Page 42 of The Iron Sword

A long table of white, green, and gold sat at the back of the courtyard. It was covered with all manner of faery food, but only four fey were seated at the table. Oberon, lord of the Summer Court, sat in the very center, his antlered crown casting its pointed shadow over the tablecloth. His wife, Queen Titania, sat beside him, but she seemed wholly uninterested in her husband, sipping from a golden cup and actively ignoring him. Which probably meant they had gotten into another of their numerous arguments. On Oberon’s other side, seated a little farther down, sat the imposing form of Mab, queen of the Winter Court. And judging from the miniature blizzard swirling around her and the frost that had spread over the ground and over the tablecloth, she was not in the best of moods.

Opposite Mab, on Queen Titania’s side, the final ruler of Faery looked up and met my gaze, and my stomach tightened. This world’s Meghan looked just as perfect and flawless as mine had been, down to the earrings I had given her for her birthday. Would she be the same, I wondered, or did Puck have a different vision than what I knew?

I hesitated a moment longer, before curiosity got the better of me. Stepping away from the trees, I headed across the courtyard.

“There you are,” Meghan said, smiling as I walked around the table to stand beside her. “I was wondering where you had vanished to. You missed a riveting conversation between Mab and Titania that nearly led to another war. So that was interesting.” She rolled her eyes and lowered her voice, turning her head slightly so that only I could hear. “I understand now why Oberon always puts himself between them—it’s like trying to separate two siblings who keep playing the ‘I’m not touching you’ game.”

I resisted the temptation to sit, to take my place at her side. This wasn’t real, and I could not let myself get comfortable. A tiny, bright yellow frog hopped onto her forearm and sat there a moment, peeping. Meghan didn’t seem to notice, and I clenched my fist to keep from plucking the amphibian off her and tossing it to the grass. “I’m looking for Puck,” I said, just to confirm what I already knew. “Have you seen him around?”

“Puck?” Meghan furrowed her brow. “I don’t recognize that name. Who is this?”

I smiled sadly. “No one you would know,” I replied. “Just a friend, from a long time ago.”

Meghan blinked and started to respond, but there was a glint of red from the corner of my eye. For just a moment, I saw him in the crowd, green eyes hooded as he watched us. I jerked up, but when I turned around, no one was there. Just the Summer and Winter Gentry sweeping around the courtyard, looking ethereal and otherworldly. The red-haired prankster of the Summer Court had disappeared.

“Ash?” Meghan frowned up at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I assured her, still scanning the crowds of fey. No Puck, but hewasout there, I was sure of it. “I’ll be right back.”

I strode away before she could argue or ask questions, heading into the courtyard and the place where I had seen that fleeting glimpse of Robin Goodfellow. The look on his face, brief as it was, worried me. Completely blank and without emotion. As if he was on the verge of some terrible breaking point.

The crowds of fey parted for me as I walked through their midst, bowing their heads or nodding in deference. I ignored them. The magnificent gowns, the stunning outfits, the ethereal beauty that could make a human forget everything else, meant nothing to me. The faery I searched for wore a ratty green hoodie and an irreverent smirk everywhere he went. He should have stood out like a fox among swans.

Where are you, Puck?

Abruptly, I felt eyes on my back, and turned my head. A figure in a green sweatshirt was walking away through the crowd. His hood was drawn up, his shoulders hunched as he walked away with his hands in his pockets. As soon as I saw him, a Gentry swept in front of my vision and Puck was gone.

“Goodfellow!”

I strode forward, shouldering aside Winter and Summer fey, until I came to the spot the figure had disappeared. Pausing, I gazed around carefully. I’d come to the edge of the courtyard, where several large trees lined the perimeter just before you reached the wall of briars. Overhead, the branches grew close together, blocking out the sun and casting this area of the Summer Court in deep shadow. For a moment, I wondered if Puck had gone through the briars, but there was no tunnel in the wall of thorns that indicated he had left.

Behind me, the music abruptly stopped. Glancing back, a chill crept up my spine. The Summer Court fey were still there, but their faces were blurred, their lines and edges not quite in focus. I could hear voices drifting to me over the breeze, but they seemed muffled and far away, as if they were all speaking underwater.

There was the faintest sniffle at my back, and I turned.

A figure sat against a trunk a few paces away with his head bowed and one knee drawn to his chest. His red hair seemed duller than before, tinged with gray and almost blending into the shadows around him. Watching him, relief battled a strange sense of dread. I didn’t remember seeing him when I first looked around this area. In fact, I was certain no one had been there a second ago.

“Puck.”

He didn’t acknowledge me when I called his name, didn’t look up as I stopped beside him. Glancing down, I saw a frog perched on his knee, throat sack inflating and deflating as it sat there placidly.

“Goodfellow,” I said, trying again. “Can you hear me?”

His head moved very slightly, as if hearing something in the distance. “Someone is talking again, Mr. Croaky,” he muttered. “Sounds like ice-boy. The frosty princeling himself.” He sighed, mouth curving in a faint, sad smile. “You know, we used to be good friends. I least, I think we were. Hard to remember, now.” He looked down at his hands, frowning. “Maybe it’s always been like this, I don’t know anymore. Maybe he never saw me at all.”

“I see you,” I said, but there was no response. He continued to stare at his hands, not seeming to hear me at all now. “Puck,” I said firmly. “This is just a nightmare. Look at me.”

I went to grab his shoulder...and my fingers passed right through him, making my stomach lurch in horror. Puck frowned slightly, his brow creasing as if in pain. Where my fingers passed, they left a stain of colorless gray that slowly started to creep up his arm, turning him pale and transparent.

The Fade. No, not now.I knelt in front of him, feeling helpless as I watched the most infamous faery in the Nevernever flicker like a dying light bulb. The truth of the situation threatened to crush me. This was a nightmare world, but we were still in the Between. If Puck Faded away here, he would be gone for real.

Puck raised his arm, watching curiously as his fingers started to vanish, starting at the tips. “You know, I thought I’d be more upset,” he muttered, as the frog continued to ignore him. “But, maybe it’s better this way. I can’t hurt anyone, and no one can hurt me. Though I really did think I had a chance with Nyx. I wonder if she’ll miss me when I’m gone. Forgotten by a Forgotten. Heh.” He paused a moment, the half-there smile fading away, then snorted. “Who are you kidding, Goodfellow? She won’t remember. No one will remember you. Your stories are gone.”

The creeping gray reached the top of his head, turning him completely transparent. The frog on his knee abruptly fell through, plopping to the grass with a soft thump, and Puck closed his eyes. “Take care of Meghan, ice-boy,” he murmured, dropping his hand to his lap. “I know you don’t remember me, and I’m not even sure if we were ever friends, but I’m gonna miss you both.”

“No,” I husked out. “Puck, look at me, dammit.” He didn’t open his eyes, but I saw the faint crease of his brow again, and could only hope that, somehow, I was getting through. “I see you,” I told him. “We are friends, we were always friends. Even those times when I was trying to kill you, I could never see myself going through with it. Meghan and Keirran are my life, but you—you’re my brother. You’re as much family as they are, and we have known each other for so long. Don’t do this. I can’t...imagine a Nevernever without you in it, Goodfellow. It would be incredibly boring.”

He frowned, and his eyes finally opened, blinking in surprise as they settled on me, as if he’d just realized I had been kneeling there not three feet away. He was still transparent, though, flickering dangerously close to oblivion, and my determination grew. “Meghan needs you, Puck,” I said quietly. “The Nevernever is counting on us. This isn’t over, and there’s still work to do. You can’t Fade now. You would be missed more than you know.”

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