What to Expect When You Have a Fae Baby (The Immortality Curse Book 2)

by Peter Glenn

  I offered her my hand, and she pushed it away.

  “Just kidding.” Kelsey shook her head and stared at the cauldron. “But good to know you guys are serious about this thing.”

  She stirred the cauldron with a long, wooden spoon a few times and then smacked the side a couple of times while muttering a few words I didn’t quite hear. Then she stirred the cauldron again.

  “Hmm,” she said, her expression souring. “It’s not supposed to be doing that.”

  “Doing what?” I asked.

  Kelsey put a hand in front of her. “Never mind, everything’s okay now. I think.”

  “You think?” She wasn’t exactly filling me with confidence.

  “Shh!” She kept staring down at the cauldron and smacked the side of it a couple times again. “We need absolute silence for this next part.”

  Kelsey went back to stirring the cauldron again, and I stayed so still and quiet I almost didn’t breathe for a full minute. I glanced over at LaLuna, and she was in a similar spot.

  I looked back over at Kelsey and the cauldron. A thin tendril of greenish smoke was billowing out of the top of it now.

  “There!” Kelsey said. “It’s done.”

  “Phew,” I muttered, sucking in a deep breath. “I had no idea that magic could be so demanding.”

  “Oh, it’s not,” Kelsey said with a slight grin and a chuckle. “You guys are just so easy to fool, and it’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun.”

  I had half a mind to say some sort of witty comeback, but she had just done us a favor, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “Baby Grace, right?” she said. Both LaLuna, and I nodded. “Yep, I’ve got her. She’s somewhere out in Selah, Washington.”

  “Selah?” I’d heard of the town once, but it was hours from here.

  Kelsey nodded. “Selah it is.”

  “How can you be so certain?” I asked her.

  “Easy.” She motioned for me to look down at the bubbling cauldron. “The smoke from the cauldron fans out to make a map of the state, and I just look for the glowing dot on the top of it.”

  “Really?” I craned my neck forward and peeked into the cauldron to see some bubbling liquid and a little bit of smoke coming off it, but no map.

  “Man, you are so easy!” Kelsey said, bursting out laughing. “Of course there’s no map! Magic isn’t quite that precise!”

  My expression soured, but she’d tricked me fair and square. And good, too. Most people couldn’t pull one over on me quite like that. I was beginning to like this Kelsey chick.

  “But then how did you–?”

  “Know where that baby of yours is?” Kelsey finished for me. “I mean really know?”

  Once again, I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Well... there’s no magical map, but sometimes things will come to me when I use magic. Things like visions. And I just so happened to have seen a city name sign in one of those little visions. Easy peasy.”

  Part of me wondered if she was teasing me again, but her face looked deadly serious this time.

  “You have my gratitude, Mistress Kelsey,” LaLuna said. “We will make haste for this Selah place.”

  Kelsey waved a hand dismissively. “Ah, don’t mention it. It’s all good.” She winked at LaLuna. “Besides, I’m not done with the gift-giving just yet.”

  She reached down into the bubbling cauldron with her bare hand. I winced and rushed forward, but she warded me off. A moment later, her hand came back up out of the liquid, looking no worse for the wear and holding the little ball bearing from Grace’s rattle.

  “Here,” Kelsey said. She waved her other hand over the little pebble and uttered a few words of some other spell, and it started to pulse and glow ever so slightly with a slight whitish hue. “This is for the both of you. It will pulse faster and brighter when you get closer to baby Grace.”

  I gingerly accepted the token. “For real this time?” I asked her.

  Kelsey nodded. “For real. Even a smaller town like Selah is still pretty big, and I figured by the time you two got there, she could have been moved again, so this will help you track her down for as long as the baby lives.”

  “Well, thank you, Kelsey,” I told her.

  She shrugged. “Just be sure to tell me how it all ends, okay? Don’t forget that promise! There’s not enough entertainment on this blasted island!”

  I laughed a little and nodded, adding her name to the growing list of people I’d have to call when this was over.

  “Will do.”

  WE HAD BEEN DRIVING for a few hours and were getting closer to Selah, Washington. I glanced over at LaLuna. She was staring down at the little glowing ball bearing intently. The glow on it had gone from a dull throb to a medium pulse, and it had gone from off white to a yellowish color, so I could only assume we were getting closer.

  I kept looking at her for a moment, and she looked over at me as well, our eyes meeting briefly. There was something in her eyes that I couldn’t place. Worry for Grace, certainly, but something else as well. Had that longing sensation returned?

  I returned my attention to the road, but in my mind’s eye, I relived the kiss from the previous night all over again. It had been nothing short of perfect until I’d messed it up by slamming my head into that pipe. Warm, soft, and fiery all at the same time.

  And I’d kissed my fair share of girls in my day. Even dated a handful from time to time. It wasn’t normally my thing, since I didn’t want to have any kids; I didn’t like immortality and didn’t want to force it on anyone else, either. Still, I’d dated plenty of people in my day.

  But this? This was something else. Something... better. And I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  My eyes trailed over to where LaLuna was sitting once more. I could see a great deal of tension in her face as she stared at that little piece of metal. She must have caught me staring, because she turned her head to look at me again and gave me a little grin.

  Heat rose to my cheeks at the sight of that smile, and I couldn’t help but to grin right back at her.

  “So...” I said, trying to break the silence. “We’re getting closer to Grace, eh?”

  LaLuna nodded. “Indeed.”

  Smooth move there, slick. Ask about the baby when you want to be asking for a repeat of last night. Way to go.

  I’m such a moron.

  “That’s a, err... good thing, right?” I stammered. “Means they haven’t moved her or anything.”

  “Mm, I suppose so,” LaLuna told me. She went back to staring at the ball bearing. Was the pulsing of the light speeding up? It seemed like it.

  I cleared my throat. “What do you think we’ll find when we get there?” I’d already ruined the moment again, so I might as well talk about something productive.

  LaLuna shrugged. “I’m not sure. Elden and Grace, certainly, but I’m not sure what kind of backup he’ll have this time.” She bit her lip. “We still don’t even know why he took her in the first place, remember? But at least he hasn’t killed her yet, so there’s hope.”

  “Totally.” I nodded. “That’s a very good thing.”

  “Pretty soon, this will all be over,” LaLuna said, still staring at the metal.

  “Yep.” I glanced back at the road. It was pretty clear. The town of Yakima was coming up pretty soon. Yakima was only a few miles from Selah. “Real soon.”

  And what next, I wanted to ask. What are we going to do then? But I kept silent, because I knew I wasn’t really referring to the baby in that instance, but to the two of us. I knew I wanted to see more of LaLuna when this was over, but I didn’t know how to broach that subject.

  LaLuna let out a big sigh. “Once we rescue Grace, I suppose you can go back to your normal life, if you want.”

  “Uh huh,” I replied. There it was. The final nail in the coffin of what could have been a great relationship. “I guess so.”

  She glanced up from the ball bearing then and looked straight at me. There was a tinge of wetness unde
r her eyes, like she’d contemplated crying but hadn’t quite gotten there. Was she sad about the prospect of our parting? Had I read it all wrong?

  I opened my mouth to tell her my thoughts, but nothing came out. My throat felt dry and raw, and the words wouldn’t come.

  “I... uh... ahem...” I was ruining it again. I had to think fast. “How about we listen to the radio?” I blurted out, then instantly regretted it.

  “Sure,” LaLuna said with a shrug.

  Resigning myself to a life of loneliness, I pushed the power button on the radio to get it going. It flared quickly to life. I pressed the scan button to find a nearby radio station. Normally, I listened to 80s pop, but the radio stations were all different on this side of the mountains.

  “Stay right here for 90s favorites,” the radio announcer’s voice blared.

  The 90s weren’t bad. I could handle that.

  The announcer’s voice died down, and the blood drained from my face. It was Avril Lavine’s Girlfriend blaring out at me. I didn’t need any reminding of the relationship I most definitely was not going to have with LaLuna when this was all over.

  “Heh,” I muttered, quickly changing the station. “Maybe something else.”

  “Whatever you like, Damian.” Her voice was distant, like she wasn’t paying attention.

  The radio dial spun a bit and finally settled on 101.4 The Hits! Instantly, the song Hole-Hearted started up, right in the middle of the chorus.

  I felt hot and stuffy, like I needed to air out my shirt and fanned myself with the collar a little, then fumbled to quickly change the station again.

  Once more, the radio dial spun. This time, it started blaring the lyrics to Love of a Lifetime.

  Grunting, I smashed the power button to turn off the radio. “Maybe we’ll just sit in silence,” I offered with a slight grin.

  “Okay.” LaLuna smiled right back at me, and I felt my insides turn to mush.

  “All right, universe, I get it!” I exclaimed. “I’ll do it!”

  “Huh?” LaLuna looked up at me, head cocked to the side.

  Now or never, Damian.

  “Look,” I started, “I’m not quite sure how to say this, so I’m just going to start from the top and hope you don’t hate me for it later.”

  LaLuna giggled a little. “Whatever are you talking about, Damian?”

  I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Look, there’s no denying the two of us have a... connection.”

  “Sure. We’re on the same mission together. Of course that’s going to cause a bond.” LaLuna squeezed my hand gently. “I totally understand.”

  Ugh. I was getting nowhere.

  I pulled on my face. “Okay, what I’m trying to say is...”

  “Look!” LaLuna shouted, interrupting me. She was pointing toward a spot in the sky not that far from us.

  I turned my attention toward where she was pointing and dropped my train of thought as my jaw gaped open in amazement.

  Love talk would have to wait. We’d found baby Grace.

  Chapter Fourteen

  THERE WERE SO MANY fae assembled, I could barely believe my eyes. There must have been at least a hundred of them, all told, of several different varieties, all looking as dangerous as the next one. And they were only a hundred meters or so away from us.

  “Stop! Pull over!” LaLuna demanded.

  I didn’t need any prodding. I slammed on the breaks, and the car skidded to a halt on the asphalt with a loud screech. Under normal circumstances, I would have been worried about the noise alerting others to our presence, but that didn’t seem to be an issue at the moment. They were far too focused on each other.

  Turning the car off, I threw the door open, vaulting out of the car almost in the same motion. LaLuna glided out of her side as well, and together, we sized up the horde.

  LaLuna bolted, running straight toward the giant knot of fae, but I grabbed onto her shoulder to pull her back.

  “We need to see what’s going on, first.”

  So far, none of the fae had done much of anything except stand there. Was there going to be a battle? If so, who was on which side?

  I felt LaLuna strain against my hand, desperate to join in and locate Grace, but I held fast. “If we charge in without knowing what’s going on, we could all die.”

  That seemed to do the trick. LaLuna stopped struggling, and I relaxed my grip.

  “Fine,” she spat. But she didn’t look happy about it.

  Whatever. So long as she didn’t get herself killed, I could live with the rest.

  Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long for an answer. The assembled fae milled about, forming a clearing in the center of the group. Two fae floated down out of the air, landing and standing opposite each other in the small space and glaring at one another.

  Elden and Alyta.

  “Give us the baby!” Alyta demanded of Elden. “Tell us where she is!”

  “Never!” Elden cried. “I’d sooner die than give her to you.”

  Alyta’s eyes flickered for a second and a fireball appeared in her hands. “That can be arranged.”

  Before anyone could even blink, Alyta flung the fireball at Elden’s head. He brought up his own shield of green fire to block the blow just in time, and it fizzled into nothing against his bulwark.

  The scene erupted into chaos. Fae from both sides took up arms, fighting against each other. LaLuna and I stood on the sidelines, watching it all enfold, seemingly unnoticed in the frenzy.

  I turned my attention to LaLuna. “Go look for baby Grace! You have the tracking device and Elden hid her somewhere around here.” I looked deep into her hardened blue eyes and put my hands on her shoulders. “If you can find her, get her and take her out of here. Don’t stop, just run away.”

  “What are you going to do?” LaLuna asked, worry spelled out all over her face.

  The corners of my lips curled upward into a snarling smile. “I’m going to cause a distraction to buy you time, of course.”

  LaLuna stood there for a moment, biting her lip and not moving. She looked like she was about to say something, but no words came.

  “Go!” I shouted at her, shoving her away. “Don’t think about it, just go! The sooner you find the baby, the sooner we can all get out of here!”

  That did the trick. She nodded and headed off, the ball bearing held firm in one hand. Soon enough, she disappeared somewhere into the fray, lost in the action. To be honest, I was a little worried about her getting caught in the crossfire, but I’d seen her in action once before. She would be fine.

  Me on the other hand? Maybe this’d finally be my chance to go out swinging.

  My hand tightened around the hilt of Grax’thor, and I unsheathed her, holding her aloft. “Ready, girl?”

  Go die in a fire.

  “Just as bubbly as ever.” I shot her a cheeky grin, hoping she could see it.

  Who knew? Maybe this time I would do just that. Have to think positive, right?

  I sized up the melee unfolding before me. The two sides seemed to be fairly evenly matched. Each fae had an opponent, and the sea of grim expressions told me they were all determined to kill.

  Which made my part easier. I could just help them all die without picking sides.

  I approached the closest two combatants with Grax’thor held high. It consisted of a tree-looking thing that was fighting a bipedal insect with long claws and sharp mandibles.

  The insect-thing creeped me out, so I went after it first.

  My blade flew in a wide arc, catching the creature off guard and slicing into its closest arm. The tip sunk in deep, leaving behind a nasty gash as I retracted the blade. Thick, black blood oozed out of the wound as the creature hissed and turned to face me.

  Before it could react, I followed that up with a vertical slice that ripped a gaping hole in its torso. Some of the thing’s guts stuck to my blade as it swung up and out of its husk, leaving behind a gory trail. The bug hissed again and fell to the side.

&nbs
p; The ground beneath me started to rumble as the tree fae turned its attention on me. I weaved backward in an attempt to dodge whatever was coming next.

  But my attempt was for naught. A massive tree root popped out of the ground, shooting toward my unprotected legs.

  I stumbled and fell backward to avoid it, slamming my side hard into the earth and knocking the wind from my lungs. Pain shot up my side, but I ignored it and spun around, looking for the tree.

  A sharp branch tip came for me next, slicing downward like a sword lunge. The tip reached for my neck. I shrank against the ground, and it passed right over me.

  I batted at the branch with my weapon, forcing it backward and sending it wide. Then, while the tree was readying its next attack, I rolled over and pushed myself up onto my feet.

  Tree Fae’s eyes glowed a strange, black color, and I braced myself for its next attack, but nothing came. Right before my eyes, the creature started to wither away, its bark skin drying up as the light in its eyes dimmed to nothing, and it fell over, crushing another fae combatant in the process.

  “Huh?” I scrunched my nose and stared at it for a half second.

  I’d barely even grazed it with Grax’thor. Had something else killed it for me? Then it dawned on me. LaLuna had mentioned earlier that cold iron would kill a nature fae. Apparently, she was as good as her word.

  I’d have to remember that for the next woodland fae I came across. But first, I had to kill the fae that was currently seething at me.

  This one was a little smaller than an average human and had bluish skin and leathery wings sprouting from its back. I wondered if it was some kind of water fae, which would suck for it, because we were in one of the drier sections of the Pacific Northwest.

  Small Blue gnashed its fangs and advanced.

  I came at it with a low swipe of my blade meant to take out one of its legs. It dodged the swipe handily and countered with one of its own. Bony claws descended, aiming for my midsection. I brought Grax’thor around to block, but the sword tip passed right through Small Blue’s arm instead.

  Her—I thought it was a her—body was ephemeral, but her claws were real enough, raking across my stomach. New tears opened up in the shirt and my tender skin underneath as a hail of blood droplets fell from her claws. My blood.