“I think I fell asleep on the ground,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “My body hurts.”
“It might be that Guiness bottle I left under the beanbag,” Flynn said.
“I hope you’re fucking kidding,” Arthur grumbled, rolling his shoulder.
“I never kid about the nectar of the gods.”
“You’re a bellend, Flynn.” Arthur’s hand reached for the hilt of his sword. He frowned as he discovered his sword wasn’t there. He immediately rose to his knees, searching through the grass. “Where is it?”
Corbin frowned, his hand clasping the waist of his jeans. “My belt buckle and button is gone, too. I think maybe there’s some kind of spell that prevents metal of any sort from passing into the realm.”
Flynn glanced down at his chest. Sure enough, his amulet was gone. He looked crestfallen. “It took me hours to make that,” he sighed.
I plunged my hand into my skirt pocket – sure enough, my knife and Flynn’s amulet weren’t there, but I still had the twig and Corbin’s paper. They would have to do.
“Forget that, what are we going to do without my sword?” Arthur grumbled. “Do you plan on knocking them out with your Irish wit?”
“Hey, give me a hand here.” I was trying to unravel Rowan’s bracelet, but his dreadlock wouldn’t pull apart. Sticky wax coated my fingers, and all I managed to do was pull tufts off.
“Try this,” Flynn offered, holding his hand over the bracelet. A few drops of water fell from his fingers. The water was surprisingly warm, and it made the wax soft and easier to handle.
“Thanks for doing something useful,” I grinned at Flynn.
“For once,” Arthur mumbled.
“You can wag right off. I’m always useful,” Flynn shot back.
I managed to unravel the bracelet and Rowan appeared beside Corbin, his face lighting up as soon as he saw us. He stumbled forward, his baggy pants catching in the long grass, and embraced me. The warmth of him gave me strength.
Every part of this dream felt so real, from the grass swishing around my legs to Rowan’s lips pressing against my collarbone. I reminded myself that this wasn’t an ordinary dream – it was an astral-projection into another universe. And I’d somehow managed to do it. Possibly.
“What do we do now?” I asked, glancing around. We had no real plan beyond this point.
“Our best bet is to get closer to the sidhe,” Corbin pointed to the mounds. “It sounds as though revels are taking place. We cansneak through the trees and hopefully get closer without being seen.”
“How do we know they’re not holding Connor somewhere else?” I pointed into the twin forests and down the valley. “He could be at any of their main population centers?—”
“Unlikely,” Corbin said. “The realm is deceptive – it looks enormous, but it’s only a glamour fooling your eyes. When the humans first banished the fae here, their witches made the realm small enough that it could be easily guarded. It’s one of the reasons the fae are so desperate to escape. The borders are only a few miles away. The Seelie and Unseelie courts are practically right on top of each other. Come on.”
We crept into the trees and made our way down the valley, staying as far back from the edge of the meadow as we could, under cover of the thick forest. Not that it did much good. We were about as obvious as a herd of elephants shopping at Walmart. Every few feet Arthur’s heavy boots snapped a twig or Flynn yelped as something prickly stabbed him in the arm.
“Could you lot beanynoisier?” Corbin snapped. “I don’t think every fae in the vicinity heard you yet.”
“Can’t Maeve just dream us up some non-noise-making boots?” Flynn complained.
“I don’t think that’s how this dream works?—”
“Sssh,” I said, my ears straining. “I hear something.”
The guys stopped in their tracks, crouching down behind me. I peered through the trees, and could just make out the tops of severalsidhein a clearing down the valley. Between the towering mounds – their entrances uncovered and bedecked with garlands – danced the fae.
I gasped as I took in the sheer number. There werehundredsof them, all shapes and sizes, all the monstrous and beautiful creatures I’d seen in the pages of Corbin’s books. Green and black coats twirled around each other, laughing and singing.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Corbin whispered from beside me. “Those are Seelie and Unseelie fae dancing together. This shouldn’t happen. The two courts hate each other. We know they’re working together, but this?—”
“That is all you’ll see of our revels,witch.”
I spun around, my heart in my throat. A fae leapt out of the trees, darting straight at me. I kicked out a leg and caught it in the stomach, but as it sprawled out on the ground another one grabbed me from behind, twisting my arm until I cried out.
