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I left Khalid to patch up Lucian, even though the family had me trained on wound care because sometimes you just didn’t want to go to the hospital. I needed to find Sage, and I honestly didn’t give a shit if he got gangrene and lost his dick.

She was unharmed when I found her, but I checked her for wounds, anyway. She was telling me what happened after she got kidnapped as we were making our way back and I stopped her.

“First of all, you never eat food from the fair folk. Nothing is free with them. She’s going to come back and want something because that’s how it works with them. People make deals with them all the time because they can’t lie, but they can twist it up so their deals always work in their favor.”

“Um, that’s kind of racist. That could all be human propaganda and she said she helped me because she could feel I’m connected to the Fae somehow.”

Well, wasn’t that me putting my foot in my mouth? And that wasn’t human propaganda. That was my Nana’s propaganda. My Da prepared me to take over a criminal empire and my Nana wanted to make damned sure I didn’t trade my first born to the Fae.

“Sorry, my Nana is very superstitious and Irish,” I said, rubbing my forehead.

If I was growing horns, I wish they’d just get here already. It hurt and itched like a motherfucker. Then again, my babysitter when I was a wee lad put on that alien movie when I was a kid and I was into it when it was just a beautiful woman in her knickers on a spaceship, but didn’t like it when things started bursting out of people’s stomachs.

I probably shouldn’t be thinking about that when things were growing out of my forehead.

“You know how everyone met you and was sure you were a trickster, but you kept saying that didn’t feel right?” she said.

“Yeah. And I was right.”

“Saffron said a lot of the things they were picking up as trickster are also common in gods who can communicate with wildlife.”

Wicked.

When we got back, the plonker who ate all our food wasn’t rolling about in pain like he just took an arrow to the leg. I didn’t have Doris, my switch blade, but maybe I could pluck one of the arrows from a tree and stab him with it since the first one didn’t hurt enough.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Khalid said. “I managed to get the arrow out and he just healed. I used one of the arrows to prick my arm. It’s starting to heal. We have speed healing, but nothing as fast as Lucian.”

Well, that took all the fun out of maiming Lucian if he was just going to heal instantly.

“Let’s walk and talk since Lucian isn’t injured,” Khalid said. “We still need to find the first crystal. I don’t know why Lucian scared off the people with arrows, but his eyes glowed red.”

Another reason I didn’t trust him.

Sage filled everyone in on what they were and what Saffron told her. Khalid looked right at me.

“Maybe you’re Pan?”

“That would be epic, but Pan was Greek and I’m Irish. Headmaster Mykene said where you’re from is important.”

“Sorry, I haven’t studied Irish history or gods much. I was hoping to do that at Oxford.”

“Yeah, well, my Da is a criminal and a murderer, but he’s at mass every chance he gets. He’d beat my arse if I was thinking of going protestant, much less pagan,” I groused.

“You can talk to forest animals and we heal quickly. That’s without our full magic. I’m pretty sure it would be no contest if he tried to hurt you now,” Lucian said.

I looked at Lucian for a minute.

“I don’t actually want to beat your face in right now.”

“I have a theory,” Khalid said.

“You’re the smart one, so go ahead,” Sage said.

“The fairies moved too fast for me to see. What did you see, Lucian?”

“What are you talking about? He just walked up to me.”

“No, the fairies have super speed and Saffron was able to pick me up and carry me, so they have some pretty impressive strength, too, as Saffron is smaller than me.”

Could confirm. It was the only reason one of them had been able to get me on my arse. If I could have seen them coming, it would have gone differently. That was cheating.

“I’m pretty sure whatever you are, you have super speed, too, and that’s why you were the only one who could stop them. It wasn’t that. They were scared when your eyes flashed red.”

“Saffron said fairies only miss when they mean to. They weren’t trying to hit us and were mostly trying to scare us until they realized Lucian has more of his magic than the rest of us. I didn’t see the red eyes, and neither did Saffron. She would have said something if she did. Saffron said they are just supposed to be messing with us to divert us from the crystals, but if they sense something, they can help us, too.”

“Someone better help me soon because even though I ate all our food, it feels like I skipped several meals and am getting woozy.”

“I’m not sure if what Saffron gave me will help you since I don’t think you’re Fae.”

“Absolutely not. He’s not taking any more of your food.”

“Sorry, but I can smell it and it’s turning my stomach,” he moaned.

“Really?” Khalid said. “I can smell it, too, and it’s not offensive at all. It actually smells delicious.”

I couldn’t smell a damned thing, but that food was for Sage. If a fairy was going to pop up and help Sage, then one of these bitches needed to show their face and tell Lucian what he wanted to eat.

Because the wildlife and the fairies seemed worried about it.