ã€ŠTales of Oakwood Hall - Book 2: Faeflightã€‹


 Prologue

    Prologue

    (June, 2023)

    "I am terribly sorry it''s taken me so long to get back to you on this matter, Lady Reid, but looking into it has caused some disturbance in the offices of Summers and Winters."

    I sighed, rested my elbows on my desk blotter, and put my head in my hands. Addressing the speakerphone to my left without looking at it, I said, "That''s all right, Margrave. I wasn''t expecting an immediate response or anything. But I think you''d better explain why it caused a disturbance. And please call me Caley."

    "Under the circumstances, Lady Reid," Margrave said, sounding grim, "I feel formality may be wisest."

    Ken - still as insubstantial and ghostly as the day I met him, but with quite a bit more color and definition than he''d had then - nodded from where he ''sat'' in a chair across the desk from me. He scooped up a pen and scribbled on a sheet of paper, then slid it around to me. It said, ''If he''s falling back on formality, they found something bad, embarrassing, or both.''

    I grimaced and nodded my understanding. "All right, Margrave, I apologize. Go ahead, then."

    "I appreciate your forbearance, Lady Reid," Margrave replied. "After our last conversation, I immediately began looking into your query about a clan of dusk foxes who were associated with your family at some time in the past."

    Penumbra, who had been lounging indolently beside the desk in her natural form - that of a Husky-sized fox with fur as black as a raven''s wings - raised her head. Her ears and tails (both of them), tipped in midnight blue, were suddenly perked alertly, and in the blink of and eye she shifted to her humanoid form. Her hands came to rest on the desk as she leaned in to listen more closely.

    A couple of months ago, that would have unsettled me a bit. Penny''s humanoid form was literally a negative image of me; my body, my face, my hair, even the clothes I was wearing, only black and shadowy, except for shades of midnight blue in her long, braided hair and at the tips of her fingers, and her golden eyes. Now I just found it weirdly comforting.

    It''s funny how quickly ''weird'' can become ''normal.''

    Sparkle, my little purple fairy sidekick, had been sitting on the top of Penny''s head. Now she fluttered to a graceful landing on my blotter. She then plopped down on my desk''s pen holder, propped her chin in her hands, and assumed an utterly bored mien.

    "I was quite put out when I was unable to immediately locate the relevant paperwork in your family files," Margrave continued. "We pride ourselves on being able to answer such questions within a matter of hours. This two month delay in providing you with the requested information is...unthinkable. Absolutely unprecedented." He audibly took a deep breath and let it out. "We have, at last, located the missing files. Do you wish the information first, or an explanation first?"

    I opened my mouth to say that an explanation really wasn''t necessary, when I remembered something Ken had recently taught me about dealing with the Sidhe. "The High Sidhe are very proud and take their promises very seriously," he''d said. "If one fails in a promise, it''s not just embarrassing, it potentially represents a loss of power and status. If one of the Sidhe ever apologizes to you, however indirectly, listen carefully. You''ll probably learn something important."

    "Explanation first," I said, "then the information you found."

    Ken smiled and nodded approvingly.

    "Very good," Margrave said, sounding just as approving. "To that end, it appears that an associate of Summers and Winters pulled the relevant paperwork from the Reid Family files and relocated it to the files of another Summers and Winters customer. The relocation of said paperwork would be suspicious enough in and of itself, but the files in which it came to rest, combined with both the nature of the paperwork and your peripherally-related questions, made the situation simply untenable."

    He paused for a moment before continuing. "All of this is why, I''m sorry to say, it has taken me so long to get back to you on this matter. If it is of any consolation, the associate responsible for this incident is no longer in the employ of Summers and Winters, and we have seen to it that achieving employment in the future will be quite impossible for him."

    I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that, but Ken shook his head firmly. I took the completely unsubtle hint. "Then it sounds like you''ve sorted out the problem," I said instead. "May I presume that something like this won''t happen again?"

    Margrave was briefly silent before replying. "Lady Reid, I must confess that until this incident we had believed that it was quite impossible for such an incident to occur here. I will not promise you that it won''t happen again, only that we are undergoing an internal review of all files and will be implementing new policies and procedures in an effort to ensure it cannot happen again."If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    He sounded pained, and I wondered if not being able to give a firm, straightforward answer was somehow actually physically painful for him. "It sounds like you''re doing everything that needs to be done," I said, "and your assurance that steps are being taken to prevent similar incidents is all I need."

    "Thank you, Lady Reid," he said, sounding relieved.

    "Of course, Margrave. Now, what did you find?" I asked, and Penny leaned in a little again.

    "I have before me documents officiating a vassal agreement between a clan of dusk foxes and your ancestors," Margrave said, "with a representative of the Sidhe clan which eventually became the Summers and Winters law firm acting as witness. It was signed in 1613, only a few years before construction of Oakwood Hall began.

    "It was updated in 1625," he continued, "after primary construction of the Hall was completed, specifically naming the Hall as the home of that clan of dusk foxes."

    Penny breathed out and sank to her knees, folding her arms on the desktop and resting her chin on them. "So everything my grand-dam taught me was true."

    "So it would appear, Miss Penumbra," Margrave said seriously. "Welcome home, as it were."

    "What does a vassal agreement entail?" I asked.

    "Nothing terribly onerous or particularly complicated," Margrave replied. "Your ancestors agreed to protect and nurture the clan of dusk foxes, while they - in turn - agreed to protect and guard your family and property. Fairly standard terms, really."

    "All right, that makes sense," I said. "Can you tell me where the paperwork was moved and why?"

    Another long moment of silence. "I''m afraid our confidentiality clauses preclude the possibility of me telling you either, Lady Reid," Margrave said apologetically. "However, I can tell you that you have already spoken with a representative of the organization that may have set these events in motion."

    Ken and I exchanged a grim look. The ICOA.

    The International Consortium of Organized Arcana was supposedly the world''s preeminent magical collective. They saw themselves as responsible for policing the world''s magical communities, and ensuring that knowledge of the existence of magic and supernatural beings - like Ken, Sparkle, and Penny - became public.

    At least, so they claimed. Even in the few months since my first encounter with them, I''d begun to doubt it, and had been carefully putting out feelers to find the larger magical community.

    On the Internet, of all places. You really can find anything there if you know where and how to look.

    "All right," I said slowly, "anything else we need to know?"

    "Yes," Margrave said firmly. "The violation of a vassal agreement by a third party is a serious breach of both etiquette and law."

    Sparkle and Penny both nodded. I gave Ken a blank look, which he returned with an expression that I''d come to recognize as meaning ''I''ll explain later.''

    "Thank you, Margrave," I said. "I think that tells me everything I need to know for now."

    "Very good, Lady Reid. I trust there will be no hard feelings over this unfortunate incident."

    "Not at all, Margrave," I said gently. "As I said, I''m sure you''ve done everything in your power to correct it, and I trust that your office will take appropriate steps to make sure it can''t happen again."

    "Quite," Margrave said, sounding grim. "Then I will bid you good day, and remind you - as always - to contact me at any time, day or night, should you need my assistance."

    "Thank you, Margrave," I said again. "Have a good day."

    I hung up the phone and looked around the office at my friends. "Thoughts?"

    "Well," Penny said thoughtfully, "it''s nice to know everything my Grand-dam taught me about the Hall and your family is true." She smiled up at me. "I really am properly home."

    "Yes you are," I said.

    "We didn''t really learn anything we didn''t already know or suspect," Ken said, sitting back in his chair and rubbing his chin. "But it''s good to have confirmation, in however roundabout a form."

    "What did Margrave mean," I asked, "about the violation of a vassal agreement being a breach of etiquette and law?"

    "Not just a breach, a serious breach," Ken said quietly. "Vassal agreements are sacrosanct in the supernatural world. Harming the members of one grants their protectors complete freedom to act against the aggressors." His eyes focused on me. "And when I say complete, I mean complete. If it really was the ICOA that¡­that kidnapped those dusk foxes, for lack of a better term, you would be within your rights - at least as far as the supernatural community is concerned - to wipe them from the face of the Earth."

    I blinked at that. "What?"

    "Of course, it''s not usually done that way," Ken went on. "The usual, accepted thing, especially where multiple generations are involved, is for the party at fault to pay a weregild - for lack of a better term - in restitution for any harm done. Of course, that requires them to acknowledge they were at fault in the first place. Considering the ICOA''s actions to date, and Cuthbert''s denial of knowledge, you might find yourself with a surprising amount of support if you chose to act against them openly."

    He hesitated for a moment, then added, "Not that I''d recommend that as your first action in this matter."

    "It hadn''t even crossed my mind!"

    "I''m very glad to hear it," Ken said firmly. "It would be a mistake at this point in time."

    "Not the best way to start making friends in the larger community, eh?" I asked dryly.

    "Not at all," Ken agreed. Then he sighed and rose. "Still, it''s good to have that settled." He smiled at Penny. "Welcome home, Penny."

    She beamed up at him. "Thank you, Ken. And you, Caley, and Sparkle. You''ve all made me feel so welcome and safe."

    "Of course we have," Sparkle said stoutly. "Because you are home, and would have been regardless of what Margrave found."

    "What she said," I gestured at Sparkle. "However, this cements my resolve to do something to free your kin from the ICOA. I just need to figure out what, and that may take time. I don''t want to make you any promises I can''t keep."

    "You don''t need to make me any promises at all," Penny said. "But I appreciate the sentiment anyway." She stretched and reverted to her natural, vulpine form. Her golden eyes blinked up at me and her muzzle curled into a smile. "It''s lunchtime."

    I chuckled and nodded. "Yes, yes it is. Come on, let''s hit the kitchen."

    "COOOKIEEE!" Sparkle cheered, and left a sparkling purple streak in her wake as she leaped off the desk and shot out the door that Ken had just opened.

 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1

    (August, 2023)

    It was a bright, clear, and absolutely beautiful morning in the middle of August. For once that summer it wasn''t too hot, it wasn''t too humid, and there was nothing but fluffy white clouds in the sky and a pleasant breeze. It was far too beautiful to waste stuck inside, in other words. Even when the ''inside'' in question was as endlessly amazing as Oakwood Hall, my ancestral home.

    After a spot of plotting with my co-conspirators - Sparkle and Penny - I''d dressed in shorts, sandals, and a short-sleeved cropped top, and collected my books. We located and raided a closet of beach supplies - some of which appeared to be of Victorian-era vintage, and who knew when that ancient-looking hand-stitched leather ball had been made - let Ken know what we were up to, grabbed one of the new phone system''s wireless handsets, and headed outside.

    Which was how we found ourselves on a beach blanket in the shade of one of the oak trees that lined the driveway. Sparkle - human-sized and dressed in clothes that matched mine - was poking through the remains of the breakfast hamper Ken had given us, while Penny was stretched full-length in her natural form beside us, apparently dozing.

    I was studying sign language, ASL and BSL. Both because I''d always wanted to learn, and because Ken said they''d help me learn to cast spells silently. I had the books open in front of me, and was going back and forth between them. So far, I''d found the basics fairly easy¡­the structure of it made sense to me, and my Eidetic memory was making picking up the visual language fairly simple. It was the differences between the versions that kept tripping me up.

    Two nations separated by a common language, and all that.

    "We are," Sparkle announced in an ominous tone, "finally out of food."

    "We''re not going to go hungry," I replied absently, trying not to let my amusement show, "when we''re still within sight of the front door."

    Penny snorted a little laugh, revealing that she was still very much awake. I hadn''t really expected otherwise. When we were outside of the Hall, she was on constant alert¡­even inside the walls that marked the boundaries of my property.

    Sparkle huffed a sound that was half-annoyance and half-amusement, then shrank in an instant to her natural fairy size and landed on one of my open books. She sat down, folded her arms, and stared up a me, very much like a cat seeking attention.

    I gave her an affectionate smile, and flipped the next page on top of her.

    She started giggling.

    Which of course started me giggling, and then Penny, at which point the phone rang.

    I could literally count the number of people who had that phone number on one hand: Margrave, representative of Summers & Winters, my law firm and financial managers; Malcolm O''Day, owner of the Oak & Ivy pub in town; D.T. Burroughs, Oakwood town constable; Professor Sheila Levin, my faculty advisor at Cambridge (possibly former faculty advisor by that point, since I''d now skipped two semesters plus summer classes) and only actual friend in the ''real'' world (as defined by that part of my life before coming to Oakwood); and Ariana Pendragon, monster hunter at large.

    Yes, that Pendragon. Long story. Very long.

    Point being, even if the handset hadn''t had a caller I.D. screen, I wouldn''t have been particularly worried about taking the call. And it was why even though it did have said screen, I didn''t bother looking at it before hitting the talk button. I struggled to get my giggles under control and failed horribly as I sputtered out a laughter-filled, "Hello?"

    There was a long moment of silence on the other end, followed by Sheila''s voice. "I''m not entirely sure I have the right number¡­"

    "Sheila! You do, it''s me, honest!" I put my hand over the pickup and hissed, "Knock it off!" to Sparkle, who was pretending to struggle under the paged I''d flipped atop her, and Penny, who was idly pawing at the Sparkle-shaped lump under the page for her own amusement, both of them still giggling madly.

    They didn''t, of course. I rolled my eyes.

    "Well," Sheila said, "I suppose I can stop worrying about you. I can''t honestly say I''ve ever heard you giggle before. It has to be a good sign. But it''s awfully hard to be certain, since all I''ve gotten from you in the last six months are these terse little ''I''m perfectly fine, nothing to worry about'' emails."

    She sounded annoyed, relieved, and curious all at once.

    "Oh god, Sheila, I''m sorry¡­" I trailed off, trying to think of how to explain this away in such a way that wouldn''t make her suspicious. I''d promised, the previous October, to have her out to see the Hall sometime over the winter or in the spring¡­but the more I''d learned about Oakwood Hall, the adjacent town of Oakwood, and my responsibilities as Guardian of the Hall, the more reluctant I''d been to involve her in it.

    It didn''t help that Penny chose that moment to slide one paw under the page I''d flipped atop Sparkle, resulting in a teasing ''attack'' from my little fairy companion. I had to bite my bottom lip to keep from dissolving into renewed giggles before hissing, "Give it a rest, you two, I''m on the phone!"

    They stopped, Penny cocking her head to one side and giving me a look that would have been perfectly innocent if not for the mischief sparkling in her golden eyes, and the amused twitching of her ears and tails. Then Sparkle pushed the page back and peered out from under it, looking up at me with wide eyes. Her expression was perfectly innocent, but I knew her far too well to buy it for even an instant.

    I pinched the bridge of my nose and snorted fresh laughter, an entirely indelicate sound.

    "Well," Sheila said, "at least it sounds like you''ve made some friends at last. Did I interrupt anything?"

    "Nothing especially important," I said, getting my giggles under control with an effort. "I was just studying sign language."

    "Sign language?" Again, the curiosity in her voice was almost tangible. "That''s new."

    "It''s a long story," I said, half-turning from my friends and looking out across the broad expanse of perfectly manicured lawn. "I''m sorry I haven''t called or written anything detailed, it''s just¡­there''s been so much, and you wouldn''t believe half of it."

    Also, some of it might actually be dangerous for her to know. I''d heard rumors about the ICOA doing unpleasant things to maintain the division between the mundane and supernatural worlds. Thus my reluctance to have her out to the Hall, even though I''d promised.

    "I kept meaning to have you come out, but¡­" I began, then trailed off and tried to think of something to say.

    Sheila sighed. "Caley, you''re one of the best students I ever taught. I like to think of you as a friend, too. If your life has moved in a different direction, that''s fine, just promise me you''ll keep in touch. But all I got were those brief little emails. Not even a Christmas card!"Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    I winced. I''d been so immersed in studying a mixture of magic and martial skills through Christmas and New Year''s that the only reason I''d celebrated either was because the Hall had decorated itself for the former, and Malcolm O''Day had invited me to his pub for the latter. I barely remembered most of December through February except in the most abstract and academic of terms.

    "More immediately," Sheila continued before I could apologize again, "I have to inform the school of whether or not you plan to resume classes. You know, you only need six more credit hours and to finish editing your thesis to complete your Master''s in Medieval History. I know you probably won''t go on to do the PhD now, but you''re so close¡­"

    I sighed and pulled my knees up to my chest, hugging them with my free arm. "I know, but¡­there just so much here to learn and do. I''ve barely scratched the surface. It sounds bizarre, I''m sure, but returning to Cambridge and being a TA again would be a massive let-down at this point. And I really am sorry about not having you out to visit yet¡­"

    "Then let''s fix that," she said firmly. "I have a plan to get your degree finished with a minimum of fuss. I know you have an Internet connection there¡­I got your emails, after all. Two classes this coming fall semester, which you can take remotely, and turn in your thesis - which I know is basically done, since I edited it - and you can append ''MPhil'' to your name."

    "That sounds doable," I said thoughtfully. Ken might be a bit tweaked about me taking the time out of my magical studies, but Sheila was right. My thesis was done except for wrapping it up and handing it in. And two remote classes wouldn''t take that much time out of my week.

    "So how about this," Sheila barreled on. "I know which two classes you were taking before you dropped off the face of the Earth. I''ll get you signed up for them for the fall semester, then drive out the last Saturday in August to pick up your thesis on a flash drive. You can give me a quick tour of Oakwood and your new luxury digs, and I can stop worrying about you every time I have a spare minute to stop and think."

    That also sounded pretty doable. I''d just have to convince her to promise not to talk about anything she saw in Oakwood Hall itself.

    "I¡­don''t see why not," I said carefully. "How about this¡­let me double-check my upcoming schedule, make sure there''s nothing that''ll cause problems with that plan, and you come out the last Saturday in August regardless. Worst case scenario I might have to put off the classes for another semester or two."

    "Sounds like a plan to me," Sheila said cheerfully. "I''ll call you a few days before to firm up plans for that Saturday, okay?"

    "Okay," I said with a smile. I really did want to see her, and I really did want to finish my degree. It probably didn''t matter very much anymore, but I hate not finishing what I start.

    We exchanged a few more pleasantries, then hung up. I sat staring at the phone for a long moment before blowing out a breath. "That''s going to be a weird visit." I clapped my hands together. "All right, let''s pack it in. I''ve got practical magic lessons this morning to go with all the theory, and then a late lunch date with D.T. to get ready for."

    With the three of us working together, it took only a few minutes to pack everything up and get it back inside the Hall. I took a minute to unpack was was left in the hamper (just containers, as Sparkle had indicated) and put it away, then headed for the workshop.

    Formerly known as the laboratory. Pronounce with five syllables, all spoken distinctly. Ken was still a bit sulky about me insisting on workshop, but it made me feel less like I was a mad scientist engaged in some lunatic project.

    The workshop is one of my favorite rooms in the Hall, which is really saying something. It''s a circular room, about twenty meters across with a dome shaped ceiling. The walls are lined with overflowing bookshelves, equally overflowing tables, and work benches for engraving, enchanting, potion-making, alchemical work, gem cutting, and other esoteric purposes I had yet to learn.

    The center of the room was taken up by an enormous ritual circle, about fifteen feet across, which was by itself a work of art. It was made up of two concentric circles embedded in the floor. The outer ring was made of silver and platinum woven together in a helix pattern; the inner ring, two feet further in, was made of steel and copper, also woven in a helix pattern. Between them a series of runes made of gold were embedded in the floor, broken up by a variety of raw gemstones. In the middle of all of this was a five-pointed star, its sides made up of strips of gold, copper, silver, steel, and platinum respectively, with its points just touching the inner circle to form a pentacle.

    I had yet to make serious use of this particular tool, since Ken was leaning heavily on practical spellcasting in my ongoing lessons. Ritual magic would, I was assured, come later, once I had a solid foundation in the basics.

    And no summoning things for the foreseeable future. Period.

    Not that I wanted to.

    More importantly, the walls of the room were magically hardened against damage, including spell damage. One section of the outer wall had been cleared of shelves and tables to make a sort of shooting range, allowing me to safely practice new spells without risking life, limb, or property damage.

    It was, all told, a ridiculously useful room. And just really cool.

    As we entered, Sparkle riding on my shoulder and Penny padding along beside me, Ken was already waiting for us. Penny took up her accustomed place near the door ("It''s the furthest point in the room from all of the mayhem,") and Sparkle flitted over to land on one of the tables, where she sat down atop a pile of books.

    "Today," Ken began slowly, "I want to talk about making a new staff to replace the one von Einhardt destroyed in April."

    I''d barely begun learning to use the white waxwood staff I''d made before it was destroyed, and had generally been getting along just fine without it since. But I could clearly remember the feeling of that staff humming in my hand, eager to be used and very much a part of me. So I nodded.

    "All right, but -"

    "Before you say anything," Ken interrupted me, "I know what you''re going to say. You want to try to make your mother''s experimental staff work."

    "Well, yes¡­"

    "Which is why I brought it with me," Ken said, moving aside so I could see the thing laid out on the work bench behind him.

    It was as I''d first seen it months earlier, a gorgeous belt that appeared - at first glance - to be made of a finely woven mesh of silver, copper, and gold. Now that I looked at it more closely, I could see that the mesh was actually a tightly woven triple helix pattern with each strand made of one of those materials. It was capped at either end by a clever hook and loop "buckle" made of copper, the hook end molded to look like a phoenix with its wings spread.

    It was the second phoenix-related object I''d found in my mother''s possessions. I wondered if there was a theme there, or if it was just something she liked.

    The belt was flexible enough to coil up, long enough that it looked like it would go around my waist at least twice, but still slender enough that it wouldn''t look gaudy or out of place. And she''d intended for it to change between this belt form and a reasonably traditional wizard''s staff.

    "How does it work?" I asked, stroking the length of it with my left hand and feeling the faint hum of energy. I thought there was something discordant about the sensation, like it wasn''t flowing smoothly through the device.

    "That''s the thing," Ken said wryly, "it doesn''t. As you no doubt recall, I told you that the first time she shifted it to its belt form, she couldn''t get it to change back. Your father was never able to figure it out either¡­but that''s not terribly surprising. It''s uncommon for one spellcaster to be able to use another''s foci at all, let alone with enough facility to spot a design problem."

    I was still running my fingers along the length of it, focusing down towards the end with the phoenix¡­which I assumed was meant to be the head of the staff. "Hmm."

    Ken tipped his head and smiled a little. "What is it?"

    I shook my head a little. "It''s like listening to a badly tuned piano. Something''s not right."

    Ken''s smile grew a little. "Tell me what you''re sensing from it."

    I frowned a little and focused on the belt more carefully, sending tendrils of my own energy into it. After a moment, I got a small shock from it and twitched my hand back. "Energy''s not flowing through it smoothly. It''s like there''s a short circuit in it, or at least the magical equivalent thereof."

    Ken fairly beamed. "That''s fantastic. That''s more than your mother was ever able to tell me while she was trying to figure out what went wrong with it."

    "Really?" I was surprised. She''d made it, after all.

    "Really." He shook his head a little. "That''s the second of her foci that resonate better with you than they did with her. It''s very unusual."

    The first was the shield ring I wore, which Ken said worked better for me than it ever had for her. "So you''ve told me." I frowned down at the belt. "Does that mean you think I can fix this?"

    "How would you approach the project?" he asked curiously.

    I stared down at the woven belt as my fingers caressed the phoenix-shaped buckle. At the engraved patterns of runes on the belt, so small I''d probably need a magnifying lens to really see them clearly. Then my eyes fell on the way the three strands of woven metal links connected to it, and tapped that. "I think I''d start by unwinding it and taking a look at each individual strand. Break it down into smaller pieces and take each one individually. Maybe it''s a small flaw and not a large one."

    Beside me, I saw Ken nod. "I agree, that''s an excellent way to begin. The necessary tools are all here on this bench, but we have other work to do before your date this afternoon. We''ll begin this tomorrow. For the rest of the morning, we''re going to work on your transfiguration skills. You were close to making a lovely rocking chair out of a block of wood the other day¡­I want to see you perfect that spell today."

    "Taskmaster," I said teasingly, turning to where a fresh block of wood sat, looking drab and boring. "Let''s get to it, then."

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2

    Here, then, was a quandary the likes of which I''d never faced before.

    Intellectually, and without conceit, I know that I''m quite pretty, in an old-fashioned, Audrey Hepburn sort of way. I also know that with my long white hair and mismatched blue and green eyes, I''m also quite exotic-looking.

    But I''d never wanted to be pretty before, because in the past I had primarily associated my appearance with being hit on a lot in secondary school and at university. Even after being labeled ''the brain'' by my fellow students. Perhaps especially after I made it clear I wasn''t interested, and became ''the ice queen'' on top of it.

    Long story short, I was not accomplished at dating.

    It''s not that I didn''t want a love life¡­I''m as much of a sucker for a good romantic story as anybody else. But the few times I''d tried it myself had been very uncomfortable, I hadn''t enjoyed it at all, and in the end I''d had no time for it.

    If I''m being entirely honest, I had intentionally not made time for it.

    I''d met Police Constable D.T. Burroughs a little over four months earlier; she''d stepped in to help me when Penny ¡ª then still under von Einhardt''s control ¡ª attacked me in Oakwood. She was taller than me, strong, rather dashing, quick-witted, and rolled with the weirdness of my new life more easily than I had.

    I had more than enough to be getting on with, and really wasn''t looking for a possible relationship, but there she was. And she was attracted to me too.

    To complicate matters, In the four months and change since we''d met, we''d both been incredibly busy. It had taken me just a few days to repair the wards around Oakwood Hall - with the help of the clan of brownies who lived in and acted as the Hall''s maintenance staff - but it then had taken weeks for me to reinforce and improve them. I''d had a lot to learn, and a lot to do. And after that, I''d been helping the Fairies of Oakwood Hall - the clan of fairies who lived in the clearing outside my bedroom windows, long story - get settled and build their defenses.

    Then there''d been increased combat magic lessons, more Jeet Kune Do practice, more fencing practice, multiple conversations with Margrave about my hereditary estate and everything it encompassed¡­it was a lot.

    At the same time, D.T. had been doing her job around town, talking to a therapist about her vocational doubts (which was why she''d been assigned to the apparently very low-impact town of Oakwood in the first place), and working on some mystery project that she''d been shy about discussing with me.

    To be sure, D.T. had met me for early morning jogging two or three days a week, sometimes stopping at the Hall with me for breakfast afterwards. We''d met at the Oak & Ivy pub at least every Thursday night to join in the open game of darts, and sometimes one or two other nights a week just to rub elbows with the citizens of Oakwood and get to know everybody.

    But somehow, even though I knew she was interested in me romantically and vice versa¡­we had yet to go on an actual date. In spite of which, she''d already seen me in a fair chunk of my wardrobe. She''d seen me in exercise clothes. In skirts, slacks, and shorts. Blouses, shirts, henleys, and more.

    She knew that my wardrobe was mostly earth tones and - thanks to Sparkle''s influence - shades of dark purple.

    Then, suddenly, she''d called and asked me on a date. She had specifically called it a date, even though we''d just be meeting at the Oak & Ivy for a late lunch.

    And now I found myself unaccountably not wanting to show up for our first official date wearing anything I owned.

    For the first time in my life, I found myself actually wanting to be attractive.

    In a moment of sheer panic, I abandoned my closet - seeing it, for the first time, as being rather drab - and bolted for the master bedroom with the idea of raiding my mother''s wardrobe. Which was how I came to be standing in the open doorway of the closet she''d shared with my father, wearing just my green silk robe and what was probably a comical expression of bewilderment.

    "This," Ken said dryly from behind me, "is not something I''m well-equipped to help you with. The good news is, most of the clothing your mother owned was Fae-made, and so should fit you as well. Sparkle? Penny?"

    Penny, sitting on her haunches in her natural form, laughed softly. "Clothing is almost entirely alien to me. I''m looking forward to learning something today."

    "Something pretty and frilly and bright!" Sparkle said from where she was standing atop the bureau beside the closet door. "And if you want to attract her for sporting, maybe a little see-through!"

    I felt the muscles under my right eye twitch. "I don''t think we''re quite ready for that yet, and definitely not in public." I took a deep breath. "Okay, there must be something in here that will do."

    With that pronouncement, I bravely plunged into my mother''s wardrobe.

    Where my father''s half of the closet was a lot like mine - muted earth tones in a fairly narrow range, conservative styles, and lots of clothing that basically looked the same - my mother''s was¡­exactly the opposite. Bright and bursting with warm colors and styles that ranged from modest to playful to scandalous, in every fabric I was familiar with and a few I''d only heard of.

    Sister Sarah, the nun (and apparently gifted sorceress) who''d overseen my care at the orphanage where I''d grown up, once told me: "When you''re not sure what to do, start by eliminating the undesirable and impossible options. Sometimes, just narrowing down the available choices will make the right one obvious."

    Which allowed me to immediately dismiss everything at the far end of Mother''s side of the closet. Most of which was not any kind of clothing I could imagine ever going outside in, let alone on a date, and was made of fabrics that were impractical or absurd. I was not, for example, going on a date with D.T. wearing a fire engine red latex catsuit, even if it did magically change size to fit me properly.

    Seriously. Mom was¡­apparently really something.

    "I remember when your mother got that," Ken said with obvious amusement as I held the garment in question up. "It was not long after she met your father, and she was going through something of a rebellious phase. As I recall -"

    "Stop!" I said quickly, hanging it back on the rack, beside a few similar outfits in various colors. "I really don''t want to know!"

    Ken chuckled.

    In the end, I settled on a very cute (almost an alien word for me) calf-length A Line slip dress with spaghetti straps, an empire waistline, and a second gauzy layer over the skirt that had rippled frills down the front. It faded from pale green at the bust to spruce green at the hem, so I added an off-the-shoulder blouse with short, poofy sleeves that gathered just above my waist, in a light cocoa color. I finished it off with a pair of strappy knee-high sandals with flat heels.

    In a plastic storage bin full of purses, I found a small one with a shoulder strap that was the same spruce green as the lower part of the dress, so I grabbed that for the few things I''d want to take with me.

    Finally, I went back to my room for jewelry. I was already wearing the rings that marked Sparkle and Penny''s bonds to me, and the platinum choker that the Master Key hung from, none of which I never took off. Or even really gave any thought anymore.

    To that I added my shield ring, and earrings¡­a pair of simple silver studs, one with an emerald, and one with a sapphire. The emerald one was an heirloom from my mother, like my shield ring, and was enchanted to protect me from a variety of minor spells that would otherwise harm (or more likely annoy) me. The sapphire one I had picked up at Harrods to match the emerald. I wanted to enchant it, but hadn''t learned enough yet to do the job properly.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    I liked to wear them in opposition to the color of my eyes, for my own amusement.

    After the delicate application of a small amount of makeup - more than a little looks absurd on my fair skin - I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, and hardly recognized myself. I looked¡­frankly, to my own eyes, I looked like a little girl playing dress-up.

    I just hoped D.T. liked it.

    With that thought fluttering nervously in my stomach, and thus armed and armored - so to speak - I emerged from the bathroom and did a pirouette for my friends, my long white braid trailing behind me and the dress''s skirts flaring up almost to my knees. "Well?"

    He smiled. "You look stunning. D.T. won''t know what hit her."

    Sparkle just giggled and zoomed over, shrinking even further and attaching to the Master Key. When she did that, she even took on the silvery sheen of the thing, looking like nothing more than a part of it.

    Penny rose and stretched. "I, for one, know nothing of human mating rituals. This should be interesting." She gave a little hop and melted into my shadow.

    Ken nodded. "Go, have fun." He smiled. "Call if you need anything."

    So I drove into town in my little red VW Beetle. The question of how it stayed in good running order when I''d hardly had any use for it in the ten months since Margrave had acquired it for me strayed through my mind and was gone again. Considering the ease with which Wadsworth and his fellow brownies had taken to the Hall''s new high-tech security system, it was just as likely one or two of them were taking care of the car when I wasn''t looking.

    They seemed to thrive on being aggressively and invisibly efficient, and I was instinctively certain that questioning it would just cause everyone unnecessary stress.

    D.T. was waiting for me as I parked in front of the Oak & Ivy, and rather gallantly offered me a hand out of the car, which I took.

    Then she didn''t let go, instead taking a little step back and looking me up and down. I thought she looked a little flushed as she said, "Well, you look lovely! I feel under-dressed, now."

    She was wearing a sleeveless green cotton blouse with a short black pleated skirt, which I guessed - based on her athletic lifestyle - was actually a skort. I couldn''t imagine her wearing just a skirt without shorts under it. What if she had to chase someone?

    Like me, she''d paired the outfit with sandals and minimal jewelry, not even earrings. Her short, auburn hair was freshly trimmed in a tidy undercut pixie style, and her light brown eyes seemed to glitter with amusement as I took in her appearance.

    I found myself reluctant to let go of her hand, so I didn''t. "You don''t look under-dressed at all," I said, feeling my cheeks heating up. "You look very pretty."

    She bobbed a teasing little curtsy, and I caught a glimpse of shorts underneath the short skirt. Definitely a skort.

    I giggled. The second time today I''d done that, yet another thing that had been utterly alien to me until recently. "Shouldn''t I be curtsying to you?"

    "You do cut more of a traditional fairy princess figure than I do," D.T. agreed with a quick flash of grin. "Especially in that. I''ve never seen you wear anything so¡­so¡­"

    "Girly?" I offered.

    She shrugged. "I was going to say cute, but that''s being unfair. You look beautiful."

    We stared at one another for a long moment, holding hands there in the street. Then D.T. cleared her throat and gave my hand a little tug. "Let''s go in and sit down."

    A few minutes later, as we waited for Judy O''Day to serve up her beef stew in a bread bowl (which had become one of my favorite meals), I said, "You already know just about everything there is to know about me¡­"

    D.T. laughed. "It''s funny how that happened, though, right?"

    I shrugged, smiling. It sort of was. How the little bits and pieces of my history had simply become need-to-know for her as she''d helped clean up in the wake of von Einhardt''s failed assault on Oakwood Hall. She''d written two utterly mundane reports about the damage she''d seen done to the Hall''s front gates (''freak tornado damage'') and to the gargoyle over the front portico (''lightning damage''¡­which was, at least, technically true¡­), for the sake of making sure everything was above board. During the writing of which, she''d collected all of the relevant information about me¡­which was astoundingly boring until last October, even to me.

    "Until I came home to Oakwood," I said by way of answer, "I wasn''t terribly interesting."

    D.T. smiled. "I doubt that. But as you will. What do you want to know?"

    "Well¡­I have to ask¡­about your name." I knew it was a sore subject with her, but I really wanted to know for certain.

    She shook her head a little. "Yes, D.T. is short for Dejah Thoris." She pronounced it ''Day-jah.'' "My father, because of his family name, is a huge fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Mom loves Robert Heinlein, so¡­they thought they were being clever. I dragged it through primary school like a boat anchor."

    "For what it''s worth," I said gently, "I think you have a beautiful name, Dejah." I pronounced it ''Dee-jah''.

    D.T. looked startled for a moment, her mouth opened to protest her name''s use. She met my eyes, presumably saw I was quite in earnest, and blushed deeply. "Doesn''t sound so bad when you say it. I''ve never heard it pronounced that way, though."

    I shrugged. "One of the Edgar Rice Burroughs collections I read had some of his correspondences in the back, including one where he was asked how some of the names were pronounced."

    "I like it better that way," she said with a surprisingly shy smile. "I suppose you could use my full name, if you like."

    "I do," I said with a smile. "And I recall Emrys saying that he heard a hint of Wales in your accent¡­"

    D.T. nodded. "I was born in Shrewsbury -"

    "Where the Brother Cadfael books took place?" I asked, leaning forward a little.

    She chuckled. "Exactly. Dad is from Shrewsbury, Mom is from Welshpool just across the border in Wales. I grew up speaking both English and Welsh. Got my A Levels in Law, Sociology, and French -"

    "Oooh, multi-lingual!"

    "- and went straight into the police force because I didn''t know what else to do with myself," she continued. "My grades got me into Hendon - that''s Hendon Police College in London - then I transferred to Avon & Somerset and took advantage of their degree apprenticeship program to get my degree in Professional Policing Practice¡­" She trailed off.

    "Which is when you started becoming disillusioned with policing?" I asked gently.

    She shrugged a little. "I don''t know when it started, really. It was a gradual thing. I didn''t just wake up one morning and feel like nothing I''d done so far on the force had really accomplished anything."

    "Is that how you feel?"

    She considered my question seriously for a moment before answering. "Not as much as I did before they moved me here to Oakwood. It''s a lot less policing, to be sure, but¡­weirdly, I feel more engaged here. Maybe it''s a community thing."

    "The community here is amazing," I agreed.

    "Community engagement is something that was really hammered into us at Hendon," D.T. said thoughtfully. "I think my biggest source of disillusionment was that until I got here, I never felt it or saw it. I mean, I don''t doubt that we''re better off than police in America¡­or pretty much anywhere else in the world, really¡­but¡­" She frowned. "I don''t know if I can explain it really well."

    I sighed a little. "And it''s not like I have a ton of life experience to give me a framework for understanding it."

    She looked surprised. "What? That''s not¡­" She broke off and laughed. "That''s not what I was thinking at all. Heck, it sounds like our life experience is pretty similar, really."

    I felt a twinge of uncertainty. "I don''t think so," I said quietly. "I was practically a professional student, on a path that would''ve made me a professional educator. I''ve hardly spent any time out in the real world."

    D.T. rested her elbows on the table and propped her chin in her hands. "Okay, let''s try this instead: Hobbies. I did gymnastics in primary and secondary, fencing at Hendon, I''m a rabid reader of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, love TV and movies from the 1970''s and 80''s¡­"

    I laughed. "Okay, point taken. We have a lot in common. But you''ve been out on the streets, doing something worthwhile," I added seriously. "I was¡­sequestered in classrooms and lecture halls, insulated by the partitions of library carrels¡­"

    D.T. waved my comment off. "You make it sound a lot more important than it really was. I was getting drunks and druggies off the streets when they got too loaded, giving tourists directions, and dealing with the occasional arrogant ass who thought beating up a girl copper sounded like a fun evening."

    That left me silent for a moment. "You know," I said finally, "when you put it that way it doesn''t sound that much different from wrangling a lecture hall full of undergrads. If a bit more dangerous."

    She grinned and spread her hands, as if to say ''there you go, then.''

    "But," I said, thinking to put the nail in the coffin of my own argument, "if I hadn''t had my family legacy waiting to surprise me and give me purpose, I have no idea what I really would''ve done with my life¡­"

    I trailed off. She was smiling again.

    "You mean like it did for me when I met you?" D.T. asked. "Come off it, Caley. You know I was floundering when they assigned me to Oakwood to cool my heels and think about my future. Meeting you, learning about Oakwood Hall and how badly this town and area need stolid protectors¡­" Her smile grew a bit. "My involvement was accidental and incidental, but your family legacy has given me a sense of purpose as surely as it did for you. This town, though I didn''t know it, is what I was really looking for when I joined the force."

    I held up my hands in surrender. "I give up."

    She grinned. "We''re a right pair, we are."

    I could have sworn that, just for a moment, I heard Penny laughing hysterically somewhere nearby.

    Malcolm O''Day approached the table, carrying our bread bowls of stew on stoneware plates. "Here you are, my girls!" he said cheerfully, setting them down. "If you have a moment?"

    We both nodded. "Of course," I said. "What''s up?"

    He smiled. "Nothing bad. There''s a town meeting tomorrow night, and as a member of the town council I was asked to invite you both to attend." He nodded to D.T.. "Constable Burroughs, of course, has an official position in town and should be there to fulfill it."

    His eyes returned to me. "Your position might be less official, Caley, but every bit as important. You should attend too."

    "I''ll be there," D.T. said firmly.

    "Me too," I said happily, just feeling glad to be included and involved. "Where is it being held?"

    Malcolm grinned. "Right here, of course."

    "In the pub?" D.T. asked, sounding amused. "Why?"

    Malcolm''s grin faded. "It''s a long story. The social hall has¡­problems. That''s one of the reasons I''m asking Caley to attend. It''s tradition, and a place for people to bring less urgent issues to Caley without bothering her."

    "It''s no bother -" I began to say.

    Malcolm cut me off with a smile and a finger to his lips. "Don''t say that, lass, or you''ll never have a moment''s peace. Every tiny maybe-problem will ring your phone at all hours. This is better."

    I huffed out a little laugh. "All right. Tomorrow night it is, then."

    Malcolm nodded happily. "Enjoy your meals, ladies."

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3

    I drove home after our late lunch/early dinner on a wave of warm certainty that, as first dates go, my date with D.T. had been a complete success. We''d firmly established interests in common, as well as all manner of things we didn''t know about one another yet. And, of course, confirmed that the chemistry we''d felt every time we met during that summer had been real.

    As I cruised slowly down the road toward the Hall''s front gates, the sun was setting on what had been an absolutely perfect day. Sparkle, too full of energy and my happiness to stay attached to the Master Key, had done several circuits around the interior of the little car before settling on the dashboard where she beamed up at me.

    I could feel that Penny was also soaking in my happiness. As was her nature, she was quite a bit more subdued about it, but our moods were distinctly reinforcing one another.

    I hoped that D.T., assuming our budding relationship went anywhere, would be able to adjust to that. But even that thought wasn''t enough to put a dent in my good mood.

    So it was a bit of a jolt to see a man standing by the Hall''s gates as we approached. I slowed my car and pulled onto the verge opposite the gates, then took a long look at my visitor.

    He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, with straight, short black hair swept back from his forehead and slicked down, and was clean-shaved. He was dressed in a three-piece gray suit with a slim, dark blue tie, a matching handkerchief neatly folded in the suit''s breast pocket, and was leaning lightly on a slender black cane.

    Even if I hadn''t been able to sense the magic radiating off of him I would''ve suspected that this was another practitioner. Or possibly a banker. But I was willing to bet he was another representative from the International Consortium of Organized Arcana. He just seemed to be cut from the same cloth that the last one, Edwyn Cuthbert, had been.

    "I don''t like this," Sparkle said. "We could go back to town."

    "I agree," Penny''s voice drifted out of nowhere behind my left shoulder.

    "Hang on," I said, and pulled out my cell phone. I called the Hall''s number, and was unsurprised when Ken picked up on the first ring.

    "He''s been out there for almost an hour," Ken said over the speaker when I asked. "He used the buzzer a couple of times, then settled in to wait when nobody answered."

    "Lovely," I said. "Why didn''t you call me?"

    "I''m reasonably sure he''s ICOA, and you know that they still want to try to have at least a friendly working relationship with you. He has presented no threat and appears content to wait," Ken said. "I was content to let him and see how long he would." Then he sighed and added, "And¡­I didn''t want to disturb your date.

    I rolled my eyes. This from the person who''d chastised me for being too lax about my own personal security in public. "Should I talk to him?"

    I could almost hear the shrug in Ken''s voice. "It''s up to you."

    I grunted noncommittally. "Well, let''s see if they can put their best foot forward on the second try," I said. "Objections?"

    Penny growled faintly, but didn''t protest. Instead, she said, "I will be waiting in the shadows by the fence, in case he tries something stupid."

    "Thank you, Penny. Sparkle?"

    Sparkle sighed a little, but nodded. "I''m staying with you, and visible, so he knows you''re not alone."

    "Thank you both," Ken said. "Do you have your earbud with you?"

    One of Wadsworth''s very clever brownies had enchanted an earbud that connected to the Hall''s security system. Once I put it in my ear, it became invisible and undetectable so that Ken and Wadsworth would be able to hear everything was said around me, and could in turn communicate with me, without being heard.

    "Yes, I have it," I said. "I''ll put it in while I''m getting out of the car."

    "Then have at it," Ken said. "But do be careful."

    "Always," I said, and closed the call. "Ready, girls?"

    "Ready!" Sparkle and Penny replied together. I felt Penny''s presence fade a little, and assumed that she''d just used her shadow-travel ability to shift over to the fence. Sparkle took up her accustomed perch on my right shoulder, and I got out of the car.

    As I did, I slid the small, flesh-colored earbud out of my purse and into my left ear, hoping I''d managed to make it look like I was just scratching an itch or something.

    Then I turned to face my visitor from across the narrow, two-lane road. "Hello."

    He bowed slightly at the waist. "May I assume I have the pleasure of addressing Lady Caitlyn Reid?" He asked in one of the most stereotypically upper-class British accents I''d ever heard. If I found out he''d attended Eton College I wouldn''t have been at all surprised. The stuffy old male professors at Cambridge hadn''t sounded as unconsciously superior as this young man did.

    "You may," I said. "You have me at a disadvantage."

    He smiled politely. "Gordon Chapman, ICOA." He bowed politely again. "It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Reid."

    Glancing both ways first - Sister Sarah would''ve been proud - I crossed the road and stood on the opposite side of the drive from him. I saw his eyes flick to Sparkle, and then back to my face.

    "May I ask what you''re doing here, Mr. Chapman?" I asked in the same absently polite tone he''d been using.

    "Of course, Lady Reid," he said. "I''m here to make a second attempt at first contact with you, as it were."

    "Fifth," I said shortly.

    He blinked a few times. "Pardon?"

    "Fifth attempt," I said, still in a politely conversational tone. "If you count Bellinus von Einhardt''s two attempts to control my mind to gain access to Oakwood Hall, and his violent assault on my home in April."

    Chapman cleared his throat, and I was a little relieved to see some of his self-assurance crumble. "Ah¡­I¡­am afraid I was not aware of those events. Only of Wizard Cuthbert''s attempt to speak with you in early May¡­" He trailed off and struggled to regain his verbal footing.

    "Where Mr. Cuthbert and I were unable to reach an agreement about the ICOA''s continued holding, against their will, of a clan of dusk foxes who are in a protective vassal agreement with my family?" I asked, wondering if he''d been told about that.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Some of the color drained out of his face. He was, at least, aware of what the ICOA''s apparent breach of a vassal agreement might mean. "I don''t know anything about that either," he said quickly, "only that Wizard Cuthbert didn''t think you were open to friendly relations with the ICOA. But our leadership wanted to try again -"

    "And they perhaps thought that sending someone closer to my own age might grease the wheels a bit, so to speak?"

    Sparkle giggled.

    Chapman glanced at her again, cleared his throat behind his hand, and tried to regain his composure. "I''m afraid this isn''t going at all the way I''d hoped. Perhaps we could speak privately? I saw you briefly in town, but didn''t stop, as I had no desire to have this conversation with a member of the mundane constabulary present."

    If he knew that D.T., as out of uniform as I''d ever seen her, was the local police constable, then the ICOA had been keeping tabs on me and on the town of Oakwood. I wondered if this young man even realized that he''d just told me that, as clearly as if he''d said it.

    "I''m afraid not," I said. "My companions go everywhere with me."

    "Companions?" he asked, glancing around, then starting as Penny slid out of the shadows by the gate, just to one side of him. She sat down on her haunches and tipped her head, giving him a perfectly innocent look of curiosity.

    "Oh," he said faintly.

    "And we," Sparkle said firmly from my shoulder, "aren''t leaving Caley alone with a strange man. Talk or scoot."

    "Sparkle," I said gently, "there''s no need to be impolite." I stared at Chapman. "The sad fact of the matter is, Mr. Chapman, that ICOA has done a particularly good job of putting their best foot forward so far."

    Penny huffed and said, just audibly, "That is a tremendous understatement."

    Chapman twitched again as she spoke, his eyes widening a little in surprise. Perhaps he''d never heard any of the dusk foxes held as pets by the ICOA speak. Penny had confirmed, when asked, that the collar von Einhardt had used to enslave her will had also prevented her from speaking.

    "So you''ll have to forgive me," I went on as if she hadn''t spoken, "to find another ICOA representative on my doorstep without so much as a polite call to schedule an appointment."

    His eyes returned to me and he cleared his throat again. "That''s¡­actually one of the things my superiors wished me to speak with you about. They asked me to express our concern over your isolation here in Oakwood Hall, as well as your family''s history of¡­shall we say friendly relations with the other supernatural communities? Especially the Sidhe and other residents of Faerie." His eyes flicked down to Penny, then over to Sparkle, before returning to me. "Not to mention the issue of the general awareness of the supernatural world that seems to be prevalent in the town of Oakwood -"

    He cut off as I took several steps forward, his head lowering as he had to look down to maintain eye contact with me. He was almost a full head taller than me.

    "Why, exactly, are those problems?" I asked, struggling to hold on to my temper. "It seems to me, based on recent events, that the ICOA is at least partly responsible for that awareness. Forcing a dusk fox - one whose clan is supposed to be living in harmony with my family - to attack me in the open, in Oakwood''s streets, is hardly keeping the supernatural world a secret. Neither is battering down my front gates with a gigantic summoned boar, or engaging in a magical battle on my front drive that was flashy enough to be seen in town."

    The color had drained out of Chapman''s face again, and for a moment I wondered if he might''ve been the associate who''d summoned the boar for von Einhardt. Then he cleared his throat - third time - and said, "Yes, well, we had no opportunity to do any damage control¡­"

    He trailed off, perhaps recognizing the anger on my face. "You had no chance to clean up after yourselves, you mean? What would you have done, anyway?"

    "Oh!" He said, as my question seemed to give him some of his self-assurance back. "We have specially trained wizards who would have eliminated any physical evidence, erased or modified the memories of non-magical mortals¡­you know, general cleanup."

    He said it so breezily, with such certainty and with the absolute belief that it was their right to do so, that I was struck dumb for a moment with the horror of it. Erase or modify memories? And just how far would they go to eliminate physical evidence¡­or maybe even people who had seen too much to be safely ''cleaned up?''

    I had, I decided, learned everything about the ICOA that I really needed to know. I was never going to have a good relationship with these people. Their behavior leaned heavily into villain territory.

    Behind him, Penny growled very softly.

    He was still rambling, I realized, most of which I hadn''t heard in my shock. "- because honestly, the only reason the ICOA hasn''t stepped in and done anything about your family before now is due to how useful they were as neutral negotiators in the supernatural world."

    I''d had more than enough of this. "Mr. Chapman, let me be perfectly clear about something." I took two more steps forward, closing the distance between us and glaring up at him, forcing him to take a step back in surprise. "If anything happens to any citizen of the town of Oakwood that I think might have been caused by the actions of a member of the ICOA, I will take actions against your organization. Probably through the law offices of Summers & Winters, rather than directly."

    "But -" he began.

    "Anything," I said firmly, drawing the word out for emphasis, and resisting the urge to poke his chest. "Anything at all. The town of Oakwood is under my protection, and I take that responsibility very seriously indeed. That also goes for the clan of dusk foxes that the ICOA is holding enslaved with magical collars¡­they have a vassal agreement with my family, and the ICOA has violated that agreement."

    "It''s an agreement that shouldn''t have been made in the first place," Chapman said, possibly without thinking, "that''s what my teachers said. Mortals shouldn''t make agreements like that with residents of Faerie. We were just cleaning up a potential mess that never should have existed."

    This guy really wasn''t on the ball. He''d just told me that not only was the ICOA holding Penny''s family against their will, but that the ICOA was so familiar with the incident that they were teaching their apprentices about it. The sheer arrogance of it almost made my jaw drop.

    Penny growled louder, her upper lip curling back to show a hint of fangs this time, which made Chapman shy away from her.

    "Control your animal!" he snapped in a mixture of anger and fear.

    "She''s no more an animal than you are¡­maybe less so," I said, aware that my anger was making me snarky and not really caring. Then I added, "She''s certainly more intelligent."

    "Thank you, Caley," Penny said primly.

    He flinched when she spoke, making me wonder if the ICOA was teaching their younger members how intelligent dusk foxes really were. Or if they even cared.

    This time, when I spoke, I did poke Chapman''s chest once with an index finger for emphasis. I know it was rude, but I was too angry to stop myself.

    "Go back to your superiors" I said coldly, "and give them my message, which I''ll repeat so there are no misunderstandings: If anything happens to anyone in Oakwood that I even think might be because of them, I''ll be coming for them through legal channels. If they don''t release the dusk foxes they''re holding against their will, I''ll be having words with legal representation about the ICOA''s breach of a vassal agreement. The town Oakwood and that clan of dusk foxes are under my protection¡­and so far, everything I''ve seen and heard about the ICOA makes you look like the bad guys."

    Chapman took another step back, lifting his cane. I felt the magic gathering there¡­and so did Sparkle, apparently, because suddenly she was human-sized and standing between me and Chapman, glowing balls of purple energy crackling in her hands. "And Caley is under our protection," she said, nodding past him to where Penny was now up on all fours and crouched to pounce, her muzzle set in a silent snarl. "You should go now."

    He looked absolutely shocked at Sparkle''s sudden size change. For a moment, I thought we were actually about to throw down with him¡­then he backed off another step and nodded curtly. "I will deliver your message, Lady Reid." Then he muttered a word under his breath and vanished with a pop that I assumed was in-rushing air.

    The balls of energy in Sparkle''s hands flashed and vanished as if they''d never been there, while Penny padded over. "We may have just made an enemy of them," she said softly. "But thank you for standing up for my kin."

    "As if Caley could have done anything else," Sparkle said firmly, bending and ruffling Penny''s ears. Then she looked at me. "Right, Caley?"

    "Right, Sparkle," I said, taking a deep breath to settle my roiling stomach. "Wise or not, it was the right thing to do. To be honest, I suspect any good relations they had with my family were strained to begin with." I took another deep breath, let it out, then touched my left ear to make sure the earbud was still there. "Ken? Tell me you got that on video."

    "Audio and video, in crystal clarity, on three different cameras," Ken said. "And while I agree that it might not have been the wisest course of action, it was the right one."

    "Thank you, Ken," I said. His approval made me feel a bit better about what I''d done. "Please send a copy of the video to Summers & Winters immediately, but ask them not to take any action yet."

    "Consider it done," Ken said, his voice full of approval now. That course of action, at least, he liked.

    "And I think I''d better call D.T. and have her keep an eye open," I said. Then I looked at my friends and smiled. "Pile back in the car, you two, and let''s get this thing parked. Then I''ll call D.T.."

    As I climbed back into my little car, I realized that all of my good feelings from such a fantastic day were gone. There were thunderclouds on the horizon.

    Well¡­it had been a good day, anyway.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4

    "Well," Ken said as I sat at the little table by the fireplace in the kitchen, "that''s precisely the kind of insane troll logic and self-righteous arrogance I''ve come to expect from the ICOA." He sighed and paced aimlessly around the kitchen. "I suppose that''s strike three, to use the American parlance."

    I sipped the mug of hot cocoa I''d made to soothe my frazzled nerves. "They really seem to be going out of their way to give me the worst possible impression of the way they operate."

    Penny, sitting across from me in her human form, sipped her own cocoa tentatively. "I like this. You''re not wrong, though. I would apologize for my part in that, but you already know that I had only the barest sliver of control over my own actions."

    "And what that cost you," I said gently. "Don''t think I didn''t see the strain resisting that collar put on you. I don''t know how those collars work, and I don''t particularly want to, but the discomfort it was causing you was very obvious. I''m glad I was able to free you from it."

    She bowed her head briefly in acknowledgment, then sipped her cocoa again.

    "To be honest," I added, feeling a sudden need to get this off my chest, "I still feel rather guilty about binding you to me when you were free."

    Sparkle, still human-sized and sitting beside her looked up in surprise from nibbling on a cookie. "What?"

    Penny also gave me a look of surprise.

    Under their mutually surprised gazes, I shrugged uncomfortably. "Maybe it''s a human thing. I''m uncomfortable with the idea of owning people."

    They looked at one another, and I got the distinct impression of some silent communication passing between them before they returned their gaze to me and Penny said, "We¡­don''t understand, Caley. We bound ourselves to your service, and did so voluntarily."

    "Technically I bound myself to Mistress Chessie," Sparkle interjected, "but she asked me if I''d be willing to be passed to you when the time came, and I agreed. Wholeheartedly." She gave me a gentle smile.

    "Trust me," Penny continued, "when I say that the relationship we have with you is as different from what von Einhardt did to me as day from night."

    "But they''re both forms of control," I said, holding up the hand on which their rings - the physical mark of their bond with me - rode. "Your will is subordinate to mine."

    They briefly looked at one another again, this time sharing an amused look, before Penny said, "How is that different from you going out and getting a job? Your will would be subordinate to whoever employed you, wouldn''t it?"

    "Well, yes¡­" I said.

    "And your will is technically subordinate to the laws of the nation you live in, is it not?" Penny asked.

    "Yes¡­" I replied, starting to feel a bit uneasy.

    "And are we not better off putting ourselves in your hands," Sparkle asked, smirking, "than living wild out in Faerie, or being claimed by a monster like von Einhardt? Aren''t the Fairies of the Hall better off than they were before you claimed them as yours?"

    It was so easy to forget that my fairy friend was so much more than the flighty, easily-distracted, giggly and bubbly creature that she often seemed to be. And that she was quite a lot older than she appeared. I held up my hands in surrender. "But wouldn''t you rather be making your own choices?"

    They shared another look, this one confused. "But¡­we have made our choices," Penny said. "We chose to serve someone we knew would treat us well, protect us, make our lives more comfortable and help us be more than we were."

    Sparkle nodded. "Free will is super overrated. We don''t need it."

    "That," Ken interjected, smiling at Penny and Sparkle, "is a gross oversimplification. You both still have free will, you''ve just used it to narrow the range of decisions you''ll have to make for yourselves." He looked at me then, "They are right, though. While you do, in a very real way, own them - as far as the rules of Faerie are concerned - it might be better to think of them as very dedicated employees."

    I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I think I''ll stick with friends."

    When I looked up again, Penny was beaming at me and Sparkle was literally glowing brighter purple.

    "And that," Penny said, "is the difference. Yes, we''re yours. Your friends. Your companions. Your guardians, helpers¡­your family."

    Sparkle nodded. "Family."

    I reached out and took their hands across the table, squeezing gently. "Yeah, that''ll work. Thank you for being patient with the dumb mortal human."

    They both squeezed back gently before releasing my hands.

    "Not dumb," Penny said. "Far from it. Just¡­limited."

    Sparkle nodded. "It''s not your fault you don''t understand Faerie. You''re not from there. We''re your guides to it, the same way you help us understand the mortal world."

    Ken, now ''leaning'' against the counter, smiled. "Your relationship with them is a bit more give-and-take than you thought, hm?"

    "I give up," I said. "You''re right, I''m oversimplifying it in the wrong way." I sighed. "All of which is a pleasant distraction from the topic at hand. What do I do about the ICOA?"

    "You''ve already started on the right path," Ken said, "by sending a copy of your conversation with Mr. Chapman to Margrave. Let him decide what the appropriate course of action is. For now, it will likely just be collecting evidence of their misguided actions.

    "Odds are very good," he added after a moment''s pause, "that he''s already looking into taking legal action against them for their breach of the vassal agreement your family had with Penny''s clan."

    Penny nodded. "I don''t know what, if anything, that will do for my kin, but I appreciate that freeing them is a complicated and difficult thing at best."

    Sparkle plucked another cookie from the plate in front of her and nibbled on it. I was rather pleased to see her self-control improving. A few months ago the entire plate of cookies would''ve been gone already. She could still be a glutton when she was hungry - or just felt like it - but this was progress.

    I drained what was left in my mug and sighed. "I''d rather have at least genial relations with them than anything else. I feel like I''m getting off on a bad start rebuilding the neutrality that you said," I nodded to Ken, "my family is famous for."

    He made a face. "The ICOA are the bad actors here, not you, Caley. They''re the ones acting in bad faith. It''s one thing to be a reliable neutral party for negotiations, it''s another to let the ICOA walk all over you the way they seem to want to. Yes, it''s better to have cordial relations with the other parties in the supernatural world, but if you don''t stand up for yourself, nobody will trust you to do anything else."

    "Fair," I said, rising and going to put my mug in the sink.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Penny followed me, putting her empty mug beside mine and slipping an arm around my waist. "Sparkle and I will be by your side the whole way, no matter what."

    Sparkle seemed to materialize on my other side, slipping an arm around my waist as well. "What Penny said. Whatever else comes, you can always count on us to keep you steady."

    I wrapped my arms around them in return, pulling them closer and hugging them tightly. "Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."

    "Yes we do," Sparkle said with a giggle. "We can feel your emotions very clearly."

    "I''m still not used to that," I admitted, letting go of them. "All right, I want to get out of this outfit, and it''s early enough for me to get some more practice in. I''ve got nervous energy to burn and I''d rather do something productive than spend the whole evening worrying about the ICOA."

    "Excellent idea!" Ken clapped his hands. "I''ll get the workshop ready. I''d like to see you casting your transfiguration spells silently."

    It was almost midnight by the time I''d worn myself out to the point where I thought I could tune out my anxiety enough to sleep, and as a result I slept later than usual. It''s not like I had a fixed schedule to follow beyond any I set for myself, so I''d stopped fretting about staying on one.

    As a result, it was a little before ten the next morning the morning when I stepped through my bedroom windows into the clearing outside and surveyed the industry of my very own clan of fairies. Since claiming them as being under my protection almost by accident a few months earlier, they''d built an entire settlement in the area of the clearing that ran around behind where my bedroom windows appeared to float in mid-air.

    The clearing itself existed in what Ken called the Otherworld, in a region of said¡­dimension, for lack of a better term¡­that was called Faerie. I knew beyond all doubt that the clearing didn''t exist anywhere on Earth, and that was pretty much where my understanding of it ended. Ken promised that as I learned more about the supernatural world, Otherworld and its myriad regions (many of which had been written about in fictional stories) would slowly become more comprehensible to me.

    To say the buildings the fairies had raised were eclectic was, in my opinion, one of the great understatements of all time. I saw homes built in giant mushrooms, tree stumps, rose bushes, and made of all manner of materials from the surrounding woods and which I''d procured for them from mortal sources. They had left a wide swath of the clearing directly in front of my windows clear of any construction, and it was there that the fairies danced and played nightly, looking like wildly colored fireflies, a practice that I loved to sit and watch before bed.

    Out at the edge of the clearing, which was somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty meters across, the fairies had raised an honest-to-goodness fairy circle. A perfect ring of mushrooms in every shape and size, some of which I was reasonably certain had never grown on Earth, where even now I could see fairy guards on patrol and to all appearances taking their jobs very seriously. Just beyond that ring of mushrooms, I had worked hard to raise protective wards, the magic of which I could clearly feel was still holding strong. Between those two layers of protection, Ken was reasonably certain that nothing could enter the clearing without our permission.

    At least, not without someone noticing.

    One fairy home in particular stood out because of its proximity to the right side of my windows (facing out), which put it almost directly beside the trio of soda-bottle feeders and pair of bird baths that sort of served as the social center of the charming village. The home in question was a uneven construction of three floors, the base of which was a custom made two-story fairy house I''d purchased online for the purpose.

    Growing out of the second story of the house, extending through its roof as if it had always been there, was a miniature but perfectly formed oak tree. Around the top of the tiny tree, just above waist-high on me, a combination observation platform and deck had been built.

    Sitting on the deck, on miniature chaise lounges, were the nominal leaders of the settlement, Spice and Shine. Spice was a fiery, energetic little fairy, bright red in clothes and hair, and fair-skinned. Shine was just as energetic as her partner, but was much more reserved and almost utterly silent; I had, in fact, gotten the impression that some old injury had left her unable to speak at all. Her skin and hair were both a shade of pale silver that was almost reflective, and she dressed exclusively in shades of silver.

    They were always together, and I was quite certain they were a couple. A belief which was reinforced that morning as they were stretched out in the sun, side-by-side, holding hands. I smiled at the sight and bowed politely to them. "Good morning!"

    Shine waved cheerfully with her free hand and Spice pushed up a tiny pair of sunglasses (where she''d gotten them I had no idea) to smile at me. "Good morning, Lady Reid! How fare you this fine morning?"

    "A bit unsettled, I''m afraid," I said as Penny handed out my yoga mat, then shifted back to her natural form and climbed out after me. Sparkle, already at her natural size, buzzed over and landed on the observation platform with Spice and Shine. "Even Sparkle couldn''t completely keep my sleep from being restless last night."

    "Not for lack of trying," Sparkle said grumpily. "That jerk from the ICOA upset you even more than you let on."

    As I watched, Shine rose and collected a third chair for Sparkle, while Spice offered her a small cup of something steaming. The other two fairies were about half a head shorter than Sparkle, which I thought was somehow influenced by their standing in the community, since all of the other fairies I''d seen were, in turn, smaller than Spice and Shine.

    Smiling, I left the three fairies to their business and unrolled my yoga mat.

    The village''s hierarchy was me at the very peak, then Sparkle, and then Spice and Shine together. Since Sparkle was almost always with me, we''d put Spice and Shine in charge of the Fairies of the Hall and their village.

    I had yet to have any cause to regret the decision. They''d organized and expanded the fairies who wanted to live under my protection - and protected that entrance to my home in turn - astoundingly well. So well, that the village, less than six months old, looked as if it had always been there. But Spice and Shine liked to give Sparkle a report on the village''s doings and growth every couple of days.

    Sparkle seemed to enjoy it, and would tell me anything that I really needed to know. Or which might amuse me.

    As I settled in to stretch and do my exercises, Penny gave me a nod and went to prowl the perimeter of the clearing. It was almost like Sparkle was my operations chief, and Penny my security chief.

    Almost.

    A half-hour of yoga finished waking me up and had me feeling more centered and more myself. I rolled up my mat and dropped it on the bench seat just inside my bedroom windows, then padded barefoot over to Spice and Shine''s home. I settled to my knees in the soft grass, which put my head just about level with the observation deck, where the three fairies were watching me.

    "Mortal wizards," Spice opined, "are jerks."

    Shine nodded firmly.

    "You''ll get no argument from me," I said. "None of the three I''ve met so far were worth taking the time to get to know. I take it Sparkle filled you in on my day yesterday."

    "Yes," Spice said, then smiled impishly. "When are you bringing this Dejah Thoris Burroughs to meet us?"

    I laughed. "Told you everything, did she? I''ll bring her once she''s a bit better read into all of the weirdness that goes on in my life."

    Spice nodded firmly. "If she''s a prospective mate, we''d like to meet her. Of course, the ultimate decision is yours, but as your mate she would have standing equal to yours in our community."

    That set me back on my heels a little. Not only had I not been thinking far enough ahead to ever apply the term ''mate'' to D.T.¡­at least not in the way Spice meant it¡­it hadn''t occurred to me that having a significant other (to put it politely) might affect my fairies.

    "Then if our relationship looks to be going in that direction," I said, "I will definitely bring her to meet you."

    Spice nodded again. "As far as mortal wizards go, it''s depressing how often fairy encounters with them are the result of them trying to trap us." Apparently, that was the beginning and end of the subject, as far as D.T. went. Subject change. Conversations with fairies were like that¡­I''d learned to keep up.

    "That''s terrible," I said earnestly. "Why would they do that?"

    Spice shrugged. "Well, I mean¡­look at us." She stood up and spread her arms.

    She was dressed in a two piece outfit, a sleeveless halter top and a short, frilly skirt, both of which appeared to be made of red silk, and was barefoot. I had to admit she cut a striking, beautiful figure.

    I grimaced. "They see fairies as ornamental or something?"

    She glanced at Shine, who was busily not looking at us. Had the actions of a mortal wizard led to Shine''s mute state?

    "Something like that," Spice said more softly. "And¡­there are less savory uses to which they can put us if bound. It depends on the wizard, of course. But in our experience, few mortals are as respectful of us as you and your family have been."

    I sighed softly. It''s not like I had a ton of faith in humanity a species to begin with, so what she said didn''t surprise me particularly. But it was still sad. "On behalf of my species, I''m sorry. We''re not all like that, honest."

    She smiled. "We know not all humans are bad. But it''s wiser for us to avoid them whenever possible anyway."

    "Makes sense," I agreed, wondering at how little I knew about Spice and Shine. "You know," I said, "I feel I haven''t spent enough time getting to know you both."

    Spice laughed softly. "You have, as Sparkle has let us know, been extremely busy of late. I have little doubt that you''ll spend more time with us as it permits." She nodded past me. "Greetings, Miss Penny."

    Penny sat down beside me, still in her natural fox form, and bowed her head politely. "Good morning to you, Spice, Shine."

    "Is our perimeter secure?" Spice asked. She sounded, to my ear, completely sincere in her question. She really seemed to want Penny''s reassurance that the clearing was still as safe as we could all make it.

    Penny nodded. "Quite secure," she said. "And yes, Caley has been extremely busy of late. Since my arrival, in fact, I haven''t seen her take an entire day for herself."

    I blinked a few times. Had it really been that long since I''d taken a day off?

    Yeah. Yeah, it had.

    Oof.

    "Okay, I''ll take a day to myself soon," I said.

    Penny snorted, and Sparkle giggled. Shine laughed silently, and Spice shook her head.

    "I will!" I said earnestly. "I promise!"

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5

    After that conversation, something was nagging at the back of my mind, and it took the better part of two hours for me to shake it loose enough to recognize it. As I was sitting down to start working on my mother''s staff, it finally floated to the top of my mind, and I looked up at Ken. "Shouldn''t I have a formal vassal agreement with the Fairies of the Hall? Like the one my ancestors made with Penny''s ancestors?"

    Sparkle, sitting on the shelf unit over the workbench, looked up in surprise from examining an engraving tool.

    Ken blinked a few times. "And that''s another major failing in my education plans pointed out. You already have one."

    I stared up at him. "Pardon?"

    He smiled a little. "Whether you realized it or not, you were accepting them as your vassals when you promised to protect and nurture them in exchange for their service protecting that entrance to the Hall. I expect Margrave has already drawn up the paperwork and magically applied everyone''s signatures to it. It''s within the purview of Summers & Winters to do that for their clients. Saves time."

    "That''s¡­insanely efficient. And a little creepy," I said. "In this instance I don''t mind, especially considering the way the ICOA has been behaving. But I guess that means I need to be a lot more careful about who I make that sort of deal with."

    "You should be anyway," Penny said softly, emerging from the shadows beside the table in her human form. She spread her arms, "Look at me, for example. This was not anything either of us expected, and while it works to our benefit and has been a very pleasant side-effect of refreshing the agreement between our families, it was quite the shock."

    Indeed it had been. Penny''s new post-bonding ability human appearance - an almost perfect negative image of my own, in shades of coal black fading to dark blue at the tips of her still fox-like ears, twin tails, and at the tips of her fingers - had been shocking to us both. But it had been extremely useful, giving her the ability to do a wide variety of things that were mundane to me but had been difficult for her (in the absence of thumbs). A few months of Ken pushing her to use her new form whenever practical had made her comfortable shifting back and forth as needed. She''d even learned to shift into the form of a large, entirely black Husky, when she wanted to be out in public with me.

    But it had, as she''d said, been quite the shock for her at first.

    "It worked out well for us," she tapped her own chest with two fingers, "and of course is the foundation of your relationship with Sparkle. And it''s of tremendous benefit to both you and the Fairies of the Hall. But you should most assuredly be more cautious making deals going forward." She gave Ken a droll look. "Something your tutor should have taught you early on."

    Ken held up his hands. "In my defense, the lesson plans her father left me were woefully unprepared for either the reality of Caley''s natural ability to absorb information like a dry sponge, or for the psychological realities of adjusting to a world she''d had no awareness of prior to coming home to Oakwood Hall."

    "That''s fair," Penny said. "But perhaps you and I should have a conversation about speeding up Caley''s lessons about Faerie and dealing with its residents."

    "Not a bad idea," Ken said. "You might have more practical knowledge of Faerie than I do. We should get Sparkle involved too."

    Sparkle nodded eagerly. "I''ve been wanting to do that from day one."

    "Well," I said, gesturing to Mom''s staff stretched on the workbench in front of me, "I have my work cut out for me here. Why don''t you three huddle around one of the other tables here and start building lesson plans for teaching me all about Faerie."

    Ken hesitated.

    "Ken," I said gently, "I have a solid enough grounding in enchanting to carefully disassemble this staff. Once I''ve done that, my task, as I understand it, is to copy the rune arrays engraved on each part onto strips of paper so they can be examined in greater detail. That''s going to take me days." I made a shooing gesture. "I promise I won''t accidentally blow anything up while you''re on the other side of the room, and I''ll call immediately if I encounter anything I don''t understand."

    Sparkle and Penny both giggled, and Ken smiled in a self-deprecating way, then bowed to me. "As you say, my lady. Come on, you two. Let''s go do some lesson planning."

    I watched as they went together to one of the other work tables, Penny pulling out a stool to sit on and Sparkle alighting on the table. Then, shaking my head a little, turned my attention to my task.

    Mom''s staff really was a work of art. The more time I spent with it, the more I was aware of it. The strands of silver, copper, and gold that - braided together in a triple helix - made up the staff and allowed it to be flexible enough to act as a belt were made of a mesh so tightly and finely woven that I needed a pair of binocular jeweler''s loupes mounted on a headband to get a good look at them and see the tiny runes engraved on them.

    It must have taken Mom months to do the engraving, it was so fine and widespread. How long would it take me to work out the riddle of why the staff wasn''t working properly?

    Fortunately, I was a patient person.

    Still¡­as I carefully worked on the connecting points at either end of the staff with specialized tools, something was - once again - nagging at the back of my mind.

    This time it surfaced more quickly. Possibly because I was working directly on something that was literally right in front of my eyes. About an hour later, as I finished releasing the three strands and stretched them out separately on the workbench, what was bothering me finally clicked into place.

    I grabbed a fine-tipped chisel, a small hammer, and the loop-shaped gold end cap that would make up the bottom of the staff if I ever managed to shift it out of its belt form. I placed the tip of the chisel on the end cap and gave it a few careful taps with the small hammer.

    Then a few harder taps.

    "Well," I said, "that''s not right." Louder, I said, "Ken, a moment?"

    He was by my side in an instant, with Penny and Sparkle not far behind. "What is it?"

    I gestured to the gold parts of the staff. "I don''t think this is gold. It''s not soft enough, and look¡­" I grabbed the work lamp on its swing arm and adjusted it, changing the way the light played over the surface of the metals. "Look at that weird, oily sheen that shows up when the light hits it just right."

    Ken sucked in a breath. "Oh my."

    Sparkle fluttered closer, zipping this way and that to look at it from different angles. "Is that what I think it is?"

    "Penny," Ken said, "three workbenches to the left you''ll find alchemical substance tests. It''s a box with little strips of paper in it. Bring it over, please."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    She nodded and went, returning with a perfectly mundane-looking plastic box, about a foot wide and half that tall and deep, gray-backed and transparent-fronted, that flipped open to stand up on its own. Inside were rows of little compartments, each of them carefully labeled and filled with slips of white paper. At Ken''s gesture, she opened it and set it on the workbench near me.

    "These," Ken said, "are slips of paper that have been magically and chemically treated to test and identify different metals. Your grandmother was a talented alchemist, and used these to make sure the metals, minerals, and other alchemical substances she worked with were actually what they appeared to be, and were of sufficient purity."

    "Okay," I said. "Obviously I don''t need to know how to make them right now, but how do they work? In a practical sense."

    Ken''s lips twitched into an almost-smile. "In a practical sense, you find the slip for the metal you want to test. Then you lay it on the metal, and watch it change color. The way your grandmother prepared them, if it turns green you have the right metal or alloy, and of sufficient purity. If it turns yellow, it''s the right metal or alloy, but the purity isn''t sufficient. If it turns red, it''s not the right metal. Each slip is good for one use, which is why there''s so many."

    "Useful," I said. "Very useful."

    Ken nodded. "Very. So, find the slips of paper prepared for testing gold."

    It wasn''t hard. The neatly labeled little compartments were laid out  in alphabetical order. Grandmother had apparently been very organized, rather like I was. It made me wonder, not for the first time, if my mother''s apparent ADHD and other odd personality quirks had been natural, or if they were perhaps the result of spending six very formative years alone except for fairies and a ghost.

    Regardless, I quickly had a slip of paper for testing gold picked out, and laid it carefully across the golden mesh that made up one third of the staff.

    It turned red almost instantly.

    "Well," I said, "that answers that question. What is it, then?"

    "That''s an excellent question," Ken said, rubbing his chin, clearly perplexed. "Well, I can tell you what it definitely isn''t¡­it''s not pyrite. I recall your grandmother tried working with it and found it to be almost completely useless." He pointed at the plastic box. "Try orichalcum. I doubt that''s what it is, but it''s worth a try."

    "Orichalcum is real?" I found the appropriate slot and slid out a slip of paper. "I mean¡­not the stuff they found at that archaeological dig in Sicily, but an actual magically-active metal?" I laid the slip of paper on the gold section of the staff, and again it turned red instantly.

    "Oh, it''s real," Ken said, "It''s an alloy of gold, silver, mercury, and copper that''s incredibly hard to make. And it''s not that." He nodded to the staff and frowned. "All right, then. There''s almost no metals that look like gold."

    Penny and Sparkle watched curiously, looking back and forth between me, the staff, and Ken in almost perfect synchronization.

    Ken pointed to the plastic box and, very softly, said, "Try a test for aurite."

    Penny looked confused, but Sparkle sucked in a breath and put a hand over her mouth.

    "Okay," I said, feeling as confused as Penny looked. It wasn''t any metal I''d ever heard of, but I found the slot in the box of tests quickly enough. It was packed full, as if none of the slips prepared for that purpose had ever been used. So I slid one out and laid it carefully on that section of the staff.

    It instantly turned green.

    "Oh my gods and goddesses," Ken breathed reverently.

    "Explain," I said dryly.

    Ken flashed me a quick smile. "Sorry. Aurite is to gold what mithril is to silver. It''s even sometimes referred to as ''truegold,'' the way mithril is called ''truesilver.'' It''s not¡­it''s a different mineral entirely, and even more incredibly rare than mithril, which is rare enough to begin with. It''s supposed to be incredibly strong, and it''s said that there''s no better metal for taking enchantments."

    He ran a hand over his mouth and chin, staring at the staff. "As I recall, your mother made a deal with a clan of dwarves in Faerie - actual, high-fantasy dwarves, mind you - to make the components of the staff out of ingots she pulled from a vault in the Hall. I wonder if she even knew it wasn''t a gold ingot she gave them. They are astonishingly similar in appearance unless you''re specifically looking for differences." He glanced at me. "Or finding them by accident."

    "The dwarves wouldn''t have said something?" I asked, letting the existence of dwarves pass uncommented. I''d had to accept far more difficult concepts in the past ten months.

    He shrugged. "They were commissioned specifically to make the mesh strands that Chessie was going to weave together to make the staff. Dwarves are gifted artisans, but they aren''t great conversationalists¡­it''s extremely likely they were just honored to be given such an insanely rare metal to work with and assumed she''d done so on purpose. They''re certainly the only smiths who could manage this feat." He tapped the finely-woven golden metal as he spoke.

    "Could that be part of the reason the staff didn''t work properly?" I asked. "If Mom engraved and enchanted it without knowing what she was really working with¡­"

    Ken nodded. "It definitely could be. But I don''t think it would have caused the problem we''re seeing. If anything, it would have made the staff too efficient for the rune array she engraved on it, and caused a different problem." His eyes met mine. "Do keep that in mind while you copy out the rune arrays. Whether it''s the core problem or not, they might need to be modified to account for what we just learned."

    We were all silent for a moment before I quietly asked, "How did neither of my parents notice that the wrong metal had been used?"

    The silence returned, deepening until it could almost have begun absorbing sound. I saw Sparkle and Penny exchange a look I couldn''t read.

    Finally, Ken said, just as quietly, "Nobody is perfect, Caley." He gave me a sad little smile. "There are several reasons that might satisfy you, but two stand out most sharply to me: First and foremost, that staff was the last enchanting project your mother was working on, and she loved to keep your father from seeing her enchantments until she was ready to unveil them. She only showed it to him when it failed to change back to its staff form, and that was only a few days before she died."

    He sighed softly, then continued, "Secondly, enchanting was your mother''s strong suit, not your father''s. He spent more time working on the theoretical side of magic, with practical applications in wards and ritual magic. And he knew very little about alchemy or metallurgy."

    "Circumstance," I said.

    Ken shrugged. "You know well enough by now that after she died, your father put most of your mother''s things away in storage and focused almost exclusively for years on reinforcing the Hall''s wards. So much so that it took his own mentor years of study and additional help to break through them enough to just enter the grounds."

    I nodded, nibbling on my bottom lip. "I know." I sighed. "It''s not like I ever thought my parents infallible. It''s still tough to swallow that such an extraordinary piece of crafting could have failed because of something that I spotted within a few hours of starting to work on it."

    Ken took a deep breath and let it out, then smiled. "Well, apprentice mine, don''t forget that your own studies of that staff are in their early days. And I think, based on its behavior and your initial assessment of energy flow through it, you''re likely to find more problems than just this one."

    He tapped the workbench lightly, but I was now able to hear him do so where his touch hadn''t made much sound even a few months ago. "I want you to work on copying out the rune arrays until it''s time for lunch. I won''t be at all surprised if you find more problems there."

    Although my mood was still somber, I threw him a teasing salute in return. "Aye, sir!"

    "Meanwhile, Sparkle, Penny and I will continue sorting out how to best teach you more about Faerie." He gestured to them. "Come on, you two. Let''s let her work."

    They both nodded, but I felt their eyes - and a hint of worry from them - linger on me as they moved to follow him.

    Looking at the three major pieces of the staff, I decided to leave the aurite strand for last. I pulled out a long strip of paper that was meant for the purpose of writing out rune arrays, and dragged over the staff''s silver strand. I put my binocular magnifying glasses back on, picked up a pencil, and got to work.

    Copying out rune arrays - especially ones as tiny as what my mother had engraved on her staff - was painstaking, laborious work. It was bad enough knowing that I was likely to find mistakes in her arrays without having to worry about making my own mistakes while copying them out. So I took my time, triple checking each rune as I copied it and double-checking each one I put down on paper against the original.

    And, of course, I had a tendency to lose track of time when I was concentrating.

    As a result, I''d barely made it down a quarter of the length of the silver strand before Ken cleared his throat. "That''s an hour, and it''s time for lunch."

    I looked up in surprise, and my eyes crossed trying to focus on his zoomed-in face through the magnifying lenses. "Augh!" I said with what I thought was exceptional eloquence under the circumstances, and took the thing off to rub my eyes. "Thank you."

    "You''re welcome." He leaned over my shoulder and looked at what I''d done so far, nodding. "Very good. What does it look like to you so far?"

    I finished rubbing my eyes and blinked a few times to clear them. "So far, it''s exactly the same one I carved on my staff."

    "Very good," he said approvingly. "Come on, rest your eyes and refuel."

    I rose from the stool I''d been sitting on and arched my back, stretching my arms above my head. "Oof. That''s the same stiff back I had after studying for too long at university."

    Ken chuckled. "I''ll bet."

    Penny - back in her fox form - padded over, with Sparkle riding on her shoulders, which was just adorable. "Lunch?" Penny asked.

    "Lunch," I agreed. "Let''s hit the kitchen."

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6

    Over lunch, we filled Ken in on how my date with D.T. had gone.

    "She''s a fencer?" he asked with obvious interest. "You should invite her to practice with you."

    I swallowed a bite of my sandwich - Black Forest ham with Jarlsberg cheese on sourdough - and chuckled. "If her fencing lessons were as traditional as mine, I''m not sure how well she''d take the considerably more aggressive¡­not to mention potentially lethal¡­style you''ve been teaching me."

    Ken shrugged. "It wouldn''t hurt for you to review your basics by teaching some of it to her, and I''d be willing to help." He hesitated a moment. "And¡­if she''s really going to help you protect the town of Oakwood, it wouldn''t hurt for her to learn that style as well. Though honestly, with her build, longsword might be more the thing for her."

    Sparkle, who had been nibbling her way curiously but without much satisfaction through a sandwich of her own, looked up. "Either way, it''s still a good idea. Do I have to finish this?" The sandwich had been Penny''s idea, being tired of watching our fairy friend eat nothing but junk food.

    She did not seem to be winning the battle.

    Personally, I had given up trying to understand the biological needs of either of my friends from Faerie, and was content to let them eat what they felt they needed to. Certainly, almost a year of watching Sparkle consume nothing but sugary garbage (and sweet fruits) had done precisely no harm at all. So¡­yeah¡­I had a feeling it was just going to be one of those things I had to accept and move on.

    Penny sighed heavily. "No."

    "Yay!" Sparkle was off to the fridge in an instant, returning a moment later with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

    Penny reached over and plucked one off Sparkle''s plate, putting it on her own. Sparkle just beamed at her.

    "So," I said, "neither of you have any issue with me seeing D.T.?"

    They shook their heads in unison.

    "She makes you feel good," Sparkle said, "and you make her feel good."

    "You also have complimentary skill sets," Penny noted. "And, frankly, she seems better able to handle the¡­the vagaries of the supernatural world than you do, sometimes."

    I laughed softly. "My life does seem to keep throwing curve balls at me."

    Ken sat down beside me and rested his elbows on the table. "Life is like that. On the whole, I think you''ve handled it fairly well. Just look at where you are now¡­it wasn''t even a year ago yet that you came home to Oakwood Hall, and you''ve made such great progress."

    "Thank you," I said, and finished the last bite of my lunch. A minute later, I said, "All right, what''s on the agenda for this afternoon? Keeping in mind that I have the town meeting to attend this evening. It''d be a great look if I promised to go, then was so exhausted that I fell asleep mid-meeting."

    Ken chuckled. "But that''s not happening to you as much anymore, is it. Your magical stamina has improved by leaps and bounds."''

    "Well, we''ve been working it pretty hard," I said with a chuckle.

    "True. You are driven," Ken agreed. "How are your studies of sign language going?"

    "Very well," I said. "ASL and BSL are similar enough that I''m picking them both up together, and I''m just stumbling over the syntactic differences. I think I could hold a conversation in it now¡­it might be a simple conversation, but I could keep up reasonably well."

    "Good," Ken said with a nod. "Then this afternoon we''re going to review the spells you already know well, and see if you can cast them using sign language instead of a verbal focus. Silent spellcasting is a hurdle that many spellcasters never overcome¡­this is a shortcut to accomplish it that very few ever seem to consider for some reason. At least, they didn''t used to¡­I suppose I can''t speak for today, and my information on that came from your father, which makes it a few years out of date."

    "Either way, it seems like a good step to take," I said. "The few spells I''ve mastered casting silently can be cast faster than the others, so casting with sign language should speed me up in general. Right?"

    "Right," Ken nodded. "So, whenever you''re ready?"

    I rose, brushed a few crumbs off my shirt, and nodded. "Let''s go."

    "If you don''t mind," Sparkle said, "I''d like to go back out to the village and spend some time with Spice and Shine. It''ll be good for relations with the rest of the community if they see me out there once in a while."

    "Of course not," I said with a smile. "That sounds like a good idea. Penny, do you want to go with her? I know sitting around watching me cast spells over and over again can''t be terribly exciting."

    Penny, who had been taking our plates to the sink, was suddenly back in her natural fox form. She stretched and arched her back for a moment, then nodded. "Actually, I think I might go down to the garden and talk to Dara. She knows a lot about the history of my clan that my grand-dam wasn''t able to teach us. And you''re as safe as you possibly can be in the workshop."

    She took protecting me so seriously. "That sounds good too. If I finish up early enough, I might join you."

    So we split up. Once my friends were out of earshot, I breathed a little sigh of relief and smiled sheepishly at Ken. "I love them both dearly¡­they''re the sisters I never had. But sometimes¡­"

    Ken chuckled. "They''re absolutely devoted to you. I imagine it can get a bit smothering at times."

    "Only sometimes," I said again. "Most of the time I love it." I lowered my eyes as we walked and added quietly, "It''s nice to have friends who want to be with me just for the sake of being with me, not because of what I can do for them."

    Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him look at me. "This goes back to your school days, I take it?"

    "More recently than that," I said, and sighed. "All through school and even into Cambridge, I was ''the brain'' to other kids. ''Caley, help me with my homework'' is something I heard a lot. And of course, at university, once I was a TA, I had students coming to me constantly for help with things they should''ve been able to do on their own." I shrugged a little. "I didn''t really mind it, I like helping people¡­I just¡­"

    "Would''ve liked some friends who liked you for you, not for your brain," Ken said.

    "Yeah." I hesitated for a moment, then smiled at him. "It''s also nice to have someone to talk to about it."

    Ken returned my smile. "Any time, Caley. I live to serve." His smile widened, dimples appearing. "So to speak."

    I shook my head. "You love that joke."

    "I do."

    A few minutes later, I stood facing the target Ken had painted on part of the gently curving wall of the workshop. It was a series of four concentric red and white rings - I''d rejected the first one, which had been a human silhouette - which were intended to improve my accuracy. Oh, I could hit the center on every try without any trouble¡­but accurately hitting without hesitation whichever section Ken called out was something I was still working on.

    "Let''s start with your ice slivers spell," Ken said. "Right now, it takes you a few seconds to build up to firing it off, so I want you to work on speeding up how quickly you gather the initial water."

    I looked around quickly and saw no open source of water. Ken usually had a bucket handy for this. "No water source?"

    Ken shook his head. "You''ve known since very early in your lessons how to summon water from the air around you. I want you to start working on creating it, in case there aren''t any ready sources available when you need it. You''ve been lucky so far."

    He wasn''t wrong. Fighting von Einhardt during a thunderstorm had been something of a stroke of luck. The sheer volume of water available for me to work with - not to mention the existence of lightning in the atmosphere already, plus some help from the Hall - had allowed me to punch well out of my weight class, as the saying goes.

    I quickly reviewed what I knew about conjuring water rather than summoning it. Conjured water was a temporary construct formed out of the energy of magic. Conjuration, in turn, was a combined sub-category of both evocation, casting spells from pure energy, and transfiguration, casting spells which turned existing matter from one substance into another. Conjured water would only last a few minutes at most, wouldn''t slake thirst, and wouldn''t nourish living things (like plants). Spells that used conjured water were also more energy-intensive than using summoned water, which made them more taxing to cast.

    It would, however, wash off all manner of grime and quickly leave you dry, which was a handy trick. It would also last long enough to be turned into ice and used as a weapon, leaving no trace behind. Which was also pretty handy.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    In this case, I would add a kinetic component to the spell, creating a sphere of ice and shaving razor-sharp slivers off of it, shooting them towards my target at speeds approaching those of a modern bullet.

    "Ready?" Ken asked.

    I nodded and began gathering energy to me. "Ready!"

    "Outer circle, upper left," Ken said.

    My hands snapped and moved through my chosen gestures as I envisioned the effect of the spell. A sphere of ice, about the size of a softball, materialized between my hands and began spitting slivers of ice at the wall. As they flew from it, the sphere of ice began shrinking. It was like watching a time-lapse video of someone chipping away at it.

    A few of the ice slivers struck in the second circle instead of the outer one, but I was in the right area, at least.

    "Not bad," Ken said. "You are definitely improving. Remember that when we started this exercise a couple of weeks ago, those ice slivers struck the wall in a line from the center of the target to the outer edge. But accuracy is as important as speed. Some spells - like your lightning spells - will track a target¡­but this one won''t. So if you miss, you''re going to hit whatever''s behind your target."

    I winced a little. "Point taken."

    "Good! Second circle, bottom right."

    I shifted my aim and more slivers of ice shot off of the sphere, peppering the wall. The first few struck the inner edge of the first circle instead of the second, but my grouping was tighter.

    "Very good!" Ken said. "How''s the energy drain."

    "Not effortless, but I can maintain this for a while now," I said.

    "Also very good," he said with a smile. "Imagine trying to do this back when you were getting started? It would''ve knocked you out right out."

    I laughed, remembering how casting a spell to create a small breeze and make a pinwheel spin had left me so dizzy that I''d had to sit down, and so tired that I''d been in bed and asleep shortly thereafter. "I have come a long way in a relatively short -"

    "Center circle!" Ken said, interrupting me.

    I gritted my teeth and shifted the ball of ice¡­but he''d caught me out. My concentration had slipped for a moment, and now the spell did too. A couple of ice slivers shot away to strike the center of the target, but the kinetic component of the spell collapsed and what was left of the ball of ice dropped to the floor and shattered.

    "Damn!" I said, lowering my arms.

    "And that''s why we do these exercises," Ken said with a chuckle. "You know what you did wrong?"

    I nodded. "My concentration slipped while I was remembering and commenting on the memory."

    Ken smiled. "And you can fix that. I promise you, before the year''s out, we''ll have you firing off snarky quips while you''re throwing spells around."

    "I''m not sure that''s really my thing," I said, rubbing my palms on my leggings.

    Ken chuckled. "Well, we can work on that too, then. It''s practically required hero behavior these days."

    I rolled my eyes. "Let''s go again."

    Ken nodded. "This time, I want you to create larger ice spikes instead of the little slivers. Small and fast is good, but there may be times when you need to be a bit more¡­aggressive about it." He winced a little as he said it. "Sorry. It''s a fact of life when you''re dealing with the supernatural world."

    "No need to apologize," I said quietly, "or to tip-toe around it. Von Einhardt hammered the point home very nicely." My hands danced through the chosen gestures as I visualized what I wanted, then I made a broad, circular gesture in the air in front of me. As my hand passed through the air, foot-long spikes of ice - about five centimeters across at the base and tapering to a needle-fine point - formed in its wake.

    When my hand finished tracing a full circle in the air, I had formed a full dozen lethal-looking spikes of ice, which began to slowly rotate clockwise as if orbiting an invisible point.

    Ken looked surprised. "¡­Wow. Okay, then."

    "Don''t look so shocked," I said, feeling my cheeks heat up a bit. "You watched that animated series with me on my laptop and enjoyed it just as much as I did."

    "Touch¨¦," he bowed slightly. "I didn''t think you were taking inspiration from it, that''s all. And I have no idea when you practiced that without me seeing it¡­there''s no way you did that so smoothly on your first try."

    I flashed him a quick grin. "You''re not with me 24/7, and Sparkle and Penny like to nudge me to practice at every opportunity. This I''ve been working on out in the clearing. You''d be amazed how encouraging an entire village of fairies cheering you on can be. Now, am I holding this ready all day, or¡­?"

    "Is it a strain?" Ken asked curiously.

    I shook my head. "Not terribly. Once they''re formed, it''s just light telekinesis, which is pretty -"

    "First circle, top right!" Ken snapped. "Second circle, left! Third circle, bottom! Bullseye!"

    I''d half expected him to try that trick again, and was ready this time. Also, the spikes of ice were easier to aim than the rapid-fire slivers. I made flicking gestures with my hands, using the invisible force created by the ongoing spell to fling the spikes at the target. One after another, four of the floating ice spikes shot away from the others and shattered on the magically-reinforced stone wall of the chamber, hitting the precise spots Ken had called out.

    "Excellent!" Ken enthused. "Really, Caley, that was excellent."

    When I looked over at him, he was beaming. "You have that spell down pat. Your response time was perfect, and your aim was precise." He shrugged. "I think we can call that one perfected. Now¡­can you dispel the rest of the spikes without leaving a mess?"

    I winced. "Almost?"

    "Show me," he said, chuckling.

    I released the spell, and the spikes began to drop and melt at the same time. I made another gesture and envisioned them dissolving completely before they reached the floor¡­and all but one of them did. The last one splashed a bit, leaving a small puddle that began evaporating almost before it had finished forming. Within a few moments, there was no indication they''d ever been there at all.

    "Not bad," Ken said. "Dispelling the remains of a conjuration spell isn''t easy, and you got most of it."

    "But not all of it," I said, feeling frustrated.

    "Caley," Ken said gently, "you started learning magic less than a year ago. Yes, your father set up a system for me to help you cheat by giving you all of the theory lessons while you''re sleeping, but even so¡­it takes most apprentices at least five years to accomplish what you have in ten months. Even if we were doing the theory while you were awake, you''d be at least three years ahead of what your father said is normal for a student of magic, and two years ahead of where your mother was within a year of actively starting to learn magic. And she grew up with magic."

    I took a deep breath and let it out, along with a self-deprecating laugh. "Sorry. I know that. Every once in a while, though, I feel like I''m not going fast enough."

    Ken frowned and folded his arms. "Is this about von Einhardt?"

    I opened my mouth to say no, then closed it again and gave the question serious consideration, looking down at my feet. I hadn''t really talked to anyone about my¡­I was reluctant to call it a fight, since it had been stunningly one-sided even before he stopped toying with me and really laid into me. The only reason I''d beaten him had been¡­well¡­

    "How was I able to beat him, Ken?" I asked quietly, my eyes coming up to meet his. "I mean, I know I was able to beat him because the Hall intervened by moving the gargoyle over the portico and by giving me the energy I needed to call down that huge lightning bolt. Maybe I''m asking the wrong question¡­"

    I trailed off, looking down again, and Ken patiently waited for me to try again. Finally, I said, "How is the wrong question. The right question is why was I able to beat him?" I looked up at him again. "He was toying with me, and I knew it. I threw everything at him that I could, and while I caught him off-guard a couple of times, that was because he hadn''t expected me to be as capable as I was.

    "But," I continued inexorably, practically purging a thought that had been nagging at me for months, "I still shouldn''t have been capable enough to beat someone who was probably more than ten times my age and had to be at least that much more experienced than I was. If not more. He had me dead to rights when the Hall stepped in and tipped the scales by distracting him and giving me energy."

    I spread my hands wide. "I should be dead right now."

    Ken sighed slowly and nodded. "I won''t disagree that you got very lucky." He ran a hand over his mouth and chin. "Honestly, Caley, I don''t know. But I can make a couple of educated guesses, if it will help."

    "Please," I said earnestly. "I just want to understand what happened."

    Ken sighed again. "Remember, I was just an observer, and only got to see the tail end of it when Ariana and Emrys arrived. But I''d say that it was primarily what happens whenever anyone becomes overconfident. Von Einhardt was certain he had you on the ropes, and¡­as you said, he was toying with you. That made him careless, and you and the Hall were able to take advantage of that with just a little prompting from Emrys.

    "On top of that¡­" he shrugged. "I would remind you of his age, and note that the human mind isn''t really designed to function at maximum capacity for that long a time. From what little we know of him, it''s a safe bet that the things he''d done to extend his life past two hundred were probably¡­unpleasant in the extreme. That has a cumulative negative effect, despite what people who do it to themselves would like to think. You might call it the magical equivalent of dementia."

    Ken smiled. "I think I can also reassure you that you most assuredly would not be dead right now if the Hall hadn''t intervened. Emrys was fully prepared to act if you hadn''t been able to¡­and not even someone like von Einhardt would stand a chance against him. Even with Emrys not exactly at the peak of his power."

    That took a weight off my chest that I guess I''d been studiously ignoring. "Thank you, Ken."

    He waved it off. "I''ve been waiting patiently for you to bring it up for a few months now. This seemed like as good a time as any to give you a bit of a nudge."

    "Sometimes I need one," I agreed. I refreshed myself with another deep breath, letting it out slowly along with what was left of my tension. "All right¡­what''s next today?"

    Ken pointed to the target on the wall. "I want you to put a lightning bolt on the bullseye¡­and sustain it for as long as you can."

    I blinked a few times. "Sustain it?"

    Ken nodded. "Yes, sustain it. I want you to connect yourself to the wall with a bolt of lightning. It doesn''t need to be intense, but at least enough to knock a grown man down, and keep it going until I tell you to stop. Think of it as an exercise in endurance."

    "All right." I shrugged and turned back to the painted target. I made the necessary gestures, envisioned the spell, carefully fed it energy, and thrust my cupped hands toward the wall. With an audible snap, like a circuit being closed, a ball of roiling electricity burst to life between my hands, and sent a single streamer of power down range to jitter back and forth across the bullseye.

    I was quite pleased with this. It was much more controlled than my early attempts at lightning¡­no little bolts forked off of it to touch the floor or anything else within range of it. And while it moved around on the target, it did so in a fairly small area, and never left that area.

    "Excellent!" Ken said. "Now hold it there."

    I set my jaw and did. It wasn''t hard, really, but it was a bit like¡­trying to close a door on a windy day. I had to lean into it a bit, metaphorically speaking, both to keep the lightning on target and to keep the spell intact and energy flowing.

    "Perfect!" Ken said encouragingly. "Keep going!"

    I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and, freeing my right hand from holding the lightning bolt steady, flashed my fingers through a quick series of gestures and cast a shield spell. A blue-white disk of force popped into existence, spreading out from the palm of my right hand, just in time for a half-dozen bean bags to bounce off of it, one after another.

    "Fantastic!" Ken cried happily. "Can you hold that?"

    I clenched my teeth and nodded. Holding both spells in place - the very energy-intensive lightning and the shield spell - was a definite strain. But I could do this.

    More bean bags bounced off my shield as the bolt of lightning skittered back and forth on the bullseye. The area it moved around on spread out a little, but not much. But I could feel the strain of holding both spells steady growing.

    Finally, after almost two dozen bean bags slammed into my shield, one finally burst through it and bounced harmlessly off my hip. My shield collapsed, and I released the lightning spell before it ran out of control.

    I bent over, put my hands on my knees, and panted out, "I feel¡­like I just¡­ran a marathon," before Ken could ask how I feel.

    I felt his hand on my shoulder and looked up to see him smiling down at me. "That''s fine. You did great. I''m very proud of how much progress you''ve made." He squeezed my shoulder gently. "Let''s call it a day here. Go grab a shower, and go to that town meeting tonight in the knowledge that I''m confident you can handle whatever weird problems they might have for you to look into."

    I''d honestly never felt as proud of an achievement as I did at that moment.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7

    Two hours later, I was freshly showered and dressed in a pair of slim, dark brown trousers, a short-sleeved pale green silk blouse, and a pair of practical flat-heeled ankle boots. At Ken''s suggestion, I''d let him do my long white hair up in a loose princess bun that left the back of my neck bare, and had a few strands of loose hair falling on either side of my face. It was a very different style than my usual long braid, but I found I liked it when I examined it in the mirror. It made me look a bit older and more worldly.

    I decided to take a slow walk into town instead of driving, because it would give me a chance to convince my stomach to settle down. This was just a town meeting I was going to. No big deal, right?

    Penny and Sparkle seemed to find my nervousness amusing, and played tag in their natural forms most of the way into town to try and distract me, before finally settling down. Sparkle, as always, attached to the Master Key dangling from the platinum choker that was comfortably snug around my neck. Likewise, Penny slipped into my shadow and vanished from sight, prepared to keep a vigilant eye on my surroundings.

    So I wasn''t completely freaking out with nerves when I stopped outside the door of the pub and looked through the front window at the assembled people. The interior of the pub had been rearranged for the event, with the usual little round tables absent in favor of a long table, with a tabletop lectern in the middle of it, at the end of the room where the dartboard hung. The rest of the room was taken up by rows of chairs with an aisle down the center.

    Many of them were already filled. Which didn''t help my nerves at all. I saw Malcolm O''Day just coming out from behind the bar and heading for the front of the room, where Laurie Harris, the town librarian, was already standing with an older man and woman I hadn''t met.

    "Bit intimidating, isn''t it?" D.T.''s voice asked from behind me, startling me enough to make me twitch as I turned to face her. She was dressed in her formal uniform, and I was right, it looked really good on her. She had her uniform cap tucked under her left arm.

    "Yeah," I said, relief flooding me at the sight of her. "Yeah, it is. For such a small town there''s still so many people I haven''t met."

    She chuckled. "It''s not that small a town, really. Including the outlying farms, Oakwood has a population of almost a thousand people. I really need a second constable."

    I tipped my head a little, then realized that she''d turned a bit, and saw the new stripes on the shoulder of her uniform. "Oh my god," I said, reaching out and turning her a bit more to get a better look, "you made sergeant!"

    She beamed at me. "They made it official just this morning," she said proudly. "That''s what''s kept me so busy the last couple of months. What do you think? How do they look on me"

    I grinned at her. "Fantastic. Congratulations!" I went up on my toes and kissed her cheek. "So, you''re going to get some help?"

    She nodded. "Small town policing is really different than I was used to, but I like it. What I don''t like is essentially having been on duty 24/7 for the last few months¡­not that I got a single after-hours call. As soon as my promotion came in this morning, I formally asked to have a couple of regular constables assigned here. That way I can set up shifts, spread out coverage, and have some help in the event of¡­actual crime."

    She paused for a moment, then shrugged a little. "No idea if they''ll actually assign me anyone. The official crime rate here in Oakwood is so low that there''s only been three reported crimes in the last fifty years, and they were apparently handled the same day they were reported. That and the fact that the station at Glastonbury is somewhat less than 30 minutes away running blues and twos is why they''ve only ever had one constable out here at a time. It''s the unofficial stuff that never goes on official reports that my bosses are concerned about."

    "My side of things," I said seriously. "They''re aware of that?"

    She made a face and tipped her head back and forth. "Probably? They''ve kind of danced around it, without ever saying anything directly or asking any questions that I might''ve had to give crazy-sounding answers to. But I''m pretty sure they know there''s strange things afoot in the world as a generality, and here specifically. To be honest, I think that and my willingness to stay here might have a lot to do with my bump to sergeant."

    I glanced back at the pub before saying. "When we have time, maybe after the meeting, I need to tell you about my visitor last night. I had another ICOA rep knocking on my gates when I got home from our date."

    She winced. "As bad as the first?"

    "Worse," I said. "And they''re not happy that so many residents of the town seem to be clued in." I looked at her. "I''m sure they won''t exactly be over the moon if they find out the police have an eye on the supernatural world."

    We shared a worried look, then turned together to face the door of the pub.

    "Shall we?" D.T. asked after a moment.

    "That''s what we''re here for," I joked.

    She stepped forward and opened the door for me. "After you, princess."

    I grimaced. "Oh, please¡­"

    She laughed. "I haven''t been able to get the image of you in that dress out of my head since yesterday. You really did look like a fairy tale in it."

    As a result, my cheeks were flaming and I was giggling as I went through the door, which undoubtedly made me look much more relaxed and approachable than I felt. Which, I suspected, had been her plan.

    Malcolm spotted us right away and waded through the crowd to the door. "Caley, Constable¡­excuse me," he corrected himself, smiling, "Sergeant! Congratulations are in order, I see. Welcome, both of you, we''re almost ready to get started. Sergeant, there''s a seat at the table for you, and I reserved one for you in the front row, Caley. I''d like to introduce you to the rest of the town council and parish clerk before we start."

    "Of course," I said, rather relieved that I wouldn''t be sitting at the big table too. "Lead on, Malcolm."

    We wove our way through the chairs, greeting people I recognized and smiling politely to those I didn''t, until we reached the long table at the front.

    "Clark, George, Laurie, Roberta, come say hello," Malcolm said, gesturing to the people gathered there. "Everyone, this is - in case you couldn''t guess - Caitlyn Reid," he nodded to me, then to D.T., "and some of you have already met Sergeant D.T. Burroughs. Caley, you already know Laurie Harris, our librarian."

    I shook the older woman''s hand warmly. "I''m sorry I haven''t had time to swing by the library yet to hear those stories about my parents."

    "I''m certain you''ve been busy beyond all reason," she replied with a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. "I must say, you look a lot more sure of yourself than you did last October."

    "Thank you," I said, blushing again. "I''ve had a lot to absorb."

    Her eyes twinkled with amusement, suggesting that she knew a few things about Oakwood Hall''s secrets, but said nothing about it. Instead, she moved on to shake D.T.''s hand as Malcolm continued, nodding to the older man in the group.

    "This," Malcolm said, "is George Roberts. George is retired RAF." George looked to be in his late sixties, trim and barely taller than I was but strongly built, with short, iron-colored hair and the sort of weathered complexion I imagined a life-long farmer would have. His clothes fit that mold, less formal than what others were wearing, blue jeans instead of trousers, work boots that looked like they''d been quickly cleaned for the event, and a checked shirt with its sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

    George shook my hand warmly. "Twenty years retired," he said with a chuckle. "Practically a lifetime. I''ve spent the intervening years back on the ancestral farm outside of town. Like as not, if you shop in town you''ve been buying my milk."

    I had occasionally wondered about the old-fashioned glass bottles of milk that appeared in the refrigerator, with their ''Roberts Farm'' label printed on them. "I have been, and thank you. I don''t have much of a frame of reference, but it tastes good to me."

    He chuckled. "I have to ask¡­was it as much of a shock coming home for you as it was for me?"Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    I made a mental note to have a word with him about how he''d adjusted to coming home. Maybe it could help with some the speed bumps I''d hit. Or maybe not¡­mine were probably a lot weirder. Still, I felt a wave of affection for him. "You have no idea," I said earnestly.

    He grinned and released my hand, then moved on to speak with D.T..

    The next person up was an older woman - I again guessed late sixties - whose salt and pepper hair was done up in a tighter and more severe bun than mine. The lines of her conservative gray pants suit and cream colored blouse fit that severity, and there was something pinched about her expression, which was exacerbated by the slim black cat eye frames of her glasses. But her handshake was firm. "Roberta Sawyer," she said before Malcolm could introduce her. "I used to teach primary school up the road in Glastonbury. Now I help manage the town budget."

    "It''s nice to meet you," I said. "I was almost a teacher myself. I''ll be finishing a Masters in Medieval History this fall."

    "Well," she said primly, "it''s nice to hear that you value education."

    "Very highly," I said as sincerely as I could.

    She nodded approvingly and moved on without another word, giving D.T. the sort of look she had probably once reserved for misbehaving students. I wondered about that, until I remembered Malcolm telling me about Blake Saywer, the town''s last constable, who''d transferred away not long after I came home. This was probably his mother. I tentatively dialed down my estimate of Roberta''s age and wondered why she''d retired.

    "And this is our parish clerk, Clark Turner," Malcolm said, drawing my attention to a young man who I guessed was in his early thirties. He had messy, sandy brown hair, dark eyes behind narrow, rectangular glasses, and wore chinos with a blue shirt and darker blue tie.

    He shook my hand warmly and gave me a pleading smile, "Do me a favor and try very hard not to make any Clark the clerk jokes. I''ve heard them all since I took the job."

    I laughed politely. His job, as I understood it, was roughly the equivalent of a larger town''s mayor. "I promise I''ll try, at least," I said.

    "I''ll take it," he said with obvious relief. I wondered just how often he heard those jokes. "I''ve really been looking forward to meeting you," he continued. "As I understand it, part of the parish clerk''s job is to liaise with the lord and lady of Oakwood Hall and arrange¡­shall we say, any additional services that the town requests of them."

    I wondered, not for the first time, at the serious use of titles and how often I was being formally referred to as ''Lady Reid.'' It had mostly been Margrave and residents of Faerie, but here it was bleeding into the real world.

    I needed to ask Ken if Oakwood Hall came with some sort of hereditary title other than Guardian.

    "I wasn''t aware," I said, "but sometimes it feels like what I wasn''t aware of before coming home could fill an ocean. So please don''t take it personally that I haven''t met you before now."

    Clark shook his head. "Malcolm tells me you''ve been incredibly busy. I can''t even imagine. But I''d like to get together with you soon to open official lines of communication, as it were."

    "My schedule is very flexible," I said, more than willing to do so. "Just say when and I''ll make time."

    He looked relieved. "Thank you very much, Lady Reid."

    "Please call me Caley," I said firmly. "I really don''t want to stand on titles¡­especially since I don''t know if I''m entitled to them or not."

    He laughed. "Then you should call me Clark. And I think you actually might be."

    "Finding out is definitely moving up my ''to do'' list," I said.

    "And here''s our last member," Malcolm said, "Father Martin Hill, our parish priest."

    I turned, and would have known the man was a priest whether Malcolm had identified him as one or not. The black shirt, pants, and white clerical collar would have marked him as a priest¡­Roman Catholic, at a guess¡­even if I hadn''t grown up around them. He was tall, at least six feet, and I had a hard time judging his age, because while his hair was solid white and there were wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, his long face was otherwise soft and largely unlined. His eyes, however, showed a depth of knowledge that usually only comes from age¡­along with, as he shook my hand firmly, a canny understanding of who I was.

    "Lady Reid," he said politely, "it''s a pleasure to meet you. I''ve heard a lot about you."

    A statement which absolutely did not help my already rocky relationship with the Church. I was told that people who grew up in Catholic orphanages, the way I had, turned out one of two ways: Devout, or impious. You can guess which I was.

    "I''m not entirely sure how to take that," I said carefully, immediately suspicious of the man for no reason I could put a finger on, other than years of Catholic education. "And I''m a little surprised the church here isn''t C of E or Protestant."

    He smiled politely. "It''s a relatively recent development. I''ve only been here about ten years myself. I was something of a colleague of your father''s."

    That didn''t help either. The last man who''d introduced himself as a colleague of my father''s had tried to kill me. "I see." Of course, he might actually have been a colleague of my father''s, in which case he could be a valuable resource.

    He seemed to recognize my growing discomfort and released my hand. "You should come by for tea sometime. Bring the sergeant with you, if you''d like. I''m sure we''ll have a great deal to discuss."

    "We''ll do that," D.T. said from behind my right shoulder, offering her hand past me. "Sergeant D.T. Burroughs."

    "Father Martin Hill," the priest said, shaking her hand and releasing it. "Well, it''s lovely to meet you both. But it looks like we''re about to start."

    A few moments later I found myself sitting front row center, on the aisle, where I could get up easily and right next to Judy O''Day. It was, honestly, something of a relief to have a friendly and well-known face beside me.

    Poor D.T. looked uncomfortable sitting at one end of the table, with Father Hill at the other end. I gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned with a small nod.

    Most of the next hour was filled with the kind of semi-rural British small town minutia that I''d only read about in Father Brown and All Creatures Great and Small. D.T. was introduced and made a brief speech about how welcome Oakwood had made her feel, and how she was looking forward to really settling in and getting to know everyone. Father Hill said something about an annual fund-raiser, and Laurie Harris asked for donations for redoing the library''s roof.

    I caught her eye as she was finishing and nodded slightly to let her know I''d dump a chunk of change that way even if nobody else did. It was something I could do for the town. She smiled warmly in return.

    Finally, Malcolm O''Day stood and lifted his hands. "Before we continue, I''ve been given the pleasure of introducing everyone who hasn''t already met her at my pub to the daughter of Franchesca and James Reid." He gestured to me to stand up, so I did and turned to face the room as he continued, "Everyone, this is Caitlyn Reid, and she is officially in residence at Oakwood Hall at last."

    I lifted a hand in greeting and smiled politely out at nobody in particular. "Please, call me Caley. Malcolm and the regulars at the Oak & Ivy have done an excellent job of helping me find my roots in Oakwood, and I can''t tell you how happy I am to have come home."

    Behind me, Malcolm continued. "In the past, as most of you are aware, the Lady of Oakwood Hall has¡­shall we say, helped out with certain unusual things around the township of Oakwood. Caley has expressed her desire to resume that practice, and will be working with Clark Turner to find out where her particular talents can be best put to use, as it were. Caley?"

    I nodded firmly. "Oakwood has been incredibly welcoming to me, and you can''t imagine how wonderful it''s been to find a home I didn''t know existed was waiting for me here. I''d like to give back to the town, and this seems to be the traditional way for me to do that. I''d also like to mention that I have the support of Sergeant Burroughs in helping out around town as needed."

    I heard Clark speak up then. "We''re extremely glad to hear that, Caley. I know I haven''t been keeping up with collecting reports of oddities from people, and since Caley is here with us tonight, does anyone have any pressing issues to call out?"

    A few hands went up, and Clark said, "Bert?"

    Bert Fletcher, the town pharmacist, who I''d met several times at the Oak & Ivy, stood up. "I know I asked you about this a few months ago, Caley, but¡­what kind of condition is the Hall''s garden in? Is there any chance you might be able to resume supplying some of the rare herbal remedies your family used to have access to?"

    I smiled, rather relieved to have kicked this off on firm ground. "Hi Bert. The garden is actually in incredible condition, and I''ve been meaning to get in touch with you about doing just that. If I call you at the pharmacy tomorrow morning, can you give me a list of what you need?"

    He looked as relieved as I felt. "Absolutely, Caley. Thank you very much."

    I saw several of the older residents looking interested in that as well, and added, "If others are interested in that arrangement too, let Mr. Turner know so he can tell me. I''m sure we can make it happen."

    As Bert sat back down, hands rose again. This time, a young woman who didn''t look much older than me stood up. "Ah¡­hello, Miss Reid. Sorry, Caley. My name is Moira Bradley. I actually just moved to my grandparents'' old home here a couple of months ago. I recently found a¡­a box in the attic. Which¡­I know it sounds weird¡­" She trailed off, looking nervous.

    I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way. "Trust me, Moira, it can''t possibly be as weird as some of the things I''ve found in my ancestral home. Go on."

    "Well, it''s incredibly ornate, but in a really weird way that makes me uneasy to look at it," she said with obvious reluctance. "And it¡­it makes strange sounds whenever I get close to it."

    That didn''t sound good at all. "If you''re not busy this evening," I glanced at D.T., who gave me a little nod before I continued, "Sergeant Burroughs and I can stop by after the meeting is over and take a look at it."

    Moira looked incredibly relieved. "Thank you so much."

    "You''re very welcome," I said.

    As she sat down, I heard a throat clear behind me and when I turned in that direction, saw Father Hill giving me a lopsided smile. "It might not be as urgent as some others, but perhaps you could make the time to take a look at the old social hall?" There was a general murmur of agreement from the crowd as he continued, "We''ve all seen the strange lights and shadowy forms moving around inside it at night the last couple of years, and we all know about the problems that have occurred every time we''ve tried to have it refurbished. While I don''t mind meeting here, it''d be nice if we could stop imposing on the Oak & Ivy for town meetings and other events."

    Malcolm chuckled. "I don''t mind being imposed on, but it would be nice to have the social hall back. And I''m sure Clark would like to have a proper office."

    "I''ll absolutely make time to look into it," I said firmly, and all three men nodded their thanks.

    "I have a problem out at the farm," George Roberts said from where he sat beside D.T., "but I can wait until the meeting''s over to talk to Caley about it."

    "Actually," Clark said, stepping in again, "that''s not a bad idea. I had no idea there were so many things that people wanted looked at, and we don''t want to overwhelm Caley right out of the gate. Bring your problems to me, and I''ll make sure they''re brought to Caley''s attention."

    As I sat back down, relieved to be out of the spotlight again, I wondered about the other hands I''d seen raised. Granted it had been almost three years by that point since my father had been there to help out around town, but was Oakwood really that active, supernaturally-speaking? Or was this unusual?

    As the meeting resumed, I made a mental note to ask Ken if any of my predecessors had kept records of their work around town, and wondered what else was in store for me.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8

    After a bit more this and that about the town proper, the meeting broke up. Malcolm and Judy, of course, had refreshments ready to go, and it wasn''t long before I found myself perched on one of the tall bar chairs in the corner under the dartboard, with a glass of ginger ale in hand.

    Malcolm had been very clever about this, because it allowed him to set me up with D.T. and Clark running interference for me. They collected reports about things that I ought to look into, while I was able to meet and greet people without worrying about remembering every little oddity that they wanted checked out.

    And a lot of them sounded like bunk to me. One very elderly gentleman complained to my minders at great length about the problems he''d been having with gremlins infesting his car and making it break down. When D.T. pried into the problem a little, she learned that the car in question was a 1950''s vintage vehicle which sounded like it hadn''t had much in the way of servicing done over the years.

    Meanwhile, Malcolm and Father Martin would bring over this person and that person to meet me. They were either very selective in their choices, or more than half of the town was distantly related to me by blood or marriage, based on the number of distant cousins I met over the next forty minutes.

    Finally though, as things were starting to wind down and people were starting to drift out the door, George Roberts approached and toasted me with his glass of beer. "Got a minute?"

    "Of course," I said, smiling. "You said you had something?"

    He nodded, dragging over another of the tall bar chairs and settling on it. "Aye, I do, and it''s odd enough I didn''t want the whole town listening in on it."

    I lowered my voice, leaning toward him a little. "I''m sure it''s not as strange as some of what I''ve seen recently. And if I can help, I will."

    He smiled lopsidedly, leaning in a little as well and lowering his voice in turn. "It''s bloody strange, it is¡­I grow a variety of crops on rotation, both for sale and as fodder for my cows. Grains, corn, alfalfa, hay of course, soybeans¡­" He waved his free hand dismissively. "Which doesn''t really matter. What matters is, I put up scarecrows, you know."

    "I don''t know much about farming," I said with a nod, "but that sounds pretty normal so far."

    George chuckled. "Yeah, that''s all pretty normal. But my scarecrows have been going missing. I put one up, it disappears a day or two later. It''s been happening for weeks now, and I''m down twelve bloody scarecrows."

    "Are you sure it''s not just kids playing a prank?" D.T. asked, having drifted over.

    George shrugged. "No, I''m not sure. Except there''s another pattern to it¡­the same day one of my scarecrows disappears, I see them all in one of my fields that night around midnight. Gathered up in a circle. Last time it happened was two nights ago, and I went out with a flashlight and my shotgun -"

    "You have a permit for that, yes?" D.T. asked carefully in her police-voice.

    He nodded. "Of course. I''ll bring it ''round the station if you want."

    She shook her head. "Not necessary. Especially since it sounds like we''ll be coming out to have a look soon anyway." Her lips curled into a small smile. "You can show it to me then."

    He looked relieved. "So I went out to have a look, and by the time I got out to where they''d been, they were all gone. Twelve scarecrows, there and gone in less than five minutes. If someone''s playing a prank on me, they''re awful good at it."

    "I''d say so," I agreed. "You''re putting up another scarecrow?"

    George nodded. "Put it up this afternoon before the meeting."

    I exchanged a look with D.T., then returned my attention to George. "Which means that if the pattern continues, it should disappear within a couple of days. When it disappears, I want you to call Sergeant Burroughs here and let her know. She''ll let me know, and the two of us will be out at your farm that evening regardless of the weather to see what we can see. Okay?"

    George took my free hand in his and squeezed it. "Thank you, Caley. And thank you, Sergeant. That''s a weight off my mind, that is."

    "Whatever it is," D.T. said confidently, "we''ll get it sorted out."

    He nodded again, rose, and went in search of a refill.

    D.T. sat down in the chair he''d vacated and shook her head. "This town is either full of crazy people, or it''s a genuine hotbed of paranormal activity. Clark and I have built quite a list, but I''ll check a bunch of them myself before  getting you involved." She smiled a small, vaguely amused smile. "A lot of them just sound like the kind of hooliganry I''ve seen before. Doesn''t matter where they are, kids will be kids, you know?"

    I grimaced. "Yeah, I guess I do. There were a few kids at the orphanage who were constantly sneaking out at night and making trouble. Stupid, petty little things."

    "Exactly."

    Moira Bradley approached and said, "I''m ready to head home, if you''re still willing to come and look at that chest¡­"

    D.T. and I both rose. "Of course we are," I said.

    "It''s just a short walk from here," Moira said.

    Clark stopped us on our way out the door. "I hate to impose, but¡­the social hall¡­"

    I smiled. "Will tomorrow afternoon work for you? We can take a look at it after lunch."

    He returned my smile. "Thank you very much, Caley. That would be great."

    So we followed Moira out into the pleasant evening and down the street. Which was how I found myself holding the rails of a fold-down ladder and staring up into the dark, rectangular opening of Moira''s attic a half-hour later. We''d convinced Moira to stay downstairs while we had a look, which meant I could - and absolutely intended to - have Penny and Sparkle out and about to help. Moira had informed us that the box in question was at the far end of the attic from where the opening was.

    "I am suddenly extremely glad I wore pants instead of a skirt," I said.

    "Imagine how I feel," D.T. said, having just shed her uniform jacket and hung it on a nearby doorknob. She rolled up the sleeves of her white uniform shirt and loosened the knot of her black tie a little. "This uniform is not made for climbing. Or any kind of action, really. You sure you don''t want me to go up first?"

    "Honestly?" I asked, amused. "I absolutely want you to. But this sounds like it''s more my field than yours." I looked back up at the opening to the attic¡­and almost screamed in surprise. As it was, I managed to choke it off to a little squeak, which dissolved into relieved laughter. "Penny, don''t do that!"

    The dusk fox was staring down at me from the opening, her snout pointed straight at me, muzzle curled into a distinct smirk. "Terribly sorry," she said, sounding anything but, "but you were taking forever and I was getting bored. I had a quick look ''round. There''s nothing up here that''s going to attack you, but there is definitely something odd here."

    "Sparkle," I said quietly, "go have a look too, please."

    Sparkle was off the Master Key and up into the attic in an instant, her purple radiance filling the space and making the dark hole above me less intimidating. Penny''s head pulled back as I climbed up, and by the time I carefully crawled over the lip and into the attic, she was sitting beside the opening, ears cocked alertly forward. I heard the ladder creak below me and quickly got out of the way so D.T. could come up.Stolen story; please report.

    It was more of an oversized crawlspace than a full attic. Its ceiling wasn''t quite tall enough for me to stand up in, but it still ran the length and width of the house. It looked like generations of Moira''s family had used the space to store¡­pretty much everything. I spotted steamer trunks beside more modern suitcases, boxes that had been labeled but were now so faded that there was no way to know what was in them without opening them, several old wooden chairs and a trio of table lamps.

    It was a veritable flea market of old family goods.

    Penny padded forward a few steps and began sniffing the air as Sparkle, who had shot away toward the far end of the attic, began fluttering back towards us. They both looked perplexed.

    "What is it?" I asked them as D.T. clambered through the hole and knelt beside me.

    Sparkle zipped right up to my face, touched me, then shot away toward the other end of the attic. She slowed as she went, finally stopping about halfway to the far end and turned to look at us. I clearly saw her tip her head, then she shouted, "You''re too far away! The attic isn''t this big!"

    "And you''re not far enough away to be shouting like that," I said calmly, startling her. "What''s going on?"

    Penny trotted down to where Sparkle hovered in the air and turned to look at us. She blinked a few times, cocked her head to one side, and said, "Sparkle is correct. The¡­the attic is not this large. You look like you''re much too far away. But I can still smell you quite clearly. Say something at a normal volume."

    "You look like you''re maybe a dozen meters away," D.T. said. "Not far at all."

    Sparkle looked shocked, and Penny huffed. "Interesting. Come to where we are."

    D.T. and I exchanged looks and shrugs, then carefully shuffled down to where my companions were waiting for us.

    "Okay," I said, "now what?"

    "Look back," Sparkle said faintly.

    I did, then turned as shock rippled through me. The attic''s opening looked like it was fifty or sixty meters away.

    "Well," D.T. said, "that''s pretty damn weird."

    "Meh," I turned and started shuffling toward the end of the attic again. "If you think this is weird, I need to take you deeper into Oakwood Hall. You haven''t lived until you''ve had to go down three staircases and up four to reach a room in a building that only appears to be three stories tall."

    "That does sound pretty cool," D.T. said.

    Sparkle giggled and fluttered down to stand on my shoulder as Penny preceded us and D.T. followed behind me.

    After five minutes of crawling, the end of the attic didn''t seem to have gotten any closer, and we stopped again. When we looked back, the opening into the attic appeared to be about the same distance away as it had been before.

    I folded my legs under me and rested my hands on my knees. "Okay," I said. "This puts me in mind of the illusion magic Ken''s been teaching me. Something''s messing with our perception of distance and our own motion. Sparkle, can you shed a bit more light for us?"

    "Sure!" She bounced off my shoulder and hovered in the air in front of us. Slowly and steadily her purple glow brightened and spread, shadows vanishing in its wake.

    D.T. pulled out a penlight, flicked it on, and held it over her hand, which cast no shadow on the floor under Sparkle''s radiance. "I don''t understand it, and it doesn''t get any less freaky each time I see it, but that is amazingly cool."

    Sparkle giggled and bobbed a curtsy in mid-air.

    Unfortunately, nothing about the attic changed. It still seemed a long crawl back the way we''d come or toward the far end. "Bah," I said. "Sparkle, why isn''t your light dispelling this illusion?"

    She shook her head. "I can usually clear away most illusion magic. If I can''t, it means whoever laid it down is a lot stronger than I am. Or that it''s not a Sidhe glamour. Those are easier for me to wipe away."

    "Penny?" I asked.

    She sniffed. "I don''t have Sparkle''s gift for disrupting illusions. My gift is different. But I''m inclined to agree with her anyway." She sniffed again. "This makes my nose tingle the same way mortal magic does."

    And Ken hadn''t taught me ways of dispelling illusions myself yet. Something else to add to the ''to do'' list. So¡­how did we get around this?

    "Penny," D.T. said, "let''s try something. Orient on the far end of the attic, and start walking. Caley, you and I are going to close our eyes and shuffle along with our hands on Penny''s back."

    "Her other senses might be harder to trick than ours?" I asked.

    D.T. nodded.

    I shrugged. "It''s a better idea than any I have," I said. "Sparkle? You''re our illusion expert, I guess."

    Sparkle beamed at us. "It makes sense to me. Sight and hearing are the easiest senses to trick, followed by smell and taste. Touch is the hardest, because it''s the most ''real.''" She landed on my shoulder. "Let''s go for it!"

    Shifting back into a crouch, I laid my right hand on Penny''s back. D.T. rested her left hand beside mine on the other side of Penny. We closed our eyes, and began shuffling forward.

    It seemed like less than a minute later when Penny suddenly stopped and said, "Oof! I just bumped into something."

    We all opened our eyes to find the far wall of the attic inches from our noses.

    "Well," D.T. said cheerfully, "that worked!"

    Penny rubbed her nose with one paw. "Yes," she grumped, "perfectly."

    And there, to our right, was what looked at first glance like a small, old-fashioned treasure chest about the size of a shoe box. It was made of strips of wood, darkly stained with a curved lid, banded in iron and closed with a heavy clasp. The wood was engraved with complicated Celtic knotwork, and the iron bands had esoteric engravings on them that looked very similar to the runic alphabet Ken had been teaching me for enchanting.

    The chest''s clasp had a sturdy but very old padlock holding it shut, which was also covered in runes.

    I saw D.T. shift back away from it. "God, that thing makes my skin crawl."

    "Does it?" I asked curiously, shifting around to be closer to it. "It''s not affecting me."

    "You''ve likely already built up some unconscious resistance to such magics," Penny said. "I heard the ICOA wizards talk about the innate resistance that apprentices build up over time."

    "That''s useful," I said, and reached for the chest.

    It rattled violently, one corner of it bouncing off the floor and thumping back down. At the same time, a weird, muffled grinding, wheezing sound came from inside it.

    Automatically, I smacked one corner of the box with my hand. "Stop that. We''re not intimidated."

    "Kinda am," D.T. said.

    "Just a little," Penny agreed.

    "It''s radiating illusion magic," Sparkle said, zipping a couple of circles around the chest.

    I reached out toward it with my left hand, spreading my fingers¡­and felt what I thought she was. The chest''s energies were secretive, which didn''t surprise me, but I also got an impression of deception and misdirection, a sinister skin-crawling feeling, and heard a faint echo of the sounds we''d just heard it emit. Beyond that, I felt nothing. I smiled a little. "She''s right. The rattling, the wheezing, the creepy feeling, it''s all fake."

    I touched the chest again. The metal banding was a little cold, but that wasn''t horribly unusual. Aside from that, nothing about it felt particularly out of the ordinary. I picked it up and shook it gently. Something inside it moved, but not much.

    D.T. hissed. "Caley!"

    I looked at her. "What?"

    "What if there was an explosive device inside it?" She asked, a look of horror on her face.

    I pursed my lips. That possibility honestly hadn''t occurred to me. "Well¡­clearly, there wasn''t, right?"

    She put a hand over her eyes for a moment. "Just¡­don''t do that again. And promise me that the next time we do something like this you won''t go shaking the strange, creepy, illusion-laden box. I''m not keen on any of us being blown to tiny bits. Or turned into toads, or something."

    I winced. She had a point. I hadn''t thought it through at all. "Right, sorry. But¡­who''d put something like that in their own home?"

    "Maybe the owners of the home didn''t put that up here," she said.

    I sat back on my heels. "I¡­clearly have a lot to learn about this sort of thing."

    "No kidding," she said dryly. "You and I need to talk basic investigation techniques."

    "Even so, I want to get this thing someplace safe to take a better look at it and figure out how to¡­remove the enchantments on it."

    "Are you sure it''s safe to move?" D.T. asked.

    "Sparkle? Penny?" I looked at my experts.

    Penny shrugged. "I don''t see why not, but I''m no wizard."

    Sparkle landed on the chest, knelt down on it, and pressed her hands to it. "I¡­I don''t think there''s anything alive inside of it, and the only magic I''m sensing are the illusions designed to keep people away from it."

    So much for my experts. "That''s all I felt too," I agreed, then looked at D.T.. "Without more training, I think that''s as close as I can come to saying it''s safe to move."

    She put a hand over her eyes again for a moment. "I''m having flashbacks to the safety lecture we got from the bomb disposal unit last year. Fine, we clearly can''t leave it here. And I''m prepared to assume that any magical explosives would either have gone off already, or would be set to go off when it''s opened. I''ll leave it up to Ken to lecture you about safe disposal of enchanted objects."

    With that, she threw her hands in the air and started crawling back the way we''d come, which no longer looked dozens of meters away, muttering under her breath.

    Sparkle zipped down and reconnected with the Master Key as Penny padded off after D.T.. Shaking my head a little, I picked up the box - which no longer seemed even vaguely creepy to me now that I''d learned about its enchantments, and followed them.

    Penny vanished back into my shadow as I climbed down the ladder, and a few minutes later we were back in Moira''s sitting room, where she stared at the chest uneasily.

    "Don''t worry," I said. "I''m going to take it with me and see what I can do about making it completely safe. I''ll probably try to get it open, too. I''ll let you know what I find inside it, and return it to you once it''s safe. If it''s something dangerous, I''ll make sure it''s taken care of appropriately."

    "Oh, don''t worry about bringing anything back¡­I can''t imagine what might be in it that I''d want¡­" She trailed off uncertainly. "I suppose I''d be curious to know, though."

    "Curiosity killed the cat," D.T. muttered under her breath, which fortunately Moira didn''t seem to hear. Out loud, she added, "At least you''ll sleep better without it in the house."

    "Oh, definitely," Moira said earnestly. "Thank you so much for doing this, both of you."

    As we stepped out into the deepening night, D.T. looked at me. "Want me to spin up the cruiser and give you a ride home?"

    I shook my head. "It''s a lovely night, and the walk will do me good after that cramped attic."

    She smiled. "Just promise me you''ll be careful with that thing, okay?"

    I returned her smile, warmed by her concern. "I promise."

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9

    Mind you, there wasn''t all that much to be careful about. Apparently, whatever enchantments were etched into the chest''s surface weren''t having any effect on me at all. Having defeated their physical illusion either broke any hold the rest of the enchantments had on me, or they had been sufficiently cowed to leave me be.

    No, I didn''t actually believe that. Not really. Even if some of Ken''s discussion on the subject of magic as a broad topic did make it sound like magic was a living, sometimes intelligent thing. But then, I now lived in a mansion that was bigger on the inside and communicated with me through emotion from time to time. It wasn''t that much of a stretch.

    I''d been right about it being a beautiful evening. It was just the right temperature, the sky was crystal clear and dotted with more stars than I''d ever seen in the city as twilight settled toward full night. Sparkle fluttered along just ahead of me, shedding her soft purple glow to drive back the shadows, Penny padded along beside me, and the woods on either side of the road were, in the immortal words of Robert Frost, lovely, dark and deep.

    We walked - well¡­flew, in Sparkle''s case - in companionable silence, sharing a contentment among us the likes of which I couldn''t remember ever having felt before. This was, I decided, the way life should be.

    Finally, though, we rounded the last gentle bend and the woods on our right felt away to reveal the grounds of Oakwood Hall. And there, ahead of us, picked out by the new lights on either side of the Hall''s gates, stood a figure.

    Here we go again, I thought. "I''m getting a little tired of people just showing up at my gates unannounced. Sparkle, dial it back, please. Penny?"

    "On it," Penny replied, and as Sparkle''s radiance dimmed and the shadows around us returned, Penny simply vanished. She reappeared a moment later, before I''d even had time to start walking, and looked up at me with a frown. "Sidhe," she said quietly. "Unarmed, for what that''s worth."

    Sparkle flitted over, and the three of us were silent for a moment. "Well," I said finally, "he''s undoubtedly spotted us standing here like fools already. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Hopefully first contact will be friendly. Come on."

    I started walking again, and my friends quickly caught up to me. Sparkle landed lightly on my right shoulder as Penny quietly asked, "Shall I disappear?"

    I shook my head. "No¡­I don''t think there''s any good reason to hide from this one, at least not right now. Better he should know you''re here, and that I''m not alone."

    Penny made a sound of agreement.

    As we got closer, the figure resolved into a young man leaning against one of the gate posts, directly under the light. Where he couldn''t possibly be missed, I thought, hoping that was a good sign. His skin was even more fair than my own, and he had fine, straight hair that looked like spun gold. It was styled - if you could call it that - in a bushy mess that made his head look rather like a dandelion gone to seed.

    His head turned as we approached, and his eyes were such a striking shade of amber that they almost seemed to glow as the light caught them. He wore a simple forest green tunic over brown hose and green shoes that flared to points above his heel. He looked like he''d escaped from a Renaissance faire.

    His ears, I saw, were pointed like a fantasy elf''s.

    When we were within comfortable speaking distance, he pushed off the gate post and swept into a deep bow. "Lady Caitlyn Reid, Miss Sparkle, Miss Penumbra, it is my deepest pleasure to greet you on behalf of my Lord Oberon, Lord of the Seelie Court, King of Faerie. I am Puck."

    I blinked a few times, trying to shake off the unease created by him knowing not just my name, but also Sparkle''s and Penny''s. Then my brain caught up with what he''d said. "You''re Puck? The Puck? From A Midsummer Night''s Dream?"

    He laughed, and it was an absolutely delighted - and delightful - sound. "No, my lady, not at all. That was Robin Goodfellow, as devious a miscreant as ever there was. I am merely a Puck¡­the most recent as it were. One of Oberon''s heralds. We carry his messages, announce his presence, and generally do for him whatever needs doing. But, for the sake of simplicity, you may call me Puck."

    Which meant it wasn''t actually his name. Ken, Sparkle, and Penny had all impressed upon me the importance of speaking with great care when receiving - and especially when giving - names around the Sidhe. I had yet to see why specifically, and wasn''t sure I wanted a practical lesson.

    The short and somewhat confusing version was that although Puck knew our names, since we hadn''t given them to him ourselves, he couldn''t use them against us in any way. Which was why he was apparently giving us what was either a title or inherited pseudonym rather than his actual name.

    I had a feeling that the functionality of names relative to the Sidhe and creatures of Faerie was going to be endlessly confusing.

    "I bring you greetings from Lord Oberon," he said, "He expresses his hope that his message finds you in both good spirits and good health." He glanced at the chest tucked under my left arm. "I see you''ve been busy this eve, though. Perhaps this is a bad time?"

    I shook my head. "Not at all," I said politely. "If Lord Oberon sent you with a message for me, I would be churlish indeed to send you away without receiving it."

    Puck beamed, and his teeth were unsettlingly straight, white, and even. Hollywood oral surgeons wished they could create a smile like that. "Wonderful! You are indeed most gracious." He bowed again, just as deeply, then said, "My Lord Oberon wishes to speak with you at your earliest availability on a matter of some benefit to you both. This evening, he says, is far too soon to be polite, but if tomorrow morning after the morning meal would be convenient, he would be pleased if you would receive him at your family''s clearing in Faerie."

    Still short notice, but at least I''d have a chance to talk to Ken and Dara about it first. "Please convey my thanks to Lord Oberon for his gracious message, and inform him in return that tomorrow morning after the morning meal would be very convenient for me."

    "I will do so with pleasure, my lady," Puck said, then grinned. "If you''ll take my entirely unsolicited and completely free-of-obligation advice, a simple setting of tea and sweets will do nicely to receive my Lord. And do be sure to ask him to accept your hospitality." He winked. "Following the rules of hospitality will keep everyone honest."

    Or at least reasonably so, I guessed, and decided I''d better have a talk with Ken, Sparkle, and Penny about the rules of hospitality. I could guess, based on certain medieval texts on codes of conduct, but I''d much rather know for sure.

    "I''ll keep that in mind, Puck, and thank you for the free advice," I said, being sure to reaffirm that his advice had been freely given. Even my very earliest lessons about dealing with the Sidhe had emphasized not making deals with them or accepting gifts from them unless they were specifically given freely.

    "Then I''m away to deliver your response to my Lord. Good evening to you, Lady Reid, Miss Sparkle, Miss Penumbra." Puck flashed us one more quick grin and vanished without a sound.

    One moment there, then poof¡­gone. Minus the poof, and without the pop of in-rushing air that mortal wizards seemed to make.

    I really wanted to learn how to do that, but Ken said that teleportation - spatial manipulation spells in general, really - was still a ways off for me. Which was, I had to admit, probably for the best. Who knew what kind of damage I could do to myself with that kind of magic.

    I sighed. "All right, let''s get inside before any other messengers arrive looking to talk to me. I''ve had my fill for this week."

    Once again, I found myself sitting at the kitchen table with Ken, Sparkle, and Penny, both of whom were in their human forms. This time, however, I had my elbows on the table and my head in my hands, and none of us were drinking anything.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "Well," Ken said, "while I''m sure you''re stressed beyond all reason by the idea of meeting Oberon tomorrow morning, this first contact actually went very well. And it''s not at all uncommon for heralds to recommend specifics for meeting with their lords, so Puck''s doing that for free is pretty normal."

    "For a given value of normal," I said dryly.

    Sparkle giggled. "Caley, your sense of what''s normal left the building months ago. Don''t try to cling to it now."

    I lifted my head in time to see Penny giving Sparkle a surprised look, as she said. "You, Sparkle, show uncommon good sense for a pixie."

    Sparkle shrugged. "I''ve spent an uncommon amount of time around mortals."

    Ken coughed. "For a given value of mortals," he joked.

    "Touch¨¦," I said. "And you''re right, Sparkle. What I really need to know is how to prepare for this. And what time ''after the morning meal'' is."

    "Let''s tackle the second part first," Ken said. "You''ll find that in Faerie - especially among the High Sidhe - mortal time is looked down on. But there are a few times of day when they like doing business¡­Dawn and dusk, noon, and after breakfast and dinner are the most popular. Business after dinner usually involves an invitation to dine with them, which should always - always - be politely declined unless they specifically say they''ll be serving mortal food."

    "Don''t eat Faerie food," I said, making a mental note. "Will it put me to sleep for a hundred years, or leave me bound to them or permanently in their debt, or something?''

    Ken smiled. "Nothing like that, though that''s what spread through the folklore. But not everything in Faerie is edible for humans¡­what looks like perfectly normal food might make you sick, or outright poison you. I''d guess that a thousand years ago, it was easier to tell superstitious people that the Sidhe can use food to enslave them or make them sleep forever, than to explain food poisoning."

    I snorted a little laugh. "I can believe that. Okay, so after the morning meal means¡­?"

    "Morning meal is usually eaten an hour after sunrise," Ken said. "So business done after the morning meal usually means about two hours after sunrise. This time of year, call it around eight o''clock in the morning. You''d best be prepared for his arrival ahead of that."

    "Okay, that makes sense," I said. "I can have the refrigerator provide tea service for two and a plate of little cakes." Thank goodness for my magic fridge. I''d seen many wonders since coming home, but the mundane practicality of that one piece of magic never ceased to amaze me.

    Ken gave me a thumbs-up. "Perfect. As to preparing for the meeting¡­I''d recommend semi-formal dress rather than casual, be polite and cautious, don''t agree to any deals without asking for time to consider them carefully first." He frowned a little in thought. "At a guess, I''d say that Oberon will assume you''ve been well-trained to deal with Sidhe and will expect caution and careful consideration of any deals he might want to offer you¡­"

    Sparkle nodded. "When he had dealings with Chessie, he was always unfailingly polite and patient. Ken''s right, he always expected her to ask for time to consider any deals he offered. And he expected me to be on her shoulder, whispering in her ear, so he won''t be surprised if I''m there with you."

    I blew out a relieved breath. "Thank goodness for that. What about Penny?"

    Ken shrugged. "I doubt he''ll object."

    "And letting him into the clearing?" I asked.

    "Perfectly safe, as long as he agrees to be your guest and abide by the laws of hospitality," Ken said firmly. "They''re like a temporary peace treaty."

    "I think you need to explain that in greater detail," I said.

    "I can!" Sparkle said cheerfully. "If someone agrees to be your guest, they''re putting themselves under your protection and agreeing to do no harm to you in return, for the duration of them being your guest."

    I tipped my head. "That¡­sounds like it covers an awful lot of ground."

    Sparkle nodded eagerly. "It really does. It''s not just seeing to their comfort¡­if someone who''s accepted your hospitality is attacked, it''s your responsibility to protect them. And breaking the laws of hospitality isn''t just rude, it''s a loss of face."

    "It can even result in lost power," Ken added. "Someone who''s violated the laws of hospitality will be seen as someone too untrustworthy to make deals with." He smiled lopsidedly. "Which is more damaging the further up the food chain you are."

    "Even among the ICOA wizards I observed," Penny threw in, "hospitality was sacrosanct. It was a way for two wizards who didn''t like one another to meet and exchange information without having to automatically distrust everything the other said and did."

    "It''s a big deal in the supernatural world," Ken said firmly. "So if he accepts, you can feel reasonably safe sitting and talking to him. He can, for example, eat your food without incurring obligation, because as his host you''re required to provide. Just¡­like I said, don''t accept any deals outright. And don''t accept any gifts he might offer unless he specifically states they come without obligation. Such things aren''t covered under the laws of hospitality."

    "Good advice no matter the time or place," Penny said softly.

    Sparkle nodded seriously in agreement.

    "And you should definitely get a good night''s sleep first," Ken said.

    I sighed. "First, I need to find a place to put this thing," I patted the chest, which was sitting on the table between me and Ken.

    Ken made a thoughtful sound. "If you have no objection, I''ll put it in the vault until you have time to examine it at length."

    "One of these days," I said teasingly, "you''re going to have to show me this vault."

    "When you''re ready," he said. "Which is not yet. There are a lot of things in there that you''re not even prepared to see yet, let alone deal with safely."

    "All right," I said, fully prepared now to take his word for it. "You do that, I''ll head off to bed. Sparkle? Penny?"

    "Bed," Penny said, rising and shifting back to her natural form, "sounds wonderful."

    "Agreed!" Sparkle said, shrinking back to fairy size.

    The next morning seemed to come far too soon. Determined to be as ready as I possibly could be, I was up before the sun. I had a light breakfast and went looking for some garden furniture that we could get out through my bedroom windows.

    In the end, there really wasn''t any. The tall windows that were big enough for me to step through comfortably just weren''t wide enough for anything we could find on short notice.

    So I took some inspiration from my fairies. A bit of careful scrounging just inside the edge of the woods turned up not one but three good tree stumps, which some quick work by an entire village of fairies - quite a sight to behold and shockingly industrious when mobilized - got back to the clearing.

    We placed them in a line about halfway between my bedroom windows and the edge of the clearing, and a quick bit of transfiguration magic by me produced what I felt was an attractive set of two chairs and a table. The table was small and round, just big enough for a tea service and a platter, and appeared to be growing directly out of the ground, made of tightly woven tree branches with a single central leg. The chairs looked much the same, but were cushioned with layers of leaves and weren''t growing out of the ground, so they could be moved easily.

    I was a bit breathless when I finished crafting them with magic, but was also entirely satisfied with the results. It was worth it.

    Then I dashed back inside - the sun was rising - and took a quick shower. I dressed in a calf-length medium green pleated silk skirt, a short-sleeved cream-colored silk blouse, with matching cream-colored tights and a pair of green ballet flats. Once I was dressed, I sat down and let Ken do my hair back up into the princess bun I''d worn to the town meeting, put on my earrings, and checked the rest of my jewelry.

    After a moment''s consideration, I asked Penny to go with Ken to the kitchen to collect appropriate refreshments  - I was certain if I sent Sparkle they''d never make it back in one piece - and went back outside.

    To discover that the Fairies of the Hall had been hard at work since I''d dashed inside to get ready. Every building in the village had been decorated with garlands of woven oak and ivy, in addition to colorful bunting and streamers. Little paper lanterns were strung between the buildings, and every fairy seemed to be wearing their best little dresses and tunics.

    I guess they wanted to make a good impression too. And the strands of oak and ivy certainly made a statement about their allegiance.

    Spice and Shine came fluttering over as I took in the village, and they were a sight to behold as well. They were wearing matching outfits, sleek and tightly fitted little dresses that reminded me of a Chinese qipao: sleeveless, high-necked, slit almost to the hip on both sides and almost ankle length. Spice''s was scarlet with silver trim, and Shine''s was silver with red trim.

    It was kind of adorable.

    Curiously, neither dress was open-backed¡­yet their wings were out and continued to function normally. It made me wonder if the clothing had been made magically somehow¡­and if I could learn how.

    "Everything is in readiness, my lady!" Spice reported, curtsying.

    "I can see that!" I said, letting how impressed I was come through in my voice clearly. "The village looks wonderful, and so do both of you."

    "As your chief retainers," Spice said, "we should be introduced after Sparkle and Penny, who are your companions."

    Sparkle had mentioned the importance of introducing her and Penny specifically as my companions. It would give them standing almost equal to mine in Oberon''s eyes, and emphasize their importance to me. That way, if I ever needed one of them to run a message or an errand to the Seelie Court, everyone would know they were protected by me. And my standing in the community would, apparently, keep them very safe indeed.

    "This has to do with previous Guardians of Oakwood Hall being popular as mediators and negotiators?" I asked.

    Spice nodded. "Yes, my lady. Your standing in the supernatural community becomes our standing. It''s important that it be very clear that we stand with you."

    Shine made several gestures I couldn''t interpret, and Spice nodded. "Shine says it''s also important that Lord Oberon understand that we want to be your retainers. That you didn''t do this to us by force or coercion. It''ll make our service to you, and your calling us to your service, more¡­" She paused and looked at Shine, who rolled her eyes and gestured again. "It''ll make it easier for him to accept our calling?" Spice finished, then shrugged a little as if to say she didn''t completely understand either.

    I smiled. "Thank you both, especially you Shine. I''ll be sure to introduce you both, so stay close when he arrives."

    Penny, in her human form, appeared at the open bedroom window and said, "Caley, would you help me with this?"

    Between the two of us, we managed to get the serving tray, tea service, and a plate of little iced cakes through the window and over to the little table without losing anything.

    Then I stood nervously by the table, watching the woods. Penny shifted back to her fox form and sat down beside me on my right, while Sparkle came to sit on my right shoulder. After a moment, Spice and Shine flew up on my left side and hovered there.

    Together, we waited and watched.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10

    Fortunately for my nerves, we didn''t have to wait long. Before even ten minutes had passed, Oberon, Lord of the Seelie Court of the Sidhe and King of Faerie, arrived.

    Which was, weirdly, both less dramatic and more impressive than it sounds.

    He came quietly and without any particular fanfare, emerging from the woods beyond the edge of my clearing as if he''d walked the entire way. But at the same time, he didn''t move through the trees and bushes¡­they seemed to shift politely aside for him to pass before returning to their original positions. He stopped just at the edge of the clearing, close to but beyond my wards and the fairy ring within them. Puck emerged from the woods behind him and to one side, looking exactly the same as he had the night before.

    Oberon was tall, I guessed at least six and a half feet, slim, and moved with a smooth grace that was literally otherworldly, practically seeming to glide rather than walk. His skin had a faintly golden cast to it, and his features were frankly beautiful; his face was long with, high, sharp cheekbones, a strong jaw and chin, and a hawk-like nose. His ears were long and pointed, angled up and back from his face rather than out to the sides the way Puck''s were.

    His hair was long and golden-blond, tied back in a neat, high pony tail. His eyes, which found mine immediately, were mismatched¡­one was a brilliant green, the other bright gold.

    He wore what I thought were surprisingly simple clothes for royalty: A forest green tunic with a leaf pattern of gold embroidery at the hem, neck, and capped sleeves, over a dark brown shirt and green trousers that matched his tunic. Brown knee-high leather boots, a gold belt, and a necklace of small gold shields accented his outfit. Aside from those, the only other jewelry he wore was a circlet of gold around his head, with a single perfectly cut oval emerald embedded in it at the center of his forehead.

    But then, maybe he didn''t feel he needed to look more impressive than he already was. Even through my wards and the intervening distance, I could feel the raw power of him. It was warm like a sunbeam, and crackled with restrained energy like the air just before an intense thunderstorm. This man was, I knew instinctively, like nobody I had ever met before. The power wielded by Bellinus von Einhardt at the height of his fury was a faint breeze compared to restrained tempest of Oberon at rest.

    I was profoundly glad that he was there for a friendly meeting, and had no doubt at all that in a contest of power he could swat me like a bug¡­and would always be able to do so, no matter how long I lived or how experienced I became.

    Oberon was a force of nature. He could have torn down my wards with a gesture and walked across the fairy ring as if it weren''t there.

    He was also smiling warmly, and bowed politely. "Lady Caitlyn Reid, I presume?" His voice flowed like warm honey, a rich, melodious tenor. At the same time, I thought his smile never quite touched his eyes, which seemed hard and calculating to me.

    So I walked to meet him, and returned his bow with a curtsy. "Lord Oberon, you honor me with your presence. Will you be my guest and join me for refreshments?" I gestured to the table and chairs behind me. "I''m afraid I only set service for two. It will only take a moment for me to rectify the matter."

    He nodded graciously. "I accept your hospitality, my lady, with pleasure. And you need not put yourself out. Service for two is sufficient for you and I." With that, he entered the clearing and walked to the table with me, where the others were waiting.

    Puck threw me a little nod and a smile anyway. Clearly, he appreciated being acknowledged. But I remembered how in medieval times, servants were expected to be invisible, taking their ease and comfort only once their duties were done. I guessed that was how it still worked in the Seelie Court of the Sidhe.

    "If you''ll allow me," I said politely, "permit me to introduce my boon companions, Sparkle and Penumbra," I gestured to them, then to Spice and Shine, "and my chief retainers, Spice and Shine, who lead the Fairies of Oakwood Hall."

    He bowed to Sparkle and Penny as deeply as he had to me, and less deeply but still politely to Spice and Shine. "It is my great pleasure to meet you all. And if I may say so, Spice and Shine have done a magnificent job setting up protections for this entrance to your home and building a home for their people."

    Spice and Shine bobbed curtsies in mid-air, and Spice murmured their thanks. They did not, I noticed with curiosity, either glow or grow in stature slightly the way they did when I praised their efforts. I parked that information in the back of my mind for later contemplation.

    Spice and Shine then retreated to the village proper, while Sparkle landed back on my shoulder and Penny sat beside my chair as I settled into it. Oberon sat across from me, adjusting his chair slightly as I poured tea for us both, then offered him cream and sugar, both of which he took. Puck took up a position a few feet behind Oberon, to his right, mirroring Penny''s positioning.

    By the time we''d both sipped our tea, Oberon looked both amused and pleased. "Someone has been coaching you in the proper way to receive guests, I see."

    I smiled. "I have excellent tutors," I agreed.

    "And tremendous potential," Oberon said. "Your family has produced some of the most gifted spellcasters the mortal world has ever seen, and I can see that possibility in you already."

    I nodded my head graciously. "Thank you."

    He sipped his tea, then set the cup down and tipped his head a little, pursing his lips. "I hope you will not think me ungracious, but there are many things I must do and time presses¡­and it is¡­" He hesitated a moment, then started over. "It is unusual for me to find myself in a position of needing to ask another for aid. Let alone a young mortal, even a mortal as gifted as you. I beg you, take no offense. I am¡­" He spread his hands.

    He was showing me vulnerability, but I wondered at the truth of it. I could still feel the power in this being, and while I thought it could be nurturing, it was also huge and had an edge to it like nails on a chalkboard¡­there was the potential for extreme violence hidden beneath the peaceful gentility.

    I suddenly understood on an instinctive level why the Seelie Court was called the Summer Court. Yes, Oberon was warm, smiling, and outwardly cheerful and¡­sunny, for lack of a better term. But beneath that, behind it, lay the potential for the sort of dangerous, violent storm that a bright summer''s day could turn to. For all his apparently friendly vulnerability, his eyes still looked calculating, and this was still a being of tremendous and dangerous power.

    "I think I understand," I said politely, feeling no offense, and wanting to offer none. This being was practically a physical god compared to me. Even if I was wrong about him covering up his potential for dangerous violence with a genteel and friendly mien, I was certain it had been a very, very long time - possibly millennia - since he had asked anyone for help.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    "Growing up," I said carefully, "I was taught that there was no shame either in needing help or in asking for it, and that doing so was a sign of inner strength, not of weakness. And I was taught to give help when asked, as long as it was within my power to do so." Which I hoped was a polite way of saying I was willing to offer help, without actually doing so until I''d heard what he needed help with.

    Frankly, I couldn''t imagine anything that a being like Oberon could need my help with.

    He nodded slightly and smiled faintly. "A very mortal viewpoint, but there is wisdom in it. I offer you wisdom in exchange: In Faerie, especially among the Sidhe, needing help is seen as a weakness, a failing. It is one reason we bargain for equivalent exchanges."

    I sipped my tea, then set my cup down. "In what way can Oakwood Hall be of aid to you, Lord Oberon?" I asked politely, wondering if perhaps he was simply uncomfortable asking without aid being offered first. And I hoped that I''d done so without dedicating myself to providing that help before hearing what it was, by not asking how I could help him.

    His eyes narrowed slightly, but it seemed I was close to the mark, because he nodded slightly. "There is a piece of information for which I have searched far and wide. A seemingly insignificant bit of knowledge, and yet one which I find myself in need of to resolve a larger puzzle. I have reason to believe that in your family''s library, of which I have heard great things, this insignificant bit of information might be found."

    Before I could say anything, he held up a hand to forestall comment and continued. "No matter how insignificant the information I seek might be, I understand that asking to enter Oakwood Hall is no small thing. Even twenty years deprived of the presence of a blood member of your family, and even damaged through the actions of wizards of the so-called International Consortium of Organized Arcana¡­" he said the group''s name in the same way someone else might have talked about cockroaches, "the wards and protections of Oakwood Hall are the strongest I have seen outside of Faerie. And with good reason. Nor should you ever allow anyone to enter the Hall lightly."

    I felt a frisson of unease over how much he seemed to know about the Hall''s defenses, and how much he hinted at knowing about the Hall itself. But then, I realized, he''d probably been around when the Hall was built, and was certainly considerably older than it.

    And he was, after all, just hinting, and I recalled what Ken and Sparkle had taught me about the Sidhe. How they couldn''t lie, but were also masters of telling the literal truth. He might not actually know anything more than what he''d just said, but presented what he knew in such a way that I would assume he knew more than that.

    I could already see that my various teachers had been right¡­I was going to dislike dealing with the Sidhe.

    "To that end," Oberon continued, "I would offer you the following deal: In exchange for unfettered and unattended access to Oakwood Hall''s legendary library for one day, sunrise to sunset, I will offer you one boon of your choosing."

    Sparkle sucked in a little breath beside my right ear, and across from me I saw Puck''s eyes widen in astonishment. Considering the power Oberon had at his beck and call, I suspected that an open-ended favor from him was quite an offer.

    "I vow that I will take nothing physically from the library," Oberon continued, "nor will I remove anything from it in any way, so long as no one is there to observe what I seek and hope to find. Nor will your or any of your household, any beholden to you, or any in your confidence seek after the fact to learn what I sought." He smiled slightly. "And even if I do not find what I seek, the boon I offer will be yours to use as you will. Though of course, I will offer greater value in return should I find my prize."

    My lips were suddenly very dry, so I licked them before speaking. "I¡­will need time to consider your request¡­" I said carefully.

    He smiled more widely, that cold, calculating look back in his eyes. "Of course," he said airily, waving a hand graciously. "This being your first contact with the Seelie Court, and hopefully the first of many, you should of course consult your tutors for advice before accepting my proposal." He held up a single finger. "But tarry not, Lady Reid. I am not yet pressed for time, but will need your response before the next new moon."

    Which was less than three weeks away, if I remembered correctly. Still, that was plenty of time.

    "Puck!" Oberon said.

    Puck stepped forward and, with a flick of his fingers, a business card appeared in his hand and was held out to me. "Call this number at any time, day or night, and I will answer," he said.

    I took the card from him, and indeed there was a perfectly mundane phone number printed on one side of it, and nothing else. I wondered if making it appear had been real magic, or just a particularly good piece of sleight-of-hand. "Thank you."

    Oberon nodded and rose. "Thank you for your time, Lady Reid. I shan''t take any more of it this day. You will wish to speak with your advisors, and I have other responsibilities awaiting me." He smiled wryly, the first expression I''d seen on his face that I thought might be completely genuine. "Time, as they say, waits for no man. Even if my relationship with time is different than most."

    I rose, and curtsied as he bowed to me. "Good day, Lady Reid," he said politely.

    "Good day to you, Lord Oberon. I will be in touch soon."

    "See that you are," He said brusquely. Then his lips twitched in annoyance before being replaced by his usual smile, and I suspected that had slipped out. And with that, he turned and strode towards the edge of the clearing.

    Puck glanced at the plate of little cakes and lifted his eyebrows hopefully. I smiled and nodded. He quickly snatched up two of the treats, gave me a genuine smile in return, bowed politely, and hurried after his master.

    As they vanished into the woods - which again seemed to open and close behind them - I sat down in the chair I''d made and let out a gusty sigh. I took one of the little cakes myself, popped it in my mouth, and washed it down with what was left of my tea.

    Then I got the ball rolling. "Sparkle?"

    She was instantly off my shoulder and hovering in front of me. "Yes, Caley?"

    "I want all hands on deck for a lunch meeting today in Dara''s garden," I said. "That includes Spice and Shine. Have Ken see if he can reach Ariana and Emrys." I hesitated, wanting to ask D.T.''s advice as well¡­but this was way outside of her area of expertise. "Have him call Margrave, too. See if this is something he''d be willing to be on speakerphone for, or even attend in person. This is¡­big."

    "You have no idea," Sparkle said, then threw me a crisp salute. "I''m on it, Caley! Can I have a cake first?"

    I smiled. "Have three."

    She did, making them vanish in short order, then zooming off in Spice and Shine''s direction first.

    I took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "Penny, do me a favor and take the tea service back to the kitchen. Have a cake if you want one, I''m going to give the rest to the fairies."

    Penny was instantly in her human form, collecting the remains of the tea. "I''ll pass on a cake," she said with a smile. "And if I may say so, I think you''re handling this very well so far."

    "Thank you," I said earnestly. "Thank you very much."

    She bent and kissed my cheek, then picked up the tray and went back inside.

    I sat there for a few minutes longer, then picked up the plate of little cakes and walked over to Spice and Shine''s house at the edge of the village. They were standing at the edge of their observation deck as I approached, still in their finery.

    "We''ll happily attend your meeting, Caley," Spice said earnestly when asked. "You honor us greatly."

    I smiled at how serious she was about that, and carefully placed the plate on their deck. "These are for you and the other fairies. A little extra show of my appreciation for your protection and support."

    I was instantly surrounded by a softly buzzing cloud of multi-colored lights as my fairies approached. "Thank you," I said, "all of you. Your presence enriches my life."

    They all glowed more brightly for a moment, an almost dizzying display¡­then, in a surprising show of restraint, they approached a few at a time as Spice and Shine broke up the little cakes into smaller pieces for them, making sure everyone got an equal share. Except for the two of them, of course¡­they each got their own little cake.

    I sat on the edge of my bedroom windowsill and looked at the woods. After a while, I felt the gentle sensation as Sparkle touched down my right shoulder, and a warm hand came to rest on my left. Glancing that way, I saw Penny''s concerned expression.

    "I''m all right," I said to them. "Just thinking I might leave the table and chairs," I indicated the wooden furniture I''d transfigured barely two hours earlier. It seemed like days ago, somehow. "Maybe make the table a little bigger and add another chair or two."

    Sparkle giggled. "That''s a great idea."

    "They look quite natural there," Penny agreed. "You did an excellent job on them."

    "Ken says he''s going to try to reach Ariana first, then Margrave," Sparkle added. "Since Margrave always answers."

    I nodded. "I hope they can come. I want their advice very badly."

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11

    I stopped to change into casual black leggings under a green t-shirt, with plain socks, and a pair of green trainers. Not only did I want to be comfortable for this conversation, but I was planning on getting in some practice after this gathering of my friends and allies.

    Ariana and Emrys were just arriving through one of the Hall''s inner doors as I walked through the halls toward the garden. Ken was there to let them in and had just finished welcoming them as I rounded a corner and almost ran into them.

    Ariana Pendragon - yes, that Pendragon, and apparently Arthur''s daughter with Guinevere - was dressed as she usually was¡­blue jeans and an off-white Henley under a leather bomber jacket, and she wore a pair of what she''d informed me were Dr. Martens 1460''s. I kept meaning to get myself a pair - she said they were very comfortable once broken in and exceptionally durable - but somehow hadn''t gotten around to it yet. I''d just been too busy.

    (Or, as D.T. had jokingly suggested one morning while we were out jogging, I perhaps wasn''t comfortable casually spending even a comparatively minuscule amount of the absurd fortune at my disposal. She was probably more right than I wanted to admit.)

    Ariana''s golden hair was usually cut short, but had grown out a bit since the last time I''d seen her and now hung almost below her ears. A hand and a half longsword, its well-worn leather grip bracketed by Celtic knot engravings and a slightly curved cruciform cross-guard, hung at her left hip. Her gray eyes looked at me with obvious curiosity, but she didn''t ask any questions yet.

    Emrys Hawkins, who was apparently the Merlin, just over-rejuvenated, was beside her as always. His brown hair was still impossibly messy and failing to cover his pointed ears. His bright amber eyes were still far, far too old for his teenage face, and he was largely dressed the same as Ariana, except that he carried a plain wooden staff instead of a sword, and his t-shirt had a large Autobot logo on it.

    "Transformers?" I asked. "Really?"

    He lifted his chin and replied loftily. "At its best, it tells stories about two alien cultures learning to live together, and about how two similar desires can have radically different outcomes depending on how they''re acted on. You can understand why those themes might appeal to a changeling like me."

    Ariana rolled her eyes. "He''s going through a phase. This month it''s giant robots smashing into other giant robots. You should''ve seen him when he discovered Pacific Rim."

    "Anyway," Emrys said, ignoring Ariana. "You recognized it."

    I shrugged. "Transformers: Prime landed when I was about thirteen, and the boys at the orphanage liked to watch it after school. I did too, to be honest. It was usually very well written, and I could listen to Peter Cullen read a dictionary."

    "Entirely fair," Emrys said with a nod. "And that was one of the better ones."

    Together, we walked down the hall, with Ken in the lead. "So," Ariana asked, "what''s this all about?"

    "You won''t believe me when I tell you," I said, "and I''d rather not have to explain it more than once. I hope I didn''t pull you away from anything important."

    "All right," she said, then gave her head a shake. "And you didn''t. It''s been uncommonly quiet lately, actually." She frowned a little. "If I were a superstitious person -"

    Emrys snorted a laugh.

    "- I''d think something was about to happen somewhere," she finished, ignoring him. "I was honestly a little relieved when Ken called and said you needed our advice. When you''re apparently immortal, boredom is terrible."

    "She said with her usual gift of understatement," Emrys agreed.

    Sparkle fluttered up and landed on my right shoulder, followed a moment later by Spice and Shine, who hesitated until I patted my left shoulder, where they settled lightly. Emrys smiled at the sight. "I keep meaning to find the time to visit and meet the Fairies of Oakwood Hall. I know it wasn''t intentional, but you made quite a splash in Faerie doing that."

    "Good splash," I asked, "or bad?"

    "Oh, very good," Emrys said earnestly. "Your first official act in Faerie being taking a clan of fairies under your wing and giving them purpose made Faerie as a whole sit up and take notice. You did something none of your ancestors had done since taking in that clan of brownies a couple of centuries ago, which makes you look both benevolent and nurturing, not to mention clever. As a result, there are rumblings from normally neutral and reclusive parties all over Faerie about wanting to meet you and open diplomatic relations with you. I''ve heard through channels that both my father and uncle have expressed an interest in meeting you."

    He trailed off and gave me a shrewd look that was far too old for his youthful face. "This meeting wouldn''t be about that, would it?"

    Ariana bonked him lightly - and, I thought, affectionately - atop his head with her fist. "She told us quite clearly that she''d fill us all in when we were together, you conniving little -"

    "It''s in my nature to pry!" Emrys protested.

    Ken glanced back to exchange a look with me that very clearly said, ''Hard to believe he''s really the Merlin, isn''t it?''

    I smiled and rolled my eyes, but said nothing. I just listened with amusement as Ariana and Emrys bickered like siblings until we finally reached the garden. I opened the big, old, iron-banded door and gestured for them to precede me.

    The garden was one of my favorite rooms in the Hall. And that was really saying something.

    It was less a room and more an absolutely enormous greenhouse, at least three stories tall and seeming to go on forever in every direction. The floor was a lush, elegantly tended lawn of perfect green grass, broken up by beds of flowers, shrubs, small trees, and other plants of every description. Its centerpiece was an enormous and very healthy old oak tree, possibly one of the oldest living oaks in the world, with branches that spread protectively over everything else within the room.

    Right up at the front of the garden was a path of slate flagstones leading to a little sitting area. There was a glass-topped round table, several wooden garden chairs, a couple of chaise lounges, and an old-fashioned round charcoal grill sitting on a square of concrete pavers. Deeper in the garden, past the oak tree, was a little stone shed that led down to the underground ''night garden'', which was filled with an impossible variety of mushrooms, lichen, and other things that grew better in the dark than under the sun¡­including some that I was certain weren''t strictly native to Earth.

    The oak tree itself was the home - or possibly part of, I wasn''t sure of the biology - of Dara, a hamadryad, and the oldest resident of the Hall by several orders of magnitude. She was, she said, older than the Hall itself, which had been built around her tree as part of her arrangement with my ancestors to nurture the Hall and all who lived within it.

    Dara, currently six feet tall, with long, wavy hair the color of oak leaves, skin the color - and texture - of bare oak wood and wearing what appeared to be a catsuit of supple bark, was lounging in one of the chairs by the table, waiting for us. Wadsworth was sitting in the chair beside her, absolutely dwarfed by her. He was the leader of the Hall''s brownie clan, and topped out at three feet tall with his pork pie hat on. He had leathery skin that looked, not that I''d ever say it to his face, rather like a potato, and wore leather trousers and a homespun cotton shirt.

    Penny, in her human form, was sitting on the other side of Dara, sipping a cup of tea. She had brought a fresh tea service to the garden, along with bottles of water, a tray of bread, cold cuts, cheeses, and other sandwich makings, as well as a bowl of fresh pears, peaches, oranges, and apples.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    "Thank you, Penny," I said appreciatively, sitting down beside her. "Ariana, Emrys, make yourselves comfortable and tuck in if you''re hungry. Spice, that goes for you and Shine as well."

    Sparkle, Spice, and Shine descended on the bowl of fruit as Ariana and Emrys sat down and began building sandwiches.

    "I learned a long time ago to eat whenever I can," Ariana said, "because who knows what''s happening next. And this one," she gestured to Emrys, "could eat an entire roasted pig by himself right now."

    "I''m a growing teenager!" Emrys protested, layering ham and turkey onto slices of sourdough.

    "A seventeen hundred year-old teenager," Ariana joked.

    "I''m not a day over sixteen hundred," Emrys said primly, piling some cheese into the growing sandwich. "Anyway, you''d know, you''re almost as old."

    "Children," Dara said with tolerant amusement.

    "Yes," Emrys agreed, "it is nice to not be the oldest person at the table for a change. How are you, Dara?"

    "Thriving, old friend, as you no doubt know," she replied with a smile.

    I looked at Ken. "Were you able to reach Margrave?"

    Ken grimaced a little as he sat down. "For once, no. I reached his secretary, who regretted that he was in the middle of a delicate negotiation that she couldn''t interrupt. She did promise to let him know of your need for advice as soon as he was available."

    I sighed. "That''ll have to do, then." I looked around the table, and decided I was in good hands anyway. "All right, let me fill you all in quickly."

    With a bit of help from Sparkle and Penny, I told them all of my meeting with Oberon, putting my eidetic memory to good use by quoting his offered deal verbatim. I wound down by saying, "So that''s where I am now. In need of your advice and ideas."

    Emrys now sat frowning with his hands steepled fingertips-to-fingertips in front of his mouth, his sandwich forgotten. "Well, it''s not entirely unexpected, but it is concerning." He looked around the table. "I think I can say with some safety that I am the resident expert on my uncle, the Lord of the Seelie Court?"

    When nobody disputed the point, he continued. "My uncle is many things, and while he can be impulsive and hot-headed, he rarely initiates any actions without careful thought. It is, possibly, the only way in which he and my father are truly alike, personality-wise."

    He paused for a long moment, perhaps collecting his thoughts, then went on. "He also isn''t in the habit of offering favors, let alone offering blank checks like this." He looked across the table at me. "Whatever he thinks he stands to find in your library, he must want it very badly."

    "I''m uneasy about the idea of you making any deals with the Sidhe," Penny said, directing her words to me. "I''ve seen wizards make such deals thinking they had the upper hand, only to discover that they''d been played perfectly."

    Sparkle, Spice, and Shine all nodded earnestly, Sparkle and Spice murmuring their agreement. "Deals with the Sidhe rarely work out well for mortals," Sparkle said.

    Shine touched Spice''s arm gently, and Spice nodded, then spoke very quietly. "Not only for mortals. They rarely work out well for other residents of Faerie." She laid her hand on Shine''s, and the silver fairy shifted to lay her head on Spice''s shoulder.

    Which left me wondering once again how Shine lost her voice. I had assumed some injury, but¡­I shivered a little, remembering Hans Christian Andersen''s story of the little mermaid. I also wondered, not for the first time, what bound these two fairies together so tightly. Questions for another day, if ever.

    "It''s unlikely that Caley would be able to escape making deals with the Sidhe forever," Ariana said thoughtfully, then nodded to me. "Every one of your ancestors that I''ve known - and I''ve known all but one or two of them - had to deal with the Sidhe sooner or later. Anyone of any power and influence in the supernatural world does."

    "Even you?" I asked.

    Ariana laughed bitterly. "On more than one occasion. And even with Emrys'' sage advice, I''ve rarely done better than break even."

    Ken nodded. "I''m also uneasy about the idea of letting Oberon into the Hall at all, but if we manage his passage carefully¡­say, by having Caley temporarily move the library''s entrance to the foyer, so that he doesn''t have to go any deeper into the house than that¡­it could be done with reasonable safety. More importantly, I think if you''re going to do this," he looked at me gravely, "you have to not over-reach on whatever you ask him for in return."

    "And have him fulfill the favor as quickly as you can," Emrys added. "Immediately if possible. The longer you wait to do so, the more it will tax both his patience and his power. Unfulfilled bargains are a tangible drag on a Sidhe Lord''s power."

    "What he said," Ariana said with a nod to Emrys. "I made the mistake of being in debt to a Sidhe Lord once, about a thousand years ago. He let it hang over my head for a few years before he realized it was doing him more harm than it was me, and came to me demanding immediate repayment." She grimaced. "Of course, I couldn''t say no and paid a considerably higher price for his original service than I''d intended."

    "Couldn''t say no?" I asked uneasily.

    "Oh yes," Emrys said with a nod. "Deals with the Sidhe are very much magical contracts, and they will compel both parties to fulfill the strict letter of the agreement. Which is why they need to be handled so carefully, and made as airtight as possible." He frowned. "We should take a few days at the very least to consider the exact wording of both his offer, and any counter-offer you might make. You have until the next new moon, you said?"

    I nodded. "That was the deadline he set. He said, ''I am not yet pressed for time, but will need your response before the next new moon.''"

    Ken sighed. "Not a lot of time."

    "More than enough," Emrys retorted airily. "It''s good to consider the problem, but over-thinking it can do as much harm as not giving it enough thought. And sometimes, only sometimes mind you, acting on such a deal instinctively can be better than giving it too much consideration."

    I smiled a little. "All right, then what do I ask for? I want to get that out of the way the same day he accesses the library, if possible."

    "Wise," Dara said softly, speaking for the first time since we''d begun. "I agree with Emrys'' assessment of Oberon''s motivations. Whatever he wants in the library must be of tremendous value to him, to offer a boon of your choice. That makes it all the more imperative to choose said boon wisely. It should not be something inconsequential, as that might leave an imbalance in your deal. Neither should it be something that will be too difficult or expensive for him to provide, for the same reason."

    "Unfortunately," Emrys said, "without knowing precisely what he''s looking for or how important it really is to my uncle, it could be very easy to over or underestimate its relative value." He frowned. "Knowledge is power¡­but power is difficult to give in return without an imbalance. It will be hard indeed to judge that accurately¡­" He trailed off and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

    "It wouldn''t be the first time someone offered too little for too much without meaning to," Spice said softly. Shine hid her face against Spice''s shoulder, and Spice released her hand to slide an arm around her instead.

    I blew out a breath. "This sounds more and more like a terrible idea."

    Ken shook his head. "It''s not. It is one that we all need to give careful consideration before moving forward on it. This was going to happen sooner or later, and Oberon very graciously offered you a decent amount of time to decide how to proceed. It''s stressful, but if we''re careful, we can make the best of this."

    We were all silent for a long moment, during which Emrys gave himself a little shake and finally returned to his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully.

    Finally, putting my thoughts in order, I asked, "All right, so¡­as Emrys says, knowledge is power. There''s no particular knowledge I need at the moment, so what''s a reasonable equivalent to power in Faerie?"

    "A variety of things," Emrys said glumly, staring at his hands. "Esoteric knowledge, land, material wealth¡­you already have a substantial amount of magical power at your fingertips, so asking for more of that would be a terrible idea. It never ends well anyway. The most important thing is to be careful so as not to overstep the value of whatever he''s looking for. Whatever you ask for, it will need to be worded very carefully."

    He looked up and met my eyes. "Let me think on it, and I''ll get back to you. And you should discuss this all with Margrave as soon as he''s available."

    "If he becomes available," Ariana said with a frown. "The Law Offices of Summers and Winters do business with both the Seelie and Unseelie courts, and they undoubtedly know that Caley is a client of Summers and Winters as well."

    Ken whistled softly. "You think Oberon might have found a way to tie Margrave up long enough to keep him from advising Caley on this?"

    "Would you put it past him?" Ariana shot back.

    A flat "No" came from Emrys, Dara, Penny, Sparkle, and Spice all at together. Shine was shaking her head firmly.

    Ariana spread her hands and shrugged. "I can''t prove it, but I wouldn''t count on Margrave being available for anything less than a family crisis for the next two or three weeks. I hope I''m wrong."

    "Me too," I said softly, then sighed. "Okay, so¡­to summarize: We''re all agreed that going ahead with a deal with Oberon isn''t a bad thing to do, but it needs to be done carefully and start with me presenting a counter-offer and a well-thought-out boon to be paid at the same time."

    Everyone looked at Emrys. He shrugged and nodded. "A good summary. In my experience, my uncle can be incredibly generous in his dealings. He''s also well known for doing horrible things to people who try to cheat or double-cross him."

    "Robin Goodfellow learned that the hard way," Sparkle said softly. "We all heard about what happened after the Puck sold a certain tale to William Shakespeare."

    "Do I want to know?" I asked uncertainly.

    Everybody else at the table - even Penny - shook their heads firmly.

    "All right then, I''m not asking." I started building my own sandwich. "Let''s table the conversation for now. Emrys, I appreciate any advice you can offer."

    Emrys nodded graciously. "My pleasure, Caley." He smiled. "The formation of the Faeries of Oakwood Hall was a good beginning. A successful dealing with my uncle will help cement your good standing in Faerie, and is an excellent step toward becoming the neutral party in the supernatural world that you want to be."

    "Then that''s what I''ll do," I said firmly.

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12

    After all of us who wanted lunch had eaten (everyone except Ken, who as a ghost doesn''t eat anything, and Dara, who as a hamadryad can eat but gets her nourishment from her tree), we broke up for the day. Ariana and Emrys, after promising to touch base in a few days with ideas for making a counter-offer to Oberon, went back to their work. Spice and Shine lingered for a bit with Sparkle before going back to the fairy village outside, Wadsworth went back to work, followed by Penny¡­

    And I went to practice my spellcasting. I''d been at it for less than fifteen minutes, throwing balls of pure force at the target on the workshop wall, when the phone newly mounted by the workshop door rang.

    Ken went over, looked at the screen, then looked at me. "It''s Sergeant Burroughs." He picked up the receiver. "Good afternoon, Sergeant, this is Ken." He listened for a moment and smiled. "Very well, thank you. What can I do for you?"

    I threw another ball of force at the wall. It was surprisingly therapeutic.

    "Oh dear. I shall remind her and see her on her way immediately," Ken said, looking over at me. "It''s been quite the morning here, I''m sure it just slipped her mind."

    What could have slipped my¡­

    "Oh crap, the social hall." I turned and hurried for the door. "Tell her I''m on my way!"

    Ken smiled and did so as I dashed down the hall, calling, "Sparkle! Penny!"

    Sparkle zoomed up to me and Penny melted out of my shadow just as I reached the foyer. "I''m sorry," I said, "I forgot I promised to take a look at the social hall this afternoon, and I want you both with me."

    "Where else would we be if you''re going out?" Sparkle asked with a smile.

    "Are you going to change first?" Penny asked.

    I slid to a stop by the front door and looked at my reflection in a mirror that had never been there before. My hair was still pinned up in the princess bun Ken had put it in early that morning. I was wearing a forest green t-shirt that fell to the tops of my thighs, over a pair of plain black leggings, socks, and trainers.

    "Damn it¡­" I turned and found the door to my bedroom halfway around the curve of the wall. With a smile, I touched the wall and murmured my thanks before going into my bedroom to change.

    Standing in the doorway of my closet, I realized I had no idea what condition the old social hall was actually in. All I had to go on was that it was a relatively cool end-of-summer day out, and who knew how long it had been since anyone had opened up the building, so it was likely to be stuffy inside at the very least. But just as likely to be full of things that I might bang into, trip on, or get cuts and abrasions from.

    And I was weirdly reluctant to go out in public in just leggings unless I was exercising. It just felt¡­immodest. Undoubtedly a lingering remnant of my Catholic upbringing.

    You don''t grow up around nuns without having modesty firmly ingrained.

    I stared at my closet for a moment. I was no longer in the position I''d been in for years, of wanting to present a comfortably modest appearance to offset my exotic features. I was, in fact, interested in being attractive to someone, which was also a first for me.

    Acting on impulse, I threw a pair of short, snug denim shorts on over my leggings, and tucked my t-shirt into the shorts. I was counting on the combination of shorts and leggings to keep my legs reasonably unharmed by anything I banged into while still providing excellent mobility. As I started to make yet another mental note to pick up a pair of Dr. Martens boots at the first opportunity, my eyes fell on a pair of black boots tucked in the corner beside a row of other shoes.

    Dr. Martens 1460''s, exactly like Ariana''s. They looked well-worn and well cared-for, and were, as I somehow knew they would be when I picked them up, precisely my size.

    Once again, I reached out and laid my hand on the nearest wall, expressing my thanks to the Hall with feelings of gratitude and affection instead of speaking the words out loud. I received an impression of affection and mutual care in return, followed by a gentle nudge of caution.

    I smiled. "I''ll be careful, don''t worry."

    Then I swapped my athletic socks for lighter-weight ankle socks, and replaced my trainers with the boots. They were heavier than I was used to in footwear, but also provided more support for my ankles and would protect me from being hurt by anything I stepped on by accident.

    And they really were quite comfortable. So I grabbed a waxed canvas hip bag and dropped my wallet, cell phone, and the earbud that connected to the Hall''s security system into it along with a few other little things.

    I left the closet, slung my bag cross-body, and pursed my lips. "I have no idea what else to take with me."

    Ken was waiting for me. "Once you figure out what''s going on there, you''ll be in a better position to determine what you need. Then I can offer advice." He sighed. "I do wish you had a new staff ready to go, or some wands, but there''s been no time¡­"

    "Fortunately," I said with a smile, "someone''s been teaching me to make do without foci."

    He nodded, not looking very reassured. "Promise me you''ll be careful."

    "She will be," Two voices said together. Sparkle''s from the Master Key hanging from my choker, and Penny''s from a shadow under the desk behind me.

    I shrugged and gave Ken a whimsical smile. "What they said."

    "Thank you, Sparkle, Penny," Ken chuckled.

    "Oh!" I reached up and touched my hair. "Would you redo this as my usual braid? I don''t want it falling apart on me if anything¡­exciting happens."

    Ken smiled and nodded, scooping up one of my mother''s old silver Celtic knot hair clips and gliding around behind me. "Of course. It''ll take just a moment. Hold still."

    I did, and felt my hair collapse out of the bun in a long sheet down my back. Then the usual tugging sensation as he pulled my hair into place, but not tightly, and a few seconds later Ken glided back around in front of me, holding the pins that had kept my hair bun in place. "All set! You look ready for action."

    "Let''s hope there''s not too much," I said. "Sparkle, Penny, let''s go!"

    I took my car, because I didn''t want to make D.T. and Clark wait any longer than I already had.

    When I pulled up in front of the old social hall, D.T. was waiting out front in her short-sleeved duty uniform. She still had her stab vest on over it, of course - she''d said it was standard duty protocol these days - but from the way she stood I didn''t think she was fully loaded on gear. She looked me up and down as I climbed out of my little red VW and whistled. "Hey there, sexy legs. Did you bring Caley with you?"

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I felt my cheeks burn, but smiled in spite of my embarrassment. I was glad she liked my weird, informal fashion statement. "Stop that."

    D.T. laughed. "Why? The look on your face is adorable." She gestured up the street. "Clark''s next door, getting the keys from Father Hill."

    The Oakwood Social Hall was a long, nondescript, two-story building, about as wide as two of the old-fashioned townhouses that dotted Oakwood. It looked like it had been built sometime in the 1960''s, and was¡­very beige, and had a general air of definitely having seen better days.

    Beside it stood the parish church, a much older structure built of native stone in a fairly traditional Victorian Gothic style. It had the same sense of solidity to it as most of the older buildings in town, but also radiated a quiet warmth that surprised me. After a moment, I realized that I was actually feeling quiet warmth from it in a magical sense, and unconsciously stretched out my left hand toward it, spreading my fingers and trying to get a feeling for its energies.

    At the very least, it was well-warded, but not in the closed-down way that Oakwood Hall''s wards were, where I had to silently approve anyone I wanted to come onto the grounds. Instead, it fairly hummed with a quiet, pervasive, protective power. Come inside, it seemed to say, nothing evil will touch you here.

    "Huh," I said, reconsidering my initial assessment of Father Hill.

    "What?" D.T. asked.

    I shook my head. "Nothing, really. Just mentally kicking myself for underestimating someone."

    "Mmm¡­nice Doc Martens, by the way," she said. "I thought you said you didn''t have a pair yet."

    I shrugged. "They were in my closet when I was changing to come into town. I figured they''d protect my feet better than trainers."

    "Good for kicking things, too," D.T. agreed. "Does it ever weird you out, clothes just popping up in your closet like that?"

    "Not anymore," I replied honestly. "It freaked me right the heck out at first, though."

    "I can''t even imagine," D.T. said, shaking her head a little. "Ah, here they come."

    The two men had just emerged from the church and were coming down the sidewalk toward us, Clark lifting a hand in greeting and calling out, "There you are!"

    "Sorry I''m late," I said as they reached us. "I had a busy, crazy morning."

    "No trouble, I hope," Father Hill said.

    I gave him a curious look, and resolved to make the time to get to know him. "No, no trouble. Just¡­complexities and puzzles. Things I have time to figure out; this is more pressing. You hold the keys to this place?"

    Father Hill nodded. "It''s supposed to house the town offices on the second floor, but¡­as I understand it, not long after your mother died, the social hall started being¡­weird. Your father never had the time or bandwidth to deal with it, so one of the previous parish clerks left the keys in my predecessor''s possession."

    Clark was looking at Father Hill in an amused, off-kilter sort of way. "Bandwidth?"

    Father Hill gave him a warm smile. "I''m only in my sixties, Clark, and I try to stay conversant with both modern problems and modern technology."

    Clark looked abashed. "Sorry, Father."

    "Quite all right. So, how do we want to do this?"

    I felt surprise wash over me. "We? I figured just Sergeant Burroughs and I would go in¡­"

    Clark and Father Hill shook their heads together, and stepped on one another''s words in a brief hash of sound, followed by an almost comical exchange of ''you first'' comments.

    "I could," Father Hill said finally, "withhold the keys unless you allow me to join you. But¡­I''ve lived practically next door for the last few years, and have bounced off of it on one memorable occasion. I feel a compelling need to genuinely know what''s going on in there. To understand it for myself, first hand."

    I gave him a curious look. "That''s an awfully worldly viewpoint for a man of faith, Father."

    He shrugged. "Not as much as you might think, perhaps. I have faith in God. But faith should never blind one to the realities of the world. Also, I have more first-hand knowledge of the phenomena here than anyone else in town."

    I smiled, finding myself liking him in spite of his collar and my upbringing. "Fair enough. Clark?"

    Clark smiled. "It''s my job to be your liaison with the town. I can''t do that properly if I don''t have a feel for what''s going on myself."

    "That sounds suspiciously like boredom talking," D.T. said dryly.

    "Maybe a little," Clark admitted.

    I sighed. "All right. But you really need to not talk to anyone else - except Malcolm and Judy, I suppose - about anything you see me do in there. There are people out there who don''t seem to like ''mundane mortals'' knowing about this sort of thing, and I don''t know yet how serious they are about it."

    They both agreed readily. Well¡­introducing them to Sparkle and Penny ought to satisfy some of their curiosity, at least.

    Father Hill held out a ring of keys. "Who wants to do the honors."

    I started to reach for them, but D.T. beat me to it. "Let me," she said. "This way, if anything happens, I can at least claim that it was an official investigation into something. Possible intruders seems plausible, all things considered. Or even just an initial inspection before trying to re-open it." She grimaced. "We should''ve had a building inspector here."

    I touched her arm gently. "I appreciate your attempt to make it plausible, but let''s face it¡­this town is weird, and nothing we can do will change that. I don''t think I''d want to. Let''s just take this as it comes, and clean up any messes after the fact."

    She nodded. "Sorry. It''s my first real paranormal investigation, and I''m wavering back and forth between excited and nervous."

    Father Hill chuckled softly. "Never fear. God will watch over us."

    I resisted the urge to grimace or make a sarcastic comment. I had a feeling that he really meant it, and was genuinely trying to be reassuring. I could respect that. But it was a bit of a relief anyway to see D.T. roll her eyes as she leaned in to unlock the building.

    The social hall''s double front doors, which turned out to have just a thin veneer of wood over metal cores, opened onto a huge, dim room that ran the entire length and width of the first floor. D.T. pulled the same small but extremely bright flashlight I''d seen her use the first night she''d walked me home from the pub, and flicked it on, illuminating the nearest part of the room quite clearly, and throwing the rest into contrasting shadows.

    "Close the doors behind us, please," I said to Clark and Father Hill as I followed D.T. inside.

    As soon as Father Hill had done as I asked, shutting out the daylight and casting the room entirely into the deep shadows cast by D.T.''s flashlight, I looked around. "Has anyone been paying the electric bill for this place?"

    "Oh yeah," Clark said. "It''s been a bone of contention on the council for a couple of years. Hang on, the master switch panel is right here by the door¡­"

    I heard a click, and all around the room, elegant four-bulb hanging lamps came on. For just a moment, the room was well lit and friendly-looking. I saw lovely, honey-colored wood flooring and paneling that went about halfway up the wall. The top half was covered in a faded, but still pretty, abstract lines and floral print wallpaper.

    Then several of the light bulbs exploded violently in showers of sparks, and every light in the room went out at once.

    D.T. gasped out, "Holy shit!" as Clark just yelped in surprise. Father Hill grunted, but didn''t seem particularly surprised otherwise.

    I just sighed. "I half expected that," I said. "This is probably going to get pretty weird before we''re done. Father, Clark, before we go any further I need to introduce you to my other two companions. Sparkle, Penny, come out and say hello, please."

    Sparkle detached herself from the Master Key and grew to her natural fairy size, hovering between me and the two men as she bobbed a polite curtsy. "Hello!"

    At the same time, Penny - in her natural form - melted out of my shadow and sat down beside me. She was still difficult to pick out from the room''s shadows, and winced a little when D.T. swung her flashlight around to illuminate her for a moment. But she gamely added a polite bow of her head and a gracious, "Greetings, gentlemen."

    "Father Hill, Clark, allow me to formally introduce you to Sparkle, a genuine fairy, and Penny, a dusk fox." I smiled. "They go everywhere with me."

    "How wonderful," Father Hill breathed reverently, leaning in a bit to get a better look at Sparkle. "Greetings to you both."

    "Wow," Clark said, blinking dazed eyes behind his glasses. "Wow. So¡­it''s all real. Really real."

    D.T. and Penny both chuckled softly as Sparkle giggled behind her hands.

    "Oh yeah," D.T. said. "It''s all real." She took the light off Penny, who made a relieved sound, and slowly played it around the room. "So, whatever''s here doesn''t want us to have ow!"

    Whatever she was about to say was cut off as she dropped her flashlight. Just before it hit the floor and went out, I saw her shaking her hand.

    "Are you all right?" I asked. "Sparkle, give us a bit of light, please, but not too much. Thank you, dear."

    Sparkle''s gentle purple radiance spread around us, but didn''t push the shadows back yet.

    D.T. held up her hand, palm towards Sparkle, and peered at it in Sparkle''s dim light. "I''ve never had that happen before. Damn thing gave me a good, sharp shock. I don''t think it burned me, though." She lowered her hand and looked around. "As I was about to say, something in here doesn''t want us to have any light."

    "I would say you are correct," Penny said quietly, sniffing the air. "We must be cautious. I smell fae."

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13

    "What does she mean?" Father Hill asked me.

    I gestured to Penny, as if to say ''Ask her yourself.''

    He had the good grace to look abashed, which raised my opinion of him a bit further. "I''m terribly sorry, Penny, that was very rude of me. What do you mean?"

    Penny nodded her head graciously. "I accept your apology, Father Hill." Then she lifted her head and sniffed the air again. "I smell fae. Dust, age, still air, a bit of mold and mildew¡­and creatures of Faerie, like Sparkle and myself. But not just Sparkle and myself."

    As Penny spoke, past the edge of the light Sparkle was spreading around us, shadows began to move. The size and shape of humans, flitting at the edges of my vision. But every time I turned my head to look, there was nothing there. I saw D.T. and Father Hill turn their heads a little as well, and as Penny finished, Clark quietly said, "Is anyone else seeing that?"

    "I think we''re all seeing it," D.T. said softly. "But what is it?"

    Sparkle huffed. "Fae glamour. Something''s trying to creep us out."

    She took a deep breath, but before she could do her trick of pushing the shadows back, I held up a hand. "Sparkle, wait. I want to see what happens, first. Father?" I turned to look at him as Sparkle deflated and landed on my shoulder. "If you don''t mind my asking, has anything been done to try and clear the building? Even just opening the blinds¡­"

    Father Hill cleared his throat, and I thought he looked a little embarrassed. "I actually did try to bless the building, but something seemed to be resisting me. The further in I went, the more earnestly I tried to deliver my blessings, the harder it became until it was almost impossible for me to speak or continue. Until I stopped trying, then the pressure vanished."

    I tipped my head thoughtfully. "But as long as you weren''t trying, it left you alone?"

    "Basically." He gestured to the shadows that still flitted at the edges of our vision. "This phenomenon is quite common to see. Sometimes, at night and from outside, we see brightly colored lights around the edges of the shutters and blinds. If the shutters and blinds are open, we can see the shadows of people moving around in the building. But if we open the door, it''s pitch black inside and nothing moves in the dark."

    "A couple of months after I became the parish clerk," Clark said softly, "I borrowed the keys and came in here looking for some of the old town records. Stairs at the back lead to the offices and storage rooms upstairs. The lights came on okay, not like now, but when I got upstairs¡­" He shook his head. "It''s a mess up there. Desks and chairs overturned, the contents of filing cabinets spilled everywhere¡­"

    Clark trailed off, frowning. "I almost don''t believe it happened, but I poked my head into one of the offices, and an old globe came spinning through the air to crash into the wall next to my head."

    I exchanged a look with Penny, who seemed more amused than alarmed. "But nothing actually hit you?"

    He shook his head. "No. It was a clean miss."

    "Like something was trying to scare him away, you think?" D.T. asked.

    "I''m beginning to wonder," I said.

    "Classic fae trickery," Sparkle said. "Most of us that are able to live alongside mortals without being seen don''t really want to hurt anyone. We just want to live our lives."

    "Like everybody else," I said thoughtfully. Then, more firmly, I said, "All right, come on. I want a quick look upstairs."

    Clark pointed straight away from the front doors. "At the back of the hall, there''s a door on the right that leads upstairs."

    "Penny, stay close. Sparkle, give me a bit more light please," I said, starting off in that direction, accompanied by the unfamiliar heavy clomps of my new boots. "Father Hill, do me a favor and open the blinds and shutters on some of the windows down here open. Let''s let a little sunlight in here."

    "An excellent notion," Father Hill said. "Come on, Clark. Give me a hand."

    "Sure," Clark said, following him.

    "What about me?" D.T. asked from behind me.

    "Like I''m going to tell a police sergeant how to do her job," I said teasingly.

    A moment later she caught up to me, walking on my left as Penny paced me on the right. "Do you have any idea what you''re doing?" D.T. asked very quietly.

    Penny snorted a little laugh and Sparkle giggled.

    "Not a clue," I admitted. "But learning more about the situation seems like a good place to start. And from the sound of it, the phenomena are more physical - more aggressive - upstairs."

    I saw D.T. nod. "Just checking."

    The darkness seemed to deepen as we pushed toward the back of the hall, becoming an almost tangible murk in the air around us and making it difficult to see beyond the radius of Sparkle''s glow. When we almost walked into the back wall of the building, Sparkle cleared her throat pointedly. "I could probably push this all back¡­"

    I nodded. "I''m sure you could, Sparkle. But if you were doing this to protect your home, how angry would it make you if a bunch of intruders tried to strip away your defenses?"

    "Pretty angry," Sparkle admitted.

    "Then let''s be polite guests for as long as we can," I said gently. "I''d rather have a chance to talk to whoever - or whatever - is living here than end up fighting with them. Here''s the door."

    I reached out and grasped the doorknob¡­and jerked my hand back with a hiss. The knob was colder than anything I''d ever touched before. So cold, my palm and fingers felt burned.

    "What is it?" D.T. asked.

    "Cold!" I said. "I''ve never felt anything so cold."

    Sparkle drifted down from my shoulder. "Hold out your hand, Caley."

    I did, palm up, and she landed lightly on it, making me gasp as the pain of even her slight weight sent a jolt up my arm. D.T. leaned in and whistled. "It actually burned you. I''ve never touched anything cold enough to burn."

    Sparkle made a soft, unhappy sound, then said in a cheerful, certain tone, "It''s okay, I can heal it!" She knelt down and put her hands on mine, and after a moment her purple glow spread into my hand and suffused it.

    The relief was so immediate and so intense that I breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Thank you, Sparkle."

    Her glow brightened visibly as she stood up and flitted back to my shoulder. "You''re welcome, Caley!"

    I flexed my fingers once to be sure, then stared at the door. "Well, not sure how we''re opening that, then."

    "I didn''t think to bring any gloves," D.T. said. "Did you?"

    "Are you kidding?" I asked. "It''s the end of summer outside." Then I frowned. "Granted, it isn''t in here. I hadn''t really noticed, but there''s a distinct chill in the air. Was it like that when we came in?"

    "Nope," D.T. said. "And you didn''t notice because of those leggings. How did you know that leggings under shorts was a style I liked to look at?"

    I felt my cheeks heat up. "I didn''t. It just seemed practical and I was in a hurry. But now I know."

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    Penny nosed around the bottom of the door, sniffing and huffing. Finally she took a step back, her ears flat and her twin tails low and lashing. "There''s something behind this door that doesn''t want us opening it."

    "Thank you captain obvious," D.T. said dryly.

    Penny looked up at her and bared her fangs a little. "I am serious, Sergeant," she emphasized the title instead of using D.T.''s name to express her annoyance. "I smell a threat. Many fae beings working together perhaps, or one particularly strong one. We should not proceed."

    D.T. held up her hands in surrender. "I''m sorry, Penny. I didn''t mean to offend you. But Caley was just actually hurt, and I didn''t think that could happen."

    "This isn''t some ghost hunt," Penny snapped. "There are beings of Faerie here, where they would not normally be. For them to be living in the mortal world means that they are powerful indeed, at least within their chosen domain. We should retreat and consider a different approach."

    "Not that ghosts can''t be dangerous," Sparkle added, hopping off my shoulder and landing lightly on Penny''s head.

    Penny twitched¡­then relaxed a little and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she looked up at D.T. and very quietly said, "You have my sincerest apologies, Dejah Thoris Burroughs." She bowed her head, making Sparkle flutter up into the air above her. "I spoke rashly and out of anxiety."

    D.T. bent and gently petted Penny''s ears. "I think we''re both a bit freaked out by Caley being hurt, however briefly. I also think you''re right. Let''s collect Clark and the Father and get back out into sunlight."

    Penny huffed a little laugh. "Never before have I wanted to be in direct sunlight."

    That broke up most of our lingering tension, and as one we all moved back towards the front doors. We found Father Hill and Clark struggling to try and pry open a pair of shutters beside the open doors, which was about as far as the sunlight that should have been streaming in from outside was able to penetrate.

    "No luck?" I asked as we approached them.

    Clark shook his head and stepped back from the window they''d been working on. "Nothing. The drapes move just fine, but the blackout blinds and shutters might as well be welded in place."

    "With no sign of nail or glue, which is strange considering how often they''re open at night," Father Hill said, rubbing his hands together and giving them a shake. "It''s too much for these old hands."

    "Come on," I said. "Leave it for now. I doubt you''ll be able to open them until we figure out what''s going on here. Let''s regroup at the Oak & Ivy."

    Ten minutes later we were sitting in a row at Oak & Ivy''s bar with cups of tea in front of us. The lunch crowd had already dispersed, so we were alone in the pub with Malcolm and Judy, who - as their pub seemed to be the beating heart of the town and they were both in the know, so to speak - had remained at my request. D.T. sat on my left, Father Hill on my right, and Clark on the other side of him. Sparkle was sitting on the bar, nibbling on one of Judy''s scones, and Penny sat on the floor behind me in her large black Husky form.

    "Okay," I said, "I feel like maybe we''re going about things in the wrong order. So, first things first¡­nobody has told me yet just how long the social hall has actually been like this." I looked at Father Hill and Clark, who exchanged blank looks.

    "Well," Malcolm said, leaning against the shelves behind the bar, "the social hall itself was closed up about seventeen years ago. It was in pretty desperate need of renovation¡­new wiring, new plumbing, new light fixtures¡­there''s a kitchenette at the back of the main hall that was out of date almost as soon as the building was finished in the 1950''s."

    "And it hadn''t been seriously redecorated since the 1960''s," Judy added. "I''m honestly amazed that that old wallpaper, as pretty as it is, hasn''t started peeling. Suffice it to say it was closed down for the purpose of making it pleasant again."

    Silence fell. After a moment, I said, "And?"

    Malcolm huffed a little laugh. "And nothing. The parish council couldn''t agree on a budget, or a time-frame, or even what time of day it was sometimes. I''ve been on the council for a quarter-century, and until recently it was mostly an exercise in frustration."

    "Like town councils everywhere," Father Hill said, then nodded to Clark. "Our young parish clerk has done a good job of turning that around the last couple of years. Young minds and ideas."

    "Honestly, I just want to do the job properly," Clark said, looking and sounding embarrassed.

    Father Hill patted his shoulder gently.

    "So," I summarized, "the social hall has been unused for seventeen years, and it''s largely been closed up and abandoned for all that time. Why?"

    Clark sighed. "Well, the worst problem is the plumbing. The building''s plumbing just doesn''t come up to code anymore. The electrical is almost as bad. No sane building inspector would certify it safe for public use. It''s too old to upgrade easily, and too new to be grandfathered under any classic building rules."

    "Okay, so," I said, "as a generality, public safety keeps it buttoned up and empty."

    Clark nodded and shrugged. "Basically, yeah. We could spend days talking about rejected budgets, but that''s not the why of it¡­it''s just an excuse at this point."

    "When did the strangeness start?" I asked.

    "After I transferred here ten years ago," Father Hill said, then took a sip of his tea. "About four years after¡­call it six years ago, give or take."

    I turned my attention to him. "Did it start like this?"

    He shook his head. "No. At first¡­and this is one of the strangest parts to me¡­at first, the blinds and shutters were still open all the time. Sometimes, looking out of the church windows, I''d see - or thought I saw - figures moving around inside the social hall. I didn''t think much of it at first¡­to be honest, I thought it was just my imagination. I''d catch a glimpse of movement through the windows, stop and look¡­and see nothing. And of course I knew that the parish clerk went in from time to time trying to find records that didn''t make the move to the temporary office."

    "Temporary," Clark snorted under his breath.

    Judy leaned forward and patted his right hand where it lay on the bar.

    "For about a year or so, that''s all it was," Father Hill continued thoughtfully. "Then, at night, while closing up the church for the day, I''d see flashes of light from inside the social hall. All different colors, sometimes more than one color at a time. They were dim at first, but started growing in intensity a few months after that." He smiled ruefully. "I actually went to see an eye doctor not long after that phenomenon started, just in case."

    "And the Father isn''t the only person who''s seen them," Judy put in. "Malcolm and I have both witnessed the lights, as have quite a few people in town."

    "It was around then that I made my first forays into the building," Father Hill said quietly. "I felt the forbidding aura within, saw the way the darkness seemed to be a tangible thing, and tried to bless the building. I already told you how that went."

    "Badly," I summarized.

    "It could have been worse," he said softly, staring down at his tea cup. "In the interest of full disclosure, and because I trust everyone here to be discrete, I used to be an exorcist."

    Malcolm, I noticed, was not surprised, and Judy looked more sympathetic than anything else. Clark jerked a little and gave Father Hill a wide-eyed look, and when I glanced in D.T.''s direction she was looking past me with a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty.

    I wasn''t sure if Sparkle was even still paying attention; glancing back and down I saw that Penny appeared to have curled up and gone to sleep. But her ears were still up and cocked in our direction.

    "So believe me," Father Hill continued quietly, "when I say I have seen some utterly awful and terrifying things. Nothing I''ve experienced in the social hall came close to those depths of¡­horror." He shuddered gently. "My posting here in Oakwood is my retirement." He looked up and met my eyes. "The Catholic Church wishes to resume good relations with the Guardian of Oakwood Hall, and thought my experience and skills might be¡­of value. Which is also all I want to be in my waning years¡­useful."

    I smiled. "I certainly don''t mind the idea of having some backup," I said gently. "And the warm, protective energy that the church radiates tells me you''re good at your job."

    He returned my smile, obviously relieved. "I try to be the best man I can be. That''s all."

    "That''s a lot," Malcolm said softly. "Anyway¡­"

    "Yes," Father Hill cleared his throat. "Where was I?"

    "You tried to bless the building," Judy offered.

    "Yes," he nodded. "After that, it¡­it didn''t get worse, just more aggressive. The blinds and shutters were closed most of the time, the inside of the building always seemed uncommonly cold when I went in, Clark had that globe thrown at him¡­and here we are."

    "Honestly," Sparkle said, sounding exasperated as she looked up from the last few crumbs of her scone. "If someone came barging into your home, spraying energies meant to drive you out, you''d retaliate a bit too, wouldn''t you?" She nibbled on her bottom lip and looked sheepish. "Sorry, Father."

    He smiled. "No offense taken, Miss Sparkle. You''re not wrong. And of course, Miss Penny said she could smell fae in the building."

    I nodded. "About that¡­"

    As we all turned to look at her, Penny rose, stretched ostentatiously, and sat on her haunches. "It''s about time," she said dryly. "Yes, I could smell fae in the building. Their scent was everywhere. But the magic that was befuddling our senses made it impossible for me to tell what type of fae. Effects which Sparkle likely could have dispelled with that very interesting talent I''ve never seen in another fairy¡­"

    Sparkle blushed under our gazes as we swiveled to look at her in turn. "It''s something Mistress Chessie helped me learn to do. Anyway, Caley''s reasons for having me not do it were good. Even if I was able to overpower the glamour in there, which I probably could," she added with more than a little pride, "it would have very much the same effect as Father Hill''s attempt to bless the building. It would make whoever''s living there very, very angry."

    We all sat in silence for a long moment. Then I took a deep breath and blew it out. "Well, I''ve learned the basics of making nice with the fae. I suppose I could go in there, make an offering of cookies and soda, and see what happens."

    "Cookies and soda?" Judy asked. "Is that what you''re feeding your fairies?"

    I cleared my throat. "Yeah, why? It''s what my mom used to do, so¡­"

    She started laughing. When she caught her breath again, she said, "Oh dear, why doesn''t that surprise me? Well, it''s not traditional, but it is something they''d like, I suppose. It''s not what I leave in my fairy garden out back."

    Sparkle perked up. "You have a fairy garden?"

    Judy smiled. "Yes, dear. And I''m sure that it''s visited. I leave out the traditional libations: Fresh milk, butter and cream, fresh-baked cakes, and ale. Honey, too, when I can get fresh honeycomb."

    I nodded slowly as old fairy folklore floated to the top of my memory. "Those do sound familiar."

    "And delicious!" Sparkle said.

    Judy shook her head, smiling. "Well, if Caley wants to approach whatever''s living there in the friendliest manner possible, the old ways might seem more respectful."

    Sparkle nodded. "That''s true." She looked at me. "It sounds like a good idea to me."

    "Well, then," I said, "where in town can I get those things?"

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14

    As it turned out, all of those things were extremely easy to come by¡­even, astonishingly, the honeycomb. The local grocer - sitting snugly between the pharmacy and a private home - not only had early honeycomb from a local beekeeper, they had fresh milk, butter, and cream from the Roberts Dairy Farm.

    I''d never had fresh honeycomb before - or anything other than heavily processed honey, to be honest - and the grocer insisted I try a piece right there at his counter. It was one of the most incredible things I''d ever tasted, and I immediately understood why it was one of the ''high demand'' libations for creatures of faerie. And perhaps why my fairies were so enamored of fizzy drinks, candy, and cookies.

    Unsurprisingly, Malcolm and Judy provided the ale and cakes. Malcolm drew a pint of a local golden ale for me and provided a few small plastic cups to hold it. Perhaps not as decorous as I''d''ve liked, but it would have to do on short notice. Judy provided both a round loaf of fresh bread, and a half-dozen of her home-made scones.

    Thus armed with a small mountain of fresh foods, our little group trooped back to the social hall in the bright, mid-afternoon sunlight.

    I tested the front doorknob tentatively, and found it cold, but not the sort of burning cold I''d encountered earlier. So I opened the doors, and then turned to my friends. "I think it would probably be wisest if just Sparkle, Penny and I were inside for this part. Sparkle and Penny are fae themselves, and I''m¡­me." I shrugged.

    D.T. chuckled. "You are most assuredly you." She pointed at the swath of sunlight pouring into the dark interior of the social hall. "I want you to promise you''ll stay right here up front, where we can see you."

    "Sparkle, will that be a problem?" I asked.

    "Possibly?" Sparkle''s voice came from below my chin, where she was hiding on the Master Key since we were still out in the open. "Further inside might work better. But not too far. Right in the center of the big open space would probably work best."

    "And we can wait here," Father Hill said, "and keep the doors propped open. Just in case."

    I gave D.T. a tentative, lopsided smile. "Good enough?"

    She gave me a long look, then sighed. "I suppose it''ll have to be. But please be careful."

    "I will be." Then I had a moment of realization and said, "Though, I''d appreciate it if you helped me carry everything inside."

    D.T. gave me a wry smile, and the two of us got all of the food inside in a single trip. We set everything down as close to the center of the social hall''s main floor as we could, then D.T. retreated to the entrance, where Clark and Father Hill were leaning against the open doors¡­literally propping them open.

    I knelt on the floor, folding my legs under me and spreading the food out in a line, opening containers. As I did, Sparkle detached from the Master Key and flitted up to sit on my right shoulder, while Penny emerged from my shadow and sat beside me in her natural form.

    As I carefully poured ale into two of the small cups, I concentrated on the energy of my magic, infused my voice with just a little bit of it, and spoke softly as I''d been coached. "If any of the good folk who dwell here would care to partake of this food, I welcome you to be my guest at this poor table."

    "Perfect," Sparkle whispered.

    Then I laid my hands on my knees and waited. Neither the darkness nor the silence seemed to change at all, but the atmosphere in the building changed gradually over a few minutes. A bit of warmth seeped back into the cool air, and the vaguely threatening aura faded until I could no longer feel it.

    Suddenly, a tiny man walked out of the darkness directly in front of me, and I had to fight to keep my jaw from dropping open.

    Including his cone-shaped red hat, he topped out at a hair over a foot tall. Wavy white hair emerged from beneath the hat, about shoulder-length, and matched by a long white beard and bushy white eyebrows. His skin was fair and seamed with many years, but his cheeks were ruddy with good health and his eyes were a brilliant, clear, sparkling blue. He wore a sky-blue coat belted with a rough leather belt over baggy pants that were a darker shade of red than his hat, and were tucked into calf-high brown leather boots.

    Somewhere behind me I heard what sounded like a quickly muffled squeak of surprised delight, which could only have come from D.T.. It was too feminine to have come from Clark or Father Hill. Admittedly, if the little fellow''s name turned out to be David, I might do a bit of squeeing myself.

    As he approached, he looked me up and down with open curiosity. Then his eyes moved to Sparkle, still sitting on my shoulder, before shifting to Penny for a moment and then returning to me.

    "A gnome!" Sparkle breathed in astonished happiness. "I didn''t know there were any left in the area. Be polite, friendly, and generous, and they will be too. Oh, this is wonderful!"

    I nodded a little.

    The gnome stopped about a foot away from the food I''d laid out, swept off his hat to reveal the bald top of his head, and bowed deeply. "Well met, lass," he said in a warm voice, straightening and popping his hat back on. "Your hospitality is greatly appreciated. You may call me Wilbur. And if I''m not mistaken, you''ll be the latest Guardian of Oakwood Hall."

    "This is Caley Reid, daughter of Franchesca and James Reid, Guardian of Oakwood Hall," Sparkle said grandly from my shoulder.

    I smiled. "My companions are Sparkle and Penny." I gestured to the array of food. "Please. I know I''ve set a poor table, but be welcome at it anyway."

    He smiled genially. "Not as poor as you think, lass. And better than I and my kin have seen in some years. I hope my paranoia in no way offends you, but may I have your guarantee of safety for myself and my clan for the duration of our conversation."

    "I take no offense, Wilbur. You have my word that you and your clan are safe with me and my companions for the duration of our conversation," I said firmly, "and longer, I hope."

    His eyes twinkled with obvious amusement as he sat cross-legged on the other side of the food. "Don''t over-promise, lass. Not all of the fair folk will be as safe to make such offers to as I and mine."

    I offered him one of the little cups of ale and picked up the other as he took it. He inhaled appreciatively and smiled, then looked up at me and lifted the cup. "To your health and good fortune, Lady Reid, and that of your companions."

    I touched my cup to his and replied, "And to your health, sir, and that of your clan."

    We both sipped, then looked at one another for a long moment. Finally, Wilbur said, "May I invite some of my clan to join us? My brother Wilfred is my chief advisor, and several of our youngsters would benefit from meeting a kindly mortal."

    "Gladly, sir, and they are welcome to share in our repast."

    Over the next few minutes I was introduced to a bewildering array of very similar-looking gnomes, male and female. They all dressed very similarly, though the females mostly wore skirts instead of trousers, and the younger males had no beards and their hair was mostly shades of brown and black. Wilfred was virtually identical to Wilbur, and the only way I was able to differentiate between them was the fact that Wilbur had a fairly normal mustache, while Wilfred''s was handlebar-styled.

    They were charming, friendly, and - as they tucked into the food I''d brought - in an excellent mood. To be polite, Sparkle, Penny, and I all sampled bits of the food, but we left most of it to them, as was only proper, and very shortly there was something of a party atmosphere in the building. The very air in the room lightened considerably, and the darkness faded until it was just the natural dimness of an unlit and shuttered room.

    About an hour later, I rose and, leaving Sparkle and Penny to keep our new friends company, went back out into the sunlight, stretching as I walked. "Well," I said to D.T., Father Hill, and Clark, "I believe we''ve settled the problem and reached an accord."

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    "Are those really gnomes?" D.T. asked breathlessly.

    I smiled. "Yes, those are really gnomes. Wilbur, their leader, says that their clan has lived here since before the town of Oakwood existed. Which Wilbur himself is almost old enough to remember¡­he says he''s 376 years old, and I have no reason to disbelieve it." I stretched up on my toes and lifted my arms above my head for a moment, noticing that while Father Hill and Clark looked away politely, D.T. watched. "Sorry, I was kneeling on that floor for too long. I feel stiff."

    "Perfectly understandable," Father Hill said. "I can''t imagine kneeling for that long at my age, and I used to do night-long vigils. So, where do we stand with them now?"

    "Well, Wilbur says that they used to make their presence known to the people who lived here, where the social hall is, and offerings a lot like what I brought today would be left out for them." I paused for a moment. "That stopped a few years before the social hall was built, but any food served here was for the public, and thus fair game and perfectly acceptable to them as offerings."

    Father Hill sucked in a breath. "Then we closed the social hall. Were they hungry?"

    I shook my head. "No, nothing like that. They have their own sources of food. But they were rather tetchy that they were no longer being paid any kind of tribute for the¡­the privilege of having the building on their land."

    "So they started messing with it," D.T. said, smiling. "It''s like the folk tales about gnomes."

    "Pretty much," I said, frowning a little. "They stepped it up a few years ago because, Wilbur says, they started sensing darker things moving through Oakwood. Basically, they made the social hall unpleasant enough that it was a little fortress for them."

    "Darker things?" Father Hill asked.

    I shrugged. "They couldn''t give me any specifics. They went out of their way to avoid it all. For all I know, it''s related to what led to the deaths of my parents, and what I put an end to this past April."

    Father Hill and Clark both gave me pointed looks, and I shook my head. "Sorry, family business. Will you take my word for it that it''s over."

    "Yes," they both said at once.

    D.T., I noticed, was giving me a slightly dubious look, which I ignored. Hope springs eternal.

    "Anyway," I said, "they''re amenable to picking up stakes and moving to more inviting locations in town so the social hall can finally be taken care of." I looked at Clark. "Which I''ll make a substantial donation to the town fund to take care of, if necessary."

    "It certainly wouldn''t hurt," Clark said with a lopsided smile. "The council won''t be able to protest if you earmark the money specifically for the refurbishment of the social hall."

    I nodded. "Get some contractors in here, give me a ballpark estimate, and I''ll write you a check."

    "Gladly," Clark said, sounding relieved. "Thank you, Caley."

    I shook my head. "Oakwood has opened its arms to me. I have the means to repay that, and I intend to."

    D.T. cleared her throat. "So where are they going to move to?"

    "Well, assuming it''s acceptable to Malcolm and Judy, Wilbur and most of his clan like the idea of moving into the Oak & Ivy. They''ll make their own spaces, probably in the garden, and will help protect the pub in exchange for regular offerings. I suspect Judy will have a field day."

    Father Hill chuckled softly. "She''ll be over the moon, I assure you."

    I looked at D.T.. "If you have no objection, Wilfred - Wilbur''s brother - rather fancies the idea of moving his extended family into the police station. Same arrangement. I guess they watched a bunch of police shows on the social hall''s TV back in the 1980''s."

    D.T. blinked a few times, then grinned. "Gnomes? In my station? That sounds awesome."

    I looked at Father Hill. "There''s one older couple, George and Georgina - seriously - who expressed an interest in moving into the church with you. They''re almost as old as Wilbur, and like the idea of living someplace quiet, restful, and well-protected."

    Father Hill smiled warmly. "As long as they have no problems with the Catholic Church itself, I''d be very pleased to give them sanctuary."

    I shrugged a little. "They said they didn''t when I asked. I''ll introduce you around shortly. The rest, mostly the younger ones, want to take a crack at colonizing the grounds at Oakwood Hall. Sparkle doesn''t think that''ll be a problem, and they can only improve the landscaping. Honestly, I kind of love the idea."

    By the time I finished, Clark looked intensely relieved. "Thank you, Caley. Thank you so much. This is a huge weight off my mind."

    I waved a hand dismissively. "I''d better wrap things up here and go tell Malcolm and Judy about their new boarders. Give the gnomes a few days to move out, and you can get the ball rolling here. If you''re nice, they might even help out."

    Introductions were made and plans were finalized. Sparkle and Penny were collected, and we departed, leaving the building quietly peaceful instead of foreboding.

    As we headed for the Oak & Ivy down the street, Father Hill touched my arm lightly and spoke softly to me. "I know enough of your background to suspect that you have no love lost for the Church¡­"

    I gave him a gentle, probably somewhat wry smile. "The Church took excellent care of me as a child, Father, and I have no right to complain," I said carefully. "I wanted for nothing¡­not even affection, courtesy of Sister Sarah. But it was a lonely, rather austere way to grow up. And having studied history at great length, I''m painfully aware of how awful organized religion is as a generality. You must admit, the Roman Catholic Church has done a lot of things you can''t be proud of."

    He winced and tipped his head in acknowledgment. "As something of a student of history myself, I wouldn''t dream of arguing the point. But individual priests can rise above that. I like to think I''m a good person."

    "You surely seem like one," I said politely. "Point being?"

    His smile was just a little bit strained. "Point being, the Church would like to have a friendly relationship with Oakwood Hall." He looked around, and when his eyes returned to me they were weary and full of worry. "You''re young, and may not have noticed it, but I can say with some certainty that in my 67 years, the world has become a darker place. Not all of that darkness is due to humanity. Things are getting¡­stranger. Even here in Oakwood, where things have always been a bit strange."

    I nodded. "I''m not about to argue the point," I said, echoing his statement with a little smile.

    "The Church is concerned that the supernatural world won''t be able to remain hidden for much longer. I''d like it if you - and Sparkle and Penny, of course - would join me for a quiet dinner some evening," he said hopefully. "I would appreciate a chance to speak with you, both as a potential friend, and as the Church''s representative here."

    I could still clearly remember the warm, protective magic radiating gently off the church. And what he was saying made good sense to me¡­I was a bit astonished that the mortal world had remained as ignorant as it was for so long. "I think I''d like that, Father," I said finally.

    His smile became warm and relieved. "Thank you, Caley."

    Malcolm and Judy were, unsurprisingly, thrilled by the idea of hosting the gnomes. With that settled, we broke up and went our own ways as the sun began to set.

    As I cruised slowly out of town in my little red VW, Sparkle popped off the Master Key and perched on the dashboard, looking out.

    "This won''t cause any problems with the brownies, will it?" I asked her.

    She turned to look at me and giggled. "Oh no, not at all. Brownies and gnomes are distantly related, and they get along really well. And because they''re all fae, you can introduce Wilbur to Wadsworth without violating your contract with the brownies. Fae magic is weird like that."

    "I''d wondered about that," I said. "Thank you, Sparkle."

    She beamed up at me. "Always, Caley."

    I drove the rest of the way in silence, but as I hit the button to open the gates - on a little remote that was now attached to my VW''s passenger-side sun visor - I said, "What do you think about what Wilbur said about dark things prowling the town?"

    Penny seemed to flow up out of the shadows beneath the dashboard on the passenger side, and was suddenly sitting in the passenger seat in her natural form. "It might have been me," she admitted ruefully, her eyes lowered. "Von Einhardt posted me in Oakwood a little over a year ago."

    "But Wilbur said it had been a few years since it began," Sparkle pointed out. "You might have contributed to it, but it probably wasn''t exclusively you."

    "I haven''t sensed anything dark in town," I said, "have either of you?"

    Sparkle shook her head firmly.

    Penny hesitated. "I''m¡­not sure, to be honest. I was in a pretty dark place myself when I got here, and spent most of my time watching for signs of you, Caley. For what it''s worth, I haven''t sensed anything since you freed me and accepted me as your vassal."

    "It''s worth a lot," I said firmly, pulling up beside the Hall''s portico. I parked, then smiled at her. "Frankly, I trust your senses more than I trust mine in that respect."

    Her eyes met mine, and her muzzle curled in a small, relieved smile. "Thank you, Caley."

    I reached over and ruffled her ears and neck affectionately. "Still," I said, "it worries me a bit. I wonder if we need to keep a closer eye on the town somehow."

    "It probably couldn''t hurt," Sparkle said. "And I bet the gnomes would be willing to help with that. I wonder if there''s some fairies out there who''d be interested in allying with Oakwood Hall."

    "Probably," Penny said. "I was harassed by several rather punk-looking fairies while staying in town."

    "That''s something we can look into, at least," I said, shutting off the car and climbing out.

    Ken met us as we came through the front door, looking concerned. "How did it go? What was it?"

    "Gnomes," I said, and his expression immediately cleared. "And it went very well, thank you. Some of them will be moving out to the Hall''s grounds over the next couple of days, others will be moving into the Oak & Ivy, the police house, and the church. And I''ll be funding a rebuild of the social hall."

    His expression went from relieved to pleased. "Well, that sounds excellent." Then his expression closed down a bit again. "There was a call for you while you were out. A representative from the United Nations Supernatural Defense Initiative." He offered me a slip of paper. "She said her name is Jessie Rhodes. She''s staying at their London branch and called to set up a meeting with you, and asked that you call as soon as you could."

    I took the piece of paper, looked at the name and phone number on it, then back at Ken. "Well," I said dryly, "I''m taking it as a positive sign that they called first instead of just showing up at the front gates."

    I tucked the paper in a pocket and sat down on a chair beside the front door to take off my new boots¡­my feet just weren''t used to them yet, and although I could appreciate the utility of them, and kinda liked the look, I thought I still preferred trainers or flats. "Well," I said as I tugged the second boot off and set it beside the chair with the first, then rose and headed for the kitchen barefoot except for my ankle socks, "I think I''ll call her after dinner. I want to fill you in on the details of my meeting with the gnomes first."

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15

    After dinner, sitting in front of the low fire in my kitchen''s enormous hearth, I placed a call to London on the speakerphone. We listened to the phone ring four times before a groggy-sounding woman''s voice, thick with sleep and an unfamiliar accent, said, "UNSDI London, Rhodes speaking."

    "Good evening, Ms. Rhodes," I said politely. "Sorry if I woke you. This is Caitlyn Reid, in Oakwood?"

    "Oh! Oh hell, what time is it?" I heard something clatter in the background, then she said, "My watch is still set to Eastern Standard Time. And the clock on my laptop. I thought these stupid things auto-updated. At least the damned phone did. What''s the point of having a clock on a phone, and why is it somehow the best clock I''ve got?" She sighed into the phone. "Sorry. Gimme a sec?"

    "Of course," I replied, hoping my amusement didn''t come across in my voice.

    I heard a thump as the phone was put down on the other end, then a clatter, what sounded like muffled swearing, followed by running and splashing water for a few moments. Finally, she cleared her throat and said, "Sorry. Jet-lagged don''t even begin to describe the state I''m in right now. Flew in from New Orleans at some obscene hour this morning and had a passel of paperwork waiting for me, because they couldn''t have had me do it all on the flight over, or even before I left. Can''t believe I fell asleep on my laptop keyboard."

    Her accent was confusing me. Mostly, it was full of the lazy, warm drawl I associated with the Southern United States, thanks mainly to popular media. But occasionally it veered into a territory which sounded almost Irish, with the same lyrical qualities I''d heard in Oberon''s voice.

    She yawned, and when she spoke again she sounded apologetic. "I''m right sorry, Lady Reid. I''m not makin'' the best first impression, am I."

    I found myself smiling in spite of my wariness. She didn''t sound like she was much older than I was, if at all, and she sounded genuinely contrite. "If it''s any consolation," I said, "you''re already leaps and bounds ahead of either of the ICOA reps I''ve spoken with."

    She snorted indelicately, and I heard laughter in her voice when she replied. "Settin'' the bar pretty damn low there. Still, I appreciate the sentiment."

    So, she had a low opinion of the ICOA as well. That was, I felt, a good sign. "You left a message asking me to return your call. What can I do for you?"

    "Right, y''all didn''t call to hear me moan about bein'' jet lagged." She paused for a moment, and when she spoke again sounded more serious and a bit more put together. "On behalf''a my employers at the United Nations Supernatural Defense Initiative - ain''t that a mouthful - I''d like to formally request an official meetin'' with you on neutral ground." She paused again for a moment, then added, "Somewhere in London, maybe? Don''t know my way around yet, but there''s gotta be a nice diner or somethin'' where we can have some grub and a friendly jaw."

    I was, I realized, still smiling, liking her approach a lot more than the ICOA''s. "That sounds good to me," I said, wondering if I could learn just a bit more about her before saying yes or no. "I don''t have many contacts outside of Oakwood yet, and my first encounters with the ICOA have been¡­unpleasant. They keep showing up at my home without warning, so you''re already off on the right foot as far as I''m concerned."

    "Well, thank the mountains for that," she said dryly. That was a curious turn of phrase. "Wait, lemme guess: couple''a stuffed shirts who thought they were the second coming and, just ''cause they were men and from the ICOA, a little girl like you should do as they said."

    I grimaced at how accurately she''d described them. "That is, unfortunately, the impression I got from both of them, yes."

    "God, I love British accents," she said. "Where''s yours from? Don''t sound like the London folks I''ve met so far."

    "Cambridge," I said with a smile. "I grew up and went to school there."

    "Posh," her voice sounded teasing, but there was good natured laughter in it too.

    "I can''t quite place your accent," I said, hoping again to learn a bit more about her. "Where are you from?"

    "West Virginia, in the good old US of A." I thought the ''good old'' part might''ve been just a bit sarcastic, then she added, "By way of points Beyond," and I could almost hear the capital B in Beyond. It made me wonder what she meant, but before I could ask she continued, "So, what do you say to that official meetin''?"

    I considered the question seriously for a moment. I couldn''t see any possible harm to meeting her in a public place, I was very interested in making some friendly connections in the wider supernatural world, and I was already very curious about Ms. Rhodes herself.

    Was I unconsciously hungry for friends? That was new. Maybe Ken had been right about me becoming a social animal after all.

    "Somewhere in London would be fine," I said after a brief pause. "I don''t know where the UNSDI office is, but do you think you can find your way to Harrods? There''s a caf¨¦ up on the fourth floor where we could meet in reasonable privacy."

    Something about my question seemed to have amused her, I could hear it in her voice when she replied, "I can find my way anywhere I set my mind to, and privacy won''t be a problem. Just lemme write this down¡­Harrods, you said?"

    "Harrods," I confirmed, nodding unconsciously, "fourth floor."

    "Got it," she said. "When would you like to meet? Sooner is better, my boss really wants to re-establish contact with Oakwood Hall, but please don'' say tonight."

    I laughed softly. "No, not tonight. It sounds to me like you should get some dinner and some sleep."

    "Ain''t that the truth," she said. "What''s your schedule look like? Wanna¡­''do lunch?'' I think that''s what they say."

    "I''m free tomorrow, if you''ll be awake," I said, surprised to hear myself teasing her gently.

    "Oh, I''ll be awake. All right, lunch tomorrow, Harrods, fourth floor."

    "Excellent," I said. "How will I recognize you?"

    "Oh, ya can''t miss me," she said, sounding amused. "I stick out. Worst case scenario, I''ll wave to ya. Noon?"

    "Noon it is. You already know what I look like?"

    She laughed. "Within ten minutes of bein'' reassigned to the London branch and bein'' told to make contact with ya. You''re already a minor celebrity in the supernatural world, and your star''s on the rise. More importantly, you''re online. I got a picture of you from your Cambridge network profile."

    "Of course you did," I said in a ''duh'' tone of voice.

    "Granted, it''s a couple years old, but I''m pretty sure I couldn''t miss ya in a crowd anyway," she added. "You''re like me. Ya stand out some."

    "I''m not sure that makes me feel any better," feeling just a hint of unease.

    "I''m not sure it should," she said seriously. Then she yawned. I actually heard her jaw crack a little. "Aw, hell. Sorry. Didn''t mean t''yawn in your ear."

    I laughed, disarmed again. "It''s quite all right. Get some sleep, and I''ll see you at noon tomorrow."

    "Harrods," she confirmed, "fourth floor caf¨¦."

    "Very good. Good night, Ms. Rhodes."

    "Good night, Lady Reid."

    There was a click as she hung up, then I disconnected the speakerphone. I stared at the handset for a moment, then looked around at Ken and Sparkle, sitting across the table from me, and at Penny, who was stretched out in front of the hearth with her chin propped on the bricks and her eyes closed. "First impressions?" I asked.

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    "I like the sound of her," Sparkle said. "She has a sense of humor, and doesn''t seem stuffy. And her accent is really cool."

    "Her dislike and evident distrust of the ICOA speaks highly for her," Penny said without opening her eyes.

    I was reminded of something I''d read online about foxes being canine hardware running feline software, and smiled. There was something rather cat-like about her behavior at times.

    "I appreciate that she wants to meet on neutral ground," Ken said, "rather than simply showing up here or asking you to go to the UNSDI offices in London, wherever they are. And letting you choose the location, even if she''ll have plenty of time to get there ahead of you and check the place out, is a friendly gesture. She wants you to be comfortable."

    I nodded. "I got the same impression. Any other thoughts?"

    "There was something in her voice," Sparkle said, frowning cutely. "She''s spent time in Faerie. A lot of time."

    "I thought so too," Penny said, lifting her head and looking over at us. "I don''t know West Virginia, but I definitely heard the lilt of the High Sidhe in her accent."

    "That''s interesting," Ken said. "Something to be wary of, perhaps."

    Penny nodded seriously. "You should be cautious. I see no reason to believe she is Sidhe herself, but if she''s spent enough time around them, she may have picked up some of their worst habits."

    "And we should go with you!" Sparkle said with a firm nod, a statement she clearly intended to be undeniable.

    I smiled. "As if I''d go anywhere without you both."

    Sparkle and Penny both looked pleased, and Penny put her head back down on the hearth.

    Ken nodded. "I''m pleased to hear it. And I approve of this meeting. What I know of the UNSDI is encouraging."

    "Tell me?" I asked.

    "Of course," he said, as if he''d just been waiting for me to ask. "Mind you, I don''t know everything, and most of what I do know was gathered by your father."

    I smiled. "Ken, appearances to the contrary, I don''t expect you to be omniscient."

    He chuckled and bowed his head for a moment. Then he pursed his lips. "As I understand it, the United Nations Supernatural Defense Initiative was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War. The War¡­it brought a lot of nasty things crawling out of the cracks and crevices of the world, and they didn''t go away again just because the Allies beat the Axis. The UNSDI was put together to try and stuff all of those horrible things back into their respective closets, so to speak.

    "Their senior staff," he continued, "have been around longer than that¡­clever wizards, natural immortals, and monsters in search of redemption made up a large percentage of their original membership. The general staff - officially called ''agents'' - are mostly human, but unlike the ICOA they welcome anyone who wants to help police the supernatural population and protect the human population."

    "That sounds pretty good," I said tentatively. "I sense a ''but'' coming."

    Ken tipped his head back and forth and shrugged. "There was a bit of a kerfluffle in the 1980''s and 90''s. Schism in the leadership, massive purge of the staff. A lot of the field agents they hired were always retired military and paramilitary, but they got a bit¡­unpleasant for a while. It took until 2004 for the original leadership to get a foot back in the door and reclaim the organization, and another five years for them to rid themselves of all of their undesirables. And, needless to say, it took a good ten years beyond that for them to really start regaining the community''s trust."

    "And today?" I asked.

    "Back to their original form, as far as I know," Ken said. "The field leaders, who I met when they visited your parents, are Gabriel and Mikaela O''Connell¡­he''s an immortal of uncertain origin, and she''s a half-dragon."

    I''d been staring into the fire, taking the information in and filing it for later expansion and use. At that last bit, my head snapped around to look at Ken. "Half what?"

    Ken smiled. "Half-dragon. Eastern Shenlong, to be specific. Dragon of the tempest and rain. Yes, dragons are real, Eastern and Western. But they''re very rare and very reclusive. Odds are extremely good you''ll never actually meet one."

    "Okay," I said, itching to know how such a thing was possible and - for now - deciding to chalk it up to magic. I had bigger fish to fry.

    "Their chief of operations is Vlad Tepes -"

    I felt my eyes widen and my head tip as I blurted out "Excuse me? Did you seriously just tell me that dragons are real, and then - while I''m still trying to digest that - inform me that freaking Dracula is real, alive, and helping to run a friendly organization?"

    Ken raised a hand. "On my honor. I''ve spoken with him on the phone, but never met him in person."

    I huffed out a breath. "Interesting people, then."

    Ken nodded. "At this point in time, I haven''t heard anything bad about them in years. They usually try to keep a pretty low profile, very Men in Black, so to speak. But they have a fair amount of firepower to bring to bear, if needed. Assuming that''s still who they are, they''d be good allies to have."

    "Noted," I said, looking at the fire again. "That''s more than you''ve really been able to tell me about the ICOA."

    Ken grimaced. "Yes, well¡­the UNSDI isn''t nearly as paranoid, secretive, or exclusionary. They''re practically an open book compared to the ICOA."

    I considered that in silence for a long moment. "So, to make a long story short, they appear to be a well-meaning organization and seem to be putting their best foot forward, and it''s likely in my best interests to do the same."

    "Very definitely," Ken said.

    "I would agree," Penny said. "I know no more than what Ken just told us, but I feel safe saying they sound better to do business with than my former masters." She practically spat the last word in disgust.

    "I know they''ve never been mean to fairies, the way some wizards of the ICOA have," Sparkle put in, then sheepishly added, "but that''s all I know of them. Sorry, Caley."

    I laughed softly. "That''s all right. I get to meet one of them for lunch tomorrow. I''ll form an opinion then."

    The next morning I rose early, did some yoga and tai chi on the front lawn in the early morning light, then jogged into town and back without running into D.T.. Or anybody else for that matter. But that was okay¡­I liked it that way. Just me, Sparkle fluttering along beside me, Penny trotting at my side, and a beautiful dawn.

    There was, in my opinion, no better way to start the day.

    When we got back, Ken had breakfast waiting along with the welcome news that we''d skip my magic practice that morning.

    "I don''t want you going into London to meet a stranger tired," he said firmly, as I ate. "I think you''re likely perfectly safe with this one, but I''d rather you go fresh and ready for anything that might happen."

    That sounded like good sense to me, so I finished my breakfast, took a shower, then confronted my closet. "How does one dress for meeting the representative of a major power in the supernatural world?" I looked at Ken. "At least, I assume they''re a major power."

    He waggled one hand back and forth. "They''re not exactly on a level with either of the Sidhe courts, or even with the Wild Hunt. But at this point, I''d say they''re more of a genuine power than the ICOA. At least a couple of years ago - I really need to update my intel - most international wizards preferred doing business with and being policed by the UNSDI over the ICOA."

    "About that," I said, deciding that dressing up a little wouldn''t be a bad idea. I walked into the closet, half-closed the door, and slipped out of my robe. "I rather got the impression that the ICOA is the major supernatural power in the world. Or at least, in Europe and the United Kingdom."

    Ken snorted. "That''s certainly the impression they want people to have, and technically they are. Or were. I wasn''t aware the UNSDI had re-opened their London office. The two groups do not get along at all well."

    "I can''t imagine why," I said as I slid into panties and a bra, then a pair of pale gray pantyhose. "Have they ever come to blows?"

    "Not literally," Ken said, "but it''s been a near thing from time to time. Especially during the late 80''s and most of the 90''s. The fact that the UNSDI is moving back into England - where the ICOA''s seat of power is located - is a definite statement."

    That sounded vaguely ominous. I selected a cream colored, short-sleeved silk blouse, and slid into it, buttoning it up. "Is it wise, making friendly overtures with the UNSDI?"

    "Has the ICOA treated you at all well?" Ken asked rhetorically.

    I rolled my eyes.

    He didn''t even need to see me to know what my unspoken answer had been. "Then making friends with the UNSDI is a good idea. Especially since we all like the way they''ve approached you. Politely."

    "Touch¨¦," I selected an A-line, forest green silk skirt and slid into it, zipping and buttoning it at my waist. It just came to my knees, which was exactly what I wanted. I quickly found the vest that went with the skirt and slipped it on, buttoned it up, and located a pair of matching ballet flats with ankle straps.

    Thus dressed, I emerged from the closet and spread my arms. "Well? Am I presentable?"

    Penny was sitting on the end of the bed with Sparkle perched atop her head. "You look lovely, Caley," Sparkle said seriously.

    "Very presentable," Penny agreed.

    Leaning against one of the bedposts, Ken nodded. "A nice balance of elegant and practical."

    "I need a purse," I said, "or a shoulder bag. Preferably the latter."

    Sparkle''s eyes widened and Penny blinked in surprise. Ken just smiled and looked past me with a little nod.

    I turned around and found a green leather shoulder bag hanging from the top of the closet door. It was exactly what I wanted¡­just large enough for the little hard-bound pocket notebook I took everywhere with me now, a couple of pens, my wallet and phone, and a few miscellaneous other things.

    Oakwood Hall, once again providing precisely what I needed. I wondered if it was making these things out of thin air, or getting them from somewhere. But that was a mystery for the future, once I understood magic better than I did now.

    "Thank you very much," I said, placing my hand on the door and concentrating on a feeling of gratitude. In return, I felt a brief flash of satisfaction and pleasure. Then I took the shoulder bag, loaded it up, and slung it across my body to hang against my hip. "Perfect!"

    Ken sighed. "I know I keep saying this, but I do wish you had a staff to take with you. Or any other foci. We really need to work on sorting out your mother''s staff."

    "Things have been happening very quickly," I agreed, going into the bathroom to quickly examine my reflection in the mirror. I''d already put on my earrings, and they were - aside from my rings and the choker from which the Master Key hung - the only jewelry I wore. "Do you think my hair looks okay braided, or should I have you put it up in that princess bun again?"

    Ken appeared behind me, and Sparkle fluttered to land on my shoulder. Penny padded in, reared up, and put her paws on the counter so she could look in the mirror too.

    "Hm," Ken said thoughtfully. "I think the bun looks a bit more elegant and formal. But the braid is definitely you."

    "I''d leave it braided," Sparkle agreed with a nod.

    Penny looked from one of us to another, then shook her head and dropped to all fours again. "I don''t think I understand hair," she said, and went back out into the bedroom.

    I laughed. "Thank you. We''d better get going."

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16

    I had a well-established door that opened into central London, just across from Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly. Ordinarily, I would''ve walked the mile to Harrods, but it was warmer in London than it had been in Oakwood and I didn''t want to show up for my lunch meeting sweaty, so I caught a bus and was there in short order. A quick elevator ride took me up to the fourth floor, but something stopped me in my tracks as I made my way over to the caf¨¦.

    There was magic in the air. Just the faintest hint of a cobweb-like sensation, delicate and gentle, but similar enough to what I''d felt when von Einhardt tried to control my mind that it froze me in place for a moment. There was none of the immediate disorientation I''d felt then, though.

    I felt Sparkle - clinging to the Master Key as usual - squirm a little against my collarbone. Then she whispered so silently that only I could hear her, "It''s mind magic, Caley, but very gentle and diffuse." She sounded both confused and fascinated. "It feels sort of like a Sidhe glamour, but not really, and it''s not specifically aimed at us...it''s more like it''s saying ''don''t worry about this.'' It wouldn''t have any effect on you even if it was directed at you, though. Not with me around."

    Reassured, I brushed my fingers across her and the key lightly in thanks, and began walking again. I entered the caf¨¦, looked around¡­and not far from where I stood, by the windows in the corner near the entrance, I saw a young woman who had to be Ms. Rhodes.

    She was sitting and staring out at the city, her chin cupped in one hand, but her positioning allowed her to keep an eye on the caf¨¦ door as she city-watched. Her hair was cropped in a short, attractively messy bob with bangs that hung almost to her eyebrows, and was as black as Penny''s fur. She had two streaks of color dyed into her bangs¡­one bright, neon pink, the other bright, aqua blue.

    As I stopped in the entrance, her eyes flicked from the windows to me, then she turned fully in my direction. She had a heart-shaped face with a strong chin, high cheekbones, and large, almond-shaped eyes that were an impossibly, almost unnaturally bright emerald green.

    Blinking a few times to shake off the urge to just stand and stare at those incredible eyes, I smiled and started toward her table. She, in turn, returned my smile and rose to meet me.

    Ms. Rhodes was dressed a bit more casually than I was, but I was prepared to forgive that¡­she was, after all, American, and probably still disorganized, having just arrived the day before. She wore a body-hugging short-sleeved and scoop-necked top in almost exactly the same color as her eyes, tucked into a thigh-length black pleated skirt over black leggings. Her outfit was set off by snug black vest that almost looked like a corset, emerald green socks scrunched down around her ankles, and black trainers.

    She wore only three pieces of jewelry that I could see: A silver Star of David and a silver pentacle, each on their own black silk cord around her neck, and a string of plain, dark wood Mala beads wrapped several times around her left wrist.

    As I got closer, I saw that her skin was unnaturally smooth and flawless, without so much as a freckle or mole anywhere in sight on her face or neck. She almost looked like one of those makeup-coated social media influencers, except I saw no sign of makeup at all. There was something almost doll-like about her appearance. I could also sense that she was the epicenter of the magic I''d felt on entering.

    She gave me a thin-lipped smile as I approached, but there was warmth to it that touched her eyes, making them seem to shift colors subtly. Then I realized that her eye color was shifting, just a little bit, as she moved. It was as if there was a soap bubble stretched over her irises and pupils, creating an iridescent effect.

    She extended a hand to me, and it took me a moment to realize she was offering me a business card, not a handshake. I took it and looked at it.

    The card itself was a piece of transparent plastic with rounded corners. The right side was taken up by the blue and white United Nations emblem, only with a staff and a sword crossed beneath the laurels. The left side read: UNSDI Special Agent Katherine Jessica Rhodes, New Orleans Field Office, with a pair of phone numbers - office and cell - and an email address.

    "It''s out of date now," she said with a little shrug as I met her eyes again, "but they ain''t given me new ones yet."

    I smiled. "Bureaucracy is the one great constant of the world, hm?"

    She laughed softly. "Oh yeah." She gestured to her table. "Please, be welcome at my table and share my repast." She hesitated a moment and seemed to wince a little. "Sorry, old habits."

    "That''s all right," I said, wondering at the wording. It had sounded very much like the almost ritualistic way I''d asked the gnomes in Oakwood to sit and speak with me the other day. "I understand the laws of hospitality can be very important in the supernatural world."

    As we sat down on opposite sides of the little booth, she nodded. "You can say that again and swear on it. Not as seriously as the Sidhe and some other communities. But it''s still polite, and I want you to feel completely safe with me." I thought I saw her sniff the air as we sat, and wondered about that. I wasn''t wearing any perfume, and I wasn''t smelling anything unusual.

    "Thank you. If you don''t mind my asking," I said carefully, "you seem to be¡­" I hesitated.

    She smirked slightly. "Sensed my ''somebody else''s problem'' charm, did ya?"

    "Is that what it is?" I asked, resting my elbows on the table and leaning forward curiously.

    She nodded. "It makes people ignore anything weird about me, and most anything weird I might have to say. So we can speak pretty freely, as long as we''re not too loud about it."

    "So, are you¡­" I trailed off and hesitated.

    She smiled lopsidedly. "Human. Just weird. It''s a long story. Lady Reid -"

    I smiled back at her. "Please, call me Caley."

    She faltered for a moment and looked surprised. Then her expression warmed and she nodded. "All right, Miss Caley. If you''d like, you can call me Jessie."

    "Thank you, Jessie. Honestly, I''m still not sure about whether or not I''m entitled to the honorific, and¡­" I shrugged. "The formality doesn''t sit terribly well with me still."

    She chuckled softly. There was something almost musical about her soft contralto. "Better get used to it. From what I hear, if you continue the way you''ve begun, you''ll earn that honorific. Assumin'' it''s not yours already."

    "I should tell you," I said after a moment, "that I''m not alone. I have two companions with me¡­Sparkle, a field fairy, and Penny, a dusk fox. I''m afraid it probably isn''t wise for either of them to come out in public."

    Jessie''s eyes widened and her nostrils flared again for a moment, then she nodded and gave me a small smile. "Thought I smelled fairies. You''re right, it''s probably not wise for them to come out¡­I don''t think my spell could compensate for that much weirdness at one little table. But a dusk fox¡­ain''t seen one of them since I was a little girl. Glad t''hear there''s some still free."

    I thought there was a hint of a question in that last statement, but she continued before I could answer it. "Last I heard, the ICOA had all the survivors on short leashes. So to speak." She said the acronym like ''eye-coah'' and with a peculiar emphasis on the first syllable, making it sound both serious and mocking at the same time. As if adding syllables to a four letter word somehow made it more of a ''four letter word.'' Leave it to an American.

    I pursed my lips and nodded. "I believe that to be the case," I said quietly. "Worse, I believe that the survivors - and I sincerely hope you''re wrong and there are more out there somewhere - are from a clan that was engaged in a vassal agreement with my family. Penny, who''s with me, is one of those."

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    Jessie''s eyebrows shot up and she whistled between her teeth. "That''d give you grounds for a violation of contract grievance with the ICOA." For the first time, she flashed me a smile that showed her white, even teeth¡­it was a rather vicious smile, not a friendly one. "I wanna be around when ya bring that to bear on ''em."

    "I have my legal firm looking into the possibility of pursuing that angle," I said carefully. That smile had unnerved me a little. "I want those dusk foxes set free."

    "So they can be yours?" Jessie asked bluntly.

    "So they can come home," I replied firmly.

    She tipped her head, and her weirdly iridescent emerald eyes bored into mine for a moment. Then her smile grew gentle again, her teeth disappearing behind her lips, and she gave me a little nod. "I appreciate the distinction."

    I felt like I''d passed some sort of test.

    "But," she went on, "that''s not why we''re here, is it?"

    We were interrupted then by a waiter, who placed menus on the table between us and asked, "Can I get you both something to drink before you order?"

    "Ginger ale for me, please," I said.

    "Coffee, please," Jesse said. "Black as the inside of a coal mine and strong enough t''claw its way outta the pot and attack unwary civilians."

    The waiter laughed, nodded, and went to get our drinks.

    Jessie yawned behind her hand and rubbed her face for a moment.

    "Rough time of it?" I asked sympathetically.

    "Some days are diamond," she said, quoting distantly familiar song lyrics, "some days are stone." She stretched a little and gave herself a shake. "I''m havin'' a hell of a time adjustin'' to the time change."

    I noticed that her accent had softened into something more American South and less formal. "Well, you''ve only been in England for what, thirty-six hours?"

    "Forty, give or take," she rubbed her eyes. "I think. And I only got about six hours of sleep." She sighed. "But, by the end of the week I''ll be all caught up. ''Till then, caffeine''ll haveta do. But I really wanted to meet you ASAP." Again, she said it as an acronym rather than the individual letters, though this time in a way that felt friendly rather than inspiring an urge to spit, the way she said ICOA.

    I sat forward and rested my arms on the table again. To business, then. "Why?"

    Jessie considered the question seriously for a moment, lips pursed, brows drawn down in a little frown. "Lots of reasons." She ran her hand over her mouth and chin. "Lady Reid¡­Caley, sorry¡­look, I have trust issues. Been workin'' on ''em for a few years now with the UNSDI shrinks, but I think I just give ''em a screamin'' headache most days. See, I¡­" She hesitated again, then sighed. "Can I trust ya?"

    "That''s an interesting question," I said carefully. "I''d like to think so. From what I''ve heard, the UNSDI -"

    She waved a dismissive hand at me. "Not them. I mean can I trust you. I wanna be completely up front and honest with ya, at least as far as I can be without gettin'' too personal."

    "I appreciate that," I said firmly. "After the ICOA''s obstructionist obfuscation and Oberon''s honeyed half-truths, blunt honesty sounds very refreshing. Yes, you can trust me."

    Her eyes widened when I mentioned Oberon''s name, and I thought I saw a mixture of fear and awe on her face for a moment before she shook her head. "Neither here nor there right now, but I''d love to hear about you meetin'' the Fairy King - and I''d advise ya not to use his name so lightly - if there''s time and y''all can share it."

    I nodded a little. Her reaction to Oberon''s name was interesting, and I wanted to probe it¡­but another time.

    "Listen," she said, "my bosses - Gabe and Mika - they sent me here to London for several reasons." She started ticking them off on her fingers. "I wanted out of New Orleans in the worst way¡­lovely city, more goin'' on there than any one person could take in, but it was too much for me right now. They wanted someone about your age and magically talented to make contact with ya, figurin'' y''all''d be more comfortable that way, and they''ve been pushin'' me to socialize with folks my own age more¡­" She smirked slightly. "They like killin'' as many birds with one stone as they can, those two."

    She took a breath and let it out, then continued, "On top of that, the UNSDI only just got permission from the British government to operate on British soil again, and they wanted to send over the most innocuous agents they could¡­"

    "You''re innocuous?" I asked, amused.

    She flashed me that warm, small smile again. "Compared to some of our field agents, I''m positively invisible in public."

    Besides being extremely American, I thought.

    I returned the smile. "I''ll take your word for it."

    She nodded seriously at that. "Thank you kindly. Point bein'', the UNSDI is still strugglin'' to rebuild its reputation in some parts of the word - including Great Britain - after what was goin'' on with them thirty-odd years ago. Too many long memories, both in the supernatural world and in politics." She hesitated a moment. "How much do you know about what happened?"

    "I''ve been briefed on it," I said carefully. "Literally. The information was brief and incomplete. As I understand it, there was a schism inside the organization, and the people who ended up running it in the 1980''s and 1990''s were¡­difficult."

    "Tactful," Jessie said. "We''ve tried hard - as I understand it, and I''m sure I don'' know all of it - not to air our dirty laundry in public. Fact of the matter is, the UNSDI lost a lot of trust and community engagement outside''a the US while they were under different management. And it ain''t easy to win that kinda trust back. It''s taken them the better part of twenty years to get to where we are now, just being invited to re-open offices in countries that gave us the boot in the ''90''s. And not without good reason, from what I''ve heard."

    "Including England," I observed.

    "Including England," she agreed, clasping her hands on the table in front of her. "As of this mornin'', the entire British branch of the UNSDI is me and one other field agent, a senior field agent, an office manager, and a couple''a clerks."

    I stared at her incredulously. "You''re joking."

    "I''m not," she smiled mirthlessly. "We''re working - and living - in a crappy little warehouse in Limehouse until the UNSDI can finish legally transferring the funds to get better digs and more staff here. It''s real foot-in-the-door work. Phil, the office manager, pretty much all he''s doing is suckin'' up to the British government to get all the permits and such. Erik and Mike, the other two field agents, are tasked specifically with cleanin'' up some problems in London that ICOA''s been ignoring for years."

    "And you were assigned to woo me," I said, then smiled a little and added, "so to speak."

    "A not at all unpleasant proposition," she said with a teasing wink. "I volunteered, actually. Filched your UNSDI dossier off''a my boss''s desk and had a read. You sounded interestin'', and so did England." She looked down at the top of the table for a moment, then back at me. "Been a few since I had a place to really call home. I know what it''s like to be completely uprooted and discover that the world ain''t what ya thought it was."

    Her words touched a chord in me, but I didn''t know what to say. She sounded lost and lonely in that moment, two feelings that I understood painfully well. I was saved by the waiter returning with our drinks. As he set them down, he asked, "Are you ready to order?"

    Jessie gave him one of her closed-lipped smiles. "Think we need a few more minutes. Had a spot of business to discuss first."

    "Not a problem at all," he said graciously. "Just give me a wave when you''re ready to order."

    He left, and Jessie sipped her coffee. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "Caffeine. Blessed be. Anyway, I said to my boss, ''Hey, what if you sent me to go make friends with the local laird,'' and here I am."

    That brief pause and a sip of my ginger ale were enough time for me to recover my equilibrium. "So tell me a little about the UNSDI," I said. "What do they want from me? What do they stand for?"

    Jessie sipped her coffee again. "That second one''s a big damn question. Lemme tackle that first. See, the UNSDI was formed with the idea of engaging with the supernatural community around the world¡­like the United Nations, to offer everybody a single policing body they could go to with trouble, and for help with whatever they needed, wherever they crossed with the mortal world. Basically what your family does, but on a larger scale.

    "As I hear it," she continued, "things got a bit rough an'' tumble in the 80''s and 90''s. There was a big ol'' wrasslin'' match in 2004 which spilled out into the street at the U.N. Plaza in New York and had to be cleaned up. Heck of a mess, nearly blew the lid off''a the whole masquerade, but they managed to cover it up with some help from the Feds. And they''ve¡­we''ve¡­been rebuildin'' our reputation ever since."

    "It sounds a little too good to be true," I observed.

    "Like the U.N. ain''t too good to be true?" Jessie asked with a snort. "When was the last time they seriously accomplished anything. Even with the massive setback, we''re battin'' a thousand compared to them."

    "Fair enough," I said with a chuckle.

    "Anyway, it''s actually true. But like any big organization, there''s more to it than that. Yes, the UNSDI has strike teams that can be deployed to dangerous supernatural hot spots. But mostly we work behind the scenes to keep dangerous things from harmin'' innocent people. We make some unsavory deals with unsavory beings to keep their problems from becoming everyone''s problems." She hesitated for a moment, then quietly added, "And sometimes, some of us do some questionable things to keep worse things from happening."

    I tipped my head and gave her a long look. "That sounds all right, I guess."

    She gave me a thin-lipped smile, though this time it didn''t touch her eyes, and sipped her coffee. "There''s good days and bad."

    "Some days are diamond¡­" I said, remembering what she''d said earlier, and feeling an urge to reach out to her somehow.

    Her smile became more genuine. "Some days are stone."

    "That''s¡­" I dug in my memory. "That''s a John Denver song, isn''t it?"

    She smiled a bit more, her eyes starting to sparkle again. "Not originally, but he made it famous."

    "As for what they want from you? Your family''s got a reputation for playin'' fair with everyone in the supernatural community who''ll play fair with them, and for slappin'' the shit outta the ones that wouldn''t. The Guardian of Oakwood Hall is practically a legend in Faerie. My bosses consider gettin'' on your good side to be a top priority while movin'' back into Great Britain."

    I sat back a little. "Oh, come now. Surely there are people in England with more supernatural clout than I have."

    She shrugged. "Maybe. But not this side of Faerie, and not with the kind of potential you''ve got. At least, that''s what my bosses think. And when you see someone young with potential like you, there''s and urge to jump in and guide it, and the urge to take advantage...and then there''s the smart folks who just want to get in on the ground floor and see what happens. My bosses are a bit of a mix¡­they wanna get in on the ground floor, and maybe offer a little guidance here and there."

    Where the heck do you go with a statement like that?

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17

    "You look like you''re chokin'' on that thought," Jessie said after a long moment''s silence.

    I sipped my ginger ale and cleared my throat. "I''ve been having trouble digesting my suddenly elevated status in general. Just how much does the UNSDI have on me in that file you read?"

    Jessie spread her hands a little. "Less than they''d like, more than you''re probably comfortable with. Catholic orphanage, early into college, just about done with a Masters in Medieval History. Anyone who thinks their life is any kinda private today don''t understand the Internet. You''re better than most, since you don''t have much of a social media footprint."

    I nodded earnestly. "It''s just¡­you have to understand, until I came into my inheritance, I had a tiny little three room apartment in Cambridge, and scholarships were covering a lot of my expenses. Then I started learning about my family history, and oh my god I have more money than anyone should ever have. I literally can''t spend it faster than the investments bring more in, even giving away huge chunks of it to charities and worthy causes. And some of it isn''t even in this world! How do you deal with that?"

    "Day by day, I reckon," Jessie said. "Sometimes that''s all you can do with life, eh?"

    "Truth," I agreed. "It''s like¡­people keep calling me ''Lady Reid'' and¡­I''m not even sure if there''s a lordship or a peerage in my family history anywhere, even an honorary one. It''s all incredibly disconcerting, and has forced me to make some extremely radical changes to my mental image of myself."

    Jessie nodded. "I know exactly what you mean."

    For a moment, it looked like she was going to say more, but there was tension and uncertainty in her face. Instead she looked down at her menu. "We probably ought to order¡­" She trailed off, then looked up and her eyes glittered at me with obvious amusement. "Did you ask me to meet you here specifically just because it''s generic American cuisine?"

    I smiled. "Well, you''re all out of sorts, I thought a little taste of home¡­"

    She laughed softly. "Thank you kindly, Miss Caley. Burger?"

    I smiled at the endearingly informal formality. "Burger."

    She flagged down the waiter, we placed our orders, and her coffee was refreshed. As we waited, I asked, "Bottom-line it for me. What does the UNSDI want from me?"

    Jessie sipped her coffee. "Basically? Just a friendly working relationship in the short term. Medium term, they''d like me to have a look around the town of Oakwood and see if it''d be a good place to resettle some friendly supernatural types who just want a quiet life."

    I blinked a few times. "Come again?"

    She smiled a little and lowered her voice. "My bosses at the UNSDI don''t think that the supernatural world can stay hidden from the mundanes for much longer. At least, not as well as it has. They give it five years, maybe seven, nine at the outside, before somethin'' happens that blows the lid off the whole thing. In the meantime, they''re always on the lookout for places where friendly supernatural folk can live peacefully beside mundane mortals. Oakwood sounds like that kind of place."

    That was the second time in as many days that someone had expressed that particular concern to me. That the supernatural world couldn''t stay hidden for much longer. It wasn''t unsettling at all.

    I nodded slowly. "It already is, sort of."

    Jessie looked pleased. "Maybe we can open up a little branch office there, since it''d be good to have one close to you, if everything works out."

    I thought about the soon-to-be refurbished social hall, which Clark Turner would be moving the clerk''s offices back into. That would leave the little two story converted house he was currently working out of empty, right next door. It would be an awfully convenient location.

    I narrowed my eyes at Jessie. "No request for a look inside Oakwood Hall?"

    She shook her head firmly. "Not a bit of it. Not until the second date, at least."

    I felt my cheeks flush and coughed. "I have a girlfriend."

    "Good," she said earnestly. "We can all go out. Groups are always more fun."

    I blinked at her a few times, trying to sort out if she was flirting with me or just having a bit of fun. After a moment she laughed. "You should see your face. I take it everyone else who''s contacted you has been looking for a lever to get inside your home," she emphasized the last word firmly, then shook her head. "No, I won''t do that, not ''till you and me are friends. Wouldn''t even if my bosses had asked me to, and they didn''t. Besides, I think they have a standin'' agreement of some sort with your family already, don''t they?"

    I nodded. "The names on the agreement were Gabriel and Mika. Some sort of mutual aid arrangement."

    She snorted. "Those two. Yeah, they''re good people, but kind of a handful. In the best way," she added quickly. "You can trust ''em to the ends of the Earth."

    I found myself wondering, just for a moment - and it was a chilling thought - how far that was. Regardless, I believed her.

    "Caley," she said earnestly, "in all honesty, the UNSDI just want to have a friendly workin'' relationship with ya. Seems to me they have a lot in common with your family, in some ways. It makes sense for you and us to be friends and work together when there''s trouble. Getting a foot in the door at Oakwood, with an eye towards settling some folks who just want to live quiet lives, that''d be a bonus. Anything beyond that is gravy."

    "That does sound really good," I admitted. "What about you?"

    "What about me?" She asked guilelessly, her eyes sparkling again.

    "You said you volunteered to come over and ''court'' me, as it were," I said, teasing her just a little. "Why?"

    For a moment, she looked a bit surprised at the question. Then she fell back into the little half smirk that seemed to be her default expression, but with - I thought - a hint of sadness. "I''d¡­I''m tryin'' to reconnect with the world," she said softly. "Been tryin'' for a few years now. It''s hard. Everything is¡­familiar, but at the same time nothin'' is¡­"

    The waiter, as waiters are wont to do, chose that moment - the wrong moment - to arrive with our food. Of course.

    We tucked in, and Jessie made appreciative sounds around her first bite while I tried to work out what she''d meant. Granted, we were virtually complete strangers, but I felt a weird kinship with this young woman, and didn''t want to let go of that thread just yet. If Jessie Rhodes was going to be my primary contact within the UNSDI, I wanted to have a good feel for who I was dealing with.

    "So," she said, holding up a thick-cut chip. "French fry?"

    "Chips," I said with a smile.

    "Chips," she repeated, staring at the fried potato slice. She looked at me. "Potato chips?"

    "Crisps," I said, my smile widening a little.

    "Crisps," she repeated again, then popped the chip in her mouth and shook her head.

    "What''s the old joke?" I asked teasingly, "two countries separated by a common language?"

    "The Canterville Ghost," Jessie said with a nod. "Granny¡­my godmother¡­made sure I''d read all the classics."

    "You were raised by your godmother?" I asked.

    She nodded around a bite of burger. "Yeah," she said when she swallowed. "When I was really little, I got lost¡­" She trailed off and frowned a little. "My life''s been weird."

    "Mine was almost perfectly normal until last year," I said. "Except, you know, growing up with snow-white hair and mismatched eyes."

    Her eyes met mine for a moment and she nodded. "That run in the family?"

    I nodded. "Oh yeah, it''s definitely hereditary. Apparently, every woman in my family has had white hair and virtually identical features. The complete heterochromia seems to skip generations." I sipped my drink, hoping that sharing some of my own weirdness would help her speak about her own. She seemed to want to. "My father painted a nearly life-size portrait of my mother just before they were married, and the first time I saw it I thought it was of me somehow, until I noticed her eyes were the same color."

    Her smile had softened from that little half-smirk into something that touched her eyes again. "Your family portrait hall would be creepy as all get out."

    I laughed. "Yeah, it would be. Maybe that''s why there isn''t one."

    She joined in my laughter for a moment, then looked down at her plate again. "When I was six, I got Lost." She said it a little differently this time, with extra emphasis on the word lost. "Stumbled into Faerie and couldn''t find my way out again. Got lucky¡­got taken in by a powerful Wyldfae, who became my godmother. Granny¡­she did her best to give me a ''proper mortal education'' - her words - but¡­you''re starting to know the Fae. Everything they know about us is filtered through some weird distortion. Like a funhouse mirror. It''s backwards and some bits are blown out of proportion and some bits are hardly to be seen, but it''s all there, reflected in the Fey."

    Stolen story; please report.

    I nodded, taking a bite of my burger and letting her talk.

    "I¡­honestly, I loved it," she said. "Livin'' in a fairy wonderland was a great way to grow up. But it left me¡­different. Strange." She looked up, meeting my eyes, and again I was drawn to notice the unnatural perfection of her complexion and the odd iridescence of her eyes. "It''s been tough reconnectin'', now I''m back. Nothin''s ever quite the way I expect it to be."

    "I know exactly what you mean," I said. "I have the same problem in reverse, sort of. My life - aside from my appearance - was perfectly mundane until last year. Now everything is weird¡­I never had a lot of connections to the world, but now I do and none of them are what I expected them to be."

    We looked at one another for a moment, and I thought¡­connection made.

    "Everybody at the UNSDI is accepting of weirdness and strangeness," Jessie said, "even the normies."

    "That''s a good thing, isn''t it?" I asked.

    "Surely is," she agreed. "It''s about the only place in the world I can just be myself without drawin'' looks or bein'' pushed away. But even there¡­I''m isolated. Alone in a crowd."

    "Because of how you grew up," I said, thinking I had the gist of her thoughts.

    She nodded.

    "Again, I know exactly what you mean," I said. "Growing up in a Catholic orphanage¡­it was nothing like your life, I''m sure. But my looks and my mind made me Other." I emphasized the last word.

    "Yeah," Jessie agreed. "Other. Gabriel, Mika, and Vlad, our senior field officers at the UNSDI¡­they all know what it''s like to feel alone and isolated. Ain''t nobody our age at the UNSDI who''s had to deal with the sort of weird shit we have. Maybe that''s part of why they agreed to send me over here."

    She smiled then, and it was nothing like her other smiles. Still tight-lipped and showing no teeth, but not wry, sardonic, amused or sly. It was a tentative, hopeful smile.

    "Maybe I can help you understand the Sidhe," Jessie offered, "and you can help me reconnect with the mortal world."

    "That sounds pretty good," I said, suddenly feeling uneasy. Less than a year ago, I''d been confronted by a man in this very caf¨¦ who''d tried to control my mind to gain access to my home. Certainly, Jessie was nothing like him on the surface¡­but she was offering me help I wanted very badly, while sitting in the middle of a magical charm that was making people ignore anything less than perfectly normal about us¡­

    What if that magic was covering up something else? Sparkle was confident that no mind magic could affect me while she was connected to the Master Key and the heavily enchanted platinum choker it rode on around my neck. But¡­

    "Somethin'' burned you," Jessie observed, her expression closing down a bit again. "You''re suspicious, and I suppose ya got every right to be. I''m a complete stranger, after all."

    I shook my head a little. "It''s not that. You''re a stranger, but your approach is completely different than his was."

    "Wanna talk about it?" She offered. "My shrink says talkin'' about traumas helps them be less troublin''."

    I hesitated for another moment, then quietly said, "His name was Bellinus von Einhardt, from the ICOA. He¡­tried to control my mind with magic a couple of times, with the goal of gaining entry to Oakwood Hall. When that didn''t work¡­" I trailed off.

    Jessie put down her coffee cup. "He the one that attacked Oakwood Hall a few months ago?"

    I blinked. "How¡­?"

    Her wry smirk returned. "The UNSDI knows someone assaulted Oakwood Hall back in April, it was in your dossier. No details, but the localized thunderstorm and a lightnin'' bolt that was visible from dozens''a miles away didn''t exactly go unnoticed by the Met Office. We heard about it through channels almost as soon as they recorded it."

    She popped a chip in her mouth and chewed for a moment before swallowing and continuing. "See, Oakwood Hall''s a kinda blank spot on the magical map - and sure''n my bosses would love to know how that works, but I ain''t gonna pry - but the surroundin'' area''s very magically active, like the area around Glastonbury Tor, and Stonehenge, and a few other places. That activity spiked hard before and during the storm, then was at a steadily higher level for a few weeks after."

    "The UNSDI has ways of detecting magic at a distance?" I asked, floored.

    "Sure," she replied. "So does the ICOA. As I understand it, it''s just a more complex form of basic magic detection¡­" She hesitated, then smiled lopsidedly. "Ya do know how to do that, right? If not, I could probably teach ya. My way''s a bit different than the usual though. I just sniff it out, but putting yer nose to the wind is a hell of a lot easier than understandin'' all the gobbledygook in the formulas they tried teachin'' me."

    I smiled at the offer. "It was pretty much the first thing I learned about magic."

    She nodded. "You had a good teacher, then. That was pretty much the first thing my Granny taught me, too."

    I finished the last bite of my burger before picking up the thread of my explanation. "So¡­yes, von Einhardt was the one who attacked the Hall. He damaged the wards around the property, had an accomplice summon a giant boar to batter down the front gates, then cruised in and tried to kill me."

    Jessie chewed her last bite slowly, chasing it with the last of her coffee, before replying. "Since you''re here to meet with me, I take it that peckerwood''s been dealt with?"

    There was, I thought, a curious glint in her eyes, something dangerous.

    I nodded. "I had some help."

    "Not as much as she thinks," Sparkle said quietly but clearly from below my chin.

    The dangerous gleam instantly vanished from Jessie''s eyes, replaced by wary curiosity. "That Sparkle? She''s what, hidin'' as part of your pendant?"

    "Yes," I said, content to let her think that''s all the Master Key was, for the moment.

    "May I?" She asked, gesturing toward me. When I nodded, she rose a little and leaned across the table, peering at the Master Key. I saw her nostrils flare as she inhaled. Then she sat back, shook her head, and whistled softly. "That''s right amazin'', that is. Even knowin'' she''s there, I can barely sense her at all."

    I felt a pulse of pride and pleasure from Sparkle, and smiled. "She''s had a lot of practice. I guess she used to do the same thing for my mother."

    "That''s really cool," Jessie said, leaning forward a little again. "So, just to be clear: this von Einhardt''s not a problem anymore?"

    I shook my head carefully, wondering at the question and the curious dangerous look that had come into her eyes.

    She sat back, looking satisfied. "Good. You said he was ICOA." She was still saying it ''eye-coah'', but this time more than the others it sounded like she meant to spit after saying it.

    I nodded. "I know he was a member. I don''t know if he was acting on their behalf, but he was definitely one of theirs. I''m also reasonably certain that he was responsible for the deaths of my parents." I did not mention that he had been my great-grandfather on my father''s side. "He wanted to get into the Hall very badly at the end¡­badly enough to be stupid about it, I think. And if his colleagues knew anything about it, they haven''t let on when they approached me. And they weren''t particularly subtle about anything else."

    "No," Jessie agreed, "subtle don''t belong in the same sentence with them. They''re convinced the whole world should still be bendin'' a knee to them. Not that anybody outside the old British Empire ever did, far as I know." She pursed her lips, then carefully asked, "Would you object to me makin'' inquiries from my end? Maybe I can find out somethin'' about what he was up to for ya."

    "You''d do that?" I asked, surprised.

    "Yes," she said firmly. "I ain''t a fairy queen. I want to do favors for my friends, and I hope we''re gonna be good friends, you and me. If there''s one thing the UNSDI has in abundance, it''s info. Shouldn''t be hard for me to find out if we know - or can learn - anything."

    I gave her a warm smile, and felt the approval from both Sparkle and Penny. "I''d very much like to be your friend, Jessie. I''m letting the ICOA''s¡­intrusions¡­into my privacy make me a little paranoid, and I really shouldn''t. You''ve put your best foot forward at every step so far, and that speaks highly for you and the UNSDI. I''d very much appreciate anything you can tell me about von Einhardt''s activities before he came after me. He''s not a problem for me anymore, but his colleagues seem destined to become one."

    "For you and everybody else, the snotty little shits," she muttered bluntly, that hard edge back in her eyes. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. She smiled a wide, closed-lipped smile, her eyes sparkling happily. "I''m very happy to help."

    The waiter seemed to materialize beside our table. "All done, ladies? Care for dessert?"

    Jessie and I shared a look, then she asked, "You have chocolate cake?"

    "We do indeed, miss," he said with a nod. "Double layer chocolate cake with mousse filling and buttercream frosting."

    I thought she was going to start drooling.

    She met my eyes with a hopeful look. "Share a slice with me?"

    "Lovely idea," I agreed, then added to the waiter, "One piece and two forks, please."

    He flashed a quick smile and nodded. "Of course. I''ll take your plates and be right back with that. Freshen your drinks?"

    "Please," we both said together, looked at one another in surprise, and laughed together.

    It felt good.

    The waiter grinned, collected our plates, and disappeared. He returned with a fresh glass of ginger ale for me, refilled Jessie''s dangerously black and strong coffee, and disappeared again. When he returned a minute later, he brought the requested slice of cake and two forks.

    I clearly heard Sparkle whimper as he put it down on the table.

    Once he was gone, I laughed softly. "I''m going to have to get Sparkle a special treat when we get home. She has a wicked sweet tooth, and she''s probably dying at the sight of that cake." Sparkle huffed almost silently, but settled down.

    "Wish my notice-me-not charm was a bit stronger," Jessie said. "I''d like t''meet her, and Penny too. But it''s all I can do to make people ignore my¡­weirdness. I think an honest-to-goodness fairy gobbling down cake would overload it."

    "Would you be willing to teach me how to cast it?" I asked hopefully as I picked up my fork. "It seems very useful, and maybe I could figure out a way to make it stronger."

    "I don''t¡­relate¡­to magic the way most mortals do. I don''t cast ''spells'' the way mortal spellcasters do," she said softly. Then she smiled, a surprisingly shy and tentative little smile. "I reckon I could maybe pass on the trick of it. It''s all just secrets and tricks to me. Might have to work up a trade though. Favors I can happily do for free, but Fae Secrets and Tricks usually gotta be taken, traded or earned. It''s just how it works."

    Needless to say, the chocolate cake didn''t last long at all.

    "You know," Jessie said as she finished her coffee, "if that peerage thing is really buggin'' you, I hear you can buy up a slice''a Scotland, and they let you put ''laird'' on your checks and shit."

    I smiled ruefully. "I''m afraid that''s just a very low-key scam for the tourists."

    "Well, hell," she sighed, but her eyes were sparkling anyway. "Now I gotta think of a new birthday present for Lord Phil, Duke of Warehouseshire."

    We laughed together, and I said, "Oh, do it anyway. As long as you know it''s not legally binding, I can see how it''d still be fun."

    She nodded. "I''ll think about it." She sighed. "Right now though, I''d better get back to what passes for my office. I''ve got a first-contact report to write."

    "A positive one, I hope," I said.

    "Very positive," she agreed. "And I imagine ya have your own schedule to keep."

    "Lessons, lessons, and more lessons," I said ruefully. "This made a very pleasant break from the routine."

    "Ya got my number," she said. "Well¡­cell and email ain''t changin'' anyway. Pretty sure I have a new local number."

    "Speaking of which," I said, and retrieved the little notebook from my bag. I pulled one of the perforated pages from the back, and scribbled my contact info on it. "This is my cell and email, so you can reach me more easily." I slid the piece of paper across the table to her.

    She took it and slid it into a pocket on her vest. "Thank you. Hey, lunch is on me today. I know ya got more money than God, but I have an expense account."

    I flashed her a quick, friendly grin. "Okay, but only if you come out to Oakwood and have dinner with me soon. None of this generic American grill¡­actual, authentic British pub food."

    She gave me a dubious look.

    "Mrs. O''Day at the Oak & Ivy Pub in town makes an incredible beef stew, which she serves in crusty sourdough bread bowls."

    Jessie blinked a few times, then licked her lips. "All right, you''re makin'' me want to come out there tonight. Gimme a few days to get settled in and get my bearings here, and I''ll give ya a call to make arrangements."

    "Good!" I said. "I can give you a little tour of Oakwood at the same time, maybe introduce you to some of the town council members."

    We both rose, and when she extended her hand this time, it was to shake mine warmly. "Miss Caley," she said, "it''s been a genuine pleasure. I''m lookin'' forward to next time already. And to meeting Sparkle and Penny all proper-like."

    "I hope to speak with you soon," I said. "And please let your employers at the UNSDI know that I''m very interested in pursuing a working relationship with them."

    Jessie''s smile widened without showing teeth, and she released my hand. "They''ll be happy to hear that. I am too. I''ll call soon."

    "I''ll look forward to it."

    With a little nod, she turned on her heel and glided away toward the counter to pay the bill. For a moment, I wasn''t entirely certain her feet actually touched the floor when she walked.

    This was, I felt certain, the beginning of a very interesting friendship.

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18

    With an afternoon of exercise and practice ahead of me, I retired to my closet to change while briefing Ken on my meeting with Ms. Rhodes. I briefly described our lunch as I changed, telling Ken everything she''d told me about herself and the UNSDI.

    When I emerged, now wearing a pair of black spandex leggings and a matching short-sleeved spandex shirt, he said, "I agree that all sounds very encouraging. Ms. Rhodes sounds like an interesting young woman, and the modern UNSDI sounds like a good organization to be aligned with. I would encourage you to foster both relationships."

    Penny, sprawled on the end of my bed in her natural form, said, "I have some concerns about the amount of influence the Sidhe might have over her. It sounds like she was raised by one."

    "Who she always spoke of in the past tense," Sparkle said quietly, human-sized and perched on the edge of the bed. She kicked her feet a little as she spoke, displaying her usual mix of innocence and uncommon perceptiveness as she continued, "I don''t think we have much to worry about there. She said her godmother was a powerful Wyldfae¡­there aren''t a lot of Sidhe who fit that bill. I bet some discrete questions in Faerie could find out who she was, especially if she died in the last few years. Sidhe who aren''t aligned with one court or the other are rare¡­ones who''ve died recently are even more rare."

    "A worthwhile line of inquiry," Ken agreed. "But one to be pursued with caution. Information like that usually has a cost."

    "Duly noted," I said, sitting on the window bench to pull on ankle socks and a pair of trailers. "Anyway, I invited Jessie to visit Oakwood, to have dinner at the Oak & Ivy. I can introduce her to D.T., show her around town a little, and get to know her a bit better."

    Ken nodded. "A very good idea."

    "What do you think of the UNSDI''s idea," I asked as I tied the laces on my trainers, "about resettling¡­how did she put it¡­''People of a supernatural persuasion'' here in Oakwood?"

    "I don''t think it''s a terrible idea," Ken said thoughtfully. "Though it goes without saying that you and Ms. Rhodes will need to discuss the matter with the Oakwood town council first. It''s only polite." He hesitated, then smiled wryly and added, "Or at least the members who are savvy to the supernatural world, since I don''t know that all of them are these days."

    "Add that to the to do list," I said. "It''s turning into a tome. So, what do we do with the rest of the day?" I rose and bounced on my toes a little.

    "We," Ken said, "are going to work on your fencing for an hour. Then you need to have a meeting with Spice and Shine. They were in a little while ago, fretting about running out of space in the clearing."

    "Oh my," I said, wondering what I could possibly do about that. "Well, let''s get to it then."

    After the stated hour of fencing practice - during which Ken only usually had me on my heels, which was an improvement - I hit the shower and disappeared into my closet. For someone who''d spent most of my school years dressed in what could generally be referred to as "drab business casual," I now found my closet equally populated with both dressier and more relaxed clothing. I took that as a good sign as well¡­I was growing as a person, and that pleased me.

    I''d quite liked the way D.T. had looked at me when dressed casually the day before¡­

    Had it really only been the day before? I was having a very busy week.

    ¡­So I wriggled back into a pair of comfortable black leggings, pulled a pair of tight denim shorts on over them, and tucked a pale green short-sleeved henley into the shorts. It was, I thought, I step up from a t-shirt, while still being casual and comfortable.

    And, I had to admit, looking at my reflection in the full-length mirror on the back of the closet door, it was kind of sexy.

    I blinked a couple of times. That was nearly an alien thought to me¡­not just wanting to look attractive, but also feeling attractive.

    Which was, I thought wryly, probably something I should talk to a therapist about. Or, rather, Dara, since she was the closest thing to a therapist who wouldn''t just lock me up. Alternately, Jessie had mentioned having a therapist a couple of times¡­perhaps the UNSDI would be willing to let me use one of theirs.

    I made a mental note to ask her, once I knew her and the UNSDI a bit better. Then I gave my head a shake to clear it, pulled on a pair of white ankle socks and my green trainers, and stepped out of the closet.

    Sparkle and Penny were already sitting on the long padded bench that ran below my bedroom windows, looking out into the beautiful sun-drenched field. As I approached, Sparkle stopped petting Penny and shrank back down to her normal size, and they both shifted aside so I could step up on the bench, open the tall door-like window pane, and step out into the field beyond.

    It was, as always, a lovely summer day out there, and I took a moment to bask in the warm sunlight. Then I turned right, walked the few steps to the end of my bedroom windows where they floated, unsupported by anything, in the middle of the clearing, and sank to my knees in front of Spice and Shine''s home.

    They were, as usual, lounging on their rooftop platform, dressed in their usual color-coded clothes, though the outfits were ones I hadn''t seen before¡­Spice in bright red shorts and a cropped top, and Shine in a frilly silver dress similar to what Sparkle usually wore. As I knelt, they rose and buzzed around me cheerfully once before alighting on their deck again and curtsying. Penny sat down beside me, and Sparkle fluttered over to land by Spice and Shine.

    "We welcome you, Lady Reid," Spice said graciously, then smiled. "That''s enough formalities. Ken told you we needed to talk to you?"

    I nodded, resting my hands on my knees and smiling back at them. "Yes indeed. What can I do for you?"

    Spice sighed and sat down on the edge of one of their chaise lounges. After a moment, Shine sat down beside her and took one of her hands.

    "Honestly, we''re not really sure," Spice said. "That''s part of the problem. See, we''re running out of room."

    Shine nodded and gestured behind them, at the fairy village that had, in the past four months, energetically sprung up to fill most of the half of the clearing that was behind my bedroom windows. It was really quite impressive, and very beautiful, if wildly eclectic in design, shape, and intent. Even now, out at the edges of it, I saw a new row of mushroom houses - literally, houses carved into giant mushrooms - that hadn''t been there just the day before.

    "I can see that," I said with a nod. "I assume you''ve approved them all?"

    Spice nodded quickly. "Of course, Caley! Shine and I have personally spoken to and gotten oaths of loyalty from each and every one of them. But recently, we''ve been getting more than just fairies." She threw her hands in the air. "Just this morning, four gnome families who are kin to those you helped out in Oakwood yesterday showed up looking for sanctuary. Those''re the mushroom houses that''ve just gone up. We took in a family of brownies, three Will O'' Wisps, a couple of salamanders¡­" she pointed away towards the edge of the clearing, where I saw a small bonfire burning cheerily, "and are going to be listening to a petition for sanctuary from a nymph, of all beings, this evening."

    Shine put a hand over her eyes and shook her head.

    Penny groaned a little. "I''ve watched wizards try to treat with nymphs. Be cautious. They can be powerful allies, but tricky to deal with."

    Spice nodded tiredly. "Thank you, Penny, we know. I don''t think we''re going to take her in either way. She was a little too eager during our initial conversation, if you know what I mean."

    "You think she''s a spy?" Penny asked, ears perking straight up and the fur on her tails bristling.

    Spice shrugged. Shine nodded. Spice sighed gustily. "We''re not sure yet. But even if she''s not, she''s still a nymph. They''re fun to have around, but they can be very disruptive of a community."

    "But you said you were having them swear allegiance to the Hall?" Sparkle asked, very seriously.

    Spice bounced to her feet, nodding. "Oh yes, of course. We wouldn''t allow them to live within the wards if they didn''t do that. Everyone who comes to live in the clearing must be part of the Fairies of Oakwood Hall clan."

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Shine tugged on Spice''s shorts. Spice nodded. "Which is the other other problem." She started pacing, gesturing wildly with her hands as she spoke. "We''re the Fairies of Oakwood Hall, as you named us when we became your vassals. But the gnomes and brownies and especially the salamanders and a nymph¡­they''re not fairies!" She stopped and looked up at me. "And of course they don''t want to be called fairies." She spread her hands. "You see the problem!"

    I smiled and nodded. "I do. What do you suggest?"

    "Claim this land," Spice said firmly. "Not just as a gift to your family for some service rendered that nobody remembers now, but as your family land." She pointed straight down. "Claim it as yours, and name it."

    Penny huffed a little sound that was half laugh, half snort. "If it was that easy to form a demense in the Spirit World, mortal spellcasters would have been doing it for centuries."

    Sparkle had her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide, staring at Spice. Something had obviously clicked for her that hadn''t for me and Penny.

    Shine bounced to her feet and caught one of Spice''s hands in hers, tugging on it. Spice met her eyes, and after a moment she nodded. "Shine''s right, I''m saying this wrong." She looked up at me again. "The Lord of the Seelie Court has made you an open offer, a boon for a service." She gestured around her with her free hand. "Make this your boon. Find a way to claim more land than you have now, give it a proper name, and then all the clans that come to live here in peace together under your banner can be properly named."

    Shock rolled over me, and when I looked at Penny, I found her looking back at me, a matching expression of surprise on her vulpine face. I looked at Sparkle, who looked a little dazed. "Can I even do that?"

    Sparkle nodded. "I¡­I think so? Land for favors is an old and respected custom among the Sidhe. A lot of lesser Sidhe lords got their start that way. We might want to ask Margrave to be certain."

    "Assuming we can reach him," I said, remembering that he''d been unavailable the other day. "At the very least, we should bring it up with Ken." Then I gave my head a little shake and smiled at Spice and Shine. "Why don''t you show me how things have grown in the meantime. Maybe introduce me to a few of the new residents."

    All three fairies immediately fluttered up off the platform, Sparkle landing on my right shoulder, while Spice and Shine hovered patiently as I rose and stretched. "Lead the way, my friends," I said cheerfully.

    I was introduced to the family of brownies who had moved in, now busily building a long, low, multi-generational home out of wood and stone not far from the giant mushrooms the gnomes had raised. They were, it turned out, cobblers by trade, and promised to restore to pristine condition any damaged shoes I had, or to make any kind of footwear I could imagine.

    The gnomes next door were, conveniently, dressmakers of exceptional talent, as well as healers. They had made, I learned, the outfits that Spice and Shine were wearing now, and when I expressed my appreciation they offered to make me a fairy gown of my very own.

    "We would," the clan matriarch, a very elderly, white-haired gnome, "be honored to make any clothing you wished, Lady Reid. Your generosity in providing us sanctuary and friendly neighbors is a gift beyond our ability to repay."

    As I walked the edge of the clearing, Spice and Shine now sitting on my left shoulder opposite Sparkle, and Penny padding along beside me, I quietly asked, "Are things so bad out the Spirit World? What''s driven all of these people to seek sanctuary under Oakwood Hall''s protection?"

    Spice sighed from the vicinity of my left ear, and replied just as softly. "I mean¡­the Otherworld isn''t exactly a safe place as a general rule, and Faerie - the Spirit World, whatever you want to call it - is more dangerous than some. Less dangerous than others. Some of it is the natural cycle of the year. We''re approaching the Autumnal Equinox, when the Seelie and Unseelie Courts are in perfect balance for one of only two days during the year. Things always get a little tense this time of year." She was silent for a moment, then added, almost reluctantly, "But¡­it has been worse lately."

    "Since about two years ago, I''d warrant," Penny said.

    "Maybe?" Spice asked. "Until Caley returned to the Hall and claimed us, none of us paid much mind to the passage of time."

    That fit, I thought, and remembered what Ken had told me about how fairies experience time differently than mortals. I remembered too the way Sparkle had thought I was my mother at first, having no concept of how many years had past since she''d last seen my mom.

    "What happened two years ago?" I asked.

    "Several things," Penny said, "all at once." She growled quietly. "But the collar von Einhardt trapped me with didn''t just keep me¡­docile and submissive to him¡­it also kept me from speaking, and to some extent kept me from understanding a lot of what was said around me, unless it was said directly to me. It was extremely frustrating and frightening¡­and as a result, I don''t always know a lot about what was happening around me. But I watched. I watched very carefully indeed."

    We stopped, and Penny sat down, frowning. It wasn''t a natural look for a fox, making her angular face rather unsettlingly angry. "I saw von Einhardt talking to other ICOA wizards about a number of events that had happened around the world."

    I nodded slowly. "If we showed you a map of the world, could you pinpoint the places you saw them pointing out?"

    Penny lifted her chin proudly. "I would do my best, Caley. My memory isn''t quite as good as yours, of course, but it is excellent."

    "Let''s do that after dinner tonight," I said. "Maybe we can learn something interesting."

    There was a rustling in the woods out beyond the fairy ring and my ward line. In an instant, Penny and all three fairies were between me and the woods, so quickly that I didn''t see or feel any of them move.

    A moment later, something crashed through the brush low to the ground, and a shadowy form emerged the woods. It resolved, as it came into the bright sunlight, into a dusk fox, not unlike Penny. Its fur - visibly matted and wet in several places - was the same raven-black as hers, with dark red at the tips of its ears, paws, tails, and down its chest, instead of Penny''s dark blue markings.

    Penny gasped. "Brother?"

    Squinting in the light, the dusk fox took an unsteady step to the left and peered first at the sky, then at Penny, then at me. I saw as it moved that its right hind leg was dragging limply instead of providing any support. The dark wet patches on its fur glistened redly.

    Blood. It was hurt.

    And there was a leather collar wrapped around its neck.

    It whined deep in its throat, took a stumbling, unsteady step forward, and collapsed onto its side. Its breath came raggedly, little whines escaping it as it lay there, trembling.

    I was not about to let an injured dusk fox die while I was standing less than ten yards away. But first, I had to reach down and quickly catch Penny by the scruff of her neck before she could run to her kin. "Sparkle, back to the Hall, bring a first aid kit out. Spice, Shine, organize some help and set up something for it to lie on. Penny, into your human form and help me -"

    I stopped as Shine shot off into the village, a silver streak that I could barely follow, she was moving so fast.

    "It''s okay," Sparkle said, "you and Penny should stay back, we''ll get him inside the wards and start treating his injuries." She turned to look at me and smiled reassuringly. "Fairy magic will work better than mortal bandages."

    I decided not to argue, just nodded and pulled Penny back a few steps. She resisted a little, but not much, instead just asking hopefully, "You''re going to help him?"

    "I''m going to try, Penny," I said earnestly.

    A dozen fairies zoomed past us, gathered around the injured dusk fox, and¡­

    I''m just gonna say it. They started sprinkling fairy dust all over the dusk fox. Seriously¡­thousands of tiny glowing motes drifted down from them, landing on the dusk fox. Then he lifted slowly and gently off the ground and drifted over my ward line - since I''d ordered him brought within, that was good enough for their magic to allow him through - and across the fairy circle.

    They laid him back down within, and suddenly there were more fairies around him, two male gnomes - one elderly, one younger - hurried past me with bags and bandages, and Spice and Shine returned to hover beside Sparkle nearby. But before any of them could go to work on the poor thing, his body spasmed and he growled, snapping at a fairy who''d gotten too close to his muzzle.

    "The collar!" I said, hurrying forward. "Hold him still!"

    More fairy dust settled on the dusk fox, gently pinning him to the ground. He whined and whimpered weakly as I dropped to my knees in front of him, bending and looking into his eyes. "It''s okay," I said quietly, "I''m going to get that thing off you, and then we''re going to help you get better."

    I felt Penny hunker down beside me to be at eye level with the other dusk fox. "She will," she said with absolute certainty, "and they will. Focus on me, brother."

    His eyes moved to her and stayed there.

    "Good," I said softly. "This may take a minute, but it won''t hurt at all, I promise."

    To be honest, I''d been half expecting to have to deal with one or more of these collars again. I was making plans to fight - through legal channels - the ICOA''s enslavement of these dusk foxes. Part of that, to me, meant having a way to free them if I ran across them out in the world.

    Ice and force magic had worked on Penny''s collar, but it had both hurt her a bit and completely destroyed the collar and its magic. And I wanted to learn something about both.

    So Ken and I had worked out a more surgical approach to removing one of these collars.

    I leaned in and got a good look at the thing first. It was made of supple leather covered with tiny runes, and had no visible buckle or any other closure¡­it appeared to be a single seamless piece of leather wrapped around the dusk fox''s neck. That was interesting¡­it obviously had to be put on with magic, not just enchanted.

    I held my left hand out over it, spreading my fingers and closing my eyes. I stretched out with my magical senses and tried to get a feel for the collar''s construction¡­which felt shockingly simple to me. It was just layer upon layer of compulsion spells that took me a minute to sort through and discard for later study, assuming I didn''t destroy them completely removing the horrid thing, because I''d expected all of that.

    What I didn''t find surprised me. I didn''t find anything strengthening or reinforcing the leather. Neither did I find any traps woven into the enchantments.

    "Are they really that arrogant?" I asked nobody in particular, drawing strange looks from several of the fairies, including Sparkle, Spice, and Shine.

    The elderly gnome, in a brown coat pointed red cap, blue trousers, and brown boots, looked up at me. "My Lady?"

    I smiled and shook my head. "Thinking out loud."

    He returned my smile warmly. "I do the same thing. Can you free him so we can treat his wounds?"

    I nodded. "Without much trouble, I think. I was expecting it to be harder, to be honest." With that, I sat back on my heels, silently envisioned what I wanted my spell to do, and cast it with a quick series of sign language gestures.

    The spell did two things at once. First, it lifted the collar up just enough for the second part - a pair of shears made of invisible force - to slide in. I held my hands in front of me, palm to palm but a few inches apart, and slowly began moving them toward one another.

    The invisible shears began closing on and slowly slicing through the leather collar.

    I concentrated and didn''t rush my work, cutting the leather a little bit at a time, not wanting to go too fast in case there was something I''d missed while examining the enchantments on it. Maybe that was why I didn''t notice what was going on at the forest''s edge until a young man''s voice shouted, "Stop that right now!"

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19

    I didn''t stop, of course. But it was sufficiently startling that my hands came together with a little clap and my spell cut through the rest of the collar in an instant. There was a quick flash of light, and the collar dropped away from the dusk fox''s neck, falling limply into the grass beneath him.

    The dusk fox immediately relaxed with a little groan of relief, though his muscles continued to twitch spasmodically as the collar''s firm control of him faded. "Th-thank you, L-lady Reid¡­" he gasped in a rough, hoarse voice.

    "You''re welcome," I said softly, and stroked his muzzle and ears gently. "Relax now, you''re safe and in good hands."

    Indeed, the fairies and gnomes were already getting to work on him, light in various colors pulsing over him, closing up small cuts and healing abrasions. Meanwhile, the gnomes spread a paste of some sort on a deeper gash above the dusk fox''s injured leg, and began stitching it shut.

    Then I finally looked up, to find Sparkle - human-sized - standing on the far side of the dusk fox, with Spice and Shine hovering on either side of her, all three of them holding balls of brightly glowing energy in their hands¡­purple, red, and silver respectively. They were between me and whoever had spoken, so I couldn''t get a good look at them¡­yet.

    I rose, brushing off the knees of my leggings, and carefully stepped around the industriously working healers to get a look at who had so imperiously ordered me to stop.

    Two perfectly mundane-looking young men stood on the far side of the fairy circle and ward line, just before the edge of the woods. They were wearing blue jeans that looked stiff and new, with polo shirts that looked equally new¡­one in blue, one in gray¡­and barely broken-in hiking boots. Both were carrying wooden staffs, carved with very familiar-looking runes.

    Both were fair-skinned and reasonably good looking, in a bland sort of way. Blue polo shirt had neatly trimmed short auburn hair and black eyes, while gray polo shirt was sandy blond with blue eyes, his hair longer and tied back in a pony tail.

    Auburn looked a few years older than Blond, but not much older than I was, and appeared to have been the one who''d issued the demand. They were both glaring angrily at my fairies, and were watching Sparkle with obvious unease. I suppose seeing a fairy grow to human size in the blink of an eye would be pretty startling.

    I had a sneaking suspicion they were ICOA. They had the look of arrogant young goons. I made another educated guess that they''d been tracking the dusk fox I''d just freed.

    I walked up on Sparkle''s right - Shine slid to the side to make room for me, so that she and Spice were now bracketing us both - and crossed my arms. "Can I help you gentlemen?" I asked dryly.

    Blond nudged Auburn. "Hey, you know who that is?"

    Auburn rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. I saw the dispatch with her picture attached to it, just like everyone else."

    "You know what that means?" Blond asked excitedly.

    "It means we found an entrance to Oakwood Hall that the Council has wanted the location of for a long time," Auburn said.

    "I''m right here, guys," I said, growing both irritated and worried. Dispatches with my picture? And they''d been looking for my clearing? That wasn''t ominous at all.

    Auburn pointed past me toward the injured dusk fox. "That fae creature belongs to our Master. You will return it to us at once."

    "Gentlemen," I said in the tone of strained patience that I''d heard Sister Sarah use many times, "I don''t even know who you are. I''m certainly not about to hand over an injured dusk fox to a pair of discourteous young men."

    Blond flushed visibly and snapped. "How does she know what the creature is?"

    "Of course she knows what my brother is!" Penny snapped from behind me, a distinctly angry growl coloring her voice. "Do you not see me siting here? Or are you imbeciles as well as ill-mannered."

    "Fool," Auburn hissed to his companion. "Be silent!" He took a deep breath and let it out, then bowed politely to me. "Lady Reid, we represent the ICOA¡­in fact, our master is a member of the Senior Council. The injured dusk fox behind you is his property, by right of his very important position. You will return the creature to us immediately.

    "No," I said flatly, "I absolutely will not. The dusk fox in question is, by right of vassal agreement, under my family''s protection. His clan has been under my family''s protection for a little over four hundred years. Your master and his colleagues have kidnapped them from their rightful home. He stays here, with me, end of story. You have no rights or authority here."

    "We have all the authority we need!" Blond said arrogantly. "We represent the ICOA!" He nudged Auburn again. "Come, brother, these wards are pitiful and no fairy ring will stop us from -"

    "Calm yourself," Auburn said. "Lady Reid, my brother - though full of himself - is quite correct. We have no evidence of your family''s history with this¡­clan...of dusk foxes," he said the word ''clan'' with obvious disgust. "They are merely creatures to be used. If you will not surrender it willingly, we will take it by force."

    There was something eager in his voice. I was really starting to hate these two.

    "So you threaten to violate the sanctity of Lady Reid''s home, and take from his rightful place one who belongs here?" Sparkle asked in a cold tone that even von Einhardt hadn''t earned from her. "Do you not see the problem with this?"

    "No," Blond said, "I do not. We do as we''re told, and so should you!"

    I made a derisive sound. "Gentlemen - and I use that term loosely - you stand in Faerie, on the edge of land ceded to the Guardian of Oakwood hall. You wish to reclaim an intelligent, sapient being who isn''t anyone''s chattel but is under my family''s protection, as verified by the Law Offices of Summers and Winters, and you''ve done so in a most insulting way. So let me be perfectly clear: I say thee nay!"

    I guess all those comic books I''d read as a little girl had been valuable after all. And Sister Sarah had said they''d rot my brain.

    Blond was practically steaming now, his face was so red. "How dare you?"

    I felt the energy moving around him even before he lifted his right hand and pointed it at me. The air seemed to crackle around us and I recognized that he was going to cast a spell of lightning before he even opened his mouth to begin casting.

    "Don''t do this, guys," I said quickly, realizing too late that in my irritation I''d helped escalate an already tense situation with my words.

    And it was too late.

    "Fulmenos!" Blond cried, and a bolt of brilliant blue-white lighting streaked from his hand toward me.

    I thrust my left hand forward, curled it into a fist, and pushed energy into my shield ring. A kite shield made of translucent blue-white energy sprang out from the ring just in time to intercept the bolt of lightning. It helped that the lightning was visibly weakened as it crossed my wards and the fairy circle¡­by the time it reached me, the bolt''s impact on my shield didn''t even make me sway.

    What happened next was absolutely surreal. Have you ever heard a swarm of large insects on the move? The buzzing sound that engulfed me was similar to that, but angry somehow.

    Hard on the heels of that sound came not just a few but dozens of fairies in a rainbow of colors.

    When the Fairies of Oakwood Hall formed in April, there were just two or three dozen of them, maybe forty at most. I had helped their settlement grow, interacted with them, watched them dance and play games at night in the part of the clearing they''d left untouched in front of my windows. And I knew that they were running short of building space.

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    But somehow it hadn''t really occurred to me just how dramatically Spice and Shine had swelled their numbers. There had to be more than a hundred of them now.

    And they were furious that I had been attacked.

    I saw Auburn half turn and open his mouth, maybe to reprimand Blond for attacking me, maybe to tell him to run. But he never got the chance to say whatever was on his mind.

    Hundreds of tiny, brilliantly glowing darts of energy slashed in on them from every direction at once. They had no time to defend themselves, hardly any time to even cry out as their bodies jerked and spasmed.

    In moments, they were lying flat on the ground, their clothes riddled with tiny smoking holes, red welts covering them from head to toe.

    "Please tell me you didn''t kill them!" I blurted out, rushing forward.

    As I dropped to my knees in the grass beside Auburn, Spice landed on his chest and looked up at me. "They''re not dead, Caley," she said firmly. "Most fairies - aside from some like Sparkle - can''t muster the power to hurt a mortal individually."

    Penny padded up on the other side of Auburn and met my eyes, her expression showing astonishment as strong as my own. "Disturb not the hive," she murmured. "One sting does little enough, but a hundred¡­I had no idea fairies could do this much damage."

    Spice puffed up a little proudly. "We can do more, but I knew Caley wouldn''t want them killed. That would cause all sorts of problems."

    I nodded and sat back on my heels. "You can say that again. They''ll be all right?"

    Sparkle sat down beside me. "They''ll wake up in a few hours feeling battered and bruised," she said, poking one of the visible welts on Auburn''s cheek. "These''ll take a few days to go away."

    Shine landed on Auburn''s forehead and stomped one tiny foot lightly.

    Spice nodded. "She''s right, we should erase their memories of finding this place."

    I looked up and around, realizing that we were still surrounded by a cloud of hovering, pissed off-looking fairies. Then I returned my attention to Spice. "You can do that?"

    She shook her head. "Not me personally. But Shine knows the ways, and we have a couple of elders in the village who are even better at it than she is."

    I rested my hands on my knees and looked down at them. Could I allow these fairies - my fairies, I corrected myself, wondering if that made me some sort of ersatz fairy queen, a disturbing thought in and of itself¡­that was a pile of potential trouble I didn''t need - to erase the memories of these men from the ICOA?

    No. I couldn''t just allow it to happen. But I could take responsibility for it myself.

    I lifted my head and looked at Spice. "Make it happen. They seemed awfully eager to tell their masters at the ICOA about the location of this clearing, and my defenses clearly aren''t up to stopping them from doing bad things here yet. It''s inevitable that more people will find out about it, but not today. Erase their memories of finding their way here. They never found the runaway dusk fox, they never found this clearing, they never saw me. Then I''ll dump them somewhere random in England and let them wake up bewildered."

    Penny nodded a little, her emotions radiating approval. Sparkle squeezed my shoulder gently, she was approving too¡­but she could tell how difficult a decision it had been for me. I was abrogating another human''s will and mind. It made me feel dirty.

    I was doing it for a good reason, wasn''t I? To protect all of these fairies, and this entrance to my home. Wasn''t an hour or so of memories removed from the minds of two men worth that? That sounded like what Sister Sarah would''ve called ''slippery slope language.''

    Oh, I was going to be dwelling on this one for a while.

    "Take care of it, Spice, please," I said quietly. "As soon as you''re done, let me know and we''ll get them inside and moved someplace that''s not here."

    Spice nodded. "Shine?"

    I was already rising and turning away as Shine put two fingers to her lips and blew a piercing whistle, the first sound I''d ever heard her make. Just because I''d given the order to do it didn''t mean I had to watch. And I had something much more positive to look into.

    I walked back within the circles of our defenses and over to where the strange dusk fox was still sprawled on his side, breathing shallowly. Three gnomes and a few fairies were still working on his injuries as I knelt back down beside him. "How''s he doing?"

    The eldest of the three gnomes - the one in the brown coat, who I''d spoken with only a few minutes earlier - looked up from his work. He''d just finished stitching up and bandaging - with some sort of leaves, I noticed - the long gash above the dusk fox''s left hind leg. "He''s going to be fine, my lady," he said cheerfully. "He''ll be stiff and sore for a week or two, but it''s nothing that won''t heal."

    Penny sat down at the dusk fox''s head, then laid down so she was nose to nose with him, and I could feel her relief - and joy - quite clearly. "Thank you," she said softly.

    The gnome smiles warmly. "My pleasure, lass," he said. His voice was warm and kindly, then looked up at me. "We''ll set up a shelter for him over by our homes and keep an eye on him, but I expect he''ll be up and limping around within a few days."

    "Thank you. May I know what they call you?" I asked politely.

    He nodded graciously, perhaps appreciating the wording of my question. "They call me Basil, my lady. I''m the head of the gnome families who have sworn allegiance to you and Oakwood Hall."

    I bowed my head politely in return. "It''s very nice to meet you, Basil, though I wish it could be under better circumstances."

    His smile widened a bit. "What better circumstances are there than saving a life, my lady?"

    That rocked me back a little and I gave it serious thought for a moment, before nodding. "You''re right, Basil. Please, call me Caley."

    "It will be my pleasure," he doffed his cap, revealing the top of a completely bald head, and swept it into a deep bow before straightening and popping it back on his head. "I am very glad to be of service."

    "He needs a name," Penny said softly.

    I saw that the strange dusk fox''s eyes, deep amber in color, were now open and fixed on her. His muzzle curled into a distinct smile as he whispered, "Found you, sister."

    "Yes you did," she said, bumping her nose against his. "You''re safe here, among family."

    He looked up at me then. "It was all true?" he asked. "What our grand-dam told us?"

    "Every last word of it," Penny said firmly. "This is Caley Reid, Guardian of Oakwood Hall."

    "Forgive me," he whispered, "for not bowing, Guardian."

    I smiled and gently stroked his ears and neck. "You''re hurt, but you''ll heal. And Penny is quite correct, you are safe here. Welcome home."

    He closed his eyes, and to my amazement a tear rolled down his cheek. "Home," he whispered. "That¡­that sounds lovely."

    "Rest now," I said, my heart in my throat and tears in my own eyes, for I knew precisely how he felt. "Rest, brave one. You''re in good hands. And by the time you''re back on your feet, I''ll have a proper name in mind for you."

    He lifted his head and met my eyes for a moment. The profound relief, joy, and affection in his expression was almost overwhelming to me, as he whispered raggedly, "G-guard your lands¡­Guardian¡­I will¡­I will guard¡­m-my vow¡­"

    "Shush," I said softly, stroking his ears and neck again. "Rest."

    Penny echoed my words, and the dusk fox - no longer feeling such a stranger to me - laid his head back down with a relieved sigh. He grew so still for a moment that I felt a jolt of fear for him¡­then he drew a deeper breath, and his body relaxed.

    "Asleep," Basil said reassuringly, and patted my knee. "Many of our salves include a gentle soporific¡­deep sleep is nearly as healing as our spells and medicines."

    "Thank you, Basil," I said earnestly. "Thank you very much."

    "I can treat humans effectively too," he said, "if ever you need such services."

    "You''ll be the first person I talk to if I do," I replied.

    He looked pleased, then began organizing his kin and the fairies who''d been helping them. In a short time the black and red dusk fox was drifting toward the cluster of mushroom houses, surrounded by his minders.

    Spice whirred over and saluted me. "The memories of our ''guests'' have been dealt with, Guardian!"

    I rose and stretched. "All right, let''s deal with our would-be thugs."

    It took only a small effort of magic to cast the force spells needed to stack the two gits, one atop the other, and levitate them through the field to my windows. I was accompanied all the way by not only Sparkle, Penny, Spice, and Shine, but by most of the cloud of fairies that had come to my assistance. Occasionally, one or two would fire little bolts of energy into one or the other of the ICOA thugs, but I didn''t stop them.

    A few more shots, I figured, wouldn''t do much more than had already been done. And I wasn''t feeling particularly inclined to stop them anyway.

    As I maneuvered them carefully through the open window, Ken gave me a curious look. "I''ve been watching, and a few of the fairies kept me informed of what was happening. What are you planning to do? Are you really okay with this?"

    I considered that as I stepped down from the window bench in my bedroom. Then I sighed softly. "I think I need to not be squeamish about defending my home and dependents. We can''t keep this entrance to the Hall hidden forever, not with bloody Oberon meeting me here. But the longer we do, the better. I need to improve my defenses here."

    "Perhaps we should consider Spice and Shine''s idea to expand your domain with Faerie," Ken suggested tentatively. "But that''s a conversation for later. What''re you going to do with these two?" He gestured to the unconscious bodies floating by the window, their staffs stacked atop them.

    I pursed my lips. "First¡­have their memories really been erased?" Sparkle bristled, but I held up a hand. "I mean no slight to Shine and her mentors¡­it''s not something I understand, so I question it."

    Sparkle immediately deflated, and suddenly popped back to her natural size, landing lightly on my right shoulder with a murmured, "Sorry, Caley."

    I smiled. "It''s okay. So, yes or no?"

    "Oh, yes, definitely," she said. "Shine is very good at memories."

    I looked at Ken. "How?"

    Ken smiled lopsidedly. "Fairies in particular are very good at memory modification."

    "How else could we stay hidden so well from mortals?" Sparkle giggled.

    "But¡­you said mind magic wasn''t good for¡­" I trailed off. "Wasn''t good for mortals," I finished.

    Ken nodded. "It''s one of those strange loopholes in the rules of magic. Just because it''s not good for you doesn''t mean someone - or something - else can''t do it." He nodded at the floating unconscious idiots again. "Now, about those two?"

    "Tell me," I said, "do you have a rough idea of where the ICOA headquarters is?"

    "London," Ken said. "Where else would it be?"

    "Of course," I rolled my eyes a little. Of course these arrogant asses, with their superiority complexes and belief in the rightness of their every action, would set up shop in Britain''s capital. I pursed my lips, bringing the geography of Great Britain to mind.

    A smirk that I knew was completely at odds with my usual personality crept onto my face. "I''m going to dump these gormless knobs in an alley. Come on, there must be a door to Newcastle around here somewhere."

    Sparkle giggled and Penny laughed outright.

    The wicked grin that Ken gave me in return told me I was doing the right thing.

    Probably.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20

    I adjusted the magnifying glasses I was wearing and squinted at the rune array that was engraved on the aurite strand of my mom''s failed staff. "Ken, what do you think of this deal Oberon offered me?"

    Ken, hovering just behind my left shoulder as I worked, asked, "Is that what''s had you stewing since you got up? You were so distracted during your fencing practice this morning I scored on you a half-dozen times without you even noticing. And your magic practice before lunch was¡­well, let''s just say I''ve never seen a force spell do that before."

    I huffed a little laugh without taking my eyes off the staff. "Yeah, sorry about that."

    "No lasting damage was done," Ken said. "I can understand why this might be looming in the back of your mind, but what has caused it to devour most of your attention today?"

    "Yesterday''s incident in Faerie¡­" I trailed off for a moment before continuing. "It kind of hammered home that it''s not the von Einhardt''s of the world I need to worry about fighting, at least not normally. Even without the fairies coming to my defense, I probably could''ve handled those two idiots¡­"

    "Perhaps," Ken said. Then added, "No, I''ll upgrade that to quite likely. They may have been training longer than you, but they seemed hideously inexperienced, and that lightning bolt the blond cast was a fraction of what you''re capable of and not as well focused. I think you would have been fine, especially with Sparkle and Penny there to help."

    "Be that as it may," I said, "it really brought home that there are going to be other people - and other beings - out there who''ll want to hurt me¡­and want to hurt my new friends."

    I pushed the magnifying glasses up onto my forehead before looking up at Ken. "I have a responsibility to those fairies¡­and gnomes, and brownies, and¡­all of them. And if they hadn''t been prepared to stand up for me, I might''ve blown it."

    Ken smiled a little. "Yes, you do. And yes, you might''ve. But you didn''t, and you won''t. But I am glad to hear you taking this responsibility seriously. Which brings me back around to your original question. Where to begin¡­"

    "Well," I said, pulling the glasses back down and returning my attention to the piece of the staff I''d been copying runes from, "for starters, is his really offer on the level?"

    Sparkle, sitting on a shelf of tools above me, sucked in a little breath. "Oooh, don''t say that anywhere anyone else might hear it, Caley."

    I glanced up at her, looking over the lenses of the glasses. "Oh?"

    "Oberon''s word is law," Penny said from somewhere behind me. "He wouldn''t have made the offer if he didn''t mean to follow through on it."

    "Which doesn''t mean he won''t do his level best to come out on top of any deal you make with him," Sparkle added quickly. "It''s like¡­after her parents died, Mistress Chessie read One Thousand and One Nights to me. She said her mother had been reading it to her, and never got to finish it. Some of the stories in it were about being careful what you wished for."

    "The Jinn are notorious for twisting wishes and interpreting them in the worst possible ways," Ken agreed. "They''re profoundly dangerous to deal with, and the Sidhe are a close second for similar reasons."

    I shifted uneasily, my stomach roiling a bit, but didn''t take my eyes off the runes and kept transcribing them onto a long strip of parchment. "So¡­is it worth it to even entertain it? Or would I be better off politely refusing?"

    Ken sighed heavily. "For once, Caley, I honestly don''t know how to advise you. Making a deal with Oberon could go several ways, with outcomes ranging from extremely beneficial to profoundly dangerous, depending on what you ask for in return."

    "If you do decide to go ahead with it," Penny said gravely, "you should definitely have a boon ready to ask for in return immediately.

    "Not asking for a boon right away would leave Oberon in debt to you," Sparkle said with obvious anxiety. "He wouldn''t leave you alone for a minute."

    "And," Penny added, "it sounded like he considered this to be a very great favor indeed. He understood the gravity of asking for access to the library of your ancestral home, and meant to repay you in kind. I definitely wouldn''t recommend simply trying to discharge the boon with something frivolous. Whatever you ask for in return should be meaningful."

    "Presumably," Ken interjected, "he''ll let you know if you ask for too much while you''re negotiating with him."

    "And just as importantly," Sparkle said, "you''ll need to be really, really careful how you ask for your boon."

    Penny made a sound of agreement. "I saw a couple of deals with the Sidhe go very bad while I was under von Einhardt''s control," she said softly. "Including¡­"

    She stopped, and when I glanced over at her, saw that she was biting her lower lip. After a moment, she sighed gustily. "I''m sorry, Caley. Von Einhardt is dead, and I''m free of his control, but the oaths he bound me with are still oaths sworn, and breaking them could be very bad for me."

    "That''s all right, Penny," I said softly. "I expected there''d be things you couldn''t talk about. Don''t worry about it."

    She relaxed, her expression easing. "Thank you."

    Sparkle practically started bouncing where she sat. "This is so exciting and nerve-wracking all at once! Caley, this is a chance to make a big, positive splash in the supernatural community. If you do this right, you''ll be letting everyone out there know that you''re perfectly capable of playing on the same level as the Lord of the Seelie Court!"

    Ken sighed. "She''s not wrong. Getting this right, if the boon is big enough, would let the rest of the supernatural community know you''re not someone to toy with lightly."

    I pursed my lips. "We already talked with the others about this. Maybe I should bring D.T. in¡­get a fully mortal viewpoint¡­"

    Thoughts of Dejah Thoris Burroughs were a pleasant distraction, both from the stressful conversation and from the mind-numbing task of copying the rune arrays from my mother''s staff. I hadn''t seen her since getting the gnomes in town squared away¡­had it really only been two days?¡­and was considering calling her to arrange another date with her. The first had gone swimmingly, after all.

    Something casual this time. Dressing up a little had been fun, but I was curious about the way she''d been eyeing my legs in my hastily assembled shorts and leggings outfit. She''d said she''d really liked the style, which I found quite comfortable, so I was interested in trying it out again on her to see what her reaction was.

    I wanted her to be attracted to me. I wanted to be attractive to her.

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    Oh, this was so weird. This was not me. I was an intellectual, not interested in men or women in any significant way. Practically asexual. But here I was, not only attracted to another woman but going out on dates with her and changing my personal style to attract her¡­

    Wait a second.

    I stopped and frowned at the sequence of runes I''d just finished writing down. "This can''t be right." I double-checked what I''d just copied off of the aurite staff section. "No, I copied it correctly. Ken, take a look at this."

    "What''s that?" he asked. I felt him lean over my shoulder, making the right side of my back and shoulder tingle just a little.

    I pointed to the set of runes I''d just copied down. "This, right here. This is supposed to be an array for channeling and redirecting of energy, isn''t it?"

    Ken studied it silently for a moment. "Yes, but¡­that''s not¡­" His insubstantial hand came past my head and traced the runes on the strip of parchment. Then he slid to my left and leaned in, peering closely at the segment of staff I''d been copying from. "That can''t be right."

    I shifted a little to make a bit more room for him. "I didn''t think so."

    He straightened and stared off into space for a moment, then looked at me. "Your mother made a dreadful mistake here."

    I found myself smiling a little. "She inscribed an array for grounding energy, not channeling it."

    "They are extremely similar," Ken said, nodding slowly. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose. "A single rune difference between them, and the runes are nearly identical¡­¡± He shook his head. "At this size, you can barely see the difference without magnifying glasses. And your mother -"

    "Was easily distracted, a bit scatterbrained, and not terrific at the studious parts of the work," I said, smiling a bit more. "At least, by all accounts."

    Ken stared at me. "What were you thinking about while you copied that down?"

    I told him, feeling my cheeks heating up.

    He started laughing. Almost doubling over with the force of it, in fact, even though he didn''t have to breathe. Above me, Sparkle startled giggling, and even Penny was chuckling softly.

    I waited patiently for them to get themselves back under control.

    When Ken did, he wiped ectoplasmic tears from his cheeks. "Oh, that''s priceless. Of course you had to be distracted to spot the mistake she made. It''s perfectly logical in precisely the sort of perverse way that only makes sense when dealing with magic."

    "So that''s the mistake that made her staff fail?" I asked hopefully.

    Ken nodded. "At least one of them, and a fairly major one. Of course the belt couldn''t turn back into a staff when she channeled power through it¡­it was just grounding out." He shook his head. "It''s so simple. But," he said firmly, "you need to finish copying out the arrays, in case she made any other similar mistakes."

    He tapped the strip of parchment. "Mark this, we''ll come back to it. The good news is, this is a comparatively easy mistake to fix. And with that in mind, it would surprise me if this was the only one, so keep looking. In fact, let''s talk as you work. The distraction might help you stumble across other problems."

    "That makes no sense," I said, marking the section of parchment with a red pen and a small sticky note. Then I turned my attention back to the staff and pulled my magnifying glasses back into place.

    "Magic has its own rules," Ken said thoughtfully, "but it''s also very fluid and prone to being more than a bit weird. It''s one of those things you just have to accept, and which generations of spellcasters have studied to no avail. Be that as it may, I approve of you wanting to involve Ms. Burroughs in your discussions. While she is unquestionably enamored of the strangeness of your life, she is also a deeply level-headed person, and we could definitely use a level-headed opinion."

    The phone chose that moment to ring, making all of us jump a little, even Ken. I looked at the caller ID and smiled. "Well, speak of the devil." I reached over and pressed the speakerphone button. "Hello, Dejah Thoris," I said, hearing the warmth in my own voice. "You have an audience¡­you''re on speaker, and Ken, Sparkle, and Penny are all with me."

    "You know," D.T. said, "My full name sounds absolutely delightful coming from you. Hi Ken, Sparkle, Penny."

    There was a brief hash of friendly greetings from my companions.

    "To what do we owe the pleasure of this call?" I asked.

    "George Roberts just called me," D.T. replied, sounding both anxious and excited. "His thirteenth scarecrow went missing from his field this afternoon."

    I set aside my pen, took off my magnifying glasses, and rose. "I''ll get my things and head your way. Do you want to meet at his farm, or¡­?"

    "Come to the station and we''ll drive out there together," she said. "Let''s do this right."

    "We''ll be there as soon as possible."

    It promised to be a cool evening, so I swung by my bedroom and - both out of practicality and an impish urge - changed into a pair of black leggings, short denim shorts, and a cream-colored long-sleeved Henley shirt. I pushed the sleeves up to my elbows, figuring I could pull them down if I got chilly, and paused, looking at my shoes.

    I was going to be on a farm. Possibly tromping through field and who knew what.

    I put on my Doc Martens. I figured they could take it better than my trainers.

    Then I grabbed my waxed canvas shoulder bag, collected Sparkle and Penny, and headed for town, wishing I had more in the way of magical gear to bring with me.

    I parked my car along the curb in front of the Oakwood police house, just behind D.T.''s cruiser, and climbed out just as she was emerging and locking the door behind her. She was in her full police kit, including her tactical vest. With, I noted, a TASER I''d never seen her carry before in a cross-draw holster on the left front of the vest.

    "Can you drive in all of that?" I asked teasingly.

    "Funny," she said, walking toward her cruiser. "Are those legs registered? They''re awfully distracting."

    I followed her, heading around the passenger side. "I may have recalled you saying something about liking this outfit when I wore something similar the other day."

    She looked across the top of the car at me. "You wore that for me?"

    "Well¡­it''s a surprisingly comfortable combination," I said. "And practical. But yes."

    "I''m flattered," she said, smiling. "And pleased. Sparkle and Penny with you, I assume?"

    "You assume correctly," I said.

    "Should we not be going?" Penny''s voice drifted out of the shadows in the cruiser''s back seat. "Work now, flirt later."

    "Always practical, that one," D.T. observed as we climbed in on opposite sides of the cruiser.

    As we drove out of town, I said, "This is my first time in a police car."

    D.T. smiled. "Does it live up to your expectations?"

    I shrugged a little. "I''m not really sure what I expected."

    Sparkle popped off the Master Key and landed on the dashboard. "Can we turn the lights on?"

    "Nope," D.T. said with a smile.

    "Aww." Sparkle plopped down and pouted.

    It was a short drive to George Roberts'' dairy farm, and almost before we''d left town we were pulling into his long, hard-packed dirt drive and parking in front of his home. It was a somewhat rambling, two story farmhouse, with extensions added on by generations of Roberts family members and a wide, wraparound porch. It was in need of a fresh coat of paint, but the stone and plank walls looked like they could stand forever.

    As we climbed out of the car, George himself emerged from the house and strode toward us. "I''m so glad you''re here¡­" He stopped and stared when Sparkle buzzed out and landed on my shoulder, followed by Penny hopping trotting around to sit beside me, sniffing the air. "Oh my god."

    I chuckled. "Sorry. I figured with weirdness already occurring here, you might as well get to know my friends. George Roberts, allow me to introduce Sparkle and Penny."

    "I have your milk with cookies every morning for breakfast!" Sparkle said happily.

    "She does," I confirmed.

    "Too many cookies," Penny muttered, still sniffing the air. When I glanced down at her, I saw that she was frowning.

    "Something?" I asked.

    She nodded. "Something. But I''m not sure what. There are too many scents, but some of them are definitely¡­Other."

    "Wow," George said softly. Then he gave himself a little shake. "Sparkle, Penny, it''s very nice to meet you. Caley, Sergeant, thank you so much for coming out. What can I do to help?"

    D.T. and I exchanged a look, then she said, "George, I think it would be best if you went back inside and buttoned up the house," she started toward him, stretching out one arm to usher him back inside. "You can show me your gun license at the same time."

    He let her guide him. I watched them walk back to the house for a minute before turning toward the fields beyond. "Out there, I think," I said, sensing a strange energy in the air. It pulled at me, wanting me to go that way. "I feel something."

    Sparkle lifted off my shoulder, nodding. "I feel it too. I think something wants us here."

    "I smell old things," Penny said, shifting to stay beside me. "Old things, and something else¡­something wrong."

    I glanced at the sky, then pulled out my phone and checked it. "We''re only twenty minutes or so from sunset. I expect whatever''s coming will happen after dark."

    D.T. rejoined us a couple of minutes later. "He''s locking up and closing shutters and blinds," she said. "I figured that was safest."

    I nodded absently, shivering a little and hugging myself in spite of it being a pleasant evening. "There''s a lot of energy in the air," I said softly. "Penny says she smells something wrong. And Sparkle and I feel something tugging us toward the nearest field behind the house."

    "That''s not ominous at all," D.T. said warily. "What do we do?"

    "Spring the trap?" I asked, trying to be light-hearted.

    "Okay, Obi-Wan," she said dryly. "Seriously, what do we do?"

    I took a deep breath and let it out. "We go see what''s out there in the field," I said softly. "And hope it''s not hostile."

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21

    The walk from the Roberts house and yard out into the fields was one of the most nerve-wracking things I''d ever done. Even with Sparkle, Penny, and D.T. beside me. We had no idea¡­I had no idea what I was leading my friends into. Only that this was my responsibility, and they had chosen to walk beside me.

    I felt profoundly lucky to have found such friends.

    "Here," I said, stopping as we reached what I thought was the center of the first field beyond the house. The sun was setting, casting long shadows and painting the sky in shades of red, yellow and orange to the west, and deepening shades of blue and black to the east. "We need to stop here."

    Sparkle nodded. "I feel it too. Something''s going to happen here."

    "What do you feel?" D.T. asked. "Come on, clue in the vanilla mortal, please."

    "It''s like," I thought about it for a moment. "It''s like the air before a thunderstorm. I can feel something building."

    "Now that you mention it," D.T. said, "the hair on the back of my neck is standing up."

    "You should listen to that instinct," Penny said, then shivered from the tip of her nose to the ends of her bushy twin tails, her fur bristling and settling. "There is a great deal of energy in the air here. But it doesn''t feel unnatural." She lifted her head and sniffed the air. "I smell¡­growing things, fresh-mowed grass and fresh-cut wood¡­and under it, distantly, rot and ruin."

    "Aye," a voice rumbled behind us, resonating strangely. "There are strange and dangerous things between the rows this eve."

    Sparkle made a startled sound and Penny yelped.

    All four of us swung around, and I caught a glimpse of the shock on Penny''s face. I wondered how long it had been since anything had sneaked up on her so completely. I thought that D.T. started turning after the rest of us.

    There, where we''d passed only a minute or three before, stood one of George Roberts'' scarecrows. It was built on a vaguely humanoid frame of wood, complete with hands made of fallen twigs and sticks. Its clothes - a pair of worn denim overalls and a ragged-looking flannel shirt - were filled out and bulked up by straw and dried hay, and its head was a carved pumpkin¡­a classic Jack O''Lantern.

    "What the actual hell?" D.T. asked, one hand resting on her TASER.

    The mouth curved into a slightly wider smile as the scarecrow''s empty eyes fell on me. "Art thou Caitlyn of Clan Reid, Guardian of Oakwood Hall?" Its mouth opened and closed, moving in time with the formation of the words, but with the hollow way they echoed from within the pumpkin, I was certain it wasn''t the mouth forming them.

    "I am," I said quietly, realizing that I''d instinctively drawn in the power to cast a spell. Ken would undoubtedly consider that a good sign.

    "Huh?" D.T. asked.

    The scarecrow let out a long, relieved-sounding sigh. "At last." It gestured widely with both arms.

    I glanced around and saw the others doing the same¡­and realized that we were now standing within a ring made of the other twelve scarecrows that had gone missing. With the exception of the one talking to us, the thirteenth, they all had featureless ''heads'' made of stuffed burlap sacks.

    I wondered what had inspired George to make this last one more detailed.

    My attention returned to their spokes¡­spokesbeing? Spokescrow? Oh bollocks, this was not the time to get distracted.

    The lead scarecrow was just bowing deeply to me. "I greet thee, Guardian. I am of this land, and I welcome thee and thine. I regret borrowing the landowner''s constructs without warning, but they have been of invaluable use to me, protecting him and his family from a threat. And I know not how to communicate with a normal mortal."

    Not a spokesman then, I realized. A singular entity driving all of the scarecrows. "Thank you for your welcome," I said politely. "I''m sure Mr. Roberts won''t object to the loan if it''s in defense of his family."

    "What?" D.T. asked. "Caley, are you talking to that thing?"

    "You can''t hear it?" I asked.

    She shook her head at the same time the scarecrow rumbled, "I can speak with thee, Guardian, because thou hast magic, and with thy fae companions, for they and I are not so different. Unfortunately, thy shire reeve is neither magus nor fae, and so I cannot speak with her."

    Shire reeve? My brain ran down the reference in moments, and I almost started laughing. But how to explain modern policing to a spirit of the land? Best to just let it go. Now was not the time to try to explain either what police were, or that D.T. didn''t answer to me. "Sparkle, can you¡­would you translate for D.T., please?"

    "Of course, Caley!" Sparkle zipped over and landed on D.T.''s right shoulder and began murmuring in her ear. D.T.''s eyes widened and she nodded a little.

    I looked back to the scarecrow and smiled. "Problem solved. Now, you said you were protecting¡­the landowner and his family. From what?"

    "A horror," the scarecrow rumbled. "I know not their origin, but they have been attempting to harm the family for weeks. I would humbly ask thy aid in making safe the landowner and his family. In return, I will see to it that the land''s harvest is bountiful this season, and protect the landowner''s livestock from illness and harm for a year and a day."

    I tipped my head. "Of course we''ll help," I said carefully, "but¡­please take no offense, but why would you go to such lengths?"

    The scarecrow sighed deeply. "Long and long have I been of this land. Long have I watched without aught to speak with, and with naught to remember me. I would fain connect with the world again. Things are waking up. Change is in the air, in the water, in the earth. I feel curiosity for the first time in so long I barely recognize the feeling. And I have remembered that I have a responsibility to the land, and to those who live upon it."

    I considered that for a moment, then nodded. "All right. How can we help?"

    "The horrors come at night," the scarecrow said, then nodded toward the far edge of the field, "from the woods beyond the land. Though I can drive them off, I cannot do them serious harm, nor can I pursue them beyond the boundaries of the land, yet always they return the following night. I beg of thee, help me destroy them, and prevent them from returning."

    "I suddenly feel very unprepared for this," D.T. murmured.

    I was getting a bit worried myself. "We''ll do the best we can," I said.

    "I have faith in thee, Guardian," the scarecrow intoned. "Thy ancestors were mighty, and I can feel the power in thee and thy companions. Even thy reeve has strength in her that I can feel, though it is not magic."

    "What are these horrors?" I asked, feeling myself blushing a little. "Can you tell us anything about them?"

    "Rat-like they are," the scarecrow said, "but large. Large as thy dusk fox companion. And unnatural. Like normal living creatures they are not."

    "That might explain the whiffs of rot and ruin I''ve been getting," Penny observed.

    The sun had set by then, and we all heard clearly the strange rustling that was beginning at the edge of the fields.

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    "If thou will deal with the horrors," the scarecrow said, "I will protect house and family."

    "Like I said, we''ll do our best," I said quietly.

    It nodded and began walking slowly back toward George''s house. As it went, the other scarecrows spread out to form a long line at the edge of the field nearest the house.

    We stood in the growing twilight, watching the last fading colors of sunset.

    "So," D.T. said suddenly, "What about the ROUSes?"

    I smiled in spite of myself. "Rodents of unusual size? I don''t think they exist."

    The rustling at the edge of the woods came clearly to us again. "I hope I didn''t just jinx us," I said.

    We were left now in a dim twilight, so Sparkle lifted off from D.T.''s shoulder and hovered above us and began shedding her gentle purple radiance, driving back the deepening shadows. Penny stayed close by my side, her tails lashing in growing agitation.

    "Something is coming," Penny said.

    "My TASER has one shot, and I have one reload for it," D.T. said, momentary levity gone. "But frankly, it takes too long to swap cartridges if there''s multiple¡­things. Which leaves me with my ASP." She pulled out and, with a flick of her wrist, extended the collapsible metal baton. "I don''t feel good about this."

    I looked her up and down. "You said you did some fencing¡­"

    "Yeah, ¨¦p¨¦e and saber," she said. "But it was competition stuff, not actual fighting."

    I nodded. "I get that." I looked her up and down again, and considered what might be facing shortly. "How do you feel about Medieval weapons?"

    She shrugged. "I have nothing against them. What''re you thinking?"

    I looked around. "I need a log." Over by the house, I saw an open-sided shed stacked high with cut firewood, and pointed to it. "Could you grab two of those?"

    "Sure." D.T. jogged over and returned carrying two of the logs. "They''re heavy enough," she joked, "but swinging them will be a pain in the ass."

    I pointed to the ground. "Put them down, and I''ll see what I can do about that."

    "Quicker would be better," Penny said, her ears perking this way and that. "They come."

    "Right," I murmured, concentrating on what I wanted to do and focusing my attention on the logs as D.T. placed them at my feet. I drew in energy, murmured the words of my spell, and released it into the two logs.

    They quickly drew together and melted, reshaping and changing color. A moment later, a war hammer lay on the ground at my feet. The shaft was a little over three feet long with a thicker, knurled grip long enough for two hands at one end. The head was squared off on one side, and had a sharp, tapered spike on the other. The material had changed from wood to steel. It didn''t have a lot of extra detail or flair, but it was solid.

    Where the grip and head met the shaft, the edges had a slightly melted, softened look, though they were quite solid. But what should have been multiple pieces assembled together were instead one fused shape.

    I blew out a breath, then drew in a fresh one, feeling a bit drained but not terribly so. I''d be good to go for a while yet, and I''d transfigured larger things repeatedly under Ken''s tutelage. It was mainly the wood-to-steel change that had been a strain, but the extra mass of two logs had helped. "Not my best work, maybe, but it''ll get the job done."

    D.T. bent and picked the hammer up, testing its weight and giving it a couple of test swings. "That''s really cool," she breathed. "Yeah, I can work with this. How long will it last? And what''s the proper way of using it?"

    I smiled. "That''s the best part¡­it''ll just last. It''s what Ken calls ''perfect transfiguration.'' Nothing about that is still wood, and it won''t just change back on its own. As for using it¡­traditionally it was for armored targets. Blunt side to knock them down, spiked side to¡­" I trailed off, figuring the rest should be obvious.

    She nodded. "Got it. Just so you know, I''m totally keeping this," D.T. said, and hefted the war hammer onto her shoulder. "All right, bring it."

    Penny began pacing restlessly. "I hear them. I smell them. But I don''t see them. Sparkle?"

    The field we stood in lay fallow, covered in short grasses. The one between us and the woods was full of corn stalks, which we couldn''t see over or through. "You''re our eyes, Sparkle," I said.

    Above our heads, Sparkle huffed. "It''s like watching fish swimming in water. I see ripples in the corn stalks, but I can''t see anything in them. But they''re getting closer fast."

    Almost as soon as she said it, things started emerging from the corn. They stopped at the edge of the field and stared at us, shifting restlessly.

    They were absolutely hideous, but I could see why the spirit inhabiting the scarecrows had called them rat-like. Their posture was low-slung, keeping their bellies close to the ground, with their legs folded up tight to their bodies. They had long snouts and whiskers on either side of their pointed noses, and their eyes glowed redly in Sparkle''s dim light. Their hides were leathery, lumpy and mottled in shades of brown and gray.

    They seemed¡­ill made, for lack of a better term. They ranged in size from that of a domestic cat, up to roughly Penny''s size, but their dimensions were uneven in a way that defied definition. Many of their legs, I saw, appeared to have more than one knee-joint, and were of odd numbers. Most had at least four - though one was moving on three, two to the rear and one in the center under its head - but some had five, or six, or seven. On one, I thought I counted nine legs.

    Their heads were misshapen, resembling a rat''s, but bulging and narrowing in unsettling ways. Mouths opened and closed, revealing two or more jagged rows of razor-sharp teeth within. Thin, whip-like tails lashed in obvious agitation.

    D.T. brought her new hammer down off her shoulder and gripped it tightly in both hands. "What the actual fuck are those?"

    I''d never heard her swear before. Nor had I ever heard that little quaver of fear in her voice. She always seemed so strong to me.

    "Sparkle? Penny?" I asked hopefully.

    "Nope," Sparkle said.

    "Sorry," Penny said at almost the same time.

    "I hereby dub them Ratlings," I said, gathering power to me, "just for the sake of having something to call them."

    "Right, then," D.T. said. "Do we wait for them, or¡­?"

    The biggest ratling, in the center of the ragged formation, lifted its head and snarled. They came for us in an uneven wave, some moving faster than others.

    D.T. took a step forward and towards me, moving partly in front of me and sweeping her war hammer low to the ground in front of her. Her first swing smashed into the fastest of the ugly things - it practically exploded, spraying her hammer and the ground with some muddy brown fluid that must''ve passed for their blood - slamming it into two of its companions and literally sending them flying away from us.

    Sparkle rose higher into the air and began flinging brilliant sparks of purple energy from both hands into the growing crowd of the creatures behind the front line. Penny had vanished, but I heard her let out a hunting howl from somewhere in the rows of corn that the ratlings had emerged from, and pieces of one went flying into the air.

    I cupped my hands in front of me, gesturing to bring my spell together as energy began swirling between them. A moment later I thrust my hands away from me, and a half-dozen bolts of green-white energy shot away from them, arcing out around D.T. and then back in to slam into the rat-creatures, one dart per ratling, blasting them to pieces.

    "That''s new!" D.T. observed, her hammer crushing another ratling flat.

    "I''ve been working on it with Ken," I said. "I was inspired by Sparkle."

    "That''s so cool!" Sparkle enthused, then effortlessly reproduced what had taken me weeks of preparation and practice to get right. A dozen darts of purple light swirled away from her, raining down on the ratlings.

    "Sparkle," I asked, gathering energy again, "how many of these things are there?"

    "A lot!" she said.

    "Fabulous," D.T. said, swinging her hammer this way and that, alternately swatting the creatures away and smashing them in place.

    Then we were too busy to talk. D.T. stayed close to me, destroying any of the unnatural rat-things that got too close, while I sent barrage after barrage of green-white energy bolts into the horde. I began alternating that with small bolts of lightning, which arced from my target creature to the ones on either side of it. Sometimes I used ice, freezing some of them in place in glacial blocks - which D.T. then shattered with a swing of her war hammer, along with the ratling inside - or sending spikes of ice racing out low to the ground to impale anything in their path.

    Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, no more of the ratlings emerged from the rows of corn to attack us. The ground around us and between us and the cornfield was littered with dozens of bodies and parts of bodies. We remained close and tense until Penny emerged from the corn. She gave herself a shake and said, "All clear, as far as I can tell. Their scent tracks back to the woods."

    Finally admitting the exhaustion that had been growing in me, I doubled over, resting my hands on my knees and groaning. "I feel like I ran a marathon."

    D.T. lowered the gore-smeared head of her hammer to the ground and leaned on the shaft. "I," she proclaimed, sounding as weary as I felt, "am skipping arm day tomorrow."

    Sparkle swirled down and landed atop D.T.''s head, flopping down dramatically. "I need a snack!"

    D.T. smiled up at her. "Something disgustingly sweet, no doubt."

    "Yuh huh!" Sparkle agreed.

    I chuckled. "Penny, please track their scent back. There were too many of them for this to be over so easily. But be careful."

    Penny huffed. "You think there might be a den?"

    "I''m terrified of missing one if there is," I said.

    She nodded. "I shall look." Instead of turning away, she simply melted into the shadows and was gone.

    "D.T., you all in one piece?" I asked.

    "None of them even touched me," she said, straightening. "I think the real danger was their numbers¡­individually they weren''t much."

    I pushed myself upright again, arching my back and stretching. I caught her watching and smiled to myself as I replied, "I agree. That was quite a workout."

    "You were the MVP," she said, turning to face me directly. "Those new spells of yours were really something."

    I thought she sounded pensive. "What is it?"

    She shook her head a little, then gave her hammer a two-handed shake. "Eww. Cleaning this is going to be disgusting."

    I held up a single finger. "Hold it out horizontally, please." As she did, I murmured the words of a spell I hadn''t translated to BSL yet, and a little raincloud formed above the hammer. It began to rain, quite hard, onto the hammer, rinsing it clean.

    "You are amazing," D.T. said wonderingly, slowly turning the hammer in place to make sure it was well cleaned. After a minute I released the spell, dispersing the little rain cloud. When D.T. gave the hammer another shake, only clean water came away from it.

    "Thank you," she said, and hefted the thing onto her shoulder again.

    Penny emerged from the rows of corn again, looking dour. "There is indeed a burrow, just within the woods. Come."

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22

    We picked our way through the ratling remains and followed Penny into the rows of corn. D.T. insisted on going ahead of me, holding her hammer ready in both hands, and Sparkle flew along above us to light our way.

    Penny led us into the woods, to a large, low pile of dead wood and rocks. "It goes down into the ground a bit," Penny observed, "and it reeks of those creatures. We should destroy it."

    D.T. looked at me. I looked back. "What?"

    She gestured to the pile. "Can you burn it out?"

    I grimaced. "I can''t really do fire magic. I could probably spark a fire with some lightning, but without actual fire magic I couldn''t sustain or spread the flames."

    She blinked a few times, looking surprised. "Oh. Well¡­if you three will be okay here for a few minutes, I''ll run back to the house. I bet George has a gas can and some firelighters. Can you handle a controlled burn with that rain cloud of yours?"

    I took a deep breath and let out. "I''m not completely tapped out yet," I said. "I can handle it."

    She nodded. "All right. Don''t go anywhere." She turned and headed back toward the house.

    "Sparkle, go with her to light her way, please!" I said.

    Sparkle smiled at me and zoomed after D.T.

    Penny and I stood there together, listening to the soft late-summer wind making the trees creak around us. "Is it empty?" I asked her, gesturing to the den.

    She hesitated. "There may be young within," she said softly. "I hear small movements, and the scent of those things is still strong and fresh. Which is why I recommended we destroy it."

    I nodded. "You''ve never seen anything like them before?"

    Penny shook her head somberly. "Never have I even heard of the like. I have seen wizards produce many a strange construct, but nothing like these. And nothing that smelled so¡­profoundly wrong." She scrunched up her nose and blew out a breath as if to clear it. "They are foul creatures, and do not belong in this world. Or any other that I have seen."

    I shivered a little and hugged myself, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the cool night air. "You''re scaring me a little," I said softly.

    She nodded. "I know. And I''m sorry. But you must understand, both that what we do here this night is a necessary part of your job as Guardian, and that this may only be the first of many such incidents."

    I hugged myself a bit tighter. "Ah."

    She leaned lightly against my leg, and I could feel her warmth clearly, both pressed against me physically and in the back of my mind, from her emotions. "You have done very well tonight," she said softly. "No wizard I have met could have done better." She paused for a moment, then added, "They could have done it with more panache, perhaps, but not better."

    It took me a moment to realize she was teasing me, which made me smile. I hunkered down and ruffled her ears and rubbed her neck.

    "You have had easy days so far," Penny said softly, "barring only your encounter with von Einhardt. I fear there may be difficult days ahead."

    "The spirit in the scarecrows said there was change coming," I said just as softly, following her train of thoughts. "And what Father Hill and Jessie Rhodes said¡­that the Church and the UNSDI don''t think the supernatural world can remain hidden for much longer..."

    Penny leaned against me and nodded. "Yes. I think I feel can it too, like a distant storm building on the horizon. Can you? If you listen?"

    I closed my eyes and concentrated on the world around me, listening to the trees creaking and the leaves rustling. The earth was soft beneath my boots, and I smelled a mix of earth, broken limbs, and fallen leaves, overlaid by a faint, unpleasant scent that I didn''t know. There was something in the air¡­a feeling and a smell¡­that made me think there might be rain in the forecast somewhere.

    The den before us, now that I was concentrating, jangled my magical senses unpleasantly. It was like someone had added a badly tuned minor chord to the music of the world.

    And nagging at the very edge of those magical senses, I felt a strange tension. It was distant, and so faint that I never would have noticed it if I hadn''t been looking for it specifically.

    "I think I do," I said quietly. "I can also feel how wrong this den is," I added. Then I ruffled Penny''s fur one more time and rose. "You''re right, this needed to be done."

    "There may be difficult days ahead," Penny said again, uneasily.

    I smiled down at her, and something popped into my head. "Some days are diamond," I quoted John Denver, "some days are stone."

    Penny looked up at me and tipped her head, then nodded. "What Ms. Rhodes said. It is from a song, yes?"

    I smiled. "I''ll play it for you when we get home."

    "I would like that. It sounds very wise."

    D.T. and Sparkle returned then, D.T.''s heavy footfalls crunching through the woods. She was lugging a large, old-fashioned gasoline can, and had her war hammer stuck through the back of her vest, its head poking up behind her left shoulder. Sparkle was fluttering along behind her carrying a tied bundle of square-cut sticks.

    "Whew," D.T. said, putting the gas can down and stretching as Sparkle fluttered down and deposited the bundle of sticks beside it. "Either I''m very tired, or that thing is heavier than it looks. Probably both." She thumbed back over her shoulder. "Sparkle helped me talk to the scarecrows¡­they''re gathering up the ratling bodies and piling them up for us. I figured we could burn them next."

    "Good thinking," I said. "How do we go about doing this?"

    D.T. doused the den in gasoline, soaked several sticks of the kindling wood Sparkle had carried back in the stuff, then lit them and tossed them in. It didn''t take long for the dead wood mixed in with the rock of the den to catch, and the whole thing burned.

    Not merrily.

    The resultant fire was smoky, dark red rather than orange and yellow, and did not look at all natural. I circled the burn with a ring of my little rain clouds to make sure it didn''t spread, and added a bit of a breeze to keep the rather noxious smoke from blowing into our faces.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    At some point, the den caved in, and we all thought we heard faint squeals come from within for a few minutes before stopping.

    D.T. stood with an arm looped around my shoulders on one side, and Penny pressed against my legs on the other, with Sparkle sitting atop my head. We stayed like that until the whole thing had burned down to embers, and I was too tired to keep my little rain storm going.

    It was a little after midnight when we returned to the fields and the Roberts house. The scarecrows had long since finished piling up the ratling corpses (and parts), but it was a surprise to find the pile burning sullenly, and George Roberts himself standing not far from the pumpkin-headed scarecrow. He had a red bandanna pressed over the lower part of his face, covering his mouth and nose, and I couldn''t blame him¡­the smoke coming off the pyre was foul.

    We skirted around it, keeping our distance, and he moved to meet us, lowering the bandanna as he approached. "Hope you don''t mind. When I saw them," he nodded to the cluster of scarecrows, "which are pretty obviously friendly, piling that trash up, I figured you meant to burn it."

    I nodded. "They are, and we did. I don''t think I have the juice left to stop it from spreading, though."

    He smiled. "I started digging a firebreak around the pile, and when the scarecrows saw what I was doing they stepped in and finished it for me."

    I returned his smiled. "Well, thanks for taking care of it for us."

    "My pleasure," he said, then looked back at the pyre. "What the hell were they?"

    I shook my head ruefully. "I''m calling them ratlings, but only because I have no idea what they were."

    "Is this normal for you?" George asked incredulously.

    I shook my head again. "George, to be completely honest with you, my life has become so odd that I don''t really know what''s in the same time zone as normal anymore."

    We all turned and looked at the pyre, standing in silence for a few minutes until the pumpkin-headed scarecrow plodded over and bowed to us. "I thank thee, Guardian, for thy assistance in this matter. The land and the family are safe now?"

    "We found and burned out their den," I replied, startling George a little. "Penny wasn''t able to find any other traces of the creatures in the area."

    The scarecrow sighed in relief. "Good. I will hold to our agreement: For a year and a day, I will protect the landholder''s herd from sickness and injury, and I will ensure that his crops are bountiful." It looked at George, then back to me. "Should he wish to extend this agreement, please tell him that he need only leave a small offering for me on the spring equinox¡­fresh loaves of bread, and a jug of fresh milk, as of old; bounty of the harvest."

    I explained this to George, who turned and addressed the scarecrow directly. "I will, old spirit," he said, bowing respectfully. "I will, and gladly too."

    The scarecrow smiled, a surprisingly warm expression on the Jack-O-Lantern head, and bowed deeply to George. Then it shambled back to stand before the pyre as the other twelve scarecrows began to wander off. They dispersed into the fields, planting themselves and falling still, until only the pumpkin-headed scarecrow remained animate, watching over the pyre.

    George took a deep breath and let it out. "I think I need to get some sleep. This is a lot to digest all at once." He turned to me and offered his hand. "Lady Reid, you have my sincerest and deepest thanks for your help this evening."

    I shook his hand warmly. "Please, just Caley. I''m happy I could help."

    He shook D.T.''s hand with murmured thanks and repeated his appreciation to Sparkle and Penny, then headed for the house, mopping his forehead with the bandanna.

    Sparkle landed on my shoulder and Penny stood beside me on one side, with D.T. on the other. We watched the pyre for a little while, before D.T. quietly said, "It''s kind of like going back to the old ways, isn''t it? Appeasing the local spirit of the land with gifts from the harvest."

    "That''s what the old ways were for," Sparkle said, sounding wiser than her usual light-hearted behavior. "Those rituals were meant to acknowledge the spirits of the land¡­to ask for their protection and aid in the year to come. But many of those spirits were forgotten or ignored, and have been asleep for a long time."

    "How long?" D.T. asked curiously.

    Sparkle shrugged.

    Penny laughed softly. "Asking a fairy about time is like asking the sky why the grass is green. From what my grand-dam taught me, Ms. Burroughs, many spirits of the earth have been asleep for more than two hundred years. Men chose to stop believing in them, and so they sleep to conserve their strength."

    "That would roughly line up with the Industrial Revolution," I observed.

    We were all silent again for a little while, and I was almost asleep on my feet when D.T. nudged me gently with her elbow. "Well, I guess there''s something to all those old rituals after all. Are you sure you aren''t some sort of druid?"

    I chuckled. "Not that I know of." I rubbed my eyes, yawned, and stretched. But I thought about the way I''d sensed the magic of the world when Penny had told me to try, and wondered.

    "I think I''d better drive you home," she said, leaning in to look at me closely. "You can collect your car sometime tomorrow or the day after. You look hollowed out."

    I thought about protesting for a moment, but looking inward confirmed her concern. "I am. I''ve never cast that many spells at one time before. I''m exhausted."

    "I just need to make sure we''re done here," I said, and walked over to the remaining scarecrow. It turned its empty eyes toward me and nodded politely. "I need rest," I said to it politely, "is there anything else you need from me this eve?"

    It smiled gently. "Nay, Guardian. I will tend the pyre, and can control it should it grow. Thy work is done, and done well. Thee and thine have earned thy rest. The protection of this land and family you may leave again in my hands."

    I bowed politely to it. "Thank you. Good night."

    "Good night to thee and thine, Guardian." With that, it turned its eyes back on the pyre and fell still.

    We piled back into D.T.''s police cruiser and started back toward town. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew I was cradled in D.T.''s arms, being carried past Ken into the Hall''s foyer, and Ken was mid-sentence.

    "¡­Magical exhaustion is definitely a thing, Ms. Burroughs," he was saying quietly. "She''ll be fine after she''s had a solid eight hours of sleep and a good meal."

    "I''m awake," I said, and sounded muzzy and half-asleep even to myself. "I just feel like my head''s full of cotton batting."

    Ken chuckled. "From what Ms. Burroughs has been telling me, that doesn''t surprise me."

    "Please call me D.T.," she said. "Come on, sorceress, which way to your bedroom?"

    I concentrated¡­or tried to¡­and pointed to the double doors that led deeper into the Hall. "Through there. First door on the right. I think. But I can walk."

    "I couldn''t even wake you up in the cruiser," D.T. said, sounding more than a little worried. "I can carry you a few more feet."

    Ken opened the doors for her, and she stopped as she entered the hallway, staring at the seemingly endless length of it. "Holy shit," she said softly.

    "It''s a bit disorienting at first," Ken said. "But we''re right here," he pointed to the very door I''d noted. It had a perfectly formed little purple blown-glass fairy dangling from a nail, which had been hammered into the door at the base of a carved oak leaf. My bedroom door.

    He opened it for her and D.T. carried me in, followed by Sparkle and Penny. "Well, this is much more the thing," she said in a relieved tone, and set me down on the edge of the bed. "Come on, hon, let''s get those boots off, then you can sleep."

    As she knelt down, I started to protest, "I can¡­"

    She waved me off, already untying my Doc Martens. "Hush. I can tell you''re so tired you can barely see straight, and I don''t mind. You were amazing tonight."

    I felt my cheeks heat up as she tugged one boot off and went to work on the other. "I just did what I had to."

    "Says the obviously very powerful sorceress," she teased gently. "You did a lot more than I did."

    "I couldn''t have done it without you," I protested. "You kept those things from getting close to me. I''d''ve been on the run without you."

    D.T. considered that for a moment, then smiled up at me. "I suppose that''s true. Well, I''m glad I was able to help."

    As she tugged off my other boot, Penny hopped up on the end of the bed and stretched out, yawning hugely and putting her head down. D.T. smiled and lifted my legs up onto the bed. "I suggest you do the same," she said. "Where''d Sparkle go?"

    "Up here," Sparkle said from where she was already stretched out in her nightlight, the spherical silver bird cage dangling from the center of my bed''s canopy.

    "Well, that''s just cool," D.T. said.

    I took a moment to wriggle out of my shorts, leaving me in just my leggings and Henley top, then shuffled back a little so that my head hit the pillow when I lay back. "Thank you, Dejah Thoris," I said sleepily, rolling onto my side facing the windows.

    She shut the lights off, then whistled softly. "What''s with all the colored lights out there?"

    "Fairies," I murmured, feeling sleep dragging me down.

    "Seriously?"

    The last thing I saw before sleep claimed me was D.T. standing in front of my bedroom windows, staring at the dancing lights of my fairies in the darkened field beyond.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23

    I woke very late the next morning, the old-fashioned alarm clock on my bedside table telling me it was a few minutes past eleven, to the sound of the shower in my bathroom running. I rolled over and discovered first that someone had draped a light blanket over me at some point and I''d managed to get myself wrapped up in it, and second that D.T.''s tactical vest and belt were sitting on the window seat. Her new war hammer - definitely not my best work, I winced a little to see it in the light of day - was propped up beside them, its distinctly uneven head resting on the floor.

    I resolved to make her a better one, assuming she was serious about keeping it.

    "I took the liberty," Ken''s voice said from behind me as the door opened, "of laundering D.T.''s uniform and providing her with sweatpants and a sweatshirt as well as suitable toiletries."

    I rolled over again to see him pushing a heavily laden breakfast cart into the room. "She categorically refused to leave until she was certain you were all right," he continued blithely, pushing the cart to the foot of the bed and stopping. "She even insisted on sleeping on the window seat. I think not being able to wake you up while driving you home, and then how readily you submitted to her tucking you into bed made her uneasy. It was quite charming."

    He winked at me, unfolded a bundle from the bottom of the cart and carried it to the bathroom door. He knocked, then called, "Caley is now awake, your uniform is hanging on the outside of the bathroom door, and a selection of breakfast foods awaits." Setting action to words, he hung the bundle - which I now recognized as D.T.''s uniform pants and shirt - on the door.

    I heard D.T.''s voice, muffled by the shower and door, call back, "Thank you, Ken!"

    "Yes," I said drowsily, "thank you." I sat up and yawned.

    Ken, ever thoughtful, promptly offered me a mug of tea. I struggled to extricate my arms, managed to do so while keeping the blanket draped around my shoulders, and took the mug from him. I cradled it in both hands, soaking up its warmth and sipping from it.

    It had a flowery flavor with a faintly bitter aftertaste, incompletely covered up by a bit of sugar. I frowned a little. "I don''t recognize the flavor."

    "It''s an herbal mixture that one of your great-grandmothers developed," Ken said. "It''s supposed to be very good for restoring energy when you''re exhausted. Your grandmother in particular swore by it."

    I took another sip, feeling the warmth of it suffusing me and making me feel less hollow. "Oh. Okay."

    By the time D.T. emerged from the bathroom about twenty minutes later, barefoot and wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt with the logo of the Metropolitan Police on it above the words "Peel House," I was sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed, still wrapped in my blanket, but picking at a bowl of fruit chunks and feeling considerably less drowsy.

    "I," she proclaimed, "could absolutely get used to this. Though where Ken got a Hendon College sweatshirt I have no idea." She dragged over my little desk chair and sat down on the other side of the breakfast cart, peering at me closely. "Well, you don''t look quite so faded this morning. You were almost gray last night."

    "The Hall," I said, popping another piece of fruit in my mouth.

    "Huh?" She collected a plate from the lower shelf and started piling food on it. Pancakes, a couple of sausages, some slices of fried tomato.

    "The Hall probably provided the sweatshirt," I said after I swallowed. "It has a way of doing that, if it likes you."

    She met my eyes and raised an eyebrow.

    I shrugged. "You brought me home, helped me get to bed, didn''t try to share my bed uninvited, and - the way Ken tells it - kept watch over me while I slept." I gave her a warm smile. "By the Hall''s estimation, that qualifies you as ''liked.'' At least, based on the sweatshirt. If it didn''t like you, the sweatshirt would either have been blank, or worse, Ken would''ve been scrounging ill-fitting clothes for you. At which point he probably would''ve gently suggested you depart."

    "I''d much rather be liked than given the boot, however politely. And you sound more like your usual self this morning," D.T. said with an approving nod. She spotted Penny sniffing the air - still appearing to be asleep otherwise - and waved a sausage in her general direction. It was snapped - carefully - from D.T.''s fingers and devoured, making D.T. laugh and giving lie to Penny''s apparent indolence.

    Sparkle swirled down from her nightlight and attacked a plate of cookies sitting off to one side, devouring them like a starving piranha.

    "All is right with the world," I proclaimed grandly, and took a piece of toast, spread a bit of apple butter on it, and munched contentedly. "Did you enjoy watching my fairies?" I asked after I swallowed a bite.

    D.T. poured herself a glass of orange juice from an insulated jug, and whistled softly. "That was honestly one of the most amazing, beautiful sights I''ve ever seen."

    I smiled. "It really is, isn''t it? You should see the village." I closed my eyes, stretched and yawned. I felt stiff.

    When I opened my eyes again, I was startled to find D.T. holding a plate out to me. It had two hard boiled eggs on it, along with a couple of sausage links and slices of tomato. "You''re not going to feel better if you just pick at fruit and toast," she said firmly. "You need iron and protein."

    I smiled wryly and took the plate. "Yes, mother."

    She chuckled. "Eat your breakfast and take a shower. You still reek of that nasty, greasy smoke."

    I gave myself a sniff and grimaced. "So I do."

    We ate in silence for a few minutes, before D.T. quietly said, "Can¡­can we talk about last night?"

    I swallowed my last bite of egg and looked at her. She was staring down at empty plate, which was trembling slightly in her hand.

    "What about it?" I asked.

    She looked up and met my eyes, and I thought there was disquiet and fear in hers. From the moment I''d met her, she''d always seemed so strong and self-controlled, not to mention eager to get in on the weirdness that my life had become. I supposed that a crack appearing in her armor had been inevitable.

    "You''re just¡­okay with fighting weird rat creatures and talking to an ancient spirit inhabiting a bunch of scarecrows? That¡­doesn''t freak you out a little?" She asked, sounding more than a little plaintive.

    Not just a crack in her armor, then¡­she was trying to cope with an experience so profoundly weird and unnatural that it had kicked off a fear reaction in her, which none of the other weirdness she''d seen since coming into my life had done. I definitely understood what she was feeling.

    I put my empty plate down and leaned back, propping myself up on my hands and frowning a little. "Actually, it doesn''t," I said softly. "But I''ve spent most of the last year absorbing and adjusting to a profound level of weirdness, a lot of it fairly terrifying at first glance."

    "How do you deal with it?" She asked. "You''re not even shaking. How can you encompass this and not freak out? I spent last night smashing monsters with a hammer."

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    I smiled a little. "There''s no magic to it," I said gently. "It just took time. You¡¯d have to ask Ken to be sure, but I think I had at least two full-blown panic attacks in my first few weeks living in Oakwood Hall. Probably three."

    "Four," Sparkle interjected absently around a cookie.

    "However," I continued, "I think I can offer you two short-term salves while you try to embrace the crazy."

    "Please."

    "First," I said, "consider the good we did last night. Not only did we protect George Roberts and his family from monsters, we were intermediaries for him in a deal with the spirit of his family land, which will ensure better health for his flock and better crops from his fields."

    I let her digest that for a minute before adding, "Second, let me take a shower and get into fresh clothes, and I''ll show you some of the wonder that I find more than offsets the scary."

    When I emerged from the bathroom, feeling much refreshed after a hot shower and dressed in a pair of brown leggings and a pine-green short-sleeved tunic, I found D.T. - back in her uniform - and Ken standing together by the windows. Ken was holding a large, open tome that I thought I recognized from the workshop, and was flipping through the pages.

    He looked over as I approached and smiled. "You look much better now," he said warmly. "D.T. has been telling me all about your encounter last night, and I wanted to have a look through the family bestiary to see if I could identify what it was you faced."

    "Any luck?" I asked hopefully. Then, in an aside to D.T., added, "I find it helps quash some of the fear to put a name to what I''m dealing with." Which was an exaggeration, having only actually faced a small number of human wizards, one unwilling dusk fox, and one particularly odious ogre that I''d let get away. But if it made her feel better¡­

    "That makes sense," she agreed.

    Ken sighed. "No luck yet. They sound like a variety of things I''m loosely familiar with, mostly magical constructs, but none of those would''ve made dens. Or had¡­offspring."

    "We didn''t actually see any juveniles," I pointed out.

    "Just heard them die," D.T. said softly and shuddered.

    I reached out and rubbed her arm gently. "Pest control."

    She looked at me, frowning and taking my hand in hers. "What?"

    "What we did was pest control," I said. "The pests in question were just¡­a bit bigger, nastier, and more aggressive than you''re used to."

    "You''re taking this awfully well," she said dryly, "considering we were killing living things."

    I shuddered a little. "Couldn''t you feel how¡­how wrong they were? They weren''t natural creatures, they didn''t belong in this world. Even that spirit of the land was rejecting their presence."

    "Even still," D.T. said, sounding doubtful.

    Ken, I noticed, was frowning at me a little. He didn''t say anything, though, for which I was grateful. It occurred to me that I was so focused on helping D.T. deal with being freaked out by what she''d experienced, that I wasn''t letting myself crack under what was, really, my first major encounter with¡­pretty much anything, really, von Einhardt aside. I wasn''t counting the two young punks from the ICOA, since they''d mostly been dealt with by my fairy friends.

    "Maybe you''re right. I''ll probably have my freak-out later," I said diplomatically.

    "Actually," Ken said, "I''m not sure you will. You seem to be handling this very well. Though I think, with your permission of course, I''ll have a little rummage around in your head before tonight''s lesson. Just to make sure."

    I''d explained some of how Ken was teaching me to D.T., who just raised an eyebrow and said, "You know how crazy that sounds, right?"

    "Profoundly," Ken agreed with a little smile. "Now, unless I''m mistaken, Caley intends to check in on her new dusk fox guest, and introduce you to some of the friendlier denizens of her world."

    I nodded, stepping barefoot up onto the window seat. "That was precisely my intention. Sparkle, Penny, coming?"

    Sparkle seemed to materialize on my shoulder, and Penny hopped off the end of the bed and trotted over.

    "Oh," I said, hand on the window handle. "We haven''t refilled the feeders in a couple of days. Sparkle, could you -"

    Ken had set his book aside and gone to the breakfast cart, where he now pulled three bottles of cola from the bottom shelf. "I came prepared for this eventuality."

    I smiled at him. "Ken, what would I do without you?"

    "Perish the thought," he said dryly. "Perhaps D.T. would like to do the honors this time."

    "Excellent idea," I agreed. "D.T., Sparkle, do me a favor and grab those soda bottles."

    "Okay¡­" D.T. said uncertainly, taking two of the bottles while Sparkle zipped over and levitated the third.

    "Come on!" I said, opened the window, and stepped out into the soft grass of the field beyond. As I always did when barefoot, I took a moment to wriggle my toes in the grass. I''d never felt anything like it anywhere else. It was as soft as a plush carpet.

    Penny hopped out beside me, glanced up and then nodded toward the edge of the field, letting me know that - as was her habit - she was going to make a circuit of the perimeter before rejoining me. I nodded in return, and she trotted off. Halfway to the edge of the field, she was joined by a dozen fairies who swirled around her and fell into formation with her.

    That made me smile. It was charming how seriously the fairy guard took their jobs.

    D.T. emerged from the window, her eyes wide as she took in the empty part of the field. "This is beautiful," she said softly. "I mean¡­I knew it was beautiful last night and this morning, but¡­this is like the most perfect summer day that ever was."

    Sparkle giggled and landed on her shoulder, the third bottle of soda floating beside them. "Turn around," she said.

    D.T. did, and her jaw dropped.

    I mean, it''s a perfectly natural reaction to seeing a cluster of windows and their frame hanging in mid-air with nothing to support them, leading back into the room she''d just emerged from, and where Ken now waited in the opening, grinning.

    Then she took a few steps to the side, her eyes wide and her mouth still hanging open. "Oh my god," she breathed after a moment, taking in the fairy village.

    I stepped up beside her. "I know, right? Now you know why I kept telling you it was impossible to describe."

    "No description could ever do this justice," she agreed in a quiet, awed voice.

    Spice and Shine appeared hovering in front of us. We were, after all, awfully close to their home now.

    "Are those for us?" Spice asked eagerly, looking at the soda bottles.

    I smiled at them. "I''m sorry we''re so late refilling them this morning. We had a long night. Spice, Shine, allow me to introduce Sergeant Dejah Thoris Burroughs of the Avon and Somerset Police Force."

    "The local constabulary in Oakwood," Spice said with a nod. As they hovered in front of D.T., Spice - in her shorts and cropped top outfit - bowed, while Shine - in her little dress - curtseyed in mid-air. "It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sergeant. Caley has spoken of you at some length."

    D.T. was obviously charmed. "Caley has spoken of you as well. It''s very nice to meet you both finally. Please, call me D.T."

    "Sparkle, Spice, Shine, why don''t you show D.T. how to refill the soda feeders," I said with a smile. "I''m going to go check on our patient."

    The three fairies swirled around D.T., and Sparkle went so far as to latch onto one of D.T.''s lapels and start towing her towards the feeders. As I turned away, she was laughing and saying, "Woah, slow down! Is this actually okay for you to have? I mean, we invented it, and it''s not particularly good for us!"

    It made me feel good to hear her laughter after her earlier disquiet.

    I made my way to the edge of the village, where the clan of gnomes had set up their homes¡­and as promised, a temporary shelter had been set up for the injured dusk fox. It was basically a lean-to, built of branches and a covering that appeared to be woven moss, leaves, and lichen. Its open side faced into the village instead of out into the woods, and as I approached, I saw that Basil and a few of his fellow gnomes were clustered around the dusk fox, tending to his wounds. The dusk fox himself appeared to be deeply asleep, breathing slowly and steadily.

    I sank to my knees in the grass close by and waited for them to finish. It was only a minute or two before Basil turned to me. "Good morning, Lady Reid." The elderly gnome folded his hands over his stomach and smiled warmly up at me. "How can we be of service?"

    "I wanted to see how your patient is doing," I said softly, not wanting to wake the slumbering dusk fox.

    "Very well," Basil said heartily. "He''ll sleep a day or more yet, I think, courtesy of our salves. But his injuries are healing nicely. He''ll make a full recovery."

    "That''s wonderful, Basil," I said, and almost jumped as Penny slipped up beside me and settled against my side.

    "Thank you for taking care of my brother, Basil," she said softly. "If there''s anything I can do to repay your kindness¡­"

    Basil waved off the offer with a gentle gesture. "There is no debt incurred here, Miss Penumbra. We act in service of Lady Reid, and do so happily."

    Penny nodded seriously. "Even still."

    Basil chuckled softly. "Your offer is graciously appreciated, and I won''t forget it." He drummed his fingers on his belt and smiled up at us. "Can I do anything else for you this morning?"

    I smiled and shook my head. "Not right now, Basil, thank you very much. Please send us a messenger when he wakes up. Spice and Shine -"

    "Know how to find you," he interrupted gently, smiling. "We all know, Lady Reid. I will do so." He bowed politely.

    Penny and I both bowed in return to him, then rose and headed back toward the center of the clearing.

    Where we found D.T. standing motionless near the soda feeders, her arms stretched out to either side, absolutely covered in happily chattering fairies. They were even sitting atop her head. She was smiling so widely, and her eyes sparkled with such joy, that I thought she might burst from it.

    Sparkle, Spice, and Shine fluttered over to land on my shoulders, giggling. "She''s been like that since she put the bottles in," Sparkle said. "Should we break it up?"

    I considered D.T.''s beaming face, a smile growing on my own lips. This, I thought, was what she''d looked like as a little girl when she was happy. I wondered when the last time she''d been this happy was. I wondered if I''d ever been that happy myself.

    "Nah," I said finally. "Give her a few more minutes. We can spare the time for this."

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24

    I left D.T. enjoying her first encounter with the fairies and did a complete circuit of the clearing, talking softly with Sparkle, Spice and Shine about ways we could reinforce their defenses. Sparkle and Spice had been discussing the possibility of building a stone wall with the village''s new gnome and brownie residents, both species being gifted at earth magic. It sounded like a good idea to me.

    I, in turn, needed to work on my warding skills, to improve their magical defenses. In addition to the ones that they raised themselves, of course.

    None of which addressed the problem of them running out of space. I had no particular problem with them spreading into the area in front of my windows, but they seemed to consider that space the next best thing to holy ground. If they had their way, it would remain an open area for them to play games and dance in at night for the foreseeable future.

    Once again, I shelved that problem for now. I still had time to decide how I was going to respond to Oberon. I knew I had to decide something soon¡­I was having a hard time making up my mind, but couldn''t afford to wait until the last possible moment.

    By the time I made it back around to where I''d started, the cluster of fairies had dispersed. I could see the back of D.T.''s head through the windows, and Ken was standing nearby, so I guessed that she''d reached her saturation point and retreated back inside.

    I didn''t blame her. My fairies could be a lot.

    Penny and Sparkle went in ahead of me while Spice and Shine went back to whatever they''d been doing. As I closed the window behind me and stepped down off the window seat, I saw that D.T. was sitting with the war hammer I''d made for her across her knees and was staring at it.

    It really was a rough, uneven thing. For all it had gotten the job done, I could''ve made a better job of it.

    "I''ll make you a nicer one," I said immediately. "I know it''s pretty ugly, but I was in a hurry." I looked at Ken. "I can do a lot better than that."

    Ken was standing with his arms folded, frowning slightly. "For a quick transfiguration with only rough focus, it''s quite acceptable," he said softly. "But yes, you can do better."

    Then he caught my eyes and nodded at D.T..

    I turned back to her, confused, and saw that she was watching me now, her brows drawn down in a little frown. "How are you okay with what we did last night?"

    "Huh?" I asked, bewildered.

    "Caley," she said patiently, "we killed dozens of living creatures last night¡­how are you okay with that?"

    I blinked at her, then sat down on the window seat, separated from her by one of the step-gaps. "They¡­were monsters, D.T.," I said quietly.

    She nodded quickly. "Don''t get me wrong, I get that¡­boy, do I get that. I had one trying to gnaw its way through my boot at one point. They were angry, aggressive, repellent things." She shuddered a little. "And completely unnatural."

    "What''s the problem then?" I asked, struggling to work through my confusion.

    "What separates them from, say, Penny?" D.T. asked carefully.

    Penny - who had sprawled comfortably in front of my bedroom''s cozy little fireplace - lifted her head and frowned. "I resent that." Her tails were lashing behind her.

    "No offense, Penny," D.T. said quickly, "but you''re not exactly a natural animal yourself."

    Penny went completely still, then swiftly turned, sitting up facing us. "No," she said, her voice frosty, "I''m not. And yet, I am. Look at me carefully, Ms. Burroughs. Aside from my coloration and tails, is there anything to separate me from a normal fox?"

    "You''re the size of a Husky," D.T. pointed out.

    "And my size," Penny said, rolling her eyes. "Those things aside, am I not distinctly a fox?"

    D.T. tipped her head a little, frowning. "You''re unmistakably a fox," she confirmed.

    "And what were those creatures we killed last night?" Penny asked.

    D.T. hesitated. "Well, Caley called them ratlings¡­"

    "Because they vaguely resembled rats," I said. "Maybe they were some sort of rodent, but I''d be hard-pressed to say that with any certainty."

    D.T. looked down at the hammer resting across her knees, then looked back at Penny. "So can we say with certainty that every creature we run across that definitely resembles one from the mortal world will be friendly, like you?"

    Penny snorted. "Of course not. In fact, it''s reasonable to assume that any given creature you encounter from Faerie - or worse places in the Otherworld - is going to be at best dangerous and at worst hostile, at least to some extent." She paused, frowning, then nodded. "I see your point. I still don''t like being compared to those¡­things."

    "So is it intelligence that makes the difference?" D.T. asked, her hands clenching into fists on her lap.

    "Of course not," Sparkle said, suddenly popping to human-size and sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked as confused as I felt. "If anything, intelligence makes beings of the Otherworld even more dangerous."

    D.T. looked at me, "So are you okay with last night because those things weren''t intelligent? Is that is?"

    I leaned away from her a little, utterly bewildered. "I¡­no, it was because they were threatening not only us, but the Roberts family. And you heard what the spirit of the land said¡­they were unnatural and didn''t belong there."

    "That''s a reason to relocate them, not kill them. What we did was unquestionably self-defense, I''m not arguing that, but what will you do when you''re faced with something that can talk and reason?" she pressed. "Because it sounds like you''re going to be, more regularly than things that''re just animals."

    "I¡­" I stopped, remembering the ogre that had inadvertently stumbled into my clearing in Faerie and attacked. When it turned and ran, I''d hesitated to kill it, even though it might have tried to come back. Or, worse, it might have told someone - or something - more dangerous where my clearing was.

    "What about another hostile wizard?" D.T. asked, rising and dumping the war hammer to the hardwood floor with a heavy thud. "I arrived too late in April to help you with von Einhardt, but you didn''t need my help¡­you''d already burned him down where he stood."

    I opened my mouth to protest, leaning away a bit more, but she cut me off with a raised hand. "Again, what you did was self-defense. There isn''t a court in the world that would say otherwise, and neither would I. But you still responded with lethal force. You killed a man, another human being, and it doesn''t seem to me like it''s bothered you all that much. For that matter, your friends, Ariana and Emrys, they treated disposing of the body and evidence like it was just another day for them. I wonder how many people they''ve killed."

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    I sat there with my mouth open and my brain off-line. I couldn''t think of anything at all to say.

    She wasn''t wrong¡­but I had learned the hard way, with von Einhardt, that my life was going to be loaded with mitigating circumstances. In the wake of my final encounter with him¡­in the wake of killing him¡­I''d forced myself to accept that violence was going to be part of my life. I had perfectly good reasons for engaging in it: Protecting my own life, my home, the lives of everyone who was depending on me for protection, both in the mortal world and in Faerie¡­

    Had I completely shut off my concerns about killing? No¡­but I wasn''t going to let myself feel guilty about it either, when I had to. Was I? Should I? I didn''t think so, but maybe not letting myself feel guilty about it was wrong?

    "D.T.," I said quietly, "how do I not kill in self-defense when lethal force is being directed at me?"

    She threw her hands in the air. "That''s just it, I don''t know! And I''m not trained for this sort of thing. I''m just a normal police sergeant, not SCO19. I''m supposed to keep things from escalating to violence at all, let alone to lethal violence. What we did last night¡­you call it pest control, and I get that, and I even agree with you, but I still feel like it was wrong somehow. And I''m confused that you don''t."

    She took a breath but continued on inexorably before I could say anything. "If I had mice in my flat I wouldn''t be in a rush to go about stomping them to death, and I''d probably feel guilty just laying out traps. I don''t know if I can do that if what I''m helping you confront is intelligent¡­and that''s going to happen, sooner or later." She looked at Ken. "Isn''t it?"

    Ken sighed heavily. "Yes. The good news is that most beings who live in Faerie won''t resort to lethal force as a first recourse -"

    He was interrupted as both Sparkle and Penny snorted.

    Grimacing, Ken continued, "At least not when dealing with Caley. As the Guardian of Oakwood Hall there are many mitigating circumstances -"

    "Mitigating circumstances keep coming up," D.T. said, shaking her head. "It seems to me that they form a door that swings both ways."

    Ken unfolded his arms and took a couple of steps toward D.T.. "You''re not wrong. However, I believe you are all overlooking an important point."

    All of us - even Sparkle and Penny - turned to look at him.

    "You said the spirit of the land called them unnatural," Ken said quietly. "Penny, Sparkle, Caley, you''ve all said you sensed a wrongness about them. Even Ms. Burroughs expressed feeling unease in the creatures'' presence." He turned to look at her directly. "Do you feel that from me? From the fairies outside? From Sparkle or Penny? Or even from Caley?"

    D.T. blinked a few times. "No, of course not."

    He nodded a little. "When the spirit of the land called them unnatural, it was speaking - I believe - literally. They were not natural. What this means specifically I do not know¡­it could mean they weren''t native to this reality, it could mean they had been twisted and distorted by some unknown force¡­it could mean many things. But most importantly, it means that they shouldn''t have existed in the first place¡­at least not here and now. Few other things could produce that sense of wrongness."

    He made a good argument, and what he said made me feel better about it, even in the face of D.T.''s uncertainty and unease. But at the same time, I knew that she wasn''t wrong, not really. I was, I felt, standing on the precipice of some slope¡­and with as certain as I felt that we''d done the right thing in killing those creatures, only time would tell if it was a slippery one or not.

    We were all silent for a moment. Finally, D.T. said softly, "I need to think about this. Ken, would you see me out, please?"

    "Of course," he said quietly, looking at me rather than her. When I didn''t move or say anything - I could barely even start to sort out what I was feeling in that moment, what could I say or do? - he nodded slightly and gestured toward the door. "Right this way, Ms. Burroughs."

    When he opened the door, I saw that it opened onto the foyer this time. The Hall was offering D.T. a quick exit. My hands fell half-open and limp into my lap. I stared at them, my emotions a roiling mess of confusion, guilt, and fear. All I could do was sit there and watch her leave.

    It wasn''t until the door closed behind them that I realized she''d left her new war hammer behind. It lay there on the floor between me and where she''d stood, gleaming steel. It had, I saw, left a bit of a dent in the hardwood floor where it had fallen.

    Well¡­I''d promised to make her a better one anyway. Maybe with a nice blackthorn shaft.

    It certainly didn''t mean that she was abandoning her offer to help me. Or me, in general.

    Doubt crept in, followed by fear and sadness.

    I sighed and rubbed my face. "This is why I''ve been avoiding relationships."

    Sparkle sat down beside me and slipped her arm around my shoulders. "I''m sure everything will be fine once D.T. has time to think this through," she said stoutly.

    Penny whined softly, put her head down, and covered her eyes with her paws.

    I am not, by nature, the type to wallow in misery or abandon myself to fits of passion when trouble comes my way. So, as was my habit when I was stressed or depressed, I threw myself into my studies. I practiced my spellcasting for hours, fenced with Ken, practiced my Jeet Kune Do, and spent time out in the field with my fairies (and other new friends).

    The last also let me keep an eye on Penny''s brother. Basil''s poultices kept him asleep a couple of days longer than originally anticipated, but according to the gnome healer - who I had no cause to doubt - he would be up and about in a few more days and well on his way to fully recovered by next week.

    I really needed to find the right name for him.

    But working on mom''s staff provided the best distraction from the sudden silence from D.T.. It required hours of intense concentration, first to copy out the rune arrays and locate the mistakes - or problems - in them, and finally to plan how to correct those issues. As expected, I''d found a half-dozen other mistakes similar to the first one¡­little things that were hard to spot because they looked correct, but were subtly wrong. It would probably take me a couple of weeks to correct all of them.

    And it was a good thing that I had so many distractions. The three days that followed were the longest that D.T. and I had been out of touch since April. She didn''t call, the voicemail I left went unanswered, and I didn''t bump into her on my early morning jogs through town.

    Intellectually, I understood why she was upset. It was, essentially, the same reason I''d been upset when Ken and Sparkle had matter-of-factly informed me that I would have to fight - and probably kill - opponents at some point. Maybe I''d just had more time to absorb the fact than D.T. had¡­but then, she was also right that I was not at all upset about having killed von Einhardt, and that was definitely the sort of thing that would have upset me before I''d begun my new life.

    Though to be honest, why von Einhardt''s death didn''t bother me was pretty obvious, even to me. He had, after all, tried to control my mind twice, ripped up Oakwood Hall''s wards, torn down the gate, and tried - however haphazardly - to kill me. It was tough to feel guilty about removing someone like that from the world.

    Ken, meanwhile, had assured me - after going walkabout in my thoughts - that I was accepting having to kill the ratlings for the right reasons, and that there was nothing for me to worry about in that regard. Dara, in turn advised patience while D.T. worked through it herself, not having had, in her words, "¡­The benefit of having to absorb such an extreme volume of weirdness in as short a period of time as you did."

    On the morning of the fourth day after D.T.''s precipitous departure, I was just beginning to make repairs to Mom''s staff when Ken approached, holding the phone''s wireless handset. I pushed up my magnifying lenses, lifted my eyes from the engraving work I''d been doing on my mom''s staff, and looked up at him.

    Ken smiled faintly, put the telephone handset on the workbench beside me, and gestured. "Another distraction for you. Ms. Rhodes is on the line."

    I removed the headband that the magnifying glasses were mounted on, put it down, then stretched and arched my back. "How long have I been working?"

    "A little over two hours," Ken said. "I definitely suggest a break."

    I nodded, and pressed the button on the phone to unmute it. "Hello?"

    "If I don''t get out of this city for a few hours," Jessie''s voice said over the phone''s speaker, "I''m gonna lose my mind. What does your schedule for this afternoon and evening look like? Think maybe I could come out for that walkin'' tour?"

    I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just past eleven. "It''s about a three hour drive, so if you leave now you could be here mid-afternoon," I said.

    "Not a problem," Jessie said firmly. "What time do you want me there?"

    I blinked a few times. "Uh¡­how about 2 p.m., then?"

    "Meet ya at your home?" She asked.

    "Sure," I said carefully. "We can drive into town from here¡­"

    "Nah, I''d rather walk. Not much of a fan of cars," she said. "Walkin'' I''m used to, and it''ll give us a chance ta just talk."

    "Fine by me," I said agreeably.

    "Dress code?" she asked.

    "Definitely casual," I said with a smile, "though I might have a chance to introduce you to some of the people in town you wanted to meet, so¡­"

    "Gotcha. Think I can manage ta look presentable. I''ll see y''all at 2 o''clock. Lookin'' forward to it."

    "Likewise," I said. "See you in a few hours."

    We both hung up, and I stretched again, then rubbed my eyes. "Well, this should make for an interesting afternoon. I guess I''d better get cleaned up."