A Sacred Magic Read online

  I pulled out my wallet, handing her a hundred bucks. “Here, this will help defray the costs. If it costs more than that, let me know and I’ll stop at the ATM on the way home.”

  “Thanks.” She took the money and tucked it into her purse. Angel did most of the grocery shopping because she was the one who cooked most. I usually took care of the dishes. On Saturdays, we did chores together, though yesterday we had let them slide.

  I glanced around the kitchen. “If I’m home early enough today, I’ll try to get to the floors. I think it’s my week for them.”

  “Yeah, they are getting a little muddy, especially by the door. It’s been a wet season out there.” She glanced out the window behind the table.

  Our kitchen was huge, an eat-in kitchen. We had a table that could seat upward of eight to ten guests. I had bought the house a few months before, and Angel moved in as my roommate. It had been a murder house, but we cleansed it, and everything negative seemed to be gone. As long as I didn’t think about being forced to kill my grandfather in the kitchen, I was fine. It’d been his fault, and I tried not to let myself entertain ideas that the house was cursed from the murder–suicide that had happened here earlier.

  “You’re picking up Raven at ten?” Angel stabbed a sausage with her fork.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I’m grateful she’s going with me. I doubt if many of the Fae will fuck with one of the Ante-Fae. They may not like having her in the city, but I don’t think there’s anything they can do about it. And I doubt if Saílle or Névé will tell her to get out. They’re both leery when it comes to dealing with me, given I work with the Wild Hunt.”

  “While you’re in TirNaNog, can you check and see if they have any of that beautiful lacy Elven woven material that looks like embroidery on tulle? I’m looking for some in a bright green.”

  I blinked, cocking my head to the right. “I didn’t know you wanted any of that. I’ll see if I have time.” I glanced at the clock. It was eight forty-five. “I better hurry and finish my breakfast, then get on the road. Who knows what the traffic is going to be like over to the Eastside.”

  And with that, I dug into my oatmeal, focusing on fueling up for the day.

  Traffic wasn’t bad as I drove over the 520 floating bridge, at least eastbound. Westbound, it was backed up like crazy, because there was a Seahawks game in the early afternoon, and fans were hurrying to get to their seats. I wasn’t much of a sports person, although I loved watching snowboarding and the X Games, and the Olympics. In fact, Viktor and I had discovered a mutual love for the Winter X Games, so we watched together now.

  The rain had lightened up, but the waves were still frothy in Lake Washington, churning like crazy on one side of the bridge while they were calm on the other. I wasn’t sure why the lake had that effect, at least where the 520 and the I-90 bridges cut through the water, but it was odd, to say the least. It wasn’t unusual for the water on one side of the lake to be perfectly calm, while on the other side the waves would be frothing up and splashing across the roadway.

  I turned off 520 onto Lake Washington Boulevard, heading north. Then I followed the road until it became Lake Street, in the heart of Kirkland. Lake Street T’d into Central Way, and I turned left, making another quick turn right onto Market Street, still headed northbound.

  Market Street took me into Juanita, a suburb of Kirkland, and I followed Northeast Juanita Drive, winding around the edge of the lake. Juanita Drive eventually entered the UnderLake Park district, and just beyond that, I turned into Raven’s suburb.

  She lived at the end of a cul-de-sac, which ended at the trailhead into UnderLake Park. Raven was on the left, and the house on the right of the trailhead had been owned by a couple of nasty neighbors, but now it looked tidier, and neater. I wondered who had moved in.

  I eased into her driveway, next to her Toyota sedan. As I jumped out of my car and strode up the walk, I saw that Raj was out in his doghouse. Raj was Raven’s gargoyle, and he was a funny little piece of work. Well, not so little, given he was the size of a good-size rottweiler. His wings had been clipped when he was a baby by a nasty demon, but Raven had ensured that he didn’t remember the pain. She had won him off the demon in a game of poker, and she and Raj had become fast friends. I had the feeling there was more than met the eye to Raj, but I never pushed for information. Raven would let me know if she wanted me to know anything about him.

  “Hey Raj,” I said, giving him a hearty pat on the back as he lumbered out of the doghouse to look at me. He sat down, eyes bright and expectant. I groaned. Angel always brought him a treat when we came over, and I had forgotten. “I’m sorry, Raj. I forgot this time. But it’s good to see you.” He let out a grunt, then rubbed against me and turned back to his doghouse.

  I was about to ring the bell when Raven opened the door.

  “I heard you out here. Hey Raj, you need to come inside while I’m gone. Come on,” she said, kneeling to unfasten his collar from the leash that held him near the doghouse. Apparently, he had the habit of wandering off if he was left off his leash. And curiosity didn’t just kill cats, as Raven was fond of telling me.

  “How are you this morning?” I asked, giving her the once-over.

  Raven was wearing a black satin skirt over what looked to be a black tulle petticoat, along with a purple corset with PVC accents. She had on a pair of lace-up knee boots with thick rubber platform soles, and a crop top jacket. She was curvy, like me, though she was plumper than I was, and she had long dark brown hair with purple streaks running through it. She had a large number of tattoos all over her body, though most of them were generally covered up because she liked to wear tights and long sleeves. I could see some of her ink poking out from beneath the corset, around her breasts. Her eyes sparkled as she flashed me an infectious grin.

  “About as good as it gets. Jazzed up on enough caffeine to fuel an army. And, I have to say, I’m looking forward to seeing TirNaNog and Navane. I’ve never been in either one, so this is the perfect time to assuage my nosiness.”

  I laughed. “I’m glad my discomfort gives you some joy. Seriously, I am not looking forward to this, but Morgana insisted and I can’t get out of it.” I stared down at my hands for a moment. “You do realize I’m going to be visiting the woman who was instrumental in my mother’s and father’s deaths?”

  Raven sobered immediately. “Fucking hell. If there’s anything we can do to make her life miserable, just say the word and I’m there.”

  “Thanks for having my back. I guess we should get going.” As much as I didn’t want to do this, now that it was staring me in the face, I just wanted to get it over with.

  “Let me lock up and make sure Raj has his snacks. I’ll be out in a moment. Did you want to take your car or mine?”

  “Let’s take mine. I’ll buy you dinner afterward as a thank-you.”

  She finished locking up, then came dashing out and jumped into the car, fastening her seat belt. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. We’ll get you through this, Ember. I promise.”

  The great city of TirNaNog was past Woodinville, having taken over a good section of the northern Eastside. The easiest way to get there was to take Highway 522, and about twenty minutes later, we saw the great wall surrounding TirNaNog off to our left. I took the exit leading to the front gates, hoping to hell that Saílle had let them know I was coming.

  Both TirNaNog and Navane were surrounded by massive gates. They had been built of marble, quarried in from all over the world, and they surrounded the outstretched cities, creating citadels set off from the rest of the surrounding area.

  TirNaNog was the city of the Dark Fae, and Queen Saílle ruled over it with a cool, ruthless command. In some aspects, I liked her better than Névé, because Saílle was direct, and blunt. She didn’t sugarcoat anything, and she never pretended to like anybody just for appearances. I had met her several times, and while she would never look on me as true Fae, because of my half-blood heritage, I had the feeling she gave me a grudging
amount of respect for being independent enough to not give a flying fig about her.

  Massive parking lots surrounded the city. Apparently, once inside the gates, you were expected to use city transport—be it bus, taxi, or the sidewalk. There were shuttles for mobility-impaired pedestrians, but the Fae were as snobbish about disabilities as they were about anybody else. It still amazed me that my mother and father had been such nice people, but then again, they had run away from their families and their cultures to be together. And they had paid with their lives.

  I parked as close as I could to the eastern gates, and looked at Raven. Then, slinging my purse over my shoulder, I stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. The air felt clearer here. Why, I wasn’t sure, but there was a magical tinge to it, an electric current that made everything feel more alive.

  Raven joined me, and we stared up at the gates that were in front of us. There were guards in front of the gates, dressed in deep indigo and dark plum and silver. These were the colors of TirNaNog, the Dark Fae Court. I gnawed on my lip, then gave Raven a quick look.

  “Well, I guess I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be. I’m nervous, I don’t mind telling you that.” I shivered, thinking that, if they had their way, a good number of the people inhabiting this city would like to see me dead.

  “I’m here. And trust me, I can bring down hell on their heads if need be. I can make them remember why the Ante-Fae are stronger than they can ever hope to be. Come on, let’s get this over with. Who do you have to see?”

  “My great-uncle lives here. Farthing’s brother. I have no idea what to expect. If he’s anything like my grandfather was, he’s treacherous and I won’t be able to trust a word he says.”

  “All right. Take a deep breath, steady yourself, and let’s go see what we can find out.”

  With Raven at my back, I headed toward the gates of TirNaNog, a city I had once sworn I would never set foot in.

  Chapter Five

  The guards at the gate looked like they’d been cloned, they looked so much alike. There were nine booths that stretched in back of the massive gates leading into the walled city. The gates were opened, and there were long lines at several of the booths.

  “What’s this?” Raven asked.

  “If you live in TirNaNog or Navane, you have to carry passports proving residence. If you aren’t a citizen of the Fae Courts, you have to wear a visitor’s pass at all times when you’re within the borders of either city.” I had taken time to learn about the rules. I didn’t want to unwittingly do something that could get my ass hauled up on charges.

  “So, what do we do?”

  “We get in line and I’ll give them my name. There should be a guard waiting for me, if everything goes right. With a little luck, they won’t hassle us about who we are. Or what we are, rather.” I straightened my shoulders as we approached the nearest entrance booth. There were only four people in line in front of us, and they were passing through quickly.

  By the time we reached the window, I had steeled myself for an argument. Regardless of the fact that Saílle had agreed to my visit, I didn’t trust that we would be allowed in without a problem. I’d learned over the years just how fucked up the Fae Courts could be.

  To my surprise, when we reached the guard sitting in the booth, which reminded me all too much of a ferry toll booth, he merely asked, “Name and reason for visit?”

  “Ember Kearney. I should be on the list of approved visitors and I was told there would be a guide waiting for me. This is my friend, Raven BoneTalker. I’m here to see my great-uncle.” I cleared my throat and showed the man my license. He glanced at it, then glanced at me. If he was shocked, he didn’t show it. He merely pulled out another list and scanned it for a moment.

  “Here you are. All right, hold on. It looks like the guide assigned to escort you is sick. You’ll have to go in on your own. I have a visitor’s badge for you, but I’ll have to make one for your companion.” He jotted down Raven’s name off her license and turned his back on us.

  Damn it. Without a guide along, there was a lot more chance of trouble. But I was in no place to bargain. I had my suspicions that the guide had conveniently woken up with a cold, but I said nothing.

  The whir of a printer sounded and the guard turned back to us, two badges in hand. Mine had a green border around my name, Raven’s a yellow border. Both were sheathed in plastic cases and hung on long strings.

  “Wear these at all times while you’re in the city. The green on yours means you’re under protection of the queen. If anybody messes with you, call a guard and they’ll put a stop to it.” He didn’t sound enthusiastic, but I didn’t really care.

  He handed us the badges. “Please drop these off at any registered badge recycling unit when you leave TirNaNog today. Have a good day.” It was all rote, as though he’d said the words a thousand times before, which he probably had. But we took the badges and hung them around our necks, then headed through the gates, into the Dark Fae city.

  My first impression of TirNaNog was that we’d simultaneously traveled back in time, and yet forward to the future. The buildings were built of smooth stone and marble, giving them a decidedly crisp, clean look. They were minimalist, sleek with the windows smooth and flush against the façades. And yet, the streets were paved with cobblestones, and the street lamps were clear glass—or I thought they were glass—tubes, with flickering flames in various colors wicking up and down inside the tubes. They reminded me of Lightning Flits from Annwn—shards of lightning captured by the gods to use for light. The flames were blue and pink, green and yellow, and they sparkled. Magic, perhaps. Or some sort of gas enclosed within the sealed tubes.

  It seemed odd to see so few cars. The only approved methods of transit were taxis, buses, shuttles, and walking. We were at the eastern gates and the city stretched out to the west, north, and south. I had the address where my great-uncle lived, so I hailed a passing cab. The driver pulled over, but when I opened the passenger door, he took one look at me and shook his head.

  “No tralaeths in my cabs,” he said with a sneer.

  I gritted my teeth. “I have the queen’s permission to be here.” I held up my badge.

  He looked at the border around my badge and grimaced. For a moment I thought that he wasn’t going to let us in, but he finally let out a sound of disgust and thumbed the backseat. “In, but neither of you sit in the front.”

  I glanced at Raven, whose eyes were so dark I thought she was about ready to unleash a fireball on the guy, but we slid into the back without incident.

  “3215 Brambleberry Street, please.”

  The taxi driver muttered, then said, “Payment first. Ten dollars. Cash.”

  I knew the ride wasn’t that expensive, but I said nothing, just handed him a ten-dollar bill. Then, without another word, we were off, heading toward the southern side of town, toward my great-uncle whom I really didn’t want to see.

  The city of TirNaNog reminded me of a hybrid baby—a Victorian techno-city that didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. We passed an open farmers market and several large bazaars. It was odd. I was Fae, through and through, but I felt divorced from the bustle around me. These might be my people in theory, but I was more comfortable around the streeps and the streetwalkers on First Avenue than I was here in this gorgeous, oddly exotic, city.

  I glanced at Raven, longing to talk, but not wanting to give the taxi driver any gossip fodder. After about ten minutes we pulled up in front of a tall building. It looked like an apartment building, or condo complex.

  “Out.” The driver motioned to the door.

  I chewed on my inner lip, debating whether to bother asking, and finally decided that it was worth the try. “Will you wait here for us? I’ll pay you for the time.”

  He rolled his eyes. “How much you willing to pay?”

  “Fifty dollars and then another twenty for the ride back to the gates.”

  He chewed his lip for a moment. “Make it a hundred total—with th
e ten you already gave me—and I’ll wait.”

  “Give me your word,” I said, eyeing him shrewdly. Even if he did give me his word, it wouldn’t guarantee anything, but at least it was better than nothing. Or at least, I tried to convince myself of that.

  “All right. You have my word. I’ll wait up to forty-five minutes. If you’re going to be longer than that, you fork out another fifty before the hour’s fully up. And get your ass out here to pay it—I’m not going to come find you in that maze.”

  “Fifty now and forty when we get back,” I said, holding up a fifty-dollar bill.

  “Eh…I should have my head examined. Scram, and hurry it up.” He begrudgingly took the fifty-dollar bill and pulled out a book, settling back in the seat.

  Raven and I hustled over to the building. “I wish you’d let me tell him who I am.”

  “He’s probably already figured out that you’re one of the Ante-Fae. And if I let you tell him who you are, he’d most likely drive off out of fear and leave us without transportation. I don’t feel like using the city bus. It’s bad enough having one person sneering at us. I don’t want to face an entire busload of passengers.”

  It wasn’t that my feelings were hurt—I was more angry than injured. It was that I didn’t want any wannabe vigilantes to decide that a tralaeth was worth going after. The last thing Raven and I needed was to find ourselves on the wrong end of a fight with a fanatic.

  “Fine. But this isn’t turning out to be nearly as much fun as I thought it might be.” She shrugged, looped her arm through mine, and we headed up the stairs toward the main doors. “What unit does your great-uncle live in?”

  “Two-fourteen. Second floor.”

  We climbed the two flights of stairs that led to the main lobby of the building. I glanced around. No ramps, no nothing. If this building was handicapped friendly, there was no sign of it. Of course, since it was on sovereign Fae land, nothing in the city had to conform to general building codes in the rest of the state. While I knew that Saílle and Névé tended to run tight ships with their cities, there were enough differences between the world of the Fae and the rest of us that it was noticeable.