The Lost Prince

“Ethan!” Guro called as I pushed Keirran toward the exit. I looked back warily, hoping he wouldn’t insist that we stay. “Go home soon, do you hear me?” Guro said in a firm voice. “I won’t alert the authorities, not yet. But at least let your parents know that you’re all right.”



“I will,” I promised and hurried outside with the others.



We rushed across the street, ducked between two houses, and came out in an abandoned lot choked with weeds. A huge oak tree, its hanging branches draped in moss, loomed out of the fog, and we stopped beneath the ragged curtains.



“Where’s Razor?” Kenzie asked, just as the gremlin scurried up and leaped onto Keirran, jabbering frantically. The Iron prince winced as Razor scrabbled all over him, buzzing and yanking at his shirt.



“Ouch! Razor!” Keirran pried the gremlin away and held him at arm’s length. “What’s going on? I thought I told you to stay with Annwyl.”



“Razor did!” the gremlin cried, pulling at his ears. “Razor stayed! Pretty elf girl didn’t! Pretty elf girl left, wanted to find Master!”



“Annwyl?” Abruptly, Keirran let him go. Razor blipped out of sight and appeared in the nearby tree, still chattering but making no sense now. “She left? Where—?” The gremlin buzzed frantically, flailing his arms, and Keirran frowned. “Razor, slow down. I can’t understand you. Where is she now?”



“She is with the lady, little boy.”



We spun. A section of mist seemed to break off from the rest, gliding toward us, becoming substantial. The cat-thing with the old woman’s face slid out of the fog, wrinkled lips pulled into an evil smile. Behind her, two more faeries appeared, the thin, bug-eyed things that had chased Kenzie and me into the Nevernever. The screech of weapons being drawn shivered across the misty air.



The cat-thing hissed, baring yellow teeth. “Strike me down, and the Summer girl will die,” she warned. “The Iron monster speaks the truth. We watched as she entered the real world again, looking for you. We watched, and when she was away from the Between, we took her. She is with the lady now. And if I perish, the Summer faery will become a snack for the rest of my kin. It’s up to you.”



Keirran went pale and lowered his weapon. The faery smiled. “That’s right, boy. Remember me? I watched you, after you killed my sister with your foul poison glamour. I saw you and your precious Summer girl lead the humans to the Exile Queen.” She curled a withered lip. “Pah! Exile Queen. She is no more a true queen than that bloated slug Titania, sitting on her throne, feeding on her ill-gotten fame. Our lady will destroy these silly notions of Summer and Winter courts.”



“I don’t care about Titania,” Keirran said, stepping forward. “Where’s Annwyl? What have you done with her?”



The cat-faery smiled again. “For now, she is safe. When we took her, our lady gave specific orders that she was not to be harmed. How long she remains that way depends on you.”



I saw Keirran’s shoulders rise as he took a deep, steadying breath. “What do you want from us?” he asked.



“From the mortals? Nothing.” The cat-thing barely glanced and me and Kenzie, giving a disdainful sniff. “They are human. The boy may have the Sight, but our lady is not interested in humans. They are of no use to her. She wants you, bright one. She sensed your strange glamour while you were in the park, the magic of Summer, Winter and Iron. She has never felt anything like it before.” The faery bared her yellow fangs in a menacing smile. “Come with us to meet the lady, and the Summer girl will live. Otherwise, we will feed on her glamour, suck out her essence, and drain her memories until there is nothing left.”



Keirran’s arms shook as he clenched his fists. “Do you promise?” he said firmly. “Do you promise not to harm her, if I come with you to see this lady?”



“Keirran!” I snapped, stepping toward him. “Don’t! What are you doing?”



He turned on me, a bright, desperate look in his eyes.



“I have to,” he whispered. “I have to do this, Ethan. You’d do the same if it was Kenzie.”



Dammit, I would, too. And Keirran would do anything for Annwyl—he’d proven that already. But I couldn’t let him march happily off to his destruction. Even if he was part fey, he was still family.



“You’re going to get yourself killed,” I argued. “We don’t even know if they really took her. They could be lying to get you to come with them.”



“Lying?” The cat-thing growled, sounding indignant and outraged. “We are fey. Mankind has forgotten us, the courts have abandoned us, but we are still as much a part of Faery as Summer and Winter. We do not lie. And your Summer girl will not survive the night if you do not come back with us, now. That is a promise. So, what will it be, boy?”



“All right,” Keirran said, spinning back. “Yes. You have a deal. I’ll come with you, if you swear not to harm my friends when we leave. Promise me that, at least.”



The cat-faery sniffed. “As you wish.”



“Keirran—”



He didn’t look at me. “It’s up to you, now,” he whispered, and sheathed his blade. “Find us. Save everyone.”



Razor buzzed frantically and leaped from the tree, landing on Keirran’s shoulder. “No!” he howled, tugging on his collar, as if he could drag him away. “No leave, Master! No!”



“Razor, stay with Kenzie,” Keirran murmured, and the gremlin shook his head, huge ears flapping, garbling nonsense. Keirran’s voice hardened. “Go,” he ordered, and Razor cringed back from the steely tone. “Now!”



With a soft wail, the gremlin vanished. Reappearing on Kenzie’s shoulder, he buried his face in her hair and howled. Keirran ignored him. Straightening his shoulders, he walked steadily toward the trio of glamour-eaters, until he was just a few feet away. I noticed that the two thin faeries drifted a space away from him as he approached, as if afraid they would accidentally catch his deadly Iron glamour. “Let’s go,” I heard him say. “I’m sure the lady is waiting.”



Do something, I urged myself. Don’t just stand there and watch him leave. I thought of rushing the glamour-eaters and slicing them all to nothingness, but if Annwyl died because of it, Keirran would never forgive me. Clenching my fists, I could only watch as the fey drew back, one of the thin faeries turning to slash the very mist behind them. It parted like a curtain, revealing darkness beyond the hole. Darkness, and nothing else.



“Do not follow us, humans,” the cat-faery hissed, and padded through the hole in the fog, tail twitching behind her. The thin fey jerked their claws at Keirran, and he stepped through the hole without looking back, fading into the darkness. The two fey pointed at us silently, threateningly, then swiftly vanished after him. The mist drew forward again, the tear in realities closed, and we were alone in the fog.



Chapter Twenty



The Forgotten



Great. Now what?



I heard Kenzie trying to calm Razor down as I stared at the spot from which the glamour-eaters and the Iron prince had vanished a moment before. How were they able to create a trod right here? As I understood it, only the rulers of Faery—Oberon, Mab, Titania—or someone of equal power could create the paths into and out of the Nevernever. Even the fey couldn’t just slip back and forth between worlds wherever they liked; they had to find a trod.



Unless someone of extreme power created that trod for them, knowing we’d be here.



Unless whatever lurked in Central Park could rival Oberon or Mab.



That was a scary thought.



Kenzie finally managed to get Razor to stop wailing. He sat on her shoulder, ears drooping, looking miserable. She sighed and turned to me. “Where to now? How do we get to Central Park from here?”



“I don’t know,” I said, fighting down my frustration. “We have to find a trod, but I don’t know where any would be located. I never kept track of the paths into Faery. And even if we find one, humans can’t open it by themselves.”



Razor suddenly sniffed, raising his head. “Razor knows,” he chirped, blinking huge green eyes. “Razor find trod, open trod. Trod to scary Muse lady. Razor knows.”



“Where?” Kenzie asked, pulling the gremlin off her shoulder, holding him in both hands. “Razor, where?” He buzzed and squirmed in her grip.



“Park,” he said, and she frowned. He pointed back at me. “Park near funny boy’s house. Leads to scary lady’s home.”



“What?” I glared at him. “Why is there a trod to Leanansidhe’s so close to my house? Was she sending her minions to spy on me, too?”



He yanked on his ears. “Master asked!” he wailed, flashing his teeth. “Master asked scary lady to make trod.”



I stared at him, my anger fading. Keirran. Keirran had had Leanansidhe create a trod close to where I lived. Why?



Maybe he was curious. Maybe he wanted to see the other side of his family, the human side. Maybe he was hoping to meet us one day, but was afraid to reveal himself. I’d never seen him hanging around, but maybe he had been there, hidden and silent, watching us. Abruptly, I wondered if it had been lonely in the Iron Court, if he ever felt out of place, a half-human prince surrounded by fey.



Another thought came to me, the memory of a gremlin peering in my bedroom window. Could it have been Razor all along? Had Keirran been sending his pet to spy on me, since he couldn’t come himself?



I’d have to ask him about that, if we rescued him from the lady. When we rescued him. I wouldn’t let myself think that we might not.



“I know that park,” I told Kenzie, as Razor scrambled to her shoulder again. “Let’s go.”



* * *



Another cab ride—Kenzie paid for it this time, since I was out of cash—and we were soon standing in a familiar neighborhood at the edge of the little park where I’d spoken to the dryad. It seemed like such a long time ago now. The sun had burned away the last of the mist, and people were beginning to stir inside their homes. I gazed toward the end of the street. Just a few blocks away stood my house, where Mom would be getting ready for work and Dad would still be asleep. So close. Were they thinking of me now? Did they worry?