Eddie suggested, “How about a drive-thru? We could probably find something still open.”

  Rhoswen bounced on the dash and clapped her hands. “Taco Bell!”

  I looked at Eddie in shock.

  He gave Rhoswen a confused look before turning his attention to me. “Do you want to ask the little woman here, or do you want me to ask the question?”

  I laughed at the insulted look on Rhoswen’s face. “Fine. How do you know about Taco Bell?”

  She crossed her arms again and resumed pouting. “I haven’t been locked in a box since the middle ages, ya know? I know stuff. Listen. It’s like this. I don’t get out often, but I do get out. It’s been at least a decade since I’ve had Taco Bell. My mistress frowns on fast food and gluttony. This is probably my one chance for another decade to slip away and get a good taco or greasy burrito. Maybe getting kidnapped was a blessing in disguise.”

  Eddie shook his head. “Fine. We’ll find an open Taco Bell. Not all of them stay open all night, but most of them do. Marcus, you navigate us around.”

  I pulled out my phone. The battery was near dead. “Got a charger cable for the phone?”

  Eddie pointed at the glove box. “In there. Maybe. Probably. Was in there last time I looked.”

  I opened the glove box and dug around past empty cigarette packs, a whole stack of napkins from various fast food joints, random paperwork, expired insurance papers, a pair of broken sunglasses, and a deck of playing cards. I finally came up with the cable and cigarette lighter adapter. Once I had my phone plugged in and charging, I used it to search for the nearest Taco Bell.

  Rhoswen flitted to my shoulder and looked down at my phone screen. While I worked the maps application, she kept pointing at different icons and indicators on the screen while asking random questions. It slowed down the process a bit, but I finally found a Taco Bell claiming to be open twenty-four hours.

  Eddie and I worked together to navigate to the restaurant, but when we got there, all of the lights were off, even the ones in the kitchen. We decided to pull through the drive-thru lane anyway. A hole in the ground and a bunch of wires sticking out of it stood where the podium with the speaker and microphone used to be. Eddie leaned out the window for a closer look. “Well. This is a bust. Next location?”

  It took me a bit longer to find the next closest Taco Bell with a twenty-four hour drive-thru, but I managed to find it.

  When we got there, we found the front lights off, but the back area where the food prep happened was well lit.

  I proclaimed, “Bingo! Success!”

  Rhoswen flew circles around the inside of the car while clapping her hands. When she landed back on the dashboard, she said, “I want a burrito supreme, two beef soft tacos, some nachos, and a Mountain Dew.”

  Eddie choked. “You can eat all that?”

  The pixie shrugged. “Probably not all of it, but I can get around most of it. The drink can be a small one.”

  I said, “Get me one of those ten-box sets of soft tacos and a large Dr. Pepper.”

  “Ten!? You gonna share, or am I on my own?” Eddie gasped at the amount of food we ordered.

  I waved a hand at him. “Don’t sweat it. I got this. I shifted around in the seat to pull my wallet out by its chain. “Get whatever you want.”

  When it was our turn at the tinny speaker, Eddie made our order and got some chow for himself.

  I handed him a couple of twenties to pay the bill with. “Gimme the change back.”

  Eddie smiled. “Cheapskate.”

  We crept forward to the window over the course of ten minutes. Even though the drunk rush ended a while ago, the place crawled. I imagined they only had an exhausted and disgruntled skeleton crew making all the food for everyone. We hadn’t exactly ordered light, either.

  When we hit the window, Eddie handed over the money, got the change and drinks, and passed everything around. He tried to hand the “small” Mountain Dew to Rhoswen, but she couldn’t handle it. It stood almost as tall as she did. Eddie settled for slipping it into a cup holder.

  Rhoswen jumped down next to the cup. “This is a small? Since when?”

  I chuckled. “Things are always bigger in Texas.”

  She tipped the straw toward her mouth. “I guess.” After taking a good long pull of soda, she rolled her eyes back in her head and let out a low moan. “Good stuff. It’s been forever since I’ve had a good drink.”

  Eddie laughed. “Good drink? Nah. You should try scotch.”

  Rhoswen tittered as only a pixie can. “I’m too much of a lightweight.”

  Eddie and I groaned in unison at the poor joke.

  A few minutes later, the food arrived, and the exhausted clerk handed over several large bags. We shuffled them around until they were settled enough for us to drive around the building to the parking lot.

  Eddie threw the car in park, but kept the engine running. “It’s hard enough eating this crap without making a mess. I don’t wanna try to drive while slopping goop and sauce everywhere.”

  “No worries. Now that we have Rhoswen, we have plenty of time.” I had almost two hours to summon Cailleach and return Rhoswen to her mistress. I suppose I could have done that now, but I didn’t want to upset Eddie any more. The sight of Cailleach would certainly crank his freak-out-meter to eleven.

  While we ate our greasy and over-sauced food, Eddie asked, “So. Rhoswen. What does a pixie do exactly?”

  She paused between bites. “What? You mean like are we all accountants or something?”

  Eddie nodded. “Yeah. Something like that. How do you earn your keep? Everyone’s gotta have a job of some sort.”

  Rhoswen swallowed another huge bite of a nacho with fake cheese and sour cream on it. “There are no jobs like you think of them in our realm. We have duties and responsibilities, but no one pays us to do them.”

  After a few blinks of disbelief, Eddie asked, “Then how do you buy stuff? Food? Shelter? Stuff?”

  “We’re taken care of by our mistress so long as we do well in our duties to her,” Rhoswen said. “You ever hear of feudalism?”

  Eddie nodded again.

  Rhoswen slurped down some more Mountain Dew. “Ahhhh … Good stuff. It’s kind of like that. Our nobility takes care of us and provides for us. They protect us, and we do the menial things in the realm.”

  I butted in. “What is your realm, exactly?”

  Rhoswen shrugged. “It’s kind of hard to explain. We’re not exactly like the whole winter against summer courts like you read in some of your lore. It’s more like we have a small chunk of the winter realms our mistress controls and we all live there and take care of it. Summer doesn’t have much interest in our lands, and we don’t have much interest in theirs. I’ve heard old tales of wars between our people that have lasted ages. There are probably still some border skirmishes when a hot head or a cold bitch gets offended by some little something. We hear rumors, but it’s hard to tell the truth from the exaggerations.”

  Eddie held up a hand. “Wait. I thought faerie folks couldn’t lie.”

  Rhoswen reached over and patted Eddie on the leg. “Aww … you’re cute.”

  I snorted with a mouthful of soda and blew a decent amount of it out of my nose. I scrambled for the pile of napkins in the glovebox to clean up my shirt and face while Eddie scowled at the pixie.

  She threw me a knowing wink.

  Eddie, who had less food than we did, finished eating first. He threw the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove us back across San Antonio toward his bar. The slurping of soda and munching of food were the only sounds filling the car. Eddie pulled into his usual “reserved for management” parking spot all of his regulars knew to stay away from. Eddie wasn’t the sort of person to tow a car, but he would leave a beer bottle or two behind tires as a case lesson on how to read signs and obey them.

  After we pulled into Eddie’s reserved spot, Rhoswen shuddered like she’d gotten cold. Strange for an ice pixie.

  Her shiver put me on edge, and I looked around the parking lot for more trouble. “What’s wrong, Rhoswen?”

  Eddie hadn’t noticed the pixie’s reaction, but at my question, he sat up straight in his seat and tried to find a source of danger.

  The pixie shook her head. “I thought I smelled a griffin.”

  This piqued my interest more than ever. Before I could ask my own questions, Eddie asked, “A griffin? You mean like the flying eagle and lion thing?”

  Rhoswen glared at him. “They like to munch on the little folk. Our bones are tasty to them.”

  Eddie sat there baffled as more of my mystical world became exposed to him. I figured the future chat with him about what’s going on in my life would take a few beers, maybe a case. A thought struck me, and I blurted out my question before I could stop my lips from forming it. “Could you help me find the griffin? I have to find one within the next two days or so.”

  Her face flushed from a pale blue to a darker blue color. “You want me to actually find a griffin?”

  Despite my obvious size advantage, the pure rage she issued forth cowed me. “Yes?” I glanced at Eddie for some help, but the broad smile on his face told me he’d be no help.

  “My mistress won’t be pleased with any delays in my return,” Rhoswen said.

  I glanced at my watch. More as an excuse to stop looking Rhoswen in the eyes. It was shortly before six in the morning. “I still have about an hour before sunrise. If you can help me until then, I’ll make sure you get back to your mistress.”

  She tapped a finger on her lip thoughtfully. “Give me your word.”

  Without hesitation, I said, “You have my word. I shall surrender my life to the griffin before I allow him to eat you.”

  With a nod, she said, “Done.”

  Eddie shut off the car. “I’m done for the night. I don’t know what you need with one of those griffin things, but I’m out.”

  After we got out of the vehicle, he turned to me. “When we getting paid?”

  I said, “After I get this little one back to my employer. Sometime later this morning. I’ll swing by tomorrow with your share.”

  He walked the edge of his mostly empty parking lot. “Make it afternoon. I gotta do the books from tonight’s sales. Talk to you tomorrow.” Eddie headed up the stairs to his apartment.

  I strapped my gear onto my bike. “Any idea how far the griffin is from us?”

  She flew up into the air and circled around the edges of the parking lot.

  I craned my neck to watch her flight. After a few minutes, I began to get discouraged she had lost the scent. Rhoswen pointed down at the parking lot near me and screamed out something high-pitched I couldn’t quite make out. My brain tried to work out what she had screamed, but failed.

  Something thin and hard slammed into my spine, and my battered back exploded in pain.

  Chapter Twenty

  I dropped to my knees and howled in pain.

  Another blow landed across my shoulders and knocked me flat on my face. A familiar voice filtered through the pain. “You thoth you’d geth away from me thath eathy?” His speech wasn’t as slurred as it was this morning, but I recognized the busted-lip “accent” of Meth Head from the motel parking lot.

  I rolled over and lashed out with my booted feet while raising my arms to protect my head. My kicks landed on nothing but empty air, and new pain exploded in my left arm when another blow landed. My wrist smashed into my face from the force of the blow and the metallic taste of blood immediately filled my mouth. Meth Head drew back a long crowbar for another strike.

  I felt like Luke Skywalker fighting the Sand Person atop the cliff. With the agony arcing through my body, my only coherent actions were rolling left and right as the crowbar clanged off the asphalt. I hoped Eddie would hear the ruckus.

  Meth Head kept crashing down with the crowbar intent on splitting my skull open. I didn’t have the faintest clue why he had such a hard-on for taking me out. I continued my prone dodging while thrashing at his shins with my boots for what felt like ten minutes.

  Rhoswen came to my rescue.

  A blue arc buzzed past Meth Head’s face, and he recoiled. “What the thuck?”

  The brief distraction gave me a chance to draw a knife and lunge at his legs. I slammed the blade down just above his knee. The resulting howl of pain made me smile through blood-covered teeth. Meth Head dropped the crowbar and scrabbled his fingers over the handle and blade of the knife, cutting his fingers in the process.

  I rose and staggered over to him while cradling my busted left arm against my chest. With a police station being less than two blocks away, I didn’t need the fool’s screaming to attract the attention of a cop outside on a smoke break. I needed to know why he had hounded me all across San Antonio, so killing him was out of the question despite how much I wanted to put him out of my misery.

  Dropping a knee on his chest, I grabbed him by the throat. I popped his head into the asphalt hard enough to get his attention, but not enough to cause any permanent brain damage. With my grip on his windpipe, he stopped screaming and started turning purple. He weakly thrashed against my greater mass for a long minute. I finally released him but kept my weight on his body. Several ragged gasps sucked into his lungs, and I just stared at him. I was faintly aware of Rhoswen perched on the side-view mirror of a nearby car.

  Meth Head screamed out, “I’m going to thucking kill you!”

  I bounced his skull off the pavement again. “Shut up.”

  He did.

  With a snarl, I leaned the point of my knee deeper into his sternum. He whimpered in pain and writhed beneath my weight for a moment before falling limp. I patted him on the head like a small child that had created a masterpiece in art class. “That’s better. Now, I want to know why you keep attacking me. What have I ever done to you?”

  “Mathster Abilthin wanths you dead.”

  I had a hard time understanding his slurred speech, and I considered another trip into the parking lot for the back of his head, but decided it would be counterproductive. “Who wants me dead?”

  Meth Head turned his head to the side, cleared his throat, and spit a glob of mucus combined with blood. He licked his lips a few times and slowly said, “Master Abilsin.”

  Again, that name hit me. “Who is he?”

  In a sudden bout of loyalty to this Abilsin fellow, Meth Head clamped his battered lips together.

  I sighed, rolled my eyes heavenward in a desperate attempt to find some guidance on what to do next. Nothing came other than more squirming from Meth Head beneath my knee. I lightly bopped him in the forehead to bounce his head off the parking lot again. “Stop squirming.”

  He spit out, “My leg hurths.”

  My knife still protruded from his leg. I sighed again and with a quick motion, yanked the knife free. Meth Head relaxed under the pressure of my knee. A serene look covered his unconscious features.

  With a bark of laughter to the sky, I celebrated the fact he had finally succumbed to the pain and passed out. I guess it’d been a while since his last toke of meth. I wondered if this Abilsin fellow was his supplier.

  I looked up to where Rhoswen perched above my head. “Thanks for the assist.”

  She smiled back. “You looked like you needed it.”

  She’d saved my bacon again.

  I wondered out loud, “Now, what to do with this fellow?” Removing my knee from his chest, I knelt next to him and cleaned his blood from my knife on his grungy t-shirt. I sheathed my knife and thought about what to do with him. If I left him here, he’d surely pop up again, or run off to his master and squeal to him that I knew of his existence. I didn’t relish either option, so I had to keep him busy somehow.

  I rose to my feet with a groan and stretched my lower back while rolling my shoulders. Meth Head had really done a number on my back, but I was more concerned with my arm at the moment. I shrugged out of my jacket with a hiss of pain. My arm came free of the sleeve in a misshapen lump. The skin had already swollen up and turned reddish-purple. About halfway down my forearm, the limb bent at an unnatural angle. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before probing the injury with my right hand. The waves of nausea and pain threatened to lay me out on the ground next to Meth Head, but I managed to stay upright with the help of a nearby car fender. Without an x-ray, it felt like Meth Head had only broken one bone in my arm, not both of them. Because of the swelling already happening, I couldn’t tell how clean the break was, but experience told me it had to be a fairly clean break from the force he’d applied to the blow. Either that or my bones were shattered into a million pieces.

  I let out a shuddering breath. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find Freyja’s Daughter, kill some cult leader of Ereshkigal with Chaac’s axe, and track down a griffin with just one good arm. I slid down the side of the car I’d been leaning against and plopped on the ground.

  Rhoswen flitted to land in my lap.

  “That doesn’t look good. Anything I can do to help?”

  “It hurts like Hell. Can you take away the pain, so I can use the arm again tonight?”

  She shook her head. “I can numb the pain, but there’s no way you’re going to use it tonight.” She gently prodded my swollen flesh. “It’s too badly broken.”

  “I knew you’d say that.”

  “I can numb it up, so you can think straight and do something with that jackass over there.” She hiked her thumb over her shoulder at Meth Head.

  I extended my arm to rest beside her. “Do your thing.”

  She gently blew on my arm, passing her pursed lips back and forth in a soothing, cool breeze. She intensified her efforts, and the soothing turned to a biting freeze. I closed my eyes and thought through sword drills my father had taught me as a child. It was a strange form of meditation, but it was where my mind went when in pain. I don’t know how much time passed as I sat there on the warm asphalt, but Rhoswen’s voice finally reached through my martial meditations. “Marcus. Marcus! I’m done. You’re as good as I can get you.”

  I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. A fine latticework of blue frost covered the skin of my swollen arm. I gingerly flexed the fingers in my left hand and felt no pain. I didn’t feel anything below my elbow at all. Now I had an arm I couldn’t use, and a hand I couldn’t feel. At least the pain had vanished.

 

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