by Jamie Davis
“Clark used Hunter magic to cover me whenever I got close to folks. It helps that most have only a vague description of you. That and our looking close in age did the trick.”
Quinn’s fingers came up to play with her amulet. “I hope it’s enough to draw them out.”
“It won’t bring all of them,” Clark said. “But it should get some of Aurora’s security team away from the house. We said you were holding a rally downtown at the square outside City Hall. Aurora was supposed to attend an event down there with the mayor tonight. Now, Naomi has invited everyone to come down and join us to confront the Fae.”
Quinn smiled. “I wish I could see the look on Filippa’s and Aurora’s faces when they realize it’s you and not me.”
“When they do, Quinn,” Naomi said, “you’re not going to have much time to get out. You’ll have to work fast. Have you come up with a way to find the egg quickly once you’re inside?”
“I hope so. The egg and I have a thing going. If it works the way I think it does, the egg will tell me where it is once I’m close enough.”
At Clark’s puzzled expression, Quinn explained, “I talk to it sometimes, and it sort of responds to me.”
Clark chuckled. “I’m glad I didn’t know you were holding conversations with it before now. I might have thought you were going off the deep end.”
“It’s not all that crazy,” Naomi said. “Dragons are said to be very intelligent and fiercely loyal to those they consider friends. If the egg is preparing to hatch, Quinn could have a valuable ally there.”
“I don’t think the city needs a dragon flying around,” Clark replied. “But it could explain why you’re having those dreams. That dragon could grow up and cause a lot of trouble.”
“We can worry about that later,” Quinn said. “Right now, we need to get the egg back. My dream has to be a warning about what could happen if the egg and the dragon aren’t rescued. What time do you two need to be downtown?”
Naomi checked her phone. “We need to leave soon. We came back here to check in with you and Taylor to coordinate the time of my performance. Have you talked to her?”
“A few hours ago. She was buried in some sort of programming update and didn’t even look up when I came in. Miranda seemed hopeful it would be ready in time, though.”
Clark shook his head. “It had better be. We won’t be able to pull this off twice. They’ve already got guards surrounding the area to try to spot you leaving. We’re going to have to sneak past them as it is.”
Quinn got up. “I’m finished eating. Let’s go check on Taylor.”
The three of them headed to Taylor’s workshop. Just before Quinn got there, a bright white flash flared from under the door, followed by a loud bang. She rushed forward and pulled open the door.
A haze of gray smoke billowed out. Quinn waved her arms and called, “Taylor, Miranda, are you two okay?”
There was no answer, and Quinn went inside. Across the room, a standing fan in the corner switched on, and the smoke began to clear. Taylor sat coughing behind her worktable, gazing at her screen through tear-filled eyes.
“What happened?” Quinn asked.
Taylor looked up. “Huh?”
Quinn raised her voice. “I said, what happened?”
Taylor gave a half-grin and pointed to her ears. In a voice nearly as loud as Quinn’s, she said, “I think the explosion affected my ears. All I hear is ringing.”
Miranda floated over. “I was afraid something like this might happen.”
“What did she do?” Quinn asked. The ghost heard her fine.
“She wanted to account for the wild magic episodes we’d been having so you’d be able to deal with things that came up while you were inside. I warned her it wouldn’t work.”
Taylor looked up from the screen. “Hey, Miranda. You were right. It didn’t work.”
Quinn rolled her eyes.
Clark said, “Great. Does that mean the system is down?”
Miranda started to answer, but Taylor yelled from behind the monitors, “Wow, we’re lucky. The system’s still working, and the code I added seems to have stuck.” She looked at the others, who were staring at her. “Who’s the queen of the tech witches? This girl.”
“Taylor,” Quinn said, “are you sure it’s working correctly? I don’t want to get stuck inside a wall or something.”
“What?”
Quinn leaned over the triple monitors. “Can. You. Do. This?”
“Oh, no problem. Don’t worry, I won’t let you end up inside a wall.”
Clark shook his head. “This has ‘successful mission’ written all over it.”
“Don’t be a worrywart,” Naomi chided. “Taylor said it’s fine.”
“Yeah, but how’s she going to know when to bring Quinn back out?” Clark picked up the headsets they used when Quinn was inside VR. “She can’t hear the comm.”
Taylor held up her wireless earbud. “I think I can jack up the signal and run it through the computer’s external speakers. Miranda can relay things to me.”
Clark threw his hands in the air. “She’s a ghost. It’s not like she can write you notes.”
Quinn said. “We don’t have a choice. If the system is working, I have to go in tonight. Clark, you and Naomi go downtown and do your thing. Text me when you’re in place. Miranda, Taylor, and I will come up with a solution on this end.”
Naomi nodded and nudged Clark. “Let’s go.”
He urged, “Quinn, don’t go in if it looks like there’s a problem.”
Taylor gave Clark a thumbs-up and shouted, “Don’t worry. I won’t send her in if there’s a problem.”
Clark grumbled as he went out the door. “I’m too old for this crap.”
Quinn smiled as her mother and Clark pulled the door shut. “Okay, it looks like it’s going to be you and me, Miranda. Can you make sure Taylor knows what’s going on?”
“You know I’ll do my best, but all I can do is try to get her to read my lips.”
“Maybe the effects are temporary.”
Taylor had been fiddling with the communications gear. She handed Quinn her earpiece and the small belt pack that boosted the signal. “I’ve got you piped through these two speakers, and I’ve set up this mic by the monitors so you can hear Miranda. That should do for now.”
Quinn nodded and inserted the earpiece, then clipped the belt pack in place at her waist and sat on the edge of the table. “Now we wait for Clark and Naomi to get into position. In the meantime, let’s come up with a system of simple hand gestures you can use to communicate with Taylor.”
She picked up a pad of paper and started jotting down a few of the essential things she’d need to relay to Taylor. There wasn’t that much when she thought about it. The most important thing was when she needed Taylor to pull her out. Everything else was just progress updates.
Quinn held up the pad for Miranda to read the list of phrases. “These look good to you? All you have to do is point to the one I say so Taylor can do what she needs to on this end.”
“That’ll work. Anything else, I’ll get creative.”
Taylor smiled. “Ready to go? I just need the location in the home you want to show up at.”
Quinn thought about that. She’d only been in part of the house’s first floor, so her choices were limited. She could appear in any of the rooms off the central hallway, but there was nowhere to hide from what she remembered. In the end, she decided on the atrium where she and Aurora’d had their sit-down. The lush foliage would conceal her if she materialized in one of the corners.
Quinn jotted down the word “Atrium” on the pad and pointed to it.
Taylor smiled. “Okay. You’re the key, though. You have to keep the location firmly in your mind as you enter the system. I’ve set the code to meld with you as you go in. It should send you to the location you’re thinking about.”
Quinn nodded. It seemed simple enough.
“Ready?” Taylor asked.
Qui
nn was about to try to explain they were waiting to hear from Clark and Naomi when her mother sent a text.
Quinn sent back an okay and nodded at Taylor. While her friend fired up the VR system, Quinn picked up the rig and settled it over her head. She arranged the wire harness so it was out of the way as she lay down.
Taylor leaned over the monitors by Quinn’s head and tapped her friend on the shoulder. “Good to go. Counting you in now.”
Quinn pulled the goggles into place. As soon as she did, a tug on her mind took over. Quinn focused on the atrium’s corner, opposite where she’d sat talking to the princess weeks before. The tugging turned into a sharp pull, and Quinn fell backward into the darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
Quinn opened her eyes and crouched behind the thick foliage inside the atrium. She’d popped into the corner she’d envisioned. The glassed-in room at the back of Aurora’s home was dark. Only the hall lights outside the double French doors illuminated the area.
Crouched behind a three-foot-high pottery urn, Quinn peered through a cluster of ferns growing out of it. The tips of the ferns were at least six feet above the floor.
Tapping her earpiece, Quinn whispered, “I’m in, just where I wanted to be. I’ll touch base later once I get an idea where things are.”
Miranda replied, “I’ll let Taylor know. Be careful.”
Quinn cut the connection and listened to see if anyone was close by. When she didn’t hear anyone, she stood and peered around the fronds to check the hallway outside the glass doors. The corridor ran through the center of the house from the front door to the back. The staircase leading to the second floor was right next to the front door. She didn’t know what else was on the first floor here or where the stairs to access the basement lay. Quinn guessed Aurora had hidden the egg either in the basement or perhaps her personal chambers upstairs.
Opening her HUD, she smiled. The wild magic icon was highlighted, proof the egg was nearby. It also meant she might have an advantage. She engaged her earth sense as she had on the mountain and it worked. She now knew where every living thing was in the home, from the four Fae guards scattered around the house to the nest of spiders nestled in the rafters down in the basement. Most importantly, she detected the dragon egg somewhere beneath her, and there was only a single person downstairs with it. She tried to identify more about them, but their signature was unfamiliar. They weren’t human or Fae.
Concentrating on the four Fae guards, Quinn saw two in one room upstairs. They were playing a game, and their minds were occupied with that. Another guard stood at the corner of the house outside, watching the front door. The final one walked alone down the hallway on the second floor, away from the stairs. The way was clear for her to search for the way to the basement.
After whispering “Mist,” Quinn waited until the edges of her vision blurred. Hidden in shadow now, she moved out from behind the fern to stand by the door. She kept her senses tuned to the movements of the others upstairs and froze at a slight creak from the hinges. It seemed as loud as an alarm bell to her sensitive ears.
She opened the door enough for her to turn sideways and slide through the gap into the hall. Voices near the main entrance startled her. Quinn rechecked her map, but nothing had changed. The three Fae inside were all still upstairs. After a few seconds, she realized a TV had been left on. The faint flicker of light from the living room next to the front door confirmed her suspicions. Quinn took a few steps forward and checked to be sure. The TV was on, and a cold glass of beer sat on the table next to a chair. That was why the one Fae upstairs was on the move. He must’ve gone up to retrieve something. He’d be returning soon, so she had to work fast to search for the stairs to the basement.
Stepping from shadow to shadow, Quinn walked across the hall and through a short passage running beneath the steps to the second floor. She passed a powder room and then entered a small living room. Another door led from there toward the rear of the house and into the home’s kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, Quinn searched for something to tell her how to get to the basement. Two doors sat across the kitchen from where she stood. One was obviously the rear door to the home. She could see a narrow, closed porch through the window in the top half of the door.
The plain wooden door beside the back door might just be a pantry, but she had to check it. Quinn crossed the kitchen, passing the entrance to the dining room. She glanced inside as she passed. There was a long table in the center, with four chairs on either side but no entrance that looked like a basement door.
Quinn took two more steps and stopped next to the plain door. She leaned in to listen for any sounds on the other side and froze as soon when her skin touched the wood. Quinn’s HUD popped up again, but this time, it wasn’t the guards who drew her attention. It was the deep and overwhelming sadness coming from the other side of this door. It came from that person she couldn’t identify down in the basement. She knew two things now from her new earth sense ability: this was the door to the basement, and someone down there needed help.
Gripping the antique ceramic doorknob, Quinn pulled it open a crack and looked around it to see the other side. An open-sided wooden staircase led down to a concrete floor below.
Quinn started down the steps, closing the door behind her. As she descended, she tested each stair tread with a toe first to avoid any unnecessary squeaks.
About halfway down, Quinn stopped. The soft sound of someone crying came from somewhere down here. The faint sobbing hadn’t been loud enough for her to pick up at the top of the stairs.
Quinn crouched and bent down to peer into the basement from where she stood. She couldn’t see much beyond the landing at the foot of the steps. There were shelves on either side of a door, and there was more of the concrete floor beyond. The sobbing seemed to come from behind the door.
Quinn tiptoed the rest of the way to the bottom and surveyed the area. The rest of this part of the basement had shelves lining the walls. Boxes and odd junk filled most of the storage space. To the left was a stone-walled passageway leading to the rest of the basement. The crying was more apparent now, and it sounded like a child. They were behind the old wooden door on the wall across from the stairs. She still couldn’t determine what it was, only that it wasn’t human or Fae.
For a split second, Quinn considered searching the basement and ignoring the crying, but the deep sadness touching her through the earth sense connection tugged at her soul. She realized she had to help whoever was on the other side. It was the right thing to do.
Raising a hand, Quinn knocked lightly on the door. “Um, excuse me. Are you all right? I heard you crying and wondered if you needed help.”
The crying stopped as soon as she started talking. Someone cleared their throat and sniffled as if their nose had been running. “Who’s out there?”
“May I come in? I didn’t want to open the door without permission.”
The person on the other side paused so long that Quinn almost asked again. “Maybe you shouldn’t. My brothers tell me I scare people when they see me.”
With a statement like that, Quinn felt she had to open the door. “I won’t be scared. I promise. You sound so sad. Maybe I can help.”
“Okay, promise you won’t scream? You sound nice.”
“Cross my heart,” Quinn replied. “I’m opening the door now.”
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t the huge, green-skinned form sitting in near-total darkness clutching a small, very dim flashlight in its massive hands. The creature was so large it had to sit. There was no way it could have stood up straight in the low-ceilinged basement. That put it at well over six feet tall. Sitting in the corner, its head reached three-quarters of the way to the ceiling.
A broad face lifted to squint at her through the light streaming into the darkened room. The first things she saw were the two tusks jutting from the lower jaw to curve out and over the upper lip. The round, bulbous head was a little misshapen and not sym
metrical. The eyes, though, held all the humanity of an ordinary person and were filled with brimming tears and the expectation of hope.
“Hi, my name is Quinn. What’s yours?” she asked from the doorway.
“My brothers call me Theodore sometimes, but only when they are being nice. Usually, they call me worse things. They tell me I’m ugly, even for an orc.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know any orcs, but you look fine to me. Should I call you Theodore, then?”
The sad face broke into a half-smile at her request. “I don’t know, maybe.”
“Is there another name you’d prefer?” Quinn asked, smiling back at him. “What is it? If I’m going to help you, I need to know what to call you.”
“My mother used to call me Tadpole when I was little. That was a long time ago. She’s gone now. I’ve felt so alone since then.” Tears welled in the big eyes again.
Quinn smiled, “Don’t cry, Tadpole. It’s okay. I’m here with you, so you’re not alone right now. Why are you sitting down here in the dark with nothing but that beat-up flashlight?”
“My brothers went with the pretty lady to some important job in the city. I wanted to come along, but they told me I’d scare everyone and make the children scream and cry.” Tears dripped down Tadpole’s cheeks. “My brothers told me to sit down here in the dark where my ugly face wouldn’t upset the beautiful Fae upstairs.”
“That’s not very nice. Is that why you were crying?”
Tadpole shook his head. “Not entirely. It’s just that I have to stay here until they get back, and the flashlight is starting to go out. I don’t like it in the dark, Quinn. I know I should be grown up about it, but being alone in the dark without a light scares me.”
Quinn knew she had to get on with the real reason she was here, but she couldn’t leave the poor guy like this. He was a little kid in a monster’s body. She thought about a way to take him with her or help him escape somehow. That wasn’t why she was here, though. Plus, he was too large to come back through VR with her. She didn’t think he’d leave on his own to wander the city. He could’ve done that already.