Pixie-Led (Book 2 in the Twilight Court Series)

by Amy Sumida

  “I don't know,” Tiernan shrugged. “She's a goddess, she should be able to say whatever she wishes. But perhaps her words hold power, so she guards them. Or maybe she finds it useless to speak words whose magic can't come to fruition.”

  “What?” I gave him a confused look.

  “She has no power here,” he gave me a weighted glance. “So if her words are magical, what would speaking of peace between the realms do?”

  “I don't know,” I frowned.

  “And maybe she doesn't either,” he offered. “It does little good to ponder the motivations of gods. Better to let them deal with their issues on their own.”

  “But, what do I do?” I huffed. “If I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, how can I accomplish what she wants me to?”

  “Trust your instincts,” Tiernan said simply. “Isn't that what you've always done?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered.

  “And Danu seems to approve of your actions so far,” Tiernan took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Trust yourself. I trust you. I wouldn't be here if I didn't.”

  “You know, things seem so perfect sometimes. Like everything has been placed in my life for a reason,” I mused. “It makes me wonder how much of it has been my choice and how much has been her will.”

  “Influence, not will,” he corrected me. “Danu guides and urges us down the best path. We've talked about this, Seren. I don't know why it's so hard for you to understand. She doesn't choose for you, she helps you to make the right choice.”

  “Then why did she take away my anger?” I lifted a brow. “Why deprive me of the choice of vengeance?”

  “She may have taken something from you,” Tiernan conceded, “but she gave you something in return... your magic.”

  “That magic was already inside me,” I shook my head. “She just brought it forth.”

  “As she brought forth your pain and took it for herself,” Tiernan's expression tensed into contemplation. “What could you truly have accomplished with that burning hatred inside you? You had no way of assuaging it, no path to vengeance that wouldn't hurt you further. So wasn't the theft actually another gift? If you really think about it, she blessed you twice that day.”

  “I understand what you're saying but I still don't like the idea of someone taking away my emotions,” I swallowed hard. “Yes, it's better for me to not feel that way but it was my right to do so. If Queen Iseabal had killed your mother, would you have wanted Danu to take away your anger over it?”

  “No,” Tiernan whispered and pressed his lips together for a moment. “The theft of my anger would, ironically, make me angrier.”

  “Now you understand,” I sighed.

  “But if it was Danu's will, I would accept it,” he had to go on and ruin the moment.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I was jumping out of the car while Tiernan was still pulling to a stop. I went running up to the simple sky blue house I used to share with my dad, past the black SUV parked in the drive and the wave of vines flowing over the fence. The front door was ajar, which made my skin prickle with anxiety and my hands clench in preparation for some serious magic. Danu may have taken my anger over my mother's death but if Cailleach had hurt my father, there would be a new influx of fury and this time, I'd have my vengeance.

  I rushed inside the sunlit house but stopped short in the small living room. Everything was as I remembered it; the same depressing brown furniture, the same shabby lampshade on the same old lamp, the same worn green carpet. Except now, there was Ewan Sloane on that carpet; gagged, blindfolded, and hogtied with chains. I guess Cailleach didn't want to chance Ewan burning through ropes with his pyrokinesis. A large, shiny padlock held the chains together and tied to it was a blue velvet pouch.

  “This is one of those moments when I wish the fey had Instagram,” Tiernan drawled as he leaned in the doorway.

  Ewan tensed, his head swinging in our direction.

  “Shut up,” I smacked Tiernan before going to Ewan. “Dad, it's me,” I pulled off his blindfold and Ewan shook the hair out of his eyes so he could glare at me. He began muttering vehemently through the gag, so I decided it was best to leave that for last. “I'll get you out of this, just give me a second.”

  “Here's the key,” Tiernan had opened the blue pouch and poured the contents out into his hand.

  The key had been one of two things within the pouch but I was too concerned with Ewan to worry about the second item. Tiernan unlocked the padlock and helped me unwind the chains. Ewan's limbs dropped to the floor woodenly and he groaned. His hands went immediately to the gag and he pulled it away as he rolled to his back and then jumped up to his feet.

  “Get out of my house,” he growled as he shook out his hands.

  “Dad, come on. Haven't you been angry long enough?” I reasoned. “I'm all the family you have left.”

  “I have my mother,” he lifted his chin. “I don't need another man's daughter hanging around out of pity.”

  “Seriously?” I huffed. “First of all, Grandma Sloane never made time for us. She's always too busy with the council. Second, I am not trying to hang around you out of pity. I love you, you're still my dad. Please, just try and see things from my perspective.”

  “You'll be too busy being a fairy princess,” he waved his hand angrily. “And from the looks of things, any relationship with you will only bring me trouble. Who the hell was that crazy hag and why would she attack an Extinguisher?!”

  “That was Cailleach Bheur,” I explained. “I've been tracking her and she's been messing with me a bit.”

  “No, she's been messing with me,” Ewan snapped. “Get out, Seren, and don't come back, not even if you think I've been abducted by fairies!”

  “Dad,” I huffed.

  “I'm not your dad!” He shouted, his eyes going wide and crazy.

  “Seren, this isn't the time,” Tiernan said gently. “He's upset after being so badly mistreated. Let's just go.”

  “Listen to your fairy boyfriend,” Ewan grunted. “At least he has some sense.”

  “Dad, please don't hurt me because you're angry at Mom,” I tried once more.

  “Don't you get it?” His face fell into anguished lines. “I can't be around you. All I see is her combined with some fairy philanderer. I can't look at you without being slapped in the face with my wife's adultery. Just get out, Seren.”

  “If you ever change your mind, I'll be waiting,” I whispered and let Tiernan lead me out of the house.

  “I won't,” I heard Ewan mutter and my heart contracted in upon itself. It felt smaller, harder, and bruised. Very bruised.

  “He will,” Tiernan pulled me into a hug. “He will, Love. He's just angry and hurt right now. Give it more time.”

  “Yeah, you're right,” I sighed and pulled away. “It just hurts,” I shook my head, determinedly pushing away the pain. Ewan was safe and that was all that mattered. “Now show me what else was in the pouch.”

  Tiernan opened his palm to reveal a square of Ghirardelli chocolate. I frowned and took it from him, looking over the shiny blue packet.

  “San Francisco,” I muttered. “This is getting ridiculous.”

  “We're being pixie-led,” Tiernan grimaced and gestured toward the car.

  “Pixie-led?” I slid the chocolate into my jeans pocket and followed him.

  “Led astray,” he explained as he opened my door for me. “Made to run in circles. She's distracting us.”

  “So what do we do?” I stood within the open car door and stared at him. “We can't just give up.”

  “No,” his expression went grim. “But we must break the cycle.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We have to stop chasing and find a way to jump ahead,” he said.

  “So we can lead,” I concluded.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “We must turn the tables and make Cailleach chase us.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Tiernan and I decided it would be faster for us to
fly to San Francisco and use the fairy mound in Gentry Technologies to get home. It was tempting to continue the hunt for clues since this was where Cailleach had wanted us to go anyway but if we wanted to be chased, we'd have to stop doing the chasing. So instead of snooping around the Ghirardelli factory, we would check in with the San Francisco Human Council House and see if they'd noticed any unusual magical activity before we went back to Fairy.

  Which meant we'd have to go against the Fairy Council's wishes and tell the Human Council about Cailleach. Tiernan wasn't too happy about that but it didn't make any sense to keep the humans in the dark. Especially when they could help us. Not only could they watch for signs of Cailleach and her staff, they had a crystal ball we could use to scry for Eadan and see if he had any updates for us.

  Oh yeah, and we could scry for Uisdean and ask him to send a scout out to notify the Star's Guard that we wouldn't be coming back through the Alaskan rath. Cat was going to be pissed at me. She was already upset that I'd left her behind in Conri's care. When I didn't come back through the mound as expected, she was going to throw a fit. A puka temper tantrum. Good grief. I didn't envy Conri that.

  When we landed in SF, I used a payphone (you don't even know how hard it was to find one of those) to call Councilman Murdock of the San Francisco Council House. He was the Head Councilman and I'd known him since I was a little girl. He'd sort of become my go-to guy for dealing with the Human Council.

  Murdock was shocked to hear from me but the urgency in my voice was enough to prevent any questions he might have had. Instead of wasting time, he told me to stay put, that he was sending a team to pick us up and he'd see me as soon as I arrived. I liked that about Murdock, he had the mind of both a councilman and a soldier.

  It wasn't long before we were pulling up in front of the combined Victorian houses which made up the single San Francisco Council House. They were both painted a cheery yellow in an attempt at visual synergy but they were actually only connected at the ground level. The two floors above that were separate but the three subterranean floors had been built by the council and they were connected.

  We were led briskly but courteously through the Council House and down to Head Councilman Murdock's office on the lowest subterranean floor. Murdock waved us in and immediately asked me to tell him everything. He listened intently as I did just that, never interrupting as I would have done. I edited certain parts, making it seem as if we'd come to inform him of the threat first. Mainly because I knew how pissed he'd be if I didn't.

  “We need to notify the DC Council House,” were the first words out of Murdock's mouth.

  “Yes, that would be wise,” Tiernan nodded. “We have the Hunt on guard there currently.”

  “But before you do,” I glanced at Tiernan. “We must have your assurance that Cailleach will not be harmed until we discover the truth of her actions. It may be crucial to the future of fey-human relations.”

  “We don't kill fairies without cause. You know that, Ambassador Seren,” Murdock assured me. “Cailleach Bheur will be caught if possible and tried for her crimes at the High Court in Ireland, since this has become an inter-realm incident.”

  “Thank you,” I sighed. Hopefully that would keep the Twilight Fairy Council from being pissed at me.

  “What we'd like from you is any information you might have concerning unusual magical activity in the area,” Tiernan continued. “We need some idea of what Cailleach is up to so that we can plan our next move.”

  “I understand,” Murdock nodded as he reached for his phone. He pushed a button, waited a moment, and then spoke into the receiver, “I need the activity report for the last forty-eight hours.” He hung up and looked to me. “Seren, do you think you'd recognize the man in your vision if you saw a picture of him?”

  “Yes, of course,” I frowned. “But how are we even going to know where to start looking for one?”

  “The presidential campaigns have been gearing up for the primaries,” Murdock informed us. “Your vision of the White House on fire leads me to assume that your guy is either one of the candidates for president or one of his close supporters. Perhaps his running mate. All I need is a description to narrow down the search and I'm certain we'll have his identity soon.”

  “I can work with a sketch artist if you have one,” internally, I was smacking my own forehead for missing such an obvious clue. I was so out of touch with the human world, I didn't even realize the presidential race was on.

  “Yes, I have someone,” Murdock picked the phone up again. “I assume you'll need to update the fey. Why don't you go upstairs and use our crystal ball to make the necessary calls while I find the sketch artist for you?”

  “Upstairs?” I frowned. “I would have thought you'd keep the crystal close.”

  “It's infused with fairy magic,” Murdock gave us an apologetic grin. “We thought it best to keep it under guard and as far away from the council offices as possible. Just in case.”

  “Understandable,” I nodded and stood. “The attic, then?”

  “Yes, precisely,” Murdock confirmed.

  Chapter Thirty

  We scried Uisdean (very uncomfortable) and he agreed to send word to our knights. Eadan was unavailable so we scried my father to see if he had heard from the hunter. That was an even more uncomfortable call than the one to Uisdean had been.

  “What do you mean; you told the humans?!” Keir had roared. “Did I not specifically say that you weren't to do that?”

  “I made a judgment call,” I ground out. “And it was a good one. Murdock is going to help me locate the man in my vision. We should have come here first and saved ourselves this run around. Oh, and by the way, I signed a contract for Gentry to do some research for ACF, a conservation group out of Alaska.”

  “What?!” He shrieked.

  “It's for a good cause,” I explained. “They need help saving the environment around Bristol Bay; the largest salmon habitat in the world.”

  “I... I...” Keir stuttered and closed his eyes briefly. “Fine, Seren. But we're going to discuss this more when you get home. Mainly because I don't want to keep yelling at you through a crystal ball. Do not do anything more in my name, do you understand me?”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “I'll be back soon. “Can you send a couple of horses to the fairy mound that's connected to Gentry?”

  “It will take them about a day to get there,” Keir said. “Why don't you use the In-Between to come directly home? You've mastered the technique, I'm certain you'll have no problems.”

  “I have Tiernan with me,” I reminded him.

  “Ah, yes,” Keir rubbed a hand over his face. “Perhaps you should just stay at our apartments in San Francisco for now.”

  “Really?” I looked over to Tiernan and he nodded his agreement. “Okay. You know, the fey really need to make a version of the automobile.”

  “What?!” Keir sounded horrified.

  “To get around faster than a horse,” I explained. “The whole In-Between thing is great but useless when you're traveling with a non-twilight fairy. A car would have come in handy. There must be a way to magically power one. Give it some thought.”

  “Yes, that's just what we need, a bunch of fairies speeding around the forest in magic cars,” Keir rolled his eyes. “Go and see your Uncle Dylan for the keys to the apartment. I'll scry Councilman Murdock when I hear from Lord Eadan.”

  “And I'll try to keep in touch too,” I added.”

  “Very well,” Keir was still obviously angry. “Goodbye, Seren.”

  “Bye, Dad,” I wiped the crystal clean and grimaced at Tiernan. “Looks like I may be grounded.”

  “Grounded?” He lifted a brow.

  “It's a human punishment for children,” I waved it away. “Never mind. Let's go and see that sketch artist.”

  We left the scrying room and took the elevator down to Murdock's office but when we reached the ground floor, Mini Murdock, aka Brendan Murdock, aka Councilman Murdock's son who had previ
ously had the hots for me, got into the elevator.

  There was an awkward moment when we just stared at each other and then he turned and hit the button for level 2 (one floor above the the council chambers where we were headed).

  “Seren,” he said gruffly.

  “Brendan,” I said back.

  “How are things with the fairies?” He went on in a cool tone.

  “The fairies are fine,” I said casually. There was no way I was telling him about Cailleach. His father could tell him if he wanted to.

  “Then why are you here?” Brendan's voice went from cool to cold.

  “Perhaps you should mind your own affairs,” Tiernan suggested.

  “You're in my house, fairy,” Brendan snapped at Tiernan. “This is my affair.”

  “That sounded weird,” I squished up my face at Brendan.

  “Fuck you, Seren,” Brendan snarled.

  “You had better-” Tiernan started but I touched his hand and gave him a pleading look. We didn't have time for this nonsense.

  “You sound angry, Brendan,” I observed. “Maybe you should try meditating.”

  The elevator dinged and the doors swished open on the residential floor.

  “You can stick your meditating up your ass, Princess,” Brendan stepped out.

  “Namaste, Motherfucker,” I called as the doors swished closed.

  “Namaste, Motherfucker?” Tiernan laughed.

  “I don't know,” I chuckled too. “It just came out.”

  “It was like Tupac meets Deepak,” he laughed harder.

  “I don't know what shocks me more,” I gaped at him, “you knowing who Deepak Chopra is or Tupac Shakur.”

  “Hey, I'm living the thug life,” he said with a serious face. “Fairy style.”

  I laughed so hard, I started crying.

  “Breathe, Seren,” Tiernan patted my back.

  “When did you become so funny?” I shook my head at him. “And when did you start listening to rap music?”