changeling chronicles 03 - faerie realm (5 page)

I had no intention of going back to that place, no matter how my magic reacted. It might have belonged to Avakis once, but I wielded the power now, and could make it my own.

I couldn’t help walking to the bathroom mirror to check my reflection looked normal, just in case. Everything felt… off. The buzzing sensation from using magic hadn’t died down, and I felt like I could go one-to-one against a faerie lord. I washed my hands, trying to clean the glitter from my nails, and scowled at my reflection. Were my eyes a shade brighter blue, too, or had my paranoia made me imagine things?

A faint, fragrant smell wafted over my shoulder. I turned around, my spine prickling. My bedroom door lay slightly open, where I was sure I’d closed it.

“George?” I checked, but he was on the sofa—asleep. Thank god.

Who’d opened my door, then?

I went to grab Irene before heading into my room. Inside, nothing appeared changed, aside from… something lying on the bed. A bunch of roses.

Crash.

I whipped around, wielding the sword, and ran into the hall. Isabel stood in the entryway, eyes widening. “Er… Ivy? It’s me.”

“Yeah. I think someone else was in the flat.”

“George?”

“He’s asleep.” I shook my head, disorientated. “Sorry. You made me jump. I went in my room, and some goddamned faerie left roses here.”

I walked back into my room and picked them up.

“He also left this note,” said Isabel, with an amused expression. “Oh, Ivy. You have an admirer.”

“What?” I stared in disbelief. “No—he wouldn’t.”

Yes, he would. And I was officially the biggest idiot this side of the faeries’ realm. Well, Vance couldn’t have known the memories I associated with the smell of roses. How could he? I’d never told him.

I groaned. “Why didn’t he warn me? He scared me to death.”

“He’ll be pleased to hear that.” Isabel’s muffled laughter followed me back into the living room. “What’s with the glitter?”

I groaned again. “Don’t ask.”

Thankfully, she didn’t—at least until we’d checked George was still asleep. Isabel drew the short straw and volunteered to sleep on the camp bed to make sure he didn’t go wandering off during the night and set off another spell.

In a whisper, I told her about my magic, and Erwin, and my general incompetence with small children. Not that Isabel was much better. “Damn that glitter spell,” I muttered, flicking purple sprinkles off my jeans. “Should’ve set it up at the gate.”

“At least we know it works,” she said. “So we can defend ourselves against Vance’s displacing ability.”

“Ha ha. How was the meeting?”

“Cut short early. The shifters got rowdy outside so we decided to head home. Apparently one of them went missing today.”

I looked at her. “Missing?”

“Yeah, a shifter disappeared near half-blood territory.”

Oh, shit. “Half-blood territory.”

“The borderline. It’s a little scary out there, with them howling and screaming behind the fences.”

“Hmm…” I shook off the brief paranoia. Not everything meant a faerie conspiracy.

Of course I was kidding myself. I gave it twelve hours before my life imploded again.

***

Sure enough, I woke at stupid o’clock to a rapping on the flat door. My phone buzzed. I got up, dislodging glitter from the bed, figuring the Cavanaughs had come to collect their son.

Then I saw the time. Six a.m. The Cavanaughs wouldn’t have transformed back into human form long enough to undo the wards keeping them locked in their flat yet, would they? I didn’t feel particularly human myself. Rubbing my eyes, I checked I was vaguely decent before leaving my room.

Another rattle. I yawned and opened the door into the flat. “It’s kinda early, isn’t it, Henry—”

“Nice,” said Vance, eyeing my bright purple pyjamas. “What’s with the glitter?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Sorry I woke you. I just met with Lord Evander and I thought you’d like to hear what he had to say.”

“Why’d he want to meet at the crack of bloody dawn?” I ran a hand through my hair. I hadn’t combed the tangles out of it yet. “Is it about the…” I cut myself off, glancing over my shoulder. George hadn’t woken yet. I’d also forgotten I’d left the roses in an empty glass jar on the sideboard. “Oh. Thanks for freaking me out yesterday.”

He frowned. “What? The roses?”

“I thought the Lady of the Tree came into the flat. Don’t do that.”

“You thought I was a faerie trying to kill you?” He stared incredulously. “That’s a new one. I thought roses were pretty unambiguous.”

To most people, yes. “You’ve never met the Princess of Thorns. Flowers and I… don’t get on. Or most plants, really. Except possibly cacti.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. You don’t like music, you don’t like flowers… what objection would you have to going to the Castle?”

“None, because I’ve never been there.” Probably because the fancy restaurant in mage territory was several miles outside my price range.

“Good. I’ll get us a reservation. I take it you’re otherwise unoccupied this evening.”

“Uh.” I licked my lips. Vance’s closeness, and scent, weren’t doing much to wake up my scrambled brain cells. “I’ll ask Isabel to take over babysitting. I’d ask you to come in, but we’re watching a shifter kid. What did the necromancer have to tell you?”

“Nothing suitable to say in front of a small child,” said Vance, stiffening suddenly. A cold breeze kicked up, and goose bumps prickled all over my arms.

“Who are you?” demanded a voice.

Henry Cavanaugh walked downstairs, staring openly at Vance. He was in human form in jeans and T-shirt, but judging by the claw marks on his face and the dark circles under his eyes, it’d been a rough night.

“Mage Lord Colton,” said Vance. “And you are Ivy’s neighbour, right?”

“Cavanaugh,” he said, keeping a steady distance from Vance.

The air turned cold as Vance’s eyes darkened to the grey before a storm. “You’re a shifter, are you?”

“Full-blooded. Colton. I thought I knew the name. Your uncle—”

“—has nothing to do with me,” said Vance.

I looked from one to the other, clamping down on the instinct to flee. These were like two wolves squaring up to one another—and it was pretty obvious who’d win in a fight. Henry’s eyes flashed yellow, and alarm shot through me.

“Hey—”

Vance moved subtly, placing himself between me and Henry—except Vance himself was the target.

“If you have a problem with me, we’ll take it outside.”

“I have a problem with your family,” said Henry. “Briana hasn’t come back, and she disappeared on
your
turf.”

Whoa.
“The missing shifter?” I asked.

Henry ignored me. “Your uncle thinks he has free run of our territory when everyone knows what a liar your grandfather was—”

“Quiet,” said Vance. “I am not responsible for anything my family does, but if you go within a mile of their house, you’ll have to answer to me.”

Oh boy. Alarm and curiosity clashed, but like hell did I want to watch Vance fight with my neighbour.

“Hello?” I said loudly to Henry. “Your son’s right behind me, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Henry’s gaze drifted past Vance, the yellow tint to his eyes fading slightly. “
You,”
he said to Vance, “are to stay away from my son.”

“I’m not threatening your child,” said Vance in the condescending tone I’d once despised. “Pull yourself together and consider taking responsibility for your own kind rather than blaming me for your mistakes.”

A flush suffused Henry’s face. “Get
away
from there.”

“Hey!” I said, jabbing Vance with my elbow. “Get out of the way. We’ll talk outside. I need to—”

But he’d disappeared in a rush of air. I stepped back, cursing silently.

Henry stared after him, eyes returning to their usual pale brown colour. “What… magic was that?”

Him trying to intimidate you. And succeeding.
“He’s Mage Lord. What was that about?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “He—Colton—isn’t a friend to shifters. His grandfather did… bad things, when he lived on our territory.”

Damn. I hadn’t known Vance’s shifter family had a reputation more dire than his own. “Sorry to hear that, but we were discussing something important.”

“Ivy?” George mumbled from behind me. “What’s going on? Dad?”

“Here. Come in.” I closed the door as Henry came into the flat. “What happened? Did someone really disappear yesterday?”

“A female shifter named Briana,” said Henry in a low voice. “George? What’s that glitter for?”

Here we go again.

***

By the time he’d gone, I was thoroughly rattled, not to mention reluctantly wide awake. Once I’d showered, properly dressed and stocked up on coffee and a stack of toast to wake myself up, I assessed my options for the day.

“Two options,” I said to Isabel. “See Vance and ask him about the necromancers, or go back to half-blood territory and poke around with tracking spells. Preferably without anyone attacking me.”

“See Vance first,” said Isabel, munching cereal on the sofa. “Knowing you, if you go off alone, you’ll get chewed on by a kelpie again.”

I gave her a look. “Nice to know you have faith in me.”

“I know what you’re like. Anyway, I thought you wanted to hear what the creeps had to say.”

“Not really. They still haven’t apologised for taking away my money.”

“They haven’t? Dicks.”

The doorbell rang. Well, that saved me the bother of messaging Vance. I walked out into the corridor, assuming Vance hadn’t teleported inside because he thought Henry was still here. Bloody shifters and their mood swings.

I opened the flat door. The mailman stepped away from me. “Good. No sword this time.”

“What?” I said blankly, before it registered that the mailman had placed a considerably large box in front of me. “What is this?”

“Special delivery, apparently. Sign here.”

I obliged, signing the paper. What had Vance done this time? He’d already bought me half a department store’s worth of clothes. And shoes.

The answer… cacti. A dozen of them. I stared into the box, like the prickled plants would reveal the secrets of the universe.

Isabel came up behind me. “What’s that?”

“Trouble.”

“Of the romantic kind? Or magical?”

“I’d rather deal with magic right now,” I said. “I don’t even believe this.”

“He figured you didn’t like the roses, then? This is an alternative?”

“I mentioned cacti in passing.” I sighed and picked one of them up. “I didn’t say, ‘please buy me twelve and park them on the doorstep.’ What am I even supposed to do with these?”

“Keep them. They’ll add character to our flat.”

“You do realise we’re supervising a small child for the next week, right?” I sighed. “Tell you what, put them on the lawn. Might deter the creepy-ass faerie who’s watching our house.”

“Watching our house?”

Oh, shit. I picked up the cacti box and carried it into the hall. “George seems to think there’s an ‘elf lady’ watching him. The way he described her sounded like one of the faeries. When he saw me use magic…” I trailed off, frustrated. “I don’t understand how it even happened. It’s like my magic has a mind of its own.”

The thought sent a fresh wave of worry crashing over me. I’d barely begun to claim the magic as mine, but what if it was too tied to Avakis for me to ever be able to control? I could never give the power up. I’d won it. And it wasn’t like there were a dozen older, wiser people to ask advice from when as far as I knew, no human had ever taken magic from a Sidhe lord before.

“Don’t worry,” said Isabel. “You’ve had a rough go of it lately. Bound to be some side effects. At least you aren’t turning into a hairy wolf or lizard creature every night.”

“Fair point.”

Once we’d carried the cacti into the flat, I grabbed my phone and messaged Vance.
Hey. Where are you?

Outside your door.

I shook my head, a smile forming despite myself. I hadn’t put him off, and neither had my neighbours. Not that I had a bloody clue what to do with all those cacti.

“Vance Colton,” I said, opening the flat door. “I should have left a dictionary for you in return so you could look up the word ‘overcompensating’.”

“Someone’s prickly today.”

I groaned. “Please, for the love of fluffy kittens, tell me you didn’t buy a dozen cacti so you could make that pun.”

He smirked. “If I said yes, would you admire me for forward thinking?”

“I’d be surprised the Mage Lord didn’t have better things to do with his time.”

“Few things are as entertaining as you are. I remembered you were working on tripwire spells to prevent faeries from attacking you, so I thought I’d contribute.”

“I think glitter might be more effective.” I shook my head at him.

“They’re a hybrid species. Didn’t you read the note?”

“No…”

“Witch-charmed cacti that can destroy any other plant which comes into contact with them. Just in case the Lady of the Tree decides to use more extreme methods to make you fulfil the vow.”

“That’s…” Good thinking, actually. “I hope Isabel finds the note before she puts them anywhere near her flowerbeds. Are you going to tell me what Lord Evander had to say?”

“Yes, but not here.”

He took my hand and transported us into his office. “Unfortunately, you’re not going to like what I have to say.”

Oh, boy. “What?”

“Lord Evander agreed to refund the money he took, but on condition that neither you nor anybody associated with you goes near the guild again.”

“Even if we’re being chased by zombies?” I arched a brow. “Seems harsh.” Dammit. Should have figured. I’d have to find another way to speak to old Frank the ghost again.

“Lord Evander was incredibly displeased at the last veil incident.”

“So was I. I
died.”

Vance’s eyes flashed. “I didn’t tell him. He might be harmless if incompetent, but it’s not information I want to pass into the wrong hands.”

“Me neither.”

“Furthermore,” said Vance, “I’m stationing a rotating guard near the guild, and all the points that overlap with the Ley Line.”