Page 53 of The Unseelie War
Bitty headed back into the opera house who half-hovered, half-ran up the stairs that led them up to the fly system over the stage.Several ladder climbs later, and they wound up at the top of the fly system.
“Oh, no—” Lysander shook his head. “No, no, no.” He backed away from what stretched out before them. “I’m not doing it.”
The area of flooring they had to cross was the top of what must operate the fly system for the rigging of the theatre. Pulleys were mounted to flat iron stock that stretched out across the room, bolted to giant I-beams that supported the entire structure. The iron stock was spaced such that the cables could stretch down to hold up the bars that flew up and down to raise and lower scenery or curtains or what-not.
It also meant that the spacing wasjustenough that a foot could pass through if a person were careless.
It also meant that it was very easy to look down and see straight to the stage some eighty or ninety feet down.
Ava blinked. “What?” She gestured at the stretch of not-quite-flooring in front of them. “You can’t tell me you’re afraid ofthat.It’s notthatbad.”
Lysander hissed like, well, a cat. “No.No.Absolutelynot.You can go without me.”
Serrik sighed. His glamor shifted and melted away, and he was once more his seven-legged, enormous spidery self. The golden tips of his legs tapped on the steel. “Come here, feline.” He picked up Lysander by the back of the coat.
Lysander let out one of those low, warning“rrrroowwwwlll”noises, but shifted into his cat form. His tail swished furiously from side to side, but he hunkered down on Serrik’s back, all puffed up fur and claws.
Ava tried very hard not to laugh. “See? Serrik’s too big to fall through the floor, now. And he’s a spider.He’s designed for this.”
Lysander merely growled in response.
Ibin was hiding her own laugh in her hand as she was picking her way across the room. Nos was guiding her like the perfect gentleman. Bitty was flying ahead, pulling open a door that went outside.
Ava stepped over the last of the cables and headed out onto the roof, the wind instantly blowing her dark curls into her face. She loved her curly hair, but sometimes the curlsreallygot in the damn way.
It took her a second to get her hair back under control. When she looked back out at the world, she felt sucker-punched.
From up high, it was so much easier to see the extent of the damage she had caused.
A brownstone from Boston sat next to bits and pieces of Brooklyn Bridge, which had its missing pieces reconstructed from nightmarish trees that she knew came from Tir n’Aill. And if she wasn’t mistaken. She saw the Eyes, that terrifying monster from the Web, clinging to the underside of what might be a floating section of Central Park.
This…needed to stop.
This couldn’t go on.
It was wrong. Just simplywrong.
Standing in the center of the roof, watching the whole ordeal that was once existence, was Abigail. Her red hair caught the light of the merged sky and reflected back all its strange and peculiar shades of sunlight. At her feet, in a circle, had grown a patch of grass and those strange red flowers that made Ava just a bit nervous, though she couldn’t exactly saywhy.
Abigail turned to smile at her, her vibrant green eyes holding a depth that spoke of centuries of wisdom…and sorrow. “Join me, Weaver.”
It was clear from her tone that whatever was going to be said, was meant for her and her alone. Bracing herself, Ava walked forward.
“Valroy has begun his war. Finally, after all these centuries, he has what his soul has always desired.” Abigail turned to look back out at the city, gesturing at the columns of smoke rising from what looked like a cobbled-together settlement by a patch of woods. “Even now, his forces are sweeping through where the humans have gathered. He will take no prisoners, no slaves, no pets. He willexterminate every human life. Perhaps even every Seelie he comes across.”
“We stop him, then.” Ava cracked her neck. “We go out there, and we?—”
“No.” Abigail’s interruption was gentle but firm. “You cannot stop him by force. Valroy is rage, entropy—he is violence given form. I doubt that even Serrik can best him in direct combat. Likely only delay him, at best restrain him or redirect him for a time. We must reconstruct the Webnow,Ava. The only hope we have is that Valroy seeks to stop me and that Serrik is able to destroy the tree at the heart of the Maze while he does so.”
“Do we even know where that treeis?”She ran her hands through her curls, untangling a few. It was a pointless effort, but she tried. “It could be buried anywhere in this madness.”
“I have Puck searching for it.” Abigail smirked. “He is an expert in madness.”
Ava let out a half-snort. “Yeah. No shit.” She moved to stand next to Abigail, careful not to steponornearthe freaky red flowers. They gave her bad vibes. Looking back out at the city, she let out another sigh. “You left out a critical detail before. Namely,howwe’re supposed to rebuild the Web.Howwe’re supposed to straighten all this out and put you in it.”
Abigail shut her eyes. “A ritual. But I know not the specifics.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s not foreboding as fuck,” she groaned. “And extremely not helpful. You don’t know whatkind?”
