Night School (16 page)

“Okay,” I manage to squeak out. Poor Corbin. Poor, poor Corbin. I gave my life to become a vampire. But his was stolen from him, along with his identity. It wasn’t fair.

“And as for you,” Jareth adds, “you’re going back as well. Straight to rehab to start getting the help you need.”

I look at him, confused. I can’t go now! “Jareth,” I say, trying to keep my trembling voice calm. “I promise to go to rehab. But before I do, I have to save my sister.”

“Rayne—”

“She’s in fairyland and I’m the only one here who can break into their dimension. I have the location now and even the URL with the magic words. I’m her only hope.” Tears well up in my eyes again. “Please, Jareth, I’m begging you. I’ll get help when I get back. But right now my sister needs me.”

“Rayne, I thought you were serious about getting help.”

“I am. I swear I am, Jareth. But this is my sister we’re talking about here. And our one chance to save her!”

He lets out a frustrated breath, then glances at his watch. “Lord Magnus should wake up in an hour. I’ll see what he says we should do.”

I grimace, realizing he’s going to have to tell Magnus—who’s not exactly a Rayne cheerleader to begin with—what happened with Corbin as well. “Well, maybe you could say ... Corbin, um, just woke up with an undeniable urge to become a member of the Blood Coven and you hooked him up?”

Jareth narrows his eyes at me. Okay, maybe not.

“I’ll speak to him on your behalf,” he promises. “As co-master, I have a say in things. But you have to promise, whatever is decided, you won’t argue. You’ll respect the master, at the very least. That’s part of being a vampire 101.”

I’m about to protest, then remember I’m reformed Rayne from here on out. The girl who actually follows the rules. Or at least attempts to. “Okay,” I say instead, squaring my shoulders. “I’ll do whatever Magnus says.”

I just pray he’ll let me help my sister. Before it’s too late.

25

A few hours later, we’re standing at the craggy shores of the raging sea. X marks the spot on my fairy godmother’s map. Foamy waves crash against the rocks twenty feet below us and the wind whips through my hair. Our group has now been pared down to Jareth, Magnus, Francis (the former doorman from the Blood Bar, now Magnus’s personal bodyguard), and two other vampires I don’t know. The rest of the crew departed at sunset, transporting Corbin to a safe house to help him with his transformation.

Magnus was furious about the whole thing, of course. Rayne breaking the rules once again. Like Jareth, he wanted to send me directly to rehab. But I reminded him of Sunny and the fact that I’m the best chance they’ve got to rescue her and he quickly changed his tune. After all, he wants my sister back just as much as I do, and he did make that promise about always putting her first. That said, he made it very clear I’m going to vampire rehab the second Sunny’s back in his arms. No passing Go, no collecting $200. (Man, no one ever pays me for anything around here.)

But I’ll worry about that later. Right now I have a more daunting task. Opening the doors between two dimensions, like the host of the
Twilight Zone
, and escorting five vampires into fairyland to kidnap their queen.

All in a day’s work, for Rayne McDonald: fairy vampire- vampire slayer girl extraordinaire. (That’s becoming quite a mouthful, huh?)

Before we left, I headed down to the bed-and-breakfast’s business center to look up the website my fairy godmother had given me. It took forever to pull it up on the ancient, still-using-dial-up computer, but eventually I was able to download a copy of
Fairyland for Dummies
to the hard drive. After a quick skim (with Magnus impatiently beeping the horn outside the whole time!), I located and printed what appeared to be the relevant chapters and joined the other vampires in the awaiting rent-a-car. (A tiny Mini Cooper that made me wish I had taken my fairy godmother up on the whole lemon Lamborghini thing.)

And now, after an hour’s drive down bumpy country roads winding around emerald green fields dotted with white fluffy sheep and cozy little cottages, we’re here and I’m preparing myself for my task. I’m more than a little nervous, as you may imagine, that this whole thing isn’t going to work. Mainly because 1) I got it from some old lady professing to be a fairy godmother, which, let’s be honest, is always a bit suspect, and 2) we don’t have a Plan B. Sunny’s life is literally in my hands.

I read over the instructions once again, just to be sure I’ve got them. They seem so simple. Almost too simple ...

“What are you waiting for, Goth Girl? Halloween?” Magnus asks, interrupting my worried thoughts. “Let’s do this already.”

I turn around to grump at him, but then decide to cut him some slack. He’s worried about Sunny, too. And he hates that feeling of not being in control of things. Or trusting a girl who has screwed up so many times before. He probably doesn’t think I can really do this.

Well, I’m ready to prove him wrong. Setting down my cheat sheets, I stand on the cliff’s edge, raising my hands over the sea. Here goes nothing:

“Star Light, Star Bright. First star I see tonight.

I wish I may, I wish I might. Have the wish I wish tonight.”

Yup, that’s the poem. The secret words that should open a doorway to fairyland if recited by someone of fey blood. Funny, I used to say them all the time as a little kid. I wonder if I was constantly opening and closing doors without even realizing it.

I open my eyes and look around. Hm. No portal. No glittery, sparkly path leading the way to an alternate dimension has magically appeared. In fact, to be honest, everything around me looks exactly the same as it did before I spoke that stupid nursery rhyme. I glance back at the vampires, who are standing there, looking at me impatiently.

“Well?” Magnus asks, his voice gritty and tense.

“Um, I don’t know. That should have worked.” Disappointment whirls through me as I look around for my cheat sheets. Did I do something wrong? “Where are my papers?” I ask, not seeing where I left them.

“These?” Francis asks, holding up a few sheets. “They almost blew away in the wind, so I grabbed them.” He hands them over to me and I scan them again, letting out a frustrated breath. It seems so simple on paper.
Stand on the cliff’s edge, raise your hands, recite the poem and ...

Oh crap.

“Was there ... one more piece of paper?” I ask Francis in a low voice, mostly so Magnus won’t overhear. He’s going to kill me. Seriously kill me.

“Um.” Francis looks around. “I don’t think so. Unless it blew away before I grabbed the stack?”

Or I left it on the printer back at the B&B. Either way, I’m missing a page. Probably a very important page ...

“Try it again,” Jareth urges, unaware of my distress.

So I do. I mean, why not, right? I stand at the cliff’s edge, I raise my hands, I say the whole stupid poem. But, of course, nothing happens. Whatever that final step is, the door isn’t going to open without it. And we’re an hour outside of town. That means two more hours of wasted time if we have to return to the B&B and come back. Two hours for Sunny to go and get married to someone else.

Did I mention Magnus is going to kill me?

“Was there anything else you’re supposed to do?” Jareth asks, trying to be helpful. Once again I wish I had real vampire telepathy with the guy to tell him what’s really going on without alerting the master. “Another step?”

“Maybe you’re supposed to make some kind of hand movements or something?” Magnus suggests, not so helpfully. “Or do a little fairy dance?”

“I don’t know, okay?” I cry, exasperated, feeling the bloody tears well up in my eyes. Why wasn’t I more careful? Why didn’t I look through the notes more thoroughly before I left? I’m such a careless idiot. And now Sunny’s going to be stuck in fairyland forever and it’s all my fault. “I wish I knew what I was supposed to do. But—”

Suddenly a flash of light bursts from the heavens. I look up, startled. A bright, twinkling star, hanging high in the sky, seems to wink at me, then goes dark again.

And suddenly, I get my wish.

I know exactly how to open the portal to fairyland.

I walk over to the edge of the cliff and step off.

“Rayne! What are you—?”

But Jareth’s words are cut off by a loud scraping sound—like that of a skate on a sheet of ice. Mist rolls in over the coastline, climbing the cliff until it reaches the spot where I’m hovering, forming a cloud staircase under my feet.

Sweet.

I glance back at the vampires, who are, I note smugly, mouth-open in disbelief.

“How did you ... ?” Magnus starts to ask.

“Easy. I just wished upon a star,” I reply, taking a step up the cloud staircase. It’s soft and a little sticky, like marshmallow, but solid enough, and I’m sure it’ll be able to hold all our weight. “Like, literally. This is fairyland, remember?” I add. “From now on, all fairytale rules apply.”

The vampires shake their heads in amazement, but after a few tentative steps, they follow me up the staircase. At the top, we come to a door, which opens into a long, dark, dusty hallway. Evidently this entrance isn’t used too much. We step inside and walk down the corridor until we arrive at a huge pair of double doors, complete with brass knockers. I consider using them to knock, then decide to see if the doors will open by themselves first. I grab the handles and pull the doors open, revealing fairyland at long last. And it’s ...

... Disney World?

26

I do a double take. Sure enough, it appears we’re not in Ireland anymore, but rather a good reproduction of Orlando, Florida, standing outside the entrance to the Magic Kingdom itself. Same Mickey Mouse-shaped flower garden on the hillside, same old-fashioned elevated train station above. Same three billion tourists meandering about.

Except many of these particular tourists seem to be sporting wings along with their mouse ears.

“Wow.” Jareth whistles under his breath. “I’ve heard people say fairy tales have become way too Disneyfied these days. But this is a little ridiculous.”

The other vampires nod their heads in agreement, all pretty much as speechless as I am. That weirdly handsome fairy army that attacked us suddenly makes a lot more sense.

“Well, at least we’ll know our way around,” I point out. “I’ve been to Disney twelve times. We used to go every summer, when visiting Grandma.” I stop, sobered as I remember suddenly that the sweet old lady in Florida isn’t my real grandmother at all, but rather an actress my parents hired to play the part. Our real grandmother, a woman we never met, was assassinated in this very magic kingdom, not too long ago.

I shiver, suddenly a little creeped out.

“Is it safe to go out there?” Francis asks worriedly. “It looks pretty sunny.” It’s then that I realize all the vampires besides Jareth and I are pressed against the hallway wall, avoiding the beams of sunlight streaming in from outside.

Magnus sticks his hand through the door experimentally and instantly his palm catches fire. He pulls it back quickly, blowing out the flame. “Damn it,” he swears, shaking it off.

“I guess they’re in a different time zone than we are,” Jareth concludes. “The sun looks pretty high in the sky—I’d say it’s about three o’clock in fairyland.”

Magnus scowls and attempts to try again. Francis grabs him and yanks him back, a split second before he willfully flambés himself for my sister. “You can’t go out there, master,” the bodyguard tells him gently.

“But Sunny—” Magnus says, a distraught look on his face.

“You’ll be no good to her dead.”

Magnus squeezes his hands into frustrated fists. “Hell, sometimes I hate being a vampire.”

“Don’t worry, m’lord,” Jareth interjects. “We’ll go.” He glances over at me and I nod in agreement. I may not have a kung fu grip, but being able to go out in the sunshine definitely has its advantages. “We’ll find her and bring her back safe.”

Magnus doesn’t look too pleased by this—obviously he envisioned himself being Sunny’s big, heroic rescuer—but eventually he nods his head in agreement. “Very well,” he says. “But if you’re not back by nightfall, we’re coming in after you.”

“Sure, whatever you gotta do,” I say impatiently. “Now let’s go. Sunny’s waiting.”

“One moment, please.” Magnus gestures for one of the other vampires to hand him his brown leather satchel. “Before you go,” he says, “you need to suit up.” He rummages through the bag and finally manages to pull out a pair of fluorescent pink marabou wings. He tries to hand them to me.

“No way, dude. I’ve got my own built-ins,” I remind him, reaching back and ripping my shirt so I can let my freak flags fly. My wings have gotten a lot larger in the last twenty-four hours—perhaps due to my closer proximity to fairyland—and it’s started becoming painful trying to keep them under wraps. I wiggle my back as they unfurl to their full glory. It feels good to let them free.

Magnus nods, then turns to my boyfriend, holding out the hideous fake wings to him instead. What, did he steal them off a Vegas stripper or something?

“Oh no,” my Gothy but manly boyfriend protests, holding up his hands. “Definitely not.”

“You’re going into fairyland,” Magnus reminds him. “Look outside. Everyone here has some sort of wings. Do you want to stick out like a bloody thumb and get caught before you can rescue my girlfriend?” His question leaves no room for argument.

“Fine,” Jareth grumbles, grabbing the wings and reluctantly affixing them to his back. He looks so miserable and ridiculous I burst out laughing and fumble for my phone.

“Hold still! I need a photo!” I cry, grabbing my new cell phone and clicking a photo before he can cover the lens with his hand. I look down at the view screen. “Aw, how pwwetty you look!”

“If you dare post that on the Blood Coven forums—”

“Oh, so
now
you’re concerned with your image?” I tease. “Just yesterday you were wearing that dirty old
Batman
shirt again!”

“I’ll have you know that’s a very rare vintage tee—”

“Enough, you two,” Magnus cries in a commanding voice, effectively shutting us up. “Stop wasting time and go get Sunny!”

So we say our good-byes and step out the door and into the sunshine. It feels warm and tingly against my skin and I suddenly feel bad for the other vampires who can’t abide it. I can’t believe I almost willingly gave up the ability to go out during the day. Sometimes things have a way of working out in a manner you don’t expect.

“You look kind of sexy with wings,” Jareth says, giving me a wink.

“I’d love to say the same ...” I tease. He groans. I poke him playfully.

“Okay, so which way should we go, oh Disney expert?” he asks.

“There’s only one way in,” I say, pointing to the entrance. “Suck in your fangs, vamp boy. Let’s go rescue Sunny.”

We head toward the entrance of the park, but are stopped by a gated turnstile. A burly dwarf dressed in a rather silly Robin Hood-esque green suit mans the gate. I guess not only fairies live in fairyland. “Tickets?” he asks as we approach.

I glance at Jareth. Fairyland charges admission?

“How much are tickets?” Jareth asks, reaching for his wallet.

“Three hundred drops of nectar,” the dwarf replies. “After all, it’s a special day.”

Great. Jareth drops his hand. “Do you have a currency exchange on the premises?”

The dwarf shakes his head.

“Will you take human cash? American Express?”

Another shake. “Sorry, man,” he says apologetically. “The bosses are pretty strict about all that.”

I exchange worried looks with Jareth, then turn back to the dwarf. “What’s so special about today?” I query.

He looks at us incredulously. “Don’t you know?” he asks. “I assumed that’s why you came.” He grins. “It’s a special day in fairyland today. Our new queen is getting married at midnight.”

Ugh. I was afraid he was going to say that. Though at least that means we’re not too late.
If
we can get in ...

Suddenly, I realize just what I have to do.

“Of
course
we’ve heard,” I say in my most authoritative voice. “Seeing as I am ...”

I stop, unable to continue. Damn it, I forgot I still can’t lie. This is going to be more difficult than I thought. I stamp on Jareth’s foot to get his attention. Maybe he can lie for me ...

“Ow,” he says instead. “What did you do that for?”

“What I’m saying is ...” I turn back to the dwarf. “
I
am the one who is ...” I shoot Jareth a pleading look. For a thousand-year-old vampire, sometimes he’s a bit slow.

“Oh! Right!” he cries, recognition flashing over his face at last. “She’s the one who’s getting married. Have you not met our beautiful queen? Sunny McDonald?”

The guard narrows his eyes suspiciously. “If you’re our queen,” he says in a wary voice, “why are you out here and not in the castle? And, did you dye your hair or something? I thought you were supposed to be a blonde.”

“Ugh, I know! We had a total hair emergency this morning! Utterly ghastly!” Jareth cries, suddenly completely into the ruse. “But it’s all settled now. She’s beautiful, isn’t she? I mean, just look at the difference a little color makes!” He points to a banner flying above our heads, which has a very good likeness of Sunny’s face emblazoned on it. Which, of course, is also, very conveniently, my face.

The guard looks at the banner, then back at me, then at the banner again. His eyes widen and suddenly he’s on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. “I’m so sorry, Your Majesty,” he blubbers. “Please don’t put me in the stocks, I beg of you. I have three little dwarfettes at home and I was only trying to do my job!”

I smile magnanimously. Seriously, I would make the best queen ever if given the chance. “You’re forgiven,” I tell him. “Like you said, you’re only doing your job.” I pull him to his feet and kiss the top of his bald head. “But let us through now. We must hurry to get to the ...” I glance up, looking for a landmark. “... the castle,” I conclude.

“Yes, yes, of course!” The dwarf steps aside and allows us to go through the turnstiles. “Bless you, m’lady. You’re a good soul. Fairyland is honored to have you as their new leader.”

I give him a little bow, then hustle Jareth under the elevated train tracks and around the circle, down the replica of Disney’s Main Street USA. Cinderella’s castle—or I guess Sunny’s castle in this case—lies directly in front of us now, shining with a sparkling brilliance you don’t see in the real Orlando. Also different? No grumpy, lumpy tourists and crying kids; these streets are packed with fairies—all tall, blond, and beautiful. No wonder my fairy godmother wasn’t happy about her ensemble. The grandma look isn’t very big in fairyland.

A couple of brightly dressed fairies point to Jareth and giggle at his wings. He turns bright red. “I’m going to kill Magnus for this,” he growls.

“Oh come on,” I scold, grabbing his hand. “Enough with the vanity already. We’ve got a rescue to perform.”

But before we can take another step, a set of trumpets sounds. The crowd scurries to clear off the street and we’re jostled to the side. Dwarves, dressed in green like the guy at the entrance, walk the street, carrying red velvet ropes to section off the sidewalk.

“What’s going on?” Jareth hisses at me.

“I think it might be the three o’clock parade,” I reply, as I try to avoid being poked by a fairy wing. Crowds are really tough when you have such large appendages to deal with.

A moment later, the crowd bursts into applause. Sure enough, a fairy marching band heads down the street, playing bright, happy music. They’re followed by a set of scantily-clad fairy dancers, prancing down the street merrily.

“This is a waste of time,” growls Jareth.

I shrug. We’re stuck in the middle of a pack of fairies and there’s nothing we can do about it. I watch as three little pigs, accompanied by a snarly wolf, march proudly down the street, followed by a cat wearing boots and a goose laying golden eggs every few feet. Children scurry to grab the eggs and I realize they’ve got chocolate inside.

Fairy tales come to life. I gotta admit, this is pretty cool.

After a few more fairy-tale favorites, the crowd’s roar rises to a nearly deafening level. I strain to see over the throng and finally catch sight of what appears to be Cinderella’s crystal carriage heading down the street, drawn by six white horses. I draw in an impressed breath. It’s gorgeous.

Then I see who sits inside. Not Cinderella at all.

My sister.

Sunny’s dressed in a shimmery ball gown that looks both pure silver and a kaleidoscope of colors, all at the same time. Her hair has been lightened to a platinum blond shade and her large eyes shine with the emerald green color she always wished she’d been born with. Her hands are clasped in her lap, heavy with silver jewelry, and on her back she sports the most gorgeous pair of airy gossamer wings I’ve ever seen. They sparkle so much they’re practically blinding to look at.

“Sunny!” I cry. “Sunny, it’s Rayne!” I try to make my way through the crowd, but Jareth grabs me by a wing and yanks me backward.

“Let me go!” I cry. “I need to get to my sister.” I turn back to the street. “Sunny! Sunny, it’s me!” I call out, desperate to get her attention.

Sunny turns her head slightly, as if she hears me, glancing blankly out into the crowd. Then she gives out a small, Miss America-type wave before folding her hands back in her lap and turning to face front again.

“What’s wrong with her?” I cry, turning back to Jareth. “She looked at me as if she didn’t recognize me. My own sister!” I swallow back the huge lump that’s formed at the back of my throat and wipe the bloody tears that would give me away as a vampire.

Jareth squeezes my shoulder comfortingly. “She’s obviously undergone some kind of brainwashing,” he says. “Which is why we need to exercise caution. Grab her now and she’ll think she’s being kidnapped rather than rescued.”

“Brainwashed and turned into a fairy against her will. My poor sister.” I lean against a nearby post. “My poor, poor sister.”

I remember her words back at Riverdale. How she just wanted to be a human girl. And now, yet again, fate has worked against her. My heart breaks as I watch her continue down the street, just a shell of her former sweet, passionate self. If only I hadn’t been so self-involved. I would have noticed she was gone earlier. And maybe I could have rescued her before they transformed her ...

“Stop it, Rayne!” I can dimly feel Jareth shaking me by the shoulders. “Beating yourself up about things is not going to help us here. What’s done is done. But it’s not too late to save her.”

“But how?” I ask, wandering over to an empty alley away from the colorful parade. “There’s only two of us. And there’s a billion of them. I mean, look at that castle,” I add, gesturing to the building. “There’s got to be a thousand guards and they’ve all got very large guns.”

Jareth looks over in the direction I’m pointing, then frowns. “Tooth fairy snipers,” he says with a scowl. “I was afraid of that.”

“Wait, what?”

“Deadly assassins with black-market munitions. They travel the world, buying their bullets off young children who’ve lost their teeth.”

Oh-kay then.

Jareth runs a hand through his blond hair. “Maybe we should consider coming back later,” he says. “I’m guessing the reason this place is so well-guarded is because of today’s wedding. Maybe once it’s over—”

“No! We can’t let her get married to some fairy!” I protest. “She’s gone through enough already.” I scrunch my face up, thinking. “We have to figure out a way into the castle.”