by Leia Stone
Over twenty cars and motorcycles were pulled up in the driveway and on the lawn of the small farm. I could see a bunch of fae milling around the opening of the barn. Black wings, horns, pale skin—they all looked up as we approached, and Liam slipped his hand into mine. Leaning into my ear, he whispered, “I don’t fully trust all of them, so let’s keep your lineage a secret for now.”
I gulped. Fine with me. I was hoping to keep my lineage a secret forever and never have to deal with it. Maybe the queen could have another child, and they could take over the throne.
“One more thing.” He stopped walking and looked over at the guys watching us as Cam and Elle approached. “I was, uh…” He nervously ran his fingers through his hair. “I was going to introduce you as…my girlfriend. I mean, because I want them to know we’re united and…well, is that okay?”
A grin tugged at my lips. I’d never seen Liam nervous before. It was adorable. My voice cracked as I said, “Yeah, totally.”
Girlfriend? We were fucking soulmates. I was going to marry this guy and have his babies one day, so girlfriend–boyfriend was a good place to start.
He let out a deep breath that he must have been holding. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
As we approached the men, their eyes went from my wings to Liam, to our interlocked fingers. I was surprised by the age range. Some of them were little more than fifteen years old, while others were Liam’s age and up. One thing they all had in common, though, was that they looked rugged, like soldiers. Cold stares and myriad scars hardened their faces.
“Thank you for coming!” Liam jumped up onto an overturned milk crate, and let I my hand fall to my side.
The men nodded, and then one of them glared at Elle and me. “What’s with the fae chicks?”
Elle’s hand went to her throwing knife, but Cam smacked it away, shaking his head.
Liam pointed to me. “This is my girlfriend, Lily, a Seeker of the Spring Court, and her best friend, Elle, a warrior.”
Everyone quieted, and I heard a few of them bemusedly mumble Seeker and girlfriend. “Sleeping with the enemy!” one of them shouted.
Liam growled, his wings snapping up and smoking at the tips. “They’re not our enemies anymore. We have one common goal now: get all the crystals and live life without sickness or resort to…sinister measures.”
The men shuffled their feet. “She’s going to get us more crystals?” one asked. “Why?”
Liam shook his head. “No. We are going to get her the remaining crystals, and she will give us land in Faerie. A place to call our own. A place we can live permanently with the magic of the crystals recharging us as we sleep and go about our daily lives.”
There was an absolute uproar. They screamed, raised their fists in the air, and pushed closer. I hadn’t really expected Liam to just jump right into it. I thought maybe he would talk about the weather first before dropping this bomb.
“Why the hell should we go to Faerie?” one yelled. “Why doesn’t she bring the crystals here?”
Liam looked at me.
It was my turn.
Stepping off the milk crate, he helped hoist me up, and everyone quieted. I cleared my throat, then projected my voice through the barn. “I think we’ve all been lied to. You were taught to hate me; I was taught to hate you. The Dark War left my world in tatters and your lives at risk. I see the error of those ways now.”
They simply glared at me, and so I went on.
“The crystals power our Tree of Life. It’s a tree in the middle of the Spring Court that gives all of Faerie life.”
A few of the men whispered something, but no one screamed at me, so I decided to keep going.
“The tree needs all twelve crystals to restore Faerie. When I have them and Faerie is alive again, you can live there and visit your human families whenever you want!”
A few more grumbles. “How will you restore Faerie?” one of them asked. He was older, Liam’s age.
I had to make a choice right now…how much did I trust these men? How badly did I need them to follow me into war?
I had to be honest. I was desperate. “I won’t restore Faerie, but the Queen of Spring will.”
Gasps rang out throughout the barn, including Elle’s. She hadn’t been expecting me to let that slip, but I was done with secrets. Secrets were what had gotten us into this mess in the first place.
“The Queen of Spring lives! Once we place the crystals and she awakens, Faerie can be whole again. And she will welcome you,” I told them fiercely.
Liam nodded. “I’ve been there. The air is full of regenerative crystal magic, and the people are kind. We won’t have to struggle anymore.”
The men gathered in a huddle and talked among themselves while I waited nervously for their answer. Liam stayed out of it; he was clearly a leader, but not a dictator.
Finally, a guy about Liam’s age with black horns approached me. “We will agree under one condition.”
Oh, gods. I hoped it was within my power to grant.
“We heard you have a healer. If you want us to fight for you, then you need to heal us. We want your healer here on Earth with our group.”
Bring Kira out of Faerie? Away from the queen? I didn’t think Kira had ever been to Earth, and with the queen in danger near Indra, it would be risky. But I had Trissa watching over the queen now, and I couldn’t expect these men to risk their lives with no promise of support.
“Granted. You may have Faerie’s only healer at your disposal.” I placed a fist over my heart and bowed.
He frowned. “Only one healer?”
I nodded. “When the Winter King stole our crystals, a darkness encompassed Faerie and killed a billion of our brethren. We’re all that’s left.”
Every single Halfling’s eyes widened, and a few lowered their heads in reverence. Clearly, they hadn’t been told that in their history of the conflict.
“The Dark War hurt both sides,” Liam said. “And our parents pitted us against each other. It’s time we bring in a change with a new generation.”
The rallying cries made my heart soar.
We were doing this. It was going to be okay.
A flurry of activity followed the barn meeting. I sent Cam and Elle to get Kira by any means necessary, to sneak her out if they had to. I was explicit that Trissa must stay by the queen’s side the entire time the healer was gone.
And then we waited.
Two hours later, Kira arrived, wide-eyed and looking around Liam’s farm like she was on an alien planet.
I hugged her. “Thank you for coming.”
She nodded, glancing fearfully at all of the Halflings.
We didn’t have time to ease into anything, so I just had diarrhea of the mouth and told her everything that was going to happen, all about the crystals we needed to get back and the war that might ensue. How Liam’s army needed a healer in case they were hurt fighting for our side, and how they would then come live with us once we got the remaining crystals.
She nodded, adjusting her pack. “The Elders were livid. Even more so when Trissa stationed herself at the queen’s side and refused to leave. The queen’s been…twitching. I think she’s…” Kira leaned in closely, lowering her voice. “Waking up.”
Holy shit. My stomach dropped. “Do you think the sleeping medicine has kept her down this whole time, and now that we’ve barred Indra from seeing her alone, she’ll naturally wake?” My brain couldn’t even fathom that. I immediately wanted to kill Indra if that was the case.
Kira shrugged. “It’s a possibility at this point.”
Motherfu—
“Ready?” Liam called out, breaking me from my thoughts.
I had to push this from my mind and focus on one task at a time. These crystals needed to be returned to Faerie.
I turned to Liam and nodded. “Will your brothers and mom be okay?”
He pointed to a small group of half a dozen guys. “I’ll leave them behind to look over my family and the crystal. Once we plac
e all three at the tree, we can come back for this one and bring my brothers to Faerie.”
It was perfect. I really hoped it worked without any issues. “And your mom?”
A shadow crossed his face. “I’ll give her the next two drops, and hopefully, she’ll heal further.”
I nodded. “She will heal, and then I’ll find someplace brilliant she can live so that you can see her every day.” Maybe we could buy her a house near the enchanted shell on Earth. That way, Liam and his brothers could use the shell to easily visit her. Mara wouldn’t be involved, so the Elders wouldn’t care…
Liam reached out and brushed his finger across my lower lip, his face suddenly serious. “Lily, I’ve done things I’m not proud of…unforgivable things. Things you would—”
“Let’s roll!” Cam shouted, cutting him off.
I frowned at Liam’s words. We’d been through this. I didn’t care about his past, but he kept bringing it up.
Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to his. “I don’t care about your past, okay? Whatever it is, I don’t care.”
I thought my words would have cheered him up, but when I pulled back, they seemed to have only made him more upset. But I couldn’t worry about it now because everyone was pushing past us and walking to their cars. It was time to end this. Get the final crystals and live in Faerie together.
Slipping his hand into mine, I headed for the blue door and Mara’s home.
“Are you crazy?” Mara shrieked when she saw the army of Halflings at her door behind me.
She pulled me inside so we could talk privately. “I cleared it with the Elders,” I said before she could shout more. “Mara, shit’s gotten real now. We need an army to match the one the Winter King has, and Liam is the only one with trained men.”
She fanned herself, seemingly to keep from fainting. “They will put you in cuffs.”
I shook my head. “Indra doesn’t scare me anymore.”
I wanted so badly to tell her of my mother’s journal and all I’d learned, but now wasn’t the time. She looked past me at the waiting men, then sighed. “Well, all right. I guess it’s time to end this war. Let’s bring the rest of the crystals home.”
Reaching out, I gave her a tight hug—and then, on a whim, I decided to just give her the journal. “Read this when I’m gone. I’ve dog-eared the page.”
It would be better that way. I wouldn’t need to explain it, and she could see for herself what my mother had never told her for fear of putting her life in danger.
When her eyes landed on the journal, tears welled up in them. “Where did you…”
I shook my head. “There’s no time. Let’s talk later.”
She wiped her eyes quickly and tucked the journal into her belt. “All right. Let them in.”
One by one, the boys stepped into Mara’s house, looking around anxiously, then at Mara and her golden cuffs.
“They won’t be able to fit in the office,” she said, “so I’ll move the whole house.”
I frowned. “Isn’t that what you do every time?”
She looked confused. “No.”
I would never understand the way this thing worked—I was just grateful it did.
A thought struck me. “Hang on. If the Idaho door is burned down, and the Spokane door is in a public dressing room…”
Mara nodded. “We’ll have to use the dressing room. You and Elle can go through and distract the woman.”
Oh, sure, distract the poor girl while dozens of grown men crawled out of one room! But it was that or drive eight hours. By then, our enemies could have moved or added more men to their security. We needed to do this now.
Mara looked at the men. “Hold on to something sturdy. The ride may be bumpy.”
Five minutes later, there was a pile of Halflings on Mara’s kitchen floor. They hadn’t known what to expect and hadn’t taken her warning seriously. They groaned and grimaced as they rolled off each other.
Kira simply watched everything with wide, terrified eyes. Our poor healer was going into shock.
“What the hell was that?” one of the men asked.
I looked at Liam. He nodded and said, “I’ll explain. You get the shop girl distracted.”
Elle slipped in beside me. “What’s the plan?”
I drummed my fingernails on the leg of my jeans. I hated to do this, but knocking the clerk out would probably be easier and leave less of a mental impact than seeing sixty-something dudes walk out of a portal. But if the store was full of people, then we would need something even bigger.
“I’ll knock her out, and you get anyone in the store out.”
Elle nodded.
Walking to Mara’s back door, I slowly creaked it open.
Fuck.
It was a weekend, and the store was full of people…and there wasn’t one girl at the counter, but two.
“New plan,” I said. “We go back to Seattle and drive here.”
She rolled her eyes. “Screw that. I got this.”
With that, she burst from the dressing room, screaming bloody murder. “There’s a bomb!”
Everyone froze and looked at her.
Oh, my gods. I facepalmed.
“There’s a bomb with a clock countdown thingy!” she cried. “Get out!”
Clock countdown thingy? I should never have let her watch Die Hard on repeat.
I burst from the room, taking her lead. “It’s going to blow!”
Everyone started to run in panic. The two girls at the counter were the first ones to bolt for the door, and everyone else took after them. It was a stampede in which clothes flew everywhere and people trampled their way to the exit, but we got everyone outside.
Elle and I burst from the shop behind them to find everyone staring at us. “Further back!” I shouted. “To the side alley!”
The terrified customers followed our lead. I wasn’t so sure this was a better idea, but it was too late to go back.
Peering over my shoulder, I saw Liam and the boys slip out the shop door one by one. They cut left, away from the store and deeper into the outdoor mall.
Suddenly, a phone was being thrust in my face. One of the shop girls had apparently called 911. “Tell her what the bomb looked like!”
Elle looked at me with wide eyes, and I laughed nervously. “Um…April Fools!”
Then I took off running, hoping Elle was pounding the pavement right behind me.
“Bitches!” I heard a shop girl scream.
Elle snickered beside me as we ran to catch up with the boys. “It’s not April.”
I shot her a side glance. “I panicked! Who the hell screamed bomb, anyway? There were a dozen plan Bs, and you went with bomb!”
She just shrugged. “I panicked, too.”
By the time we got to the alleyway where Liam was huddled with his boys, I was starting to wonder how many minutes we had until the cops arrived.
Then I looked at the large number of guys and the one VW I had and wondered how the hell we were all going to get there.
Liam pulled his hood up, walked over to me, and handed me a piece of paper. “Take Elle and Cam and head for the Coeur d’Alene house. Mara said to meet her at this address. She’s installing a new door now—should be ready in an hour or so.”
I frowned. “What are you going to do?”
“It’s probably best you didn’t know,” he said with a wink.
Holy bad boy. That was hot. I was really hoping he wasn’t going to steal cars, but it was hot nonetheless.
“Go on,” Liam urged. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Without wasting another minute, I pulled out the pen and quickly summoned the VW. After we jumped inside, I took off out of the complex and headed for Idaho. Cam sat in the back seat, upset that Elle wouldn’t let him ride shotgun.
“They’re going to steal cars, aren’t they?” I asked him.
“Do you want the crystals or not?” was all he said in reply.
For a second, I’d forgotten that Liam and his fri
ends were basically thugs, left on Earth to fend for themselves. That was why I was doing this. Once I had all the crystals and restored Faerie, we could all live together in harmony, and they wouldn’t need to break the law just to get by.
As I neared the home that Liam’s dad was using to create his new, sick little world, I pulled over and waited anxiously for the others.
So much had to be in place for this to work. Liam and his men had to take on the Sons of Darkness. Mara had to fix a new door nearby in time for us to get the crystals and get back. Liam had to be able to handle the dark crystals, assuming they would all be dark, and not lose his mind like last time. I had brought one of the jugs of healing water with me and left two at Mara’s. That way, the length of time Liam would have to hold the crystal would be lessened.
Just as I was starting to freak out that they’d been arrested or something, he arrived, a line of trucks and SUVs behind him. I felt like we were part of some high-stakes bank heist and I was about to rob the most heavily guarded vault.
Parking his car behind mine, Liam popped out and started to bark orders. It was clear he was used to being in charge and taking ownership. I was happy to let him plan the fighting; I would just help in any way I could. I was way out of my league here. Trissa had never trained me for this.
“I want you five to go to this address and guard it with your life.” Liam handed a group of men the address Mara had given them. “It’s our new portal home, and it’s right down the street.”
The boys nodded and started jogging toward the house.
Liam turned to me. “Lily and I will go in and get the crystals. Once we have them, we will signal you to leave. If people start dying, retreat.”
Geeze. That was his indicator that things were going south? If someone died?
“Meet at the new address if we’re split up,” I told everyone, and they nodded.
Some of them had guns, but most pulled swords. A few of them walked off with Cam and started to take off their shirts. I was wondering why the heck they were undressing when I saw patches of fur ripple across their skin.
Oh. Okay.