Hidden Ashes: Reigning Fae Book 1

by AC Washer

  Finally, Deena shook her head. “No, from what Kella was saying, she needs a treatment center.”

  “Exactly what did Kella say?”

  Deena looked at me. I shook my head.

  “Ma’am. ” Deena got up from the chair. I quickly followed her lead. “We need to go. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

  Maeve walked over to us and put her hand on Deena’s arm. A feeling of deja vu crept over me.

  “She needs to stay.”

  Deena stared into Maeve’s eyes for a long moment. And blinked.

  “She needs to stay,” Maeve repeated, more firmly.

  “She needs to…” Deena shook her head. “Kella, honey, where’s your bag?”

  “Right here.” I’d been clutching the cheap backpack in my arms like a teddy bear.

  “’Kay,” she said. “It’s time to go.” I nodded, glancing back at Maeve. Her mouth gaped open, staring at Deena as she walked toward the door.

  “Bye, Maeve,” I said before rushing out of the house.

  Chapter 16

  Dawn had barely broken when we reached the fork before reaching the intersection before the interstate. Deena got turned around and took a right instead going straight ahead. She mumbled under her breath as she looked for a stretch of road with enough of a shoulder to turn around. But no big deal. We were almost out of town. Just flip a u-turn and…

  Lights flashed in Deena’s rearview mirror, a siren blaring into the early morning, completely out of place in the forested area. No freaking way. We were too close to freedom to get pulled over by a cop car now.

  I took in a deep breath. It was probably just a speed trap, was all. Something that fae police probably did in their rural areas, too.

  Deena muttered a few things under her breath as she gripped the steering wheel. Something about having a white kid in her car. But I was too focused on the Glamour-disguised fae coming up to her window to listen to what she was saying.

  Normally, fae seemed to want their glamours to look as beautiful as possible. But this guy had opted to look like a rhino turned human. I guessed he was going for the intimidation factor—something handy if you were policing a town full of fae.

  The police officer tapped on the window. Deena rolled it down.

  “Is something wrong, officer?” Deena asked with enough sugar in her voice to rot teeth.

  The officer’s dirt brown eyes flicked over her, then to me, then back again. Deena tightened her grip on the wheel.

  “Ma’am, you aware that your taillight’s out?”

  “No, sir. I’ll make sure I take care of that as soon as—”

  “And that you were going thirty-two in a thirty?”

  “Th-thirty-two…” Deena stammered, her cheeks darkening.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He then looked right at me. “She yours?”

  Deena took in a deep breath before saying, “I’m her caseworker.”

  “You got proof?”

  “Proof—how about you just ask her?”

  “It’s true,” I said quickly, “She’s my—”

  “We got a missing girl—possible runaway—matching her description, ma’am.”

  “There a problem?” Another officer came up to stand beside his partner. My mind blanked for a second as I registered the honey-brown eyes, dark brown hair, and an arrogant smirk. Impossible.

  “Edon?” He looked five years older in uniform. I shook my head and looked again. Yep. Edon.

  “This her?” Officer Rhino asked, thumbing his finger in my direction. Edon looked over at me and shrugged.

  “It’s possible. Best to play it safe. And Louie? Make note that she was found here in your report.”

  Louie sighed. “You sure about that?”

  Edon smirked.

  “Always dragging politics into the job,” he muttered under his breath before leaning into the car.

  “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to exit the vehicle and come with us to the station.”

  “To… to the station,” Deena repeated. “Officer, I swear, I’m this girl’s caseworker. Look.” She dug into her purse and came up with a plastic-encased photo ID on a lanyard. “Here’s my ID”

  The officer didn’t even glance at it.

  “In the case of a missing child, occupation is not a factor, ma’am.”

  “But this proves I’m a caseworker. See?” She tapped the part that read Department of Human Services.

  The policeman sighed. “Ma’am, even if you are her caseworker, we need to do our due diligence. Now, in the car.”

  I finally regained enough sense to snap my jaw shut. How was Edon a fae police officer? He was a rebel and he went to my freakin’ high school. Then again, so did Mickey, the council advisor. And Bridgette, my bodyguard assassin. For all I knew, half my school consisted of adult fae pretending to be real students.

  But still, how was a known rebel a police officer?

  “But what about my car?” Deena asked.

  “Give me the keys. Another officer can drive it to the station for you,” Rhino said.

  Deena glared at him, almost flinging the keys in his direction. He pocketed them and swept his arm toward the police cruiser.

  As we got in the back of the car, a plastic barrier between me and Edon, I realized getting away from the fae was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

  Edon started the car, glancing at me through the review mirror. I barely resisted the urge to flip him off. Mostly because he was a rebel. And from what I understood, they kind of wanted to kill me right now. Playing nice—well, at least not openly hostile—was my best bet.

  When Edon and Officer Rhino escorted us into the precinct, I expected a pretty normal setup, kind of like the stuff I’d seen on crime TV shows.

  But as we walked past a ginormous plastic-encased holding cell that was three times taller than me, I realized my mistake. Inside were three human-looking fae lounging on benches that ranged from doll-sized to giant. At the moment, the doll-sized one was empty.

  We kept walking until we got to a desk. Edon gestured for us to sit down. I did, all the while giving him the stink eye.

  It didn’t seem to faze him.

  “Ms. Pritchard,” Edon said. “We’re waiting for a couple folks to arrive so we can get everything settled.”

  Deena crossed her arms and nodded.

  I sat, looking around the office and then back at Edon and his pointy-eared shadow.

  “So. You’re a cop, not a student?”

  He smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

  “You know that’s pretty messed up, right? Pretending you’re a senior around a bunch of underage girls?”

  “Pretending what?” Deena looked from me to Edon and back again. “What are you talking about?”

  “That guy.” I pointed to Edon. “He’s been hanging around my high school.”

  “Undercover work, ma’am,” Edon cut in smoothly.

  “Okay, then.” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. “What were you investigating?”

  “Kella.” From Deena’s tone, I knew she thought I was stepping out of line. But I couldn’t let it go. This guy had me thinking he was a normal kid like me…well, as normal as one could get looking like he did, anyway.

  “No, seriously, Deena. The guy’s a total fraud.” I turned back to him just in time to catch the amused glint in his eye. “This town is too small for some kind of undercover cop operation. Everyone knows everybody. And on top of that…” Here I paused for a long, dramatic moment. “He kissed me.”

  “What?” Deena looked from me to Edon and back again. “What did you say?”

  Edon shifted from disinterested amusement to damage control in half a second. “Now, ma’am—”

  “Yep. A full-on, no-holds-barred kiss.” I couldn’t help but relish the words. Sure, I was kind of overstating what happened… okay, I was completely misleading Deena. But hey, I just needed to see Edon squirm for once. And so far, it was super satisfying.

  “Is wh
at she’s saying true?”

  “I did not—”

  “Yeah, Edon. Did you kiss me? Yes or no?” I said, staring Edon down as best I could from my seat. Edon shot me an annoyed glance.

  “It was not…”

  “See.” I turned to Deena. “He didn’t deny it. He called it ‘it’. That implies there was an ‘it.’ So now you know he’s a creeper guy just like my math teacher—”

  Deena’s eyes widened. “Just like who, now?”

  “—and that he pulled us over, claiming he’s not sure if I’m this missing girl, but now you know that he knows who I am. So why is he dragging us down to some precinct to see if I’m someone he already knows I’m not?” If Deena’s eyes got any wider, I was pretty sure they’d fall out.

  I turned to glare at Edon, daring him to weasel out of this.

  A deep rumble of laughter made me jump in my seat, reminding me that Officer Louie was still here and standing directly behind us.

  “She’s good,” he said. “Maybe better than you.”

  Edon shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “She just took me by surprise is all.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Deena asked, and then shook her head. “If you know Kella ain’t this runaway, why’d you bring us here? And why are you kissing a minor? I know you undercover cops get some allowances, but kissing little girls—”

  “Hey, I’m not little,” I protested. Yeah, I wanted her to be mad at Edon—he deserved whatever Deena gave him—but I wasn’t some five-year-old in pigtails.

  Deena glared at me. “Kissing very little girls probably ain’t one of them.”

  “Now, ma’am—”

  “Don’t ‘now, ma’am’ me. I want your badge number right now.”

  “Ma’am, I kissed her hand.”

  After a moment’s pause, Deena turned to look at me. “Kella?” In a single word, Deena promised retribution.

  “Oh, come on, Deena. Who kisses people’s hands anymore?”

  Deena’s eyes narrowed.

  “And the whole kiss thing isn’t what’s important,” I said quickly, knowing I had only seconds to get my point across before Deena roasted me. “What’s important is that he admits he’s met me before—knows I’m not some missing runaway—and he still dragged us back here for no good reason. So how about we just get up and leave? I mean, don’t they have to have probable cause or something? I’m pretty sure it’s unconstitutional to make us stay here without a good reason.”

  And it was true—there was zero reason for us to stay here, and I needed Deena to realize that so we could nope on out of here as fast as possible. I wasn’t sure exactly what game Edon was playing—if he was in on everything or doing his own thing—but the longer we sat in the precinct, the smaller my chances of escape seemed to be. If I could get Deena to pull a sorry-but-we’re-leaving move like she did at Maeve’s, I was pretty sure Edon couldn’t do anything to stop us. At least, not legally…if fae had the same laws.

  Huh.

  I put that question on my “helpful things to have known pre-shit show” list, and put all of my focus on Deena, hoping she’d see through all this BS.

  Edon shook his head. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but while I was familiar with Kella, we still need to be thorough.”

  Just as Deena opened her mouth to respond, I heard someone say, “Kella.” I whipped my head around to see Maeve making a beeline toward me. I looked back at Deena, whose face had gone from confused to full-on livid.

  “You,” Deena said. “You called the police? Because, what? You didn’t want me to take Kella out of your home? What’s your problem?”

  Maeve looked past Deena as if she were as inconsequential as a fly. Instead, her gaze snagged on Edon, her face souring instantly. “You.”

  “Hello, Maeve,” Edon said, a crooked smile lighting his face.

  Maeve looked between me and Edon, her brows pinched, before she shook her head like she was trying to clear it. “However it happened, I’m glad she’s here alive.”

  “Why wouldn’t she be?” came Deena’s indignant response.

  Both Maeve and Edon ignored her.

  “Does the council even know you lost her?” Edon asked.

  Maeve’s silence spoke volumes. She finally said, “It hardly matters. I’ll be taking her back now.”

  Deena’s gaze swiveled between Maeve and Edon. She looked confused. Very confused.

  “Just be glad I picked her up on my land and not anyone else.”

  Maeve’s face went ashen. I was missing something here. Something important. What did it matter if we drove on his land? Deena had just made a wrong turn, was all…or did she? Some of the fae still possessed a little of their magic from before—like O’Faolain when he charmed me. Was it possible that a fae had manipulated Deena? Nudged her just enough to get her to go the wrong direction? But that didn’t make sense. Why would it matter what direction we went? We’d been leaving.

  “Who? Who did you use to get her to drive onto your land?” Maeve seemed to echo part of my thoughts.

  “No one,” Edon said, his gaze flat. “As much as I’d like to claim foresight, it was dumb luck. They intentionally turned onto my land. No persuasion involved.”

  Maeve surveyed him, her mouth pinching and fists clenching before she took in a long breath and exhaled. “I’m assuming since she’s still alive, you want to bargain. We’ll need to visit to the council—”

  “No. The precinct is neutral territory. The council can come here. And only one more representative,” Edon said. “I don’t want all eight in the precinct, neutral or no.”

  Maeve rolled her eyes. “We both know that she crossed over to your land. The council can’t do anything about that.”

  Edon shook his head. “I’d rather not take any chances.”

  “Fine, then. I’ll have two other council members join me.”

  “One hour,” Edon said, “or any possible deal will…expire.”

  A chill rolled across my body.

  “One hour,” Maeve agreed, turning to leave.

  “Ah-ah, aren’t you forgetting something?” Edon asked.

  Maeve looked back at Edon, who was pointing at Deena. She shook her head, a small smile on her face. “Can’t. She’s resistant. Best of luck with that.” She turned and left.

  Edon looked after her for a long second.

  “What the crazy is going on here?” Deena said, breaking the silence.

  “It’s too early for this,” Officer Louie said from behind. “I’m getting some ‘brosia. Want a cup?” he asked.

  Edon rubbed his eyes. “Yeah. With a shot of mint.”

  “That tired, eh?”

  “I’ve got a resistant human, the heir to the throne, and a deal to make with the council. What do you think?”

  Louie did a mock salute. “One ‘brosia with mint, coming up.”

  “So, back to you telling me what all this crazy is about,” Deena said.

  Edon weighed Deena for a moment. “Fine.” He leaned forward in his chair and stared into Deena’s eyes.

  “You are in a town full of fae—a group of magical races that are all hidden by a glamour so humans will see us as exactly that—human. Kella,” he gestured to me, “is the heir to the fae throne, who didn’t know she was the heir until about a week ago. So, you can appreciate how the fae would have a difficult time just letting her…drive away.”

  Deena’s mouth formed a little o. “Are you for real?” She nudged me. “Is he for real, Kella?”

  “Yep,” I muttered.

  “So, you aren’t going crazy?”

  “Well, that remains to be seen,” said Edon. I glared at him.

  “It’s true,” he said. “You’ve got a great-grandmother that I’d put in the psychopath category. So, if her type of crazy is hereditary…” Edon shrugged.

  “Wait, she’s still alive?” Deena asked. “Because I’ve been looking hard for kin, and I haven’t heard of a living grandma.”

  “Where is she?” I asked
, but I was more wary. My mom was dead, my bio dad didn’t want to talk to me yet, and Edon already said my great-grandmother was a psycho. I didn’t really have much luck going for me in the family department, so I wasn’t about to get my hopes up with this new connection. “And why isn’t she queen if she’s still alive?”

  “Well, ‘alive’ is kind of…relative.” Edon leaned back into his office chair, hands clasped behind his neck. “Do any of us truly die? Perhaps we simply go on to live in a different plane of existence.”

  Deena looked like she wanted to slap Edon upside the back of his head. So did I. “Answer the da—answer the question,” Deena said as Officer Louie returned with two coffee mugs and a small manila packet tucked under his arm.

  “Here ya go, chief.”

  “Chief?” I asked as Edon grabbed his cup along with the packet.

  “This the pixie stuff?” Edon asked, tapping the packet on his desk.

  “Chief—as in everyone knows who you are?”

  “Yep,” Louie said. I wasn’t sure if he was answering me or Edon. Maybe both of us.

  “How much?” Edon asked Louie.

  “Everyone knows who the chiefs are in small towns, right? You couldn’t have been undercover—all the students would have already known who you were.” But fae couldn’t lie—it was a fact. So how’d he get that one out of his mouth?

  “I mean,” I continued, “I had to be the only one in school who didn’t know... Wait, were you spying on me?”

  “Double dose,” Louie said, ignoring me.

  Edon looked pleased. “And here I thought they were going to be stingy and just give us one for the human.”

  Louie shrugged. “They’re both for the human. She’s resistant, so they didn’t want to take any chances. Supply said if one worked, we need to return the second. They’re running low.”

  I swung my gaze between Officer Louie and Edon in disbelief. Were they seriously ignoring me right now? Hot anger flooded through me.

  Edon had been spying on me the entire time I’d been here. Watching me as I attended classes. Maybe even looking for a convenient way to off me. I was pretty sure the girl who tried to kill me not too long ago was a rebel, too. Did she take her orders from him?