Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (11 page)

He handed Tony a necklace and took the ring back, putting it in the box with the others.

I looked at Chase, a question in my eyes.
 
Chase nodded back, confirming this was the necklace that he had worn.

Dardennes and Céline smiled at the same time.
 
“Yes, this is the one.”
 
He closed the lid on the box and clasped his hands together, looking at Tony.
 
“Okay, young man, now is the last chance you have to change your mind.
 
Are you certain that you want to become a changeling?”

Tony looked at them for a second and then turned to look at me.
 
I know he saw complete fear in my face – fear that he was going to walk away again.

“Come on, Tony, don’t do that to her again,” moaned out Finn.
 
“
Shee
-it
, she’ll be unbearable if you ain’t here.”

Tony smiled.
 
“So, you were a little difficult to live with?”

“You have
no
idea,” said Spike.

“Trust me, Tony,” said Becky, a smile in her voice, “It’s better to just give her what she wants.
 
Your life will be much easier that way.
 
And so will ours.”

I shot a dirty look at my friends.
 
They acted like I was a monster or something.
 
Just because I knew what I wanted and when I wanted
it ...

Tony took a deep breath and reached out to grab my hand, turning to face Dardennes again.
 
“Yes.
 
I want to be a changeling.
 
Let’s do this.”

I squeezed his hand back excitedly, unable to keep the huge grin from bursting out on my face.

I heard Finn say, “
Yesssss
... ” quietly behind my back.
 
He and Spike were probably high-fiving each other.
 
Idiots
.

Dardennes began the ritual.
 
“Tony, please repeat after me:

I call to the fae blood
that courses
through my veins

I ask the fae magic to bring about the change

A fae I am

A changeling I will be

From this moment now

For all eternity.”

Tony said the words and I watched his face closely for any changes.
 
They weren’t physical
ones,
at least they weren’t for us.
 
But when I changed, I had felt something – like a tingle where the amulet was.
 
It wasn’t until several hours later that we began to notice differences in our strengths and discover abilities we had gained.

When he was finished, I waited a few seconds and then asked, “So, how do you feel?
 
Different?”

“No, not really.”

“Did you feel anything in the amulet?”

“No, I didn’t.
 
Is that bad?”
 
Tony looked to Dardennes for guidance.
 

So did I, anxious that something had gone wrong.
 
Or that something wasn’t happening that should.
 
Dardennes had always said that there was no guarantee that we were fae – just that we probably were, based on our performances during the test.
 
I figured with Tony’s supernatural-like ability to feel my
vibes, that
meant he was definitely fae, no question.

“It’s different for everyone.
 
Don’t let it concern you.
 
I believe you have made the transition.”
 
He looked to Céline and she nodded.
 
“The only issue is ... well ... we aren’t quite sure what type of fae you are.”

Tony just stared at him blankly.

Well, this is a surprise
.
 
“So what the hell does that mean?
 
I mean, what do we do from here?” I asked.

Céline answered my questions.
 
“He will be sent out to train with various groups until we see what skills manifest themselves.”

“I want him with me,” I said, matter of factly.
 

“That may not be possible,” said Dardennes.

“Yeah, well, then he needs a daemon or something.
 
My first day out at training some Dark Fae tried to turn me into a pincushion; and they’ve already shown how interested in Tony they are by enlisting Ben to try and win him over and become his best friend.”
 
Pfft
.
 
As if that could happen.

“Don’t worry, Jayne, we will see to his security,” said Céline.

“Forgive me if that doesn’t fill me with the greatest sense of relief,” I said wryly.
 
Chase having been nearly turned into a cadaver not so long ago was kind of hard for me to forget.

“Jayne, it’s okay,” said Tony.
 
“I’ll be fine.
 
I’m sure they’ll take care of everything.”

“There’s a new daemon who just came in with one of the last changeling groups,” suggested Chase.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Dardennes.

“Scrum.”

“Scrum?”
said a chorus of four voices –
mine, Tony’s, Becky’s, and Finn’s
.

Dardennes nodded his head slowly, ignoring our surprise at this person’s unfortunate name.
 
“That might work.
 
At least until we know what Tony can do for himself.
”
 
He looked at Céline.
 
“Could you please make the arrangements?
 
Move the rooms and so forth?
 
You can put Scrum on the other side of Jayne, and Tony one door down.”

“Yes, fine.
 
I’ll take care of it.”
 
She moved to leave the room.
 
“Ivar, come with me please.”
 
Then she looked at me.
 
“Jayne, you did well today.
 
We are very proud of you.”

I don’t know why that made me so happy, but it did.
 
“Thanks.”
 
I could feel my face burning a little.

The door shut behind her.

“Yes, well, you do know how to ruffle feathers, don’t you, Jayne?”
 
Dardennes raised an eyebrow at me.

I just shrugged in return, by no means giving him an apology.
 
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
 

“You may take Tony to his new room shortly.
 
Why don’t you all go have dinner first?” he suggested.

“Best idea I’ve heard all dang day,” said Finn.
 
“I’m
starvin
’.”

“Me too.”
 
Spike held out a bent arm.
 
“Becky?
 
Shall we?”
 

She laughed and went along, looping her hand through the crook of his elbow.

I took Tony by the hand.
 
“Come on Tones, you badass fae.
 
Let’s go get some grub.”

“Do they eat regular food here?” he asked as we walked out the door.

“That depends on who you’re talking about,” I said, looking at Chase.

“What?” asked Chase, genuinely in the dark about what I found so amusing.
 

“Nothing.”
 
I didn’t bring up the fact that he ate meat off the buffet that was still moving and pretty much every other gross thing they offered here.
 
I had vowed many meals ago to support his disgusting eating habits and huge appetite because I was sure it was what kept him so huge and super muscular; and no fae chick wants a wimpy daemon watching her back.

We got to the dining hall and filled up our plates, taking seats at our usual table that now had some other changelings sitting there too.
 
We were the first changeling group that had gone through the recruiting process, but there were many others who had come through since.
 
They looked up to us, most of them afraid to even talk when we were around.
 
I wasn’t sure why, since we hadn’t done anything to make them afraid – maybe our reputations preceded
us or something
.
 
I
had
done a few messed up things on my first day, including putting Céline into some state of suspended animation, not to mention doing pretty much the same thing to a whole group of thirty elves right after.
 
Now that I thought about it, it was highly possible that they’d heard about it and were a little afraid of me.
 
But they didn’t need to be.
 
I could control my power over The Green now.
 
Well, mostly anyway.

“So who’s this Scrum kid?” I asked Chase, watching as he chewed a mouthful of mystery meats.
 

Tony watched him eat in fascination.
 
He looked down at his own plate and then
back
at Chase’s.
 
Tony had a few slices of beef, a carrot, and some salad on his plate.
 
Chase had squirming meat, meat that was motionless, a mountain of pasta, and a giant bowl of pudding.
 
Three slices of bread were balanced on the side of it.

Chase pointed to a nearby table with his fork.
 
There were a few changelings there; all of them looked younger than us.
 
This was not promising.
 

“Which one is he?”

“The one in the brown tunic.”

Oh, yeah.
 
Duh.
 
The daemon all wore brown tunics.
 
We had changed back into our fae uniforms when we were on the plane, so it was easier to see who was part of what race at the compound.
 
Tony was the only one still in human street clothes.
 
I knew there would be outfits waiting for him in his room by the time we got there.
 
I wondered if it would be Ivar doing all the housework or if they would recruit a brownie to take care of Tony’s room and stuff.
 
I had one for my room.
 
His name was Netter and I paid him off every day with a token chocolate ball.
 
He had no idea how easy they were to get and that they were no big deal to the rest of us.
 
He thought chocolate balls were the food of the gods.

I looked over at the fae they called Scrum.
 
He was sitting, but from the looks of it, he was several inches shorter than Tony.
 
His body was shaped like a keg of beer.

“
He’s
a daemon?” I asked, disbelieving my eyes.

“
Mmm
-hmm,” affirmed Chase around his mouthful of food.

I watched as Scrum stood up, not realizing that his napkin, which was partially under his plate, had somehow gotten caught in his belted tunic.
 
As he pulled away from the table, the plate went with him.
 
The guys at his table tried to warn him, but
his attention was caught by Chase
at our table.

“Oh, hey!
 
Chase!
 
What’s up?”
 
He moved one step closer, attempting to walk in our direction, but right at that moment his plate left the table completely, spilling its contents all over Scrum’s legs and his chair and crashing to the floor.

He stopped moving as the feeling of lukewarm mystery casserole and smooshed peas hit the material of his pants, quickly soaking in to reach his legs.
 
He looked down at the mess.
 
“
Oopsy
.
 
How did that happen?”

“Chase,” I said, instantly pissed and worried for my friend Tony’s welfare, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
 
This
is Tony’s protection?”
 
I was totally disgusted with Dardennes all over again.
 
Just when he started acting cool, he went and did something totally screwed up like this – assigning a complete
doofus
to be Tony’s protection.
 
I was trying to ignore the fact that it was Chase who had suggested Scrum in the first place and just focus on the fact that Dardennes had agreed to it.

Chase shrugged.
 
“He’s a good guy.
 
He just needs a little fine-tuning.”

“I’d say it’s more like a lotta fine-
tunin
’, if you ask me,” said Finn, smirking.
 
“Don’t worry Tony – I’ll keep an eye on things for ya.
 
The green elves know how important you are to Jayne, and they wanna keep her happy.”