AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How do you know that?”
Gage shrugged. “Had a chat with a couple of fae drivers a while back.”
“We can hardly leave the fridge doors open behind us.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem. Once the driver comes through, we can close ’em. They can open the portalthroughthe doors on the way back.”
“All right,” Finn said, “then here’s what—”
“Excuse me?” Gany raised his hand and waved it in the air above his head, like a grade school kid who knew the answer to the teacher’s question. “I don’t mean to be ungrateful, Finn, but what’s going on? What’s the FTA, and why do you imagine someone can drive through my walk-in fridge?”
“Oh.” Finn blinked, suddenly realizing he might have bulldozed ahead without sharing a few pertinent details. “Sorry. The FTA is the Fae Transportation Association. The King and Queen of Faerie put it in place to give their people new employment opportunities since the traditional ones—stampeding cows, souring milk, kidnapping humans—are frowned upon these days. We—that is, any supe—can call an FTA driver and they’ll escort us through Faerie.” He smoothed the wrinkle between Gany’s brows. “Don’t worry. It won’t be a long hike. Faerie’s kind of like the closest distance between any two points. You can get from anywheretoanywhere with about a ten-minute walk, provided both endpoints are hidden from humans.”
“Wait.” Gany’s eyes had gotten wider and wider during Finn’s explanation. “You’re saying we’re going toFaerie? Like, that’s a real place?”
Finn smirked at him. “Like, Olympus is a real place?”
Gany rolled his eyes. “Fine. Point taken, but—”
Peyton burst through the back door, panting, a bright-eyed, gray and black furred creature about the size of a hamster, with a tail longer than its body, clinging to their shoulder, a linen-wrapped bundle in their arms. “Got it.” They jerked their head sideways at the little sugar glider. “This is Nerida, everyone. My familiar.”
“Nice to meet you, um, Nerida.” Gany huddled next to Finn. “Will this take long, Peyton?”
“No more than five minutes. I’m going to bespell that”—they pointed to a wheeled, multi-shelved metal cart that came up to Finn’s waist—“so we can transport all the pieces at once. You and Melina can transfer the cakes onto it while I work.”
“Should we wait to call the driver until after you’re done?” Finn asked as Peyton began laying out the spell ingredients on a marble-topped counter farthest from the cakes, their familiar watching with intense focus.
“No. You can go ahead. This isn’t too complicated.”
“Got it.”
Finn nodded to Hector, who approached the fridge with his cell phone in his hand. He touched the screen and a digital voice said, “Cludo.”
“Where to?” said a deep, gravelly voice that emanated from inside the fridge. “Why’s it so cold?”
“Hey, Frang,” Hector said. “We need to get to Wildwood.”
“Wildwood?” A hulking duergar in a sleeveless leather jerkin and homespun trousers ducked his head and stepped out of the fridge, briskly rubbing his enormous hands over his greenish pebbled skin. “I don’t know. There’s a wedding there today. Humans’ll be around, so I can’t get too close.”
“Can you gate us right inside the resort?” Finn asked.
“The secondary kitchen.” Gany’s voice was a little choked. Finn could hardly blame him if this was his first time facing a duergar. “We’re cleared to work there.”
“Is that possible?” Finn asked Frang.
“Why not?” Frang shrugged. “It’s your gold.”
Peyton, Nerida’s rear claws clinging to their shoulder and front paws on their chest, held their hands out, palms forward. The cart, the five-tiered cake on the top and the single layers on the shelves underneath, the lowest shelf stocked with kitchen tools, bags, and boxes, lifted smoothly into the air and hovered about six inches above the floor. When Peyton paced slowly toward the fridge, the cart floated ahead of them without so much as a wobble.
Gany clasped his hands under his chin. “Oh!”
Finn gazed down at him fondly, noting that his knuckles were speckled with white frosting. “Pretty cool, huh? Although you’re probably used to magic.”
“Not like this. Oops, almost forgot.” Gany hurried to a shelf next to the ovens and retrieved a stack of pink-and-white striped cloth. “I’ve got aprons for all of you.”
“Monogrammed?” Dakota asked hopefully.
Gany bit his lip, lifting one shoulder. “Nope. Sorry.”
