A Fairy Tale

by Shanna Swendson

  It was the way she remembered it from her earlier escape attempt. The next set of doors along the balcony were open, though blocked by the heavy curtains. She heard voices coming from within and recognized the tone of compliments thinly veiling cattiness as Tallulah remarked on Maeve’s décor. Emily had heard similar conversations conducted in similar tones at many a small-town social. Sophie was a master of the art.

  Emily found a slight gap between the curtains where she could glimpse Maeve’s living room without touching the curtains. Tallulah finished her survey of the surroundings and seated herself on Maeve’s sofa, patting the cushion beside her to indicate that Maeve should join her. Emily was surprised when Maeve did so without protest. She reminded Emily of a junior employee who’d been called into the boss’s office but wasn’t sure if she was going to be promoted or fired.

  Tallulah kept Maeve sweating while she took a sip of the drink she still held. When it seemed as though Maeve was about to explode, Tallulah finally spoke. “As I said downstairs, I’m impressed that you’re working so hard to move up in the world. Such initiative!” She took another sip, and her lips curled into a smirk behind her glass. “Though it is unlike you to make such a premature announcement. Usually, you have everything in place behind everyone’s backs before you reveal your intentions. I expected to find you already sitting on the throne.”

  “All the pieces are in place,” Maeve said stiffly. Emily wished she could see her face, but the tension in her neck and shoulders was obvious.

  Tallulah raised an eyebrow. “Are they, now? Something must be missing, or you would have acted. I get the impression it involves a mutual friend of ours.”

  Mutual friend? Emily wondered. Did they mean Sophie?

  Recovering some of her composure, Maeve gave a tinkling laugh and said, “Whatever gave you that impression?”

  “The fact that she’s been in the Realm, asking for me.” Definitely Sophie, Emily decided. “You’re making me look bad again. I haven’t forgotten that your actions lost me something very valuable and wasted a great deal of work and potential. I don’t appreciate being blamed for your schemes.”

  “You can’t argue that something isn’t needed,” Maeve shot back. “I’m sure you’ve noticed. Time may finally be running out for us.”

  “And you think you’re the one to save us?”

  Emily pressed closer to make sure she didn’t miss a word. Not that their cryptic conversation told her much. She must have moved too close, though, because Tallulah glanced up and looked directly at her. Emily held her breath and froze, hoping she hadn’t disturbed the curtain.

  “Someone has to,” Maeve said. “No one else has come this close.”

  Tallulah sighed and shook her head. “Oh, Maeve, not again.” She put her glass down and rose gracefully to her feet. “I’d better go warn my people. Some of them still haven’t recovered from the last time.” Then she smiled. “It’s likely that I’ll find her before you do. Have you planned for that possibility?” Without waiting for Maeve’s response, she turned and strode briskly to the door.

  Emily rushed down the terrace for the boudoir door, ran through that room and burst out into the hallway while Tallulah was still making her way down the stairs. “Please, wait!” she called out before Tallulah reached the lobby. “You know Sophie?” she blurted when Tallulah turned to face her.

  “I once did.”

  “What did you want with my sister?”

  “I wanted to make her the greatest dancer who ever lived.”

  That wasn’t the answer Emily had expected, and it didn’t explain anything. She tried a different question. “What does Maeve want with her?”

  “I don’t know. But I’ll admit, I’m very curious.” She turned to head for the exit, ending the conversation abruptly. Emily tried to follow her but was stopped at the door the same way she’d been when she’d tried to escape with Eamon. She felt like she’d gained some new clues, but she had no idea what to make of them, and now it seemed like there was yet another fairy who wanted Sophie.

  Twenty-one

  The Upper West Side

  Thursday, 2:00 p.m.

  A To Sophie’s body, it had been nearly her bedtime when Michael left after breakfast, and the day before had been incredibly long and tiring, so when she finally went to bed, she slept far too long for all she needed to do and not nearly long enough to be well-rested. Losing all that time in the Realm had been worse than European jet lag. To force herself to full alertness, she did as many ballet exercises as she could manage in Emily’s tiny apartment, took a long shower, and made a pot of tea. She’d just sat down with her teacup and the newspaper when Beau butted her leg with his head. “Do you need something?” she asked.

  He trotted to the door, then looked back at her. “I thought you were supposed to be lazy,” she said, getting to her feet and putting on her shoes. “This must be a real emergency.”

  She clipped his leash to his collar, then was barely able to hold him back while she shut and locked the door. At the foot of the front steps, he paused to water a tree, then he took off down the sidewalk at a rapid pace. “Do you have a train to catch?” she asked. He turned the next corner at full speed, and she had to jog a few steps to keep up with him. If the world’s laziest dog, according to Michael Murray, wanted to go somewhere that badly, she felt she owed it to him to let him go, especially after he’d defended her so valiantly.

  Beau forged doggedly ahead without stopping to sniff the fire hydrants along the way. They crossed two streets and went down a mostly residential block, then the dog veered to the side and headed down a flight of metal steps leading to a shop on the building’s ground floor. She followed Beau down the stairs and eased the shop’s front door open.

  She’d planned to leave Beau outside, but he charged past her into the shop like he owned the place, dragging her behind him. “Beauregard! No! Stay!” she called, then muttered, “Just what I need, a bulldog in a china shop.” In her most commanding voice, she snapped, “I said stay.” The dog immediately stopped and sat down. “That’s more like it.”

  A tiny woman scurried to the front of the shop, saying, “Beau! I haven’t seen you in ages!” A fat, solid white braid fell over the woman’s shoulder to brush the floor when she bent to scratch Beau behind the ears. Beau’s curled stub of a tail wasn’t much use for wagging, but he wiggled his hind end in pleasure.

  The woman straightened and looked up at Sophie. It was difficult to tell how old she was. Her skin had the crepey quality that comes with age, but it was mostly unlined, and her gray eyes were sharp and alert. She wore chunky dangling earrings shaped like apples, a string of beads that matched the earrings, an eyelet-trimmed T-shirt with an apple appliqué on the front, cropped jeans, and red Keds. She looked like a young kindergarten teacher who’d been dramatically aged by the class from hell, Sophie thought. She’d taught a few ballet classes like that.

  The woman’s appearance told Sophie where she was. Sophie smiled and said, “You must be Miss Athena Abercrombie. Emily has told me so much about you and your lovely shop.” Emily worked at an antique shop when she was between shows and had made it sound far more elegant than this little den full of old china. Sophie wouldn’t have recognized the place from Emily’s description, but Emily had been dead-on in describing Athena Abercrombie’s unique style. “I’m Sophie, Emily’s sister.”

  Athena beamed at her. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Emily. It’s a treat to meet you in person. How is Emily? I know she’s been busy with her big starring role. Amelia and I were talking about getting tickets for later in the week. I suppose you’ve come to town to see her.”

  Sophie hated to dampen Athena’s enthusiasm, but there was no easy way to break this news. “I’m afraid Emily’s missing. She didn’t show up for yesterday’s matinee, and no one has been able to reach her since soon after her first performance.”

  Athena looked alarmed, but not all that shocked. She went pale and put her hand on the counter to s
teady herself, but there was no gasp of surprise. It was as though something she’d been dreading had finally come to pass.

  Sophie dropped Beau’s leash and took Athena’s arm. “Maybe you’d better sit down,” she said gently.

  Athena shook her off. “I’m fine. It was just a bit of a shock.”

  Beau wandered behind the counter, and Sophie was about to call him back when she noticed the water dish with his name stenciled on it and the dog bed decorated with a bulldog appliqué, where Beau promptly curled up and began snoring. No wonder he wanted to come here, she thought.

  The front door chimed, and a tall, glamorous woman entered. Sophie stepped out of the way so Athena could deal with the customer, but Athena rushed toward the woman, crying, “Oh, Amelia! Emily’s missing!” The newcomer was likely Amelia Abernathy, Athena’s younger sister and co-owner of the shop. She had the same ancient agelessness as her sister, with white hair in a French twist and aged but unlined skin, but she was dressed more appropriately to her years in a simple silk blouse and knee-length straight skirt, with silk stockings and sensible pumps. A single strand of pearls circled her long, slender neck. As she watched the two women together, Sophie was gratified to see that she wasn’t the only woman whose “little” sister towered over her.

  “Amelia, this is—” Athena began, but Amelia waved her off.

  “Yes, I know, it’s Sophie.” She extended a hand for Sophie to shake. “How do you do? I’m Amelia Abernathy. Now, what happened?”

  While Sophie told about Emily’s disappearance, she assessed the shop. Most of the inventory consisted of mismatched pieces of fine china. A display case in front of the counter held an array of silverware, and a glass case on the wall behind the counter held antique-looking jewelry. There were also various ceramic decorative items on display.

  But what Sophie found truly interesting was the amount of iron in the shop. The burglar bars in the front windows were perfectly understandable in an urban area, but filigreed bits of wrought iron also formed the backdrop for most of the displays. The sisters were keeping something out, and she didn’t think it was burglars.

  Therefore, it wasn’t much of a shock when Amelia said, “The fairies must have finally got her.”

  Sophie was acutely aware that her response was being judged, so she tried not to react at all. “Yes, I believe a fairy named Tallulah has her. She’s sent her people after Emily before, back in Louisiana, but she seems to have followed Emily here.”

  “There’s no such thing as ‘here’ where the fairies are concerned,” Amelia said. “The Realm is only tethered to physical reality in spots. The rest of it exists outside our concept of space and time. No matter where in the world you enter, it is still the same Realm.”

  “Which explains how I entered near Tavern on the Green yesterday evening and came out about an hour later this morning in Riverside Park,” Sophie said with a nod. Then she sighed and leaned against the counter. “But it also means I was wrong when I sent Emily here to keep her safe from the local fairies back home.”

  “Do you mean you actually went inside, on your own?” Amelia asked, stepping closer to her, her sister right behind her, both of them wide-eyed.

  “Well, yes. I used to do it all the time. I know the tricks to finding the gateways, and I have a four-leaf clover, so I can pass through into the Realm.”

  The sisters exchanged a look fraught with meaning. “I thought it took a bit more than that,” Athena said softly.

  While they were still caught off-guard, Sophie continued, watching their reactions carefully. “I went in last night to find Tallulah and arrange Emily’s freedom. Before I could reach her, I was attacked. The fairies I was with said the attackers were Maeve’s men. Maeve was the one Tallulah sent after Emily before. But they weren’t dressed like Tallulah’s people. They looked like something out of the Rat Pack era.”

  Amelia and Athena exchanged another meaningful look. “I’ll get the chart,” Athena said, hurrying to the shop’s back room.

  “Please, have a seat.” Amelia gestured toward the bentwood chairs at a table in the corner. She went to the door, flipped the sign to “closed,” and turned the lock. “This is best done without interruption,” she explained.

  Athena returned, hauling a roll of paper nearly as tall as she was. Amelia hooked a loop of ribbon from the top left-hand corner onto a bit of ironwork on the wall, then Athena unrolled the paper and hooked the right-hand loop of ribbon onto another bit of ironwork.

  Oh dear, Sophie thought when she saw the poster. She’s made a collage. It was like a giant scrapbook page, filled with photos cut from magazines, stenciled lettering, and fancy borders, all covered in clear adhesive paper. The two elderly sisters positioned themselves on either side of the poster, and Sophie, feeling like she was back in school, folded her hands in her lap and listened attentively.

  “Contrary to what Edmund Spenser thought, there is no queen of all the fairies,” Amelia began.

  “Though there may have been in his day because we know there once was, but who she was and what happened to her has been forgotten,” Athena interjected.

  With the tiniest of glares at her older sister, Amelia continued, “Instead, there are courts within the Realm, each having its own ruler. These rulers consider themselves to be kings or queens, but they only rule the fairies who have sworn loyalty to that court.”

  “They’re like fairy gangs,” Athena said. “They dress and act in ways that fit with the theme of that court. We’ve identified a few of these courts.” She pointed to her poster, which contained pictures cut from magazine articles about the Lord of the Rings films, stills from old black-and-white musicals and Doris Day movies, among others. “They seem to be emulating human eras or trends—at least, some of them are. Some of the older courts may have influenced human trends of their time.”

  “Maeve has a court?” Sophie asked.

  “Maeve’s court is new—if you can even call it an official court,” Amelia said. “There were no signs of it until perhaps fifteen years ago.”

  Athena pointed to the Doris Day photos. “She seems to have adopted the mid-twentieth century as the theme of her court—Doris Day, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Rat Pack.”

  “She was still part of Tallulah’s clan fourteen years ago, though she may have been building a clique of her own,” Sophie said. “Of course, there’s no way of knowing how long ago that was to them. Then she was more like the wild ones. Who leads them?”

  “Those are the free fairies,” Amelia said. “They don’t belong to any court, and they answer to no one. They make up by far the majority of the fairy population, and they include the small folk as well as some of the less humanoid denizens of the Realm. If they ever did unite behind a leader, they could easily rule the entire Realm, but they have no interest in either the power or the responsibility. You were accurate to call them wild.”

  Sophie nodded. “Those are the ones I know.”

  Athena came over and sat in the chair next to Sophie. “How do you know them?”

  “I grew up with them. I found them dancing in the woods behind my grandparents’ house when I was very small, and I kept going back until I was almost eighteen. Tallulah led the group I knew, but I stayed away after she tried to take Emily, presumably as her payment for teaching me to dance. Not that I agreed to that bargain, but that’s how they work.”

  “They’ve been after Emily here, as well,” Athena said. “We tried to protect her. We masked her aura so they wouldn’t be able to identify her.”

  “You did what?” Sophie blurted before she could moderate her response. While fairies were commonplace to her and she didn’t question her ability to know when something had happened to a loved one, she didn’t know humans could do magic.

  “The fairies see with senses beyond vision,” Amelia explained. “They see a person’s—fairy or human—aura.”

  “Yes, I know,” Sophie interrupted impatiently. “But I didn’t realize that could be changed.�
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  “Not changed so much as hidden.”

  “And with unintended consequences,” Athena put in.

  “The other missing women,” Sophie surmised. “Detective Murray said there were three other than Emily, including his wife.”

  Amelia sighed. “We discovered Emily not long after Jennifer Murray’s disappearance when she visited our shop. The similarity was striking, and her tea leaves suggested that she was the one being pursued. That was when we offered Emily a job so we could look out for her, masked her aura, and suggested she look at the apartment downstairs from Michael Murray. We knew he’d keep a close eye on her, after what happened to his wife.”

  Sophie had thought she had a very high tolerance level for weirdness, but this was enough to make her dizzy. She turned the conversation back toward more comfortable areas, like fairy politics. “Why has the throne remained empty all this time?”

  “That has been our job, in part,” Amelia said. “We are enchantresses, and our assignment is to make sure no one takes that throne. It would not go well for mankind if the fairies were to unite, especially not now, when people have forgotten how to deal with fairies and protect themselves. So, we disrupt any effort by any of the rulers to seek the throne.”

  “How do you know so much about that world if you can’t enter the Realm?” Sophie asked. She felt like she was being told a fairy tale, and these women had made up the whole thing.