- Home
- Sarah Noffke
The Independent Fairy (The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont Book 5)
The Independent Fairy (The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont Book 5) Read online
The Independent Fairy
The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont™ Book 5
Sarah Noffke
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Version 1.00, July 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-890-7
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-891-4
The Independent Fairy Team
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Diane L. Smith
Veronica Stephan-Miller
Deb Mader
Dorothy Lloyd
Dave Hicks
Zacc Pelter
Jackey Hankard-Brodie
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
The Skyhunter Editing Team
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Sarah’s Author Notes
Michael’s Author Notes
Acknowledgments
Books By Sarah Noffke
Check out Sarah Noffke’s YA Sci-fi Fantasy Series
Connect with The Authors
Books By Michael Anderle
To Allen who is definitely one of the coolest guys.
— Sarah
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
to Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
to Live the Life We Are
Called.
— Michael
Chapter One
The jail smelled musty with a sickly saccharine odor overlaid and was cold, reminding Agent Ruby of his youth. He snarled, holding an embroidered handkerchief to his mouth and nose that read JPW.
The initials stood for John Paul Williams. That had been Agent Ruby’s name before he attained the position of an agent at the FGA. Now John Paul Williams was all but dead to him. He was now the man who wielded the silver ballpoint pen with a red ruby at its end as his magical instrument.
His magic was full of the tracing substance of the ruby gem, and he was a powerful agent for the Fairy Godmother Agency—ruling over fairy godmothers to create elite matches. There was only one other name that Agent Ruby ever wanted, and that was Saint Valentine. To get that title, he only needed to take out one man—the reigning ruler of the fairy godmothers.
Everyone knew that each agent’s magic was traceable to their gem, which was why tying Agent Topaz to the murder of Agent Opal had been quite easy. All he had to do was steal his pocket watch—his trademark magical instrument—which had his tracer: the purple topaz. Then he used it to create the poison to kill Agent Opal…which he’d intended for Saint Valentine. Still, everything had almost worked.
Agent Ruby had nearly killed the reigning leader of the fairy godmothers. He’d also deflected a lot of heat off himself from those growing suspicious. Now they all looked at Agent Topaz and not at him when things didn’t go as suspected at the agency. Plus, Agent Ruby had nearly put all the blame on Paris Beaufont.
She was his biggest problem.
Unnoticed by the guards, Agent Ruby blazed through the outer corridors of the jail around FLEA, formally known as Fairy Law Enforcement Agency. The uniformed guards might have felt a brush of wind or heard the scuff of Agent Ruby’s soft-soled shoes, but that was about all as he passed right beside them, seemingly in plain sight but invisible.
He was there, yet strange and powerful magic he’d only recently tapped into hid him. However, to get the full extent of the magic’s capabilities, Agent Ruby would need to put a lot more things in place, and that would take time. All of those measures were necessary to cover his tracks. His greatest concern was taking out the one man who could tell his secrets and put the interrogation light on him.
Agent Ruby paused outside the locked corridor that led to the jail cell where FLEA held Agent Topaz before his trial. He was the only one who could give testimony that would indict Agent Ruby for the murder of Saint Valentine’s agent. If that man started talking, everything could fall apart—everything that Agent Ruby had worked for.
He hadn’t worked his way up the ranks of the Fairy Godmother Agency to see it taken over by a liberal Saint Valentine who entertained the idea of allowing commoners to marry royalty. No, Agent Ruby had always seen his mission was clear. Born from pure fairies of an ancient lineage, he knew that the only way to protect where he came from was to preserve the ways of tradition. However, the old values were vanishing in the modern world, and Agent Ruby had sat back for too long.
First, he’d take out the only one who could indict him for the murder of Agent Opal.
Then he’d further ruin the current Saint Valentine’s reputation, which was already crumbling in the eyes of the board. The love meter might have recovered when the fairy godmothers took Frien
dNet down, all thanks to the meddling of Paris Beaufont. He’d deal with her in time though. However, Agent Ruby already had new plans to bring the love meter to zero since the godmothers foiled his last attempt.
First, Agent Ruby would cover his tracks. Then he’d work to take down Saint Valentine. Other ways besides social media could ruin love and make the current leader of FGA look bad, all while using things that Saint Valentine supported, like technology, for instance. That would surely make Saint Valentine look incompetent, and before too long, the board would vote him out of office.
Agent Ruby mischievously chuckled as he removed an object from the inside of his black suit jacket pocket. The thought that phones—a modern convenience supported by the current Saint Valentine and the leader of the fairy godmothers—would be his very demise was extremely satisfying. All Agent Ruby wanted was to take down this fickle leader who had risen through the ranks and taken over to rule with his wrong ways and untraditional ideas. Then Agent Ruby could do what he wanted with the college and the agency, leading it the way he saw fit.
First, though, he had to cover his trail.
Second, he had to take down Saint Valentine.
Last, he had to rid the college of the most startling evil…Paris Beaufont.
The last part would prove most troublesome, but he wouldn’t stop until the halfling was out of his way.
Agent Ruby placed a small mirror in the corner of the corridor. It attached to the wall easily. Most wouldn’t notice it, and the best part was that in time, it would ensure that he went unnoticed further into the jail area where the magical wards were higher than at his present position.
The man who was once John Paul Williams was only a few steps away from taking the position away from the current Saint Valentine. Then he could rule love the way it should be: reserved for the few who deserved it.
Chapter Two
“I did a lot of experiments.” Faraday continued to rustle around in the sock drawer of the dresser in Paris’ room.
“What kinds of experiments?” Paris asked pointedly.
“All kinds.”
“What kinds?” she asked again.
He shook his head. “I don’t know how to explain them, but they were unimportant.”
Paris got the distinct impression that Faraday was telling her something she didn’t know about him without telling her. He was proving to be an enigma as he opened up.
Like, was he unhappy with his life before or happy with his accomplishments? She didn’t know, but she was going to find out.
“What was your life like?” She combed her hair away from her face as she regarded herself in the mirror above her vanity at fairy godmother college. “You know, when you were…you know…”
“A man,” he supplied.
She nodded. “Yeah, that.”
It was still weird to think that at one point, before the experiments with Edison and Curie and the magic and time traveling, that Faraday had been a man. Harder still was the idea that when given a choice, he’d decided to stay a squirrel instead of a man in his timeline, returning to his old life. However, that’s what he’d wanted. A life with Paris as a rodent was apparently better than one standing upright with the ability to vote and be and do all that humans could. She still couldn’t understand it, but she was trying.
“I know it seems strange to you that I decided not to go back,” he said on the heels of her thoughts, almost as if he could sense them. “You have to understand that I didn’t have a life as Faraday the man. I loved my work, and that was about it. I had…no one. No life. Nothing outside of science. Then I got stuck as a squirrel, and I met you and everything in my life—well, it has been different ever since. Better.”
“It does seem strange,” she had to admit. She chewed on her lip and looked at the squirrel in the mirror over her shoulder.
“It would to you.” He looked out the window to the Enchanted Grounds where the sun rose over another day at Happily Ever After College.
“Why?” She turned to look at the talking squirrel directly.
“Because you don’t know what it’s like to be with you.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What a weird thing to say.”
“Well, it’s true,” he argued, seeming offended. “You change those around you. I don’t think you realize it. Just by being you, you make those around you happier. You make people feel accepted.”
Paris was suddenly silent. She didn’t know how to respond. Telling Faraday that he was going senile seemed like the best approach, but that probably wasn’t the right thing to say. Instead, she tucked her chin to her chest. “When you were Faraday the man, you were lonely.”
He nodded. “But all the searching in the world didn’t help. It wasn’t until I met you and your life that I found what I was looking for. Society tells you that you need this or that, but the truth is that the right fit for each is different. You fit my life and make sense to me, Paris. I know it seems weird that I want to stay a squirrel, but it simplifies my life and allows me to be less complicated so I can think about that which is more complicated.”
“Like science,” she guessed.
“Exactly,” he answered with enthusiasm. “I’m not sure if you realized, but your life is rather extraordinary to witness.”
“Because I’m a blonde who knows how to do complex math?” she deadpanned.
He nodded with a twinkle in his eyes. “As well as being the first and only halfling magician fairy we know about, born to Warriors for the House of Fourteen with demon blood.”
She faked a yawn. “I think it’s more interesting that I once came in thirty-sixth in a trivia game at Sullivan’s Bar and Tavern.”
“That is quite impressive,” he chirped.
“There were, like, fifty contestants,” she added, straightening her leather jacket.
“Leave that part out,” he offered and nudged her phone over on the top of the dresser. “I think it’s ready.”
Paris’ mouth popped open again. “Are you serious?”
“Well, it’s not any trivia prize,” he muttered shyly. “But I think I enabled your phone so that it has data capabilities as well as gets messages at Happily Ever After College.”
She snatched up her phone. “Which makes me the only one here with that option. You’re brilliant.”
He batted his eyes, embarrassed. “I don’t know about that.”
Paris regarded the squirrel. “What do you need to feel accomplished? A Nobel Prize?”
Faraday shook his head. “Nothing I’ve done is quite so noteworthy. I like to dabble in science. It’s nothing extraordinary.”
Paris smiled at her friend. “You think I’m extraordinary and somehow, I’m going to convince you that you are too.”
He shook his head. “I’ve never done anything of any great value. That’s the key for a scientist to make their mark. I’m curious, and it has led to discoveries, but only that. Nothing of any real worth to the real world.”
Paris swelled with pride, but she didn’t know why. Something told her this was the beginning of a moment. One that hopefully she could look back at and point to as a precursor to something bigger. She liked those kinds of moments. They felt bigger than the monumental ones. “Well, maybe Faraday the squirrel has things to do that will change the world. I think he already has, but it sounds like he has to prove it to himself first.”
Faraday glanced back at her, turning his attention away from the glowing Enchanted Grounds. “I don’t have anything to prove to me. I’m hoping that you keep me around.”
Paris wanted to laugh. “Of course I’m keeping you around.” She held up her phone. “I get to look up random stuff on the Internet again, thanks to you.”
“I put on parental restrictions,” he admitted.
“Why?” She was suddenly offended.
“Because there are bad things out there in the world.”
Paris lowered her phone. “I’m those bad things.”
He nodded. “I don’t want yo
u out there causing problems for the innocent.”
She nodded and pocketed her phone. “What are you doing today?”
Faraday returned his attention to the window. “I’ll let my curiosity lead the way.”
“So where should I go to rescue you later then?” she teased.
He shook his head. “You have enough troubles with researching Agent Ruby and whatever he’s after and all the rest. I’ll try not to be a bother for you.”
Paris nodded, making for the door, her stomach ready for some of Chef Ash’s hearty breakfast. “I do have a mission on top of a mission with my regular school work. Try and have fun on your adventures.”