by Terry Spear
“Where is here?” If it wasn’t too far from home, she’d just walk.
“No Man’s Land is that way.” He motioned in the opposite direction of the beach. “If you climb up that cliff and make it to the other side, you would be in the hawk fae territory. But the creatures that live in those caves in the cliffs would make a meal of you, either when you’re attempting to climb the cliffs out of here, or if you remain on the beach for the night.”
“So why did you bring me here?”
“To get the truth out of you.”
“But I could just fae transport.”
“Then why didn’t you before? Unless you couldn’t. Now that you are here, you have no ability.”
Great. Even so, she didn’t trust him and tried to transport again. Nothing happened. “Why? Do you?”
“No. Not me either. Iron ore is beneath the soil and the ocean so that even taking a boat away from here will not help you to escape by fae transport. So tell me, what were you and your friend up to?”
“If I tell you, will you return me home?”
“To the place I found you, yes.”
“Okay. But you won’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“I have every intention of stealing your gold.”
2
Alton nearly laughed at the golden fae’s claim that she intended to steal his gold, but he wasn’t certain she was just jesting about it. What if she seriously believed she could abscond with his treasure? A fae who couldn’t even transport places? Not a chance.
“What name do you go by so that I will know it when I find my stockpile of treasure is gone?”
“Kayla.”
“Pure and beloved.” Alton laughed. “Somehow I can’t see you as pure, as in innocent, not as mischievous as you appear. Beloved? Your mother, of course, would think so.”
“And Alton means old town. Why would anyone call you by such a name?”
“I was of the old town, the last dragon shifter born there before my parents moved to Morcalon, and we lived among the dragon fae there. Though the colony moved elsewhere and still remains.”
“I have always lived in the countryside outside my village with my mother.”
“Sisters? Brothers?”
“None. You?”
“None. Well, Kayla, I will return you to your side of the river, and then I will double my guards to ensure my treasure remains safe. So I should thank you for telling me your plans.” He paused before he shifted. “Do you even know where I keep my treasure?”
“No. If you tell me, I’d be grateful though.”
He smiled, then frowned. “Why my gold? Why not Ena’s or—“
“Brett’s? He is mated to Ena. It’s much easier to steal from one dragon than two.”
“You do know what we do to anyone who tries to steal our gold, do you not?”
“Yes. Actually, if you could spare one small gold locket, I would leave the rest of your treasures alone.”
“And what would I get for it?”
“My undying gratitude.”
Alton shook his head. “A golden fae would never give up her treasure, just as a dragon wouldn’t.” He’d always thought they were an odd sort of fae. Showing off all that wealth was bound to encourage thieves to attempt to steal from them. Better to keep it hidden away.
Then he shifted and carried Kayla to the river, half a mile from where he’d found her. He couldn’t chance that her friend had gone for help and her people were searching for her near where he had taken her.
He shifted into his fae form to say, “Happy hunting.” Then he shifted back into his dragon form, still not believing his scales were the color of violets again, flew into the woods across the river, and shifted again.
He thought back to the lass, her hair the color of chestnut, her olive green eyes with a hint of gold still capturing his imagination. He wondered what she would look like covered in gold. Would he, a dragon and hoarder of gold, want to keep her with his pile of treasure?
He couldn’t imagine what was going on with regard to his scales, but he couldn’t show them off when they were every color of the rainbow and more. He’d be the laughingstock of his people if they saw they were now violet.
He considered the golden fae again. They were devious like most of the fae were, and he wondered what Kayla and her friend had truly been up to. He pondered why she couldn’t seem to transport on her own like the other fae had done.
Then he saw his advisor, who was also his butler and financial manager, Ferdinand, riding out to find him, when Alton was just getting ready to fae transport.
“What is the matter now?” Alton asked.
“The queen has an assignment of great urgency for you. Mark Creston, that human friend of Brett’s, has gone into the human world and not returned. Ena and Brett are searching for him as we speak, but the queen wishes you to go as well. At once.”
Alton might not have any control over the changing color of his scales, but at least he could still fae transport. “Who took him there?” The human couldn’t have transported himself.
“According to Ena, one of her people took Mark to the human world because he wanted to see his dying foster mother. Somehow, Muriel and he became separated. He has no real family there any longer, so he really has no other place to go.”
“Yet, he’s gone somewhere, so it seems.” Alton didn’t care for humans living in their world. They belonged in their own home world. They couldn’t fae transport and their injuries didn’t heal up as quickly as their own. They were nothing but trouble. “So where were they exactly?”
“As far as we know, the school that Ena had to go to in search of the queen’s daughter where she’d gone to school herself.”
“All right. I’m on my way.” At least if the queen ordered it, the pay would be good, courtesy of Brett’s saving her life so she would do anything for him that he asked, within reason. Alton just hoped they’d find Mark quickly. He loved lots of things about the human world—ice cream shops, their clothes, but school wasn’t one of them. Too many rules.
At least he was already dressed like one. He loved their jeans and sneakers and T-shirts too. He appeared next to a set of school lockers, not caring whether he startled anyone with his sudden appearance or not. He was almost disappointed to see the halls were empty as the students must have been in classes.
Then he heard footfalls and saw Ena come around a corner. “Alton. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Where’s Brett?”
“He’s looking on the second floor of the school.”
“Any sign of Mark?”
“No. It’s not easy finding a human who isn’t attending the school any longer. He doesn’t leave a fae trail like us either.”
“You don’t think Mark has hooked up with fae seers, do you?” Alton knew Mark was a fae seer himself and what if he fell into the same old habits? See the fae? Terminate the fae?
“Only if he was forced to go.”
The bell rang and the halls filled with students, some heading for the cafeteria. Some heading outside to get lunch somewhere else.
“I’m going outside and watching that door and see if he leaves the building,” Alton said.
Ena nodded. “I’ll check the cafeteria.”
Before they left, they saw Brett coming down the stairs, talking to a blond-haired girl.
Alton folded his arms and smiled. “Your eyes are glowing gold, Ena. You wouldn’t be jealous, would you? You wouldn’t have to be worried about me if I was talking to a human girl.”
“Ha! I’m going to the cafeteria.” Ena turned and stalked off, but caught Brett’s eye.
Brett quickly ended the conversation, but then he saw Alton and hurried to talk to him. “Thanks for coming. I know how much you’re not fond of humans so I really appreciate that you’re here.”
“Mark helped us out a few times. Old girlfriend?” Alton really thought Brett was just trying to learn if the girl had seen Mark. So he was totally surprise
d when Brett responded to his question in the affirmative.
“Yeah. Ena see?”
“Yeah.” Alton wanted to feel smug about it, but he shouldn’t have because he was friends with Brett now. Okay, so he felt wholly smug about it. He smirked.
“Talk to you later.” Frowning, Brett hurried after Ena.
So much for Brett looking for his friend.
Guess the job was all Alton’s. Then he saw a girl with chestnut colored hair, her back to him, but her petite build and her gold jewelry made him think of Kayla. No way would she be here. Curiosity got the better of him and he stalked off to catch up to her.
“Where have you been all this time?” Tanya asked, looking ready to slug Kayla for scaring her as she joined her at the river’s edge. “I’ve been to your cottage so many times, trying to avoid your mother seeing me and wondering where you’d gone to. Tasha would have known something was wrong. I was getting ready to call the guard. But I knew you’d kill me, given the reason we were at the edge of the river in the first place. I thought you had transported right behind me. Then you didn’t appear and I didn’t know where you’d gone to. I went back and your fae dust trail just disappeared! I thought the dragon had taken you hostage. But I was certain he wouldn’t have. So I returned to where we’d been and saw the dragon fly across the river from our side, only a half a mile south of there. I chanced transporting here and sure enough, there you were.”
“He wanted to know why we were spying on him.”
“What? He shifted? Talked to you?”
“Yes. I told him I intended to steal his gold.”
Tanya’s jaw dropped. “You…didn’t.”
“I did. He wouldn’t have believed it. I asked him for one locket then. I wanted to see his reaction. If he’d been the one who had picked up the locket and my other gold that one day, I figured he’d look smug, or surprised, maybe thinking that I had been the one who had dropped it, or something.”
“So how did he react?”
Kayla let out her breath and began to walk home. “He just smiled darkly and asked what he would get for it.”
“What did you say?” Tanya asked, her eyes wide.
“That he would earn my undying gratitude. He didn’t believe I’d stop at wanting just my locket.”
“I can’t believe you really talked to one. Do you think he’s the one who took your gold?”
“I think so. From what he and Ena were talking about, his scales keep changing color on him, so I think it was him. Maybe if he was flying around this area, his gold is even hidden around there.”
“Or the other dragon’s gold was? But you said they were practicing for the dragon games. If he was even one of them that you saw that day. I doubt two dragons would be in the same area if one had his gold hidden around there. Whatever possessed you to hang around and talk to him?”
“Okay, listen. For whatever reason, I can’t fae transport. It must have to do with not having my locket. The whole thing is tied in, I guess. I had every intention of leaving, but I couldn’t.”
“Ohmigoddess, that’s awful.”
“Tell me about it. If Mom expects me to fae travel somewhere, I won’t be able to. And then she’ll probably know why.”
“I would never have left you behind if I’d known that. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know. I haven’t needed to fae transport until the big, bad dragon was in our airspace. Well, when I was on the other side of the river too, I had lost the ability, but I hadn’t connected the dots.”
“You need to tell your mom that you’ve lost your locket. She might even have a good idea as to what to do.”
“Are you kidding? She’d be worried sick that I’ll be excommunicated once the day arrives. I need to keep this secret until I can locate the locket and straighten this out.”
“Will it reverse the effect of the magic? If you locate it after the fact?”
“I don’t know. I hope I can locate it before I have to find out the answer to that question. I had thought to transport somewhere else until I could find the locket so that our people wouldn’t ever know.”
“But they will. Spring will be here and your flowers won’t be. So what are you going to do?”
“Befriend a dragon. The only one I know for now. He didn’t incinerate me for telling him I was going to steal his gold.”
“That’s because he didn’t take you seriously! If you actually tried to do it, he would take care of you, permanently. Forget worrying about the locket.” Tanya frowned at her. “I know that look. That you’re even considering it makes me think you’ve lost your mind along with your transporting ability.”
“I’m going to ask Sigrid to hide my fae aura. Or disguise it with another fae aura.”
“You. Can’t. That witch will make you do something for her that you’ll soon regret.”
“I can’t think of any other way to handle this.”
“If you do it, then what?”
“I don’t know. Ask around and see if anyone’s seen a gold locket I lost in the woods?”
“In dragon fae territory? Now I know you’ve got to be nuts.”
Kayla didn’t believe she had any other choice. “You’ve got a cousin living in the human world. We could go see her like we’ve done in the past. Mom won’t mind because I’ll only be gone a few days.”
“When are you seeing Sigrid?”
“Now, first thing. I need to do this now and I guess ask Sigrid if she can fix it so I can have control over the aura or Mom would see that my aura is hidden or that it has turned into some other fae kind.”
“Okay.”
“You could meet me after I see Sigrid.”
“No. I’m going with you. I want to see what the fae wants of you in payment for giving you this ‘gift.’”
“You’re not talking me out of it.” Even though Kayla didn’t want to involve Tanya, she’d had to tell her what she planned to do in case anything went wrong. But her locket wasn’t going to just appear out of the blue, and she had to risk trying to get hold of it any way that she could.
“People rely on her power for gain and then she uses the knowledge to blackmail them,” Tanya warned.
“How do you know for certain?” Kayla had heard the rumors too but that didn’t mean any of it was true.
“Just stuff I’ve heard tell. Just like you’ve heard it too, I’m certain.”
“What can be worse than the mess I’m in now? Once I have the locket, if I can get it, it won’t matter the lengths to which I had to go to get it back. If I can’t, I won’t be living here any longer. So see? She couldn’t hurt me anyway.”
“Kayla, what you did had all to do with being a curious fae. You broke our law and the dragon fae’s, but you didn’t do it to hurt anyone. And you only hurt yourself. I still think you should come clean with your mom about this.” Tanya glanced at her and frowned. “I know that determined look on your face means you’re not going to change your mind. Fine. What do you want me to do?”
“Pretend we’re going to the human world for a few days. That will be our cover story.”
“You don’t want me to fae transport you to the other side of the river?”
“If you don’t mind.” Swimming across had been treacherous enough the few times she had done it since she had lost her ability to transport.
“I don’t know what you intend to do. Run around their land asking dragons who was in the woods that day?”
“Yeah. As long as they don’t realize I’m a golden fae, I might be able to find out who has it. Maybe I can still bargain with him. What have I got to lose?”
“Your life?” Tanya was silent for a few minutes. “All right, but I could see this all going so wrong.” She glanced over at Kayla again. “You’ve been missing your locket for a week?”
“I’ve been searching for it all this time.”
“Across the river?”
“Yes, across the river. For a whole week. The problem is the dragon took off and fle
w away, so no footprints leading home.”
“How did you get across to the other side?”
“I swam.”
Tanya gaped at her, then shook her head. “You could have drowned and you should have just asked me to take you over there once you knew you couldn’t transport over there and back on your own.”
“I just kept thinking I was having trouble because there was iron ore somewhere in the area. I’ve never heard of the locket controlling that aspect of a fae’s abilities. Besides, you wouldn’t have agreed to take me over there, for my own good, right?” Tanya never disobeyed any laws, as far as Kayla knew.
“I can’t believe you hadn’t told me before this. I’m your best friend!”
“I know. Why do you think I didn’t tell you? I didn’t want to get you involved. I didn’t want you to be hurt.”
Tanya chewed her lower lip like she always did when she was thinking about a problem and trying to come up with a solution. ”Did he leave a fae dust trail?”
“No. I assume they do only when they’re in fae form. When they’re dragons, there is none.”
“Well, did you see fae dust where your jewelry was when he shifted into fae form?”
“No. The dragon must have just taken the gold in his talons and flown off with it.”
Frowning deeply, Tanya didn’t look like she wanted to go along with this plan if she had any choice. “I’ll wait for you here at the fork in the path to Sigrid’s cottage.”
“Okay.”
Kayla rushed home to tell her mother the news. She practically sprinted on the path through her lavender fields to the entrance of their walled-in garden. She pushed open the wooden gate and shut it, then hurried up the path, hoping her mom wouldn’t ask her a million questions and delay her. She opened the front door.
