Thirty-two
The Passage
Meanwhile
The passage was nondescript and featureless. There weren’t any bricks or stones. Michael wasn’t even entirely sure there were walls. It was like walking through space. He put out a hand, and while he touched something solid, he couldn’t quite feel anything. After a while, the passage widened, but it was still just as blank and formless. “It must look different when you’re asleep,” he said. “Otherwise, this isn’t much of a dreamland.”
“You probably supply the detail from your subconscious,” Sophie said.
“For a customized dream experience.”
“Exactly.”
He’d put Beau down, but the dog stuck close to the two of them rather than exploring. He wondered what the dog experienced. Were there any smells, or was that sort of detail filled in by the dreamer, too?”
Eventually they reached a larger, more open space. It was also featureless, with fuzzy edges, like they were in the middle of a cloud, but it was full of people. Most of them were humans, dancing around in their pajamas. A few wore even less, and Michael could feel himself blushing. He didn’t dare look at Sophie. Some of the people were dancing with fairies, but the rest were dancing alone as though they had partners.
“At least we’re more appropriately dressed than most of them,” Sophie quipped. They did look out of place among the pajama-clad dancers, with her wearing an evening gown and him in a tuxedo. Sounding a little more serious—and more anxious—she added, “Do you see Emily?”
“Look for Eamon. I bet she’s with him, and he stands out in a crowd.”
She rose on tiptoes and scanned the area. He, too, surveyed the dancers, looking for a silver head. If Emily was with Eamon, he was pretty sure she’d be safe, in which case she’d probably be irked that her big sister was rushing in. Then again, Beau had been really upset. Would the dog have gone nuts like that if he’d she’d gone with someone familiar?
Thinking of Beau gave him an idea. “Go find Emily, Beau,” he ordered. Beau gave him a look that said “Seriously?” Michael would have sworn that the dog rolled his eyes before heading into the swirl of dancers.
“Oh no!” Sophie suddenly said with a gasp of horror.
“What is it? Do you see Emily?”
“No, but that woman over there—no, don’t look, she’s not wearing anything—is the dancer I replaced. I thought her injury was normal, but she must have been aggravating a chronic stress fracture by dancing all night with the fairies. So it was supernatural.”
He rested his hand lightly on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. “It’s not your fault. It’s not as though you sent the fairies after her.”
“They could have been trying to help me.”
“How would they have known who’d be called in to replace her? You can’t take responsibility for everything. Sometimes bad things happen to people. Sometimes good things happen to you, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” He couldn’t help but glance over to where a naked blonde with a spectacularly toned body was laughing as she danced. “And she seems to be having a good time.”
“She’ll never heal if she doesn’t stop this.”
“You’ll have to give her one of Emily’s herb bundles to fend off fairies.”
She glanced up at him. “What?”
“Emily and Athena made these things to give out to her cast so they wouldn’t come dancing at night. I haven’t had a chance to ask if they worked.”
The sound of barking got their attention, and they followed it to find Emily making out with a black-haired fae man. “You get your hands off her!” Sophie snapped, so fiercely that Michael had to pity the guy. He was glad he’d never had any romantic interest in Emily. It would be hazardous to one’s health to mess with Sophie’s baby sister.
The guy reacted instinctively, instantly pulling away, so apparently he knew what was good for him. Emily, on the other hand, didn’t seem to notice that her sister was even there. Her only reaction was to the abruptly stopped kiss. She tried to pull the guy back to her. “What’s wrong?” she asked when he resisted.
He didn’t answer, for he was too focused on the Hurricane Sophie that was bearing down on him. Except he no longer looked quite so scared. Instead, he gave a smile that made Michael queasy. “Ah, your highness,” the man said, bowing his head in a way that was clearly ironic. “It’s good of you to join us. I was having such a stimulating time with your lovely sister.”
“Come on, baby,” Emily cooed, kissing him on the cheek and trying to turn him back to face her.
“And she was just about to have a very nice time with me,” the man added with a sly grin.
“What do you want with her?” Sophie asked.
“I should think that would be obvious. Or does one such as you not understand these things?”
Ignoring his barb, she snapped her fingers in front of Emily’s face. “Wake up, Em,” she urged. “I know you don’t want to be doing this.”
“She can’t hear you,” the fae man said before returning his attention to Emily and kissing her in a way that made Michael want to punch him. He wasn’t quite sure Sophie was right about Emily not wanting to do this, because she looked pretty into it, but was that because of the dream state? What would she say if she were conscious?
The fairy broke off the kiss long enough to smirk at Sophie. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have other business to attend to.” His arm around Emily, he drew her away, across the open space.
“Oh, no, they’re not kidnapping my sister again,” Sophie muttered, stalking after them. Michael took a split second to react before following her.
“What can we do?” he asked. “How would you normally get out of this kind of situation?”
“You wake up, I’d think.”
“Beau barking didn’t wake Emily.”
“He may have put her under a stronger spell.”
The fairy was taking Emily toward another passage, but he didn’t get too far because someone else came out of the passage—Eamon. “There you are, Emily Drake!” he called out.
She pulled slightly away from her suitor. “Eamon?” she said, sounding uncertain. Apparently it was just people from the real world who didn’t exist to her in this state. “Where have you been?”
“Step away from her,” Eamon ordered the other fairy before telling Emily, “I was otherwise occupied on an errand for the queen. And I was not aware you wanted to meet me here.”
“I didn’t,” she said, her voice faltering slightly. She glanced at her companion, as though suddenly wondering who he was and why he was with her. “It just sort of happened.”
Eamon stepped toward her, but the other fae grabbed her roughly and pulled her against himself. “She’ll be staying with me.”
“Who do you work for?” Sophie asked. “We know all about the plot.”
The man laughed. “You and the other human pretender to the throne will think twice about what you do while I have this one.”
“Oh, not this again,” Sophie muttered under her breath.
“If Emily wakes up back in the real world, will she be out of his clutches?” Michael whispered to her.
“Maybe. But if he has her under a spell we may not be able to wake her.”
He had a sudden idea. “Would the spell work with one of those herb bundles around?”
“Maybe not.”
“Then let’s go. We’re not really helping her here.”
“I’m not leaving her alone. You go.”
“I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
“I’m a queen of the Realm. I’ll be okay. Now, go. Take Beau.”
Michael whistled to the dog, but he sat stubbornly beside his mistress. Without a leash, there wasn’t much Michael could do to force him to go, and he doubted the bulldog would cooperate with being carried. Plus, he felt better about leaving Sophie with someone else who was mortal. With a reluctant glance over his shoulder, he sprinted down the passage.
Back downstairs in Emily’s apartment, he placed the bundle under Emily’s pillow. Although the form in the bed seemed like a phantom, her head felt just as heavy as if she were really lying in that bed when he lifted the pillow. Now he needed to wake her. He got out his phone and called hers, hoping she had the ringer on.
It was on the nightstand, and it began ringing. He let it ring until it went into voice mail, then hit redial and waited, anxiously watching the glowing mirror.
Thirty-three
The Ballroom
Meanwhile
Emily had the feeling she was missing something. The handsome man holding her had seemed to be talking to someone, but she didn’t see anyone nearby addressing him until Eamon showed up. Eamon’s appearance left her even more confused. Part of her felt ashamed at him catching her with another man like this, but she also felt defiant. He’d made it clear he didn’t want her this way, so it served him right to have to see that someone else did want her.
She slipped her arm around her partner’s waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Weren’t we going somewhere?” she asked, gazing up at him while unable to resist a glance out of the corner of her eye to see Eamon’s reaction.
“Emily Drake, you do not want this. He is merely abducting you.”
“Yeah, and you should know,” she said.
“I should. And I do. This one will use you against your sister. Do you want to be a hostage again?”
“You don’t want to use me as a hostage, do you?” she asked her partner.
“I want to dance with you. I want to kiss you. I want to make love to you.”
“See, he doesn’t want to use me as a hostage.” But she realized then that he hadn’t answered her question. Doing all those other things didn’t mean that he didn’t have some other agenda. Her head was starting to feel clearer, like she was coming out of a fog. “Do you want to use me as a hostage?” she asked more forcefully.
“I have so many plans for you,” he said, sliding his hand down her back to cup her behind.
“Yeah, I know, but it’s a simple question. Answer yes or no.”
A loud burst of electronic music broke in, clashing with the music from the fae orchestra. She recognized the ringtone she used for Michael’s calls. He wouldn’t be calling just to chat in the middle of the night, so something must be wrong. “I have to go,” she said, pulling away from the man, who no longer seemed nearly as alluring.
He tried to grab her, but Eamon intervened, pulling him back. The two men grappled with each other, magic flaring around them. “Go, Emily!” Eamon shouted.
With one last look at him, Emily let herself be drawn toward the sound of her ringing phone. It stopped for a moment, and the draw ceased. She turned back to see how Eamon was doing, feeling suspended between worlds. She couldn’t find the path forward, but she didn’t want to go back.
The ringing resumed, and the path became clear again. She ran for all she was worth down the avenue of trees, heading for a golden light just ahead, through which she could hear her phone, loud and clear. She dove through the portal, and a moment later she sat up in bed, gasping.
Michael was in her apartment, holding his phone while hers rang on her nightstand. “You okay?” he asked, and it registered on her that he was wearing a tux.
“Yeah, but what are you doing here?”
“Beau let us know you needed help. But where’s Sophie?”
“Sophie?”
“She was in there, keeping an eye on you, with Beau.”
“You were in there? With Sophie? But I didn’t see you.”
“We were there. I came back to try to wake you from this end.” His voice sounded distracted as he focused on the mirror over her bed. “Where are you, Sophie?” he muttered. “Maybe I should go back after her.”
A loud bark heralded Beau’s appearance as the dog jumped from the mirror. Emily let out an “oof” as he landed in her lap and began licking her face. “Hey, buddy,” she said, rubbing his neck. “But where’s Sophie?”
The mirror’s glow was fading, probably because the dreamer was awake. Emily was pretty sure that Sophie could find her own way out of the Realm, but if the dream space wasn’t the real Realm, what would she do? Eamon was there, and he could help, she hoped.
Just as the mirror had faded to almost normal, Sophie came diving out of it. She seemed to have made a desperate leap at the last second, with no thought as to how she would land. Michael stepped into her path and caught her. For a second, it looked like he might lose his balance, but he got his feet under him and steadied her in his arms, where it didn’t look like either of them was all that eager for him to put her down.
She wore an evening dress and canvas ballet slippers, and she was breathing hard, which for someone in Sophie’s condition meant she must have done some serious sprinting.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” Sophie said calmly in between pants. “Are you okay?”
“Well, I have my sister and my neighbor in my apartment in the middle of the night, which is weird.” She groaned. “And please tell me I wasn’t just making out with a fairy Don Juan.”
“Then I won’t.” Sophie patted Michael on the arm, and he gently set her on her feet, but they stayed awfully close to each other.
“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t making out with the guy, does it?” Emily asked, suppressing a shudder.
“It was pretty intense,” Michael said.
Emily groaned and picked up her pillow to bury her face in it. “I don’t know whether to shower first or brush my teeth. And to think, I was this close to doing a lot more than dancing with him.”
“I think he had you under a spell,” Sophie said, her tone soothing. “It wasn’t you.”
“Well, thanks for the help.” She bent and kissed her dog on the nose. “And thanks to you for raising the alarm.” Then her sister and neighbor’s attire registered on her and she remembered what else had happened that night. “Oh, how did the ballet go?”
They exchanged a look fraught with all kinds of meaning. “It was eventful,” Sophie said.
“Let me guess, Josephine did something. But what about the ballet itself?”
“That part was great, although there were some unintended special effects.”
“Oh?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“But things got interesting afterward,” Michael said.
Hugging her pillow against her chest, Emily asked, “Interesting how?”
“I don’t even know where to start,” Sophie said with a sigh. “But I suspect Josephine has more allies in the Realm than we realized. She’s got the enchantresses squaring off against the fae—even Amelia and Athena. But can we talk about it tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I think we could all use some sleep. Thanks again.” Emily turned to put her pillow back in place and noticed the bundle of herbs lying there. “Hey, where did this come from?”
“It’s the one you gave me,” Michael said. “It’s how we broke the spell on you. I’d suggest you keep it around for the time being.”
“Good idea.”
Beau stretched out beside her, and although she didn’t usually let him sleep in bed with her, she felt better with his warm bulk against her. Michael and Sophie said their good nights and left, the lock clicking behind them.
As tired as she was, Emily couldn’t rest because all she could think of was what would have happened if they hadn’t shown up.
Thirty-four
Michael’s Apartment
Next
Sophie d
idn’t even want to think about what time it was by the time she and Michael got back to his apartment. “It should be safe for me to go home now,” she said, fighting back a yawn.
“Safe? At this time of night?” he asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.
“I meant safe from confrontations with Amelia and Athena. But do you really think I’d be in any danger from run-of-the-mill muggers?”
“You’re dead tired. Your reflexes might be off. Why don’t you stay here tonight?” When she hesitated perhaps a bit too long, he added, “It’s not like it would be the first time, and then we were both in my bed without any danger.”
“On your bed,” she corrected, hoping she didn’t blush too obviously. “And I have no doubt that you would be a perfect gentleman. But how would it look?”
“You’re not in a small town anymore, Sophie. No one will care. And even if you’ve become enough of a celebrity that someone’s watching you, your sister lives in the same building. It’ll look like you stayed with her. In fact, you leaving dressed like that in the middle of the night would probably look even worse.”
She figured she’d put up enough of a protest for appearance’s sake, so she sighed and said, “If you insist.”
“I do. No matter how much magic you have, I’d feel obligated to escort you home, and then it would be even later when I got to bed, and I have to work tomorrow.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at his attempted—and successful—guilt trip. “Okay, when you put it that way.”
“Then let me get a pillow and blanket out, and I’ll take the sofa.”
“I’ll hear of no such thing. I will not take your bed.”
“I’ve spent many a night on this sofa. I’ll be fine. And I’ll need to leave for work while you’re probably still asleep.”
She knew the logic, but she didn’t want to sleep in his bed. Well, she did, and that was the problem. She’d spend the whole night sniffing his pillow and sighing like a schoolgirl. “I’m a sound sleeper, and I’ll fit a lot better on the sofa than you will.”
A Kind of Magic Page 20