“Whaaat? You mean you talk to angels and demons?”
I couldn’t see Céline’s face, but I heard her chuckle. “You could say that. But it’s not that glamorous. Usually it’s a case of one of them being in the Here and Now, lost, and it’s only by chance that we meet up with them.”
“Oh,” I said, all sly-like, “you mean like when bugganes are caught near the compound?”
Céline stopped walking but didn’t turn to face me. For a moment she said nothing, and then she began walking again. She was probably hoping I wouldn’t notice, but that was like me not noticing Tim’s farts. It’s just not possible.
“Bugganes, Céline? Know any?”
Céline stopped again and turned to face me, sighing. “How do you know about bugganes?”
“I don’t know about bugganes, I know about the buggane, the one in your dungeon.” I lifted an eyebrow at her, daring her to contradict me.
“How?”
“A little bird told me.”
Tim pulled my hair and it took all my concentration not to wince.
Céline frowned. “Your little bird is going to get himself into trouble one of these days.”
“I believe that bird has already flown the coop, actually, but that’s not the point. The point is, I saw this buggane, whose name I almost said, thank you very much, and he had some interesting things to say.”
Céline’s eyes nearly popped out of her head at that one.
“ ... Yeah, Céline, you might want to tape a sign to the door next time? One that says something like: ‘Warning! Don’t say this buggane’s real name, or he’ll eat your face off.’ That information might have been nice to know before I went in there.”
“You went in? To see the buggane?” She was staring at me with her mouth still open, an incredulous look on her face.
“Well, technically no, since I was blind at the time. I couldn’t see shit, but I could sure hear it.” An involuntary shudder went through my body as I recalled his Chase-like voice and otherworldly howls.
Céline choked on her own saliva. “You ... gaahhh ... went into the buggane’s cell when you were blind? Are you mad?”
“Mad? Mad at who? You? A little, I guess.”
“No, I mean mad as in crazy. Mentally deficient. Nuts, as you changelings say.”
“I told her it was a bad idea,” piped up Scrum, finally weighing in.
I turned and scowled at him before continuing, “Oh, I get it. No, I’m not mad or mental. I’m a changeling who keeps screwing up and wanting answers. A changeling who’s losing friends left and right and wants to know how to stop it. The buggane had some answers for me, so I’m glad I went. But he made more questions come up. So here I am, talking to you now, getting answers to those questions.” I threw my hands up in frustration. “It’s like it never ends around here – mysteries, questions, secrets ... ”
Céline looked down at the ground, unable to respond.
“Listen. It doesn’t help any of us fae to keep secrets from each other; don’t you get it? I almost had my head bitten off, literally, by the boogie monster you have locked in that room. I nearly blinded myself with my own powers yesterday. All of this is preventable shit. When are you going to let me into your inner sanctum of knowledge?!” My voice had steadily increased until I was nearly yelling. That’s why I was completely taken off guard when Céline started laughing.
“What?” I asked suspiciously. “What’s so funny?”
Céline fanned her glowing face, a smile plastered across it. “Nothing, nothing. Just your choice of words – inner sanctum of knowledge. Oh, how I wish we had one of those.”
“What? You’re all as clueless as me? I find that hard to believe.”
“No, not that. And for the record, you aren’t as clueless as you think you are. You just don’t trust your instincts enough and you don’t give yourself enough credit. If you had the confidence you should have, based on who and what you are, you would be able to muddle out most of the answers you need. All of the ingredients are around you and available to you. Mix them together and the answers will appear.”
“You sound like a witch making a brew.”
Tim said brightly, “Well, you do kinda look like Maggie the witch when you first wake up!”
I reached back to try and grab him but he swung out of the way on my ponytail.
Céline shrugged. “You may do better using a little magic, but I believe you are capable even without.”
“Well, I can’t use magic, so I guess I’m going to have to take the long way around.”
“Don’t be silly. You are an elemental. You are of the magic. The magic flows through you.”
I eyed her suspiciously. “It sounds like you’re telling me I can do witch spells.”
She smiled. “We have been telling you since the beginning – you are capable of great, great things. It is becoming clearer to us every day that you are our Mother. But we don’t expect you to learn everything in a month, a year, or even a decade. Trust me, it’s a lot to learn. Even the oldest among us doesn’t know all that you are capable of ... you’re a delightful mystery with many powers that all of us on the council look forward to discovering right along with you.” She smiled comfortingly at me.
“Not that old witch dude. He doesn’t like me at all.”
“Who Red? He’s not so bad. You just need to get to know him better. You’ll see. He’s a bit like Niles. Gruff on the outside, all soft on the inside.”
“Ha! Right!” I shook my head. “So about this buggane ... ”
“Yes. About the buggane.” She got serious again.
“He told me that he served with Chase, up in the Overworld. Is there any chance he could be confused about that?”
“I do not know the ways of the buggane. They are indeed tricky creatures. But I don’t believe he could lie to you. We were able to determine that he was, in fact, assigned to your protection by Chase or someone caring for Chase.”
I added it up as best I could. “Okay, so what you’re saying then, is if the buggane said it to me, it must be true?”
“True as far as the buggane knows. They are merely low-fae, so you must take that into consideration.”
“Low-fae. Ick! Gack!” said a disgusted Tim.
I ignored him. “Low-fae? What’s that? I’ve heard it before.”
“They are fae who don’t mix with the general fae population. They shun the company of other fae, except when they prey on them. We call them low-fae.”
Tim added, “I call them the lower-than-low-fae. Fae eaters, all of ‘em.”
His reaction seemed overly strong, even though they were technically cannibals I guess. “Seems kinda discriminatory to me.”
She shrugged. “The term is an old one. They don’t seem to mind it.”
We had reached the door leading to the compound. Céline opened it and stepped inside, waiting for us just by the entrance. “Did I answer all of your questions?”
I rolled my eyes and tried not to notice her flinch at it. “I guess. Maybe. Then again, you created about twenty new ones, so if I do the math, the answer is a definite no, since I’m walking away with more questions than I came with.”
Céline’s laughter at my frustration practically twinkled it was so sparkly. “You are a joy to be around, Jayne, I hope you know that.”
I looked at her face to see if she was messing with me, but it appeared as if she were being sincere. I shook my head in pity. “I think you’ve rode the wind a few too many miles, Céline.”
She reached out and rubbed my back as we walked down the hall. “You were only human for seventeen years. Perhaps after a few more years as fae you will begin to see in yourself what we see in you.”
I smiled reluctantly, wondering how it was that this mysterious silver elf could possibly appreciate me more than my own mother. “Well, I’m going to see what I can do to earn your praise, anyway. I can’t promise I’m going to succeed though. I don’t want anyone getting their hopes up about thi
s whole Mother thing.”
Céline shook her head. “It’s not about hopes. I am who I am. You are who you are. The nosy pixie riding behind your hair is who he is.” She reached the door to Dardennes’ office and opened it, pausing in the entrance. “We do not desire to change anything. Everything is exactly as it should be, as imperfect as it sometimes seems.”
“Okay, silver elf, if you say so.”
“I do. Now go have some lunch. I will see you later.”
“Okay. Later, then.” I walked away from the doorway, headed to the lunchroom, thinking about what she said.
“I’m totally busted,” said Tim, his voice muffled in my hair.
“Yeah. But you’re perfect the way you are, nosy parker.”
“I know. Doesn’t take a genius silver elf to know that, though.”
I smiled. “High-one, pixieman, high-one.” I held up my finger near my shoulder so he’d come out and slap his hand on it.
He obliged me and then burped. “Are we there yet? I’m hungry.”
I sighed and shook my head as I reached for the door, pulling it open.
I was completely unprepared for the sounds and visions of chaos that reached my ears and eyes.
Chapter 6
Fae were standing in huddled groups, yelling intermittently, and holding out utensils and plates in front of them like weapons and shields. Food was all over the floor and tables as if there had been a massive food fight – or as if people had been in the middle of eating lunch and suddenly decided to use their fully-loaded-with-food plates as armor.
My eyes were drawn to the place that all of them faced, seeing for the first time the object of their fear.
The buggane had gotten loose, and he was standing in our lunchroom.
“Gor... ,” I started to yell, before I caught myself and started over. “Chase! What are you doing?” Now I was finally able see what a Chase, slash, buggane monster looked like – and it was nuts. Yes, he looked like Chase. But then again, he didn’t. He was too lumpy and too shiny – and there were hairy parts where there shouldn’t be hairy parts. It was kinda gross actually. I think I might have seen some drool drop out of his mouth too. Ugh.
“Jayne!” it roared back at me. “I found you! Finally!” It started to move towards me and Scrum shoved me to the side, standing between it and me.
“Stop right there, buggane!” he yelled, his hand out, palm up.
“Scrum,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder, “just give me a minute.”
Scrum didn’t even look back at me. “No way, Jayne. My daedar is screaming warning bells at me. This thing isn’t getting anywhere near you.”
The buggane fixed Scrum with a malevolent glare. A glob of drool fell out of its mouth and made a splatting sound as it hit the stone floor. My stomach turned over at the noise, and I tried like hell not to look at it, but my curious brain wouldn’t le me. Oh, shit. Buggane drool. I could have lived a thousand years without ever seeing that and been perfectly happy.
The entire dining hall was quiet, everyone breathlessly waiting for events to roll out. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed Finn, slowly notching an arrow in his bow.
“Finn, wait!” I yelled, turning away from him quickly because I didn’t want the monster to know who Finn was or what he was doing. I tried to distract the buggane by talking directly to him. “So, Chase, ummm, what are you doing here? In the lunchroom, I mean. Do you want some food? We have some nice squiggly meats over there you might like.”
He lifted his head and sniffed the air. “I smell a pixie. I like to eat pixies.”
That made me mad. I shoved Scrum to the side a couple inches so I could stand next to him. “The pixie’s not on the menu, boogie man. And stop drooling! This is our lunchroom, for shit’s sake. Have a little class. You know, you don’t have to act low just because you’re call a low-fae.”
The buggane frowned at me. “You are disappointed in me, Jayne? Why? I am here to protect you.”
“Of course I’m disappointed in you! You’re supposed to be ... I don’t know, representing the coolest guy I know practically – and you’re fucking it up big time. Chase doesn’t drool. And he doesn’t threaten to eat my friends. Shame on you.”
He actually looked chagrined. “Sorry.”
I looked at Scrum to see if he was as stunned by that response as I was. Yep. Then I looked at the audience of mostly changelings, holding up their plates and forks. Yep, them too. I’m not sure that any of us had the experience necessary to fairly assess a buggane’s behavior, but even to us rank amateurs, this seemed strange. I decided to just go with it.
“Good. That’s better. Now how about cleaning up the mess you made?” I waved my hand towards the floor. “Come on. Snap to it. Don’t make me wait.” Snap to it? Where in the hell did that come from? I was totally channeling B-movie dialogue without even trying.
He shuffled over to the nearest table and grabbed an abandoned napkin, going back to where he had drooled and getting down on his knees to wipe it up.
I turned to Finn and mouthed, What the fuck? And he put his hands up in response, telling me he was as baffled as I was.
Gorm stood up, the napkin held loosely in his hand, looking as if he was waiting for further instructions.
“Are you hungry? Do you want the moving meats on the buffet?”
He nodded his head silently, looking very forlorn.
“Jayne, don’t even think about it! I’m not kidding,” said a frustrated Scrum, getting madder and madder by the minute. “He’s just trying to trick you. He’s going to eat you or something.”
“He can’t. He’s been sworn to protect me.” I hoped like hell I was right, as I pushed past Scrum and headed to the buffet. I wanted to watch Gorm like a hawk the whole time, but something told me to act cool about it – as cool as it was possible for me to act when I was shaking in my moccasins.
“Jayne!” whispered Tim. “Are you completely off your rocker now? Did that power surge fry your very last common-sense brain cell? He can smell me, Jayne. Smell me. Did you get that?”
“Shut up, Tim,” I whispered feverishly. “Everything’s going to be fine.” Or at least I was hoping it was going to be fine. Hopefully the way to a buggane’s heart was through his stomach – full of squiggly buffet meats and not pixies.
I piled a heaping helping of the unsavory daemon meats onto a plate and turned to give it to Gorm. He had moved and was now standing very close to me, causing me a minor heart attack when I suddenly realized he was within face-eating range. Scrum was just behind him, ready to give him a power squeeze if necessary, which only made me feel slightly less afraid. I considered pulling The Green up into me for protection, but I was worried about my eyes. I couldn’t afford to go blind again, especially at this particular moment.
I held out the plate. “Why don’t you take this to one of the tables over there and have a seat. I’ll be right over.”
Gorm took the plate from me docilely and did what I told him to do. I watched as he sat down, hunched over his meal, and began shoveling it in with an abandoned fork he’d found on the table. I decided that table manners were probably too much to ask from a buggane, and turned my attention back to Scrum – a very angry Scrum.
“If you keep doing this kind of stuff, I cannot guarantee your safety, Jayne. Do you have any idea what that does to a daemon? To feel that way about his charge?”
I put my hand on Scrum’s arm to placate him. “I’m sorry. I know you take your duties very seriously. But what was I supposed to do? Zap him and maybe go permanently blind? Let Finn shoot the one guy or the thing who still had a connection to Chase? No. We can’t do that. He’s my ticket to getting Chase back, and I’m not letting him go.”
He hesitated for a moment and then said, “Okay, but why does it have to be you taking these risks? Why not someone else?”
I looked around, throwing my arms up. “Who? Do you see anyone else around here volunteering?”
Scrum look
ed around and then cast his eyes down. “No.”
“Exactly. If not me, then who? Not those wimp changelings over there, using their damn dinner plates as protection. Pfft. Like that could stop a hungry cannibalistic buggane. Idiots.” I shook my head in disappointment with my fellow recruits. I was beginning to think a lot of these Light Fae were total chickenshits.
I turned to go join Gorm, but Scrum grabbed my arm. I looked down at his hand gripping my arm and then up into his eyes. “What now?”
“Just. Be careful, is all.” He sighed deeply. “And wait for me.”
I smiled, patting his hand before pulling it off my arm. “With pleasure. Now come on, grouchy.”
We walked over and joined Gorm at the table, sitting on either side of him. The crowd at the other end of the room decided to skip the rest of their lunch and quickly filtered out of the room. The only one left standing there was Finn, but not for long. Seconds after the last changeling left the room, the door flew open and Tony and Spike came rushing in, both of them looking panicked.
“Jayne!” yelled Tony, his face going white. I swear I saw his body start to go misty on me, but then it was back, making me wonder if I’d imagined it.
Spike’s eyes were swirling red and black like crazy – mostly black. It looked weird as hell. “You need me, Jayne?”
I smiled. “Nope. Not right now. Maybe later.”
Spike smiled, slowly shaking his head. “Never a dull moment with you, is there?”
I stuck out my tongue at him and he laughed, turning towards the door.
“Call me if you need me later. You know what to do.” He gave me a meaningful look and flashed me one of his killer smiles before going through the door and letting it swing shut behind him.
Tony and Finn began walking over slowly and carefully, their eyes scanning back and forth from me to Gorm and back again. Finn still had his arrow notched in his bow, just waiting for one wrong move from our boogieman.
Gorm couldn’t have cared less about us. He was too busy polishing off the last bit of meat on his plate. With his mouth more full of food than I thought was even possible, he gestured to the plate. “Mo?”