The Fairies of Sadieville

by Alex Bledsoe

  And in that moment, Veronica believed her.

  * * *

  Veronica stared up at the two huge flat, wooden cutouts atop the building’s roof. They had once been painted to resemble dice, one with a five showing and the other with a two. Now, though, the paint had faded and peeled, and bird droppings streaked down the image.

  “Pair of dice,” she murmured. “Now I get it.”

  The Pair-A-Dice was a rectangular cinder-block building, windowless and with only one visible door, set back from the highway in the center of a gravel parking lot. The cutouts of dice on the roof were the only signage. Like many things to do with the Tufa, the place could be found only by those meant to find it.

  They’d driven there in Tucker’s pickup, which was inexplicably waiting at Mandalay’s trailer when they came outside. It was sundown by the time they parked among the many other vehicles present.

  “So exactly how will coming to a bar help?” she asked Tucker, who’d said virtually nothing since they left Mandalay’s trailer.

  In a Harrison Ford accent, Tucker said, “She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.” At Veronica’s blank look, he added, “That’s from Star Wars. The first one,” he added helpfully.

  “Oh. I only saw that once, when I was a kid.”

  “Come on, they’re waiting.”

  Inside the roadhouse the atmosphere was warm and close. A haze hung in the air from cigarettes, and people sat in clumps around the tables. Most nursed beer, although a few had sodas. Like a ripple, people noticed Tucker and Veronica, but no one said anything.

  Tucker looked around, then saw Mandalay’s wave. He nodded and let Veronica precede him to the table.

  In addition to Mandalay, two women and a white-haired man sat there. “Thank you for coming,” Mandalay said. “This is Bliss Overbay, Bronwyn Chess, and Snowy Rainfield.”

  Veronica realized the white-haired man was actually only in his thirties. “Nice to meet you all,” she said quietly. To Bronwyn she added, “I saw your picture on the wall at the cafe.”

  “Long time ago,” Bronwyn said. “Now I’m just a mom and a preacher’s wife.”

  “Let’s get down to business,” Mandalay said quietly. She waved her hand in the air, and instantly it was as if they were under an invisible cone of silence; all the other voices in the room were muffled and indistinct, and Veronica got the feeling they could neither be seen nor heard by anyone except those at the table. “This young woman and her boyfriend have found the cave the Conlins guarded. The one above Sadieville.”

  She paused to let that sink in.

  “So it does exist,” Bronwyn finally said. “I never really believed it.”

  “I’ve seen it,” Tucker added. “It’s no longer hidden.”

  “Why not?” Bliss asked.

  “There’s two possibilities,” Mandalay said. “Either the glamour that hid it has just faded with time, or … she isn’t hiding it from us anymore.”

  “Or it’s a trick,” Bronwyn said, looking hard at Tucker.

  “Okay, I deserve that. But as soon as I knew someone was looking for Sadieville, I had Azure bring you the song. I wasn’t trying to hide it, at least not anymore.”

  “Excuse me, but how does this help find Justin?” Veronica asked, feeling more alien than she ever had before. She fought the urge to run screaming into the twilight. “We’re running out of time here.”

  “Time doesn’t work the same for everybody,” Mandalay said. “And we’ve got plenty of it right now.”

  “Excuse me, but who is this?” Snowy asked, with a nod at Veronica.

  “She and her boyfriend went through,” Tucker said, pointing at Veronica. “All the way through.”

  “What,” Bronwyn asked with quiet intensity, “did you see?”

  “Is this important?” Veronica asked. “Right now? I already told her,” she said with a nod at Mandalay.

  “Yes, it’s important,” Bliss said seriously. “Right now.”

  The others leaned closer, as if every word might contain some secret. “It was like a storybook world,” Veronica said at last. “Or a Maxfield Parrish painting. Everything was beautiful, and vivid, and alive. It was like seeing everything in incredible detail all at once.”

  “And you saw people, right?” Bliss asked.

  Veronica nodded. “It looked like a group of musicians and dancers, like something you’d see at a Renaissance fair. Justin went to join them, even though I tried to hold him back. It was like he was under—” She stopped, about to say “a spell.” “The influence of something,” she finished instead.

  The white-haired man, Snowy, finally spoke. “He was.”

  Veronica wiped at tears she didn’t even know had started. “I’ve read all about what happens to people when they go off with the fairies. I’m so scared for him right now.”

  Mandalay put her hand atop Veronica’s. “I know, and I’m sorry. I’d like to say you were wrong to be scared, but that’s not true.” She turned to the others. “Bliss, Bronwyn, Snowy: I’ve asked big things of you in the past, and you’ve never let me down. Now I’m going to ask you the biggest thing ever: go find this boy Justin and bring him back.”

  It took a moment for that to sink in. At last Bronwyn said, “You want us to go … there?”

  “And come back,” Mandalay said.

  “Why us?” Snowy asked.

  “Bliss remembers the place, and knows its dangers. Bronwyn, you and Snowy have firm ties to this world, so you’ll be less tempted to stay. Plus, you’ve all proven many times that I can depend on you.”

  “I’m going, too,” Veronica said.

  “No,” Mandalay said, in a way that brooked no argument. “You were lucky once; it’d be foolish to push it.”

  “You do realize you’re asking us to go back to the place all the Tufa want to return to,” Snowy said, “find somebody dumb enough to run off to it—no offense, I’m sure he’s a nice guy—and then drag him back here?”

  “Yeah,” Mandalay agreed. “That’s exactly what I’m asking you to do.”

  “I don’t know if I’m up to that,” Snowy said. He looked at Bronwyn. “I mean, you’ve got a husband and child here, that’ll bring you back.”

  “You’ve got Tain,” Bronwyn pointed out.

  “Yeah,” Snowy agreed. His live-in girlfriend, Tain Wisby, was part glaistig, which meant she craved men’s attention; Snowy understood and didn’t judge her for it. But when he saw other couples, exclusive ones, he often wondered how strong a bond he really had with Tain. I guess, he thought, this’ll settle that. “When do we go?”

  “Right now,” Veronica said. “It’s not that late, and—”

  “No,” Bliss said. “First thing in the morning. I’m sorry, but we’re taking a lot of risks already.”

  Veronica swallowed her protest, and nodded.

  “Keep this to yourselves,” Mandalay said. “If word gets around, it’ll be difficult to stop others from following you.”

  They nodded. Mandalay waved her hand again. The muffled effect faded, and the noise of the crowded bar filled Veronica’s ears. She put her hands over them and closed her eyes, exhausted and terrified.

  * * *

  Veronica couldn’t bear the thought of going back to the Catamount Corner and facing all of Justin’s belongings, so she went home with Bronwyn. Snowy went home to Tain, and Tucker just went wherever he went, leaving Mandalay and Bliss at the Pair-A-Dice. They sat in silence for a long time.

  “What do you think will happen?” Bliss asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t really care about that girl’s boyfriend, do you?”

  “I’ve only got so much space for caring. Most of it’s taken up by the Tufa.”

  “So if we actually can go there?”

  “Then we—the Tufa—have a lot to think about. And I do care very much about that.” She paused, frowned, then continued, “Have you ever thought that we’ve been here so long, we might
no longer be true Tuatha de Danaan? Even those of us with pure Tufa blood? That’s crossed my mind a lot over time.”

  “So by sending the three of us back—” Bliss stopped at a sudden realization. “Son of a bitch. Now I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “Why you told that girl she couldn’t go with us. You’re not sending us to rescue her boyfriend. You’re using us as bait. We’re your canaries, just like they were Tucker’s.”

  “Yeah,” Mandalay said, eyes downcast. “I’m not proud of it, but that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  “And if we don’t come back?”

  “Then we’ll know. I’ll know. If the Queen welcomes us back, she’ll send word with you, and let you bring that boy back with you. If she doesn’t…”

  “If she doesn’t, we’ll likely be dead.”

  Mandalay had no response to that. Bliss wanted to get angry at the thought that she could be so easily sacrificed, but she understood Mandalay’s point. This might be the only way they would know if their deep desire to return home was as truly hopeless as they all believed.

  32

  “Can I get you anything?” Craig Chess asked Veronica.

  She sat on the edge of the bed in their guest room, staring at nothing. He’d seen people zone out from stress many times, and knew he could do nothing but make her feel safe and comfortable until she came out of it.

  “Well,” he added, “Bronwyn and I are right across the hall. Our daughter’s next door, but she’s pretty good about sleeping through the night. You should be okay.”

  Veronica finally looked up at him. “I met you at the cafe yesterday, didn’t I? You and your daughter.”

  “That was us.”

  “You’re not a Tufa, are you?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “But your wife is.”

  “Yes.”

  Veronica swallowed hard; her throat burned from choked-down sobs. “So you know what the Tufa are, then.”

  “Yes.”

  She laughed a little, a hysterical chuckle that almost got away from her. She crudely wiped her nose and said, “Last week this time, I was teaching a lab section. It was all about logic, and science. Cause and effect, you know? And now, I’m making decisions based on the reality of … of…”

  She collapsed into tears and threw herself sideways on the bed.

  Bronwyn came in and stood beside Craig. She knew that there was no one better in situations like this, and didn’t want to break any rapport. “Can I do anything?” she asked softly.

  “Get her a beer from the fridge?”

  “Sure.”

  Bronwyn slipped back out. Careful to leave the door open, Craig sat down beside Veronica.

  “You love Justin very much, don’t you?”

  Veronica sat up and looked around for a tissue. He handed her a box from the nightstand. She blew her nose and said, “Yes. I honestly didn’t realize how much until I saw him d-dance off with those people.” She looked up at him. “Do you know the story?”

  “Bronwyn told me, yes.”

  She took out her phone and stared at it. “I didn’t even think to take any pictures. You know what my major is? Parapsychology. I literally stood there on the threshold of the other world and didn’t think to take a picture.”

  “I don’t mean to ask the obvious, but have you tried calling Justin?”

  “Yes. It went straight to voice mail.”

  “Under the circumstances, that’s not a surprise.”

  Veronica took several deep breaths. “So did she catch you the same way those people did Justin?”

  He smiled, but didn’t laugh. “I don’t know, honestly. I think I fell for her of my own free will, but if I didn’t, would I know it?”

  “That’s not reassuring.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Are you religious?”

  “My family is Catholic. I’m … undeclared.”

  “I’m a Methodist minister. Same school, different major, you might say. I can pray with you if you’d like.”

  She stared at him. After the last two days of strangeness, odd events, and unbelievable people, this was so normal and down-to-earth she could scarcely comprehend it. Craig radiated the simple piety of a man who didn’t hide behind the ceremony and Mafia-like intimidation of her Catholic Church, who merely tried to do what he thought God wanted. At the moment, she realized, he thought God wanted him to keep a total stranger from having a full breakdown.

  “Or,” he continued, “I can just sit here with you. Or leave. It’s up to you. But you don’t have to go through this alone, unless you want to.”

  She nodded. “I think I would like to be alone right now.”

  He stood. “Of course. Like I said, we’ll be right across the hall.”

  She looked up sharply. “But—”

  “What?”

  She swallowed again. “Will you pray for Justin?”

  “I will.”

  Bronwyn came into the room then and handed Veronica a beer. “That’ll feel good on your throat. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  * * *

  Across the hall, Bronwyn closed the door to their bedroom and faced her husband. Quietly, she said, “You amaze me, you know that?”

  He sat on the bed and kicked off his tennis shoes. “How so?”

  “When I was driving her here, I had no idea what to say to her.”

  “I didn’t really say much.”

  “But it was the right ‘not much.’”

  “I hope so.”

  Bronwyn sat down beside him. “Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting day.”

  “I’d be lying if I said the idea of it didn’t scare me to death right now.”

  “But you haven’t asked me not to go.”

  “No, and I won’t.”

  “We’ll be fine, hon. And we’ll come back.”

  She kissed him, and it turned passionate. They fell back on the bed together.

  “I heard what she asked you,” Bronwyn said softly. “For the record, I didn’t put a spell on you. It’s true love, fair and square.”

  “I never really doubted that.”

  They kissed again. And that led to more. Quietly.

  * * *

  In her darkened room, Veronica lay on the bed in her underwear and stared at the ceiling. She could hardly breathe from the weight of recent events, and would cry some more if she only had the energy. But she didn’t, and instead she studied the plaster swirls above her, visible in the faint glow from the night-light.

  At last she swung her feet off the bed, sat up and reached for her pack, which had somehow gotten from the ridge outside the cave into Bronwyn’s truck. She took out her tarot cards, and with shaking fingers managed to shuffle them and cut the deck three times. She wondered if it was some kind of sin to use the tarot in a minister’s house. She stared at the deck, took a deep breath, and turned over the top card.

  The Tower.

  The last time, she’d drawn Death, which did not really represent death. But the Tower was the card of death, of disaster, of the worst possible outcome.

  She stared at the card in her hand, then let it fall to the bed. She curled up and clutched a pillow to her chest.

  In the middle of the night, unable to sleep, Veronica cupped her hands over her cell phone as it rang on the other end. A sleepy male voice said, “Hello?”

  As quietly as she could without actually whispering, she said, “Mr. Tully? This is Veronica Lopez. I’m sorry for calling so late, but may I speak to Tanna?”

  “Sure, Veronica,” he said. She heard the phone get passed and the man say, “It’s Veronica Lopez.”

  Tanna Tully’s voice came on the line, clear and wide awake. “Veronica? Is something wrong?”

  Unable to control her shaking voice, she blurted out what had happened, and what card she’d pulled from the tarot. When she finished, she lay there gasping, trying not to sob. It all sounded so ludicrous.

  “That’s awful,” Tanna said with real sympath
y.

  Veronica asked the only question that mattered. “What d-do I do, Tanna?”

  “Have you called the police?”

  “I’ve been told that wouldn’t do any good. That they wouldn’t come, and even if they did, there’s nothing they can do.”

  “Do you think that’s true?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “If you’re right about what happened, the longer he’s there, the more danger he’s in.”

  “S-some of the locals … some Tufa locals are going in at first light. They don’t want me to go with them.”

  “Do you trust them?”

  Even though she didn’t know Bronwyn well, she trusted Craig, and he trusted Bronwyn. “One of them.”

  “Then you’ll have to follow your instincts.”

  Veronica found herself chuckling. “You want to know the worst part? I stood there on the edge of Fairyland and didn’t even think to take a picture. Now I have no proof at all.”

  “That should give you more sympathy for those people who never get a clear picture of Bigfoot.”

  Despite it all, Veronica laughed.

  “Do you want me to come there?” Tanna asked.

  “What?”

  “If we leave now, we can be there in five or six hours.”

  Veronica looked at the clock. “No. By then, I’ll know.” Know whether or not he’s coming back to me.

  “Call me, then, and let me know. All good thoughts your way, Veronica.”

  “Thanks.”

  They said good night. Veronica felt stronger, as she always did after speaking to Tanna. She turned on the bedside lamp and picked up her tarot deck. Without reshuffling, which kept the Tower card on the bottom of the deck, she put down the first card of a basic past-present-future reading.

  It was the World, in an upside-down position. It meant feeling the weight of everything, which was certainly accurate. But it was in the position of the past; had she been weighed down all along, and not realized it? By what?

  The next card, for the present, was the Devil, right side up. That represented feeling trapped, which again was certainly accurate.

  And finally, for the future, the Hanged Man, upright. That card meant that, in matters of the heart, it might be time to let go.