"We're never going to find it, are we?"

  Jack took my hand and gently squeezed it. "We're going to do our best. But even if we don't, we'll have the most important things."

  "Our family, friends, and each other?"

  He flashed a grin. "I was thinking we'd be sure to pack all your baking supplies, but sure, let's go with the family and friends thing."

  When we arrived at my shop, I was still smiling.

  I really loved that man.

  Jack checked his phone before we got out of the truck. "Still no word from Logan, and he didn't give me a number. He was going to sleep at my place, but he's probably up and gone by now."

  "I hope he learns something about his sister soon." Speaking of sisters, I needed to make time to see mine before she left on the Orlando trip. I wanted to be sure to hug her and reassure her of how much we loved her, and that she wasn't going to lose us. She'd already lost too many people in her brief life.

  Jed appeared in the shop doorway when we were crossing the parking lot. He still looked young, but the aging process had started again. "It's about time. Get in here."

  "Bossy, isn't he?" Jack muttered.

  "Sound like anyone you know?" I asked in my most innocent tone of voice.

  When we entered my shop, I gasped. Eleanor had been busy. Boxes and crates lined the aisles, and she'd already packed a great deal of our merchandise into them. My shop looked like somebody had ransacked it.

  In a way, I guess they had.

  And I blamed the Fae queen for all of it.

  I clenched my jaw shut against the nasty names I wanted to call Viviette and, instead, walked over and gave Eleanor a hug. She'd dressed down in jeans, a University of Central Florida sweatshirt, and sneakers today, and she had a smudge of dirt on one cheek.

  "You have never been more beautiful," I said sincerely. "I can't thank you enough for all this hard work."

  She patted my hand. "No thanks needed. But Jed needs to show you something."

  Jed, behind the counter, reached into my jewelry case and lifted something out. I immediately recognized the brooch that had made my head ache the day before and stepped back. That's when I realized something else: I hadn't felt the dagger box.

  "What did you do with the box? I don't feel it at all."

  "It's in the vault," Eleanor said.

  "I was worried that the magic from the box and the magic from this piece of jewelry might clash and cause something dangerous to happen," Jed said.

  I sighed. "More dangerous than complete town destruction?"

  Jed nodded, acknowledging the truth of that, but then put the brooch down on the counter and pointed at it. "These are Fae runes. I think it's a communication device. We may be able to use it to call to the queen."

  Jack looked skeptical. "May be able to use it?"

  "My knowledge of Fae runes isn't extensive, grandson," Jed said reprovingly.

  "Is there anything else Fae in there? Or anywhere in the shop?" I asked. "And who sold you that pin, Eleanor?"

  "This ring, maybe," Jed said, taking a ring out of the case and placing it on the counter a good two feet from the brooch. "If I remember correctly, its wearer's chickens will lay extra eggs."

  I threw my hands up in the air. "Thank goodness! We're saved!"

  Jed gave me a cautious look. "I'm not sure—"

  "It's sarcasm, granddad," Jack said. "It gets used a lot these days. Especially in life-or-death situations. And anyway, knowing the Fae, the eggs will probably explode."

  "Or hatch little chicken-sized monsters," Eleanor said.

  "Did Alejandro ever tell you about the basilisks?" I asked her.

  Jack held up a hand. "Back to the point. How can we use the brooch to call the queen? I'm sure it's not as simple as dialing her number."

  "I believe we need to match it to similar runes that they would have carved into stone," Jed said. "Pretty much a hopeless task to find that."

  I held out my phone. "Would they look anything like this?"

  Jed's eyes widened, and he picked up the brooch and held it next to my phone. "Those are exactly right! Where did you get that?"

  I sighed. "Why? Why not carve runes in a nice, central, easily findable, dry place?"

  Eleanor looked confused. "Tess, what on Earth are you talking about?"

  "I'm going back down the well."

  After we explained that, I tried to get Eleanor to remember who'd sold her the brooch, or at least find the paperwork, and was unsuccessful at both. Eleanor, who was sharp as a tack, wracked her brain to remember, but she said everything about the transaction was hazy in her mind. And we couldn't find any paperwork on it at all, although she was always meticulous about paperwork. We had to be in our business. Criminals thought they could use pawnshops for fencing stolen merchandise, but no legitimate shop owner would let them, and we made sure to have the proper paperwork to prove to the police that we hadn't.

  This time, though, Eleanor hadn't been able to find the paperwork anywhere. Not in paper files, not on the computer. It was as if the transaction had never taken place.

  But we had the brooch.

  "Somebody wanted you to have this, but didn't want you to remember them, clearly," Jed said.

  "Can this be a coincidence?" I looked at all of them. "Jed, the brooch, the dagger … someway, somehow, all of this is connected."

  Jack nodded. "I agree. And I don't like mysteries when it comes to the Fae."

  "Maybe the portal to the Summerlands is fluctuating? The magic can be unpredictable, I've heard," Jed said. "That might explain some of this."

  Nobody answered him, probably because none of us had the slightest clue.

  Now for the tough part. "Should we contact Susan or Aunt Ruby to try the communication thing? I mean, I can't imagine lowering Aunt Ruby down a well, but Susan would do it. And they have more official town roles than I do …"

  Eleanor and Jack were shaking their heads before I even finished speaking.

  "No," Eleanor said firmly. "I love her, but your Aunt Ruby is not the person to talk to an angry Fae queen. They're all about delicacy and diplomacy and—God love her—Ruby will go in there with a sledgehammer instead of a silver spoon."

  "She's not wrong," Jack said. "And Susan might not be great either. The Fae have a particular dislike for human law enforcement after their experience of being put in iron jail cells in the past."

  I sighed. "So we're back to me going down the well."

  "I can do it," Jack said. "It will be a tight squeeze, but Jed can lower me down and pull me back up."

  "No! She's already expressed interest in you, if that troll was telling the truth. What if she reaches through some kind of portal and kidnaps you?" I shook my head. "No, it has to be me. I'm nobody special, so she won't want me."

  "You're very special," Jack said. "And we're going to get some answers if it kills them."

  "The expression is 'if it kills me,'" Eleanor pointed out.

  Jack's smile suddenly had a lot of very sharp teeth. "Let them try."

  "I guess we're off to Jack's house, so I can climb down inside a well," I said brightly. "This is feeling like déjà vu all over again."

  30

  Tess

  Eleanor wanted to keep packing, so I hugged her again and promised to let her know what we found out, and then Jack, Jed, and I went to Jack's house. We put the dagger box in the back of the truck again, on the off chance that the Fae queen might actually show up in Jack's yard.

  It might at least be something to bargain with.

  Fifteen minutes later, the three of us stood looking down into the well, and my head was throbbing again.

  "Let's just do it," I said with a remarkable lack of enthusiasm. I was going to have to hold the brooch up to the runes on the wall of the well, Jed said, and I was concerned—okay, scared to death—that if anything would cause my brain to explode, that might do it.

  On the other hand, total destruction of Dead End.

  I didn't share my fear with the Shepherds, because they both looked like they were on the verge of picking me up and bodily carrying me away from there.

  "I heard something on the waves about someone named Timmy and a well," Jed said out of the blue. "Have you ever met this lass? She seemed remarkably capable, especially when it came to rescuing that fool Timmy."

  It took me a beat, but then I laughed. "Oh. Lassie was actually a TV show about a dog, a collie, who was super smart and brave and rescued a little boy all the time. It was like a play. They were pretending to be those characters."

  "So the lass wasn't a lass at all?"

  "Well, it was a female dog named Lassie, but—"

  "And this Lassie could play a role?"

  "Yes."

  "Then she was still smarter than Timmy, it seems to me," Jed concluded.

  I couldn't argue with that.

  "Maybe we can talk about TV dogs later," Jack said. "Tess, for the last time, are you sure?"

  I decided to be honest. "I'm mostly sure. If holding the brooch causes me too much pain, though, I'm going to call it off. It won't do any of us any good if I pass out."

  I courageously kept my exploding-brain fears to myself.

  Just then, Jed made a sound like a cross between a gasp and a shriek, and then he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see what had spooked him and saw a silvery oval forming in the yard. "This might be her!"

  Jack slowly shook his head. "I don't think so. I recognize this portal."

  Before I could ask, a man stepped out of the oval and into the yard, glanced around with hard eyes like he was assessing the threat level, and then strode over to Jack and held out a hand.

  While they shook hands, I studied the newcomer. He looked a lot like the king and prince of Atlantis, so I was guessing he was from there, too. They all seemed to be tall, dark, gorgeous, and deadly over there. This man, though, had none of the easy charm of Ven and King Conlan.

  Instead, he looked like he cracked heads for a hobby—and he really, really liked it.

  He wore all black—pants, shirt, and boots—but looked like he should wear a cloak that flared dramatically in the wind. Or maybe I'd seen too many old movies.

  Jack turned to wave us over. "Tess, Granddad, this is Denal, one of King Conlan's elite warriors. Denal, this is Tess Callahan and my three-hundred-plus-year-old grandfather."

  Denal bowed. "I am pleased to meet you, Lady Tess. Ven and Erin speak often of your visit."

  "Thank you, but just Tess, please," I said. "It's so nice to meet you. Please say hello to them for me."

  He raised a single dark eyebrow, as if to ask if I really thought he had time to be passing messages along when he could be conquering small countries—or maybe that was my admittedly vivid imagination—but he nodded.

  "Atlantis? The actual Atlantis?" Jed's shock was palpable. "I knew about vampires, and of course shifters, being one myself, but you're from Atlantis?"

  "Yes. Our continent has risen to take its rightful place in the world again," Denal said, studying Jack's grandfather. "How is it you do not know of this?"

  "He's been a statue for three centuries," Jack said matter-of-factly, and Denal just nodded.

  Evidently, Atlantis had more experience with Fae tricks than I did.

  "I have news. Iona Mackenzie is safe and lives with the Autumn queen. They are in love, and the dream walker is very happy," he said, grimacing slightly at the word "happy." "She will not aid her brother any further. Also, Conlan and Riley have proclaimed—"

  "They're proclaiming things now? Seems out of character," Jack said mildly, grinning.

  Denal smiled, and his face didn't actually crack at the effort. He was startlingly gorgeous when he smiled, and I wondered if the women of Atlantis threw themselves at him everywhere he went, or if the grim exterior kept them away.

  Then I wondered why I was wondering anything so ridiculously frivolous at a time like this.

  And then I just sighed.

  Denal glanced at me and then continued. "Right. They said they won't make a treaty with those who threaten our friends, so I am to promise you we will aid in your defense should it come to that."

  "Nobody is going to destroy my town," Jack said grimly, and Jed and I nodded.

  "I must return to Atlantis. My new team departs within the hour on a mission," Denal said. "One last thing: do not trust Logan Mackenzie. We have had dealings with him in the past, and he brings trouble and deceit wherever he goes."

  "I know," Jack told him.

  "We are going to make sure you're right about his sister," I said. "I'm not doubting your word, but someone may have given you false information."

  I could have sworn his eyes flashed green sparks, but he spoke calmly enough. "The Fae cannot—"

  "And don't say they can't lie, because we have a whole lot of evidence that they can make the truth stand up and do backflips."

  Denal's lips twitched, and then he bowed again. "As you say, Lady. I cannot argue that point. Shepherd, if you need us, let us know."

  With that, he stepped back through the portal, which immediately vanished.

  "Atlantis," Jed said, awed. "I can't believe I'm alive to see that."

  "Stick around, and I'll take you there myself," Jack promised, and Jed's eyes gleamed.

  "It's so beautiful," I told him, but then I gathered up what little courage I had left and changed the subject.

  "The well. Now. The day's not getting any younger."

  The brooch didn't intensify my headache any, so I put it in my jacket pocket for the trip down the well. Once I braced myself halfway down, facing the runes, I pulled it out, took a deep breath, and held it to the wall.

  Nothing happened.

  My headache didn't get worse. No magical bell tolled, no light or portal appeared, and not a single Fae queen showed up.

  "Anything?" Jack called down.

  "Nope. Well, I'm getting a cramp in my leg from bracing like this, but nothing is happening with the wall. Maybe this brooch is actually about chicken eggs too. Or sheep having lambs, or cows having calves, or—"

  "Tess?"

  "Yeah?"

  "I'm pulling you up now."

  "Okay." I put the brooch back in my pocket and glumly contemplated our options while Jack pulled me out of the well. We had no way to contact the queen, no dagger, and no clues.

  Possibly we had a way to get extra eggs, if we bought live chickens. Seemed like a lot of work to me.

  Jack carefully lifted me out of the well, and I looked at the two men.

  "Where's Lassie when you need her?"

  Nobody laughed. There went my career in comedy.

  I texted Aunt Ruby and Susan our news, both about Atlantis and about the well. They were happy to hear about Atlantis, but understandably unhappy about the idea that we might need the help of a sovereign foreign nation to protect our little town.

  I wanted to throw my phone down the well.

  "You know what? I've just had it," I told Jack and Jed. "If this is going to be our last week in Dead End because of some stupid Fae nonsense, I'm going to have a blowout party at my house tomorrow. I'll tell everyone to bring all the perishable food they want to get rid of, and we'll have a cookout to end all cookouts."

  I didn't call it a birthday party, because I was sure everyone had forgotten about my birthday, despite all the chaos. But if I had to have a birthday party, better to do it on my own terms.

  "Jack, will you drive me home?"

  Jed, who'd put the dagger box on Jack's back porch, suddenly looked exhausted. I knew exactly how he felt.

  "If you don't mind, Tess, I'll stay here and get some rest," he said.

  I impulsively gave him a hug, and he surprised me by holding on tightly. When he let me go, I kissed his cheek.

  "Of course I don't mind. Please take a nap and try not to worry. Jack and I are pretty good at finding our way out of impossible situations after the past year. We'll tell you some stories that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when we're past this crisis."

  Jack drove me home, and we spent the trip batting around more and more wildly improbable ideas, until his phone buzzed.

  "Austin?"

  Not having superior tiger hearing, I couldn't hear Austin's side of the conversation.

  "In Savannah. Are you sure?" He listened and then grinned. "Right, right. I promise never to doubt your computer genius again. Up for a drive?"

  By the time he ended the call, we were at my house.

  "Dallas and Austin found Mickey Young. He's in Savannah at a very fancy hotel, but he refuses to answer the phone, and the hotel manager says she can't force him to talk to us."

  "So you're going to Savannah?"

  He nodded. "He told them he found something beneath the willow tree, and he's been acting odd, and now this. We can't afford not to go."

  I leaned over and kissed him. "Okay. I'm going to do a little packing and put out the word about the cookout. Call me when you know anything."

  "I will," he promised, and then he pulled me closer for a more thorough kiss.

  "I like fancy hotels and Savannah too," I said wistfully. "Maybe one day we can go there together."

  Jack's grin was more wolfish than tiger. "I'll hold you to that."

  He drove off to meet Austin for the four-hour trip to Savannah, and I went inside to call or text everybody I knew.

  It was going to be the biggest, best cookout in the history of Dead End.

  And possibly the last.

  31

  Jack

  We made the four-hour drive to Savannah in two and a half. I-95 traffic was unusually light for a change, so we cruised along at a fairly high speed and listened to music, not talking much. Austin wasn't one for small talk, and I wasn't either. Plus, I had a lot on my mind.

  "Where's Dallas?"

  He looked up from the laptop he was working on. "With Mellie. They're packing up her bakery, just in case."

  "There's a lot of that going around," I said flatly. "That damn queen has a lot to answer for."

  "Agreed."

  After that, we were silent all the way to Savannah. Austin's GPS guided us to the hotel where we'd better find Mickey Young, who was already going to be very sorry he hadn't answered his phone.