Iron & Wine

Chapter Twenty Nine - Suicide Mission

Chapter Twenty Nine-Suicide Mission

I awoke to the smell of coffee. Really strong coffee—the aroma was overwhelming. I sat up stiffly on the couch where I'd been napping and glanced over at the kitchen. A beautiful fairy with long pink hair was pouring me a cup of coffee.

"Uh, Moya, you didn't have to do that. How did you even know how too?" I knew that fairies had no need for caffeine, it made them ill. It'd been interesting to find out why Julie had always refused it, insisting that herbal tea or decaf was much better. I'd always thought she was just weird.

"Lattie showed me. She said this is your favorite beverage and she watches you brew it everyday," she spoke and handed me the mug.

I looked inside the mug; the coffee was too black and thick. Yeah, Lattie watched me use the coffee machine, but she didn't know that you only need a few tablespoons of grinds. I smiled in appreciation and went to the fridge to drown it with milk. "Thanks guys. Moya, did you find out anything helpful?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did."

I spun around and shut the fridge door. "Really, what did you hear?"

"Well, there was a blonde girl taken from Iron World on Friday night. But not by the Seelie court," she informed me.

"Then who? And do we know for sure that it was Max?" I asked.

"The sprites have taken her. They did so after she was spotted on your balcony, arguing with you." She glanced at Lattie who looked ashamed. "I know it is Max because the call her 'The Yelling Iron Worlder'," Moya laughed.

"Lattie did your sister and her friends have anything to do with this?" I accused.

"Yes, maybe," she sadly replied. Her head hung so low, I felt sorry immediately. "But I didn't know, Avery! I swear!"

"Oh sweetie, it's okay. I know you had nothing to do with it. But this isn't a very nice joke that they are playing. Max is just a human girl, and now she knows about our secret little world." I thought maybe I shouldn't call it 'our' world since I was nothing more than a mere human like Max. But, I was beginning to consider myself a little different than most others, mainly because of the unusual company I kept.

"Well, what do we do now? Can we go get her? Will they bring her back?" I asked, unsure. I mean, how much harm could they really cause Max? To them, this was just a little prank.

"Well, we could go and retrieve her, if you think that is best," suggested Moya in her calm and passive voice.

I pondered for a second. I don't think that anything too serious would happen to her, but I wasn't sure how safe the little sprites were in her presence. Max could do some damage if she was mad enough—I was the number one example of that.