Jen was of two minds. On the one hand, she was proud of the palace as a symbol of the fairy realm in all its glory. And for that, she wanted Nick to have the opportunity to gaze at it in awe and explore and admire it. But on the other hand, she did not want to overwhelm him or give him more questions that she could not answer just yet. Even more than that, she did not want others to see Nick and ask questions of their own. And so, she ushered him forward. "Let's go."

Nick let her lead him quickly through the halls full of shimmering light and gleaming walls. There were gemstones of some kind glittering all around, inlaid into the wood. He had never seen anything like it in his life.

As they hurried up the grand staircases, he noticed other fairies standing at various intervals and some walking around and some flying through the halls. All of them looked just like ordinary people. Ordinary people with slightly odd clothes and magnificent wings. Nick was sure that any one of them could probably go out into the human world with some different clothes and make their wings invisible and pass for humans just like Jen had done.

He also noticed that every fairy seemed to have different wings. Jennifer's were large and slightly pointed at the ends and translucent like glass, tinged slightly gold. Others he saw had wings that were rounded and smaller. Some were a solid color. Some had membranes like a dragonfly. They seemed as varied as anyone's hair might be, some similar to each other but none exactly the same as anyone else. Nick wondered if that had to do with the magic, if a fairy could change his or her appearance at will.

The reality of fairies and magic and all of it seemed to be sinking in. Or perhaps he was just resigning himself to the delusion. Perhaps he'd wake up and realize it was all some strange dream. But for now, there certainly did not seem any purpose in fighting it.

Jen's anxiety grew as they made their way through the palace. She gave stiff nods to the guards and tight smiles to the others working on various things here and there. And at last, they arrived at the door to Terry's office. She didn't have any idea if he was even in there, but she had to hope for a bit of luck.

Before she could even knock, however, Jerry appeared again. "So close and yet so far from death," he said.

Those words made Nick visibly nervous. Jen wasn't quite comforted by them either. But sometimes she could discern Jerry's meaning better than others. And she had a feeling that she knew what this one meant. It wasn't about death at all, she'd wager. No, Jerry was informing her of what she already knew: they were on the precipice of something very important.

And with that assurance in her mind, Jen knocked sharply on Terry's door.

"Yeah?" he shouted from inside. Jen knew that meant they could go in.

She took Nick's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It'll be alright," she told him kindly. And then she opened the door and brought him inside. "Sir, this is Nick." No use beating around the bush after all.

"Jane, what the bloody hell are you doing!?" Terry shouted upon seeing Nick.

For his part, Nick didn't know what he was supposed to do. He just stood there. Waiting for whatever fate would befall him from this.

But Jennifer was ready for this. She had no illusion that Terry would take this well. "I had to bring him, sir," she insisted. She turned to Nick. "Show him the tree."

Not having a reason to refuse, Nick turned to his side and lifted his shirt to show off his tattoo. He watched the fairy man—Terry—react in slight shock. His eyes went wide with…fear?

"Where'd you get that, son?" Terry asked in a low voice.

"I had it done when I was younger," Nick answered, trying to keep his own voice even. His discomfort was increasing at this focused attention that he did not yet understand. Well, in a way he understood. He had a tattoo on his body that looked exactly like the fairy palace. But he didn't know why that was. He did not have any answers for anyone, least of all himself.

Jen supplemented, "He said he drew the design himself after his father died."

Terry's eyes narrowed. "What was your father's name?"

"Charles Buchanan."

A look passed between Jennifer and Terry, and the latter gave a subtle shake of his head. They didn't know his father. Nick hadn't really expected that they would. He had a feeling that if his dad had anything to do with the fairies that Nick himself would know about it. He hoped he would, anyway.

In an attempt to move things along, Nick volunteered, "I didn't base it on this tree…your palace. I've never been here. I didn't know fairies existed. I just drew a picture of a tree that reminded me of my dad. We went into the woods a lot to go birdwatching. I just thought this looked nice."

"Hmm," Terry hummed thoughtfully. "And the death watcher brought you to Jane?"

"He means me," Jen translated. "Jerry brought you to me."

Nick nodded. "I was in the woods and the bird squawked at me and flew from tree to tree and waited for me to follow before moving on. So I followed. Led me to a clearing where Jennifer was caught in a hunter's net suspended from a tree. I helped cut her free."

"You didn't know what she was?" Terry demanded.

"No, sir," Nick answered with a shake of his head.

Terry turned his attention to Jennifer. "What do you want to do with him?"

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "I think Jerry has an idea, but I don't know what it is. But I saw the tattoo and he can see the portal and…I thought you should talk to him."

"What do you think?" Terry asked the bird, who had perched at the end of the desk.

"Want to look away, must not look away," Jerry replied.

Terry rolled his eyes at that.

Nick frowned, thinking. "Does he mean we should keep vigilant? Something's coming we can't ignore. Or…you can't? I dunno." He realized that he had no business trying to understand this strange bird. He'd not even known of a talking bird till an hour ago. Nick was getting ahead of himself.

"You can understand the bird?" Terry asked sharply.

"Yes," Nick answered and explained, "I couldn't before but I can now."

Terry looked back to Jennifer with a suspicious. "And how'd you see that tattoo on his side?"

Jennifer looked down at the floor and didn't answer. Nick didn't say anything either. The answer to that question was no one's bloody business, least of all Jen's boss.

"I guess that means you kissed him?" Terry prompted.

She nodded.

"Right, well, that would do it. We don't teach the lore anymore since it's too dangerous, but a fairy kiss has a lot of power. It transfers a bit of magic to the one being kissed. That's why you can see the portal and understand the bird and whatever else. I bet you can probably hear the trees, too," Terry mused.

Nick's mind was spinning as he tried to think what that could possibly mean.

But before his thoughts could go too far, Jennifer looked up and gasped. "Nick, what was that man you told me about? The one who killed his wife that you saw?"

Why she'd bring that up now was quite a mystery, but he answered, "Dane Majors."

That caught Terry's attention. "Dane Majors!?"

"You've heard of Dane Majors?!" Nick responded incredulously. Things were making less and less sense by the second.

Terry let out a groan of frustration. "God dammit, that's why the bloody bird brought him here! Jane, you've gotta talk to Bernice about this. It's not for me to tell. I wasn't really involved. But she can't see you today, and I wanna talk to her first. You've gotta keep Nick here till she summons you tomorrow."

She nodded obediently. "He can stay at my house."

"Good," Terry said approvingly. "Keep him away from the others." He waved them off.

Jen took Nick's hand and led him out. Jerry did not follow them, though she gave him the opportunity to do so if he wished. She closed the door behind them.

"I'm taking you to my house. We can talk there. Don't say anything until we get there," she instructed.

Nick did as she said. He wasn't sure he could find any words just yet anyway.