'I'm fine,' I said, wishing we could just get moving, then frowned at Ivy and Ceri who were whispering about how cute we looked. 'I thought you might sound like Mickey Mouse,' I said as he came to a halt beside me.
'Who?' he asked, rubbing his new beard.
'Never mind,' I said, gesturing for him to turn around so I could lace his jacket up.
His neck went stiff, but he turned to show me the undone laces. Jih made an embarrassed sound as I tightened them, and I wondered if I was breaking a pixy rule by lacing up an unmarried man's shirt. Rolling my eyes at her fluster, I tugged the last one tight and tied it off. 'There you go,' I said, and Jih's wings blurred to invisibility to make a silver dusting.
The light was suddenly eclipsed, and I jumped, startled when Ceri bent down to us.
'Jumpy little thing, isn't she?' Jih said, and Pierce smiled slightly, startled as well.
Ceri patiently waited until we were all looking at her. 'Jih will escort you to the stump and give you a good dusting,' she said, looking at us in turn. 'I hope you know what you're doing.' She stood, and skirts shifting, she walked to the stairs and went inside, the door slamming behind her in rebuke. I looked at Pierce, doubt rising. I wanted this, Ivy wanted this, but more important, Matalina had wanted this.
'After you, madam pixy,' Pierce said, and Jih darted off, gone in an instant.
'Jih!' Ivy shouted, and Pierce and I cowered. 'Sorry,' she whispered as Jih returned.
'I wasn't going to leave them,' she said, hands on her hips as she hovered over us. 'I was just making sure it was safe for ground travel.'
'Where's Rex?' I asked, fear stabbing through me.
'Inside.' Jih moved forward and then back. 'This way. Mind the glass.'
Ivy sat at the table beside the fairies, clearly going to stay out here when I was in the wilds. Giving her a wave she couldn't see, I followed Jih. Pierce had one of the fairy swords on his hip, and as the grass closed in, I asked him, 'You know how to use that?'
'Absolutely not,' he said, 'but isn't it a caution? Dash-it-all fine Arkansas toothpick.'
My eyebrows rose. 'Oka-a-a-ay.'
We soon found the glass—the remnants of my potion vial, I guess—and we wove through the thick shards carefully, following Jih's gold-dusted path. Every birdcall made my heart race. Every gust of wind in the leaves brought my eyes up, scanning. The grass we walked through had been cut, but it came up to my waist, growing in clumps. A skittering jerked me to a stop.
'Holy crap!' I exclaimed, and Pierce brandished his sword at a hard-plated bug the comparative size of an armadillo. Its antenna waved at us, and I froze, wondering if I could kick it or if it would chew my foot off.
Jih, who was flying a nice safe four inches off the ground, looked down. 'It's a roly-poly bug,' she explained, her tone saying I was a baby.
'I've never seen one the size of my head before,' I muttered.
She dropped lower to give it a kick and it vanished. 'It's safer when you can fly,' she said lightly. 'I was grounded an entire month when I snapped the main vein in my right lower wing. I hated it. Never went outside the entire time.'
No wonder nothing fazed Jenks. Just walking around took guts.
Jih stopped short, her face pale as her wings dusted a melancholy blue. I pushed past her, halting when I found we were at Jenks's stump. The grass ended, giving way to a flat sheet of earth that I remember spanning only a foot or so, but now looked enormous. It was littered with the remnants of battle. The fire where the fairies' weapons had been burned was almost out. The air was clean, but memory put the scent of blood and burnt hair drifting through the clearing. It was quiet. Empty.
Pierce edged even with me, and together we looked at the understated entrance to Jenks's home. It was almost invisible, cut to look like a part of the stump itself. 'It's round,' he said softly. 'I've not seen a round door before.'
'Maybe it's for the wings?' I guessed, glancing up at Jih. 'Thank you, Jih. Do you want to come in with us?'
Jih's feet touched the earth beside me, head bowed to hide her tears. 'I'll not go any farther,' she said, her voice a whisper. 'My husband thinks it was wrong for me to have even joined the battle, seeing as it's not truly my garden anymore. But I didn't see any harm if I Visited' my sisters while he was at home making sure no one took our own land.'
'You are your father's daughter as much as your mother's,' I said, touching her arm and making her look up. 'Always bending the rules.'
She smiled forlornly, causing her to look beautiful, dashed the glitter from her face, and looked at her first home with a faint smile. 'I think I'd like my papa back if he was happy.'
I nodded, feeling for the first time that I might be doing some good. 'I'll try.'
She rose up with a soft hum, shifting a dust of sparkles over us. Pierce sneezed, and I held my breath. 'Now youTl smell right,' she said, and with no more, she flew away. The sound of her wings faded remarkably fast.
Pierce smacked his clothes to get the dust off. 'Don't you want to smell right?' I asked him, and he raised his eyebrows.
'It's a right smart amount she put down,' he said. 'Why do we have to smell anyway?'
I didn't know. I really didn't care. Melancholy, I looked out over the distance, feeling the breeze, tasting it almost. It was too quiet for my garden, so long holding the singing or giggling of pixies by sun or starlight. They were either gone or hiding. Pierce gave a small start as I slipped my fingers into his. So I needed his moral support. Eyes forward, I stepped out, feet silent in the manicured dirt as I crossed the opening and watched the door get bigger. My pace didn't falter until I reached it.
My knees went wobbly as I stared at it. Jenks was behind it, mourning his wife. Of all the demons I'd faced, of all the wicked witches, wild Weres, and evil elves, this was the most daunting thing I'd ever done. Jenks's life was on the line. I couldn't fail.
'Should we knock?' Pierce asked as we looked at it.
'Absolutely.' Gathering my courage, I knocked, knowing by the flat sound that it wouldn't carry into the stump any distance. Pierce cleared his throat and pulled himself straight, as if we were calling on neighbors, and after a moment, he glanced at me.
'Can you tap a line?' he asked, his blue eyes showing a hint of trepidation. 'I'm a mite skerry to try. I'm of a mind it might explode in me, being so small.'
'I've been connected since we did the spell. It's okay.'
'Oh.' He hesitated, and I felt a tingle between us. 'I think we should just go in,' he said, his eyes on the wooden door.
Nodding, I pushed the door open.
Twenty-four
Jenks's front door opened to a black tunnel slightly larger than the door itself. We had to step down to enter, and the unusually deep drop jarred all the way up my spine. It was dark but for the light coming in behind us, and there was no echo. The air smelled of ginger, and my clenched jaw eased. There was a tweak on my awareness, and a soft glow grew at Pierce's feet. It was that mundane ley-line light charm he knew, and I gingerly picked it up, able to handle the globe where Pierce couldn't. If he tried, his aura would probably break the charm. The ball of ever-after was cool to the touch, and slippery, as if it was going to ooze right through my fingers.
Pierce took his hat off and shut the door behind us. Wonder crossed him, and I followed his gaze to the ceiling and walls. Pixy dust coated everything, catching the light and throwing it back to make it brighter yet. Grooves had been carved to collect the pixy dust, and they glowed the brightest to show fantastic patterns of swirls and spirals. It was singularly beautiful, and I wondered that it had all been made in less than two years. Jenks's family was amazing.
'Jenks?' I called softly, remembering we hadn't been invited in.
Pierce's hand landed on my shoulder, heavy with warning. 'Wait.'
