Page 54 of Solstice

Siobhan nodded. “She’s the key. Is she safe?”

“She is,” I said. “For now.”

“Where is she?”

“No fucking way,” Lex said. “You’re the right hand to the Dark Lord or some shit. I’m not telling you that.”

“Watch your mouth,” Finn snarled, focusing his glowing green eyes on Lex.

Siobhan held up a hand, and her commander grunted before staring back out the front window.

“I’m not loyal to the king,” Siobhan explained, “and I hold no great love for his purpose.”

“Why is Poppy so important?” I cut in before Lex ended up strangled. “What can she do? Can she go back in time?”

Lex softened his features and looked away, taking another long drag on his cigarette. That subtle move may have seemed innocent to everyone else, but I recognized it. That was his tell. The X on my neck had always given me away, but Lex’s lies were in his eyes and always had been. I kept that in the back of my mind as well.

“Maybe.” Siobhan sighed. “She’s strong, maybe the most powerful human I’ve ever known.” She looked between the three of us. “The king wants to destroy her. He mustn’t be allowed to do that. He mustn’t be allowed to win.”

“Then why are you helping him?” Lex’s curt tone sliced through the ominous tension in the air, like he still didn’t trust her.

“Because it’s the only way I can help my lady and Poppy. I was friends with her mother. I love her, and I’ll do whatever I can to protect her.”

That didn’t make any sense to me at the time, but before I could question it, Carter cut in.

“How can we help?” He looked between Siobhan and Finn, praying one of them would answer his question. “How do we end this?”

The SUV stopped at a red light, and I looked outside, recognizing the dim streets of downtown Arlington. The normally overpopulated sidewalks were surprisingly vacant this time of night, and I wondered if that too was some kind of fairy trick. Siobhan could see the future and create rings of power. What could Finn do?

Siobhan laughed at Carter’s question. “You think I have any idea? I get instincts, not visions. I was supposed to give you a gift. I did. Now it’s in fate’s hands. This is ordained, foretold. No one else could have given this to you. Use it.” Siobhan’s serious brown eyes met mine. “I’ve warded your house and your cabin in the mountains. No fairy may enter without a welcome, including the king and queen.”

“You did?” That touched my heart, if only because I had believed Siobhan forgot about us a long time ago. “When?”

Siobhan rolled her eyes. “I’ve been keeping tabs on you, Ivy Washington. I never forget someone that has been given a gift.”

The kindness in her expression made me blush, and I smiled to let her know I appreciated it.

“Why us?” Carter said. “It could have been anyone.”

“No.” She shook her head. “It couldn’t. I know some things have happened that you don’t particularly like, and when you find out the rest of it, you’ll hate me. Everything has been leading up to this, and you’re almost done.”

I opened my mouth to ask what she meant by that, but the SUV slowed in the middle of the street.

“Uh…guys...” Theo called.

“Fuck,” Finn growled, glancing at us with an angry glower. “He’s here.”

When I focused out the front window, my pulse picked up and my stomach churned. The vehicle had been completely surrounded by dark wisps of shadows. The air sizzled with power, crackling and zinging through the smog like electricity. I remembered this feeling from Faerie.

The king.

Bodies appeared out of the darkness up ahead, faeries, a lot of them. An entire army of the king’s henchmen glared at us, prepared to take us down. With only six of us in the truck and half of us armed, there was no way we could win, even if we drove through the crowd with the SUV. They’d swarm us and drag us back to Faerie, and then we’d be fucked.

I focused on my breathing, resisting the urge to panic.

This is it.

This is happening.

---