Finding Faerie (Pixie Dust Chronicles 3)

He pursed his lips in concentration. “What were you feeling when everything happened?”

“I was pissed,” I recalled. “And scared.”

He narrowed his eyes at the scared comment. He must’ve figured out that I didn’t fill in all the gaps earlier. “It’s probably strong emotion that’s activating them.”

What in the hell was he talking about? “Activating what?”

He smiled. “Your elemental powers.”

My what?

“Have you ever heard of Elemental Fae?” Vance asked.

“Hold on a sec.” I made my way over to the bedroom and grabbed my History of the Fae book. I thrust it into Vance’s hands, pointing to the marker that I had placed between the related pages. “Read that.”

He ran his fingers lovingly over the weathered cover. “Where did you get this?” His tone was full of awe.

Leo puffed out his chest. “From me.”

Vance frowned. I rolled my eyes at their posturing. “Flip to the bookmarked page.”

Vance opened the book and reviewed the passage about Elemental Fae that I had read earlier. He pointed to the section listing each individual house along with their corresponding abilities. “See this? You have all of these powers.”

“Um, no, I don’t,” I argued. “I conjure dust, remember?” The passage specifically stated that Elemental Fae do not have the ability to conjure fairy dust or perform standard Fae magic.

Vance shook his head. “I know that, Karli. Obviously. But you’re missing the point. Your dad was Elemental. His parents each had power from two separate elements, giving him all four. He couldn’t perform regular Fae magic, but your mom could. You have both types of magic; you’re omnipotent.”

“Did you just call me impotent?”

“Not impotent,” he laughed. “OMNIpotent.” He smacked himself on the forehead. “God, I can’t believe I didn’t think about this when I discovered who your parents were!”

“Expand on that, Detective,” Leo said. “I think we’re both a little lost here.”

Vance looked at me. “Does he know about my connection to your parents?”

Leo looked puzzled. I realized that I’d never told him that Vance met my parents when he was studying under my grandmother, Ornessa. They were close friends for over sixty years. My parents even followed Vance into this realm and moved to Vegas when they found out they were pregnant with me. I quickly gave Leo the condensed version.

“So, if I understand this correctly, the detective here not only had a lengthy friendship with your parents, but he also knows your grandmother, who is an elder?”

“Yep,” I confirmed.

Leo didn’t seem to like it one bit that Vance and I shared that connection, but he moved on. “An elder who could grant us access to Faerie?”

Vance was practically fluffing his feathers like a proud peacock. “Which is exactly why I’m here. Why you need me here. Ornessa doesn’t even know Karli was born. Me, on the other hand, she knows very well. I can vouch for Karli.”

Leo glared at him. “Okay, I’m not skipping over that, but I want to know more about Karli being omnipotent. How exactly does that affect her?”

Vance was flipping through the book, skimming the pages. “I’m sure it’s in here somewhere. Damn, why doesn’t this thing have a Table of Contents?”

I grinned because I’d had that exact complaint more than a few times. “Vance, focus! What does it mean?”

He gave up his search and closed the book. “Karli, you’re not just a fairy. You’re also an elemental who can control all four elements. That combination creates an entirely different breed of Fae—an incredibly rare breed. Omnipotent Fae are the most powerful type that exists. You are one of the most powerful creatures in existence.”

I stood there speechless for an indeterminate amount of time. I couldn’t possibly be this all-powerful being as Vance had claimed. I didn’t want to be, but it made perfect sense. Everything I’d been experiencing lately—the constant hum of barely leashed power coursing through my veins. Why didn’t I know about this before? Did Irina know?

Irina, the woman who raised me, was my mother’s best friend. She’d recently revealed that my mother had a vision about the car accident that caused my parents’ deaths. Irina moved to Las Vegas shortly before they died because she had been appointed my legal guardian in the event of their passing. Irina had promised my mom that she would disguise my heritage and raise me in Vegas because she foretold that I would find my soul mate there. Of course, my mother didn’t conveniently drop any names with her premonition, but she obviously went out of her way to keep me on Earth instead of returning to Faerie where I would’ve had an entirely different life.

Vance put his arm around my shoulder. “Karli, you okay?”