Weald Fae 02 - The Changeling Read online

  THE CHANGELING

  Book Two

  Weald Fae Journals

  by

  Christopher Shields

  Visit Me At:

  www.wealdfaejournals.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2012 by Christopher Shields

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of the publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the Author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Contact the Author at www.wealdfaejournals.com

  Cover Art © 2012 by Christopher Shields

  Cover Art by Derek McCumber

  Editor Richard Shelton

  Kindle Edition

  DEDICATION

  To my late grandfather,

  Alton,

  who spent years teaching me

  the craft of storytelling

  over a kitchen table

  in Noel, Missouri.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  CHAPTER 1…..Ultimatum

  CHAPTER 2…..Ozara’s Visit

  CHAPTER 3…..Aftershocks

  CHAPTER 4…..Second Guessing

  CHAPTER 5…..A Crescent Moon

  CHAPTER 6…..Full Disclosure

  CHAPTER 7…..Watchful Eye

  CHAPTER 8…..Seoladán

  CHAPTER 9…..Billy

  CHAPTER 10…Shadows

  CHAPTER 11…Sophie and Vic

  CHAPTER 12…Groundhog Day

  CHAPTER 13…Ohanzee

  CHAPTER 14…Doug

  CHAPTER 15…Déjà Vu

  CHAPTER 16…Pete’s Secret

  CHAPTER 17…Words of Wisdom

  CHAPTER 18…Courage

  CHAPTER 19…Aether

  CHAPTER 20…Ricochet

  CHAPTER 21…Mischance

  CHAPTER 22…A Dreary Pall

  CHAPTER 23…Fleeting Moments

  CHAPTER 24…Upping the Ante

  CHAPTER 25…Resolute

  CHAPTER 26…Cat and Mouse

  CHAPTER 27…Darkness

  CHAPTER 28…Paydirt

  CHAPTER 29…Retribution

  CHAPTER 30…Omen

  CHAPTER 31…Autumn Comes

  CHAPTER 32…Autumn Comes

  CHAPTER 33…Surprise Visit

  The night is darkening round me,

  The wild winds coldly blow;

  But a tyrant spell has bound me,

  And I cannot, cannot go.

  The giant trees are bending

  Their bare boughs weighed with snow;

  The storm is fast descending,

  And yet I cannot go.

  Clouds beyond clouds above me,

  Wastes beyond wastes below;

  But nothing drear can move me:

  I will not, cannot go.

  —Emily Jane Brontë,

  The Night is Darkening Around Me

  The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Brontë

  London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923

  ONE

  ULTIMATUM

  Tension filled the tiny red bedroom of my ten-year-old brother, Mitch, as the changeling stared at me, sneering. A stolen smile and forged dimples, simultaneously familiar and foreign, did nothing to disguise the malice I sensed just under the mask of Mitch’s young face. Panic and confusion, mixed with rage, whipped my thoughts into a tumultuous mess. Somehow, despite the desperation and chaos whirling through my head, I realized I needed to get Doug and the boys out of the room. As I struggled with a plan, a low, rumbling growl broke the silence. Justice, our black Standard Poodle, stood next to Doug in the doorway and bared his teeth, his almond-shaped eyes fixed on the Fae changeling that looked exactly like Mitch.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Doug asked, ruffling the dog’s ears.

  “Probably too much excitement.” My voice was surprisingly even. “Doug, could you please take Justice and the boys upstairs? I need to have a talk with my brother.”

  “Ditching me again?” he said, grinning.

  I returned his smile and put my hand on his shoulder. His blue eyes twinkled and his blond hair glowed in the light as he looked at me. “Sure,” he said.

  “Thanks. I’ll be up in a minute…promise.” I forced a broad grin, still masking the anger and fear that rushed through my chest and caused my heart to beat hard against my lungs. The boys happily left the room. Scotty, Mitch’s friend, stole a quick look at me as he passed, and said, “Told ya he was being bad.”

  Sara closed the door when the room was empty.

  “Where is my brother?” I demanded.

  “Safe, for now,” the changeling responded smugly.

  “I want him back, now, or I’ll tear you apart,” I said growling, causing Sara to grab my shoulders.

  “You? Tear me apart? Arrogant…” it said, laughing.

  Tears meandered down my cheek and my body vibrated. “Apparently you didn’t get the memo,” I snarled through clenched teeth. “I just kicked Chalen’s ass, and I’ll do the same to you if I don’t get my brother back.”

  He turned and studied me with a flippant expression, and then I felt him channel electricity from the wall. The fool—he was really going to try to fight me here? I reached out with my mind and blocked it. He studied me again, a trace of uneasiness quickly flashing across his face.

  “She did that,” he said, glancing at Sara.

  “No, Drevek, I did not,” she said in a cooing voice, mocking him as she crossed her arms in a fluid movement.

  Drevek, if that was his name, tried pulling energy to start a fire, but I blocked that, too. Then, channeling Air, I reached out with my mind and lifted him off the bed, ignoring that he looked like my brother, and slung him against the basement wall just hard enough to fully gather his attention. Again, Sara placed a hand on my shoulder. Ignoring her, I pressed my questions.

  “Understand, you filth, I can and will destroy you if you don’t bring my brother back…now!” My voice wavered and another tear fell.

  “Maggie,” Sara whispered, “Please don’t hurt him. I beg you, set him down.”

  “No!” I growled, stifling a scream as I thought about my little brother in the hands of the Unseelie somewhere. “I want Mitch back!”

  Drevek was attempting to change out of physical form, but I pressed hard on him with my invisible grip—hard enough to prevent that from happening but not hard enough to break bones.

  “What you’re doing is forbidden!” it screeched at me angrily.

  “Wrong answer,” I said as I slammed him into the wall again, harder this time.

  “Maggie, please!” Sara pleaded. “Let go of him. I’ve got it from here. For Mitch’s sake, you cannot harm this Fae.”

  I thought about it her warning, and panicked by the idea of them harming Mitch I reluctantly dropped Drevek on the floor. Before he could change form Sara had a hold on him, and I prevented him from using his Fire alignment when he tried to fight back a third time. Sara lifted his body off the floor and he spat in her direction, his green eyes filled with rage.

  “If you harm me, Sara, the boy dies. You know how this will play out. Release me or…”

  “Shut up, Drevek,” Sara commanded with an authoritative whisper just loud enough to hear. “Where is Mitch O’Shea? Tell me now, or I will finish what Maggie started.”

  His eyes grew large as he watched Sara snap one of the bed posts off with
her mind and move it several feet until it pressed his temple.

  “You wouldn’t dare, not over a human…I’m Fae!”

  “Care to bet your existence on that?”

  “But…” he stammered.

  “You’ve not been informed, apparently, of what happened on the island. The scheme did not work, your co-conspirators were defeated, and Chalen has been banished from the physical realm for eternity. It serves no purpose for you to die over this. Tell us what has been done with the boy.”

  With a bewildered expression that momentarily reminded me of my brother, the changeling stared at Sara. “I don’t believe…”

  Then with a flash, startling me, Billy took form in the room. “What’s this?” he demanded, staring at the changeling.

  “Drevek, here, has the unfortunate duty of playing changeling for Mitch,” Sara said.

  “How long? HOW LONG?” Billy growled at Drevek.

  “An hour, perhaps.” He cringed, still struggling to get free.

  Billy closed his eyes and shook his head. “Who is behind this treachery?”

  “I am not at liberty to tell you.”

  Billy moved toward Drevek slowly, menacingly, and snarled, baring feline fangs. I shuddered.

  “Please, I’m only doing what I’ve been told. I don’t know where they’ve taken the boy…I’m not sure who is behind it.”

  Billy snarled again and moved within inches of him. “Give me the name of the Fae who abducted Mitch O’Shea.”

  “There were two humans, but I don’t know their names. They were accompanied by Alain and Markus.”

  “Humans,” Billy said under his breath. “Of course, they had to be in the event the guards hadn’t moved. What else do you know? Who is the Second Aetherfae?” His voice grew fierce.

  “Second? How should I know?”

  Billy bared his teeth again, twisting his head to the side, and closed them against Drevek’s throat, piercing his flesh.

  “I swear it! Please! But I do know one thing…Chalen…he gave me a message.”

  Billy moved his face back a few inches. “Go on.”

  “I’m to stay here until Maggie O’Shea fulfills her promise to leave. Anything that happens to me, happens to the boy two-fold.”

  “I didn’t promise Chalen I would leave—quite the opposite.”

  “Then, Steward, you have six months, maybe less, until your brother wastes away.” He coughed lightly through the sinister smile that spread across his face. Staring at me, dimples in full force, he said, “I don’t feel well, and I’m going to get worse—a reminder to you of how much time your brother has.”

  Drevek’s smile faded and he trembled when Billy bared his teeth again inches from his face. The changeling didn’t try to fight, and that surprised me. Instead, he whimpered like a child.

  “Why is he so weak?” I asked.

  Drevek spat at me.

  “He’s exceptionally young. You’ve only learned to take physical form in the last, what, one hundred years?” Sara stared at him with pity in her eyes, and shook her head.

  Drevek looked away from her, still frightened but arrogant. “I learned 126 years ago.”

  Billy relaxed his expression as he turned to me. “It takes us centuries of being in physical form to fully master our element, and Drevek has not had time to learn the nuances of Fire. He is essentially a Fae adolescent.”

  “I didn’t think there was such a thing as a Fae child.”

  “Yes and no. There is a great deal we still need to tell you about us, but for right now, you need to get upstairs—midnight approaches.”

  I protested, “I’m not leaving him here in my house.”

  “I understand,” Billy said. “But you don’t need to watch over him. Sara and I will do that. As you can clearly see, he poses no danger.” Billy shot Drevek a dismissive look. “We need you to be with your family and friends right now, but after midnight you need to make an excuse and go to your room—alone. I will meet you there. Sara will stay here with Drevek.”

  “But…”

  Sara cut me off. “Maggie, Ozara is coming.”

  Hearing her name shattered my resolve and I stopped trying to argue. Would she still be angry with me? Would the Council kick me off the Weald? I didn’t know the answers, but I did want to see her and plead my case. Sara could easily control Drevek, so I yielded and began calming myself down. After a few moments of purposely avoiding eye contact with the changeling, I was ready to go upstairs.

  TWO

  OZARA’S VISIT

  “Three…two…one…Happy New Year!” A chorus of jubilant voices rang through the cottage. I allowed Doug to kiss me, briefly, before I put on my best happy face and tried to share good cheer with everyone around me.

  My mind was on Mitch and how afraid he must be at the moment. I knew Chalen had a plan to ensure I left the Weald, but I hadn’t guessed that Mitch would be the collateral. In the spirit of the moment, I made a New Year’s resolution to get him back regardless of what I had to do. Whether that meant leaving the Weald and giving up everything I knew about the Fae or taking his place, I would get him back.

  So many thoughts were working their way through my head that I couldn’t carry on a conversation with anyone—not that I wanted to. My stomach was in knots and I was light-headed.

  Candace noticed. Her thin auburn brows pinched together above her piercing hazel eyes, and a frown formed on her full lips. “Maggie, what’s wrong?”

  “Ummm…I don’t know what…I think I’m getting sick.”

  She cupped my shoulders in her slender fingers. “You’re so pale,” she said looking me up and down.

  “Honey, you look terrible. Are you all right?” Mom asked, noticing as well.

  “No, Mom, I think I’m going to be sick. I…I think I need to go lie down for a little while.”

  “Do you need me to go with you? Get you anything? Should I take you to the hospital?”

  “No, Mom, really, it’s probably just too much excitement.” That much was true. “I think I’ll just go to my room for a little while.”

  At the top of the stairs, I took a deep breath and pulled my door shut, the antique lock mechanism clicking solidly behind me. A moment later Billy joined me, leaving Sara in the basement to watch over the changeling.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked in full panic mode.

  He frowned and looked out the window. “We don’t have time to discuss it. Ozara is here.”

  I felt her presence too, below, moving across the garden. A moment later she appeared in my room dressed in the same shimmering silver robe I’d seen her wearing before. Just a few feet away, she was majestic, ethereal, and appeared to emanate a faint light. She didn’t glow, but her face, kind, relaxed and quite unlike it had been on the island an hour earlier, seemed somehow backlit. I relaxed a little when she smiled at me.

  “Maggie, are you all right?” There was concern in her voice. It threw me off-guard—I had expected her to be furious.

  “No, I’m not. Thank god you’re here.” My voice was quivering and full of emotion as I wiped tears from my cheek.

  “Why? What’s wrong?” A small furrow formed in her smooth forehead just above her straight, elegant nose.

  “Mitch, they took him.” I choked out the words.

  “Who took him?”

  “Ozara, not all the Unseelie were on the island,” Billy said.

  “What have they done?” The anger returned to her voice, though she maintained her pleasant visage.

  “Changeling, Drevek.” Billy’s voice was as grim as his expression. “They waited until the guards were pulled, and lured the boy outside—Sara has Drevek in the basement. Alain and Markus have Mitch O’Shea. They were aided by two humans.”

  Emotion crossed her face for the first time. “Were there any others?”

  She didn’t say it explicitly, but she clearly wanted to know if the other Aetherfae had finally made an appearance.

  Billy shook his head quickly. “N
o, there were no others—here at least.”

  I wasn’t about to let them off the hook. “Is there another Aetherfae? Is that who has Mitch?” I asked pointedly.

  Ozara smiled confidently. “I do not know whether there is a Second, but I intend to find out.”

  “Ozara, where could they have taken Mitch? You have to help me find him, please,” I begged.

  Ozara turned and stared out the window. Moonlight from above combined with the light of the flickering gas lamps in the garden to illuminate her fiery red hair and the strong features of her face. I was enthralled and uneasy, unable to stop staring at her. We said nothing for several minutes. She didn’t turn around when she spoke again. Her melodic voice was just above a whisper. “I assume they’ve given you the terms.”

  “Yes. They want me to leave the Weald with my family. If I do that, Drevek, or whatever his name is, said they would return Mitch alive. Is that true? Can I trust them?” My voice was stronger, but still desperate. My emotions were in check, but barely.

  “In the past, they have always kept their word on such arrangements. They have no real interest in your brother, except of course that they can force you to do to get him back.”

  “Is he still here in the physical realm? Because I’ve read they can…”

  Ozara cut me off. “Do not believe what you’ve read. My kind does not whisk humans away to some mythological fairyland, and it’s quite simply not possible to remove a physical being to our realm—not your brother, nor any other human. But those responsible have undoubtedly hidden him somewhere they believe he will not be found.”

  “It is not my intention to upset you further, but you deserve the truth: he will probably not be found unless they want him to be, but he is in the physical world…somewhere. You have my word on this, Maggie—loyal Seelie will search for him, as will I.”

  “And you have my word, Maggie—I will search for him as well.” Billy said, visibly agitated by Ozara’s slight.

  Ozara turned from the window and frowned at Billy, but she didn’t say anything to him. Instead, she closed her eyes and whispered, “Bring him to me. Now.” Sara and Drevek appeared in my room and stood against the opposite wall. Drevek’s eyes trained on Ozara and fear spread across his face, Mitch’s face. I’d never seen a Fae tremble until that moment.