“Stuck,” the queen repeated.“The Fae treasures were stolen.Her Majesty is here trying to recover them so she can rescue the king.”
My brain tried to keep up.“Which Fae treasures are we talking about?”
The queen sighed dramatically.“Must I explain everything to you?The Sword of Light, the Club of Dagda, the Spear of Lugh.Useless in this land, powerful in Faery.”
Owen’s gaze slid to me, questioning.
But I was already thinking of the crates in Dougal’s storeroom.Artifacts Alice didn’t want in her house.Magical antiques in an antique shop that sat across from a flower store guarding a magical tree in a Crossroads town.
I swallowed.“You know something,” Owen said quietly.
“No,” I said automatically.Then amended, “Maybe.”
“Piper,” he said, squeezing my hand.“Tell me.”
“Not here,” I said.“I need to… put some pieces together first.Figure it out.”
“Figure out what?”the queen demanded.
“How to get you back to Wonderland,” I said, pushing to my feet.“Preferably without turning the whole town into a portal disaster.”
“Oh, there’s no rush,” the queen said, slipping her arm through mine like we were old friends.“I haven’t been here in ages.And I should pay my final respects to dear Alice.”
Owen and I exchanged a silent conversation.
We cannot leave her here.
Nope.We absolutely cannot.
Owen gave a small nod.Decision made.
I plastered on my most diplomatic smile.“All right, Your Majesty.Let’s get you out of the ooze and into something… less swamp-adjacent.”
Together, the three of us headed back through the trees toward the truck—me clutching a mis-made potion vial, a stolen book under the seat, a fairy queen on the loose somewhere, and a real queen from Wonderland tracking black sludge across Hickory Hollow.
No pressure.
Chapter Nine
I’dmanagedtoconvincethe Red Queen—whose actual name I still didn’t know—to fold herself and her enormous gown into the extended cab of Owen’s truck.It had taken some doing.Her Majesty had been adamant that she was not climbing into “that metal contraption death on wheels.”
Owen had promised to drive slowly, hands at ten and two like some DMV poster boy.Even so, by the time we turned onto Snapdragon Drive, the queen was a bundle of frayed nerves, gasping at every passing pickup like it might veer across the line and obliterate us all.
I talked her into lying down in the spare bedroom to “recover from the journey between realms and interstate traffic.”Thankfully, there was no sign of Tani.The last thing I needed was Fairy Royalty vs Wonderland Royalty in my hallway.
As soon as the bedroom door clicked shut, Owen said, “Tell me what you know.”
I caught his hand and led him downstairs, putting as much floor and drywall as possible between us and the queen.Only when we reached the bottom did I turn to face him.
“Owen… when we were at the antique store before?Your father told me something in confidence.I don’t think he wanted you to know.”
His brows pulled together.“Know what?”
“He said he was keeping magical artifacts in his storeroom for Alice.”My voice dropped on the last word.
For a heartbeat he stared at me, his expression going still.Then he pinched the bridge of his nose like he could press away a headache.“I knew he was keeping something from me.Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know.Maybe Alice swore him to secrecy.”Frustration bubbled up in my chest.“I need to see those artifacts, Owen.”
