Page 73 of The Fae Menagerie
"What is happening right now?" I asked as they, and the rest of the pixies and anthousai who lived at the castle, disappeared through the portal.
"I know you don't believe in prophecies, but I never doubted this one," Mother said. "That's why I locked you up in here. I knew this was where you would find your fated mate, and with a little help, you would push your stubborn grandmother to choose hers, too. I always believed in you."
I wanted to remind her of all the times she berated me for loving and leaving my way through half the dark court and most of the light. And then, she told me I would never amount to anything if I didn't marry Prince Drummond and ascend to the Unseelie throne.
"Don't give me that look, Doy'al'ini." She sighed and gave me one of her barely there hugs. "This was for your own good."
"My own good?" I pointed to my enclosure-turned-fish-tank. Someone had turned off the water, leaving it only an inch or two higher than where it had been when the magical barrier failed. "My belongings are gone, my home is ruined, and the love of my life went back to the human realm! Don't tell me you know what's good for me!'
"Oh, but I do." She patted my cheeks and pinched them the way she used to when I was a wee child at her knee. "You'll be summoned, soon enough. See you at home."
She vanished before I could ask her what she meant. I tried to follow, but I'd forgotten how to teleport. When I walked toward Prince Drummond, he shrugged and disappeared, too, taking Aidan and the rest of his court with him. Even Horace and his family of cuddlebugs had left me here alone.
I sat down on the bench and stared at my water-filled enclosure as the sun set on the fae menagerie.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
PARKER
That asshole Doylesaid he loved me and then he sent me away. We finally found the coin, and this was how he used it? Instead of coming back with me, he shoved it into my hand and said some words that meant nothing before he ordered it to take me back to the human realm like the anthousai prince he was.
Doyle had whined about having to crawl through feet of dirt to access the fairy circle in my office building's basement, but I fell through it, the same way I'd fallen into the fae menagerie. Gravity took hold and pulled me back to the solid stone floor. The sweet smell of decay warred with the musty smell of dank basement and mushrooms.
I did not want to stay on that floor. I sprang to my feet, dusting off my knees and elbows before looking around. The coin lay beside me, raven side up. I didn't know if that was the bad luck side or the good luck side, or even if it mattered. I was having a shitty day, regardless. I scooped it up and tucked it in my pocket.
I didn't know what day or time it was, but the surrounding room was still lit by candles. The scent of Bret's cologne lingered in the air. Had he been watching the open portal, waiting for my return?
I'd never been to this area of the basement before Doyle had summoned me here. I followed a beam of light around a corner to cement walls and a bank of elevators. Between each set of mirrored doors hung paintings of glass cages holding strange creatures. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the artist had seen the menagerie.
An elevator finally answered my call button. I regarded the mirrored walls with caution. Part of me wondered if I'd hit my head on the way here, and this was all a dream.
The elevator chimed, and the doors started to close with me still outside. I jumped the gap and contemplated pushing the ground floor while the doors slid shut. I pressed the button for the sixteenth floor instead. I would drop by my office to see how much damage Bret had done in my absence.
When I stepped out of the elevator, Edward looked up from his desk, startled to see me. "Parker. I thought you were in your office."
He did? I was at a loss for words. Finally, I stammered, "You did?"
"You just got out of the meeting with Mr. Moynahan ten minutes ago. I didn't see you slip past."
"Restroom." I shrugged, hoping he wouldn't see through the lie. How was I supposed to tell him I'd been in an alternate dimension for months, while only minutes had passed? "Sorry. I was in a hurry."
"I was just coming to get you, anyway." He handed me the folder of presentation notes. "We meet with the app developers in ten minutes."
I hadn't practiced my speech in months! I spread the folder on Edward's desk and read the first couple lines from the handout. I sank my hands into my pants pockets, not caring that it hiked my jacket up. My right index finger brushed warm metal, and the words flowed back into my mind.
Luck was on my side, for now. If only it would last. Edward and I rode the elevator up to the twenty-second floor. The conference room was across the hall from my father's office, showing off the view of the Twin Cities skyline.
Bret was already there, schmoozing with the head developer and three other tech guys. His eyes almost bugged out of his head like a comic book villain when he saw me. He shrimped in on himself and stumbled over his usual greeting, jumbling his name into an unrecognizable tangle. I elbowed him out of my way, and he faded into the background.
I'd met the techs over video conference calls. I knew them by their jeans and t-shirts, and I still recognized their faces. I shook their hands and called them by name. I even remembered to ask after Brian's family and Nick's cat, named Taco Cat.
The accountant they'd brought with them from their money managing firm wore a suit far more expensive than anything at home in my closet, but with the suit Mother Thera had given me in the fae realm, I looked like I belonged here.
I met my dad's steely gaze across the conference table. He stood at the head of it, talking to the owner of the app company. After shaking hands with the money man, I made my way to Dad.
"Thank heavens," he said. "Bret said you would be late." He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "What have you done with your hair?"
