Misfit Fortune

by Stephanie Foxe

  “What are you planning on doing with Evangeline?”

  He rolled his eyes and finally moved back. “Why are you so hung up on that? I’m not planning on sacrificing her life if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “It was a thought that crossed my mind.”

  Sighing, he leaned his shoulder against the tree next to her and crossed his arms. “She has to live to help us, not die.”

  “To break the curse?”

  “Yes. The only person that can break the curse is someone with both fae and incubus blood.” He shook his head. “They must have thought no one from either race would be stupid enough to screw the other, much less have a child with their enemy.”

  Amber frowned. “Who are her parents?”

  “My sister and an incubus I never met.”

  “Did he rape her, or…?” she asked tentatively.

  “No. It was love, of course. Nothing makes people stupider.”

  “Does Evangeline know all this?”

  He nodded with a sigh. “Yes, I told her everything. It was time. She raged at me, cursed both angels and demons, and then agreed to do whatever was necessary because she wants to be free of this curse just as much as the rest of us.”

  Amber sat down and put her head in her hands. “What else do you need to break the curse?”

  Surprising her, Kadrithan slid to the ground next to her, staring blankly up through the trees. “The halves of the key, joined once more. The blood of enemies in their veins, wielding light and fire. The twilight hour, when day meets night. In the space between realms where spirits dwell. Only then shall what has been wrought be undone.”

  “That was poetic. Is it some kind of prophecy?”

  He shook his head. “Prophecies are guaranteed to come true, this wasn’t that reassuring. It was accompanied by a warning that if this was not accomplished before, and I quote, ‘the gift of the fae is become corrupt’, then it will never be done.”

  Tilting her head to the side, she pinched her brows together. “What is the gift of the fae?”

  He was quite for a moment before turning his face toward her. “Magic.”

  She swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat and tried to process what he was saying. “The fae…gave everyone magic?”

  “That’s what the legends tell us. It was a very long time ago. My ancestors were powerful and immortal. They took a liking to the humans and the ruling kings and queens shared a portion of their magic with those they favored. Giving away this magic weakened them but they did not care, they thought they were still too powerful to be touched.” His tone became wistful, almost nostalgic for a time long past. “Over time, they realized that their magic had been leaking away and they had lost more than they realized. They stopped it, but by that point, the fae were greatly weakened. It was that gift that allowed the incubus to strike us down, using the very gift we had given to the humans.”

  “Were you alive back then?” Amber asked quietly, afraid to break the spell. He was rarely this open.

  “Yes, but I was very young when the curse struck us down.”

  She turned her gaze back to the sky. The rain was slowing down. “The war has been going on your entire life.”

  “Yes.”

  “This thing the angels are doing to the magic, that’s what the warning is about, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “That is what I fear.”

  “I need you to promise me something.” She looked at him, his coal black eyes meeting her own.

  “What?”

  “Promise me that you will not lie to me again, not even by omission. If we are going to help you win this war, I have to be able to trust you. And you have to trust me.”

  He held her gaze, frustration and indecision warring in his eyes. “You are asking more than you realize.”

  “I think honesty is a fair trade for my life.”

  “You are going to be the death of me.”

  She snorted. “I think I should be saying that to you.”

  His hand brushed against her cheek, startling her. She tried to jerk away, but he slipped his hand around the back of her neck, holding her in place, then pressed his other hand to the mark. “I swear on this mark that I will be honest with you, and I expect the same in return.”

  Her heart pounded in her chest as the heat of his hand sank into her skin. She licked her lips nervously feeling suddenly parched. “Then it’s settled.”

  His thumb brushed against the pulse point on her neck before he pulled his hand away and sat back. “Good. Can you hide the tablet wherever it was your witch stowed Evangeline when the police were searching the house?”

  She cleared her throat and pushed up to her feet, brushing the dirt and pine needles off her butt. “I’ll ask Ceri.”

  “I’ll be back in an hour. I have to inform the others what your pack has found.”

  “Alright.”

  Kadrithan disappeared in a puff of smoke but she didn’t move. Still shaking, she lifted her hand to her neck where he’d held her. It was still warm.

  Chapter 64

  Tommy

  “But he lied,” Tommy objected, pacing behind the couch. Pissed off didn’t even start to cover it. He wanted to strangle someone. Preferably the demon.

  “Yes, he lied,” Amber said stiffly, glaring at the tablet sitting on the coffee table. Captain Jack was winding through her legs, rubbing his face against her with a loud purr. That cat was getting weirder by the day. “I think he’s told us everything now but I can’t be sure.”

  “Why did you agree to help him if you can’t be sure?”

  “Because I am sure that the angels are our enemies. They’ve been trying to kill Evangeline, which we saw with our own eyes. And when that angel approached me in the coffee shop, he tried to get into my head. If you had felt it…” Amber shook her head, lips pressed into a thin line. “It wasn’t right.”

  “That is unusual.” Steven pushed his glasses back up on his nose, continuing to mutter to himself, and leaned a little closer to the broken tablet. He was busy recreating all the symbols on the tablet in his notebook. Tommy was glad someone had thought to do it before they hid it away.

  He stopped pacing and scuffed at the carpet with his bare foot. “Kadrithan said Eva knows? About the curse and how she has to break it?”

  “Yes, he said he told her.”

  “Well, no matter how we move forward, I think we all agree that we should hide the tablet if we can,” Ceri said, standing and walking over to it.

  He certainly didn’t want anyone to be able to walk in here and take it after all the trouble they’d gone through to retrieve it. Amber was right, the angels were their enemy. As far as trusting the demons, he was still unsure, but they were the least of evils for now.

  Everyone nodded in agreement, except Steven.

  “I’m almost done, just one moment.” He drew a little faster.

  “Steven, just take a picture with your phone,” Genevieve said, exasperated.

  He froze, pencil hovering over his paper. “Oh. Why didn’t you suggest that sooner? That would be much easier.” He pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a picture, then motioned to Ceri that it was all hers.

  Ceri shut her eyes and swayed lightly in place, getting that spaced out look she always had when she was connecting with Illya. The floor shifted slightly and the cabinets in the kitchen banged around, then, Illya’s specter appeared.

  “Is everything alright?” Illya asked, her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest.

  “Wow,” Steven said breathlessly, making notes without even looking at the paper.

  Tommy shook his head with a smile. Watching Steven be awed by magic was the only bright spot in this crap heap of a week.

  “Illya, can you hide this? Like you hid Evangeline and Eloise when the police came?” Ceri asked, pointing at the tablet.

  The elf approached it, inspecting it carefully. “It’s very powerful.”

  “Yes,” Ceri agreed. “That’s wh
y we need to hide it and keep it safe.”

  Illya stuck her hand in the tablet and her face screwed up in concentration. For a tense few seconds, everyone was silent, then Illya let out an annoyed huff.

  “I can hide it for a while, but not forever. It’s very powerful.”

  “How long do you think?”

  “Perhaps a few months.”

  Ceri let out a sigh of relief. “That will have to be long enough.”

  “As you wish,” Illya said, dissolving into a green mist. She enveloped the tablet and then it just…disappeared. Along with the coffee table.

  Ceri released whatever hold she had on the house and shook her head to clear it.

  “So much for the coffee table,” Genevieve muttered.

  Amber rolled her eyes. “We’ll get a new one.”

  Captain Jack meowed and trotted over to the newly empty space, sniffing it suspiciously. His tail swished as he pawed at the carpet.

  “Well, we’ve officially confused the cat,” Tommy said, leaning against the back of the couch. “When is Kadrithan supposed to come back?”

  Amber looked at the clock on the wall. “In a few minutes.”

  Tommy dragged his hands through his hair. Everyone was still on edge. He could feel it vibrating through the pack bond. Normally he couldn’t sense anyone but Amber. Something had changed. It had been slowly growing for a while. Going to the spirit realm must have accelerated it.

  Needing space to think, Tommy retreated into the kitchen. He grabbed a cold soda out of the refrigerator then shut the door, leaning against it. The can hissed as he popped open the tab. Captain Jack came in to investigate, but when he saw it wasn’t wet food, turned and left again.

  Sipping on his drink, he thought through the recent revelations. Knowing for sure that Deward’s disappearance was connected to the angels did nothing to reassure him, but it might help them find him.

  The silverware drawer rattled and inched open, then a head popped out. It wasn’t Woggy though. It was his girlfriend –– who they really needed to give a name. She set her prize on the counter then shimmied her way out of the drawer.

  “Hey there,” he said, signing along with his words.

  The pixie squeaked in surprise and toppled over.

  “Sorry to scare you.” He smiled and nudged the spoon toward her, which she grabbed and held to her chest protectively. They’d really had a thing for the silverware lately. Maybe spoons were a delicacy. “Where’s Woggy?”

  He knew that if she was here, Woggy wouldn’t be far away. They’d been inseparable lately. Sure enough, at the sound of his name, Woggy’s head popped up from behind dishes drying on the counter.

  A thought struck Tommy. It was so simple. They couldn’t track down Cassandra and Deward, but they knew what the two of them were after. Raziel’s key. They’d already found one half of it. Maybe they could find the other half too. Then, Deward would come to them.

  “You look like you’ve just thought of something,” Amber said, joining him in the kitchen. “Also I need in the fridge.”

  He moved away, leaning against the counter instead. “I did think of something. We’ve been putting out all this effort trying to find Deward, but we’re going about it all wrong. We just need to find the rest of Raziel’s key like Deward said in his note, then I think he and Cassandra will come to us. I’m not sure exactly how this curse or prophecy works but it’s driving them to find it.”

  Amber nodded along as she grabbed a soda from the refrigerator as well. “That makes a lot of sense. And based on what I talked to Kadrithan about, finding the rest of the tablet needs to be done soon.”

  Smoke drifted around a corner, accompanied by the smell of sulfur. Kadrithan grew up from the smoke, appearing in his more human form. He looked around, not at any of them, but searching for the tablet. “Where is it?”

  “We hid it just like you asked,” Amber said.

  He nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “Good.”

  “Is Evangeline okay? Amber said you told her she’s part of all of this.” Tommy crossed his arms and scowled at the demon.

  Kadrithan lifted an eyebrow as if surprised he cared. “She is well, and remains safe.”

  “For now,” Tommy muttered. He followed them back into the living room and sat down next to Genevieve. She slung an arm around his shoulder in solidarity.

  Amber rubbed her forehead tiredly. “What did your…” she waved her hand in the air, searching for the word, “people have to say?”

  “Zerestria had much to say, none of it very comforting. The elders are gathering quietly to prepare to escalate the war.” As he spoke, his hands clenched tighter and tighter. He really didn’t like sharing information.

  “Who is Zerestria?” Tommy asked, happy to continue the torture. He told himself it was revenge for all the lies Kadrithan had told Evangeline, but he knew it was just for himself.

  The demon looked back at him, brows drawn together in annoyance. “The elder I work most closely with.”

  Amber shifted from foot to foot restlessly. “Is there any sign that the angels –– this Raziel –– know that we took the tablet?”

  “No. Fortunately, he seems unaware so far. Zerestria does not believe he would be able to discover who took it even if he did become aware, but there is still a risk.”

  Ceri pulled her cardigan tighter around her and began fiddling with the hem of her sleeve. “In the note Deward left for Tommy, he mentioned Raziel’s key. They’ve been looking for it. Where is the rest of the tablet?”

  “Tommy and I were just talking and he thinks that if we find the rest of the tablet, the curse will make Deward and Cassandra come to us. We need to find it for them,” Amber said.

  “That’s the problem. I don’t know where it is.” Kadrithan stood there stiffly, as if telling the truth made him physically uncomfortable. Served the demon right as far as he was concerned.

  “You know, I’d forgotten this, but the day Cassandra approached me she was asking for you,” Amber said, narrowing her eyes at Kadrithan. “She specifically wanted to talk to you to find Raziel’s key. She thought you knew where it was.”

  Kadrithan’s frown deepened and he looked away thoughtfully. “If I knew where it was, I would have stolen it long ago. It’s odd she assumed I knew where it is.”

  “The message Deward left said to tell Kadrithan time was running out. They both seem to think you know something or need to do something,” Tommy said, pulling the note out of his pocket. He’d kept it with him since he found it. “Here.”

  “I can’t hold it. Appearing like this requires almost too much effort as it is. I’m still recovering from helping Amber with the curse,” Kadrithan said.

  Amber frowned. “You were hurt?”

  “Exhausted. Using great amounts of magic outside of a deal in exchange for a mark is very taxing. I did more than I should have, and have been paying for it ever since.”

  “Ah…” Amber turned away, resuming her pacing.

  Tommy unfolded the note and held it out for the demon to read.

  He nodded when he was done. “I’ve never encountered a curse of prophecy quite like this one. This elf has no reason to know who I am and we have done everything possible to keep the angels from suspecting we are searching for the tablet.”

  “But they know now,” Amber said quietly.

  Kadrithan nodded sharply. “Most likely.”

  “Could the rest of the tablet be in the spirit realm where we got the first half?” Tommy asked.

  “No, it’s here, in the human realm. Based on what we do know of this elf and the Book of Prophecy, I suspect it is nearby. Raziel has always preferred this area, visiting it often. I think he does so to keep an eye on the tablet.”

  Genevieve propped her feet up on the coffee table. “Did Cassandra kill Laurel Teller because she thought she might know where it was?”

  Kadrithan nodded. “I suspect so. She also recently attempted to rob another of Raziel’s other pr
operties –– a place we had been watching as well. Based on Raziel’s reaction, she did not find it there.”

  “I think I was scrying Deward when they tried to rob Raziel,” Ceri said, staring at her hands as if caught in the memory. “They’d killed someone, and talked about lies and tricks. Saying ‘it is hidden’. She must have been talking about the tablet.”

  Steven sat forward, his notebook balanced on his knee. “Perhaps we need to make a list of all the places it could be. I can research it, dig through the history books. My school’s library––”

  “History,” Tommy exclaimed. “You told me to talk to the trolls to find out the truth about the angels. You said they were the best historians. Is there a chance they might be able to piece together where Raziel has hidden it?”

  “It’s…possible.”

  “Perhaps having someone that can provide context will make it even more likely,” Amber said, crossing her arms and looking pointedly at Kadrithan.

  “You want me to reveal myself to the trolls?” Kadrithan asked incredulously.

  She nodded. “Yes. They’re searching for their son. They’ll do anything to help him, even work with a demon I suspect.”

  “Deward knew about Evangeline and didn’t care I had a demon mark. His parents will understand.”

  “Then it’s settled.” Amber grabbed her jacket off the hook by the door. “Steven, with us. If the rest of you could stay here, that’d be great. I don’t feel comfortable leaving the house empty since she’s holding the tablet for us.”

  Ceri nodded. “Of course, I don’t mind staying.”

  Tommy was as anxious as he was excited. They were finally getting somewhere. They had a plan.

  Chapter 65

  Amber

  It was dawn. No one had slept a wink. Amber propped her feet up on the side of the truck, folding her hands under the back of her head, and watched the sun lifting over the horizon.

  Everyone else was consumed with research. They had lists, maps, charts, and stacks of books. Once Kadrithan had needed to leave to rest, she’d escaped out here. She couldn’t help with this part. History and research wasn’t her thing.