by D. R. Perry
But just because it was happening in my head didn’t make it unreal. We were in both our heads at the same time after all. And neither of us had any idea when we’d get a solid-state chance. What we were doing in the shared mind space was more intimate than kissing, or anything either of us had done with other people. Uncharted territory.
And that’s why I didn’t think to question the dimming of the sky, the fading of the colors, and the floral scent vanishing. I expected the world to go away, just not for the reason it did.
Kimiko
Letting Blaine into the sanctuary I’d made when my mom died had been a leap of faith to meet his heroic one. He had taken off, defying his mother and the police because he knew my father was almost out of time. If we hadn’t already been betrothed, I would have asked Dad to consider him as a marriage prospect. I didn’t care that he’d have a record for evading arrest. Neither would the rest of my family, all things considered.
I thought he’d faded away to concentrate on landing. Then I realized he couldn’t be. We weren’t anywhere near land, and I’d have sensed that in his thoughts and feelings. The meeting of our minds didn’t reveal everything about him, but I’d sensed the part of him focused on flying us to India Point Park. When he faded, nothing indicated a change in course.
At first, I thought he was dropping me, but Blaine’s talon had actually gotten smaller. We were close to a thousand feet above Newport Bay, the lights on the Pell Bridge gleaming below against waters too calm for March. His wings merged back into his body, and we fell. His eyes stayed shut. The telepathic link had faded with his consciousness. The miasma of bad Luck around him was almost as thick as what had surrounded that Pharaoh’s Rat in the cage just before it died.
I could twist into a dive, but Blaine couldn’t. I had just seconds to act before he hit the water with his neck and broke it. Instead of adjusting my fall, I stuck my hand in my bag and rubbed. Ismail appeared, tethered to the lamp inside my handbag. No matter what happened, he’d be okay, could get back into his lamp before impact. He looked from me to Blaine, then back.
“What do you wish?” Ismail’s magic made his voice audible even through the rush of free fall. He sounded more dejected than he should have, considering this would be my third and final wish.
“Send us to my Dad immediately.”
“No.” But Djinn weren’t supposed to say that. They were supposed to grant any wish. The Seelie ones did it literally, which is where stories like The Monkey’s Paw came from.
“Why?” I had to know, especially since time was running out to make another wish.
“You’ll die and take everyone at his house with you.” Ismail sighed. I couldn’t believe a Djinn could be this helpful without consequences. Him giving me this information was bound to get him in deep trouble. “I can only Vanish you there, but that won’t change your movement speed. I’m limited in what I can do, remember?”
“Fine.” I made a choice, hoping it was the right one. “I wish our impact and time in the water will leave us both unharmed.”
“Done.”
The syllable ended, and the thick Luck energy around Blaine brightened until I thought the three of us must look like a falling star. It expanded, encompassing Blaine, Ismail, and me in a bubble. The rushing air stopped whipping my hair into snarls, and it felt like we were floating instead of falling. I reached out to Blaine, holding him close. We hit the water near the Tiverton side at the north of the bridge, where my brother had almost died in a car accident a few years earlier. Actually, we didn’t hit the water. It was more like flopping on a memory-foam mattress after a long day.
The bubble dissipated slowly, taking on water like a leaky canoe. We were still in the water though Ismail was gone. He’d be back in his lamp, of course. I reached into my bag, intending to hand it to Blaine so he could use the wishes to get us to Dad. But the lamp was gone, and he was still unconscious. I clung to him, trying to figure out why he wouldn’t wake up, even with cold seawater seeping in around us. And then I noticed my wrist.
My tithing bracelet was gone, but Blaine still had his. Only a high-ranking member of the Sidhe Queen’s or Goblin King’s Court could have removed it. Only one type of Faerie had the power to do something like that from a distance—another Djinn. So, the Extramagus had been out-wishing us, as I suspected. And here I was, stuck with the consequences of having used my last wish to land us in the drink. Why hadn’t I wished us into a boat? Of course. My thinking was better done with coding and logic puzzles than on my feet, or in the air, as it turned out. And now, we’d be stuck with the Titanic ending instead of the Pretty Woman one. I got on my back, holding Blaine’s head above water as best as I could, otter-style. Ren might have been proud.
“Come with me if you want to live!” And there was a woman in an actual canoe that wasn’t leaky at all holding out an oar.
“Can’t, he’s TKO!” I hollered back to the woman, who pulled the paddle back into the boat with her. Then she reached down and grabbed Blaine’s arms. She hauled him up over the side, biceps and shoulder muscles bulging. That girl had some big guns!
I had to blink when she grabbed me. I thought I saw a shaggy red mane of hair, pointy ears, pallid skin, and clawed nails at the ends of her fingers. A crane couldn’t have pulled me from the bay any more effortlessly. She tossed blankets at me. By the time I finished wrapping Blaine up in one of them, I figured it out. Her glamour had slipped. Our rescuer was a Faerie. The boat was heading back to the bridge, not to pass south, but under and perpendicular. We docked in the lee of the bridge on the Tiverton side.
“So you’re a Troll.”
“And you’ve got a brain on you. Good.” She tied a rope to a cleat on the dock. “You look familiar.”
“A few years back, my brother went missing after a car accident here.”
“Oh, yeah, I read about the guy who came back from the dead as a Selkie. So you’re his Tanuki sister, then.”
“And you saved our lives.” I smiled. “Thank you.”
“Maybe. Don’t thank me yet.” She had her fingers pressed to Blaine’s throat. “His pulse is weak. We have to get him inside.” She hoisted him over her shoulder, then got out onto the dock. “Come on.”
I followed the Troll until she got to a blank stone wall. She knocked on it, and a hidden door opened, the light a warm red and smoky. Inside was a cave, the ceiling high near the entrance but sloping almost too low for me at the back. A few cots, camp chairs, crates, and an old wood stove furnished the place. The walls were painted in intricate vine designs. A pile of blankets moved on the cot in one corner, and a guy who resembled our rescuer got up, leaving another, smaller bundle behind. He was the same height as her, but stockier and much older.
“Grandpa, this guy has something wrong with him, and it’s only getting worse.”
“Tithing bracelet. Shouldn’t touch it. This is the Harcourt whelp. His mother won’t be happy to hear he’s with an Unseelie courtier like me. She’s a friend of the Queen.”
“But she’ll be unhappier if he’s in a coma.” I stepped closer to the big fellow. “If you don’t take it off, what’ll happen?”
“Depends.” Grandpa grunted. “These old Tithing Bracelets knock the wearers out if they get too far from each other. But there’s a terminal range. Looks like your friend here ran too far.” He turned his back, heading for the cot again.
“But he didn’t.” I circled, trying to get in front of him again. “The other bracelet was on me, and then it wasn’t.”
“Huh.” He squinted at me, then at Blaine. “Gemma, get my spectacles.”
Instead of a pair of glasses, she brought him a contraption that looked more like the lens testers at an Optometrist’s office. He strapped it on his head and lowered one huge lens over his right eye and a tiny one over his left. Then, he peered at us again.
“You’re telling me the truth. But what in the name of the King did you do to anger a Seelie Djinn?”
“Saved a life.” I gazed d
own at Blaine. “And he saved a soul.” I reached out and brushed a wet lock of hair off his cheek. A faint golden glow swirled over my hand. Luck. And it was turning in the right direction, finally. But Blaine had none around him at all. “And your question’s a test because Djinn can’t do anything like wishing a Tithing Bracelet off one person and on to another unless they’re doing time in a lamp.”
“See, Grandpa?” Gemma held Blaine’s arm up. “I fished up a couple of heroes. Now, why don’t you help them already?”
“Heroes?” Grandpa chuckled. “Hardly. Well, I always wanted to have a favor owed from Hertha Harcourt.” But when he tried to unclasp the Tithing Bracelet, it wouldn’t budge. “Now that’s curious. Most curious indeed.” He flipped down a few more lenses on his spectacle contraption. “It seems I’m not high-ranked enough to take this bracelet off.”
“What?” I trembled, a sinking sensation starting in my gut that was even worse than the free-fall earlier.
“I’m an Admiral, equal to a Marquess, and it’s still not good enough. You’ll need someone else.”
“But he’s dying.”
“I know.” Grandpa shuffled across to the corner opposite from where he’d been sleeping. “Here.” He threw a sack at Gemma. “Have it Vanish them to the Duke’s house immediately.”
I peered at the sack as it squirmed. What did he have in there, a kitten? But when Gemma opened it, a little creature with a pointy hat stuck its head out. A Gnome. She brought it over, muttering something in what sounded like a Middle Eastern tongue. It took one look at Blaine and then haggled with her. She rolled her eyes.
“It won’t Vanish them unless we free it from all further obligation, Grandpa.”
“Fine, whatever. Make the deal.” Grandpa waved his hand. “It’s worth losing a Gnome’s favor in order to get one from the Harcourts.”
I assume Gemma’s next words were an agreement to the Gnome’s terms. An instant later, I felt the weird sensation of disintegration as I vanished from the Tiverton Troll cave. When I properly had eyes again, I found myself on a meticulously crafted porch. Blaine was in front of me, laying on the planks. I sat, drawing his head into my lap in hopes that he’d be more comfortable. The mailbox had the name Redford engraved on it. Gemma stood at the front door to the most well-constructed house I’d ever laid eyes on. She rang the bell.
“Uh, hi?” The guy who answered the door looked familiar from when I’d cased the PPC campus. He wore a red Paw Sox cap and a t-shirt with the Coca-Cola logo on it.
“Fred, get your dad. This is some serious Unseelie business.”
“Great Goblin’s Garters, is that Blaine Harcourt?”
“Yes.” I’d heard of Fred Redford being a stand-up guy, also friends with Josh Dennison. “He needs this Tithing Bracelet off ten minutes ago.”
Fred didn’t say a word, just took off running into the house. He was back in moments with his dad. Neil Redford looked like a regular guy until he hunkered down next to Blaine. After that, he let his glamour down. Tithed Faerie courtiers could control that kind of thing in a way their Changeling offspring couldn’t. I glanced at Fred. His glamour slipped, revealing the same grayish skin, pointy teeth, and red eyes as his father’s. Gemma’s held for the most part, although her hair got wilder looking for a second or two.
“What happened?” Blaine rubbed his hands over his face. While I’d been distracted by the glamour, Duke Neil Redford had taken the life-threatening jewelry off.
“Not much.” I reached for Blaine but hesitated. He met me halfway, taking my hand in both of his. “Fell out of the sky, got rescued by Gemma the Troll from Tiverton, a Gnome Vanished us to Providence, and then Duke Redford here got rid of your Tithing Bracelet.
“How in Tiamat’s name did we survive all that?” His eyes went wide. “You didn’t burn the Luck charm—”
“No.” I sighed. “That’s a long story for another time. I have to get to Dad’s.”
“Okay, I’ll drive you over.” Fred jingled some keys in his pocket.
“I’ll call Lyft for Gemma.” Mr. Redford pulled a phone from his pocket. “Tell your grandfather our debt is settled now.”
Fred and I helped Blaine into an extended-cab pickup truck. I held my betrothed’s hand the whole way home.
Chapter Sixteen
Blaine
Fred’s truck rattled over pavement sorely in need of repair. At least that was what it felt like for my poor head. Kimiko and Fred both seemed immune to all the jostling. My wrist tingled, fingers numb but coming back to life. How had the tithing bracelet become a danger when Kimiko and I were touching? It made about as much sense as anything else over the last twenty-four hours, which was absolutely none at all. There was one time I’d been close to figuring it all out. The mental merge with Kimiko had given me new inspiration, bigger insight. If only I could get some of that mojo back, but I was too weak to shift even partially.
“Long story or not, can you give me an elevator pitch?” I kept the request to a murmur. “Fred knows what’s in the files I gave you.”
“Yeah, I’d like to know what’s going on, too.” I’d forgotten about Fred’s big, pointy Redcap ears.
“Fine.” Kimiko tapped her fingers against the window. “All the trouble since I got to Newport came from Djinns. I had no idea that using wishes would let an Extramagus counter me with them, too.”
“Of course not. You didn’t even know there was an Extramagus until after the Gitanos shot at us.”
“What!” Fred’s shout went through my head like an ice pick. “Tony would never do something like that.”
“And he didn’t. He warned us, actually.” Kimiko picked up my still numb hand and rubbed it. It was almost like she knew it bothered me. Her touch brought some warmth and sensation back, but it ached. “Anyway, we were flying along perfectly fine when you just passed out. I wished us a safe landing. It was my third wish, too, so the idea was to hand you the lamp. But even if you hadn’t been unconscious, it was gone.”
“So you think the Extramagus wished for your bracelet to move over to someone else?”
“Wow, that means his Djinn is a Duke or better. You can’t just wish a Tithing Bracelet off with a low-ranking one.” Fred turned left on Angell Street. “They get extra powers from whatever else used to be in the lamp, but Djinn still have limits.”
“Yeah. I’ve got the feeling my Djinn was pretty low on the totem pole. He was Unseelie but still bent the rules way more than I expected. Gave me advice and stuff. Well, at least we don’t have to worry about the Extramagus making any more wishes since we already got attacked three times.”
“You know, I’m not sure all three of his wishes got used.”
“No? Why?”
“Because the Gatto shooting and the Pharaoh’s Rat attack might not have come from the Extramagus.” I sighed. “The Gatto Gang hates your dad, remember? Plus, there’s too much bad blood and paranoia between Mother’s generation of dragon shifters. Our investigation only made things more confusing.”
“Not really.” Kimiko brought out her phone, but it wouldn't turn on, let alone open the LORA app again. “I didn’t show Detective Klein the whole picture. But I’m still missing a piece. What did you realize before you got out of my head back on your lawn?”
“Okay, so there had to be something besides the guy who wiped our memories at our betrothal ceremony.”
The truck’s wheels screeched as Fred slammed on the brakes. He swerved, pulling over in front of a hydrant across the street from the Ichiro house. His arm moved jerkily, slamming the transmission into Park. Then, the Redcap unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to stare into the extended cab at us.
“Great Goblin’s Garters!” He shook his head, Paw Sox cap bobbing. “You’re betrothed? You two? That’s insane! No one ever tells me anything.”
“We only just found out ourselves tonight, okay? Chill out, man.” I glanced at Kimiko. She rolled her eyes, of course. I rolled mine back, and she giggled. “You’re perfect. You know t
hat, right?”
Her jaw went slack, and she blinked. The rear door opened, and a chilly gust blew in with Fred’s fake gagging noises.
“Okay, you two. Get out. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
“Um, actually Fred, we do have to go home.” Kimiko jerked her chin at the little white house on the other side of the street. “I kinda sorta live there, you know.” She clutched her handbag tightly to her chest, looked both ways, and crossed the street.
I followed, steadier on my feet than I’d been getting into the truck. Fred pulled away, honking as he left. A light went on inside, and by the time I got to the bottom step, the front door opened.
“Kim?” Ren Ichiro stood in the doorway, eyes on his sister. He glanced at me, then did a double-take. “Harcourt. You’d better not be the reason she’s been missing.”
“Nope, not me. My mother.”
“There’s no time for this.” Kim put her hands on her hips. “I need to see Dad.”
“Fine. Go in and see him, but he’s in a bad way.” Ren stepped aside and she went down the hall, then up the stairs. I went after her, but her brother stopped me. “No. He’s dying, you know. She should say goodbye to him alone. Sit in the kitchen with the others. That’s the door to the right of the stairs.”
Before I could ask what he meant by saying goodbye and others, Ren shut the front door and headed left into a darkened parlor. I didn’t want to mess with an angry Selkie, so I turned right at the bottom of the stairs. Josh Dennison was standing in the middle of the modest kitchen with his hand stretched out toward his sister Beth. She faced what had to be the back door, one hand resting lightly on the doorknob. Josh’s mate, Nox Phillips, sat on a stool at the kitchen counter, one hand pressed over her eyes.
“What did I just walk in on here?” I glanced from Josh to Beth. Neither of them looked at me.
