Page 46 of The Never Queen

There is nothing to do but to pretend it doesn’t bother me.

“I do know my reputation.” I gesture behind me. “Living out my dream, Holland.”

Ella laughs.

Tad grumbles. “Come on, Holly. Geez,” he says, which is perhaps a bit too kind of him. Holly rolls her eyes and wanders off. “How about a drink? What do you guys prefer? We have beer. Wine. Just the boxed kind though. We’ve got everything for screwdrivers and Jack and Cokes.”

“Any fairy wine?” Bash asks, even though he knows they don’t.

“Umm…not sure,” Tad says scanning the table.

“Just fucking with you.” Bash gives him a slap on the back and Tad stumbles forward, some of his mixed drink spilling over the edge of his red plastic cup.

“Right. I knew that!”

“I’ll take Jack and Coke,” I answer, my old favorite.

“Coming right up.”

Tad and Bash go to the drink table and start filling cups. Bash may be a several hundred-year-old fae king, but he fits in easily, quickly, like an old friend you’ve had the good fortune to stumble on again.

The music playing through a portable speaker on the low back porch switches songs and the sound of 90s alternative fills the backyard.

Kas wanders over to join his brother. Pan and Vane sandwich me between them.

“Now what?” I mutter.

“I always wondered what mortals did to pass the time,” Pan says.

“Pretty much the same as us,” Vane answers. “With a little less blood.”

Pan snorts.

Watching the party, I can’t help but analyze it from their point of view. Yes, Pan and the Lost Boys spend most nights on the edge of Neverland’s beach, doing pretty much the same thing, but there is nothing about this that feels like home.

Pan checks his pocket watch. “We have four hours to burn.”

“Three and a half if you account for the time it’ll take us to reach the strip mall,” Vane adds.

“And we’re sure we can trust this Kody?” I ask.

“Not entirely,” Pan admits. “He is good for information. I would put money on the fact that he did know something about Merry and the Witch Killers. He just needed more time to decide if he wanted to fuck someone over for it.”

“In the Seven Isles hierarchy,” I say, “where do we rate in relation to the Witch Killers? If Kody is taking that measure?”

“That’s not an easy answer.” Pan scans the party. “The Witch Killers being here in the mortal realm, it’s not out of the ordinary. They travel between realms.”

“How many?” I ask. I know Vane and Roc are from Wonderland, which exists in an entirely different realm, but we’ve yet to have the conversation about just how many realms there are. My brain is still trying to accept the fact that we jump off a cliff in Neverland in order to climb out of a pond in myworld. I’ve done it a dozen times now, and every time I have to ask myself, “Is this real or am I simply delusional?”

“Many,” Pan answers, which is not the answer I was hoping for.

“They had more power and sway in the Seven Isles much further back in history,” Vane says. “Especially on Everland. Here in the mortal realm, it’s been centuries since they’ve successfully prosecuted witches in the eye of the public.”

“Here you go.” Tad returns with my drink, with Kas and Bash handing out cups to Vane and Pan.

“Thank you.” I try to give Tad the look one gives when they’ve been dismissed but he either ignores it or misses it and says to Pan. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Tad. I used to…ah…Winnie and I were friends in school.” He sticks out his hand.

Pan looks down at it as if it’s a slug covered in shit.