“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” the dryad said, as the rain of frogs continued. One landed on her forehead and slid down her face, and she paid it no attention. “Forgive me, but I didn’t quite hear that last request. Would you like us to go looking for this Robin Goodfellow?”
I shook my head. If they didn’t see the frogs, they wouldn’t see the one who caused them. “No, it’s fine,” I told them, as a fat brown toad peered at me from the top of her head, blinking lazily. “As you were. I’ll find him myself.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
I turned and walked away, being careful not to step on the numerous, small green bodies scattered everywhere through the court. Summer fey bowed their heads to me or averted their eyes as I passed, not wanting a confrontation with an Unseelie prince. Their reactions were expected, their behavior typical, except for the continued ignorance of the hundreds of chirping, croaking, peeping frogs climbing over everything. A scene that, had this been the real Summer Court, would have caused mass chaos and confusion, but everyone would have instantly known who was behind it.
So, this is your nightmare, is it, Puck? I stepped aside as a toad fell from a tree branch, landing in the grass with a thump. A world where no one remembered the Great Prankster, or had ever heard the name Robin Goodfellow. A world where no one reacted to, or even noticed, the chaos he caused. I could understand that fear. For humans, being forgotten and ignored was unsettling, frightening even. But they weren’t in danger of ceasing to exist. For the fey, it was deadly serious.
And for Puck, perhaps the most famous faery in the Nevernever and the human world...well, it was his greatest nightmare.
Where would he be now? I gazed around the Seelie Court again, thinking. The Between had led me here, so Puck had to be around somewhere. The throne room, perhaps? Thinking back to the rain of frogs, I decided against it. Oberon and Titania wouldn’t be there during Elysium, and if there was one faery Puck wanted to see react to his pranks, it would be Titania.
The rulers of Faery, Mab included, would be in the courtyard now, sitting at the long marble table that hosted the kings and queens of the Nevernever. All the Gentry would be there, the important nobles of both the Summer and Winter Court. And, depending on where we were in this timeline—if time and past events even mattered—the queen of the Iron fey would be present as well. I both did and did not want to see Meghan in this world. One, it wasn’t the real her; it would be this world’s version of her. And two, if this was Puck’s nightmare, perhaps he had envisioned a Meghan who had loved him and had died. Or had never existed at all.
I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to find out. But I did have to track down Puck in this nightmare of his own making, and the courtyard was where I would most likely find the Great Prankster, whom no one remembered.
Setting my jaw, I headed into the thick tangle of briars at the edge of the grove. The wall of thorns and twisting branches surrounded the entirety of the Summer Court, a maze that could either hinder or take you anywhere, depending on how well you knew them. I had been to Arcadia so many times, I knew the hidden paths and twisted passages by heart. The brambles peeled back for me, and I started down the tunnel that would take me into the heart of the Summer Court.
I heard the music not long after, haunting harp and string chords drifting through the branches, and stepped out of the tunnels into a courtyard full of fey. Elysium was in full swing, with Summer and Winter Gentry in their finest parading about or mingling among their own.
A long table of white, green, and gold sat at the back of the courtyard. It was covered with all manner of faery food, but only four fey were seated at the table. Oberon, lord of the Summer Court, sat in the very center, his antlered crown casting its pointed shadow over the tablecloth. His wife, Queen Titania, sat beside him, but she seemed wholly uninterested in her husband, sipping from a golden cup and actively ignoring him. Which probably meant they had gotten into another of their numerous arguments. On Oberon’s other side, seated a little farther down, sat the imposing form of Mab, queen of the Winter Court. And judging from the miniature blizzard swirling around her and the frost that had spread over the ground and over the tablecloth, she was not in the best of moods.
Opposite Mab, on Queen Titania’s side, the final ruler of Faery looked up and met my gaze, and my stomach tightened. This world’s Meghan looked just as perfect and flawless as mine had been, down to the earrings I had given her for her birthday. Would she be the same, I wondered, or did Puck have a different vision than what I knew?
I hesitated a moment longer, before curiosity got the better of me. Stepping away from the trees, I headed across the courtyard.
“There you are,” Meghan said, smiling as I walked around the table to stand beside her. “I was wondering where you had vanished to. You missed a riveting conversation between Mab and Titania that nearly led to another war. So that was interesting.” She rolled her eyes and lowered her voice, turning her head slightly so that only I could hear. “I understand now why Oberon always puts himself between them—it’s like trying to separate two siblings who keep playing the ‘I’m not touching you’ game.”
I resisted the temptation to sit, to take my place at her side. This wasn’t real, and I could not let myself get comfortable. A tiny, bright yellow frog hopped onto her forearm and sat there a moment, peeping. Meghan didn’t seem to notice, and I clenched my fist to keep from plucking the amphibian off her and tossing it to the grass. “I’m looking for Puck,” I said, just to confirm what I already knew. “Have you seen him around?”
“Puck?” Meghan furrowed her brow. “I don’t recognize that name. Who is this?”
I smiled sadly. “No one you would know,” I replied. “Just a friend, from a long time ago.”
Meghan blinked and started to respond, but there was a glint of red from the corner of my eye. For just a moment, I saw him in the crowd, green eyes hooded as he watched us. I jerked up, but when I turned around, no one was there. Just the Summer and Winter Gentry sweeping around the courtyard, looking ethereal and otherworldly. The red-haired prankster of the Summer Court had disappeared.
“Ash?” Meghan frowned up at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I assured her, still scanning the crowds of fey. No Puck, but he was out there, I was sure of it. “I’ll be right back.”
I strode away before she could argue or ask questions, heading into the courtyard and the place where I had seen that fleeting glimpse of Robin Goodfellow. The look on his face, brief as it was, worried me. Completely blank and without emotion. As if he was on the verge of some terrible breaking point.
The crowds of fey parted for me as I walked through their midst, bowing their heads or nodding in deference. I ignored them. The magnificent gowns, the stunning outfits, the ethereal beauty that could make a human forget everything else, meant nothing to me. The faery I searched for wore a ratty green hoodie and an irreverent smirk everywhere he went. He should have stood out like a fox among swans.