Page 35 of Fairies Don't Fall

“I don’t know any healing spells, just composting spells thanks to the terraformer. This is just will and raw power. A real healer would be able to start them on the process of recovery without the trauma of coughing up the poison. I don’t know how to do it gently or without using too much energy. I won’t be able to help more than a dozen people before I collapse. Maybe less, depending.” I’d had a very good nap in the Beast’s arms, and I still felt stronger than I had in ages.

She snorted. “You’re not a good healer? Are you serious? I’ve got to see a good fairy healer then.”

I looked around, searching the minds that I hadn’t really noticed until now. Shotglass’s mind was incredibly focused, potent, and clear. She was a healer? Yes, and a very good one, too. Surprise, surprise. And she’d come here to help werewolves and goblins. Maybe she thought they were all attractive.

I pointed at Shotglass. She looked up like she’d heard me. “She’s the best fairy healer here. The way that she works with the person’s strength is the biggest part of why she’s so good.”

Shotglass’s eyes were shocked for a moment before she blinked and refocused on her patient. Her mind was back the next second, focusing on isolating the poison, drawing it gently from the goblin.

I went from person to person until I stood up too fast and started to fall over.

Ruin grabbed my waist and slung my arm over her shoulder. “You’re done here. You did sixteen people. Nice. Max said to take you to the closet to rest, so that’s where you’re going.”

“Max…” I looked around to find him, needing to make sure that he was safe, not poisoned.

He was on the other side of the room, talking to an older goblin with long dark dreadlocks. He met my gaze and smiled for a moment before nodding towards the far end. He didn’t look tired in spite of him staying awake to hold me while I slept. I let Ruin pull me towards the closet where they kept pads and even more mats.

I collapsed on the one closest to the door and was out.

Chapter

Eleven

Iwoke up to Shotglass’s thoughts banging on my brain.

I opened my eyes to find her peering down at me, her body held aloft by her slowly beating wings. I glanced to my left to find my fingers tangled in Max’s wolf’s dark fur. I hadn’t noticed him coming in. I definitely hadn’t noticed snuggling up against him like he was my warmth and strength. I pulled away from him and felt adrift. I shouldn’t feel bad without physical connection to a werewolf, but it wasn’t that I felt bad without him as much as I felt better with him. I’d been feeling bad all by myself for a long time. He interrupted that.

Like Shotglass had interrupted my sleep.

I took her hand and let her pull me up, stretching my wings as we drifted up to the open window she must have come through because the door to the small room was blockaded. I must have missed that, too. I suppose the alpha couldn’t sleep next to a room filled with goblins without taking some precautions. That was just bad security. I approved of him taking measures for his safety, but he shouldn’t have forgotten the window. Fairies were notoriously difficult to keep out of and in things.

When we perched on the windowsill, she nodded up and let go of my hand to flutter to the roof. I climbed, because my wings really needed to be regrown. Thankfully, the roof wasn’t very far away. I pulled myself over the edge and then walked over to Shotglass where she sat, looking at the distant red lights of the Laboratory.

“I have a secret for you,” she finally said, not looking at me.

“Excellent. I love secrets,” I said, sitting down next to her and studying the distant building. Was that dark shape on the Lab’s wall a body? Was it moving?

“My secret has a price,” she said, finally turning her head to study me, all pink and pretty sparkles. She looked really, really good. I must have poured too much healing into her, and now she was plotting diabolical plots mixed with her tree weeping and werewolf healing.

“If we’re bargaining, then I should know the contents of the bargain.”

She smiled slightly. “Take it out of me.”

I didn’t want to be in her head again. It made things with Max too uncomfortable, but she’d bothered to come here, and that was probably a good sign. Maybe she knew something about the person who had caused the cave-in. Maybe she’d seen something.

I gingerly touched her forehead and searched for whatever secret she was holding, and I found it, but it was wrapped up in a block exactly like the block on the other mind, the one who I’d heard talking to someone about poisoning werewolves.

I gasped and jerked my fingers away from her. “How?”

Her eyes glimmered with what may have been unshed tears, but it seemed impossible that any tears were left after all the crying she did in the caverns. “I want funding for a hat shop.”

Wait, what? “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“You want my secrets. I didn’t put them in the tree, because the block won’t let me. I didn’t realize it was still there after all this time. I can help you unbind me, though. I want your oath that you will fund my hat shop. Not just any hat shop, it has to be in the shiny district where all the high-class arrogants live. I need a new life here. I can never go back to Fairyland, and pixie dust was the only thing that made this world bearable. Give me your word.”

I sighed heavily. How was I supposed to fund a hat shop? But if she knew something about the blocks, about the possible traitor, I needed to know. Was Max right after all? What did Shotglass know? “You have my word. What is the secret?”

She smiled slightly. “I’ll give it to you when you give me my funding.” With that, she fluttered off into the night, a blur of pink and yellow that faded into shadows. I sat there for some time longer, puzzling over the weird fairy who thought she couldn’t go back to Fairyland even though she wanted to, then shrugged and slid off the roof, grabbing the lip and tossing myself back in the window. I circled down, landing back on the mat, and then with a slight twinge of my conscience, I scooted close to Max’s wolf and slowly put my hand on his fur. When he didn’t move, I moved in closer until I was curled up against his back, my cheek against the silky hair. I immediately felt much better, like a flower that had been moved into the sun after being in starved soil, competing with the hungry roots and selfish leaves of a tree.

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