Harry felt something buzz and tingle soon after the plane crossed the Indiana/Ohio border. He felt the magic holding off his invisibility flicker and waver, and prayed the flight attendants wouldn't come through first class until he got everything back under control. He glanced across the aisle, where Bethany sat by the window and her father sat next to her. Both of them were asleep. That was a relief. He told himself not to be such a whiny baby. Of course Bethany would want to spend as much time with her father as possible. Still, he felt like his favorite toy had been taken away from him and sat on a shelf just out of reach--or worse, he had to sit by and watch someone else play with his favorite toy--just because he couldn't sit next to her during the flight from Vegas to Ohio. What was wrong with him?
It wasn't like they were an item.
Besides, they had first class all to themselves, so it wasn't like he had to worry about autograph hounds or the modern version of a lounge lizard hitting on Bethany. Her father could certainly keep slimes from drooling on her--if anyone recognized her--and it certainly didn't look like anyone had. His invisibility field, now that he had the controls refined, kept her visible but blurred her features just enough she was unrecognizable. That was what he was being paid for, and other than that aberration when they had nearly kissed, everything was working according to plan.
"Almost there," Mr. Miller said softly, glancing across the aisle at Harry.
"Almost where?" Harry liked the man. The fact that he trusted Harry with his daughter's safety almost from the start meant a lot. Harry didn't even mind answering the questions Mr. Miller threw at him at unexpected times. They were logical questions, showing he had a good grasp of the workings of magic and tried to separate the truth of the Fae and Fae culture from all the smokescreens and legends and fables started by the Ministry of Misinformation. Even discounting all that, Harry just liked the guy. He was a good example of the salt of the earth type of men and women who had settled the wilderness that used to be America.
"Neighborlee." Mr. Miller raised up a little in his seat in a visible attempt to see out the side window next to Harry's seat. "We're probably flying right over it, or close enough that it doesn't matter."
"Flying over..." Harry realized the buzzing tingle of something at work felt stronger, had been growing while he had his pity party. "So what's so special about the place, besides being Bethany Miller's birthplace?"
"As our local comedian says, Neighborlee is the weirdness capital of the United States."
"Is that on a bumper sticker or something? On the billboard as you leave town?"
"That's one of the things that makes us weird. Strange things happen, and outsiders don't seem to notice, or remember very long, while the residents just shrug it off. It's normal for us to have odd things happen. It drives away the people who don't belong and kind of tests and strengthens those of us who choose to live there." He glanced at Bethany, who was still asleep, and met Harry's gaze again. "I think you'll have a good time there. Bethie will certainly enjoy being home. And able to run around outside of town without being mobbed."
"What about inside town?"
"That's the nice thing about Neighborlee. Folks will leave her alone if she wants to be. And folks who won't be polite have a hard time finding her."
"Convenient. I suppose you can't figure out what causes this and put it in a bottle, maybe something Bethany can inoculate herself with, to protect her when she isn't home?"
"I wish." He sighed. "My Bethie has been gone too long. She needs to recharge badly. A lot of the time, it's hard for her to get the time alone to just wander up and down the streets and meet old friends. You'll help her do that. She needs that more than she needs anything else."
"Gottcha."
Harry mulled what Mr. Miller said while the plane made its approach to Cleveland Hopkins airport. Maybe this was the answer to how Bethany had an air of magic that clung to her, and yet had no inherent magic born into her. She had absorbed magic from the land and air.
So that hypothetical answer led to another question--what was the source of magic in Neighborlee? It had to be strong, well-grounded, if the magic it emanated seeped into the air and ground and water, so that people could soak it up.
So did that mean everybody in Neighborlee had magic?
No. He shoved that idea away immediately--Mr. Miller didn't have magic seeping out of him. If the magic in Bethany came from living in Neighborlee, her father should have even more magic. So that brought Harry back to square one. There was something special about Bethany that made her susceptible to soak up magic.
That answered the question of what he had felt when they flew over Neighborlee. Whatever was there was the source of Bethany's magic--maybe.
Harry closed his eyes as the plane descended to the runway, and muffled a groan. Every time he thought he had some answers, he got more questions, or found something that contradicted his theory. He was as close to answering the question of Bethany's magic as he was to turning off the wonky invisibility spell that had plagued him for so long.
"I should have listened to Mother," he muttered, as the plane gently bounced down on the runway. Then he gasped as insight slammed into him with near-blinding brilliance.
Maybe Bethany got her magic or susceptibility to magic from her mother, who had died when she was nine.
* * * *
"What's wrong?" Bethany whispered, as her father turned down the main drag running through Neighborlee. She had taken the back seat, insisting that Harry had to take the front seat and get the ten cent tour of her hometown. She rested her arms on the back of his seat and leaned close enough she could smell the clean scent of his hotel soap.
Or maybe that was Harry himself. She sighed quietly, not at all amazed that everything about him was nice.
"There's...strong magic in this town, that's all. It's kind of like going home, without all the hassle of relatives asking what I've been doing, how long I'm staying home, and if I... Ah, never mind."
Bethany muffled a giggle when she saw how the tips of his ears got deep red. Too bad he would be wearing a stocking cap when they went outside, to hide his pointed ears. Then again, so many odd things got overlooked in Neighborlee, Harry probably could go around bareheaded, and blushing so hard his ears glowed, and nobody would notice.
"Are you sure you won't stay with us?" her father asked. "There's plenty of room."
"You don't really need me to shield Bethany, now that she's home. At least, not around the house. I'll be more effective if I'm able to move around and get a feel for the town, who belongs and who doesn't." Harry looked over his shoulder, meeting her gaze. Bethany loved his crooked, half-shy grin. "I can imagine a bunch of the real die-hards realizing you're not in Hollywood, and coming here to try to track you down. Especially if they know where you really come from. With the Internet..." Again that grin. "It's easier to find out what's what than if I used the Ether Lexicon."
"What's that?" Mr. Miller asked, his tone so eager Bethany sank back in the seat, muffling her giggles with both hands over her mouth.
"It's a book that's as large or as small as you need it to be. It contains answers to everything, but you have to know what the right questions are."
"So if some of the loonies who won't let me have a minute of privacy got hold of the Ether Lexicon, they'd know where I am right this moment?" Bethany shuddered, not sure she liked this glimpse into how things were run among the Fae.
"If the Lexicon thinks it's worthwhile to follow what you're doing. It might just decide the person asking is being rude, and refuse to answer."
"It sounds like this thing is alive," Mr. Miller said.
"Kind of. It can think, it can make connections and sometimes even figure out what you want before you do. It's that old, it's that full of knowledge. And it gets bigger all the time, as more things are learned and Fae do more things."
"Cool." Bethany sighed as her father came to the stop sign in front of the Neighborlee Arms. "Here we are. I'll be back in two hours, and we'll go on a walking tour, okay?"
"Sounds good." Harry turned and looked at the front door of the stately old building, his tone fading out a little and his expression growing distracted.
Bethany knew that look--she had grown up seeing it on her father's face, heard the same sound in his voice. Something had caught his attention and all his concentration was being drawn away from her. Having grown up in Neighborlee, she knew the possibilities were endlessly wonderful and weird.
Harry got out and her father popped the hatch so he could walk around to grab his duffle and suitcase. Bethany waved and watched him walk to the front steps of the old hotel. She turned, trying to keep Harry in sight as her father drove away--home.
* * * *
Harry felt his anti-invisibility spell wavering as he signed into the Neighborlee Arms. With all the theories bouncing around in his head and the sensations vibrating through the ground and air and ether, it was no wonder he had a hard time concentrating.
The strongest sensations told him there were several Fae nearby. If not physically present in the old hotel that moment, they had spent enough time in the building to generate a resonance. It was similar to someone with a strong aroma leaving an impression of his presence behind after he exited a room.
Holding onto his patience--and visibility--Harry kept a pleasant expression on his face, an even, casual tone to his voice, and avoided thrumming his fingers on the counter as he waited for the chatty young man at the counter to finish signing him into his room and hand him the key. Harry knew many eyes would be watching him as he climbed the stairs. He was a stranger here. No doubt a number of people saw him get out of the Millers' car. Small towns being what they were, word was already spreading that not only was Bethany home for Christmas, but she had brought a young man who was not staying at their home with her and her father.
"You think you know everything, but you don't know anything," Harry muttered, once he had his second floor room's door safely shut behind him. He cast up a muffling spell so that someone standing outside his room with their ear or a stethoscope or a glass pressed to the door wouldn't hear what he said or did, even if he played a bass drum.
Sighing with relief, he let go of the anti-invisibility spell wrapped around him and felt the faint tingling fade to nothing. His hand and arm went invisible, and the rest of him did so after a few moments more. He felt as if a heavy blanket that swaddled all his senses had been pulled away.
"Now for the first big question." He called up the power he no longer expended on being visible, and called for the Ether Lexicon.
It popped into his outstretched hands, appropriately shaped like the old-fashioned hotel register he had signed moments ago. Three names flashed through a rainbow of colors among all the faded, muted, black ink smears of ordinary Humans signing the guest register.
"Willfred and Philomena and Angeloria. Interesting. What are they doing in town?" Harry muttered.
The Lexicon wasn't forthcoming with that information, but it did tell him that all three Fae were somewhere else, not currently in the hotel. None of them were together. Harry didn't know Will and Phill personally. They were explorers, making a good name for themselves and a good living exploring the Human world and finding explanations for things and practices that had been puzzling the more sheltered, isolationist Fae for centuries. As for Angeloria, the less time he had to spend in her presence, the happier he would be. They weren't enemies, but some painful childhood stupidity was better left forgotten, and she was a large part of it.
After getting more thoroughly settled in his room, Harry decided it was time to do some reconnoitering of his own, before Bethany came back for him. He set himself an internal timer so he could be back to the hotel before Bethany arrived. Then he sent out a locator, to pinpoint where each of the other three Fae were.
Phill was nowhere within a thousand miles. Lori was on the far side of the town. Will was closest. That suited Harry perfectly. He left the hotel and less than two minutes later found Will sitting in the big picture window of the Sipping Post, the coffee shop right next door to the Neighborlee Arms. Harry had always faintly loathed Fae men like Will, handsome, elegantly casual in jeans, a bulky black sweater, and a vest jacket, relaxed and assured.
Or maybe not so relaxed and assured. Something was distracting him, or Will would have sensed the locator that brought Harry to him. At the very least, he should have muted it or twisted his path into a couple of time-devouring detours and knots, if not deflected it outright.
He sat there, one elbow on the little table, gazing out at the street with a glum, almost forlorn expression. Interestingly, every time a woman with long black hair walked past in the ten minutes that Harry stood and observed him, Will would sit up and his eyes would start to brighten. Then something about the woman would disappoint him and he would slump over the table again.
Lose something? Harry asked as he approached the door of the coffee shop. He raised his gloved hand to catch Will's attention. Mental contact was a courteous warning. Nothing like sneaking up on another Fae and startling him into shooting off sparks or vanishing outright. He was doubly sensitive to such tricks. His latest theory was that someone or something had startled him while he was working his invisibility spell as a child, leading to his current condition.
Has Neighborlee suddenly become the place to be for Fae out on adventures? Will asked, offering a weary smile. He gestured at the chair next to him. Harry nodded thanks for the invitation and sat down.
"Gorgeous day." He hated inane, useless conversation, especially when he wanted to know what Will and Phill were doing in Neighborlee. It made perfect sense that they were here investigating the power that pulsed through the whole town, but it was more polite to ask. And it was easier on him to use vocal communication when he maintained his anti-invisibility spell for the sake of all the people around them.
"Supposed to get even more gorgeous as Christmas approaches." Will came alert, sitting up straighter as yet another lithe figure topped with long, black, curly hair strolled past.
Harry nearly laughed aloud when he realized what Will was on the alert for--Phill. He had only glanced long enough at their images in the Ether Lexicon to be able to identify them on sight. How could he be so oblivious, not to make the connection right away?
"So, where's Philomena?"
"She blew a couple dozen fuses at me the other day and split into a parallel dimension." Will snorted when Harry stiffened at the carelessness of his words. "You obviously don't know anything about Neighborlee, do you? You can have conversations like this all the time, and people mostly ignore you. I still haven't figured out if it's some sort of low-level masking and mild general amnesia spell, or if people are just so used to off-beat things happening--off-beat for Humans, anyway--that they ignore it. Or the fact they have a really, really active Star Trek club that plays with every known science fiction and fantasy universe. I've been here when they've been having a convention or one of their spring rites parties, and people are walking around town in full costume. Doesn't faze anybody." He settled back in his chair, deliberately turning away from the window. "So, what does bring you here?"
"Work, actually. I'm guarding a local celebrity, helping her move through the crowds, semi-invisible. Give her some breathing room."
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Bethany." He nodded. "You treat her right, understand? I watched her grow up. Besides, she's under Angela's protection."
"Angela?"
"I suppose I should give you the fifty cent tour, warn you about the trouble spots, the hot spots." His grin grew a little wider, a little more secure. "Then there's Maurice." He shook his head.
"Maurice?" Harry wondered if somehow he had fallen into one of those role playing game books some Humans were fond of a few years ago, where there were choices to make on every page, and each choice took the reader or player in a new direction.
Maybe a questing spell had gone awry years ago, soaking into the air and soil and water of this town before there were even people, and that's what caused all the off-beat occurrences?
"Angela is the town's guardian. Along with a couple other people who have grown up here, kind of soaked up the energy, I guess you'd say."
"Ah ha. And Bethany is one of the town's guardians? I knew the minute I met her that there was some sort of magic in her, but she doesn't exactly have magic, per se."
"Lots of that going around in a town like this." He tapped his cup of hot chocolate with a peppermint stick in it. It filled, and a second one appeared next to it.
"Thanks." Harry inhaled the rich scent of dark chocolate. He needed that more than some Humans needed aspirin and Prozac and a complete drug store's inventory of herbal remedies.
"My pleasure. The folks who run this place won't mind, which is why I don't normally do it, but..." He tipped his head toward the back of the coffee shop, where the two lines waiting for service were four people long, each. "So, how'd you get the gig helping Bethany do the 'Don't notice me' game?"
Harry sighed. Even worse than getting periodic lectures from relatives on his foolish carelessness so many years ago, was telling a total stranger his background. Especially one who definitely needed some cheering up and who struck Harry as a possible friend and ally. Especially if he could explain certain things about Neighborlee that would make Harry's investigation a lot simpler and shorter. Taking a deep breath, Harry explained with as few words as possible about his accident, accompanied by images that went straight from his memory to Will's consciousness, to illustrate what words sometimes could not explain.
To his great relief, his new friend leaned back in his chair, whistled softly, and shook his head. There was no scorn, no amusement, but something akin to wonder, mixed with sympathy.
"Ouch. Nice that you've got friends and family on the outside who can help out, let you get around and actually put the short circuit to good use." Will nodded. "I've heard about Alexi and Megan. It seems to me her father is a distant relative, maybe by marriage. Phill and I don't spend that much time back home--too stuffy and enclosed, know what I mean?" He grinned when Harry nodded. "So I don't really hear all the gossip, who's calling who out for rebellion and hauling others in front of the Fae Disciplinary Council for violations of the Invisibility to Mortals Act, or some such stupid political nonsense. Maybe I should head out to Vegas and give them a visit. Just to offer her some support from family."
"From what I hear, she wasn't really accepted until Alexi married her," Harry offered.
"Yeah, the old folks--anybody over six hundred--can be pretty snobby and unreasonable. Why punish the Halflings for the philandering of their parents, anyway? It's not like they chose to be born."
"You don't know the half of it. Alexi and I have another cousin who spends all her time in the Human realms as a daycare teacher."
"Oooh, nice power source right there, all those kids." Will nodded appreciatively.
"She hooked up with a guy who has some Fae blood way far back, and he had to get free of a curse put on a distant, distant ancestor back when there were knights in dented armor running around. Sure, curse the bozo who tried to cut the points off your ears or force you to grant him three wishes, but don't punish his kids and their kids. That's just overkill."
"Fae have long, nasty memories." Will sighed.
"So do you mind my asking what Philomena blew circuits about?"
"I'd rather not talk about it. Still can't figure it out myself. I should probably go talk to Angela, but you know how women are. They stick together. She'll probably tell me it was something I should have seen and done something about fifty years ago."
"Yeah, typical. But I'd still like to talk to her about my problem."
"Don't know if she can cure a wonky invisibility spell," Will offered with a grin.
"No, more like figuring out how Bethany is magic, but doesn't really have magic. It shorted out my anti-invisibility spell and my invisibility spell at the same time, in a public place. How am I supposed to keep her safe from the lunatic fans and give her a nice, quiet, family Christmas, if I can't depend on things to stay the way they are and where I put them?"
"Good point." He got up, snapped his fingers, and several dollar bills landed on the table. "Let me give you the nickel tour, then."
Will gave Harry a running monologue on the various shops and current events in Neighborlee as they walked down several streets and made a few strategic turns. He sometimes slowed his words, looking around as yet another woman only distantly similar to Phill crossed their path. Harry swallowed a grin. Whatever was wrong with Will and Phill, it was clear his new friend was smitten with her, as the old-timers said. Couldn't he see that?
Or was that the problem?
"Will?" A shiny black pickup extended cab pulled up next to them as they approached a stoplight intersection. A pretty blonde leaned out the window. "Have you seen Phill?"
"Not for a couple days." Will stepped up to the truck. "Something wrong?"
"No, I just haven't seen her or you and..." The young woman's gaze strayed from Will to Harry. "Hargrove?"
"Hey, Lori." He sighed and silently asked if there was a convention of Fae descending on Neighborlee for the holidays.
"You look great. What are you doing here?"
"Business. In fact, I need to get back to the hotel to meet my client." He nodded to Will. "Thanks for the help. Bethany's taking me on the tour, so we'll probably end up at Divine's. Nice seeing you again, Lori."
"Hargrove, wait." A purplish-pink haze spilled through the air as Lori leaned further out the window of the truck cab. "Please, don't run off."
"Not running. I just have to be somewhere else soon. I'll catch up with you later." He continued down the street and consciously fought not to burst into a mad dash--or worse, let go of his control over the anti-invisibility spell.
He had been spying on Lori and several of her best friends when he had his accident with the invisibility spell. Her face would be forever linked with his accident and the problems that had plagued him ever since. It didn't help matters any that Lori had laughed at him for years when they were growing up. Nice laughter, mostly, but she had thought his dreams were silly, of becoming an explorer of the outer limit realms where few Fae had gone and survived to return.
She had apologized and blamed immaturity, but that had never really taken away the embarrassment and the lingering discomfort of memories. The less time Harry had to spend in Angeloria's presence, where she would remember and maybe make the mistake of telling others about his foolishness and his accident, the happier he would be. Especially Bethany. Harry had been able to give Bethany the gist of his difficulties, and she had been sensitive enough not to ask for details.
He couldn't bear it if she heard the full truth of his immaturity and stupidity--and his tendency to spy on people when he should have had the courage and intelligence to confront them directly. The last thing Harry wanted was for Bethany to either feel sorry for him, or worse, be disgusted by him.
He had time to kill, so he stopped at a bakery on the same street as the hotel, where the very air tasted of chocolate and melt-in-your-mouth pastry. He saw enormous chocolate muffins displayed in the window and went in for one. Strictly for medical purposes, of course.
By the time he got to the front of the line in the very crowded little bakery, his order of one triple chocolate mega-muffin had grown. Chocolate chocolate-chip biscotti dipped in dark chocolate, three triple chocolate mega-muffins, and a chocolate lava cake that he told them to not even bother putting in a bag. He held the warm mini cake filled with steaming hot fudge in one gloveless hand and ate it as he wandered down the street.
Harry settled on a bench in front of the hotel to nibble blissfully at his treat and watch the traffic of the town. Families played on the skating rink in the center of town. Children built snowmen by the gazebo. Various shopkeepers and city workers decorated the gazebo and other municipal buildings.
The fancy glitter and living magic of Fae high celebrations couldn't hold a candle to the joy and fun and slightly tacky old-fashioned glitter and glitz of small town Americana at the holidays. He loved it. Maybe, if he could keep control of his invisibility spell affliction, he would just stay out here in the Human realms. Who needed to go home to the Fae realms where everybody knew about his problems? If the people of Neighborlee could overlook conversations like he had with Will, and go on about their business without blinking, maybe he had found the place to stay.
Or maybe it was the fact that this was Bethany's hometown that made him love the place.
"I'm in paradise right now," he muttered as he licked the last of the cooling fudge off his fingertips.
For punctuation, a car pulled up to the curb in front of the hotel. The window rolled down on the passenger side and Bethany leaned over from the driver's seat.
"Hey, sailor, new in town?" She waggled her eyebrows at him. When Harry leaped to his feet, she burst out in that delightful, chiming laughter he loved.
He took two steps to the car and remembered he had forgotten his bags of bakery. He turned back, slipped on a patch of ice, twisted sideways, then jolted as his feet hit the un-iced sidewalk.
"Are you okay?" she called, as he carefully continued reaching for his bag. Harry had a horrified vision of hitting that ice again on the return trip and losing all that life-giving dark chocolate.
"Fine." His face radiated enough heat to melt all the ice in the skating rink on the town square. Harry yanked on the handle of the door, half-expecting to find it locked. It swung open and he slid into the car.
It occurred to him that in that moment of total confusion, he should have lost control of his anti-invisibility spell. Then again, according to what Will had told him a little while ago, no one would even notice that he had gone invisible for a few seconds.
"Please tell me you love chocolate as much as I do," Bethany said, as he tossed the bakery bags on the seat between them.
"Triple chocolate mega-muffins or chocolate on chocolate on chocolate biscotti?"
"Marry me," she groaned. "A man who finally understands that chocolate is one of the essential vitamins."
"You better be careful, Miss Bethany. I might just take you up on that," Harry said. His hands shook a little as he dug into a bakery bag and pulled out the first thing he found.
His heart jolted a little and a soft voice wailed in the back of his mind when he pulled out a mega-muffin. He consoled himself that he had bought three. The awed delight in Bethany's eyes and her brilliant smile more than repaid him when he handed it over.
"So, have you got your bearings enough? Do you have any idea where you want to start with the tour?"
"Well... I ran into this guy at the coffee shop. He said Divine's Emporium would be a good starting point."
"Yeah, definitely. I wonder what Angela'll make of you?"
* * * *
"Hargrove?"
The voice that came out of nowhere when he followed Bethany into Divine's Emporium didn't shock Harry. It was the fact that when he saw the source, he recognized the face--just not so small. He belatedly remembered Will had mentioned Maurice being at Divine's Emporium, but the name just hadn't clicked. Then again, how many Maurices did he know of, even in the Fae realms? Harry's face burned and he felt his anti-invisibility spell slipping as he stared at the other Fae man.
"What are you doing here?" he blurted, and was glad to look ahead and see Bethany had continued on into a room with a counter and a cash register just inside the doorway.
"Exile. Man, you must have really had your head buried in your research, not to hear that I got caught by the Disciplinary Council." Maurice fluttered his wings so fast they were a blur, and came in for a landing on a shelf almost on eye level with Harry. "What do you think?"
"What? You have to wear them during daylight hours?" Harry bit his tongue against asking if he had to shrink himself to try out the wings. If they weren't so frilly and glittery and extravagant, he might have felt a little jealous.
"Pal, these things are attached, permanent-like, until my exile is over." Maurice shrugged. "What are you doing in town, anyway?"
"Bethany." He gestured toward the main room. "Guard duty."
"Guard? Like... You're going into bodyguard work?"
"More like letting my invisibility spell wrap around her so she can avoid some loonies and have a semi-normal Christmas at home with her father."
"If she's from around here, I doubt there's any such thing as 'normal' Christmas at home." He chortled and leaped up, turned a triple somersault and glided down to land on Harry's shoulder. "Be a pal and introduce me, would ya? If you can."
"What do you mean, if I can?" Harry obediently continued down the aisle to the main room.
"Part of my exile is that I'm pretty much invisible and un-hearable to most Humans. Except the ones with a lot of magic."
"Bethany's got something, but I'm still trying to figure out of it's real magic, or something else."
"Well, we're having an actual convention of Fae this year. I wonder why," the blonde woman behind the counter said with a bemused smile, as Harry stepped into the room. "Another old friend, or a cousin?"
"Old school pal," Maurice said. "Angie-baby, meet Hargrove. Hey, I didn't think of this before, but maybe there's a cure in Divine's for what ails him. And I'm betting I just got an answer to my other question." He leaped up from Harry's shoulder and fluttered over to hover in front of Bethany, on a level with her wide, staring eyes. "How ya doing, babe?"
"Maurice," Angela said, shaking her head, fighting not to smile.
"Uh...fine," Bethany said. She swallowed hard and glanced sideways at Harry. "I'm not imagining things, am I?"
"Bethany, meet Maurice, an old friend from back home. Maurice, this is Bethany Miller, movie star and current object of adoration by hundreds of psychos who don't know the meaning of words such as 'no' and 'restraining order.'" Harry breathed another sigh of relief when his words earned an eye-roll and muffled laughter from Bethany. He didn't know what he would have done if she hadn't taken his words as the teasing he meant.
"Nice to meet ya, kiddo." Maurice came in for a landing on the counter. "I just love it when people show up who can actually talk to me and see me. It gets really hard for Angela here, sometimes being the only who can talk back. I might be easy on the eyes, but not the nerves, know what I mean?"
Bethany giggled, which was exactly the right response, both for her and Maurice's sake. Harry just wished he hadn't been close enough to see the admiring once-over look Maurice gave her. Bethany wasn't his, but he had come to a realization during his chocolate glut that he was more than interested in staking a claim.
As soon as he got some answers to the root of whatever magic ran through this town, and how it had soaked into Bethany so she was magic more than she had magic. And from the considering look Angela gave him, head tilted to one side, lips slightly pursed, Harry sensed he might just be able to get all his answers from her. At the very least, he wouldn't have to do much explaining, since she obviously was on good terms with Maurice.
"Did you say you were exiled here?" Harry shook his head. "I don't see how this could be a place of exile. It's fantastic. The energy, the magic running through this town--"
"I knew it." Bethany pulled over a tall stool and settled at the counter, elbows on the marble surface. "There's always been something special about this place. You're why I am the way I am, why I see things that shouldn't be there, and I can... Oh, I don't know, finagle things to get out of jams. Most of the time. Maybe why I managed to be in the right place at the right time. Like Harry said--magic, right?"
"In a sense." Angela reached across the counter and caught hold of one of Bethany's hands. "But in a larger sense... Well, it's your own fault. The magic is in you. You inherited it from your mother."
"My...mother?" Bethany's happy, rosy glow faded about ten notches. She glanced at Harry. He moved over and rested a hand on her shoulder, ready to support her in whatever she needed. "What about my mother?"
"In the simplest terms, she was a guardian. Of otherness. You've heard about the odd tendency for lost and abandoned children to be found or to end up in and around Neighborlee, in the children's home?" Angela waited until Bethany nodded. "Your mother was a lost child. Or as our current mayor refers to them, 'lost boys,' à la Peter Pan. She had some minor talents, including glimpses of the future, of the intents of people's hearts, some mild telekinesis. She and I were dear friends, from the moment she first walked in the door of my shop."
"So you're a guardian too," Harry said quietly. He didn't like the tiny frown lines gathering around Bethany's eyes and mouth. It didn't take much guessing to realize that some of this information was totally new to her.
"Another kind of guardian. Neighborlee seems to be a gathering place for the odd and unusual and even visitors from other realms, other dimensions. I've met a number of unusual characters and powers. That's how I became connected to some representatives of the Fae, and how I became Maurice's parole officer for two years."
"Parole officer." He rolled the words around in his mouth and mind. They certainly fit Maurice, with his tendency to go overboard with his pranks and ideas of justice--and to get into trouble with the powers that be.
"Mom died in an accident," Bethany said, her voice a strained semi-whisper. "Things Dad has said over the years, things I remember... He didn't know about her being a...what did you call it? Guardian?" She waited until Angela shook her head. "But this guarding got her killed?"
"She gave her life protecting this town, and stopped something very nasty from opening a doorway that would have brought our reality into dangerous contact with something it should never touch." Angela reached up with one hand to cup Bethany's cheek, brush a few strands of hair back from her face. "At least, we thought she had shut the door. It looks like she only slowed the process and blunted the enemy's power, delayed the inevitable."
"Uh... This nastiness is coming through?" Harry wondered why he hadn't sensed the inimical elements when he flew overhead. Certainly he should have sensed the discord in the power that pulsed through Neighborlee.
"It tried to, about two years ago. We had some very interesting events... Something seems to be either waiting, sleeping deep underneath the town, or it is able to open a dimensional doorway that is buried far below us. It's been stunned and sent away. For now, anyway." She closed her eyes a moment and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Bethany. I was pleased when your acting took you away. You don't have your mother's strength or any of her gifts, and I didn't want you drawn into this battle. She wouldn't have wanted you saddled with her responsibility."
"But there are others like her?" The pallor had left Bethany's skin. She rested more of her weight on her arms on the counter. The frown lines had smoothed out in her forehead. Harry suspected deep concentration, maybe even a little angry fascination, had taken the place of her pain and sorrow.
"Oh, indeed. You remember Lanie Zephyr?"
"She was my English teacher and basketball coach." Her expression softened. "You have to meet her, Harry. When she got hurt and left teaching, she started doing comedy and--" Her mouth dropped open and she paused, wide-eyed, for about five seconds. "She was doing guarding when she got hurt, wasn't she?"
"She is still guarding this town, with her friends. Lanie is one of the 'lost boys,' so to speak." Angela nodded. She glanced at Harry. "I assume Bethany knows about the Fae, since she's with you. Could you explain to her the basics of dimensions and doorways and realms?"
"Be glad to." Harry fought the urge to salute, or maybe he should bow? Something about Angela, so relaxed and timeless, reminded him of the Fae Queen and her court of intensely brilliant, ferociously logical advisors and councilors. Not that he had done more than watch them at work in the Bureaucratic Transparency viewing globe that was available to all Fae.
"So, you'll be hanging around for a while?" Maurice asked, when Harry reached to take hold of Bethany's hands, intending to lead her out of Divine's.
The impression he had was that Angela wanted him to begin Bethany's education now. The tour of the town could wait.
"Oh, yeah, we're home for Christmas. Maybe until New Year's. Just depends on how long it takes until the loonies realize she came here instead of hiding out in L.A., like she usually does for the holidays."
"Usually." Bethany snorted and her mouth twisted in a crooked, one-sided grin. "I've only been 'it' for a little more than a year now. Daddy and I rented a place in the hills last year, guaranteed un-find-able. We had to move out in the middle of the night the day after Christmas because people were camping in front of my door." She sighed. "Maybe I never should have left Neighborlee. I was happy doing commercials and community theater. Maybe I should quit and get a job as a director, or start my own theater company. Does Neighborlee High need a new drama teacher?"
"Go get your lessons, enjoy Christmas with your father, and we'll worry about your career next year," Angela said, making a shooing motion toward the door. "Oh, and take this with you."
Harry saw the dimensional slit pop open and a bag of chocolate paradise wafers, from his favorite Fae confectionary, popped into her hand. He barely had time to read the label and see it was his favorite flavor, with raisins and cinnamon and peanut butter swirls, before it flew through the air toward his face. He caught it with the hand not holding Bethany's.
"You two will need some fuel for your discussions," Angela said.
"Hey," Maurice said. "That's the good stuff. The really good stuff. How come you never conjured up any of that for me?"
"You never needed it." Angela smirked. "Besides, I'm Bethany's godmother."
"Okay, now we know who's really to blame." He winked at Harry and Bethany, who had paused in the doorway. "Nothing like having a not-quite-Fae godmother to mess up your life."
Bethany giggled. That was all the assurance Harry needed that she would be fine. She just needed some time to think, some more details, and a good dose of Sarafina's Ambrosial Chocolates to soothe the soul and body.
"Where's the best place we can go for some privacy?" he asked as they walked out the front door of Divine's.
"I need to walk. Can you just let go of the spell holding back your invisibility and keep me in the field?"
"Sure, but we'll need to be pretty close to keep you inside the buffering field, so people don't run into us." Harry handed her the bag of chocolates. He was afraid he would squeeze it hard enough to pop it, maybe even melt it.
"That's fine by me. I... I really need someone to hold me for a while." Her lips trembled a little as she smiled. "And there's nobody I'd rather hold me than you."