CHAPTER 83

Sulyvahn ignored him, and looked over at the dying shrubs. "I've almost never seen one get that big. It must have had a proper meal, and recently, too."

Sensing there was something to that statement, Mike ran toward the patch of dirt in the ground where the elemental had popped free. It had left a hole behind that was roughly the size of a softball. He stuck his hand in the hole and felt around, his fingers sliding over something hard.

Yuki helped him dig up the ground, and when they pulled a glass jar out, they saw four dimly flickering lights inside. The jar was decorated with symbols that Mike imagined were magical wards of some kind.

"Huh. Makes sense. Fairies woulda spotted that beastie right away. I bet it captured them to keep them quiet." Sulyvahn yawned. "Looks like the excitement be over, so if ye dinna mind..." He gave a mock salute and vanished into the shadows.

Mike unscrewed the jar and opened it, tilting it over his hand.

The sparkling lights landed in his palm and transformed into their humanoid forms. Daisy, Cerulea, Carmina, and Olivia were more insect than human now, and unable to stand.

"Their magic has been drained," Yuki growled through her teeth. "Oh, when I get my hands on that bitch..."

"You won't." He placed a calming hand on Yuki's shoulder. "Clearly we are caught up in something we don't fully understand, and we need to focus our energy on what's important. Not revenge, at least not yet, anyway." He held the fairies close to his chest and moved toward the house. He could feel the magic of each fairy pulsing in his hands, and he knew just what they needed to restore their magic.

"Mike?" Beth met him at the door, her face a mask of worry and regret. Gone was the confident woman she had been yesterday, and he could see a small amount of fear in her eyes.

The same woman that had been turned into a statue and abducted by a demon now looked strangely vulnerable, and with a rare flash of insight, he realized that she was worried that she had let him down. She had had one job in the faerie realm, and had been unable to do it.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay," he told her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "About what happened." She stood a little taller now, bracing herself for whatever was coming next. Her faith in herself had clearly been shaken—a feeling he was familiar with.

"Me, too," he told her. "But we're alive, and that's what's important. We bit off more than we could chew, and..." He looked over at Sofia, who met his eyes with a knowing gaze. "It wasn't a problem I could just fuck my way out of. No amount of luck was going to help us. Not with the queen of the fae."

"So what's next?" she asked.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. There were a lot of things that needed to happen, but they could wait. "I'll fill you in on the faerie queen later. For now, I was wondering if you could help Quetzalli find a place to sleep?" He looked over at the dragon, who was now doing little spins in the front yard to make her skirt twirl out. The dragon noticed them watching, and started toward the porch.

"That's Quetzalli?" Beth asked in disbelief.

"The queen punished her. She's never been a human before, so she needs a bit of supervision."

"It's true," Quetzalli admitted as she joined them. "You and I have met before. You were inside my jaws, remember?" The dragon opened her mouth wide to reveal that she had a double set of canines up top, and her tongue had a deep groove in the middle.

"It looked a little different last time I saw it."

"I was much bigger then," she said knowingly, then put a hand on her lower belly. "I am experiencing some discomfort that I am unfamiliar with. It's a strange fullness that needs relieving."

"Like...do you have to pee?"

Quetzalli nodded. "Ah, that sounds right. I just need to find a suitable tree, yes?" She was already lifting her skirt. "I am unfamiliar with which part of my anatomy I need to aim, and—"

"I've got her," Beth said, then grabbed Quetzalli's wrist. There was a loud snap of static, and she winced.

"Yeah, she does that, too," he added, then let Beth lead Quetzalli into the house, where they disappeared down the hallway toward the bathroom. He stepped inside as well, only to stop in the living room.

Standing on the stairs was the cat girl who had assaulted him only a couple days ago. She was watching him with great interest, her dark green eyes locked on his. Her face was mostly human, but her nose was a cat's, surrounded by a few long whiskers.

"Oh, I didn't realize that you were awake." He noticed Ratu standing near the cat girl. "Is she... are you...?"

"She's fine," Ratu informed him. "It looks like you've got a lot on your plate right now, but I wanted you to know that she was up and no longer hostile. We can talk later."

"Thank you. Sorry, but I need to help these guys recover their magic." He held up his hands to show Ratu the fairies.

"Ah. Well, I'm sure the process will be fun." She smirked, then licked her lips seductively. "I feel like I'm overdue to run out of magic one of these days, myself."

"Uh, yeah. You're always so busy, so I haven't really..." He noticed the cat girl watching him and changed the subject. "My name is Mike, by the way. I'm the Caretaker of this crazy place, and it's my job to keep everybody safe. I'm sure that earlier was just a misunderstanding, and you're welcome to stay if you'd like. However, if you want to leave, you should know that there's a possibility a nasty group of witches may hunt you down and use magic to force you to come back. That's a long story, and Ratu can tell you all about it, and I'm so sorry that I can't stay and chat. Right now, these four need my help."