Keelie and Sean started down the path. There was a different vibe to this stroll.
“As I said, your father is well. He’s in talks with Elianard and my father.”
“Thank you. I was worried. So, if he’s okay, what’s so urgent that you have to speak to me this morning?” She stopped and folded her arms across her chest.
Sean sighed. “I’m here on official business, representing the Elven Council.”
Keelie fought not to roll her eyes. “Again? Another summons?”
“No, just me this time.” Sean looked down at her, face sad but stern.
“You’re here to represent the elves.”
Sean nodded, standing stiffly. “Keelie, if only you would listen to me, then we… I wouldn’t have to do this.” Rubbing his chin in frustration, he watched her sadly.
“Do what?” She shivered, and it wasn’t from the chilled morning air.
“They’re going to question you, maybe by magical means, to discover the location of the goblins. You and I both know you’re not telling them everything. I thought I’d give you a chance to speak freely, away from the others. You can tell me what you know about the goblins.”
Keelie inhaled, taking in the green scent of the forest to help steel herself against her sudden anger. She should be shocked at his words, but maybe she was numb from the loss of Heartwood.
“No amount of magic can make me say what I don’t know. I’m not psychic, and the goblins don’t send me texts to tell me where they’re headed.”
Sean’s eyes glinted like emeralds. “You’re endangering yourself and all elves by your association with the goblins.”
“I’m not endangering the elves or myself. I am a tree shepherd. I deal with the problems of the forest. In the Northwoods, that included goblins. And might I remind you that the elves sent me there?”
The muscles in Sean’s face twitched, and he stepped forward to lean close. “You get yourself into situations that put your life at risk. When Herne took you
Under-the-Hill, I couldn’t go. I feel like a puppet that hangs around you, unable to stop whatever threat is coming. Not this time, Keliel. You have to let us, the elves, handle the goblins. You need to stay out of it. You’re putting our future children in jeopardy.”
“Children?” Keelie’s eyes widened in shock. She wasn’t ready for a family. She was too young to think about starting a family.
“Yes, children. I want children. I want a family, but I’ve begun to wonder what you really want. I don’t know if I’m going to have to wait a couple of hundred years before you decide you want a child, and then there’s no telling how our child will turn out. Will it chase faeries and trees?”
Keelie stepped back. She realized for the first time they wanted very different things. She hadn’t really accepted yet that she would live a far longer life span than a normal human. And she was sixteen. Driving was new to her. Children? Heck no.
“I haven’t really thought about kids yet, but I hope my child would choose to do the right thing, and would come to the aid of whoever needed him or her-whether pureblood elf or not,” Keelie said firmly. “I have done everything I can for the elves, and still you mistrust me. I restored the Dread. I saved the Redwoods, too, yet now I’m accused of being a traitor because I’m open-minded.”
“You’re not the only one who has made sacrifices, Keliel. I stood up to my father for you,” Sean’s eyes darkened. “Now he won’t even speak to me, other than to give me orders.”
“Your father has been plotting his return to the elves. He must have scurried up to meet with Terciel right after we left the Northwoods. Notice how he didn’t meet with Norzan. Terciel hates me. Heck, he doesn’t even like Elia, his own kin, because she married Uncle Dariel after he became a unicorn. Not elf enough for him.”
“My father’s heart was in the right place. He wanted to save the elves, but chose the wrong way to do it, and he’s paying for it.” Sean stopped walking and looked at her earnestly. “Father thought one unicorn horn would save all the elves of the Dread Forest. But you want to sacrifice the elves to help the goblins.”
“Goblins are part of the Other Realm. They serve a purpose. Didn’t the rift in the Earth, the crack in Gaia’s dome, prove that we must keep a balance in magic, in nature, and with the Earth? We can’t exterminate goblins as if they were bugs.”
Sean shook his head. “We’d be doing the world a favor if we did. You need to get your priorities straight. You’ve already lost one of our greatest treasures to the goblins, and I will not lose you as well.” Sean’s ear tips grew red.
Outraged and indignant, Keelie had to try twice before she could form words. “The Compendium was lost in the fire. The fire that destroyed everything I owned. I tried to go back for it… ” Anguish rolled over her as she recalled the acrid smoke, the screaming trees, and the blistering heat. “My priorities? Didn’t you learn anything at the High Court?”
He pointed his finger at her. “I learned to protect my own.”
“Well, you don’t have to protect me. I’m not yours.”
“You never were, and now I think you never will be.” Bitterness and sadness filled Sean’s green eyes.
“You want me to be the good traditional elven girl, and that’s not me.” Stunned, Keelie realized her words were true. “Is this it?” she asked.
They stared at one another, at an impasse. Who was supposed to say the next word? Make the next move?
At last, Sean nodded. He reached out and touched her cheek. “We’re too different, you and I.”
Keelie blinked back tears. First, Heartwood, and now she was losing Sean. Maybe she’d already lost him on the plane ride from the Northwoods.
He took a deep breath and straightened, his austere elven expression replacing the sweet Sean she had thought she loved. “You say you don’t know where the goblins are, but you have ways of finding out. Your pet goblin, for instance.”
“He’s a baby. Tell the elves to figure it out for themselves. I don’t know.” Heat crept up her body and into her face as anger flowed through her.
“Keelie, before this is finished, you will come to me for protection.” Sean turned and strode away, leaving her alone on the path.
She watched him march toward Water Sprite Lane, his back stiff with hurt elven pride.
Keelie tried to examine her feelings, but her heart and mind were in a confused jumble. She turned her steps back toward the Green Lady Herb shop. She heard Sir Davey’s deep voice in conversation inside, but she wasn’t ready to speak to him or to anyone else. She hadn’t had time yet to mourn the loss of Heartwood, and now of Sean. And she couldn’t answer the elves’ questions-she just didn’t know.
Keelie felt her dry cheeks. She wondered if it was her dark fae blood that was keeping her from falling apart even though her heart felt like a shattered mirror, all the brightness broken forever.
When she’d been in school at Baywood Academy in California, she’d gone running whenever she needed to shake off bad feelings. Before she knew it, she was racing down Ironmonger’s Way. She didn’t even look toward the jousting field. The very thought turned her stomach. Freedom. She wanted the sweet freedom that running gave her.
She wondered what Sean would tell the elves.
Did they think she’d armor up and join this goblin army that she supposedly knew the location of? But what if it wasn’t an army? Peascod had recruited his fighters from urban streets-hungry, solo goblins. Alone, they were no threat to anyone. If she ran into a few goblins making their way through the faire’s trash bins, she wouldn’t tell, not even Dad.
If they were armored, like Peascod’s fighters, then she would tell her father and let him make the decision. Dad would take her information to the Council, and it would come under debate-or would it? The elves would more than likely go immediately into defensive mode. The goblins could even be killed.
The elves still didn’t trust her, and she didn’t trust them, either.
Thomas the Glass Blower waved as she sprinted by his smoking kiln. She lifted a hand in return. Humans were friendlier than elves, and right now she preferred their company. The mud men pretended to jump out of her way, with exaggerated movements, as she passed them on King’s Way. “Make way for the lady in a hurry!”
Keelie noticed the flickers of sympathy in their sun-wrinkled, mud-encrusted faces.
At least humans, or most humans, were more accepting of each other. Differences were celebrated. Elves-it was their way or nothing. You were shunned for being different.
The Birds of Prey show wasn’t too far ahead. She thought fondly of Ariel, the Cooper’s Hawk who had once been part of the show and was now free in the Dread Forest.
She slowed a little, her muscles fatigued more quickly than she’d anticipated. She hadn’t run in a while. She’d let her workouts slide because she’d been so busy with her tree shepherding duties.
The Birds of Prey area was open, but Keelie didn’t recognize the costumed workers. Cameron was probably cleaning cages in the back. She should stop by and visit with her soon. With Heartwood gone, she might have time to help feed the birds.
She ran past the candle shop, where Trixie, the round, sixtyish owner, waved as her daughter, Karen, as spindly as her mom was robust, smiled. She returned the friendly gestures but didn’t stop. The Horne Shoppe’s owner, Elizabeth Hawkins, smiled at her as she stocked her displays of faux devil horns, unicorn horns, and fairy wings. Her cat Luci was asleep in the shop’s gutter, paws dangling. He was probably recovering from a Knot-induced bender.
Ahead, Keelie saw the tall front entrance of the faire, which looked like a castle wall, and the tarot shop in its shadow. The shop was little more than a deck with a roof over it, the sides hung with colorful draperies and twinkling glass ornaments that twirled with every breeze that billowed out the silky cloths. It looked as if Sally had a client, and Keelie would recognize that mane of red hair anywhere. Finch.
She needed to ask the faire director why she’d encouraged Vangar to ask her for help clearing his name. Maybe the answer would anger her, which might numb the hurt of her breakup with Sean. And she needed something to do since Heartwood was no more. Finch might give her a job.
Keelie pushed aside a vermilion curtain covered in tiny embroidered mirrors and stepped up onto the wide-planked floor of the booth.
“Busy?”
Finch lifted her upper lip in a snarl. “What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re having your cards read.” Keelie sat down on the fat purple velvet cushion that covered the wooden bench and the faire director scooted over to give her room.
“Yeah, this is all new to me.”
“What? Dealing with angry crowds?”
Finch motioned nonchalantly with her hand. “Them, I can handle. This other thing I can’t.”
“I’m lost. But I do need to talk to you.” Keelie flicked her eyes over at Sally. She wore a scarf around her curly blond hair, and she was shuffling her cards while humming softly to herself.
“Please be quiet as I try to tune myself to the Earth’s vibration,” she said. She picked up her humming again.
Finch looked directly at Keelie. “You can trust Sally. We’ve been friends for a long time.”
Sally raised one eyebrow. “A long time, kid. You aren’t going to say anything that’s going to surprise me.”
She kept shuffling her cards expertly, the little cardboard rectangles flashing and fanning out, then sliding together with a snap. If tarot reading didn’t work out for her, she could take up card dealing in Vegas.
“This is about Vangar,” Keelie said.
Finch’s cheeks burned bright red. “Yeah, tell me about it. Pretty intuitive of you to figure out why I’m here.” Then Finch narrowed her eyes and studied Keelie as if she were a milk carton that had reached its expiration date but still might be okay to drink. “You’re not right. Something’s wrong.”
“I’m upset about Heartwood,” Keelie quickly replied.
Sally lowered her cards and pointed her finger at Keelie’s chest. “Your heart chakra is clogged with dark energy.”
Finch arched a red eyebrow. “Spill, kid.”
Keelie inhaled to hold back a sob.
Sally reached underneath her table and handed Keelie a tissue. “Tell us. Maybe we can help.”
“Sean and I broke up,” Keelie said.
Finch nodded. “I know you don’t want to hear this right now, because the pain is raw and fresh, but in the long run, I think you two weren’t meant for each other.”
“What?” Keelie blew her nose.
“He was all wrong. He’s always been bound to the jousters, who are also elven warriors, you know. I give Sean credit for stretching himself and trying to expand his mind, but I’ve known him for many more years than you have been alive, my dear.”
Finch’s words hit home. She’d known Sean since before Keelie was born. Sean was eighty-six years old, and Keelie was going on seventeen. Their age difference was something else that had contributed to their problems-he had already experienced so much in life, and she was at the beginning of her journey.
Sally pointed her finger. “Let me read your cards and give you some love advice.”
“That’s okay.” Keelie waved away the invitation.
“That’s why Finch is here. Vangar stokes her fires unlike any dra-”
Finch cleared her throat. “I find Vangar rather handsome, and he’s very manly.”
Sally rolled her eyes.
“You mean he’s very dragony.” Keelie couldn’t help smiling. She liked seeing Finch discombobulated.
“Well, yeah.”
“Vangar said that he put protection spells on his forge, and that someone very powerful lifted them,” Keelie said.
Finch nodded. “He told me about putting fire spells on the forge. It’s why I allowed it to remain so close to the trees and the other shops. He’s a very powerful dragon. It would take great magic to break the spells.” Finch watched Sally place three cards down on the stars-and-crescent-moon-printed tablecloth.
“Wouldn’t there be a trace of such a powerful magic?” Keelie asked.
“If whoever removed them used a cover spell, and layered it with another one, then it would be hard to detect,” Finch answered. She turned to Keelie. “Pick a card.”
“But I don’t need a reading on my love life.”
“This isn’t about your love life. This reading is going to help us discover the identity of the arsonist.”
“The elves said that they think Vangar is innocent,” Keelie said.
“For once they’re right about something,” Finch said, smoke drifting out of her ears.
Knot leapt into the tarot shop and hopped up beside Sally.
“Where have you been?” Keelie asked.
Knot placed a paw on the table, which didn’t answer Keelie’s question.
“Have you seen Cricket?”
He gave a slight shake of his head as his tail twitched agitatedly.
“Glad to see you,” Finch said. “How have your investigations gone?”
Knot looked toward the curtained side of the shop, where a railing served as traffic control for customers. Keelie heard a familiar discordant jangle. She jumped to her feet, anticipating Peascod, but he didn’t materialize.
Knot nodded and the curtain twitched aside. A bhata hopped onto the railing, holding a round brass jingle bell the size of a cherry tomato. The bell dropped and rolled to Keelie’s feet, its discordant jangling making her sick to her stomach.
“I know the owner of that bell,” she whispered. “He could have started the fire.” Peascod could very well be at the faire. She stared at the bell as if it were about to explode.
“What?” Finch’s voice was sharp.
Keelie told her about Peascod and about the elves’ suspicions of a goblin army, feeling no duty to keep their dealings secret. Not anymore. Slowly, she reached down and picked up the bell. It felt warm and normal, and when clasped in her hand, its noise was muted to a dull rattle.
Finch growled. “We’re going to find him.” A flicker of flames appeared in her eyes, and there was a hint of eau de charcoal in the air.
Sally reached out and took Keelie’s other hand. “You’re not alone. We’re here for you. The people in this faire have you and your father’s backs.”
Keelie tightened her hand around Sally’s. It felt good to have friends who cared, really cared. And she could count Raven, Janice, Sir Davey, the mud men, and several others as more than friends-they were part of her faire family. “Thank you.”
Finch pointed to the three cards, and a shimmery haze grew around her.
Keelie didn’t know if the dragon was using magic, but she wasn’t going to argue. She leaned forward to study the cards and felt compelled to touch the middle one. She glanced up and found that Sally was staring at her. Sally flipped the card over and Keelie was surprised to see a red dragon with fire-emblazoned scales accompanying an armed, cloaked woman, both facing a dancing jester with a skeletal mask.
“Queen of Swords. I like how the artist captured the dragon’s scales. Hard to do with a natural red.” Finch rubbed her hands gleefully.
“What does this mean?” Keelie looked from Sally to Finch.
“It suggests a stubborn but powerful feminine presence. See, in the background, the jester is dancing, and you will need the assistance of others to stop him.”
If Keelie had to face Peascod, then she was glad she had Finch’s help.
“May I suggest a plan?” Finch said.
“Sure.” Keelie was glad to be asked instead of told. Surprising, coming from a dragon.
“I think we need to investigate Hob. And I think I have the perfect cover.” The faire administrator’s eyes gleamed brightly.
“But Hob has been very nice to us. He got there right away when the fire started.” Keelie stared at Finch.
“Yes, and that’s what is driving me crazy. It doesn’t add up. Hob supposedly smelled the smoke, and then saw the flames when he looked out of his shop. He rushed to your shop and saved the tree. Why save the goblin tree? Then, remember, I can’t detect his essence.”
Keelie shivered as the bell jangled on the table, untouched. She grabbed a tissue from the box that Sally kept for weepers and stuffed it into the bell. That should do it.
“I have a witness who saw him leaving the meadow at the same time he said he was in his mask shop.” Tendrils of smoke coiled from her ears and nostrils.
“What? It doesn’t make sense. Who was your witness?” Keelie asked. ‘“If it was Vangar… ” She still doubted the blacksmith’s credibility.
“It was, and yes, I believe him. And the bhata and the feithid daoine. They tried to tell you, but you were never alone.”
Keelie inhaled sharply. “Then what’s your plan?”
“You’re going to get a job at Hobknocker’s. Use the To See Truly spell on him. If he lets his guard down, you may be able to read him, see his true self.”
“Hey, I thought you said I was banned from working at the faire.”
“Things have changed. Desperate times call for desperate plans.” Finch tapped the tarot card with the red dragon and the cloaked girl facing down the dancing jester.
Keelie felt a tiny surge of hope. She wasn’t thrilled to be working next to Heartwood’s smoldering ruins, but she liked Hob. He’d saved the goblin tree, and she was sure there was a good explanation for Finch’s suspicions other than something magical. In the meantime, it would give her something to do other than mope around about Sean and mourn the loss of Heartwood. She would be able to do her own investigation into the fire.
“When would I start?” Keelie asked.
“I think now would be a good time,” Finch said as she held up the tarot card. “And you’ll need some garb.” Her eyes flicked down to Keelie’s outfit and she realized she’d been running in Raven’s PJ bottoms and Janice’s sweatshirt.