Ghost Light

Chapter 22

We quickly left the cemetery gates behind. Color returned to Ceff’s face as we put distance between us and the iron gates and he now ran without Jinx’s assistance. We sprinted through the cemetery looking for sign of the children.

We moved with such speed that headstones appeared, as if by magic, in the swirling fog. I was glad for my fae-boosted night vision and quick reflexes. Jinx wasn’t so lucky. Her shins and knees were bloodied from stumbling into unseen obstacles, but still she ran on.

We searched every tomb and mausoleum, but there was no sign of the children. I checked the time again—it was eleven fifty-nine. The statues of angels looked down from lofty perches atop monuments and pedestals. Their sightless eyes seemed mocking as I tried to hold out hope.

I ran faster, my breath ragged and legs burning. A light danced in the distance and I stopped. My pulse pounded in my ears as I tried to hold my breath. As I watched, more lights joined the first to dance through the air. That was no flashlight.

Those were wisps.

I’d never seen a full-blooded wisp before. Nothing, not even the glimpses in my visions, had prepared me for how captivatingly beautiful they were. Kaye had shown me artist renderings of my brethren, but the paintings and sketches hadn’t done them justice. The wisps glowed like the light of the sun—and pulled at me with a star’s gravity.

These were my people. Mine. I felt something akin to a mother’s love for these beautiful spheres of light. Warmth flooded my body and flames seemed to lick at my skin. With a maternal bond comes a fierce protective instinct. I gripped my knives tightly, a growl forming deep in my chest. Melusine and The Piper had involved the wisps in their dark plans. For that I’d make them pay.

I shook my head, pushing away thoughts of revenge. I needed to focus on the problem at hand. If the wisps were in the cemetery ahead of us, the children must be nearby. Miraculously we’d found the correct cemetery, but we were still running out of time.

Keeping an eye on the wisps, I turned to the side and waved to Jinx and Ceff who were running up behind me. I held up my hand for them to wait and pointed to the wisps. I wasn’t sure if they’d seen the small faeries yet. I pointed to myself and gestured for them to stay back and let me approach first.

I crept toward the nearest wisp, heart racing. I needed to save the children and my people. If I could get close enough, I might be able to reason with the wisp, maybe. I felt the growing bond between us, but these wisps had never met their princess. And I, for all my royal blood, had never before encountered one of my people. I had no idea if we could even communicate with each other. But I had to try.

The glowing ball of light hovered above a headstone, casting the epitaph into sharp relief. When I was near enough to read the engraving, I came slowly out of my crouch and cleared my throat. The wisp ducked behind the headstone, seeming to wink in and out of existence with its speed.

“Wait,” I said. I kept my voice low. If Melusine or The Piper were nearby, I didn’t want to give away my position. “I am the daughter of Will-o’-the-Wisp.”

A piece of me finally slid into place. I was like an old puzzle in a box with torn corners—pieces falling through the cracks. You can try to put the puzzle together, but unless you stumble on the missing pieces, the picture is incomplete. I’d found a missing piece in this unlikely place, and I would cherish it. Fulfilling my destiny as the leader of the wisps gave me an unexpected sense of calm. I smiled and took an easy breath.

“I am your princess,” I said.

The wisp peeked out from behind the headstone and floated tentatively toward me. It rose to head height and twinkled happily. Though the wisp didn’t communicate with words, I could feel hope, joy, and acceptance roll off its body in warm waves.

This wisp welcomed me as its leader. I just hoped the other wisps felt the same way.

“The lamia Melusine and The Piper with his demon flute are my enemies,” I said. “I’m here to rescue the children. If you help me, I will forgive your role in leading them to this place.”

The wisp’s light dimmed in shame.

“Can you lead me to the children?” I asked.

The wisp brightened again, bobbing up and down.

“Good,” I said. “Lead the way.”

I waved for Jinx and Ceff to follow and turned back to the wisp. It was already dancing and weaving through the fog, nearly out of sight. That little guy could move fast.

I grinned, teeth flashing in the night. Pride surged through me, and with it returned my desire for revenge. Melusine had murdered Ceff’s sons, put over thirty fae children in jeopardy, and manipulated my people. It was time to teach the lamia a lesson—payback’s a bitch.

I gripped my knives and ran. Adrenaline surged through my veins as I rushed forward, heart racing. I launched myself over gravestones and urns filled with rotting flowers, all the while keeping the wisp in my sights.

As I ran more wisps joined us, but I sent them away with a quick command. Their combined glow would likely give us away. We needed to approach with stealth if we were to keep the element of surprise. With an unhinged lamia and a demon flute wielding faerie as adversaries, I’d use every possible advantage.

I remained ahead of my companions. Jinx was only human, though she’d had the sense to discard her platform shoes, and Ceff was still recovering from the effects of iron poisoning. I could hear their heavy breathing fade into the distance behind me and pushed on.

My legs ached and my lungs burned, but I never slowed. I ran along the waterfront every morning, preparing myself for moments like this. That training and my newfound speed and strength allowed me to move at a breakneck pace, but still I was too late.

Someone blew a long, tremulous note on a flute and music began to fill the air. The sound pulled at me, making my aching feet want to dance. I shook my head and slowed my pace. Even at a distance, The Piper’s music was entrancing. I had to block the sound before continuing on.

I reached into my pocket for the earplugs that Jinx had given me. I inserted the bright colored foam into my ears, immediately dampening the music. For once, I was glad that my friend enjoyed clubbing. The earplugs were high quality and made to reduce sounds even at high decibels. Since The Piper’s flute played a low, haunting melody, the plugs almost completely blocked it out.

Of course, I was still a couple hundred yards away.

I checked my phone and brought up the text from Father Michael. Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur, tuque, Princeps militiae coelestis, satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen.

Below the Latin, Father Michael had included the words in English. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, oh prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

I repeated the phrase, securing it to memory. I slid the phone back into a secure pocket and took a deep breath. I just hoped that the priest’s theory was correct.

I flipped my throwing knives, rotating each one hundred and eighty degrees to hold the blade between my fingers. I bent low and scooted closer to the music and dancing lights. When I could feel the music tugging at my body like a gale wind, I ducked behind a headstone and dug my boot heals into the turf.

I took a calming breath, centering myself like I would for a potentially nasty vision. I focused my mind and imagined bricks and mortar being laid to form a strong, impenetrable wall around my psyche, bolstering my will. I would not succumb to the demon music. Would. Not.

I opened my eyes and peeked around the headstone, careful not to let my face brush the moss covered stone. Bile rose in my throat and I ground my teeth. What I saw nearly broke my heart.

Children were huddled together on the chill, damp grass. The children, still clad in the pajamas they wore when they were abducted, shivered against the cold.

As I watched, something moved across the ground like shadows shifting through the sea of fog, heading straight for them. But these shadows were covered in skin and mangy fur. Hundreds of rats rushed toward the children, teeth and eyes flashing. The children whimpered and pulled each other closer.

I spun around the headstone and leapt to my feet, but as I rushed toward the children, the notes of the song became more urgent. The children were jerked upright, compelled by the music as if pulled by invisible puppet strings. Rats nipped at their ankles as they joined hands and began dancing in a circle.

I pulled my eyes away from the children and searched for the source of the music. A tall, slender faerie stood opposite my position, the circle of children between us. He held a flute to his lips with long, slender fingers that danced along the instrument like spiders. The man was wearing colorful pantaloons over hose and a matching vest over a loose, puffy blouse.

I’d found The Piper.

Though The Piper’s unusual clothing and tall, slender build were typical for a faerie, his lined face was not. Wrinkles creased his forehead and chin and his ebony hair was streaked with white. The Piper’s mortality was showing.

Coiled beside him like a cobra ready to strike was Melusine. The lamia’s lips were parted in a smile of total ecstasy. The bitch was getting off on the children’s terror.

“No!” Ceff yelled.

I looked over my shoulder to see Ceff rushing toward the circle. He was staring in horror at his ex-wife.

“Ah, my love,” Melusine said. “I knew you would come. You always did care too much for the children.”

She tut-tutted, pouting her lips. With her fangs retracted Melusine was beautiful—if you could ignore the fact she was a crazy, psycho bitch.

“How could you do this?” Ceff asked. He gave a slow, disbelieving shake of his head. “What did you possibly think you could accomplish by harming these innocent children?”

“You have only yourself to blame,” she said. “I was the perfect wife and yet you loved our children more than you loved me. Children should be put in their place. They should be made to suffer for stealing what is rightfully mine.”

The color drained from Ceff’s face.

“You cannot fault me a father’s love for his children,” he said.

Melusine ignored his words, caught up in her own fantasy. The woman was truly crazy. Her hatred and jealousy had grown into an evil, festering wound that could only be healed with the suffering of more children.

That was what Melusine gained from tonight’s charade. She would revel in the pain inflicted on these kids. If her ex showed up to watch, that was a bonus.

“You and I can be together again my dear,” she said, eyes gleaming. “As soon as I destroy this half-breed distraction.”

Melusine turned to me, fangs extending. Scratch that. She was also here to win Ceff back and kill his new girlfriend. Lucky me.

I stepped forward with my left foot, adopting a throwing stance. I bent my knees and shifted my weight to the ball of my right foot. I needed to get close enough to The Piper to disrupt his spell, but first I had to make it past Melusine.

I yawned and stretched my right arm overhead. If I kept her talking, maybe I could get my knife into position without her knowledge. I hoped she’d underestimate the lowly half-breed.

“If you’re going to kill me anyway, how about you tell me how you tricked the wisps into helping you,” I said.

I moved my right hand just behind my head. I hoped it looked like I was scratching my neck, not readying to toss my iron-tipped blade.

“Do not blame your foolish brethren,” she said. “The wisps were promised the return of their princess for their service. And I, my dears, have delivered.”

Faerie bargains; they were always filled with loopholes and trickery. I spat. I would show her what happened to those who bound my people with deception and lies. I would show them all what it meant to anger an Unseelie princess.

Melusine had to be stopped. She would never change. The fact she’d used my own people in her more recent evil machinations added to my conviction. Melusine may have been Ceffyl’s queen, but she never cared about his people. The bitch cared only for herself. In a jealous fit Melusine had murdered the heirs to their kingdom and abandoned her king. It was time she paid for her treasonous crimes against the kelpies.

Melusine shot toward me, fangs fully extended. As she rushed me, she lifted a sword and aimed it at my head. I adjusted for the change in distance and threw my knife with lightning speed, faster than I’d ever thrown a blade while practicing with Jenna. I smiled. I was drawing strength from the wisps now hovering around my head.

My knife buried itself deep in Melusine’s shoulder, putting her sword arm out of commission. The sword fell from her hand, arm hanging limply at her side. Without hesitation, Melusine dipped her body and retrieved the sword with her left hand. Great, the bitch was ambidextrous—just my luck. I readied my second knife to take out her left shoulder when Ceff stepped in front of me.

“I will not let you do this,” Ceff said, facing Melusine. He risked a glance at me and shouted. “Go! I’ll take care of Melusine. You and Jinx rescue the children.”

Ceff turned to face Melusine and widened his stance. The telescoping handle of his trident shot outward as he flicked his wrist hard, the move an open threat. If it came down to a choice between Melusine and the children, he’d pick the children, just as he’d always done. The knowledge made the tension bleed from my neck and shoulders.

I nodded and lowered my blade. I’d wounded Melusine which should slow her down. If Kaye’s information was correct, lamias can only regenerate the serpent portions of their bodies. Even with the rapid healing common to full blooded fae, she wouldn’t be using her right arm in this fight.

I had to trust that Ceff could handle his ex. I sent up a silent prayer and turned my attention to the children who were indeed in need of rescuing. Tiny feet stomped atop graves and gravel paths as the children’s bodies lurched to The Piper’s music.

The Danse Macabre had begun.