Cora spent the following day holed up under the blanket of Harry's bed. She watched the faint golden glow of the bonfire coming in from the window turn into the bright silver light of the sun, immersed in the scent of pine trees that came from the dried plants hanging on the walls. The Fair was still going, and no one came to bother her.

When the sun dipped behind the greenwood at last, she pulled herself up and wandered outside in search of food. Her stomach was grumbling its disappointment at having been ignored for the whole day, and she was certain she'd start screaming if she stayed in Harry's makeshift bedroom one more minute.

She found an orange and leaned back against a cart while peeling it. The clearing was nearly empty, and the voices in the distance told her the Fair was about to open for the evening. She put a wedge in her mouth and shivered at its sourness. It bit nearly as much as the cold evening air.

"Look who crawled out at last."

Cora's eyes snapped open. Aster was standing in front of her, looking at her as if he thought her a curious little animal that had wandered into his line of vision. He was taller than her, but not by much. "Did you lose the tail at last?" she bit back, and his eyebrows raised.

"Just how much does Harry tell you?"

Not enough, a voice in her mind replied. She didn't say it out loud but he seemed to pick up on it anyway, because he smiled. "Why are you here?" Cora asked. "Don't you have anything better to do than hanging out with people you dislike?"

Aster tilted his head. "I don't dislike you."

She let out a sour laugh.

"I heard there was an accident yesterday." His eyes glinted with curiosity. "How lucky they were Harry was there to save them all."

Cora glanced away. She had the feeling he was trying to get a reaction out of her.

"I've been wondering. Have you heard—"

"Cora."

Cora's head snapped up. Harry was walking towards them. For some reason, he didn't seem happy to see her talking to Aster.

Harry's hand stopped on her shoulder when he reached her. "I've been waiting for you." He sent Aster a glance as he pulled her away from him. "You're back. Supervise the Pavilion tonight."

Aster nodded. "As you wish."

They stepped away, towards the burning embers of the dying bonfire. She hadn't seen Harry since earlier that morning. They hadn't talked about her magic again, and she couldn't tell if it was because he didn't want to overwhelm her or because he believed there was nothing more to say. She couldn't tell which of the two was more alarming.

Now, though, he was taking her away with him as if he'd been trying to talk to her for the entire day. He sent a glance around, ensuring they were alone.

"I need you to do something for me," he said. "Will you?"

A cold wind hissed through the clearing, making the leaves of the nearing trees crinkle like crumpled up paper. Cora said, "Yes."

Harry gave her a smile that didn't soothe her in the slightest. "I need to talk to someone."

"Who?"

"A man named Gael," he replied. The name rang a bell in Cora's mind, but she couldn't remember when she'd heard it before. "I used to know him and I've been looking for him for quite a while, but he doesn't seem to be fond of people."

"He disappeared?"

"You could say that."

"The last time you asked me to find an address for you I was almost executed."

Harry flinched, but recovered quickly. "I already have the address."

Cora frowned. "Then what do you need me for?"

"I need you to be a distraction."

"A distraction?"

He nodded. "Knock at his door and find a way to get into his house. Leave the rest to me."

A shiver ran down Cora's spine. The feeling of not being told an important part of the story struck her again, but she forced herself not to let it show. This was her opportunity to show Harry he could trust her with important plans. She couldn't ruin it with her foolish worries. "How am I going to do that?"

Harry shrugged. "If you're out of ideas, use the name Paisley. It's a woman he used to know."

"How do you know that?"

He cleared his throat. "That isn't important." He glanced between her and the waning light in the sky. "Put something on. I'll be waiting at the tree line at dark." He parted ways with her with those words, and Cora threw the peel she'd been holding into the dying bonfire. The scent of oranges filled the clearing in moments.

She went back inside and changed into the grey dress she'd been wearing when Harry saved her. Her hand slipped inside her pocket, and her fingers grazed something hard. She scooped out her discovery—zyrma berries. She felt a pang in her chest, remembering the day Harry had given them to her. They were dried now, but if he was right, they still hadn't lost their efficiency. She put them back in her pocket and put on her black cloak.

She'd prove herself useful. This was her chance.

When she wandered to the side of the clearing with the first dark, she found Harry and Thalia waiting for her.

"Let's go on a mission," he said, and Thalia rolled her eyes.

She shook her cloak and a bat flied out, nearly face-planting against a trunk before veering for the night sky. "It'll keep an eye on the road for us," she announced, and then sent Harry a judgemental look. "Try to be more careful this time. I'm not risking to be executed again."

He raised his eyebrows. "Now, maybe Count Watillon isn't the most pleasing host, but that would be out of taste for him too."

She narrowed her eyes. "You have no idea how close we got to that future becoming true."

A bird cawed above their heads. Harry raised his hands in defence, and Thalia grumbled something under her breath. Her bat dipped under the canopy of trees, slaloming through the branches.

The walk was long, but surprisingly silent. They only abandoned the woods when they reached the first houses of Caloir. They turned into the main street and blended with the people going to the Fair as they walked past the temple to Luces in market square, with its doors enlightened by torches shining green. An officiant was closing up for the night, hood pulled up, light shining over their odd-coloured cloak. Cora's gaze lingered for a moment too long, and then Harry pulled her away through the thick crowd.

They were careful not to catch anyone's attention, but it turned out the people around them were all too excited to notice them walking against the current. The magic of the Fair seemed to put a spell on everyone—Cora had been one of them too, once. They couldn't care less for the three figures dressed in black moving along the side of the street.

They reached a road full of dark mansions, and Harry stopped behind a corner. He checked nobody was around and then walked Cora to the front door of one of the houses.

"It's easy, go in and distract him. Come up with something, tell him a story, I don't care. Just buy us time and make sure he doesn't take his eyes off you."

"I don't understand what you're hoping to get from this," Cora admitted.

He put his hand on her forearm. "Just do that," he said, "it'll make more sense later, I promise."

She sighed but nodded anyway. She looked around—all the houses seemed the same, big and dark and threatening. Most of them were empty; no light shone through their windows despite the early hour of the night. She walked towards the one she'd been left in front of, her steps unsure. She turned around when she reached the front door, and uneasiness settled inside her when she realised that Harry and Thalia were nowhere to be found. They'd left. She was alone.

She closed her eyes for a moment. Then, she knocked on the door. Nobody came to open, so she did it again. And again. And again.

"What do you want?"

Cora jolted when the gruff voice broke the tense silence. "Please help me," she murmured, trying to sound as dejected as possible. After all, nothing got people to open their doors quicker than a stranger needing refuge. Cora knew something about that, too. "I'm looking for Gael."

The door was opened, and a dark eye peeked at her through the sliver. "I'm Gael," he spat, "and I don't know who in Luces's grace you are."

Cora blinked. She had to think quickly. Fortunately, even though she hadn't met many people in the twenty-one years of her life, she'd heard one too many strangers talking at the hostel. It didn't take her long to braid their tales into a believable story that could work for her, too. "Paisley sent me."

The man gasped. "Paisley? How is she?"

"Not well, I'm afraid." Cora just wished she would be able to keep track of all the lies that were leaving her mouth in that moment. She felt bad for him, and hoped she'd be able to come clean soon.

He sighed and opened the door wider. "Come in."

She walked in, looking down to conceal the little smile on her face. The first step was done, now she had to find a way to keep it up. Harry was right. It was easy.

Gael locked the front door with a click and went into the living room and she followed, frowning when she realised how dark the house was. Every curtain was pulled and the only source of illumination were a couple of candles on the sides, that enlightened the mess of leftover food on the table and books and papers all over the floor.

He sat on an armchair in the middle of the room, the only free piece of furniture, and Cora widened her eyes when she saw there was a sword leaning against it.

"So?"

Cora looked away from it and forced herself to focus on the man instead. "Paisley told me to come to you. She isn't well, and I'm lost. I don't know what to do."

He squinted at her. "How do you know her?"

"I'm her daughter." She clenched her teeth in the second she realised how stupid it had been of her to say that. She didn't even know if that woman was old enough to be her mother. She should've asked Harry.

Fortunately, though, Gael nodded. "You do have her same blonde hair," he murmured, a pensive look in his eyes, and if Cora had felt bad before, now she was feeling worse. Who was she to trick that man so cruelly just because Harry had asked her to?

"Our house was destroyed," she continued all the same. "We have no more money and she isn't well, we don't know what to do."

The man snorted. "I'm sorry girl, but I can't help you. Go away."

"Please!" Cora took a step closer. She couldn't let it go, couldn't disappoint Harry. "I have nowhere else to go."

Gael scoffed. "That's hardly my problem."

She bit her lower lip nervously. He had no intention of listening to her; it wouldn't be long before he physically dragged her out of the house. What was she waiting for, what was she expecting? She wished Harry had at least told her something more about him, because she was completely lost once again.

Gael scratched his beard and put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his side. Cora gulped at the veiled threat.

"You have to listen to me!" She took a careful step back while talking, hoping he wouldn't lash out at her. "My village is in pieces! My mother, she told me that I had to find you and I did, you need to help me, there must be something you can do—"

A dangerous look flashed through his dark eyes. "In pieces, you say?" He suddenly seemed interested in what she was saying. "Was it under a fay attack?"

Cora halted. "A fay attack?"

The man made to reply, but before he could a hand grasped his shoulder.

"Hello, there," Harry said in his ear, his voice low. "Missed me?"

The man jumped and Harry's grip tightened on him, keeping him from standing up.

"Be a good boy and let go of the weapon," Harry continued, some kind of sick enjoyment in his voice. "I've been looking for you for a long time, do you remember me?"

He came into the man's vision, and Gael gasped when he recognised him.

"Well done, Cora," Harry told her, glancing at her from over his shoulder. "You can go with Thalia, now. And you and I." He kicked the sword away from the armchair. "Are going to have a little chat. Between friends."

"I'm not your friend," the man spat, and Harry laughed.

"I know."

Thalia stepped out of the shadows and put a hand on Cora's arm. "Let's go."

"What is he going to do?" She didn't know why that question had come out of her mouth. Normally she wouldn't have thought much of it, but there was something of so feral in Harry's behaviour that made her deeply uneasy.

Thalia took a step closer to the man and extended her hand towards him, her palm facing the ceiling. "Key, please."

The man looked at her as if she was crazy. "No."

"It wasn't a question," Thalia replied calmly. "Give me the key to the front door or I'll find your sister." She gave him an apparently kind smile, her eyes glinting. "And trust me, I'm good at finding things."

"Darned witch," he spat, detaching the key from his belt and throwing it at her feet.

She narrowed her eyes and picked it up slowly. As she stood up she snapped her fingers, and Cora heard a crack. The man clutched his finger, screaming in pain.

"The next time, try being nicer. It goes a long way."

Cora covered her mouth with her hand, but Thalia didn't notice.

"We'll see you later, Harry," she murmured, taking Cora by the arm and leading her out of the living room.

"Why did you do that?" Cora whispered in shock while she unlocked the front door, and she waited until they were out of the house before replying.

"Men are idiots," she stated. "They'll never respect you if you don't make them respect you."

"But still—"

Thalia pulled up her hood. "He'll be fine. It isn't real anyway."

A bang came from the house and Cora jolted, turning towards it.

"Let's go," Thalia said sheepishly, walking down the steps. "Harry can take care of himself, don't worry."

It didn't reassure her in the slightest. She knew Harry could protect himself—she was scared of what him doing that would entail. Accidentally blowing up the entire city didn't seem to be the best parting gift they could give to Caloir.

"Thalia," she called for her, walking down the street quickly to reach her, "what is Harry doing? Who's that man?"

"Harry has known Gael for quite some time," Thalia simply said, as if that was explanatory enough. She caught the glance Cora sent her way and sighed. "He wants to... offer him a job."

She raised an eyebrow. "A job? And he thinks hunting him down, breaking into his house and shattering one of his fingers is the best way to do that?"

"Technically, the last one is on me." Thalia gave a quick glance in the direction of the mansion, and then shrugged. "He'll get over it."

Cora took a deep breath to avoid commenting on the craziness of it all. She didn't even want to think of what hid in the depths of Harry's mind that got him to think any part of that whole ordeal made sense.

"We had to do it this way," Thalia explained as they entered the market square, "you don't know Gael."

"Then tell me."

They stopped in front of the temple, the green light of the torches glinting dangerously off the metal symbol of Luces embedded over the door. Thalia gave it a vaguely sickened glance, putting a step between her and the building.

"He went into hiding a while ago. Gael is scared of a lot of things, you know. Harry has been trying to track him down for years, but people don't really trust us."

"You?"

"We're fays, Cora," she said. "They're not going to help us find anyone." She looked out into the empty square. "Harry and Gael go back a long way, and he needs someone like him."

"He doesn't seem to like fays," Cora replied. "When I was talking to him he asked if I'd witnessed a fay attack, and he seemed so disgusted..."

"He doesn't like fays. That's why Harry needed you, he needed you to help him find a way into the house. It's well secured, you know, full of traps, tricks and secret doors."

Cora frowned. "It is?" It'd seemed to be a perfectly normal house to her—maybe a bit dark and very messy, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

"That man is terrified of us. The locks on every door and window are made of iron."

"What's wrong with that?"

Thalia's mouth fell open. "Has nobody told you?" She seemed to be genuinely confused for the first time. "We don't do well with iron."

"Is it poisonous?"

Thalia let out a chuckle at the shocked look on her face. "In large quantities, it is, but humans use it differently."

"Differently?" The night suddenly seemed to be growing colder.

"They found out that our magic is the first to get affected by it, and that, if they mix it in low quantities with other metals, they can use it to block our powers. They snap it around your neck or wrists, and you're done for."

Cora gave her a frightened glance.

"It's not enough to kill us, but it's enough to make us completely powerless," Thalia hummed. "Some prisons use more iron to make us feel sick, too. Humans are twisted."

"Is Harry in danger?"

Thalia shook her head. "We disabled all the traps while you kept him busy. I'm sorry we took a while longer, but we had to pick the lock of the window by hand since it was made of iron."

"I wish you'd told me you were planning to sneak into the house, I would've done a better job if I'd known."

Thalia chuckled. "You don't know Harry, then. The less everyone knows, the better."

"How's that better?"

"For instance, if you get threatened, you won't have anything to reveal."

Cora felt betrayed by her words. "I wouldn't have told him anything."

Thalia gave her an understanding smile. "Wait until someone is threatening to run you through with a sword, you might change your mind about that."

A sudden thought came to Cora, and she felt sick. "Was that sword made of iron?"

Thalia's eyes widened. "I'm sure Harry will be just fine," she replied, her voice a bit shaky. "If he doesn't come in ten minutes I'll go back."

"I don't like this."

"He won't get himself killed."

"Are you saying that because you actually know, or is it just a supposition?"

Thalia sent her a dreadful look. "Please don't ask that."

Cora sat on the steps of the temple, biting the inside of her cheek nervously. She knew Harry couldn't be taken down easily, but still—maybe she shouldn't have left him alone. She should've stayed.

"He'll come soon, I'm sure of that."

Cora hid her face in her hands. She got more and more nervous with every moment that passed. She was overreacting, she knew that. Harry was the most powerful fay she knew, he wouldn't let Gael hurt him.

"You said you would find Gael's sister," she asked to distract herself, "can you actually do that?"

Thalia tilted her head. "Sometimes. It depends."

"On what?"

"If someone is wearing iron it's usually very hard to track them down. A lot of people wear iron nowadays, some would think it's a new trend."

"I thought most people didn't know fays still exist."

Thalia laughed. "That's what they want you to believe. Our presence is quite hidden here, but trust me, overseas things are much, much different. Our existence is no secret there."

"And Harry comes from there?"

"From a small village," she replied. "I used to live in a big city there, when I was young. I retreated to the woods when humans started hunting us again, though."

"Again?"

Thalia nodded. "The War ended with a peace treaty. It only lasted for thirty years, though. Humans started taking more and more liberties, and now the Outer Lands are on the brink of a war again." She shook her head at the confused look Cora sent her. "There's another land overseas, just as big as this one, if not more. There are human cities on the coasts, we call them the Outer Lands. The Heart Lands are safer for us—they're mostly woods, places we can hide in. Harry comes from a village in the Heart Lands, and I from a city in the Outer Lands. That's where the relations between humans and fays are much tenser."

"It's weird to think that there's this entire other universe I knew nothing of," Cora admitted. "Just some months ago, if someone had told me about any of this, I would've believed them to be crazy."

She looked up just in time to see a dark figure walking towards them and let out a sigh of relief when she recognised it as Harry.

He was holding his hat in his hand and keeping his black coat closed with another, his cheeks pale in the cold of the night and a hurried look in his eyes.

Cora stood up as he neared them, ready to go back to the Fair and eat something. She still hadn't had dinner, and the events of the past couple of days had exhausted her.

"How did it go?" Thalia asked.

"It was a success," he replied, a frown on his face. "I might need your help with something, though."

"What is it?"

Harry opened his coat, and Cora gasped when she saw a dark stain running down his white shirt on his side. His legs faltered, and she grabbed his arm to steady him, giving Thalia a panicked glance.

"Quick, let's get him out of sight," Thalia hissed, taking his other arm and helping her pull him into a smaller street.

They tried to move quickly, but Harry's steps were much slower, and he seemed to be growing more tired with every instant that went by. Cora slung his arm over her shoulder to help him stay up and put her hand on the wound, pushing back the nausea that came over her when warmth seeped through her fingers.

"He'll go down before we get to the Fair at this rate," Thalia muttered, stopping and pushing Harry against the wall. "Let me see."

Harry leaned back against the building and she opened his coat, a dark look in her eyes as she untucked his shirt and pulled it up to assess the damage. She cleaned the wound with a corner of the shirt, and Cora let out an audible sigh when she saw that, despite all the blood, it didn't seem to be more than a long slash on his side, not deep enough to be considered a stab wound.

Thalia put her hand on top of it, and Harry let out a choked sound, grabbing her wrist. "Stop being a child, Harry, I'm trying to help you," she muttered, and when she took her hand off, there was only a scar on his skin. "I can't do much for that, since it was iron. Maybe it'll teach you not to put yourself in danger so recklessly."

Harry rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the wall with some difficulty. "I could sense the anger when you pressed on my wound so hard," he commented, his hand instinctively looking for Cora's when he staggered.

Cora helped him find his balance again, too concerned about his well-being to pay attention to the conversation that was taking place.

"You knew that sword was made of iron, and you didn't tell me."

"How did you—" he paused. "I thought he wouldn't use it."

"You thought wrong."

Harry sighed. "Let's go back to the Fair." He looked at his stained shirt and frowned.

"I'm sure Nova will clean it for you," Thalia said, resentment in her voice. "Maybe try not to get almost murdered in it the next time."

"I'm fine."

"You can barely hold yourself up."

"I'll be fine by tomorrow."

Thalia went quiet at that, and they went back to walking. Harry seemed to be doing better now, but Cora didn't let go of his hand, still shaken by what had happened.

By the time they made it to the Fair Harry was well enough to pretend nothing had happened at all, and he greeted some people before disappearing into his wagon.

"Let him rest," Thalia told Cora before she could consider following him. "Let's have dinner and then you can bring him something to eat as well."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter x
Miki