"If I get a scream..."

"Then you go back," Malik said. "There is no reason you cannot travel the world and see all that you desire." His gaze narrowed on her. "Unless you choose not to."

"What if I want to?" Cara whispered, a binge of guilt in her gut at wanting to travel-to run away from all her responsibilities.

Not to mention her confusing feelings about Duncan. Because now that she'd had him, she'd want more. She knew that. But she couldn't possibly have him-after all, he was a fairy. He had years left on his contract, decades, even. If she waited until he retired, she'd be an old lady. Or worse, dead.

Unless he already thought she was dead...

And if she couldn't be with him and see the world...

Malik raised an eyebrow. "I can show you everything." He held out his hand.

Cara stared at his outstretched hand. Would she ever have a chance like this again? To see the world-really see it-not in pictures?

Not be bound by her screams? Or bound by anything at all? If everyone thought she was dead, then she could do whatever she wanted. Never mind the longing for Duncan, and the torrent of emotions from the idea that, while he'd said he'd never leave her, he had done just that.

She knew not what she should do.

But at the same time, she did know what she could do.

She accepted the djinn's hand.

Chapter Twenty-One.

Thursday afternoon "What in the world were you thinking, bringing a human to Ava's trial?" Christy bopped Duncan upside the head. He'd returned Ava's charge, Jason, back to his home, and sentence had been pronounced for Ava.

It wasn't the outcome Duncan had been hoping for. Needless to say, his head hadn't been feeling great before his sister-in-law hit him.

"Ouch!" He rubbed his head. And not only was his sister-in-law physically hitting him, her thoughts were just as scrambled, and twice as angry as anything she actually said.

And she seemed to forget on occasion that he was such a strong telepath.

"Rein in your thoughts..." He telepathically told his sister in law.

Her expression stilled, then her eyes took on a more furious expression. "I'm not about to!" Christy fired back.

"You're giving me a headache," Duncan replied.

"With reason," Ewan, Duncan's brother said. His thoughts weren't much better. Any other time, Duncan might marvel how their minds worked the same. Right now, it was like being hit with a double-barreled gun, barraging him with bullets of thoughts that made him mad.

"What was the point of that? Ava's now locked up on house arrest, and will never see him again. If you had a point, I think the Council missed it." Ewan's wings flicked as he paced around the living room of the couple's home. Today, it was decorated in TV-perfect living-probably inspired by a magazine.

Duncan leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. "I thought... I thought if they saw how much they loved each other, that maybe, at the worst, they'd banish Ava to the human world, let her live out her days with Jason. If the Council could see the love, they'd be okay with everything."

That had been his plan-let them profess their love before the Council-not just with their words, but through their energy.

It had almost worked.

Almost.

"Well, you thought wrong," Christy said.

He glared at his sister-in-law. "I'm aware of that, now." And what he was going to do about it, he wasn't sure.

If there was anything Duncan could do at this point. Unfortunately failure sank in his gut like bad chicken on a buffet.

"There has to be something." Christy fluttered her blue wings and lifted off the ground. "Some ancient clause. A case file. Something." She paced about the room. "Because I'm not about to lose my retirement because of this trio of charges not being completed. I've worked on my own charge, Lilly's in the hospital, and now this." She rubbed her head. "This is not how my last case was supposed to go." She ran her hands through her hair. "It was just supposed to be this easy, simple, fun little challenge. Let's take on men instead of women. Why not, how could it possibly go wrong? What was I thinking?"

Her husband came to her side and rubbed her shoulders.

"I don't know what else can be done, Christy," Duncan said. "The Council made their decision. This isn't the human world with lawyers and countless appeals. When a decision is made, it's done. End of story."

"Well, you'd better find something," Christy said.

Duncan fisted his hair-it was safer than punching things. "If I knew how to fix the world, believe me, I'd do it. Ava's not the only case I've got going."

He turned and headed for the door. Maybe some air would make him feel better. Away from his family.

He walked out the back door, where another picture perfect scene played out-a garden, filled with bright colored flowers, outlining a curved path. He took a few steps, pausing in front of a huge collection of perfectly bloomed pink and purple gladiolas.

Cara would love these. She loved flowers and colors...

A crunching on the gravel path made him turn.

Ewan had followed him. "What is the matter with you, brother? You look like hell."

There was the qualifying question. What was the matter with him? Duncan had been in the FID for a half a century, and he'd been good at what he did. He didn't screw up. It fit him far better than any other branch of Fairy work.

Yet here he was, screwing up everything.

Maybe Christy was on the right track. Maybe it was time for him to walk away. Get a house on a beach and just not be here anymore. He'd screwed up Ava's life. And he couldn't find Cara.

And if he couldn't find Cara, then what was the point?

"A lot of stuff right now."

"Is there anything I can do?" Ewan asked.

Duncan shook his head. How did he explain to his brother had he not only screwed up his wife's last trio before retirement, but he'd lost the only girl he'd ever really loved?

Yeah, it was definitely time to walk away. Be a fisherman or that scary hermit on Avalon-they didn't have one of those did they? The one that kids dared each other to ring the doorbell. Yeah. He could do that.

Because when O'Leary got done with him, it would be ugly. Might as well cut it off now-get out before it got bad.

"I'm taking retirement. I'm done."

He started walking around the side of the house, with each step, the words cemented in his mind as the right path.

To get away before he screwed someone else's work-or life-up. He'd fucked up everything in the last week.

"Wait, no, stop!" Christy burst through the nearby door and tried to drag him back into the house. She put her hand over his mouth.

"No," he said through her fingers and tried to shake his head from her grip. "I'm done. I'm finished. I can't do this." He shook off the petite fairy, trying to pull away. In his mind, he could hear his brother and sister-in-law's thoughts. They rambled around inside him. Fast and quick, but he caught every one.

Mental breakdown seemed to be the most prevalent.

However, Ewan was stronger than his little wife, and he appeared on the other side, blocking his path.

"Come on, brother, let's talk about this."

"No, I don't need your pity, or you talking me out of this. It's the best way." He wouldn't do this again.

He couldn't.

"This is just the emotions talking," Christy said.

"I'm not crazy. I can't do this anymore. I want to be mortal. I want to go back to a human life and live out my days. I don't want this." He rubbed his head. "I don't want to hear thoughts anymore. I don't want to save fairies in distress. I can't do this. The FID has a very low tolerance for failure anyway. It's just a matter of time."

"Surely they won't kick you out for one bad case?" Christy asked.

"Two."

"Two?" both Ewan and Christy said.

"I was supposed to save a missing banshee and instead, Cara's gone." Saying the words to someone who didn't know anything about the case felt like a stab in the gut. He thought he might actually throw up.

"Oh Duncan, I'm sorry," Christy said. "What happened?"

He opened his mouth to give the official report and found himself telling them everything. Every detail, including what happened in the desert. The unabridged version.

Tears poured down Christy's face as he spoke, and he felt his own tears creeping out of his eyes.

He wiped his face, sniffed, and tried to cover up the crying. "Cara was my best friend. She was...is..."

Christy wiped her face. "Why didn't you tell us about her? We could have invited her to a picnic or something."

"Because she's banshee. Ages like a human. I've known her since she was fifteen. She's just...she's gone. And there's no reason. If she was dead, we'd have, well, there'd be evidence, some way to bring closure. If she's alive, we can't find her anywhere."

"Magic," Christy whispered.

"What?" Duncan asked.

"Magic. If she's unable to be found, even by you, then she's being shielded by magic. You should know this, Duncan." Christy glared at him.

"But who would be hiding a banshee? And why?" Ewan asked.

"You were in the desert, right?" Christy asked.

Duncan nodded.

"So you go ask the desert dwellers. There's still djinn out there, isn't there?" Christy glanced at her husband, a Tooth Fairy, who flew all over the world.

"There's a settlement of them, I think..." Ewan materialized a map and highlighted an area not very far from where Duncan and Cara had been. "Yes, there they are. I cannot remember the name of their leader; I haven't been there in a long while," Ewan said.

Duncan blinked. He'd been so obsessed about finding evidence of where Cara had gone, he didn't think about checking the locals to see if they had seen her.

"I'll be back," Duncan said and off he flew.

Did he expect to find her? Not a chance.

But maybe someone knew something. It was a start, anyway.

Walking into a djinn settlement wasn't exactly what Duncan wanted to do, but it seemed the best chance to see if he could find Cara. If one of the djinn had brought her here, well, maybe he could find her.

He had to find her.

He couldn't fail again.

To any passerby human, the djinn colony wouldn't be visible-camouflaged by a cloaking spell to anyone who wasn't magical. But to Duncan, it stuck out like a shining golden oasis in the middle of the desert. It was far enough off the path of Cara's storm's trajectory, he hadn't considered checking here before.

But standing before the gates, he wanted to kick himself for not thinking of it at all.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Reese, his friend from the FID, asked him.

Duncan nodded. "You got a better one?"

Reese shook his head. He'd been happy to come with Duncan, if only as backup, while he talked to the djinn. Djinn, hard to predict, might welcome him, or they might blow him into dust. It depended on their mood.

They approached the gate, and before they got too close, the sand started to swirl and three green djinn appeared, with huge swords, their curved blades looking particularly menacing. The trio of djinn surrounded them, pointing their very large weapons at Duncan and Reese.

"We come in peace," Reese said, holding up his hands.

"We don't accept visitors," one said, slashing at him with his sword. "What brings you here?"

"We come from the FID unit, searching for a lost banshee," Duncan said. "We only wish to find her."

"We have no banshee," one snarled and gestured with his sword. "And if we did..." His menacing snarl said enough.

Duncan materialized his wand, ready to fight. Reese followed suit.