Fae of Calaveras Trilogy Box Set

by Kristen S. Walker

  I picked up white tea candles and dried thyme. On a whim, I also grabbed a family-sized frozen lasagna and a bag of salad for dinner. I could throw the lasagna in the oven and ignore it while I cast the spell, and it would be ready around the time that Dad came home from the hospital.

  The charm was simple enough to make. I charged the candle by the light of the moon, then lit it using my own magic. I couldn’t find white ribbon, so I tied white yarn around a metal key charm, then sprinkled the whole area with the thyme. “As the moon reveals her face, let me reveal when their words are untrue,” I chanted. “This is the key to tell me what they know to be false.” I wanted it to be clear that I only wanted to know when someone was lying to me, not force them to speak the truth: if I asked for that, it could backfire and force me to speak the truth as well. And I was lying too much right now to risk that.

  When I was satisfied with the spell, I tucked the key charm into my pocket. The metal of the key would heat up when someone told me a lie, so I could sense it without letting them know what I was doing.

  I put it away with a sigh and felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. I’d put a lot of energy into the spell, more than I realized, and I was already drained from the emotional roller coaster of a day. I wasn’t good at all of this sneaking around and lying. It wouldn’t be done any time soon, not if I earned the Unseelie’s trust and got to meet with them. All I could do was be careful and hope that I would adapt to the strain.

  I made myself an herbal tea to help replenish my magic, and when I felt a little better, I pulled out my witchcraft journal and wrote down the details of the charm I’d just made. Mom never told me to write anything down, but Glen said that all magic practitioners kept notes about the spells they cast to learn from their successes and failures.

  It was the dull part of witchcraft, and now I feared what would happen if anyone else ever found my journal and discovered what I was doing. I didn’t write down why I needed a lie-detecting charm, but I was afraid of making my friends suspicious. There were some questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer.

  The last thing that I had to do was test it out. I waited until Dad got home. We ate dinner together in the kitchen, chatting about the day like we used to do as a whole family. I didn’t tell him that I’d skipped the end of school, or about seeing Zil, so I ran out of conversation early.

  When I served up seconds of the lasagna, I finally led to a topic that I thought he would lie about. “You and Mom have been separated for a while,” I said lightly. “Have you thought about seeing someone new?”

  Dad coughed and looked down at his plate. “Uh, are you looking for a stepmom?”

  I shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t have a lot of female role models around, though. But I’m thinking about your happiness. You spent years being controlled by Mom, and you should have someone who treats you better now.”

  He managed an awkward smile and gestured to the reheated lasagna. “Why would I need another wife when I have a daughter who’s such a great cook?”

  I laughed. “Seriously, you should think about putting yourself out there again.”

  His smile faded. “It’s not that easy at my age. And I spend all of my time at the hospital. How would I meet anyone?”

  “You could meet someone at your work,” I said with a wink. “Don’t you have any hot nurses?”

  “I’d never think of the nurses that way,” Dad said quickly, and his eyes darted away. “I respect them as hard-working professionals.”

  There it was—a white lie. The charm in my pocket warmed just a little, but it was enough to confirm it. And, ew! Dad had been looking at a nurse.

  Since I had what I needed, I dropped the teasing. “Just keep yourself open to the idea, and see what happens. I may not need a mom, but Akasha does, and she’s coming back soon.”

  I saw him force a smile. “Of course, honey.”

  The charm in my pocket warmed again. So he was losing hope of getting my sister back. I busied myself clearing away the plates before he could see the pain on my face. I would get her back.

  The next day at school, I smiled at Zil in the hallway and started heading over to say hello. I wanted to show that I could be a friend to her, too. But when she saw me coming, she just scowled, shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie, and walked the other way.

  So I found my group of friends instead. I knew that our conversations were being overheard at school even when I thought we were being careful, but I’d decided that I wanted Zil to know that I was following up on what she told me. I pulled Glen and Ashleigh aside with me and said, “I have questions about those history books we read on Saturday.”

  I watched Glen as he checked around to see if anyone was in earshot, to see if he did anything with his hands. But if he activated any magical aid to shield our conversation from our fellow students, I never saw it. So he didn’t suspect anyone at school, either.

  “What questions?” he said at last.

  “Well, for example, about the people who were exiled,” I said. Stay calm and keep breathing, I reminded myself. “Was there a possibility of parole? Like, could they be allowed to come back for good behavior?”

  He frowned and shook his head. “The humans are dead by now, Rosa. That was over a century ago.”

  No reaction from the charm in my pocket, but I didn’t expect one for that. So far, so good. “What about the magikin, the ones who weren’t Fae? Some of them have longer lifespans and they could still be alive.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know what happened to them. They would have gone mad in Faerie a long time ago.”

  Now I felt warmth spreading across my leg from my pocket. That wasn’t the truth, and he knew it. I struggled to keep the surprise off my face. I looked over at Ashleigh. “So when magikin live in Faerie, they go mad, just like humans?”

  Ashleigh nodded, and she looked very sad. “I’m sorry. I know it’s a terrible thing. When Glen and I are in charge, I don’t want to exile anyone.”

  Nothing from the charm. I looked back and forth between the two of them. Could it be possible that Glen knew more of the truth than Ashleigh did? They were both supposed to be training to become the next rulers of the local Seelie Court. But maybe the Count only told the truth to his grandson, and Ashleigh was just a figurehead—a pretty girl to marry Glen and tie his bloodline closer to the true Fae on the other side.

  I clenched my jaw. “It’s just not fair. Your Court is supposed to protect their rights. Is there nothing you can do to help them now?”

  Glen held up his hands. His face was solemn, but it didn’t hold the same kind of remorse that I saw in Ashleigh’s eyes—or was I reading too much into things?

  “There’s nothing we can do. The laws were made a long time ago, and though they may seem harsh to you, they were deemed necessary to protect this world.” He leaned closer to me. “We had to make some difficult compromises to get the rights that we have now. Humans didn’t want any kind of magikin in their communities. Because of the sacrifices of a few, we’re able to protect all of the others now.”

  I backed up a step away from him. The charm in my pocket warmed when he said there was nothing he could do, but otherwise there was no reaction. He must believe in what he was saying, and his words sent a chill up my spine. Especially the way he said “sacrifices.”

  “Okay.” I swallowed hard. “You know more about this than I do.”

  Ashleigh put her hand on my arm. “Whatever happens, you know that your mom will get a fair trial. We won’t just banish her forever, I promise.”

  I hadn’t been thinking about Mom and what would happen if we caught her, but it was better if they thought my concerns had led me to ask so many questions. I just nodded, looking down at my feet. “I know you guys will be fair. Thanks for telling me, at least.”

  I turned and went to find Kai.

  14

  Unseelie Meeting

  Rosmerta

  Mary and I had both agreed that the decision to open t
he gate was too big for us to make on our own. So when I started to feel like I was getting close to cracking the information from the book, I called a meeting of all the Unseelie in the county for us to talk about the possibility.

  Mary and James were going and so was Akasha, but although Elizabeth begged and pleaded, we made her stay at home. “You still need to be able to say that you weren’t directly involved and you don’t know what we’re planning,” Mary told her daughter. “You have plausible deniability. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way this has to go.”

  She stomped off to her room and slammed the door. I sighed and shook my head. “Girls are just emotional like that. She’ll calm down later.”

  James laughed. “I always say that I can deal with the boys, but that one is all her responsibility.” He jerked his thumb at his wife, who rolled her eyes.

  A space large enough for all of us to meet that was also secure from prying eyes was hard to come by. Angelica’s sister Esther had planned the details of the meeting for us. She rented the smaller room in one of Madrone’s few public spaces, the Recreation Hall, as a private birthday party for her husband. It had to happen late on Wednesday evening after the teen girls’ dance class had left. Esther baked a birthday cake, and several people brought cheap decorations. In the spirit of the event, Mary brought an empty box wrapped in bright green paper.

  I’d only met Esther a few times, but she had the same round, smiling face as her sister. Besides those two, only a few other dwarves were present, and they all sat together in a knot at the front of the room. There was the usual assortment of centaurs, satyrs, and a great number of dryads—the county’s forests were heavily populated. As a human, I was in the minority; the others were Tom and Frank, life partners who owned What a Drip Coffee next door to my old magic shop. And a single faeriekin, Sir Allen, chose to reveal himself to the rest of our group.

  I greeted each one by name, over forty people, and thanked them for coming. I’d worked with all of them at one time or another since I’d settled permanently in Madrone more than twenty years ago, doing favors magical and otherwise. They were my friends and allies and I’d relied on them to keep me safe ever since that fateful Halloween night. My daughter hung back and watched shyly. She’d never seen most of these people before.

  The only ones who weren’t present were the ghosts like Sheriff Baumann. We’d decided that since they were dead and not really affected by current events, they didn’t need a vote, and spirits were always unpredictable. Besides, it would be much harder to explain the presence of ghosts at a birthday party, when none of the ghosts were even related to Esther’s husband.

  We had no hierarchy, but when everyone had been introduced to each other, Angelica stood up on a footstool and called the room to order.

  “We’ve done our best to support each other and get by without attracting the attention of the Court,” the dwarf woman said in her deep voice, which carried through the listening crowd. “We’ve always hoped that there would be a way to change things even more, but we’ve never had a plan or a real opportunity to do that. Some of you are happy just staying under the radar, but I know some of us have had a harder time, and we need to upset the system. Now Rosmerta thinks that she may have found a way to give us the power to do that.”

  I went to join her at the front, but then Sir Allen stood up. I nodded and hung back for him to speak first.

  “We’re grateful for the things that you’ve done for us in the past,” the faeriekin said with an elegant bow. “But recent events have made your presence here something of a difficulty for all of us. While we’ve tried to help as best as we can, I’ve wondered if it would be safer for you to find another home where you would be less conspicuous.”

  His words stung, but I knew his question was the one that everyone else was afraid to ask. “Thank you for your honesty, Sir Allen.” I cleared my throat and looked around the room. “I’ve also questioned whether it would be better for me and my friends if I just left. But I know my problems, like many of yours, are not just a single circumstance that I can fix by running away. I’ve chosen to stay until now because I wanted to find a way that I could make our community better for all of us.”

  I took a deep breath. “I called you here today so that I could propose an idea to you. I want to emphasize that this plan could be dangerous. It might not actually help change anything, and it could get all of us arrested and exiled by the Seelie Court. So I want to take a vote and make sure that everyone agrees. If you disagree with my idea for any reason, then we’ll take another vote to decide if I should leave California.”

  I swallowed nervously and looked around the room. It was hard to risk putting my fate up to a vote, but it was the best way I could think of to make sure that I had their trust. I wanted to hear people protest and insist that of course I should stay and they would always support me.

  But although I saw dismay on Mary’s face, and Angelica was shaking her head, and Tom and Frank flashed me big thumbs-ups in unison, I saw other people considering the possibility. Sir Allen and some of the others were already nodding their agreement, as if they were ready to turn me out that moment. My heart felt crushed under the weight of their disapproval. Maybe this meeting was a bad idea, after all.

  But it wouldn’t come to that yet. First I had to tell them about the possible plan to overturn the Seelie.

  I rushed on before anyone else could speak out against me. “I have a book that discusses the method for opening a gate between the two worlds, one which the Seelie would not be able to control. I’m still working on it, but I’m pretty sure that I could manage to do this. If we did, we could bring over any number of magikin from the other side—maybe enough to outnumber the Seelie, or maybe only a few who could bring proof of the Seelie’s methods so we could go to the human government.” I looked down. “We’d have to decide how to handle that. But the first question is, should we try to open a gate?”

  The room exploded with shock and disbelief. Most of them had never heard that such a feat was even possible. Some of the older magikin, particularly one group of dryads, described that they’d heard of attempts to do it before, but they warned that all of them had failed with harsh consequences from the Seelie Court. Other people had questions about what we’d do with the gate.

  I let Angelica and Mary moderate the discussion, because they knew more about the situation. In particular Mary, who had never participated much in these meetings before, came into her element when she stood up to speak. “All my life I have been grateful for the rare opportunity that my family had to come here, so I have kept my head down and tried to ignore the injustices perpetrated by the Seelie,” she said. “I thought that as long as these things didn’t happen to me and mine, I wouldn’t risk speaking up.

  “But these laws, these decisions by the Seelie, they still affect all of us.” Her eyes burned, seeking out each person in the room. “My grandparents left behind their own families to come here, so my cousins are still trapped on the other side. My children live here, but they aren’t treated equally by humans or faeriekin. I have to bow to a Count who does not stand up for the needs of my family, in his government or in the human one.” She turned and pointed at me. “And if this woman has the power to bring him down, then I will stand with her.”

  Tom stood up and put his hand on Frank’s shoulder. “My partner and I were both a little relieved to give up sorcery when we moved here, and we didn’t question the Court’s decision against us until Rosmerta opened up her magic shop next door to ours.” His usual friendly smile faded away as his brows furrowed. “I never knew before today that magikin weren’t allowed to travel freely across the border. But we both know what it’s like to be oppressed for who we are, and you all have accepted us, so you’re family. We’re going to fight for our families.”

  Gradually, others began to stand up and voice their agreement. More just raised their fists in the air like Mary, their faces set with determination. The whole mood of the room swung
from concern about me to enthusiasm about my plan to open a gate.

  I wiped tears away from my eyes when it was my turn to stand up again. “Thank you for your heartfelt speeches and your outpouring of support.” I took a deep breath to steady my voice, because I was shaking from the emotions of their words and gestures. “With your agreement, then, I’ll do my best to find a way to open a gate. I hope it will give us the power we need to create the world that you’ve described. I’m doing this for all of us, not just myself.”

  Angelica bobbed her head decisively. “And you’ll let us know what we can do to help. I think this is going to take the expertise and strength of more than just one person.”

  Mary raised her hand. “I’ll see if I can use my computer to scan the book we’re reading, so we can share copies of the information with everyone. The more heads we have working on this, the better we’ll understand it.”

  Sir Allen got to his feet again, still looking grim. “I’ll see if I can find more information at the castle. I didn’t know that this book existed before. But now that I know what to look for, maybe I can do some digging and uncover other sources.”

  “Be careful,” Esther’s husband said, raising his voice for the first time. “It’s worth more to us if you can stay in the castle without suspicion, close to the Count, than if you bring us a couple of old books. Don’t do anything that could compromise you.”

  Esther elbowed him in the ribs. “Don’t tell him how to do his job, dear. He’s managed this long without getting caught, so I think he knows what he’s doing.”

  I watched all of this closely, afraid of an argument between the different races, but Sir Allen merely bowed politely toward the dwarves and resumed his seat.