My little friends landed on Gold, two dozen or more clinging to his mane. My eyes adjusted to the dark, with only ghosts of light sparkling here and there. I dragged what felt like an unwilling spell through my pounding head and cast a circle of light into the air.
That startled everyone more than the darkness had. It also half-blinded me, but at last I saw something helpful. We were in a castle with a high ceiling, wood beams, and unlit torches.
I lit as many as I could while my circle of light sputtered and died. The torches were not as bright, but they were welcome.
I fell off Gold.
Adon picked me up and set me on a bench. I grabbed hold of the nearby table and tried not to fall over again. The other fae were settling the humans, and I felt like Adon, Gold, and I were supposed to fix this mess. Adon even looked at me as if he expected an answer to this mess.
"I have no clue," I mumbled. "I don't even know where we are."
Gold scratched something into the wooden table. Adon leaned forward to read it.
"Between," he said.
That was a relief, actually. Between was a known location, a fixed point in the Fae realms. Best of all, it was a nexus to many other locations. We were not stuck here.
However, there was still a problem. Of course.
"Where are the Keepers?" I asked, glancing around, hoping to see them at another table enjoying the unexpected guests. I stopped quickly. The room moved now and Adon grabbed my shoulder before I slid to the floor.
I looked back at my cousin. "This is annoying."
"Move slowly," Adon said. "Turn and watch the hearth."
I did what he said, mostly because protesting would make it worse. Besides, maybe he and Gold knew something about this place, since they traveled more than I did. So I turned, grateful that he still held on. I stared.
For a moment, a stranger stood before the hearth. He noted my attention and nodded my way -- right before he rippled and disappeared. That couldn't be good.
"He was a Keeper, wasn't he?" I asked. "Where did he go?"
"He is still there. We aren't."
"We didn't do anything -- oh. We came in out of phase. We need to fix that before we are stuck."
"Glad to see your brain working again,' he said. Gold made an encouraging sound of agreement. 'You are the only Fae I know who has had experience with being out of phase."
"I was very young."
"People constantly tell me you have an excellent memory."
"We didn't do well, you know."
"But you were not in charge."
This time I scoffed. Adon was probably the only person, human or Fae, who could make me feel even slightly amused about the event that had changed my life.
"I was eleven years old, Adon. If I had been in charge, it would have been a far greater disaster than it had been."
"I don't think so," Adon said. He sounded so serious that I squirmed like a puppy under his hand. "You saved twenty --"
"Out of 100," I reminded him. Then I lifted my hand and quieted him. "They are phase guides."
"The little demons?" he said, startled. "What were they doing when they attacked us? We weren't --"
"We were already out of phase," I said. It was all coming clearer now. "They attacked us because they mistook us for another group."
"All two-legs look alike."
I stared at the hearth again and saw the Keeper look my way and nod. I couldn't decide if he agreed with what we said, or if he was just noting our presence. Keepers are fae with special abilities, and I hoped they were working on my group's problems. I couldn't just leave it to them, though. We were already running out of time. The phase guides were gathering around us, making frantic sounds.
If I didn't do something, we would be lost.
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