The Changeling (42 page)

“
Stop the car, Maggie, we’ll take it from here,”
Sara’s voice rang in my head. Though she was only projecting her voice, it sounded happy nonetheless. I jabbed the brake and shifted into neutral. Sherman unlocked the passenger side door and lifted Mitch into his arms. “Let’s get him inside.”

“Candace, Ronnie and Doug?” I asked.

Sara smiled. “They’re safe…under Council guard for the time being.”

That was a huge relief, and my nerves began to calm.

“Maggie,” Danny said, “let’s park your car.” He looked at the rest of them. “Wait here, please, we’ll be right back.”

He drove us to the far end of the parking lot by the duck pond. “Your Air shield.” He focused on my face and I nodded, extending the barrier around us.

“Stroke of genius, having Karen call me. You’ll be happy to know that none of them remembers anything. They’re on a plane to Miami where they’ll start a new life.”

“Good, you understood my message.”

“Yes. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty to
impress
upon them the importance of hygiene. Despicable. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. When Ozara and the Council find out that you’ve rescued Mitch, they’ll have questions.”

“Oh my god, I haven’t even thought of…”

“Shhhh. I have. Give me your phone.” He held out his hand, patiently waiting for me to comply.

He turned it on without touching it, and the screen began flashing from one setting to the next. “Karen called you this morning when you were in Eureka Springs, and she told you where to find Mitch. She also told you that she was afraid for her life and that you needed to come alone. That’s when you made your escape.”

“That’s brilliant…”

“Shhhh.” He smiled. “She called you again at 6 p.m. to tell you how to get Mitch’s location, and asked for a ransom. You called me. I procured the funds. You gave her the money—she gave you Mitch. You gave her two hundred thousand dollars. She said she and Roy were going to disappear with their kids. She wouldn’t tell you where.”

I nodded.

“Maggie, you took Mitch and left everything the way it was. You never saw Fae. Understood?”

My face winced. “Well, there’s a problem—the farmhouse is on fire as we speak, destroyed completely. The barn was obliterated along with a number of trees.”

“What method?”

“Air mostly, and some Fire,” I said.

He looked down for a moment and then smiled.

“You decided, Maggie, to hide their trail by destroying the house, and thought it best to make it look like a tornado. You set everything on fire to give Roy and Karen a head start.”

“But Danny, there wasn’t a storm.”

“Even better. It makes you look like a foolish seventeen-year-old girl.”

“Foolish?” I protested. “Do they think that?”

“I know better, but Ozara and the Council already believe it—present company excluded. Use that to your advantage. Now, here is your phone with a record of those calls, and the navigation directions changed to fit your story. Don’t offer it to Ozara. Make her take it from you. She will. That’ll be more believable. Here is the paperwork for the withdrawal I made on your behalf. When they question you about this, keep it simple. Like I tell my clients, the more you volunteer, the bigger the hole you dig.”

“And if she compels you?”

“Billy isn’t the only one who can hide his true thoughts.” His baritone voice was full of satisfaction.

“Thank you, Danny. You’re the best.”

He grinned, his lion-like face full of condescension. “Indubitably. Shall we get your brother some help?” He looked back at the car and shook his head. “Did you go off-roading?”

Before I could answer, the car was gleaming like new. Then he handed me what looked like a greeting card in a pale blue envelope.

“Danny, what’s this for?”

“Your father’s birthday, remember? The title is in his name. It is inside. You just need to sign the card.”

It took a moment to gather my wits, and even longer to appreciate just how intelligent he was. “I’d hate to face you in court. You think of everything.” He raised an eyebrow, took my hand, and dragged me to the others.

***

My scheming mind worked through hundreds of ways the Fae could sneak us into the hospital, each one more terrific than the last, but in the end we simply walked in. Sherman compelled everyone we saw, while Billy altered the security cameras and compelled anyone watching them to see nothing. Candidly, I hadn’t thought of the direct approach. It terrified me just how easily the Fae could walk into any place, regardless of the security, and simply have their way.

Billy lifted Drevek off the bed and Sherman placed Mitch in his place. The sensors moved through the air and attached to Mitch as his grungy clothes transformed into a clean hospital gown. The monitors in the room never missed a beat.

Sherman studied Mitch for a few minutes and then turned, smiling. “He’ll be awake in a few minutes. Perhaps you should call your parents.”

The air rushed out of my lungs and I crumpled to the floor without an ounce of strength to steady myself. I heaved with uncontrollable sobs and experienced the most amazing sense of relief I’d ever known. Sara and Billy caught me before I hit the tile. When I looked up at Sara, her eyes were full of tears. It took a minute to catch enough breath to mutter the words, “Thank you.”

Whether it was my fault or not, Mitch had been abducted because of me and I didn’t realize until that moment how much guilt I’d been carrying around. Mitch was back, he was safe, and he would recover. Somehow I’d managed to correct the hideous wrong that had been done to him.

Sara and the others seemed content to let me recover at my own pace. It took a few more minutes, but I stopped blubbering and moved to hold Mitch’s hand. Sherman called Mom and Dad, because I was too shaken to talk, and he thought I might scare them to death if I got emotional before I could choke the words out.

With my parents on the way, the Fae began discussing what to do with Drevek. At my urging, Sherman healed him as much as possible, though he never woke.

“Sherman?”

“Yes?”

“Is there any way to give Mitch a trim, you know, hair and nails, so he doesn’t look so wooly when Mom and Dad get here?”

“Certainly.”

Sherman worked for a minute or two, and other than the difference in their heights, he managed to match their appearances. Satisfied with the Fae makeover, Danny, Billy, and Victoria escorted Drevek back to the Weald. They promised, if possible, to wait for me to return before notifying Ozara.

Sara and Sherman waited with me. I tucked Dad’s birthday card inside my purse, because I knew he wouldn’t care less about the car for the next few days. Closing my eyes for the first time since beginning of the frantic day, I saw Cassandra’s face in my thoughts. Burned there was the horrified look on her face in the seconds before she died. She was a despicable monster, cruel and malevolent, but I felt a pang of guilt as I remembered her face the instant before it disappeared. I opened my eyes, hoping to replace the image with something else in the room, anything. Sara and Sherman stared at me, unaware of what was playing in my mind.

Sara whispered, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, I think, just emotionally exhausted. I can’t believe we have him back.”

In a weak voice, barely louder than a whisper, Mitch said, “Who?”

“Mitch? Oh, my god, you’re awake!”

He blinked his eyes, bloodshot and sunken but just as green as the leaves in the Weald. He muttered, “Where?”

“You’re in the hospital. You’ve been sick for a while.”

He closed his eyes and dozed off without another word. Sherman told me to expect that to happen a few more times as he gradually came to his senses. He said he would speed up the process when my parents arrived.

We didn’t have to wait for long. At a little past 10 p.m. my family piled into the room. Grandma and Mom clutched each other, noting how much healthier Mitch looked. Dad took Mitch’s hand on the opposite side of the bed from me and began whispering to him. Tears streaked Mom’s face as I recounted his first waking moment in months. As Sherman explained that Mitch would be very groggy when he woke up, and might not be awake for long, Mitch moved on his own.

“Mitch? Honey?” Mom choked out.

“Yeah?” he said weakly.

Mom’s next words made no sense—she spoke in broken Spanish and English, completely intermixed and entirely incoherent through her choked sobs.

He opened his eyes a little and stared at her, confused and perturbed. “What?”

Mitch struggled to free himself from Mom’s embrace, and it took Dad’s gentle nudge to dislodge her so he could breath. When he closed his eyes again, Dad asked whether Mitch had suffered any permanent damage. Sherman gave Dad the classic doctor’s response that everything looked fine, but only time would tell. Sherman focused on Mitch again while Mom and Dad reassured themselves that he would be okay.

Mitch mumbled something that I didn’t quite understand. Dad shushed everyone, and asked Mitch to repeat it.

In a weak voice, Mitch said, “Did we win?”

“Did we win what?”

A frown formed on his face and he opened one eye, focusing on Dad. “The Cotton Bowl, duh?”

Mom and Dad exchanged a quick look, probably wondering why he’d forgotten watching it with Dad, but they seemed to accept Sherman’s explanation.

“Yes, we won,” Dad finally answered.

A smile spread on Mitch’s face and then the dimples formed. “Is it recorded?”

Now laughing, Dad confirmed that we had the game recorded. Then Mitch said something that put everyone at ease—a clear sign he would be fine.

“Daddy?”

“Yes.”

“I’m hungry.”

***

After an hour, I left my parents and grandparents to coo over Mitch, and drove back to the Weald with Sara. As soon as we were in the car, she purposely guided our conversation to subjects completely unrelated to Mitch’s rescue. Nothing would have made me happier than to confide in her, to have a sounding board, just a shoulder to lean on, but I knew for both of our sakes the charade was best.

Even though I knew with complete certainly that Ozara was about to grill me over what transpired, and I had my story ready to go, I could not get Cassandra’s face out of my mind. I had killed, and I knew my murderous rampage was born more out of revenge than necessity. It left me feeling dirty and hollow inside. Would I ever shake the feeling? Could I get over ending the existence of a being older than the human race? A mile from the gate to Sherman and Victoria’s house it occurred to me that I was grieving. Not for Cassandra, whom I truly loathed. No, I was grieving for myself. Something, even though I didn’t know what, had died inside me the moment she disappeared in that horrific flash.

TWENTY-NINE

RETRIBUTION

Humidity was a permanent resident of the Ozarks, especially in late June. It was the first thing I noticed when I opened the door of the Shelby. The warm, sticky night air was made almost pleasant by a light breeze out of the southwest. A few clouds lingered in the night sky, occasionally drifting past the full moon. Sara and I pulled up to the front of Sherman and Victoria’s cottage and parked next to my Thunderbird, which appeared pale gray in the low light.

When I finally allowed my senses to spread out, I wished I hadn’t. There were more than a hundred Fae gathered with the Council in the clearing above the bluff.

Though I could have easily cleared the distance from the Byrne’s cottage to the council area on my own, Sara took my hand and lifted us onto the bench, past horses staring at us from the stable windows. Like a collection of beautiful statutes, the Fae stood silently in the open area. There the moon seemed brighter than it had just a moment before. The soft lunar beams lit each smooth immortal face and glinted delicately on hair and gown alike. Movement in the sky caught my attention. The clouds split and circled around the moon, seamlessly connecting on the other side like two dancing partners performing an elaborate waltz.

Sara maintained her grip on my hand as we floated to the place where the Council gathered, in the center of the large, opening atop the first line of bluffs. Ozara was the first to move, gliding smoothly in front of me. If I had to guess, I’d say her amber eyes looked happy. She took my hands and allowed a broad smile to fill her face.

“We only just heard the good news. You must be so relieved.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“And your brother will recover?”

Good lord, really?
She knew the answer already—everyone gathered there did. Was she really that desperate to appear sincere?

“Yes, Sherman is seeing to it.”

“He is the best. You’ll be happy to know, now that we have your brother safe…”

I found the pronoun “we” offensive, but didn’t react.

“…we’ve captured the rogues responsible for the abduction.”

The news caused me to lose control of my jaw muscles. I stood there, mouth agape, just staring at her. The prospect of Chalen in custody affected me like a drug—I was delirious.