A Fairy Tale (12 page)

When he protested, she put a hand on his arm and said, “You’re doing this for Emily, so investigative expenses are on me.” He made it up the front steps without keeling over, so he decided to try to make it up to his apartment under his own steam. He said goodnight to Sophie and waited for her to enter Emily’s apartment before he dragged himself slowly up the stairs.

He was too tired to have a panic attack as he opened the door, and the apartment felt even emptier than normal with Beau gone. The dog was lazy, but he was undemanding company. The first thing he did when he got inside was take one of his pain pills. While he waited for it to kick in, he checked messages and found one from Tanaka.

“Hey, Rev, I did a quick search, and there are three other women, besides Jen and Emily, who fit those parameters. One disappeared not long before Jen, and the others were pretty evenly spaced out since then. I’ll look into those other missing women and see if any other parallels pop up. Take it easy, and say hi to the ballerina for me.”

Michael dialed Tanaka’s office number, knowing he’d get voice mail, and left the information they’d gathered. He left out the friends’ stories because he wanted to hear what Tank got out of them without any preconceptions. “I know I’m a civilian here,” he concluded, “but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to track down those friends for you.”

He was already feeling a little blurry around the edges, so he hurried—as well as he could with one good arm—to get out of his suit and into sweatpants and a T-shirt. He’d just climbed into bed when he heard the downstairs door close. On a hunch, he went to the window and pulled aside the curtains to look out. He was just in time to see what he thought was the swirl of a blue skirt turning the corner at the end of the block.

He shook his head. It was probably his imagination. It could have been anyone, and even if it was Sophie, there was nothing sinister about her going out. She was probably just giving Beau one last walk for the night.

But he still had the terrible fear that another redheaded woman was about to vanish.

The Realm—The Lobby

Immediately Afterward

After Maeve’s rivals departed, the party intensified, as if in a frantic attempt to prove that there was nothing to worry about. Champagne flowed and music blared while the fairies danced, ate, and drank. Maeve came down the stairs and lounged on a sofa with a few of her courtiers. She acted as though she was already queen, but her gaze strayed anxiously toward the doors.

Emily figured that Sophie must have found or learned something that Maeve needed to take the throne, but what? It didn’t matter, Emily told herself firmly, since it wasn’t going to happen. She had no intention of sticking around and playing bait. Even if she couldn’t get home, she could get away from Maeve, stir up a little chaos, and maybe run into Sophie. If Sophie was in the Realm, she’d be easy enough to find. Emily would just have to listen for the screams.

Feigning enjoyment, she ambled through the crowd toward the lobby’s front doors. No one seemed to be paying any attention to her, and she concentrated on being invisible. If what Eamon said about her aura was true, maybe they wouldn’t notice her in all the party excitement. Just before she reached the door, a large man in a skinny tie moved to block it, making direct eye contact with her as he did so, as if to send the message that she wasn’t going anywhere.
Damn
. Not that she’d expected to be able to just walk out, but it would have made things so much easier. She changed course, as though she’d been heading that way all along and had never even considered going through that doorway.

Now what? If she couldn’t get away, then she needed information. If she could figure out what Maeve was up to, she’d have a better chance of stopping her, and the info would definitely help Sophie. Spotting the guy who’d reminded her of Clark Gable from Niall and Orla’s Nick-and-Nora ballroom gave her an idea.

Approaching him boldly, she grabbed his arm to turn him to face her and purred, “How about another dance, handsome?”

Without a word, he took her into his arms, and they began moving as one. Most of the other dancers were doing early sixties-style dances, but a few couples danced more closely together, so she and her partner didn’t look too out of place. “So, we meet again,” he whispered in her ear. “You left so abruptly before.”

“I think you know why.”

He raised one slightly slanted eyebrow. “You were the one Maeve sought.”

“I’m very much in demand.”

He dipped her, then pulled her back upright. “And I have to think that you have something to do with Maeve’s scheme.”

“Mmmhmmm,” Emily murmured with what she hoped was an enigmatic smile.

“Which makes me think that my lord and lady might find you equally useful.”

“How so?” Emily tried batting her eyelashes, but she was afraid she just looked like she had something in her eye.

He spun her around expertly. “You could help them win the throne. They would make it worth your while.”

It didn’t seem as though pretending that she already knew would trick him into opening up, so she decided to take the opposite approach. “I don’t know anything about this. Maeve just kidnapped me. She didn’t give me a briefing. You have to tell me what you want before I can decide whether or not to help you.”

He missed his footing for a split second, but recovered within the space of the next beat. “You don’t know about the lost throne?”

“Enlighten me.”

They went all the way around the dance floor before he spoke again, and Emily noticed that they were on the opposite side of the champagne fountain from Maeve. “There are those who believe that the last queen of the Realm left instructions on how to claim the throne, when the time came. If Maeve found the palace, then all she needs is the instructions, which must somehow involve you.”

Or my sister,
Emily thought, but this still made no sense. Sophie was a know-it-all, but being the secret keeper of the instructions for claiming the fairy throne seemed beyond even her scope. She’d just opened her mouth to ask another question when “Clark” tugged her hand to spin her in front of him, then caught her with the other hand, keeping her spinning until their joined hands stopped her momentum, their arms fully outstretched. He did a little kick step, and she instinctively mirrored him.
Oh, boy,
she thought,
he’s doing a Fred and Ginger
. She could barely think straight enough to come up with another question while keeping up with him, but she couldn’t resist going along with the dance. She’d always dreamed of doing a Fred and Ginger routine, but she’d never met the right partner or run into the right situation. They didn’t do much of this kind of dancing on Broadway anymore.

She felt like she was floating on air as he swirled her around and they moved in perfect unison. And then Emma and Leigh showed up to spoil it—probably sent by Maeve, who must have noticed her consorting with the outsider. The girls were all a-twitter as they pulled her away from “Clark.” “Isn’t this just the best party?” Emma asked.

“I’m glad to see you dancing and enjoying yourself,” Leigh added.

“Let’s find you a new partner!” Emma said.

“I think I’ll sit the next one out,” Emily protested, trying to wrest her arms from their grasp as she looked behind their shoulders for her erstwhile partner.

“Don’t be silly!” Leigh said. “There’s no reason for you not to have fun.”

“I was having fun,” Emily said through clenched teeth.

Emma dropped her voice and said, “Fun with the wrong person. You’ll do better if you stop fighting Maeve.” She nodded toward one of the servants. Emily noticed that the human servant was tall and had red hair.

“Another one,” she said with a groan.

“She fought,” Emma said. “Now she’s a slave. We didn’t. We get to dance and play, all the time.”

“You’re happy like that?”

“Of course! We don’t have to work. We get pretty clothes. We get food. The men are very handsome.” She giggled and blushed. “I don’t remember much about before, but I’m sure I had to go to work.”

Emily thought it sounded like the life of a spoiled poodle with a mercurial owner. It was a life of luxury, sure, but who wanted to spend a lifetime doing tricks for someone who was just as likely to kick you as kiss you? Then again, it sounded better than servitude. She smiled politely when Emma dragged over a fairy man for her to dance with. He was attractive in a somewhat feminine way—not Emily’s type, but if dancing with him would keep her from being made a slave, she’d make the sacrifice. And maybe she could get him to talk.

Central Park West

Wednesday, 8:15 p.m.

Sophie and Beau were hardly the only ones out in the waning daylight, which made Sophie wonder if she’d find what she was looking for. Back home, they practically rolled up the sidewalks at six in the evening, so twilight was prime time for spotting fairies. Here, where there were more people out later, the rules might be different. In the city that never slept, when did the fairies come out to play?

She reached Tavern on the Green, where Olivia and Will had mentioned catching a cab. They’d both developed that fuzzy, confused look at that point in their stories. It had to mean something.

The gateway wouldn’t be on the sidewalk, so she took the park entrance nearest the restaurant, followed the footpath for a while, then stepped off the path. Beau growled deep in his throat. “Yes, I feel it too,” she said to him. Her skin tingled, and she trembled in anticipation. It had been a very long time since she’d entered the fairy realm. Folding her fingers around the laminated four-leaf clover in her pocket, she focused her senses to find the gateway, held the shape in her mind, and stepped through it.

She knew right away that she’d gone someplace
other,
but it didn’t seem like the right place. Shivering as she pulled her sweater tighter about her, she studied the foreign landscape. Instead of the endless summer she recalled, this place seemed to be in late autumn—and late autumn during a severe drought, so the leaves were dead and dry rather than vividly hued. Her last experience in the Realm had overshadowed all her earlier memories, leaving her with the impression of darkness and danger. That wasn’t what it had really been like, but it was the way it seemed now. The nearly skeletal trees beckoned and scolded her with clawed fingers, and desiccated leaves crunched under her feet as she resumed walking.

One thing that hadn’t changed was the music wafting through the air. It brought back fond memories of nights spent dancing with teachers who were far more demanding, and yet far more encouraging, than the teachers at her hometown’s small dancing school. In her classes, she learned the positions and steps. At night among the fairies, she learned to
dance
.

It had been fourteen years, but still the music made her feet want to move in rhythm. She yearned to kick up her legs and leap through the air. But she wasn’t here for fun. She was on a mission. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure of her next steps. Her experiences in the Realm hadn’t been broad. She’d always gone to the same place and done the same thing, and nothing about where she was now looked familiar. She decided to follow the music, since she’d never seen the fairy she sought when there wasn’t music around her.

She forced herself not to walk in rhythm with the music, not to throw in the occasional dance step or move her arms with a graceful flourish. That was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She had a feeling she’d have plenty of time for dancing later.

The music came from a small grove of trees. Hiding behind a tree, she observed the circle of fairies dancing there. The sight brought on another wave of nostalgia. Dancing in such a circle had been a huge part of her childhood. She didn’t recognize any of these fairies, though, and she didn’t see the one she needed most. There were probably dozens—hundreds, even—of groves like this in the Realm. Finding the right one might be more challenging than she expected.

She’d thought she was being perfectly silent, but one of the fairies still dropped out of the dance and turned to her. “Will you dance with us?” he asked, extending a hand.

Stepping out of her hiding place, she said, “Not now. I’m looking for someone.”

“You’ve found someone,” he said with a cheeky grin and a gesture encompassing the rest of the group. The others stopped dancing and turned to stare at her.

She wasn’t in the mood to play games. “I’m looking for a specific someone. Do you know Tallulah?”

“I might. And what would you trade for that information? Everything has its price, you know.”

“Believe me, I am
well
aware of that,” she said.

He came closer, moving in a graceful swagger. Beau growled a warning that he ignored. “Now, what might be a fitting price? Perhaps a kiss. I’ve heard that human lips are warm. I’d like to feel that. Or a dance—you are Tallulah’s little dancer, are you not?”

While he spoke, the others also gathered around Sophie and Beau. One regarded her with a frown, and then turned sharply at the speaker’s last sentence. Grinning, he backed away from the group and slipped off into the trees. The other fairies didn’t seem to notice, and Sophie didn’t know what to make of it. She doubted it was good, though. She knew fairies well enough to be fairly certain that he wasn’t running off to bring Tallulah to her as an act of charity.

That meant she needed to stop fiddling around and do something. With a deep sigh of reluctance, she eased her mini horseshoe out of her pocket and said, “You mentioned a kiss?”

The fairy moved even closer. “I hadn’t named my price yet, but I might consider a kiss. I’m not sure it would be enough, though. It sounds to me like this information is quite valuable to you.” When he got within range, she dropped Beau’s leash, gathered herself, bent her knees, and made a flying leap. She got an arm around his neck and brought him to the ground beneath her. Fairies were strong with magic, but they weren’t very substantial. This one may have been a foot taller than she was, but she probably outweighed him. With the horseshoe so close to him, he couldn’t use his magical strength against her, and at the sight of the iron, all the others backed away.