“That,” Tam said, “is a changeling from the Unseelie Court of the Realm of Faerie.”
“I…” Jennet’s dad blinked, clearly having problems processing what he was seeing.
Uncle Zeg stepped forward, his voice sympathetic. “Hard to take in, I know. I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but this is one of the strangest.”
“Is it real?” Mr. Carter took a few hesitant steps into the room.
Korrigan narrowed his eyes, unhappy that his existence was in doubt.
“Shall I conjure up my crawlies, the better to convince you?” he asked crankily.
“No need,” Marny said quickly, shaking her head. “You’re proof enough, Korr. Plus, your bugs are hideous.”
If Jennet’s dad saw the weird nightmarish creatures, he’d probably run screaming out the door. Better to take things slowly for now.
“Can I… touch it?” Mr. Carter asked.
He approached the changeling, one hand out. Marny wanted to warn him it was a bad idea; but then again, letting Korr be himself was the best way to convince Jennet’s dad of his reality.
With a hiss, the changeling swiped his thick black claws out, catching the sleeve of Mr. Carter’s jacket. Korrigan pulled, and Jennet’s dad stumbled over to stand face-to-face with the faerie. The rasp of Mr. Carter’s breathing was loud in the watching silence.
“Close enough, mortal?” Korrigan bared his teeth.
“Let him go.” Marny stepped up, ready to interfere if things got nasty.
It was one thing to prove he was real, but there was a line she couldn’t allow Korr to cross. No injuries. Either to fey creatures or human allies.
The changeling grimaced unhappily, but pulled his claws free and released Jennet’s dad. Mr. Carter took three hasty steps back. His face was pale, and a drop of sweat trickled down from his temple.
“All right,” he said, pulling down the sleeve of his jacket. “I believe you.”
About time, too.
“Finally,” Tam said, echoing Marny’s thoughts.
Jennet’s dad studied Korrigan a moment longer, then rubbed his face.
“I owe you an apology,” he said, turning to where Jennet stood beside Tam. “To both of you. Honey, I… you have to understand how impossible your stories sounded, I thought you were making up wild excuses.”
Jennet crossed her arms, a stubborn look on her face, and Marny didn’t blame her. A single apology wouldn’t erase months of issues.
“This would have been a lot simpler if you’d believed me in the first place,” she said.
“I know.” To his credit, Mr. Carter sounded genuinely sorry.
“Hey.” Uncle Zeg, always the peacemaker, clapped his hand on Mr. Carter’s shoulder. “We all make mistakes. The thing is to keep moving forward. Speaking of which, it’s getting late, and we have plans to make.”
From what Marny had gathered about the beta testing, the two adults had spent some time questing together. They seemed an unlikely pair, but then again, stranger things had happened.
She glanced at Korrigan. He still looked grumpy. With a wink, she tossed him one of the foil-wrapped protein bars she’d grabbed from his stash.
Although he scowled at her, he deftly caught it.
“Zeg’s right,” Spark said. “Everybody, sit down. We need to sort things out.”
Roy, of course, immediately sprawled in the most comfortable-looking chair. “I’m thinking we wait until after midnight to sneak into headquarters, in case anyone’s working late.”
Tam and Jennet moved to the small sofa, and Marny settled into one of the double-wide armchairs. Uncle Zeg followed her lead. Nobody sat next to Korrigan.
“I’ll ask the cook to throw together some pizzas,” Spark said. “No commando raids on an empty stomach.”
Marny agreed. When was the last time she had eaten? Or Tam, for that matter—the boy was always hungry.
“Ok.” Tam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You’ve all met Korrigan. He’s the changeling that…” He glanced over at his mom, who seemed entranced by the lights of Crestview sparkling below.
Tam swallowed, then continued. “The changeling that was left in place of my brother.”
“I don’t understand,” Mr. Carter said.
“Dad,” Jennet said, “the Dark Court faeries stole Tam’s little brother and are keeping him hostage. Our job tonight is to rescue him.”
“Let me see if I have this right,” Uncle Zeg said. “The game of Feyland actually leads to fairyland—which is a real, magical place?”
Marny knew that her uncle understood—he’d gotten it right away. But clearly Mr. Carter was still a little lost. Didn’t hurt to restate things for his benefit. Especially since they needed him on their side in order to enter VirtuMax’s super-secure headquarters and log on to the beta-test sim systems.
“Yes,” Tam said.
“That’ll be something to see.” Her uncle’s brown eyes gleamed with interest. “So, we go in-game, find this Dark Court place, and rescue Tam’s little brother.”
“Except it won’t be that easy,” Roy said, showing a rare flash of good sense.
Spark nodded. “I assume we’re in for an epic battle.
“Yeah.” There was the bare edge of worry in Tam’s voice. “Thing is, there are two courts, and apparently they’ve joined forces.”
“So this is a bad thing?” Zeg asked.
“Extremely.” Tam sat up straight. “Which is why we need everyone’s help. Jennet and I can’t defeat the king and queen, not by ourselves.”
Roy made a noise, and Tam shot him a look. “Not the three of us either, Roy. You don’t know what the Dark Queen is like.”
Marny knew that Tam and Jennet, working together, had barely beaten the Dark Queen in battle once before. And that, with the addition of Roy, they’d managed to escape the Bright King’s court. But Tam was right—if the two fey monarchs were working together, the humans would need all the help they could get.
***
After consuming the better part of five pizzas, the beta team had their plan of attack. Two plans, really. The first involved sneaking into VirtuMax, and the second was how to proceed in-game once they were in Feyland.
Marny didn’t say much, just munched her olive and pepperoni slice and kept an eye on Korrigan. He seemed partial to the all-veggie pizza, which surprised her a little. Then again, she didn’t really want to know what his idea of a gourmet meal was. Worms and dirt, probably. Raw fish.
Tam was feeding his mom pieces of cheese pizza. She was still in a daze, but maybe the food would help. Marny went to join him on the side couch.
“What’s your mom’s first name?” she asked.
It was obvious to her, if not everyone else, that she’d be staying at Spark’s to look after Korrigan and Tam’s mom. But if something went wacky, she wasn’t sure the woman would answer to “Mrs. Linn.” And definitely not to “hey, Tam’s mom!”
“It’s Lara,” Tam said, a little catch in his voice.
Jennet laid her hand on his knee. “She’ll be all right.”
“Maybe.” Tam took his mom’s unresisting hand and turned it, holding her wrist to the light. “Do you see that?”
Marny squinted and leaned forward. Despite her fear she’d be looking at drug-related marks, the only thing on Lara’s skin was a pattern of silvery dots. Almost like…
“A faerie handprint?” Jennet asked.
“Yeah. My mom said a ‘shining girl’ talked to her tonight, and told her to come home. I don’t know if it was a malicious faerie, or one trying to help.” He shivered.
“Good thing you got her out of there,” Marny said. “Before—”
She made herself stop. The last thing Tam needed was a reminder that his home was now a burned-out shell.
“Okay!” Spark called, standing up and stretching her hands. “Are we ready to do this?”
Jennet glanced at her dad, who had set aside his half-eaten slice of Canadian bacon and pine
apple. He nodded and stood.
“I suppose so,” he said.
Tam rose, his worried gaze focused on his mom. “Stay here with Marny,” he said. “I’ll be back in a while.”
His mom smiled at him, her expression still dreamy and unfocused. It was hard to know if she even understood what he was saying.
“Take care of her,” he said to Marny. It was more a plea than a command.
“No worries,” she said.
That was her, Marny Fanalua; babysitter to changeling creatures and zoned-out moms. Still, it was better than squeezing into a sim chair and enclosing herself in the stifling helmet. Even the thought of it made her throat scratchy with rising panic. Nope, small spaces and her didn’t get along at all.
“Ready?” Uncle Zeg asked in his calm, rumbling voice.
For a half second, Marny wanted to jump up and grab his arm, beg him not to put himself and her friends in danger. But they had to go. It was what heroes did.
The rest of the beta team nodded and started moving to the door.
“Good luck,” Marny said. “I’ll keep an eye on things here.”
Tam turned and pointed at Korrigan. “Stay in this building, and do what Marny tells you.”
Marny raised her brows. The changeling would certainly do the first, and definitely not the second. But that was okay—she had a few more protein bars in her pocket.
Spark gave her tight smile. “If you need anything, ask my staff. I’ve told them you have the run of the place.”
“We’ll probably just hang out in this room,” Marny said. She didn’t want to go chasing Korrigan through a five-story mansion.
“There’s a vidscreen on the left wall. The painting slides down and the controls are there.” Spark pointed. “And tell the house if you want something sent up from the kitchen.”
“Will do. Now go kick some faerie butt,” Marny said. Korrigan squawked, and she sent him an exasperated look. “Present company excepted, of course.”
Uncle Zeg gave her a big hug, and Jennet a more diminutive one. Tam squeezed her shoulder and she squeezed his in return, Roy sent her a jaunty salute, Spark waved, and Mr. Carter just looked stressed.
Then they were gone, trooping down the hall and out into the chilly night. The big mansion seemed way too quiet. Marny tried to ignore the little flare of jealousy that all her friends were going off to fight while she remained on babysitting duty. Epic battles were their thing, not hers.
Don’t you think you’re good enough? a voice inside her whispered. You’re a better gamer than Roy. A better person.
Yeah, well. She might be both those things, but she was still plain old Marny. Not a brilliant gamer like Tam, or a brave rich-girl like Jennet. Not even a CEO’s spoiled kid. Just an ordinary girl, who took up a little extra space in the world.
She let out a breath, then stepped back into the room and closed the door. It might be a “great room,” but compared to the enormous expanse of the rest of the house, it felt downright cozy
Korrigan was rooting around in the leftover pizza. Tomato sauce made his claws look bloody.
“Are you done eating?” Marny asked.
“There is no more of the delicious kind left.” The changeling frowned.
“Then let’s get you cleaned up.”
There was a lavish bathroom attached to the great room, of course. There was probably a bathroom for every room in the place. Before taking Korrigan in, she glanced at Tam’s mom, but Lara seemed fine, caught up in some reverie only she could see.
“What is this?” Korrigan hopped into the big bathtub, then rapped on the sides. “A bin to put treasure in?”
“No. You fill it with water to bathe in. Like a little pond. And before you ask, I’m not running you a bath.” Seeing Korrigan without his tunic and trousers would probably scar her for life.
He didn’t press the point, which was good, though he did splash water from the sink all over the floor. Marny mopped it up with one of the thick cream-colored towels. The smell of floral soap perfumed the air.
When they went back into the other room, Marny was relieved to see that Lara hadn’t moved.
“Let us kart race,” Korrigan said, scrambling up to the back of the couch and giving Marny a hopeful look.
“I don’t think there’s a screenie system in here,” Marny said.
“Then find one,” the changeling demanded.
Marny shook her head. She wasn’t going to impose on Spark’s hospitality. And she had a feeling that asking the staff to accommodate a grumpy fey creature like Korrigan and get him set up for gaming would be too much.
“We can watch some vids, though,” she said, heading over to the wall.
The control panel was right where Spark had said. Marny hit the button to activate the vidscreen, and the image of a newscaster appeared. Boring. She scrolled through the channels.
“See anything you like?” she asked.
“Yes! There.” Korrigan pointed to the channel where a lion chased gazelles over the dry African plains.
They probably didn’t have lions in the Realm of Faerie, but if they did, she could imagine Korrigan trying to take one down. Or tame it. The thought made her smile.
Once she got the changeling settled in front of the screen, she went over to Tam’s mom. Maybe some contact with the real world would help her come back from whatever dreamland she seemed to be inhabiting.
“Hey, Lara.” Marny sat down beside Tams’ mom, who didn’t turn her gaze from the window. “What are you looking at?”
“All the pretty lights. And wings,” Lara said softly, rubbing the silver marks on her wrist.
Marny leaned forward and peered out the window. It was hard to see past the flickering reflection of carnage on the savannah.
There—a flicker of gossamer wings. A scattering of sparks moving through the sky.
“Um, Korr?” Marny said. “Do you see anything interesting outside?”
The changeling glanced out the window, then shrugged. “Only the pixies and faerie maids.”
She swallowed. “You mean creatures from the Realm are flying around out there?”
“They are boring, insipid creatures,” Korrigan said. “Lions are of far more interest.”
“To you, maybe.” Marny stood and moved to the window, letting her shadow cut the light from the room so she could see out more clearly. “Why are they there?”
“The boundary between the worlds is thinning,” the changeling said. “I can feel the fey magic seeping out.”
“Is this because of the beta team going in-game?”
“Perchance. Or because, with my presence in your world and the mortal boy’s in the Dark Court, the connection here is strong. This city is becoming a nexus, where the two worlds may more easily overlap.”
She didn’t like the sound of that.
From the darkness outside, a faerie maiden suddenly swooped close to the glass. She was about as tall as Marny, but thin as a handful of sticks. Pale wings protruded from her back, flapping slowly. As they caught the light they shimmered, opalescent. Tam’s mom let out a sigh.
“So pretty,” she said.
Yeah, until you looked closely and saw the sharp teeth, the alien consciousness in those pupil-less eyes. Marny shivered. The team better rescue Tam’s brother, and help stop whatever was letting fey creatures through into their world.
“Do we have to worry about anything dangerous getting loose?” Marny asked.
She made shooing motions at the faerie, but the creature hovered in place outside the window, staring at her. Creepy.
“Unlikely,” Korrigan said over the cries of dying gazelles. “The gateway is not big enough to allow more than the lesser fey folk through.”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t change.” She squeezed her hands into fists. The beta team had better succeed.
Fewer things were worse than waiting around, powerless. The next few hours were going to crawl by.
“Gah!” Korrigan’s strangled call made Ma
rny turn.
He was lying on the plush carpet, pinned there by two small, squat creatures even uglier than he was. One of them raised a sharpened wooden spear.
“Stop!” Marny yelled.
Adrenaline jolting through her, she bent and whipped out her knife, then dashed around the couch and shoved Korrigan’s attacker away. The blade touched the creature’s leathery skin, and it hissed in pain and retreated a few steps.
“Get off him,” she warned, waving her knife at the one still holding Korrigan down.
It scowled at her, eyes full of malice, and slowly released the changeling. Korrigan scuttled back on all fours, then stopped and raised his hands.
“Begone, foul hobgoblins,” he screeched. “Before I drive you forth with stings and bites.”
The one holding the spear growled and shook it at Korrigan, but Marny put herself between it and the changeling.
“You heard him.” She pointed her knife at the hobgoblins. “Or do you need more convincing?”
With a last, evil glare, the creatures muttered something that might have been a spell. Purple light flared, and Marny put up her arm to shield her eyes. When she lowered it, there was no sign of the hobgoblins. Her heart was pounding, the beat a steady thump, thump in her ears.
“Are they really gone?” She turned to Korrigan.
“Aye.” He winced. “Kindly put away your blade, Mistress Marny. The cold iron burns the air.”
“Right. Sorry.”
She remembered Jennet telling her that the fey folk couldn’t abide the touch of iron. Another good reason to carry her knife, evidently.
Marny glanced at where Tam’s mom sat. The woman seemed oblivious to what had just happened, and was still staring out the window. At least the freaky faerie maiden was gone.
Korrigan let out a grunt and got to his feet.
“Are you okay?” Marny slid her knife back in her leg sheath, then hurried to his side. “Did they hurt you?”
“They meant to.” He grimaced. “The queen sent them to kill me.”
“But if you’re injured while in the mortal world…” Realization iced her bones. “The queen wanted Tam’s brother to die.”
“A human’s death in the Realm of Faerie carries great power. She still intends to sacrifice the child, but it will be more difficult now that your friends have entered the Realm.”
Faery Tales: Six Novellas of Magic and Adventure (Faery Worlds Book 3) Page 19
