Larkspur (31 page)

“
Of course it does,” Jacob
said. “Anything else?”

“
I think you have to look
for some white quartz,” Seth said. “Says here they thought they
could hold the queen in place with white quartz.”

“
Got it,” Jacob said. “Do
you have any idea how Jill is doing? We have a sense that things
aren’t going well for her.”

“
Bumpy, Dionne, and the
midwife . . .”

“
Camille?” Jacob
asked.

“
I guess so,” Seth said.
“They’re on their way to the Castle. They picked up some cleaning
uniforms. They’re going to pretend to be the cleaning
crew.”

“
Will that
work?”

“
Maybe,” Seth said. “It’s
the best we could come up with.”

“
And Jill?”

“
As far as we know, she’s
all right, but I’ll let you know when I know anything.”

“
Can you do me one more
favor?” Jacob asked.

“
Sure,” Seth
said.

“
Can you mentally send
Delphie the images from the book?” Jacob asked.

“
How would I do that?”
Seth asked.

“
Think ‘Send to Delphie’
and look at the paintings,” Jacob said.

“
And we think that will
work?”

“
Delphie says that you and
she are . . .”

“
Siblings in many past
lives,” Seth and Jacob said in unison.

“
I guess you’ve heard that
before,” Jacob said.

“
Once or twice,” Seth
said.

“
Think ‘Send to Delphie’
and stare at the pictures,” Jacob said. “She should get
it.”

“
It’s worth a try,” Seth
said. “Good luck.”

“
Thanks, I’ll need it,”
Jacob said, and hung up the phone.

Reaching behind him, he used his psychic
skills to call to the bones. They resonated back to him. He crawled
out of the small compartment. Turning around, he wrenched the white
quartz stone at the bottom of the box and retrieved the queen’s
feet.

“
Got them!” Jacob
said.

“
I just had the weirdest
thing happen,” Delphie said.

“
Seth sent you some
images?” Jacob asked.

“
That’s exactly right,”
Delphie said. “They’re of our quest.”

“
He found an original copy
of the kingdom of Marle book,” Jacob said.

“
Did they have the last
set of bones?” Sam asked.

“
Yes, they are in the
center of the cross,” Jacob said. “In something called the King’s
Forest.”

“
That’s right by the
Highlander,” James said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“
There can be only one!”
Valerie said. Gilfand laughed.

“
Pub,” James said. “Great
food, beer. I doubt they’re open.”

“
Gilfand?” Delphie had
just said his name when they were suddenly standing outside the
Highlander restaurant in the center of the Isle of Man. It was
closed. Gilfand smirked at Delphie, and she said,
“Thanks.”

“
Where to?” Jacob asked
Delphie.

“
This way.” Delphie
pointed across the street. They waited for a car to pass and
crossed the street. They walked a short distant down the empty road
before turning into the forest.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 10:45 p.m. MST

Denver, Colorado

BAM!

“
Did you hear that?” Katy
whispered to the tiny, baby-blue fairy sitting on her
knee.

“
Shh!” The baby-blue fairy
put her finger up to her lips. She flew up to stand on Katy’s left
ear.

“
That was a gunshot!” Katy
whispered. “I know because I went to the firing range. I didn’t
like it. I didn’t like it one bit. Scares me.”

Katy shivered with fear. The air crackled
with static electricity.

“
Did you do that?” the
baby-blue fairy asked.

Katy nodded. Her eyes were huge, dark, and
round.

There was a
pop!
The room outside
the compartment went dark. A man started yelling and Katy
shivered.

“
What would make you feel
less afraid?” the baby-blue fairy asked.

“
I don’t know you.” Katy
shook her head so violently that the fairy flew off her ear and hit
the wall.

The tiny fairy was dazed for a moment. Her
blue taffeta skirt was askew, her wings looked bent, and her long
hair was mussed. She gave Katy a hard look.

“
Sorry,” Katy
whispered.

“
That’s okay,” the
baby-blue fairy said. “I’m Edie. I’m responsible for keeping you
safe.”

“
I’m Katy,” she whispered.
“I’m s’posed to stay safe.”

Like she knew she should, Katy held out her
hand to the fairy. Edie shook her little finger.

“
Nice to meet you,” the
baby-blue fairy said. “If I fly up to your ear, will you do that
again?”

“
I’ll try not to,” Katy
whispered. “I’m really, really, really scared.”

“
What would make it
better?” the baby-blue fairy asked.

“
I wish Paddie was here,”
Katy said.

“
What’s a
Paddie?”

Katy covered her mouth to keep from
giggling. The tiny fairy gave her a scolding look, which made Katy
giggle more.

“
Did you hear something?”
one of the men said outside the compartment.

Katy swallowed her giggle. Edie flew to the
entrance of the compartment to be ready in case they found the
door. Katy sat like a statue for what felt like forever. Finally,
they heard the men move away. Edie flew back up to her perch on
Katy’s ear.

“
Paddie is my best
friend.” Katy nodded.

“
Is he big?” Edie
asked.

Katy shook her head.

“
Why don’t you just bring
him here?” Edie asked.

“
How?” Katy
asked.

“
You can move things,
right?” Edie asked.

Katy nodded.

“
You move him cell by
cell,” Edie said. “It’s beginning fairy. Didn’t you take beginning
fairy?”

“
I’m not a fairy,” Katy
said. “I’m a girl.”

“
But not a normal girl,
right?”

“
Mommy loves me very
much.” Katy nodded.

“
Yes, I’m sure that’s
true.” Edie gave a rueful shake of her head. “I can’t believe no
one taught you the basics.”

“
Basics?” Katy
asked.

“
Fairy basics,” Edie
said.

“
But I’m not a fairy,”
Katy said.

“
You’re a fairy and a
human.” Edie shook her head. “It’s irresponsible.”

“
What is?”

“
Not to teach you how to
use your abilities.” Edie nodded.

Katy shrugged and went back to being
scared.

“
We can fix this,” Edie
said.

“
What?”

“
I’ve taught beginning
fairy for a long, long time,” Edie said. “I can teach you how to do
all kinds of things.”

Katy scowled at her. Edie gave her a bright
smile.

“
I wish my mommy was
okay,” Katy said. “That’s all I wish for. My mommy and me, we’ve
been through a lot together. and she needs my help, not because she
can’t do everything, but because . . .”

Katy’s eyes welled with tears. She
nodded.

“
Your mommy is pretty
great,” Edie said.

“
My daddy too,” Katy said.
“But Mommy is . . . Mommy.”

“
Your mommy would want you
to be less frightened,” Edie said.

Katy nodded.

“
Then I’ll teach you how
to bring this Paddie here,” Edie said. “How ’bout that?”

“
Okay,” Katy said. “Will
it hurt Paddie?”

“
Not in the slightest.”
Edie smiled. “Your daddy, auntie, grandfather, and Delphie are
moving around my homeland this way.”

“
Can Daddy do this?” Katy
asked.

“
He can,” Edie said. “He
just doesn’t know he can.”

“
Oh.”

They heard Jill moan.

“
Mommy!” Katy said a
little too loudly.

Edie waved her wand and the sound
disappeared. Katy shivered with fear, and the air popped with
electricity.

“
Let’s focus on bringing
this Paddie here.” Edie smiled.

Katy nodded.

“
All you have to do is
focus on having him next to you,” Edie said.

“
I don’t have a wand,”
Katy said.

“
You don’t need one,” Edie
said. “Just focus like your life depended on Paddie being right
here next to you.”

Katy nodded.

“
Close your eyes,” Edie
said. “It helps.”

Katy closed her eyes. She put her right hand
out in a cupping motion, and a chocolate chip brownie appeared.
Katy gave a quiet cheer.

“
Hey,” Edie said. “That’s
cheating.”

“
I need brownie power.”
Katy smiled.

The tiny fairy laughed. Katy took a bite and
offered it to Edie. The fairy took a bite, and half the brownie was
gone. Katy looked offended.

“
I’m tiny, but I eat a
lot,” Edie laughed. “Takes a lot of energy to be this
small.”

Katy smiled at her and ate the rest of her
brownie.

“
Now, focus,” Edie said.
“We want this Paddie here, right here, in the cupboard.”

Katy closed her eyes. When she opened them,
Paddie sitting across from her, sound asleep. He wore his fuzzy,
blue pirate-pajamas with feet. She felt better just looking at
him.

“
Did you do that?” Katy
asked.

“
You did,” Edie
said.

“
Should we wake him?” Katy
asked.

“
I think we should let him
sleep,” Edie said. “You should sleep too.”

“
I thought you were going
to teach me things,” Katy said.

“
You’ve just moved two
things,” Edie said. “That’s enough to do for a while. When you get
older, more used to doing it, you can do more. But right now, you
should rest.”

“
I don’t know how I’m
going to . . .” Katy started.

Edie waved her wand, and Katy fell
asleep.

“
Hey, what are you doing?”
An angry man’s accented voice came from the room
outside.

There were sounds of scuffling.

“
Get off me!” the man with
the accent yelled.

“
Fuck you,” a menacing
voice said.

The tiny fairy returned to her place by the
door. She was not going to let anything happen to Katy—not on her
watch—and from now on, her little student was on her watch. Edie
nodded.

She was ready to protect Katy and her
Paddie.

The other man grunted with his effort. One
man fought for breath. There was a shuffle, followed by silence and
death.

Edie swallowed hard and raised her wand to
the ready.

Nothing happened. The man was too caught up
in his own drama to think of Katy.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 11:00 p.m. MST

Denver, Colorado

“
What’s going on?” a young
man asked when he came into the lobby. The man in the wool slacks
was crouching in front of Yvonne. He stood up the moment the young
man spoke. “Where’s Rubén?”

“
I was going to ask you
the same thing,” the man in the wool slacks said. “Did you see him
leave?”

“
No,” the young man
said.

“
Weren’t you paying
attention?” the man in the wool slacks asked. “Shit, you’re
supposed to be watching. Are you and Sebastian watching the house
or getting high?”

“
No, we’re watching.” The
young man and Sebastian had been smoking bad seed—marijuana,
heroin, and peyote. The young man didn’t respond. “No one came even
close to this house.”

He gestured out the door.

“
You’d better be right.”
The man in the wool slacks didn’t disguise the threat in his
voice.

The young man pointed to the blood smear on
the ground. “What happened here?”

“
No idea.” The man in the
wool slacks shrugged.

The young man squinted with disbelief.

“
You think I had something
to do with it?” the man in the wool slacks asked. “I’ve been
working to keep these folks asleep. When I looked up, Rubén was
just gone.”

“
And this?” The young man
pointed to the blood on the floor.

“
No idea,” the man in the
wool slacks said. “It was here when we got here.”

The young man raised an eyebrow but didn’t
say anything. His eyes fell on Yvonne. Like the other men, lust
rushed through him. He glanced at the man in the wool slacks. The
man in wool slacks hadn’t missed his interest in Yvonne.

“
Why are you here?” the
man in wool slacks asked.

“
I wanted to let you know
the cleaning crew is here,” the young man said. “They had the code
to the electric fence and keys to the house. They say they come
every night at this time to clean up the main areas of the
house.”