The Solstice Cup Read online

  Breanne’s eyes went to the doorway. “We don’t have time for this, Mackenzie. Come on, give me those berries.”

  Mackenzie shrugged. “Maybe I don’t have any left.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Breanne hissed. “Just give me some of the freakin’ berries, before it’s too late!”

  Mackenzie’s heart was racing, but she shook her head. “Not until you apologize.”

  Nuala and two of her attendants appeared in the doorway before Breanne could say anything more.

  “You’re both still here—wonderful,” said the faery. She signaled her servants to step forward with two heavy cloaks in their arms. Mackenzie ignored her sister’s scathing expression as she accepted one of the cloaks and put it on.

  “Is something wrong?” said Nuala, looking pointedly at Breanne.

  Breanne had taken her cloak from the second gray-hooded girl and draped it over the back of the nearest chair. “I don’t really feel like going out this evening. But thanks for the invitation anyway.”

  Nuala’s eyes narrowed. She said something in her own language, and the nearest attendant picked up the cloak and handed it to the faery. “I’m afraid staying behind isn’t an option,” Nuala said calmly as she arranged the cloak around Breanne’s shoulders. “Everyone rides on the third night of the solstice festival. It’s just the way it is.”

  Mackenzie saw Breanne stiffen as if she’d received a shock when the faery fastened the clasp at her neck. Mackenzie bit her lip and looked away.

  The closer they got to the courtyard, the guiltier Mackenzie felt for withholding the bogberries from Breanne. She fingered the pouch under her cloak as she hurried down the crowded corridor. She had counted the shriveled berries it contained that morning. There were thirty berries, enough for her and Breanne to have three berries each for the remaining nights of the winter festival. But Breanne was out of reach on the other side of Nuala, and the faery had them both firmly by the arms.

  Mackenzie heard the pipes playing before they’d even reached the giant doorway to the courtyard. Her stomach did a somersault. “I’m sorry!” she mouthed to Breanne as they were swept through the portal in a crush of excited faeries.

  Breanne didn’t blink. Her eyes were ice chips, her face a blank mask. “I hate you,” she mouthed back.

  Something snapped inside Mackenzie. “Fine, be like that,” she whispered angrily, her fingers already scrabbling inside the pouch. She checked that no one was watching and slipped half a dozen berries into her mouth. Her eyes welled up instantly. She had to force herself to swallow the sour fruit.

  She forgot about her taste buds and everything else when she saw the courtyard. It was packed with the strangest beasts she’d ever seen. Foxes with hooves skittered between the legs of gigantic centipedes. Goats with iridescent wings pawed the air. A terrifying animal with the body of a horse and the head of an eagle rose up on its hind legs as a faery leaped onto its back. There were ponies with scales and lizards with feathers, giant bug-eyed grasshoppers and moths with wings the size of sails.

  “Do you see any you like?” Mackenzie heard Nuala shout as an enormous eel with three riders came thrashing past.

  Mackenzie was speechless. Even Breanne looked dumbfounded.

  Nuala tilted her head back and let out a wild laugh. “It’s my favorite night of the year!” She tightened her grip on the girls’ arms. “Come on, we’ll find something gentler for you to ride.”

  “Something gentler” was a shaggy pony with dragonfly wings for Mackenzie, and a white, otter-like creature the same size as the pony for Breanne.

  “Climb up, quickly,” Nuala hissed in Mackenzie’s ear. “You’ll be trampled if you’re still on the ground when the first mount takes off.”

  Mackenzie’s pony made a faint nickering sound as she grabbed hold of the base of its mane and pulled herself up. Getting around the wings was difficult, but the pony cooperated by standing still. Mackenzie found the securest position she could, pressing her legs against the pony’s forelegs and wrapping her arms tightly around the pony’s neck.

  Breanne was already mounted when Mackenzie looked up. The otter-creature seemed to be trying to shake her sister off, but Breanne’s arms and legs were wound tightly around the otter’s body. Her mouth was set in a determined line.

  Nuala appeared an instant later on a silver mount with the head and forelegs of a horse and the tail and hind legs of a giant lizard. “Hold tight!” Mackenzie heard her shout. “We’re about to ride!”

  Mackenzie became aware of the pipes again for the first time since swallowing the bogberries. The muffled notes rose above the din around them. Mackenzie’s pony pawed the ground, anxious to be off. Mackenzie felt her own muscles tense as the piper played a single, sustained note that made everything seem to vibrate.

  A great crack split the sky with the force of a thousand whips. Mackenzie tightened her limbs and grabbed fistfuls of shaggy fur as the pony hurtled forward. The ground was a blur beneath them, and then it was nothing at all as the pony took off into the air. They joined the other mounted beasts, a train of leaping, thrashing shadows climbing into the night. Mackenzie buried her head in the pony’s mane, clinging blindly to its back. A voice cried out somewhere ahead of them, and the pony wheeled sharply to the left. The voice cried again, and the pony wheeled to the right. Mackenzie tasted the berries she’d eaten rising in her throat. She had to fight not to throw them up.

  Time lost its meaning as the wild ride stretched on through the night. The piper’s music traveled with them, sometimes calling the riders from ahead, sometimes goading them from behind. Mackenzie’s muscles burned with the effort of staying on her mount. The music was like a distant soundtrack of her agony.

  “Please,” she prayed desperately, her eyes shut tight, “help me hold on—help us both hold on until we get wherever we’re going.”

  The ride went on and on. Mackenzie had almost given up hope that it would ever end when she felt her mount descend sharply. There was a shock of impact as the pony’s hooves met something solid. She opened her eyes a crack. The sky was alight with sheets of pale green flame stretching in every direction. Beneath the sky, the pony galloped across an uneven landscape of rocks and brambles.

  The pipes grew louder. Mackenzie wasn’t sure if they were getting closer, or if the effect of the bogberries was wearing off. The beasts in the wild ride slowed and came to an uneasy stop back in the courtyard where they’d begun. Mackenzie heard a single note rise above the others, and the sky grew even brighter. She covered her face just before the sky exploded.

  She didn’t open her eyes again until she felt a hand touch her thigh. She expected Nuala, but it was one of the faery’s attendants instead. With the girl’s help, Mackenzie dismounted. Her breath was ragged. Standing upright was painful, even with the servant’s arm supporting her. “Where’s my sister? Where’s Breanne?” she croaked.

  Mackenzie searched the attendant’s face, but it was vacant as always. “Please,” she begged, her heart pounding. “Take me to Nuala!”

  The girl led her through a tangle of pawing, snorting beasts. The sky was dark again. By torchlight, Mackenzie saw a ring of faeries gathered around the flat stone at the center of the courtyard. There were two figures inside the circle. The taller figure held a two-handled cup, brimming with a luminescent liquid. She passed it to the figure in white.

  “Stop!” Mackenzie cried.

  She was too far away. Breanne was already lifting the cup to her lips.

  “No!” Mackenzie shouted as she forced her way through the circle of faeries.

  Nuala had already taken the cup back when Mackenzie reached her sister’s side. “Please, Breanne,” Mackenzie begged. “Tell me you didn’t do it. Tell me you didn’t really drink anything!”

  “It’s done,” Nuala said, her eyes shining. “Why are you so upset? The solstice fire healed your sister’s leg, as I said it would.”

  Mackenzie grabbed her sister’s hands, ignoring the faery. “Are you a
ll right? Breanne—look at me. Breanne!”

  Breanne turned. There was no recognition in her eyes.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Two gray-hooded attendants escorted Mackenzie and Breanne back to their chamber. Mackenzie couldn’t tell whether her sister was limping or not. Breanne’s limbs were like spaghetti. The attendant helping Breanne almost had to carry her at times. When they reached their room, Breanne’s escort helped her out of her gown and into the canopy bed. Breanne began to snore softly the instant her head hit the pillow.

  Mackenzie slipped under the covers beside her sister as soon as the attendants were gone. Every muscle in her body ached from the faery ride, but she was wide awake. She stared at the silk canopy above her head for the remainder of the night, listening anxiously to each breath that entered and left her sister’s body.

  In the early hours of the morning, Breanne began to give off an alarming amount of heat. Mackenzie felt her sister’s forehead and withdrew her fingers quickly, as if she’d touched a hot iron.

  “Breanne!” Mackenzie whispered urgently. “Breanne, you’re burning up—you have to wake up!”

  Breanne didn’t stir.

  Mackenzie yanked off all the covers and leaned over her sister. “Breanne, please—wake up!”

  There was a candle near the bed. Mackenzie grabbed it and scoured the room. She found a pitcher of water and ran back to pour it over her sister’s body.

  Breanne’s eyes fluttered open. “It’s all falling apart,” she mumbled. “You can see it if you look sideways. Everything’s crumbling.”

  “What did you say?” Mackenzie grabbed her sister’s hand. “Breanne, you’re not making any sense.”

  “I’m so tired,” said Breanne. “Let me sleep.”

  Mackenzie was still clutching Breanne’s hand when Nuala appeared in the doorway later in the morning. Mackenzie jumped to her feet.

  “What’s wrong with my sister?” she demanded in a strained voice. “She’s on fire! I can’t get her to drink anything—I can’t even get her to wake up! What did that stuff do to her?”

  “You need to be patient,” Nuala said calmly as she came toward the bed. “Of course she’s tired. That just shows the solstice fire is working. She’ll be awake again in a few days, rested and renewed.”

  “In a few days? But you said she was healed last night.”

  “I said her leg was healed last night,” the faery corrected. She leaned over and brushed Breanne’s forearm with her fingertips. “Be honest—there are other things about your sister that need adjusting. How stubborn she is, for example. Her nasty temper.”

  Mackenzie shook her head. “You didn’t say you were going to change her.”

  Nuala sighed as she turned to Mackenzie. “It’s sweet how much you care about your sister. Really it is. But you need to look after yourself. Look at you. You’ve got huge circles under your eyes. You’re shaking. You look awful.”

  Mackenzie held her breath as the faery took both of her hands.

  “Listen—if you’re so worried about your sister, why don’t you join her? Then you’ll see for yourself how safe she is.”

  “You mean drink from the solstice cup,” said Mackenzie.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Nuala said with a hint of impatience. “I’ll drink from the cup myself tonight if that’s what it takes to convince you.”

  She stood up, still holding one of Mackenzie’s hands. “In the meantime, I’m taking you outside. We’re joining the party.”

  “I-I can’t leave Breanne like this,” said Mackenzie. She braced herself, half expecting to be stung for her refusal.

  “You have a bit of a stubborn streak yourself, don’t you?” said Nuala, her silver eyes unblinking. “Fine,” she sighed. “Stay with your sister for now. But you still have to come to the banquet tonight.”

  Mackenzie tried to rouse her sister again as soon as the faery was gone. Breanne’s lips twitched when Mackenzie shook her shoulder, but her eyes remained closed.

  “What have I done, what have I done?” said Mackenzie as she paced the room, clenching and unclenching her hands.

  “You’ve let your sister bond herself to Nuala—that’s what you’ve done,” said a voice behind her. Mackenzie spun around to find the hunchbacked piper standing in the doorway. “Seven years of service for that wee sip.”

  Mackenzie’s voice broke. “You have to help me. I don’t know what to do!”

  Finian entered the room and crossed over to the bed. “Seems it’s your sister that needs help now.”

  “Please,” said Mackenzie. “I didn’t mean for anything to happen to her. Nuala said the solstice fire would heal her leg. She showed me: the bird’s wing was broken and then it was fixed.”

  The piper snorted. “Heal her leg, is that what she said? Her limp will be gone, aye, along with her memory, her will and everything else that makes her herself. The fire burns it all away. She’ll be just like the rest of them for the next seven years.”

  “The rest of them?”

  “The gray-hoods, the other lads and lasses lured down below,” Finian said impatiently. He settled his misshapen frame in the chair closest to the bed and leaned forward. “I warned you, you can’t say I didn’t. There are a handful of selfish faeries like Nuala who entice young humans down below every solstice to serve them. Nuala herself has built up quite a collection.”

  “No.” Mackenzie shook her head. “There has to be a way to get Breanne out of this.”

  “Come back in seven years,” said the piper. “She’ll be free as a bird then.”

  “I can’t leave my sister here for seven years!”

  “Not much choice. Leave her here, or drink from the cup and join her.”

  Tears had begun to leak down Mackenzie’s face. She crouched beside the bed and took her sister’s burning hand. “Please,” she begged, still looking at Finian. “This is my fault. If I’d given her the berries when she asked for them, she wouldn’t be like this. I’ll do whatever it takes. I have to save her!”

  “Whatever it takes?” Finian shrugged. “Easy to say now.”

  Mackenzie wiped her cheeks angrily. “I mean it! Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it.”

  “Mmm,” said the piper, one eyebrow raised. “’Tis a shame the pair of you didn’t stay put with the old woman in the first place.” He caught the surprise on Mackenzie’s face and nodded. “Aye, I know Maigret. And I know the distress you caused her when you left so ungratefully. Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t asked me to look out for you. I’m risking my neck just being in this room,” he said, rising to his feet.

  Mackenzie stood up quickly. “Can Maigret help us? Will you take me to her?”

  “Not at this hour,” said Finian as he moved toward the door. “I’ll be back for you tonight, after the banquet, when it’s safer.”

  “Promise?” Mackenzie said anxiously.

  There was no mirth in the piper’s laugh. “Promises are tin coins in this world, lassie. But I’ll be here.”

  Mackenzie was the only human guest at the banquet that night. The faeries around her ate and drank with abandon. Their laughter seemed shriller and their arguments more intense than at the previous two feasts Mackenzie had attended. She kept her head down, trying not to draw attention to herself. She was relieved when Finian appeared at the center of the courtyard with his pipes. When no one was watching, she slipped a few bogberries into her mouth.

  Everything after that was as it had been at the last banquet. Finian’s music was muffled thanks to the sour berries, but Mackenzie could still hear it rising up into the night sky. The sky responded with the same spectacular display. Sheets of pale flame illuminated a procession of scarlet-robed faeries bearing the solstice cup to the flat stone in the center of the courtyard. Mackenzie was ready for the brilliant explosion this time.

  When she opened her eyes again, Nuala was gliding toward her with the cup in her hands. Mackenzie held her breath as the faery stopped and raised the cup to
her own mouth.

  “See?” Nuala said softly when she’d lowered the cup again. Her lips were wet and they glowed faintly. “I told you it was safe. Now it’s your turn.” She held the cup out for Mackenzie.

  Mackenzie couldn’t meet the faery’s eyes. Her hands remained at her sides. “I still can’t,” she whispered.

  Nuala let out an angry hiss. “That’s four times you’ve refused this cup. Why do you resist? How do you resist?”

  Mackenzie didn’t say anything. She swallowed, but the lump in her throat remained.

  “It’s very curious,” said the faery. She stared at Mackenzie for a long moment and then raised her fingers. One of her attendants stepped forward from the shadows to escort Mackenzie back underground.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Mackenzie had almost worn a path in the rugs underfoot before Finian finally showed up at the door of her chamber. “I was afraid you weren’t coming,” she said, releasing her breath gratefully.

  “I’m here,” said the piper. “Let’s go. Quickly. Follow a few paces behind, and don’t speak.”

  Mackenzie took her sister’s hand before leaving the room. Breanne’s skin was still warm, but nowhere near the temperature it had been. Finian was already halfway down the corridor when Mackenzie slipped through the door after him.

  The piper moved swiftly, turning one way and then the other without hesitation. They were traveling in the opposite direction to the route that led up to the courtyard. Finian stopped abruptly at one corner and motioned with his hand for Mackenzie to stay back. Mackenzie held her breath, her heart hammering in her chest, until Finian signaled that it was safe again. A few minutes later, Mackenzie followed the piper up a set of shallow stairs. She could smell the tang of marsh air as she climbed the last few steps. Then they were outside.

  “Can you see well enough to walk?” the piper said softly. He had stopped to let Mackenzie catch up.

  “I think so,” Mackenzie whispered. There were no torches to illuminate their path, and the stars were hidden behind clouds. But there was a faint smudge of light all around the lower edge of the sky. “Is it safe to talk now?”