Tim said tremulously, “Holy pixie butts, is there anything more creepy than a buggane cry? No, I think not.”
“Is that the sound you heard, Tim? When you thought someone was being tortured in here?” asked Tony.
“Uh ... yeah. Maybe.”
“He says yes.”
“Okay, then, so maybe Dardennes wasn’t torturing anyone in here.”
“Maybe not,” conceded Tim. “But he still has a prisoner. And he’s been here for a while anyway.”
“Back on track guys,” I interrupted. “So, buggane, who was your assignor?”
“Chase of course. Your beloved daemon.”
“How is that possible? He’s been pixelated. He couldn’t have assigned you, or whatever.”
“Bugganes are liars,” said Tim, “don’t believe him.”
“I can smell you pixie,” the buggane said in a low, unnerving voice. “Don’t think hiding in her hair will protect you from me.” He continued in a more Chase-like voice. “But I’m not in the mood for pixie snacks today. Why don’t you tell her about fae who are pixelated? It seems to me she doesn’t have all the facts.”
“Tim, what’s he talking about?” asked Tony. The war strategist in him had to be feeling at a distinct disadvantage here, not knowing enough about pixelation. I know I was.
“Well ... I guess it’s possible Chase assigned him the task of looking out for Jayne.”
“How, Tim?” I turned to face where my friends were standing to pass on Tim’s words. “He says it’s possible Chase told him to look out for me.”
Tim explained, “If Chase or someone who was with Chase had a debt to call in over this buggane, he could have ordered the assignment to pay off the debt.”
“Even if he was pixied out of his mind and laughing his ass off? And what kind of debt? How would Chase have that with a buggane? He’s just a changeling.”
“Even all pixied out, you know Chase was still worried about taking care of you – he told us that when he rescued us. So, yes, he could have done it – he was with-it enough to stage our breakout. But how a buggane could owe a debt to Chase? I have no idea. You’ll have to ask the buggane that one.”
“Okay, buggane,” I said, turning my sightless eyes toward the creature, “why did you owe a debt to Chase? Or was it someone else you owed?”
“My name is not buggane. It’s Chase.”
“No it’s not!” I yelled, losing the edge to my voice as it started to tip into teary-sounding territory. “You are not my Chase. What’s your real name?”
“While I am assigned, it’s Chase; however, I can see it’s upsetting you to see me in this way, so I will tell you my real name. You did ask me for it, after all.” He paused for a moment, a wet sound coming from the general direction of its face, causing me to think it was probably licking its disgusting lips. “You can speak it aloud if you wish. My name is Gorm.” He chuckled low and deep. “Go ahead ... say it.”
“Your name is G... ”
“NO!” yelled Tim. “Don’t say it! Whatever you do, do not say his real name.”
I leaped in fright at the sound that erupted from where Gorm sat chained. He had started howling again, and the sound mixed with the clanking chains made me feel like vomiting in anxiety because it wasn’t just unintelligible sounds this time, it was angry words spoken with absolute viciousness. “Eeeaaaat yoouuu! Piiiiiixiiiieeee! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!”
I backed up until I was in the doorway, surrounded by my friends. I swallowed hard, barely getting the words out, “What did I almost just do?”
Tim’s voice was shaking as he answered, “You were four letters away from becoming a buggane meal along with all of your friends here. Me included. Can we please go now? I think I might have peed a little. I need to go change my pants.”
Great. Pixie pee in my hair. Could this day possibly get any worse? No, I don’t think so. Right now, I was more afraid than I’d ever been of anything in my life, unsure if it was Gorm himself causing me to feel this way or the fact that I couldn’t see any of the horror I could hear and otherwise sense. But I had to know more. I took a deep-shuddering breath and continued.
“Chase-monster ... I need you to answer one more question for me. No ... wait ... two more questions.”
All I heard was heavy, growly and gurgling breathing in return, which I decided to take as a positive sign.
“First, what debt did you owe to Chase?” I battled to keep my voice steady, “And second, why are you screaming in here like this? Are they torturing you?”
“I will answer your questions, fae girl, because I will consider my debt paid to Chase once I am freed and report back to him that you are still alive, in spite of the Light Fae having locked me away during my assignment.” He took a rattling breath. “I owed a debt to Chase because he and I served together in the Overworld, and when I fell, he made sure I only fell this far – to the Here and Now – and not all the way to the Underworld where I was intended.” He paused to take another gross-sounding breath and then continued, “And as for your second question, I scream because until my assignment is complete, I live to serve you, and I have been kept from my assignment. It is painful for me. Also ... I am quite hungry.”
I was too stunned to speak, but Tim wasn’t. “It’s probably a lot less painful for you in here than it was in the past for one of your unsuspecting dinner guests!”
Gorm answered slowly, his words dragging out, one at a time, “I can hear you, pixie. I can smell you ... and I can hear you.”
The thought of this thing, smelling and hearing Tim or me or any of us, was creeping me out. I could only imagine what it was doing to Tim, still partially wingless and as helpless as a baby. He was probably peeing some more. I was going to have to change my shirt for sure. I wondered if pixie pee left permanent stains.
Gorm continued, “Consider, as you scorn me, that I do not choose to be the fae I am. I do what is in my nature, just as you do. Just as you did with Chase, pixie. And you cannot stop nature ... isn’t that right, Jayne?” And then he started laughing maniacally, like a deranged killer locked up in a nuthouse.
“Okay, that’s enough for me.” I’d reached creeped-out overload. “I’m ready to go ... Scrum?”
He said nothing, but I heard heavy feet stepping toward me and then felt his dry hand take mine and put it on his arm.
As I walked out the door, I turned my head back towards Gorm. “When I get my Chase back, I’ll have him release you.”
“That may be a very long time,” said Gorm.
“Not if I can help it,” I said, angrily. There was some serious next-level shit going on here that I planned to get to the bottom of – as soon as I had a damn shower and at least six hours of sleep.
We all walked carefully out of the room, Spike securing the door behind us and double-checking the lock. I could hear the agitated clanking of Gorm’s chains as I walked away, heading towards my bedroom. I tried not to shiver in fear, but it was impossible. Now I knew where the term ‘boogie man’ had come from.
We all walked back to my room and then everyone said their goodbyes before leaving.
Tony stood in my doorway, the last one to go. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Thanks, Tones. I’m just gonna go to sleep. Screw the shower. I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“See you at breakfast?”
“Yeah.” I heard Tony’s footsteps as he moved closer to me. I waited and soon felt myself drawn into a warm, comforting hug. I squeezed him back hard. “Thanks. I needed that.”
Tony laughed softly. “It wasn’t for you. It was for me.”
“Wimp.”
“Toughie.”
“Stop. You’re making me blush.”
Tony pulled away. “I know you can’t see me, but if you could, you’d see how proud I am of you right now.”
“Oh, gaggery,” said Tim’s sleepy voice from the dresser. “Save it for the wedding, would ya?”
I felt my face start to burn, and
I stepped back in the direction of my bed, ignoring my cranky roommate. “Be proud when I finally get something right.”
Tony walked towards the door. “You’ve done plenty right, Jayne. You know it. Stop being so hard on yourself. I’ll see you in the morning. Well, later in the morning, I guess.”
“‘kay. G’night.”
The door closed softly behind him. I stripped off my jeans and pulled my tunic over my head, walking over in the direction of the dresser with my hands held out. “Where are you, Tim? I need a homing beacon.”
“Here, here, here, here, here, here, no, not there, yes, here, here, heeeeeeeere ... ”
I banged my hand on the dresser drawer. “Ow! Shit, that hurt.”
I reached inside and pulled out a new shirt, not caring that I was going to put it on over my dirty body. My brownie Netter was just going to have to deal. Maybe I’d give him two chocolate tokens to clean our room tomorrow – especially since there was pixie pee in the laundry.
I walked back carefully towards my bed, managing to stub my toe on the corner of it. “Motherfucker!” I yelled out. I’d had about enough of this blindness to last me a lifetime. I laid down in bed with my throbbing toe, getting under the covers as gingerly as possible. I settled my head on the pillow and stared up toward the ceiling, trying to ignore the swirling blues and greens that still overwhelmed my sightless eyes.
“So, Tim. What do you think about what Go... that buggane said?”
I waited a couple seconds and heard nothing. Then the sawing of wood commenced. Tim had fallen asleep.
I sighed. Damn pixies. Can’t hang worth a shit. That was the last thought I had until I was awakened at five-thirty in the morning for breakfast by a pixie singing very loudly and very off-key.
Chapter 4
We all sat around the breakfast table, freshly showered and changed. I had much higher hopes for today, now that we’d faced down a substantial Dark Fae threat and for the time being at least, remained Light Fae, not yet taken over by the Dark. Also, my vision was slowly coming back, which was the best news I’d had in days. I couldn’t see perfectly, but I could see way better than I did yesterday. Everything was a little fuzzy and had a bluish tinge to it, but I could tell I was on the road to recovery.
The only glitch was that Tim kept insisting my eyes were still all swirly with that crazy blue-green color. I couldn’t really tell when I looked in the mirror since my vision was still too hazy for me to see details. I decided not to worry about it. There was probably a witch somewhere in this place who could hook me up with a spell or something – but only after I dealt with more pressing issues, like Becky. We still didn’t know what had happened to her, and that was worrying me more than my eyes. My plan, after we ate, was to go see Naida, the siren of the lake – the fae Becky spent most of her time with.
Scrum sat two seats away from me, eating a double portion of wiggly meats, hardly pausing between forkfuls. I could see the movement and hear the sounds. Even with my imperfect vision, it was nauseating.
“Damn, boy, you ain’t gotta eat it all at once,” said Finn, so intrigued he’d stopped eating his own breakfast.
“God, it’s like a train wreck, watching him eat. I can’t look away,” said Spike, distractedly.
“Forry, guyv. I’m fuper hungry wite now fo fome reavon.”
“Oh, man,” I said laughing in disgust. “That’s gross.” I had to look away. “Where’s Tony?” I asked no one in particular.
“Dunno,” said Spike, still watching Scrum and wincing at something I refused to look over at.
“Probably in the war room,” said Tim. “Telling them that stuff the buggane told us.”
I watched absently while he manhandled a strawberry on the table, using his tiny pixie knife to cut parts of it out and eat it. He looked especially good today, having taken extra time with his hair. I could see him better from this farther distance than when he had been closer to me.
“You’re lookin’ good this mornin’, pixieman,” I said, yanking his chain. He hated it when I called him that.
“You too, buggane-lover. Especially those psycho eyes. Nice touch. Adds a little something to your look. Suits you.”
I refused to rise to his bait. “So, what’s on the agenda? Training? Anyone know?”
“No. Assembly,” said Spike.
“Oh, for shit’s sake,” I said, my happy, positive mood going right in the toilet. “Am I going to be up in front again?”
Finn smiled. “Naw. For once, you’re gonna be in the audience. Tony’s gonna be up there, though, along with all them gray elves.”
“Thank the Overworld,” I said, relieved, now feeling a little better. A small part of me thought I should probably be standing up there with him, for moral support or whatever, but the selfish part of me said that the gray elves would do that for him. I wanted to be shouting from the seats for a change. Heck, who knows? It could be my one and only chance to act like the irate and affronted fae in the cheap seats.
We finished our breakfasts and followed groups of fae walking to the assembly hall. We got there early enough to sit in seats in the middle, but we chose some in the back, in the last row, instead. I wanted to get a good view of the whole scene playing out in front of us, and not being able to see the fae sitting behind me with this crappy eyesight made me nervous for some reason. Finn left us to go sit with the other green elves, but Spike sat with Tim, Scrum and me, saving a seat for Valentine, the other incubus in the Light Fae compound.
Within five minutes, the place was packed to capacity and the gray elves were milling around in front of the raised seats of the council members. A witch eventually took the seat we were trying to save for Valentine, since he was nowhere to be seen. I heard Dardennes’ voice calling out for everyone to be seated, and the presentation began.
The gray elves each took turns telling us the current status of the war against the Dark Fae. Nobody was calling it anything else now – it was official. We were at war. It was almost surreal, even after having been in an actual battle. I never thought as a teenager that I’d be fighting in a real, armed conflict like this. I understood why it was happening, but I didn’t like it. There were too many connections between the Light and Dark Fae. Even family members. Céline, the silver elf who was Dardennes’ constant companion, had her sister over there – Dardennes’ wife, actually. And now Chase was there. If there were ever a battle between him and me, I wouldn’t fight. I’d just put my hands down at my sides and let him come get me. Maybe that’s because I really felt like he’d never hurt me. But ... still. It just wasn’t right to hurt your friends like that, even if they did have a fundamental difference of opinion about certain things.
Tony was looking through the crowds as if searching for something, and then his eyes locked on me. He was nodding his head silently. I nodded back. He must have been vibing me again. His empath skills had really come along since he’d arrived here. He could feel the emotions of just about everyone in this room, but me more than anyone – not just my feelings but my thoughts too. I don’t know if it was our friendship that linked us, or something else. I had hated it at first, but now, not so much. It was nice to be connected like this to my best friend. Circumstances being what they were in the compound, and the fae war stuff in general keeping us apart a lot, it was hard to understand how our vibe connection could stay so strong ... but it did. I liked knowing that no matter what, he was always just a thought away.
My attention was drawn to a green elf from the audience who had started speaking in response to a gray elf question.
“Yes, we had a skirmish outside the infinity door, in the meadow. We lost four of our green elves there. The Dark Fae had a company of elves and ogres. We were overwhelmed.”
“They seem to have a greater number of forces – is that the impression you had in the field, Robin?”
Robin, the head of the green elves, responded, “Absolutely. In every case, except one, we were outnumbered two to one.”
The old fart on the council who’d never made a secret of his dislike for me said, “What case was the exception?”
Robin looked at the council and then back in my direction. I couldn’t see his facial features, but I could see his head turned in my direction. “We had Jayne outside the gargoyle door. She used her powers to enhance ours. We were able to hit all of our targets, even in the middle of a maelstrom brought on by a wind and fire elemental.”
The twittering of voices rose up and I felt several eyes upon me. “Damn, so much for being invisible,” I muttered to Spike.
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry. We’re here for ya.”
I reached over and put my other hand on Scrum’s warm forearm, finding comfort in his bulky presence. He patted my hand briefly. He, apparently, wasn’t worried, but I kept a hold on my two friends. I was feeling seriously wimpy today for some reason.
“Just tell ‘em like it is, Jayne. Don’t take any crap from that crusty old man-witch,” said Tim, all full of pixie fight.
I was glad someone was. I just wanted to disappear into the seat cushions. It was decidedly unlike me, but I’d had enough of the fighting for right now. Maybe tomorrow I’d feel like killing Ben again.
The unwanted attention turned from me when the gray elves began to summarize our losses and the number of battles that had actually been fought yesterday. There were five in total, and we’d lost eight elves, one ogre, nine dwarves, and possibly one water sprite – the jury was still out on Becky, which made me sad and hopeful at the same time. I didn’t even know we had that many dwarves around – I’d only ever seen two of them. I was told before that whenever there was a fight, we lost more dwarves than any other of the races. They were the feistiest of all the fae, and too small a lot of the time to effectively fight the enemy.
Niles had made it through, though. He stood in his usual place behind the council table, scowling at everything that was said. I wondered what he’d look like without all those angry wrinkles on his face. I was trying to picture it when Tony’s voice caught my attention.