And then things got weird. Well, they didn’t become instantly weird, but soon enough.
Amy had put a spell on me that allowed me to see in the dark, and more importantly to see through illusion. I hadn’t seen anything when I looked at Daniel because he wasn’t an illusion, but as he sensed my memories I sensed his.
As I connected, I knew without doubt that there were illusions in his mind. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 32
Daniel’s mask covered all of his face but his mouth and chin, making it more difficult to read him, but not completely impossible.
He stopped biting his lip, leaving his mouth in a straight line.
“Daniel,” I said, “look inside my head. You’ll be able to tell what’s really going on in seconds.”
He didn’t say anything for a second, but then… “They told me you’d say that. I can’t. It’s not a fairy invasion. You’re all demon-possessed. You may not believe it, but I’ve been shown the evidence. I need you to go with us, and we’ll bring you to someone who can cure you.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 31
Chunks of the rock wall flew in all directions, both into and out of the shop. Worse, a huge slab of rock from just above where Amy and Izzy broke through waited until after the initial crash to fall.
It came to rest inside the hall, its lower end wedged against the remains of the shop’s rear entrance.
Noting that the chunk of rock was not only between Daniel and us, Cassie, and Camille, but also between us and the exit we’d planned to use, it was time to rethink that part of the plan. I wondered if we should follow Izzy and Amy out of the shop they’d wrecked, but that question was answered quickly in the negative. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 30
Samita furrowed her brow as she thought. “There are spells best done with a multitude of bodies for sacrifice, or simply to add to the metaphysical weight of the ritual.”
“The more people, the more power?” Vaughn sat on Haley’s dresser. Haley’s eyes flicked in his direction, but she didn’t say anything.
Samita’s mouth tightened, “Not… exactly, but that can be true.”
Amy had taken off her helmet when the door shut. She swung it in her left hand, “I don’t see any sign that Adam’s been trained as a wizard. I looked into his room a little, and we both know everyone in the magic program. He’s not in it.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 29
I didn’t see Earthmover at first, but then the picture moved. Earthmover sat on a bench off to the side of the crowd. Seemingly alone, he stared off into space, or if not space, at least into the air above the residential area of the compound.
Haley gave me a sidelong glance. “That’s same bench where we…” Her sentence trailed off.
I gave the spot another look. She was right. I remembered that bench as being out of the way, and this one sat among the trees, slightly separate from the main area visually, but close enough to the edge that you could look out over the houses and lawns below.
Amy’s mouth slowly widened. “Wait. You didn’t have sex on that bench, did you?” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 28
Sean turned his head back toward Samita, frowning. “I know where their room is.”
Vaughn raised an eyebrow, and cocked his head backwards to see Sean’s face. “Sounds like you’ve got a story.”
Sean shook his head. “Yeah, a stupid story. You remember how we tried to keep that alien spaceship in the air while Nick and the others took out its engine?”
Vaughn snorted. “It’s hard to forget.”
“Yeah,” Sean said, taking a breath. “Well, lots of people got video of it, and it looks like the two of us are keeping it up, you know? We know it was mostly Izzy, but she was inside, so no one saw her. Anyway, I’ve been getting piles of attention from that. Like people are calling me and offering big money for me to form a super team.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 27
“Okay,” I said, still not sure if I meant it. “Let’s do it.”
It made sense–sort of. Adam wanted to keep us out of the way, so getting in the way was probably the wisest choice–for some value of “wise.” If Adam were doing something in our or the compound’s best interest, we were about to mess it up.
But if that were true, it was his fault for not bothering to explain anything.
On the whole though, more evidence pointed in the direction of a conspiracy than against. Weirdo mind control growths didn’t exactly scream, “Hey, we’re the good guys!”
Well, not unless they made people do it for them.
It made me wonder if that was Hunter’s innovation or if his mom had been keeping that skill hidden all these years.
“Fuck, yeah. Let’s take them down,” Sean added, giving me a reason to feel less secure about my decision. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 26
Samita raised an eyebrow at her question, but didn’t sound at all surprised as she said, “Some of us have good reason to believe that there are fairies in the compound.”
Cindy looked from her to the rest of us. “Like leprechauns or something?”
“Like the Faerie Incursion back in the 60s,” I suggested, hoping that would jog her memory.
“My school barely spent time on the history of anything after World War 2.” She frowned.
I nodded. “Mine didn’t either, but I heard about it.”
She gave a sigh. “I lived in a small town with about a thousand people and even though I didn’t know it, we were part of a cult created to raise the next generation of the Cabal. We didn’t pay much attention to the outside world.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 25
Samita rifled through her pouch, moving things with both hands, and finally coming up with an ACE bandage roll. She turned toward Haley and Haley stared at the roll.
“Are you going to have to set the bone, or will the bandage set it magically?”
Unrolling the bandage, Samita said, “The bandage will do it.”
Haley’s eyes darted down toward where the bone stuck out. “Good. I hope that means it won’t hurt.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 24
Thanks to my helmet dimming the flash, I had time to notice something I’d missed while fighting Calvin–that Cindy had charged Vaughn and Sean.
“Had charged” being the operative term. Cindy shuddered as the lightning hit, and fell. Unfortunately, she got back up again, randomly reminding me of the song “Tubthumping.”
The song doesn’t have any lyrics about screaming and tearing people limb from limb, but that’s what appeared to be on her mind as she leapt toward Vaughn. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 23