King Gneiss walked over and leaned close to Keelie. "Ermentrude always had a flare for the dramatic. When she stands on ceremony, she scares the fae to bits."

Keelie wasn"t quite sure what to expect. She did feel better being near King Gneiss. However, she wasn"t quite sure how the elves were going to take having a dragon as a guest, even if she was in human form. This was going to be pushing their hospitality tolerance to a new level, which wasn"t very high to begin with.

Ermentrude walked up to Elia, who trembled under her draconic gaze. Ermentrude reached out and placed a hand on the elf"s rounded belly. A protective surge for the child welled up within Keelie. She didn"t know what Ermentrude planned to do. She"d never been exposed to dragon magic, and the Compendium never said anything about dragons, but she"d promised Uncle Dariel she would look after his child. Visions of the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty came to mind, when Maleficent cursed the newborn princess.

Sean moved toward them, ready to step in and protect Elia from whatever would happen. As Keelie was ready to step forward, King Gneiss placed a rough-skinned hand on her arm. "It"ll be okay, child. No harm will come to the elf and her unborn child."

Ermentrude turned around and winked at Keelie. "This child will be a blessing to you and your people."

The crystal at the end of Ermentrude"s staff glowed, and a stream of magic flowed from it and wound its way around Elia"s stomach. Elia looked up with wide, tear-filled eyes and smiled at the dragon. Relief flowed through Keelie as she realized Ermentrude wasn"t going to curse Elia or her child.

Elia sighed and placed her hands protectively over her belly. She bowed her head. "Thank you for your blessing."

King Gneiss leaned in close again and held up his hand. "Fairies won"t dare do anything to Elia"s child. It"s now under the protection of a dragon."

Ermentrude bowed her head and walked to Sean, grabbing his chin and tilting his head to the right and then to the left as if she were inspecting a cabbage at the supermarket. "Shadows edge your heart, elf, and you will have to face them before you can have what you desire."

Sean cut his eyes toward Keelie, and she knew that Ermentrude meant her. But what did the dragon mean by shadows edging Sean"s heart? Ermentrude sounded like a faireground tarot card reader. The only thing missing was a tent and a crystal ball.

A smile crept over the dragon woman"s face and her eyes burned bright as she rounded on Keelie. Sweat beaded on Keelie"s forehead and she clenched her clammy hands. She wondered if you could dehydrate because of exposure to a dragon.

Ermentrude looked her square in the eye. "You are the one I wanted to see. You have information I want."

Knot strolled over to the dragon and meowed up at her in a commanding tone. "Meow here."

Ermentrude looked down at the fae cat and scowled. "Well, I wondered where you were keeping your sorry b.u.t.t. Don"t worry about your little charge. I like her."

Not the greeting Keelie had expected for Knot. More like burnt-cat-on-a-stick, because Knot had that way about him.

The dragon turned around and her expression darkened. "He says he"s your guardian. How"s it working for you?"

Keelie nodded. "He"s a good guardian. Sometimes."

Knot scowled, and then he purred.

Snorting, Ermentrude looked down at Knot, who now was washing in between his toes as if he didn"t care that he could be insulting a dragon. She turned around and shook her head. "You"re too kind in your remarks about him, and I"ll give you that, but I should"ve flamed him years ago."

Knot purred.

"What say we leave and catch up on old times, my fae feline friend?" the dragon proposed.

Queen Vania frowned. "I must insist you take your rest and entertainment with us, Lady Ermentrude. We shall have the finest rooms in my castle prepared for you."

Ermentrude exhaled. "Thanks, Vania, but what I need is an ale, and I think I would like to talk to Keelie on my own and visit my elven friend without bothering your court." She turned her gaze toward Fala and Salaca. "I want to find out what"s happening in the big world again."

Keelie didn"t know if she wanted to have a conversation alone with a dragon. She might say something that would make her mad.

Vania cleared her throat. "I need Keliel Heartwood here. She can"t leave."

"She can leave." Flames danced around Ermentrude"s walking cane.

Keelie fanned herself, because it was definitely getting hotter in the room. Fairies stepped back as the tension in the air crackled with energy, like the coming of a storm. A fire storm.

Please take note: Don"t tell a dragon what it can and cannot do.

Keelie felt a bit like a p.a.w.n in a game of chess and wondered if the evening would ever end. The last thing she wanted to be involved with was a showdown between a dragon and the fairy queen.

A male voice whispered in her mind. You don"t have to stay. Vania has no power over you. But she speaks truly. She needs you. That does not mean it is in your best interest. Keelie remembered that sweet, dark voice. Herne. She looked around quickly, but he was not in the room.

She was so tired. She"d cooperated with Vania as instructed, and even though she may not have produced the outcome that Vania, or the elves, had wanted, there was no way she was going to stay here. "I want to leave, along with Elia, Sean, Coyote, and Knot, and arrive at Grey Mantle in the same condition we were before." She knew to spell out her wish very precisely.

The dragon turned and smiled at Keelie. "Good. You"ve got backbone."

"We are not finished, but I will grant you part of that wish," Vania replied. "We still have to figure out what went wrong with the magic. If the magic keeps escaping, then the Earth will quickly grow closer to its end. Do you want to be the reason that humanity will die?" The queen held her shoulders high, looking like an avenging angel bringing judgment.

Keelie glared at her. "I"m only one person. I can"t be the only one who has the magic to bind the rift. Don"t put this responsibility on me."

The dragon pounded her cane on the ground. The room echoed its loud vibration, and all heads turned to her. "The child is right. Others must step in to help."

Queen Vania stepped down from her dais. "She sealed the rift in the Earth with little help from me. But it did not hold."

Ermentrude frowned at the queen. "What did you expect?"

"And you think the elves can help?" Vania asked, sneering. "What can they do?"

"It seems they can do a lot," Keelie said, indignant. "It seems you need their magic, or why would you need a tree shepherdess?" Stunned, she realized that she was defending the very people who"d snubbed her and treated her as an outsider.

The queen waved her wand, and the vortex of light reappeared in the middle of the court. The fairies backed away for fear of being sucked into it. The sound of Johnny O"Hare"s fiddle once more played in tune to the pulsing funnel. Keelie heard the ticking of a clock and the Timekeeper"s voice: Time for you to return to your world.

The Timekeeper had ensured that all would be as it was when they left the High Court, but Keelie knew much had changed. She looked through her lashes at the dragon woman and wondered how she was going to explain her presence to the grumpy elves.

Sean reached for Keelie"s hand and gripped it tightly. "I won"t let anything happen to you."

Keelie looked into his leaf-green eyes. "Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you."

"Let"s go," he said. "I have something very important to tell you."

Despite the danger she"d been in, the threats that had been casually exchanged by beings more powerful than any she had ever met, Sean"s words thrilled her. She wondered what he wanted to say.

Their hands clasped, and Keelie prepared to jump. She saw Elia, with Knot and Coyote close at either side, leap into the light and vanish. Just as she and Sean were about to jump, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. She leaned into the kiss and put her arms around his neck. "Don"t let go."

"Never," he swore. And they jumped together.

Keelie and Sean landed lightly next to the others. Once you knew what to expect, the vortex ride wasn"t so bad.

Apparently Keelie was the only one who thought so, because Elia was bent over, being sick a few feet away, and Ermentrude stood in the middle of a wide, sloped meadow, weaving around on unsteady but human legs. Smoke trailed from her ears.

"Where are we?" Keelie thought they"d be in Grey Mantle. Hadn"t the queen promised? The fairy"s words came back to her-she"d said that only part of the wish would be fulfilled. Keelie shivered, wondering what else might be different.

The dragon tucked stray wisps of her red hair behind her ears. "What a ride."

In the blue sky above them, the aurora borealis shone more brightly than ever. Waves of crisp greens, pinks, and purples had replaced the hazy bands of color that ebbed and shone the night they"d left. Keelie wondered if this was a side effect of increased magic, or if she had caused it when she"d tried to bind the rift. She stumbled at the proof of her power, and Sean"s arm tightened around her waist. "What have I done?" Keelie whispered.

Coyote trotted up to them and b.u.t.ted her hand with his head. She scratched his ears.

"Only what you were asked to do," Sean a.s.sured her. He held her close. "We"ll fix it, Keelie. Your father sent you here because the Northwoods elves and the fae asked for you. They can"t blame you for doing your best. You"re still our best hope." He looked around. "What we need to worry about is getting a ride back to Grey Mantle. From the position of the sun, I"d say we"re on the other side of the mountain from Big Nugget."

"I need to call Dad. I"m not sure Sir Davey got through to him, and there"s a lot more to tell him now. If only I knew what to do. The Compendium didn"t mention dragons." She pushed away from him reluctantly.

"I still have something I have to tell you, Keelie, but not here." Sean looked around, then froze when he saw Ermentrude standing close by. A slow smile spread across her face as she looked him up and down.

"Go on and tell her."

Sean hesitated. "After Herne and Peascod left, I heard two fae say that "he" had been in the queen"s chambers. I think Herne is in league with Queen Vania."

"No way." Keelie frowned. "That makes no sense. She hates him."

Sean shrugged. "It"s what I heard. Just keep an eye out for strange alliances."

Ermentrude elbowed Keelie"s ribs. "Don"t be upset. Go back to kissing him. After witnessing that clinch, I feel like I need a smoke." Eyes still on Sean, the dragon reached into an oversized bag made of some leathery stuff and beaded with sparkling dragon scales. She pulled out a homemade cigarette and smiled at it happily.

A scream made them whirl to see Elia, arms wide, staring at her belly, which seemed to have grown considerably in just a few minutes. "What"s going on?" she cried. "The fairies have cursed me and my child!"

Ermentrude rolled her eyes. "No, they haven"t. Your baby"s just grown the way it should have in the time we"ve been gone. Now that we"re back, it"s caught up."

Keelie felt a chill go down her spine. "There shouldn"t have been any time pa.s.sage between now and when we left, according to the Timekeeper." She tried to remember exactly what the Timekeeper had said. "And we should have arrived at Grey Mantle, but instead, we"re here. Wherever here is. The queen did this because I didn"t heal the rift!"

"You think so?" Ermentrude seemed surprised. "The High Court has never been able to channel that much magic."

Alarmed, Keelie looked around. "We don"t know how much time has pa.s.sed."

"Well, obviously not too much, or there would be a grown elf-man next to Elia instead of a baby in her belly," Ermentrude pointed out.

Keelie thought of the elves who had sent them on their mission. What did they think had happened to them? She looked at Elia. "I don"t know anything about pregnancy. How far along do you think you are now?"

Elia"s eyes were wide. "It"s hard to tell. And as far as I know, I"m the only pregnant elf that"s ever gone to Fairy."

"And you wouldn"t have gone at all if you hadn"t snuck after us," Keelie accused.

Elia burst into tears. "I didn"t want to be alone," she wailed. "I need my husband. I want to go back to Dariel."

Keelie hesitated, then went to the weeping elf and put her arms awkwardly around her. "It"ll be okay. No one"s hurt your baby. Just hurried things up, that"s all."

Ermentrude frowned, waving her cigarette. "Are we near ?," any cows.

Puzzled, Keelie shook her head. "I haven"t seen any cows since our plane landed." Was Ermentrude having a snack attack? She shivered at the thought of a dragon swooping over Big Nugget. It would certainly give the crystal gazers something to talk about.

"There are cows in Grey Mantle. Not many." Elia sniffed. She looked much better.

Keelie shook her head to clear it. Too much fairy. Too much magic. Too much dragon. She angled her gaze to ward Ermentrude. "Why do you need to know if cows are nearby? You aren"t hungry, are you?"

"Honey, if I am, I can eat a burger, same as you. But methane and dragon fire, a very combustible mixture. I just wanted to be sure this big meadow isn"t a pasture." She puffed out her cheeks. "Cow comes near when I"m having a hot flash, ka-boom!" She stuck the cigarette between her lips, flicked her thumb, and lit her rolled cigarette with her flaming fingertip. She shook her hand to put the fire out, then took a puff and exhaled with a satisfied sound.

"You"d better not do that around the elves," Keelie said.

"Why not?" The dragon inhaled. Smoke leaked from her nostrils and ears, twirling down to surround Knot, who was back to his normal size. He looked up at her from Elia"s feet and purred loudly.

"Because elves don"t care for fire." Keelie sounded confident, but inside she quivered. No one had gone over dragon etiquette with her, but repairing the rifts in the Earth and dome and stopping the leaking magic was going to take the cooperation of everyone, including the dragon. They were all going to have get over their differences and work together for the greater good.

Good luck with that.

An herby cookout smell wafted from the dragon, like a rosemary-infused barbecue. Ermentrude fixed a sizzling glare on her, and Keelie wished she was wearing fire r.e.t.a.r.dant clothes in case Ermentrude blasted a fireball at her. Maybe she couldn"t do it in her human form, but Keelie wouldn"t put it past her.

Instead, Ermentrude just arched an eyebrow and snorted. "The elves are going to love me. Everybody loves me. I"ll win them over with my charm and grace."

That was news to Keelie. "Have you met any other elves?"

"Besides Norzan?" Two little spirals of smoke trailed out of Ermentrude"s nose. She chuckled. "Elves, fairies, humans, dwarves-they"re all the same to me. They all eventually do as I say."

Sean"s face darkened. Knot purred even louder as the herby cookout scent increased.

"I think it"s time we get to Grey Mantle," Keelie said in a forced cheery tone, the kind tour guides use on the last tour of the day. She decided it was safer not to say anything else to Ermentrude. Knot blinked up at her as if he knew what she was thinking. He winked.

"How are we going to get there?" Ermentrude asked, smoke rings still drifting out of her ears.

"We hike. That"s how we got to the door to the Quicksilver Faire."

Ermentrude looked uncomfortable. "This is why I have Keelie glanced at her watch. At least the hands were moving again.

"I can ask the elves to come get Elia," Ermentrude added, looking down at Knot. "Want a ride?"

Knot nodded.

"Wait. You aren"t going to, um, change, are you?" Keelie wondered what the elves would do when a dragon flew overhead. For one, Dad would call.

"You got a better idea? If we do it your way, we"ll just walk around in circles until we see an elf." Ermentrude rolled her eyes. "That could take years."

"Knot can"t ride on your back." Keelie said.

"Why not?" Ermentrude wrinkled her forehead as if she was insulted.

"He might fall off."

"Hey, I have a great safety record. I haven"t lost a cat yet.

Knot turned his head. "Meow."

"Fine, fly with the dragon, but if you fall, don"t expect me to put a Band-Aid on your fuzzy cracked head."