"Maurice."
Asmondius Pickle, head of the Fae Disciplinary Council that had exiled him to
Earth a year-and-a-half ago, faded into view inside the Wishing Ball. "How
are you, lad? Not getting itchy at this late date, are you?"
"Forget about
me." Maurice snarled under his breath as his wings snapped into
chop-and-liquefy speed. He clenched his fists and put all his control into
calming them and folding them back out of the way. This was just another sign
of how the pressure lately had messed him over. "It's Angela. I gotta know
what's happening back home, and if it's coming after her."
"Coming after
her?"
The Wishing Ball
turned opaque, and then divided into two solid rainbow-swirled balls. One
floated across the counter and over the edge, to drop to the floor and expand,
while the other rainbow ball stayed in place and returned to normal Wishing
Ball condition. The first expanded until Asmondius could step through it. He
leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter.
"What has been
going on back home?" He leaned over Maurice for three seconds, then sighed
and snapped his fingers, and vanished in a shower of sparks, to reappear
standing on the counter, shrunken so he was eye-to-eye with Maurice.
"That's better. What's this about something coming after Angela? I thought
everything was settled once that doppelganger immolated on the town's shield.
Don't tell me the rebel Fae have snuck back under our watch?"
"Who knows? The
guardians and everybody slapped them down good enough, they should be licking
their wounds and sulking for a couple years. The thing is, I figure with all
the fuss over Mellisande dying and the anti-hereditary royalty loonies running
around, and a bunch of different ministries hunting for who poisoned the
chocolate, and figuring it came from Earth and carob-tainted chocolate, and
taking so long to let Epsi out of the holding tank to help hunt and... Well,
maybe some of the real extreme morons want to cut off all ties with the Human
world." Maurice shrugged. "Can't stand Fae politics. It's even worse
than what the Humans are going through, and that's saying a lot."
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