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One blink.
I waited for another, but Squibbit simply began scratching her nose again, so I took that as a resounding yes.
After my experiences with Greenie and other less-savory Fae, it was important that all Fae creatures, humanoid or not, got a say in their future, no matter how insistent cute Fae kids were.
I urged Greenie forward, and he found another spot in which to jump.
Greenie took us to the mass of upside-down trees growing from the ceiling of Faerie. We made our way carefully down the branches until we reached a brick-and-stone house. By Fae standards, it was of a decent size but by no means enormous. Nothing compared to Lord Velei’s huge mansion with its sprawling wing.
Greenie stopped by one of the walls, and I alighted carefully, making the rest of the way on foot. The thinning branch swayed under my feet, reminding me that a huge, gaping void opened only a few layers of foliage below. Luckily for everyone involved in this tale, I was a big believer in fate and luck, and my self-preservation levels were at a healthy low level that generally amazed those around me.
I shaded my eyes against the glass of a window with one hand and saw a small room with lovely timbered walls and a four-poster bed dominating one side. Lila sat on a rug in front of it, a mulish expression on her face and her arms tightly crossed over her chest. A tray with a mug and a plate full of cookies sat by her side. We had reached the hunger strike stage, apparently.
With a grin, I knocked on the glass.
Her gaze snapped to me, and her expression transformed into one of surprise, then absolute happiness as she noticed the squirming form of Squibbit in my other arm.
She jumped to her feet and hurried to open the window.
“Squibbit!” she cried, then bit her lip. “I can’t get out. They reinforced the wards.”
I could feel their magic thrumming along my senses. They definitely did not want the Fae kid to get out via personal portals or windows a second time.
Or a hundredth.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said and tossed the squirrel-rabbit at her.
She caught it with a gasp and a squeal of happiness. “Squibbit!”
Squibbit wriggled out of her hold, hopped to the floor, and approached the cookies.
Having already forgotten me, Lila slammed the window in my face and ran to join her new pet by the tray. I could see her yammering away, no doubt telling Squibbit all about our adventures to rescue her.
I probably barely made an appearance in her version of events, but that was all right. I smiled as I returned to Greenie and asked him to take us back to the surface.
As I said before, artifact hunting paid in pride of a job well done, if not exactly an increase in my bank account.
Once on the surface, I met Aidan and handed him the two bracelets. After he had disposed of them safely, I took him to the clearing with the two strangers.
The couple were gone, but they had left the artifact behind.
“Probably back to whoever hired them to go after Squibbit,” I guessed.
Aidan put the sphere and his pendant in their original wooden box, and that went into his backpack. “You know there must be a reason for that, right?”
“For them to go after a super cute squirrel-rabbit hybrid?”
“A Fae creature, yes.”
I shrugged. “Eh, can’t be that bad. Greenie didn’t even try to eat it.”
Aidan eyed my hound. Greenie wagged his massive tail.
“Good point,” he admitted. “Ready to go back?”
“Sure thing, boss,” I said with a cheeky salute.
“I’m not your boss anymore,” he reminded me. And, because he was a total nice guy, he helped me get on top of Greenie.
