The Lost Prince

“No,” I rasped, backing away. They were coming down the stairs now, pointed stick legs skipping over the puddles. One of them stared at me and raised a thin, bloody claw to his mouth slit, licking the blood with a pale, wormlike tongue.



The sound of movement rippled behind us, and I turned to see more of them floating around the corner of the building, spreading out and trapping us between them.



My stomach felt tight. Is this what had happened to Todd, surrounded on all sides by creepy transparent fey, torn apart with long needle fingers?



I shivered, trying to be calm. My rattan sticks were in my bag, feeble weapons against so many, but I had to do something.



For just a moment, I caught a reflection of myself in the puddle at my feet, grim-faced and hollow-eyed. There was a dark smear on my cheek, my own blood, from where I’d rubbed my face after touching the wound....



Wait. Blood. Standing water.



The fey drifted closer. I stuck my hand into my pocket, and my bloody fingers closed around the silver coin. Pulling it out, I faced Kenzie, who was giving me that worried, bewildered stare, still insisting we go to a doctor.



“Kenzie,” I said, taking her hand as the clicking around us grew very loud in my ears, “do you believe in faeries?”



“What?” She blinked at me, looking confused and almost angry that I’d brought up something so ridiculous. “Do I…no! Of course not, that’s crazy.”



I closed my eyes. “Then, I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t want to do this. But try not to freak out when we get there.”



“Get…where?”



The circle of fey hissed and flowed toward us, claws reaching out, mouths gaping. Praying this would work, I squeezed Kenzie’s hand in a death grip and flung the token into the puddle at my feet.



A flash of blinding white, a ripple of energy with no sound. I felt my stomach pulled inside out, the ground spinning under my feet, and held my breath. The mad hisses and clicking of the transparent fey cut out, and suddenly I was falling.



* * *



I hit the ground on my stomach, biting my lip as the gym bag landed on my shoulder and sent a flare of pain up my arm. Beside me, I heard Kenzie’s breathless yelp as she thumped to the dirt and lay there, gasping.



“What…what in the hell?” she panted, and I heard her struggle to get up. “What just happened? Where are we?”



“Well, well,” answered a cool, amused voice from somewhere above us. “And here you are again. Ethan Chase, your family does have a knack for getting into trouble.”



Part II



Chapter Ten



Cave of the Cait Sith



I jerked upright, pushing off the bag. The motion sent a blaze of agony across my back and shoulder. Clenching my jaw, I struggled to my feet and searched for the source of the elusive voice. We were in some sort of a cave with a sandy bottom and a small pool near the back. Along the walls, enormous spotted toadstools glowed with eerie luminance. Tiny glowing balls, like blue and green fireflies, drifted over the pool, throwing rippling splashes of light over the cavern, but I couldn’t see anyone besides Kenzie and myself.



“Who’s there?” Kenzie demanded, in a far more steady voice than I’d expect. “Where are you? Show yourself.”



“As usual, you mortals have not the slightest ability to see what is right in front of your faces,” continued the voice in a bored tone, and I thought I heard a yawn. “Very well, humans. Up here, if you would.”



There was a shimmer of movement along the far wall. I followed it up to a rocky shelf about fifteen feet off the ground. For a moment, the shelf appeared empty. Then, two glowing yellow eyes blinked into existence, and a second later a large gray cat sat there with its tail curled around itself, peering down on us haughtily.



“There.” It sighed, sounding exceptionally weary, as if it had held this entire conversation before. “See me now?”



A memory flickered to life—the image of a metal tower, crumbling all around us, and a furry gray cat leading us to safety. A name hovered at the edge of my mind, eluding me for the moment, but the image of the golden-eyed cat was clear. Of course, it hadn’t changed a bit.



Kenzie took two staggering steps backward, staring at the feline as if in a daze. “O-kay,” she breathed, shaking her head slightly. “A cat. A cat that talks. I’m going crazy.” She glanced at me. “Or you slipped something into my drink at the tournament. One or the other.”



“How predictable.” The cat sighed again and stuck its hind leg into the air to lick its toes. “I believe there is nothing wrong with your eyes or ears, human. My previous statement still stands.”



I glared at it. “Lay off, cat,” I said. “She’s never seen one of you before, let alone been here.” My arm throbbed, and I sank onto a nearby rock. “Dammit, I don’t know why I’m here. Why am I here? I was hoping I’d never see this place again.”



“Please,” the cat said in that annoyingly superior voice, eyeing me over its leg. “Why are you even surprised, human? Your last name is Chase, after all. I was expecting your arrival any day now.” It sniffed and glanced at Kenzie, who was still staring at it openmouthed. “Minus the girl, of course. But I am sure we can work around that. First things first, however.” The golden eyes shifted to me. “You are dripping blood everywhere, human. Perhaps you should try to put a stop to that. We would not want to attract anything nasty, would we?”



I exhaled, hard. Well, here I was, in the Nevernever. Nothing to be done now but try to get out as quickly as I could. Pulling my bag toward me, I tugged it open and rifled through it one-handed, biting my lip as pain continued to claw at my shoulder. Blood still oozed sluggishly down my arm, and the left side of my shirt was spattered with red.



“Here.” Kenzie suddenly knelt across from me, stopping my hand. “Don’t hurt yourself. Let me do it.” Taking off her camera, she started going through the bag. “You have gauze in here somewhere, right?”



“I can get it,” I said quickly, not wanting her to see my old clothes and smelly belongings. I reached forward, but she gave me such a fierce glare that I sat back with a grimace, leaving her to it. Setting her jaw, she rummaged around, pushing aside rattan sticks and old T-shirts, pulling out a rag and the roll of gauze I kept for sports-related injuries. Her lips were pressed in a thin line, her eyes hard and determined, as if she was going to take care of this little problem before she faced anything else. For a second, I felt a weird flicker of pride. She was taking things remarkably well.



“Take off your shirt.”



I blinked, feeling my face heat. “Uh. What?”



“Shirt, tough guy.” She gestured to my blood-spattered T-shirt. “I don’t think you’re going to want it after this, anyway. Off.”



Her words were almost too flippant, like someone forcing a smile after a horrible tragedy. I hesitated, more out of concern than embarrassment—though there was that, too. “You sure you’re okay with this?”



“Oh, do as she says, human.” The cat thumped its tail. “Otherwise we will be here all night.”



Gingerly, I eased off my shirt and tossed the bloodied rag aside. Kenzie soaked the cloth in the pool, wrung it out, and crouched behind me in the sand. For a moment, she hesitated, and I tensed, suddenly feeling highly exposed—half-naked and bleeding in front of a strange girl and a talking cat. Then her fingers brushed my skin, cool and soft, and my stomach turned into a pretzel.



“God, Ethan.” She laid one palm gently against my shoulder, leaning in to examine the tears down my arm. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to relax. “These are nasty. What the hell was after you, demon cougars?”



I sucked in a ragged breath. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”



“Oh, I’m willing to believe just about anything right now.” She pressed the cloth to the jagged claw marks, and I set my jaw. We were both silent as she dabbed blood off my shoulder and wrapped the gauze around my arm. I could sense Kenzie was still a little dazed from the whole situation. But her fingers were gentle and sure, and I shivered each time they touched my skin, leaving goose bumps behind.



“There,” she said, dusting off her knees as she stood. “That should do it. Those first aid sessions in Ms. Peters’s class didn’t go to waste, at least.”



“Thanks,” I muttered. She gave me a shaky smile.



“No problem.” She watched as I reached into my bag and pulled out another T-shirt, shrugging into it with a grimace. “Now, before I start screaming, will someone—you or the talking cat or a freaking flying goat, I don’t care—please tell me what the hell is going on?”



“Why are mortals so boring?” the cat asked, landing on the sandy floor without a sound. Padding toward us, it leaped atop a flat rock and observed us both critically, waving its tail, before its gaze settled on the girl. “Very well, I will be the voice of reason and sanity once again. Listen closely, human, for I will explain this only once.” It sat down with a sniff, curling its tail around its feet. “You are in the Nevernever, the home of the fey. Or, as you mortals insist upon calling them, faeries. Yes, faeries are real,” it added in its bored tone, as Kenzie took a breath to speak. “No, mortals cannot normally see them in the real world. Please save all unnecessary questions until I am finished.



“You are here,” it continued, giving me a sideways look, “because Ethan Chase apparently cannot stay out of trouble with the fey and has used a token to bring you both into the Nevernever. More important, into my home—one of them, anyway. Which begs the question…” The cat blinked and looked at me now, narrowing its eyes. “Why are you here, human? The token was to be used only in the most dire circumstances. By your wounds, I would guess something was chasing you, but why drag the girl into this, as well?”



“I didn’t have a choice,” I said, avoiding Kenzie’s eyes. “They were after her, too.”