Free Agent

by J. C. Nelson

  The blast that killed the wolves in the bar and the children in the larder had come from the same point, and I walked back along the buildings, peeking in through windows to confirm my theory.

  Ari followed me with Liam behind her. “Marissa saved him.” I ignored her story. I’d either come out sounding like a commando or a clown, I was sure.

  At the far end of wolf town stood a barn. The white paint curled on the doors and the roof sagged inward, but the blast line led straight up to it. I pulled on the door and it didn’t budge. Liam braced his foot against the door. “Let me help.” He strained until it slid back.

  Ari held out a hand, reaching for something I could not see. “It was here.” She focused on nothing, her eyes looking beyond the dirt in the barn. “The seal was here.”

  “How do you know?” I asked, but I knew that tone. She wouldn’t have said anything if she wasn’t sure.

  “I can feel it. They took it through here.”

  I walked into the barn, looking at the smooth dirt, and a pattern in it caught my eye. I took an LED flashlight from my purse and shone it on the floor. It was only part dirt. A block of marble, black with gold veins stuck out in the center, and carved on it I saw runes—runes I recognized.

  I opened my compact. “Grimm.”

  His eyes appeared and widened in surprise. “I thought you were headed into Kingdom.” I wasn’t sure if it was annoyance or amusement in his voice.

  “I keep hearing I need to make better decisions. So I did. You know those books you sent me?” I didn’t wait for him to answer as I turned the compact to show him the engravings. “The seal came through here. That’s some sort of gate, but not one I’ve seen you use.”

  “That is not a realm gate,” said Grimm, his voice dull as he worked to control his emotions. “Turn around and look behind you.”

  I did and shuffled along in the dirt until my toe ran across something. Liam and Ari helped me rake away the dirt. This circle I recognized. It looked like the standard gates I’d hop on to go to Avalon or anywhere else.

  I ran my finger over the engravings. “Isn’t this missing the directional runes?” I did read those books, and while I couldn’t activate a gate at all, I understood the basic concepts.

  “Indeed,” said Grimm, “one could bypass the realm seal and appear almost anywhere.” That someone would have to be completely crazy. Without directional runes, a gate flickered between a thousand points. The odds of winding up half in one and half in another were better than I liked. Traveling through a realm gate with no directional runes might save baggage fees, but it was a sure way to wind up in several pieces.

  “So what is this?” asked Liam, walking on the black marble.

  “It is a demesne altar,” said Grimm. “With it one could go directly into a fairy’s demesne. Perhaps even to their home.”

  “You know, you’ve never even had me over for dinner,” I said.

  “My dear, a fairy’s home is like the fae realm, only a thousand times stronger. You’d be insane before we had cocktails.”

  I looked from gate to gate. “So someone takes the Seal out through here, and through that thing. I’m pretty sure they didn’t take it to you, so I’d bet on Godmother. Grimm, we’re getting out of here and heading into Kingdom.”

  “Be careful, Marissa. It took me over a month and three dozen pigs to make up for your choice of uniform last time. I’d like you on your way.”

  Standing here I once more felt the wolf’s teeth tearing into me and I shivered. “Don’t worry. I’m not considering renting a place. The whole town makes my arm hurt.”

  “Why?” asked Liam.

  I didn’t feel like recounting my bad decision making to him. “Our world doesn’t look like this to the fae. The boy could barely move. The wolves were coming, and I didn’t have time to get him and me into the van. So one of them wound up taking a nice chunk out of my arm.”

  Liam walked over, and I pulled back my sleeve to show the jagged scars that ran along my arm. “You fought with one of those things over a kid you don’t even know?” He looked at me with surprise as we walked to the entrance of the barn. “How did you keep them away from the kid?”

  “I was wearing a red jumpsuit with a hood. Created a diplomatic incident, from what I gather. And yes, I picked a fight with them. It’s my job.”

  A guttural growl came from outside the barn, and I saw a tiny pack of wolves had gathered. “Little Red Riding Hood came back,” said one of them. “Not even a huntsman could save you this time.”

  “Help,” I said, and Ari and Liam helped me slide the barn door shut. A wolf thrust his hand in as it closed, and we smashed it with the door. Outside, the shouts became growls and howls.

  “We can kill them,” said Liam. “Wolves may be big, but they aren’t that big.” Something slammed into the barn door, cracking a plank.

  “These might be the extra-large variety,” Ari said.

  I looked up at the old hayloft. At the top was a hay door, and the wolves wouldn’t be at that end. Another blow nearly punched through the wall in one spot.

  I pointed to the ladder. “You two, up into the loft and out the hay door. You’ll have to jump and run.” I took the car keys from my pocket and tossed them past a disappointed Ari.

  Liam caught them backhand. “What are you going to do?”

  “Keep them occupied. Get to the car, get back to the Agency.”

  Liam crossed his arms, and Ari put her hands on her hips.

  Behind me, an enraged wolf nearly ripped the door off the rails.

  “You,” I said to Ari. “You are my responsibility. And you,” I said to Liam, “are my fault. Get back to the car, get out of here.”

  The wolf tore a plank loose and stuck his head in. “No peeking,” I said, and rewarded him with a bullet.

  Ari gathered in magic. “I’m not leaving you.”

  Liam nodded, and rolled up his flannel sleeves. “I think I’m done running.”

  I had an idea. I hit my bracelet, since I didn’t have time for the compact. “Grimm, can that altar take us to your demesne?”

  “Traffic jam?” asked Grimm.

  “Wolves. They want to lodge a complaint about my hood, in my spleen.” I emptied one clip on anything that moved or tried to reach through the broken planks, and slammed my spare into the gun.

  The marble began to glow. “Hold on, this will take a moment to get ready.” The runes were etched with gold and they began to pulse, slowly, then faster. With a roar, the alpha wolf tore loose another plank and pushed through the door.

  I shot him twice, and he landed on his knees, laughing. He stood up and began to walk toward me as I sent bullet after bullet into him. I dodged one swipe from his claw, but he wasn’t putting a lot of effort into it. I realized why. Other wolves were climbing in behind him, squeezing through the ruined door.

  Ari yelled, not a scream, but something like anger and fear in one. A bolt of lightning leaped from her to set the fur of two of them on fire. The first wolf leaped backwards.

  Liam walked toward the wolf. Whatever he was cursed with, the bracelet was barely holding it in check, because I heard the curse speaking in a voice like gravel. “Bad doggie. How about playing with me?” In his hands he held a hay fork, long curved tines rusted from years of disuse.

  “Grimm,” I said, “We need to be going now.”

  Like the dais in his office, the altar shone like a spotlight, a shaft of golden light illuminating the barn. “Almost ready, my dear.”

  The alpha wolf swung at Liam, and he ducked. Liam hit the wolf with the handle end of the fork, first in the head, then in the stomach. Liam raised the pitchfork with both hands and gave a guttural shout. He slammed it down, ramming the tines through the wolf’s leg, clean into the dirt. The wolf howled in pain and backhanded him. As Liam rolled up, I saw blood leaking from three slices on his head.

  “Come,” said Grimm. I grabbed Ari and pulled her toward the altar, which now shone a rainbow into the darknes
s of the barn. With a howl, the alpha wolf ripped the tines from his leg, tearing loose a tendon.

  We ran, Liam and Ari and I, straight for the altar. As the light engulfed me I looked over my shoulder. The alpha wolf came for us, loping on four legs. He gathered himself and flew through the air, fangs bared. Then we were nowhere.

  Twenty-Eight

  ONLY A MOMENT of blinding light separated me from the wolf. I landed at a run, stumbled onto the carpet, and smashed my thigh against a table. Ari slammed into me, giving me another bruise, and I could only hold my breath as Liam repeated it. We landed in the back room of the Agency. Filing boxes, plaster statues, and lava lamps from the sixties covered the floor. “This is your demesne?”

  “Of course it is.” said Grimm. “Where else would I need to exercise my power? Mr. Stone, those wounds on your head require stitches. Princess, you may clean up in our wardrobe department, and Marissa, I’d like to see you in my office.”

  Grimm waited in his office for me. As I limped in, he looked over me with concern.

  I figured a preemptive strike might get me out of trouble for disobeying him. “Where’d the wolves go?”

  He gave a small laugh. “Empowering the portal takes time and effort. Changing where it goes is trivial.”

  “So where exactly did they wind up?”

  “Have you ever seen the inside of an active volcano? They have.” Grimm gave me a wide grin. Maximum effect for minimum magic was his modus operandi.

  That’s when the building started to shake. At first, it felt like a minor earthquake. The building began to sway ever so slightly.

  Grimm shouted, “Marissa, into the Visions Room, immediately.” I ran as fast as I could, through the halls, and locked myself inside. The crystals began to shiver and hum.

  “Grimm? What’s going on?” Inside the room, everything glowed an eerie purple.

  I heard his voice from outside. “My dear, I told you your blessings would object to being separated from you. The portal took you, but not them.”

  The crystals rattled like wind chimes, then one split, and another. A fountain of white light shot through the wall, two orbs of that rocketed toward me. They blew through me, leaving my hair standing on end, and circled me so quickly it looked like I stood in a tornado of white.

  “Beatus, Consecro, calm down.” As I spoke their names, the white glow intensified. Another set of crystals shattered, but they slowed down, becoming visible as distinct orbs of white. At last they hovered in the air, out of my reach. I couldn’t tell if the expression on their sharklike faces was fear or anger. “It’s all right. I’m not trying to get away.”

  I opened the door to the Visions Room and stepped out. Most of the fluorescent lights were broken, and the agency looked like a typhoon had blown through.

  “I just had the Visions Room repaired,” said Grimm. “That is why I prefer that you drive. Though you seem to have trouble navigating.”

  “I was supposed to go to Kingdom.” There was no point in avoiding it.

  Grimm gave me that wry smile of his. “My dear, I trust you. Though the matter of Clara’s death is not one I’ll wait to resolve.”

  “The Seal came through wolf town. I think the fae child followed it, or maybe he was near where it was and they grabbed him too. That Fairy Godmother must have it, Grimm. What would a fairy want with the Seal?”

  He nodded in agreement as I mentioned her. “Seals generate more magic when safely in place. Killing one would be of almost no value by comparison. Help me find out who killed Clara, and I will take care of this Godmother, no matter the cost.”

  “I can take her.”

  Grimm had almost no sense of humor on a normal day, and it was clear from the way his eyes went narrow he thought I’d actually try to take her on.

  “I’m kidding,” I said, “I’ll leave the scary fairy to you.” I could have broken Grimm’s mirror a thousand times and not earned his wrath. Maybe his annoyance, but not his wrath. If I’d ever seen Grimm like this before, I’d probably have thought more about my words at the funeral ball.

  “Fairy Godmother talked to me through Clara’s body. I’m sure she had to do with her death.”

  He didn’t respond. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

  I pulled up my pant leg to get a glimpse of my latest bruise. “I have a theory about how they meant to get Liam out. Ask Evangeline if you found anything painted with silver. Fleshing silver. Would’ve been close. The troll was meant to deliver him to it.”

  Grimm disappeared, so I headed down to Wardrobe and cleaned up. I kept three sets of black pantsuits at the office, just in case. In case of the normal things, like getting bitten by a wolf or clawed by an imp. Using a fairy portal to escape a pack of wolves out for vengeance was unusual even by my standards.

  I was dressing when I heard the explosion—sounded like someone had set off a bomb outside. I headed for the front office, glad that I’d at least had time to put on my sports bra. People in the lobby milled nervously, trying to figure out if they should run or stay put, and if the shirtless woman with a gun was more or less threatening than whatever waited outside.

  I ignored their stares and walked down to the hole the troll had smashed in our hallway. Outside, smoke billowed from an alleyway across the street, and sirens wailed. The explosion had blown out every window for a block.

  “M, I think Grimm did it,” said Evangeline as she came up to survey the carnage. “I told him there was a Dumpster with a huge blob of silver on it, and he started glowing. The mirror in my office melted.”

  Ari and Liam peeked out of the door and came walking down to join us. Ari pushed past me to get a better look. “What was that?” We watched as the fire trucks gathered and began to spray foam.

  “Only Grimm knows,” I said.

  Liam jogged down the hall and came back a moment later, having retrieved Grimm’s mirror from his office. He carried it with ease and leaned it against the corner so that Grimm could see.

  “Thank you, Mr. Stone.” Grimm’s voice sounded like he was almost laughing. “I think that will send an appropriate message.”

  I stepped out of the way so that Grimm could see better. “What exactly did you do?”

  Grimm started laughing. “I sent a message to the new fairy in town. It’s tragic. A satellite misfired and fell to earth. Quite fortunate that it missed everyone and obliterated a Dumpster. A miracle, really.”

  “You crashed a satellite to destroy a Dumpster?” asked Liam.

  “I didn’t have an asteroid handy. I sent a message to the party responsible for your close encounter of the troll kind, Mr. Stone. That sort of mirror is intimately linked to the fairy who empowers it, and I’m sure right now she has a nasty burn or two. I wouldn’t have risked anyone else coming into contact with her anyway.”

  I watched the firefighters spray foam on the fire. “I’m not sure that’s an appropriate response.”

  “That’s exactly what the dinosaurs said. Kindly return my mirror, when you are done appreciating my handiwork.” Grimm faded from view.

  I realized Liam had been staring at me the whole time. I’d never understood why it was that men saw me in a bikini and didn’t look twice, but if they saw me in a bra, it was scandalous. If I’d known I was going to be modeling for Liam, I’d have chosen the push-up bra.

  He caught me looking at him and turned away. His face wasn’t angry anymore, but I knew I’d killed my only chance at a relationship. Or had I? I left him there in the hallway and went back to get my shirt. By the time I was done getting dressed, Grimm’s mirror was back in his office. I had business there, so I went to finish our discussion.

  “Grimm, did you send the cops after Queen Thromson?”

  “According to her law firm, she only created enough apples to defend her family.” Grimm’s tone said he felt the same way about that claim that I did.

  “Bull. You show them the records Ari found?”

  “Marissa, I believe the bulk of those apples were actually de
livered to Kingdom forces. My ears tell me Kingdom believes they can win a war against the fae if need be. That means someone has given them the means to do so. The authorities are not inclined to quibble over a few illegal weapons when a threat like the fae wait in the wings.”

  “So she makes a bunch of weapons for them, keeps a few for herself?”

  Grimm nodded. “It appears so.”

  “So the question is, how did she know the fae were coming? What about the curse?” I stood up and walked to the armory wall.

  “I’m certain she’s responsible, but I can’t prove it.” The frustration in Grimm’s voice was palpable. “Someone blurred her position with a spell such that I can’t tell where she was or was not. Even if she did perform the curse, since it only affected a commoner, we’d have no legal recourse against her.”

  So Ari’s stepmother would get away with trying to curse another royal simply because she hadn’t succeeded. “You still have my potion?”

  “Second column, third down. May I ask why you would want it?”

  I slid out the box and it opened for me without a sound. In the black velvet lining sat the love potion the Isyle Witch had given me. “I need it.” I ran my fingers over it. A tingle shot through my hand, and I curled my fingers around it.

  “Marissa, I do not think that is wise.”

  “I can fix things. You say magic is a supplement for your mind. It’s no different than you using a potion on Mihail.” I started to slip the potion into my pocket and my hand went numb.

  Grimm spoke from the chrome shelving before me. “My dear, I do not think you understand what you are suggesting. These are completely different situations.”

  I felt his power radiating out along my arm, holding it still. “Let go of me. You said it was mine. I’m taking it.” I struggled to move my hand, but it hung limp at my side.

  “Please, Marissa. Put it away. Allow me to explain.”

  “I said I’m taking it, Grimm. If you want a potion, pay for it yourself. I know you’ve got the Glitter.” A cold pulse of energy rushed from the vial, and my eyes locked onto the door to his office. I was done. This discussion was done.