by Linsey Hall
The purple bottle gleamed back at me. Yep, this would work. It’d only stun him for a minute, maybe two. He heard me approaching and turned, surprise on his face. I threw the glass bomb at his feet, and it exploded, purple dust flying upward.
He blinked and sneezed, then stood stock-still.
I grinned and ran past. “I’ll make sure you get the shoe.”
Then I was gone, racing after Cindy. She wasn’t far ahead of me. Unlike myself, she wore heels. Glass heels. Dummy.
I reached her as she tore down the main front steps in front of the palace. No one was here anymore, not even a lonely butler or guard. Probably scavenging in the kitchens. At least, that was what I’d be doing if I were staff at a big party like this.
Cindy rushed down the stairs, pink skirts swishing and glittering under the fairy lights. She didn’t trip like I expected her to, however. Instead, she got halfway down the stairs, tugged off her right shoe, and dropped it on the step. She spared it one last glance and ran for it, leaving it behind in the moonlight.
Cindy left bait for the prince.
Clever Cindy.
I sprinted down after it and swept it up.
“Hey!” Her shout sounded through the night air.
I looked at her. “I’ll make sure the prince gets it. I promise.”
She studied me hard. “How did you know?”
I shrugged and grinned. “Fairy godmother.”
Okay, it was a lie. But it was fun and she bought it and damned if I wouldn’t get it to the prince.
She nodded, then ran for it, shouting her thanks over her shoulder. A carriage waited for her—an honest-to-god carriage pulled by horses—and she clambered up inside.
I turned my attention to the shoe, inspecting it. Tied to a tiny loop of glass on the back of the heel was a little scroll of paper. I pulled it off and opened it, worried that I’d find her phone number for the prince.
Instead, it was decorated with the crest of the Intermagic Games. I wasn’t sure if Cindy had known this was here or if it was magic, but damned if it wasn’t cool.
The little white wisps floated around my head, and I couldn’t help but grin. There might be deadly stakes in this game—not just my murderous competitors and the deadly challenges, but the evil witches—but it was kinda fun.
I tucked the little paper into my bra and turned just in time to see the prince race down the stairs after me. His perfect brown hair was windblown and his eyes panicked.
“Did you see her?” he demanded.
I nodded immediately, holding out the shoe. “She dropped this. Maybe you can use it to find her.”
He frowned and took it. “Her shoe?”
“It will fit only her.” I grinned. “So you should like, search the whole country and find her.”
It was a ridiculous idea, but he nodded, delighted.
I grinned. Mission accomplished.
Except for my dastardly opponents.
“You need to get out of here, though. Now.” I shooed the prince. “Dangerous people are coming.”
“To my ball?” He stiffened. “Why, I won’t stand for that!”
Oh, dang. That had been the wrong thing to say.
At the same moment, the fae sprinted toward the top of the stairs, panting. Their black formal wear was rumpled and their eyes annoyed. The illusionists followed behind, each wearing an identical white sheath dress. Their gazes riveted to the prince.
“Hide the shoe!” I hissed. “That’s what they want.”
They had no idea that I’d taken the clue from it.
But the prince was too slow. The damned shoe glittered in the moonlight like a beacon.
“I’ve got the clue!” I shouted. “It’s not in the shoe anymore.”
The two fae sneered at me.
“I trust you as far as I can throw you,” Imani hissed.
“What’s going on?” the prince demanded.
“You’re just caught in the middle of something,” I said. “But you need to hang on to that shoe. Do not let it go.”
“I know that.” He tucked the shoe into an inner pocket on his coat, then drew a sword and shield from the ether.
I gave him an appraising look. “Not bad, Prince.”
“How do you think I keep my kingdom safe?”
Honestly, I had no idea if he was even a real person or a fairy-tale figment of the Intermagic Games, so I just smiled.
Together, we turned to face our opponents. The four of them sneered, then charged.
They raced down the stairs, both of the fae winding up their magic. It swelled in the air, growing stronger as they ran. The illusionists raised their hands as well, ready to scare the shit out of us, probably.
I dug into my pocket and pulled out the last of my illusion-breaking potions, then hurled it into the stairs that rose up in front of us. The pink lights swirled up, and the illusionists hissed. Clearly, they could feel the dampening power on their magic.
“Fine!” hissed the one on the left. “We’ll do it the violent way.” She drew a sword from a sheath at her back, and charged.
Before she could reach us, the fae threw their glittery blue stunner clouds. The prince charged the clouds, and I shouted.
He ignored me, slamming his shield into the poofs of dust. Magic reverberated from the metal, and the clouds bounced off the shield, flying back toward the fae. The sparkly blue stuff hit Jabari right in the chest, and he collapsed backward.
Wow. “What is in that shield?”
It had slammed a cloud backward. Insane.
“Magic, obviously.” The prince charged the illusionist who held the sword, and they clashed in a battle of ringing metal and grunts.
Maximus appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later, looking disheveled. One stripe of red blood marred his flawless white dress shirt, but it didn’t look like his, since the shirt wasn’t torn. Clearly, the wolves were taken care of.
He eyed the scene, absorbing it quickly. Then he grinned and raised his hands. His magic swelled on the air, bringing with it the scent of cedar and the taste of whiskey.
No one seemed to notice, though, and a moment later, dozens of glass slippers spilled from his hands. They toppled down the stairs, some shattering and others staying intact.
Imani, who had been about to attack, turned, her eyes wide. She hadn’t seen Maximus conjure the shoes, and in the heat of battle, didn’t seem to remember that was a skill of his.
She charged up the stairs to grab a shoe. One of the illusionists followed, yanking up her narrow dress and sprinting.
The prince kept up the attack on the illusionist with the sword, finally driving her to the ground on her knees.
“Fine, fine!” she begged. “I quit!”
The prince stepped back, panting. He kept his sword and shield raised—he was no dummy—then nodded to the shoes that scattered the top of the stairs. “I think you’re after those.”
She surged upright and spit at his feet, then turned and raced up the stairs. Maximus hurried down, avoiding them. Any second now they would figure out our ruse.
The prince turned to me.
“You’d better get out of here,” I said. “They’re going to want the real thing soon, and you need it.”
He nodded. “Indeed I do. Godspeed to you, danger woman.”
“Danger woman?” I grinned, liking that, but he was already turning and striding off.
Maximus joined me. “Did you get it?”
“I got it. Now, let’s vamoose. They’re going to be real pissed when they figure out those aren’t the actual clues.”
I looked up. Both fae were scowling. I turned and hurried down the stairs, Maximus at my side.
“That was my first ball, and I’d say it was a success.” I grinned up at him.
“Likewise.” He frowned. “They will find clues eventually, though. Otherwise, the game can’t continue.”
I nodded. He was right. “Then we’d better hurry.” We reached the bottom of the stairs, and I sear
ched for the limo we’d taken to get here. “Where’s our ride?”
“I can call it.”
I looked around, suddenly thirsty and ravenous. Across the massive, beautiful lawn, there was a street, and across from that, there was a little pub. No one would look for us there. Not so close to the ball.
I grabbed Maximus’s hand. “Come on.” I pulled him across the lawn. As we walked, I pressed my fingertips to my comms charm. “Ana, Bree? How’s it going?”
“Lost the target,” Bree said. “Flew over the city, into the human part. Couldn’t keep going.”
Damn. But it was a smart move. No one needed the humans seeing a winged woman or a crow the size of a Volkswagen. “You out of the ball?”
They must be, if Bree was using words like target.
“We are,” Ana said.
“Meet us at the Prophecy and Pint. It’s a pub across from the palace’s front lawn.”
“On it.”
By the time we got to the sidewalk in front of the Prophecy and Pint, Ana and Bree were there. They must have flown over. We stopped in front of them.
“You okay?” Bree asked.
“Fine. We got the clue.”
Maximus took off his suit coat and tossed it in the trash. It had been slashed to bits by the wolves’ claws, anyway. He rolled up his sleeves, looking dashing as hell.
Suddenly, the dress was too long for me. Too much.
I’d had a good time—a fabulous time, really—but I wanted to get back to myself. At least a bit.
A pair of discarded scissors peeked out of the trash can, glinting under the street lamp.
It was a sign.
I reached for them and began cutting off my skirt at mid thigh.
“What are you doing?” Ana asked.
“Making it a little more punk rock.” With my tall black boots and the gold dress with a short poofy skirt, I looked pretty damned cool. And there were even a few pockets at the top, filled with potions.
Maximus’s magic flared, and he conjured a short black leather coat. He handed it to me. I put it on, then shook out my hair.
“Badass,” Bree said. “Let’s go get a drink.”
I shoved the discarded gold silk deep into the trash can so that no one would see it, then followed Bree, Ana, and Maximus into the pub. Cade and Lachlan were already waiting at a table in the corner. The pub was quiet and small, with a few crowded tables and a sleepy-looking bartender.
We picked up some pints from the bar and placed an order for late-night food, then headed to the table where Cade and Lachlan sat, a pint in front of each of them.
“How’d you get here so fast?” I asked.
“Bree told us where to go, and Lachlan transported us.” Cade smiled.
Lachlan stood and polished off his beer. “Speaking of, I need to get back to the Protectorate. Hedy and Connor are working on the potion to fool the Order of the Magica about your magic, and I promised I’d come back and help.”
Gratitude tightened my throat. “Thank you.”
He nodded like it was nothing, then pressed a quick kiss to Ana’s lips and left.
I took a steadying sip of my drink, grateful for my friends, and looked at everyone.
“Did you find your clue?” Cade asked.
I reached into my bodice and pulled out the tiny piece of paper. “Yep.” The paper was stiffly curled, and I unrolled it, then read, “Three p.m., tomorrow night.” I looked up. “I think it’s a ticket.”
“For what?” Maximus asked.
“It doesn’t say. Just says to meet in the city of Dubrovnik at three p.m. Good for two passengers to the final confrontation.”
“That means this is almost over,” Maximus said.
I nodded. “I think so.”
Bree frowned. “Dubrovnik is in Croatia. On the coast.”
“So it could be a boat,” Maximus said.
“If you got that clue first, I’d bet good money that your time of departure is slightly ahead of the others,” Ana said. “The lead is your reward.”
“Let’s hope we don’t lose it, then.” I looked up as the barman appeared, balancing a few plates.
He frowned. “Can’t say it’ll be any good. Had to heat it up in the microwave.”
I grinned and took the plates of steak and stilton pie. “Thanks. It’ll be great.”
And it was. We’d ordered enough for the table—just the leftovers from the day’s menu—and we ate silently and ravenously for a few minutes.
When I was done, I looked up, catching sight of the wisps entering through the main door. “They’ve found us.”
“Doesn’t take the little bastards long, does it?” Maximus said. “I’ll be glad to see the end of them.”
I nodded. It was time to get going. I looked at Maximus. I wanted to stay with him, but he was a distraction. Not only did I need my sleep for tomorrow, but I had things to deal with. “I’m going to head back and sleep at my place. I want to check on Hedy and Lachlan’s…ah, check on them.”
I tried not to stare directly at the wisps, but it was hard.
Maximus looked like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
We split up, heading our own ways. Maximus left for his house in London, I assumed, while the rest of us used a transport charm to get back to the Protectorate.
The night was chilly in Scotland as we arrived on the front lawn. The wisps hadn’t followed us, and I was certain they wouldn’t be able to make it past the Protectorate’s border.
I turned to face Hedy’s tower, catching sight of the Cats of Catastrophe chasing the Pugs of Destruction across the wide, moonlit lawn. What they would do with them if they caught them, I had no idea.
I looked at my sisters and Cade. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
“I’m just sorry we couldn’t catch those damn witches,” Ana said.
“We’re going to have to go debrief Jude,” Bree said. “They definitely want the final prize, and somehow they’re clued into where the challenges are happening.”
I nodded, sharing her assessment. “I’m going to go check with Hedy, Connor, and Lachlan. I want to see if there’s any way I can help.”
Bree reached out and squeezed my arm. “Try not to worry. We’re going to get the Order of the Magica off your back. Promise.”
Ana hugged me. “We wouldn’t let them take you.”
“That would mean going on the run.” My stomach felt hollow just at the idea. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“We’d go with you, dummy.” Bree gave me a look that said I was a moron for thinking otherwise, and Ana nodded her head vigorously.
My eyes smarted with tears. “I couldn’t let you do that.”
“Don’t care,” Ana said.
“And it won’t matter,” Bree added. “We’ll find a way out of this. It’s hardly the worst thing we’ve faced.”
They were right. There were plenty of times the three of us had faced certain death and managed to weasel our way out. While a lifetime sentence at the Prison for Magical Miscreants sounded bad, there was worse.
I said goodnight, then headed across the lawn to Hedy’s lonely tower. It sat near the edge of the property, away from the main castles. “In case I blow the place to hell,” Hedy had once said.
It wasn’t a bad idea.
Warm yellow lights glowed welcomingly from the windows as I approached, but the atmosphere inside the tower was far different.
Tension creased the brows of the three occupants. Connor, Hedy, and Lachlan all looked harried and tired as they bent over tables full of ingredients and herbs, vials and little metal tools. Hedy was wearing one of her usual flowy dresses, but it looked wrinkled and rough. Her lavender hair was pulled up on her head, a messy knot that spoke volumes about how hard she’d been working. Connor’s flop of dark hair was also a rat’s nest, and there was a coffee stain on his band T-shirt. The Proclaimers, this time. Lachlan hadn’t changed out of his tux, just shed the jacket and rolled up h
is sleeves.
They were working so hard to help me. Damn, I was lucky to have them.
“How’s it going?” I asked, my nerves a tight ball in my throat.
The three of them looked up, startled. They’d been so engrossed in their work that they hadn’t seemed to notice me enter.
“Fine,” Hedy said, but I could hear the lie in her voice.
“Smashing,” Connor croaked.
“Not as well as when I left to attend the ball.” Lachlan told the truth, at least.
Hedy smacked him. “We didn’t anticipate the ingredients would decay when they came in contact with each other.”
“We thought we had it.” Connor frowned. “We didn’t.”
I approached, staring at the ingredients scattered across the table. “What’s the main issue?”
Connor gestured to a large mirror sitting on top of the heavy wooden table, propped against the wall. On it, a semi-hazy image of the field of pumpkins showed. It looked a bit like a weird movie, and I watched as the vines withered.
“That’s how people watch the Intermagic Games?” I asked. In all the stress of the competitions, I hadn’t had a chance to figure it out. Staying alive had been more interesting.
“It is,” Hedy said. “Just a simple spell that you place on your mirror, and you’re hooked into the competition.”
My stomach dropped a bit. “So everyone is watching.”
“Any supernatural with a mirror can watch, yes,” Hedy said.
“Damn.” The idea stressed me out even more.
“The issue is that we’re trying to replicate the rate of decay on the plants,” Connor said. “Trying to make something that looks exactly like what you did. So the Order can’t question you at all.”
I nodded, seeing the problem. “Can I help?”
“You probably could,” Hedy said. “But right now, you need to rest. Isn’t there another competition coming up soon?”
“The final challenge. Tomorrow.”
She nodded. “That’s the one. You need to survive that first. The final challenge is always the most difficult. That’s your priority.”
“But if we don’t figure this out, I’ll be tossed in prison.”
