“I said your physical body will not be harmed,” the oracle replied, baring rotten yellow teeth. “But we are not in the physical world anymore, human. This is more a dream, or a nightmare, depending on how you see it.”
Damn faery word games. I should’ve seen this coming. “Ash and Puck are still waiting for me,” I told her, keeping the point of my blade angled in her direction. “If I don’t return, you’ll have the entire Iron Realm coming after you. This isn’t worth it, Oracle.”
“Your protectors know nothing of what is happening now,” the oracle replied, darting back like a marionette whose strings were jerked. “They see only your physical body, and the death of your dream self will not affect it. Though they will take an empty husk back to the Iron Court tonight, and by that time, I will be long gone. I did say your mind might not be unchanged by this little encounter.”
I growled a curse and lunged at her, stabbing with my sword. She jerked back, baring her rotten teeth. “This is my realm, Meghan Chase,” she spat. “You might be a queen of Faery, and have an entire kingdom ready to fight for you, but here, the dream obeys me!”
Snarling, she waved a claw, and the landscape twisted around us. The moonlit hills disappeared, and black, gnarled trees rose up around us, clawing and grasping. I dodged, cutting away branches that slashed at me with twiggy claws, and the oracle hissed a laugh.
I smacked away a limb reaching for my head and spun to face the withered hag. My arms shook with anger, but I kept my voice calm. “Why are you doing this?” I asked, watching her glare at me balefully. “You were never spiteful, Oracle. You helped us a great deal before, why turn on me now?”
“You do not see, do you, child?” The oracle’s voice was suddenly weary. She waved a claw, and the trees retreated a bit. “I do not take pleasure in this. I truly do not wish your death. It is for the good of the Nevernever, for all of us. Your human sentiments make you blind—you would sacrifice the courts to save one child.”
“My child.”
“Exactly.” The oracle shivered, seemed to ripple in the air. Then, like she was being torn in half, her dusty, ragged body split, became two, six, twelve copies. The duplicate oracles spread out, surrounding me, their wrinkled mouths speaking as one. “You make decisions as a human and a mother, not a true queen. Mab would not hesitate to give up her progeny, even her beloved third son, if she thought he put her throne in danger.”
“I am not like Mab. And I never will be.”
“No,” the oracles agreed sadly, and raised their claws. “You will not be anything.”
They came at me all at once, a dozen ragged, jerky puppets lunging at me from all sides. I dodged one attack and lashed out with my sword at the next. The blade sheared through the thin body and the duplicate wailed, exploding into a cloud of dust. But there were so many of them, slashing and clawing at me; I felt talons catch my skin, tearing through my clothes, leaving bright strips of fire in their wake. I danced around and through them, dodging and parrying their blows like Ash had taught me, striking back when I could. But I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever.
The oracles drew back. Their numbers were smaller now, little swirls of dust dissolving in the wind, but I was hurt, too. I could feel the gashes their claws had left behind, and took deep, slow breaths, trying to focus through the pain.
One of the oracles gestured, and the tree behind me bent entirely in half and tried crushing me beneath its trunk. I dove away, feeling the impact rock the ground, and rolled to my feet, panting. The trees were groaning and swaying at weird, unnatural angles, and the oracles shuffled forward again, trying to drive me back into the forest.
This is just a dream, I thought, trying to stay calm. A dream world that the oracle controls, but a dream nonetheless. I am not going to die here. I am the Iron Queen, and if the Nevernever responds to my wishes, then I can control this nightmare, too.
The oracles surrounded me, trapping me between them and the swaying trees at my back. I took one step back and, for just a moment, closed my eyes and sent my will through the Dreaming Pool, just like I had in the Iron Realm.
“Know that I’m with you always, even if you can’t see me.”
I heard the oracles’ piercing wail as they lunged to attack me again, and jerked my eyes open.
A flash of blue light erupted between me and two of the duplicates, shearing through them as easily as paper. The rest of them jerked to a halt, as Ash lowered his sword and turned to give me a brief smile.
“You called, my queen?”
The oracles shrieked, skittering backward, arms flailing. “Impossible!” they howled as Ash stalked forward, his face hard. “How? How did you bring him here?”
“That’s a good question,” came another voice, as Puck stepped out from the trees behind me, daggers already in hand. “One minute I’m trying to decide if that doll is looking at me funny, then next, poof, here we are. And just in time, too.” He turned and smirked at the oracles, eyes gleaming. “That,” he stated, waggling his knife at one of them, “is my trick.”
The oracles screeched and flew toward us again, claws slashing. We met them in the center of the glade, the three of us, fighting side by side. Dust flew, swirling around us, as one by one, the duplicates vanished, cut down by my sword, stabbed with Puck’s daggers or pierced through the heart with a shard of ice. Until, finally, only one was left.
“Wait!” the last oracle, the real one, cried, throwing up her hands as Ash stalked toward her. “Iron Queen, wait! Spare me, I beg you! I have not told you everything. I know one last secret. Knowledge of your son and your brother, something that could save them both!”
“Ash, wait,” I called, and Ash halted, keeping his sword at the oracle’s withered chest. “More secrets, Oracle?” I asked, walking up to her, keeping my blade drawn. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because it is a small thing,” the oracle whispered, her sightless gaze shifting from me to Ash and back again. Puck joined us, arms crossed, a disbelieving smirk on his face. “The tiniest lynchpin, in a huge, complicated machine. But, if it is removed, the entire structure could fall, sending our world into chaos. It is the domino that begins the collapse of everything.”
“Enough,” I said, as Puck rolled his eyes dramatically. Ash didn’t move, still keeping his blade inches from the oracle’s heart, waiting for my orders. “Speak, then, Oracle. How do I stop this? Tell me, right now.”
The oracle sighed. “To save your brother, you must—”
A deafening crack ripped the branches of the tree behind us, and a giant limb came smashing down, barely three feet from where we stood. I flinched, taking my eyes off the oracle for the briefest of seconds—
* * *
—and the scene disappeared. Blinking, I gazed around, wondering what had happened, where we were. Ash and Puck stood close by, also glancing around in confusion. The oracle was nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell?” Puck exclaimed, throwing up his hands. “What the heck just happened there? I’m getting a little tired of being poofed about whenever it strikes someone’s fancy.”
I saw an arched stone bridge standing a few yards away and drew in a short breath. “We’re back in the wyldwood,” I said, stunned. “At the edge of the Iron Realm. But…how?” I looked at Ash and Puck. “We were in the Briars, the Dreaming Pool. The oracle was just about to tell us how to save Ethan.”
Ash let out a long sigh and sheathed his blade. “The Wishing Tree,” he said, and I frowned in confusion. “There’s always a cost for using it,” he went on. “Something unexpected and unexplained that happens at the worst possible moment. This was the price that it took.”
“Mmm, not a bad price if you ask me,” came Grimalkin’s voice from the top of the bridge railing. The cat perched on a post like he’d been there all morning, licking a paw. “Usually the cost is much more entertaining. But then, I was the one who voiced the wish, after all. There was very little room for error.”
“So that’s it?” I asked. “The oracle gets away, we don’t know where she is and I still don’t know anything about Ethan or my son. Or how to save them.” I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache pound behind my eyes. “Why did we come here?” I whispered, feeling the dark unknown loom up before me. “It seems kind of pointless now. I’m going to be a paranoid wreck from now on.”
“That is the danger of too much knowledge, human,” Grimalkin said quietly. “Knowing the future is far too great a burden for most of your kind. However, once you do possess a bit of that knowledge, the question becomes, what do you do with it?”
“Nothing today,” Ash said, drawing me against him. Surprised, I glanced up, and he gave me a weary smile. “Right now, I think we should go home. We can deal with whatever this brings, tomorrow.”
I nodded and sagged against him. “Yeah, you’re right. Glitch is probably having a minor breakdown about now. We should head back.” I pulled away and looked at Puck, watching us with a small smirk and his hands behind his head. “What about you, Puck? I’ve missed you. Are you going to be sticking around?”
“Well, I was thinking of heading up to the Alps and tracking down this yeti tribe that’s been seen around the area.” Puck grinned and shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. “But, with all the excitement cropping up, I think I might hang around. For a little while, anyway.” He sniffed and made a face. “Wonder if Titania has cooled down any? I’ll have to visit Arcadia and see what’s been going on in my absence. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to have me back.”
Smiling, I walked up to him, and he opened his arms. “Don’t be a stranger, Puck,” I whispered in his ear, pulling him into a hug. “It’s not the same without you.”
“Oh, I know,” he replied cheerfully. “I don’t see how anyone survives without me, it must be terribly dull.” He pulled back and kissed my cheek. “I’ll be around, princess. If you ever need me, just send a note. Or a gremlin. Or whatever.” Stepping back, he raised a hand to Ash, who nodded solemnly. “Catch ya later, ice-boy. Maybe next time I see you, you’ll be changing diapers and reading bedtime stories.” He snickered and shook his head. “Ah, who would’ve thought you’d be the one tied down with a family, prince? How the mighty have fallen.”
I smacked his arm, but Ash only shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he said calmly. “Maybe you should try it, Goodfellow.”
Puck laughed and backed away. “Me? Robin Goodfellow, a family man? Ha, not likely, ice-boy. I mean, think of what that would do to my reputation.” Glamour shimmered around him, and he gave us a wink. “Later, lovebirds. Gimme a heads-up when the kid arrives. ‘Uncle Puck’ will be waiting.”
With a cascade of glamour and black feathers, Puck transformed into a huge raven. Beating powerful wings, he rose above us with a mocking caw, swooped into the branches of the wyldwood and was lost from view.