“You want to help? Find out who Alan is connected to in the shadow world. He used magic to claim the house, and he tried to steal my gran’s book from me.” I dug my heels into Skel’s sides and the horse leapt forward. This time I was a little more ready for the rapid motion as we raced away from the Hollows.

“We need to get to Forsyth Park, to the entryway to Faerie!” I yelled into the wind.

Skel turned to the left, just a little, hooves making no sound as he led us through city square after city square. Still, there were no humans that noticed us, the few that were out. Some of the squares we passed through felt dark, like the entities bound to them would reach out and take your soul if you let them, and others felt light as a feather.

But all had restless dead in them. That much I knew. I shook my head at the fancy that rolled through me. “Robert, lots of dead here.”

“Friend. Not dead.”

“No, not dead, not today.” I smiled as the wind pulled at my hair. “And we have to save one more friend before we can go home and get some whiskey.”

He let out a soft sigh. “Whiskey.”

“Yeah, whiskey.” I’d pick up my own bottle, see if I could get some good Canadian Rye. Smoother than my usual, I could use smooth at that point.

Skel plunged through a waist-high line of deep green foliage, and then we were there in Forsyth Park, heading straight for the fountain.

I leaned over Skel’s neck. “Slow down!” Only the horse didn’t slow down. Skel leapt over the fountain edge and did a dive straight for the opening I’d passed through before. Even so, I wasn’t totally prepared.

Eyes closed, breath held, I felt the water pass over me, and then I was dry and the wind around us was blowing. I opened my eyes. Skel danced underneath me and I considered getting off, but it would feel unsafe to touch the ground here in the night. To walk through those long grasses that could conceal so much.

“Okay, well, let’s go find Karissa,” I said.

“Not friend,” Robert whispered.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” I muttered as Skel picked up speed until we were bouncing along through the grass. The night here was clear, the moon high, and the light from it cast long shadows across both the land and the glittering sea out to my left.

I will say that part of Faerie called to me. In that moment, I just wanted to stand around and look at things. To wonder at the strange beauty of it. I turned away from the sea and, like before, there was the wood calling to me, the viewing pool, and the queen of the fae standing next to it.

No more pantsuit this time. She was dressed in a flowing red dress that split up one side, showing off a long, pale leg. The top was loose, and it hung to just above her nipples. My first thought was how in the hell was she keeping the dress up? My next was to wonder if she and J-Lo were related what with the impossible dresses that no mortal woman could pull off.

I shook my head. “Where is Feish?”

“That slave? She is here.” Karissa waved her hand to the left and Feish stepped out of the circle. Her bulbous eyes were wide, and I saw the fear in them as clear as day. Karissa ignored her. “You have the fairy cross?”

I opened my mouth and a buzzing like an oversized mosquito thrummed up behind me. Kinkly landed on my back, right in the middle where Karissa couldn’t see her. “Ask for payment first. Or you’ll have no chance of getting anything. If you can get her to hand it over first, then you can make a run for it.”

In other words, I needed to find my opening to make that happen, and that meant talking to Karissa, in order to find that opening.

I cleared my throat. “Where is my payment?”

Karissa’s face didn’t so much as twitch, yet I knew in my gut she was peeved I’d asked for the payment upfront.

“How many nights did you watch again?” she asked softly.

I smiled. “Actually, it doesn’t matter how many nights. You agreed to pay me double what you would have paid for the entire ten days, regardless of how many nights I was there. And of course, Feish will come with me.”

Now her face did tighten, just at the corners of her mouth and around her eyes. “I would like to see the fairy cross.”

I kept on smiling, although I felt the negotiations sliding in an undesirable direction. “And I’d like to see the payment first.”

Really, it was a matter of who could hold out longer. As much as I needed this payday, I’d walk away from our negotiations if I had to in order to keep me and Feish safe. “And Feish can come on over this way.”

“The filthy river maid stays here,” Karissa snapped, her façade breaking. “She has kept me occupied and I would like to know why.”

My own smile shifted until I was baring my teeth at her. Skel snorted and stomped a foot, and Robert tapped my shoulder. “Not friend.”

“Feish is coming with me. And she kept you occupied so you would stay the duck out of my way.” I slid off the saddle and landed on my feet without so much as a wobble. Mind you, I was mad as a wet hen and about as ready to peck her eyes out for trying to keep Feish.

I stood there, fingers brushing lightly against the handles of the knives. “I suggest you send her over, or you can kiss these negotiations goodbye.”

Karissa blinked. “You would throw away your payment for a slave? You are no better than Crash.”

“For a friend,” I said. “No amount of money is worth her life.”

Feish’s big lips bobbled and a tear slid down her yellow-green skin. I looked back to Karissa, who was watching me.

Kinkly tugged at my shirt again. “She won’t give you payment. I think . . . I think she might try to kill you and take the fairy cross.”

“Bless your heart,” I said softly, a part of what I’d read about dealing with the fae coming up from my memory banks. I just had to get to Feish and get back to Skel and Robert. Easy peasy, right? “You think you can keep my friend, the fairy cross, and all the payment you owe me?”

Karissa smiled wide, her beauty still there, but I suddenly knew why she and Crash hadn’t worked out. She really was not very nice.

“I’m quite sure I can. This is my place of power, and you came willingly,” Karissa said softly. “You can’t escape now unless I give you free passage.”

I was within about ten feet of her now, and Feish was just to the left of her. “You know that thing about making deals with the fae?” I asked.

Karissa laughed. “Yes, you didn’t put it in writing, you foolish child.”

I laughed right back at her. “Right, which means I don’t owe you shit. The fairy cross is mine, and by all rights, I don’t have to give it to you.”

Her face flashed with shock first and then anger as she processed the double-edged sword. The no contract thing worked in my favor too. She locked eyes with me with an intensity that made me think she had to poop. “You will give me the fairy cross.”

“That’s a no from me.” I took a step to the left, closer to Feish, as I pulled one knife clear of its sheath. “I mean, a really large no, if you want to be exact. You were never going to pay me, were you?”

I was within distance of Feish so I reached out and pulled her hard behind me. Karissa just gave me that same poop stare as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Give me the cross!”

“Nope.” I kept my eyes on her and pushed Feish behind me toward Skel and Robert. “Also, you can get a great laxative to fix the constipation. I think my ex used one with a purple cap.”

She threw her head back and a scream of pure rage erupted out of her mouth. I shoved Feish up onto Skel’s back, not caring if she could see the beast or not, and climbed on after her.

“Go. Go! Back to Forsyth Park!” I yelled, and Skel leapt forward. Feish bounced along in front of me, Robert behind, and Kinkly clinging to my shoulder.

“You have to hurry! She’ll close the opening!” Kinkly yelped.

“Can we slow her down?” I yelled back.

I twisted to see Karissa headed our way on the back of a large stag, her hair swept out behind her and a literal storm cloud in her wake. There was no way we’d make it all the way to the gateway if we didn’t do something. If I didn’t do something.

“Get them home, Kinkly!” I yelled and pushed myself off the saddle. I tucked myself into a ball, rolling with the fall but feeling every bounce in my bones.

This was really going to be a bitch tomorrow.

23

I didn’t bother to pull both knives. Her power was pretty obvious, and I knew I couldn’t fight her and win. But I could buy my friends the time they needed to get out.

“You know,” I said as she slowed to a stop in front of me, “I thought you were pretty cool when we met. But you’re just another mean girl, aren’t you?”

The stag lowered his head as if he would impale me and I took a step back. “Look, you don’t have to be like this.”

Karissa held a hand out and bands of air wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my sides. “You are causing me no amount of grief.”

I didn’t panic, didn’t attempt to escape from the hold she had on me but instead went limp. “You don’t seem to understand. I am looking out for my friends, and for Savannah. That’s my job.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I want to hate you.”

“Why?” I spluttered. “I did nothing but try and help you until it became apparent you were a two-faced liar.”

Her jaw jutted out. “Because.”

I blinked up at her. “That’s a child’s answer.” Okay, in retrospect, perhaps that wasn’t the smartest thing to say given I was already in a boa constrictor’s hold of air bands I couldn’t see. She tightened her hold and I squeaked. “Are you one of the four baddies?”

Her hold on me loosened. “What?”

I sucked in a deep breath, and I’m not sure why I asked the next question, only that it seemed like a why-the-hell-not kind of moment. “Four, there are four more assholes who want to do damage to Savannah. I’ve killed the O’Seans, so that takes one off the list. Are you one of the remaining asswipes?”