To Catch a Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked, “Then who would?”
    “You need to ask those in your world.”
    “The enchantresses?”
    Tallulah made a dismissive gesture. “This is not enchantress magic. You need a fairy doctor or a wise woman—a human touched by the fae, with fae knowledge.”
    Sophie shook her head in confusion. She’d thought those were just folklore, ways to explain people who knew a thing or two about herbs. “They exist? Here and now?”
    “I do not know. I do not frequent your world. You would find them on the boundaries between worlds, in places where they intersect.”
    “Like the markets?”
    “Yes, the markets would be a good place to look for them.”
    “You wouldn’t happen to know when or where the next market will be?”
    Tallulah gestured, and a small, wild-looking fairy appeared from among the trees. “The next market?” she asked. He ran back into the trees. “My people seldom venture out, so he will have to ask around.”
    Sophie started to ask how long that would take, then remembered that any answer would be meaningless. This was why she could never live in the Realm. She’d go mad surrounded by people who didn’t understand time.
    “I’m surprised your ancestor’s knowledge hasn’t given you the answers you seek,” Tallulah said.
    Had it? Sophie hadn’t thought of accessing the former fairy queen’s knowledge that had come with the crown. It wasn’t like searching a database, though. If she needed the answer to something, it usually just came to her. “Nothing has come up,” she said. “Either she was like you and it wasn’t something that concerned her, or it must have come up after her time. I understand how the Realm works, but I don’t know about this sort of thing.” She tried a little mental digging around and came across all kinds of information that applied to human abductions, such as how to make a changeling to leave in place of a captive. If she ever needed to kidnap someone, she was ready, but she still didn’t know how to free anyone.
    The little fairy returned. “The market will be tomorrow night, at the angel fountain,” he said, slightly out of breath.
    That would be cutting it close, Sophie thought. She assumed that “angel fountain” meant Bethesda Terrace. Now she had to hope wise women still existed and that one would be there and have the information she needed.
    She thought of one more thing to ask Tallulah. “Do you know of anyone claiming to be queen, who is casting out human captives?”
    The expression on Tallulah’s face told her that the mere question was offensive. “I do not insert myself into affairs.”
    “You practically blackmailed me into taking the throne,” Sophie reminded her.
    “That was setting things right and restoring the Realm. Since then, I have stayed away from the other factions.” She whirled around, sending her layers of gauze flying, and returned to the trees. Sophie couldn’t decide if the lady was protesting too much or if she truly was insulted.
    At any rate, it didn’t look like she’d get anything else out of the now-departed fairy, so Sophie changed shoes and put on her cover-up, then opened a gateway for home, latching on to the anchor she’d set to return her to the place and time she’d left. She stepped out of the gateway near where she’d parked her car. She paused to synchronize her watch with the car’s dashboard clock before driving to the ballet studio.
    As she drove through the small town, she had the same feeling of a great weight upon her that she felt every time she returned from the Realm or from any other place she reached through the Realm. Each time, it became harder to return, but she had responsibilities here that she couldn’t just abandon.
    Still, after taking a class with professionals and dancing for the fairies, it was a real letdown to return home and lead a roomful of little kids in basic exercises.

 
Six
     
    Central Park
    9:00 p.m.
     
    It was thoroughly dark, the lampposts spilling pools of