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FAERLY STUPID

I screamed for him to coht I was exhausted froht plus a very full day and rather stressful evening And if I fell asleep, I couldn’t hang on to the knife And if I couldn’t hang on to the knife

It was a proble to do to me, and I didn’t want to find out

Not surprisingly, there was no signal on my communicator I didn’t even know if I was technically on the planet anymore The Faerie Realms coexist with ours, but cross ti and weird physics things that I never cared about before now I added Faerie Reals to payhis real naain, and he’d have to co I used still killed ured it, he took that as the coht atedhoould interpret it If you give a faerie conflicting commands, they can’t fill the completely different (and always bad) I was so screwed

Faeries are the slipperiest things in the world IPCA (before it was IPCA and back when it was APCA and all sorts of individual country acronyms) worked for decades to find a faerie, any faerie, and learn his true nairls as kidnap bait Dozens of pretty young girls, none of ere ever seen again Except one girl, who discovered a great secret

Faeries are unaffected by alcohol, but et very, very drunk on carbonation Using copious ale faerie’s true name With that she was able to force that faerie to do her will and reveal several other faeries’ names--ere forced to reveal other faeries’ na and Control Operation of ’95

It sounds more impressive than it was A whole bunch of workers on the project ended up dead or uard their naot a fraction of them Here’s what IPCA should have learned, still hasn’t quite learned, and probably never will learn: you cannot control fairies Can Not They aren’t logical or rational They don’t obey the same laws (physical, social, emotional, traffic--you naendas and are just plain s their naic deeper and more powerful than any of us understood

I say us I ant IPCA

I pondered all this as I sat on Reth’s couch, trapped in the Faerie Real I could hold out before I had to sleep, eat, or drink Or pee for thata toilet Stupid iic really worth all thewith them?

There had to be another option I couldn’t--wouldn’t--call Reth back I kneould never let me out, and there was no way to escape other than the Faerie Paths

Another faerie! It was perfect The faerie naned were to be used only in dire straits These were dire enough for me I opened my mouth and stopped

I still couldn’t ree, and I had been so scared I’d blocked it out Lying back on the couch, I stared at the ceiling; it shimmered with crystals I watched it and racked my brains for the ruby-​haired faerie’s name

The crystals reflected an unidentifiable source of light It see, a pattern And noas detecting faint colors, too They were telling h, didn’t think about anything elseand if I closed my eyes and didn’t think, it would be even better and it would all work out

"No!" I sat up, blinking to keep

What was her name? I knew that I knew it And then I remembered--she was the faerie Lend had hitched a ride with Fehl! Fehl was her nickname And her full name was

"Denfehlath!" I shouted, triumphant After a few seconds the outline of a door for bored

"Oh" She frowned

I juiddy with relief, but stoppedstupid This time I would be careful Specific "Please take me back to the IPCA Center where I live"

She held out her hand and I took it

"Stop!" Reth coo of Fehl’s hand as I turned to look at hiave him a sharp smile "It’s a naolden eyes bri about faeries Nasty tempers I had seen him lose control once before--it hat finally shocked o, now" I pulled on her hand The a see hue

We darted through the door and into the Faerie Paths More frightened of as behind me than around me, I kept my eyes open for once Fehl squeezed my hand so hard it hurt; the look on her face was pure fury, tinged with a hint of s on Those two had a weird dynaot home

But then I had a brilliant idea "Can you open a door to Lend’s roo I was surprised I didn’t bleed A few more steps and the white lines opened in front of us She shoved me out and disappeared into the black

The roo color scheme as the rest of the Center A door to a small bathroom was open; other than that the rooainst the wall Lend, wearing lanced over, surprise flitting across his/my features Then he looked away, and I realized Raquel was talking

I backed up against the wall Shein the hallway, because I couldn’t see her and was pretty sure from the lack of reaction that she hadn’t seen me Not busted Yet And now I knehere Lend was Sometimes faeries came in handy, after all

"would all be ive us some simple information I’ll let you think about it" Raquel finished and I heard her pu away down the hall

Lend-​as-​me looked over and raised one eyebrow quizzically