CHAPTER 38
“What is Isabella trying to hide?” I asked Clayton as soon as Izzy stomped off to the kitchen. He glanced from the kitchen doorway to me, as if weighing the lesser of two evils.
I grabbed him by the throat, lifting him from the ground to assure him lying to me was far more dangerous than keeping any of her secrets. He let out a small squeak as a few hundred volts shot through him, constricting his muscles as he dangled from my fingers. I eased my grip enough for him to speak. “You owe me, Clayton. Now spill it or I will end you.”
“Ouch. Ouch. That hurts. . . . Take it easy. . . .”
I let him go and he fell to the floor. “Good choice. Now what doesn’t Izzy want me to know?”
His gaze slid to the kitchen and then down to the floor. “You can’t tell her I told you.”
I crossed my fingers behind my back. “Your secret is safe with me. After all, you’ve been nothing but honest with me so far.” His eyes narrowed, as if unsure how to take my comment. I decided to make it a little easier on him. “Whatever it is she doesn’t want me to know will only end up hurting her. I’m here to protect her. Now help me do my job.”
“All right.” He lifted his chin. “Here it is.”
I motioned for him to continue.
“The Fairy Council—”
A clatter rose from the kitchen, much like a gaggle of geese taking cooking lessons from a less than jolly giant. The noise was so loud it drowned out Clayton’s words.
“. . . and that’s why they . . .”
A high-pitched screeching entered the commotion.
“. . . Isabella doesn’t want . . .”
“What the hell is that?” I screamed after a particularly loud, piercing squawk.
Clayton flinched. “‘The Fairy Spangled Banner,’ I think.” He sighed loudly, throwing his hands up to his ears. “For all her good traits, she can’t carry a tune to save her life.”
I grabbed him by the collar, dragging him with me through the door and into the kitchen. “Damn it, Izzy,” I yelled at the top of my lungs. She kept right on screeching. “Knock it off!” My hangover couldn’t take much more. My stomach had already merged with the back of my throat and it would be only seconds until both made an appearance in the kitchen sink.
The last note finally faded after what seemed like a torturous hour but was less than thirty seconds later. My ears rang from her audible assault. When Izzy finished her serenade I gave a soft golf clap. She smiled, bowing at the waist. “Did the two of you finish your little chat?”
“Not quite,” I said.
Her lips pulled into an affected pout. “Oh, sorry to hear that. Maybe next time.”
I laughed, wincing as my head started to ache. “It’s not going to work. I won’t be left in the dark. Not when it comes to your life. I need to know what’s going on. Do you understand me?”
“I understand many things, like the importance of loyalty. Of trust,” she said with a glare in Clayton’s direction. “It’s so hard to find good, loyal fairies these days. Fairies who know when to keep their traps shut.”
“Don’t push me, Izzy.”
“Don’t threaten me, Blue.”
I took a deep, cleansing breath. It was too early in the morning to deal with this shit, especially without pants. “I’m going to take a shower and then get dressed. The two of you,” I gestured between Izzy and Clayton, “have until I’m finished to get it together. When I come back you will tell me what the hell is going on . . .”
Izzy lifted her eyebrow. “Or else?”
“That’s a given, sweetheart,” I said, smacking her fairy bottom as I left the kitchen. Her resulting yelp from the slight shock brought the first genuine smile of the day to my lips.
That same smile soon turned upside-down.