“I understand,” I told Aunt Grace through gritted teeth, because I didn’t think a silent nod would satisfy her. There was an almost crazy light in her eyes. I wondered if she was certifiably nuts, or if the power was just going to her head. Either way, it scared the crap out of me.

After one last look at Mom, I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Whatever Grace wanted, I was going to have to do it. And hope and pray that she’d let my mom go.

But why should she? an evil little voice whispered in my head. Once she’s got me where she wants me, why wouldn’t she just eliminate the witness? I believed Aunt Grace was crazy enough—or evil enough—to do it. But how could I stop her?

I thought about it frantically as we waited for the elevator, neither of us saying a word. I couldn’t even bear to look at her, much less speak to her.

The worst part was that Ethan was waiting for me in the lobby. I might have hoped he could play my knight in shining armor, but he wouldn’t know my mom was in danger. If he did something heroic to try to save me from Grace, he might very well get my mom killed.

I was shaking and, I’m sure, corpse-white when we stepped off the elevator into the lobby. But though I glanced surreptitiously around for Ethan, hoping to give him some kind of warning to back off, I didn’t see him.

I didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, it meant no heroics that would get my mom killed. On the other hand … it meant no heroics that would get me away from Aunt Grace.

The doorman gave me a puzzled look as I left the hotel with Aunt Grace. I’m sure he remembered opening the door for Ethan and me, and he probably thought there was something strange about me leaving with someone different—and looking absolutely terrified—but Grace gave him a look, and he suddenly lost interest in us. The cameo hadn’t heated, so maybe it had been straight intimidation.

“To the right,” Aunt Grace ordered, and I obeyed.

“So where are we going?” I finally found the courage to ask.

Grace flashed me a sly little smile. “To Faerie.”

I was so startled and horrified that I stopped in my tracks. “You have to be kidding me!”

She stared down at me with her icy blue eyes. “Do I look like I’m kidding? Now start walking, or I’ll give Kirk the go-ahead to have some fun with your mother while you listen.”

My head swam, and for a moment, I was afraid I was going to pass out. I forced myself not to think about what Grace had just threatened, instead putting one foot in front of the other.

“Why are we going to Faerie?” I asked in a choked whisper, though I already had an idea. An awful, terrifying, unbelievable idea.

“Seamus told us—Alistair and me—about what happened to your Knight. And Alistair told me what happened with the Spriggans. They are both fools, thinking we can keep you safe and eventually exploit your powers for our own purposes.” She shook her head and clucked her tongue. “As if even the three of us together could foil both the Queens of Faerie.”

I slowed my pace a bit, trying to postpone the inevitable, but Grace gave me a little push to hurry me along.

“If the Queens wish you dead, then you will die,” she said. “Faeriewalkers aren’t born every day, and it would be a shame not to get any use out of your unique powers while you are still among the living.”

By now I was sure I knew where she was going with this, incredible as it sounded. But I had to hear her say it to believe it, so I kept pressing.

“So why are we going into Faerie?”

Holding the phone precariously with one hand, Grace reached into her purse and opened it just wide enough to show me the gun concealed inside. I know absolutely nothing about guns, but even I could tell this one was a nasty piece of work, so big it barely fit even in that large bag.

“The Fae are hard to kill,” she said. “Especially in Faerie, where cold iron doesn’t exist.”

Yep, she was as crazy as I thought.

“This little baby,” she said, patting her purse, “would not work in Faerie, even though it is not cold iron. But, if it is in the hands of a Faeriewalker—or in the hands of someone who is within the Faeriewalker’s aura—it will fire. And even a Fae Queen can be killed by a mortal bullet to the head.”

“You want to assassinate one of the Queens,” I said, and it was only half a question.

“I might try for both,” she mused. “I have the power to hold Titania’s throne if I take it. Perhaps my first official act as Seelie Queen will be to eliminate Mab. I’m not arrogant enough to think I can hold both thrones, but with Mab dead, whoever inherited the Unseelie throne would be less powerful and easier to work with.” Grace gave me an evil grin. “And with you at my side, no one would ever dare threaten me. I will be Queen forever!”

Nope, she wasn’t a bit arrogant. I honestly had no idea whether the world would be a better place if she succeeded or if she failed. All I knew was that I was running out of time to come up with a brilliant escape plan. Because we only had another hundred yards or so until we’d be on the bridge and crossing the moat to the Southern Gate.

chapter twenty-five

Rain fell steadily as I trudged miserably toward the bridge that would lead me into Faerie. Grace was so cheerful she was humming under her breath. I kept trying to figure out some way to escape her without getting my mom killed, but I couldn’t even come up with a crazy idea, much less a sane one.

Because the only delaying tactic I could think of was talking, I decided to ask some more questions.