* * *

“Hello, Ethan Chase,” the Thin Man greeted, raising one pale hand to wave at me. “We meet yet again.”

“Kenzie, get back,” I growled, as Razor bared his fangs with a hiss and leaped to her shoulder. “Grab your knife and any iron you may have. Razor, stay with her. Don’t leave her side for a second, understand?” The gremlin buzzed an affirmative, and I heard her scramble away, shrugging out of her pack, but didn’t dare take my eyes off the faery in front of us.

The tall fey blinked calmly, a faint smile on his narrow face, as if he thought I was being unreasonable. “You can relax, Ethan Chase,” he said in a cool, serene voice. “I am not here to fight you.”

“Yeah? Then you can leave.” I jabbed a sword toward the entrance of the ruins. “Right now. And don’t pull your damn disappearing act, either. I want to see you go.”

He sighed. “Well, you said he would be unreasonable,” he stated, to the empty air, apparently. I scowled in bewilderment. “I suppose I should have listened and let you explain things from the start.”

“A common lament,” purred another, familiar voice, coming from the top of the arch where Razor had been a moment before. “And one that nobody realizes until it is too late.”

I grimaced. Well, you did wish he was here earlier, Ethan. This is probably your own damn fault. And the gremlin is going to start screeching right about...

“Bad kitty!” Razor wailed as I turned back. “Evil, bad kitty! Drown in lake! Shave off fur! Burn, burn!” Kenzie, wincing at the shrill gremlin voice two inches from her ear, pried Razor off her shoulder and told him to shush. Grimalkin blinked at us lazily, bushy gray tail curled around himself, looking smug. I eyed him and the Thin Man in turn, feeling utterly confused.

“What the hell is going on?”

Grimalkin twitched his tail. “I knew you would come here eventually,” he said, as Kenzie finally got the gremlin to calm down. “It was only a matter of time before you sought out the Exile Queen, and, as you have discovered, the trods to the Between no longer work.”

“Why is that?” Kenzie asked, coming forward as she frowned up at the cat. Razor mumbled something that sounded nasty and vanished into her hair. “Does it have anything to do with the Veil disappearing a few months ago?”

“We are uncertain,” the Thin Man said from across the pool. I glared at him; he wasn’t moving any closer, but all he had to do was turn his paper-thin body to face me head-on, and I would lose sight of him. And he knew how to move around so that it stayed that way, essentially becoming invisible. I’d been stabbed enough times with a crazy thin sword that appeared out of nowhere; I really didn’t want to go through that again. “We do not know what has happened to the Between, exactly,” the Thin Man went on, “but I suspect that is the case. You will not be able to reach the Exile Queen by trod. If you want to get to Leanansidhe, you must travel through the Between itself. But I don’t recommend you go alone.” He steepled long fingers in front of his face. “The Between is...not friendly to those who do not know the way. If you are unsure as to where you are going, you will quickly become lost and wander for eternity.”

“Let me guess,” I said flatly. “You can take us there.”

Atop the arch, Grimalkin yawned. “Do you have a better idea, human?” he asked, slitting his eyes at me.

“I’m not letting him take us through the Between,” I snapped, gesturing sharply with my blade. “We’re going there to find Annwyl, and last I checked, he was trying to drag her back to his creepy Forgotten town. Oh, yeah, and kill the rest of us.” I fixed him with a hard glare. “What’s to stop him from leaving us in the Between and then going to Leanansidhe’s himself for Annwyl?”

“No, Ethan Chase.” The Thin Man’s voice was suddenly quiet, lethal. “It is far too late for that. The damage is done. Taking the Summer girl would have no effect on the Iron Prince now. The prophecy has been set into motion.”

“What does that have to do with anything? You still tried to kill us.”

“I never personally wished you harm, Ethan Chase,” the Thin Man almost hissed at me. “I was simply trying to restore the balance, to prevent the rise of the First Queen. But you have started something that could tear the fabric of this world apart. Because of you, the prophecy came to pass. Because of you, the Veil is now weak, unstable. And after the First Queen eliminates the courts and takes control of the Nevernever, she will attempt to destroy it again. Permanently.”

A chill spread through my insides. Destroy the Veil, allowing all humans to see the fey. Forever this time. Meghan said it wasn’t possible to permanently rip it apart, but I’d heard enough to know we could never let that happen again.

“Could she really do that?” Kenzie whispered. The Thin Man raised his wiry shoulders in a shrug.

“I do not wish to find out,” he said solemnly. “I simply want the balance restored, the First Queen stopped and the Forgotten put to rest once more. But I cannot face the First Queen alone, not with the power she wields now. The Iron Prince is at the heart of the prophecy. He will be the one to unleash hell upon both worlds. He is the one who must be stopped.”

“And Annwyl?” Kenzie asked. “What do you plan to do, once we find her?”

“The Summer girl is the key to the Iron Prince,” the Thin Man replied. “She may be his only weakness. But worry not,” he added, holding up a hand as Kenzie glared at him. “I do not intend to threaten, kidnap, put her in harm’s way, or drag her back to Phaed. She is in no danger from me. Quite the opposite, in fact. I will not allow anything to damage the girl before we reach the Iron Prince.”

Kenzie crossed her arms. “I want a promise,” she announced. “Can you swear to me that you mean Annwyl no harm?”

I smiled at her, surprised. Getting a faery to promise anything was a big deal, as They absolutely could not break Their vows, even if They wanted to. I was amazed at how fast she had learned Faery’s many quirks and idiosyncrasies; navigating the fey world was tricky to say the least, but Kenzie had pulled it off all on her own in a matter of months. She would, I realized with a flicker of both pride and regret, be just fine when it came to the invisible world. She didn’t need me to handle Faery for her; she was more than capable of dealing with it herself. Put a sword in her hands and teach her how to fight, and she would be unstoppable.

The Thin Man made an annoyed gesture with his hand. “Oh, very well.” He sighed. “Stubborn humans. If this is what it takes.” He straightened, putting both spiderlike hands on his chest. “I, elected mayor of Phaed and caretaker of the Forgotten, do swear to aid Ethan Chase and...friends—” he eyed Razor, peeking out of Kenzie’s hair, and curled a lip “—in the search to find Annwyl, the former handmaiden of Queen Titania. I also do swear not to threaten, kidnap or physically harm the Summer girl in any way. This I swear, on pain of death, unraveling and nonexistence.” He paused and stared at Kenzie in defiance. “Is that sufficient enough for you, my girl?”

Kenzie glanced at me. I shrugged. There was probably some hidden faery loophole in that promise, some funny turn of phrase I wasn’t seeing, but it sounded good enough for now. “Okay.” Kenzie nodded, looking back at the Thin Man. “I guess we can accept that.”