Endlessly (Paranormalcy 3)

"Oh, wonderful, take the other psychotic guy in your life to go find the first one. "

I laughed and rolled my eyes, wishing I could run my fingers through his hair to mess it up. "Relax. They're both behaving. Sort of. "

"Take Arianna. "

"That means Jack stays with you. "

There was a pause. "Fine. But don't forget what I'm sacrificing for you. "

"You both realize I'm standing right here, don't you?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at me from where he leaned in the open doorway between the entry and the family room.

"We realize. We just don't care. I'll be back soon with answers, hopefully. "

Arianna left the room and handed me a coat. I zipped it up and, avoiding the doorway to the family room, walked out the front door into the cloudy night.

"Any idea where to find the pretty creep?" Arianna asked.

"I was hoping he'd be down by the pond with the rest of the menagerie. "

"Fair enough. " We stepped off the porch and a deliciously warm hand took my own. I glared up at Reth.

"You needed me?"

"How did you know?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. Was he eavesdropping?

"You radiate need, my love. I can always feel it. "

I sighed. "Can you fix my boyfriend?"

His smile lit up the dark night. "You really ought to know better than to ask a faerie for a favor by now. "

Chapter Twenty-One

DECK THE STERILE WHITE HALLS

Reth watched as Lend passed out the moment I walked into the room.

"Interesting," was his only comment.

"It's faerie magic, right? Can you reverse it?"

His eyes caught the warm light of the family room so it looked like they glowed on their own. "I think we should see my queen. "

"Can you fix him or not?"

He paused, then pursed his lips, shaking his head.

I sank down against the wall, staring despondently at Lend. His arm had flopped over the side of the couch and his face was smashed into the cushion, pushing his lips out. I wanted to go over to him, but touching him wouldn't help. I needed him to touch me. I'd never noticed how often he did, and missing his touch was a physical, palpable pain. Every inch of my skin ached, looking at him.

I needed to think. I wasn't going to go back into the Faerie Realms to visit Reth's queen. I didn't care if she was the queen of the "good" court-they were all bad, and hers was the court that had let my evil, alcoholic (well, carbonationaholic, I suppose) father destroy my birth mother to make me and then forget about me. I wasn't going to go to them for help.

If Reth couldn't fix this magic. . . what was different? I clapped my hands together and jumped up. "Reth can't fix this because he isn't the same type of faerie! We need an Unseelie faerie!"

"I think-" Reth started, but I cut him off.

"No, if the Dark Queen cursed him, we need a dark faerie. "

Jack looked up at me from where he was doing a handstand in the middle of the room. "Brilliant! Want to hop on back to the Dark Court, then? Maybe if you ask really nicely, they'll decide they don't want to kill you. "