Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (28 page)

“No problem.
 
Just do me a favor and do your best to let me know when you’re reaching overload status.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked suspiciously.

“You’ll see.”
 
I hoped my work with Céline, learning how to control the flow of The Green through my fae friends, was going to work today.
 
“Here goes nothin’.”
 
I closed my eyes and reached out to The Green all around me.
 
It was different out here in the meadow, but no less powerful.
 

I took Gregale’s hands in
mine,
gently laying my palm over his burned one.
 
I opened my eyes to better gauge his uptake of the energy.
 
I could tell he was feeling it, even though it was at a very, very low level right now.

“Okay, Gregale, I’m going to kick it up a notch.
 
This is to heal your burns.
 
Just hang on and let me know when it’s getting to be too much.
 
Do you understand?”

He nodded, unable to speak.
 

I asked The Green for
more,
the healing power, and it gave it to me.
 
Lovingly, willingly, happily even.
 
I saw the rapture spread across Gregale’s face.
 
I had to force myself to keep my eyes open; it was so much more peaceful to float away in The Green and not have the outside images intruding on my flow, but I needed to watch him for signs of fae stroke.
 
I could feel his presence in the network of power – strong, steady and bright.

I looked down at his hands, both of us now enveloped in a faint green glow.
 
For some reason the green glow of the energy didn’t change the colors I saw inside it.
 
I watched the burns go from angry red to pink to nothing.
 
I slowly pulled back the energy, watching his face as I did.
 
A small frown appeared, understandably since he was now only receiving a fraction of the energy he had been getting just two seconds ago.

I let The Green go, thanking it and giving it a mental hug.
 
A long, satisfied sigh escaped my lips.
 
I smiled, looked at Gregale, hoping he wasn’t permanently in la-la land.

“Gregale?
 
Are you okay now?”

His eyes were closed, but he was smiling.
 
“I’m here.
 
I don’t really want to be, but I am.”

I squeezed his hands and let go of them.
 
He started to reach for me involuntarily.
 
I patted his hands away gently.

“No more green vibes for you today.
 
Time to go to dinner.”

He opened his eyes.
 
“Is it time, already?”

“Well, not quite, but I have some other stuff to do.”

I stood and offered him my hand, which he took and stood.
 
He looked down at his unscarred and uninjured palm, flexing it and turning it around.

“Jayne, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me today.
 
That was the most profound experience of my life.
 
To think ... I was burned by the Dark of Blackthorn and then healed five minutes later by the life force of The Green ... I am possibly the only elf in the entire known universe who can say that.”
 
He looked me in the eyes, a very serious expression on his face.
 
“I owe you a favor, Jayne.
 
One very big favor, called in at your discretion.
 
Anytime, anywhere.
 
I will do it for you.
 
That is a promise from a gray elf, which is a promise that lasts forever until the favor is repaid.”

“Wow.
 
Thanks.
 
I wasn’t expecting that.”
 
It sounded good, all official and stuff.
 
I guess what we had just done was a pretty big deal to him.
 
“You’re probably right about being the only one who’s ever been through that.
 
I know I haven’t done it before.”
 
But what did I know?
 
There could be ten other fae just like me out there.
 
And this dragon had to have at least one other fang floating around too.
 
But if it made Gregale feel special, then what the hell.
 
I could go with that.

We began walking back to the door to the compound.
 
Gregale started to wander a little in the wrong direction, so I had to take him by the elbow a couple of times.

“This way, buddy.”

“Oh, yes, quite right, quite right.
 
Sorry, I am still just a little in the clouds.”

“Speaking of clouds, I’m surprised you didn’t just fly away from me when you first got burned.”

“Well, we cannot do that instantaneously; and as you figured out earlier, all we need is someone
there
holding us and we are stuck in our regular form.
 
It is not very convenient.”

“Still, I’d like to watch you do it.
 
I watched Céline do it once.”

“She is a silver elf.
 
We have different ... techniques.”

“Good then.
 
You can show me tomorrow.”

Gregale stopped walking and turned towards me.
 
I stopped too.

“So you want to work with me again?”

I shrugged my shoulders.
 
“Sure.
 
Why not?
 
You’re not boring.”

He laughed.
 
“And neither are you, Jayne.
 
Neither are you.”
 

We both smiled at each other and then began walking again, soon reaching the door.
 
I’m not sure if I made it appear or he did, but I was specifically thinking about that figure eight pattern right before the door became visible.
 
Maybe I was getting the hang of this magic door thing.

We parted ways when I reached the entrance to the computer room, promising to meet again the next morning.
 
I went in and logged onto the computer, immediately checking my email account.
 
There were no messages.
 
I started a new one to Tony.

‘Tony, hey.
 
What’s up?
 
Where the heck are you?
 
If you don’t email me back, I’m
gonna
call the cops or something.
 
Did you get kidnapped?
 
Write me back.
 
Love, Jayne.’

There.
 
That should get a response.

I left the room intending to go to my cell, but I saw a glow around a door that I knew wasn’t the one leading to the dorm hallway.
 
I walked up and opened it slowly, realizing as the room came into view that I was once again in Dardennes’ office.
 
And once again, it was empty, except for the trapped pixie on the desk.
 
I had been thinking about him as I left the computer room, wondering if he was still there.
 
Maybe that’s why the door had appeared for me.

I walked slowly over to the bell jar.
 
The pixie had been sitting, but when he saw me, he jumped up again, gesturing to the bottom of the jar, motioning for me to lift it up.
 
He looked so hopeful
,
it was pitiful
.

I went around to the other side of the desk and sat down in Dardennes’ chair.
 
I scooted it forward so I could get closer to the pixie.
 
I hunched down, putting my arms on the desk and my face right up to the glass.

The pixie backed up a little.

I guess that must have looked pretty gruesome, my huge face up that close.
 
I backed up just a smidge, and the pixie returned to the edge nearest me.
 
Now that I was this close I could see his features better.
 
He was wearing clothes similar to the other fae, but his were green and brown and much, much tinier.
 
He had reddish brown hair and, other than his small size, seemed pretty proportional.
 
I half expected him to have pointed ears and a pointed nose, but nope – he looked like a regular person.
 
I thought I could see some tiny muscles under his tunic too.
 
I wondered if pixie girls thought he was hot.
 

I could see he was talking to me.
 
I wished I could hear him.
 
I wondered if I’d hear him if he was out of the jar, or if his voice was supersonically pitched and only dogs or werewolves could hear it.

“I wish I could let you out.
 
But that gray elf told me you would pixie me and then I’d be in crazytown for the rest of my life.
 
And apparently, elementals like me can live a long time.
 
Sorry, but I can’t risk it.”
 
I gave him my best apologetic look.

The pixie threw up his hands and stomped around, gesturing wildly.
 
Something I said had pissed him off.
 

I realized then that I could kind of tell what he was thinking by his reactions.
 
Maybe this pixie knew how to play charades.

“Hey, Pixieman, I can’t hear you, but maybe you can tell me what you want to say with signals or gestures.
 
Know what I mean?
 
Like charades?”

I saw his head nod up and down really quickly.

“I know you want to come out.
 
But if I let you out, someone’s going to get hurt.”

He shook his head vehemently.
 
Then he put his hand over his heart and bowed, as if making some kind of promise to me.

“Are you saying that you swear you won’t do anything to hurt anyone?”

He jumped up and down, clapping his hands.
 
Now I could totally picture him dancing around in a meadow.
 
He was good at the jumping for joy thing.

“You realize that when I say ‘hurt’, I mean a person could get pixied and end up forever dancing around and laughing and singing, right?”

Pixieman
looked confused at that.

“Did you know that the fae do
not
like it when you make them dance around?”

Now
Pixieman
looked at me like I was nuts.

“Yeah, it’s true.
 
I just learned that today.
 
See, I personally think we should probably dance around like fools more often, but apparently your kind of pixie spell makes the fae do it all the time.
 
And they have to be serious sometimes.”

He shook his head side to side, then skipped around a bit, smiling.
 
Then he threw his arms out like,
‘Ta da!’

“Yeah, I totally get what you’re saying.
 
Like, what’s wrong with being happy and joyful all the time?
 
But we have a war going on out here, and if we spend all our time screwing around and goofing off, we’re gonna get killed.”

Pixieman
looked horrified at that.
 
He shook his head slowly, as if he didn’t want to believe me.

“I’m telling the truth.”
 
I sat back and put my hand over my heart, making a little bow, like I’d seen him do earlier.

His teeny tiny eyes grew wider and his shoulders slumped.
 
Obviously this news of war was a not so pleasant surprise to him.

“Didn’t you know about the war?”

He shook his head no.
 
He sat down in the jar, looking into his lap.
 

“Hey.
 
Hey, Pixieman.”

He didn’t look up.

I tapped on the glass.
 
“Hey!”

He threw his hands up to his ears and shot me a dirty look.

“Oops.
 
Sorry.
 
Listen, I have an idea.
 
But if you don’t want to hear it ... ” I started to get up from the chair, pretending like I was going to leave.

He jumped up and gestured with his hands, waving towards himself.
 
He wanted to hear it.

I sat back down.
 
“I think I’m gonna let you out of here.”

He smiled and ran to the edge of the glass, pushing his nose against it.
 

I cannot adequately explain how frigging hilarious it is to see a pixie nose pressed against glass like that.
 
I nearly peed myself laughing.

Gasping I told him, “Move away from the glass.
 
You look too funny.”

He frowned at me but moved back a pace.

“Okay, so I’m gonna let you out ... on two conditions.
 
Do you understand?
 
You have to make me two promises.”