The key was the last piece I needed to make the situation perfectly frustrating: a murder without a motive, a curse without a cure, and now a key without a lock. If I could fit them together somehow, I would be in business. Fighting to focus past my headache, I opened my eyes and climbed back into the car, where the dome light would let me see the key more clearly and the heater would keep me from freezing.

There seemed to be no logic to the twisted brambles making up the key's head and handle; they were tangled like real vines, and looked like they'd keep on growing if left alone. For all I knew, they would. I narrowed my eyes, looking for the place where the briars began. There were differences in the lines of metalwork if I looked closely enough. Some of the tangles were picked out in darker metals-copper, bronze, or gold-while others blended back into the silver handle. I chose a vine outlined in gold, following it through an overhang of carved ivy and rose branches until it faded behind a triple-twist of interlocked thorns. Jackpot.

Threes are sacred in Faerie. We have three Courts and three rulers, the absent King and Queens that par ented our myriad races. Most of our legends say there are three roads to any destination: the hard way, the easy way, and the long way. Evening was a traditionalist. Even when she played human, part of her wasn't willing to fully hide what she was, and so her human name was Evelyn Winters, and the name of her human business was Third Road Enterprises. She brokered her faerie gold and natural skills through the doors of Third Road, and no one ever looked twice, even though the name announced what she was hiding.

Third Road Enterprises, whose offices were coincidentally just a short drive from where I was studying the key she'd been so anxious to protect. I don't believe in coincidence. Everything happens for a reason in this world. I had a destination again. Now . . . well, now I just needed a lock to go with my key.

NINE.

THIRD ROAD ENTERPRISES WAS DARK when I arrived. According to the clock on the dashboard, it was a little less than an hour to dawn, when the janito rial staff would probably start to arrive. The rest of the staff wouldn't show up for a few hours after that, if they came to work at all. It was two days before Christmas, after all. If there was any time when I'd be reasonably able to get in and out undetected, it was now.

Despite my best efforts, I found myself wondering how many of the people who worked there would spend the next few days feigning sorrow before suddenly finding work a lot more pleasant. Evening was even worse with people than I am; she froze them out, while I just let them pa.s.s me by. Most folks would forget me if I disappeared again, but they'd remember Evening. They always remembered Evening: she was too wild and strange and fair to forget.

The people in that building would never have believed in Evening's true face. They thought they knew her, but they were wrong. They knew a woman as human as they were, and I was willing to bet none of them ever looked for anything deeper. They'd never needed to, because in their world, you put Faerie away when you turned off the nursery lights. There's no place for us in the human world these days, and still we can't let go.

And when the h.e.l.l did it go back to being "we"?

I walked toward the building, grateful for the lack of security guards. Considering my stained and increasingly grimy gown, no one was going to believe I had a good reason to be entering an upscale office building in the middle of the night. There's pushing the bounds of credibility, and then there's just getting silly.

The taste of roses faded as I walked. It was like playing a game of Hot or Cold with the rules reversed: the closer I got to my goal, the harder it got to know where I was going. If I caught Evening's killer, the curse would snap and the roses would fade altogether, leaving me free to live or die as I chose. My fingers continued tracing the outline of the key cupped in my palm, trying to puzzle out its secrets. Evening had been more worried about it than she was about her own life. Why? Borrowed memories moved in the back of my mind, hissing, The key will open the way in Goldengreen, The key will open the way in Goldengreen, in her voice. I stopped where I was, almost stumbling. in her voice. I stopped where I was, almost stumbling.

Riding the blood isn't an exact art: bits and pieces of the person you travel with can linger for days afterward, their secrets shaking loose like sand through a sieve. I hadn't thought of the key in conjunction with Goldengreen before. It made perfect sense. I didn't want it to.

Goldengreen was Evening's knowe, and the gateway to her small holdings in the Summerlands. It was locked and sealed to her desires, and the idea of going in didn't appeal. Once I set foot inside the boundaries of Goldengreen, the odds of being caught would go through the roof. I hadn't considered that. What would someone who'd been able to kill Evening do to me? Probably nothing I'd enjoy. Not that I had any choice-not with Evening's curse egging me on. If the key unlocked something in Goldengreen, Goldengreen was my next destination.

The front door wasn't locked, despite the lateness of the hour. I hesitated with my hand on the handle, then walked inside and crossed to the elevator. There were no security guards. I still didn't relax until the elevator doors closed between me and the lobby, and I was headed upward, toward the administrative offices on the ninth floor. The last thing I wanted was to be questioned about what I was doing there, but my luck was holding.

It couldn't last. The door from the elevator lobby on the ninth floor was locked. Worse, it was one of those new keycard locks, which meant I couldn't even try picking it. I rattled the handle a few times before I gave up, scowling. "Great," I said, "now what am I supposed to do?"

Sometimes reality stops being subtle in favor of smacking you upside the head. Standing in front of a locked door with a magic key in your hand probably counts. I lifted the key. Somehow, not even the dimly flickering safety lights could make it look like the tacky stage prop it should have been.

"Will you let me in?" Hoping that I wasn't completely insane, I pressed it against the lock, and said, "I'm here by leave of the Countess of Goldengreen."

Nothing happened. I hit the door with the heel of my hand, saying, "Open sesame, d.a.m.n it."

The key flared, and the door swung open.

I gaped. Then, recovering my senses, I stepped through the door before it could change its mind. It made sense, in a twisted sort of way: most people would a.s.sume that Evening had her locks set to the more florid formal patterns. She could keep almost everyone out just by keeping things simple.

The office was almost totally dark. I pulled the door shut behind me, easing it closed, and stayed where I was, giving my eyes a chance to adjust. I hadn't seen any guards or tripped any alarms that I was aware of, but that didn't mean turning on the lights would be a good idea-and I, prepared as always, had left my flashlight in the trunk. Finding a path through the office would've been a cakewalk for Evening or my mother, but I knew the limits of my changeling's eyes. If I didn't take time to adjust, I was going to smash my shins against someone's desk.

Unfortunately, my eyes weren't adjusting. My head hurt, and thanks to the expensively tinted windows, there was almost no ambient light in the office. "Next time I bring the flashlight," I muttered. The key in my hand suddenly blazed a brilliant white. I jerked my face away with a small, incoherent cry.

It took a moment for the afterimages to fade. When I was sure I hadn't been blinded for life, I turned back toward the key, which was glowing with a rich, rosy light. I stared at it for a moment before shaking my head, muttering, "Lovely," under my breath. Holding the key in front of me like a strange art nouveau torch, I began picking my way through the maze of desks.

The work s.p.a.ces were almost all decorated with some small, personal touch-a photograph, a selection of small toys, a child's drawing. One of the desks was practically a shrine to Tinker Bell, decorated with a half dozen ceramic representations of the world's most famous pixie. I paused, looking at a figurine of the little blonde b.i.t.c.h posed coyly atop a thimble. Every changeling in the world would love to shove her into a microwave, but Disney, alas, is more powerful than most of us could ever hope to be. Shaking my head, I moved along.

Most of the desks were in cubicles, open to anyone that pa.s.sed by, but there were a few more enclosed offices along the back wall, their doors closed and locked. The one I wanted was tucked into the far corner, where the view of the city would be at its best. A plain faux bra.s.s nameplate was mounted on the front, engraved with the name "Evelyn Winters." Oh, Evening. We hated each other so well and loved each other so badly . . . and I had no idea what I was going to do without her.

I lifted the key higher, and whispered, "Evening, I'm sorry." There was a click as the lock came undone, and the door swung open.

Some people live where they work. Others just visit. Third Road Enterprises was just a diversion to Evening, and her office was practically empty, reflecting her lack of true dedication. A mortal lifetime was small change for her: by the standards of faerie time, spending thirty years building a company was just another game. There was nothing on the desk or the walls to indicate who worked there, or whether that person was coming back.

Morbidly, I muttered, "At least they won't have to do much cleaning." I had no idea what I was looking for, or what it would look like. Evening's illusions were some of the strongest I'd ever seen, remarkable even for one of the Daoine Sidhe. If she'd concealed whatever it was, it would probably be under a spell I couldn't see, much less break.

After a few minutes of scanning the room, I started turning in a slow circle, holding the key in front of me like a dowsing rod. It made a strange sort of sense, really: the key got me in. It was probably connected to whatever I was trying to find. I made two full turns before the key started to vibrate, nearly jerking itself out of my hands as it was pulled toward the filing cabinet by the window. Lowering it, I moved to kneel and continue my search.

Three of the four drawers opened easily. The second from the top was stuck fast, and when I touched the handle, it felt unnaturally cold; a signature sign of Evening's magic. "It's okay, Evening," I said, touching the key against the drawer. "I got here first."

The binding spell released with a gust of snow-cold air and the smell of roses, and the drawer slid open easily when I tried again. The key's light went out at the same time, leaving me blinking in the sudden darkness. "c.r.a.p."

I've done worse things than navigating my way out of an office building by feel. I tucked the key into the front of my bodice, where it would hopefully recharge-that sort of magic item usually does if you give it enough time-before I reached into the drawer. The thought of b.o.o.by traps crossed my mind, and I quashed it as firmly as I could. Still, doubt lingered, and it was a relief when my questing fingers. .h.i.t only hanging files.

I let my hands slide past the folders, guiding myself by feel. There was something hard at the back of the drawer, half buried under a pile of loose papers. Brushing the papers aside, I felt for the edges of the object. It felt like a box, a wooden box, about the size of a thick paperback book. My fingers tingled as they brushed against it, and the tingling became a burn, spreading up my arms as I lifted the box and removed it from the drawer. The burning wasn't painful. It was almost pleasant in a way, like rubbing hot oil on sore muscles.

My eyes must have adjusted while I was fumbling in the file cabinet, because I could clearly see what I was holding. I stared, the steadily increasing burning in my arms forgotten.

It was a hope chest.

A real, genuine, hope chest, carved by Oberon's own hand from the four sacred woods of Faerie-oak and ash for bracing and balance, rowan and thorn for pattern and protection. I knew what it was. Any child of Faerie, no matter how thin their blood, would have known what it was. And it couldn't be what I knew it to be, because it was an impossible thing, a bedtime story. It didn't exist. And I was holding it, and it was the reason Evening had been killed. There was nothing else that it could be.

The stories say there are twelve hope chests, that Oberon made them when mankind was still nothing but an interesting diversion. Some people say the chests hold secrets, or stars, or nothing at all; that the Heart of Faerie is hidden in one and the others are decoys, or that they hold a map that would lead us to our missing King and Queens. Some say the chests hold the keys to the deeper lands of Faerie, the places on the other side of the Summerlands. And behind closed doors, they say the hope chests hold a different sort of key: the key to immortality. That they can change the balance of a changeling's blood, making them pureblooded . . . or human.

If anyone had asked me whether the hope chests were real, I would have laughed. But at that moment, with the weight of the wood solid against my fingers and the burning spreading through me, I believed, and I understood why Evening chose to protect the key before she protected herself. There's not a pureblood in Faerie who wouldn't die to keep a hope chest safe.

My hands pulled the box to my chest without consulting my brain, thumbs caressing the lid. For the first time since I woke up, Evening's death was the furthest thing from my mind. There was nothing in the world but the hope chest and me. I almost thought I heard it whispering to me, offering the world if I'd lift the lid and see what the stories didn't tell us. I could play Pandora, if I wanted to. I could remake the world.

Pandora was an idiot. I dropped the box, shuddering from cold as much as from temptation; as soon as the hope chest left my fingers, the burning died. Whatever it was selling, I wasn't in the market. I had enough to deal with without being pushed around by magical items that shouldn't exist.

There were plastic trash bags in the office kitchen. I grabbed one, wrapping it around my hands before I picked the hope chest up again, and then wrapped the rest of the bag around the box. It didn't help. I could still feel it. I hadn't seen anything that powerful since I left the Summerlands-maybe not even then-and honestly, I'd never wanted to. Magic that strong never causes anything but trouble. I wanted it away from me as quickly as possible.

Tucking the bag under my arm, I made my way back to the elevator. Time was running short, and there was maybe half an hour left before dawn. I felt horribly conspicuous, like someone was going to jump out of the shadows and accuse me of theft at any second. No one did. I made it back to my car and climbed inside, putting the black plastic bundle of trash bag and hope chest down in the foot well on the pa.s.senger's side. It looked so small, wrapped up and set aside like that. It certainly didn't look like anything worth killing for. Unfortunately, somebody thought it was, and that meant I needed to hide it, and fast.

But where? It had to be someplace no one would look. My apartment was at the top of the list of places they would look first. Home and the Queen's Court weren't far below it. I hadn't exactly been subtle. And even finding a hiding place wouldn't be enough; nothing's really safe unless there's someone there to guard it. One way or another, I was going to have to trust somebody, and when it comes to finding someone you can trust with something no one can know exists, you always turn to the ones you hate.

TEN.

"TYBALT? TYBALT, IT'S TOBY. Are you here?" I stepped cautiously into the alleyway, holding my skirt away from the ground with one hand. The plastic-swaddled hope chest was under my other arm. It felt more visible than it was, and I kept glancing behind me, waiting for someone to lunge out of the darkness and attack me. Thus far, no one had. I didn't trust my luck to hold. "Come on, Tybalt. We don't have much time. The sun's coming up, and I'm supposed to work tonight."

Oberon only knew what I was going to do about that that. My nerves were shot. I'd spent most of the drive to the alley where I'd seen Tybalt most recently trying to pretend that what I had riding in my pa.s.senger seat was no big deal. It had worked about as well as the time when I was nine and tried to convince myself I could walk through walls. At least this was leaving fewer external bruises.

Maybe more important, I couldn't couldn't lie to myself about the hope chest. My fingers were still tingling from having held it, and my headache was gone. Wherever it came from, it was the real deal. That made it vital that I get it out of changeling hands. Tybalt isn't the nicest person I've ever met, or even the nicest Cait Sidhe, but he's a pureblood. He wouldn't have a changeling's longing for the hope chest-and no matter how much of a b.a.s.t.a.r.d he is or how little he likes me, he keeps his promises. Honesty's not a virtue among the fae, but when a pureblood makes a promise, he keeps it. All I had to do was make him swear. lie to myself about the hope chest. My fingers were still tingling from having held it, and my headache was gone. Wherever it came from, it was the real deal. That made it vital that I get it out of changeling hands. Tybalt isn't the nicest person I've ever met, or even the nicest Cait Sidhe, but he's a pureblood. He wouldn't have a changeling's longing for the hope chest-and no matter how much of a b.a.s.t.a.r.d he is or how little he likes me, he keeps his promises. Honesty's not a virtue among the fae, but when a pureblood makes a promise, he keeps it. All I had to do was make him swear.

Not that it was going to matter if I couldn't find him. "Why are you always here when I don't don't want you?" I muttered, moving toward the back of the alley. He'd been haunting me for most of my adult life. I was never sure whether he hated me because I was a changeling or because of something more personal, and I didn't care. Hate was hate, and ours was mutual. want you?" I muttered, moving toward the back of the alley. He'd been haunting me for most of my adult life. I was never sure whether he hated me because I was a changeling or because of something more personal, and I didn't care. Hate was hate, and ours was mutual.

Dawn was close, but the sky was still dark, and the fog was thick enough to reduce my range of vision to practically nothing. I'd tried waving the key around in the hopes that it would do its firefly impression again, but it just hung there like so much ornately carved metal. Getting the flashlight out of my trunk was out of the question-I wanted to attract Tybalt, not blind him. That meant standing alone, effectively blind, in a place he'd claimed as his own, when no one knew where I was or how to find me.

Ever have one of those epiphanies that just screams you're a complete moron? I'd been having one since I got out of the car.

I stood there until my toes were numb and I was shivering so hard that I was running the risk of dropping the hope chest. The sky was starting to get lighter overhead. I had time to make it home, but barely. "Fine, Tybalt," I said. "You win." I turned to go.

He was standing behind me.

I squawked in surprise, barely managing to stop myself before I walked straight into his chest. He crossed his arms, one corner of his mouth slanting upward in a smile.

"Really?" he said. "What's my prize? And why, my dear October, are you gowned so fetchingly? You don't need to make yourself beautiful for me, you know; you'll never win my heart. Although you're welcome to keep trying, if you insist. Next time? Try wearing a corset."

He kept smiling as I fought to get my breath back, and grinned when I snapped, "Oberon's f.u.c.king b.a.l.l.s, Tybalt, give me some warning warning next time!" next time!"

"Why? It's more fun this way."

I blinked, the urge to slap the smile off his face fading. He wouldn't be teasing me if he wasn't interested in what I was doing there, and as long as he stayed interested, he'd listen. Cats are like that. "Well, h.e.l.lo to you, too. Took you long enough to get here."

"I was busy." He frowned, mood turning on a dime. "What are you doing here? The sun's about to be up, you know. I didn't think we were going to be making this a habit."

"Actually I was looking for you."

"You were looking for me?" Now he looked outright disbelieving. "Have you finally lost your mind, or is this some sort of joke that I'm simply not getting?"

"Neither," I said. "I need to ask you for a favor."

"A favor? You're not serious." He took another look at my expression, and his eyes widened, pupils contracting. "You are are serious. When did you start deciding to ask me for favors? Have I missed something?" serious. When did you start deciding to ask me for favors? Have I missed something?"

"You want to know why?"

"Since I don't generally ask questions I don't want to have answered, yes, that would be pleasant."

I opened my mouth to reply, and stopped, almost stumbling into him as the pressure of the sun increased, signaling the final approach of dawn. He sighed.

"Ah, the pleasure of your company at dawn. How could I ever have wished to forgo it?" We were already so close together that he didn't have to move to put his arms around my waist; he just did it, advising mildly, "You may want to hold your breath."

"Wha-" I asked, too surprised to pull away.

"Suit yourself," he said, and fell backward, dragging me with him into the shadows still lingering at the mouth of the alley.

It had been cold before, but that was a natural cold, the chill of the early morning in a coastal city. This was freezing, the sort of cold that runs all the way down into your bones. My eyes were open, and all I could see was blackness, the sort of endless dark that children swear waits for them beneath the bed and in the closet. I gasped, and felt the back of my throat burn as the cold seared it.

At first, the only source of warmth was Tybalt, who had me tight against him, arms still locked around my waist. Then I felt the hope chest again, heating my skin through the plastic I had wrapped around it. I didn't throw the warmth away this time; I clung to it, struggling against the urge to take another breath. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew that fighting Tybalt wouldn't get me out of the darkness. It would strand me there.

Just as I was sure I'd die if I didn't breathe, Tybalt moved, pushing me forward, away from him, back into the blazing brightness of the morning. I stumbled, going down on one knee on the damp pavement of the alley as I took in huge, blessedly warm gasps of air. Once I was sure I wasn't dead, I raised my head and stared at him, feeling ice crystals melting in my hair.

"What the h.e.l.l . . . ?"

"You can talk," he said, expression radiating utter calm. "Your illusions are intact. You aren't panicking or in pain. Can you really say that was worse than standing through the dawn?"

I hesitated, actually looking around me. The sun was up. I could taste the ashes of the previous night's magic in the air . . . and Tybalt was right. My own magic, small as it was, was still entirely intact. I was chilled, but that had been, in its strange and alien way, easier than the sunrise. I stood carefully, testing my balance as I watched him.

"You could have asked me."

"What would you have said?" I hesitated, and he smiled, looking satisfied. "You see? You would be uselessly gasping for air, and not only would I still not know why you came here, but I would have missed the amus.e.m.e.nt of watching your expression when I pulled you into the shadows. Now. Since I've spared you the dawn, you can honor me with an answer to my question. Why are you here?"

There was no nice way to say what needed to be said. I didn't even try. "Evening Winterrose is dead." Tybalt recoiled, eyes going wide. I continued, "You knew Evening. You know what she could do. She used the old forms when she died, and she bound me. She wrapped me in a chain so tight that it's choking me, and you're the only person that can help me."

Tybalt's eyes remained wide as he frowned. "Me? Why me?" His expression was pained. He and Evening were never friends-they never even cared enough to be enemies-but they'd been in the same city a long, long time. Some ties run deeper than friendship. The news of her death had him off-kilter.

"Because I'm still in her service, and that means I have to keep going, even if it kills me. I need somebody to back me up if things . . . if things don't go as well as they might."

He flinched, and demanded, "Why in the h.e.l.l would she choose you? you? You couldn't even find a living woman. How are you planning to avenge a dead one?" You couldn't even find a living woman. How are you planning to avenge a dead one?"

For once, the reminder didn't sting. Yes, I'd failed, but that didn't mean I'd fail again. Not this time. "Please, Tybalt. I need you." I bowed my head in a calculated gesture of submission. A lot of purebloods still say we owe that sort of thing to our "betters." The world has changed, but they don't care; time can't get much of a foothold in fealty. "My skills have limits." I was laying it on pretty thick. I didn't think he'd object.

"What do you want from me?" His voice was flat. I glanced up to find him standing at attention, shoulders tense, glaring. I'd handed him a full measure of grief and then asked for favors; if I was lucky, he'd let me finish talking before he ripped me open and left me for the night-haunts.

"I want you to guard this." I pulled the garbage bag off the hope chest, holding it up for him to see. The touch of the wood against my skin set my hands tingling again, sending bolts of heat up my arms.

Tybalt froze, confusion washing across his face. "Is that . . . ?"

"Yes."

"But they don't exist."

"Guess we were wrong about that, huh? It's real. Evening had it. She hid a clue with the autumn sprites and told them to bring it to me." I paused before saying the words I'd been hoping to avoid: "I think she got killed for it."

"I don't understand. They're not . . . the hope chests aren't real real."

I shook my head. "I know that. I also know that at least one of them exists, and this is it, because I can feel it, Tybalt, I can feel it singing to me. I don't know how true the stories about hope chests and changelings are, but I know enough to know that I can't trust myself with it. I can't trust any changeling with it. It has to be in pureblood hands, at least until I find out who killed Evening." Please, Please, I added silently. I added silently. I don't know how long I can hold out. I don't know how long I can hold out.

The burning was getting strong again, faster than it had before. The hope chest knew who I was now, and whatever it had been designed to do, it was eager to get to work.

Tybalt glanced away. "The Queen . . ."

"She won't help me. She's already refused."