A flutter of wings turned me forward again.

Kinkly motioned at me with both hands. “Come on, this way. Lady Karissa waits for you at the seeing pool.”

I took a step, then stopped and frowned, recognizing the name but not placing it. “Lady Karissa?”

“Yes, that’s her!” Kinkly smiled and flew away before I could ask her another question. I strode after her, parting the long grass with ease, the stalks reaching to my elbows and the seed heads tickling me. As we walked, I took note that the landscape didn’t change much. The wind was warm, the air sweet, the scenery beautiful, but it felt . . . empty. Even the smaller critters were gone now.

A glance to the left showed a glittering sea, the waves beckoning, but there was no accompanying sound of crashing water. It felt like I was looking at a painting, like the waves weren’t even moving. I shook my head.

“Enough to drive one crazy.” My gaze shifted forward again, and I took two more steps and stumbled to a stop. A ring of trees lay ahead of me, clustered tightly together except for a narrow opening. That hadn’t been there when I’d stopped to look at the glittering but lifeless sea. I found myself touching the bag on my hip, feeling for the knives that I always carried with me. They had gotten me out of a scrape or two already. I really hoped I didn’t have to pull them out here.

The waist-high grass around me parted as I walked toward the ring of trees. Kinkly didn’t hesitate but shot ahead into the middle of the space and landed on a tree branch on the right-hand side. I stood at the entrance for a moment and took stock of what I was really looking at.

The seeing pool was a circular ring of metal about four feet around just set on the ground with what looked like a mirror nestled within it. So not water at all. I took a couple of steps in, wanting a better look, and the trees behind me groaned and closed off my escape route. Across from me, a shadow dipped away through the far trees, but I couldn’t make out if the person was even male or female. Or a person. But whoever or whatever it was, it was slinking, definitely slinking.

“Kinkly, did you lead me into a trap?” I asked as I slid my bag strap off my shoulder and reached in carefully for my knives.

“No, but if I did I’d say no too, so maybe? No. I don’t think so?” She seemed uncertain by the end, which did not bode well. “I hope not.”

Yeah, that did not bode well at all. What had I gotten myself into this time?

I should have paid more attention to my gran’s book. I knew better, but here I was following a fairy into the middle of a literal nowhere.

The far side of the ring of trees, right where that slinking shadow had dipped out of view, parted, the trees bending, almost bowing before the woman who stepped out of the shadows. A woman I recognized. “Karissa from Vic’s on the River’s bathroom?”

Yeah, not exactly the classiest of greetings, or meetings for that matter.

Her hair was coiled up onto her head in an intricate crown braid, a weave of colors ranging from darkest black to a golden hue so bright it would rival actual gold. On top of the braid was a legit crown, though it was small, delicate, and very much an understated piece if you ignored the massive diamond in the middle of it the size of an orange. She’d been pretty at the restaurant, but my mind had forgotten the details of her, which meant some sort of fae magic had probably kept me from being able to identify her. Clever.

She wore that same lovely pantsuit and refined top that I had taken note of. Rather elegant, and understated like the crown. She clasped her hands in front of her, nails filed to perfect points and painted a deep red, closer to black than red. I took all the details in, the nails somehow keeping my attention more than anything else.

Her smile was soft, nothing like those nails. “Yes, we met quite by chance. I’d like to think it was fate bringing us together. Did the makeup help your confidence that day?”

I blinked a couple of times, reaching up to touch my face. Sure, it was dry, but no doubt the rain had washed all of Kinkly’s hard work away. Hopefully it hadn’t also left makeup stained all over my face. “Actually, I forgot that I was wearing it. Constant issue with me.”

Her lips curled upward. “Excellent. I don’t need a doddering old fool, or a woman obsessed with how she looks. I need help, Breena O’Rylee, and I do believe you are the only one who can actually help me.”

I mimicked her stance, clasping my hands in front of my body. Like I said before with Kinkly, I knew manipulation when I saw it. Or, more accurately, when I felt it. Himself had taught me that much. “So what you mean is, Eammon turned you down.” I suspected he was the doddering old fool, though I wasn’t sure who the woman obsessed with her looks would be. Could it be Suzy? It was possible.

The frown that flashed across her face made me think of a lightning strike. There and gone before I was even sure I’d seen it, but the afterimage was burned into my mind.

Power. That was what she held, and she had it in spades.

If I weren’t careful, I’d be on the receiving end of one of those lightning strikes.

“He did.” She gave a slow nod. “In fact, every single one of the mentors turned me down.”

“Why?” I looked her straight in the eye. “I assume you offered a good payment?”

“I did.”

“So why would they turn you down? I get the sense they could use the money.”

Her jaw twitched. “I need someone to watch over a fairy ring for me. Starting now, and running for as long as ten days.”

So she didn’t want to tell me why Eammon had turned her down? Interesting. I’d have to circle back to it.

“Ten days. During what time periods, or are you looking for solid surveillance?”

“Ten days, specifically between three a.m. and noon. When you finish your training tonight, you will go straight there.” Her eyes, I realized, were many colors, shifting with the light around us. At that moment they were soft gray, like clouds.

“And what exactly would I be surveying?” I unclasped my hands. “Something dangerous?”

“No, a fairy ring is full of fairies.” Karissa walked around the metal ring toward me. “They are doing important work, and I need to ensure they are not disturbed. I cannot be there at all times.”

I doubted she was telling me everything, or even a fraction of the truth. The urge to grab Gran’s book and do a quick read-up on fairies was strong. Later, I’d look later. “Okay, so you can’t be there at all times, and you want me to watch over them. So who exactly is going to bother them?”

Her face paled and then tensed and then went back to being pale. “This is where I’m not sure. The Unseelie have been active lately, far more active than I have ever seen them. I fear that they will make a bid for my throne.”

Pursing my lips, I nodded as if I knew what the hell she was talking about. Unseelie, the word tugged at my mind, but I couldn’t place what an Unseelie was, so I went for the bluff.

“How exactly would they do that?” I raised both eyebrows. “I mean, would it be an insurrection, or is there some sort of object they’d need to steal, like your crown?”

Her lips tightened and I swear she rolled her eyes. “The crown is just a symbol. The relic the fairies are searching for is far more powerful and important. If the Unseelie get their hands on it, then it would mean war between the humans and the fae. That is the Unseelie goal, and trust me, you do not want that. No one—except the Unseelie—wants that.” Her words had power and bite to them, but I let them roll off me. I wasn’t going to be pushed into a job that Eammon and the rest of the Hollows had said no to.

“Is there a specific Unseelie you are worried about?” I really needed her to spell this out for me. “Could you give me a description so I at least know who to look for?”

Kinkly flew up to my right. “All Unseelie have a mark on them, a mark here.” She spun and lifted up her hair, showing off the back of her neck. “A mark of the crescent moon showing that they walk in the darkness.”

I stared at her. “So I’m supposed to ask anyone who shows up to lift their hair?”

“You can assume any who disturb the fairy ring are there to cause harm. They are either Unseelie or friends to the Unseelie.” Karissa’s voice was soft. “I realize this is a great task, and so the payment is accordingly high. I offer you one gemstone for every successful day that you watch over the fairy ring.”

From her pantsuit pocket she pulled out a handful of stones. Precious gemstones. Very large gemstones that I knew would fetch some serious money. My friend Mavis had inherited a ruby ring from her grandfather—whom she quite rightly hated, but that’s another story—and she’d sold it. That ring had been worth over twenty thousand dollars, and it was half the size of the gems I was looking at, and some of these were diamonds.

This was a two-hundred-thousand-dollar payday, on the low end, if the Hollows didn’t get their cut. Maybe enough to convince Crash to sell me back my gran’s house? No, I didn’t think so either, but it would be a good start.

Still, I knew better than to be hasty. No amount of money could give me back my life if I was killed in the line of duty. And I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that I wouldn’t have to give the Hollows a cut regardless of their lack of involvement. I’d signed a contract with them. I’d have to look it over, see if there was a non-compete clause.

“What is the item?” I asked.

Her hands clenched. “It is a valuable artifact that holds the power to control all of Faerie. It has been found by the Unseelie. I must gain hold of it as soon as possible so I can hide it once more.”

I pursed my lips, mulling her words over and looking for loopholes. “And you can’t get it yourself, why? Because I can feel the power rolling off you. Shouldn’t you be able to just pop on in there and grab it?”

She smiled and dipped her head. “You are perceptive; that is what I need in the one who watches over the fairy ring.” Karissa paused and held out her hand, a ball of purple energy lifting above her palm. “Yes, I am powerful, but the spells laid over the fairy ring and the item in question are old, and a direct approach is not possible. Only a select few can break through the layers of protection.” She snapped her fingers and the purple energy slid away.