Enchanted Ivy

The fairy cooed in sympathy. 'Wish I could for old times' sake, but I'm afraid I can't part with this Key. If you'll pardon the pun, she's the key to my dream come true!'

He thrashed in the stone. Dust plumed around him.

'Temper, temper.' The fairy tsk-tsked.

'Let us finish what we began,' the dragon pleaded. His voice slid down Lily's back like a worm inside her spine. 'This time, I will not fail.'

On the steps, Lily froze. 'This time?' she repeated. She began to put two and two together. 'Years ago, when the dragon escaped ... He couldn't have caught that Key alone.' The fairy blushed prettily and curtsied. 'You helped him. You're the one responsible for my father's death. And Tye and Jake's mother. And Jake's father.'

'Oh, don't be mad, kitten,' the fairy said. 'I was the hired help. Just following orders.'

'Whose orders?' Lily asked.

On the arch above, the dragon rumbled.

'Think it through, cupcake,' the fairy said. 'You were close to the truth down there in the nave.' She giggled. 'Literally.'

'Mr. Mayfair?' Lily asked.

Above them, the Chained Dragon hissed and lashed his stone tail hard against the chapel arch. Rock dust sprayed down. 'Explain!' he demanded.

The fairy laughed louder, a sound like church bells. 'Oh, this is fun! I really ought to double-cross my allies more often.' To the dragon, she said, 'I was merely the messenger. Yes, my scaly friend, it was he who offered you freedom in exchange for the death of this Key and then he who revoked your freedom. He betrayed you.'

'Traitor!' the dragon cried. 'I will rend his flesh from his bones!'

Lily felt as if her head were swirling. 'But ... but the dragon killed Jake's parents. His own son.'

'Oh, the son was the whole problem,' the fairy said merrily. 'He wasn't supposed to forgive Jake's mother. She'd left him, you see, for some furry man. Joseph's son was not supposed to meet her at the gate on that day. When Joseph learned that his son was there ... well, he rushed to save him, and that's when the plan went awry. The knights followed Joseph and interrupted all the festivities, arriving in time to save you and your silly mother but too late for the other humans. After that failure, Joseph reimprisoned the dragon and swore to avoid any more 'extreme measures.' Until now, of course.'

'I will crush his body!' the dragon cried. 'I will flay him with fire!'

The fairy smiled sunnily at Lily and hugged her shoulders. 'Oh, my sweet, I am so happy that the plan went awry. If it hadn't, today wouldn't be possible. I would never have had this opportunity.' She swept Lily down the steps and across the plaza as the dragon continued to rage on the front of the chapel. 'Your world has been a place of a thousand delights, but I miss my family. I miss my friends.' As they passed through East Pyne courtyard, the fairy waved at the indent where the vines had held the goblin. 'I even miss the little goblin that your tiger boy so kindly returned, pest though he was. He was like a puppy to me. Always so obedient.'

Still trying to wrap her head around these new revelations, Lily nodded in response. They passed through East Pyne, circled Nassau Hall, and crossed the yard.

The fairy squeezed Lily's hand. 'Thanks to you, we will never be hunted again.'

Lily couldn't wait to be rid of the fairy. 'Ready to go?'

'One sec, pudding pie.' She flashed a smile at Lily and held up a finger.

Two goblins skittered across the yard and scrambled up the stone pillars. 'What are they doing?' Lily cried. The fairy held tightly to Lily's hand and waited with a pleasant smile on her face as the goblins attacked the eagles. In seconds, they'd wrapped their green bodies snugly around the stone eagles, pressing their wings together so they couldn't fly. 'Stop them!'

Amused, the fairy said, 'After I went through all the trouble of recruiting them? I think not. Besides, we can't have our pesky bird friends alerting Vineyard Club, can we?' The goblins squeezed the eagles' beaks shut to prevent their cries and tossed cloths over their heads to hood their eyes.

On the street, pedestrians halted and gawked.

'But why—,' Lily began.

'Now I am ready,' the fairy said, and she shoved Lily against the wrought-iron gate. Some of the pedestrians shouted. A few whipped out cell phones.

'Ow,' Lily said. 'Stop. Let go of me!'

The fairy drew a rope from the folds of her cloak and lashed Lily to the iron gate. She touched Lily's lips. 'Shh.'

Various onlookers called out, 'Hey, what are you doing? Let her go!'

With a smile to her audience, the fairy pushed Lily halfway across the threshold of the gate. Half of Lily's body vanished.

En masse, the pedestrians gasped and withdrew. A few ran in the opposite direction. One applauded as if it were a show. The fairy winked at the crowd and then kissed Lily on the cheek and walked through the gate.

The fairy vanished.

Lily struggled against the rope. 'Help me, please!' Several yards away, the onlookers still gawked. One person snapped photos. Lily tried to pull her arm and leg back into the human world. 'Please, someone, help!'

A middle-aged man with nondescript brown hair and plump cheeks broke out of the circle of onlookers. He inched toward her with his hands spread wide. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'Stay calm.' Slowly, as if reaching toward a rabid raccoon, he touched the knots in the rope.

In that instant, the fairy returned.

Hand on the rope, the man froze.

'Tut-tut, none of that,' the fairy said. She'd lost her cloak. As the man gaped, the fairy extended her glorious wings and then folded them around him. She pulled him close to her, and nuzzled against his neck. Pink shot through her wings like streaks of lightning, radiating out until they shone. The fairy pressed her body against her victim's body. She moaned in pleasure.

The man twitched.

Seconds later, he crumpled to the ground. Blood leaked from delicate bite marks on his neck. His eyes were open and sightless. The fairy wiped a streak of red from her cheek with the back of her hand. She smiled at the crowd and laughed in a voice so high that it sounded like shattering glass. Her teeth were stained pink.

The crowd screamed and ran.

'Do you really think I want to give that up?' the fairy said to Lily. 'Drinking straight from a human ... nothing can compare. You would have me trade fine wine for water. Less than water. For air.' She glowed as if she were lit from within. 'Oh, I feel like I could fly.' She giggled at her own joke.

'You can't do this!' Lily shouted. 'Let me go!'

From the other side of the gate, claws grasped Lily's invisible arm. She screamed and tried to yank herself away, but the rope held tight. A goblin emerged into the human world. On the street, a car slammed into the rear of a truck.

Smiling brightly, the fairy scooped the goblin up in her arms and swung him in a circle as if he were a toddler. 'Well done, my pet!'

He was followed by others. Elves, gorgons, fairies, and trolls crossed. A snake woman slithered past Lily so close that she felt the scales against her skin. On Nassau Street, cars screeched and crashed into one another as the creatures ran down the road. Lily struggled harder against the rope as more creatures slipped into the human world.

Suddenly, a blur of orange and black shot through the gate. It slammed into the fairy, knocking her backward. Pivoting, the tiger slashed at Lily. The ropes split away from her.

As the fairy flew toward them, Lily swung herself onto the tiger's back and wrapped her arms around his neck. The tiger, with Lily clinging to him, ran.

* * *

The tiger raced across campus. Holding tightly to his fur, Lily felt the muscles in his back shift as he leaped over stone benches and bounded down marble stairs. She buried her cheek in his neck as she held on. He smelled like summer-warmed leaves, like grass after rain, like Tye.