Date: 2012-03-05 04:16:56+00:00
Keywords: Fiction; Fantasy; Urban; Contemporary; Paranormal; Humorous; Action & Adventure
Description: NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR, ELLE CASEY, brings readers Book 2 in the YA Urban Fantasy WAR OF THE FAE Series. Follow Jayne Sparks, the (still) potty-mouthed seventeen-year-old and newly changed elemental fae and her friends - an incubus, a daemon, a green elf, a water sprite and a pixie - as they struggle to find their places in the Light Fae community of the Green Forest and prepare for the upcoming battle against the Dark Fae. Content Warning: Mild violence and significant foul language within. Meant for older Young Adult readers (age 15+). WAR OF THE FAE SERIES READING O

War of the Fae

Book Two

Call to Arms

Elle Casey

Copyright 2012 Elle Casey

All rights reserved.

Copyright Notice

© 2012 Elle Casey, all rights reserved, worldwide.  No part of this ebook may be reproduced or copied without author permission.  Please support artistic expression and help promote copyright protections by buying a copy of this ebook at www.Amazon.com.  The author thanks you deeply for your understanding and support.

Acknowledgments

This is my third novel, and it never ceases to amaze me how much work it takes and support a writer needs to get the finished product out.  But before I thank the team that helps make that happen, I’d like to extend special thanks first and foremost to my readers.  Your love for my characters and stories has given me a whole new life – one that I enjoy without measure.  Thank you for your kind words, Amazon.com and book blog reviews, emails, tweets, and loyalty.  I’d also like to recognize and thank my editors and beta readers, especially Beth Godwin, Alexis Arendt, Margaret Rainforth, and my husband.  You guys make my life so much easier and my books ever so much better.  I would like to thank the band Breaking Benjamin for being my inspiration for several of the characters in this series and also the story itself.  Thank you to Evanescence for their great song Immortal, which so perfectly fit into the scene near the end of this book (be sure to listen to it while you read if at all possible!)  Thanks to indie writer Samantha Young for her encouraging words and pioneering spirit.  Big hugs go out to the book bloggers who have given me space on their blogs with book reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways.  You guys rock!  Last, I’d like to thank my family deeply for their support.  Writing takes up a lot of my time now and you have all been very patient and supportive from the beginning.  Super hugs!

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my boy, Jeff.  He’s Chase, Spike, Finn, Tim, Jared, and Tony, all rolled into one kickass, lovable, dude.  I love you!

Chapter 1

My world felt like it was imploding.  Or at least, like the rug had been pulled out from under me and I’d done a cosmically awful face plant.  In the space of an hour, I’d found out that my best friend Tony and I are members of a species of creatures called ‘fae’ and that we each have the opportunity of a lifetime to become someone or something extraordinary.  We can accept the change that will awaken the fae blood that is in our veins – to go from human to fae ... to become changelings.  But Tony is choosing instead to go back home to Florida ... to deny the change and stay fully human.  He’s not going to share in this new adventure with me.  He’s abandoning me when I need him most.  Even worse than that, he’s willing to have his memory erased so that he won’t remember the hell we’ve been through over the last few days – completing the test that proved to the fae that we share their blood.  He won’t even know about the fae anymore.  The one thing that could ultimately become the most important thing about me, the most special thing I could ever claim for myself, Tony will never and can never know about it.  How had this happened?

“What do you mean, you’re not going to do it?” I asked, desperation in my voice.

Our friends – Spike, Chase, Finn, and Becky – were as stunned as I was.

“I know this is a shock.  I know you think I should do it, but I just can’t.  It’s too much.  You saw what happened out there.  You saw what all those fae did.  They killed people – they killed each other.  You know me, Jayne; I’m a nonviolent person.”

“Screw that, Tony!  You pulled a gun on Brad Powers.  You’re a badass!”

Tony and I confronting Brad the bully outside our high school is kind of what started us on this whole thing.  First, we ran away together to Miami where we met Jared and the others.  Jared turned out to be a Light Fae daemon recruiter posing as a teenager, but when we answered an ad offering five hundred bucks in exchange for successfully completing a test, we had no way of knowing who or what he really was – or that he was leading us into anything.  The test, it turned out, was held in some unidentified enchanted forest somewhere, where we were taken after being drugged by Ivar, the Light Fae’s muscle head lackey.  For two days and nights we battled various fae creatures until we came out in the end alive – proof that we likely had fae blood running through our veins.  Our reward was that we could, if we wanted and if their test correctly identified us as having fae blood, become fully fae.  But now Tony was turning them down.

Tony smiled sadly.  “That was a million years ago, before I really knew what using a weapon was all about.  I can’t take that responsibility – possibly having to end someone’s life.”

Becky looked at him.  “But maybe you’ll be a sprite, like me.  We’re a nonviolent race.”

“Yeah, but you heard Niles.  There’s a war coming, and all of you are going to be asked to defend your people – the fae.”  Tony got up from his seat and came over to me, reaching down and pulling me to my feet.  “Jayne, listen.  You know how important you are to me.  You’re my best friend in the whole world.  That’s not going to change.  I don’t want to be a part of this; it’s not for me.  But it is for you.  This is what you were born to do.  You kick butt.  You stand up for what’s right.  You’re not just special ... you’re extra special.  Become a changeling and forget about me for now.  When you’re all done figuring this stuff out, come back to me.”

“But Tony, what if I can’t?  Besides, you’re not going to remember any of this shit!”  I was so stressed out I didn’t know whether to cry or scream, hug him or hit him.

Tony had the uncanny ability to sense my emotions and the direction of my thoughts, even though he was only human.  “Choose love and understanding, Jayne.  And please don’t hit me.”

I grabbed him to me and hugged the crap out of him.  “I don’t think I can do this without you.”

He patted me on the back.  “Yes, you can.  You’ll be fine.  You have Spike and Chase and Finn to look out for you.”

“And me!” said Becky brightly.

Everyone got up from the table and came around to stand with us.  Tears were streaming down my face.  I felt like Tony had already left, even though he was standing right in front of me.

Finn bent down to speak in Becky’s ear.  “Sweetie, I think you should go tell ‘em we’re ready.  No sense draggin’ this thing out any more’n it needs to.”

Becky disappeared to go tell our hosts that we had accepted the offer to become changelings.  And when I say she disappeared, I mean that literally.  Apparently water sprites could teleport through the air because there’s so much moisture in it.  This was just one bit of fae trivia we’d learned today.

Moments later Dardennes and Céline – the silver elves who were our hosts – entered the room.

“You have made your decisions,” said Dardennes, making a statement, not asking.

Finn faced him.  “Yes, sir, we have.”

“Who has decided to become a changeling?”

All of us but Tony raised our hands.  I saw him standing there with his hand down and I started to cry again, silently.

“And those who have decided to have their memories erased?”

Tony raised his hand.  I felt like I was going to vomit.  I pleaded with him in my head, but he just shook his head, silently responding ‘no’.  I had to look away or I was going to start sobbing out loud like a baby.

“Young man, we will start with you – please come this way.”

Tony turned to me.  “I guess this is goodbye for now.”

I couldn’t trust myself to talk.  The tears were streaming down my face, dripping off my chin and drenching my shirt.  I didn’t want to make him feel guilty for his choice, because I understood it, so I didn’t beg.  Tony was a lover, not a fighter.  The one moment when he pulled that gun on Brad Powers was an aberration – not who Tony really is.  I couldn’t ask him to go against his nature – that wouldn’t be fair or right.  Sometimes I really hated doing the right thing.

I grabbed him in a tearful bear hug, wishing I could squeeze some sense into him.  But then I let him go.  Chase put his arm around me and I buried my face in his chest while he awkwardly patted by back.  He’s the strong silent type, not all that comfortable with girly emotions.

Tony started to walk out and I pushed away from Chase in a last second effort to prolong the goodbye.  “Can I come with him?”

Céline came over to me.  “No, I’m afraid you cannot.  Only the subject and the eraser will be together.”

I sniffed.  “Okay, but you make sure he doesn’t erase too much.”

She smiled.  “I will.”

“Goodbye, Tones.”

Tony glanced back on his way out.  “Bye, Jayne.  See you soon.”  The door closed behind him and Céline.

I didn’t trust them to do what they said they’d do.  “You can try to erase his memory of me, but I’ll un-erase it!”

Dardennes just looked at me, saying nothing.

“I’ll friggin’ do it,” I mumbled under my breath.

Spike leaned in and whispered in my ear, “And I know you could do it, too.”

I smiled and whispered back, “You bet your ass I could.”

He laughed spontaneously, smiling in his trademark sexy-Spike way, but then immediately put on a straight face for Dardennes and his group.

“The rest of you, please follow me.”

I wiped my eyes and nose as best I could as we followed Dardennes out of the chamber and down the corridor.  Earlier, when I was walking through here after finishing the fae test by making it through the Green Forest and defeating an assortment of really annoying supernatural obstacles, I had thought it was just a long hallway with a room at the end; but apparently I’d missed all the doors on the sides ... not sure how that had happened.  Probably some stupid fae magic.

Dardennes stopped at one of the doors on the right, knocking on it three times.

The door opened and we entered.  Ivar, his right-hand muscle man, was already there standing guard in the doorway.

Inside was a sitting room of sorts.  There were oriental style carpets on the floors, tapestries on the walls, and formal, delicate looking furniture set up in various places to create small conversation areas.  At the far end of the room was a large, ornate writing desk with several old looking books and papers stacked on top.  There was also a scale of justice looking thing, a magnifying glass, and a few other odds and ends I couldn’t identify.  Light for the room was supplied by several lamps and some candles in sconces on the walls.

The walls were covered with bookshelves anywhere there wasn’t a tapestry hanging.  Most of the room was wood – what wasn’t, was stone.  It looked ancient.  There were no windows.  Seemed like the perfect place for secret meetings and changeling metamorphosis.

“Please take a seat.”  Dardennes gestured to a sitting area near the big desk, behind which he was now standing.  He took a large, wooden box from the top of the desk and brought it over to us.  He signaled to Ivar with a look, and Ivar appeared with a small table in his hands, which he positioned in front of Dardennes.

Dardennes carefully placed the box on the table, opening it up so it faced towards him.  The hinged top stood upright, keeping us from seeing what was inside.

“Let us begin with you, Finn.”

Dardennes reached into the box and pulled something out.  He walked over to Finn, stopping in front of him.  “Please stand.”

Finn stood up, wiping his hands off on the front of his jeans.  He was nervous.  I could see the sweat on his forehead and temples.

“As I mentioned before, there is no guarantee that you are truly fae, but if you are, this amulet will connect you to the magic and reveal your race to you.”  The fae species is made up of several races, including elves, sprites, dwarves, daemon, incubi, and lots of others, many of which I didn’t even know yet.

Dardennes took a metal cuff and put it on Finn’s wrist.

“Please sit.”

Dardennes returned to the box.  “Chase.  Please stand.”  He selected something from the box and went over to Chase.  He looped a necklace over Chase’s head, settling it on his chest.  “You may sit.”

Dardennes returned to the box again.  “Spike, please stand.”

He chose something from the box and came back to Spike, placing a ring on his middle finger.  “Please sit.”

He returned to the box one more time.  He looked in it for a long moment.  I wondered what I was going to get.  Necklace?  Bracelet?  Ring?

Dardennes got a weird look on his face.  “Ivar, bring me the other box.”

Ivar looked confused for a second, then a little bit surprised.  “The ... other box?”

“Yes, the other one.  Please.”

Ivar’s eyebrows lifted, but he went to do as he was told.  He dragged a ladder that was hooked to a railing attached to a bookcase, over to another bookcase on the opposite wall.  He climbed up nearly to the top to reach a shelf that was one row down from the ceiling.  He felt along an empty spot on the shelf, far back out of sight.  His hand came out with a small, wooden box in it.  He took a moment to wipe the dust off the top, sneezing as it blew back in his face.  He climbed down, walked across the room and handed it to Dardennes, sneezing once again.

“Thank you, Ivar.  Now, let’s see if this does the trick ... ”  He opened up the box and then looked at me, smiling.  “Ah, yes.  I thought it might.”

“Jayne Sparks, please stand.”

Oh, so we’re on formal terms now.

I stood, waiting in front of my chair for Dardennes.

He reached into the box and pulled something out, but I couldn’t see what it was.  He walked over, stopping directly in front of me.  It was uncomfortable having him so close.  Part of me was in awe, and part of me wanted to punch him in the gut.  I had dreamed of it for days actually, when I was out in the forest being harassed or chased by commando dwarves, werewolves, sirens, and a crazy incubus.  Now probably wasn’t the time to do it though.  Maybe I’d get another chance later.

He reached down and took my hand, slipping a ring onto my middle finger.

He took a step back, staring me in the eye.  “Please sit down, Jayne.”

I sat down, examining the ring as I lowered myself back into the chair.  The ring was heavy and looked really old.  It was made up of a large, clear crystal in the shape of a pyramid, with the point facing up, and light gold, claw-like prongs holding it in the setting on four sides.  The band was tarnished silver.

Dardennes addressed our group.  “Everyone, please repeat after me:

I call to the fae blood that courses through my veins

I ask the fae magic to bring about the change

A fae I am

A changeling I will be

From this moment now

For all eternity.”

We repeated what he said, line by line.  When we finished, I felt a tingling sensation beginning on my finger where the ring was.  I turned my hand and looked down at the ring just as a beam of green light burst up and out of the crystal.  It hit me square in the eyes, momentarily blinding me.

The light didn’t hurt.  It reminded me of The Green – the power of the interconnected network of trees and green things in the forest, the fae and the shadows of the fae that were still there, that I could touch somehow when I was out there in the forest.  I smiled in memory of it all.  As much as the forest scared me with all the dangerous fae running around in it, I wanted to be back there.  I wanted to connect again.  For some reason, when I entered it the first time, I was able to communicate with the green and other living things in it, even though I was not yet a fae.  It was one place where I really felt like I belonged, and that was saying a lot.

The green light faded bit by bit until it was gone.  I sighed with pleasure and a little bit of melancholy.  Back to the real world.

I looked around at the guys, clasping my hands together.  “Well, that was fun.  Now what?”

Everyone was looking at me, saying nothing.

“Guys? ... Helloooo?”

They were all staring at me like I had sprouted horns.  Even Dardennes and his lackey Ivar.

I tried to resist the urge to feel the top of my head, but failed.  I cleared my throat and nervously reached up to touch my hair.  I hadn’t had a shower in several days now and I knew my hair looked like total crap.  Whatever makeup I’d had on when this whole thing started was either totally smudged or long gone.

I couldn’t take the silence anymore and burst out, “What the hell is wrong with you guys?!”

Dardennes was the first to recover.  “A-hem, Ivar?  I think we need to call a meeting.  Please see to it.”  He turned his attention to us, as Ivar left the room.  “So, everyone but Jayne, please give me back your amulets.”

The guys took their amulets off and slowly got up to hand them over, still stealing glances my way.

“I don’t feel anything,” said Spike.  “Did I have a glow like that around me?”

“You won’t, not right away ... and no, you did not have a glow, but that doesn’t mean anything.  The glow is not ... typical,” said Dardennes.  “We will introduce you to your race abilities shortly.  I am pleased to say that each of you has been confirmed as fae by your respective amulets.  I prefer you have the assistance of someone from your race to help you adjust, so I will take you to them momentarily.”

I looked down at my ring.  I’d never seen anything like it.  I wondered why it had glowed like that, since apparently glowing wasn’t a normal part of the program, but I was glad Dardennes didn’t want it back right away.  It was bigger than rings I normally wore, but it was friggin’ awesome.

“Each of you will begin to feel some changes within the hour.  We will now go to a meeting room where we will attempt to identify your races, although I have an idea I might already know – for most of you anyway.”  He glanced at me briefly, uncertainty written all over his face.

I gathered from everyone’s reaction and the ‘special meeting’ that my amulet didn’t quite produce the result they had expected.  I suppose for now I’ll be a big changeling mystery.  I hoped it was a good thing.  Ah, well ... I had no one to blame but myself.  I had wished to be extraordinary.  And my mother always told me to be careful what I wished for ...

Chapter 2

We followed Dardennes out of the sitting room and into the hallway.  He led us farther down the corridor, eventually arriving at another door where he again knocked three times to enter.  The door opened and all of us followed him in.

Inside the room there was a wide, long, wood table, with many people already seated around it.  Several more were standing behind the chairs that surrounded the table.  Some I recognized as fae I’d seen in the forest, others I didn’t know at all.

As soon as everyone saw Dardennes enter, the talking stopped and the fae took their seats.  There were four empty places at the far side of the table, next to Becky.  She was smiling and gesturing for us to join her.

Dardennes began speaking immediately.  “Dear Friends and members of the council, thank you for coming.  First, I want to introduce you to our newest changelings.  I believe we have their races sorted out, for the most part anyway, so I ask those of you with a new changeling here of your race, please see to it that they are taken care of after the meeting.  I expect you will get them settled in and prepared for their training, scheduled to begin tomorrow.  We have no time to waste.”

I noticed some heads nodding in agreement around the table.  Everyone looked very serious.  I looked at Becky to my left and she was all business too.  It was weird seeing her look that way.  I was used to seeing her with that silly smile perpetually plastered on her face.

“First, I’d like to introduce Spike.”  He nodded in our direction.  Spike stood up for a second, waving to the group.

“I believe Spike is a member of the incubus race.  Valentine, I expect you will see to Spike’s needs?”

Man, did I call that one, or did I call that one?  No way Spike was anything but a life-sucking incubus with that set of teeth and sexy smile of his.

The extremely effeminate incubus who had attacked Chase in the forest during our fae test, stood up.  He looked Spike up and down, giving him a big, toothy smile and a flirtatious wink.  “You better believe it, Anton.”

Dardennes rolled his eyes a little and sighed.  “Thank you, Valentine.  I know we can always count on your enthusiastic participation in the training.”

Valentine preened for a couple seconds and then sat, suddenly distracted from the meeting by his manicure.  He held his hands out at arms length across the table, as he examined his cuticles from a distance.

Spike looked a little nervous, and I didn’t blame him one bit.  That Valentine was creepy.  It wasn’t his gayness – it was his teeth and his eyes.  I felt like prey whenever he looked at me, and I don’t like feeling like that.  Although to be Spike’s prey ... now, that might not be such a bad thing ...

“Next, I’d like to introduce you to Chase.”

Chase stood and nodded his head at the group.

“I first thought Chase was going to be a member of the ogres, like Ivar, but now I’m thinking daemon.  You’re a bit on the large side, Chase, but let’s see what they think.”  Dardennes turned his attentions to the fae on his right.  “Jared?  I will leave you to take care of him.  You let me know if I need to transfer him over to Ivar.”

Jared nodded his head once to Dardennes and once to Chase.  Chase nodded back and sat down, saying nothing as usual.

I wondered what a daemon was exactly.  At first I thought Dardennes had said ‘demon’, but it sounded more like ‘daymon’.  Hopefully it was something not like a demon.  Chase didn’t seem like he could be something evil like that, so I decided not to worry ... for now anyway.

“Finn is next.  There is no question; he is a member of the green elves.”

The look on Finn’s face said it all.  He looked at me, mouthing the words, ‘What the hell?’

I got the definite impression he was not happy about being an elf.  I’m sure he was thinking of Keebler cookies and the little elf tree house.  Poor guy.  But lately I’d come to realize that elves were a pretty tough bunch.  They’d saved my ass at least twice so far, and so had Finn actually.  No wonder they were so certain he was an elf.

He stood slowly, a slightly disgruntled look on his face.

If Dardennes noticed any unhappiness there, he ignored it.  “Ash, will you take care of Finn for us?”

A thin man wearing the camouflage clothes of the green elves, the group that had battled the orcs as I stood at the entrance of the fourth waypoint, stood to acknowledge his charge.  He tipped his head to Finn and sat down.  Finn nodded one time back and sat down too, looking less than thrilled.

“Last, but not least, we have Jayne.”  He paused, waiting for me to stand.

I stood up in front of my chair and looked around the table at the fae looking back at me.  I couldn’t read any of their faces.  I would not want to play poker with any of these guys, that’s for sure.

“As you may have noticed, Jayne continues to wear her amulet.  This will be the case until further notice.”

The fae around the table stared at my ring and then leaned towards one another whispering, some of them gesturing towards my hand.  The murmuring around the table grew gradually louder.  Dardennes held up his hands to quiet them down.

“Céline and I have discussed Jayne’s abilities and performance during the test, and we believe it is possible that Jayne is ... an elemental.”

The talking and arguing erupted almost immediately.  I looked at their faces as they alternatively gawked at me and then at Dardennes.  Some of them looked really happy, genuinely excited; that made me feel awesome.  Then there were some that looked downright pissed; that didn’t give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling.  The talking and gesturing started again.

“Please, everyone, let’s just relax and not get too excited.  This has not been confirmed.  As you know, we have not had an elemental among us for over three hundred years.  And if she is an elemental, we do not yet know the extent of her connection to the elements – although we are quite certain her strongest link is to Earth.  We have reason to believe she may also be linked to Water, but that has yet to be fully tested.”

All I could think about when he said that thing about the water was the Lady of the Lake, otherwise affectionately known to me as the bitch in the water, the water whore, and the one who must die for killing my friend Becky.  Of course, since Becky had lived, that last nickname probably wasn’t going to stick.

“Jared, we will need to find a daemon for Jayne, as soon as possible.  I expect I can leave that for you to manage?”

“Yes, Anton, I will see to it.”

He didn’t sound all that happy about his new job.  Oh well ... sucks to be Jared.  I still hadn’t forgiven him for his deceit during the test in the forest.  I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to trust him again.  I wondered what Dardennes meant though about finding me a daemon.  I knew Jared was one, and now I guess Chase was probably one.  Now I remembered someone mentioning they were warrior guardians or something.  That made no sense to me.  I wasn’t a warrior – the farthest thing from it, actually.  Sure, I had killed an orc and maimed a couple of others.  And I might have caused a few orcs to turn on each other, indirectly. And, oh yeah, I might have killed a hag.  But still, I was no warrior.  I think it would be more appropriate to call me, based on how those kills actually went down, a ‘lucky klutz’, rather than a warrior.  If Tony were here right now, he’d be laughing about the absurdity of all of this.

Thinking about Tony made me instantly sad.  Man, he wasn’t even gone from this place yet and I was already missing him.  It was going to be a long few weeks.  That’s how long I was giving this thing before I went back home.  I hadn’t told anyone that yet, though.

Dardennes continued.  “As you know, we welcomed Becky into our midst the other day,” he paused to smile at Becky and she returned the recognition with a thousand-watt smile of her own.  It was nearly impossible to get this girl – or fae I guess I should call her now – down.  She said the water sprites are a non-violent race.  That was probably a good thing because if all of ‘em were as tiny as she is, they wouldn’t be able to do much anyway.  Maybe mess up a bad guy’s hair or something, but that’s about it.  I was thinking about her teleporting skills though, and it came to me that they might come in handy for spying on bad guys or for sending and receiving messages if there were no phones or people didn’t want to use them for security reasons.  I guess even the peaceful fae could be part of an army.  That was a depressing thought, actually.  I didn’t like war or the need for armies.  I’m not so naive to think that armies aren’t necessary or anything – I just wished they weren’t.

“Becky has begun her training and we have been informed that she is doing well.  For those of you who have been assisting her in this endeavor, we thank you.”  He nodded his head to a smallish looking guy sitting next to Becky.  He smiled back.  I guess all sprites are smilers.

“Just so all of you know, we had one other potential changeling, Tony, but he chose to be erased.  That operation is currently being conducted.  He should be delivered back home within the next twelve hours.  We are truly sorry that he did not wish to join us.  I believe he could have had extraordinary capabilities as a fae and it is unfortunate that we have lost him.  And as you all know, once a candidate has refused the amulet, he or she is forever barred from the Change.”

I saw a few heads go down in what looked like sadness.  Why are they sad about someone they don’t even know?  If anyone had a reason to be sad it was me.  And I was, but I understood his decision.  It didn’t stop me from wishing things were different though.  I wondered when I would be able to call or email him.  It had better be soon or I was going to be cutting this little visit seriously short.

“Changelings, should you have any questions about your training, I urge you to discuss them with members of your race.  They will be managing not only your training but your integration into your race and the fae as a whole.”

“Now, moving on to other pressing matters ... as you all know, the orcs that were imprisoned in what had become known as the Dark Forest have been released.  The good news is that the Dark Forest is green again.”

Dardennes paused as happy faces exchanged smiles and some cheers rang out.

“Yes this was a very, very good thing.  The bad news, though, is that after their release, we engaged an army of these newly released orcs, numbering around one hundred and fifty or so, and we lost several good fae in the battle.”

All the heads around the table went down.  I looked to my left and right, and my friends were putting their heads down too.  It was only natural to show respect for the dead, but I felt especially bad knowing it was me who had released those bastards who killed the fae.  The guilt was burning in my chest and my ears were hot with shame.

“Our sympathies go out to the mates of the fallen.  But let us not forget the importance and value that having our forest free of these Dark Fae Underworld beasts holds for all of us who are members of the Light Fae.”

The same heads that had been bowed were now nodding in agreement – every single one of them.  Some of the fae had tears in their eyes, but it was clear – the release of the orcs from the trees was considered by all to be a good thing.  I still felt awful about the fae who had paid the ultimate price of their lives though.  I wasn’t sure if I could be that unselfish, to fight for such an intangible cause.  And I’m not sure if I would feel the same as the fae around the table seemed to if I were in their position.  Could I forgive another being who was responsible for the death of someone I loved in exchange for the greening up of some trees?  I don’t think so.  The forest must be pretty important to these fae.  I could appreciate the fact that they weren’t regular trees.  I mean, they practically talked.  But still ...

“Unfortunately, we do not have as many sources of information on the activities of the Dark Fae as we would like; however, we do know that they are recruiting for their races, just as we are for ours.  Their methods, of course, are different.”

At this there was some grumbling.  One of the dwarves started thrusting his hand out as he talked to Valentine, the incubus.  I could tell he was angry.

Dardennes held his hands up for silence.  “I know some of you think that we should consider using some of these same methods, but the council elders do not agree.  Forcing the change by hijacking the candidates is no way to treat humans, and it is no way to inspire loyalty.  We must have our changelings come to us of their own free will and make the decision to accept their fate without any supernatural influence.”

The angry dwarf spoke up.  “We have no reports that any changelings of the Dark Fae have regretted being forced into the Change.”

“That may be true, but that doesn’t mean this regret doesn’t exist.”

I couldn’t help it; I’m never one to keep my opinion to myself.  My father had always said one day it would really get me in trouble.  I raised my hand.

“Jayne, you have something to add?”

“Yes, I do.”  I looked around the table at all the fae watching me intently and I tried not to choke on my nervousness.  “If my friend Tony were here, he’d probably try to stop me, but he’s not, so here are my thoughts: when I was brought here or recruited or whatever, it was kind of under false pretenses.  Once I was in the forest I felt like I’d been tricked.  Drugging me on the airplane definitely felt like a hijacking, as you put it.  But ultimately, the choice was mine, and I made it freely.  I think if you had forced me into it, I’d be sitting here thinking about how I was going to get you back – get my revenge.  And believe me, I can hold a grudge.”

As I began talking, I noticed Dardennes’ normally serene face darkening.  But by the end of my speech he was nodding, no longer angry.  I looked over at the dwarf.  He was also nodding his head, slowly, frowning, looking at the others around him for their reactions.  Nearly everyone at the table was nodding too.  It was like a room full of bobble heads.

The dwarf spoke up.  “The changeling shows reason.  The dwarves support the decision of the council elders.”

Dardennes nodded slightly.  “Thank you.”

I tried not to feel awesome about fully-grown fae thinking I had something of value to say, but it was impossible.  The smile was going to stay on my face all night, I was pretty sure.

“So, the last piece of information we have to share with you is that we have cause to believe the Dark Fae have an elemental among them now as well.”

And then my smile disappeared, just like that.

The room erupted in gasps, loud talking, whispers, and frantic movements.  I took it this news wasn’t the good kind.  He said there was an elemental.  That’s what he said I probably was.  That means there’s another fae like me over on the Dark Fae side.  I wondered what she was like.  Was she put through a test like I was?  Or did they hijack her somehow?  And what exactly is a hijacking, anyway?  There were too many friggin’ questions and not enough answers in this damn place.

The werewolf guy spoke up first.  “This elemental has an affinity for what elements?”

“So far all we’ve been able to determine is that it is likely fire.”

More yelling and agitation arose from the group around the table.  Chase, Finn, Spike, Becky and I looked around at the chaos and then at each other.  I’m sure I had the same expression on my face that the others had on theirs.  What the hell?

The happy little guy who was in charge of Becky’s training said, “I suggest, based on this information, that our first order of business should be to determine if the changeling Jayne does have an affinity to Water.”

“Here, here!” said the angry dwarf.

“Those in favor?” asked Dardennes.

All the non-changeling hands around the table went up, without hesitation.

Dardennes looked at Céline; she shrugged her shoulders slowly, elegantly even.

“It is agreed then.  Tomorrow, the new changeling Jayne shall go with Becky to the sprite training grounds to determine if she has an affinity to Water.  After that, she will go with the silver elves to train.  Céline will be your contact, Jayne.”

Céline smiled and looked at me.  I guess that meant Céline was one of these silver elves, whatever that meant.  It was a good descriptive name for them though.  She and Dardennes both had a lot of gray or silver stuff going on – their eyes, hair, even their clothes.  I knew that a green elf spent a lot of time playing Robin Hood in the Green Forest.  I wondered what the silver elves did.  Hang out in the snow maybe?  They could totally blend.

My thoughts were interrupted by Dardennes adjourning the meeting.  “Thank you friends.  Until we meet again ... ”

Everyone stood, some of them remaining by their chairs to talk, others leaving the room immediately.  I joined my friends in a corner of the room.  I wasn’t sure where we were supposed to go from here.

“So, what did you guys think?” asked Becky.  “I told you they would include you right away.”

“The meeting was cool, I guess.”  Spike snuck a glance over at Valentine who was engaged in a heated discussion with the dwarf.  “Not real sure how crazy I am to be working with the guy who nearly killed Chase.”  He looked up at our big daemon friend.

Chase shrugged his shoulders.  “He didn’t succeed.”  Apparently as far as Chase was concerned, Valentine was forgiven.

Spike gave a wavering grin.  “Do you think all incubus – incubi – are as ... flamboyant as that Valentine guy?”

I laughed.  “Obviously not, since you’re one.”

Becky smiled too.  “Don’t worry.  There are as many personality types in fae as there are in humans.  Valentine is totally over the top, but he’s not bad.  He scares me a little but I think it’s just his natural magnetism.  You have it too, Spike.”

I made a sound that had everyone instantly looking at me.  It was a ‘you got that right’ sound, kind of a giggle crossed with a snort.  I stared at the ceiling, trying to pretend the outburst hadn’t come from me.

What Becky said was definitely true.  Spike had magnetism before, but now it was amped up to level eight ... maybe nine.  Must be that connection to the magic that our amulets had sparked.  I had to stop looking at him.  I was worried that if we made eye contact, I was going to throw myself at him.  I was getting all hot and bothered and this was not the time or the place.  I glanced at Becky, but she seemed to be resistant to it.

“Lucky you,” said Finn, bitterly.

“Are you upset, Finn?” asked Becky, frowning.

“A little.  Wouldn’t you be?”

She shook her head, confused.  “No, I don’t think so.  What are you talking about?”

“Well, I’m a damn elf, for one.”

“You’re upset about that?”

“Hell yeah!  I don’t wanna be no wimpy elf.”

Becky’s eyes got all wide.  “Oh, Finn, you’ve got it all wrong.  The elves are not wimpy at all.  They are like the tough butt warriors of the forest.  They killed all those orcs and only lost one of their group.  The others who died were all dwarves.”  Becky leaned in and whispered, “They tend to go in, axes blazing, if you know what I mean.  They’re also kinda ... short – so they suffer more casualties usually than the other races when there’s a battle.  Dardennes and Niles are working on training that instinct out of them – but it’s very difficult.  The dwarves are very bold and willing to take incredible risks.”  She stood up and talked in her normal voice again.  “Finn, just give them a chance.  I’m sure you’ll see why they are so well-respected around here, especially now that we are so close to having a war with the Dark Fae.”

Finn nodded his head slowly.  “Well, if you say so ... I’ll give it a chance.  But if I ain’t happy soon, I’m puttin’ in for a transfer or whatever.”

Becky laughed.  “You can’t transfer – you are what you are.  Being an elf is in your blood.  Be proud of that.  It’s a noble race; and that fits ‘cause you’re a noble guy.”

Spike punched him in the arm, making Finn smile.  “Yeah, dude, you’re noble.”

I joined in, smiling.  “Yep.  No one nobler than our Finn.  Badass green elf, man.”

Finn couldn’t help but smile.  Even Chase’s lips moved up at the corners.

Before we could launch into another volley of teasing, Céline walked up to us.  “Jayne, are you ready to go?”

“Go?  Go where?”

“To your room.  I’d like to get you settled in and provisioned for your training tomorrow.”

I shrugged my shoulders.  “Yep, I guess.”  I looked at my friends.  Their trainers were coming over too.  “Well, guys, I guess I’ll see you on the flip side.”

Becky gave me a quick hug before moving off to join her little trainer friend.

I turned, following Céline’s receding form from the meeting, wondering when I was going to see my friends again.

Chapter 3

Céline walked down the hallway, heading back towards the first room we’d been to, the one where I’d said goodbye to Tony.  We went in and then crossed through the room to enter a door on the other side.  This was the door I’d seen all the fae coming from and going into when they delivered food to us earlier.  The table in the center was now cleared off and cleaned to a high gloss.  For the first time I noticed the beautiful grain running through the wood – whorls and stripes of different colors.  I remembered sitting at that table with Tony just a couple of hours ago.

“How’s Tony doing?” I asked, as we entered the hallway on the other side of the door.

“He’s fine.  The erasing is complete and he is currently being delivered to the plane that will take him home.  He requested to go to West Palm Beach.”

I nodded.  “That’s where his parents live.  He’s better off there than Miami.”  I tried to tamp down the pain that was radiating out of my chest, threatening to drive the tears to my eyes again.  I wondered if they were going to knock him out with that amber liquid again.  Thinking of him being drugged and put on that plane was killing me.  I had been with Tony practically every day for the past two years, and there was a good reason for that.  I loved him like a brother – more than a regular brother though – like a twin or something.

I had to stop thinking about him like this or I was going to drive myself crazy.  “So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” I asked, trying to distract myself.

“I will come to collect you at the main hall tomorrow for your first day of training.  After that, you will know where to go and I will expect you to meet me there.  Training begins at six in the morning.  We break for lunch ... ”

I didn’t hear anything she said after ‘six in the morning’.  I interrupted her. “Um, excuse me, did you say six in the morning?  As in six a.m.?”

“Yes.  We break for lunch at noon.  Then we train from one o’clock until six at night.  You have a one-hour break before dinner is served in the main hall.  Someone else will come to collect you for dinner, and after today you will be expected to get yourself to the main hall for meals without assistance.”

I was shaking my head slowly.  “You should have mentioned that training schedule before giving me that amulet.”  I felt like I’d gotten suckered again.  Fuckers.

Céline abruptly stopped walking and turned to me, her eyebrow raised.  “You would choose not to become fae because we start training at six in the morning?”

When she put it like that, it did kind of sound stupid.  But what the hell?  Six o’clock in the morning?  Nobody in their right minds got up that early unless they had to.

I self-consciously shrugged my shoulders.  “Maybe.”  I wasn’t ready to admit it was immature.  I’m actually okay with being an immature seventeen year old.  The earliest I ever got up for school was seven.  I had my ultra-low-maintenance hair-in-a-ponytail ‘do that made getting out the door by eight much easier.  I wonder how late I could sleep and still be out the door by six?

Céline continued walking, stopping just a few doors down.  “Here we are.”  She pushed on the door she was standing in front of, revealing a small, windowless room with stone walls and floors, just big enough for a single bed, a side table, a sink, and a chest of drawers with a small silver tray on top and a mirror above.  “The bathrooms are down the hall that way, on the left.”

We were interrupted by sounds coming from the hall behind us where we had just come from.  Jared appeared followed closely by Chase.  “Your room is right here.”

They stopped at the door next to mine.  I got a big grin on my face.  I was so happy that at least one of my friends was going to be close by.  Chase saw me and nodded in recognition.  I sighed.  I guess there probably weren’t going to be any late-night gossip sessions with this neighbor.  I wished Becky were there instead.  It’s not that I didn’t like Chase – it’s just that I didn’t really enjoy chatting with people who I know didn’t like talking back.  Still, he was a good guy to have around.  I wondered if he was being put by me because of what Dardennes said in the meeting – that I needed a daemon.  Hmmm ...

Céline and I stepped into my room to make space for the guys to get by – Jared was showing Chase where the guys’ bathroom was.  I was relieved to find that they did not have unisex bathrooms here.  I may be bold, but I prefer to keep my personal bathroom habits as private as possible, even in a dorm-type situation, which is what this felt like.

“You will find clothing that fits you in the drawers there.  There is a toothbrush and toothpaste, a brush, and other things you might need in the cabinet below the sink.”

I looked around the room.  It was sparse, like a prison cell kinda, but it had what I needed.  I went and sat on the bed.  Firm.

“I suggest you not wander the halls your first night.  It’s easy to get lost here.  You will need all your rest for tomorrow.  Training will be ... difficult.”

“Thanks,” was all I could think to say.  Thanks for tricking me, nearly killing me, turning me into a mystery fae, and giving me a prison cell to sleep in.

“You are welcome.  See you tomorrow.  Someone will be here at five thirty to bring you to breakfast.  Please be ready.”

The door shut behind her.  Five-friggin-thirty.  They had to be smokin’ some serious shit here to voluntarily get up that early.  I’m not sure I was going to be able to hang.  I flopped back on the bed, yawning, wondering how I was going to get up on time.  I looked over at the bedside table and saw an alarm clock.  Perfect.  Now I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep in ‘accidentally’.

I heard a noise out in the hall and then a few seconds later a knock at my door.

“Come in!”

The door opened and Chase stepped in.  He shut the door behind him and stood there.

This was a surprise.  I was almost expecting it to be Becky or Spike, or even Finn, before Chase.

“What’s up?”

He walked over and sat down on the bed near my feet.

He shrugged.  “Nothin’.”

I sat up, putting my back to the wall, pulling my knees to my chest.  “Well, there must be something up.  You’re not exactly the social butterfly type.”

He smiled.  “Just seeing how you’re doing, I guess.  This is kind of a lot to process.”

Phfft.  “That would be the understatement of the year.”

Chase looked down at his hands.  “I know you miss Tony.”

A lump rose in my throat; all I could do was nod.

“I’m no substitute for him, but I wanted you to know I’m here.”  He sat for another couple seconds and then got up and started walking to the door.

I jumped up and went over to him, grabbing him in a hug.  I caught him as he was standing sideways, ready to leave the room, so he hugged me back with one arm, the other hand on the door handle.

“Thanks Chase.  It means a lot.”  I released him, stepping back, brushing my hands nervously on the back of my jeans.  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast?  Five thirty?”

“Yep.”

He opened the door and went out, closing the door softly behind him.

I let out the breath I’d been unconsciously holding.  Wow.  That was weird.  Chase was full of surprises.  Good ones, though.

I suddenly caught a whiff of myself.  Boy, did I ever need a shower.  I walked over and looked through the drawers and found jeans, long shirt-tunic thingies, underwear – not very sexy – thick socks and moccasins for shoes.  One of the shirts was long enough to use as pajamas.  There were towels in the bottom drawer.

I grabbed the towel, change of clothes, and shoes and snuck across the hall to the bathroom where I found the toilets and showers.  There was soap, shampoo, and conditioner in push-button containers attached to the walls inside the showers.  I’d have to search for a razor for my hairy legs some other time.

It took about an hour-long soaking before I felt like I’d finally cut through all the grime ... or most of it, at least.  I looked at my fingernails, but they still had black stuff under them.  I thought of all the times I’d dug my hands into the forest floor over the past couple days, communicating with The Green.  If I were going to be doing more of that, I was never going to have clean nails.  I wondered if they had fingernail polish in this joint.  At least then no one would see the grunginess.

I toweled off and slipped into my temporary pajamas and underwear.  The thick socks were soft and the moccasins fit perfectly.  I stepped soundlessly to the door, getting ready to open it and step out into the hallway, when I suddenly heard voices.  My hand froze in place as I waited for them to pass, but they stopped on the other side of the door.  I was about to announce my presence when I heard my name being spoken.  I immediately clamped my mouth shut and listened as hard as I could.  The door was thick so the sounds were pretty muffled.

“ ... The changeling Jayne may or may not be the one we have been seeking.  Either way, we need to work on eliminating the ones we discussed.  We cannot go into this situation with them in place ... ”  The voices faded out as the speakers started moving down the hall again.

One they’re seeking?  Seeking for what?  I didn’t recognize who the voices belonged to, but I could tell one was female and one was male.  The word ‘eliminating’ sounded threatening.  Did they mean changelings?  Fae?  Am I on their list of ones to eliminate?  My heart was pounding so loud, I was afraid they would hear it.  I prayed they would keep walking and not suddenly decide they had to pee or something.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, I could no longer hear their footsteps.  I opened the bathroom door silently, praying it wouldn’t squeak, peeking around the corner of the door that was now just slightly ajar.  Luckily it swung out without making a sound.  I tiptoed back to my room, going in swiftly and shutting the door as quickly and quietly as I could.  Hopefully whoever was down the hall working on their elimination plans hadn’t heard me.  I waited a few seconds to see if someone came back or if I heard voices, but the hallway remained silent.  My hammering heart slowly reached a normal rhythm again.  I wiped the sweat off my face with my damp towel and walked over to my bed, sitting down.

My hair was soaked, so I spent a few minutes trying to dry it with the towel, worrying the whole time about what I had overheard.  Were they planning to kill someone?  One of my friends, maybe?  Me?  Were they Dark Fae, working here as spies?

I finished toweling off my hair and used the brush to get the tangles out.  I laid the wet towel over the radiator on the wall next to the dresser and put a dry towel down on my pillow, planning to lie there and analyze and over-analyze the hell out of the conversation I had just overheard.

I must have drifted off because the next thing I knew, Chase and Becky were banging on my door, telling me we had to be at the breakfast hall in five minutes.

Chapter 4

I opened the door and pulled Becky in with me.

“Chase, you gotta wait outside.”  I shut the door in his face without waiting for an answer.

“Uh-oh, somebody slept in.”

“Yeah, shush, help me find something to wear.”

I began hurriedly pulling the brush through my hair, wincing as it caught in the hundred or so knots that had appeared overnight.

Becky opened the drawers of my dresser.  “Ooh, cool stuff.  I have to wear the clothes of the sprites.”

For the first time I noticed what she was wearing.  It was a tunic, kind of like mine, but a bluish-greenish color, reminiscent of the water she was attached to as a water sprite.  It seemed to change color from blue to green as she moved around.  She wore tight stretchy pants underneath and moccasins like mine.

“Here, wear this.”  She pulled out one of my white tunics and a pair of jeans.  The tunic looked exactly like the one I already had on, just shorter.  I pulled my pajama top off and threw it on the bed, pulling the one she handed me over my head in three seconds flat.  I kicked off my moccasins and grabbed the jeans, pulling them on as fast as I could.  I was happy to see they fit perfectly.  How did they know what size I am?

I still had my socks on, so the moccasins went back on next.  They slipped comfortably onto my feet and closed with leather laces the same color as the boot part.  I put my hair up into a ponytail, quickly brushed my teeth, splashed a little water on my face for good measure, and I was ready to go.

“Five minutes.  You’re good.”

“No makeup makes it easier.  I wish I had some.  I feel naked without eyeliner and mascara.”

Becky smiled.  “You don’t need it to be pretty.  But I see some fae wearing it, so I’m sure you could get some if you wanted to.  Just ask.”

We went out into the hallway where Chase stood waiting for us.

“Who do I ask?”

“I’m not sure if it’s the same for you, but I have to ask Chip for stuff.  I leave him a note on my dresser.  He’s like the guy who gets everything for us that we need.  He’s a brownie.”

I shook my head, instantly picturing a human-sized piece of chewy chocolate cake walking around on two legs.

“What’s a brownie?  Because I’m pretty sure it’s not what I’m picturing right now, which is actually making me very hungry.”

“A brownie is a fae that does all kinds of stuff but mainly they clean, organize, and find stuff for you.  They can find anything, pretty much.  They’ll clean your room when you’re gone today.  You’re supposed to leave something out for them to take, on that silver tray on your dresser; otherwise, they’ll take something else ... something you don’t want them to take, or they’ll mess with you somehow.  My first day, I didn’t know I should leave them a token of my appreciation, and when I got back at the end of the day, all my right socks were gone.”

“I didn’t leave anything,” I said, feeling a little bad I was going to piss the brownie off on my first day.  I really didn’t want to do that, especially now that I knew he or she was going to clean up my room for me and be my gofer.  Yay!  A maid!  A gofer!  I’m practically a celebrity!

“There will be things at breakfast you can leave.  Just be sure to go back to your room and leave it before your training.  They clean while we’re out.”

Chase listened to our conversation, saying nothing.  The only indication I had that he was actually paying attention was the occasional hint of a smile or frown I’d see on his face.

We arrived at the big room, where we had all gathered after completing the test.  There was a buffet table full of food at the far end of the room and the big, round wood table in the middle had several people sitting and eating at it.  Some fae were eating standing up, chatting with other fae.  Finn and Spike were at the table, halfway through whatever was on their plates.  They waved when they saw us, gesturing to the open seats next to them.

“Let’s get our food first,” said Becky.  “We have to hurry.”

We went up to the buffet, and all I could think when I got there was that this had to be the weirdest buffet ever.

It had some of the normal stuff like sausage, eggs, and fruit; but then there were some mystery meats I was afraid to know too much about – some of which were moving a little.  I also saw some scary vegetable looking things, and then some stuff that was neither meat nor vegetable but was covered in dirt.  Who the hell eats stuff covered in dirt for breakfast?

“Aye changeling, how goes yer first day as a fae?” said Gilly, standing next to me in her kilt.  I hadn’t noticed her come up, probably because she was so short.  She reached up and took a handful of the dirty lumpy things, putting a few on her plate and popping one in her mouth.

Well, that explains a lot of things.

“I’m good.  How about you?  What’s new?  Those, um, dirt balls look ... yummy.”

“Dirt balls?  Ah, ye be talkin’ aboot the truffles.  A rare delicacy these are.  I could eat the whole of ‘em, I could, but it wouldna be polite o’ me to do that ye see.  Nowadays, ye doan see too many people worryin’ themselves about manners, but not me.  Manners are what makes this world a good place ta be; in fact, just the oother day, I was tellin’ Gander ... ”

I tuned Gilly out while I put a few things on my plate.  The rambling gnome didn’t even realize I wasn’t listening.  I didn’t want to be rude or anything, especially when manners were some sort of issue for her, but I wasn’t going to shortchange my brownie and risk not having a maid.  If I had to choose between having a gnome as a friend and a brownie as a servant, the brownie was going to win every time.  I had to finish my breakfast and get back to my room pronto.

“ ... and he says to me, ‘Gilly’, ye gotta stop with the ... ”

I cut her off.  “I’ve got to go eat now, Gilly.  Enjoy your ... truffles.”

I walked away as she ignored my departure and continued talking to whoever walked up to the buffet behind me.

“Who was that?” asked Spike with a big grin on his face as I sat down.

“That is Gilly.  She’s a gnome, and she eats dirty truffles and wears a mini-kilt that is waaaay to short in the back.  I suggest that you never look directly at her ass-end, as she is prone to bowing – and then bad things happen with the kilt I’d rather not talk about right now.”

Everyone around me laughed, including one of the werewolves I remembered seeing last night standing next to hot werewolf guy – the one who had planned to eat Becky, Tony and me in the forest just a couple days before.  I pushed the thoughts of Tony away quickly before they could ruin my morning and thrust me back into the world of never ending sadness again.

I looked over at Chase’s plate.  “Holy shit, Chase, no wonder you’re so huge.”  His plate had enough food for five people on it.  It even had some of the moving meat on it.  “Um, not sure if you realize it or not, but some of your meat is still alive.”

Chase speared the squirming meat with his fork and stuck it in his mouth, watching all of us as he chewed.

We stared at him, both repulsed and curious about what was going to happen.

He swallowed, licked his lips and said, “Salty.”

Finn and Spike started laughing loudly.  Becky smiled.  I just shivered.  I had to stop watching the others and just focus on finishing my sausage and eggs.  I poked my sausage a few times to make sure it was good and dead.

“I see you like the angulas, Chase,” said Jared, sitting down next to him.

Chase shrugged.

“The tiny eel you just ate.  Angula.  They’re good.  A little salty for my taste.”

“Oh, ugh!
Chase, you just ate a live eel,” I said, disgusted all over again.

“No, it wasn’t alive, just moving as if it were,” explained Jared.  His explanation was a typical fae answer – clear as mud.

Whatever.  I didn’t feel like talking to him yet.  I guess I partially blamed him for Tony and me being apart right now.  Maybe if Jared had been honest from the start, Tony wouldn’t have felt so overwhelmed and ... I don’t know ... out of his element or whatever.

“Come on, guys.  We have to go gift our brownies and get to training.”

“Gift our what?” asked Finn.

“You have to give a little token of your appreciation to the fae who will be cleaning your room and clothes and stuff.  There’s a basket of tokens over there on that table.”  Becky gestured to a wicker basket full of wrapped things.  They looked like candies.  “The brownies can’t touch that basket – it’s spelled – but we can.  We’re supposed to take one thing out per day and put it on the silver tray on our dressers.”

“Spelled?  How’s it spelled?  B-A-S-K-E-T, right?” asked Finn, obviously confused.

“No, goof, spelled as in ‘enchanted’ – a witch put a spell on it.”

“Oh, okay.  Gotcha.  Whatever you say, boss,” said Finn, amiably.

We all went over and grabbed a token.  Mine was wrapped in shiny, bright purple foil, about the size of a big gumball you can get from a machine at a pizza place for twenty-five cents.  We made our way down the hall to our rooms.  Chase and mine were first – we left our tokens on the trays.  Becky, Finn, and Spike had rooms that were pretty far from Chase’s and mine.  They left their tokens and we started back towards the dining hall/meeting room.  I got all confused following Becky who was acting as our guide.

“How do you find anything here?  I’m already lost.” I asked, frustrated.  “How am I supposed to sneak into your rooms at night if I can’t find my way?”

“The halls are spelled – this whole place is actually.  It’s done on purpose to keep the Dark Fae from being able to get in and cause trouble.”

That reminded me of those voices I’d heard outside the bathroom, but before I could say anything, Becky continued.

“You’ll learn how to find stuff at your first training.  It’s pretty easy once they show you.  If you don’t know the secret though, you can wander around just one hallway forever.  Every door looks the same and sometimes you don’t even see doors.  Stuff changes all the time.  Or at least, it looks like it’s changing.  It’s really not though.  At least, I think it’s not.”

Spike looked at her nervously.  “What do you mean, you ‘think’?

Chase and Finn moved in front of us, seeing the dining hall door just up ahead.  I guess they’re eager to start the training.  Dopes.

Becky shrugged.  “I haven’t been here long enough to really understand a lot of what goes on.  I’ve only had one day of training.  I’m sure we’ll all figure it out eventually.”  She quickened her steps up to catch up to Chase and Finn who were opening the door at the end of the hall.

She obviously wasn’t too concerned, so I decided not to worry about it either.

Spike was shaking his head as I walked up.  “I don’t know, man.  First I find out I’m a life sucker, then I find out my mentor is Valentine the fruity incubus who might have the hots for me, then I find out some fae is gonna steal my stuff if I don’t give him a present every day – and now I find out this place is a maze I could get stuck in forever?  I’m starting to regret my decision.”

I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.  “Spike, I think you should see what happens today before you start regretting anything.  That’s what I’m gonna do.  Nobody said this was going to be easy.”

“I’m not worried about easy.  I’m just worried about my sanity when all’s said and done.”

“I thought you liked crazy,” I said, openly flirting.

He flung his arm over my shoulder as Chase opened the door.  “Your kind of crazy, yes.  Fae crazy?  Not so much.”  He dropped his arm and smacked me lightly on the butt as I went into the room ahead of him.  He’s lucky there were fae witnesses there, otherwise I would have given him a good karate chop for that.  I turned and gave him the evil eye instead, but he just laughed and mouthed the words, “Behave yourself.”

I whispered back, “Never!” just as Céline walked in the door on the opposite side of the room.

Just then I remembered about the voices I had heard the night before, outside the door of the bathroom.  It was too late to talk to Becky and the guys about it now, though.  I had to remember to bring it up at lunch.

“Time to start our training.  Come on guys, you can follow me.”  Becky walked over to the same door Céline had just entered through.  She left the main room, the guys trailing out behind her.

Chapter 5

“Ready for your first training session?” asked Céline, walking over to me.

“How come I’m not going with them?” I asked, watching the door shut behind my friends.

“They have a different training schedule than you do.  Yours is ... customized for now.  That may change in the future.”

She turned and walked back over to the door Becky and the guys had just exited from, grasping the door handle and stepping out into the hallway.  “We’ll see how you manage today.”

My friends had already disappeared from the corridor.  Must be that magic hallway thing.  I followed her until we reached a door at the far end of the hallway.  I thought for sure we were going to be walking out of the fourth obelisk when we went through, but when I stepped out and looked around, there was no waypoint and no clearing.  We were in the middle of the Green Forest.  I turned back around to look at the door, but it wasn’t there anymore.  There was an ancient tree, but no door, no hinges, and no handle.  Fucking magic.  Again.

“I thought we were doing something at the lake today,” I said, remembering the vote at the meeting yesterday about something with me and a possible affinity to Water.

“You will later.  But first, I’d like to start our morning session just getting a feel for what you’ve already developed on your own.  Let’s sit.”

She sat down on a fallen log, and I sat on the ground in front of her.

“Tell me about your experiences with the forest.”  She stared at me patiently, waiting for me to begin.

Her silver eyes and cool manner were a little intimidating.  I felt a little shy, which is a weird sensation for me.  My connection with The Green was kind of personal in a way, so it was difficult for me to just start blabbing away about it.  I didn’t want to brag, but it was hard not to feel like that’s what I was doing when I talked about it, because it was so friggin cool and amazing.  It’s almost like I didn’t want to say anything because it was so private and so good.  I didn’t want to cheapen it.  I was unable to make sense of it in my head at that moment, so I just sighed loudly instead of talking.

“I sense a reticence in you.  Why do you not wish to discuss this?”

I shrugged.  “I don’t know.  It’s like, private or something.  It’s personal.  Between me and them.”

She cocked her head to the side.  “Them?  Them who?”

I gestured around me.  “Them.  The trees.  The leaves.  The plants.  The Earth ... Them ... The Green.”

“The Green.”

She said it as a statement, not as a question, so I said nothing.

“You said The Green.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why did you call it that?”

I shrugged my shoulders again.  “I don’t know.  It just seemed to fit.  Why?  Is that wrong?”

“No, not at all.  It’s actually correct to say that.  It’s what the green elves call the forest area.”

“Well, when I say ‘The Green’ I’m not necessarily talking about the forest area.”

“Explain, please.”

“The Green, for me anyway, is not just the forest area ... it’s everything in it and all the energy that flows out of and through it and around it – the energy that comes from the plants, the creatures, the air, the ... shit, I don’t know.  All the stuff out here.”  This is stupid.  I threw my hands up and let them drop down beside me.  My fingers unconsciously dug themselves into the soil.  I felt the responding glimmer of The Green, waiting for me to connect.

Céline’s eyes dropped to my hands.

“Why are you doing that – with your hands?”

I looked down at my hands, confused.  “Doing what?”

“Putting them in the earth like that?”

I let out a burst of frustrated air.  “Damn, are you going to ask me why I do every little thing?  Look!  I’m rolling my eyes now, do you want to know why I’m doing that?”

Céline gave me an indulgent smile.  “I apologize.  I am treating you like a lab rat.”

“Yes, you are,” I said, only slightly mollified since she got my sarcasm and wasn’t offended by it.

“I should have explained some things to you first.  Let me begin again.  Do you want to hear what we know about you and what we don’t know about you?  That might make my questions easier to manage.”

“Sure, go ahead.  Gimme the scoop.”  I was more comfortable right now with listening instead of talking

Céline clasped her hands together in her lap.  “Okay.  So, our current working theory is that you are an elemental.  An elemental is a fae that has ties, through the magic, to one or more of the elements – the elements being Earth, Air or Wind, Fire, and Water.  Some include Spirit as an element, but for purposes of our discussion that is not relevant.  Because you have shown to have a very strong and uncommonly close tie with The Green, we suspect that your elemental strength comes mainly from the Earth.”

She glanced down at my hands that were once again digging themselves into the ground – I couldn’t seem to help myself.  I pulled them out and shook them off, laying them in my lap.

She smiled and continued.  “Some particularly strong elementals have ties to one other element.  The Siren, the one you know as the Lady of the Lake, suspected that you might have a tie to her world, the one that includes the element, Water.  Once I get a feel for your Earth connection, after lunch, we will go see if she is correct about your connection to the Water element.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“That has not yet been fully determined.  We who are on the council will discuss it during the lunch break.  So, to continue ... we have not had an elemental with the Light Fae for several hundred years.  Some of us were around when the last elemental was alive, but none of us really knew his magic very well.  He was a private individual, choosing to stay with his element more than other fae.”

“What was his element?”

“Air.”

I frowned, trying to picture how that would work.  “How does a guy hang out with air?”

Céline sighed.  “He would connect with the air and disappear into it.  He essentially was air.  Eventually, he was air so often, he was never fae anymore.  His spirit faded away until it was gone.  It was sad, really.  It began, maybe seven hundred years ago, or more ... ”

“Well that sounds completely messed up.  Is that going to happen to me?”  What?  Was I going to turn into a tree or something?  How old was I going to get?  Was I going to go crazy eventually?

“No.  We know the dangers of wallowing in the magic.  We will train you, to the best of our abilities, to manage your ties to the elements.”  She cleared her throat and sat up straighter, continuing, “You may have noticed the strong reaction from the fae when Anton announced you were an elemental.”

I nodded.

“This is for a couple of reasons.  First, you are the only Light Fae of your kind.  Your powers, if you can learn to harness and use them properly, are nearly unrivaled in the fae world.  Even the witches are second in power only to an elemental.  This is both a good thing, and a bad thing.”

“How so?”  I was trying not to feel all badass about the idea that I was going to be able to kick some serious butt soon, but it was hard.

“It is good because as we said, there is a war coming.  The Dark Fae are building their numbers.  We do not agree with their philosophy, but they do not care.  At some point, they are going to force us into a confrontation.  Having powers like yours on our side would be extremely beneficial to our cause and to the cause of the humans, whether they know it or not.”

Hmmm.  Savior of the human race.  Do I rock or what?

“It’s a bad thing though, because even among the Light Fae, there will be some who are jealous of you, who are threatened by you, and who will want to do you harm.  Fae can be vain and arrogant.  It is a natural condition for those who are supernatural and can readily compare their superiority to a world full of weak and fragile humans.  But obviously, vanity is dangerous.  It clouds good judgment, encourages rash behavior, and in general causes antagonistic feelings.  We of the fae are big believers in both positive and negative energy.  Unfortunately, your unique powers will cause some degree of negative energy to enter our carefully guarded Light Fae world.”

“Great.  So I have enemies before I’ve even earned them.”

“Well, to some degree this is true.  But we believe that our fellow fae, the ones who we feel are most apt to be jealous – I’m including witches and some others – will eventually come around to our way of thinking and see you as the ally Anton, I, and others think you could be.  If you decide to be, that is.”  She raised her eyebrow at me in friendly challenge.

Did I want to be their ally?  I wasn’t sure that I even had a choice.  If I weren’t their ally, then I’d be with the Dark Fae.  I didn’t know much about them, but the idea of Tony or my mom being eaten by an orc?  No way, man.  Not gonna happen.  Now, my mother’s boyfriend ... different story.  I’d put some freshly chopped parsley on his head if I thought the orcs would like it more.  Fucker.

“I don’t plan on going over to the Dark Fae, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“No, not at all. What I’m saying is that you can put your best efforts into learning to use and control your powers and thereby earn the respect and admiration of your peers.  Or, you can put in minimal effort, learn a few things, and then either be killed or get someone else killed when we eventually have a conflict, thereby earning yourself an early grave, disrespect among your peers, or both.   It is entirely up to you.”

I looked at her with my mouth agape.  “Well holy shit, Céline, don’t sugarcoat it for me or anything.”

She laughed.  “There is no point in lying to you.  You are an adult in our world.  You make – and live with – your own choices.”

“No sense in lying to me now, you mean.”

Céline leaned over and took my hands in hers, staring me right in the eyes.  For the first time I noticed that her irises weren’t still, like normal people’s eyes.  The gray was swirling, moving, twisting around itself.  It looked like ... the wind, the way artists sometimes drew it.

“Jayne, I am not going to apologize for what we did to you and your friends.  I am fighting for the survival of my race, for my people, for my family ... for my species.  We used the most respectful methods we could devise to awaken the magic within you, and we left you with your freedom of choice to become a changeling or not.  Your friend Tony is proof of this truth.  You have to let go of your bitterness and anger because it does not serve your purpose.  Release it; I beg of you.  Please look in your heart and ask yourself if you would have done any differently, given what you know about our people and our situation now.”

I don’t know how she managed to keep doing this – making me feel immature and stupid.  Dammit.  She was like the most freaky-powerful parent of all time.  I thought my mom was bad, but this fae lady, she was friggin’ scary.  Maybe that’s what silver elves had as their special magical talent – mad parenting skills.

“What does a silver elf do anyway – I mean, what are your powers, other than laying on massively powerful guilt trips?”

She released my hands and sat back up straight, smiling proudly.  “We are servants of the wind.  We are fast, we can fly, and we are pretty handy with a spear.”

“Now that is crazy cool.  Flying.  How do you do that, without any wings?”

“We ride the wind.”

Oh, yeah.  Once again clear as mud.  Friggin’ fae.  I didn’t bother asking for a better explanation because I knew I wasn’t going to get it.  Maybe she’d show me later.

“So the green elves ... what’s their deal?”

“You have already seen what they can do.  They are the servants of The Green.  They are hunters, trackers, archers ... they serve as our ground troops in the Green Forest.  They also know forest herbs and medicines much like your American Indian shaman do.  They make excellent healers.”

“My friend Finn is a green elf.  He’s not happy about it.”

“He will change his mind.  The green elves are highly respected here.  They are a noble race – one of the oldest, in fact.  Their blood runs strong and true.  Your friend Finn is a valued addition to their ranks.”

“What about Chase?  Did you put him next to me because he’s a daemon?”

She sighed.  “I cannot share everything we do with you.”

“More secrets?”

“No, not a secret.  We want to be sure that what happens with you and what happens with Chase, happens as a result of what should be, not what we want to be.  We must not influence you by giving you more information than necessary.”

“So what does that mean?  You’re trying to play matchmaker or something?  Because I think Chase is cool and everything, but he’s not my type for a boyfriend or anything like that.”

Céline laughed.  “We don’t have to play matchmaker in our world.  That happens of its own accord, when the time is right.  You will find that we are not as uptight as the human world is when it comes to relationships.”

I raised my eyebrows at that.  I’m not sure if she meant it this way, but I took it to mean fooling around was okay with them.  Cool.  Visions of Spike’s smile lit up my mind.

“I must caution you though.  Many of our fae brethren have powers that cause them to be much more attractive than they would normally be.  I will do what I can to help you recognize the effects of these powers, but if you are not strong, you could find yourself falling prey to a fae’s lust.”

“Oh.  Well.  That might be a bad thing.  Then again ... ”

“Believe me.  It is never a good thing when your free will is taken from you.  There is a lot of regret afterwards.”

Céline was looking off into the distance.  It took me a second to realize that she was walking down memory lane somewhere.  Or maybe flying down it.

“So, back to business.” Céline snapped back to the present.  “Where were we?  Oh, yes ... we were talking about your choices.  I am going to help you learn all you can about your magic – I will and others will – and then you may decide for yourself what you do with this knowledge.”

I nodded my head.  That was good enough for me.  For now, anyway.  “Fine.  Let’s get started then.  What do you want to know?”

“Tell me why you put your hands into the ground.”

“I don’t really know.  I feel more connected that way.”

“What do you mean by ‘connected’?”

“I guess you could say The Green is like a huge computer network for me.  Like the Internet, kind of.  I plug in by touch and the connection is stronger.”

“Stronger than ... ?”

“Than if I just do it without touching anything.”

“So you can communicate with The Green even without making physical contact?”

“Yes, but it’s a weaker link.”

“Can you connect when you’re inside your room, in the compound?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t tried.”  I really should though, so I decided to remedy this when I got back.

“Does The Green ever reach out to you?”

“Sometimes.”  I could always kind of feel its hum, if I thought about it.  It was as if it was waiting for me ... wanting me to just give a small sign I wanted the link and then bam, it would be there.

“Can you remember when that has happened?”

The second she asked that question, I had a flashback – the unhappy kind.  “Yes, when Becky drowned and I was very upset.”

I could tell the idea of The Green having a mind of its own intrigued her.  The questions began to come more rapid-fire.

“What did The Green do then?”

“I think it was trying to heal my sadness.”

“Heal it?”

“Yeah, make it go away.”

“Did it?  Heal your pain, I mean?”

“No.”

“Oh, it was not able to.”

“No, I wouldn’t let it.”

“How did you do that?”

“I pushed it away.”

“Has The Green healed you before?”

“No, not me.”

“Others?”

“Yes, Finn and Becky.”

“Exactly how did it do this?”

“I linked in and touched Becky or Finn, and asked The Green to heal them.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So, The Green speaks English to you.”

“No, actually not at all.  We speak in images and feelings.  It’s better that way.”

“Why is it better?”

“It’s more accurate – there’s less chance of a misunderstanding.”

“Have you experienced misunderstandings before?”

“Not really. Just one time, I asked The Green to protect us while we slept and I specifically thought only about things that would do us harm; and, well, Becky slipped through The Green’s watch, because she meant us no harm.  I really have no idea if it worked against any bad guys though.  I slept like a baby.”

Céline laughed, her merriment ringing out through the forest like a bell.  For a few moments she gave in to her humor with abandon.  It transformed her, making her go from old and sophisticated-looking to young and beautiful.  I watched her, unable to keep from smiling along, even though I had no idea what she found so funny.

“Oh, believe me,” she said, wiping her sparkling eyes.  “It worked.  It worked very well.”

“Really?  Tell me!”  I leaned forward, anxious to hear what she had to say.

Her eyes were shining as she related the story to me.  “Well, during your fae test, Niles had it in his mind to stage a nighttime raid on your camp.  Needless to say, he was very unpleasantly surprised to find himself strung up in the trees, along with a few of his friends, when he got close to where you were sleeping.  They were not released until you had left the area the next day.  When The Green finally let them go, they had nearly lost all feeling in their legs and arms – and they were dumped on their heads to the forest floor from about ten meters up.  They had a very difficult time getting back and were not very happy at all about the ribbing they got from the weres and the elves.”

“No.  Fucking.  Way.”

“Yes.  And until now, we all thought it was the witches having some fun with them, but the witches have been vehemently denying it all along.  I will have to go speak with the dwarves and explain what happened so I can cool them down a bit.  They tend to hold grudges for a long time.”

“They do seem a bit ... feisty.”

Céline smiled.  “That would be a good general description of the dwarves.”

“Well, that’s pretty cool, that The Green did that – for me, not the dwarves.”

“For all of us, actually.  There is a chance that this problem we have with the Dark Fae will find its way to our Green Forest.  Having The Green aware of the problem and helping us could be very valuable.”  Céline stood.  “I think I have picked through your brain enough for now.  Would you like to take a walk?”

I stood up, brushing myself off.  “Sure, why not?”

“Is there anything special you would like to see?”

“Like what?”

“Anything.  We have lots of fae in the Green Forest.  We could visit any number of them.”

I had a devious thought.  She’d made me perform all morning ...

“I’d like to see you fly.”

She looked at me sideways as we walked.  “Whatever for?”

“Oh, come on, you’ve gotta be kidding me.  I’ve never seen anyone actually fly.  Computer graphics and stuff doesn’t count.  I want to see the real deal.”

Céline stopped walking.  “I cannot believe I am going to do this.”

“What?”

“Fly on command.”

“I’ve been answering questions on command for an hour or more.  And I bet you’re going to make me perform on command pretty soon too.”

“Fair enough,” Céline capitulated.  “Here you are then.”  She stopped walking and gestured for me to stand off to the side.  She stood in place, shaking out her arms and rolling her shoulders and head around, limbering herself up.  “So ... this is me, a silver elf of the Green Forest, flying.”

I watched as the gray part of her eyes began swirling madly.  Her pupils got bigger and blacker.  Her hair rose up, as if a big fan was under her.  I saw her head and shoulders seem to expand up, becoming narrower and ... taller.  Her whole body stretched up, getting thinner and thinner.  The top of her head started to point, turning into a swirling mist that had formed above her.  Her body began turning like a whirlwind, twisting up and around, following the direction her head had gone.  Up and up, she went, twisting and turning, getting narrower and narrower, and more faint – until she ceased to be anymore, and the twisting mist that was her zoomed up and sideways ... and then disappeared all together.

I was left standing alone in the forest, breathing rapidly, not sure I had seen what I thought I had just seen.  Céline had turned herself into a mini-tornado and disappeared into the air around us.

“Um, Céline?  Céline?!  Are you there?”

I received no answer.

All of a sudden, I felt a whoosh of air off to my right.  I looked over in time to see a miniature tornado touch down next to me.  Its revolutions decelerated until it was going slow enough that I could see a human form taking shape.  Céline’s form.  When the spinning stopped, Céline was standing there.  I watched as her hair settled down, back into its perfectly coiffed state, exactly how it had looked before she had taken off.

“That was fucking awesome!” I yelled, totally hyped up on an instant dose of adrenaline that had shot through my veins, my heart racing wildly like I’d just sprinted around the block.

Céline smoothed her hair down with her hand.  “Thank you.  Now it is your turn.” She winked at me.

Fine.  She wanted to see some action; I’d show her some action.

“Come with me.”  I had a big smile on my face.  This stuff was fun.

I walked through the forest until I found one of the ancients.  I went up to it and touched it briefly, sharing my ideas.  I felt the warm and familiar response of The Green.  I think it had missed me, and I realized that I had missed it too.   And it was also feeling as playful as I was.  The Green and I were ready to have some fun with this always cool and calm silver elf.

“Okay, so, come over and put your arms around the tree.”

“Around the tree?”

“Yeah.  Hug it.  Hug the tree.”

She lifted her eyebrow at me in question, but stepped forward and stood at the base of the tree.  She put her palms on the tree’s bark to steady herself and then laid against it, spreading her arms out to her sides.

I stepped up beside her, looking at her face as I got into position.

“I do feel a little bit silly standing here like this,” she said.

I smiled, saying nothing.  I wanted to see the look on her face when she felt the energy for the first time.

I leaned on the tree, taking my time as I placed first my right hand and then my left on the tree’s warm and chunky bark.  The energy of The Green was humming, buzzing, flowing through every particle of my being.  Damn it feels good to be back here.  I got a responding welcome back from The Green.

I moved my hand closer to hers.  It was only inches away.  “Are you ready?” I asked, laying my cheek against the trunk.

“Yes,” she said softly.

I moved my hand and placed it over hers.  I saw from her eyes that she was feeling it.  The gray color was slowly swirling around in her eyes.

I sent out my request for more.  And more came.

Céline’s eyes opened wide, her gray irises now turning to violet and blue swirls and waves, moving around faster and faster.

I sent out another request.  More.  And it came.

“Oh my ... it is ... unbelievable,” she said, tears in her eyes now.

I made one last request.  I asked The Green to show her all of it.  To show her the beauty.  The love.

I felt the blast coming before it arrived.  I gripped her hand hard, hoping it was okay to do this to her.

She frowned at the look on my face a split second before it hit her.

A ray of silver light burst from her eyes, shining directly into mine, temporarily blinding me.  All I could see was liquid silver.  I felt her gasp and scream out.  Her hand pulled away from mine and I heard a thump.

I sent my thanks to The Green, which quickly ratcheted the energy back to its normal lower levels.  I broke my connection with the tree and sat down, waiting for my vision to return to normal.  Fucking fae had lasered me with her freaky silver eyes.

I heard her moaning faintly next to me.  My vision began to clear and I saw her lying on the ground, covered in leaves.  Her hair was all messed up and she had some twigs on her tunic.

I crawled over to where she was, nudging her on the shoulder.

“Céline?  Are you okay?”

She just moaned weakly and then dropped into unconsciousness.

Dammit.  Now I’d done it.  I’d given my trainer a stroke.  I was going to be in serious trouble now.  I touched the trunk of the ancient and asked it to go find me a green elf, explaining it was urgent.

Minutes later the elf I knew as Robin Hood showed up.  I could finally see normally again, the silver laser vision having faded.

“The Green has brought me here.  What happened?”  He was looking down at Céline who was lying motionless on the ground.

“Um, I ... uh ... was showing her some stuff and ... well ... this happened.”

The elf bent down and touched her forehead, keeping his hand there for a few seconds.

“She is not dead.”

Phew.  “Well that’s a relief.”

“But I do not know what is wrong with her.”

Double damn.  I’m screwed.

“I will take her back to the compound.”   He bent down to pick her up.  She was a tall woman, but he lifted her with ease.

“What should I do?”

“Go back to the compound.”

“Um, I don’t really know where it is.”

“Follow me.”

I followed him a distance through the forest to a door that was standing there in the middle of a bunch of trees.  He grabbed the heavy iron handle, a ring, and pulled.  The door swung out to reveal a hallway.  It looked exactly like all the other hallways in the compound.

He entered and I went in behind him, following him through the corridor as it twisted and turned for what seemed like a long distance.  He finally stopped outside a door I didn’t recognize.  “Wait in this room.”

I opened the door and saw that I was standing in front of my own bedroom.  I watched from the doorway as he continued down the corridor, headed towards the dining room.  Or at least I think that’s what was down that way.  Stupid magic hallways made it impossible for me to know for sure.

I went in and sat down on the bed, sighing loudly.  “Well, that was fucking awesome.”

“What was fucking awesome?” said a voice from the corner of my room.

I took one look at the creature standing there and started screaming my head off.

Chapter 6

The creature took one look at me screaming, got a panicked expression on its face, and started hollering too.  “Aaaaahhhhhh!!!”

My scream petered out as I realized that this thing was as scared of me as I was of it.  But that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, since it was the creature, not me.

“What are you screaming for?” I asked.

“What are you screaming for?” he asked back.

“I asked you first.”

The thing sniffed while dusting some imaginary lint off its jacket.  “I was being polite.”

“Polite?”

“Yes.  I didn’t want you to feel bad about being scared and screaming like a little human girl.”

“I think you were as scared as I was.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.  Brownies don’t frighten that easily.”

“Oh!  You’re my brownie!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m your brownie.  I am a brownie.  I am in your room, but I belong to no one.  Brownies were freed two thousand years ago by the great and powerful Landor.  Everyone knows that.”

“Oh sure, yeah, Landor, the ... whatever.  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.  Anyway, thanks for cleaning up around here.  I appreciate it.”  It was a big relief to find out that he wasn’t here to eat me but that he was here to clean up after me.  Big difference.

He looked up at the silver tray on my dresser, which was now empty.  “Yes, I can see that.  I do love the purple ones.”

“It’s my favorite color.”

The brownie jumped from the corner of the room to the end of my bed, scaring me all over again; but this time I didn’t yell.  I just cringed a little.

“It’s my favorite too!”  It stood there expectantly, as if waiting for me to say something.

“Um, what’s inside the wrapper?”

“Only the most delicious candy ever to be made!  A little round morsel of heaven.  The food of the gods.  Eating it transports me to another realm, I tell you.  Nothing like it.”  The brownie leaned in conspiratorially.  “Would you like to see?”

I shrugged my shoulders.  “Sure.”

He pulled the purple token from his pocket and slowly unwrapped it.  I watched his face as he went through the motions of very carefully untwisting the ends and gently peeling back the edge of the wrapper.  He was like a little kid at Christmas.

Inside the wrapper was a chocolate ball.

“Do you see?  The delicious goodness?  The delightful brown goodness?”

“Dude.  It’s a chocolate ball.”

“No.  This is heaven.”

“Looks like a chocolate ball to me.”

The brownie hurriedly rewrapped the token and carefully placed it in the breast pocket of his vest.  “I do not know anything of this ‘chocolate’.  You are a confused fae girl and I will forgive you for not appreciating the magical delishitude of the tokens.”

“I’m not sure that’s a word.”

“Yes, and yet you call my delishitudes ‘chocolate’ which we both know isn’t a word, so I already know you are not to be consulted when it comes to proper vocabulary.”  He nodded his head once for emphasis.

I smiled, laughing inside.  Some brilliant fae had figured out brownies were mad for chocolate and had wrapped up some stupid chocolate balls in shiny wrappers to use as bait to get them to clean shit.  Awesome.  I’d bet I could blow this brownie’s mind with a bag of peanut M&Ms.  Maybe I’ll have Tony send me some.

“I am almost done with your room.  If you will allow me, I will finish now.”

“Yeah, sure, knock yourself out.  I’m just going to lie here on the bed and stay out of your way.”

The brownie pulled a cloth out of one of his pockets and began moving around the room, wiping down surfaces and generally stirring up dust.  I’m no cleaning expert, but his technique didn’t look very effective.  Oh well, so long as I didn’t have to do it.

“I will now take my leave, unless there is anything you specifically desire me to find for you.”  He stood by the door, stubby but delicate fingertips from both hands pressed together down by his waist.  He gave me the impression of a tiny English lord, only with a pointy nose and ears.  He looked a little like pictures I’d seen of goblins, only without the sharp teeth, claws, and lumpy head.  For the most part, his body was proportionate – just very small.  Smaller than Becky.  Maybe about the size of a smallish dwarf.

“I could really use some black eyeliner and some black mascara.  Oh, and a disposable razor for shaving my legs.”

“What kind?”

I frowned.  Did he want a brand?  Probably not.  “For the eyeliner, the kind that you twist and it comes up – waterproof, black.  For the mascara, whatever, I don’t care what type.  Just black.  And the razor?  I don’t know.  Blue?”  I couldn’t think of any brand names on the spot like that.

“Consider it done.  You have the good fortune to have Netter as your brownie.  Netter can find anything.  Have a nice day.”

He snapped his fingers once in the general direction of the room’s interior and opened the door, leaving before I could thank him.

I looked back towards my dresser and saw that all the dust particles that had been floating around in the air were gone.  Not a single speck remained.  Weird.  I guess his technique did work.

There was a knock at the door.  I got up to answer it, opening the door to reveal Dardennes standing there.  I backed up a little, instantly worried.  I doubted that he made personal calls to the rooms of fae changelings very often.  It had to be about Céline.

“Good morning, Jayne.  How are you?”

“Uh, I’m fine.  How’s Céline?  Is she okay?”

“Yes, she is recovering nicely from her ... shock.  I will be taking over your training for today.  She will be back with you tomorrow.  Please follow me.”

I glanced back at my room as I moved to the doorway.  I really would have preferred to stay there instead.  I couldn’t trust myself to be polite to Dardennes but I felt bad about Céline, which was putting some reins on my temper.  I decided to go without argument.  I owed her that much at least.

He led me out of the compound and out through another forest door which opened up next to a lake.  I looked around, suddenly recognizing where we were.

“This is the Lady of the Lake’s place.”

“Yes.  Her name is Naida.”

“I have a different name for her.”  I was staring menacingly at the water, hoping she’d show herself so I could have a few words with her.

“Yes, well, I think she would prefer you use her given name, rather than any ... nicknames.”

“Whatever you say.  So, what are we doing here?”

“We are here to test your affinity to Water.”

“Ah.  And how are we going to do that?”

“Come with me.”

I followed him down to the water’s edge.

“Naida.  Please come to say hello.”

There was a disturbance out in the middle of the lake.  I could see something was moving beneath the surface towards us.  The Loch Ness Monster came to mind again.

“Hey Jayne!”

I grabbed my heart, trying to keep it from exploding.

“Becky!  Where the hell did you come from?!”

She was standing by my left elbow, a big dopey grin on her face, as usual.

“The water, of course.”  She nodded her head towards the approaching Naida.

“How come you teleport and she does the Loch Ness Monster routine?”

Becky shrugged.  “She prefers a more dramatic entrance, I guess.”

Dardennes stood off to the side, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Well, appearing out of thin air and scaring the shit out of me is pretty dramatic.”

Becky smiled.  “We water sprites have a flair for it, I think.”

I smacked her, and she grabbed her arm, feigning injury.  “Watch it, Jayne, or I’ll sic the big bad Naida monster on you.”

“Pfft.  I have a feeling that’s what’s supposed to happen here anyway.  I hope I don’t bite the big one.”

“They wouldn’t let that happen to you, Jayne.”

I looked over at Dardennes who was engaged in conversation with Naida, now that she had finally finished her creepy entrance.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Becky looked over at Dardennes and Naida.  She whispered, “I don’t know the specifics, Jayne, but you’re going to be tested today.  But don’t worry, they won’t let you die.  You’re important.”

“How so?”

“I’m not sure.  But everyone is saying it.  Something about stuff you did in the forest.”

I cringed, wondering if she was talking about the stuff I did during the test or the recent near-killing I did of Céline.

“Are you talking about Céline?”

Becky looked confused.  “What?  No.  What about her?”

I shook my head.  “Never mind.  I’ll tell you later.”  Dardennes stopped talking with Naida and came over.  “Looks like I’m up.”

“Jayne, Naida and I have discussed the situation, and we both feel the first part of this ... experiment ... should be for you to try and make a connection with the water.”

“Soooo ... you want me to go swimming or something?”

“No.  We want you to just relax.  Let Naida take over from here.  She is the expert, not me.”

Dardennes stepped away from the edge of the lake, walking back until he was at the tree line.  Once there, he turned back to face the lake, clasping his hands together behind his back.

Becky looked at Naida and got a worried look on her face.  “Um, I’m just gonna head out for now ... ”

“Where are you going?” I asked, hoping she’d stay.

“I ... uh ... gotta go.”

And then she was gone.  Disappeared.  I really hated when Becky did that teleporting stuff.  She was always either scaring the shit out of me or abandoning me in the blink of an eye.

I turned to look at Naida.  The bitch of the lake.  I still had a bone to pick with her.

“You nearly killed my friend.”

She nodded her head at me.

“That pissed me off.”

She just looked at me, saying nothing, no expression on her face.

“I think you and I need to come to some sort of understanding.”  I’m not sure what I meant by this show of false bravado, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Next thing I knew, lake lady was standing right in front of me, two inches away from my face.  Before I had time to react, she seized me with both arms in a gruesome bear hug.  Gruesome because, well, she’d practically killed my friend and now she was trying to kill me too; but also because she smelled like the lake.  Muddy.  Fishy.  Not very pleasant.  Exactly how I imagined a murderous sea monster would smell.

I struggled to get away.  “What.  The fuck.  Is your problem?”

She was pulling me backwards.  Well, backwards for her – forward for me.  She was going to try and drown me.  And I was totally not thrilled with this kind of test.

“Get. Off!”  I tried to shove her away, but she was too close for me to get any leverage.  My hands were trapped at my sides.  I was desperately searching for a solution to my total body lockdown problem when I remembered the famous head butt move from the movies.  Head butts always surprised the bad guys.  Might as well ...

I head butted her.  Hard.  I saw stars and was instantly rewarded with a headache.  She just looked at me, totally unfazed.  Note to self: never use head butts on sirens.

We were at the edge of the water now.  I could feel it at my ankles, filling up my moccasins.  The water was cold.  This must be what Becky went through.

I remembered The Green and how it had helped my friends before.  I sent out a call to The Green.  Save me!  By now the water was up to my knees.

I saw Naida’s eyes widen, looking off over my shoulder.  I turned my head as far as I could and saw the vines nearly upon us.  Yes!

Naida quickly jerked me backwards and under the water.  I felt a rushing, as if I was being pulled through the water by a speedboat, farther and farther away from the edge of the lake.  She still had me in a total body lock.  All I could do was struggle meekly and eventually surrender.  I had quickly run out of breath.  I blinked my eyes underwater, watching as the last bubbles from my lungs danced up above my head, in a rush to get to the surface – the place where I wished I could be right now.

The sounds I was used to hearing above the ground were gone.  The murmur of the wind through the trees and the sounds of things moving across a ground littered with crunchy, dead leaves disappeared.  This muted underworld was a perfect setting for a sea monster like her.  The water was murky.  All I could see was her dispassionate face and her hair, swirling around, flowing with the microcurrents that surrounded us.

She slowly loosened her grip, letting me go.  I had reached a place where I was no longer able to do what I needed to do to escape.  My legs wouldn’t kick.  My arms wouldn’t push through the water to get me above the surface.  The burning in my lungs had already begun to fade.  Strangely, however, I wasn’t panicking like I probably should have been.  I felt like the best thing to do to survive was to surrender, which made absolutely no sense.  Lack of oxygen was making my neurons misfire.

My brain had barely enough signal left, flickering.  But somewhere, deep down inside that last flicker, I was able to send out a mental cry for help.  Someone, something, somewhere ... please ... save me.

A warmth began to build in my stomach.  It moved up and down, to my heart and my legs.  To my head and my feet.  Soon my entire body seemed to glow from the heat of it – this welcome fire that didn’t burn.

The murkiness of the water dissipated.  Suddenly I could see things – everything.  And everyone.  I was not alone in this lake with Naida.  There were others, many others.  Females, males, small ones, big ones.  Water sprites.  And fish.  And creatures I couldn’t identify.  And the lake wasn’t just a lake.  It was huge, like an underwater city but without the buildings.  I could see forever in this place.  My eyesight was sharp and there were no obstructions.

I moved my arms a little.  Just a small flutter, followed by a tentative kick with my legs.  I was able to move.  I wasn’t in total body lockdown anymore.  I moved my arms in small circles, wondering what I should do next.  I turned my body in a three-revolution somersault, forgetting for a moment that I had to breathe out through my nose to keep the water from filling my sinuses.  But then, I realized it didn’t matter.  Holy shit!  I can breathe underwater!

It wasn’t breathing, what I was doing, not really.  I had just ceased to need to breathe while I was here.  Somehow my body was pulling oxygen from the water, without it going through my lungs first.  This was some kind of medical miracle or something.  This was better than any dream I’d ever had with underwater breathing in it.

Naida appeared in front of me again.  She didn’t look nearly as hideous under the water as she did above it.  She was actually kind of pretty in a way, down here in her world.  She raised her hand up slowly, placing it on my upper arm.  She held her other arm out, gesturing towards the area behind me.

I turned and saw the wavy outline of a figure, standing on solid ground at the side of the lake.

I looked back at Naida and she nodded at me, I think telling me I had to return to Dardennes and the forest now.  But I didn’t want to go back yet.  I wanted to discover this place some more, now that it no longer felt threatening.  I made a move to go in a direction away from shore, but several sprites arrived quickly, moving to block my progress.  They didn’t look dangerous, just firm.  Apparently not drowning did not automatically qualify me for free reign of the water sprite kingdom.

I looked at Naida and tried to say thank you, but my mouth filled with water.  I guess not all laws of physics ceased to operate in this realm.  I nodded my head and put my hand over my heart, the best imitation of an underwater thank you I could come up with.  She bowed her head to me in recognition.  Amazingly enough, I no longer wanted to punch her in the face.  She had shown me some of her special magic today, letting me see her world – even after I gave her a massive head butt.  I knew this was an opportunity few people, or fae, would ever have.

I turned and moved through the water towards the figure standing on the shore.  It had been joined by another, smaller figure.  Becky.  My head was now above the surface and I could see her standing there with her great big smile and Dardennes looking slightly concerned.

I was soaked.  I slogged through and out of the muck of the lake, stopping in front of Dardennes.  There were so many things I could say to him at that moment, but I went with the first one on the tip of my tongue.

“What the fuck, Dardennes.  Are you trying to kill me or what?”

With a totally straight face he said, “Well if I am, I am doing a very poor job of it.”

Becky looked uncomfortably between him and me, not sure if either of us was kidding.  Eventually her curiosity won out over her concern.

“So?  What happened?  Was it awesome?  Did you see everyone?  Was Naida happy? ... and why are you so wet?”

I looked at her like she had totally lost her marbles.  “Why am I wet?  Are you totally insane?  I practically just drowned in this friggin’ lake!  I know you saw it, you sneaky, disappearing little punk.”

“Yeah, but look ... ” She ran and jumped into the lake and then came walking out, somehow still totally dry.  “I don’t get wet.  How come you did?”

“Well, I think it should be fairly obvious ... I ain’t no fucking water sprite.”

Dardennes barked out a laugh before he could compose himself.  “Yes,” he agreed, “as you have so aptly put it, you are not a water sprite.  But it is entirely clear that you do have an affinity to Water.  This is good news.  Come along so we can get you cleaned up.  Perhaps one day you will master the trick of dry swimming.”

I shot him a dirty look, but followed.  I couldn’t wait to take a hot shower and put on some clean clothes.  When I was in the lake, the water looked crystal clear, but looking down at my once white tunic now, I realized that the water must be enchanted or something to make it appear that way.  I was covered in all manner of ... muck.  Fish and sprite poop probably.  Ew.

“I’ll see you later, Jayne!” yelled Becky, heading back to the water.

I waved over my head without looking back.  I was having a hard time thinking about anything but getting clean and dry again.  I was trying to breathe through my mouth so I wouldn’t smell the awfulness that was wafting up from my clothes.

My walk back to the room was thankfully quiet.  Dardennes left me at my door with instructions to get cleaned up and wait for someone to escort me to lunch.

I took a long, hot shower and went to my room to rest.  I don’t know exactly when I fell asleep or how long I might have slept, but it seemed like only minutes went by before I felt myself being lightly touched on the shoulder and my bed sinking down a little as someone sat down next to me.  I opened my sleepy eyes to see Spike sitting there.  He leaned towards me, a small sexy smile on his face, his eyes glowing a deep but bright red.

Chapter 7

“Spike?” I said sleepily.

His lips closed over mine.  They were warm, insistent.

I was too tired to think clearly about what was happening, so for a second I started to go with it.  Man, did he feel good.  And the kiss?  Holy shit.  I could feel my engines starting to rev up in a serious way.

But then reality started to creep into my foggy brain.  What was Spike doing here in my room?  Why was he kissing me?

“Um ... Spike?”

It was hard to get the words out because he wasn’t stopping.

I pushed on his chest a little, but it made no difference.  He was pressing forward, pushing me deeper into the bed.

I turned my head to the side.  “Spike!  Stop!  Get off me!”

He took me by the chin and forced me to look at him.  I stared into his glowing red eyes, getting lost in the sensual madness I saw there.  I felt the fight and anger leave my body.  So he wanted a little kiss?  Why didn’t I just give it to him?

We started making out passionately.  I felt his hands drift lower as he reached under me and wrapped me in his arms, pulling me tighter against him.  I wanted to see him shirtless, all his beautiful tattoos on display.  Without even thinking about it, I reached for the bottom of his shirt, intending to lift it up and take it off him.  He chuckled low in his throat, obviously happy about the direction my mind had taken.

I heard a sound off in the distance, but my mind was too far gone to recognize it.

Then there was a commotion.

I ignored it.  Nothing was more important than drowning in this passion I was feeling.

Suddenly Spike was jerked off me.  I opened my eyes in a daze, trying to process what was going on.

Chase had Spike in a bear hug next to my dresser and Jared was standing in between them and me, feet spread wide apart, looking like he was ready to kick some ass.  His head swiveled back and forth between me and them, them and me.

I sat up slowly, trying to decide which was worse – the confusion or the humiliation.  Both situations made me feel vulnerable – and therefore, pissed off.

“Take him outside,” growled Jared.

Chase jerked Spike along with him, Spike’s glowing red eyes never leaving mine.  For some reason I wanted to follow him out of the room.  I stopped feeling that way the instant Jared stepped in between us and I no longer had eye contact with Spike.

The door shut behind Spike and Chase, leaving Jared alone in the room with me.

I sat up and scooted back until I was sitting up against the wall at the head of my bed, pulling my knees to my chest.  I cleared my throat but said nothing.  I didn’t really know what to say.

“So, are you okay?”

“Um, yeah.  I think.  I’m not exactly sure what that was all about.”  My face was burning red.  Not that I really cared much what Jared thought of me, but I’m pretty sure he was thinking I was some kind of slut, taking any opportunity possible to get it on with Spike.

“Spike is an incubus, Jayne.”

“And?”

“And that means he spends a lot of his time burning up with sexual energy.  Or figuring out ways to increase his energy using sex as the generator.”

I slowly nodded my head, kind of understanding and then again, kind of not.

“Did you invite him in here?”

“No.  Why?  Is he like a vampire?  He can’t come in unless I invite him?”

Jared smiled.  “No.  He’s not like a vampire in that way.  He can just come in.  I’m just surprised he did is all.”  Jared sat down at the foot of my bed, putting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands loosely between his legs.  “He is similar to a vampire in that he will suck the life out of a person if he’s not able to control his cravings.”

“What about a fae?  Can he do it to a fae too?”

“Yes.  But it’s harder.  The fae have more life force so it would take longer.  And we are generally stronger than humans and do not tempt as easily.”  He looked up at me.  “But you were.  Tempted I mean.”

I looked at the ceiling, sighed, and then looked him in the eye.  “You just had to go there, didn’t you?”

Jared smiled, shrugging his shoulders.  “I call it like I see it.”

“Fine.  I won’t lie.  I think Spike is hot.  Hotter than hot.  One minute I was resting here on my bed, the next thing I know he’s all over me.  At first I had no idea what was going on, then I saw his eyes all glowy and stuff and suddenly it didn’t seem like such a bad idea.”

Jared nodded slowly, thinking.  He stood, walking towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go deal with Spike.”

“What are you going to do?  You’re not going to hurt him are you?”

“No.  I’m going to have a little sit-down with him and Valentine.  Spike needs to learn how to control himself so he doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“Spike wouldn’t hurt me, Jared, and you know it.”

Jared opened the door and hesitated in the entrance, turning to look at me.  “Jayne, you’re lucky we were here to stop him.”

I felt fear rise up in me for the first time.  “Why?  What would have happened?”

“Even I don’t want to know the answer to that question,” he answered cryptically, stepping out and shutting the door behind him.

I let out a frustrated girl scream and threw my pillow at the door, which only made me feel a tiny bit better.  Why were guys such a pain in the ass?  Why couldn’t making out just be a simple, fun way to pass the time?  Did this mean that any time I wanted to kiss Spike, I was taking my life into my hands?  That was just stupid.  What’s the use of having all these superpowers if you can’t have a simple make-out session and not die from it?  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I got up from the bed to pick up my pillow, tossing it back on the bed.  I went over to my dresser and opened the drawer.  I noticed Netter had been in there.  I now had a newly washed tunic to replace the one I had used as a nightgown, and sitting on top of the pile was some brand new eyeliner and mascara, exactly as I had described to him.  And there was a blue razor.  I picked up the eyeliner, smiling.

Well, I can’t make out with Spike, but I can get makeup on command.  Not a perfect consolation, but it was better than nothing.  I started to put the makeup in the back part of the drawer, when my hand touched something hard and smooth.  I dropped the makeup and put my hand around the thing I had felt and pulled it out.

“Blackie!” I yelled in delight.  My sharp stick of death.  For some reason I was really happy to see it here in my room.  Who brought you in here, you little devil?  Maybe Netter.  I tossed it from hand to hand, feeling its weight and balance.  I was trying to remember what the hag in the woods, the one I had offed on the first day of the test, had called it.  Something about Dark and Blackthorn?  At the time I didn’t think about it, but now the words were like sirens going off in my head.  Blackthorn?  That’s my mother’s maiden name.  Dardennes had asked me in the interview what my family names were, and he and Céline seemed particularly interested in the Blackthorn name from my mother’s side.  So why were my family name and the word ‘Dark’ being used to describe my weapon of choice?  Or, to be more accurate, my default weapon, since on the day we chose weapons, this sharp stick was the only weapon available by the time it was my turn to pick one.  I should have been able to choose between a huge bowie knife and this stick, but that asshole little dwarf Niles had let Becky choose before me – which was totally unfair since we were going in order of size and she’s way smaller than me.  If I had gone before her, I would have definitely taken the knife.  I wonder if the knife would have killed the hag or the orc like Blackie had.

I shrugged to myself.  The stick had done well by me, so I wasn’t complaining ... at least, not anymore.  There was something about it; it felt like it was made for me.  And when I had stabbed the hag with it, a beautiful, rich green glow had come from it that reminded me of the energy of The Green.  During the fae test, when the orcs had gotten a taste of it, the green glow had radiated out of the stick and burned off all of the black orc blood, leaving it clean and unblemished.  If I’ve learned one thing in my three days in this forest, it’s that nothing is as it seems.  Blackie may look like nothing more than a dark, pointy stick – but it’s much more than that.  It’s a hag ‘n orc killer.  Fierce.  Just like my little pomeranian doggy, badass Blackie, may his tiny soul rest in peace.

I sighed, putting the stick back where I found it.  As I was closing the drawer, I heard a light tapping at the door.

“Come in!”  I wasn’t sure if I was hoping it was Spike again or praying that it wasn’t.

The door swung in and Finn stood in the doorway.

“Finn!” I said, rushing over to give him a hug.  It was nice to see someone standing there who wasn’t going to try and suck the life out of me or drown me.

He held out his arms, taking me in and giving me a friendly squeeze.

“Hey girl.  Whatcha been up to?”

I stepped back and laughed nervously.  “Oh, nothing much.  Giving Céline a stroke, learning how to breathe underwater, being attacked by a very sexy incubus.  How ‘bout you?  How’s your day going?”

Finn looked at me like I’d lost my mind.  “Wait.  Back up the tractor a sec.  Start with the stroke thing and then move forward from there, only real slow-like for us country folk.  I’m an elf you know.”  He smiled, obviously not so pissed off about his fate anymore.

“Do you have an hour?  Because that’s about how long this is going to take.”

“Come on.  You can tell me over lunch.  I’m supposed to bring you down to the dining hall.”

“On whose orders?”

“Mr. Anton Dardennes.”

I said nothing, following him out and shutting the door behind me.

We got to the lunchroom, the same room where we had breakfast, and filled up some plates with food.  I stuck to food groups I could recognize for this meal too.  I was feeling braver, being a fae and all, but not brave enough to eat things that were still moving or things that looked like entrails or dung.  And there was some stuff that certainly resembled that on the buffet today.  I tried, not very successfully, to suppress a shudder.

I sat down at the table in between Finn and Becky.

“So, spill the beans.  What’s all this about giving Céline a stroke?  You really shocked her about somethin’, eh?”

“No.  When I say ‘stroke’ I don’t mean ‘shock’.  I mean stroke.”

Finn’s fork stopped halfway between his plate and his mouth.  “I beg your pardon?”

I was eating a roll, but I just started talking anyway, food rolling around in my mouth.  “Yeah.  I showed her the tree hugging thing, and she just like, overloaded or something.”

“Well, that never happened to us, did it Finn?” verified Becky.

He shook his head.

“Yeah.  Well.  See ... I might have ... um ... given her a little more juice than I gave you guys.”  I swallowed the hunk of bread with a guilty gulp.

Finn plunked his fork down on his plate and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, taking in a deep breath.  Then he looked down at the table, shaking his head slowly.  “Lordy, lordy, lordy ... Jayne, Jayne, Jayne ... what are we gonna do with you?”  He started eating again, a smile on his face.

Becky’s eyes were bulging out of her head.  “You did not.”

I felt a little chagrined.  “I did.”

Becky’s mouth dropped open.  She was speechless, her eyes reproachful.

“I didn’t do it on purpose!  How was I supposed to know she couldn’t handle it?  I thought these fae were supposed to be all badass and stuff.”  I pushed my food around with my fork, my appetite suddenly gone.  “Shit ... ”  I was grouchy now.  How had I become the bad guy in all this?  I was just doing what Céline had asked me to do.

Finn leaned in closer, talking in a low tone.  “Personally, I would have loved to see that.  A very small piece of me is happy you got one over on her.  But that’s only because I know she’s fine now.  I just saw her a few minutes ago ... talking to Dardennes.  Look ...”  He nodded his head toward the door and stopped talking.

I looked up in the direction of his nod and saw Céline walking in with Dardennes.  She was moving a little slower than normal, but she was moving.  She had all her limbs and she was smiling at something he had said.

“You should go apologize,” whispered Becky.

“Screw that!  I’m not apologizing.  I was just doing what she told me to do.”

Becky sighed and gave me a look.

Damn, she sure was going to be a good mother some day.  I scowled at her and growled, “Fine.”

I stood up and walked over to Céline, suddenly nervous.  Okay, so maybe I had been a little rough on her.

“A-hem, Céline?  Can I talk to you for a sec?”

She nodded at Dardennes, and he left her with me, nodding as he passed by.

I cleared my throat again.  “Um, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for ... what happened earlier.  I didn’t mean to ... ”

“Jayne.  Stop.  You have nothing to be sorry for.”  She reached down and took my hands, looking me right in the eyes and smiling.  “You showed me something beautiful.  Something amazing.  Something powerful.  Don’t apologize for it.”

“Really?  You’re not mad?”

“No.  Just do me a favor ... Next time?  Warn me.”

I smiled.  “I’ll try.  To be honest, I didn’t know that was going to happen.  Not like that, anyway.”

She nodded understandingly.  “I know.  We will need to work on that.  And we will.  Now go eat with your friends.  You and I will do some more work after lunch.”

I returned to the table where I had left Becky and Finn and started eating again, my appetite back in full force.

Chase came in and made a bee-line to the buffet, joining us after filling his plate.

“You okay, Jayne?” he asked, sitting down.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Finn looked from Chase to me.  “Yeah, you were saying something about Spike?”

Chase frowned but looked down at his plate, spearing something that looked like goat entrails and stuffing it in his mouth.  I worked on not gagging, but I wasn’t helping myself by staring at him.  I couldn’t seem to help my fascination with his ability to eat everything and anything.  I wondered if he’d eat a dwarf if it were on the menu.

“What happened with Spike?” asked Becky, now very curious.  She nudged me with her elbow.  “Eh?  Eh?  Tell us.  Especially the juicy details, please.”

I sighed.  “He came into my room and used his goo-goo, voodoo eyes to trick me into kissing him is all.”

Finn choked on whatever he was trying to swallow.  He grabbed for his water glass as Chase thumped him on the back with one hand to try and help him breathe again.  Chase continued to eat his breakfast entrails with the other hand.

Finn recovered and then looked at me. “He did what?!”

“Tell him, Chase.  I’m not exactly sure what it was all about.  And I’m also a little confused about how you and Jared ended up being there to save me too.”

Finn didn’t wait for Chase’s explanation.  “Shee-it, you people have all the fun.  You guys are givin’ people strokes and havin’ sex parties and doin’ rescues while I’m off gallivantin’ in the forest, shootin’ at some stupid dang targets.”  He was disgusted once again with being an elf.

Chase put down his fork and slowly used his napkin to carefully wipe off his mouth.  Then he began speaking.  “Spike is an incubus.  He was craving energy and he found some in Jayne.  As an incubus, his particular mode of getting energy is through sexual type behavior.  Jared and I found him in Jayne’s room, engaged in a ... compromising position with her that could have put her in danger.  We intervened and neutralized the threat because that is what we do as daemons.  End of story.”

We all sat there, just staring at him, our mouths hanging open.  It was the longest group of connected sentences any of us had ever heard him say.

He looked at all of us and then shrugged.  “I’m going back to the buffet.  You guys want anything?”

We all shook our heads soundlessly.

Chase got up from the table and went to refill his plate at the buffet.  Once he was gone, Becky said,  “Who is that guy, and what has he done with our friend, Chase?”

“Man, you ain’t jokin’,” said Finn.

We all just stared at Chase’s back as he loaded up his plate again.

A minute later, he came back to the table with another gigantic helping of disgusting mystery meats.  I tried not to look at it as I finished with my salad and bread.

Everyone around us began standing up, heading towards the exit leading to the hallway of magical doors.  Chase wolfed down his food in record time.  It was like watching a starved animal eat.

“Are you sure you’re a daemon and not an ogre?” I asked, before I could stop myself.

Chase shrugged, not the least bit insulted as far as I could tell.  “I’m a daemon with an ogre’s appetite I guess.”

“Come on, time to go to training again,” said Finn.

I stood.  “I wonder where I’m supposed to go.”

“You’re going with me,” said Finn.

“I am?”

“Yeah.  I got a message from Robin.”

“Who is Robin and when did you get a message from him?”

“Robin is the head of trainin’ for the green elves and I got the message just now.”

“Now?  How is that possible?”

“What?  Didn’t ya hear it?”  Finn started laughing.

“No.  Is that some sort of elf joke?”

“Yeah, actually it is.  He did just send me the message, but he sent it here.”  Finn tapped his temple.

“A telepathic message.”

“Yeah.”

“That is fucking cool.”

“Yeah, it is, ain’t it?”

“You know what’s not cool?”

“No, what?”

“Mocking handicapped people.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

“Well, you don’t see me sending or receiving telepathic messages, do you?”

“No.”

“Well there you go.  Handicapped.  Did you not hear me tell you earlier that I gave a silver elf a stroke?  You may not want to mess with me.”  I smiled at him evilly.

He smiled back holding up his hands in mock surrender.  “Oh, ‘scuse me, Your Awesomeness.  I swear, I will never mock your inabilities again.”

“Thank you.  And so, for today, I have chosen not to give you a stroke.  But don’t piss me off ‘cuz I’m a woman and I’m allowed to change my mind.”

Finn threw his arm across my shoulders as we walked out the door.  “You’re alright, you know that, Jayne?”

“Yeah.  I’ve been told that.”

I looked over my shoulder as we were leaving to see if Becky was behind us.  My eye was drawn to the doorway on the other side of the room where I saw Spike standing there, his eyes still smoldering red.  He was staring right at me, a small smile playing on his luscious lips.

Chapter 8

I followed Finn out the door and into the forest training grounds used by the green elves.

“How do you know where to go in these hallways and I still don’t?”

“Robin showed me.”

“Well, can you show me?”

“Sure.  Just get an idea of where you wanna be in your head and start walkin’.  The correct door will show itself to you.”

“Show itself?”

“Yeah, you’ll see.  You can try it when we go back.”

“What about when you’re out in the forest?  How do you know where the doors are there?”

“There are several – I don’t know all of ‘em.  You just go to where you remember the door bein’ and imagine it bein’ there or kind of know that it’s there, and it appears.”

“But you have to know it’s there already,” I verified.

“Yeah, and you have to know what it looks like.  They ain’t all the same.  That’s why you’ve been escorted to all these places today by someone who knows where stuff is.  You have to be shown the first time, otherwise, there’s no way you could imagine it.”

I nodded in appreciation of the magic.  “That’s a pretty cool spell, or whatever.”

“Yeah, but it ain’t perfect.  A Dark Fae could still penetrate it, but he or she would have to be escorted one time first.  So they’d have to have a mole or spy inside the compound.”

That reminded me of the voices I overheard while I was in the bathroom yesterday.

“Listen, Finn, I wanted to talk to you guys about something I overheard the other night ... speaking of spies.”

He turned to me with a questioning look on his face.  “You heard about a spy?”

“Well ... ”

I was cut off by the sound of a familiar voice.  “Welcome to the training grounds of the green elves, changeling Jayne.”

I turned and saw the face of the elf I had nicknamed Robin Hood.  I quickly turned and whispered in Finn’s ear, “I’ll tell you later.”  I looked up at the approaching elf.  “Don’t tell me, let me guess.  Your name is Robin.”

“Yes, you are correct.”

“Is it Robin Hood, by any chance?”

The elf looked confused.  “No, Robin of The Green.  Who is this Robin Hood?  Is he of the Light Fae?”

Finn nudged me, giving me bug eyes.

“Um, no, he’s just ... never mind.  So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“I have been asked to familiarize you with the work of the green elves and to determine what your skills might do to enhance or inhibit ours.”

That seemed like a strange task, the inhibit part, anyway.  “How, exactly, could my skills inhibit yours?”

“I was informed today that you nearly took the life of the silver elf, Céline.  We believe it warrants further study to determine who else you might accidentally kill when using your powers.”

Man, way to give it to me straight.

“Listen, Robin, it wasn’t on purpose, okay?  I was just doing what she asked me to do.”

Robin cocked his head.  “She asked you to kill her?”

I sighed loudly in frustration.  “No.  She didn’t ask me to kill her.  She asked me to show her my powers, so I did.”

Robin thought about that for a couple of seconds before he replied.  “If I make the mistake of asking the same of you, I beg that you spare my life.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Whatever.  I won’t kill you, Robin, or any of the other green elves, okay?  Does that make you feel better?”

“Yes, thank you.  Now, let’s begin.”

He closed his eyes all of a sudden, tilting his head back to turn his face towards the sky.  He took a deep breath, filling up his lungs; then he exhaled, letting it all out, slowly tipping his head back down.  He opened his eyes, looking right at me.  His pupils were bigger.  Blacker.  And it was freaky as hell.

“First, I would like to see the extent of your powers of self-preservation.”

Self-preservation?  What the hell ... ?

He turned to a group of elves I saw suddenly emerging from different areas of the forest.  There were about thirty or so of them and they all looked very serious, bows and arrows in hand.  Some of them began notching their arrows in place.

“I will give you thirty seconds to plan.  After that, my team will attack you.  Your plan should include evasive maneuvers, counter-attack or both.  Begin now.”

My eyes nearly fell out of my head.  “Are you fucking serious?  They have weapons!  I don’t even have my sorry little black stick!  I can’t outrun thirty arrows!  What the hell am I supposed to do?!”

“You have twenty-five seconds.”  He began stepping away.

I looked at Finn, desperation in my eyes.  “Finn!  What the hell is going on?!  They’re going to kill me!  Look!  They have fucking arrows!”

Finn was as shocked as I was.  “I ... uh ... I have no idea ... I didn’t know ... Jayne, I’m sorry ... ”  He shrugged his shoulders, freaked out and at a loss for words.

“Twenty seconds,” Robin yelled from a short distance.

I gritted my teeth, looking at the line of elves standing resolutely behind Robin, about fifty feet from me.  Their faces were set in grim determination.

Motherfucker.  This had to be some sort of retribution for the Céline debacle.

Fine.  They wanted to play.  I could play.  If I was going to go down, I might as well go down fighting.  I went from scared to angry, just like that.  I was getting pretty damned tired of being forced into these life-threatening situations.

I went down on my knees, touching the green things there, digging my hands into the soil.  I had to try something; I just wish I knew what it was.

“Fifteen seconds.”  Robin was now in line with the other killer elves.

I sent desperate images and signals out to The Green.  I knew those arrows weren’t an illusion.  They weren’t going to remain with their elf archers after the zero second mark had rung out from Robin’s lips.  How on earth was The Green going to help me survive arrows flying faster than fighter jets at my puny weak body?  I couldn’t teleport out of here.  I couldn’t weave a spell.  I was a sitting duck.  Being an elemental sucked!

The Green usually protected me by responding to mental images I sent – I told it what I wanted with pictures and it gave it to me.  This time I couldn’t do that.  I couldn’t even imagine what The Green could do to save me.  Vines to tie them up?  Not enough time.  Branches to knock them over?  None close enough.

“Ten seconds.”

Help me!  I don’t know what to ask for!  They’re going to kill me!

I received a signal back from The Green.  It was calming, soothing.  The love had come to deliver me from this awfulness.

Tears came to my eyes.  So this is it.  I’d come this far, practically sacrificed my friendship with Tony to be here and put up with endless amounts of bullshit ... only to die on the forest floor, a pincushion for the arrows of the green elves.  At least The Green had sent me a sense of peace for my final moments.

I put my head down, my shoulders dropping in defeat.  There was nothing left to do.  Except save Finn.

“Five seconds.”

“Finn.  Move away.”

“But ... ” He took a step towards me, as if he was going to shield me, looking frantically at the line of arrows he was facing.

“Go!  There’s no use.  Leave me here.”

I heard his feet move away.

At first, I didn’t want to look at the arrows coming at me, but at the last second I changed my mind.  Let these fuckers look me in the eyes when they filled me full of holes.

I raised my eyes, pissed off.  Scared, but proud.  I lifted myself up onto my knees, picking my arms up and spreading them wide.

“Kiss my ass, green elves!” I yelled.

I saw arrows being drawn back, eyes squinting as the elves took aim.

And then Robin’s voice carried across the space between us.  “Zero!”

Chapter 9

Suddenly, a green glow burst up from the ground around me.  It came shooting out of my body, from my hands, my head, my everything.  It was coming out of every pore of my body and the ground around me.

I could barely make out the forms of the elves across the training field through the green haze that surrounded me.  I couldn’t hear anything except the hum of The Green, touching every part of my body and the space near me.  I stayed there in that field of energy for I don’t know how long.  Time seemed to stand still as I welcomed it in, allowing it to soothe me, fill me with its presence.  I wondered if this is what dying was like ... the light that near-death survivors said showed up when it was time to go to heaven.  I’d never heard it described as being green, but what the heck, I was fae now.  Maybe dying fae saw green lights.

Slowly, the light began to fade.  I felt the energy withdraw back into The Green.  I let out a pent-up breath as I realized I was once again back to my regular link with it and, happily, there were no arrows sticking out of my body.  I felt full, energized, powerful.  I stood, brushing myself off, paying no attention to the elves, as the wonderfulness of The Green’s energy began to dissipate little by little.  I felt like I could have held onto that connection forever.  But I had to get the hell out of Crazytown, otherwise known as the green elves’ training grounds; and to do that, I had to get rid of the floaty, hippy love feeling The Green had sent to me.  It made me want to stay, not leave.

I realized as I finished swatting the bits of dried leaves and twigs off my tunic that it was uncommonly silent.  I looked up and was astonished at the vision that greeted me.

Every elf, including Robin and Finn, was down on one knee, head bowed.

I kept my eyes on them, sure they would soon realize I was free and jump up to use me for target practice again.  My green glowy thing must have temporarily blinded them or something.

Time to get Finn and get the hell out of here.  I walked over quietly to where he was kneeling, just a few feet away.  I nudged him in the shoulder, whispering to him as loud as I dared.  “Finn!  Come on!  Let’s go!”

He looked up at me, tears in his eyes.  He stared at me but didn’t move.  He looked like he was paralyzed.

Shit.  I’ve given them all fucking strokes.  I was in a panic now, pretty sure that one accidental stroke might be believable, but thirty of them?  Probably not.

I walked over to Robin, leaning down a little, looking at his face, trying to see if he was still conscious.  He looked up as he heard me approach.  He had tears in his eyes too.  He stood as I began speaking.

“Hey, um, Robin?  Listen, I’m sorry about that ... whatever ... ”

“Mother ... ”

One word.  That’s all he said.  Was he calling me ‘motherfucker’?  Because he had a funny way of delivering the insult.  He didn’t look even remotely mad.  He didn’t look like he wanted to kick my sorry butt.  He looked like ... like he was going to cry some more.  When I called someone a motherfucker, I was usually pretty pissed.  Like level eight pissed.  He ... was not.

“Okaaaaay, so anyway, I think that went ... well.  So whaddya say my friend Finn and I go back to the compound?”

Robin turned, signaling his troops to stand.  They all dutifully got to their feet, arms dangling by their sides.

I grabbed Finn’s elbow, ready to drag him back into the trees with me.  The minute I saw a single bow or arrow coming up, I was going to beg any nearby vines to wrap their stupid elf assses up with supersonic speed.  It’s what I should have done in the first place.  Go with what you know, that’s what Tony always used to say.  There was nothing more I wanted right at that moment than to talk to my best friend.  I missed him desperately.

This entire situation settled it.  If they didn’t give me a phone or some way to contact Tony, I was outta here.  This whole ‘welcome to our party, now we’re going to kill you’ shit was total bullhonkey.

“Come on, Finn, we’re leaving.”

Finn stumbled along, following my lead but saying nothing.  He was totally out of it.

“Where’s the door, Finn?  I don’t know how to work this shit.”

Finn didn’t respond, so I looked back at him, yelling, “Finn!  Snap out of it, dude!  I need you to tell me where the fucking door is!”

Finn stopped walking.  He looked up at me, exhaustion all over his face.  He smiled sleepily.

I went back and stood in front of him.  He watched me come all the way up, never taking his eyes from mine.  I snapped my fingers in his face.  “Helloooo?  Anyone home in there?”

“Yeah, Jayne, I’m here.  Whaddya want?”

I threw my arms up in frustration.  “What the hell is wrong with you?!  I’ve been saying it over and over!  Where is the damn door to the friggin’ compound?”

“It’s right there,” said Finn, pointing off to his right.

“Open it.”

“Okey dokey.”

Within seconds the door appeared.  Finn looked at me, grinning.  “Does that make you happy?”

“Yes!  It does.  Freak.”

Finn just smiled at me, not moving.

I grabbed his arm.  “Come on, you stupid redneck zombie.  Let’s go.”

I stepped into the hall and then stopped.  Which way, left or right?  I imagined Dardennes’ little sitting room; maybe he’d be there and I could go confess my sins.  I got a weird vibe off to my right, so I went that way, dragging Finn with me.

Spike appeared, coming out of a doorway on our left.  Immediately his eyes started to glow red.  “Well, hello, Jayne.”  He smiled at me, giving me his famous hotsexy grin.

“Not now, Spike, I don’t have time for your shit.”

Spike was taken aback.  He snapped back to regular Spike ... the non-incubus Spike.  “Why?  What’s wrong?”

“Just help me get Finn to Dardennes’ office.”

A door just up ahead had a candleglow around the edges.  This must be what Finn was talking about, that I’d know the door when I saw it.

I knocked on the door three times.

“Enter!” I heard, coming from inside.

I pushed on the heavy door, swinging it inwards, dragging Finn in by the hand.  Spike followed and shut the door behind us.

Dardennes was sitting at his desk, Céline standing at his right looking over his shoulder at a map laid out on the surface.  Niles the dwarf was on his left, also examining the document.  Ivar stood in the corner, a few paces back from them, near one of the many floor to ceiling bookshelves.

Dardennes lifted an eyebrow as we approached.  “Yes, Jayne?  How may we help you?”

I sighed, a little guiltily.  “I think I did it again.”

“Did what again?”

“Gave some elves a stroke or something.  Like I did to Céline.”

Dardennes looked at Céline and then at Niles.  They all looked back at me with questions in their eyes.

“Which elves?”

“You know very well which elves.  The green elves.  The ones you told to try and kill me today.”

Dardennes chuckled.  “Jayne, the green elves did not try to kill you.  Perhaps you are letting your imagination get away from you.”

“Listen, old man, when thirty elves notch arrows in their bows at you and tell you that you have thirty seconds to figure out how to defend yourself, that’s attempted murder.  It’s not my friggin’ imagination.”  I grabbed Finn by the shoulder of his tunic, pulling him forward.  “Tell ‘em Finn.  Tell ‘em what they did.”

They turned their gaze to Finn.

Finn said nothing.

I whacked him on the back.  “Finn!  Wake up, you redneck idiot!  Tell them what happened.”

“Wait, Jayne, let me see what I can do,” said Céline, coming around the desk, looking concerned.

She reached Finn, stopping in front of him.  She took his hands in hers and stared into his eyes.  I could see her thumbs rubbing circles on the backs of his hands.

Finn was smiling, saying nothing.

“Finn.  Where are you right now?”

“I’m in the light.”

“Are you in The Green?”

“Yes.”

Céline broke her gaze away and looked over at Dardennes, nodding at him.  He reciprocated the gesture, giving her some sort of approval.

Céline turned back to Finn.  “Finn, I need you to come out of The Green.  Come back to us here at the compound.”

“No.”

“Yes,” she said sternly, jerking on his hands.  “You cannot stay in The Green.  Mother needs you here.”

Finn had the look of a petulant child on his face – a child who was going to refuse an order from his parent; but then he reluctantly gave in.  He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them back up.

He saw Céline standing right smack in front of him and backed his head up as far as he could without stepping away from her.  He pulled his hands from hers and leaned a bit to the right, looking around her left shoulder to Dardennes and the others by the desk.  Then he turned his head sideways, looking at me.

“Jayne?  What in the H-E-double hockey sticks is goin’ on here?”

I smiled in relief.  “Welcome back, Finn, you crazyass motherfucker.  You scared the shit out of me, you know that?”

Spike started laughing.  “Wow, what was that all about?  That was awesome!  Finn, dude, you were in like a trance or something.”  Spike turned to me.  “You did that to him?  Do me next.  Come on, do it.”  He was tapping himself on the chest, totally psyched about the idea of being sent into The Green where, apparently, Finn had just come from.  Spike was way more amped up than I was used to him being.

Céline stepped away from Finn, going back to stand by Niles.  “We need to get a crew out to the green elf training grounds immediately.  Niles?”

Niles gave a sharp nod.  “We will handle it.”

Dardennes turned to look over his shoulder.  “Ivar, get some of the ogres in on this too please.  I don’t want any arrows getting loose.”

Ivar nodded and joined Niles, heading out the door.

“Will someone please fill me in on what the hell is going on here? This is the second time I’ve nearly killed an elf.  Only this time it was like thirty of them.  And right before it happened Robin Hood or whoever he is specifically asked me not to do that.  He’s gonna be pissed.”

“First, tell us exactly what happened, then perhaps we can all piece it together.”

I looked at Finn.  “Do you remember what happened?”

“Nope.  I remember bringin’ you to the trainin’ ground, talkin’ to Robin, and then I ended up here.  I ain’t got no idea how I got here, neither.”

Finn was going to be useless, apparently.  “Fine.  So what happened is that I went there to do some training with Finn.  Robin said something about them testing my self-preservation instincts, and then he told me I had thirty seconds to defend myself.  Next thing I know, all thirty of those trigger happy elves had their arrows up and were getting ready to shoot me dead – right there in front of Finn.  I tapped into The Green, told Finn to get the hell out of the way, and then I let ‘er rip.”

“You let her rip,” said Céline.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.  I let ‘er rip.”

“ ‘Her’ being ... ?”

“ ‘Her’ being the connection.  The power.  The energy.  You know, Céline.  The Green.”

Céline nodded, a smile on her lips.  “Yes, I do know.”

“It was different this time though.”

“In what way?” asked Dardennes.

I was about to answer, but then I decided I’d had enough of their twenty questions.  It was my turn for a change.

“Listen.  I’m getting tired of all these questions.  I think it’s time you answered some of mine.  Like first of all, how come all the fae around here keep trying to kill or maim me?  And how come you tell me you’re going to help me figure out what my powers are, as if that’s important to you, and then do it by having other people try to drown me, drain me, or shoot me?  Why the secret hallways?  What’s up with tricking the brownies with chocolate balls?  How come my bedroom doesn’t have a window?  Why does everyone but me have a group of friends to train with?  Where’s Tony and how can I contact him?  And what’s with the mystery meats that are still moving on the buffet?”

I had more questions, but I’d run out of breath.  I was getting ready to let them have another barrel-full, when Dardennes held up his hand.

“Okay.  Fair enough.  You have a few things on your mind, I can see.  Let us do what we can to clarify some of these issues for you.  I cannot guarantee that you will like the answers you hear though.”

“Just, for the love of all that is holy, tell me the friggin’ truth, would you please?  I’m tired of all the lies and secrets.”

“I will do my best.”  Dardennes cleared his throat.  “To answer your questions, if I remember them correctly: we certainly did not plan for any of the fae to hurt or try to kill you.  What happened in the lake was sanctioned by me, but you were not in danger of dying.  The worst that could have happened would have been the need to pump your lungs – but we were fairly certain you had the affinity to Water that would have made that outcome unlikely.  Regarding the situation with the green elves, we are not sure what happened there.  The actions taken by Robin of The Green were not part of the plan and so we need to speak with him to determine his reasoning.”

I interrupted him.  “Yeah, good luck with that.  All he does is cry and call me Mother.”

Dardennes and Céline both got funny looks on their faces.  They looked at each other, and then back at me.

“Are you certain?  He called you Mother?”

“Yeah.  And he’s not the first one to do that either.”

“Who else has called you this?” asked Dardennes, anxiously.

“The hag.  The one I killed during the test.”

“When did she call you that?  When she first saw you?”

“No.  After I stuck her with Blackie ... my sharp stick.  Her face changed – it got younger and pretty.  Then she called me mother and ... well ... disintegrated.”

Spike was looking at me with his mouth hanging open.  He stepped over and nudged me with his elbow.  “What’s up with all the secrets, woman?  Fess up.  What other juicy info are you leaving out?”

“Has anyone else called you this name?”

“No.  Just the hag and Robin.  Oh, and Finn too.”

Dardennes turned to Céline.  “We need to call an emergency meeting.  Get everyone in the compound.  Now, please.”

Céline moved to leave the room.  “Finn, come with me.”

They left the room without sparing us a glance.

“Alright Dardennes, explain to me what’s going on before I really lose my cool.”

“All will be explained to you in the meeting.  I expect the soonest we will be able to get everyone together will be in one hour.  The green elves will need assistance and I need everyone at the meeting.  Please join us in the large meeting hall at around three-thirty.”

“Dardennes ... ”

He stopped on his way out, taking me by the arm and gently propelling me in front of him.  Spike followed behind.  “Jayne, I know you have questions.  Believe me, I understand.  I promise you, I will answer all of them to the best of my ability at the meeting.  Just please be patient a little while longer.”

I stopped in my tracks, refusing to move any farther.  “I’ll make you a deal; I’ll be patient a little longer if you let me email Tony – right now.”

Dardennes sighed loudly, obviously annoyed.  “You can wait ... ”

“No!  I’m not waiting.  Hook me up or get the hell outta my way, ‘cause I’m outta here.”

He looked at me sternly, reminding me for a moment of my father – and that wasn’t a good thing.  I launched my crazyass high school staredown tactics on him.  There was no way he could defeat me now.

“Fine.  Follow me.”

That’s right, bitch.  But I was only slightly pacified ... he still hadn’t answered my questions.

He led Spike and me down the hall to a door that opened at his touch.  Inside were three computers lined up next to each other on a long table.  “You may use the computers here.  They have firewalls to protect against intruders.  Please don’t forget the meeting at three-thirty.”

He left in a hurry, before either of us could remember to ask him where the large meeting hall is.

“Cool.  Computers.  Internet.”  Spike sat down at one of them and wiggled the mouse, getting the screen to power up.

I sat down next to him, doing the same thing, looking at him askance and wondering if I had to worry about him biting me or anything.

He caught me looking at him.  “Listen Jayne, about earlier ... ”

“Yeah, what was that all about anyway?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but I do know that as an incubus, whatever sex drive I had before, it’s like, multiplied by a hundred now.  Valentine is trying to show me how to control it, but to be honest, he’s not that good at controlling it himself, so he’s not a lot of help.  Actually,” he paused to laugh, “Jared and Chase were more effective at helping me with that than Valentine has been so far.”

“How so?”

“They threatened to beat the shit out of me if I touched you again.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.  “It’s not up to them who I touch and who I don’t.”

Spike held up his hand, not looking at me.  “I hear ya, Jayne, believe me.  But don’t even for a second give me any signal that you’re interested in doing anything with me right now, not even a kiss, unless you’re literally ready to get the life sucked out of you.  This isn’t a game.  I realized that today.  This fae shit is dangerous, and I need to figure it out before I go making any more moves on you.”

He looked at me then, an apology on his face.  “It’s nothing personal.  You know I ... well, like I said.  It’s better if I don’t talk about it now.  I’m just gonna go read the sports pages and get my mind off it.”

He turned back to the computer.

The rebel in me wanted to do something to tempt him.  The survivor in me, the one who had just fought off thirty wacko elves, told me to leave it alone.  For now, that’s what I was going to do.  Later though?  No promises.

I got into my Internet account and searched for an email from Tony, but there was nothing.  I tried not to be upset about it.  He’d only been home a day or so, and I wasn’t sure how much that erasing had affected him.

I started a new message: Hey Tones.  What’s up?  How’s school?  Well, I really miss you.  Can’t wait to see you.  Hugs!  Love, Jayne.

I was afraid to say more than that.  I wasn’t even sure what story they gave him, to account for where I was.  Did he think I ran away?  Did they make him believe I was on vacation?  Did they erase me from his mind entirely?

The thought of that instantly got my blood boiling.  If they did, there was going to be hell to pay.  I’d pull up The Green and put every one of these motherfuckers in a friggin’ coma.  I’d ....

“Uh, Jayne?  Are you doing something right now?”

I looked over at Spike to see what his problem was.  His eyes were glowing red again.  “Spiiiike ... ”

The red faded and he chuckled.  “Phew!  For a second there I thought you were going to Green me or something.”

“Green you? What the hell is that?”

“You know.  Send me into the light or whatever you do ... where Finn was earlier.”

I shoved him hard, knocking him halfway out of his chair.

“Shut up, you idiot.”

Spike smiled, holding up his hands waving them back and forth like a crazy clown,  “Nooooo!!  Don’t go into the liiiigght!!!”

I pointed my finger at him.  “Don’t piss me off, incubus boy.”

“Oooh, scary.”  His eyes started to glow again.

“Put your shit away, suck fuck.  It’s not sexy time right now.”

The glow flared up strong but then died down until it was just a tiny ember, deep in his eyes.

“I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

“Spike, I’m warning you ... ”

“Whatever you say ... Mother.”

I shoved him super hard this time, sending him completely out of his chair.  He was laughing his ass off on the floor.  He kept pointing at me, trying to talk, but by now he was in hysterics.  “Mo ....
Moth .....
Moth ...”

The door opened and Chase was standing in the doorway.  “What’s up?”

Spike and I looked at him in silence for two seconds.  Then we both started laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants.  Every time I looked at either of them, it got worse.  I think the stress of everything that had happened just finally got to me.  My laughing seemed to be an overreaction to something that wasn’t very funny, but at the same time, seemed perfectly appropriate.  Surviving a near drowning and firing squad skewed my reasoning, I think.

Chase shook his head silently and shut the door, coming in and kicking Spike out of his way so he could sit down at the computer.

He clicked on the mouse a few times and said, “Cool.  Martha Stewart has a new cookbook out.”

That was it.  I was done for.  I was cracking up so badly now I was snorting, just trying to breathe.  Tears were pouring down my face.  Spike was wheezing on the floor, curled up in a ball.  He couldn’t even get up he was laughing so hard.

Chase didn’t even bother looking at us.  He was too busy reading reviews on Amazon for the new book.  “Looks like a winner, too.”

I put my hand on his shoulder, gasping for air, trying to talk.  “Chase ... dude ... you’re killing me ... stop!”

He reached up and patted my hand, saying nothing.

I had just started to get control of myself and Becky walked in.  “Hey guys!  What’s new?”

Spike sat up, rubbing his hands on his face and then through his unkempt, spikey black hair.  “Oh, nothin’ much.  Jayne’s been kickin’ fae ass all over the forest.  I’m stalking her.  Chase is mooning over Martha Stewart.”

I pointed at him.  “Do not start this all over again.”  I hiccupped, trying to keep myself from falling into fits of laughter again.  If I wasn’t careful I was gonna barf.

“Wow.  Looks like I missed all the good stuff.  I always miss the good stuff.  It’s not fair.”  She looked at what Chase was doing.  “Oh, Internet.  Let me on!”

He tilted his head towards the other two computers.

I reached over and hit ‘Send’ on my message and then logged out.  Tony was six hours behind me, which I found out by doing a quick online search based on the computer’s IP address location– turns out this Light Fae compound was somewhere in Europe ... France I think – so I wasn’t sure if he’d see the message until much later.  Right now he’d be in school.  I was going to have to figure out some way to get back here after lights out to check if he sent me a reply.

“What time is it?” Spike asked, getting up from the floor.

“Almost three,” said Becky, as she surfed the Net.

“We have a big meeting at three-thirty.  We all have to go.  It’s in the big assembly hall.  Anyone know where that is?”

“Yep,” said Chase.

“I’ve never been there,” said Becky.  “The couple meetings I’ve been to were in the smaller meeting room – the informal one.”

Spike pulled up a chair from the edge of the room so he could sit behind Becky and me.  “So Becks, what’d you do today?”

“Nothing much.  Worked on teleporting farther distances.  Met some more sprites.  I met a totally hot wood sprite today.  He is like totally buff, Jayne, you would not believe the muscles on his arms.  He ... ”

I grabbed her arm to stop her.  I noticed Spike was listening a little too closely, the embers in his eyes flaring up.

I snapped my fingers in front of his face.  “Easy there hot stuff.  Relax.  She’s talking about a wood sprite for fuck’s sake.”

Spike shook his head out of its daze.  “Ooops, sorry.  I must have been latching onto her arousal.”

Becky looked at him in disgust.  “My arousal?  Ew.  Stay away from my arousal, Spike.  That’s none of your business.”

He shrugged.  “Can’t help it.  If it’s sexy talk, yours or anyone else’s, I’m interested.  I can sense it from a loooong ways away too.”  He moved his eyebrows up and down a few times at us.  “So, if you need me, just send me a signal and I’ll come runnin’.”  He gave us both a lecherous smile.

I whacked him on the arm.  “Seriously, Spike.  You’re starting to get annoying now.  I liked you better when you were more understated about it.”

“You like understated?  I can do understated.”

Chase turned in his seat, glaring at Spike.  “Cool it down, or I will cool it down for you.”

Spike sat back, putting his hands up in surrender.  “Chill, daemon, chill.  I’m cool.”  He looked at us innocently, like Chase was the crazy one,  “We’re all cool here, right girls?”

Chase turned back around, and Spike rolled his eyes.

I looked at Chase with new respect.  I wondered what daemon tricks he was learning that made Spike afraid of him like that.  Man, I wished I’d had Chase with me today.  I wondered if he would have gone into that green haze along with all the elves.  I’d hate to have to drag him around all wasted too.  Finn was bad enough, but at least he was small and easy to maneuver.

Becky and Chase logged off at the same time.

“You guys wanna go to the meeting hall now?  I don’t think it’s a big deal if we’re early,” said Becky.

We all agreed we might as well go, and left the room, following Chase down the hallway.  Soon we were standing in front of a large double door.  This one was bigger than any door I’d seen at the compound so far.  I wondered why I hadn’t seen the damn thing in all the other trips I’d made this way.

Chase pushed the door open and we found ourselves at the back of an amphitheater.  There was a space at the opposite end of the room where the speakers or other important people would stand and then a semi-circle shaped table behind that with a single row of ten seats behind it, all of them raised up a couple feet higher than the main standing room area.  In front of these were rows and rows of tables curved the opposite direction with aisles cut between them, down the center, and on the ends.  These seats were for the audience.  There was probably enough room for two hundred fae or more, if you included the spaces on the sides of the room and behind the last row of seats.

Already seated in the single raised row of ten seats at the far end of the room were Dardennes, Niles, Robin, Naida, the wolfman, and several others I didn’t recognize.  Several fae were coming in the door behind us, filtering through and taking seats.

I was huddled next to Becky and Spike, Chase standing behind us, when two fae walked by, talking to one another.  I overheard part of their conversation.

“Like I said before, we have to be careful ... ” the fae stopped talking when he saw me watching him, grabbing his friend by the elbow and steering him away from us.  I saw him say something in the fae’s ear, and the other fae turned around to look at me before his friend jerked his arm and whispered feverishly again.

He didn’t look familiar, so why did he sound like someone I knew?

I nudged Becky.  “Hey, Beck.  Do you know those fae?”  I pointed to the pair who was hurriedly moving away from us.

“Nope.”

“Chase, do you know either of those guys?”

Chase frowned, shaking his head no.

“Why?” asked Spike.

“I don’t know.  I remember his voice from somewhere, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Then it came to me.

“Wait!  I know where I’ve heard him before!  He was the one outside the bathroom the other night, talking about eliminating fae!”

Chapter 10

“Who’s eliminatin’ fae?” said Finn, walking up.

“Shhh!  Not so loud.”  I looked back over, but the two fae had disappeared into the crowd.

“Where the heck have you been?” asked Becky.

“Sheee-it.  Cleanin’ up Jayne’s mess.”  He flinched.  “Ow! Damn, Chase, lift weights much?”  Finn was rubbing his arm where Chase had just hit him.

“What does he mean, he was cleaning up your mess?” asked Becky.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Yeah, let’s focus on the fae eliminating other fae, why don’t we,” said Spike.

“Tell us,” said Becky.

“Come closer.”  I motioned for everyone to move in for a huddle.  I didn’t want anyone else listening in; I had no idea who was friends with who in this place.

“I was in the bathroom the other night, getting ready to come out, and I heard voices in the hallway.  They stopped right in front of the door, so I was able to hear what they were saying – something about me being the one they were looking for maybe and that they needed to eliminate some people.  Something about how certain changelings or fae couldn’t be around when they started something.”

“Started what?” asked Finn.

“I have no idea.”

“Are you sure they mentioned you, specifically?” asked Spike.

“Yes, they said, ‘the changeling Jayne’.  That part I do remember, very clearly.”

“And they used the word ‘eliminate’?” asked Finn.

“Yes.  It freaked me out.  I thought they were talking about ... ,” I bent in closer and lowered my voice even more, “ ... killing someone or someones.”

Becky’s eyes bugged out.  “Maybe they meant us.  Like us changelings.”

We all looked at each other, simultaneously exchanging worried glances.

A familiar voice rang out in the room, interrupting our discussion.  “Thank you all for coming, if you could please find a seat so we can begin, that would be appreciated.”

“Let’s talk about this later tonight at dinner,” said Finn.

We all nodded our agreement, walking towards the aisle that cut through the center of the amphitheater.  When we got there, we realized there weren’t any seats left, so we all stood behind the back row.

I looked around at all the fae gathered in the room.  They were all shapes and sizes.  Some looked just like my friends and me.  Others were obviously not human – fae like Gander and even Niles.  He could pass as a human dwarf, but all his commando gear made it less likely that he’d be able to blend in.  A couple fae were standing next to the head table; I didn’t need a fae identification table to know they were ogres, like Ivar.  They were huge and had big eyebrow ridges.  I looked up at Chase who was standing to my left.  He wasn’t as big as them, but I could see how Dardennes might have wondered if he had some ogre blood.  He looked like a Viking ogre or something, if there was such a thing, with his blond hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones.  I tried not to let my gaze linger on his amazing body, but it was hard.  He was like a male model – the athletic type.  I had to force myself to look away so I wouldn’t put Spike on alert again.

All of the fae wore moccasins and some sort of tunic over their pants, but that’s where the similarities of dress ended.  There had to be at least ten different colors of tunics and several different types of pants too.  I was wearing jeans, but some of the fae had on stretchy pants; some even wore tights.  I looked at Spike, and for the first time realized he was wearing all black as his fae uniform.  It suited him perfectly.

Some of the fae also wore jewelry; the sprites especially had the most beautiful necklaces.  I noticed for the first time that these tunics we had on were great for low-hanging chains.  I wondered if I could get Netter to find me a cool necklace.

I saw Finn lift his head in greeting at a green elf who was sitting in a group of fae, all wearing the same dark green tunic Finn had on.  I wondered if he was one of the elves I had whammied earlier.

As soon as Dardennes began speaking again, the room became instantly quiet.

“Fae friends and family.  Thank you for coming to this meeting on such short notice.  We have some important business to attend to and some things to discuss.  We decided after some events occurred today, that it could not wait for our regularly scheduled assembly.”

Dardennes looked to the back of the room and locked eyes with me.  “Changeling Jayne, will you please come to the front.”

I panicked and grabbed Chase by the arm.  I had a terrible feeling that I was in trouble.  This was like going to the Vice Principal’s office, only with a huge audience of people watching, some of whom I’d recently put into near-comas.  There’s no way this could be good.

Chase peeled me off his arm and enveloped my hand in his big, strong, warm one.  He began walking up the aisle bringing me with him.  My heart was fluttering in my chest from the apprehension, but I felt much better having him with me.  Screw being a strong, independent woman.  I wanted my daemon with me.

“Thank you Chase, but you may remain in the back,” said Dardennes.

“No!” I said a little too loudly.  Then in a calmer voice I said, “He stays with me.”

I looked up at Chase and he nodded, squeezing my hand to let me know he was okay with it.

“As you wish.”

We arrived at the front of the room, facing the head table full of who I assumed were the elders of the fae council we had heard mentioned a few times.  Only one seat was empty – the one in front of Dardennes.  He remained standing, facing Chase and me and the rest of the fae in the amphitheater, the head table between him and us.

Dardennes leaned forward a bit and spoke in a low tone, just for me.  “Jayne, please turn and face the attendees.”

I turned nervously, looking out at all of the faces in front of me.  I felt like I was on trial.  I don’t know what I would have done if Chase hadn’t been there with me.  Probably peed my pants or puked on myself.  I tried not to squeeze his hand too hard.

“Today, the changeling Jayne attended her first day of training.  We suspected, taking her into these sessions, that she is an elemental.”

Some whispering started but then calmed down when Dardennes continued.

“We have confirmed that she has a strong – or I should say very strong – affinity for Earth.”

A fae stood at the back of the room.  I couldn’t see who it was because he was too far back.  “How did you confirm this?”

Céline stood from her chair at the head table.  “I personally submitted myself to a test of her connection.  I can verify that she communicates with The Green ... ”

The murmuring around the room began before she finished, so Céline raised her voice to be heard for the last bit, “ ... and The Green does her bidding.”

The roar of voices that burst forth was unmistakable.  These fae were pissed.

Chase’s hand stayed dry and warm.  Mine went cold and clammy.  He squeezed me reassuringly and stepped closer.  His big, warm bulk made me feel safer.  All I could think was thank goodness he ate all that meat; I’m sure his appetite helped keep him so huge.  I was never going to think badly about that buffet of squiggling meat again.  As far as I was concerned, he could eat that shit at every meal.

Dardennes held up his hands for quiet.  “There was a second test for Jayne today as well.”

Everyone settled down, only an occasional whisper leaking through the hushed silence.

“The Lady of the Lake, Naida, tested the changeling Jayne in her realm.  Jayne entered the lake and connected with the Water element.  She was accepted into the kingdom of the water sprites.  Therefore, we have confirmation from Naida that Jayne also has an affinity to Water.  We do not yet know if she commands It.”

There were some angry looks still, but not the outbursts I had been expecting.  I guess water wasn’t such a big deal to them.  Or maybe it was the whole idea of me commanding the elements that pissed them off.

“And finally, the reason we called you here, the changeling Jayne was given one more test.  By the green elves.”

All of the fae were looking over to our right, where the green elves were seated and standing as a group.  I recognized one face as he separated himself and came over to stand next to Dardennes at the head table.  It was Robin.  He looked fine.  He was moving a bit slowly, his face expressionless, but he was alive.

Well, I guess that means I’m not on trial for murder.

“I have asked Robin of The Green to give you his firsthand account of this test ... Robin?”

Robin kept his hands on the wood of the bow resting over his shoulder as he spoke.  “The changeling Jayne was assigned to our group for the afternoon.  She was escorted to the training field by our new recruit, changeling Finn.  The green elves had conferred with the council and determined our first order of business would be to familiarize her with the mission of the green elves and to determine what her skills could do to enhance or inhibit ours.  I informed the changeling of our plans.”  He paused and looked first at the head table and then out to the audience before continuing.  “That is the last thing I remember saying.  My next clear memory is that of waking up inside the compound, in the infirmary.”

Robin finished his monologue, and you could have heard a pin drop in the room.  It was silent for a full five seconds.  Then the room erupted in yells, murmurs, and the sounds of people getting up and moving around.

I looked out at the fae in front of me.  Only a few of them were still sitting.  The rest of them were standing, yelling at fae around the room, at the elders at the head table, or at the fae right next to them.  It was total chaos.

The blare of a horn rang out across the room.  The noises of the fae quieted quickly, and they all took their seats – some of them reluctantly, especially the dwarves.

“Please, friends, we need to determine what happened and what this means for our people.  We ask that you listen and withhold judgment until we have all of the facts.  That is the purpose of our meeting today.  Before we leave tonight, and I mean tonight, not this afternoon, because we will stay here as long as we have to, we will know what we are dealing with and what our plan should be.”

The room was quiet again with only an occasional whisper breaking the silence.

Dardennes addressed Robin.  “Who else was present at this event?”

“My first crew, the changeling Finn, and the changeling Jayne.”

“Changeling Finn!  Come to the front!” ordered Dardennes.

Finn strode down the middle aisle, head held high.  He gripped the wood of his bow that hung over his shoulder, looking the part of a proud green elf.

He turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with me.  He grabbed my hand and squeezed it briefly before letting go.  Chase still held on to my other hand.

“Does Robin of The Green’s telling of the event match your memory of what occurred?”

“Uh,” Finn started talking, but his voice cracked.  He was nervous, but he continued on.  “A-hem, um, kinda.”

Niles stood up to speak, cranky as usual.  “Did it or didn’t it?  It is a simple yes or no question.”

Dardennes looked over at Niles, but didn’t admonish him.

Finn squared his shoulders.  “No.  It did not.”

The murmuring threatened to rise up again, but a sharp look from Dardennes stopped it from getting out of hand.

“And how was it different from your memory of events?”

“Well, what he said is what I remember to a point.  I mean, that’s what the plan was originally, but right before the exercise started, Robin kinda stopped for a second and then said we were s’posed to do somethin’ different than what he told us before.”

Finn eyed Robin nervously.  Robin wasn’t looking at anyone.  He just stared at the floor, confused, as if he was trying to remember something he couldn’t.

I looked over at the other green elves.  They all looked like Robin – like they were wandering around in the weeds in their minds.  Something or someone had messed with their heads.

“What did he instruct all of the green elves to do?”

“Well, he said ... he said ... um, I’m sorry sir, but I don’t remember.”

Now Finn was doing exactly what all the other stupid green elves were doing – staring off into the distance trying to piece everything together.  Idiots.

“I’ll tell you what he said, if you want.  It’s not like I’m ever going to forget it as long as I live,” I said sarcastically, looking at Robin first, then Dardennes.

“Please, Jayne ... enlighten us.”

“Well, first he said what he told you he said; then he closed his eyes, did some kind of meditation crap, and then opened his crazy ass eyes and said, ‘I would like to see your powers of self-preservation,’ or something like that.  Then he tells me I have thirty seconds to make a plan.  Next thing I knew, all his elf buddies are lined up, putting arrows in their bows, getting ready to turn me into a fae pincushion.”

The looks of shock on the faces of the fae were priceless – including the look on Robin’s face.  I couldn’t help myself.

“Yeah, you heard me right.  Those shitheads were going to kill me.  What I did, I did in self-defense.  They had it coming.”  I nodded my head for emphasis.  No way was I going to be sorry for trying to save my own ass.  If they thought they were going to get an apology out of me, they were nuts.

The green elves were staring at each other, horror written all over their faces.  Some of them even had tears in their eyes.  Tears!  Man, were these elves sensitive or what?  How the hell did they consider themselves to be warriors of the forest if they were going to cry over one nearly worthless changeling?  They must’ve had a real pity party over all those dead orcs.

I think some of the other fae in the room where in agreement with me on that one.  They were all looking over at the green elves like they were cuckoo or something.  Sucks to be Finn, I guess.

“Excuse me, changeling Jayne, but did you say something about meditation?”

This question came from a little wrinkled guy at the head table.  I don’t remember ever seeing him before.  He reminded me of the hag – old and wrinkly, wearing a gray cloak.

“Yes.  I said that Robin had, like, a zen moment.  Right before he gave the kill order.”

Robin grabbed his chest when I said ‘kill order’, like he was having a heart attack.

“What do you mean by that?  What did he do?”

“He closed his eyes, looked up at the sky, sat there a couple seconds, then looked straight again and opened his eyes back up.  And when he did, they were all screwed up.”

“In what way?”

“In what way were they screwed up?”

The little man cleared his throat. “A-hem.  Yes.  That is what I meant.”

“Well, his whole eye, the color part, was black.”

Robin’s head dropped to his chest.  The other elves joined him in this solemn gesture.  So did Finn.

I leaned towards Finn and talked out of the corner of my mouth.  “What the hell is wrong, Finn?”

“Shame,” is all he would say.

The wrinkled interrogator said one word.  “Witches.”

The room exploded with noise again.  People on the left side of the room were yelling at people on the right.  A group of people in gray tunics at the back of the room were waving their hands around wildly, some of them brandishing staffs above their heads.  It was starting to look ugly.

The horn went off again, and everyone settled down, reluctantly this time.  Man, I had to get one of those horns.  I wondered if Netter could find one.  What would I call it?  The ‘shut the fuck up’ horn?  That seemed to fit.

Dardennes began speaking again.  “I think it would be fair to say that today we had some interference with the test by an outside source.  I will assume for now that the outside source is Dark Fae.”

Someone in one of the gray tunics stood up in the back.  “The Light Fae witches deny any involvement in this incident!”

More murmurs now, some even from the head table.

“How is she standing here now?” yelled a voice from the crowd.  “If the Dark Fae witches interfered and the green elves were given the order to kill her, how did she survive?  We all know that no one escapes the warriors of The Green.”

Hmmm.  Some respect for the green elves.  Can I get a whoot whoot!  These fae were crazy.  The green elves might be all super badass most of the time, but earlier today they were crying for their mommas.  That didn’t seem all that warrior-like to me.  Dammit, I wish Tony were here right now so we could mock these guys hard.  Or so I could mock them hard and Tony could smile indulgently.  I wonder if he got my email.

“Perhaps Robin can shed some light on that for us,” said the wrinkled old man at the head table.

“I can help too, I believe,” said Céline.  “I believe I had a taste today of what Robin and his men experienced at the hands of our young Jayne.”

She smiled graciously at me, so maybe that meant she wasn’t going to sell me out for nearly killing her.  I wondered how many friends she had in the audience.  I hoped not too many.  I quickly scanned the audience for silver-gray tunics and only saw a couple.  Phew.

“Jayne has a connection to The Green that she can call up and link to at will.  It is instantaneous for her.  She pulls not just from the trees, but the creatures, air, water, everything in The Green.  The Green wishes to protect her.  It wishes to do her bidding.  I felt this power today.  It was too much for a silver elf, even an elder such as myself, to manage.  I was put into a state of suspended animation – it took two highly skilled witches to pull me back.”

The room was quiet, everyone waiting for more.

Robin raised his head and began speaking.  “I do not remember giving an order to do harm, but I do remember a green light surrounding me.  I had feelings ... emotions ... things I cannot describe to you; they came over me, took over my consciousness, nearly ripping me in two while smothering me at the same time.  At the end, when I thought I could bear no more, I saw her ... ”

He looked over at me.  All of the green elves looked over at me.  I could see their heads swiveling in unison out of the corner of my eye.  Finn turned and looked at me too.  And then he went down on one knee.

I got a look of horror on my face.  What in the holy hell was he going to do?  Propose?

“Finn!  What the fuck?!  Get up!”  I was gesturing with my hand, motioning for him to get off his knees, but he ignored me.

I watched as all of the green elves got down on one knee too.  I looked to Robin for an explanation, completely lost for words.

Robin continued, looking me in the eye.  “We all saw her as she truly is.  The Messenger of Light.  She is the one we have longed for, waited for, needed – for all of these long centuries.  She is ... Mother.”  A tear slid down his cheek and hit his chest.  He went down on one knee like the others, bowing his head as he did.

I felt like I was going to barf.  I swallowed over and over to keep the bile down.  My dirty nails dug into Chase’s hand as I squeezed it as hard as I could.  So many things were rushing through my head right then ... Tony with his gun pointed at Brad and the leaves raining down on my head ... the warehouse, singing songs with Spike on the guitar, Jared blowing smoke rings and offering to help us find our way ... the meeting at the hotel and that fucking ridiculous interview question ...

‘If you could be a superhero, which one would you be and why?’

Why the hell did I do it?  Why did I write it down?  Dardennes had tried to warn me.  He and Céline had asked me: “Why that one?  Why did you pick that superhero?”

How was I supposed to know what it would mean?

Chase looked at me, worry written all over his face.  He turned, releasing my hand and taking my shoulders in his hands.

“Jayne, talk to me.  What’s going on?”  He searched my eyes, looking for answers.

“I didn’t know!”

“You didn’t know what?”

“Chase, I didn’t fucking know!”  I was in a panic.  I had to get out of here.  I was trapped.  I felt like I was going to have a friggin’ heart attack.  I was dying.

“Jayne, you didn’t know what?!”

“That I should’ve picked a different superhero!”

Chase’s face screwed up in confusion.  “What are you talking about?”

“Which superhero did you choose?”  I grabbed his arms and squeezed hard, digging my nails into his skin.  “During the interview ... which one?!”

“Ironman,” he said softly, “Why?  Who did you choose?”

I looked at him with tears of frustration in my eyes.  “That’s what all these dumbass fairies are trying to tell you, Chase.”

“What?”

“Mother Nature.  I chose Mother Fucking Nature.”

Chapter 11

Chase gave me a half-smile while his brain started processing all the craziness around us.  Green elves on their knees, shedding tears for me ... stories of the power of The Green doing my bidding ... me sending an energy into these fae that none of them could fight, that none of them even wanted to fight.

The light bulb went on.  “So you think, because you chose Mother Nature as your superhero on that questionnaire, that you somehow became Mother Nature, is that it?”

I nodded my head, tears in my eyes.  I didn’t trust myself to speak because I was sure I was going to start bawling.

“Don’t be silly.  Do you see Ironman standing here in front of you?”

I shrugged my shoulders.  “Kinda.”

He shook his head in denial.  “No, you don’t.  You just see a bigger than average guy who has a knack for protecting potty-mouthed girls.  So just relax.  Let’s see how this thing plays out.”  He tilted his head to the side so he could see Finn.  “Finn, get up.  You’re making it worse.”

Finn reluctantly got to his feet.  He wouldn’t look me in the eye, so I elbowed him.  He had better knock that shit off or I was gonna coma-size him, or whatever that thing was called that I did, making everyone go nutty with The Green.

I finally stepped out of my personal pity party bubble to see what was going on around me.  There wasn’t as much commotion following this announcement as there had been before.  There were lots of confused faces in the crowed.  Some fae were looking at their friends or neighbors, gauging their expressions, as if trying to decide how to react.  Eventually everyone looked to Dardennes for guidance.

The fae at the head table were in a private conference, all gathered around the old man who had asked me the questions about Finn and Robin.  Some were nodding their heads, some just staring at the old man who was gesticulating like crazy and doing most of the talking.

The chatter in the audience began again and eventually the room was filled with the noise.  I leaned over to Chase who had moved to stand beside me.  “Do you think we could sneak out of here, maybe?”

He shook his head ‘no’.

Spoilsport.

Dardennes separated himself from the others at the head table and faced the audience again.

“We have come to some conclusions.  May I have your silence, please?”

It was like he turned off a light switch.  Instant quiet.

“Changelings, please come to the front.  All of you.”

I watched as my friends emerged from the back of the amphitheater and came to join Chase, Finn, and me in front of the head table.  Becky stood in front of us and Spike took a position next to Finn.

“As all of you but our newest members know, we have been waiting for the return of our Mother for centuries.  We call this fae Mother, but I believe the humans refer to her as Mother Nature.”

I made bug-eyes at Chase who raised an eyebrow back at me.  I fucking told him!  No one ever listens to me ...

“We have reports that the Dark Fae have an elemental in their midst with an affinity to Fire.  This makes sense since we are certain that our Jayne has an affinity to Earth and Water.”  Dardennes looked to the old man before continuing.  “It is probably safe to assume that this Dark Fae elemental has an affinity to air as well.”

The murmuring began again.  Most of the heads in the room were bobbing excitedly up and down now.  I had no friggin’ idea what Dardennes was talking about or what the significance of it all was.

I shot a ‘what the fuck’ look at Dardennes and he nodded at me.  I think he was starting to understand what that look meant.

“For the benefit of our new changelings here, I’d like to take a few moments to outline a part of our fae history.”  He turned so he was addressing us specifically.  “In human mythology and legend, there are two figures who are often mentioned in relation to the Earth and its human and animal inhabitants: Mother Nature and Father Time.  As you may have already learned, many human legends or myths are versions of our fae reality.  This one has some similarities, but there exist some key differences as well.”

Dardennes looked out to the audience and continued.  “The fae we call Mother has always been an elemental.  She has always been tied to the Earth element.  All creatures and inhabitants of The Green answer to her.  With the Mother we find life, our connection to one another and our planet, and ultimately, love.”

He began to pace, alternatively looking at the ground and the ceiling, hands clasped behind his back.  “Father Time, as the humans call him, is invariably also an elemental in the fae world.  The divergence in the fae concept of Father Time as a historical figure begins with the Time portion.  In the fae world, the Father or ‘Father’, as we call him, has no power over or affinity to time.  Time is not an element.  However, Father is the opposing force of Mother, in that he has an affinity for the elements that Mother does not.  And while Mother shows us the connections and love, Father shows us the passion and strength that we all share as species that share this planet.  Together, our Mother and our Father, control or are connected to all four elements of the fae world.”

I was starting to get a very uncomfortable feeling about this Father person, whoever he was, with his affinity for air and fire – especially the fire part.  I had never been a fan of forest fires, but I especially wasn’t now, since I was so connected to The Green and everything and everyone in it.  And the idea of me as this Mother person?  No friggin’ way.  It was too out of this world crazy to be true.  There’s no way I could just mark an answer on a test and suddenly become a fae goddess or whatever.  Especially not me.  I’m pretty sure the real Mother wouldn’t say ‘fuck’ – and it’s pretty much my favorite word of all time.

“We had an elemental in our midst, centuries ago, I’m sure many of you remember him well.  We lost him to his element.”  Dardennes put his head down, showing respect for the dead – or disintegrated.  “We have long awaited another.”  He lifted his head and looked at me, slowly walking around the head table to come and stand with us, the changelings.  “And it appears now that we have found her.  Changeling Jayne is an elemental.  Of that, we are convinced.  Whether she is our Mother, only time will tell.  But one thing is certain: we need our Mother to return, if we have any hope of holding our own against the Darkness.”

Dardennes turned to look squarely at me.  He continued to speak loudly so everyone would hear, but his words were for me.  “Jayne, I know this is unsettling for you right now.  You have a lot of questions that are yet unanswered.  We will work with you to help you find the information you want and need.”  He looked out over the audience.  “My people, the fae, are naturally suspicious and doubtful.  We have been tricked by the Darkness before.”

Many heads were nodding in affirmation around the room, but no one said anything.

“As I have asked Jayne to work with us, I now ask all of you, my fellow fae, to work with Jayne as well, in our quest to find the answers that we seek.  Whether or not Jayne is our Mother, well, that is for us to learn in the future.  But whether Jayne is a fae?  That is without question.  Jayne is one of us now, one of our Light Fae family members.  And we should welcome her and the other changelings into our family and into our midst, be they Elementals, Elves, Dwarves, Sprites, Ogres, Daemons, Wrathes, Gnomes, Pixies, Incubi, Succubi, ... ” he chuckled, “ ... well, you get the picture. We must all work together to help them find their places in our family.”

A single, “Hear, hear!” rang out across the room.  It came from the green elf camp to the right.

Another answering cheer came from the opposite side of the room, from a group in red tunics.

And then they all joined in, creating a thundering cacophony of voices, vibrating off the walls of the room.

I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me.  I wasn’t going to be tried for any crime against the fae today.  I turned to look at my friends to my left and my right.  They were all smiling back at me.  Chase released my hand and put his arm across my shoulders.  Finn grabbed my other hand, holding onto it gently.

The only thing missing in this fantastic love fest was Tony.  I felt something squeeze my heart.  I had to figure out how to get him back with me.

Chapter 12

The meeting broke up and we all practically ran back to my room, doing our best to avoid the crowds and stares.  I slammed the door shut behind us.  Everyone either sat on my bed or on the floor around it.

I walked over and smacked Becky lightly with the back of my hand.  “Move over, Beckster.”

She scooted and made room for me to sit near the head of the bed.

“So,” said Becky.  “That was fun.”  She smiled at me.  “Motheerrrrr ... ”

I shoved her.  “Don’t even start that shit with me Becky or I’m gonna ... I don’t know.  Whoop your ass or something.”

She disappeared and then reappeared in the corner of the room.  “You’ll have to catch me first.”  She stuck her tongue out at me and then disappeared again, only to reappear at my feet.

I kicked her fast.  “Gotcha!”

She play-frowned while she rubbed her hip.  “Meanie.  Hey, you know what? My mother used to kick me like that ... ”

I gave her my threatening look.  “I am not fucking around Becky.”

She held up her hands.  “Okay, okay, chill.  I’m only joking.”

Even my threat couldn’t totally wipe the dopey smile off her face though.

Spike spoke up.  “Did any of you notice someone missing in there today?”

We all looked at each other, shaking our heads.

“Jared.  Jared wasn’t there.  Isn’t that kinda weird, that he wouldn’t be there for that important meeting?” asked Spike.

“He’s back in the States,” explained Chase.

“Doing what?”

“Looking into something.”

Chase was being evasive.  “Looking into what, Chase?” I asked.

“Not sure exactly.  Something in Florida.  Dark Fae stuff.”

“Where in Florida?”  I was wondering if it was anywhere near Tony.

“Dunno.”

“How come you didn’t go?” asked Finn.

“My job is here with Jayne.”

“Your job?  What job?” I asked.

“Bodyguard, basically.”

I nodded my head.  “Cool.  Super cool, actually.  Ironman is my personal body guard.”  I smiled, thinking about how awesome that was.  I ignored the nagging thoughts that were trying to intrude, about why people generally needed bodyguards in the first place.

I looked at Becky.  “Do you have a bodyguard?”

She shrugged.  “Don’t need one.  No one wants to mess with a water sprite.  Plus, we’re hard to grab.”  She sent a challenging look over to Spike.

He took the bait.  “I could grab you if I wanted to.”

“No you can’t.”

He started to get up.  “Yes I caaaaaan.”

“Nope.”

Spike moved in a blur of speed I had not expected.  One second he was on the floor, and the next he was in front of Becky, his arms wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her side.

“Gotcha!”  His eyes were glowing bright red.

“Nope!” she yelled delightedly, right before she disappeared, leaving him sitting there, hugging the empty air like a total dork.

“What the ... ?”

There was a knock at the door.  Spike moved to answer it, still confused.  He opened the door to reveal Becky standing in the doorway.

“Told you.”

She came back in and sat on the edge of the bed.

The look on Spike’s face was priceless.  Everyone except Chase started laughing their asses off.  Even Spike eventually joined in, the light in his eyes fading to a dull amber.  Chase just shook his head.  Must be the daemon in him that kept him from losing control like we seemed to be doing at the moment.

Finn managed to get back to business while the rest of us tried to catch our breath.  “So, what was that stuff you were tellin’ us about before the meetin’ started?  Somethin’ about bein’ eliminated?”

I took a deep breath to calm myself.  “Yeah.  That’s it.  I told you everything I heard.  But today I recognized the voice of one of them and he was at the meeting.”

“Who was it?” asked Chase, all business.

“I don’t know who he is.  I think he was wearing a light gray tunic.”

“Elf,” said Becky, matter of factly.

“It wasn’t the same color as Finn’s or Célines.”

“I know.  The gray elves wear light gray.”

“Why would a gray elf want to eliminate one of us?  We’re practically harmless.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re harmless, Jayne,” said Finn.  “You turned a whole group of warrior fae into a buncha blubberin’ babies, me included, I’m sorry to say.”

“Yeah, but that’s a lot different than actually being a threat.  Sure, I can make someone cry.  I don’t see how that’s very threatening.  I’ve been able to do that to other kids since kindergarten.”

Becky admonished me.  “Jayne, did you make other children cry when you were little?  Were you a bully?”

“Hell, no.  But if I was in the play area playing with the mini-kitchen and some bossy little bitch came in there thinking she was gonna take my tiny plastic frying pan, then of course I would have been within my rights to have some words with her, which may have then involved some crying; but I never did anything unprovoked.”

Becky laughed.  “Oh, well that’s different.  I hated those kids who came in and took the frying pans away.”

“I know, right?”  I shook my head.  Damn five-year-old bullies.

“Uh, hello, can we get back to the subject of war and survival please?” asked Spike.

Chase stood up.  “I suggest we keep our eyes out for this gray elf.  Jayne, when you see him again, point him out to us.  I think we should do what we can to get near him, see who his friends are, that kind of thing.  If there’s a plot against Jayne or any of us, we need to figure out what it is before we go running to Dardennes.”

“Yeah,” agreed Finn,  “I don’t wanna go in there half cocked, bein’ new guys an’ all.”

I looked around and everyone was nodding in agreement.

“Okay, so that’s the plan then.  Recon.  I like it.”  I smiled at my friends.  “I’m going back to the computer room.  Anyone want to join me?”

“I’ll go,” said Chase.

The others chose to go back to their rooms and wait for dinner.

Chase and I went to the computer room where I checked my email account.  Nothing from Tony yet.

“I’m gonna take a nap before dinner,” I said.

Chase shrugged.

We parted ways in the hallway outside my door.

“Hey, Chase?”

He stopped in his doorway.  “Yeah?”

“Thanks for being my bodyguard.”

“I’m your daemon.  But you’re welcome.”

I smiled.  He gave me his reluctant Chase smile, which was plenty good enough for me.  I went into my room and laid down on the bed, instantly falling into a dreamless sleep.

Ì

It seemed like only a few minutes later I was back in the dining hall eating dinner, trying not to notice all the fae staring at me.  Most of them were friendly stares, but not all.  The gray elf we were discussing in my room earlier didn’t show.  In fact, there were no gray elves around at all.

I finished and stood up.  “I’m going to check my emails one more time.  Anyone want to come?”

“I’ll come,” said Spike, casually.

Chase sighed loudly.  “No you won’t.”

Spike looked at him, perturbed.  “What business is it of yours if I go or not?”

“I know your intentions, Spike, and that makes it my business.”

“What are you talking about?”  Spike was the picture of innocence.

Chase looked at me.  “He’s not going for the computers, he’s going for you.”

I raised an eyebrow at Spike.  “You got bad intentions, sexy boy?”

He smiled and offered me a slight shrug.  “They’re all good intentions as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well, I don’t mind if you come.  I can behave myself, and it takes two to mess around.”  I stood to go, Chase and Spike moving to follow me.

Finn and Becky decided not to go.

“See you guys tomorrow morning at breakfast,” said Becky.

I gave Becky a hug and punched Finn, still sitting in his chair, gently on the shoulder with my fist.  “Later, alligators.”

Spike, Chase and I went to the computer room.  I logged on and saw a new email from Tony waiting for me.  I was so excited.  I clicked on the new message.

‘Hey Jayne, what’s up?  School’s fine.  It sucks without you, but I understand you had to get away for a while.   I’m worried about you, so stay in touch, okay?  When are you going to be back?  There’s a new guy here now, Ben.  He lives right down the street.  We walked home together today.  He seems pretty cool. We’re in all but one class together.  I’m actually not sure why he’s talking to me.  All the popular girls were all over him and it’s only his first day.  Brad Powers asked him if he wanted a ride but he walked with me instead.  I guess his days as a potential popular kid are numbered if he keeps doing that.  LOL.  Well, I have to go.  Ben’s coming over to do homework with me.  I guess he’s pretty good at science and math.  See you soon, I hope.  Tony.’

I was happy to hear from him, but a little sad he’d accepted my absence so easily.  And he already had a replacement friend.  I’d never had reason to be possessive of Tony before since I was the only one who really wanted to be his friend.  This was the first time I felt like I had competition.  Man, I needed to get a life.

“Did you hear from Tony?” asked Spike, scooting his chair closer to mine.

“Yep.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Good.  He has a new friend already.”

Spike rubbed my back.  “That sucks.”

“No, it’s alright.  We’re best friends.  Nothing will change that.”

Spike’s backrub got a little slower.  He was using more and more of his fingers to put pressure in little spots along my muscles and send chills up my spine.

“Mmmm, that feels good,” I said, closing my eyes, smiling.

“Spiiiike,” warned Chase.

Spike pulled his hand away and rounded on Chase.  “Shit, man, give it a rest!  She’s single and available.  I’m not breaking any rules here!”

His tone of voice surprised me.  I turned and saw that Spike was standing up now, his legs apart and his hands in fists.  He turned and looked at me.  “Tell him, Jayne.  Tell him you don’t mind.”

The red glow in his eyes was entirely mesmerizing.  The red swirled around with some black mixed in, like black smoke twisting and turning itself through the red, smoldering, seething, burning me up from the inside out.

“I don’t mind, Chase.  You can leave us alone now.”

I had no idea what I was saying, just that I wanted to get Spike alone so I could feel his body all over mine and drown in that smile of his.

The trance was broken when Chase grabbed Spike from behind and wrestled him out the door.  I could hear a bunch of banging around and grunting on the other side.

“Idiots,” I said to the air, snapping out of my sexy trance.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Becky, suddenly appearing in the seat beside me.

“Fuck balls, Becky, you’ve got to stop doing that!”

“Oh, yeah, sorry.  Did you get an email from Tony?”

I looked at her, shaking my head.  Damned water sprites and their stupid teleporting.  “Yes, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to write him back now.”

“Sure, no problem.  Tell him I said hi.”  She turned to log onto the computer next to me.

I opened up a new message and began typing.

‘Tony, Hey.  Thanks for your email.  I was starting to think you forgot about me.  I should be home in a few weeks or so.  I’m not sure exactly.  So, tell me about Ben.  Oh, Becky says hi.  I’ll write you more later.  Miss you.  Love, Jayne.’

I sat there for a minute, bothered by my email.  I couldn’t really say much to him.  I couldn’t say anything about being fae, which was pretty much my whole existence now.  I couldn’t tell him what I was doing.  I’m pretty sure ‘I put thirty elves into a temporary coma’ wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to him right now, considering he had all knowledge of the fae erased from his memory.  He’d think I went loony on him.

Ah, well, maybe his email about Ben would spark a more meaningful conversation.

“I’m outta here,” I said to Becky, logging off and standing up.  It was finally quiet out in the hallway.  “You coming?”

“Yeah, let me log off.”  She clicked the mouse a few times and then joined me.  Together we walked back to my room.  There was no sign of Chase or Spike anywhere.

“See you later,” she said, giving me a quick hug.

“See ya,” I said, going into my room.  I went to my dresser and gathered stuff for my shower.

Thirty minutes later I was clean and snuggled up beneath my covers, wearing a clean, white pajama tunic.  I fell asleep wondering what tomorrow would hold.  If I were lucky, it wouldn’t include any backfiring tests of my abilities or fae-wide assemblies convened to determine my fate.

Chapter 13

I got up extra early and hurried to the computer room to check my emails.  There was one from Tony waiting for me.  I clicked it open.

‘Jayne, Hey.  Ben just left.  He’s really cool.  I think you’d like him. He reminds me of you.  We’re going to hang out tomorrow after school, at his house.  He wants to show me some stuff.  Do you think I should get contacts?  And who is Becky?  Talk to you later.  Tony’

That was strange.  Did I think he should get contacts?  Where did that come from?  And he didn’t remember Becky.  I think they erased more than they said they would.  I wrote him back really quick before going to breakfast.

‘Hey Baloney Head.  Contacts are cool.  But I like your glasses too.  Do what you think is best.  Did Ben tell you to get contacts?  What’s he going to show you?  Email me back with details, please.  You know I’m a girl, and we need those.  BTW, Becky is a new friend of mine.  You’ll like her.  Love, Jayne.’

I logged off, feeling weird.  Who the hell was this Ben guy, telling my Tony he should wear contacts?  I knew that’s where it had come from.  No one else really even talked to Tony, except for me and his geek friends who also wore glasses.  No way any of them would have suggested it.

I went to breakfast.  Becky noticed I was quieter than usual and commented on it, but I blew her off.  I didn’t want to get into it.  Tony hadn’t done anything wrong, but his emails were still bothering me.

After breakfast, Chase went with me for my training with Céline.  I practiced linking her to The Green and managing the strength of its power.  When it started to get too overpowering, she signaled me so that I could start to recognize her energy in the whole mix and be able to sense when she was near overload status.  It was odd; I could now feel Céline individually within The Green.  I’d never been able to do that before.

We took a break for lunch.  I felt a lot better than I had earlier.  It was nice having Chase around as a kind of companion.  He didn’t talk much but he made me feel safe, which after the last few days meant a lot.  A piece of me hated being this weak girl who longed for Chase’s protection; but the reality of my situation and what I had already confronted – with mixed results – made me want that crutch.  At least for now.

I went to the computer room, leaving Chase to go back to the buffet for his third trip.  I logged on and saw a message from Tony waiting.  I clicked and opened it up.

‘Jayne, Hi.  Me again.  I’m going to bed soon.  Ben dropped by a little while ago.  He brought me some stuff he said he didn’t want anymore.  He was wondering if I wanted it.  You wouldn’t believe all of it.  Clothes mostly.  Some shoes.  All brand new.  He said his mom is a shopping nut and buys him way too much stuff.  It’s not my usual style, but I think you would like it. I have an appointment in the mall at the eye doctor tomorrow. Ben is going with me.  Talk to you later, Tony.

“What the hell?!” I yelled out to the room.  Who the hell was this Ben guy anyway?  And that bullshit story about the clothes – I can’t believe Tony actually believed that.  I had to admit, Tony had the world’s worst wardrobe; but that didn’t mean this guy Ben had any business going around changing it.  He’d just met Tony for fuck’s sake.

Chase opened the door and stepped in hurriedly, looking around.

“What’s up, Chase?”

“You okay?”

“Yes.  Just a little pissed.”

He raised his eyebrows.  “All alone?”

I rolled my eyes.  “Shut up, Chase.  Come on, let’s go.”  I logged off my email account and stood up.

He shrugged his shoulders but stepped out into the hallway, waiting for me.  We left for our afternoon training, this time with Naida and the water sprites.

After three hours I finally figured out how to get into and out of the water without being soaked.  It took a ton of concentration.  I was pissed how they made it look so easy when it really wasn’t at all.  Hopefully, I wouldn’t give myself an aneurysm trying to get the hang of it.  I was already nursing a pretty big headache.

“Chase, I’m beat.  Can you take me back to my room?  I think I need a nap.”

He took me by the elbow and led me away from the lake to the door that would take us back to the compound.  I started to step through and tripped, falling into the doorway.  As I went down I heard a strange whistling sound.

Chase had leaned over just as I fell, sensing my loss of balance, intending to help steady me.  He stayed in that position, even after I got back on my feet.

I grabbed his shoulder and pulled on it.  “I’m okay, you can get up now.”

He collapsed in a heap on the floor.

“Come on, Chase ... stop messing around.  Let’s go.  I’m fucking tired, okay?”

He didn’t move.  This was getting stranger and stranger by the second.

“Chase?”  I nudged him with my toe, but there was no response.  I bent down to look in his face.

I started wailing immediately.  “No!   Nonononono!  This is not happening!  Chase!  Chase!! Wake up!”  I slapped his face really hard, but he still didn’t move.

I ran my hand across his back to see if I could help him stand up, and I felt something sticking out of it.  An arrow shaft.  A small one, about one-third the size of Finns’.

I looked back at Chase’s face, frozen in an expression I’ve seen there a hundred times.  Patient, helpful – he had been leaning over to catch me and he’d taken an arrow that was meant for me in his back.  And for some reason his face was frozen like a stone statue, but he was still breathing.

I needed help, fast.  What to do ... what to do ...  Then inspiration struck.

“Spike!” I yelled out.  “I need you!  I really, really need you right now!”  I tried to think sexy thoughts.  I focused hard on images of Spike’s body without his shirt ... his tattoos covering him from belly to neck ... his sparkling white, pointy-toothed smile ... his black spikey hair that looked like it never got combed but somehow totally worked for him.

“Come on, come on, come on,” I chanted, eyes shut.  “Sexy Spike, sexy Spike, Spike is sexy, sexy, sexy.”

“Hmmmm, I like the sound of that,” said Spike, suddenly standing right next to me, the sound of his voice caressing my neck, along with his breath.

I shoved him hard.  “Not now, Spike.  Help me with Chase.”

Spike pouted.  “Hey!  What happened to ‘Sexy Spike’?  I’m right here, Jayne.  You called, I came.  Let’s play.”

“I’m not kidding, Spike, Chase is hurt!”

“Oh.  Shit.  Sorry, I didn’t notice.”

“Look, he has a fucking arrow in his back.”

“Wow, that sucks.”  Spike blinked a couple times, giving himself a mental shake, and then got serious.  “Come on, let’s get him inside.”  He looked around,  “Whoever did this could still be out here.”

“Yeah, thanks.  He’s a little big for just me.”

Spike grunted while he manhandled Chase’s giant body into the doorway.  “So ... you didn’t call ... to play ... eh?”

“No, sorry, not this time.”

Spike got Chase in the door and shut it behind us.  “That’s alright.  We have plenty of time.  Did you know that incubi live an average of two thousand years?”

“Tell me all about it later.  Let’s get Chase to the doctor.”

Together we were able to get him partway down the hall until we ran into a couple of elves.  With the four of us working together, we got Chase to the healer fae who pronounced him a victim of a spelled arrow.  None of his organs were damaged, but they had to find a witch who could figure out how to reverse the spell.  Until then, he was going to be in la-la land.

Spike and I walked slowly back to my room, talking the whole way.

“So, you were saying incubi live a long time ... ?” I prompted him, trying to get my mind off Chase and the fear that someone was trying to assassinate me.

“Yeah.  Like two thousand years long.”

“No shit?  Wow.  I wonder how long an elemental lives.”

“More.  Unless they go crazy like the last one did.”

“Crazy?  Oh yeah, Céline mentioned something about that.  I wonder if that’s ... common.”

“I heard it is.  With elementals anyway.”  I glanced over and caught him looking sheepish.

“What did you hear, exactly?”

“Oh nothing.  Just incubus gossip.  Valentine’s a big gossip, did I tell you that?  Yeah, he’s always talking shit about someone.  Today he was talking about the daemons.  Did you know that ... ”

“Cut the crap, Spike.  Fess up.”

“No, seriously.  Did you know Jared is five hundred years old?  And he dated a hag for like the last two hundred.  I think she’s dead now though.”

“Yeah, I killed her.  Back to the other story, please.”

“You killed her?  Oh man, wait ‘til I tell Valentine.  He’s gonna die.”

“Seriously, Spike, you scare me sometimes.  And not in the scary way; in the ‘you’re so gay’ way.”

“Most incubi are not gay.  So far as I know, it’s only Valentine.  Although, I have to say, being an incubus does open your eyes to the sexiness that’s present in both males and females – and all races for that matter.”

We’d finally arrived at my room.

“Whatever, Spike.  Too much information for me right now; I’m worried about Chase.  But don’t think you’ve gotten out of this conversation.  We are going to discuss the subject you’ve been avoiding ... soon.”

“Sure, Jayne, whatever you say,” he said, winking at me.  I could tell he was twisting my words into some sort of x-rated invitation, but I couldn’t think about that right now.  Chase had me very worried and the doctors didn’t seem all that confident about how they were going to fix him.

I shooed Spike away from my room and went inside, shutting the door behind me.  He sure was persistent these days.  I was kinda surprised that I wasn’t taking him up on his obvious offers, but I was just too stressed out with everything that was going on.  Maybe I’d be able to focus on indulging in some heavy duty making out with the sexiest incubus alive after Chase was taken care of.  Hopefully.

I went to my dresser and reached in the back, pulling Blackie out.  I felt something under it this time that I hadn’t noticed before.  I grabbed it and took it out too.  It was a leather sheath with a belt attached to it.  It was too big for my arm, but it fit perfectly around my waist and over my jeans to hang by my thigh.  I put it on and slid my black stick inside the holder.  I looked at myself in the mirror above the dresser, angling it down so I could see my lower half.  Holy badass bitch!  I looked friggin’ awesome with a weapon attached to my delicious body!  I practiced jumping into a few attack stances, drawing my stick out from its sheath and brandishing it at my imagined enemies.  Obviously I was going to need some work in this area.  I wondered if they had taught Chase any combat moves yet.  Maybe he could teach me some when he got better.

I got tired of messing around in my room and had some time to kill before dinner, so I went to the computer room again.  I logged on and saw another message from Tony.

‘Jayne,  Hi.  I don’t have a lot of time to write.  I’m in the school computer lab.  Ben will be back in a second.  Every time I try to write you he’s got another crazy idea of something to go do.  Anyway, having fun with Ben, chilling out.  Gonna hang out with him after school.  He’s awesome at video games. I’m quitting computer and chess clubs.  I’m tired of hanging out with those losers.  Anyway, Ben’s back.  Gotta go.  Tony.’

I sat there in the computer room feeling even worse than I already did.  Losers?  Tony never says ‘losers’.  And those guys were his friends.  This was not good.  Not good at all.

My daemon bodyguard friend was bewitched because he got in the way of someone trying to kill me, and my best friend Tony was falling prey to some bossy, I’m pretty sure, asshole who was influencing him to change his look, attitude, and group of friends.  My paranoia was getting the better of me as I read into Tony’s message that Ben was trying to distract him from writing to me.  But that was just plain stupid.  I was intelligent enough to recognize jealousy in myself when I saw it.  I sighed.  Time to grow up and be a good friend.

I clicked open a new message.

‘Dearest Tony.  Did I mention how much I miss you?  I’m bummed you quit computer and chess club.  You liked those guys, even if they were a little dorky.  Have fun with your new friend but don’t forget your old one.  Me!  See you soon.  Love, your best friend of all time, Jayne.’

There.  That should do the trick.
A little subliminal best friend manipulation.  Time to go talk to Dardennes about someone’s apparent plot to knock me on my ass.  I left the computer room and found his office easily enough.  I knocked, but no one answered.  I pushed on the door experimentally and it swung open.  I peeked around the open door.

“Hello?  Is anyone here?”

No one answered and the place looked empty.

I walked over to the desk, my eyes roaming around the room.  This place looked like a museum.  Every shelf had not only books on it but gadgets and knickknacks, many I couldn’t identify.  I reached the desk and stood in front of it, looking at the surface.  Sitting among the items was something I hadn’t seen during previous visits to Dardennes’ office.  It was an upside down glass jar.  And something was inside it.  Moving.

I bent over, looking closer.  “What the hell?” I whispered in shock.

There was a little tiny person in there.  A tiny little person with teensy weensy friggin’ wings.

“Holy shit!  Wings!  You have wings!”

I could see the tiny person’s mouth moving but I couldn’t hear what it was saying.

“I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

The tiny person rolled its itty-bitty eyes at me, making lifting motions with its hands.

I think it wanted me to lift the jar up.  I put my hand on top of the glass, wondering what would happen if I did.  Would the little winged creature just stay there?  Or would it fly away?  And more importantly, would I get in trouble?

“Hey!  What are you doing in here?!” yelled a voice from the doorway.  I immediately jerked my hand back and stood up, spinning to face the voice.

I immediately recognized the fae in the gray tunic, the one whose voice I had overheard outside the bathroom discussing my elimination!  “I could ask you the same thing,” I said, my voice full of false bravado.  I had to try to keep him off balance until I could summon Spike or scream for someone else.  Maybe this guy was the one who had arrowed Chase too.

“No you cannot.  I have permission to be here.  You do not!  I am going to report you right now.”

“Go ahead.  Why don’t you report yourself while you’re at it.”

“That is ridiculous.  I am not going to report myself.”

“Well you should.  You wouldn’t want the other fae to think you’re a hypocrite, would you?”

“Hypocrite?  What?  That makes no sense whatsoever.  Just stay right there.  Others will be here momentarily.”

“Aren’t you going to report me?”

“I already did.”

“On your cell?”

“What is a cell?”

“A phone, duh.”

“Elves do not need phones,” he said haughtily.

I gave him my ‘well, aren’t you fucking special’ look.  He shot me a dirty look in response.  We stood there staring at each other in a tense standoff.

Soon the door opened wider and Ivar stepped inside, followed by two other gray-tunic-wearing elves.

“She’s here.  The intruder.”

“Ivar, I’m not an intruder.  I was looking for Dardennes.”

“She was going to release the pixie,” said the elf.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The pixie on the desk.  Under the bell jar.  You were going to release him, I saw you.”

“Ooooh, the pixie.  I wasn’t going to release him.  I just wanted to hear what he was saying.”

He looked at the others with an ‘I told you so’ look on his face.  “She’s obviously as stupid as she looks.”

That did it.  He’d pushed the last button with me.  “Listen here, you fucking traitor freak, no one stands there and calls me stupid and gets away with it.”

I approached him menacingly.

He stood firm, but I saw a slight quiver along the edge of his mouth.  He wasn’t as tough as he pretended to be.  Or maybe he had underestimated my inner bitch.  But that was his mistake, not mine.

I pulled Blackie from the sheath on my leg, holding it up in my fist across my chest.  I had practiced this move in my room earlier.  One slice down and to the left, and he’d have a very large boo boo somewhere on his torso.  I couldn’t be sure where exactly since I didn’t have an actual body to practice on before, but that didn’t matter. I could already see my threat was having the effect I wanted.

He stepped back, his chin quivering.  “Th – th – th – The Dark!  Th- the Blackthorn.  No!”

His body started to go wispy on me, growing increasingly faint and starting to spin like Céline’s had that one time she showed me how she could fly.

“Oh, no you don’t, you little gray elf bastard,” I said angrily, grabbing at his quickly disappearing form.

He started to materialize again, his image getting sharper.

“Let go of me, you Dark Fae beast!”

“Dark Fae?  Who are you calling Dark Fae?  I’m not the one plotting to overthrow the government here ... that’s you, asshole.”

The other two elves just stood there, enthralled by the show playing out in front of them.  But Ivar had apparently had enough.

“Let go of the elf, Jayne.”  He looked at my accuser.  “And you, elf, you are going nowhere.  Stay present.”

“Yeah,” I spat at him, “stay present, traitor.”

He came back to his solid form and gave me a dirty look.

The door opened and Dardennes entered, stopping short at seeing all of us there in his office.

“Ivar, what is going on here?”

“I am not sure, sir; the gray elves were summoned by one of their race.  I came with them and arrived in time to see the changeling Jayne and this gray elf in an altercation.  Several charges have been leveled since I arrived.”

Dardennes moved to stand behind his desk, facing all of us.

“I will begin with the gray elf.  Gregale, tell me the charges you have brought.”

I threw up my hands.  Of course the elf bastard got to go first.  Fucking Dardennes.

The elf preened for a second before starting.  “I came in here and found her getting ready to release the pixie from the bell jar.”

“Jayne, what do you have to say about this?”

“Why don’t you ask him why he was in here in the first place?”  I gave the gray elf a dirty look.  His face blanched a little bit, telling me he was up to no good.

“I’d like to hear what you have to say first.”

“I’d prefer not to say it in the company of this elf here,” I said pointing to my accuser.

“If you have something to say about him, he should hear it.  Please proceed.”

I rolled my eyes.  These fae were so friggin’ irritating sometimes.  “Fine.  I was coming here so I could tell you two things.  First, that I heard this guy and one of his friends – I don’t know who, some girl – talking in the hallway the other night when they didn’t know I was listening, about eliminating me and any other fae who got in their way.  Because he’s a traitor.  And second, I came here to tell you that someone, gee I wonder who, tried to shoot me with a spelled arrow today, but they got Chase instead – and he’s still in the infirmary waiting for some witchy doctor to figure out how to reverse the spell.  But when I got here to tell you all this, you weren’t here.  And I saw this little tiny guy with wings under the glass who was trying to tell me something, so I was going to lift the jar just a little so I could hear him.  And seriously, he’s tiny, but he’s a person or a fae or whatever, and that’s got to be a violation of some kind of rights to keep someone in a jar on a desk like that.”

Ivar’s head was slowly moving from side to side, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

I saw him and lost what little cool I had left.  “What, Ivar?!  What’s your friggin’ problem?”  I’d had enough of his judgmental bullshit.  As far as I was concerned, he was nothing more than a common henchman.  And I was pissed in general.  We had traitors walking the halls, someone trying awfully hard to do me in, and poor little butterfly people trapped in jars.  This place sucked.  I wanted to go home.

Dardennes tipped his head down and squeezed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, squinching his eyes up tightly.  He stayed that way for a long time.

I was already impatient enough as it was.  “Yo, Dardennes.  You in there?  Because I’ve got things to do.”

He let go of his face and stood up straight, looking at me and the gray elf.  “Let me see if I can get this figured out.  First, Gregale, tell me what you were doing coming to my office today.”

“I would prefer to speak to you of this in private, sir.”

“As I said before to the changeling, you will speak here.”

The elf bowed his head briefly.  “As you wish.  I also was coming here to speak with you.”

“About what, Gregale?”

“About ... the changelings.”

“And what about the changelings?”

“It’s just that ... sir ... there are several fae who do not agree that these changelings are in a position to represent the fae in our current state, what with the inevitable conflict on the horizon.  I ... I mean, we ... feel that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  And each of these changelings is a weak link.”

“See!  I told you!  He said he needed to eliminate us!”

“She is twisting my words!” he yelled in a high-pitched voice.

“A-ha!  You admit they’re your words!”  Oh, my father would have been so proud of me at that moment.  It was like I was in a courtroom, cross-examining a lying bastard of a witness.

“Please!  Jayne.  Let me hear him speak.  You will get your opportunity in a moment.”  He turned back to the elf.  “Gregale, please continue.”

“As she has shown you today very plainly, she is tempestuous, prone to attacking without provocation, as well as uninformed and uneducated about fae ways and the fae in general – a prime example being that she was going to release that pixie,” he shuddered at that idea and I noticed Ivar didn’t look all that thrilled about it either.  “And last, but not least, she is completely incapable of controlling her powers.  She’s dangerous, and we don’t have time to teach her what she needs to know.”

“So, what would you do with her and the other changelings?”

“Erase them and send them back to where they came from.”

“And what if the Dark Fae were to then claim them?  Are you comfortable with these changelings fighting against us for the Dark Fae?”

“Well, no, I didn’t say that.”

“Well, then, perhaps you can tell me the solution you seek.”

I joined in.  “He wants you to kill us, obviously.  That’s what he and his little elf friends were planning.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, changeling, no one is planning on killing anyone.”

He was poo-pooing me like I was the crazy one.

Dardennes shook his head, fatigue and maybe a touch of sadness in his eyes.  “Unfortunately, Gregale, we do not have the luxury of hand picking only the most highly trained and well-qualified fae to join our ranks.  We are taking whoever we can get and whoever will come to us willingly.  It is a tall order, to be certain, to ask you to train these changelings in time for battle.  But there is no way around it.  We must act together as a united group.  I am sure you are familiar with the fae saying ‘united we succeed, divided we fail?”

Gregale put his head down.  “Yes, Anton, I am very familiar with that saying.”

“Do you understand the precarious position you could put our family in by not accepting these changelings and doing everything in your power to help them?”

Gregale took a deep breath.  “I am starting to realize that, yes, Anton.”

“Good.  Then I know I can count on you to take young Jayne out with you tomorrow for training.  Since you are so concerned with her weaknesses, inabilities, and lack of insight, I think it only fitting that you correct our educational shortcomings with the help of your people.”

Gregale’s mouth dropped open, leaving him speechless.  I, however, did not have that problem.

“No friggin’ way am I going out with this traitor idiot to do anything.  He’ll probably stab me in the back the first chance he gets!  You must be off your rocker to even suggest it!”

“I assure you, Jayne, I have all of my faculties.  You will go out with the gray elves tomorrow for training.  They are the masters of the Gray.  You could learn a lot from them.”

“Well that doesn’t make any sense.  I don’t have any affinity for smoke or whatever.  That’s a Dark Fae thing.”

“Hush your tongue, changeling!” shouted Gregale, obviously offended.

“Easy, now, Gregale.  Like you have already said, she just needs to be educated.  Her statements arise from ignorance, not hate or anger.”

“Speak for yourself, Dardennes.” I spat.  I’d had enough of these idiots.  “I’m outta here.”  I turned to leave and made it most of the way to the door.

Ivar stepped in front of me, intending to stop me.

“Don’t you even think about touching me, Ivar.  I just need one more excuse to lay your ass out, and believe me, it won’t take much.”  I still had my stick in my hand, but I’m not sure he saw it.  Not my problem, though.

He reached up to grab my arm and I swung my stick out, touching him with the tip.  A green glow burst out as Blackie made contact with his skin.

He yelped and grabbed his arm back, cradling it against his chest, a look of shock and surprise on his face.

I didn’t even look at the others’ reactions; I just kept walking, yelling over my shoulder.  “I told you not to fucking touch me.”

I was shaking with adrenaline and anger.  I stalked down into the hallway and imagined the door to the infirmary.  I successfully arrived just a couple minutes later, entering on one end of a hall of beds.  I saw Chase near the opposite end and rushed down to be with him.  I didn’t know how much trouble I was going to be in for zapping Ivar, so I figured I should say a quick goodbye to Chase before I was caught and kicked out of the compound.   He did take an arrow in the back for me, after all.

I sat down on the edge of his bed.  “Hey Chase.”  I picked up his cool hand and held it in mine.  “God, you look like shit.  Sorry about the arrow thing.  I know it was meant for me.  I guess this means you’re a pretty kickass bodyguard, taking a bullet your first week of duty.  I wanted you to know that I just confronted that traitor elf in Dardennes’ office.  He probably wasn’t planning on killing us – at least I don’t think killing was his plan.  But he doesn’t like us, and apparently he’s not the only one.”

I looked at his face, noticing that his eyes and mouth were closed.  He was breathing regularly, in and out.  I turned his big hand over, running my fingers on the lines of his palm.  “I don’t know why I’m sitting here talking to you like this.  I’m not sure you can hear me or if you’re going to remember this.  Anyway, this place is super messed up.  I don’t want to be here anymore.  I miss Tony.  Some guy named Ben is messing with him – changing him.  It’s weird and it worries me.  It’s only been a few days and already this guy is influencing the shit out of Tony.  And there’s a friggin’ miniature fae with wings sitting under a big glass jar on Dardennes’ desk that everyone freaked out about when I almost let him out.  They say he’s a pixie.  What’s an itty-bitty friggin’ pixie gonna do to bother all these giant, powerful fae?  Anyway, I’m not sure I’ll be here when you get up.  So I wanted to say sorry and I’ll miss you.  Look me up if you ever come to West Palm.”

I let go of his hand and stood by the side of his bed for a little while longer.  I leaned over and kissed him on the forehead before leaving to go back to my room.  I’d had a long day and I had to make some plans.  I had to figure out how to get the hell out of here and back to Tony.

Chapter 14

I got to my room and fell asleep on my bed immediately.  I didn’t even get under the covers.  No one came to wake me for dinner, so I slept right through it.  I didn’t care.  I woke up in the middle of the night, around three in the morning, and decided to go check my emails.

I got to the computer room and checked my account.  There were two messages from Tony, sent three hours apart.  I opened the oldest one first.

‘Hey Jayne, what’s up?  Well, I got my contacts.  Ben says I look cool. I feel cool too.  This is the first time I’ve been without glasses since I was four!  I got a haircut and I think you’d like my new look.  My mom’s not too happy but I don’t care what she thinks. She’s a pain in the ass.  Are you okay?  I’ve been getting strange vibes, like you’re upset.  Is that weird?  Ben says to ignore them, that you’re fine.  I should probably take his advice.  Well, that’s all.  Tony.’

I opened the second message.

‘Me again.  Sorry to bother you.  Listen, I’m gonna be busy for the next couple days, so you probably won’t hear from me.  Talk to you later, Tony.’

I read that last email about five times, each time the pressure around my heart squeezing tighter and tighter and tighter.  Was my best friend breaking up with me?  Maybe I was crazy, but that’s what it felt like.  I stood up as if to go, but then decided I had to write back.  As if I was going to walk away from that bullshit email and not say anything back ... like hell.

I opened up a new message.

‘Dear Tony.  What the hell was that last email all about?  You’re acting strange.  Just so you know, I am not okay, that’s why you’re feeling those vibes.  Don’t listen to that Ben guy.  Who is he anyway?  You’ve been hanging around him for less than a week and now suddenly you listen to and do everything he says?  Shit, Tony, it took me a year to become your friend.  I’m trying not to be jealous, but you’re not making it easy.  I’m coming home soon.  Love, Your best friend forever, and if you try to stop being my friend I will stalk you, Jayne.’

I re-read my email a few times, making little corrections, additions, deletions.  I wanted it to be perfect.  A little sad, a little angry, a little guilt-trippy.  Perfect.  I sent it off, hoping Tony would read it, even though he said he was going to be gone for a while.  What the hell did that mean, anyway?  Where was he going?

I logged off and went back to my room.  I laid awake for two hours, trying to think of how I was going to get out of here.  I never got my five hundred bucks from Dardennes and them for finishing my test.  That’s the first thing I had to do.  Then I could buy a ticket back home.  My mind went over and over the different scenarios of what could happen and all the things that could go wrong.  It was a very long list, actually, which was really depressing.  I didn’t even really know where I was.  I needed a map or a picture of the right door to go out of.  I needed a guide, someone who had come and gone before.  Jared was the person who jumped into my mind.  He’d probably be glad if I left.  Maybe he’d be back soon and I could ask him.

There was a knock at my door, and I glanced at my clock before getting up – five-thirty.  Ugh.

I opened the door and Becky was standing there, all smiles.  “Hello!  Time for breakfast!”

I walked back to the bed and threw myself down on it, not even looking at her.

“What’s up?  You weren’t at dinner last night.  Are you okay?”

“No, actually, I’m not.  Go ahead to breakfast without me.  I’m not hungry.”

“Well if you didn’t eat dinner then you have to eat breakfast.  They’re not big on in-between meal snacks around here.”

“I don’t care.”

Becky sighed.  “Okay, listen.  You stay here, I’ll be right back.”

She left and I sighed.  Good.  Now I could go back to sleep.

I had just started to drift off when I heard voices outside my door.  There was a knock and then the door slowly opened.

Becky came in with two plates followed by Finn and Spike.

“I’m back!  And I brought reinforcements!” She walked over and set a plate with some food on it on my side table.  “Eat.  And don’t argue.”

I groaned in disgust at her, but I sat up and took the plate in my lap.  Becky sat on my bed and the guys sat on the floor next to us.

“So,” said Becky, shoving half a sausage in her mouth, “What’s the deal?  Why are you so cranky?”

I pushed the food around on my plate.  None of it looked appetizing.  “I don’t know where to start.”

“Tell us what happened yesterday.”

I told them about the incident with Chase and then the incident in Dardennes’ office, including the fact that I had to work with Gregale today.  By the time I was done, they were pretty much speechless.  “And I haven’t even told you the worst part yet.”

“Tell us,” said Finn, putting his plate down on the floor, giving me his full attention.

“You know I’ve been emailing Tony, right?”

Becky and Spike nodded.

“Well, he’s made a new friend, some new guy at the school named Ben who I’ve never heard of.  Anyway, in just three days this guy has like totally taken over Tony’s life.  Tony has changed his hair, his clothes, he wears contacts now ... he’s totally different.”

Becky looked at me all sensitive-like.  “Well, some of that is a good thing, right?  I mean, Tony was kind of awkward looking.” She cringed a little, probably worried about offending me.

“That shit doesn’t matter to me.  It’s just like this guy has gone in and totally bulldozed Tony’s life.  In less than a week, he’s quit computer club, chess club, and he’s bad-talking his mom, which he never did before.  He told me in his last email not to expect to hear from him for a few days.  And he’s saying stuff that tells me this guy Ben is telling him not to email me or something.”  I shook my head, “Maybe I’m just being jealous or paranoid or something.”

“Well, I know Tony is special to you,” said Becky, “So it’s only natural you’d be jealous as he moves on.”

“But this is more than moving on, Becky.  At least, it sure seems like it.”

“You know,” said Finn carefully, “we’ve been learnin’ a lot of this warfare stuff in our trainin’ and this sounds a lot like psychological warfare to me.”

“Oh, come on, do you really believe that?” asked Spike, laughing.  “Why would anyone wage psychological warfare on Tony?  Of all people?  He’s not even fae.”

“It ain’t Tony that it’s being done to, dumbass.”  Finn looked meaningfully at Spike and then at me.

I was just confused.  “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, don’t you think it’s a little coincidental that Tony goes back and immediately he’s got a new best friend who’s takin’ over his life, and at the same time Jared goes back to south Florida to deal with some Dark Fae issues?  I mean, it’s a long shot, but if the goal is to mess with Jayne, it’s workin’.”

I looked at him like he was crazy.  “Nawwww.  That’s not what’s going on.  This guy is just ... I don’t know.  Looking for a certain friend and he’s fitting Tony into that mold.  I’m just not happy with how easily Tony is letting himself be changed.”

Finn shrugged his shoulders.  “I dunno.  The way the green elves talk, this war is a heck of a lot closer than any of the elders are lettin’ us think.  And the Dark Fae know an awful lot about us.  Shee-it, Jayne, one of them tried to get you shot with thirty elf arrows two days ago, and a spelled arrow yesterday!  If they know that much about you now – that you’re some important fae that should have a target on her back – I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to think that they know about your relationship with Tony.  He was here too, you know.  Best way to get to you is through the people you love.  Them’s war tactics one-oh-one, ladies and gentlemen.”

I didn’t want to think about what Finn was saying because I was already worried enough about Tony; this was going to put me into panic overload.

“Shit, Finn, you’re getting her all freaked out now.”  Spike stood up, disgusted.  “Listen, Jayne.  I hear what you’re saying about Tony.  He’s a good guy.  Talk to him; see what he says.  If he’s still acting all wrong, maybe we can talk to Dardennes about making a visit, or seeing if Jared can at least stop by to see him while he’s there or something.”

Becky rubbed my leg.  “Yeah, that’s a good idea.  Why don’t we just do that now?”

“I think when I left Dardennes’ office, cutting Ivar on my way out, I probably put myself on the bottom of the list of people he’s willing to help.”

Becky shook her head.  “Dardennes is fair.  He likes you.  I know you don’t think so, but he does.  But hey, if you don’t want to talk to him, we can go talk to Céline.  I know you like her.”

I nodded.  She was right.  I was okay with talking to Céline.

“Come on.  Maybe we can catch her before she’s done with breakfast.”

We all stood up.  I grabbed the brush out of my dresser and did what I could to get a decent ponytail going.  I threw the brush back in the drawer, noticing the empty silver tray on top of my dresser.  “I have to get a token too.”

We all went out, heading to the dining hall, the basic plan being to ask Céline if Jared could go check on Tony and to get tokens for our housekeeping brownies.  I was just hoping I wouldn’t see Ivar or Dardennes in there.  In all the craziness, I had kinda blown off Dardennes’ order to work with Gregale today.  As if life didn’t suck enough already.

I scanned the room when I entered but didn’t see Céline, but I did see Gregale though, and he didn’t look any happier about working with me as I was about working with him.  I debated staying in my room for the day and ignoring Dardennes’ order, but the idea of being alone in that cell all day was even worse than the idea of being with Gregale.

I sat and ate the rest of my breakfast that I had carried from my room and then got up when I saw Gregale get to his feet.  “See you later guys.  I have to go work with the traitor now.”

Becky gave me a pitying look.  “You’ll be fine, Jayne, just try to stay positive.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Whatever.  Do you mind putting a token on my tray?  I think Gregale’s leaving.”

“Sure, no problem.”  She shoved a forkful of eggs into her mouth.

“Give him a purple one if you can find one.”

Becky nodded, giving me a thumbs up.

I dragged my feet as I walked towards the door.

Chapter 15

Gregale left the room after glancing over his shoulder to make sure I was following.  I stayed about ten feet behind him as he made his way down the corridor off the dining hall.  We walked for a long way, much longer than I was used to here.  It was impossible for me to get a feel for how big this compound was or even its layout because of all these spelled hallways that seemed to all go in the same direction but couldn’t possibly.

Eventually he stopped at one of the doors, pulling on the iron ring attached to it.  I noticed a symbol in the middle of the door; it looked like a figure eight lying on its side – like a really dangerous racetrack where the cars would wreck into each other if they weren’t timing their laps perfectly.  I wondered if all the doors had symbols on them.  I should probably pay better attention to stuff like that in the future, especially if I wanted to get out of here one day soon.  I couldn’t count on the fact that they would agree to my departure, so it’s possible I would have to stage a breakout.  I hoped it wouldn’t come to that – it’s not like I felt like a prisoner here – but I never knew anything for sure with these fae.

I stepped out of the hallway and into a clearing.  We were still in the forest, but it was definitely a different part of it than I had been in before.  If I were to use one word to describe this place I would say: ‘stunning’.  The trees were more spread out and there was more sunlight.  There were wildflowers mixed in with the heather and grasses at our feet.  Butterflies flitted from one flower to the next, staying in place for a few seconds before moving on to another temporary landing pad.  Some came and rested on Gregale’s shoulders, which was surprising to me.  It seemed to me butterflies should be able to sense the bad vibes of a flaming asshole like him and avoid them like the plague.

Gregale was smiling.  He turned his face up to the sun and put his arms out, like he was giving the warm rays a big hug.  It was strange to see him that way.  He actually looked happy.  I couldn’t help but stare.

He stopped and turned his head to look at me.  “What are you staring at?”  His face went from happy to sour in a split second.

“Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, I think.”

“Who are they?”

“They are actually one person, from a story, who had a split personality – one of them good and one of them evil.”

“And you are saying I am this person?”

“Yes.”

“I do not have a split personality.”

“You could’ve fooled me.”

“Do you have any idea how irritating you are?”

“Approximately one-half as irritating as you are, if my calculations are correct.”

The elf took a deep, calming breath, once again facing the sun with his eyes closed.  “I brought you here because this is the most peaceful place I know.  I thought it might help us move past our ... conflicts.”

I looked around, appreciating the thought.  “Well, I can see why you would pick this place.  It is pretty nice.”

He tilted his head a little towards me and opened one eye, just staring at me.

“What?”

“I’m checking to see if you are being sarcastic.”

I shrugged.  “I’m not.  It’s a nice place.  This is the most sunshine I’ve seen in days.  I’m used to sun all the time.”

He stopped his ‘find a happy place’ exercise and turned to look at me face to face.

“Where are you from?”

“The United States.  A place called Florida.”

“I know of this place.  I have not been there before.  You say there is sun there all the time?”

“Yeah, pretty much.  Except when it’s raining, which is kind of often, actually.”

Gregale stared off into the distance, like he was thinking about what I said.  After a while he said, “I’ve lived in the Green Forest my whole life.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m only two hundred and fifty-eight human years old.”

“Only?”  I laughed.  He was older than the United States.

“Why is that funny?”

“Because I’m only seventeen years old.”

He smiled.  “You are but a newborn in my world.”

“No matter how you figure it, I’m a newborn in your world.  I’m a three-day-old fae.”

He put his head down, looking sad.  “This is an impossible task.”

“What is?”

“Trying to prepare you.”

“I’m not an idiot, you know.”

He shook his head.  “I apologize for my words earlier, calling into question your intelligence.”

“I believe your words were that I’m as stupid as I look.”

His face reddened.  “Yes, well, that was a bit much, wasn’t it?”

I laughed.  “Yeah, maybe a bit of overkill.  You know, Dardennes is right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m just uneducated about fae stuff.  I’m actually a quick learner when the subject is something that interests me.”

“And does the fae way of life interest you?”

I wasn’t shy about admitting it.  “Of course it does.  Wouldn’t you be interested if you were in my moccasins?  I mean, one day I’m walking down the street an ordinary human, not even knowing the fae species exists, and then all of a sudden I’ve got superpowers that knock people on their asses, my friends can teleport, sense things, suck the life out of things ... it’s pretty friggin’ awesome, actually.  Scary and freaky sometimes, but awesome.”

“Yes, I can see now, when you put it that way, how it might be a little overwhelming.”

“You have no idea.”

“So, I suppose since you have a thirst for knowledge, and I happen to have copious amounts of it, we could easily make a day of this project.  Or many days.”  He looked at me, a bit shy all of a sudden.  “Of course, only if you concur.  If you do not think it would be worth your while, I am certain there are other places you could be.  There are plenty of warrior elves who I would wager would love to match skills against yours.”

“You’re not a warrior elf?”

“Not in the way you mean, probably.  I do not fight with my hands generally.  I am more of a ‘mind over matter’ elf.”

“Does that mean you move things with your mind?  Or you just use your brains figuratively?”

“No, I do not have telekinetic powers.  Some fae do obviously, but not the gray elves.  No, we are known for our superior intellect.  We are most able to help the cause by analyzing intelligence that is gathered and by engaging in psychological warfare schemes.  Other fae carry out our plans.”

“Psychological warfare?”  Echoes of Finn’s earlier words bounced around in my head.

“Yes.  It is a very popular topic these days, which is fun for the gray elves, but overall a bad sign for our times.”

“Yeah, I can see what you mean.  Well, whatever, I know that winning wars isn’t all about muscles.  Without good leadership, the troops don’t know where to go or what to do.”

The gray elf smiled.  “Yes, you are right about that.”

“But then again, without the muscle, all the planning in the world doesn’t do you any good.  You need someone to execute the plan.”

The gray elf nodded his head grudgingly.  “You are young, changeling, but you are not stupid.”

I laughed.  “Uh, thanks.  I think.”

“Would you like to spend this morning with me discussing the war?”

“The war?  Which war?”

“The war that is coming, of course.  Which war did you think I was referring to?”

“I guess I wasn’t even sure that you guys were certain there was a war coming.  I thought it was all just a guessing game at this point.”

“No.  There is no guessing about it.  If you want to be technical, the war has already begun.  Certainly you realize that, since you have already been a target of our enemy.”

“Yeah.  About that.  Maybe you can explain why it’s me who keeps getting shot at.”

“Generally speaking, during a war, the most high value and easiest targets are taken out first.”

“So that makes me ... ”

“According to the Dark Fae?  High value, easy to kill.”

“I get the easy to kill part, believe me.  But high value?  No so much.  Like you’ve pointed out very clearly, I’m useless.”

Gregale perked up at that, excited to share his knowledge  “Useless?  No, I never said useless.  It would not be correct to call any of the changelings useless.  You all have powers and skills that will be useful to the Light Fae against the Dark.  The problem is that you do not know how to use most of them.  And you in particular do not even know what skills you have – in fact, none of us do.  You are a mystery.”

“Seems like you would enjoy mysteries, being the elves of information.”

“Oh, I do, believe me.”

“Okay, if that’s true then tell me why you were plotting to eliminate me and my friends and tell me why you were such a pain in the ass in Dardennnes’ office.”

Gregale shut his eyes and shook his head.  “You are talking nonsense.  I never made any plans to eliminate you or anyone else.  There may have been discussion amongst the gray elves about sending all of you away from the conflict, so eliminating you from our equations here, but not killing you.  We do not waste resources like that.  And regarding the other item you mentioned, it was entirely reasonable for anyone to react that way upon seeing the possible release of that pixie.”  He shuddered at the memory.

“What’s the big deal about the pixie anyway?  He’s like, the size of one of those butterflies.  Harmless.”

“You really are at a distinct disadvantage not knowing the most basic fae facts.  I can see that part of your training has been neglected.  This should have been the first thing you learned, before testing your skills.  What good is teleporting, for example, if you let a pixie out of a bell jar?  It is just ridiculous.”

“Gregale.  Are you going to tell me about the pixie, or am I gonna kick you in the ass?”

“Ah, I think I shall tell you about the pixie.”

“Thank you.”

“Pixies are members of the smaller fae.  I did not say ‘lesser fae’.  Be careful that you do not confuse ‘small’ with ‘weak’.  No, it is actually better if you consider ‘small’ to mean ‘concentrated’.  Sometimes, some of the strongest magic comes from the tiniest individuals.”  He started strolling in random patterns around me as he described the pixies in detail.

“Pixies are a very, very old fae race.  Maybe one of the oldest.  They pre-date our written records.  They are a playful race, not concerned with much more than dancing, laughing, singing, and skipping through the flowers.”

“Wow.  They sound horrible.  No wonder you keep them trapped in jars.”

Gregale looked at me sideways, deliberately ignoring my sarcasm as he continued.  “Their power lies in their ability to seduce and charm other fae.  You see, pixies don’t understand why the other fae are always so worried about anything other than having fun, dancing, laughing, and singing.  So, as soon as they see fae doing anything other than those things – like going to work, practicing skills, managing their households, or what have you – they decide they need to intervene.  They work their pixie magic on the unsuspecting fae, and the next thing you know, the charmed fae is dancing around, playing and singing and unable to do anything else.  They don’t even want to do anything else.  They lose their will to live, essentially.  Some of them have been known to dance themselves to death.  The pixie charm is very hard to break; in fact, anyone who’s been charmed by a pixie and then had the charm broken, is always a little ‘off’ in the head.  We can never get them back totally, and believe me, all the best witches have tried.”

“Have you been pixied?”

“That is not funny.”

I giggled.  “Yeah, it kinda was.  Admit it.”

“No.  I know people who have been pixied, and it is not funny at all.  Not really.”  He tried valiantly to keep his smile from emerging, clearing his throat several times.

“I saw that.  You smiled.”

“No, I did not.  This is serious business.”

“Well, do you think there’s a chance that you and the pixies just have some sort of misunderstanding?”

“No, there is no misunderstanding.  Pixies have charmed hundreds of fae over the centuries, always with the same result.  They are not to be trusted.  Whenever they are discovered in an area inhabited by other fae, they are captured and bell-jarred until they can be relocated.”

“Where do you send them?  To a leper colony or something?”

“No.  To a pixie colony.”

I laughed.  “Of course you do.”

“You find all of this so amusing.”

“Yes, I really do.  I mean, the parallels to my human world are there, but they’re like, sick and funny at the same time.  I’ve always been a fan of sick humor.”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“Okay, so Mr. Know-it-all, what do you think would have happened if I had released that pixie?”

“He would have flown out, pixied you, me, and everyone else in the compound he could before he was caught again – and the witches would have had their hands full trying to get us back from the land of eternal playtime.”

“I think we have the same thing in Florida, only it’s called daycare and the little kids eventually grow out of the pixie charm – what with all the adults around them telling them to behave and stop acting that way all the time.  Maybe the witches should just try a heavy dose of scolding and time-outs as a remedy.”

Gregale brushed me off with a simple shake of his head.

Oh well, whatever.  I wasn’t happy about the pixie story – it still didn’t seem right to capture him just because he wanted everyone to be happy all the time.  I wondered if he would have talked to me or just pixied the shit out of me first if I had lifted that jar.  I couldn’t get him totally out of my mind, even though Gregale moved on to other topics.

I later stopped his two-hour discourse on the lifespan and natures of the various elf races to ask him about psychological warfare.

“So, my friend Finn, who’s a green elf, mentioned that there’s some psychological warfare going on right now.”

Gregale’s eyes nearly glowed with excitement over this change of subject. “Oh yes, for certain.  It is a very effective tactic in modern warfare.”

“Do you think it’s actually happening to people we know?  Even us?”

“It could be.  Why do you ask?”

“Because there’s been something going on that’s really bothering me.  Psychologically you could say.”

“Tell me.”

I could see that I had his complete attention.  I quickly gave him the basics about the situation with Tony.  He nodded his head in all the right places.  When I finished he stood still for a minute – I could almost see the ideas sifting through his head.

“You say that this person Ben just appeared in your town?  You are sure he wasn’t there before?”

“I’m sure.  Tony even said it.  And the guy lives right down the street from Tony.  From my family too, actually.”

“Can you get a physical description from Tony?  A picture even?  Many fae can disguise themselves, but not all of them.  Perhaps we could do a search of our contacts to determine if he has been seen before.”

“Do you think he could be fae?”

Gregale shrugged.  “It is possible.  Not likely, but possible.  Like we discussed earlier, you have been targeted.  This means you are considered high value by the Dark Fae.  If they thought they could get to you through your friend, they would do it.  It is fair to say that the Dark Fae will stop at nothing in their campaign to win.”

I looked Gregale right in the eye.  “Tony means everything to me.  If they mess with Tony, they mess with me.”

Gregale looked around fearfully and then moved closer to me.  “Shhh!  Do not reveal such things about yourself out in the open like this.  It is not safe.”

I backed up a little bit, confused.  “What do you mean, it’s not safe?  I thought we were in the Green Forest.”

“We are.  But we are not always alone.”

“Do you mean there are Dark Fae here?” I whispered fearfully, wondering why I didn’t have a daemon with me.  Chase was down, but surely they had substitute daemon body-guards around.

“There could be.  Or there can be charms or spells left here by Dark Fae witches that capture and report information back to the Dark.”

“Then why are we allowed out here at all?”

“Well, for one we need to be out in the forest.  We are fae.  And second, we are not defenseless.  Only the unaware can be taken by surprise.”

“Well, maybe you’re not defenseless, but I pretty much am.”

“Don’t be silly.  I have been told that your powers are quite substantial.”  He looked pointedly at my leg.  “And you wield the Dark of Blackthorn.  That is no trifling weapon.”

I looked down at my stick, pulling it from its sheath and holding it out in front of me.

Gregale took a small step backwards.

“It’s very small.  It’s basically just a sharp stick.  Why is everyone so afraid of it?”

Gregale laughed.  Gently at first and then louder and longer, until eventually he was in full-on guffaws, tears streaming down his face.

“What?” I asked, half laughing myself.  Something I said had been really funny, but I had no idea what.  “Gregale, shut the hell up for a second and tell me.”  I stepped towards him to put my hand on his shoulder, but the movement put him in an instant state of panic.

He swallowed his laughter and looked at me cautiously.  “You really do not know what you have in your hand, do you?”

“Yeah.  I do.  A fucking sharp stick.  Sure, it’s burned a couple people ... but most of the time it just sits there being a stupid stick, not much good for anything but kindling.”

Gregale breathed out a deep sigh of disbelief.  “Put it away and I will tell you about the Dark of Blackthorn.  This could be the most important lesson you learn today.  Maybe ever.  But first, tell me, how did you come to be in possession of this weapon?”

“When the changeling test started we were given our choice of weapons.”

“And you chose this one?”

“No, it was chosen for me.”

“By whom?”

“By default really.  Everyone picked a different weapon and I was the last one to pick and this stick was the only thing left on the table.”

“So it picked you then.”

I looked at him like he was nuts.  “I wouldn’t say that.”

Gregale ignored me.  “Well, remember how I told you that in the fae word, ‘small’ doesn’t mean ‘weak’ it often means ‘concentrated’?”

I nodded my head.

“Well, that is the case with pixies and it is definitely the case with the Dark of Blackthorn.”

“Why do you keep calling it that – the Dark of Blackthorn?”

“Well, because that is its name.  A weapon of this stature, of this notoriety, always has a name.  This particular weapon is named for its original ... owner, The Dark.”

“The Dark?  That was his name?”

“Not ‘his’ name.  ‘Its’ name.”

“It who?”

“I don’t understand.  It was The Dark.”

“Shit, here we go again.  You fae love to mess with me.  Okay, tell me this.  Who is Blackthorn?”

“The more interesting question is how are you associated with the Blackthorn?  Because the Dark of Blackthorn only works for the members of the Blackthorn line, and from what I saw in Dardennes’ office when you used it on Ivar, you are of the line.”

“My mother’s maiden name is Blackthorn.”

“No!” gasped Gregale.

“Yes!” I fake-gasped back.

“You cannot be serious.”

“Um, yes I can.”

Gregale smiled, shaking his head slowly back and forth.  “Dardennes never ceases to amaze me.  None of the gray elves believed his changeling recruiting plan had any merit, but we went along with it just to give him enough rope to hang himself.  And yet here you stand.  The first in a group of fae recruited to our cause.  A true Blackthorn, actually wielding the Dark of Blackthorn.”  Gregale continued speaking, but it seemed more like he was talking to himself than to me.  “Oh my brethren are going to be tickled pink to hear of my day.  And to think I was taunted for having to spend the day with a changeling.”  His attention snapped back to me.  “Remind me to shake his hand at dinner later, will you please?”

I rested my hand on the end of Blackie, making sure Gregale saw me do it.  “Listen you crazy elf, you have five seconds to start explaining to me what the hell you’re talking about before I get super pissed.  I’m tired and I’m hungry and that is a bad combination.  I get seriously cranky when I’m tired and hungry.”

Gregale held up his hands in supplication.  “Okay, okay, no need to get upset.  It is a bit early for lunch, but we can stop for now.  What do you say we take our lunch break now and then we can come back after lunch and I will explain everything to you?  Is that acceptable to you?”

I pulled my hand away from my stick, folding my arms across my chest.  “Fine.”

“Good.  Come ... follow me.”  He started walking back in the direction we had come hours previously.  “You know, this day went a lot differently than I had expected.”

I smiled to myself.  “Yeah, me too.  I’m glad to find out you weren’t planning to kill me and my friends.”

Gregale laughed.  “We would never waste resources like that.”

Great.  I’m a resource.  Somehow that didn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but something told me it was a compliment when coming from a gray elf.

We arrived at the lunchroom and my friends were already there.  I rushed to get my lunch so we could talk about our days so far.

I sat down with my plate and Becky was the first to ask me, “So, what was he like?  Dish, baby, dish.”

I shoved food in my mouth and tried to talk around it.  I saw Becky cringe, so I knew it wasn’t pretty, but I was anxious to check my email before I went out again.  “He’s cool.  I misunderstood him.  He’s a gray elf.  They are the war strategy makers.  He’s giving me a fae education.  I’ll have to tell you about it later.  I need to go check my email.”

We all agreed to regroup later at dinner.  I rushed from the dining hall to go to the computer room.  Once there I logged on and opened my email account.  There were no new messages.

I couldn’t believe it.  Tony was blowing me off.  I tried not to think about the idea of psychological warfare, because if I considered that it was in fact happening to me, then I knew my best friend was stuck in the middle of the Dark versus the Light and could very well become collateral damage, even though he had specifically chosen to stay out of it.

Chapter 16

I was back out in the butterfly clearing with Gregale and we were both sitting.  He told me it was kind of a long story, this tale of the Dark of Blackthorn, so I figured I should get comfortable.

“The Blackthorns are a long line of fae that come from the area known as Blackthorn.  It is in Ireland, in your world, I believe.  They are all Dark Fae, which makes it very interesting that you are here with us.  I promise you, the gray elves will be discussing this long into the coming nights.”

I gave him a stern look that meant ‘get back on track’ and he understood me perfectly.

“Oh yes, so where was I?  Right, the Blackthorn.  That area of our world is called Blackthorn because there is an abundance of these trees there, Blackthorns.  They have a particularly dark wood and very nasty thorns.  Actually, some call them shrubs or bushes because they can grow in all forms.  This tree or bush and its wood and thorns are said to have magical properties, even by the humans who live there.”

I pulled my stick out and looked at it.  “So this is a thorn from a big tree?”

Gregale laughed.  “No, no, no, that is not a thorn from a tree.  Have you ever seen a thorn that big before?”

“No.  But maybe it’s some sort of magic tree.  You said it was.”

“Well, it has magical properties, yes, but it looks like a regular old tree or bush.  Much like all the trees around here look.”

“But none of the trees here are like the trees back home.  Here they have energy and they speak to me.”

“Your trees in Florida are exactly the same as the trees here.  Same energy, same connection.  They are all connected, all over planet Earth.  One big, giant network of Green Energy.”

“I was never able to talk to trees before.”

Gregale pointed to my ring.  “You never wore the amulet of the Blackthorn before.”

“Yeah, but I was able to do it in the Green Forest before I had the amulet.”

“Being in the Green Forest helped you tap into your fae blood while you were there.  Going through the change now makes it possible for you to do it anywhere.”

I looked down at the crystal ring I had kind of forgotten.  “This is the amulet of the Blackthorn?  How come Dardennes had it?  I thought the Blackthorn were always Dark Fae.  Doesn’t that mean they would have it?”

“You were right.  You are a fast learner.”

I smiled at his hard-won compliment.

“I do not have answers to all of your questions, unfortunately.  How Dardennes came into its possession is a mystery to me.  Perhaps you can ask him and get a straight answer.  I doubt that I could – get a straight answer, that is.”

“So if my stick isn’t a thorn, what is it then?  Part of a Blackthorn tree all whittled down?”

“No, not at all.  To explain what you hold in your hand – a thing I wish you would stop waving around so carelessly like that – I must tell you about some ancient fae.”

He moved just a few inches farther away from me, since I didn’t respond to his request to put Blackie down.  I liked holding it in my hand though; but to help him feel less nervous, I did stop waving it in front of him.

“You have met many different fae here, of many different races – elves, ogres, werewolves, dwarves, sprites, etcetera.  However, there are many more fae you have not yet met, and then other fae you will never meet.”

“Why, because they’re shy or something?  Or because you’ve banished them to colonies because they’re too happy.”

Gregale frowned at me.  “No.  Not because we have banished them.  Yes, some are shy.  But several others are extinct.  Their numbers dwindled and then either because of a disease or, more likely, fae interference, they disappeared from the Earth entirely.”

“That’s sad.  So what has that got to do with my stick?”

“Well, you see, your ‘stick’ is not a stick.  Your weapon is a remnant of a long extinct fae race.”

I held my stick that was not a stick out in front of me, a look of disgust on my face.  “A remnant?  As in a bone or something?”

“No.  As in a tooth.  To be more precise, a fang.”

“This?  Is a fucking fang?   No way.  Not possible.  It’s a stupid stick.  Look!”

I thrust it towards him in the palm of my hand.  He nearly did a back flip getting away from it.

“You do that one more time, and I will refuse to help you ever again!”  His face was flushed bright red, and sweat droplets had broken out across his forehead.

I pulled the stick back to me, holding it up close to my face, getting a better look at it.

“And I know the Dark does not affect you like it does other fae, but you are making me very nervous, holding it that close to your face.”

“What?  Like this?” I asked, as I brushed it up and down my cheek.

“Blessed Mother Earth, Moon and Sky, would you please put that thing down!”

I smiled.  “Did you just swear at me?”

Gregale shifted uncomfortably.  “I might have.  But you forced me into it.”

“Seriously Gregale, what is the big deal with this thing?  And don’t try to tell me it’s some big friggin’ ogre tooth or I’m going to hit you with it.”

“Do not be silly.  It is not an ogre tooth.  Ogres are not nearly big enough to have incisors that big.”

“Then what kind of tooth is it?”

“It is the tooth of The Dark.”

“The Dark being its name, right?”  I was finally catching on to his manner of speaking.

“Yes.”

“And The Dark was what race?”

“The Dark was a Dark Fae dragon.  And you are holding his tooth.  A tooth that was taken from him by the fae who slayed him over one thousand years ago – Shayla Blackthorn.”

Chapter 17

I looked at Gregale incredulously.  “No fucking way!  It is not!”  How cool is that? – I have a dragon tooth weapon!  And it had been the last weapon left on Niles’ table.  I guess I lucked out.

“Yes.  It is.  Any fae can recognize that weapon instantly.  There is no other like it.  Except for another tooth of course.  Every dragon had two fangs, of course.  One on each side, on the top part of its mouth.  I know that yours belonged to The Dark because it is black.  He was the only dragon with black teeth.”

“The orcs didn’t recognize it when they captured me in the Green Forest during the test.”

“Orcs are not the smartest or most observant of beasts on their best days.  And if the stories are true, those orcs were awakened after a very long period of ... er ... forced hibernation.  So it is understandable they would not notice it.”

I held it up to my face so I could see it better.  I tapped my fingernails against it.  Now that I knew it was a tooth, I was able to admit it wasn’t like normal wood.  It was harder.  And blacker.  I wondered if the black was its normal color, or if it was covered in dragon plaque.  The idea of this being a dragon tooth probably should have bothered me more, or freaked me out a little at least, but I’d pretty much decided that anything was possible in this fae world.  If some fae came walking up to me and told me he could make monkeys fly out of his butt, I’d probably just nod my head and say, ‘Cool.’  And I wouldn’t doubt him for a second.  Of course, then I’d ask for a demonstration because who could resist seeing a butt monkey?  Not me.

“Gregale, I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that nothing fazes me anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you just told me I come from a line of Dark Fae bad guys, that I’m holding a friggin’ dragon tooth in my hand from some evil dragon that one of my badass ancestors slayed, and I’m sitting here, not freaking out at all.  I’m actually excited about using it again.”

“That would be your Dark Fae blood probably.”

“Hey!  What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged.  “The Dark Fae are very straightforward beings.  They see things in black and white.  I think they would call themselves realists.  You have seen many things these past few days that before you might have considered fantasy or impossibility.  At some point your mind would begin to realize all of your preconceived notions about the world are suspect.  A Dark Fae would then make the conclusion that all preconceived notions are suspect.  It is their easy adaptability that makes them a very formidable enemy.”

“Aren’t you bothered by the fact that I have Dark Fae tendencies?”

“No, not at all.  We are not our family’s histories.  We make our own choices in life.  You would not be the only Light Fae with Dark Fae history.  Over the centuries, fae have switched sides as their nature has dictated.  Dardennes was Dark Fae many moons ago.  He came over to the Light Fae before I was born.”

“Dardennes was Dark Fae?!  Holy shit.  That is unbelievable!”

“Not really.  As people age and see things, sometimes their perspectives change.”

“Yeah, but to go from evil to good.  Is that even possible?”

“That is a common misconception that we of the gray elves are always battling over with our fellow races.  The Dark Fae are not evil, much as the Light Fae would like to make them out to be.  They have their beliefs and we have ours.  We do not agree with their beliefs and so label them ‘evil’ or ‘bad’.  But they feel the same way about our beliefs.  They think we make choices that harm or even end up killing our own kind – meaning their kind too.  That is evil to them.  So it is not that simple to say we are good and they are bad.  There is too much gray in between, and we are all in the Gray.”

“You speak about the Gray like it’s a place.”

“Oh, it is.  Believe me it is.  Not many fae go there, but it exists.”

“What is it?”

“It is the place that lies between our world, the Here and Now, and the Otherworlds.”

“The Otherworlds?”

“Yes.  The Underworld and the Overworld.”

“Heaven and Hell.”

He tipped his head from side to side.  “You could say that.  The Christian religious definitions of these two places have some similarities to what we know as the Otherworlds, but there are many differences too.  As usual, the myths and beliefs have a mixture of some truth and some fantasy.  You must keep in mind that all of the world’s religions are man-made, often as a mechanism to control and intimidate the masses into following the bidding of a few.  Therefore, it serves their purposes to paint certain pictures of these places to encourage their followers to strive towards one and avoid entering the other.”

“Yes, I am familiar with that particular tactic.  I was forced to go to Sunday school for years before I finally put my foot down.”

“I am curious how you did this – putting your foot down.  I am sure, though, that it was creative, if I have come to know you at all.”

“Well, I’m not sure if you consider painting three other children red during craft hour and calling them the new sons of God being creative, but that’s what got me my free ride.  I think my mom was afraid the church was going to excommunicate her – or demand an exorcism or something.”

Gregale smiled, chucking.  “You make me laugh.  That is hard to do to a gray elf.”

“Maybe that’s one of my supernatural skills.  I can make gray elves laugh.”

Gregale took a deep calming breath.  “You do bring up an interesting point.  What are your skills exactly?”

“Well, I could show you, but it would probably kill you, so maybe I shouldn’t.  I’m more curious about this dragon tooth.”

“You should show it the respect it deserves.  You will never fully understand the magic within it; the magic is a mystery to all fae.  This weapon is the Dark of Blackthorn.  Never forget that.”

“Well, I happen to think it enjoys being called ‘Blackie’, so that’s what I call it.”

He shook his head.  “As the humans like to say: it’s your funeral.”

“So tell me.  What exactly can Blackie do?”

“Well, I saw you give Ivar quite a dragonfire burn the other day.”

“Dragonfire burn?  What’s that?”

“It is what it sounds like.  The Dark of Blackthorn burns whoever it touches, as if the mighty dragon it once belonged to had breathed the fire itself.  But of course it does not burn you, as you are of the Blackthorn line and the tooth was given to you freely – you did not steal it.”

“I thought you said my ancestor slayed the dragon.”

“Yes, but at its moment of death, the dragon always surrenders to the one being who is mightier than it.  In the case of the dragon called The Dark, the mightier being was your ancestor, Shayla Blackthorn.  He willingly sacrificed his fangs to her just before he died.”

“Wow.  That’s messed up.  I can’t imagine giving someone my teeth right after they permanently knocked me on my ass.”

“Dragons live by a different code than most other fae.”

“You said this tooth burns people; but other people have touched it and not been burned.

“Who?”

“Oh, friends.  People who have handed it to me or whatever.  The Green.  Some orcs.”

“Even orcs?”

“Yes.”

Gregale thought about this for a minute.

“My friend Tony had an axe that only worked if he was angry and swinging it.”

“What axe?”

“I don’t know.  It was the weapon he chose during the test.  It would make blue laser lights and hum when he swung it at the orcs.  They were scared to death of it.”

“Definitely dwarven-made.  Yes, some weapons are only imbued with their power when the user wants to use the power.  Otherwise, it is a harmless relic.”

“Maybe Blackie is one of them.  Wanna try an experiment?”  I got a devilish look in my eye.

I could see that Gregale was warring with himself inside his head.  He was both an elf who was afraid of the weapon and a gray elf who loved knowledge and analyzing facts.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, warily.

“I will put Blackie on the ground and specifically tell it not to hurt you.  You see if you can pick it up without getting burned.”

He looked at me like I was crazy at first, but then as he thought about it, I could see his resolve weakening.  “Perhaps ... ”  He looked at Blackie and then at me.  “Okay, fine.  Do it before I change my mind.”

I put the tooth on the ground, thinking the whole time Don’t hurt the elf, don’t hurt the elf, don’t hurt the elf ...

Gregale reached down tentatively towards the weapon, hovering over it just a hair’s breadth away.  Then he touched it lightning quick, pulling his hand back as fast as he could.  He looked at his hand where it had touched the Dark of Blackthorn.  There was no mark.

He smiled at me encouragingly and then immediately got serious again.  He bit his lip in concentration as he lowered his hand again, moving faster this time, eventually placing his whole palm on top of it.  Once again he quickly yanked his hand away and saw that there was no mark.  His curiosity finally won out and he reached down, taking the weapon tentatively in hand.  He lifted it to eye level, gazing at it from every angle, ecstasy written all over his face.  “You have no idea what an honor this is, holding the Dark of Blackthorn like this.”

“Do you want to do stage two of the experiment?”

“What is it?”

I lifted my eyebrow.  Then I sent out the message to Blackie that Gregale was no longer allowed a free pass.

I heard a small sizzling sound before I heard the scream.  “OWW!  Blessed Mother be!!!  You burned me!!”  He had dropped the tooth and was now gripping the wrist of his injured hand with his other one.  Tears had jumped to his eyes, betrayal lacing his angry words.  “You did that on purpose!  You knew it was going to happen.”  He struggled to get up without the use of his hands.

I actually hadn’t been sure it was going to happen, although I did suspect it might.  But I had a backup plan just in case, and I thought he would be happy with this last step enough to forgive me for the burn.

“Relax, I can fix this.”

“No!  You stay away from me you ... Dark Fae beast!”

“Listen, I can help you, but you have to stop calling me that.  I’m pretty sure it’s a very bad insult and it therefore pisses me off.”

“I call you what you are.  I trusted you, but you tricked me.  You enjoyed burning me.”

“Oh, shut up Gregale.  I did not enjoy it.  I admit, I did enjoy conducting the experiment because it helped me learn more about the weapon and my connection to it.  Come on, you’re a gray elf.  You have to admit it was interesting.”

He held his hand tightly, still pouting.  “Yes, the data is valuable.  But your methods are Dark Fae.”

“No, they’re not.  Come here and let me show you.”

“Ha!  You must think me very naïve.  No, thank you, but I will be going now.  To the infirmary, thanks to you.”

“Not so fast, buddy.  You’re not leaving here until I finish my experiment.”

He got a panicked look on his face and then made a move to run.

I sent out a quick message to The Green, its hum having surrounded me all day, just waiting for a request.  The thought flitted across my mind that it seemed like The Green and I were only truly happy and alive when we were connecting with each other.

The deep grasses of the meadow tangled around his legs and tripped him in mid-stride.  He screamed as he went down, rolling over onto his back to get his injured hand out from under him.  The vines raced out of the nearby forest to wrap around his ankles.  He was unable to run but still able to move everything but his legs.

“You ... you have kidnapped me!  I am a prisoner!”

“Stop being so dramatic.  I just needed you to stop running away, dummy.”

“So you could burn me again?  My gray elf brethren will avenge my death.  You will never get away with this!”

I looked Gregale in the eyes.  All I saw was panic in return.  I kept staring at him, using the nicest smile I could come up with, but his panic level rose instead of subsiding.

“Why are you freaking out even more when I’m not doing anything?”

“Because you are smiling at me!”

“That’s because I’m trying to calm you down, you idiot!”

“Well you look like a lunatic, so please stop!”

“Oh.  Sorry.  Listen, Gregale, why would I want to kill you?  You’re the only one who’s told me anything about myself or my weapon or anything.  You’re what we call in the fae world a ‘valuable resource’.  It doesn’t make sense to waste resources like that.”  I smiled big then, lunatic smile or not, I didn’t care.

I saw the panic slowly leave his eyes.  Then a small smile started across his face.  “I am a valuable resource.  You are right about that.”

“Good.  So let me take care of that burn for you.  Last stage of the experiment, ‘kay?”

He looked at me suspiciously but then capitulated, his curiosity winning out over his fear of pain.  “Fine.  Please do not kill me or burn me worse, though, I beg you.”

“No problem.  Just do me a favor and do your best to let me know when you’re reaching overload status.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked suspiciously.

“You’ll see.”  I hoped my work with Céline, learning how to control the flow of The Green through my fae friends, was going to work today.  “Here goes nothin’.”  I closed my eyes and reached out to The Green all around me.  It was different out here in the meadow, but no less powerful.

I took Gregale’s hands in mine, gently laying my palm over his burned one.  I opened my eyes to better gauge his uptake of the energy.  I could tell he was feeling it, even though it was at a very, very low level right now.

“Okay, Gregale, I’m going to kick it up a notch.  This is to heal your burns.  Just hang on and let me know when it’s getting to be too much.  Do you understand?”

He nodded, unable to speak.

I asked The Green for more, the healing power, and it gave it to me.  Lovingly, willingly, happily even.  I saw the rapture spread across Gregale’s face.  I had to force myself to keep my eyes open; it was so much more peaceful to float away in The Green and not have the outside images intruding on my flow, but I needed to watch him for signs of fae stroke.  I could feel his presence in the network of power – strong, steady and bright.

I looked down at his hands, both of us now enveloped in a faint green glow.  For some reason the green glow of the energy didn’t change the colors I saw inside it.  I watched the burns go from angry red to pink to nothing.  I slowly pulled back the energy, watching his face as I did.  A small frown appeared, understandably since he was now only receiving a fraction of the energy he had been getting just two seconds ago.

I let The Green go, thanking it and giving it a mental hug.  A long, satisfied sigh escaped my lips.  I smiled, looked at Gregale, hoping he wasn’t permanently in la-la land.

“Gregale?  Are you okay now?”

His eyes were closed, but he was smiling.  “I’m here.  I don’t really want to be, but I am.”

I squeezed his hands and let go of them.  He started to reach for me involuntarily.  I patted his hands away gently.

“No more green vibes for you today.  Time to go to dinner.”

He opened his eyes.  “Is it time, already?”

“Well, not quite, but I have some other stuff to do.”

I stood and offered him my hand, which he took and stood.  He looked down at his unscarred and uninjured palm, flexing it and turning it around.

“Jayne, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me today.  That was the most profound experience of my life.  To think ... I was burned by the Dark of Blackthorn and then healed five minutes later by the life force of The Green ... I am possibly the only elf in the entire known universe who can say that.”  He looked me in the eyes, a very serious expression on his face.  “I owe you a favor, Jayne.  One very big favor, called in at your discretion.  Anytime, anywhere.  I will do it for you.  That is a promise from a gray elf, which is a promise that lasts forever until the favor is repaid.”

“Wow.  Thanks.  I wasn’t expecting that.”  It sounded good, all official and stuff.  I guess what we had just done was a pretty big deal to him.  “You’re probably right about being the only one who’s ever been through that.  I know I haven’t done it before.”  But what did I know?  There could be ten other fae just like me out there.  And this dragon had to have at least one other fang floating around too.  But if it made Gregale feel special, then what the hell.  I could go with that.

We began walking back to the door to the compound.  Gregale started to wander a little in the wrong direction, so I had to take him by the elbow a couple of times.

“This way, buddy.”

“Oh, yes, quite right, quite right.  Sorry, I am still just a little in the clouds.”

“Speaking of clouds, I’m surprised you didn’t just fly away from me when you first got burned.”

“Well, we cannot do that instantaneously; and as you figured out earlier, all we need is someone there holding us and we are stuck in our regular form.  It is not very convenient.”

“Still, I’d like to watch you do it.  I watched Céline do it once.”

“She is a silver elf.  We have different ... techniques.”

“Good then.  You can show me tomorrow.”

Gregale stopped walking and turned towards me.  I stopped too.

“So you want to work with me again?”

I shrugged my shoulders.  “Sure.  Why not?  You’re not boring.”

He laughed.  “And neither are you, Jayne.  Neither are you.”

We both smiled at each other and then began walking again, soon reaching the door.  I’m not sure if I made it appear or he did, but I was specifically thinking about that figure eight pattern right before the door became visible.  Maybe I was getting the hang of this magic door thing.

We parted ways when I reached the entrance to the computer room, promising to meet again the next morning.  I went in and logged onto the computer, immediately checking my email account.  There were no messages.  I started a new one to Tony.

‘Tony, hey.  What’s up?  Where the heck are you?  If you don’t email me back, I’m gonna call the cops or something.  Did you get kidnapped?  Write me back.  Love, Jayne.’

There.  That should get a response.

I left the room intending to go to my cell, but I saw a glow around a door that I knew wasn’t the one leading to the dorm hallway.  I walked up and opened it slowly, realizing as the room came into view that I was once again in Dardennes’ office.  And once again, it was empty, except for the trapped pixie on the desk.  I had been thinking about him as I left the computer room, wondering if he was still there.  Maybe that’s why the door had appeared for me.

I walked slowly over to the bell jar.  The pixie had been sitting, but when he saw me, he jumped up again, gesturing to the bottom of the jar, motioning for me to lift it up.  He looked so hopeful, it was pitiful.

I went around to the other side of the desk and sat down in Dardennes’ chair.  I scooted it forward so I could get closer to the pixie.  I hunched down, putting my arms on the desk and my face right up to the glass.

The pixie backed up a little.

I guess that must have looked pretty gruesome, my huge face up that close.  I backed up just a smidge, and the pixie returned to the edge nearest me.  Now that I was this close I could see his features better.  He was wearing clothes similar to the other fae, but his were green and brown and much, much tinier.  He had reddish brown hair and, other than his small size, seemed pretty proportional.  I half expected him to have pointed ears and a pointed nose, but nope – he looked like a regular person.  I thought I could see some tiny muscles under his tunic too.  I wondered if pixie girls thought he was hot.

I could see he was talking to me.  I wished I could hear him.  I wondered if I’d hear him if he was out of the jar, or if his voice was supersonically pitched and only dogs or werewolves could hear it.

“I wish I could let you out.  But that gray elf told me you would pixie me and then I’d be in crazytown for the rest of my life.  And apparently, elementals like me can live a long time.  Sorry, but I can’t risk it.”  I gave him my best apologetic look.

The pixie threw up his hands and stomped around, gesturing wildly.  Something I said had pissed him off.

I realized then that I could kind of tell what he was thinking by his reactions.  Maybe this pixie knew how to play charades.

“Hey, Pixieman, I can’t hear you, but maybe you can tell me what you want to say with signals or gestures.  Know what I mean?  Like charades?”

I saw his head nod up and down really quickly.

“I know you want to come out.  But if I let you out, someone’s going to get hurt.”

He shook his head vehemently.  Then he put his hand over his heart and bowed, as if making some kind of promise to me.

“Are you saying that you swear you won’t do anything to hurt anyone?”

He jumped up and down, clapping his hands.  Now I could totally picture him dancing around in a meadow.  He was good at the jumping for joy thing.

“You realize that when I say ‘hurt’, I mean a person could get pixied and end up forever dancing around and laughing and singing, right?”

Pixieman looked confused at that.

“Did you know that the fae do not like it when you make them dance around?”

Now Pixieman looked at me like I was nuts.

“Yeah, it’s true.  I just learned that today.  See, I personally think we should probably dance around like fools more often, but apparently your kind of pixie spell makes the fae do it all the time.  And they have to be serious sometimes.”

He shook his head side to side, then skipped around a bit, smiling.  Then he threw his arms out like, ‘Ta da!’

“Yeah, I totally get what you’re saying.  Like, what’s wrong with being happy and joyful all the time?  But we have a war going on out here, and if we spend all our time screwing around and goofing off, we’re gonna get killed.”

Pixieman looked horrified at that.  He shook his head slowly, as if he didn’t want to believe me.

“I’m telling the truth.”  I sat back and put my hand over my heart, making a little bow, like I’d seen him do earlier.

His teeny tiny eyes grew wider and his shoulders slumped.  Obviously this news of war was a not so pleasant surprise to him.

“Didn’t you know about the war?”

He shook his head no.  He sat down in the jar, looking into his lap.

“Hey.  Hey, Pixieman.”

He didn’t look up.

I tapped on the glass.  “Hey!”

He threw his hands up to his ears and shot me a dirty look.

“Oops.  Sorry.  Listen, I have an idea.  But if you don’t want to hear it ... ” I started to get up from the chair, pretending like I was going to leave.

He jumped up and gestured with his hands, waving towards himself.  He wanted to hear it.

I sat back down.  “I think I’m gonna let you out of here.”

He smiled and ran to the edge of the glass, pushing his nose against it.

I cannot adequately explain how frigging hilarious it is to see a pixie nose pressed against glass like that.  I nearly peed myself laughing.

Gasping I told him, “Move away from the glass.  You look too funny.”

He frowned at me but moved back a pace.

“Okay, so I’m gonna let you out ... on two conditions.  Do you understand?  You have to make me two promises.”

He nodded furiously and held up two tiny fingers.  I could barely see them.

“First, you have to promise on your fae life ... and the life of ... all your pixie family lives, that you will not pixie anyone or charm anyone or send anyone into your happy, happy place.  Got it?”

He nodded.  First he skipped around all super excited, then he slapped his wrist and looked majorly sad.

“Exactly.  No happy time for anyone here in the Green Forest.”  I held up two fingers and pointed to the second one.  “Second, you have to stay with me for a while.”

He looked at me confused.

I shrugged my shoulders.  I wasn’t sure why I wanted him to stay, just that I did.  I’d never known a pixie before and I was willing to bet he had all kinds of crazy shit to tell me.  Plus, how cool would it be to have a pixie for a friend?  He’d probably make a great spy.  The possibilities were endless.

“I want us to be friends.  I thought maybe you could hang out for a while.”

He was even more confused now.  He pointed to himself and then he pointed to me and then back to himself.

“Yeah.  You and me.  Friends.”

He started skipping around and laughing inside his jar.  Then he stopped and looked at me questioningly.

I shook my head no.  “No, I don’t want to go to crazytown.  I just want to be my regular self.”  I made a serious face.

Pixieman shrugged, as if to say, ‘Whatever floats your boat.’

I could work with this.  “We have deal?”  I held out my giant hand towards the glass wall, acting as if I was shaking his hand.

He held his tiny hand out towards the glass as if shaking mine.

We both moved our hands up and down.

“You better not be fucking me over.  I’ll squash you like a bug if you do.”

He put his hand on his heart and shook his head.

“Okay.  Here it goes ... ”

I put my hand on the top of the bell jar.  I grasped the glass bulb handle and started lifting.

Pixieman’s face lit up like a tiny little ray of sun.  He started hopping from one foot to the other, clapping his hands and spinning around with glee.  I tried not to be nervous about it.  He looked a liiiiitle too happy.

As the glass lifted up high enough for him to get out, the door to the room flew open, slamming against the wall behind it.  Dardennes and Céline were standing in the doorway – Ivar, Niles and the old man from the amphitheater behind them in the hallway.  All of their eyes opened as wide as saucers when they saw what I was doing.

“Don’t!!!” thundered Dardennes at the same time Céline screamed “Nooooo!!!!”

But it was too late.  Pixieman flew out of the jar, buzzed around the desk, and then headed straight for my face.

Chapter 18

I screamed, not because the pixie had scared me, but because everyone else freaking out sent me into a panic.  Plus the pixie kinda looked like a giant bug coming right at me, so that didn’t help.

Luckily I had the presence of mind not to swat at him, even though I could feel my left hand twitching like it wanted to.  I would have felt terrible if I had smashed him one – poor little guy.

Everyone was shouting and ducking and generally acting like a bunch of crazy fools.  I had ducked too, an involuntary reflex.  I felt something on my shoulder and realized after about two seconds of being stunned and confused that it had to be Pixieman.  So far I didn’t feel like dancing and laughing, so I had to assume he hadn’t pixied my ass yet.

I stood quickly because I saw that Ivar was on his way over to us.  I could hear the clump, clump, clumping of his heavy moccasins on the floor.  I wondered how he could make them sound so loud when everyone else’s moccasins were silent on these floors.

“Stop!” I yelled, before he could get too close.

I heard a tiny buzzing near my ear.  What the hell?

Céline and Dardennes were shouting at each other, Ivar and to the fae that had gathered in the hallway.

“Will everyone please shut the hell up?!”  I yelled as loud as I could.

The place got instantly quiet.  You could have heard a pin drop.

I continued in a calmer, quieter voice.  “You were saying, Pixieman?”

Then I could hear him.  A tiny voice in my left ear.  “My name is Tim, not Pixieman!”

I started laughing loudly.  I couldn’t help myself.  It wasn’t a pixie charm, though; it was the fact that this guy’s name was Tim.  As in Tiny Tim.  It was too damn much.  I was leaning over, grasping my stomach, laughing hysterically.

I looked up, ready to share my joke with the other fae, but didn’t see the reaction I’d expected.  There were no smiles.  No looks of ‘Gee, I wonder what’s so funny ... ’.  No – the only thing I saw was fear mingled with sadness.

Céline had her hand to her mouth, tears in her eyes.  Dardennes’ head was hanging, slowly shaking from side to side.  The old wizard man looked sad, a frown on his face.  Niles just looked pissed.  That was normal for him though.

I looked over at Ivar, still chuckling a little.  He looked scared to death.  He had his eyes glued to my shoulder.  I was thinking as I looked at him that if I yelled ‘Boo!’ right then, he’d probably scream like a little bitch and run for his life.  What was everyone’s problem?

I stopped laughing because of their total downer attitudes.  “What the hell is wrong with you guys?  Did somebody just die or something?”

Céline swiveled her head to look at Dardennes and the old man.  Niles jerked his head back to me, suddenly looking confused.  Ivar took a slow step backwards.  Dardennes lifted his head and started talking.

“Jayne?”

I looked at him like he was an idiot.  “Yeeesss?”

“Why aren’t you laughing anymore?”

“Maybe because you guys are a bunch of killjoys ... wet blankets ... sticks in the mud.  Duh.  Why is everyone so serious around here all the time?  No wonder the pixies are always pixying your asses.”

Céline dropped her hand from her mouth.  “Do you mean ... you’re not pixied right now?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous.  Do you see me jumping around in circles singing show tunes?”

“Well ... no ... not right now.  But you were.  Laughing uncontrollably anyway.”

“That’s because Tim said something funny.  Call me crazy, but I laugh at funny shit.”

She looked confused.  So did all the other faces in front of me.  Then I heard the old man say, “She’s hallucinating.  This is one of the end stages.  It’s come early for her.  It must be because she’s an elemental.”

I looked at them with disgust.  “Don’t be stupid, old man, I’m not hallucinating.  Tim is the pixie.  He had just told me his name and I found it pretty hilarious that a pixie would be named Tim.  That’s not crazy, that’s normal.”  I looked at them but they were obviously still confused.  “Don’t you get it?”

They all shook their heads.

“My god, where the hell have you been for the last hundred years?  Tiny Tim.  Get it?  Tiny Tim?”

They looked at each other, seeing if any of their friends knew what the hell I was talking about.

“Never mind.  If you knew my human history, you’d be laughing your asses off too.”  I heard the buzzing again near my ear, so I held my finger up to the fae at the door, signaling them to be quiet.  “Say that again, Tim ... ?”

I listened closely and the buzzing became words.  “Tell them I don’t want to go in that glass prison again!”

“Listen guys, Tim says he doesn’t want to go in the jar again.”

Ivar had been slowly backing up this whole time and had now reached the others.  “What do you want me to do, Sir?” he asked Dardennes quietly.

For the first time since I’d met him, Dardennes was speechless.  He just stood there, looking at me, slowly moving his head side to side.  I decided not to wait for his decision.

“Let me make this easy for you guys, okay?  No one’s putting anyone or anyfae in any jars.  Got it?  Tim is with me now.  He and I have a deal.  I took him out of the jar in exchange for a promise that he wouldn’t pixie anyone in the Green Forest.  So you can all relax and stop getting your panties in a bunch.  You don’t have to worry – you can stay your unhappy, serious selves.  He’s not going to pixie you.”

Niles shouted back.  “You stupid changeling!  Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to make deals with the smaller fae?!”

That little turd pissed me off so much in that instant, I can’t even describe it.  I lost my cool all over his ass.  I started advancing from behind the desk.

“No!  As a matter of fact, I don’t!  You wanna know why?  Because nobody, including you, you friggin’ dwarf asshole, has bothered to tell me!  You just treat me like I’m some sort of experiment, setting me loose in the Green Forest to hurt people because I have no idea what I’m doing – you gave me a fucking enchanted dragon tooth as a weapon and probably had a big laugh at me when I kept calling it a sharp stick!” At that I saw Dardennes and Céline look at each other, and if I’m not mistaken, guiltily, “ ... Oh yeah, and no one bothers to mention that there are Dark Fae out there just kind of hanging around, trying to get a bead on me and maybe take a shot at me so I can take a nice, long dirt nap.  I’m starting to get the impression that this place could use a more organized leadership team.  And that includes you, you commando dwarf asshole ... who I happen to know is not the badass he thinks he is, considering this stupid girl was able to string him up like a Thanksgiving turkey by his short, fat, ugly ankles before she was even fae!!”

I took five long strides until I was standing in front of them.  I pulled Blackie out and held it in front of me.  “Now, get out of my way.  Tim and I are going to go check my email.”

They reluctantly parted so that I could pass, Dardennes reaching out to me before I started to walk.

“Jayne, please don’t go.  You have a right to be angry.  Let’s talk about this.  I’m ... not sure that taking the pixie out of this office is such a good idea.”

I shot him my angriest look ever.  “His name.  Is Tim.”

I pushed past, glaring at Niles as I left.  Arrogant little shit.

I imagined the computer room in my mind and in less than a minute I was in front of the door.  I walked in and slammed the door behind me.  I sat at the computer farthest from the door, still fuming.

“Tim, you can come out of my hair now.”

I felt something tickle the back of my neck, and then Tim was flying over to land next to the keyboard.  He was obviously very happy.  He danced around a bit and then jumped into some kind of karate maneuvering, smiling and laughing like a crazy person as he imitated someone beating someone else’s ass with a series of kicks and chops, which he executed in the air next to the keyboard.  Then he pointed at me and hugged himself hard.

“Yeah, I was pretty friggin’ awesome in there, wasn’t I?”

He nodded his head vigorously.

“You know, I wish I could hear you better.  Your voice is so tiny.”  The only way I could hear him was if he was in my ear and the room was totally silent.  Oh well.  We could work with the charades thing for now.

I started typing and Tim watched me carefully.  I wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen a computer before, so I talked while I typed.

“This is a computer.  We use it to communicate with other people around the world.  I used to be a human.  I have a human friend who lives in Florida.  I miss him.  I’m checking to see if he got my message and if he sent me a new one.  See?  I click on these buttons using the mouse.”

At the word ‘mouse’ Tim freaked.  He buzzed up to my shoulder and dug himself into my ponytail.

“Ouch, Tim!  Get out of there, you’re pulling my hair!  What’s wrong with you?”  My instinct was to bat him away from the back of my head, but I didn’t want to hurt him, so I just cringed through the pain – but it was hard because those hairs on the back of my neck were very sensitive when they were pulled.

I heard his buzzing again, but the only word I got out of it was ‘mouse’.

“Oh, shit.  You’re afraid of mice?”

There was more buzzing.

“Come out of there, you wuss.  I wasn’t talking about a real mouse, I was talking about this computer thing here.”  I wiggled the mouse back and forth until I felt him come out of my hair.  “See?  It looks a little like a mouse – white with a long tail?”

Tim flew back down and landed on my hand that was holding the mouse.  I continued to click through the buttons that would get me to my email, no longer worried about my wussy friend Tim.  He stood like a surfer, balancing on my hand while I moused around.

I had almost finished, and I was poised over the ‘Get New Mail’ button, when Tim suddenly jumped up and down on my hand once.  Hard.  His landing from the jump made me click the mouse involuntarily.

My new messages popped up.

I laughed.  “Good one, Tim!  You did it!  You stomped that mouse’s ass.”

Tim flew up and suspended himself in front of me, his wings beating so fast they were invisible, a big grin lighting up his face.  He started spinning in circles out of sheer delight.  I had no idea how he did that without getting motion sick.

“Tim.  Chill.  I don’t want you accidentally pixying me or barfing on me.”  I gave him my stern look.

He immediately stopped flying for joy and put his hand over his heart again.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you promise not to do it.  Just don’t do it accidentally either.  I don’t want those a-holes thinking they were right about you.”

I saw that I had a new message from Tony, so I immediately ignored Tim.  I clicked it open hurriedly, my eyes scanning the one line response over and over, hardly believing what it said.

‘Jayne.  I’m fine.  No cops needed.  Just busy.  Talk to you later.  Tony.’

I was furious.  This was not my Tony.  Someone had to be hacking into his account, which then meant Tony wasn’t able to contact me.  I clicked the mouse to open up a new message and my fingers began flying over the keys.

‘Whoever you are who has hacked into Tony’s account, you can go fuck yourself.  You’d better watch your back because I’m coming for you asshole.’  I pressed send without thinking twice.  My heart was pounding and my face was sweating.

Tim was looking at the computer screen, studying it and my corresponding movements intently.  I watched as he flew over to the mouse and then pushed it until the cursor was over the ‘New Message’ button.  Then he jumped on top of the mouse, causing it to click open a new message.  Then he flew to the keyboard and started jumping around on the keys.  Slowly, a sentence started to appear on the screen.

‘who is tony’

I got suddenly sad, the fight temporarily leaving me.  “He’s my best friend in the whole world.  The human in Florida.”

‘his message makes you sad’

“Yes.  I don’t think it’s him though.  I think it’s someone else pretending to be Tony.  Tony would never send me a message like this.”

‘why don’t you go see him’

“I’m going to.  I think.  I just have to figure out how.  I’m not sure how to get out of this forest or back to Florida.  Plus I have no money to pay for a ticket.”  I sighed.  “Tony and I live in different worlds now and I’m supposed to move on and let him move on too.  When I first became fae I thought I’d stay here just a few weeks and then go home.  But the more I learn about the fae and their lives and history and future, the more I realize that going home might not be a good option for me.  I don’t think I’m going to fit in there anyway.”  I laughed bitterly.  “Not that I fit in before – but I think I really, really won’t fit in now.” This was the first time I’d voiced my fears out loud.  It seemed easier to do it to Tim for some reason ... maybe because he was so dang small.

Tim got busy on the keyboard.

‘you are special, you are not like other fae’

“I don’t know about that.  But I know that Tony chose to stay human instead of becoming a changeling.  And they said once you deny your fae blood, you don’t get a second chance.  So he’s going to be human forever and I’m going to be fae forever.  I should just let him go.  It’s killing me, but it seems like the only way to be fair to him.  He needs to find new friends.  I can’t keep holding on to him like this.  I know it’s the right thing to do.  It’s just that I’m selfish and I want to keep him all to myself.  I keep getting all paranoid, thinking someone is influencing him.  I’m sure it’s just my imagination though.”

Tim looked a little panicked.  I don’t think he was prepared to deal with sadness like this.  His face lit up all of a sudden and he jumped over to an empty space on the desk and started dancing.

He looked hilarious, poking his elbows out and kicking his feet out in all directions.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  “What the hell is your problem?  Are you a mentally ill pixie?  Is that why they were able to catch you?”

He stopped dancing and put his hands on his hips, acting all defensive.

“Kidding, I’m kidding.  Relax.”

Just then a beep rang out in the room.  It was coming from the computer.  I had received a new message alert.  Tony!

I clicked open the message, Tim temporarily forgotten.

‘Jayne, it’s not a hacker.  It’s me.  Remember, the guy who can read your vibes?  I just need some space is all.  I miss you too much.  Give me time.  Tony.’

I slowly went through the motions as the tears stung my eyes, logging off and shutting down the computer.  I guess this is it.  The beginning of the end.  Tony was cutting me off.  It felt so, so wrong, but I knew that feeling was coming from a selfish place.  I felt like my heart was breaking.  I had to force the weak-ass tears to go back where they were trying to come from.

“Come on – let’s go eat some dinner.  I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

Tim got a worried look on his face and started flying back and forth in front of me, agitated about something.  I held my hand out.  “What?  Chillax, will ya?”

He landed on my hand and started talking.  I strained so I could hear him.

“Some fae like to eat pixies!”

“Whaaaat?  That’s disgusting.  Who eats pixies?”

“Ogres!”

“Ew.  Ivar is an Ogre, but he didn’t eat you.  Besides, you wouldn’t make much of a meal.  You’re kinda small ... and boney looking.”

Tim folded his arms.  “That ogre wanted to eat me; and I’ll have you know, pixies are considered delicacies by many.”

I shook my head.  “Whatever.  Stay with me, you’ll be safe.  Anyone who tries to eat you or jar you will taste Blackie’s dragonflame ... or dragonfire ... whatever.”  I pulled out the tooth to show him.

He zipped to the ceiling so fast, all I saw was a blur.  He was gesticulating wildly, but I had no idea what exactly he was saying, just that he wanted me to get Blackie the hell away from him.  I put it back in my sheath.  “It’s gone.  Come back down. Come on, I’m hungry.”

He floated down slowly, keeping an eye on my hands the whole time.  “Listen little pixieman, stop looking at me like I’m going to hurt you.  If that were my plan I would have done it a long time ago.  I’m trusting you to not pixie me or any of the other fae here and you have to trust me to not burn you.  Okay?”

He hovered in front of my face so I could see him nod, his hand over his heart again.  Boy, this pixie sure likes his formal swearing stuff.

I left the room with Tim on my shoulder.  As we neared the dining hall, I felt him move into my hair.  My ponytail was pretty loose and messy at this point, giving him lots of places to hide.  I guess while I had a pixie friend, I was going to have to make some hairdo concessions – one of them being messy ponytails instead of neat, tight ones.  I shrugged as I considered it.  It’s not like I had a love life here or anything.

I opened the door and entered the room, expecting to be greeted by the normal noises and clanking of dishes and utensils.  Instead, the noise that was there in the seconds before I opened the door immediately stopped.  The only clanking I heard was that of a couple fae actually dropping their forks in mid-bite.  Several people stood suddenly out of their seats and backed away from me, looking for other exits.

“Oh, for shit’s sake people!  He’s just a tiny pixie!  He’s not going to hurt any of you!”

The only ones who didn’t look scared were my friends.  They looked at me and then at the rest of the group in complete confusion.

I tried one more time.  “Do I look pixied?  Well?  Do I?  No!  I don’t.  See?  I’m as angry as ever.  You guys are racists, you know that?”

Some of them looked at me in shock.  Others looked to their neighbors – probably checking to see if they heard me right.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, walking over to the buffet.  The fae who were there tried to casually move out of my way while acting like they weren’t.  Idiots.

“Don’t worry about it, Tim – they’ll get used to the idea.”  I grabbed a plate at the end of the line.  “What do pixies like to eat?” I said to no one in particular, hoping Tim would tell me in my ear.  But the noise had started up again in the room, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying, even though he was trying.

I felt someone bump my elbow.  I looked down and Niles was standing there.  I was ready for him to start up with me again, so I was instantly on my guard.  But Niles held up his hands in front of him.  “I’m not here for a fight,” he said in his gruff voice.  “I came ... to apologize.”

Apologize?  Niles?  “Have we just been pixied, or did I just hear you say you wanted to apologize?”

“No need to make this harder than it needs to be,” he said gruffly.

“No need to make it easier than it needs to be,” I said, angrily.

If my eyes weren’t fooling me, the edges of his mouth turned up a fraction.  “Fair enough.  Just so you know, pixies eat fruit.”  He turned and walked back to his spot at one of the tables now set up on the edges of the room.

I saw that he was sitting with the group that had confronted Tim and me in Dardennes’ office.  I shot them all a dirty look, but they didn’t return it.  Instead, they all looked a little chagrined.  Good.  Let them stew in that for a while.  I put some sandwichy looking meats on my plate and some different fruit from a fruit platter at the end of the line.  I went and found a seat with my friends.

“What the heck was that all about?” said Becky breathlessly.  “Man, oh man, you always bring the drama.  I don’t know whether I should be jealous or feel sorry for you.”

“Believe me, you should feel sorry for me.  But if you give me pity right now, I might slap you.”

“So, my little trouble-maker, what have you done to get all of the fae so upset this time?” asked Spike, a smile in his amber-colored eyes.

“Well, when he’s ready, I’ll have Tim show you.”

“Who’s Tim?” asked Finn.

“You’ll see.” I said mysteriously, digging into my dinner.

“Tim.  Lunchtime.  Come on out.  Better hurry up or I’m gonna eat your fruit.”

I felt him moving but he didn’t come out.

“I know you’ve gotta be hungry.  You were in that bell jar for at least a day.”

I felt more crawling around.  Then his light steps on my shoulder.  A couple seconds later, he was buzzing in the air next to my ear.

“They’re not going to freak out – are you guys?” I said, looking at my friends, giving them a warning look and then rolling my eyes.  I was trying to let them know Tim was a bit of a wuss.

Slowly he buzzed out from beside me so that he was hovering above my plate.

Becky gasped and then smiled with glee.  “Oh my goodness, he is so freakin’ cute!”  She started to reach her hand out towards him, but she yelped and jerked it back when he zipped over and slapped her finger.  “What the heck’d you do that for?” she asked, her feelings hurt.

I laughed at his indignant look.  “He’s not cute, Becky.  Just because he’s small, doesn’t make him cute.  He’s a serious badass.  He could pixie this entire place and send everyone here to eternal la-la land.”

Becky’s eyes got huge and she slowly put her hand under the table, as far from Tim as she could.  “S-sorry.  T-t-tim.”

He buzzed back towards her with a huge grin on his face.  He spun around in the air until he was just a blur of wings.  He came to rest just a few inches from her nose.

Becky sat there, stunned and unmoving, now looking at him cross-eyed because he was so close.

“Tim, back up.  You’re too close.  You’re going to give her a heart attack.”

I nudged Becky, breaking her trance.  She looked over at me, still in shock.

“He’s not going to hurt you.  He promised to keep his pixie dust or whatever to himself.  Hey – can you pass me the salt?”

Finn handed me the salt, the entire time not taking his eyes off Tim.

“You mean to tell me ... this little ... I mean this tough ole pixie ... can take out this entire room all by himself?”  Finn was obviously in awe.

“Yes.  Like I said ... he’s a badass.”

Then badass Tim swooped down and tried to grab a strawberry from my plate.  I had a feeling he planned on taking it back to my hair to eat it, and I wasn’t going for that at all.  I didn’t need to worry though, since the strawberry was obviously too heavy for him.

Finn watched the little pixie struggle and tried to hide his smile behind the back of his hand.  “I guess physical strength ain’t in his bag-o-tricks.”

Tim looked up at him and scowled.

“Tsk, tsk, Finn.  Haven’t you learned yet?  Small doesn’t mean weak.  In the fae world, small usually means concentrated.  As in concentrated power.”

Tim stood, trying to look all nonchalant, but he was obviously preening.  He ran his palm across the side of his hair, smoothing it down, flexing his teeny tiny arm muscle as he put his hand down.

Holy bat balls, this little guy was friggin’ hilarious.  I just hoped they weren’t going to banish him to some damn pixie colony any time soon.  He was cheering me up, and I’m pretty sure it was all-natural cheer and not the pixified kind.

Chapter 19

We all finished dinner and went to Spike’s room after.  None of us had ever been there before.  It looked pretty much like my room, the only difference being that he had some artsy stuff on his dresser.  He also had a silver token tray that was similar to mine, only it had different scrollwork on the edges.

I walked over to the dresser and picked up the silver art thing sitting there.  It was a heavy pendant on an ancient-looking chain.  I held it up, watching it swing back and forth in front of me.  Tim flew over and grabbed the pendant, swinging on it, a big smile on his face.  He was like a little kid at the park.

Spike walked over and watched him swing from behind my shoulder.

“This is cool.  What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a cross.”  And it didn’t look like a normal Christian cross either.  It had some different elements on it and the cross part was symmetrical.

“I can see that.  Are you religious or something?”  I was kind of surprised that he’d have a cross.  I remembered when we first saw Valentine in the forest, we’d all assumed he was a vampire.  He had bitten Chase on the neck and looked like he was sucking his blood, even though later Chase told us he was sucking the life force out of him.  I had seen blood in Valentine’s teeth, so I wasn’t totally convinced.

“No, I’m not religious at all really.  It’s just that as part of my training, I have to focus on something to help me find my center.  You know, get control of myself so my urges don’t get the better of me.  Lots of incubi use these cross medallions.  I think this cross comes from some area of the world where this particular design has a special history or something.”

Spike leaned in and sniffed my neck.  The sensation sent shivers up and down my spine.

“Spike.  Focus on the cross.  Find your center.”

He chuckled.  “Give that to me.”  He grabbed for it, sending Tim away in a flurry of pixie wings.  Tim stayed buzzing over my opposite shoulder, cranky that he’d been evicted from his swing.

“I have a question about incubuses,” I said.

“The plural of incubus isn’t incubuses.  It’s incubi.”

“Okay, so incubi then.  How come Valentine isn’t a vampire?  I mean, he sucked Chase’s blood – we all saw him do it.”

Spike looked confused as to why I even asked the question.  “Because he’s not undead?”

“Undead?  What’s that?  I mean, does it mean something other than like a zombie or whatever?”

“Not really.  Well, kinda.  I guess it’s a little complicated.  I’m just learning some of this stuff myself.”

“I was wondering about that too,” said Becky.  “Valentine bit Chase.  Does that mean you’re gonna bite people too, Spike?  Are you like a vampire?”

I was impressed by Becky’s attitude.  She was so matter of fact about it.  I had been worried about offending him – I guess I shouldn’t have.

“The way it was explained to me, if I understood it right, is that when a fae is alive, here in this world, guys like me are incubi.  The girl version is the succubus.  I can’t wait to meet one actually.”  His started rubbing his hands together, the red in his eyes firing up at the thought.

I grabbed the pendant away from him and waved in front of his face again.  “Focus!  Tell us the story, dope.”

Spike shook his head.  “Oh, yeah.  So, anyway, as I was saying,” he shot me a dirty look, “when I’m alive here, I’m an incubus.  My life span is a few thousand years or so.  I thought at first I’d be immortal, but apparently no fae is immortal – although some of them live a really, really long time and are hard to kill.  So anyway, when I die, I’m going to go to one of the Otherworlds.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that from Gregale, the gray elf,” I said.

Spike continued.  “So if I somehow earn the privilege, and I’m not sure exactly how I do that, I end up in the Overworld.”

“So, what, is that like heaven?” asked Finn.

“Yeah.  I guess.  And then if I somehow screw something up, I end up in the Underworld.”

“Don’t tell me, lemme guess ... hell?” said Finn.

“Well, maybe.  Not exactly.  But, yeah.  And if I go to the Underworld, I join the legions of undead, apparently.”

“Holy moly, what happens then?” asked Becky, anxiously.

“Then I become a vampire.  Incubi become vampires in the Underworld.  We’re similar, but not the same.”

“I hate to say it, but this is interesting as hell,” I said.

“Why do you hate to say it?” asked Spike.

“I don’t know.  Vampires?  The Underworld?  It’s kinda creepy.  So what about the blood sucking while you’re an incubus?  Isn’t that a vampire thing?”

“Well, I’ve never done it before, but apparently the incubus gets his ... energy from sucking the sexual or life energy out of other creatures.  Humans are the best, but fae are pretty decent too – some more than others ... ” with this he gave me a pointed look, which was on one hand, flattering, and on another, scary.  “And Valentine says that if you pierce the skin of the ... energy giver ... the feeling is more intense and the flow stronger.  Like you pierce the shell and it comes pouring out better.”  He chuckled, a little self-consciously.  “I was told to picture a bag of sugar.  You can suck on the outside of the bag and eventually you’ll taste the sweetness.  But cut a hole in the bag, and all the sugar comes pouring out, really fast.  You can get a pretty big sugar rush doing it that way.”

I shuddered.  “Yeah, but ripping a hole in the bag makes it come out even more.  So why didn’t Valentine just rip Chase’s throat open?”

“Ah ... the key is that you can’t kill the host.  The sexual and life energy disappears with the host’s spirit as soon as it leaves this world – so, like, when the host dies.  So you have to make sure they stay alive.  And not just a little alive ... a lot alive.  Of course, sucking too much of their energy can also kill them so ... ”  He shrugged.

“So what you’re saying is ... this isn’t a perfect science – this incubus sexy energy sucking thing.”

“No.  Not at all.  And the hardest part is learning to control it.  I’m going to need a lot of practice ... ”  He sidled up closer to me, putting his hands softly on my shoulders, squeezing them ever so slightly.

I couldn’t believe our super nice, guitar playing, pizza-providing friend, Spike, was a skin piercing sex energy life sucker.  It didn’t fit his personality – but I had to admit, it definitely suited his look.  He was hot, hot – incubus hot – through and through.  I shrugged his hands off my shoulders and stepped to the side.  The heat that had started to rise up in me made me feel disconcerted.

“All of the fae become something similar to their fae selves in the Underworld.  Even you,” he said, the hint of the devil in his eyes.

“Me?  Seriously?  I wonder what I become,” I thought out loud.  I’d have to remember to ask Gregale that question.

“Well, that doesn’t seem right,” said Becky, miffed.

“What?”

“Well, you go to the Underworld and you get to be some other creature.  An immortal one this time.  And you go to the Overworld and get to be what?  Nothing?  A memory?  I don’t want to just disappear when I die.  Even if it is a really long time from now.”

“Valentine said we become something in the Overworld too, but not vampires.  Some kind of angel or something like that.”

I nodded my head.  Now this stuff was starting to make some sense.  Well, as much sense as supernatural shit could make.  “So vampires are real.  What about zombies?”

“Yep.”

“No fucking way!” I yelled.  “That is so freaky!”

“I know, right?” agreed Spike.

“Man, oh man, did I live a sheltered life before I came here,” said Finn, shaking his head.  “Sometimes I wish I could get it back though, ya know?  I mean, there is such a thing as too much information at some point.”

We all went quiet thinking about that.  It reminded me of Tony.

“Hey, I heard from Tony.”

Becky perked up instantly.  “Cool!  How is he?”

I sighed.  “He’s okay, I guess.  He kinda told me to back off and give him some space, though.”

Becky’s face fell.  “Oh, Jayne, I’m so sorry.”  She stood up from Spike’s bed and came over to rub my upper arm.

I shrugged, looking down at the ground and not in her eyes; I didn’t want to see the pity there and start crying.  Tim came over and landed on my shoulder.  I felt him sit down and stop moving his wings.  “It’s for the best,” I admitted.  “I can’t go back there and he can’t come ... here.”  My voice caught on the last word.  I had to stop talking so I didn’t embarrass myself.

Becky grabbed me in a tight hug and Tim launched himself up to fly above our heads.  I could hear the buzzing of his wings as they beat furiously to keep him alight.

I squeezed her back and then stepped away.  “So anyhow, I’m gonna give him some space and just focus on figuring this fae stuff out.  Then maybe after a while I’ll be able to get back in touch with him and not be so emotional about it.”

Finn looked over, sympathy for me in his eyes.  “Well, I hear ya, Jayne.  Our worlds don’t mix so good, I guess.  But don’t you get too bummed out about it.  He’s a good guy.  I know he don’t wanna be totally without you.  He probably just needs a little time.  He’ll be alright.  At least he ain’t here fixin’ to get into a war.”

“Yeah, there is that.”

Spike came over and rubbed my back.  This time it wasn’t the sexy kind of back rub.  He was just being a friend, which is totally what I needed right now.

“I know we’re no substitute, but you’ve got us too, don’t forget.”

I smiled at him and then the others.  “No, I won’t forget.”

Tim zoomed down from above us and hovered in front of my face, doing a spin in midair.

“Yes, and I have Tim too.”

“Tim the badass pixie,” said Finn, a smile in his voice.

Tim looked at him suspiciously but then smiled.  His natural exuberance couldn’t be smothered.  Not even by Finn’s teasing.

“Well, I’m tired,” I said, yawning.  “I’m going to bed.  ‘Night guys.”  I had no idea what time it was.  I wanted to go visit Chase before I went to bed too – alone, or at least without a bunch of fae with me.  Tim would be okay, though.  I wanted him to meet Chase anyway.

Once we were out in the hallway, I explained to Tim where we were going.  Anyone who happened to walk past us would probably have thought I was crazy, talking to myself, because Tim had once again taken up residence in my hair.

We arrived at the infirmary in no time since it was close to Spike’s room.  I made my way down the center aisle to Chase’s bed, and once there, sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at him.

Tim came out of hiding, first hovering above Chase’s head and then lowering himself until he was standing on Chase’s pillow next to his face.

“This is Chase.” I explained.  “He took a spelled arrow meant for me in the back, so he’s my hero.  They don’t know what the spell was though, so they can’t help him yet.”

Tim marched over until he was standing next to Chase’s right cheek.  He leaned on Chase’s face, trying to look closer at his eyes.  He flew up, landing on Chase’s forehead and getting down on his knees.  I watched as he leaned down and grabbed two pixie hands full of Chase’s eyelashes, pulling on them for all he was worth.

“What the hell are you doing, you little freak?  Trying to turn his eyelids inside out?”  I reached over to wave him away.  “That is some seriously messed up shit, you know?  The guy is helpless.”

Tim dropped Chase’s eyelashes, putting his hands on his hips in frustration.

“What?”  He was obviously losing patience with me, but I didn’t know what for.

He lifted his hand to his own eye, forcing his eyelid up.

“Oh.  Duh.  You want to look in his eyes?  Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

I reached down and lifted up Chase’s eyelid.  His pupil didn’t respond to the change in light.  I was no doctor, but this couldn’t be good.

Tim jumped down onto Chase’s cheek, walking over so he could look into Chase’s eyes.  Then he flitted over to Chase’s chest and laid down on top of it, his ear pressed to Chase’s heart.  Last, he flew over to Chase’s hand, working like hell to push it over.  I helped him turn Chase’s hand so it was palm side up.  Tim put both of his puny hands on Chase’s wrist pulse.

I watched as he cocked his head to the side, concentrating on what he was feeling.

Tim flew up to my ear and started chattering.  It was totally quiet in the infirmary at this time of night, so it was easy to hear him.

“I know someone who can help him.”

“Who?”

“A witch.”

“Well, who is she?  Let’s go get her.”  I started to stand.

“No, she’s not here.  She’s outside.”

“Outside, where?”

“In the Green Forest.”

“Is she Dark Fae?” I whispered.

“I don’t know ... what difference does it make?  But she lives out there, not down here.”

“Can you bring me to her?”

“Yes, tomorrow.”

“Why not tonight?”

“It’s dark and I’m afraid of the dark.”

“Wuss.”

“Too many things to fly into.  Pixies don’t have the best night vision.”

“Okay, tomorrow then.  We’re going.  I have to do what I can for him.”

Tim took off and buzzed around Chase’s face, coming to rest on his forehead.  He bent down and patted Chase near his hairline.  It was cute to watch, this pixie reassurance and care for my friend.

“Come on, let’s go to bed.”  I looked at Chase as I stood.  “Goodnight, Chase.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”  I hated that he just laid there, unable to answer.

We left the infirmary, ignoring the sideways glances I received from the night fae nurse.  She probably thought I was back there talking to myself the whole time.

We got to my room, our room now I guess, and I opened up my dresser drawer to get out a fresh tunic and underwear.  I wanted to shower before bed.

“Where are you going?” Tim asked in my ear.

“To take a shower.  And you’re not going to watch, perv, so stay here.”

“I need a shower too.”

“Well, you can come take one in the sink if you want, but I don’t have any clean clothes for you.”

He flew to the dresser and stood on the tray, frowning.

A thought popped into my mind.  “I can get you some though.  Tomorrow.  For tonight, you can just stay dirty.  Here,” I kept the drawer open.  “Sleep in here.  I’ll leave it partway open for you.  You should be safe and warm in here.”

Tim jumped into my drawer and stood on my folded clothes.  The upper half of his body stuck out over the top of the drawer.  He put his hands on the wood front, looking out at me.  I bent down so we were face to face, trying hard not to smile too much, but it was difficult.  He looked so adorable hanging onto the edge of the drawer like that – but I knew he wouldn’t appreciate that type of admiration.  He saw himself as the badass that he was, size be damned – not the little, toy-sized fairy boy that my eyes saw.

“See you tomorrow, Tim.”

“Jayne?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for taking me out of the jar.  And for believing me.”

“You’re welcome.  Thanks for not pixying my friends.  Or any of those other assholes.”

He smiled.  “You’re welcome.  And you know, if you ever change your mind, I can pixie anyone you like.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I reached up and closed the drawer almost all the way.

I showered and got into my pajamas in record time, getting back to my room in less than ten minutes.  I went to my dresser to make sure Tim was okay.  I didn’t see him at first, which had my heart beating faster, but then I carefully lifted a tunic up and found him dead asleep underneath, his wings wrapped around his body making him look like he was in a cocoon.  I gently laid the tunic back over him and went to bed, thinking about the witch I was going to meet tomorrow who may or may not be able to help my daemon friend, Chase.

Chapter 20

I saw Gregale at breakfast and told him I’d work with him after lunch.  He nodded distractedly staring at the pixie buzzing around my head.  It didn’t seem to matter that no one had been pixied so far.  I guess everyone was worried they were going to be the first.  That had to be a total drag for fae like Tim, everyone looking at you like you were some kind of terrorist or something.  Poor little pixies.  All they wanted to do was sing and dance and be happy.  All these other fae were always being so damn serious all the time.  In my opinion, some of them could probably use a good pixying.  Like Niles, for instance.

My complete lack of planning or forethought about today’s witch-finding mission struck me as vitally important as soon as we entered the hallway and I realized I had no idea where to go.  To find the correct exit door, I had to be able to imagine it, but I didn’t know where our destination was.

I stood in the hallway outside the dining room door, lost.  “Tim, I have no idea which way to go.  I’ve never been out the door you probably need.”

I heard, “Follow me,” faintly in my ear.  Tim flew in front of me, heading down the hallway and eventually stopping in front of a door that had a gargoyle head in the center of it.  That was only just a little freaky.  Once again I found myself wondering what the significance of these different symbols was.

Tim hovered in front of the door, gesturing for me to open it.  I thought about how much it must suck to be so little you had to have someone open every door for you to be able to go anywhere.

I opened the door and found myself in a dense part of the forest.  “Whoa.  Where are we?  And how’d you know how to find that door?”

Tim flew ahead of me again, leaving me to follow.  It should have been bright out here with morning sun but instead it was dreary.  I looked above me to the treetops but there was only grayness between the branches.  A heavy mist clung to the ground farther up ahead.  Naturally, it was the direction Tim was headed.

“Tim!” I whisper-yelled.  “Wait up!”

He hovered, waiting for me to catch up to him.

“Tim, I’m a little worried about this place.  Are you sure there aren’t any Dark Fae out here?  You know someone’s tried to get me before, right?”

Tim came and sat on my shoulder.  The utter stillness in the forest made it easier to hear his tiny voice.  “No one knows you’re out here but me.  And if anyone gets close, I’ll send him to the Land of Eternal Happiness.”

“Yeah, but the last two attempts were done from a distance.  With arrows.  You won’t even see any bad guy who comes after me.”

“Good point.”

“I guess I could connect into The Green – ask it to watch over me.”

“No!  Don’t do that!”  Tim launched himself in front of me, waving frantically in front of my face.

“Fine, I get the picture.  Why not?”

He went back to my shoulder.  “She’ll hear us coming.  She can sense the energy.  She’s hooked into all the nearby ley lines.”

“Ley lines?  What the hell are those?”

“Energy conduits beneath the surface of the Earth.  You use them too.  If you tap in, she’ll know you’re here.  I’d rather show up unannounced.”

My mind was swimming with questions.  “First of all, Tim, how do you know about my powers?  And how do you know I use ley lines?  And how am I using them?”  Dammit.  Every time I thought I had a handle on these powers, I discovered something totally new that called everything I thought I knew into question.  These ley lines were a serious curve ball.  How could I be tapping into them without even knowing it?

“We don’t have time for all these questions right now – but I know all about you because I was in that bell jar in that office where people were always coming in and discussing you.  I heard what they said about what you were doing, and it’s obvious the ley lines are involved.  It’s how many fae communicate with one another and the magic around us.”  He stopped for a second to fly in front of me and encourage me forward.

I fixed him with my serious look.  “We’re going to talk about this in more detail later.  I still don’t know why we have to surprise this witch.”

Tim flew back to my ear again, even though I could tell he was getting frustrated with me.  “Just trust me.  You don’t want her having too much advance notice.  She’s a little ... nutty.”

“She’s not going to hurt us, is she?”

“Hopefully not.  She’s pretty nice.  Not harmless, but nice.  Just don’t lie to her.  She gets upset when fae lie.”

An hour later, after climbing over fallen branches, kicking about a hundred mushrooms – a favorite pastime of mine – and tripping through the mist that had begun to gather around my ankles, we made it to a super giant, twisted up tree.

I’d never seen a tree this big or this gnarled.  The base of it was as big around as a dump truck.  Tim flew right up to the front of it and zipped back and forth and sideways like he was possessed.  As I got closer I realized he was showing me a door, cut right into the side of the tree.  In the middle of it was a doorknocker.  It was another gargoyle, exactly like the symbol on the door back in the compound.  Interesting.  I had to remember to ask this witch what the deal was about those things.

Tim sat on my shoulder.  “Go ahead.  Knock three times.  Not four, not two.  Three.”

I reached up and knocked as instructed.

I waited, but nothing happened.

I reached up and began knocking like crazy, ignoring Tim’s squeaking in my ear.  I felt him run up my shoulder and hide in my ponytail.

“Hellooo!  Mrs. Witch!  Anybody home?”

The voice came from behind me.  “What do you think you are doing, foolish fae girl?”

I spun around, looking in front of me, but there was no one there.  Then I looked down and found the source of the voice.  I don’t know why, but I had expected her to be bigger than this.  She stood about four feet tall and she was a little hunched over.  The hump on her back looked painful.

“Oh, hello ... down there.  I’m ... uh ... here to see if you can help me with a little problem I have.”

“Huh,” she barked out.  “Of course you are.  You and all the rest of them.”

“The rest of who?”

She sneered at me.  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes, actually I would.”

She cackled at me.  “You are not afraid of me.  But someone here is.”

I could feel Tim shivering in my hair.

“Yeah, well, I’m not.  Maybe I should be, but I don’t really know who you are – and I’m not here to do you any harm.  So until you try to hurt me, I’m going to assume you’re one of the good guys.”  I did rest my hand casually on Blackie though.  Not to threaten her but to reassure myself.  I wondered if she would burn if I touched her with it.  That would suck to need it, pull it out, and have it act like a stupid stick and not a fucking awesome dragonfire burning fang thingy.

The witch smiled at me.  She had the longest teeth I’d ever seen aside from my Blackie.  A couple were missing near the front, and they were as yellow as corn.

“Wow.  Nice teeth.”  I just couldn’t help myself.

That had her really cackling.  “Come inside.  You make me laugh.  It has been a long time since anyone has spoken so frankly with me.”

“Huh.  Well ... if you like that, we’re going to get along real well.  Most people don’t like it when I’m so frank.”

“Honesty is the best policy.  Don’t ever forget that.”

“Yeah, well some people prefer to be lied to.”

“Not me,” she said, shuffling forward.

I moved out of her way so she could get to the front door.  It had been painted green a really long time ago.

She passed her hand over the gargoyle knocker and I heard the door locks click back.

“Cool lock.  Will it unlock for me?”

“No!” she barked out, ignoring my continued efforts to make it work as I followed behind.  I waved my hand back and forth in front of it as I walked by, but I didn’t hear anything.  I was going to try it on the door at the compound when I got back.  Maybe it was the same kind of lock but for non-witches.

“Wow, nice pad.”  My eyes roamed over the inside of her house – it had been carved right into the tree.  “This must have been one hell of a whittling project.”

I heard more cackling coming from another room that was connected to the one I was in – the room she had just disappeared into.  This main room was lined with shelves covered in jars and other piles of things I was pretty sure I didn’t want to look at too closely.

She came back out of the other room with something black hanging from her hands.  She threw it down on the table that was in what looked like must be her kitchen area.  I stepped closer to see what it was and was instantly disgusted as recognition hit me.  “Ew, is that a crow?”

“Yes!” she barked at me.

I looked at her deranged expression and decided then that Tim had brought me to the home of one bat-shit crazy witch.  No wonder she expected me to be afraid.  I probably should be.  I could totally hear Finn in my head.  ‘Eatin’ crow just ain’t right.’

“Are you going to eat crow?”  My sick sense of humor was starting to rear its ugly head.  I decided as long as she wasn’t waving a magic wand at me I was probably okay.

“No!” she yelled.

I reached up and cleaned out my ear with my finger.  “You do realize you’re yelling every time you answer me, right?”

Tim pulled my hair.

“Ow!”

“What?!  Why are you yelling?” she yelled at me.

“I’m not!  You are!”

“Oh.  I am?” she said in a softer, not so harsh voice.

“Well, you were.  Now you’re not.”

“Yes, my apologies.  I’m used to talking to Melvin and Marshall.”  She leaned towards me, using her hand to put up a wall next to her mouth, like she was sharing a secret with me.  She whispered loudly, “They’re old.”

I looked around cautiously, wondering if Melvin and Marshall were figments of her imagination.  My curiosity got the better of me.  “Who are Melvin and Marshall?”

“My rats.”

I heard Tim’s squeak at the same time I felt a small chunk of my hair being pulled out.  I worked very hard not to lose my temper.

“Tim.  If you fucking pull my hair one more time, I’m gonna squash you like a bug.”

The witch looked up, sniffing the air, looking around the room.  “Who are you talking to?”

I could feel Tim quivering.

“Um, no one?”

The witch picked up a wooden spoon and banged it down hard on the tabletop – then she pointed it at me threateningly.  “I don’t.  Like.  Liars.”  The menace in her voice was unmistakable.

“Fine.  I was talking to Tim the pixie in my hair.”

Her eyes lit up and began to sparkle.  “Did you say ‘pixie’?”

“Yes.  Pixie.  Little guy?  Wings?  Nervous too.”

She cackled.  “Oh, what a joy!  A pixie has come to my house.  Isn’t that nice.  I so rarely see pixies anymore.  I used to have a pixie here, yes, I did.  But he left, oh, yes he did.  Flew right out that door.”  She poked her spoon in the general direction of the green door.

She shuffled over closer to me until she was at my elbow.  “Oh, pixie!  Come out to see Maggie, won’t you?  Come now ... Melvin and Marshall won’t hurt you, WILL YOU MY PETS?!”

I cringed at the last bit, it was yelled so loudly near my ear.  I guess she had to yell since they were hard of hearing.

I heard some clinking and shuffling on one of the shelves in front of us.  The witch was still looking up at me, searching around my head for the pixie.  But I was more interested in the sounds I’d heard.  I caught a movement near one of the jars that was dusty and covered in cobwebs.  A nose with whiskers popped out from behind it.

“Wow.  That’s a big friggin’ rat.”

The witch turned.  “Ah, yes.  Melvin.  MOMMA’S BIG BOY, AREN’T YOU MELVIN?!”

Man, this witch was going to give me a headache if I had to sit in here for much longer listening to her yell at her deaf rats.

I cleared my throat to get her attention.  “So anyway, Maggie, my friend Tim the pixie, who, ah, thinks you’re just the coolest, smartest witch he knows,”

“Be careful fae girl.  Lies ... ”

“Oh, shit.  Yeah.  So maybe you’re the only witch he knows, I’m not sure.  But he seemed to think you could help my friend.  And none of the witches back where we live know how to fix his problem, so that means if Tim told me to come here, you must be a pretty kickass witch.  And that’s the truth, I swear.”

She shuffled over to her table, reaching below it to grab a black pot, which she heaved up and dropped onto the table with a bang.  Her big, gnarly, matted and dirty pet rat didn’t even flinch at the noise, but Tim and I sure did.  I think I lost another few hairs by the roots.

The pot had four short, squat feet on it.  The entire thing was sooty black and had a metal ring-type handle at the top.  She turned to the shelves behind her and started pulling things off, putting them on the table next to the pot while singing to herself, “Something green, something green, nothing’s good without something green ... ”

I kept talking without waiting for her response, since she didn’t seem to want to contribute to the conversation much.  “So my friend was shot in the back with an arrow that had some kind of spell on it.”

She picked up the dead crow from the table and looked at it, saying, “You’re not green.”  And then she threw it into the pot.

I tried not to feel sick to my stomach, but it was hard.  She wasn’t even going to pluck it or take the head off?  Oof.

“Mmmm,” I said, getting ready to comment favorably on her ingredient list, but with a warning look from her I altered my comment, “that doesn’t look delicious at all.”

She cackled at me as she picked up and set down different bottles and jars on her shelves, looking for something she wasn’t finding.  “You may tell me about your friend.”

My eyes moved from the pot to the rat that was now fully out from behind the jar.  He was the size of a small cat.  “Shit, Tim, no wonder you’re afraid of mice here in the forest.  If they’re even half the size of that mofo, you’d make a nice meal for one of ‘em.”

“Your friend!” she barked.

“Oh, yeah, sorry.  So he got shot in the back with the arrow and fell asleep or was paralyzed.  He’s been in this coma for a few days now.  His pupils don’t react to the light.”

I felt Tim creep out of my hair and stand behind my ear, still quivering.  “Tell her his pulse is slow, one half normal rate, and his heart rate is irregular.”

“His pulse ... ”

“I’m not deaf!  I can hear your pixie!”

“Oh.  Well, you have better hearing than I do, then.  I can barely hear him.”

“So!” she yelled, turning around back to the table, holding a purple glass jar in her wrinkled, liver-spotted hand.  “Are you here for the spelled friend or for your hearing problem?”

I looked at her like she was nuts.  “For my friend.  I don’t have a hearing problem.”

She put the purple jar down at the table and squinted at me.  “Did you not just say you cannot hear your pixie?”

“Yeah, but that’s normal.  He has microscopic vocal chords.”

“A simple spell, girl, a simple spell will rectify your problem.”

I hadn’t thought about that.  “Well, my first priority is my sick friend.  If you can also help me with my, uh, hearing problem ... well, that would be good too, I guess.”

The witch smiled at me craftily.  It made me instantly nervous.

“Yes, I can help you.  I know what ills your friend.  There are Dark Fae in these woods who have arrows of the hawthorn soaked in tincture of dropwort and calotropis.  An angry mixture.  What has your friend done to upset them?”

“Well, the arrow was meant for me actually.”

She raised her gray eyebrow at me.  “You are the elemental tapping into the ley lines.  I have felt your touch.”

I tried not to feel guilty about something that may have bothered her.  My eyes went back and forth as I shrugged and cringed a little at the same time.  “That might have been me.  Sorry if it ... interfered with your signal or whatever.”

She cackled, jabbing her spoon out in the air for emphasis at the end of every sentence.  “No apology necessary.  It was fun.  I haven’t felt that energized in centuries.”  She thrust her spoon at me.  “You have a rough and undisciplined spirit and terrible technique.”  She paused for a minute to suck her gnarly teeth.   “ ... but you have power.  Great power.  You could be a formidable force in this world.  With the correct training, of course.”

“The fae say they’re going to help me learn.”

She snorted, grumbling to herself.  I got the impression she wasn’t impressed with this program.

“So, do you think you can help me, then?”

“A bargain!” she shouted.

Dammit.  How did I know this wasn’t going to be easy?

“What kind of bargain?”

“Two spells.  One to help your friend.  One to solve your hearing problem.”

“Okaaaay.”

“For one green pixie wing!”  She cackled like crazy then, clearly delighted with her end of the deal.

I was instantly pissed.  I’d come all the way out here and hung around her gross house with her mangy rats for nothing.

“You crazy bitch.  Are you a sadist or what?  No one’s ripping off anyone’s wings so you can mix it into some nasty dead crow brew.”  I turned to leave.  “Come on, Tim.  We’re outta here.”

The demented witch started to whistle through the space in her teeth.  I could hear jars clanking as she moved them around.

Tim pulled my hair hard and yelled, “Wait!”

“Tim, I swear to all that is holy, if you fucking pull my hair one more time ... ”

“Wait.  Please.  Go back,” he pleaded in my ear.

I was nearly to the door.  I snuck a look back at the witch; she was busy adding things from the jars to the crow in the pot, all while singing about adding something green, whatever that meant.  I shuddered, thinking about what a horrid stew that was going to make.  Disgusting.

Tim moved closer to my ear as I turned back to the door.  “You have to make the bargain with her.”

I spoke as low as I could. “No friggin’ way, Tim!  You’re nuts!  She wants to dismember you!”

“Listen.  Pixie wings grow back.  I’ll just grow another one.”

I hesitated a second.  “Yeah, but that’s gotta hurt, having it ripped off.”

He didn’t answer me right away.

“Tell the truth, Tim,” I warned.  I felt like the witch for a brief second – tired of all the lies.  Frightening to think that we might have something in common.

“It hurts ... but not a lot!  And we have to do this, or your friend will be gone forever.”

“What?!”

“I have seen this sickness before.  What the witch said earlier ... it is an angry poison that has been used against him.  If he is not helped soon, there will be no help for him at all.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!  Why is this happening?”  I was frustrated, mad, and sad all at the same time.  To save a friend who had helped me, I had to dismember another friend offering to help me.  My life as a fae was seriously messed up.

Tim continued his plea.  “You saved me.  I owe you.  Let me do this for your friend.”

“That was a low blow, Tim.  We have a bargain already.  I saved you in exchange for two promises, which you have kept.”

“Pixies do what they have to do.  I do not demand anything in return for my wing.  It is a gift.”

“How are you going to fly?  How long will it take for your wing to grow back?”

“I won’t be able to fly without two wings, so I will need to depend on you to help me, at least for a little while.  You can hide me in your room until I heal if you want.  Or someplace out here in the forest.”

“No way, Tim.  I’d never leave you out here where something could ... I don’t know.  Eat you?  Rip your other wing off?”  I shuddered to think how dangerous this world could be to a one-winged pixie.  He was small, but he had a life to live as big as Chase’s, as big as mine, as big as any big person’s I knew.  And now I knew his heart was huge too.  I felt like I was agreeing to let him pull an arm off for me.  It was actually kind of revolting in a way.

“I don’t know, Tim.  I can’t make that decision.  It’s too much.”

“You don’t have to.”

With that, he flew off my shoulder and over to the witch.  He landed on the edge of her pot.  “Take the wing, witch.  The bargain has been struck.”

She started cackling then, and slowly picked up her spoon.  I saw the evil glint in her eye before she did it, but by then it was too late – the spoon had already come up swinging, delivering a harsh blow to Tim’s tiny body, sending him flying into her black brew pot.

Chapter 21

“Nooooo!!!!!!” I screamed, lunging towards the pot to save my little friend.

The witch pointed her wooden spoon at me, muttering under her breath.  I was two steps away from her and my feet suddenly froze.  I looked down and was shocked to see that they had grown roots into the floor.

“What the fuck!” I screamed, desperation in my voice.  Then I tried to get Tim to help himself since I was stuck.  “Tim!  Fly out of there!  Fly out!”

The witch reached into the pot and started pulling something out.  It was the limp form of my friend.  She held him up by his little body.

I started to sob.  “You killed him!  You horrible awful bitch!  You complete asshole!  Why did you do that?!  He’s a nice pixie you fucking hag!”

The witch was completely unaffected by my insults and runaway emotions.  She held Tim up to the light, examining him from all sides.  I was horrified at her casualness in the face of this murder and mayhem.

“Put him down!  You don’t deserve to touch him!  He is one hundred times the fae you are!”

Through my anger I began to feel something.  It was The Green – connecting with me through my pain.

“That’s it, you heartless bitch.  Now you’re gonna be sorry.”

I used the pain and anger I was feeling and channeled it directly into The Green.  I felt the wave of energy coming to my aid.  It was roaring through the channel I had created.  This was something I had never felt before.  It was more raw.  More sharp.  More everything.  I didn’t care at this point if I went up in flames too.  I had lost my friend Tony, knocked out my friend Chase, and now my little friend Tim had been murdered in front of my eyes by a callous bitch and her evil wooden spoon.  She was going to pay ... ”

The witch looked over at me and began speaking.  I was two seconds away from blasting her to the Underworld where she belonged when her words began to sink in.

“Girl.  He is not dead.  I have merely made his wing removal less painful for him.  Power down or you will miss all the fun.”  She looked at the floor by my feet.  “You’re standing over a ley line right now, you know.”

What?  “You’re lying.”  He had to be dead.

“No.  I don’t lie.  I despise lying.”

For some reason, I believed her then.  Even Tim had told me she didn’t like lies.  I held off sending The Green into her ugly, haggy face; but it stayed with me.  I wasn’t ready to let it go.  The withheld energy was making my skin tingle all over and the pent up energy made me giddy.  Either I was going to have to blast the shit out of her soon or let this link go; I didn’t know how much longer I could hold it.

“You’d better hurry the hell up if you don’t want me turning you into dust, old woman.”  It was partially an idle threat, since I didn’t know if I was even capable of doing that, but it sounded good.

She opened up one of the jars on her table.  From inside she took a pinch of some powder.  This she carefully sprinkled over one of Tim’s wings.  I watch as the wing wrinkled up a little bit and then fell off.  She caught it with the lid of the jar, gently placing it down on the table.  She whispered to herself, “Beautiful green wing.  Green, green, green ... every good brew must have something green ... ”

Then she shuffled over and held Tim’s limp body out to me.  “Power down before you hurt yourself, girl.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding, putting out my hand to take my friend Tim from her.  I let go of The Green, thanking it for being there with me.  It slowly receded, leaving me feeling a little bit emptied.

She put Tim in my hand and said, “Sit!” in a demanding voice, pointing to a chair off in the corner.  I looked down and noticed my feet were no longer rooted to the floor.  They looked normal again.

I pulled up the bottom of my tunic to make a sling, laying Tim gently inside.  I walked carefully over to the chair, making sure to jostle him as little as possible.  My throat was hurting from the pain of unshed tears.  He looked so pitiful in there, with just one wing and a shriveled up stump next to it.  I sat down with him cradled in my lap.

“Shit,” was all I could say.  I was so sad.  Why did this have to happen?  Why were witches so mean?

“The most powerful spells require the most powerful sacrifices.”

“You needed something this big to heal my other friend?”

“The wing?  No.  That is for something else.  Your friend’s problem is simple to solve, as is your hearing problem.”

I looked at her, my mouth hanging open in shocked anger.  “That is so unfair!”

She frowned.  “Not at all.  You made the bargain.”

“You named the terms.  They weren’t negotiable.”

She smiled at me, flashing me those witchy bitchy teeth of hers.  “Everything is negotiable, my dear.  Everything.  Don’t forget that.”  Then she laughed maniacally, her eyes glinting with madness.

Even my sadness didn’t stop the trickle of fear I felt in that moment.  This witch was certifiably crazy.  I needed to get the hell out of there, with or without the secret brew for Chase.

I was eyeing the door, trying to figure out how fast I could move without hurting Tim anymore than he was already hurt, when she started speaking again.

“Here you are.  Two potions for one pixie wing.”  She held up a small blue jar and a leaf.

I looked at her suspiciously, not moving.  I was still considering making a break for it.

“Come.  Don’t be shy.  Your friend paid dearly for these things.  You don’t want him to wake up and find out that you left them behind, do you?”

She was right, the horrible bitch.  I stood cautiously.  “What do I have to do with them?”

“The brew?  Bring it to the witches who are caring for your friend. They will know what to do with it.  Tell them Maggie sent it.”

I walked over and took it from her while keeping my eyes on her the entire time.  No way was I going to totally trust a hag that turned my feet into roots and whacked my friend in the head with a spoon.  I hoped like hell the witches in the compound could test this brew before they dosed Chase with it.

She held up the leaf.  “Eat this.  Swallow all of it.”

“Why?  What is it?  What will it do?”

“It is a laurel leaf dipped in an oil extract of mullein and ... some other things.  After its digestion, you will be able to hear the voice of your pixie friend and the voices of other smaller fae as well.”  She leaned in closer to me and dropped her voice.  “Be sure this is something you really want to do, before you commit.  Once the leaf is eaten, there is no turning back.”  Then she laughed her ass off over some private joke I probably didn’t want to know the punch line of.

I took the leaf from her and looked down at my friend.  He was lying there, still passed out from his wooden spoon concussion.  I only thought about it for one second before I popped the leaf into my mouth and started chewing.  He had made this sacrifice for me; I wanted to be able to hear whatever it was he wanted to say to me, from now until the day he flew out of my life.

“Fuck balls, this shit tastes horrible!”  I stuck my tongue out, broken pieces of bitter, burning leaf stuck to it.

“Eat it all, and swallow it too, or its effects will be ... unpredictable.”

I chewed, trying hard not to gag.  I’d never tasted anything so bad in my entire life.  It was like licking a car battery and the bottom of a dirty broom at the same time.  Yeah, it was that bad.

I swallowed with effort, pieces of the leaf still floating around my mouth, sticking to the sides and back of my throat.  I think I would have sacrificed Tim’s other wing for a soda right then if someone had offered.

I moved towards the door, still chewing and making horrible faces that reflected the taste sensations going on in my mouth.  I held the bottom of my tunic up gingerly, trying to make sure my pixie sling didn’t move too much.

“Well, thank you for ... ack! ... everything.  I’m going to try to remember to be grateful to you, even though right now I hate your bloody guts.”

The witch smiled.  “I just adore your honesty.  Come back and visit me again!  Bring another of the wee folk.  I can always find a use for their wings or toes or horns or eyeballs ... ”

I stared at her in horror.  “You’re nuts, you know that?”

She shrugged.  “I’ve heard worse.”

I walked out the door, but remembered I’d forgotten something.  I turned to ask her the question.  “Hey, you said you felt me on the ley lines.”

“Yes.  I did.”

“Can I do that?  Feel other fae on the lines?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Do you think ... ” my mouth was moving too fast for my head to catch up.  I almost asked her if we could spend some time training together.  Was I nuts?  “Never mind.  Goodbye.”

“What?  What were you going to say?  The truth, girl!  Tell me!”

“I was going to ask if you thought we could train a little together, but then I decided that was a bad idea because you’re a fucking nut case.  And that’s the truth.”

The witch smiled, totally unoffended by my insult.  “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

I laughed nervously.  “Actually, I don’t.  I followed the pixie here.  I have no idea where I am.”

“You are in the Dark Forest.”

“The ... Dark Forest?”

“Yes.”

“And who exactly lives in the Dark Forest?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Why the Dark Fae of course.”

“Holy shit!”  I jumped from the doorway and started jogging away from her, back in the direction I had come.  I shouted over my shoulder, breathless with nervousness and fear, “I have to go now.  See you later!”  Like in a hundred years, I muttered under my breath.

I talked to my unconscious friend while I ran, picturing the door at our compound as hard as I could.  “I cannot believe you brought me into the Dark Forest.  Are you nuts?  What if they catch me out here?  What if I get lost?”

I heard a moaning, and I slowed down to a stop.  What the fuck was that?  I could hear a man groaning now and it was getting louder.  Holyshitholyshitholyshit ...

“Oh, damn, my head is killing me.  And my back ... what’s wrong with my back?  Oh no, my wing!  My wing is gone!  Oh boy, I forgot how much that hurts.  Oooh, that stings!”

“Tim?” I asked tentatively.

“Jayne?”

“Tim, is that you I hear bitching about your back?”

“How can you hear me?  I can’t even see you.  Where am I?”

I pulled out the edge of my tunic, revealing a stunned Tim rubbing his head and squinting up at me.

I smiled, seeing that my friend was still alive.  “Hi!” I said cheerfully.  Then I remembered that he had brought me into the Dark Forest.  “Oh, and when we get back, I’m going to think about pulling your other wing off – and this time without the wooden spoon anesthesia.”

“You can hear me!” he yelled, trying to jump for joy but falling on his ass because the bottom of the tunic sling was too wobbly.

“Oh, man that hurts.  My wing stub is on fire!  Did she just pull it off or did she use the powder?”

I looked at him like he was crazy.  “She used the powder.  Did you realize you were bringin me into the Dark Forest?”

He had the decency to look guilty.  “Yeah, well, that’s where she lives.”

“Well, a little warning might have been nice.  I could have brought reinforcements or something.”

“She doesn’t like the Light Fae.  And if you travel in groups, you’re easier to spot.  We were better off alone.  Did you get the potion for your friend?”

“Yes, no thanks to you.  Well, actually, yes, thanks to you.  But we’ll talk about it when we get back.  I need you to help me find the way.”

“Get me outta here and I’ll see what I can do.”

Thirty minutes later we were standing in front of the door to the compound.  I was never so glad to see a gargoyle in my life.

Before I pushed the door open, I waved my hand in front of the symbol, just for the hell of it.  There was no corresponding clicking.  That was probably a good thing – in retrospect, locking the door while I was on the outside of it in Dark Fae territory wasn’t the smartest idea I’d ever had.  I really needed to get better at that ‘looking before I leap’ stuff.

I ran down the hall to the infirmary, busting through the door as soon as I saw it appear.  There was a group of medical looking people standing nearby in some sort of little meeting.

“Hello, medical people.  I’m, uh, sorry to interrupt, but this is a life or death situation.”  I held out the blue jar.  “This is from the witch, Maggie.  It’s for my friend Chase ... ”  I gestured to his bed at the end of the hall,  “ ... the daemon down there.  She said it’d cure him.  And we have to hurry or he won’t be curable.”

One of the fae men came over and took the bottle from me.  “You said this is from Maggie?”

“Yes.”

“Maggie of the Dark Forest?”

“Yes.”

He looked at me sternly.  “And you fetched this from her there?”

“Yes!  Enough with the questions already!  Just take care of him, would you please?”

“Of course.”  He handed the bottle off to a fae woman who moved with two others down the aisle towards Chase.  “But we are also required to report the origin of this cure to the council.”

“Whatever.  Do what you have to do, tattletale.  Just hook my daemon friend up.  My buddy Tim and I went through a lot of shit to get it.”

I looked down in my tunic sling where Tim had gone back to rest.  “Come on Tim.  Let’s go back to our room.”

He just grunted.  I could tell he was in pain.

I turned back after a second.  “Hey ... do you guys have painkillers for pixies?”

The old man looked at me, frowning.  “Did you say ‘for pixies’?”

“Yes.  My pixie friend, who is totally harmless so don’t freak out, uh, lost his wing today and he’s in pain.  Do you have anything that can help him?”

The doctor looked at me suspiciously.  “I am duty-bound to help any fae in need.  But I would be less than honest if I didn’t tell you that helping a pixie is a dangerous thing for me to do.  For my health.”

“Well, I promise he won’t hurt you or send you to crazytown.  Just help him.  He sacrificed his wing for my friend over there.”  I gestured to Chase with a tilt of my head.

“The witch demanded a wing for the cure ...  and he gave it?”

“Yes.  Willingly.  I said no and he said yes.  So what’s it gonna be?  Are you gonna help him or run like a scared little bitch?”

The doctor flinched at my choice of words, but he held out his hand.  “Give him to me.  I will see what I can do.”

I reached in and picked Tim up.

He moaned and griped at me, “Just let me be.  I’m fine.  Ooch, ow!  Watch it.  The stub is sensitive!”

I carefully placed him in the doctor’s hand.

The doctor lifted Tim up to look at him closely in front of his face.  He smiled.  “Fascinating.  So perfect in every detail ... ”

Tim looked at him bitterly.  “Please tell him to move his face away.  His breath stinks like orc dung.”

I cleared my throat.  “Um, you’re making Tim nervous.  Maybe not so close?”

“Oh, yes, of course,” said the doctor, lowering Tim down to a small surgical tray on a nearby table.  “Let me see what we have that might help.”

“Crikey, this tray is cold!” yelled Tim.

The doctor searched a nearby cabinet for something and came back a moment later with a small, white packet, handing it to me.  “Tell him to take one small piece of this herb and chew on it after eating.  It has the same effects as the human painkiller called aspirin I believe, only it will not thin his blood and it will reduce swelling.”

“Thank you,” I said, holding my hand out for Tim to climb on.  He sat down on the edge of my palm and I carefully lifted him up and put him back in my tunic.

“Good luck,” said the doctor, watching us go out.  “You can come back to visit your friend in a few hours if you’d like.”

I nodded and left the room.  I wanted to get Tim to bed and get some food for both of us.

We got to the lunchroom, but no one was there yet.  I grabbed two tokens from the basket because I knew I was going to be asking for some extra stuff soon.  I left the lunchroom and walked into my room just as Netter was finishing his magic cleanup.

“Hey, Netter.  Here are a couple things I picked up for you.”

He frowned at them.  “There are two.  That isn’t proper.”

“Yes, well, I need you to get me some things.  Plus I’m super happy with the makeup you got for me.  It was perfect.”

Netter looked down at the floor shyly.  “Netter is good at finding things, that is true.”

I moved closer to him and spoke softer.  “You see, Netter, I have this ... very small friend.  And he’s injured.  So I need a couple things to help him.  Do you think you could find what I need?”

“I am sure that I can.  I can find anything.  Anything at all.”

“Okay, so what I’m thinking is, I need some sort of miniature bed, miniature side table, and miniature dresser.  Basically everything I have here in this room, only in a very tiny size.”

He looked at me confused.  “How tiny?”

“Like pixie-size tiny.”

Netter’s eyes bugged out.  “You have a pixie in here?!”

I held up my finger and put it over my mouth.  “Ssshhhh.  He’s sleeping.”

Netter leaned in towards me and whispered, “Did you know that pixies can be very dangerous?”

“Not this one.  He’s my friend.  So can you get the stuff or not?”

Netter stood up proudly.  “I will find these items.  It is a good thing, though, that you brought two tokens of appreciation.  This is a hard task.”

“Thanks Netter.  I knew you could do it.”

“I’ll be back before nightfall with the articles you have requested.”

And then he disappeared, before I could think to say goodbye.

I looked at my clock and saw that it was only ten o’clock.  More than enough time to take a nap and rest my weary feet.  I took Tim out of my shirt and placed him in my top drawer under a fresh tunic.  He was sound asleep, and I hoped he’d stay asleep a while longer so I could rest too.

I lay back on my bed, lacing my hands behind my head, ready to drift off into a peaceful slumber.  Just as I was nodding off, I heard a weird noise.  It sounded like someone far away sawing wood.  What the hell?  Then the sound went away.  I closed my eyes again, ready to fall asleep, and then the noise started up again.  Who the fuck is sawing wood while I’m trying to sleep?

I got up straining my ear to listen for the source of the noise.  It sounded like it was coming from across my room.  I heard it again and quickly tiptoed over, following the sound.  It was louder near the dresser.  As I looked at my dresser, I heard it again.  I got closer and realized it was coming from the top drawer.  I slowly opened the drawer and lifted the tunic.

Tim was lying there, sound asleep.  Snoring.  It sounded like he was sawing logs.

The immensity of my predicament suddenly hit me.  My hearing was so acute now, I could actually hear a pixie snoring.  What the fuck have I done?

Chapter 22

My real training began after lunch that day.  Word got around that I had ventured into Dark Fae territory without a daemon and without the adequate skills to protect myself, and it sent the whole compound into a panic, even though it was generally agreed that I had done the right thing, now that we knew that Maggie’s potion had worked and was able to pull Chase back from the brink of death.  My training and the training of the other changelings were made a top priority.  No more leisurely days and lazy meals for us.  Now that they had success with the changeling program and were going to be ramping up the recruiting, they had put the effort into formalizing the training program.  Once again, it was Jared’s duty to get all of this done, and he was no slacker.

I thought I’d learned a lot before, but it was nothing compared to what the next several weeks brought – not just for me, but for all of my friends.  Once I had learned about the existence of ley lines from old crazy Maggie, and did a little bit of searching on the Internet, I was able to incorporate that information into my training with the green elves, the silver elves –mostly Céline and Dardennes even – the werewolves who are, believe it or not, excellent trackers and group hunters, and the dwarves, who are the most amazing axe wielders.  And their strength training?  Blessed Mother Earth, Moon, and Sun, they are the toughest task masters.  But thanks to them and all the others, I am one badass elemental now, on the inside and on the outside.

I’d never been in great physical shape like this before, and I’d never felt this confident.  Another bonus was that I’d learned some new swear words to add to my repertoire, but I found they were lacking a little oomph.  I only used them on the old fae – they seemed to be the only ones shocked by them anyway.  One well-placed Blessed Mother Earth, Moon and Sun and everyone’s panties would be in a bunch.  Some of them even scolded me, which was hilariously fun to instigate.

It was with this newfound confidence that I swaggered into the dining room for breakfast, Tim on my shoulder showing off his newgrown wing that was as green and opalescent as the other old one.  He kept jumping off and doing pirouettes in the air just because he could.  I was smiling at his antics, not even noticing the fae around me.  I came up to the table that held my friends and finally noticed that there was something going on.  Everyone looked really serious.

I looked at their sober faces, my smile quickly fading from my face.  None of them had plates yet and they were all staring at me, as if waiting for me to say something.

“What?”  It was creepy, having them all focus on me like that.

“Where have you been?” asked Becky.

“Out ... ”  I didn’t want to admit that I had actually been in the Dark Forest again.  I had taken to going out to visit Maggie every once in a while.  It’s just that one day, when I was out training with Tim, he’d noticed some mushroomy green thing growing on the roots of one of the trees we were near, and he told me how much she prized them.  I asked him on several occasions how it was that he knew all this stuff about her and her preferences and brews, but all he’d ever tell me is that he had spent some time with her.  It was a sore subject for him, and I’m not sure how much of it was due to her clipping his wing for Chase’s brew and how much of it was due to something else.  He was clear about one thing though – apparently she had some kind of weird hang-up about green ingredients.  She thought everything she brewed had to have something green in it or it wouldn’t work.  That’s why Tim’s wings were especially valuable to her since they were not only green but also pixie wings, which have powerful magical properties to them.

So, anyway, now whenever I found something green that Tim thought Maggie could use in her brews, I’d bring it to her.  I figured one day I might need her again for one of my friends, and it wouldn’t hurt to have her on our side.  Plus she was an encyclopedia of information about ley lines and the energy that flows through The Green.  It was she who had taught me how to use the ley lines to my advantage.  It was so much easier to channel what I needed and how I needed it using these conduits.  And they were all over the world.  Her house went right over one, which made it much easier for her to do her spells.  Today she had taught me how to locate them, so even if I wasn’t standing over one, I could still sense where they were.  It’s not that I needed them, but they did make what I do easier and more effortless.

“So, you didn’t hear then?” asked Spike.

“No, apparently not.  What’s going on?”

Chase pulled out a chair next to him.  “Sit.”

Chase had been a gentleman before, but now, he was extra polite, like Tony.  He credited me with saving his life.  I credited Tim.  When Chase acted all chivalrous though, my thoughts of Tony still came; but the pain in my heart got less and less every time.  I had stopped emailing him that day over a month ago that he had told me to back off.  Letting go was the most painful thing I’ve done, but I was doing it.  It was better that way.

I sat down, suddenly feeling paranoid.  “Stop fucking around.  Tell me what’s going on.”

“Tell her, Chase,” said Finn, leaning back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs.

“Jared’s back.”

“From Florida?  Does he have new recruits with him?”

“Yeah, but that ain’t the problem,” said Finn, unable to wait for Chase to finish explaining.

“Problem?  Okay, so what’s the problem?”

“We’re not exactly sure,” said Becky, “but there’s a meeting after lunch and they’ve summoned all of us.”

“All the fae in the compound?”

“No.  Just us.  Our changeling group.”

Since we had been brought into the fold, several other changeling groups had come in.  The dining hall was filled with their eager chatter.  We were the most senior of all of them, so in a way it was kinda cool because they looked up to us.  But then again, it was often a pain in the ass because they were so full of questions and acted so stupid sometimes.  I really didn’t have the patience for them most of the time; I was too obsessed with my own training.  Luckily my friends were patient and good at making excuses for me; so far, I hadn’t managed to make enemies out of any of them.

“Just us?  That’s weird.”

“Yeah,” said Becky, looking down at the table.  That was a sure giveaway with her.

“She’s hiding something,” said Tim from down at the table where he was sitting.

“Yeah, I know.”

Becky glanced at me, at first not understanding what I said.  Then she realized I was talking to Tim.  They were getting used to me talking like a crazy person and having all of these what looked like one-sided conversations.  The new changelings always thought for a few days that I was a nutcase, walking around talking to myself.  Part of me was always a little disappointed when they were filled in on the details, usually by Becky.  I kinda liked it when they gave me my crazy person space.

“Fess up, Becky.  Tim and I both know you’re hiding something.  What haven’t you guys told us?”

She sighed.  “I hate that you guys can read me so well.”  She paused for a moment looking at Finn and Spike, then continued.  “Whatever Jared has to talk to us about, it involves Tony.”

I could actually feel my blood pressure go through the roof, like instantaneously.  My heart started pumping double time.

Tim jumped over and landed on my hand.  He did this whenever he thought I needed comforting.  I kept telling him how dangerous that was because one day I was probably going to squeeze my hand involuntarily and squish him, but he didn’t listen.  That’s one thing I had come to find out about my pixie friend, Tim.  He did whatever the hell he wanted, when he wanted.  He might be little, but he was as stubborn as a full-sized mule.  Plus he snored and had a lot of gas.  He blamed it on the fruit.

“Is Tony okay?”

“We don’t know any details, other than he’s alive.  So don’t panic, just yet.”

“Don’t panic?  Are you kidding me?  How can I not panic over this?”

Chase got up, nudging me in the shoulder as he stood. “Eat.  Then we’ll find out what’s what.”

He left the table and headed to the buffet.

“He’s right.  We have to eat.  We have no idea what’s going on, but missing meals isn’t going to help,” said Spike, smiling weakly at me.

Of all of us, I think Spike had changed the most in the last few weeks.  His training was almost the hardest because it was mostly mental, not physical.  Of course he did have some workout type stuff, but mostly it was learning how to capitalize on his speed and control his cravings.  His body was such that he was never going to get bigger or more muscular, so there was no point in doing workouts like Chase, Finn, and I did.  He had to learn to control his urges, use the energy he took to heal himself of wounds, and most importantly, how to draw energy from humans and fae without draining them dry.  It was easier for him to work with fae – they had a greater life force that was hard to drain completely, which is what made us hard to kill from regular stuff like arrows to the chest for example – lucky for Valentine and Naida, since both of them had suffered arrows to the chest during our training, and occasionally were injured again when changelings came through for their tests.  It was still only the old-timers who worked in the forest during tests, matching their wits and skills against the potential changeling candidates.  Spike was doing well, but he was tired a lot.  He lacked his usual verve and spark.  He hadn’t made a move on me in weeks, but I was glad.  Not because he wasn’t sexy as hell and still tops on my list for a hot makeout session, but he’d grown stronger and I was a tiny bit afraid of him, even though he’d been nothing but a gentleman to me and Becky.

“You’re right, I know.”  I got up reluctantly to get some food from the buffet.  A new changeling was there and he stopped, allowing me to go in front.  Another perk of being a senior changeling was priority at the buffet.  I put some stuff on my plate even though I didn’t really feel like eating.

I got back to the table and Chase had already finished half of his very full plate.  At least someone still had an appetite.  Not surprisingly, it was Chase.

Before I even sat down, the door on the other side of the room opened and Jared strode through.  This was the first time I’d seen him in weeks.  He ran the tests with the changelings every time, always disappearing from the forest and leaving them to fend for themselves and showing up from time to time to explain his absence.  In between moments of prodding them through the forest, he would come back to the compound and help with training, council decisions and whatnot.  He and I still didn’t talk much.  It was taking me a long time to forgive his deceit, even though now I could appreciate the reasons behind all of it.

Jared walked over to our table.  “Hey, do you guys mind bringing your lunch to the meeting?  I have to get out of here and back to my changeling candidates soon.”

“Pulled another disappearing act, eh?” I said.

He shook his head at me and rolled his eyes, saying nothing.  I guess he wasn’t in the mood for my teasing today.  That wasn’t a good sign.  He usually gave me a half-smile at least.

Something about him made me want to harass him.  I don’t know what it was.  Maybe because he was so cool all the time – unruffled.  Nothing bothered him.  Maybe I had some sick need to be the thing that bothered him ... the one thing.  Sometimes I looked for trouble, even where there wasn’t any.  Becoming fae had not changed that part of my nature.

We all grabbed our plates and drinks and followed him out the door.  He brought us to a meeting room that had a conference table with chairs and nothing else.  I’d never been in this room before.  On the door was a circle with a line through it.  It looked like a Greek letter or something.

Dardennes and Céline were already there.  We each took a seat, nodding to them in greeting.  I had found my peace with them, albeit reluctantly.  Jared was my last bitter holdout for forgiveness.  Even Niles had earned my respect, the little turd.  He may be gruff, but he knew his stuff when it came to strength training and brute force in battle.  He may be the size of a small child but he has the heart of a lion.  He pretended to be mad all the time, but I knew he had a soft spot for me.  Must be because I’m the only one who’s ever gotten the better of him out in the forest during the changeling tests.  He’d so far taken out five candidates with his little band of warrior dwarves, and he was very proud of that.  He was always saying that we are only as strong as our weakest link, and his job was to find the weak links and get rid of them.  The changeling group that I had been a part of was the only group to make it through without losing anyone.  We found out later that Becky was allowed in, even though she didn’t finish, because she was able to establish her status as a water sprite through her interaction with Naida and because I had tied her flag to the last Waypoint, so she technically had her flag up at each one.  They have since changed the rules so that only the person owning the flag can officially tie it there.  Becky and I shared a special connection over lots of stuff, not the least of which is that stupid fourth flag.

“Okay, Jared, can you fill us in on what you’ve been doing?  I think the changelings here would appreciate a little background.”

Jared stood at his seat.  “Thank you, Anton.”  He nodded his head to us.  “Changelings ... ”

We all nodded back.

“As you know, I’ve been back and forth to Florida, New York, and California quite a bit in the last several weeks, working on finding and bringing back recruits for our changeling test.  The results have been quite good.  We are happy to say that as a result of our efforts, we now have thirty-two new fae including a variety of races.”  He paused to recognize our nods of approval.

“My last assignment was in Florida again.  I was up in an area very familiar to Jayne, I believe, West Palm Beach.”

My heart started hammering again.  Now we were getting to the good stuff – or the bad stuff, depending on how you looked at it.

“We have been receiving reports from our colleagues there that there is a strong Dark Fae presence moving in, so we have been keeping an eye on the situation, trying to determine the extent of the issue and the reason for it.”  Jared looked at me and then at Dardennes.  Dardennes nodded at him, encouraging him to continue.

“We do not know all the details, but we believe the Dark Fae have figured out some way of identifying fae candidates without putting them through any test.  They are actively recruiting for their side and seem to not only be targeting candidates indiscriminately, which has resulted in a group of fae roaming around that are not only stupid but dangerous, but also they seem to be spending considerable resources on recruiting specific targets.  We’ve seen them build elaborate schemes and even false identities and false families, just to ingratiate themselves into the lives of those they wish to recruit most.”

Warning bells were going off in my head.  This was starting to sound like my most paranoid thoughts of Tony – and Jared was talking about West Palm, my hometown.

“And this brings me to why we have asked you here today.  It appears that Tony has been targeted by the Dark Fae as a potential recruit.”

I jumped up from my seat.  “I knew it!  I totally friggin’ knew he was being influenced.  It’s Ben, right?  The fae’s name is Ben!”

Jared looked surprised.  “How did you know that?”

“Tony told me about him the day he got back.  In an email.  Ben immediately started taking over Tony’s life, changing him, becoming his new best friend.”  I choked on the last two words and tears jumped to my eyes.  I swiped at them angrily, sitting back down.  I was shaking with fury, sadness, and fear.  A big ball of misery lodged itself right in my throat, threatening to gag me.  I breathed in and out loudly, trying to get my emotions under control.  I felt Becky’s comforting hand on my back.  Spike reached over and put his hand on my forearm, squeezing gently.

“Jayne,” said Tim, warning me, “I feel your energy humming in my wings.  Control yourself.”

He was right.  Sometimes when I got really emotional, The Green kind of seeped in.  Our connection was so close, sometimes I forgot where I stopped and it started.  Tim was kind of my energy barometer.  He could sense when the balance was off.  I took a second to collect myself.  I recognized the power flowing around me uncontrolled and separated myself from it.  Now was no time to be knocking people out into la-la land.  I hardly ever did that anymore, but it was always a small worry for anyone training with me.

“You are correct.  His name is Ben, and he is a particularly powerful fae.  We don’t know exactly what he is, but we know that the other fae look to him for direction and that many of his own kind fear him.”

I almost didn’t want to ask, but I had to.  “What has he done to Tony?”

“So far, at least as much as we can tell, he has done nothing other than ... influence him.  And not in the way you might be thinking.”  Jared actually smiled before continuing.  “In fact, I saw Tony.  It was from a distance, and I almost didn’t recognize him.  I sensed his energy signature though, so I knew it was him.  But truthfully, I don’t think any of you would recognize him.  Even you, Jayne.”

“Whaddya mean by that?” asked Finn.

“He looks very different.  Different hair, different clothes ... he even walks like someone else.”

I thought about that email Tony sent, telling me about Ben giving him clothes.  It made me mad all over again.  “So what are we going to do?  We can’t leave Tony there for the Dark Fae.”  I looked at Jared, then Céline and Dardennes expectantly, but they weren’t saying anything.  “What?  You can’t leave him there.  Right guys?”  I looked around at my friends.  They were all nodding.

Dardennes cleared his throat.  “We have a unique situation here, a problem essentially, and the council has made a ruling.”

I felt my hackles rise.  Usually the council involved the other fae in important rulings, and Tony was important.  They should have involved us.  I didn’t get a good feeling about this at all.

“The rules are that once a changeling candidate has refused the change, he is released following erasure and can never become a fae using one of our amulets.  That has been the rule forever and will not be changed by this council.”

We all started talking at once, some of us – Tim and me – louder than the others.  Well, Tim was louder in my ears anyway.

“That’s bullshit!”

“You can’t abandon him like that!”

Dardennes held his hands up to try and calm us down, but I wasn’t having it.

“That makes absolutely no sense at all.  We all know Tony has fae blood.  If he doesn’t come with us, they’ll take him over to the Dark Fae side!  We’ll lose him forever!”  I was so frustrated I started quoting my gray elf friend Gregale’s words.  “That’s a waste of resources and we don’t do that!”

Dardennes nodded, still holding up his hands.  Everyone quieted down to hear his next words.

“I could not agree with you more, but the council has spoken.  I am not to bring this candidate back here, give him an amulet, or allow him to speak the words that bring the change.  I cannot do that.  I am helpless here.  There is nothing I can do.”  He raised his eyebrows at us expectantly.  He didn’t look sad at all.  He looked ... like he was waiting for us to say something.

I frowned, scanning all the other faces around the table.  My friends were obviously as confused as I was.  Jared looked like Dardennes and now Céline too – like they were waiting for us to figure something out.

Finn spoke up.  “You said that you can’t do any of these things.  Does that mean no one can’t do ‘em, or just you can’t do ‘em?”

Dardennes smiled broadly at him and then at all of us.  “The council has ruled that none of the elders may bring Tony to our compound or give him an amulet or allow him to speak the words of the change.  That is all I can tell you.  It is merely the truth and nothing more or less.”  He and Céline got up to leave the table, both of them grinning at one another conspiratorially.  “We will leave you now.  I am sure all of you have a lot to discuss.  It is a sad day that I couldn’t bring Tony to you here.  I hope you can find a way to make things right in your hearts.”

Céline nodded her head, pausing at the door and turning to us.  “I wish you all the best of luck in your ... future endeavors.  And Jared?”

“Yes, Céline?”

“The jet is fully fueled and waiting to take you back to Florida.  Ivar will be aboard to help you and anyone you need to bring to assist you on your next mission.”

“Thank you, Céline.”

She and Dardennes left the room.  For a few seconds, it was completely silent in the room.  Then Finn spoke up.  “Are ya’ll gettin’ the same meanin’ outta this that I am?”

“If you mean they’re saying we can go and do this stuff, just without them telling us we can go, then yes,” said Spike.

Jared sighed.  “Listen guys, Anton and Céline can’t tell you guys to do this.  But they aren’t going to stop you if you want to go.  It’s up to you.  But we have to keep quiet about it because the elders were clear.  Anton cannot sanction this trip or what we do on it.  As far as the elders are concerned, I’m going on a recruiting mission.  As far as Anton and Céline are concerned, I’m recruiting and I’m taking assistants.”

“I don’t give a shit whether the elders or Dardennes say yes or no.  I’m going.”  I looked at each of my friends in turn.  “You guys can go or stay.  Either way, you’re still my friends.  But nothing is going to keep me back here when Tony’s in trouble.”

Jared looked at me.  “I suggest you go spend some time with Gregale.  He can give you a sneak peak at what we’re dealing with.  Ask him to take you into the Gray.  Go see Tony with him.”

“What the hell are you talking about?  If I could go see Tony, don’t you think I would have already done that?”  Jared was crazy talking as far as I could tell.

“Just go see Gregale.  He’ll explain.  Do not tell him what our plans are, though.  The fewer people who know, the better.  Just tell him you miss Tony and you really need to see him from the Gray.”

Jared turned to the others.  “You guys need to let me know now if you’re coming with us.  I have to pack provisions for the correct number of people.”  He looked around expectantly.

Chase was the first to speak.  “Where Jayne goes, I go.”

“Me too!” yelled Tim.

“Tim says he’s going,” I informed them.

“I’m in,” said Spike, lazily.  “This place was getting boring anyway.”  Something told me he was just looking for some fresh energy, but whatever.  The more the merrier.

“I think I should stay,” said Becky.

I looked at her, a little hurt.

“No, don’t go looking at me that way.  Here’s what I was thinking ... I can act like I’m here and listen in on conversations and stuff, and I’ll pop in and out where you are and tell you what I hear ... give you a heads up if the elders figure out what you’re up to.”

“Can you go that far?”

“I think so.”  She smiled shyly.  “I’m getting pretty good, actually.”

“It’s a good idea,” said Jared.  “What about you, Finn?”

“Sure.  I ain’t stayin’ behind and lettin’ Spike have all the fun.  Shee-it.”

“So that’s it then – four are going, one staying.”

“Five!”

“That’s five Jared, don’t forget Tim.”

“Yeah, sorry, Tim.  Five fae on board plus Ivar and me.”

“Is Ivar gonna give us a hard time?” asked Finn.

“No.  He knows what’s going on.”  Jared moved back from the table, heading towards the door.  “The plane leaves in three hours.  Be at the door with the wing of Mercury on it by nine o’clock.  That’s two and a half hours from now.  Make sure you eat your breakfast before you go.  We won’t have much food on the plane, and I don’t want to be in Florida for more than two days.  I don’t want the elders sending anyone after us, and I think two days is as long as we can run this game.  We’ll put together our plan on the plane.  Jayne, you get to Gregale, ASAP.  He’s probably still at breakfast.  Do whatever you need to do to get him to take you into the Gray.”

We all stood, heading for the door at once.

Jared made one last comment before he walked out the door.  “Remember to pack your weapons.”

Chapter 23

I walked as fast as I could back to the dining hall.  Gregale was there, talking to some of his brainiac friends.

“Hey, Gregale, can I talk to you for a sec?”  I tried to cool myself down by blowing air up into my own face.  I was sweating like mad from rushing back and from general nervousness.

“Sure, Jayne.  What can I do for you?”

“Could you walk with me for a minute?”

“Of course.”

He followed me out into the hallway.  I imagined the door with the sideways figure eight on it, and we were standing in front of it in less than fifteen minutes, which had to be some sort of record.

“Are we in some sort of hurry?” Gregale said, breathing heavy.

“No, not at all.  I’m just excited.”

“About what?”

I pushed the door open, stepping out into the meadow where he and I had our first session together.

“Well, I learned today that you have a special talent and I was really hoping you could show it to me.”

He looked at me with a frown on his face.  “And which talent would that be?”

I turned and faced him.  “Going into the Gray.”

His eyes widened.  “Oh, no, I do not think that is such a good idea, Jayne.  Maybe we should go back to the dining hall.”  He turned to go back through the door, but I grabbed his sleeve, halting his movement.

He looked back and saw my hand on his sleeve.  He looked surprised to see my hand there.

“Jayne, what are you doing?” he asked in a testy voice.  “Unhand me.”

“Listen, Gregale, please.  I need you.  Badly.  Remember that day we were out here?  And I showed you The Green?”  I knew that event had earned him big points with his fellow gray elves.

He smiled in memory. “Yes, of course.”

I got hardcore on him.  “Well, guess what?  You owe me.  I showed you my talents, now it’s time for you to show me yours.”

He got a pissed look on his face, but he didn’t argue.  “Why do you want to go into the Gray so badly all of a sudden?”

“I miss my friend Tony.  I got an email from him that worries me.”  That wasn’t a total lie.  I just didn’t tell him that the email was from six weeks ago.  “I need to check on him and make sure he’s okay.  He should be sleeping now, so I know where to find him.”

Gregale sighed in defeat.  “Astral projection is not tied to a place.  It is tied to spirits.”

“Astral projection?”

“Yes.  That is what you are asking me to do.  Take you with me as I project my spirit out through the Gray – the space that exists between our world and the Otherworlds.”

I felt a chill go up my spine.  I’m pretty sure if Tim were with me right now, he’d be shaking, but he was back in our room getting ready to go.

“Okay, so what do I need to do?”

“Come.  Follow me.  It is better if we find a comfortable place to lie down.”  He stomped through the meadow grasses until he came to a suitable spot.  “This would be much better if you had your daemon here.”

“Why?”

“Because he could watch over your body while your spirit is gone.”

Holy bat balls, what have I gotten myself into?

“How about The Green?  I can have it watch over both of us.”

Gregale perked up a little bit.  “Yes ... that could work.”

He laid down on the ground and patted a spot nearby with his hand.  “Lie down next to me.”

I laid down, silently sending my message out to The Green, asking it to protect Gregale and me from any creature wishing to do us harm.  I also asked it to protect us from any creature trying to see what we were doing.  That should cover it.  I didn’t want anyone sneaking through this time.  I felt the hum of The Green’s willing response.

“Hold my hand.”

I reached over and placed my hand in Gregale’s.  It was cool and slender, uncalloused – the hands of an intellectual who touched only paper all day.

“Now, close your eyes.  I am going to ask you to imagine some things in your mind’s eye.  You will feel energy coming from me ... then you will feel a pulling near your core.  Do not panic.  Once your spirit is free, it will not be so jarring.”

“Okay.”  I was trying not to freak out, but it was hard.  I wasn’t so sure I wanted my body and my spirit separated.

As if he had read my mind, Gregale spoke again, “Your spirit will not leave your body completely.  There will always be a connection.  When you are out of your body, you will see it.  It will look like a glowing string.”

“A string.  Gotcha.”

“Okay, relax.  Here we go, into the Gray ... ”

At first I felt nothing.  Then I felt something coming into my hand from Gregale.  At first I thought he was pulling me with his hand, but then I realized that his hand was still.  It was some sort of weird force that was pulling at me.  It crawled up my arm and then into my shoulder.  It took my chest and face and head ... my stomach and thighs and calves ... and then my feet came last.  Eventually, all of me was being pulled, harder and harder.  My breath sped up as I started to panic.

“Just relax, Jayne, do not fight it.  You are trying to bring The Green with you and you cannot do that.  You have to let it all go.  Just be free.  Release yourself from your earthly bonds.”

I pictured myself floating up from the ties that kept me to the Earth.  I even let go of The Green, which was emotionally very hard for me to do.  I realized as I let it drop away that it had become nearly a part of me.  I briefly wondered if that integration was what began the process of an elemental eventually going crazy.  I made a mental note to talk to Spike about it later, since Valentine seemed to be the guy with the gossip goods.

“That’s it.  Now, here we go, let us begin.”

I felt a pop! And then I realized I was completely without my normal physical feelings.  I didn’t feel the weight of that energy from Gregale, The Green, or even from my own body anymore.  “What the hell?”

“Open your eyes.  Look down.”

I opened my eyes and looked down.  I could see my body lying on the ground next to Gregale’s, both of us holding hands.  “Wow.  That is the freakiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life – my body laying on the ground like that.  I look like I’m dead or something.  It’s like I’m having a near-death experience.”  I tried to look out at myself, the part of me that was floating up above my body, but there was nothing to see, except a faint green haze that had a glowing string attached to the center of it, stretching down to the ground and attached to my body’s midsection.  It was like a giant, glowing umbilical cord.

“Hey!  I’m like a big glowing fetus up here!”

I could sense Gregale’s patience with me.  “Yes, you could say that, I suppose.  So, where are we going then?  We are now in the Gray.”  Gregale’s voice was projecting into my consciousness somehow, because he wasn’t actually talking.  He had no mouth up here in the Gray and I didn’t exactly have ears either.

I looked around.  It was kinda gray looking, actually.  I felt like we weren’t alone, even though I couldn’t see anything but our bodies below and the glow-strings linking us.

“I feel like ... we’re not alone in here, Gregale.”  It was beginning to creep me out, too.

“We aren’t.  Which is why I would like to hurry this along if you do not mind.”

“Are there ... bad things in here?”

“Well, that depends on your definition of ‘bad’.  Please ... our destination?”

I tried not to think about his evasive answer.  “I need to see Tony.”

“Picture Tony and the place where you think he is in your mind.  Focus on your feelings for him.  I will hang on to your energy and follow you while I keep a watchful eye out.”

“Eye out for what?!”

“Shh, just focus.  Let me worry about everything else.”

I shoved the worries of the unknown away and searched my mind for memories of Tony.  Tony standing next to me in the foyer of his house as he packed his bag to take with us to Miami.  Then Tony in his room with walls covered in posters of planets.  Tony holding doors open for me.  Tony and his shy laugh.

“Are we here?” asked Gregale, softly.

I looked down and saw Tony’s room below me.  At least, I thought it might be Tony’s room, but it looked very different.  Gone were all the planet and science posters.  In their places were posters of rock bands.  His floor was a mess, dirty clothes and papers all over the place.  His desk had stuff piled all over it – and none of it looked like homework.

“I’m not sure.  It’s his room, I mean, all of the dimensions are right and the windows and doors are in the right places, but other than that, it’s all different.”  I looked down at the bed and it was empty.  “Where could he be?  It’s after midnight there.”

“Look at the window,” said Gregale in a hushed voice.

The window was going up of its own accord.  Then I saw a head coming through – a head with hair that was badly in need of brushing.  The rest of the body came through and fell to the floor.  I saw that this person was wearing heavy, black boots – combat style – jeans, and a sloppy flannel shirt.  “Who is that guy in Tony’s room?  Maybe Tony’s family moved.”

But then he looked up from the floor, standing to brush himself off, and I saw his face.  I gasped.

“What?” asked Gregale.

“It’s Tony!”

“Great!”

“No, not great.  Not great at all.  Look at him!”

“He looks like other human boys I have seen.”

“He doesn’t look like Tony though.  He’s totally changed.”

I watched as he clumped across the room, kicking off his unlaced boots and flipping a switch on his stereo.  He took two steps towards his door, reaching out to flick on his overhead light before backing up to drop down on the edge of his bed.  I could hear the music come on loudly.

There was a knock at his door, his mother’s voice coming through the space.  “Too loud, Tony!”

Tony picked up one of his boots next to his bed and threw it at the door.  I could hear his mother pad away without saying a word.

I gasped at what I saw.  “Did you see that?!  Tony would never do that.  Never!”

Gregale said nothing.

I was getting ready to leave, so stressed out I couldn’t even think straight.  But then I watched Tony start to move again.  He got up and walked over to his desk, shoving a bunch of things out of the way, looking for something.

Curiosity made me stay.

He found whatever he was searching for, digging it out of the junk on the tabletop.  His back was to me so I couldn’t see what it was.  He leaned over and pressed a button on his stereo so the CD selection was lit up.  I watched as he clicked through the tracks until he came to the one he wanted.  He pressed play and then sat down on the edge of his bed, holding something in his hand – the thing he had been looking for and then found buried under the crap on his desk.

The music began to come out of the speakers, a haunting melody I hadn’t heard in a long time – My Immortal by Evanescence.  The words carried a whole new meaning for me in this moment, as my spirit floated up above Tony’s new and disturbing life.  I knew looking at my best friend right now that this song meant something much, much more to him too ... more than it ever could have before we were exposed to the world of the fae.  More than it ever could have when we were together in each other’s lives every day.

Tony’s body began to silently shake and tremble, his shoulders hunched over.  He shifted a little to the left and I could finally see what he was holding in his hands.  It was a picture of him and me that I had put into a frame for him over a year ago.  We had gone to the mall, goofing around by the big fountain.  I remember holding up my camera and doing a self-portrait of us.  Later I put it in a frame for his birthday, telling him to put it on his desk to remind him not to be so serious all the time when he was doing his homework.  I watched as a tear landed on the glass.

Suddenly, Tony looked up at his ceiling, as if he could see me there, and yelled, “Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”  He jumped up, throwing the picture across the room.  It hit the wall, shattering in a huge explosion of glass.  The picture and frame fell heavily to the floor amidst the wreckage that was his new life ... a life that didn’t include me anymore.

I had seen enough.  Too much.  “Gregale,” I cried desperately, “get me out of here!  Please!”

I felt Gregale’s energy warmly surround me and pull me back through the plane we had traveled.  I paid no attention to the cold things that brushed past us as we flew by.  I could only think of one thing – the image of my best friend, left alone and abandoned by me – the one who should have been there for him but who had instead chosen personal glory and adventure over friendship.

Chapter 24

We were back in the meadow, lying amidst the heather, and I was sobbing uncontrollably.  I couldn’t move past the pain that my selfish choices had caused the person I loved most in the world.  How could I have left him alone like that?  What have I done?

“Jayne,” Gregale said softly.  “Jayne, please do not cry.”  He must have misunderstood my tears.  “I do not yet consider my debt to you paid.  You may still have anything you wish from me, at any time.  This thing I did for you – I am afraid it was no favor.”

I just shook my head.  I couldn’t even talk.  The tears poured down my face unchecked.  I began to keen for my lost friend, moaning with the pain.  It was too late.  I was too late.  There was no point in going back to Florida.  I had already lost him.  He didn’t want to be my friend anymore.

I felt Gregale leave my side, but I didn’t care.  It was better that way.  I was a terrible friend.  A terrible person.  Everyone should just leave me alone.  I should go over with the Dark Fae – it’s where selfish people belonged.

I don’t know how long I sat there sifting through the memories of Tony, of the times we had spent together before Dardennes and all of them had come into our lives – even further back, before my mother’s boyfriend had entered our lives and started the cascade of events that had led me to be here, my heart breaking, in the middle of the heathers and meadows of the Light Fae forest ... in the middle of an enchanted piece of somewhere I didn’t even know where.  My own private hell.

I was going to miss the plane to Florida, but it didn’t matter.  I wasn’t going.  I tried to block out the image of Tony throwing our picture across the room and the sound of the song that had been playing when I saw it hit the wall, but I couldn’t.  It was haunting me.  The tears came anew, threatening to wash me away entirely.

I became aware of another presence, seconds before I felt a gentle touch on my arm.  I looked up through my tears to see Maggie the witch at my side.  She dropped down to sit next to me, the pain of bending her limbs etched into her wrinkled face.  I couldn’t speak to her now.  I wasn’t up to her barbed comments and harsh criticisms.  I just shook my head at her, the tears still flooding my face.

“You have seen something you shouldn’t have.”

I shook my head.  I didn’t agree.  I had needed to see it.

“The Gray distorts things.  It puts a shadow over things that do not have shadows.”

“I need to let him go.  He’s already gone.”

“No!  If you let him be taken from you, you are not the fae I thought you were.”

“I wish I wasn’t fae!”

“Lie!”

“I wish I hadn’t left Tony.”

“Lie!”

“I wish he had come with me.”

“Truth.  Finally.  You cannot control the choices of others.  But his life is different now.  His choice may be different now too.  Go to him.  Let him make the choice again.  Do not make the choice for him.”

“I already let him down.”

“No!  You do what’s right for you.   He does what’s right for him.  Sometimes what is right brings you together.  Sometimes it drives you apart.  The only thing you have is honesty.  Be honest with yourself right now.  What is your fondest desire?”

Those words came back to me, a whisper from the near past – the day I stood before the last waypoint, the first day of my life as a fae.  I thought about it hard.  Concentrating with all my might, trying to ignore the pain and self-criticisms.  What is my fondest desire?

“I want things to be the same with Tony again.”

“Lie!”

“No, it’s not!  It’s the truth!”

“No!  Lie!”

I started crying again, but this time in anger.  I yelled at her.  “What do you know?!  You don’t know me!  You don’t know Tony!  You have no idea what I want!”

“I know the difference between truth and lies.  Speak your truth, girl, or I will no longer waste my time with you.”

“Fine!  Leave!  I don’t care anyway!”

“Lie!”

I laughed bitterly.  All the fight went out of me.  I don’t know if it was because I was mentally exhausted or if I had finally snapped, but I couldn’t yell anymore and I was done crying.  “You’re nuts, you old bat.”

“I have heard worse.  So.  Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?  Ready to tell the truth?”

I shot her an evil look.  “You are an ugly old hag.”

“Truth!”

“I wish I could smash you right now, right in the head, and not worry about getting turned into a toad.”

“Truth!”

“I want to kick the ass of the person who is messing with my Tony.”

“Truth!”

“I miss him.”

“Truth!”

“I want to get on the plane and go see if he has changed his mind and wants to join me here.”

“Truth.”  She struggled to stand up.  “So what are you doing here then?  Don’t you have a plane to catch?”

I looked at her curiously.  “How do you know that?”

She cackled and started hobbling away, chanting to herself in her scratchy voice, “Green things, green things, beautiful lovely green things ... ”  She soon disappeared into the trees at the edge of the meadow.

I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, sending out a message into The Green, hoping somehow, some way, Tony would receive it.  “I’m coming to get you Tony, and anyone who gets in my way, better watch the fuck out because I am pissed.”

I got up and went back into the door leading to the compound.  I had a plane to catch.

Chapter 25

I ran to my room, throwing open the door.  Tim was there, zipping around the room, his wings buzzing.  “Where have you been?  Everyone’s looking for you.”

“I was having a crisis, but I’m back online now.  Are you ready to go?”

“Yep!”  He was wearing the miniature fanny pack that I had Netter find for him.  He couldn’t wear a backpack for obvious reasons, but he had bitched for weeks about how he wanted some sort of pack like everyone else, so I finally caved and enlisted the brownie’s help.  I didn’t have the heart to tell Tim how goofy fanny packs were, he loved his so much.  I tried not to laugh every time I saw him wearing it, but it was tough.  I don’t even know what he kept inside the damn thing, it was so small.

Tim flew down and landed on his bed, bouncing up off of it and flying up into the air, doing somersaults and barrel rolls.  Tim liked to use his tiny mattress as a jumping off spot for his stunt flying.  He had a whole miniature bedroom set on top of my dresser that was a carbon copy of mine, right down to the quilt and itty-bitty silver tray on the dresser.  Every day he’d have me put a token on the tray for Netter.  The chocolate ball took up the entire top of his dresser.

I threw my old human clothes into my backpack along with my Converse sneakers.  No need to go back there looking like a hippy freak, which is what the tunics made me think I looked like.  Netter had made sure my old clothes were cleaned and pressed; now I was glad he’d bothered.  I had Blackie strapped to my leg as usual.  I added my brush, toothbrush, and makeup to the bag and I was done.

Tim and I left the room, trying to look unhurried and casual in case we passed anyone on our way.  Luckily we didn’t see anyone, because I don’t know if it was even possible for me to look casual at this moment.  I felt this incredible urgency now that I’d actually seen Tony and how upset he was and how messed up his life had become.  A messy room was no big deal – in fact, I’d always thought Tony had a screw loose, always being so neat – it was the drastic change in his appearance and the way he’d acted towards his mom that had me worried.  His violent reaction to our picture was just the icing on the cake.

We reached the door with the wing symbol on it and I pulled it open.  There was a short path just outside the door.  Becky was standing there waiting for us.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” I said cheerily, thinking she had changed her mind.

“I’m not.  I’m just here to say goodbye.”  She held her arms out for a hug.  “Be safe.  Send a message out through The Green if you need me.”

“Will do.  You be safe too.  Stay away from the elders for the next couple days if you can.”

“I plan on it.  Talk to you soon.”

I hurried down the path, hearing a car engine start.  Tim flew ahead to announce our arrival.  I broke through the trees and saw a passenger van waiting, everyone already inside.  Tim and I were the last ones in.

“Come on!  Let’s go!” said Jared from his spot in the front passenger seat.

I ran around to the back and threw my bag in on top of everyone else’s stuff, slamming the trunk door closed.  Then I jogged over to the side door, hopping in to the seat by the door and sliding the big door shut.

“Tim in here?” I asked, breathlessly.

“Yes!” he squeaked from somewhere in the back.

The car took off, Ivar driving it as fast as he could over the bumpy forest roads and then onto a main highway.  This was the first time any of us changelings was seeing the route that we had taken to get to our new home.  The last time we had all been drugged unconscious.  It seemed like so long ago but wasn’t really.  It’s incredible how much all of our lives had changed and not just Tony’s.

My mind was too bogged down in the what-ifs and whys to pay much attention to the scenery or the conversation flowing around me.  Tim’s reassuring presence on my shoulder helped to keep me grounded.  Every time I started feeling tense about what was happening with Tony, Tim would either accidentally pull my hair or fart near my ear.

“Geez, Tim, what did you eat for breakfast?!” I finally yelled at him.

Everyone in the car got really quiet, wondering what the hell I was talking about.

I shook my head.  “Sorry.  Never mind me.”

I could hear Tim giggling in the back of the van.  He had wisely moved out of range.

An hour later we found ourselves at a private airport where the jet was waiting for us.  We were late, but I guess that’s the benefit of having your own jet – it’s not like it was going to leave without us.  We were on board and in the air within thirty minutes.  We all sat in our cushy, leather seats, reflecting on the last time we were in that plane.

“Hey Ivar!” I said loudly, getting his attention.  He was standing up near the pilots.  “You got anything to drink on this thing?  A shot maybe?”

Everyone grinned.  Ivar turned his back on me, but not before I saw him with a hint of a smile on his face.  Ivar never totally smiled at anything.

Last time we were on this plane, everyone but me had been drugged with the famous shots from Ivar.  I got the injection of a tranquilizer in my arm instead, since I refused to drink.  If I had a syringe with me now, I’d jab Ivar with it, just for fun.  I still hadn’t gotten him back, nor had I forgiven him.

Jared came from the front and stood in the aisle next to Chase.  “You guys want to put together a plan before we all fall asleep?”

Spike and Finn were sitting across the table from me and Chase was at my side.  I looked to them for a response.  Everyone nodded, including me.

Jared pulled a small folding stool over and sat down in the aisle, facing all of us.  “So, does anyone have any ideas about getting into this thing with Tony?”

Spike looked at me.  “Well, what do you know about the situation, Jayne?  Anything that can help us?”

“Not really.  I know what he looks like now, but that’s not much help.”

“Yeah, I do too,” I said.  “And none of you are going to recognize him.  Take Tony and turn him into a grunge rocker, and you’ll get close.”

Spike raised his eyebrows at that.  “I would not have expected that.”

“Me neither,” said Finn.

“That makes three of us.” I said. “I can also tell you that I think he’s angry.  Possibly at me.”

Jared looked at me.  “Don’t jump to any conclusions, Jayne.  If you say this because of what you saw through the Gray, you are probably wrong.  Or at least off a little bit.  The Gray taints things in a negative light sometimes, making it hard to see what’s really going on.”

“Yeah.  Let’s hope so.  Let’s hope there was a lot of gray taint going on there.”

“So tell us about Tony’s habits, his house, school.”

“Well, he lives not far away from school, a few blocks.  He walks to and from.  He said Ben lives nearby too.  He used to do well in school, but I get the impression he doesn’t care anymore.  He’s not popular.  He used to hang out with ... well ... me, and some computer dork guys, but that’s it.  But now?”  I sighed.  “I have no idea.  I think he’s changed a lot.”  I thought about our late nights at the library that always ended by nine o’clock.  “He never went out at night before except to study, but I just saw him sneak in his room after midnight – and I know it wasn’t for studying.  He didn’t have any books with him and he was climbing in through his window.”

Everyone mulled over what I said for a minute.

“Okay, so how about this: Jayne, I think you should make contact with Tony, maybe by calling his house or something like that, and invite him to meet you somewhere.  And make sure you tell him you want to meet him alone,” suggested Jared.

“And what’ll we do?” asked Finn.

“We’ll be there with Jayne, for backup.  In case that guy Ben comes.”

“What?  Are you going to, like, take him out or something?” I asked.

“No.  We’ll hang in the background, just be there in case something goes wrong.”

“And what am I supposed to do?  Say, ‘Hey Tony, time to come with me and become a fae’?  He was erased, so he doesn’t even know fae exist anymore.  I’m not even sure how much he remembers you guys.  I remember Céline telling me that he would remember everything from before the meeting at the hotel, which means he should remember you, but how did he get from Miami to West Palm in his mind?  I mean, there must be a blank space in his memory.  And he didn’t remember who Becky was when I mentioned her in an email.”

Jared explained, “The fae who do the erasures try to fill in blank spaces with suggested explanations, but ultimately it’s the human mind that fills in the unknown with whatever it thinks fits.  So none of us knows what Tony thinks happened between meeting us at the warehouse and getting home a few days later to his parents’ house.”

“He never mentioned anything in the few emails he sent me; and then he sent the one telling me to back off and give him some space so ... ”

Tim flew down and landed on my hand.  I pretended to try and catch him, making him fly up really fast to avoid my grabbing fingers.  He hated when I did that, but I had to get him back for the pixie farts in the van.  Luckily, the witch leaf didn’t give me supersonic smelling powers too – but still, I’m pretty sure being able to hear a pixie fart is almost as bad as smelling one.

“So, what if this Ben guy is the real deal and he interferes in Jayne’s meeting with Tony?” asked Spike, smiling absently at my antics with Tim.  “What if she can’t get him alone?”

“I don’t know.  I guess we’ll regroup and figure something out.”

“Chase, do you have anything to add?” I asked.

“Just that where you go, I go.”

“How are you gonna explain your presence to Tony, Chase??” asked Spike.

“You can say you guys are dating now,” suggested Jared.

I looked at Chase and he looked at me.  He shrugged.

“I don’t know if Tony will buy it,” I said.

“Why not?” asked Spike.  “Because everyone knows it’s me you really want?” He winked.

I smiled, “No.  Well, kinda.  I mean, Chase isn’t exactly my type.”

Chase raised his eyebrow at me but said nothing.

I was worried I had hurt his feelings.  “No offense.  I mean, you’re hot stuff and everything.  You’re just ... I don’t know ... too nice.”

“You deserve nicer than me,” said Chase, enigmatically.  He caught Jared’s eye and looked away.

Jared raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

My attention was distracted by Finn saying, “Yeah, well, I think if Tony’s changed as much as you say, he might not think too hard about it.  He’s changed a lot so there ain’t no reason for him to doubt that you’ve changed a lot too.”

I nodded.  “I agree.  And I would feel better with a wingman, Chase, so thanks.”  I patted his muscled bicep, trying to snap him out of whatever mood he’d just dropped into.  He was always so quiet, it was hard to figure out where his head was sometimes.

I imagined him as a boyfriend for a minute and it was kind of funny to me that I’d never really thought of him that way before.  I guess I had spent so much time with him at meals and after in our rooms and stuff, not to mention the horrors of the test, that he’d become one of those friends who cease to have opposite sex qualities for me – kind of like Tony.  I had more sisterly feelings towards them.  Looking at Chase now though, picturing him as a boyfriend, caused me to question that whole sisterly love thing.  I mean, he is pretty hot, there’s no denying that.  He’s big, in excellent physical shape – Jared had seen to that with his exercises and training, but Chase was already pretty much that way before we met him – and he had gorgeous light blue eyes and blond hair.  His hands looked like football player hands, strong and wide.  Whenever he moved I could see his muscles flexing under his clothes.  Today he was wearing the t-shirt and jeans he had on during our test.  Somehow they’d managed to get the blood out of the shirt.  I started thinking about seeing him being attacked by that incubus, Valentine, when Spike interrupted my train of thought.

“Uh, Jayne.  You may want to tone down those sexy thoughts you’re having about Chase right now, because we’re in a closed space here and I’m kinda hungry.”

I looked over at him and saw that his eyes were burning fire again.  My face starting to flame up to a bright red.  “Shut up, Spike.  You’re imagining things.  Excuse me, I have to go get a glass of water.”  I nudged Chase so he’d let me out.  I heard Finn snicker as I walked away.  I was too embarrassed to look at Chase’s face.

When I went back, I sat across the aisle from them, taking the window seat in the same row as Chase.  That way I didn’t have to look at his face.  I grabbed a blanket from under the seat and covered myself from toe to neck.  Luckily, my seat reclined all the way back to make a pretty comfortable bed.  I ignored Spike and Finn who I knew were itching to tease me and closed my eyes, planning to sleep as long as possible on our long trip.  Tim joined me on my pillow and flopped down on his back, obviously preparing to fall asleep next to my face.  I opened one eye and warned, “One fart and you’re outta here.  And make sure you sleep on your side so you don’t snore.”

Tim yawned as he flipped over.  “Do you have any idea how much you sound like a pixie wife?”

“Whatever.  You’ve been warned.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah ... ” he said, as he drifted off to sleep.  That’s one thing I noticed about pixies – or at least, this pixie.  He fell asleep almost instantly.  I wished I could do that, especially now.  I wanted to escape my embarrassment in dreamland but it took a while for sleep to claim me.  I kept thinking about Chase and his muscles, Tony and this guy Ben, and what I was going to say to Tony when I saw him – that is, assuming he’d agree to see me at all.

Chapter 26

We arrived at the smaller executive airfield next to Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach.  It was late afternoon, almost the time Tony would be getting out of school.  We all got off the plane and collected our bags to take with us into the executive airport lounge where we went to regroup.  Tim stayed in my hair, which I had taken out of its ponytail so as to hide him better.

Jared made a phone call from a cell phone he took out of his bag.  I suddenly remembered my old cell phone and wondered what had happened to it.  The last time I saw it was when I took it to the airplane that had Ivar and his poison brew on board.  It’s funny how I hadn’t even thought about it in over a month, when before, it was like an extension of my hand.

Soon after Jared made his call, a hotel shuttle came to get us.  We were staying at the same chain hotel that had hosted our meeting and interviews in Miami.  I was sharing a room with Chase and Tim and all the other guys were next door.  After throwing our stuff on our beds, we all met down on the ground floor to finalize our plans.  Tim kept his fanny pack on, refusing to keep it at the hotel.

“Jayne, do you know Tony’s phone number?” asked Jared, holding out his phone.

“Yep.  I used to call it about ten times a day.”

“So, what are you going to say?”

“I’m going to ask him to meet me at the library at six o’clock.  That gives us enough time to grab a sandwich, ‘cause I’m starving.  Plus the library is a safe, public place, right?”

“Does this sound good to everyone?” Jared asked, looking around at all of us.

The guys nodded.  Tim said, “Yep!” from the back of my head.

I dialed Tony’s cell number and waited for him to pick up.  I was freaking out, listening to the sound of the ringing.  I couldn’t wait to hear his voice but I was also afraid to hear it – afraid it would be different or sound angry.

All my worrying was for nothing because he didn’t answer.  I hung up as his generic voicemail message started playing.

“Now what?  Should I text him?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

‘T. IT’S ME, JAYNE.  CAN U MEET AFTR SCHL?  LIBRY, 6PM?’

We sat around waiting to see if he would answer.

Five minutes later, the phone buzzed.  I grabbed it off the table in front of us and read the text.

‘HI JAYNE! SHR. SEE U THR. U CN MT BEN’

“Shit.  He wants to bring Ben.”

“Tell him you want to meet privately and you can meet Ben later,” said Jared.

‘HOW BOUT JST U N ME? I CN MT BEN LTR. CAN’T WAIT!’

I could just picture Maggie the witch yelling,
‘Lie!’ in my face at that last part of the text.  No, I really don’t want to meet Ben at all, Tony, thank you very much.  But I had to lie just in case Ben was reading the texts.

The return text came back right away.

‘K.  C U SOON.’

“Huh.  That was easier than I thought it would be.”

I looked at the guys and they all had the same cautiously optimistic look on their faces that I know I did.

Finn stood up.  “Well, I’m starvin’.  Let’s go grab some grub.  I’d kill for a juicy burger right now.”

“There’s a burger place about two minutes from the school if you guys want to eat there.”

“I want some pineapple,” said Tim.

“They have a mixed fruit plate too.  But Tim, you’re not gonna eat that shit in my hair.”

I could hear him grumbling something about pixies getting no respect.

“Great.  We’ll take a taxi,” said Jared.

Jared handled the transportation and within thirty minutes we were at the grill ordering our burgers and fries plus a side of two chunks of pineapple picked out of a mixed fruit cup.  I took Tim into the bathroom so he could eat his pineapple in a stall while I pretended to pee.   We had almost an hour before the meeting.  The library was close to the school and it would probably take us about ten minutes of walking to get there.  Luckily the weather was cooperating, meaning it wasn’t raining like it did a lot of the time here at this time of year.  It was horribly humid, but that was normal.

The closer it got to six, the more nervous I became.  At five-thirty we left the burger place and went to the library.  Tony and I used to study on the second level, in the back where it was quieter.  There were several rows of bookshelves there on either side of the banks of study tables, so the guys went and stationed themselves between them where they could remain hidden from Tony’s view.  Tim stayed with Finn in one of his front shirt pockets.  I sat at one of the tables, cell phone in hand.  Chase sat next to me, a book open in front of him.  He looked pretty funny sitting there, trying to act like he was studying.  I didn’t think he would fool anyone, especially since he rarely turned a page, and when he did, it was in reverse order.  No one else was back there though so it didn’t matter.  I couldn’t see the other guys from where I was sitting.  I got this weird feeling that we were doing some kind of sting operation instead of having a reunion.  It didn’t feel good to me at all.

I heard the soft fall of footsteps on the carpeted floor coming from around the corner.  I stood up anxiously as I saw a guy in jeans and ragged flannel coming towards me.  If I hadn’t seen Tony in my astral travels, I would have watched him walk right by without recognizing him.  He looked totally different.  Chase nudged me from under the table but didn’t move from his seat.

I pushed my chair back and ran over.  I couldn’t help myself – I jumped into this stranger’s arms, squeezing him for all I was worth.  At first he just stood there, his arms hanging down by his sides.  I felt the tears threaten at this one-sided love attack.  Before I thought too much about it I said, “Tony, you’d better fucking hug me back or I’m gonna have to kick your ass right here in the library.”

I felt him laugh once over my shoulder and then his arms reluctantly went around me and squeezed back.  He rested his head on my shoulder for a second and said, “I can still feel your vibe.  All this time I wasn’t sure if it was you, but now I know it was.  It was you all along.”

I pulled back for a second to look at his face.  I put my hands up on his cheeks.  “You look so different, I almost didn’t recognize you.  What the hell happened?”

Tony looked around nervously.  “Lots of stuff.  I’d rather not talk about it here.”

I looked around too, slowly dropping my hands from his face.  “Is there something wrong?”

“No.”

I didn’t believe him.  Something was off.

“Come on, Tony, it’s me.  Tell me what’s going on.”

Tony looked me in the eye and reached up, putting his hand on my arm.  He looked like he was getting ready to say something, but then a voice spoke up from behind him.

“Hey, Tony, what’s up, man?  I didn’t know you were gonna be here.”

Tony smiled and turned around, dropping his hand from my arm.  “Hey Ben!  I didn’t know you were going to be here either.  What’s up?”

“Nothin’.  Just hangin’.  Who’s this?”

Tony stepped to the side and I got my first look at my new arch nemesis.  Ben.

I was not prepared for the utter gorgeousness that greeted my eyes.  He had dark tousled hair, a little on the long side and nearly black, and very dark green eyes.  At first I thought they were brown but he turned his head a little and I saw them in the light.  His skin was tanned and super smooth.  He had the sculpted full lips, a strong but narrow nose, high cheekbones and the squared jaw of a male model from some foreign country.  He was bigger than Tony but smaller than Chase, with a broad, muscular chest and shoulders.  Holy Blessed Mother Fucker Be.  He must have the girls at school drooling like dogs over one hell of a meaty bone.  I hoped like hell Spike had his little medallion with him right now so he could breathe through the sexy thoughts I was having at this moment, because, hoo-boy!  This guy was gorgeous.  Well ... in a bad guy, awful person kind of way.

I saw his eyebrow rise up in appraisal of me.  I’m not sure if he liked what he saw or not, but I didn’t care.  I saw the nervous look on my Tony’s face and I knew I had to get him the hell away from this gorgeous monster.

Tony held his hand out towards me and smiled.  “This is Jayne.  Jayne, this is Ben.”

Ben held his hand out.  “Nice to meet you, Jayne.”

I reached out to take his hand and shook it.  “Nice to meet you too.”  Lie!

I felt the heat as soon as we touched.  It wasn’t normal heat.  It was fire heat.  I didn’t even think about it before I did it – it was an automatic reaction.  I reached out to The Green of Florida, through the ley line I was happy to discover running under the library, and it answered me with lightning quickness.  It surged into my burning hand and put the fire out like someone had dumped a handful of ice into my palm.  I smiled serenely at Ben.  “I’m so glad to finally meet the guy who tried to steal my Tony away.”  Emphasis on the ‘tried’, asshole.

He smiled shrewdly back at me, dropping my hand and subconsciously rubbing his palm that had just touched mine with the fingers of his other hand.  “I wasn’t aware that he was your Tony.”

“Oh, he is.  Trust me.”

Tony reached up and patted my shoulder.  “She always was a little possessive.”

“Really?” said Ben, staring me in the eye, his anger barely checked.

“You have no idea,” I said, my underlying threat unmistakable.

I heard a throat clearing behind me, and Tony looked confused for a second, staring over my shoulder.  “I know you from somewhere,” he said.  “I can’t place your face exactly though.”

Chase held out his hand.  “Hey, Tony.  I’m Chase.  You and I met in Miami once.”

“Oh.  Huh.”  Tony mindlessly shook Chase’s hand.  “So, are you here with Jayne?”

“Yeah.  Just hanging out.”  He looked over at Ben and nodded his head once.

Ben gave him an appraising look, saying nothing.

“So, what did you want to talk about, Jayne?” asked Tony, smiling vaguely.

I stared at Tony, searching his face and eyes, but could not figure out what his deal was.  He seemed happy, but nervous too.  I thought earlier he was going to say something to me but then Ben showed up.  But Tony didn’t seem afraid of him, really.  I didn’t know what to do now, so I just decided to wing it.

“Oh, you know, old times, see what you’ve been up to, fill you in on what I’ve been up to, that kind of thing.”

“That sounds interesting,” interrupted Ben, “I’d love to hear about it.”

I looked at him and said saccharin-sweetly.  “Yes, well, Ben, I’d love to tell you all about it sometime, but I’m sure you’d understand if I said I missed Tony and really would like to have some alone time with him.”

Ben shrugged.  “I guess that’s up to Tony.  What do you think Tony?  Am I a third wheel at the party?”

Tony looked uncomfortable.  I gave Ben the stink eye when Tony wasn’t looking and he just smiled back at me, raising one of his eyebrows like a cocky jerk.

Asshole.

“Well, to be honest, Jayne, Ben and I had plans for this evening.  But maybe tomorrow or something.  You’re staying at your house, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”  I panicked.  I’m not sure why I said that.  “I haven’t gotten back there yet, but I’m going over now.”

“Okay, well, I’ll call you at your house then.  Later.  When we’re done.”

What was I going to do?  Tell him no?  I didn’t want him to think I was mental and then refuse to see me anymore.  “Yeah, okay, that’s cool.”  I stepped over and hugged him hard.  “I’m so glad to see you again.  I missed you.”

Tony patted my back.  “Yeah, me too.”

“It was nice finally meeting you,” said Ben, “especially after hearing all about you these past couple months.  Hopefully we can get to know each other while you’re visiting.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said.  Not fucking likely, douche bag.  I gave him my biggest, fakest smile.

Tony and Ben walked away and I sagged against Chase when they were out of sight.  He put his arm around me and squeezed, moving his hand to my shoulder when he was done and leaving it there.

“You did good.”

Tim came buzzing over and landed on my other shoulder.  “Well, that was interesting.  I thought we were going to have a showdown!”

“Yeah.  I’m glad I picked the library.”  I looked down at my hand – the one that had shaken Ben’s.  “Well, let there be no mistake.  That guy is Dark Fae and he has some sort of tie to Fire.  I thought he was going to burn my hand off.”

Spike came walking up and took my hand.  “Looks okay to me.”  He pulled it up to his mouth and kissed it, winking at me.  “All better now.”

Chase’s hand on my shoulder squeezed a little.  I looked up at his face but it was expressionless, just staring at Spike.

I pulled my hand out of Spike’s and slapped him gently on the face with it.  “Keep your fangs to yourself.”  I tried to ignore the heat coming from Chase’s body standing so near and his hand still on my shoulder.

Jared and Finn came walking up, standing next to Spike.

“So, what’re we dealin’ with then?” asked Finn,  “Dark Fae?  Incubus?”

“Yes and no.  Dark Fae but not incubus.  Elemental maybe?  I don’t know all the races yet.”

“Huh.  I thought that guy was full-on incubus the way you were sweatin’ it,” said Finn.

I whacked him on the chest.  “Shut up.  I can’t help it if he was a lot hotter than I was expecting.  I thought Dark Fae were like, I don’t know, orcs or something.  He was supposed to be butt ugly.”

Jared spoke up.  “I got a little twitchy there.  I’m glad Chase was next to you.”

“Twitchy?  What do you mean?” I asked.  It wasn’t like Jared to open up about his feelings or let us see what was going on behind his closed doors.

“Daemon get twitchy feelings when a protected one is being threatened.  He did something when he touched you.  Or tried.  I couldn’t see what was happening though.”

Chase grunted his agreement, squeezing my shoulder one more time before letting it go.

“Well, he shook my hand and tried to burn me with some kind of fire, so I brought The Green in and cooled him down a notch.”

Finn held up his hand, grinning.  “Gimme some skin on that, girl.  You showed him who’s boss.  I like it when our Light Fae women get tough.”

I gave him a high-five, smiling back.  “Yeah, I was pretty awesome.”  I held up my index finger by my shoulder so Tim could high-one me.

I felt his tiny hand make contact.  “You go, girl!” he said, admiration in his voice.

“I wonder what they’re doing tonight,” said Chase.

“Yeah, Tony said he couldn’t see me tonight because he and Ben had plans.  He’s supposed to call me at my mom’s.  I don’t know why I said I’d be there.  I panicked.”

“That’s okay.  You should go and say hi to your mom.  If Tony can’t meet you today, set it up for tomorrow.  Stay with your mom overnight if you can.  Maybe we’ll get the opportunity to meet Tony later, after he’s done with Ben.  It’s better if you can hang out at your house and not out on the street somewhere.  The hotel is too far to walk and taxis are a pain.”

The thought of spending the night in my bedroom had me overwhelmed with instant cold sweats, even though the only thing there were bad memories.  And I wasn’t so sure my mom would even be down with it.  But I was willing to give it a shot.  I had missed her, even if we didn’t see eye to eye on pretty much anything lately, and Jared was right.  This was the easiest way to handle things ... and my mother’s boyfriend was long gone, so I had nothing to worry about.  I shook my head, scrubbing those thoughts out of my mind as much as possible.  Ugh.

We left the library and I called my mom on the cell.  She started crying at first, saying how happy she was to hear from me and how worried she had been, which made me feel a little guilty.  Then when I told her I wanted to come home for a visit, she got really excited and told me of course I could come stay there.  I didn’t tell her it was only for one day, but she seemed alright with the whole idea of just a visit.

It made me a little angry that she was so okay with me, her seventeen-year-old daughter, just being a visitor in her house, but whatever.  Some kids had awesome moms and some kids had moms like mine.  At least I had one.  She was already planning to make me my favorite dinner.  I told her I was bringing a friend, meaning Chase.  I didn’t tell her about the others because I didn’t think she’d be okay with a whole group of strange guys in her house; but she would love Chase – my new all-American boyfriend.

The guys were going to have to fend for themselves overnight if we weren’t able to get to Tony later; but they said they would wait outside my house until I told them it was a no-go, before they left to sleep at the hotel.  No matter what, Chase was going to stay with me, even if he had to sneak in my window and sleep on the bedroom floor.  He insisted on it, apparently taking his daemon duties very seriously, even here in Florida.  I was so, so glad when he said that too, even though any fear I had was irrational.  My mom was no threat to me, other than the damage she could do to my heart – and that had already been done.  Tim was going to stay back with Jared, Spike and Finn, even though he could have hidden in my hair; he wasn’t afraid of any Dark Fae, but he was afraid of Mr. Biggles, my mom’s cat.  All pixies are apparently petrified of cats.

We left the library and stood outside for a few minutes, firming up our plans.

“I’d like to see where Tony lives, if you don’t mind showing us, Jayne,” said Jared.  “Maybe we can keep an eye on his place so we know when he gets back.  If it’s not too late, we could probably make contact.”

“Sure, it’s not far.  Come on.”

We walked the few blocks to Tony’s house, standing a few houses down and across the street.  “That’s it there – the blue one.  And mine is just two streets over and one block that way.  Forty-three Cherokee Way.”

“Perfect.  We’ll hang around the general area and get a feel for the people coming and going.”

“I can fly up to his window and watch from up there if you tell me which one it is,” said Tim.

“Good idea, Tim.  His window is in the front there – on the right.”  I pointed to it and watched as Tim flew over, buzzing up and down in front of it, before coming back to my shoulder.  “Yeah, that was the right one.”  I turned to look at the guys and explain, since they weren’t able to hear my conversation with the pixie.  “Tim will be up at the window watching for stuff from up there.”

“I dunno how much help that’ll be.  None of us can hear a dang thing he says,” said Finn.

“He’s pretty good at charades.”

“Ask him if he knows what I’m saying now,” said a cranky Tim, who was busy buzzing up and down while flipping Finn the tiniest bird you’ve ever seen.

I swatted at him to make him stop.  He flew back to my shoulder and pulled my hair.

“Do that again and I’ll squash you like a bug.”

He answered me with a tiny pixie fart and then flew up to Tony’s window.  I could barely make out his tiny form, sitting on the outside windowsill.  He’s lucky he can move so fast.

“Little shit.”

The guys were ignoring my exchange with Tim, busy finishing up the planning.

“Alright,” said Spike, “So, Chase you and Jayne are going to her house then, and we’re gonna wait for you to come out later and tell us what’s what – whether we’re going in for Tony or waiting until tomorrow.”

Chase nodded.  “Yeah.”

“Okay.  That’s the plan then.  We’ll see you guys later.”  Jared nodded at us, stepping back and giving Chase and me room to get by.

Chase and I began walking to my house.  As we passed Tony’s, I could see Tim up on the roof, dancing to some internal disco beat, if his moves were any indication.  Anyone else who looked up there would probably think they were seeing a dragonfly having a seizure.  I couldn’t help but giggle.

“What?”

I shook my head.  “Nothin’.”  Goofy ass pixie.  He made my heart feel lighter.

Chase and I arrived at my house ten minutes later, at the same time my mom was pulling up in her car.  She freaked out when she saw me, crying and running up to me, hugging me until I couldn’t breathe, all the while ignoring Chase who stood off to the side.  She calmed down soon enough and released me, going back to her car and reaching into her backseat – pulling out two armloads of groceries that no doubt included the special mix of meats and herbs that somehow magically turned into her famous meatloaf.  She smiled vaguely at Chase but focused her attention on me.  Chase moved quickly to take the bags from her and we all went into the house where she hugged me hard again and cried a little more, telling me how glad she was that I was back.

After she got over her mini-breakdown, we moved to the kitchen where Chase received a proper welcome.  We sat at the little kitchenette table while my mother unloaded the groceries.  We didn’t talk about me running away or why I had done it; neither of us wanted to go there, and I had bigger, more pressing problems to deal with right now.  Her enthusiastic welcome didn’t mean a whole lot when I thought about the reasons I had left in the first place.  My mother was a conflicted person – but it didn’t change the bare fact that she had chosen her douchebag boyfriend over me too many times to count.  Her daughter.  It didn’t matter that he was gone now.  He hadn’t left because she had kicked him out – he had left because I had forced his hand and exposed him for what he was.

Chase looked over at me and raised an eyebrow.

I guess my anger was seeping out of my thoughts and becoming obvious.  I took the hint and forced myself to push my troubled memories of her callousness to the back of my mind, so I could focus on my ultimate goal – saving Tony and getting the hell out of here.

I watched her cook and chat with Chase.  He was a great fake boyfriend.  He talked more with her than I’d ever seen him talk with anyone before.  She was thoroughly charmed by his all-American boy good looks and politeness.  The mystery that is Chase once again caught me by surprise.  I put the thoughts of figuring him out in the back of my mind too, though.  As much as I would have liked to play the part of doting girlfriend to my hot daemon friend, I had to figure out this stuff with Tony first ... like how I was going to get him away from Ben for our heart to heart talk.  And then what exactly I was going to say to him when I did.

Chapter 27

My mom had just finished pulling the meatloaf out of the oven when she said, “Jayne, will you set the table please?”  We were alone in the kitchen, Chase having moved into the dining room.

“Sure.  Will you hand me three plates, please?”

She didn’t say anything, she just reached into the cabinet in front of her and handed me the plates.  I looked at them, noticing there were more than three.  “I think you gave me one too many; there are four here.”

“No, it’s right.  Set the table for four.”  She began preparing some mashed potatoes, so I couldn’t see her face.

“Who’s the fourth place for?”

“Whom do you think?” she asked, testily, refusing to look at me.

Then it hit me.  The douchebag was still living here.  I guess my little fantasy that she’d gotten rid of him was just that – a fantasy.  “Are you fucking kidding me?  You’re still living with that asshole?”

She slammed down the potato masher she’d been using, still not looking at me.  “Watch your mouth, Jayne!  You will not speak to me like that in my house!”

I stared at her incredulously for a second and then stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the plates down on the dining room table.  Unfortunately they didn’t break.

Chase looked up from the magazine he was paging through.  “What’s up?”

“My mother is still dating the douchebag asshole piece of shit that she was dating before I left.”

“I take it you and he don’t get along.”

I laughed bitterly.  “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Am I going to get any details?”

“Well, I’ll avoid the hairy ones, but let’s just say he’s the reason Tony started carrying a gun and why we ran away to Miami.  He’s the reason for my decision to become fae.”

“Sooo, you’re glad he’s an asshole, right?”

“Chase!”

“What?”

“Stop with the silver lining shit, okay?  It pisses me off and I’m not in the mood.”

“Okay.”  He shrugged and went back to reading his Martha Stewart Living magazine.

I set the table, deliberately dropping the douchebag’s utensils on the ground and stepping on them before putting them at his place.  It took all my inner strength to not also wipe them on my butt.  Chase saw me do it but didn’t say anything.  I was kinda hoping he would because I was in the mood for a fight, but I think he knows me well enough now to stay away when I’m cranky – smart daemon that he is.

I heard the front door open and a bunch of heavy things being thrown on the ground.  That would be the asshole dropping his tool belt and lunch box on the floor for his personal servant, my mother, to come pick up and put away in the closet that is located just next to the spot where he dumped them.

I went and stood behind Chase, putting my hands on his shoulders, angry and nervous at the same time.  I was not only angry at the asshole, I was also angry with myself for being nervous.  The guy was lucky to be alive right now – I had nothing to be nervous about.  But something about him, about what he’d done to me, had made me afraid and anxious.  I felt like throwing up.  Then I felt Chase’s hand come up and cover mine, even though he didn’t seem as if he was paying any attention to me, still paging through his magazine.

The first thing I noticed when the asshole came around the corner was his new haircut.  He used to wear it long and stringy; now it was short.  I guess my little electric razor to the scalp attack necessitated a change in style.  That made me happy.  I was sad to see that his eyebrow had grown back.  You couldn’t even tell that I’d shaved it off ... shaved it off during that fateful night that started this whole fae thing going.  Chase was right about that – I was grateful for that one side effect of his attempted molestation.  Fucking asshole.  There was something so wrong about seeing the bright side of someone sexually attacking me.

“Well, well, well.  Look who’s here.  If it isn’t little miss priss.”

His voice absolutely grated on my nerves.  I clamped my teeth together hard, causing an ache to start in my jaw.

Chase laid down his magazine, slowly closing it and putting it off to the side.

“When did you get here?” the dick asked, ignoring Chase and staring bodly right at me.

I spoke in a low, vicious tone, “Let’s get one thing straight, asshole, we are not going to pretend we’re friends or that I even want to see your ugly face right now.  So go fuck yourself.”

He smiled lecherously at me, squinting his beady eyes.  “I see you haven’t lost any of your charm.  But that’s alright.  You know I always did like your dirty mouth.”  Then he winked at me.

I started to gag.  I wanted nothing more than to smash his grizzly face, yellow teeth and glazed over shit-brown eyes with every ounce of strength I had.  I’d thought he couldn’t possibly get uglier, but I’d been wrong; he’d gotten even more disgusting while I was gone.  He was worse than an orc.  I started to tremble with the hatred that was threatening to erupt all over my mom’s dining room.

Chase slowly stood, pulling out his chair to the side a little so he could stand behind the table unimpeded.  He rose up above me to the point that he blocked out my view of the asshole completely.  I leaned to the side and saw the asshole’s eyes follow Chase’s form as it continued to rise up, several inches taller than him.  That wiped the sneer off his face for a couple seconds.  Fuck, yeah, Chase.  Bust his sorry ass!

Then the douche said, “D’ya bring your boyfriend with ya?  Hey there, man.  Name’s Rick.”  He walked over and held his hand out.

I willed Chase not to shake it – to break it instead – but he leaned over to take the asshole’s hand politely in his.  Bastard Rick.  Bastard Chase.

“Chase,” was all Chase said.

Well, at least he didn’t say, ‘Nice to meet you.’  I think if he had, I would have punched him in the kidney.

“Is that you, Rick?” my mother’s voice called from the kitchen.

“Yeah!” he yelled back rudely, not taking his eyes off Chase and me.

“Come here for a minute, will you?  I need some help with this meatloaf.”

Rick looked at us for another second and then chuckled to himself as he walked away.

After he left the room I whacked Chase on the back.  “What the hell was that all about?  What’d you shake his hand for?”

Chase pulled his chair back in and sat down.  “Just being polite.”

“Well, I hope you know you were just polite to the biggest douchebag of all time.”

“Yeah.  I got that.”

I just looked at his back, shaking my head.  Guys.  They made no fucking sense sometimes.

My mom came out of the kitchen then with the potatoes, followed by Rick the Dick, carrying the meatloaf.  Once all the food was put down on the table, my mom told us all to have a seat.

I sat between Chase and my mom, Rick across from me.  I worked very hard the entire meal never to look at his ugly face, but I did smile a few times when I saw him using his dirty silverware.  I was hoping like hell that I’d stepped in some dog poop today somewhere.  His eyes narrowed at me when I smiled, which made me even happier.  Let him try to guess what was making me so happy.  Maybe I’d tell him later.

Thinking about possible animal crap under my shoe made me think of my cat.  “Where’s Mr. Biggles, Mom?  I haven’t seen him yet.”

My mom looked down at her plate sadly.  “Mr. Biggles is gone, sweetie.”

“What do you mean gone?  Did he die?”  I was instantly sad.  He was a really cuddly guy, even if he did have an attitude problem sometimes.

“I don’t know what happened.  One minute he was fine and the next he had foam coming out of his mouth and ... well, it was terrible.  Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Yeah.  It was terrible all right,” said Rick, smiling through his meatloaf.  “It was like someone had poisoned him or somethin’.”  He chuckled.

“You know what?  Rick ...?”  I dropped my fork and threw my napkin down by the side of my plate, getting ready to blast him.  I could tell by the look on his fugly face that he was the one who had poisoned my cat.  He wasn’t even trying to hide it.  How could my mother be so stupid?

My mom stood up all of a sudden. “Time for dessert!” She shrieked, quickly gathering up plates, even though Chase was still eating.

He shoved the last half of a hunk of meatloaf in his mouth and handed her his plate, looking at me with a warning on his face as he chewed.  I glared back at him but picked my napkin back up and put it in my lap.  I just had to get through this meal and then I could get away from this turd monkey and my idiot mother.

The rest of the meal finished without incident.  I was fuming over the death of my cat, fluctuating between being sad and pissed, while Chase occupied himself with eating three pieces of apple pie loaded down with ice cream.  My mom chattered on and on about work, neighbors, the garden – a bunch of garbage I couldn’t care less about.  Empty words filling up empty space.

I finished my pie and stood up.  “Listen, Mom, do you mind if Chase and I spent the night here?”

She looked at Rick expectantly.

I refused to follow her gaze.  “I didn’t ask him, Mom; I asked you.  Can we stay or not?”

“Well, Jayne, it’s Rick’s house too.”

“Bullshit, it’s his house!  This is your house, you got it in the divorce settlement.”

“Well, he’s on the deed too ... now that ... well, honey, we have some wonderful news, actually!”  She looked at me with bright, shining eyes and a quavering smile.  “We got married while you were gone!  Rick is your new step-father!”

I pushed back from the table so fast the chair went flying out behind me.  I ran to the bathroom just in time to vomit my entire dinner and dessert into the toilet.

A little while later Chase came to the door, pushing it open and leaning against the doorframe.  I was sitting on the cold tile floor, resting my head on the closed toilet lid.  I didn’t even want to look at him.  I was exhausted from the barfing and then the crying that had followed.  I just could not fathom how a mother could marry her daughter’s molester.  She had to know what had happened; she wasn’t that clueless.  This whole situation was just completely unreal to me.  I felt like I was trapped in one of my own nightmares, unable to get out.

“Hey.  You okay?”

“Do I look okay?”

“No.”

“Good.  Thanks.”

“Rick said I can’t stay, but you can.”

“I’m not staying here without you.”

“I won’t let you stay without me.  I’ll sneak in and stay in your room with you after they go to sleep.”

I looked up.  “Really?”

“Really.”

In that moment, I loved him.  He was such a strong, steady presence.  I felt totally safe looking at him, and that was completely awesome.  To feel safe when just now I had felt so vulnerable and violated was exactly what I needed.

“Maybe I should just go back to the hotel.”

“No.  You need to make contact with Tony tonight if you can.”

I sighed.  “You’re right.  Fine.  I’ll do it.  I’ll stay here in hell for one night.”

I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and texted Tony.

‘LET’S MEET.  10? UR HOUSE?’

A minute later, while I was washing my mouth out with some mouthwash I’d found under the sink, he responded.

‘CAN’T. OUT LATE WTH B. C U TMRROW?’

“Fuck.  He says he’s gonna be out late with Ben.  He wants to meet tomorrow.”

“Tell him okay.  Later tonight, we’ll break into his room and talk with him there.”

Finally.  Some sunshine in my life.  “Excellent plan, my daemon friend.”  I reached up and absently stroked his bicep while I texted Tony back with one hand.  ‘K.  TTYL’

I nudged Chase on the arm when I finished.  “Come on.  Let’s go to my room.”

I walked to the kitchen where my mom was washing the dishes;  I was trying like hell to keep the bitterness from my voice.  “I’m going to go show Chase my room, okay?”

My mom looked nervous, “Um ... I don’t know ... Rick said ... ”

Rather than blow up, I tried to speak calmly to her.  “Come on, Mom.  I’m just going to hang out with him a little before he leaves.  It’s no big deal.”

She sighed.  “Okay.  But only for a few minutes.”

I didn’t hang around to hear anything else.  “Come on,” I said to Chase, turning to head up the stairs.

We both went up to my room.  I could hear the shower running in my mom’s room.  I could have told that asshole – no amount of water was going to wash away his kind of dirt.

“So, this is where it all began,” I said, opening the door to my room and stepping inside.

Chase followed me in, looking around.  He walked over to my desk and started picking things up, looking at them.

I shut the door behind him.

He had a picture of Tony and me in his hand.  We had taken this one when we went to the school’s Halloween dance just last year.  I had gone as a tiger and he had gone as a zombie.  We were terrible at making costumes.  I had put the self-portrait picture in a frame and wrote the year on the edge of it.

“Yeah, I know.  Weak-ass costumes, right?”

“Maybe.  But I was looking at this other guy in the picture – in the background.  It looks like Ben.”

I walked over and grabbed the frame from him.  “Let me see that.”  Standing behind Tony and me, looking at the back of my head, was a guy who looked exactly like Ben.  I mean, exactly exactly.  He was dressed all in black.

“What the hell?”

“I thought you said he was new here.”

“He is.  He didn’t go to our school before.  Trust me, I would have known about him.  He’s too hot to be unpopular.  Plus, Tony said in his emails that the guy was new and had just moved in.”

“Well, what was he doing at your Halloween dance last year?”

“I have no friggin’ idea.  Maybe he came with someone else?”

“What, trolling for fae?”

That was a chilling idea – to think that I could have been recruited by the Dark Fae before meeting up with Jared.  Now Rick the Dick’s dirty hands were pissing me off all over again.  I wanted nothing to do with that silver lining bullshit, so long as it involved him.

“That’s messed up.  That means I came seriously close to getting pulled over to the dark side.”

“That means we need to get to Tony quick.  If Ben knows now that you’re Light Fae, and that you’re here to get Tony back, he’s going to make his move soon.”

I looked at Chase, now thoroughly pissed.  “Do you really think you’re helping this situation?  By making me panic even more?”

Chase took me by the upper arms and stared me in the face.  “Jayne.  Relax.  We’ve got this.  You saw Tony today and he was fine.  Tonight we’re going to go talk some sense into him, and tomorrow we’ll get him outta here, okay?”

He kept staring me in the eyes and somehow it managed to strip me of all my defenses.  One second I was all tough and ready to kick someone’s ass, and the next I was getting all teary-eyed.  Being in my mom’s house was seriously messing with my head.  Correction – being in my mom’s and my molester’s house.   How fucked up was that?

Chase pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back, saying nothing.

I stood there for a few seconds just breathing and enjoying the feeling of being comforted by his big, strong, warm body.

“Is this in your daemon handbook?  How to calm down a crazy fae girl?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.  I’m just lucky I got a cute one to protect.”

I giggled a little, picturing Chase hugging a guy like Spike and patting his back.  “I’m not cute.”

“Yes, you are.  Very cute.”

Did Chase just tell me I’m very cute?

I sighed and leaned against him more.  It was like I was melting into him a little, and it felt good.

His back rub got a little more wide-ranging and his hand pressed a bit firmer.  I could feel more of his muscles against my chest and stomach.  I was getting warm, and not just from our combined body heat.

My head started to spin with questions.  Just what exactly was happening?  Was I getting turned on by Chase?  Did I like him that way?  Could I like him that way?  Did he like me?

I felt his head drop down towards my neck, his breath tickling me as he exhaled and then inhaled deeply.  I wrapped my arms around his waist, tentatively touching the small of his back.  I could feel the muscles on either side of his spine, like big, thick ropes that moved as his arms continued to rub my back slowly, languidly.

Suddenly there was a bang on the door and we jumped apart, my face instantly going red as I realized what we had been doing ... or were about to do.  Holy hotness.  Holy double hotness.

The door swung open to reveal Rick the Dick.  “Your boyfriend needs to leave now.”

Chase leaned towards me, giving me a quick, outwardly casual kiss on the lips.  “See you tomorrow morning.”  Then he walked out, pushing past Rick.

Rick stood there in my doorway for a second, sneering at me.  Then he walked away.

I kicked my door shut and locked it, turning to fall down on my bed.

He kissed me.  I can’t believe he actually kissed me.  Chase!

He’d barely touched my lips, but wow, I was still feeling it.  Chase?  This one kinda took me by surprise.  All this time I’d been looking at Chase as ... well ... just Chase.  The quiet guy.  The guy who was only half there most of the time.  Now suddenly he’s my big daemon hugger, kisser guy.

I got up and went over to my window, lifting it up.  I watched Chase’s form recede as he went to join up with the others.  I knew he would come get me when it was time to go to Tony’s.  In the meantime, I was going to moon over that kiss and figure out what the hell I was going to say to Tony to convince him to come back with me, before it was really too late.

Chapter 28

I left the window open so Tim could get in.  Around eleven he came flying up and stood on the windowsill.

“Rapunzel!  Time to go!  Your chariot awaits!”

“I think you’re mixing up your fairy tales,” I said wryly, as I sat up and put my shoes on.  “Where does a pixie learn about fairy tales, anyway?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised what I know about the human world,” Tim said mysteriously.

One of these days I was going to get into that tiny head of his and find out all his secrets.  He has a lot of them, I’m pretty sure.

“So what’s the scoop, poop?”

“Well, Tony was out with Ben, but he just got back.  We watched Ben drop him off.  He’s in his room now, listening to music.”  Tim started dancing a jig on my desk.  “Time for us to stage our fae intervention.”  He was a little too excited about breaking into Tony’s house, talking with his happy-happy singsong voice.

I went over to the window and lifted the sash up all the way.  I climbed out and got onto the porch roof.  I snuck across the shingles as quietly as I could until I was on the edge near the gutter.  I saw the guys waiting for me out on the sidewalk in the glow of the streetlamp.  It was a pretty far drop to the ground but there was a tree nearby.  Now seemed as good a time as any to have a conversation with the local trees.  This one was an oak.

I sent out a signal for help.  The tree responded, but it was slow ... as if it had been a long time since anyone had linked up with it.  The Green here felt different.  It’s like everything was sleeping or in a fog – different than the energy I had reached through the library ley line.  I asked the tree to lean towards me and provide some branches for the way down, and it responded the best it could; it wasn’t the biggest tree in the world – nowhere near the size of those in the Green Forest – but it was good enough to give me a few less feet to jump down.  I stepped out onto the branches and lowered myself to a spot five feet above the ground.  I jumped the rest of the way, landing without breaking or spraining anything; so even though I got a little dirty when I fell into the grass, I considered it a successful breakout.

I could have probably just walked out the front door, but then I’m pretty sure my mom would have locked me out.  Rick had managed to convince her in the space of a couple hours after dinner that I was in trouble and needed to be managed.  She had stopped by my room on her way to bed and told me that I needed to go to sleep and we were going to have a talk in the morning.

Yeah, right.  Like that was going to happen.

I kept my thoughts to myself though, because I had to stay in her good graces for a little while longer; if I couldn’t convince Tony to come back with me tonight, I’d have to stay here one more day and regroup.  I could have gone back to the hotel, but I worried about being too far from Tony.  I decided the best plan of action was to stick to him like glue – Ben, or no Ben.  I was going to be outside his door in the morning, and standing outside school in the afternoon ... whatever it took.

I walked out of my yard and started towards Tony’s, Chase keeping pace to walk next to me and the other guys following.  I looked up at him, but he kept his gaze straight ahead as he walked.  Was he was thinking about that kiss at all?  Tim buzzed ahead of us, oblivious to my stress.

We arrived outside of Tony’s house and I could see a weird glow in his window that meant Tony was on the computer – or that his computer was on, anyway.  We gathered in a tight group on the sidewalk.

“Is he home?” I whispered.

“Yeah.  Tim said he was up there, right before we came to get ya,” said Finn.

“So what should I do?  Send him a text?”

“Yeah.  Tell him to come out,” said Spike.

I shook my head.  “No, his parents would watch him if he went outside.  They can’t know we’re here.”

“Tim, what’s he doing?”

Tim flew up and then came back.  “He’s on his computer.”  Tim giggled at that and I brushed it off as one of his weird pixie habits – giggling for no apparent reason.  Freak.

“I want to go up.  Someone give me a boost.”  I started walking over to the fence that ran right under the part of the roof nearest Tony’s window.  His house had a front porch like mine, so the roof made a perfect spot to sneak into and out of the upstairs rooms.  His bedroom was even easier to reach than mine.

Chase walked over with me and stood next to the fence, lacing his hands together so I could use them as a stepladder.  I grabbed his shoulders, trying to avoid looking in his eyes so I wouldn’t go all ga-ga on him when I needed to be focusing on Tony.  I put my foot in his laced fingers and prepared to jump up.  The scent of his cologne or whatever it was that made him smell so good was filling my nostrils and my head, making it really hard not to imagine his lips on mine like they had been earlier.  Why did that kiss have to be so short?  I could hear Spike clearing his throat a few paces over and I knew if I looked at him his eyes would be glowing right now.  He seemed to have radar for me being attracted to someone, and it was starting to get really annoying.

I leaped up with Chase’s help and grabbed the edge of the roof.  I put my feet on the fence and used it to climb up the rest of the way.  Thank goodness for all those workouts I had done with the dwarves.  My abs were rock hard and that made it much easier to pull my lower body up onto the roof.  Once I was up, I crawled across the roof on hands and knees up to Tony’s window.  I could see him sitting at the computer, his room totally dark except for the light coming from the glowing screen.  I tapped on the glass lightly, hoping he wouldn’t be too freaked out.

He didn’t respond so I tapped harder.  He turned, but I couldn’t see his face; the room was too dark.  He stood slowly, walking over to the window.  His face dropped down and looked out, registering shock as he recognized me.  I put on my happiest smile and waved excitedly.

He opened the window.  “Jayne?  What the heck are you doing out here?”

“Shhh.  Someone will hear.  Can I come in?”

“Uh, yeah ... I guess.”  He opened the window the rest of the way and stepped back.

I got up and climbed in.  Tony started to shut the window behind me, but I told him to leave it open.  I wanted to be sure Tim could listen in and report back, but I didn’t tell Tony that.

I turned to look at Tony and start explaining myself, and for the first time I realized he was standing there in his underwear.  “For shit’s sake, Tony, you’re half naked!”  No wonder Tim had been giggling earlier.  He was probably busting a gut right now knowing that I was seeing Tony like this.  He knew full well that we did not have the kind of relationship where we saw each other unclothed.  Little punk.  I was going to get him for this.

Tony strode over to his bed, picking up the pants that were in a pile on the floor, hurriedly putting them on and turning his back to me while he zipped them up.  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting company.  What are you doing here anyway?  I told you I’d see you tomorrow.”

“I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.  I had to talk to you now.”

He sighed.  I could tell he was irritated, and I was trying not to be upset about it.  The old Tony would never have been mad about me sneaking over – maybe worried I would get in trouble with my mom, but not mad.

“You know, Jayne, something weird is going on with you and I wish you would just tell me what it is.  I’m not comfortable with this whole thing.”

“What whole thing?  I just need to talk to you.”

“Don’t play dumb, Jayne.  You know what I’m talking about.  First you disappear without a goodbye, then you send me some cryptic emails, and for all I know you’re out doing drugs and hanging out with criminals.  I mean, what am I supposed to do?  Just accept that?  Pretend like it’s okay?  Because it’s not.”

“Tony, what the hell are you talking about?”  I was flabbergasted.  I had no idea what he meant, but I was getting the sneaking suspicion that something had gone wrong with the erasing.

Tony sighed.  “Listen.  I think you should just leave.  Ben was right.  I need to just move on with my life ... and so do you.”

The sound of Ben’s name set me off.  “That motherfucker’s been feeding you a line of bullshit ever since you got back from the forest, Tony.  You can’t believe anything he’s been saying to you.  He’s brainwashing you.”

“Shhh.  Lower your voice.  You’re going to wake my mom.”

“Yeah, so?  What are you going to do?  Throw a shoe at her again?”

Tony froze.  “How do you know about that?  Have you been spying on me?”

I walked over and turned on his desk lamp.  “Tony, sit down.  We need to talk.”

I saw him looking at his desk.  I followed his gaze and saw his phone sitting there.

“Why do you keep looking at your phone?  You want to contact Ben right now, don’t you?  Don’t you?”

Tony looked guilty.  “He’s my friend, Jayne.”

“No, he’s not, Tony!  He’s the enemy!”

“Ben said you would say things like this.  It’s the drugs.”

“Tony, if you say I’m on drugs one more time, I’m gonna smash you one.”

“That’s the drugs talking.”

I walked over and stopped right in front of him.  “You know me better than anyone else in the entire world, so ask yourself this question: what would Jayne Sparks do if someone kept insisting she was using drugs when she wasn’t?”

“She’d kick their ass.”

“Exactly.  So say it one more time and see what happens.”

Tony looked at me.  He reached over and flicked on his overhead light and then looked at me some more.  “Well, your eyes aren’t dilated.”

“Thank you!  Oh, and look, no track marks on my arms!”  I pulled up my sleeves so he could see.  “Oh, and look!  My teeth have been brushed every day!”  I grinned maniacally at him.  “I’m not a druggie and I don’t have time to play these fucking games with you, Tony.  There is some serious shit going down and you’re right in the damn middle of it!”

“Well, I can see your gangster life hasn’t cleaned up your language any.”

“Tony, I swear to all that is holy ... ”

He held up his hands, “Okay!  Okay, I’ll stop saying it.  It’s just that Ben said ... ”

“Yeah.  I get it.  Ben’s been filling your head with shit since the day you got back.”

“Why do you keep saying that?  Got back?  From where?  And what did you mean when you said I was in a forest?”

I sighed.  This was going to be a lot of friggin’ work, getting him on board.  Way more than I had anticipated.  I was going to have a serious talk with whoever it was that was supposed to erase Tony only up the point of the meeting.  Apparently that dumbass eraser had taken Tony’s memories away starting long before that point.

“Sit down.  I have a lot to tell you, and it’s super important, or I wouldn’t have bothered breaking into your room in the middle of the night.  Trust me – it couldn’t wait until tomorrow.”

Tony went and sat on his bed.  I sat next to him told him the story – from when we had our head-to-head with Brad Powers to when the fae erased Tony and sent him back home.

Fifteen minutes later, Tony looked at me with a patient smile on his face.  “Okay.  So let me get this straight.  I’m supposed to believe that you and I ran away together to Miami, hooked up with some other runaways, signed up for some test, got drugged and shipped to some remote enchanted forest, battled ancient, supernatural beings, and then were offered a chance to join their secret race?  Because there’s going to be a war and we need to help them fight it?”

“Well, when you put it like that, it does sound a little crazy ... but yes.  That’s the gist of it.”

“Jayne, these drugs you’re on have done one hell of a number on your brain.  I’m really worried about you.”

I stood up, furious.  “Listen you fuckwit ... I am not high, I am not wasted, and I am not suffering a mental breakdown.  Your friend Ben is not your friend.  Ask yourself a couple questions, would you?  Be smart.  Why is the hottest guy in the entire school instantly your friend?  Huh?  All our lives we’ve lived here and been pariahs at our school.  Invisible.  Suddenly after passing the fae test, you’re his best friend?  And where the hell did he come from?  Did he ever tell you that?  He supposedly just arrived in town last month, but that’s funny, because I have a picture of him at our Halloween dance last year, following you and me around.  Yeah.  And I’ll bet he started filling your head with negative shit about me from day one, didn’t he?”

Tony started to squirm a little.

“Yes, you know he did.  He’s one of them, Tony.  Dark Fae.  He wants you to join his side.  He wants to use you against me ... against the friends that you made with me when we ran away together.  You recognized Chase for shit’s sake!”  I threw up my hands.  “I don’t know what else to say to you, Tony.  This is the truth.  I am not making one bit of this shit up.”

Tony was looking down at his hands.  “It’s true that Ben is pretty popular.  I have asked myself a lot of times why he wants to be my friend.”

“Yeah.  Hello.”

“But I figured it’s because I’m a nice person and a good friend to have.”

He sounded so pitiful, I instantly felt like a complete asshole.  I ran back to the bed and sat down next to him, grabbing his hand.  “You are a nice person and the most awesome friend of all time!  I know that!  But people like Ben never see that stuff!  They are too self-centered to ever see it!”

“Yeah, but he’s different.”

“You’re right.  He is different.  He’s not human, he’s fae.”

Tony shook his head looking at me.  “Jayne, you’ve been a good friend to me.  I want to believe you, but what you’re saying is just too out there.”

“Tony, you have the memories in your head.  They were just erased or washed over.  But you were there with me!  You were almost killed!”

He cleared his throat, trying to get the next words out.  “Well, if I was such a good friend of yours, why did you let me go?”

I laughed bitterly.  “You know, I’ve been asking myself that same question.  But the truth is, you didn’t want to be in the middle of a war that you didn’t think was your problem.  The stuff we saw freaked you out.  You wanted your normal life back.  I respected that.  And I thought after I did some training there, I could come back here and be with you again.”  I sighed.  “I guess I didn’t really think it through very well.  But to be fair, I didn’t really know how things were going to turn out.”

“Well, assuming just for argument’s sake that everything you’re saying is true – and I’m sorry but I still don’t believe a word of it – why would I change my mind now and get involved?  It’s still not my war, and I’m not a magical person.”

“It’s called being fae, not magical, and you are fae.  And whether you want to be involved or not, you are.  Ben has targeted you as a valuable asset.  He wants you on his side.  For some reason he hasn’t forced you over, but he will when he wants to if you don’t go willingly.  The Dark Fae don’t care about making it a voluntary thing.  What they want, they take.  I don’t know what he’s waiting for, but something tells me now that I’m here, he’s not going to wait much longer.”

Tony put his hand on mine, his face holding only pity.  “I think you have your heart in the right place, but something happened to you when you ran away – and I’m sorry, but I think you need to see a doctor.”

I started feeling desperate.  This was getting worse not better.  The more I tried to get him to see reason, the crazier he thought I was.  I had to trigger his memory.

“Remember last night, or the night before?  You were listening to that song, My Immortal.  You looked at our picture and threw it against the wall.  How could I know that?  I was here, Tony, doing astral projection with a gray elf.”

Tony looked at me a little afraid, pulling his hand back from mine.  “Jayne, you were probably standing out on my roof, just like you did tonight.  You are seriously deluding yourself and probably stalking me.  You need to be on medication.”  He was backing away from me slowly, trying to be cool about it, but he kept darting glances at his phone.

I reached over and grabbed the phone.

“I’ll bet Ben has been keeping very close tabs on you hasn’t he?”

Tony got mad.  “He’s been a good friend.  You left.  He came and picked up the pieces.”

“No!  We ran away because you sensed my mother’s boyfriend was molesting me.  You paid for our tickets to Miami on the Tri Rail.  You went into the forest with me and won the right to claim your place with the fae.  Ben is an imposter trying to take you away from me.  From us!”

“Us who, Jayne?  Who?”

“Me!” came a little voice from the window.

Of course Tony didn’t hear it.  But I did.  And that’s when it came to me.

“Tony.  If I can prove to you that the fae are real, will you please give me a chance to help you see the truth?”

Tony shook his head.  “No, Jayne, I can’t keep letting you do this.  I’m going to get my parents.”

He stood up, but I jumped in front of him.

“Please!  Just one chance!”

“Jayne, don’t make me hurt you.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

That pissed me off.  “Listen, Tony.  I haven’t been picking flowers in a fucking meadow for six weeks.  I’ve been training.  For war.  The only one who’s going to get hurt if we tangle is you.  Now sit the fuck down so I can prove you wrong.”

He took a small step forward and I took up a fighting stance.  “I. Will. Fucking. Do it. Tony.”  I started to cry a little.  “I will hurt you, even though I love you, so that you can see I’m telling you the truth.”  I angrily wiped the weak ass tear off my cheek and cleared my voice loudly, forcing the frog in my throat to go the hell away.

He held up his hands and took one step back.  “Fine.  I’ll listen to one more thing.  If it doesn’t convince me, then you have to agree to let me go.”

“Deal.”

I released my muscles from their fighting stance and held my hand out.  “Tim, could you come here for a minute?”

Chapter 29

I heard Tim’s wings before I saw him arrive.  But arrive he did, thank goodness, landing neatly on my outstretched hand.

“Tony, I’d like you to meet my fae roommate, Tim.  Tim is a pixie.”  I looked at Tim standing in my hand, looking like the most awesomely badass pixie with a fanny pack that I could ever hope to see.  “Tim, this is my best friend in the whole entire world, Tony.  He is a human.”

“Nice to meet you Tony!” shouted Tim.

“He says it’s nice to meet you.  I know he’s hard to hear.  His voice is tiny, but his power is mighty.”

Tim preened under my compliment, swaying from side to side, trying hard to look like a pirate, I think, thumbs hooked in the edge of his fanny pack.

Tony just stood there staring at my hand, his mouth hanging open.  I waited for his brain to catch up to what his eyes were seeing.  His hands reached up to his face, scrubbing it a few times and then slowly moving away.  He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them back up wide, staring at my hand.

“Is ... ?”

Tony’s mouth and voice didn’t seem to want to work together.  His mouth was moving but no sound was coming out.  Then his mouth stopped moving but his throat was making noise.

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Tim.  “Is he retarded?”

“No, he’s not retarded,” I said impatiently.  “He’s just in shock.  He’s never seen a pixie before.”

Tim farted.

“Oh, for shit’s sake, Tim, not now.  Geez.”

I looked back at Tony who broke his gaze away from Tim to look at me.

“That’s ... he’s ... ”

“Yeah.  That’s a fae.  He’s a pixie.  I’m a fae.  You’ve got fae blood.  This is what I’ve been trying to tell you Tony.  I’m not friggin’ lying.  All of this shit is real.”

“Is he wearing a ... fanny pack?”

I laughed, the joy bursting across my face.  “Yes, he is.  Cool, right?”  I lifted my eyebrows at him, begging him to play along.

Tony’s phone buzzed in my hand.  I lifted it up and looked at the screen.  It was a text from Ben.

‘WUTZ UP? TRUBL?’

“Look.”  I held up the phone to Tony’s face.  “Try to tell me your boy Ben isn’t fae.  How could he possibly know what’s going on with you right now?  Fae have powers to sense other people’s emotions.  Or they have little friends who spy for them.”  I lifted Tim up higher as evidence.  “Hello!”

Tony looked at the screen, doubt flooding his face.

I pulled the phone back.  “I’m going to text him back and tell him you’re okay.  You are okay, right?”

Tony nodded numbly.

I texted Ben back.  ‘IM FINE. MOM. :(   CU LTR’

Tim jumped off my hand and into the air, showing off his mad flying skills.  He buzzed around the room, doing flips and barrel rolls and midair cartwheels.  He finished by landing on my shoulder.  Tony didn’t take his eyes off Tim the entire time, and Tim was loving the attention.

“Tim, can you go tell the guys to come up?”

“Guys?” asked Tony.  “There’s more of them?”

“Yeah ... well, no, not more pixies.  I brought our friends.  Guys you know.  I want to see if you remember them.”

Tim left to go deliver the message.

Tony was shaking his head.  “Either I just saw a miniature guy with wings flying around my room wearing a fanny pack, or you drugged me and I’m having some seriously strange hallucinations.  Is this what using LSD is like?”

“Holy bat balls,
Tony, you are like a dog with a bone sometimes.  I wish I were on drugs and not actually living this shit.  Well, that’s not true ... but please, trust me.  I have never done drugs and I never will.  I have no idea what an LSD trip is like.  I’m finding life is crazy enough.  I don’t need the extra stimulation, believe me.”

“Yeah, well, if your world includes pixies in fanny packs, now I can see why.  I can’t believe I’m saying that.  Pixies.  As if they’re real.”

I leaned in closer to Tony, happy to notice he didn’t back away.  “Listen, Tim is tiny, but he has a big ego.  He hates it when people act like he doesn’t matter, just because he’s little.  So try not to act like he’s a figment of your imagination.  He can be a real pain in the ass when he’s not happy.”

“Oh,” said Tony, still pretty stunned.  He sat back down on his bed with an empty look on his face.

Soon there were noises by the window.  I watched as first Jared came in and then Chase, Spike, and finally, Finn arrived.

“Come over here, guys.  I broke the news to Tony and he’s finally agreed to try and believe me.”

Jared came over first.  “Hey, Tony.  Nice to see you again.  Do you remember me?”

Tony looked embarrassed.  “No, sorry, I don’t.”  He stood up from the bed and they shook hands.

Finn was next.  “Hey, Tony.  Finn.  You probably don’t remember me – but I remember you.  Even though you don’t recall any of it, you were good out there in the forest, during the test an’ all.  You kicked some serious orc ass.  Saw it with my own eyes.”  He nodded his head for emphasis.

“I did?”

I nodded my head in confirmation.

Chase came up next.  “Chase.”

“Tony.  Nice to meet ... see ... you again.”

Last came Spike.  He walked up and held out his hand.  Tony took it and started to shake it.

“Hey, buddy.  I know this is hard for ya.  My name’s Spike.” And then Spike gave Tony a huge Spike smile.  He started to pull his hand away, but he was stopped by Tony’s grip.

“Your smile ... ”

Spike raised his eyebrow.  “My smile?”

“There’s something familiar about your smile ... ”  Tony looked at me.  “Jayne, why am I remembering his smile?  His ... teeth?”

I felt the heat rising in my face.  I leaned in so I could whisper in his ear.  “I’ll tell you later.”

Tony let Spike’s hand go, willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, thank goodness.  No way did I want to confess my obsession with Spike’s teeth in front of everyone.  At least that obsession had one good outcome; it had rubbed off somehow on Tony – or at least made a hell of an impression.  Must be all the times I had vibed him while I was oogling Spike in Miami.

The guys all stood in the middle of the room.

“So, what’s next?” asked Finn.

No sooner had he said that then the sound of a loud wind could be heard coming from outside Tony’s window.  The blinds that were hanging halfway down started blowing up and banging around, twisting and bending over themselves.  We all looked at each other, confused.  The night had been so calm.  Why would it sound like a storm was coming through now?  Unless ...

Before the thought could completely form in my head, it was too late to act.  I saw the movement at the window before the words of warning could come out of my mouth.

The wind had delivered the one person I least wanted to see.

Ben.

He stood there in all of his Dark Fae glory, dressed all in black, materializing out of the wind that apparently did his bidding, delivering his black hearted, gorgeous self, right into the middle of Tony’s bedroom.

“What happens next, is Tony comes with me.”

Chapter 30

I stepped in front of Tony, pushing him behind me to protect him.  “Over my dead body.”

The guys quickly assembled and formed a line in front of me, with Chase standing the closest, effectively blocking most of my view of Ben’s angry face.  I was kicking myself for leaving Blackie in the hotel.  How could I have been so stupid?

“I would prefer to keep you alive, Jayne.  Perhaps with Tony on our side I can persuade you to join us too.”

“Keep dreaming.  Tony’s not going with you and neither am I.”

Ben lifted his eyes in Tony’s direction.

“Tony.  Do you remember what I said about Jayne?  About her friends?”

“Yes,” Tony said weakly.

“Was I right?”

“To some degree, yes.”

I turned.  “What did he say Tony?  He lies, you know.  You can’t trust him.  He’s just trying to get you over to the Dark Fae side.”

“He said you would come here and try to persuade me to join your gang.”

“It’s not a gang, Tony.  We’re a family.  And Ben may try to deny it, but he’s part of a fae family too, only they’re the bad guys and we’re the good guys.”  I grabbed Tony’s hands in mine.  “You have to pick a side or Ben is going to pick one for you!”  I was desperate and I know right then I looked like a crazy person, but I couldn’t help it.  I just couldn’t lose Tony to this guy.  I could feel his dark presence in the room near me.  It burned.

“If I was going to force Tony to do anything, wouldn’t I have done it already?  You’re the only one forcing him.  Hey, Tony ... did I ever ask you to join a gang?  Leave your family?  Do anything you didn’t want to do?”

Tony shook his head no.

I felt him slipping away.  I had to show him Ben wasn’t for real.  That Ben was going to force him – if not today, then some day soon.  But how?

I didn’t think; I just acted.  I let go of Tony’s hand and reached out in desperation for a connection to The Green.  I realized as soon as I started that Tony’s house had to be either directly over or very near a ley line, just like the library.  The conduit was here, empty and unused, waiting for a fae like me to awaken its true potential.

I called on all of the trees and the bushes and the flowers making their home in the soil.  I called to the creatures of the night who roamed the Earth away from the human eyes around them.  I reached as far as my heart could go, through the oceans and waters that I had an affinity to, the places that connected us to the Green Forest and beyond.  I called it all to me in my one bid for Tony’s life.

The hum filled my ears and the power crackled in my fingertips.  The roar of the world’s life energy rose up all around us.  Even Tony, who was not yet fae, could feel something happening.  The air was filled with it.  The floor and walls vibrated with its immensity.

“You!” yelled Ben.  “It’s you!”

And then he let out a growl.  His mouth opened and a fiery redness burned within, black smoke seeping out and running down his chin.  It looked like black blood moving in slow motion down his body.

Jared took one step back so he was in line with Chase.  They moved tighter together, blocking my view even more.  Finn and Spike fanned out so they were diagonal to them, forming a semi circle with Ben near the middle.

“Tell us what you want us to do!” yelled Jared, waiting on my signal.  None of them had their weapons either.  I was the only one who could do anything against Ben right now.

I felt a pull from the other side of the room ... a heat that was building, coming from Ben.  I looked between Chase’s and Jared’s shoulders, and I could see a red glow coming up behind Ben’s back, surrounding him, boiling up over him, taking over him completely.  He was turning into a flaming red demon fae.

“Tony!” I yelled.  “Can you see that?!”

“Yes!” he yelled.

“Him or me, Tony!  Choose now!”

Chapter 31

Tony grabbed my arm, completely freaking out.  “I don’t know what to do, Jayne!  I don’t know what to say!”

“Time to get off the goddamn fence, Tony!”  I was yelling to be heard over the dull but ominous roar coming from Ben’s flaming body.  “Are you with me or not?!  Because if you say ‘not’ right now, you’re going to lose me forever.  There will be nothing I can do for you after that.  You will belong to Ben and his Dark Fae forever.  And when I say forever, I mean it.  Fae live for thousands of years and then ... well ... ”  I looked deeply into his eyes and spoke to his heart from mine,  “... let’s just say forever is a long time.”

Tony looked over at the flaming red angry fae that was Ben.  The fae creature still looked like Ben, but he was practically on fire, seething with his Dark Fae power.  He wasn’t burning, but I knew if he wanted us to burn, we would be aflame in seconds.  I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t just throw a fireball at us and kill us right then.  Probably because then Tony would be gone and he wanted him pretty badly for some reason.

“Tony!” roared Ben, “Come to me now!”  He sounded like Ben, with a touch of orc roar added, giving him a scary, commanding gravelly voice.  I tried not to be scared but it was impossible.

Tony’s face filled with fear.  He looked at me, grabbing me by the arms.  “I don’t want to go with him, Jayne.”

Now Tony was making me cranky.  “So, does that mean you want to go with me?”

“I care about you, Jayne, you know that, but can’t I just stay here?  Can’t you come back home and stay here too?  Why can’t we just go back to life the way it was ... without all this ... crazy fae stuff?”

Right at that moment, Tim decided to get a little feisty.  I’ll never understand what got into him, because everyone else in the room saw a flaming badass Dark Fae demon looking thing, and stayed way the hell back.  But not Tim.  No ... he was more like a moth to a flame.

“I’ll take care of this!” yelled Tim in his wee voice.

“Tim!  No!!” I yelled; but he didn’t listen, as usual.

He launched himself off my shoulder and started flying towards Ben, his body stretched out in a miniature Superman pose, his wings beating furiously.

I shrugged Tony off of me and shoved between Jared and Chase.  “Tim!  Don’t!”

Finn and Chase tried to grab me but I wiggled away from their grasp.  I got three steps forward, hoping to grab Tim and haul him back – maybe shove him in my pocket or something – but I didn’t get there in time.

Ben saw him coming and smirked.  He held up a hand and let out a red laser shot of demon flame or whatever it was that was covering him without consuming him.  It hit Tim directly in his left wing.

There was a spark where it hit him and some smoke, and then we all watched in horror as Tim started spinning down to the ground in an uncontrolled flameout.  I could hear his tiny screams of pain and shock as he went down.

Tim landed with a bounce on the carpet, coming to a rest face down and unmoving.  I got there in time to scoop him up quickly and back away.  I looked down and saw that his left wing was now a shriveled up lump of melted flesh and bone.  His eyes were closed.  I couldn’t tell if he was breathing.

“You are evil, Ben ... whatever your last name is.  Evil to the core.  Only the world’s biggest fucking asshole would shoot down a tiny harmless pixie.”

I kept backing up until I felt Chase behind me.  He tried to get in front of me, but I wasn’t having it.  I turned and handed Tim to Chase.  “Hold him.  I have to teach our friend a lesson.”

“Jayne, don’t,” said Jared.  “We can’t do this here.”

“Jaaaayne,” said Spike.  “I think you’d better listen to Jared this time.”

“Ben should have thought about that before he killed my friend Tim and tried to take my best friend Tony away from me.”

The Green that I had called up before was still there, waiting for me, humming and buzzing with power.  I took it into my body, channeling it through to my arms and then down to my hands.  I held it out in front of me like a giant glowing green ball.  The power nearly consumed me.  I almost put my being inside the glow, but at the last second, I held that little piece back.

I watched Ben and the red glow building up behind him, rising over and gathering around from his sides to rest in his hands.  The brightness of his red and orange flames matched the glowing green brilliance of my energy.  I could hear its snarling roar clashing against the hum of The Green.

There we stood, face to face, ready to throw our energy at each other.  I stared him in the eyes and he stared right back.  I wished right then that I could read his mind.  He looked like he was seeing into my soul.  Who was this guy?  Why did he want Tony so badly?  Why was he in that photograph of Tony and me from last year?  And why did I want to throw this green nuclear bomb at him but at the same time want him to live?

I’m pretty sure neither of us knew exactly what was going to happen; but whatever it was, it was going to be epic.  I lifted my arms over my head, winding up to let The Green go at Ben.

“Wait!  Stop!” yelled Tony, his voice sounding like it was far away.  “You don’t need to do this ... Jayne!” he got past Chase and Jared and stood directly behind me where I could now hear his voice clearly.

“Jayne, I’m coming with you! ...  Do you hear me?”

He reached his hand through the cool energy of The Green that surrounded me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Jayne,” he said more calmly now, “I’m coming with you.”

Read on for a sneak peak at

War of the Fae: Book Three ---  Darkness and Light

About the Author

Elle Casey is an American writer who lives in Southern France with her husband, three kids, and Hercules the wonder poodle.  In her spare time she writes young adult novels.

If you enjoyed this book, please please leave positive feedback on Goodreads.com, Amazon.com, or any book blogs you participate in.  More positive feedback means Elle can spend more time writing!

Visit her at
www.ElleCasey.com

War of the Fae

Book Three

Darkness & Light

Elle Casey

... Coming April 2011 ...

Read on for a Sneak Peak at BOOK THREE ....

Chapter 1

Tony’s arm rested on my shoulder, sending a sense of peace into my heart.  My best friend wanted to stay with me.  We didn’t have to be apart anymore.  Now all I had to do was figure out what to do about the flaming demon fae standing in front of me with a nuclear bomb in his hands.

“Ben!  He doesn’t want to go with you!  He’s coming with me!”  The roar of our two gathered powers made it difficult to hear, but apparently there was no need for me to yell, because Ben answered me in a perfectly normal tone of voice and I understood him just fine.

“I heard him.  But I don’t believe he’s making the decision with all of the information he needs.  It’s only fair to him that he go into this with full disclosure, don’t you think?”

His answer was unsettling, but only because I didn’t want Tony to think I was hiding anything.  I knew the truth and I had already told it to Tony before Ben showed up.  We were the good guys, the Light Fae; he represented the bad guys, the Dark Fae.  There was nothing else to tell.

It’s obvious this guy Ben knew something about the use of psychological warfare.  He probably invented the term a hundred years ago or something.  You never could tell the age of a fae from the looks of him.  On the outside, he was a seriously, amazingly awesome-looking human boy of eighteen.  On the inside, he was probably a three hundred and fifty year old, ugly ass serpent, using a spell to mesmerize me into thinking he was this hot guy.  I gave myself a mental shake – I couldn’t keep focusing on his looks;  I had to concentrate on the blackness of his soul.

“Tony knows everything.  I already told him before you came in, uninvited and unwanted I might add.”

Ben broke his gaze from me and looked at Tony.  “Did she tell you that she’s going to force you to fight in a war?  That you’re going to have to kill other fae?”

I felt Tony’s hand leave my shoulder, bringing me a moment of unease.  I’d just spent thirty minutes convincing Tony he needed to go with me and then everything would be okay.  But I knew he didn’t like the idea of violence; and apparently so did Ben.

“Tony knows enough to make a good decision, which he already did.  So why don’t you just get the hell outta here so we can be on our way?”

“Um, Jayne?” said Tony’s scared voice from behind me.  “I ... I really don’t want to be a part of a war ... ”

His voice trailed off, but I knew what this meant.  I had to do something to salvage the situation as best I could.

I fixed Ben with my angriest look.  “Power down, asshole, so we can talk about this without blowing up the neighborhood.”

“I will if you will,” he said, eyebrow raised in challenge.

I eased back on my hold over The Green, letting it know I wanted it to go back through the ley line below Tony’s house and down into the Earth where it existed when I wasn’t calling it up and using it to do my bidding.

I saw the red glow that had amassed itself in Ben’s hands get lighter and dissipate up his arms and around the back of his body.  Soon we were both standing there looking like regular teenagers again.  No more glowing and no more roaring or humming.

I looked at the guys to my left and right.  They all visibly relaxed from their fight-ready stances, but still remained wary.

“I don’t trust him,” said Finn.

“Me neither,” said Spike.

Chase and Jared reserved judgment.  Tim remained motionless in Chase’s hand.

“Well, I do,” said Tony.

I looked at Tony with frustration.  “Dammit, Tony, what the hell?  I thought we went over this?”

“No, we did.  I’m not saying I’m going anywhere with him or not going with you.  I’m just saying I trust him.  He’s been nice to me, Jayne, and he hasn’t done anything to hurt me.  And apparently, he could have if he had wanted to.”  He looked up at Ben, giving him a nervous smile.

This was so typical of Tony, giving someone the benefit of the doubt, even when that someone was a fucking demon.

“Listen, Tony, I get it that you felt abandoned when I stayed in the forest and you came back here,” he started to interrupt, and I was fairly certain he was going to say something about not ever having been in the forest, so I held up my hand to shut him up, “and I know you don’t remember being there, but you were, and I’ll be happy to prove that to you when we get back.  But we need to go.”  I looked back over at Ben.  “You may trust him, but we sure as hell don’t; and I have a friend to take care of.”  I gestured with my head to Tim, who was lying in Chase’s hands, his blackened stump of a wing sticking out from his side.

“He’s breathing,” said Chase.

“Well, thankfully he’s unconscious, because I know for a fact that having a wing taken off is painful – I’m sure having one burned off is excruciating.”  I shot Ben a look that conveyed what a piece of shit I thought he was.

Tony looked at Tim and got a sick look on his face.  Ben was going to ignore my comment but then he saw Tony’s face too.

“Tony, you need to understand – pixies are very dangerous.  They may look small and cute, but he was coming over to pixelate me.  I was only defending myself.”

Tony looked at me for confirmation, making me feel uncomfortable.  Why was I having to defend my friend who was only saving us from Ben?

“Tim, as you’ve conveniently forgotten, was only saving us.  From you!”

“I did nothing.  You’re the one who issued the threats.  I was only defending myself.”

The further this conversation went, the worse I felt.  Somehow Ben was turning everything around to make me look like the bad guy in this whole thing.  I know my face was expressing my frustration, and as I looked at him to respond, I saw him smile smugly.  Fucker thought he had me up a tree.

“Don’t stand there and act like you’re mister honest guy.  You never told Tony you were fae, and you never told Tony what your true intentions were, either.”  I looked at Tony and continued, “Ask him, Tony.  Ask him why he didn’t tell you.  You trusted a guy who was lying to you and hiding things.”

Just then there was a banging on Tony’s door.

“Tony?  Do you have someone in your room?”

Tony got a panicked look on his face.  “No, Mom!  It’s my music!”

“Well, turn it down.  It’s way past your bedtime.”

Finn snickered but had the decency to look chagrined when he saw my dirty look.  All we needed was for Tony to think we were laughing at him.  Sure, his mom was a clueless idiot and obviously nearly deaf, but that wasn’t Tony’s fault.

I whispered to the group.  “Listen, we’re not getting anywhere with this.  Besides, there’s no point anyway.  Tony’s coming with us, and we need to go.”  I looked at Tony, my eyes begging him.  “You’re still coming, right?”

“Yeah, I’m still coming.  But I want to hear what Ben has to say first.  He’s my friend, Jayne.  I know you don’t like that, but that’s how it is.  I owe him the chance to give me his side of the story.”

Ben smiled.  “Tony is a fair person.  He’s always been willing to listen.  Maybe you can take minute to listen too, Jayne.  You might be surprised to hear what I have to say.”

“Pfft, not likely.”

Jared stepped up, his hands held out in peace.  “Why don’t we take this outside or somewhere we can talk.”  He glanced at Ben and then me.  “Neutral territory, a place everyone would feel comfortable.”

Ben nodded.

I looked around and everyone else seemed to think it was a good idea.  I was more in favor of just getting the hell out of there and never looking back, but I had to be fair to Tony.  I didn’t want him leaving here thinking I had anything to hide.

“Fine.  Where?”

“How about the all-night diner, over by the school?” suggested Tony.

We all nodded.  Two seconds later, Ben’s form began to fade.  “See you there,” was the last thing he said before he disappeared in a puff of black smoke and wind.

I looked at Tony and saw that his eyes were bugging out of his head.

I scoffed.  “Yeah.  You trust this guy.  Fucking demon fae or whatever he is.”  I shook my head, walking to the window and looking out.  Ben wasn’t out there.  I wondered how far he could go with that disappeary-smokey thing.

I gestured to the guys.  “You guys go ahead.  I’m going to help Tony get some stuff together.”  I looked at Chase.  “Please be extra careful with Tim.  I’m going to see if I can find something to put him in.”

Chase nodded in acquiescence.  The others climbed out the window wordlessly while Tony and I watched.  Once we were alone, I turned to him.

“You need to pack a couple things – just what you can’t live without.  There will be clothes and stuff for you there.”

“For me where?” asked Tony, not moving.

“At the compound.  Where we live.”

Tony looked distressed.

“Listen.  Here’s the deal.  Once we get there and you get a full tour and know everything that’s going on, you will have the choice to stay or go.  You had that chance once before, but you chose to come home.  I think it’s because you didn’t know everything then.  Now I can make sure you know it all.  I’m pretty sure once you do, you will choose to stay.”

“So I can come back if I decide I want nothing to do with this stuff?”

I shook my head in frustration.  “Yes.  But Tony, you’re not going to.  Ben being here is proof of that.  Either way you’re getting involved.  You’re either going to come in voluntarily with us, or you’re going to get dragged in by Ben.  You’re important to him for some reason he isn’t telling us.  And you’re important to me because you’re my best friend.”

“What about Tim?  I thought he was your new best friend.”

I smiled.  “Jealous?”

Tony smiled slightly.  “No.  Not much.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about; no one can take your place in my heart.  You’re going to love him though.  Just be glad you can’t hear him.”

“You can?  How?”

“Witch’s spell.  I’ll explain about that later.”

“Why don’t I want to be able to hear him?”

“Let’s just say pixies are gassy.”

Tony got a disgusted look.  “Oh, geez.”

“Yeah.  Tell me about it.  Come on, let’s pack.  What do you want to bring?”

Tony looked around his room, walking over to pick up the picture of him and me that had the broken frame from being thrown against the wall by him the other day.  I had seen him throw it when I visited his room traveling through the gray with the help of my friend Gregale, a gray elf.  That’s when I really knew how much trouble Tony was in.

He pulled the frame apart and took the picture out, tucking it into his back pocket and throwing the frame in his trashcan.  He reached down and picked up a sweatshirt from the floor, tugging it over his head.  Last, he sat on the edge of his bed and pulled on his boots.

“Do you have something I could put Tim in?”

Tony gestured towards his closet with his head as he tied his bootlaces.  “In there.”

I went over and opened the door, pushing junk aside until I found an old shoebox.  Then I went to his pillow and pulled the pillowcase off, using it to line the inside of the box to make it more comfortable for Tim.

Tony stood and went to his desk, pulling a piece of paper out of his printer.

“I’m gonna leave my parents a note.”

“What are you going to tell them?”

“That I’m leaving for a while and I’ll call them later.”

“Tell them you’ll send them an email.  We have computers there but not phones.”

Tony shrugged.  “Okay.”  He finished, folding the paper and putting it on his pillow.  He pulled up his covers so the bed looked neater.  His dirty clothes went next, kicked into a pile in the corner of the room.  Tony looked around, throwing up his hands and letting them drop to his sides.

“Ready?” I asked.

“I guess so.”

“Come on.”  I wanted to get the heck out of there before he changed his mind.

We climbed out of the window and went to the edge of his porch roof, using the nearby fence to climb down.  The guys were waiting for us in the front yard.

I walked up to Chase and held the box out.  “Will you put Tim in here, please?”

Chase carefully lowered him in.  I took the box back and looked inside.  My little buddy was still out cold.  I covered him as gently as I could with the edge of the pillowcase and put the box lid on.  “Hang on tight, Tim.  I’m gonna get you back so Maggie can fix you right up.”

I fought the feelings of sadness that started to well up, shoving them down hard.  I could not go into this showdown with Ben feeling all weepy and weak.  There was no downplaying the seriousness of this meeting.  I was fighting for Tony’s life.  There would be time for crying over Tim later – when I had all my guys on a plane, headed back to the Green Forest.

Other books by Elle Casey

War of the Fae: Book One, The Changelings

Wrecked

A Young Adult Action/Adventure novel – Four teens from the same high school but opposite ends of the social spectrum go on a cruise and end up shipwrecked on an island together.  If you liked The Breakfast Club and The Swiss Family Robinson movies, you’ll love Wrecked.     Here are some recent reviews by book bloggers:

“I’m not sure sure how to begin this review and remain professional… so I’ll just be honest. I FUDGING loved this book! (SOOO SOOO MUCH!) It was fantastic! =) I’m so glad that I read it … It was so good, I can’t even wrap my head around how much I loved it … I was also very impressed with the quality of the writing, every detail was so vivid! I could clearly picture what was going on in the story and put myself in their place. I can’t recommend this enough… go read it!!!”

“The relationships, emotions, and actions of the four protagonists were kept real, like I could honestly see these characters as teens with real reactions. They make great decisions, make not-so-great decisions, take action, make a home, fall in love, laugh, cry, have meltdowns, and do what they can to survive.  Oh, and did I mention there are pirates? Because there are pirates (okay, the marijuana growing drug dealer type of pirates); and, as Wrecked puts it, “You know, Pirates of the Caribbean is very misleading…Why was I rooting for the bad guys?”…   From being introduced to the four protagonists, to when they’re on the cruise ship, to when they’re in a life boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, to their life on the island, and all the way to the satisfying conclusion, Wrecked will keep the reader interested.”

“… My favorite part of the book was their time on the island.  The character dynamics were well done, and Casey clearly put a lot of thought into what they would need to do to survive, not just physically but emotionally.  This was the part of the book I felt had the most depth.  I actually found myself hoping they wouldn’t be rescued! …  This was a fun book and a promising debut novel.”

Table of Contents

- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 1