Green-Eyed Demon

Book 3: Sabina Kane

by Jaye Wells

Genres: Contemporary Fantasy; General Fiction; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Things to do:



1. Rescue sister.



2. Murder grandmother.



3. Don't upset the voodoo priestess.



The clock is ticking for Sabina Kane. Her sister has been kidnapped by her grandmother, the Dark Races are on the brink of war, and a mysterious order is manipulating everyone behind the scenes.



Working on information provided by an unlikely ally, Sabina and her trusty sidekicks-a sexy mage named Adam Lazarus and Giguhl, a Mischief demon-head to New Orleans to begin the hunt for her sister. Once there, they must contend with belligerent werewolves, magic-wielding vampires, and, perhaps most frightening of all, humans.



But as much as Sabina is focused on surviving the present, the past won't be ignored. Before she can save those she cares about most, she must save herself from the ghosts of her past.

Release date: March 1, 2011

Publisher: Orbit

Print pages: 400

Sample

On my extensive list of enemies, the top two spots belonged to Lavinia Kane and time. One I planned to kill as soon as possible.
That is, if I didn’t run out of the other one first.


The dashboard clock flipped to 10:01. The ones mocked me like two extended middle fingers. Impatience was my third enemy.

I’d already been sitting in the white van parked on a windy stretch of road near Pacific Palisades for twenty minutes. The
hood of the van stood open, but the engine idled in preparation for the ambush.


“Giguhl, any visual on the car yet?”

“Negative.” His voice crackled through the earpiece, but his body was perched in a tree just outside the Dominae compound.

I sighed. “Okay, thanks.”

“Don’t you mean ‘roger’?” he responded.

“Whatever,” I said. “Let me know the minute the gates open.”

“Hey, Sabina?”


“Yeah?” I said a tad more impatiently than I intended.

“Why can’t I have a gun again?”

I rolled my eyes. “I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid, G. Now focus.”

“I live to serve,” he grumbled.

I settled back into the seat. Outside the van, the landscape offered little distraction from my impatience. Scrub brush, low
stone walls, and roadkill speed bumps. Light from the City of Angels rose above the shadowed hilltops like a dusty halo.


Los Fucking Angeles.

Whoever said you couldn’t go home again was full of shit. The truth is you shouldn’t go home again. And when I’d left California, I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t return. Ever. But Fate—that fickle bitch—made
a liar out of me. Again.


Three days earlier, my twin sister, Maisie, had been kidnapped from a mage estate in New York. Three weeks before that I hadn’t
even known she’d existed. The long-story–short version is our vampire mother died in childbirth a few months after our mage
father was murdered. Because mating between the races was forbidden, Maisie and I were separated at birth by our vampire and
mage grandmothers to keep the peace. Maisie was raised by the mage side of the family in New York, and I got the short straw—a
vampire upbringing in Los Angeles. The desire to meet my long-lost twin was one of the reasons I’d left Los Angeles.


The fact our vampire grandmother, Lavinia Kane, wanted me dead was the other.

But now the tables had turned. Lavinia had kidnapped Maisie in an effort to hurt me. So now I would do a little kidnapping of my own.


Giguhl’s voice bounced off my eardrum, making me jump. “Big Black is on the move. Should be on your tail in T minus sixty
seconds.”


A sudden rush of blood. My hands tightened on the wheel. Showtime.

“Be ready when I summon you,” I replied in a calm tone.

“Ten-four.”

In my previous life as an assassin, I’d disposed of problem vampires for the Dominae. Therefore, despite the personal stakes
and the adrenaline surge, my body had kicked instinctively into mission mode.


I shifted the car into drive. The sweat on my palm meant it took two tries to manage.

“Hey, Red?” This from Adam Lazarus—hottie mage and the third member of our little team. We used to have a fourth—a Vanity
demon—but she’d been kicked off the team twenty-four hours earlier after an unfortunate incident involving a vampire strip
club, a large explosion, and a lover’s quarrel with Giguhl.


“Yeah?”

“Are you ready?” The mage always had a frustrating knack for breaking through the insulating layers I’d built around my feelings.
Damn him.


Two pinpoints of light turned onto the road several blocks back. I took a deep breath and willed my heart to slow. “Are you
kidding?” I snorted. “Totally.”


He knew me too well to buy that. “We’ll get her back, Sabina.” His tone had a hint of unwelcome pity.

I ignored the spark of fear that flared at his words. “Of course we will.” Not getting Maisie back was not an option. “Okay, everyone, switching to radio silence. Let’s do this.”


My hands contracted on the steering wheel, my knuckles pale in the dim light. I tried not to focus on the only glitch in our
plan: We were about to kidnap the wrong Domina.


In a perfect world, the vampire in that Mercedes would be my grandmother. When she’d taken Maisie, she’d sealed her fate with
me. Although, to be honest, she was pretty much at the top of my “must-kill list” for a host of other reasons that included
manipulation, lying, kidnapping, attempted murder, and the destruction of my prized Ducati.


Yeah, I know. We make the Manson Family look like the Brady Bunch.

Anyway, Lavinia wasn’t an option for the kidnapping plan, because she rarely left the Dominae compound. But Persephone left
the grounds each Tuesday to host a mass for the plebian vamps at a temple located in Santa Monica. And with the war between
vampires and mages looming, the Dominae needed to spread anti-mage propaganda to strengthen support for the war. Where better
to do that than at a religious service?


Besides, of the three Dominae who ruled the vampire race, Persephone was the weakest. Weak is relative when discussing ancient female vampires, of course. But Persephone tended to be more interested in preserving
history and promoting spiritualism among the vampire bourgeoisie than in crushing opposition or amassing obscene fortunes
like the other two Dominae. That meant she’d be far easier to manipulate than Lavinia or Tanith—the Beta Domina, who controlled their business interests. The plan was to nab Persephone and deliver her to the faery and mage leaders
for interrogation and a possible hostage exchange. Simple.


If we survived.

The Mercedes was about two blocks back now. A few car lengths behind that, I spied the headlights of the beater pickup we’d
boosted. Adam held the truck back at a conservative distance as he waited for my signal.


“Wait for it,” I said, my eyes glued to the mirror. When the target was a block back, I tensed my foot over the gas pedal.
“Nothing to see here.” With each turn of the sedan’s wheels, my heart picked up speed. “Just a broken-down van.”


Almost there.

The Mercedes’ dark-as-midnight windows prevented me from counting heads. Looked like we were going to have to do this the
hard way, as usual.


“Now!”

I punched the accelerator. The tires spun for a moment on gravel before jumping out onto the road. Squealing brakes and a
blaring horn. Every muscle rigid as I braced for impact. The scream of crunching metal. Vertigo and pain as the van tipped
and slid several hundred feet. The seat belt dug into my skin but kept me from being tossed around like loose change in a
dryer. When the world stilled again, ominous silence reigned. Scratch that, not silence exactly. The van’s radiator hissed,
and someone was groaning.


Oh, right. That was me.

“Now, Giguhl!” I grunted. With a punch of the button, my seat belt spat me at the passenger’s door.

A burst of light flashed outside the van, signaling Giguhl’s arrival. Shouting and gunfire commenced on the road. I crawled
into the van’s cargo area. The cooler I’d stashed earlier lay near the door. I wrenched it open and grabbed a bag of blood.
My fangs made quick work of the silicone casing. For once, the chemical taste of the blood didn’t bother me as I gulped down
the vampire version of a healing potion and energy drink in one.


The van’s back doors wrenched open. I tumbled out and landed at Giguhl’s hooves. He didn’t waste time asking if I was okay.
Instead, he hooked his claws under my arms and lifted. When my feet hit pavement and I swayed, he steadied me. Nodding my
thanks, I pulled a gun from my waistband.


I turned to survey the scene. The Mercedes was trapped between the van and the pickup, which now sported an accordion for
a fender. Just beyond, Adam approached the Mercedes from the rear.


“Go,” I said to Giguhl. He moved so fast I could barely track his movement. The next thing I knew, he was crouched next to
the Mercedes. I aimed my gun at the driver’s side and pulled off two rounds. Only instead of shattering the windshield, the
bullets left spiderwebs on the bulletproof glass.


The Mercedes’ engine roared and the van lurched a few inches forward. The car’s wheels spun, kicking up a plume of smoke and
gravel. “Adam?” I called.


“I’m on it!” The hair on the back of my neck prickled as he cast a spell over the lurching car. The engine emitted a loud
death rattle before finally dying.


“Look alive, that’s probably one-way gla—”

A bullet exploded from the passenger’s side of the windshield. I ducked and rolled, coming up in a crouch near the intersection of the Mercedes and the van’s undercarriage.
“Now, G!”


With a predatory smile, the demon punched a hole through the driver’s window. Crucial design flaw of bulletproof glass? It
can’t keep out a determined demon. Using one massive claw, Giguhl reached in like a cat into a fish tank and pulled out the
wriggling vamp from behind the wheel.


“Giguhl! Catch!” Adam yelled. He tossed an applewood stake at the demon, who caught it with his free claw. Two seconds later,
the vamp ignited as his soul escaped and his ashes scattered to the wind.


“There’s a metal partition. I can’t get to them this way,” Giguhl yelled as he reached in for the passenger.

“Got it!” I sidestepped my way toward the back door. Adam approached the one on the other side. A couple more bullets zinged
at us through the glass but went wide. That’s the problem with one-way glass. Bullets can get through from the inside, but
the layered glass makes anything but point-blank range inaccurate.


At least that’s what I thought until Adam yelped and his head dropped out of sight behind the car.

“Shit! Adam?” My heart thudded in my chest like a piston. It’s one thing to shoot at me, but it was something else to hurt
the mage.


“I’m okay. Just missed me.”

My pulse slowed from panicked to pissed.

More shots exploded out from the rear windows. I ducked next to a quarter panel, trusting the car’s armored walls to protect
me.


“Giguhl!”

“Got my hands full,” he grunted. I looked over and saw him crouching under the busted window. Two bullets zinged over his
horns. While the driver had been taken by surprise, the passenger was using Giguhl for target practice.


Time to end this shit. I banged a fist on the hood. “Come out with your hands up and no one else gets hurt.”

Two shots exploded from the back window. I cursed under my breath. Looked like we had ourselves a regular Mexican standoff
until someone ran out of bullets.


“Sabina?” I barely heard Giguhl over the constant barrage of gunfire.

“What?”

“If I create a distraction, can you take this guy out?”

I nodded. “Be careful.”

His black lips spread into a grin. “Yes, ma’am.”

He held up a claw. He counted down from three with his talons. On one, he leapt up onto the roof of the car and began rocking
it side to side. I jumped toward the open window. The vamp’s attention was on the ceiling of the car as he held on for dear
life.


“Hey!” I yelled. His head turned, and his eyes widened a nanosecond before I delivered a bullet into the center of his forehead.
His body ignited, making a mess of the Corinthian leather.


“Nice!” Giguhl said, pumping a fist as he jumped off the roof.

I wiped a hand across my brow. “Too early to start celebrating, G.”

As if to support my claim, a new volley of gunfire came from the back of the car. Giguhl and I squatted down and duckwalked
toward the front bumper. I met the mage’s eyes over the hood. “Any ideas?”


“None that don’t involve one of us gaining an extra orifice.”


Toward the end, his voice sounded unnaturally loud. That’s when I realized the gunfire had ceased. The sudden silence jarred
me into stillness. I narrowed my eyes and watched the back door. The car started rocking again, but this time from inside.
Something was going down in the back seat.


I scooted along the side of the car toward the back, careful to stay out of sight. Muffled shouts leaked from bullet holes
in the window. Two voices—one male, one female—argued with increasing volume. The car continued to shake until, suddenly,
a single gunshot cut off the male’s shout. Little wisps of copper-scented smoke leaked from the holes.


“You okay, mancy?” I whisper-shouted at Adam in the unnatural silence that followed.

“All clear,” he replied. “But I wouldn’t mind someone telling me what the fuck is going on.”

That made two of us.

Two seconds later we got our answer when the door next to my head flew open. The panel knocked me on my ass. The gun slicked
against my palm. My breath came out in pants as I raised my aim up the height of the door.


A mop of kinky mahogany curls cleared the top of the door. And below, a foot clad in a low-heeled black pump stepped onto
the blacktop, followed by its twin. Next, a slender, milky hand with bloodied cuticles grasped the doorframe.


When the face came into view, my stomach dipped with dread. Persephone’s classically beautiful face didn’t feature a Roman
nose, two beady black eyes, or a butt-cleft chin. No, only one Domina was cursed with such mannish features.


Tanith.

I suddenly wanted to vomit all over those sensible but unattractive shoes. Besides being the ugliest of the three, she was
also the smartest and a mistress of the bitchly arts. In other words, she was a complication I didn’t need. With a shaky hand,
I kept the gun’s unblinking eye trained on the Domina. “Tanith? What. The. Fuck?”


The businesslike smile accentuated Tanith’s unfortunate features.

“Sabina,” she said. “Forgive my presumption in killing the final guard. But time is money and the wait was growing tiresome.”

I blinked in surprise. Giguhl came up behind my back. His claws hooked under my arms and lifted. My feet hit the ground without
my aim ever straying from its target. Adam skidded around the trunk to take up position behind one of the most powerful vampires
alive.


“Why did you kill your own guard?”

She scowled and crossed her arms. “Your ambush was an unwelcome surprise at first, but as I sat there waiting for my guards
to dispose of you I had a sudden flash of inspiration.” She shrugged. “Killing that last guard was the most expedient course
of action.”


“What did this flash of inspiration entail exactly?” Adam asked.

The Domina barely spared the mage a scornful glance. With her eyes on me, she said, “Before we discuss that, perhaps you should
enact the escape portion of your plan before the backup those guards called arrives.” She paused and narrowed her eyes at
us. If she’d been wearing spectacles, she would have lowered them down her nose. “You do have an escape plan, don’t you?”


Even with my gun, a demon, and a mage surrounding her, she stared us down like we were incompetent underlings.

“Of course we have an escape plan. But I’m seriously considering aborting this mission altogether unless you explain yourself.
Why did you help us?”


She tilted her head like something I said didn’t compute. “I’m helping myself. Or rather, you will be helping me. I assume
your plan is to trade me for your sister?”


I squinted at her, neither confirming nor denying. But her unmitigated gall left me speechless. Like I’d ever help a Domina
again after everything they’d put me through.


“Do you honestly believe Lavinia will agree to a trade?” Tanith snorted. “Of course you do. You get that naiveté from your
mage side.”


I took a long cleansing breath through my nose. “How about you spend a little less time insulting me and a lot more time explaining
why you think I’d ever help you.”


“Because I know where Maisie is. And I have a plan that not only helps you save her, but also ensures this distasteful war
business is taken off the table forever.”


“Where is she?” I demanded.

“She’s not in Los Angeles. That’s all I’m willing to tell you until I have certain assurances from both the Hekate Council
and Queen Maeve.”


“Now who’s being naive? Or are you forgetting the army you sent a few days ago to kill off most of the mages in New York?”

She held up a finger. “Correction. Lavinia sent that army. It wasn’t until after the attack that she told Persephone and me
that she’s formed an alliance with the Caste of Nod.”


The Caste of Nod is a mysterious sect made up of members of all the dark races. As far as I could tell, their goal was to
cause me a lot of fucking problems. In New York, they’d orchestrated several attempts on my life because they thought I was
destined to unite all the dark races. That’s the last thing they wanted, because only an all-out war between the races would
bring on the second coming of Lilith. In other words, they were total wackos. And homicidal ones, at that.


“Assuming I believe Lavinia acted without your knowledge, why haven’t you confronted her?”

She laughed—an awkward, insincere sound. “Surely you haven’t been away long enough to forget how things work here. Confronting
the Alpha Dominae is a death sentence.”


I frowned. “But law dictates the three of you share power equally.”

“Despite what the laws state, your grandmother has been the de facto leader of the vampire race for centuries. Persephone
and I assist her in running things, of course, but she holds all the real power. At best, she could have the Under Council
strip us of our titles. At worst, well…” She trailed off, knowing she didn’t need to finish the thought. After all, I used
to make my living being the worst-case scenario for vamps who pissed off the Dominae.


“What about Persephone?”

Worry lines creased her normally smooth forehead. “Unfortunately, Persephone remains loyal to Lavinia. She’s too weak to be
a real threat anyway. As for why I’m here, well, it’s simple.” She adjusted the French cuffs on her white shirt. “I’m double-crossing
your grandmother.” She paused to let the concussion from that bombshell sink in. “I’m going to help you find Maisie in return for the Hekate Council and the Queen’s support in my plans.”


“What plans?” I crossed my arms. This ought to be good.

“My plan to become the sole ruler of the Lilim, of course.” Tanith’s lips lifted, flashing a little fang. “In order to take
control of the vampire race, I need Lavinia dead and an alliance with the Council and Queen Maeve in my pocket.”


In the stunned silence that followed that announcement, I literally had no idea what to say to her. Instead, I glanced at
Adam and waved my gun to indicate I needed a moment of his time. “Giguhl, watch her. She moves an inch, rip off her fucking
head.”


The Mischief demon cracked the knuckles of his claws and waggled his scraggly black brows at the ancient vampire. Tanith tapped
her toe on the asphalt but otherwise remained unimpressed. With one last parting glare at the Domina, I went to join Adam
for a private confab.


“What the fuck?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“That pretty much sums it up for me, too.”

He nodded absently.

I continued, “I don’t suppose we could just kill her now and save ourselves a lot of trouble.”

He gave me one of his Sabina-be-reasonable looks. “Red, I know it’s a curveball, but our goal was to kidnap a Domina, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“The way I see it, we have two choices.” He counted the options off on his fingers. “We can stand here all night questioning
her motives and risk becoming bull’s-eyes for more of her guards. Or we can continue with the plan and get her to a place filled with heavily armed guards of our own and let the leaders sort it out.”


Twenty feet beyond Adam, Giguhl called. “I vote for C) Stop yapping and get the hell out of Dodge.”

“I concur,” Tanith added.

So much for talking in private.

Nosy demons and vampire leaders aside, I didn’t like this one bit. But I wasn’t any more interested in becoming target practice
than he was. “Everyone circle up.”


Tanith’s impatient nod indicated her displeasure over further delays. I nodded to Giguhl. He grabbed the ancient vampire’s
arms and led her to the side of the road so Adam could work his magic.


A split second before Adam’s whispered incantations dematerialized our bodies, a gun exploded from the tree line. Giguhl yelped,
“Not again!” Then, just as suddenly, darkness and a rush of cold wind swept us away to the Seelie Court.


I’d never been to the Seelie Court before, but I knew it was located somewhere in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. So
when we materialized in a dank cave instead of on a forested mountainside, I was a tad surprised.


A wet roar echoed off the damp stone walls and low ceiling. Turning, I realized the sound came from the curtain of water covering
the cave’s entrance. “Where are we exactly?” I shouted to Adam over the waterfall’s racket.


“The middle of nowhere.” He shot a meaningful look toward Tanith.

The Domina stood nearby, suffering Giguhl’s restraining claw with dignity. At Adam’s comment, a small smile quirked her lips.

I nodded, understanding he didn’t want the Domina to be able to find this place on her own later. “So where’s the court?”

He smiled and pointed to the wet, craggy wall on the far end of the cave. “Through there.”

I blinked at the solid stone. “Why not just flash us in there directly?”


“The walls are warded to prevent unexpected guests. Which means we have to wait for someone inside to open the portal.”

I relaxed a fraction. When we called Orpheus with the plan of kidnapping a Domina, he’d been pretty resistant at first. Said
he didn’t want to risk losing us and Maisie. But in the end, Adam and I convinced him that bold action was our only hope. It didn’t hurt that he liked the idea
of one-upping Lavinia, too. Once he’d given us a green light, we’d coordinated watches and plans so that once we arrived with
our quarry, things would go smoothly.


“Is this gonna take long?” Giguhl said.

I frowned at the demon. “Why—you got somewhere else to be?”

He shot me a bitch-please look. “No but I’d like the record to state that getting shot in the ass still isn’t fun.” He shifted
around to show me his left ass cheek where his black sweatpants now featured a perfectly round bullet hole. I couldn’t see
any blood in the dim light, but I could smell it.


“Sheesh, G, again?” Adam said.

“Yes, Mr. Perfect, again. Lucky for you bitches I’m a fast healer.”

I was saved from having to respond to that when a tingle of magic rippled through the cave. The wall Adam pointed to earlier
began to pulse and shimmer with flecks of light. The hair on my neck prickled, and the low thrum of magic made my stomach
contract. One second the rock sparkled like fool’s gold, and the next it disappeared altogether. On the other side of the
portal, the silhouette of a female appeared.


“Who seeks entrance to the realm of Queen Maeve, leader of the Truatha de Danan?”


Adam stepped forward. His relaxed posture hinted at familiarity with this ritual. Not a surprise, since he’d spent time there
a few weeks ago to broker an alliance with the Queen on behalf of the Hekate Council. “Adam Lazarus, Pythian Guard for the
ancient and venerable Hekate Council, and my companions Sabina Kane, High Priestess of the Blood Moon and granddaughter of
the Hekatian oracle Ameritat Graecus—goddess protect her soul—and Alpha Domina Lavinia Kane; Tanith Severinus, Beta Domina
and prisoner of the Hekate Council, and Giguhl, fifth-level Mischief demon from the Gizal region of Irkalla.”


I looked over my shoulder at Giguhl and rolled my eyes. But the faery on the other side of the portal followed the tongue-twisting
protocol just fine.


“Knight Lazarus, you and your companions are expected. I, Calyx, keeper of the portal, on behalf of Queen Maeve, grant you
entrance to the faery realm.”


The sheet of magic wavered and disappeared with a pop. All formalities gone, Calyx waved us through with frantic movements.
“Quickly.”


Adam and I fell back so Giguhl and Tanith could go through first. By silent agreement, we both felt it important to get the
Domina safely inside. Neither of us put it past the vamp to spring a last-minute trick on us.


Just beyond the opening, all I could see was darkness. Not a surprise, given it was nighttime, but I didn’t like the idea
of just strolling through a magical portal without knowing what waited on the other side. But Adam’s firm hand on my back
urged me through.


The second we’d cleared the plane separating the two worlds, the gateway snapped shut. I took a moment to survey my surroundings. On this side, the entrance was hidden in a sheer
rock wall climbing hundreds of feet in the air. I was looking up the rock face when Giguhl nudged me on the back. “Red, check
it out.”


I turned and stilled with my mouth hanging open. Looming ahead of us was a building that could only be described as the largest,
most elaborate tree house in the history of ever. An engineering marvel made of glass and wood, the structure rose high above
the forest floor.


Given its overwhelming size, I could only register flashes of details. Like how the moonlight glinted off hundreds of round
windows. How the wooden bridges spanned between towers like spider silk. And how the carved balconies seemed to float on air.


As my eyes lowered, I finally noticed the line of fae guards forming a crescent behind Calyx. Two came forward immediately
to take custody of Tanith. The ancient vampiress endured the exchange before saying, “I demand to see Queen Maeve this instant.”


While her imperious tone was not a surprise, her impatience was ironic, given the complexity and length of most vampire protocol.
Vampire Sabbath alone took four hours. And don’t get me started on the red tape and time wasting at the Dominae’s Under Council
meetings. They made the IRS look efficient.


Anyway, half the guards turned and ushered Tanith away before I had a chance to argue. Although I wasn’t really in a position
to do so anyway. Our job had been to get the kidnapped Domina there. I didn’t have much say in what the Hekate Council and
the Queen did with her. Unfortunately.


I originally had assumed the other guards hung around to protect us. Until one came to stand next to me and another beside
Giguhl. They didn’t touch us, but it was apparent they weren’t just being friendly. I opened my mouth to demand an explanation
when Adam cleared his throat.


I shot him a glare.

“Keep it together, Red,” Adam said. “The Queen isn’t as flexible or forgiving as Orpheus.”

I sighed and forced my shoulders to relax. Orpheus—or rather, High Councilman Orpheus of the Ancient and Venerable Hekate
Council—was not what I would consider a flexible male. Sure, he’d been like a father to Maisie and had eventually warmed to
me, but he also tended to be a tad impatient about my tendency to question any and all authority. And judging from Adam’s
comment, the Queen—who already wasn’t my biggest fan—wouldn’t find my smart mouth or rebellious ways charming, either. Gods
save me from touchy leaders with their demands for “respect.”


“Hurry,” Calyx said. “We must not keep the Queen waiting.”

I sucked in a breath and pasted a smile on my face. “Lead the way!”

Adam shot me a look that indicated I’d overdone it with the false cheer. Whatever. I just wanted to get inside and find out
how to get my sister back. If that meant enduring persnickety regents and courtly etiquette, I’d deal.


Ten minutes and eleventy thousand steps later, we emerged from the spiral staircase hidden inside the massive tree that led
from the forest floor up to the fortress. I guess the faeries decided if all their other security measures