She clenched her fists and glanced at Samuel and away.
Ive seen your scars, he said. I am a doctor and a werewolf. I saw those wounds when they were new and rawscars do not bother me. They are the laurels of the survivor.
Like Zee, she didnt bother with theatrics. Without glamour, her skin was a warmer color than Zees and several shades lighter. It was beautiful against silver-lavender hair that was no more than a finger-length long anywhere and floated out from her scalp more like plumage than haira lot like Jesses current hairstyle. Arianas clothes altered when her glamour dropped as well, into a simple knee-length dress of an off-white color with a handkerchief hem.
She wasnt conventionally beautifulher face was too inhuman for that, with eyes that were too big and a nose too small for humanity. Her scars werent as bad as theyd appeared when Id seen them before. They looked older and less angry . . . but there were a lot of them.
We are ready, Samuel said, looking at Ariana with a hunger that had nothing to do with his stomach.
Zee reached behind his head and drew his dagger, dark-bladed and elegant in its deadly simplicity, from beneath the collar of his shirt. Either it was magic or a sheath, I couldnt tell, and with Zee it could be either one. He used it to make a single clean cut on his forearm. For a moment, nothing happened, and then blood, dark and red, welled up. He knelt and let the blood drip into the dirt.
Mother, he said. Hear me, your child.
He put the hand of his uninjured arm into the soil and mixed his blood into the powdery earth. In German he whispered, Erde, geliebte Mutter, dein Kind ruft. Schmecke mein Blut. Erkenne deine Schöpfung, gewähre Einlass.
Magic made my feet tingle and my nose itchbut nothing else happened. Zee stood up and counted off four paces before he sliced his other forearm.
Kneeling, he bowed his head, and this time there was power in his voice. Erde mein, lass mich ein.
Blood slid over his skin and down onto the backs of his hands, which were flat on the ground. Gibst mir Mut! he shoutedand rolled his hands over, wiping the blood on the ground.
Trinkst mein Blut. Erkenne mich. He leaned forward and put his weight on his arms. First his hands, then his arms sank into the ground until they were buried past the wounds hed given himself. He leaned down until his mouth was nearly in the dirt, and said quietly, Öffne Dich.
The ground under my feet vibrated, and a crack appeared between the place Zee sat and the place where hed mixed his blood with the soil.
Erde mein, he said. The ground quivered with the vibrations of his voice, which sounded darker, as if he were dragging it out of a deep cavern. Lass mich ein. Gibst mir Glut. He put his forehead on the ground. Trinke mein Blut. Es quillt für Dich hervor. Öffne mir ein Tor!
There was a flash, and a large square of dirt just disappeared, leaving in its place a stone staircase that went straight down for eight steps, then began to turn upon its inner edge. I couldnt see any farther because a thick fog rose from the depths of the hole and obscured the stairway about ten feet down.
Zee jerked his hands out of the ground. There was dirt on his arms, but no wounds and no blood. He raised one hand and held it out to Ariana, giving her a stone that glowed.
I can hold it for about an hour, Zee told us. Ariana can use the stone to find the way back to me. If you see the light begin to flicker, it means I am at the end of my strength, and you need to get back here. So long as this door is open, the time in the Elphame will sync with the time outside. If this door closes, you might get out, but I dont know when youll find yourselves if you do.
* * *
SAMUEL LED THE WAY DOWN, FOLLOWED BY ARIANA. I sent Jesse ahead of me and took up the rear. The light above us grew quickly dimmer until we were traveling in virtual darkness. Jesse stumbled, and I caught her before she could fall.
Here, said Ariana. Put your hand on my shoulder, Jesse.
Ill put mine on yours, I told Jesse. Samuel, can you see anything?
I can now, he said. Its getting lighter ahead.
Lighter was a relative term, but the ten stairs we went down I could see. The stairs ended in a dirt tunnel that was lit by gems embedded in the ground that were as big around as oranges. The ceiling of the tunnel was about six inches lower than Samuel was tall, and the roof and sides were thick with tree roots.
There arent any trees above us, I said. And even if there were, weve come down a long way past where Id have thought there would be roots.
She has a forest lord in her court, said Ariana, reaching to the side where strings of roots made a rough curtain for the dirt wall beyond. The roots moved toward her, caressing her fingers briefly before falling back where they had been.
What kind of fae are you, Ariana? asked Jesse. Are you a forest lord, too? Or a gremlin like Zee, because you can work silver?
There are no others like Zee, she told us. He is unique. Almost all fae can work with silver to one extent or anothersilver loves fae magic. But you are right: there are iron-kissed fae in my background, and steel holds no terrors for me.
We were talking quietly, but I wasnt too worried about being discovered. There was a feeling of . . . emptiness here that told me that there was no life other than the roots that tangled in my hair and tripped my feet.
We I stopped, remembering that I wasnt supposed to discuss anything about the fairy queen. Had I already broken my word? Did it matter when we were storming the castle?
Jesse, I said, deciding to play it safe, we havent planned anything at all about the rescue.
Theres no planning when youre running through Elphame, said Samuel, who was walking bent over, with one hand up to ward off the roots. Its not that kind of place. Ariana will lead us to her grandson and Gabriel, and well try to get out by coping with anything that happens along the way.
That sounds . . . simple, I said.
It could be simple, Ariana told me. She cannot be expecting visitorsthere just arent very many fae who could open a back entrance into a fairy queens lair. Thralls will not react to usthey know nothing and are not much more than automata who follow the queens orders. We may be able to find Phin and Gabriel and leave with them before anyone realizes there is something wrong.
Should we have brought Arianas fingers touched my lips.
Best we not talk about what that one so desires in her lair, she told me. I expect she might hear that. And no. It is powerful, and even if it will not do as she wants, it will still do great harm in the wrong hands.
All right, I said.
Samuel raised his head. Best we not talk anymore at all. Im starting to pick up the scent of people now.
I could smell them, too, once hed pointed it out. We were coming upon more-traveled ways. The loose dirt of the floor became packed earth, and the roots thinned and were replaced with rough-cut square blocks as the dirt floor became cobbles, and the ceiling rose so Samuel could stand up straight again.
There were already other tunnels joining ours.
I caught the scent before Samuel, but I think it was only because the woman came upon us from behind, and I was walking last. It didnt matter, though, because I only had time to whirl around, and she was upon us.
She wore a torn jacket and filthy jeans and carried a large wooden cutting board in both her hands. She walked right into me and bounced off. When she tried to walk around me, I blocked her a second time.
Take this to the kitchen, she said, without looking up at me. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, all of her attention on the board she held. Her hair hung in ragged clumps, and there was dirt on her knuckles. Around her neck was a thin silver collar. The kitchen, child. The kitchen. Take this to the kitchen.
I moved out of her way, and she all but sprinted past us.
Shes not taking care of her thralls, said Ariana disapprovingly.
Thrall? asked Jesse.
Slave, I answered. You know when someone is enthralled with a movie or a boyfriendthats from the same root word.
Follow her, said Ariana. The kitchen should be at the heart of Elphame.
We jogged after her, passing by a young man in a police uniform, a woman in a jogging suit, and an older woman carrying a steaming teapot, all wearing silver collars, and all moving with unnatural intentness. The floor switched from cobbles to stone tiles, and the ceiling rose again until it was fifteen feet or more above our heads.
The gems that had lit the passage we had been in were lining the walls and dangling from the ceiling from something that could equally well have been fine silver wire or spiderwebs. Whatever it was, it didnt look strong enough to hold them. Samuels head would hit the lower gemstones once in a while, sending them swinging.
We came into the kitchen, which could have been imported from a 1950s TV seta very large cooking set, since there were two six-burner stoves in a room that was bigger than my now-deceased trailer. I looked around, but none of the people in the kitchen was Donna Reed or June Cleaver . . . or Gabriel Sandoval, either. The glistening white appliances were rounded in a manner my eyes found odd, and the three refrigerators had silver latching handles and Frigidaire stenciled in silver across the top. People with silver collars were preparing food and drinkand didnt seem to notice our presence at all. The woman wed followed here put the cutting board on the counter next to one of the sinks and began to fill the sink with water by working the hand pump that it had instead of a faucet.
Excuse me, said Ariana, walking up to a man who was stirring something in a pot that looked like oatmeal.
Stir the pot seventy times seven, he said.
Where are they keeping the prisoners? Samuel asked, putting the push into his voice that the really dominant wolves could. His voice echoed oddly in the room.
Slowly, all the action in the kitchen came to a stop. One by one, the six people wearing silver circlets around their throats turned to look at Samuel. The man Ariana had spoken to stopped moving last. He pulled his spoon out of the pot and pointed to one of the seven rounded doorways. The others, one by one, pointed the same way.
Forty-seven steps, the oatmeal stirrer said.
Take the right tunnel, said a man whod been chopping turnips.
Eighteen steps and turn, said a girl kneading bread. The key is on the hook. The door is yellow.
Do not let them out, said a boy who looked about thirteen and had been filling glasses with water from a pitcher.
Resume your tasks, said Samuel, and one at a time they did so.
I think thats the creepiest thing Ive ever seen, said Jesse. Are we just going to leave these people here?
Were going to get Gabriel out and Phin, said Ariana. And then well take this to the Gray Lords, who have forbidden the keeping of thralls. Only the fairy queen can release her thralls, and the Gray Lords are the only ones who have a chance of making her do that. In the Elphame, she rules utterly.
What if shes enthralled Gabriel?
She wont have, said Ariana positively. She promised Mercy, and breaking her promise would have dire consequences. And my Phin is protected against such a thing.
The path we took from the kitchen was less grand than the one wed taken into it. The floor was made of those small white octagonal tiles with a line of black tiles running about a foot from either wall. Forty-seven paces from the kitchen, the tunnel widened into a small room. The black tiles formed a complicated Celtic knot in the center of the room. There were passageways that opened across from ours, and one to either side.
We took the one to the right. Here the floor was rough wooden planks that showed the marks of being hand hewn. It creaked a little under Samuel, who was the heaviest of us.
Eighteen, he said, and there was a yellow door with an old-fashioned key hanging off a hookthe first door wed seen in the Elphame.
Samuel took the key from the lock and opened the door.
Doc? said Gabriel. What are you doing here?
Gabriel. Jesse pushed past Samuel.
Key in hand, Samuel followed her in. Ariana and I brought up the rear.
Gabriel was hugging Jesse. What are all of you doing here? Did she get you, too?
The room was white. White stone walls, white ceiling with clear crystals hanging down to light the room. The floors were made of a single slab of polished white marble. There were two beds with white bedding.
The only color in the room came from Gabriel and the man who was lying on one of the beds. He looked dreadful, and Id never have recognized him if Ariana hadnt whispered his name.
Phin sat up slowly, as if his ribs hurt, and Ariana rushed to kneel beside his bed on one knee.
He frowned at her. Who?
Grandma Alicia, she said.
He looked startled, then he smiled. Has anyone ever told you that you dont look like anyones grandmother? Is it a rescue, then? Like in the old stories?
No, said Samuel, who had turned to face the doorway. Its a trap.
Welcome to my home, said a familiar dark voice. Im so happy you came to call.
The woman who stood in the doorway of the cell was lovely. Her hair was dark smoke, pulled back in a complicated braid composed of many small plaits. It flowed down her back and dragged the ground like an Arabian show horses tail and set off the porcelain of her skin and the rose of her lips.
She was looking at me. I am so glad to have you in my home, Mercedes Thompson. I was just trying to call you on my cell whenimagine my surpriseI discovered that you were here. But you did not bring it. Having a fairy queen talking about cell phones almost was enough to make me laugh. Almost.
I raised my chin. By stealth, by strength, by bargain. I am not such a poor bargainer, fairy queen. If I had brought it, we could not play.
She smiled, and her silver-gray eyes warmed. By all means, she said. Let us play.