My shoulders slumped and I blew out a breath. “Roughly a hundred years.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Jason mumbled, earning a glare from both Foster and Waylon. His jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth, looking away from me. Could he even look at me anymore?
“And what?” Foster asked. “Going to Faerie made you one of them? You haven’t aged.”
My hand automatically went to my necklace and Foster followed the movement. He went to reach for it, but I leaned away from him.
“Yes, I became one of them.”
“Is that why you didn’t age coming back over here?” Waylon asked.
I blinked at him. He was still not giving anything away, and I hated not knowing what he was thinking. There had been a time all I had to do was glance at him and I’d know what he was thinking or feeling. I’d know if he had a shit day or if something good had happened. I got nothing from him now.
“Partly because of that.” I squeezed my necklace. “Partly because of a spell. If I don’t return by the allotted time, I get to learn what I looked like as an old woman.”
“Allotted time?” Foster’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why are you here?”
I grimaced. “I’m hunting someone. Others haven’t been able to bring him back to Faerie and he’s doing something really bad. I need to stop him.”
“You?” Waylon asked. “Why?”
I blanked out my expression, refusing to give anything away. “I’d rather not say.”
Jason snorted at my response, earning another glare from Foster.
“So when you have him, you go back?” Foster asked. He looked at my necklace. “And you have a time limit until you have to go back?”
“I have to. Faerie won’t let me stay.” I moved my hand so they could get a better look at the chain. Frankly, it was more like a collar. “If I’m not back when the time limit is up, I die.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?” Foster asked. “We just got you. You just came back. You can’t disappear again.”
“I’m sorry.” If I had said that to any fae, I would have owed them a debt. I felt the magic try to shift, to create a debt between us, but it fell flat, unable to connect with the humans. That also meant they didn’t understand the importance of what I’d just done. If they had enough magic in them to accept the debt, this would have been a completely different conversation.
Jason snorted. “Because saying sorry is enough.”
“It isn’t. Trust me, I know.”
“Do you?” Jason sneered. “You left. You were gone and we had no fucking idea what happened to you. Your sister refused to say shit.”
“Addie? How is she?”
“You don’t know? You’re back and you didn’t bother trying to reach out to them?” The disgust was clear in Jason’s tone. “Oh. I see. You thought you could slip in, do your little job, and then slip back out. Did we even cross your mind or is the idea of living a fucking fantasy so amazing that you never gave us a second thought?”
“It isn’t that easy.”
“It is!”
“Enough,” Foster stepped in. “Now isn’t the time.”
“Apparently, now is the only time we have.”
“You aren’t being fair.”
Jason jerked back, away from us. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared hard. “Fair can kiss my ass.”
The silence was deafening after that. No one could break the tension, and I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t be a lie. I couldn’t say I was fine, that it was all fine, because that was a fucking lie. I refused to tell them what had fully happened because I knew them—they’d hate themselves for not being able to help me.
Foster finally got things moving, saying, “I’m going to help you.”
I blinked in surprise. “You are?”
“If it means more time with you, then yes.”
“It’s dangerous.”
His smile was dangerous as a dark glint entered his eyes. Foster knew cruelty. He was familiar with it and had no qualms about embracing it. What had he gone through since I disappeared? “Good.”
“Fuck this shit. I’m not sticking around to watch you try to get yourself killed again.” Jason grabbed his coat and slammed the door when he went out.
I stared after the door, the pain deep enough to crack my soul. My soul was held together with duct tape at the moment, but seeing the three of them and knowing there was no happy ending was unraveling all that tape.
I glanced at Waylon. He hadn’t said much and sat there like stone. He met my gaze. “If Foster stays, I stay.”
That felt more like a slap in the face. He wasn’t there for me but for Foster.
“Fair enough,” I replied.
“So, what’s going on?” Foster asked. “Fill me in.”
And so I did. I told him as much as I could without betraying Faerie and all its secrets.
My heart ached the entire time and I wondered how I was going to survive working with the people I loved the most and knew I couldn’t have.
Chapter Ten
Filling in Foster and Waylon didn’t take long. There wasn’t much I could tell them. I told them about what had happened in the human world, what Laikynn planned on doing, but kept the details bare. While we talked, my new phone arrived.
Foster listened intently, while also setting my phone up for me. His mind was beautiful, tactful. He redid my crudely marked up map so that it looked better and was more informative. Instead of dots, he used numbers so we could see where all the weak spots formed in chronological order.
“I own an investigation firm,” he said, frowning down at the map. “I have some people I can reach out to for help.”
“I have a fae contact who has connections too,” I said.
“Good. The more people the better. Searching for him won’t be easy. We need to do something else. Flush him out.”
“Like playing bait?” I asked.
“Something like that. For now, I can search for anyone who has made waves in the last two years. Search through the different industries to see what’s going on.”
“That’ll be a lot of help,” I said. I tapped at one of the spots. “For now, I’m going to check out these locations, see if there is anything on scene that connects them all.”
“Let me come with you.”
I shook my head. “No.”
Foster scowled. “Why not?”
“Because if what happened at the tear could happen at these other locations, you’ll get yourself killed.”
His scowl deepened. “I am more than capable of protecting myself, Joslyn.”
“Not against fae.”
“She’s right,” Waylon spoke up. “If you go, you’ll put yourself at risk. If the fae are smart enough, they’ll know to use you against her.”
That shut Foster up. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Fine. But before and after each location, you need to let me know where you are and that you’re okay.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Please. Josie. Just, please.”
I grimaced. The air shifted and because I was fae, it settled against my skin. My fae side felt the need to cash in the little debt that Foster created. I had to dismiss the debt, and it was rather painful to do so, like I was moving against the flow, trying to force it the other way. Eventually, it worked, and the debt between us vanished.
“Don’t do that,” I warned. “I am fae. Remember that.”
Foster’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“The fae love cashing in debts. You create one, and I can’t help the need to cash it in. This is a small one, but you need to be more careful of what you ask of me.”
“Are you serious?” Waylon asked, an edge to his voice.
I winced. That sounded very much like a point against me. Like a tally on a pro-con list. That had been my impression with Waylon, that he wasn’t fully with or against me. He was watching, waiting to make his own decision once he had enough information.
>
“What does that mean?” Waylon pushed, sitting straighter now, his gaze a sharp razor as it sliced at me.
“It means never show gratitude to a fae. Never ask for a favor. Depending on what it’s for, it can cause an imbalance, and fae love nothing more than to use those debts, usually in a way that is never good.”
“What will you do to him?” Waylon was poised to jump to his feet and take me out. Berry had been resting, but as soon as Waylon’s anger rose, he was on his feet, ready to defend.
“I won’t do anything. But if he—any of you—are going to remain helping me, then you’ll most likely talk with other fae. Don’t ever say thank you to them. Don’t ever ask a favor. If you must, then you better be real fucking clear about the terms of the agreement. If there is a loophole, the fae will exploit it and you’ll find yourself in a lot of danger, forced to do something you’d never do in a million years.” Bitter anger slipped out as I explained it. I had to deal with a shitty learning curve that had nearly killed me too many times. And it had all started with my sister. “Fae are liars without actually being liars. They love their word games. Don’t put yourself in a position to have to play against them. You’ll lose.”
“Okay. Enough,” Foster said. “I have the utmost belief that Waylon will outwit anyone when it comes to games like that, but we won’t put it to the test.” His gaze cut to Waylon. “Right?”
Waylon didn’t respond, and I had to hide my fear. I didn’t want him looking at me like I was a monster. It wasn’t like that yet, but he was at a ledge, ready to fall either way. He could despise me, hate me, fear me, be disgusted with me. All I had to do was give him the right nudge to fall the wrong way.
Foster sighed. “It doesn’t matter. I trust Josie not to do anything that would put me in any kind of danger.”
“How can you do that?” Waylon asked.
“Other than the fact that it’s Josie we’re talking about?” Foster snapped at his friend. “Or how she had said sorry to us. Isn’t that some kind of debt, an acknowledgment that she owed us something. Knowing what she was doing, she said sorry.”
Waylon’s disbelief was clear on his face. “I doubt that means shit since we’re humans. How the fuck can we use a debt against her? We can’t trust her. She’s been one of them for a long time. Longer than we have been alive. She’s not who we remember her to be.”
“Waylon!” Foster shot to his feet, towering over his friend. “I suggest you take a walk right now. Go get us dinner.”
“No.”
“Yes. Go now.”
My eyes widened. Foster looked ready to deck Waylon. I wanted to do something to defuse the anger that was coming from both of them.
“Take a walk and think real hard about what you just said to Josie. To our Josie. Don’t come back if you can’t pull your head out of your ass.”
Waylon got to his feet in a deceptively calm manner. “She isn’t our Josie anymore. I don’t know what she is, but she isn’t who she used to be. You have been holding out for her for too long, and it has clouded your judgement.” He grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on, still glaring at Foster. “I won’t let her brief reappearance ruin a life I fought hard for.”
A new understanding crossed between the two of them. It was enough for Foster to relax.
“I get it, man. I get it. I’m hungry. Will you go find us dinner? The walk will do you some good. You need the time.”
“Fine.” Foster left like a quiet storm.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Foster sighed and it took effort to look at me. His expression was miserable enough to break my heart as he said, “Ten years of shit to deal with. That’s all.” Foster’s expression twisted into a sad smile. “I bet it’s nothing like having a hundred years to deal with.”
“Doesn’t make it any less shitty.”
He snorted.
It was so easy to fall back into the old ways with Foster. I thought I’d forget how to act around him, but he made it easy. Out of the three guys, Foster had always been the most steady. He always felt honor-bound to help, which was why he joined the army in the first place. The years spent in the army added a mean streak to him, but he was still the Foster I knew him to be. It happened slowly as we worked, the single-minded focus he got as he helped me come up with a plan.
Once I explained more about Laikynn and his potential goals, Foster was able to come up with working theories on how that was useful.
The best idea he came up with was how to strip Faerie of her magic. If she didn’t have magic, she’d cease to exist. Was it possible to create something, some kind of device that could do this? Or maybe even a spell to trap Faerie? Or if she existed on the same plane where she couldn’t exist, would that destroy her too? Like if she were forced into an anti-magic black hole type of thing, what would happen to her?
They were all good thoughts.
“Okay, enough,” Foster said, startling me enough to jump. I had been staring at the map for what felt like weeks as I tried to find some kind of pattern to the locations. Wasn’t that important? To find patterns in hopes of being able to narrow down where he’d go next?
“Enough?”
“Yes. Break time. Give your mind a rest. Your subconscious will keep working, but you need to slow down to give it a chance to do its thing.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Ten years.” Foster’s grin set off warning bells. “You have ten years to catch up on. Think: movies, music, games, technology.” He rubbed his hands together, excitement practically bubbling out of him.
“I’m not much into those things anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Faerie didn’t have them. We had to keep ourselves entertained in different ways.”
Foster’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets with how much they bulged in disbelief. “No technology?”
“Faerie wouldn’t allow it and if anyone brought something over, the magic kept it from working. Tech and magic doesn’t mix too well.”
Foster frowned.
“It’s probably one of the reasons why magic is so weak in this realm,” I kept explaining. “It’s still there, but you have to dig deep for it, and to do that you need to already have an affinity for it.”
“If the walls fall, all that magic is going to flood through ours.”
I nodded.
“What does that mean for everyone here?”
“I don’t know. I can guess though. Remember those two fae who attacked me?” At his nod, I kept talking. “Well, they got a taste of faerie magic. A lot of the fae here aren’t used to it. It’s... potent. One drop of it can practically charge the entire city with how strong it is. The fae got a taste of it. They got addicted. They were ready to claim that whole area and kill any others who encroached on their property.”
“Fae with an addiction.” Foster snorted. “That sounds dangerous.”
“The tears, maybe even the weak spots, will call to them. They’ll want more and they’ll be willing to kill for it.”
As understanding finally caught up with him, Foster’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Chaos.”
“War. They’ll fight each other. Humans will get stuck in the middle without understanding why or how. It’ll get messy.”
“And New York City is compact, full of humans.”
“Surrounding fae may become attracted to the city and migrate here. And out there, where not many humans are, those fae will not be as kind as those who hide in the city.”
“So it’s not just finding Laikynn and stopping him that we have to worry about.”
“We also have to worry about the effects these spots will have. That’s why I want to check them.”
Heaviness fell around us as we got lost to our thoughts.
Foster suddenly jumped to his feet. “Then we start easy. Tonight, we watch movies. I’ll get you caught up on all the good ones you missed over the years.”
He was so excited that I didn’t have the heart t
o stop him. He dug around the hotel, finding everything he needed. Grabbing me, he brought me into the sitting room. A TV came out of the wall with a push of the button, and he plopped me down on the couch that had been moved to sit in front of it.
While I tried to get comfortable, Foster disappeared long enough to grab blankets and pillows. Then he disappeared again for a few minutes. The air filled with a familiar buttery scent that had my mouth watering.
Was that what I thought it was?
Foster came back with a massive bowl overfilled with popcorn.
“That’s popcorn, isn’t it? Please tell me that’s popcorn and this isn’t some kind of weird joke.” I blinked back tears. It was ridiculous to get so torn up about popcorn, but it was popcorn.
Popcorn!
Even Berry was curious as he came over, sniffing at the bowl.
Foster’s grin was wide as he sat next to me. “Yes, it’s popcorn. I promise.”
That did it. The waterworks came, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I cried.
“Whoa, hey, hey.” There was a soft clink as he put the bowl on the glass coffee table, and then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against his chest. His hands moved up and down my back, soothing me. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
I shook my head.
“Josie.” My name was a plea as he tried to get me to talk.
“I... It just surprised me. I haven’t had popcorn in a hundred years. I haven’t had so many things in a hundred years.”
“Tell me about it. At least some of it.”
I mulled over what I thought would be safe for him to know. I didn’t want to give any fae an excuse to think he was a threat to them. Frankly, this whole situation was dangerous because if the right fae realized he knew too much about them, they’d either decide to kill him to keep him quiet or take him like they took me.
“TV for example. We don’t have it. Instead, we get to live some of the drama. The sword fights, the dances, the politics. We live it. I don’t get to sit in front of a screen to watch blood spill. I get front row seats in Faerie as the fae compete with each other. They still have that gladiator colosseum aspect to it. It’s one of their favorite sports. Or the dances. Dances and parties that go on for days, never ending. Fae trying to impress me, to be able to claim me as theirs.”
Faerie Kissed Page 7
