The Fallen Stars (A Star Child Novel) Read Free Page A

me. “You speak in riddles sometimes.”
    Choosing not to respond to that comment, I asked, “Why are Gabe and Alistair still here? Can you send them home? That’s what you did for the others, right?”
    “No way, man.” Gabe scowled. “Whatever the heck this is, I’m not going anywhere.” He’d taken off his jacket and had rolled up his sleeves. Like that was going to help him in a Faerie attack.
    “Me either,” Alistair said as he took a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and tried ineffectually to wipe the mud that had splattered on his Savile Row suit.
    “I’m sorry, Kellen,” Calienta said. “You’re right, I did send the others to safety, but it’s too late to get Alistair and Gabriel out. Cana and her clan have set up a barrier. No one can leave until it is broken. Look at the sky,” she said, gesturing with her hand. “See how it looks different? More opaque? They’ve prevented us from leaving.”
    My eyes flashed to the sky, which did indeed have a fuzzy quality to it. It had taken on the appearance of a blurry photo or the air on a muggy day. Great . Unless there was some sort of miracle, we were outnumbered and unable to escape.
    “What about my family?” Gabe’s voice wavered slightly.
    Calienta and I both turned and looked at him. She took Gabe’s hand for a moment. “They’re safe at home, Gabriel. They think they’ve just gotten home from a wedding. They just can’t remember whose. I wanted to keep the lie as realistic as possible.”
    “Thanks, C,” he said, appearing relieved.
    He responded with affection to Calienta, but showed the opposite reaction to me. Gabe glared at me then, his eyes narrowing infinitesimally. “I don’t like lying, though. I’m going to get an explanation out of this, right? ”
    “When we aren’t being attacked, I’ll be happy to tell you all about it,” I said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
    “That’ll be a first,” said Gabe.
    We noticed then that the sounds of fighting had stopped. The four of us slowly raised our heads above the boulders to find Lugh and Brigid trapped, their arms bound with a golden cord that looked to have a life of its own. It squirmed along their bodies like snakes. Their efforts to escape only seemed to increase the tightness with which it bound them.
    I squeezed Calienta’s hand. What did Cana plan to do with Lugh and Brigid? Would they be killed or would this be drawn out, cruelly?
    Cana’s voice rang victorious. “So, dear brother, it seems as though we have won. I will take the St. James boy after all!”
    I didn’t like the stuff about taking the St. James boy. Calienta’s hand clenched inside of mine.
    “Leave the mortals alone,” Lugh repeated his earlier warning.
    Cana’s smile gave me chills, sliding over her face like olive oil on a plate at one of those Italian restaurants back in New York. “You are in no position to threaten, brother. He—”
    “Will not be harmed!” A new force burst into the clearing, one that gave my heart a lift. Calienta’s uncle, Dillion, had arrived. He’d been a member of the C.O.D. but the only one that I knew of that hadn’t turned into an evil, freaky mess. Dillion had been one of the few to help us in Faerie. His arrival now could only be equated to the cavalry rushing in.
    Raising both hands in front of him, Dillion blasted the entire Faerie army off of their feet, barely jostling the red leather beret that sat askew on his snow-white hair. Turning to Lugh and Brigid, he freed them in an instant, his white beard barely quivering with the effort. He froze the group of party crashers with a wave of his hand, just as Lugh had done to the mortals earlier.
    “Kellen, when are you going to tell us what’s going on, dude?” Gabe’s whispered question startled me, as did his use of my full name. He always referred to me as K.
    My entire left arm had lost feeling. I looked down to see Gabe gripping it, something that I hadn’t noticed before.
    “It’s