The Shadow Project

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

I ran to the office. The little waxwing I'd been coaxing earlier lay on the desk, barely breathing. I cradled the tiny yellow and gray creature in my hands.

"Where did you come from?" I asked. And what had happened to it? It felt like something had drained the life energy from it.

A feline chirp reminded me of Sir Raleigh on my shoulder, and I felt that he studied the bird out of curiosity, not a predatory instinct. He'd stopped purring, and I'd forgotten he was there. Well, as long as he didn't try to hurt the bird, I would allow him to stay.

I willed healing energy into the waxwing until its breathing and heartbeat returned to normal. After I placed it on the desk, it wobbled to its feet, then flew back to its bush, where it trilled a thank-you. I wished I could ask it what had caused its malady, but birds and fae didn't share much vocabulary. A glowing wisp connected the bird to my window for a second, then faded. I shivered. That had been a warning from one of my wards marking an intruder, but it should have glowed stronger and lasted longer if the bird had entered my house without invitation. But it hadn't. I'd left food for it. None of this made sense.

What in Hades had been in my house? Bird crisis averted, anger blazed through me. I took some deep breaths to calm it down, but found fear underneath. What had been in here that a fae, wizard, and alpha werewolf couldn't detect a trace of? And a gargoyle-descended human, but I dismissed Garou. He'd never impressed me.

Then I found the familiar sting of betrayal and disappointment. Why didn't I move closer into town? Well, besides the modern noises, smells, and other things my five-hundred-year-old nervous system couldn't take, it would mean neighbors and conversations and the chance of slipping into the mistake of trusting people. That never ended well.

So I'd manage on my own. As usual. Or, not quite on my own…

"Well, it's just you and me, Kitty." With the cat still on my shoulder, I smudged every room, closet, and the basement with a bundle of dried herbs Veronica had made for me "just in case." Then I strengthened my wards — the security spells at every window and door — but until I could figure out what the bird had to do with the intruder, I'd have to keep my windows closed. It was probably for the best, considering the cat.

Sir Raleigh hadn't disappeared again, and I hoped he wouldn't get into too much trouble when I let him loose in the house. While I'd never had a pet before, his presence relieved me. Normally Fae and cats didn't get along - they could see us even when we concealed ourselves, and they took a perverse joy in hunting our smaller cousins like pixies - but he could likely also sense creatures such as whatever the intruder had been. A tingle up my spine told me that the cat coming into my life the same day the mysterious being invaded my house had likely not been a coincidence, but I couldn't see the connection.

Once done with the smudging, I peeled the kitten from my neck and set him on the floor. He immediately started to explore, his little gray nose working. I set up the supplies Veronica had sent me with - litter box and food and water a couple of small blue ceramic bowls. Once satisfied Sir Raleigh wouldn't get into trouble, I went into my office and commenced cleaning, more to have something to do to settle my nerves than anything.

Nothing seemed to be missing, and the hidden door under the desk called to me.

"I'm not calling her," I told it. But every little noise startled me now, and Gabriel's words about the powerful intruder echoed in my brain. Fear had been an unfamiliar emotion, and its shaky presence didn't suit me at all.

It had been almost four hundred years, dammit. I deserved to go home where it was safe. But I couldn't beg.

Or could I? They couldn't deny my entrance back to Faerie if I wasn't safe here, could they?

A small spark of hope lit up the gloomy cavern of my thoughts. They'd have to let me return.

With one more check on the kitten - more to ensure he didn't sense anything scary - I found him asleep on the middle of the kitchen table in a sunbeam. How had he gotten up there? He was too little to jump. Right, he had likely teleported.

I had a teleporting cat. Had borrowed one, rather. He may be going back to Veronica sooner than either of us had anticipated.

Between the smudging and an extra layer of wards, whatever had ransacked my office shouldn't return. It was time to check on my secret treasure. And there was one person who may know what the creature had been…

I went to the desk, moved the chair back, and pulled back a section of the rug under where my feet would normally go if I'd been sitting at my desk. When I whispered the key word, the stone set in the floor elevated and slid out of the way. I brought forth a wooden box. And smoothed the lid with my hand. The contents shifted inside although I hadn't tilted the box, and a tug at the base of my skull told me it had been too long. When I opened the lid, the crystal and jewel talisman inside glowed so brightly the light sparkled through all the gems - ruby for the sunrise in the east and fire, sapphire for the sky and water, amethyst for sunset in the west and air, and emerald for growth and earth.

I'd thought I would be requesting an audience with my mother, but as it turned out, she was summoning me.

***

Returning to the fairy circle always hurt. In spite of the beauty of the place — inside a cave with a carpet of green grass year-round and a singing waterfall in the corner — the bad memories crowded in. Mother pronouncing Rhys' inability to return to Faerie because of the imperfection his injury had caused. My banishment for not preventing his stupid actions. Her turning a cold pointed ear to my pleas.

Humans called the passages we made between Earth and Faerie portals, but we called them doorways. Although I hadn't been able to use it in years, I still tried, a reflexive internal gesture of opening the air to walk through. Today, as always, the doorway remained locked.

"You'll never stop trying, will you?" Mother's voice vibrated through the air around me.

I stepped back to allow her room to come through. "Never. My rightful place is there, in Faerie. You can't hold me responsible for Rhys's mistake forever." I hadn't come intending to rehash the old argument, but the events of the day had taken their toll. Now that I no longer felt safe in my home, I wanted - needed - to return to Faerie more than ever. Still, I'd hoped to be more elegant in my petition.

Mother appeared wearing a gown of green satin, her white-blond hair in an updo. My hair had been the same color as hers when I'd been banished, but it had turned white during my time on Earth. I knew that wouldn't be enough to deem me flawed - many of the older Fae had white hair. At least I'd kept my youthful face and figure, but I wondered how long those would last before I melted like a thin wax candle into a stubby crone.

"I suppose you are wondering why I summoned you here, Daughter."

Hmmm, no preamble or criticism. She must have really wanted to talk to me. Hope sparked in my chest — could this be it, my absolution and ticket back home?

"Yes, and I have a question for you as well," I said.

"In a moment. First, I have news for you. I suspect you'll consider it good."

"I'm allowed to come home?" The ache for Faerie never went away, as much as it might diminish while I lived in this realm. Earth beauty, as stunning as it could be, didn't compare.

"Perhaps. Your grandmother has consented to forgive you if you complete a task for her. For us."

Great, a fairy task. Guaranteed to be difficulty, if not impossible, to complete. I knew this because I'd given out more than a few in my time. And they always came with an agenda.

"What is it?" I asked, trying not to allow my misgivings to come through.

"Since you were so helpful in the investigation of the murder at the Institute for Lycanthropic Reversal, the Faerie court has decided to allow you to accompany representatives from the ILS to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. They will give you the details of what they want to accomplish, something about tracking the spread of lycanthropy and blah, blah." She waved her hand. Typical.

"Isn't that in the United States?"

"Correct, a place called Atlanta."

"But my powers..." Panic welled up in my gut at the thought of leaving my home and the network of caverns beneath it, from which I drew my power. I'd still have some of my magic in a different place, but not as much, and the thought made me feel naked and vulnerable already.

"You won't need them for the task, don't worry." She smiled, and I wish I could say her expression was maternal, but the word that came to mind was calculating.

"What is my task, then?"

"You are to protect our secrets from the scientists there, who are studying paranormal creatures. They know we exist, but not the power that we have. And especially not the elemental nature of our makeup."

"They know we're elementals, Mother."

"Right, but not of what kind. Not that we have all five and hold them in balance." She covered her mouth, took a deep breath, and continued in a quieter tone. "And not that we can manipulate them to change the nature of what they call matter. In this age, that is our most dangerous secret. The humans would weaponize it if they could."

I nodded my agreement to that. The humans would turn the most benign of substances into ways to kill each other if they could. The Fae considered themselves above that since the last Great War between the Seelie and Unseelie courts, when we'd realized that tipping the balance between light and dark wasn't worth the death and destruction caused by the conflict.

"So I go, keep our secrets away from a bunch of academics, and then what?"

"When the investigation you're part of is over, and all loose ends tied up, you may return to Faerie."

"All right." No, I needed to hear what she said. The assigner of a Faerie task always left loopholes for themselves. "What sort of loose ends?"

"Whatever comes up. You've been in this realm long enough to know."

"It sounds simple enough, although I know it probably isn't." But if Gabriel and Max were part of it, they'd be thorough. I hoped.

"You sound like a petulant child."

If I did, it was because she'd made me that way, but I refrained from saying so. Instead, I remembered why I wanted to talk to her and asked, "Do you know of a creature that can turn itself completely invisible yet maintain enough form to move objects around?"

"You mean a ghost?"

"It wasn't a ghost. I would have been able to identify that. It was a…" I hoped the word would come, but it didn't. "I don't know. But not a ghost. It didn't have that feeling of being dead. But not alive, either."

"You're not making sense, Daughter."

"Whatever it was, it was dangerous," I told her. "I don't feel safe here." But somehow she'd steamrolled me into agreeing to the task before I could express my concerns. Dammit, she always did that to me.

With a blast of cold air that stirred my hair, a now-familiar sensation started on my shoulder, of kneading and a rumbling purr. Oh, not now… But it gave me important information about my little friend - he shouldn't have been able to find me in the fairy circle.

"What in Hades is that?" My mother's tone combined revulsion and curiosity.

"Mother, meet Sir Raleigh." I again extracted the cat from my hair, but I didn't hold him out to my mother. The little creature made me feel more protective of it than I had of anything before, even my brother. I knew she'd try to take him away from me if she suspected I valued him.

"May I see him?"

"No. It's a kitten. There's nothing special about him." Well, other than the teleportation thing.

"That's not an ordinary kitten," she said. "Where did you get him?"

"He found me." It wasn't a lie.

"Yes, I'm sure he did."

I raised my eyebrows. The woman didn't waste a word, and this was the second time tonight her tongue had tripped ahead of her. I could tell from the rueful expression that flashed across her stonily beautiful face.

"Do you know something about him I don't?" I had to ask.

"I don't know, dear daughter, considering you haven't told me anything about him, so I don't know what you know, and you won't let me touch him."

She could always see right through me. "He's only a kitten," I repeated. "A strange little chap, assuredly, but I'll figure him out."

She shook her head. "Do yourself a favor and drown him in the nearest stream. He's going to be nothing but trouble. Besides, you can't bring him with you. The United States has an animal quarantine."

"How do you know that? You haven't bothered with 'silly human laws' in a millennium."

She shrugged. "We all have to change with the times, Reine. Remember your mission - don't let them find out more about us than they already know. We survived the so-called Age of Enlightenment, but this current age…" She held her hands palm-up. "They think they can distill everything into their precious science. But some mysteries are best left unsolved."

"Right, I can handle it. And then I'll come home. My real home."

"Gods speed, Daughter."

With that, she faded, leaving me alone in a fairy circle with a squirming kitten held to my chest and questions swirling around my brain. I held Sir Raleigh up so I could look him straight in his blue eyes.

"Well, that was interesting. You are apparently connected to more than I thought. I wonder what she meant - she was sure you found me?"

Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in said in the Lewis Carroll story. Especially since I had caught an expression on Mother's face when I asked about the creature in my cottage. It had lasted only a fraction of a moment, but it had been there - fear, a reaction I found most unsettling. My mother feared nothing, so what could it mean?

Only that I needed to accomplish this task and get home soon.