Page 72 of The Iron Raven

I hit the ground on my back and felt the tendrils latch on, coiling around my waist, arms, legs, and chest. Cold burned my skin, images and emotions flooding my mind, even as I tried blocking them out. Rage. Betrayal. Despair. I felt the darkness rising again, trying to drown every good emotion and memory I had.

Nope, not this time, big ugly.With a deep breath, I closed my eyes, summoning the courage for what I should have done a long time ago.Are you listening, then? I forgive Ash. I forgive Ash, and myself, for everything that happened between us. I forgive myself for that thing with Ariella, I forgive Meghan for not loving me, hell, I’ll even forgive Oberon for being such a jackass all these centuries. Let’s start over, clean slate, blank everything. Free love for everyone, whaddya think about that!

The coils around my limbs vanished, and the bleak emotions trying to suffocate me disappeared. Panting, I struggled to my elbows, then looked up into a pair of familiar silver eyes. Ash gazed down at me, glowing blue sword unsheathed, his face shadowed with concern.

I grinned up at him. “A little late there, ice-boy. Why do youalwayshave to wait until the last dramatic moment?”

A relieved expression crossed his face, and he held out a hand. I grabbed it and let him pull me upright, meeting Meghan’s worried gaze as she joined us. Several yards away, the Monster was howling and thrashing about, crushing the stones and the statues around it with its tantrum.

“Puck, are you all right?”

“Never better, princess.” I offered a real smile, which startled her for a moment. “Just had to find a little piece of me that was lost for a while. I’m good now. I’m back, and I’m here to stay.”

“You hurt it.” Ash sounded surprised, but there was something else in his voice that wasn’t there before. Hope. “It didn’t ignore it like last time.”

“Yep, I did, didn’t I? It looks like the invincible monster isn’t quite as invincible as it would have us believe.” Still grinning, I turned to look at the Monster, who had lowered its arm and was now glaring at us with the coldest hate, its ruined eye now an empty black hole. “You know, I think I’ve figured this thing out,” I said, smiling with the realization. “I believe our big ugly friend feeds on negative emotion. That’s why we couldn’t hurt it, and that’s why it tries to evoke those emotions whenever it can. Things like rage, fear, and despair only make it stronger.”

“So, the answer is not to feel anything?” Ash wondered.

“Not necessarily.” I shot him a challenging grin. “If rage and hate make it stronger, then we should do the opposite. Maybe you should try smiling, ice-boy. Oh, and laugh a little, I think that really pisses it off.”

The Ice Prince gave me a pained, weary look. “What are you talking about?”

Some distance away, the Monster bared its fangs, then reared up with its loudest, most terrifying roar yet. I looked at Ash, who had a dire, determined look on his face as he grimly raised his sword. I watched him steel himself for battle, him and Meghan both, and a wicked idea floated to mind. A ridiculous, inappropriate, completely Puckish idea.

“Hold on, ice-boy.” Reaching back, I plucked something from my hair and held it up: two jet-black feathers that fluttered in the breeze. “Before we start again, we have to set the mood. This could be our last stand, after all. And what’s a last stand without some cool battle music?”

I tossed the feathers into the air, sending a pulse of glamour after them. There was a soundless explosion of smoke and feathers, and two more Pucks stood a few feet away, watching us with twin smirks. One held a lute, the other clutched a panpipe under his lips, ready to play. As Meghan blinked in astonishment and Ash frowned, I regarded the duplicates critically a moment, then shook my head.

“Huh, something is missing,” I mused.

Across the courtyard, the Monster snarled again and prowled forward. Its steps were measured and unhurried, and tentacles sprang up once more, creeping toward us as it came. Meghan and Ash gave it wary looks, but I ignored it, tapping a finger to my chin as I pondered.

“What is it, what is it? Oh, I know!” While he was distracted by the Monster, I slipped behind Ash, grabbed a single strand of jet-black hair, and tugged it free.

“Ow.” The Ice Prince stepped back and glared at me. Not long ago, that sort of action would’ve required me to dodge a swat from his sword or an ice dagger hurled at my head. Now he just gave me a look of resigned exasperation. “What are you doing, Goodfellow?” he snapped.

“Help me out, ice-boy.” With a grin, I raised the strand of hair between my fingers. “Remember that period of time where you were trying to learn a new skill?” I went on and watched his brow furrow in confusion. “I think it was to impress Ariella? You spent an entire summer trying to perfect it. Did you ever tell Meghan about that?”

For a second, he continued to frown in confusion. Then his eyes widened, and his face took on an expression of alarm. “Goodfellow, don’t you dare—”

I released the strand with a little nudge of glamour. It soared over to the pair of Pucks, and with a poof of smoke, a second Ash appeared between them. He was a bit younger than the Ash standing beside me, dressed in a fine suit with tails, his hair pulled back, and in one hand he held an elegant white-and-gold violin.

Meghan’s eyes went huge, and she clapped both hands over her mouth in both amazement and utter delight, forgetting, for the moment, the huge creature still stalking toward us.

I chuckled and looked at Ash. “I seem to remember you played quite well, ice-boy,” I said, grinning as the Ash double expertly raised the instrument and placed it under his chin, touching the bow to the strings. “Why don’t you start the final battle, then?”

Ash glowered a moment longer, then let his head fall back with a long sigh, raising an arm toward the trio of musicians waiting off to the side. “Goodfellow, I am going to kill you for this,” he muttered, and snapped his fingers.

Music filled the air, haunting violin chords that soared up and around us, followed by the sounds of lute and panpipes. The melody swirled around us, rising toward a crescendo that pulled at your emotions, dramatic and exciting and completely epic. It drowned out the snarls of the approaching Monster and made my heart soar in response.

I laughed and looked at Ash again; the Ice Prince stood there glaring at me, but there was the faintest of smirks hiding behind that silver gaze, and Meghan was smiling broadly.

“There now, ice-boy, who said you can’t have any fun?”

With a roar, the Monster descended on us, smashing its claws into the middle of our little party, and we scattered. The musicians leaped back, filling the air with a rousing chorus, even as the Monster howled and slashed at them. The two Puck musicians danced as they circled the Ash in the center, eyes closed as he deftly sawed at the strings. The whole thing was so ridiculously wonderful that I laughed out loud, even as I ducked beneath a pair of flailing tentacles and darted close to the flailing Monster.

“And this little piggy went ‘ow!’” I said, stabbing my dagger point into one big, hairy toe. The Monster jerked, pulling his foot back like he had just stepped on a hairpin. I danced away, grinning at Ash who was circling around the creature with his sword raised. The Monster’s head followed me, eyes blazing with fury, and I shot Ash a gleeful look.

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