Fort Lupton (47 page)

Yvonne sighed. Dionne scowled.

“
What is it?” Dionne
asked.

“
Rodney’s not coming.”
Yvonne put her hand on her heart. “I know it in my
heart.”

“
But Tanesha…”

“
She was tricked,” Yvonne
said.

“
What are we going to do?”
Dionne asked.

“
We’re going to have to
kill them,” Yvonne said.

“
We have to?” Dionne
asked.

Yvonne nodded.

“
There’s no way around
it?” Dionne asked.

“
No,” Yvonne
said.

“
If there’s no way around
it,” Dionne sniffed, “can we kill them before…”

Yvonne nodded and threw the towel away.
There was a knock on the door and one of the men leaned in.

“
You girls ready to
party?” he asked.

Yvonne stuck a bright smile on her face and
followed him out of the bathroom. Dionne stood there for a moment,
gathering her courage. Yvonne turned at the door and smiled. Dionne
returned her smile and followed Yvonne out of the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 9:08 p.m.

Denver, Colorado

“
You know what?” Tanesha
asked. “I don’t have time for this.”

The fog-serpent laughed at her words.

“
No, she’s right,” Honey
said. “I don’t have time for this shit, either.”

“
Speak your mind,” Tanesha
said.

“
I don’t take orders from
you,” the fog-serpent said in a subtly deep voice that seemed to
resonate through their bones.

“
Whatever,” Tanesha
said.

She pointed toward the door. Honey started
rolling toward the stairs. Heather and Jill followed her. Sandy
stayed by Tanesha’s side.

“
You’ll never see your
father again,” the fog-serpent said.

“
My father?” Tanesha spun
to face the fog-serpent. “What the hell are you talking
about?”

The fog-serpent laughed.

“
Tell us!” Jill
demanded.

“
Yeesss,” the fog-serpent
hissed. “The little murderous Titan makes demands.”

The fog-serpent rolled the “R” in sinister
amusement.

“
What are the rules of
that place?” Sandy asked Heather in a low tone. Honey was seated
between them so Sandy had to lean over her.

“
Sea of Amber?” Heather
asked.

Sandy nodded. Jill lit her
hairspray-flamethrower and stepped torward to the fog-serpent.
Honey looked up at Heather for an answer.

“
I can find it, you can go
there. Otherwise…” Heather shrugged. “Not much is known about the
Sea of Amber, because it traps everyone who goes there.”

“
Except Jill’s dad,” Sandy
said.

The fog-serpent laughed at Jill but slid
away from the flame. Tanesha opened her mouth, but Sandy put her
hand on Tanesha’s arm.

“
The fairy world is rotten
from the inside,” Sandy said in a low voice. “That’s what Fin said,
right?”

Tanesha reeled back from Sandy, and Sandy
nodded.

“
Yeeessss,” the
fog-serpent hissed. “Now you understand.”

“
Understand what?” Heather
asked.

“
That either wasn’t Ne Ne
or she’s been perverted by…” Tanesha gestured to the
serpent.

The fog-serpent laughed.

“
And you did this
because. . .?” Heather asked the fog-serpent.

When Heather spoke the fog-serpent shifted
away from her and moved to attack Honey. Jill jumped in front of
Honey with her hairspray-flamethrower. The fog-serpent moved
back.

“
Human… Titan… Fairy…”
Tanesha’s voice was low as if she were talking to herself. She
looked at Heather. “It’s afraid of your voice.”

Heather turned her head to look at
Tanesha.

“
Ask about Rodney,” Sandy
said in a low voice.

“
And Ne Ne,” Honey
said.

“
Yes,” Heather took a step
toward the fog-serpent, “Tell me about Rodney Smith.”

The fog-serpent looked as if it didn’t want
to respond.

“
Tell me!” Heather
demanded. “Now!”

“
He is with the others in
the Sea of Amber,” the fog-serpent said.

“
And Ne Ne,” Heather
demanded.

“
Something is rotten at
the core of fairydom,” the fog-serpent said.

“
And that
means. . .?” Heather asked.

The fog-serpent hissed at Heather. Much to
her friends’ amazement, Heather seemed to grow in size. She began
to glow with a kind of golden radiance.

“
You will tell me,”
Heather said. The fog-serpent weaved as if it were woozy.
“Now!”

“
All fairies are
vulnerable now,” the fog-serpent said. “The prize is almost at
hand, and the queendom will fall.”

“
The prize?” Heather
asked.

“
He means my mother,”
Tanesha said.

“
And the Sea of Amber?”
Heather demanded.

“
The Sea of Amber is the
domain of the serpent,” the fog-serpent said.

The fog-serpent fell silent.

“
To. . .?”
Heather demanded. “What do you have to do with the Sea of
Amber?”

“
It doesn’t know,” Tanesha
said.

“
Why us?” Honey asked.
“Why did you steal our family?”

Heather repeated the question.

“
You started this war,”
the fog-serpent said. “We only engaged after you killed two of our
kind and all of their progeny.”

“
And Yvonne?” Heather
asked.

“
Capture the prize, and
all of fairydom will fall,” the fog-serpent said.

“
Yvonne is the prize?”
Heather asked.

“
Yessss,” the fog-serpent
said.

“
How do we release our
loved ones?” Jill asked.

“
You can’t,” the
fog-serpent said. “No one has ever escaped the Sea of
Amber.”

“
My father did,” Jill
said.

“
We replaced him soon
enough,” the fog-serpent said.

“
With Rodney?” Heather
demanded.

“
Yesssss,” the fog-serpent
said. “His loss will tear the heart out of the prize, and fairydom
will fall.”

“
And Ne Ne?” Heather
demanded.

The fog-serpent laughed.

“
Tell me now!” Heather
demanded.

“
She is Ne Ne no more,”
the fog-serpent laughed.

Heather glanced at her friends. She noted
the disgust on Sandy’s face, the rage on Tanesha’s, the sly-anger
on Jill’s face, and the quiet power on Honey’s face.

“
You’re a liar,” Heather
said. “I will cast you out of this world.”

“
You don’t have the power,
half-breed,” the fog-serpent said.

“
Hera,” Heather said in a
low voice. “Come near me now.”

The air filled with electricity and the
fog-serpent’s countenance radiated with terror.

“
There is nothing wrong
with fairydom, is there?” Heather asked.

“
No,” the fog-serpent
said.

“
Ne Ne doesn’t even know
you replaced her here,” Heather said.

“
She does not,” the
fog-serpent said.

“
And Abi? Fin?” Heather
asked.

“
Prince Finegal and his
mate are resting in the palace of the queen and king,” the
fog-serpent said. “The Queen is expecting a grandchild.”

The air cackled.

“
We will get the prize,”
the fog-serpent said. “We will destroy them like you
destroyed…”

Heather clapped her hands
together, and the fog-serpent exploded with a loud
boom
. The women turned
their backs to the barrage of tiny water particles and
fog.

“
What the hell?” Jeraine’s
voice came from upstairs.

The music switched off, and everyone was
suddenly standing on the landing of the basement stairs.

“
Your mom’s in terrible
danger,” Heather said.

Tanesha nodded.

“
There’s something you
need to know,” Heather said.

“
Mom?” Tink asked. She
hesitated for a moment before running down the stairs.

“
She’s not the prize,”
Tanesha said.

“
You know,” Heather
said.

“
Miss T, are you all
right?” Jeraine said at the same time Jabari said,
“Mommy?”

“
Ne Ne, or whoever that
was, said something about it,” Tanesha said.

“
What is she talking
about?” Sandy asked.

“
I’m the prize,” Tanesha
said under her breath. She gave Sandy a nod and went to greet
Jeraine.

Denver Cereal continues…

Glossary of
Characters

Aaron Alvin:

Father of Ava; also called
“The spider” by Yvonne Smith.

Abi the Fairy:

General in Fairy Corps;
great-grandmother of Tanesha; Fin’s partner

Aden Norsen:

CEO at Lipson
construction; single father of Nash and Noelle; husband of
Sandy.

Alma Fontaine:

Mother of Heather Lipson;
Psyche.

Alexandra
Hargreaves:

Identical twin to Max
Hargreaves; ‘The Fey;’ the leader of the Fey Team; wife of Dr. John
Drayson; sister to Colin and Samantha Hargreaves.

Anjelika:

Megan, Mike, Steve, Candy
and Jill’s mother; grandmother to Katy; wife of Perses.

Andrea Menendez or Andy
Mendy:

Mother of Sandy; Seth’s
love & lover from the time he was 14 until he lost her when he
was 30.

Annette:

Reality television star;
mother to Jabari; Jeraine Wilson’s ex.

Arthur “Raz”
Rasmussen:

Member of the Fey team;
boyfriend of Samantha Hargreaves.

Ava — Amelie Vivian
Alvin:

Denver Police Crime Lab
Technician; fiancé of Seth O’Malley; daughter of Aaron
Alvin.

Ben Red Bear,
Detective:

Denver Police Detective in
charge of investigation of rapes; possibly involved in the
distribution chain.

Bestat Behur:

Partner to Zack Jakkman;
stepmother to Teddy; dragon.

Beth Baker:

Ava’s best friend; Child
Psychologist; murdered by Saint Jude.

Blane Lipson:

Jacob’s ‘cousin;’
assistant to Jacob Marlowe at Lipson Construction; Chinese Medicine
doctor; husband of Heather; father of Mack; getting bone marrow
transplant for HIV infection.

Bob aka ‘Blood spatter
Bob’:
Former expert forensics instructor
with the FBI; currently a laboratory technician in Ava’s Denver
Police Department lab.

Bumpy Wilson:

Good friend of Seth’s;
medical doctor; father of Jeraine Wilson, husband of Dionne, born
Leroy Wilson.

Candace or Candy
Roper:

Daughter of Anjelika;
sister to Jill.

Charlie
Delgado:

Stepbrother of Sandy;
street kid; drug addict; moved in with Sandy in
Cimarron
.

Chesterfield or Mr.
Chesterfield:

Rodney Smith’s large black
dog, which he was given in prison from the Puppies for Prisoners
program; best friend of Jabari.

Celia Marlowe:

Wife of Sam Lipson; mother
of Valerie Lipson and Jacob Marlowe; Delphie’s best friend; died of
cancer nine years before Denver Cereal begins.

Cleo:

Black and white cat
belonging to Sandy.

Colin
Hargreaves:

Brother of Alex, Max and
Samantha Hargreaves; Homeland Security Agent; Fey Team member;
father of Paddie Hargreaves.

Dale:

Boyfriend of Beth Baker,
Amelie’s best friend; housemate of Amelie; Handyman who lives with
Seth O’Malley.

Delphinium or
Delphie:

Psychic; beekeeper; master
gardener; best friend of Celia Marlowe; girlfriend to Sam
Lipson.

DeShawn Jones:

Ex-drug dealer; current
site manager at Lipson Construction

Dionne Wilson:

Wife of Bumpy Wilson;
mother of Jeraine and LaTonya; medical nurse; singer.

Erik Le
Monde:
Father of Wanda; plumber;
works for Lipson Construction.

Edie the Fairy:

Second daughter of Queen
Fand & Manannán; younger sister to the Blue Fairy and elder
sister to Mari; nanny to Jill and Jacob’s twins.