DOUBLE DATING DISAPPOINTMENTS

We came through at the edge of the trees by Lend's house. Reth stumbled forward, leaning against a tree for support, his golden glow dampened. Was it really just yesterday I'd come through with Lend, stumbling, while Reth was strong?

"What did she do?" I asked. I'd been too worried to talk in the Faerie Paths, terrified that Reth would collapse before we made it through and we'd be stuck there again. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I am better than you would be if she had hit her intended target."

I shuddered, taking his hand in mine. Either I was way warmer or he was way colder; I found both options equally disturbing. I already felt weird, with a disconnected buzzing like I'd taken too much cold medicine or something. "I have to go in with Raquel and fix this curse. Why don't you come in and...umm, lie down on the couch or something."

Reth gave me a humorless smile. "In all our time with each other, have I ever struck you as the type to nap on a couch?"

I snickered. "Not really. But it would be entertaining for me, at least. I'll bet you snore, even."

He looked indignant. "What makes you think I even sleep?"

"Do you?"

"Not in the same way you do. Go and waste your time trying to 'fix' Lend. I will try my best not to die waiting."

I took a step away, then turned back. "Wait, seriously? Are you going to die?"

He smiled, this time a genuine one. "I knew you cared. Not at the moment, but I will need you for something very soon."

It felt horrible, abandoning Reth when he was so hurt and messed up. And I knew that I'd do whatever he needed me to if it meant helping him. Lend had to be my priority right now, though. We were heading directly into the middle of a massive paranormal storm, and everything would change. I had to be able to really be with Lend right now, because right now was the only guarantee.

I nodded. "I won't be long." I turned toward Raquel, who was still standing in the same spot she had been when we came out of the Paths, a dazed expression on her face. "Raquel? You coming?"

"I honestly never thought I would see the light of day again."

"Aww, come on. With me on your side? Of course things worked out."

She tried to smile, but her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, Evie."

I threw my arms around her in a hug. "You don't have to thank me."

"I really do. You wonderful girl. I've missed you so much."

"Well, now that we're both unemployed fugitives, think of how much time we'll have to hang out!"

She laughed drily, and we walked with our arms around each other to the house. I opened the door and yelled, "Evie alert! Coming into the family room!"

"You made it!" Lend shouted back. "Just a sec, I'll go to the kitchen. Raquel's with you?"

"Yup!"

"Good job! Jack and Arianna got back a couple of minutes ago."

I walked into the family room to find Arianna and Jack sitting on the couch, arguing. "But there would have been no point to you being there if it hadn't been for my computer prowess."

"But your computer prowess wouldn't have mattered if you couldn't have gotten into the Center in the first place."

"Being a glorified taxi does not make you the bigger hero."

"Being a nerd who can tap on a keyboard or being able to navigate the dark eternities of the Faerie Paths...hmmm...which is a rarer and more valuable skill..."

I put my hands on my hips. "Okay, kids, take it elsewhere. Raquel and I have work to do."

"Evie," Raquel said. She was staring at Jack in horror.

"Oh, that." I waved a hand dismissively. "It's all good. Jack's been helping us."

"Don't you remember how he tried to kill you?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Boring. We've all moved on."

"Really?"

"Not really," I said. "But he's behaving. And everyone needs a glorified taxi now and then."

"Admit it: you all adore me." Jack bowed dramatically as he left the room. Arianna smiled tightly at Raquel and left after him.

Raquel collapsed onto the couch and closed her eyes. "You're working with Reth and Jack? Have you lost your mind?"

"Oh, that happened ages ago. But I've had to do a lot of rescuing lately, and those two come in handy."

"Do you trust them?"

"No, we don't," Lend called from the kitchen.

I smiled. "But, I don't know, I think I've forgiven them. They're both complete idiots, and sometimes they're evil, but they always have a reason, you know? I don't approve of them or trust them, but I understand them. I've done some things I'm not proud of, but at the time they felt utterly necessary. And I'd do them again." I shuddered at the memory of the midnight faerie's soul, tried not to feel the frosty spread of it through my veins, the distance it seemed to put between my body and me, even the room around me. "Anyway. Right now they're on my side, and I'll take whatever help I can get."

"As long as you-"

"Raquel!" David said, running into the room. Raquel stood up to greet him and he swept her into his arms and-oh good heavens I never wanted to see anything like this in my life-he smashed his lips against hers.

"Dad?" Lend called from the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"You don't want to know!" I said, my voice high and strained.

They broke apart, gasping, and David held her at arm's length, looking at her like he'd devour her. I didn't know whether to laugh or throw up.

I dug my toes into the carpet, staring at it. "So, uh, I saved Raquel."

Raquel laughed, and David joined her. They sounded slightly manic. "You're free now," he said.

"Of all of it," she answered, and I looked up to see them locked in a gaze I'd previously only observed between actors on Easton Heights-one filled with all the things unspoken over the years, all the betrayals and fears and pain left behind in favor of overwhelming love. It was beautiful.

Oh, who am I kidding, it was awkward as all heck and I didn't have time for it. "Okay! So, you may have noticed Lend is in the kitchen."

"Mmm hmm," Raquel answered, reaching up to smooth down a stray piece of David's hair.

"Yeah, that'd be the big faerie curse."

"Faerie curse?" She actually turned toward me; David took both her hands in his.

"Yup. Really funny one, too. See, any time Lend and I are in the same room or can see each other or could actually, you know, touch, he falls fast asleep."

"Oh." Raquel frowned.

"So I need your help. You know all the names of the IPCA controlled faeries, right?"

She nodded, her frown deepening.

"Well, it was a dark faerie curse, so I figure we need a dark faerie to undo it. So you call an Unseelie faerie, we give him or her a named command to break the curse, ta-da, we can double-date!"

"Wait, who can double-date?" Lend asked.

"I'll let your dad tell you. So. Faerie?"

Raquel heaved a sigh, along the lines of her famous things never get easier, do they? sigh, and, boy, I agreed with her.

"To be honest, I don't know which court most of the faeries belong to."

"You don't? How can you not know? It seems like pretty vital information to me. You know, 'Are you a member of the evil court kidnapping humans and plotting world domination, or a member of the moderately less evil court who just wants to get the crap off the planet?' sort of a survey when you get them."

She raised her eyebrows. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get information of any type at all from a faerie? Figuring out which court they belonged to was never a very high priority as long as we could control them."

"Gah! IPCA keeps coming up with new ways to massively fail me. But you said you didn't know which court most of the faeries belonged to. Do you know any?"

She nodded, reluctant. "Yes, there's one I know for certain is from the Dark Court."

"Great! Let's call him."

"Her. You know her, too. Fehl."

Ah, bleep. Of course. The one faerie Vivian had mostly drained, who was now running around the Faerie Realms, feral and twisted. Also the one faerie I'd commanded never to come near me again.

"There has to be someone else." I didn't even know if Fehl had enough strength to make it to Earth anymore.

Raquel paused, deep in thought, then nodded. "There's another I'm fairly certain is Unseelie. I'm not positive, though."

"I'll take it!"

"We'll have to manage this very carefully, Evie. From what I saw, it would appear that entire court wants you dead."

"Yeah, well, you know. Stopping their custom-made Empty One, stabbing their queen in the neck, breaking their mirror forest, I'm not really Miss Popularity there."

"Stabbing-You what?"

"Long story. Faerie? I'd really like to hang out with my boyfriend while he's, you know, conscious."

"Seconded," Lend shouted.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to invite an Unseelie faerie here?"

"We're very well protected," David said. "There's pretty much every elemental you can think of hanging out around the house, and Cresseda has put up numerous safety measures."

"Very well," Raquel said. She didn't even blanche at Cresseda's name. David's fingers laced through hers probably had something to do with her newfound grace regarding the elemental who stole David from her. "Althenam."

We all waited, barely daring to breathe, until a line of white light traced itself along the wall. A faerie, long and tall and beautiful with hair as orange as fire, stepped through, her eyes widening as she saw me.

Raquel said her name again, and she snapped her attention (and vicious glare) toward my former boss. "In the kitchen is a boy under a faerie curse. Undo it without harming him, then wait for further orders."

I had to hand it to Raquel-she had the whole named command thing down. I tended to suck hard-core at it.

I bounced nervously on my toes as Raquel and the faerie went into the kitchen. I'd be able to hug Lend soon! And hold hands! And make out like crazy! And then figure out how to help Reth with whatever that faerie did to him. And then figure out how to deal with whether or not to open the gates, and how. But still!

After what felt like an eternity I heard the faerie speak again. "I cannot undo it."

"Are you Unseelie?" Raquel asked.

"Yes," the faerie hissed. "But this curse is not a pattern I can weave or unweave."

"Very well," Raquel said, and then she sighed, a sigh of defeat. I slumped onto the couch. "Althenam, leave this place, never return, and reveal its location and occupants to no one." She paused. "And never return to IPCA or answer their calls again."

I couldn't hear the faerie door, but there seemed to be a certain shift of energy, like that vaguely disturbing silence that settles in when the power shuts off, signaling the faerie was gone.

As were all my hopes.