I Do Believe in Faeries (The Cotton Candy Quintet Book 3) (11 page)

Too tired to be anything remotely human, to be honest.

“Knobhead! Where’s Knobhead?” she barked, and the leader goblin shuffled into position.

“Here, your grace,” he said.

Her gaze fell on him and a slow smile came to her lips. “Why don’t you take my little mortal girl to the menagerie? She’ll fit in well between the selkie and kelpie. There’s a space for her there, isn’t there?”

I had no idea what those two things were, but surely they were better than the queen in front of me.

“Sounds good,” I muttered through dry lips. Then I gave Robin as hard and angry of a look as I could muster and said, “Any company is better than Robin.”

The bastard didn’t even shrink under my gaze. Instead he quirked a smile and patted me on the shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll fit right in there. Remember, I’ve got a leash on your magick, so don’t try anything.”

If I had the energy, I’d definitely try something, but it was gone, so I just nodded as Knobhead the goblin took my bound hands to lead me out of the throne room. I almost felt relief, even though Knobhead’s hands were warty and covered in a cold slime.

At least I was getting out of here.

“Hope Winter is your favorite season!” Mab shouted behind me shrilly. Then she laughed like she had said the funniest joke ever and the host of goblins joined in with her.

Robin didn’t though. Instead he just gave me satisfied nod and turned away.

Oh, I owed him a favor all right.

A swift kick in the nuts.

Chapter 12

I woke up sometime later that night, although it was always night in the Winter Court, so it could have been two hours later or three days. Based on how stiff my muscles and joints were, it had at least been a considerable nap. My fingers were still blue and goosebumps covered my bare arms, but I had stopped shivering at some point during my sleep.

I don’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

There was an ethereal light in the dungeon—excuse me,
menagerie
—making a sort of eternal blue twilight to allow me to see the world around me.

I was completely alone in my cell that was about eight by eight feet across. Each wall was the same, semi-transparent ice. After waking up, I forgot which side was the door, because they all looked the same. Being semi-transparent, however, was slightly terrifying as I had no privacy, and I still had no idea what kind of beings the selkie and the kelpie were. I saw their shapes move across the frosted glass-like surface of the walls, but I couldn’t make out the finer details and it wasn’t like we could communicate with each other.

Yet, if they were prisoners in here like me, then maybe we had a shared goal of getting out. We were already allies, even if they were the kinds of faeries who might want to eat me.

I still had no idea how I was going to get out of there. I was too weak to really move, and if anyone offered me up a bucket of KFC chicken from a location in Tir na nÓg, I’d eat the whole thing no problem, consequences be damned. If I was stuck here, at least I’d have a full
y
belly.

I combed my fingers through my hair, wincing as the strands got stuck. I hadn’t showered in too long. Hadn’t eaten since that pork casserole forever ago. My throat was parched and dried. And my ribs ached from being kicked by the giant.

Was this where it would all end for me? I should have been planning for my prom in a few weeks. Or looking into colleges. Or watching YouTube clips. I
used
to be normal. Then I wished it all away and traded it for this.

I failed everyone who counted on me. Jordyn, Mom, Alaina.

And worse, her baby. It was stuck in Tir na nÓg with me

I had no idea what kind of a future a human baby would have here. Would it be raised as a faerie? Maybe it would change and grow wings and become a king of its own seasonal court. I imagined Oberon letting it grow into a knight and marrying it off to a fairy princess.

No. Fairy tales were stupid, I decided.

With haphazard fingers, I wiped away tears from my eyes before they froze on my cheeks. Was there nothing here that didn’t make a person miserable? Even the simple act of crying was torturous.

I leaned against the wall, watching the dark shape of the kelpie or the selkie move on the other side. As if it sensed me watching it, the shape stopped and then got darker as I saw the outline of something on the wall.

With trembling fingers, I pressed my hand to the spot. We stayed there like that, two rebels in solidarity.

Maybe, just maybe, I could use my magick and melt this wall.

I pushed my power into it, willing it to heat up. Not just for my sake, but for the creature on the other side. If I could summon up enough strength, it was a simple matter of melting this whole palace down around us, and we were scot free.

I’d figure out how to get to the Summer Court and get the baby after. The selkie and the kelpie, and all of the other creatures that Mab had stashed away, would be free. I would find a way back to the human world and put all of this behind me.

Except, my magick didn’t come to me. Whatever stranglehold Robin had on it kept me unable to access my powers here. I gritted my teeth, flopped back to turn away from the shape on the other side of the wall.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered hoarsely. “I can’t help you guys.”

On the other side of the room, I saw another dark shape move away from the wall, as if that creature had been trying to take part in our little moment. What good that did. All it did was disappoint me to the point of despair.

I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, wishing I could see the night sky, even if it was different than the sky back home. To me, the night sky represented freedom, hope.

The boundless opportunities that life presented.

“If I could just see the night sky,” I whispered, closing my eyes. I tried to imagine the sky that hung over Tir na nÓg, even the little snippets. “I just want to see the sky one more time…”

“Well if that’s all you want, then…”

I froze, and I don’t mean literally. I popped one eye open, afraid of who I’d see. Afraid of what I’d do if I did see him again.

Robin was crouching over me. In my cell. Like he was about to ask me for directions. I clenched my jaw, the rising anger in my body warming up my cheeks, and I sucked in air to spew as much bile at him as possible.

He held up both hands and shushed me. “I know, I know,” he whispered. “You can hate me all you want, but I did it to save your life.”

Incredulity edged its way into my vision. Amazing how I felt exhausted beyond comprehension before. Now I was ready to tear out his throat.

“Save my life?” I croaked, somewhere between a scream and a sob. “You betrayed me! You sold me out to the ice queen!”

His face fell. “I had to do it,” he whispered. “I had to make them believe that this was real for you. And I couldn’t tell you that I was trying to trick them or you wouldn’t have been genuinely mad at me. You have to understand that, Tinkerbell.”

“Don’t call me that,” I growled. “How did you get in here, anyways?”

“I’m a faerie and I’m on Mab’s good side. I can go where I please in her castle. At least for right now.”

“I hate you. You betrayed me.”

He swallowed and nodded. “Fair enough,” he conceded, “but I had to do it. Back in the Autumn Court, the goblins had us surrounded. You would have tried to use your fire and they would have killed you because you are a mortal. And I would have lost you…”

The way he said that sounded intimate, romantic even, but I knew that wasn’t the case. “Selling a person out to Queen Mab is the quickest way to lose someone.”

“She would have killed you if she thought you were a threat.”

“I would have been more of a threat if you hadn’t taken my magick away!”

“I had to because I knew you’d get yourself killed. Mab is strong and she has no mercy.”

“So kind of you to care,” I said through gritted teeth

He combed a hand through his hair, mussing it up. I wished he looked worse for wear, because I certainly felt papery thin at the moment. “I’m so sorry. I had to do what I could to make them not kill you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And all that about planning it from the beginning?”

Sad mischief danced in his eyes. “I’m a trickster, but I’m not that good of a trickster. I promise. You can even ask King Oberon when you see him. I’ve screwed up royally in the past.”

I scoffed. “Kinda hard to see him when I’m stuck in an ice dungeon.”

“Not for much longer.”

Robin reached out to touch my cheek. I recoiled, trying to get out of reach, and he stopped.

“Abby,” he whispered, “I’m trying to help you.”

I didn’t say anything, the fight drained from me as he touched my cheek. Surprisingly, his hand was warm, almost hot to the touch, and my skin warmed up where we connected. Despite myself, I closed my eyes and leaned into his hand, trying to soak up as much warmth as possible. I’d do anything for heat at that moment.

“Try now,” he whispered, hoarsely. Suddenly, he looked as tired as I felt.

I glared at him. “That was all it took for you to restore my fire magick?” I asked.

He nodded slowly.

“I hate you.”

“I know. And it’s well-deserved too, but, hey, at least you’ll get out of here.”

Maybe
.

“I have to get myself out of here? I thought you had complete freedom here. Can’t you just whisk me away?”

He sighed tiredly. “That’s not how my magick works.”

Faeries!

Fine. I focused the energy into my hand and funneled it in the fingertips.
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.
For a few, long agonizing seconds, nothing happened. Panic edged into my brain and I thought he was trying to trick me again, to make more of a fool out of me.

Robin, it seemed, was full of surprises. His fingers linked with the fingers on my other hand, giving me more warmth, fueling the fire that burned inside me. I could now feel that fire deep inside me. It had just been masked, hiding.

But I had it now.

My hand jumped as a spark ignited in my palm. The ember glowed, giving me more life, like I had just caught my thirty-fourth wind. I released Robin’s hand and cupped it around the fire. I gently blew into it, making it grow.

That was all I needed to get out of here.

I looked to Robin, who looked haggard in the firelight.

“I don’t quite know your reasons for everything,” I told him, my voice stronger now. It made me bolder than I’ve ever been before. “I’m not sure that I believe what you said about all of this to trick them. But I do want to get off this forsaken island, and I want that baby with me.”

He nodded, spent. “Fair enough,” he repeated.

That would have to do as far as reconciliation. I took the fire in my hands and used it to make my hands glow with the heat, almost like they were made out of molten lava. I pressed both of them to the floor and felt the ice give way to water.

Oh yeah. We were in business. My magick was new to me, but I could use it to melt this whole palace if I wanted.

I looked up and felt my own wicked grin spread across my features.

“Now we’re talking.”

***

Melting part of the floor in my cell created a chain reaction. Once I melted one part, it was easier to melt another part, and so on. I dissolved the door and went out into the corridor. Robin kept running towards the halls, but I skidded to a halt as soon as I saw the other creatures in Mab’s menagerie.

“I’m going to let them out,” I told him, nodding to the horse-like shape behind one door and the seal-like one on the other side of my cell. There were other creatures, all different shapes and sizes, and they were all prisoners of Mab.

“
These
creatures?” Robin asked, his voice in near hysterics. “But, Tinkerbell, they’re—”

“Don’t call me that!” I yelled at him. “And you can be as cowardly as you like, but I’m going to do the right thing for once.”

Lord knows I haven’t done anything right in a while.

I rubbed my hands together and pushed as much heat as possible into them. All I needed was a palm print into each one of the doors, and the chain reaction from melting would continue to melt the entire thing.

This was what I had to do. This was going to save a bunch of faeries who didn’t deserve to be here. I just hoped they appreciated being saved more than they hated mortals. There were twenty cells that made up Mab’s menagerie, and it took me a few minutes to imbue some fire magick into each of their doors. The water spread, warming the ice around it as it went down the hallway. The ceiling started dripping water, meaning that this was going to be a far bigger disaster than just destroying Mab’s menagerie.

Creatures of all shapes and sizes came out of their cells, some dwarfing me, others barely the size of my index finger. One such faerie bent into a curtsey to thank me, before flitting out of the room.

“It’s a brownie,” Robin muttered. “Trying to win brownie points.” He put his hands on his hips as a faerie that resembled a leg with a mouth and a single eye in the thigh hopped away. “I guess it helps to create a distraction for our escape.”

“We don’t need too much of a distraction,” I muttered, finally seeing the giant horse-like creature walk out of its cell. I don’t know much about horses, but it was taller than any Clydesdales I’d ever seen. Possibly bigger than any horse had a right to be, because its shoulder was at least a foot taller than me. It was all black with a straggly mane and red eyes that would have spelled a warning in any other circumstance.

But I felt an affinity with this creature. This was the creature that I had shared a moment with back in my cell. We both knew the odds. We both knew where we had to go.

I walked up to it and put my hand on its muzzle. “We’ll just ride this horse out of here.”

Robin’s eyes boggled in his eye sockets. At least I could still freak him out. “
Ride
that thing?” he stammered. “Tinkerbell, that’s a kelpie. It’ll drag us down to the water, drown us, and
then
eat us.”