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T ess

Thursday: Wedding minus 9 days

After lunch

J ack headed out to the swamp to visit his friends, who owned an airboat business. He wanted to ask them for help, since they were all ex-Special Forces. If we truly had to go to war with the Fae to protect Shelley, we’d need people who were that tough to back us up. They all loved Shelley, too, and had helped her get over the death of her family by taking her for airboat rides and filling in as the deadly, musclebound, brilliant tactical strategist big brothers she never knew she needed.

Somebody wouldn’t just have to go through us to get to Shelley—they’d have to go through the swamp commandos.

Jack told me he wanted to “gear up,” and Uncle Mike was far too interested in that , and I didn’t know what to do except go back to work. Aunt Ruby was determined to get Shelley out of town, an idea my sister vehemently protested, so when I drove off, all four of them were in the driveway discussing it.

It was one-thirty when I got back to work.

It was two when I got the first text from Aunt Ruby.

We made it 25 miles out of town, and then suddenly we were back in our driveway

I tried to call, but the line was busy. Eleanor had gone off to run some personal errands, so I had to digest this information by myself. That’s an awful lot of power, to pick up a car and the people inside it and teleport them twenty-five miles to their house in an instant.

I shuddered.

And then I texted her back.

Maybe we should just give Dead End back to the Fae. They’re too powerful, and I don’t want to put Shelley at risk. We can build another town.

Seconds later, my phone chimed with a text from Shelley:

NO WAY! I’M DOING THIS! EVEN IF WE WANTED TO LEAVE, THEY WON’T LET US. JUST TRUST ME!

Even in texts, she speaks in exclamation points.

When Eleanor came back at four, she looked distraught.

“What’s wrong?”

She smiled distractedly at a customer I was ringing up—a Dead End Pawn T-shirt and an ancient typewriter that was missing a few keys but typed a personal fortune-cookie-style message every day for its owner—and bustled over behind the counter with me.

When the customer left, Eleanor sighed and leaned against the wall. “Dave and Zane just got back in town from their fishing trip. I’m so glad to see them, but also not. With all this going on, I just don’t know that it’s safe for Zane here.”

Dave Wolf, Eleanor’s son, owned a major construction company. He was also Jack’s best friend from his childhood and would be standing up as his best man at our wedding. Dave’s adopted son, Zane, was Shelley’s best friend. They’d made a documentary about Dead End that was getting notice from indie film festivals.

“I know.”

“After you told me about Shelley, I feel guilty for even saying that,” she said, her shoulders slumping.

“Well, for what it’s worth, Aunt Ruby tried to get Shelley out of town, and it didn’t work, so I guess we’re on at midnight. Are you coming?”

“We’re all coming. Bill and I wouldn’t miss it, and of course Dave will be there, which means there’s no way we’ll be able to keep Zane away. If this goes badly …”

T hursday: thirty minutes till midnight

It went badly.

For the Fae.

After the initial ceremonial blah, blah, blah, I stepped forward, holding tightly to my sister’s hand. “Your Majesty, I would ask that you give your oath that my sister will not be harmed.”

Jack stood next to me, his face stone. Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby were up in her office again, but this time, both of them had rifles. Jack had told me the swamp commandos were stationed all around the square, armed to their teeth, but of course they stayed out of sight. All of this should have made me feel safer than I did.

Viviette raised an eyebrow. “You would ask ?”

“I would. Politely. Unless you decline. Then I will demand.” I spoke in a calm, even tone, but two of the Fae guards staring at me actually gasped at whatever they saw in my face.

The queen slowly nodded. “Tess of the Callahans, you continually amaze me.”

She didn’t use her friendly voice, either.

“But I give my oath.”

I tried not to think about all the other things that could happen. She could leave Shelley alive and unharmed and smite the rest of us. The crowd of Dead Enders tonight was even larger than the one at Mrs. Frost’s event.

“Then we agree.”

“Thank you, your queenliness!” Shelley said, bouncing up and down.

For an instant, the queen’s face softened. But then she drew herself up and announced the competition’s rules. The champion who “most affected the world around her” would win.

Their champion appeared to be a Fae child of Shelley’s age, but who knew with the Fae? It could have been glamour hiding a five-thousand-year-old crone.

This supernatural little girl, wearing a pink dress and shoes with a pink ribbon in her long, blonde hair, smiled at Shelley, her purple eyes flashing. Then she dramatically threw her arms in the air in a sweeping gesture.

We all ducked when every treetop around the square began waving madly, like a Florida hurricane was smashing through town. Then she made another theatrical gesture, and hundreds of rocks rose from the ground and danced through the air above us.

I thought even Queen Viviette looked a bit concerned when a rock flew too close to her girlfriend Iona’s head.

Everyone—Fae and human—oohed and aahed.

The little girl smiled and curtseyed to all of us, and then she sent the rocks arcing in a pretty circle back to the ground.

Then she grinned at Shelley. “Good luck!”

So, maybe even Fae little girls spoke in exclamation points.

Shelley grinned back. “That was awesome! When this is over, I’d love to get together and talk about magic sometime.

The little girl’s eyes widened, and she glanced at the queen. “I will try.”

Shelley, her freshly washed light brown hair shining, turned her bright blue eyes to the queen. She wasn’t wearing pink or ribbons, but she’d insisted on wearing her nicest church dress with the blue and white polka dots to meet the queen. She was adorable, and my chest ached with how much I loved her. If they hurt her …

Shelley bounced up and down in her cleanest pair of sneakers. “My turn?”

The queen nodded. “You may proceed. It does not shame you if you cannot match our magic, little one. We have?—”

But then Viviette quit speaking mid-sentence.

Because my little sister made a subtle little flicking motion with her fingers.

And she made it snow.

In Florida, in June, my sister made it snow.

“Boo yah!” somebody shouted from the crowd, with a voice like crushed rock.

When I turned around to look, I saw the troll. He grinned at me, and I had to grin back at the sight of his shining, blocky teeth.

Meanwhile, it was still snowing.

Shelley caught me gaping, and she grinned. “The lady from Atlantis taught me how.”

Dead Enders were dancing in the street, their faces turned up, and their tongues out to catch snowflakes.

Even the Fae unbent enough to hold their hands out, palms up, to catch the snow.

The Fae champion laughed and danced, her pink dress floating around her. “You are awesome, too, Shelley of the Callahans!”

“We should be friends,” Shelley told her, and I was close enough to see the shock in the little girl’s eyes.

“We … rarely have friends among the mortal world,” she whispered.

“Perhaps we should,” Viviette said, leaning her head briefly against Iona’s. “Declared: the mortal child, Shelley of the Callahans, is the victor. As promised, the winner not only wins the privilege of Dead End’s continued participation in the Trials, but a personal gift.”

With that, she nodded to one of her guards, who presented a gorgeous crystal chalice to Shelley, who promptly gave it to Jack. “I don’t want to drop it.”

He grinned at her and pulled me close into a hug so tightly I knew I hadn’t been the only one afraid for Shelley.

“Th—I am honored,” Shelley told the queen, barely remembering not to say thank you.

“Tomorrow shall be the third part of the first Trial, which is Courage,” the queen proclaimed. “Your champions shall meet ours here, at midnight, in a battle of three: Hand-to-hand combat, swords, and the game of queens. Farewell until then.”

“The game of queens?” I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud until the queen looked at me.

“As I said.”

With that, the entire Fae contingent disappeared.

But a table set with a massive gold and silver chess set appeared exactly where Viviette had been.

“Ah. The game of queens.”

Jack and I looked at each other, eyes widening.

“Uncle Mike!”

We were making our way slowly to the municipal building to meet Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike when I smelled an … odor.

Not a stench, not nearly as bad as the first time I’d met him, but still noticeably there. Jack and Shelley were a dozen feet in front of me, accepting congratulations and thanks from everyone, so I dropped back to talk to Braumsh.

“Hey, it’s nice to see you,” I said.

He slanted a look at me. “You are an odd human, lovely Tess.”

“Um, thanks?”

Tonight, he wore a T-shirt that featured a bear and said Seattle Zoo .

“Have you been to Seattle?” I nodded at his shirt.

“What?”

“Never mind. How are you enjoying life on land?”

“I am discovering many things. I even found a job teaching science at the high school.”

I blinked. Science teachers at Dead End High did not last long. They were prone to catastrophe. “Wow. That’s great! Just be careful.”

He snorted, and the breeze from the snort knocked one of the McKee kids forward a few steps. “I have no need to be careful. The class is filled with human children.”

“Sure. Sure. You’d be surprised, though. Well, it was nice talking to you.” I started to move on, but he stopped me by holding up a very large hand.

“Tess, I find myself without lodging. Can you recommend a place I can stay for a few days until I get my land legs beneath me?”

I stopped walking and thought about it for a minute. “Do you need access to water? Like a lake or pond or swamp?”

“It’s not a need, but I would prefer it. Even a swimming pool,” he said in that thunderous voice.

“I have a pool,” I told him. “I’m frantically busy with work and getting ready for the wedding, plus this whole charter renewal process. And my guest room is filled with boxes. But if you don’t mind sleeping in a tent by the pool for a few days while you look for something better?” I winced. How rude to offer the poor troll a tent.

He froze. “You would invite me into your home?”

“Sure. I mean, a tent, but we can probably find someplace far better?—”

“I accept. I will gather my things and find my way to your house.” With that, he turned and strode off, leaving me frozen, wondering what had just happened.

When Jack walked back to find me, he took one look at my expression and groaned.

“Now what?”

“Um … it’s not my fault.”

“Just spit it out. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together,” my wonderful, ridiculously handsome fiancé said.

I kissed him, right there in the middle of town. I couldn’t help it.

He put his arms around me but raised an eyebrow, and I sighed.

“Okay. I may have invited a troll to stay with us.”