Matchbox Girls (36 page)

Marley stared at where he was, still trying to process the last few minutes. She’d confronted Ettoriel with his feelings for the twins’ mother. She hadn’t stabbed him. If she’d stabbed him, sacrificed Penny, would Tarn still have been able to free himself? Did she really care right now if faeries had been loosed on the world again? What would they do? Maybe Zachariah would know. Zachariah...

“Marley!” cried Corbin, just as he had when she’d been fighting with Tarn, a lifetime ago when they’d arrived at the wildfire zone. It was
so
like a memory that she didn’t even dodge as Lullaby’s blade skidded up her back. Then the spear thudded to the ground and Severin whirled past her, holding Jeremy in his arms like he was spinning a dance partner.

Jeremy looked charred. Half his hair had been burned to the roots, and he was covered in ash and dirt. But his eyes were furious and feral. “I was going to be immortal,” he hissed at Marley. “But you. You and your words... Your lies...” He struggled against Severin’s grip.

Severin’s face was alight. “Charming. I think I’ll take this one. Don’t argue; you owe me.” He whispered something in Jeremy’s ear, and Jeremy’s struggles grew even wilder, his expression more enraged.

Exhausted, Marley said, “I won’t. Take him away, please.” Severin smirked at her, and stepped backward, vanishing behind a world-curtain with his prey.

Marley sat down in the dirt and ashes. It was over. She wanted to find out how Penny and Branwyn were doing, to talk to Zachariah about the twins, to talk to Corbin about the faeries and AT.... But, she thought, she could do that later. There was time. She lay back on the hot ground and looked at the sky, and waited for later.

-epilogue-

L
ater.

Marley stood at the bay window of the luxurious room in the private hospital she'd ended up in. She still wasn't quite sure how that had happened; many details were fuzzy in the hours immediately following the fight in the fire. She'd walked down the mountainside, but for how long? And she thought she remembered a giant-sized version of Neath... and there'd definitely been a helicopter. And then the hospital, and kind nurses who helped her bathe and dispensed the very nice painkiller that blew away all the aches that had shown up when Corbin lifted his support charm.

Now Neath slept on the foot of her bed. Penny was in the other bed. She wasn't waking up, but the doctors said she was stable and Marley could see they were right. It was enough, for now.

She turned back to the window and looked at the night. The red lines still traced the progression of the fire on the mountains, but it was smaller now. The firefighters, and all the technology and determination they brought to bear, were finally winning. 

Branwyn bumped the door open and came in with two paper cups of coffee. She handed one to Marley before going to check on Penny. After smoothing their friend’s hair, she joined Marley at the bay window. "How are you feeling?"

"They gave me the good stuff, so a lot better than I probably should." Marley wrapped her fingers around the warm cup.

Branwyn gave her a keen-eyed look. "I didn't mean your aches and pains."

Marley sighed. "I know. I'm not the same as I was, you know? The thing behind the anxiety is
real
. It's not just me being... broken. Or if it is, it's something I inherited."

"You're more than what you inherited, though." Branwyn shrugged. "Obvious, but still true."

A little laugh bubbled out of Marley. "So I've heard. I've got to learn how to handle it. I can't just bury it again. But... I think I can."

Branwyn nodded, as if this was the answer she'd been expecting. Then she looked around the room. "So. All this really happened, eh? Wonder if it will help with the rent somehow."

Marley frowned. "Both Corbin and Zachariah have talked to me about that. Corbin said Senyaza would want to talk to me, and they'd pay me for my time. He said they might know something about my birth mother. And Neath the magic cat—which, did I mention, she apparently made? If I can trust what a faerie tells me. Oh, and Senyaza wants to dig into the twins' descent. They like to track bloodlines, I guess.” She shook her head. “And Zachariah wants..." She trailed off and stared at her coffee for a moment, until Branwyn touched her arm. "Zachariah wants to pay me to keep on protecting the kids. Be their nanny or governess or something. Their bodyguard." She met Branwyn's gaze, and said fiercely, "I promised them I'd never let them go. And I won't.  I fought for them, I saved them, I know it's stupid but they're
mine.
I mean, I don't mind if they're his, too. Not that much, anyhow. But getting paid by
him
 to take care of them seems... wrong. He
used
me once already."

"Mmm," said Branwyn, noncommittally. "If you do manage to talk yourself into accepting mere
wages
, go for the bodyguard bucks. They make more."

Marley tried to scowl at her, but another tiny laugh crept past instead. Then she slumped against the chair beside the window. Branwyn raised her cup in a grave toast. "By the way... I did want to ask you about Zachariah and Corbin. I'm guessing Zachariah isn't so high on the Potential Date list right now. But what's up with you and Corbin?"

Marley gave her a blank look. Corbin? But he—realization dawned. Then a slow flush crept up her cheeks. 
His motives are as selfish as yours, sweetheart,
  the kaiju had said. "We barely know each other. And it's not like we've had time to do anything but run and shout at each other." But she remembered the warmth she'd felt in his presence

Branwyn looked pleased. "Good, good. Don't rush into anything just because he saved your life or whatever."

"I saved
his
life, actually. AT and I." And the scowl returned. AT. Corbin had said she'd be fine and it would all work out, but would it? Her gaze went to Penny again. She realized suddenly that it wasn't all over. She wasn't going back to her old life, with a bit of additional babysitting. Everything had changed, and she could make a difference to more than just a couple of people now. At least, she could if she didn't run away.

"So," said Branwyn, staring at her reflection in the window. "That was some magnificent bullshit you told Corbin and the angel, about the angel causing his prophecy to happen." She looked directly at Marley. "Did you believe it?"

Marley hesitated and then said, “I don’t believe in prophecies. Someone told me, ‘Men have always considered females with unusual power harbingers of the end.' And I believe that. I’ve seen that in books, in history. Women and children. Anybody different, really. Everybody from the old order always thinks it’s the end of the world when unexpectedly powerful people show up. Those girls will light a fire. I’d like them to be able to decide what kind of fire they light.”

"All right," said Branwyn. She sipped her coffee calmly. "I talked to Corbin while you were resting." Marley looked at her in alarm, and she added, "Not about you. It's been a big day for me, too.  I wanted to find out more about the faeries, and if they'd be showing up again—"

The lights flickered. Shadows moved around the room, then vanished. Neath raised her head from where she was curled on Marley's bed. Her ears flattened and she rose to her feet, her tail twitching. Marley clutched Branwyn's arm, but before terror could really get a foothold, Neath stalked across the bed to the nightstand and peered at something there, then sat down again and began to wash herself.

Hesitantly at first, then firmly—
not running away—
Marley went to see.

On the nightstand was a glass bubble, like one she'd seen twice before. And it was perched on top of torn-edged piece of paper, upon which an elegant hand had scrawled in silver ink:
For Branwyn.

Marley stared at it. All the old desire to protect Branwyn flared, then faded away like a dying spark when she remembered Branwyn charging from her prison with an iron bar. This faerie had no idea what he was in for. So, in a voice choked with laughter, she said, “Action Girl, it's for you!”

Branwyn narrowed her eyes. Then she smiled and reached toward the note. Marley moved out of her way.

The End...

For a preview of Branwyn's story, turn the page.

Hi!

Thank you for reading
Matchbox Girls
.  If you'd like to know when my next book is available, you can sign up for my mailing list at 
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Reviews help books and readers find each other. If you want to share your thoughts with others, I welcome all reviews, positive and negative. It's incredible how much they matter.

Finally:
Matchbox Girls
is the first book in the Senyaza Series chronology. The next book,
Infinity Key
, takes place a month later, and follows Branwyn. For a preview, turn the page....
 

While her best friend is pulled into the supernatural underworld, Branwyn isn’t about to sit on the sidelines. Unfortunately, Branwyn is decidedly mortal, and in the supernatural underworld, humans are weak and helpless, no better than toys, tools and prey. But she isn’t having any of that. Branwyn wants to face the world on her own terms, mortal or not.

When she strikes a bargain with an imprisoned faerie, Branwyn thinks she’s found the solution. He’ll teach her magic and she’ll use that magic on his behalf. It’s a great deal, until she discovers what the faeries really want from her: there’s a door that only she can open…

“What can you do?” he asked. “What can you do that all my people cannot? After all, you’re only human.”

He didn’t mean to be cruel. It was the truth. Her best friend was dying, and there was nothing she could do. In a world where angels and demons and monsters and faeries waged secret wars, what were humans but toys to be fought over?

She didn’t like that at all.

*

Marley threw an agonized look at the clock as she dragged a brush through her hair. “I’m not going to have time to visit Penny today.”

Branwyn curled her legs under her on a tattered couch, watching her friend hurry with wry amusement. Marley's hair already gleamed like polished oak. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go and tell her all about your double date.”

Marley froze mid-stroke, looking aghast. “Going to lunch with two men is not a double date.”

“Well, they both want to date you. It’s practically the same thing.” Branwyn suppressed a smile as she watched the flush creep over Marley’s face.

“No. It really isn’t. It is in
no way
a date. It is a debriefing. That’s
all
.” Marley flicked a hand at a tabloid magazine on the kitchen table, changing the subject hurriedly. “Will you remember to take the copy of
Eclipse
?”

“No problem,” said Branwyn, her fingers curling into the worn plush of the couch. She was careful to keep her tone cheerful, but Marley stopped again to frown.

“You don’t mind?”

Branwyn shrugged and turned it into a stretch. “She’s my friend, too. I can’t promise to read the damn thing to her like you and her mother do. But I don’t mind visiting her, Marley. I just don’t like brooding and when I visit Penny, there’s nothing else to do.”

“Bran, I—”

“Hey, check out the time. You’re late,” Branwyn interrupted. “As enjoyable as it is imagining what your dates will get up to without you, I think you should probably interfere.”

Marley gave her another horrified look, grabbed her purse, and fled the apartment.

Branwyn regarded the closed door for a long moment. Then Marley’s calico cat jumped up on the couch and gave Branwyn a meaningful stare. It meant,
Pet me or get out of my spot.
Since the cat was the size of a beagle, and magical to boot, it wasn’t an idle threat. So after tickling the cat’s nose for an entertaining moment, Branwyn relinquished the couch.

The magazine on the table pulled at her gaze. She squared her shoulders and picked it up.
No time like the present.

At least it was nice out—a warm September afternoon. The smoky haze of the previous month had been washed away by a recent drenching downpour and the high sky was a brilliant shade of azure blue rarely seen in the LA autumn. But lower down, the smog was already accumulating again.

The private hospital that cared for Penny had a lovely garden filled with blooming white and yellow roses on the walk from the parking lot to the building. Arbors draped with bougainvillea kept the walkway itself cool. Penny’s room was just as pleasant. In addition to all the medical equipment that kept Penny’s body going, there was a large bay window overlooking a fountain, a plush navy couch, and a matching armchair. There was enough room to throw a party, and for the first few days after Penny had been hospitalized, her friends and family had filled the place, ready to welcome her back to the world when she woke up.

But she hadn’t woken up.

Branwyn tossed the magazine onto the stack lying on the round table between the couch and armchair before going to inspect Penny. She was almost as lovely as she’d been before she'd been hurt, except her dark hair no longer shone and there was a pallor under her deep olive tan. Still, if anyone ever held a contest for a brunette Sleeping Beauty, Penelope Karzan would win.

But there were no princes to wake her with a kiss. No magic could repair what had been done to her. No science could save her. There was nothing to be done, except wait and hope for what had never happened before.

Branwyn's eyes narrowed as she scanned the machines attached to Penny. Then she pushed the call button above the bed. A moment later, when a nurse peeked in, Branwyn pointed to a new monitor.

“What's this?” It was attached to some electrodes in Penny's hair and bore the logo of Senyaza, the corporation that owned this hospital. Other than the logo, it was just a beige box, with only five numbered LED lights, each one glowing a steady amber.