She didn’t seem too freaked out.
“Date and time,” Ed said. The last thing they needed was for the Queen of the Fae to think it would be fun to drop them home twenty years after she plucked them off that beach.
Melanie rattled off the date and time. He’d been correct; they’d been gone only a few hours. “I’m making calls,” he said. “Out.”
“Copy that,” Melanie said. “Out.”
“I called Mr. Bjorn.” Gabe handed over his phone. “The call went to voicemail.”
Ed tapped Lennart’s number next. Thankfully, he answered.
“I’m at Frank’s place. We have Ella and Mateo here. They’re safe and asleep,” the sleepy Lennart said. “Bjorn, Magnus, and Benta took a plane. They should be heading to a beach? Correct? That was the last place your phone indicated your location.”
So three of the elder elves were on their way to get the sword. “The sword should be there still.” As long as Wrenn didn’t take it, or the fae come back for it. Or the vampires.
A whining electric car pulled up. “Someone’s here.”
Lennart paused. “It’s—”
“Mr. Arne!” Sophia shouted. “Mr. Arne, we’re down here!”
Lennart chuckled. “The King will get you to the hospital.”
“Hospi—?”
Lennart hung up.
Ed looked at the phone, shook his head, and handed it back to Gabe. They must have kept Isabella overnight.
Footsteps approached.
Arne Odinsson, in full balding-middle-aged-father glamour, looked over the edge of the pit, though the University of Minnesota hat and its big maroon and gold pompom wasn’t really doing a good job of disguising his ears. He wore his old black parka with its fur-lined hood and had a couple of blankets in his hand.
“Magnus has the sword,” he said. “They’re on their way back to the airport in Brownsville and will be home by morning.”
Both of Ed’s kids looked up at the King of the Alfheim Elves as if to say Manners, please.
Damned elves and their myopic view of life. “We’re cold but okay down here,” Ed said. “Isabella?”
“Is Momma okay?” Sophia asked.
“Everything’s fine!” Arne grinned down at the kids. “I have blankets.” He held them out as headlights swept the driveway. “Maura’s here to take you and Gabe to Frank’s place. Akeyla’s up and waiting for you. She said she’s going to make hot cocoa.” He knelt down and whipped his hands around like he was going to zap them with a spell. “I’m going to cushion the edge here because it’s dark and I want to make sure we get you out safely, honey,” he said.
Sophia nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Arne.”
“Run up the side as fast as you can,” Arne said.
Sophia looked up at Ed.
“Go on, honey. Mr. Arne will catch you.” The elves always caught them.
Sophia stepped back and shot up the side of the pit farther and faster than she would have been able to without the spell. Arne plucked her from midair and swung her around out of Ed’s sight. “Your mommy’s water broke, so I’m going to take your daddy to the hospital, okay? Take the blanket and go to Maura, sweetie,” he said.
Sophia jogged away from the pit.
“Isabella’s water broke?” Ed called.
Gabe made it to the top of the pit wall pretty much on his own. He disappeared out of view too, presumably on his way to Maura’s sedan.
“Sif’s with her. We should go.” Arne extended his hand to Ed.
“We had a run-in with the Queen of the Fae,” Ed called up. “You don’t see any unwelcomed magicks, do you?” He didn’t want to accidentally take nasty fae magicks into Alfheim’s hospital.
Arne shook his head. “You’re clean,” he said.
Ed inhaled and ran at the slope. The spell somehow gave the dirt grip, and did blunt the sharpness of the concrete and the rebar. Arne took his hand and hauled him back into the real world.
Someone had put plastic over the gaping hole in the side of Ed’s house and sealed off the entire area with crime scene tape.
Both his kids were at the end of the driveway, being checked over by Arne’s daughter, Maura.
Arne turned his back to Maura and the kids. “I asked Titania to bring you home.”
Ed gaped at the elf. “Excuse me?” he said reflexively. Elves and fae working together? And then telling Ed, a mere mundane? “You what?” This could not be good.
Arne looked annoyed by Ed’s shock. “We do not have a Heimdall elder elf here. We cannot manipulate space as easily as the fae and we felt it important that you have magical backup as fast as possible.” He sighed. “The deal did not concern you or your children.”
Yes it did. She’d showed up on that beach specifically to help them. “Arne…”
Arne stared at the hole in the house. “It was worth it. A man should not miss the birth of his child.” Then the Elf King of Alfheim gripped Ed’s shoulder and turned back toward Maura and the kids. “Magnus thinks we should build you a new house,” he said. “We could ward and charm it properly, plus get you enough bedrooms, now that you are seven. Might take an extra few months, since it’s winter.”
Ed picked up the last blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. He didn’t care about the house. Not right now.
Sophia and Gabe waved from next to Maura’s sedan.
Ed waved back. “I’ll call when I know!” he said.
Gabe helped his sister into the car. Maura waved and drove them away, toward Frank Victorsson’s lake and hopefully a safe place to rest, at least for the night.
“I think Gabe’s going to need to talk to someone,” Ed said. “He saw a vampire beheading.” He looked at Arne. “I don’t think he’s processed it yet.”
“Hmm.” Arne watched Maura and the kids drive away. “Okay.”
Gabe will be fine, Ed thought. He didn’t know why he felt that way, but he was pretty sure it was true. “We need to talk about Sophia,” he said.
Arne nodded. “We do.” He ushered Ed toward his car. “Everything will be okay.”
Arne’s inflection said he didn’t believe
