by E. A. Copen
“How are you feeling?” Remy knelt on the bloodstained floor next to me, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.
I licked my dry lips. “Oh, I’ve had worse,” I lied. “You should’ve seen me after my fight with Kellas. This is nothing.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t free your friend.”
I swallowed. “I’m not giving up. I can’t. Emma is...”
“She’s more than a friend, isn’t she?”
“Not anymore. I mean, she was. She really liked you. Used to sing to you.”
Remy shook her head. “I don’t remember. I wish I did, but I don’t.”
“Anyway, even if I’d been able to help her, we couldn’t be together.”
She glanced at Foxglove, who was moving among the injured, trying to assess the damage. “I understand.”
He patted one of the troops on the shoulder and looked up, nodding to Remy with a smile.
I cleared my throat. “I’m not going to stop trying to free her. Of course, now it’ll be more difficult. The police still want me. They think I did something to you and to Jessica. Detectives Codey and Drake are going to throw my ass in prison once they find out I’m back in town.”
“I may be able to help with that.” Remy wrapped her hands around mine. Her fingers still seemed so small and delicate next to mine. “I know of a good lawyer.”
“I don’t know if a lawyer will be good enough.” I shook my head.
“What evidence do they have?”
Good point. There were no bodies, since Remy and Jessica hadn’t really been hurt or killed. At worst, they were going to try and pin kidnapping on me, but they couldn’t get me for kidnapping my own kid, and they couldn’t prove I did anything at all to Jess.
“Nothing,” I answered. “But there was a witness. Someone my fetch stabbed when you were taken.”
“I can have someone remove the specifics from her memory,” Remy said with a nod. “It’s a small thing. Painless with no side effects.”
I turned my head to look at Jessica on the floor below as she helped hand out supplies.
Remy followed my gaze and sighed. “Lazarus, we can’t stay here. On Earth. Either of us.”
My heart sank. I closed my eyes. “I was afraid of that.”
“Faerie needs me. Summer needs me. It’s my home now. This place, this city, it all feels to foreign to me. I need to be where I can do the most good, and that’s in Summer.
“What about her? Does Jessica even know she’s from Earth? That she has human parents waiting for her? Nate and Leah don’t have magic.”
Remy shook her head. “Imagine what it’s like for us. The only life we’ve ever known was in Faerie. Our childhoods here, our parents... We couldn’t function here. This world, the way it works, it’s too confusing, especially for a gentle girl like Jessica. She’s good, sweet, and kind. I fear if she were forced to come back here and live, it might kill her.”
“And she’s in love with Declan.” I nodded toward Jessica below as she embraced Declan.
Remy was right. Bringing them back into the human world after growing up in Faerie would be too much of a shock. In Faerie, they’d been protected. Here, they’d be expected to live as adults who understood the danger in the world. With no formal education, no identity, and no medical history, they wouldn’t last long before someone would take advantage of them. Their best chance at a long, happy life would be to stay in Faerie. But how was I going to break that to Nate and Leah?
“At least introduce her to her parents. Nate is a good guy, and Leah deserves to know.”
Remy nodded. “I’ll ask her if she wants to meet them.” She pulled me to my feet. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I finally got to meet you. The real you. You’re much more of a badass than I thought you’d be.”
I smiled and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you as you were growing up,” I said stepping back. “I’d like to still be a part of your life now, if you’d let me.”
“You’re welcome in Summer anytime.”
“No offense, but I was kind of hoping we could get together here, say once a week? I’ll buy you dinner.”
My daughter’s smile was dazzling and bright. “Absolutely.”
BY DAWN, I WAS SITTING in an interrogation room at the precinct downtown, a well-dressed middle-aged guy at my side. Detective Drake sat across from me, reading a prepared apology statement while Codey scowled.
The lawyer had gotten them to drop all charges against me in record time, even the charges for my escape. On review of the security footage, she pointed out that I hadn’t made the attempt, but was kidnapped from prison where I was being held without access to counsel, which was apparently against my constitutional rights. I’d never seen the police scramble so fast to make an apology.
Leah, too had recanted her testimony, saying she must’ve confused me for the person who’d come to attack her. Remy’s mind-erasing fae must’ve worked pretty quick.
“Still doesn’t mean you’re innocent,” Codey grunted when his partner lowered the paper. “We’re watching you.”
Drake turned his head. “How about some coffee, Codey?”
Codey glared at his partner a moment, then got up and stormed out of the room.
Detective Drake folded his hands on the tabletop. “I know something is going on. You did something, and sooner or later you’re going to explain everything to me. Maybe not today, but someday.”
“Will there be anything else, Detective?” asked my lawyer, standing. “Because if not, my client has a life to start putting back together.”
Drake studied me as if the answers to all his questions would pop out of my head. “No, no further questions. You’re free to go. Keep your nose clean, Lazarus.”
From the station, I caught a ride up to the hospital and met Remy and Jessica in the food court. They stood when they saw me coming.
“Is he coming?” Jessica asked, her voice practically trembling. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea. You did tell him about me, didn’t you, Mr. Kerrigan?”
I nodded and pulled out a chair for her to sit. “I called him earlier and explained it to him over the phone.”
Nate had taken the news well, considering. I tried to explain to him that time had passed differently for Jessica, practically a whole childhood in the space of a week, but he didn’t seem to understand. He asked if he should bring her diapers. I’d told him maybe flowers would be better. Nice, summer flowers.
I had just ushered Jessica back into her seat when I saw Nate stop a few tables away. He held a bouquet of bright yellow daffodils in one fist. Nate scanned my face, then looked at the girls. His eyes must’ve been the size of dinnerplates.
He approached the table cautiously. “Jessica?”
Jessica flashed a nervous smile. “You must be Nate.”
Nate looked at me.
“Come on, Remy. Let’s give them a minute.”
Remy and I strode away from the tables and back toward the food stalls. “They’re going to be okay,” she said, probably more to reassure herself than me.
I nodded. “What about us? How are we going to do this?”
“Officially, we’re allies with the Court of Miracles now. I’ll be talking to my advisors to verify this, but I believe that means we can come to each other’s aid if ever one of us is attacked. You and I can trade information, goods, allow our people to move freely back and forth...”
I stopped walking and turned to face her. “I mean you and me. Where do we go from here? I always thought I’d have years to get to know you. A dad is supposed to know his daughter. All I know about you is that you’re scary good with a sword and you look better in a dress than me.”
Remy laughed. “Try on many dresses, do you?” She started toward one of the stalls. “I suppose we’ll just have to get to know each other. Ask questions.”
“Do you still hate pink?”
“Despise it.”
“Cats or dogs?”
&nbs
p; “I’m more of a cat person.”
“Chocolate or vanilla?” I nodded to the menu at the ice cream place we’d stopped in front of. Before she could answer, I grinned and added, “Hell, why not both? I owe you a couple years’ worth, don’t I?”
Remy and I collected our ice cream cones and wandered slowly back to the table, arriving just in time to see Jessica and Nate part with a hug.
“Same time next week?” I said to Remy.
“You got it.” She planted a kiss on my cheek and left to check on her friend.
Nate was shaking when he came over to me. “Leah can’t know.”
“What do you mean she can’t know? You really think it’ll be better for her to think Jessica is missing?”
Nate shook his head. “She’ll blame herself either way. This—a near grown-up Jessica—is going to be too much for her mind. It’ll break her. I can’t do that to her. She’s suffered enough.” He put his hands in his pockets and scuffed a shoe along the floor. “I can barely take it. I don’t know if I can do this anymore, Laz.”
“It’s okay. You and Jess can take it slow and—”
He shook his head. “It’s not Jessica. It’s magic. Gods. You dying every other day. I just can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry, Laz. I need...I need to walk away. Not just for me, but for my family. This went too far.”
I remembered when Beth said she wanted out. She’d walked, but I pulled her back in anyway. I couldn’t do that to Nate. If he wanted out, I had to let him go live his life and never speak to him again. That hurt, losing my best friend, but it was the right thing to do.
I nodded solemnly. “I understand.”
“We can still go fishing though, can’t we?” he said quickly and pushed his glasses up.
I forced myself to smile and lie. “Sure, Nate.”
I LEFT THE HOSPITAL unsure of where to go. Maybe Emma would be at her house and I could stop there to talk to her. Chances were good she wouldn’t be. Even if she was, she wouldn’t remember me.
I could’ve gone home, but all of Remy’s baby stuff would still be strewn around the house. I’d have to pick it all up before I could lay down and relive all the memories of things I never got to do with her. That would hurt too bad.
So, instead of checking in on Emma or going home, I took a cab out to Paula’s. It was dusk and the soft yellow light coming through the picture glass window was a welcoming sight. Even the half-burned-out neon didn’t look so bad after the day I’d had. I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.
The bar was packed full of regulars, but Josiah and Khaleda were there too, sitting at the bar talking to Paula. Everyone stopped chatting as soon as I stepped inside.
Josiah turned around on his stool, and toasted me, drink in hand. “Looks like you survived. Am I to assume we’re good to go for phase two of our plan?”
I nodded.
“About time,” Khaleda grumbled. “I was beginning to think you’d get to have all the fun without us.”
I pulled the door to Paula’s closed behind me, sealing out the night. “Everybody gather around. We’ve got lots to talk about. And bring your glasses. The Court of Miracles is in session.”
A Word from E.A. Copen
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Books by E.A. Copen
The Judah Black Novels
Fortunate Son
Guilty by Association
Perfect Storm
Blood Debt
Chasing Ghosts
Playing with Fire
Other stories in the Judah Black Universe:
Kiss of Vengeance
Cold Spell
Broken Empire:
Aftermath
The Lazarus Codex:
Death Rites
Organ Grind
Shallow Grave
Set of Books 1-3
Knight Shift
Death Match
Death’s Door
Night Terror
Dark Revel
Other Works:
Beasts of Babylon
