The Fae Chronicles: The Hollow Forest

Chapter 4

   We were in an alley beside what looked like the bank. As soon as we Star Trek'd down, Aunt Tessa marched down the alley and turned the corner, leaving me, Ryan, And Rowan staring at each other.

   We followed Aunt Tessa in the bank.

   "I'd like to see the Gray vault please." She said to the woman behind the counter. The woman simply pushed her red, horn-rimmed glasses further down her hooked nose to look at us. "Why?"

  "Be right back." Ryan said, and he slipped into the bathroom.

  "Where is he going?" Rowan whispered.

  "I guess even 3,000-year-olds have to pee." I whispered back.

  "Hi." Said a familiar voice behind us. We whirled around to see a tall, middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair looming over us. "I'd like to get into the Gray vault." And he winked at us and just for a moment, his eyes flashed golden, and I remebered what Ryan had said in my room.

   We can alter our appearances at will.

   It was Ryan.

   Tessa started to say, "Who do you think you-"

  "Of course!" The woman said. "Anything for a man of your....stature."

  That utter bitch.

  I almost had to help my Aunt pick up her jaw from the floor.

  "Oh," Ryan said, pointing to us. "They're with me."

  I could tell she had trouble concealing the sneer. She handed Ryan the key and said. "Number 665."

  As soon as we got into the vault, Ryan shrank back into a sixteen year old boy and slid down the wall.

  "God, I hate being old." He said. "It feels so....heavy."

  Rowan snorted. "Says the 3,000 year-old."

  There was a small snarl from where Ryan sat, his head between

his knees.

  "It's the iron safes." He said. "That knife that Lusaka sliced my palm with? One of the only things that can break my skin. Iron. It burns the dark fae and silver burns the light fae."

  "Piper!" Aunt Tessa said from across the room. "Come here."

  She was standing over the safe. There was no money or anything in the safe, just an old, dusty book and a wad of burlap.

She carefully lifted the book and the burlap out of the box, and then proceeded to remove the bottom of the box to reveal-

  "Ninja stars." Rowan said, peering over my shoulder into the small iron box. "Little bitty circles of death. Fun. Thanks mom." I elbowed her.

  "Pick them up." Ryan said.

  "Um...okay." I carefully picked up the stars and almost dropped them when they heated up and began to crackle with electricity

   The stars melted and lengthened, red with heat, but oddly enough, I didn't feel it. They glowed so brightly, I had to look away. When the light went down, I held two dark brown leather bullwhips in my hands.

   "Huh. I can dig the Indiana Jones vibe." Aunt Tessa said, stepping back to look at me.

  The whips were both about six feet long, with iron grips that fit perfectly in my hand. Lightning popped and wound along them, making the air in the vault reek of ozone.

  "Nah, she's more like female Whiplash, what with the electric whips and stuff." Rowan said, eyeing me thoughtfully. "Alright, alright. I want some goodies too." She said.

  Aunt Tessa handed her the burlap, which she unwrapped and almost threw across the room. She was holding a human skull, except ram horns curled from the sides.

  "What the heck-" I began.

  "Open its mouth." Ryan said. His face was even whiter than usual and his eyes were squeezed shut.

  Rowan gingerly opened the skull's mouth and pulled out a small scroll. She unrolled it."Crap."

  "What?" I asked. She showed me the yellowed paper. It was covered in the same language that had been in Wednesday's book.

  "Ryan, can you read this?" Tessa asked.

  "Not-" he gasped. "At the moment. I can tell someone didn't want me in these safes. It's not just iron. There's something else here that keeps dark fae away."

  Aunt Tessa ran a finger across the lid of the safe. "It's encrusted with salt."

  "It's way worse than I thought. We have to leave tomorrow." He said.

  "Wait, what?" I asked. "Wh-where are we going?"

  "And who exactly does "we" consist of." Rowan said.

  Ryan sighed and pushed himself up the wall. "Give me the scroll." Rowan threw him the paper. He caught it and searched the writing. "Okay. Here's what I can make out." He took a deep breath and read.

  "Only when lightning strikes the poisoned flower and shadows overcome the land will our worlds be at peace." He finished, looking up at us, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

  "Alright. Great. What the hell does that mean?" Rowan asked.

  "Why would a land be at peace with shadows over it?" I said.

  "Well," Aunt Tessa said slowly. "the shadows are Ryan, who is going to be king of the dark fae when you, the lightning," she pointed at me. "Kill the poisoned flower, which is Hemlock."
  "Wait, wait. There's another part." Ryan said. "The changelings will fall as the hunters and theives become guards."
  I snorted. "Well that clears things up. What does it mean?"

  Aunt Tessa look dumbfounded. "I--I don't know."

  And then the lights in the vault winked out.

  Aunt Tessa sighed. "Ryan, I know you're not used to this much warding, but could you please-"

  "Tessa?"

  "What?" She snapped.

  "That wasn't me."