by J L Collins
“Believe me, my heart is deadset against it. I don’t want him to have anything to do with it. He’s a good kid. But Drusilla told me that Quicksilver is an incredibly fast flier—fast enough that the fairy elders keep asking him to take part in the triathlon for them.”
Where my mind was at was far from where I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to be suspicious of him. Why would he push his own best friend off the clock-tower? Why would he and Quicksilver be up on top of the clock-tower in the first place?
“I just can’t put together what happened with the sleep drugs. If anything, I think maybe Quicksilver found out that Helio had drugged some of the fairies. And maybe they were on top of the clock-tower when he found out, and Quicksilver maybe pushed him on accident?”
“That doesn’t explain the adhesive,” Ash said.
He was right, as much as I didn’t like it. “I know. I like the guy and I’m determined to prove myself wrong. I just don’t know how to without spooking him.”
He was quiet for a minute and then, “What do you think you’re going to do?”
I hadn’t gotten that far yet.
17
Take Your Own Advice
Overhead, The Cake Fairy’s cutesy sign had collected icicles overnight, giving the illusion of vanilla frosting topping the fluffy cupcake illustration. I smiled.
“She shouldn’t be too long,” Goldie said as the bell jingled above our heads.
“Let’s hope not. I told the team that I was taking lunch, but I don’t want them to think I’m shirking my duties or anything…”
The scent of sweet cream and flaky pastries filled my nostrils as I closed my eyes. It was positively sinful for such a place to exist that combined delicious and magical. This was my first time inside the shop itself and I was already planning my next trip.
Goldie perched on the back of a mint-colored chair. “You’re always there. Literally. You live less than one hundred feet away from the newsroom. I doubt they’ll think you’re shirking your duties,” she said with a snort. “You know, I have to admit that it does smell pleasant in here. I wouldn’t eat any of it of course, but I could see why you might want to.”
“Welcome to The Cake Fairy! We have a special going on today— half a dozen of our famous pink tea spouts for ten dollars!” a cheerful voice rang out from behind the front counter. The woman was so short that I had to stretch to see her well enough. Most of what I could see consisted of huge violet eyes and an even bigger lilac bouffant. Is it her real hair or a massive wig? It’s anyone’s guess, really.
“Ten dollars?” Goldie hissed at me.
I waved her off. “Shh! Don’t be rude.” I gave the woman a bright smile. “What are the pink tea spouts?”
The excitement in her eyes was contagious as she pulled out a pastel pink box. I had no idea what she was talking about, but it had to be good.
“The pink tea spouts are pink elderflower and vanilla flavored. We’re reworking our original recipes to match the supplies we have right now of, course.” She held up a cute pink cupcake with a pearlescent tea spout topping a swirl of crystalized pink frosting.
My eyes went wide. “Oh wow, that looks amazing. Does tea come out of the spout or something?”
With a sly smile, she handed it to me. “This one’s on the house. Why don’t you have a taste and see?”
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” I laughed and took it carefully, trying not to spill crumbs everywhere. I pulled the wrapper away enough to take a big bite and was met with a light and airy cupcake that tasted sweet and decadent with a hint of herbal tea. “Oh man, that’s good.”
Suddenly the spout whistled and a warm mist came out, tasting like sugary rain.
“Look at your skin, Indie!” Goldie said just as I saw my hands turning pearlescent like the mother of pearl ring I wore on my left hand. As far as I could see, everything on me looked like it was shimmering in a pearly way.
“Uh, well that’s unexpected,” I said. It was a cute trick but all I could think was whether I’d have an allergic reaction to it. It would be my luck at this point.
“Don’t worry honey, it’s temporary. We do it for the little ones, mind you. Give it five minutes and your skin will be back to normal,” the woman said with a wink. “Did you want me to wrap up a box for you?”
“I think my team at work would really appreciate it. Thank you…?”
“Dolores. Dolores Crabtree. I’ll get those sorted for you, and that will be ten dollars, please.”
I paid and thanked her, taking a seat.
“Sorry, Dolores, but do you know when Amortencia will be in?” Goldie piped up a few minutes later, her eyes trained on the front door.
“I can check for you, honey,” she said, disappearing into the deceivingly small hallway in the back of the shop.
Goldie nodded, distracted.
I watched her for a minute before speaking up. “You okay?”
“Maverick is supposed to drop in here with a package from Mathias to Amortencia. This is usually where her point of contact is for everyone,” she said, a little too casually. She even shrugged as if she couldn’t care less.
“Ah. That explains it. Goldie?”
“Hm?”
“Why don’t you just ask him out?”
The feathers on her chest puffed out as she whipped her head around to face me, spluttering. “Ask him out? What? Why? I don’t know what you mean.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think we’re a little past that. We both know you like him. Cut the bull and just go talk to him. You never know, he might feel the same about you.”
“I can’t just go up to him like that!” she scoffed.
“And why not?”
To be honest I had no idea how magical creatures paired up or mated or whatever you want to call it. But I imagined she and Maverick would make a cute couple. It wasn’t as though she was trying to date say, a snake.
“I don’t know. I just can’t… and what about you?”
“You can’t just pass the buck like that, you know. You can definitely take charge of the situation and go ask him out. The worst he can say is no. I swear, you can dive down from fifty feet above and pull up two feet before you crash land, and you’re telling me you can’t go talk to a bird that you’re already very familiar with?”
It was her turn to roll her eyes. “I don’t want to even hear it from you. You can give me advice when you take your own.”
I finished off the cupcake and laughed. “Take my own advice on what? Asking someone out?”
“Exactly.”
I leaned forward. “Just because you’ve never seen me do it doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m doing. I was engaged at one point, remember?”
She looked at me like I was missing something. “I recall, but that’s not what I mean. I think you know what I mean.”
I stared at her, waiting. “Spoiler alert, I don’t,” I finally said.
Goldie heaved the most dramatic sigh and settled down on the table. “I have a feeling this is one of those moments when you’re blind to reality.”
“Rude.”
“But not wrong.” She waited a beat. “I’m talking about you asking a specific someone out.”
I went to open my mouth but stopped, confused. My cheeks flooded with heat. How did she even know about Julian? I hadn’t told her or Fatima for that matter, and definitely not Ash…
Oh. Oh. “You mean… okay. See, the thing is I have a rule about dating friends. And if you’re talking about Ash, which I think you are because I’m certainly not dense enough to think you could be talking about anyone else, then you’ll see the rule being an issue. Me and Ash? We’re just—”
“Don’t you even do it,” Goldie squawked at me. “I’m around the two of you all the time, remember? It doesn’t take a daytime talk show host to recognize that you two are that annoying couple that aren’t together but actually are. They make feel-good movies on the Hallmark Channel about people like you.”
&n
bsp; The color in my cheeks must have been pinker than the walls around us. For someone as observant as Goldie, she was being completely childish. Ash and I have a different kind of friendship than her and I do, I admit that, but that’s where it ends.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or feel insulted. Just because a man and a woman are friends doesn't mean they have romantic feelings for each other. That’s such misogynistic thinking. Honestly!” I said louder over her chuckling. It was like she was trying to irritate the heck out of me.
“That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it. I’m just saying that you two have feelings for one another. The sooner you clear the air about it, the better. Right? Weren’t you just saying something about cutting the bull a few minutes ago…?” The corners around her beak turned upward in a fiendish grin.
I wanted to deny her outright and move on to a different conversation, but I tripped over the words until they no longer felt real.
Ash. I wasn’t lying when I said we were friends. Different, but still friends. The image of him pushing his dark hair out of his eyes as we looked over the map yesterday suddenly came to mind.
There was something. What that something was, I didn’t know. And I didn’t want to know, because then I would have yet another tether holding me in place in Charming Springs.
I thought about the warm smile on Julian’s face when he introduced himself at Ye Olde General Store. Man, he’d really done a number on my speech ability.
I shrugged, trying to push aside the embarrassment simmering under my skin. “I don’t have time to think about men, anyway. I’ve got too many things going on. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Charming Springs has definitely grown on me…” I said, dropping my voice to almost a whisper, “but I still prefer having the choice to come and go as I wish. As soon as I figure out a way, I’m still out of here. At least for a little while.”
It wasn’t news to Goldie, but there was a flickering in her golden eyes that looked like pain. “If you insist on being so stubborn then you can’t fault me for doing to the same. Anyway… where in the world is Amortencia? And where did Dolores run off to?”
She was right—we’d been waiting long enough for her to make even her fashionably late, late arrival valid.
As if summoned on the spot, Dolores came back out with flour all over her mint-colored apron. “I’m sorry, Goldie. Amortencia has just told me that she won’t be able to make it today. She has business to attend to that just popped up. She will let you know when she can reschedule, though,” she said with a regretful smile.
I groaned but thanked her anyway.
“Might as well head back to the newsroom. Say what you will about your skills as an editor, but you make a pretty good boss,” Goldie said.
We walked back out into the cold with matching smiles.
It didn’t take long to drive to the other side of town to the Gazette. With the cupcakes tucked up under my arm, I held the door open for Goldie so she could swoop inside. A chill continued inside,, where it was supposed to be much warmer.
“Why is the place shut down in here?” I mumbled to myself, flipping on the main switches. “I told them it helps keep the place warm without…Wait.”
A powdery dust shimmered underfoot as the light hit it. Odd prints, barely visible, led into the empty newsroom.
“What is this stuff?”
Goldie dove past me. “Indie…”
“Wait, come back in here. Did you see this—are you seeing this?” I ran my hand along an open seam in the wall I’d ever noticed before, frowning. “There’s this panel off the wall and it looks like there’s some kind of mechanism like maybe a springboard or…what?” I stopped short as I saw Goldie quickly hop across the floor ahead. My breath caught in my throat.
There on the floor, a high-heeled boot awkwardly stuck out behind Drusilla’s desk.
18
Bird Bait
My heart rammed against my ribcage as I set the cupcakes on a desk and rushed over to Drusilla. “Oh my god! Dru! Can you hear me?”
“She’s knocked out cold,” Goldie said, her voice squeaking. “We need to get help.”
I cursed under my breath and checked her closed eyes, but there was no response.
“What could’ve possibly happened…” Looking between Drusilla’s limp form and Goldie, I quickly nodded. “Okay. Okay, yeah. We need to get help.”
I was trying to keep myself from hyperventilating. I had to keep my calm. This was my business now and I had to take care of my girl. I leaned in to take a better look and noticed that the same shimmery dust was covering Drusilla’s face.
I frowned. “What the heck is this silvery powder everywhere?”
Goldie beat my hand away as I reached out to test it on my finger. “Are you insane? Drusilla is lying on the floor with that stuff all over her face and you think it’s a good idea to touch it?” She let out a snappish caw.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, resisting the urge to touch the powdery substance anyway. “Go find Natalia—she’ll know what to do with Drusilla. I don’t know if this stuff is fatal to vampires…”
Goldie nodded but added, “She’s a vampire. Unless you stake her in the heart or behead her, it won’t be fatal since she’s already technically dead. I can get Natalia and she’ll bring everyone else.”
Sure, that’s what we think we know. “I don’t want to take any chances. Straight to Natalia, okay? And Goldie? Don’t let anyone else find out about this. We don’t know who did It or what their intention was.”
“What about you? What if they’re still here?”
I shoved my hand deep in my coat pocket and pulled out the lighter I kept on me. I struck it and watched the flame dance in Goldie’s eyes before taking the flame and shaping it into a ball in my other hand. It hovered there, a warmth that barely tickled the skin of my outstretched palm.
“Then they’ll get a nasty surprise from this earth witch.”
No one but Fatima, Ash, and Goldie knew the truth about my powers. It looked like that may come in handy.
“I don’t know…”
“You do know. I’ll be fine. I’ll stay with her until Natalia shows up, and then I’m grabbing Ash and we’re going to find the person who did this to her.”
With that, Goldie was out the door and I got busy propping Drusilla up, careful not to touch any of the powder on her.
Even though I knew she wasn’t meant to have a pulse or breathe, I felt odd not checking them anyway. The tears were close to welling up in my eyes but I fought them back.
“I’m so sorry, Dru. This is my fault.”
Heavy footsteps fell down the hallway, scaring the heck out of me until I whipped my head around, somewhat relieved to see Henny making her way over. The scowl on her face softened and she leaned down to check Drusilla out.
I bit my lip. “I have no idea what happened. Do you?”
She shook her head. “He must have done this.”
“He? He who?”
For the second time today, I was given a look that made me feel like maybe I had lost my mind a little.
“Him.” She pointed toward Drusilla’s desk where the camera equipment sat, untouched for the day.
That’s odd. Why would he…
Oh my god.
I jumped up. “Do you mean Quicksilver?” When she nodded, my blood ran cold. “Did you see him in here?" So my hunch was right.
I did the only thing I could and faced down the possibility of having hired a murderer. I laid out the facts in my head to process what was going on.
Goldie was on her way to Natalia.
Ash was most likely at the library.
Drusilla was here in my arms.
Fatima… I couldn’t think of where she might be.
Quicksilver was out there somewhere.
And I was here, with more questions than I started with.
I didn’t want to leave Drusilla’s side, but I needed to make sure he wasn’t hanging around, ready to strike again. Desperate, I lo
oked around. How could I check? How could I make sure she was safe while I went looking around? There weren’t that many places one could hide, but if he created a nook in the wall just to knock someone out with what I assumed was the same sleeping drug he used on the fairies, well then… I couldn’t put anything past him.
It was all still so unbelievable… so much so, that if I hadn’t already been suspicious of him I wouldn’t have connected the dots. And I certainly wouldn’t have believed Henny.
I swallowed hard.
“Henny, do you think you could do me a favor? Could you go to the library and try and track down Ash? You know who he is, right?”
She was staring down at Drusilla. “Yes.”
I didn’t need to say another word as she literally turned tail, her now squashed furry face regarding me carefully for a moment before she took off out of the room.
There was nothing to do but wait. The most excruciating thing you could ask me to do, naturally.
“Dru, I swear to you when you wake up, because of course you’ll wake up!” I tried to laugh, holding her cool hand in mind. “But when you wake up, I promise we will get dinner and go clubbing afterward just like you’ve been begging me. I’ll even let you dress me up. Okay? Just wake up, please.”
The minutes on the clock stretched out like my thoughts, ticking along to mark not only the time but my effort to put together what had just happened.
“Indie?” His voice interrupted the silence. Ash was here and it took everything in me not to throw my arms around him. “What’s going on?”
He found us on the floor, and immediately dropped down to his knees beside me. “Tell me what happened.”
I explained what I knew, refusing to let myself to give into the tears that still threatened to fall. I wasn’t about to cry in front of Ash.
“This was Quicksilver’s doing? Are you sure about that?”
I shrugged, “I can’t be sure about anything right now. But remember how I said yesterday that I was starting to suspect that he may have had something to do with everything? What if he thought I was poking around a little too close to the truth? What if…”