Page 23 of A Dead End Wedding

“But—”

“No,” I said firmly.

“Not a chance,” Ruby said.

“I’m sorry, bug, but no. It’s for your own safety,” Mike said, patting Shelley’s arm.

“You’re wrong,” Shelley said, a determined tilt to her chin. “Because when Pickles went out to go potty this morning, this was tied to her collar when she came back in.”

She held out a notecard that looked unpleasantly familiar and read from it:

“Shelley of the Callahans, you are the designated Champion for the second part of the First Trial, Courage. Present yourself to the Dead End town square at midnight to compete in Magic.”

She looked around the table at us, her eyes wide. “I bet it’s from the queen!”

“I’m going to punch that woman … Fae … queen right in the face!” Ruby said, clenching her hands into fists.

“Hold on there, Rocky,” Tess said wryly. “I agree with the sentiment, but I don’t want those armed guards of hers smiting you.”

“She can try,” Mike said, his face grim. “I’d like to see the guards who can get past me.”

It suddenly occurred to me I hadn’t seen them at the archery competition. “Hey, where were you last night?”

Ruby and Mike were both suddenly very interested in invisible specks of crumbs on the table.

Pickles barked from her blanket near the door. Shelley had taught her not to beg at the table.

“Pickles has to go outside. I’ll be right back! Don’t talk about anything important without me!” Shelley ran outside with her dog, and I pinned Mike with a hard stare.

“Out with it.”

Ruby bit her lip but said nothing.

Mike sighed. “Fine. We were up in Ruby’s office, at the window, with a rifle, while Shelley played on the computer in the outer office. If any of them had tried to hurt Mrs. Frost or any of you, I was going to have a thing to say.”

“Tosay?” Tess pointed at her uncle. “You may be a great shot, but even you can’t take on an army of Fae.”

Mike shrugged, but Shelley raced back inside before he could answer.

“What happened? Did you say anything important?”

“No. Uncle Mike was just explaining how he could be such a smart man and yet a wooly-headed turnip at the same time,” Tess said cheerfully.

“Moving on,” I said, taking the card off the table. “This is a problem. The Fae sometimes designate champions and sometimes don’t. But when they do, I’ve never heard of anybody finding a way out of it.”

“I know a way,” Ruby said fiercely. “We’re taking her out of Dead End. We’ll drive all the way to Alabama if we have to, to get her away from this.”

I sighed. I really hated having to tell them the bad news. “Ruby, Tess, I swear to you I will protect Shelley with my life. But trying to leave town won’t work. The Fae will pop out of thin air, grab her, and spirit her back to Dead End.”

“There’s no way out of this,” Tess said slowly. “Fine. Then we’ll just have to teach Queen Viviette a lesson about messing with Dead Enders.”

10

Tess

Thursday: Wedding minus 9 days

After lunch

---