“Wait, to ask her for something?”
“Yeah. An heirloom, I think?”
Jill’s voice was pinched with excitement. “A ring? Do you think he’s asking her for his grandmother’s engagement ring?”
I knew Judah was going to tear me a new one for this, but the lie was beyond my control at this point. “I’m not sure. It’s possible.”
“Oh, Rosie, you’re the best! If you see it, can you take a picture and send it to me?”
“Sure thing, babe.”
“When are you coming back? A few days?”
Reyn shook his head and spread his hands out as if measuring the length of something to indicate our journey wouldn’t be over anytime soon. “Um, it’ll be longer than that.”
“A week?”
Reyn shook his head again, stretching his hands out further. “No,” I answered. “Probably a bit longer than that.”
“Have him call me when he wakes up, okay? And tell Lane that I’m sending up positive vibes for her.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and my roommate wanted to know who did your boobs. They look amazing.”
I guffawed. “What?”
“Come on, Ro. It’s me. You can admit you had a boob job. It’s the only explanation.”
My voice turned squeaky as I fumbled with my phone. “I’ll talk to you soon.” Then I ended the call, feeling horrible as I turned off my phone. The awkward silence rang throughout the gray sedan’s interior, and I knew I should’ve risked the traffic ticket rather than let them in on Judah’s mess. I tapped my thumbs on the steering wheel, wishing I was a Fae with loads of that higher magic, so I could be invisible. “So… How about them Yankees?”
8
Running and Ditching
Reyn wrinkled his rounded nose as he took in my discomfort. “Sorry about the… that whole thing.”
I motioned outside to the darkness that was lit only by intermittent streetlights on the side of the highway. “You can apologize to Judah for sabotaging his relationship when he wakes up. Why don’t you guys grab some sleep? I can head east well enough without you having to tell me to keep going in the same direction.”
“We don’t sleep,” Reyn reminded me.
“Right.” I gripped the steering wheel, choking it to keep myself in check. “Could you pretend?”
Reyn closed his eyes and started snoring loudly, peeking at me to catch me slipping into half a smile. “Did I do it right?”
I nodded, my shoulders loosening as I shifted in my seat. “Like a true human.” My eyes flicked to the backseat where Bastien was scratching his neck. “You’re not going to fake sleep?”
“I don’t need to pretend for you. You have one use right now – driving. That’s all I care about. Drive, and keep your little friend’s drama away from us.”
There weren’t any other cars in sight, so I did what I’d always pictured my dad doing when my perfect fictional family went on road trips together in my imagination. Of course, I had never seen a picture of him, but I imagined my father looking like Superman, complete with chin dimple and the ability to straighten out the bad guys who fell out of line. We would go on long car rides, and Lane and I would start being annoying about something. Maybe we’d fight over which kind of fast food to stop for, or sing Britney Spears’ top hits too loudly. Then Dad would threaten to pull the car over if we didn’t knock it off.
It was my turn to be the dad. I pulled onto the shoulder of the freeway and cut the engine, taking three deep breaths so I didn’t open my mouth and start shouting. “Is there something you want to say to me?”
“Um, yeah. Let’s go.” Bastien clicked his fingers a few times just to infuriate me.
“Try again.”
Reyn gave us both a heavy sigh. “Come on, Bastien. Think of Roland. This isn’t helping us get to him any faster.”
Bastien surprised me by reaching his left hand around my shoulder, gripping my chin from behind as he leaned forward, turning my head so my eyes met his. “The longer we sit here, the more likely we are to get caught by another one of Morgan le Fae’s people. Whatever little problems you think are a big deal, they’re not. Trust me when I say you’ve never met anyone like your mother, and you don’t want to. We’ll be lucky if she gives up and declares you dead. That’s best-case scenario.”
“Jeez, Bastien.” Reyn glared at his friend and shook his head, but Bastien didn’t let go of my chin, giving me the full force of his coldness up close, so there was no mistaking him for a good guy.
Hot, angry tears pricked my eyes when his cruel words mixed with his bruising hold. When he finally released me, I grabbed my phone, and threw the keys in Reyn’s face. “You’re a cracked dick to say that to me! You know I’ve never met my mom. Of course I’ve ‘never met anyone like her.’ And you hope she thinks I’m dead? This is my life you’re obliterating! Drive yourselves off a cliff! Then my mom will never look for me!” I didn’t care that Lane had told me to go with them. I popped open the door and ran forward toward the sign that said… something. I was too upset to decode, but I knew there had to be an exit nearby with gas stations and places to hide out for a while. The moon did precious little to illuminate my path, but I hopped over highway debris with little problem, even though my eyes were cloudy with unshed tears.
I heard both of them running after me, but I didn’t look back. Their chase only fueled my rage, pushing me forward as I pumped my arms and used every bit of my soccer training to take my edge where I could get it. I heard one of them trip and felt a mixture of relief and guilt. Reyn seemed like an alright guy; I hoped he wasn’t hurt.
I’m not sure how far I ran before Bastien caught up to me, heaving like an elephant as he grabbed the back of my shirt. I flung my elbows out as he slowed me down, hoping to nail him anywhere that would hurt. I felt the thrill of vindication when my hit rang true, my elbow sinking deep into his gut and making him keel over as he struggled for breath.
I would’ve kept running, but Reyn sidled up beside me, the knee of his jeans torn from when he’d fallen on the uneven pavement. He grabbed my arm, but he didn’t have the same note of aggression Bastien did, so I slowed, letting him catch me. Reyn held up his hands and spoke as if talking a jumper from the ledge. “We’re never going to get anywhere like this. We have to work together if you’re going to live through it all.”
“Save your lecture for this one, because I don’t need it! I was cooperating just fine before he started running his mouth. I’m not your human chauffeur here. I don’t do your bidding. He’s the one who put his hands on me, like I need to be threatened.”
Reyn helped Bastien to stand up straight and slapped him on the shoulder harder than could be comforting. “Go get in the car and shut up. This one’s on you, brother. I’m used to you, but she’s not.”
Reyn waited it out through Bastien’s glare, and then stood with me in the night while the foul jag skulked off to the car to pout it out. Reyn put his hand on my back and led me to the nearest streetlight, examining my face under the glow with careful hands. “I don’t know much about humans, but I know he was too rough. Bastien’s used to bounty hunting. He doesn’t actually work with other people all that often, least of all young women.”
“You don’t say.” I tried to make my voice sound light, but emotion snuck into the last word. “I don’t care what Morgan le Fae does or did or will do. I don’t need him running his mouth about her when I’ve never even met her. He doesn’t get to make decisions about my mother. I do. I decide if I hate her or not.”
Reyn looked deep into my eyes as if trying to communicate something he couldn’t find the words for. “You can wait until you meet her someday, and then make up your mind. But for your sake and all of ours, I pray that day never comes.”
I shook my head, whispering next to the stillness of the freeway that would be jammed in a few hours. “That’s a terrible thing to say to me.”
Reyn leaned his forehead to mine, his breath tickling my nose. He smel
led like grass and unwashed clothes. “I don’t take any joy in breaking your heart, only in keeping you alive.” He brought me in for a hug, wrapping gentle arms around me in a way that made me feel safe, despite the fact that he was a total stranger, we were on the side of the freeway in the middle of the night, and I had no concrete idea of where we were, or who was chasing us.
The safety made me itch for space, so I pulled away, avoiding eye contact and nodding wordlessly when he asked if we were all good to go now. I wiped any traces of emotion away so Bastien didn’t know he’d won the fight. Reyn opened my door for me like a gentleman and walked around to his side, shutting himself in and fastening his seatbelt after casting a grim look into the backseat.
Bastien sighed dramatically as I fished through the keys on the ring for the right one, and shoved it into the ignition. “Do you need me to apologize?”
I kept my eyes on the road as I pulled forward behind the only other car on the freeway. “I don’t need you to lie to me, no. But keep your hands off me for like, all of eternity.” I reached forward and flicked on the radio, fishing through the presets until I found something palatable. My favorite band in the universe was Lost and Forgotten. They were straight rock, with a little extra violin and instrumental variety to them. It was too much to hope for one of their familiar songs to play its comfort into my soul. I didn’t mind the harder rock; it kept me awake and didn’t whine too much. “Hear this? This is our own little brand of human magic. If we don’t want to talk to each other, we can listen to music and tune out the world.” I turned up the volume to drown out Bastien’s response. It wasn’t terribly loud, just loud enough so I didn’t have to deal with him. Or anything. I could just drive and not have a complete and total breakdown in front of two men I didn’t know.
Reyn leaned back in his seat and let the yellow lines on the highway hypnotize him into relaxation. Eventually Bastien did the same, stretching out on the backseat next to Judah, who was still unconscious. Every now and then I caught Bastien watching me in the rearview mirror. One of the times that I didn’t flick my eyes away immediately, he held my gaze and offered up a humble nod of apology for being such a tool. I returned the sentiment with a bob of my head. It was our best communication to date.
“Can you turn this down? It’s really loud back here.”
I lowered the volume so the guys could talk if they wanted. “Better?”
Bastien made a face. “Your music is terrible. Do you always need to sing about your feelings? Ack. Is this what all human songs sound like?”
“Nah. Here, fish around for what you like.”
Reyn studied the presets warily. I imagined being in a car for them was the equivalent to being on a submarine for me. You want to touch all the buttons, but know you can’t, in case one of them launches a missile or something, when you’re just trying to turn on a little Salt-N-Peppa.
Reyn accidentally cranked on the air conditioning, adding a chill to the car that spooked him. He panicked, and started pushing buttons and turning dials at random. “I’m sorry! How do I undo it?”
“It’s alright. Just like this.” I turned the knob and watched him visibly relax. “Now that we’re all calmed down, why don’t you tell me a little more about what I’ll be walking into?”
9
Magic Famine
Reyn opened his mouth to speak, but Bastien beat him to it. “What do you want to know?”
I shrugged. “Big stuff, small stuff. The things that’ll make you both not so annoyed with me when we get to wherever it is we’re going. You’ve been in both worlds now. Tell me the differences.”
Bastien folded his arms over his chest. “Well, our music sounds like music, for one. And we don’t have cars.”
“What do you use? Horses?”
“The wealthier families own horses, but the rest of Faîte gets around on foot. Main jobs for men are at the mill, goods trading, or in the Queen’s Army. Almost everyone from my hometown does one of those options.”
“But you’re a bounty hunter?”
Bastien nodded. “I was in the army up until a couple years ago. Hunting suits me better.”
“What kinds of crimes do your people commit?”
“Stealing, murder, skipping out on the army. You know, stuff like that.”
“I don’t know much about fairies. Only what Peter Pan taught me, which I’m guessing isn’t on the mark.”
“Is Peter Pan your boyfriend or something?” Bastien inquired.
I smirked. “No. He’s a little young for me.”
Reyn folded his hands on his lap. “I’m a Rétif. See? Green eyes.” He pointed to his startlingly emerald irises that shone brightly against his dark skin.
“So Brownies have brown eyes, and Rétifs have green?”
“You’ve got it. The rest of the Fae have blue or gray eyes. Rétifs have a few enhanced abilities from your average Fae: an aptitude for charms, for one. Some say we’re more prone to trickery, though that’s highly debatable. Lots of abilities used to be on tap, but most of the more impressive skills went away, what with the magic famine that’s swept Avalon. Magic is connected to vitality – making the crops grow and keeping everything in nature running smoothly.”
“Magic famine?” I inquired. “That sounds ominous.”
“Master Kerdik, the creator of Avalon, saw we were getting too powerful, and wars between the regions were starting to erupt. There used to be all sorts of magical creatures and beasts – Vampires and Werewolves and whatnot. To protect us from them, he took away all higher magic, leaving us with the dregs. When he took a portion of our magic to vanquish the dark creatures, he created a sort of famine.”
“So you should be able to have superpowers, but because of the famine, you only have medium powers? The bad creatures getting put away meant that some of the good magic had to accidentally be taken, too?”
“That’s exactly right. My magic’s been broken for a while now, but Bastien’s got enough to take care of those around him. The magic’s held out longer in the Brownies, because like I mentioned earlier, they usually take care of a household. Nature favors the protectors.”
I didn’t know how to respond to this, so I offered up a lame, “Dude, I’m sorry your mojo’s broken.”
“Thank you.” Reyn continued like the patient teacher he was. “After the famine started, there was a powerful Fae who stole most of the natural resources, keeping them in her province so that others would flock to her, and she could have more subjects to rule over. As the magic gets harder to reach, people seek out refuge in her province, giving up their rights so they have food and water.”
“Who’s the evil witch lady?”
“That’s one of the reasons we’ve been searching for you.” Reyn paused as if steeling himself to say his next piece.
Bastien spoke up from the back, his voice low and unpleasant. “She doesn’t need to know the rest yet.”
“She has every right to know that we’re not just taking her to save her life. She deserves to know what she’s walking into.”
I closed my eyes for two seconds to center myself before the blow. “Oh good. This sounds like I’m going to love it. Alright, crack me with it.”
“Morgan le Fae’s had control of Avalon for too many years now. She’s been seizing land from the other rulers who couldn’t take care of their people, and forcing them into the Forgotten Forest.”
I swallowed, chiding myself for not expecting this. Of course my mother was the evil witch queen. It seemed the only way I could possibly forgive Lane for keeping me from her. The frustration that could’ve morphed into anger quickly dissipated into something sadder, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “So my mom’s not dead, she’s alive and super mean. She sucks away people’s rights, takes over neighboring lands, and shoves the defeated leaders into the woods. That sounds just the right amount of grim. So where do I fit in with all of it? Am I the peasant? The dragon? The huntress?” I tried to think up other fantastical e
lements.
“Actually, you’re the princess,” Reyn answered quietly. “It’s one of the reasons Armand was trying to bring you in. We’re hiding you so that Morgan doesn’t use you to further her plans to claim more of Avalon.”
I quirked my eyebrow at Reyn. “I feel like you’re holding back because you think I’m going to freak out on you. I’ve got news for you, pal: if I haven’t hit the roof yet, you’re not going to tip it all now.”
Reyn rubbed his palms down his pants, as if gearing himself up for a hard truth. “The Forgotten Forest is a place that you can choose to go if you’re at the end of your rope. Once you go, it’s impossible to ever come out. About a year ago, Morgan wanted to claim our friend Roland’s province, so after a long bout of trying to ruin his life, she took the land by force, and sent Roland to the Forgotten Forest. No one’s seen him since, nor ever will again, most likely.” Reyn’s gaze shifted from Bastien to me. “If you’re willing, we’d like your help getting him back.”
10
Blessings Broken with Greed
“Oh! Reyn, that’s terrible.” I reached over the console, and even though I didn’t really know him, my heart went out to the poor guy. My hand rested atop his, wanting to comfort him or save him from such a terrible life that was no doubt filled with the fear of losing the people he loved.
Reyn gave me a full-blown smile of appreciation that I was starting to understand their plight enough to empathize with it. He clasped my hand between both of his. “Thank you… May I call you Rosalie?”
“If I’m in trouble, sure. I go by Rosie.”
He gave me a gentle smile. Reyn looked prone to kindness. He was the sort of guy I could picture writing sonnets, and telling a girl she looked lovely with no hint of irony. “Very well. Thank you, Rosie.” He jerked his chin toward the backseat. “Bastien and Roland have been my best friends forever. It’s been a rough year. The people in Province 4 were taken to Province 1, where they live under Morgan le Fae’s rule now. She’s the sovereign over Province 1, which is now the largest region in all of Avalon.”
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