Moonshine

by Jasmine Gower

  “Andre, listen to me. We’ve already caused enough mess with this. These faeries are connected to their rings, and I don’t know what more might happen to Cyan now that his is destroyed, even if we can get him back home. So if I let you come along for this, you have to promise me that you will never go back to this faerie ring without my accompaniment.”

  “But–”

  “There are bigger things than intellectual inquiry! You may be curious about their magic, but we’re the ones who keep summoning them to our realm, and they might be in danger because of it, to say nothing of the risk to other people. I can’t stand to be responsible for more harm coming to them. Please, promise me that you’ll just let it drop.”

  Andre flinched again, and Daisy choked down an urge to whack him in the face. He was hesitating? As though it was such a difficult decision between curiosity and the lives of others.

  “I… Yes. Yes, you’re right. I promise, I will assist you in returning Cyan to his realm and… and I won’t pursue the matter any further.” He cast a forlorn look in the faerie’s direction. Daisy was beginning to see that Andre was much more of a fool than he first seemed with his pressed white shirts and tight-laced attitude, but even he couldn’t have been airheaded enough to become so infatuated over a creature that reaped human lives. “Should we leave immediately, then?”

  Daisy glanced toward the window facing the back street. She hadn’t yet seen any sign that Cyan had been followed, but that didn’t mean much. “I don’t know. I’m worried about those mage-hunters tracking us to another ring.”

  The sorrow faded from Andre’s expression, returning to his typical steely mask, and it was more of a relief to Daisy than she would have expected. “They are rather a bother, aren’t they?”

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  “It makes it much more difficult to go about our business without having to worry about drawing their attention. And regardless of how we handle Cyan, they will remain a menace even afterward.”

  Daisy tilted her head. He wasn’t wrong, irritating as it was to recognize. They had been pulling the attention of this Ming Wei and her mage-hunters ever since Daisy carelessly dropped one of her trinkets at Walter’s, and if it continued to cause them trouble…

  “We should draw them to us.”

  “What?”

  Daisy was still piecing the idea together as she blurted it out, and she kept going as the concept solidified in her brain, remembering the conversation with Vicks on the way home. “They’re already hunting us, and so long as they’ve got their eyes turned our way, we’ll never be sure we can get Cyan to the other faerie ring without risking its destruction. We need to be rid of them before we try to take him home. And Angel and Rudolph said Wei was an independent contractor, so these hunters won’t have a bigger organization behind them to offer protection or seek revenge if someone went after them. So, let’s jump them!”

  “You want to lay an ambush?” His tone was flat, and she couldn’t tell if he was impressed or thought she was out of her mind.

  “Whatever it takes to keep them from hounding us. And then they’ll be out of our hair for good.” Cyan, who had been standing patiently beside Daisy this whole time, finally began shifting his weight and ruffling the feathers fringing his jaw. She couldn’t tell if he was reacting to her aggressive energy or merely tired of waiting to be taken home. Andre noticed the faerie’s discomfort and nodded to him.

  “It may take some time to plan. Will Cyan be safe until then?”

  “I don’t know. I worry that he and Lavender – the faerie who resides at the other ring – will be in danger for as long as the mage-hunters keep trailing us. How soon do you think we could lay a trap like this?”

  “I will have to speak to Angel, certainly… and Grey. That cannot be accomplished until tomorrow, in all likelihood. From there, it will depend on what we can devise and what resources we will need, but…” He shrugged. “As soon as the day following, I suppose.”

  Daisy glanced to Cyan. Being in the human world did not appear to drain him in any malign way, as he appeared alert and calm. She expected she would soon run out of bread and jam if she kept him around too much longer, but no worse than that. “I think he’ll be fine for at least that long.” When her gaze drifted back to her boss, his dark eyes were already locked on her. “What is it?”

  “I’m not surprised that you’re taking the initiative with this matter, but what you’re proposing could mean the deaths of these mage-hunters. That could be anywhere between a few to over a dozen people.”

  Daisy shrugged, but her effort at playing nonchalant couldn’t hide the gentle, nervous quiver in her voice. “It’s self-defense. I wasn’t hurting anyone before with my magic – why should I put up with being harassed and hunted?”

  “I don’t disagree, it’s just…” Andre pushed his glasses up his nose in the brief moment of silence. “I truly only needed a typist. I know I said part of the reason I hired you was my suspicion that you were a magician like myself, but I never intended for you to get directly involved in the ‘organized crime’ aspect of our criminal organization. Not so soon, at least.”

  Daisy cocked her head. “Then I suppose you shouldn’t have hired me.”

  Andre cracked a smile, and despite a voice in the back of her mind shouting at her to remain furious at this man for everything he had mucked up in her life and all the disrespect he had heaped upon her, she grinned back.

  Chapter 14

  After putting out a call to Angel to update her on Daisy’s plan, Andre ended up staying the night, curling up next to Cyan on Daisy’s bed – which she refused to touch until those promised new sheets were presented to her. Daisy made herself comfortable on the floor. The next morning, they swaddled Cyan in Daisy’s largest clothes – her second pair of breeches, a baggy cream cardigan, and a wide-brimmed brunch hat. From a distance, one might not notice the blue skin. Daisy quietly hoped for a heavy and hazy ashfall that day, all the same.

  They arrived at Pinstripes through the street-side entrance around midmorning. Daisy hadn’t expected anyone else to be there yet, but Andre knocked at the door and waited for Jonas to permit them inside.

  “Thank goodness,” Jonas said through the eye-slot before opening the heavy portal. “Thought you’d never get here.” He winced as Cyan stepped into the speakeasy after Andre and Daisy. “This, uh, your friend?”

  The emphasis on the final word told Daisy that Vinnie had already mentioned something to Jonas about their outing the day before. She didn’t respond, though, because Andre cut in. “You were waiting for us?”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah!” Jonas pointed inside, where what appeared to be the entire damn company huddled around a single table – most standing and speaking softly but anxiously to one another, and only Regina and Amelia sitting, the latter patting the former on the knee. “Something went down with Gina. I haven’t got the whole story yet, but…” He shook his head.

  Andre huffed before rushing over to the scene, the butt of his cane smacking the hardwood floor with each hurried step. “Gracious.” Daisy followed, and Cyan, gripping the back of her dress, scuttled after her.

  Angel looked up as they approached and intercepted them. “Andre, Daisy, are you both all right?” Her eyes flickered toward Cyan but she otherwise didn’t acknowledge his presence.

  “What happened with Miss Sadowski?”

  Daisy jammed an elbow into Andre’s ribs. “We’re fine, Angel. What’s going on?”

  Angel’s usually rosy cheeks were drained, and her eyes were nearly shadowed under her brow in the dim light of the speakeasy. “Regina was picked up by bounty hunters. They dragged her out to some shack, interrogated her, then brought her back.”

  “Is she hurt?” Andre asked.

  “Not as bad as one might expect, but she was bludgeoned in the face a bit. Jonas already saw to her wounds.” She took a step nearer to Andre. “They were questioning her about you, and all of us who were at Walter’s and the Gin Foun
tain that night. It was the same people.”

  “Wei and her ilk?”

  “A happy coincidence,” Daisy muttered, and Angel flashed a glare at her for the poor phrasing. Before Daisy could apologize or explain, there was a wail from the table, and Regina stood and pushed her way past Rudolph to rush up to Daisy, grabbing her by the forearms.

  “Daisy, Daisy! I’m so sorry! I didn’t want to tell, but I was afraid!” Regina wasn’t crying, but her eyes – normally addled into a vapid and vacant state by mana – were alight with panic.

  “Tell what?”

  Andre grabbed Regina by the shoulder and gently shoved her off of Daisy. Behind them, Cyan pawed nervously at Daisy’s dress, even whimpering once. He might have been friendly with Daisy and even charmed by Andre, but it seemed too many humans in one place railed at his nerves. Considering what had happened the last time he had been surrounded by a gang of humans, Daisy didn’t blame him.

  Once Regina was detached from Daisy, Andre glowered at her. “Miss Sadowski, what did you do?”

  “Andre!” Angel wrapped an arm around Regina, pulling her close against her side, but it did nothing to tame the frantic expression on Regina’s face.

  “They asked for your name – just a name, and just yours. That’s all I told them, and they let me go. But they knew about the rest of us – most of the rest of us. They threatened to do something. I tried to pretend that I didn’t know who they were talking about, but after what happened at the Gin Fountain, I was so worried what they’d do to Pinstripes if–”

  “Hush, dear,” Angel said, petting Regina’s hair. “It’s all right. You did what you had to, and you came right here to tell Grey, just like you should have. It’s all right.”

  Andre shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Angel, we need to speak to Grey. Now.”

  Angel glanced between him and Regina, clearly torn on her duties as a Stripes’ employee and Regina’s friend. She released the younger woman – not that Regina appeared to notice, her eyes locked on Daisy and searching for forgiveness or reassurance – and went with Andre as he headed toward the door to Grey’s office on the far side of the open room. Daisy was left standing stiffly between panicked Regina and nervous Cyan.

  Frisk sauntered over in time to relieve her, taking Angel’s place on Regina’s other side as moral support. “If these bounty hunters are hounding you, Dell,” she said, wrapping an arm around Regina and leaning against her, “we should fuck ’em up.”

  “It would appear that they are, and I intend to do just that.” Frisk tilted her head, trying to peer around Daisy to get a glimpse of the faerie hunkered behind her. “Oh. This is Cyan. He’s become entangled in all this thanks to mine and Andre’s combined boneheadedness. These hunters have been harassing him, too.”

  Frisk titled her head to the faerie. “Hey, bud.” Daisy felt the cloth from her dress drag against her skin as Cyan tightened his grip.

  Rudolph crowded in closer to Daisy, and the others – Amelia, Vinnie, and Vicks – inched in behind him. Even Jonas moved from his place by the door to hover nearby. “This all has to do with Ming Wei, doesn’t it?”

  Frisk whirled on Rudolph. “Yeah, you ass. If you and Angel hadn’t gone and fucked up one of her goons, they might not have returned the favor to poor Gina here.”

  “I’m fine. I’m fine.” Regina sounded more her usual dreamy self, but her eyes were still wide as the moon, and she quaked a bit where she stood.

  “This person is hunting Daisy, then?” Jonas asked. “For sure? Why?”

  Daisy scowled. She was tired, annoyed at Andre and Cyan, and furious about what she had seen with Lavender and now what had happened to Regina. There was a growl to her voice that she couldn’t hold back, nor did she want to. “I don’t know, but I’m damn sick of it.”

  “Let’s fuck ’em up!” Vicks said, punching the air as she echoed her twin.

  “Is that what Swarz and Miss Agatha are meeting with Grey about?” Vinnie asked, his arms crossed over his broad chest and his expression flat and watchful. At his question, Daisy realized for the first time that she didn’t know if Grey was a first name or last name, though all of the warehouse workers used it exclusively. She shook off the fleeting observation.

  “Yes, so let’s…” She glanced toward Regina and reached out to pat her on the shoulder. “Angel is right. You didn’t do anything wrong, and it doesn’t matter now. Let’s just all settle in and have a drink while we wait to get orders from the bosses.” She had meant tea, but Vinnie went straight to the liquor shelves behind the bar with Vicks trailing hopefully after him. Everyone else shuffled over to the nearest table, but when Daisy tried to follow, Cyan’s grip held her in place.

  She turned to him to find his dark eyes shifting and rolling like a wild horse’s. Maybe it was all the people, or maybe prolonged exposure to the human realm did affect him after a while. Pulling the brim of the hat down over his eyes, she whispered, “We’ll get you home, soon. And no one will be left to bother you or Lavender.”

  His hold on her dress eased, just a bit. Her tone seemed to be enough to soothe him, even if what she uttered was a death threat.

  Andre sat with the rest of the gang in the speakeasy while Angel stood on the stage and explained their plan. Grey, as usual, elected not to the leave the office. Although their leader, she preferred to keep an arm’s distance from her employees – aside from Andre and Angel – when possible, and she didn’t care to be seen on-site except in her office. The industry was too risky, and she came from a family of wealthy land barons with too much to lose. If she were any old face in the crowd, she might get away with being seen in Pinstripes, but she was too recognizable, given her short stature and the telltale streaks of dark silver in her hair. And while Andre trusted Daisy to exercise discretion, Grey did not, or not yet. She would not even risk stepping out to face her employees so long as a relatively untested newcomer was there, and given the chaos that had arisen shortly after Daisy’s onboarding to the company, Andre didn’t blame Grey for her precaution.

  So, Andre and Angel brought the plan out to everyone else.

  “We’re to set an ambush for Ming Wei and any of her comrades. The location we’ve decided upon is the Gin Fountain – they’re still closed while they recover from the riot, so bystanders are not going to be put in undue danger. Plus, the fact that they discovered us there before may help lure them back.

  “Regina told us they found a magic charm dropped by Daisy the night of that attack. Daisy, if we can set it up to make it appear as though you’re returning to find some other lost trinket, we think there’s a high probability that Wei will follow or send someone after you.”

  Daisy nodded. Between her and Andre sat Cyan, who nervously pawed at Andre’s knee throughout the entirety of Angel’s speech. He tried to ignore it. Cyan was uncomfortable there, and he would be happier once Wei’s people were dealt with and he could be delivered safely to the second faerie ring, and that was not something of which Andre wanted to be reminded.

  “Now, these toughs picked up Regina at Market Deli, so we can guess that they’ve been scouting this neighborhood and will keep an eye on that eatery in particular. If we can drop hints there to indicate that Daisy will return to the Gin Fountain, hopefully that will be enough to lure them to her. The rest of us, of course, will wait in ambush before she draws them there.”

  “And Cyan?” Daisy asked, though she turned to Andre with the question.

  “He will stay by my side. Our goal is to keep him out of sight if we can. That way, if our ambush fails, Wei and her kind might take his absence to mean that we already successfully delivered him home, if they are even aware of his continued presence in this realm. If he is spotted, I only hope that he is willing to defend you as he did with me.” Cyan mewled and turned to Daisy to reach up and touch her cheek with two fingertips, as though he understood what was being said.

  “Daisy can’t wander about alone, though, not even with us all watching from the shadows,”
Jonas said. “It’s too dangerous.”

  Angel nodded. She, Andre, and Grey had already laid out quite the battle plan already. “I agree, and we have a few precautions in mind.” With that, Andre settled in to listen to her lay out the entire choreography to their scheme, while Cyan continued to clutch at his leg. Andre wanted to place a hand over the faerie’s to comfort him, but he did not.

  Their curious and bizarre companionship was about to come to its end, and Andre should never had pursued it to begin with. He could not now risk becoming more attached to the lovely creature. It had already cost them both – as well as Daisy – enough as it was.

  Chapter 15

  “Cute dress. Don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

  In Frisk’s car, Daisy was in her bright yellow, waistless gown, the one she had worn the night she went out celebrating her new job alone. If she had known what that job would lead to, she might not have bothered. She absently twisted the onyx ring on her finger, remembering all the times her mom had warned her that being grown-up meant doing tiresome and dull work. She had never quite believed those warnings, but neither did she think they would have been that off.

  Frisk didn’t press for a response when Daisy didn’t reply. She had also been kind enough not to mention anything about the dents in the car that she drove. Daisy hadn’t seen much of Frisk at her full-speed since that night, in fact, and she was surprised that Frisk didn’t say a thing about it. Not the car, not being dragged onto Daisy’s bed, and not the gunshot wound, even after Vicks had taken Daisy to task over that. Now, they were returning to the scene of the disaster, and Frisk didn’t flinch once.

  “I don’t get why we have to be dressed up, though.” Frisk was in a cream-colored dress, and if it weren’t for the bright blue beading that decorated the collar and hem, she would look naked from a distance.

  “To draw attention.”