The thing that took up the most space was my wardrobe. That was filled with clothes I’d made myself, from jumpers, to blouses, to jeans, to dresses and everything in between. When I went out shopping, I didn’t look for actual outfits, I bought fabric with which to make my own. I didn’t wear anything I hadn’t made myself. Not only did that save money, but it was also nice to wear stuff that fit me just right.
Gullie’s wings fluttered against my ear as soon as I found myself alone, startling me. I wasn’t used to the buzzing from her wings being so loud, but then I remembered what Mother Pepper had said about the pastries I’d just eaten.
Lerac fruits really did work.
The glowing green pixie shot out of my hair, zipped around my face, and slapped me across the cheek. It was the weirdest thing, getting slapped by a pixie. They looked like miniature humans with wings. You’d think getting slapped by one of them would feel like having a toothpick flicked at you. But with the help of a little magic, they could slap like a full-grown adult, and it stung.
“What the hell was that for?” I gasped, my hand flying to cover my face.
“That’s for letting me get soaked earlier,” Gullie said, “I never got to properly thank you. Now, if I could kindly have a moment of her highness’ time, I have something important to tell you.”
“Can it wait until after I have a shower? I’m pretty sure I look like crap and everyone’s just too polite to tell me.”
“No, it can’t wait. It’s about him.”
“Him?” I cocked my head to the side. Then realization dawned. “Oh… him.”
I remembered what had happened between us with vivid clarity. There wasn’t a single detail that had escaped. Not the strength of his grip, not the shape of his body, nor the way I had felt when he pulled me in close and smelled my hair. It had been dripping at that point, and it probably smelled like rubber, tarmac, and who knew what else. But that didn’t seem to have mattered to him.
Belore.
That’s what he’d said to me. The one word he’d uttered—or growled, more like.
There was something animal about him, something primal. I remembered watching a video once of a wolf stalking a deer. The deer stood almost motionless in the wilderness, except for its chest. It must have been taking three breaths a second, paralyzed by fear having sensed a deadly predator had gotten hold of its scent.
Was that what he’d been doing? Had he been finding my scent? Whatever his intentions, I could now relate to that deer. I now knew what it felt like to feel my own heart start running away, to have my breathing suddenly shorten to an almost dangerous degree. The worst part? I’d liked it. Jesus, I’d liked the way that had felt.
I liked him, the way he looked, the shape of his face, his body. Never mind that he was probably just like that wolf; dangerous as fu—Gullie clicked her fingers in front of me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Hello,” she said, drawing the word out.
I shook my head. “What?” I asked, grabbing a fresh outfit from the wardrobe and starting to change out of my damp clothes.
“I lost you for a second, and I really can’t lose you. Not right now. You need to listen to me.”
“Alright, I’m listening.”
Gullie buzzed a little closer to me. “You need to be careful,” she said. “That man, I don’t know who he was, but he was fae.”
A wave of cold and hot rushed through me. “Fae?” I asked, my voice rising a little too high.
The little pixie frantically waved. “Lower your voice! Do you want the whole neighborhood to hear?”
I had never met one before; I only knew of them from what I’d been told; that they were a secretive culture; that they weren’t of this world, exactly; that they were magic. I’d heard other things, too. Like, how they were supposed to be divided into the Seelie and the Unseelie; the good and the bad. And how, digging deeper, they were also divided into Courts, with Monarchs, and royalty, and… stuff.
Regular people didn’t generally meet the fae; spotting one was a big deal, for common-folk like me.
But that was only the beginning of what the fae really were. They were cruel, and disconnected. They didn’t think like humans did. They didn’t have our codes of morality or ethics. They worked under a completely different set of rules; rules that made them dangerous.
“Are you sure he was fae?” I asked.
“Trust me, they have a distinct smell about them. He was fae.”
“Wait… he smelled me, was he trying to figure out what I was?”
“Probably. I don’t know.”
“But I’m human, though.”
“It’s totally possible he was actually smelling me, and judging by his face, he probably did.”
“Oh shit. No… no, no.” I started pacing around my room. “What do you think he’ll do? I’m not supposed to have a pixie. You’re not supposed to be here. Do you think he’s told someone? Maybe Madame Whitmore?”
“You need to breathe, right now,” Gullie said, hurling soft clouds of fairy dust at me. Though I could feel the beginnings of a second panic attack starting to build, Gullie’s magic was doing a good job at fighting the anxiety away.
Slowly, I managed to get my breathing back to normal. I walked over to the window, my hand over my chest, my breaths deep and long. “That was good,” I said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Gullie said. “I think the important thing for us to do right now is relax, and calm down. Even if he did tell Madame Whitmore what he’d seen, I doubt he could trace you back to her—much less trace you back here. It’s gonna be totally fine.”
“You’re right, it’s going to be totally fine.”
I took another deep breath at the window, watching the glass fog up with my breathing. Then I noticed something through it. A shimmer of light, like a distortion of air. I narrowed my eyes and wiped the foggy glass with the sleeve of my sweater to look more closely at what was happening in the alley.
My heart almost stopped.
There were people down there. Not just people, but soldiers wearing full suits of silver armor, massive silver shields, and gorgeous white capes. Some were wielding swords, others spears, there must’ve been six or seven of them. No, definitely seven. Three soldiers on either side of one who looked like the leader of the bunch.
He was marching toward the Magic Box… and unsheathing his sword.
“Gullie…” I said, my throat tightening, “I’m going to need more of that powder, now.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Gullie pressed herself against the window to get a better look at what I was seeing. “Holy crap,” she shrieked. “Fae. Lots of them.”
“Shit,” I said aloud, heading for my bedroom door. I went to pull it open, I wanted to warn my mothers, but then I remembered. They were gone. Mother Helen had said they’d be immediately leaving for Whitmore Academy. How immediate was immediately?
“Are we gonna do something?” Gullie asked.
“I’m thinking!”
“I just can’t believe they brought a whole squad down here, and in suits of armor no less! I know pixies aren’t supposed to be hanging around humans, but it’s not that bad a crime.”