Jack

  From five miles away, I felt the blast's percussive thud. I yanked my steering wheel to the left, made the U-turn on two wheels, and sped into town, praying out loud and making promises to God.

  "I will go to church with Tess, if that's not her. Please don't let it be Tess. Please. I'll eat vegetables. I'll give more money away. I'll do anything, anything at all, just don't let it be Tess."

  When I slammed on the brakes half a block down from what remained of the bank, the closest I could get, I was out of the truck and running toward the smoke and rubble so fast I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face.

  "Please let there have been nobody in there, please, please, please," I kept mumbling, but I heard the ambulance sirens screaming as one or more of them approached, and my heart felt like somebody had stabbed me with a dull spear.

  "Tess!" I roared, and even over the cacophony of noise at the scene of the explosion, several people turned to look at me. I saw Susan kneeling on the grass of the town square thirty feet from me, at the edge of where the rubble started. She looked up at the sound of my yell, her face streaked with dirt and her hair wild.

  But she was smiling.

  "Jack!" She waved me over and said something else, but I couldn't hear her over the noise. I ran toward her and leapt up and over a group of people clustered together, because I didn't have time to worry about hiding the abilities I had even in human form, and hit the ground still running.

  When I reached her, I skidded to a stop because Tess was lying on the ground, eyes closed, her face dead white beneath the grit and dirt from the explosion. I fell to my knees and started to pull her up into my arms, but Susan put a hand out to stop me.

  "Be careful, in case she has a spine injury," she said firmly, and I realized I'd been pushing her away without even realizing it.

  I nodded, swallowing hard, and then shouted for help.

  "The ambulance is almost here," the sheriff told me. "Look, there it is now."

  She stood up and waved it over, and people made way for it to reach us. The medics—a balding white man and a younger Asian woman—jumped out and rushed over to Tess, and I stood back to let them work, my heart in my throat.

  What could they do, though? Tess needed a healer. I should …

  I should …

  I didn't know what I should do. What I wanted to do was roar out my rage to the sky, but that would help nobody, as I'd learned the hard way during the war.

  Instead, I took a small step back to give the medics more room and finally took a moment to study the destruction.

  "Bomb?"

  Susan, who'd moved to stand next to me, nodded. "Has to be. Or some magic more powerful than any I've seen before. Maybe like a Fae queen might wield? Any chance this Viviette is giving us a warning shot?"

  I thought about it but reluctantly shook my head, watching the medics with Tess. "I don't think so. She has to adhere to the terms of a Bargain, and giving us 'until dusk in five days' had the sound of one. But who else would do such a thing? Was anybody else hurt?"

  "No, luckily. The manager was just driving up. Evidently, Tess got here early and tried the door—Mr. Peterson saw her—and that's when the bank blew up. You may want to thank your friend, though. He probably saved her life, and he's banged up, too."

  I looked in the direction she indicated and saw Logan, bent over with his hands on his thighs, his entire body shuddering with the force of his cough.

  "He flew up as an eagle, grabbed her in his claws, and yanked her away from the bank as it exploded! It would have been much worse if he hadn't been there."

  I didn't like where my mind was going. "He just happened to be there?"

  "Jack. If he hadn't, we might have lost her."

  I took a step toward Logan, determined to beat the truth out of him if I had to, but just then Tess sat up and coughed. I crouched down next to her and took her hand in mine.

  "Tess? Are you okay, sweetheart? We need to get you to the hospital. Or to a healer. Or to Atlantis. Now!"

  The EMTs looked at me like I was crazy. "She doesn't need to go to another continent, sir. She's going to be just fine. Only a few scrapes and bruises, and she inhaled some smoke and dust. We'll fix her right up in the ambulance."

  I bared my teeth and had the satisfaction of seeing both the medics flinch. "You will not 'fix her up in the ambulance.' She is precious to me. You will get her the finest physician, the best care, the—"

  "Jack," Tess said, sounding tired but amused. "Don't scare the nice medics. I'm fine. Well, a little banged up, to be honest, but fine. It could have been much worse, except for Logan, or so I hear."

  I looked up to find Logan, but he was gone. I'd be having a serious talk with that man soon, but for now, I had to focus on Tess.

  "You're going to the emergency room, and that's all there is to it," I demanded.

  Tess and the medics traded glances, and then she blew out a breath. "Would it make you feel better if I get an x-ray or something?"

  "Yes," I said firmly.

  The female medic shrugged. "It couldn't hurt. You may have hairline fractures."

  "Okay. Let's go. But I'm not riding in the ambulance."

  She rode in the ambulance.

  I followed them in my truck. By the time the doctors finished examining her a couple of hours later, Mike, Ruby, and Shelley had arrived at the hospital and sat with me in the waiting room.

  Ruby cried a little in between urgent mayoral phone calls. Mike paced, and Shelley sat on my lap and looked terrified. She'd need to go see her therapist after this, probably. A child was not meant to have to live with such a fear of loss.

  By the time they wheeled Tess out, the text I'd been waiting for about her birthday present came through. I put my phone in my pocket, kissed the top of Shelley's head, and gently nudged her off my lap to run to Tess.

  Mike clapped me on the back, and I could see the powerful emotion he was hiding behind stoicism. "If anything happened to her," he began.

  "I know. Same here," I said, and he nodded and went to join Ruby and Shelley, who clustered around Tess's wheelchair.

  I stood where I was, suddenly frozen to the spot, the full impact of what-might-have-been crashing over me with the force of a tsunami. I'd just found her, and I might have lost her. I was done letting her be involved in dangerous things. I'd wrap her up in that bubble Mike talked about—he had the right idea. I'd …

  I'd …

  I blew out a breath and faced the truth. I'd do nothing different at all. If I tried to cage Tess, I'd lose her. And I couldn't imagine my life without her. She glanced up and met my eyes just then, and her smile almost shattered me.

  I'd honestly believed I'd be okay going through life alone. After I'd lost Quinn, my co-leader of the rebels, to Alaric, super sorcerer and giant Atlantean pain in the ass, I'd been sad for a while and then figured, okay, they were clearly meant for each other. I'd moved on.

  But if I lost Tess …

  There would be no moving on.

  Ever.

  I pasted a smile on my face for Shelley's sake—I knew Tess could see right through me—and walked over to where she was arguing about the wheelchair. Then I bent and scooped her up into my arms and turned and carried her out of the hospital.

  "My knight in shining tiger fur," she murmured, putting her arms around my neck and leaning her head against me. "I have to admit, I was a little scared."

  "Woman, you scared ten years off my life," I confessed.

  "One of your nine lives?" Her smile was everything. I had to kiss her. Gently, though, since she had a cut on her lip.

  "I'm not sure how many lives I have left, but I never want to see you next to any explosions, ever again."

  I lowered her to stand on her feet and opened the truck door, then helped her up onto the seat, only then realizing that Mike, Ruby, and Shelley were right behind me.

  "I'm taking Tess to her house to rest. If you follow us, you can see her birthday present."

  "Oh, sweet heavens," Ruby said. "Tess, I didn't even call you for your birthday yet."

  "Worst birthday EVER!" Shelley shouted, clearly happy now that Tess was out of the hospital and doing okay.

  "Happy birthday, punkin," Mike said, shouldering me out of the way and leaning in to kiss Tess on the cheek. "Never, ever scare us like that again."

  "I promise. Scared myself a little too," she admitted, leaning her head back against the seat and closing her eyes.

  "Okay, let's get her home," I said. "We'll see you there."

  "You bet you will," Mike said.

  Ruby bit her lip. "Tess, I'm so sorry, but I have to stop downtown and do a couple of mayor things. If you're sure you're okay … it's just, it's my duty to the people of Dead End, under the circumstances, and we're not quite done with the senior citizens evacuation plan, and—"

  "Go," Tess said, opening her eyes and smiling at her aunt. "I'm so proud of you for doing all this for everyone in this crisis. You're the best mayor Dead End has ever had since Lorraine."

  Tears trembled in Ruby's lashes, but she leaned in and gave Tess a quick hug and then hugged me, too.

  "You take care of my niece," she ordered, and I gave her my best salute.

  "Yes, ma'am. Come over as soon as you can. There will be plenty of food."

  "And CAKE?" Shelley started dancing. "I love CAKE!"

  "All the cake you can eat," I promised.

  Tess fell asleep on the drive. By the time we got to her house, I'd forgotten about our phone call earlier, so I was completely unprepared for the sight of a pixie riding Lou the cat across the top of the back of the couch.

  Tess simply said, "Hi, Frazzle," and headed back toward the kitchen. I heard her opening the fridge, and then I heard her gasp. I ran back through the house, the cat and pixie hot on my heels, and skidded to a stop when I realized why she'd gasped.

  She wasn't in danger.

  There was no threat.

  She was staring out her back window, a bottle of water forgotten in one hand, her mouth hanging open. She slowly turned her head and stared at me.

  "Jack?"

  "Yes?"

  "Why is there a pool in my backyard?"

  "Well—"

  "An in-ground pool, filled with water and ready to use, in my backyard?"

  "It's—"

  "A pool that wasn't there just a few hours ago?"

  Now all three of them were staring at me: Tess, the pixie, and even Lou.

  "Um, happy birthday?"

  34

  Tess

  I had a pool.

  In my backyard.

  A full-blown, Olympic-sized, fully complete and filled pool.

  "Happy birthday?" I felt dazed, and not just from the pain meds they'd pushed on me at the ER. "You're giving me a pool for my birthday, and somehow got somebody to install it in the past four—" she glanced at the clock on the wall. "Five hours?"

  "A water nymph directed the work," Frazzle said. "I felt her energy, so the cat and I watched from the window. She was very bossy."

  A water nymph …

  "Phaedra? You got Phaedra to help you?" I shook my head once, then again, to be sure I was seeing what I was seeing. "How? Why?"

  Jack looked awfully sheepish for a tiger. He shoved his hands in his pockets and offered a tentative grin. "Remember that time you said you wished you had a pool?"

  I blinked, and then it came to me. "That was six months ago, on Memorial Day weekend! It was an offhand remark, not a … a … requisition! Jack, this is too much. You can't give me a swimming pool. I've looked into it before, and this must have cost a fortune!"

  The quotes I'd gotten had ranged from twenty to forty thousand dollars, in fact, which had been far too expensive for my pawnshop-owner salary. But if he'd gotten supernatural help …

  "How did this happen?"

  Jack shrugged, avoiding my gaze. "I called in some favors. Not a huge thing. I was going to distract you this morning while they worked."

  He turned to me and put an arm around me. "Little did I know that you'd provide the distraction all by yourself."

  "I didn't blow up the bank," I muttered, still stuck on the fact that I had a pool.

  "Who blew up the riverbank?" Frazzle demanded. "The nymph will not be happy."

  "No, a bank is a human place where we store money," I tried to explain, but the little Fae looked blank, so I gave it up. "Anyway, there was an explosion."

  "And it badly hurt Tess," Jack said ominously.

  I tried to protest. "Not all that badly—"

  "It could have killed her," he continued. "You and your queen don't know anything about that, do you?"

  Frazzle's lovely violet eyes narrowed, and she put her hands on her hips. "We do not. Queen Viviette would never break a Bargain, and all know that she gave you till dusk on the fifth day. This is only the third day."

  "Okay," Tess said slowly, pointing out the window. "But then, why is someone who looks exactly like I imagine a Fae queen would look advancing on my house, surrounded by armed guards?"

  35

  Tess

  Frazzle's wings buzzed with excitement, and she fluttered up to see, listing slightly to the right. When she reached my shoulder, she landed there, taking a handful of my hair in a surprisingly powerful grip.

  "That's her! My queen! She came for me!"

  "Let's hope she came for you," Jack muttered. "I count six in her guard. Not a formal showing, but not the bare minimum either. This could go either way."

  "Oh, good." Just what I wanted to face after the bank exploded all over me.

  I wasn't about to go hide in my room, no matter how much I might want to, though. I took a deep breath and stepped toward my back door. "Okay, let's go meet a Fae queen."

  Lou meowed loudly and raced off to hide in the guest room. Maybe cats really were smarter than people.

  The Autumn queen was beautiful, but of course, that almost went without saying with the High Court Fae. She wore a golden crown, had hip-length, chestnut brown hair, and her skin was the shade of rich copper. Her gown looked like it was made of row after row of leaves, which shaded from deep brown at the bodice to a fiery orange-red at the hem.

  I wasn't much of a gown person—I'd never even had one since my ill-fated prom experience—but I truly lusted over this one. Molly, much more of a fashionista than I was, would have gone nuts for it.

  The guards looked like menace walking, both the male and the female elves. Uniformly tall, leanly muscled, and bristling with weapons, the whole delegation in no way looked like it came in peace. At my side, Jack was already scowling, so I knew this one was up to me.

  "Let me handle this," I insisted, slipping past him and out the door before he could stop me.

  "Greetings, Your Highness," I called out.

  All seven of them stopped walking in an almost synchronized movement. The guards, dressed in identical brown and gold uniforms, didn't raise their weapons, but they didn't take their hands off their daggers, bows, or swords, either.

  Jack stepped out to stand next to me, but he held his peace and let me talk. I could tell he was maybe an inch away from shifting and starting a fight, so I took his hand and held on, squeezing tightly.

  "I received your call through the runes in the well, Tess of the Callahan," the queen said, her voice soft yet somehow carrying clearly from the place across the pool where she stood. "I am Viviette, ruler of the Autumn Court, and I see that you have one of the smallest of mine. Do you ask a boon for her return?"

  It took me a second to realize she meant Frazzle.

  "Oh, no," I said hastily. "I would never—I mean, of course you can have her. She is free to go whenever she likes. Her wing is bent, though. I hope you can help her."

  The queen's face hardened, and the crack of thunder crashed through the air. "You dare to harm one of mine?"

  Frazzle fluttered up off my shoulder and flew across the pool toward the queen, her hands out in front of her. "No, no, my liege. Tess is my host. She found me when I was already injured and offered me succor, tea, and bread with honey. Her cat comforted me as well. Tess of the Callahan is my friend."

  The dark clouds that had appeared from nowhere instantly dissipated, and I blew out a slow breath filled with massive relief. The queen held out a hand to Frazzle, who stepped gently onto it, and a golden glow surrounded the little faery. An instant later, she'd mended the bent wing.

  And then, from somewhere in my explosion-blasted brain, an idea of what to say next popped into my mind.

  "Be welcome to my home and hearth, Fair Queen. Whilst you are guest here, I will hold to all laws of hospitality. I will bring no harm to you and yours, while you avail yourself of the same."

  The shock on the queen's face warmed my devious little heart and, next to me, Jack whistled beneath his breath. "Nice trick, Tess," he murmured. "Now she is bound by guest law and can't harm anyone here during this visit."

  I appreciated it, but I didn't want this encounter only to be filled with trickery and threats. I held out a hand and beckoned.

  "My home isn't fancy, but if you have time, you are very welcome to come inside and have some pie with me. Maybe we can talk about … everything?"

  Her guards immediately started muttering, probably warning her off. I didn't look dangerous, but they clearly knew who Jack was.

  "Your guards are welcome too," I called out, surprising everyone, including Jack, if his quick intake of air was any sign. "Maybe leave all the weapons outside? My kitchen isn't very large. Or I could bring dessert out here, if you prefer to be outdoors."

  After a few moments of intense discussion, the queen waved a hand in an imperious gesture and crossed the pool toward us. And when I say "crossed the pool," I mean just that: she floated up and over the pool, across the lawn, and up to the porch. Two of her guard raced around the pool to accompany her, but they left their visible weapons with the other four.

  I wasn't foolish enough to believe they'd divested themselves of all weapons, but it was a beginning.

  "Do you like apples?" I asked the queen, who was even more beautiful close up.