“That’s a gremlin,” I answered, and she stared at me. “Yeah, it’s exactly what you think it is. You know those sudden, unexplainable glitches when something just breaks, or when your computer decides to crash? Say hello to what causes it.”
“Not all of them,” Keirran said mildly, as the tiny fey scrabbled to his shoulders, buzzing madly. “Give some credit to the bugs and the worms, too.” He held up a hand. “Razor, calm down. Say hi to our new friends.”
The gremlin, now perched on Keirran’s arm, turned to stare at us with blazing green eyes and started crackling like a bad radio station.
“They can’t understand you, Razor,” Keirran said mildly. “English.”
“Oh,” said the gremlin. “Right.” It grinned widely, baring a mouthful of sharp teeth that glowed neon-blue. “Hiiiiiiii.”
“He knows French and Gaelic, too,” Keirran said, as Razor cackled and bounced on his shoulder. “It’s surprisingly simple to teach a gremlin. People just underestimate what they’re capable of.”
Before we could say anything about this bizarre situation, Keirran plucked the gremlin off his shoulder and tossed it on the glider, where it scrambled to the front and peered out eagerly. “Shall we get going?” he asked, and the glider’s wings fluttered in response. “Gliders are easy to control,” he continued with absolute confidence, while I gave him a look that implied the exact opposite. “Steer them by pulling on their front legs and shifting your weight from side to side. They’ll basically do the rest. Just watch me and do what I do.”
He stepped to the edge of the roof and spread his arms. Instantly, the glider picked its way across the roof and crawled up his back, curling its legs around his chest and stomach. He glanced back at us and winked.
“Your turn.”
A cry of alarm echoed from somewhere below, making me jump. I peered down and saw a packrat on the balcony of Kenzie’s room, looking around wildly.
“Uh-oh,” Keirran muttered, sounding remarkably calm. “You’ve been discovered. If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now, before Glitch and the entire air squad is up here looking for us. Hurry!”
Without waiting for an answer, he dove off the building. Kenzie gasped, watching him plunge toward the ground, a streak of silver and gold. Then the glider’s wings caught the breeze, and it swooped into the air again, circling the tower. I heard the gremlin’s howl of glee, and Keirran waved to us as he soared by.
I glanced at Kenzie. “Can you do this? It’s probably just going to get more dangerous from here on out.”
Her eyes flashed, and she shook her head. “I already told you,” she said, her voice firm. “We go home together, or not at all. What, you think I’m scared of a couple giant bugs?”
I shrugged. She did look pale and a bit creeped out, but I wasn’t going to comment on it. Kenzie frowned and stalked forward, her lips pressed into that tight line again. I watched her walk to the edge of the roof, hesitate just a moment, and spread her arms as Keirran had done. She shook a little as the glider crawled up her back, but she didn’t shy away, which was remarkable considering she had a monstrous insect perching on her shoulders. Peering off the roof, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“Just like Splash Mountain at Disneyland,” I heard her whisper. Then she launched herself into empty space. She plummeted rapidly, and a shriek tore free, nearly ripped away by the wind, but then the current caught her glider and she rose into the air after Keirran.
My turn. I stepped forward, toward the last glider, but a shout from below made me pause.
“Prince Ethan!” Glitch’s head appeared as the First Lieutenant hauled himself up the rope and onto the roof. His hair sparked green and purple lightning as he held out his hand. “Your highness, no!” he cried, as I quickly raised my arms. The glider inched over and crawled up my back, achingly slow. “You can’t leave. The queen ordered you to stay. Did Keirran talk you into this? Where is he?”
Glitch knows Keirran, does he? “I’m not staying, Glitch,” I called, backing up as the First Lieutenant eased forward. The glider gave an annoyed buzz, hastily wrapping its legs around my middle as I overbalanced it. “Tell Meghan I’m sorry, but I have to go. I can’t stay here any longer.”
“Ethan!”
I turned and threw myself off the roof, clutching the glider’s legs as it plunged toward the ground. For a second, I thought we would smash headfirst into the garden below, but then the glider swooped upward, climbing in a lazy arc, the wind whipping at my face.
Keirran dropped beside me, wearing his careless grin, as Glitch’s shouts faded away behind us. “Not bad, for your first time,” he said, nodding as Kenzie swooped down to join us. Razor cackled and bounced on his shoulder, huge ears flapping in the wind. “We need to hurry, though,” the faery said, glancing behind us. “Glitch will go straight to the queen, and she is not going to be happy. With either of us. And if Ash decides to pursue…” For the first time, a worried look crossed his face. He shook it off. “The trod isn’t far, but we’ll have to cross into the wyldwood to get to it. Follow me.”
The gliders were surprisingly fast, and from this height, the Iron Realm stretched out before us, beautiful and bizarre. Far below, the railroad cut through the grassy plateau, snaking between huge iron monoliths that speared up toward the sky and around bubbling pools of lava, churning red and gold in the darkness. We passed mountains of junk, metal parts glinting under the stars, and flew over a swamp where strands of lightning flickered and crawled over oily pools of water, mesmerizing and deadly.
Finally, we soared over a familiar canopy, where the trees grew so close together they looked like a lumpy carpet. Keirran’s glider dropped down so that it was nearly brushing the tops of the branches.
“This way,” I heard him call, and he dropped from sight, vanishing into the leaves. Hoping Kenzie and I wouldn’t fly headfirst into the branches, I followed, passing through the canopy into an open clearing. Darkness closed on us instantly as the light of the moon and stars disappeared and the gloom of the wyldwood rose up to replace it.
I could just make out the bright gleam of Keirran’s hair through the shadows, and spiraled down, dodging branches, until my feet lightly touched the forest floor. As soon as I landed, the glider uncurled its legs and pulled itself up to an overhanging limb, clinging there like a huge dragonfly.
“Well,” Keirran said, as Kenzie landed and her glider did the same, hanging next to mine. “Here we are.”
An ancient ruin rose up before us, so covered in vines, moss and fungi it was nearly impossible to see the stones beneath. Huge gnarled trees grew from the walls and collapsed ceiling, thick roots snaking around the stones.
“The trod to the mortal realm is inside,” Keirran explained, as Kenzie pressed close to me, staring at the ruins in amazement. I was tempted to reach down and take her hand, but I was glad I hadn’t when Keirran abruptly drew his sword with a soft rasping sound. I glared at him and drew my weapons as well, putting myself between her and the faery. He glanced over his shoulder with a faintly apologetic look.
“Forgot to tell you,” he said, gesturing to the ruin, “this place is normally unoccupied, but it is right in the middle of goblin territory. So, we might run into a few locals who won’t be happy to see us. Nothing you can’t handle, right?”
“You couldn’t have told us earlier?” I growled as we started toward the ruins. Keirran shrugged, his curved steel blade cutting a bright path through the darkness. Razor chattered on his shoulder, only his eyes and neon grin visible in the gloom.
“It’s just a few goblins. Nothing to—whoops.”
He ducked, and a spear flew overhead, striking a nearby tree. Kenzie yelped, and Razor blipped out of sight like an image on a television screen as a chorus of raucous voices erupted from the ruins ahead. Glowing eyes appeared in the stones and among the roots. Pointed teeth, claws and spear tips flashed in the shadows, as about a dozen short, evil fey poured from the ruins and shook their weapons at us.
“A few goblins, huh?” I glared at Keirran and backed away. He grinned weakly and shrugged.
The goblins started forward, cackling and jabbing the air with their spears. I quickly turned to Kenzie and pressed one of my sticks into her hands.
“Take this,” I told her. “I’ll try to keep them off us, but if any gets too close, smack it as hard as you can. Aim for the eyes, the nose, whatever you can reach. Just don’t let them hurt you, okay?”
She nodded, her face pale but determined. “Tennis lessons, don’t fail me now.” I started to turn, but she caught my wrist, holding it tightly as she gazed up at me. “You be careful, too, Ethan. We’re going home together, okay? Just remember that.”
I squeezed her hand and turned back to the approaching horde. Keirran was waiting for them calmly, sword in hand.
I joined him, and he gave me a curious look from the corner of his eye. “Interesting,” he mused, smiling even as the horde prepared to attack. “I’ve never seen anyone fight goblins with half a broom handle.”
I resisted the impulse to crack him in the head. “Just worry about yourself,” I told him, twirling my weapon in a slow arc. “And I’ll do the same.”
A bigger, uglier goblin suddenly leaped onto a rock and leered at us. “Humans,” he rasped with a flash of yellow teeth. “I thought I smelled something strange. You sure picked the wrong spot to stumble into. Trying to get home, are we?” He snickered, running a tongue along his jagged fangs. “We’ll save you the trouble.”
“We don’t have to do this,” Keirran said mildly, seemingly unconcerned about the approaching horde. “Surely there are other travelers you can accost.”
The goblins edged closer, and I eased into a ready stance, feeling an almost savage glee as they surrounded us. No rules now; no teachers, principals or instructors to stop me. I felt the old anger rise up, the hatred for all of Faery bubbling to the surface, and grinned viciously. There was nothing to hold me back now; I didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone. I could take my anger out on the goblins’ ugly, warty skulls, and there would be no consequences.
“And miss out on three tasty humans, wandering through my territory?” The goblin chief snorted, shaking his head. “I don’t think so. We eat well tonight, boys! Dibs on the liver!”
Cheering, the goblins surged forward.
One charged me with its spear raised, and I swung my rattan, felt my weapon connect beneath the goblin’s jaw. It flew back with a shriek, and I instantly slashed down again, cracking another’s lumpy green skull. A third goblin scuttled in from the other side, stabbing its spear up toward my face. I dodged, snaked my free arm around the spear, and yanked it out of the faery’s grasp. It had a split second to gape in surprise before I bashed the side of its head with its own weapon and hurled it away.