"May I call my friend Jack to come over and help us discover how you arrived and, perhaps, how you might go home?"
She jumped up, startling Lou, who'd started to doze.
"Is this Jack the tiger? My queen hasmuchinterest in him," she said excitedly, her wings fluttering so fast, even with the bent one, that she hovered an inch above the table.
I justbether queen had "much interest" in Jack.
"Maybe you should try not to fly until we can mend your wing?" I suggested gently. "I don't want you to hurt it further."
She floated back down to the table. "You are wise, Tess. No, I do not wish to see your Jack without my queen. But I will have more tea, if you please. And then I must nap, now that I am warm and fed."
I gave her more tea and tried to think if I had anything faery-bed sized that she could sleep on, but she drank her tea, curled up against my cat, pulled a fold of the towel she sat on back over her tiny body, and started to doze off.
I wanted nothing more than to spend the day studying this fascinating creature, but I had so much work to do to either get ready for the end of Dead End or figure out a way to stave off total destruction.
"Frazzle, I need to go out and do some errands. Will you be okay here with Lou? Would you rather be back outside? I want to do whatever you prefer."
She opened her eyes and blinked sleepily at me. "I will stay here and rest with your cat companion, Tess of the Callahan. If you find a fresh strawberry and bring it to me, I would be filled with appreciation."
With that, she made a sound that almost certainly was a tiny, faery-sized burp, and I tried not to grin. She might be filled with appreciation for a strawberry, but she was currently filled with bread and honey.
"I'll do my best, Frazzle," I promised. Then I cut her a second square of bread and poured some more honey, in case she got hungry while I was gone, filled a second bottle cap with fresh water, and then fed Lou, who looked longingly at her food bowl but didn't move. Maybe the Fae and cats really had a special relationship, and she didn't want to disturb Frazzle?
Not much got between Lou and her food, so I was inclined to think that was the case. But I really, really needed to get going. I'd call Jack on the way to the bank and discuss my new and very surprising guest. I leaned over and kissed the top of Lou's head and whispered, "Good girl. Protect her for me."
And then I grabbed my purse and keys and headed to the bank. I needed to discuss my business and personal accounts and make sure I could access them from anywhere.
I called Jack the second I got in the car.
"Happy birthday, gorgeous!"
I groaned. In the excitement over Frazzle, I'd forgotten.
"Thanks. Guess what I got for my birthday? A faery!"
"What?"
I filled him in on Frazzle and the Fae queen's interest in both of us.
"I don't like the sound of that," he said when I was done.
"Neither do I, especially since she apparently thinks I'm horrible. But what about you? Did you find Mickey? I have to think that if you'd found the dagger, you'd have led with that."
He told me about Mickey and his clown, and I was laughing helplessly by the end of the story. "Oh, Jack, you shouldn't have scared the poor manager."
"I knew you'd say that, so I apologized," he said, amusement in his voice. "I don't know what to think about Frazzle, but maybe our theory about the portals going wonky is correct. But I have other Fae news. I finally got a call from Rhys na Garanwyn, Kal'andel's slightly more reasonable brother. He said he'd try to get the queen to come to town to negotiate, but only because I once did him a favor."
"That's great news. Maybe while she's here, she can find her own stupid dagger. How's Jed?"
"Not well. The box isn't helping him anymore. He wanted to stay home and rest, so I'll check in on him later."
"Give him my best," I said, worried. I promised to call him after I did the banking, so we could figure out our next steps, and ended the call.
When I took the turn into town toward the bank, I noticed that there were a lot of people on the road for so early on a Wednesday morning. But the town text blast the day before had said the bank would open at seven a.m. today, due to emergency, so maybe I wasn't the only one on my way there.
When I parked, though, it was still only six-forty-five. I shrugged and figured maybe they'd opened the doors early, considering, so I grabbed my purse and headed toward the bank. When I got there, I peered inside, but I didn't see any lights on.
I tried the door anyway.
