Dressing like Bex sucked. Jade scratched her arm, hoping to relieve the itching under the gray fabric made of twigs and vines. She couldn’t imagine wearing ridiculous things like this as her everyday wear. She tapped her fake, long nails on the table before her. “Did you hear me?” she asked.
“Something seems different about you. I can’t tell what, but—” Ranson said, his voice echoing in the cavernous room.
Jade realized she may have looked like Bex, but she hadn’t been acting like her. She was too focused on the uncomfortable outfit.
She straightened her spine and raised an eyebrow. “Shut up, before I have one of my guards turn you into a toad.” Jade pointed to the two masked sentries standing behind her.
Seven and Alejandro both stepped forward as if to show they were ready for the task.
“Pffft, you wouldn’t dare,” he said, sitting back. Ranson folded his arms behind his head and leaned back on the two back legs of his chair. “So why am I here?”
“I’m calling an official war between you and fairies.” Jade didn’t dare sit down in the uncomfortable dress.
“We hate you, anyway, and every day is war against your kind. You fairies and shapeshifters can all go to hell, right this very instant as far as I’m concerned.” He stood up, knocking his chair back.
“I have a very important event coming up; it’s happening tomorrow. If I see one of your filthy human Faction rejects there, I will burn them alive.” She knew she’d have to cross the line to bait him. She held up her hand and shot a bolt of purple light towards him, knocking him off his chair.
He shot, up and grabbed her hand. “You think you can come into my territory and threaten me?”
Seven stepped forward. “Release the Fairy Enthrall or lose your hand.”
“Let go of my hand or I will cut it off,” she said to the Faction leader. Her heart raced and her eyes helixed. “No need to get involved, guard. This one is all bark and no bite.”
“Nice eyes, mutant. My name is Ranson; remember it when I have the pleasure of ripping them from your face.” He reduced the pressure on her wrist and then whispered to her. “I’ll relish cutting you to pieces. You’ll be the last fairy queen,” he said.
Jade clenched her teeth, willing her shifting to stop. Her jaw ached to elongate and she wanted so badly to fall to her knees to allow it. She closed her eyes and tried with every ounce of willpower to stop her face from shifting from Bex into a dragon. The adrenaline pumping through Jade made her want to shift and stop him, once and for all. She was also worried that Seven would defend her and ruin their plan.
“Did I scare the dangerous Bex?”
“No, you made me want to kill you that much more.” She held her hand up, creating a ball of light. She cradled the light in her palm, ready to blast it at him once more.
He stepped back. “Leave now.”
She shot the ball of light towards the chair behind him. It was reduced to smoking ashes instantly. “Prepare for battle. You and your drones better stay away from the Zoralia Mansion, human scum. I’m having a masquerade ball tonight. And if any of you sneak inside in costume, I will find you. ” Jade turned and left the hotel room with Seven and Alejandro following her. She hoped she had sufficiently instigated him to action. Only time would tell.
She had laid out the trap. The Faction just had to be dumb enough to walk into it.
***
Jade wish she had mastered the art of creating a portal and appearing somewhere else. Unfortunately, she had to endure a cab ride dressed as Bex. Seven and Alejandro squeezed into the cab with her.
Seven leaned forward and said, “Tenth between First and Second.” He distracted the driver with talk of the weather, while Jade’s face transformed back to her natural appearance.
Jade leaned towards her lap and felt her features shift. It felt good to have her own face back. She touched her nose and cheekbones and then finally sat back. She was glad Seven kept the driver occupied.
“So weird,” Alejandro said.
“Shut up,” Seven said.
“Jade lets me talk to her like that. We go way back.” Alejandro said, “Right, Jade? You knew I was joking.”
“Guys!” Jade said, rolling her eyes. “Stop.”
They were silent as the cab zipped through traffic and barely stopped at the lights.
“I’m glad that’s over,” Seven said. “I was going to shift and rip his head off if he touched you again.”
“Hey, were you guys in some kind of masquerade ball? Acting maybe?” the driver asked.
“I’d say a little of both,” Seven answered. He tore his mask off and kissed Jade. “I was going to end him right there if they got any closer.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Jade said. She was relieved pretending to be Bex was over.
“Hey, I’m here and this PDA is enough.” Alejandro shook his head. He kept his mask on.
“Why the mask still? You know it’s over, right?” Seven hugged Jade near him.
“I like it. I feel cool.”
“Only you,” Seven said, shaking his head.
Jade was grim as she looked out of the cab window. Tonight they would go to Bex’s private party. She hoped their costumes would let them blend in.
“I hope Soraya’s informant has given us an exact copy of the invitations, or we’ll be screwed.” Alejandro said.
Seven elbowed Alejandro.
“Oooph,” Alejandro said, holding is right side.
“He’s right, Seven, if we can’t even get in, or worse, if they make us fight once we’re inside, we’ll be outnumbered.” She smiled at Alejandro, knowing that he was trying to hide how anxious he was about Nyx.
“Well, then, let’s hope it all goes well and we can find Nyx soon, too.”
***
Once she was back home, she ripped the scratchy dress off and threw it away. She showered and then dressed quickly. Alejandro and Seven were at their own apartment. It was quiet with Nyx gone.
Jade would tell everything to Detective Solano. It was the only way to protect herself and keep from getting framed for crimes she hadn’t committed.
She quietly left the apartment and headed straight to the police station. She hoped she wasn’t too late.
A video of a Bex looking like Jade went viral. It showed her running in the alley after attacking Matthew.
Jade racked her brain to find a solution that wouldn’t end up with her getting framed for the crimes. If she didn’t think fast, she would be in prison or a victim of the Faction.
In a paradox, she finally realized that by endangering herself and revealing her identity to Detective Solano, she may save herself from being hunted or arrested. She hoped her plan worked. It went against the Secrecy Protocol of fairies. Shapeshifters would no doubt be angry with her and shun her for her breach of secrecy, as well.
***
Detective Solano sat in front of Jade.
“When you told me you wanted to talk, I was hoping for a confession. This all points to you, Jade. We’ve got enough to keep you. You must have some friends in high places to not be locked up right now. So are you ready to confess?” He slid a cup of tea towards her.
“Thanks,” Jade said. The sound of the paper cup moving across the metal table filled the small room. She pulled her hoodie up and rubbed her cold hands on her jeans, hoping the friction would warm her.
“Cold?” Detective Solano said, “Maybe this will warm you up.” He slid photos of the victims across the table. “Lucky for you, Matthew Rondando is going to make a full recovery.”
“It wasn’t me. It was someone else named Bex. She impersonated me.”
He leaned in towards Jade and said tersely, “Bex has nothing to do with this. She wasn’t seen with this victim, Matthew. The culprit looked just like you, Miss Delacourt. Now, unless you want to spend most of your adult life locked up in one of our fine penitentiaries across this state, I advise you to start talking.”
When she didn’t answer, he said
, “Some people suffer from an identity crisis. Maybe you do.”
She shook her head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” he said. He laid both of his large hands on the table and clasped them together. “I’m all ears.”
“Do you know how we believe a set of rules or laws of reality?”
“Yeah,” he said. His gaze was half-lidded, as though he had checked out already.
“Well, what if I told you that there are others besides you?”
“Obviously, I don’t live alone in the world. Where are you going with this? I have loads of work to do today.” He shook his head and started to get up.
“Wait,” Jade held his gaze and her eyes helixed.
Detective Solano stepped back and then took two steps closer, “Do that thing again,” he said hesitantly.
She helixed her eyes again and made purple splotches appear on her face. She shook her head and half shifted her face into a panther.
Detective Solano scrambled back, falling over his chair.
“Are you all right?”
“Don’t touch me,” he said. He propped the chair back up and sat down. “I don’t get it.”
“Well, I’m a shapeshifter and fairy.”
“Is that crap real? I thought it was just part of those shows Seven Rhodes is in.” He covered his face. “Do that thing with your eyes again.”
Jade helixed her eyes and he covered his mouth.
“I’m sorry if I’m showing you too much to deal with. I’m supposed to keep this a secret; that’s always been the way with fairies and shapeshifters living among normals.”
“Yeah, I can see why. My brain feels like it’s going to explode. I can’t believe it, even though you’re right before my eyes. This is some crazy sh—“
“Look, I’m here not to show off, but to stop Bex. She is all fairy and all bad. She’s killing those people to frame me. Please help me stop her, Detective Solano.”
“You want me to put a fairy in jail? How long do you think a regular cell will hold her?”
“I want you to give me some time to stop Bex. I know you need to arrest someone, and I look like the killer. I know it’s crazy. But if I can change my face, do you now believe Bex can, too?”
Detective Solano sat back and craned his head back, face to the ceiling. “I don’t know. The captain is on me for this for not making an arrest yet.”
“I’m asking you to stall for just another twenty-four hours, please, detective.”
“This is turning out to be one crazy day. You risked a lot telling me, some human, about your secret. Why me?”
“Because you remind me of my dad.”
His eyebrows shot up and he shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the last thing I thought you’d say, but I’ll take it.”
“If you’re looking to make an arrest, I have a violent hate group I can hand to you on a platter. They’re called the Faction. Tonight they’re going to be at a fairy party.”
“A fairy party? This gets better minute by minute,” he said, wiping his hands over his face and onto his balding head.
She wrote the address of the Zoralia Mansion on a scrap of paper. “Here’s the address. Please be there tonight at nine-thirty. They should be there. The leader’s name is Ranson.”
“I hope this isn’t a wild-goose chase. Fairy or whatever, I don’t have time to run after a ‘maybe.’”
Jade didn’t want to tell him it wasn’t a sure thing. She nodded and added, “It’s a sure thing. They’ll be there. I’ll call you when I get to the party.”
“They better be there. This arrest will give you some more time. But, remember, Fairy Jade, you’re running out of it.
No truer statement was said, she thought. With everything she had going on, time was the one thing she needed. “You have no idea,” she said as she walked out of the office.
***
Jade held Detective Solano’s business card and called him. She gave him the location of where he could find the Faction and Bex.
“It would be perfect if we could have both arrested,” Alejandro said to Seven as Jade spoke on the phone.
“Are you crazy? Bex can’t be held in any prison except Cheltan Island Prison.”
“Oh,” Alejandro said.
“The detective said he’ll be there and that I better not be wasting his time,” Jade said.
“Sounds like a charmer,” Seven said.
The three walked towards the mansion in the brisk fall air. They were quite a trio with their masquerade costumes: Jade in ivory, Seven in red and black, and Alejandro in chocolate brown.
Alejandro was quiet as they marched to the party.
“We’ll find Nyx, Alejandro,” Jade said, putting a hand on Alejandro’s arm.
“I miss her and I’m worried about her. Is she really just hanging out here by her own choice?” He shook his head.
“That’s what Soraya’s spy says,” Seven said. “So far, he’s been spot-on.”
“If I see her, I’m taking her with me,” Alejandro said firmly. “I’ll force her to see how crazy she’s being.”
Jade was silent as she wondered why her sister was drawn to Bex. It made her feel like she had let her sister down and wasn’t enough. “I should have been a better sister,” she said quietly.
“We’ll find her,” Seven said, squeezing Jade’s hand as they walked hand in hand.
A thin fairy stood at the door of the mansion. He wore all white and stood before a clear podium and was flanked by two muscular fairies.
To the average pedestrian, the entrance looked like an entrance to a regular party. Of course, this party was anything but regular.
Jade held her breath as the fairy scanned their invitations and smiled, revealing green-tinged teeth. “Welcome, Fairy Fashionistas. Enjoy the event.”
Luckily, the invitations were perfect and they were allowed entrance to the exclusive party.
Bex was hosting a masquerade fairy party at Zoralia Mansion that evening. She had vines hanging from the ceiling with real crickets, grasshoppers and butterflies hopping from leaf to leaf, trying to survive the partygoers’ appetites.
The room was humid and smelled like a swamp. In the center of the room was a low pool filled with imported swamp water. Frogs and tadpoles darted left and right as fairies scooped them up with nets made of golden thread.
Seven and Bex knew better than to try and steal the Flora Mordis poison.
Besides, Soraya’s informant told her that Bex had secured the poison in a secret location off site for use during the election.
Jade knew that Bex would have the poison on her at the election. Her best bet was to wait and take if from her then, once and for all.
Jade adjusted her ivory-colored face mask. It was covered with iridescent pearls and lace. Her hair sported several feathers and a string of pearls, tucked among her brown curly hair that was swept up into a loose French twist.
She wore a lovely cream-colored gown that she managed to rent from a costume shop at the last minute. While there, they found a black and purple Edwardian-style outfit for Seven. He looked regal in the doublet and pantaloons.
“I never thought I’d see the day when you wore stockings,” Jade said with a chuckle.
“Neither did I,” he said, dryly.
She kept her attention on the entrance doors to the party.
“No thank you,” she said, when a waiter offered her skewered raw lizards dipped in honey.
Seven just shook his head to avoid the “food.”
“Do you think the Faction is going to take the bait and—” Jade began. She stopped herself when she spotted three large men walking in wearing haphazard costumes.
“There we are, right on time,” Seven said.
Ranson lifted up his hand. It held a knife. “We are the Faction and we are here to rid this city of supernaturals!” He swung his knife left and right, hitting a fairy with his fist. The fairy splashed into the pond and huddled near the other side, tre
mbling.
“We aren’t letting any of you leave.”
Jade looked at her phone and hoped Detective Solano and his officers would be there soon, before the Faction killed one of the fairies. She didn’t like these fairies who dined on scared creatures and fawned over Bex, but they didn’t deserve to die.
Ranson grabbed several fairies and grouped them together by the window overlooking Manhattan. “Where’s Bex?” he demanded.
“I’m here,” she said. “How did you know about this private event?” She wore all red. Her embroidered floor-length cape waved behind her as she marched towards them. Her hair was the same color red. Below the cape she wore a long red dress.
“She looks like a red crayon,” Alejandro whispered to Seven.
“I asked why you are here. Normals are not invited,” Bex said.
He walked closer to her, shaking his head. “Don’t play stupid. You lured me here by telling me not to come,” Ranson said.
“I’ve never met you, human,” she said with a frown.
“Okay, okay, I see how it is,” he said, walking towards her wielding his knife. His two men held their weapons aimed at the group of fairies.
“Kill them; I have so many fairies who adore me that it doesn’t really matter.” She turned to leave. “Just try not to make too much of a mess.”
Sobs and moans filled the room. Some fairies called out Bex’s name.
“You’re just going to leave them to die?” Jade said, ripping her mask off. She charged towards Bex, sending a blast of light at the evil queen.
Before Ranson could take advantage of the two fighting, Seven grabbed a chair and swung it towards Ranson, knocking the Faction leader on his back.
Alejandro ran to Bex and grabbed her by the arm, “Where’s Nyx?”
“Let go of me, boy, or you’ll lose that arm.” She glared at him, her eyes glowing red.
He let go and stepped back.
“She doesn’t want to see you—to see any of you.” Bex said. “She’ll be at the election, supporting me, the only one who truly understands her.”
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