by Erica Ridley
He’d lost Daisy.
The moment she’d been waiting for had almost arrived. Thanks to acing the final two assignments, Daisy’s wing granting ceremony was scheduled to take place within the hour. Her best friend and her mother had both agreed to be her sponsors. Maeve was busy conjuring an even wilder party atmosphere in her barn.
Daisy walked across their shared lawn, returning the sea of accidental pumpkins to their original state and putting everything back in its place.
Fairy godmothering was beyond fabulous, and “excited” didn’t even begin to describe the elation she felt to be one of only two trainees who qualified for fairy. Everybody she knew would be at the ceremony, watching her earn wings.
Everybody but Trevor.
Her smile faded. No matter how much fun she’d had helping women in love find their Happily Ever Afters, she couldn’t get him out of her mind; couldn’t help wishing she could turn her wand toward herself and bring about her own Happily Ever After.
And those thoughts were dangerous. Those thoughts implied she’d found her One True Love. And if she had—what had she done with him? Left him. Repeatedly. Then had his memory erased. By now he was back at his university, blithely attending to his career goals, never once suspecting he’d ever interacted with a former apprentice tooth fairy.
Of course, if he didn’t remember her, then there was no reason why she couldn’t drop by just to peek at him, right? See how he was doing. So long as she kept herself hidden, no one would be the wiser. And maybe she could finally put this lovelorn foolishness to rest.
Unable to resist the temptation, Daisy conjured her lavender fairy godmother cloak and tied it around her neck. She slid the hood over her head and whispered for Bubbles to take them to Trevor. With a pop, they materialized in the gray, cement block hallway outside of his closed office door.
She turned the knob one millimeter at a time and inched the door open a crack. He was on the phone, his back to her. The very sight of him made her ache.
She’d really given him up? This dark-eyed tempter with the low voice, long lashes, and intoxicating kisses? This professor, who enjoyed teaching and studied artifacts and coached a human game? This man, who taught her the Internet and took her to tooth fountains and slept with his body curved around hers?
Had she lost her freaking mind?
She pulled the cloak tighter around her shoulders and nudged the door open a few more inches. He was yelling into a telephone. He looked angry, upset, frustrated. She wanted to put her arms around him, but she didn’t dare. She wanted to take back what she’d said to the judge, beg on her knees for the chance at an inter-dimensional relationship permit.
But it was too late. She was too late. Trevor didn’t even remember her.
“I just want to know what they do with the trash,” he shouted into the receiver. “What’s not to understand? I need that envelope. Can I have Jeb’s home number? Maybe he knows. No, I don’t care what the policy is on divulging personal information. If you would just point me in the direction of the right dumpster, I’d be glad to—”
Daisy stifled a yelp when a loud knock pushed the door open the rest of the way.
“Fifteen minutes to show time,” came Berrymellow’s voice from behind Daisy’s shoulder. She edged further into the room. “May the best man win.” He chuckled as he skipped on down the hallway.
Since she was invisible, she ought to go trip him… but she couldn’t bear to leave Trevor. Not yet. She couldn’t keep returning to Elkhart to torture herself with might-have-beens and should-have-dones. This might very well be the last time she saw him. He was moving forward with his life. She needed to move forward with hers.
Somehow.
Even though Berrymellow had gone, Trevor continued to stare at the open doorway, head cocked to one side. His eyes unfocused. His breathing slowed. His brow furrowed. His nostrils flared. The forgotten phone tumbled from his hand as he took a halting step forward.
“Daisy?” he said, his voice soft, cautious.
She froze.
He remembered her. He remembered her.
How was that even possible? Mama had been ordered to erase his memory and Dad had been sent along to make sure she did. There was no way Dad would’ve let her slide on the judge’s orders, which meant Mama had done as she was told. The only possible explanation for magic as powerful as Mama’s not to work was—
True Love.
There was nothing Daisy wanted to do more than to throw herself into Trevor’s arms. Venus help her, she couldn’t live another moment without him. But this time, she had to do it by the book. She loved him too much to risk losing him permanently.
She had Bubbles transport her back to her lawn, only to have both forearms seized by her mother.
“There you are!” Mama gave her a little shake, dislodging Bubbles in the process. “We’ve looked all over for you. Come now, or you’ll be late.”
Before Daisy had a chance to protest, Mama doused them with pixie dust and they materialized high above a crowd of thousands. Three white marble pedestals rose from the crowd, each seven feet in diameter.
Maeve stood atop the one to the left. Mama deposited Daisy atop the one in the center. After flinging a handful of clothes powder at her daughter, Mama flitted off to the pedestal on the right. Daisy stared sightlessly at the long silky gown she was suddenly wearing.
The wing ceremony. How had she forgotten the wing ceremony?
Daisy lifted one hand to her shoulder. She frowned when her palm remained empty until she remembered Bubbles tumbling to the grass when her mother shook her.
Okay. She squared her shoulders. Now that she was here, she’d get her wings. She’d never stopped wanting them, so there was no reason to spite herself. And then the second the ceremony ended, she’d head straight to the Elders’ High Court to plead her case for a government sanctioned inter-dimensional relationship.
Surely the Elders wouldn’t rule against True Love.
Daisy hugged herself as she stared down at all the upturned faces. The crowd roared. She couldn’t wait to see Trevor again, to show him her wings, to tell him the good news once the Elders lifted their injunction against them. If only he could be here now, to share this moment with her, the moment would be perfect.
“Now,” boomed a deep voice. “Who shall be the first to stand before this assembly and sponsor Daisy le Fey?”
Mama cleared her throat. “I, Arabella le Fey, hereby sponsor Daisy le Fey in this wing-granting ceremony. I vouch for her compassion, her dexterity, and her heart.”
Dexterity? Had Mama seriously vouched for her dexterity in front of two thousand people? Daisy cringed. To be fair, Mama couldn’t very well mention magical ability, since it was the wand and not Daisy doing all the good work.
“Now,” boomed the deep voice. “Who shall be the second to stand before this assembly and sponsor Daisy le Fey?”
“Me.” With a whinny, Maeve tossed her forelock from her eyes and grinned at Daisy. “I, Maeve Helicon, hereby sponsor Daisy le Fey in this wing-granting ceremony. I vouch for her wisdom, her determination, and her tenacity.”
Tenacity. Daisy fought a smile. That was Maeve’s way of saying “stubborn streak.”
“In witness whereof,” called out the deep voice. “These two sponsors have stepped forward of their own free will and vouched for the worthiness of the woman on the pedestal to be made fairy this very day. Wands up!”
A rustle ripped through the crowd as every fairy present took careful aim at Daisy. She shuffled in a half-circle to present the crowd with her bare back.
“And now,” the voice bellowed, “by the powers vested in me by the sovereignty of Nether-Netherland High Court, I now pronounce you: Daisy le Fey, fairy!”
Her body tensed and jerked forward. Her feet lifted from the cold marble with the force of so many wands focused on her at once.
The skin covering her shoulder blades began to itch. The skin covering her shoulder blades began to burn. The skin
covering her shoulder blades began to break and tear and burst and blossom and… flap?
She jerked her head sideways to gaze at the beautiful scalloped edges of her brand new gossamer wings.
Yes! This, this was what she’d been waiting for, what she’d been wanting, what she’d needed. This was the culmination of all her hard work. This was the proof that all her experiments and late nights and sacrifices had been worth every moment.
She faced forward and the crowd cheered.
Wings are forever, Ms. Hada had said. And she was right. Daisy smiled to herself. Trevor was forever, too. Well, if he could find it in his heart to forgive her for everything she’d put him through.
“Stop,” shrieked a familiar female voice. “I cannot let this farce continue!”
Loud murmurs crackled through the crowd as someone elbowed her way to the front row. Daisy’s mouth dropped open. Her former mentor stood below, smoothing her hands down a slinky red dress.
“I, Vivian Valdemeer,” she shouted, “hereby declare Daisy le Fey a fake and a fraud.”
Daisy closed her eyes. So much for earning respect. If she even made it to her own after-party, all her peers would be abuzz with Vivian’s grand entrance, not Daisy’s crowning achievement. Figured. She peeked back at the melee below.
“Daisy le Fey,” Vivian yelled, one finger pointed at the center pedestal, “is not, nor has ever been, magical. She uses false magic from a mechanical wand!”
The crowd gasped.
With a flourish, she tossed a pile of Daisy’s discarded wands to the ground. Daisy groaned. What had Vivian done, stolen them from the laboratory recycling unit?
“Kill me now.” She tilted her face heavenward.
The sun heated her skin, but not quite enough to cause spontaneous combustion.
“Seize her,” boomed the same deep voice that had granted her wings.
The breath whooshed out of Daisy’s lungs as what felt like an army of trolls tackled her from the pedestal. Her arms and legs flailed against the too-familiar black web as she free-fell through the air to the ground below.
“Oh, sweetie,” came her mother’s horrified voice from far above.
Daisy struggled against the ever-tightening web. “What now?”
“Now,” said the owner of the booming voice. She’d fallen before one of the Elders! “You will have plenty of time to think about your crimes.”
Blood drained from Daisy’s face. “What do you mean? What’s the punishment for—for falsifying magic?”
Vivian’s pink-lacquered fingernails dipped in a goodbye wave.
“Banishment,” came the Elder’s booming reply. “To the Edge of Nothing.”
Chapter 28
Trevor bounded out of his office. The cold gray hallway was as empty as his plastic trashcan. Daisy wasn’t here. Of course she wasn’t here. He swore under his breath and stalked back to his office and replaced the dangling phone on its base.
Whatever he’d sensed, it wasn’t Daisy.
He was going crazy. That was the only explanation. His Daisy-starved mind had hallucinated her scent, had filled the room with soft vanilla musk and saturated his tingling skin with hope. False hope.
Was he going to go crazy for the rest of his life, every time he thought he smelled vanilla? His heart was still stuttering in his chest, his breath shaky from the horrible, soul-crushing disappointment.
He’d never see her again.
He had to remember that. And get a hold of himself. Soon.
Trevor glanced at the clock above the doorway. Five minutes and counting. No Daisy, no silver ring. So much for popping into Nether-Netherland to present his visible support of her lifestyle and her need for magic.
That ship had sailed. He might as well attend the tenure meeting as planned.
He kicked at his empty trashcan.
Job security was the thing he’d always wanted, if not the thing he recently discovered he needed. Even though he’d rather have Daisy, he no longer had that choice.
He stared at the hideous homemade wings flopped across his desktop. What was he supposed to do with the stupid things now? Smash them? Set fire to them? Leave them in a corner to mulch?
No. He should drop them off at the Scrap Closet after the tenure meeting. Somebody somewhere might get some use out of them.
Too bad it wasn’t him.
He tucked the wings under one arm and opened his office door toward the hallway. Berrymellow stood immediately outside, tapping the toe of his penny loafer and clutching his briefcase to his chest. Smirking.
Yippy-ki-ay.
Trevor glanced at the clock, his whole body suddenly exhausted. “To what do I owe today’s stalking session?”
“It’s not stalking if I’m going to the same meeting.”
“It’s not the same meeting, genius. Your appointment is thirty minutes after mine. No matter which of us makes tenure and which does not, they’ll give us the news privately.”
“They needn’t bother when it’s obvious which of us is superior.” Berrymellow caressed his briefcase. “I’m going to steal this promotion right out from under your nose.”
“It’s not stealing out from under my nose if you stand around monologuing about it,” Trevor pointed out. “Besides, I know you eavesdropped on Dr. Papadopoulos and me. She thinks you’re crazy.”
“So?” A slow smirk curled out from underneath his red moustache. “I know something better. Your reaction alone proved to me the worth of what I’d found. As soon as the Board sees you freak out over that stupid ring, they’ll give me tenure so fast your—”
“What stupid ring?” Trevor asked, debating whether or not to bash Berrymellow in the face with a pair of fake wings. “Not your engagement theory again. That ring’s long gone.”
Berrymellow’s eyes narrowed as they suddenly focused on the multicolored creations in Trevor’s arms. “What are those?” he demanded. “Fairy wings?”
“Flights of fancy.” Trevor slipped one onto each wrist and gave them a little flap.
“You look like a gay gladiator.” Berrymellow nearly crowed in delight. “If you plan on walking in there wearing rhinestone shields, you’re pretty much handing me my next article to publish.”
Trevor rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and tossed the wings atop his desk. “You’ll have plenty of time to publish once you’re out of a job.”
Berrymellow’s smile was irritatingly confident. “I have your poison pen right here in my briefcase.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re mixing your metaphors, but don’t worry. You can work on that next year in all your free time.” Trevor pushed past him.
He set out for the conference room on the other side of the building, Berrymellow nipping at his heels the whole way. To Trevor’s surprise, Berrymellow was wise enough not to barge into the conference room and demand to be present for the entirety of Trevor’s appointment. Unsurprisingly, Berrymellow’s idea of professional privacy meant he clearly planned to park himself three inches from the conference room door until it was his turn.
Trevor stepped inside the conference room, determined not to think about Berrymellow’s arrogant claims. The board had already made their choice. The purpose of the meetings was to impart their decision to the candidates.
The board rose to their feet to greet him. Trevor exchanged smiles with each one as he shook hands across the conference table. Just as he took his seat, he noticed the conference room door was ajar. Berrymellow, of course. And absolutely the last straw.
Trevor opened his mouth to point out the inappropriateness of his colleague blatantly eavesdropping on a private meeting, when his gaze locked with Berrymellow’s through the three-inch crack and the sanctimonious prig had the nerve to grin. He wasn’t trying to hide, Trevor realized, with a sick flutter in his gut. Berrymellow wanted to catch Trevor’s eye. He wanted Trevor to see him reaching ever so slowly into his briefcase. And he definitely wanted Trevor to see him pull out the manila envelope containing Daisy’s missing r
ing.
His blood pumping at dangerous levels, Trevor’s fingers locked onto the edge of his seat, as if trying to keep himself from flying across the conference table, tackling Berrymellow to the floor, and snatching the envelope from his pale little hands.
With a wiggle of his eyebrows, Berrymellow reached forward and shut the door.
Trevor’s heart and mind racing, he tried to think what to do. He wanted to go after the ring before Berrymellow hid it or destroyed it or, worse, decided to put it on. But that was also what Berrymellow wanted. He was counting on Trevor ruining his own career by looking like a complete loon right in front of the tenure board. He could not let him win. As it was, the board members had been speaking for a solid five minutes, and Trevor hadn’t heard a single word.
He forced himself to make eye contact, to nod and smile appropriately, to listen to their voices instead of the blood rushing in his ears. They were saying… they were saying…
“—which is why we are pleased to extend you a permanent place in this institution. We look forward to many more years of your pioneering fieldwork in anthropology, your leadership in fostering interdepartmental camaraderie, and the pleasure of your continued presence as part of our close knit family here at Michiana University.”
He blinked three times before the words sank in. “What?”
Dr. Papadopoulos held out her hand. “Congratulations, Dr. Masterson. We are thrilled to have you permanently aboard.”
Dazed, he found himself the recipient of more hand-shaking and back-slapping than he’d dared to dream. He’d won. He’d won!
“We have one more meeting scheduled,” Dr. Papadopoulos was saying now, “and then we’re all headed to Dunlap Draughts for end-of-semester happy hour. We’d love to have you join us.”
“Of course,” Trevor said automatically, as her words echoed in his brain. One more meeting. Berrymellow would not be happy with the news. And Berrymellow had Daisy’s ring.
When Dr. Papadopoulos opened the conference room door to signify the end of Trevor’s scheduled meeting, he stepped into the corridor half expecting Berrymellow to pounce from the shadows.
