Hair of Gold: Just Right (Urban Fairytales Book 6) (12 page)

We both jumped and pulled apart, gasping. We looked at the door then each other and shared a chuckle. And we both jumped again at the abruptness of another three sharp knocks. Chuckling again, I bit my lower lip as I swung out of the bed and stood as the imp started toward the door. It was then that I noted I was in a nightdress, not my clothing. I must look a sight.

Wait... who had changed me. I blushed as I looked at her back... and her butt.

She opened the door then made a disappointed and frustrated sound and slammed it in the face of a man I didn't quite get a good look at. She spat out with venom, “Fuckin' assholes.”

I blinked, it was the first true curse I had heard from her, and it amused me to no end.

There was another set of loud knocks, and I heard a man's voice saying, “Thrice did he knock, then three times thrice, then did the changeling maiden deny him.”

Gretel just stood there glaring at the door with a sour look on her face, arms crossed defiantly. It was almost as cute as it was a clear indicator that she knew the person on the other side of the door and found him distasteful.

I saw the shadow of the man's feet still standing patiently on the other side of the door, unmoving. No more knocks came, and I stepped past the stubborn woman, letting my fingers brush her arm as I stepped past her. This caused her stern look to be replaced by an almost coy smile as she tucked some loose strands of her brunette hair behind her ear. I had to look away from the skin on the graceful neck which she had exposed. How I wanted to sample that flesh with my lips.

I opened the door, and the handsome man stepped past me quickly and into the room. I turned toward him, and before I could inquire, a second man who had a striking resemblance to the first pushed past us too, giving the tiniest of bows.

I opened my mouth to ask them who they were and what they wanted as Gretel hugged herself to my arm with both hands, shaking her head at the interlopers. Before I could utter a single syllable, the second man, who was just a bit taller than the first pointed at the top of the amulet which was just poking out above the neckline of the nightshirt and he asked incredulously, “That was not for you, what were you thinking? You've made a mess of everything and thrown it all out of balance.”

He noted my companion's dangerously narrowed eyes as she glared at him. He returned her gaze for a moment then seemed to deflate, and I saw a smile quirking at the corners of his mouth. He sighed and shook his head, “Ah... the changeling. We should have known you had a hand in this. Always stirring things up.”

Ok, now I was getting confused and frustrated. They all froze and looked at me as the room started filling with a rumble that built slowly into a growl that couldn't be mistaken for anything but a large Kodiak. I blinked, realizing it was coming from my throat. I snapped out forcefully, “Who are you and what do you want?” I looked down at Gretel, who had one eyebrow cutely cocked at me, then back at the men. “And what is a changeling?”

The impeccably dressed men stood straighter, looking embarrassed. “Quite right, where are our manners. My dear Gretel, would you mind introducing us?”

She growled out in a good approximation of my beastly tone, “I'm not your dear anything.” Then she exhaled and looked at the floor a moment. She took a deep breath, seemingly coming to a decision then looked up at me with a bit of a smirk playing on her lips. “Katiana Inanov, this is Wilhelm and Jacob...”

Then she smirked and asked, “What surname are you going by this week? Schmidt? Muller? Grimm?”

They chuckled as one, and exchanged looks, the one she indicated as Jacob said to the other, “Grimm? I sort of like that one, maybe we could use it in the future.” The other had nodded agreement before they turned their attention to me.

Then the woman who was warming my heart more and more by the minute, sighed heavily, “In addition to being two of the most insufferable people on the face of the planet, they are also The Scales.”

I blinked. The Scales? But they are just a fairytale. Da?

They held their hands out in turn, and I went to shake them on instinct. Wilhelm instead captured my fingertips and brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, saying, “Enchanted, milady.”

Gretel slapped his hand away from mine and chastised, “Hands off my woman you insufferable letch.”

The two men laughed heartily at that and Jacob said to his brother, “She has you there Wil.” The other man inclined his head slightly in amused acknowledgment.

Wait, had she just claimed me as her woman? Oh lords above, I couldn't stop my smile at her.

Jacob went on as he squinted an eye at her, “This is your doing isn't it? Always having to stir the pot. We go through great pains to move the pieces on the board to balance the scales, and wildcards like you are always running around willy nilly and making a mess of things. It will take us months if not years to get things to rebalance now.” Had his German accent just turned into an English one?

She sighed again and said as if she had gone over it ad nauseam. “I've done nothing. You two keep blaming me for things I have nothing to do with nor have any control over. I sometimes believe you just get bored and need someone to harass.”

I didn't like that they seemed to be accusing her of something and my protective streak kicked in as I moved slightly in front of her, between the men and her as I asked, “Again, what do you want? And what is a changeling?”

Wilhelm blinked, like he had just remembered I was in the room, and he shrugged and prompted toward Gretel with a hand, “Well, she is.”

I stared dumbly at the men, were they daft?

Jacob added, “She was meant to serve a purpose, a sacrificial piece to swing the imbalance of light to equilibrium. She and her sibling were never meant to survive, but that fascinating Rapunzel threw the scales out of balance and saved not only her but that infinitely interesting Evelyn.”

Then he looked accusingly at my girl. “But the balance of Hansel and Gretel's blood was shifted toward the evil by the experience. We could see the equilibrium swing back into place, but they found a way to balance their own internal struggle against the darkness, and since their blood was now open to the magics of the world, they sought out the meddling druids.”

Wilhelm finished for him, “So they stand forever on the line, the evil and good magics inside of them always at war, always in a balance that we find oddly relaxing and satisfying. They are what they are by choice. Their decision to be on the side of the good and righteous is all that keeps them from stepping onto the darker paths.”

Wilhelm picked up the narrative as if he had been the one speaking all along. “It is that choice which can change as easily as them changing their minds, that ability to change their own focus and balance of their blood is what makes them changelings, and infinitely frustrating to us as we try to maintain a balance in the mortal world.”

Gretel patted the knife at her hip and muttered, “If you two could be killed, I'd probably dabble on those dark paths for a minute if it meant I didn't have to listen to you speaking in riddles all the time.”

I snorted, and the men beamed huge smiles at her. Wilhelm tipped an imaginary hat to her and said in mirth, “We're not immortal... exactly.”

She shook her head and sighed at me as she said, “See what I mean?”

I grinned at her and agreed, “I'm beginning to.” I looked down in resignation and asked yet again, “What do you want? What business do you have here?”

Jacob gave a toothy grin and said, “Thrice did she ask and...”

I didn't see her move, she was so fast. Gretel's knife was drawn, and she had the much larger man pushed up against the door, an arm across his chest and her blade to his throat. “Enough with the thrice shit.” She looked back at me and said as if she wasn't holding a blade to the man's throat, “They have this odd fascination with three for some reason. I think it is just so they can seem mysterious, but it just makes them more frustrating and makes them come off as pompous fools.”

I caught the subtle smiles exchanged between the men, then I narrowed my eyes at them and heard my growl filling the space again before I told her, not moving my eyes from the men. “I think they are playing with you, trying to get this reaction to play with that balance they say is inside of you.”

I was more amused at her cussing than anything as I tried to hide a smile. I schooled my face and said as plainly as I could without my amusement slipping in, “We'll I'm sure the sooner they tell us why they are here, the sooner they can get out of our hair. If they are dead, that will make things slightly inconvenient don't you think Gret?”

She narrowed an eye at me then broke into a grin, shoving against the man as she released him with a warning huff. I tried hard not to grin at the small slip of a woman manhandling the newcomer.

She huffed out a sigh and sheathed her knife and stepped up beside me, claiming my arm as she asked in agitation, “Go on then, speak your peace.” Then she warned as Jacob opened his mouth, “No riddles or we will test the limits of your immortality.”

The men looked at each other, their eyes twinkling in mirth and they shared a smile, then Wilhelm spoke to me. “The Kodiak Amulet...” He pointed at my chest. “Was meant to restore the balance now that Rose is on the rampage throughout the realms, hunting all dark magic users since her beloved is in an eternal sleep in the Black Crypt in London. It was meant for Baird.”

My eyes narrowed as I pulled Gretel behind me a little more as my growl started building again. I hissed out, “You side with him? You sanction the killing of innocents?”

They held up their hands in unison in a placating gesture. “Oh by no means. But it is sometimes necessary to uphold the balance. We are on no side and personally find violence distasteful.”

Gret sighed and squeezed my arm. “They are telling the truth, they are impartial in the struggle between good and evil, their only self-serving interest is to make sure we are on a level playing field and nothing else. The game is everything to them.”

They smiled, and those smiles faltered when I turned my glare on them. I growled out, “If you find it so distasteful, then why don't you help us? Where is Baird?”

Jacob pursed his lips in a line then shook his head sadly and said, “We cannot aid you in any way, but we can ask that you step aside and cease your pursuit of the darkness. Then the scales would return to balance. Your possession of the amulet has caused serious repercussions in the mortal realm that will take us months or years to balance, moving so many pieces on the board.”

I inhaled sharply and asked, “The demons that were released from their bindings to Narcisa?”

They nodded in that weird unison again. I shook my head. “Then they are my responsibility, not yours. I will deal with them as I will deal with the vrajitoare's spawn.”

They looked consternated and said, “You will only make things worse, and we fear that you could...”

I spun, drawing my blade at a voice behind us saying, “You have said too much already Scales.” I dropped the tip of my blade then re-sheathed it when I saw a small girl, who looked cold and hungry in her tattered clothing. She looked to have so much pain and wisdom in her eyes, beyond her years.

Wilhelm sighed and said, “No watcher, we are simply moving the pieces on the board.”

I gasped as the young girl strode forward, passing through a chair as if only a specter. She said as she strode forward, “Asking her to cease perusing her free will breaks the rules.”

Jacob said, “Isla, it was merely a suggestion that she could exercise her free will upon.”

Wait. I swallowed. The specter's name was Isla? Was this Isla of Hypoc? The little girl that her village allowed to freeze to death begging for scraps on the streets. The Hypocrites then mourned her passing after allowing such a travesty.”

The little girl stopped at my side as I stared down at her. She absently put her ice cold hand in mine then smiled up at me. The spirit was tangible to me? She looked no different than any other little girl, instead of being long dead centuries ago. Her mannerisms were that of the little girl she appeared to be, and I felt the need to protect her. Gretel was just staring at the girl with a mix of terror and fascination on her face.

I asked her carefully as if the movement of my breath in the air would cause her to drift away, “Isla... of Hypoc?”

She beamed a cute smile at me and nodded and said, “And you are Katiana Tvardovsky. Your parents are proud of you and speak of you often. You have the bears inside you now.” Her smile grew with a touch of excitement, and she said as if revealing a secret, “I like bears.”

I blinked in shock. She knew my name from my prior life? She has spoken with my parents? Were they well in the afterlife? I opened my mouth to ask, but she stopped me with a sad look and shook her head saying, “I cannot tell you more. I'm sorry. I said what I did as a thank you for the gift of your warmth.” She nudged her chin to our clasped hands. I gave her little hand a squeeze in thanks and gave her a nod of acceptance.

Gretel asked her, “What are you Isla? A ghost?”

The girl got an impish grin and said, “What do I appear to be? I am just a little girl that the higher beings that oppose the Scales chose to watch them. To be sure they do not break the rules and to report back if they ever do.”