Free The Faery Keepers by Melinda Hellert Page B

I gasp, piercing her with the strongest glare I can muster. I guessed it would be something like that, but didn’t want to believe it.
                  “You will tell me the truth. If I am satisfied with your answers, you live. If not . . . well you know the rest.”
                  I knew then that only one answer would please her. She wants me to condemn her own sister to death. She wants me to lie to her. She wants a credible reason to get rid of her own flesh and blood. My question is, why?
                  I’m not buying it, though.
                  “I’ve already told you everything I know. My answers stay unchanged.”
                  “Very well,” her fist closes over the vial, knuckles white on her already pale skin. “Consider this your last chance. I have acted amiably thus far. Do not expect me to be gracious any longer.”
                  If it were in her nature I swear she would have stomped out the door. But she doesn’t. The door slams behind her as she leaves in a flurry of cloth.
                  Unfortunately she also takes the antidote with her.
                  Which means. . .?
                  Panic grips me as my mind comprehends that there’s poison coursing through my veins right now . And the only way to fix that just walked out the door with the wretched Queen.
                  Derek emerges, shaking his head. “Of all the bone-headed things you could do. Why didn’t you just tell her what she wanted to hear? Unless your version of a slow and painful death is different than mine.” He pinches the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I should have gotten here sooner. I knew she would try something like this.” He starts pacing.
                  It doesn’t help me much.
                  “Derek,” I breathe.
                  Figures crowd the room that definitely weren’t there two seconds ago. Familiar figures; the guards, Breen, Miruna, Ceara, random Faeries I’d seen in the gathering in the doorway to the Apple Tree. They bear down on me, flying in the air, surrounding my bed. They’re everywhere . All of their mouths are moving, demanding things from me that I can’t hear. The buzz of wings fill my ears. Instead of the beautiful appendages that once were, they’re decaying. Gray and flaking off disgustingly to the floor. Blood mars their faces which have become gaunt and devilish. Razor sharp teeth gnash at me. Hair is replaced by wicked vines and thorny branches in snarled masses atop their crowns. Maggie and the others are there, too. Full bodied this time.
                  I gape in horror as they’re attacked by the gruesome bunch of Fair Folk. I watch unblinkingly as my family and friends are slain one by one by the horrible creatures.
                  A shriek echoes through the chaos as Derek, the last one standing, falls in defeat.
                  Pressure on my mouth muffles my cries.
                  “Kate! Katie, it’s not real, snap out of it! Kate!”
                  None of it matters anymore. No ne of it— Everything goes dark.

7. Antidote
                  I fade in and out of consciousness for a while. It’s all very confusing.
                  First I see Derek and Maggie’s worried faces before I go out again. Then a flash of a corridor as we’re rushing down it. Next is a starlit heaven threaded through with branches. The inside of a vehicle. . .
                  Until I’m fully awake, laying on a bed in a room that’s foreign to me. The first thing I see are those accursed shapes, not a nice thing to see when you first open your eyes. Hushed voices are conversing nearby. I lay still to better hear and stay unnoticed for curiosities sake.
                  “I am able to brew the remedy,