by Alicia Wolfe
It was late at night when she finally showed up. I was half-asleep on the couch with a beer on the side table and another one (well, an empty bottle, anyway) wedged between the cushions when I heard the window overlooking the fire escape rattle. I blinked and roused myself.
“Ruby?”
I swiveled to see a dim shape drop from the window to the floor. Alarmed, I jumped up and ran over. Frigid air washed in, raising goosebumps on my skin, but I barely felt it.
“Ruby?” I said.
I reached out to the shape. It stirred and sat up, red hair spilling out. Ruby blinked up at me, looking dazed.
Shock ran through me. Blood dripped from her hairline down over her right eye.
Chapter 5
My heart smashed heavily against my ribs. For a moment, the world tilted and spun around me. Dear God, I thought. If anything had happened to Ruby…
I reached out and touched the blood on her face. Still warm.
“Hey-o, Jade,” she said, but I could hear the weakness in her voice.
“What the fuck?”
“Help … me up.”
I grabbed her flailing hand and pulled her partway to her feet, then inserted myself under her shoulder, propping her up. With my free hand, I closed the window, then marched Ruby toward the bathroom, where the emergency medical kit was.
“No,” she said. “Need … healing stone.”
“Healing stone?” That was new.
“Just … bought it.”
She indicated her bedroom, so I helped her in there, and she pointed to her cupboard. I led her over, and she rooted around in a drawer for a minute, then held up a small clear crystal in a pale, shaking fist.
“Galia limbar’carata,” she murmured.
The crystal glowed with a vague pink light that suffused her hand, then traveled up her arm and through her body. She trembled. I staggered, holding her. I could feel the power wash through me, too.
At last, she gasped, and the glow in the stone faded. Straightening, she eased out of my grip and replaced the rock in its drawer.
“That’s handy,” I said.
She nodded raggedly. She looked much better, and the blood that had been weeping from the cut on her hairline had slowed, maybe stopped. I couldn’t even see the wound anymore. She still seemed weak, though, and shaken up. Shit, so was I. She was wearing her black witch clothes, and I knew she must have flown in on her broomstick, which she’d cloaked with an invisibility spell and left hitched to the fire escape.
“I need a drink,” she said.
“After that, so do I. Well, another drink.”
I helped her into the kitchen, then poured us both some wine. While she sipped hers, I fetched the medical kit and soaked up the blood with a blotter, alternately sipping my own drink when I wasn’t dabbing at her cut.
“So…” I demanded, trying to sound light about it while inside I was churning with stark naked fear. “What. The. Fuck.”
She let out a long sigh. She’d already finished her glass and was pouring another. The beer was gone.
“You’ve only been able to legally drink for a month and already you’re becoming an alcoholic,” I said.
“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” she said in a singsong voice, and I had to crack a grin. It’s what I’d always said to Ruby after Mom had given me a piece of her mind. Now Ruby was using it against me.
“Whatever,” I said. “Just tell me what happened.”
Her hand still shaking a little, she lifted the glass to her lips and took another sip, as if to steady herself. “I was out on a job.”
“I knew it! You’re still thieving.”
“Of course I am. You knew that. How else am I supposed to make a living?”
“I don’t know, by getting a job?”
“And what about the people who need us?” She fixed me with an accusing glare. “We did help people, Jade. And those people didn’t just vanish when you took up the sword. By the way, do you have a sword?”
“No, not yet. I’m a knight-in-training. I only get a sword and stuff when I’ve graduated, and I’m a long way from that. Moving on. Just what job were you on that nearly killed you?”
“Stop doing that.” She reached up to grab the hand I was using to dab at her cut. “I’m fine, and that’s annoying. Sit down.”
Reluctantly—I still wanted to mother her, I couldn’t help it—I sat next to her and took a long swallow of my drink. My own hand was shaking, too. And it takes a lot to make a cat burglar’s hand shake. But seeing your own sister bloodied and dazed will do that every time.
“So,” I pressed. “What gives? What idiot do I have to beat up for sending you out on what was obviously a deadly mission? And who did this to you?”
“Not who. What. A doll.”
“A doll?”
She nodded, red locks spilling over her pretty, freckled face. She’d inherited the Scottish genes, and also the magical ones. I’d gotten the shifter blood. Weird how magic and genetics shake out.
“I was approached by a family last week,” she said. “Martha and Glen Jordan, a mother and father. They said they’d recently bought a new doll for their daughter Abby—she’s six and so precious, I mean, like really; you should see her—”
“Keep going.”
She nodded. “Right. I forget how butch you are.”
“I am not.” I growled when I saw her lips twitch in amusement. She knew how to push my buttons. “Moving on,” I said again, feeling myself grow impatient. Ruby could drag stuff out forever. And we didn’t have much wine left.
“It was a magical doll,” Ruby said. “Purchased from a start-up magic doll place here in Gypsy Land. Their dolls speak and dance and stuff, all done by magic. The company’s called Happy Tyke, and it’s run by a mage called Gellar.”
“I’m not going to buy stock from this place, Rubes. Get to the point.”
She rolled her eyes. “The dolls do more than speak, sis. At least, this one did. In the middle of the night the day her parents bought the doll, the little girl, Abby, woke up to see two blazing, fiery eyes above her. It was Mrs. Fun, the doll, only she was holding a pair of scissors.”
“Cripes!”
“Exactly.” Pleased that I finally seemed to be getting it, she went on, “Abby screamed and her parents rushed in to find her cowering in the corner, holding her pillow in front of her like a shield while Mrs. Fun stabbed into it with the scissors. They confirmed that the doll’s eyes were glowing like fire. Oh, and it was laughing maniacally.”
“What happened?”
“What do you think? Dad ripped the doll’s head off, then tore it apart. They would have burned it, but they wanted it looked at. They had a friend we’d helped last year, so they knew of me. They brought me the doll, and I began an investigation of Happy Tyke.”
“Abby was okay?”
“Okay as anyone would’ve been. The doll didn’t hurt her, but I bet she’ll have nightmares about that for the rest of her life.”
“Poor kid. So what’s going on at Happy Tyke?”
Ruby downed the rest of her glass, then grimaced. “Hell if I know. Maybe, if I had someone skilled at sneaking into places, I would know more.”
Her words stung. “It’s not like I’m sitting around doing nothing.”
“Oh, I know what you’re doing. You’re drowning in your obsession for avenging Dad and Grandma. You’re not even doing your knight training—just trying to find some lead on Walsh. You’ve told me all about it, and I’ve filled in the rest.”
I ground my teeth. “I am doing other things. Like just earlier, there was this fighting pit … anyway.” I knew she wouldn’t want to know about that. “So what happened with Happy Tyke?”
She started to pour another glass, but I stopped her. Partly because it was the last wine in the house, and partly because I needed her sober.
“I staked out the doll factory for a week,” she said. “I tried various spells to peer inside, but the place is tightly warded. I couldn’t tell what
was going on in there. Finally, I realized I would have to go in myself and scout around. Someone in that place is doing something seriously messed up to their dolls. They’re probably using some magical item to cast dangerous spells on them or something. I wanted to find that item and steal it. And if it wasn’t an item, if it was something else, I would deal with that, too. The family told me they’d pay extra out of their own pocket if I couldn’t find something to sell to a fence. They just wanted it stopped, whatever it was.”
“What went wrong?” I said, eyeing the blood that still caked her hair.
She gazed longingly at the wine bottle. “I’m not a very good sneak. I wasn’t prowling the halls of the factory long before I saw a shadow at the edge of my vision. I turned around to see a tiny shape leaping out at me from the top of a doorframe. It was holding a pair of scissors.”
“Damn!”
She touched her forehead, as if remembering the slice, which had just barely skimmed her, thank goodness. “Little bitch really got me. It was a small set of blades, but it still hurt. I managed to throw the doll off, but it was still coming at me, and I’m afraid I made some noise when we were fighting. I, er, may have been screaming hysterically.” She looked sheepish. I patted her hand, letting her know it was okay.
“Anyway, I’d made so much noise I knew others would be coming, and that Mrs. Fun was still rushing me with the scissors. I cast a spell, freezing her in place, but I could hear noises in the hall around the bend. Others were coming, whether humans or dolls I don’t know.” She rolled her shoulders. “Anyway, I got the hell out of there.”
“I can’t believe you put yourself in danger like that. Mom would have a fit if she knew.”
Ruby regarded me. “I wouldn’t have gone in myself if you’d been with me.”
“I…”
“Yes?”
I started to say, You know I can’t. I’ll get kicked out of the Order of the Shield! But then I thought about it. I thought about the conversations Davril and I had had today. I thought about the need to use my cat-burglaring as a cover to ingratiate myself into the underworld (or at least to stay ingratiated). But it was Ruby putting herself in danger to help people without me to back her up that really got to me. Or, more properly, for her to back me up. I was the big sister and the accomplished cat burglar. She was a novice with a flying broom.
Ruby was watching me closely. “Jade?”
I reached a decision. “Ruby,” I said slowly. “I think you’re right.”
“That may be the first time you’ve ever uttered those words. Except for that time when I told you I thought Thor was hotter than Captain America. But does this mean what I think it does?” Hope glimmered in her green eyes.
Something warm filled my chest. Tears prickled at the corner of my eyes.
Feeling my chin tremble, I nodded.
“It does,” I said. “It means I’m back. We’re partners in crime again.”
I let the tears come, throwing my arms around Ruby. She was startled for a moment, but then she started laughing and crying, too. She fiercely hugged me back. Happiness surged through me. For a moment, one shining moment, all was right with the world.
Then I remembered the look on Davril’s face. What will you do when you find out, my gorgeous noble Fae Knight?
Wiping my eyes, I pulled away. Ruby and I shared trembling smiles.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Great, now. Although, I wish we had more booze. I wasn’t expecting company.”
“Well, you can start stocking up again. I’m moving back in.”
She beamed. “Really?”
“Really. Well, at least part time.” I hugged her again.
“But why do you ask how I feel?” she said, and I could hear the suspicion in her voice.
I squared my shoulders. “Because something sinister is going on at that dollhouse, and I know two sisters who are going to do something about it.”
She blinked. “You mean … tonight?”
“The stone healed you, right?”
“Well … yeah. It can only do that once a month, though, and only to a certain extent. Don’t think you can use it as a get-out-of-decapitation-free card. But … really, tonight?”
I stood. “We’re going to go kick some doll ass. Now where the hell is this factory, anyway?”
Chapter 6
The factory was located about ten blocks away—closer than most jobs we worked on. Then again, that was the fun part about Gypsy Land. It was always lively and usually up to no good.
But dolls? Really?
I shivered in the cold winds as I rode behind Ruby on her broomstick. She’d outfitted the broom with a sort of double saddle, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable, and she’d cast a spell to keep some of the freezing wind off us. Not all of it, though. My hair streamed out behind me, and Ruby’s would’ve been in my face if she hadn’t tied it into a thick ponytail before we’d left.
“I missed this,” she said. “Us two, out on a mission together.”
“Me, too. It’s been too long. The Fae are cool, but they’re not family.”
“You know,” she said leadingly. “You could get me invited to the Palace. I really would like to see it.”
“I already got you in twice!”
“Yeah, but it’s so big, and there’s so much to see. I really want to go again. And the chance to browse their magical library…”
“They do have a library, but their Compendium is still out of order.”
“They haven’t found a workaround for Federico’s absence yet?”
“Nope. He was kind of the heart of the whole thing, and it’s chaos without him. Anyway, it’s not like the Queen gives tours, Rubes. But I’ll put in a request for you.”
“Thanks. And she should give tours. The Fae would make a fortune.”
“I don’t think they’re worried about money.”
Ruby grinned at me over her shoulder. “You could be the tour guide! Ha!”
“You’re about to fly us into a building, ace.”
She wasn’t, but it made her turn back around and stop grinning. She could be really annoying.
“There it is,” she said a few moments later. She pointed to a large structure that took up half a city block. About four stories tall, the bland but somehow grim Happy Tyke factory belched smoke from three large chimneys, and I could see a magical sheen about the smoke. I wondered what mystical pollutants they were spewing into the air.
There needs to be some sort of government agency that handles that stuff, I thought. The EPA just wasn’t going to cut it now that magic was used to make certain things on a mass scale.
Ruby made several wide loops around Happy Tyke, letting me take it in. She gave me the rundown as we went: the east side had this many guards, the west side had that many guards, blah-blah-blah. I tried to commit it all to memory while scanning the windows and doors for the best place to enter.
“Where did you go in?” I said.
“The roof. But I wouldn’t try that way again. I just escaped about an hour ago. They’ll be on high alert. I still think this is a mistake, sis.”
“A window, then. How about … that one?” I indicated a corner room on the second floor.
“The windows are all warded, but when I was inside, I could sense the type of magic they were using. I think I can counter it now that I know what it is. I think I can get you in.”
I noticed all the thinks. “So you can get me in, right?”
She squared her shoulders. Then, dramatically: “Sure, I can.” After a beat, she deflated. “I think.”
It would have to do. “Take us in.”
Cloaking us with a spell, she darted in toward the window I’d indicated. There were several dark figures on the roof, doubtlessly guards on watch against the intruder returning, but none of them seemed to notice us. I hoped I wasn’t making a terrible mistake. I was rusty, after all, not having robbed anything in two months, and Ruby had just barely left this place with her life.
But I wanted to do it before I could think better of it, and if Happy Tyke was in chaos that might work to our benefit. And after today I was sure they would increase their security, and then it would be all but impossible to sneak in. It was now or never. I wasn’t going to allow more kids to be attacked if I could help it.
Which I could. Because I was Jade McClaren, damn it, master cat burglar and all-around badass.
At least that’s what I told myself as we came closer.
I fingered the pouches on the belt at my waist. It was my Batman-style utility belt, used to hold the spellgredients I used for my limited feats of magic. It was thin and much cuter than Batman’s, though, and it looked sharp against my slinky black cat burglar outfit. Oh, how I’d missed this outfit! Sometimes I thought I got into cat-burglaring just to wear the clothes.
Ruby pulled into position next to a window on the second floor, muttering some spells to penetrate the wards.
“There’s powerful magic here, Jade,” she warned. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
I gave her a quick hug, then spoke a spell to unlock the window. It didn’t have any more wards on it beyond what Ruby had already removed, so I yanked the window open and slipped inside. As quietly as I could, I closed it. Ruby watched me with wide, sober eyes. Scaredy cat.
I stuck my tongue out at her. Surprisingly, she didn’t respond in kind. She really was frightened for me.
Pfft. Dolls. As if.
I moved away from the window, passing deeper into the factory. Silent halls and offices stretched all around me. I navigated around one patrol of guards, then another. They really were on high alert.
Dolls, I thought. Dolls weren’t scary.
Little, huggable, cute…
…creepy, scuttling, silent-on-tiny-feet dolls. Not … scary at all.
I cleared my throat and kept going.
The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up, the darkness pressing in on me. I shivered, but forced myself forward. The dark hall stretched on, seemingly endless, like some haunted corridor out of a nightmare.
Keep it together, Jade. Sheesh.