My chest pinches with fear. Normal darkling incidents in the Tainted Zone involve one darkling, usually newly transformed. But a pack of darklings?
I try to hide my growing panic. If they know I’m worried, they’ll try to conceal the true extent of the danger. “Are the attacks getting worse?”
The grooves etched into Vi’s forehead deepen, and she and Zinnia share a glance.
“You don’t need to worry over such things, sweet child,” Zinnia says.
Oberon’s beard. It’s worse than I thought. “How did you get away?”
Whispers: Interactive StoriesMake your own choices and decide what happens next!
“Nothing old Betsy and some iron buckshot couldn’t handle,” Vi remarks, using her nickname for the 12-gauge shotgun she keeps near the door. She waves her hand as if the entire ordeal is unimportant. “Enough crass talk. We might be from the country, but we have manners, after all.”
Mack’s dads look horrified at the prospect of a darkling attack. I remind myself that here, in the Untouched Zone, they don’t have to worry about such things.
Nick scrambles to redirect the conversation. He takes my aunts on a quick tour of the penthouse. Unfortunately, his efforts backfire. The more Aunt Vi takes in this new world, the more agitated she becomes. I follow her suspicious stare to a picture frame on the wall above the couch. The moving picture. Mack stands between Nick and Sebastian, all three trying to floss. The image plays over and over, each time a little bit different.
Note to self: get more video footage of Mack’s dancing skills for future blackmail.
It’s hilarious—and also very much imbued with magic.
As are other items, like the centerpiece of white tulips on the table. Each perfect flower blooms while giving off a perfume too strong to be real. And golden candles sparkle with magic from a three-tiered strawberry cake.
Vi’s critical gaze whips back to Ruby as she descends on a silver tray full of white chocolate truffles. “Summer, is that . . . the thing you told us about?”
“Yes.” I glance at Ruby, praying she’s on her best behavior. “Her name’s Ruby, and she’s not a thing, she’s a sprite.”
Unaware she’s being assessed, Ruby smashes a truffle bigger than her head into her mouth, lets out a loud belch, and breaks into a bizarre dance.
Vi’s eyes narrow. “Charming.”
Before Ruby can devour the second truffle, wild screeching draws my focus to the two blue-skinned sprites perched on the contemporary bronze light fixture above.
What the Fae hell?
The creatures dive bomb Ruby, and the three tumble together in battle. China shatters, tulip petals explode in the air, and my cake gets knocked to the delicate Angora rug below.
“Lily Pad. Dew Drop. No!” Nick scolds, rushing to stamp out the candles smoldering on the rug.
Vi’s mouth has fallen open in horror. “What are . . . those horrid little creatures?”
“Sebastian!” Nick glares at his husband. “I thought you locked them up.”
Sebastian frowns. “I did.”
Mack leans over and whispers, “Sebastian recently bought Nick two pet sprites to help with his anxiety while I’m gone. But they’re wicked, half-feral beasts, and they can’t find the black-market trader to return them.”
Eclipsa laughs. “Did the dealer not explain to you those are water sprites? Their habitat includes bogs and lakes, not high-rises and antique china. Without water, they become violent and deranged.”
Nick shoots Sebastian an I-told-you-so look.
Meanwhile, the fight between Ruby and the water sprites moves to the living room, quickly laying waste to a very expensive looking glass lamp and a pink phallic sculpture.
I would find Ruby’s predicament hilarious, if Aunt Vi didn’t look two seconds away from murdering everyone with the cake knife to her left.
Ugh. All my work over the summer break trying to make Vi accept the Fae world and it’s unraveling before my eyes. How will she ever accept that I’m a Fae if she hates everything about their world?
2
Zinnia takes one look at the worry on my face and jumps into action. “Vi, let’s get some fresh air. Lookie”—Zinnia waggles a half-empty pack of slims in front of her—“I brought your slims.”