Free Fairy Lies by E. D. Baker Page A

that his head thumped against the wall behind him and the book he’d been holding slipped to the floor. Annoyed, he sat up and pushed away his old school friend’s fur-covered hand.
    “We found him!” Herbert announced. “He knew all about it.”
    Tobi hopped up onto the seat beside Jak. “I’m surprised to see you here, Jak! I’ve heard that the gates are acting all squirrelly—opening for a little while, then closing so fast hardly anyone knew they were open at all. Seems just about nobody’s coming through lately. But that’s enough about you. I’ve been busy since you left, Jak. I’m in the information business now. After Titania made me spy on you, she decided that I was pretty useful and had me keep an eye on some other people, too. I got real good at it, so now I have a network set up all over the place. I have eyes and ears everywhere.”
    “He means he has lots of relatives scattered around,” said Herbert. “They can’t stand living close to each other, so they live all over the place.”
    “Huh,” grunted Tobi. “Anyway, I’ve been cultivating my connections lately.”
    “He visited his grandmother and saw his cousins and made up with his brother Yardley, whom he had a big fight with a few years ago,” Herbert explained. “He told us about it on our way here.”
    “My relatives aren’t my only informants! I have others . . . ,” Tobi said, glancing around the cave as if he expected to see one.
    “So what have you heard about Tamisin?” Jak asked.
    “I was just getting to that,” said Tobi. “She’s here, all right, although she’s not
here
, if you know what I mean. Mountain Ash took Tamisin to Oberon’s court. Rumor has it that the fairy king thinks she’s his daughter. Titania thinks Oberon did it just to get at her, so she’s madder than I’ve ever seen her. Last I heard she was preparing her troops to head to the shore of the Southern Sea where the fairy king’s court has been living.”
    “I need to get to Tamisin as soon as I can,” said Jak.
    “I’ll go with you, ole buddy,” Tobi announced. “Two heads are better than one. Unless you’re a troll, and then they’re half as good as one.”
    “We can take you part of the way,” offered Lamia Lou. “Can’t we, Thweetie?”
    “Of course we can, Sugar Lips,” said Herbert.
    “How far is it from here?” asked Jak.
    “Jutht a minute,” Lamia Lou said. “I can thow you.” She left the room and was soon back holding a piece ofyellowed parchment. “Here we go. Thith map uthed to belong to my grandmother, but thingth can’t have changed much. Thith ith where we are,” she said, pointing to the large green spot on the map labeled Sograssy Sea. “And thith ith where Oberon’th court ith.” Her finger traced the uneven outline of a section marked “Oberon’s Forest” just above the wavery lines of the ocean.
    “What’s that?” Jak asked, pointing to a line that ran from one side of the map to the other.
    “That’th the Great Ditch. Herbert and I can take you that far, but after that you’ll be on your own.”
    Herbert nodded. “The ditch has really steep sides, and I can’t climb. The Roaring River is at the bottom of the ditch, and Lamia Lou can’t swim.”
    “I can climb and swim!” Tobi declared. “Don’t worry, Jak. I’ll stick with you. I always do!”
    Jak glanced down at his little friend and sighed. He remembered all the times he’d counted on Tobi and the little goblin had run off. He wasn’t so sure how much help Tobi would be.
    “Onthe we leave the Thograthy Thea, we have to make a choith,” said Lamia Lou, tapping the map with her finger. “Dragon Territory is full of dragonth, tho no one goeth that way. Rockth are alwayth crathing down from the Trembling Peakth, tho that way ith too dangerouth, too. I thuggetht we go through the Griffin Hunting Groundth. Griffinth are afraid of lamiath; we thould be thafe there.”
    “What about after we cross the ditch?” asked Jak.