Page 46 of The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles 2)

He tilted his head and stared at me. I was distracted by the way the moonlight sculpted Duncan’s cheekbones. Hewasa handsome man. It would be natural for me to feel attracted to him, but I still wasn’t sure that’s what I felt. Right now I felt chilled.

“I think you know what we must do,” he said.

“We can’t kill her!” I hissed. “She’s—well, she’s a nastypiece of work, but she’s only doing what comes naturally to her.”

Duncan nodded. “Your compassion is admirable, but misplaced. What do you plan to do—ask her politely to please return to Faerie?” he asked, but then lifted a peremptory hand to silence me. “Listen,” he said.

At first I heard only the breeze rustling the leaves in the trees, but then I made out a low throaty trill riding the night air.

Ooooh lu lu lu

Ooooh lu lu oooh

Looking west toward the sound, I saw nothing.

“Turn around,” Duncan whispered. “He’s thrown his voice to fool you.”

I turned and looked east, where a half moon hung in the branches of a white pine. At first I only saw the feathery branches outlined against the moon, but then one of those branches moved and acquired tufted horns and yellow eyes.

“A great horned owl,” Duncan said with pride, as if he’d conjured it himself. “I was hoping for one. It’s the strongest and smartest of the owls. Look at his eyes. Do you feel the Aelvesgold in your blood pulled by them?”

“Yes.” What I didn’t say was that they reminded me of Duncan’s eyes and the pull they’d had on me in my dream. As I stared at the owl, he bowed to us, hooting a long-drawn-out cry as if releasing the sound through the movement of his body.

Duncan bowed back, sweeping both arms out in a graceful swoop. In the moonlight, his shadow swirled around him like a cape. I imitated the motion. When I swept my arms out I felt the air moving over my skin, raising goosebumps on my flesh. When I lifted my head and met the owl’s eyes again, my skin bristled—from the nape of my neck down my spine to mytailbone. The owl called again.Whoooo are youuuu?It seemed to ask.

“Kay-lex,”I answered, my name becoming a series of clicks in the back of my throat. I bowed again, feeling my arms rise weightlessly on the breeze and my tailbone lengthen. My whole body was weightless. When I lifted my head this time, I saw that the owl’s eyes were not the only things glowing in the forest. Each branch and pine needle was tipped with moonlit white gold—another shade of Aelvesgold. Duncan had said the Aelvesgold inside me drew more Aelvesgold to it like a magnet. I was in control. I would find Lorelei andcompelher to return to Faerie. How could she resist this much magic flowing through me?

I opened my mouth and let out a long, strange call. I heard an answering call beside me. I swiveled my head—how wonderfully flexible my neck had become! I would never need a chiropractor again!—and met Duncan’s azure eyes. Now they were set in the face of a great horned owl. He stretched out his wings and lifted off the ground. I raised my arms—now wings so long and strong I felt I could touch the moon—then swooped them down and felt myself rise on the night air into the trees. I would have gone higher, but Duncan’s voice in my head called for me to land beside him on a branch. I settled beside him, tucking my wings in and swiveling my head around to check that we were alone. We were. The other owl had flown away.

Listen, Duncan said,do you hear the water?

I twisted, bobbed, and dipped my head, twitching my ears toward a faint sound threading through the branches. One of my ears was higher than the other and, by positioning my head just right, I could not only hear the faintest sounds, but could tell exactly how far away they were. Yes, I heard running water. Thirty feet southeast of us.

That’s the Undine. We’ll follow it south through the woods. I’ll take the east side, you take the west. If you see anything, call out.

I hooted a reply. Words seemed superfluous in this sound-rich, moonlit world. Not only could I hear every branch-creak and leaf-sway, I could see through the darkness as though it were day. Duncan hooted back and launched himself off the branch. I couldn’t hear him moving as he glided in between the trees. His enormous wings silently rode the wind. Then I couldn’t see him either. He had vanished into the thickly intertwined branches.

I had a pang of human fear. I was about to dive into the dark woods. Jen Davies had told me that the fey were flocking to Fairwick to be ready to return to Faerie if the door was closing. From deep inside me, I sensed that there were many otherworldly creatures in the woods, lurking in its shadows. That place inside me seemed to call to them—as if itknewthem. Lorelei was not the only monster in these woods.

A breeze ruffled my feathers and I heard the sough of wind through the branches. My feathersitchedto take flight. I stretched out my wings and plunged headlong into the woods.

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