Emerald City Dreamer (32 page)

"
Shhh, maybe he can still hear us." Sandy rolled herself away from the mirror, pulling Jina and Gretel to one side.

Ezra just hunched his shoulders inward, and he sat, looking at his hands with a worried expression.

Sandy grabbed Jina's arm. "His name. That opens up so many possibilities! We have full power over him. We can get him off the streets, save everyone in his path!"

After witnessing that scene, it was hard to see Ezra as some innocent, bible-hugging teenage boy. It seemed Sandy was right after all, even though Jina did not want it to be true.

"
Don't you see now?" Sandy continued. "This is what I've been saying all along. There are no good faeries. Only deceptive ones. They're all dangerous if left to their own long enough."

Well obviously not
every
faerie. There was Jett... Would Sandy turn out to be right about her as well?

"
We've got to plan," Sandy said, pulling out a notebook.

In the mirror, the figure of Ezra sat somberly, playing with a little hemp charm bracelet.

"
That thing on his wrist." Gretel pointed. "It is glamour. See how it glows? No, you don't, I forget."

"
Okay," Sandy said. "We'll take it away as soon as we nab him. We'll need to rush on preparing for this. Hollis. Hollis!"

A welding-masked-face peered out of the hallway like a robot.

"
Hollis, we're going to need the van. And I need you to finish cleaning the boxes out of the cell. Looks like we finally get to use it!"

A muffled "Yeah!" came from inside the robot-face before it disappeared again.

"
And Gretel. Go grab the stack of books on the right-hand corner of my desk." Gretel nodded, and vanished up the stairs.

Sandy smiled and sat back in the chair, a satisfied look on her face. "Thank you Jina. I couldn't have done this without your help. Not just with the spell. Since I've stopped drinking, things are just coming together. Clarity, right? It took you long enough to get through to me."

"
It did," Jina said. "And you may be right about Ezra. What are you planning? Something still doesn't seem right about killing him."

And yet, they couldn't keep him prisoner, either. There was no way they could imprison every wicked faerie they came across.

"
I've been looking into a humane option," Sandy said. "It requires a true name, and we have that now. It's all just theoretical at this point, but we can at least try. First, we have to have him in hand."

This was the kind of leader Jina had been hoping for. Sandy was finally coming around. She had just needed some time to come to grips with her fears... with the reality of facing dangerous fae.

"
Just let me know what you need me to do."

"
I will, once my plans are solidified. For now, maybe we could just talk. Like we did last week over takeout."

Jina thought about all the things she'd love to tell Sandy. Especially about her new girlfriend. But she couldn't talk about Jett. It was certainly not something Sandy could handle, even now that she was sober. Maybe she'd find the right words in a few weeks... Maybe by then she'd be convinced herself that Jett was safe.

"
How are things going with Trey?" Sandy asked. "Aren't you dating some girl?"

"
Trey is working out pretty well as a friend. There are so few people I can talk faerie stuff with. "

"
Is he going to join the Ordo?"

Jina shook her head. "He's a bit nervous about the idea. But maybe someday."

"
Too bad. We always need more help."

As far as Jina was concerned, they had plenty of help. They just needed to act more often, and more wisely.

"
What else is going on?" Sandy asked.

"
I played an amazing show Saturday. I have a date tonight with my new girlfriend, Jett. Stuff like that. How about you?" she asked. "You been up to anything lately?"

"
I found a doppelganger last week," she said, nonchalantly.

Jina wasn't sure what a doppelganger was, but it didn't sound like a good thing. She frowned at the calm in Sandy's voice. It denoted not serenity, but a cloud of denial over a deep ocean of fear and pain.

"
A
what
?"

Sandy shrugged. "You know, like a fetch, a ghostly fae who imprints on a human, copies them."

"
Holy crap, Sandy! Did it imprint you?"

Sandy shrugged again. "No idea. It got away, though. Slipped right out of the trap, just like that. It wasn't a big deal."

Jina knew this mood. Sandy tried so hard to distance herself from painful events. And now she was trying to do it without alcohol. If anything, this made her more dangerous, more volatile.

Jina sighed.

"
Anyway," Sandy continued. "I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. I should be a better friend. Feel free to talk to me about anything you want. Anytime you want. Just drop by my office. Now I'd better go see if Gretel found those books. I'm so excited!" Sandy squeezed Jina's hand and then bounded from the room.

Jina nodded. She should be happy. Sandy was trying. There were a lot of bright sides to look on. Yet somehow she couldn't quite shake the feeling that all of this, the plan, the hunt, the new leaf, the girlfriend, that all of it was a precarious sandcastle waiting for the tide.

JETT COULD NOT EAT the last bite of baklava. It was too rich.

"
I forgot how much I love Indian food." Jina sighed and sipped at her chai.

Jett smiled. Jina seemed to be loosening up a little. She had started this date really tense. They'd still kissed when they met up in front of the restaurant, but she seemed distracted, reserved, like she was protecting herself from something.

"
Baklava is not technically Indian," Jett said.

"
Have you been to India?"

"
A lifetime ago," Jett said.

"
I'll bet," Jina said, suddenly tense again. Her chaotic
blas na haislinge
flowed every which way tonight. Her dreamer seemed to relax most when speaking of the mundane things they had in common, but even that pattern was not predictable.

"
Why travel to India when Cedars, the best Indian food in the world, is only three blocks away from my house?"

"
I wish I could live three blocks away from here," Jina said. "Though I've got plenty of great places to eat on the Hill."

Jett would grant her wish, in time. "Let's walk there now, under the leaves and trees in the fading light."

Jina tensed again. "Naw. I haven't had anything to drink yet tonight. Let's find a bar."

"
Wherever you are, there so is my heart. Finn MacCool's is a few blocks the other way," Jett suggested.

Whatever was bothering her, Jett would manage to coax it out of her, one way or another. Perhaps her housemate was causing all this pain for her beautiful bard. If so, Jett would storm the gates, and steal Jina away to the safety of the brugh.

"
Finn MacCool's is fine."

Jina set a slow pace. She lit a cigarette and lingered a little in front of the abandoned Tubs Spa building to admire the colorful graffiti that covered every reachable inch. When they reached the shops, she made sure to look in every window.

Jett loved the feel of Jina's small hand in hers, her cute nose and her cello voice and the way she talked about music as if it were a heart patient and she a cardiologist. She wished they were walking in the other direction, towards her house, so she could hold Jina to her and never let go.

Jina avoided making eye-contact. They passed an unleased building where there was nothing in the windows. Jett drew her to a stop and pulled her chin up. "Hey, lovely-eyes. How about you tell me why you are so uptight?"

Jina smiled weakly. "Uptight? I'm sorry. I don't mean to be."

Jett brushed Jina's hair from her eyes. "Withdrawn, like a wounded calf. Anything you want to talk about?"

Jina's shoulders relaxed and she leaned in a little closer and pressed her cheek against Jett's. "Not really. Not yet. It's just..." She pulled back and looked Jett in the eyes. "Today I've been thinking about some stuff that happened to me a long time ago. And it's screwing with my mood."

"
What was it you said about trust on our last date?"

Jina's eyes flickered in recognition. "Some new things have happened since then. Reminders that I should be careful." She smiled half-heartedly and tugged Jett along, ending the conversation. "Come on, I want to go into this store and get some incense. Have you been here before?"

Jett mused. Gargoyles. Of course she had been here before. This woman drew herself to the fae like a lodestone.

They walked indoors, past the window decorated with goblins, into a fairyland of human design.

Layers of incense, old and new, hit Jett's nose. Dried leaves gathered along the edges of the two paths which wound around displays of fantastic figures, stone gargoyles, plaster dragons, skulls and crows, Egyptian artifacts and cats with wings. Candles flickered and shone from votive holders made of pentagrams or serpents or griffins, to the music of water trickling from several stone fountains, large and small. The dimly-lit Tudor-style walls, like the inside of an old inn, were covered with bone-framed mirrors and the leafy faces of green men.

All the fairytales ever written were stored up here, waiting for a prince to come and bring it all alive with a hundred kisses.

The store owner looked up, her long, curly red hair cascading around her elfin face. Though she was human, she looked a bit like the tiny winged fairies on display behind her.

She smiled. "Come in, Lady. Good to see you again." She dipped her head slightly in respect. "Who's this with you?"

Jina cast a quick look of suspicion before she picked up an incense burner and started showing intense interest in its Celtic design. Jett wondered if Jina had begun to suspect, and she didn't want Gayle giving her any more clues. Her little flower was not ready to hear the truth, not quite yet.

"
Gayle, you are always so polite. This is my new and lovely girlfriend, Jina, who seeks nothing more than plain, ordinary incense." Jett winked.

The shop owner took the hint and in her usual affable way, showed Jina the scents poking up from bins along the front counter. As one of the few friendly bridges between the fae and humankind, Gayle showed the necessary discretion. Under the counter, she kept a healthy stock of authentic faerie baubles and the rare relic.

While Jina sniffed at the fragrant sticks, Jett wandered to the large goddess fountain in the back of the store. She discretely greeted the hyade, Phaesyle, who stood in the water, wearing a dress the color of Seattle clouds. Tattoos ran down her thin limbs like raindrops. The bowl of the fountain was waist-high, yet even standing on its edge, Phaesyle barely came to Jett's chin. She held out her hand in expectation, and then pouted when Jett merely shook her head.

"
I know a guy who welds fire sculptures," Jett overheard Jina saying to Gayle from across the room as she handed over her credit card to buy the incense. "Some of his smaller items would look perfect in here. Assuming they don't burn the place down."

Gayle laughed. "This place has already burnt down once. That was a long time ago. Most of what we sell here is made by local artists. Send him in."

"
Will do." Jina took her card and tucked a small bag into her jacket pocket. Jett returned to her side and touched her shoulder. Jina jumped as if something had snuck up behind her.

"
I really need to chill out, don't I?" she said, laughing nervously.

"
Maybe a drink will still your waters. Come."

Finn MacCool's was more packed than Jett would have expected given how empty the streets had been. On the TV, a sports announcer called out plays for whatever sport was in season right then. Jett led her to the bar. She ordered drinks for the both of them.

Jina opened her mouth two or three times, then closed it. It was not right for her bard to be so silent.

"
My ears will accept anything you have to tell me," Jett said, expecting Jina to go into greater detail about her domestic life.

Jett felt the warmth of Jina's hand on her knee, before the dreamer leaned in to touch Jett's forehead with her own. Jett felt the breath of her sigh against her neck. "I confess," Jina said. "Since yesterday I've felt really defensive. I'm trying to open up and trust you, little by little, just like I said people should."