AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So, what do we do?” I asked.
Silence fell again.
After a moment, Yuen looked at my father. “I believe there was some mention of a library?”
• • •
It was my mother’s favorite room in the House, the two-story library where Cadogan’s collection of vampire law books, magical history, and modern fiction was stored. The first floor had long rows of books and space for library tables, where I knew my parents had plotted some of their escapades. A wrought-iron balcony made up the second floor, where more books were stored.
A face, handsome and topped by a messy thatch of dark hair, popped out from an aisle, gave me a narrow-eyed stare. “No food, no beverages.”
The Librarian was picky about his books.
“We don’t have any food or beverages.”
He gave us a head-to-toe looking-over. “Good,” he said, then winked at me. “Nice to see you, Elisa.” Then he disappeared back into the stacks.
I looked back at Petra, who stared, openmouthed, at the room.
“Reference books about sups are over there,” I said, pointing to the several rows in the first floor’s back corner. “So grab a table and get to reading, and let’s figure out how to stop these people.”
They nodded, and Petra wandered into the books with huge, glazed eyes.
“I always end up in Ravenclaw,” I murmured, and headed in.
• • •
Two hours later, Theo was working with Yuen on the relocation, Petra was back at the Ombudsman’s office, and I needed a break.
I pushed back the stack of books and scrubbed my hands over my eyes.
I’d worked through two dozen books, learned about wee folk, hidden people, fairy courts, and fairy hills. I’d read about the fairies’ expulsion from Europe, mostly in response to fairies using their cunning to fool unsuspecting humans—to lure them into thorny woods, seduce away their secrets, or switch a healthy human child for the sick child of a fairy.
Unfortunately, none of it had helped me come up with a plan to reverse what was happening now.
I was tired, physically and emotionally. I’d fought a literal battle tonight, and my energy was gone. I needed blood and sleep, and I didn’t want to leave Lulu unprotected in case the green land spread farther north and west.
So I said my goodbyes, agreed to meet the Ombudsmen at their office at dusk, and took an Auto back to the loft, stopping for blood along the way.
I found Lulu asleep on the couch, Eleanor of Aquitaine curled at her feet. The cat opened a single eye as I passed, closed it again quickly enough. I assumed that meant I wasn’t enough of an enemy now to merit a full growl, which I considered an improvement.
I walked to my spare room, found a coloring book featuring apretty pink fairy with her hair in a bun, her wings shimmering with holographic stickers, propped on the pillow, topped by a paint-smeared sticky note.
“Maybe this will help,” it said.
I snorted, pushed the coloring book aside, and fell into bed.
TWENTY-TWO
I’d slept through what I assumed was a day of horror, so I pulled out my screen as soon as the sun set again and checked the latest video feed.
There was another green-land bubble in Lincoln Park, and the two existing sites—United Center and Lake Shore Drive—were complete hills and valleys of green.
Evacuation across the city was under way, humans streaming out of high-rises, carrying children and suitcases, purses and laptops, trying to escape before the fairies’ wall of green overtook the rest of the city. And because the evacuees were mostly human, there was traffic, looting, and marching against supernaturals.
Not that I could entirely blame them.
I got dressed and walked into the loft. And there she was.
