sound. You should pack this whole thing up and join her there. Pass on to the next world, and free everyone else.”

Fergus’s expression hardened into pure rage. “She’s lookin’ for me! She’ll follow me trail here, one o’ these days!” He waved his riding crop as though it were some kind of magical wand and began to cry out. “Bain an t-anam seo. Tóg gach duine nach leis an saol seo. Níl fáilte rompu anseo. Déan iad a dhíbirt ón saol seo. Níl mé ag iarraidh iad anseo.”

Before I knew what was happening, my body lifted into the air. The pixies floated up with me, all of them flailing, battling the unexpected Telekinesis. But Nathan remained on the ground, having joined the zombie ranks in a way I hadn’t. I guessed that meant he could stay.

Lightning fast, since I had no idea how much time I had left, I whipped the specterglass out of my pocket and lifted the lens to my eye. The image that came back made the breath rush out of my lungs. A hazy collection of white and red mist swirled into the human shape of Fergus, revealing his dead spirit. And where the gaseous orbs of the Wisps floated, another shape hovered beside each one. Human shapes. Arms outstretched, holding the death candles. These were the spirits that had been enlisted to guide people to safety in the afterlife—a task they’d spat on for their own hijinks, like Boudicca had told me. However, as I scanned the lens over the rest of the crowd, my heart lifted slightly. Those in modern dress, including Genie and Nathan, didn’t have any mist at all, which I hoped meant they were still alive—they weren’t touched by specter dust, or haze, or whatever this misty stuff was. They’re not dead. We’re not too late. But I couldn’t say the same for the people in period clothing, from bygone eras. It was centuries too late for them.

I realized I might’ve spoken too soon.As Fergus flung the pixies and me across his pocket of paradise, the gateway roared open, and we sailed through it.

He was banning us from his personal heaven—maybe for good.