Kayla sat patiently still on one of the kitchen benches, turning her arm as necessary to allow Niko to examine the heavy gold cuff. Presumably the glasses, with their circular lenses and silver-etched polished-copper frames, allowed him to see something not visible to the unaided eye, akin to Riley’s magic ring.
She couldn’t decide whether it was more or less strange, having Niko back to his familiar appearance but not entirely to familiar behaviour. While she and Riley had been napping, he’d returned to the face they all knew, hair dark but no longer black and now threaded with silver; his face remained fairly nondescript but those rather quirky eyebrows, shaggy and apparently unable to decide what colour they were, stood out. His black leather jeans and t-shirt had become faded black denim and a beige t-shirt with a stack of books printed on it. The black backpack had become battered canvas instead of leather.
Falling asleep, under the circumstances, had felt very odd. Theo’s singing had more than countered the adrenaline keeping Kayla awake; the siren had promised to watch over her and Riley and make certain nothing and no one interrupted while they grabbed fully six hours of surprisingly restful sleep. At least, Kayla had been surprised; Riley had simply thanked Theo for the high-quality repose. There hadn’t even been any of the dreams Riley had warned her about.
It had been disorienting to wake to darkness, though, and a sky bereft of stars, the only light the faintly-blue glow from that glassy globe high above at the top of the fountain. Erica had been nearby, kneeling upright but eyes closed and the tendrils of her leafy skirt clearly anchored into the ground around her; she’d opened her eyes immediately at the sound of voices and smiled at them, gesturing towards the fountain. Theo had been asleep in the bottom of the fountain, but when Kayla called her name, she woke, stretched, and came to the surface for a very wet hug. It was, apparently, shortly past local midnight; while Theo had left for a couple of hours with Alison and Suzi to retrieve Gord, and Des had given Zach a break in guard duty, Erica had napped semi-alert next to the two sleeping humans.
It felt like wasting time, sleeping so long, but it was hard to argue with how much better she felt.
From the pantry, she could hear Riley and JC going over what was available on the shelves and in the big chest freezer. What was left, anyway. Another thing she and Riley had missed, apparently, was that before the trip to get Gord, Alison had brought the wagon to the kitchen door and JC had loaded it with quite a lot of food items and ingredients, non-perishable or likely to be quickly used, and also some kitchen implements and cookware and the like. Since Nora had also given Callie her rather heavy bag of medical supplies, that went in the wagon as well. Alison and Des had time to walk Callie and Sly home, unload the wagon, and return. Both were still asleep—with Zach, in fact, keeping an eye on their captives. Her seven were keeping their word to look after their own health while they were juggling everything.
Kayla hoped that the unexpected gift would help reassure the house fae that things really were changing for the better. The more allies they had, the better, but also, it made her feel nauseatingly angry to think of so many people forced to live the way they had been, and anything that could start changing that was worthwhile.
“I have to admit,” Niko said, drawing her wandering attention back, “this bracelet is a lovely bit of work. The reason for its existence is appalling, but the execution itself is better than many wizards could ever accomplish. Which is Phrixos all over.”
“Forgive me if I don’t admire his skills,” Kayla said.
“I know. It was primarily designed to interface with those pure-aether cuffs they put on all the faelings, but as near as I can tell without more of my tools, I think it has at least one other property.”
“It turns the wearer into a raving empathy-deficient lunatic?”
“No, Isabel got there on her own, or at least without this. I think once it has time to come into sync properly with its wearer, and that might take a little while given how long the last wearer had it on, it will actually provide fairly complete protection against most fae abilities. Within reason. It wouldn’t protect you from simple physical violence, since even with enhanced strength behind it, that isn’t something intrinsically fae. However, something like wisp entrancement is different. Looking briefly at a wisp isn’t a problem for most people, but the longer you look directly at one, the stronger the effect becomes—more for some than others, and worse if there’s more than one wisp. With this fully in sync, the incidental effect would fail completely no matter how long you were to look directly at one, possibly more, and deliberate attempts to affect you would be greatly weakened. I can’t swear to that, but these designs aren’t decorative and I recognize some of them. I really need to do some proper research, but my island and library aren’t currently accessible.”
“What about right here? Wouldn’t he have books about what he used?”
“Quite likely, but trying to track down the specific info I want in an unfamiliar book collection starts sounding like a needle in a haystack. I’ll do my best with whatever I can find, of course. After all, magical artifacts are my specialty. Even without my island, I’ll sort it out. It will just take longer.”
“Is there a way to make it do the sync thing faster? Because that sounds seriously useful.”
“Pushing limits might do it. Look at Suzi for as long as you can, until you feel your ability to concentrate beginning to waver. Get Theo to sing just for a moment at a time, but stop before it takes full effect. I think those are the most clear-cut effects out of our seven—although trying to keep from forgetting Jace is present could also be a possibility. Speaking of whom...” He raised his voice. “Jace? Could I borrow you for a minute?”
JC strode out of the pantry and over to face them, just out of reach. Real people, Kayla thought, did not normally stand like that, absolutely straight with feet a handbreadth apart and hands linked behind, and certainly didn’t then go utterly immobile.
“Hand, please,” Niko said. “I want to see those cuffs close to Kayla’s, and vice versa.” He held out one hand.
JC didn’t move immediately, which surprised Kayla a little—but only a little, once she thought about it.
“Oh, get over it,” Niko sighed. “I’ve dealt with stranger fae and faelings than you. C’mon. Hand.”
After only a further heartbeat, JC finally moved, stepping closer to lay her hand over Niko’s.
Niko closed his around hers, and drew it into range so he could examine the glassy cuff. He groped for Kayla’s hand again, without looking away; Kayla obligingly gave it to him.
“Well, I can confirm that the secondary cuffs are pure aether,” Niko said. “Bound in a remarkably stable form, with that gold cuff as the keystone. It’s not going to be that easy to unravel the whole thing, unfortunately. That’s a very solid lock that was not intended to be unlocked.”
“Stuck with them?” JC asked.
“Oh, hell no. Between the Cunninghams, Arctos, me, and whatever resources Nora can bring in that I can’t even imagine, there will be a way. I just don’t know how yet, or how long it might take. Have faith.”
“Easier said than done. But we’ve gotten this far. As long as Kayla has it, we can wait.”
“I doubt anyone is going to be suicidal enough to try taking it from her.” Niko let go of both of them, then removed the glasses and returned them to their case. “All I can tell you for sure is that the whole system is deeply interlinked, and the potential protection from fae abilities will probably work better against any faeling wearing the aether ones.”
JC nodded, and glanced at the back door. “I hear company. I’ll get food.” The house fae turned in place and went back to the pantry briefly; Riley emerged, with a notebook and pen in one hand.
“I’ll catch you later, Kayla,” Niko said. “So I can sketch out some of those designs to keep working on research.”
“I think you’ll be able to find me,” Kayla said.
Nora and Arctos came into the kitchen together.
“Feeling more rested?” Nora asked.
“Much, thanks,” Kayla said. “Sounds like we slept through a lot, but it all feels a bit less overwhelming now. I mean, it’s still insane and all, but I’m feeling more like I can cope. So I guess Callie was right.”
“Likewise,” Riley said. “I did have a long drive, and I’d been up a while before that. With a project this size, we’re going to have to be careful about looking after ourselves.”
“That includes eating,” JC said, and set a handful of spoons and a plate stacked with flatbread on the table. She followed that with generous bowls of thick, savoury-smelling soup, or possibly stew—Kayla couldn’t quite decide which category it belonged in, and after a single bite decided that labels did not matter at all. Finally, JC sat down herself with another bowl.
“It is very hard to grasp,” Kayla said, “that in the hours we’ve been here, Max and all haven’t even reached our house yet, from Heather and Zach’s place.”
“I know,” Riley said sympathetically. “That isn’t how reality feels like it should work. Oh good lord, JC, this is absolutely delicious. And it’s almost all vegetables?”
JC nodded. “A small amount of beef. A very small amount of a few odds and ends from the pantry. Nearly all freshly gathered.”
“Only what I’d expect from you,” Niko said affectionately. “I’m so spoiled these days, having you around...” He shook his head and took another bite.
“Everyone is eating, right?” Kayla asked JC.
“Yes.” She didn’t elaborate, and Kayla decided not to ask for details, just leave it in her hands.
“I’d like agreement,” Arctos said carefully, “to my taking all our captives to my island, where I can make certain that they are safely confined for as long as it takes to negotiate a tribunal acceptable to all and decide on appropriate sentences.”
“You happen to have cells around?” Kayla asked. Riley and Niko were right. By any name, the contents of that bowl were nothing short of amazing, and right now, a good satisfying meal was just what she needed.
“Not in regular use, but things do happen, and it’s occasionally necessary to keep someone from being free to act or accessible to those who might take matters into their own hands. There are currently only two cells, but I can replicate them quickly—the magical dampening field will not replicate and I will need to add that afterwards, but as long as I keep Nestor and Isabel in the original ones, I see no problems. The cells in question are basic rectangular rooms with minimal but functional hygiene facilities, and I have created servants that can make certain they are given adequate food a couple of times a day—I make no promises about the taste, I haven’t had much luck creating anything that can comprehend flavour and texture rather than textbook nutrition. It, ah, would also be possible to adjust the timeslip factor strictly on those cells, to give them longer to think about what they’ve done and what might be ahead of them, as well as increasing the security level.”
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“That would probably be safer than having them here,” Kayla said. “I’m not even comfortable with untying wizard-boy’s hands, and that’s going to get messy. I do not want them loose here at all.”
“Agreed,” Niko said. “Even without magic, thanks to Arctos’ inverted protection charm, any of them could still potentially be dangerous.”
Nora nodded. “I’m willing to trust you to hold them on behalf of the fae, Arctos, until we can resolve this once and for all. You’ve worked with us before and you keep bargains. If you promise me that they will be there and, to the best of your ability, in fit condition to stand trial, then I’ll agree to that.”
“You have my word,” Arctos said. “Even if I have to flip the timeslip around to buy time, they will be alive to stand trial.”
JC looked at Kayla, then at Niko, and shrugged. “If you feel safe with that, we’ll go along with it.” She hesitated. “It would be better to have them out of reach. You don’t understand how deep the hate and rage go. If enough realize they are here and helpless, they could be torn apart. I don’t think we could stop thirty or forty faelings intent on revenge.”
Kayla shivered, thinking of Callie’s refusal to offer any care until she’d learned that they’d be facing dire penalties for their actions. “Yeah, while they might deserve that in a way, let’s see if we can hold out for something even nastier. Under most circumstances, capital punishment isn’t something I’m comfortable with, but I’ll live with it in this case. I’m not sure I’d ever trust them not to escape anyway, if they were just confined or something.”
“They destroyed many lives,” JC said. “Deliberately and knowingly and repeatedly. They should not get to continue theirs.”
Arctos nodded. “I’ll need some help getting them to the Gate, I’m afraid. I’ll take Nestor and Isabel first, replicate further cells, and come back for the rest.”
“Other than that,” Riley said, “I have a shopping list here that JC and I put together of supplies that we’re going to need within a few local days. Large quantities of staples like flour and oil, dairy products and non-dairy equivalents, also some meat for fae who need that—although there are chickens, pigeons, and fish around, in moderation and with some effort.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Nora said. “Do we have a Gate key yet?”
JC nodded. “Niko and I found it.”
“Good, that will help. Hacking Gates is not something most of us can do.”
“All in all,” Riley said, “considering the sheer scope of this, we’re not off to a bad start. Nora and Callie have the injuries under control, Arctos has a plan for our captives, we know what we need to keep everyone fed for the immediate future, JC and all know who needs what and where they are, we have a few friendly faelings who will at least cautiously vouch for us and after what they’ve been through I’m impressed they’ll even do that.”
“Any time now,” Kayla said, “I’m going to get a text from Max and then we can get to that bit. Do we know where everyone is going to sleep? I know there’s no weather as such but sleeping on the ground isn’t going to be great for an extended period, and no one’s going to want to use the house.”
“This island has templates built into it,” Niko said. “They don’t need to be constructed, just called up and placed at will.”
Kayla saw no need to mention the experiment they’d done with the mirror before the rest had gotten here. She didn’t really understand it anyway, and explanations were a good thing to collect currently.
“Think of it like a computer game,” Riley said. “Um, a friend showed me a really funny hospital game once, although I don’t exactly get a lot of time for that sort of thing. It had rooms you could build with various items you could place inside, furniture and decorations and things, but you didn’t have to create or design the items, just tell it to put them where you wanted. The same item dozens of times over, if you want.”
“I might know the game you’re thinking of,” Kayla said. “But that’s pretty standard for a lot of simulation games. You can do the same sort of thing?”
“There’s a mirror that serves as the interface for the entire island and all its subsystems and structures and all,” Niko said. “Jace got it for me. I took a very quick look through. There’s a template for a small comfortable cottage, of sorts, with a sitting room, bedroom, and bathroom, with several options for customizing the appearance in small ways. It might take me a little time to do enough for our four newcomers plus Kayla, Riley, Nora, and myself, but it’s feasible. It isn’t hard but it takes a bit of energy and concentration and I’ll need to rest in between.”
“Alkaios will have created that,” Arctos said. “He had several friends, helpers, companions, and family members here. With all this space, they would not have felt crowded while waiting out the wars of the twentieth century. I suppose Phrixos and his crew saw no advantage in separate cottages and created this eyesore instead.”
“What happened to his friends and all?” Kayla asked. She contemplated the contents of her spoon. Even though she’d helped with chopping things, some of which had been unfamiliar anyway, she couldn’t clearly identify everything. That was potato, and the orange chunk was carrot, but what on earth were the green bits? She didn’t really care, it tasted too good—as evidenced by how rapidly it was vanishing, and not only from her own bowl. She was curious, though, about what had given it that deep rich flavour even with minimal meat. Even the flatbread had flavour, though it was mild and mostly was just ideal for dipping. She planned to save some to wipe up every last trace of that gravy or broth or whatever.
“They went back to the real world,” Arctos said. “Without a wizard maintaining it, an island will eventually decay and disappear. It would have been very abrupt and unexpected for them, so I imagine it was difficult. Alkaios was just coming into his prime and, last I saw him, healthy and active.”
Nora frowned. “Aren’t islands like this, living ecosystems, relatively rare?”
Arctos nodded. “They used to be more common, but these days, it’s simpler just to steal or buy food supplies in bulk than to go to the additional effort. Alkaios enjoyed and respected nature, and this island was a work of art and love as much as a home.”
“Possibly I’m paranoid, but isn’t it suspiciously coincidental, the creator of an island that could be used for their research conveniently dying and leaving it empty?”
“Oh hell,” Kayla said, freezing with her spoon in mid-air. “Before they started kidnapping and murdering faelings, they killed a wizard and screwed up the lives of his friends and family?”
“It was determined,” Arctos said slowly, “that he had died of natural causes. But we know that Isabel is clever with combining mundane and fae herbs and possibly a touch of enhancement. That is... I can’t rule it out as impossible. I think we should look into that. If they killed Alkaios as well, there will be several wizards who will want blood on that score. Me included.”
“Friend?” Kayla asked.
“Wizards are rarely friends,” Arctos said patiently. “Friendship takes up time that could be spent on research. But I did respect him highly. He had an extraordinary gift for combining wizardry and art. He kept his word when he gave it, without fail. Several times, when there have been... incidents... he was willing to step back from current projects to help me and a very few others sort things out, even though most wizards will not get involved unless it directly affects them. He would be horrified at his island being used for such a purpose, and would grieve for the pain and difficulty his companions must have gone through.”
“Sounds like a guy I could’ve respected too.”
“If there is any possibility of murdering a wizard as well,” Nora said, “we need to know that. I sympathize with your personal loss, but if they displayed lethal violence towards a wizard as well as faelings, that is very highly relevant information that a tribunal needs to know.”
“And to regular humans,” JC said. “They were hiring people to work here, expecting them to die so they could see how.”
“That as well, sorry. I think the three of them ultimately just had no concern for any lives but their own.”
JC nodded once. “Not even each other. Alliance broke down instantly under stress.”
“How so?” Niko said. “We still haven’t heard how exactly you pulled off the near-impossible. Or what happened before that.”
“Don’t want to talk about before,” JC said. “They didn’t know we remembered, and didn’t know the drugs also failed to cripple faeling abilities. Once Kay was here, Theo bewitched Gord and trapped him at her lake. Erica led Barry, the big one, to the wisps, they promised to try to keep him busy for as long as they could. Trusted us—maybe because Erica brought them lots of better food and Zach and Des and Erica saved one from bullies and a couple of days ago helped the flock move to the mirror swamp in spring safely. I drugged the cook with Isabel’s sleepy mixture. Zach had to help and figured out he has paralyzing toxin. Lloyd was harder, had tattooed protection charms.” JC tilted her head. “Did we tell you about him?”
“Nothing special,” Niko said. “What about him? Aside from the foresight and knowledge to get those tattoos?”
“He was talking to someone outside. Knew what Isabel and the wizards were planning. Told someone it was extraction time.”
“He was working for someone else?” Arctos said. “More searching to do, then, because if someone knew about this but took no steps to stop it, I would like to know why.”
“As would I,” Nora said, forehead deeply furrowed. “Those four, and then?”
“Pounced on Nestor in the boom-room,” JC said. “The laboratory. Whatever. Got hurt a bit but subdued him. Isabel had a lot of protective stuff we knew we couldn’t get through. Zach and Alison went after Phrixos, to hurt and scare him. Zach was in a cage all the time, way out in spring. Alison should have been locked in the stable. Neither should have been able to open his door. I did that. He jumped to the conclusion that Isabel set them on him to try to save herself somehow. He attacked her. Once she went down, Kayla got the cuff. Phrixos ran.” She heaved a sigh. “Had him surrounded. Gave him a chance to surrender. Barry got away from the wisps and came back with an axe. By the time that got sorted out, mostly Zach, Phrixos got away.”
Niko laughed. “You used Phrixos to get through Isabel’s protections, by triggering his whole self-absorbed paranoia. I love it. And don’t worry, Phrixos will be found.”
“He will,” Arctos said. “And until then, he’ll be trying to keep his head down, and I imagine he’ll be just seething with rage that his plans were destroyed.”
“Not just destroyed,” Riley said. “Destroyed by a group of faelings who were supposed to be helpless docile victims. That was a wonderful way to turn their strengths against them. It also makes it very clear that the trio in charge had a common goal but no real loyalty to each other. That could be useful.”
“It could,” Nora said. “Let them spend a few days in isolation locked up. Then I’ll have a chat with each personally.” It sounded innocuous enough, no real emphasis to the words, but Kayla wondered just what kind of fae Nora was. She wasn’t going to ask, since it struck her as something that could be considered rude, but that had sounded to her like a threat.
Not that she minded. She wasn’t a fan of all-out torture, since usually the possibility existed of targeting someone innocent, any information gained would be unreliable, and it was too easy to justify, but under the circumstances, she wouldn’t find it too distressing if the people who had tried to destroy her family and friends had a very bad day.
“We’ve been here for roughly seven hours,” Nora added, without actually looking at the slender gold watch on her wrist. “That’s a bit short of fifteen minutes back in the real world. I imagine you’ll be getting that text from family any moment now, since it took us a few minutes to get here after you signalled. Do you know how you’re going to handle that?”
“The usual way, I suppose,” Riley said. “There’s a tradeoff to getting some sleep and being clearer-headed, which is not having time to really plan much. To get time on our side, we need to get them here as quickly as possible, which is the most immediate unusual aspect. I’m, well, not much more nervous than I am about any other conversation explaining to loved ones about aether and fae and all. Despite the long list of additional complications to explain about.”
“I’m pretty sure,” Kayla said, “that on average, they’re going to be so relieved that the nightmare of frantic fear is over that they’ll be mostly focused on that. Plus, they’re all exhausted and sleep-deprived, so hey, strange things may make more sense.”
“Well, whatever helps, I suppose,” Riley said. “We’ll manage. I’ve gotten through difficult explanations before.”
Nora nodded. “You’re good at what you do. That will mean repeated Gate-openings for you, I assume—bring them here, let everyone go home to collect pyjamas and toothbrush, and bring them back. I’ll see about handling the supply question on my own, then. I’ve sent messages to several people I trust, each with a list of specific items they should be able to collect quickly in one location, and asked them to deliver them to my house. Once I’ve heard from all of them, I’ll take care of that—although there’s quite a lot coming so I’ll need help putting it away.”
“We can do that,” JC said. “Just let us know.”
“Meanwhile, I might grab a catnap myself. Before you take our criminals away, Arctos, I’ll take another quick look at them to see what condition they’re in. At some point, time allowing, I’ll see what I can do to start teaching everyone Faeling One-Oh-One. Yet another item on the to-do list.”
“All right,” Riley said briskly. “Arctos is taking our captives away, Nora is seeing to our supplies, Niko is going to look at the housing situation, and everyone is staying fed and looking after their own health. And any time now, your remaining family members will be ready to join the madness. We need to start working on a reasonable census, but that might have to wait just a little until we see what records we have and we’re all feeling reasonably well-rested and well-fed and focused on the task at hand. Lots to do, lots of people depending on us, and... well, we have time, but no idea how much. Everyone done? I’ll take the dirty dishes to the sink. So far so good, folks.”