by Bonnie Lamer
Not wanting to run back to the house, I teleport to the back of it. I didn’t want to risk teleporting into the kitchen in case Kallen had moved Garren. He hasn’t. I open the door and walk to the two men. Garren is conscious but dazed.
“Friend of yours?” he asks weakly.
“Yeah, best of friends.”
Garren tries to smile. “Thought so.”
“How about I heal your head,” I say, kneeling down next to him.
He starts to nod and stops halfway through the motion. I can understand why. His head wound is almost as bad as Dagda’s was earlier. Laying my hand on him, I carefully heal him. I’m getting good at this head stuff.
When color has come back to his skin and he’s able to sit up with a little help from Kallen, Garren rubs his head and says, “That girl can wield a cast iron frying pan like a Dragon can wield its tail.”
“What was she doing here?” Kallen asks. He helps Garren to his feet and then to a stool at the counter.
“I have no idea. I found her in the kitchen a few minutes ago and she gave me a story about being lost. Said her family was new to the area, and was looking for someone to tell her how to get back home. That’s when we heard you shout,” he says to Kallen. “The next thing I knew, I was hearing bells in my ears and had a splitting pain in my head.” He rubs the spot again as if it still aches a little.
“Have you seen her before?” I ask.
Garren shakes his head. “No, but things have been rifled through around here. Now I know by whom.”
“I do not believe it wise that you remain here,” Kallen says. “She will most likely return for whatever she was looking for.”
“What do you think that is?” I ask.
Kallen’s brows knit together. “My guess is she’s looking for things that are yours.”
That seems stupid. “Then why did she blow up our room? That’s where all our stuff was.”
“I believe she thought that would be a game ender,” Garren says. He’s still looking a little pale. Tana definitely clobbered him a good one.
“She does not know Xandra, obviously.” I love the pride I hear in his voice when he says that. “We have taken away the power base she had to amp up her magic. So now she must be resorting to more personalized spells to go after you.” He looks from Garren to me. “The kind that involve aspects of the intended victim.”
Great. Another person who wants to make a voodoo doll of me. I thought I left that kind of magic behind when I took down Grandpa’s Witan. Which reminds me that I have to check on them when this is all over. Again, that’s going to the back burner for now. “So now she’s what, looking for pieces of my hair and things like that? She’ll have a hard time telling my black hair apart from everyone else’s, won’t she?”
Kallen shrugs. “She could use a locating spell.”
I guess nothing’s private anymore. I’m sort of glad our stuff is gone from upstairs, I’d hate to have her using my underwear in a spell. Wait a minute. “Now that Hades isn’t helping her, her magic is weaker, right?”
“Correct,” Kallen says slowly, wondering why I’m stating the obvious.
“So, spells like her camouflage spells are weaker.”
He sees where I’m going with this. “That is a spell that requires powerful magic. She may not be powerful enough to maintain it on her own.”
I grin. “Meaning we should be able to track her now.”
“That may be true, but remember, being less powerful is not the same as being less dangerous,” Garren says. “There are plenty of ways to go after an enemy that do not include magic. A sword can remove a head faster than magic can.”
Graphic. “I appreciate the mental image,” I say dryly, even though I’ve been told this before.
Garren shrugs. “Better to be prepared than to underestimate your opponent.”
“He is correct,” Kallen says begrudgingly. Bump on the head or not, he’s not willing to warm up too much to Garren. “She knows we can find her now. We cannot let her lead us into a trap. Tana has had a lot of time to think about this and I am sure she has contingency plans in place. Nothing she has done has been random; it has all been methodically played out.”
“Who?” Garren asks, his face a knot of confusion. “Do you mean the Queen is behind all this?”
“Guess you’ve been out of the loop over here,” I say. “Yes, the Queen is behind all of this.” I’m still not sure she qualifies for that title anymore.
Garren shakes his head. “I remember her as a little girl. She was the sweetest child you could ever meet.”
“Did she look anything like the girl that just left?” I ask.
Garren is surprised. “Why yes, now that I think of it, she did.”
“Yeah, that’s because that was her. She’s the one that beaned you on the head. She’s not as sweet as she used to be, apparently.”
“I guess not.”
“Xandra, we should get back to the Palace. We have not yet had the opportunity to explain to the King what happened in the Underworld,” Kallen says.
“Underworld?!” Garren shakes his head again. “You two are certainly well-traveled.”
Lucky us. “Okay,” I say to Kallen. Looking at Garren, I say, “We should bring you with us. It really isn’t safe for you here.”
He doesn’t like that idea. “What if she comes back looking for more of your things?”
I shrug. “Then she can have them. Now that she doesn’t have an Olympian god helping her, I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever she throws out at me.”
Garren stands up and nods once. “I believe you can.”
Placing a hand on both Fairies, I transport the three of us to the great hall of the Palace.
Chapter 24
The Palace doesn’t seem any calmer than it did before we left. Does that mean that there’s a lot of Fairies hanging on to darkness deep inside them? Or maybe the arguing and aggression going on is just lingering effects of the dark spells and will dissipate soon. Maybe.
Leaving Garren in the great hall, Kallen and I make our way through the tense Fairies without too much trouble. We pass through the throne room and on to Dagda’s office. Kallen had sent a message ahead of us so we’re hoping to find the King there. After a light knock on the door, I turn the handle and we enter.
Dagda looks up from his desk where he and Naja are going over some information. “Nice to see you both made it back to your bodies.” There’s a little undercurrent of annoyance. Regardless of whether or not we made it back, he’s still annoyed we went at all.
I shrug and say with definite snark in my voice, “There was never a doubt in my mind.” Way to get the boat rocking, Xandra.
After a hard look in my direction, Dagda sits back in his chair. “Thank you, Naja. We can finish discussing this after I meet with the Princess.”
Naja nods and picks up the papers from the desk, putting them back in a nice, neat pile. With a nod in our direction, she takes her cue and walks out the door. As I watch her walk out, I can’t help thinking that she is so much better than the last head of security Dagda had. I haven’t wanted to throw Naja through a wall once.
“What information did you garner on this sojourn of yours?” Dagda asks crisply. He sure knows how to hold a grudge. “By the way, we knew precisely when your souls left your body and you, in effect, died. It has been a long four hours waiting to know if you were to reside permanently in the Underworld.”
Four hours? I hate how time moves so differently in each of the realms. And now I feel extra guilty about the few minutes Kallen and I stole in the garage back home. “Um, sorry about that,” is all I can think to say.
Kallen, fortunately, is more literate than I am. “We determined that Tana was indeed receiving aid from Hades. He has now been persuaded to withdraw his assistance.”
“Zeus is kind of pissed at him. Not to mention Persephone. She didn’t like the idea of Hades taking on a mistress for six months out of the year.” And that is why Kallen
should do all the talking. The furious and ferocious look on Dagda’s face instantly makes my mouth seal itself shut. I can’t believe I just blurted that out.
“Uncle…” Kallen starts, but Dagda holds a hand up to stop him. He obviously needs a moment to collect himself, or have an apoplectic episode, before he hears any more.
It is not until several minutes later when there is a knock on the door that Dagda even attempts speech. “What,” he grinds out.
The door opens which means it can only be one Fairy. She’s the only one who would not have been terrified out of her mind to open the door after hearing Dagda’s anger. “I came to see if you had heard from Kallen and Xandra but as I can see, you have.”
I can tell Dagda wants to tell her to get out or go to hell or maybe both. He doesn’t. Instead, he places his hands palm down on the desk and lowers his head like he’s stretching his neck. He’s taking even, deep breaths. This must be some sort of yoga or stress reducing thing. Considering the amount of anger that is still resonating from him, it’s clearly not working.
Dagda takes so long collecting himself, I’m tempted to take a nap. It’s been a long day. I’m about to ask if we should come back later when he finally lifts his head. “You were saying.”
I don’t remember now. Oh, yeah, “Hades is no longer helping her.” I don’t think more needs to be said. I don’t want to be here all night.
Isla is obviously suspicious. She doesn’t know what made Dagda mad, but she can easily guess it wasn’t what I just said. “He agreed to this and let you leave the Underworld unharmed?”
“No,” Kallen says giving me a look that begs to let him tell the story. Fine by me. Looking back at his grandmother, he says, “Hades was not planning to let us go. It is only because of the assistance of Rashnu, Lailah and Zeus that we have returned.” He goes on to tell the story of our trip to the Underworld. Funny how his version doesn’t include Persephone or the details of the deal Tana made with Hades. There are times he is so much smarter than I am.
When Kallen finishes, Isla slides her eyes towards Dagda. “I assume from the look on the King’s face that there are details of the arrangement Tana made with Hades that are best left unsaid.”
“Now you tell me,” I mutter under my breath. I turn red when Dagda glowers in my direction. Looking at Isla, I say, “You can safely assume his help was not given out of altruism.” See, I can be tactful sometimes. Usually only after blurting the wrong things out first, though.
Isla nods. If she wants more detail, she is planning to wait until later for them. “How would you like to proceed?” she asks Dagda. I’m surprised by that until I realize she is being tactful as well. Normally, Isla would be the one making the plans, but she is deferring to Dagda because it’s his wife we’re after. Boy, I sure hope Kallen never has to chase down an evil me and put me out of my misery. Then again, I don’t see Kallen travelling to another realm to impregnate someone other than me and then plan to kill the child, either. My family is so messed up.
Dagda stands up and walks to the little bar to pour himself some scotch. That has to be his tenth drink today. If he keeps this up, we’re going to have to schedule an intervention. After downing the first glass, he refills it and returns to his desk.
Gravely, he says, “Tana has committed treason with the attempted murders of the royal family and will be dealt with as any traitor has or will be. She is to be found, interrogated and then put to death.”
I open my mouth to remind him that he once planned to kill me, a part of the royal family, which technically would make him guilty of treason as well. The warning looks from Kallen and Isla convince me to keep my mouth closed for once. But this doesn’t feel right. How do you sentence someone you love to death?
Meeting my eyes, Dagda says, “You and I will proceed to the interrogation room to question the Fairy currently being held for assault against you.”
Oh joy. “Why do I have to be present?”
“Because one day, this job will be yours.” Oh, yeah. Lucky me.
“Kallen and I will begin the search for Tana,” Isla says evenly. Her face is a blank page so I have no idea if she is in agreement with Dagda or not on what should happen to Tana when she’s found.
“Fine,” Dagda says rising from his chair again. He stalks to the door and swings it open. “Xandra,” he says, obviously expecting me to jump out of my chair and follow him.
“I’m coming,” I gripe. Kallen and I both stand and he pulls me into a quick hug. With a kiss and a supportive smile, he leaves with Isla and I am left with the surly and heartbroken King. Boy, the guy we’re about to question is in so much trouble. Dagda’s anger needs a target and the Fairy that pushed me has a big old bull’s eye on his forehead.
Chapter 25
I’ve watched enough cop shows to have a certain expectation as to what an interrogation room should look like. This isn’t it. This is Middle Ages meets Martha Stewart.
We are in a room that is split down the middle in design. Where Dagda and I are, there are three comfortable chairs, a small table next to each to put our tea and coffee on. The colors are soft shades of brown and tan and the rich carpet under our feet is a pretty shade of coffee. There are yummy appetizers like tiny sandwiches and cookies set out on a larger table with a lacy tablecloth.
The other half of the room is stark. The floor is made of chipped brick with a lot of sharp edges and water is leaking down the walls and onto the floor. There are two buckets along the back wall. I don’t want to know what’s in either of them. Other than that, there is no furniture. The prisoner has been placed in this half of the room. His shoes have been removed and he has been given a pair of gray shorts to wear and nothing else. Since he is chattering his teeth, I assume his side of the room is cold and magic free. Otherwise, he would be dressed a lot warmer.
The prisoner is the first to speak and he goes with bravado. “When will I be set free?” he demands.
Dagda’s brows rise. Each word he speaks to the Fairy has venom dripping from it. “What high expectations you have. Do you truly believe you can physically assault my daughter and be released without punishment?”
“It is her fault,” the man says pointing to me. “It was the darkness she let loose that made me do it.”
“Funny,” I say, pretending to consider his response, “I performed a spell that made me a sponge for the darkness. Everyone I touched or who touched me lost the darkness as I took it inside. But, I didn’t have that sensation from you. You went right on to push me anyway, even though you were not being controlled by darkness.”
I’ve seen enough deer in headlights in Colorado to recognize the expression. The Fairy knows he’s screwed. His eyes swing back and forth between Dagda and me, finally resting on my face. “I have information. I can tell you who’s plotting against the royal family.”
That’s interesting. I hadn’t expected him to know anything other than he hates me. I do my best to keep the shock off my face. A slight tensing of his body is the only response that can be seen from Dagda.
“What information do you believe will save your life?” Dagda asks as if he’s bored.
“I know where Ta…the Queen…” he trips over what to call her in front of the King. “I know where she has been staying and what she plans to do.”
I already know what she plans to do as well, but it sure would be nice to know where she is without going on a wild goose chase. “Her plans are not difficult to figure out,” I say, trying to imitate Dagda’s bored expression.
“She is working with someone. Someone with a lot of power,” the Fairy hurries to say.
“That is no longer the case,” Dagda says.
The Fairy’s eyes widen. “You know who is helping her?”
“Who was helping her,” I clarify. “She’s on her own now.”
There’s a healthy amount of both fear and awe on the Fairy’s face. “How?”
“That is not your concern,” Dagda says. “Your concern is to give us wh
atever information you have that may sway me towards mercy. At the moment, I am completely free of the concept.” His icy words provide the proof that he means it.
“May I have some water?” the Fairy asks.
“You have water,” Dagda says pointing to one of the pails. I try to school my ‘oh gross’ face. I hope the guy doesn’t mix up the buckets. It’s fairly dark on his side of the room. Obviously, there is no Geneva Convention to regulate how prisoners of war must be treated, but I guess this isn’t really war. Well, it sort of is.
