Tony shrugged, looking chagrined. “Sorry. We’ve just been kinda ... busy. I guess.”
I knew better than to ask any more questions. I didn’t want Chase mentioned.
“And vibing would mean ... ?” asked Céline.
“Oh, um, it means that I can kinda feel what Jayne’s feeling sometimes. Not all the time. And sometimes I know what she’s thinking too. Not specific words usually, not details. Just general ideas.”
“Hmmm ... ” Dardennes crossed his arms and rested his hand on his chin. “Empathic, telepathic maybe ... what do you think?” he asked, turning towards Céline.
“Possibly,” she responded, noncommittally.
“He wielded the axe during the test,” said Niles.
Tony’s weapon that he’d selected during our changeling test was an axe that was similar to a lightsaber, the way it put off blue glowing hums every time he swung it around – at least, when he swung it around provoked and angry. If he moved it when he wasn’t mad, it was just a regular axe.
“It’s worth a try to send him with Gregale for the day, I think.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said enthusiastically.
Dardennes lifted an eyebrow at me.
“Uhh, if my opinion counts for anything, that is.” One of these days I might finally figure out that not everyone is interested in my thoughts on everything. Maybe. But then again, probably not.
“We value your opinion, Jayne. We value all of the changelings’ opinions,” said Céline. “We have as much to learn from you as you do from us.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I said, snorting.
Niles frowned at me again. He was grouchy all the time, so it didn’t bother me at all. Tony was looking a little worried though, so I nudged him in the arm. “Don’t worry. Gregale’s cool. He’s the one who took me to see you in the Gray.”
“Exactly,” said Dardennes. “If Tony is a wrathe, he will need to be intimately familiar with the techniques of getting into and out of the Gray.”
“We don’t need to lose another ... ”
“That will be enough, Niles,” said Dardennes, cutting him off deliberately. “Would you please show this young fae where he can find Gregale?”
Niles nodded, scowling, immediately moving from behind the desk and heading towards the door.
Tony looked at me and I could tell from the look on his face he was thinking the same thing I was: Who had gotten lost and where?
“I’ll see you later, Tones. I’ve gotta ... do something. I’ll see you soon.”
Tony squeezed my hand and then turned to follow Niles out of the room. I watched him disappear through the door, a little piece of my heart going out with him. It’s like he was my kid brother going to his first day of kindergarten or something. I shook my head to get it back on this planet.
“Where are you going today, Jayne?” asked Céline.
“I have to go to see the healers, and then I’m gonna go work with Gregale and Tony.”
“Why are you going to the healers? Are you not feeling well?”
“Oh, no, I’m fine. It’s Tim. He’s got this wing thing,” I explained, being as basic as possible.
“And how are you feeling, Tim?” asked Céline politely.
“I’m in immense pain and I feel like pixying the lot of you,” he answered in his grumpy voice.
“He says he’s getting better and thank you for asking,” I said.
Dardennes smiled but said nothing.
“That’s good to hear. Well, good luck. Please let us know how Tony is getting along, won’t you?” Céline asked.
“Sure. No prob.” I turned, hurrying out of the room. “Talk to you later.”
I closed the door behind me, imagining the clinic in my mind since that’s the only place I knew that had healers. It’s where Chase had gone when he was shot with the arrow. I had no idea how long it would take to get a pixie blood sample, but it couldn’t be an easy process. His veins had to be as thin as a human hair.
We arrived in no time and I approached the first fae I saw. “Excuse me, but I need to get a blood sample from this pixie,” I jerked my thumb towards my shoulder. “Can you tell me where to go for that?”
The guy looked at me like I was nuts. “You want a what from a what?”
I sighed. I hated repeating myself when I knew I was being perfectly clear. “I need a blood sample to be taken from this pixie on my shoulder. Who does that around here?”
“Uh, I do. I guess. But it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do ... ”
“Yeah, I figured. So ... where do you want us?”
He hesitated for a second and then said, “Go over to that exam table over there and someone will be right with you.”
Huh. That seemed easy enough. Back home I would have needed a referral from my primary care doctor, an insurance card indicating I paid a hefty monthly sum for the privilege of having said card, a checkbook ... You gotta love socialized fae medicine.
Tim climbed down from my shoulder, using my hand as his delivery vehicle to get to the white paper stretched out across the exam table. His little feet crinkled it up as he paced back and forth on top. He was muttering under his breath as he walked, but not loud enough for even me to hear what he was saying.
I’m pretty sure he knew better than to complain to me. I tried not to feel too much pity for his little wing stumps, one of which was still a little blackened. I needed to harden my heart against his evil pixie manipulations. He could be very convincing when he wanted to be. I needed that blood sample, no matter what.
A healer arrived at the table – a different one than had greeted us. This one looked older.
“Did I hear correctly that you want a blood sample taken from this pixie?”
“Yes, you did.”
“I’m sorry, but may I ask what you need it for?”
“No, you may not.” There. We’ll see if the intimidation factor was going to work with this guy.
He visibly stiffened. “Well then, I’m afraid we cannot help you.”
“Can’t or won’t?” I asked angrily. I should have known it wasn’t going to be easy.
“Well, I suppose I should have said, ‘won’t’.”
“Why?”
“I should think that would be fairly obvious.”
“Well, obviously it’s not, or I wouldn’t be asking.” I was rapidly losing my cool.
“Jayne, you may want to chill a little,” warned Tim.
“Perhaps I should call someone on the council to discuss this matter. Collecting pixie blood is not something to be taken lightly,” said the uptight fae, turning to leave.
I grabbed his arm. “No, don’t bother. I’ll tell you why we need it – it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything.” I tried to brush it all off, hoping he’d buy it.
“I’m all ears,” he said sarcastically.
“I’m going to see the witch, Maggie. She needs the blood for a remedy for the pixie’s wing. As you can see he ran into a little problem.” I gestured to his back and Tim was good enough to hunch himself over to display his horrible stubs. “Her methods of getting blood are ... uh ... well, a little violent. So I’m coming to you so that the pixie won’t be abused. I know you guys are, like, top notch and all.”
“Well, that’s a different matter then.” He smiled under the compliment. “See? It wasn’t so difficult to answer a simple question, was it?”
I held back my honest retort and just smiled sweetly instead. I didn’t trust myself to speak – copious amounts of cuss words were sure to be involved.
“Wait one moment and I’ll get the spike.”
Spike?
Tim’s pacing increased. Now his muttering got loud enough that I could hear it. “ ... Just pixie one fae, one fae, and everyone gets freaked out. It’s just a little unbridled happiness. Why is everyone so down on happiness these days? Chase was boring anyway. All he ever did was look at you. Never said a word. Probably never smiled in his whole life. Now look at him. Happy! Happy, an
d everyone’s all upset ... ” and on and on it went until the healer returned. I tried to block out Tim’s rants because I didn’t altogether disagree with him. A lot of fae could use a little more merriment in their lives from what I’d seen. Drop dead with delirium merriment?... No. But a little dance now and again, some laughs? Yes.
The healer was standing next to the table with his two hands held out, his thumb and forefinger of each hand pinched together, as if he was about to sit down, cross his legs and do some meditation, mumbling some crazy shit like ‘ohm’ or whatever. He also had a giant band around his head with some goggles attached to it.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” he asked, all smiles now.
He used the back of his hands to pull the goggles down in front of his eyes, looking over at me when he was done.
I burst out laughing, unable to help myself. These goggles were some kind of magnifier, but one like I’d never seen before. I swear, his eyes were the size of dinner plates.
He waited patiently for me to calm down.
“I’ll bet you could see a pimple on a pixie’s ass with those things on.”
“Precisely,” he said, all business now. “Could you please hold him down on the table so I can prick a vein?”
I looked at him dubiously. “You’re gonna prick his vein? With what?”
“With this.” He held up one of his hands that was still in a position like he was about to take a hit off a skinny joint.
“Your invisible spliff?”
“No. The spike I’m holding in my hand. You can’t see it without the magnifiers on. It’s very thin.”
“Oooooh, I get it.” I squinted my eyes and thought I maybe caught a glimpse of something – it looked like the finest wisp of a spider’s web, but stiff.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tim start to run. I could hear the paper crinkling with each little step.
“Oh, no you don’t, you little bastard. Get back here.”
I snagged him and held him up to my face.
He was fuming. “I don’t want to do it! I change my mind!”
I turned around so my back was to the healer, whispering fiercely, “Then I change my mind about pixie colonies!” I had to play it tough with him or we were going to be here a long time and it wasn’t going to be pretty. Plus this healer guy was no dummy. He wouldn’t stick around to be pixied if he thought there was a chance it might happen.
“You wouldn’t!” Tim shouted, angry tears glistening in his eyes.
“I would; trust me, little man. Friends help friends. Friends undo their mistakes.” I turned back towards the healer, my eyebrow raised at Tim, giving him as meaningful a look as I could while also trying not to arouse the healer’s suspicions.
“Fine! But then I’m done helping.”
“You’re done when it’s done and that’s it. Now enough of your bullshit. Lay down on the table and man up.”
“I’m not a man. I’m a pixie!” he screeched.
“Well, then, pixie up, you little shit.”
I could see the healer trying not to smile. I shot him a warning look, knowing full well that if Tim saw us laughing at him, I’d have to start all over trying to get him to cooperate.
Tim lay down on the table, crossing his arms and pouting.
“Where are you going to stick him?”
“The leg is best. Or the forehead.”
I looked at him aghast. No way was I letting him put that thing near Tim’s forehead. One slip and Tim would be blinded or lobotomized or something. “Let’s go with the leg.” I looked at Tim. “I’m gonna hold you down. Don’t you get all feisty on me.”
He just glared at me.
I waited until he pulled his pants down and then laid back, his tunic still covering his nether regions, thank goodness. I gently put my forefinger from one hand across his lower legs and my other forefinger across his chest, over his crossed arms that he refused to move.
The healer leaned over with his giant goggles, and I moved as far to the side as I could to give him room. He lowered his fingers with the spike in it. I could tell when he touched Tim with it because Tim flinched. And yelled.
“Ow! Watch it buddy. Get that thing any higher and I’m gonna bust your ugly ass!”
“Tim says to please not go any higher.”
“Tell him the busting his ugly ass part, Jayne. Tell him.”
“No.”
“ ‘No’ what?” asked the doctor, focusing on his blood-letting.
“Nothing. How’s it going?”
“Well.” He lifted his hand with the spike out of the way. “So far so good. Now for the collection.”
He lowered his other spliff-positioned fingers from the other hand down towards Tim’s leg.
“What are you doing now?”
“I’m collecting his blood in this pipette.”
“What the hell is a pipette?”
“In layfae’s terms, it’s a small glass tube that has a natural vacuum action to it that draws the blood up and into the tube. I’m placing it on the small pool of blood on the pixie’s leg so the blood will go into our tube here. You will take this tube to the witch when I am done.”
“How am I going to do that when I can’t even see it?”
“I have a carrying case for you to transport it in. The blood will not last long. You must move quickly.”
“Oh.” I looked down at Tim and he seemed to be holding up well. He wasn’t struggling anymore, although he still looked very grouchy.
The healer stood up, holding the pipette out in front of his goggles. “Very nice. That went better than expected.”
“It did? I guess that’s good.”
“Yes, you never can tell with these tiny veins. But he’s a tough one. He’ll be just fine. Have him put a little pressure on that spot, will you? Here’s some gauze.”
He handed me a small gauze packet from his coat pocket. It was about the size of half of Tim’s body.
I unwrapped it and handed it to Tim, watching as he took it and placed it on his legs. I ignored his renewed grumbling and bitching.
The healer walked away to prepare for the transportation of the blood. I tried not to laugh as he bumped into two tables on his way out, still wearing the goggles.
“Thanks, Tim.”
“Whatever.”
“You know, I’ve never mentioned this, but I’ve noticed that you speak kinda more modern than the other fae, if you know what I mean. How come?”
“Because I’ve been around.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I haven’t lived my whole life in the Green Forest, if you must know.”
“I don’t have to know, but I want to. Where have you lived?”
“Around.”
“Okay, you’re obviously still pissed at me. I get it. Maybe when you cool down you can tell me.”
Tim chose that moment to fart, so I decided to stop trying to engage him in any conversation.
The healer came back with a long, thin box. “The blood is in here. You have about an hour or so before it will no longer be useful to the witch.”
“Thanks,” I said, grabbing it from him, putting Tim on my shoulder, and heading out the door.
“Sorry if I jiggle you too much, Tim, but we gotta hurry.”
I rushed down the corridor as fast as I could, picturing in my mind the door that we had gone through with Chase just the night before.
Soon we were out in the Green Forest, near the meadow that Chase had danced in. It was then that I realized I was probably going to be really early and Goose wouldn’t be there yet. The blood was going to go bad before he got there.
I stomped my way through the flowers and then into the forest on the other side of it. I was headed back to the big tree where I’d tried to heal Chase, cussing the entire way.
“Motherfucker, bastard, shitballs, dickbag, fuckhat, ass wanker ... !”
“Jayne!” yelled Tim.
“What?!”
“Are you
praying or what?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He giggled. “I don’t know. I figured a girl like you maybe said her prayers like that.”
“You know ... I could send you across this entire meadow with one flick of my finger, buttwad.”
“Ooh, that’s another good one. Buttwad. I wish I had a pen. I’m learning so much today.”
“Yeah, me too. Like how scrawny and pale your legs are.”
I heard a little responding sound.
“Fart on my shoulder one more time and you’re going to ride on the top of my shoe from now on.”
“I have a digestive problem. It’s a handicap. You shouldn’t bring it up.”
“Handicap my ass. Try eating something other than fruit.”
“I have. It gets worse.”
“Okay, fine. Stick to the fruit. Not to change the subject or anything because you know how much I like to hear about your intestinal problems, but do you know how to call that Goose guy? I don’t want this blood to go bad.”
“No way. I’m no Gray walker.”
“You make that sound as if being one is a bad thing.”
“Well, duh, it is.”
My concern about getting the pixie blood to Goose in time was now overshadowed by my worry for Tony. “Why?”
“Too many fae have gotten lost in there. No-thank-you. I prefer the light of day.”
“How do they get lost?”
“Dunno. They just do. I never go in there. The Gray is not a good place for pixies. The spirits and fae who inhabit that place are in bad need of pixying and they know it. They see a pixie and whammo, it’s all over. Pixie squish.”
“Pixie squish?”
“Yes. It’s not pretty, believe me.”
We reached the old tree that now showed no signs of having been Chase’s hitching post.
“So what the hell am I supposed to do now?”
“Wait?”
“Yes, thanks, that’s helpful.” Pain in the ass pixie.
All I could hear was the sound of birds chirping and the breeze gently blowing through the leaves in the trees. I smiled despite my worries. It really was a beautiful place here, wherever we were. We sat there for what seemed like hours just chatting.
“Tim?”
“Yeah?”
“Where are we?”