"Gray…Niall…Tryst, come on you guys, why the hell weren't you waiting inside the Goddess-forsaken door?" I had been calling out for them for either a couple of minutes or a couple of hours, wandering the narrow stone passageways. I moved on to cursing them as I wandered deeper, before realizing my loud, angry bitching was probably scaring away the very wee folk I was supposed to rescue.

“Goddess, please help. I’m at a loss,” I muttered, more for myself than in prayer. Ahead of me, a wisp separated itself from the torchlight and hovered for a moment before taking off around a corner. “Shit, I hope that’s help,” I added, then raced after it.

After a couple more pauses and abrupt turns, the narrow passage opened up to wider, smoother walls. A brownie eyed me cautiously as I approached, then raised an eyebrow. "I remember you."

“I remember you too. You’re Rosalind’s friend.”

“Tansy.”

“Right. Um, Tansy, have you seen some friends of mine? They were two very handsome, charming men, and one almost too handsome trickster.”

“Ah, they went to the font of forgetting to find his lover, the lady who cannot forget.”

I’d met her, too. “Geallta seemed pretty forgetful when I visited the pool last.”

“Not forgetful, just too full of memories to sort through them. We always thought she was…mistaken to think he would come for her. I will take you to them.”

The pool was just as I remembered, a queer disquiet in a tranquil place to see my lover pacing while Niall sat on the edge of the pool. Stranger still was Tryst, on his knees, his head in Geallta’s lap as she stroked his hair, singing softly.

“Okay, well, I would’ve stayed put until help arrived, but I guess I can’t blame you for coming here right away.”

Tryst didn’t move, but Gray rushed to me, lifting me into a bear hug and swinging me around. “How, what, how the hell did you get back here?”

“You forgot why and where, but yes, I got some help, got out of my jail cell, and just couldn’t stay away.”

Geallta continued to sing, nonsensical murmurs like you’d sing a baby to sleep. “He fell at her feet as soon as he saw her and hasn’t moved since,” Niall offered. “Hasn’t said a word, just made some sort of wordless cry and collapsed on her.”

"They've been apart a long time, Niall. I can't even imagine what either of them is feeling right now." I clung to Gray, and he kissed my hair.

“So, how did you get here?”

“The queen of the pixies made the bars of my cell bloody disappear and made me promise to save any of the wee folk I found down here.”

“And the nobles?”

I shrugged. “I can’t take them. They answer only to the high king, and I won’t jeopardize you or the wee folk to free his prisoners.”

A wisp appeared, and then another until there was a cloud of them hovering near the entrance to the reflecting pool. They whirled like a tiny, shimmering tornado, urging us to move along.

"Shit. We need to gather up the wee folk we can find and get out before the winklet think I've broken my promise." I reached out for Tryst, but thought better of it and grabbed Geallta's arm instead. "Time to go, Sweetie. You remember me, don't you?"

She smiled, her face lighting up. “I could see him in the water, but now he’s on the land.”

“I see that. Let’s take him with us, shall we?”

She giggled and pinched his cheek. “Come on, silly, we’re going to play with the pixie queen.”

Tryst stared up at me, his eyes red and bleary, face contorted in pain. “I’m too late. She’s gone, all that’s left is a beautiful child. I didn’t know what happened down here, and she was so strong, I always thought…”

I took her hand and guided her to her feet, and Gray bodily lifted Tryst, setting him on his. “Get her out, man, get her out and see what happens.”

Tryst blinked at him, his grief-fogged mind trying to make sense of Grayson Xenos being supportive. “Right. We all feel the effects right now. But you were fine the moment you left, right?”

Gray and I shared a glance. “I was exhausted, but after a nap, yeah, I was just fine. In fact, my power grew, significantly.”

“You absorbed more magic than you lost.”

“Which means that whoever is leeching the magic that the pit takes, needs a way to get down here without being seen,” I finished for him. “Which means we need to get the hell out of here before they know I came back.”

The clink of armor made me spin around, putting me face to face with the captain of Fortunato's guard. Tellis was with them, no longer in the simple shift she wore at her trial, but full regalia. My father had sent her to the one place Fortunato could get her out without being caught, and with more power, than she had when she set the traps in my room that had ensnared Penelope.

“Tellis, you look awfully clear-headed and well for an inhabitant of this Goddess-forsaken place.”

She snarled and pointed her lance at me, lightning shooting from the point. I leapt back, and it scorched the ground where I'd been standing. "And I have magic in my armor that lets me cast, too."

Gray cursed behind me, and I felt him reaching for his jaguar, and its muted cry in return. Shit. I don’t always have to be right, and this would’ve been the perfect time to be wrong. Shifters were Fae enough to be muzzled by the pit.

“Run.” I hissed. Without waiting to see if they obeyed, I pulled my knife and slashed my wrist, reaching again for the most powerful non-Fae magic I had. The pit responded to my blood before I could use it to cast, and a golem sprang from the earth between us, hungry for another taste. “It’ll have to do.”

Gray was herding Geallta out the doorway to follow the wisps, while Niall stood at my back, a small sword in hand. We shared a glance, and I took off after Tryst and our tiny guides, while battle cries and then screams of pain followed us.

"What the hell was that?" Niall was panting and bent over his knees. The wisps hovered near an old brownie, sitting cross-legged in the dirt, mending her clothes and muttering to herself.

“Tryst, get her. We must find a better way to lead the wee folk out to the meadow than one at a time.”

“We’re going to the meadow?” The little brown creature looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

"Oh, yes," Geallta clapped her hands in glee. "We're going to play with the pixie queen, just like she promised." Several more heads popped up from the piles of rags that lie strewn over the stone floor. A cry went up of ‘pixie queen' and ‘meadow,' and small fae of every kind began to show themselves.

“Now this is better. Everyone to the back door, please, it’s not good to keep a winklet waiting.”

Little feet scurried ahead of us, Niall and I almost walking backward as we kept an eye on the rear, while Tryst and Gray led from the front. I lost track of the corners we turned, always listening for the metal scraping and clinking of armor, or the gurgling cry of the bloodthirsty beast I’d accidentally called.

“Now. What the hell was that, Morgan?” Niall hissed at me as the path took a slight upward slope and the air began to feel less oppressive and stale.

“I think I called a Golem. The pit has its own magic, maybe that was a security feature no one bothered to mention.”

“Is it gone?” I didn’t answer, because I didn’t know. Portia had beaten the rule of planes into me. “Never do magic where you cannot control the outcome.” The rule was meant to stop witches from trying to blend disciplines, which amplified power, but had dangerous, and most often disastrous, results.”

“Okay, maybe you shouldn’t spill any more blood while we’re in here.”

At the front, Gray shouted a curse just as Tellis and Fortunato appeared in front of me. “I’ll be the only one spilling your blood, cousin.”