"I appreciate all the help you can give us, but let's hope it doesn't come to war. A Fae queen's elite guard is like nothing you've ever seen," I told them, after wrapping up the current status. "Think best-of-the-best Army Rangers like you were, but with battle magic."
Lucky's eyes darkened. "I have some experience fighting Fae. I didn't want to have to repeat it, but they're not destroying our town."
"Where's Molly?" Last I'd heard, Tess's best friend, who was dating Lucky, was out of town with her increasingly famous band.
Lucky shoved his hair out of his face. "That's just it. She was on tour, but she's coming back to town tomorrow. Tess's birthday is Wednesday, and I guess they were talking about going out of town. I told her what's going on and asked her to stay away, but she said no way."
Yeah. If "out of town" meant spending her birthday in Paris, that had been the plan, or so I'd overheard at Mike and Ruby's. I pushed away the twinge in my gut at the memory and shook my head. "She's as stubborn as Tess. Right now, Tess has to make plans, in case we really need to evacuate—both her house and the shop. But before we get to the worst cases, we need to find that dagger."
"We're all in," Austin said. "Just let us know."
"I'm following Tess to the shop now, and then I'll call you and we'll figure something out. But know this: if anybody around town got their hands on that dagger, they'd be acting pretty squirrelly now. It's gonna be packing some major-league magic."
The guys shared a quick glance.
"What?"
Lucky sighed. "It's probably nothing, but it's just that you said the willow tree, and … well …"
"Spit it out, soldier," I said. "We don't have time to be delicate."
"Mickey," Dallas blurted out. "Mickey Young. It's just, you remember the night the clowns played the ukulele here in the square?"
"I don't think anybody in Dead End will forget that soon," I said dryly.
"Well, you said the willow tree. Mickey told us the day after that concert that he'd found something special beneath the willow tree, and he's been acting funny ever since," Dallas said. "Wouldn't say anything else about it."
"Definefunny. Wait—have you seen the dagger?"
"No, we would have said," Austin chimed in. "It's just that he's been acting spacey—more than usual, if you know what I mean. Dressing funny, secretive, gone for long periods of time."
"Dressing funny?" I tried to think of a Fae magic that would affect clothing and came up short.
Lucky shrugged. "You know, not like himself. Anyway, he missed his last two shifts at work, and he's not answering his phone. You don't think—"
"I don't think anything, except that we need to get in touch with Mickey as soon as possible. Like, right now." I thought for a second and then caught Tess waving at me to hurry. "Okay, text me his phone number. I have some contacts who can probably trace it, and—"
"Bro," Austin said, looking pained.
Right. The twins were world-class hackers and computer specialists. What they didn't know about computers probably hadn't been invented yet.
"Sorry. Let me know as soon as you find him. We need to talk to himnow. And I've got to go. I'll be in touch. Thanks, guys."
"Later," Lucky said, and the twins nodded.
I strode over to the car. Tess was in the driver's seat and ready to go when I leaned down to her window. "Sorry. The guys might have a lead." I filled her in on what they'd said.
"Not one of the Swamp Commandos," she said in disbelief. She'd coined that name for the group of ex-military guys who'd come home from war and set up house in the swamp. When they'd started their airboat rides business, they'd named it Swamp Commando Airboat Rides in honor of Tess. She'd always treated them like friends and actual human beings, even when some in town were wary of the wild group of guys who'd taken up residence in the swamps on the outskirts of Dead End.
She was too humble to realize how wonderful she was, and I suddenly wanted to be the one who told her.
"Probably not, but the 'he found something special under the willow tree' is too on-the-nose to not investigate," I said. "Tess, no matter what, I'll be sure you're safe. You and your family. You know that, right?"
She glanced up at me and smiled. "Yes. And you realize that we'll be sure you're safe too, right? You're family now."
The warmth that spread through me at that simple statement caught me off guard.
Wow.
