The sight of the cultist using shadow magic haunted me for days afterward. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head— how helpless I’d been as his shadowy figure approached, hunting me in a spectral form I couldn’t defend myself from.
Late the next evening, after everyone else had turned in, I hurried to the palace library to speak with Arthur. I wanted to get some answers on this strange Unseelie magic.
My brother had been given his own private study as the royal scribe. I entered the circular room, which was surrounded by bookshelves on all sides. My untidy brother had scrolls all over his desk and littering the floor, his research notes stacked in messy piles here and there on top of mismatched tomes.
I didn’t know how he kept his facts straight working in this chaos, but I didn’t understand his genius. He looked up from the journal he’d been scribbling in and said, “Something on your mind?”
I gave a huff of breath. “I’d like to learn shadow manipulation.”
“Really?” Arthur adjusted his glasses. “That’s advanced Unseelie magic.”
“We have Unseelie blood.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure we can learn it without Babcia and Bapa,” he said. “They know all about Unseelie magic, especially the fringe stuff. I’m not even sure where to begin.”
I held in a frustrated growl. It’d be alotof help if our grandparents were here to teach us about shadow manipulation, but unfortunately, they were on the other side of Europe, so Arthur and I would have to manage on our own.
Then a light came into Arthur’s eyes. “Wait.” He hurried to a bookshelf and pulled out a thick book bound in black leather. He placed the book on the desk and began turning pages. “There might be something— here. This is it.”
Arthur pointed at a page that had a heading on shadow manipulation. I began reading out loud. “Shadow manipulation is the ability for an Unseelie fae to cast an illusion that turns their form completely to smoke. A rare art, it is only mastered by the most accomplished of Unseelie. Shadow manipulation is achieved when an Unseelie fae is able to submerge themselves in their dark side, and embrace the shadow self.”
I blinked as I stopped reading. I turned the pages of the book, but there was nothing else on the subject. “That’s it?”
“Shadow manipulation is a very rare magic. Most Unseelie abilities, and how to do them, were lost when the Seelie wiped them out,” Arthur explained. “I suppose we’ll just have to guess.”
“But how are we supposed to get in touch with ourdark side? What does that even mean?” I asked.
“Beats me,” Arthur said with a shrug. “It sounds like the spell wants us to do shadow work, like what’s taught at Arcanea University, but I don’t see how that would help us to cast a shadow manipulation spell.”
Ethan had taken a shadow work class. Embracing his past and his poor decisions had been the only way we’d managed to get the demon out of him. But how did that connect with shadow manipulation, and how could I use shadow work to learn how to defeat cultists that used powerful Unseelie magic?
“I can keep an eye out while I do my research,” Arthur said. “It might be possible to slip out a letter to Babcia and Bapa.”
“We’ll give it some time before we reach out,” I said. “We need to be careful. The whole court doesn’t need to learn about us investigating this.”
Arthur nodded. He closed the book and said, “It’s time we met the others. Hopefully we can reach the Willow Maiden without running into any cultists.”
Ethan had shown us a hidden entry in the library that led to the secret passageways. Arthur slipped a hand behind a large painting, and it opened up as a door. We walked through it, then continued through the passageway. When we reached the gardens, we snuck past the guards who were watching the western gate, and into the woods.
My mate was already waiting for us. We hadn’t brought anyone else along this time. Delmare felt ill, and Stefan was tending to her. The rest of our friends were keeping lookout, as they had before.
“No cultists, as far as I can smell or see,” Ethan noted. “I think they moved out of the area, now that we know they’re here.”
“A good thing, then,” Arthur said, but Ethan didn’t take any chances besides. He changed into a wolven, and I climbed on his back. We’d get there faster on his paws.
Arthur followed his lead, and the two wolves wove quickly through the trees. My fingers clenched Ethan’s fur tightly, worried we might not be able to summon Jadwiga from the tree. It was our best lead on the Seelie stone, and we hadn’t made any headway in months.
The forest began to buzz and hum with magic as we drew closer to the ruins of the Castle of Dreams. Ethan maneuvered around the massive chunks of stone that were lying about, and I looked upward at the mass of the great willow towering above us. The Willow Maiden’s fronds lightly swayed in the breeze, and fireflies hovered around its leaves as she caressed the wind.
I slid off Ethan’s back at the base of the Willow Maiden, and the wolvens changed back into men. I laid a hand upon the trunk of the Willow Maiden, which was carved with beautiful scenes of shifters and sorceresses. Her power I could feel, resonating through her form. The Willow Maiden nearly had as much magic as a goddess. I felt if I absorbed even a twinge of her power, I’d grow strong beyond imagining.
“What must we do, to summon Jadwiga?” Ethan asked.
Arthur knelt to the ground. He began taking a few items out of a bag he’d brought with him. “We must make an offering, and appeal to Jadwiga’s soul. If she finds us worthy, she will answer. If not, she will remain silent.”
“Emma should make the offering, then,” Ethan said. “She’s the strongest out of all of us.”
Arthur nodded. He spread a velvet cloth before the base of the Willow Maiden and began handing me items, saying, “From what I found during my research, these are what Jadwiga loved in life. Offer them to her, and send up a prayer.”
