"Monarch?" I looked from the sign above the club entrance to Tiernan as Abby and Torquil got out of the limo behind us."Where else would a princess party?" Abby asked. "Well done, Mr. Ti—""Do not." Tiernan held up a finger to her."Tiernan," she smiled sweetly as she finished the name. "I was going to say, Tiernan.""Uh-huh." Tiernan grimaced."What does XXX DVD mean?" Torquil was staring across the street at a large sign which announced the availability of DVDs and an arcade.""I rest my case." Abby shook her head. "He's a prude.""Princess?" Torquil looked to me for help."DVDs are plastic discs which are used to store information. Those, in particular, have movies on them; moving images used to entertain," I tried to explain. "Like little pictures of real life; moving pictures... movies.""Yeah, except XXX means the movies are pornographic," Abby added and then chuckled."Pornographic?" Torquil still looked confused."The boy doesn't even know what pornographic is!" Abb

The next morning, I went downstairs and was told that my dad had left during the night. He'd gone back to Hawaii without me.At first, I was upset that Tiernan's outing had taken me away from the Council House right when I needed to be there, but then I realized that my father must have been waiting for an opportunity to leave without having to see me. Which meant that he would have stayed out of sight until I left; no matter when that was. So, I guess it was best that he left when he did, and I didn't have to stick around for weeks while he avoided me.We decided not to mention Brendan's little ambush to the Council. I didn't want to strain this new relationship I had with Councilman Murdock nor did I want Mini-Murdock causing any trouble for Abby. I was going back to Fairy, but Abby had to work in the same city as Brendan. Besides, I didn't think he'd try anything after his horrendous failure.There was no reason to remain in HR (the Human Realm) after my father's cowardly retreat

Here, at least, there was architecture better suited to a castle. The walls were polished onyx; glassy enough to cast reflections in and they soared up to a vaulted ceiling crisscrossed with dark wooden beams. The ground was slabs of malachite and the same green stone soared seamlessly up from the floor to form a line of flame-topped columns that ran down the longest sides of the room. At the far end there was a dais holding the high table and set before it were two lines of dining tables—one to either side of the room—placed parallel to the lines of columns. The tables were set end to end; forming two, long, continuous pieces. A very similar set up to that of the Twilight Castle but yet vastly different.The sound hit me first. Screeches, growls, roars, and chitters. Then waves of foul scent washed over me as we passed goblins, bogles, hags, and slimy kelpies who had changed from their normal waterhorse forms into something that vaguely resembled human. They had thick, seaweed-green

I watched Bress spiral out of control and his magic followed suit; condensing into a distressing mass of thunderclouds which roiled across the ceiling, sparking and rumbling like an angry beast. Bress shouted more insanity about his mother, his voice melding with that of the swelling storm, and I prayed silently for help. Tell me what to do. Please, God... Goddess, anyone, help me stop him. Help me save us. Then, suddenly, it came to me; an understanding as if I'd known Bress for all of my life. I knew why he was so angry, what had created the madness and violence in him... and what would quiet the storm."My son," I called in a breathy whisper, and Bress froze; the whip dropping from his startled grip as his whole body tensed. "Come here.""Mother," he whispered and closed his eyes tightly. "I hate you so much.""Why do you hate me?" I asked as the beaten fairy looked over her shoulder at me in shock... and hope."You made me like this!" He turned and yelled at me; thunder punctua

"Dad?" I asked as I sat beside Nighean's bed, waiting for her to wake up."Yes?" Keir smiled at me.It was getting easier and easier to call him Dad, which seemed to delight him to no end."Do you remember the night I made the cloud appear?" I was staring thoughtfully at Bress, who was seated across Nighean's bed from me; staring at me as if not only was I his entire existence but he was perfectly happy with that."Yes, of course." Keir frowned. "The night before you were crowned.""Is this what I did to our fairies?" I waved a hand at Bress."I..." my father's face fell. "Not this exactly. To achieve this kind of result, you have to pour stardust directly into your victim's eyes, but it's possible that you cast a version of it. Something less...""Consuming?" I asked."Yes," he agreed. "Less consuming. I don't have that ability, but magic always changes a bit in the transfer. Perhaps you're able to spread out the spell to affect an entire room full of fairies.""Or perhaps it