“I apologize. I don’t mean to be rude. But I’m one of the people who suffered because Neferet was allowed to use an entire race of vampyres to gain power over humans and her own kind. It’s personal for me. So, I’d like to know why you didn’t do anything to stop her.”
Stark stifled a sigh and spoke up, even though he wished Kevin had kept his mouth shut. “Yeah, I don’t want to insult you either. We’re here asking for help, so that would be stupid. Neferet caused so much misery—so much death—I’m not blaming you. Hell, I was there. I was one of her generals and I watched it happen. That’s something I’ll regret for the rest of my life. I should’ve done something, but the truth is I couldn’t have stopped her. I’ll bet you could have, though. Why didn’t you?” Stark held his breath and waited for the queen to let Seoras strike him dead—or maybe she’d just cut off his head herself.
She did neither, but she did speak to Seoras. “They remind me of you—especially the MacUallis boy.”
“I was never that young,” growled Seoras.
“But you were that impertinent,” said the queen.
Seoras snorted. “Were? ”
Sgiach faced Stark and Kevin, looking from one to the other as she spoke. “Do either of you know why I am queen of this island?”
“You control Old Magick,” said Stark.
“No, young MacUallis. No one controls Old Magick. Not even those who wield it—perhaps especially not those who wield it.”
“You guard the island,” said Kevin.
“That is much closer to the truth,” said Sgiach. “My affinity, granted to me centuries ago by Nyx, is to be Guardian and Queen of this isle where Old Magick retreated as humans spread across the world and the old ways were forgotten. If Old Magick was to be left unguarded and loosed on the modern world—a world that is predominately governed by men who believe money is power and view the earth as something to exploit—Old Magick, too, would have been exploited. The truth, Warriors from the Tulsa House of Night, is that I very much wanted to lift my claymore and lead my Warriors against Neferet and her foolish quest for power, but our world no longer respects the old ways, and if I had left my isle nothing would have dammed Old Magick. It would have flowed unchecked from Skye, and I believe the balance of Light and Darkness would have been tipped to the Dark, even though Neferet would have been defeated.”
“So, you stood by and waited,” Stark said.
Sgiach nodded, and the torchlight caught the amber jewel in her coronet so that it blazed with fire. “Yes. I waited. I believed those who still followed our Goddess would prevail, and I did what I could from here to encourage that.”
“It was you! You were the reason the sprites suddenly came back to Oklahoma,” said Kevin.
The queen’s eyes narrowed. “Young Warrior, have you been trafficking with Old Magick?”
“Well, a little. I had to. But not on purpose—at first,” said Kevin.
“Yer gonna need to explain that!” Seoras practically barked the words.
With a trembling hand, Kevin wiped the sweat that beaded his brow. “That’d be a lot easier if I didn’t feel like I was gonna puke or pass out.”
Sgiach raised one hand and spoke several words in Gaelic as she pointed at Kevin. Instantly Stark heard him sigh with relief.
“Wow. Thanks.”
“Explain why you used Old Magick.”
“Well, I had to protect the Resistance against, um, Stark and the rest of Neferet’s soldiers who were going to slaughter a bunch of innocent vamps and humans who’d come to them for help.”
Stark had to force himself not to hang his head in shame or apologize. Again.
“But how did you know to call the sprites?” asked Sgiach.
“Oh, well, because my sister, Zoey Redbird, told me.”
The queen’s brow furrowed. “Is that not the name of one of the first fledglings killed in the human/vampyre war?”
Kevin nodded. “Yeah.”
“Does your affinity for spirit allow you to speak with the dead?”
“No. Well, maybe. Actually, I don’t know. I’ve never tried. But the sister I was talking about isn’t my sister from this world. She’s from another world that’s a lot like this one, only there they’ve defeated Neferet.”
Sgiach’s gaze sharpened on Kevin. “Another world?”
“Yeah. That’s why we’re here.”
Seoras opened his mouth to speak, but his queen shook her head slightly, stilling him.
“The door between worlds has been discovered.” Sgiach’s voice was thick with dread.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you—why we need your help,” Stark said. “This Neferet—our Neferet—found out about that other world and that her mirror image figured out a way to become immortal. We believe she’s going there to help that Neferet escape and then learn from her how to become a goddess.”
Kevin took up the telling of the tale. “When she’s immortal she’ll return here. If that happens, she will be almost unstoppable, and the war she started in Oklahoma will be nothing compared to what she’ll do to our entire world.”
“Not to mention,” Stark added, “that releasing that Neferet, who is already immortal, would be very, very bad for that world. If our Neferet is already over there, they need to be warned. If she’s still here, we need to stop her.”
Sgiach stared from Stark to Kevin for so long that Stark began frantically thinking of something else, anything else, he could say to persuade her. At his side, Kevin cracked his knuckles restlessly.
And finally, he thought he might have it—one single reason he should enter the island. A reason tied to his grandpa—the reason the protective spell cast around the island didn’t affect him. Stark drew a deep breath, dropped to his knees, and took a chance.
“Your Majesty, I am a Warrior who is of MacUallis blood—your blood. Your clan. And I am asking to enter your island so that you may help me, as well as Kevin, find out whether Neferet has already gone to the Other World or not, and if she has we need you—and Old Magick—to help us go there and warn them about our Neferet. To do that I will swear myself into your service.”
“Warriors have stopped coming to me,” Sgiach said in a completely emotionless voice.
“Warriors haven’t stopped coming to you, Queen Sgiach, the Great Taker of Heads. We’re here, Kevin and me.” Beside him, Kevin went to his knees as well.
“I would swear to your service as well, Queen Sgiach,” Kevin said.