Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (6 page)

“I’m not sure you should challenge them like that,” said Jared.

“Do you have any other ideas?” I asked him, frustrated that all he could say was what
not
to do.

He hesitated for a few seconds,
then
surrendered.
 
“No.
 
I guess not.”

“Fine.
 
Then that’s my official plan.
 
Blackmail it is.”

Jared looked at Ivar beseechingly.
 
“Tell her Ivar.
 
Tell her what a bad idea this is.”

Ivar shrugged.
 
“Sounds good to me.”

I smiled.
 
“Thank you, Ivar.”

He clarified.
 
“Either way it works.
 
Either she gets kicked out or Tony gets brought in.
 
We can’t lose.”

My mouth dropped open in surprise.
 
Was he friggin’ kidding me?
 
That’s his idea of support?
 
Then I saw the corner of his mouth lift, ever so slightly.
 
“Ivar?” I said, disbelieving my eyes.
 
“Did you just mess with me?
 
Like, make a totally cutting joke on me?”

Ivar shrugged.

I kicked him under the table while I smiled back at him.
 
“Bite me, you big dumb ogre.”

He lifted his eyebrows at me, tilted his head to the side and shrugged again.

“Now
that’s
funny,” said a highly amused Finn.

“Yeah,” agreed Spike, “you had me goin’ there for a second.”

Tony just sat there with a bemused expression on his face, probably trying to figure out our group dynamics.
 
I should’ve told him to save his brain cells.
 
There was no figuring out this wacky bunch with conventional human logic.

I turned my attention back to the group.
 
“Ivar’s right, though,” I said.
 
“Either way.
 
You’re either going to get a new changeling, an
awesome
one, or you’re gonna be short one ... an
awesome
elemental, thank you very much,
ogre
.”
 
I scowled at Ivar, trying to keep a straight face, but not really succeeding.

“Well, they
ain’t
gonna be short just one fae, I can tell you that,” said Finn.
 
“The green elves do not abandon Mother.”

I glared at Finn.
 
“Don’t fucking start with that shit again, Finn.”

“I’m jus’
sayin
’ ... ”

“What’s he talking about?” asked Tony, perking up.
 
“Did he just call you a mother?”

“Never mind.
 
Just focus on looking either adorable or badass, so the council will say yes to my request to change the law.”
 
The thought of me standing in front of that table full of council members, who sat there like arrogant judges in a courtroom, caused an idea to pop up into my head.
 
I was technically asking for a change in the law or an exception to be made – and there was one person who might be able to help me.

“Finn, can you contact one of your elf buddies from here?”

“Dunno.
 
Never tried.
 
Whatcha got in mind?”

“I need to talk to Gregale right away, as soon as we land.
 
I know he’s a gray elf, but maybe one of the green elves can get a message to him.”

“I’m
willin
’ to try.
 
Hold on a sec.”
 
Finn closed his eyes and sat quietly for a few minutes.
 

Spike leaned over and talked in a hushed voice.
 
“So, what are you thinking Gregale can do?”

I noticed Finn’s eyes opening.
 

“You’ll see.”
 
I looked at Finn.
 
“So?
 
Did it work?”

“Yeah.
 
I’m able to reach Robin.
 
He has the strongest abilities, being our leader.
 
What do you want me to tell him?”

“Tell him I need to speak to Gregale as soon as we land and that it’s a top priority.
 
Tell him I’m calling in my favor.
 
He’ll know what that means.”

“Okay.
 
Just hang on a sec.”
 
Finn closed his eyes again and came back to us a minute later.
 
“It’s done.
 
Robin is going to find him and deliver the message.”

“Awesome.”

“Well that’s about as good as texting,” said Tony, smiling in wonder.

“Yeah, but way cooler.”
 
I smiled back at him.
 
The more times we were able to show him the benefits of being fae, the better chance I had of making him more comfortable with his choice of coming with me.
 
I’d decided to ignore Tony’s statement earlier that he was still thinking about it.
 
I knew once he had the whole story, he would want to be a changeling.
 
I just had to convince the council that it was a good idea.

I tried not to freak myself out thinking about the council’s angry reaction, choosing instead to focus on Tim and his more immediate need.
 
Just before we got off the plane, I pulled Jared and Chase aside.

“Guys, I need to get Tim to the witch before I do anything else.
 
Jared, when we get to the compound, can you keep an eye on Tony and make sure he stays away from the council until I get back?
 
It’ll be less than an hour.”

Jared nodded.
 
“But hurry up.
 
I won’t be able to keep them in the dark much longer than that.”

I nodded my agreement.
 
“Chase, you want to go with me?”

“Of course.”
 
He took my bag from me so I was left holding just Tim’s box in my hand.
 

We got into the van that was waiting to drive us back to the Light Fae compound.
 
Niles – or the commando dwarf as I liked to call him – was in the driver’s seat.
 
Usually wherever you found Ivar, you could find Niles close by, but he was never on the plane.
 
Maybe he was afraid of flying.
 
I noticed for the first time that this van was equipped with special pedals so he could reach the accelerator and brakes.
 
Sweet.

After driving for an hour on a mostly empty highway, several smaller country roads and eventually dirt roads through the forest, we arrived at the compound.
 
Chase and I rushed out of the van ahead of the others and darted through the trees on the pathway that led to the compound doors.

Standing at the door was Becky, my best water sprite friend and only girl I hung out with at the Light Fae compound.
 
There were a lot more male than female fae around here.
 
I learned from Becky that many of the females lived outside the compound, choosing the forest as their home instead.
 
I guess the compound was more like some sort of headquarters – few fae resided within its walls, aside from us changelings, the council members and some of the leaders of the different fae races or warrior groups who frequently stopped by to visit with Dardennes or deal with fae business.

“Hey, guys!
 
I see you brought Tony with you.”
 
She ran up and gave him a hug, not even caring that he stood there as stiff as a board not recognizing her.
 
“How did it go?
 
I figured it was going okay since no one contacted me and asked for
intel
on what the old dudes were up to.”
 
She grinned at all of us, waiting for our story.

She was supposed to keep an eye on the council and teleport over to warn us if necessary.
 
She can do that since she’s a water sprite fae and they use the moisture in the air to travel from place to place.
 
Becky wasn’t sure how far she could go, so I was
kinda
glad we hadn’t needed her.
 
Last thing I needed was my fae friend floating out in the ocean somewhere because she’d overestimated her abilities.

“It went okay, but we had a little problem with a Dark Fae that was there.
 
He hit Tim pretty bad.
 
I need to get him over to Maggie ASAP.”

I went through the door to the compound, Chase holding it open for Becky and me.

“Can I go with?” she asked, obviously excited about the idea.
 
She’d never actually met Maggie before.

“Sure, but we need to hurry.
 
I don’t want the council seeing Tony until I’m back.”
 
I turned to Tony, walking backwards.
 
“Tony, hang with Jared.
 
I’ll be back soon.”

I waited until he agreed and then turned back, walking quickly down the hallways and pulling ahead of the rest of them, imagining the door with the gargoyle on the center of it the entire way.
 
All of the hallways in our compound were spelled with witch magic so that it seemed as if they were just one long corridor.
 
You had to imagine the door you wanted for the pathway and the right door to appear.
 
Someone who hadn’t been to the compound before would never be able to find things, simply because they couldn’t imagine what they looked like.
 
It wasn’t a perfect security system, but it was pretty good.
 
It impressed the hell out of me, anyway.
 
It had taken me a couple days to figure out how to use it correctly.

Soon we were in front of the door with the gargoyle symbol, and Chase opened it for us.
 
We ran through the woods as fast as we could, while I tried like hell not to jostle Tim too much.
 
We finally reached the base of the super huge tree with a door on the front of it that was Maggie’s house.
 

Tim had introduced me to this crazy witch a month or so ago.
 
He knew Maggie very well, but he refused to tell me how he knew her.
 
When Chase had been struck by the black magic spelled arrow that was meant for me, she was the only one who knew the right brew to bring him out of his coma.
 
Ever since our first meeting, which had culminated in Tim sacrificing one of his tiny, green wings as a trade for Chase’s remedy and me eating a spelled leaf that enabled me to hear Tim talk, snore, and fart, I’d been going out to see her and work on my training, learning how to better manage my power over The Green.
 

Maggie had this
nutball
idea that in order for any of her brews to work, they had to have something green in them.
 
Whenever Tim and I came across green mushrooms or other nasty green things in the forest, we collected them for her and then brought them over.
 
She and I had an odd friendship.
 
She yelled and growled at me the entire time I was there, and then always managed to offer me cool and insightful advice.
 
I never really knew if she was Dark or Light Fae, but it didn’t stop her from teaching me a lot about my power and how to use ley lines to tap into it.
 
She had a ley line running in the earth beneath her house – she used it to amp up her spells.
 

Even though she was ugly as sin and mean as a snake, I still liked her.
 
She did her own thing and didn’t give a shit what anyone thought, and that was something I could admire.
 
Tim liked to tease me and say that she and I were a lot alike, but only when he was far out of arm’s reach.
 
Tim knows I’d never hurt him, but I’m not above messing with him by doing things like holding his wings still so he couldn’t fly, blowing raspberries at him – which tended to drench him in spit since he was so small, or breathing heavy-duty garlic breath in his face.
 
Imagine bad breath of dragon-sized proportions so as to fully appreciate the noxious torture I was capable of meting out against my little friend.
 
Did I feel bad about this now, as he sat there all burned up and suffering?
 
No.
 
Well ... okay ... maybe a little.

I knocked on the door three times.
 
That seemed to be the magic number around here for doors.
 
No more, no less.
 
In Maggie’s case, if you knocked more than three times, it made her cranky as hell.
 
More cranky than usual, in other words.

“What
?!
” a voice yelled from within.

“Open up, old lady!
 
I have an injured pixie out here who needs your help.”

The door opened a crack and a cloudy eye peeked out.
 
Then her head moved and a black eye peeked out.
 

“That’s better.
 
Who is that with you?”