The Way By, A Debut Novel
Fairies are real.
Or they ought to be, at least, according to Madame Bel Carmen’s best hypotheses. Her problem, however, is that after searching the world over for the lore to prove it, she hasn’t uncovered anything that someone didn’t already know. Out of options, she knows her only chance to prove the existence of the Fae is to find someone who’s actually met them, and she’s just heard tell of a reclusive scholar who has reportedly done just that. But this folklorist is more than just withdrawn; she’s nowhere, an academic ghost known only by a few obscure writings. So, with the help of the Hearthcraft Society of Massachusetts – a local pagan association – and its most skeptical member, Ms. Alice Guthrie, Madam Bel Carmen thus sets out and finds Somerset Sayer, the incomparable scholar of fae-kind, and her proof.
But her proof is nothing short of insane. As the folklorist appears, she brings an entire new world to the pagans of Massachusetts. In the span of an afternoon, on a walk that should have taken them first from one room to another, and then down the street, Madam Bel Carmen and Alice Guthrie find that they’ve traversed the entire New England coastline and crossed an ocean to set foot on the grounds of Stonehenge. Along the way, fantastical creatures come and go, impossible images are born and vanish, and the world manifests new possibilities just as easily as the company can think them.
Sayer calls it the Way By – an ethereal place of in-betweenness that is both physical and immaterial, tangible and not, and that she is a Waysmith, one of the last people capable of navigating it without becoming irretrievably lost. Sayer cautions the group’s enduring doubt however, because Madam Bel Carmen is right. The Fae are real, and they are dangerous.
Within days, the Way By proves its truth. Madam Bel Carmen’s niece, Elizabeth Pennybaker, is beset by imps wearing the bodies of dead sparrows and Alice Guthrie’s daughter, Fiona, has dealings with a shady devil who torments her as a recurring nightmare. As the women are then drawn together by their trials, their trouble grows. Elizabeth Pennybaker finds her reality shifting; doorways and logic no longer lead where they’re supposed to. When confronted about it, the folklorist reveals that Elizabeth, too, is a Waysmith, albeit one who does not yet know the Way, and that this was the actual reason she chose to let the women find her when they did. To their horror, Madam Bel Carmen, Alice and Fiona Guthrie, and Elizabeth Pennybaker then learn that Somerset Sayer has not come to them out of charity, but necessity. Something is terribly wrong with the Way By.
A sickness is spreading; a destructive force known as the Stumble eats away at everything it touches, reducing dreams, faith, artistry, and ingenuity to ash, and it must be stopped. So many Other Worlds have already fallen, and now only a few bastions of inspiration remain.
With everything at stake, they descend into the Way By. Somerset Sayer must teach Elizabeth to harness her Waysmith abilities; Alice Guthrie must convince Fiona to confront the trauma sustaining her nightmares; Madam Bel Carmen must find the answers to her questions, or the Stumble will consume them. Their journey takes them all the way to the Kingdom of Lilylit, the home of the Summer King. This last Fae sovereign holds out against the encroaching cataclysm by the power of the Bramble Crown, the life-draining symbol of his rule that taps his skull with its roots and drinks from him as he wields it. But his riddles lead the Waysmiths to suspect that there is more to the conflict between Lilylit and the Stumble than anyone will admit. Though too late, because they are out of time. The Summer King has charged them all with a monumental task, with one last chance to stop the catastrophe. They must form the final Wild Hunt.
At the center of the Stumble, a figure stands – a commander, a master of despair who orchestrates this ruination. It is a shadow, maybe, or it is death, and it drives the Stumble onward as a great wave before a flood.
In the end, the newly named Huntresses of the King must come face to face with a creature whose hatred has annihilated legends and whose wrath now threatens the very foundations of every world that still stands. The five women must work together to defeat the greatest evil any of them could ever imagine – a unicorn.
Or they ought to be, at least, according to Madame Bel Carmen’s best hypotheses. Her problem, however, is that after searching the world over for the lore to prove it, she hasn’t uncovered anything that someone didn’t already know. Out of options, she knows her only chance to prove the existence of the Fae is to find someone who’s actually met them, and she’s just heard tell of a reclusive scholar who has reportedly done just that. But this folklorist is more than just withdrawn; she’s nowhere, an academic ghost known only by a few obscure writings. So, with the help of the Hearthcraft Society of Massachusetts – a local pagan association – and its most skeptical member, Ms. Alice Guthrie, Madam Bel Carmen thus sets out and finds Somerset Sayer, the incomparable scholar of fae-kind, and her proof.
But her proof is nothing short of insane. As the folklorist appears, she brings an entire new world to the pagans of Massachusetts. In the span of an afternoon, on a walk that should have taken them first from one room to another, and then down the street, Madam Bel Carmen and Alice Guthrie find that they’ve traversed the entire New England coastline and crossed an ocean to set foot on the grounds of Stonehenge. Along the way, fantastical creatures come and go, impossible images are born and vanish, and the world manifests new possibilities just as easily as the company can think them.
Sayer calls it the Way By – an ethereal place of in-betweenness that is both physical and immaterial, tangible and not, and that she is a Waysmith, one of the last people capable of navigating it without becoming irretrievably lost. Sayer cautions the group’s enduring doubt however, because Madam Bel Carmen is right. The Fae are real, and they are dangerous.
Within days, the Way By proves its truth. Madam Bel Carmen’s niece, Elizabeth Pennybaker, is beset by imps wearing the bodies of dead sparrows and Alice Guthrie’s daughter, Fiona, has dealings with a shady devil who torments her as a recurring nightmare. As the women are then drawn together by their trials, their trouble grows. Elizabeth Pennybaker finds her reality shifting; doorways and logic no longer lead where they’re supposed to. When confronted about it, the folklorist reveals that Elizabeth, too, is a Waysmith, albeit one who does not yet know the Way, and that this was the actual reason she chose to let the women find her when they did. To their horror, Madam Bel Carmen, Alice and Fiona Guthrie, and Elizabeth Pennybaker then learn that Somerset Sayer has not come to them out of charity, but necessity. Something is terribly wrong with the Way By.
A sickness is spreading; a destructive force known as the Stumble eats away at everything it touches, reducing dreams, faith, artistry, and ingenuity to ash, and it must be stopped. So many Other Worlds have already fallen, and now only a few bastions of inspiration remain.
With everything at stake, they descend into the Way By. Somerset Sayer must teach Elizabeth to harness her Waysmith abilities; Alice Guthrie must convince Fiona to confront the trauma sustaining her nightmares; Madam Bel Carmen must find the answers to her questions, or the Stumble will consume them. Their journey takes them all the way to the Kingdom of Lilylit, the home of the Summer King. This last Fae sovereign holds out against the encroaching cataclysm by the power of the Bramble Crown, the life-draining symbol of his rule that taps his skull with its roots and drinks from him as he wields it. But his riddles lead the Waysmiths to suspect that there is more to the conflict between Lilylit and the Stumble than anyone will admit. Though too late, because they are out of time. The Summer King has charged them all with a monumental task, with one last chance to stop the catastrophe. They must form the final Wild Hunt.
At the center of the Stumble, a figure stands – a commander, a master of despair who orchestrates this ruination. It is a shadow, maybe, or it is death, and it drives the Stumble onward as a great wave before a flood.
In the end, the newly named Huntresses of the King must come face to face with a creature whose hatred has annihilated legends and whose wrath now threatens the very foundations of every world that still stands. The five women must work together to defeat the greatest evil any of them could ever imagine – a unicorn.
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