A Kind of Magic (31 page)

What really worried her was what Josephine’s fae allies might do. Would they join the fight on Josephine’s behalf, or had their involvement been limited to casting the glamour that hid her? Sophie doubted she could convince them to switch sides, even if she pulled rank.

Sophie was starting to get tired, something she hadn’t yet experienced with magic, but then again she hadn’t had to use so much of it for so long. Trickery was so much easier. She was beginning to fear that the only way out of this would be for one of them to die, and she didn’t want it to be her. But could she bring herself to actually kill another person? As fierce as her reputation was, she didn’t think she had it in her to cause true harm to another human being. Emotional warfare was about as ugly as she got.

So, why not play to her strengths? “You know, I’ve seen some bids for power in my time, and I don’t think you have what it takes to run the Junior League, let alone the enchantresses. If you have to resort to framing the fae to set up some kind of inter-world war in order to make yourself look important, then you probably don’t have what it takes to run a book club,” Sophie said.

“How little you know,” Josephine said, totally unrattled.

Okay, that hadn’t worked, Sophie thought. What else did she have in her arsenal? She’d turned the Hunt around by making them fear reality outside the Realm. What would work on a power-mad enchantress with delusions of grandeur so strong that they couldn’t be shaken?

“Then enlighten me,” Sophie said. “What is it you want, and why shouldn’t I fight you?”

“You shouldn’t fight me because you have no choice.” Josephine’s hand flashed out, and Sophie found herself totally frozen. She didn’t recognize this spell from Athena’s binders, not even from flipping ahead. The magic felt wrong, corrupted somehow. She could practically taste it, a flat metallic taste at the back of her tongue that made her want to gag. Summoning all her strength, she tried to break the magical hold with her own fae magic, but she couldn’t seem to summon her magic. Nothing happened, and she was powerless in every way.

“What do you want with me?” Sophie asked.

“I want your kind off the throne,” Josephine said with a snarl.

So, she was to be a hostage. Sophie knew better than to boast that it wouldn’t do any good because she couldn’t be sure how Nana would react. She knew her grandmother loved her, but she also knew Nana had a duty. Instead, she said, “I assure you, even if you make my grandmother step down, that throne won’t remain empty for long, and the human world is far better off with her on that throne than with just about anyone else who might take it. I’m sure you’ll get enchantress brownie points for ousting the queen, but the consequences could come back to bite you.”

“Consequences?” Josephine said with a harsh laugh. “We’ll see about consequences.” She moved her hand, and Sophie found herself walking alongside Josephine. No matter how hard she tried to resist, her body kept moving. She had no choice but to go along.

She didn’t have to go quietly, though. She glanced up at Michael’s windows. There was a light in his living room window, but it was dim and distant, like it was the light from the entryway rather than near the sofa. Was he home? And if so, surely there had been enough commotion right below his apartment for him to have looked out.

She didn’t have Emily’s range or lungpower, but she took a deep breath and shouted, “Help!” Even if Josephine had managed to magically dampen the sight and sound of a woman being kidnapped so that the rest of the street ignored her, Michael should be able to see and hear past the magic.

Josephine laughed at her again, an edge of madness in her tone that made Sophie wonder if she did have a purpose, after all, or if this was all a plot that only made sense to her. “You can forget about your hero coming to your rescue, princess. I’ve taken care of him.”

All thought of her own peril forgotten, Sophie demanded, “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing that you can do anything about. Now, come.” Josephine continued walking, forcing her captive along with her. Even as her legs continued blindly obeying, Sophie was able to turn her head to try to watch Michael’s window for as long as she could, desperately praying that he was all right.

The Dream Realm

Meanwhile

Michael found himself in a clearing in the woods, dappled sunlight filtered through trees, with music playing nearby—the music he’d been hearing in his head the past day or so. If someone had told him to go to his happy place, this was where he’d go. In fact, he’d spent a lot of time in a place like this when he was in the hospital after being shot. He just wasn’t quite sure how or when he’d gotten there. A few people danced in the clearing, which wasn’t usually part of what he imagined in his happy place, but as long as they didn’t expect him to join in, he was good.

In fact, he rather enjoyed watching them. One of the dancers, in particular, was mesmerizing. She didn’t seem to be constrained by gravity as she leaped and whirled about. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn’t seem to make the connection.

She approached him, holding out a hand in invitation. He shook his head. “No thanks,” he said. “I’d rather just watch you. I’m not much of a dancer.”

But he could watch her all day. The faint sunlight caught her reddish hair, making it shine like a crown. That was also familiar.

A memory tried to struggle toward the surface. Wasn’t there something else he should be doing? It had to do with dancing, didn’t it? Or was this it, watching a redhead dance? Still, he couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling that something was wrong here. Or wrong somewhere.

Someone shouted nearby, like they needed help. Instinctively, he headed for the sound, running into the woods surrounding the clearing. The redheaded dancer went after him, racing ahead to block his path. “You’re not leaving me, are you?” she said, clutching his arm. “Don’t you like watching me dance? I need you here with me.”

“But I—” he protested weakly. His sense of urgency ebbed at her touch, and he let her lead him back to the clearing.

Once he was there, she returned to her dancing, and he watched her. It wasn’t the same, though. There was something wrong about it, like she wasn’t the one he wanted to be watching. Yes, that was it, there was someone else he was supposed to be watching.

“Sophie!” he said out loud. He was supposed to be at the ballet, watching her. What was he doing in the middle of the woods? And how was it so warm here? The clearing began to fade as more of the details came back to him. “Wait, this is just a dream,” he realized. “I’m going to wake up, and I’ll be at home, and probably late, and Sophie’ll kill me.”

The dancer returned to him, now looking rather alarmed—or angry—and grabbed his wrist in a tight grip. “You don’t need to go. I’m here. You’re watching me.”

This time, whatever magic she was trying to use on him didn’t work. “You’re not Sophie.” She still didn’t let him go, and although she looked slight, he couldn’t free himself.

It was all in his head, he told himself. Part of him might be there physically, but there was still some part of him that was back in the real world, and if he woke up there, he’d have to leave this place. Closing his eyes to shut out what he saw, he focused as hard as he could on what he knew was real. He had a crick in his neck from falling asleep on the sofa. His shoulder ached. He hadn’t pulled a blanket over himself before he fell asleep, and his feet were cold.

Her grip on his wrist grew even tighter, and that pain distracted him from the other physical sensations he was trying to feel, dragging him back to the forest. That was when he knew that even if this was a dream, it wasn’t
just
a dream. They wanted him here and were trying to keep him here. He was a prisoner. And that probably meant they were up to something somewhere else.

Abruptly, the pressure on his wrist released, and he opened his eyes to find himself in a place that looked a lot like the empty space they’d visited when they’d gone into the dream world behind Emily’s mirror. There was a faint suggestion of trees superimposed on it, but they were fading. Eamon stood in front of him, holding the redhaired fairy at bay. “You should leave,” Eamon said.

“I was trying,” Michael replied. “I think Sophie’s in trouble. They’re keeping me away from her.”

“You go to her. I will find Emily and warn her.”

Michael glanced around, unable to see an exit. “Go how?”

“Wherever you go, if you’re trying to go home, you’ll get home. I will keep them from stopping you.”

Michael felt bad about not thanking him, but knew that was a fairy taboo, so he settled for a nod before he ran into the woods. After he ran a few steps, he could see a light ahead of him, and he heard sounds that belonged more to New York than to the dream world. A dog was barking—probably Beau—the radiator was hissing, and Sophie’s voice called out, “Help!”

At that, Michael jumped into the glow. He woke suddenly, gasping for breath, to discover that he really did hear something happening outside. He struggled to sit up and had to steady himself when he stood because his head was reeling. That melody threatened to take over, distracting him from his purpose. “Stop it!” he said out loud. “I don’t care about the music.”

Instantly, his head cleared. He felt like he’d had a bucket of cold water thrown on him, but in a good way. He rushed to the window just in time to see two women nearing the end of the block. One was tall and dressed in furs, the other small and slender and giving the appearance of going reluctantly, even though he didn’t see any restraints or weapon in use. Whether or not it was Sophie, he felt like he needed to at least check on it.

Grabbing his keys and his sidearm on the way out the door, he charged down the stairs. He heard Beau barking as he passed Emily’s door, but he didn’t stop. The women were out of sight by the time he got outside, but he sprinted down the sidewalk in the direction they’d gone. At the end of the block, he couldn’t see any sign of them in any direction until he forced himself to relax enough to let his fae-enhanced senses work, and then he saw them in the distance, heading for the park.

Every fiber of his being wanted to chase after them, but common sense prevailed. If Sophie, with all her power, hadn’t been able to avoid being taken, he wouldn’t be able to do much to help her. He needed backup. Reluctantly, he turned and went back, suddenly conscious of how cold he was in his shirtsleeves, and already trying to come up with a plan.

The Theater

11:00 p.m.

Whatever it was that was going on with Charles, he’d been even more on fire that night, Emily thought as they took curtain call after curtain call. Was that a good sign or a bad sign? It might mean that she hadn’t separated him from his fairy muse, but it did mean that the show was a success. Either way, his interest in Emily hadn’t waned, and she had to admit to a shiver of anticipation running through her body when he caught her in his arms on the way to the stage door. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered, kissing her neck from the shoulder up.

Her phone chose the worst possible moment to ring. “Ignore it,” rasped Charles as he kept nuzzling her neck.

“I can’t,” she panted. Anyone calling her at this time of night was likely having an emergency. She managed to get the phone out of her pocket without interfering with the wonderful things Charles was doing to that sensitive spot right behind her ear and saw Michael’s name on the screen. “What’s up?” she said into the phone after accepting the call.

“Oh good, you’re off the stage.” There was enough tension in his voice to drag her brain kicking and screaming into full consciousness.

“What is it?” she asked as she extricated herself from her costar’s clutches.

“Josephine has Sophie.”

“What?”

“It just happened a few minutes ago. I think they might have been heading toward the park.”

“But why?”

“Sophie would make a good hostage against your grandmother if Josephine wants her off the throne.”

“But why now? She hasn’t tried to kidnap her before.” She belatedly realized that she probably shouldn’t have mentioned kidnapping while Charles was right there, but he didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

“Maybe she got tired of having all her other plans foiled.”

“Have you called the sisters?”

“I don’t know if I should. Things aren’t great with them.”

“You’re going to need backup.” Hating what she was about to say, and knowing that she had to say it, she said, “I’ll talk to them. They’ve been treating me like a neutral party. You go to the park and call me when you know something. Bring Beau with you.”

“Now, where were we?” Charles asked when she disconnected the call.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to take a raincheck. My sister’s in trouble and needs my help.” She laughed out loud. “And that’s high on the list of things I never thought I’d say. It’s usually the other way around.”

She rushed through the stage door with him hot on her heels. The crowds waiting outside came as a surprise to her because she’d been so focused on what was going on, first with Charles and now with Sophie, that she’d forgotten entirely that she was something of a star and she was at a theater. That was a good sign of just how serious things were.

This would have been a great time for her magical powers to kick in so that she could cloak herself and sneak off through the crowd, but that lesson hadn’t yet been covered in Athena’s binders and she still hadn’t made her powers work in this world. Instead, she had to waste precious time signing autographs and letting people take selfies with her. She’d spent so much of her life dreaming about this kind of life that she never thought she’d be complaining about it.

All the while, Charles barely left her side. He must have transferred his obsession from the leanan sidhe to her, and while she might have enjoyed that otherwise, at least for a while, it was inconvenient right now. When they’d made it past the fan gauntlet, he made as though to follow her. “I told you, not tonight. Maybe later,” she said, trying not to be too rude, since they were still in public and the last thing she wanted was a costar tiff going viral.