When I awoke, I sat straight up in bed and smacked my head on the ceiling.
“Ow.” My first thought was, where am I? My second, is the bed this high or the ceiling that low? It turned out to be both. I crawled to the bottom of the loft bed and saw Keir conversing with Fair Konig in the living room of his tiny house. The space also doubled as the dining room, the kitchen, and the library. I couldn’t understand how Keir could stand to be in such a tight space, but he’d said he didn’t need much in the way of material things.
The cramped bookcase under the loft steps told me he liked some material things. I’d tried to talk him into an ebook reader. They were awesome and took up way less room. However, he reminded me that he had one solar panel that basically runs the hot water heater and the water pump, and he didn’t want to have to sit in his car to charge the battery every time it got low just so he could read.
Touché.
His tiny house, like his vehicle, was eco-friendly. He even had a compost toilet behind a curtain just off the kitchen. I’d worked hard not to eat or drink anything before my visits to his place. It was twenty minutes to the nearest flushing toilets. Besides, this woman needed her privacy.
Annibish flew up to where I was perched. “I don’t want to fight with you,” I told her. My head still swam a little. “Whatever it is, you win.”
She dove toward my face, came up short in a total Tinkerbell maneuver, then kissed me on my cheek. “Thank you, Iris.”
Well, she sure as hell had changed her tune since the day before. Of course, I had saved her life. Twice. “Uhm, you’re welcome.”
Conspiratorially, she asked, “Do you want to see my baby?”
I shook my head then nodded; not sure this was a good idea. Were pixies’ stomachs see-through? Did I want to see a translucent womb? Kind of. “Yeah, okay.”
The gestation period was pretty quick, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to see a peanut or a fully formed mini-pix. I was very surprised when Annibish pulled her skirt down to her hips and opened a pouch set right below her navel. Inside was the most beautiful glowing ball of light. It was surrounded by a colorful ring of dust. “Is that the Feenstaub?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It is bringing our daughter to maturity.”
“A daughter?” I couldn’t keep the wonder from my voice.
Her point was taken. When I was pregnant with Michael, his heartbeat was, on average, a hundred and fifty beats per minute. The doctor was certain he would be a girl based on the rate. He said that boys had slower heart rates, like around one-twenty. Imagine our surprise when Michael came out balls first. I smiled as I remembered the startled look on Evan’s face. He was such a proud dad, and for all his flaws, he still was. He loved Michael.
“How do you know? That it’s a girl, I mean.”
“Do you see the pale green at her outer edge?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“That indicates she will be female.”
“Green is for girls?”
“No, the solid color indicates it’s a female. It would be multicolored if she were a male.”
“Awww. She’s beautiful, Annibish.”
She smiled and batted her eyelashes at me. “This is what you are protecting, Iris. Not us, but the precious cargo we carry. And now that all the dust has been used, the females in our troupe will be at risk.”
“How can the bad guys take the dust now?”
Her mouth set in a grim line as her wings vibrated with agitation. “They will kill our children and us, dry our bodies to separate the organic matter from the dust.”
I sucked in a breath. “They wouldn’t.”
But I could tell by her expression that it was something that had happened before.
“Two more days until these babies are gestated,” I said. “Can they harm them after they are born?”
Annibish alighted onto the mattress near my shoulder. “They can, but it will do them no good. The dust will be gone. But frustrated creatures are often the most violent.”
“I will do my best to protect you and your children.” I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I can’t wait to meet your daughter.”
Annibish closed the pouch and adjusted her skirt. “I am certain Iverlee will be glad to meet you as well.”
I gave Annibish a confused look. “Iverlee?”
“After you, Iris Everlee. After all, you are the reason she exists. We conceived her in your magical body. It brought me back to life and brought forward new life.”
“I’m so flattered.” And weirded out, if I was being completely honest. They’d made a baby inside me. Joy. “What’s going on down there at the table?”
“Fair Konig and your man are discussing the best way to keep the troupe safe.” She made a slight whistling sound when the pixie king stomped his feet on the table. “They’re not agreeing on much.”
“I can see that.”
“You are still very translucent, Iris Everlee. I think this is a bad sign.”
“You and me both, sister.”
She smiled. “I accept your offer. We will be sisters now.”
“I didn’t—” I shook my head. “You know what, never mind. You’re naming your daughter after me. I’m happy to be your sister.”
Annibish preened as she squeezed her arms together and her rapidly flapping wings lifted her from the mattress. “I am happy too.”
Keir pounded a fist on the table, and all the pixies scattered. His eyes had turned black. Not good. “I better go help.”
She nodded, her eyes as big as buttons. “Good idea.”
I got myself turned around on the bed, and considering I hurt in places that I didn’t think would hurt again after taking Rose’s fitness boot camp, it was a masterful feat that I was able to get down the steps without a serious tumble.
“Hey,” I said. “Uhm, whazzz up?” I said it like the old Superbowl commercial as a poor attempt to lighten the mood. Nobody laughed. “So, any more redcaps or satyrs stop by while I was out?”
Keir sighed. “I was explaining to Fair Konig that you can’t protect his troupe. Your magic is far too unstable, and we almost lost you as a result of this last battle.”
“Nah,” I said, waving a hand at him. “I just passed out. I’ve been through a lot worse than that. I mean, hello, I fought a rock troll that pummeled the crap out of me, and I ate a fire god. In my defense, he tried to eat me first,” I added when the pixies chattered nervously. “I don’t make a habit of eating things I fight with.”
“You died.”
“I what?”
“You died, Iris. You weren’t breathing. Your heart had stopped. We had to do CPR. Nothing worked.” He looked pissed at me, and I wasn’t sure why.
“I’m okay now, though, right? I mean, other than being a little more translucent.” My bladder felt suspiciously full. “How long have I been out?”
Keir’s gaze met mine. “Nineteen hours.”
That made it Sunday and about nine or ten in the morning. “Wow.” Anxiety made my chest ache. “I missed an entire day.” I walked over to the folding table and scooched in beside him. “How long was I dead?”
“Eight minutes.”
Holy cow. Eight minutes was a long freaking time. Like kill your gray matter long. “Is my brain okay?”
He narrowed his gaze at me and frowned. “You tell me?”
“I have a headache, but otherwise….” I shrugged. “Tell me why you’re so angry with me.”
“You are the one thing in my life that I won’t live without, Iris. I can’t. When you died, I felt a vast nothingness that I never want to feel again.”
“Oh, Keir.” I placed my hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry. I…. What am I supposed to say to that? I never wanted this unequal tether between us. I love you, and it hurts knowing that I can cause this kind of pain for you.”
“That’s why you can’t stick around to protect the pixie troupe.”
I made a noise of protest. “I made a promise. A bargain I plan to uphold.”
He took my hand in his and held it up. “Look at yourself, Iris. You heard Thomas. You need to take a few days off from magic to see if the break will realign your elements.”
I looked out the two large windows. The rock barrier I had constructed was still there. “How did we get in here?”
“Linda took us through the stone.” He made a gesture toward the yard. “Lu and Zev are seeing if it’s possible to monitor the perimeter. That should give the pixies some warning when the next hunter arrives. They can hide in here with the stone fence to protect them.”
“That’s not going to keep ninety-nine percent of the supernatural world out of here, you know that, right?” I asked him. “The redcap’s army almost got in through the roof already.”
“The Hexe is correct,” Fair Konig interjected. “And she promised her protection if we left her garden. Our mates are hungry. We need to leave this prison of a dwelling to feed. Our offspring need that as much as they need Feenstaub.”
“What do you eat again?” I asked.
“Pollen mostly,” Annibish said. “Some edible plants like dandelions.”
“There’s a health food store in town. I go there to get spell-making supplies.” Of course, they just thought I had a healthy appetite for holistic crap. “My sister Marigold swears by the bee pollen capsules.” Marigold. I knew she had to be out of her mind with worry. And Michael too. I’d promised him I’d text. “We could break open the capsules or see if the store carries the pollen by itself. Would that work?”
The pixie king tapped his chin, then stroked his beard. “It might be acceptable.”
“Then you’ll stay in here until we get back. No outings alone.” I would call Marigold and Michael when I got to town and let them know I was alive. “Zev and Lu can stick around to make sure you’re safe.” I looked at Keir for confirmation.
He nodded. “What are you up to, Iris?”
“I think I can craft a protection spell.” I’d created several spells after I mastered terra-craft that I believed I could adjust with a few key ingredients and a lot of intention. “It’ll be strictly earth magic, so I know I can make it work. I just need to double-check my grimoire.”
“No more magic, Iris,” Keir pleaded. “Please.”
“Thomas said I could perform simple incantations. The herbs and minerals will pay the cost. Not me.”
Keir’s hands balled into fists, his knuckles going white. I’d scared him, and he was still afraid of losing me.
“I’m sorry, Keir. I’m not trying to make your life more difficult. Honestly. But I’m going to be an auntie now.” I cast a glance at Annibish. “So, I’m responsible for making sure that little one makes it into the world.”
Nineteen hours had passed since I passed out. Well, technically died, but semantics. And I revived Annibish a few hours before the fight, so about twenty-four to twenty-six hours since mating occurred. “By my estimation. I have two more days to make sure the pixies survive another thousand years.”
He wouldn’t look at me.
I pressed my palm, the one made of flesh and blood, to his cheek. “Keir, I love you. I want you by my side in all things. I want you with me through every fight, victory or failure. I want you.” I couldn’t keep the sadness from my voice. “But I’ll go it alone if that’s my only option. I’ll hate every minute of it, but I’ll do what I have to do to keep this troupe safe, even if it’s without you.”
His gaze met mine, and the creases around his eyes softened. “With me,” he said softly. “I am always with you, Iris. Even if I don’t agree. You’ll never have to fight alone.”
“I hoped you’d say that.” I kissed him until the droning buzz of fairy wings got too annoying.
“Food now,” Fair Konig said. “Sex later.”
“We weren’t—” I frowned and shook my head. “Never mind.” I glanced at the barricaded door. “How do we get out of here?”
“Trapdoor,” Keir said.
“There’s a what?” I looked around the small area. “Where?”
He gestured for me to scoot.
I scooted.
Keir got up and went to the curtain blocking off the toilet, kicked aside a bathmat and said, “Abracadabra.”
Underneath, there was a wooden trap door with a hole to use as a handle to lift it open. “This is how I managed to sneak up on you the first time you visited me.”
I felt giddy. “I can’t believe you haven’t shown me this before.”
“You rarely come inside,” he said.
I gestured to the compost toilet. “Get modern plumbing, and I’ll start spending more time at your place.”
He chuckled. “Point taken.”
“Where’s the exit?”
His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Behind the waterfall.”
“That’s freaking awesome.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
Keir had told me that Linda had brought us through the rocks when I was passed out.
“How come you didn’t use the tunnel to bring me into the house?” I asked.
“Because this is not a route you want to take if you have to carry someone. Are you ready to go?”
I had to pee, but there were at least a hundred pixies hovering around the toilet, and there wasn’t a whole lot of room in this tiny house to move them somewhere else. I decided that while it would be a painful journey, I could hold it until I got home. “Yep. Let’s do it.”
Keir jumped down into the hole. It wasn’t very deep. “I hope you don’t mind crawling.”
“Better than dying.” I winced at the ill-timed comment. “I mean, you know what. Let’s just go. I’m good with crawling.” And on that note, I got down in the dirt behind Keir, thanked Kegel exercises for strong bladder control, and crawled my ass off.
By the time we got close to town, my cell phone was blowing up. I had twenty-plus texts from Michael from the night before, so he was the first person I texted back.
I’m ok. Heading home to grab some stuff. Stay with Doug. Text soon. Love u.
The other messages were from Rowan, Marigold, Dahlia, and Rose, wanting to know where I was and to call them immediately.
Oops, too late for that. I called Marigold, and she picked up on the first ring.
“Hey,” she said. “Where are you at?”
“Coming back into town. Was at Keir’s. You know he doesn’t have any cell phone reception. How did it go yesterday? Is everyone pissed at me?”
Marigold sighed. “I need you to come to Dad’s house.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you to come here,” Marigold said.
Fear knotted in my gut. Why was she at our father’s house? “Is Dad okay? He didn’t fall again, did he?”
Marigold sighed. “I’ll tell you everything when you get here.”
“It could be a problem,” I told her. “You know, because of the wind—”
She cut me off. “Hey, you’re on speakerphone,” she told me. “Rowan is here too.”
Great. That meant I couldn’t discuss my current condition. “I’m going to have to go home and shower first,” I said. “I’ll be there in an hour.” I hung up the call.
“What’s wrong with your dad?” Keir asked.
“I don’t know, but Marigold sounded worried. It must be bad. Rowan’s there too.” Rowan was a doctor, so if he was keeping this close of an eye on our dad, then it had to be serious. “I need to go, but I can’t let them see me like this.”
“Long sleeves and gloves,” Keir said. “That will cover up all the parts that need covering.”
“And the bruises?”
He grimaced. “Makeup.”
“It’s worth a shot.” My frustration and fear were on the same level. “Why is this happening now all at once?”
“I have a theory about that. I call it the all-or-nothing chaos theory. Either nothing is going on, or everything is going on.”
“I think that theory has been around for a while.” But I smiled, and I think that’s all he was after.
When I got home, Linda was in the garden with Bob. She didn’t throw anything at me, which worried me even more. “Linda, are we okay?”
“For now, Kleinkind,” she’d said.
Bob walked next to me as I went inside, taking every opportunity to rub his face against my legs. Bob and I were always good. Keir made a few calls while I showered, dried my hair, lamented my slightly translucent parts and put makeup over my bruises.
I put on a turquoise turtleneck sweater I had in the closet as part of my fall wear, then checked myself out in the mirror. I gave the look a seven out of ten. It would do. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get away with gloves, though.
The bruises were hardly noticeable under the makeup, so I tried some on the bad hand. The coverage wasn’t bad. I dabbed concealer on for extra coverage, then applied foundation to both hands so they would look alike.
After, I went out to the living room, where Keir was finishing up a call. “You ready?” He gave me a once over. “Not bad at all.”
“Not bad, huh?”
He chuckled. “You’re beautiful, Iris. The makeup is not bad.”
“I’m going to go by myself, if that’s okay,” I told him. “I don’t know what’s going on with Dad, and with Rowan there, he might get weird if I bring someone along. Even if that someone is the heart to my soul.”
Keir smiled, his gray eyes soft as he stared at me. “I understand.” He wrapped his arms around me.
“Careful of my hands,” I said. “I don’t want to get foundation all over you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll go to the health food store and grab the pollen.”
“Leave it,” I told him. “I’m bringing my grimoire, and I might need some ingredients for spellwork. I’ll grab the pollen on my way back.” I tilted my head back, and Keir kissed me properly.
“I’ll wait for you in town. We can go up together.” He rubbed his palms down my arms. “Text me when you’re on your way home.”
“I will,” I promised.
Four more kisses and twenty minutes later, I pulled into my dad’s driveway. I counted four cars as I squeezed my vehicle in between Rose and Dahlia’s vehicles. Why was the whole family here? My mouth dried as concern for my remaining parent overrode all my other emotions. Oh, God. What if Dad was dying? I could understand why Marigold wouldn’t want to tell me that kind of bad news over the phone. Dread filled me with every step down the drive to the handicap ramp that led to Dad’s front porch. I stifled a sob as I walked into the old ranch-style house and saw Dad sitting in his easy chair.
“Dad,” I said as my breath whooshed from my body. I practically ran to him and gave him a hug. “Are you okay?”
“Fine, fine, Girly.” He gave my hair a gentle pat. “Why don’t you have a seat on the couch?”
That’s when I noticed all my siblings had come into the living room, and they occupied the other chairs and part of the couch.
“Uhm, hey, guys. What’s going on?” I pivoted my gaze to Marigold. She widened her eyes, then flashed me a wincing frown and a slight head shake. Uh-oh.
My oldest sister Dahlia answered. “Iris,” Dahlia said. “We love you.” The rest of them, including Dad, nodded in agreement.
“I love you guys too.” I sat down on the couch, focusing on controlling my breathing. Hyperventilation would not be a good look right now. “Why did you need me here?”
“We’re worried about you,” Dahlia said. She wore her slightly wavy, graying hair down, and she wore jeans and a floral top. She gestured to our youngest sister. “Rose, do you want to tell Iris why you’re worried about her?”
Rose, who wore hot pink and black yoga pants, a hot pink top, and a black workout jacket, stood up and pulled out a piece of paper. “Iris, for the past several months, since your divorce, you have been secretive. You get ill for no reason. Some days, you have a lot of energy, too much, and other days, you are practically listless.” She made an “I’m sorry” face at me. “I’m worried about you and your choices. And I’m worried about how those choices are affecting your family.” She folded the paper and sat back down.
“Thank you, Rose,” Dahlia said. “Marigold, would you like to go next?”
“Nope,” replied Marigold. “I’m good.”
Dahlia gave our sister a disapproving look.
“What is happening?” Then it dawned on me what Dahlia and my siblings were doing. “Oh my God. I can’t believe you guys are staging an intervention.” Of course, they were. Dahlia was a psychologist. This was right up her alley. I stood up and glared at them. “I’m out.”
“Iris.” My dad’s voice contained a mix of anger and sadness, so much like Keir’s had sounded earlier. His next words were a command, not a request. “Sit down. Now.”
Because it was my father, I did the only thing I could do.
I sat down.