Page 27 of Explosive Chemistry

As Siobhan shifted back to her four-foot human form from her tiny demi-plant form, the black leather jacket she wore went from big and roomy to tight and cropped. Even in human form, Siobhan was over a foot shorter than Liliana. The sprite grinned up at her. “Thanks for the show, spider girl.” She opened her mouth to say something else, then closed it. She ran her fingers through her short red hair, fiddled with a jacket zipper, and shuffled her feet in the grass.

Liliana’s third eyes clued her into what the odd shift from the sprite’s usual confident body language indicated. Siobhan wanted to ask her something but was embarrassed. “What is it, tiny warrior?”

“Right, see, I never saw much point in someone as small as me trying to learn unarmed combat, but watching you put Nudd and Pete on their bums a few times makes me rethink that.”

Liliana shrugged. “Being large is not required to be fierce, but it certainly helps. I could train you to use what strength you have to best advantage.”

Siobhan chuckled. “People have tried to convince me before that I could still fight effectively at my size unarmed. You’re the first person who made me believe it. I’ll teach the boys which end of a sword to hold if you’ll teach me how to fight when I’ve got no weapons left.”

Liliana nodded and smiled brightly at the grass between the sprite’s feet. “I would be honored.”

The spider seer left her friends in the woods and headed toward home. She was a bit sore and tired herself. It had been a while since she had had such an intense workout. It was fun, in a strange way. Combat practice with live opponents was yet another aspect of her life that the red wolf, the goblin, and the sprite had reminded her to miss. She hadn’t even noticed how dull her life had been before they made it so much more interesting.

As she leapt from tree to tree, she opened her fourth eyes and looked ahead to the red wolf’s death. The vision of the Wolfhound pack killing Pete was still there, far more solid now that his death at the hands of the widow spiders was no longer a possibility, but it flickered a tiny bit. Pete would, without doubt, be there to protect Janice’s husband, Lou. The rabbit-kin mechanic would survive. That was solid with certainty. The red wolf’s death was no longer completely certain, though.

Other possible outcomes of that fight flickered in and out of vague possibility. In a few, barely there glimpses, Liliana saw her favorite red wolf holding the ancient Fae sword of power, Freagarthach, standing victorious over the bodies of his enemies. In those few faint flickers of possibility, Doctor Nudd stood bloodied but triumphant at his side.

If they both lived, the paths of everyone in Fayetteville would shift. The people she watched over would live better lives. Many would survive who might have died without protection and healing from the two men.

Liliana smiled in triumph. She was right. Pete needed training, his unique sword, and allies to win.

Unfortunately, the ally in question had a low probability of surviving long enough to help Pete defeat the Wolfhounds.

When she peeked quickly, she saw that Doctor Nudd’s death, which was very close in time, was still overwhelmingly likely. The tall goblin would fight with more skill, but it would make little difference. He would still almost certainly die.

Extra training would not be enough to save the goblin healer.

Her smile faded.

She had to do more.

Chapter 7

The Man With The Silver Rose

A week after Liliana started training Pete and Doctor Nudd, she got dressed and prepared for her customers in the morning. She had only two meetings scheduled. One was with Janice Willoughby, her favorite customer, and the other wasn’t until late in the afternoon. Liliana cooked mushroom soup with lots of onions, rosemary and butter, but didn’t add bacon as she normally would. Janice Willoughby was a vegetarian. Liliana made sure to cook enough so that the rabbit-kin could stay for lunch if she wished.

She had a little time to tend her neglected herb garden. The weeds in the small patch by her back porch had gotten away from her. Oregano, mint, sage, and rosemary were easy to grow here, but she had to work a little harder for thyme. Parsley and cilantro seeds, and tubers from her ginger plants were in her refrigerator until she could plant them in spring. In Fayetteville, spring came early, though, so she might be able to plant as soon as late March. She’d have to watch for when the last freeze would come.

She still had not found the path of choices and fate that would lead to survival for both Doctor Nudd and Pete. Time was rapidly disappearing. She trained with them as often as they could, but she knew increasing their fighting skill wouldn’t be enough.

One thing Pete had to have when the Wolfhounds came was his sword. Without it, no amount of training would be sufficient to defeat them. Each assassin in the Order of the Wolfhound wore a black leather collar embossed with a silver crown, bespelled by Titania, the Queen of Air and Darkness herself, to make the wearer impervious to harm. The unseelie queen created the crown collars specifically to make her assassins effective against Celtic werewolves like Pete, who traditionally served seelie rulers. Pete refused to be anyone’s mercenary, but that didn’t mean he could automatically pierce magical protections specifically meant to defend against his kind. Not without his extraordinary sword, anyway.

Liliana tied a purple silk scarf around her forehead to hold her hair back, and incidentally, cover her fourth eyes. Since they didn’t need to be uncovered to see, it meant she could open them without risking any of her Normal neighbors seeing them while she pulled unwanted plants.

What will keep Pete from having his sword when the Wolfhounds come?

A rose made not of living petals but of silvery metal on the hood of a sleek electric sportscar cruised into her vision. A man stepped out of the car in one of the lots on Fort Liberty. The brown sign in front read “Provost Marshal’s Office.” The slender man in his mid-thirties had long, stylishly cut black hair. He wore dark glasses, an emerald green tailored shirt, neatly creased khaki slacks, and a sleek, modern wrist phone. He carried a fancy box in his hand, wide and flat with gold designs that glittered like foil.

Liliana had an odd sense of déjà vu, as if she had seen this vision before, but couldn’t remember when. It had the bright clarity of the present. She saw what was happening in the moment that she looked.

While Liliana pulled weeds, the man with the silver rose went into a building, signed a screen with a stylus, and placed his thumb on it for scanning. He chatted with a woman in uniform at a desk, then went further inside.

He put the glittery box behind his back as he came to an office with the door open, tapped on the frame, and grinned widely.

Liliana recognized Pete’s friend, the pretty military police sergeant, Zoe Giovanni.

She stood with an answering smile and hugged the handsome man, who produced the flat box with a flourish. “Chocolate!” she exclaimed. “I can’t remember the last time anyone brought me chocolates.”

---