Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (33 page)

I saw Gregale at breakfast and told him I’d work with him after lunch.
 
He nodded distractedly staring at the pixie buzzing around my head.
 
It didn’t seem to matter that no one had been pixied so far.
 
I guess everyone was worried they were going to be the first.
 
That had to be a total drag for fae like Tim, everyone looking at you like you were some kind of terrorist or something.
 
Poor little pixies.
 
All they wanted to do was sing and dance and be happy.
 
All these other fae were always being so damn serious all the time.
 
In my opinion, some of them could probably use a good
pixying
.
 
Like Niles, for instance.

My complete lack of planning or forethought about today’s witch-finding mission struck me as vitally important as soon as we entered the hallway and I realized I had no idea where to go.
 
To find the correct exit door, I had to be able to imagine it, but I didn’t know where our destination was.

I stood in the hallway outside the dining room door, lost.
 
“Tim, I have no idea which way to go.
 
I’ve never been out the door you probably need.”

I heard, “Follow me,” faintly in my ear.
 
Tim flew in front of me, heading down the hallway and eventually stopping in front of a door that had a gargoyle head in the center of it.
 
That was only just a little freaky.
 
Once again I found myself wondering what the significance of these different symbols was.
 

Tim hovered in front of the door, gesturing for me to open it.
 
I thought about how much it must suck to be so little you had to have someone open every door for you to be able to go anywhere.

 
I opened the door and found myself in a dense part of the forest.
 
“Whoa.
 
Where are we?
 
And how’d you know how to find that door?”

Tim flew ahead of me again, leaving me to follow.
 
It should have been bright out here with morning sun but instead it was dreary.
 
I looked above me to the treetops but there was only grayness between the branches.
 
A heavy mist clung to the ground farther up ahead.
 
Naturally, it was the direction Tim was headed.

“Tim!”
I whisper-yelled.
 
“Wait up!”

He hovered, waiting for me to catch up to him.
 

“Tim, I’m a little worried about this place.
 
Are you sure there aren’t any Dark Fae out here?
 
You know someone’s tried to get me before, right?”

Tim came and sat on my shoulder.
 
The utter stillness in the forest made it easier to hear his tiny voice.
 
“No one knows you’re out here but me.
 
And if anyone gets close, I’ll send him to the Land of Eternal Happiness.”

“Yeah, but the last two attempts were done from a distance.
 
With arrows.
 
You won’t even see any bad guy who comes after me.”

“Good point.”

“I guess I could connect into The Green – ask it to watch over me.”

“No!
 
Don’t do that!”
 
Tim launched himself in front of me, waving frantically in front of my face.

“Fine, I get the picture.
 
Why not?”

He went back to my shoulder.
 
“She’ll hear us coming.
 
She can sense the energy.
 
She’s hooked into all the nearby ley lines.”

“Ley lines?
 
What the hell are those?”

“Energy conduits beneath the surface of the Earth.
 
You use them too.
 
If you tap in, she’ll know you’re here.
 
I’d rather show up unannounced.”

My mind was swimming with questions.
 
“First of all, Tim, how do you know about my powers?
 
And how do you know I use ley lines?
 
And how am I using them?”
 
Dammit
.
 
Every time I thought I had a handle on these powers, I discovered something totally new that called everything I thought I knew into question.
 
These ley lines were a serious curve ball.
 
How could I be tapping into them without even knowing it?

“We don’t have time for all these questions right now – but I know all about you because I was in that bell jar in that office where people were always coming in and discussing you.
 
I heard what they said about what you were doing, and it’s obvious the ley lines are involved.
 
It’s how many fae communicate with one another and the magic around us.”
 
He stopped for a second to fly in front of me and encourage me forward.
 

I fixed him with my serious look.
 
“We’re going to talk about this in more detail later.
 
I still don’t know why we have to surprise this witch.”

Tim flew back to my ear again, even though I could tell he was getting frustrated with me.
 
“Just trust me.
 
You don’t want her having too much advance notice.
 
She’s a little ... nutty.”

“She’s not going to hurt us, is she?”

“Hopefully not.
 
She’s pretty nice.
 
Not harmless, but nice.
 
Just don’t lie to her.
 
She gets upset when fae lie.”

An hour later, after climbing over fallen branches, kicking about a hundred mushrooms – a favorite pastime of mine – and tripping through the mist that had begun to gather around my ankles, we made it to a super giant, twisted up tree.
 

I’d never seen a tree this big or this gnarled.
 
The base of it was as big around as a dump truck.
 
Tim flew right up to the front of it and zipped back and forth and sideways like he was possessed.
 
As I got closer I realized he was showing me a door, cut right into the side of the tree.
 
In the middle of it was a doorknocker.
 
It was another gargoyle, exactly like the symbol on the door back in the compound.
 
Interesting
.
 
I had to remember to ask this witch what the deal was about those things.

Tim sat on my shoulder.
 
“Go ahead.
 
Knock
three
times.
 
Not four, not two.
 
Three.”

I reached up and knocked as instructed.

I waited, but nothing happened.

I reached up and began knocking like crazy, ignoring Tim’s squeaking in my ear.
 
I felt him run up my shoulder and hide in my ponytail.

“Hellooo!
 
Mrs. Witch!
 
Anybody home?”

The voice came from behind me.
 
“What do you think you are doing, foolish fae girl?”

I spun around, looking in front of me, but there was no one there.
 
Then I looked down and found the source of the voice.
 
I don’t know why, but I had expected her to be bigger than this.
 
She stood about four feet tall and she was a little hunched over.
 
The hump on her back looked painful.

“Oh, hello ... down there.
 
I’m ... uh ... here to see if you can help me with a little problem I have.”

“Huh,” she barked out.
 
“Of course you are.
 
You and all the rest of them.”

“The rest of who?”

She sneered at me.
 
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes, actually I would.”

She cackled at me.
 
“You are not afraid of me.
 
But someone here is.”

I could feel Tim shivering in my hair.

“Yeah, well, I’m not.
 
Maybe I should be, but I don’t really know who you are – and I’m not here to do you any harm.
 
So until you try to hurt me, I’m going to assume you’re one of the good guys.”
 
I did rest my hand casually on Blackie though.
 
Not to threaten her but to reassure myself.
 
I wondered if she would burn if I touched her with it.
 
That would suck to need it, pull it out, and have it act like a stupid stick and not a fucking awesome dragonfire burning fang thingy.

The witch smiled at me.
 
She had the longest teeth I’d ever seen aside from my Blackie.
 
A couple were
missing near the front, and they were as yellow as corn.
 

“Wow.
 
Nice teeth.”
 
I just couldn’t help myself.

That had her really cackling.
 
“Come inside.
 
You make me laugh.
 
It has been a long time since anyone has spoken so frankly with me.”

“Huh.
 
Well ... if you like that, we’re going to get along real well.
 
Most people don’t like it when I’m so frank.”

“Honesty is the best policy.
 
Don’t ever forget that.”

“Yeah, well some people prefer to be lied to.”

“Not me,” she said, shuffling forward.

I moved out of her way so she could get to the front door.
 
It had been painted green a really long time ago.

She passed her hand over the gargoyle knocker and I heard the door locks click back.

“Cool lock.
 
Will it unlock for me?”

“No!” she barked out, ignoring my continued efforts to make it work as I followed behind.
 
I waved my hand back and forth in front of it as I walked by, but I didn’t hear anything.
 
I was going to try it on the door at the compound when I got back.
 
Maybe it was the same kind of lock but for non-witches.

“Wow, nice pad.”
 
My eyes roamed over the inside of her house – it had been carved right into the tree.
 
“This must have been one hell of a whittling project.”
 

I heard more cackling coming from another room that was connected to the one I was in – the room she had just disappeared into.
 
This main room was lined with shelves covered in jars and other piles of things I was pretty sure I didn’t want to look at too closely.
 

She came back out of the other room with something black hanging from her hands.
 
She threw it down on the table that was in what looked like must be her kitchen area.
 
I stepped closer to see what it was and was instantly disgusted as recognition hit me.
 
“Ew, is that a
crow?”
 

“Yes!” she barked at me.

I looked at her deranged expression and decided then that Tim had brought me to the home of one bat-shit crazy witch.
 
No wonder she expected me to be afraid.
 
I probably should be.
 
I could totally hear Finn in my head.
 
‘Eatin’ crow just ain’t right.’

“Are you going to eat crow?”
 
My sick sense of humor was starting to rear its ugly head.
 
I decided as long as she wasn’t waving a magic wand at me I was probably okay.

“No!” she yelled.

I reached up and cleaned out my ear with my finger.
 
“You do realize you’re yelling every time you answer me, right?”

Tim pulled my hair.

“Ow!”

“What
?!
 
Why are you yelling?” she yelled at me.

“I’m not!
 
You are!”

“Oh.
 
I am?” she said in a softer, not so harsh voice.

“Well, you were.
 
Now you’re not.”

“Yes, my apologies.
 
I’m used to talking to Melvin and Marshall.”
 
She leaned towards me, using her hand to put up a wall next to her mouth, like she was sharing a secret with me.
 
She whispered loudly, “They’re old.”

I looked around cautiously, wondering if Melvin and Marshall were figments of her imagination.
 
My curiosity got the better of me.
 
“Who are Melvin and Marshall?”

“My rats.”

I heard Tim’s squeak at the same time I felt a small chunk of my hair being pulled out.
 
I worked very hard not to lose my temper.
 

“Tim.
 
If you fucking pull my hair one more time, I’m gonna squash you like a bug.”