Free Flicker by Kaye Thornbrugh Page B

on chance. She had no way of anticipating the perfect opportunity, and no way to ensure she would go undetected. Byrony couldn’t afford to make such a move if there were even a chance of discovery.
    Now she regretted never taking a chance.
    “I would not be parted from you,” Byrony choked.
    “Nor I from you. But Feronia has spoken.”
    She fu mbled for words, but none came.
    “You will leave on Samhain ,” Umbriel continued softly, “and return by the coronation . We are not to see each another other until the coronation . If you return without the girl … Well, perhaps it would be better if you did not return . Do you understand?”
    She nodded, feeling very far away from herself. The human world was a vast, poisonous place , with few trees ; the mortals were too numerous to find just one . She would be weak there, vulnerable. How could s he find the girl ?
    But i t was useless. Now that Feronia had spoken, there was nothing to do but her will.
    Feronia played at politics the way she played chess —shrewdly, always thinking about her next move . In this game , Feronia was the queen, and Byrony a p awn. Normally, there was no comparing their strengths. But if a pawn was clever and evaded the ire of stronger pieces, if it moved strategically, if it refused to yield, there were ways it might advance. Way s it might become a queen .
    Byrony held onto that thought as she nodded, though her whole body shivered with anger and with dread. “I understand.”
     
    * * *
     
    Growing up, Lee always had something to read . She never had to go far in her mom’s used book store to find another lovely old book of folklore and fairy tales , filled with illustrations of gods, demons and other creatures that weren’t so easily identified , all described in tight, black academic type . She would immerse herself in the same stories over and over again —tales of changelings and brownies, elves and banshees .
    All things considered, Lee kne w a thing or two about faeries.
    At least, she thou ght she did.
    “Faeries?” Lee echoed . “ Is that seriously the best you guys can do ?”
    Filo sighed wearily. He was sitting on the far end of the bed, opposite her. “For the last time ,” he insisted. “ We didn’t kidnap you. If we h ad, I’m sure we would’ve given you b ack by now. ”
    She scowled at him. “You just told me a story about faeries that live in the woods and kidnap people. Do you really expect me to buy that?”
    “We’re not making this up,” Nasser insisted. He was leaning against the wall by the window, his hands in his pockets. “Sometimes humans are kidnapped and kept in faerie revels , for entertainment . Sometimes humans just wander in . Either one could have happened to you.”
    “You’re out of your mind,” Lee said, though a small, annoying voice in the back of her mind told her that, if nothing else, these boys knew their folklore. “ Both of you. Just let me go.”
    Nasser sighed. “There’s a lot of stuff to work out before you go anywhere. I’m really sorry.”
    Something in his voice made Lee half-believe him. At the very least, she got the sense that he re ally was sorry about whatever was happening.
    Near the door, Neman was seated quietly, watching them. She wasn’t quite as beautiful as Lee first thought—her features were too sharp and avian to be called that. But she was an interesting subject. Inte resting, and frightening: Instead of fingers, Neman had long, cruel talons, as dark and shiny as her oil-black eyes. Lee told herself that they were prosthetic s, something from a costume shop , but the sight of them was unnerving. Not to mention her wings.
    Neman ’s huge black wings were folded across her back now, but they moved naturally with every shift of her body, like they really were extra appendages.
    Animatronics, Lee thought fervently. Some kind of gadget . They must be.
    “She doesn’t believe me, Nasser,” Filo complained. “She ’s not even listening.