Page 31 of The Rebel Seer

“Is there anything we can do to banish her?” The king stares like he’s trying to see what I can see.

I face her for the first time. “Do you see a light?” Now that I’m looking at her, the rushing sound of water is so much louder, and I feel her chill. “If you can see the light, you can leave this plane and begin again. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. The light is another chance. Can you see it?”

A shiver goes through me as a hand breaks through the water, a long finger pointing at me.

She doesn’t want to go into the light. She wants me.

“I’d like to pass through now,” I say quietly.

Rhys leans close and whispers in my ear. “We can talk to Arawn about banishing her. If anyone will know how to get rid of an evil spirit, it will be the King of the Dead. I promise, I will find a way.”

I believe him. I really do. I love this man so much, but as I turn from the spirit that has haunted me since I was a child, I’m back to being worried about the fact that his grandmother is a Faery queen and he has a temple where he’s supposed to conduct fertility rites.

“Are we good to go?” Rhys’s papa asks. “Is there anything we can do to protect you, Shy?”

I shake my head. “I’m ready. She wouldn’t be the first to try to take my body. Harry taught me well. I can expel a spirit with a single breath. I’ll be fine.”

Devinshea nods and moves toward the back of the cave. We’re all lined up. The royals first. Rhys and I after them with our wolves, and Sasha in the back. The hounds seem to know things have gotten serious because they stop playing and take up their spots. Fluffy and Caddoc on either side of me and Rhys and Emyr behind the queen.

Devinshea places the largest stone on the door and says something I can’t hear. Likely an incantation or request for entry. The door opens and I can see another world. It’s near dark here, but the sun is vibrant in Faery. Time moves differently, I was taught. It passes more quickly here on the Earth plane.

Rhys’s hand is in mine as we approach the door his parents walked through. I look back and the Drowning Woman is still there, her monstrous hand reaching out.

I swear I feel sadness. Loss. An ache I haven’t felt before. Like I lost something.

I have the oddest feeling I should stay. But then Rhys squeezes my hand, and I know it’s just my fear and anxiety. Since the encounter with Matilda, I find myself walking the knife’s edge between excitement and worry. I want to know if there’s something more inside me, something else I can help our cause with. But I worry the Welsh King of the Dead will take one look at me and realize a mistake was made.

I force myself to turn to that soft light coming out of the door. When I walk through, I feel a jolt on my palm as though the stone in my hand zapped me lightly. I ignore it since it doesn’t really hurt. It’s one of those magical things. Rhys leads me out and we find ourselves walking into a field, and I know immediately the door worked and we are in the Faery realm.

I know because the air is sweet and the sun warm on my skin. Softer than before. I know because the grass is perfect and green, and I can see a palace in the distance. I know because Rhys takes a long breath, and a shudder goes through his big body like something inside him relaxes simply by being here.

I look behind me as Cassie moves forward with her dad, and I see Sasha walking out of the door. In the back I see the Drowning Woman is gone. The door closes and she is not here. She cannot follow me. I breathe a sigh of relief. She is attached to me. She proved that when she managed to follow me to Iceland. But she’s more attached to the Earth plane.

“Is she here?” Rhys asks.

I look around to make sure. “No.”

“Good.” He kisses the top of my head and looks out over the green fields toward the gleaming palace in the distance. His shoulders straighten. “Well, I suppose we should get going. Did anyone send word we were coming?”

His papa turns our way. “I spoke with your grandmother via the mirror network. I expect there will be an escort waiting closer to the palace. I didn’t tell her we were coming in through Arawn’s door. I can’t be sure if she even knows this door exists, so I explained we would meet them outside the palace walls. We should get going.”

“She readily agreed we could bring Dad and the wolves and Sasha?” Rhys asks the question in a challenging tone.

“Yes. She agreed to it,” Devinshea replies with what seems like patience. “She understands the rules. When Mom, Dad, and I went missing, the Fae took it as a bad portent. They are deeply superstitious. In their minds they had only recently gotten their fertility back and then it was gone again. They blame my interactions with non-Fae creatures. Once we start setting the fields right and perform a few rituals, they will calm down.”

“Fecking bastard.”

The words are spat from somewhere over my head as Devinshea continues to explain why it’s going to be all right this time, why it’s not like when she turned away Lee and Fenrir.

“I hope they kill him.”

I glance up, and there’s a small creature sitting on the lowest branch of a tree to the left of the door. Not that you can see the door anymore. It disappeared after Sasha walked through it. I move in closer. “Are you all right?”

I think it’s a troll. Oh. A dead troll. I can see a gaping wound on his neck and one eye dangles.

The troll nearly falls from his perch.

“So, I think it’s safe to assume she can see dead Fae creatures,” the queen says.

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