The Twisted Tale of Faerywood Falls Read online

  The Twisted Tale of Faerywood Falls

  Blythe Baker

  Copyright © 2019 by Blythe Baker

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Description

  Newsletter Invitation

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  All of the dangerous secrets and tensions that have been building in Faerywood Falls over the past year finally come to a head when Marianne goes up against the magical creature that has been tormenting the locals for so long. She joins forces with a dangerous monster hunter to try and bring down her enemy once and for all.

  With the end near, how will Marianne resolve her uncertain relationships with the two men who have been dividing her heart since the beginning? And will she find her place at last in the web of powerful magic woven through Faerywood Falls?

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  1

  “Come on…” I whispered around the flashlight clenched between my teeth. “There’s got to be something here…”

  Squinting, I tilted my head sideways in order to read the spines of the ancient tomes on the shelf in front of me a little easier. It didn’t help that some of them were in a language I totally did not recognize.

  None of these had anything in them? Athena asked.

  I glanced at her over my shoulder; it was hard to see in the dark, but I could just make out the silhouette of a fox sitting beside a stack of books that was almost as tall as she was.

  I shook my head, and returned to the long row of bookshelves.

  I ran my fingers down the spine of a book that looked older than the world itself, with a deep blue leather binding and silver filigree.

  The Darkness in the Magic.

  I pulled it free from its counterparts, and began to sputter and cough. It had to have been years since anyone had looked this far back into the archives. Dust hovered in the air as I tried my best to get a hold of my coughing, afraid that it might draw too much attention to me.

  The book itself was heavy, and four or five inches thick.

  Carrying it to the table, I set it down as gently as I could, and flipped open the front page.

  It ended up being a waste of time. The words that were there were hardly legible, having faded away with time.

  I flipped through to the middle of the book, but found the same problem. It seemed that some pages had been ripped out, too.

  I closed the book, a huff escaping me.

  What’s the matter? Athena asked, her eyes glittering in the narrow beam of my flashlight.

  I pulled the tiny red light from my teeth and set it down on the table, scooping a handful of the already explored books into my arms. “I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for,” I said, walking toward a shelf I’d already looked through, a shelf where each of these books belonged.

  I wandered past a window, and spared it only a quick glance as I continued on. It wasn’t a real window, after all. Just an enchantment that allowed the viewer to see outside. Every structure in the Hollow had them.

  From this high up, I’d been able to see the enormous, ancient blue trees of the fabled place of the spell weavers. Even in the dark, it was easy to see the magnificence of these trees, with the pale blue glowing magic that snaked upward along the bark, and the golden leaves high above that glittered in the moonlight.

  These trees were where the spell weavers lived their lives; they held their homes, their guild hall, their classrooms, and most important, the council hall of the council of eleven, the leaders of the spell weavers. The secret magical dimension where they would come to train and learn and grow in their gifts.

  At one time, this was a place where I was welcomed heartily. I was told I had promise, and talent, and would succeed here.

  But that was all before they learned the truth about me…

  The truth that I was a faery.

  I slid the books, one by one, back onto the shelves, trying to make as little noise as possible. I could feel Athena’s unwavering gaze on me as I worked, both of us listening hard for anything out of the ordinary.

  This was the first time I’d been in the spell weaver’s library…but I definitely wasn’t allowed to be here.

  That was why we’d come under the cover of night. The Hollow was much quieter than it was during the day, but that didn’t mean there weren’t still weavers up and about, working late into the night. I wasn’t sure how much more excitement my heart could take, having been almost caught two or three times on our way here.

  Thankfully, though, the library was dark, the workers all gone home for the night.

  It didn’t seem to be monitored, either, by magic or by person, since we’d been here for the last few hours and not run into another soul.

  With how menacing this creature is, you’d think there’d be more information about it somewhere…Athena said as I slipped the last book onto the shelf where it belonged.

  I stepped back, my hands on my hips. “I know,” I said in a low voice. “Lucan said there was some sort of myth about a monster of darkness residing in the forest somewhere.”

  But didn’t he say that it only appeared every few thousand years? Athena asked.

  “Yeah…” I said heavily. “I think that’s why we can’t find anything out about it.”

  It was the same problem I was running into when I was looking for information about being a faery. There was hardly any information around at all. Either faeries did a really good job at keeping to themselves, or there had been so few to study that there wasn’t any research done in the first place. Either way, it really annoyed me.

  “I also know I’m not going to find all the answers I’ve been looking for inside of a few hours,” I mumbled. “This number of books would take me weeks to get through. I just wish that I could’ve found more…”

  And finding more than nothing was about a one hundred percent increase in success.

  I stared around at all the shelves surrounding me, each packed to the brim with books. The library itself was massive, floor after floor of books in every category I could ever think of.

  “The worst part is that I keep finding books in good condition that are of no use to me. And the ones I’ve found that might have actually been useful are so faded I can’t read them, or written in a language completely unfamiliar to me.”

  It was enough to make me want to pull my own hair out.

  What about the book you left out here? Athena asked. Didn’t this have something in it?

  I sighed, returning to the small, worn out book on the table.

  It didn’t look like anything special, which was why I almost passed over it in the first place. Simple beige linen cover, stitched with black. Titled: The Secrets of the Forest.

  I opened the front cover and was met with a mostly faded page. The image on it was of what appeared to be a small girl with wings, kneeling down beside a patch of wildflowers.

  In my mind, this was what a faery would actually look l
ike. Except I didn’t have wings like she did.

  I peeled apart the pages, finding more faded pictures and some notes that looked as if they’d been scrawled in the margins with a pen or a quill and ink.

  “It makes me wonder how old some of these books are…” I said.

  I flipped to the part of the book that I’d found somewhat relevant. It was hard to read in some places, but I’d been able to discern most of it.

  …and in all things, they appear to act as a sort of “counter-balance” to the darkness that resides in all magic. With their gifts, they seem to be…only race of Gifted that are able to combat it, and bring it into submission. As such, they are often seen…the guardians or protectors of the forests, seas, and mountains, where the sources of magic are often found…

  I licked my lips. These notes were handwritten along a page describing faeries and their ability to steal gifts from others.

  “The darkness that resides in all magic…” I said. “Lucan said something about the darkness taking on a physical form. Do you think this is what he was talking about?”

  It’s the closest thing we’ve found to anything relating to the monster, Athena said. That, and it’s actually something useful about faeries, too.

  I looked back down at the page, holding the narrow beam of light above it.

  Flipping further back in the book, I stumbled upon a chapter titled; Few In Numbers, Great In Power.

  I scanned a few pages, trying to wrap my head around some of the things written there. Most of it I just couldn’t understand; spells and incantations, specific ways of growing moss, and the right type of leaves to use in certain teas for protection and casting. None of it made any sense, and now more than ever, I wished I had someone I could speak to about all these things.

  Since stepping into this library, I’d found myself longing for my mother, more than I ever had before. I wondered if she could’ve answered my questions about the monster, and if she’d be able to help ease my growing fears about it.

  Something at the top of the next page caught my eye.

  …When a faery is particularly strong – we call those Lights – it is found that the darkness the magic of the forest has will manifest itself in a more physical manner. Often times, it will take the shape of a –

  The sound of a door closing made my gaze snap toward the door at the end of the hall.

  Heart racing, I stared at it, frozen to the spot like a rabbit in a trap.

  The door didn’t open…but someone was definitely nearby.

  What do we do? I asked Athena with my thoughts.

  I have no idea! She said. She leapt lightly down from the table and her whole body went flat, becoming one long, straight line as she stared down the long stretch of room between us and the bookshelves.

  Distant footsteps echoed up through the room…and my blood ran cold.

  Are they invisible? I asked her, ducking behind one of the shelves.

  I don’t know, Athena said, disappearing into a shadow beneath the table.

  My heart slammed against my ribs. I looked around, the footsteps growing louder.

  Were they downstairs? Were they above us?

  It had been so quiet for hours. Why had someone showed up now?

  I checked my watch, but realized that was foolish; time was different in the Hollow than it was back out in the real world.

  All I knew was that it was pitch dark outside, as no light aside from the glowing in the trees was coming in through the windows.

  My eyes darted to the book on the table. I needed it. It might have more information in it, information that might prove invaluable. I hated the idea of stealing, but my hand moved before I’d made up my mind.

  I snatched the book off the table and tucked it inside my jacket before moving back into the shadows.

  We have to get out of here, I said to Athena.

  How do we do that? Athena asked. Whoever that is might be between us and our exit.

  We just have to try it, I said. Come on, follow me.

  I could sense Athena’s growing dread, but she followed me all the same.

  We slipped between another pair of shelves, and I tried my best to keep the sound of my footsteps as silent as I possibly could.

  I kept my eyes on the far wall, where I knew the door was. If we could just make it a little further, we could hurry out into the hall and down the stairs, hopefully before whoever it was that was wandering around ever saw us.

  The floor creaked underneath me, and it made my heart jump into my throat.

  This was going to be the death of me, wasn’t it?

  Swallowing hard, I stepped around another shelf –

  And was greeted with a brilliantly bright white light, hovering above the palm of a woman whose face I recognized immediately.

  It was Lady Yurl…a member of the council of eleven.

  2

  “Good heavens…” Lady Yurl said, clasping a hand to the front of her pale blue robes. The same pearly white crescent moon with the eleven silver stars was fixed there, gleaming in the light from the spell she’d cast. “Marianne Huffler…you were the last person I’d expect to be here.”

  I couldn’t move. All I could do was stand there, staring at her, my chest rising and falling so rapidly that I feared I might have a full-blown panic attack. Everything inside of me wanted to run, wanted to try and get away from her.

  But the damage was done. She’d caught me.

  “As I am sure you already know, you’ve been forbidden from coming to the Hollow in the first place,” Lady Yurl said, her eyes narrowing as she regained her composure. “And here I find you sneaking around in our archives?”

  My mind was blank. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to get caught here. I was supposed to get in and get out, no questions, no problems.

  And here I was, standing in front of one of the top eleven people I didn’t want to find me.

  “Well?” Lady Yurl asked, her eyebrows nearly reaching her scalp.

  “I – ” I said dumbly. “I needed…information.”

  In the end, honesty was always best, right?

  “Information?” Lady Yurl asked.

  “Yes, information,” I said. “…About the monster that’s roaming the forest in Faerywood Falls.”

  Why I went with that instead of the fact that I was looking for information on faeries, I had no idea. But as soon as the words left my mouth, Lady Yurl’s eyes widened.

  “The monster?” she asked. “So you’ve seen it, too?”

  I wasn’t about to tell her that I was starting to have a sneaking suspicion that the monster was because of me.

  “Several times,” I said. “It’s attacked me more than once.”

  “Heavens above…” Lady Yurl said. “Do you have any information about it?”

  I blinked at her. “Well…no, not really. I was kind of hoping you’d be able to clear that up for me.”

  Lady Yurl’s whole visage sagged with disappointment. “Well…no. I’m afraid there is very little that we know. In fact…I might be one of the only weavers who even believes in it in the first place – ”

  “What is going on in here?” An angry voice echoed around the room.

  Another hovering light appeared, this one pale pink, and the face of yet another member of the council appeared around a shelf. She was much taller than Lady Yurl, with dark hair that was so long it was almost as if she was cloaked in shadows.

  “Lady Yurl, what are you – ”

  The woman’s eyes moved past her and fell onto me…and her face flooded scarlet, and she looked as if she might explode.

  “That – that – thing – what is it doing here? Why did you – ”

  “Lady Ferrin,” Lady Yurl said. “I am handling this.”

  “No,” Lady Ferrin said, her dark eyes narrowing to slits like a snake’s. “This is not something for you to handle. This is something that must be brought directly to the council. Or have you forgotten your orders already?”r />
  The scathing tone in her voice did not seem to faze Lady Yurl, whose expression did not change whatsoever.

  “This isn’t something that needs to be addressed by the council,” Lady Yurl said. “I was just escorting her out – ”

  “When she was here without permission, under exile, as well as in the dead of night? She has broken far too many of our laws to even count!” Lady Ferrin said.

  She stepped past Lady Yurl and latched onto the front of my jacket with her fist.

  “You’re coming with me.”

  She proceeded to drag me all the way down the five flights of stairs to the ground floor, Lady Yurl following after us, trying to reason with Lady Ferrin, who would have none of it. She didn’t care for any of Lady Yurl’s attempts at soothing her.

  “I’ll come willingly,” I said as we crossed through the doors leading outside, dislodging her hand from my jacket. “You don’t have to treat me like a child.”

  Lady Ferrin’s eyes, still as narrow as a cat’s, sharply looked me up and down. “How can I trust the words of a faery?”

  I sighed, holding my hands up, palm outward. “Look, I’ll just follow, okay? Both you and Lady Yurl know more about magic than I probably ever will. I won’t run. I promise.”

  Lady Ferrin didn’t seem satisfied. After considering me for a moment, she pulled a long, straight branch from her pocket, which looked more like bone than wood, as pale as it was. She gave it a wave in the air and muttered something I couldn’t hear under her breath.

  Bright red cuffs appeared in the air in front of me.

  “Hold your hands out,” Lady Ferrin said, her fiery gaze locked on mine.

  “Lady Ferrin, this is not necessary – ” Lady Yurl started to say, taking a step forward.