by Caleb James
They watched in silence.
For Alex, who had lived the nightmare of being possessed for months by the fairy queen, it was the first time he’d seen the video. He’d never wanted to, and now he heard her singing in a lilting tenor through his mouth, her—his—fingers graceful and sure on the piano. Then it all went awry, at least from her perspective. Lance the frog hopped onto the keyboard, disrupting her performance as Jerod moved through the audience, declaring his love and demanding that she leave a body and a soul that belonged to another, to him.
Liam stared with rapt attention, his breath hot between his lips. “This is what she wanted. To be worshiped in this world.” He watched her magic unravel as Jerod boomed out, “Alex is mine, and I am Alex’s.” The audience took up his chant and amplified the power of his love and his prior claim to Alex. “Love… you defeated her with love. They say it’s the only true magic left in the human realm.”
Finn stared at the screen. He’d seen the performance, both when it had first aired and more than once on the Internet, when a friend or family member would share it on Facebook. “Shit, Charlie, you weren’t kidding about the rabbit hole.” He braced for the video’s climax, where a massive, writhing fire-breathing white salamander spewed from out of Alex’s mouth. It was fascinating and grotesque. This can’t be real, Finn thought. Like everyone else, he’d speculated at how the trick had been done.
On the final show, the producers had disqualified Alex for using unapproved pyrotechnics and special effects. It had sounded plausible…. It had all been lies.
The video ended.
“See,” Liam said. “She’s a salamander, and Katye’s letter tells us why. She means to rule, and to do so, she must be whole. It’s brilliant. She may be mad, but she’s a genius.”
Charlie looked at Liam and then to Finn. “You were right.”
Finn shook his head. “About what?” He sank into one of the red leather chairs and stared at the now dark monitor.
“Liam didn’t start that fire, but his being there, it being in Alex’s old apartment, it’s no coincidence. She sent that fireball with a purpose. Liam, don’t you remember anything about how you got there? Please, try.”
“Charlie, I have tried. It’s a blank.”
“Great,” Finn said.
“No, it’s not.” Liam shook his head. “It’s not great…. It’s dust! I was dusted.”
“Say again.”
“That’s why I don’t remember. The fire—tell me what you smelled.”
“Cookies,” Finn replied. “Fresh-baked cookies.”
“I smelled it too,” Charlie said.
Nimby flitted across the space and sniffed at Liam. Her wings fluttered as she darted from his shirtfront to the hem of his jeans.
“What’s with her?” Alex asked, used to his fairy’s antics, but this was new.
“I said the D word.” Liam smiled.
“And today we learn something new,” said Jerod. “Explain, Liam.”
“Dust,” Liam said. “Why I didn’t make the connection before… I guess with coming to the See and all, I didn’t think about it. But yes, May sent fairy fire. Whether I was the intended target or got snagged by mistake, I don’t know. It’s too much to be a coincidence. So let’s argue that I was the target or part of the target.” His eyes widened. “I remember something. I was at the Mist’s edge, and I heard screams from within. It had been happening more frequently. Like ogres being tortured… or eaten. And then, yes, I saw and felt it at the same time. A tunnel ripped into the Mist, and something pulled me through. She might have known I was there. She might have sent it for me. And then I woke to the building on fire and to Charlie and his ax. And maybe this is important, but in the Unsee, fairy fire is highly prized, not for itself but for what comes after. When the fire burns out, dust remains.”
“This is where I’ve got to draw the line,” Finn said. “After fairy fire comes fairy dust?”
Liam nodded. He held out his forefinger for Nimby. She perched on it. He looked into her eager red eyes. “Sorry, little one. I have no dust for you.”
Her shoulders sagged, and she took to flight. She circled him, sniffed his ears and under his ponytail. Disappointed, she flitted back to Alex.
Liam looked at her. “You do not want her getting her hands on any, either.”
Nimby shook her head emphatically. Her tinny voice insisted, “I don’t have a problem with dust. I can stop any time. I just want a teensy taste.”
Liam nodded. “Of course you can. And best not take that risk. Fairy dust is the most addictive substance known to the sidhe. It causes dreams and forgetfulness in some. Others it makes silly, and some get dangerous. Under its power you can go to sleep for weeks, months, and even years.”
Charlie asked, “Is it just the sidhe it affects, or humans too?”
“I do not know,” Liam said. “There are tales of humans enchanted by fey who are sprinkled with dust and waken decades later, to families who don’t recognize them.”
“Rip Van Winkle,” Charlie offered.
“I don’t know who that is,” Liam said. He crossed to a wall of glass-fronted cabinets filled with leather- and vellum-bound volumes. He opened one of the doors, reached in, and pulled out an ancient tome. “Her note said that we might find answers.” He looked back at the others.
Charlie followed him and looked at the book. “It’s in Gaelic. Do you know how to read this?”
Liam looked at the floor.
“What?” Charlie sensed hurt in his expression… and something else. Shame.
“Just a little, Charlie. My education stopped after she killed my parents. She viewed it as unnecessary for her purposes.” He opened the page and stared at the bold black letters and intricate gold-leaf calligraphy that ornamented the corners. He placed the book flat on a table and turned to an illustration of a battle. Some of the soldiers were human, and the opposing army was made up of a broad array of the sidhe. “Your gran, Charlie.”
He nodded. “She would love to see these.”
Liam heard a catch in his voice. “You are frightened for her. You don’t want to bring her into something that is dangerous.”
One by one, the others came over and selected books from the cabinet, even Finn.
“Great,” he commented. “Latin. I had to take that in high school. Don’t remember any of it, other than the teacher was a sadist who wore polyester leisure suits.”
Liam repeated, “We need your gran, Charlie.”
“I know… it’s just….”
“It’s dangerous. But here’s the thing.” He looked at each of the men and then Nimby. “The danger comes, whether Flora Fitzgerald helps or not. That is certain. Give her the choice, Charlie. I’ve lived in a world ruled by May. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. She means to be queen again, over all. We must know why. I thought I knew, that it was all about power. I’m less certain now. There’s something more. We need to learn how she can be stopped. Alex and Jerod did it once. We need something stronger. Something to not just defeat her but to hold her, to keep her from ever doing harm again.”
“Why not just kill the witch?” Finn asked.
Liam looked at Charlie’s redheaded friend. “Yes. That was my thought, but her sister will not have it. It’s not certain that she can be killed. But there’s something else, something about the three sisters, that all are needed to maintain balance. If one were to die, the balance would be destroyed. I think it no accident that each resides in a different realm.”
Charlie nodded. “I’ll call Gran. If she says no, then it’s a no, Liam.”
He dialed. Flora picked up on the second ring.
“Illustrated manuscripts… in both Gaelic and Latin.” Her excitement was palpable.
“Gran, there’s more to it. It could be dangerous. You don’t have to—”
“I’m getting my purse now. I’ll wait downstairs. I am so excited about this!”
Charlie turned to Finn. “Feel like giving me a ride?”<
br />
“Sure thing. Feel like helping me write this report?”
“Good luck with that, but maybe just focus on all the fire code violations so that Slotnik and company are on the hook for both the criminal and civil. The place was a firetrap.”
“True, but now we know they didn’t set it. They’re scum, just not the murdering type… at least this time.”
“No.” Charlie grinned at Finn. “Just put down that it was started by a fire-breathing fairy queen.”
“Shut up,” Finn said.
“Liam, I have to get back to the station. I’ll be home in the morning. Please be there. Can you find your way back?” There was doubt in his voice and an ache around his heart that Liam would once again vanish.
“Charlie.” Liam took his hand. He looked up into trusting blue eyes as his fingers squeezed. “I will find my way back to your Island.” And this time it was Liam who pulled the tall firefighter in for a kiss. And so only Charlie could hear, “And into your bed.”
Twenty-Three
THE GREAT white worm writhed in the mist. She spat out two fireballs that pierced holes, one to her left and the other to her right. Her sister’s enchanted collar dug into her slick skin. Rivulets of acid-green blood trickled from its steely bite. She growled and worked the wretched restraint deeper into her flesh. Violently she threw her head first one way, then the other. She used Lizbeta’s magic like a knife to cut her hide. As she did, pricks of flame appeared between her tearing flesh. She thrashed. The pain was beyond words as her skin caught fire. Faster. It’s coming. Faster.
Her eyes now red, now amber, ever more awake, tracked her fiery projectiles as they tunneled through worlds. Little Alice, little Alice, come to play. Are you ready? Are you waiting? Have you greased the way? Are you pretty? Are you polite? When I knock, let me in tonight…. Here it comes.
She clawed the dirt and smashed a severed leg from yesterday’s troll. It was to be a snack for later. But no. Power surged inside her. I am strong. I will wear pretty dresses. Little Alice, let me in, let me in. A little more, a little more.
She opened her mouth and felt it start. Her jaw unhinged, the corners cracked open. A seam of silver flame appeared down her side, and like a snake shedding its skin, the great white salamander split open. It screamed and howled as it slipped Lizbeta’s collar, and in the shell of its former self, covered in green blood and bathed in fire, were not one, but two perfect identical copies of herself.
The Mist, sensing her escape, swirled down and tried to capture the slick white creatures. In unison they reared back on squat, powerful haunches, and as if a starter’s gun had been fired, one shot down the fairy fire tunnel to the right, and the other vanished down the tunnel to the left.
We are free! With minds joined as one, they shot like rockets through the Mist. I am free! I am powerful. She felt the tunnels she’d created attempt to close around her. No! She ran with all her might. Flames licked at her new flesh, hardening her skin to a rubbery smooth perfection. I will be free. I will wear pretty dresses. I will take back all that was mine. That thought, like gas exploding on fire, sped her legs and hurtled her to freedom.
A WORLD away, Alice Nevus looked up from her tablet to Mr. Kayden, her biology teacher. He was laying out the material to be covered on Friday’s exam. Five more minutes till the bell, her thoughts fixed on her locker and her backpack. As she’d done since first tasting that incredible powder, she’d wondered how much longer its effects would last. Is there more? I should go back and look. Maybe there was some on the ground I didn’t see. Maybe there’s more. There has to be. The last few minutes to the bell were pure agony. I should have brought some with me. But then it’s going to be gone. I should go back. There’s got to be more. I’ll go after school. The thought quieted the hunger as the second hand on the clock crawled from the one to the five. Is this class ever going to end?
She looked at the page on her tablet, the stages of cell division. Meiosis, mitosis, the lining up of the DNA, the splitting apart, one cell into two, two into four, four into eight. She knew this stuff cold, interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, then back to interphase, and start all over again. Amused by the singing voice that seemed more and more frequent since… that delicious powder. The hand crept past the eleven. Only four more minutes. She looked down. There was a tiny speck of white under the nail of her right forefinger. Without thought, she stuck it in her mouth and licked it free.
Her eyes widened as the treat connected with saliva. What is this stuff? Her nostrils filled with the scent of cookies as she sang through the material for the test in her head. Zygote, morula, blastula, gastrula. Make me a frog, make me a snake, make me a person, or make me a salamander that breathes fire…. That was just strange. She flipped from her textbook to the Internet and typed in fire-breathing salamander. Thousands of references and images appeared. A fire-breathing serpent, kind of like a dragon without the wings, a crown above its head and flames shooting from its mouth. References to Frances I of France, who had it as his symbol, and then earlier Gaelic references and something about St. George and running the snakes out of Ireland. That caught her attention. It took up the remaining three minutes of class as she read through a blog post that claimed it wasn’t really snakes that St. George ran out, but the Druids and the ancient religions of Ireland, which had snakes and other fantastic creatures worked into their stories and legends. Stories, she knew firsthand, were based in fact.
The bell rang. She bolted for the door.
“Alice!”
She turned at her name to see blond and handsome Leif Swann trying to head her off.
“What’s up, Leif?” Her tone was abrupt.
He stopped and bit his lower lip. “I was wondering if you’re going to Friday’s dance.”
The little singing voice was amused. This is the third one to ask. Will we go with blond, or red, or brown? Will we wear a pretty dress or pretty gown? “I’m not sure yet. I’ve got to run.”
Before he could muster his courage to ask her out, she was gone. Not quite running but on the cusp of, she bypassed the elevator and flew down four flights to her locker.
The voice in her head sang as her fingers whipped the combination wheel on her locker.
Fairy dust, fairy dust,
Tasty, yes, to some,
Fairy, fairy, fairy dust,
Eat it up, yum.
Twenty-Four
FLORA’S PULSE raced as they flew crosstown with lights and siren. I can see why they like this. Her eyes were bright as she rode with Charlie and Finn from Gramercy to Katye Summer’s West Side apartment.
As they pulled up, she looked through the back window at Alex, Jerod, and Liam, who were waiting for them. She clapped and pointed. “It’s one of them!”
Charlie followed her gaze. “You see her?”
“Yes… and so can you.” Tears welled. “I’ve not seen one since I was a child. I thought….”
“Her name’s Nimby.”
Finn turned off the lights and parked the SUV in front of the building. Charlie got out and opened the back door for Flora. He gave her his hand and waited as she got her legs steady on the ground.
“This is my gran.” He introduced her to Alex and Jerod, though the one who held her interest was Nimby.
“She is the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen.”
“You did not say that.” Alex groaned, knowing he’d have a big-headed fairy for weeks to come.
“No.” Flora held out her hand. “She is lovely. Black and gold and swirly. She is special.”
Nimby did not need a second invitation. She lit on Flora’s hand and put a finger to her lips.
“What is it?” Flora asked as she lifted Nimby to her ear.
The fairy whispered, “I will help you.”
Gran nodded. “Yes, I would like that.”
Nimby continued, “If we do not stop her, she will eat us all.”
Gran startled and looked at her grandson, who was climbing back into Fi
nn’s truck.
“I can’t stay,” he said.
“Of course. It’s a workday. Call me.” She looked from him to Finn, to Alex, to Jerod, and finally to Liam. Deep in thought and with a fairy on her shoulder, she muttered the thing stuck in her head. “When I was small, I played with the fey. Not as pretty as you, Nimby… but then I came here, or maybe because I was older, they were gone. I did look. I called for them, and nothing. But now… you on my shoulder. Liam.” Her gaze then landed on Alex. “Something about you….”
“Haffling,” he said in a low voice. “I’m half-and-half.”
She nodded. “Yes, something big is happening. Something is in motion.”
Finn’s truck pulled away.
“Do we call you Gran?” Alex asked.
“Gran, Flora, both are good. Nevus is an old name. You do know what it means.”
“Yes, it means birthmark.”
“Marked at birth,” Liam added.
“So, show me these books,” Gran said. She sniffed deep. Her mouth watered. “Do you smell that?”
“Cookies,” Jerod said. “It’s been everywhere the past few days.”
“Not cookies,” Liam corrected as they went through the revolving door. “It’s fairy fire, and we don’t have much time.”
BACK IN Katye’s apartment, Gran gaped at the incomparable library. It cast her own collection into a dim light. “Never have I seen… so many.” Her hand touched one of the manuscripts opened on a marble table. Her focus went from the exquisite gilt-and-ink Celtic knots in the corners, to the carefully penned dark letters, the hand of the scribe sure and strong. “Amazing.” She looked back and spotted the little fairy back on Alex’s shoulder. She motioned to Nimby, who flitted across the room and alit on the table. “When I was little,” she told her, “my mother insisted the sidhe did not exist. But she left a saucer of milk on the windowsill and tossed the heel of every loaf from the oven into the yard. Of course, you and I both know that the fey prefer sweet things. But the milk would be gone, and the birds took the bread.” She fumbled in her purse and found a wrapped butterscotch.
