by Sam Cheever
“You let it stay?”
“Um,”
“Ribbit!”
I looked up to find Slimy perched on the top step, looking stuck. “How in the world did you get up there?”
“Meow!” Wicked wound around my ankles, purring. At least he was happy to have a new playmate.
With a delighted shriek, Hobs flew down the banister and splatted into the wall, cackling breathlessly.
Sebille rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you let it stay. Do you know how much damage it will do?”
Hobs shot past up the stairs again. A beat later, he flew down and hit the long arm of the law…a.k.a. Sebille…when she stuck her bony limb out to stop him before he launched.
“Umph!” he grunted, toppling backward off the banister and hitting the concrete floor with another grunt.
“Sebille!” I hurried around to do CPR, arriving just in time to see the hobgoblin leap to his feet and yell, “Again!”
I sighed, shaking my head. “I couldn’t exterminate him, Sebille. And I couldn’t just cast him out onto the street. He’s just a kid, really. He has nobody. He had no place to go. I know I should have sent him on his way but…I just couldn’t.”
She stared at me for a minute and then slid a look toward the creature sliding down the banister. Hobs’s eyes were bright with hope that she would knock him to the floor again.
Sebille happily complied.
I groaned as he hit the concrete even harder than before.
“Wait for it,” Sebille said.
“Again!”
She grinned like a Cheshire cat as Hobs shot up the stairs once more. I realized in a moment of horrifying clarity that Hobs was Sebille’s perfect playmate. He was like the Wile E. Coyote to Sebille’s Roadrunner or the Charlie Brown to her Lucy.
I grabbed Hobs before he could charge back upstairs. “That’s enough fun.” I carried him squirming and laughing up the stairs. “Can you grab Slimy?” I asked Sebille.
When I had all three of the trouble makers confined in my apartment, I got food out of the refrigerator and we fixed ourselves a hodge-podge of a meal.
After we’d eaten, I sat back, rubbing my full belly. “So, Sebille, tell me where you went? Where are you sleeping?”
She shrugged. “In the library.”
I hadn’t seen her stuff in the library, anywhere. I knew it was a big place, but not big enough to hide the multitudinous collection of furniture and stuff my assistant had. “Where in the library?”
She shrugged. “We need a plan to deal with Kat.”
Yeah, we did. Especially since Sebille had thrown the gauntlet down in front of the powerful goddess. “Do you have any ideas?”
She shrugged. “Wait for her to come to Croakies and then kick her butt.”
“Simple. Elegant. Monumentally stupid,” I said.
“What do you suggest then?”
“We have a problem. Actually several of them. We can’t ask Madeline to help us because she’s gone. We don’t have Lea because she’s fighting the clock trying to help Grym. And Grym….” I let that thought slide away, the ending too obvious to state.
“So, you and I will take care of her. I’m sure mother would send some of her guard if we need them.”
“I don’t think you understand how much power we’re dealing with here. Her father saturates the air around himself with the stuff. Even if she isn’t as powerful as he is…and I have no idea if she is…he’s not going to let us play whack-a-goddess and just look the other way.”
We’d basically be dealing with both of them.
“I repeat. What do you suggest?”
I sighed. I didn’t have any idea how we were going to pull it off.
Hobs jumped up and stood on one of the empty chairs, his liquid gaze fixed longingly on the leftover fruit.
I shoved a thick wedge of apple his way.
Watching him eat, it occurred to me he might be able to tell us more about Kat. “Hobs, the lady who brought you here, did she have a lot of magic?”
His eyes went wide and his fingers stilled. “Yes, Miss. She hurt Hobs.”
Sebille shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “You mean, like shoving you off a banister?”
Hobs grinned. “No, that was fun!”
Sebille grinned back. “It really was, wasn’t it?”
I glared at Sebille before returning my attention to the hobgoblin. “Did you ever see a porcelain figurine at the lady’s house? A ballerina?”
Hobs said the word ballerina softly under his breath as if trying it on for size. “What is that?”
Sebille went downstairs and brought up the book, showing Hobs the picture we’d found earlier. “Like this?”
Hobs nodded enthusiastically. “Yep. But it wasn’t at her house, Miss. She carries it with her always. I like to listen to the pretty music and watch the lady dance.”
I frowned. “The lady dances?”
“The pretty lady spins and spins.”
I realized he was talking about the ballerina. Apparently, it played music. I looked at Sebille. “That must be how it spreads the magic?”
She nodded. “If she always carries it with her, how are we going to get the thing away from her.”
Inspiration struck. I glanced at Sebille, excitement making me bounce in my chair. “I know how we can beat her!”
Sebille waited with raised eyebrows.
“The pavilion at the park. It amplifies magic. If we put all the magical energy we can gather under that pavilion, we might just be able to trap her.”
Sebille thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, that might work. But how do we get her there?”
“I can get the lady there,” Hobs said, licking juice off his chin with a disturbingly long tongue.
“You can?” I asked the little creature. “Are you sure?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “I’m sure. If I can have some peach to take with me.”
I shoved a slice of peach toward him. “If you can get the lady to the pavilion for us, you can have all the peaches you want, Hobs.”
20
Back to the Magic
As before, the moon hung high and fat in the sky above the pavilion. The silvery glow bathed the grass around the structure, painting the tips of the leaves and creating a pretty pattern on the floorboards beneath our feet.
The usual sound of the crickets was accompanied by the insistent buzz of fairy wings as Queen Sindra’s guards flew the perimeter, setting spotters who would let us know when Kat arrived.
I half expected the woman to just drive up and park in the lot, assuming her arrogance would give her a sense of invulnerability against us. Plus, if Hobs did his job, she wouldn’t be expecting us to move against her, she’d be looking for victims for her youth-draining magic and she’d expect us to be unsuspecting dupes.
Thinking of Hobs, I frowned, my stomach churning with worry. I knew he was a wily little guy, and I’d given him instructions not to take unnecessary risks, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d sent a puppy into a den of wolves and it was making my heart pound a little too fast.
Or maybe that was just sheer terror of what we were about to do, which was on a slow drip through my chest.
I’d never gone up against a god-like entity before. I’d only ever been around one once. Geras’s power had made it hard to breathe when I was standing several feet away from him. I couldn’t imagine what he or his daughter would be capable of if threatened into an active fight.
Rustin floated over and offered me a phone. I slid my gaze over him as I took the phone from his hand. The power-enhancing energy of the pavilion had boosted the ghost witch’s form, making him look almost fully corporeal. His handsome face was pinched with worry and I knew that was partly because we couldn’t reach his aunt. And partly due to the news we’d received right before we’d left Croakies to come to the park.
Area 51 had called to tell us Margot Quilleran had somehow shaken off the four-dimensional glamour spe
ll Lea had layered onto her and disappeared from the prison facility. The assistant to the warden hadn’t been sure if she’d escaped or if trying to beat the glamour had killed her, turning her cockroach form to dust on the floor of her cell. He’d told us that the iron box she’d been kept in was twisted and half-melted away, and he was afraid she’d gotten out.
I added that to the long list of things to worry about.
Shoving all worries of the Quilleran enforcer aside to be addressed later, I focused on my current problem. I had bigger buttocks to blister at the moment.
I looked down at the phone and saw Lea’s name. “Hey! Did you find the cure?”
Lea sighed. “Not yet. I’m so sorry.”
I felt bad for putting pressure on her. I knew she was working as hard and as fast as she could. “No, I’m sorry for pushing. It’s just a little nerve-making here.”
“I can only imagine. I called to tell you that Theo’s on his way and he’s bringing Birte with him.”
That was great news. I had no idea how much good the giant could do, he was mostly brawn, with little magic of his own, but a fire-breathing dragon could definitely prove useful. “Thank the goddess,” I breathed. “What about Madeline?”
“Sorry. I only spoke to her briefly and we talked about the cure. She didn’t have much time and I figured that was priority. I did manage to ask her about defeating a goddess and she said, they get their power from legend.”
Butterfly bunions! “What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know. Maybe to defeat them you need to affect the legends somehow?”
And that was no help at all. Unless we could figure out a way to go back in time. I bit back a sigh, not wanting to make Lea feel worse than she already did. “Okay. Thanks for the good news about Theo and Birte.”
“My pleasure. I’ll get back to work.”
As I disconnected, Sebille buzzed toward us, a soft green glow making her easy to see in the dark. I hoped she could extinguish the light when Kat got there. Otherwise, she’d be much too easy a target to hit.
“The Fae are in place,” Sebille reported. “I just received a report that a car has entered the park.”
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm my heart. Swiping my moist palms over my jeans, I peered up at the sky, looking for Birte. “Any time now, Theo,” I murmured to myself.
I glanced at the picnic table behind me. Slimy and Wicked sat on the tabletop where I’d put them when we’d arrived.
Wicked was bathing a paw as if the world wasn’t about to end and Slimy was eating, a limp insect leg dangling from between his lips.
Ugh!
A wave of cold fear bloomed in my belly as the harsh reality of my situation hit me. It was me and Sebille, a ghost witch, a dozen Fae soldiers, a frog and a cat against massive power the likes of which I’d probably never see again.
What could possibly go wrong?
I heard tires on the gravel road and turned to Rustin. “Let’s do this.”
He nodded, bending down to put the finishing touches on the trapping sigil he’d drawn across the floor of the pavilion.
A light-colored sedan eased into view around the last bend in the park road and I narrowed my gaze on it, feeling as if I’d seen it before. As it drove into the lot, the moonlight painted the windshield, briefly illuminating the pretty strawberry blonde in the passenger seat and the dark-haired, square-jawed man who was driving.
I grinned, clapping my hands as I ran to greet my friends.
LA laughed as I threw myself at her, giving her a heartfelt hug. “You came!” I’d called her earlier, hoping I could entice her into my nightmare, but she hadn’t answered her phone, so I’d left her a message and prayed she’d get it in time.
“Sorry I missed your call. Deg and I have been up to our necks in troll politics at Familiar, Inc.”
The organization her grandmother had started served as ground zero for the governing elite and magical politics in Illusion City. The downside of LA being involved was that, as one of the governing council’s newest members, she spent way more time than she’d like dealing with inter-house squabbles and tedious entreaties by the magical members.
I gave Deg a little wave as he climbed out of the car. As always, I was struck by the dark good looks of the powerful witch.
He smiled my way. “Hey, Naida.”
“Thanks for coming, Deg. I owe you big time!”
He shook his head. “Believe it or not, I’m relieved to be here. Anything to get out of political Hades.”
The back door opened, and a tall woman with silky black hair that fell to her shoulders climbed out.
“Naida, this is our friend, Mandy. She’s a goddess with potions.”
Mandy gave me a cool, quiet greeting as three gray cats with yellow to orange eyes jumped from the car.
I squealed happily. Wicked yowled his delight and jumped down from the table, running to greet his littermates. All we were missing was Hex. And I was pretty sure Lea wished she and Hex could be there with us.
“You’ll have to stop by Lea’s shop and let Hex see the kids before you go back. She’ll be so disappointed she missed them.”
LA nodded. “We’d planned on it. Now tell me what’s going on.” She looped her arm through mine. We started back toward the pavilion. The kittens took off across the grass, tackling each other and rolling around biting and playing, long tails snapping the air with happy exuberance.
I quickly filled Deg, Mandy, and LA in on our nemesis and the limited resistance I’d been able to cobble together so far.
LA grinned when I told her about the dragon and giant who were coming. “Sweet!”
“Hopefully Brock and the dragon won’t bump into each other up there,” Mandy said in a throaty voice filled with arrogance.
When my eyes widened in surprise, LA nodded. “We brought the demon. But he didn’t want to ride in the car. He claims he’s allergic to magical cats.”
I laughed. “Knowing Brock, he just wanted to scope out the area before the fun started.”
“I’m sure that’s part of it,” Deg said, his dark silver gaze sliding over the sky. Despite the bright, nearly-full moon overhead, clouds had begun to gather above us, occasionally obscuring the silvery light we needed to generate the power-enhancing effects of the pavilion.
The worries that had plagued me since setting off on our nearly impossible journey returned in full force as a particularly dense bank of clouds swam over the moon.
As the clouds skidded on their way, the moonlight once again painting the clearing, my heart stopped beating for a moment. A dark form with huge wings overlaid the moon for a beat, the sight too reminiscent of the Quilleran enforcer in her predator shape.
“There’s Brock now,” Deg said, pointing.
I pulled air into my clenched lungs and closed my eyes in relief. I really needed to find my chi or I was going to have a stroke right on the spot.
The enormous creature flew straight toward us until he reached a height of about thirty feet and then he used his wings to slow his descent and lowered his feet so that, by the time his shoes hit the grass, he just took a step and continued walking toward us. It was the most beautiful landing I’d ever seen.
A demon Brock might be, but he wasn’t evil. At least not in the classic sense. LA had told me enough times how much he liked to tease and torture her for me to know that he was demonic like a bratty younger brother might be.
However, I had exactly zero sisterly feelings toward the ten feet tall demon with clawed fingers and thirty-foot-wide, sawtooth-edged wings. He was as terrifying as he was beautiful. Brock reached for my hand as he approached, folding his wings tidily along his back. “Naida,” he kissed the back of my hand and I heard Sebille sigh next to me.
“Ribbit!”
I looked down to find that Slimy had come to greet our newcomers. I scooped him up as the kittens ran over to check him out, unsure whether they would be as kind to him as Wicked had been.
Sin
ce he flies, maybe this one could tell me why there’s air since you’ve failed so miserably at it, Slimy groused.
LA sucked in a surprised gasp. “He’s talking now?”
“Yeah, unfortunately. Apparently, he’s ingested some residual magic from having Rustin on board.”
LA and Deg had aided me in our failed attempt to separate Rustin from his frog bus. Despite not having been successful, or maybe because of it, they’d stayed interested in Rustin’s progress.
Speaking of the ghost witch. Rustin came over and greeted my friends with a nod. “Thank you for coming to help.”
Ignoring his stiff behavior, Deg reached out and slapped him on the back. “We can’t afford to let this artifact go unchecked. It might make its way to Illusion City.”
Rustin nodded.
“I’m going to do recon,” Brock said, before jumping down off the platform and taking a running leap into the air. I watched his formidable wings drive him smoothly into the sky, his muscles bulging attractively with his efforts. I must have sighed because LA cleared her throat.
“Ah, the lure of the bad boy. It’s almost irresistible,” she said.
I flushed with embarrassment. “Who me?”
LA laughed. “So what’s the plan?”
I explained to her about the pavilion’s special magic. “As far as we can tell, Kat’s got god-like powers. We’re seriously out of our league here. I’ll take any advice you can give me on how to take this woman down.”
Deg looked at Rustin’s trapping spell. “With the cats here, I could give you some ideas for how to strengthen that.”
Rustin and Deg walked over to the collection of symbols and sigils, talking and pointing.
Mandy set a black bag on the picnic table. “I’ve got some potions that should help.” She pulled out a large jar filled with a swirling green cloud. “This will redirect any energy she flings toward us right back at her. She can’t destroy herself with her own energy, but she can definitely slow herself down.”
“I love that idea.”
Mandy pulled out two more jars, they looked like they were empty. “These obfuscation spells will make us blend into the background. I thought Deg and Brock could use them. Maybe they can sneak up on her if we keep her distracted enough.”