Page 79 of Within the Veil

* * *

This Morning

"What do you mean they haven't been able to make contact?" I question, startled by Oberon's sudden appearance in the kitchen as well as his information.

"Just what I have said," he tugs at his long hair with a frustrated sigh. "To say I am perturbed would be putting it mildly. Until this moment, I have never had this problem. My Whisperers are highly trained and can get in and out of any city, town, residence, et cetera. But now, my contact within the Realm has gone silent, and we have lost the location of their usual patrols."

"How the fuck do you hide the Seelie Castle? That shit is massive." Ryder asks incredulously.

"The castle is the least of our concerns. How the flying fuck do you hide an entire kingdom and its villages?" Grayson scratches his jaw with a growl.

Zane slams the cupboard he is going through to find his not-so-secret stash of snacks that I have already eaten during a late-night binge. Oops. He glares at me,"We will discuss your ass eating all my snacks later." I stick my tongue out at him. We won't discuss shit, he will get more, and I will eat them again. It is a nice cycle. The Circle of Snacks, if you will.

Zane shakes his head with a final scowl aimed at me, "I don't want to point out the obvious, but there is a reason that Hudson was given that message from Elodia. Nici must still have the ear of Uranus; that is the only way she could possibly have created that level of magic, especially if her power base is weakening. Those lands are not spelled like this one, she cannot pick it up and move it. More likely than not, she has a shield that confuses anyone who goes near the location of the kingdom."

"Not that it even matters. You know Tir Ag Nog has a mind of its own. Location is as relative and ever-changing as time here. So without that shield coming down, we run the risk of sending scouts straight into danger," Ryder sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.

I nod. He's not wrong. As for Uranus, Zane also makes sense, but... "Wait a fucking winged-bitch-minute, if that's the case, then a God has interfered again? This is ridiculous. Where the hell is Gaia withoursuper-shield?" I look up at the sky grumpily. If that motherfucker is helping Nici, we should get an extra boost, too, I think crankily.

"One, you technically can access the desk and seek the information you need. And Dude," Jensi waves his hands in the air dramatically. "YOU are a goddess. Her version of badassery is just a disappearing trick. When you consider your power, the playing field is so uneven." Jensi says. Fuck, also an accurate assessment.

"Except you all know damn well, it's never 'just' anything with that sneaky little needle-spinning hag. This is just her way of throwing us off. Which means she knows there is something to throw off. So we can assume that she fucking already knows about the missives because one of those little bitches we delivered them to told her about it. There is no way, if they were delivered by Xena, that she would know otherwise. And until we can figure out who, whoever is traveling, is going to be in danger. And if you are all traveling, then I am a fucking waddling duck with shimmery wings," I growl out.

I sigh angrily and stand up from my usual seat in front of the kitchen counter and start grabbing every sandwich I can reach and shove it into a bag I make appear in my hands.

Remi looks at me confused, "Babe, what are you doing?"

I scoff, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to the massive magical library of knowledge, yet again, to figure out what type of spell was used, figure out how to break it so that we can find that stupid fae-itch! Then I'm going to write an angry letter to Gaia. For all of that, I require sustenance!"

* * *

When I finally got tothe library moments later with my many sandwiches, I was greeted by a bunch of Elodia replicas. And by greeted, I mean completely ignored as they moved books around and did whatever 'keeping' things they needed to do. I paused to stare at them as they sped around; adorable Fae with bright eyes, long hair, and gossamer gowns or little suits. I wanted to cuddle them and their shimmering wings.

Except, cuddling is the last damn thing I would ever fucking do with these creatures of doom and destruction. When I came by yesterday to sneak back into my alcove of wonder, I walked over to the table, food in hand, while I hovered over a few texts, curious as to what the keepers were organizing. Then...I accidentally dropped some garlic mayo on one of the books, and as if I rang a bell to declare my accident,alltheir heads did a 180 turn, exorcist style, while their eyes turned completely black, and they grew twice as large. If that wasn't terrifying enough, they opened their jaws so damn wide I couldn't even see their faces, just long, wicked black fangs as they hissed/howled a sound that crawled up my spine and buried itself inside my soul. That's right, my fear was so scared thatithid.

I backed away slowly and apologized. For several reasons; number one, when anyone damaged one of my books, I'm sure I looked the same way. I would totally eat a face out of anger, so I got that. Number two, these demonic-looking assholes weren't beholden to me, so they could totally eat me if they wanted. I wouldn't go down without taking a few fluttering fucks with me, but if Gaia had them here, chances are I wouldn't win that battle. Number three, I wanted my alcove. Can't have that if I piss them off.

One of them whisked the book away to clean it, and another brought me a plate and napkins with a pointed glare.Don't fuck with the books. Point taken.

--

Early Morning

I sigh as I pour over my notes, breaking down the course of events in the past few days. So far, it's been three days since Shea, who is now actively smoothing things over with the council, informed us of my sister's existence and two days since Xena, who is popping in and out doing whatever LionGons do during times of war, gave us a bunch of Dragon allies. Now we just needed a location to take said allies to eat and stab a bunch of imposters.

So far, none of the texts about magic or Fae history have anything remotely related to anything that may indicate a spell that Nici may have manipulated to hide the kingdom. Fucking Faerie realm and its' wanderlust. If shit would stay still, I would teepee the fuck outta that bubble shield with toilet paper.

My eyes keep flicking over to the desk, but, Elodia's warning was clear, I need a firm understanding of the Gods and their history before I start rummaging through the mystical Mary Poppins desk of doom. There are too many unknowns for me to 'wield' anything without learning everything I can. Except, I have no fucking clue exactly what 'true understanding' I need.

And quite honestly, the fact that I even have to research a God that had absolutely no place interfering with Faerie irked the shit out of me. Despite all my research and access to untold knowledge, when it came to the Unseelie court, historically, despite some wars and skirmishes, there has never been something so severe as an attempt at a full-blown takeover. Balance is literally ingrained into our souls, and yet, Nici rebelled against our very natures to seek power. It was uncharacteristic. Even more so, she continues to do so despite the fact that it has to be causing her discomfort--the act of standing still while being torn apart from within spiritually and mentally.Thisis what made our people unsettled, understandably so, because the assumption is either that Nici is powerful beyond comprehension or she's batshit crazy. Either way, it is offputting, and now I have to consider how she is able to get away with it.

When I try to pull from the Google that is now my brain, I get the same information I already know-- primordial god, the personification of heavens, born from chaos, father of the Titans. Blah, blah, blah. Uranus was pretty much Gaia's husband and her equal, except he was more concerned with his greed for power. I knew he was banished to Tartarus, but the little details about what led to his downfall are murky, every story blending into a hot mess of 'what the fuck.' There is no way that information is remotely useful enough to prepare me to venture into an enchanted vault that can take my damn soul.

I scowl at the notes, stand up and walk around the table slowly, hoping that maybe looking at my ridiculous amount of notes and diagrams from this vantage point will help me come up with plans b, c, and d. Well, ideally, plan A would be a good place to start too. I raise my hand up, and one of the mini-keepers appears with a slight bow, "Yes, Queen of the Seelie?"

I turn to face a handsome male Fae with stunning blue wings and smile brightly. Damnit, I want to squeeze them all.

Do not squeeze the Keepers, they are not a stuffed animal,Oberon says in my head. I roll my eyes at him, well fucking duh. Of course, I know that...they will probably eat me...damnit.

---