I've liked Rabbit since "Wicked Lovely". Takes place after "Radiant Shadows". Review if you're interested in the slightest. Thank you, all.

Prologue

"Squares after squares of flame, set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will. "~Ezra Pound

Rabbit never liked silence. To him, silence was the same thing as loneliness.

He always had music playing in the tattoo shop. Ani and Tish were forever changing CDs on him. It was hard rock or jazz or indie or psychedelic.

Whatever it was, it was music, and it was noise. The people he loved surrounded him and that was all that mattered.

Here in the High Court or the Court of Shadows as Devlin and his faerie sister were now calling it, he could have whatever music he wanted to keep him company while he drew designs or worked on his art.

But he didn't want it. Every song he heard, even the happy ones, reminded him of Tish, his deceased sister. The one who hadn't been a faerie but had been killed by one anyways, because even if you were a mortal, if you knew a faerie you were ultimately pulled into their world despite your personal wishes.

And Tish had been murdered because of it.

And so he sat in silence, barely possessing the energy to pick up a paintbrush or pen anymore. Being alone was better than being with empty memories of a sweet smile and energetic laughter.

Ani would visit him periodically. Rabbit didn't know when exactly. Keeping track of time or what day it was wasn't in his list of priorities. Sometimes she would be alone; sometimes she would bring Devlin or Rae with her. Even Seth came once, soft eyes at odds with his hard jaw and clenched fists.

He was worried. They were all worried.

"I think you need to go back to the mortal world."

Rabbit looked up foggily at his sister-daughter. "What?"

Ani stood with her hands on her hips, feral and wild and he felt a pang of loss accompanied with a stronger surge of pride. The feelings were familiar and he almost twitched a smile. "It's making you crazy here. You need to get out and go open up again. Seth said he'd keep an eye on you." Her voice shook a little and he realized she didn't want him to go but that she needed himto go.

He stood up and swayed for a moment, steadying himself and hopefully succeeding in hiding his fatigue from Ani's alert eyes. "It doesn't matter to me."

She flinched and he felt horrible. The hesitation in her dark eyes told him she wanted to talk about Tish but that was the last thing he wanted to discuss. She hung in the air between them like a ghost. Tish was always the one who kept the peace.

"Devlin is here now. Seth is waiting for you on the other side of the veil." She murmured the rest quickly and softly and left without another word.

hotarukun

Devlin pushed open the veil, solemn as ever. Rabbit paused and looked at him meaningfully. "Keep an eye on Ani for me. She's all I have left."

Devlin's eyes widened slightly but he nodded. "I promise you that I would let harm come to me before I let anything hurt your sister."

Rabbit nodded back once, curt. "I believe you. Thank you."

Seth waited for him on the other side. "Hey, looks like I'm your bodyguard."

Rabbit rolled his eyes at Seth's grin. "Yay," he said without enthusiasm.

The new faerie's eyes darted around restlessly as they walked through Huntsdale. Normally Rabbit would've thought it relieving that the graveyard was far away enough from civilization that no one could see him entering and exiting so frequently but at the moment he could care less.

"How's Ash?" Rabbit asked Seth, trying to sound nonchalant, yet like he actually meant it. He achieved neither.

Seth glanced at him but smiled and shrugged. "Worried about her court as usual, but she's letting me talk to her, so that's something."

Rabbit raised his eyebrows and nodded and neither made any attempt at conversation for the rest of the walk.

When they got to the tattoo shop, Seth stopped. "I'll be around the area and I'll check on you every hour. Bananach doesn't strike me as the type who will attack during broad daylight, being a creature of the night and all, but we're taking precautions."

Rabbit nodded again. He felt like a puppet. Precautions…every hour…broad daylight…Bananach…

He turned as Seth vanished, jaw hitting the ground when he saw the sign in the doorway: OPEN.

"What?" He opened the door, unable to hear the chiming of the bell announcing a new customer as music blasted through new, hidden speakers.

"Don't push me so hard, don't push me so far, don't cage me in, don't tie me down…"

Rabbit felt his blood pressure go up, fatigue an impossible feeling, replaced with one of rage and astonishment. "What the hell?" He pounced around for the CD player and ejected the disk with a hard jab that nearly sent the system crashing.

There was about five seconds of silence before an indignant, high, crackling voice called out. "Hey! What happened to my tunes?"

Rabbit snapped his head in the direction of the voice in time to see a girl, a faerie, bounce out of the backroom. His rage subsided slightly as he looked her over.

She had wispy, mahogany, waist-length hair and narrow blue eyes. What struck him as odd was her attire: ripped jeans, sneakers and tie-dyed t-shirt. What kind of fey wore that?

"Who are you?" Rabbit asked, still hunched protectively over his CD player.

"I'm Laien. Who are you?" She folded her arms.

"Rabbit. This is my tattoo shop and my CD player." He realized he sounded like a five-year-old but he didn't care. "Why are you here? Who let you in?"

"Irial." She blinked and stuck out her hand. "I was filling in for you. Nice to meet you."