Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (28 page)

“Well, don’t do it if you can’t.”

Tony sighed loudly.
 
“I didn’t say I
can’t
do it.
 
I just said it
can
be
tricky
.
 
So tell me what the deal is exactly.
 
If I reach him, what am I supposed to say?”

“Ask him how Chase’s treatment is going and if he’ll be ready for me to come get him in a few days.
 
Try to get an exact day and time – and verify the place.
 
It’s supposed to be the big tree where he found us the first time.”

“Okay,” said Tony, squeezing my hand, “here goes nothin’.”

I waited patiently, gently holding on to Tony’s hand and staring at the clouds in the sky.
 
I saw one that looked like a rabbit and then one that looked like a turtle.
 
That’s funny.
 
Like the fable.
 
At first they were moving slowly across the sky, but then they began moving faster.
 
The rabbit lost form, becoming smaller clumps and wisps – the turtle turned into an orc.
 
It looked like it was racing across the sky, chasing the bits of rabbit that were left.
 
Ugh
.
 
The memory of those disgusting creatures was not what I wanted to deal with as I waited out here in the meadow for news of Chase.
 

The wind started to kick up; it wasn’t cold, but it felt strange.
 
It was as if a storm was moving in.
 
I heard something near the edge of the meadow, coming from the trees.
 
I turned my head to look at Scrum.
 
“Scrum, did you hear that noise?”
 
His earlier words were starting to make me feel paranoid.

He didn’t answer me – he just kept staring.
 
“Scrum!” I said more forcefully, “did you hear it or not?”

Still no answer.
 
In fact, no response at all.
 
He was just staring out into the distance as if he was in a fog.
 
Or frozen in place.

I sat up quickly and felt something land in my lap.
 
I looked down and saw that Tim was laying there, all stiffened in a sitting position, staring off into the distance.
 
A ringing began in my ears, as my brain tried to compute what was happening.
 
I reached my hand down slowly, and carefully lifted Tim up.
 
His body was warm and his skin still soft, but he was definitely not okay.
 
He was
all
zombied
out.
 
I looked back at Scrum and saw that he was in the same condition.
 
I looked at Tony in a panic, but I couldn’t tell if this was happening to him too or if he was just walking the Gray.
 
Maybe he was still in there and fine, or maybe he was in a trance too.
 
I was afraid to disturb
him,
worried it would trap him in the Gray or something.

A noise came from the trees again and I jerked my head towards the sound.
 
Coming from the darkness of the green canopy were a guy and a girl.
 
I nearly pissed myself when I saw who they were.
 
I quickly shoved Tim into the front of my tunic, praying I wasn’t hurting him, and jumped up to meet the duo head-on.

“Well, hello, Jayne.
 
Fancy meeting you here.”
 
The bitchy half-smile she gave me was a straight up flashback from Miami.

“Hello,
Samantha
.
 
Looks like you found a place where you fit right in.”

She scowled in response.
 
I noticed she was wearing a black robe over a white tunic and black pants.
 
I was afraid to think that this uniform meant the same thing it meant in my Light Fae world.
 
If she were one of us, I’d say she’s a witch.

Ben smiled at me.
 
“Hello, Jayne.
 
I see you’ve managed to convince Tony to make the change.
 
Good for you.
 
I’m sure he’s making all of you very proud.”

“Blow it out your ass, Ben.
 
I’m not interested in your bullshit.
 
You’d better get lost before I call a platoon of green elves in to waste you and Ms. Congeniality here.”
 
I gestured with my chin to Her Royal Bitchiness.
 
Samantha and I had met before when we were both runaways hanging out with Jared and his crew in Miami.
 
I had only known her for about two days, but it was enough to see that she had a bad attitude and a massive chip on her shoulder.
 
All of us in Miami thought for sure she’d be invited to take the changeling test with us, but after the interview, she had been rejected – the only one of us.
 
At the time, Jared had been really upset and so had she.
 
I guess she’d found a back-up plan ... or it had found her.

“No, you won’t do that.
 
Because if you do, your friends here will get hurt.”
 
He nodded towards Scrum and Tony on the ground.

“Seems like you’ve already managed to do that, so I guess I’ve got nothing to lose.”
 
I tapped into The Green, angry with myself that I hadn’t powered up as soon as I’d heard the noise that was them coming.
 
I could have been better prepared than I was, and with Tony lying there helpless like that, it was totally stupid to not have had the power on standby.
 
What had I been thinking?

“No, they’re fine.
 
Just in suspension for a few minutes while we take care of business.”

I rubbed my hand slowly over the spot where Tim rested in my shirt.
 
One of his feet was jabbing my boob and I needed to move it, but I didn’t want them to know he was there.
 

“What business?”

“The business of taking you with us.”

I barked out a laugh.
 
“Ha!
 
As if
that’s
gonna
happen.
 
Listen, I appreciate the drama guys, but I’m not going anywhere with you a-holes.”

Ben shrugged, still smiling.
 
“It’s either you or them.
 
You choose.”

“Hmmm,” I said sarcastically, putting my finger to my lips.
 
“I
chooooose
...
none of the above
.”
 
And with that, I threw up a Green energy bubble between them and us, enclosing my friends inside, praying Tony would still be able to get out of the Gray.
 
“Now get the fuck outta here before someone gets hurt.
 
And by someone, I mean
you
.”

Samantha looked at Ben, as if seeking his approval.
 
He merely nodded, not even looking at her.
 
He just kept staring at me.
 
His steady gaze and unwavering calm was eerie as shit and making me nervous.
 
He was seriously good at this psychological warfare stuff.
 

Samantha raised her hand and started waving it slowly near the top of my bubble.
 
I felt a glitch in the system – a stuttering of the power.
 
I’d never felt anything like it before and I didn’t like it
at all
.
 
I didn’t even have to look up to see what she was doing – she was bending my power shield and getting around it.

“Hey, bitch!
 
Leave my bubble alone!”

“Sorry, Jayne, but she’s going to take it down and then take your friends.
 
I tried to warn you.”

I felt my protective shield bending and disintegrating in the wake of her power.
 
How the hell is she doing this?
 
I started to panic.
 
I drew more power from The Green, but it didn’t seem to matter.
 
I felt weak and tired, not sure if it was part of her magic whammy or not.
 
I couldn’t hold this bubble and call to the elves at the same time.
 
It was taking all my concentration to hold it up and think through my options.
 
I could tell that no matter what I did, she was eventually going to win out on this and it was burning my ass.
 
And obviously my stupid daemon friends weren’t going to be any help, considering that at least one of them was under Samantha’s thrall.
 
Fuck and double fuck.

“Fine,” I agreed, angrily.
 
“I give.
 
I’ll take it down if you agree to leave them alone.”

Ben fixed me with the most intense stare I’d seen since Spike looked at me knowing it was playtime.
 
Ben nodded to Samantha, without taking his eyes off me.
 
I broke away from under his scrutiny to see Samantha’s face as she realized she had been given the order to back off.
 
She looked pissed, but did what she was told.
 

Something about her made it impossible for me to
not
say something.
 
“Yeah.
 
That’s right.
 
Back the fuck off,
Sam
.
 
And don’t think for one second I won’t be telling Jared what you did here today.”

Bullseye
.
 
I knew I’d scored a direct hit when she raised her hand as if to send another spell out – but this one directly at me.

Ben reached up and touched her arm.
 

She pulled it back quickly as if she’d been burned, a look of surprise and pain on her face.
 

“Do not let her bait you.
 
Remember our cause.”

Samantha scowled at me and turned to go, leaving Ben behind to deal with me.
 
I thought about slamming him with The Green and calling out to my friends, but something told me he would be expecting that – and I couldn’t risk having him hurt Tony or Scrum.
 
I didn’t know what to do about Tim.
 
I could leave him here, which would probably be for the best, except that I’d worry about him being wingless and possibly eaten by a ground squirrel or stepped on, and I didn’t know how long it would be before they all woke up.
 
If I could have sent a telepathic message right then to Tim I would have said I was sorry, because it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that I was about to be taken prisoner by the Dark Fae – and poor Tim was going to end up one too, by default.

Ben held out his hand.
 
“Shall we?”

Damn him for being so hot.
 
The bad guys were always better looking than the good guys.
 
I looked at his hand like it had orc poop in it.
 
Like hell was I going to touch
it.
 
I didn’t care how cute he was.
 
“Take me to your leader or your lair or whatever.”

He laughed bitterly.
 
“Why don’t I just take you to the Dark Fae compound instead?”

“Do your worst.
 
I’m sure you and Samantha will get your jollies from it.
 
I’m not one bit surprised that she’s on your side, you know.”

“Oh yeah?
 
Why’s that?”

“Because you’re all a bunch of Light Fae rejects.”

Ben stormed over and grabbed me roughly by the arm.
 
“You might want to learn to shut your mouth once in a while before it gets you in serious trouble.”

I smiled, bitterly.
 
“You have no idea how perfect that sounds coming from you.”

“Oh yeah?
 
Why’s that?”

“You sound exactly like my asshole father.”

He jerked and dragged me along, saying nothing, until we were at the edge of the forest.
 
It was then that I saw Maggie, the witch.

“Oh, thank The Green, Maggie!
 
You have to help me get away from this douchebag.”
 
I jerked my arm away from him and stood on my own.
 
I was so relieved to see Maggie standing
there,
I felt my knees go a little weak.
 
I wanted to run over and give her a hug, even if she was all bent over and lumpy looking.
 
Now these bastards were going to be sorry.
 
She knew her witch shit – Samantha would be no match for her.

Maggie just looked at me, no expression on her face.
 
Then she shrugged and turned, shuffling away.

I was confused for a second.
 
Did she need more space to cast her kickass spell?
 
Was she going to go get her wand?
 
Did she need a wand?
 
She kept walking and I started to freak out.

“Maggie!
 
Where are you going
?!
 
I need your help,
dammit!”