by A W Hartoin
“There’s been a change of plan, Mom.” I stood up, forcing her to look at me. “We’re going out tomorrow.”
“No, we are not. It’s been a long trip and we need a couple of days to rest. I’m not sure you should go at all with your situation.”
“My situation is fine. I should be the one to talk to the vermillion. I’m the healer.”
“You’re fourteen. Dad and I can do it.”
“Really. You don’t mind going out there into Paris? The city of your birth with all the rebels and stuff.”
Mom stood up straight and gave me a hard look. “No, I don’t.”
She was such a bad liar. Mom was scared to death. Only her love of Miss Penrose had gotten her here in the first place. Mom had been born in Paris while her mother, Grandma Vi, had been having the greatest adventure of her life with her best friend, Lucien. Grandma Vi told Mom her stories and managed to scare her so much she would rather be hopelessly boring than have one single adventure.
“That won’t be necessary,” said Lucrece. “Lrag and Bentha can accompany Matilda.”
“That’s true.” Mom sighed with relief. “They can go and you can stay here, safe.”
Safe and bored out of my mind.
“That’s not happening. I didn’t come all the way here just to stay in the apartment,” I said, glaring at her.
“You’re fourteen and —”
“I know how old I am. You don’t have to keep reminding me.”
“Apparently, I do.”
“I’ve done more in the last year than you have in your whole life,” I said.
“Those things shouldn’t have happened. It was an accident that the humans got you into the antique mall in the first place.”
“It’s not an accident that I’m a kindler, that I can do things that nobody else can.”
“And look what it’s gotten you.” She looked at my leg and cringed. “You’ll never be the same.”
“So what? It’s not that big a deal. You just want to hide me away, so nothing else can happen to me ever.”
Mom crossed her arms, her cheeks bright red, but she didn’t deny it.
“That’s it, isn’t it? You don’t care if people know where we are. You just don’t want me to make fire at all.”
“I’m going to get your father!” Mom yelled.
“Go ahead. I’ll still be a kindler with a crappy leg when you get back.”
Mom threw up her hands and darted out the door.
“Whoa,” said Tess. “Your mom is totally freaking out.”
“She’s never going to let you go,” said Iris.
“I’d like to see her stop me,” I said.
Lucrece cracked me on the back of the head. “Enough. This is no way to run a business.”
“Ouch.”
“Quiet. We have to prepare to start tomorrow. Matilda, you have to treat your pain and swelling with something stronger.”
“Tess,” I said, rubbing my head. “Can you heat up some water? We have to brew a stronger batch of kaki persimmon root for Miss Penrose. Maybe that will help.”
“And white willow for you,” said Iris.
“That, too.”
The rest of the day went by quickly. After Miss Penrose took her double-strong dose of kaki, the blueing lips cleared and the swelling receded a little. She went back to sleep and I had a double-strong dose of white willow and meadowsweet for pain and swelling. I felt so much better that I didn’t mind the three separate times Dad yelled at me. Mostly, he was just mad that I upset Mom, but he did manage—just barely—to convince me that I should stick to concealing my fire. He used Miss Penrose to do it. Pretty low in my opinion, but it worked. He said we couldn’t afford anything to slow us down, given her worsening condition. The horen finding out my location, or even the royal guards, would slow us down. Dad and I came to an agreement. I could go find the vermillion, but only if Lrag or Bentha were with me. I could live with that.
We unpacked and studied multiple maps. The metro looked useful, since Lrag and Bentha couldn’t fly. I wasn’t up to flying all day anyway. Everyone, humans and fairies alike, settled down for a nap in the late afternoon. I’d been awake for thirty-four hours and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Daiki dominated my dreams as usual. He talked to me. He liked me in spite of everything. I always woke up sad that it wasn’t real.
Someone shook my shoulder and Daiki was gone. I rolled over, but they rolled me right back.
“Go away. I’m sleeping,” I mumbled. Rufus was attached to the lower half of my face, but I didn’t bother to remove him. He’d just climb back on.
The shaking got more violent and my palms began to tingle. I opened my eyes to slits just before I decided to give the shaker a fire facial.
“Matilda,” said Iris. “Somebody’s here.”
“Yeah. Us. Go away.” I closed my eyes.
She shook me again.
“You know I can kill you, right?” I peeled Rufus off and held him dangling by the tail.
“Somebody’s here.”
“Did you tell Mom and Dad?”
“I’m not talking to them. You made them crazy mad.”
“Fine. Who is it?”
“Some sort of fairy. They’re sneaking around. I don’t think they know we’re here.”
I yawned and stretched. “Not the royal guard?”
“No way. It’s a man and woman. They’re whispering. They sound scared.”
I sat up and Rufus wrapped himself around my neck like a scarf. Miss Penrose slept peacefully beside me with pink lips and Lucrece close beside her. Tess was on her new four-poster bed, curled up in a ball.
“Is everyone asleep, except you and me?” I asked.
“Yes.” Iris yanked my arm. “Come on.”
I followed Iris out of the bedroom, down the hall to the kitchen, and landed just outside the dining room archway.
“They’re in there,” said Iris.
“What are they saying?”
“I don’t know. They’re speaking French.”
I put my hand on the rosewood arch and peeked around. There, under a delicate sideboard, was a pair of winged fairies with two suitcases each and very worried expressions. The woman dropped her cases and spoke rapidly to the man. I knew I should stop spying on them, but I couldn’t help myself. I’d never seen anyone like them. The woman had shoulder-length blond hair held back with a paisley scarf that emphasized her slanted brown eyes and high arched brows. She was dressed in a ruby red billowy top and tight pants, but the best part of her outfit was the boots, thigh-high velvety black ones with thin heels and pointy toes. She and the man had the same wings, forest green with streaks of gold. But the man looked nothing like the woman. He was extremely thin with a lovely head of curly brown hair. He wore an outfit that looked like he ought to be riding a horse with brass buckled boots to the knee and a green cravat.
Iris edged around me, her mouth in an O. “Who are they?”
I shrugged. Whoever they were they weren’t happy. The man threw up his hands and probably yelled, although I couldn’t hear it. Then he flitted across the room, down under a wine cabinet, and disappeared inside a rat hole I hadn’t noticed before. An instant later he flew back to the woman, shaking his head. The woman began pacing. She walked away from us, then spun around on her spiky heels and after taking two steps in our direction, she spotted us. We all froze. Iris and me from the embarrassment of being discovered, but with the others it was something else. If I had to guess I would’ve said it was terror.
I stood up straight and brushed my traveling clothes that had managed to get even more wrinkly since I’d slept in them. “Stay here, Iris.”
“No way. I want to meet them.”
“They might be dangerous,” I said.
“Not in those clothes.”
Iris was right. They weren’t dressed for fighting. I don’t know what they were dressed for. It was nothing I’d ever done.
The two of them backed up, abandoning thei
r luggage and looking for an escape route, but we were in the only exit.
“Come on, Iris.” I flew over and landed a foot from them. They continued to back up and I waved. “Hello. Do you speak English?”
The moment I spoke their faces changed and they both blew out sighs.
“We do,” said the woman. “Are you …Americans?”
“Yes,” said Iris, clapping her hands. “We just got here.”
“When?” asked the man.
“This morning.” I walked over and held out my hand like Dad said I should though I rarely did. But those two looked like hand-shaking types and they were. The man took my hand first. That hand was a surprise. It was callused and hard. So was the woman’s. I wouldn’t have imagined her to have any kind of roughness.
“I am Roberto Marfisi.” He hesitated and was going to say something else, but finished with, “At your service.”
“And I am his wife, Delphine,” said the woman with a sparkling smile and curious glance at my bandaged leg.
“Is this your house?” I asked. “We thought it was unoccupied.”
“We don’t live here. We’re just visiting…the city,” said Roberto.
“We’re from out of town,” said Delphine.
“Like us,” said Iris. “Where are you from?
“Versailles,” said Roberto.
Delphine shot him a look. “We don’t want to give you the wrong impression. We live in the town of Versailles, not the palace. We don’t live in the palace.”
“There’s a palace in your town.” Iris clapped her hands. “I want to see it.”
“You don’t need to travel to Versailles. There are palaces here in Paris,” said Roberto.
“The Louvre, right?” I asked.
“That’s one.”
“But that’s a museum. It’s not very palacey,” said Iris with a wrinkled nose.
Roberto and Delphine laughed and then got serious.
“We should go,” said Roberto. “We don’t want to interrupt your privacy.”
Delphine went white. “Maybe we could stay a little while and meet your parents. You do have parents.”
“They’re taking a nap, but they’ll want to meet you. You’re the first fairies we’ve met here,” I said.
“No, they’re not,” said Iris. “We met the royal guard. They weren’t very nice.”
“The guards can be rather strict,” said Delphine.
“They have their reasons. So how long will you be here? Just a few days seeing the sights?” asked Roberto. I heard the hope in his voice.
“We’ll be here three months,” I said.
“Three months?”
“It’s just a long trip. We’re tourists, like you.”
“Yes,” said Delphine, taking Roberto’s arm. “Like you.”
Iris touched my hand. “Someone’s coming. A lot of someones.”
Delphine and Roberto shot back to their luggage, grabbed it up, and hovered, looking around in a panic.
“Where’s the back exit? The one for the servants,” asked Roberto.
“I haven’t seen one,” I said.
Iris flew to them with her hands up. “It’s okay. They’re outside. Down the street, I think.”
“They’re not at the door or windows?” asked Delphine, her face flushed.
“No. They’re on the street. Not that close.”
Roberto and Delphine landed, their legs wobbled and the luggage shook in their hands.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Before Roberto could answer Mom and Dad flew in and landed beside us.
“Well, who have you found, girls?” asked Dad, all smiles.
Mom smiled, too, but there was a brittleness at the edges. Probably still mad at me.
“This is Delphine and Roberto,” said Iris. “They’re tourists, like us.”
They all shook hands and Roberto said, “We didn’t realize the flat was occupied. We’ll find another place.”
It might’ve been my imagination, but Delphine started breathing heavier.
I stepped up. “I think maybe you should stay.”
Mom shot an icy glance at me. There I went again, making her mad. The plan wasn’t to live with French fairies. I knew that, but something about Delphine’s face told me she needed to be there as much as us.
“Well,” Dad said. “We can talk about it.”
Mom touched Dad’s arm. “Ambrose, there’s something going on outside.”
“I heard that,” said Iris. “But I can’t hear it well enough to know what it is.”
Dad invited Delphine and Roberto to join us in taking a look and we all flew through to the living room and landed on the windowsill.
“I don’t see anything,” said Dad.
I turned to Delphine and Roberto. They were far off to the side, partially concealed by the curtains.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
They both shook their heads and looked very much like they didn’t want to see anything.
“Maybe it’s just a parade,” said Dad.
“I don’t think so. They sound not exactly happy. Definitely not parade happy,” said Mom.
“Whatever it is, they’re not bothering us, so we won’t bother them. Would you like something to eat or a drink?” Dad asked Delphine and Roberto. “I believe we packed a good amount of elderberry wine.”
“There they are!” Iris jumped up and down.
We all pressed our noses to the glass. It took me a moment to spot them through the dense foliage across the street. The group was quite large, sixty or more fairies with brown wings and some kind of weapons in their hands. Mom gasped and grabbed Iris, pulling her away from the window.
“What?” I asked, looking closer.
Dad pushed me away from the glass. “Go, Matilda!”
“What is it?”
“Now!”
I dodged his hands and flew up, hovering with my hands on the glass. Then I saw it. In the middle of the crowd was a fairy holding a long pike. Skewered on the top was a head with dark hair pulled back in a white ribbon now stained with blood. I slid down the glass. My fingers left moist streaks in my wake and I landed next to Dad. His face. I’d never seen him look like that. Horrified, but he couldn’t look away. The crowd came out of the trees. Behind the fairy with the pike were two other fairies waving around golden wings. They almost dropped them a couple of times. Their hands were slick with blood.
I slid my hand into Dad’s. I haven’t done that in I don’t know when. It was more for him than me, but he didn’t know that. He held my hand and we watched as the crowd flew down the elegant Paris street, jeering and waving their prizes around.
“That was the head of the royal guard we met, wasn’t it?” I asked, already knowing the answer, but I wanted to hear someone say it out loud.
“Yes,” said Dad.
Beyond him, Mom sat on the sill. She held Iris tight and cried into her hair. Iris’s eyes were wide. “What?” she asked.
I shook my head. Delphine and Roberto huddled together in the curtain. Delphine’s shoulders shook and Roberto tried to hold them still. Whoever they really were, they absolutely could not leave.
CHAPTER SIX
THE SHAKING DIDN’T stop until after dinner late that night. Marie had come back with Earl and Stanley, carrying bags of groceries, bottles of wine, and the most delicate pastries I’d ever seen. Marie made cassoulet, so Mom and Rebecca wouldn’t have to cook. After dinner, Marie poured Rebecca and Evan large glasses of Merlot and told them she’d be back in the morning, nine sharp. Rebecca and Evan were so bleary-eyed from the travel and the wine, they simply accepted it and didn’t ask why Marie would be there first thing.
Rebecca and Evan lurched off to bed, leaving Tess and Judd at the table. Both of them were bristling with excitement at the appearance of Delphine and Roberto.
“What species are you?” asked Tess after her parents were out of earshot.
“We’re wood fairies,” said Delphine.
/> “Fairly ordinary,” said Roberto.
Tess raised an eyebrow at me. Ordinary was not a good word to describe either of them. I’d thought the clothes they’d arrived in were gorgeous, but when it was time for dinner, Delphine changed into a brocade dress and Roberto wore a suit. When they flew onto the tabletop, Mom nearly got all tongue-tied explaining why we hadn’t changed into something nicer. I’d never changed for dinner in my life and neither had Mom.
Dad poured Roberto another glass of elderberry wine and once again asked if they would stay given the situation outside.
Roberto took a sip and said, “If you’re sure you don’t mind, we’d be delighted to stay.”
It was all so weird. Nobody would say the obvious. Mom and Dad knew Delphine and Roberto weren’t just tourists who could go out and find another place. And Delphine and Roberto knew they knew. We all just sat on the kitchen table drinking wine and tea, acting like nothing was going on. Even Lrag and Bentha were quiet. It was driving me crazy.
“So,” I said. “You looked pretty surprised to find us here. Why’s that?”
“Like you, we didn’t think this apartment would be occupied,” said Roberto.
“Why?”
“Matilda,” said Mom. “Don’t be nosy.”
“I’m not nosy. It’s not a personal question.”
“It’s personal enough.”
Delphine and Roberto got to their feet and asked Mom to take them to Judd’s room, where they would be staying.
I stood up, too. “But what about the apartment? Is there something special about it?”
Mom made a shushing sound and flew off with Delphine and Roberto.
I plunked down and crossed my arms. “You know there’s something weird going on, right?”
“I know nothing of the kind,” said Dad.
Lrag leaned forward. “There may be, but our job is to find the vermillion. Their secrets are their own.”
I looked at Bentha, who sat sharpening his sword. “You can’t tell me you don’t have something to say.”
“Indeed I do, but it isn’t what you want to hear, my lady.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Iris, scooting closer to me.
“Bentha and I went out while you were all sleeping,” said Lrag. “The situation is worse than we imagined,”