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“Yeah but . . .” I really needed some hope here. “It’s not as though we went there meaning to do all that.”
“Right. It was an accident.” Zee’s eyebrow arched. “They happen all the time. It’s not our fault.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “If we explain that we were just there to get Jimmy’s family back . . .”
“Princess Buffy seems like the levelheaded, reasonable kind of preteen psychopath?” Zee flopped over the bar. “Imma get wasted. Tom, fuck me up.”
Tom smiled, happy to oblige. “One Fuck Me Up coming right up.” He didn’t even pretend to hide the salt shaker and how it dusted suspicious white powder into Zee’s glass.
“Why did the queen appear to be able to breach the veil at the precise moment you were in the chapel?” Victor wondered aloud, after thanking Tom for his tea—with alcohol.
“Huh?” Zee lifted his head.
“Coincidence?” I suggested, and sipped my whiskey.
“Wait, Fancy Fangs has a point. Actually, he has two points. Ha! I’m hilarious.” Zee gathered up his new drink, and twisted on the stool to face Victor and me. “Why did she try and climb out of the painting now? Why not yesterday, or tomorrow?”
“Adam, did any of your blood get on the painting?” Victor asked.
“Oh. Uhm.” There had been a spray of it when I’d shoved Armin off. “It did spray a bit. So . . . maybe?”
“You think because of what he is . . .” Zee whispered at Victor. “It triggered something?”
“What he is, or more accurately, who he is destined to be.” Victor had used his ominous daddy voice.
Oh dear.
“Destined?” Zee snorted. “Destiny can suck my balls. You should know better, since you’re as old as dirt. Destiny is bullshit. You ever seen destiny be right?”
“Not until last night . . .” Victor said.
I sipped my drink faster, and found the bottom of the glass fascinating. I couldn’t look at Victor. Or Zee. It didn’t have anything to do with the prophecy. Just coincidence.
A buzzing thankfully distracted Victor and Zee. The trio of colorful pixies we’d rescued fluttered into the bar. One of them let out an ear-piercing whistle, and a few moments later, Little Jimmy shot from a hole in the drywall behind the potted plant. They were a blur of color, spinning and dancing in the air.
“Aw, they’re cute,” Zee said. “Like ugly giant mosquitos.”
We watched the pixies soar and dive, weirdly graceful as they reunited. It really was cute. And it made the raid on the chapel worthwhile, to know we’d brought Jimmy’s loved ones back to him.
They fluttered down to a table. Jimmy climbed up on to the other’s back and—
“Oh, okay.” I turned my face away. “Anyway.”
“He’s really going at it,” Zee said. “All three are getting it on. A harem. That makes sense. That’s some impressive hip action. Look at him go. I’m so proud.”
“Don’t watch.”
“What? Right. Yeah. Don’t watch, Victor. Pervert.”
“I was not.” Victor tapped his fingers against the teacup on its saucer. “In fact, I was wondering about the subject of Adam’s blood triggering a break in the veil, through which the queen was almost able to pass. The purpose of the gifts, it seems, was to offer up the blood of different species, to see which might complete the link. But Adam’s blood jump-started the process.”
Pixie grunting noises filled a break in the quiet. Then the jukebox started up again, and we were freed from the awkwardness of listening to Jimmy getting vigorously reacquainted with his friends.
It wasn’t just any blood spilled, or even dragon blood that had triggered the queen’s rising. But my blood, the Prophesied One. That asshole whose heart was supposed to save all Lost Ones. Me.
Zee was asking Victor why dragon blood would have anything to do with reopening the veil, and while Victor hedged his answers, it was becoming clear the moment of truth had arrived.
I closed my eyes, downed my whiskey, and blurted. “I am the Prophesied One. I am the Chosen. My heart will save all Lost Ones. It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.”
