I went over to where Jack was with some guy who, had he been in a suit instead of a soft, flowing peasant shirt and trousers, would have been the archetypal uptight businessman.
“This is unacceptable! Do you have any idea how many people depend on me? How much money I’m losing every minute I’m here?”
Jack’s eyes had glazed over, vague and unfocused as he nodded slowly. “Mmm hmmm,” he kept repeating, almost like he was humming.
“Hey,” I said. “Everything okay?” Jack gave me a desperate look.
“No, everything is not okay!” Uptight Businessman shouted at me.
“Great! I need to borrow Jack, then.” I grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him away.
“Thanks. Have I mentioned lately how glad I am you didn’t die?”
“Yes. But feel free to keep it up.
We can’t get them to come to their senses until we get their names.”
“I doubt it will be that simple.”
“Oh, because I thought tracking down the names of six anonymous girls when we have no idea where they’re from would be a piece of cake.
You coming with us?”
“Not this time. I’ve got a different errand to run.”
“Okay.” She reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear affectionately. “Be careful. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to the worst Spanish student in the history of the language.”
I laughed. “No probelmo.”
By the time I found Reth, he was deep in discussion with the banshees, their discordant voices chiding him for something or other. I hated to pull him away from getting chewed out, but it had to be done. Another faeries, all spring and mint green, was with him. After briefly explaining about the location of the dancers, she left to retrieve them. I wanted to send Reth because I trusted him more, but he didn’t look good. I’d keep him with me so I could keep an eye on him. He wouldn’t ask for help—not from anyone—but I’d be there no matter what.
When we got back to the house, Lend was already there with several grocery bags full of bread. Reth turned his head away as though the very sight of it was distasteful. “Even the food of this world is nothing but decay.”
Clearly he had never tried pizza, because honestly.
We linked hands—my ex-boyfriend, my boyfriend, and my former friend-then-enemy-then-friend and I—and walked through a door to see if maybe empty carbs were good for something after all.
Putting my hands on my hips, I sighed. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to Unseelie territory, and you’re all going to protect me with whatever faerie mojo you have, because I’m pretty sure the Dark Queen will not be very excited to see me. And then I’m going to talk to them.”
“Talk to them?” the Light Queen asked.
“Yes,” I said, trying to compose a poem on her beauty comparing her to the light of the dawn, to the rays of sunlight piercing clouds after a thunderstorm, to . . . Evelyn. I shook my head, trying to clear it. “Gosh, can’t you at least try to turn it down? Anyway. We’re going to talk to them. If they’re anything like your court, a lot of them probably think their queen is a freaking idiot.”
The Light Queen’s side, white eyebrows rose like a question mark.
Out of the trees came faerie after faerie, the entirety of the Dark Court, who had apparently been listening to the whole exchange. I looked at Reth, shocked, but he just smiled. I clenched my jaw and shook my head, annoyed. They’d had a plan all along, and it hadn’t involved me. I was here for show—Hey, look! Our pet Empty One! You can hitch a ride back if you join now! Limited time offer!
“I did warn her you were less likely to come if you thought you weren’t in charge,” Reth said, his voice cracked but his tone self-congratulatory.
“Did you warn her I’m highly likely to back out of the entire thing if you piss me off?”
“Perhaps you had better watch your back, stupid glowy golden faerie man whore.”
He frowned at me. “That made no sense.”
“Good! Now maybe I can join your club.” I took a step away from him but immediately felt terrible when he swayed and looked like he was going to fall.
I squeezed his hand. “You’re right. And thank you.” We were quiet for a bit. “Jack?”
“You know, they say when someone keeps making excuses to say your name it means they like you.”
“They say that, huh?”
“They do indeed. But I want to make it very clear that, while you’re acceptably pretty and moderately entertaining, it’s not me. It’s you.”
“Color me relieved. But seriously, Jack—”
“Again with the name-dropping.
“Shut up. I’m trying to say that I’m proud of you. These people will owe you for what you’ve done for them, but they’ll also depend on you for the rest of their lives. You’ve really stepped up. I just . . . yeah. I’m proud of you.”
He raises his shoulders a couple of times, like he was physically trying to shrug off what I’d said. Then he shook his head and sighed. “This is more awkward than that time you threw yourself at me and made me kiss you.”
“I seem to recall you kissing me, followed by me hitting you. Repeatedly.”
He reached over with his free hand to pat mine. “Whatever you need to tell yourself to be happy with frying pan boy. And here we are!
Anything I can do to help?”
“Convince the entire Dark Court to abandon their queen’s plan and join Team Leave Now?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of recording tonight’s Easton Heights rerun so that hour was freed up for you.” She held up her hands at my outraged look of horror. “Kidding. Kidding. I’ve been helping David and Raquel set up emergency places for all the faerie land transplants and IPCA refugees who aren’t leaving. We’ll get everything ready here. You focus on the faerie stuff.”
“Can’t I be in charge of the DVR, instead?” I stood and turned around. Arianna swatted my butt as I walked away. I wanted to laugh, but it was all I could do not to hyperventilate. Everything was finally happening.
I hadn’t made it very far back up the path when Reth stepped out of the woods, scaring me half to death. “Way to make an entrance,” I said, my hand over my rapidly beating heart.
“You need to come with me.”
“Did you know I have to open the gate tonight? Never mind. Don’t answer. If you did know, I’ll want to kick you in the nuts for not telling me, and I don’t have time to do it. Good news is I’m going to save your life.
If it helps, I’m very proud of you. I know it has nothing to do with me, but watching you become the strong, smart woman I always knew you’d be is one of the greatest joys in my life.”
“You’re trying to make me cry on purpose, aren’t you? That’s just mean, Raquel.”
She laughed. “But you know, no matter what, everything will be different from now on. For all of us.”
“You’re unemployed, for one. I think we can find you a spot at the diner, if you want. Your French fries can’t possibly be worse than Grnlllll’s were.”
“I think I might surprise you there.
And what about that meadow where we have them? Is it going to, I don’t know, poof out of existence as soon as the faeries leave?”
He frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose it will remain as it is. All this will. We created it, but the matter from which it was formed was never ours. I can’t see why it would cease to be since we won’t do anything to keep the things we make here. Once made, they simply are.”
“Are you sure?”
He opened his eyes. “Of course not.”
I glared. “Well, thank you.
Reth reached out and took my fingers in his own, his touch light but comforting. “I’ve found that sacrifice is called that for a reason. We have all lost much of what we were or could have been because of the mistakes of my people. We’ll yet lose some things to set it right. But when you join eternity, you will not feel the sting of this life with such intensity.”
“You mean I wouldn’t feel at all?”
“I feel, my love. Simply not in the same way you do. And thank heavens for that, because you are quite an embarrassment at times. Your inconsistent and flailing passions will no longer be a concern.”
Leave it to Reth to go from comforting me to insulting me in the course of one short conversation.
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