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But I had to try. They might have seen Balor—they might know what he was doing. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes because, for some reason, that seemed like an appropriate thing to do when summoning something. Then I held out my hands, like I was an old wizard in a kids’ movie.
“Snakes,” I called again, my face hot with embarrassment. “Come to me. Um, seelie snakes, I mean,” I added quickly, suddenly picturing a tidal wave of snakes barrelling down on me from all directions. “Only the seelie ones.”
I peeked one eye open and huffed in irritation. Still nothing.
Planting my feet firmer into the ground, I took a breath and closed my eyes again. Maybe if I visualised the snakes slithering out from between the trees. But when I tried, all I could picture was Gadleg. When you’d seen a snake the size of a building with golden fangs and jewel-green scales, it was kind of hard to picture anything else.
I got rid of that image quickly. I definitely did not want to summon Gadleg by mistake, not that I was under the impression the Higher Spirit would come just because I’d inadvertently called out to her.
Just picture snakes. Just… normal snakes. Small and brown and… the non-talking kind.
Although, maybe they could talk. I hadn’t figured out how I was going to learn what they’d seen yet. I had to tackle actually getting them here first.
I dropped my hands, because I felt kind of stupid keeping them outstretched like that when it clearly wasn’t doing anything. Opening my eyes, I sighed and rested my hands on my hips as I frowned at the forest.
“Look, I know I haven’t called you back yet, and maybe you’re pissed off because you don’t feel valued, but I just don’t know how to do it, okay? It’s not like the Brid taught me. And I… I really appreciate your hard work for the court, and I really want to know what you’ve seen, so… please? Just give me a break. I’m trying here.”
I felt even more stupid when I finally stopped talking, my face flushed. But then I heard the rustling of leaves. Something moved between the trees.
To my utter shock, a metre-long grass snake with brownish-green scales slithered out onto the grass. Then a small adder followed it, tongue flicking, red eyes fixed on me as it made its way closer. A second larger adder appeared behind it, this one with brownish-orange scales and a wider head.
I stared in disbelief. Okay, so… apparently, snakes were capable of holding grudges.
“Hi,” I said nervously, because all three snakes were steadily making their way towards me. “Um… I’m glad you’re here. Can you… talk?”
None of them spoke, which I guessed answered that.
The grass snake stopped by my feet while the two adders came to a halt further back. It gazed up at me with its beady eyes, its expression somehow… expectant. After a pause, I warily crouched down. “Um…”
I jumped violently when the snake’s head stretched up to rest on the back of my flesh-and-bone hand. Then it began to slither up my arm, its pale belly cool and smooth as it coiled around my wrist.
My heart lurched. I held perfectly still. Grass snakes didn’t have fangs or venom, and they rarely bit, but my dad had still taught me to leave them alone if I saw them in the garden. They could bite, and I wasn’t particularly keen to find out how that felt, especially from one this size.
Almost as if it could read my mind, the snake clamped its jaw around my inner forearm.
“Ow!” My arm jerked reflexively, but the snake just tightened around my wrist. I could feel its small teeth sinking into my skin, the sharp sting followed by a dull ache that spread up my arm to my shoulder.
Then I started seeing things. Not in front of my eyes, but… thoughts in my mind that weren’t mine. Memories of things I’d never experienced.
A white-haired fae with hard blue eyes lurking in the trees, watching seelie from afar. Sitting for hours, just staring. Watching. Waiting.
The grass snake gently unclamped its teeth and slithered off my arm. I blinked, then froze up in panic when I saw the larger of the two adders coming closer. Adders had fangs. And venom.
This was going to hurt.
I hissed when its fangs sank into my inner wrist, red eyes still staring up at me. More foreign memories flooded my brain.
Two unseelie princes on opposite sides. Black and white.
“No matter how badly we beat you and tormented you, no matter how often Mother shredded your back into ribbons, you would always drag your broken little body back up to continue on. That kind of tenacity is hard won, Lonan. You should be thanking us for shaping you into the man you are.”
“Thanking you?”
Lonan’s furious voice exploded in my brain, making me jump. The adder sank its fangs in deeper, showing me the forest around the blurry, pale form of Balor, his eyes two bright spots of blue. Through the snake’s eyes, he looked like a ghoul.
It was showing me where it had seen him. From my time living in Nua and Gillie’s sidhe, I knew the forest well. The formation of certain trees, the smell of certain plants, the tiny creeks and streams that meandered through the foliage. I didn’t know if it came from the snake, or my uncanny ability to navigate the woods, but I could work out roughly where it had seen him.
I exhaled in relief when the snake gently extracted its fangs and slithered back. But then the second adder started making its way closer.
