I looked over my shoulder as we were leaving to see if Becky was behind us. My eye was drawn to the doorway on the other side of the room where I saw Spike standing there, his eyes still smoldering red. He was staring right at me, a small smile playing on his luscious lips.
Chapter 8
I followed Finn out the door and into the forest training grounds used by the green elves.
“How do you know where to go in these hallways and I still don’t?”
“Robin showed me.”
“Well, can you show me?”
“Sure. Just get an idea of where you wanna be in your head and start walkin’. The correct door will show itself to you.”
“Show itself?”
“Yeah, you’ll see. You can try it when we go back.”
“What about when you’re out in the forest? How do you know where the doors are there?”
“There are several – I don’t know all of ‘em. You just go to where you remember the door bein’ and imagine it bein’ there or kind of know that it’s there, and it appears.”
“But you have to know it’s there already,” I verified.
“Yeah, and you have to know what it looks like. They ain’t all the same. That’s why you’ve been escorted to all these places today by someone who knows where stuff is. You have to be shown the first time, otherwise, there’s no way you could imagine it.”
I nodded in appreciation of the magic. “That’s a pretty cool spell, or whatever.”
“Yeah, but it ain’t perfect. A Dark Fae could still penetrate it, but he or she would have to be escorted one time first. So they’d have to have a mole or spy inside the compound.”
That reminded me of the voices I overheard while I was in the bathroom yesterday.
“Listen, Finn, I wanted to talk to you guys about something I overheard the other night ... speaking of spies.”
He turned to me with a questioning look on his face. “You heard about a spy?”
“Well ... ”
I was cut off by the sound of a familiar voice. “Welcome to the training grounds of the green elves, changeling Jayne.”
I turned and saw the face of the elf I had nicknamed Robin Hood. I quickly turned and whispered in Finn’s ear, “I’ll tell you later.” I looked up at the approaching elf. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. Your name is Robin.”
“Yes, you are correct.”
“Is it Robin Hood, by any chance?”
The elf looked confused. “No, Robin of The Green. Who is this Robin Hood? Is he of the Light Fae?”
Finn nudged me, giving me bug eyes.
“Um, no, he’s just ... never mind. So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
“I have been asked to familiarize you with the work of the green elves and to determine what your skills might do to enhance or inhibit ours.”
That seemed like a strange task, the inhibit part, anyway. “How, exactly, could my skills inhibit yours?”
“I was informed today that you nearly took the life of the silver elf, Céline. We believe it warrants further study to determine who else you might accidentally kill when using your powers.”
Man, way to give it to me straight.
“Listen, Robin, it wasn’t on purpose, okay? I was just doing what she asked me to do.”
Robin cocked his head. “She asked you to kill her?”
I sighed loudly in frustration. “No. She didn’t ask me to kill her. She asked me to show her my powers, so I did.”
Robin thought about that for a couple of seconds before he replied. “If I make the mistake of asking the same of you, I beg that you spare my life.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I won’t kill you, Robin, or any of the other green elves, okay? Does that make you feel better?”
“Yes, thank you. Now, let’s begin.”
He closed his eyes all of a sudden, tilting his head back to turn his face towards the sky. He took a deep breath, filling up his lungs; then he exhaled, letting it all out, slowly tipping his head back down. He opened his eyes, looking right at me. His pupils were bigger. Blacker. And it was freaky as hell.
“First, I would like to see the extent of your powers of self-preservation.”
Self-preservation? What the hell ... ?
He turned to a group of elves I saw suddenly emerging from different areas of the forest. There were about thirty or so of them and they all looked very serious, bows and arrows in hand. Some of them began notching their arrows in place.
“I will give you thirty seconds to plan. After that, my team will attack you. Your plan should include evasive maneuvers, counter-attack or both. Begin now.”
My eyes nearly fell out of my head. “Are you fucking serious? They have weapons! I don’t even have my sorry little black stick! I can’t outrun thirty arrows! What the hell am I supposed to do?!”
“You have twenty-five seconds.” He began stepping away.
I looked at Finn, desperation in my eyes. “Finn! What the hell is going on?! They’re going to kill me! Look! They have fucking arrows!”
Finn was as shocked as I was. “I ... uh ... I have no idea ... I didn’t know ... Jayne, I’m sorry ... ” He shrugged his shoulders, freaked out and at a loss for words.
“Twenty seconds,” Robin yelled from a short distance.
I gritted my teeth, looking at the line of elves standing resolutely behind Robin, about fifty feet from me. Their faces were set in grim determination.
Motherfucker. This had to be some sort of retribution for the Céline debacle.
Fine. They wanted to play. I could play. If I was going to go down, I might as well go down fighting. I went from scared to angry, just like that. I was getting pretty damned tired of being forced into these life-threatening situations.
I went down on my knees, touching the green things there, digging my hands into the soil. I had to try something; I just wish I knew what it was.
“Fifteen seconds.” Robin was now in line with the other killer elves.
I sent desperate images and signals out to The Green. I knew those arrows weren’t an illusion. They weren’t going to remain with their elf archers after the zero second mark had rung out from Robin’s lips. How on earth was The Green going to help me survive arrows flying faster than fighter jets at my puny weak body? I couldn’t teleport out of here. I couldn’t weave a spell. I was a sitting duck. Being an elemental sucked!
The Green usually protected me by responding to mental images I sent – I told it what I wanted with pictures and it gave it to me. This time I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t even imagine what The Green could do to save me. Vines to tie them up? Not enough time. Branches to knock them over? None close enough.
“Ten seconds.”
Help me! I don’t know what to ask for! They’re going to kill me!
I received a signal back from The Green. It was calming, soothing. The love had come to deliver me from this awfulness.
Tears came to my eyes. So this is it. I’d come this far, practically sacrificed my friendship with Tony to be here and put up with endless amounts of bullshit ... only to die on the forest floor, a pincushion for the arrows of the green elves. At least The Green had sent me a sense of peace for my final moments.
I put my head down, my shoulders dropping in defeat. There was nothing left to do. Except save Finn.
“Five seconds.”
“Finn. Move away.”
“But ... ” He took a step towards me, as if he was going to shield me, looking frantically at the line of arrows he was facing.
“Go! There’s no use. Leave me here.”
I heard his feet move away.
At first, I didn’t want to look at the arrows coming at me, but at the last second I changed my mind. Let these fuckers look me in the eyes when they filled me full of holes.
I raised my eyes, pissed off. Scared, but proud. I lifted myself up onto my knees, picking my arms up and spreading them wide.
“Kiss my ass, green elves!” I yelled.
I s
aw arrows being drawn back, eyes squinting as the elves took aim.
And then Robin’s voice carried across the space between us. “Zero!”
Chapter 9
Suddenly, a green glow burst up from the ground around me. It came shooting out of my body, from my hands, my head, my everything. It was coming out of every pore of my body and the ground around me.
I could barely make out the forms of the elves across the training field through the green haze that surrounded me. I couldn’t hear anything except the hum of The Green, touching every part of my body and the space near me. I stayed there in that field of energy for I don’t know how long. Time seemed to stand still as I welcomed it in, allowing it to soothe me, fill me with its presence. I wondered if this is what dying was like ... the light that near-death survivors said showed up when it was time to go to heaven. I’d never heard it described as being green, but what the heck, I was fae now. Maybe dying fae saw green lights.
Slowly, the light began to fade. I felt the energy withdraw back into The Green. I let out a pent-up breath as I realized I was once again back to my regular link with it and, happily, there were no arrows sticking out of my body. I felt full, energized, powerful. I stood, brushing myself off, paying no attention to the elves, as the wonderfulness of The Green’s energy began to dissipate little by little. I felt like I could have held onto that connection forever. But I had to get the hell out of Crazytown, otherwise known as the green elves’ training grounds; and to do that, I had to get rid of the floaty, hippy love feeling The Green had sent to me. It made me want to stay, not leave.
I realized as I finished swatting the bits of dried leaves and twigs off my tunic that it was uncommonly silent. I looked up and was astonished at the vision that greeted me.
Every elf, including Robin and Finn, was down on one knee, head bowed.
I kept my eyes on them, sure they would soon realize I was free and jump up to use me for target practice again. My green glowy thing must have temporarily blinded them or something.
Time to get Finn and get the hell out of here. I walked over quietly to where he was kneeling, just a few feet away. I nudged him in the shoulder, whispering to him as loud as I dared. “Finn! Come on! Let’s go!”
He looked up at me, tears in his eyes. He stared at me but didn’t move. He looked like he was paralyzed.
Shit. I’ve given them all fucking strokes. I was in a panic now, pretty sure that one accidental stroke might be believable, but thirty of them? Probably not.
I walked over to Robin, leaning down a little, looking at his face, trying to see if he was still conscious. He looked up as he heard me approach. He had tears in his eyes too. He stood as I began speaking.
“Hey, um, Robin? Listen, I’m sorry about that ... whatever ... ”
“Mother ... ”
One word. That’s all he said. Was he calling me ‘motherfucker’? Because he had a funny way of delivering the insult. He didn’t look even remotely mad. He didn’t look like he wanted to kick my sorry butt. He looked like ... like he was going to cry some more. When I called someone a motherfucker, I was usually pretty pissed. Like level eight pissed. He ... was not.
“Okaaaaay, so anyway, I think that went ... well. So whaddya say my friend Finn and I go back to the compound?”
Robin turned, signaling his troops to stand. They all dutifully got to their feet, arms dangling by their sides.
I grabbed Finn’s elbow, ready to drag him back into the trees with me. The minute I saw a single bow or arrow coming up, I was going to beg any nearby vines to wrap their stupid elf assses up with supersonic speed. It’s what I should have done in the first place. Go with what you know, that’s what Tony always used to say. There was nothing more I wanted right at that moment than to talk to my best friend. I missed him desperately.
This entire situation settled it. If they didn’t give me a phone or some way to contact Tony, I was outta here. This whole ‘welcome to our party, now we’re going to kill you’ shit was total bullhonkey.
“Come on, Finn, we’re leaving.”
Finn stumbled along, following my lead but saying nothing. He was totally out of it.
“Where’s the door, Finn? I don’t know how to work this shit.”
Finn didn’t respond, so I looked back at him, yelling, “Finn! Snap out of it, dude! I need you to tell me where the fucking door is!”
Finn stopped walking. He looked up at me, exhaustion all over his face. He smiled sleepily.
I went back and stood in front of him. He watched me come all the way up, never taking his eyes from mine. I snapped my fingers in his face. “Helloooo? Anyone home in there?”
“Yeah, Jayne, I’m here. Whaddya want?”
I threw my arms up in frustration. “What the hell is wrong with you?! I’ve been saying it over and over! Where is the damn door to the friggin’ compound?”
“It’s right there,” said Finn, pointing off to his right.
“Open it.”
“Okey dokey.”
Within seconds the door appeared. Finn looked at me, grinning. “Does that make you happy?”
“Yes! It does. Freak.”
Finn just smiled at me, not moving.
I grabbed his arm. “Come on, you stupid redneck zombie. Let’s go.”
I stepped into the hall and then stopped. Which way, left or right? I imagined Dardennes’ little sitting room; maybe he’d be there and I could go confess my sins. I got a weird vibe off to my right, so I went that way, dragging Finn with me.
Spike appeared, coming out of a doorway on our left. Immediately his eyes started to glow red. “Well, hello, Jayne.” He smiled at me, giving me his famous hotsexy grin.
“Not now, Spike, I don’t have time for your shit.”
Spike was taken aback. He snapped back to regular Spike ... the non-incubus Spike. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Just help me get Finn to Dardennes’ office.”
A door just up ahead had a candleglow around the edges. This must be what Finn was talking about, that I’d know the door when I saw it.
I knocked on the door three times.
“Enter!” I heard, coming from inside.
I pushed on the heavy door, swinging it inwards, dragging Finn in by the hand. Spike followed and shut the door behind us.
Dardennes was sitting at his desk, Céline standing at his right looking over his shoulder at a map laid out on the surface. Niles the dwarf was on his left, also examining the document. Ivar stood in the corner, a few paces back from them, near one of the many floor to ceiling bookshelves.
Dardennes lifted an eyebrow as we approached. “Yes, Jayne? How may we help you?”
I sighed, a little guiltily. “I think I did it again.”
“Did what again?”
“Gave some elves a stroke or something. Like I did to Céline.”
Dardennes looked at Céline and then at Niles. They all looked back at me with questions in their eyes.
“Which elves?”
“You know very well which elves. The green elves. The ones you told to try and kill me today.”
Dardennes chuckled. “Jayne, the green elves did not try to kill you. Perhaps you are letting your imagination get away from you.”
“Listen, old man, when thirty elves notch arrows in their bows at you and tell you that you have thirty seconds to figure out how to defend yourself, that’s attempted murder. It’s not my friggin’ imagination.” I grabbed Finn by the shoulder of his tunic, pulling him forward. “Tell ‘em Finn. Tell ‘em what they did.”
They turned their gaze to Finn.
Finn said nothing.
I whacked him on the back. “Finn! Wake up, you redneck idiot! Tell them what happened.”
“Wait, Jayne, let me see what I can do,” said Céline, coming around the desk, looking concerned.
She reached Finn, stopping in front of him. She took his hands in hers and stared into his eyes. I could see her thumbs rubbing circles on the backs of his hands
.
Finn was smiling, saying nothing.
“Finn. Where are you right now?”
“I’m in the light.”
“Are you in The Green?”
“Yes.”
Céline broke her gaze away and looked over at Dardennes, nodding at him. He reciprocated the gesture, giving her some sort of approval.
Céline turned back to Finn. “Finn, I need you to come out of The Green. Come back to us here at the compound.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she said sternly, jerking on his hands. “You cannot stay in The Green. Mother needs you here.”
Finn had the look of a petulant child on his face – a child who was going to refuse an order from his parent; but then he reluctantly gave in. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them back up.
He saw Céline standing right smack in front of him and backed his head up as far as he could without stepping away from her. He pulled his hands from hers and leaned a bit to the right, looking around her left shoulder to Dardennes and the others by the desk. Then he turned his head sideways, looking at me.
“Jayne? What in the H-E-double hockey sticks is goin’ on here?”
I smiled in relief. “Welcome back, Finn, you crazyass motherfucker. You scared the shit out of me, you know that?”
Spike started laughing. “Wow, what was that all about? That was awesome! Finn, dude, you were in like a trance or something.” Spike turned to me. “You did that to him? Do me next. Come on, do it.” He was tapping himself on the chest, totally psyched about the idea of being sent into The Green where, apparently, Finn had just come from. Spike was way more amped up than I was used to him being.
Céline stepped away from Finn, going back to stand by Niles. “We need to get a crew out to the green elf training grounds immediately. Niles?”
Niles gave a sharp nod. “We will handle it.”
Dardennes turned to look over his shoulder. “Ivar, get some of the ogres in on this too please. I don’t want any arrows getting loose.”
Ivar nodded and joined Niles, heading out the door.
“Will someone please fill me in on what the hell is going on here? This is the second time I’ve nearly killed an elf. Only this time it was like thirty of them. And right before it happened Robin Hood or whoever he is specifically asked me not to do that. He’s gonna be pissed.”