SHADES: One of the lowest castes of Unseelie. Sentient but barely. They hunger—they feed. They cannot bear direct light and hunt only at night. They steal life in the same manner the Gray Man steals beauty, draining their victims with vampiric swiftness, leaving behind a pile of clothing and a husk of dehydrated human matter. Threat assessment: kills. Addendum to original entry: I think they‘re changing, evolving, learning. Addendum: I know it is! I swear it‘s stalking me!
Addendum: They‘ve learned to work together and shape themselves into barriers. Addendum: They‘re all over the world now!
SHAMROCK: This slightly misshapen three-leaf clover is the ancient symbol of the sidhe-seers, who are charged with the mission to See, Serve, and Protect mankind from the Fae.
SIDHE-SEER (SHE-seer): A person Fae magic doesn‘t work on, capable of seeing past the illusions or ―glamour‖ cast by the Fae to the true nature that lies beneath. Some can also see Tabh’rs, hidden portals between realms. Others can sense Seelie and Unseelie Objects of Power. Each sidhe-seer is different, with varying degrees of resistance to the Fae. Some are limited; some are advanced, with multiple ―special powers.‖
Addendum to original entry: Some, like Dani, are superfast. There‘s a place inside my head that isn‘t … like the rest of me. Do we all have it? What is it? How did we get this way? Where do the bits of inexplicable knowledge that feel like memories come from? Is there such a thing as a genetic collective unconsciousness?
Addendum: In that sidhe-seer place in my head is a dark, glassy lake. It scares me. SIFTING: Fae method of locomotion, occurs at speed of thought. (Seen this!) Addendum to original entry: Somehow, V‘lane sifted me without my awareness that he was even there. I don‘t know if he was able to approach me ―cloaked‖ somehow, then touched me at the last minute and I just didn‘t realize it because it happened so fast, or if perhaps instead of moving me, he moved the realms around me. Can he do that? How powerful is V‘lane? Could another Fae sift me without me having any advance warning? Unacceptably dangerous! Require more information.
*SIFTING SILVERS, OR SILVERS, THE: Unseelie or Dark Hallow; an elaborate maze of mirrors created by the Unseelie King, once used as the primary method of Fae travel between realms, until Cruce cast the forbidden curse into the silvered corridors. Now no Fae dares enter the Silvers.
Addendum to original entry: The Lord Master had many of these in his house in the Dark Zone and was using them to move in and out of Faery. If you destroy a Silver, does it destroy what was in it? Does it leave an open entry/exit into a Fae realm, like a wound in the fabric of our world? What exactly was the curse and who was Cruce?
Addendum to original entry: Barrons has one and walks around in it!
Addendum: Cross-reference Hall of All Days. The way it worked before the curse was this: The Hall of All Days was the central airport where you could choose from millions of mirrors that connected to a second mirror on another world, dimension, or time, and travel there. The mirrors were two-way portals at that time, and to return, you just stepped back through them into the Hall. I think they concealed the mirrors on the other worlds in inanimate objects, so only a Fae could find them. The queen sensed the power of the Silvers, which the king had created for his concubine. To allay her suspicions that he was still keeping the mortal the queen despised, he had to give her the main part, including the Hall, but he kept a portion separate, where he built the White Mansion on a hill for his concubine.
The way it works now, since Cruce cursed it: Everything is screwed up. The mirrors in the Hall multiplied exponentially and now number in the billions. They are no longer two-way, the places they show as destinations aren‘t necessarily where they deposit you, and the worlds connected by the Silvers have all been badly splintered with IFPs. Cruce messed up billions of worlds, dimensions, and times. However, they are, as Barrons puts it, navigable if one knows what one is doing and has the necessary Druid arts at his disposal. It seems Barrons has been in the Silvers quite a bit. Usually, one mirror connects directly to the next. When you look in that Silver, it shows its destination. But sometimes people (like Barrons and the LM) ―stack‖ Silvers, forming tunnels to create space to force the person (i.e., me!) stepping in to drop their weapons and show the ransom, or, in Barrons‘ case, so he can litter the corridor to his garage with killing demons who won‘t let anyone through. Don‘t strain your brain trying to understand the Silvers. I don‘t think anyone does. Just expect the unexpected.
*S INSAR DUBH, THE (she-suh DOO): Unseelie or Dark Hallow belonging to the Tuatha Dé
Danaan. Written in a language known only to the most ancient of their kind, it is said to hold the deadliest of all magic within its encrypted pages. Brought to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé during the invasions written of in the pseudo-history Leabhar Gabh?la, it was stolen along with the other Dark Hallows and rumored to have found its way into the world of man. Allegedly authored over a million years ago by the Dark King of the Unseelie (A Definitive Guide to Artifacts; Authentic and Legendary).
Addendum to original entry: I‘ve seen it now. Words cannot contain a description of it. It is a book, but it lives. It is aware.
Addendum: The Beast. Enough said.
Addendum: How the feck am I supposed to contain the thing? Is this a joke?
*SPEAR OF LUISNE, THE: Seelie or Light Hallow (a.k.a. Spear of Luin, Spear of Longinus, Spear of Destiny, the Flaming Spear). The spear used to pierce Jesus Christ‘s side at His crucifixion. Not of human origin, it is a Tuatha Dé Danaan Light Hallow and one of few items capable of killing a Fae—regardless of rank or power.
Addendum to original note: It kills anything Fae, and if something is only part Fae, it kills part of it horribly.
*SWORD OF LUGH, THE: Seelie or Light Hallow, also known as the Sword of Light, capable of killing Fae, both Seelie and Unseelie. Currently, Rowena has it and dispatches it to her sidhe seers at PHI as she deems fit. Dani usually gets it. Addendum: Saw it. It‘s beautiful!
Addendum: Stole it from Rowena and gave it to Dani permanently. TABH’RS (TAH-vr): Fae doorways or portals between realms, often hidden in everyday human objects.
Addendum: I think they‘re actually Silvers, like the cactus on the desert world where I found Christian, only apparently I can‘t see them. Sure could use a sidhe-seer who could!
“TAKING BACK THE NIGHT“: Song Dani and I made up, now the sidhe-seer international anthem.
TUATHA Dé DANAAN, OR TUATHA Dé (TUA day dhanna or Tua DAY) (See Fae, above): A highly advanced race that came to earth from another world, comprising the Seelie and Unseelie. UNSEELIE: The dark or ―fouler‖ court of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. According to Tuatha Dé
Danaan legend, the Unseelie have been confined for hundreds of thousands of years in an inescapable prison. Inescapable, my ass.
UNSEELIE PRINCES: Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War. According to the LM, one of them was killed eons ago, and Dani killed another, which means only two remain. Then who was the fourth at the church? The LM claims it wasn‘t him and that there was no fourth. Did I just imagine it? There are memories from those earliest hours, even days that are terribly blurry. V’LANE: According to Rowena‘s books, V‘lane is a Seelie Prince, the light court, member of the queen‘s High Council, and sometimes consort. He is a death-by-sex Fae and has been trying to get me to work for him on behalf of Queen Aoibheal to locate the Sinsar Dubh. Addendum: He gave me Georgia back! When the walls came down, he protected my parents and preserved Ashford. He restored power and order to the entire state for me. Our relationship is changing, now that I am immune to his death-by-sex Fae eroticism. Are we becoming equals?
I‘m worried about him. Why did he disappear from the abbey? Why did he look so pained?
VOICE: A Druid art or skill that compels the person it‘s being used on to precisely obey the letter of whatever command is issued. Both the Lord Master and Barrons have used this on me. It‘s terrifying. It shuts down your will and makes you a slave. You stare helplessly out from your own eyes and watch your body doing things your mind is screaming at you not to do. I‘m trying to learn it. At least to be able to resist it, because otherwise I‘ll never be able to get close enough to the Lord Master to kill him and get vengeance for Alina.
Addendum: I can resist and use it now! Funny the steel you find inside when it‘s either that or die. But Barrons was right: The student and teacher lose the ability to use it on each other. Proficiency cancels it out.
WARD: Just learning about these. They‘re all over outside the Forbidden Libraries. I can pass through most of them for some reason. I don‘t know why. It‘s either one of my sidhe-seer talents or something I acquired through all my struggles. They‘re tricky things. Z-LO: Barrons‘ version of the MacHalo. Black. Lighter, brighter, and more efficient, but I‘m not about to tell him that.
*Denotes a Light or Dark Hallow.