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He laughed. "No, I was just kinda more worried about getting you back. That was pretty much the entirety of the conversation. Where is she? Tell me where she is. Tell me now or else. Etcetera, etcetera."
"I did tell you," the fae said. "I told the truth."
"Yeah, after you said she'd gone thataway." He pointed deeper into the cavern. "I don't suppose you'll tell us what's in there."
"This is a cave. In there?" She shrugged. "More cave. If you want to see, you only need to enter."
"Yeah, no thanks." Ricky glanced into the shadows, and I saw what I'd spotted before: the rib cage of a skeleton.
"Did you tell him to go exploring?" Ricky pointed at the remains. "Or just drown and leave him there?"
"I did not drown him," she said. "He came into the cavern, and he died. I moved his body there to warn others."
"So you're the lady of the lake," I said. "Luring others into your lair."
"Luring?" More indignation as she waved at the corpse. "How is that luring?"
"A skeleton in an underwater cavern is virtually a flashing Adventure Here sign."
Her face screwed up. "I do not understand."
"To give her the benefit of the doubt," Ricky said. "Not everyone sees a dead body as a call to adventure."
"Weird."
"I know."
I turned to the fae, still flat on her stomach, looking over her shoulder at us. "So you're scaring people off with spooky noises and underwater shenanigans and skeletal remains. Scaring them off from whatever is in there."
"My home. That is all."
"But despite the fact you're keeping people away, I'm quite free to investigate."
"I cannot stop you."
"Liv . . ." Ricky said.
"Trust me, remember?" I turned back to the fae. "You don't want unsuspecting humans going in there, but you're fine with us going in, given that we're currently a thorn in your side and possibly also dangerous. Which means if we
go in there, we aren't coming out. You're not sadistic enough to enjoy sending random humans to their deaths, but you're okay doing it to save yourself some inconvenience." I peered into the cavern again. "Fairy hole."
"I do not know what--"
"Fine, you cannot confirm nor deny. Whatever. We've figured it out. And as much as I'd love to know more, I'm a little less self-absorbed than a full-blooded fae. We're here for another reason. Something you stole from the humans."
She tensed, and Ricky grunted, as if to say, That confirms it. Which it did, thankfully, because while I don't consider myself particularly heroic, I did like the idea of returning a lost baby to its mother.
"I do not know what--"
"Save it," I said. "If you want plausible deniability, you need to work on your poker face."
Her expression said she had no idea what that meant.
"You stole--" I began.
"They did not want it," she said. "I did."
"Yes, actually, they wanted it very much, and it's not for you to decide otherwise. We need her back."
