The girls welcomed Amy into Meridian with a great deal of enthusiasm and their impromptu party lasted until well after midnight. The hob's transformation was nothing short of miraculous, and she seemed to effortlessly shed the weight of her experiences. It was good for me too. If we had lived in a house instead of an indoor fairy village, and if Amy hadn't been a foot and a half tall, it might have seemed as thought life were returning to normal.
The following day fell back into routine, and I picked up groceries with Becca, spent four hours on class work, and ended with another lab session under the supervision of Miss Barnes. She kept me in conversation for thirty minutes afterward, and I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with her about something other than school, but it was also the first time I'd seen her without a lab coat, and that subtle difference marked a shift in my perception of her. She carried herself with a casual elegance I hadn't noticed before, confident but restrained, as if her body contained something that reached beyond the space it occupied—like Penny's overt sexuality but more refined, more nuanced and sensual. I never would have picked up on those details in Professor Barnes, but they would have been impossible to miss in the woman, especially once she let go of her professional veneer.
Though I enjoyed her company, I kept a close watch on her anima, with its reds and golds and a hint of spiced apples, and when the lights began to brighten I made an excuse and left.
Late the following morning we received a surprise visit from Finn, encumbered by two over-sized binders. She quickly thrust them into my arms.
"What's this?" I asked cautiously.
"Legal documents"
"For..."
"Amy told me you agreed to foster her."
"Well sure, she's welcome to stay with us, but why—"
"In case you haven't noticed, Fae culture is a little chaotic. If you take Amy under your wing, you need a certain standing or another brunaidh clan will step in and challenge you for custody."
"But why?" I asked, looking for help from the girls who were gathering around me. "Isn't it her decision?"
Finn shrugged complacently, "Sure, but she'll have to deal with the fallout. Fae don't have rights the way you think of them, and out of necessity we've always been a little feudal. By striking out on her own she'd be risking harassment at best, and at worst, attempts on her life."
"Her life?" I was stunned by her reply.
"What did you think would happen?" Finn said, her tone still casual. "Clan strength depends on numbers, and lone hobs are wasted resources. It's worse in her case because she has unique gifts and there are plenty of groups, not just the brunaidh, who would want to claim her. That doesn't even include those who consider her people a delicacy."
"I had no idea..." Becca whispered behind me, her eyes wide with shock.
"It shouldn't be that surprising," Finn said. "Tom's in danger because he had the audacity to be born, and the rest of you are along for the ride. Get the idea of fairness out of your head. You do what keeps you alive."
"What about you?" Rachel asked her. "You have a whole staff, couldn't you take her in?"
Finn chuckled. "They're my employees, not my subjects. Especially the brunaidh. They're a little like gypsies, but those that haven't sworn themselves to the courts belong to... call it a co-op. Their leaders sit on a council, and they work together to benefit all clans."
"What about the others?" Katherine asked.
"Many of them are members of underground groups, like the elves, who have their own governments that are strong enough or clever enough to exist in spite of the Courts. Some have powerful patrons. Others, like Gold and Julius, are tough enough to make it on their own."
"So what's all this for?" I said, holding up the heavy binders.
"You don't get to be a leader for nothing," she grinned. "If you want Amy to be safe, you need the other groups to recognize you as a lord among the Fae. The Courts don't count, they're going to be assholes regardless, but the rest will obligate you to step forward. These documents just affirm your status as a landowner, acknowledge your pedigree and rank. . . the basics."
In the end I resolved to do it for Amy's sake. Finn said it was only a technicality and it wouldn't mean much unless people started swearing fealty to me. I had no intention of letting my powers get that out of hand.
It took almost an hour of trying to comprehend the mind-numbing legal speak before I realized Finn had given me a government service contract that had nothing to do with Amy or any other fairy. When I confronted her, she just laughed and presented me with a two-foot-long, vellum scroll.
"Just sign at the bottom," Finn said, still giggling to herself. The traitorous girls, who she'd been entertaining with stories, all joined in, and my frustration mounted.
"What the hell, Finn? Why are you such a b—" I stopped myself short of cussing her out, trying to maintain some dignity.
"I'll give you a hundred bucks to finish that sentence," Rachel cackled and I shot her the ugliest glare I could manage, which made her laugh harder.
"Just use your finger," Finn said, "The decree includes a spell that will validate the authenticity once you add your name, and that'll be official enough for most. There used to be a whole ceremony, but the book of names was lost centuries ago and a lot of the formality became pointless."
"The book of names... That's the Nain, isn't it?" Becca asked.
"Very good," Finn said with a nod of approval. "It contained the true names of every Fae that passed through the Veil along with their lineage."
"Wouldn't that be a little out of date by now?" I asked as I scribbled on Finn's parchment with the tip of my finger. Ink bled through the fibers everywhere I touched, assembling my name in a fancy script that looked nothing like my signature.
"It's a book of power, Tom," Becca said with a quick shake of her head. "It updates itself, like the Glim."
"Exactly," Finn hastily rolled up the scroll and tucked it under her arm. "It was once used to track and care for new Fae, to make sure nobody slipped through the cracks. Since then, its uses haven't been quite so noble."
If it included the lineage of all Fae, I'd be written in somewhere beneath Janet and Thomas Lane, my mother and her dad. I didn't know the rest. My curiosity piqued, but I could imagine how something like that might be used by Caratacos or the queen of the Winter Court, and I was glad it had been lost.
"Oh, and one other thing before I leave," Finn announced, "I'm going to bring my people back to finish what we started here. We're not sure when, but soon, and we'll need more than one night to do it, so prepare for another field trip."
"What do you mean, finish?" I asked, looking around our home. What could they possibly add to what they'd already done?
"The changes we've made so far have been mostly superficial, and you'll need more than a fresh coat of paint if you want to remain here long-term. I don't have time to go into the details today, I just wanted to give you the heads up."
Katherine and Becca hugged her as she turned away. I'd rather have dismissed the little imp with a swift kick to the seat of her pants, but something was nagging at me and I wanted her input. I reached out and tapped her shoulder.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
She looked up, surprised but obviously amused, and considered my request before answering. "Privately?" she asked at last, but with a twinkle in her eye that made it deliberately awkward.
"Please."
"Sure Tom, but make it quick. I have a business to run."
She followed me into the office upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed while I paced the floor, trying to order my thoughts.
"Parasol and Morgan," she said abruptly.
"What?"
"The name of my company. I'm not sure you believe I'm responsible for a whole ass company. We have a logo and everything."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have responsibilities, Tom, I wasn't joking when I asked you to make it quick." She wasn't being rude. If anything, the exchange only heightened her entertainment.
"Whatever, Finn," I said in exasperation. "I don't know if I can trust you, but I don't have anyone else to turn to. Miss Gold wants to keep me ignorant, and Becca's the only one who can understand the Glim."
"What makes you think I'm any different? I'm just a contractor."
"You're a hell of a lot more than that, and I think you're willing to share more than Miss Gold. I don't know if you're as honest, but you're on the inside and I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Hmm," she answered in an exaggerated tone. "Maybe I just want people to think I know more than I actually do."
"I doubt it."
"What makes you so say that?"
"My foster father taught me how to play poker, and he was very good at it. You act like someone who's always got a winning hand, but you hold your cards close and drag out the betting so people will ante in more than they can afford to lose."
I was afraid I'd just insulted her, but she burst out laughing. "I like that, Tom, I like it a lot. I'll have to add it to my resume. Okay, you earned at least one honest answer for accepting Amy. What did you want to know?"
"How dangerous am I?"
Nothing in her expression changed, but the fire in her eyes dimmed. She was quiet for so long I thought she decided not to answer me after all.
"Well?" I said into the silence.
"Cutting right to it, are we?" Finn replied, then sighed. "Look, I won't go into the details, but I'll throw you a bone then I have to get back to work, is that fair?"
"I'll take whatever I can get," I said, relieved that she hadn't dismissed me completely.
"You are the offspring of powerful creatures, that alone is enough to get everyone's attention even if you never changed. The leanan sidhe is among the highest order of Fae, and the gean canagh is one of the most feared. Each, in their way, can reshape reality. That's an oversimplification, but for the sake of time just roll with it."
"Okay, I get the part about my grandmother, but how is my dad doing anything to reality?"
"You really haven't studied any of this, have you?" I was embarrassed to admit I had been relying on what others told me, so I kept silent and she continued. "The gean canagh are shapeshifters, not the kind you read about in comic books or fantasy novels, but they can alter their appearance in subtle ways."
"I didn't know that. They have innate magic, not just the toxins?"
"In a sense. The gean canagh are promiscuous by nature and their bodies have developed in a way that reinforces mating bonds. Their chemistry is one of them, but the other is a subtle, physical reconfiguration. When they find a potential mate, each becomes the other's ideal."
"Like a lure?" I guessed. "He becomes more attractive to his victims?"
"They can't change so much that they become different people, but yes. Eye color, hair, smell, small alterations to their facial features, musculature, the appearance of youth or age... more to the point, they don't control the change. The details are shaped by the target, which requires a connection to their will. It's usually passive but Caratacos has learned to use that link to tap into powers he shouldn't have, those normally attributed to the Aes Sidhe."
"That's what you were talking about the other day" I said, "he's stronger because he can manipulate someone else's will."
"Right, but all this adds up to a bigger picture. Each of those very powerful Fae are limited both by the laws they inherited from their own worlds and by this one, but the place where they meet is blurred. That's why Caratacos can exceed some of his normal limits, why Juhan can give other people a taste of his healing ability, and so on."
"Okay."
"You, on the other hand, are simultaneously exhibiting undiluted traits of your human mother, your gean canagh father, and your leanan sidhe grandmother."
"Which is impossible, I know. Miss Gold told me."
"It's not impossible, just very unstable. When it does happen, the host nearly always dies. The gaps between each reality is bigger, constantly tearing and straining each other, unraveling until the only thing that's left is chaos. If they survive, the host becomes a darkling—a chthonian—a being without limits, but also without control because a finite will can't shape infinite potential. Stopping a force like that is like trying to empty the ocean with a coffee cup."
I had no response. I'd asked for the honest truth and she pulled no punches, confirming my suspicions and then some.
"What do I do with that?" I asked. "How is there a point to any of this if I'm just waiting to explode?"
"This is why people don't tell you everything, Tom. What you should focus on is the fact that you haven't gone nuclear. There's a reason behind it, and that's a much more interesting question."
"Just because I can control it now doesn't mean I won't screw it up eventually."
"What makes you think you're in control? The physical and emotional strain you've gone through would have crippled most people, so I don't doubt you're resilient, but this is bigger than anything you can imagine. Something is mitigating your abilities, something we can't see, from the influence you have over others to the chaos that should be tearing you apart."
"Is that why you're helping?" I asked, "because you want you see how it turns out?"
"I'd be lying if I said otherwise," she allowed herself a chuckle. "Listen, Tom. I'm considered a rogue, just like the Fae who work for me. Oberon leaves us alone because he doesn't give a shit as long as we don't threaten his court, but Mab would kill us all if she thought we were worth the effort. We stay under her radar and make hunting us down just enough of a pain in the ass that she won't bother trying. That gives us a lot in common. I don't know if it would be right to call us allies, but I consider you a friend, or at the very least, not an enemy. You can put your faith in that if you can't find another reason to trust me."
"And you work for Miss Gold."
"Sure, that too," she replied, once again amused. "Was there anything else? I really am quite busy."
"You never answered my question."
She slipped off the edge of the bed and patted my arm. "Yes, I did. Like it or not, you're a weapon, Tom. That's how you see it and nothing I say will change your mind. But everyone is dangerous. What matters most is when you finally figure everything out, who will be the one pulling the trigger? Gotta run now, we can talk more later."
She walked through the door, leaving me once again alone with my thoughts.