CHAPTER 20

Hours later I awoke as the sun rose over the city, casting it in a glow of pink and gold. Morning dew soaked my T-shirt and jeans as a stark coldness settled into my bones, a coldness that had nothing to do with the weather. “Isabella,” I whispered through ragged vocal cords. My head felt eight sizes too large as I slowly staggering to my feet. The ground beneath me was stained black with shadowy parts.

I shivered, dreading what else I might find. Was Izzy lying somewhere nearby injured or dead? Taking a deep breath, I scanned the carnage until my gaze fell on a blood-soaked bit of wing peeking out from under a bush. I ran to it, my heart slamming wildly in my chest.

Slowly I knelt down, dreading what I would find. Last night Izzy had saved my life for a second time. I hoped it hadn’t cost her her own. Closing my eyes, I sent a quick prayer to every saint I could remember from my days at the Catholic orphanage as I carefully lifted the bush. Much to my surprise and relief Izzy wasn’t underneath; only a few feathers from one of her wings. So where the hell was she?

For the next hour I searched Troll Town, questioning every ugly trollish figure I passed. No one had seen Izzy after what they described as the apocalypse had started. Damn drama trolls.

As I was about to call it quits, I caught sight of a fairy wing disappearing behind a dilapidated shack. “Izzy,” I yelled, running for the winged fairy.

As I rounded the corner I pulled to a stop, nearly mowing down the two-foot-tall fairy in front of me. Henrick. His purple wings beat at a steady pace. I grabbed one of his wings in my gloved hands, yanking him upward.

He squealed like a little piggy left without roast beef. “Let me go.”

“Where is she?” I shook him, holding my breath as a puff of fairy dust exploded in the air. Last thing I needed was another hit of the vile drug. I shook him again for good measure. More dust filled the air around us. Thankfully, a steady breeze carried it away.

Henrick let out a cry and tried to kick me in the shin. I grinned. I had to give it to the little bugger; even after going a few rounds with the Shadows, he was still as full of anger as ever. Not that he’d gotten off unscathed. In fact, both of his eyes had been blackened and a drip of dried blood ran from his nostril. Better, his two front teeth were missing.

I repeated my question with another jerk of his wings. “Where is Izzy?”

“I don’t know,” he screeched. “I never saw her after you threw me to the Shadows.”

I tried to hide a smile. “My bad.”

“It will be.” He fluttered his free wing with all his might. More fairy dust flew in all directions. I dropped him, leaping back to avoid the toxic cloud. I waved a hand in front of my face to clear the air, but by the time I regained my senses, Henrick was gone. He’d bested me this time, but he wouldn’t be so lucky next time.

I hoped.

 

After my run-in with Henrick I went back to the search for Izzy, but in the end it proved fruitless. She was gone. No sign of her anywhere. With a heavy heart, I staggered home, hoping Izzy had somehow found her way back to my apartment.

When I opened my front door the only sound greeting me was the whisper of the wind through my bedsheet curtains. Izzy had left the window open after she’d escaped my apartment. The thought brought a brief smile to my lips. She was tougher than she looked, I reminded myself. A fairy capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Or, at the very least, stealing the teeth of small children and leaving a mere pittance in return.

She would be all right.

She had to be.

I headed for the shower after checking my empty answering machine, both home and office, and downing a handful of aspirin. I needed a clear head. Izzy’s fairy dust had left me feeling as if I were swimming in a pool of taffy. I was lucky to be alive after taking a faceful of the stuff. Could I say the same for her? Was she even now suffering at the hands of the Shadows? Or had she escaped?

Turning the cold water to full blast, I stepped under the spray, shrieked once, and quickly scrubbed off the blackness staining my hands. Five minutes later, fully dressed in a semiclean pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I poured a cup of instant coffee into an old soup can, tossed on my leather jacket and gloves, and headed down to the street below.

I would find Izzy. Again. Even if it killed me.

Thirty minutes later it almost did exactly that.