"There are three possible Fates, but I only know of one. She lives nearby. You know her pretty well, actually - or as well as anyone can know that old bag of rags. And what does she do all day long? She whistles through the s.p.a.ces where her teeth used to be, she pulls the wings off innocent pixies, and she generally just stinks up the place." He frowned in concentration. "Yeah ... that pretty much covers what she does on a daily basis."

I got a bad feeling in my stomach, my sausages like lumps of lead weight in there. I knew exactly who he was talking about, and all those boxes of tiny mimickers were suddenly taking on a whole new meaning for me.

"It's Maggie, isn't it?"

"Of course it's Maggie. Who else would it be? You? I know the description was a bit deceiving, but no, it's not you. It's the old hag in the woods. Your lovely grandmother."

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

I WANTED TO TALK MORE about this disaster of my arch rival Samantha being a Fate for all the fae around me, and my grandmother being a friggin Fate with a zillion tiny soul parts in her closet, but I lost my audience as soon as he spied the wrapped package lying on the table in our sitting room area.

"Oooh, what's this? A present? I wonder who it's for."

"It's probably for me," I said, walking over.

Tim beat me to it. "Ha! Wrong! It's for me!" He spun around to face me, his eyes all aglow. "What do you think it is? It has no return label on it."

I smiled knowingly. It looked suspiciously like the fabric that my cloak had come in, but wrapped around a much smaller package.

"Open it and see."

"What if it's a trap?" he said, eyeing it warily now. "I have valuable information. Someone might be trying to silence me."

"As if anyone could silence you. Just open it."

"You do it. If it's a trap, it's better if you fall into it."

I laughed. "Why me?"

"You don't have a wife and child."

"True. But that doesn't mean I want a spell on my a.s.s."

Tim flew down closer to the package, hovering just above it, moving back and forth to view it from all angles. "It looks safe."

"Can you detect any magic on it?"

"No. But I'm only good with listening spells."

"Here." I walked over and picked it up. "I'll do the string. You do the rest."

I pulled on the colored twine that was wrapped around the fabric paper covering the item inside. I could feel the soft body of the cloak in my hands, turning it over so Tim could reach the open edges of the wrapping.

"Go ahead, pixieman. Open it."

Tim flew over and grabbed one edge, flying backwards to pull it over and away from the contents. Then he came back and took the other edge, repeating his earlier motions, revealing a purple and green, sparkling piece of material underneath. It matched his wings to perfection.

He gasped, throwing his hand up over his mouth. "What the ...?"

I smiled, looking out towards the garden. "Hey, Abby! w.i.l.l.y! Come over here and check this out!"

w.i.l.l.y came flying up from the table, food all over his face. "Lellamental!" he shouted, coming straight for my forehead. I closed my eyes, waiting for impact, but it never came.

I heard a giggle and opened one eye. w.i.l.l.y was hovering just at the end of my nose.

"See me, Lellamental? I can stop now!"

"That's awesome, w.i.l.l.y. You're as good as your daddy. Just stay away from my nose, okay?"

"How come?" he asked innocently.

"Because you might accidentally lose a polly ball up there again."

"Oh, that wasn't an axe-ka-dent, silly. They were there because I put them in there for a game."

Before I could discuss the terrible idea of using my nose as part of a polly ball game, his mother came up beside him. "w.i.l.l.y, leave Jayne's nose alone. I've already talked to you about this before."

"I didn't touch it! She said it, not me!"

"Hey, guys," I said, interrupting the tantrum I saw coming, "guess what ...Tim got a pretty cool package today. I thought you might want to see him open it."

Tim was frozen in place, his hand over his mouth, his face white. If I wasn't mistaken, I thought there might even be a couple of tears gathering in his eyes.

"What's wrong, darling?" asked Abby, rushing over to be next to him.

"Papa, why are you crying?" asked w.i.l.l.y, sounding like he was ready to bawl himself.

"I'm not," he whispered. "I just ... I just can't believe this."

"Can't believe what, Tim?" asked Abby, staring down at the package. She looked up at me. "What is this, Jayne?"

I pushed open the last two flaps of wrapper that were covering the gift. "I think it's a cloak."

Abby gasped at the winking lights that came up to greet our eyes as the magic in the material was fully revealed. Then she gasped and shrieked, grabbing onto Tim's arm and shaking him like a ragdoll. His head whipped back and forth. "Tim! It's a councilman's cloak! It's a councilman's cloak!"

"I know it is!" he shrieked back, grabbing her hands and shaking them right along with her. They started bouncing up and down together in the air, both of them busting with pride and excitement. I was a little worried someone was going to get pixied if they weren't careful.

"What's dat?!" yelled w.i.l.l.y, trying to get a closer look.

Abby grabbed his arm as he flew by, halting his forward progress and jerking him back and making him look like a dog who'd run out of leash.

"Lemme go, Momma! I wanna touch it!"

"Don't do it, Baby Bee," I said. "Anyone who touches it who's not supposed to gets a really bad burn. Owie."

He stared up at me, suspicion in his eyes. "Huh-uh. You're lyin' so I won't touch it."

I shook my head. "I promise. You can ask the girl it happened to. It was that succubus, Theresa."

He looked down at the cloak, a new expression of fear mixed with respect there. "Okay. I won't touch it then. But maybe only a little."

Abby pulled him closer. "No. Not even a little, w.i.l.l.y. It belongs to your papa, but only if he wants it." She looked up at her husband, and from the angle I was standing, I couldn't tell if she wanted Tim to take it or not.

Tim slowly dropped down until he was just a few inches away from the cloak. "How could I possibly say no?"

"You can't," I said. "It's a huge honor, and the fact of the matter is, we need you on that council. There needs to be not only a pixie, but also a fae who knows about our world and the human world. Someone who's been around for a while. Someone who doesn't just blindly follow orders. Someone who's awesomely awesome. Someone like you, Tim."

He looked up, meeting my eyes. "Did you nominate me?"

"No. I didn't even know I could do that. Celine did. Dardennes seconded and Aidan thirded. I tried to fourth it, but I guess the voting doesn't go that high."

"Noooo..." He smiled like I was joking. "Celine? Dardennes?"

"Serious," I said, putting my hand over my heart. "And everyone agreed. It was pretty much unanimous."

"It would have to be," whispered Tim, looking back at the gift.

I reached down and pulled it from the wrapper. "Come on, roomie. Try it on."

He looked at Abby. "Should I?"

She smiled tremulously. "Of course you should, Tim. You were meant to be on the council. Born to it."

I held it up near the edge of the table, so he could fly down and put it on. I noticed it had holes in the back for his wings. "Get down here and try it on for size. I'll bet it fits perfectly."

Tim for once followed my orders, and as soon as the cloak was on, it really started to shimmer.

"Whhooooaaaa, Papa, that's reeeallly pretty," said w.i.l.l.y, stumbling over himself to get over there and touch it. The kid couldn't help himself.

Tim flew up, testing the feel of it with his wings. He executed three barrel-rolls in a row and nothing bad happened. The cloak streamed out behind him like a real superhero's cape. "You're right, Jayne. It is perfect. Made just for me." He sounded amazed.

"Of course it was made just for you. You see any other tiny fae who could fit into that thing?"

"Abby could. She's deserving."

I instantly felt bad, discounting her like that. "Of course she is. But she's busy with w.i.l.l.y, so it wouldn't be fair to put you both on the council. Who'd take care of the baby?"

Abby smiled at me, nodding once to acknowledge my save. Tim was too busy flying around and admiring himself in the mirror to pay any attention to us. w.i.l.l.y kept flying behind him, trying to catch up so he could put his boogery fingers all over the cloak, but Tim was too fast for him.

"Come on, council member, we have a meeting to go to," I said.

"We do?!" he squealed. "Oh my G.o.d, my hair!" He flew back over to the mirror and desperately started smacking his head, trying to get his 'do back in place.

Abby sighed, flying up to be near my face, staring over at her husband with me. "You do realize you've just expanded his ego about ten times its normal size."

"Try fifty times."

She smiled. "You might be right about that."

"But that's why we love him, right?" I asked.

She looked at me and sighed. "I suppose it is."

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.

WE FLEW DOWN THE HALLWAY, me on running moccasins, Tim through the air, both of our cloaks fluttering out behind us. We weren't the last ones to arrive at the meeting, but we definitely made the grandest entrance. I threw the door open, making the announcement I knew Tim craved deep down inside.

"Ladies and Gentlefae, may I present ... our newest council member, the awesomely awesome Tim the Pixie!"

Tim came flying through the door, buzzing everyone around the table, causing every one of them but Jared to sit back suddenly to avoid a collision, before coming to rest on the back of my chair. He stood there, his hands on his hips and his legs spread wide, surveying all before him. I was totally b.u.mmed he didn't have a tunic with a giant letter S on the front, because it was the only thing his superhero costume was missing at this point.

A couple fae looked irritated, a few were smiling, and Aidan and Jared were laughing behind their hands, pretending to cough.

"Welcome, Tim," said Dardennes, nodding his head in our direction. "I'm pleased to see you've accepted our offer."

Tim bowed back at him. "I'm pleased you all finally came to your senses and offered a cloak to someone truly deserving."

I snorted. "Tim says thanks and it's about time."

I saw Celine smile before she turned her head away, facing Dardennes. He gave no indication that he'd heard what I said, but I knew better. Dardennes never missed a trick.

Gregale and Tony came in and shut the door behind them, interrupting Tim's initiation.

The room was instantly humming with the energy generated by our antic.i.p.ation, all of us wanting to hear what this gray elf and wrathe had to say. Today we'd find out if we really could open the portals and put those pesky dragons back in business.

I wasn't sure which answer I was hoping for, only that I prayed I wouldn't have to be involved in recruiting those giant lizards back into service. I couldn't imagine it'd be an easy job, what with us not only firing their mates but also killing them off, causing all of them to have to go live in the Otherworlds. I knew if it were me, I'd be like, "Say what now? You want me to sit at this stupid door and guard your f.u.c.ked up world after you stabbed my husband in the heart and pulled his teeth out? Oh h.e.l.l no. How about you come on over here and get your head fried off just for asking." I smiled, thinking about what a kicka.s.s dragon I'd make.

But they weren't asking me what I thought about the whole plan, and I was pretty sure I wasn't really qualified to be giving any advice on the matter anyway, so I quit fantasizing about flying and breathing fire and sat down. Ben had come in quietly just before Tony and Gregale, and had taken the chair to my left, saying nothing. So far, he hadn't even acknowledged me, which was only a little irritating since we were supposedly on the same side now with this super secret plan and everything. I rolled my eyes. Guys are so stupid with their head games.

"Gregale, you and Tony are welcome to come stand here at the head of the table to share your findings with the council."

Gregale nodded and quickly moved past my chair to stand near Celine's. Tony followed and stood just behind him, catching my eye and smiling at me. He was so adorable up there I want to jump up and hug him, but I restrained myself, giving him a saucy wink instead.

"Thank you for including us in your decision-making process," said Gregale, his voice belying his nervousness. "We have consulted our history and the memories of the oldest fae to determine the best course of action for ending this current crisis."

I could hear Ben take a deep breath and let it out, sounding almost irritated. I looked around the room, but no one else seemed to notice.