Fort Morgan (3 page)

“
Perses got out of the Sea
of Amber,” Tanesha said. “Some magic in his relationship with
Jill’s mother.”

“
She called for him,” Fin
said.

“
He arrived,” Tanesha
said.

“
They’re sure it’s him?”
Fin asked.

“
Yes,” Tanesha said. “Her
mother, sister, and Jill were there.”

“
Wow,” Fin said. “Once
again, you’re blowing my mind, Tanesha. What did you say about Ne
Ne?”

“
She came here,” Tanesha
said. “Or I thought she did. She did some magic in the basement and
collected this sludge from . . .”

“
Serpent dust,” Fin said.
“Very powerful, but that wasn’t Ne Ne.”

“
I know,” Tanesha said.
“She stole my dad!”

“
Where is Yvonne?” Fin
asked.

“
I’ve been trying to tell
you that!” Tanesha said. “She’s in grave danger.
She . . .”

“
I’m on my way,” Fin
said.

“
Wait!” Tanesha said. “The
fog-serpent said that they are trying to capture Yvonne to take
over fairydom. They expect your world to fall to the serpent.
That’s what this is about. Oh, and something about
Delphie.”

“
Of course.”

“
Of course?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Oracles and serpents are
historical enemies,” Fin said. “If you think the serpents hate the
fairies, you should see them with an Oracle.”

Abi said something in the background and Fin
replied.

“
You’re saying that the
serpents are waging war on our queendom,” Fin said.

“
They’re eliminating your
family, your friends,” Tanesha said.

“
Keenan shouldn’t have
been stuck,” Fin said.

“
He transformed,” Tanesha
said. “Remember? He gave up being a full fairy to have a normal
childhood.”

“
Shit,” Fin said. “If they
get Keenan . . .”

“
They
have
Keenan,” Tanesha
said.

Fin blew out a breath.

“
If you go to Mom, they
will attack,” Tanesha said. “The serpents believe she is something
they call ‘the prize.’”

“
She is not,” Fin said.
“But I understand why they say that.”

“
You have to save her,”
Tanesha said.

“
I cannot,” Fin
said.

“
What?” Tanesha asked.
“She needs help.”

“
She needs your help,” Fin
said.

“
How . . .?” Tanesha started.

“
I’ll go.” A woman’s voice
came from the background.

“
Ne Ne is coming to you,”
Fin said.

“
How will I know it’s her
and not that other thing that’s trying to kill my father?” Tanesha
asked.

“
You’ll feel it inside,”
Fin said. “Did you like the other?”

“
No,” Tanesha said. “I’m
mad at her for not saving my mom.”

“
She . . .,” Fin said.

“
I can help.”

Tanesha looked up to see Abi standing at the
top of their stairs. She was wearing a maroon crush velvet, floor
length gown and her hair was up. She had a round baby bump, but
otherwise looked just as she always had.

“
What are you wearing?”
Jeraine asked.

Abi looked down at her outfit.

“
I know, right?” Abi
asked. She instantly changed into her usual workout wear. “That’s
better.”

“
Is that Abi?” Fin asked
as soon as she spoke. “She’s there? She’s supposed to stay
here.”

“
I think so,” Tanesha
said. “Where do you work and why do you like it?”

“
Endorphin,” Abi said. “I
love spin classes and washing machines.”

“
She’s here,” Tanesha
said.

“
Can you put her on?” Fin
asked.

Tanesha held the phone out.

“
You need to warn the
queen,” Abi said. “Ne Ne needs to find out how to get Jake and the
others from the Sea of Amber. I can be helpful here. Yes. Of
course. I love you, too.”

She gave Tanesha a wry smile and held the
phone out to her.

“
Fin?” Tanesha
asked.

“
When your mother is safe,
call me,” Fin said. “We’ll figure out how to get the others out of
the Sea of Amber.”

“
Okay,” Tanesha
said.

“
And Tanesha?” Fin
asked.

“
Yes?”

“
Your girlfriends and
you. . .,” Fin said, “together, you are
amazing.”

“
All of the kids helped
too,” Tanesha said. “Even baby Rachel.”

“
The kids? Just amazing,”
Fin said. “Ne Ne is off to the library to research everything. In
the meantime, be safe.”

“
I will,” Tanesha
said.

“
Ready?” Abi
asked.

“
For . . .?” Tanesha started.

The next thing she knew, she was standing in
a soggy hallway of an office building.

“
Let’s go save Yvonne,”
Abi said.

She started down the hallway. Stunned,
Tanesha stared at her back for a moment before running to catch
up.

Complicated Plans

“
What are you doing here?”
Tanesha said when she caught up with Abi.

“
Saving Yvonne and
Dionne,” Abi said.

“
Wait.” Tanesha put her
hand on Abi’s forearm and they stopped running. “You were just
shot.”

“
I healed.” Abi
shrugged.

“
No really, why are you
here?” Tanesha asked. “You could be waited on hand and
foot.”

“
In my velvet finery?” Abi
asked. “Courtesan to Prince Finegal?”

“
What?” Tanesha flushed
red. “I never . . . Why are you calling yourself a
prostitute?”

“
Maybe you meant a
concubine?” Abi asked.

“
Abi,
I . . .”

“
It’s not you,” Abi said.
“That’s what the court thinks of me. I had to get away.”

Abi grabbed Tanesha’s hand and pulled her
into an office. They crouched behind a desk. A man who looked
half-cop, half-bodyguard walked in front of the office.

“
Plus, you can imagine how
hot Fin will be when I get back,” Abi said with a smile.

“
You mean Celeste is up to
her old tricks?” Tanesha asked.

Abi looked surprised and then scowled.

“
How did you know?” Abi
asked.

“
Fin.”

“
That fairy has her sights
set on Prince Finegal and she doesn’t care who knows it,” Abi said.
“She calls me the Courtesan Abi. She says she will allow him to
keep me when they’re married so as not to estrange the queen’s
favorite grandchild, Ne Ne. The queen thinks it’s funny so she
doesn’t do anything about it. I’m the mother of Fin’s only living
child, and still the Queen doesn’t do anything to stop Celeste.
Plus Celeste is a part of the court, and. . .”

Abi scowled.

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
She vacations on the
Antipodes Islands,” Abi said.

“
We’re here to save Mom
right?” Tanesha asked. She was frustrated that Abi was now
distracted by “Stupid Celeste,” Fin’s name for the
woman.

“
Of course,” Abi said. “So
you know, Celeste vacations on the Antipodes Islands.”

“
You said that,” Tanesha
said.

“
They are islands off of
the coast of New Zealand,” Abi said.

“
Um . . .”

“
Your geography is really
awful,” Abi said. “Typical American education, you really need to
know your own planet. I should get Ne Ne. . .”

“
Wait!” Tanesha exclaimed.
“What does Stupid Celeste have to do with Mom and
Dionne?”

“
Why did you call her
‘Stupid Celeste’?” Abi asked.

“
That’s what Fin calls
her.”

“
He does?” Abi asked. She
flushed red at the idea that Fin thought Celeste was
stupid.

Tanesha nodded, and Abi smiled.

“
That’s good,” Abi
said.

“
Answer the question!”
Tanesha said. “What does Stupid Celeste have to do with Mom and
Dionne?”

“
Everything,” Abi
said.

“
Why?” Tanesha
asked.

“
The Antipodes Islands are
considered too cold to be inhabited,” Abi said.

“
So?”

“
They are volcanic
islands,” Abi said.

“
And?”

“
Serpents thrive in
volcanos,” Abi said.

“
Oh,” Tanesha
said.

“
Exactly right,” Abi said.
“The Antipodes have long been rumored to be the lair of the
serpent.”

“
But Heather said the Sea
of Amber was everywhere,” Tanesha said.

“
She would know,” Abi
said.

“
But. . .?”

“
Volcano?” Abi pointed to
the ground.

“
There’s a volcano here?”
Tanesha asked.

There was a noise somewhere in the building,
and Tanesha stood up.

“
I’m going to help my
mother,” Tanesha said.

“
If Celeste is
involved. . .” Abi started.

“
Just spit it out!”
Tanesha said. Her words came out as a magic-charged order and Abi
gave a slight bow.

“
If I’m right, Celeste has
made an accord with the serpents for Yvonne,” Abi said. “They are
using the end of this pornography ring as an opportunity to take
her. I’ve always been able to protect her from this kind of thing.
With me at court, she’s vulnerable. I bet Celeste had those child
porn freaks shoot me to get me out of the picture. Then it’s easy
—Yvonne comes to Arizona and these jerks turn her over to the
serpents.”

“
Why would Celeste do
that?” Tanesha asked. Her tone indicated how farfetched it all
sounded.

“
She thinks that will give
her the fairydom and. . .”

“
Fin,” Tanesha said. “So
Celeste is behind the child pornography ring and the
rapes?”

“
No, of course not,” Abi
said. “That guy holding your mom captiveis behind it all. It’s an
investment to him. When one site blows up, he goes to the next. He
doesn’t care about what’s on the videos or who gets hurt. He’s in
it for the profit. As you can imagine, there’s a ton of money to be
made from this filth, especially those homemade rape videos. Human
beings can be so disgusting.”

“
And Celeste?”

“
Just an opportunity,” Abi
said. “She’s been waiting a long time to get her hooks into Prince
Finegal. Now that Queen Fand and Manannán have been restored, the
queendom is going through a kind of spring — lots of marriages,
babies . . .”

Abi nodded. Tanesha thought through Abi’s
effusive words.

“
Celeste has been waiting
for the right moment and contacted the serpents,” Tanesha
said.

“
Who are already your
enemies,” Abi said.

“
The serpents control the
Sea of Amber,” Tanesha said.

“
Exactly right,” Abi
said.

“
No Delphie to give the
warning,” Tanesha said.

“
No Jacob or Keenan to
figure out how to get out of the whole thing,” Abi said.

“
And my dad?” Tanesha
asked.

“
That’s a good question,”
Abi said. “They must think he has some special
capacity.”

“
A direct connection to my
mom,” Tanesha said.

“
Well, there’s that,” Abi
said. “Rodney is uniquely immune to the despair that is the Sea of
Amber.”

Tanesha opened her mouth to ask why when Abi
spoke again.

“
Did you really kill a
mating pair and their offspring?”

Tanesha nodded.

“
That’s a story I want to
hear,” Abi said. “Ready to go?”

Abi took off out of the office they’d been
hiding in. For the second time, Tanesha watched her back. This time
she noticed a flow of tiny sparks following Abi. The fairy corps
was here. Tanesha raced to catch up. Abi stopped at the end of a
hallway. She smiled at Tanesha and then shrank to tiny size. There
was a flash, and suddenly Tanesha felt as light as a feather. The
world was very, very big.

“
What
the . . .” Tanesha started. She noticed Abi was
ordering a group of blue-taffeta-wearing fairies to protect
Tanesha. “You’re the boss of the fairy corps?”

“
General Abigail, at your
service.” Abi did a curtsy in the air. “You’re going to love
it!”

Tanesha glanced at the horizon, and Jeraine
came into view. He was lying on the floor next to Jabari’s little
bed. Jabari was talking about nothing, and Jeraine was listening.
They were so adorable that Tanesha smiled, and then she remembered
her mother.

A room came into her view. Her mother had
some white haired guy draped over her. Dionne was talking to a guy
who looked like a mobster. One of those guys who hung around Alex
Hargreaves’s house was standing in the doorway looking like a
bodyguard. The mobster said something to the bodyguard, and they
laughed. Dionne shifted uncomfortably. At least, they were alive
and not in too much immediate danger.