Page 48 of Wicked Deeds

I’d probably driven Cassandra half-mad asking her questions. In the end, she passed me over to Ian, who, being the second oldest of the Cestis, had the most experience with the Fae after her. He’d been delighted to explain the terms to me in minute detail.

“Yoshi’s going to show Gwen around his campus,” I said. “Show her all the options in the program he’s doing.” Yoshi was a genius, but if Gwen had been accepted into a game-design program back in the UK she must be smart, too.

“Maggie said you wanted to do game design?” Pinky asked when Gwen smiled at the mention of touring UC.

“Probably,” Gwen said. “Something creative, anyway. I like the storytelling and the art.”

“Plenty of opportunities to use those,” Pinky said. “It’s a very competitive field, but if you’re good, that doesn’t matter.” She shrugged with the confidence of someone who was top of the class when it came to her job. She had an Oscar amongst her many awards. “Yoshi will be able to tell you about all the options,” Pinky said. “He researched a lot of schools before he picked UC. If you decide to stay, having an offer from a school would probably help with a visa. But, if you want to avoid Fae completely, well, San Francisco isn’t the best city for that. Not since the door reopened.”

“I want to be somewhere with tanai. People who know what it’s like. But not where the tanai are super chummy with the Fae,” Gwen said. “Since the door opened, you haven’t changed your life have you?” She started eating again.

“My mom hasn’t changed hers,” Pinky said judiciously. “She stays away. I’m a little bit more involved since I met Maggie, but I wouldn’t say I was chummy.”

I shook my head ever so slightly when she turned to me. Better not to go into the whole ‘Cerridwen asked her for a favor and she couldn’t say no’ thing. “But I’d say I’m one of the exceptions among those of us who stayed behind. And it will be easier for you if no family has claimed you. Lady Morgain hasn’t been in contact since you left, has she?”

Gwen dropped her fork. “Why would she?”

“Well, if you swore to her to serve her for a period of time, yes, there’s the contract, but they don’t like broken bargains.”

Gwen’s expression turned alarmed. “Maggie? Is that true?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure.” I tried to summon a soothing expression. “I’m sure Aubrey would have thought of this and dealt with it somehow. The UK Cestis have a lot closer contact with the Fae than we do.”

“You can ask her,” Pinky said.

“She would have told me,” Gwen objected. “What does it matter if I’m never going back? Someone can’t come out and take me, can they?”

“No,” Pinky said firmly. “Not legally, but never is a long time, and if you ever do have to go back, it’s better not to have one of the Elders thinking they have a claim on you.”

Gwen hunched.

“We’ll talk to Aubrey,” I said reassuringly, hoping I was right and it would have been taken care of. Aubrey was not the kind of person who left any i’s undotted and t’s uncrossed if she could help it. Though I wondered why she hadn’t told Gwen, if she had sorted things out with Morgaine. But maybe she hadn’t wanted to trigger Gwen’s anxiety about dealing with the Fae.

“Can we call her soon?” Gwen asked.

“Of course,” I said. “But let’s eat lunch. No one’s coming to grab you from the house. It’s fine.” Gwen had been a little nervous when I’d told her we were meeting Pinky in Berkeley,not liking the idea of being close to the door. But I’d reassured her it was still strictly controlled.

I pointed my fork at Pinky. “Why don’t you tell Gwen a bit about how the tanai here live?”

“It’s not terribly exciting,” Pinky said. “Those of us who stayed behind, well, most of us have pretty normal lives. We do what we do and we don’t deal with the Fae. It was difficult at first. The Fae weren’t happy, but the contract says they can’t force anyone living outside the realm to enter it. And everything was chaotic after the earthquake. They wanted to close the door. That took precedence over trying to convince every last tanai to come with them. Mostly.”

“What do you mean mostly?”

“In some ways, it depends on the family. Lady Cerridwen, who is my, well, call her my grandmother, to keep it simple. She gave her tanai the choice. So did some of the others.”

“You mean some didn’t? Theyforcedtheir tanai to go with them?” Gwen said.

“Forced is a big word,” Pinky said. “Let’s just say they incentivized people to move. The Fae have plenty of money to throw at people if they choose.”

I was sure there was more to it than what Pinky was saying. Had there been Fae who’d flouted the contract and compelled their tanai to leave with them?

“But some tanai cut ties completely and left San Francisco to move to places with no Fae populations. A few have moved back since, but as I said, we mainly live normal lives. My mom already kept away from the Fae even when the door was here. I grew up with her in Oakland. I knew I was tanai, but it didn’t mean much. And even less after the door closed. Mom didn’t even tell me we were related to Cerridwen until I asked her when I was fifteen. She doesn’t use her magic.

“Do you use yours?” Gwen asked.

Pinky tucked a stray strand of pink hair back behind her ear. “Do you?” she countered.

“In the realm, a little. I can use the everyday charms the servants use, but didn’t really need to do more,” Gwen said. “I haven’t tried since I got back. When I was in school, I had no reason to try. I didn’t know I was tanai. And it’s not like I accidentally levitated a bed or anything. If that’s even possible.”

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