Fairy Keeper (32 page)

Then her father stepped out of the door. At first, Sierra would have sworn she had shrunk two feet, back to the child who feared him so. He looked thinner than she remembered, but his walk remained powerful. His cold eyes made her shoulders tighten, and his snake-like gracefulness still sent shivers of fear down her back. She shook her head and remembered that her covert plans to escape soon with Phoebe meant he didn’t have a hold on them anymore. They would be free.

Sierra beamed, a smile that made Jack blink, and she ran the rest of the way down the path, with Queenie now flying at her shoulder.

“We did it!” Sierra called, struggling to keep her surging triumphant feelings hidden. If she seemed like she was bragging, he might cause problems. All she wanted was to see Phoebe. His plans to send her away in a year didn’t matter at all now. Sierra would have Phoebe far from him long before he could send her to Bentwood.

Jack glanced at the queen as he approached Sierra. Queenie’s wings shimmered in the golden light, and Jack offered Sierra a quick, tight smile when he stopped right in front of her.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to get the new hatch set up today,” he said.

Today? This wasn’t the response Sierra expected, but she supposed he was anxious to start making money.

“Is Phoebe inside?” she asked, wondering why Phoebe hadn’t run out to greet her. Sierra craned her neck to peer around her father. “
Phoebes
?”

Micah, Nell, and Corbin were still several paces back. Sierra’s father caught Nell’s eye and waved her forward. She glanced at Corbin but immediately followed Jack’s orders. Sierra pressed her lips together. Perhaps Nell was thinking twice about finding another occupation even though she was with Corbin. Sierra couldn’t even blame her. Jack was a hard man to cross.

“Sir?” Nell asked, ready, shoulders straight and tall.

“You’re two days late,” he said.

Nell’s brow furrowed, and it looked like she was counting to herself.

Between Sierra’s passing out and Nell’s near-coma state, missing time would have been easy. Maybe they’d all been unconscious after the fairy attack longer than they had known. They might really be too late, Sierra realized, panicking. Coldness filled her stomach. Her throat was closing up. “What are you saying, Jack?”

“Your sister is already gone. The deal is done, Sierra. Mr. Bentwood collected her and took her to Port Iona two days ago. She should be arriving there right about now, in fact.”

His eyes were thunderous, as if he somehow blamed her for the early loss of his youngest child. Fury flamed inside Sierra, and she took a step toward him, her hands fisted. She was ready to pound him into the ground, and it was written all over her face.

“Really?” was all he said, voice soft, but his hand slid to his hip. Before she could blink, the silver flash of a knife was at her throat. “Never threaten me, daughter. Ever.”

Then he lowered the knife and stepped back. Nell shifted her feet.

“I realize the news about Phoebe comes as a shock and you are not in your right mind. Go now to your hatch, and we’ll not speak of this again.”

He clearly thought he was being magnanimous, Sierra thought. Showing her mercy.

This time when the rage and grief flowed, she let it surge through her like an unbroken, wild horse. Her hand snapped out without her conscious thought. The back of her hand connected to his face with a resounding crack, exactly as he had done to her too many times to count. It was extremely satisfying. Nell froze. Sierra barely noticed Micah or Corbin coming up behind her. Her blood thrummed with the deep desire for revenge against the man who sold his daughter to keep himself in money.

“You’ll regret this. I’ll see to it,” Sierra promised, and the threat was loud in the warm morning sun. She meant every single word.

He gave one shout of laughter, but it wasn’t funny at all. It was chilling. He wiped away a trickle of blood dripping from his split lip. She hoped it stung.

“You can try. But Sierra, if you fight me, you’ll die, and even now I don’t want that.”

She shook her head and backed away. “I’m going to get her. You stay away from her.”

He narrowed his eyes and stopped touching his lip. “I gave my word. She belongs to Bentwood.”

Sierra understood the situation. She did. He’d kill her before letting Phoebe leave Bentwood. “Well, I gave my word I’d save her.”

Jack sighed, and her brain screamed to run, but she couldn’t move. She was rooted to the ground, aware he was about to throw that knife or stab her, anything to keep her from disrupting his plans. His word had to stand or it wasn’t good for anything.

But before he could send the knife flashing through the air, Nell drew her bow. Jack and Sierra both sucked in identical breaths. Nell’s arrow was nocked, ready and aimed―right at Jack.

His lips twisted as he lowered his weapon and raised his hands slowly beside his head. “I’m surprised she won you over, Nell. I figured you for more loyalty. And our Sierra can be quite irritating.”

Nell’s blue eyes were wide, but otherwise not one inch of fear showed. Sierra was proud, like a mother watching a child taking its first steps.

“You’re not lying, sir,” Nell said, “But I’m sorry. I can’t let you do that.”

“You going to kill me?”

“No, sir. I wouldn’t do that.” But she didn’t lower her bow.

What would Nell do with her little sisters now? Surely any other way of leaving Jack’s business would be preferable to pulling a weapon on him. He might have released her from his crew without a fuss if she had asked just right―but not after this.

So much for their careful plan. They all started backing away from Jack. Sierra’s queen made several piercing high-pitched yelps and then streaked off across the field without an explanation.

“Don’t do something you will all regret,” Jack said, his hands still next to his head, Nell’s bow still drawn.

Her breath was coming fast now, and Sierra wasn’t sure if Nell was about to have another fit or just a nervous breakdown. She had ruined her own future in one short moment. Guilt stabbed Sierra. Jack wouldn’t forgive this. Plus, trying to learn a new skill like healing took time, and now she didn’t have any.

Sure, Sierra had thought working for Jack was a terrible future, but it made sense, once she listened. She understood doing whatever it took to provide for your family. One thing was for sure: Nell’s family couldn’t stay in the village anymore. Sierra looked at Corbin and mentally willed him to understand. Jack would kill Nell’s family or use them as hostages as punishment for her betrayal.

As soon as they were out Jack’s sight, Sierra told Nell, “Go get your family. Bring what they need, and all your coins, too.”

Relief and gratitude rushed over her face. She took off at a run that made Sierra’s fastest speed look impossibly slow.

Corbin’s dark eyes were full of surprise and thankfulness. “You’re willing to take her whole family with us?”

Sierra understood his response. It wasn’t something she would have done before this trip.

“She saved my life, Corbin. My father’s not hurting her sisters or her mother. Ever.” The words came out in a huff. But Jack also had a lot of people working for him, so they needed to get out of here before he could send out word to hurt or assassinate them.

Micah leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Honor. This is what I mean.”

Threatening her own father was pretty much the opposite of honor to her. But when Micah leaned back and met her eyes, their connection bolstered her, made her feel stronger. She had no idea what the wisest course of action would be. But she couldn’t sit around and do nothing. Luckily, her friends seemed to agree.

“Hang on, Phoebe,” Sierra whispered. “I’m coming for you.”

raveling as a group of four had been hard. Traveling with four plus Nell’s mother and three sisters was even harder. Wailing children, scraped knees, hungry people. The commotion wore on Sierra. Were they doing the right thing? The fairies, though, provided constant entertainment for the little girls, who oohed and ahhed over every wing and every twitter.

Thankfully, Port Iona was only two days away, even traveling at the snail’s pace the children needed. They kept off the main roads and watched carefully for any signs of pursuit. When they were about half a day’s journey from Port Ionoa, they found the smallest hostel available in a remote village off the road. Corbin bargained with the innkeeper, using all his charm, and managed to arrange for Nell’s family to stay there in secret for several weeks for a good price, using a false name. Nell hugged her sisters for a long time before she let them go. There was no way they could risk her family by bringing them into Bentwood’s port, as much as she hated leaving them behind.

“We’ll come back for them as soon as it’s over,” Sierra promised her as Nell looked over her shoulder one last time before the village disappeared over the rocky hillside.

Nell nodded, saying nothing. Corbin held her hand, and Micah walked silently behind them. They picked up the pace. Sierra’s heart had taken up residence in her throat, and she begrudged every minute they had to stop and rest.

Once they arrived on the outskirts of the port near dusk, finding out Phoebe’s location took no effort at all. No one there knew Nell was foresworn, and she pretended she was checking up on her boss’s daughter, asking some of the runners. But getting to Phoebe would be a different matter. Port Iona was a peninsula that stuck out like a sore thumb into the ocean. Bentwood’s center of operations was on the tip. If Bentwood saw Sierra, it would be the end of any secrecy. The peninsula was full of his people―a fortress.

Sierra stood on a rock, gazing in frustration out at the ocean. The familiar scent of salt and sea reminded her of home. No magic mountains to climb now. They’d kicked around a dozen ideas or more about how to sneak into the city, but all the plans had more holes than a fairy net. Memories swirled in her mind from times she’d spent at various ports, but nothing surfaced to solve their dilemma.

Corbin stepped up beside her and tugged on her braid. “What are you thinking about, little sister?”

“Too bad we can’t swim that far. They’d never expect us to get to Phoebe from any other way than across that narrow road with the iron gate, but if we could swim through the gulf waters, they’d never see us coming. But it’s way too far.”

Corbin nearly slipped off the algae as he spun from the rock and shouted, “Sierra! You’re a genius!”

Before she could ask what he was talking about, Corbin turned to Micah. “Can you talk to any creature made of magic?”

Micah stared at Corbin like he’d spoken gibberish.

Corbin waved his hands, trying to get his point across. “Like with the dragon? Lots of magical creatures have the ability to speak cross-species.”

Micah shrugged. “Before I lost my voice, I could communicate with all the different animals that dwelled in my mountains. Whether or not my ability extends to other creatures, I do not know.”

“Merfolk,” Corbin announced.

They all stared at him, uncomprehending.

He growled in frustration and pointed at the water. “
Merfolk
!”

Then Sierra understood what his plan had to be, and hope rose like a fountain. “
Oh
!”