The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages #3)(58)

“What happened?” he whispered.

“The gray,” she groaned. “We’re part way between the gray place and reality.”

He cringed at that revelation, but didn’t have time to reply as a cloaked form stepped out of the mist.

“You,” Anna gasped.

Kai peered at the cloaked figure. Its body was clearly feminine, draped in a silky black robe. Other than the determination of gender, he had no idea how Anna knew who it was. The face inside its hood was hidden from view.

“Yes, I,” the woman replied. “Forgive me for not properly introducing myself before. I am Móirne.”

Her voice sounded oddly familiar to Kai, yet he couldn’t quite place it.

“I see you have lost track of my daughter,” the woman continued. “Or perhaps you left her on purpose.”

Daughter? Kai thought. Could it be . . .

Móirne pulled back her hood, revealing a face almost the twin of Finn’s, save a more angular jaw, blue eyes instead of dark hazel, and brown hair instead of dirty blonde.

“Do you know where she is?” Anna bravely demanded.

Kai was glad that she did, as he was still too stunned to speak.

“She is safe,” Móirne replied, “for now. She travels with some of the lesser denizens of our kind. They will aid in her journey for a time.”

“Then why are you here?” Anna asked. “Or are you really here.”

Móirne quirked the corner of her lips in a very un-Finn-like smile. Finn’s smile was always broad and warm. This woman’s was secretive. “I am not truly here, you are correct. I’ve come to ask a favor,” she turned her gaze to Kai, “of you. You may not remember, but you owe me almost as much as you owe my daughter.”

“You helped her save me,” he recalled. “She told me what happened the next morning.”

She nodded. “Yes, and now I need your help. I expect you will not refuse.”

“If it will aid Finn, I will give you whatever you wish,” he replied.

She smiled a little wider. “Perhaps she was right to save you, and it’s actually quite convenient for me. I need you to draw the attention of my people. I’ve done my best to hide Finn from them, but her magic shines brighter every day. It draws our people to her like moths to a flame. Soon I will not be able to protect her, but I can still buy her time to finish what she started.”

Kai’s heart began to race. He’d heard enough of the Cavari to know drawing their attention was unwise. He couldn’t let them find Finn. He might only be human, but if he could help, he would. “Tell me what to do.”

“Kai, you cannot,” Anna argued, placing a gloved hand on his arm.

He shook his head. “Tell me what to do,” he asked again, his gaze remaining on Móirne.

She approached him and stood beside his horse, which remained eerily still, as if asleep. From the folds of her robe she withdrew a shiny gold locket, dangling from a fine gold chain. “This belonged to my daughter,” she explained. “She left it with me before she-” she cut herself off, a sad look in her blue eyes.

Shaking her head, she held the locket up to him. He took it gently in his palm, trailing the chain across his fingers.

“Wear it,” she instructed, “and along with her blood running through your veins, it should draw their attention. Continue on your intended course, but keep to the woods. Once you make it to the next burgh, you should be safe for a short while. They are as of yet ghosts in this land, unable to fully enter the world of man, yet do not mistake me, if they catch you in the wilds, they will kill you. They will pull you into a place like this,” she gestured to the surrounding mist, “and you will not leave alive. It is only the energy of so many humans in one place that disrupts their weakened magic.”

He stared down at the locket thoughtfully, trying to commit every word she spoke to memory. “So make it to Garenoch, and they will not be able to harm us?”

She shrugged. “They may call other Faie to do their bidding, just as they have done in other cities and burghs, but it will take them time to muster such forces. Enough time for Finn to complete her task. After that, they will not be able to control her.”

Kai draped the chain around his neck. “I will do as you say, but how will I find Finn afterward?”

She smiled sadly. “If she so desires, she will find you. Let us hope she will still be the same woman you remember.”

He opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but suddenly she was gone, along with the mist.

Anna eyed him sternly from within the shadows of her hood. “You’re a fool.”

He grinned at her, elated with the small shred of hope Móirne had given him. “I never claimed to be anything else.”



“And they’re not afraid of you?” Corcra asked from her perch on Finn’s shoulder.

The rest of her kin buzzed around them, occasionally alighting on Loinnir’s fuzzy white head for a rest. For once, the sun was shining warmly on her face. Loinnir’s gait was smooth and comfortable beneath her, her wound had been properly stitched with pixie thread, and she’d just eaten another portion of the honey bannocks provided by the Aos Sí.

She began to shrug her shoulders, then halted the gesture, not wanting to topple Corcra. “They’re my friends,” she explained, referring to her missing companions. “Why would they be afraid of me?”