Faerie Magic (8 page)

I watched him uneasily. Sure, I knew I’d drawn the faeries’ attention—and then some—when I’d closed the veil, but most of them didn’t keep a close eye on humans. My magic wasn’t obtrusive unless I was fighting, and besides, our house was now warded so thoroughly, any hostile faerie who came near would burn to a crisp.

When the Cavanaughs left, I turned to Isabel. “I already want to take this thing off.”

“Shifter scent?” she asked me. “That’s three times now he’s noticed it around the flat. Faeries, I get, but super-powered shifters? Unless there’s a client I don’t know about or Larsen’s finally shifted, the only powerful supernatural who’s been here is the Mage Lord.”

“Remember I told you he’s part shifter?”

“Oh yeah.” She frowned. “You said he was quarter-blooded.”

“I don’t know the details,” I said. “Don’t think he’s on friendly terms with that side of the family. He can’t shift into a full animal form, only partially. I’ve seen him do it when fighting.”

“Damn.” She blinked. “I knew he was powerful, but shifters are… volatile. Dangerous.”

Dangerous. Yeah. Too bad common sense didn’t always function the way it was supposed to when I was around the Mage Lord.

“Don’t worry, he’s perfectly in control.” Aside from the time the faeries had unleashed magic on him and made him lose it and attack me. But Isabel had been unconscious for that part. “Anyway. Time to put this to the test.” I put on a show of confidence, even twirling on the spot when I passed the hall mirror just to see what faerie-me looked like. Isabel snorted.

“You could start a new career as a ballet dancer. Half-faeries who go into the arts earn a fortune.”

“No thanks,” I said. “I’ve got a couple of hours, right?”

“Yep. Be careful.”

“Always am.”

I heard her say something like,
that’s what I’m scared of,
as I left the building.

CHAPTER SIX

Walking through town as a half-faerie was… not what I’d expected. For the first time, the faerie-kind—dryads in the trees, piskies buzzing around the flowerbeds in gardens—looked right past me rather than flying up and trying to pull my hair or shouting obscenities at me. On the other hand, the few humans I passed glared openly. I was pretty much used to hostility by now, so I ignored them.

At the hedges bordering half-blood territory, I hesitated. My plan had seemed sound until I’d actually reached my destination. I’d get inside, pretend I knew Alain, and get her to talk to me alone. If I couldn’t get answers out of her, I’d have to resort to threats. I’d only reveal my true identity as a last resort. No one would guess who I was. I doubted any other human would be stupid enough to deliberately walk into their territory, even in disguise. My stomach flipped with nerves as I approached the gate. I had no Mage Lord for backup this time.

The gate sprang open before I reached it. I stared, half expecting a guard to be waiting to oust me as human, but nobody appeared. Did my faerie magic give me a free pass? It couldn’t be my blood or even my DNA—that was unchanged. Unless the faeries had security cameras or spies. I hesitated, scanning the hedge, but saw nobody. Odd. But not surprising. Faerie magic defied all logic.

Inside, the layout had slightly changed, the paths shifting to the opposite side of the grassy lawn. Autumn leaves littered the ground, and a river ran through the centre. Did the half-faeries rearrange the layout of this place on a whim? Based on my past experience in Faerie, I’d suspect so. Powerful Sidhe lords could wave a hand and conjure up a castle.

Or a torture chamber.

A shiver ran down my neck. I held my head high, not looking too closely at any of the faeries I passed. A group of half-selkies splashed in the river, while nymphs melted in and out of the shallows and gnomes ran through the grass. Groups of half-faerie teenagers lounged on the lawn on the other side of the river. Nobody gave me a second glance.

This was really weird. I felt like I wore an invisibility cloak, and actually had to look down at my body to check I was still here. Paranoia was so ingrained, I nearly jumped when two female half-faeries walked around the corner, deep in conversation. They passed by without even looking at me.

I paused, then turned back and followed after. “Hey,” I said. “Er… do you know if they caught the killer yet?”

One of them, a stunning young woman with ivory-white hair and deep green eyes, looked at me curiously. “Yes. Where have you been?”

“Out,” I said vaguely. I assumed the half-faeries had license to leave the territory whenever they felt like it. “I heard about the murders. Is he in jail?”

“He is, yes.”

I didn’t ask where the jail was, though I wanted to—the question might give the game away. Instead, I said, “Okay. Er… is anyone investigating a possible connection between the two deaths?”

Two pairs of confused eyes stared at me. “No. Why would they be?”

“No reason.” Damn. I didn’t want to make them suspicious. “Murder isn’t common in here, right?”

“No, but everyone’s been tense since the veil opened,” said the second half-faerie, whose fair hair glittered like spun silk. “They’re saying one of the Sidhe came here and opened it, somehow. Some people wanted to go back into Faerie, but the veil didn’t stay open long enough.”

Velkas.

I opened my mouth to ask if
she
wanted to go to Faerie, but the answer, clearly, was no. In fact, aside from their unnatural beauty, both of them wore plain T-shirts and jeans. Like modern-day human teenagers.

Weird. Definitely weird.

“Er, thanks,” I said. Their confusion would turn into suspicion soon, and I didn’t want to draw unneeded attention. “Just wondered. Er, is Alain around?”

“Alain Delian? Yes, she’s at home.”

I nodded.
Good.

“Thanks,” I said again, and they walked away. I shook my head, slightly disarmed.

It was only when I reached Alain’s flat that I realised I’d just had a civilised conversation with two half-blooded faeries.
This is so weird.

I braced myself to have to face her enraged half-troll boyfriend again, but when I rang the doorbell, nobody answered for a good five minutes. I fidgeted, catching glimpses of my reflection in the small window above the door. Every time, I had to remind myself the spell wasn’t permanent. I’d rather be mortal than half a faerie.

After I rang the doorbell for the third time, a voice said thickly, “Who is it?”

“Alain?” I asked uncertainly. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I have something really important I need to talk to you about.”

A pause. I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping that bloody half-troll wouldn’t answer the door. Instead, a golden haired young woman did. Alain. Like last time, she looked like she’d been crying. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her hands trembling as she opened the door.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m really sorry about this, but I had to speak to—”

“Come in.”

I blinked. “Uh. Your boyfriend isn’t in there, is he?”

She burst into tears.

Whoa.
I froze up. Call me insensitive, but I never have a clue how to deal with the waterworks. Especially coming from a half-faerie.

“What’s wrong?”

Alain sobbed into her hands. “He’s—he killed someone. I don’t want them to take me away.”

Oh. Shit.
“He’s the murderer they caught?”

Between sobs, she nodded, backing into the hall. I’d followed her in before I could stop and question what I was doing. The hallway looked normal enough, but rather than unlocking the door to her flat, she pressed a finger to it and the door melted away. The sound of birdsong rang out, and I stopped to stare.

Her flat looked, in short, like an imitation of Summer Faerie territory grown into one room. Wild grass took the place of a carpet. Bright pink and purple flowers grew in every corner, while several drooping blooms formed a cage around three toadstools. She threw herself down on one of them, sobbing.

I’d have made her a cup of tea—well, that was Isabel’s way of dealing with a crisis—but the forested area covering the rest of her flat might hide anything. Hesitantly, I walked over and sat down on another of the toadstools. It was about as comfortable as it looked.

“Tell me what happened,” I said, as gently as possible.

“He—he went to the Trials. Then he came back and he was different. Angry. He went out, and I didn’t see him for days. Then… then I heard he’d been arrested for killing someone. I’m scared—they’ll blame me. Nobody’s talking to me. I—”

But that’s not true.
I saw Alain in the vision. She’d known what he’d done. Sure, he was her boyfriend, so she might jump to his defence, but still.

“So he… wait. Where did you say he went before he came back changed?” I asked.

“The Trials,” she said.

“The Trials… I’ve not heard of them.”

Alain’s bloodshot eyes stared at me. “Who hasn’t heard of the Trials?”

“I’ve led a sheltered life,” I said.

She wiped her eyes. “Everyone knows. The winner of the Trials gets free passage into the Faerie Realm. They take place every night at twilight. I thought you were from there…” She squinted at me. “Weren’t you there on the first night?”

Whoa.
Not
legal.
Or possible. Who the hell was making these promises?

An image flashed through my mind of a faerie warrior wearing Avakis’s armour. One who could walk through the worlds at will.

No. Velkas is dead.

Unless someone had decided to follow in his footsteps. He’d had help on this side of the veil. Maybe even from the half-faeries…

“Wait,” I said.
“Where
in the Faerie Realms?”

“Does it matter? All the realms are the same. You didn’t answer my question.”

No. They’re not the same
. Half-blood territory played homage to Summer and Winter. They’d even thought Velkas was from Faerie. Did the half-faeries know the Grey Vale existed at all?

Damn. If they didn’t, it explained a
lot.
For one, why they’d trusted Velkas. For another, why some of them were pissed I’d closed the veil. They didn’t know what lurked on the other side would have likely killed them along with everyone else. Because nobody had explained it to them. The only half-faerie witnesses to what happened had been the ghosts who’d come back when the veil opened, and they’d disappeared once I’d closed it.

“How exactly are they promising to take you back?”

“Only the winner finds out.” She sniffed. “Anyway—he won. But when he came home, he was different, and… and…” She burst into a fresh wave of sobs.

Damn.
It sounded like someone at these
Trials
was ambushing people and handing out illegal drugs. Or selling them. Promising to take people to Faerie, though… either it was a trick, or someone was screwing around with the energy of the realms. Again.

Great.

“Er,” I said, over her crying. “Did your boyfriend mention… if anything strange happened while he was at the Trials? If anyone, er, gave him anything, or promised…” I trailed off.

“Gave him what? Who’ve you been talking to?”

I think that’s my cue to leave.
“Nobody. It’s just weird how his behaviour changed overnight. If that’s not normal. Uh.” Stop babbling, Ivy.

Alain stood, sweeping her golden curls over her shoulder. Even in this state, she was still gorgeous. “Who
are
you?” she asked. “You look like someone I’ve met before. You aren’t from the Trials.”

“You’ve probably seen me.” I stood, too, as casually as possible. “I’m sorry for what happened, but I’ve somewhere I need to be.”

I turned my back, and vines shot out of the floor, pulling me into the air. I yelped, hanging upside-down. “What the hell?”

Alain approached me, squinting. “Something’s not right about your magic.”

“I’m Summer.” The green eyes were usually an indicator, though my natural eye colour was pale blue.

“No,” she said, moving her hands in a scything motion. “You’re human.”

Crap. Cover blown. Literally. A breeze swept me up and slammed me into the nearest tree, and I
felt
the disguise melt off my skin, revealing my human form beneath. My back struck against the bark, and I gasped as the air rushed out of my lungs. Drawing my knees up to my chest, I managed to land in a crouch.

“You took advantage of me, you bitch,” Alain shouted. Tears streamed down her face, and I held my hands up in surrender.

“I’m sorry,” I said.
You did invite me in,
I wanted to say, but that wouldn’t be a wise move. “I’m leaving, I swear.”

She raised her hands to the ceiling and a torrent of water shot towards me. I raised my arms, stupidly, but the deluge swamped me from head to toe. I spat out salty water, realising she’d turned her own tears into a weapon. What the hell kind of crazy Alice in Wonderland crap was this?