by E. D. Baker
“I’m sure you’re right,” said Blue, “but like Olot said, it could have been worse. Let’s get to Micah’s house before anything else happens.”
Olot started back toward his cave as Cory and Blue took off on the solar cycle. Cory was thinking about a hot bath and bed when suddenly Blue jerked the cycle hard to the right and they skidded off the road, landing in the underbrush. Cory flew off the cycle and into a shrub headfirst, collecting cuts and scratches on the way.
Her ears rang from the awful screech of the tires on the road, yet Blue’s bellow was so loud that she could still hear him. “Cory, are you all right?” he cried as she struggled to pull herself out of the shrub.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” she said. “I seem to be stuck.”
“I’ll get those blasted fairies!” Blue roared as he began ripping chunks of the shrub out of the way in an effort to reach Cory.
Something crashed down the mountainside, coming directly at them. Blue stopped breaking the shrub. A moment later, Cory heard him telling Olot what had happened. Then they were both working on the shrub and she was out a few seconds later.
“We’re going to have to do something about that hole,” Blue told Olot. “The pedal-bus could come along at any time and a lot of people could get hurt.”
“What hole?” Cory asked.
“The hole someone dug in the middle of the road,” Blue said, pointing. “I turned when I did so we wouldn’t fall in.”
Cory strode to the edge of the road to peer into the hole. In the moonlight, it looked like a dark patch in the middle of the road. Bending down to get a closer look, she rested her hand on the ground. The dirt was crumbly and broke apart under her weight. “It looks freshly dug,” she said. “And it smells like fertilizer.”
“Flower fairies probably did it,” said Blue. “They always put fertilizer in the bottoms of the holes they dig when they’re planting something. It’s the only kind of holes they know how to dig. They must have done it after we went past on our way to the party.”
“They dumped the dirt over here,” Olot told them from the other side of the road.
“I’m sure it’s no coincidence that it happened tonight,” Blue told Cory. “Everyone knows that you’re scheduled to testify tomorrow.”
“I’ll get some shovels so we can fill in the hole,” said Olot, turning toward his cave.
“And I’ll make sure no one is coming this way, so we can warn them off,” said Cory. “We don’t want anyone falling in. I can’t believe the guilds did this. It’s so dangerous! Someone could have been seriously hurt.”
“I think that was the guilds’ intention,” Blue said. “My guess is that someone told a guild member that we were going to be here tonight. Tooth fairies don’t fly around lugging rotting teeth without a reason. I don’t know who dug that hole, but I’m sure it was done for us. I know I didn’t mention this party to anyone. Did you?”
Cory thought long and hard. Who had she seen recently that she could have told? It was only yesterday that the pigs invited them. She’d seen Blue and Micah and Macks, but they didn’t count. And then she remembered her short conversation with Daisy.
“I told Daisy!” said Cory. “Last night before the performance. She invited us to supper tonight, and I said we couldn’t come because the three pigs had invited us to a party. I’m sure she’s the only one.”
“Then she’s the one we need to see about this,” Blue told her. “I want to know who she told before you go to court tomorrow. Did she report it directly to her guild? She is a flower fairy, isn’t she? I need to find out what else she’s been telling them.”
Cory shook her head. She couldn’t believe that Daisy would ever betray her. “Daisy is a member of the Flower Fairy Guild, but she would never turn on me that way. She’s been my friend for most of my life.”
“We’ll see,” said Blue. “As we all know, guilds can be very persuasive.”
It didn’t take long for Olot and Blue to fill in the hole in the road. When they left, Blue headed straight for Daisy’s parents’ house. “It’s late for a flower fairy to be up,” Cory told him. “She probably went to bed hours ago.”
“Then her parents will have to get her out of bed,” said Blue. “This is important.”
Cory touched the side of her face and winced. It had been dark when they had their near-accident and Blue hadn’t gotten a good look at her yet. Although she hadn’t been badly hurt, some of her cuts had bled a lot. She was afraid that when he did see her, he was going to be even angrier at Daisy.
The house was dark when they reached it. Blue parked his solar cycle by the front walk and hurried to the porch. He was rapping at the door with his knuckles when Cory joined him. “They’ve probably all gone to bed,” she told him.
“Then they’ll have to get up,” said Blue. “I’m not waiting until morning.”
Blue kept knocking until Cory thought his knuckles must hurt. She wondered how long he could keep going, but eventually Daisy’s father came to the door.
“What are you doing?” he snapped as he turned on the fairy light next to the door. “Do you have any idea what time it is? This is a flower fairy household. We all have to get up bright and early.”
“I apologize, sir, but this is a FLEA matter. I’m Officer Blue. I need to speak to your daughter, Daisy.”
“She’s in bed asleep and has been for hours,” grumbled Daisy’s father. “Can’t this wait until morning?”
“I’m sorry, sir, but it can’t. Please wake her for me.”
“Is Daisy in some sort of trouble?”
“That depends on what she tells me,” said Blue.
Daisy’s father was grumbling when he walked off, but from the little Cory heard him say, she couldn’t tell if he was mad at Blue or Daisy.
Blue turned to Cory, saying, “I hate to get people up like this, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Cory, do you . . . I didn’t know you were hurt! How bad is it?”
“It’s nothing,” she assured him. “Just a few scrapes. I’m sure it looks bad because I haven’t been able to get cleaned up yet.”
“Cory! Blue! What are you doing here?” Daisy asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Her parents followed her to the doorway, looking as confused as Daisy. When they saw the blood on Cory’s face, they all looked aghast.
“What happened to you?” Daisy asked.
“We were in an accident,” said Cory.
Blue’s jaw was set, his eyes angry when he said, “One that someone had planned, although it would have been a lot worse if it had gone the way they wanted it to. That’s why we’re here. Who did you tell that we were going to a party tonight?”
“What are you talking about?” Daisy asked, looking even more confused. “I didn’t tell anyone anything!”
“You were the only person Cory told about the party at the pigs’ house,” said Blue. “You told someone. Was it a member of the Flower Fairy Guild?”
“No! I didn’t tell them anything!” Daisy exclaimed. “The only one I might have mentioned it to is my new boyfriend, Tabbert. He wanted to meet you, and suggested we invite you out to dinner. I probably told him why you said you couldn’t go when he asked again.”
“Give me his full name,” Blue said, taking an ink stick and a leaf out of his pocket.
“He’s Tabbert Acklethwite,” said Daisy. “I don’t know if he has a middle name.”
“You have a new boyfriend?” said her mother. “You didn’t tell us!”
Blue took a small message pad from his pocket and began to write.
“How much do you have in there?” Cory asked.
Blue grunted and kept writing. “I have big pockets. All right,” he said, looking up from the pad. “I just asked the FLEA officer on duty about Tabbert Acklethwite. We should hear back in a few minutes. Since this whole thing started, we’ve begun our own investigation of the guilds and its members.” Ping! The pad gave off a faint chime. “Good. I have an answer already. It seems
that Tabbert Acklethwite is a member of the Sandman Guild and is on unofficial leave.”
“What does ‘unofficial leave’ mean?” asked Cory.
“That he’s still a member, but not working as a sandman now,” Blue told her.
“Which means he won’t be working at night and can go out during the day,” said Cory. “He can do things like date a flower fairy and question her about her friends.”
“Or one friend in particular,” Blue said. “When did you meet Tabbert, Daisy?”
“A few days ago,” Daisy replied. “Are you saying that he asked me out so he could find out things about Cory?”
“It’s possible,” said Blue.
“I’m so sorry!” cried Daisy. “It never occurred to me that anyone would do that! What a no-good, lousy scumbag! Well, he’s not getting anything more from me! I’m dumping him first thing tomorrow when I get home from work. Cory, you know I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you. You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember. No boyfriend is ever coming between us. I promise, this won’t happen again!”
CHAPTER
7
When Cory stepped onto her porch the next morning, it looked as if half of the ogre solar-cycle gang was waiting for her. There had to be at least thirty ogres, and they all waved when she started down the steps. She waved back and smiled, glad that they were there. Blue had assured her that some of them intended to stay at the courthouse, just in case. None of her ogre escorts had stayed when she testified in front of the big jury, and she’d almost been kidnapped. She felt safer already, knowing that they’d be in the building.
Cory and Blue wore their normal-looking helmets while the ogres wore their trademark troll-skull-shaped ones. When the gang started down the street, Cory and Blue were in the middle, ensuring that no one could get close to them. People stopped and stared as the silent cavalcade rode past. Cory might have enjoyed the ride if she hadn’t been so nervous about testifying.
When they reached the courthouse, the ogres who were staying parked their cycles in front of the building so everyone could see that they were there. As Blue walked Cory into the building, ogres surrounded them. The guards inside wouldn’t let all the ogres go to the courtroom, but they did let Macks, Gnarl, Snifflit, and two others in. The rest would wait in the foyer and come running if they were needed.
Cory had to wait in another room until she was called. Blue went to talk to Natinia Blunk while two of the ogres stood outside the door and the others went into the courtroom to find seats. When it was time to go in, Officer Deeds came to fetch Cory. The moment she saw him, his image and that of her mother popped into her head. She grimaced at the thought.
“Nice to see you, too,” grumbled the goblin officer. “I didn’t think you’d show up. A lot of people don’t like you right now.”
“I’m aware of that,” said Cory. “But I’m not here to get people to like me. I’m here to make sure the guilds can’t get away with all the bad things they’ve been doing.”
“We’ll see,” said the officer. “The guilds got themselves the best law upholder.”
“No better than mine,” Cory said, hoping it was true.
As Officer Deeds escorted her to the witness box, Cory looked around. The room was mostly filled with benches facing a raised platform. A lady elf dressed in a blue robe sat on the platform behind a big desk. There was a lower platform beside her with a single chair. Cory knew that was where the witnesses sat.
Although the sea of people turning to look at her made Cory nervous, seeing a few friendly faces helped calm her nerves. Blue was sitting in the back with Gnarl, Macks, and Snifflit. Lionel was seated closer to the front. Cory must have looked nervous because he gave her an encouraging smile and a wink. She saw Mary Mary, the head of the Tooth Fairy Guild, in the front row beside a violet-haired fairy woman who Cory recognized. Flora Petalsby was the head of the Flower Fairy Guild. She had done a lot of things to get attention for the guild over the years, and her picture was often in The Fey Express.
As Cory approached the witness chair, she glanced at the people seated at the side of the room. There were eleven people in the jury. Although she’d learned in school that humans preferred twelve jurors, the fey liked uneven numbers. Cory noticed that there were three fairies, two dwarves, and one ogre. The rest of the jurors were either nymphs or humans.
Cory was seated on the witness chair before she saw the defense law upholder. She was surprised to recognize him. It was Jasper Wilkins, the man she had matched with Mary Lambkin. Natinia Blunk was the first to approach her, however.
“How are you today, Miss Feathering? You look as if you’ve acquired some scrapes and bruises since I saw you last. Are you well enough to testify?”
Cory nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“Then please tell the court exactly when the Tooth Fairy Guild began to harass you.”
“It was shortly after I quit the guild. They weren’t happy that I was leaving them and let me know it. First they sent messages, then they began to do things.”
“Please tell us what they did,” said Miss Blunk.
“I was staying with my uncle. They threw a large plaster tooth through the window.”
“And did you call the FLEA about the window?”
“I did. Officer Deeds came out and I showed him the tooth.”
“And then what happened?”
The eleven members of the jury listened intently while Cory told them about all the things the Tooth Fairy Guild had done. When she told them about the visits from members of the other guilds, the jury seemed even more interested. She described every nasty thing, including the rotting teeth and the hole in the ground the night before.
“Thank you, Miss Feathering,” said Natinia when Cory was finished. “I may have more questions for you later.”
Cory watched Jasper Wilkins approach the stand. He smiled and looked friendly, but she remembered what Natinia had told her about how he could be tricky.
“Good day, Miss Feathering,” said Jasper. “Please tell the court why you quit the Tooth Fairy Guild.”
“I wanted to do something that would help people,” said Cory. “I didn’t feel that I was really helping anyone by collecting teeth.”
“I see,” said Jasper. “So you’re saying that your motives were altruistic. But isn’t it true that you were not very good at your job? The last night you worked as a tooth fairy, you collected only four teeth. Wasn’t money the real reason you quit?”
“I quit for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I wanted to help people,” said Cory.
“So you thought your job as a tooth fairy was worthless,” said Jasper.
“I didn’t say that,” Cory told him. “It just wasn’t right for me.”
“I see,” said Jasper. “Just as a sandman wasn’t right for you. Isn’t it true that shortly after you quit your job with the Tooth Fairy Guild, you broke up with your boyfriend, a member of the Sandman Guild?”
“Yes, but—”
“And didn’t you take on other jobs, working for people with no guild affiliations?”
“Yes, that’s true, but—”
“Even your uncle, with whom you are now living, is not a guild member?”
“Yes,” said Cory.
“Then it seems to me,” Jasper said, turning to face the jury, “that Miss Feathering has hated guild members for some time now. She has done everything she can to damage their well-deserved good reputations.”
“I’ve never accused them of doing anything that they didn’t do!” Cory cried.
“Really? So you wouldn’t use trickery to influence opinion?”
“Never!” said Cory.
“Tell me, Miss Feathering, have we ever met before?”
Cory shook her head. “No, we have not.”
“Do you know my name?”
“Jasper Wilkins,” said Cory.
“How did you learn my name?” asked Jasper.
“I asked around about you.”
“But we never actually met before today?”
“No, we didn’t.” Cory was getting confused. She was sure the law upholder was trying to be tricky, but she had no idea where he was headed with his questions.
“Then why did you send me this message?” Jasper asked, and gestured to the court witch. The witch, a little lady in a floral dress with barrettes in her hair, waved her hand. An image of the message Cory had sent to Jasper appeared in the air above her.
Cory had a feeling that she knew where Jasper was headed and didn’t like it one bit. “I thought you and Mary Lambkin would be right for each other,” she replied.
“Without ever meeting me?” said Jasper. “Isn’t it true that what you were really doing was trying to influence me in this trial? You had learned that I was going to be the DLU, and you wanted to bribe me to throw the trial your way!”
“That wasn’t it at all! I didn’t know you were involved in this case until you walked into the courtroom today!”
“We’re supposed to believe that? Isn’t your grandfather Lionel Feathering, who sits on the FLEA board?”
“Yes, but—”
“And isn’t your current boyfriend FLEA officer-in-training Johnny Blue?” “Yes,” Cory admitted.
“And you want us to believe that no one, including your grandfather and your boyfriend, told you that I was on the case?”
“They didn’t!”
“That’s all I want to ask this witness for now. I’d like to call another witness. Mary Lambkin, would you please take the stand?”
When Cory left the stand, Mary Lambkin passed her, giving her a halfhearted smile. Mary took the seat on the low platform just as Cory sat down in a back row next to Blue.
“Please state your name,” Jasper said to Mary.
“Mary Lambkin. Jasper, what is this about? You said I should meet you at court so we could go out for brunch.”
“Ahem.” Jasper cleared his throat. “We’ll talk later. Are you the owner of Lambkin’s Outerwear?”
“Yes,” Mary replied.
“How do you know Cory Feathering?”
