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Tabatha stared at the face in the mirror. It was the same one that she was used to seeing, but her ears had somehow become elongated at the tips, her eyes had become tilted up at the ends and the pupil had changed from round to narrow, like a cat’s eye.
The changes made seeing the world a completely different proposition. I can see the life in every single plant and blade of grass; I hear the chatter of the birds where once I only heard song; I see the currents of air and heat as they swirl about the objects around me. I can see and feel the lines of force within the earth beneath me.
She ran her hands through her hair for the fifth time that morning. It had grown longer and finer in the last week or so and hung around her shoulders like a silk curtain. I wish I’d never come to Te Ling. None of my friends at Uni will ever believe that I haven’t had surgery. Her hands touched her cheekbones and the line of her jaw, both of which had become more prominent.
“Lady Tabatha, your Mother awaits you in the pavilion.” a guard said from the suite door as she left the bedroom.
Her heart skipped, Mother is here?
Aleida, the maid that had been her constant companion since the bandages had been removed, smiled and held out a light green cloak toward her, “We are all delighted that the Banríona has taken to motherhood so well. You’re a lucky young lady.”
Tabatha sighed, Oh of course, they mean Her. Despite the physical changes, she still didn’t believe that she’d been adopted, and the Queen of the Fae was her real mother, I suppose I have to play along until I can get away.
She accepted the cloak and followed the guard out of the suite, the maid a step or two behind her. As they emerged from the building into the gardens, another four guards fell into place around her.
“See how protective the Banríona is.” The Maid beamed happily, “She won’t let a single thing harm you, my Lady.”
Tabatha gave a noncommittal “hmm.” Her eyes constantly darting around and looking for possible ways to escape. They arrived at the pavilion and the queen stood as she entered, holding her arms out toward Tabatha in a clear request for a hug.
“My sweetest daughter, it is a delight to see you up and about.” The queen said.
Tabatha gave her a brief hug and moved back quickly, “I feel fine. I wish you’d let me go back on with my trip; Uncle Andrew and Aunt Melanie must be so worried about me.” I’d better not mention my parents; when I did that the other day, she lost her temper and she’s really scary when she’s angry, like a wasp on the attack.
“That is a part of what I asked you to come and see.” She gestured and one of the green gowned young women that were always present came forward with an electronic tablet, “We talked about you taking up your father’s role as the Ó Fhionnuisce here in the East, well I would not be adverse to you living your own life here.”
“I’ve got a university course back in England to go to remember? Marine Biology.” Tabatha said.
“That is something we could allow you to do, as long as you took up your role in the east as soon as you finished.” The queen seemed to be agreeing to everything she said.
“Would I be able to live with my parents...” Tabatha stopped talking too late.
The Queen’s lips flattened, and her eyes burned with rage, “They are not your parents, child. The sooner you accept that the better.”
Something inside Tabatha snapped, “I was three when I left Te Ling, when you decided to send me away. Andrew and Louise Smith adopted me. They are my parents; they loved me, encouraged me, cared for me. They are the only people that I will ever see in that light.” She folded her arms, “As far as your offer of a job after university is concerned, I am going to be a Marine Biologist. I’ll find my own job.”
The young woman gasped, dropping the tablet. The maid lunged forward and caught it, dropping onto her knees in front of the Queen. Both the maid and the young woman stared at the queen, frozen to the spot and scared of what was about to happen.
The Fae Queen stared at Tabatha for a long moment.
Tabatha stared back.
The Queen smiled and began to laugh, “You may not wish to acknowledge my parentage of you, child, but I see your father in your stubbornness. Your temper however is all from me. Lord Áedán was phlegmatic, the perfect person to be Ó Fhionnuisce and I know you would be too.”
Tabatha sat down on one of the seats at the table, “Your Majesty...”
“If you won’t call me Mother, then by all means you may use my name; it’s Aoife. I don’t want formality from you, child.”
“Then maybe you should call me Tabatha?”
Aoife nodded, “I know that your adoptive parents couldn’t pronounce your true name, Torqithrelle, so Tabatha is an acceptable substitute.”
“I’m not sure I could pronounce it. I know it’s on my birth certificate though.”
The maid stood up and gave the tablet to the young woman who placed it on the table in front of the queen.
“You lived with us for six of our years though. Your father doted on you and always refused to name you his heir because he wanted you to have a normal life like that of the children you mixed with, not that of a Princess.” The queen smiled sadly, “We had planned to have more children together, but it was not to be.”
Tabatha stared down at the stone table, tracing her finger around the carved spirals on the edge. I don’t remember any of what she is describing. I know that the Fae live longer than humans; that a year to a Fae is two for a human, so technically I am thirty-six. I don’t feel thirty-six though.
“I need someone I can trust to become Ó Fhionnuisce. I need someone to look after our interests in the East of our realm. I would like that person to be you.” Aoife fiddled with the tablet.
“I’m not interested in politics though.” Tabatha said, “not unless you’re talking about the environment or behaviour of Octopodes and Dolphins.”
The queen sighed, “I have plans for our people that need you here. The position of Ó Fhionnuisce is a political one, true, but you would have time for your own life around it; I would make sure of that, give you a cabinet that would be able to do the day to day details...”
“And make me responsible for a people I have no clue how to interact with,” Tabatha licked her lips, “Force me to leave the only family that I know, every place that I have ever been.” Her tone left no question about what she felt, “You’ve already altered me physically so much that my friends back home won’t recognise me. You’ve set me apart and you did it without my permission.”
The maid backed away from the table as the queen’s face became stone cold and set. She stood up, “Lady Torqithrelle, I am your Queen. I have no need of your permission to do anything. You will do as I say or there will be severe consequences.”
“How could anything get any worse than this?” Tabatha said, “You’ve already destroyed my life.”
Aoife shoved the tablet across the table to her, “This tablet is linked to a live feed. It will only show that one thing, so don’t even think about trying to change it. Watch and learn; I am capable of much more than you might think.”
And she swept out of the pavilion, the two young women trotting after her.
Tabatha looked down at the tablet in her hands, touched the activation button. The image that appeared made her gasp and shake her head. How could she? No one could be that cruel, could they?
––––––––
KAI WALKED BACK INTO Special Division, not quite sure what reception to expect. After all, I am now their boss.
She needn’t have worried. The officers were all still rushing around, and a board had been set up on one side with pictures of Andrew and David on it. Melanie and Louise appeared on the board as well, but it wasn’t until she got closer that she realised why.
“They’ve gone missing too?” she exclaimed out loud.
One of the officers working at a desk near to the board looked up, “You’ll have to talk to the Detective, Ma’am. He has all the information ready for you in his office.”
Kai acknowledged him with a nod and strode across to Zhao’s office door. She raised her hand to knock, only to have the surface pulled away before she could.
“Miss Riordan. Welcome to the team.” Zhao said clearly relieved by her presence, “If you’ll step into my humble abode, we can get started.” He stood to one side and gestured toward the sofa where she had sat that morning.
“Okay... thank you.” She said, walking past him.
He shut the door behind them, “Coffee?”
“No thanks, had one recently.” She sat down.
He poured himself a cup and took the chair to one side of her. On the table in front of her was a small stack of files, “That’s everything you need to know about the Triang. These are copies, so feel free to take them home with you. Just don’t let your assistant see them.”
“Fair enough. What’s happened with Melanie and Louise?”
He sighed, “I couldn’t keep them here all day; they decided that they wanted to go shopping and left. I had officers trailing them, but they lost sight of them in one of the department stores and now we can’t find hide nor hair of them.”
“Have you picked up anything I can use from their rooms?” Kai said.
He pointed at the evidence bags beside the files, “One for each woman. They gave them to us just in case.”
Stripping her right glove off, Kai nodded to one of the bags, the one with Melanie’s details on it, “Open it up please.”
Zhao did as she asked, “How detailed a picture will you get of her whereabouts?”
“Depends on if she’s awake.” She plunged her bare hand into the evidence bag, gripping the blouse inside. The moment that she touched it; she was immersed in darkness.
Either she has her eyes closed, she’s blindfolded or is in a very dark room. Kai concentrated. She could smell the woman’s perfume and feel the warmth of the air around her body. I can hear water, dripping.
Disappointed, Kai cut the connection and pulled out a wet wipe to clean her hand of any residue from the contact.
“Well? We haven’t been able to find them anywhere in the city – I’ve had tracker teams out since their guards reported them missing.”
She related what little she had gleaned, “I’ll try again with Louise.”
He opened the other bag, and she placed her hand in to lie on the soft smoothness of a silk scarf. Again, she saw only darkness. This time I smell fresh grass and cinnamon. Odd. Nothing to hear; almost as if she’s got ear defenders on.
She pulled her hand free of the scarf and wiped her hand down before putting her glove back on, “How much do the Fae know about me?”
Zhao shrugged, closing the evidence bag up, “You do advertise your services regularly, Miss Riordan. Anyone could have told them what you can do. Keeping their captives sensory deprived would be one way of stopping you finding them.”
“Then why didn’t they do that with Tabatha?”
“Maybe at that point they didn’t feel threatened. Once they got wind that the girl’s parents were looking for her, they would have started taking precautions.”
“Hmm.” Kai sat back and considered the problem, “Do you have anything for Andrew and David?”
He stood, walked across to his desk and picked up another two evidence bags, “Andrew was difficult. Melanie says he spends a fortune on his clothes and once he’s worn them twice, he gives them to charity, or they go to one of the rag merchants.” He handed her a small bag, “This was the most recent thing she could find. It’s been folded waistband up.”
Kai looked into the bag. Eww boxers. Personal yes, disgusting, definitely. She sighed, “It might work.” She took her glove off again and slid her hand into the bag...
Kai saw a Fae Woman with bright gold catlike eyes, sat across what looked like a small table. Feels like an interview room. She committed the woman’s face to memory, succeeding just before Andrew’s voice rang through her head, angry and impatient.
“Well? Where is my reward?” He said, “I delivered the girl to you as requested. It took a hell of a lot of persuasion to get David and Louise to allow her out of their sight and to Te Ling.”
The woman shrugged, “It is up to Féile na Banríona if you are to be rewarded for your part in this. You still have not delivered the Capall Adhmaid to us.”
“I told you where he is. I introduced the malware to his company’s systems to allow you to find the others of the Triang. Is that not enough?”
Andrew’s impatience surged through Kai, and she almost pulled her hand away. Calm down for Pete’s sake, if she gets upset, she might kill you. She thought in the hope that he’d take the hint.
“You have served us well thus far, but for the Féile na Banríona to be completely happy, you must deliver the Capall Adhmaid and Dubh Raicleach as well.” The woman leaned back, her nose wrinkling as if Andrew smelled bad. “You will do this or there will be consequences.”
“You can’t touch me; it was a part of our agreement when this all began, remember.” He laughed and a wave of smugness swept through him. “The Queen herself swore on the life of her daughter that she would not harm me.”
Kai blinked and with an effort pulled her hand away from the material. She pulled out a wipe and wiped her hand down again and again, rubbing it hard against her skin.
“What happened?” Zhao said.
She stayed silent for a long moment digesting what she had seen, heard and felt from Andrew, then gestured to the small bag, “Keep that somewhere safe. He’s fine.”
Zhao frowned but took the bag.
Kai opened the second bag, ignoring the brief glimpse of the evidence officer and Zhao that the paper gave her, and slid her hand in to touch the fabric inside.
Black. Silence. He’s been sensory deprived. Andrew must have warned them about me. Kai extended her senses a little more. I smell... blood, sweat and faeces. He’s being held in worse conditions than the two women. Sounds began to filter through; Roaring... a furnace or a... gas torch!
Pain exploded through Kai. She could feel the skin on her/his feet crisping and smell the sweet scent of meat being roasted on flame. He’s not screaming? Why? With a massive effort, she jerked her hand out of the bag and threw it from her, toward Zhao who caught it neatly and did it up.
Kai wiped her hand over and over again, scrubbing any part of the contact away from her skin before she put her glove back on.
“You need a drink.” Zhao said flatly.
She nodded and he went to his desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of Guotai Baijiu and a pair of glasses. “What happened that time? That was different.” He sloshed the Baijiu into the glasses and handed her one.
She swallowed half the liquid and coughed as it burned her throat a little, “He’s being tortured.”
Zhao drank his Baijiu in one go, “Damn, the Black Dragon won’t like that, and neither will the UK government. Why are they doing it though?”
Kai shrugged, “I couldn’t hear anything to tell me anything like that.” She shivered and drank the rest of the Baijiu slowly, trying to wash away the smell of burning flesh with the heady, clear scent of the spirit.
“You said Andrew was fine.” Zhao changed the subject.
“He’s more than fine, he’s working with them.” She snapped, “He’s behind the trouble at Derwin-Hepler & Reading-Smith and was instrumental in bringing Tabatha to Te Ling.”
“It explains a great deal but doesn’t tell us where they are.” The detective poured more Baijiu into their glasses.
Kai thought about the contact with the women. “Dripping water. Fresh Grass and Cinnamon. That’s all I got I’m afraid.”
He sighed, “Well we know that the Fae are involved, so I’ll start by sending out teams to check their normal haunts in the City.”
“Haven’t you already done that?” Kai said, surprised.
“Well, I can’t without my superior’s permission.” He looked at her and grinned.
Oh, of course. I’m the Head of Special Division now. She smiled back, picked up her glass and raised it to him, “Detective Zhao, you have my permission to do whatever you need to do to close this case.”
“Carte Blanche?” he raised his glass and tapped it against hers, “I think I’m going to enjoy working with you, Jade Cat.”