Juniper’s wings fluttered in agitation, blue-green dust falling from them. “Excuse me,” she squeaked. When all eyes turned to her, she shuddered under so much scrutiny. With a hard swallow, she attempted to speak again. “But I’ve been thinking over what Nick said about Fenwen and Sassy. How his special skills didn’t work on them quite right.”
“Yes, if I were so inclined to keep my position with the family business, I would report back to my father that the fae don’t succumb easily, if at all.” Nick smiled for the first time. “You’re thinking about using fae magic against Lorelei.”
“W-w-ell,” Juniper stuttered. “There’s a lot of us here now. Fairy, pixie, brownie, gnome…we could all come together to try and defeat her. Although I haven’t thought of a way how yet.”
“Commanding an army would require a strong leader,” Lady Eveline remarked.
Lucky plucked at the label on his beer bottle, listening but refusing to meet my gaze. “If only we had someone with battle experience here who could lead,” I said, hoping to encourage the leprechaun to speak up.
“But there’s no one here who’s lived that kind of life,” Gossamer exclaimed. “And most of us are too small to do much damage.”
Horatio harrumphed from his space in the corner. “Pardon me, Mrs. Hollyspring, but have you not heard Will’s indubitable line from his most excellent play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which he penned, ‘And though she be but little, she is fierce’?”
“I can try to be,” Juniper whispered to her gigantic boyfriend with a shy grin.
The lights came back on again, as if approving of the diminutive fairy’s statement.
The troll winked at his girl. “You already are.”
“A leader of your kind already exists,” Lady Eveline spoke up. “Every single one of you follows Lucky.”
“That’s true,” agreed Flint. “You’re a natural leader.”
I cast a sideways glance at Dash, who knew the leprechaun’s true name and history. Only Nana and the two of us knew that when we were around Lucky, we were in the presence of royalty. And even though I wished he would step forward, I would never out him. He kept his secret for his own reasons.
“The nature of the fae is not the only thing that stood up to my powers,” Nick said, staring at me with great curiosity. “There’s something about Charli that makes her different. I couldn’t access your soul at all.”
“And I’ll be arresting you the second I can get into Honeysuckle for even trying,” Mason threatened in his authoritative tone.
“Not to be indelicate, but what’s so special about Charli?” Flint asked.
Not taking any offense to the gnome’s question, I thought about what might make me different. “I’m adopted?”
“So, maybe you have some fae blood in you that you don’t know about,” Nick posited.
Matt spoke up beside me, “She has a pretty rare magical talent for tracking things down.”
“But I’m ultimately still just an ordinary witch,” I countered.
Dash grunted, “I’ll bet it’s the curse.”
“What curse?” Nick asked, looking wide-eyed at me like I had sprung a second head.
My brother explained, “Long story, but Charli accidentally picked up a death curse. It almost killed her.”
I smacked his arm. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here. And as you can see, I cured the curse because I’m still alive and kicking.”
“And annoying,” Matt added, smacking me back.
Nick tapped his finger against his top lip. “It’s possible that the curse itself protected you from my magic.”
“Like a soul shield,” I said.
“Or scar tissue,” Dash added. He touched one of the lines on his face. “Once it builds up, it changes what’s left. You’re still you, but a little different.”
“So, does that guarantee that Lorelei wouldn’t be able to do anything against me?” I asked Nick.
The demon considered my question for a long moment until Dash nudged his back. “The truth is, I don’t know for sure. It’s possible, but since I’m newer to the family business, I don’t know all of her tricks yet. She keeps her playbook close to her chest.”
“You’re all missing the bigger picture,” Mason accused through the reflective surface of Nana’s handheld mirror. “You’ve been dancing around the solution the whole time. You’ve talked of cheating, of her having a playbook…don’t you see that it’s all a game?”
Nick brightened at the end of the table. “He’s right. My sister loves her job because it isn’t work to her. It’s a game she loves to play over and over again. She’ll do anything to win.”
“So, that just makes her an even more dangerous opponent,” Lady Eveline concluded.
“Then we’ll have to play smarter,” Mason said. “Do something that she’s not expecting.”
My mind wouldn’t let go of the three words that Nana had said to Nick. If I added them to the message, she’d drilled into me before waking me up with a slap, then the one who had to play the game against Lorelei became clearer.
“I know how we’re going to beat her,” I declared.
Nick shook his head in disbelief. “How?”
“By making her think we’re playing her game her way. Get her to make a deal with us,” I said, excitement coursing through me.
“That’s pretty risky,” Flint said, “considering the price she requires.”
I tried to think like Nick’s sister would. She already had one fulfilled contract to collect on, but she wanted the souls of everyone in town. If Nick was telling the truth, then she didn’t know about the fae’s resistance to her demon powers. When she found out she didn’t get what she’d wanted, what would be her next move? If we wanted to win, we had to match her play by play.
“Trick her into accepting less,” I muttered under my breath.
“What did you say?” Mason asked from the mirror.
I held up a finger to vocalize my thoughts. “Our goal is for Nick’s sister to leave Honeysuckle for good with all of our souls intact. In order to make sure she does just that, we need to sweeten the pot. Offer her something so sweet, she won’t hesitate to
