“Could you get them to hang out here for a day before, get people used to seeing them?” My mind was going to the details and I felt the fog of grief lifting.
Clarence grinned. “Good idea. When do you need them?”
“I will make my move tomorrow night. If they can wander in later tonight and drop by throughout the day that should work.”
Clarence took a slip of paper from his pocket, scratched a few words on it and held it to the candle, when if burned away, he licked the ash off his fingers. “Okay. That’s done. Now what?”
“Can you guarantee Reardon?”
“I’ll let you know later tonight.”
I’d figured out what to give Lionel to do. Something he couldn’t screw up too badly. “Lionel, do you have any fairy friends.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next morning my kitchen was full. Seven will-o’-wisps bobbed around the ceiling, Reardon and his new flautist sat drinking coffee, Lionel had two thistle fairies sitting at the other side of the table and Clarence and his mate, Edrinda, were leaning against the counter.
“Is anyone else coming?” I asked as I put another pot of coffee on.
Clarence looked around and then said, “Unless there are any wisps still to come, I don’t expect anyone.”
The wisps swirled around and flashed their glows on and off before landing in a line on the back of the couch.
“These are the only fairies I could get to agree to come.” Lionel pointed to his right. “This is Stinger and the other is Burr.”
Both fairies looked at me suspiciously. I hoped they were not going to start demanding why I had an unconscious fairy in my workroom.
“Okay, well. I guess we can start working out the details.” I had worried this to death overnight. The only way I could imagine getting the amulet and keeping everyone safe was to talk it through with the whole team; a team that had grown larger than I liked.
Reardon looked up from his coffee; I noticed his eyes were bloodshot. “Perhaps you can confirm a few things for me before you start with your plan.”
The wisps executed a wave and the two fairies nodded.
I started to wonder where the hell Olan had gotten to. He dragged me back into this and now he’s disappeared.
“Okay, well the short version is that Fionuir is facing an election and to keep her court happy she’s stealing power from humans. She doesn’t kill the humans directly she has fairies doing her dirty work. They have to do this to get the ability to breed. She stole the Gur amulet to power her spell.”
“I understand you’ve already tried to stop her.” Reardon’s voice was a delight to hear, even with the rasp of a hangover.
“Yes, and I don’t know why she moved the amulet but she did and Cate died. I don’t know if Fionuir had anything to do with that.” I swallowed a tightness in my throat.
“Now you are sure that the amulet is in the basement of Bank’s?” Reardon continued his questioning.
“In the basement of Fionuir’s court, I’ll get there through Bank’s. Maeve found it and has guaranteed it will be there until tomorrow. I want to take it tonight just to be safe.”
Clarence raised an eyebrow, or more accurately a ridge of spines above his eyes. “And you trust Maeve?”
“I don’t have a choice.” It didn’t sound helpful when I said it, but it was the truth.
“Now tell us your plan.” Reardon gestured as though asking me to take the stage.
“The wisps start hanging around Bank’s.” I looked at the four lights. One floated over to me and settled on my head.
“My brothers are there now.” A gentle voice filled my head.
“So that part of the plan is already in place,” I thanked the wisp and started again. “The plan is pretty simple. Reardon, you will start an impromptu concert in Bank’s, and we will open the door to the basement.”
Reardon held up his hand. “I will work with my flautist, Meredith.” The girl looked up at us and flashed a smile. “I will sing and she will accompany me on the flute.”
“Good.” I started to wonder if this guy would be able to carry off his part. He was a bit of a ham. “Now, as soon as the Sidhe come out of the corridor between the two basements, the wisps will float down and come back to let us know it’s clear.”
“How will you know they are saying it’s clear?” Lionel asked.
I looked at the line of lights. They rose and formed a circle then started spinning. “Okay, so they will do that if the coast is clear.”
Burr raised her hand and when I nodded she stood on the chair. “What is our role in this?”
“I’m coming to that. So if the corridor is safe, the wisps will follow me down the corridor and when I have the amulet, they’ll make sure that I can slip out without being seen.”
“One change there, wizard,” Edrinda said. “I will come with you. There is no point in taking chances. If a Sidhe should come through from their basement while you are locating the amulet, someone will need to deal with them.”
“What do you mean by deal with them?”
She smiled and I felt my flight response overwhelm my admittedly weak fight response. “Well, I suppose there are alternatives but I was planning to kill them.”
“No killing.” I couldn’t take the chance that the obligation would stop us from taking the amulet if a Sidhe was hurt. After all, if that happened it would be because I brought the trouble to them. “We don’t know who is on Fionuir’s’ side and who might be on ours.”
She grunted. “Very well, I will stun them; there will be no permanent harm. Do not argue with me, Quinn, I will not allow you to go into danger and not be protected.”
“Fine, then the wisps will lead both of us out.” I would find a way to stop her coming with me but it didn’t make sense to argue the point right now.
“I will be guarding the entrance to the basement,” Clarence said, patting her arm. “Do not fret my dear. I can create a distraction if need be. I will watch for the wisps and if you are not able to get out easily, I will make it so.”
She kissed him on the cheek and he grinned.
I cleared my throat. I came to the realization that my sleepless night was wasted. They had been putting together their own plan.
“Fine. You create a distraction I slip out with the amulet and bring it here. Then we remove the spell and the fairies don’t have to kill humans.”
Sting stood on his chair. “I do not understand our role in this, wizard. You said you would get to it, and yet this plan has come to a successful conclusion without our help.”
“No, you are important to the end.” I poured another cup of coffee. “Fionuir set the spell with a mixture of fairy and Sidhe blood. She painted the spell to control breeding in fairy blood, and then overlaid it with another spell in Sidhe blood. To remove the spell we will paint the control spell in fairy blood which will give you back control.”
“You wish to take our blood? Why not just wash the spell away?” Sting wrapped his arms around himself as though we were about to drain him right then.
“I don’t know what washing the spell away will do to the druid souls. And, no, I don’t want to take your blood, I am hoping you will give it.”
“I will consider it,” Sting said.
Lionel looked away but I could tell he wasn’t happy with his role stay at home and out of trouble.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I arrived at Bank’s just as the sun was going down, and headed to the bar where Mark was pulling my pint. I thanked him as I casually looked around the room.
There were six or ten will-o’-wisps floating around. I couldn’t really count them because they were moving fast, every once in a while one would dip into an unguarded glass and come back up wobbling. I hoped it was an act, because wisps weren’t all that reliable when they were sober, I didn’t want to think about what would happen if they were drunk.
I saw Clarence leaning against the back wall, a bit too casually for my comfort. As I watched Edrinda join him. I didn’t see Lionel or the two thistle fairies, but I did see a number of other fairies. What I didn’t see is Reardon, or Meredith. If he didn’t come, we needed a new plan to bring the Sidhe out.