Free Agent (8 page)

THE NEXT DAY
I dealt with twelve dancing princesses with blisters on their feet (you would be surprised what wonders a gel insole can work). I put yet another frog in the aquarium until Grimm could deal with him. Before ten thirty I sent two kids who ate a gingerbread house to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Grimm was still angry, but at least he wasn't angry at me. Now it was more about how to actually pull off Ari's setup.

I risked a trip into the lion's den (Grimm's office—we'd had the actual lion's den removed a couple of years ago) to question him. “Grimm, we need to talk. What about the fae boy? I thought they were damn near invulnerable. So how did a fae child wind up in a wolf larder?”

From what I had heard from Evangeline, the fae were only one step down from Grimm. There was a healthy debate about how big a step it actually was. Wolves were great predators, but the fae guards would have blasted the skin from their skulls the moment they set claw on a child.

“I don't know,” said Grimm.

The Fairy Godfather never admitted to not knowing. Ever. If you asked him about something he didn't know, he'd say “I'll find out shortly,” which meant that he'd already tried.

I wondered how long we'd keep the kid. “You get ahold of the, um, parents?”

He nodded. “I performed the contact ritual this morning. The family will be arriving to retrieve him. You are to be present, but silent. Am I understood?”

I didn't like letting someone else tell me when to speak and when not to, but I had a mortal fear of death, and dealing with the fae was tricky, very tricky. The wrong move might cost me my life, the wrong word, my soul. Rumor had it the fae could rip your soul right out of your skin, like peeling a banana. “How about you handle it?”

Grimm shook his head. “The fae requested your presence. In case you are wondering, that's not a request.”

So I got ready to go down and party with the fae. It was safer to meet them outside in the cargo bay than risk them coming up in the elevators and meeting someone. I heard once a few came to visit Grimm unannounced. We were sponging down the walls of the elevator for weeks.

As the hour approached, everyone scurried about. In keeping for the magic kind, noon and midnight were the watch hours of the day. They'd arrive at noon sharp. As much as I wanted to actually see a fae, I detested having to dress up for them. Apparently, having pure magic as the foundation of your world kind of drives down fashion, because they still dressed like “days of yore.” I'm guessing, by the way, that
yore
is an old English word for “Heavy, itchy, and hard to breath in.”

I exited from Wardrobe in a funk. Their best efforts had made me look like I did on my dates: average. Ari was waiting for me in the waiting room as I left the office. She smiled at me. I scowled back.

“That's a lovely dress,” she said.

It wasn't. It looked like I was dressed in a green circus tent. We could make over someone to look like a supermodel, or make the nerdiest prince look dashing and confident, but Grimm had chosen my costume himself. I think it was supposed to represent the medieval messenger pages. That, or a homeless carpet salesman. Ari grabbed my flowery sleeve as I walked by. “Can I speak with you?”

I shook her hand off, tearing a bit of the magenta lace. “I'm no longer handling your case. Haven't you talked to Fairy Godfather yet?” Obviously she hadn't, so I took her to the mirror and rapped on it like a door. “Grimm, what do you want me to do with her?”

He snapped into view and gained his regal appearance. “Bring the appointed one with you.”

“Um, to the loading dock?” I asked, totally blowing the mystery aura.

“Yes, my dear, and hurry. Why must you always be late?”

Ari didn't strike me as a candidate for “America's Most Brilliant,” but without a doubt Grimm was losing all the mystique he worked to maintain.

“Why are we going to the loading dock?” asked Ari.

“You've heard of the fae? We're about to get a little visit from them, a whole freaking family. Unless you want to make your innards out-ards, I'd suggest keeping your head down and your mouth shut.”

She looked a little pale, which pleased me to no end. I ought to have been ashamed about that, and maybe one day I'd get around to it. I enjoyed certain forms of procrastination.

I stepped out of the loading bay at 11:56 and took my place in the reception line. The portal, hastily drawn under Grimm's personal instruction, stood at one end, and the makeshift throne we had constructed for the fae child (an office chair covered with a bedsheet) at the other. In between, Grimm had someone roll out a carpet, horrible orange shag.

The boy sat in the chair, gazing about with unfocused eyes.

Ari stood at my side, Grimm whispering from his best mirror the whole time about how she was not to speak.

The portal snapped open like a pop-up tent and vivid colors drifted out like smoke. The Realm of Fae was powerful. The colors were sharper, so vibrant they hurt, and yet so delicious you almost couldn't look away. Where it interacted with our world it became vaporous, almost unreal. Also, things didn't tend to go well for our world.

I tried to keep my eyes on the ground, like Grimm had suggested, but I couldn't resist sneaking a peak. The fae didn't come to town every day (Kingdom be blessed). Fortunately for us, they lived a realm away. I wasn't going to miss a chance to see them. Two figures emerged from the portal and drifted along the carpet. They paid no attention to us.

The father was unearthly, regal and deadly at the same time, and his drift had absolute purpose as he moved along the line toward the child. He wore a circus tent with lace like mine, but the difference was on him it looked majestic. His feet didn't touch the carpet as he passed, but the carpet curled up, burned and shriveled, beneath him, and below it, cracks opened in the concrete. Grimm was going to lose his security deposit for sure.

For the first time since we'd rescued him, the boy looked up, and he leaped out of the chair and ran forward, seizing his father's cloaks. The father raised his hand, and the boy rose into the air, floating before him. Their laughter made the lights flicker and my nose bleed. The father raised his other hand and they drifted back, blowing like smoke toward the portal.

“It is a dangerous game you play,” said a voice like bells and thunder. I realized I had lost track of the mother. She stood a few feet away, speaking to Grimm. His best mirror had been brought down and he watched from it. How he appeared to her I cannot say, since I was focusing on my toes.

“Yours is no safer,” said Grimm, “for those who tread this world.”

She walked on and stopped at Evangeline. “Your time comes soon, messenger,” she said, and tread on.

I felt Ari tense and she caught her breath, and that's when I noticed the lightning playing on Ari's fingertips. I knew she was a seal bearer, but I'd never seen her use magic. She rubbed her fingertips together, her hands trembling. Maybe Grimm could teach her to control her abilities better under pressure.

“Princess,” said the Fae Mother, and the word echoed in my head, “you must become what you are.” She stood before me now, smelling like fields after a rain. Her gaze felt like the essence of the sun shining on me. “You dared touch him?”

I looked up at her. She had silver hair, the ends glowed like soft moonlight, and a sharp nose and chin. Her eyes were gray and shifted like storm clouds before rain. She was tall, taller than me by a foot. I couldn't tell if it was a frown or a smile on her face. In fact, I couldn't look away at all.

I stood trapped between Grimm's order to keep silent and her question. As the moments ticked by, I realized she would wait my life away, so I answered. “Twice. Once to lead him out, and once to put him into the van.” I stood waiting, knowing if she struck me with magic I might never feel it, or the death might last an eternity. “Is he okay?”

The color dropped out of the world. I stood in a plane of nothing, gray without sound or color, and only dim shapes like ghosts in the fog.

“This is your world for one as young as my child.” Now her voice sounded sweet but not deafening. When she said the word
child
, it changed, and sounded like
treasure.
“You shed blood to save him. I will reward that.”

A thought leaped up in my brain. The fae were practically made of Glitter.

“No. Your freedom comes, but not by my hand.”

My heart skipped a beat and I felt like I'd swallowed a block of ice. “It's the only thing I want.”

“Not so. It is your heart's greatest longing. You will receive it at the cost of all you love. I give you the blessing of the fae, but it is a gift that must be accepted.”

“I can't. Grimm would kill me.”

She closed her eyes. “It may be your only hope against the curse.” The word
curse
moved as she said it, like a spider in my ear. A curse. A real curse. “She comes for you soon. Our half sister, the Black Queen. Through your hand she will strike the victory blow.”

I weighed my choices, which seemed completely zero. The Black Queen. A curse. “I accept your blessing.”

She leaned in to kiss me on the forehead, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “You are twice blessed now to balance the scales. But you will drink from a river of pain.” The world became blurry, and darkness wrapped itself around me in a hug that felt like a mountain on my chest. I couldn't move. I couldn't even breathe. Somewhere in the darkness I slipped into nothing.

 • • • 

“SHE'S WAKING UP,”
said a woman's voice in the distance. I struggled to speak but my voice didn't work.

“Calm down,” said a second voice, another woman. “You can't talk until the tube is removed.”

My eyes didn't work right; everything looked blurry.

“I'll call him,” said the first voice, Evangeline.

“You're in South General,” said Ari. She took my hand. “You've been here three days.”

I croaked out something that was supposed to sound like “Why?”

“You stopped breathing. Fairy Godfather used magic to bring you here.”

Evangeline came back, carrying an oblong mirror. “He says this one is certified to not disrupt electronics.”

Grimm's eyes looked out from the tiny square, and he looked honestly concerned. “I'm going to have a nurse remove that tube, and when your throat is feeling better, we need to have a talk.”

 • • • 

IN THE EVENING,
when I woke again, only Evangeline waited. She'd covered the mirror with her scarf, and sat backwards across the chair, staring at me.

I worked the corners of my mouth, dealing with my raging sore throat. “Hey.” Given my state it meant a lot more, but my mouth wasn't cooperating.

“I went by your apartment and brought you clothes and your purse. Don't know what happened to whatever you were wearing on the way here, but at least you can cover your butt when you leave.”

“Thanks.”

She reached into her pocket and took out something, and my stomach turned as I recognized the cell phone. “Found this on your dresser, M.”

I coughed and tried to force the words out. “It's not—Please. Don't—”

She held it up and snapped it in two, tearing the screen right off. “I know what it is. I won't tell Grimm. This can be our secret. Working the wrong man, keeping phones, that stunt with the wolves. Think about what you are doing. Ask yourself what you want. You're slipping.” She left me alone, and she took what was left of the phone.

I waited until much later to call. Not just because it felt like I'd drunk a mug of broken glass, but because I didn't know what I was going to say. It was after midnight when I called him, putting one hand on the bracelet.

Grimm showed up immediately, his mouth open, his eyes squinting to see me better. “Marissa, what do you need? Can I get you something?” Grimm acting like my nurse. That was actually funny, except that it hurt to laugh.

“What happened?” Each word took more time to coax from my throat than an entire speech.

“The Fae Mother gave you a kiss, my dear. Their touch can be deadly.”

I took another sip of ice water, letting it numb me. “How much of it did you hear?” I trusted Grimm. He'd earned it in most ways.

“That's not how it works.” He glanced to the edges of the mirror. “What I heard and what you heard are two entirely different things. The fae speech is not unlike my own, and without this mirror to translate we'd have a lot harder time getting things done.”

I coughed and swallowed another mouthful of broken glass. “I heard what she said to you. She said you play a dangerous game.”

“My dear, that's the best that your mind could do with her words. Our conversation would have taken you three years to transcribe. I told you, what you heard and what I heard are not necessarily the same.”