New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) (18 page)

“Hello, boys,” I said.
 
“What’d I miss?”

Spike gestured with his fork towards Scrum and Gorm, isolated from the rest of the diners at a table together in the corner.
 
“Not much.
 
Just a little excitement over the cannibal in our midst again.”

“Yeah, well, they need to deal with it for a while longer.”

“I thought he said his debt was paid,” said Tony.
 
“Why is he still here?”

I looked over at Gorm and he noticed me, waving with his fork and grinning enough that I could see the squiggly meats in his mouth only half-chewed.
 
I waved back and tried to smile at him, but I’m sure it came out more like a grimace.
 
After having my moments with Chase earlier, seeing this perverted image of him was just too unnerving.
 
I had to work hard to keep visions of Gorm putting his arms around me, from intruding into my conscious mind.

“Good question.
 
I have no idea.
 
Maybe he likes us.
 
Anyway, Tony, I need to talk to you about something super urgent.
 
Like level-nine disturbing shit, just behind orc visitations.”

Tony put his fork down and wiped his mouth.
 
“Talk to me.
 
I’m all ears.”

Spike leaned in and I gestured at Finn, letting him know he should listen in too.
 
“I went onto our email accounts.”

“Oh, isn’t that cute.
 
You guys share an email account?” asked Spike winking at me and shoving me a little with his elbow.

Tony rolled his eyes.
 
“Yeah, right.
 
More like she constantly hacks into my email account.”

Finn’s eyebrows rose up at that.
 
“You’re a hacker?”

“Pfft.
 
Right.
 
You don’t need to be a hacker to get into Tony’s email account.
 
A two year old could do it.”

“Hey.
 
It’s not that easy,” said Tony, in mock offense.

“You have three passwords you use over and over – and anyone who’s known you for more than an hour could guess what they are.”

Tony smiled.
 
“I’m surprised you guessed the latest one.”

I smiled back at him.
 
“I didn’t.
 
Tim did.”

Tony’s eyes bugged out.
 
“So now Tim’s hacking my account too?”

“Don’t worry, Tony,” said Tim, “Total boringsville.
 
You didn’t even have any penis messages.”
 
Tim continued to slice and dice the enemy strawberry that now looked like it had been in a very serious accident with a big piece of farm equipment used to hack down large stalks of wheat.

“Not to worry.
 
Tim only goes in looking for spam.
 
He didn’t find any in your account.”

“Yeah.
 
I put up a cool spam filter.
 
Nothing gets past it.”

“Well, some messages from your parents did.
 
Or someone impersonating your parents.”

“What?” asked Tony, visibly disturbed.
 
“My parents emailed me?”
 
He stood as if to go.

I grabbed his forearm and forced him to sit back down.
 
“Not so fast, Baloney.
 
I have to tell you about my emails first.”

Tony slowly sat back down in his seat.
 
“Okay, so tell me.
 
But as soon as you’re done, I’m going to the computer room.”

“Fine.”
 
I looked up to see Scrum walking over, being trailed by Gorm.

“Scrum, pull up a chair,” I said.
 
“You too, Gormagon.
 
We’re discussing some disturbing emails Tony and I got.”

Finn mouthed the question, “
Gormagon?”
at me.
 

I just shrugged in response.
 
I had a thing with nicknames sometimes.
 
It seemed to fit.
 
Maybe I’d look it up online later to see if it actually meant anything.

Two chairs were dragged over in short order and I began the story, telling them what Tim and I found on the two accounts.
 
When I finished I said, “So, what bothers me is that we both had exactly ten messages, they were both repeats – except mine that had one last desperate one that was so not like my mom it’s not even funny – and they were sent on the same days and times.
 
And
they’re both demanding that we come home.”
 
I looked around at the serious faces around me.
 
“Weird, right?
 
Weird?
 
Or is it just me?”

Tony shook his head.
 
“No, it’s not just you.
 
It’s weird.
 
Our parents don’t exactly get along.
 
I can’t imagine them getting together and coordinating emails like that.”

I snorted.
 
“That’s putting it mildly.
 
Your parents think my mom is a sleezebag.”

“She’s not.
 
Her husband is, but not her.”

“You’re right.
 
She’s just a ... blind, weak ... I don’t know what.”

Tim stopped his torture of the fruit to comment.
 
“It’s not like you to be unable to come up with the perfect insult, Jayne.
 
Something tells me you need a little time on Doctor Tim’s psychoanalysis couch.”

I smiled briefly, shaking my head at his silliness. I was glad to see he was moving constructively past his anger over Abby – at least for now.

“Well, I for one think you should talk to them council members or at least Dardennes about it,” said Finn.
 
“If someone’s tryin’ to get you to come home, they’re gonna have to be involved anyhow.
 
They’re the ones with the keys to the plane.”

“I agree,” said Spike.
 
“And sooner rather than later.
 
They’re going to be really busy with all these fae coming in.”

“I noticed some new faces in here tonight,” I said, curiosity getting the better of me.
 
“Anyone know who’s who?”

Tony spoke up.
 
“We’ve gotten twenty-eight fae in so far.
 
Another load is due in anytime, coming from all over Europe.
 
We are expecting several more groups tomorrow.
 
That will be about all of them.”

“What kind of fae are we getting?” I asked, taking note of the various tunics I saw around me.
 
It looked like we had a fair number of elves, which was good.
 
They were awesome fighters and I could link with them, no problem.
 
I saw two witches, and made a mental note to introduce myself to them as soon as I had a chance.
 
Burning the bridge by pissing Maggie off had temporarily left me without a witch-partner to help me out with cures and stuff when I inadvertently screwed things up.
 
Every elemental needs a good witch friend on stand-by.
 
That was my new motto – one of them anyway.

Tony continued, interrupting my train of thought, “Lots of green elves are coming, some gray elves.
 
A group of dwarves from inside some mountain somewhere, too.
 
I hear they’re bringing lots of iron weapons with them.”

“Iron weapons?
 
What’s that all about?” asked Scrum.

“They’re known for that stuff.
 
They have, I don’t know, magical properties to them or something.
 
Like the axe I have, that I was told I used in the changeling test.”

“Cool.
  
Who else is coming?”

Tony looked up toward his brain as if he could read some list he had there.
 
“Let’s see ... some ogres, some silver elves, a couple of wood sprites, ... ”

I had to roll my eyes at that one.
 
I couldn’t imagine them doing anything but hiding in the trees when the Dark Fae came marching in.

“ ... oh, and a siren and one wrathe.”

My face brightened.
 
“Oh cool!
 
One of your kind, Tony!
 
You’re gonna learn so much!”

“I know,” said Tony, smiling his head off, “I’m psyched.
 
I can’t wait to talk to him about the Gray.”

“I’d like to be in on that conversation,” said Spike.

“Me too,” I agreed.

Tony shrugged.
 
“You guys are all welcome.
 
It’s no secret what I do.
 
I’ll share with anyone who wants to know.”

“Can I come too?” asked Scrum.

“Sure,” said Tony.
 
“Scrum, you’re always invited.
 
You don’t need to ask.”

Scrum’s face lit up and his ears got pink.
 
“Thanks, Tony,” he said softly.

I punched him in the shoulder just to help him get over whatever it was that was making him feel weird.
 
He looked at me and smiled, totally getting me, I think.
 
One could never totally tell with Scrum, though.
 
Sometimes the guy would be out in the weeds somewhere just when you thought for sure he was on board and completely in synch.

“Any incubi coming along?” asked Spike, all quiet now.

“No,” said Tony, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
 
“But I heard we have a pair of succubi coming – twins – on their way from California.”

Spike gripped the edge of the table, his face jutting out towards Tony.
 
“No!”

“Yes!” said Tony, enthusiastically.
 
“There are more than a few fae excited to meet them.
 
Apparently they’re very attractive.”

Spike ran his hands through his hair nervously.
 
“I need a haircut.
 
I need a new shirt.”

I laughed.
 
Of all the things to worry about right now ... “No you don’t.
 
You look awesome.”

“Cut my hair, Jayne.
 
I need a haircut bad.”

“Me?
 
Are you crazy?
 
You want to end up looking like Scrum?”

Scrum reached his hand up to his fluffy mess.
 
“What’s wrong with my hair?”

“Nothing!
 
If you’re a dirt-eating gnome!” yelled Tim, laughing maniacally after.

“I’m just messing with you, Scrum.
 
Your hair is fine.”

Scrum frowned, but moved his hand away from his head, looking as if he didn’t quite believe me.
 

“Please, Jayne?
 
I’ll do anything.”

“Anything?” I asked.
 
Possibilities began running through my head.
 
Personal slave for a day, masseuse, Chase kidnapper,
hmmmm
.
 

“Okay, fine.
 
Find me some scissors and a comb and bring them to my room later.
 
But no fair blaming me if I screw up the ‘do.
 
I’m not a professional.
 
I cut Tony’s hair a couple times, but it didn’t always work out so well.”

“Yeah.
 
I remember one time having to go to the barber after, and he asked me if I’d used a weed whacker to cut my own hair.”

I laughed.
 
“Yeah, that was a bad one.
 
Ahh, the memories.”
 
I looked over at Spike, raising an eyebrow.
 
“Consider yourself warned.”

“I’m cool with it.
 
I’ll just gel it if you screw it up.”

I shrugged.
 
“Can we get back to the important stuff now?
 
Like weird emails from weird parents?”

Tony looked at me with a serious look on his face and said, “Do you think they were from our parents, really?
 
Or someone else?
 
Since apparently my email isn’t exactly a secure account, it could have been anyone, really.”

“I think they’re from someone else.
 
It’s just too coincidental and too unlike them.”

“So what do we do about it?”

“I think we do what Finn suggested.
 
Let’s talk to Dardennes about it.”

“Okay.”
 
Tony put his fork down.
 
“I’m ready now.”

“Well, I still have to eat.
 
Why don’t you go to the computer room and take a look?”

Tony stood.
 
“Anyone want to go with me?”

Scrum looked at Gorm before saying, “We’ll go.
 
We’ve finished eating.”

Spike stood too.
 
“I’ll meet up with you guys later in Jayne’s room.
 
I have to go find a new pair of pants.
 
And a shirt.
 
And maybe some shoes.”