Wondrous Strange

existence of the Faerie. More than believed-they shared their world with them.”

“But not by choice.” Kelley tried, but she couldn’t keep the disdain from her voice.

“No. Since the earliest days, the Faerie had always been there. And they had always taken.”

“Creeping across thresholds to steal children away from their families.”

Sonny looked uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. “Taking them away to live forever, yes!” he said. “In a place of beauty and majesty where time has no meaning and dreams come true…”

“Even the bad ones?” Kelley watched him for a moment. “Yeah. That’s kind of what I thought. Go on.”

Sonny avoided Kelley’s gaze. “By the beginning of the twentieth century, as the Victorian age was coming to a close, the human world began to stop taking an interest in the Faerie world.”

“But not the other way around?”

“No. The Faeries still came. They still…took. And then, one day, a mortal woman took something back.”

“Me.”

“Yes.”

Sonny told her that after she’d been spirited away from the Unseelie Court, her father, Auberon, in grief and fury, had tried to cast an enchantment that would seal the passageways between the worlds. “But Auberon’s enchantment was flawed. And so, for one night every year, the Samhain Gate-for that is what this park is-swings open.”

“When?” Kelley asked.

“From sundown on October thirty-first to sunrise November first.”

“Halloween, huh? Cute.”

“It used to be called Samhain,” Sonny said quietly. “Back in my day.”

Kelley looked at her watch. “Timing’s off. It’s only October twenty-sixth.”

“That’s the thing about magic, Kelley. It’s tricky stuff, even for a Faerie king. Part of the flaw in Auberon’s spell casting means that once every nine years, the Gate stands open for the nine nights leading up to Samhain. We call it the Nine-Night.”

“That’s original. So, nine whole nights, huh? That sounds like it was a pretty big flaw on dear old Dad’s part, wouldn’t you say?” Kelley snapped.

Sonny grimaced but remained silent.

Kelley closed her eyes, shaking off the brief flare of anger. “Okay. Moving along. What’s your part in all of this?”

“I work for your father.”

Stiffening, Kelley pulled away from him.

“I told you the other night that I am a guard, and that was the truth. Auberon decreed that there would always be thirteen changelings-Janus, we are called-whose duty it is to guard the passage and keep the Faerie from crossing through the Gate.”

“How do you do that?”

“By any means necessary.”

“So you’re like, what, enforcers? Auberon’s gang of hired thugs?”

“That is unkind,” Sonny said, looking at her finally. “I didn’t ask for this, Kelley. I don’t belong in this world, your world. Only now, because of what I have become, I am no longer welcome in the place I called home.”

For a brief moment, a naked look of homesickness crossed Sonny’s face. It made Kelley wonder just what the Otherworld was really like. It certainly seemed to hold a powerful attraction for Sonny, even if he couldn’t return there.

“Because I am a Janus, I am hated and feared among the Fair Folk,” he continued. “But I would have thought you’d be a bit more understanding.”

Kelley dropped her gaze, shame burning in her cheeks.

“Especially considering last night’s little adventure.” Sonny stood and looked as though he would leave. “Do you really want that kind of creature roaming free in New York City?”

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” She put a hand on his arm. “I am sorry. This is all just…”

“I know.”

Kelley looked up at him, wishing he would sit back down. “That thing,” she said. “The Black Shuck-did it come through the Gate?”

“It would have had to, yes.” Reluctantly, Sonny sat beside her on the bench.

“And Lucky?” Kelley asked.

“I wouldn’t exactly call a Black Shuck ‘lucky.’…”

“No, no.” She waved a hand in the vague direction of the Upper East Side. “I mean the horse. In my tub.”

“The kelpie? It’s not exactly a horse. Actually…it really is a very dangerous creature-”

“Oh, he is not!” Kelley laughed, amused for the first time.

“Listen to me, Kelley-your new pet may look like just any other pretty little pony, but he’s not. He’s dangerous. He’s dangerous all by himself and he’s even more dangerous because of an enchantment cast upon him. You can be as cavalier about the situation as you want, but by doing so, you put not only yourself but every living soul in this city at terrible risk.”

Kelley fell silent, shocked. “What do you mean?”

Sonny reached into his messenger bag and pulled out three glittering black beads. “You asked me about Herne and the Wild Hunt,” he said. “Let me ask you this: Do you recognize these?”

She leaned over and nodded. “Lucky’s got dozens of them braided all through his mane and tail.”

He returned the onyx charms to his bag, his expression grim. “They are talismans, charms used by one of the queens of Faerie to cast a spell. Once upon a time.”

Kelley watched as Sonny’s gaze drifted over to the carousel. He looked as though he had never noticed it until that moment. It was open for business, although only a lone ticket-taker was to be seen. Most children were still in school. Kelley looked back and forth from the carousel to Sonny’s face.

“‘Once upon a time’?” she asked warily.

Suddenly Sonny stood and, without waiting to see if she would follow, started in the direction of the cheerful calliope music. “Come with me,” he called over his shoulder.

Flustered, Kelley caught up to him as he paid for two tickets. He held out a hand, helping her up onto the wooden platform where the brightly painted steeds awaited. Kelley felt a little foolish, undecided about which of the horses she should choose, although it wasn’t for lack of selection; they were the only two people on the ride. Eventually Sonny just grabbed her around the waist and lifted her effortlessly up onto the back of a prancing pony. Then he leaped up onto the steed beside hers.

The carousel groaned and the platform began to slowly spin. Kelley stared at Sonny, who sat easily on his mount, like a knight in shining armor on the back of his charger.

“Let me show you something, Kelley,” he said, reaching up to touch the iron medallion at his throat. “Let me show you the story of the Wild Hunt.”

“Show me?” Kelley asked, bewildered.

Sonny fixed her with his piercing gaze, the expression in his gray eyes wild and a little frightening. He said, “Don’t be afraid.”

The merry-go-round whirled and spun, and Kelley’s heart galloped in her chest. The music spiraled around her, dizzying; the carousel horse shivered beneath her, rising up in a slow leap.

Sonny’s eyes went from that extraordinary silver-gray to almost black. Kelley felt, for a brief, disorienting moment, as if they rode through a mist-filled tunnel…and then everything cleared. She glanced around.

The carousel was gone. New York was gone.

The horse beneath her, no longer a painted wooden thing, tossed its head, and she could feel its muscles bunch beneath the saddle. Kelley gasped and scrambled to grab on to the horse’s reins as, all around her, visions of a lush green forest rushed past at breakneck speed. The sounds of bird and beast filled her ears. She could smell the freshly rain-washed leaves of the trees as they whipped past and she felt the wind on her cheeks. In the distance the sound of a horn rang through the air like the chiming of church bells. She heard the frantic baying of hunting hounds.

Sonny’s mount thundered along beside hers through the trees and, over the sound of the wind in her ears, she