Central Park West
Wednesday, 8:15 p.m.
Sophie and Beau were hardly the only ones out in the waning daylight, which made Sophie wonder if she’d find what she was looking for. Back home, they practically rolled up the sidewalks at six in the evening, so twilight was prime time for spotting fairies. Here, where there were more people out later, the rules might be different. In the city that never slept, when did the fairies come out to play?
She reached Tavern on the Green, where Olivia and Will had mentioned catching a cab. They’d both developed that fuzzy, confused look at that point in their stories. It had to mean something.
The gateway wouldn’t be on the sidewalk, so she took the park entrance nearest the restaurant, followed the footpath for a while, then stepped off the path. Beau growled deep in his throat. “Yes, I feel it too,” she said to him. Her skin tingled, and she trembled in anticipation. It had been a very long time since she’d entered the fairy realm. Folding her fingers around the laminated four-leaf clover in her pocket, she focused her senses to find the gateway, held the shape in her mind, and stepped through it.
She knew right away that she’d gone someplace other, but it didn’t seem like the right place. Shivering as she pulled her sweater tighter about her, she studied the foreign landscape. Instead of the endless summer she recalled, this place seemed to be in late autumn—and late autumn during a severe drought, so the leaves were dead and dry rather than vividly hued. Her last experience in the Realm had overshadowed all her earlier memories, leaving her with the impression of darkness and danger. That wasn’t what it had really been like, but it was the way it seemed now. The nearly skeletal trees beckoned and scolded her with clawed fingers, and desiccated leaves crunched under her feet as she resumed walking.
One thing that hadn’t changed was the music wafting through the air. It brought back fond memories of nights spent dancing with teachers who were far more demanding, and yet far more encouraging, than the teachers at her hometown’s small dancing school. In her classes, she learned the positions and steps. At night among the fairies, she learned to dance.
It had been fourteen years, but still the music made her feet want to move in rhythm. She yearned to kick up her legs and leap through the air. But she wasn’t here for fun. She was on a mission. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure of her next steps. Her experiences in the Realm hadn’t been broad. She’d always gone to the same place and done the same thing, and nothing about where she was now looked familiar. She decided to follow the music, since she’d never seen the fairy she sought when there wasn’t music around her.
She forced herself not to walk in rhythm with the music, not to throw in the occasional dance step or move her arms with a graceful flourish. That was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She had a feeling she’d have plenty of time for dancing later.
The music came from a small grove of trees. Hiding behind a tree, she observed the circle of fairies dancing there. The sight brought on another wave of nostalgia. Dancing in such a circle had been a huge part of her childhood. She didn’t recognize any of these fairies, though, and she didn’t see the one she needed most. There were probably dozens—hundreds, even—of groves like this in the Realm. Finding the right one might be more challenging than she expected.
She’d thought she was being perfectly silent, but one of the fairies still dropped out of the dance and turned to her. “Will you dance with us?” he asked, extending a hand.
Stepping out of her hiding place, she said, “Not now. I’m looking for someone.”
“You’ve found someone,” he said with a cheeky grin and a gesture encompassing the rest of the group. The others stopped dancing and turned to stare at her.
She wasn’t in the mood to play games. “I’m looking for a specific someone. Do you know Tallulah?”
“I might. And what would you trade for that information? Everything has its price, you know.”
“Believe me, I am well aware of that,” she said.
He came closer, moving in a graceful swagger. Beau growled a warning that he ignored. “Now, what might be a fitting price? Perhaps a kiss. I’ve heard that human lips are warm. I’d like to feel that. Or a dance—you are Tallulah’s little dancer, are you not?”
While he spoke, the others also gathered around Sophie and Beau. One regarded her with a frown, and then turned sharply at the speaker’s last sentence. Grinning, he backed away from the group and slipped off into the trees. The other fairies didn’t seem to notice, and Sophie didn’t know what to make of it. She doubted it was good, though. She knew fairies well enough to be fairly certain that he wasn’t running off to bring Tallulah to her as an act of charity.
That meant she needed to stop fiddling around and do something. With a deep sigh of reluctance, she eased her mini horseshoe out of her pocket and said, “You mentioned a kiss?”
The fairy moved even closer. “I hadn’t named my price yet, but I might consider a kiss. I’m not sure it would be enough, though. It sounds to me like this information is quite valuable to you.” When he got within range, she dropped Beau’s leash, gathered herself, bent her knees, and made a flying leap. She got an arm around his neck and brought him to the ground beneath her. Fairies were strong with magic, but they weren’t very substantial. This one may have been a foot taller than she was, but she probably outweighed him. With the horseshoe so close to him, he couldn’t use his magical strength against her, and at the sight of the iron, all the others backed away.
Leaning down to address her victim, she said sweetly into his ear, “Sorry about this, but I need some answers, I’ve already run up enough debts, and I do hope you’ll cooperate because I don’t want to have to get mean.”