Grimalkin gave Puck a look of cat disdain, then turned to us with a sniff. “Goodfellow is correct,” he said, though he sounded annoyed admitting such a thing. “The Forgotten has already warned you of what could happen, but I suppose it is up to me to elaborate...again.” He raised his head in the cat equivalent of a sigh. “The Between is alive,” he began. “Not sentient—it has no particular feelings of malice or ill intent toward those who venture inside its borders—but it can bring things to life around you. The Between has the ability to manifest physical creations based on how you are feeling at the time. So, sentiments like anger, fear, grief, despair, and any strong emotions I would advise keeping at a minimum, as much as you are able, unless you want to run into a creature crafted from your own nightmares. Though I fear asking fey to control their emotions is like asking a dog not to drool.” The cat twitched his tail in an almost resigned manner. “Do give it your best shot, at least.”
I glanced at Meghan, and saw the veiled fear and anger in her eyes. Worry for Keirran, anger that something was attempting to take him from us yet again. Determination that we would find him no matter what. The Iron Queen, though she had grown wise in her rule over the Iron Kingdom, still struggled with burying and shutting off her emotions, particularly when it came to family. I had more practice, a lifetime of freezing out memories and emotions, and yet, I was finding it difficult to remain impassive. My son was missing. I needed to find him, but after that, I wanted nothing more than to track down whatever threatened him and destroy it completely.
I felt a chill at my back, and turned to see a section of mist curl away, revealing a bleak scene on the other side. Frozen bodies, both human and fey, were piled carelessly atop each other, eyes glazed and wide with terror. At the very peak of the grotesque mountain, a familiar sword had been shoved point-first into someone’s back. Standing brightly against the gloom, the blade glimmered with an icy blue light. As I watched, unable to look away, the corpses’ eyes opened, hard with accusation, all blankly staring at me.
I jerked up, but as I did, a curtain of mist fell over the bodies, hiding them from view. A moment later when the fog lifted, they were gone.
“Ash.” Beside me, Meghan let out a soft breath, and I knew she had seen it, too. “Are you going to be all right?” she asked softly.
Get a hold of yourself, Ash, I told myself. The Between can bring your darkest fears and emotions to life. No one wants to see that, least of all you.
Anger stirred again, and I pushed it down. Focus on finding Keirran, then deal with the threat, whatever it was. Meeting Meghan’s gaze, I gave a faint, reassuring smile. “I’m fine,” I told her. “Don’t worry about me—let’s just find Keirran.”
Nyx stepped forward, her eyes glowing yellow in the eerie nonlight. “Touchstone is in this direction,” she said. “Follow me.”
We did, trailing the assassin silently through the void. I wasn’t certain how long we walked. The Between looked the same wherever you looked; a gray landscape of eternal fog and mist, coiling over nothing. Occasionally, the tendrils would curl back to reveal strange shapes in the fog; everything from trees and bushes to snowmen and bleached animal bones. But, while some of these were mildly disturbing, nothing came to life, nothing leaped out of the mist to attack us, and we continued through the Between without incident.
But, while the Between was silent and still, it was angry. I could feel it, just as Nyx had said. Or perhaps these were my own emotions, reacting to the looming threat of this place and the uncertainty with Keirran. Why was my family continuously in danger? It seemed we had just finished a war where I not only had to fight an army of fey and one powerful ex-queen of Faery, I also had to watch my own son betray everyone he knew. And now, another threat had risen up, attempting to rip everything I loved away from me. Would I constantly be fighting to save my family knowing that, one day, I might fail and lose everything?
Anger shifted quietly into rage, but at that moment, Nyx paused, frowning as she stared into the nothingness of the Between.
“This isn’t right,” she muttered. Turning in a slow circle, she peered intently into the void and shook her head. “No, I’m not mistaken. Something is definitely wrong.”
I stared into the mist as Nyx had done, but could see nothing. “What do you mean?”
“This is the edge of the capital,” Nyx explained, turning to me with a somber expression. “We would have passed the perimeter a few seconds ago.” She pointed a slender finger at nothing. “There’s supposed to be a gate, and a road that leads through the city to the town square. We should be in Touchstone right now.”
I felt a chill go through my insides. Meghan gazed at the spot Nyx indicated in distress and alarm. “Glitch reported that the Forgotten capital was gone,” she said in a shaky voice. “I didn’t realize he meant it had simply vanished from existence.”
Nyx looked pale, but before she could reply, something flickered in the mist, right in the spot she was standing. The Forgotten leaped back, and I drew my weapon, as an archway of stone appeared, parting fog as it materialized in front of us. Two leering stone gargoyles perched at the very top of the pillars, baring oversize fangs as they stared down at us.
Puck sighed, lowering his daggers and glaring at the structure that had suddenly decided to join us. “Dammit, I’ll never get used to that,” he muttered. “So, whose manifestation is this, and why are you afraid of archways? Or is it the gargoyles that are the problem here? I mean, they do hit really hard...”
Nyx blinked. “This...is the gate to the city,” she said in confusion. “Or part of it, anyway.” She glanced to either side, as if looking for a wall that was supposed to be attached to the archway. “I do not understand what is happening.”
“It is the gate,” Grimalkin confirmed, observing the sneering gargoyles with bored contempt. “And I think I can answer that.” He leaped onto a broken stone block and sat down, curling his tail around his feet. “In the Between,” he began sagely, “when an anchor is destroyed, everything attached to it vanishes as well, correct? But what if the anchor was only damaged? What would happen to the world around it?”
“Probably what we’re seeing now,” Puck guessed, indicating the gate, which suddenly sputtered like a dying candle and winked out for a moment, dropping Grim to the ground. When it solidified again, one of the gargoyles that had been crouched at the top was missing. “A city that can’t decide whether it wants to be here or not.”
“But, if something has damaged the anchor...” Nyx jerked up, her face going pale. “The anchor is at Touchstone Manor,” she whispered. “Keirran—”
A shriek rang out in the mist ahead.
Everyone drew their weapons, and Grimalkin immediately blinked out of sight like the gate. We hurried forward, passing beneath the broken, flickering gate and into the city.