Darkness and Light

  I pictured Finn in my mind, hearing his redneck accent flavoring his speech. I saw his red hair and freckles, the sinewy forearms that flexed as he drew back his arrow and sent it whistling through the air to hit its target. I saw him smile at Becky, always amused at her happy comments. I waited to see if I came across him in my connection, but before I could go far enough, I heard more sounds out in the hall.

  “Jayne.” It was Ben.

  I said nothing but dropped my attempts to reach Finn.

  “Jayne, I don’t know how you managed to lock this door, but you have to open it up. I won’t be able to protect you if you resist right now.”

  I had to say something to that – it was too ridiculous to leave unanswered. “Protect me? If setting that pitbull Leck on me is your idea of protection, you can go suck a duck butt. He nearly killed me.”

  “You’re being dramatic.”

  “Have him liquefy your brain for a few minutes and see if you still agree with that statement.”

  “Jayne, listen to me. Maléna will come.” His voice had an urgency to it that made me nervous. Mostly because he sounded nervous and I don’t think that was an emotion he usually suffered from.

  “Let her come,” I said cockily, even though I had plenty of misgivings. She had pretty much completely shut Ben down and sent him out – either with a simple command or with some blast of that tornado wind she had sent in. I wished I had spent more time with Céline learning about the silver elves. First thing I was going to do when I got back was talk to Tony about the gray elves’ plans for fae training. If it wasn’t too late, a primer course in fae basics was definitely in order. Those fools didn’t realize how much the changelings’ ignorance was hurting all of the Light Fae as a whole and risking our safety.

  I heard nothing for a minute or longer, so I assumed Ben had left and I was alone again with Tim, but then I heard a light tapping on the door. A voice was talking to me from the other side but it was too faint to hear. I moved closer. “What did you say?” I didn’t even know who it was. I put my hand at the door and could feel warmth, and it wasn’t just the wood. Ben.

  “Jayne. Please. I’m begging you. You’re going to break Tony’s heart by getting killed in here.”

  “Ben, why don’t you just leave me alone? I’m not coming out.”

  I jumped back in fright at the loud bang that issued from the door, shaking it on its hinges. I’d heard a sound like that before, when my mom and boyfriend would get into fights. That would be right before we would have new holes in the walls, courtesy of Rick the Dick.

  “Did you just punch the door?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow. Mature.”

  “I’m frustrated, okay? Tony is my friend ... was my friend. I know how much he cares about you. You’re going to die and he’s going to blame me.”

  Ben was making my head spin again. Could he be any more ridiculous? He orders my torture and then begs me to save myself by submitting to more of it? If this situation wasn’t so life and death, it would feel like typical guy shit. Say one thing, do another. Lead a girl on, making her believe he cares, and then dump her after she gives it up. It’s not like I had a whole lot of experience in the area, but I’d had my heart cracked once or twice by careless boys. I knew when I was being played.

  “You don’t need to worry about Tony or me. I’m not going to die and you walked away from Tony’s friendship when you brought me here.”

  I heard the low roar that told me Ben’s burning fury was getting the better of him. I pulled more of The Green into me, hoping I wasn’t going to have to battle through the elements with him. I didn’t have the fighting experience and definitely not the confidence. I was on the wrong turf too. Maybe if I had my fae peeps behind me, I’d feel differently. But here, all I wanted to do was hold the bad guys off until I could make my getaway.

  I heard more noises in the hallway and some shouting. Ben’s warmth disappeared from my radar and was replaced with a cold silence.

  “What do you think they’re doing?” whispered Tim.

  “I have no idea. But it’s creeping me out – the silence.”

  “Me too.”

  We moved closer together, away from the door, sitting down on the bathroom floor next to each other.

  “If things go badly for us here, I just want you to know how much it has meant for me to be your friend,” said Tim, looking down at his tiny hands.

  “Same here, Tim. But we’re getting out of this. Alive. Our friends are going to come.”

  “Were you able to contact them?”

  “No. But I’m going to try again in a minute. I’m just a little afraid of taking my concentration off the big power bubble I put up around the bathroom.”

  Tim look around and up at the ceiling. “We’re in a bubble right now?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what I call it. I imagine a giant bubble of power made out of The Green and it just goes there.”

  Tim smiled. “I feel better already.” He looked at the bathroom door, yelling happily, his tiny middle finger held out in front of him, “Screw you, Dark Fae! You’ve been bubble shunned!”

  The smile immediately left both our faces when we heard the answering wind. My mouth dropped open and all of the blood drained from Tim’s face at the same time. Maléna was back, and she was doing something inside the wind, just outside the door.

  Chapter 26

  The howl of Maléna’s tempest was getting louder and louder. I’m not sure if it sounded like a total level-five storm to me because I was hearing things more acutely, or if she was really brewing up something that powerful for us. I could see the door to the bathroom shaking from the force, but inside our power bubble, we didn’t feel anything. The wind didn’t touch us or anything nearby. It’s as if the bathroom was in the eye of her hurricane.

  The Green hummed continuously, neither fading nor wavering in its strength. The winds outside the door were wailing, making Tim and me very nervous. He climbed up my sleeve and sat on my shoulder, clutching a fistful of my hair, just in case. It wouldn’t take much of a breeze to send him into the wall.

  “How long can you hold her off?” Tim asked.

  “I don’t know. Forever? It’s not like keeping it up is tiring me out or anything. I can feel the shield, and it seems strong.” I didn’t want to tell him my theories or fears out loud, but I had a sneaking suspicion these Dark Fae were using the wrong weapon against me. Maybe I was totally out in the weeds, but it seemed like the only way to fight an elemental was to use the other elements. I think Samantha and Maggie had gotten to me before by coming at me right through the power I was using – and having the ley line there to help. It’s possible I was wrong; but if I wasn’t, I hoped like hell Ben didn’t figure it out. Apparently Maléna could control the wind to some degree – but not like Ben could. I’d been calling him a Dark Fae demon all along, but that’s not what he was. I knew that now. He was an elemental like me.

  I remembered that one night when Ben came riding into Tony’s room on the wind. It was a totally different sensation than the one Maléna was creating here. She could control some wind by traveling in it, but the element Wind did Ben’s bidding – the way Earth did mine through The Green. None of the other fae could do that. This I knew from what Dardennes had said, and because when I was in my Element, doing what I do, I knew I was alone there. I was aware of the other fae and creatures who were connected in through their own unique abilities, but none of them controlled the Element itself.

  “So how do you see us getting out of this?” asked Tim, interrupting my thoughts.

  “That’s a great question. I guess I imagine being rescued. I can use The Green to shield us, but I still can’t get out of this spelled compound. Unless someone comes to get us, how can we possibly escape?”

  “We could take a hostage.”

  I laughed humorlessly. “With what? My scary breath? No, wait ... I’ll tell you what – I’ll grab that wood sprite next time he comes near the door and you
can fart in his face. That’ll put him under your spell and then you can order him to show us the way out.”

  Tim pulled my hair. “Very funny. I had a more realistic plan, like having Chase come get us, but if you’re going to be a comedian ... ”

  “Chase? As in the recently pixelated Chase?”

  “Yeah. Maybe they’ve fixed him. He’s here somewhere, right? They must not know about him or they would have already used him against you. Maybe that Goose guy can help too. He didn’t seem so Dark Fae-ish to me.”

  The way he said that sounded funny. I twisted my head to try and get a look at him, but he hid behind my hair. “How many Dark Fae do you know, anyway?”

  He didn’t answer right away.

  “Tim ... ?” I warned.

  “A few, okay. I know a few. Some better than others.”

  “Who exactly do you know, and how well? And don’t play games with me. We need to explore every option.”

  Tim sighed heavily, right by my left ear, making me get goose bumps all down my arm and leg on my left side. I reached up and grabbed him, holding him out in front of me. I bent my legs up so that he could stand on my knee and be at eye level with me.

  “Spill it, Tim. I know you have secrets. It’s time to share.”

  “Fine.” He sat down on my knee with his legs folded. “I might have a ... mumblemumblemumble ... ” The rest of his sentence faded out so low I couldn’t hear it.

  “Say that again? And at a volume that someone other than a dog could hear, please?”

  “I said that I might have a wife flying around in here somewhere.”

  I almost sent him flying across the room without the use of wings when I heard that little priceless nugget.

  “You what?!”

  Tim just folded his arms across his chest, saying nothing.

  “And why are you just now telling me this? Don’t you think it might have been important to share that fact before?”

  “Why? It’s not like she would do anything to help us. She’s Dark Fae!”

  “Was she Dark Fae when you married her?”

  “No. She changed sides.”

  I looked at him in shock. “Tim, that’s terrible.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  I looked at him in mock pity, still not very happy that he’d kept this from me. “Was it your gas problem?”

  Tim threw his hands up. “I can’t believe you’d joke around at a time like this!”

  I slapped both hands down on the stone floor. “Well, I can’t believe you’d hide this from me!”

  We both sat there, staring each other down.

  “Give it up, Tim. You know I’m gonna win this.”

  “No, you won’t. I can stare until a fae’s eyeballs fall out.”

  “All I have to do is lean in and blow my gnarly breath on you and it’s gonna be all over.”

  Tim held up his hands. “Okay, okay, I surrender. Keep your vom breath to yourself, woman. You win.”

  “So, tell me what happened, because I know she didn’t leave you for another pixie. You’re too hot for that.”

  “I know, right?” Tim shook his head. “That she-pixie was nuts. She never had it better than when she was with me. Her name is Abby. I rubbed her feet, stroked her wings, made her breakfast every day ... ” he sighed. “And then one day she was gone. Poof. A couple weeks later I found her at Maggie’s. Maggie had taken Abby from the forest – who knows what the heck she was doing out there, she never told me. Maggie was using her wings in one of her brews – some sort of deal they’d made. I stayed with her, giving up my wings in exchange for Abby’s release. After Abbey’s wings grew back, she left, promising to come back and get me when mine were grown in again. I waited an extra three days for her to come – and let me tell you, being at Maggie’s with wings? Scary. She’s always eyeing you, waving that wooden spoon around. I was sure one day she was just going to knock me over the head and take my wings all over again.”

  “So what happened next? Did Abby come back?”

  “No. She never showed, so I left. Then I flew around everywhere looking for her. Eventually I met up with some other small fae and they told me where she was. About two months later I saw her in the forest. She apologized but told me she was staying. She tried to get me to go too, but I told her no way. This pixie is no Dark Fae.”

  “Wow. That totally sucks.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “Yeah. She dumped me after seventy-five years of wedded bliss.”

  I nearly choked. “Seventy-five years? Holy bat balls, Tim. That’s a long time.”

  “Not really. Not for fae folk.”

  “It is in my book. Did she ever tell you why she went over?”

  “She tried, but I refused to listen. It’s all a bunch of propaganda anyway.”

  “Alright, so I guess we scratch her off the list of possible helpers.”

  “Yeah. Way off the list. If she tried to help I’d refuse to go with her.”

  “Well, let’s not get crazy. If she offers, we’re taking her up on it. Then we’ll tell her what a ho-bag she is for leaving you.”

  Tim smiled at me. “Okay. Deal. But run really fast after you say it. She’ll pixie you for sure if you call her a ho-bag.”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that part – the pixelation stuff.”

  “Do you hear that?” asked Tim, his head cocked.

  “Hear what?”

  “Nothing. That’s my point. That howling wind is gone.”

  I listened, and sure enough, he was right. It was silent outside the door.

  I put Tim on my shoulder and then stood, walking cautiously over to the door and putting my ear to it, listening for any sounds coming from the hallway. There was nothing, and no heat either. I got down on my hands and knees and lowered my eyes to the floor, trying to see under the door. There wasn’t enough of a crack to be able to tell if there were any feet there. I stood back up.

  “Is anyone there?” I called out. I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually answer, but figured it was worth asking.

  “Do you think we’re all alone here now?” asked Tim.

  “I don’t know. It’s not like we need a guard; we can’t leave the hallway. Do you know what time it is?”

  “I have no idea. I’m not sure if we’ve been here half a day, a whole day, two days ... without windows and regular mealtimes, it’s hard to say.”

  “I know. Well, they’ve been pretty much constantly harassing us for hours. Maybe we can assume it’s nighttime since they’ve finally left us alone. That means we have several uninterrupted hours while they sleep to try and contact our friends.”

  “Go for it. And then we need to try and sleep too. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “You stand here on my shoulder. If you hear anyone coming, signal me. But don’t pull too hard.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He giggled.

  “Tim, I’m not playing.”

  “Oh, me neither.”

  I sighed. And then I blocked out all thoughts of Tim and his hair pulling from my mind. I needed to focus through The Green and find my friends. We had an SOS signal to send and a rescue to arrange.

  Chapter 27

  I finally found Finn, but he was really far away. He was able to contact green elves at the compound, but there weren’t enough of them there to do anything for me now. He sent me images of groups of green elves and daemons working together in preparation, but I didn’t have any idea how far in the future these forecasted images would actually become reality. I sent him visions of Tim and me in the bathroom. He seemed confused by it, but I didn’t know what else to show him. I flashed him mental pictures of Ben, Maléna and Leck. I hoped he understood that if he saw any of them, his job was to shoot first and ask questions later.

  I found Becky again and tried to let her know I was okay. All I could get from her was a feeling of panic and anxiety. This water communication thing needed a lot of work. I severed the link, frustr
ated that I wasn’t getting anywhere with it.

  Tim’s snores distracted me from my attempts, so I decided to give up for now. I’d done all I could anyway. I made myself as comfortable as I could, piling up a bunch of paper towels under my head on the floor as a pillow. I drifted off to sleep thinking about how hungry I was.

  My mind was a whirlwind of sleepy dream sounds and fuzzy images. Fae and people from my past mingled together, talking to me, yelling, crying and eating even. It’s like I was having a life review and there wasn’t enough time to get it all done in order. Someone had taken my cookie jar of memories and shaken it up really good, throwing the crumbs out on the floor. Now I could hear Tony’s voice.

  “Jayne! Jayne! Is that you?”

  Of course it’s me. This is my dream.

  “Jayne, it’s me Tony. I’m in the Gray. Can you hear me?”

  Tony was here? In the Gray? Am I in the Gray?

  “Tony?”

  “Oh, thank God, you answered. I’m projecting across the astral plane right now. I can see you; can you see me?”

  “No.” I had no idea if I was answering out loud or just in my head. This is so confusing.

  “Where are you? This looks like a bathroom.”

  “It is a bathroom. I’m in the Dark Fae compound somewhere. I have no idea where. Their hallways are spelled. I’ve only seen one cell carved out of rock and two bathrooms. I have The Green protecting us in here. I couldn’t channel the power in those other rooms. We’re in here due to some ... uh ... technical difficulties.”

  “What do you mean? ... Never mind, you can tell me later. It’s not safe for me to stay here. I just wanted to tell you that Chase is coming for you. He’s coming. Just sit tight.”