Free Time Slipping by Elle Casey Page B

Tim’s supposed spy career. But I gestured for him to continue anyway, because we didn’t have time to debate his status as Double-Oh Dumbass right then.
    He waved me back. “Okay, so maybe take another few steps. I’m going to unleash.”
    I did as he asked, not because I was worried about the buttdust but more because I was concerned about getting him so worked up that he’d stop cooperating. Tim being my last hope was stressful enough.
    Tim put his arms and legs out wide. “First, I must remove my dragonfly charm.” He spun up straight, counter-clockwise, until he was just a blur. After a few seconds, his rotations slowed and he slowly drifted down. I saw absolutely no difference in his outward appearance, but I’d already witnessed once before how that charm worked on humans, and it was the real deal. “And now, for the dusting.” He started jiving around and throwing his arms and legs all over the place. Soon enough, bits of sparkly things started shedding off his body.
    “Ooooh, preeeettttyyy,” I said, not entirely messing around. His sparkles came in all the colors of the rainbow. I wished I could tell him how gay he looked right then, but I didn’t want to distract him from his mission.
    He flew toward the barrier, covered in the stuff. As he got closer, his flight path became more tentative. He no longer flew straight but zigzagged and had his hands out, like he was about to do his mime act again. I held my breath as he got closer and closer to the spot where he’d done his face plant earlier. When his hands and then his head went through and continued on, I let my breath out in a big whoosh . Where before he was blocked, he now found free space.
    “Yeah, eat my dust, witch,” he said, very pleased with himself as he passed through and flew to the front door, no longer acting hesitant or mime-like.
    “Hell to the yeah,” I said, jogging over to join him. “Pixie dust kills Hotel California spells. I like it.” I ran up the steps and stopped at the front door, nearly breathless. It had to be the adrenaline coursing through my veins making it hard for me to breathe because normally I could run a damn marathon with all the training I’d done. “Now what?” I asked, wiping the sweat off my upper lip with the back of my hand.
    “Now you get your demon dagger boner going on and we storm the castle.”
    The fervor I heard in Tim’s voice and the mania I saw in his eyes worried me a little. “You mean the B&B.”
    “Yeah, right, whatever.” He grabbed his tiny dagger from his hip and held it out toward the door. Bonersville, go !”
    I shook my head as I drew my jeweled weapon from the hilt at my waist. “Okay, if you say so. Just be careful.” I pictured the ogre inside and the creepy witch who was probably going to try and whack me with her cane again and my dagger slowly grew and turned into a full-length sword. Whether I’d actually be able to take the step of slicing and dicing the old bag with it was another deal altogether, but I wasn’t going to worry about that now. With this particular sword it was often just enough to flash it around, and fae started toeing the line. It had a particularly mean cut that was almost impossible to heal and everyone knew it. Its dark silver surface shone, somehow picking up light from the pixie dust and the stars.
    “Open the door, Jayne. Let’s go kick some witch ass.”
    “And ogre ass too,” I said, pushing the button down on the front door handle.
    “Yeah. All of ‘em.”
    “All of ‘em?” I asked as the door swung in.
    “Yeah, all of ‘em,” Tim said, smiling like a deranged pixie. “Can’t you smell ‘em? This place is loaded with stinky fae.” And with that he flew through the entrance and left me in the doorway.

Chapter Eleven

    AT FIRST IT WAS HARD to see anything, the entrance was so deeply dark. But then as I advanced, and the weird silver light coming from my sword intensified, I realized we were not alone. Standing sentry