DECK THE STERILE WHITE HALLS

Reth watched as Lend passed out the moment I walked into the room.

"Interesting," was his only comment.

"It's faerie magic, right? Can you reverse it?"

His eyes caught the warm light of the family room so it looked like they glowed on their own. "I think we should see my queen."

"Can you fix him or not?"

He paused, then pursed his lips, shaking his head.

I sank down against the wall, staring despondently at Lend. His arm had flopped over the side of the couch and his face was smashed into the cushion, pushing his lips out. I wanted to go over to him, but touching him wouldn't help. I needed him to touch me. I'd never noticed how often he did, and missing his touch was a physical, palpable pain. Every inch of my skin ached, looking at him.

I needed to think. I wasn't going to go back into the Faerie Realms to visit Reth's queen. I didn't care if she was the queen of the "good" court-they were all bad, and hers was the court that had let my evil, alcoholic (well, carbonationaholic, I suppose) father destroy my birth mother to make me and then forget about me. I wasn't going to go to them for help.

If Reth couldn't fix this magic...what was different? I clapped my hands together and jumped up. "Reth can't fix this because he isn't the same type of faerie! We need an Unseelie faerie!"

"I think-" Reth started, but I cut him off.

"No, if the Dark Queen cursed him, we need a dark faerie."

Jack looked up at me from where he was doing a handstand in the middle of the room. "Brilliant! Want to hop on back to the Dark Court, then? Maybe if you ask really nicely, they'll decide they don't want to kill you."

"You, shut it." I glared and started pacing. I needed an Unseelie, but one that I could control. I couldn't get the Goose Down Hair faerie to help me again, plus she was probably dead or worse, considering what I'd made her do to her queen. And I didn't know her name anymore, nor did I know the name of the other faerie I'd freed or where to find him. I had no names.

"Raquel! I need Raquel!" I'd find Raquel and help her if she needed it, convince her to leave IPCA once and for all, and get all the faerie names she knew to help Lend. I ran into the kitchen, where David was at the table on the phone. He'd been desperately calling contacts all day, trying to figure out where Raquel was and how we could get ahold of her. I was touched at his concern. He obviously understood how much Raquel meant to me.

"David!"

He held up a finger for me to wait, listening intently. The color drained from his face and I felt sick. Whatever he was hearing, it wasn't good.

I heard Lend wake up in the next room. "This is getting really old," he muttered.

I put my hands on the back of the chair, bouncing nervously on my toes.

"Okay, thanks," David said, putting down his cell and staring like he didn't quite know what to do with it.

"Did you find her? Is she on some terrible, faraway assignment?" I hoped. Maybe Anne-Whatever Whatever had put her in an incredibly remote part of the world, doing grunt work like herding pixies. We could get her here, though, with Reth.

David's voice was soft, devastated, not carrying to the other room. "She's in lockup."

"She-What?"

"She's going on trial for treason. Tonight at seven." He put his head in his hands.

"No," I whispered. I didn't think my stomach could twist any more, but it kept finding new ways. Raquel was in trouble. And it was because of me. At least now I knew where she was. My tired brain sluggishly sorted through plans to get her out as I half listened to Lend, Jack, and Arianna, who were still unaware of Raquel's plight.

David grabbed his phone, then abruptly stood and left the room; I heard the familiar creak of his feet on the stairs.

"Can we switch rooms?" Lend called. "I'm kind of starving."

"I'll make you something!" Jack said, cheerfully skipping into the kitchen.

"Can you even cook?" I asked, a valid question considering he didn't eat normal food. He could only eat food in the Faerie Realms. Jack could help; he could get me to wherever Raquel was. And he knew the Center better than I did, even.

"Never underestimate what I can do."

"Oh, believe me I don't." I sighed. "Lend, do you want me to go around the back so you can come in here?"

"Yeah. Man, this brings whole new levels of suck into my life."

I tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it. I walked out the back door; the sky was just beginning to soften, heralding the coming of a new day. Then it hit me, what day today was. I'd lost track in the crazy shuffle of dayless nights and nightless days in the Center and the Faerie Realms, but I was pretty sure I knew when we were now.

Merry Christmas, Evie.

I ran around the wraparound porch, cringing from both my feet and the freezing air before bursting through the front door. I was not a fan of this whole winter thing. At least in the Center all seasons felt the same.

I jumped onto the couch, curling up in the corner in what remained of Lend's body heat. A lingering hint of Lend's particular smell remained, crisp and cool like a stream buried in the deep green of a forest.

Arianna was still in the armchair, staring at nothing in this creepy way she had where she didn't move and didn't breathe and didn't appear to be alive-or, well, undead-at all. I was glad she didn't want to talk, because I didn't either. I had to figure out how to rescue Raquel.

"...why you are here in the first place," Lend finished saying. His voice had a distinctly menacing tone.

"Why, to make you the best omelet you've ever had, of course." There was a pause that I could only fill with my imagination. It involved Lend making I'm going to kill you motions with his hands. "Hey-oh," Jack continued, "I rescued our girl Evie from the Center and helped her get to the Faerie Realms to save you."

"Our girl is my girl. And that makes everything okay how?"

"It doesn't," I yelled. Would we never be able to have a quiet conversation again? "But it's a start."

"A start I intend to finish with this omelet," Jack said, "because after you've eaten it, all will be forgiven."

"I'm not eating anything you make," Lend answered. I closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of the fridge opening and drawers shutting slightly harder than they needed to. I was big on second chances for people who nearly tried to kill me, apparently. First I forgave Vivian, now Jack.

But not Reth. Never Reth.

Of course, of the three he was the only one who had never tried to kill me. Whatever, though. At least Vivian and Jack had being crazy and raised by the faeries as an excuse for borderline-homicidal tendencies. Well, Vivian's definitely went past the border and straight into hundreds-of-paranormal-deaths-quite-literally-on-her-hands land.

It was a very complicated land.

"So, we've got a problem," I said.

"What?" Lend yelled.

"We've got a problem!" I shouted.

"No, I heard that. I mean, what's the problem now?"

"I have the solution!" Jack interrupted.

"What?" I sat up, all ears.

"Bells!"

"What?" Lend and I asked at the same time.

"Get her a kitty collar with bells on it. That way you can hear her coming and get someplace where you won't be hurt by collapsing immediately into sleep."

There was a thumping noise, followed by an indignant "Ow!" from Jack.

"The problem," I said, "is that Raquel is going on trial with IPCA and I am not about to let them lock her up forever." She was my Raquel. How dare they. My fear was quickly shifting to anger. Tasing me was one thing. But if they thought they could get away with persecuting the very best person they'd ever had working for them, they had another think coming.

"Where?" Jack asked.

"At the Center," David answered, coming down the stairs, but he was cut off by Lend snapping, "You aren't involved in this, Jack."

"Oh, I think you want me involved. I believe I'm the only one here who has ever been to a disciplinary hearing. Five, actually. I was shooting for my lucky number seven, but alas, IPCA and I parted ways too soon."

That settled it. A cheery band we'd make, no doubt. I'd been looking forward to starting some new Christmas traditions this year. Simple things. Reading the Grinch. Decorating a tree. Making cookies. Storming the Center to rescue the closest person I'd ever had to a mom. The usual holiday fare.

Merry freaking Christmas.

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