Fairy War

Chapter 14

"Dad?" he repeated, giving me a puzzled look. "I don't know what you're talking about; I've never met you in my life." And with that he followed the President into another room.

"Dad, you can't just walk away!" I shouted, causing those around us to turn and look at me. I tried to follow him but I found my path blocked by Nightshade's formidable bulk. "Let me past, I need to talk to him!"

"That would be a bad idea, Clint," Nightshade said firmly. "If my suspicions are correct, that is not your father."

"I don't care what you think!" I snapped at him. "He's my dad, and I'm going-" My speech was cut short, however, as Niana cast a spell, sending me sprawling to the floor.

The last thing I heard before everything went black was Nightshade telling Niana, "Go get your sister – she can explain this a hundred times better than I can."

I came around slowly to see Niana's concerned face looking down at me. Sitting up, I realised I'd been lying on a bed in the room me and my uncle had got changed in not too long before, Nightshade guarding the door and Nareena sitting in a chair by the room's fireplace.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, Clint," Niana said, gripping my hand, "but you were in danger of making a scene and we couldn't risk you alerting the enemy to our presence."

"All I wanted was to speak to my father," I said, speaking slowly and trying to act more calmly than before. "What's so wrong with that?"

"That wasn't your father," Nareena said, getting up and walking to the foot of the bed. "Believe me, I would give anything for that to be my mother, Clint, but this is just more proof of the dark magic our enemy has at his beck and call."

"What kind of magic could do that?" Niana asked, looking at her sister quizzically.

"Humans have always had stories of something called necromancy," Nareena replied, "and in a sense that concept is similar to what I fear this magic involves. However, fairies haven't used this kind of magic openly for a long, long time, so I can't be absolutely certain of what kind of spell it is. We have two theories, though: one, Feth'rael has somehow succeeded in resurrecting them both, wiping their memories so they can't recognise any of their former loved ones – that's the best case scenario."

"If that's the best case, what on earth's the worst case?" I snapped.

"That somehow he found our parents' dead bodies and removed them," Nareena replied. "Remember when I said he was attempting to summon creatures from beyond the veil? Well, not all of them can take on physical forms as easily as others. If, however, they had bodies that were no longer housing living beings-"

"They'd have a body ready to be possessed," I said, my heart sinking at the realisation. "We need to confront them, find out what they're doing here."

"I agree, Clint," Nareena replied, smiling a little sadly, "but we can't risk confronting them in the middle of the party. Never mind anything else; I'm unwilling to risk any collateral damage among the other guests if a fight breaks out." Just then there was a loud knock on the door. "Come in!" she shouted.

A young man peered his head around the door and said, rather sheepishly, "The Prime Minister says the dinner will be ready shortly, if you care to join us."

"We'll be right behind you," I said, before the others could utter a response. "Come on," I added, "considering my outburst, we've got enough awkward questions to deal with without them wondering why we're not joining in the celebration."

Nareena nodded. "Then let us go."

When we got downstairs we found that most of the guests had decamped to a large ballroom in which a series of long tables had been set up. The Prime Minister and the President were seated at a table on the far side of the room, while we were seated next to my uncle at a table near the centre. Nightshade joined the rest of the security team on the fringes of the room, stationed in the best possible places to keep a good lookout. As we took our seats, I was unable to keep my eyes off the President's two companions.