A Kind of Magic (27 page)

But the real issue had been the music, a haunting melody that had taken root in his mind and grown. Even now it was playing nonstop, worse than any earworm he’d ever heard. His fingers itched for a piano keyboard so he could play it, and he caught his fingers twitching in air piano every so often. He finally grabbed a notebook and wrote down the notes as they came to him. Instead of that getting it out of his head, it just made it more audible, and every so often he found himself staring into space as he imagined Sophie dancing to this music.

The smell of French fries invaded his consciousness, and he blinked to find Mari waving a grease-splotched paper bag back and forth under his nose. “You’re already back?” he asked.

“Already? I was about to apologize for being gone nearly an hour. I guess I can assume no massive crime spree hit while I was out.” She raised an eyebrow and took a fry out of the bag. “Or maybe it did and you just didn’t notice.” After eating the fry, she reached over and placed her hand on his forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever. Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine. This is what happens when I shake things up and go out at night. Now will you stop nagging me to get a life?”

“Does this have anything to do with your ballerina friend? What did you guys do after I left?”

“I went straight home.”

“Alone?”

He could feel his face flushing, so he knew he wouldn’t be able to get away with a lie. “She came by for some cocoa, and then we visited with her sister. Nothing happened to get excited about.”

She pressed her hand against her heart and fluttered her eyelashes. “Except in your dreams, where she danced the night away.”

“Go eat your lunch, Lopez.”

She’d barely wolfed down her burger when they got called out for an incident in the park. Officer Mitchell waited for them at the scene, looking very confused. “Normally I might have handled this myself, but this seemed like a detective sort of thing.”

“I’d think an attempted kidnapping would always be a detective sort of thing,” Mari said.

“Except all I’ve got is her report.” He gestured toward a woman wearing a very unseasonal white dress—Michael’s cat friend.

“Ohhhh,” Mari breathed, nodding. Michael knew what she was thinking, that a woman dressed like that, out in the park in this weather, might not necessarily be reporting on reality.

The cat woman hurled herself at Michael and clung desperately to his arm. He could tell that she was trembling, so he didn’t think she was just playing, and he had seen someone attempt to kidnap her just the other day. “You’ll save me, won’t you?” she asked, looking up at him with wide green eyes.

“I’ve got this,” he told the others. “I’m acquainted with this lady. Mari, you can go back to the office.”

“So no kidnapping?”

“Let’s just say I’m familiar with the case and I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“Sounds good to me. Catch you later, Rev. I’m taking the car.”

“No paperwork, huh, Detective?” Mitchell asked.

“If you don’t mind.”

Once the others were gone, he said to the woman, “Was it the same thing as before?”

“They’re trying to round us up.”

“Who is? The courts? Someone from this world?”

“There are those who want control over all fae, no matter where they live. I was banished to this world. I can’t go back.”

“Do you want to?”

The question seemed to surprise her. “Does it matter? It cannot be.”

“The new queen might allow it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. My offense was great.”

“What was it?”

“Treason. I sided with one who tried to overthrow the last queen. All of us were banished to this world.”

The last queen—Sophie’s ancestor—had left the Realm about five hundred years ago, long before there had been a park or even a city here. Had this woman been stranded here all that time? “Are the fairies still trying to punish you for that?”

She shook her head and shuddered. “They want my help. But I’ve learned. I won’t support them this time.”

He wished he could clear his head, but that infernal melody was still running through it, making it hard to concentrate and understand what she was saying. “Are you saying that the same people are trying to take over again?”

“Not all the same, but the same reason.”

There was a shout from farther down the path, and she flinched. In an instant, she’d reverted to her cat form and was streaking away. He wouldn’t have known that the people who came around the corner were fae if it hadn’t been for his enhanced senses. Their human glamours were perfect, not even the slight offness that he saw in Eamon. Only their auras showed as fae, and even there it was in a weakened sense, not the full aura he was used to. They didn’t register as much more fae than Emily did.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” he asked mildly, placing himself on the path between the fae men and the direction the woman had gone.

They didn’t seem to have heard of him or recognized him for what he was. One said, “We’re looking for our sister. She’s a little off”—he twirled his finger by his temple—“and something spooked her, so she ran away. She’s not really dressed for this weather.”

“Sorry, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that. Would you like to file a report?”

They looked at each other, and the speaker said, “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we’ll find her.”

“Okay then, have a nice day.”

Michael let them pass and watched until they’d rounded another bend and were out of sight. Shoving his hands deep in his coat pockets, he began walking. He should have headed back to the precinct, but he needed to think, and that would be easier to do without Mari making a federal case of it every time he went thirty seconds without responding to her.

At least, that’s what he told himself. He tried to think about what he’d just learned from the cat woman. He had a feeling it was significant. But the thoughts wouldn’t solidify in his head because that music kept swelling, getting in the way. He caught himself humming the melody, and the image of Sophie dancing to it came into his mind again.

“That’s pretty. What is it?” The voice startled him back to reality, and he saw Mrs. Smith in her park employee guise, pushing a trash cart.

“Just something that popped into my head. Is something up?”

“You mean other than the looming war between fae and enchantresses?”

“Is something new up with that?”

“Not that I’ve heard tell of. That woman’s a real piece of work, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.” There was something about Josephine he’d been wanting to discuss with Mrs. Smith, but he couldn’t quite recall what it was. He’d mentioned it to Sophie the night before. What was it?”

“You okay, son?”

“I’m just not used to being out that late. And that little showdown at the theater wasn’t the end of my evening. We had to go rescue Emily again. Some fae tried to drag her into some dream space that still makes no sense to me.”

She shook her head and made soft clucking noises. “That child. You might want to put a full-time guard on her.”

“That would only encourage her to sneak out. I think this time, though, they were trying to get at her sister.”

“Her sister has made her share of enemies, and she’s proving hard to attack directly. Those she cares about are the next best target. You’d better watch yourself. I’d think you’d be high on their list.”

“I’ll be careful.” He remembered that there was something else he should probably discuss with her, but it was gone, drowned out by the music in his head, which he now heard as being played by a full orchestra. He needed to get back to the office so he could write out the various instrument parts before he forgot them.

Central Park

1:30 p.m.

As Sophie had predicted, the company class had been mostly some stretches and then some notes on the previous night’s performance. No one mentioned the snow monster (other than a vague bit of praise about not letting technical issues affect their dancing), but Sophie figured that was a conversation they’d have with the technical crews rather than with the dancers.

She took advantage of the showers in the locker room to rinse the last bit of glitter out of her hair (which she hoped hadn’t been too obvious during class) before heading to the park. She needed to talk to Nana before she faced Amelia and Athena.

Nana was in the throne room, but seated on one of the new sofas rather than on the throne itself. She still looked like she was holding court. Eamon sat beside her, so Sophie felt it was safe to assume she was up-to-date on recent events, including Emily’s escapade.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Nana said, sounding as though Sophie was expected. She rose. “This is perhaps a conversation we should have elsewhere.” She led Sophie and Eamon to the small chamber behind the dais.

Sophie took the offensive as soon as they were behind closed doors. “What were you thinking, using Emily as some kind of secret agent?”

Unruffled by Sophie’s ire, Nana settled herself on a sofa and smoothed her skirt. “I was thinking that I needed someone I could trust who might not be as well known as you are.”

“Well, she’s known now, isn’t she?”

“And I won’t be able to use her as a spy again. But she acquitted herself quite admirably and found her powers, so no harm was done. Now, have a seat, hon. You’re exhausting me, pacing like that.”

Sophie didn’t even realize she’d been pacing, but she was too agitated to sit. “No harm was done? They tried to kidnap her last night. Again.”

Nana arched an eyebrow. “You think that was about her little run-in here? Oh honey, no. That was about you.”

Now Sophie sat down, perching on the edge of the chair across from Nana. “Me?”

“You’re the one antagonizing the enchantress who seems to have a lot of fae allies. I swear, they’re like dandelions. You pull one, and six more pop up. No matter how many of them we catch, we keep finding more.”

“I’m not the one who’s antagonizing,” Sophie protested. “She’s the one who keeps attacking me.”

“Yes, but didn’t you make sure she knew you knew what she was up to?”

Sophie wished she could will herself not to flush, but she felt her face growing warm. “I was trying to help those children. And how was I to know she was also conspiring with the fae? I thought it was just about the enchantresses.”

“Speaking of enchantresses, did they really side with her?”

“I don’t think it was so much that they sided with her as they couldn’t bring themselves to attack her,” Sophie hedged as she shrugged out of her coat. “They didn’t look happy about it, but they said their oath wouldn’t let them attack an enchantress.”

“If the oath doesn’t have a loophole for enchantresses gone wrong, it’s a silly oath,” Nana said with a sniff. She eyed Sophie from head to toe. “Did you really go out dressed like that?”

“I came straight from a dance class. And if you say one word about how maybe I’d be married by now if I made more effort with my appearance, I’ll accuse you of sounding just like my mother.”

Eamon went into a coughing fit at that, and even Nana smiled. “Touché, dear. But do you think your enchantress friends would interfere if we did something about this woman from our end?”

“It’s hard to say, but my guess is that it would be best to do it behind their backs. In fact, I thought it might be a good idea to get her into the Realm and deal with her here.”

“I had a similar notion,” Eamon said. He was still standing at attention. “However, I am concerned that she still appears to have allies in the Realm, even after we thought we’d rounded up her conspirators.”

Nana leaned back and tapped her fingers on the arms of her chair. “Are we sure that wasn’t just Emily being Emily?”

Eamon surprised Sophie by jumping to Emily’s defense before Sophie had a chance to. “I don’t think she would have wanted the attention of one such as that. She is aware of the risks. While she may sometimes be rash, she is not foolish.”

Fighting back a smile, Sophie added, “She was definitely under an enchantment, and I’m sure he was dragging her away for some purpose other than mere pleasure. She was a lot less amenable once the spell weakened.” Eamon clenched his jaw at the mention of that, and Sophie decided that perhaps she and Emily needed to have a chat about their respective romantic interests.

“I just wish we had a better sense of who was pulling the strings from our end,” Nana said, sounding a bit weary. “We’ve been watching Maeve.”

“She makes a good suspect,” Sophie said.

“Yes, and she’s reacted to each of our captures, but we haven’t caught her doing anything yet.”

“Are there that many who’d follow her?”

Eamon cleared his throat and grimaced slightly. “There are some who resent the idea of a ruler who is not pure fae. They might support the claim of anyone who opposed the queen.”

“I can’t entirely blame them,” Nana said with a wry smile. “We have it written into our Constitution that a foreigner can’t run the country. They must feel like they’ve been invaded.”

“Most fae are supportive, though,” Eamon said. “The Realm is revived, and individual fae have more independence, while the courts have less interference.”

“Maybe I should interfere more,” Nana mused.

“So, you like the idea of dragging Josephine here?” Sophie asked her grandmother.

Instead of answering, Nana turned to her scribe. “What do you think, Eamon?”

“It will require getting her away from her colleagues. You should have some fae backup. But yes, that may be the best way to confront her.”

“And even if we don’t confront her, we could keep her here,” Nana said.

“Nana!” Sophie protested. “I thought you were opposed to abducting humans.”

“She’s a threat to your world and to mine.”

“Yes, but if she disappears into the Realm, that’ll stir up the rest of the enchantresses. We need to either change her mind or discredit her. Abduction and killing are right out.” Sophie thought for a moment, then couldn’t hold back a wicked smile. “Of course, if it looks like she’s going
willingly
into the Realm, that would look bad to other enchantresses. All we need to do is make it clear that she’s been conspiring with the fae to do all these things. Do you think you could persuade any of her fae allies to work with us on this?”