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Just as silently, we entered the portal one by one, following the Queen, and the world ripped into a h space and tileroot Park, but in a portal two streets over, in the backyard of what looked like an abandoned house But on closer inspection, I realized the house was inhabited

"Who lives here?" I pointed to the faint light that emanated from the s

Aeval suards This is a safe house, should there ever come need of it"

I didn’t press Her tone told me that wasn’t an option But I memorized the address--24132 Westerwood Lane--in case we ever needed it

I glanced over at Delilah, as exa firs everywhere, and the lot ood half acre in size--unusual in the city But we followed Aeval and her guards, setting off for the park on foot The sidewalks were icy, but one of the guards offered his arht

We reached the park within a few minutes and led Aeval to where the portal had been As we neared the place, Delilah and I looked in vain for any sign of Chase, but he was nowhere in sight The energy still hung thick in the air, and I could catch gli like a shadow that was there one one the next

Aeval silently approached the place where the portal had been She held out her hands and closed her eyes, her fingers divining the energy I could see her aura--the s--and she looked lit up like a Yule tree on steroids

Wearily, I saw a bench a few yards away and trudged over, sitting down, not caring if the snoas freezing h she brushed the snow off her side of the bench first

We said nothing--there was nothing left to say until Aeval was done and had figured out whatever she could But Delilah took ers around hers I knew she was hurting Even though she and Chase were just friends now, they would always care for one another And I cared, too

"I never thought to sense this again, not here, not in this day and age" Aeval was suddenly in front of us, staring down at us with a horrified look on her face Holy hell Not good Not good for a Fae Queen to be afraid--that could only mean trouble on the horizon

"What is it?" I asked, ht

"Several things, all fronize except that it’s fehtly" She said the name so abruptly that at first I didn’t understand her But then it registered, and I slowly raisedEaterI closed my eyes "Nohe can’t still be alive after all these years I thought he was killed by one of the gods"

"So it was ru in this case Co any action There isyour detective’s life"

Aeval an to walk back toward the safehouse, to the portal leading to the barrow

"Stollen Koend goes he was killed by Lugh the Long Handed, but apparently that was only a ruan to tune out a little I knehere she was going with this and really didn’t want to follow it through to the logical conclusion Wishing Smoky were here, or Trillian, I pulled closer to Delilah and she wrapped her ar Eater?" Delilah asked "I don’t recognize the naht, and colder still toht tioblin as so terribly vicious that he was noticed by Jac-O HorseTail Jac-O was known as the scourge of the Western Wastelands before the Great Divide"

The Fae Queen inhaled deeply, slowly letting out her breath in a white strea-Cutter Gray Sisters--the eavers who spin out confusion and hatred into the world The three hags are not s of Fate, but they are froht they have some relation to Fae"

She paused as we crossed the street, skirting a car slowly edging along the icy path The driver slaawk at us, but Aeval waved her hand and whispered "Heed us not," and he just as quickly slipped back into his car and drove on

When ere standing by the portal leading back to Talauarded? What if some kid cohed then "You see this because it is of your heritage--Fae ic But mortals do not see the portal, nor will they sense it unless they are gifted with the Sight like your detective And even if they sense it, they cannot pass without the activation words Yes," she added with an i and playful, "we password-protect our portals"

Aeval whispered the keyword (taking pains to keep it out of earshot), the portal opened, and we slipped back through to the barrow palace She led us back into the throne roo for cups of hot cider

"As I was saying, Jac-O HorseTail was the son of one of the Long-Cutter Gray Sisters, and he was a loner Even in the darker realms of the Unseelie, there are outcasts and misfits He was a vicious and evil creature, but he was lonely The goblin befriended him--perhaps he anticipated a reward, or perhaps he truly found a friendship with the creature Either way, Jac-O’s rateful that she did what ed him, made him far ular goblin And so Stollen Ko Eater"

"He’s considered one of the Elder Fae, isn’t he?" I was running through ht about him

"Yes And his first act was to kill and eat Jac-O HorseTail That, of course, did not sit ith Jac-O’s mother or her sisters, and so they laid a curse on hiry, never able to sufficiently fill his belly They could not kill him--Jac-O’s mother had made him almost invincible--but they could curse him with a uely remember mention of that story in childhood but didn’t re Eater will forever starve, no ry, and he hates all who are happy and filled with life It was thought Lugh the Long Handed killed him in battle before the Great Divide, but apparently rong The energy I sensed through that portal was dark and boggy, and the s Eater is in there, soer shadow--the fey I sensed And that shadow--that is where your detective has gone I do not think the shadow is for good, but I cannot tell for sure" She fell silent

I didn’t want to ask the question but had to I especially didn’t want to ask it with Delilah around "Do you think Chase is still alive, considering that the Bog Eater is hiding there?"