Terra's Victory (Destiny's Trinities Book 7) (19 page)

Aria’s smile was small. “When we were still learning our craft, there were sometimes accidents. The little ones were caught up in them as much as any creature and they are easily startled and have long memories.”

“They think of you as a supervisor?” Beth asked.

“We are their guardians,” Aria said. “It has not always been a smooth relationship.”

“That’s probably why they came running to humans for protection when the vampeen started plucking off their wings,” Cole said. “Humans probably look less threatening to them.”

“Alas, yes, that is true,” Aria said.

“Explains why they gravitate toward elves,” Diego said gruffly, “if you’re their guardians.”

Blake nudged him. “Sourpuss.”

Beth sighed. “This explains much about the little ones that has puzzled me until now. It also tells me we cannot betray their trust now, by sending them into the thick of the Grimoré. We cannot ask them to take such a risk when we wouldn’t do the same ourselves.”

Wyatt stuck up his hand. “Maybe we don’t have to.”

Beth looked at him.

He gripped his hands together, the big muscles in his forearms rippling. “I read a lot on the road. Well, I used to. Secondhand books mostly. Buy one in one town, sell it in the next and buy another one. There was a story I read…I can’t even remember the rest of it. I just remembered this bit. There was a psychic woman in the story, she could find anything buried in the dirt, especially treasure. She would put her hands out and kinda
feel
stuff. Only this time, she used a map and pointed to the treasure on that. Turns out she was right and I rolled my eyes over the whole thing because even though I was hunting vampires night and day, I still didn’t believe in silly stuff such as psychic abilities. Not then, I didn’t.” He shrugged. “For what it’s worth,” he added.

“A map….” Beth breathed.

“We could start with a big map of North America and move on to a state-only map, then a county map…if the pixies can even do it,” Alexander said.

“I’ll get the maps,” Sera said and disappeared.

“We’ll need a table,” Zack said. “Everyone, pick up the planks you’re sitting on and turn the orange crates on their ends, three a side. Lay the planks over them.”

With so many willing hands, the table was created in sixty seconds. The orange crates were barely mid-thigh in height, so the table was lower than usual, yet it worked and it was surprisingly stable.

Beth took her crate over to the table and settled in front of it. The others gathered around. Sera appeared with rolled maps under her arms and handed them out for everyone to spread upon the table.

They were laminated maps, with topographical details and fine printing on them. They were very high quality maps, of a kind Beth hadn’t seen for years, because everyone used digital maps and satellite navigation, now.

“Where did you get these from?” Beth asked Sera. “They’re perfect.”

Sera smiled. “The library, next block over. In the archives section. I’ll put them back later.”

The maps were organized so the four-foot long map of North America rested on top.

“Now, all we need is a pixie,” Octavia said.

Aria lifted her hand, palm up. “I could arrange that.”

“If you don’t mind, I would rather Lindal do it,” Beth told her. “Lindal, would Ferr help us if you asked?”

“Let me try,” Lindal said. His gaze dropped as he focused on mentally reaching out to the little one.

“The problem is,” Diego said, “how do you ask without the things freaking out at the idea and disappearing with a squawk?”

“That’s true,” Declan said. “They are skittish.”

“Everyone here needs to concentrate on radiating warmth and security. Warm fuzzy thoughts. That should help reassure her. Aria, you might have to…tone down your mental volume, if that’s possible.”

Aria looked at her steadily. “We already tone down our thoughts. If we did not, everyone here would suffer headaches and chills.”

Beth let it go. With so many friendly people in the room, perhaps Aria’s presence would be diluted.

“She’s coming,” Lindal warned. He held up his hand, his palm up and flat.

A bright light flared, then faded. Ferr stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Lindal.

“Creep up on it,” Beth warned him.

Lindal tilted his head to match the angle Ferr held hers. “We have a…game of a kind that we would like you to try for us. Do you understand experiments?”

Ferr levitated with a little yip and disappeared.

Diego groaned. “Idiot,” he told Lindal. “Experiments were what the elementals were doing that left them traumatized in the first place.”

“Oops,” Lindal said.

“Let me try,” Zoe said. She held up her hand and closed her eyes.

Almost instantly, a little man appeared on her palm. Beth was delighted to see he was wearing a plaid shirt, one matched exactly to his scale.

“I have a challenge for you,” Zoe told him. “Everyone here thinks your ability to find things is marvelous.”

He turned on his heels, taking in everyone standing around the makeshift table. His wings unfurled and snapped open and closed a couple of times. It made Beth think he was preening and she hid her smile. Excessive pride seemed to be universal among elementals and their cousins.

Then he closed his wings and looked back at Zoe.

“One of us has suggested that you might be able to find things just by walking over a map, instead of going to the place itself.” She gave him a small smile. “I’m not sure it is even possible, but I thought I would ask. What do you think?”

She was laying down a challenge, a very subtle one.

The pixie walked to the edge of her hand and bent over to look at the table top and the map lying on it. He looked back at Zoe.

“Yes, this map,” she agreed, then listened. Beth saw her gaze flicker around the room.

Warmth and security
, Beth reminded everyone mentally. She reached for feelings of happiness and pride in the little ones, for their help and generosity and their cleverness….

“You know we are fighting a war, don’t you?” Zoe said.

The pixie nodded and Beth wondered if that was something they had picked up from humans. She had never seen them use nods and head-shakes before.

“We have learned that if we could find the one who leads the…ugly ones, we could defeat the enemy,” Zoe said carefully.

The pixie stepped backward at the mention of the ugly ones. He didn’t disappear.

“Some of us think you could stand upon the spot on the map where the leader of the ugly ones can be found. To me, it seems impossible.” Zoe gave him a small smile. “A map is just the same as looking at the Earth from very high up, only—” She broke off as the pixie leapt up in the air and hovered ten feet over the table. He was looking at the map from very high up.

As he flickered and hovered, the little gold sparkles appeared in the air around him, floating down slowly as they faded, just as fireworks did. It was the pixie’s
follow-me
trail, as Beth had begun to think of the golden contrails they left behind when they were leading people.

Then he zoomed down to the map, almost as if he intended to dive bomb it. He landed lightly on Quebec, then turned and walked south. He stopped and put his hands on his hips and looked at Zoe.

“Oh, well done!” she breathed.

“What’s he standing on?” someone asked as everyone pressed in to see.

“New York,” Wyatt announced, as he was closest. He had to bend to look closely, beneath the pixie’s feet.

“Just as we suspected,” Beth said.

“Except maybe he got that from our minds,” Diego said. “Or he likes the shape of the map there.”

“Pessimist,” Alexander told him.

“I’m just saying,” Diego replied.

Zoe held out her hand and the pixie landed on it. “Do you think you could do that again on a different map?” she asked him, her voice full of pride and happiness.

He nodded.

“There’s a map of New York underneath,” Sera said in a soft voice. “I anticipated.”

The map of the state was pulled out and laid on top, while the pixie stood with his arms crossed. Beth wouldn’t have been surprised if he had started tapping his foot.

Almost before the map settled on the table he jumped off Zoe’s hand and walked across the map, heading for the edge of the table. A few inches from the edge, he turned and moved in a loose circle, that gradually tightened, until he stopped and looked up at Zoe.

“Where?” she asked.

He stamped his foot.

“He’s standing on Saratoga Springs,” Wyatt said. “No…just south of it, maybe a couple of miles out of the town.” He stood up. “He’s got big feet for such a little thing.”

“Shh…” Mia told him. “You’ll offend the little guy.”

Wyatt rolled his eyes.

“Okay, so where does that leave us?” Diego said. “He planted himself just south of Saratoga. So what? It doesn’t prove anything.”

“It’s not conclusive. It
does
fit in with what we know of Grimoré migration patterns,” Wyatt said. “Also, where we think the portal is.”

“And he might be telling us exactly what he thinks we want to hear. See.” Diego clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Someone has to go check the place out and see if he’s not spinning us a story.”

The pixie flew at Diego, chittering madly.

“Oh no…” Sera breathed.

Diego stared calmly at the pixie. “Just saying,
amigo
. This proves nothing,” he told him.

The pixie stomped his foot again, in mid-air. Then with a decisive snap of his wings, he disappeared.

“Damn it, Diego,” Lindal said. “We were just starting to get somewhere.”

“No, wait a moment,” Beth said, putting her hand on Lindal’s arm. “Just wait.”

Suddenly, the air was full of pixies, so many of them the gold contrails mixed and blended into a bright fog that left afterimages on the back of Beth’s retinas.

All of the pixies were chittering, flitting in tight little circles.

“They’re afraid,” Sera said, putting her fingers to her temples.

“They went and found the bad men,” Lindal said slowly, staring up at them.

“
Men
?” Beth repeated.

Lindal nodded. “Big. Bigger than us big people. Big heads. All white. Bad eyes.” He looked at Beth. “Three of them.”

“They tried to hurt them. They…squeezed them,” Sera said and gasped. Her forefinger and thumb closed together, demonstrating.

That made the pixies levitate and chitter even harder.

“We have to calm them down,” Beth said, lifting her voice over the noise. “Everyone, Zen out. Calm. Peace. Wind chimes in your heads. Go on.”

Aria raised her hands.

Instantly, the air was clear of pixies, with only fading sparkles left to drift down.

“They left again!” Diego said, sounding disgusted.

“Um, no,” Lindal said. He pointed at his chest.

Something was moving under his shirt, squirming. Light glowed through the fibers. As they watched, the pixie lifted the open edge of Lindal’s shirt and peeped out. He looked up at Lindal and gave a very soft peep, with an enquiring tone.

Beth looked around the table. There were more pixies, emerging from behind ears, under collars and one was pushing herself up from inside the pocket on Rhys’ shirt, her hand around the pen clipped to the top. They were all silent.

Beth cleared her throat. “Thank you, Aria. I think. Lindal, Sera, you picked up what they were saying more clearly than anyone else. What did they see? I mean,” she added hastily, “apart from the three things.”

“Three,” Zack said. “It seems appropriate that there are three of them. Look at us.” He indicated the trinities standing around the table.

Lindal was frowning. “It was dark.”

“But not cold,” Sera added.

“Damp,” Mia added and shivered. When Beth looked at her, she shrugged. “I saw it, too.”

“The walls were very rough,” Sera said. “I wouldn’t want to brush my hands over them.”

“Underground?” Zack suggested.

“Yes,” Lindal said firmly.

“Sera said it wasn’t cold. At this time of year, a cave should be fucking miserable,” Cairo pointed out.

“It wasn’t cold,” Sera said, as firmly as Lindal.

“A cave would make sense,” Blake said. “There are caves and springs all around Saratoga.”

“
Springs
,” Beth said. “Hot springs.”

“Yes,” Sera said, nodding. “That was what it was. I didn’t actually see it. I can feel that it was there, though.” She bent to look at the pixie sitting on Blake’s shoulder, kicking his heels. “Did you see the spring? Blue water and steam?”

The pixie flipped into the air and cavorted in a tight circle, bright sparkles building around him. The others also chittered and some of them climbed into the air. Beth saw their combined image in her mind. A big, rough walled cave, half filled with very deep, warm blue water that lapped at the edges. They wouldn’t turn their heads to look any farther than the edge of the water because
they
were there….

Aria cleared her throat.

The pixies fell silent once more. The pixie rolling in the air in front of Sera dived into her hair and wrapped himself in her blonde locks. He separated strands and peeped out, only his face showing.

“Did everyone get that?” Beth asked. “Steaming water, a cave and
them
?”

“Sure,” Diego said. “Even I got that. It was blinding.”

“Blinding enough to jump to?” Beth asked.

Silence. She could almost
feel
the sudden fear in all of them.

“I know how to jump blind,” Sera said. “I’ll go.”

The shouting and the babble of protests in reaction to Sera’s statement was too loud to speak and be heard.

Let them vent
, came a cool voice in her mind.
Let them get used to the idea.

Beth glanced at Aria. She was looking directly at her.

Beth nodded and waited. She caught Sera’s eye. Sera wore a rueful expression.

When the shouting had abated enough that Beth could raise her voice above it, she spoke loudly. “We know where they are now. We have all agreed that killing them will end this war. This is the only way.”