To Catch a Queen (35 page)

“I meant in real life. That’s why you were staying at home. What about now?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been taking some classes up here, and a few people have offered to have me audition, so I may give it a shot. I should still have a few years in me.”

“So you’ll be around?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Good.”

That single word was enough to make her warm with hope, no matter how chilly the morning was.

Riverside Park

Meanwhile

The A sisters headed off to their apartment near their shop, insisting that they were fine getting there on their own. After seeing them in magical warfare, Emily didn’t argue with them. She was a little disappointed that Eamon barely said a farewell before going back through the gateway. She’d thought something had happened between them, but maybe it had just been acting, after all. As her sister often said, the fae were difficult to understand. She’d worry about it once she’d had some sleep. Tugging on Beau’s leash, she said, “So, whattaya say we go home, buddy, huh?”

The dog wearily pushed himself to his feet with a sigh, but then he trotted eagerly in the direction of her apartment. When she came down her block, she was surprised to find Sophie sitting on the front steps of her building. She looked rather forlorn. Drawing nearer, Emily noted that her eyes were puffy and red from tears.

Beau waddled forward to head-butt Sophie’s ankle and flop against her feet. “What is it, Soph?” Emily asked, sitting next to her.

“Jen didn’t come back.”

“Oh, God. Poor Michael. What happened? I thought he did all the stuff to free her.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. He freed her to make her own choices, and she chose the Realm.” She shook her head, and her lower lip quivered slightly. “We tried everything to change her mind. I even thought she was coming through with us, but she let go on the way through the gateway.”

“What are you going to do?”

“She told him to let her go and move on, and that’s what he’s decided to do. It may be worth one more try after she’s lived awhile in the Realm without being a captive, but I really don’t think that’s going to make things better.”

“At least he knows he did everything he could. Doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, I think so. Anyway, I thought I’d hang around to tell you so you’d know to keep an eye on him. He’s going to need friends. What kept you, anyway? We went for coffee and talked a while after we got back.”

“I guess we came through at a different time. Eamon has that fairy time problem, so he must not have been on your schedule.”

“Oh, right,” Sophie said with a nod. Her cell phone rang, and she took it out of her bag, then groaned. “I should have gone back earlier.”

“Mama?”

“Yep. She must have got up early.” She answered the call. “Hello?” Sophie said, brilliantly impersonating the sound of a person awakened from a deep sleep by a ringing phone. “What is it, Mama?”

She winced as she held the phone out so Emily could listen. “She died! Your grandmother’s dead. And you were gone! This is what happens when you stay away from home overnight.”

Sophie rolled her eyes but maintained her act. “Oh dear. Did you call nine-one-one?”

“They said a death by natural causes wasn’t an emergency and to call the funeral home. Sophie, what should I do?”

“It’s early, Mama,” Sophie said. “Pull the sheet up over her and go back to bed. I’ll be there as soon as I can, and then I’ll deal with it.”

“But if I just leave her there, they’ll think I killed her.”

“Mama, everyone in town knew that Nana was very old and very sick. No one is going to suspect you of murder.”

“Just get here as soon as you can.”

 “It may take me an hour or so.” Sophie turned away from the phone, as though speaking to someone else nearby, and said softly. “It’s my mother. Something happened and I need to get home.” She chuckled and said, “No, I can’t just stay in bed a while longer.” Returning to the phone, she said, “I’ll be on my way soon. Now, hang tight.”

When she’d disconnected, Emily crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “Now, what the hell was that about?”

Sophie looked a little sheepish. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist baiting her a bit. I told her I was spending the night with a friend, and I might have implied that the friend was male. She needs something to distract her, and that should do the trick.”

“I have been a very bad influence on you,” Emily said. “And have you considered getting into acting? After that performance, I’m not so sure that I’m the one in the family with that talent.”

Sophie stood and brushed off her skirt. “Now I guess I’d better get home and deal with Mama. Do you want me to schedule the funeral for when you can be there, or would you rather me give you an excuse not to come, since you can’t get away?”

“If you could take me through the Realm and find a way to hide that from Mama, then I could look like I moved heaven and earth to get there without disrupting my life much.”

Sophie smiled. “That works for me. How about Monday morning?”

“If you can do it. Isn’t it weird to bury a log?”

“No one will know otherwise.”

“And now you’re free. How does it feel?”

“It hasn’t really hit yet. I have a lot to deal with first.”

“Oh, right, I guess you do.” As tired as she was, Emily forced herself to stand so she could hug her sister. “Take care of yourself. When all this is done, you deserve a vacation. Find yourself a beach with some drinks with little umbrellas in them.”

“I have a dance career to relaunch, so the vacation will have to wait.”

“And that’s why you need a vacation. You need a break before you head into the next phase of your life.”

“The next phase of my life
will
be a vacation for me.” Sophie bent to scratch Beau’s neck. “I’ll let you know about funeral arrangements. And now I’d better go face Mama.”

Emily watched her disappear down the block before she unlocked the front door and went to her own apartment. It was funny that somehow in settling everything, they’d ended up changing everything.

Maybelle, Louisiana

Friday, 5:00 a.m.

Sophie stepped out of the gateway near her car. The familiar smell of pine needles told her she was home again. She glanced at her dress, which was rather the worse for wear, and contemplated changing clothes before facing her mother. On the other hand, looking like she was making a walk of shame would complete the image she’d suggested earlier. After all, she really had spent the entire night with a man, and then had a very early breakfast with him.

Feeling rather defiant, she threw her bag and coat into her car and got in to drive home. The lights were on in the house when she arrived, so she braced herself to deal with her mother. Putting on the proper air of mourning when she’d last seen her grandmother looking young, healthy, and happy would test her acting abilities.

The really difficult thing to hide would be the joy of knowing she had her whole life ahead of her, with a wider array of choices than she’d ever had before. She parked her car, got out, and prepared to face her future.

You have just read the second book in the Fairy Tale series,
To Catch a Queen
. The first book in the series is
A Fairy Tale
. The series will continue with more adventures.

Coming July 14, 2015, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers introduces
Rebel Mechanics
, a new book by Shanna Swendson.

Read on for an excerpt from
Rebel Mechanics
.

If I’d let myself think about what might lie ahead for me, I’d have been terrified. So, instead of thinking, I lost myself in the book I’d bought at the train station newsstand – the kind of pulp novel I’d have had to hide behind a copy of
The Odyssey
if I’d still been at home in New Haven. Now, though, I could read what I wanted without my father having any say in the matter. My life had improved in that way, at least.

Although the motion of the train made it difficult to keep the paperback book steady, I defiantly held it with the lurid cover clearly visible as I read about a daring gang of bandits terrorizing stagecoaches. I was so engrossed in the story that when I heard a sharp noise and raised voices, I initially mistook it for my imagination bringing the story to life. Then I looked up to see a group of masked, gun-wielding men rushing through the connecting doorway at the front of the car. A thrill shot through me. I had told myself my life would be more exciting beginning today, but I hadn’t really believed it. I picked up my bag and dropped the book into it so I wouldn’t miss a thing.

“Seal the door!” the tallest bandit ordered, and one of the masked men turned to throw the latch. He held his hands over it, and I thought for a moment that I saw a shimmer beneath them. A shiver went down my spine, making me gasp. Could that have been magic? No, I decided, only the magister class could use magic, and that class held most of the property in the British Empire and controlled the magical power that ran all industry, even here in the American colonies. Magisters shouldn’t need to rob trains. When I looked again, the shimmer was gone. I must have imagined it.

While the man who’d sealed the door stood lookout, the tall bandit who’d shouted the order strode up the aisle, heading toward the rear of the car where I sat. Abruptly, he stopped and raised his pistol at a man sitting three rows ahead of me. “I’ll take that,” he said in a soft but firm voice as he grabbed a slim black leather case the man held in his lap. The man clung to his case, and it looked for a moment as though he might put up a fight, but the bandit cocked his pistol with his thumb and held it closer to the man’s face. The man released his hold on the bag. The bandit gave him a disconcertingly polite nod as he lowered the gun and took the case. He then continued up the aisle, seemingly unaffected by the swaying motion of the train as it slowed to round a bend.

He stopped directly in front of my seat, and I gripped the handles of my bag as my heart beat wildly. The bandit stood so close to me I could see his eyes through the slits in his mask. They were an icy, pale blue, hard and cold, with little flecks of gray around the pupil and a band of darker blue around the outer edge of the iris. I had never met a killer, but based on every novel I’d read, that was how I imagined a killer’s eyes would look.

When the bandit stepped toward me, I reacted instinctively. I rose to my feet, swung my bag at him, and then felt the shock go up to my elbows when I connected with his head. He staggered backward, and I felt light-headed as my breath came in shallow gasps. I shrank away, fearing retribution.

Instead of being angered by my assault, he smiled wryly and holstered his gun. The smile made his eyes look much less icy and hard. With a slight bow, he said, “My apologies, miss. I did not intend to alarm you.”

“They’re coming!” the lookout called from the front of the car. “Hurry!”

My bandit glanced over his shoulder to see the railroad guards attempting to open the locked door, then returned his attention to me. “And now, if you will excuse me, I need to make use of your seat to reach that hatch.” I followed his eyes upward to see a hatch in the car’s ceiling, directly above me. The bandit put the case he’d taken on the seat near me, stepped onto the seat, placed his hands against the hatch, paused for a moment, and pushed. The hatch flew open, sending a gust of wind rushing into the car and jolting me back against the window. I worried that my hat would fly off, but I was too afraid of letting go of my bag to secure my hatpin. “It’s open, come on!” the bandit shouted to the others as he climbed down.

The rest of the gang ran toward us, and I clutched my bag against my chest as, one by one, they jumped onto the seat and hoisted themselves through the hatch onto the roof of the car. A couple passed heavy-looking sacks up to other gang members before climbing after them. When the others had all gone, the bandit I’d hit reached for my gloved hand and brushed my knuckles with his lips, whispering, “I hope the rest of your journey goes smoothly, miss,” before he climbed onto the seat, passed the stolen case up to a colleague, then pulled himself through. The hatch closed behind him with a clang and the car instantly grew quieter.

Breathless and quivering, I sank slowly onto my seat, resting my bag on my knees. I absently rubbed my left thumb across the knuckles of my right hand, where the bandit had kissed me. It was the first truly romantic thing I’d ever experienced.

The guards finally made it through the door, and they ran down the aisle. The man whose bag had been taken leaped out of his seat to accost them. “I am a courier on official business for the crown, and those bandits took my case of priority dispatches!” he shouted, his mustache bristling in fury. “I expect better protection than this when I travel!” The other passengers joined in, adding their complaints at high volume.

The guards did their best to calm everyone. They interviewed the courier and several of the other passengers. One of the guards climbed onto the seat beside mine – without so much as a word to me – and attempted unsuccessfully to open the hatch. All the while, I kept glancing out the window, wondering where the bandits had gone. The train hadn’t slowed down enough for them to jump, and I’d seen no one running away from the tracks.

The connecting door at the rear of the car opened and a well-dressed young man carrying a large brown leather valise entered. He pulled up short and gaped at the commotion. “I say, what’s all this?” he asked.

“Nothing for you to worry about, sir,” a guard said brusquely. “Please have a seat.”

The newcomer glanced around for a seat and took one across the aisle from me. With a sheepish grin, he told me, “There was a baby crying in the other car. I didn’t think I could bear it any longer. This looks a lot more interesting.” He watched the guards conducting their investigation with great fascination, as though this was the best entertainment he’d seen in a long time. I thought he seemed a little too interested in the proceedings, and his color was heightened, as though he was either excited about something or had just done a great deal of physical activity. Surely one wouldn’t get that red-faced merely while making his way through the train in search of a seat. Then I dismissed my suspicions as a flight of fancy. The bandits couldn’t possibly have come down off the top of the train, removed their masks and adjusted their appearance in the lavatories, and then dispersed throughout the train as ordinary travelers.