Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (37 page)

“Do you think we’re all alone here now?” asked Tim.

“I don’t know.
 
It’s not like we need a guard; we can’t leave the hallway.
 
Do you know what time it is?”

“I have no idea.
 
I’m not sure if we’ve been here half a day, a whole day, two days ... without windows and regular mealtimes, it’s hard to say.”

“I know.
 
Well, they’ve been pretty much constantly harassing us for hours.
 
Maybe we can assume it’s nighttime since they’ve finally left us alone.
 
That means we have several uninterrupted hours while they sleep to try and contact our friends.”

“Go for it.
 
And then we need to try and sleep too.
 
Who knows what tomorrow will bring.”

“Agreed,” I said.
 
“You stand here on my shoulder.
 
If you hear anyone coming, signal me.
 
But don’t pull too hard.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
 
He giggled.

“Tim, I’m not playing.”

“Oh, me neither.”

I sighed.
 
And then I blocked out all thoughts of Tim and his hair pulling from my mind.
 
I needed to focus through The Green and find my friends.
 
We had an SOS signal to send and a rescue to arrange.

I finally found Finn, but he was really far away.
 
He was able to contact green elves at the compound, but there weren’t enough of them there to do anything for me now.
 
He sent me images of groups of green elves and daemons working together in preparation, but I didn’t have any idea how far in the future these forecasted images would actually become reality.
 
I sent him visions of Tim and me in the bathroom.
 
He seemed confused by it, but I didn’t know what else to show him.
 
I flashed him mental pictures of Ben,
Maléna
and
Leck
.
 
I hoped he understood that if he saw any of them, his job was to shoot first and ask questions later.

I found Becky again and tried to let her know I was okay.
 
All I could get from her was a feeling of panic and anxiety.
 
This water communication thing needed a lot of work.
 
I severed the link, frustrated that I wasn’t getting anywhere with it.

Tim’s snores distracted me from my attempts, so I decided to give up for now.
 
I’d done all I could anyway.
 
I made myself as comfortable as I could, piling up a bunch of paper towels under my head on the floor as a pillow.
 
I drifted off to sleep thinking about how hungry I was.

My mind was a whirlwind of sleepy dream sounds and fuzzy images.
 
Fae and people from my past mingled together, talking to me, yelling, crying and eating even.
 
It’s like I was having a life review and there wasn’t enough time to get it all done in order.
 
Someone had taken my cookie jar of memories and shaken it up really good, throwing the crumbs out on the floor.
 
Now I could hear Tony’s voice.
 

“Jayne!
 
Jayne!
 
Is that you?”

Of course it’s me.
 
This is
my
dream.

“Jayne, it’s me Tony.
 
I’m in the Gray.
 
Can you hear me?”

Tony was here?
 
In the Gray?
 
Am I in the Gray?

“Tony?”

“Oh, thank God, you answered.
 
I’m projecting across the astral plane right now.
 
I can see you; can you see me?”

“No.”
 
I had no idea if I was answering out loud or just in my head.
 
This is so confusing.

“Where are you?
 
This looks like a bathroom.”

“It is a bathroom.
 
I’m in the Dark Fae compound somewhere.
 
I have no idea where.
 
Their hallways are spelled.
 
I’ve only seen one cell carved out of rock and two bathrooms.
 
I have The Green protecting us in here.
 
I couldn’t channel the power in those other rooms.
 
We’re in here due to some ... uh ... technical difficulties.”

“What do you mean?
 
... Never mind, you can tell me later.
 
It’s not safe for me to stay here.
 
I just wanted to tell you that Chase is coming for you.
 
He’s coming.
 
Just sit tight.”

“What do you mean, Chase is coming?
 
Is he okay?
 
I don’t want him to get hurt!”

“Listen ... oh crap, I have to go.
 
Just go with Chase, okay?
 
We’ll fix the problems later.
 
I’ll see you ... ”

And then he was cut off.
 
I wanted to yell,
‘What problems?’
but he wasn’t there anymore.
 
I started to talk to Tim about Tony but realized that I was still seeing wacky images and my body felt like it was in cement.
 
Oh.
 
I’m still sleeping.
 
I roused myself and stretched for a second, looking around the bathroom as my unconscious mind caught up to my waking mind.

“Tim,” I whispered loudly.
 
“Wake up.
 
I have to tell you something.”

He ignored me completely, still snoring away.
 
I decided to leave him alone and go back to sleep myself.
 
If Chase did come tonight, I’d hear him.
 
I needed to get some sleep or I wouldn’t be able to function when my rescuers arrived, whoever they turned out to be.
 

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than I heard noises outside the door again.
 
My ears pricked up.
 
Would it be Chase or Ben?
 
Maléna
or
Leck
?

Whoever it was, he was laughing.
 
And then coughing.
 
Okay, so none of the above.

There was a knock at the door.
 
“Jayne?
 
Are you in there?”

I got up slowly and crawled over to the door.
 
“Who is it?”

“It’s me.
 
Chase.”
 
Then another giggle.

“Who’s with you?” I asked, confused.
 
I didn’t recognize the voice of the giggler.

“No one.”

“Who’s laughing out there with you?”

“It’s just me.
 
Hurry up and open the door.
 
We need to get you out of here.”

I was afraid this was a Dark Fae trick.
 
Maybe someone was projecting Chase’s voice.
 
“Prove it’s you.”

“Don’t you recognize my voice?”

“Yeah, but not that fucked up laugh.”

“Okay.
 
Uh, remember when we went into the fourth obelisk?
 
And we had to say what our fondest desire was?”

“Yeah?”

“I still have that same desire.
 
So let’s go.”
 
He started laughing again, only this time it was more of a snort.
 
But even so, I knew this was Chase, no doubt about it.
 
During our changeling test at the end, we had to speak our fondest desire out loud to enter into the compound.
 
His was to take care of me – so I guess that’s what he was still doing.
 
Talk about dedicated.
 
My throat hurt with the devastating emotions that got suddenly clogged in there.

I weakened the shield I’d put up and grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it open.
 

Chase stood in the doorway, his hand on the frame,
a
huge grin on his face.
 
“
Jaynie
!” he exclaimed, stepping in and grabbing me around the waist, spinning me around.
 
“Oh, I’m so happy to see you!”

I quickly put the power back up and bubbled him in with us.
 
Then I pushed off his chest as hard as I could.
 
This guy was Chase, yes – but he was acting about as un-Chase as a guy possibly could.
 
Still pixelated, apparently.

“Put me down, you big dope.”

“You look beautiful,” he said, grinning his fool head off, but releasing me gently to the floor.

I went over and scooped Tim up off the ground where he was sleeping.
 
“Wake up sleepy.
 
We have a problem.
 
A big one.”
 
Not only was Chase mentally crazed, he’d obviously lost his sense of sight – that was the only explanation there could be for anyone to be calling me beautiful right now.

Tim sat up, scrubbing his eyes so he could see.
 
His hair was a mess, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him – his ‘do was so important to him.
 

“Oh, hey, Chase.
 
How are you?”

“Excellent, my little pixie friend, how have you been?
 
Long time no see.”
 
He laughed at that and put his hands on his hips, apparently waiting for an equally enthusiastic response.

Tim looked at me sadly.
 
“Still not fixed, I see.”

I shook my head, saying nothing.

“So, I guess I need to get you guys out of here.
 
Goose tells me you’re in a bit of a pickle.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t.
 
I was picturing Chase selling some useless shit on a QVC infomercial.
 
I’d bet he could sell the hell out of it too with that smile.

“Oh, you’re so adorable, I can hardly stand it!” he squealed, grabbing my cheeks between his hands, squeezing them together and leaning in to kiss me smack dab on the super puckered lips.
 
“Come on, kids, follow me.
 
Bring your mighty green power parade with you, Jayne.
 
You might need it.”

Tim and I exchanged looks and shrugged at each other, shaking our heads sadly.
 
It takes an awful lot to strike both of us simultaneously speechless, but Chase had managed.
 

He started moving to the door again, so I gathered my wits about me as best I could and surrounded all three of us with The Green.
 
I sent the message out that I needed this power bubble to move with us, keeping all of us inside at all times, without letting anything or anyone else in.
 
I did it as fast as I could because Chase was already moving out into the hallway.
 
I included a small addition to my instructions, asking The Green to block any noise we made from reaching outside the bubble.
 
I had no idea if it would work, but it would sure make it easier to escape if the Dark Fae didn’t hear Mr. Chatterbox on the way out.

“I’ve sure missed you guys.
 
This place is boring with a capital
B
.
 
All they ever talk about is getting ready for the war, starting the war, defeating the Light Fae in the war.
 
It gets old pretty quick.”

“Why are they saying all that stuff to you?
 
Don’t they know you’re Light Fae?”

“Oh, I’m not Light Fae anymore.
 
I’m Dark Fae now.”

“What?”
the word came out strangled.
 
I was instantly sick to my stomach.
 
“Chase?”
 
I grabbed his arm and made him stop walking.
 
“What do you mean, you’re Dark Fae?
 
Did you ... change sides?”
 
I almost couldn’t say those last two words.
 
It was inconceivable.

“Had to.”
 
He shrugged.
 
“Don’t worry about me though, Jayne.
 
I’ll always have your back.”
 
He grinned spectacularly at me, like he was modeling for
a toothpaste
commercial.

Tears sprang to my eyes and I started crying.
 
“No, Chase,
no!
 
I don’t want you to be Dark Fae!
 
I won’t let you!”

He smiled as if he felt sorry for me, patting me on the shoulder with his great big hand.
 
“
Ssshhh
, don’t cry.
 
I’m fine.
 
I’m happy, see?”
 
He gave me a heart-
stoppingly
handsome smile and pointed to his face.

“No you’re not!
 
You’re
pixelated
, you idiot, there’s a
difference!
 
This is not
you
.
 
This is a maniac, crazy, drugged-out version of you.
 
You’ll be better soon, back to the old Chase
,
I know you will
.
 
If they can’t fix you here, Maggie will fix you.
 
Tim will give her more wings, won’t you Tim?”
 
I looked at him, desperation on my face.