Page 3

Chapter

Three

C limbing the rock was interesting in that I had a warrior wolf breathing on my ankles the entire way. It was a threat that inspired my aching fingers to keep holding on. When I reached the top, I peered over the edge of the nest to find the enormous owl staring at me with its unblinking orange eyes.

“Now what?” I whispered.

“Now you put the egg in the nest,” he whispered back.

Right. But how? The owl was staring at me. It was so big. It could take off my forearm with one snap of that vicious beak. I took a shaky breath then pulled myself up to crouch on the thin ledge beneath the nest while Max held onto the cliff face, out of range of the vicious beak. He gave me an encouraging nod as I opened the backpack and carefully lifted the helmet out. The egg was large, half the size of my head. It was going to be another giant owl, probably.

I undid the clasp and rolled the egg back into the nest at the feet of the owl without touching it.

“Sorry about that,” I said with another bright smile.

The owl raised its head and then bowed regally.

My smile faltered as I stared at that glorious creature, for a moment taken out of my own misery as I felt the bird’s approval. Maybe it really was an owl god. I bowed back, as gracefully as possible. Grace was my name, but graceful, I was not. My foot slipped and I stumbled backwards. Max grabbed me under my armpits, tossed me onto his shoulder, and then proceeded to climb down like I weighed absolutely nothing. From my position, the ground was dizzying as I hung over his shoulder, staring past his feet, and to the floor far below. It was covered in owl droppings, the same ones that were stuck to my feet. Hm. That would make excellent fertilizer for the terraforming murderer.

He took his time descending, choosing every foothold and handhold carefully like he didn’t have the ability to summon his beast with claws that could pierce stone easily enough. Wolf warriors’ claws could go through anything.

Finally, he leapt lightly to the floor and released me, lowering me into the thick, squishy bird droppings. Shoes. I definitely needed shoes like Max’s big black boots if I was going to be running around in these caverns regularly. I was starting to get the inklings of an idea. How to stay close enough to him and his people to protect them, while ferreting out the fairy who could block my will, and had almost certainly visited these caverns in the past.

“Come on,” he said, grasping my shoulder again, marching me through the owl cavern. As we went, he made a strange sound in his throat at the owls, and they made bobbing motions, like they were acknowledging him.

“You talk to them?” I asked.

“It’s either make friends with them, or eat them. I dislike eating feathers, and owls are mostly feathers. What about you? Shall I eat you or make friends with you?”

I glanced at his hand on my shoulder. Friends? I didn’t have friends. I had subjects and misery. What would it be like to have a friend? It would be nice, but if I did have a friend, it wouldn’t be with a warrior wolf. Not a chance. “Neither.”

“Neither?”

“I’m not your duty. I’m just a fairy that’s passing through.” My stomach cramped and I hunched over and focused on breathing through my nostrils. What was wrong with me? Oh. I needed to take more medicine or the medicine craving would be worse than the death-sickness that it helped numb.

“Actually, you are my duty, and you aren’t going anywhere until you’re capable of making clear-headed choices. This is an intervention, Sparkles. If a fairy comes to my caverns, she’s getting treatment.” He squeezed my shoulder with his warm hand, like he wanted to give me his strength while he waited for my moment of weakness to pass.

It did, and when we got to the main cavern, we kept walking, but I tripped on nothing and would have fallen if he didn’t grab my waist and continue walking with me dangling down at his side. From that position, I could slice through his neck with my blade wings, but would it go all the way through? Also, and most importantly, he was my best chance of getting close to the werewolves without them realizing that fairies were threatening them.

“What treatment?” I asked after a long time.

“Detox mostly. But first, we’re going to the library.”

A library was full of books. I didn’t read. Clearly, he did. That was unexpected. “Why are we going to the library?” Maybe they had better containment options for fairies. We were notoriously difficult to contain, although he didn’t make it look hard at all.

“If you’re going to write a dissertation about werewolves, then you should do research in the library, not in Song. The library is safe. Song is not. We’ll get you some books to study while you’re in the detention center.”

“But…” I frowned up at him while I dangled from his arm. “Maybe you should put me down. This isn’t very dignified.”

He lowered me, his grip on my shoulder absolutely implacable, but also gentle. Careful. He knew that my dissertation was a lie. He thought I was sick from pixie-dust, not death sickness, but either way, he was determined to heal me. If only there was a way to cure the sickness. I could draw it out of someone, but then it was stuck to me.

“You say that the library is safe, but why would a werewolf care if a fairy you’ve never met is safe? Werewolves hate fairies.” Yes. He should hate me, but he called me his duty, and said he was going to heal me, instead. Was he really so na?ve, or was he setting me up for something truly awful?

He nodded. “In general terms, yes, they do. And you come here, knowing that werewolves hate fairies? You clearly need intervention.” He flashed me a smile, once more showing his teeth, but his eyes were concerned.

The look in his eyes shocked me to my core. This furry monster was concerned about my safety. Ruin was right. He was crazy. “You think that I intended to harm myself? I don’t think fairies are capable of not wanting to protect their own interests. We’re selfish and narcissistic as a rule.”

He flashed me another smile. “They would also never admit it, particularly to a lesser creature like me.”

No one called themselves lesser, so he was being sarcastic, or he was referring to the way I thought about him, which I’d made abundantly clear through my very unsubtle insults. Yes, I was definitely helping to promote the cause of peace and equity between all species. Not. My mother would be so disappointed in me. Was he lesser? He definitely had more body mass. And hair. And wasn’t using his long legs to walk fast so I had to jog to keep up.

“What makes someone lesser?” I asked, avoiding a direct response.

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t rank people or breeds.”

“Oh. But werewolves have alphas.”

“That’s a position of responsibility, not a signifier of betterment.”

I cocked my head as I studied him. “For a warrior wolf, you seem rather intelligent.”

He narrowed his eyes as he studied me. “You have some ideas about warrior wolves that suggests you’ve seen them at their less than civilized. You definitely need to get some books on werewolves. You’re only afraid of what you don’t understand.”

“I’m afraid of all kinds of things I understand. Such as lava. And bark beetles. And werewolves. Your behavior is not typical. I’d expect that if you find a fairy in your domain, you’d trap it, torture it, and then kill it. But your reactions are all wrong. What is the real truth of werewolves? No, what is the real truth of Max?”

He smiled and cocked his head. “Now that’s a question. Still, this is Singsong City. We make a point of not killing anyone without reason.”

“But I’m a fairy. That’s a reason.”

“That’s not reason, it’s instinct or prejudice. Those are the opposite of reason.”

“Ah.” I nodded slowly like that made sense, even though it really didn’t. Maybe sense would come together once my stomach stopped cramping and all of me stopped aching. I felt better now than earlier, but that was a far cry from actually feeling good. I couldn’t remember what that was like. ‘Poor fairy princess,’ Vervain would say, pouting at me in full mock-sympathy. What would Max say if I complained about my cramping stomach? I really had no idea. He was so soft, but he was still a warrior wolf. It was such a contrast, a juxtaposition, a paradox. I almost wanted to study him in earnest.

We left the caverns and went out into the undercity, Song, which was also a cavern, but even higher than the owl cave. Many of the buildings went up into the stone and out on the top side of the city. I’d crept through Song on my way to the caverns, but I hadn’t really looked around. The neighborhood right outside the caves was filled with gray houses that blended with the rocks, their walls right up against each other. The singing lamps lit the streets very brightly after the darkness of the caves.

As we walked along, doors opened and werewolves came out to stare at us. They looked at me how werewolves should, full of hatred, suspicion, and disgust.

“Are you going to kill it?” one old man asked, frowning at me. His teeth were particularly yellow and jagged.

I leaned into Max, away from those teeth.

“Freddy, we don’t kill fairies,” Max replied with a sigh.

Freddy glanced away. “Sure, but if you were to accidentally fall on her with your teeth, I’ve got dibs on her wings.”

Max growled and Freddy stiffened up. My own skin went all goose-bumpy from the sound that went up my spine and to my brain, waking up an ancient fear that screamed at me to run, to fight, to kill it before it killed me. He was a warrior wolf whether he knew it or not. Oh, the damage he could do if someone hadn’t brainwashed him into thinking he had duty.

“We. Don’t. Kill. Fairies,” Max ground out.

Freddy dropped to his knees, head bowed. “Apologies, my lord.” He touched his forehead to the dirty gray cobbles while Max started moving faster.

“My lord? You’re the alpha then? I still have goosebumps. You’re terrifying. Also slightly deceptive for saying that there is no ranking when you’re at the top of the food chain.” My words tumbled out in a hysterical babble. The Alpha? And he was crazy? Perfect. Just perfect. I wouldn’t just die, I’d be tortured in weird, creative ways.

He glanced at me, still frowning. “You’re exhausted.” That’s all he said, before he returned to the former steady pace that I could keep up with, if barely. I appreciated that he didn’t pick me up again. That would be beyond humiliating no matter how wiped out I was. I was so tired of being sick, of not doing enough for my people, tired of the burden of a world I couldn’t fix.

We continued through Song, the underbelly of Singsong, past a place with signposts to Wonderland, a castle in the distance peeking through creepy-looking trees, with another massive building on the opposite side of the street in sand-colored stone, with lions guarding the front doors.

“The architecture isn’t very cohesive down here, is it?” I asked.

“No. Each district has its own style, origins, and tastes.”

“Like werewolves want everything to be the color of gray sludge. What kind of thing likes lions and sand?” I asked, nodding in the direction of the pillared massive thing that went all the way to the ceiling high above.

“The Sphinx. He’s a cat shifter.”

I glanced away from the building back to him. “A cat shifter? Like a tabby or a calico?”

“Like a sabre-tooth tiger with a plaid fetish. He’s a weird guy.”

I blinked at him then nodded at the woods with ‘Wonderland’ in the distance. “And who owns that?”

“A demon. A devil? I forget which is which. You aren’t going anywhere near Wonderland. It doesn’t look like you have any money, so you can’t lose it in gambling, but he’d take souls in the place of cash, if they were shiny enough.”

“My soul isn’t shiny.”

“No? Lucky Sparkles. I guess your soul is safe with him. Still, you aren’t going there.”

I had no interest in going somewhere run by a demon or a devil, whatever the difference was, but at the same time, it wasn’t his place to tell me what I could and couldn’t do.

I cleared my throat and tried to stand up straight. “My Lord Max, I’m afraid you’ve made a mistake. I’m capable of making my own decisions.”

“Princess Sparkles, I’ll believe you when the only thing keeping you on your feet isn’t my hand on your shoulder. You would have fallen half a dozen times.”

“Well, the train ride was exhausting.”

“The beds weren’t comfortable?”

“Beds? There are beds in the train? I suppose I should have gone inside, but I wasn’t sure how to do that without damaging something.”

“Ah. They’re called doors. You rode on the outside of a train? Yes, you’re perfectly capable of making your own bad decisions. You get to take a break from bad decisions until your head is right.”

“My head is right. I’m not the crazy one who talks to owls and tries to heal fairies.”

He smiled slightly. “Save your energy for walking, Princess Sparkles.”

I glared at him. “My name isn’t Princess Sparkles. It’s Grace.”

His brows rose. “Really? You’re Grace? Or should I say, your grace?”

I shifted uncomfortably. I’d never been graceful, so the name was always a reminder of what I wasn’t. Fairies weren’t as graceful as elves, because we were too flighty and changed directions too easily, but I was definitely less graceful than a princess should be.

“You can call me Sparkles.” It was more attainable than Grace.

“And you can call me Max. My Lord sounds like an exclamation of concern.”

“I think that’s a good name for you, then. Every time I look at you, I want to make an exclamation of concern.”

He rumbled deep in his throat and nodded us forward. The library was in the upper city above the Laboratory, which we’d have to go through. The Lab was a truly creepy building, a castle lit with red lights, bodies hanging from the walls, but inside was clean, clinical.

Max took me to a little café off the large main hall. The cafe had a garden inside in the center of the space. They had lights that called to me along with the growing life.

“Oooh,” I said, heading directly towards the garden.

Max pulled me back so I bumped into his chest. “No. Fairies can make delicate tech explode,” he rumbled in my ear while my heart beat rapidly at being so close to so much big bad wolf before he released me and headed towards the counter.

“Max, what can I get for you?” the guy behind said, looking dull and bored. What was he? That rugged hair was wolfish, but he didn’t look at me like I was something to kill, like an insect to be swatted out of hand.

“What do fairies eat?” Max asked.

That made the guy’s face wrinkle up as he considered. “Pollen? Nectar? I don’t know. You seem to have a fairy attached to you that you could ask.”

Max frowned down at me. “Princess Sparkles, what do you eat?”

I opened my mouth to argue about the Princess part then sighed. He was an insane Lupin Lord. I was too tired to argue about how he said my title. “I don’t eat. I have a delicate stomach. Sometimes I sip poppy pollen,” I said with a shrug. When was the last time I’d eaten? Vervain used to go on and on about it until even he got tired of the lectures.

Max shook his head at me. “Sure, you can take care of yourself. Poppy pollen?” He turned back to the guy behind the counter. “Fairy diet is mostly plant-based, but insects are necessary. Most prefer dragonflies over butterflies. Crunch is more pleasant than squish, don’t you agree?”

The guy behind the counter started gagging. “Gross.”

“Wrong,” Max corrected with a sharp smile. “Insects are much more hygienic than mammalian blood your employer consumes. Give Sparkles a salad.” He leaned forward and growled ever so slightly, making the guy jump.

“Chill out,” the man said, shaking his head at Max. “No reason to get all bent out of shape just because some sparkly thing gets caught in your fur.” He turned and started making a salad. I was surprised when he slid it over the counter and there were flowers mixed in the leaves. It was pretty, with nuts and berries as well to give it color and contrast, but there was no way I could eat it.

I frowned at it and then at Max. He sighed, grabbed the salad and my shoulder then walked me over to a booth near the magical underground garden. It was so pretty, with bright flowers and even brighter frogs hiding among the foliage. I wanted to touch one. Maybe lick it. A frog that bright was probably almost as poisonous as me.

“Eat,” Max said, once we were both sitting.

I frowned at the salad then up at him. “You want me to eat that? Why? Fairies are very hard to poison, unlike werewolves who are almost too easy.” I swallowed hard after I said that. I couldn’t just blurt out that fairies were planning to poison his people, but I needed to plant the paranoia in him somehow.

He said, “Because fairies are always thin, but you’re skeletal. I know that if fairies get too hungry, they feed on flesh. It’s better if I feed you before I take you to the library.”

“I’m not…” I trailed off as I stared at my arm and my fingers. Skeletal was the word. Fairies weren’t always thin, but in my case, I was definitely malnourished. I suppose my medicine and poppy pollen wasn’t nourishing enough. Of course it wasn’t. Vervain said it wasn’t, and he was always right.

“Eat,” Max said, grabbing the fork, stabbing some flowers and greens and holding it to my mouth.

I opened my mouth automatically and let him feed me. I chewed slowly, staring at Max, wondering how in the world he’d been able to get me to eat when Vervain couldn’t do it. Oh. I was in his territory, and he’d bound me to his duty. He was more powerful than he realized and could command those who were weak-willed or part of his pack. Was I weak-willed, or did him claiming that I was his duty put me in some temporary pack position? Which was the more terrifying option? I should spit the salad out at him and run, but I probably really did need to eat…

After three bites, the food hit my delicate stomach and then I was retching on the floor, bits of salad sizzling in sparkling purple goo that hissed and steamed. If I was a poisoner, I’d collect all that vomit to redistribute to the enemy. As it was, I just huddled on that bench and felt like an idiot.

“I told you my stomach was delicate,” I snapped at Max.

He smiled back at me and then held another bite of salad to my lips. I tried to keep my mouth closed, but as his eyes bore into mine, I opened and took another bite. That time, it was a dozen bites before my stomach rebelled, and I was once again retching, but this time there were gooey black strands that trailed from the sparkling oozing pile to my mouth and down my throat. So gross. Was this my medicine or the death sickness coming out? Either way, good thing I wasn’t trying to make a positive impression.

I pulled the strands out, feeling that slimy slick come up my throat until I let it all slide off my fingers into the pile of seriously toxic ooze on the floor. It was so sparkly. So deadly. So representative of me and my life.

I glared at Max, arms crossed as he held up another bite.

I shook my head, lips pressed together.

He cocked his head and his eyes started glowing golden and dangerous.

“I’ll just throw up again,” I protested, sounding weak and whiny.

“That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

I glowered at him. “Next time, I’ll aim in your direction.”

“Whatever you want, Sparkles.”

I rolled my eyes and took a bite. I ate as slowly as possible, resisting his will until, finally, the plate was empty. I laughed in relief and it sounded hysterical. Yep. I’d eaten real food without vomiting. The world was a crazy place.

He studied me with eyes full of soft concern. “How do you feel?”

I cleared my throat. “Fine.” I fidgeted with my fork, tapped it a few times on the plate and then put it down and looked up at him. “Shall we go?”

He shook his head. “In a minute. We’ll have to wait here until someone comes who can take care of the mess for us. Just sit and relax, wait for the solid-ish food to hit your system.”

“Solidish?”

He smiled slightly and leaned back. “Salad isn’t actually solid, which is good for a little fairy that lacks body mass.”

“I’m not a little fairy. I’m perfectly average.” That was a lie. I actually was on the small side, which Vervain mentioned when he wanted to remind me how superior he was.

He raised a dark brow. “I’ve already met all the ones who are taller than you?”

I sniffed and glanced away. It was rude to talk about how small someone is. In the next minute, a man came up to our table, tall, dark-haired, with gleaming red eyes in his pale face.

He focused on Max and gave him a slight nod. “Alpha. What brings you to my laboratory?”

His laboratory? Ah. This was a power play. There must be so many in a city like Singsong with all the big bads living, literally, on top of each other.

Max gestured at me. “We are on our way to the library, where I’m going to ask the Librarian for texts on fairies, while Miss Grace is going to research werewolves for her dissertation. I wonder if we might trouble you for some clean-up before we venture there. Miss Sparkles has a delicate stomach. Perhaps while you’re at it, you could give me some of your detox drops.”

The newcomer was strikingly handsome, with eyes that shifted from red to purple, with bits of blue peeking through. As he studied me, my skin prickled, like I was facing a warrior wolf. This predator was gauging me as both threat and prey. Could he hunt me? Did he need to?

When the stranger smiled, showing fangs, I gasped and grabbed Max’s hand, squeezing it hard.

“I don’t like vampires,” I hissed, not taking my eyes off the new threat. I definitely, very much, did not. He wasn’t handsome anymore, not to me.

Max squeezed my hand back. “The Scholar is hardly a common, mindless vampire. He’s one of the most stable monsters in the city. Notice how when I badmouth vampires, he doesn’t even twitch?”

The Scholar shot Max a look. “I’ll get your drops. Why don’t you take the fairy that dislikes vampires out of my laboratory before she insults any other common, mindless vampires?”

Max pulled me out of the booth, tugging me behind him, so that the vampire would have to go through him to get to me. I kept close to Max’s broad back, thinking of the best way to kill the vampire. Probably, if I ripped the heart out of its chest, that would slow him down.

Yes. I’d start with that.

We left the café and went back into the main hall, with labs on either side with windows that showed the bizarre work that went on down here. All of it was creepy. I kept glancing over my shoulder, making sure the vampire hadn’t decided to pursue us while our backs were turned.

Everyone else nodded at Max, like they knew him and had respect that wasn’t too stiff. Of course not. He had potential for destruction, but wouldn’t ever use it until that softness had been worn down by time and experience. I’d been like that too. So soft, so stupid, so optimistic. No one stayed that way forever.

We passed an ogre who sniffed large nostrils and looked at me like I was appetizing. I looked down at my bare knees and shoulders, where the jagged rocks had shredded my skin. My blood was sparkly, but didn’t drip much. Fairy blood was thick, dark, closer to purple than red. And mine was all poison.

I smiled at the ogre. “Do you want to taste my blood? Just a lick?”

Max shot me a look before he growled at the ogre. “Don’t even think about it. One taste would kill you.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “Do you delight in stealing candy from babies as well? I see. That’s why you wouldn’t let Ruin keep the egg. All happiness must be vanquished from the world, or Max’s duty would shrivel up and blow away.”

He shook his head at me. “I’m Ruin’s guardian. That means if she hatches an owl egg, I’m the one who has to take care of it. I’m busy taking care of her and the rest of her crew.”

“The crew?” I mused as we approached a large metal grate that was all curlicue. It looked like iron. When we got close, yes, definitely iron. My skin was already a mess. I didn’t need pockmarks from corrosion. I needed more clothing. I couldn’t brush up against iron accidentally, and my feet were still gooey from the owl droppings. I needed at least boots, sleeves, and pants. That would be much better than the gauzy layers I’d stuck around myself with my saliva. My saliva was very sticky when it wasn’t pure poison.

I looked up at Max. “Do you happen to have a cloak I could borrow?”

Max shook his head. “Not on me. Are you cold?”

I shivered, but it didn’t mean anything. I’d been cold for a century. “Iron is to be avoided. Also owl droppings. I don’t think I’m dressed for a dissertation.”

With a blur, the vampire appeared in front of us with a slight smile, holding up a bottle of blue-glowing liquid. “We have a lost and found. I’ll see what we have and then send it up to you. How long will you be in the library? Also, we could stop by the infirmary to take care of your wounds,” he said, giving me a look that made me very uncomfortable, like he was dying to have me behind one of those windows to dissect me and find out what made me tick.

Max took the drops, tucking them into his pocket. “You have my thanks for these, but the cloak isn’t necessary.”

The Scholar raised his brow. “No? Interesting. Her blood is very tempting. Not to me, but to those around us.”

“Which is why we’re leaving,” Max said, opening a door and escorting me into the iron elevator, careful to stay on both sides of me so I didn’t accidentally bump a wall. I stepped onto his boots because the floor was suspicious.

The position was slightly awkward as we stood so close together, looking through the bars at the vampire.

“With thanks.” Max wrapped an arm around my waist and then offered the vampire a small bow, which the vampire returned. The next thing I knew, we were rising at a brisk pace. Happily, Max’s arm stayed where it was, so I did too.