Feyland: The Dark Realm

Chapter Thirty-Nine

In the grav-car on the way home, Dad talked. Jennet let the words wash over her. He’d explained things to Tam’s mom. Tam’s family would be taken care of, and VirtuMax would pick up the bills.

“Obviously it’s the Full-D hardware.” Dad was thinking aloud. “The wiring, the interface - we have to figure out what’s gone wrong. The company can’t ignore this. We can’t go into production.”

At least the game wasn’t going to be released. But what would happen when the company didn’t find anything wrong with their system? Would Dad believe her then?

Back at their house, they had a quiet dinner. As soon as she had pushed her food around enough to look like she had eaten, Jennet pleaded a headache and retreated to her room. She went straight to her bookshelves and scanned the titles. Where was that old ballad book?

Heart clenching, she pulled books out and piled them in haphazard stacks. There - English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Relief made her fingers tremble as she traced the faded green lettering on the cover. She opened it, wrinkling her nose at the faint musty odor clinging to the pages, and scanned the table of contents.

The ballads were listed by number, not title. She flipped to the section where the songs about the faeries were, and started reading. The Elfin Knight, The Wee Wee Man…

An hour later her head was full of images. Silver bells braided into a horse’s mane, jewel-studded goblets made of red gold, faeries leading humans astray. Humans tricking faeries in return. But nothing, so far, about escaping from the Realm of Faerie.

She turned the page, read the title of the next ballad, and froze. Then reaction set in - a punch to the gut that left her gasping. She blinked, but the words remained, the script indelible on the page.

Tam Lin

Heart thudding, Jennet read the song.

A mortal girl named Janet must rescue her true love from the Faerie Queen. Oh god, how could this ballad be here? How could a song hundreds of years old be about her and Tam? Her hands shook as she turned the page, her mind hazed with disbelief.

The night is Halloween, lady,

The morn is Hallowday,

And for to win me, win me well

Take heed to what I say.

 

Just at the mirk and midnight hour

The faerie folk will ride,

And they that would their true-love win

At Miles Cross must bide.

Jennet swallowed, the flavor of fear sharp in her mouth. Halloween was tomorrow. And even though she had no idea where it was, she had to be someplace called Miles Cross at midnight. There was enough time for her to go in-game and find it. Except that she couldn’t let Dad catch her - and he’d probably told HANA, and… damn. All right, she’d figure that out later.

Taking a deep breath, she bent over the book and read.

When she finished the ballad, a shiver ran through her. Did the Dark Queen really have that kind of power?

“Jennet?” It was Dad, knocking on her door. “Are you feeling any better?”

She shut the book and slipped it under of one of the stacks around her. “Yes. Come in if you want.”

Dad opened the door, but stayed at the threshold. “It’s getting late. I know it has been a… a hard day, but try and get some sleep. It will help.”

Finding the ballad helped more, but she nodded. “All right. You too, Dad - you look tired.”

He did, tired and sad and old. Pushing the books aside, Jennet stood and went to the door to give him a hug. Even at her age, it was comforting. Probably for both of them.

“Ok, honey.” Dad let her go with a weary smile. “Have a good day at school tomorrow. I’ll get off work early, and we can go see how Tam is doing.”

Even though her mind was clamoring for her to turn on the sim and go in-game, to find Miles Cross, to get ready, she knew she couldn’t risk it. If Dad found her playing tonight, there would be no way she could get back into Feyland. No. She’d have to wait until late tomorrow. If she still had a system to play on, that was.

“Um, Dad? Maybe you should wait to pull out the Full-D systems. So that everything is still there, in place. Just in case…”

She wasn’t even sure what she was trying to argue. If Tam didn’t make it, would the police, or anyone, care if they had removed the system?

Dad frowned. “I see your point. We’ll leave the systems intact for now - though it probably won’t be an issue. Tam is getting the best of care.”

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself, too, that everything was going to be all right. Still, her dad was a stickler for the rules. If he said the Full-D was staying, then it would.

One obstacle down. At least she’d have a system to sneak onto. She had the feeling she had to do it exactly as the ballad said - which meant waiting until tomorrow, Halloween, at the ‘mirk and midnight hour.’

All she had to do was make it through the next twenty-four hours. All she had to do was act normally while despair and hope and eerie ballads collided inside her head, so hard that she felt she was about to implode.

“Goodnight, Jennet. I love you.”

“You too, Dad. ’Night.” She shut her door. Sleep felt a thousand miles away.

Somewhere, in the dark, Tam’s body lay quietly, kept alive by the hum of machines. Somewhere, in the dark, the Wild Hunt slipped free, fey hounds baying through the desperate night.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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