New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) (46 page)

“What do you mean?
 
He’s not here now, is he?”

“No, he’s not here in the compound, but he’s here on this planet.”

Becky overheard me talking and joined in.
 
“You mean, they don’t want him on this planet anymore?
 
What are they going to do?
 
Execute him?”
 
Her face had gone pale at the thought.

“I have no idea what they plan to do.
 
Only that they said if he’s not from here, he can’t stay here.”

“We’re not from here and they ain’t kickin’ us out,” said Finn.

“I mean this realm, not this planet.
 
Chase is from the Overworld.
 
He admitted it to Becky and me.
 
And now the council knows because of my big fat mouth, and they said no creatures from either of the Otherworlds can be here with us in the Here and Now.”

“That sucks,” said Becky, looking down at her plate.
 
“I know you like him.”

“Whatever.
 
The council isn’t in charge of me.
 
I’m going to figure out a way to keep him here.”

Becky said softly.
 
“But what if he doesn’t want to stay?”

I dropped my fork on my plate.
 
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
 
I was instantly pissed.

She shrugged, still not lifting her eyes from her plate.
 
“Well, I guess I mean that if he’s not
from
here, maybe he would want to go home, where he belongs ... after all this is over.”

My heart was hurting just thinking about it.
 
I stood, suddenly no longer interested in my food or the companionship of my friends.
 
“Whatever.
 
He can go if he wants.
 
But if he wants to stay, I’ll find a way to make it happen.”
 
I threw my napkin down on the table.
 
“I’m going to bed.
 
It’s been a hell of a long day.”

Tim buzzed up from the table to go with me.
 
“Me too!
 
Later, taters!”
 
He waved at the group as he flew backwards.

I walked away, not saying goodbye to anyone.
 
I didn’t even bother to look at them as I left the room.
 
I was too mad and sad and feeling totally alone; and I’d always said it was better to feel lonely alone than to feel lonely with someone.

When I was back in the room and dressed for bed, a knock came at the door.
 
I wasn’t surprised to see Tony standing there in the hallway when I answered it.
 
I stepped back, pulling the door open all the way, letting him know he could come in.
 

“Shut the door behind you,” I said, getting into bed and under the covers.
 
I wasn’t in the mood to hang out.

“I won’t stay long.
 
I can see you’re tired and feeling out of sorts.
 
I just wanted to say that I will support you, Jayne, whatever you decide to do.”

I smiled weakly.
 
“Thanks, Tones.
 
That means a lot.”

“I just want you to promise me something.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.
 
“This sounds like conditional love to me.”

He sat down on the edge of my bed, bending over to lean his forearms on his thighs, clasping his hands together loosely.
 
“It’s not.
 
My purpose is always to make sure you’re happy and that you’re doing the right thing for yourself.
 
So I just want you to promise me that if things don’t go the way you want them to, that you’ll at least try to be open minded about them.
 
That’s all.”

“So you’re on Becky’s side is what you’re saying.”
 
I tried to turn over to face away from him, but he was sitting on the covers making them too tight.
 
I was trapped in my current position, but I refused to look at him.
 
I stared at the ceiling instead.

“No.
 
I’m not.
 
I’m on your side, even if what you
want
to do isn’t what you
should
do.
 
Just ... I don’t know ... make sure you do the right thing, not just the short-term, selfish thing.”

“Selfish?!
 
Now you’re calling me
selfish?!”
I looked at him with all the anger I had balled up inside me now.
 
And it was a lot.

“No!
 
That’s not what I meant!”
 
He ran his hands through his hair and scrubbed his face a few times.
 
“I’m not saying it right.
 
What I mean is, literally, if Chase says he has to go, you need to let him.
 
Okay?
 
There.
 
I said it.”

I huffed out a short burst of frustrated air.
 
“Well, he won’t.
 
So you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Okay, fine then.
 
I won’t worry.”
 
Tony patted my shoulder and tried to smile the bad vibes away.
 
“Sleep tight.
 
I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”

“Whatever.”

Tony sighed as he stood up.
 
“Don’t do that, Jayne.
 
Please?”

I refused to look at him.
 
“Just go.”

Tony left the room without saying anything else and I battled like hell with myself not to cry.

Tim’s voice came to me from across the room.
 
“Don’t worry, Jayne.
 
Everything’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” I said, totally exhausted from thinking and worrying about all the things that were out of my control.
 
“I guess you got lucky tonight.”

“How so?”

“I’m too tired and pissed off to talk to you about your wife and son.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.
 
Because I was all ready to do it too.”

I lifted my head up off the pillow a little to look at him.
 
“You were?”

“No.”

“Oh.”
 
I tried to picture what his son would look like.
 
“I’ll bet he’s cute.
 
Your son, I mean.”

“How could he not be?” said Tim.

“Seriously.
 
Unless, of course, he has that ... thing you have.”

“What thing?” he asked, suspicion lacing his voice.

“You know ... the ...
thing
thing ... ”

“No, Jayne.
 
I don’t know the
thing
thing.
 
Enlighten me.”

“No, it wouldn’t be ... never mind.
 
Forget I said anything.”

I rolled over on my side, facing the wall, a huge grin on my face.
 
I could almost hear the frustration rolling around in Tim’s head.
 
It was totally cheering me up.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly stoop any lower, you bring up a guy’s failings.
 
Didn’t anyone ever tell you how fragile a pixie’s ego is?”

“What failing are you talking about?”

“The same one you are, obviously.
 
My voice.
 
How it goes all high-pitched sometimes when I’m excited.
 
I can’t help that, you know.
 
I was born that way.”

“Oh.
 
I never noticed that problem.
 
I was talking about something else.”
 
I pressed my knuckles into my mouth to keep the laughter at bay.
 
My eyes were watering now with the withheld glee.
 
I could practically feel the dopamine churning out of my brain and into my veins.
 
Thank the heavens for pixies.

“What are you saying?
 
Jayne, you have to tell me.
 
What is it?
 
Is it my breath?
 
My hair?
 
Is my butt too big?
 
No, it’s my shoulders, isn’t it?
 
Too narrow.
 
I knew it.
 
I
knew
they weren’t broad enough.
 
My cousin, now he has broad shoulders.
 
He can swim faster than any pixie I’ve ever seen.
 
Me?
 
No way.
 
Slow enough to be eaten by a guppy.
 
It’s sad.
 
I know.
 
My poor son.
 
Poor kid.
 
What have I done?” he moaned.

“Tim, chill.
 
I was only kidding.
 
You have no faults.
 
You’re absolutely perfect.
 
The handsomest, hottest pixie I’ve ever seen.”

Tim was completely silent for a few moments.
 
I thought he had fallen asleep, but then he said, “You know, Jayne, payback can be a real bitch sometimes.”

I smiled but said nothing, fake-snoring as loudly as I could.
 
I kept it up until my nasal passages were too dried out to continue.
 
I fell asleep shortly thereafter, praying Tim would save his payback for sometime tomorrow after the meeting.

The day of the meeting dawned, sunny and beautiful.
 
The totally tasteless eggs I had eaten earlier for breakfast sat like a brick in my nervous stomach.
 
I walked with the other council members to our designated meeting point down the enchanted path, spelled by our witches to insure our safety.
 

Tony and Gus had arranged for us to meet in the Infinity Meadow, under my mother’s tree.
 
I had my cloak on, and it shimmered with the energy of The Green; I concentrated on not letting the power get away from me, while at the same time worrying about whether I was going to be okay seeing Chase again, the guy who everyone kept saying was not going to be sticking around.
 
The thought made me feel like vomiting all over the forest floor.
 
I wiped with my sleeve at the sweaty flush that was creeping up my face.

We arrived at the tree, its beautiful canopy spreading out over our heads.
 
The Dark Fae council was already there waiting for us.
 
They all wore cloaks too, and I saw immediately that Ben was one of them.
 
I guess he’d gotten a promotion.
 
Surprisingly, Leck, my former torturer, was not.
 
I had assumed he was someone in charge over there.

Ben’s cloak was nearly black, with hints of red and deep blue flashing out from time to time.
 
I realized that he, too, was connected to his elements right now.
 
The edges of his cloak moved with the slight breeze he brought, and I could see the fire barely contained in the colors.
 
He nodded his head at me as I arrived, but I ignored him.
 
I devoted all of my attention to Chase, especially when I saw him standing next to Maléna.
 
I tried not to be too annoyed at how close she was to him, but the jealous, insecure part of me wanted to go over and scratch her eyes out.
 
I knew this particular attack plan was probably not a good idea at the inaugural and hopefully auspicious meeting of the two fae councils though, so I clamped down on my baser instincts and just took a deep breath instead.
 
Maturity sucks.

Maléna was the first to speak.
 
“Hello, council members.
 
We bring you greetings from the Dark Fae community.”

Dardennes spoke for all of us.
 
“Thank you.
 
And we bring you greetings from the Light Fae community.”

Everyone turned to Chase, anxious to get down to business and probably worried this was some sort of underhanded trick planned by the other side.
 
I stole glances at Ben and saw that he was looking at me and my cloak.
 
I turned back to Chase, not happy that Ben had caught me checking him out.
 
I had to admit, his cloak was impressive.
 
It fit him and his elements perfectly.
 
I wondered if he’d always been on the council or if his was a recent appointment like mine was.
 
I thought I remembered Becky telling me he wasn’t on it.

“Thank you for coming,” said Chase.
 
“I wish it was under better circumstances.”
 
He paused for a moment and then said in an almost majestic voice, “I bring you greetings from the Overworld.”

The muttering began almost immediately.
 
I could tell it was a mixture of surprise and doubt, if I was reading facial expressions correctly.