Page 9

9

J ack

Technically Thursday: Wedding minus 9 days

Thirty minutes after midnight

M rs. Frost trounced her.

The applause at the town hall had nothing on this. People in Georgia probably heard us cheering.

The trial was simple. They each shot five arrows. As the challenger, Espelle went first and sank every single arrow into the bullseye.

Then it was our turn.

Mrs. Frost sank the first arrow into the middle of the bullseye.

The second in the middle of the first, splitting it down the middle.

The third in the middle of the second, splitting it down the middle.

The fourth in the middle of the third, splitting it down the middle.

By the time she shot that fifth and final arrow, sending it soaring into the middle of the fourth arrow, there was nothing left of the first one but splinters.

Espelle, for all her hardness, was a gracious loser. She bowed to Mrs. Frost. “I have never in my three thousand years met such a champion.”

Mrs. Frost bowed back, as much as her knees would let her. “I have never in my more than ninety years met anybody as good as you. It’s my honor.”

Then she handed her a jar of jam, which Espelle clearly had no idea what to do with, and I had to fight the laughter that tried to escape.

The queen, whom I could swear was hiding a smile herself, clapped her hands. “As promised, the winner not only wins the privilege of Dead End’s continued participation in the Trials, but a personal gift for you.”

With that, she nodded to one of her guards, who unwrapped silk fabric that covered a golden arrow. He then bowed to Mrs. Frost and handed it to her.

“I am honored,” our champion said, grinning from ear to ear.

I sighed with relief that she’d remembered my instructions never to say thank you to a Fae. They viewed it as incurring obligation.

The Fae were tricky that way.

Speaking of which …

“Tomorrow shall be the second part of the first Trial, which is Courage,” the queen proclaimed. “Your champion shall meet ours here, at midnight, in a battle of magic. Farewell until then.”

With that, the entire Fae contingent disappeared.

“Showboats,” Andy muttered.

“No kidding,” Tess said. “But we won!”

We all rushed forward to congratulate Mrs. Frost and admire the golden arrow. It was only fifteen minutes later, when we were ready to go home, that we realized what had happened.

“Hey!” Bubba shouted. “How did they do that?”

The wagon, previously filled with jars of cookies, was entirely empty.

T hursday, lunchtime

A fter not enough sleep, Tess rushed out of the house at dawn. I fed her cat Lou, ate a quick half-dozen eggs, and drove to my place. Tess was hard at work getting the shop ready for her absence during our honeymoon, and I was spending a lot of time getting my house in shape. Normal stuff like painting and decluttering my late uncle’s hoard of possessions, but also more serious things like replacing the roof and updating the plumbing.

We planned to live at Tess’s house, especially since I’d added the swimming pool and built her a garage. My granddad and I were toying with the idea of selling our house. He was off consulting on movies in Hollywood with his professor girlfriend and had no plans to live in Dead End again anytime soon. It would be hard to give it up, though, since it had always been my home. It’s not like I needed the money, with the jewels and gold the Atlanteans had forced on me.

Sheesh .

Help save a lost continent from demons and get stuck with more money than you could spend in a dozen lifetimes. I didn’t need it, and I hadn’t wanted it, but I hadn’t wanted to cause an international incident by refusing. I had to admit, though, using it to help people was a pretty nice way to spend it.

Tess had promised to sort through Uncle Jeremiah’s stuff with me, and my grandad might want some of it. Anything we didn’t want to keep, she’d sell at the shop, or we’d donate. It was a tough job complicated by sorrow. I hadn’t seen my uncle in a long time, and then the old evil sheriff and a blood-magic witch had conspired to murder him, so I never would again.

Tess had helped me forgive myself for my absence with her usual combination of kindness and common sense. “You were helping save North America from evil vampires, and you didn’t want any of the bad guys to follow you home. He understood, Jack, and he was so proud of you.”

I hoped that was true. The man had raised me after my parents disappeared. All these years later, I still didn’t know where they’d gone, why they’d gone, or if they were even still alive.

Not for lack of trying, though. I’d searched the continent for them and still to this day had feelers out. Someday, somehow, I’d learn what had happened to them.

Now, I was driving up to Tess’s aunt and uncle’s farm to meet everybody for lunch. School was out for the summer, so my favorite kid in the world, Tess’s little sister Shelley, would be there. She always wanted to show me the new tricks she’d taught Pickles, her pug.

I grinned when I saw her waiting on the porch, dancing with impatience, but then any amusement faded. Shelley was a witch, like her late mother. The sweet little girl was also the most powerful magic user in all of Dead End. Maybe even all of Florida.

There was no way I was letting her compete in the Fae’s games. Maybe they wouldn’t be dangerous. Last night had posed no threat to Mrs. Frost, as far as we knew. But even if not, the thought that Shelley might have to carry the burden of feeling like she’d let down the whole town was absolutely out of the question.

Tess drove up when I was stepping out of my truck, and I winced when she parked so close she almost clipped my fender. Tess had many, many, many exceptional qualities, but the ability to park a car in any reasonable fashion was not one of them.

We won’t talk about her singing, either.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I called out, smiling at Shelley.

She laughed and raced across the yard to jump into my arms. I hugged her carefully, although she was filling out into a sturdy little girl instead of the too-thin waif she’d been when we’d rescued her from the same monsters who’d killed my uncle.

“Hey, I taught Pickles to roll over! Except she keeps rolling and rolling till she gets dizzy!”

Shelley was still in her exclamation point phase. Ruby had said that Tess had grown out of that by about age twelve, so we still had a way to go. I winced a little, and Shelley noticed immediately.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Uncle Jack,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t shout next to your super-tiger ears.”

“Hey, don’t I get a hug?” Tess walked over to us, and Shelley kissed my cheek, hopped down, and hugged her sister.

“Do I still get to be a maid of honor?” She looked uncertain. “I understand if you only want old people like Molly.”

Tess laughed. “Hey! Watch it! Molly is my age! And yes, you absolutely get to be my co-maid of honor, with Molly.”

“Aunt Ruby thinks it’s funny that you want her, Eleanor, and Lorraine to be the flower girls,” Shelley said, grinning. “I think it’s awesome! I even have a surprise planned!”

“Oh, boy,” Tess said. “Shelley, I really appreciate your enthusiasm, but please don’t do anything crazy with your magic. I’d like to have a calm, peaceful wedding.”

Shelley burst out laughing. “This is Dead End, Tess!”

“She’s not wrong,” I said ruefully.

“ T ess, Jack, I have a new trick to show you!” She grabbed our hands and tugged us toward the house.

“I have one to show you, too,” Tess said, her eyes gleaming, and she held up a dog collar.

“Let’s see what pugs really think about.”

Turns out, pugs mostly think about bacon.

Pickles did her new rollover trick. And the magic of the collar made us hear her thoughts, because of course dogs can’t really talk. So far, the thoughts were exactly what you might have expected.

“BACON NOW PLEASE.”

Tess frowned. “I hate to say it, but I wonder if this is a dud. Maybe someone enchanted the collar to project the thoughts we all expect our dogs to say. I mean, Anastasia ‘said’ bacon, too.”

“Ask her a question that only she would know the answer to!” Ruby, who watched a lot of mystery series, said excitedly.

“Who is Shelley?” Tess asked.

The little pug drunkenly trotted over to Shelley, still dizzy from the rolling. “SHELLEY LOVE.”

“That was pretty specific,” Ruby said, but with a hint of doubt.

Tess nodded and then looked at me with a grin. “Pickles, who is Jack?”

The pug trotted over to me, did the puggy head tilt, and stood on my foot. “JACK BACON STINKY CAT.”

I burst out laughing and picked the little dog up to rub her belly. “Okay, that’s her. I told her when we were here for breakfast last Sunday, she was a stinky pup and needed a bath. Then I snuck a slice of bacon to her.”

Shelley looked thoughtful, but finally she shook her head. “I don’t want the collar, Tess. It just doesn’t feel right. Like I’m spying on her thoughts. I don’t know. We get along fine as we are.”

The screen door swung open, and Tess’s Uncle Mike walked into the room. “Now, that’s a fine piece of thinking, Shelley.”

Mike Callahan was an Irish American retired engineer in his seventies. He liked Ford vehicles, could fix anything, and had been the calm center of Tess’s childhood after her mom died and her dad took off. He’d spent a long time warning me off Tess, until he understood how much I loved her, and then he’d welcomed me to the family in his quiet way.

The threats of turning me into a tiger-skin rug had even decreased.

Ruby had a big spread ready for lunch. Cold chicken, salads, homemade rolls, and a cherry pie for dessert. Tess, the best baker in the world, hadn’t had much time to bake lately, so I was very happy to see that pie.

Until Mike picked it up, put it right next to his plate, and gave me a narrow-eyed look. “I have to let you in the family, but nobody said I have to let you devour most of the dessert.”

Ruby tsked at him and deftly took the pie away. “I’ll put it on the counter until we’re done with lunch, and then you can each have two slices.”

“Me, too!” Shelley shouted.

“If you have room,” Ruby said, smiling.

If I’d had to pick any family, anywhere, to take on a troubled child who’d been through the horrors that Shelley had, I’d pick the Callahans. They’d given her so much love and support, and it had made a tremendous difference.

“Okay, let’s put this out there, because I know Shelley already heard about it,” Tess said grimly after we finished eating lunch. “There’s a magic component to the Courage Trial. Shelley is not, repeat not, going to compete in it.”

“But—”

“No,” I said firmly.

“Not a chance,” Ruby said.

“I’m sorry, bug, but no. It’s for your own safety,” Mike said, patting Shelley’s arm.

“You’re wrong,” Shelley said, a determined tilt to her chin. “Because when Pickles went out to go potty this morning, this was tied to her collar when she came back in.”

She held out a notecard that looked unpleasantly familiar and read from it:

“Shelley of the Callahans, you are the designated Champion for the second part of the First Trial, Courage. Present yourself to the Dead End town square at midnight to compete in Magic.”

She looked around the table at us, her eyes wide. “I bet it’s from the queen!”

“I’m going to punch that woman … Fae … queen right in the face!” Ruby said, clenching her hands into fists.

“Hold on there, Rocky,” Tess said wryly. “I agree with the sentiment, but I don’t want those armed guards of hers smiting you.”

“She can try,” Mike said, his face grim. “I’d like to see the guards who can get past me.”

It suddenly occurred to me I hadn’t seen them at the archery competition. “Hey, where were you last night?”

Ruby and Mike were both suddenly very interested in invisible specks of crumbs on the table.

Pickles barked from her blanket near the door. Shelley had taught her not to beg at the table.

“Pickles has to go outside. I’ll be right back! Don’t talk about anything important without me!” Shelley ran outside with her dog, and I pinned Mike with a hard stare.

“Out with it.”

Ruby bit her lip but said nothing.

Mike sighed. “Fine. We were up in Ruby’s office, at the window, with a rifle, while Shelley played on the computer in the outer office. If any of them had tried to hurt Mrs. Frost or any of you, I was going to have a thing to say.”

“To say ?” Tess pointed at her uncle. “You may be a great shot, but even you can’t take on an army of Fae.”

Mike shrugged, but Shelley raced back inside before he could answer.

“What happened? Did you say anything important?”

“No. Uncle Mike was just explaining how he could be such a smart man and yet a wooly-headed turnip at the same time,” Tess said cheerfully.

“Moving on,” I said, taking the card off the table. “This is a problem. The Fae sometimes designate champions and sometimes don’t. But when they do, I’ve never heard of anybody finding a way out of it.”

“I know a way,” Ruby said fiercely. “We’re taking her out of Dead End. We’ll drive all the way to Alabama if we have to, to get her away from this.”

I sighed. I really hated having to tell them the bad news. “Ruby, Tess, I swear to you I will protect Shelley with my life. But trying to leave town won’t work. The Fae will pop out of thin air, grab her, and spirit her back to Dead End.”

“There’s no way out of this,” Tess said slowly. “Fine. Then we’ll just have to teach Queen Viviette a lesson about messing with Dead Enders.”