I clasped the amulet back onto my bracelet before accepting the kingling’s hand. “I suggest a deep breath,” he said. “This will be cold.” Then he stepped forward and the shadow overtook us.
Disorientation hit hard as between one step and the next my boots left sand and landed on crimson-colored carpet. My stomach flipped, like the moment at the top of a roller coaster when you’re hanging upside down but gravity hasn’t caught on yet so you hang suspended before crashing into the shoulder harness. If I’d looked around and discovered I was standing on the ceiling, waiting for reality to realize it and drop me, I wouldn’t have been surprised. But I wasn’t on the ceiling. I was in a plain, sparsely decorated room. The shadow we’d stepped through was cast by a large wardrobe that dominated most of one wall; a small bed huddled against another wall; and in the far corner of the room was Holly.
I let PC slide to the floor as I crossed the room in three steps. Her eyes were open, and she sat perfectly straight, her hands resting on her knees. She wore a pair of pink silk pajama bottoms and a white camisole that she must have changed into before lying down and the curse overtaking her. She didn’t move as I approached.
“Holly?” Not so much as a twitch. I waved my hand in front of her face. “Hey.”
Falin joined me. He gently moved her face toward us, but she didn’t even blink. “She’s entranced.”
“But a pretty doll,” Kyran said.
I startled, spinning around to face the nightmare kingling. I hadn’t realized he was still in the room. I’d expected him to return to his realm after he’d delivered us to Faerie, but as he settled against the wall, he looked like he planned to hang around.
I frowned at him. “She’s not a doll.”
“All changelings are dolls. Some are just more autonomous than others.”
Dread slid under my skin. She wasn’t a changeling. Was she? How much time in Faerie could pass during a day in the mortal realm?
“Damn, Holly, snap out of it.” I shook her shoulders. She slumped forward, and the dread sank deeper into my skin. I had found her. I’d traipsed through three courts, but I’d found her. And I still couldn’t rescue her.
“It won’t help,” a squeaky, high-pitched voice said, and I jumped.
A wooden birdcage hung in the corner of the room, but the creature inside wasn’t a bird. It was a small fae. He was no taller than five inches and covered with fur, but his face was more human than animal and he wore clothes like a man.
I stood and walked over to the cage. “What won’t help?”
“Calling, shaking, or any means you use to gain her attention,” the little creature said, stepping closer to the edge of the cage, but not approaching the bars. “The mistress wasn’t sure if she’d need her, so the fire witch waits. Nothing will wake her but the mistress.”
I shook my head. “That’s unacceptable.” We’d carry her out of here if we had to. Well, I’d probably ask Falin to do it, but we’d get her out of Faerie.
I stepped closer to the cage and then faltered. Something was wrong in that corner of the room; I could feel it with every atom of my being. “Iron,” I hissed as I recognized the slight tingle. “There’s iron encased in the cage bars.” Which meant this fae was not a pet but a prisoner. I reached for the door, but Falin grabbed my wrist, pulling me back.
“You don’t know what he is, why he’s in there, or what he’ll do if released,” Falin said.
I frowned and studied the little creature. It had small pink ears that looked like soft mouse ears where they stuck up around its brown hat, and big round eyes atop a human nose and mouth. It didn’t look particularly dangerous—but looks could be deceiving.
“Who are you?” I asked the small creature.
“Tiddlywinx, best glamour spinner in the oak ring,” he said, doffing his pointed hat and giving me a deep bow.
“Is the oak ring a place?” I asked Falin under my breath.
“Probably just a ring of oaks, and this little guy is as likely to be the only one who lives there as he is to be the best glamour spinner,” he said.
I mouthed, Oh, and Tiddlywinx balled his small fists on his hips as he glared at Falin. “You ruin a good title, Sleagh Maith.”
A glamour spinner, huh?
“I think I met a hydra you made,” I told the small man.
He shot up at that, his hands clasped in front of him. “My hydra? You saw it? Was it the best hydra you’d ever seen?”
“It was the only hydra I’ve ever seen.” Well, now we knew where the glamour on the constructs originated. The question was whether Tiddlywinx was a willing participant, as his excitement suggested, or coerced, as the cage made it appear.
Falin must have had the same thought because he asked, “Why did you cast those glamours?”
“Because if I refused she brought in more iron.” He shuddered. I imagined a fae as small as he was couldn’t handle very much iron.
“And what will you do if released?” I asked him, because as long as he wasn’t a creature of ultimate darkness, I was letting him out of that cage.
“I will owe you a massive debt, Sleagh Maith.”
My brows creased as I glanced at Falin. “He means you,” he whispered.
“Oh, I’m not—” Actually, I had no idea what I was or wasn’t at this point. I dropped the sentence halfway through and changed direction. “And after that where will you go?”
“Back to my oak ring. I have to see if the squirrels stole all the stores I’ve been gathering for winter.”
Good enough for me. But I still had one more question.
“Your mistress—who is she and where did she go?”
The little man shook his head. “A witch of power. She was trapped until recently and now that she’s free, she still can’t be with her lordly love. I think it addled her brain. As to where she went, I know not.”
Well, at least it was more than we knew before. I released the latch on the cage and opened the door. Falin didn’t try to stop me this time, but stepped aside as the little man jumped free.
“Oh, so much better,” Tiddlywinx said, scampering in a small circle around the carpet. PC, who’d been lying with his head on his paws, jumped up to give chase. When Tiddlywinx saw PC, he gave a loud squeak, which did nothing to convince the dog the little fae wasn’t a toy.
“No! Bad dog!” I yelled, but PC was already into the game, which I became part of once I started trying to grab him.
Tiddlywinx turned suddenly, and he wasn’t a cute mouselike fae anymore, but a giant wolverine. PC yelped, stopping so fast that his back legs skidded out under him. The wolverine charged.
“No! Don’t you hurt my dog.”
The beast stopped and abruptly transformed back into Tiddlywinx as Falin scooped up my now terrified dog.
“I meant no harm,” the little fae said. “I’m indebted to you, dear lady. What do you wish of me?”
“Can you break the curse on Holly, or at least tell me how?”
“That is magic far outside my power.”
Okay, that sucked. I glanced at Falin, and his lips thinned a moment before he said, “Could you provide us transport to a bar called the Eternal Bloom?” When I gave him a questioning look, he said only, “We can’t pass through the winter court.”
Right. The queen was probably out for my blood, and Falin—well, if he returned, he’d be hers again.
Tiddlywinx slumped, his lip protruding. “I could spin a glamour of the most beautiful horses you’ve ever seen, but I cannot create a door they could carry you through.”
And that would be a long-winded “no.” I sighed. How the hell are we going to get back to Nekros if the only door that opens to the city is attached to the winter court? I guessed we could take the next-closest door and rent a car to drive back. It would suck, but it would work.
“I might be able to assist you,” Kyran said, pushing off the wall, “but if you plan to help your friend, you’d best hurry.” He reached into the shadow and pulled the hourglass on its pole into the room. I didn’t bother asking him about it this time.
But he was right. I needed to figure out what to do about Holly. I turned toward her, and Tiddlywinx scampered around me. He vaulted onto the leg of Holly’s pants and scurried up to her knee.
“Good lady, I still owe you a favor,” he said, balancing on the top of Holly’s thigh.
She didn’t flinch. Her focus didn’t even move, and she was rather squeamish about anything that the word “rodent” could be applied to. I had the feeling that Tiddlywinx would count as one of those in her opinion. This is not a good sign.
“We’ll have to work out the details later,” I told him.
“But—”
“You heard her,” Kyran said.
I turned around and frowned at him. I noticed Falin did the same. What’s the deal with this guy? He reminded me of that kid at school who really wants to be friends with you, but you just don’t like him. Not that I’d really known Kyran long enough not to like him; I just didn’t trust him.
Tiddlywinx waited a minute more. Then he said, “Fine” and vanished.
I rocked back onto my heels and studied Holly. There has to be something I can do. Reaching with my senses, I scanned the curse on her. It was active now, draped over her like a net made of spider silk. I didn’t have the magic needed to be a curse-breaker, but maybe now that this one was out of its shell, I’d be able to do something with it. Maybe. Just maybe.
“Alex?” Falin stared at me, his eyes sweeping over my face. “What is it? You have that look like you have an idea and you know it’s a bad one but you’re going to try it anyway.”
I did have an idea. And he was right. “I can see magic,” I said, moving to stand directly in front of Holly. “I mean, ever since I began seeing the Aetheric, I started to be able to see the shape of magic and the color of spells.”