by Box Set
“Are they at least involved in some exciting illegal activity?”
Tora laughs. “I doubt you’ll think it’s exciting.” She lifts the topmost page from the pile on her desk and examines it. “His name is Edgar Hart and he lives with his wife on some fancy estate—the details are here for when you need to direct the faerie paths. His children are grown up and no longer live there. He and his wife do a lot of entertaining, and it seems their guests are not all of the human variety. The reason we know this is because the daughter of one of the Seelie Queen’s advisors ended up there a few days ago. She told her mother she saw a faerie from the Unseelie Court having a threatening conversation with Mr. Hart. He also gave Mr. Hart something, but she was unable to see what it was. Your assignment is to discover what object was given to him, retrieve it, and find out what he was told.”
I stare at Tora. “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds too straightforward. Are you sure that’s all there is to it?”
“Look, Vi.” Tora leans forward and rests her elbows on the desk. “Our Seers and guardians had nothing to do with this assignment. It came directly from the Seelie Court, which means the Queen has a special interest in it. That makes it very important, even if it is simple. So the Council didn’t want to give it to just any pair of trainees. They wanted the best.”
“So … you’re saying I should be flattered?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” I say with a long sigh. “Boring, old rich people. I can do that. Oh, and are we supposed to complete the assignment without ever revealing ourselves?” I pay particular attention to that rule now. Wouldn’t want to wind up suspended again.
“If you can, yes. But that rule only applies if you’re revealing yourself as a magical being. If you need to pretend that you’re human in order to gain information, then you may do so.”
“I see.” I frown. “I don’t remember being told that before.”
“Well, we tend not to tell trainees about that little loophole in the rule. They might take advantage of it, and it’s not as though any of the training assignments ever require a human façade.”
“I guess. Okay, so if that was the bad news, then what’s the really bad news?”
“Ugh.” Tora flops back in her chair and looks up at the ceiling. “Your partner.”
“My partner?” I know Honey’s not the best trainee in our class, but I could certainly do worse. “What’s wrong with my partner?”
She looks at me, guilt written all over her face. “It’s Oryn.”
I open my mouth—and then can’t figure out what I was going to say. That was definitely the last name I expected to hear. I’ve become so used to never having Ryn as either a partner or an opponent that I just assumed we’d never have to work together on anything. I clear my throat in an attempt to find my voice. “But … I thought Honey was supposed to be my partner.”
Surprise crosses Tora’s face. “How did you know that?”
“Oh, well, Honey said Tina gave her a hint.”
Tora sighs and shakes her head. “Am I the only one who sticks to the rules around here?”
“It’s possible, but I’m pretty sure Councilor Starkweather is ahead of you in that department.”
“No, she’s the one who called the impromptu meeting I was just at!” Tora says. “She reshuffled some of the pairings, even though they’re all meant to be random. Apparently it was brought to her attention that you and Ryn have never been paired before, and she thought now would be a good time to see how well you work together.”
I bite my lip as I slide a little lower in my chair. I’m guessing it would never have been ‘brought to her attention’ if I hadn’t told her about the unofficial rescue mission Ryn and I went on. She probably looked into our records to see what previous assignments we’d done together and came up with nothing.
So, technically, the only person I have to blame for receiving Ryn as a partner is myself.
“Look, it’s not too bad,” I say, not entirely sure which of us I’m trying to reassure. “Ryn and I … well, we’re sort of almost on speaking terms these days.”
Tora looks as shocked as if I just told her the Seelie Queen died and was being replaced by a giant, fluffy quirkizil. “You are? When did that happen?”
I shrug. I’m not allowed to mention the whole rescuing-Ryn’s-sister-from-an-Unseelie-Prince’s-dungeon thing. “In the past week or so, I guess.”
“Wow. I should go overseas more often,” Tora says. “Maybe next time I’ll return and you two will be actual friends instead of trying to hurt each other.”
I smile. “You never know.”
“Okay, well, you need to take this,” she says. She rolls up the pages with my assignment information and ties a piece of cord around them. “Ryn will get his own copy, but the two of you obviously need to look over the information together before Monday.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I stand up. “So that’s it for this meeting?”
“Yes.” She stands up too. “That was officially the last assignment I ever have to give you.” She stares at me, and I stare back. A sheen of tears gathers over her eyes.
“Oh, come on, don’t get soppy now.”
She sniffs. “You think this is soppy? Wait until your graduation.” I groan and she laughs, wiping at her eyes. “I know you like to keep your emotions boxed away, Miss Top-of-the-Class,” she says, reaching for the door handle, “but I know you’ll miss me too.”
* * *
I manage to leave the Guild without bumping into Ryn. I know we’ll have to meet at some point to plan this assignment, but at the Guild in front of his friends probably isn’t the best place. I arrive in my kitchen and see Filigree—still a pig—sniffing at a parcel on the counter. It’s in the spot where my mail always materializes.
“Oh, when did that arrive?” I ask, walking over to him. He looks up at me and makes a snuffling sound. “Yeah, I have no idea what you just said.” I pick up the parcel. It’s about the size of my palm, wrapped in fabric and tied with a ribbon. I open the note wedged beneath the ribbon.
* * *
I forgot to give this to you earlier! While I was away I visited one of those fairs with all the latest spells and gadgets and fell in love with these little guys. It’s a mirror, just like any other you’d use to communicate with, but when someone tries to get hold of you the mirror will jump up and come find you. Cute! Anyway, I thought you might like it. I have a green one. I named it Bartholomew.
Love, Tora
P.S. Flint already programmed it to recognize you.
* * *
“Hmm.” I pull the ribbon off and unfold the fabric to reveal a circular mirror. Protruding from one side of the circle are what look like two little legs, which would mean that the two skinny shapes folded across the mirror’s glass are … arms? And it’s purple. Honestly, what is it with people and their fixation on giving me purple gifts? Do they really think I want everything I own to match my hair and eyes?
Anyway, I should probably thank Tora. It is a cute gift, and it’s nice that she thought of me while she was away. I pull my amber out of my pocket and write her a quick thank-you message.
“Come, let’s read these assignment notes,” I tell Filigree. He shifts into cat form, jumps off the counter, and changes back to a pig. I head to the sitting room with my training bag over my shoulder, Filigree trotting behind me. I flop onto a couch and pull the rolled up assignment pages out of my bag. “Okay, are you ready to find out everything there is to know about Mr. Edgar Hart?” I help Filigree onto the couch where he positions himself next to me and rests his head on my knee. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”
An hour later Filigree is snoring and I’m almost asleep. Tora was right when she talked about boring, old rich people. It’s just golf, lunch, gym, salon, entertaining—and then they mix it up by doing the same activities in a different order the next day. Total snore. I feel sorry for whoever it was that had to watch the Harts lo
ng enough to figure out their daily schedule.
I feel my eyelids drooping when suddenly—
“VioletVioletVioletVioletViolet!”
“What the freak?” I jerk awake and jump to my feet, scattering papers everywhere as I search for the source of the high-pitched, squeaky voice that won’t stop calling my name. Then I see it. The purple mirror. Tearing across the floor on its little legs, pumping its tiny fists in its desperation to get to me. “VioletVioletVioletVioletViolet!” It slams into my leg, then grabs the bottom of my pants and starts yanking. Filigree, a bear now, roars and swipes at it.
“Okay, okay.” I bend to pick up the little guy and see Honey’s face in the mirror. When I touch the shiny surface, the squealing of my name finally stops. “Hello?”
“Hey!” Honey says. She waves at me. “I wanted to speak to you at the Guild, but Tora said you’d left.”
“Oh, yeah, I was avoiding my new partner.” I return to the couch.
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you.” She looks desperate. “I am so sorry about that.”
“Why? It’s not your fault we all got switched at the last minute.”
“I know, but I shouldn’t have said anything to you before. It must have made it even more of a shock when you found out it was actually Ryn.”
“Don’t worry about it, Honey. I can handle him.” I lean back and massage one of my shoulders with my free hand. “So, who’d you end up with?”
“Asami.” She shrugs. “He’s okay, I guess.”
I nod. “And where are you going?”
“Egypt!” She bounces up and down. “It’s so exciting. There are these bronze-skinned elves I’ve never heard of before that live inside the pyramids. And the Seers have Seen that some pixie-type creatures are about to invade the pyramids, and some humans are going to accidentally get involved, and basically we have to fix up the whole mess.”
“Wow. Sounds amazing.”
“I know.” Her smile couldn’t be any wider. “And what about you?”
I shake my head and let out a humorless laugh. “You should be grateful you’re not my partner anymore. My assignment isn’t half as exciting as yours.”
We talk a few minutes more before saying goodbye. I place the mirror on the couch beside me—where it promptly folds its arms back over its glossy surface—and start gathering my assignment pages from the floor. I stare at them a bit longer before finally deciding I need to visit Ryn. This assignment isn’t going to plan itself, and I can’t exactly do it without him.
Four
I exit the faerie paths in front of the tree that conceals Ryn’s home. It looks like any other tree in this part of the forest, but when I lean forward and gently blow air against the bark, gold dust rises to reveal a door knocker shaped like a mermaid. Stamping down my nerves—and telling myself I’m ridiculous for feeling nervous in the first place—I grab the mermaid’s tail and knock. Then I stand there, biting my lip and twisting my hands together. And right at that moment, I remember Ryn saying something about being with a girl tonight.
Crap it. This could get embarrassing. I reach hastily for my stylus, preparing to leave as quickly as I—
“Vi?” Light spills out of the open doorway on the tree, revealing Ryn’s mother Zinnia standing there. “What a nice surprise.” Her grin is wide as she steps back. “Please come in. Are you looking for Ryn?”
“Uh, yes. Is he in?” Please say no.
“Yes, he’s in the kitchen.”
The kitchen? “Oh, so, he’s alone tonight?”
“No, but I’m sure he won’t mind you being here.”
I highly doubt that. I step inside and follow her across the sitting room. “Sorry for just showing up,” I say. I used to do it all the time when I was younger, but it doesn’t feel right anymore.
“It’s not a problem at all. Ryn told me you two are partners for your final assignment, so I expected to see you this weekend. It’s … nice that you two will be working together.”
I raise an eyebrow. “If by ‘nice’ you mean ‘potentially disastrous,’ then yes. It will be nice.”
She stops with her hand on the kitchen door, looking momentarily horrified at my honesty. But then she laughs. “Well, I didn’t want to be the one to say it.”
“We’re all thinking it,” I tell her. “Someone may as well say it out loud.”
She chuckles as she pushes the door open. I follow her, steeling myself for the embarrassing situation I’m about to walk into.
The first thing I notice is the delicious aroma of honey cupcakes. The smell floats in the air, curling around me, conjuring up memories of happier times when Reed and my dad were still alive, and Ryn’s father hadn’t left Zinnia. Then my eyes fall on Ryn, sitting at the table playing a card game with—Calla?
The girl with the golden hair and eyes looks up, a smile spreading across her face when she sees me. She moves as though to get up, but then her smile turns shy, and she gives me a small wave instead.
I force my gaze back to Ryn. “This is why you didn’t want Dale over here tonight? You don’t want him to know you’re babysitting your little sister?”
Ryn glances at Calla, then glares at me as though my words may have offended her. But she’s busy examining the cards clutched in her hands and doesn’t seem bothered.
“You lied to your friends?” Zinnia asks as she pulls a chair out for me at the table.
“No.” Ryn leans back. “Dale asked if I had a girl over here tonight. I said yes. That wasn’t a lie.”
Zinnia rolls her eyes and heads for the oven. I place my scroll of assignment pages on the table and sit down.
“So, do you babysit often?” I ask.
Ryn lifts one shoulder in a gesture that could mean yes, no, or pretty much anything in between. “My dad and his, uh—” he glances across the room at Zinnia “—and Calla’s mom are out tonight. They don’t like to leave Calla alone at home.” He places a card with an illustration of a vine on it down on the table.
“I’m sure they don’t,” I mutter.
“What type of icing do you want, sweetie?” Zinnia asks Calla.
“Um.” Calla purses her lips while watching Ryn’s vine card strangle her kelpie card. “Can I have the one with the sparkles that tingle on your tongue, please?”
“The faerie kisses one?”
Calla giggles and nods. Apparently when you’re six years old, faerie kisses are too embarrassing to talk about, even if they’re only referring to a type of icing. With a wink at Calla, Zinnia turns back to her mixing bowl. I watch her as she adds ingredients, pushing her long, dark curls out of the way when they fall across her face. Am I the only one who finds this situation a little weird? Zinnia’s husband left her, formed a new union with someone else, had a child with that someone else, and now that child is sitting in Zinnia’s kitchen. And Zinnia is baking for her. I shake my head and turn back to the card game.
“Yay, centaur beats pixie!” Calla says, putting down her last card and throwing her arms into the air. A tiny cloud of dust rises from the table as the centaur card gallops over the pixie card.
“I guess you also didn’t want Dale seeing what kind of games you play on a Friday night, hey?” I tease.
Ryn’s blue eyes pierce mine. “Did you come here for a reason, Violet?”
Ooh, my full name. I must have struck a nerve. “A reason, hmm, let me think. Oh, there is that assignment we’ve been forced to do together. Remember that, Oryn? The most important assignment in our five years of training?
“Yeah.” He continues staring at me. “What about it?”
“Have you read the pages yet?”
“Nope.”
“Ryn! This is a straightforward assignment. If we plan properly we can get it done before Friday and get bonus points. I know you want to be top of the class just as badly as I do.”
He shakes his head, chuckling. “I don’t think there’s anyone who wants the top position as badly as you, V.”
I cross my arm
s. “Well, we still need to plan.”
“No, you need to relax.” He gathers the cards scattered across the table and throws them into the Card Eaters box Calla holds out to him. The box rattles as all the defeated cards reform. “We have plenty of time to—”
“No.” I point a finger at him. “Do you know what happens when people say they have plenty of—”
“Are you really pointing your finger at me?”
“So,” Zinnia says loudly. “Who’s ready for a cupcake?”
I stand up, my chair scraping back against the floor. I look at Ryn, then tilt my head toward the door.
“Are you trying to say something, V? A problem with your neck, maybe?”
Calla smacks him on the hand with the lid of the card box. “She wants you to go into the other room with her, stupid.”
“Oh, really?” He grins at his little sister. “Thanks, Cal. I never would have guessed.”
With a barely disguised groan of frustration, I head out to the sitting room. Ryn follows me, closes the door, and leans against the wall beside it, refusing to meet my gaze.
“Okay, look,” I say. “We have to figure out a way to work together. It’s not fun, but I know it’s not impossible either because we managed to do it when we rescued Calla. So all you have to do is pretend this assignment is as important as saving her life, and we’ll be fine.”
Ryn tightens his arms over his chest, but says nothing.
“Hello?” I wave a hand in front of his face. “Anyone in there?”
“I don’t know how to do this!” he says, abruptly throwing his hands up. He pushes himself away from the wall and sits down on the arm of a couch. “I don’t know how to be your friend.”
Well. That was unexpected. I sit down in the armchair opposite him. I try to think of something to say, but nothing seems right.
“When I sat on your bed and asked if we could be friends, I meant it,” he says. “I still want that. It’s just … I’m so used to not only ignoring you, but also intentionally trying to hurt you, that … I don’t know how to be nice.”