Night Finds (9 page)

“Sorry, I am strictly a carnivore, so I don’t think nectar will agree with me.”

“Interesting,” Gabe says. What is interesting, I have no idea.

“If memory serves me, we are on the south end of Faerie. The castle should be to the west of here. I really wish they got with the times and drove cars. I bet with the dead earth we were greeted with, they haven’t had any technological advances,” Hilda says. At least she seems to be with the program.

“Any idea how long you were ‘dead’?” Gabe asks the pixies.

“What part of dead don’t you understand? We had no consciousness so therefore we have no idea.”

I love the fact that they don't like Gabe. I don't know why, but watching them get hostile with him makes me laugh. Hilda said we need to go west and for some reason my compass is broken.

“Which way is west?” I ask. “You guys can continue your thrilling conversation if you want, but we need to get a move on it. We have wasted another half an hour.”

I really hope the castle isn't a long walk away. Sophia's new positioning is making me feel bigger and more awkward. I know in my mind I have been acting like a giant whale, but in reality I'm not that huge. At least that is what everyone around me guarantees.

“Right this way, madam,” Hilda says taking the lead. “Things are different, so I cannot be one hundred percent for sure the distance. It used to be about a mile if memory serves me. I am guessing you won't be willing or able to run it, which means we have about another fifteen minutes before we get there.”

The group finally starts moving and I am overjoyed. Alex and Sebastian keep glued to my side. I am surprised neither of them is offering to carry me. I might actually take them up on that offer if they did. They are on high alert, though, so I don't see it in my future.

“Do you know if the other races here in Faerie were affected by the deadness?” Gabe asks. He is just going to keep trying to make friends.

“If they came alive after we played power pinball and showed up to see us two minutes later, I am guessing they didn't have time to make any phone calls to their friends. I am starting to think you are trying to irritate them, Gabe.”

“Sorry, when my mind starts thinking of questions I cannot help but ask them aloud. Since I have not been to this land before, I am not certain there really are other species residing here,” Gabe replies.

I never expected to make this trip, so it isn't a subject I have read up on either. Keeping up on the weirdos in my own world is enough of a challenge. Lately, I have also had to start studying up on the various demons and angels out there as well. Neither race has been extremely fun to learn about. Because I, supposedly, am an angel, I have been trying to study them more than anything else. It gets boring.

“So, pixies, what kind of information can you give us about the inhabitants of Faerie? I don't know where all I am going to visit while I am here and it may be useful to know more about the people I meet.” I might as well keep my mind busy on this trek.

Clyde walks up next to me and I see that a handful of pixies have landed on his back. Too bad he hasn’t grown into his full size. I could ride him around too.

“Not going to happen. Even when I tower over you, I am not letting you up on my back. I am trying to take a page from your book and not throw these hitchhikers off. They are like giant fleas and they itch,”
Clyde relays. He is no fun.

I get my own set of hitchhikers on each shoulder. “Most escaped before the doors where closed,” a pixie I haven’t heard before says.

“They had the right idea,” another agrees.

“The trolls and gnomes I know left. Before the death came, I think there were some hobgoblins and brownies left. Mostly it is just the Queen’s people. Is the baby coming yet?”

Okay, where in the world did that question come from? We already went over the fact that Sophia wasn’t making an appearance while we were here. Their hibernation must have knocked a few brain cells loose.

“No, the baby is going to be a little while yet,” Sebastian replies. “You are still feeling okay, right?” He grabs my hand to let me know he is talking to me.

“I guess. Something feels a little funny, but it will be fine until we get back to the manor and you can give me a back rub. Pixies, do you guys have names? I don’t need to know everyone’s, but it would be easier to indicate who I am speaking to if I had some names.”

“You really want to know? You are only going to be in their company for an hour max,” Jonas says. I look over and he doesn’t seem to mind being rude because he is working to swat pixies away from him. Everyone in our group appears to be serving as a cab for the winged ones.

“I think you are opening yourself up for a headache,” Smitty claims.

“Yeah well you are just lucky that whatever lights this world doesn’t contain UV, so zip it,” I reply. It wasn’t really a worry when this world was all dark and dead, but now things are getting brighter. Smitty and Marcus would probably be okay if the issue came up, but Dante, Will, and the vampires in the standard guard would have problems.

“I am the leader of our little band and my name is Daffy. It is short for Daffodil, in case you were wondering,” the pixie on my right shoulder says. “My husband Traves is on your other shoulder. The rest of our group is made up of our children.”

Holy cow. That is a mess of kids. I still sometimes have issues imagining having just one.

“I don’t want to be technical here, but me and Will are considered your children by most people,”
Clyde reminds me.

The statement may be factual, but they didn’t keep me up all night with their kicking. I also didn’t have to use that time not sleeping to think about what fun it is going to be to try to push their big heads out of a hole the size of a nickel in comparison.

“I am guessing you started having children early in life,” I say not really knowing how to respond.

“Well, pixies do like to procreate. It is one of our driving forces. On another note, I do have a request for you while we are taking this journey together. We would like to leave Faerie and following you out may be our only hope. I am afraid that when you leave things will go back to the way they were. I don’t know how many years we have already lost, but I really want to give our children a better life,” Daffy says.

For once a mother’s plea actually makes sense to me. I already know I would do anything to improve Sophia’s way of life, so I can understand Daffy’s desire.

“I don’t know the way this land works. We had to get approval to come in. Won’t you need it to leave? Besides, aren’t you worried about the fact that Fae have problems living outside of Faerie?”

“If the door is open, I don’t think permission really matters, especially if we are hitching rides on you guys. As far as certain death waiting for us, that is only an issue for the Fae that harness the land's magic. That would be the Queen’s people. We are just overgrown dragonflies that like to have children.”

“What is your world like?” Traves asks from the other shoulder. “Even when the doors were open, we didn’t travel outside. We were told it would be dangerous for us because of our size.”

I could see where that would be an issue. Before towns like Night Owl City were in place there would have been a high probability of them being mistaken for bugs. Granted most people don’t go around killing butterflies, but they do capture and mount them.

“From what I have seen of your world, ours is a lot different. It has been developed to the point where you won't find a ton of open fields like this one. Almost everywhere you look there is infrastructure and what we would consider progress taking place. We don't have to do a ton of walking to get from place to place because we have automobiles and airplanes to assist in transportation,” I say. “What about the iron in our world. Do you think that will cause problems for you? I think a lot of the infrastructure that I mentioned is probably built with it.”

“I could assist if that does turn out to be an issue,” Hilda suggests. “I should be able to provide them with some resistance or even a special habitation dome to protect them from the outside evils in our world.”

“Alex, do you think the gardens at the manor would be big enough for them?” I cannot imagine they would be small with Hilda having a hand in them.

“It would be a nice fit and we don’t get much snow, so there would be year-round blooms for them. Do you guys do your own weeding? We won’t have to keep a gardener on staff if you can keep things in shape.”

“You honestly think my gardens would get weeds? That dirt wouldn’t dare allow even a dandelion to sprout,” Hilda insists.

“But dandelions are so much fun, especially when they are in their seed form. When the wind blows them we chase them around for hours,” Daffy claims. I can think of activities that are a lot more fun than chasing around dandelions, but if that is what floats their boats, I will have to look into planting a patch just for them.

“Sounds like we have a plan then. You will all be going home with us to hang out in the garden.” I cannot help being glad to finally bring home a large group who are all shorter than me to add to my misfits. Phee has grown a quarter of an inch or so and I am afraid she is going to somehow pass me in height. Any amount of heel she decides to wear already accomplishes the task. “Are we getting any closer?” The scenery on our walk has been somewhat interesting. Watching as flowers just grow out of nowhere is something I haven’t experienced before. I don’t think time lapse videos are this fun to watch and yet the outcome seems about the same.

The terrain itself has been rather hilly, which is about as fun for me at the moment as taking Phee to a mall. The mall might actually be more enjoyable. Not really, but I find the notion amusing for some reason.

“We should be able to see it once we finally make it over this hill. Just be happy we aren't in the northern region. It is made up of mountains that are great if you are planning on a skiing vacation, but would be Hell to actually cross.” With her new appearance, I could see Hilda being a ski bunny.

I push myself the last zillion yards, obviously that is an exaggeration. At the summit, we look down and find a castle sitting in the valley below. It isn't at all the bright and shiny place I was expecting to belong to the Queen of Faerie.

The area around it is nice and colorful, but I have a feeling that is just because the mates and I jump started it. If the building itself is any indication, it was just as burnt looking as the rest of this world was when we arrived. The castle is as large as I thought it would be. It isn't as big as Nantucket Manor, but it looks like it would serve a queen nicely.

The hill doesn't look too bad to climb down and it shouldn't take long, but I am still contemplating just laying down on my side and rolling the rest of the way. I don't think Sophia would appreciate it much, so the thought is short lived.

Hilda leads us down a path she carves out as we go. I am down to only having three hours left and I still have a potential hour of sitting down to a dinner I don't want to eat. Hopefully, the Queen isn't too big of a talker.

We reach the bottom of the hill and a group of regular size people appear out of nowhere. They look mostly normal, but they have good sized wings and single streaks of a reddish-magenta-like color in their hair. It is not a fashion statement I can get behind.

“It is about time you showed up. I have been waiting and that isn't something I do well,” the lone woman in the group says stepping forward. She is in a sleeveless, turquoise looking gown that has an orange belt thing around it. Add to the dress some green boots with heels and you have something I wouldn't be caught dead wearing.

I can see me and the Faerie Queen are going to have so much in common. Oh well, I just hope she eats fast because I have more important things to tend to.

Chapter 9

Oh goodie, more surprises

“Sh… I mean Great Scott!” Hilda says covering her eyes with her left hand. “Sylvia, why are you greeting us like you are the queen around these parts?”

“I wasn't expecting you to be in the party, Hilda,” the queenly looking woman says. I take it they have met and like most people Hilda runs into they aren't bosom buddies.

“I can see where that would cause a little dent in your game of charades. Where is your sister?”

“I am sorry, but we don't talk about her anymore. She has been tied up for years now and that is where she will remain.” For once the friction may not be Hilda's fault.

I take a gander at the guys standing behind Sylvia and I see a lot of sad and reluctant faces. They are fueling the something isn't right here vibe tickling my spine. That paired with Sophia hanging out in her downward dog, or whatever she is doing, position leaves me really uneasy.

“How in the... Dang it Nyx, pork that baby out so I can get my vocabulary back,” Hilda beseeches me. “I have a plethora of things I would like to say right now and over half of them are four-letter words.”

“Join the club. If I cannot cuss, I sure as heck don't want to hear others having all the fun.”

“The big difference there, Sweet Pea, is that you could if you really wanted to. You weren't dumb enough to cast a spell on yourself that made it impossible until after the baby was born. Brilliant me even put in loopholes because I knew days like today would happen and I would be tempted to lift the spell.” That is both clever and horrible at the same time.

“You are pregnant?” Sylvia asks studying my stomach. Why it wasn't the first thing she noticed baffles me. Of course, since I cannot really see my toes around it, I tend to see a whole lot of it.

“What this?” I ask putting my hands on each side of the butterball. “The doctors say it is a tumor that is expected to disappear in the next few days.”

She eyes me and if even for a second she believes me, I may just decide to kill her right now for her stupidity. “Which one of the men is the father?”

“I don't think that really matters. I would like to get on with whatever hoops I need to jump through to show our appreciation for being let into your world. My father is running out of minutes and I have no doubt his captors will start removing body parts if I am late.”