But then, what is there to lose? Either they will come or they won’t.
I gather my bag and purse and stroll down the alley to the markets.
It’s early, so they are still setting up the stalls.
I go straight to the lace and crafting stall run by Lottie, a pixie with a mass of iridescent blue and purple curls, and matching freckles on her nose.
I explain what I want to make, and Lottie loves the idea. I buy a soft padded picture frame made from silk, which will save me having to cover it myself. I buy lace and some silk flowers in shades of soft pastel shades of pink with green leaves, which will complement the green of the orcs in the photo.
The frame is just the right size, so Sally can hold it; a cuddly photo frame. And it will keep the picture from disintegrating, because it’s all that Sally has left of her husband, and it’s what binds her to Bradley and her kids.
I sure hope she likes the result.
And then I buy chops and vegetables for dinner.
I’m just about to head home, when I hear the guttural sound of a motorbike.
Looking up, I see Jax, drawing to a halt atop his black bike at the entrance to a side alley, almost the exact same spot I saw him last time. He’s staring in my direction. I remember it could be a fae, so I wave tentatively. He waves back, and then he beckons me over.
“Hi, Clem.” His voice is muffled behind the visor.
“What are you doing here?” I ask. He just says, “Climb on, I’ll take you home.”
“Only if you go slow.”
He gives me a thumbs up, and I smile and clamber onto the big black bike.
“Be careful, I’ve got a bag full of shopping,” I say, clasping the bag to my chest.
He takes off and I loop my arms around his leather-clad torso, and we zoom through the streets, except… suddenly it dawns on me that we’re not heading toward Otis’s house.
I thump his shoulder. “Hey, where are you taking me?”
Jax doesn’t answer, he just speeds up. My bag of craft stuff flies out of my hand and bounces onto the road behind us. “Jax, you bastard, stop, I’ve dropped my shopping!”
He just keeps going, picking up even more speed along the tunneled streets.
I start to panic. “Please—stop!” I scream over the noise of the engine.
Jax leans forward over the handlebars. I doubt if he can hear me. I have no idea what this little game is all about.
I can’t jump off, he’s going way too fast. And I have no helmet or leather gear, I could be seriously hurt. Monsters scatter as the bike zooms around corners.
“If this is a joke,” I shout, “it’s not funny.”
No response.
Suddenly I see the large metal doors of what I know to be a portal entrance ahead of us. Jax doesn’t slow down, not even a tiny bit as we head straight for it, and I duck my head, my eyes screwed up, waiting to hit those huge metal doors at full pelt.
But instead, as if by magic, they slide open.
And suddenly we’re inside the portal itself, all shining steel, from floor to ceiling. Jax brings the bike to such an abrupt halt I’m almost thrown off.
He reaches out to the control panel on the wall. A leather-gloved hand presses a button and the doors slide shut behind us.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I clamber shakily off the bike and glare at him. “This is crazy. You know I don’t want to go back to Sparkle.”
He just stares at me through the smoky glass of his visor.
