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  “My mother made him a fairy,” Fin said. “Royal blood. Makes me better than a full blooded fairy. Over the millennia, we’ve had to be able to create more fairies, otherwise we’d become inbred.”

  “I thought that was a part of the war!” Tanesha said.

  “Sure, it was a war that started a couple thousand years ago,” Fin said. “It’s not such an issue now.”

  “Well, you told Jake that fairydom was rotten at the core,” Tanesha said. “Is someone after the queendom?”

  “I said no such thing,” Fin said. “I’ve said this before — no one in their right mind would want to be the queen of fairies.”

  Tanesha let out a frustrated sigh. Fin was controlling the conversation so she couldn’t get the part about to her mother.

  “You said something about a serpent,” Fin said.

  “I told you about killing the female serpent . . .” Tanesha said.

  “You did what?” Fin’s voice rose with fear and the smallest touch of awe.

  “I told you all about it,” Tanesha said. “It happened in the basement of Sandy’s studio and . . .”

  “I assure you, you never told me you took on a female serpent,” Fin said. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? She could have easily infected you, and if not her, the thousands of offspring she carries will take over a human. You have no idea how many . . .”

  “I have some idea, because we killed them all,” Tanesha said.

  “You did not.” Fin’s voice was filled with disbelief.

  “We did too,” Tanesha said.

  “How?”

  “With hairspray-flame throwers,” Tanesha said.

  The line was silent for a moment.

  “What?” Tanesha asked.

  “You got them all?” Fin asked.

  “Every last one of them,” Tanesha said.

  “Wow,” Fin said. “I’ve never heard of . . . anyone . . . ever . . . but flamethrowers, that would work.”

  “We saw a serpent,” Tanesha said. “Tonight, that’s after Ne Ne — well, it wasn’t really Ne Ne, it was a serpent, we think — and . . .”

  “Maybe you’d better cut to the chase,” Fin said.

  “Jake, Keenan, Delphie, and my dad are all in the Sea of Amber,” Tanesha said. “We met this ghost serpent or whatever tonight. It said the Sea of Amber is the domain of the serpent. They were taken as retribution for killing the female and her offspring. We killed her mate too, with the help of a dragon and. . .”

  “You killed a mating pair and all of their offspring?” Fin’s voice reflected his terror.

  “Right,” Tanesha said.

  “Wow, give me a minute.” In the background, Fin said, “Did you know Tanesha and her friends killed a serpent mating pair and all of their offspring?”

  “They did what?” Abi asked.

  Tanesha held the line while they talked back and forth for a moment.

  “What about Perses?” Fin asked.

  “Perses got out of the Sea of Amber,” Tanesha said. “Some magic in his relationship with Jill’s mother.”

  “She called for him,” Fin said.

  “He arrived,” Tanesha said.

  “They’re sure it’s him?” Fin asked.

  “Yes,” Tanesha said. “Her mother, sister, and Jill were there.”

  “Wow,” Fin said. “Once again, you’re blowing my mind, Tanesha. What did you say about Ne Ne?”

  “She came here,” Tanesha said. “Or I thought she did. She did some magic in the basement and collected this sludge from . . .”

  “Serpent dust,” Fin said. “Very powerful, but that wasn’t Ne Ne.”

  “I know,” Tanesha said. “She stole my dad!”

  “Where is Yvonne?” Fin asked.

  “I’ve been trying to tell you that!” Tanesha said. “She’s in grave danger. She . . .”

  “I’m on my way,” Fin said.

  “Wait!” Tanesha said. “The fog-serpent said that they are trying to capture Yvonne to take over fairydom. They expect your world to fall to the serpent. That’s what this is about. Oh, and something about Delphie.”

  “Of course.”

  “Of course?” Tanesha asked.

  “Oracles and serpents are historical enemies,” Fin said. “If you think the serpents hate the fairies, you should see them with an Oracle.”

  Abi said something in the background and Fin replied.

  “You’re saying that the serpents are waging war on our queendom,” Fin said.

  “They’re eliminating your family, your friends,” Tanesha said.

  “Keenan shouldn’t have been stuck,” Fin said.

  “He transformed,” Tanesha said. “Remember? He gave up being a full fairy to have a normal childhood.”

  “Shit,” Fin said. “If they get Keenan . . .”

  “They have Keenan,” Tanesha said.

  Fin blew out a breath.

  “If you go to Mom, they will attack,” Tanesha said. “The serpents believe she is something they call ‘the prize.’”

  “She is not,” Fin said. “But I understand why they say that.”

  “You have to save her,” Tanesha said.

  “I cannot,” Fin said.

  “What?” Tanesha asked. “She needs help.”

  “She needs your help,” Fin said.

  “How . . .?” Tanesha started.

  “I’ll go.” A woman’s voice came from the background.

  “Ne Ne is coming to you,” Fin said.

  “How will I know it’s her and not that other thing that’s trying to kill my father?” Tanesha asked.

  “You’ll feel it inside,” Fin said. “Did you like the other?”

  “No,” Tanesha said. “I’m mad at her for not saving my mom.”

  “She . . .,” Fin said.

  “I can help.”

  Tanesha looked up to see Abi standing at the top of their stairs. She was wearing a maroon crush velvet, floor length gown and her hair was up. She had a round baby bump, but otherwise looked just as she always had.

  “What are you wearing?” Jeraine asked.

  Abi looked down at her outfit.

  “I know, right?” Abi asked. She instantly changed into her usual workout wear. “That’s better.”

  “Is that Abi?” Fin asked as soon as she spoke. “She’s there? She’s supposed to stay here.”

  “I think so,” Tanesha said. “Where do you work and why do you like it?”

  “Endorphin,” Abi said. “I love spin classes and washing machines.”

  “She’s here,” Tanesha said.

  “Can you put her on?” Fin asked.

  Tanesha held the phone out.

  “You need to warn the queen,” Abi said. “Ne Ne needs to find out how to get Jake and the others from the Sea of Amber. I can be helpful here. Yes. Of course. I love you, too.”

  She gave Tanesha a wry smile and held the phone out to her.

  “Fin?” Tanesha asked.

  “When your mother is safe, call me,” Fin said. “We’ll figure out how to get the others out of the Sea of Amber.”

  “Okay,” Tanesha said.

  “And Tanesha?” Fin asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Your girlfriends and you. . .,” Fin said, “together, you are amazing.”

  “All of the kids helped too,” Tanesha said. “Even baby Rachel.”

  “The kids? Just amazing,” Fin said. “Ne Ne is off to the library to research everything. In the meantime, be safe.”

  “I will,” Tanesha said.

  “Ready?” Abi asked.

  “For . . .?” Tanesha started.

  The next thing she knew, she was standing in a soggy hallway of an office building.

  “Let’s go save Yvonne,” Abi said.

  She started down the hallway. Stunned, Tanesha stared at her back for a moment before running to catch up.

  Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-two

  Complicated Plans

  “What are you doing h
ere?” Tanesha said when she caught up with Abi.

  “Saving Yvonne and Dionne,” Abi said.

  “Wait.” Tanesha put her hand on Abi’s forearm and they stopped running. “You were just shot.”

  “I healed.” Abi shrugged.

  “No really, why are you here?” Tanesha asked. “You could be waited on hand and foot.”

  “In my velvet finery?” Abi asked. “Courtesan to Prince Finegal?”

  “What?” Tanesha flushed red. “I never . . . Why are you calling yourself a prostitute?”

  “Maybe you meant a concubine?” Abi asked.

  “Abi, I . . .”

  “It’s not you,” Abi said. “That’s what the court thinks of me. I had to get away.”

  Abi grabbed Tanesha’s hand and pulled her into an office. They crouched behind a desk. A man who looked half-cop, half-bodyguard walked in front of the office.

  “Plus, you can imagine how hot Fin will be when I get back,” Abi said with a smile.

  “You mean Celeste is up to her old tricks?” Tanesha asked.

  Abi looked surprised and then scowled.

  “How did you know?” Abi asked.

  “Fin.”

  “That fairy has her sights set on Prince Finegal and she doesn’t care who knows it,” Abi said. “She calls me the Courtesan Abi. She says she will allow him to keep me when they’re married so as not to estrange the queen’s favorite grandchild, Ne Ne. The queen thinks it’s funny so she doesn’t do anything about it. I’m the mother of Fin’s only living child, and still the Queen doesn’t do anything to stop Celeste. Plus Celeste is a part of the court, and. . .”

  Abi scowled.

  “What?” Tanesha asked.

  “She vacations on the Antipodes Islands,” Abi said.

  “We’re here to save Mom right?” Tanesha asked. She was frustrated that Abi was now distracted by “Stupid Celeste,” Fin’s name for the woman.

  “Of course,” Abi said. “So you know, Celeste vacations on the Antipodes Islands.”

  “You said that,” Tanesha said.

  “They are islands off of the coast of New Zealand,” Abi said.

  “Um . . .”

  “Your geography is really awful,” Abi said. “Typical American education, you really need to know your own planet. I should get Ne Ne. . .”

  “Wait!” Tanesha exclaimed. “What does Stupid Celeste have to do with Mom and Dionne?”

  “Why did you call her ‘Stupid Celeste’?” Abi asked.

  “That’s what Fin calls her.”

  “He does?” Abi asked. She flushed red at the idea that Fin thought Celeste was stupid.

  Tanesha nodded, and Abi smiled.

  “That’s good,” Abi said.

  “Answer the question!” Tanesha said. “What does Stupid Celeste have to do with Mom and Dionne?”

  “Everything,” Abi said.

  “Why?” Tanesha asked.

  “The Antipodes Islands are considered too cold to be inhabited,” Abi said.

  “So?”

  “They are volcanic islands,” Abi said.

  “And?”

  “Serpents thrive in volcanos,” Abi said.

  “Oh,” Tanesha said.

  “Exactly right,” Abi said. “The Antipodes have long been rumored to be the lair of the serpent.”

  “But Heather said the Sea of Amber was everywhere,” Tanesha said.

  “She would know,” Abi said.

  “But. . .?”

  “Volcano?” Abi pointed to the ground.

  “There’s a volcano here?” Tanesha asked.

  There was a noise somewhere in the building, and Tanesha stood up.

  “I’m going to help my mother,” Tanesha said.

  “If Celeste is involved. . .” Abi started.

  “Just spit it out!” Tanesha said. Her words came out as a magic-charged order and Abi gave a slight bow.

  “If I’m right, Celeste has made an accord with the serpents for Yvonne,” Abi said. “They are using the end of this pornography ring as an opportunity to take her. I’ve always been able to protect her from this kind of thing. With me at court, she’s vulnerable. I bet Celeste had those child porn freaks shoot me to get me out of the picture. Then it’s easy —Yvonne comes to Arizona and these jerks turn her over to the serpents.”

  “Why would Celeste do that?” Tanesha asked. Her tone indicated how farfetched it all sounded.

  “She thinks that will give her the fairydom and. . .”

  “Fin,” Tanesha said. “So Celeste is behind the child pornography ring and the rapes?”

  “No, of course not,” Abi said. “That guy holding your mom captiveis behind it all. It’s an investment to him. When one site blows up, he goes to the next. He doesn’t care about what’s on the videos or who gets hurt. He’s in it for the profit. As you can imagine, there’s a ton of money to be made from this filth, especially those homemade rape videos. Human beings can be so disgusting.”

  “And Celeste?”

  “Just an opportunity,” Abi said. “She’s been waiting a long time to get her hooks into Prince Finegal. Now that Queen Fand and Manannán have been restored, the queendom is going through a kind of spring — lots of marriages, babies . . .”

  Abi nodded. Tanesha thought through Abi’s effusive words.

  “Celeste has been waiting for the right moment and contacted the serpents,” Tanesha said.

  “Who are already your enemies,” Abi said.

  “The serpents control the Sea of Amber,” Tanesha said.

  “Exactly right,” Abi said.

  “No Delphie to give the warning,” Tanesha said.

  “No Jacob or Keenan to figure out how to get out of the whole thing,” Abi said.

  “And my dad?” Tanesha asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Abi said. “They must think he has some special capacity.”

  “A direct connection to my mom,” Tanesha said.

  “Well, there’s that,” Abi said. “Rodney is uniquely immune to the despair that is the Sea of Amber.”

  Tanesha opened her mouth to ask why when Abi spoke again.

  “Did you really kill a mating pair and their offspring?”

  Tanesha nodded.

  “That’s a story I want to hear,” Abi said. “Ready to go?”

  Abi took off out of the office they’d been hiding in. For the second time, Tanesha watched her back. This time she noticed a flow of tiny sparks following Abi. The fairy corps was here. Tanesha raced to catch up. Abi stopped at the end of a hallway. She smiled at Tanesha and then shrank to tiny size. There was a flash, and suddenly Tanesha felt as light as a feather. The world was very, very big.

  “What the . . .” Tanesha started. She noticed Abi was ordering a group of blue-taffeta-wearing fairies to protect Tanesha. “You’re the boss of the fairy corps?”

  “General Abigail, at your service.” Abi did a curtsy in the air. “You’re going to love it!”

  Tanesha glanced at the horizon, and Jeraine came into view. He was lying on the floor next to Jabari’s little bed. Jabari was talking about nothing, and Jeraine was listening. They were so adorable that Tanesha smiled, and then she remembered her mother.

  A room came into her view. Her mother had some white haired guy draped over her. Dionne was talking to a guy who looked like a mobster. One of those guys who hung around Alex Hargreaves’s house was standing in the doorway looking like a bodyguard. The mobster said something to the bodyguard, and they laughed. Dionne shifted uncomfortably. At least, they were alive and not in too much immediate danger.

  “Ready?” Abi asked.

  “What are we doing?” Tanesha asked.

  “Just follow us,” Abi said. “And remember, we think the serpents are going to swoop in to capture Yvonne.”

  “Fin said I have to save Mom,” Tanesha said.

  “Of course,” Abi said. “First we have to get there.”

  Abi took off flying, and at least a hundred fairies followed her. Th
e fairies around Tanesha waited for her.

  “Shouldn’t we follow them?” Tanesha asked.

  “After you,” the fairy nearest her said.

  “I don’t know how to fly!” Tanesha said.

  The fairy behind her pushed her. They were off! Tanesha flew as fast as she could to catch up with the rest of the fairy corps.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Tuesday night — 9:58 p.m.

  Denver, Colorado

  “Is there anything I can do tonight?” Edie the fairy-turned-nanny asked.

  She and Jill had been sitting at the kitchen counter while Edie told Jill about her date with James Kelly.

  “No, thanks,” Jill said. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

  “Not as amazing as you!” Edie said. “A real serpent.”

  “Fog-serpent,” Jill said.

  “Dust,” Edie said. “Made from the serpent dust. Very powerful.”

  “Not as powerful as the real thing.” Jill nodded.

  “That’s true,” Edie said. “Why didn’t you believe me when I told you that everything in our world was fine?”

  “I figured you didn’t know,” Jill said. “I mean, Jake’s gone.”

  “Delphie and Keenan too,” Edie said. “Scary stuff.”

  “Anyway,” Jill set her glass in the sink, “I’m glad you had fun tonight.”

  “He’s in town for a while,” Edie said. “Is it okay if he sees the kids?”

  “Of course,” Jill said.

  “What if he stays over?” Edie asked. She looked embarrassed. “I mean . . .”

  “I don’t think that’s a problem,” Jill said. “Just keep it down.”

  Edie giggled, and Jill smiled.

  “No really,” Jill said. “You can hear everything that happens here. No one cares, but you’ll have to deal with MJ asking James about it.”

  “Sounds embarrassing,” Edie said.

  “Exactly,” Jill said.

  Edie nodded. Jill touched Edie’s shoulder and walked toward Katy’s bedroom before she remembered that the kids were with Megan tonight. She waved to Edie and went into her bedroom.

  And the nightly torture began.

  During the day, Jill was over-busy with work and school and Katy and the twins. The kids were the center of her life. She spent every moment she could spare with them. Even with Edie’s help, Jill was overwhelmed.

  When she was married to Trevor, Jill spent a lot of time alone. She was either alone at work, cleaning and cooking at home alone, or alone with Katy. Trevor was a full-time job in himself. When he was around, he was her entire focus, which also meant that she was alone.