Broken Promise - First book in the Lily Gardener series

by grrbear1

This story features a new lead character, a young witch named Lily Gardener, who specializes in finding missing things and people. With this new job, locating a missing girl, Lily's talents are tested by armed thugs, gypsies, and a faerie princess. Timeline of the story is roughly after the events of Proven Guilty. Harry Dresden does not make an appearance (he's a little busy).

Broken Promise

By

Rob Clark

Prologue

I was twelve years old when my father was killed by the universe. Okay, that's a bit dramatic. It was a truck. Delivery truck, long box, full of goods bound for who knows where. Random, without purpose, my dad was on his early morning jog when the universe blind-sided him. Normally I would have been with him, because it was our thing that we did together. Just the two of us, alone on the shoulder of the county road, no brother to annoy me, no mother to ignore me. We were morning people and I loved to match him stride for stride, even though he was almost a foot taller.

"'Round the bend and back again?" he would ask playfully, and I would nod seriously before picking up the pace. That was the only conversation we would have, as we both enjoyed the silence and the exertion. Down the lane from our house to the road, then up the hill to the old schoolhouse, then around the corner to the golf course, then back down the hill, up the lane, and home again. Twenty minutes on a good day, fifteen if it was cold, thirty if there was fresh snow.

I would have been with him that morning except that on the way down the stairs, I tripped over something. To this day I have no idea what, but it felt like a tug on my left heel, and I lost my balance. I stumbled and landed awkwardly on my right foot. Pain shot up my leg and I cried out. It turned out to be a sprained ankle, but that was enough to keep me indoors.

"Don't worry, Lily," my father said, ruffling my hair. "You'll be up and running in no time." He kissed me on the forehead, whispered 'Love you' in my ear, and disappeared from my life. The next few days are fuzzy in my head, because your mind tries to protect you from the horrible things that happen, but I know someone told me the truck driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. It was also readily apparent that if I had been with him, I would have been just as dead.

That was my grandmother talking, never one to mince words or dodge the truth as she saw it. There I was, neck deep in survivor's guilt, and this was her way of trying to cheer me up:

"Oh, Lily, don't you see? The universe has plans for you. I said to your mother just today that our Lily is far too special to die so young. No, my dear, the universe is not done with you yet."

Plans for me. No plans for my dad; apparently the universe was okay with his death, but don't worry, kids, because Lily's special! So special that the universe decided to trip me going down the stairs instead of waking up a sleepy trucker! Ain't that somethin'?

So, yes, the universe killed my father. That's something I'll never forgive. Oh, and now I get to live with the idea that my life is important enough to alter destiny. Terrific. No pressure there, right? Imagine a twelve year old girl trying to come to grips with that. Then, let's pile one more thing on top, something so incredible and ridiculous that it came as no surprise to me whatsoever:

I'm a witch.

1

A low rumble pulled me out of my meditative trance, and with my right hand, I broke the circle of chalk that surrounded me. The real world rushed in to fill the void. My slight headache had returned; my belly growled. A mosquito buzzed my left ear, and it was because of that little pest and his brothers that I had used a circle in the first place. I quickly stood and headed for the back door of my house. The bright summer day allowed me to use the window on the door as a mirror, and I checked myself to make sure I was presentable before entering. As I closed the door, I heard a knock at my front door. Walking through the kitchen, I brushed the seat of my pants, and stopped in the middle of my living room to take a deep breath. After all, it had been a while, and it was important to look confident even if you didn't feel it.

I opened the door with a wary smile. A middle-aged couple stood on my porch, their body language radiating anxiety. They were dressed well, and I could see their BMW sedan behind them in the drive.

"Good morning," I said.

They shared a glance, then the woman looked down at her phone before speaking.

"Are you… Lily Gardener?"

"I am. How can I help you?"

The man took the woman's hand and tried to smile.

"We're James and Joan Green. We understand you find people."

I nodded. "People, places, things." I reached out with my senses but felt nothing but their worry. "Won't you come in?"

I led them to a spare bedroom which served as my office. It was furnished with a desk, a wooden chair for myself, and two padded chairs for my guests. Books of all sorts lined the walls, and while I had over my lifetime read them all, at this point they were mostly there for decoration. The image the room projected was important, though. I wanted people to feel that I was serious about my work. After all, I'm a witch. That's not a job people generally associate with anything other than Halloween. The Greens sat down across from me. The husband was wary, no doubt because he was thinking this was a scam. The wife was like a dog on point, tense and ready to bolt.

"So," I said, "How can I help you?"

Joan set her smartphone in front of me on the desk. I could see a picture of a young girl, maybe nineteen or twenty years old. She was laughing like she had been caught by surprise by something off-camera. Her face was the kind of pretty that comes from enjoying an easy life. She looked to be my height, around five foot ten, but that was the only feature we shared. She was curvy and blonde and conventionally attractive. I was none of those things. I was careful not to touch the phone.

"Our daughter, Kelsey." Joan looked down at the picture on the phone and sighed. "She disappeared four days ago."

"How old is she?"

"She's twenty-one," replied James. "We know she's an adult, and she doesn't have to check in with us every day, but she lives at home."

"Any brothers or sisters?"

"No, she's an only child."

"Does she have a job?"

"No. She gets…" He looked at his wife. "An allowance, I guess you'd call it? So she can go out with her friends."

"Do you know any of her friends?"

"Yes, her best friend, Shannon Davis. She hasn't heard from Kelsey either."

"Okay, and what do the police say?"

"The police?" Joan's words tasted bitter. "They're not interested."

James said, "What Joan means is that they think she's run off with a boy."

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

"Well… there's Kyle, she was going out with him for a while, but – Joan, they broke up a couple of months ago, right?" His wife nodded. "So, as far as we know, no boyfriend."

"Has she been acting strange recently? Seemed like she was hiding something, acting secretive?"

"No, she seemed fine to us."

I sat back in my chair. The parents were often the last to realize something was up with their kids, but if the girl's best friend hadn't seen her either…

"Describe the last time you saw her. Where were you, what were you doing, what did she say?"

Joan spoke up. "It was… Thursday, we both came back from work, and Kelsey was home playing a game on her tablet. Neither of us felt like cooking, so we all went out to eat. We talked about the usual stuff, reality shows, our troubles at work, celebrity gossip. We came back from the restaurant, Kelsey said she was tired and went to bed. The next morning she was gone."

"All right. I'm sorry, but I have to ask – were there any conflicts between either of you and your daughter? Arguments, tension, anything?"

They looked at each other, then James shook his head. "I'd like to think she had a pretty good life with us. I… We were okay with her taking time to figure out what she wanted to do for a living. We're happy to give her that chance."

I studied them in silence for a minute. It felt like they weren't hiding anything, although living in denial provides its own protection from the truth. I'd have to visit their home to get anything more. Hey, it was nice just to have an opportunity to work. Hopefully the girl was just sleeping off an epic bender somewhere, but if not, I thought I should be able to find her, because that's what I do.

"I charge two hundred dollars a day plus expenses." I took out a pad of paper and a pencil from a side drawer. "I'll need you to write down your address. I'll come by your house this afternoon to get started."

Joan picked up her phone and put it in her purse. She avoided looking me in the eyes, which suggested she knew a little something about what I was and how I worked.

James handed me a personal cheque. "We'll start with this and whatever else you need, let me know." He gave me an odd look. "I… I have to say, this was not what I expected."

I nodded. "No crystal balls, no black cauldrons, no broomsticks in the corner."

He glanced at his wife. "When Joan told me… Well, you're very professional."

"I do what I do, Mr. Green, and I don't apologize for it. But I don't dress it up, either. This is a serious business. I will do my best to find your daughter, and if I do, you won't care much about the how." I snuck a peek at the cheque, which had a surprising four-figure amount. I tucked it away in what I hoped was a professional manner.

2

I watched them drive away in their BMW, the car rumbling over the bridge that connects my little island in the river with the rest of the world. Nice looking car, but I preferred my El Camino. There was a gurgle from my midsection, and I turned back into the house. Never start a job on an empty stomach. In the kitchen, I opened the icebox and discovered that my leftover situation was dire. Let's go beyond the leftover situation and note with some alarm that I was out of basic staples like milk, cheese, vegetables, and ice cream. Apparently my need for a job was more than just a chance to get out of the house. Well, I had a fat cheque waiting to be cashed, bills to be paid, and food to be scarfed, so I gathered a few essential items and headed out.

These few essential items? Let me give them a little air time. The first: four rings connected with a silver chain, designed to be worn on the right hand. Clenched into a fist, it looked like a fancy set of brass knuckles, except instead of brass it was silver and gold. The second: a carving of a black bear, small enough to be held easily in the left hand or hidden in my purse. The third: a finger-width piece of chalk. The fourth: a small snowglobe of a lighthouse, with the lantern room sticking out of the top of the globe. The fifth: a spray can containing my own special concoction. You'd really have to piss me off to bring out the spray can. And finally, the sixth: two silver balls the size of walnuts that, like my rings, were connected with a silver chain. I don't usually leave my island without these items, although for the handful of people who know what I really am, I expect they have all sorts of notions of what I carry with me. That's important, too, being able to use expectations and prejudices to your advantage.

I stopped at the bank first to deposit the cheque before it could disappear like a hallucination, and took care of my property tax bill since the teller was so kind to remind me about it. She probably would have been kinder if I had been an attractive man, or at least someone who wasn't wearing a chain of rings on my writing hand like a crazy person, so I hoped that the push-up bra she wore was really uncomfortable. And heels – standing all day in those heels? Really? Why punish yourself like that? I wore sensible shoes because I didn't want achy feet and an awkward gait. I didn't wear a push-up bra because there wasn't much of anything to push up. Five foot ten, thin as a stick of gum, with black stringy hair that practically demanded a ponytail setup or it would fly out in all directions. Yeah, the guys were lining up. I tried to stamp down on the irrational hate I had for the poor teller just because she was so stereotypically pretty. I didn't try very hard.

I had some cash left – quite a bit of it, in fact, a lot more than I was used to – so instead of hitting the drive-thru somewhere, I went to my favorite place to eat. Down a side alley in the middle of town sits an unassuming pub called The Ceilidh, run by my friend Kerry McGregor. It's a traditional British pub, and when I say it's traditional, I mean there are no televisions on the wall, they serve Guinness, and their specialty is steak and kidney pudding. Kerry was behind the bar when I walked in, and she immediately started pouring a glass of Guinness dark. She was a tall brunette, average-looking with broad shoulders and strong arms. I had no trouble imagining her hauling kegs of beer around. I also had no trouble imagining she had Viking ancestors.

"Lily, I was starting to wonder if you forgot we were here," she said, pushing the Guinness towards me as I sat down at the bar.

"No charity for me today, Kerry, I've got cash." I slapped a couple of twenties down and grinned. "And I'd never forget the woman that taught me how to drink."

"You always were my greatest student, my dear." She smiled, which turned her average looks into something special. "So what's this? Finally able to carve a slice out of that gargantuan tab of yours?"

"A tab? What happened to charity?"

"Died an honorable death, right alongside chivalry."

I raised my glass. "To charity, then. Pour yourself a glass on me."

"Don't mind if I do." She knocked out a pint of dark and raised it to mine. "To charity. And good friends."

"I see you ignored chivalry."

"So does half the world."

We drank in silence for a moment as friends do. Well, I drank. Kerry chugged. She polished her pint off and dropped the glass into the empties basket.

"I guess if you've got money that means you're on a job."

"I'd like it better if you said that without the note of surprise." Kerry was one of the inner circle of people who knew what I was, as I helped her out several years ago with a little problem that required my special skills. "A missing girl. College-age. Comes from money."

Kerry nodded wisely. "One of those. Pretty, I'll bet. No idea she's got the world by the tail."

"Of course. That's the universe for you."

"Easy job, you think?"

I shrugged. "I'll know better once I've been over to her house, get a look at her stuff."

"I should come with you one of these days to watch you work."

"You should, but for now, can I watch you work at getting me some steak and kidney pudding?"

The Ceilidh felt like a safe place. Lately such safe places were becoming increasingly rare. There was a war going on between the wizards and witches of the world and vampires. Yes, vampires. There are three kinds, although they like to separate themselves into 'Courts'. The Black Court vampires are the bloodsuckers of legend, the ones that Bram Stoker wrote about. Sunlight, stake through the heart, garlic, and fire could all kill them, but most of them were little more than animals, and there weren't many left. The ones that were still around were the toughest and deadliest. Red Court vampires were far more human, but they also dined on flesh and their saliva was a narcotic that could enslave others to their will. White Court vampires were the sneakiest, in that they fed on emotion, sucking the life force out of you through joy or despair or bliss.

The war started when a bunch of Red Court vampires tried to sucker a wizard named Harry Dresden into a fight during a Halloween party. Because he was a guest, there are rules of hospitality that you're supposed to follow, and a big one was that the guests and hosts are under a peace bond. But they manipulated the situation to the point where Dresden was given the choice of seeing his friend die or violating the rule.

He made the same choice that I would have made. Since then, the Red Court vampires have been hunting us while our side has been doing what we can to keep the war from spilling into the human world. The Black Court vampires are killers anyway, so they've always been a danger. The White Court, though, have mostly stayed to the sidelines. They like using others to do their dirty work, so no doubt they were waiting for the Red Court to over-extend themselves and then they would step in to take control.

In my neck of the woods, I'd been fortunate. There weren't any vampire covens anywhere close, and I'm essentially by myself here, so I thought I'd escaped notice so far. I had been recruited by my betters to assist in a couple of raids, and both times I was lucky to escape with my life.

It may be true that I haven't had many cases lately, but if I'm honest with myself, it's more true that I haven't been too enthusiastic about getting cases either. Every time I leave my home, my relatively safe little island, I feel the tension of the unknown. Will this be the day I run into a vampire? Will I be able to react in time? Will I be able to stop them from turning me into one of their kind or taking over my mind?

Pleasant thoughts, to be sure. But these were the sorts of things a modern witch had to worry about. Back in the old days, you had to avoid getting burned at the stake or harassed by zealous Catholics. Nowadays, the general faith in science had buried any remnants of superstition and magic from the public's conscious mind. People didn't believe in magic or ghosts or vampires or werewolves or faeries any more. I wondered if it would make my life easier if they did.

3

I left The Ceilidh feeling wonderfully full. I don't eat meat very often, and almost never at home, so it's always a nice treat when I do. I checked the address the Greens gave me and hopped in the El Camino. It didn't take long to make my way to the better side of the tracks, where the houses were large and the lawns were pristine. The Greens had a brand new Cape Cod style, with an interlocking stone driveway, a colorful flower arrangement around the front door that appeared to be just planted, and a steel roof. I liked the roof but not much else. I parked the El Camino behind their beemer and climbed out of the car, checking to make sure I had my stuff. Mrs. Green came out of the front door and waved hello before disappearing back into the house. I walked up to the open doorway, raised my hand in front of me, and felt for the threshold. It was there, but it was weak. I guessed they hadn't been in this house for very long.

"Mrs. Green?" I peered in without stepping inside. I could see a stairway to the left and a hallway beside it that led to a kitchen. Mr. Green came down the stairs, saw me, and approached.

"Thanks for coming. What did you want to see first?"

"Well, her room, but before that, I need you to invite me in."

Mr. Green gave me a puzzled look. "Uh… to be polite?"

I smiled. "Sure, why not?"

Mrs. Green came out from the kitchen. "Not just that, though. Please, Miss Gardener, come on in. I'll show you to her room."

"Great. Do you have a picture of Kelsey that I can keep with me?"

She stopped at a side table next to the stairs and picked up a framed photo. Kelsey was posed with several other young people at a campsite. She stared at it for a moment, lost in thought, before delicately removing the photo from the frame and handing it to me. "Please make sure you return this," she said quietly.

"Of course."

I followed her upstairs and around a corner to a large bedroom. The walls were shaded a light purple, which matched the comforter on the queen-sized bed. Kelsey's desk had a laptop and a neatly arranged assortment of stuffed animals. A small tablet rested on a side table. No clothes on the floor, the bed was made, the surfaces were dusted. I looked at Mrs. Green and raised an eyebrow.

She flushed. "I may have cleaned up a little." She closed the door behind us. In a hushed voice, she asked, "Are you really…?"

I matched her volume. "A witch? Yes. Can you stand in the corner quietly for a minute?"

She looked like she was swallowing a laugh. "Sure."

I moved to the foot of the bed, closed my eyes, and let my senses wander. There was an energy here, something other than the simple forces of love and comfort. I opened my eyes, but beyond that, I opened my Sight. A witch or wizard can open themselves further, to see not just the surface reality of the everyday world, but the energies and residues of the past and present. With my Sight, I can see wonderful and terrible things. I can see the colour of joy and the shade of pain. I can see the physic and the psychic, and once Seen, I can never forget it. What I Saw in that room was a ragged tear in the space between the bed and the desk. It pulsed an angry dark red, and I felt waves of despair hammer into me. I could hear a young woman's screams mixed with the ugly sound a blade penetrating flesh. Instinctively I grabbed the bear carving out of my purse and squeezed it tightly. It was a repository of positive energy, and when I focused my will on it, it was like being zapped with a cattle prod. The waves faded away and I was able recover myself enough to reach out and touch the tear. As soon as I did, my Sight failed me and I was returned to the mundane world. I got a little dizzy, and Mrs. Green took me by the arm.

"Are you all right? What happened?"

Originally my plan was to check the girl's pillow for a couple of hairs, use a tracking spell, and find her that way. But that plan relied on this being a simple runaway case. That wasn't what happened in that room. Someone had ripped a hole in the world and dragged Kelsey into it. I wasn't even sure that she was still on this plane of existence.

"I… I'm sorry, Mrs. Green. I'm fine. Could you get me a glass of water?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." She left the room, giving me time enough to check the pillow and grab a stray hair, which I quickly pocketed. The woman might know I was a witch, but I doubted she really knew what that meant, so I didn't want to freak her out. I stepped closer to where the tear had been. Too close to the laptop and I might fry it. Magic and technology get along about as well as religion and science. Even without my Sight, I could feel the temperature drop in that negative space. I had never seen or felt anything like that before. Mrs. Green returned with that glass of water, which I drained in one gulp.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

I felt my heart rate return to normal and I gave Joan what I hoped was a confident smile. "I feel like something magical happened here, which means I might be able to use magic to find her." Now that I knew the tear was there, I could reach out with my senses and find it again. It was like sticking my hand into a gaping wound. But I could also feel a slight echo of other magical energies. I had hoped that this would be an easy case, but it was shaping up to be something far more complicated.

I gave the room another quick examination, but nothing else turned up. I thought I could sense the psychic trauma of the abduction – the surprise, the tears, the struggle to escape. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and got out of there.

4

Even though I expected it wouldn't work, I stopped at a nearby park and tried the tracking spell. I drew a circle around me with the chalk, then tied the hair around the lantern of the lighthouse snowglobe. I focused my will on the snowglobe and whispered the word 'sequor'. I broke the circle with my foot, held out the snowglobe in front of me, and slowly turned from north to west to south to east. If the spell worked, the idea was that the little flakes would fly up to the lantern end of the globe when I was facing the correct direction towards the target. But my heart sank as the flakes did nothing but float around aimlessly. I put the globe back into my purse, and as I turned back to walk to my car, I felt like I was no longer alone in the park. Casually I took out the old balls and chain and dangled them from my fingers. I walked towards the El Camino. It was only twenty yards away. I clenched my right fist. Ten yards away. The wind picked up, a pleasant warm breeze. Five yards away, I stopped, because I could feel the presence of something hiding on the other side of my car.

"Can I help you?" I said, trying to sound bored.

"No chance of taking you by surprise, then?" The voice was male, young, and bold.

"Obviously not."

"What if you closed your eyes and counted to ten?"

"Are these your balls I'm holding in my hand, or are you going to be a man and quit hiding?"

A moment for the male ego to reassert itself. Then – he emerged slowly, hands raised in the air. He was attractive enough, if you like tall, dark, and handsome, with strong shoulders and long legs. I should have made him hide a bit longer, considering how uncomfortable he must have been, all crouched down and cramped. Of course, I knew him.

"Antonio."

"Lily."

"Hoping to give me a little fright, were you?"

He shrugged and leaned against my car, his hands dropping down to his pockets. "Maybe." He paused, then said, "Boo."

"What do you want?" I hadn't moved any closer. Antonio was from an old gypsy family, one of the original Romany, and gypsies were almost as bad as faeries for trying to get you over a barrel. I had only met him a couple of times before, and it was always in mixed company, where I felt a lot safer than I did right then.

"No need to get your back up, Lily. Can't an old friend say hello?" He smiled, no doubt expecting me to melt or something.

"I don't have the kind of old friends that try and sneak up on me. They don't tend to live that long." It occurred to me that Antonio might not be alone, and I took a quick look around the parking lot. He took advantage of my divided attention to take a step towards me. "That's close enough. What do you want?"

"It's a beautiful day. Can't a guy stop and talk to a pretty girl?"

"I see one, I'll let you know. Three times I ask and be done. What. Do. You. Want."

Antonio's smile faded away. "Nana wants to see you."

Nana was Antonio's grandmother. Rumor had it she was the oldest gypsy in the country. I had never met her, but her reputation was solid, and I was pretty sure she had a strong gift for magic based on the stories I've heard. Still, if Nana wanted to see me, why was Antonio acting like such a creep?

"Okay, you could have started with that, but even so, I'm wondering – where's your ride?"

He made a show of looking around before replying. "My cousins dropped me off when I spotted your car. Look, I'm really quite harmless. I'm sorry I tried to play a joke on you, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. What were you doing out there, anyway?"

I ignored his question. When did they start following me? When I left my house? The bank? The Ceilidh? I had to start being more careful. It's easy to take some things for granted like personal safety. Wait – the gypsy matriarch wanted to see me? Today? After I had just gotten my first job in weeks?

Coincidences are a mythical animal. Coincidences are the warp and woof of a larger pattern that we can't fully perceive. Believe in coincidences and you might as well dig your head a little deeper into the sand.

"I guess you'll have to show me the way, Antonio. Get in the car."

He nodded and got in the passenger side. I put the balls and chain back in my purse but kept the bag on my left side so when I sat down behind the wheel and closed the car door, Antonio couldn't reach it. I gave him my best serious glare.

"Try to be a gentleman, Antonio. Anything less and you might find this a shorter ride than you expected."

He flashed that smile at me again like it was going to do anything but piss me off even more. "Scout's honor, Lily. Look, I'm even putting on my seat belt."

I gunned the engine and spun out of the parking lot. He gave me a vague location alongside the river several miles south of my island home. We reached River Road and not two minutes later, a black SUV came up close behind us. Real close. Like they were Patrick Swayze and we were Jennifer Grey.

"Your cousins, Antonio?"

He looked back and frowned. "I don't know that car."

Shit.

5

The SUV slammed into the back of the car, and I struggled to keep the wheel steady. Even though River Road followed the contours of the land fairly closely, which meant lots of turns and little hills, I pinned the gas pedal to the mat. The El Camino jerked forward, and we entered the next curve a little high. The tires skidded enough to make the rear end swing out into the opposite lane. Antonio shrieked like – yes, I'll say it – like a girl. Hey, I wanted to shriek, too, but I was busy trying to keep the car on the road.

"You can drive this thing, right?" He was breathing hard and his eyes were wide. Whatever was happening, it was as much a surprise to him as it was to me.

"Just watch me."

I loved my El Camino, and I took really good care of it. Since I bought it nine years earlier, I had spent thousands of hours driving all over the countryside. I loved the sound of the engine, I loved the adrenaline rush of pushing the car to the limit. Everything in the car was analog, so I didn't have to worry about my magic nuking the electronics. My magic. My car. Meanwhile that SUV looked shiny and new. I was willing to bet it was full of electronics.

Whoever the driver was, he was no rookie, because he kept pace around the sharp corners and over the hills. I pictured a map of the area in my head – no GPS for me – and realized that after the next curve there was a short straightaway about a quarter mile long.

"You sure you don't know these guys?"

"I better not. What are they doing?!"

I glanced at the thin layer of small trees that separated the road from the river. "They want to knock us into the water."

"They're trying to kill us?"

"Us. You. Me. Been a bad boy lately, Antonio?"

The SUV caught up enough to give us a friendly nudge. Hey, just saying hi, how are you, sorry, was that your bumper?

"Are you joking?" He was looking for something to hang on to. He settled on his seat belt.

"True confession time, big guy, we could be dead in a few seconds. Got any enemies? Piss off the wrong people?"

He looked back at the SUV. "They're not after me." He cursed and ducked down. "They've got –"

My rear window shattered. Guns.

"Stay down, then." I was trying to cling to this tough-girl persona, but this really was the first time in a long while that anyone had tried to kill me. I started shaking and I had to grab the bear carving from my purse and focus my will on it to get some extra strength and courage. The last curve was coming up. In my mind I replayed what I was about to do, hoping it would work. I might be a witch, but my skills are very specific. I have an affinity for water and earth; I'm weak with air and fire. I've been told that my strength is in defensive magic, which generally I'm happy with, but at that moment, I wished I could toss a fireball at that SUV.

We entered the curve. I let up on the gas and allowed the car to drift wide. The SUV took the inside track and as we straightened out, we were side-by-side. The driver had a gun and was pointing it directly at me. I stuck out my clenched fist and yelled, "Protego!" From my rings a shield emerged to cover both myself and Antonio, tinged blue-green. The gun fired and when the bullet hit my shield, it dissolved into dust. I didn't even feel the impact, but I felt a fierce joy. I designed this shield to either catch slower-moving weapons like fists or dissolve faster-moving weapons like bullets, and this was the first time the shield was tested by the latter. It worked. Ha!

The driver didn't hesitate – he fired again. The shield held, but the effort was taking a lot out of me. Maintaining the shield took energy, my energy, because there is always a price, always a cost. The laws of physics apply to magic, too. Before he could shoot a third time, I expanded my focus to the whole SUV and yelled, "Execratio!"

Inside the other vehicle sparks flew and smoke filled the cabin. I had successfully cursed the electronics, and hey, look at that, the power steering no longer worked. I didn't know what else might have screwed up, but I wasn't going to stick around to find out. I hammered on the gas pedal, and hit the next curve at a dangerous speed. Antonio looked out my shattered back window.

"They went right off the road into the trees!" He turned back and grinned at me. "That was amazing!"

Sure, it was amazing. The adrenalin was backing off, and now I was fighting the need to go into shock. I couldn't show weakness in front of Antonio. God, I needed a drink in the worst way.

"Are we almost there?"

"I can't believe they were shooting at us." He looked down at his body. Not a scratch on him, of course. He brushed off the dust from the disintegrated bullets. After checking his head to make sure it didn't have any extra holes, he eyed me closely. "Are you okay? Were you hit?"

"I'm fine. Are we…?"

"Yeah, just another mile or so on the right."

"No idea who those guys were, huh?"

He checked the rearview before settling back into his seat. "No idea. I'd like to find out, though."

You and me both, pal.

6

South of town the river valley widens a bit, exposing an open, grassy field that generally gets flooded once or twice a year, which is why no one has tried building on it. Of course, it's perfect for gypsies, who could move on at a moment's notice, but like their privacy, too. It occurred to me that they would really like my little island, seven acres of grass for lying down and trees for shade, with thick forest on both sides of the river to make it cozy. Instead, the gypsies had their own little island, set up on the flood plain, a roughly equal number of tents and trailers. They were coloured in hues of brown and dark green so that from a distance they seemed to blend into the forest background. Several campfires dotted the plain, and I could smell something meaty cooking. Yum. Dozens of gypsies were gathered around the fires, talking, arguing, laughing. As we slowly made our way through the camp to the center, gypsy children ran alongside, chirping at Antonio.

"What'd you bring me, Antonio?"

"Is that a girl driving?"

"Since when do you like girls, Annie?"

He waved them away with a smile. "Go chase your own tails, little doggies." He then focused his smile in my direction, still trying, never learning. Well, it was a nice smile, I supposed, but I had seen nicer, and from far more dangerous folks.

Antonio – or should I start calling him 'Annie' as well? – had me stop just off the single-lane path somewhere in the middle of the camp. We got out, and had just started walking down the path when a gravelly voice startled us both.

"In the company of strangers, Antonio? Why do you bring this woman into our camp?"

We turned to see an older man, maybe in his late middle age, his dark green coat and brown pants matching well with the forested surroundings. A wide-brimmed hat kept the sun out of his eyes. He carried a tall staff, but I could feel no magical ability from him. I could barely see the frown from under his bushy mustache.

"Marko," said Antonio, "I brought her because Nana wanted to see her."

Marko huffed. "She should know better. Outsiders only cause problems."

"Feel free to take it up with her. Come on, Lily."

We continued on our way, but Marko followed us for a few yards, haranguing us. "It is not right. We must stick to the old ways if we are to survive. We do not need strangers to help us."

Antonio whispered, "Ignore him and he'll go away."

I whispered back, "Will that work with you, too?"

He smiled as we approached a small trailer. A young man was leaning casually against the wall beside the door. He looked like he could be the starting center for a college basketball team, and he had one hand tucked into the small of his back. Antonio nodded at the young man.

"Ricky. I brought Miss Gardener."

Antonio had been right about Marko – I looked back to see the old man walking back down the lane. I turned around to find Ricky standing in my way.

"The wizardess?"

I looked up, up, up into his face. Men shouldn't get to be so tall.

"I prefer 'witch'. It's more honest." It really is. 'Wizardess' is way too politically correct for my taste. And it sounds like a subset of 'wizard'. I'm a subset to nobody.

"Whatever you are, I gotta search you." He reached for me and I poked him in the chest with a finger. It hurt. He must have been wearing body armour. But he stepped back, startled.

"I don't think so, stretch. Today's not a good day to invade my personal space." I gathered my will. The rings act as a focus for energy. Without them, I could still form a shield, but it would be difficult to force it to a specific shape and thickness. With the rings, I can be far more precise. It's the difference between painting with a fine brush instead of a sprayer. I was ready for Ricky to try and grab me, but before he could make up his mind, the door of the trailer opened.

"Ricky, stop bothering the girl. She looks shaken up. Antonio, what happened?" The gypsy matriarch was short and thin, wearing a dark green dress with flowers stitched into the hem. I couldn't put an age to her. She was older, certainly, maybe in her late fifties or early sixties, but her skin seemed smooth with few wrinkles. It was her eyes, a piercing green, that saw everything, weighed, judged, and dismissed. She would have been pretty when she was a young girl. Now she wore the mantle of authority with a confident bearing. I felt like if she had been introduced as the Queen of England, I would have bought it completely.

"There were some men in an SUV who tried to kill us on the way here."

She waved him over and he quickly whispered the details into her ear. When he finished, she came to me and took my hand.

"I'm sorry, dear. Come into my trailer, I have some tea made. Ricky, take Antonio and two more men down to where this SUV crashed. Let me know what you find. Be careful."

Ricky nodded. "Yes, Nana." He loped away with Antonio close behind. She held my hand, waiting for me to move. My head was still spinning. Events were moving too fast for me. First job in weeks, I Saw something horrible, then an attempt on my life, and now I was about to sit down and have tea with the Gypsy matriarch. I could feel her magical potential through her touch. I had suspected that gypsies had some ability, and that proof was vibrating its way through her hand. It had been a while since I was so deep into dark territory. My other hand clutched the bear carving for courage.

"Tea sounds wonderful."

7

I sipped my blueberry tea, which was not too hot and not too cold, and tried not to look overwhelmed. I wondered if the creator of the TV show 'Doctor Who' had once visited a gypsy, because much like the TARDIS, the trailer I was in was also… Well, outside, it was about as big as a large mini-van. Inside, there was a full-sized country kitchen, a breakfast nook, a foyer, and a living room. I could see doors that I expected would lead to bedrooms and bathrooms and maybe even a bowling alley. This place was bigger than my house. This place was too big.

I realized that the old gypsy was watching me take it all in with an amused smile. "How is the tea?" she asked, like that was the only thing in the world that mattered.

"It's… it's fine. Where are we?"

She brought her tea cup to her mouth and took a sip. Peering at me with those sharp green eyes of hers, she replied, "You tell me."

Memories: flooding.

Fourth grade, standing at the blackboard (which was coloured green, by the way, so why did they call it BLACKboard, so racist), staring at this math problem, the teacher calling my name impatiently, the rest of the class happy it was me and not them, and there was just nothing there in my head.

Week after my thirteenth birthday, my uncle Daniel looking sternly down at me with a paintball gun in his hand, my clothes are splattered with red and green and orange and blue, and I'm crying because they HURT, Uncle Dan, those balls HURT and I'm too young to form a shield, why didn't you stop sooner?

Twenty-two years old, a Red Court vampire is flying towards me, her laughter at my fear ringing in my ears, I'm trying to focus my will but I'm slow, too slow, my rings sparking and flashing, my other hand is tangled in my handbag and I know that it's not my death I fear.

Tests. Tests of knowledge. Tests of will. Tests of wisdom. That's what life is – one test after another. You either get used to it or you fold up and die. For a witch, you have to do more. You have to pass them all. The one test you fail might be the one that kills you. Here she was testing my ability to put two and two together. I needed to come up with four to show I could compete at her level. The magical world is just like the regular world. You have to constantly prove yourself so people will stay out of your way and let you do your thing. But two and two were adding up to something I thought was impossible.

That's how you learn.

"We're in the Nevernever." There is a world linked to our own, a world where faeries rule and other supernatural beings live, play, and hunt. It's a different dimension, where time and space can have alternate values. Depending on where you are, a day in the Nevernever could be a month in our world – or a minute. Those with strong magical ability can open Ways to the Nevernever, although there are some places in our world where the barrier between is very thin. Wizards and witches often use the Nevernever to act as a shortcut between distant places on Earth. However, if you spend any time in the Nevernever, you're going to run into faeries, and that's where things get sticky. There are two Faerie Courts, Summer and Winter, who are in a constant struggle for control. Gain the favor of one Court, and you've made enemies of the other. Each court had a Royal personage that represented the three stages of growth: youth, maturity, and old age. The Lady, the Queen, and the Mother. They were powerful like the seas have power, implacable, undeniable, constant. Faeries can't lie, but there is always a price when dealing with them, and you sure want to do everything possible to avoid their attention. Therefore, the best thing to do is to stay out of the Nevernever.

So much for that.

"Very good, Miss Gardener, although I don't mind telling you, what you see is the result of many years of work. We had to bring in all the furniture and materials from our world, and you may have noticed, that's a narrow doorway."

"This should be impossible, though. How can you make a Way to the Nevernever that always opens to the same place?" If I created a Way outside my front door, then walked ten feet and created another Way, the two locations in the Nevernever could – and likely would – be hundreds of miles apart. Somehow the Way created in the doorway of this trailer was tied directly to a static location in the Nevernever. Who could do that? How much power would that require?

"How does one gain anything of value?" She put down her tea cup and folded her hands in her lap.

Two plus two. "The faeries owed you a favor?" What faerie… It would have to have been one of the Queens to create something this crazy. I looked around the room again. Warm colours. Soft cushions. Sunlight drifting in from the windows. "The Summer Queen?"

Her smile returned. "Would you like more tea?"

I thought I was in deep before, but now… Now I was dealing with a person who collected favors from one of the most powerful magical beings in existence. Meanwhile I was still struggling to understand why she had summoned me. I really hoped that I hadn't done something to hurt or offend the gypsy people. If I had, I probably wasn't going to make it out alive.

"Okay, first of all, what do I call you?" In the magical world, it can be considered impolite to ask someone their name, because if you have their full Name, you could do some surprising and unpleasant things to that person. The only two people who ever knew my full name were my parents, or so I hoped.

"You may call me Julia."

"Great, because 'Nana' would have been… weird. Thanks for the tea and the hospitality, but why am I here? Antonio made it sound pretty urgent, and then there was an attempt on our lives on the way here. I think I'd like us to get to the point."

"Miss Gardener…"

"Please, call me Lily. I have bad memories of people calling me 'Miss Gardener'."

"Very well. Lily, I asked you to come here because there are things you need to know about your case."

"My case? Which is, at best, hours old? How do you even know about it?"

"What matters is that there have been other girls that have gone missing in the same fashion."

"Other girls?" I thought about what I had Seen, that rip in the world that I only then realized must have been a Way to the Nevernever. "How many?"

Julia frowned. "Two, maybe three. As I believe you already know, they have been taken to the Nevernever. I do not know where to look, but I have been told that the kidnapper is not a magic user."

"How do you know that?"

I realized Julia was staring at something behind me, her face paling. I turned to see a young woman, her dark green hair framing a face so beautiful that I wanted to kneel down and worship it. She wore a white sundress with a belt made of flowery vines and open-toed sandals. She didn't walk so much as she flowed from one spot to another. I now had a new benchmark for the physical embodiment of grace. She sat in a chair between us, and when she spoke, I could hardly breathe.

"She knows it because I told her. I know it because I could feel the tearing of the fabric of reality when the kidnapper opened a Way." The young woman smiled at the gypsy matriarch. "Julia, won't you introduce us?"

I was absurdly glad to see Julia was also short of breath. "Lily Gardener, I have the pleasure of introducing you to the Summer Lady."

8

"We share a first name," the Lady said. "Although it is becoming harder and harder to remember it as the years pass."

"It is an honour, my Lady."

"I expect it would be. I had Julia bring you here because there is someone using my domain to abduct women, and I wish it to stop." The gypsy poured the Lady a cup of tea, and the faerie tasted it. As she did, I could see blueberries bobbing in the liquid. Gee, I didn't get blueberries in my tea.

I had never met a high-ranking faerie before, let alone one of the six most powerful. She seemed pleasant enough, and the world seemed brighter with her presence, but I also felt a pressing weight on my chest. This girl could crush me with a thought. She also appeared to desire my assistance. That was both frightening beyond measure and an incredible ego boost. I tried to control my shivering body. I was not particularly successful.

"How can I help?" I managed to get the words out without sounding like the scared little girl that I really was at that moment.

"I take it you know something of our kind, mortal."

I nodded.

She frowned. "Then you understand that knowledge has a cost, and to give you information freely would be… unusual. There are rules, strictures that I must follow. To break those rules…" She shuddered. "I can only point you in a direction. I cannot give you anything more than that, but my hope is that once you are moving forward you will discover what you need."

You want something from a faerie, you have to give something in return. What you give is always more than what you get, because faeries are far more cunning than mortals could ever be. The Summer Lady knew something important about the kidnapper, or the method being used, but I would have to give her something greater in value in return. Clearly she did not believe I had anything that valuable to give. If that was the case, then what did she know? The kidnapper's identity? If she knew that, why wouldn't she just deal with it herself?

Hang on.

That's the real question here. Why isn't she dealing with it herself? What is preventing her from taking action?

"Pardon me, my Lady, but why are you using me to resolve this matter? Surely there are others more qualified and better suited for such a task."

"Some might believe so. What would you trade for such information?" She leaned forward, narrowing her focus on me. "Your full Name, perhaps?"

If the Summer Lady had my full Name, she could do anything she wanted with me. I'd be a puppet on a string, no longer in control of my life.

"I don't think so. I like the way I am now, all full of freedom and self-determination."

She leaned back with an air of satisfaction. "I thought not. Still, I had to ask." She took another sip of her tea. "I suggest you begin by investigating how someone with no magical ability could create a Way to the Nevernever. Thank you for the tea, Julia." The Summer Lady stood, and I found myself standing along with Julia. It seemed the polite thing to do. The Lady put her hand on my shoulder. "Be careful, Lily." She had said my first Name perfectly, and I swayed dizzily for a second. "I'm sorry to put you in such great danger. I can only hope that you will succeed."

"I will do my best, my Lady."

The Lady smiled. "Your life will depend on it." She turned away and in the next eyeblink, she was gone. And I found myself outside the trailer with Julia, collecting my dignity as casually as I could.

9

I drove a couple of miles away from the gypsy camp before pulling over. I needed a few minutes to get right. Ricky and Antonio had returned to let us know the SUV was still there in the trees but it had been abandoned. They offered to escort me home like it would make a difference but I escaped their generosity without a fuss. I didn't think Antonio in particular was all that keen to play target practice again. Julia said I was always welcome, which was good, because she was clearly holding several things back. I would need to be in a better position to get some of that out of her.

Right from the start of the day I had been playing catch-up. Somehow the faeries and the gypsies knew what I was up to before I did, and despite that they still wanted my help. Of course that meant I was being used. For what, well, that's one of the many details I had to flesh out. Details. It was puzzling that the Summer Lady would need to use a gypsy as an intermediary. If she had wanted to, she could have knocked on my front door. It was puzzling that she wanted me to find the kidnapper at all, because since when does a faerie care about a bunch of mortals? If the kidnapper was insulting Summer by messing around in her domain, the Lady would have gotten her enforcer, the Summer Knight, to track him down.

What was now painfully clear was my need for help. I had to consider what asking for help might mean, though, since I'd already been targeted by a hit squad and recruited by a faerie princess. Whoever I went to for assistance might end up in the line of fire. Also, the person I had in mind was a real pain in the ass.

10

"Don't – just – stay back, please. Come on, you know how this works."

I eyed my brother, hands raised. "I'm nowhere near your tablet."

"The last time you were here I had to get both my phone and my laptop fixed. I don't think the hipsters at the Genius Bar are going to buy my excuses much longer." My brother raked his fingers through his tousled black hair, cuddling his iPad like it was his baby. I supposed it was.

Gabriel Gardener was three years younger than me, tall, thin, and generally quite insufferable. He was wearing his typical outfit – blue jeans, sneakers, a Firefly T-shirt. As gifted as I was with magic, I will grudgingly admit he was nearly as gifted with computers. Certainly he had no magical ability to speak of, and it took him a while to believe that I did. It wasn't until I hung him up from his ankles when he was nine years old that he started to get it. Of course he loved Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, and any other fictional universe with magic, which is peculiar considering he knew for a fact that magic is real. He also loved that famous Arthur C. Clarke quote about how sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic. Every time he said it to me, I used to give him a magical wedgie. Keeps that quote to himself these days.

"Gabby, calm down. Let's just get through this quickly, and then you can get back to editing obscure Wikipedia entries."

"You know I don't like that name. You come in here asking for a favour and you think I'm going to play along when you're being a dick?"

"Girls can't be dicks, Gabe. We're physically incapable. Are you going to help me or not?"

He backed away from me and pointed to the left. His apartment was conventionally laid-out, with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom, but it also had an extra room with a window that looked into the living room. He called it the Kryptonite room, and he wanted me to get in there. I sighed.

"Come on, is that really necessary? I'm all the way over here."

"Remember the time you fried my walkman when we were younger? You were what, two blocks away?"

"I'm not a fan of that room. It smells in there."

"Of course it smells in there, that's where I leave my hockey equipment."

"Gabe! Are you serious?"

On the floor of the Kryptonite room was a circle made of copper. The circle was big enough to touch all four walls. The idea was that I get in the room, focus a bit of my will on the circle, and it prevents my magical ability from affecting anything else in the apartment. It was a great idea, and not just because it was mine. I could see what he was doing on the computer through the window. With the circle closed, his precious machines were safe from me. But I wasn't safe from – what was that stench?

"I'm not closing the door, Gabe. Seriously, are you sacrificing goats in here or what?"

He sat down at his computer. "I gotta make a living somehow. So what do you need?"

Next time I was bringing an air freshener. And possibly a couple of priests to perform an exorcism.

"You still have access to the White Council archives?"

Humans need structure and authority to co-exist and to thrive. For regular people, that's the government. For wizards and witches, that's the White Council. A collection of the most powerful magic wielders in the world, they're responsible for the seven Laws of Magic and for enforcing those Laws. The Council was founded by Merlin – yes, that Merlin – and has generally been a force for good, or at least stability and peace. Of course, if you broke one of the Laws, or stepped a foot wrong with a Senior Council member, you'd find yourself headless before you could blink. So, not usually a group you want to mess with. So, naturally, that's who I was going to mess with. The White Council had realized a few years back that their collected knowledge – scrolls, books, and whatever was inside their heads – was vulnerable to all sorts of destructive methods, so they hired a staff of computer geniuses to transcribe everything to a computer database.

Luckily I had my own genius.

"Of course. They change passwords every sixty days, and it only takes my cracking tool three days to break their encryption. Have you read some of the stuff in there? I was flipping through an older section where I found the most fascinating material about Christ's Resurrection."

"I don't care about that right now, Gabe, I've got a ticking clock here."

He grinned at me. "You sure…?"

I threw up my hands. "No! Look, I do want to hear about it. Some. Other. Time. But for now, I need some information on a device or object that could create a Way to the Nevernever."

He shrugged. "All right, let me run a search. Want a banana?"

"What am I, a monkey?"

"Lots of potassium. Did you even eat this week?"

"You should talk, smartass. You look like you're on the Ichabod Crane diet."

"Hey, I think Ichabod's in the archive too."

I took a deep, calming breath and instantly regretted it. "How long is this going to take?"

"You're such a pleasant person to be around, do you know that?"

I felt like it was past time my brother experienced a magical wedgie. We waited in silence for a few minutes before Gabe made a noise like a dog sneezing.

"What?"

He turned to me. "The search came up empty."

"Did you spell the words correctly?"

"Yes, Lily-bird, I'm actually quite good at this. If there is something that can create a Way, the White Council either doesn't know about it or the information hasn't been transcribed yet."

"Great. Sorry to waste your time." I released the energy that was maintaining the circle and headed for the door.

"Not a complete waste. Someone else had searched the archive for the same keywords we used."

That stopped me in my tracks. "Really. Who? And when?"

"I can't…" A click here, a couple keystrokes there, and then – "I can't tell you who, they were using a public terminal. Looks like the library downtown. As for when, that's easy. Last Friday, about 8:45 pm."

11

I worked out the timeline in my head. On Thursday night, Kelsey Green was abducted. The next night, somebody searches the White Council archives for an object that can create a Way. Then I was hired the following Tuesday morning. Was someone else already looking into these abductions? I didn't think there were any other wizards or witches living in the area. A human private eye could have been hired, but how would they know to search the White Council archives? The Summer Lady seemed reluctant enough to deal with me, so I doubted she would have involved anyone else.

That meant there was another player in this game. Perhaps related to the hard boys who tried to hit me and Antonio earlier? I left Gabe's apartment and headed down to the public library. If I was lucky, maybe I would get a description. It wasn't too late to start being careful, so I parked the El Camino two blocks away, cut down a side alley, and entered the library from the rear door. As I did, I checked the hours of operation. The library would have closed at 9 pm on Friday.

I hadn't been to this place in years, but in my youth the library had been my favorite hangout. I loved drifting among the stacks, picking a book at random, curling up on a beanbag chair, and disappearing into a different world. The librarian, a young, cheery woman with frizzy brown hair, wearing a wool sweater even in the summer months, always greeted me by name and wanted to chat about boys or clothes or the latest reality show. In particular, it was the best place to spend a cold winter afternoon, as the librarian would have a mug of hot cocoa waiting for me, and I would bundle up in a blanket next to the window. I loved the quiet, the stillness. It was easy to fool yourself into believing that time was a stranger to this place.

But now I was all grown up, and it was a different librarian, an older retired man who was probably a volunteer since the city couldn't afford to pay full-time wages any more. He smiled at me as I approached the front desk.

"Good evening, young lady, how may I help you?"

Evening, right. My stomach rumbled. I should have had that banana.

"Were you working here on Friday night?"

"I was, yes. What's this about?"

This was always the tricky part. I had a private investigator's license, but as a woman I am a constant victim of expectation. You hear the words 'Private Eye' and you expect Humphrey Bogart. When people look at me, they're expecting a waitress, or a nurse, or a secretary. Hell, people would believe I was a witch before they'd believe I was a private eye. So when I go around asking questions – because that's what I do – it can be difficult to get people past the expectations they have. I can't just flip open a badge and get answers like I was Agent Scully.

Therefore to get the truth I have to lie.

"My friend, Kelsey, I haven't seen her in a few days, and I'm worried about her. The last time I talked to her, she said she was meeting someone here on Friday night. I was wondering if you had seen her." I produced the campsite photo from my bag to show the librarian. He bent over to peer at it, and I pointed at Kelsey. "That's her there."

He gave me a calculating look. "I don't see you in this picture."

I raised my eyebrow. "Who do you think is holding the camera?"

"Right." He looked back at the picture, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen her."

"Oh," I said, trying to sound deflated. "Maybe she didn't come inside. Do you remember who was here Friday night? Perhaps around closing?"

He straightened and crossed his arms. "Why are you asking me these questions instead of the police?"

"Because they're not interested. I am. Please, I don't know who she was meeting here, but if you can remember details about who was here that night, I might be able to figure out who it was." So stop busting my balls already, old man!

We had a little staring contest for a few seconds before he relented. "There were only two people in the library late Friday, and I don't think either one is involved with your friend."

"Why not?"

"Well, one of them was a nice retired lady named Alma who likes to read the foreign newspapers that we get. The other one…"

"Yes?"

He frowned. "It's a little fuzzy what she was doing, I think she might have been on one of the computers. But I remember when she left." His eyes glazed over slightly. "Boy, do I."

"She? A woman?"

"Yeah, but not any woman I had ever seen before. She could be a movie star with looks like that." He shook his head to clear it. "Anyway, can't see your friend meeting up with either one."

"Did this woman give a name? Did you talk to her at all?"

"No, I never saw her come in. I only saw her leave after I announced we were closing over the P.A."

"She made that much of an impression, huh?" Pretty girls. Ugh.

"Tall, long dark hair, smooth pale skin, eyes like the sky at twilight."

"Okay, spare me the poetry."

He blinked and stared at me. "Who are you, really, asking questions like a cop."

I sighed. "I'm a private investigator. Kelsey's parents hired me to find her."

"Well, why didn't you say that right off the top?"

"I… Would you have believed me?"

He chuckled. "Fair enough. Still, though, I prefer honesty. Not that I could tell you anything more."

"Did you at least see the car she was driving?"

"It was dark, but I could tell it was a convertible. Her hair was flying in the wind," he said dreamily.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll leave you alone with your thoughts, then. Thanks for the info."

"Sure. And next time, tell the truth. It's easier to remember."

I started to walk away and then turned back. "What did you do before you retired?"

He smiled. "You're the private investigator, you tell me."

I gave it a second. "I'll show you my badge if you show me yours, Officer."

He waved me away. "Too easy."

I went out the same way I came in, although now I had even more questions with no answers. Who was the hot girl with the convertible? I guessed that she used a library computer in case she was traced. It was weird that she didn't bother to disguise herself, unless she knew the library didn't have surveillance cameras. Or she didn't care. I stepped out into the side alley to find my way blocked by three men fifty feet away. One of them I recognized immediately. You don't soon forget the face of a man who tried to kill you with an SUV.

12

The First Law of Magic is basically also the most important of the Ten Commandments: thou shalt not kill. The Law adds two crucial distinctions, though. Thou shalt not kill 1) another human being with magic 2) unless in extreme self-defense. So if I was faced with three hungry wolves that wanted to eat me, the Law did not apply. These guys didn't look like wolves; they didn't look magical, either. They looked human, so unless I was literally at the point of death, I wasn't allowed to kill any of them. Not that I wanted to, necessarily. I'm not bloodthirsty by any means, and in my life I have only killed three sentient beings. One of them was a rabid dog, and the other two were vampires, so my conscience is good with it and I sleep pretty well at night. I didn't know these guys, I didn't know why they were trying to kill me, and a win for me would be to get answers to those two questions and then walk away from this situation without any violence ensuing.

That being said, I was tired, hungry, and cranky. So diplomacy was not really within my grasp at that moment. At least they didn't seem to be carrying guns this time around. I guessed that firing bullets around the downtown core was a good way to get 5-0 invited to the party, so they didn't want to risk it.

"Are we not cool with me crashing your ride?" I reached blindly into my bag and pulled out the balls and chain.

The driver seemed to be the leader, as he was the one who broke their silence. "Nothing personal, lady, we got our orders."

Lady? Seriously? Ugh. "Seems pretty personal to me, as in, I would take it personal if I were to die all sudden and messy-like. Want to tell me why, at least?"

The driver shook his head. "Don't know, don't care. That was a neat thing you did with our SUV, though. Maybe if you tell us how you did that, we could make it quick for you."

Well, this was going downhill quickly. "Magic."

They snickered. "Yeah," said the driver. "But I never heard you say 'abracadabra'."

"Wait for it." I threw the balls and chain up in the air. The driver glanced up to watch them, but his two goons never broke their stare at me. Well-trained dogs. Yet dogs will scatter when given a decent scare. I gathered my will, murmured under my breath, and just before the balls and chain hit the ground between us, the balls began to spin, suspended three feet above the ground.

They all stepped back, uncertain. I grinned madly.

"Abracadabra!" I yelled, and charged forward. I focused my will on the spinning balls, and they shot forward, diving down several feet in front of the goons. These silver balls might have been small, but they had lead cores, and when they were spinning in a blurry whirlwind, they could chew through just about anything. They hit the fractured pavement and chunks of asphalt started flying. As I ran behind them, my balls and chain tore up the alley, forcing the goons to dive for cover. I raced past them, released my will, reached down, and snagged my little weapon of mass destruction. I reached the mouth of the alley moments later and turned left. Three blocks down was a police station, and my best hope of getting out of this alive. I didn't bother trying for the El Camino; if they knew I was in the library, they would have seen my car and likely disabled it. I wasn't going to waste time finding out. I ran like you do when your life is on the line. I expect I looked like a crazy person to anyone I passed by. I was a block away from the police station when I dared to look back.

No one was following me. My run faded to a jog and then I was standing still, peering down the street. I could see the alley I had escaped from, but between there and where I was – no goons. A couple of bystanders walking along and that was it. What the hell? I had a paranoid moment and spun around quickly, convinced they had somehow gotten ahead of me. Nothing. I turned back and could see a woman come out of that alley. She was too far away for me to see her face, but she was dressed in a tight dark pantsuit and she moved – no – she flowed. She saw me staring, gave me a little salute, then dashed away like she was little more than a fading dream.

I wasn't going back into that alley.

I didn't know what just happened, but it was like when you watch one of those horror movies and we all know the monster is behind that door, so why is the pretty girl with the perky boobs opening it? Well, I wasn't pretty, I didn't have perky boobs, and I didn't want to open that door.

Ah, crap. Of course I did. Crap-crap-crap.

No running now; instead, a careful walk back to the alley. On the way, I eyed my car, which seemed to be doing okay. No flat tires, anyway. I kept the balls and chain held tightly in my hand. I reached the mouth of the alley, keeping close to the wall. I did the thing you see people do in TV and movies – I bobbed my head around the corner for a quick look, then ducked back. A quick look, as it turned out, revealed nothing. Fine. I sighed. I stepped into the alley.

The three goons were lying on the pavement not ten feet from me, still as gravestones. There was no blood on the ground or the walls. I could see my spinning ball trick had caused some facial scrapes, but that wasn't why they were lying there. I crouched down next to the driver and felt for a pulse. Didn't find one. Looking around, I couldn't see any reason why these guys were dead. Meanwhile, anyone walking by might see me standing there with three corpses. I straightened quickly and backed out of the alley. I hurried over to my car and hopped in. The El Camino started right away, so I put it in gear and got out of there.

13

I closed my front door and sagged against it, relieved to be somewhere safe. My stomach rumbled again, reminding me that trying to think straight and being hungry are two states of being that don't get along well. I entered the kitchen and dove into the old icebox. Oh yeah. Running on empty. Cursing to myself, I grabbed my phone and ordered a pizza.

I waited for the delivery while lying on my sofa, shoes kicked off, bag dropped carelessly on the coffee table. I closed my eyes and tried not to think. My brain was uncooperative.

I wasn't a big believer in coincidences, so it seemed rather obvious that the woman the librarian saw (and still drooled over, apparently) and the woman who saluted me were the same person. So, to add to the growing list of things that bothered me, I threw on these questions: who this woman was, why she killed those men, and how she did it.

The stress and exhaustion finally caught up to me, and I dozed for a half hour until the pizza arrived. The knock on the door jerked me awake. I got up and stretched, sighing. The second knock spurred me to move, and I opened the front door to find a pizza delivery guy chatting with Antonio.

"Sorry to interrupt, boys, but that's my pizza you've got there."

I traded cash for food with the delivery guy while Antonio waited patiently. Once I had my pizza in hand, I tried to close the door on the gypsy but he was way ahead of me.

"You're not going to eat all of that yourself, are you?"

"Seriously? You think you're going to steal my food?"

He tossed a ten dollar bill on top of the pizza box. "Not stealing."

"What are you doing here, Annie?"

He frowned at my use of his hated nickname. "Making sure you got home safely. Come on, your pizza's getting cold."

I walked away, leaving the door open and leaving any invitation unsaid. I didn't think he had any magical ability, but if he did, walking into my house without an invitation would leave most of that ability at the door. It would also neutralize any magical totems, devices, and tricks he might have up his sleeve. He surprised me, though, because he crossed my threshold without blinking and followed me into the living room. I set the pizza down on the coffee table and pulled the lid open.

"As you can see, I'm safe. So why are you really here?" The last couple of words were said in a mumble as I stuffed my face with a slice of pepperoni and green peppers. I sat in the easy chair and watched as Antonio swiped a slice and dropped down on the sofa.

"Nana was worried about you. She wants me to look after you while you search for the missing girl."

"I get it. You're the funny one."

"No, really. After we were shot at and almost run off the road, I don't think it's out of line to suggest that you're in danger."

I rolled my eyes. "Solid logic, Antonio, top-notch detective work there. But I don't need 'looking after', and I don't need a bodyguard. I can take care of myself. In fact, if I recall correctly, while we were being shot at, your contribution to the cause was to curl up into a little ball and pray for salvation."

"All right, all right," he said, holding up his hands. "I wasn't much help before." He patted the left side of his rib cage. "I will be now."

"Oh, good. A man with a gun. That will solve all of my problems." I scarfed down… wait, was this my third slice already? I really was hungry.

"You need someone to watch your back, Lily, and my Nana would like that to be me. Believe me, I can think of many other chores I would rather be doing right now. But I made a promise to Nana, so I must keep it."

"So I'm a chore, am I? Well, that's… Wait, what promise did you make?"

"I promised to look after you until you found the girl."

"And you're a man who keeps his promises? Because I wouldn't have called that one."

He gave me a steady look which took me a moment to interpret as irritation devolving into a slow-burning anger. "I am an original Romany, one of the few true gypsies left in this world. My bloodline is pure, and my word is good. I keep my promises, witch. I can do nothing else."

Well, that was unexpected. I was racking my brain, trying to remember what I could about gypsies and promises. All I could come up with was the stereotype concerning gypsies being hard bargainers who always seemed to get more than they gave. I realized that such a description could also be applied to faeries. Paired with Antonio's indignation about the worth of his promises…

"Antonio, is there some kind of relationship between gypsies and faeries?"

He shrugged. "Relationship? In our travels we have encountered many, and have had dealings with most. We trade with wizards and humans, and we have in the past traded with faeries." A shadow seemed to pass over his face when he said that.

I leaned forward. "I'm not talking about trading. I'm talking about something more familiar. Friends, maybe? Family?"

He snickered. "Would that I was a faerie – no doubt I would be doing something far more interesting."

"Gun fights and car chases barely register, do they?"

"You know what I mean. Faeries are beautiful, magical, mysterious. They live lives of noise and action, fury and passion."

"And, like you're doing right now, they avoid answering any question directly."

He grabbed another slice of pizza, stood up, and paced around the room restlessly. "Lily, I don't even know what answer you want. Besides, what does it matter when your job is to find a missing girl?"

I closed the pizza box. There was barely enough left over for breakfast. "I decide what matters, Antonio. And right now, what matters to me is seeing you on the other side of the front door."

Speaking of which… Someone pounded on that front door with authority. I raised an eyebrow at the gypsy. He shrugged. "Maybe you could use a little help after all."

I peered through the spyhole. Well, well, the local constabulary. I opened the door.

"Morning, ma'am. My name is Jenkins." He showed me his badge. "May I come in?"

I didn't mind the idea of getting a visit from the police, but it was Antonio's insufferable grin that I minded. He winked at me. "Like I said…"

14

Oh, the questions. Antonio lapped it all up, of course. I could have tried to kick him out, but then I would have to explain to the nice detective who this gypsy was, and I was sure the bastard wouldn't have gone quietly. The walls of my house were not very sound-proof either, so I couldn't send him anywhere that would keep his curiosity unsatisfied. At least Detective Jenkins was nicely put together, in a dark suit and tie, creases unbroken. My height, with reddish-brown hair, a narrow but handsome face, and blue eyes that missed little. So, the questions. Yes, I had been at the library this afternoon. Yes, I exited through the rear entrance. No, I did not see anyone else in the alley.

"But, Miss Gardener, I've been told that you were seen running out of the alley like…" The detective consulted his notes before continuing with, "Like your hair was on fire."

"And as you can see, Detective, my hair is perfectly fine."

"Gorgeous, even," interjected Antonio, who received a withering glare from me for his trouble.

"So, why…?" Jenkins seemed like a nice enough guy, a little young for his position, perhaps, but earnest, forthright. I guessed that approach worked pretty well for him. It wasn't going to work with me.

"I was spooked by a noise behind me. I have to admit, Detective, I have an active imagination, and dark alleys are not my favorite places to be."

He knew I was lying, of course. I expected he was as puzzled as I was about the manner in which those men died. I also expected that he didn't think I killed them, but was hoping I knew something about it. I felt bad for him, because I couldn't give him what he was looking for, not without dismissing me as a crazy person. Normals don't believe in magic. Let's go a little farther than that, actually. Normals are strongly opposed to a reality in which magic exists. Their minds will do whatever it takes to deny that reality. If I told Detective Jenkins that I had seen those men, that they had threatened me, and I had gotten away only to discover that someone else murdered them through magical means… Hey, how does a padded cell sound to you?

"A noise," he said flatly.

"Sure," I replied. "Maybe a cat knocked over a garbage can or something."

"A black cat, probably," said Antonio without a trace of irony. He was too far away for me to punch him in the ribs.

"If you don't mind me asking, miss…" Jenkins looked me up and down. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a private investigator. I find things, people." I showed him my license.

"Really. A private eye who gets spooked by a noise in a dark alley."

"Funny, huh. What's this all about, anyway?"

He tried to look directly into my eyes but I glanced away. The last thing I wanted right now was a soulgaze. You know how when you and another person stare into each other's eyes, how intimate that feels? How you almost immediately feel the urge to look away? Magical beings have that too, except with us, if we don't look away, we literally gaze into each other's souls. We see the darkness and the light, the scars of our past and the fires that drive us. What you See can't be unseen, but you can gain valuable insight into a person's character and motivations. Of course, they get to See into you as well, so that's not a gift you want to hand to just anybody. Certainly not a detective I just met.

"There are three dead men in that alley, Miss Gardener. Hard men, too, from the looks of them. They were discovered shortly after you say you were 'spooked'."

I was ready for the answer, but Antonio wasn't. Luckily the detective had his attention focused on me, because otherwise he would have seen the gypsy's eyes widen in surprise. Then a look of understanding followed by chagrin. Clearly he was wishing that he had glued himself to my side much earlier.

"That's horrible. How did they die?"

"We're still… That's not something I can say at this point. You didn't see anything at all in that alley?"

"Well, now I'm wondering if those men were hidden somewhere in that alley when I walked through it." I shuddered. "Or if the killer was. God, what if he had chosen me instead?"

"It's okay, Miss Gardener."

"Okay? You're telling me I just skirted death by a few minutes, hell, by the whim of some unknown person, but it's okay? We're on the other side of the continent from okay, Detective."

He held up his hands. "I'm sorry, you're right. Whatever happened, it seems clear that you were very lucky."

Well, that could be taken more than one way. This detective wasn't at all fooled by my act, but he seemed to be leaning towards the idea that I wasn't responsible. That was progress.

"Yeah. Lucky. You don't suppose the killer will track me down, do you?" I made a show of looking out the window. "I mean, if you found me, what's to stop him from finding me, too?"

"I don't think that will happen, Miss Gardener."

"How can you know that?"

"Because you didn't see anything," he replied, closing his notebook.

"Yeah, but how would the killer know?" Okay, I was laying it on a little too thick. Not that it wasn't a pertinent question, but if the killer was that woman who saluted me, then she already knew what I saw. So I had that going for me.

"Well, I would suggest making sure your doors and windows are locked, at least until we catch this guy."

I nodded. "Will do."

He handed me a business card. "If you do… remember something, or if you come across more information, please let me know."

"Of course."

He paused in the doorway. "By the way, are you on a case right now?"

"I am."

"Can you…"

I interrupted him. "I can't talk about it, Detective Jenkins. Confidential."

"Right. Well, again, call me if something comes up."

"Sure." He walked out to his car. Something occurred to me. "Wait – don't you guys usually have partners?"

He turned back. "Yes."

"So…?"

He smiled for the first time. "I can't talk about it, Miss Gardener. Confidential."

He got into his car and rolled away. Damn, but I hate when someone else gets the last word in. I closed the door to find Antonio reaching for the pizza box.

"Hey! Back away from the table!"

He obliged me only to give me an insolent grin. "Take care of yourself, huh? Three dead men say otherwise, Lily."

"You should be asking yourself how they died while I'm standing here without a scratch, and what that says about me."

He laughed. "I'm no fool, Lily. You didn't kill those men. What's more, you don't know who did. It sounds to me like you could definitely use someone watching your back."

Damn, but I hate when someone else is right.

15

I woke up the next morning strangely invigorated. I suppose a couple of brushes with death put an extra charge into your soul. After showering, I peeked out the window. Sure enough, Antonio was still asleep in his car. He didn't like being kicked out of the house, but what did he expect? That I would let a strange man hang out in my place while I slept? If he wanted to stand guard, that's fine, but he could do that from the driveway.

So I felt a little guilty. But not nearly enough to do something about it.

I dressed, putting on a custom-made flak jacket underneath my blouse. If bullets were going to fly, I wanted backup. Although where we were going today, it was very unlikely guns would be involved. I caught my reflection in the mirror and hesitated. I had been avoiding the idea so far, but I didn't have any other leads. I would have to enter the Nevernever and try my tracking spell, hoping that my presence would go unnoticed.

Right, because up until then my luck was already running hot.

I went down to the kitchen and made some coffee. I thought I would be nice for once, so I poured a second cup. I brought it to the door, but when I opened it, Antonio was already standing there.

"The scent woke me up." He took the cup and nodded to me. "Thank you."

"Yeah, I'm a peach. We leave in five minutes."

"Where are we going?"

"Headlong into danger."

I left him in the doorway and went back to my office to consider what I was going to bring. The creatures of the Nevernever were extremely vulnerable to iron, so much so that to use iron as a weapon was considered an insult to faeries. My balls and chain were silver, but they had lead cores, and I was a little fuzzy on where that landed on the metal spectrum, so best to leave them at home for now. I opened the top drawer of my desk and pulled out a foot-long yew branch. While the rings on my hand were vital for creating and maintaining the focus necessary for a shield, that's all they were good for. To use other forms of magic, I needed something else to channel my will, so I had this branch cut from a yew tree in Wales a few years ago.

It's not a wand. It's a branch. A stick. Not a wand. It was short enough to hide up my sleeve, and strong enough to resist any attempts to snap it in half. It wasn't heavy to use as a club, but then, even if it was, I lacked the physical size and strength necessary to use one. Unlike all these wizards who ran around punching and wrestling and tackling, witches had to rely on our wits. Although if it came down to it, I did have some judo training. That was a last resort, though. If I couldn't use the yew branch to get myself out of trouble, then that was some really serious trouble.

Not a wand.

Rings, bear carving, chalk, snowglobe, spray can, and the branch. Okay, I needed a better name for the branch.

I met Antonio outside. He was already in his car, smoking some hand-rolled thing. He smirked when he saw me.

"Is that… is that a…?"

"It's not a wand. You can either follow me or leave your car here."

"Why can't we go in my car?"

"Several reasons, but the most important are these – one, it's your car, so I would have to rely on you for transportation. Two, there's a good chance that I could fry the electronics in your car. Three, when I go somewhere, I drive."

He stared at me for a moment, then sighed and got out of his car. "You're a bit of a control freak, you know that?"

I hopped in the El Camino and snapped my fingers. "Chop-chop, Annie. You want something done right, make sure it's not a man that's doing it."

16

The Nevernever is a scary place, mostly because so much of it is foreign and unknown to us. The wizarding community knows of places in the world where it is safe to create a Way to the Nevernever because we are familiar with what would be on the other side. I hated to think of all the wizards and witches who were lost when they created new Ways that brought them to yawning caverns or molten lava. In my area, there was only one place where I knew it was safe to create a Way.

"What are we doing here?" Antonio looked up at the tall trees that surrounded the small parking lot. The tops of some of those trees were almost a hundred feet high. Behind us, cars flashed by on the busy street, oblivious to the sixty acres of gorgeous forest known locally as the Steckle Woods. Sandwiched between a residential area and an industrial park, the woods had several looping trails winding through the trees and brush, and was a favorite of dog walkers and folks looking for a little peace in their busy city lives.

"We're going to the Nevernever. This is a safe place to create a Way. If you have any iron in your possession, now's a good time to throw it in the car."

"I have no iron. But you should have warned me where we were going. I might have been able to equip myself appropriately."

"If that's your way of suggesting you'd like to remain behind, feel free to do so."

He rolled his eyes. "Nice try. So where will you create this Way? Here in the parking lot for all to see?"

I grabbed a jacket from behind my seat and threw it on. "You should try and avoid sarcasm, Antonio. It's not your thing. Come on."

We followed the southbound trail into the forest. There wasn't a lot of brush or ground foliage, as the tall canopy didn't filter a lot of sunlight down to the forest floor. This meant that even during a bright summer morning, the woods were nicely shaded. Not quite gloomy. I navigated our way through the tangled web of trails to a point near the center of the woods. Here there was a curious stand of thickly needled pine trees in a rough circle maybe fifty feet in diameter. You could feel the temperature noticeably drop as you got closer to the circle.

"We are close," said Antonio. "In there?"

I nodded.

He grimaced. "So it will be Winter's domain, then."

The membrane between our world and the Nevernever was very thin here, so much so that the cold of Winter seeped through into our reality. It's how I originally discovered it, and why I was foolish enough to open a Way here back then without knowing what was on the other side. I had been lucky, though. I hadn't fallen into an icy cold river or emerged into a cave full of goblins.

"I'm afraid so." I pulled out my focus branch and began forcing my way through the pine branches into the center of the circle. The needles scratched and pulled at my skin. The sap left gooey trails on my jacket. I emerged into a small clearing the size of the average bedroom. Antonio was right behind me. He looked decidedly nervous.

"You could have warned me. How cold will it be on the other side?"

I shrugged. "It's the height of Summer, and the Way will open at a spot close to the border between Summer and Winter, so you'll be all right. If it gets a little nippy, tough it out. Now stand back."

With my focus branch held up, I gathered my will and murmured a single word. A Way snapped into being like it had been waiting rather impatiently for me to arrive. The Ways that I create look like a rectangular soap bubble, where you can see through it to the pine trees that ring the circle, but the transparency shimmers and swirls.

"Ladies first?" I teased.

Antonio jumped through without hesitation. I stepped through a bit more carefully. As always, when I went through the Way, I felt a tingle like you get when your foot falls asleep, except this was throughout my entire body. On the other side, I found Antonio in a rather compromising position. He was on his knees with a spear at his throat. Holding that spear was a tall, thickly built man in leather armor. Looking up at me, the gypsy said, "Know any magic tricks?"

18

The soldier appeared to be alone, but he had a spear and that was more than enough. We were in a shallow, forested valley surrounded by the same kind of pine trees that formed the circle back in my world. I kept my focus branch up like it was a weapon, reached back, and with a swipe, closed the Way.

"So… What's going on?" I asked, stepping a few feet back to create a little breathing room.

"The Winter Queen has decreed that all trespassers of her domain must be detained and questioned," said the soldier. His body was tensed up, ready to get violent. His eyes were cold.

"I am a member of the White Council. Your Queen has guaranteed us safe passage through your lands. I would ask that you put up your weapon in good faith." See, I could be diplomatic when a spear was at someone's throat.

The soldier slapped Antonio's head with a gloved hand. "This scum is not of the White Council. I know his kind and he is banished from these lands."

I was learning all sorts of new things on this case. Gypsies were not allowed in the lands of Winter? Were they allied with Summer? Let's go a little further with that thought – were they creatures of Summer? It might explain why the gypsy matriarch had magical ability, and why she had a portable Way installed in her trailer.

"Really. That is unfortunate. So, off with his head, then?"

"Lily!" Antonio was not impressed with my joke.

"All right, all right. This man is… Oh, hell's bells, do I have to say it?" Antonio made some kind of noise that conveyed frustrated anger but also mounting fear. I guess I did have to say it. "…He's my bodyguard. Ugh, it feels dirty just saying that."

The soldier did not seem impressed. "Even so, you should not have brought him here."

"Well, we're not staying long. Maybe you could escort us to the border and tell us in a firm voice not to come back?"

The soldier shifted, and now the spear was pointed at me. "Are you mocking my duty, wizard?"

"I'm a witch, actually, and yes, I probably was. I'm not going to let you kill this man."

"I must enforce the will of my Queen."

I slowly circled around so that Antonio was not in the line of fire. "So… just you? Don't have an army hiding around here? Because I could pick you up with magic and throw you like a snowball. In fact, since you seem to be alone, I'm wondering why I haven't done that already."

From behind me, a cold, female voice.

"Not alone."

Antonio gasped and curled himself up into a little ball on the ground. Judging by his reaction, I wasn't going to like what was behind me. The soldier had a very satisfied look on his face. I sighed and turned to face my doom.

She was tall, and gorgeous like a cold winter sunrise. She was dressed all in blue, a horse rider's outfit that was functional but the fabric clung to her perfect body and left little to the imagination. I didn't swing that way, but she inspired… thoughts. Her eyes were blue and feline. I had never met this faerie before, but I had heard of her, and I whispered her name.

"Leanansidhe."

She stepped towards me, looming like a tall building over an ant. I had never felt so inadequate and unattractive in my life, and her presence overwhelmed me.

"Indeed."

Now I was in real trouble. All the events of the previous two days were tiny inconveniences compared to the danger in front of me now. Leanansidhe was an extremely powerful member of the Winter Court, rivaled only by the Royals. She was old like the Earth was old, and knew magic as I knew breathing. She could blink and erase my existence from all worlds. There was a weight on my chest; I could hardly breathe.

"I beg your pardon, I meant no insult."

She smiled. "I know, child. However, the presence of this gypsy is an insult."

"I'm sorry, I did not know…"

"Young witch, it is not your responsibility to know, it is to learn, and this fact you should have learned already if you were to travel with this man. You should also have learned that this close to Midsummer, the border between our lands is heavily guarded. Now, put that wand away and let us talk."

Not a wand. I felt a little spark of defiance inside me. Not a wand! Still, I put my wand away.

"I promise you, we were on our way to Summer."

"Yes, Miss Gardener, and you really should learn a Way to Summer instead of using this one. But my interest is in who you seek and what that person has."

"Oh, you know who I am. Is there a faerie in the Nevernever who doesn't at this point?"

She laughed, the sound of crystalline chimes filling my head. "Recently I had to give over a great debt to my Queen, but I am always looking for another." She narrowed her eyes at me. "And I prefer those with a little spirit."

Ha-ha. Yeah, spirit. Other people might call it 'doesn't know when to shut up'. "I like my current situation, thanks." I was getting angry now. Everybody seemed to know my business these days, and nobody was telling me anything useful. Gypsies and faeries and hired killers and mystery women were crowding me like teenagers at a kegger. Meanwhile, a girl was missing, probably even dead, and I was getting nowhere because of these clowns. Last straw: broken.

"Look, I've got places to go, people to find, and things to do. You obviously want something from me so if you could get to it, we could all get on with our lives."

Dead silence for a few moments as the faerie was of course going to make me wait. "Very well. But have a care, child. Most of your betters would not react as kindly to your insolence as I. You are correct – I want something from you. But first… What was your plan here? You knew the girl you seek was brought to the Nevernever so… A simple tracking spell? In this place?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"The girl is from your world, not ours. Your spell would not work. Reality is different here. You need something much more powerful than a hair."

I closed my eyes, thinking. "Blood. I need her blood. Terrific."

She smiled. "All is not lost. I will help you in exchange for something."

Another bargain with a faerie. Why don't I just walk into traffic while I'm at it? "This sounds promising."

"Despite your sarcasm, I assure you, it is. You see, when that object is used to create a Way to the Nevernever, I can feel it. Anyone from the Summer and Winter Courts would feel it. It is like a scratch on our skin. Do you understand the value of what I just told you?"

I blinked. If they could feel it… "It's linked to you in some way. What is it?"

She held up a hand. "First you must promise that when you retrieve this… thing, you will bring it to me."

"And what are you going to do with it?"

She leaned forward. "It is enough that I will point the way for you. Your promise, Lily Gardener."

Just like with the Summer Lady, Leanansidhe said my name perfectly. If she knew my middle names, she wouldn't need my promise. She could say my name and order me to do whatever she wanted. I had to assume that she didn't have that knowledge; otherwise I would have already been a puppet.

A puppet? What have I been to that point, if not a puppet? Being pulled by the gypsies this way, pulled by the Summer Lady that way, and now yanked around by the Winter Court. How much control did I have over my choices anyway? I couldn't think of another way to find Kelsey Green, and this faerie was about to give me a road map. All I had to do was make a promise I could not break. Another string tied to me that could pull me in any direction. I looked at Antonio, who was still on his knees. Who was still my responsibility, even though I hadn't asked for it. He had a puzzled look on his face, and it dawned on me that…

"Yes, child, he cannot hear us. I leave it to you to decide what secrets to tell. A third time, I ask and be done: your promise, witch."

"Before I promise anything, I want your word that the gypsy will be allowed to leave with me unharmed."

Her eyes glittered with impatience. "My word on it. But do not bring him back."

My brain went into overdrive, trying to find loopholes in logic that might come back to haunt me. Faeries can't lie, but the words you hear are not necessarily the truth. They find the smallest chink in your armor, and you're a bloody mess before you can scream. I had the same question in my head for Leanansidhe as I had for the Summer Lady – why didn't they just grab this guy on their own? Why did they need me? Okay. I was ready.

"In return for the location and description of this object, I promise to give you the object once I am satisfied that the object is no longer a threat. How's that?"

She smiled that Cheshire Cat smile of hers, and I felt somehow that I missed something important. "Done. The object is a knife, small and slim, handle and blade carved out of chipped stone. You can find it at the Stone Table. Do you know it?"

The Stone Table was at the very center of the Nevernever, right on the border between Summer and Winter. And that's all I could remember from the faerie texts I had studied. I had no idea where it was in relation to where we were. It could be around the next bend or a whole continent away. I didn't know what its significance was, or why a mortal would be bringing kidnapped women to it.

"Let me work something out here. The armies of Summer and Winter are patrolling the border. The Summer Court is about to transfer power to the Winter Court at Midsummer, which is just three days away. And, I suppose, if you were going to do something like that, it makes sense to stage that ceremony at the heart of the Nevernever. The Stone Table."

"Sound reasoning." It was like getting the approval of a disliked schoolteacher. You felt pride, but hated yourself for feeling it.

"So how do I get there?"

She gave me a predatory look. "Now we come to it. The debt you will owe me."

"What do you mean? You're already getting the knife out of the deal."

"I provided the location and description of the object. I am under no obligation to provide the means or the specific directions to the location."

Hell's bells, I knew I missed something. However, I already had a promise going with this faerie, so I wasn't about to make things worse by incurring a debt. Anyway, with what might just be all the faeries in the Nevernever between me and the Stone Table, I was going to need something more than a wand and a gypsy. I was going to need an armored division, air support, and an act of Congress.

"You're right. I'll find it myself. If we might take our leave?" I held out a hand to Antonio, who rose and took it.

Her lips pursed, Leanansidhe opened a Way back to our world. "When you require my aid, you have only to call my name in this world and I will come."

"Okay, well, until that day, then." I made a slight bow, which Antonio mirrored beside me. The Sidhe nodded, and we left them behind with as much grace as two mostly terrified people could muster.

19

We didn't even bother with the trails – we ran through the forest on a beeline to the parking lot. Neither of us spoke or felt even remotely safe until we were in the car and on the road. I needed a drink. I managed to guide the El Camino through the city traffic without incident all the way to the Ceilidh. To his credit, Antonio didn't say anything or question why we came here. I figured he could use a drink as well.

Kerry started pouring a Guinness as soon as I walked through the door. "Two days in a row, Lily. You must be in real trouble."

I sat down at the bar and chugged that Guinness like it was air and I was drowning. I felt a little dizzy when I put the glass down, but at the moment, dizziness was preferable to clarity of mind and vision.

"And what'll you have, friend?" asked Kerry. Her voice was chipper enough, but I could hear the worry in it.

Antonio sat down beside me. "Whiskey. A double. Neat."

"Kerry, give him the good stuff," I piped up.

The bartender nodded and reached up to the highest shelf behind the bar. She pulled down a dark blue bottle, poured a double shot of liquid gold, and pushed it towards the gypsy.

"I'm going to need one of those too, hon."

Kerry's a good egg. She poured one for me, but I cradled it in my hand. I wasn't ready to drink it just yet. I just needed a few moments for the alcohol to calm me down a little bit. Give my brain space to breathe. Give it time to consider just how monumentally screwed my situation had become. I glanced over at Antonio, who had already knocked his drink back like a pro. He was staring blankly at the shot glass. I got the feeling his life had gotten a little too exciting for his taste. One could sympathize.

"Lily," said Kerry, "Seriously, now, what's going on?"

I looked up at her. "That's the question, isn't it? What is going on? This all started with a missing girl, and since then I've been shot at by hit men, was befuddled by a faerie princess, then saved by a mysterious woman, and finally made a bargain with the Leanansidhe. That's a ton of complications for what should have been a simple case. What ties all of this together? Why am I at the center of it?" I punched Antonio lightly on the shoulder. "And why did your Nana stick me with you?"

He barely reacted. I took a big sip of the whiskey. It left a trail of fire down my throat, but it was a good fire, a cleansing fire. My eyes popped.

"I've got to start over. I've been coming at this all wrong. Ever since you showed up, Antonio, I've been herded or chased in one direction or another, which has taken me farther and farther off-track."

He broke his study of the shot glass to stare at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean – the missing girl. I gave her five minutes of my time and then ran off chasing gypsies and faeries when I should have been asking: Why? Why did the kidnapper choose her? Why would he use such an exotic method to kidnap her? Why didn't he just grab her off the sidewalk or something? What made her special?"

Kerry said, "You think there's a reason she was selected."

"There has to be. This girl is the key to the whole thing. I've got to talk to her parents again."

"What about the Stone Table?" asked Antonio. "How are we going to get there?"

"That's going to have to simmer a while. There's no point even trying to charge into the heart of the Nevernever without knowing more about what we're facing."

"The Nevernever?" asked Kerry. "Is that where the girl is?"

"Probably. Likely. It feels weird to say this, but our best-case scenario is that Kelsey Green is a captive in the Nevernever, at the very center of faerie power, waiting for us to rescue her. Best-case."

We sat on that thought for a few moments to let it sink in. It was tasty. Then Antonio had to pile on a little more.

"I am still curious about this woman you mentioned before, the one who apparently killed those men in the alley behind the library. What is her role in all of this?"

I drained the rest of the whiskey. "I think she's an interested third party. A knife that could create a Way to the Nevernever for anybody would be a valuable prize to a lot of people." Then inspiration hit, and I knew what that mysterious woman was, and what she was up to. She was waiting for me to get the knife, and then she was planning to take it from me. Let's see – bloodless kills, a preference for someone else to do all the work, and beautiful enough to easily fog the minds of men.

White Court vampire.

20

We rolled up to the Green's house to find the driveway empty. Hoping there was still someone home, I knocked on the front door while Antonio tried to act like a bodyguard. Since our visit to the Nevernever, he had been pretty quiet, and it occurred to me that his ego had probably taken quite a blow. He was supposed to be protecting me but I was the one who prevented a blade from slicing his throat. That made me wonder what gypsies had done to get banished from the lands of Winter. I made a mental note to ask him after we were finished with the Greens.

Joan Green opened the door with a wary eye. "Miss Gardener? Have you…?"

"Not yet, Mrs. Green. I have an idea where she might be, but I wanted to ask you a few questions first. May we come in?"

"Oh, of course, please." She ushered us inside and a moment later we were seated in the living room. I nodded at the gypsy.

"This is my associate, Antonio. He's helping me with the case. Is Mr. Green around, or are you here alone?"

"He's at work. What did you need?"

I hesitated. I would have to follow my instincts here because I wasn't sure what I was looking for. "I need more information about Kelsey. Was she hanging out recently with anyone new or strange?"

She shook her head. "Not that I can remember."

"Have you seen anyone in the neighborhood that you don't know?"

"Not really – well, there was a young man that came around a week or so ago. He was trying to get people to sign a petition about a proposed oil pipeline. I wasn't interested."

I leaned forward. "What do you remember about him?"

"Uh, as I said, he was young, a bit of a sloucher, which was strange because he seemed pretty athletic. I just assumed he was one of those college students that like to have protests and sit-ins. It's hard to say, it was later in the evening and I was pretty tired. Do you think…?"

"We'll look into it. Anyone else?"

She thought for a moment, then replied, "No, I'm sorry. It's a quiet area, not much happens around here."

"If I may ask," began Antonio, "How did you know that Lily here is a witch?"

"Oh," she said, startled. "I had heard from… that is to say, I know a couple of people who have some experience with this sort of thing." She appeared decidedly nervous now. Wonder of wonders, somehow Antonio caught the tail of something interesting here.

"What aren't you telling us, Mrs. Green? It makes my job a lot easier if I know as much as I can."

"I don't – is this really necessary? You said you knew where Kelsey is already."

I stood up. "I'm not going to play games, Mrs. Green. I think you have had previous experience with my world of magic and…"

And that's when I got it. I knew what made Kelsey special. Mrs. Green saw my face change and stood up to face me.

"Please, Miss Gardener. My husband doesn't know. He can't know, do you understand?"

"How?" I asked faintly.

"My girlfriend from college, she was always the wild one, she took me to this private party up on the hill, and that's where I met him."

I was gaining more and more respect towards Antonio, because even though it was clear that he had no idea what we were talking about, he kept his mouth shut and his ears open. So I helped him out.

"The faerie."

Mrs. Green nodded. "James and I had been married two years, and we had been trying, you know, but it just wasn't happening. Then I go to this party, and… Honestly I don't remember much. Just that he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Nine months later, I had Kelsey."

I started pacing, trying to make pieces fit. Was this whole thing a case of a faerie baby daddy taking his offspring back home? If so, why the knife? Why the Stone Table? Why would the faerie even care? I had heard about faerie-human children, generally called changelings. They grow up as normal kids, but at some point in their early twenties, they feel the call from the Nevernever. Depending on whether the faerie was Winter or Summer, they would be drawn to that realm, and they would have a choice to become faerie or remain human. If they became faerie, then they stayed in the Nevernever. Otherwise, they stuck it out in the real world with the rest of us schmucks. Sometimes the changelings had magical abilities which manifested once they made their choice, but not often. I had never heard of faeries being interested in their offspring.

I did think Mrs. Green was fooling herself if she thought her husband didn't at least suspect some shenanigans, though. What mattered now was that I had a reason why someone would be interested in Kelsey. I'd bet my house that the other missing girls were also changelings.

"Okay. I'm sorry to pull that out of you, Mrs. Green, but this explains a fair bit. At least now I have some idea of motive."

"Do you still think you can find her?" She was on the verge of tears.

"I don't want to give you false hope. Your daughter is very likely in the Nevernever. I don't know if she's being held captive, or if she has been given a choice to become a faerie. But I will do my best to find her."

Antonio put a hand on her shoulder. "You should tell your husband. He deserves to know."

I caught enough of the look in her eyes to see that she did feel a tremendous amount of guilt. She glanced at the gypsy and nodded.

"Come on, Antonio, we need to go."

We left a mother behind, slowly sinking into an easy chair, lost and afraid.

21

"So, what's the plan, then?"

I hadn't started the car yet. My keys were still in my hand. I put them into my pocket.

"The plan is, you tell me some stuff I don't already know."

He tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Before we begin, let's agree that I saved your life earlier today. I could have left you there in the Nevernever but I didn't."

"Agreed," he said cautiously.

"Okay, so now due to the obligation you now have to me, this debt that you incurred, you will tell me the truth without dicking around. Agreed?"

He studied me for a minute, like I was a puzzle that needed solving. Finally, he said, "Agreed."

"Good, because otherwise I would have blasted you across this subdivision. Let's start with: what's the deal with gypsies and Winter?"

"How is this relevant?"

"Hey! No dicking around! Remember?"

He sighed. "Nana will tear me limb from limb."

"You can tell your Nana I forced it out of you."

"You are forcing it out of me."

"See, moral problem solved. Now get with the talking."

"Fine. But to answer your question, I will need to tell you a secret that only a few outsiders know."

I settled back in my car seat. "This should be good. Let 'er rip."

"Gypsies were the first changelings. For a long time, we spent our lives balancing the choice between human and faerie, never committing to one or the other. We enjoyed unnaturally long lives, and we were allowed to travel through the Nevernever, with safe passage granted by both Summer and Winter. But because of these gifts, we had to remain outside mainstream society, keep moving from place to place. Otherwise humans would notice our slow aging, our occasional disappearances. Many of us had magical abilities as well, but because of what we were, the White Council in its early days did not trust us, fearing that we would side with the faeries in any conflict. So they hunted us for decades, another reason to stay hidden and keep moving. Eventually, though, the call of the Nevernever became too strong to resist. Most of my ancestors travelled together and arrived in the lands of Summer."

He stopped, pensive. I felt that I could guess what was coming.

"When a changeling makes the choice to become a faerie, if their sire was of Winter, then they are supposed to become a faerie of Winter as well. It is a promise, began at the moment of conception, and fulfilled at the moment the changeling makes their choice. However, when my ancestors crossed over, Summer was planning a sneak attack on Winter, so an offer was made: those changelings promised to Winter would gain great rewards if they broke their promise and joined Summer instead."

"Oh, no."

"The promise-breakers were used to fool Winter into opening a strategically important gate, and then Summer rushed in. The battle raged on for days, but eventually Winter rallied and pushed back. Summer retreated back to their lands, but the promise-breakers were caught, tortured and killed. The Winter Queen decreed that gypsies were banished from her lands, and struck an unprecedented deal with Summer guaranteeing that no faerie would ever sire a gypsy again."

"What? Summer sold you out? Why would they make that deal?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. There are only a few changeling gypsies left now. In my clan, only Nana and Marko. The rest of us are still gypsies in spirit, but physically we're human."

I put a hand on his arm. "There are worse fates than being human."

He jerked away. "Really? Our fate as gypsies is to be mistrusted by all, our word always in question. We've been accused of robbing families of their children, of taking without giving, of cheating on bargains and disappearing before we could be caught. You haven't trusted me from the start and you probably never will. And why? Because some fools many years ago thought they could break a promise to a faerie."

"To be fair, there are only a few people I do trust, and I've known them all longer than a couple of days. I'm sorry that your people got screwed over, but you're in a lineup with a ton of other folks on that score, so there's no point getting bitter about it. Hell's bells, I'm a witch. Where's my broomstick? My bubbling cauldron? My wand?"

"That is a wand you have there."

"It's a branch, and shut up."

We sat in silence for a minute, both lost in our thoughts. Finally, he said, "So, what next?"

"I think we need to talk to your Nana again, but before that, I want some more dirt on this Stone Table and why it's such a huge deal."

"You want to know why the knife is there."

"It seems like such an important place, maybe the most important place in the Nevernever. Why would the kidnapper be there? You'd think he'd be hiding somewhere."

"Hiding in plain sight, perhaps?"

I started the car and pulled out of the driveway. "You hear that a lot, but in practice, it rarely works."

Behind us I spotted a convertible trying hard to tail us without being obvious about it. I had been wondering when she would show up again.

22

I was about to knock on my brother's door when I realized it was already slightly ajar. I made a shushing gesture at Antonio and pointed at the finger-width space between the door and the frame. He got it immediately, pulled out a gun from who knows where, and stood ready on the other side of the jamb. I readied my branch (okay, okay, WAND, jeez) and did a silent three count with my other hand. On three we burst into Gabriel's apartment.

Standing there waiting for us was the White Court vampire. She had my brother in an intimate embrace. He was practically drooling on her while also being barely conscious. This was hardly surprising, as she was that kind of slutty beautiful that guys can't resist. Tall, shapely, with long dark hair and shiny green eyes. As I've already said, I don't swing that way, but – wow. She could make anyone seriously reconsider their sexual preferences. She aimed a languorous smile in my direction.

"Do you know he is so delicious?"

Antonio had his gun aimed at her head. "Let him go. Now."

"Oh, I don't think so, not until we've come to an understanding."

I pointed my wand at her and said, "You're a grease spot in three seconds if you don't let him go."

She sighed. "Have you already forgotten those men in the alley? How long do you think it took me to drain the lives from their bodies? Your brother would be dead before you could even think of a spell."

"Even so, you will not leave this room alive."

"Such manners," she said, laughing. "I have already saved your life once. Where is the gratitude?"

"How did you get in here?" I asked, trying to buy some time to think.

"Your dear brother invited me, of course. I hardly even had to speak and he was dragging me inside."

"So," I said, "you want something. How about a name at least?"

"You may call me Carmen, and you already know what I want." She stroked the pulse in my brother's neck. His whole body twitched. Somehow I kept myself under control.

"I don't have it."

Carmen playfully bit Gabe's right earlobe, causing him to moan. A sister should never ever hear her brother moan like that. The awkward was piling up fast. "I know, dear. But when you do, you will give it to me. Because as you can see, I know where your brother lives. And now that he's felt my touch, he will ache for it."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Now let him go."

She walked backwards towards the balcony, pulling my brother along with her like he weighed nothing at all. We advanced slowly.

"I will be watching, witch. Play fair with me or your brother will die screaming." They passed by my brother's computer setup and I had to stop before I fried his equipment. Carmen reached the balcony and suddenly threw my brother at us, knocking us down like bowling pins. I recovered enough to see Carmen waving at me before jumping over the railing. Cursing, I pulled Gabriel towards me and slapped him lightly on the face.

"Gabe! Wake up!"

His eyes were still closed, and I was more than aware that he was still feeling the effects of the vampire's kiss. I was absurdly glad he was wearing jeans and not something looser.

"Come on, little brother, snap out of it!"

"Move back," said Antonio. I looked up to see the gypsy with a bucket of water. I scooched backwards and he dumped the cold water on Gabe's face. I thought maybe he should have saved a little bit of that water for another spot on Gabe's body, but I guess we were all in denial about that situation.

My brother sputtered, and I sprang back to his side.

"Gabe? Are you all right?"

His eyes opened and locked on my face.

"Is it too late to disown you as a sister?"

This was exactly what I was worried about. It was one thing for my life to be in danger – that was on me to deal with. But for those that I care about to be in harm's way as well – that wasn't going to stand.

I felt my eyes tearing up. "I'm so sorry, Gabe. I never meant for this to happen."

He grinned. "You are so screwed. The karmic debt you owe me now? Massive."

I punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up."

23

Back in the copper circle again, but this time I had brought an air freshener. It helped. Antonio hovered behind my brother as he hacked into the White Council's archives again.

"Yeah, sis, there's a big chunk of stuff about the Stone Table. Hold on…"

"What?"

"Have you heard of a wizard named Harry Dresden?"

I snickered. "The most notorious wizard of the last decade? Yeah, the name rings a bell."

"Don't be a smart-ass, I'm helping you out here. Remember – massive karmic debt."

"Yeah," I said. "Like you're going to let me forget that anytime soon."

"Okay… So, apparently a couple of years ago there was a really big deal that happened at this Stone Table."

"How big?"

"This Dresden guy basically saved the world, although whoever wrote this summary is pretty reluctant to admit that. It seems that at some point the Summer Knight was killed and his power was transferred to a changeling, who was then kept captive by the Summer Lady, Aurora. At Midsummer, she was going to sacrifice this changeling on the Stone Table, which would have transferred the Summer Knight's power to Winter."

Shocked, I said, "That's crazy. Why would the Summer Lady do that?"

"I think you hit on it – she was crazy. Anyway, Dresden showed up in time to stop her, and Aurora died right next to the Table. It appears a small army of little faeries… Really? Box-cutters? Lily, I have to print this out for you, it's so weird. Anyway, Summer Lady dies, world is saved."

"So that's what happened. I remember getting a note from the Council that the Summer Lady had changed, but not how or why. The new Summer Lady must have been the captive changeling. When Aurora died, I guess her power would have transferred to the nearest vessel of Summer." Things were becoming clearer now. The significance of the Stone Table was that it could transfer faerie power from one side to another.

"The knife," said Antonio.

"Yeah." I added, "Obviously this knife that everybody's after was what Aurora was going to use to sacrifice the changeling."

That was what I needed to put it all together. Moreover, I was now convinced that Kelsey and the other kidnapped girls were still alive. But I had to deal with the central problem: how do I get to the Stone Table before Midsummer?

"Antonio, I need you to do something for me." I broke the circle and came out into the living room.

He folded his arms in front of his chest. "What is it?"

"First of all, I appreciate the trust you showed me by telling me secrets of your people. I may have pushed you into doing so, but you could have shaken me off. You didn't. I have to admit, you've surprised me a few times in the last couple of days."

"Thanks – I guess?" He looked at my brother like he wanted confirmation that I might be a little touched in the head.

Gabe shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me. She's obviously up to something."

I cleared my throat. "Let's not make me take back what I just said."

My brother stuck his tongue out at me. "Karmic debt."

"Anyway," I drawled, "I'm sorry, Antonio, but I'm going to need you to trust me." I took a pen and paper from a side table and started writing. It was a short note, which I folded in half. "Please give this note to your Nana."

Taking it from me, the gypsy pondered it for a moment. "Am I allowed to read it?"

I smiled at him.

24

I stretched out in my bed and waited. I was dressed in what I liked to call my ninja outfit. A tight-fitting black top with dark sweat pants and black sneakers. Dressed for action, and to most eyes, my outfit appears to leave little to the imagination. Not that I have much to spark that imagination, but still. There was a plan behind the choice of outfit, and I hoped that it would work on this night.

I stared up at the ceiling. It turns out that when you have time to think, then that's what you end up doing. At least for me, anyway. So I pondered the last few days, marveling at how quickly my life was brought to the knife's edge. Back when I participated in the raid on those Red Court vampires, at least there was a plan with dates and times and other wizards at your side. All those details were comforting and helped to distract you from the danger that you faced. Now, I did have a plan – of sorts – but the timing was a bit of a mystery and there were no other wizards to assist me. Without comforting details, random thoughts kept inserting themselves into my brain.

I wasn't going to keep calling it a wand, was I? What about… a rod? No, that was too masculine. I needed a thesaurus.

I should get a cat. The house is too quiet these days. Not that a cat is loud. But wouldn't a cat fit the witch stereotype a little too closely? Maybe a dog, then. I like dogs. Small dogs.

Gabe said he was okay, but did I believe him? Whether he remembered any of it or not, there's no way he didn't come out of it with some kind of mental scarring. He was right. Karmic debt.

How much could I trust Antonio? My whole plan essentially relied on him being one of the good guys. If I was wrong, then not only would those kidnapped girls die soon, I might not last the night myself.

To try and rid myself of these random thoughts, I focused on reciting several charms and spells I might need. I had been working on subvocalizing my spells just like in the Harry Potter books. It sounds great to yell out your incantation, especially if it's just one or two words, but these words are just methods of focus. It seemed to me that it wasted precious seconds speaking the words as well as tipping your hand to your opponent. Better to keep your mouth shut and speak the words in your head. Sounds logical – and simple – but in practice, holy night is it ever not. Especially if that's not how you learned to use magic in the first place. We all know habits are hard to break.

I looked at the clock. A couple of minutes before midnight. The witching hour. I sure hoped so. Just then I felt a building nausea. Sweat beaded on my forehead. He was coming. I quickly checked myself before feigning sleep.

With one half-opened eye, I watched as a knife blade appeared in mid-air beside my bed and sliced diagonally downwards to the floor. I wanted to throw up. This felt so wrong. In the darkness a man emerged from this jagged tear in the universe, a man whose face I could not see. A hand reached out, a hand holding a wet cloth, and it pressed the cloth against my nose and mouth. Chloroform. My last thought before I went under:

Not taking any chances, I see.

25

One of the things I was taught as a witch was to control my sleep so that I would fall asleep and wake when I desired, and also to be aware of my surroundings before fully awakening. And so it was that when I dragged myself out of the swampy pull of drug-induced sleep, I sensed that I was not alone. Keeping my eyes shut, I focused my will on a spell that I had created myself a few years back. It sent out a pulse of magical energy, and I felt anything the energy bounced off. Magical radar. With this spell I was able to determine that I was in some sort of room with three other women. The room was about twenty feet square with hard walls, maybe stone or rock. There didn't seem to be anyone else, so I opened my eyes.

"Oh my God, you're awake." There was just enough light in the room for me to make out a face. Kelsey Green.

"Hi," I said, completely failing to come up with anything wittier.

"Do you feel like you're going to throw up?" I could see the other girls shuffling backwards in case I did.

I sat up and waved at them. "No, I'm fine. I've had worse." I looked around. The other two girls were pretty too, even though they were filthy with tear-stained cheeks. I told the jealous part of my brain to shut the hell up. My guess that they were all changelings was looking fairly good. I saw that my shield rings were gone. I checked the small pockets of my sweat pants and found they were empty as well. You leave things in plain sight so the things that are hidden might be missed. I did wish I could have snuck in that spray can, though. I looked around the room. There was a bucket in the opposite corner; I could guess its purpose. The ambient light appeared to be coming through the space outlining the door.

"Ladies," I began, "Are you all right?"

They all glanced away like they didn't want to be caught in a lie.

"Okay, let's leave that one for later. My name is Lily."

"Kelsey," said the girl I had been searching for.

The girl with short dark hair and a pixie-like face said, "Alyssa."

"Ashley," said the third girl. She had long dark hair tied up in a ponytail. Of the three of them, Ashley looked the most miserable.

"I'm glad to find you all. Kelsey, your parents hired me to find you."

Her eyes widened. "Thank God. Are the police on their way?"

Oh boy, this was going to be tough. "I'm afraid that where we are, the police are not an option. We're going to have to get out of here ourselves."

"So," said Alyssa, "you were hired to find Kelsey, and they captured you anyway? Good job."

"Hold on – they?"

Kelsey nodded. "There are two of them, an older guy, he seems to be in charge, and younger guy, real tall."

"Did either of them tell you why you're here?"

"Why?" said Kelsey. She laughed bitterly. "The old guy, he said we were 'changelings', and we could choose to become faeries instead of humans. Can you believe that shit?"

I looked at her closely. She was putting on a brave face, but she could feel the pull. Of course, she didn't know what it was – none of them probably did – so she was deep into denial. I could hardly blame her. It took months of strange occurrences and coincidences before I finally believed I was a witch.

"Did he say you 'could' choose or that you 'would' choose?"

Ashley spoke up, sniffling. "He… He said that we would choose, or he would kill us."

"Okay, well, I'm not going to let that happen."

Kelsey touched my arm. "Look, you're trapped in here with the rest of us. Act brave if you want, but it won't do you much good when they come for you."

"What do you mean?"

Once again, none of them would look me in the eyes. I lifted Kelsey's chin so I could see her face. "Kelsey, did they…?"

She shook her head. "No, no." Her chest hitched, and she choked back a sob. "Everything but." She started crying and leaned into my arms. Now that she was closer, I could see a bruise on her cheek, and bruises on her arms. I was sure if I had a better look at the other two, I would see similar evidence of abuse. Anger built up inside me, and for a moment I shook with rage. A small voice inside me spoke up and reminded me that anger wasn't going to help right then. I focused on calming down and embracing sympathy instead.

"It's okay," I said soothingly. "I'm so sorry they did this. I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner."

She looked up at me, wiping tears from her face. "I just want to know why, Lily. Why me? Why us?"

"Why couldn't it have been someone else?" added Ashley.

I hesitated. These girls had already gone through some serious mental trauma, and now I was going to push the boundaries of their belief system. I cursed their abductors for what they had done, and felt anger build up inside me.

"Because what they said was true. You are changelings, half-faerie and half-human, and you're at the age when you can choose to be one or the other."

Kelsey pushed away from me. "You're as crazy as they are."

"Yeah," said Alyssa. "Did they send you in here to try and soften us up?"

"I know, it's hard to believe, but I also know that you feel something inside you, something none of you can explain. A pull, like hunger or thirst."

They glanced at each other. "It's a lie," said Alyssa.

"I'm sorry that you were forced into this choice. But it's not a lie."

Ashley moved closer to me. "Are… are you one too? Is that how you know?"

"God, Ashley," said Kelsey, frustrated. "It's all bullshit. It's a game they're playing."

I shook my head. "I'm not like you. I've got my own thing. Look, we're wasting time. First thing we have to do is get out of here." I got up and walked over to the door. Solid stone like the walls. I pushed on it. Wouldn't budge an inch. No handle or knob to pull on.

"Don't bother," said Kelsey. "It takes the two of them just to open the door, and it opens inwards."

"Well, I hope what I'm about to do doesn't insult or offend anybody." I turned to face the girls. "Everybody get back into that far corner. Debris is going to fly."

Nobody moved. Kelsey put her hands on her hips. "Are you serious? You really are crazy."

"Can't I be both? Tick-tock, ladies." I put on my stern face. "Just do what I ask. If I'm crazy, then you moved ten feet for nothing. Is that such a big deal?"

"Fine." Kelsey herded the others into the corner.

I realized that the next part was a little embarrassing because of how it would look. I faced away from the girls and reached into the front of my sweat pants. I wormed my hand down past my crotch to my left inner thigh, where I had taped my trusty balls and chain. I winced as I yanked the tape off and pulled my hidden treasure out. I had counted on the kidnapper's sexual inhibitions preventing him from feeling up my thighs, and it had worked. I had another hidden treasure down there – ha, ha, not that, get your mind out of the gutter – but the time wasn't right for that one yet. I moved back towards the corner where the girls were waiting.

"Shield your eyes, kids." I threw the balls and chain up in the air and focused my will. They began spinning in mid-air, faster and faster, like a miniature helicopter. I heard a few shocked gasps behind me. If they thought that was cool… I made a dramatic pointing gesture at the spot on the door where a handle should be, and the whirling dervish dove down and drilled into the door. The sound was similar to a chainsaw biting into a tree, and my device kicked up a serious amount of dust and stone chunks. I heard a few screams of surprise but I was too busy watching the progress to look behind me. Pretty soon the cloud of dust reached us and we were all coughing. How thick was this stupid door, anyway? My eyes were watering, my head was dizzy, and I didn't think I could stay focused long enough to get the job done. Finally the balls and chain broke through to the other side and I made a 'come here' gesture to bring them back to me.

I waved my hands at the cloud of dust to try and see through it. I staggered over to the door and brushed at the brand new hole. It was big enough to stick my arm through. Perfect.

"A little help," I called out. Amidst the coughing and hacking, the girls emerged from the cloud. They were all staring at me in a way that I'd become accustomed to long ago. If you can't believe your eyes, what can you believe? And if you make that choice to believe, what else does that mean? If magic was real, were faeries real?

"What…" Kelsey began, before hacking up a lung. "What the f…"

"I know, right?" I interrupted brightly. "Crazy stuff. So what we're going to do now is, I'm going to stick my arm through this hole, grab on to the other side, you guys are going to pull on me, and we'll get this cursed door open. Okay?"

I reached through the hole and to my surprise found the handle on the other side. Even better! I stuck out my other arm and felt several hands grip it.

"All right, girls." I braced myself. "Heave!"

They pulled on me, I pulled on the handle through the hole, and inch by inch, the door swung open. It must have weighed five hundred pounds. Sure, my arm felt like it was coming out of its socket, but that door was moving, and that's all that mattered. Inch. By. Inch. By. Inch. A sliver of daylight shone through, and gradually that sliver got bigger and bigger until the gap was finally large enough for somebody to get through and push.

"Okay!" I yelled. I fell backwards, exhausted. The drilling spell and the door were enough to wipe me out. The girls pushed open the door the rest of the way.

Kelsey squatted down in front of me. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. She pulled me back up to my feet.

"How – how did you do that?" asked Alyssa.

"Yeah. What are you?" added Ashley.

"As I said, I've got my own thing. So, let's find out what's outside that door." It turned out to be a narrow passageway, and my heart sank, because filling it were two gypsies named Marko and Ricky.

26

"I told you we should have taped her mouth shut," said Ricky. He had a gun. I had a bruise on my cheek from where he had hit me. The other girls were huddled in the corner, no doubt hoping to avoid the greeting I received.

"Shut up, boy." Marko had a blood-stained stone knife. The knife, unless I missed my guess. He tucked it into his belt. "Watch the others while I bind her." He caught my attention with the knife, which he pointed at my eyes. "Do not try anything or Ricky will use his gun."

He pulled out a length of rope. I expected that I wouldn't have much time to talk, so I had to make my move now.

"We don't have much time, Marko, but if we act now, we can all get out of here alive."

He wrenched my arms behind my back and started wrapping my wrists up. Ignoring me, well, that was one way to go.

"Listen, Marko, whatever you were promised, whatever you were told, believe me when I say, if we don't leave right this minute, we're all dead."

He pulled my hair back and whispered in my ear. "You, maybe. Not I."

I whispered back. "They want the knife, don't you see? They'll never let you leave the Stone Table alive. Open your eyes!"

He released my hair and slapped at my head, coming around so he could tie my legs up. "If they wanted the knife, they would have taken it from me. No, they have promised, and they will keep their promise."

"Who promised you, Marko? What were the exact words?"

He waved the knife in front of my face. "Shut your mouth, how about those words."

"Look, sacrificing those girls once they've chosen to be faeries would be a huge insult to Summer. Do you think they will let that go?"

He grunted. "Once the power from those girls has been transferred to Winter, Summer will be too busy defending themselves to worry about us."

"And what do you get? Why are you doing this?"

He finished tying me up and stood. "To save my people." He pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around my mouth, stuffing it between my jaws so I couldn't speak. As he did this, I got a good look at his eyes. Something was very wrong. His eyes were glassy and unfocused. He looked more like a zombie than a human. He checked his watch and went across the room to confront the changelings.

"Is it time?" Ricky asked.

Marko nodded. "Listen well, young ladies. I know you feel the pull of the Nevernever inside you, especially in this place. I know it because I feel it myself. All you must do is choose to be faerie, to release that pressure inside you and let it fill you."

Kelsey stood, tears in her eyes. "And what if we don't?"

I'd seen lots of movies. I knew how this was going to play out. I really wished I had my shield rings, because without them this was going to be a lot harder. At least I had an advantage. They didn't know that I didn't need to speak to cast a spell.

Marko nodded at Ricky. The younger gypsy took two steps towards me, aimed the gun at my head and pulled the trigger. No warning, no hesitation, just point and shoot. I jerked to the side and fell over. The girls screamed and Ricky stepped back over to them to enhance the threat, turning his back to me.

There was one thing that saved my life in that room. Even with the open door, the room was still very dimly lit. That meant that neither Ricky nor Marco saw the amorphous blob of a shield that I had cast around my body when the gun fired. My subvocalized spell had worked, although instead of dissolving the bullet to dust, the shield only slowed the bullet down. It still hit the side of my head, but the force was like getting smacked with a ruler. It was enough to break the skin, but that was it.

I laid there on my side, astonished. I could not believe that either man was so used to death that they could kill a defenseless human being without flinching. If I had not been prepared for it, my brains would have painted the wall behind me.

Then I was fortunate enough to experience something few have ever witnessed: the transformation of a changeling to a faerie. It was fast. Ashley seemed to glow from the inside, a yellow-gold hue that burst from her skin. The glow became ever brighter until it was blinding, and she cried out, not sure if it was from pain or ecstasy, but when her voice died out, so did the glow. She was… different. She was recognizably Ashley, but it was like any imperfection had been removed, like she was airbrushed into an impossible beauty that was captivating. She struggled to catch her breath, then looked at the other girls.

"It's okay. It's… good." She sank down to the floor and closed her eyes, exhausted. A moment later, Alyssa began the transformation. I realized that I should be using this distraction for my own important business. I shifted around quietly to hide my back from the others, opened a closed fist, and the balls and chain fell out. Before they could hit the floor, I subvocalized the spell that levitates them and they began spinning. Or, at least, I hoped so, because I couldn't see them, since they were behind my back. I was going to use them to cut the rope, but the tricky part was to do so without ripping my hands to shreds.

Magical radar.

Trying to perform two spells at once is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach in a circle at the same time. Except imagine there's an egg on your head that you can't crack and a scorpion on your stomach that you can't disturb. Oh, and because I was still gagged, I had to subvocalize my spells. Alyssa's transformation was nearly finished, so I had little time. I closed my eyes and split my focus, channeling energy into spinning the balls while also sending out pulses of magical energy . I stretched my hands as far back from behind my body as I could and pulled. The magical radar showed a gap between my wrists of about an inch, so I guided the spinning balls towards that gap. As soon as they hit the rope my wrists jerked and I nearly lost a hand. Kelsey began her transformation. Tick-tock. I steadied myself and tried again, bracing for the impact. This time I couldn't hold my focus on the magical radar and I had to back away. Come on, Lily, third time's the charm.

Kelsey finished her transformation and the men recovered quickly.

"All right," said Marko. "This is what's going to happen. We're going up the stairs and then you're going to wait in a group until we say different. Understand?"

The girls nodded in response.

"Good. Remember, Ricky will be behind you with a gun if you try anything foolish. Let's go." He led the way out the door and the girls followed, Kelsey bringing up the rear. She gave me an anguished look before disappearing through the doorway.

Ricky stopped beside me and pointed the gun at my head. I held my breath, hoping he couldn't see me well enough to realize I was still alive. "I wish I could have played with you first before killing you, witch. It would have been fun." He smiled, but it didn't seem real, none of it seemed real, not the hard-boiled dialogue, not the dead-eyed stare, not the vicious words coming from his mouth. "The next life, perhaps."

He left the room, and I brought my freed hands around to untie my legs. Luckily, Marko was not so good with knots as he thought, and I was free in moments. I stood up shakily and braced myself against the wall. The word fatigue didn't even begin to cover how I felt. The dual-spell trick had taken just about everything out of me, and there was a good chance that the bullet had given me a concussion, but I knew I couldn't waste any time. I reached down into my sweat pants and pulled out the second hidden treasure: a tiny plastic vial filled with a purple liquid.

One of the biggest stereotypes people have about witches was the image of a cackling old hag stirring something horrible in a black cauldron. Eye of newt, leg of toad, drop of virgin's blood, that sort of nonsense.

I didn't have a cauldron. I had a wok. I didn't cackle either, although I imagined that before my life ended, I would probably be referred to as an old hag more than once. Potions were distilled, physical magic. They were agreeably hard to make, and satisfying when made well. I'm not going to betray any trade secrets here, but this particular potion was one of the most difficult to brew, and not just because the recipe was known only to a few. This recipe for an invisibility potion was a closely guarded family secret. My grandmother taught it to me, her aunt had taught it to her, and so on. Never written down, with many complicated steps, and deadly if brewed incorrectly. A true invisibility potion renders you as transparent as glass, but there's a catch.

There's always a catch.

When you're invisible, light shines through you. Your eyes, your retinas are transparent. You can't see. My energy reserves were already tapped out, so there was no point in trying the magical radar spell again. That meant I had only one choice.

I crept silently into the narrow passageway. At the other end was starlight. I moved quickly to the cave's entrance, which opened onto a sharply angled slope. We were in a river valley, and at the bottom of the slope was a small hill. Surrounding this hill were two large groups of faeries, Summer on one side, Winter on the other. On top of the hill was the Stone Table, which at the moment had a golden glow. I checked the sky, which was full of unfamiliar stars. I had no idea if Midsummer was at hand, but it seemed like there was a ceremony of sorts going on at the Stone Table, so the change must be close. I scanned the slope below me and spotted the girls and the two gypsies hiding in a copse of trees.

A bright golden light shone from the Stone Table, and it blinded me for a moment. When I regained my senses, the light had turned blue, and the two groups of faeries were leaving the hill. Midsummer had passed, and now Winter had control of the Stone Table. I began making my way down the slope, sticking to shadows and taking cover behind trees. At one point I realized that the two groups of faeries had disappeared, and Marko and Ricky were guiding the girls down to the Table. I fought a wave of dizziness and picked up the pace as much as I dared.

A few hundred yards later, I had reached the base of the hill. The others were already almost at the top. There was nothing for it but to try the potion. There was enough for about 90 seconds of invisibility, so I had to be quick. I popped open the rubber plug of the vial and downed the purple liquid. Immediately I felt light-headed, and the world faded away to black. This was the part I dreaded. After all, a place like the Stone Table was bound to be suffused with magical energies and psychic traumas.

I opened my Sight and choked down a scream.

27

The Stone Table was a psychedelic riot of colors and sounds and images. I could See a mighty warrior being crushed by a troll. I could See a rush of goblins tearing apart a battle steed. I could See a great duel of giant swordsmen, blood flying everywhere. I could See a beautiful young woman being sliced open by little pixies with box-cutters. Hundreds, thousands of images overlapping, all of them terrible, all of them burned into my memory. I staggered backwards, fighting the urge to empty my stomach. My head felt like it wanted to explode.

Tick-tock.

The sensory input from my Sight was grinding my brain into dust. Internally, I screamed at my mind to focus. Through the images I could see Marko was wrestling Kelsey onto the Table. Keep fighting, girl, I'm coming. But the pain in my head was making it nearly impossible to maintain my Sight, and I felt like just lying down and giving up. Anything to stop the pain. Anything to let me rest. Could I just rest for a moment? Catch my breath? I fell to my knees. My Sight flickered in and out. I appeared to be kneeling in a pool of blood. No, it was a pile of bodies. Where was my home? Where was my mind? Someone was screaming, who was screaming? Was it me? Was it…?

Kelsey. Kelsey was screaming. Get up, soldier. Start with one foot forward. Like moving in quickly drying cement. Other foot forward. Keep going. She needs help. You need help. Forward, always forward, through the horrible and the terrible, through the pain and despair.

I was running.

I flew past Ricky and the other girls. Marko had gotten Kelsey up on the table and was reaching for the knife on his belt. I beat him to it, lifting it from his belt. I scurried around to the other side of the table, hiding down below the top edge. I closed my Sight and waited. I heard Marko make a frustrated noise.

"The knife – where is the knife?"

"I don't know, did it slip out of your belt?" asked Ricky.

"Damn it, help me look."

Kelsey rolled off the table and landed next to me right at the moment the potion wore off. She stared at me in shock as I held up my finger to my mouth in a shushing motion.

"It's real," she whispered. "All of it. Faeries. Magic."

I nodded.

"I feel… something more. Inside me."

She held out her right hand, palm up to the sky, and a ball of golden light appeared. Her face was filled with wonder, then her eyes changed. She clenched her hand into a fist and the ball disappeared.

"No more." She stood, pulling me up beside her. The two gypsies stopped their search when they saw us.

"You little thief," said Marko to me. "Ricky, put another bullet in that witch."

The young man aimed his gun and Kelsey held up both hands. "NO MORE!" she yelled. That golden light sprung from her hands and slammed into Ricky, who screamed as the light filled him, suffused his body. His veins glowed, and he shook uncontrollably, the glow becoming brighter and brighter until the light tore him apart. An eyeblink later and there was no more Ricky. The gun fell to the ground. There was a moment of complete stillness as we all absorbed what just happened. Marko recovered first and started to flee. He got about three steps before Ashley and Alyssa caught up to him. I couldn't see what they did, but there were flashes of golden light, screams of pain, and yells of triumph. When they were finished, Marko was also little more than a bad memory.

Kelsey turned to me, her eyes shimmering. "No more," she whispered, and began crying. I held her for a little while. I might have cried some myself. I don't remember.

28

It took me a few minutes to work out how to use the knife. I certainly didn't want to try opening a Way back home from the Stone Table, and my guess was that the knife had a unique property: you could open a Way from the Nevernever to anywhere in our world. I just had to picture the place in my mind and make a diagonal slash.

"Ladies, let's get out of here."

We went through the Way, which took us to the country lane that led to my house. I led them across the bridge and inside, where with Kelsey's help I made some coffee and breakfast. We ate and drank in silence. I guess we were all still in shock. Of course, I expected it wouldn't be long before I had more visitors, and wonder of wonders, I was right.

A knock on the door, and I opened it to find the Summer Lady standing alone on my stoop. I surprised myself by curtsying.

"My Lady."

She smiled. That was like saying, 'the Sun is warm'. "Miss Gardener. May I enter?"

"Of course," I replied, and ushered her inside. When the girls saw her, an awed hush fell over them. I could hardly blame them. I was having trouble keeping my own composure.

The Summer Lady turned to me and said, "Thank you for saving my people."

"You're welcome, but to be fair, they pretty much saved themselves."

She nodded. "Even so, without your help, none would have escaped alive, and there would be an imbalance between Summer and Winter."

"Do you know what this knife is?" I held it up for her to look at, but not to take.

She shuddered. "I'm afraid I do."

"Can you tell me whose blood is on the blade?"

She closed her eyes. "Please, put it away. I owe you a debt, so I will tell you what you want to know. That is Aurora's blood. During the fight with the Wizard Dresden, she fell on the knife. Her blood is what allows the knife to create Ways, as I also have the ability to create a Way to wherever I need to go."

I put the knife away. "I am still curious as to why you needed me in the first place. After all, the cave where the girls were being held was on your side of the border."

"For anyone of either Court to approach the Stone Table would be regarded as an act of War, especially so close to Midsummer."

"Huh. Okay, then. I guess I have one more question. Why would Leanansidhe want this knife?"

She frowned. "I am not sure. It would be best if it was destroyed."

"When I figure out how to do that, I will."

"Thank you." She gazed at the newly-minted faerie girls. "You know why I am here."

Was it my place? Should I get involved? Why would I stop now?

"My Lady, you should be aware that they were forced to choose. It was not voluntary."

She sighed. "I know. But the choice has been made." She raised her arms and faced the girls. "My children, you are now my responsibility. You will come back with me to the lands of Summer."

Kelsey glanced at me, then spoke up. "I'd like to see my folks before we go. Would that be all right?" The other girls made noises of assent.

The Summer Lady hesitated. I guessed that this wasn't exactly protocol. But, given the circumstances… "Of course."

Before they left, I asked the Lady for one last favor. Then Kelsey and I shared a long hug.

"Watch your back," she said.

"I will. Take care of yourself, and these girls. You'll have time to heal, now."

She grimaced. "I hope you're right."

I watched them leave in a shower of golden light and sat down to wait for my next visitor. This one was going to be trouble.

29

The Summer girls weren't gone five minutes before Leanansidhe showed up in a sky-blue Caddy. She brought the car to a skidding stop and bounded out with all the eagerness of a teenager. I was already standing in the doorway, spray can in hand. She came up to me, her cheeks flushed.

"I do enjoy taking one of your cars for a drive. You have what we bargained for?"

"I have been wondering what your interest is with this object."

Her smile was ice-cold. "Why don't you invite me in and we'll discuss it?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so. See, I've been trying to figure out a couple of things, like who gave the gypsy the knife in the first place, and who gave him the idea of sacrificing a bunch of Summer faeries to give Winter an advantage. Any ideas?"

The Winter faerie gave me a dose of stony silence. I wasn't surprised.

"No? Okay, well, I asked myself, why would you give him the knife only to ask me to get it for you later? And then I was chatting with the Summer Lady, you know, because we're best buds. She happened to mention that no one from the Courts of Winter or Summer could just show up at the Stone Table whenever they wanted, as that would start a war. Hey, guess what? I happen to know somebody from the Winter Court who would obviously benefit from some of Summer's power transferring to Winter."

"If that were true," the faerie said icily, "What use would I have for you? If you succeeded, as you did, then there would be no advantage. Better not to involve you at all, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah, that's what I realized too. You knew the knife had been stolen, and because you were aware of its location, you probably knew what it was going to be used for. So it's curious that you did get me involved. Almost like you wanted to preserve the balance."

"Despite what you may believe, child, we of the fae have our own plans and goals which, from time to time, may align with yours." She leaned forward slightly to enhance that looming quality of hers. "I would take care to avoid those times when they do not."

It's a mark of sanity to be afraid of the high fae. So I didn't feel bad about my involuntary attempt at swallowing. In other words, I gulped.

"You bet," I managed.

"Now, young witch," she commanded, "the knife, as is our bargain."

"As to that," I said, firming my grip on the spray can, "at no time in our negotiation was a timetable established for the exchange of the object."

She frowned. "Are you sure this is the way you want this to go?"

"I never said when I would give you the knife," I said stubbornly. "I want to learn more about it before I blindly hand it over."

"You are willing to risk your life to stretch the boundaries of our bargain?" She stepped closer. "Again, I ask, are you absolutely sure?"

"Well, if you kill me, then you'll leave your bargain unfulfilled. And this knife was the tool that allowed some horrible things to happen, so I feel there's a certain responsibility that comes with it. Yeah, I'm sure."

She stared at me so long we almost started a soulgaze. Terrified, I looked away before it could start. I did not want to know what a soulgaze with a high fae would be like. I already had my head stuffed with all those images from the Stone Table. I thought I might not ever sleep again.

Finally she smirked. "Very well. Take particular care with this knife, Lily Gardener, for I would like it in good condition when you hand it over."

I felt like I had passed a test of some kind. Here I had prepared myself for a fight with my spray can of doom ready to go, and Leanansidhe had folded like a lawn chair.

"Okay, that was unexpected."

She turned to leave. Over her shoulder, she said, "You have great potential, child. I look forward to working with you again." As she reached the driver's-side door of the Caddy, she caught me with a frigid stare and asked, "You wouldn't happen to need a faerie godmother, would you?"

Her laughter filled the air.

30

As I closed the door, the phone rang. I picked it up on the second ring.

"Hello?"

My brother's voice answered. "Lily, it's Gabe. I've got… kind of a situation here."

I felt my spine freeze up. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, and my spine loosened. Slightly. "That vampire? She came back, just like you said she would."

"And?"

"Well, there's this guy, he says his name is Fix. He's got a sword, Lily, can you believe it? Anyway, he's got the vampire pinned to the ground, and… sorry, wait a second."

I hear a muffled back-and-forth from the other end of the line. Then Gabe came back.

"Yeah, Lily?"

"Right here."

"Fix wants to know if he can bring the vampire back to the Nevernever. Guess there's someone who wants to ask her some questions."

I imagined several tasty scenarios in which the Summer Lady dealt with the White Court vampire. No mercy. Not for one that threatened the lives of those I cared about.

"Tell him he's free to do what he wants with her, as long as she doesn't survive."

Gabe was silent for a moment, then replied, "That's cold, big sister."

"It's been a horrible week, Gabriel. I have little warmth left in me."

I hung up the phone. I had one more person to see. Well, technically, two, but only one could give me any answers. I grabbed my bag and hopped in the El Camino.

The drive down to the gypsy camp was peaceful, a warm summer day, the wind blowing in my hair, a sharp contrast to the last few days. I found the camp easily enough and drove down to Julia's trailer. Antonio was standing guard outside her door.

"How did it go," he asked, concern plain to see on his face.

"Let's go inside so I can tell the story all at once."

He went to knock on the door but Julia opened it before he could. Her eyes were sad and knowing. We entered the trailer and sat down in the living room. No tea to be offered this time around.

"Your note," Julia began, "asked me to quietly spread the word that you would be arriving the next day to name the kidnapper. Soon after, Marko and Ricky disappeared."

"Yes."

"Will they be coming back?"

I looked down and shook my head.

"They were the kidnappers?" asked Antonio. He sat back, shocked. "I grew up with Ricardo. I thought I… No, I cannot believe he would do this."

"I'm not sure they had a choice, Antonio. I don't believe they were acting freely." I laid out the story as I knew it from the moment Marko took me from my bedroom. I even told them about the vampire's fate, since Antonio would have asked about it anyway. When I was done, we sat there for a few minutes, digesting the events.

"Marko said that he was doing this to save his people. Julia, what do you think he meant?"

She sighed. "He must have thought he had a bargain to give power to Winter, and in return, the decree banning faeries from mixing with gypsies would be lifted."

"That's what I thought, too, but he forgot one little detail, didn't he? It's something I've been wondering about since Antonio told me the tale. Why would Summer issue that decree? Then I thought about this place, and what kind of debt the Summer Court could owe a gypsy."

Julia gave me an approving nod. "The Summer Lady chose well."

"You made the bargain with Summer. Ban faeries from mixing with gypsies, and in return, Winter would spare your lives. Summer took your terms to Winter and made peace. But that didn't make up for what never should have happened. That didn't make up for asking those changelings to break a promise."

"It was the Lord Marshal of Summer who made that request without the knowledge of the Summer Court. When it became known, he was executed, but the debt remained."

"So whoever promised Marko that the decree would be lifted either didn't know or didn't care that Winter could not fulfill that promise."

"And you think he was being controlled somehow?" asked Antonio.

"Yeah, and the promise was the carrot on the stick, plausible enough to make him receptive to whatever was controlling him. I guess he enlisted Ricky to keep an eye on you, Julia, since you already had some suspicions. That's why you brought me here in the first place. You felt that a gypsy was somehow involved."

"Marko had been acting strange for some time now," said Julia quietly. "His anger had been building for many years, but recently he had been hostile to outsiders. I was worried he might become violent."

I thought about that stone chamber. I thought about the tears and the bruises and the looks of shame. I thought about those things and I hoped that those girls would find peace.

I wasn't sure I ever would.

Epilogue

I woke up several mornings later to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. I was a little disoriented, so I laid there for a few moments until my brain finished booting up. Freshly brewed coffee. Someone was downstairs. Antonio? He didn't have a key, and I would hang him up by his trousers if he broke into my house. Gabe? That was more likely. He had a key, and maybe he wanted to hang out. Since the incident with the vampire, he had been a lot more receptive to spending time together. A brush with death will do that to you.

I put on a housecoat and stumbled downstairs. In the kitchen I found an older man that I had never met before. He was dressed like he just got back from a mountain hike, and he had a long black wooden staff propped up beside the fridge.

"Mornin'," he said with a smile. "Hope you don't mind, miss, I took the liberty of brewin' up a pot of joe."

I stood there, confused, before collecting my thoughts into a coherent sentence. "I'm sorry, and you are…?"

"I've been told I have a poor grasp on manners. My apologies." He held out a hand. "Name's Ebenezar McCoy."

I stared at the outstretched hand. The hand belonging to a member of the Senior Council. One of the oldest and most powerful wizards to walk the earth. In my kitchen, making a pot of coffee. I took his hand and shook it.

"Lily Gardener."

His smile grew wider. "Oh, I know. Heard all sorts of good things about you lately. Also heard you were in a spot of trouble a few days back."

"You could say that. What do I owe the honor of this visit, Wizard McCoy?"

"Well, as a member of the White Council, are you aware that you are required to make a report to the Council when making contact with the Faerie Courts?"

Uh-oh.

"I am now, sir. Am I in trouble?"

"Not at all, young lady. I'd like to hear your story, though, and then we'll consider your report filed. Starting from when you began looking for a missing girl."

I provided the highlights, unsure how much he already knew, and not wanting to get caught leaving something out on purpose.

When I was finished, he said, "So you still don't know who gave the gypsy the knife?"

"Or who had the White Court vampire looking for it, too."

"Hmmm." He held out a mug of coffee. I took it gratefully and had a sip. It was amazing. How did he do it? Did he bring his own grounds? He walked over to the window and stared out at the river.

"This is a real peaceful place, miss. Is that what you crave? Peace and quiet?"

I shrugged. "I used to think so."

He turned back to face me. "And now?"

"Now? I don't like leaving threads hanging. I don't know when they'll come around and strangle me. So for me, peace and quiet is now a goal, something to work towards. Because whoever started this whole thing is still out there, and they have to know I'm here."

He raised his mug to me. "Well-spoken, young lady. I think it's time we talk about somebody only a few of us know about."

"Really? And who's that?"

"We call him the Adversary."

Silence filled the room. A name to pin to the evil at hand. A task just beginning. A life still in danger.

The universe wasn't done with me yet.

THE END