The Iron Sword by Julie Kagawa

Author:Julie Kagawa [Kagawa, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-24T12:32:30+00:00

11

THE EVENFEY

The Chase residence didn’t look any different as we emerged from the woods late that night. The ranch house sat peacefully in the moonlight, intact and undisturbed. No chittering hordes surrounded the walls, no blank-eyed Monsters lurked in the trees beyond the fence line. The air was still, the shadows empty, as if everything was holding its breath.

But the woods felt menacing as we slipped through the trunks toward the distant house, and I could feel eyes on me in the branches. There was something here, lurking in the forest, a predator keeping just out of sight. Thankfully, I was certain it was not the Monster. Its presence would be impossible to conceal. Nor did I didn’t think it was the small piskie things, either. Whatever prowled the trees with us, it was something new.

“Something is here,” Nyx said quietly, confirming my suspicions. “I can feel its glamour. Like the piskie creatures, only stronger.”

“We should check on Kenzie and Ethan,” Meghan said. Razor had already fled, zipping back to Mackenzie as soon as we were back in the real world. “We need to make sure they’re safe before we go searching for whatever is out here.”

We started toward the house, but as one, everyone suddenly paused. There was a ripple in the shadows, an almost silent rustle of air over the leaves, and I knew we weren’t alone.

“It’s close,” I growled.

“No, Winter prince,” whispered a voice, the sound slithering out of the trees behind us. “It is here.”

We turned, hands on our weapons. A figure stood in the trees a few yards away, watching us. Different than the hordes of monsters we’d seen before, this creature was human-size and had an almost human body, though the differences were disturbing. It was tall and almost emaciated, with thin, withered arms that reached all the way to the ground, and long, long fingers that ended in points. It wore a bleached stag’s skull over its face, the empty eye sockets blank and hollow as the mask swiveled on its neck to face us. “Wait,” the thing commanded as we tensed, swords and daggers flashing as they were pulled free. Its voice grated in my ears like metal scraping against metal, causing a shiver to crawl up my back. It was a voice that didn’t belong, to anything, in either Faery or the human world. Like the Monster and the nightmare piskies, the creature radiated negative glamour: fear, anxiety, and a very subtle disquiet that made my skin crawl. It was akin to being in a pitch-black room, seeing nothing, but knowing something was there with you. “Creatures of the overrealm, stay your blades,” it whispered. “I would speak with you.”

“What are you?” Meghan demanded.

“The dark mirror of your world,” rasped the creature. “The things you fear in the abyss. The shards of emotions you reject. We are...Evenfey.”

Evenfey. The anger in me stirred. So, I finally had a name for my enemies. Not that it mattered. I didn’t care what they were called; if they were a threat, if they were here to harm my family, I would destroy them.

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