“This is Earth Fairyland. Not Fairy Fairyland.”
Oh hell. This was why they never negotiated with fairies—because their entire world made no sense at all. Bruce echoed the sentiment as he threw up his hands in disgust.
“I don’t know the difference,” he growled.
The entire field stilled. The chaotic fairy party went dead silent to stare at them. Which, as it turned out, was a good thing, because there was no interference as Wiz and Stratos carried two people out of the haze.
Erin Rodger-Dodger got to her feet. She dropped her hands to her knees and glared at them as if they were the enemy. Dozens of tiny glowing fairies hovered behind her. Oh shit, they were going to rush them.
“Wait!” Bruce called. “I want to help. Just explain. I thought you wanted to come here.”
“We made this place! Why would we want to come where we already are?”
Good point.
“Um… how? How did you make this place?”
She rolled her eyes. “From your thoughts.” When Bruce stared at her, she pointed at Laddin. “Think of something.”
Laddin didn’t have the wherewithal to think of anything specific. He was still battling the damned moon shining down on him, making him insane.
“He does not have enough power. Help him!” she ordered as she pointed at Bruce.
Bruce frowned. “How?”
“Give him your power!”
And finally Laddin understood. “You’re a battery, right? What if you can give your power—your energy—to me?”
Bruce blew out a breath but nodded. “Okay. But how?”
Might as well take a stab in the dark. “Hold hands?”
“And then imagine my current going into you,” Bruce finished, already grabbing hold of him. “Ready?”
“Yes.” Okay, that was a total lie. His wolf was straining and coiling inside him. His thoughts were on the moon above, not the fairies around them. He had to focus, but there wasn’t time as Bruce grabbed his hand.
It started out as a warm trickle of energy moving from palm to palm as they gripped hands. It was actually soothing, and Laddin started to relax. But the moment he did, the trickle became a flood. Power burst through his mind, scattering any illusion of control. His wolf surged forward, and before he could stop it, the wolf took all that power and gave it one single focus.
The moon.
“Yes!” Rodger-Dodger cried. She held up her hands as if to catch his thoughts, as did the fairies around her. They leaped up and grabbed something out of the air. It was pale white, and it glowed with an eerie beauty.
Moonlight.
And then all those fairies rushed together, holding their creamy white glow aloft. They leaped, they danced, and they threw the light together bit by bit. The tiny thing grew and grew until right there in the center of the fairy field was a huge, bright, beautiful moon.
The light of three moons now converged on Laddin. The one from Earth normal, the one from Earth Fairyland, and now this third one. Right there in front of him, so close he could touch it.
The transition from man to wolf was seamless. One second he was a man; the next he was a wolf who gloried in the incandescent light right before him. The moon!
He touched it. He leaped upon it. He howled out the wonder of it and reveled in the madness. And then everything else was forgotten.
Chapter 22
PUPPY PILE!
BRUCE WATCHEDin fascination as the fairies gathered what appeared to be tiny ripples in the air. They caught it in their hands like children grabbing sand, and as the ripples spilled out between their fingertips, they reformed as light. Moonlight, he realized. But that was secondary to the beauty of what he was seeing.
