Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Before I could tell Jack no, we were through the door and into the Faerie Realms. The only times I'd ever been there had been with Reth, in rooms of golden rocks, swirling meadows, and way-too-fancy furniture. I never thought I'd want to go back, but I'd take Reth's rooms in a heartbeat over this.

The sky above was crimson red, a vast expanse broken by pinpoints of glimmering black, like the absence of stars. Although I could see clearly, the air was thick and heavy as a summer night, carrying a hint of charred cinnamon. We stood on the pitch-black banks of a massive lake, silver but completely unreflective in defiance of the sky. Hulking rocks broke the monotony of the plain around us, scattered as if by violence, twisted and tortured things. The entire scene was mesmerizing, beautiful but wrong.

"Jack," I whispered, pulling on his hand. "We shouldn't be here."

"You're right," he said, and I let out a relieved breath. "Forgot the supplies." He put his hand out and we slid sideways, the air shifting as the nightmare landscape was replaced by a room. I swayed dizzily.

"Sorry about that." Jack let go of my hand and went to a table in the corner. "Once you're actually in the Realms it's easier to get from place to place. Takes some time to get used to, though. Mind the rug if you're going to vomit."

I clutched the edge of a couch for balance and looked around. This had to be the strangest room I'd ever seen. The walls were pale green rock and lit by an unseen ambient light, the furniture similar to what I'd seen with Reth, scrolling woodwork and rich velvets. However, scattered through all the faerie finery were dirty socks, discarded pants, and dingy sneakers.

Leave it to a boy to make the Faerie Realms look like a dump.

Jack lifted a tattered cardboard box and set it on the oak table, then grabbed a luminous fruit from a bowl. It looked like a peach, if peaches were blue and made from pieces of heaven. He closed his eyes as he bit into it, a rapturous, ravenous expression on his face. I'd never tasted anything as good as that fruit looked. I breathed through my mouth, trying not to smell it. After he finished, he offered me the bowl. "Want one?"

"I'll pass, thanks."

He shrugged. "You have no idea what you're missing. Ah well. I work better on a full stomach. Now that we've got supplies, we can get back to it."

"Whoa, not so fast. What was that place? I don't want to go there again." Jack's room at least was contained, closed off. On the banks of the strange lake we'd been completely exposed. I didn't want to be in Faerie at all, but I really, really didn't want to be there.

"Sorry, no time to lose. We've got a boat to catch." Jack balanced the box against his hip and grabbed my hand before I could yank it away. With another stomach-churning shift, we were back on the shore of the lake.

But this time we weren't alone.

A great ship, gleaming black as obsidian, silently passed us. The silver water was undisturbed in its wake, not even a ripple extending outward. I shrank back, but the boat went on without incident, coming to a stop against the next curve of bank. An arching bridge descended from the side. I was terrified to see who was going to get off.

"Jack?" I whispered urgently.

"Oh, right. We shouldn't be seen. I don't think they'd kill us, but one never knows."

"I'm going to kill you!" I hissed as we ducked behind one of the horrible boulders. Jack peered around the edge. I cowered. I'd spent too long running from faeries to come here on my own, practically offering myself to them. "Let's go!"

"You should see this."

"No! No, I really shouldn't, and you shouldn't, either! Let's get out of here."

"Look." Jack yanked me over until I could see, too. The procession was as silent as it was eerie. Faeries, beautiful and terrible at the same time, descended the bridge, their steps carefully measured. They had every color of hair imaginable-from black to blinding white-but their faces were sharp, cruelty etched into perfection. Their clothing, a singular shade of deep purple, floated around them on an imaginary breeze. Following the last member, the faeries all turned to face the boat. I held my breath in anticipation.

The next figures appeared, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out in horror. People-humans-crawled on all fours, their heads shaved, completely naked save for brilliant silver patterns painted on their bodies. Supported across their back was a finely wrought platform, all scrolling silverwork, and they crawled in perfect uniformity so as not to disturb it. Without any signal they stopped, waiting. I fought back the bile building in my throat. Far worse than their stripped bodies, lean and sinewy, was the look on their faces.

They were happy.

More than happy, they were enthralled, their expressions bordering on ecstasy. "What are they for?" I whispered, but Jack cut me off with a quick glare.

I didn't have long to wait. A woman, taller than the rest of the faeries by at least a head, glided forward. And in that moment I knew beauty and terror were one and the same, inseparable. How could anything less consuming than true terror ever be beautiful? Her hair swirled like black oil, dark rainbows undulating as it cascaded down her back. Her eyes were pure black against the alabaster of her skin, her violet lips full, cruel, flawless. Anything that fell from those lips would be pain and pleasure, inescapable, irresistible.

Here, then, was eternity. I would go to her-I had to go to her. In a world ever shifting, ever dying, she was an absolute, she was gravity, she was everything. I wanted to be lost in her forever.

Jack pinched my arm, twisting the skin between his fingers. Gasping, I turned to glare at him. He rolled his eyes. "Newbie. Try not to throw yourself at the Dark Queen, okay?"

I shook my head, trying to get the remnants of the desire, the need, out of my head. That had been close. Too close.

I hate faeries.

I turned back, determined not to lose myself to her pull again. I focused on anything other than her, watching her slaves instead. In unison the people dropped to their stomachs and she stepped onto the platform. Raised seamlessly into the air on their backs as they resumed crawling, she stared coldly past her entourage.

The faeries formed a line behind her and she was carried forward across the plain. The farther away she got, the easier it was to breathe. I leaned against the rock, exhausted from the effort of resisting the Dark Queen's pull. If she was dark, that made her the queen of the Unseelie Court. The ones who made Vivian. The ones who wanted me dead. Great distraction, Jack. What was not getting into Georgetown compared to facing death and wanting to throw myself at her feet? Come to think of it, Jack had been giving me a lot of potentially fatal experiences lately. We'd have to talk about that.

He leaned over, rummaging through his box.

"Who were those poor people?" I whispered, still sick to my stomach from remembering the looks on their faces.

He shrugged without glancing up. "Not people so much, anymore. Unseelie pets don't last long."

I shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself. "You need to take me home. I think those faeries are looking for me, and I'd really rather not be found. Why are we here, anyway?"

Jack straightened with a wide smile that made me feel even worse than the slaves had. In each hand he held a glass bottle of amber liquid.

"You want us to get drunk?"

"Don't be stupid. Getting drunk doesn't make the Realms any nicer. Hold these." He handed me the bottles, then grabbed two long strips of damp cloth, stuffing them down into the open bottles so that only a few inches were hanging out.

"What-"

"Do you ever shut up?" Finished with the cloth, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a book of matches.

Oh, bleep no. "Jack! What are you-"

He lit both wicks and grabbed one of the bottles. Grinning maniacally at me, he turned and hurled his bottle. It spun lazily, a trail of light until it disappeared behind the deck of the ship. Maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe-

A massive fireball billowed up, scorching the air and flowering along the boat.

"Evie? You might want to throw that thing."

I looked down in horror at my own burning Molotov cocktail, then flung it as far from myself as I could. It smashed against the side of the boat, most of the flames falling down into the silver water.

Which proceeded to catch fire.

"Wow. Didn't expect that!" Jack nodded appreciatively as the flames spread, eating their way outward along the top of the lake. The boat, now engulfed, creaked and groaned its death cries. "Adding a touch of faerie liquor to the petrol gave it the extra kick, I think."

An unearthly shriek ripped through the air, jarring me to the bones. I did not want to meet the owner of that voice.

Jack laughed, taking my trembling hand. "This is the part where we run."