I was full too, and wondering if the elves planned to party all night. They were celebrating Kethyrdryll's return. Not something I had a problem with, but I'd done a lot of teleporting and it felt late. My grasp on time had failed me, with the endless night thing.
Percy side-walked toward my plate, his head turned in order to keep one eye on me. "What?"
The parrot balanced on one leg and snatched a piece of melon off my plate. "Cordi not eat?"
I'd been picking at the food remaining on my plate, but now that he'd stuck his scaly foot in it, wouldn't be anymore. Pushing the plate toward him, I said, "You can have the rest."
“Thank you.” He began gobbling down the bits of fruit with a vengeance.
As far as I was concerned, it was time to excuse myself and go to bed. There was a slight problem with that plan, because I didn’t know which of the rooms was mine now, with all of the magical rearranging.
Kethyrdryll decided to stand up and clear his throat at that moment. Everyone quieted to listen to him. “I’ve immensely enjoyed our reunion, yet it is late, and we face challenges unknown if we are to find our way home.”
“Of course,” Thorandryll agreed. “We should retire.”
That broke up the party nicely. I bumped Logan when we stood up at the same time. “Oops, sorry.”
“My fault. Ah,” he bent his head, lowering his voice. “Any chance you’re in a snuggling mood?”
I suddenly was, looking into his eyes. “Yes.”
A smile curved his lips. “I hoped you would be.”
“I have an ulterior motive. I’m hoping you know which room is mine.”
“I do. It’s the one closest to the ladies’ room.”
“Awesome. Meet you there in a few.” I needed to visit the ladies’, and noticed Kate and Alleryn whispering to each other when I turned to head that way. They were probably planning to meet too. I thought Thorandryll already knew about them dating. Maybe he didn’t.
I was brushing my teeth when Kate came into the bathing chamber. “Are you two still secret?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Sorry?”
“Oh, come on. He must’ve told you I found out.”
She gave up with a shrug. “Yes, he did. Habit reigns supreme.”
“After the book thing, I’m pretty sure Thorandryll knows too.” Alleryn had loaned her a history book to help solve a problem. Or shed light on a motive. Same difference.
“Probably. I’m more interested in what you and Logan were discussing out there.”
I couldn’t prevent a grin. “We’re snuggle partners.”
“Oh ho. Just snuggling?”
“Yes. For now.” I left the bathing chamber, her laughter following me out. Entering my room, I found Logan pulling off his boots, and a fresh nightgown lying across the foot of the bed. I grabbed it. “Be right back.”
“You can change in here. I’ll close my eyes.”
“No peeking?”
“No peeking,” he promised, and turned away. I hurriedly changed, a little disappointed he didn’t try to peek. Who knows where peeking may have led to?
Then again, the walls were soft material and not exactly soundproof. Plus, I was tired. “Done. How’s your owie?”
Logan turned around and took off his shirt. “Almost healed.”
The holes were gone, pink spots marking where they’d been. “Nice.”
We slid under the covers from opposite sides. I snuggled up to him when he lifted his arm. “I like snuggling with you.”
“That makes two of us.”
“You like snuggling with yourself?”
Logan squeezed me. “I meant with you.”
“Oh, good, because it would be weird the other way.” I muffled a yawn. “I’m tired.”
He chuckled. “I can tell. Good night.”
“Night.” Closing my eyes, I dropped right off.
At some point, I grew conscious of dreaming, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. Nothing but a jumble of memories from after I’d woken from my coma. Then it changed to the New Year’s Eve of the Melding. I listened to the distant pops of firecrackers, and my parents’ soft conversation. They looked so happy.
The sky lit up with multicolored sparks. I blinked at the brightness, and found myself standing in a line of people in long, white hallway. Tapping the shoulder of the man in front of me, I asked, “What are we in line for?”
Damian turned around. “I don’t know.”
“Can you see anything?”
“People, and I think there’s a door ahead.”
I leaned to look past him, and the people in front of him. There were about a dozen between us and the door he’d mentioned. “If this is a party with alcohol, I’m not old enough to go.”
Damian laughed. “I don’t think it’s a party. How old are you?”
“Fifteen.” Time skipped, and we were closer to the door. By peeking around Damian, I was able to see a man standing inside the door. There were three women in the room beyond, sitting behind a long table.
The man listened to something the women said, and gestured the man in front of Damian inside. He then sent him out of sight to the left.
It was Damian’s turn, and the man sent him left too.
My turn. The man looked at the women, who whispered to one another for a long time. Their quick glances made me feel uncomfortable. “Did I do something wrong?”
The women stopped whispering, and one of them nodded to the man. He pointed to the right, where a door waited. I went through it.
“Cordi, are you home?”
I stepped out onto the back porch of my new house. The air smelled of pine and honeysuckle. Logan jumped over the stairs, landing in front of me. He picked me up and swung me around. “Come see the babies.”
Holding hands, we ran through trees until we reached a grassy clearing. A lion lay dozing in the sun, and a pale-coated cub batted at his twitching tail. Not far away, a white tigress held down a second cub, washing its face while it mrowed protests.
“Twins,” Logan said with a proud smile. “Healthy twin boys.”
“They’re...” I was alone, standing on the edge of a cliff. Far below, a sea of dark fog churned.
“You have to decide,” a voice boomed. “You must make your choice.”
“What choice?”
“Cordi.” My eyes shot open, and I sat up.
“Easy.” I was awake, Logan sitting beside me, and we were in my room in the pavilion. “You were talking in your sleep. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just some weird dreams.” My hair was sticking to my cheeks. I swiped it away, and realized I’d cried in my dream. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Okay.”
I left the bed and slipped through the door, right out into the frozen night. “What the hell?”
“It’s been difficult to reach you,” Sal said. He appeared a dozen feet away, his slight figure translucent in the moonlight.
“It’s about damn time you showed up.”
“I had to request a bit of help. You need to get your butt in gear, young lady, or a lot of people are going to die.”
I stomped toward him. “I have an idea. How about a little help instead of criticism and vague-ass warnings? Like, I don’t know, maybe tell me exactly what the hell’s going on here?”
“Cordi?” Turning, I saw Logan step out of thin air. His eyes widened as he looked around. “Why are we outside, and who is that?”
“Sal, my fairy godfather.”
“Oh.” Logan walked across the snow to my side. “Hello.”
“Well, well. This is interesting.” Sal regarded Logan with a smile. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“My apologies, sir.”
“A polite young man. What a refreshing change.” The little god shot me a reproving look. “You could learn something from him, girl.”
“Yeah, yeah, missing people?” I prompted. “Come on, give me something useful.”
“She’s pushy.”
/> “It’s in her job description,” Logan said, earning a chuckle from Sal.
“I suppose I can bend the rules a bit, since someone else is breaking them. The Unseelie are prison guards, and one of their prisoners is trying to make a break. He hasn’t been entirely successful yet. It’s not as though the Unseelie are idiots, you know. They had a failsafe.”
“We figured that much out.” At least the failsafe part, and that it was to keep someone in.
“A failsafe doesn’t last forever, and he’s gotten some help. He knows how to destroy it now.”
“Argh.” I threw my hands in the air. “I’m so sick of this always being the thing. Because it’s a sacrifice thing again, isn’t it? The missing people?”
“She’s quite astute when she tries,” Sal told Logan, who responded with a tiny grin that disappeared when I glared at him.
“How do we stop him?”
“Wake the Unseelie. They may need a little help, and you’ll want to go with them anyway, to collect your missing humans.”
“Okay, how do we wake them?”
Sal snorted. “You have all sorts of useful people in your group. Figure it out.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’d better hurry, because you don’t have much time left. Maybe a few days, tops.” His dark gaze slid away for a second. “It’s a messy, painful way to go.”
Logan asked, “What exactly does the spell do?”
Sal studied Logan for a moment. “Destroys the Unseelie realm and looses the darkest things in all of creation upon the world.”
“End of the world, blah, blah, blah. We get it,” I said.
“Good, now go stop it.” Sal stepped forward, lifting his hand. He touched me between the eyes. “Now wake.”
I woke, with a major headache, and groaned. “Frickin’ gods.”
“At least we know what to do now.” Logan rolled and propped his elbow, to rest his head on his hand. “I guess we’re done snuggling for the night.”
“Wait, you were really...? Dude.” I wasn’t sure how to feel about him being in my dreams. I mean, in my dreams and conscious of being in them. Things could become highly awkward in the future.
“Should I apologize? I don’t even know...”
“No, it’s okay.” I sat up, drums pounding in my head. “Holy crap, my head’s killing me.”
Logan left the bed. “I’ll wake the others, and see if Alleryn has something for a headache.”
“Thanks.” Wow, Logan had been in my dream and met my irritating fairy godfather.
The weirdness never ended.
If I’d learned anything since becoming a psychic, it was that people—regardless of species—tend to give dreams far less credence than they did when you changed “dream” to “psychic vision”. Even diehard skeptics were more inclined to listen then.
Not that there were any skeptics in the crowd gathered around me, but I started with a lie. “I had a vision, a precog.”
Logan didn’t even twitch. Mentioning an unknown god had given me advice didn’t seem like a solid plan with a bunch of elves around. One of them, or all of them, would want to dissect and speculate, and we didn’t have time for that.
“It’s a prison break.”
Thorandryll gave his brother an epically dirty look. “You’re not supposed to know about...”
“Hello, psychic here? On a case? I find stuff out, dude. It’s my job. Anyway, the prison break’s not complete, though he did knock out the guards. I mean, the Unseelie. He’s going to sacrifice the missing humans to crack the failsafe.” I hesitated. “When he does, it’s going to blow this realm to hell and let a lot of nasty things out into the world.”
“You saw this?” Thorandryll’s eyes were narrowed.
“Yes.” Not a lie. I had an imagination, and it had offered up a few images while Sal talked. “We’re running out of time to stop him. We need to get to the castle and wake the Unseelie.”
Illusion, Damian’s husky familiar, was staring at me with his head cocked. He suddenly bared his teeth and hid behind Damian. What was his problem?
“Very well. Ready yourselves,” the prince ordered. “We march in less than an hour.”
I loved it when people didn’t question me about important stuff.
“You take the horse,” Kate insisted. “I want to ride the lion.”
Since elves and shifters could move faster, and keep going longer, it had been decided the three of us would ride. I was aboard tiger Logan’s broad back, watching my witch buddies argue.
“Why do you get to ride the lion?” Damian pulled on his gloves.
“I weigh less. Besides, Percival is already on him.” The parrot was half-buried in Connor’s mane.
“Oh, all right.” Damian walked over to Selwin, Illy on his heels.
“Hah, I love winning.” Kate pointed at Connor. “You, down.”
I’d never seen a lion roll his eyes before, but Connor obeyed to let her climb onto his back. Once seated, she smiled. “The lion and the witch. All we need is a wardrobe.”
Logan chuffed as Connor rose to his feet. I was hoping I wouldn’t fall off, since he didn’t have a mane for me to hold onto.
The elves had finished breaking camp by then, and Thorandryll issued orders to form a column, with the three of us directly behind Kethyrdryll and him.
Turned out a tiger’s jog wasn’t all that hard to get used to.
We ran into the third challenge about the time my stomach decided it was tired of being empty. The gurgling growl it made turned Logan’s head. “Sorry. Also, holy freaking crap.”
Off in the distance, the Unseelie castle stood on a snow-covered hill. Its black walls were speckled with faint twinkles of light, matching the night sky.
Between it and us was a vast maze of ice, sharp points lining each and every wall. We weren’t high enough to see a way through.
I slid off Logan’s back, slogging through newly knee-deep snow to where Thorandryll and Kethyrdryll stood. “That’s not going to be easy.”
“No, yet if one person successfully navigates it, the challenge ends,” the prince replied.
“Are you sure about that?”
“There are rules, Miss Jones, and certain ‘shortcuts’,” Thorandryll turned around. “We’ll camp here, and discuss the available options.”
I swallowed a bite of stew while letting what Thorandryll just said sink in. “Wait a minute. Someone can just carry like, a hair from everyone?”
“Yes, or drops of blood. Any physical representation should work,” the prince agreed.
Kate and Damien were nodding, but both wore expressions I knew preceded objections. Kate was the one to voice theirs. “Of course this presents a problem. Willingly handing over a piece of yourself gives the receiver power and permission.”
“We all wish to return home, Miss Smith,” Thorandryll said.
“True, but that doesn’t mean I trust you any further than Jones can toss you with her telekinesis. There’s history to support my lack of trust.” She used her chin to indicate me.
“I have paid for my past misjudgments.”
Kate sniffed. “Doesn’t erase them.”
“I’ll do it.” Everyone looked at me. “Well, it makes sense. I don’t have a clue how to use blood or hair against people.”
That wasn’t true in the strictest sense, because I could use both to find people, or find out if they were alive. But I couldn’t do spells with it.
Plus, I trusted Kate, and she’d always been careful to keep Thorandryll from obtaining my hair or blood. Leglin had once told me he’d witnessed the Prince do “terrible magic” with those things. “Come on, I’m the most logical choice. I’ll burn everything once I’m through the maze.”
“What’s to prevent you from removing an item once out of sight?” an elf asked from across the table. He had long, silvery-blonde hair, and a pleasant, not suspicious, expression on his face.
“I wouldn’t but if anyone’s worried, we can tamper-proof w
hatever’s used to hold the stuff. I’ll wait to destroy it after, until everyone’s seen it and verified I haven’t opened it.”
“Satisfactory solution,” he said with a nod.
“We don’t know what lies in the maze, Miss Jones. It would be safer for a warrior to undertake this venture.” Thorandryll inclined his head. “I mean no disrespect by that statement.”
“Hey, I’d be happy to sit here, sipping hot chocolate and eating bonbons instead of freezing my tootsies off. But I’ve actually spent some time studying mazes recently, and I’m a Tracker.”
The prince glanced at his brother, who smiled. “Be that as it may...”
“Lady Discord is the reason we’ve passed the first two challenges,” Kethyrdryll said. “I have faith she will successfully complete this one as well.”
“We trust Cordi,” Damien said.
“So do we,” Dane waved his hand to indicate Logan and Connor.
“We trust our prince’s decision upon this matter,” the silver-haired elf said.
“Cordi won’t require charms or potions,” Alleryn remarked, and Thorandryll side-eyed him.
I returned to eating my stew and trying to decipher which herbs had been used in it. My name was in the hat, and everyone could argue pros and cons all they pleased.
Which they did for over an hour, before deciding one representative from each of our groups would go.
Me for the humans, Logan for the shifters, and Thorandryll for the elves.
All I could think was, “This will be fun. Not.”
TWENTY-FOUR
I tucked the little, clear glass bottle into my shirt after pulling the leather thong it was attached to over my head.
The bottle held a hair from each shifter, both witches, Illy and Leglin, as well as the tip of one of Percy’s feathers. Kate had corked the bottle and sealed its top with wax.
“Not that I mistrust you,” she’d said, and I’d nodded.
Thorandryll had a similar bottle, full of hair from each elf and their hounds. Logan wanted me to carry his, Connor’s, and Dane’s hairs, in case he had to shift.
Frost & Bothered (Discord Jones Book 4) Page 19