“Darian,” Faolán whispered in my ear. I almost laughed. His true name suited him much better. Somehow the long “a” sounded more sinister. The gentle tone of his voice sent chills across my skin, and I shuddered. “Take me to O Anel.”
I couldn’t resist the command. Through my blood, he controlled me, and it must have been an ancient, potent form of magic. It prevented me from resisting the compulsion to do exactly what he wanted me to do. Fight him, damn it! If I could just break free, get some distance between us, maybe I could form a coherent thought. But he had a death grip on my hair, and when I tried to shake free of him, he held me tighter, crushing me in his embrace. My thoughts clouded, the haze sticky and thick like being bound with cotton candy, and as if I’d planned it all along, I gazed into the emerald with no other thought than going back to that grass-covered knoll.
“I’ll take you,” I said, my voice sounding thick with sleep, “but you’re going to die, Faolán. Believe it.”
The emerald called to me, with endless green and beautiful light. The calm spread through me, warm and pleasant like soaking in a hot tub filled to overflowing. Time-the ceaseless cadence that plagued me-slowed again to near silence, and my body went limp in Faolán’s arms. Infinity beckoned, and I gave myself over to the euphoric calm. Don’t you die, Raif. I found your daughter, and damn it, I’m bringing her back to you. I resisted Faolán’s influence, holding on to every last coherent thought. My heart sank as the emerald called to me and the haze of confusion pushed farther into my mind. I fought for one last oath, and I was sure as hell going to follow through on it. Tyler, wait for me, I thought. I promise I’m coming back to you.
I closed my eyes as tight as I could, and in turn, Faolán pulled me even closer. I’m going to kill you. I repeated the thought over and over, drilling it into my mind. No matter what, I had to make sure he didn’t get his hands on Raif’s daughter-not while the responsibility to protect her rested on my shoulders.
A pulse rocked me backward, and Faolán’s body relaxed, his grip no longer squeezing the air from me. As if a breeze had cleansed the fog from my mind, coherent thought returned; only then did I open my eyes, though I dreaded to do so. A blanket of green surrounded us as far as I could see. There was no sign of Brakae. At least something had gone right for me in this never-ending string of bullshit. My Enphigmalé companion dropped to his knees and wept, kissing the ground and running his fingers through the grass. I expected him to shuck his clothes and roll around naked for all of his weepy dramatics.
From the moment I’d opened my eyes, I began to count the minutes. Each one that passed helped to guarantee I’d return home to a lonely, changed Seattle-one without Tyler. My accuracy wasn’t great-the sound of time had gone silent in this place-but I had to at least try. I looked out across the vast fields of green, turning full circle before letting my attention fall to Faolán, still acting the fool as he smelled the grass.
“I’m home, Darian,” he said, wonderment coloring his voice. “It looks just the same as when I left.”
“Good for you,” I said. Lucky Faolán. He didn’t have to hide his emotions. Crazy bastard just let it all out like he were a guest on a Barbara Walters special. But not me. I took every emotion swirling within me and bottled each one up, storing them all in the deepest, darkest recess of my soul. If I allowed myself to feel the despair, the pain, the loss-I’d crack. And I was already running at half capacity. Faolán had made sure of that. I needed every ounce of apathy I could muster.
While I waited for Faolán to pull himself together, I took stock of the situation. Preoccupied, I realized he didn’t exercise quite as much control over me. His concentration must’ve been the key to absolute control, and that had definite benefits for me in this place. I stretched my neck from side to side, releasing only a fraction of the tension I felt. No weapon. Not even a goddamned throwing knife. If anything had happened to my katana…well, let’s just say I’d kill him twice.
Faolán’s black dagger-the one he’d killed Delilah with and later used on Raif-hung at his side. The only justice worthy of what he’d done would be to kill him with his own weapon. I could take his knife, but that would require close combat and concentration. With his full focus on me, I doubted I could overpower him. Some Guardian I’d turned out to be-captured, manipulated, without even a stick to hit the enemy with. Lovely.
Finally, Faolán’s homecoming celebration ended. Silver chased across his eyes as he dusted himself off and came to stand beside me. His influence pulled at my mind, clouding my thoughts just enough to confuse me. But I held on by the barest of threads. Kill him. Protect Brakae. Get home. No matter what. From my backpack, Faolán produced the broken half of the hourglass. The sands no longer passed in a peaceful track up and down, up and down. Now they swirled about the glass in a torrent before traveling up into nothing and back.
“We’re so close,” he said. “I can feel it. The last time I saw this place, I was beaten, chained. About to face exile and eternal imprisonment. But then she helped her,” he said to me in disbelief. “My Time Keeper helped Moira and her army to capture me and my brethren. She betrayed me, Darian, and she has to pay. Since she’s now yours to protect, you’re going to deliver her to me. Come, let’s find her, shall we?”
“How do you think we’re going to manage that?” I asked. I mean, seriously, did he not notice we stood in an ocean of green grass? There wasn’t another soul for miles. “It’s not like I can pull her out of my ass.”
“You have a foul mouth,” Faolán snapped, grabbing me by the arm. His fingers bit into the skin, bruising. If I had to rip him apart with my bare hands, I would. “You have yet to see the true Faerie Ring, Darian. I’ll find her without your meager assistance.”
“Oh yeah?” I said with a sneer. “What are you going to do-go gargoyle on me and sniff her out?”
Faolán shuddered at my words, his steps faltering. “I was trapped in that form for centuries,” he said, none too graciously jerking my arm. “Don’t think for a moment that I’m anxious to return to it anytime soon. Besides,” he continued, his cruel gaze locked with mine, “I don’t need to assume the form of a beast to be deadly.”
He pulled me along, and I jerked my arm free of his grasp. But he let me. I knew if he’d really wanted to hold me, he would have. We walked for somewhere close to fifteen minutes, and every step made my stomach sour. Minutes equaled days, and in this place time stretched out in an unfathomable distance. Every step took me farther away from Tyler. Five minutes here was two days in the real world. It had already been almost a week since we’d left the hotel room, and I had just gotten here. Despair constricted my lungs as I thought of Raif, lying on the floor as he bled out. I couldn’t save him. I’d stood by and watched as Faolán ran his dagger through Raif’s stomach. But I had to hope that he’d lived, despite his injuries. For the moment, hope was all I had.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the scenery as we traveled. Why? Everywhere I looked was blanketed with green; it wasn’t like I’d miss anything. But as I looked up and really took stock of our surroundings, I noticed the landscape had changed dramatically in the short time we’d been moving. “You could see for miles in all directions from that knoll,” I said. “I didn’t see a single tree. Where did they come from?” A thick forest had sprung out of nowhere. Lush ferns, bushes of deep green and light with bright-colored berries, and trees of every species imaginable-and some I doubted existed in my world-dotted the landscape.