Page 11

Chapter

Eleven

I woke up to Shotglass’s thoughts banging on my brain.

I opened my eyes to find her peering down at me, her body held aloft by her slowly beating wings. I glanced to my left to find my fingers tangled in Max’s wolf’s dark fur. I hadn’t noticed him coming in. I definitely hadn’t noticed snuggling up against him like he was my warmth and strength. I pulled away from him and felt adrift. I shouldn’t feel bad without physical connection to a werewolf, but it wasn’t that I felt bad without him as much as I felt better with him. I’d been feeling bad all by myself for a long time. He interrupted that.

Like Shotglass had interrupted my sleep.

I took her hand and let her pull me up, stretching my wings as we drifted up to the open window she must have come through because the door to the small room was blockaded. I must have missed that, too. I suppose the alpha couldn’t sleep next to a room filled with goblins without taking some precautions. That was just bad security. I approved of him taking measures for his safety, but he shouldn’t have forgotten the window. Fairies were notoriously difficult to keep out of and in things.

When we perched on the windowsill, she nodded up and let go of my hand to flutter to the roof. I climbed, because my wings really needed to be regrown. Thankfully, the roof wasn’t very far away. I pulled myself over the edge and then walked over to Shotglass where she sat, looking at the distant red lights of the Laboratory.

“I have a secret for you,” she finally said, not looking at me.

“Excellent. I love secrets,” I said, sitting down next to her and studying the distant building. Was that dark shape on the Lab’s wall a body? Was it moving?

“My secret has a price,” she said, finally turning her head to study me, all pink and pretty sparkles. She looked really, really good. I must have poured too much healing into her, and now she was plotting diabolical plots mixed with her tree weeping and werewolf healing.

“If we’re bargaining, then I should know the contents of the bargain.”

She smiled slightly. “Take it out of me.”

I didn’t want to be in her head again. It made things with Max too uncomfortable, but she’d bothered to come here, and that was probably a good sign. Maybe she knew something about the person who had caused the cave-in. Maybe she’d seen something.

I gingerly touched her forehead and searched for whatever secret she was holding, and I found it, but it was wrapped up in a block exactly like the block on the other mind, the one who I’d heard talking to someone about poisoning werewolves.

I gasped and jerked my fingers away from her. “How?”

Her eyes glimmered with what may have been unshed tears, but it seemed impossible that any tears were left after all the crying she did in the caverns. “I want funding for a hat shop.”

Wait, what? “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“You want my secrets. I didn’t put them in the tree, because the block won’t let me. I didn’t realize it was still there after all this time. I can help you unbind me, though. I want your oath that you will fund my hat shop. Not just any hat shop, it has to be in the shiny district where all the high-class arrogants live. I need a new life here. I can never go back to Fairyland, and pixie dust was the only thing that made this world bearable. Give me your word.”

I sighed heavily. How was I supposed to fund a hat shop? But if she knew something about the blocks, about the possible traitor, I needed to know. Was Max right after all? What did Shotglass know? “You have my word. What is the secret?”

She smiled slightly. “I’ll give it to you when you give me my funding.” With that, she fluttered off into the night, a blur of pink and yellow that faded into shadows. I sat there for some time longer, puzzling over the weird fairy who thought she couldn’t go back to Fairyland even though she wanted to, then shrugged and slid off the roof, grabbing the lip and tossing myself back in the window. I circled down, landing back on the mat, and then with a slight twinge of my conscience, I scooted close to Max’s wolf and slowly put my hand on his fur. When he didn’t move, I moved in closer until I was curled up against his back, my cheek against the silky hair. I immediately felt much better, like a flower that had been moved into the sun after being in starved soil, competing with the hungry roots and selfish leaves of a tree.

I should be worried about the connection I was developing with a werewolf that I needed to cultivate in a consort, but it felt too good to resist, so I fell asleep instead.

“We need to talk,” Max said over breakfast the next morning. We were sitting on the mats eating fairy gruel, just like the remaining fairies who had stayed to help the last of the poison victims. The ones who weren’t entirely recovered had been moved to the hospital, the Bellham in the upper city, but most had walked out on their own.

I looked up at Max. Had he noticed the way I sucked up his energy like a sieve? Was he going to tell me to keep my distance from now on? Would he say that since I wasn’t a pixie dust addict, I wasn’t his duty? I smiled. “Definitely. Where did you get your recipe for this gruel? It’s delicious and revitalizing.”

His eyes narrowed. “You spent too much of your energy on healing. All of it. You were passed out for two days. You need to learn how to use your power more intelligently. If you’re going to heal, you need to learn how to do it right.”

I blinked at him. That’s not what I’d expected. That’s something Vervain would say. Max cut his steak with his knife and took a large bite. I stared at his mouth while he chewed, the lips that were formed so beautifully and showed so well on his freshly shaved chin. He’d showered and shaved this morning in the men’s changing room, but he didn’t smell like bubblegum. “That’s a good idea,” I finally said. Vervain would agree vehemently and continue with a lecture that went on for months. Years. He hadn’t really stopped that lecture, actually, just paused it sometimes to interject something else I should be doing.

“It is. I’m going to give you your first reading lesson, and it will be a healing spell.”

I glanced over at the gruel lady to see if she was within hearing distance. Probably not. I leaned closer to Max and whispered. “I thought your beast was going to teach me.”

He leaned forward so our foreheads were almost touching and whispered, “I am my beast.”

“I have some errands to run,” I whispered again.

“Why are we whispering? Also, as part of your rehabilitation, you are required to take care of yourself so you aren’t burned out all the time. Two days you were passed out. Two days.” He leaned back, shook his head, and tsked at me.

I felt guilty, but not in the same way as usual. “But I’m not a Pixie dust addict.”

“And that’s why you had all the symptoms of a dust addict detoxing. Two days,” he added with a frown.

I batted my lashes at him like I was Shotglass. “Did you miss me terribly?”

“Terribly. And then I had to overextend myself, so I didn’t look apathetic about my own pack compared to Princess Sparkles. As an aside, my beast doesn’t think you’re running away from queenship to save yourself. You don’t have the slightest sense of self-preservation.”

“Your beast? I thought you said that you were him.”

“Yes, but sometimes his opinions about some things are stronger than mine.”

I pointed at him. “That literally makes no sense.”

“Are you saying it’s impossible?”

“I’m saying…” I sighed and took a large bite of the delicious gruel of perfection.

The reading lesson gave me a headache until he moved closer and his arm brushed mine. That connection helped me focus. I could almost hear his thoughts with him so close, about the shapes of the letters, the sounds they made, the meaning that came out of it when the pieces were put together.

The first word of the spell was ‘Sanitorius,’ and it took me a very long time to sound out all the letters and then combine them into one whole, weird word. When I finally managed, I looked up at him, feeling like a victor. His answering smile and twinkling eyes were like a punch to the gut. His mouth was close enough that if I leaned forward a few inches, I could taste him. He smelled so good. For a second I swayed towards him, then with a jerk, I brought myself back to sanity and stood up.

“I need to go on my errand,” I said, edging towards the door. I couldn’t get too close to someone I couldn’t ever make my consort. The entire fairy court would rebel. I might get exiled. No, I wouldn’t, they’d just give me dirty looks and contempt for the rest of my existence. Someone might try to kill me while I was sleeping. Max. They’d try to kill him. My fairies knew how to kill wolves. Maybe I should teach him how to not be quite so soft. No, I’d leave him here and go to Fairyland on my own. Obviously.

“Shall I come with you?” he asked politely.

For a second, I almost thought he meant Fairyland. I smiled brightly. “It’s fairy business. I’m going to the bank.” I’d picked up enough from random fairy thoughts about funding to know that’s where you went for that kind of thing. I still wasn’t sure why Shotglass wanted me to go in her place to get her hat shop funding, but there were so many things I didn’t understand.

His brows rose. “The bank? How startlingly conventional. In Sing or Song? Most places in Song are cutthroat, but many in Sing are run by goblins. Less visibly treacherous, but still dangerous.”

“I’ll be very careful. Thank you for the reading lesson, or thank your beast for the reading lesson?” I smiled and then turned away, but he grabbed my wrist, only for a moment before he released me and returned my smile with his own mild one.

“Why don’t I escort you?”

“Because I don’t need an escort. This is fairy business. I already said that.”

His smile vanished, and he studied me with calculation, like he was considering whether I might be tempted by pixie dust after all. Finally, he held out a small rectangle. “Take this phone. Push this button, and then touch the picture of my face if you run into any trouble. Physical, emotional, magical, or whatever other kind of trouble you could get into.”

I frowned at the phone. “It’s a communication orb without the orb?”

“Yes. It’s technology, but I don’t believe it contains iron. Many fairies use them quite comfortably. Of course, I should have added more sparkles. Next time.”

I hesitated. “If I don’t take this…”

“I’ll follow you,” he said, placing the black rectangle with a tingling buzz in my palm. “I’ll use your own shadow cloak against you like a proper villainous werewolf.” He pulled out another phone and pushed the big button.

The one I was holding vibrated alarmingly.

“Push the button,” he murmured.

I looked at him skeptically, then pushed it and there was his face in the screen. I stared at it and he winked. “Good. Push the button if you have trouble. If it buzzes, push the button and tell me how things are going.”

I nodded at the small Max on the screen, then it went black and I looked up to find him looking pleased.

“Now, you may go on with your fairy business, Princess Sparkles,” he said with an elegant bow.

I dropped a curtsy in Ruin’s baggy clothing. “Thank you, Lord Max, for your kind permission. Ruin and I will steal back my cloak once we craft an elaborate enough plot.”

“Excellent. I’ll see you when you return.”

He sounded so formal. Fairies could be very formal. Werewolves, much less so. “Right. Good luck with your werewolf business.”

“Yes, I suppose I should attend the meeting with the Goblin Authority, who wants to sue the factory that manufactured the poisoned snacks.”

My whole body tightened at the mention of the poisoning. I should have warned him more clearly. Still, he’d said that everyone would make a full recovery. “Max, is there any way to make sure it doesn’t happen again?”

“Probably. Although watching you heal people of every infirmity they’ve ever had was illuminating. You really need to work on your healing.”

I made a face at him and tucked the phone in my pocket. “Yes, well, mustn’t keep the Goblin Authority waiting.” I turned and walked off like I knew where I was going. I had fairies in my head, and most of them were practically coherent, so I mostly knew where the banks would be. Downtown.

The largest and most notable was ‘Granite,’ and, like its name implied, was made of the gray stone, looking very austere and humorless, also very secure with its visible ogre guards and less obvious goblin presence. Goblins were as difficult to keep things out of as fairies.

I walked up the front steps past two large ogres in suits, and four goblins that blended with the stone so most wouldn’t see them. I avoided eye contact, because seeing goblins when they didn’t want to see you was considered something of an insult. I was on my best behavior.

An hour later, I was on my way back out, feeling like my best behavior was absolutely wasted on the goblins. First, I’d waited in line to talk to a clerk with a bald shiny head and glasses that emphasized his beady yellow eyes. Then, he’d had me wait in a chair for a loan officer, and then ended with the goblin in a suit handing me a packet that he had ready for fairies who wandered into his bank who didn’t know what money was. The way he’d said it was incredibly sneering.

I stood on the steps with the fairy explanation about money printed on paper in words I couldn’t read. I frowned at the tiny print and picked out a few letters. S. Oh, and there was an N.

“Can I help you?” a goblin asked, peering at the paper and then at me. His lemon-drop eyes widened, and he looked from me to the building, then back at me. “You came to Granite for a loan? Their interest is terrible.”

“I agree. They weren’t interested in funding a hat shop at all.”

His smile sharpened. “You must not have told them who you are. I saw you the other night at the wolf warehouse, healing everyone. You healed my little sister, who gets in more trouble than I can possibly anticipate. She’s the one who had all those residual poisons in her system that she never told me about, but you pulled it all out of her in a very dramatic moment. Years of poisonings aren’t very appetizing, are they?”

I stared at him. “Years of poisonings? Why in the world would anyone be poisoned for years?”

“She mixes with unsavory types, trying to find her purpose in the puzzle. I have a cousin who rebelled against the goblin stereotypes and became a bodyguard instead of an assassin. My sister goes adventuring. Can I offer you a private loan for your hat shop?”

I frowned at him. He was a goblin who spoke very well, and dressed even better. His nails were perfectly manicured and his dark hair was gleaming, probably from hours of grooming. “What would you want for collateral?” The goblin loan officer had been very clear about my lack of collateral.

His smile was sharp, thanks to his gorgeous teeth being outlined in filigree silver and another black metal that made his white teeth pop. Maybe iron. Those teeth were beautiful, and also made for crunching through extremely hard things, like stone, bone…

I took a step away from him, sideways on the wide granite step. “Never mind.”

His smile grew even more dangerous. “How many goblins are watching you?”

“Six.”

“Six? Are you sure?”

“Four invisible guards, the loan officer who was so disgusted with my lack of collateral, and you.”

“That’s only five.”

“There is another guard in the stairwell who watches out the window. I’m in his line of sight, but I don’t know if he’s actually looking at me. Why do you ask?”

His eyes widened like a goblin could look innocent. He almost pulled it off. “Because I’m going to rob the place. I didn’t know about the stairwell guard. I owe you two.”

“What? No. I don’t do deals like most fairies.” Particularly with anyone stupid enough to try and rob a goblin bank.

“It’s not a deal, it’s a debt. Two debts from one malcontent to another.”

“I’m not a malcontent, but thank you for the offer.” I hurried down the steps, holding my papers while I went away from the goblin, who was clearly looking for more danger in a more careless way than his sister. I went down the block, then another, then turned and was completely disoriented. I stood in front of a place with a flashing cat sign. Cat. I read it on the neon sign. A rush of pride went through me that had me pushing into the place, the scent of fish and rice mixed with something fresh and sparkling. Was that the smell of cooked cat?

A raucous instrument played inside, surrounded by people singing along to the tune with their drinks in front of them. A piano. That’s what it was called. It looked like so much fun.

“Welcome to the Cat’s Pause,” a girl with dark hair streaked with purple said, gliding by like she had wings. No, she had wheels on her shoes. Skates.

“The Cat’s Pause? What does that mean?”

She shrugged and motioned me towards the bar. “I don’t know, but my dad thinks it’s hilarious. I guess it’s a dad joke? Sit down. I’ll be right back.” She rolled off, faster than seemed wise in the fairly busy place. She delivered trays to some customers, so I sat at the bar with my papers in front of me and tried to gather thoughts about funding. Not my thoughts. There were so many different opinions about it, it was almost impossible to know who was right and who was crazy.

“Hey,” the girl said, touching my shoulder. “You okay?”

I blinked at her. “Sorry. I was trying to hear people think, but nothing’s making sense. Why go to a bank to fund your hat shop when they’re just going to say no?”

She frowned and peered at me closer. “Trying to hear people think? You can read people’s minds?”

“Only fairies,” I said, sitting up straight.

The girl looked right and left, checking to make sure the coast was clear and then leaned forward in my space in a way that felt much more intrusive than when Max did it.

“I’m Rynne, and I’m a police officer. I work undercover a lot, so I have to keep it a secret, but if you can really read fairy minds…” Her brows furrowed. “There’s this criminal, locked up, who has information he refuses to tell anyone. If I’m the one who could get him to crack, I could get a huge promotion, yes, but more importantly, I could get the kids the help they need. I don’t have much to pay you, not a loan like the bank, but I can help you work through logistics and find someone who could sponsor your shop.”

I looked at her skeptically. “You want me to read a fairy’s mind? How much fairy does he have?”

She shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“Yes, of course. The more fairy blood, the easier to read their minds.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “But you’re willing to try?”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

She grabbed my arm and hurried me out of the place and into a yellow taxi. I wasn’t as alarmed as I’d been the first time.

“So,” she said while the cab pulled out fast, pushing me against the back seat. “Why do you want to open a hat shop when you don’t wear hats?”

“I don’t. I made a deal with another fairy for some information.”

“Oh. Well, do you know anyone who’s passionate about hats?”

An image of Max’s beast in a hat hit me hard. “Maybe. I mean, if you were in the woods, far away from civilization, but you wore a very nice fedora, that would mean that you liked hats, right?”

“Love. That’s a scary obsession with hats.”

“Definitely,” the cab driver agreed.

Rynne grinned at me. “So, you’ll just have to convince him to help you. How old is he?”

“Does that matter? I can’t ask him. He’s a werewolf.”

“Ooh, a werewolf in a hat? That’s something I’d like to see. How fascinating.”

“And weird,” the driver said, adding, “Mostly weird.”

“Anyway,” Rynne said, scooting closer to me. “I guess werewolves are practically immortal, so the question of age is a moot point. This guy in a fedora. He has the money to do it?”

“I think so. He has a nice house, and a big warehouse. But I can’t ask him to pay for a hat shop.”

“Sure you can, if it’s important to you. Cabbie, stop at Stripe’s on Vineyard.” Then to me, “I’ll pay for your makeover. A rich werewolf who wears a fedora in the woods will have style, and you, in that outfit, are the opposite of style. No offense. Also, werewolves like sex appeal.”

I stared at her. “I’m not a sex appeal person.”

“But to get your funding, if you really want it, maybe you should be.”

And that was the kind of logic I was helpless to fight against.