new.”
“Who is she?”
“Jillian O'Neil.”
“And you met her, how?”
“She…she came to the club…specifically to…see me. To train with me.”
“Why you ? Who are you? What am I missing?”
“I am... we are the Guardians. I train them and set the coordinates for New York. Jillian thinks she is fighting demons, most of the Guardians do. They don’t believe the old stories, even the ones from Ireland. I thought Jillian would be different, that she would understand what they were, being from Ireland and with her parents... But Fairy tales are just that to them, tales. To her, the Fae are the wee people. They don’t show themselves, they are pixies and sprites no bigger than your pinky.”
“What does it matter what she calls them, so long as she kills them?”
“It matters now, Tony. It matters a great deal. If she kills a Light Fae…”
“Oh… I see. Then Auberon may decide we aren’t to be trusted after all.” I nodded thinking about it. I would just have to shadow her and make sure she didn’t kill any Light Fae, then.
“She isn’t the only one out there fighting, Antony. I’ve trained others. I’ve taught them only to engage the ones that take notice of them, that come after them, the ones they can lure away from other humans. As long as the Light Fae continue to ignore us, they are safe.”
“So, you don’t want me shadowing Jillian, making sure she doesn’t accidentally blow it?”
“No. Jillian is a great Guardian. She does an excellent job keeping her part of Central Park safe from predators. All predators, not just the Dark Fae.”
“So, who are these others you keep dancing around?”
“Some are like us, Rom, or Sióga Feiceanns. Some are like Jillian. They have all vowed to keep the humans safe from the Dark Fae. Lately, activity in New York has picked up, and we aren’t sure why. The Dark Fae seem to be more organized, as though they are working together, searching for something. Central Park has been very busy in the last week.”
“And you didn’t think to mention that while Max was here? That might be something King Auberon needs to know.”
“I wasn’t exactly prepared to tell the Prince of Faerie anything! It’s not my job to inform them of what is going on in New York.”
“You’re right. It’s not your job. It’s mine,” I said, turning on my heel as I left the room. I slammed the door to my bedroom and grabbed my duffle bag off of the floor.
I rummaged around inside of it until I found the mirror that Max had made me swear I would use. Phones were not very useful in the Faerie Mound. I held the mirror up and tapped on the glass three times and called his name.
“Max Fergus, Prince of Light and Illusion, answer my call.”
“Ready to come home already, Tones?”
I grinned at Max’s image. “No, Dude. I’ve got important news. I’ve got some crazy news too, but mostly some important news. First, though, I should say congratulations on the triplets.”
Max grinned. “We’ve got three beautiful children, two boys and a girl. Auberon and Tatiana are over the moon with the thought of how powerful they might be Fae-wise. I finally had to put my foot down and tell him Shifter Politics come first. Didn’t seem to faze him, though.”
“I’ll bet. I’ll do a reading for them as soon as I can, but first you have to hear this. It seems my uncle is the leader of a group called the Guardians. Ever hear of them?”
“Only rumors. We’ve been told not to battle them, if we ever come across one.”
“Right. Well, they are like me, Sióga Feiceanns, who fight the Dark Fae, or any Fae that they can get to fight, I suppose. Mostly, they go after the evil ones, daring them to take them on.”
“Which is why it doesn’t work on the Light Fae. We don’t expose ourselves to humans or prey on humans as the Dark do, so we are not targets for the Guardians. I could see how a Light Fae might get mistaken for a Dark, though, if he were say, involved