In the photo my father had his arm around my mother and his head tilted back. My mother had her face resting on his chest. Flowers were braided into her hair, which was blond at the time of the photo not gray, and she looked like she was dressed for a renaissance fair or perhaps one of the Shakespeare festivals the city holds each year down in the park.
I traced their smiles with a gloved finger. I had so few memories of my real family. My father had sealed away the memories I had of that time with his spell. I knew that he was trying to protect us, but I longed for the years that I’d lost.
I slid my gloved fingers to the sides of the box, finding a flower with larger petals than the others. I pressed the center of the flower and the box unlocked with an audible click. I don’t know how I knew the secret to unlocking the box. It could have been magic keyed to my proximity to the box, or the remnants of a faded memory.
I bit my lip and lifted the lid. The box was lined in purple velvet and contained only one item, a beautiful silver key.
“Looks like your father left you the keys to the kingdom,” Kaye said.
I flinched and bit my tongue. I hadn’t seen or heard Kaye enter the room, but now she stood behind me hovering over my shoulder. Either I’d been too engrossed in my examination of the box and its contents or Kaye had used magic to gain entry without my notice. I flicked my eyes to her multi-layered skirts trimmed in tiny bells and the metal bangles at her wrists. It was unlikely that my friend had entered the room mundanely without making a sound. My bet was on a clandestine spell.
“What?” I asked.
“The key you have there,” Kaye said gesturing to the box. “It was left to you by your father, yes?”
“Um, yeah,” I said. I swallowed hard and closed the lid to the box. Kaye was eyeing the box like she was a supermodel and the key was a sandwich. “What do you mean by keys to the kingdom?”
“I mean that both literally and figuratively,” she said. “If I am not mistaken, that key leads to the wisp king’s demesne in the Otherworld.”
“You mean this key grants me entry into FAERIE?” I asked.
I boggled at my friend’s suggestion. The pathways to Faerie had been sealed, hadn’t they?
“Yes, dear,” she said. “Apparently, your father was unsure of his eventual return and entrusted the key into safekeeping until you matured into your powers. With your father gone, you now rule the wisps and that key gives you access to his power base. You are now the proud owner of the wisp court.”
My father had left the key in my mother’s safekeeping in case he could not return. That told me two things; my father had not yet broken the demon curse and he now needed me to rule in his stead.
“Wait,” I said, shaking my head. “I thought the roads to Faerie were sealed.”
When I’d first come to Kaye with questions about my fae heritage, I’d wondered if a trip to Faerie might be necessary to get the answers that I needed. She’d frowned and declared Faerie closed to visitors, even those with fae blood like me. I’d been relieved that a trip to Faerie, a realm rumored to be filled with all manner of monsters, was impossible.
Now I had a way down the rabbit hole, whether I wanted to go or not.
“Yes, that’s partially true,” Kaye said. “When Mab, Oberon, and Titania abandoned their courts, they barred the pathways into Faerie. The king and queens of Faerie sealed the land against the invasion of outsiders then disappeared. Some say that they have gone on a quest for true power, while others claim they continue to rule from afar preferring a less direct role in events. But whether out searching or in hiding, Mab, Oberon, and Titania did not leave their borders undefended in their absence. They locked Faerie away from the other planes, but left gateways that could only be opened with a special key. These keys were given to select kings and queens who ruled beneath them.”
“And I have one of these keys,” I said.
“Indeed,” she said.
I had possession of a key to Faerie. No wonder Kaye’s eyes gleamed when she looked at it. I gripped the box and started to sweat beneath Kaye’s piercing gaze, but I couldn’t leave yet. I still needed information. Now that I knew what the key was for, a question gnawed at my brain like a starved zombie.
If the key led to Faerie, then where was the door?
“How do I use the key to enter Faerie?” I asked. “Do you know where the entrance is?”
“That, my dear, is a closely guarded secret,” she said. “I suggest you try your contacts in the fae community if you wish to discover the gate’s location in the mortal world.”
I sighed and sagged in the chair, letting my head hang down. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. Nothing was ever simple when it came to the fae.
“Okay thanks, I’ll ask around,” I said.
I wrapped the box in the plastic bag and tucked it into a zippered jacket pocket. I took a deep breath and pushed myself to my feet. It was time to probe my fae allies for information, and I knew right where to start. I strode toward the exit, books moving out of my path. Navigating the office was much easier with Kaye’s magic at hand. I turned to wave goodbye and the witch raised a tattooed hand.
“A word of advice?” she asked. “Use caution when making your inquiries. Divulging the location of the gates to the wrong person, such as a human friend and business partner, could be construed as treason, and the very existence of the keys is a closely guarded secret. If you manage to locate someone willing to talk, keep in mind that the key in your possession is extremely valuable. There are some, mortals and fae, unscrupulous enough to kill for access to Faerie.”
Great, just my luck. I’d have to keep the key secret from Jinx, or risk being labeled a traitor. That was just what I needed, another reason for the faerie courts to order my execution.
As if lying to my best friend wasn’t bad enough, I might get myself into hot water trying to learn the location of the door to Faerie. If I mentioned that I had my own key to the wrong person, I was as good as dead. There was nothing like carrying around an artifact that could fetch big bucks on the black market to encourage a knife in the back. I might as well paint my enemies a target.
My footsteps as I stomped out of the office were matched by the chiming of a clock. A chill ran up my spine; the sound reminded me of church bells tolling the dead.
Chapter 32
I was halfway up Joysen Hill when I realized I’d forgotten to ask Kaye about the name Inari. I scrubbed a gloved hand over my face and sighed. It looked like I had another question for Torn. I hoped the cat sidhe was holding court in the alley beside Club Nexus. I wasn’t in the mood for a scavenger hunt.
I spied a window display showing off a huge jar of honey at a local tea shop and pulled up short. I hadn’t yet thanked Marvin for saving my hide back at the cemetery and I owed the kid a bridgewarming gift.
I ducked inside the shop and haggled over the honey. The shop clerk had been surprised when I pointed to the massive jar on display, but when I flashed a handful of money I’d made on the recent missing persons case, she was happy to oblige. She even gift wrapped it for me.
The honey was heavy, but I found a renewed bounce in my step as I headed down the side street to Marvin’s new digs. This was one errand I didn’t dread. In fact, I couldn’t wait to see the kid’s face when he unwrapped the one-hundred and sixty ounce container.
I grinned and started my descent down the scree covered embankment in pursuit of my troll friend. I didn’t have far to search. Marvin stood beside his new home, washing clothes downstream from the bridge. I made plenty of noise as I scrambled down that last yard of loose stones. Marvin turned to me and smiled wide.
“Poison Ivy,” he said. Marvin hung the wet clothing over a rope he’d tied to the bridge and wiped his hands down the front of his pants. “You feeling better?”
“Yes, good as new,” I said. “I’m alive, thanks to you. I don’t know when you started following us, but your idea to throw an entire pixie nest at The Piper really saved the day. I owe you one.”
After leaving Marvin’s that night, I’d felt like someone had been watching us. I’d assumed it was a cat sidhe, or maybe one of the vamps, curious about why I smelled like the inside of a ghoul. Instead, our tail had
