Grave Dance (Alex Craft, #2)(124)

Wel , at least it was more than we knew before. I released the latch on the cage and opened the door. Falin didn’t try to stop me this time, but stepped aside as the little man jumped free.

“Oh, so much better,” Tiddlywinx said, scampering in a smal circle around the carpet. PC, who’d been lying with his head on his paws, jumped up to give chase. When Tiddlywinx saw PC, he gave a loud squeak, which did nothing to convince the dog the little fae wasn’t a toy.

“No! Bad dog!” I yel ed, but PC was already into the game, which I became part of once I started trying to grab him.

Tiddlywinx turned suddenly, and he wasn’t a cute mouselike fae anymore, but a giant wolverine. PC yelped, stopping so fast that his back legs skidded out under him.

The wolverine charged.

“No! Don’t you hurt my dog.”

The beast stopped and abruptly transformed back into Tiddlywinx as Falin scooped up my now terrified dog.

“I meant no harm,” the little fae said. “I’m indebted to you,

“I meant no harm,” the little fae said. “I’m indebted to you, dear lady. What do you wish of me?”

“Can you break the curse on Hol y, or at least tel me how?”

“That is magic far outside my power.”

Okay, that sucked. I glanced at Falin, and his lips thinned a moment before he said, “Could you provide us transport to a bar cal ed the Eternal Bloom?” When I gave him a questioning look, he said only, “We can’t pass through the winter court.”

Right. The queen was probably out for my blood, and Falin—wel , if he returned, he’d be hers again.

Tiddlywinx slumped, his lip protruding. “I could spin a glamour of the most beautiful horses you’ve ever seen, but I cannot create a door they could carry you through.”

And that would be a long-winded “no.” I sighed. How the hell are we going to get back to Nekros if the only door that opens to the city is attached to the winter court? I guessed we could take the next-closest door and rent a car to drive back. It would suck, but it would work.

“I might be able to assist you,” Kyran said, pushing off the wal , “but if you plan to help your friend, you’d best hurry.” He reached into the shadow and pul ed the hourglass on its pole into the room. I didn’t bother asking him about it this time.

But he was right. I needed to figure out what to do about Hol y. I turned toward her, and Tiddlywinx scampered around me. He vaulted onto the leg of Hol y’s pants and scurried up to her knee.

“Good lady, I stil owe you a favor,” he said, balancing on the top of Hol y’s thigh.

She didn’t flinch. Her focus didn’t even move, and she was rather squeamish about anything that the word “rodent”

could be applied to. I had the feeling that Tiddlywinx would count as one of those in her opinion. This is not a good sign.

“We’l have to work out the details later,” I told him.

“We’l have to work out the details later,” I told him.

“But—”

“You heard her,” Kyran said.

I turned around and frowned at him. I noticed Falin did the same. What’s the deal with this guy? He reminded me of that kid at school who real y wants to be friends with you, but you just don’t like him. Not that I’d real y known Kyran long enough not to like him; I just didn’t trust him.

Tiddlywinx waited a minute more. Then he said, “Fine”

and vanished.

I rocked back onto my heels and studied Hol y. There has to be something I can do. Reaching with my senses, I scanned the curse on her. It was active now, draped over her like a net made of spider silk. I didn’t have the magic needed to be a curse-breaker, but maybe now that this one was out of its shel , I’d be able to do something with it.

Maybe. Just maybe.

“Alex?” Falin stared at me, his eyes sweeping over my face. “What is it? You have that look like you have an idea and you know it’s a bad one but you’re going to try it anyway.”

I did have an idea. And he was right. “I can see magic,” I said, moving to stand directly in front of Hol y. “I mean, ever since I began seeing the Aetheric, I started to be able to see the shape of magic and the color of spel s.”

Anyone could see magic while inside the Aetheric, and most witches checked their spel s when they were there to make sure that no darkness or corruption had contaminated the spel or their bodies while they were spel casting. Inside the Aetheric magic could be touched and pul ed apart, separating light from dark. If a witch was cursed, and she could get to the Aetheric, she could pul the curse off her psyche, bypassing the need for counterspel s.

Of course, she had to do it herself. Healers had been working for years on a way to pul patients to the Aetheric with them, but so far no one had found a way to make two psyches end up in the same place.

psyches end up in the same place.

But I didn’t need to travel to the Aetheric to see magic—

or to touch it. The Aetheric plane was thin to nonexistent here, but magic stil functioned. Which means this might work.

I opened my shields. Hol y’s soul, which I’d already been seeing as pale yel ow, became clearer, almost outshining her features. But not al of it was glowing. The bite marks from the construct had healed and vanished from her skin, thanks to healing spel s, but they scarred her soul with a snaking cobweb of magic. The spel was a deep gray with veins of red. Not the most malicious spel I’d ever seen, but clearly effective enough.