Careless Wishes Page 22

  At least, that's what I'd thought.

  In the seconds it took for us to react and send our magic after him, the thief had dropped onto his knees and lifted the Cintamani like a shield. Light shot out from the relic and surged toward us. It widened into a wall and collided with our magic. Sparks burst with every impact. Everything we sent—every damn thing—fizzled out as if it never were. We kept running, some of us cursing as we went. I don't know about the rest of them, but I had never faced anything that could destroy magic like a bug zapper with a swarm of mosquitoes.

  The man got to his feet and calmly closed his eyes as he cupped the pearl before him. The rain stopped.

  “You think you're helping, but you're disturbing the balance! You're causing more harm than good!” I tried to reason with him again as we ran for him. “The animals are fleeing this world! Please, you need to stop making wishes!”

  The man didn't seem to hear me. His mouth was moving and his eyes remained closed. The pearl lit up again but no flash came this time. No warning. Around us, the crops thickened and grew together more rapidly. Within seconds, they formed a barrier between us and the man, then the barrier swept around to circle us. Then it grew over us in a dome. The extinguishers hacked at the hedge with their iron swords and tore at it with their psychic skills. The hunters tried to coerce the plants with their Earth or blast them with Air, Water, and Fire. The single vex with us—a Tide Witch—pulled water from the twining vines. But nothing seemed to work for more than a few seconds. Any vine destroyed would regrow instantaneously.

  The plants rustled as I blasted them with Fire, using both my pyrokinesis and my Fire beag. That seemed to work best; the vines shrank back from the flames. The rest of our group took the hint and started focusing on Fire attacks. Flames beat back the aggressive growth, blackened tendrils curling, then crumbling away. But more growth still appeared.

  Then Raza stepped forward. He grinned at me a second before he opened wide and let loose. Flames streamed from his mouth and those of us standing nearby stepped back; even at a distance, the heat was powerful enough to singe. Everyone else gave up and gathered in the center of the circle while Raza moved around the ring, turning plants into cinders as he went. In a few seconds, we stood within a ring of scorched land as cinders fluttered down upon us like snowflakes.

  There was no sign of the thief.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Raza and Killian ran after the thief, tracking him by scent, but they came back a few minutes later to report that his trail had ended abruptly. It was now clear that he was using the Cintamani to bop around the globe. At least, he had this time. There was no other explanation for his disappearance.

  “He's probably learning what the Cintamani is capable of,” Daxon noted after Killian had given us the bad news.

  I stared around our island of untouched soil within the ring of scorched earth. The plants within the ring were knee-high. “He grew a barrier around us. He could have tried to choke us with those plants or attacked us more violently but instead, he only confined us so that he could get away.”

  “Yes, yes, he's a good man.” Raza rolled his golden eyes. “We know that already.”

  “He may be trying to be good,” I countered. “But he didn't listen to me.”

  “Depending on how intently he was focusing on his wish, he may not have heard you,” Tiernan pointed out.

  “It's all moot,” Daxon declared. “He fucked with this place and we couldn't stop him. We tried to catch him and he escaped. Those are the facts. Now, we have to hunt him again.”

  “Let's get back to the airport,” Killian suggested. “I want to be ready to take off as soon as we know where he is.”

  “You mean: as soon as another magic surge happens.” Daxon grimaced.

  Killian didn't reply; it was pointless. Instead, he hurried back to the vehicles and the rest of us followed him. We piled in the SUVs and headed back toward the city. The humans we'd seen earlier stopped harvesting to watch us pass by. Their dark eyes were wide and wary. I don't know what they'd seen, whether it was just smoke from our fires or more, but they suspected something and, at the very least, our vehicles would be remembered.

  “Should we pull over and erase their memories?” Tiernan gestured toward the humans.

  “I don't think they could have seen anything incriminating from this distance.” Raza shook his head. “Probably just some smoke. Perhaps they heard us shouting or got a glimpse of our fire.”

  “But not the big guy breathing it?” Killian asked.

  “Hell, even if they did see Raza, who's going to believe them?” Daxon asked. “These are the same people talking about miracles and messiahs. The rest of the world will think they're crazy.”

  A boom of thunder shook our vehicle as if to dispute Daxon's words. We stared warily out our windows as the sky went black, then released a torrent of rain so heavy that we could barely see through it. Sloane turned on the headlights and slowed the SUV.

  “What fresh hell is this?” Killian whispered.

  I watched people run for cover as puddles started to form. Because the thief had wished it, the rain he brought had been absorbed by the dry, hard earth but this wasn't his doing. Or, rather, it was the consequence of what he'd done and was beyond his control. The Cintamani brought the rain again but this time, it brought it in torrents that the earth couldn't absorb fast enough. We were soon driving over several inches of water.

  “Speed up,” I said.

  “We could hydroplane,” Sloane warned me.

  “This is the price for those crops,” I hissed at him. “Floods. The water will wash away all of those plants and if we don't get to the airport soon, it will wash us away with them. Now speed up, Extinguisher!”

  “Yes, Your Majesty!” Sloane sped up.

  I looked over my shoulder to see the other vehicles increase their speed to keep us with us.

  “What are people going to do when they realize those truckloads of food are the last they're going to get?” Daxon gave me a grave look.

  “They're going to stop celebrating and start fighting,” I said. “Hope handed out, then snatched away. It will leave them even more desperate than they were before.”

  “They will tear each other apart like starving hounds over kitchen scraps,” Tiernan predicted.

  My scry phone chimed. I pulled it out and flipped open its leather case. A swipe of my finger answered it and a familiar face came into focus—a face I wasn't expecting to see.

  “Avi?” I asked in concern. “What's happened? Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I'm fine, Princess Seren.” Avi, as a Twilight Sidhe, had the right to call me Princess instead of Queen. “I have scried to inform you that I have him!”

  “Who?” I asked in confusion, raising my voice over the pound of the rain on our roof. Then understanding hit. “The thief? The blond Sidhe? You captured him?!”

  “Yes! I have Stanen Burns!” Avi said excitedly. “He's restrained in magic-dampening cuffs in my holding cell.”

  “You have a holding cell?” I asked with slightly less surprise.

  “Every rath has one now.” He nodded. “After everything that happened with King Uisdean, it was decided that we needed a way to confine criminals if necessary.”

  “Oh. Good.”

  “He gave himself up without a fight,” Avi went on.

  “He what?” I went still.

  “I told him that I needed to take him into custody for questioning and he agreed.”

  “Did you search him?” Killian leaned in to ask.

  “Yes.” Avi frowned. “He doesn't have anything that looks like a pearl on him. Could it be disguised?”

  I looked up at Kill and we shared a grimace.

  “It's not him,” I concluded.

  “It's not?” Avi asked.

  “Hold onto Stanen for now, Avi,” I said. “We're on our way.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  I closed the case and slid it back into my cross-
body bag.

  “You could have asked him to show us his prisoner,” Daxon pointed out. “We know what the thief looks like now.”

  “That wouldn't prove anything,” Raza argued. “The thief knows he's being pursued and that he's been seen. He could very easily have the Cintamani change his appearance.”

  “He probably did,” I agreed. “There's only one way to be certain that Stanen Burns is or isn't him.”

  “We have to smell him,” Killian concluded.

  “I'm pretty sure it isn't him but we have to check,” I muttered irritably.

  “It's almost twilight” Killian nodded out the window. “You and I could twilight to Delhi and check out Stanen, then return to the Harare airport through the Between in the Delhi rath.”

  That was the good thing about raths, at least for Twilight Fey. They were passages through the In-Between and that meant we didn't have to wait for twilight to access the Between; we could simply step off the path into it. If only all of use were Twilight. But then we wouldn't be ruling Fairy and the Fairy Realm wouldn't be at peace. So, there's that.

  “Good idea,” I said to Kill. Then I asked our driver, “How long until we get to the airport?”

  “An hour or so.”

  I looked out the window at the black sky. It was impossible to judge the time by it, but a Twilight Fairy always knows when twilight is approaching. “We're not going to make it and I don't want to try to find a secluded place in Harare to twilight. Pull over.”

  Extinguisher Sloane picked up a radio and pressed its button, “We're stopping for the Ambassador and Queen Seren to... travel. Remain in your vehicles.”

  A chorus of “copy that” came through the radio's speaker as Sloane pulled the SUV over. The train of vehicles behind us followed suit. I knew it was wasting precious time that they'd need to get to the airport, but it couldn't be helped.

  “There's an umbrella in the back,” Sloane turned in his seat and pointed toward the cargo area behind the last bench seat.

  Killian leaned over the back of the bench and rooted around until he came up with the umbrella. When he moved to open the door, Raza stopped him.

  “There's no sense in waiting in the rain. Stay inside until it's time,” Raza suggested.

  Killian looked at me.

  “You need to go, babe,” I said to Raza. “The longer we sit here, the worse the roads will get.”

  “I'm not leaving you standing in the rain in the middle of fucking Zimbabwe!” Raza nearly roared.

  I nodded to Killian and he got out, opening the umbrella as he went.

  “I'll be fine. Twilight is almost here and I've got the Snake with me.” I leaned forward to whisper in his ear, “I love you, Dragon, but you've got to remember that I'm strong too. Don't be a dick.”

  I slipped past Raza and jumped outside. Raza turned toward me, his expression shaky and his jaw clenched. I knew he was seconds away from leaping out after me. I slammed the door and pounded on it. Sloane took it for the signal it was and stepped on the gas. Raza held my gaze as they sped away but he was soon lost to the storm. The other vehicles pulled onto the road and raced after them, leaving Killian and I huddled together in the downpour.

  A cornfield formed a wall opposite the vehicle, its stalks trembling under the water's fury. Despite our umbrella, we were still getting wet. It simply wasn't big enough, even with us pressed together, and there was nowhere dry to stand. On top of that, the poor thing was buckling under the barrage, just like the corn. But it didn't have to last much longer.

  Killian and I lifted ourselves just above the ground—or water, as the case may be—and held ourselves in a hover. We closed our eyes and in that between place, we connected with the Between. The Twilight magic rose around us and seeped through us, making us shiver seconds before it pulled us through that cool darkness, shooting straight for the destination we both had in mind.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Killian and I stepped out of the Between and into Avi's garden. With the heat and humidity, I instantly felt damp everywhere, even those places that hadn't been hit by rain. Kill shook out the umbrella and folded it up while I shook off as much water as I could. Although my clothes were human, I'd opted to wear Fey boots and I was glad for it now. Fey boots are made to withstand extreme conditions and they are absolutely waterproof.

  “After seeing Zimbabwe, it's hard to understand how, in a country like this”—Killian waved his hand at Avi's beautiful garden—“people could go hungry.”

  “Here it's not about supply but the money it takes to purchase that supply. America is the same; people go hungry there too. Americans are just a little better about making an effort to feed the poor. Or maybe they're not. I don't know India well enough to make a comparison. I just know that I'm not in a position to judge any country. Especially when I'm trying to stop the man who's trying to change all of that.”

  “He's done a few good deeds that have had horrible consequences,” Killian started a speech.

  I held up a hand to stop him. “I know, Kill. He's causing more harm than good—I shouted that very thing at him not two hours ago—but at least he's trying. It's more than I've ever done.”

  “You've protected humans for most of your life and you brought peace to the entire planet of Fairy. You've done a hell of a lot for both humans and Fairies. This guy's bungling attempts at humanitarianism don't even come close to what you've accomplished. He hasn't risked his life or sacrificed anything. He stole a relic and is making wishes. He's relying on magic to do the hard work while he sits back and gets the credit. But when it's all said and done, he's just a fucking thief leaving havoc in his wake.”

  “Yeah. You're right.” I sighed. “I'm sorry; I just needed to vent.”

  “Anytime you need to vent, I'm here. I got you, Twilight.” He pulled me against his chest and leaned down to kiss me tenderly, his hands bracketing my face and his fingers sliding into my hair.

  Killian can act like a frat boy but when it comes to me, he's the best kind of man—unfailing in his strength, loyalty, and understanding. And he can be damn romantic too. Just being held by him made me feel better.

  “Thank you,” I whispered as I eased out of his embrace.

  “That speech was for both of us; he's getting to me too,” Killian admitted. “Which is why I'm glad you're with me. This is ten times easier to bear with you by my side.”

  I grinned. “You want me back, don't you?”

  “I've never lost you.” He smirked.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I think it would be great to work with you again,” he confessed. “If for no other reason than I'd get to spend more time with you. But I also know there are a lot of things to consider before you return to your old job—any of them.”

  “Yeah.” I stepped back and took his hand. “We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to get in there and see if this Sidhe is our guy.”

  We went to Avi's front door but didn't have to knock. He, of course, had known the instant we'd stepped out of the rath and was waiting for us at the door.

  “Your Highnesses.” Avi bowed his head before ushering us inside. “It looks as though you've run afoul of some bad weather. I'll fetch some towels.”

  “Thank you, Avi,” I called after him.

  The house was cool inside, thanks to its thick walls. They were coated in plaster and painted vibrant colors. The furniture was hand-carved and richly upholstered and warm light filtered down from brass chandeliers. The scent of heavily-spiced food hung in the air. It should have made me hungry, it had been hours since I'd last ate, but I was too anxious to eat.

  Avi returned with the towels. Killian and I dried off while he poured cups of Chai tea for us. Then he traded the tea for the towels. We took a few fortifying sips as Avi went to hang the towels, then we set the cups aside. We'd wasted too much time as it was.

  “This way, Your Highnesses.” Avi led us down a corridor toward the back of the house.

  A door t
ook up most of the wall at the end of the corridor. Avi unlocked it and we followed him into a windowless room of cinder block walls and cement floor. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, adding to the dismal ambiance. The room was bare except for a cell in the corner, a bed in that cell, and a man sitting on the bed. He stood up as we entered, then bowed deeply.