Through Time-Frankie (9 page)

That was all he wanted for the moment. The plan, to shift in and with the Féth Fiada of invisibility, sweep through Dublin and play havoc with large groups of the savages that called themselves humans.

Today’s job was to cause havoc, tie up traffic, use wind, water, and fire and not draw too much attention to themselves. Only the smallest of pranks. One did not wish to have Queen Mab or the Seelie Fae look their way.

Prince Worley smiled to himself. When Pestale was done, the two Queens would be slaughtered. What would Frankie say then? Before she died, he meant to have her in every imaginable way…

They would not hurt the humans, but they could cause quite a distraction, and distraction was the plan of the day.

* * *

Frankie had not slept all night. She had gone with Jazz and Trevor to the Seelie world, the Isle of Tir and it had taken most of the night as theories were exchanged and her visions explored.

The Queen had listened to them with growing concern, turning once to look at her handsome King. When they were finished, she pyramided her fingers in a style peculiar to herself and turned to Frankie and asked, “What do you think your vision means?”

“I think that Pestale has found surrogates to replace his Unseelie Army. He is trapped, but perhaps these surrogates are not
.  I
think he has never stopped planning his revenge or given up on his need to rule the Human Realm. I don’t think he means to accomplish it with brute force, noa. He has something else in mind.” Frankie shook her head, “He doesn’t have the numbers now—at least, I don’t think he does. The Dark Realm is cut off from him. He can’t call on his Unseelie monsters this time, can he?”

Aaibhe and Morgan LeBlanc left them for a time, requesting them to remain in her private chambers while they met with Queen Mab.

When Aaibhe returned her consort, Morgan was not with her and Frankie had imagined he had gone to Dravo.

The next and most immediate steps were quietly discussed and then Queen Aaibhe said softly,   “Queen Mab and I agree that Pestale will try and use black magic to create an army of his own design. We need to prevent that from taking place.”

“How? We have no way to get to him, do we?” Frankie was ever practical.

They waited for the queen’s answer,   “I   cannot immediately fathom what he can possibly accomplish, imprisoned in Conglam. The inhabitants are all peace loving and he doesn’t have adequate resources to call on such an army…you are quite right, Frankie, we do not have an immediate way to get to Conglam as it is warded against our intrusion.”

“If I may, I think before we make a move, we need more information,” Queen Aaibhe’s Milesian mate offered as he shifted back into the chamber and stepped up to take her hand.

Queen Aaibhe turned to Trevor and said slowly, “We must gather information, as Morgan suggests. I need you to find Danté and Radzia and tell them what we know and ask them to do some scouting. I will inform Breslyn and Ete and we will meet later today.”  She turned back to Frankie, “Your father is with Queen Mab now and I believe she has set a mission for him.”

Frankie nodded and then Trevor’s hand on her shoulder made her turn. He first admonished both her and his mate to be careful and asked them to return to the cottage and remain safely there while he went off in search of his brother, Danté.

As they took their leave of the queen, she called Frankie’s name softly and Frankie turned. She whispered, “Queen Mab is concerned about your friendship with the Dark Prince Graely, my dear.”

“She shouldn’t be,” Frankie had tried not to answer rudely but she heard the snap in her voice.

The Queen put up a fine brow and said,
“I,
on the other hand,
trust
your judgment. It would not do, however, to allow him any information regarding our plans, if only to spare accusations being thrown at him, should anything go awry.”

Frankie considered the queen with a slow smile, “Yes, my Queen.” She hesitated and asked, “Does this mean, ye like him?”

“I did not say that. Rather, I will withhold an opinion until I know more,” Aaibhe’s eyes swept warmly over Frankie’s face.

Only an hour later, Frankie paced quietly in her room as all of this played and replayed in her head.

Daylight streamed in reminding her that she had not slept a wink. Fae didn’t need to sleep but most Fae, both Daoine and Seelie, enjoy sleep. It took them away from the infinite, from the forever.  It gave their minds some hours of relaxation.

Frankie did not wish any relaxation. She wanted to be at her best. She wanted to be ready. She needed to think.

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that something dark and horrendously evil was about to happen in the Human World—the world she loved so very much. Her mother, though a Fios and able to see the Fae through the Glamour that cloaked what they were, through their invisibility, had also been human, had wanted a human life, even though Deimne could have given her so much more.

She promised her mother  that she would keep her world safe. It was a sign of affection and respect and it drove her beyond the ordinary. It was a promise she had to keep—no choice but to keep.

Black—all at once everything turned black.

Explosions filled her room.

Rockets flared before her eyes. Buildings were crumbling, people bloody and maimed were screaming!

The Library—the Ancient Library with the priceless books…
was burning!

What was she viewing? She shook herself free, and she was back in her pretty room.

But her mind screamed
Dublin, Dublin, Dublin
!

What was that? Why was someone shouting Dublin in her brain?
No, not someone,
she was shouting it
—she had to go to Dublin and she had to go right away.

She knew whatever had entered the atmosphere meant to do great harm. Her vision during the night had shown her very little but it had shown her that. She had tried to induce another vision, but her gift was a wayward one, apparently with its own mind, and did not offer her up anything more.

She could still feel the portal--open and pulsing, waiting for the Otherworldly beings to return.

Daoine Fae…invisible and turning over cars…pulling people’s clothes, shouting in their faces—causing panic.

What the hell? It hadn’t happened yet. This was only a vision, only a vision. It hadn’t happened and but she knew it was about too…soon.

Then  she felt something else as well, something underlining it all. It came like a flood sweeping all else from her mind and she knew what she had to do.

She would go to the portal and track, and the words escaped her lips, “And then, I’m going to shut the blethering thing down and trap the bloody devils, that’s what!”

She heard some good old advice, Jazz once telling her, not to give in to impulse, but to think things through.

So think, she told herself, as she blinked herself into the shower, dried off a few minutes later and blinked herself into a black tank top, blue jeans and a matching denim jacket. Sandals on, and with a look around her room, Frankie felt a wings flutter at her back. No time to fly, she told herself as she stepped outside.

Even so she felt her wings at her back start to unfurl. All her clothes now had to be designed to allow for her wings. Magic was a handy tool for such things otherwise she’d be spending her time sewing, she thought absurdly.

Brushing her long strands of gold-streaked black hair away from her face, she shifted, tracked the pulse coming from the portal’s yawning mouth and stepped out onto the banks of the Liffey River.

She looked around, but there was nothing there.

Impossible. She could feel the vibrations. The portal should be right in front of her.
Black magic!
She smiled to herself and chanted the spell her da had taught her and made her practice, saying the arcane Danu words, “
Alva Glee, Duine nee a chur
.”

All at once, the air shimmered before her eyes, and there not twenty feet away was a huge dark mouth. It was still spitting fire and she could feel the earth tremble as she got closer.
Right then. Where did ye go from here ye miserable devils?

“Frankie!” a male and somewhat familiar voice called at her back.

She turned and was stunned to find Prince Worley stalking toward her. “What are ye doing here?” she asked.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he answered.

“I tracked the portal’s vibrations to this spot. Now, yer turn.” She eyed him suspiciously.

“I came looking for you,” he answered without hesitation. “We haven’t gotten off on the right footing, you and I,” he arched a look at her. “I was hoping we could repair that, and at least be friends.”

Frankie did not believe him but she couldn’t figure out what his angle was, and she didn’t have the time. “Ye want to be friends? Well, one thing that would help is if ye didn’t stalk me. I don’t appreciate someone following me about.”

He inclined his head, “Fair enough, but…when I arrived in Dublin, I had the oddest sensation that something wasn’t right.  It brought me here
and then
you arrived.”

She absolutely did not believe him. “Is that so?” Frankie eyed him and then mentally dismissed him.

“Come away from here, Frankie,” he said on a protective note.

“Ye want to be on the right footing with me, Prince Worley. The first thing ye must remember is not to be telling me what I must do. I think ye should be going about yer business and allow me the same courtesy.”

“Frankie…” he tried and seemed to forcibly stop himself. “Very well, let’s do this the hard way.” Suddenly he began to chant arcane words—words of black magic.

Frankie felt the earth shift under her feet as the world began to fade before her eyes. “What the bloody hell are ye doing?” she managed to snap off. She had to get away from him. She couldn’t succumb to this.

He completed the dark spell and when he saw that she was struggling to overcome the magic he had called on, he pleaded, “Frankie, it is for your own good.”

“Did m’father send ye?” That didn’t make sense. Her father wouldn’t go to such lengths as to allow anyone to use Dark Magic on her.

He didn’t answer but began chanting once more.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Graely appeared and marched toward Worley, who had quickly drawn his Death Weapon.

“Stop, Worley, ye must see Graely is unarmed,” Frankie shouted.

“He is a Dark Prince and should have been put to death. You called him, so his imminent death is on you.” He shook his head and frowned, “You say his name as though he is someone well known to you?”

Frankie was furious, but she had to get Graely away from Worley. Graely would not take arms against a Seelie Prince. She had to shake off the spell, she had to…

She shifted and grabbed Graely from behind, clutching at him, at his clothes as she spread open her wings!

With a swoosh she was airborne and soaring high. Graely managed to turn slightly and hold her around her waist. A small smile flickered over his sensuous lips, “I came to protect you, and now who is saving who?”

Frankie’s shield was up. The black magic Worley kept chanting could not affect her any longer and she knew it had no affect on Graely.

“Can ye help me track, Graely? Something came through the Portal, and I know ye can see it there—I watched yer eyes.”

“I would not have lied to ye, Frankie child. I saw it, and yes, I can help you track what came out of it. The scent is somehow familiar.” He paused and then his voice was edged with anxiousness. “Frankie, we don’t have time. Shift to Trinity.”

“Ye picked up their scent?”

“No, just…”

“Yer gut, ye are going with yer gut. Right then, Trinity it is,” she said and while still in the air, she shifted them into the Ancient Library.

Her wings were drawn and tucked, but her arms were still around his waist. She eyed him archly as he disengaged himself and sniffed the air to say to her, “Ah Frankie lass. Do try and listen to me now and stay here, stay here, and don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are ye going, Graely?” But he was already gone.

She turned and as she looked around at all the wondrous manuscripts. She felt a jabbing pain shoot through her brain and then punch her in the stomach.

She doubled over. When she opened her eyes, it was as though the library had faded into the background and she, she was somewhere stuck in muck and goo.

She tried to move but it was impossible.

Every single time she tried to detach herself her fingers were yanked back into the muck. She felt her face held by a clamp, keeping her head in place, as she was forced to watch. A terrified voice in her ear, screamed,
noooo!

Whatever her vision was trying to tell her, it was about to take place very soon. But what? What was going to take place?

She shook herself free and ran out of the library and found everything looked normal. Students attending summer classes were walking about, some were lying about on the grass, laughing, talking, enjoying the late morning. A couple of guys were throwing a Frisbee, someone was holding up a lovely little fat puppy. Everything appeared to be just as it should be.