Kate thwacked her head on the wall when she awoke. She moaned, realizing she wasn’t in her own bed, and where her open bedroom air should have been was Lily’s apartment wall.
Lily stirred on the pullout couch in the corner but didn’t wake up.
Kate rolled to the other side, tangling up the sheets. Her bare feet landed on the cold floor, and she shivered as she crept past Lily to the kitchen, thinking of coffee.
Lazy morning sun soaked the kitchen counters and the overloaded bookshelf beside the fridge, flickering as trees outside rustled in the wind. It seemed the storm didn’t die down entirely overnight. Kate checked the pantry and grimaced at the pathetic excuse for breakfast supplies. She’d be fine if all she wanted for breakfast was curry spice and nutmeg.
The fridge was no better. The coffee tin was empty, the milk was old, and even the orange juice sounded like thick syrup when she shook the jug.
Kate went to the window to watch the early morning travellers instead. She imagined curly hair and tattoos, or a set of deadly turquoise eyes waiting around every building corner. They would starve her to death soon at this rate.
Kate took her hoodie from the back of the living room couch and grabbed her wallet from the basket by the door. If she could at least get coffee, it might help ward off the shock Lily would experience when she woke up and remembered how a person had vaporized in front of her last night. Kate sniffed the collar of her sweater and sighed, deciding she would steal a clean shirt from Lily’s closet after she got back.
The wind froze her fingertips as Kate trotted down the sidewalk. She hugged her arms to herself and pulled on her hood, stuffing her wild red hair inside as she scanned the building tops for white-haired assassins and eyed the alleys for jean jackets.
She spied on Hanes Street on her way, peering around a building and realizing she left the outside lights on at the café. Cars puttered by, and customers went in and out of the breakfast diner across the road. Overall, things felt quiet. Toronto seemed to still be half asleep.
A mail truck rolled up to the café curb. Kate chewed on the inside of her cheek, contemplating whether she cared if a parcel sat outside for a while. Locals had sticky fingers when it came to unattended parcels on doorsteps.
But death wasn’t worth the trouble.
Kate almost turned away, pausing as the post woman slid out of the truck.
A package was beneath the woman’s arm, and her shiny opal earrings could be seen all the way down the street. She pulled around a clipboard and brushed a hand over her silver hair, revealing the slight tips of pointed ears.
Freida.
Kate bolted across the road as Freida leaned the package against the café door. “Wait!” she shouted. She panted as she reached the door.
Freida folded her arms to wait while Kate caught her breath. The fae woman wore lush, red makeup again and expensive heels… and a mail vest.
“Summer job?” Kate said sarcastically when she could speak.
Freida smiled. “Congratulations, Human,” she said. “I’m pleased you’re still alive. When you missed knitting club yesterday, we assumed you were dead.”
“Where’s my phone?”
“Ah. That thing.” Freida dug into her vest pocket and drew it out. She tossed it, and Kate scrambled to catch it before it smashed on the pavement.
“Don’t you think I would have needed this if you wanted me to survive?” Kate asked, sticking the phone in her own pocket for safe keeping. “I’ve been followed for days, threatened, and attacked. You stole my one way of communicating with my friend who could help me.”
“You’re wrong, Human. That thing wouldn’t have saved you if the Prince had gotten his hands on you.” Freida nodded to Kate’s pocket. “So, tell me, how did you do it? How did you live through the week?”
“Well, I found that book,” she started, “and I—”
“You enslaved them,” Freida interrupted with a weird grin. “Didn’t you?!”
“All but the Prince.”
Freida burst out laughing so loud, Kate was sure everyone down the street could hear.
“Hazel owes me fifty human dollars,” Freida said, wiping a tear from her eye. “The Prince of the North will tear the whole city apart now, I imagine. I heard he has a temper.” She sighed through her smile. “You better prepare your house, Human goddaughter. You’ll need ingredients to bake bread, fresh honey from a hive, cold iron butterknives, and… hmm…”
Freida lifted the package from the door and shoved it against Kate’s chest. “This.”
Kate turned the package over in her hands. “I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about anything fairy related until knitting club?” she said as she tore it open.
“Oh, we’re not. I should cut your tongue out for bringing it up,” Freida admitted.
Kate made an odd laughing sound.
Freida didn’t seem like she was kidding.
A pink sweater tumbled out of the package when Kate tipped it upside down. She held it up, her thumb brushing over the snuggly yarn. A smile broke out across her mouth.
“Is this for me?”
Freida pulled her mail bag onto her shoulder. “It should do the trick,” she said.
Kate lowered the gift. “A sweater isn’t going to save me. I’ve successfully ticked off four fae assassins.” At the thought of those assassins, she stole a look both ways down the street.
“Yes, you certainly did. You’ll be the talk of the knitting club now.”
Kate’s face fell. “Can’t you please just tell me everything I don’t know about the fae?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Or we could cut an apple in half and watch it turn brown. It would take less time.”
“Please? If you hadn’t told me about that book, I’d be dead already,” Kate said.
Freida raised a hand. “I didn’t tell you anything about that book. You found it and read it yourself. And ask your questions at knitting club,” she said. “I imagine you’ll live until then. Keep your sweater on.”
Freida chuckled to herself as she climbed into the post truck. She revved the engine and drove away without saying goodbye. At the end of the street, she turned left, and the post truck was swallowed into the city buildings.
Kate drew her gaze back to the café. It looked dark inside. Nothing moved, so she dug into her wallet for the key. She flinched when she pushed the door open and it struck the bell, as though it would alert all of Toronto that she was back in the café, ripe for a fae prince kidnapping.
All was still, all was calm. All the lights were still out. Kate relaxed.
Her sigh filled the storefront as she tossed her wallet on the nearest table and jogged up the stairs to her apartment to find a change of clothes. She raked her fingers through her messy hair.
When she reached the top, she pushed the door open and a startled, strangled sound escaped her throat.
A cold hand slapped over her mouth, and a set of mean green eyes appeared. The fae’s high-collared sweater smelled of freshly brewed coffee—no, Kate’s apartment smelled of fresh coffee.
“Do you want to alert the Prince to where you are, Human?” The white-haired fae asked from the kitchenette as he sauntered over. He looked to the fae with the high collar and said, “Take it easy, Dranian. You’re going to scare her.” But Dranian didn’t move his hand from Kate’s mouth. So, the white-haired fae smacked Dranian’s hand off.
Kate gaped at the three fae assassins in her apartment. The curly-haired one with brown and silver eyes sat at the island, sipping from a chipped mug Kate had bought at a yard sale last year. He grimaced after he took a drink.
“What are you doing here…?” Her gaze took in the spilled coffee grounds covering the counter, the puddle of coffee water on the floor, and the heap of wet coffee filters that all seemed used. Tiny piles of random things were strewn between it all: coins, straws, jewelry, etc.
The white-haired guy shrugged when he saw Kate looking at the piles. “I steal things,” he said.
“What do you mean, what are we doing here?” Dranian took a threatening step toward Kate. “You commanded us to protect you from the Prince of the North!” he growled.
“Seriously, settle down, Dranian.” The white-haired fae folded his arms. “It’s not like she had a choice. You were going to snap each of her bones in half, one at a time.”
“I would have let Cress do it,” Dranian mumbled to the white-haired fae, who grinned.
Kate looked between them, hyper aware that her door was only a short sprint away. But the auburn-haired fae’s words cut through the tension in her brain and sank in.
“Wait… you’re here to protect me?” she asked in disbelief.
“Prince Cressica is planning to come here for you. Mor heard him say it.” The white-haired fae nodded to the curly-haired fae at the island. “Do you think we’re here by choice, pesky little Human? We were compelled to come. And we waited all night for you, but you never returned home.”
“Honestly, I thought the faeborn Prince finally got you,” the curly-haired fae—Mor—spoke for the first time. “I’d hoped he had.” He glanced at his nails.
“You can call me Shayne, Human.” The white-haired fae shoved Dranian out of the way like he wanted to get a look at Kate himself. Kate felt like an ant in the shadow of his strong, folded arms. He looked as stunningly appealing as the others, possibly more so. He seemed to have some Asian heritage, but his hair was pure white, and his irises were wildly blue. They studied Kate’s small frame, catching on the mountain tattoo on the side of her neck.
“What does this mean?” He tapped the tattoo with a finger and Kate moved out from between him and the wall, slapping a hand over the side of her neck to hide it.
“It’s none of your business,” she rasped.
All three fae looked at her doubtfully.
Mor stood from his island seat and carried the mug to the sink. He dumped out the liquid with a big splash, getting it all over the counter. There was hardly a speck of clean space left on the countertops.
Kate swallowed. “How many times did you guys try to make coffee?” she asked them, eyeing the half empty bag of sugar.
“Coffee is repulsive,” Mor muttered. “All human food is repulsive.” He cast Kate a look like it was her fault. His gaze stopped on the pink sweater in her grip, and his brown eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that?” he demanded.
Kate’s fingers tightened around it. “I made it,” she lied.
Mor’s glare promised he didn’t believe her.
Kate turned for the coffee maker and dragged the heavy machine toward herself, nudging a pile of trinkets out of the way. “Let me show you how to make coffee properly.”
But Mor’s mug slammed onto the countertop. “You will poison it,” he accused.
Kate blinked. “Poison it? Are you kidding me?”
Minutes later, fresh coffee chugged out into the pot, filling the apartment with the scent all over again. Kate stayed facing the coffee maker as long as she could, even when there was nothing left for her to do.
The fae all scowled at her like one terrible monster with six eyes.
Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. Kate turned and faced them, forcing herself to keep her chin up. “Now that I’ve shown you how to not trash the kitchen with coffee filters, tell me who you are and what you’re really doing here,” she said to Mor especially.
Mor bit his lips together in a way that looked painful. He looked off and flicked one of the tentacles of Kate’s aloe vera plant. His neck flexed, and a vein became prominent.
“Don’t fight it, Mor.” Shayne sighed. “You know you’ll blurt it out eventually.”
“I’m not trying to command you like some heartless master or whatever. But I need answers,” Kate said. “You’re here to kill me after all, right? It’s not cool to leave me guessing.”
An exasperated breath left Mor. “My unhidden name is Mor,” he finally said with a deep voice. “My real name is”—his throat bobbed—“one of the ones you uttered in the library of the human academy. I’m an assassin of the North Corner Brotherhood of Assassins. Yes, I’m here to kill you.”
Kate’s fingers traced over the dull thuds in her chest. “Right. And why did you choose to become someone who… kills people? Tell me the story.”
Mor cracked his knuckles, seeming to fight a snarl. “I was born in the Dark Corner of Ever among the Shadow Fairies. I abandoned the Shadow army during the war for their immoral choices. I met Prince Cressica on the battlefield when we were both sixteen faeborn years old, fighting against the Dark Corner. He and I got separated from those we fought alongside, and so we fought together, and we survived the war that way. He brought me back to the North and petitioned the High Court for me to join him in the North Brotherhood.” He paused and glanced off. “I did not know he was a prince of the North, nor did I know whose ward he was when I met him. The luck of the sky deities was on my side that day.”
Kate fiddled with a dirty mug on the counter. “How old were you when you decided to leave your family?”
“I was fifteen faeborn years old when I left. But I do not pity my past self.”
“Do you miss them?” Kate dared to ask. She couldn’t meet his eyes. She slid the mug over and dropped it in the sink as quiet came over the apartment.
Dranian looked like he might split Kate’s counter in half. He inhaled and exhaled loudly, and he began to pace. His footsteps weren’t light.
“Yes.”
Kate noticed Dranian and Shayne both glance at Mor in surprise.
Mor went to the window and turned his back to the room. His dark eyes flickered over the streets. It seemed like the conversation was over. Kate chewed on her lip as she thought about his story. She turned to Dranian and Shayne.
“What about you two?” she asked them and hugged her arms to herself. There was no normal way to have a conversation with people who wanted her dead, but the first rule of negotiation in every spy novel was to make your captor reveal things about themselves, and in turn reveal things about yourself to try and build up sympathy. Though, Kate hadn’t expected Mor’s story to be like that.
“It is cruel of you to ask,” Dranian said. “We do not speak of where we come from once we join the Brotherhood and serve the Queene—”
“I grew up rich,” Shayne cut in. “I’m a Lord by birthright. But my brother took the family title after I kept getting into trouble. Dranian was hired by my parents as my fairyguard when I was twelve faeborn years old, but he couldn’t keep me out of messes, hard as he tried.” Shayne dragged a huge crossbow from beneath the counter, and Kate’s eyes widened. “So, my parents disowned me and sent me off to the High Court who hired me to kill Cress. The Prince.”
Kate raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Looks like you never managed to do that,” she remarked. “Too bad for me.”
Mor released a quiet grunt from the window.
“Oh, I tried. I hid behind one of the seven thrones and attacked the revered Prince Cressica during a High Court meeting. We fought until we bled, right before the High Court of the North. The Prince put me at sword point, and the Court instructed him to kill me for failing my task. But Cress refused and scolded them for wasting my talents.” Shayne rubbed his thumb over the loaded arrow in the crossbow as he smiled to himself. “I’ve been supplied with the most excellent weapons and training since I was a childling. It’s why I’m the best assassin in this room.” He glanced at Dranian like he dared him to challenge it, and Dranian snorted.
“Right. Well, I guess that tells me Dranian’s story too then,” Kate said.
Shayne and Dranian exchanged a look, but neither of them objected.
“I only have one more question.” Kate clutched her sweater tighter, picking at a loose piece of yarn. “What happens if you don’t kill me?”
Shayne laughed like that wasn’t a plausible outcome. He set his crossbow on the counter with a loud thud.
“We can’t return home with an incomplete task. If we fail, we’ll be executed,” Mor said from the window with a low voice.
The sweater slid from Kate’s fingers and fell to the floor. “E… executed?” All the hope drained from her body. Her knees weakened and she grabbed the edge of the counter so she wouldn’t crumple.
“We won’t fail,” Shayne promised, his grin turning wicked. “There’s no assassin in any Corner more deadly than Cress. And there’s no creature more cunning than a fairy. We love to manipulate and crush small human minds.”
Kate glanced over at the mess of coffee filters doubtfully. She cleared her throat. “Anyway”—she picked up the trash can and swiped everything off the counter into it—“there are some human rules of common courtesy when you’re in someone else’s home. For example: if you make a mess,” she turned to face the fae, “then clean it up—”
Before the last word left her mouth, three muscular assassins were moving through her kitchen, grabbing cloths and brooms, and scrubbing the floor and countertops. Kate watched in amazement, even when Dranian snarled at her for getting in his way. She shouldn’t have let it go on as long as she did, but she was too surprised to intervene as the apartment began to shine in a matter of minutes.
Kate’s phone rang, cutting off her fascination. She answered it without taking her eyes off Mor picking grinds of coffee off the counter with his bare fingers. Shayne soaked a cloth at the sink and began scrubbing the window where Kate hadn’t even noticed coffee had splashed.
“Yeah?”
“Where’d you go? I thought we were going to talk about where to list our barista job posting this morning.” The urgency in Lily’s tone told Kate that the reason she called had nothing to do with the job posting.
“Right…” Kate watched Mor give up and use his jean jacket sleeve to wipe up the coffee grinds.
“Come back to my place right now, Kate.” Lily’s voice sounded dry.
Dranian began washing the mugs, drizzling dish soap over them like honey on bread. The suds overwhelmed the cups.
Kate watched, mind spinning.
“You know what, Lil,” Kate said. “I have a really bad idea.”
The air smelled of flaky pastries and freshly crushed coffee beans. Mor got the fireplace going in the corner and singlehandedly unpacked and put together all the bistro tables that were left. He scowled about it at first, but after a while, he got into a routine and had the place set up in less than an hour. Shayne arranged stir spoons into spare mugs along the counter, and Dranian practiced brewing on the coffee machine in the corner.
Mist hovered in the streets outside, making the café feel warmer and the hot coffee scent more alluring. But a beam of light broke through the clouds, glowing against the sparkling café windows and showcasing Lily’s tight expression as she marched to the front door. It swung open with a clang and her hair fluttered in the wild wind.
“Un-real, Kate!” she shouted. “Are you out of your mind?!”
Dranian stopped scooping ground coffee from the tins. Shayne continued smoothing down his barista apron as he studied his reflection in a spoon.
Kate rushed to Lily. “I can’t decide if this is brilliant or terrifying,” she admitted with an unusual, horrified grin as she jutted her thumb toward the fae.
“It’s terrifying!” Lily assured, folding her tattooed arms. “Can I have a word in private?” Her gaze darted back to Mor lifting a heavy box to the counter. He glared right back.
“We’ll probably be able to hear you even if you go outside,” Shayne said as he rubbed a smudge off the spoon. “We have very sharp hearing—”
Dranian smacked Shayne. “Why would you tell them that?” he whispered. Mor seemed to fight an unusual smile. He turned his back to them and began unloading mugs from the box.
Kate followed Lily out to the street. Lily’s hair was down for the first time in ages and unbrushed. Likely unwashed, too. She fashioned an oversized concert t-shirt from an indie band she and Kate saw two years ago.
“That guy attacked you last night!” Lily said, and through the window, Kate noticed Mor look up from the glass display as though he could hear them like Shayne said.
“Yes, but now I’ve told them not to attack me,” Kate explained all over again. “And besides, it’s just for a week so we can open on schedule. We’ll still hire, you know, a human or whatever.”
Lily shook her head and pointed at the café. “This is insane. You need to get far away from these people. Let me arrest that guy who attacked you! What he did is no joke!”
“I can’t, Lil. Let me just do this my way, okay? We could really use the help right now,” Kate tried again.
“No!” Lily’s cheeks flushed. “I don’t trust them, Kate. And you shouldn’t, either! You can’t just command someone not to hurt you and expect them to obey!”
“Actually, I can—”
“Send them away!” Lily shouted. “Send them away, right now, or I’m officially done with this café. I won’t come here while they’re here!”
Kate gaped. “What? Seriously? You’re really doing the whole, ‘choose me or them’ thing?”
“Yes.” There was no joking in Lily’s face. “Send them away.”
The wind grew cold. Kate slid her hands into her pockets and released a heavy breath. “I’m not sending them away yet. We have no one else to help us, and you don’t realize the opportunity this is. Can’t you just trust me?”
Lily was quiet for too long. When Kate looked up, she saw a strange mix of anger and hurt on Lily’s face. “I always knew you’d go crazy one day, Katherine Lewis, but this takes the cake!” Lily finally blurted.
“Gah-p-shhhh!” Kate slapped her hand over Lily’s mouth. “Don’t say that name ever again!” Kate’s wide eyes drifted to the counter where the three fae had gone perfectly still inside.
Kate cursed and burst into the café with her finger up. “Don’t ever repeat that name!” she shouted. “Do you hear me? Don’t say it, don’t write it down, don’t even think it! Don’t help that fae Prince learn my name!”
Shayne moaned and went back to admiring himself. Dranian shoved his cappuccino away and stared back at her with death in his eyes, and Mor snatched the dish soap to scrub the new mugs.
Lily grabbed Kate and dragged her back outside.
“Kate! Get it together!” she shouted. “You don’t really expect me to believe that you enslaved a bunch of mythical beings, do you?”
“What? You said you believed me.” Kate looked back and forth between Lily’s eyes. “You were there, Lil. You saw him evaporate into thin air—”
“I lied, Kate. I don’t believe you. How could anyone believe those things you said? And I don’t know what I saw.” She glanced toward the fae assassins setting up the café. “Who are those guys? Please, for the love of all that’s good in this world, give me names so I can do background checks.”
“I can’t do that,” Kate said. She cleared her throat that suddenly felt tight and dry. “I wish you really believed me.”
A beat of silence moved between them, filled only with the rumble of car engines and the distant chatter of early-morning pedestrians. A horn sounded in the distance. A storefront door slammed down the road. A child began crying by the flower shop.
Lily’s chest rose and fell. “I can’t associate with criminals. So, if you’re really choosing them, Kate, then I’m gone.” A strange flash of fear crossed her face, like she was realizing for the first time Kate might not pick her. But she still didn’t take her words back. She didn’t apologize or try to assure Kate that she was still on her side. “Send. Them. Away.”
Kate looked down at her hands, thinking about the money she owed Ben. About the bills waiting to be paid. About how she’d have nothing left if this café failed. “This might be a bit unconventional, but these are going to be the best workers you’ve ever seen. You just watch.”
Without another word, Kate went back into the café. She didn’t turn around. She waited there, hoping to hear the café bell. Finally, when minutes passed, Kate turned and looked back at the street.
A family crossed the road to get to the breakfast diner. A bird soared past the window.
There was no sign of Lily Baker.
