Hope remained tense, like a wound-up spring. I said, “That’s all you’re going to get, Hope. The Fae can’t apologize without creating a debt. ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t in their vocabulary.”
Hope moved her mouth around like she was chewing on something sour and sinewy. Her feelings were going to be raw for a while and no one would expect her to forgive Oz anytime soon.
“Oz,” I said. “What about the video they made today? I’m trying to figure out what they’ll gain by it. I mean, they wanted a video of me shooting Hope.”
Hope gasped. “What?”
I hadn’t been able to tell Hope about the video, only that Sarah had been killed. “I was getting to that part when Oz barged in. It’s another scheme. They have a video now. It looks like you saying, ‘Forgive me’ and then I shoot you.”
My guts churned some more with how bad that sounded.
The muscles in her jaw got tight. “Show me,” she said.
“What?” I replied. “Hope—”
“I want to see what it looks like. If I’m getting into all this magic stuff, I want to see it.”
“Do you think it will help?” I asked.
“It will help me not hit him again.” She stopped holding her hand and gave the sassy stance. Hip out to the side and her head tilted a few degrees. “I want him to show me.”
Oz stared at me. “You can make me look like her so she can see, then we can finish talking. Have you recovered enough power?”
He wasn’t thrilled. But he had fresh power and his hands came alight. He chanted out loud for a long minute and then went quiet.
I got no reaction from Hope.
“Is it working?” I asked. I touched my face on instinct but all I felt was a chiseled masculine chin with a little stubble. Oz’s magic was illusory and made no physical changes at all.
“It’s working,” Hope said.
She circled me in silence, arms crossed. I glanced at the mirror on the wall. Part of me wanted to see. Part of me was afraid of the nightmares I might end up having.
“If you ever wondered what you’d look like with broad shoulders—” I said.
“I’d look ridiculous,” Hope replied. She was mad at the situation and I didn’t take it personally. She finished walking around me. “Turn it off,” she said.
Oz dropped his hands and the glow of blue shimmered for a moment, then winked out.
“Are you turning it off?” Hope asked.
For a split second, I worried I’d be stuck looking like the cutest linebacker ever.
“The energy takes a few seconds to dissipate,” Oz said.
Oh. Yeah.
The nearby mirror tempted me again. Curiosity was only natural, right? Said the dead cat.
I stepped sideways.
Wow, my eyes were huge. I turned my head from side to side. My blond pigtails flipped into my face. I didn’t feel them but they looked real.
Hope still had that jaw-clenching dead-eyed expression on her face.
So many jokes in my head right now. So not the right time. Even I knew it.
I couldn’t laugh, although I wanted to. And there was absolutely nothing I could say that wouldn’t result in Hope getting ticked so I stepped back to my previous spot and looked at the ceiling. And waited. Clenching my own jaw helped me hold my tongue. We still had a serious discussion to finish. Then I remembered when Nat had made a joke and I couldn’t react then either, which was funny.
I clenched my jaw tighter and blew all the pent-up energy out through my nose, like I was impatient with the illusion process taking so long to end.
“Okay, you’re back to normal,” Hope said.
“I hope that helped.” I shook my head. “That wasn’t easy for me.”
So not easy.
I didn’t mean to put Hope on the defensive but it served to get us back to our discussion.
Hope patted me on the shoulder.
“Thank you,” she said. “Tell me more about how you shot me?”
Patience.
“These people from the Behindbeyond were hired by Marcus to discredit you,” I replied. I needed to tell Hope about Vapeman too.
First things first.
“They took it a step further by putting you in front of my house with a bomb. They intended us both to die and they called the television station to help provide a cover story to make it seem like a political issue and keep any suspicion off Marcus and, at the same time, do that favor for the person who hates me. They used a timer so they would have alibis in case the police traced the bomb back to them.”
“That’s true,” Oz said. “At the time the bomb went off, we were all in Orlando, at a restaurant with tons of witnesses.”
“When I foiled the bomb plot, they had a new problem. Hope was still alive and I was involved. They waited to see what we would do. If they’d caught us together, they would have killed us.”
Death by bugs. I imagined Hope and I sitting in my car, chewed up like the victims in Boston, and shuddered.
“You foiled them again, Got.” Hope wore a smirk. “And when I showed up at the Dolphin’s game, there must have been heart attacks all around.”
“All Marcus can do is put pressure on you. He has some video of a fake Hope engaging in activities that would allow him to break the prenuptial agreement and embarrass her.”
“Thanks to Harry Potter junior here,” Hope said, looking at Oz.
Oz tried to protest. “Look, this was all—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hope said. “You wish you’d never done it.”
Oz went silent, his eyes cast down.
Hell hath no fury, Oz. She’s been more than scorned.
“Meanwhile,” I said too loudly. “The videos might not be enough since we can show he’s been unfaithful without question as well. So, today, they tried to recruit me. It would make everything a whole lot easier if we cooperated.”
“What did they offer?” Hope asked.
“If I take you to the Behindbeyond and keep you there, half a million dollars,” I replied.
Hope shook her head. “Half a million dollars to Marcus is sock money.”
“I refused. The next thing I knew, Hope’s non-existent twin sister is asking me to take her away and asking me to forgive her. Then someone pulls me back and shoots her, making me look like the most heartless pig ever. I notice Oz using magic so I grab him and we run.”
Oz remained stoic while Hope nodded, caught up. “That’s three times,” she said.
“Three times what?” I replied.
“Three times you’ve ruined their plans.”
“It’s been a long couple of days,” I shrugged. “I have to think there’s more going on.”
“Like what?”
Now I’d have to tell her about Vapeman. “Ciaróg and Feithid work for someone in Boston but I don’t know who. And I don’t know if that boss is Fae. There was another man who stayed hidden behind a smoke screen. A vapor of darkness. Wrongness. He has control of Marcus and I don’t think Marcus knows what’s happening.”
“What?” Hope looked pale.
“Has Marcus complained about blackouts? Fainting spells?”
“Yeah,” Hope said. “For a few months.”
“That’s them. They’re working for Marcus but using him at the same time. It’s like Marcus is possessed by someone from the Fae realm. He speaks through Marcus, but Marcus is in a trance while he does. Another thing I needed to tell you.”
Hope frowned. Thinking.
“Whoever he is, he’s smart. Everything he does has more than one purpose. He plans ahead and has a backup for everything. Now he has a video of me apparently shooting you. Like a lover’s spat gone wrong, after we were apparently at a hotel.”
Hope thought for a moment. “Okay. And if he gives the video to Marcus, he’ll be satisfied and maybe pay them off. But if I show up alive, then it’s all for nothing.”
“I came to the same conclusion.” I knew Hope was a smart girl.
She went on, h
er own mental magnets clicking. “And they could show it to the police, but again, I’m here, so it’s easy to prove I’m not dead.”
Oz hung his head. “Sarah’s dead.”
I went to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Hope said, “So they have a video of you shooting a girl that’s not dead and a different girl who’s dead but no proof who shot her?”
“They could accuse me of something and maybe make it stick, but it’s mainly my word against theirs,” I replied. “Marcus is a respected businessman, whereas I’m an upstanding local citizen with a private investigator’s license. They could try to have my license revoked but . . .”
“You’re right, Got. That’s a lot of effort for no apparent reason. It doesn’t make sense.” Hope’s frown deepened.
I gave Oz a gentle shake. “Can you think of anything we’re missing? Any contingency plans they have in reserve?”
Oz shrugged. Maybe to get my hand off his shoulder. “I wasn’t part of the inner circle. I just did what I was told.”
“Okay.” I started pacing and Hope shifted in place, sticking her hands in her back pockets. “From what I’ve gathered, Marcus doesn’t know about magic or the Behindbeyond. The Fae are using magic on him but they don’t want him to know.”
I kept moving around the room, waiting for more mental magnets to line up and click together. None did. “There’s only one way I can think of to find out what they’re really up to.” I stopped and told Hope. “Let’s give them what they want.”
* * *
Hope was not happy.
“I want to go,” she said. Stubborn.
“Maybe you can. I’m worried that the bad guys want you there for a reason. They tried to pay me to take you, remember?”
“Why take me there in the first place? Nothing happened.”
Sigh. Whatever.
“I needed to show you what it’s like so you’d understand about the magic. Once I’m sure you’ll be safe, we’ll go back.”
“In fairy tales, the prince rescues the princess by taking her back to his castle, not leaving her in his stupid house in Coral Gables.”
I wasn’t falling for that even though I have a thing for damsels in distress. “I did tell you that the Behindbeyond isn’t safe for mortals, remember? That I don’t know all the dangers there? Here, I do.”
I thought Hope might buy into that but she folded her arms and glared at me.
No sale.
“Okay,” I said. “Look. The quicker we get rid of your problem, the quicker we can go back. We’ll get you your own room at my father’s palace. All right?”
“Sure. Prince.” The sarcasm hit me in the face.
Whatever some more.
Oz stayed in the chair and said little. I’d take him to the Behindbeyond to keep an eye on him. He was in a fragile place and I didn’t know what he’d do if I left him here with Hope.
Max took Oz back to the south wing of the house and I made some phone calls.
There was a point of procedure I couldn’t ignore. Because I’d been present at the scene of a murder, I was obligated to report to the police. With the bomb, I had no evidence. With the shooting, I had no evidence. This time, there was a body. As a private investigator, I had a little leeway. I could tell the police that Oz was also a witness but he had been in imminent danger and my priority had been to get him to safety. I’d also want to tell them that I had been investigating a conspiracy issue of national security and offer to exchange information as a professional courtesy. When I had my thoughts in order, I made the call.
I identified myself to the desk sergeant who answered and asked for the detectives assigned to the shooting investigation that had occurred at the Palazzo Grande. I didn’t give any other details. My goal was to find out who was in charge of the case, not give a deposition to the desk sergeant. The sergeant told me that he didn’t know who would be running the case, but he could give my number to whoever was assigned and they would call me back. I gave my cell phone number and thanked him.
Good. I had a little time but now I’d be in the call log and nobody could accuse me of not coming forward.
I called Erin next.
“Hello?”
A thread of excitement ran through me when I heard her voice.
“Hey, it’s Got.”
“Hi.”
“Do you have a minute?”
“Uh, sure. Hang on a sec.”
The phone clicked as it was put down on a hard surface. Probably the counter top in Erin’s kitchen. I’d evidently interrupted something. I couldn’t hear the words but there was a conversation close enough for Erin’s voice to register along with a man’s voice. Blake’s. The distant mumbling back-and-forth continued for a couple of minutes. Then the phone scraped as it was picked up again. A few more seconds passed before Erin spoke.
“Okay. What’s up?”
“Everything all right?”
“Yeah. Changing a bandage. Medical examiner by day, nurse by night. Nothing serious.”
“How was the scene you went to?”
“Lots of body parts. It’ll hit the news tonight.”
“Yikes. Well, would you have time for a trip to the Behindbeyond?”
“It’s Friday night and Blake’s going camping with the kids and staff from the group home, so probably. When?”
“In about ten hours.” I laid out the details for Erin and let her know I didn’t want to impose on her but I didn’t know who else to ask. We plotted for five minutes and I wished it could have been longer.
The music of her voice hath charms to soothe the savage breast, if that wasn’t too much of a cheeseball thing to say.
I called Penny Andy next, using the number on the card he’d given me. He didn’t answer so I left a message, telling him I’d pay him five-hundred dollars to surveil a guy named Marcus da Silva. I dictated a summary of everything I could think of that would help, although if he was any kind of private investigator, he wouldn’t need half of it. I also knew that the rate was twice what he usually got, so I was sure he’d rearrange his schedule to take the job.
We had a plan. We’d pretend to take Hope to the Behindbeyond.
If Vapeman bought it, he’d pay me half a million dollars.
So how much was Marcus willing to pay Vapeman that he could afford to give me that kind of bribe? The pre-nup was worth twenty-five million dollars, so if Vapeman was asking for more than, let’s say, fifty or sixty percent of the value of the pre-nup, he’d just pay her instead of the Fae. That could mean fourteen or fifteen million dollars, though. A conjecture, to be sure, but Holy Daddy Warbucks.
We still didn’t know what Vapeman and the Tweedles planned on doing with the video.
Despite any promises to call off the hounds—or bugs—there was no guarantee Vapeman wouldn’t kill me and Hope at the first opportunity. If he was Eternal, I might be more inclined to believe him because Eternals couldn’t lie, but I didn’t think he was. And he was too eager to throw money at me to get Hope away from the mortal realm. That meant he and his people in the Behindbeyond were at least as dangerous as the Tweedles, if not more so. Here, I’d only been confronted by the Tweedles. I knew what I was dealing with. In the Behindbeyond, I wouldn’t know who would be coming after us.
Now I felt even better about wanting to keep Hope here.
I had no expectation of sleep.
I went to bed anyway and my body cooperated. I dropped off almost right away and when I woke up a few hours later, I felt refreshed. Maybe my brain knew I was going to need the rest. I had no idea how long it would be before I’d be able to sleep again. Days in the Behindbeyond tended to be long. And occasionally terrifying.
No reason to believe this trip would be any different.
Chapter Eighteen: The Fool and the Rose
Erin looked out of place in flats. I’d seen her in heels and bare feet, but she looked uncomfortable in shoes with no height. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other with her lower lip t
ucked between her teeth as she looked at herself in the mirror we’d put in my portal room.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m worried I’m too tall,” she replied.
Hope’s expression was equally dour. “There’s only two people who know what I’m supposed to look like anyway. Those guys who work for Marcus.”
Erin had arrived a few minutes ago. She and Hope had been introduced after hearing so much about each other. They’d exchanged a cordial handshake and assessed what they saw with unreadable coolness.
“I could make a more accurate illusion if I had more time,” Oz said. “Or if we had another spellcaster.”
“It’ll be enough.” I shook my head. “We don’t have a lot of time and we don’t need to make a huge production out of this. I’m more worried about Oz getting recognized than Erin-slash-Hope not getting recognized.”
“I spent most of my time in Tír Dúchais, the Máithrín’s kingdom, with Sarah,” Oz said. “I don’t have many friends in Ríocht na Bráithre. Nobody will know me.”
“Good,” I replied. The Tweedles had free run of the kingdom when we first met there. While they could identify both Hope and Oz, chances were good that they’d be afraid to get anywhere near the castle now. On the other hand, we needed the news to get back to Vapeman that Hope was out of the mortal realm.
“All right,” I said. “It’s almost 5:00 a.m.”
We checked ourselves in the mirror. Oz looked monkish in a hooded robe we’d scrounged up, which covered his face and head and gave him a place to hide his hands so the glow of his spellcasting wouldn’t be apparent.
“I’ll take the lead,” I said. “Erin will stay close to me, under Oz’s illusion. Oz will stay in the back with Max and Sandretta. We’ll go straight to the castle and up to my rooms. All right?”
Everyone nodded. As my servants—a term I was not at all comfortable with—it was logical for Max and Sandretta to come with me on an official trip. Behind me, they’d give Oz added cover. Unfortunately, that would leave Hope all by herself in the house for a while.
I remembered something I wanted to give her. “Hope. Here’s the coin back. The one with the four-leaf clover inside it. I needed to tell you that it’s a shield. Remember when you punched Marcus and you didn’t feel anything?”
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