J. Nelson - Free Agent

Dragon-Liam’s head rested against me, and from its mouth came the scent of wood fire and smoke. As I tried to hold him, he slipped forward, and curled up in a ball around me, a gentle curl of smoke coming from his nostrils. He began to snore.

Ari stood in the bathroom doorway, a look of awe on her face. “That was amazing.”

I disentangled myself from Liam and dragged her to the elevator. Six minutes. “You were supposed to go. And why could I charm him if you couldn’t?” I whispered to avoid waking Liam.

“He’s not my prince.”

Her words stung me. “I’m not like you. I’m not a princess.”

Ari grinned so wide it looked like her face would split open. “To him you are.” She signaled the elevator, which apparently could be called from the inside.

“We can’t wake Liam. I’m not sure how long it will take the curse to wear off, and there’s no way I’m going to risk leaving you on the street at night.”

Ari reached into her pocket and pulled out a stamped metal business card. “The Agency,” it read, and below it, our address. “Grimm gave it to me in case you left me somewhere.” She hopped out of her shoes and ran across the floor in socks. She tucked the card into Liam’s curled claws.

“He’ll be safe here, but first I need to do something.” I tiptoed across the room to where the dressing mirror sat and laid it facedown. Now no one could come through to threaten Liam, and if anyone tried to get past Shigeru it would be a mistake they wouldn’t live to regret.

As my hand touched the mirror, I heard her voice.

“You are foolish beyond measure, girl. Few risk my wrath a second time,” said Fairy Godmother.

“I’m not afraid of you.” My heart was so full of joy it was true.

“Twice now I return your blow, darling. I give you your deepest desire.”

“Leave her alone,” said Ari, running toward me.

I felt a tremble as my blessings raced through the room.

“My second wish to you is given,” said Fairy Godmother. “Once more and done.”

Ari grabbed my shoulder. “Are you okay? You glowed for a moment. It was weird, and bad.”

“I don’t feel so good.” The bracelet on my wrist fell limp and crumbled into the Glitter that made it. Our eyes met for a moment as I realized what it meant. Ari lashed out at my hand, but her hand passed through mine like I was made of smoke.

I fell.

I told Ari we were thirty stories above the normal buildings. More like fifty. I’d never considered leaving Kingdom at the top of a skyscraper. After a moment it felt like I was flying instead of falling, except the earth came rushing toward me to give me a big, terminal hug. So this is how it ends , I thought, and Godmother whispered, “Not yet.” The world twisted, and I crashed into what I think was a dresser, smashing it to pieces.

In the darkness someone screamed. A girl. I stood up and recognized a bedroom. A man came charging into the bedroom, throwing me to the side. “Get away from her.” He pushed her behind him.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

He looked at me a moment and turned on the bedroom light. “Marissa?”

I was in my old bedroom. I was home.

Dad came walking toward me, looking at me like I was a ghost. He threw his arms around me. “Finally.”

Mom came through the door in a robe. “Marissa, what are you doing here?”

That was not what I expected for our six-year reunion. “I’m home, Mom. I think I’m free.” I glanced down, and sure enough, there was nothing on my wrist. I was finally free. My eyes started to fill with tears, but this time it was joy.

Right about then, the lights trembled and the doors shook. The girl, Hope, my sister, cried out and clung to Dad as the earthquake grew worse. A lightbulb shattered, and then another. I recognized this. Fairy Godmother transported me all the way to my home, but my blessings had been left behind. They were coming. They were ticked.

I stumbled out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where the plates went flying out of the cupboard and the faucet sprayed like a fountain.

Dad followed me. “Honey, what’s happening?”

“It’s the fae blessings. They’re coming to me.”

Mom’s face went ashen white. “You led a harakathin to our house? You’ll kill her.”

Part of me felt confused, trying to figure out how Mom knew about blessings. The other part of me knew if I didn’t get them calmed down they might destroy the whole house. “I can calm them. They get upset when they are separated from me, or around spell power.”

“Magic,” my mother whispered. Her eyes grew round, her mouth opened.

“They eat it. Beatus, Consecro, calm down.” If anything, the trembling grew stronger as I spoke their names. It sounded like a train was hurtling toward the house.

“You named it?” screamed my mother.

“Both of them. It lets me control them better,” I said as the stove caught fire.

My dad shoved me toward the door. “Get out. Get out before you kill her. What did she do to you? Hurt us, but don’t kill her.”

“I don’t understand.” It didn’t make any sense. Mom and Dad didn’t know of magic. If they had, Dad would have made a lot more money.

Mom shoved me past the threshold right as the windows exploded into a rain of glass. As I passed it, I felt a burning sensation. My blessings were home.

“You came to kill her,” said Mom. “You knew what would do it.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Mom. I got transported by accident, sort of.” All my dreams of this day, they’d never included words like this, looks like this.

Mom fixed me with that look I could never avoid. The one I got when I spilled grape soda on her new carpet. The one I got when Dad caught me with a can of beer, sputtering and choking it down. “Hope. The one we returned you to Fairy Godfather to save. You’ve come to destroy her heart.”

The words made no sense to me. I tried to work it through and failed. “Grimm said he’d fix it. He’d heal her.”

“He gave her a new one. A mechanical one,” said Dad. “A magic one.” Hope stood at the doorway. She had Mom’s black hair, and eyes as blue as Dad’s. Dad ran back to scoop her up, and took her inside.

Mom walked toward me, her face covered in that look of disapproval I had come to take as love. “Don’t you have a life of your own now? Go back to it.”

“I’ve waited for this day for six years. I missed you so badly I had to have the memories taken. I wanted to come home every day and every hour. What did I ever do to you?”

Mom looked back at the doorway. When she saw it was empty, she walked over and stroked my hair, pushing it back out of my eyes. “It isn’t what you did, Marissa. It’s who you represent. As long as Roland held on to you, he held on to her. I couldn’t compete with a ghost. And then we had our own daughter, born of our own blood.”

Through the broken windows, I heard Hope sobbing. I was sure I could keep my blessings in check. Maybe. “You wanted me to make a deal, I made a deal, Mom.”

“For your sister,” she said.

“For you. I knew you wanted me to. That’s the only reason I agreed.” Tiny bolts of anger gave my words force.

“Of course I wanted it. Until you’ve held a child of your own, don’t judge me. I traded your freedom for her life. A trade I would make again any day.”

I shivered as her hand brushed my shoulder, torn between the urge to hug her and the need to scream at her. “I know what you told Dad that night. I loved you, Mom. Why didn’t you love me?” My voice came out like a squeak. I felt like I was a tiny girl, begging her to pick me up.

She bent down to look in my eyes. “You act as if I didn’t try. You were a wild girl, always given to mischief and destruction. Name one of your birthdays that didn’t end in a trip to the emergency room or with a visit from the fire department. Name one party you’ve attended that didn’t end in a fight or an accident. I tried, Marissa.”