J. Nelson - Free Agent

Evangeline and Jess stood up and walked to the door, leaving me.

“Hey, hang on. If you’re going to the Agency, I’m going too.” Part of me wanted to check on the delivery staff. I liked Bill and the other cargo handlers. Rosa, on the other hand, might be gone. There was always a silver lining. I knew that Evangeline and Jess shouldn’t be allowed out in the city like this.

Evangeline looked at me with that look of scorn mixed with pity. “There isn’t an Agency anymore. We were lucky to be out working when it happened. Last thing Grimm said was that someone dumped a bag full of Glitter off with your name on it. The courier said they’d purchased your contract.”

I stood up and walked toward her. “Think about it. Am I worth that much Glitter to anyone?”

For a moment she was my big sister and teacher again. She shook her head. “No. You aren’t.”

I’d seen Grimm talk Evangeline down out of rages in the past. “It’s the Fairy Godmother. She must have done this.” I’d been able to reason with Evangeline in the past, but I’d always had Grimm to back me up.

Evangeline looked down. Ever since her accident she only showed anger, if she showed any emotion at all. “You didn’t have to listen to him break. Have to feel it. We’re going to find this Fairy Godmother’s mirror. We’re going to tear through any and everything that gets in our way, and return the favor.”

“Where are Ari and Liam? They were at the Agency.” I knew now I couldn’t persuade Evangeline to let me come along, and I wasn’t crazy enough to argue with Jess.

Jess came over, her motions fluid like the rise and fall of water. She exuded an air of deadly confidence without Grimm to keep her in check. “Building’s empty. The guards keep wishers away. They could be anywhere.”

I shook the Root loose from my hand. “I’m going with you. We can clear out the guards and start figuring out where they went from there.” I struggled to my feet, unwilling to be pushed around any longer. Even though I knew I didn’t stand a chance in a fistfight with her. “I can help you. Let me help.”

Evangeline shoved me backwards so hard I fell into my table. “When are you going to understand? There are bigger problems than your boy toy and someone’s leftover princess. The fae are coming.”

Jess shouldered past her and put one hand on my shoulder in a subtle threat. “Come noon tomorrow there’s going to be a full-on war in Kingdom, and without Grimm, you can’t even set foot in it.”

I held up the Root. “At least take this thing. You can use it to find out where Fairy Godmother’s mirror is.”

Jess shook her head. “We’re done asking questions, and it likes you.” They walked out of my apartment like it was a social call. I’d spent six years in that apartment. It never felt so empty. I never felt so alone.

I DROVE A rental car down to the gates of Kingdom. Without Grimm’s magic I couldn’t even see them. I turned the corner more times than I could count. No matter how many times I closed my eyes, or walked, or wished, nothing happened. The shops still sold gloves instead of gauntlets, and the flowers in the flower cart were cut instead of dancing and singing. Being inches from the streets I wanted to be on didn’t change who I was.

After hours at the gates and dozens of failed attempts, I finally gave up. I walked a few blocks to the pier and ordered a bottle of wine. I listened to the wind and the chimes until nightfall. I looked in my purse, where I had crammed the Root of Lies. That was the real reason I had driven here. I meant to throw it in the water, but honestly, the river was polluted enough already. In less than twenty-four hours, this place would be a war zone of fae killing everyone and Kingdom forces killing the fae. And I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

So I walked to the carousel and got on board. I found the horse I’d ridden with Liam, and ran my hand down the carved mane. With all the cash in my purse, I paid the operator to keep it running while the world spun away. Memories and wine kept me floating all evening. It was the dead of night when the operator finally shut it down. The pier was empty now, silent and dark. The trash of the day skittered in the sea wind as I walked back up to look at the avenue one last time.

I didn’t even have a way to reach Fairy Godmother. She’d promised me one more wish, and I figured there couldn’t be anything worse than what she’d already given me. Then I thought of my nightly reading. That Near History of the Fae book described a dozen different ways people used to treaty with the fae. Most of them were bloody, which fit my mood perfectly, but required equipment and victims. For the oldest and least reliable method, I had everything required.

I knelt in the dark by a puddle and ran my fingers along my eyes. As much as I’d cried in the last month I should have been dehydrated, but I was still plenty drippy. I moved so the moon hung reflected in a puddle, and flicked my tears onto it. The pool rippled and became solid like a mirror.

I felt the presence. “I’m ready for my third wish. Bring it on.”

“Marissa, is that you?” said Grimm.

“YES!” I SHOUTED, not caring who noticed.

“I’m sorry I cannot see you. My current situation has left me weakened. My mirror has been broken.”

“Grimm, I need your help.”

He was silent for so long I was sure I had lost him. “I don’t understand what you need my services for. You have enough Glitter in that vial for two happily ever afters.”

My hand went to my throat, and I felt the vial. I tried to process what he said. I hadn’t even thought about it. I held it up and looked, and sure enough, it shone full. “I thought it was to pay you.”

“Marissa, I’ve always taken my payment up front, split equally between your debt to me, and your own account. The vial was for your own benefit, when our working relationship ended. I hoped when you left this life, you’d buy a better one.”

“I didn’t make a deal with Fairy Godmother. She said freedom was her second blow to me.”

Grimm was quiet again, but when he spoke, I heard pride in his voice. “I want you to go, Marissa. I cannot give you your family or your memory, or any of the things I would have wanted to, but you have to leave. You cannot help here.”

“Ari and Liam got taken, and Evangeline and Jess are going ballistic without you. Where was your mirror?”

The puddle rippled as he spoke. “Even I don’t know. It was safer that way.”

“How’d they find you?”

“Clara handled my safekeeping, my dear. I thought the knowledge died with her, but apparently not. I want you to know I am sorry for how we parted. Now leave. You are no longer bound to me.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I pay my debts, Grimm. This is my life. I can’t go home. I don’t think I ever could, but from now on at least I’ll do things my way.”

The wind kicked up, sending waves through the puddle. My tears could only buy me so much time before the spell broke down. I turned the vial over in my hands. It was a ton of Glitter. Enough to buy me that ever after I always said I wanted, or maybe just enough to go after what mattered to me now.

“See you soon, Grimm.”

What I did next was crazy and desperate, and that’s the only reason it worked. I took off the vial and tossed it into the gutter. I couldn’t afford one single speck of hope on me for it to work. I walked to the corner of the Avenue and closed my eyes. I thought about my family. About my mother. My sister. Ari, and the way Liam had looked at me when I’d told him what I did. I wrapped my sorrow and pain like a cloak about me, and I walked forward. I made it fifteen, maybe twenty paces. I tripped on the curb and went flying into the street.