"Agree," Jack growled.
"You may not even know what you know, if that makes sense," I said, as kindly as I could, with the headache ramping up again.
"Let's go outside," Jed said, pushing away from the table. He looked somewhat better since eating, but was still pale. "I've been trapped in that statue or the Fae lands for so long. I just want to sit outside in the fresh air of Dead End."
We followed him out to the porch, and Jack turned on the lights, since dark had fallen completely while we'd talked inside. Jed and I took the porch swing, Susan perched on the railing, and Jack sat on a wooden veranda chair he'd recently refinished. Logan took a running step off the porch, shifted into an eagle in midair, and then winged his way around the yard.
"That's just so darn cool," Susan said wistfully. "I'd almost wish to be a shifter, if I could fly."
Jack and Jed snorted simultaneously, and I laughed. "I think they're saying tigers are cooler."
"That word has certainly evolved," Jed mused. "Cool, as in not quite cold. Cool as the night air in spring. But not for your generation, according to the sound waves. Now it's cool beans, cool cats, cool your jets. What are jets, and why do they need to be cool?"
I started to explain, but Jack cut me off. "You're stalling, Granddad, and we have a deadline. Talk."
Jed blew out a huge breath and slumped back against the swing. "Fine. When we founded Dead End, we did so by making a Bargain with the Fae. They realized that more and more humans would settle here, and they didn't want any of us accidentally wandering through the portals into their world. Ever since we started using the Bane—iron—in large quantities, the Fae have been wary of us. There are far fewer of them than of us—"
"And they find it difficult to have children," Jack interjected, as Logan flew toward us and then landed on the railing next to Susan, where he immediately shifted to human.
This time, he wore clothes. I guess the naked thing earlier had been to poke at Jack or impress me.
"Yeah, they'd have died off as a race, if it weren't for the immortality," Logan said. Somehow, the words sounded even more chilling in his brogue.
"So the Bargain? What did they trade?" I turned toward Jed.
"Long life and health for me and my family; the usual sort of Fae Bargain," Jed muttered. "I'd had no previous encounter with them and had no idea how even such simple words could be twisted."
"Right," Logan said bitterly. "Long life, but you continue to age, so you're eventually a two-hundred-year-old walking skeleton. I've seen that one in person."
Jack narrowed his eyes, glancing at me, and I could almost feel him wondering if being part of Jed's "family" meant that he'd inherited any part of the Bargain.
I swallowed the lump that surged in my throat but said nothing. One problem at a time.
"And in return?" Susan asked.
"In return, we would keep the secret of the portals and protect them from random encroachment."
Jack leaned forward in his chair, folding his arms. "What happened?"
Jed shrugged. "What you might expect. We weren't careful enough; some very dangerous humans got through the portal. They killed a lot of Fae before they were destroyed, and …"
He broke off and looked down at his feet. "One of the Fae they killed was the queen's niece. They tried to trap her with steel, and she wasn't strong enough. She … she died."
I could tell that, even after hundreds of years, the memory pained him.
"She was a lovely girl," he continued, after a moment of silence. "Young and sweet, not yet hard or cruel like so many High Court Fae. Her name was Naleana, and she had a singing voice like an angel."
I felt tears prickling the corners of my eyes and blinked them away. "I'm so sorry. That sounds awful. Her poor family."
"Yes. Well." Jed's eyes flickered. "Her poor family, indeed. I felt horrible—all of us in the village did. We'd also lost many of our own fighting the invaders. But the queen cared nothing for that."
He coughed, and I jumped up. "I'll get you some water. Wait for me to get back to tell the rest."
Jed gave me a faint smile, and I ran inside to get a glass of water, thinking about how devastated I'd be if anything happened to Shelley. No matter who was to blame, would I be capable of thinking clearly?
I wasn't all that sure, and I suddenly had a great deal of empathy for Queen Viviette.
Back outside, Jed took a long drink of water and then picked up his story. "Thanks, Tess. As you can imagine, I bore the brunt of her … unhappiness. I was the one who'd made the Bargain, after all."
