His head barely rolled my way, just moving enough for him to see me, and the anguish in his eyes dropped me to my knees. “Get out, Bree.”
The words were growled, but there was no real heat behind them. Karissa sat up beside him in bed and then draped her body across his, all of which I caught in my peripheral vision. Because I couldn’t look away from Crash, and what I was seeing in his eyes was that none of this was his idea. She’d used her power to compel him, somehow.
“Oh, she did show up,” Karissa purred. “You didn’t go to save your friends then?”
Which meant she knew something about it. Because, of course she did. I stood and faced the fairy queen, pulling out the one card I had that she likely didn’t know about. “Ah, well, you have something of mine.”
She ran her fingers over Crash’s chest. “You think he’s yours? That’s amusing.”
A smile slid over my lips even though a small aching part of me still wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t enjoying his time with her. “Here’s the deal. I freed him from the slavery that tied him to the O’Seans. He willingly became a piece of my property at that point. I believe his words were, I am yours.”
I snapped my fingers at her in a perfect zigzag pattern. It had been intended as a saucy gesture to show her just how little she bothered me, but light burst from my fingertips—teal blue sparkles flecked with black. They whipped around Crash, and Karissa squeaked and fell backward. I had no idea what I was doing—hell, I’d snapped my fingers for effect, not because I’d expected some sort of magic to pop out of me—but I tried to keep that out of my expression.
Karissa squeaked a second time as the sparkles danced over her, and she fully pulled away from Crash, who was able to sit up and stumble forward, the sheet sliding off him.
Both disappointment and elation filled me.
He had his jeans on.
I stepped forward and let him put an arm over my shoulders as he wobbled away from the bed. Damn. She’d done a number on him.
I helped him out of the bower, fully expecting her to follow. Robert swayed up to us, and I motioned for him to keep pace. Jinx scuttled down off the bower.
“Boss, she promised me another book to help, but I want one from you too.” Jinx was in front of us, walking backward. Crash managed a nod, but that was it.
“Crash, how big of a fight is this going to be with her?” I asked.
“You won’t see it coming.” His Irish accent was heavy, his words slurry as if he were completely drunk. “She’ll come at you when you least expect it.”
“Ah, excellent. Just what I was hoping for.” I helped him over to Skel. The horse went to one knee without being asked, and Crash managed to pull himself onto his back. I hopped up in front of him, Bridgette still sitting in front of me, as she had never gotten off Skel’s back. I held out a hand to Robert.
“Come on, friend, we aren’t done yet.”
He put his hand in mine, and between one blink and the next, I held a finger bone in my hand. I tucked him back between my boobs. Crash leaned heavily on me, his head on my shoulder.
“Skel, back to the fountain,” I said, and we were off and running.
It was not lost on me that this was the second time I’d taken a prisoner from Karissa, both times with very little fuss on her part.
Call me overcautious, but I was going to have to deal with her soon.
Sooner than I would’ve liked, for sure.
Crash’s arms were around me, holding on for balance more than anything. Sprays of flowers floated up around us as we galloped through the land of Faerie, and I found myself pulling on Skel’s mane. In the distance was a dark peak of a mountain, bright lights illuminating it as though I were staring at a modern-day Las Vegas in the middle of Faerie land.
“Goblins are Unseelie, a part of the fae,” I said softly. “Bridgette, you said there is an entrance to Goblin Town here in Faerie?”
“Yes.” She bobbed her head excitedly, her ears flicking. “You can see it too?”
“I’ve a little bit of fae blood in me. Enough to make trouble.” I grinned at her and she grinned back.
“We can sneak in the back way,” I went on. “Your outfit and mine will keep us from being seen and then there shouldn’t be as big of a time difference.” I touched the fabric that was currently clinging to my body. Gerry had had the suits ready in time, and mine fit like a glove, camouflage and all.
She was spot on. The goblins would be watching the front gate, the way we’d been told to come in. I pointed at Jinx. “You go with Sarge, head straight for Goblin Town. Keep their attention on the front gate. Don’t engage them other than to taunt the shit out of them, okay? Tell them I’m hurrying as fast as I can, buy us time!”
Jinx grumbled as she shot toward the fountain exit. I turned Skel and asked for more speed as we raced across the land of Faerie toward Goblin Town, a passed-out fae king against my back, an ousted goblin riding in front, and a skeleton’s finger bone tucked between my boobs.
How could anything possibly go wrong?
23
Turned out a solid fifteen-foot wall of rock surrounded Goblin Town. I had a suspicion that Skel could jump it, but that wouldn’t work with the plan I had going on. Bridgette was right, with her natural ability to blend in and the outfit Gerry had made for me—thankfully the hubbub in Death’s Row hadn’t slowed her down any—we could do this better and faster on our own.
Not for one second did I believe the goblin king would make a fair trade of my friends for the spell book. And if he wanted that spell book so damn badly, I wasn’t about to give it to him. It freaked out everyone who knew anything about the shadow world, which seemed reason enough to keep it safe.
Crash’s head lolled onto my shoulder. I tapped him, but he didn’t wake up. So much for using him as a backup. “Skel, can you lie down?” I whispered.
The horse went to his knees and then to his belly, and Crash slid off to one side, a low moan the only noise he made. I hopped off and pulled Robert from my boobs and set him on the ground.
A moment later, he was standing next to me, swaying side to side. “Help me move him.”
Together the three of us pulled Crash so he lay in the shadow of the wall. A loud bang sounded above us, pinning me to the wall, my butt cheeks squeezing so hard I wasn’t sure what might pop out.
A burst of colors in the air eased a little of my anxiety. Fireworks, that was all.
“That’s early,” Bridgette said. “They shouldn’t be celebrating the silver moon already.”
The line came back to me then in a rush I didn’t like. “The silver moon is the time for the demon skin to be found, and bound, and used to be bidden.”
Bridgette whipped around and looked at me. “What did you say?”
I pulled out the book, Black Spells of Savannah and the Undead, making sure that Alan stayed in the bag despite his grumbling. “It’s from the book the king wants.”
She looked up at me. “Our family trees are written on demon skin. They hide some of our darkest spells in them.”
My hands started shaking, the book nearly tumbling out of them. I was sure, absolutely certain I’d heard her wrong. I must have. “What did you say?”