There was a knock on the door.
“Just a sec,” Kelley called, and put aside the old hairbrush she’d been using to try to comb the tangles out of Lucky’s mane, with little success. The Faerie horse butted at her, and she affectionately scratched his nose.
There was another knock, more insistent this time.
Kelley got up and headed for the door. “Tyff?”
The door swung inward as Kelley gave it a pull, and she saw that it wasn’t Tyff.
The largest bouquet of roses she had ever seen obscured the features of the person standing there holding them. The bouquet lowered slightly, and Kelley saw Sonny’s eyes over the tops of the peach-colored blooms.
She was thrilled and simultaneously horrified. She hadn’t been expecting visitors and was wearing yoga pants and a faded hoodie. She was also covered in reddish strands of horsehair and Lucky Charms sugar dust. Yelping, she jumped behind the door.
“Sonny! What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“You can’t.”
“You’ve learned the art of invisibility?”
“What? No!” She blinked, and stayed behind the door. “Wait. Can I do that?”
“Probably.”
“Oh…”
“May I come in?”
“No! I’m a mess! I mean-the place is a mess.” She glanced behind her shoulder to the obviously immaculate apartment beyond.
She could hear the smile in Sonny’s voice as he said, “I happen to think ‘the place’ looks absolutely wonderful,” and stuck the bunch of flowers around the door. “May I come in?” he asked again.
“Yes,” she answered. Surrendering, she plucked the bouquet from his fist.
He followed a few steps as Kelley went into the kitchen but stopped as a high-pitched whinny sounded from the bathroom. “Is that…?”
“The only horse currently residing in my apartment?” she said, filling a vase with water. “Yup. Go say hi. Just, you know, watch out for the fangs and flaming eye beams.”
“The what?”
“I’m kidding.” She laughed. “Go. He’s harmless. You’ll see.”
Sonny shook his head. “You’ve obviously forgotten that, in my line of work, fangs and flaming eye beams aren’t necessarily uncommon.”
As he edged into the bathroom, Kelley clipped and arranged the roses; she counted more than two dozen of them. She took them out into the living room and sat on the couch, placing the vase on the coffee table. Then she pulled the elastic band from her hair and raked hasty fingers through it. She heard water running in the bathroom sink and then Sonny came out into the main room, drying his hands on a guest towel.
“He sneezed on you, didn’t he?”
“Yes. Yes he did.”
Kelley tried to pull a straight face. “But I also notice he did not try to strip the flesh from your bones.”
“I’d almost rather he’d tried that,” Sonny said ruefully.
Kelley laughed, fidgeting with her placement of the vase. “They’re beautiful,” she said, failing “casual” miserably.
He shrugged and said, “I just thought-after the past few days you’ve had-that you could use something…”
“Nice?” she finished, remembering their first encounter. “Are you going to disappear again before I have a chance to thank you?”
“No.”
“Thank you.”
“For the flowers? Or for not leaving?” He smiled and sat on the arm of the couch. “Kelley…I have to take Lucky back to the Otherworld. To the court of Queen Mabh.”
Kelley stared at him, a cold sensation spreading through her chest. “Mabh. Isn’t she the one who is probably causing all these problems with Lucky in the first place? No. I’m not giving him to her.” Kelley crossed her arms, prepared to fight.
Sonny put out a placating hand. “She sent one of her minions, a Storm Hag, to see me. The Hag said that the whole thing was a mistake. That it-that Lucky-should never have been brought to this realm.”
“Couldn’t this Storm Hag have been lying?”
“Faerie don’t lie. They may not always be the most forthcoming with the truth, but they do not lie outright. Kelley, I know how fond you are of Lucky.” Sonny moved from the arm of the couch to sit beside her and took one of her hands in his. “But he can’t stand in your bathtub forever, can he? If he stays, he poses a grave danger to the whole mortal realm. He will be destroyed. He’ll have to be. Otherwise he will become the destroyer. I know you don’t want that.”
“I just hate the thought of sending him back to that place…”
“Mabh granted me a boon if I return him, and what I will ask is that she will see to it that he is well cared for, and that she will not subject him to further enchantment.”
Kelley raised her gaze to meet his. “You’d do that? When you could ask her for anything?”
He nodded, and she could see in his clear gray eyes that he meant it. “He’s important to you. So that makes him important to me.”
Kelley rose from the couch and went to the bathroom door, leaning on the door frame. Lucky flicked his tail at her and blew a soap bubble out of his nose in greeting. He’d figured out how to do it on command and seemed to take great delight in the ability now. Kelley bit her lip, trying not to cry. It was silly. Sonny was right. She couldn’t keep him standing in the tub.
“He’ll sure be missed, and not just by me.” Kelley sighed. “Tyff actually went out and stocked up on all his favorite cereal.”
“Who’s Tyff?” Sonny asked.
Before Kelley could answer, the front door swung wide and her roommate appeared in the doorway as if summoned. Sonny took one look at her and threw himself off the arm of the couch, sinking into a defensive crouch.
“Seelie witch!” he cried, striking a menacing en garde pose.
Tyff’s eyes blazed like comets. Her beautiful face twisted in an expression of pure hatred. “Faerie killer!” she spat.
“One toe over that threshold and you die,” Sonny snarled, interposing his body between Kelley and the door. “Go back to the Otherworld and tell Titania this girl is under my protection. You seek her at your peril.”
Tyff blinked. “What?”
“Or is it Mabh you work for, harlot?” Sonny’s voice was a low growl in his throat. “Your kind have slippery allegiances, I know. Well, the Darkling Queen can no more have her than can Titania. Kelley is no pawn!”
“What exactly are you talking about, you deranged lunatic?” Tyff shrieked.
“On my honor as a Janus Guard, I tell you I will not let you harm one hair on her head!”
“Sonny, she’s not-,” Kelley tried desperately to interject.
“It’s all right, Kelley-you’re safe.”
“‘On your honor as a Janus Guard’?” Tyff said sarcastically. “Oh, that’s rich! Janus have no honor. Otherwise you wouldn’t be standing in the middle of my apartment uninvited!”
“You lie. This is not your place-”
“She doesn’t!” Kelley interrupted loudly. “It is her place.” She turned to her roommate. “And he’s not uninvited. I invited him in. Tyff, come inside and close the door. Mrs. Madsen down the hall is going to call the cops if you two don’t pipe down!”
Sonny’s eyes narrowed. “Kelley, she’s more dangerous than you know-”
“Oh, stow it, fleshling.” Tyff stepped over the threshold and slammed the door behind her. “You know what I am and so you know perfectly well that I am incapable of lying. Why the hell would I hurt her? She pays me outrageous rent!”
“What?” Sonny straightened slightly, looking utterly confused.
“She’s my roommate. Wait a minute…are you the creep who’s been stalking her in the park?”
“Yes-no!” Sonny protested. “I’m not stalking her!”
“Why the hell is one of Auberon’s lackeys so interested in a silly little mortal girl?”
“Hey!” Kelley protested.
“Mortal?” Sonny’s tone turned mocking. “You mean to tell me that you don’t know?”
“Know what?” Tyff snapped.
“All this time living under the same roof, and it never occurred to Tyffanwy of the Mere, lady-in-waiting to Titania the Summer Queen, that her ‘silly little mortal’ roommate also just happens to be Auberon’s lost daughter?”
Tyff stood there dumbly, staring at Kelley.
“Holy crap,” she murmured at last. “When word gets out about this…Titania’s going to kill me.”