Storykiller (44 page)

“Wait, what’s wrong?”

His face fell and then recovered. “First the good news.”

“Okay—?”

“I’ve called in some help for us tonight. Mini-reinforcements.”

“That
is
good news. What’s the bad?” s
he asked, trying to kill the tremble in her voice.

“Wait. There’s still more good. There are presents.”

Tessa smiled faintly as he handed her a smallish box with a big shimmery blue ribbon tied around it. Tessa took it from him and sat down on the couch. He sat next to her. She untied the box and lifted off the lid. Inside was a silver box about half a dozen inches wide and half a dozen inches long, and a few inches deep. The box was delicately latched. Tessa took the box out and moved to open it.

“Careful,” Robin said, wincing a little.

Tessa unlatched the box and opened the lid. Inside, lying on a dark blue velvet lining, were seven tiny winged creatures, some curled up and others splayed out, as if sleeping. And they looked exactly like what every child in the world imagines a fairy must look like. Naked and lovely, like beautiful miniature shiny women with wings, they were all different glowing sparkly colors, a red one and a blue one, a pink, a purple, a yellow, a green, and an orange one. Tessa gasped.

“Are these Fairies?!”

“Sort of,” Robin said. “You mean Fairies, like F-A-I-R-I-E-S, and that’s what these are based on, the design, I mean. But these are something called Ferries, like F-E-R-R-I-E-S. They were created by Fairy Godmother and The Blue Fairy, with a little help from others, I suspect. They were created to send messages between Story and The Mortal World. They’re extremely rare, and basically illegal. I can’t tell you how many favors I had to call in to get just these seven.”

“They’re amazing.” Tessa felt like she was five years old, she wanted to take them out and play with them for hours. It was like seeing a Unicorn, even if they weren’t the really real thing. “Can I hold them?”

Robin shook his head. “No. They’re not to be played with. You should only take them out when you want to send a message to Story. You take one out, you hold it in your hands, make your hands like a cup around it and then you whisper who you are trying to reach and what your message is into your hands. When you open your hands, the Ferry will disappear, and they won’t stop until they have found the person you are seeking and delivered your message. They’ll come back with a return message, always. When they return, hold them in your hands as you did when you sent them off, put your ear to your hands and you will hear a message back from the one you seek. How long it takes is dependent on how hard your receiver is to find, it can take some time. After one trip, they will expire.”

“They die?!”

“They’re not real, Tessa. They’re not real Fairies. Think of them like fancy but very fake carrier pigeons made of science and magic.”

Tessa stared at them, beautiful and sleeping in the box, and then suddenly realized why he was giving her this present. She closed the box, latching it carefully and put the box down on the table. “You’re leaving me.”

“I’ve been called back to Story, and I have to go. Tonight. After the fight.”

Tessa stood up and walked away from him. Then, realizing she had nowhere to go, she sat down on another different couch, deflated.

“I’m sorry, Tessa. It’s something with Marian, and I can’t say no to her.”

At the sound of Marian’s name, Tessa flinched. “Can’t or won’t?”

“Both,” he said.

Tessa took a calming breath and tried to make things light. “Okay. How long will you be gone?”

Robin came and sat by her on the new couch, taking her hand. “I don’t know. I don’t know how long it will take, and more importantly, I don’t know if they’ll let me come back.”

“So, you’re saying not only is this
not
a quick trip, but it might be permanent?” He didn’t want to say yes, but she could tell that was the answer.

“The change in power of the Story court means that I may have trouble getting back through,” he said. “You don’t understand some of the politics, it’s—”

Tessa cut him off, “—Don’t you dare say complicated.”

Robin pressed his lips together.

“So, you’re choosing her over me, even though it’s a choice that might be made permanent.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to come back,” he said, touching her cheek, turning her to face him. “There are lots of ways back to the Mortal world, even if Story tries to stop you.”

A couple tears rolled down Tessa’s cheek. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“You’re worried about Marian.”

Tessa nodded and chewed her lip. “You love her, you’ve always loved her, and when you see her again, you’ll remember how much.”

Robin shook his head but didn’t actually disagree with her. After a long time he said, “I don’t know what will happen. Nobody does.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

He pressed her hand between his.
“Well, you’re very persuasive.” She threw her arms around his neck and then saw the clock.

“We have to go,” she said into his neck.

“I know,” he said. Tessa released him and stood up. In this moment, she decided that to get through the night she had to pretend there wasn’t going to be anything after the fight.

Just an open abyss.

Which sounded terrible, but somehow seemed more comforting than Robin leaving her.

Northside Park was dramatically transformed. Tessa and Robin parked his jeep a long distance away thanks to the number of people and cars already there, and as they got closer to the entrance, Tessa was caught up in the spectacle so much that she almost forgot the more nefarious reason they was there. Twinkling white lights strung in trees everywhere gave it a surprisingly sweet and almost Christmas-y feel but the rest of the decorations, which were decidedly grim and legitimately spooky, resulted in a cacophonous, decadent spread of food, people, lights, and music that felt surreal and fantastic. It felt magical and not at all like the Mortal world.

When Tessa got over the sight of it herself, she realized that it truly was a rare event in which The Monster, and all sorts of other things, might be able to slip by unnoticed. People headed for The Mask were decked out in everything from elaborate monster costumes to decadent ball gowns and eye masks. It was just dusk, and the day activities were wrapping up just as the night festivities were getting underway. The crossover meant a stream of people, mostly families with children in tow, leaving the grounds for their cars while The Mask attendees funneled toward a giant tent on a hill in the distance.

The massive tent, lit from within and glowing softly, was set at the top of a hill in a large clearing surrounded by woods. Wild, tall grass filled the field surrounding the tent. It was stunningly beautiful, but Tessa couldn’t help thinking that the hill was good for her as it would mean anything attacking would have to climb. However, the woods literally circled the tent and field, which made Tessa feel dangerously exposed and simultaneously surrounded. Tessa looked closely at the crowds coming and going, trying to see if she could make out monsters from people, but it was difficult. The time of night made it hard to see well, and the tiny white fairy lights made everything lovely and soft but not clear. She ached for a well-lit room or a bright summer day. She did manage to see both Detective Ripley and Captain West in the crowds, though Wade was thankfully nowhere to be seen. It occurred to her suddenly that maybe she’d be arrested for murder before she could even charge into battle.

From the inside, the tent appeared even larger. Sparkling white lights were strung throughout, and there was even a lavish chandelier hanging in the center. A segmented floor that doubled as a dance floor was laid throughout the space, and at the far end of the tent was a massive stage, too large, in fact, for the band there that had already started playing, something with a heavy sexy beat.

Toward the front of the tent was an area for pictures to be taken, and a series of long tables lined the entire left side, filled with food and drinks. The first half of the tent was crowded with medium-sized round tables and chairs, and the second half, closest to the large stage, was for dancing. Many chairs lined the side of the tent and Tessa cursed, for if they hadn’t been there it might have been easier for people to get out if (when) there was a problem.

As it was, most of the people were going to be funneled through the entrance or would panic and run for the sides and pull the entire thing down onto everyone. But maybe the one entrance could work to their advantage as well, minimizing the bad guys efforts to get in. There was only one entrance since the stage covered the entire back of the tent.

It was a terrible set-up, though she supposed that those setting it up had not had a massive battle and minimizing collateral damage in mind.

The tent was already packed with what looked like the entire school. She found Micah easily enough, tired and looking it, standing with Greyson and pouring more Red Bull into her glass of red punch on the right side of the tent. Micah wore a bright green dress with small, white polka dots on it. She looked lovely, despite her furrowed brow. A mask shining with green and silver costume jewelry was pushed up on her head. Grey wore a sharp black suit, but with a faded green t-shirt instead of a dress shirt, and Tessa had to admit that he was rocking it. He also had a green mask, though a much simpler one, and his was on his face. Dress-up suited him. She hoped Ian would notice.

Handsome Nash, looking very 007, glided past her toward the dance floor, a pretty cheerleader-type on his arm.

He caught her eye and winked, “Save me a dance.”

Tessa smiled and watched him spin the blonde girl around elegantly. He looked happy, and Tessa hoped she could keep it that way. Just as she was about to look away he caught her eye again and smiled a devastating smile, so open and honest, so uncomplicated. Tessa caught herself, for just a moment, yearning for that lack of complication. How nice would it have been to be dating simply good and handsome Nash and just be on a lovely fairytale worthy date with not another care in the world. He probably wasn’t going to abandon his date at the end of the night for parts unknown. She smiled back and then looked away. It was too tempting to imagine a totally different totally easy life with someone like Nash. But there was no going back. Not from the things she hadn’t chosen, like being The Scion; and not from the things she had chosen, like loving Robin, even if he was going to abandon her (assuming she didn’t die). Tessa felt a wave of fear roll through her and she pushed away all her dark thoughts. She had to stay focused.

Tessa nodded at Micah, not far away, who offered a weak smile that Tessa took to mean that all was as well as could be. Micah inclined her head to the right and made a face Tessa didn’t quite understand.

Tessa followed the nod to find Brand, looking quite handsome, his hair less disheveled than usual, in a traditional black tux and simple black mask. He was smiling broadly, and a moment later Tessa understood why as she caught sight of Snow moving through the crowd in a glittering long silver dress, with a high slit. It plunged dangerously low in both the back and the front, showing off all her pale skin and slender curves. She had a decadent white fur boa draping partially off her shoulders and glittering diamonds adorned her neck, ears, and hands, her hair swept up into an elegant but complicated bun that was topped off by an actual freaking crown. She looked like she belonged at a high school dance about as much as a decked out supermodel belonged at a laundromat
.

Tessa groaned. She looked back at Micah who shot her a knowing look and then shrugged her shoulders helplessly. Fenris was, typically, nowhere to be seen. And thus everything was as in place as it would ever be. To be fair, there was nothing suspicious about the dance. It seemed like a typical dance, not that Tessa would actually know, since she’d never been to one before. She considered for a moment that she’d gotten it wrong, that The Mask was not The Monster’s intended target.

The idea both horrified and relieved her.

The sudden notion that she could just go to the dance and not fight for her life was intoxicating, but then what? Then she would have made a huge mistake and people would die and maybe the Mortal world would eventually become a zombie paradise? No, she was sure this was it, if only because the little pebble of dread was still in her stomach. In fact, it had about doubled in size. As if sensing her increasing dread, Robin touched her back and guided her effortlessly onto the already-crowded dance floor.

The heavy beat reverberated through the air and into Tessa’s bones. Tessa and Robin had never danced together before and yet there was something familiar about it. She notched into him like they had danced a thousand times before, and as she breathed him in she realized why it seemed familiar and laughed into his neck.

“What’s funny?” he asked, pulling back.

“I felt like we’d done this before, danced, I mean,” she said. He waited for her to finish. She ran her hand across his shoulder, down his arm, and looked at him. “Dancing, it’s choreography—” she said and he locked eyes with her, pulling her closer.