The Lost Queen Page 8

  But Jade was sitting on the small chair at the side of the table, picking absently at her nail polish and completely unaware of Tania’s predicament.

  Then Tania heard a new sound through the thundering in her head. A voice. An echoing voice speaking very softly from far, far away. A man’s voice incanting words that she could not quite catch—the same set of phrases over and over—gradually growing louder.

  Tania turned her eyes to the woman’s bowed head. The woman’s bloodred lips were trembling, moving in time to the chanting voice. Her eyes had opened just a thin slit—and the sliver that showed under her heavy lids was silvery and flickered with a deadly light.

  As Tania watched in growing terror, the woman’s eyes opened wider and a pair of cold, silver eyes stared up at her through the tangle of her black fringe. And at the same moment Tania recognized the voice and finally, with a terrible, chilling clarity, she was able to hear what it was saying.

  “You will never be free of me! Did you not know? We are bonded for all time!”

  The eyes staring at her from the woman’s face were Gabriel Drake’s eyes, and the voice coming from her mouth was his voice.

  Through the horror that was darkening her mind, Tania recalled Eden’s words:

  You should not fear the powers of the great traitor…I do not believe he can do more than trouble your dreams—not unless he was able to use someone in the Mortal World to aid him—someone with the power to create a bridge between the worlds.

  She had been crazy to come here. Tania realized that now. But it had just been for fun, a joke, a piece of nonsense that she had agreed to only to please Jade. She had automatically assumed the fortune-teller would be a fake, a harmless phony playing the part of someone with mystical powers for the amusement of gullible tourists.

  But the ridiculous little woman with her bloodred lips and her badly dyed black hair obviously had real psychic powers, and Gabriel Drake was using those powers to reach across the worlds to ensnare Tania.

  “Well met, my lady,” said Gabriel’s silken voice from the woman’s red-lipped mouth. “Long have I ached for the touch of your hand in mine.” And as he spoke, the woman’s thin fingers closed around Tania’s hand in an icy grip. “You will come with me, my lady. I will brook no refusal. If I am to be banished, then you will share my torment. I would have you at my side through all the long, slow ages of the world!”

  No! Tania’s voice howled in her mind. No! Never!

  “Yes, my lady. Yes!”

  The booth suddenly grew pitch-dark and Tania heard a wild wind rushing toward her, whipping her hair, stinging her face with a thousand spiteful points of rain. The chair that she was sitting on and the floor of the booth fell away from under her and she dropped into a black gulf, her plunge halted with a wrenching jolt that filled her arm and shoulder with agony. Her feet kicked uselessly as she hung there suspended from the cold fierce grip of Gabriel Drake’s hand.

  She was back in her nightmare.

  Fangs of shining, rain-scoured rock reared around her. Storm clouds rolled and seethed, black and yellow, their swollen undersides lit by forked lightning. In the deep darkness beneath her Tania heard claws scraping on rock and the heavy, rasping breath of something huge and dreadful.

  “The monster approaches swiftly,” Gabriel called down to her. “Can you not hear its breath? It will eat you alive, my lady. Only I can save you.” His free hand was pale in the darkness as he reached down toward her. “Take my other hand, my lady, so that I can pull you up—else you will surely die.”

  Tania twisted her head and stared into the black abyss. Red eyes shone like fire beneath her. She could hear the chomping of jaws. A great, clawed arm reached up.

  “Take my hand or die!” Gabriel shouted. “There is no other choice!”

  But a gentle, soft voice sounded in her head, as frail and bright as a glimpse of blue sky through the thunderclouds. “There is another choice, Tania,” the woman’s voice said. “Remember, once on a time you had wings! Trust in yourself and you shall be winged again.”

  Hope ignited in Tania—and a fierce need to fight back, to break Gabriel’s power over her. She would not let him control her like this, she would not let him drag her into this nightmare world. She would not!

  She cried out in pain as twin knives slashed at her shoulder blades. But the pain only lasted for a split second, and then she felt the sudden awakening of sinews and muscles that expanded from her back, spreading and growing like opening fingers, like unfurling leaves, like strange new limbs.

  She wrenched her hand free from Gabriel’s grip. She heard him shouting as she fell, but the whirling wind drowned out his words. She spun in the air, feeling the power surging through her newborn wings. The monster roared beneath her, its eyes blazing like furnaces, its claws reaching up for her.

  But she wasn’t afraid anymore. Her wings cupped the air, sending her soaring upward in a long, smooth curve.

  She flew high into the rain-filled sky, her body tingling with delight as her wings curled and spread, lifting her above the black crags and chasms of Ynis Maw. The taste of iron was gone from her mouth. She stretched her arms above her head, her hands together palm to palm like a diver. She twisted in the air, her wings beating fast, and with a single deep breath, she plunged upward into the heart of the storm.

  A dense blanket of sodden darkness closed around her and for a few uneasy moments she was afraid that the storm would swallow her whole as she fought to beat her wings in the drenching, airless wet belly of the cloud.

  But then, with a suddenness that took her breath away, she burst into bright daylight.

  She climbed into the vast blue sky, her wings beating freely, her heart leaping with an almost unbearable joy. This was what it felt like to be truly alive! Laughing aloud, she folded her arms around herself and went spiraling, higher and higher, until she felt that she could reach up and touch the face of the sky.

  Then, with another peal of laughter, she wheeled around and hung poised for a moment in the upper air, feeling the wind of her wings stirring her hair. She glanced over her shoulder at the gossamer-thin film of her wings as they stroked the air and held her aloft.

  Between her feet the island of Ynis Maw was hidden beneath a boiling mass of dark cloud. Behind her, and to her left and right, the gray-green sea stretched on forever, but in front of her a dark peninsula lifted out of the troubled water, white foam breaking on its craggy cliffs.

  “Now what?” Tania said aloud to herself, trying to think through the euphoria of the moment. “What happens next?”

  Her mouth was suddenly flooded again by that horrible taste of iron.

  “You awake from the dream, my lady,” said a smooth, chilling voice. “And you return to the nightmare.”

  Cold fingers closed around her hand. The blue sky was snuffed out like a candle. Darkness roared all around her again, and her hand was caught in an icy grip. Her wings were gone and Gabriel’s voice was crawling like poison in her mind. “Did you think it would be so easy to be free of me, my lady?”

  But Tania refused to be beaten, not when she had known what it was like to break away from him and fly. With a huge effort she jerked her hand free. Gabriel let out a shout of anger that dwindled away to nothing as the dark of Ynis Maw bled away and was replaced by the incense-scented gloom of the fortune-teller’s booth.

  Too startled to react, Tania stared across the table at the woman. The fortune-teller’s face was ashen, her brown eyes staring in shock at Tania as if she had been awoken from a deep sleep by a slap across the face.

  “Is that it?” came Jade’s peevish voice. “She comes and goes and you don’t understand it? What about meeting tall, dark, handsome boys? What about going on long journeys? What about fame and fortune and all that?”

  Tania looked at her friend, trying to unscramble her brain. Clearly Jade had no idea of what had been going on between Tania and the fortune-teller.

  The woman spoke, and her voice was weak and subdu
ed and full of confusion. “That’s all there is. I can’t see any more,” she said.

  “What did you see?” Tania asked, looking into the woman’s face and trying to read from her troubled eyes how much she knew of what had happened between them.

  “Nothing,” the woman said. “I didn’t see anything. I went blank for a few moments, that was all. You should go now.”

  “I think maybe we should,” Tania said, realizing with relief that the fortune-teller had no idea of how Gabriel Drake had used her.

  “But—” Jade began.

  “Go now, please,” the woman said, standing up suddenly and pulling the curtain aside. “The reading is over.” Jade and Tania were almost pushed out of the little booth. The curtain swirled shut again behind them.

  “What a weirdo!” Jade said, loud enough to be heard.

  “Come on,” Tania said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  She fought to act normally, not to give Jade any indication of what had just happened. She was not even sure herself what had been real and what had taken place in her mind.

  Had Gabriel Drake really managed to drag her out of this world? Or had it all been an illusion—a terrifyingly real illusion—a psychic battle fought between them in the dark places of her mind?

  Either way, she had one shred of comfort: She had fought free of him. She had escaped from Ynis Maw and from the numbing power of his dreadful eyes. But what if that stupid visit to the fortune-teller’s booth had allowed him to get a lock on her?

  She had only just escaped this time. Would she have the strength to get free from him the next time he came for her, either in her dreams or in the waking world? And if she wasn’t strong enough to break away from him, what would happen to her? Would she simply vanish from the Mortal World and find herself trapped with him on Ynis Maw? It was a terrifying prospect—and all too possible. After all, it had been Gabriel who had pulled her into Faerie in the first place, that time using the power of the amber necklace. But now they were bound together by the Hand-Fasting Ritual, and that was a far more potent connection between them—and one that could not be severed.

  Jade’s voice snapped into her thoughts. “I’d like to have known what she meant about my having a friend with a secret,” she said as they came into the narrow stall-lined street.

  “I shouldn’t think she meant anything at all,” Tania replied.

  “Really?” Jade raised an amused eyebrow. “Well, I think you’re the friend with the big secret,” she continued, nudging up against Tania. Her eyes flickered with mischief. “A big secret, eh? Something to do with…oh…let me think…with Evan?”

  “Give it up, Jade,” Tania said, relieved that her friend was preoccupied with her own reading. “There’s no big secret. You wanted to do some shopping, so let’s shop!” She pointed to a nearby stall. “Look, scarves. I could do with a new scarf. Coming?” And she pushed her way through the crowds, not even stopping to see if Jade was following.

  It was an hour or so later. Tania and Jade were sitting at a round wrought-iron table, eating vegetable tortilla wraps. They were in a small paved area alongside the Stable Market, a block of old brick buildings that housed arts and crafts, antique furniture, fabrics and paintings, and prints and electronics.

  Calypso music was being piped from somewhere nearby. The sun was high in the clear sky and Tania was feeling a little too hot, a little bit grubby, and footsore and bruised from sixty minutes of fighting her way up and down the market. She had largely recovered from her ordeal in the fortune-teller’s booth, but the image of Gabriel Drake’s face would seep into her mind every now and then and send a chill of fear through her body.

  Jade was wearing a new pair of sunglasses with round blue lenses. As she sucked her Diet Coke through a straw, she peered at Tania over the silver frames.

  “So,” she said, “do you want to tell me why you’re wearing that cheap-looking chunk of stone on your wrist instead of the fabulous bracelet that I bought you for your birthday?”

  Tania glanced down at the black amber jewel on its lilac ribbon. “I was worried that yours might get damaged or stolen in all these crowds,” she said, improvising quickly. “It’s too nice to wear just any old time.”

  “Fair enough,” Jade said. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re wearing that skanky thing.”

  “Edric gave it to me.”

  “Cedric?” Jade squawked. “Who the heck is Cedric?”

  “I meant Evan,” Tania stammered, feeling a rush of blood to her cheeks. Stupid mistake! “Evan gave it to me.”

  Jade eyed her. “So why say Cedric?”

  “I didn’t say Cedric—I said Edric,” Tania responded, trying to sound less flustered than she felt. “Edric is his real name, but he doesn’t use it much.”

  “I don’t blame him!” Jade spluttered with laughter. “Your boyfriend’s real name is Cedric? How lame is that?”

  “Edric!” Tania insisted with a frown. “It’s a kind of family name. Don’t go around school telling everyone he’s called Cedric, or I’ll have to kill you.”

  “Whatever,” Jade said with a dismissive flick of her fingers. She leaned across the table. “Show me that thing,” she said, reaching for the black amber bracelet. “Is the stone worth anything?”

  Tania pulled her arm back. “It doesn’t matter what it’s worth,” she said defensively. “Evan gave it to me—that’s what matters.”

  “Oh, please!” Jade said. “Show it to me. What’s so special about it? Come on, take it off and let me have a proper look.”

  “No,” Tania said. “I promised I’d wear it all the time.” She kept her arm out of Jade’s reach. It would be just like her in one of her playful moods to snatch the thing off her wrist and that was a risk Tania definitely didn’t want to take, not while she was sitting on a metal chair at a metal table.

  Jade gave up and slumped back in her chair. “Fine, crazy girl,” she said. “Keep your little secrets. I hope you and Cedric will be really happy together.”

  “Edric!” Tania said.

  Jade grinned at her. “You think Edric sounds better?” she said. Then Tania noticed her eye-line shift as if something behind Tania had caught her attention.

  “Well, well,” Jade said. “Here comes Cedric now.”

  Tania turned. She was right. Edric was making his way toward them. That was odd—how did he know where to find her?

  “Hello, Cedric,” Jade said. “How’s it going?”

  “What?”

  Tania quickly got up so that she was between Edric and Jade. Her friend was in mischief-hyperdrive right now and not to be trusted.

  Edric looked at her, and behind his fixed smile she could tell that he wasn’t entirely happy. “Can we speak for a minute?”

  “Yes, sure,” Tania said, knowing he meant out of earshot of Jade. She gave Jade an unconcerned smile. “I’ll just be a second,” she said.

  “Fine by me,” Jade said. “Off you go, then, Tanyaah—have your little chat with Cedric.”

  Tania led Edric away from the table.

  “Why is she calling me that?”

  “Don’t ask.” Tania sighed. “I made a mistake and used your real name. She misheard, and she thinks it’s hilarious. How did you know where to find me?”

  “Your phone was switched off so I called Jade’s house to see if she knew where you were. I didn’t call your home line in case your parents answered. Jade’s mum told me you’d come here.”

  “I’m really sorry about the text,” Tania said. “And about switching off the phone. But I couldn’t explain everything to you right then.”

  “Did you enjoy yourself at the Festival last night?” he asked, taking her by surprise.

  “Yes—but how did you know I’d been?”

  “The scent of Faerie is all over you,” he said. “I can smell it on your skin and in your hair.” He smiled properly at her. “I’m glad you went. I hoped you would.”

  “I didn’t really mean to go. It just kind of happene
d.” She looked into his eyes. “I told them about finding someone who had seen Titania. They were really pleased. I wish you could have come with me.”

  “Me, too, but it would have been too tricky to do it without your parents finding out.”

  Tania gave him a haunted look. “My dad did find out,” she said.

  His face became uneasy. “How?”

  “He doesn’t know where I went,” she said, “but he must have checked on me while I was gone.” She caught hold of Edric’s hand, needing the comfort of physical contact. “I told him I’d been to a party. He didn’t yell at me or anything, but I could tell he was really hurt. The only good news is that he hasn’t told my mum. I don’t think she’d be as calm about it as he was.”

  “I’m sorry,” Edric said, squeezing her hand. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have told you about the Festival.” He frowned, his voice lowering. “I just wanted you to experience more things in Faerie, to get to know the place better.”

  “That’s okay, I understand,” she said. She looked into his eyes. “Something else has happened. Something worse.” She glanced around, making sure there was no one nearby to overhear.

  “I went with Jade to have my fortune told,” Tania explained. “I didn’t really want to but she kept going on about it. I thought it would just be a waste of time but…but something happened.” Falteringly, she told him everything that had happened in the fortune-teller’s booth. “I didn’t even remember what Eden had told me till it was too late,” she finished. “The woman must have been a real medium or something, and Drake used her to get to me.”

  Edric’s face went pale. “Are you out of your mind?” he said. “How could you do something that dangerous?”

  Tania winced. She had been expecting sympathy and concern from him, not a lecture. “It was a mistake,” she said, pulling her hand out of his. “But it was all right in the end. I managed to get away from him.”

  “This time you did,” he said, his voice full of reproach. “Eden told you that Drake could use mortals to get to you, but you still thought it was a good idea to go and have your fortune told?”