The Iron Daughter (18 page)

When the last note died away, neither of us moved for several heartbeats. Charles sat there, his fingers resting on the final keys, breathing hard. My mind was still spinning in circles, trying to remember the tune. But the longer I sat there, trying to recall it, the farther it slipped away, vanishing into the walls and carpet, until only the instruments remembered it at all.

Charles finally pushed the seat back and rose, and I stood with him, feeling faintly guilty for eavesdropping.

“That was beautiful,” I said as he turned. He blinked, obviously surprised to see me there, but he didn't startle or jump. “What was the name of the song?”

The question seemed to confuse him. He frowned and cocked his head, furrowing his brow as if trying to understand me. Then a sorrowful expression crossed his face, and he shrugged. “I don't remember.”

I felt a pang of disappointment. “Oh.”

“But…” He paused, running his fingers along the ivory
keys, a faraway look in his eyes. “I seem to recall it was a favorite of mine. Long ago. I think.” He blinked, and his eyes focused on me again. “Do you know what it's called?”

I shook my head.

“Oh. That's too bad.” He sighed, pouting a bit. “The rats said you might remember.”

Okay, now it was time to leave. I stood, but before I could make my escape, the door creaked open, and Warren entered the room.

“Oh, hey, Meghan.” He licked his lips, eyes darting about in a nervous fashion. One hand was tucked into his jacket, hiding it from view. “I…um…I'm looking for Puck. Is he here?”

Something about him put me off. I shifted uncomfortably and crossed my arms. “No. I think he's in the library with Ironhorse.”

“Good.” He stepped in farther, pulling his hand out of his jacket. The lights gleamed along the black barrel of a gun as he raised the muzzle and pointed it at me. I went stiff with shock, and Warren glanced over his shoulder. “Okay,” he called, “coast is clear.”

The door swung open, and a half-dozen redcaps poured into the room behind him. The one with the fishhook in his nose, Razor Dan, stepped forward and leered at me with a mouthful of jagged teeth.

“You sure this is the one, half-breed?”

Warren smirked. “I'm sure,” he replied, never taking the gun, or his eyes, off me. “The Iron King will reward us handsomely for this, you have my word.”

“Bastard,” I hissed at Warren, making the redcaps snicker. “Traitor. Why are you doing this? Leanansidhe gives you everything.”

“Oh, come on.” Warren sneered and shook his head. “You
act like it's a total shock that I want something better than this.” He gestured around the foyer with his free hand. “Being a minion in Leanansidhe's sorry refugee cult hasn't exactly been my life goal, Princess. So I'm a little bitter, yeah. But the new Iron King is offering half-breeds and exiles part of the Nevernever and a chance to kick the pure-blooded asses of all the dicks who stomped on us if we just do him a teensy favor and find you. And you were nice enough to drop into my lap.”

“You'll never get away with it,” I told him desperately. “Puck and Ironhorse will come looking for me. And Leanansidhe—”

“By the time Leanansidhe gets back, we'll be long gone,” Warren interrupted. “And the rest of Dan's crew is taking care of Goodfellow and the iron monster, so they're a little busy at the moment. I'm afraid that no one is coming to your rescue, Princess.”

“Warren,” snapped Razor Dan with an impatient glare. “We don't have time to gloat, you idiot. Shoot the crazy and let's get out of here before Leanansidhe comes back.”

My stomach clenched tight. Warren rolled his eyes, swinging the barrel of the gun around to Charles. Charles stiffened, seeming to grasp what was happening as Warren gave him a crooked leer.

“Sorry, Charles,” he muttered, and the gun filled my vision, cold, black and steely. I saw the opening of the barrel like Edgebriar's iron ring, and felt a buzzing beneath my skin. “It's nothing personal. You just got in the way.”

Tighten,
I thought at the pistol barrel, just as Warren pulled the trigger.

A roar shattered the air as the gun exploded in Warren's hand, sending the half-satyr stumbling back. Screaming, he dropped the mangled remains of the weapon and clutched his hand to his chest as the smell of smoke and burning flesh filled the room.

The redcaps stared wide-eyed at Warren as he collapsed to
his knees, wailing and shaking his charred hand. “What are you waiting for?” he screamed at them, his voice half shout and half sob. “Kill the crazy and get the girl!”

The redcap closest to me snarled and lunged. I shrank back, but Charles suddenly stepped between us. Before the redcap could dodge, he grabbed a cello off the wall and smashed it down over its head. The instrument let out a shriek, as if in pain, and the redcap crumpled the floor.

Razor Dan sighed.

“All right, lads,” he growled, as I grabbed Charles's hand and pulled him back behind the piano. “All together now. Get them!”

“PRINCESS!”

Behind them, the door burst open with a furious roar, and two redcaps were hurled through the air, landing face-first into the wall. The pack spun around, their eyes going wide as Ironhorse barreled into them, swinging his huge fists and bellowing at the top of his lungs. Several redcaps went flying and the rest swarmed him with bloodthirsty cries, biting at his arms and legs. They fell back, shrieking in pain, teeth shattered, mouths blackened and raw. Ironhorse continued to hurl them away like he'd gone berserk.

“Hey, Princess.” Puck appeared beside me, grinning from ear to ear. “Grimalkin said you were having redcap trouble. We're here to help, although I must say Rusty is doing fine on his own.” He ducked as a redcap flew overhead, landing with a crunch against the wall. “I'll have to remember to keep him around. He'd be great fun at parties, don't you think?”

The redcap Ironhorse had thrown into the wall staggered to his feet, looking dazed. Seeing us, he bared a mouthful of broken teeth and tensed to lunge. Puck grinned and pulled out his dagger, but there was an explosion of light between them, and a ringing voice filled the hallway.

“Everyone freeze!”

We froze.

“Well,” Leanansidhe said, striding over to me and Puck. “Turns out this game was a rousing success. Although, I must say, I was hoping to be surprised. It gets rather boring when you're right about everything.”

“L-Leanansidhe,” Razor Dan stammered, all the blood draining from his face as she regarded him with her fearsome smile. “H-how…? You're supposed to be in Nashville.”

“Dan, darling.” Leanansidhe shook her head and
tsked.
“Did you really think I was blind to what was going on? In my own house? I know the rumors circulating the streets, pet. I know the Iron King has been offering rewards for the girl. I had the feeling there was a traitor in my house, a so-called agent of the Iron King. What better way to flush him out than to leave him alone with the princess and wait for him to make his move? Your kind is so very predictable, darling.”

“We…” Dan glanced around at his crew, clearly looking for someone else to blame. “This wasn't our idea, Leanansidhe.”

“Oh, I know, darling. You're too dull to organize something like this. Which is why I'm not going to punish you.”

“Really?” Dan relaxed a bit.

“Really?” I blurted, looking up at her. “But they attacked me! And they were going to kill Charles! You're not going to do anything about that?”

“They were only following their base instincts, pet.” Leanansidhe smiled at me. “I expected nothing less of them. What I really want is the mastermind. Why don't you stick around…
Warren.
”

We all turned to where Warren was trying to sneak down the corridor without being seen. He froze, wincing at the sound of his name, and gave Leanansidhe a feeble smile.

“Leanansidhe, I…I can explain.”

“Oh, I'm sure you can, darling.” Leanansidhe's voice made my stomach curl. “And you will. We're going to have a little chitchat, and you're going to tell me everything you know about the Iron King and the scepter. You're going to sing, darling. Sing as you've never sung before, I promise.”

“Come on,” Puck told me, taking my elbow. “You don't want to hear this, Princess, trust me. Lea will give us the information when she has it.”

“Charles,” I said, and he turned from Leanansidhe to me, his eyes blank and empty once more. “Come on. Let's get out of here.”

“Pretty lady's sparkly,” Charles muttered. I sighed.

“Yeah,” I said sadly, taking his hand. “She is.”

With Ironhorse glowering and Puck leading the way, we fled the music room and Leanansidhe's presence, leaving Warren to his fate.

Royal Treatment

“A software corporation?” Puck repeated, brow furrowing. “Really. That's where they've been hiding it all this time?”

“Apparently, darling.” Leanansidhe leaned back in her chair, crossing her long legs. “Remember, the Iron fey aren't like us. They're not going to be hanging around parks and museums, singing to flowers. They like high-tech places that attract the cold, calculating mortals we care so little for.”

I shared a glance with Puck. We'd been talking about that strange, cold glamour I'd used on the gun before Leanansidhe came in. Though we were only guessing, we'd both come to the conclusion that it had indeed been iron glamour that I'd used on Warren, and that Leanansidhe, with her obvious hate and contempt for the Iron fey, definitely should not know about it yet.

I wished
I
knew more about it. I had the feeling this had never happened in the faery world before, that I was a first, and
there was no expert to talk to. Why did I have iron glamour? Why could I use it sometimes and not others? Too many questions, and no answers. I sighed and decided to focus on the problem at hand, instead of the one I had no hope of unraveling yet.

“What's the name of this place?” I asked Leanansidhe, not pointing out that I was one of those cold, calculating mortals who liked gadgets and computers and high-tech. I still missed my poor drowned iPod, the victim of a river crossing the first time I came to Faery, and this was the longest I'd ever gone without television. If I ever got back to having a normal life, I'd have a lot to catch up on.

Leanansidhe tapped her fingers against the armrest, pursing her lips in thought. “Oh, what did they call it? They all sound the same to me, darling.” She snapped her fingers. “SciCorp, I believe it was. Yes, in downtown San Jose. The heart of Silicon Valley.”

“Big place,” I muttered. “I don't think we can just walk in. There's sure to be cameras and security guards and everything.”

“Yes, a frontal assault is doomed to fail,” Leanansidhe agreed, glancing at Ironhorse, who stood in the corner with his arms crossed. “And remember, it's not only mortals you have to worry about. There's sure to be Iron fey as well. You're going to have to be…sneakier.”

In the corner, Ironhorse raised his head. “WHAT ABOUT A DISTRACTION?” he offered. “I COULD KEEP THEIR ATTENTION ON ME, WHILE SOMEONE GOES IN THROUGH THE BACK.”

“Or I could glamour Meghan invisible,” Puck added.

Grimalkin yawned from where he lay the couch. “It will be risky holding a glamour with all the iron and steel inside,” he said, blinking sleepily. “And we all know how horribly incom
petent the human is when it comes to magic, even without her glamour sealed off.”

I threw a pillow at him. He gave me a disdainful look and went back to sleep.

“Do we know anything about the building?” I asked Leanansidhe. “Blueprints, security, that kind of thing?” I suddenly felt like a spy in an action movie. The image of me dangling over a net of trip wires,
Mission Impossible
style, sprang to mind, and I bit down a nervous giggle.

“Unfortunately, Warren didn't have much to say about the building, though he really wanted to at the end, poor boy.” Leanansidhe smiled, as if reliving a fond memory, and I shivered. “Thankfully, my spies found out all we needed to know. They said they're holding the scepter on floor twenty-nine point five.”

“Twenty-nine point five?” I frowned. “How's that work?”

“I've no idea, darling. That's just what they said. However—” and she produced a slip of paper with a flourish “—they were able to come up with this. Apparently, it's some sort of code, used to get into the Iron faeries' lair. They couldn't solve it, but perhaps you will have better luck. I've no head for numbers at all, I'm afraid.”

She handed the paper to me. Puck and Ironhorse crowded around, and we stared at it for several moments. Leanansidhe was right—it was definitely part of a code.

 

3

13

1113

3113

132113

1…

 

“Okay,” I mused, after several moments of racking my brain and not coming up with anything. “So, we just have to figure this out and then we're home free. Doesn't sound too hard.”

“I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated, darling.” Leanansidhe accepted a glass of wine from a brownie. “As you said before, SciCorp is not a place you can just walk into. Visitors are not allowed past the front desk, and security is fairly tight. You have to be an employee to get off the first floor.”

“Well, what if we pretended to be the janitor or cleaning service, or something like that?”

Grimalkin snorted and shifted position on the couch. “Would you not need an ID card for that?” he said, settling comfortably on the pillow I'd thrown at him. “If the building is so well guarded, I doubt they let in common riffraff off the street.”

I slumped, frowning. “He's right. We would need a fake ID, or the ID of one of the workers, to make it inside. I don't know anyone who can get us something like that.”

Leanansidhe smiled. “I do,” she said, and snapped her fingers twice. “Skrae, darling,” she called, “would you come here a moment? I need you to find something.”

A piskie spiraled into view, gossamer wings buzzing. Three inches tall, he had indigo skin and dandelion hair, and wore nothing but a razor-toothed grin as he fluttered by. His eyes, enormous white orbs in his pointed face, regarded me curiously, until Leanansidhe clapped her hands.

“Skrae, pet, I'm over here. Focus, darling.” The piskie gave me a wink and a suggestive hip wiggle before turning his attention to Leanansidhe. “Good. Now, pay attention. I have a mission for you. I want you to find the streetrats. The half-phouka and the troll boy, I forget their names. Tell them to leave off the eggs for now, I have another job for them. Now go, darling.
Buzz buzz.” She fluttered her hand, and the piskie zipped away out of sight.

“Kimi and Nelson,” I said softly.

“What, darling?”

“That's their names. Kimi and Nelson. They were with…with Warren, when we first met.” I remembered Kimi's impish grin, Nelson's stoic expression. “You don't think they're involved with the Iron fey, too?”

“No.” Leanansidhe leaned back, snapping at a brownie for wine. “They knew nothing of Warren's betrayal or plot to kidnap you. He made that very clear.”

“Oh. That's a relief.”

“Although,” Leanansidhe mused with a faraway look, “the girl would make a lovely violin. Or maybe a lyre. The troll is more of a bass, I believe. What do you think, darling?”

I shuddered and hoped she was kidding.

 

K
IMI AND
N
ELSON
showed up a few hours later. When they walked into the foyer, Leanansidhe wasted no time in telling them what had happened to Warren, which left them shocked and angry but not disbelieving. No tears were shed, no furious accusations were hurled at anyone. Kimi sniffled a bit, but when Leanansidhe informed them they had a job, both perked up instantly. They struck me as very pragmatic kids, used to the school of hard knocks, which left little room for self-pity or wallowing.

“So,” Kimi said, flopping back on the sofa, which almost swallowed her whole, “what do you want us to do?”

Leanansidhe smiled and gestured for me to take over. “This is your plan, dove. You tell them what you need.”

“Um…right.” The two half-breeds looked at me expectantly. I swallowed. “Um, well, have you heard of a company called SciCorp?”

Kimi nodded, kicking her feet. “Sure. Big corporation that makes software, or something like that. Why?”

I looked at Leanansidhe, and she waved her cigarette at me encouragingly. “Well, we need to get inside the building and steal something. Unnoticed.”

Kimi's eyes widened. “You serious?”

I nodded. “Yes. But, we need your help to get past the guards and the security. Specifically, we need an ID card from one of the workers, and Leanansidhe said you might be able to get us one. Could you do that?”

Kimi and Nelson shared a glance, and the half-phouka turned to me with a mischievous smile. “No problem.” Her eyes gleamed, relishing the encounter. “When do you want it?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Right, then.” Kimi squirmed off the couch and tapped Nelson's huge bicep. “Come on, big guy. Let's go terrorize a human. Back before you know it.”

As the two left the foyer, Puck glanced at Leanansidhe. “You sure those two can handle it?” he asked, and grinned mischievously. “Want me to help them out?”

“No, darling. It's best that you do not.” Leanansidhe stood, green smoke swirling about her. “Half-breeds have it easier in Silicon Valley—they won't attract as much attention as normal fey, and they haven't our allergies to all the iron and steel. Those two will be fine, trust me. Now, then.” She walked toward me, smiling. “Come with me, my pet. We have a big day ahead of us.”

I stared at her nervously. “Where are we going?”

“Shopping, darling!”

“What? Now? Why?”

Leanansidhe
tsked.
“Darling, you can't expect to waltz into SciCorp looking like
that.
” She regarded my jeans and sweater imperiously, and sniffed. “It doesn't exactly scream ‘I'm a
business professional.' More like, ‘I'm a Goodwill junkie.' If we're going to get you into SciCorp, you'll need more than luck and glamour. You'll need an entire makeover.”

“But we're running out of time. Why can't Puck just glamour me some clothes—”

“Darling, darling, darling.” Leanansidhe waved her hand. “You
never
turn down a chance to go shopping, pet. Besides, didn't you hear Grimalkin? Even the most powerful glamour has the tendency to unravel if surrounded by steel and iron. We don't want you to
look
like a corporate worker, dove, we want you to
be
a corporate worker. And we're going shopping, no buts about it.” She gave me an indulgent smile I didn't like at all. “Think of me as your temporary faery godmother, darling. Just let me get my magic wand.”

 

I
FOLLOWED
Leanansidhe down another long corridor that dumped us out onto a sunny sidewalk bustling with people, who didn't notice our sudden appearance from a previously empty alleyway. Even though the sun was shining and the sky was clear, there was a frigid bite to the air, and people hurried down the street in thick sweaters and coats, a sign that winter was on its way or had already arrived. As we passed a newspaper machine, I quickly scanned the date in the corner and breathed in a sigh of relief. Five months. I'd been stuck in Faery five months; a long time to be sure, but better than five years, or five centuries. At least my parents were still alive.

I spent the rest of the afternoon being dragged from shop to shop, following Leanansidhe as she plucked clothes from racks and shoved them at me, demanding I try them on. When I balked at the ungodly prices, she laughed and reminded me that she was my temporary faery godmother today, and that price was not an issue.

I tried on women's suits first, sleek jackets and tight, knee-
length skirts that made me look five years older, at least to Leanansidhe's reckoning. I must've tried on two dozen different styles, colors and combinations before Leanansidhe finally announced that she liked a simple black outfit that looked like every other black outfit I had tried on.

“So, we're done now?” I ventured hopefully, as Leanansidhe had the store clerk take the suit away to be wrapped. The faery looked down at me in genuine surprise and laughed.

“Oh, no, darling. That was just a suit. You still need shoes, makeup, a purse, a few accessories…no pet, we've only just begun.”

“I didn't think faeries liked shopping and buying stuff. Isn't that a bit…unnatural?”

“Of course not, darling. Shopping is just another form of hunting.
All
fey are hunters, whether they admit it or not. It's in our nature, pet, nothing unnatural about it.”

That made a strange sort of sense.

 

M
ORE STORES
. I lost track of all the places we visited, the aisles we stalked, the racks we pored over. Leanansidhe was a faery on a mission; the second she swept through the doors, all sales-people would drop what they were doing and flock to her side, asking if they could help, if they could be of service. I was invisible beside her; even when Leanansidhe announced we were shopping for
me,
the clerks would forget I existed the second they turned away. Still, they were eager to please, bringing out their best shoes in my size, showing us a staggering variety of purses I would never use, and suggesting earrings that would accent the color of my eyes. (This was also the time Leanansidhe discovered I didn't pierce my ears. Thirty minutes later, I sat with my earlobes throbbing as a bubbly clerk pressed cotton to my ears and cheerfully told me the swelling would go down in a day or two.)

Finally, as the sun was setting over the buildings, the Queen of Shopping decided we were finished. Relieved that the long day was over, I sat on a chair, staring at the stupid code, annoyed that I still couldn't solve it. I watched Leanansidhe chat up the clerk as she wrapped and bagged the merchandise. When she announced the grand total, I nearly fell out of my seat, but Leanansidhe smiled and handed her a credit card without blinking once. For just a moment, when the clerk handed it back, the card looked more like a piece of bark, but Leanansidhe dropped it into her purse before I could get a closer look.

“Well,” my temporary faery godmother said brightly as we departed the store, “we have your clothes, your shoes, and your accessories. Now, the real fun begins.”

“What?” I asked wearily.