Fairy, Neat (Fairy Files Book 6)

by Katharine Sadler

  “Yes,” Pally said with a sniffle. Indigo handed her a tissue and she blew her nose. “But we heard the stories from the Non and my parents warned me about what horrible monsters humans are. They made it clear I must avoid them.”

  “Did they tell you why?”

  She leaned closer and spoke in a low whisper. “They leech your magic.”

  “What?”

  “They aren’t able to utilize it, or even control it, but they just sort of absorb it like a sponge and soon…Poof! All my magic will be gone.”

  “Pally, I’ve lived my entire life around humans and my magic is still as strong as it ever was.”

  Pally’s confidence wavered a bit. “Have you ever shared an abode with one?”

  “Um, well. . .” I thought back over my life. “Yes! I had a human roommate in college and I suffered no negative effects.”

  “How can you be sure?” Pally asked. “Maybe you would be more powerful today if you hadn’t lived with her.”

  “No,” I said. “This is a myth, Pally. After we leave, call Sapphire and she’ll tell you there’s no science to support your beliefs about humans. Your parents probably told you those things to keep you in Rubalia, to keep you from going too far from home. You have to understand that if you persist in these beliefs, you are judging Durango for something beyond his control and that isn’t okay. I won’t tolerate it.”

  “I don’t have to like him,” Pally said. “You can’t coerce me into liking him.”

  “No, I can’t, but I can ask that you treat him with respect and civility. If you can’t do that, I’ll have to ask you to find another place to live.”

  “You would evict me?”

  “This isn’t just a home, it’s a place for immigrants to come for information, training, and assistance. I need to know you’ll be tolerant of anyone who comes through that door unless their actions give you a reason not to be.”

  She frowned fiercely, and there was hurt in her eyes. “You’re taking his side? You’re just going to permit him to reside here? You know nothing about him.”

  She had a point. The guy could be a very charming and well-dressed serial killer for all I knew. But I had good instincts about people, and Pally was surrounded by friends who would defend her if Durango tried to hurt her. “He’s only here temporarily, Pally. When we get back, Benny will resume his post as the gatekeeper.” I sighed as more tears welled in her eyes. “I like you, Pally, but you can’t live here if you’re going to be intolerant of humans or anyone you might have reason to dislike based solely on their species. You and everyone in this house are liaisons of sorts between humans and fae.”

  Pally nodded, her eyes wide. “I’ll give it my ultimate effort, Chloe, but I…What if I’m unable to do it?”

  “Then you’ll have to find somewhere else to live,” I said. “Without my help.”

  Frost walked in and I turned in time to see a cab pull away from the curb before he shut the front door. “It’s time to go, sweetheart.”

  I sighed. I hated to leave with everything so unresolved, but I’d have to trust Pally to figure it out. I waved at Indigo, who nodded and smiled. “I’ll make sure there are no murders during your absence.”

  I left and pushed my worry aside. I had to trust they’d work it out.

  ***

  Pippi and her troll and redcap friends were at Ephemeral when we arrived. There may have been others of our group there as well, but I couldn’t see over the heads of the trolls, trolls who were shoving and arguing, snarling and complaining. The redcaps watched the trolls with confused expressions.

  “What’s wrong with the trolls?” I asked Pippi.

  “Testosterone,” she said. “They always get like this before battle.”

  “They do understand it might be a while before we actually find anyone to battle, right?”

  She shrugged. “If I knew how to get them to chill the fuck out, I would have fucking done it already.”

  “Right,” I said, wondering what the hell we’d gotten ourselves into.

  “If the trolls act like this all the time,” Frost said. “Why do the red caps look so confused?”

  “Confused?” Pippi looked over at her compatriots, who were still staring at the trolls with creased brows and wary gazes. “No, they aren’t confused. They’re probably looking for a way to create the biggest explosion. You know, which button to push to get the trolls into a full-out brawl.”

  “Wonderful,” I said. “It’s like journeying to war with a pack of sugared-up toddlers.”

  Pippi grinned. “It’s just their way of blowing off steam. They’ll bust heads like professionals when it’s necessary.”

  I was afraid to ask how professionals busted heads. It probably would have been a good idea to train together as a team, but we didn’t have a lot of time. “Have they fought together before?”

  Pippi looked over her crew, admiration and fondness clear on her features. “Never,” she said. “I’m not exactly in the business of building armies, but they know what they’re doing. Trust me.”

  I’m pretty sure no intelligent person ever made the mistake of trusting Pippi. Not that she was a bad person, or even a self-absorbed person, but she loved drama and violence and tended to get carried away when she scented blood.

  “So, we’re going to Rubalia with a bunch of inexperienced, untrained bird brains?” Benny asked, his own grin mocking. “Should be fun.” He stood just inside the door, his dragon friends behind him looking bored.

  Pippi narrowed her eyes. “Better than a bunch of cold-blooded, scaly, lizard brains.”

  Benny’s grin faded. “We. Are. Not. Lizards.”

  Luckily, Vin and Hieronymus arrived before a fight broke out. I stepped away from Benny and Pippi, who were now glaring at each other and met Hieronymus. “Do you have cars?” We couldn’t all travel by bus or taxi with weapons.

  “I’ve got two church vans,” Hieronymus said. He looked around the room. “We might have to make more than one trip.”

  I shouted for everyone to head out one by one and get in the vans. As each person passed, I gave them an amulet to protect them from the nightmares’ thrall. The amulets would ensure that everyone saw the nightmare lizards as they really were, not as the six-foot tall behemoth’s they tricked our brains and eyes into believing they were.

  Everyone fit into the two vans, though it was a tight squeeze. Hieronymus drove one van and Frost the other. I rode in the van driven by Frost, next to a troll who took up all his seat and half of mine and smelled like testosterone was sweating out of his pores. Not all the trolls were men, but even without testosterone, the female trolls seemed just as hyper and excited for battle. Or maybe female trolls also produced testosterone. I actually had no idea.

  My phone rang just as we entered the suburbs. I gave one last look over my shoulder at my city and pulled my phone out of my over-sized fanny pack. A regular backpack wouldn’t work with my wings, so I’d had to adjust. “Winifred,” I said. “You just caught us.”

  “Good,” Winifred said. “I found the information you asked for. I don’t know if it’ll be of any use to you, but the text I found claims that the cold devils journeyed to the Non to escape authoritarian rule in their own home-world. They told one of our priestesses that the dragons ruled the land and would kill them all if the priestesses sent them back to the Nightmare realm.”

  “Wow,” I said. “But they were sent back anyway and must have overthrown the—” I stopped myself before I mentioned dragons in a van full of them.

  “Dragons,” Winifred said for me. “Yes, that’s what I conjecture, as well.”

  “Did you find anything else?”

  “No. I’ve found nothing else about the dragons in those papers. Of course, I’ve met dragons in Sarsaparilla, but they don’t talk about the nightmare realm. They act like they’ve never lived anywhere but Sarsaparilla.”

  “Thank you, Winifred.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll see you when you get back.”
<
br />   I hung up and stared out the window at the suburban scenery passing by. I wasn’t sure it meant anything that dragons had once ruled the nightmare realm, but I also suspected that, with Benny involved, it meant everything. What if Benny didn’t just want revenge on the nightmares? What if he wanted to reclaim past power for the dragons?

  But that would mean Benny knew about the ruling history of the dragons and, according to him, he’d left the nightmare realm when he was a kid. If he had somehow learned of the power his people once had and wanted to reclaim it, was he interested in ruling Rubalia or the nightmare realm? I could trust Benny to keep me alive as long as he found me useful, but I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to slice off my head if it suited his larger plan.

  There were far too many variables in this hastily planned attack of ours and I didn’t like any of it. It was bad enough not knowing more about what we’d be going up against, but I knew just as little about the people who were fighting with me, the people at my back.

  The bus pulled into a neighborhood with overgrown lots and half-constructed homes and parked in a cul-de-sac in front of a skeleton house. “Why would anyone put a portal here?” I asked aloud to no one in particular.

  “Probably because they wanted to smuggle something in or out of Rubalia without being seen,” the troll seated next to me said.

  “Like what?”

  The troll shrugged. “Technology, herbs, tools, alcohol, people.”

  I felt I should have heard what he was he telling me from someone else. Was human trafficking actually going on into or out of Rubalia? “If we both get back alive,” I said. “Would you mind explaining what you’re talking about?”

  He nodded. “Maybe. What’s in it for me?” He was a big guy, with a small head, a bulbous nose and floppy ears, but nothing about him seemed threatening.

  “I’m pretty sure I can come up with something.”

  He nodded. “I like shiny things.”

  I grinned at that. “So do I.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Stepping into Rubalia always feels a bit like coming home and also a bit like leaving behind the person I thought I was.—Chloe Frangipani

  Rubalia was never perfect, but it was my home.— Vin

  We unloaded from the vans and gathered in the skeleton house. There were empty beer cans, trash, and dirt on the floor. It looked like a teenage party hide-out. I wondered if only those with fae blood could see the portal or if those who’d partied there just hadn’t noticed it. Somewhere, someone was singing Christmas carols and it smelled like someone else was burning brush. It was the perfect evening to be at home, ordering take-out and cuddling with loved ones. I pushed such thoughts from my mind. We were crossing into Rubalia to stop the nightmares so that the people of the Non could have more evenings like this one.

  We sent three of Pippi’s trolls through first to get an idea of what awaited us on the other side. They were gone only a few moments before they returned, two of them covered in someone else’s blood, and gestured for us to enter.

  As the assumed captain of the mission, I went first. The bodies of three fairies lay, bloody and still, on the other side of the portal. Pippi came through next.

  I gestured to the fairy bodies. “Was that really necessary?”

  Pippi rolled her eyes. “Would you prefer we left them alive? For all we know, they were fairy-bots being controlled by the nightmares.”

  “I could have found out.”

  Pippi faced me. “You’re going to have to toughen up, Chloe. We aren’t here to make flower garlands and build houses for habitats. We’re here to save people from the nightmares. Some people are going to have to die.”

  “Their deaths were unnecessary.” I gestured to the fairies on the ground. “A waste of life. You might not always like my opinions, but this is my mission and I’m in charge.”

  Pippi shrugged like she didn’t care, but her eyes blazed red and her jaw was clenched tight. “Fine. But you deal with the trolls when they’re on testosterone overload and bored.”

  “No. I’m in charge of you and you’re in charge of them. You keep them in line.”

  Trolls and redcaps poured through the portal while Pippi glared at me. “You don’t want me as an enemy, Chloe.”

  Benny and his dragons came through the portal next, followed by Frost. Hieronymus popped out last. I glared at Pippi. “You decide I’m your enemy, just wait to kill me until we get back to the Non.”

  “I’m not a total fucking idiot,” she muttered.

  Frost watched both of us, his arms crossed over his chest, an amused glint in his eyes. I was tempted to slap the smirk off his face. What was so funny about Pippi pushing the limits…? “You’re not a wolf.” I stepped over to him, scared to reach out and touch him, scared the illusion would shatter and he’d shift to his furry form.

  Frost’s smirk broadened to a smile and my worry eased. “Winifred gave me another amulet.” He held up his right hand and revealed a chunky silver ring on his right thumb. “I didn’t tell you, because we weren’t sure it would work.”

  I laughed and threw my arms around him. Relief and happiness coursed through me. My partner in life and love and in everything that mattered would be by my side, vocal and strong. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  He squeezed me tight. “Me, too. I might be stronger in wolf form, but my brain works better when I’m human.”

  “The wolf brain makes you want to chase rabbits?”

  He looked me up and down and leered. “Not just rabbits.”

  I grimaced. “That is really weird. Do I need to remind you I’m not into bestiality?”

  He chuckled and set me on my feet. “The troops are waiting for your directions.”

  I spun to see that he was right, we had an audience. “Okay,” I said. “The rebel stronghold is supposed to be three miles North of here. Benny and his dragons will fly ahead and warn us if they see any trouble. But we need to move and move fast, because I doubt the nightmares will leave any portal unguarded for long. It’s probably too much to hope that we can move quietly enough to go undetected for any length of time.” I looked to Pippi to see if she agreed, but she was clearly still mad at me. She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes.

  “I would think the giant flying beasts would give us away, no matter how quiet we are,” Hieronymus said. “Even so, we should avoid unnecessary noise. Nightmares are not the only danger we might encounter.”

  If there had been more time to plan our trip to the Non, I might have been better informed about those dangers, but there was little point in asking for details now. We’d learn about the dangers if and when we encountered them.

  “Right,” I said. “Let’s be as quiet as possible and remember that we aren’t just trying to keep ourselves safe to live another day, we’re trying to stay alive so we can free the people of Rubalia from the rule of ruthless and violent nightmares. You may no longer have friends or family in Rubalia, but the people here will always be our people. We fight to protect the children and the innocent and to make Rubalia a safe place for everyone.”

  There were no cheers at my speech, but there were nods and murmurs of agreement. I’d take it.

  Benny and his crew stripped out of their clothes and stuffed them into bags they handed over to the trolls nearest them. Benny was a rather un-fit guy, with little to no muscle tone and a round buddha belly, but the rest of the dragon shifters with him were fit and toned. As one, they bent and transformed into enormous, jewel-toned dragons in every color of the rainbow. Benny wasn’t the largest or most fierce-looking of the dragons, but the other dragons turned to him, awaiting his orders, and he led the group, rising into the air like it was effortless. The flapping of so many wings created a windstorm like a dozen helicopters on speed, but it didn’t last long. The dragons rose several yards up and spread out, flying North in a large V formation.

  I started forward, to lead the foot soldiers North, but Pippi grabbed my arm and held me back. “You’re the boss
,” she said. “You stay in the center of the group, where you’re protected.”

  “I’m the leader,” I said. “Lead-er. I should be in the lead.”

  “Pippi’s right,” Hieronymus said. “You must be protected above all else.”

  “I can’t lead or make decisions from the middle of the group. I need to be in the front.”

  Frost stepped up next to me, shoulder to shoulder. “It’s Chloe’s choice,” he said. “In the wild, the alpha leads the pack into danger, but Hieronymus’ argument is not invalid.”

  “Please, princess,” Hieronymus said. “You must be protected. You must step in when Ludwiggia falls or there will be chaos in Rubalia.”

  I very much doubted his theory, but there was no time for discussion or debate. We needed to move. “I’ll stay in the middle for now,” I said. “But I’ll move to the front if my position proves to be ineffective.”

  Hieronymus nodded, but his lips were pinched and his forehead creased in concern.

  I found myself walking behind a rowdy group of trolls and in front of an eerily silent group of redcaps. Pippi and I walked together, Hieronymus and Frost in front of us, and Mercury and Vin behind. We were on the outskirts of a village, its stone buildings blackened and roof-less, as though they’d been burned out. There was no sign of anyone and few sounds of wildlife. Even the wind was still.

  On the other side of the village, we found ourselves in a field dotted with wildflowers. If it weren’t for the eerie stillness and silence, it might have been the sort of place to have a picnic, the sort of place kids would play, running around with kites in the bright sunshine. I was so caught up in the fantasy that, when I saw the short, bearded men walk toward us, I smiled. Sweet grandpas out for a stroll among the wildflowers.

  My smile faded as I took in the axes and maces over their shoulders and the vicious grins on their faces. These were no grandpas. Our line of troops fell to a halt without a word and we faced the dwarves marching toward us. I assumed they were field dwarves, an aggressive and bellicose species in general, though I’d heard there were some clans that had veered toward hyper aggression and gained rank among their peers based on the number of kills they’d accomplished. I’d never seen them in person, but the description fit, they looked like Santa Clauses of short stature. They were apparently born with white hair, and I’d heard no mention of women or children. This group had more than a few beardless warriors who I suspected were women.