“Ash.” Meghan caught my hand before I could turn away. “Promise me we’ll see each other again,” she said, sounding uncharacteristically unsure. It took me by surprise. Meghan, especially in recent years, had shown very little weakness. As the Iron Queen, she had made decisions without hesitation or regret, but now, gazing up at me with haunted eyes, she looked sixteen again. “Swear to me, that no matter what we see or do, even if we get lost in another nightmare, we’ll find our way back to each other.”
“We will,” I promised, and brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind an ear. “I will always find my way back to you, no matter where we are.”
She leaned forward, and I kissed her, feeling her hands slide up my neck into my hair. “Be careful, Ash,” she whispered as she pulled back. “Who knows what kind of nightmares are lurking in Puck’s mind.”
“You, too,” I said, and she drew away. Walking to the edge of the forest, she stepped into the fog and disappeared.
I gazed around, and saw that the frozen wood was nearly gone, slowly being swallowed by the mist creeping out of the darkness. Before the landscape could vanish completely, I turned my thoughts inward, bringing the red-haired Great Prankster to the forefront of my memories. Our fights, our arguments, all the adventures we had; some of them were painful, but in the end, everything we’d gone through had only made us stronger.
All right, Puck, I thought, as the bank of fog crept closer, slowly consuming everything it touched. Wherever you are, hang in there. I’m coming. Let’s see if I walk into a nest of fifty-foot spiders.
The fog rolled over me, chill and damp, muffling all sound. Holding the image of the Great Prankster firmly in my mind, I started walking.
15
PUCK’S NIGHTMARE
For a few moments of walking through roiling mist, I couldn’t see anything. The fog surrounded me, completely opaque, blanketing everything in white. I didn’t stop, and I didn’t change direction, keeping my thoughts trained on finding Puck. After several minutes of walking, the fog started to thin, and suddenly, I walked out of the fog bank into a bright beam of sunshine.
Squinting and shading my eyes, I looked up to find the world had changed once more. The dead, frozen wood was gone, and the forest that had replaced it was almost too bright and alive. Enormous trees surrounded me, fully in bloom, leaves and flowers rustling in the sunlight. Birds trilled from the branches, all sounding like they were trying to outsing each other, and insects swooped past my head, the buzz of their wings vibrating in my ears.
Frowning, I lowered my arm, taking in my surroundings. I didn’t appear to be alone in this grove. Faeries surrounded me; a trio of piskies zipped by on shimmering dragonfly wings. Near a pond, a female centaur lay in the grass with her hooves folded beneath her. A few feet away, a wrinkled gnome dangled a fishing pole in the water, beady eyes trained on the creatures darting beneath the surface.
Confusion flickered. I was in the Seelie Court, surrounded by Summer fey. Despite knowing I was still in the Between, everything looked normal. Is this really Puck’s nightmare? I was expecting at least a little chaos. Or a lot of spiders. Curious, I caught the eye of a pair of dryads, lounging easily under a willow tree as they combed each other’s long, pale green hair. Normally, the sudden arrival of a Winter faery in the Summer Court would cause a stir, if not an actual uproar. Though if this was Puck’s nightmare, anything could be possible. The two dryads noticed me and blinked, startled for a moment, then quickly averted their eyes. So, they did see me, and from their expressions, it appeared they recognized me as well.
I walked toward them, and the pair immediately rose to their feet, bowing their heads as I approached. “Your Highness,” one said as I paused in front of them. “What can we do for you this Elysium?”
Elysium. The annual gathering of the courts to discuss politics and new treaties between them. So, that at least explained why my presence wasn’t causing a panic. All the rulers of Faery, and their kin, were expected to be present for Elysium. Prince Ash of the Winter Court had been to many, many Elysiums, and nowadays, Meghan and I attended Elysium as a ruling couple every year. And because fey from all three courts were present at the same time, and still did not trust each other at all, things were always fairly tense. Had this been a real Elysium, it would have been the most peaceful one I had ever attended. If this was Puck’s nightmare, the utter lack of chaos just didn’t seem right for him.
Unless, utter peace and normalcy was his greatest fear. Somehow that wouldn’t surprise me.
The dryads, I realized, were still waiting for my answer as I was pondering the Great Prankster and past Elysiums. “I’m looking for Puck,” I told them. “Have you seen him lately?”
The first dryad furrowed her brow. “Puck?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, wondering if Puck had already caused some sort of mischief and was hiding from Oberon’s wrath as we spoke. “Robin Goodfellow. Where is he?”
The dryads exchanged a glance. “I am sorry, Your Highness,” the first one said. “But I do not know anyone with that name. But, my sister and I are fairly new to the Summer Court. This is only our second Elysium, so we are still learning who all the important fey are.”
That didn’t make any sense. Everyone in Faery knew who Puck was. Even if they’d never met him, Puck was one of those fey that the entire Nevernever recognized. I was starting to understand what kind of nightmare this was. “You know who I am, correct?” I asked, and their eyes widened.
“Of course, Your Highness!” the other dryad said quickly. “Please forgive us, we meant no offense to you or your family.”
“You are Prince Ash,” added the first, “son of her highness Queen Mab, the ruler of the Winter Court. Prince Sage and Prince Rowan were your brothers, and—”
“All right, enough.” I raised a hand, and they immediately stopped. I didn’t need my entire family line repeated back to me. “I’m just looking for a friend,” I went on. “If you see a red-haired faery of the Summer Court, let him know that Prince Ash is—”
A frog suddenly fell from the sky, landing in the lap of one of the dryads with a wet plop. A small, bright green amphibian with huge orange eyes, it gave a chirp and hopped to her shoulder, clinging there like a huge insect. The dryad continued to gaze at me, wide-eyed and attentive, not having any reaction to the unexpected visitor from above. She didn’t even appear to have seen it.
A second frog dropped out of nowhere, landing on her head, and she didn’t flinch. I muffled a sigh as the rain began, hundreds of frogs and toads falling from the sky and plopping to the ground. Not one faery appeared to notice them. They hopped over the grass and crawled along the ground, between the legs of the crowds of fey, sometimes even getting stepped on, and no one saw them at all.