“Vegas. But I had to mind wipe her.” A sudden guilt hit me as I remembered I’d promised to help keep her safe after the ordeal with Oran ended. I’d already broken it. Crap.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the right kind of help. I need a human warrior to track and find her,” Rylan said. I groaned quietly but didn’t say a word. “Will you help me?”
The girl’s projection flickered again. Her eyes seemed to call to me. Then the image broke up and dissipated. Where her beautiful face had once been was now empty air. Rylan cursed and shook the mirror. It had malfunctioned somehow, leaving me to wonder what was going on with it. I thought faery magic was a bit more stable than that.
Finally, I straightened once more and spoke. “Okay. I’ll help, but don’t make me regret this.”
Rylan gave up on the mirror projector and threw me a wide, toothy grin. “Awesome! I can’t promise you anything, but you won’t regret helping. I swear it’ll be like old times hunting Unseelie, except we don’t have to execute her.”
“Okay … that’s a relief.” His sense of humor was wacked.
“Oh, there’s one more thing,” he said.
I groaned and leaned back in the overstuffed chair. “All right, go ahead, hit me with it.”
“I left the girl’s mother with Queen Aluse, the Raven Faery Queen, for protection.”
I lifted my eyebrows in surprise and glanced at Rylan, who shrugged. I’d never met Aluse, but I’d heard many stories about her from my sister. From the look on Rylan’s face, there was more than one task at hand.
“Okay. What do I have to do with that?”
“She needs a curse broken on her younger brother, Trey, before we can help Zena’s mother. We need a warlock to do it.”
Not much to go on there, but I didn’t want to make her wait. “Okay … how do I get to her?”
“Our rides are waiting for us outside the dome.”
He pocketed the mirror and muttered something about it not working right. I tossed him a questioning glance and decided it wasn’t worth pursuing. I slumped away to get my stuff together and refilled my travel pack. I also strapped my Empyrean blade snuggly onto my back. Finally ready, I followed him to the front door, and we both stared at it apprehensively. We’d been in too many battles to turn back, but it never made leaving into the unknown any easier.
“Ready?” Rylan asked.
“Always.”
I reached out and unlocked the door, swinging it open to peer outside. Seeing nothing out past the dome’s boundary on our lawn, I shut and locked the door behind us before we stepped out onto the driveway, exiting the boundaries of my home and sanctuary. I glanced back one more time, mentally saying goodbye to the Pyren.
As we crossed beyond the dome, two black-winged faeries slammed into the ground before us, making us both jump. They’d hidden in wait just at the edge of the dome. Their wingspans were wide, but they’d tucked them in behind their backs as they landed. Even so, the longest of their feathers dragged on the ground and appeared dusty from the dirt clinging to them. One was a woman with long, rich brown hair and tanned skin who gave me a flirty smile and lifted her eyebrows as she fluttered her pretty brown eyes at me.
It was nice to see a pretty face in such desolate times. I hoped to find out more about her on the trip. I threw her an equally wide grin and waved. The other was a male with dark black hair cut just under his ears and equally dark eyes. Both looked like they worked out, encased in lean, hard muscle.
I didn’t think the woman was Queen Aluse. She’d never come fetch a person herself. She was a queen who could send an underling to pick up a person. I turned and sent my magic toward the barrier, reinforcing the protection spell. Satisfied it would hold while I was gone, I faced the beautiful winged faery again.
“Hi,” I managed to say, holding out my hand. “I’m Benton.”
She threw me another flirty smile. “I’m Bibbette. I’ll have to hold you like this.” She opened her arms, inviting me in. I nodded and let the woman’s strong arms encircle my waist as she pressed herself tightly against my back. I glanced over at Rylan and took a deep breath.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you go,” she whispered close to my ear, sending a spark tingling through me. I hoped that was a promise.
“Ready?” Her male counterpart asked.
Rylan and I both nodded, ready to rejoin the world of magic.
“Ready,” we answered.
The End
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Alexia Purdy, History of Fire
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