“You deniedthem.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. “Of course. I would die before I worked withthem.”
“Why do they want yourdaughter?”
“She is a gypsy healer, my queen. A powerful one. And she is related to me. My guess is that they hoped to use her against me to gain my compliance. But they underestimated her pack’s drive to rescue her and the power of those who care forSally.”
“Pack?”
“She’s mated to a Canislupus.”
“And now she is back with her pack, safe?” sheasked.
Cindy nodded. “She is back, but I do not know how safe she is. The darkness in her is like a parasite. It must beexcised.”
“I will allow the luminous to help. But I would like to meet your daughter. She is, after all, halfsprite.”
Cindy bowed her head again and let out a relieved breath. “Thank you, myqueen.”
“I will send out a call to the luminous and ask any willing to help to arrive within thehour.”
Exactly one hour later, Cindy was standing in the hall of the queen, surrounded by twelve luminous spritefemales.
A sprite that Cindy recognized stepped forward, and Cindy smiled. “Diedre, it’s so good to seeyou.”
Diedre wrapped her arms around Cindy and pulled her into a warm embrace. “You have been gone a long time, sister. We welcome youback.”
Cindy stepped back and made eye contact with the others. “I have been gone a long time. Unfortunately, I return now under dire circumstances. I need yourhelp.”
“The queen said your daughter is in trouble,” Diedresaid.
“She is. There is dark magic at work in her mind. My healing is not enough. She needs light. Would you all be willing to shareyours?”
They all nodded, but Diedre spoke for them. “We will. However, I must suggest we wait three days until the full moon. Our magic is more powerful on that night. We might as well give it everything we’ve got the first time around in hopes there won’t have to be asecond.”
Cindy nodded. “I agree. I shall return then in three days’ time. My queen.” She turned to the forest queen who was sitting quietly watching them. “May I bring my husband and my daughter’s mate with me to yourpalace?”
“Yes, of course. I look forward to meeting them. Peace, Cindira. We will see you in threedays.”
* * *
Two uneventful days passed,and Sally felt as though they should throw a party or somehow mark the occasion. No one was in a battle, no one was killed, as far as she knew Jen wasn’t stripping in public, and she hadn’t even had any bad dreams. Things were about as peaceful as they’d been before she’d ever even known werewolves existed. She and her mom had sat and talked about Titus for most of those two days. Costin intermittently offering how their son would have Jen’s daughter drooling and Jacque’s son feelinginadequate.
“I can’t believe they have kids too,” her mom sighed. It was early evening the day before they were to go to the sprite realm and the four of them were lounging in the living room after having eatentacos.
“’Jen’s a great mom,” Sally admitted. “I’m mean she’s bat crap crazy, but she’s a really greatmom.”
“And Jacque?” her dadasked.
“She’s a great mom too, but Jacque is more of a natural. Jen is less June Cleaver and more JessicaRabbit.”
“It seems like you should be too young to know those references,” Costinchuckled.
“Dude, I watch television,” Sally said dryly, nudging him with her foot. “You can’t really be too young to know anything these days. All you have to do is look it up on YouTube or see if it’s onNetflix.”
“That’s true,” her dad agreed. “Once upon a time, when something went out of style on television it disappeared into the cosmos, now it just get’s stored on theinternet.”
“Well, back in my hay day, internet would have been climbing into an actual net,” Cindy said with agrin.
