Эприлинн Пайк: Illusions

But now was not the time for speculation. He threw himself in front of the humans, bracing himself for whatever was about to come.

Yuki stopped struggling for a moment to glare at him. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, then her head snapped back and she howled, not in anger this time, but pain. And then she was gaping at the floor around her.

It was the first time Tamani had noticed the circle of white powder that surrounded her chair. He took two steps forward and bent to examine it.

“Don’t touch that.” Shar’s breathless voice came floating in through the doorway.

“What is it?” he gasped, drawing his hand back.

Shar stood with his chest heaving — Tamani wondered where he had run from — and Tamani could see him hesitate for a second; something that frightened him even more than the trapped Winter faerie not inches from him. “It’s exactly what you think it is,” Shar finally whispered.

Tamani looked back to the circle, now recognizing the granular crystals as salt. “It’s too simple,” he said, his voice soft.

“It’s hardly foolproof, and difficult to invoke. A Winter faerie must walk into the circle willingly, or it won’t work. If you couldn’t get her to walk in on her own, I guess we’d all be dead.”

“Let me go!” Yuki screamed, her face tight, the sharp angle of her cheekbones standing out.

“I wouldn’t make so much noise if I were you,” Shar said, his voice deadly calm. “I have a roll of duct tape and I’m not afraid to use it. But I promise you, it hurts coming off. A lot.”

“That won’t matter when the cops come,” Yuki said, and she drew in a breath to scream.

“Oh, please,” Shar said, chuckling. The humor in his voice startled her enough to stop her scream before it began. “You mighty Benders always underestimate the power of Enticement. The cops wouldn’t get past the front door even if you were screaming your head off ten feet away. My request for you not to scream is to keep me from wasting memory elixirs on the entire population of this apartment complex, not out of any kind of fear of retribution.”

Yuki growled and glared at Shar, then her head snapped back again and she screamed through clenched teeth. Then she slumped forward and her body shook with sobs.

“Why is it hurting her, Shar?” Tamani said, feeling strangely desperate to stop her pain. “Make it stop!” Tamani was no stranger to pain; in fact, he’d spent a lot of his life learning how to inflict it — but never on another faerie, let alone a female faerie, and so young. He was shocked that he had to suppress an urge to run to her, to comfort her, even though he knew she could kill him with a glance.

“Any magic used within the circle rebounds. As soon as she stops attacking us ,” Shar said, raising his voice a little, “the circle will stop attacking her .”

Yuki shot a dirty look at Shar, but she must have gotten the idea, because she didn’t scream again. Tamani was glad. He turned to Shar and pushed him back toward the wall. “This is black magic, Shar. It must be forbidden.”

“Beyond forbidden,” Shar said, his eyes darting to the side. “It’s Forgotten.”

Forgotten. Magic from before memory, too dangerous to be passed down.

“You learned this from your mother, didn’t you?” Tamani didn’t try to hide the accusation in his voice.

“The Unseelie have always remembered things best forgotten.”

“She told you this the day Laurel and I went to Avalon.”

“I thought she was taunting me. I told her about Yuki, and she started babbling on about killing all the Winter fae. I thought she was telling me to assassinate Marion,” Shar said, his voice still deadly calm. “Maybe my mother loves me after all.”

“Shar, you can’t do this. I won’t let you turn Unseelie.”

Shar laughed, a quick bark of disdain. “Please, Tam, you know where my loyalty lies, and it is not with the Seelie or the Unseelie. It is with Avalon. I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

Tamani knew Shar wasn’t referring to Laurel, but his companion, Ariana, and their seedling.

“I will protect them by any means necessary. Think about it, Tamani. The only thing standing between her and Avalon is the fact that the gate is hidden. The moment she knows where it is, there is nothing we can do to keep her out.”

What have I gotten myself into? He felt like someone was strangling him. But what choice did they have? “For Avalon,” he said softly. Then he glanced around. “Where’s Laurel?”

“Home,” Shar said, his attention fixed on Yuki again. “If this didn’t work, I wanted her as far away as possible. The sentries were told to do whatever it takes to not let her leave.” He hesitated. “She put up a bit of a fight.”

Tamani swallowed, trying not to think about that. “Where were you ?” Tamani asked.

“You know as well as I — better, I suspect, considering your friendship with Jamison — that a Winter faerie would sense if another faerie was in your apartment. I was waiting less than a kilometer away, just close enough to see the light turn on.” He shook his head. “This was a job for human hands, and I have to admit, they performed admirably.”

But both of the humans seemed deaf to Shar’s praise. David was still pale, and Chelsea looked scared, though not quite so horrified.

“All right,” Shar said, pulling a knife from his pocket. “It’s time to find out once and for all.”

Yuki’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream again, but Shar handed the knife to David. “Go cut open her dress. I need to see her blossom for myself.”

“Let me,” Tamani said, stretching out his hand. But Shar’s wrist closed around his.

“You can’t,” Shar said simply. “If you enter that circle, you will be under her power. No plants enter that circle, or we all die.”

Tamani reluctantly withdrew his hand.

David stared at the knife in his hand, then pursed his lips and shook his head. “No. It’s too much. Cuff her to the chair. That’s all you asked me to do. Cutting clothes off a defenseless girl? Do you have any idea what that sounds like? I won’t do it.” He started to make his way toward the still open door. “Y-you’re insane. She hasn’t done anything. And this circle?” He glared at Shar. “You didn’t tell m-me it would hurt her. Protecting Laurel is one thing, but I–I can’t be a part of this.” David turned and stormed out the door.

Tamani took a step to follow him — to bring him back — but Shar put a hand on his chest. “Let him go. He’s had a rough night.” Then he turned to Chelsea and — after a moment of hesitation — offered her the knife. “Would you…?”

“Men,” Chelsea muttered derisively, ignoring the knife. Carefully, and with remarkably little trepidation, Chelsea stepped over the white line. As soon as she entered the circle, Yuki started to thrash again, but Chelsea stood behind her, hands on hips, and said, “Yuki, hold still.”

To Tamani’s surprise, she did. Maybe it was finding herself so helpless before a human, but something in her broke, and she sat quietly as Chelsea carefully untied the silver obi and lowered the zipper of her dress several inches. Then she folded down a wide ACE bandage that Yuki had wrapped around her torso.

Everyone gasped as Chelsea pulled the bandage away from four broad, white petals. It resembled — and was not much bigger than — an ordinary poinsettia.

Tamani had seen the pollen on his palms, but to see that classic white Winter blossom spread out in front of him filled him with a terror that nearly brought him to his knees.

Shar’s whispered oath was Tamani’s fervent prayer.

“Goddess help us all.”