Ever After

Chapter Twenty-Five



There's-s-s a car at the curb," Belle said as she appeared at my open bedroom door, and a jolt went through me. Quen. Finally.



"Tell Ivy to stay put. I'll get it," I said when six enthusiastic pixies darted into my room with the same message, all of them chattering loud enough to give me a headache. "Ivy!" I shouted before she could move. "I'll get it. You watch Nick."



I touched the rings in my pocket for reassurance as I shooed everyone out of my room and shut the door behind me. Pace fast, I headed for the sanctuary. Ivy was where I'd left her on the couch, stretched out and dangerously languorous, and I gave Nick a disparaging glance as I passed. "Don't let him move, whatever happens, okay?" I asked Jenks, and he left my shoulder to stand on the coffee table beside Jax. The smaller, tattered pixy shied at the soft clatter of his dad landing, and I hoped that the two of them would start to talk again.



Stomach churning, I went to the door, promising myself that if I lived through this, I was finally going to get a light in the foyer.



"It's Quen!" one of Jenks's kids said in excitement as I undid the bolt to the front door and peeked out into the lamp-lit dark.



Relief filled me as I pushed the heavy oak door open wider in invitation. Quen was getting out of the black beamer parked at the curb, and my face warmed as I remembered him charging me with Trent's safety. And here I was the one asking him to help me. At midnight. On a weekday. To save the world a day ahead of schedule.



His hair slicked back, Quen was wearing all black again and soft-soled shoes. My eyes fell as I remembered the first time I had seen him. He'd looked like a gardener. Perhaps that was what he'd truly like to be.



"How are the girls?" I asked, and he brought his gaze back from where he'd been saying a soft hello to the pixy bucks braving the cold to escort him in. The light on the sign over the door made creases in his face. Or maybe it was the burden of his life balancing on a fine point. It was going to fall one way or the other.



"Doing well," he said, looking taller than usual because I was in my stocking feet. "Ellasbeth is getting to know them." A frown crossed his features. "They're locked in the closet until I get back. Did you have fun raiding the museum today?"



Smiling, I took his sun-weathered hand in mine as he extended it, pulling him into a hug instead. My eyes teared up as I remembered Ceri. The scent of cinnamon and warm wine filled my senses, and Quen took a quick breath to catch his grief. Anger at Nick flared, and I shoved it away. "I appreciate your help," I said, thinking that he smelled different from Trent, dark and warm, not green and warm. I wondered if it was a mark of more maturity or just an individual trait. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's just us. No demon assist."



His lip twitched, and Quen pushed me into the church, his hands heavy on my shoulders. "I'd rather it be that way. The girls will not be safe until this is settled."



From just inside, a pixy girl chanted "Come in! Come in!," and I stepped aside. He slipped past me, and I leaned into the night, looking for any pixy dust before I shut the door.



The latch clicked shut, and I turned toward the warmth and light. I gasped as someone pulled on the line out back, the draw so heavy that my knees almost buckled. Wide-eyed, I watched Ivy spring from the couch. "Quen, no!" she shouted, the dust from Jenks's startled kids sifting down to make her glow.



Heart pounding, I lurched into the sanctuary. Nick was sitting in his chair, hands bound before him, glaring at Quen. Ivy was between them, her face pale as Quen stood ready to fling a black ball of energy at Nick. His expression was terrifying with hatred. He knew Nick was to blame for Ceri's death-and I had let him walk in unawares. Shit. Could I be more clueless?



"Quen," I said softly, padding over to him. I reached to touch his arm, and he jerked from me, the curse sparking the air between us.



"Why is this filth alive?" he said, cords showing in his neck.



I put my hand on his arm again, gently tugging. "The gargoyles found him in the garden. He's my present to Al when this is over. You want to sign the card?"



"Tink's titties, I do," Jenks said, his dust a bright silver as he hovered beside me. Ivy was holding her breath. If Quen began throwing curses, Ku'Sox might drop into Nick just to see what was up.



"Quen . . ." I fidgeted nervously. "Al is not at all happy about what happened to Ceri." I couldn't say dead. This was as close as I could get without crying. "Until this is over, I want to know where Nick is, tied up in my church with a vampire and pixy guarding him."



Quen's expression pulled up into a hateful mask. "He killed Ceri!"



"Ku'Sox killed Ceri," I said. "Crap for brains here lied to her, knowing it would happen. I'm not going to let him hurt anyone else by allowing him to wander the universe. He's here. Where we can watch him."



With a twang on the line that made me jump, Quen let the curse in his hand dissipate. "He couldn't wander the universe if he was dead, either," he muttered. "You ask a lot, Rachel."



I gave Nick a nasty look-the smug son of a bitch pissed me off. "I know. I'm sorry."



Quen wasn't done yet, though, and Jenks's wings clattered when the man took several steps closer to the thief. "If you move, I will send fire through your spine and explode your brain from the inside."



Eyeing him darkly, Nick opened his mouth, and I gasped as Quen lashed out impossibly fast. Ivy jumped, but he'd only slapped him, and Nick's head was lolling as he struggled to focus. Up in the rafters, the pixies shouted their approval.



"Can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Quen said, dismissing Nick.



Nick was still trying to focus, and I turned to Quen. "I see your magic is back within normal parameters," I said as we headed to the kitchen. Jenks and Jax were inches away from each other. Neither one was dusting heavily in distress. This was good, right?



Quen's pace was slow as we entered the hallway. "Have you eaten yet?" he asked, surprising me. Hesitating at the top of the hall, he turned halfway around. "Is anyone hungry? We have time to eat before we go. I want to talk to everyone, and it might as well be over food."



He wants to eat?



"Pizza, maybe?" Quen said, squinting at Nick.



The pixies in the rafters shouted their agreement, but Ivy's expression said what I was thinking. Pizza sounded awful, and my stomach was already churning. "Sure, okay," I said when she shrugged. Maybe Quen wanted a last supper kind of a thing.



Quen's lips twitched as he glanced at Nick and then away. "Great, can someone else order it? I want to see what Rachel is wearing tonight." He took my elbow, trying to guide me back into motion. "You picked out something nice, right?"



I shivered at how similar his and Trent's speech cadences were. I felt like I was being pushed along, and I didn't like it. "Yes. Newt helped me."



"Newt?" he said, clearly thinking I was joking, and my feet slipped as I stopped to look behind me. Ivy already had the phone, and pixies were shouting out toppings. Jax seemed better, looking at his dad with something other than fear and shame. Nick was sullen as he sulked in the chair holding a tissue to his lip. He wouldn't try to go back to Ku'Sox until the last moment.



"Show me what you're wearing," Quen said, jerking me into my room.



"Hey!" I exclaimed as Quen shut the door behind him.



Arms over his chest, he exhaled in relief. "I see the appeal of living with pixies," he said softly, "but do they ever stop talking?"



"Only when they sleep." Eyeing him, I cocked my hip. "What do you want that you can't ask in front of everyone?"



He compressed his lips and came forward a step. "Can I see the rings?"



Suddenly recognizing the pizza as the distraction he had meant it to be, I nodded. Of course Quen would want to see them, and I reached into my pocket, little pings of energy jolting my burned fingertips. They clinked as they hit his outstretched palm, and his lips parted as he brought them close, nudging them apart with a careful finger. "They're nothing like wedding rings," I said as we looked at them in his creased and calloused palm. "Al recognized them. He almost destroyed them before I reinvoked them."



"Al helped you?" He was close enough for the scent of warm spice rising up between us to remind me of Trent. His fingers twitched as if to keep them for himself, and I stiffened.



"Sort of. And when this is over, we are going to destroy them," I said, suddenly nervous. I took a breath to tell him I had made a bargain with his goddess, then didn't. Trent probably had an arsenal of defunct magic that should stay that way. Besides, it sounded so lame. It had all been in my mind, hadn't it? Al had once said demons could do elf magic but didn't because it was considered beneath them.



Frowning, Quen held up the smallest ring. "I can't believe you managed this," he said quietly, and I was suddenly glad I hadn't told him how I'd done it. They were evil in a way I'd never considered, and I was going to destroy them right after I took care of Ku'Sox. Tonight.



"You need to leave so I can change," I said as I tugged them out of his grip and set both rings on my dresser next to my perfumes.



Quen walked to my dresser, turning his back on me but not leaving. His neck was stiff and his arms were crossed over his chest. I took a breath to tell him to get out, then decided against it. He probably had something else to say he didn't want the pixies knowing. Outside were the low rumbles of gargoyles, and not knowing how good their hearing was, I jerked out the pencil that had been propping the window up. It closed with a snap. Quen jumped, but didn't turn.



"You do know that we likely aren't going to come back," I said, satisfied that he wouldn't turn around. "One elf and a badly trained demon won't be enough."



"I have a duty," he said, and I frowned.



"Sure, make me responsible for Ray losing her father as well as her mother," I said as I got my boots out of the closet and let them clunk to the floor. God, it still hurt. It would for a long time, and my motions to change my clothes grew rough. Quen didn't move, and I thought of Al's opinion that Trent would have a better chance of success than Quen. Getting to him might be a problem.



Quen took up the rings, his silence making me uneasy. "If we fail, do you think Trent can kill him?" he asked as he fingered them, and I kicked my jeans off, feeling vulnerable.



"No." I held up my mom's linen bell-bottoms to me. "It's not so much that I doubt his abilities, but he is Ku'Sox's familiar. He's going to be as effective as spit. You can't kill a demon. Ask Newt." Or Ceri, or Pierce.



"I can hide your presence from the demons for a short time," Quen said, his back to me. "Perhaps long enough for the ever-after to collapse."



Teeth clenched, I balanced on one foot, then the other as I put my pants on. They were lined in silk, and they felt surprisingly nice. "I'm a demon," I said softly. "If they want me, they summon me. I'm theirs."



"The band of silver you cut off," he started.



"No." I zipped up my pants, swishing back and forth to watch the way they moved. "Thanks for coming out here on such short notice. Apparently I've bankrupted both Al and Newt. Ku'Sox has petitioned that Al be confined, which just leaves us unless you want to take the time to break him out of jail."



Quen took a breath, and I made a noise when he threatened to turn around. "They can't summon you if you wear charmed silver. You could put it on until the ever-after goes and the demons are gone," he said, his neck stiff.



"And then what?" I said, bad tempered. Is he trying to talk me out of this or see how deep my resolve goes? Grabbing the hem of my shirt, I pulled it up and over my head. It was cold in just my chemise, and I tossed the tee to the floor. "It never occurred to you that I don't want the demons to die out? Maybe I like them, huh? Besides, Ku'Sox is using my line to kill them," I said as I shoved my arms into my top. "I'm partially responsible. You can stay here and watch Nick if you want. Someone needs to."



There was a knock at the door, and I buttoned the vest around me. "Pizza will be here in ten," Ivy said through the door, and then her steps retreated. Ten minutes-a lingering benefit of having been Piscary's scion. That, and Ivy tipped very well.



Distracted, I finished the buttons. "You can turn around now," I said, sitting on my bed to put on my boots.



Quen turned, rings clinking meditatively in his hands as his eyes traveled over me, taking in my choice of clothes. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. It had taken me three days in a car to learn Trent's tells. Quen was a lot harder. "What about Nick?" he asked, his voice flat as the rings shifted from hand to hand.



I stood there, feeling my toes sink into my boots. Shrugging, I took the rings from him and put them in the single vest pocket. "Everything he hears or sees is going right into Ku'Sox's head. I'm counting on it, which is one of the reasons we're going to do it tonight. What happens after tomorrow, I'll deal with tomorrow." Turning to the mirror, I stood beside him, gazing at our reflection and evaluating my new look. I touched my hair, deciding the braid was holding up well enough. "So we good?"



"Just one thing." I turned to him and he tossed his head to the front of the church when the bell gonged. "Don't eat the pizza."



I froze, as he reached for the doorknob. Taking a breath, I jumped into motion, confused. Don't eat the pizza? "Quen?" I jerked him to a halt in the hallway. I could hear the pixies in the sanctuary, Jenks berating Nick. "Why not?"



Posture furtive, he winced. "Didn't your father ever tell you not to eat with the elves?"



"Sure, because . . ." I stopped, my eyes narrowed as Quen's smile shifted and became not nice at all. "Because you might forget your life as you drink and make merry," I said, not liking this. It was a forget spell, temporary but effective, and Ivy and Jenks would be pissed. "Quen, I'm not going to lie to them."



"Even to save their lives?" Without another word, he strode into the brightly lit sanctuary.



Stupid-ass elves . . . I followed, my stomach churning. This wasn't right, and I felt torn as I stood at the top of the hall and looked over the sanctuary with Ivy's piano, my desk, Kisten's pool table, and the cluster of furniture. Quen was already there among them, looking as if nothing was amiss and he wasn't about to charm them all into forgetfulness. Nick was still sitting in his chair, watching Ivy at the front door taking the pizza and paying the man. Pixies were everywhere, the colored silk and bright voices filling the air. Jax was sitting on the coffee table with Belle, but it looked as if she was talking, not guarding him. There was a cheer when the church door shut out the cold, and Ivy came back to drop the pizza on the coffee table right in front of Nick. Don't eat the pizza.



Panicked, I met Ivy's eyes, and she hesitated, eyebrows high. Nick gagged, and the pixies descended, working together to get the box open before diving in to snitch the steaming pineapple. I felt alone and apart in the hallway, unable to shake the feeling that it was just another Thursday night. Pizza, movie, and shocking the token human by eating tomatoes.



Slice of pizza in hand, Ivy eased closer, the diverse but weirdly complementary scents of vampire and pizza flowing over me. "Remember this," she said, smiling sadly as she looked at the chaos.



I couldn't take my eyes from her pizza, torn. "Because it won't ever come again," I finished, guilt tugging at me. I was not going to lie to her. "Don't eat the pizza."



She hesitated. Jenks was watching us, and I made a small finger motion as he oversaw his kids fighting over the crust to get the one with the most sauce. Wings humming, his dust shifted to a brilliant yellow.



"What does everyone want to drink?" I said softly, turning on a heel to vanish into the kitchen. Quen's eyes bore into my back. He couldn't have possibly heard me warn Ivy, but he wasn't oblivious to her alertness, either. My heart pounded. I didn't want my friends dead, but I wouldn't lie to them. Ivy would follow. We could talk in the kitchen. The truth was going to hurt, but a lie would be worse.



"Ivy, can I speak to you and Jenks for a moment?" Quen said, and my pace faltered.



Maybe not . . .



"They're helping me with the drinks," I shouted. "Quen, watch Nick, will you?"



My heart thudded as I walked from the noisy throng, but the kitchen was welcomingly cool, and I put a hand to my face, not sure what I was going to say as they followed me in, clearly curious. Frustrated, I turned my back on the small window over the sink.



"Okay, what the hell is wrong with the Turn-blasted pizza?" Jenks said, an unsure green dust sifting from him like an underwater sunbeam. "I'm starving here!"



I thought about what Quen said, and then how they trusted me, not just to have their back, but to not stab them in it, either. "Quen . . ." I started, then threw my hands up, my heart thudding. "He charmed it. I don't want you coming with Quen and me tonight. Either of you. Okay?"



"Oh, but elf boy out there is good enough, huh?" Jenks said, his voice virulent.



He was dusting a silver green I'd never seen before, and I came forward, pleading with my eyes. "Jenks, we both know it's too cold for you. Ivy, as much as I want you there-"



She shook her head, feeling her throat as if remembering how easily Newt had pinned her. "I'm not any help, am I?"



It really wasn't a question, and I felt awful. "You are," I pleaded. "Just . . ."



"Just not tonight," she finished. "It's okay," she said around a sigh, her gaze distant, as if looking at the future. I couldn't tell if she saw me there or not.



"It's not okay," I said softly. "It stinks." Jenks was dusting a sour green in the corner, as far from me as he could get. He looked capable and ready, but I knew he would freeze tonight, and so did he. "This isn't what I wanted," I whispered, and his dust flashed silver, even as he refused to look at me.



"But this is where you are," Ivy said, and my shoulders eased. "Go with Quen. I'll watch Nick. All of us will," she said, her voice hard with warning and Jenks clattered his wings at her. "He'll be here when you get back, dead or alive."



I was smiling, though something was dying in me. "You guys are too good to me."



"Only because you made me so," Ivy said, her eyes glinting with unshed tears.



The weirdest feeling of anticipation filled me, seeing them both there in my kitchen, willing to let me go, knowing that I could do this, and trusting me. "Oh my God," I said, eyes swimming. "You are going to make me cry!" I sniffed, then moved about the kitchen, gathering everything up that I wanted to take-magnetic chalk, pain charms-it wasn't much, and I stifled a swift pang of worry. I snatched my cell phone at the last moment, tucking it in a back pocket after making sure it was on vibrate.



"Ivy!" Quen shouted from the living room. "Get back out here and watch Nick, or I'm going to kill him myself!"



I smiled, giving Ivy a hug as Jenks hovered over both of us. "When I get back, we are all going to go out and do some serious vigilante work."



"Ivy!" Quen bellowed. "I'm counting to three!" He couldn't leave Nick, and he didn't want to trust himself to bring him back to the kitchen.



"Thanks. For everything," I said, and Ivy touched my arm before she turned and left the room. My smile slowly faded as I looked at Jenks, who was dripping an angry dust. It still felt like good-bye, but that was okay now.



"See you at sunrise," he said, then turned, almost flying into Quen, the elf irate stomping into the kitchen.



The two of us alone, Quen stared at me, and I shrugged. "I'm not going to lie to them," I said, and his eyes narrowed.



"They'll follow us," he started, and I shook my head, not looking down the hallway to the bright sanctuary as I patted my pocket to be sure I had the rings and went into the back living room for my coat, hesitating until I remembered I had left it on the porch to air out.



"No, they won't," I said over my shoulder, feeling almost relaxed. Ivy and Jenks would wait for me. I wasn't losing them at all. "You're just mad that you don't have an excuse to do your charm."



"A little, yes," he complained as he followed me out. "Did something happen to the sanctity of your church again?"



My eye twitched. "Newt broke it so she could look in my closet." Again.



"Oh."



The night air was almost a slap as I opened the door, the soft breathing of the wind taking me by surprise. My coat was frigid as I jammed my arms into the sleeves, and Quen watched as I shoved everything but my chalk into a pocket. "No splat gun?"



Snapping the chalk in two, I wedged a piece into each boot. "He can burst the charms in the hopper and put me out in three seconds," I said, having downed Lee that way once-before we had come to an understanding. "It's your elven charms that are going to hold him, sweetheart. You up to it?"



"Sweetheart?" he muttered, and I turned to the graveyard with its glowing gargoyle eyes. Feeling good for some reason, I started down the stairs, boots clumping until I realized he wasn't following me. I frowned when he took a small, hourglass-shaped charm from his pocket and hung it on the nail the Christmas wreath had rested on. It was the first level of protection every home, be it Inderland or human, had, but we didn't have one up right now.



"Hey!" I exclaimed when he pulled the pin from the intricately detailed charm made to look like a wineglass pouring into another, and a shimmering wave of gold and black rose. Great leathery wings opened in the graveyard, and I shivered, thinking that it was like the demons of hell had come to life and were here to drag me to eternal torture for betraying my friends.



"You didn't lie to them," Quen said as I fumed. "I'm not going to risk Nick escaping."



My protest faded, and I almost fell off the step trying to see up to the top of the churchwide spell. "How long?" I said, my face cold, and he took my arm and turned me around.



"Sunup. Now: I'm doing this to save Trent. You're doing this to save the world. Yes?"



Sunup. If I didn't have this done by then, it wouldn't matter. Nervous, I stuck out my hand, wishing I had my other coat. This one completely ruined the sophisticated air I'd been going for, but it was hard to sling spells when your muscles were stiff with cold. "Deal."



We shook, and then together we went down the stairs to go around the front for his car. A hulking shape waited just inside the gate, and I gasped, almost running into a gargoyle. "Etude!" I said, flushing. It was obvious we had spelled the church.



"And you wonder why I refused to rest on your church," the gargoyle said, his voice incredibly low but holding a hint of amusement.



"Ah . . ." I stammered. "We, ah, need to get to Loveland Castle," I said, looking behind him at the rows of red and yellow eyes. "Are we too heavy for you, by chance?"



Etude grinned, and I shivered at the long black canines. "No. I don't think you are."