Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (18 page)

“Don’t even think about telling me no, Tim.
 
I’m not messing around with you.
 
Chase can’t be cured without it.
 
You either cooperate and don’t give me any shit, or I’m putting you back under that bell jar myself.”

“Yeah,” he said pleading with me, panic all over his face, “but do you know what a Dark Fae witch can do with a blood sample?
 
And from a pixie?”

“No.
 
And I don’t want to know.
 
Maggie said this guy we met in the forest was telling the truth.
 
He can fix Chase – mostly fix him, anyway – so we have to do it.
 
We’re going to bring the sample to him tomorrow right before lunch.”

Tim turned to face the wall, giving me a view of his angry back.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Scrum.

“Just stay out of my way.”
 
I wasn’t in the mood to babysit tonight.
 

“Jayne, he can help us, I think.
 
He’s been telling me a lot about his training and what goes on here at the compound.”

I raised an eyebrow at that.
 
This guy was such a
klutz,
it was hard to imagine him doing very well at any training.
 
But he was a daemon, so he would at least know what they did on a day-to-day basis.

“Whatever.
 
Scum, your room is next door to mine, that way,” I jerked my thumb in the opposite direction of Chase’s room.
 
“Tony, yours is on the other side of his.
 
Come on, I’ll take you there.”

“It’s Scrum, not Scum.
 
But okay, thanks.
 
I guess they moved me.”
 
He walked out into the hallway and opened the door to his room.
 
“Goodnight guys.
 
It was nice meeting you, Tony.
 
See you in the morning?”

“Sure, Scrum.
 
Thanks for the orientation,” said Tony, smiling.
 
Tony’s a sucker for misfits.
 
I hated to think about what that said about me.
 

Scrum disappeared inside.
 
I heard a banging and scraping sound coming from the room, which told me the kid had probably tripped and landed against his dresser, knocking it to the side.
 
What a dipshit.
 
How that guy could be a daemon warrior was beyond me.
 
I wondered if it were possible that they had screwed up somewhere letting him in.

Tony opened the door to his room and I saw immediately that it was almost exactly like mine.
 
I walked in and went to his dresser.
 
The silver tray on top, the spot where he was supposed to leave tokens for his brownie, was a little different than mine.
 
It was also silver, but it had different scrollwork around the edges.
 
I’d noticed the same thing in Spike’s room the one time I’d been in there.

“When I went into my room for the first time there were clothes in the drawers for me.”
 
I opened his, and sure enough, it was filled with clothes.
 
The tunics were the same color as mine – white, and he had jeans for pants.
 
How cute ... we were going to be twins.
 
“You’ve got stuff in here, but I have a feeling these tunics are going to change.”

Tony came over to look in the drawer with me.
 
“Why?
 
What’s wrong with these ones?”

“They’re white.”

Tony looked at me.
 
“
Aaaand
that’s a problem because ... I’m messy, maybe?”

“No.
 
Because I think you might be getting dark gray ones instead.”

Tony gave me one of his looks.
 
“Jayne, don’t make me tickle torture you.
 
Just tell me.
 
I’m tired.”

I rolled my eyes.
 
“I met this Dark Fae guy tonight who’s a
wrathe
.”

“Is that the guy who’s going to fix Chase?”

“Yes, exactly.
 
Or he works with the witches who are doing it.
 
His name is Gustav, or Goose for short.
 
Anyway, he has the same color eyes as you.
 
So it’s not a definite or anything, but there’s a possibility that you’re a
wrathe
too.”

“What’s a
wrathe
?”

“I have no friggin’ idea.
 
I
do
know that they can do stuff in the Gray though, which is ... cool.”
 
Honestly, I didn’t know if it was cool or not, but I wanted to give Tony something positive to think about.
 
And if it was in his race to be a part of the Gray, I’m sure it would be right for him, even if it
wasn’t
my favorite place.
 
I’d been in the Gray once, when Gregale took me on an astral projection trip to see Tony back in West Palm.
 
I was so focused on getting to Tony, I didn’t pay much attention to it; but I remember it was cold and not a happy place.
 
I also knew that the Gray distorted the way things looked – like it casted a shadow over things that wasn’t necessarily there.
 
When I saw Tony through the Gray, he looked miserable and helpless, furious at me.
 
He
was
kinda those things
when we actually went to go see him in person, but not as amplified as the Gray made it seem.

“How will I find out about all this stuff?”

“During your training.
 
And through talking to other changelings.
 
I swear, most of what I know I learned through gossip or by accident.
 
This
ain’t
no Hogwarts, if you know what I mean.
 
I’ll talk to Dardennes about it tomorrow.
 
I just have to figure out how to tell him I think you’re a
wrathe
.
 
We don’t have any here that I’ve seen, so he’ll wonder how I know.”

“You said you could tell by his eyes?
 
This Goose guy?
 
What’s that all about?”

“A lot of the fae here have physical characteristics that match their race.
 
Like Dardennes and Céline, who are both silver elves, have those funky silvery-gray eyes.
 
And when they do their thing, like ride the wind, their eyes go all wonky – swirling around and shit.”

“They ride the wind?
 
And their eyes swirl around?”
 
Tony got a confused look on his face.
 
“That sounds cool and gross at the same time.”

I laughed, “No, their
eyes
don’t swirl, dope.
 
The
color
swirls around – like the wind is actually in their irises.
 
But it’s not like their eyeballs go rolling around or anything.”
 
I kept smiling, imagining the dignified Céline with googly eyes.
 
Now
that
I’d like to see.

“How are you going to mention it to them?”

“I don’t know.
 
Maybe I’ll have Jared do it.”

Tony yawned.
 
“Scrum showed me where the bathrooms for the guys are.
 
Do you think I could take a shower before bed?”

“Sure.
 
I do late showers all the time.
 
There aren’t as many girls around here, so I usually have the place to myself.
 
Your clothes are in the dresser, towels in the bottom drawer.
 
There are soap and shampoo dispensers in the showers.
 
Your toothbrush and toothpaste stuff should be in the little cabinet by your sink.”
 
I pointed to the corner of his room.
 
“Do you need anything else?”

“Just one of these,” he said, holding out his arms for a hug.

I went willingly, pulling him into a super-sized squeeze.
 
“Man, am I glad you’re here.”
 
Tears welled up in my eyes and I let them.
 
They were cleansing the anxiety from my soul.
 
Tony was with me again, and once Chase was all fixed up and Tim had his wings grown back, all would be right with my world.

I could hear the smile in Tony’s voice when he responded.
 
“Me too, Jayne.
 
Thanks for coming back to get me.
 
I know I gave you a hard time, and I wasn’t sure about all this.
 
But I’m happy with my choice and very glad to be here.”

“Ha!” I laughed, into his shoulder, “Like I’d leave you to Ben and his Dark Fae demon friends.
 
I think not.”

Tony pulled away from me.
 
“Jayne, I know you pretty much despise him.
 
And to be honest, his whole ‘man on fire’ thing
kinda
freaked me out.
 
But I really think if you gave him a chance, you’d like him.
 
He was really nice, and not just to me, either.”

I shook my head.
 
No way was I buying that load of crap.
 
“Whatever, Tones.
 
You always were good at overlooking people’s faults.”

“Like someone who swears all the time?”

“Yeah.
 
Like that, smartass.
 
I might cuss a little, but his faults are more like ‘I’m an evil, fire-breathing demon’ type of faults.
 
Hardly comparable to a well-placed ‘fucker’ or ‘
shitforbrains
’.”

Tony laughed.
 
“It’s good to know that even though you’re fae now, you’re still the same Jayne underneath.”

I smiled back at him.
 
“That’s right, baby.
 
You’re
lookin
’ at the new and improved Jayne ... Jayne two-point-oh.”
 
I kissed him on one cheek and then slapped him lightly on the other.
 
“Goodnight.
 
I’ll come get you in the morning.
 
Don’t wander these hallways, other than to go to the bathroom and our rooms or you’ll get lost and I’m not sure how I’d find you.”

He looked at me funny.
 
“It’s just a hallway, Jayne.”

“Yeah.
 
That’s what you think.”

I left his room without giving an explanation, deciding that I’d let him try to show me the dining hall tomorrow – the best way I could think of to illustrate to him how clueless he is.

I went back to my room and walked over to my dresser where Tim was in his little mini-bedroom.
 
He was lying down on his bed, facing away from me.

“Tim, I know you’re not sleeping.
 
Turn over and talk to me.”

He turned over in a huff, wincing with pain at the effect it had on his wing stubs, saying nothing.

“I’m super friggin’ tired and not in the mood for any tantrums, so let me just say this – I’m going to do everything I possibly can to keep them from finding out what you did and shipping you away to a pixie colony, Tim.
 
I really am.
 
But you have to help me.
 
You promised me you wouldn’t pixie anyone, and I put my reputation on the line, vouching for you.
 
If they find out what you did, we’re both busted.
 
Do you get what I’m saying here?”

Tim pouted.
 
“I don’t need you to explain things to me like I’m a wee pixie.”

“Well, apparently you do, since you unleashed your pixie powers on our friend, you idiot.
 
So get over yourself and help me.
 
Tomorrow we’re going to suck some blood out of your lame ass self and then you’re going to help me come up with a plan.”

“I already have one,” he said softly, still refusing to let go of his pout.

“Well, what is it?”

“I’m going to turn myself in.”

“Cut that martyr shit out and stop feeling sorry for yourself.” I walked away from him in frustration.
 
“You know what, Tim?” I whipped around to face him again.
 
“If you weren’t so small and wingless right now, I’d slap your ass silly.
 
There are
no
pity parties allowed in this room.”

“It’s not a pity party,” he said, weeping softly as he explained, “I went back on my word.
 
My word is very important to me ... and so are you.
 
I let you down.
 
I don’t even know why you’d still want me around ...
”
 
He
choked and then sniffed, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his tunic.

So that was it.
 
Tim was worried I wouldn’t like him anymore.
 
I sighed.
 
“Tim.
 
You know me pretty well by now.
 
And you know I’m not the softest, lovey-doveyist girl in the compound.
 
If you want someone to baby you and give you all kinds of pixie hugs, you’ll have to talk to Becky.
 
Right now I’m beyond tired and I’m super cranky and all I want to do is sleep and wake up to find that this has all been a wicked bad dream.
 
But at the end of it all, you need to know that I want to find you here in this room with me, still my roommate, and still my friend.
 
Now until Chase is better, that’s about all the warm fuzzy stuff you’re going to get from me.”