Tiddly Jinx (2 page)

“Sorry. Being dead wasn’t as restful as it sounds.”
Rest in peace
had taken on a whole new meaning. I was tired. Too tired to handle another crisis. Just mentioning being dead was enough to bring pieces of my journey back to the forefront. Concentrating on the people in front of me no matter how dire the situation was when my mind was still reeling from what I had been through was nearly impossible.

Cheney raised his eyebrows, silently asking if I was okay. I nodded and smiled a little, forcing my attention back to Sebastian. I didn’t have a choice. Quitting and failure weren’t options. So much more was at stake this time.

Sebastian pressed his lips together as if mentally counting to ten. “I apologize. It’s just…” He let out a breath. “There is nothing else
we
can do.” He gestured to Cheney and Sy. “I know that you are probably exhausted and I can’t even begin to imagine what happened to you there. However, this problem isn’t going to go away or wait for you to feel more like helping. It’s only going to get worse. So do you think you could focus?” Sebastian abruptly turned away and began pacing.

Condescension aside, he was right. I shook my head at Cheney when he opened his mouth to say something. I understood. I wasn’t the only one who’d had a shitty day. Sebastian had been up all night and had gone through his own emotional upheaval yesterday that he hadn’t yet taken the time to process. None of us were quite ourselves this morning—well, except Sy. He, if anything, was irritatingly chipper—my cousin had endless amounts of energy. I stood up and went to Sebastian, placing a hand on his arm. I waited until his eyes met mine. “I’m sorry,” I said gently.

His eyes softened, and I could see that he understood that I meant more than just spacing out. I was sorry for everything he and Cheney went through yesterday. I was sorry for what happened to Cheney’s sister and I was sorry for Sebastian’s broken heart. Though he never spoke about them, Sebastian had feelings. His head tilted in acknowledgement and I squeezed his arm before letting him go.

“Sit down, Sebastian.” I waited until he had taken my spot, then I went to stand next to Cheney. I assumed between Cheney, Sebastian, and Sy they had covered and eliminated most of the Abyss options for tracking the Pole’s location available to us. They had to be looking for a human magic solution. “I don’t know if the coven could do a spell or not. I have to research it more to be sure, but my gut feeling is the spell would have to deal with magic we know nothing about. Obviously the crypt didn’t disappear anywhere in the Abyss or the human world.”

“Where else would it go?” Cheney asked.

I shook my head. “I have no idea…back to the underworld? But if that’s the case, then why did they make me get the Pole?” I pressed my lips together. “Maybe this isn’t a big deal. Maybe they’re gone and all of your worries about what the Pole is capable of will come to nothing.” All three guys looked at me as if I was concussed. Wishful thinking wasn’t exactly an elf trait.

“Selene, there’s nowhere else to go,” Sy said. “There’re not an infinite number of worlds out there.”

“How do you know? There could be hundreds. None of us are able to travel between worlds so we don’t know what else is out there. Most humans think that their world is the only world too because they don’t know about the Abyss. With the Pole, who knows what could be discovered.”

“Who knows what could be let in,” Sebastian countered.

“Maybe Corbin knows. He knows more about the underworld than any of us,” I said.

“I think we’ve involved the vampire enough.” Sy gave me his first truly disapproving look.

Vampires irritated the hell out of him, but I had no idea why. To the best of my recollection we never encountered a vampire growing up. Sy’s hatred for them formed sometime after I became a changeling. Yes, they had a reputation ripe with manipulation, exploitation, and of course their survival hinged on their using the rest of us as a walking buffet of life-force. Corbin was different—maybe they all were. I really didn’t know any other vampires. Okay, so maybe he fed on people just like the rest of them, and he
had
done his fair share of manipulating since I met him, but when I needed him, he came through. I really hadn’t thought much about vampires until recently, and Sy’s reaction made me curious about what had happened to make him write off an entire race of people. Between the two of us, my cousin was normally the more accepting of others. He worked with all different races and had friends across the board. I made a mental note to ask him when life was less hectic.

Cheney coughed slightly, bringing my thoughts back to the room. I rolled my eyes. “There might be a spell, but it’ll probably be dark magic.” They looked at me blankly. “That’s bad.”

“Why?” Cheney asked, his eyebrows tugging together.

“Dark magic is sort of like jumping into murky water and expecting to be able to stand. You don’t really know whether or not you can reach the ground, or if you can, what it will be made of.”

Elf magic was more natural than human magic, so it was harder to corrupt. It manipulated what was already there—powerful in its own right, but not as strong as human magic could be. Humans could create something from nothing. We could summon demons, curse people, make people do things against their will, or even kill them. When I lived as a human I didn’t understand magic fully, though I thought I did. The power at my fingertips deserved more respect and caution than I ever gave it. Frankly, had it not been for my grandmother’s rules, I could have gotten myself into a lot of trouble.

By Abyss standards, being a witch was a huge deal. We had infinite magical powers and nothing to govern us. Humans long ago stopped believing in magic, which was great for witches like me, but dangerous for the world. We had no rules. Sure, we made the distinction between light and dark witches, but no one was there to keep you from dabbling in the darker elements of witchcraft if you chose to do so, except for the rule of three—whatever magic you send out into the world will come back on you threefold. Some human witches didn’t believe dark magic existed, thinking that all magic came from the goddess, and therefore it must be good. I personally didn’t know much about it, but I knew enough not to want to dabble.

“So it’s dangerous?” Cheney asked.

“Potentially. But what isn’t these days? In fact, I’m changing my middle name to Danger. Has a nice ring to it.”

Cheney barely cracked a smile and I could feel his eyes drilling into me, but I refused to meet them. I knew what he was thinking. I was pregnant. It wasn’t just my life at risk anymore, and I needed to be more responsible. It was all true. I did. However, that didn’t mean I could ask other people to risk their lives to clean up my mess. I brought the Pole of Charon back. If dark magic was the only way to get it back, then I had to be the one to do it. Besides, not finding it would be much worse for the baby in the long term.

Sy crossed his ankle over his knee. “Do you know any dark practitioners?”

“No. That wasn’t really my crowd when I was human. My coven is more of a drink-martinis-and-talk-about-life sort of group. A Wiccan
Sex and the City
,
if you will.”

“You know that clarification didn’t clarify anything to us, right?” Sy laughed.

“Well you’re missing out.” Having been reborn as a human and spending the last twenty-six years of my life with no memory of being a half-elf was an adjustment. Pop culture was as much of a part of me as elf-lore and sword fighting.

Sy nodded. “I’m sure I am. But back on subject, maybe I can find one for you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You know a lot of humans, do you?”

This time I got a smug smile. “I know a lot of everyone, coz.”

I laughed. Sy was a riddle with a serving of enigma on the side. “How is that? Humans can’t even see elves unless you let them, and doesn’t that pretty much break the only rule the Abyss has? Exactly what is your job, Sy? And how did you get it? Who do you work for?”

He winked and leaned back in his chair, clearly with no intention of answering me. Figures. Jerk. “Well, thank you, but let me check with Grandma first.” My human grandmother was not only the oldest witch I knew, but she was also the only witch I knew who had dabbled in dark magic during her life. If anyone could advise me, it was her.

“Cheney?” Sebastian said. “You can’t tell me you don’t have an opinion about this.”

I still avoided looking at him.

He took a deep breath. “Will you have to be a part of the spell? Can the coven not do it without you?”

“Maybe. But if they could do it, it would take all of them, and possibly my grandmother, too. Then we are looking at potentially five evil witches. Their ability to successfully cast dark magic without me is a big ‘if,’ too.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to risk all of my friends’ lives to take care of another problem I had caused. I had ruined enough lives. “Honestly, I’m the best choice. I’m strong enough to cast alone and maybe I won’t turn. Grandma had to have used dark magic when she cursed me and she didn’t turn. Strength is in my bloodline.”

“Okay, let’s not make any rash decisions. Surely we can find a dark practitioner. Maybe none of you will have to do this,” Sy offered.

“Even if you do, then what? We can’t trust someone who is essentially evil. What if they find the Pole and try to use it themselves? We’ll be making a bad situation even worse. Right now the priestess hasn’t done anything here. We have time to find it and dispose of it before anyone is hurt. Bringing an outsider in when I can handle it seems risky.”

“I don’t think you should do it, Selene,” Sebastian said. “As you said, it hasn’t been used here that we know of. Maybe it won’t be. If the priestess took it to another world, maybe that is what she wanted it for to begin with. When and if it is used, couldn’t we just follow the Pole from that point?”

Cheney shook his head. “Save your breath, Sebastian. Telling her not to do something is the same as begging for her to do it. Selene isn’t going to risk the Pole being brought back here given what it can do.” I nodded. “That said, there are other considerations this time. You aren’t just risking your life. We need a lot more information about what could happen and what all of our options are before we take any steps.”

I gave him a quelling glance. I wasn’t quite ready to share that bit of news with everyone yet. I still needed time to process it. I could barely take care of myself. How was I going to be responsible for another little life?

Sebastian looked perplexed. “You haven’t remarried yet. What other life is in danger?”

Cheney and I had a stare off. His golden eyes churned with emotion and I narrowed mine in response.

“Corbin,” I said. It was true. He was bonded to me. I wasn’t sure the depth of the bond, but anything that happened to me could affect him.

“You married the damn vampire?” Sy asked, flabbergasted. “You were only gone twelve hours. How exactly did that happen?”

“No.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “It’s a long story. He’s bonded to me. I don’t really know what that means, but I don’t think it goes both ways. I don’t feel bonded to him.”

Sebastian just shook his head, and Sy mumbled something about my needing to be locked in a white padded room for not only my protection, but also the safety of the rest of the world.

“I know he helped you,” Sebastian said slowly, eyes darting back and forth from me to Cheney. “But one vampire is an acceptable loss if Selene insists upon doing this.”

“It’s not just one vampire’s or Selene’s life on the line. It’s also the heir to the throne,” he said. “Is that an acceptable loss, as well?”

Sebastian blinked a few times and Sy looked back and forth between the two of us.

“Wait. What?” Sy sputtered.

I let out a huff of breath and took Cheney’s hand, feeling happy despite the situation. “Surprise…?”

Once the shock wore off, they both looked genuinely happy. They went through all the questions you would expect:
how do you know, what are you having, are you sure the baby is okay because you were dead yesterday
, etc.

“Selene and I are getting married as soon as it can be arranged. That was the deal.” Cheney squeezed my hand back. “You agreed you would marry me again as soon as you came back.”

“But—” I started, but he pressed on.

“One thing I have learned since I met you is that the timing is always going to be wrong. There will always be a problem to deal with, and we will deal with them. Together. As it should be. I’m tired of waiting and feeling incomplete.” He turned his finely sculpted face and eyes I could fall into up to me. “Make me whole again.”

Sebastian looked thoughtful. “As inconvenient as a wedding would be right now, it may actually help with our other problem. If you have a large ceremony and create excitement among the fae about the wedding, not only would it distract them from whatever the Pole does should it pop up, but maybe they will embrace her, too.”

“The people’s queen,” Sy agreed. “It’s a role Selene was born to play.”

Cheney’s face went blank.
Other problem?
I thought, frowning at Sebastian. “What other problem?”

He looked at Cheney. “I thought the two of you spoke.”

“We did,” he said through gritted teeth. “Just not about that?”

“What?” I asked, a trickle of irritation running like ice through my veins. I tried to dismiss it as exhaustion—of course it couldn’t be because he still kept secrets.

“There were some incidents,” Cheney said. “Nothing to worry about.”

“The elves just need to meet you,” Sebastian added.

Every moment they didn’t tell me my anger built. I was going to have to leave the castle if they didn’t start talking soon. What incidents?

Sy rolled his shoulders and his eyes. “They hate you. They don’t want you to be queen and they’ve been protesting you.”

I felt like I had been punched. Defensiveness reared, but I beat it back down. If I got angry they were never going to tell me what was going on. “What? Who? What did I do now?”

Cheney turned me toward him. “You didn’t do anything. No one
hates
you. They just don’t know you. To them you are just the half-elf who upset their world. Give it time.”