Dreams and Nightmares

By Ash Fitzsimmons

Some family secrets can’t stay buried.

One year after her world fell apart, wizard-in-training Badger Parsons has built a new life from the rubble. The former police detective now hunts for her scattered people, the Fringe, witches and lesser fae hiding from the murderous Arcanum. Rescuing the missing is no easy task, but Badger has an ace up her sleeve: she’s learned the art of navigating a dream space in which the magically talented are beacons in the darkness—“sleepwalking.” True, her control isn’t perfect yet, but the sleepwalkers of the rogue Minor Arcanum have proven to be capable assistants. With her fiancé by her side, her cousin and a couple of teenage wards eager to help, and a pair of wizards sheltering them on a secluded ranch, what more could she need?

But late-blooming Badger is still discovering the extent of her talent, and her abilities as a wizard are far greater than she knows. When she learns of another extraordinary wizard in her family, the truth threatens to destroy her alliance with the Minor Arcanum. If she can’t make things right, her little band will be on their own again.

And as Badger soon realizes, an enemy more powerful than the Arcanum lurks in the shadows. This time, it’s not merely the Fringe at risk—the whole mortal realm lies in the crosshairs. If the Minor Arcanum and the last of the Fringe can’t work together, there may soon be no one left for Badger to rescue...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ash Fitzsimmons
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781949861143

Ash Fitzsimmons

Ash has always loved a good story. Her childhood bookshelves overflowed, and she refused to take notes in her copies of classroom novels because that felt like sacrilege. She wrote her first novel the summer after her freshman year of college and never looked back. (Granted, that novel was an unpublishable 270,000-word behemoth, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?)After obtaining degrees in English and creative writing and taking a stab at magazine work, Ash decided to put her skillset to different use and went to law school. She then moved home to Alabama, where she works as an attorney. These days, Ash can be found outside of Montgomery with her inordinately fluffy Siberian husky, who loves long walks, car rides, and whatever Ash happens to be eating.

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DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

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STRANGER MAGICS, BOOK SIX

ASH FITZSIMMONS

COPYRIGHT

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES. Copyright © 2019 by Ash Fitzsimmons.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover design by BespokeBookCovers.com

ISBN 978-1-949861-14-3

www.ashfitzsimmons.com

CONTENTS

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Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Acknowledgements

About the Author

CHAPTER 1

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To be fair, I passed the patrol car doing at least a solid ninety.

There was no reason not to, aside from the nagging signage at the Arizona line—it was a lazy Saturday afternoon in mid-June, and the road through the reddish scrubland was wide open under a smattering of puffy clouds. I had places to be that day, miles to cover, and rubber to burn, and I’ve always had something of a lead foot. So yes, the patrol car was well within its rights to shoot onto I-40 in a spray of gravel and throw on its lights, but I still accompanied its acceleration toward me with an internal soundtrack of profanity. Had I not had a four-year-old passenger in the back of the well-worn Suburban, I’d have been far more vocal about my displeasure.

As a longtime—albeit former—police detective, I rankled at the notion of getting ticketed. Back in England, I’d have got a wave, maybe a finger wag of mock reprimand, had I been stopped at all. But in the States, driving with a forged license, I couldn’t very well pull out my old credentials and appeal to transatlantic fraternity.

I saw my passengers’ worried expressions in the rearview mirror as the siren wailed behind us. Nothing to fret about, I told them with forced cheer. Might have been going a touch on the speedy side. Just remember our story, and we’ll be fine.

By the looks on their faces, they didn’t buy my reassurance, but I couldn’t blame them. We were a decidedly odd lot in the SUV: a middle-aged Englishwoman behind the wheel, two black teenage boys in the seats behind me, and a young white family of three on the rear bench. The Ford brothers had made their way west from Detroit by a combination of hitchhiking and Greyhound, while the Delacroixes had, after much persuasion, driven themselves out of the Louisiana bayou to join our camp in New Mexico. Little Gracie was sleeping, but her mother slunk down in fear, and her father, who wore the scruffy, haunted look of an escaped convict, kept the tip of his wand poised in the gap between the Fords’ chairs. Ethan Ford, only sixteen, had no wand to ready—the boys were lesser bloods, one-eighth fae and barely skilled at magic—but he held a pistol out of sight under one thigh. His little brother, Elias, who hadn’t spoken since he shot the Arcanum assassins who’d murdered their parents and three sisters, looked straight ahead, silently gritting his teeth.

I tried to project serenity, though my guts roiled as I pulled onto the shoulder and cut the engine. My New Mexico license might have been a magical forgery, but a forgery it was nonetheless—as was the insurance card in the glove box. My cousin Arnold, who was a more technically skilled wizard, had assured me that the paperwork would withstand scrutiny, and our American hosts, Zeb and Carey Jones, had confirmed that the fakes were good, but still I feared that something would go wrong, that my license wouldn’t show up in the computer and I’d be hauled in for questioning. And since I’d survived the last year by staying off anyone’s official radar, ending up on the wrong end of an interrogation seemed like a very bad idea indeed.

Any officer worth his badge would take a good, long look at us. The cover story we’d worked out was that the Delacroixes had adopted the Ford boys, and I, a local guide, was driving them to Sedona for a family hiking holiday. If questioned, I’d learned enough about the area by then to make my role convincing, and it didn’t hurt that I’d stashed ropes, a tent, and a couple of pairs of dirty hiking boots in the rear to give credence to my lies. But the rest of our cover was flimsy at best. Wes and Jemma Delacroix, who were still in their mid-twenties, didn’t fit the adoptive parents mold for a couple of teenagers from the other end of the country. Moreover, the Delacroixes were from two old shrimping families—kind and resourceful people, but neither wealthy nor particularly educated. By contrast, the elder Fords had been professionals—he a mundane cardiologist, she a quarter-blooded defense attorney—and their sons were the well-traveled products of private schools. The boys’ trainers were probably worth more than the Delacroix family spent on a month of groceries, and Ethan’s gun, as our firearms aficionada Amy had declared, was a high-quality piece of German construction—That ain’t a Saturday night special, she’d said wistfully as he packed it back into its case. But under the circumstances, we were doing the best we could, and my passengers were more than willing to play their parts if it meant getting them out of the mortal realm.

I waited with the window down and my hands on the steering wheel, watching in the side mirror as the state trooper ambled toward us. Khaki shirt and trousers—definitely Arizona. Though he was perhaps a tad shorter than average, his shoulders were broad, and his shirtfront was flat above his black gun belt. As he neared, I picked out details: a tanned face, dark stubble along his jaw, and large, mirrored sunglasses several decades out of style.

He tapped the back of the SUV as he passed, then peered in my window and touched the brim of his hat. Afternoon, folks. How’re we doing, Badger?

I exhaled, fighting the shaking in my suddenly limp arms. "Lou. Bloody hell, you scared me."

He grinned, exposing gapped front teeth and dimples, and suddenly looked much younger than thirty. And are we engaging in a spot of human trafficking today? he asked in a mincing faux-British accent that would have embarrassed even Dick Van Dyke.

No more than usual. I turned to my passengers and tried not to show my relief. Everyone, this is Lou Martinez. He’s with the Minor Arcanum.

The others released their weapons and waved weakly, and Lou shook his head. I won’t keep you, then. Got that ammo Amy needed—Zeb said you were heading this way today, so I thought I’d catch you and save the trip. Do you have room in there for a few boxes?

Front floorboards, the boot’s full, I told him, and waited while Lou returned to his car to retrieve the goods. That kid’s going to give me a heart attack, I swear, I muttered once he was out of earshot.

"He’s a wizard?" Ethan asked.

Barely more than a witch, to hear Carey tell it, but yeah, he’s got a wand. The Minor Arcanum tend to look on wizardry as more of a hobby than a career path, I explained. He’s an officer who happens to be a wizard, like Carey’s a vet who happens to be one.

He frowned in thought. Kind of like Fringers, then?

Precisely. Anyway, he’s on our side, I assured them, and Wes and Jemma nodded from the safety of the rear.

A few moments later, Lou returned with a reusable grocery bag slung onto one shoulder, which he deposited in the passenger seat beside me and took pains to hide on the floor. That’s a lot of assorted ammo, now, so try not to get stopped again, he told me. Let’s slow it down a little, huh? Speed limit’s seventy-five, Ms. Parsons. He slammed the door before I could protest, then came around to my window again. What’s your rush? You’ve got hours until it’ll be dark enough to hit the canyon. Take your time, enjoy our lovely state. Buy some souvenirs. You’re not going to find much Diamondbacks merch in Faerie.

Eat ’em up, Tigers, Ethan muttered in reply.

Lou’s grin widened. I seldom had much to say about baseball, and Ethan had issued a challenge. But knowing what was ahead, I nipped their banter short. I want time to rest before we hike, I told Lou. If I’m to keep to the speed limit, we need to press on.

Uh-huh. This rush of yours wouldn’t have anything to do with your boyfriend, would it? Catching the sudden shift in my expression, Lou chuckled and patted the door. Zeb said you’d be in a hurry today.

Zeb needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut.

Laughing in earnest, he stepped back to wave us on. Drive safely! he called, then lifted a hand in farewell as I merged into the light traffic.

When we’d left him behind, Jemma cleared her throat from the back seat. You didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend, she said in her—at least to my ear—nearly unintelligible drawl.

I looked at her in the mirror and felt myself smile. He’s been away. Coming home tonight. Around a bend, I spotted a sign for a truck stop and flipped on my indicator. Who needs a snack? Maybe a drink after that little traffic incident?

Maybe a new pair of pants, Wes grumbled, and I looked back just in time to see Elias grin.

Lou was right, of course—I had hours to kill before I could safely lead the Fringe evacuees into Boynton Canyon, but that didn’t make me any less anxious to reach Sedona. When we crossed the city limits, the sun was still too high for hiking, and Gracie was getting restless after a long day on the road. Turning off the main street, I spotted an inoffensive Tex-Mex restaurant and pulled over to wait for sunset.

Our server, a chipper blonde with a tanning bed glow and multiple hemp bracelets, seemed unfazed by our assorted party. She took our drink orders, brought the little one a plastic lidded cup without being asked, and was only too happy to keep the warm tortilla chips and salsa coming. The elder Delacroixes soon found their appetites, but the Ford boys were ravenous from the start, ordering massive combination platters and bowls of queso. When our server departed again, I leaned across the table to them and whispered, "There are tacos where you’re heading. Good ones. Proper ones. This isn’t a last-meal situation."

Elias’s eyebrows rose, and Ethan, dubious, asked, How do you fake good tacos?

You don’t. When you get settled in, go downtown and find La Hacienda. They’ve got two chefs: Amos Dunwoody runs the Tex-Mex side, and Rosa Flores runs the Mexican side. She does roasted corn to die for.

"And it’s…free?"

Absolutely free. Now, let me let you in on a little secret, I continued, waiting while the others leaned closer to our huddle. You’ll both be in school—oh, don’t give me that pout, I told Elias. There’s no point in twiddling your thumbs while you wait out the Arcanum, and from what I hear, the classes are pretty laid-back. But if, say, you went by the restaurant every now and then and washed dishes or what have you…well, I understand that Rosa saves some of her best meals for the staff. Just a suggestion, mind, but if you were to get bored…

Ethan crunched into a fresh chip and nodded. I could be bored.

"After school, now. I helped myself to the queso and turned to Wes and Jemma. If there’s something you’d like to do, feel free, but it’s not required. Get adjusted, meet your neighbors, play with Gracie, and then, if you’re restless, do as you like. I chewed for a moment as I considered their situation. You both know your way around a fishing boat, yes?"

Born and raised on the Gulf, Jemma confirmed.

The settlement’s not too far from the sea. If you wanted to run charters, I’m fairly sure that someone would set you up. But again, the important thing is to rest first. I glanced around to be certain that the neighboring diners were engrossed with their own conversations, then asked, "How long were you down there, anyway?"

Wes shook his head and sighed. Nine months. Nine very long months.

Nine months, two weeks, and three days, Jemma murmured. Not that I was counting or nothing.

Her husband gave her a half-smile and wrapped his arm around her tense shoulders. Nice to get A/C again. Or a roof that don’t leak.

I could only imagine how the Delacroixes had lived. Even in the shadow-on-shadow color scheme of the dream space, the shack in which I’d found them was beyond salvaging, little better than a rotting lean-to on stilts above the swamp. They’d hidden it among a cypress grove and camouflaged it with Spanish moss, far from the main waterways and miles from a real road. Fortunately, their preventive measures did nothing to hide the pale golden glow of their bodies as I sleepwalked, searching the distant terrain for hiding Fringers while I tranced back in New Mexico. It took me three visits in as many months and several long conversations with them before I was able to convince them that I meant them no harm, and as the miserable Louisiana summer neared, they decided that the possibility of a real bed was worth the risk that I was an Arcanum plant. Of the two, Wes had been the stronger holdout—finding his extended family murdered had, naturally, made him skittish, especially of strange, glowing foreigners who only visited in his sleep—but when Gracie had contracted pertussis, he’d packed their few belongings into their motorboat and headed for civilization.

Carey, the veterinarian who’d spent much of the last year patching up every Fringe refugee to land at the ranch, finally had to cry uncle and call in Penny Morris, the Minor Arcanum’s lone doctor, from Vermont. Having done a few volunteer tours in third-world countries, Penny was no stranger to making the best of her circumstances, and she’d flown out that afternoon with several bags of equipment and medication. We knew there was no chance of doing the sensible thing—taking Gracie to the nearest hospital—because of the questions that would raise, and so Penny moved the child into a private bedroom, made her comfortable, and put her on heavy antibiotics while Carey handled the healing spell that would speed her recovery. Still, Gracie was kept in near-quarantine for a month until Penny deemed her safe to travel. As far as anyone could tell, there were no infectious diseases in Faerie to worry about, but there was also a corresponding lack of medical facilities. I’d coordinated with Vivi Stowe, my young counterpart in the other realm, to let Penny speak with the few Fringe doctors and caution them of what was heading their way. The Fringe refugee community came from all corners of the world, after all, and there was no account of who’d been fully vaccinated before making the escape.

If the Delacroixes had it bad, hiding had been no more a picnic for the Ford boys. All five Ford children had been home from their Episcopal school on the morning that the Arcanum attacked, beneficiaries of the religious holiday. The girls had been waiting at the table with their father, and their mother had just gone to the staircase to call the boys to breakfast when assassins broke down the door and began shooting. As Ethan recounted it, their mother had been the first to fall, and then the attacking wizards had taken out their defenseless father and sisters. He’d panicked at the sound of the chaos below, but by the time the wizards came upstairs, Elias had taken the gun from their father’s nightstand and was waiting. He’d shot each wizard in the chest as they came around the bend in the staircase, then followed with shots to the head, emptying the pistol’s magazine into the wizards and the wooden floor. When Elias’s ammunition had been spent, Ethan had seen there was nothing to be done for their family, realized that nothing good could come of two dead wizards in the foyer, then packed what he and Elias could carry and hurried his blank-faced little brother out of the house.

They’d left the family cars, opting instead to take a series of busses into Detroit, where Ethan had found a Starbucks with Wi-Fi. While Elias had picked at a muffin, Ethan had logged on to the Fringe network on his tablet to put out a call for help. Instead, all he’d found were similar reports of death and people on the run—and then, suddenly, a beacon of hope: an evacuation meet-up just a few blocks away. Ethan had begun to gather his things, but seeing Elias’s drawn face had made him hesitate. They’d been taken by surprise once that morning—who was to say that this promised assistance wasn’t another trap?

In the end, the Fords had stayed low and made their way out of town. Assuming the police and the Arcanum would be looking for them, Ethan had put as many miles between them and home as he could as quickly as possible. He’d withdrawn every penny from his and his brother’s savings accounts, then jumped on the Amtrak to Chicago. From there, they’d taken busses into Wisconsin and onto Michigan’s upper peninsula, eventually working their way south toward home as the months passed. By the time they’d returned to Detroit in September, their money had been nearly spent, and they’d made do with church handouts and occasional nights in shelters, arriving late and leaving before anyone could call the authorities.

Sleepwalking, I’d found them in one such shelter, huddled together on adjoining cots, their bodies glowing with the pale white light of the slightly fae. Elias had said nothing when I’d pulled the two of them from true sleep into the shared dream space, but Ethan had been willing to trust me—not enough to give me an address to which I could wire train fare, but he’d been willing to come closer. I’d tracked their westward movement and sent Carey’s younger brother, Jim, to fetch them from a truck stop east of Albuquerque. Jim, who made a much better morning DJ than wizard, had come unarmed and struck up a quick rapport with the boys through cheeseburgers and milkshakes, and then he’d driven them to the ranch, where Zeb had plied them with enchiladas until they were nearly sick. Finding other Fringers on the property had finally put their minds at ease, and the boys had crashed onto clean sheets until noon the next day.

Both parties had spent a year in hiding, and I knew that what they needed was time—time to breathe, to rest, to properly mourn, and to rebuild their lives. School would give the boys structure and routine, and being around other children who had lost parents and siblings in the so-called unravelling—the Arcanum’s devastating surprise attack on the Fringe—would at least give them a community. Many of the orphaned children lived together. Although couples and families had opened their homes to fosters, the sad reality was that a great number of the evacuees we found were children who’d been overlooked when the Arcanum came after their witch and lesser-blooded parents. Primary-school kids couldn’t live alone, of course, and so Vivi, as coordinator of the Fringe in exile, had commissioned a dormitory for them, keeping siblings together and giving the occupants a makeshift family for meals and socialization. To her surprise, her brother Rufus, a former university professor who had spearheaded the settlement’s school, and his partner, Poppy, moved in as dorm parents. The arrangement seemed to work—Rufus wound up teaching the refugee children, found that he actually enjoyed it, and was happy to help with homework at night, while Poppy kept the rowdy ones in line. Being a lupine shifter, she did command a certain respect, and she seldom had to bare her teeth.

As for the Delacroix family, I knew there was a suite waiting for them in the settlement’s guesthouse, the bungalow near the center of town where newcomers stayed until they had a sense of the terrain and a place of their own. Building a house meant perhaps an hour of enchantment for the settlement’s de facto architect (and one of Vivi and Rufus’s many older brothers), Robbie, but he took pride in his work and insisted on perfection, which meant that putting up a house was often preceded by a week or more of planning it with the new homeowners. No one knew how long the exile would last, after all, and Robbie, who was finally unburdened of the restrictions of construction crews and physics, enjoyed flexing his creative muscles. Besides, he told me on one of my infrequent trips across the border, why paint every wall eggshell when they really want a Provençal scheme and a coordinating mosaic backsplash? It’s no trouble to personalize.

One nighttime hike more, and my charges would be safe—well, as safe as anyone of minimal magical talent could be in Faerie. But there would be counselors on the other side to help them cope with the trauma, neighbors to help them get acquainted, and a community to help them recover a sense of normalcy, even if the new normal was exile. The only thing I couldn’t give them was any timetable as to when they might return to our native realm. That question hinged on how quickly we could rescue the Fringe hostages the self-appointed grand magus had taken and drive him out of power—and if I had my way, into an active volcano. But our information about the Arcanum’s inner goings-on was virtually nonexistent. The organization had closed its ranks in the last year, resettling its member wizards in or near the seven installations. Aside from the few assassins who were still spotted from time to time, there was little visible activity outside the Arcanum’s strongholds, and to our dismay, they’d completely neglected their responsibility to mend the gates that spontaneously opened into the Gray Lands, the only one of the three realms without useable magic and the source of many of the mortal realm’s monster stories. Cleanup duty had instead fallen into the lap of the Minor Arcanum, a confederation of wizards and witches far smaller and less disciplined than the Arcanum—but on the plus side, the Minor Arcanum had become an ally to the exiled Fringe, and seeing as the Arcanum wanted us dead, any ally was a welcome ally.

I looked across the table at Gracie, who had abandoned her crunched-up chips to concentrate on the purple squiggle she was drawing on her placemat, and smiled to myself. No matter what they’d managed in this realm, the Arcanum didn’t have a prayer of invading Faerie. Gracie would grow up in relative safety instead of hiding in the darkest corners of the bayou. The Ford boys would continue their education without having to worry about feeding themselves, and someday—whenever that might be—they would be prepared to come home and start over.

And someday, perhaps, I would be able to join them. Not yet, not with so many still missing, but someday, maybe I’d be able to ride out the storm.

That was a nice thought, though impractical, and I pushed it aside while I dug for the bottom of the queso bowl.

There were three primary downsides to using the Sedona gate as our entry point to Faerie. First, the gate was near the heart of a supposed vortex, and any trip into Boynton Canyon meant there was a strong possibility of encountering hippies. Vortex hunters tended to be friendly, but I’d had to learn enough about the area to fib my way around the question of what I was doing on the trail after dark, especially if I was leading a party past the alleged epicenter. Plus, running into people on the way out meant that I had to be certain they’d gone before I headed back, as I’d have had a devil of a time explaining why I’d left half my party in the canyon. Second, the trail wound through the backyard of a luxury resort, and I’d learned through trial and error to time my visits around their planned nighttime hikes. But the third reason the gate gave me such a headache was its location—it was invisible from the trail and accessible only by a difficult leap off a particular rock formation (or, as was usually the case, via levitation out over the canyon and through the nearly hidden hole in the fabric of the realm), and I had to lead my groups out well after nightfall.

We’d floated the idea of opening a gate from the ranch, but no one, least of all Carey and Zeb, wanted to take the risk of drawing the Arcanum’s attention to our base camp. And so Sedona it was, a long drive, a dark hike, and a leap of faith.

Fortune was with us that night, and we made the trek undiscovered and uninjured, the boys behind me toting their packs and the Delacroixes bringing up the rear with Gracie in a carrier. When we reached the meeting spot, I called a halt and pointed up at the cloudless night. Take a look at the stars, I told them. They’re different on the other side.

Ethan looked around, then squinted at the underside of the gate. Is that it?

You see the spillover? I traced the edge of the gate with my finger, watching the inactive magic surge and ebb as it pulsed out of Faerie.

Yeah. He gazed at it for a moment until a passing bat broke his concentration. Hey, Badger?

Mm?

Think we’ll find any family over there? he asked in a quiet rush. I mean, Mom never knew her dad, so maybe…

I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high, I said as gently as I could. There are people over there who can check for you—ask Vivi if you can meet with Toula Pavli. But if you were anticipating a big family reunion—

I’m not, just…maybe.

I squeezed his shoulder, knowing all too well the impulse to reach for any family, no matter how questionable. I’d been lucky to find a cousin who didn’t hate me and to reconnect with my long-absent fiancé in the aftermath of the Fringe’s unravelling, but many, particularly the lesser bloods, had lost everyone. The Ford boys’ long-lost grandfather was half fae—who knew if he was still alive, let alone interested in the well-being of grandsons he may never have known existed? That was, after all, why our Amy had never gone in search of her fae kin. My parents were the product of one-night stands or worse, she’d confided to me one evening over our third cups of tea. "They never told me the details. But whoever my grandfathers were, they were fae. You think they’d want anything to do with me?"

Don’t worry, I told Ethan, "they’re going to take good care of—ah. On time."

A white orb shot out of the top of the gate, illuminating our section of the trail and the lip of the canyon beside us as it hung in space. Right behind it was a familiar profile, and I waved as I recognized Rufus. Hello! All set, then? I called.

I’d yet to grow accustomed to the odd placement of the gate, which made anyone emerging from the far side seem as if his head and torso were being pulled from thin air at an odd angle. Rufus looked about for his bearings, then spotted me and waved back. Hi, Badger! Five, was it?

I’d also not yet fully internalized that the former professor, who appeared more like a graduate student, was in his mid-nineties. Dark-haired and somewhat boyish in his expressions, Rufus was equally happy to talk about the state of the NHL, the problems of electronica as a musical genre, and the reputation one could cultivate as a black-market don during World War II when one was fae and willing to make rations available on the cheap. He was also deeply enamored of his partner, who, though perhaps a third his age, gave him his marching orders. Pickup duty was an inconvenience most of the time, as our clock seldom aligned with Faerie’s, but if I sent word that I was bringing unaccompanied minors along, Poppy insisted that Rufus be there to look out for them. And as I’d learned over my year-long acquaintance with them, what Poppy wanted, Poppy got.

Five, I confirmed. The little one’s being carried. Wes pivoted to reveal Gracie sitting behind him, her eyes wide and her thumb firmly lodged in her mouth.

Perfect. He shaded his eyes from the orb’s glare and grinned. You two must be the Fords. Ethan, yes? Want to show your brother how easy this is?

I could tell the boy was nervous, but he nodded and tensed his legs. What do I need to do? he called up.

Not a thing. Rufus beckoned with two fingers, and Ethan stifled a cry as he rose into the air. I’ve got you, kid, you’re not going to fall, Rufus soothed, waving him closer, and Ethan sailed out over the canyon and up toward the lip of the gate. When he was within arm’s reach, Rufus grabbed him and guided him in, and I watched below as the boy’s feet and legs disappeared through the hole. That’s Liza down there, she’s going to take you the rest of the way, Rufus told him, and Ethan barely had time to wave goodbye before he vanished.

Elias followed his brother without hesitation, and Wes sent Jemma ahead of him. Thank y’all for everything, he told me, pumping my hand as his wife started her decent into Faerie. If we can ever repay—

We’re Fringe, we’re family, I said, cutting him short. Take care, dear. And you, I added, giving Gracie’s pigtail a tug. She smiled and swatted me away, and I watched as the two of them sailed to safety.

Finally, I was alone on the trail, and Rufus looked over his shoulder toward the forest floor below him. Ready? Hang on, I’ll give you a lift.

Five seconds later, another young face appeared at the edge of the gate—a face I knew nearly as well as my own. Hello, love! I called, waving as Seamus steadied himself. Miss me?

Terribly, he called back, then turned to Rufus. I think I can take it from here.

Seamus sounded confident enough, but Rufus still seemed doubtful. Sure about that? At least let me spot. The canyon floor looks unforgiving.

Moving as deliberately as if he were navigating an unmarked minefield, Seamus maneuvered himself through the gate, then floated beside it, buoyed by an enchantment of his own making. Ever so carefully, he steered himself over the abyss and onto the trail, then dropped the last couple of meters and made a running stumble into my arms. Missed you so much, he murmured into my hair as we held each other. Let’s not do that again, all right?

I glanced up when the orb’s light winked out and saw that we were alone. Looks like you learned something, at least.

Oh, loads. Did you know that it’s possible to break the same bone three days in a row? Hurts like hell every time.

Poor boy, I said, and kissed him. About magic, I mean. Surely Val did more than beat you up for the last month.

"Yes, but there was a fair bit of beating."

We kissed again, and I leaned my head against his chest, feeling the soft cotton of his T-shirt beneath my cheek. Kip’s been practicing. Think you can still take him?

"Once