Pink Princess Fairytini (Fairy Files #2) (30 page)

“Okay,” I said, considering what she said. “We know Benny wants to have more power in the Non, but why now?”

Vin cleared her throat. “Maybe because there are more fae in the Non, now? Or maybe it has to do with you. He kidnapped you for that very reason, right?”

“Right,” I said, the wheels turning in my head. “And if he wants to become more powerful and I’m not willing to help him, how else can he get power? Maybe he thinks the kids will work for him? Help him to overpower anyone who challenges him?”

“It makes sense,” Sandra said. “He could use the kids to make himself powerful enough to rule over the fae and the humans, in theory, and they could help protect him if anyone in Rubalia has a problem with what he’s doing. The fae in Rubalia claim not to care about the fae in the Non, but they wouldn’t want a dragon ruling the Non, either.”

“Okay,” I said. “Assuming this is all true, he’d keep the kids alive, but Ward said Sunshine was probably already dead. There has to be something else going on. He must be using the kids for something, now, and as far as I know he’s under no threat from the Rubalians. He’s either using them to consolidate his power or he’s using them to show the humans they should fear him. Since, we haven’t seen him throwing his weight around, I’m betting on him getting ready, getting himself into position for a power play. What would he need to do, first?”

“Control the portals,” Vin said. “Shit. I didn’t even think twice about this, but …”

“What?” I asked, when she bit her lip and stopped, lost in thought.

“One of the kids I talked to last week, he said his uncle was supposed to be coming over to the Non, but when he went to the portal to look for him, the portal was gone. I’ve never heard of a portal just disappearing, so I thought the kid was confused or pulling my chain. But what if he was right? What if Benny is closing the portals? That way he could have full control of who enters and leaves the Non and prevent anyone from interfering with his plan, whatever it might be.”

Sandra nodded. “Assuming it’s possible, he’ll at least want to try to control the portals in Sarsaparilla, since he’s got a lot of pull and power here. There are less powerful gatekeepers in several other cities around the country, but I doubt Benny sees them as a real threat, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to go much farther right now.”

“So we need to search all of the portals in the city. The kids might not be there, but we might find something that will get us closer,” I said. “Or we can track down the one portal he isn’t planning to close and find a trail back to the kids. He can only have so many hiding places, right?”

“Great idea,” Vin said. “Except that only the gatekeeper knows where all of the portals in the city are.”

“Only the gatekeeper and Brace,” Sandra said with a sly smile.

“Well, that’s convenient,” I said.

“All of Benny’s team knows the location of the portals,” Sandra said. “We’re just lucky to have Brace on our side.”

As it turned out, the city had twenty-five portals, so after we got back to Frost’s office, we split up into teams of two. Harvey wanted to be on my team, but since he was a human and I was still a fledgling warrior, it just made more sense to put him with the troll with impermeable skin and to pair me up with the werewolf. Harvey was enough of a man and a cop to accept that arrangement without too much complaint, but he didn’t look too happy about it.

Frost and I started on the North side of town, at a small boutique clothing store. The woman behind the counter sniffed as we walked in, clearly annoyed at having customers step into her shop so close to closing time. We headed straight to the back of the store to the ladies’ dressing room where Brace said we’d find the portal. We stepped inside and found nothing.

“Um, can I help you?” The sales clerk asked as we stepped out and headed into the second fitting room. “Did you want to try something on, because—?”

“No thanks,” I said, as we inspected the second fitting room and came up empty, again.

We stepped out and Frost shot the woman his most charming smile. “Sorry to take up your time,” he said. “My wife thought she’d left her sunglasses in one of your dressing rooms.”

The clerk blushed and tittered like she’d been touched by a rock star. “Of course. We haven’t found any sunglasses today, but if you’d like to leave your number, I can give you a call if they turn up.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Frost said. I was already half-way to the door and Frost followed me onto the street, ignoring the clerk’s requests for him to visit again.

“Your wife?” I asked. “You could have at least made it slightly believable.”

He just smirked. “The next portal is three blocks south. Why don’t we walk?”

I fell into step beside him. “Whatever Benny is doing, he’s succeeding in closing the portals,” I said.

Frost’s phone beeped and he pulled it out of his back pocket. I was impressed by his ability to read and walk, then type out a quick reply. Reading and walking always made me a bit dizzy. “The others found only closed portals as well,” he said.

“Shit.” I walked faster. “Do you think we’re already too late? Do you think he’s killing these kids to get the portals closed?”

Frost didn’t respond, and my heart pounded with fear.

The next portal was at the back of a deli, inside the employee only section. Luckily, the small shop was packed and no one noticed us walk through the heavy door into the back.

“Can I help you?” asked a man weighing meat.

“Nope,” Frost said. He looked at me and I nodded. No portal. “Thought this was the bathroom. Sorry.”

Frost’s phone rang as we were making our way through the crowd of people needing a meal. “Yeah,” he said, the phone to his ear. “Okay. We can be there in ten.”

He hung up and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the deli and onto the sidewalk. “Brace recognized one of Benny’s goons hanging around the subway portal,” he said. “They want back-up in case Benny’s there with the kids.”

He broke into a run toward his motorcycle, and I kept pace.

We met Brace, Sandra, Mercury, and Vin a block from the subway entrance. We walked the block together, eyes open for Benny or his goons, but saw only the typical pedestrians. The subway was no longer operational, if it had ever been. A failed attempt at public transportation for the city. The entrance was gated and padlocked, but the lock was routinely broken by vagrants or fae leaving or entering the portal. The lock was broken that day, as Brace slid the gate open and we tiptoed down the stairs. Below, we heard only silence, not even the movement of the homeless or the skitter of rats. My heart pounded with tension.

At the bottom of the stairs, the tunnel was pitch black and chilly. “The portal should be right here,” Brace said, walking over to a cement wall and tapping it. There was nothing there and no sign of Benny or his goons. “Sorry, guys looks like—”

The ringing of Frost’s phone broke the silence and made me jump. “Shit,” he said. “Rookie mistake. Sorry.” He pulled it out and answered it. “Buddy? What? Where? Yeah, we’ll be there.”

“They’re at the mall,” he said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “’Benny and his goons are on the stage closest to the portal and putting on some sort of magic show. They’ve got the kids.”

“Are they insane?” I asked.

“Yes,” Brace said. “And they’re not above hurting someone to get that portal closed.”

We raced back up the stairs. The mall was on the outskirts of the city, which meant it would take us at least fifteen minutes to get there. Frost and I started to run for his bike.

“Wait,” Brace shouted. We stopped and spun to face him. “I’ve got a better way.” We ran back to him. “I think I can teleport us all to the mall.”

“You think?” I asked. I’d never heard of any fae capable of teleportation, but Brace wasn’t any fae.

“I’m pretty sure,” he said. “I’ve never moved this many people, but it’s worth a try. It’ll knock me out completely, so I’ll be useless when we get there.”

“What’s the worst case scenario here?” Frost asked.

“Um, some of you don’t make it and get stuck in the in-between, we land on something that is painful, we land
in
something that is painful, we land halfway in something that effectively bisects our bodies—”

“Let’s not focus on the negative, here,” Mercury said. “Aim for the parking area farthest from the mall entrance and let’s just hope there’s nothing there.”

We all joined hands and closed our eyes. My body immediately shrieked with pain and then I felt like I was on fire, the wind filling my ears so I could feel nothing else, flames licking at my skin. It was a relief to land on my ass on hard concrete. I looked around and saw all of my friends were with us and we were all whole. Brace let out a long whoosh of relief and then got up and danced a victory jig. “I did it. I really did it. I never thought that would actually work.”

“Good to know, man.” Mercury slapped him on the back. “Let’s get into the mall.”

We took off at a run and I tried to ignore the fact that my body felt slow and sluggish, my heart beating sort of sideways. If my organs had been rearranged during teleportation, I’d worry about it later.

A huge crowd had gathered around Benny, his thugs, and the six children on stage. Two of the kids I’d never seen before, but I recognized Brianna Foxglove, Lulu Fernwort, Livvy Greenleaves, and Herbert Elderwood. “My junior magicians will now perform an explosive light show for your viewing pleasure,” Benny said, grandstanding like a true showman.

“What is he going to do?” I asked no one in particular.

“I don’t know,” Harvey answered, moving to stand next to me. “But I think we better shut it down.”

Harvey pushed his way through the crowd as the six kids on stage linked hands. A goon stepped onto the stage and knelt down next to the sixth kid, Buddy’s daughter in his arms. Buddy lunged for the stage, but Mercury grabbed him and held him back. “Use your head, man,” he said. “You can’t take them all on yourself.”

Harvey stepped onto the stage and raised his badge. “Police,” he said. I noticed three more police officers making their way through the crowd and realized that Harvey had called for human back-up. “This program is unauthorized. I need you to shut it down now.”

Benny grinned at the crowd. “Not everyone understands the gift I’m about to bestow on humanity.” He nodded toward his goons and two of them rushed Harvey and knocked him off the stage and into the crowd below. I’m pretty sure the people below broke his fall, but it was about five feet from the edge of the stage to the floor below, and Harvey was buried beneath about four-hundred pounds of goon.

The other officers drew their guns and shouted at Benny to freeze. Benny just grinned. He knew they wouldn’t risk shooting him while he was surrounded by a crowd of innocent humans. “We are running short of time,” Benny said, his voice booming over the shouts of the police, the skin of his body rippling with scales. “Let the true magic begin.” He took the hand of the child closest to him, and I knew we had to move. We’d started making our way toward the stage as soon as Harvey fell, and Brace had stayed back, chanting. Two of Benny’s goons dropped to the floor, asleep, but Benny and the kids, even the goons closest to him were unaffected by Brace’s magic. Benny must have some sort of magical shield in place. We were going to have to fight.

People are simple, it’s life that’s complicated
.—Chloe Frangipani

Your problem, Clarinda, is that you give people too many chances to let you down
. –Althea Frangipani to Chloe Frangipani, age eight

Hieronymus had taught me the weaknesses of just about every species of fae, but no one knew the weaknesses of dragons. Despite their large size and potential for violence, they had avoided confrontation with the fae in Rubalia and no one had been brave enough, or cared enough, to ask them how they fought. I pulled my sword and leapt onto the stage.

“Miss, please drop the weapon,” one of the police officers behind me shouted. I had to choose between doing as I was told or, possibly, being shot. I chose to drop the sword, and Benny smiled at me.

“Hello, princess,” he said. My friends climbed onto the stage behind me, but were smart enough not to draw their weapons. “Have you decided to join me?”

“No. I’m going to stop you.”

Benny frowned. “I’m sorry, but it’s too late. The power of these children is flowing into me, giving me the strength I need to close the portal from my side. In just a few seconds I will unleash this power and no one will be able to stop me.”

“And what happens to the children?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Those who survive will work with me to embrace a new day, where I am the one and only ruler of the Non and the fae in Rubalia cannot touch me.” Mercury and Vin were approaching Benny from the back of the stage. They’d silently taken out two goons and motioned for me to keep Benny talking.

I widened my eyes. “You’re going to kill children in front of a human audience and you think they’re going to let you rule anything? You think they’re going to let you live?”

Before Benny could answer, Buddy’s daughter started to scream and twist in the goon’s arms. The goon held her firm, but sweat broke out across his forehead and his face twisted in pain every time the baby moved. The connection between Benny and the children glowed a metallic green and wherever it touched the goon, his skin smoked.

Buddy, unable to resist the screams of his daughter, lunged for her, his arms out, ready to grab her.

“No,” I shouted. I had no idea what would happen to Buddy or the children if he broke that connection, but I didn’t think it would be good. Buddy didn’t hear my warning or he didn’t care. He reached out and punched the goon holding his daughter hard in the face. The goon fell back and, when he did, little Herbert Elderwood lost his grip on Sunshine’s hand. The chain was broken and the other children started screaming and gasping. Buddy jumped on the goon and pulled his baby from his arms. Once Buddy had Sunshine, he leapt off the stage and pushed his way through the crowd of people, leaving us to deal with whatever mess he’d caused.