21. Chapter 21

twenty-one

"I don't understand," Harper repeated wretchedly.

Hawthorne got to his feet and faced her, his expression grim. "We will hide you until First Night, or Halloween, as you call it, is over. After that, we will try to help you back to the Earth Realm"—he glanced at the others—"if we can."

"Please tell me what is going on! Where is Grandma? Why isn't she still queen? Please, can't someone tell me what's happening?" She was thankful she hadn't bothered with mascara that morning. In her confusion and fatigue, tears welled up, threatening an overflow.

"I'll do my best to explain. But first, we must make sure you are safe. Everyone else wait here." He motioned to Harper. "Follow me."

Hawthorne led her to another door in a far wall, barely visible to her eyes; through it, she followed him into another cramped tunnel. After descending a shallow incline, the two emerged in a small, underground chamber with no windows and no other exit that Harper could detect. One corner held a pile of potatoes, and several barrels lined the back wall. Hawthorne turned on a lantern hanging by the doorway that burned with a flameless light.

"You should be safe here. I will explain what I can quickly, then I must get back to the others. Do you know why your grandmother was placed in the Earth Realm at birth?"

Harper blinked. "I know she was in danger, but that's all I know."

His words came rapidly. "Your grandmother was born to Queen Dewberry, hours before the queen was killed by her own sister, Lady Lockspur. Your grandmother's aunt has always fought to rule this realm. She's a menace to us all.

"Lady Lockspur murdered your great grandmother, Queen Dewberry. After that, your grandmother, Queen Sophia, was spirited away to the Earth Realm, where she could live unmolested until Lady Lockspur was defeated. Once that was accomplished, word was sent for Sophia, our rightful queen, to return. She was given the object you treasure—your mirror. It was her only reliable defense against her aunt. But instead of bringing the mirror back with her as instructed, she chose to leave it with you. Once Lady Larkspur regained strength and returned, shortly after our last visit here, your grandmother was at a severe disadvantage."

Harper grasped the mirror tightly. "Where is Grandma now?"

His answer was dour. "Imprisoned. Now I must return to the others. Spies have no doubt reported your entrance into the realm." He looked pointedly at her black hoodie and yoga pants, which gleamed blue and silver. "She will be hunting you. And she must not find you. Rest here. Tomorrow, we will attempt to get you back to your home."

"But I want to help!" Harper pulled out her mirror and held it out to him. "If this can save Grandma, I'll give it back! Please Hawthorne! I need your help. I don't know my way around here. Where can I find this Lady Lockspur?"

Hawthorne shook his head miserably. "Trust me on this. You would likely die, or worse, yourself. Stay hidden. It's the only way to survive." And with that, he stepped back through the door, closing it behind him.

She had not come here to be cosseted and protected by her friends like at home. They and her beloved grandmother were in danger. She couldn't live with herself if she hid until she could be safely spirited away. That decided, she needed to find a way out of this chamber.

Harper listened intently. Hearing nothing, she dug through the potato pile and moved the barrels, hoping to find another secret door, to no avail. With no other option, she crawled back up the tunnel. Once at the door to the larger room, she could hear them arguing over what to do. After an intense discussion, they decided their best option was to head outside, separately. Alida argued it was too dangerous to leave Harper alone. But the others thought Lady Lockspur and her soldiers would never imagine that they would leave her behind. Thus fooled, the presumptive queen and her minions would be led further away on wild goose chases.

After they left, Harper listened for several minutes to make sure all was quiet. Then, closing her hand tightly around the mirror for courage, she eased the door open a tiny crack. Seeing no one, she slipped out of the tree's doorway and into the pewter twilight, where she made her way to the river.

Once there, she went to the bridge her grandmother had used to cross the river before, which was now covered in dark green moss and black soot. Looking up, she saw a reddish light expanding over the top of the hill like a hostile sunrise.

Harper crept to the center of a thick laurel bush, where she quickly burrowed in the black dirt to hide the glitter still stubbornly clinging to her hoodie. Then, through the laurel's dark green leaves, she watched the light draw nearer. A tall being, who reminded her of her grandmother but dressed in a beet red gown, descended the hill, surrounded by several menacing attendants. Where her grandma's retinue had given off silver and golden light, these gave off a dull foreboding red and gray glare. They smelled noxious, like burnt hair.

Before them, they herded two small beings at lance point. As they drew near, she recognized Piper and Earl Grey. She watched, stone still, as they crossed over to her side of the river, where she could hear them speak. Though they weren't speaking English, Harper found she could understand their exchange.

With a voice like a rusty nail scratching a metal surface, the tall woman wearing a crown of hemlock leaves said, "I can smell her. There's human blood nearby with the taint of my niece about it. I've heard sickening stories of your troop and humans. I know you flatter yourselves that you ‘help' them. And I know the lot of you dared bring this one here, to my lands, before I took care of your beloved queen. Now tell me—where is she? She's very close. You don't want to know what will happen if I find her without your help."

Harper watched Piper and Earl Grey walk by, looking straight ahead with blank expressions on their faces, saying nothing. She was amazed to realize that, even in the gathering gloom, she could see them as though it were broad daylight, with every detail in sharp relief.

Enraged, Harper's blood began to careen through her veins, and she felt a surge of strength and power. Her limbs ached with the desire to fight. But she forced herself to stay still as the group continued its climb toward the village. When they crested the hill above her, Harper found herself lifting off the ground and breaking through the branches of the massive laurel bush. Turning her head left, then right, she saw to her astonishment that her arms had transformed into spectacular brown and black wings, tipped in white.

Turning her attention to the group ahead, she opened her mouth to yell, but her ears filled not with her voice, but with a terrifying shriek. She swooped down at Lady Lockspur's crown, tearing it from her head. Then she landed at the top of the hill, defiantly staring down the assembled Fae.

Lady Lockspur turned a hate-twisted face her way. "Kill her!" Her attendants, lances aimed at Harper's chest, rushed up the hill toward her. Harper lifted off, spreading her wings again. As she swooped over them, she grazed the first with her talons, and blood poured from the gash she left along one cheek. Within seconds, she found herself at the top of a tree. The attendants flung down their spears and quickly grabbed Piper and Earl Grey, pulling them back. Now, instead of lances at their backs, the pair had knives at their throats.

"What's your name, Hybrid?" Lady Lockspur spat. "Never mind. Let me explain your position. Come closer so we can chat, unless you want to find out what color blood your friends shed." Her lips unfurled in a nasty smile. "I won't give you time to guess the color first."

Seeing no option that wouldn't imperil her friends, Harper landed. On touching down, she found herself in human form once again. "Where's my grandmother?"

"Your grandmother ?" the woman croaked. "Oh, you mean my weak-blooded, brainless niece Sophia? Let's just say she's in a safe, but inaccessible place. I can take you to her if you'd like. But first, let's talk things over. I get the feeling that you and I may have more in common than you think."

She gestured to her soldiers. "Drop your knives."

Her attendants lowered their arms, then shoved Piper and Earl Grey to the ground. Harper dashed to them. After seeing they were unharmed, she stood up, eyes blazing toward her great-aunt. "Okay, if you want to talk, we'll talk. But let them go."

In response, her aunt leered. "Not quite yet. So, you know we are relations. Yes, your grandmother is my beloved niece. What a pleasant surprise! I hadn't realized Sophia had literally gotten herself mixed up with humans. But you have inherited a Fae gift, I see. We value your kind here. You could be of great use to me."

The smirk disappeared and she lowered her voice as though attempting to convince Harper she could be trusted. "We could work together. Between the two of us, we could rule our realm forever."

Harper snorted with disdain. "I don't want to rule anything with you or anyone else." She drew herself up and glared at this imposing Fae with all the venom she could muster.

"My, what big eyes you have!" Lady Lockspur smiled with mock sweetness. "Oh, I think you'd prefer working with me to the alternative." She turned and nodded to the attendants standing in formation behind her before barking, "More of these vermin are hiding behind that big rock down by the river. Run and fetch them for me."

The henchmen made their way quickly down the hill. Even though it was now completely dark, Harper could still see clearly. She watched as Hawthorne, Ash, and Ivy appeared from behind the boulder. They were out-sized and out-armed. Her rage threatened to overcome her ability to think as they made their gloomy march up the hill, weapons at their backs.

Harper's friends were thrust to the ground before their hands were bound behind them. Lady Lockspur regarded her with scorn. "Don't even think about it. While impressive, I think you'll find that your gift is no match for mine. I suggest you listen to what I have to say. Otherwise, I promise you will regret your obstinance."

"Fine," Harper spat, returning her hands to her hoodie pockets. "I'm listening."

Lady Lockspur took a small object from a fold in her gown and held it out for Harper's inspection. With it came the nauseating scent of blood mixed with metal. "This is an old family heirloom. Come closer and have a look. If you join with me, it will be yours forever."

Harper's eyes gave an involuntary roll. "How dumb do you think I am? Your whole schtick sounds like something from a bad novel."

Lady Lockspur's eyebrows shot up, and she tilted her head to the side. "Sass! I like it! Maybe we have more in common than I dared hope. Here!" She threw the object at Harper, who caught before it hit her in the face. It was a mirror, identical to her own, except that this one was heavier, and a dull gray, covered in blood red vines.

The tone of Lockspur's voice changed once again, becoming softer, almost hypnotic. "Open it. The deepest secrets of your soul will be revealed when you look within."

Harper knew it was crazy to trust this wicked being. But another part of her felt compelled to look. After all, she'd just discovered she could fly. What else might be revealed in this mirror? The longer she gripped it, the more irresistible the thought of peering within it became.

Harper placed her thumb on the latch and pressed. As it clicked open, she looked down toward the glass, but just before her eyes connected with its surface, it went sailing from her hand, knocked away by an invisible force. In response, Lady Lockspur roared while shooting a blaze of laser-red light from her fingertips. Harper felt nothing, but she heard a sound like a dying songbird. Suddenly Lily, the orange-haired water sprite, materialized beside her on the ground, gasping for breath, a wide wound in her shoulder.

Harper screeched, but before she had time to react, she heard the rising clamor of shrieks and beating wings bearing down through the treetops. Then a maelstrom of claws and feathers descended on them all in a great screeching cacophony. Harper saw owls, dozens of owls, some swooping down at Lady Lockspur and her followers, others clawing at the ropes binding her friends' hands behind their backs.

Harper ran to Lily, who, with an effort, gasped out, "Harper! Your grandma's mirror …"

In an instant, Harper grasped what must be done. She quickly jerked her grandmother's mirror from her pocket and ran over to Lady Lockspur who, distracted by the owls diving at her head, was frantically shooting sparks from her fingertips. Harper reached her at the same moment a very large owl, identical to her own owl from Whippoorwill Gap, landed on Lockspur's head and took off again with its talons full of dull hair.

While her great-aunt screamed curses at the owl, Harper grabbed Lockspur's chin in one hand and thrust her grandmother's open mirror before those soulless eyes, which grew round and black, the irises dissolving as they focused on the glass. Lady Lockspur cried out as she realized, too late, what had happened.

At the same time, a huge burst of silver light, intertwined with gold, rushed from Harper's mirror and surrounded them all like heat lightning on a summer's night. With a final howl of despair, Lady Lockspur faded into a red and gray mist that was rapidly sucked into Harper's beloved mirror with the efficiency of a retractable vacuum cleaner cord. The captured queen's soldiers dropped their weapons and fled over the hill from where they'd come. Closing the now much heavier mirror quickly before shoving it into her pocket, Harper joined the others who, now freed by the owls, had gathered around Lily. The owls, their cries now silenced, melted away into the trees without a trace.

Harper's friends dropped to one knee and bowed. But Harper, distraught over the now unresponsive Lily, didn't notice the genuflections until she felt a touch on her head and heard a familiar voice.

"Well done, Harper."

Looking up, she saw Grandma Sophie smiling down at her in a way she remembered so well from her childhood.