Trickster Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 2)

by Cedar Sanderson

  It didn’t take her long, and then she flicked messages off her fingertips, one at a time, to Joe, Devon, and finally, reluctantly, Alger. From Joe she needed the contact information for Dean. From Devon, the know-how to communicate with the internet from Underhill. Finding out about that had explained so much. Like that some internet trolls were in fact, real trolls. Alger she simply sent a note saying that she was tasked with a mission above, and did not know when she would be back. She still didn’t trust him, not after he had tried to hand Lom over to the Wild Hunt.

  Now, she needed to go through a door, by herself. Better over quickly, so she could experiment. And she needed to make some phone calls while she was out there. It was oddly a vulnerable feeling, the idea that she might lose access to her magic up there. She knew from the little lesson she had on the ferry she would have some, but the big question was how much. Lom had flown to Alaska, and brought her here by plane, boat, and car... but he was a disabled magic user.

  Bella climbed the stairs heavily, wanting to see either Lucia or Ellie before she left. At the top of the stairs, two things happened. She got an answer from Joe, and Devon showed up in the entryway, looking worried.

  “Devon, Lom is fine.” She hurried to assure him, giving the slender boy a quick hug. “I just needed some information.”

  “What’s going on, Bella?” He followed her into the kitchen. “Uncle Lom is the only one I really let know about...” he looked around nervously. “I mean, he said that it was a great tool, but I should be careful.”

  “I rather think others know about it, not through you, but on their own. And he told me. Look, I’m going above, and I need to be able to stay in touch.”

  He nodded. “I’ll give you the URL and password to get in, then. Where are you going?”

  “Confidential, Devon, sorry. Court business.”

  Which she hoped would satisfy him, because she didn’t know how much he knew about what Lom did for a living. Not knowing seemed to be the phrase of the day, and it all went to show just how much use having a whole library in your head could be.

  “Can I come with you?”

  He had managed to surprise her. “Devon, you can’t, I’m sorry. Why do you ask?”

  “You make Uncle Learo... um, Lom, happy. I want to be there if...” He shifted unhappily. “If you need anything.”

  He was offering to be her bodyguard. “Devon. Thank you. I am honored,” Bella assured him gravely. “But I cannot take anyone with me. Orders.”

  “Ok.”

  He looked so much like a kicked puppy that Bella felt bad. “Your uncle had a bad episode earlier, but your grandmother may appreciate a break from sitting with him for a while. He’s fine, he tried to use magic and it didn’t go well. Just make sure he doesn’t do that, or throw up on himself. Can you do that?”

  He looked taken aback, but then he put his chin out pugnaciously. “Sure. I’ll see you later.”

  With him gone, Bella flicked open the message spell. It held a slip of paper, an incongruous credit card, and a voice message. The paper was a sketched map with a tiny glowing dot on it, she could see it was a spell, and as it moved a little, she guessed that it was Dean’s location. The message spell was also voice mail.

  “Bella, with the king’s regards. Also, the card is to a bank account with funds for your mission. The pin is on the back of the location map, I’d dispose of that when you are done and have it memorized. We realized that you might not be able to get access to Lom’s accounts above. Good luck.”

  Joe’s voice faded away, Bella looked at the short number, committing it to memory. That was very helpful indeed. She contemplated her next task, and sighed. What was she going to say to this stranger? She had never met Dean, and wasn’t sure if she was supposed to hire him or simply ask a favor.

  “Dean, this is Bella, Lom’s partner. Lom suggested I contact you for help with a mission. He’s not able to be on it and told me to send you a message. If you can meet me at his house in a day’s time, I will brief you and you can decide if this is something you want to do. Thank you.”

  She held the little message spell in her palm for a moment and then flicked it away. Time to brave the upper world. She pulled a bubble around herself and went back to the meadow where she had first learned about her wings. It had taken her a long time to get used to them, and they still sometimes got in the way. Poor Lom, she had been such a pain that first day.

  Bella stood on the edge of the flower-strewn meadow and realized that this part of Underhill seemed to have no seasons. It was a beautiful summer day, not the fall it was back at Lom’s house, or Court. She had no idea, she realized, what season, or even year, it was back on earth. She took a deep breath and turned around to face the door.

  The door was a golden haze shimmering in an arc in the air. She thought it looked like an overlay on reality, about as intangible as a film hologram. Bella reached out and pushed, gently, with her power, and it opened so she could step through. She had made two passages, one with him, entirely unsure, and the other holding on to one arm of a bitter, vindictive old woman who had caused innumerable deaths, and Bella took her to her own death with that passage. Jenny the Morris dancer, the human who had sold her fairy benefactors, for the promise of more power in the Low Court. Bella thought that might have been the point where she had decided to accept her new role, Underhill, and no longer be fully human.

  This passage without Lom, her protector, partner, lover, and friend, made her accept something else. For now, she was alone.

  It was raining on the other side, of course. She had pretty much expected that, and was wearing a light rain slicker. The Oregon coast could be counted on for either rain or fog at any time of the year. It wasn’t bitter cold, though, which meant it wasn’t winter any longer. Bella pulled out her cell phone and looked at it. Bars, and a little battery. Enough.

  She dialed a number and held it to her ear. “Uncle?” she asked when he answered.

  “Bella! How are you, chickie?”

  Hearing his rough voice in her ear made her feel like crying again, oddly enough. “I’m well. I need your help, though.”

  “Of course. What can I do?” Only Raven, the trickster, would accept without any questions her sudden reappearance in the human realm. Even her family would no doubt be filled with questions. She smiled.

  “Tell me what happens in a minute.”

  “What?” he sounded confused, and she didn’t blame him. But she didn’t know if this was going to work, and anyway, anytime she could surprise him was fun.

  Flicking her fingers, she sent the package she had prepared to his cabin, aiming for his kitchen table. She heard the startled yelp over the phone and grinned. It had worked, all right. He started to laugh.

  “You went away and learned things, my girl!” He was still chortling.

  “Uncle, I don’t have much charge on my battery. Can you look at that, and call me back, say tomorrow at this time? There is no cell service where I am staying.”

  “You sure you all right?” Bella smiled at the fussy sound in his voice.

  “I’m good, Uncle, just... I have a new job. It’s in the packet. Love you, bye.”

  “Love you too.”

  He hung up and she stared at the phone, startled by his final words. He’d never been one for what he called mush.

  Bella tucked that thought away and went on to the final stages of her experiments with magic. She held out her hand and ‘called’ for her MGL. It landed in her hand with an audible clunk, and she almost dropped it. She hadn’t been prepared for the weight, fully expecting that part to fail, and it was really cold. She wrapped the corner of her jacket around her other hand and held the weapon with that, blowing on the fingers of the other one, and watching the ice form, then sublimate off the weapon in steam, leaving it soaked. So it had been someplace really damn cold, and dry, or there would have been ice when it got to her.

  Very interesting. Also, some weapons would not perform well under those stresses
, she would have to be careful what she called for from Underhill to above. Last thing. Bella set her shoulders and sent the weapon back, before trying to create a transport bubble. It felt stiff, and she closed her eyes and visualized Lom’s great room. The bubble jerked sideways and stopped hard, knocking her off her feet.

  She didn’t bother to get up, just thinned the bubble enough to see out. She was still in Oregon, maybe twenty feet from where she had started. She dropped the bubble and compared where she was to where she had been, and the door. So... transport bubbles didn’t go through the veil between worlds. Bella rubbed her sore rump and tried the last thing. The bubble had taken a lot out of her with the effort, and she decided to make this a short test. She visualized the pull-out where Lom had left the car on their trip in, and went there.

  This time it worked. But she found that she was staggeringly tired when she dropped the bubble. Looking up the hill to where she had come from, she realized two things. One, she was going to have to hike back up there, and two, she had no idea what a bubble looked like from the outside on earth. Underhill it was invisible, or at least, moved too fast to see. Here, she didn’t know. It was really lucky no-one had been parked here.

  Bella pulled a water bottle out of her little knapsack, the bug-out bag she had carried from Alaska, and took a drink, then munched a protein bar. She was shivering, time to get herself home and more food. Something else to plan, magic worked here, but it took a lot more power. She remembered how Lom had eaten after the snow machine incident, and winced. At least she didn’t have to worry about getting fat.

  The hike up the hill to the glen was uneventful, if wet, and the door didn’t seem to take as much of an effort to open as the other magical things had. On the other side, she felt the same crazy itching she seemed to get with each eruption of her wings, and she also felt lighter, which gave her a bit more energy. She pulled open a bubble, and stepped in. Underhill, magic was almost effortless, now that she had a comparison. Returning home wet, cold, and hungry, on the other hand...

  Ellie fussed over her as she drooped in a kitchen chair. Bella peeled out of as many layers as she decently could, and went to stand by the fireplace, grateful for that warmth soaking into her. She was facing the fire, thinking she really ought to sit down again, when a cleared throat behind her made her jump. She turned to face a fairy man whose face was oddly familiar.

  “Hello?” she offered tentatively.

  “I’m Dean,” he informed her. “You messaged me.”

  “Yeah. Sorry, it’s been a long day.” She gestured to the table. “Please, sit... would you like anything? I’m about to eat.”

  He eyed her from head to toe, reminding Bella strongly of the way Lom had scrutinized her on their first meeting. “Been hitting the magic a bit hard?”

  “I was above, testing my limits,” she admitted, sitting in her chair with more a controlled fall. Ellie shoved a plate in front of her and a steaming mug of something at her elbow. Bella started to eat, helplessly needing the food.

  “Aye, ‘tis a bit different up there. Lom is...?” He looked up.

  Ellie interrupted. “He’s not awake.”

  Bella shook her head. “He had a bad turn this morning. He’s not out of the woods, and he can’t access magic at all. The king tasked me for a clean-up mission above, but the Council is being... difficult.”

  He snorted. “What else is new? So you’re hunting monsters, eh?”

  He eyed her again, and Bella felt herself blush. “I am Lom’s partner,” she told him evenly. “I don’t know what your arrangement is with him and, frankly, this is the first time I’ve done this on my own. I need someone I can trust and Lom sent me to you. He also told me to ask about the sprites.”

  He nodded. “You cover expenses. I’ll settle up for pay after the completion, with hazard bonus as needed. What’re we going after?”

  Bella almost snorted the very good stroganoff that Ellie had fed her. He wasn’t even going to ask that first? He really did owe Lom. Or he had a death wish. She took a minute to respond, gathering her composure.

  “Nest of ogres in the Mount St. Helens area. Do you know where that is?” When he nodded, she went on, “Lom and I tangled with them a few months back, which may be why they showed up on the radar now. The Low King had some ties with them, and with his death they may be running wild.” She shrugged. “All I know is that we need to clean them out and make it go away.”

  “So what’s the plan?” He sipped from the mug, and she wondered if that was to hide his emotions. He had a very good poker face.

  “I’m working on it. I am forbidden to put a team together here Underhill. So I’m calling in family, and you.”

  “Alger?”

  “The council took care of him. He’s off on some super-secret assignment.” She sighed. “I know it sounds crazy...”

  “Nah, I’ve seen worse. Deck’s stacked against you.”

  He leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette. As he was blowing smoke at the ceiling, Bella watched in fascination. She was fairly sure most people couldn’t blow smoke rings from a cigarette like that. This was going to be... interesting.

  “I don’t know yet what my family will be able to offer. I’m hoping for my cousin Dan, he’s a big-game guide.”

  Dean nodded with a glint of approval.

  “Sprites are good reconnaissance,” he offered. “Vicious little bastards, too.”

  “I know I killed one ogre last time, and what it took. So I have a pretty good idea that there won’t be such a thing as overkill on this job.”

  He let out a short chuckle. “There is no overkill, only open fire and reload. Wise man said that once.”

  “I am still trying to figure out how best to do this. I only know the answer is not full-frontal assault. Why don’t you tell me what you would do?” Bella prompted. She knew nothing about this fairy, expect that he had worked with Lom in the past, and seemed unflappable as she’d poured out what little she knew and he took it without a protest.

  “Sneaky is good. Lom’s the best at that, cunning little bastard - pardon the language. We were boys together, and I went my way, which was mostly away from Underhill. Had enough of the politics and schemes, but he had family to keep him tied down here. I like your idea of taking a look before jumping into it.”

  Bella appreciated his explanation of the connection between him and Lom. She needed a month to talk to Lom, though, with all the questions she would have for him when this was over and he was better.

  She suppressed a yawn. “And I have got to sleep before we get this show on the road. If you make up a list of what you want for equipment while I do, it would be a big help.. I want to leave first thing in the morning.”

  She pushed back from the table and he nodded. “Rest while you can,” he offered by way of advice.

  She left him sitting at the table, looking off into the distance, pencil and paper in front of him. Here, where she could use magic, she wanted to get everything they could think of. Shopping above was more limited, and her magic was only going to go so far, she knew now.

  Here, she could modify what they needed. It was...

  Bella collapsed into her bed, half wondering how she had gotten up the stairs, and fell deeply asleep.

  Spritely Introduction

  In the morning she found Dean, three very rambunctious sprites, Devon, and Ellie waiting for her. She looked at them and spoke to Ellie.

  “Coffee?”

  Ellie wordlessly handed her a steaming mug. Bella sipped, shuddered, and looked at the others. “Devon?”

  He answered her unspoken questioning of his presence. “I know, I can’t come. But you need this, and I figured I’d better show you how to use it.”

  He had a slim little laptop waiting on the table. “Uncle Lom has wifi in the house, so...” he tapped a few keys. “See, I bookmarked it for you. Elflife discussion forum, but if you login here...”

  She nodded. “I can connect to you.”

  “Yeah.
I’ll stay on, just in case. But I might not respond right away... Unless?”

  She shook her head, knowing he was asking if he should sit by the computer constantly. “You can help more by monitoring every so often and helping Ellie and your grandmother here at the house. I may not even need this. It’s a back-up plan, you understand?”

  He nodded and she switched her attention to Dean. “You have a list?”

  “Gave it to Ellie.” He gestured at the sprites who were clustered near his head waiting to talk to her. She had deliberately not been letting their high-pitched squeaks of excitement distract her.

  “The McGregor brothers,” was his laconic introduction.

  She held out her hand and they flew to her, one sitting in the palm of her hand, the others on her shoulders. She could feel tiny hands in her hair and one had a grip on her ear.

  “Um... Hello.” Bella really wasn’t sure what to do about them and, as she looked closely, they did not at all match what her mental picture of them had been. The one on her hand had a luxuriant red beard, but was nearly bald, and burly in build. He grinned at her.

  “Pleased to meetcha. That one,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward Dean, “Said we munna wear our kilts. Said you’d not take us w’out owr trewsers.”

  Since he was sitting on her hand, she was truly grateful for Dean’s admonition and shot him a look, which made him break into a grin. He turned away abruptly.

  “And you are?” Bella addressed the sprite who had left her hand to stand on the table in front of her.

  “Ah’m Ewan, that ‘un,” he pointed at the left shoulder, “ist t’de’il in disguise, Calum.” He shifted his attention to the other shoulder. “An t’un takin’ liberties w’your ear is Iver. Let go o’tat, boy!”

  The pressure on her ear fell away. Bella thought she heard a murmur of apology in that ear.