* * *
Most of the Team quarters had cleared out as the members packed their belongings and said their goodbyes. Reggie and Ryssa were the last two left, waiting for their uncle to make an appearance. He never did. Moira and Jet showed up instead.
“Aurelius is still trying to keep the elders at bay.” Jet tilted his head and shrugged. “They’re trying to make him force you to stay in New Faery and give them full access to you until the next round of the competition.”
Ryssa shuddered, thinking of the storm elders. “No thanks. Been there, done that.”
“Yeah.” Moira gave her a sympathetic grin. “They’re also afraid of leaving you to your own devices in the Zombie Zone.”
“I’m thinking I’ll be backing off from magic for a bit.” Ryssa shook her head. “I’m looking forward to getting back to a touch of normal in my life.”
“Aww,” Jet teased. “Confess—you’ll miss it.”
“Maybe after a while.” Ryssa shrugged. “But for now, I just want a vacation from my summer vacation. Even school is sounding good right now. Can you imagine the first standard paper for beginning of the year English class: ‘What I did over my summer vacation’?”
“Don’t, Ryss,” Reggie warned with a mock frown.
“Don’t what?”
“You’ll give mom a heart attack. Getting up early, looking forward to school—”
“Yeah,” Jet grinned. “Tests, nasty teenage peer pressure, school lunches, grumpy teachers—”
“Okay.” Ryssa made a face. “Not missing it now. Thanks for putting my world back into perspective for me.”
Everyone laughed. Reggie looked curiously at Jet and Moira.
“So, what’s next?”
“Moira and I are going to sneak you out of the Sithin.” He looked up to the miniature tree in the common area and added loudly, “If the darned thing will work with us.”
And it did. The Sithin ramp took them directly outside, avoiding the Arena Court. Reggie looked over at the dragonfly landing field and grimaced, his stomach roiling in protest.
“I don’t suppose we could borrow a set of the Faery wings? I seem to do better under my own power.”
“No can do,” Jet said from behind him. “But alternative transportation has been arranged.”
Reggie looked back to see two beautiful black horses where the Phooka twins had been. He was skeptical.
“Are you sure, guys?”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Jet said, his voice higher pitched than normal. He laughed, a weird mixture of human and horse noises rolling out of his mouth. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”
The Phooka twins knelt in horse form, and Reggie and Ryssa climbed up, securing their packs as best they could.
“Hold on, kidlets!” Jet called out. They galloped through the streets of New Faery City and beyond, faster than any horse Reggie had ever seen. He understood now why the twins had equaled the dragonflies’ arrival time to New Faery City when they had first come here. They weren’t under the physical constraints of normal horses. Jet and Moira were as much pure magic as the world they were from. Reggie had to admit, he was going to miss them. And as much as Faery was a screwed-up world—he was sort of looking forward to coming back.