Faustine (11 page)

“
F
austine. Faustine! Wake up!”

The pulsating lights suddenly stopped. It was dark. I opened my eyes. Slowly. What was that? I tried to focus. It looked like a nose–with a mess of white and black hairs protruding from both nostrils. Blech. I was sure there was a booger stuck to a hair in the left nostril. I fought the urge to hurl. What sort of creature would present himself to a demon princess so uncouthly?

“Faustine,” Mr. Perry repeated, exasperated. “It’s only the second day of school, and you’re already bored, are you?”

Sheesh. Algebra. I should have guessed. Mr. Perry’s nose bristles were legendary. “Sorry. I’m not used to the time difference yet,” I lied.

“I guess,” he grumbled. “However, if you were still on European time, you would get up earlier, not later, seeing that we are behind Europe time-wise, don’t you think?”

“I know, and I did get up earlier, way earlier, which is why I’m nodding off now,” I explained. “Anyway, I’m sorry. I’ll try to stay awake.” The truth was that I had fallen asleep out of sheer boredom. He wasn’t covering any new ground; I already knew all this stuff.

Luke would have prodded me awake, but his seat remained empty this morning. He had just sort of disappeared from Pauline’s basement the night before. We’d looked for him everywhere, but there were no signs of him whatsoever. It was like he’d never been there in the first place. But, of course, I knew he had. Somehow, the spell had been broken, resulting in his disappearance. Had he made contact with Kismet? Was he with her now? Or, was he lost in a vortex of confused worlds?

I hadn’t told Dorian that his son was missing. I didn’t know how. Besides, I needed Dorian in London overseeing operations there. News of his son’s, hopefully temporary, absence would only make him abandon his work and hurry back. He probably wouldn’t be much use at this end, based on how he had reacted when he found out that Peter had been murdered. The last thing I needed to deal with was another breakdown. It would be best for him to remain in London and concentrate on our issues there.

Finding Luke was up to me. And here I was, stuck in math class trying not to hurl into Mr. Perry’s bristled proboscis. The witches were totally unconcerned about Luke’s disappearance. They wouldn’t even consider
tracking
him using one of their spells. I couldn’t blame them completely. Tessa had collapsed from the strain of the spell, and Pauline blamed Luke for not listening to the instruction to remain uninvolved. So, as far as Pauline was concerned, it was all Luke’s fault, and she wasn’t going to put herself out to try to find him.

Tessa was much more empathetic on the way home, once she had recovered somewhat. There was, however, not much she could do without the help of her mother or another powerful witch. She was concerned for Luke, especially since Neave had more or less blubbered all the way home. I guess she liked him more than I had realized. I had hoped that Ryker would be waiting for me when I got back home from Pauline’s, but it was just Mom, who sent me straight to bed–school night and all that.

When math ended, I made my way to the cafeteria to face Taylor and her posse. I finally saw Ryker. “Hey, Ryker!” I yelled to grab his attention.

He turned to look at me, but then turned around and walked off without so much as a smile. I felt myself go cold, but shook it off and made my way through the cafeteria doors. Neave was already there, as were the twins.

“Hi, girls!” I said, and plunked myself down. “Where are the others?”

“Cutting school to view the new Chanel collection,” Audrey said with a shrug. “But we decided to wait for you. Though, I’d actually love to get a peek at the new collection. I want to grab one of the wallet messenger bags.”

“I can ask Mom to have Karl bring the collection over,” I offered. “I’m sorry you missed out on the fun. I’m just not in the mood....”

“Not in the mood to shop?” Viola interrupted horrified. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Didn’t Neave tell you?”

They shook their heads.

“Luke disappeared.” As I brought them up to date, I could see Neave struggling to remain composed.

“This is all my fault,” she blurted out.

“Your fault? Of course not. Don’t be silly,” I said firmly.

“Yes, it is!” she repeated adamantly, her brows furrowed into a line. “If I had been stronger, been able to contribute more energy to the circle, then Mom wouldn’t have collapsed, and Luke would still be here.”

“Well,” I said. “If I hadn’t asked for your help in the first place, he’d still be here as well. So now, is it my fault?”

She pursed her lips. “Yeah....”

“All right. I’ll take responsibility. That means that it’s up to me to find him,” I stated. “I’m going to need a witch to help me, and since I can’t ask Pauline again, do you have any suggestions?” I asked, looking at Neave and the twins.

“You haven’t told Dorian, have you?” Viola asked. “In that case, you can’t ask any of the London crowd; they’ll just go running back to him. So, we need to find someone in New York. Know anyone other than Pauline who could help?” she asked, looking at Neave.

Neave shook her head. “No, not really. All the witches I know–and that’s not many–are like Mom and me, not powerful enough. I could ask Mom, but quite frankly, I don’t want to get her involved again. But I will, if we can’t come up with anyone else,” she offered reluctantly.

“Frau Smelt,” I said, having a light bulb moment.

They all shrugged at me, not getting it at all. “Surely she could point us to a witch! She seems to know everyone who is anyone.”

“Maybe,” Viola said, obviously unconvinced by my gem of an idea. “I can’t see her bypassing protocol and helping you without getting appropriate permission and all that.”

“Maybe you should contact the New York demon sovereign?” Audrey mused.

Duh! Why didn’t I think of that? Probably because I had never been introduced to him, and I wasn’t even sworn in yet. The New York sovereign probably wouldn’t even acknowledge me until I had been formally introduced to him at the coronation. Protocol–blah! Still, he might. It was definitely worth a shot. From all accounts, my father was close to him.

“Earth calling Faustine!” Viola nudged me.

“Sorry. I was thinking. How would I go about contacting the New York sovereign? I don’t even know who that is,” I sighed.

“You silly!” Neave muttered. “Lady Annabel will know! I’m sure your mom has hosted him like a million times.”

As it turned out, the New York sovereign was not a
him
. Mom set me straight–it was a
her
–Alexandra Pollop, to be precise. A less demon-like being would be hard to find. She was a regular shopping buddy of my mom’s. Another Hermès addict. So, it was only fitting to meet her over at the Madison Avenue Hermès store, by the jewelry cases on the first floor. She was busy trying on the new silver jewelry collection when Mom and I walked in.

 “Hello, Annabel! So, this is your daughter? Faustine? Love the name!”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, extending my hand.

“Oh, don’t be silly, come here for a hug!” she said, and pulled me in for a tight one.

“I’m thinking Fred’s for tea?” Mom suggested. “Or did you want to head over to the Plaza?”

“The Palm Court at the Plaza, I think. It will be just a smidge less crowded than Fred’s at this hour,” Alexandra smiled.

Once the Maitre D’ showed us to our corner table at the Palm Court, we got down to business. I did, anyway; I had no time to waste.

“Mom, I know that I haven’t told you anything about what’s going on, or even why I needed to meet up with Alexandra. I hate to ask, but do you think you could excuse us, just for a moment? We have demon business to discuss.”

“Well, that’s okay with me, but what kind of demon business could you possibly need to discuss with Alexandra?” she asked, perplexed.

“It’s serious, and I’ll explain later. I need Alexandra’s help. Mom? Please?”

“No problem, hon. If it’s all right with you, I’ll meet you back home. I’ve got a special order Birkin waiting to be picked up, so I’ll go deal with that. Alexandra, will your drop her off at the apartment?”

Alexandra nodded. “Faustine?”

“Thanks for agreeing to talk to me,” I said gratefully, as I waved to Mom.

“My pleasure. I’m friends with both of your parents. I heard you just returned from the Academy. So, I’m intrigued. What did you want to talk about? Why not talk to Sebastian instead?”

“Dad’s missing,” I sputtered out. It was probably wrong of me to give her that information because even though she was pals with Dad, how was I to know that this news wouldn’t spur some kind of takeover craze? But, what choice did I have?

“Missing?” she repeated. “Missing from where?”

I repeated what I knew, even what I had seen during my visions at Pauline’s. Then, I shared what had happened to Luke. She sat quietly and listened without interrupting.

“I knew something was going on when I received notice from Dorian that I was to travel to London,” she mused. “I didn’t expect this, though. Sebastian
missing
. That’s very alarming. You poor child. You’ve just been dumped in the middle of all this without any training. And your siblings are dropping like flies while you’re still trying to get the hang of it. And you say that Luke is missing? Now, even though finding him seems like a priority to you, it’s not. You’ve got way bigger issues to deal with,” she said firmly.

“I know, but
I
am making him my first,” I retorted, just as firmly.

She looked at me intently. “Spunky little demon, aren’t you? I like it,” she laughed. “I will help you. However, we will do this my way. You’re sitting in
my
territory,” she reminded me. “And, you’ve not been sworn in yet. Now, normally, I would tell you to go home and wait this out, but since you are Sebastian’s named heir, I’ll respect that.”

She had me. I was sort of powerless, especially here in New York, where I was totally under her jurisdiction. She could ship me off to London with a snap of her fingers. Time to change tactics. “I apologize for coming across so... petulantly. It’s just that I’m really worried about everything.”

“Are you worried about anything other than what you’ve told me? If so, out with it. It’s best for me to have all the information.”

“Just teen stuff. The guy I like ignored me at school today. My best friend is angry with me....”

“All right. That really is pretty irrelevant,” she interrupted. “What I need to do first is secure your siblings, any based in New York anyway. Do you know if you have any brothers or sisters in New York, other than Peter and Kismet?”

“Yes, another sister–Katerina.”

She waited. “Do you know anything apart from her first name?”

I shook my head.

“That’s not a lot to go on. I’m guessing that you don’t want me to get Dorian involved in this?”

“It’s not that. Could you just avoid mentioning to him that Luke is missing?”

“Luke is his son, Faustine. He has every right to know,” Alexandra protested.

“I know, I know,” I sighed. “I just want to handle this myself and find Luke. Dorian will fall apart if he finds out, and I need him to take care of London for me at the moment.”

“I can see your dilemma. I’ll have Katerina in my database,
if
she’s in New York. It would be easier with a last name, but there can’t be that many demons called Katerina.”

“Sounds good. And then what? I still need to find my dad, Kismet and Luke....”

“Faustine, go home and go about your normal routine until I contact you with more information. Then we’ll decide what to do next. In the meantime, deal with your teen issues. You seem to have a few of those,” she smiled. “My daughter attends the same school as you. She’s a senior, so you probably haven’t met her, but I’m sure she’ll take you under her wing and make high school a bit more palatable for you. Let me set up a meeting to introduce you to each other. It will be good for you to know some of your own kind here in the city. She’s part demon as well.”

“Oh, that would be great! Did she go to the Academy?”

“No, her father refused to send her–or his son. The man’s an idiot. I left him years ago, but he’s still her father and has some say. Not just because he’s their father, but because he’s a warlock and can make my life pretty complicated when he has one of his turns. I must have had a total lapse of sanity when I mated with him. Anyhow, she seems pretty well adjusted, so I’m not too worried.”

“I’d love to meet her. It would be nice to have another teen demon to bounce things off of,” I said, thinking about my uncontrolled glowing issues when I kissed, for example.

“I owe your mom breakfast, after she got so rudely blown off this afternoon, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think she really minded,” I assured her.

“Well, it was rude. Why don’t the two of you come over to breakfast before school tomorrow, and I’ll introduce you to my daughter. Shall we say around six?”

“I’ll come on my own. It’ll be less complicated. I’m sure Mom has other plans anyway. We can do a social date another time.”

She nodded. “And by tomorrow, I hope to have some more information I can share with you. Then we can draw up a plan.”

I felt a warm breeze against my neck as she was talking to me. The breeze turned into a light touch and moved to my left ear. I could make out the softest of whispers:
Be careful
.