Well after the sun had vanished below the trees, Finn burst in to check on Katherine's bandages. I adamantly faced the wall while she inspected her injury and announced that most of the tissue damage had been repaired.

"You still need to be careful," the Fae told her. "You're in no further danger from your wound, but until your accelerated metabolism wears off and your body returns to normal, be sure you don't injure yourself further."

"Accelerated metabolism?" Rachel asked, "I thought it was magic?"

"The less you have to interfere with reality, the better the magic works. Juhan made a little change to the way her body heals itself, that's all."

"That's all?" I said in surprise, still looking away. "Altering the behavior of even one cell would be incredibly complicated."

"The continuum is infinitely more so, and yet you can pierce it with a stone. You can turn around, by the way, everyone is covered."

I joined the others in the center of the tent, but Finn had taken the fourth camp chair so I sat on the cooler. She continued without her usual mockery.

"This isn't science as you know it, Tom. When you edit reality, you might pull a single thread out of place, but it's attached to a lot of other threads and they all have to move with it, otherwise the fabric tears. Every variable would destroy worlds instead of creating new ones, and the Veil wouldn't exist."

"The doctor said something like that," Katherine said, "when he was told I had to leave before he could finish. He was afraid of breaking something."

"Juhan is a healer, not a doctor," Finn corrected. "That was different. The spell is aggressive and he had to slow it down to minimize the risk. If you could have remained in his care, you'd have been fully restored within a few hours."

"Fast healing... so you're like Wolverine now?" Becca asked brightly.

"Not quite," Finn replied, gravely shaking her head. "Juhan's people regenerate naturally, but they draw the resources they need from their environment. He's been taught how to transfer some of that ability, but most people don't have the mechanisms to convert light and air, so damaged cells end up borrowing from healthy ones instead. Katherine's entire body has temporarily re-purposed itself to this one task."

"That doesn't sound safe." I shifted on my perch.

"As long as the process is balanced she'll be a little more tired and hungry, but that's about it. If she upsets that harmony, however, her body will steal more resources than it can afford to and the spell will interpret that as damage, then it'll push for more healing, which will cause further damage."

"Like a feedback loop," Rachel said. "The speakers just get louder and louder until you shut off the mic."

"That's the short of it, yes, and it can't be stopped. The result isn't pretty."

I scratched my head. "Why not just transfer the full ability instead of part of it? Why take the chance?"

"She would have to become a member of Juhan's race, with all the laws of his nature intact, and that's simply beyond his ability. Don't worry, Tom, nature doesn't like people messing with it, and the spell will unwind on its own soon. The only reason for the warning is to keep you from doing something stupid."

"So, no slap fights for a couple days," Rachel pursed her lips appraisingly, "think you'll make it?"

"No promises with you around," the two grinned wickedly at each other, the strength of their friendship overshadowing recent events. In some ways the gunshot had hurt Rachel just as badly as Katherine, and those wounds would take a lot longer to mend.

I found it surprisingly easy to sleep that evening, sinking deep within my heavy pile of blankets, and I woke after a long, dreamless night to the feel of Katherine's lips on my forehead. Still mired in a fog of lethargy, I held out my hand, intending to pull her into the narrow cot with me and cuddle for another hour, but she backed out of reach.

"We were going to let you rest but our rides are here and the motors are running. They say we need to leave so they can... cleanse the campsite, whatever that means."

Rachel stood by as though waiting to help, but Katherine seemed to be walking well on her own and the pair left together. I stretched until my spine popped, then shrugged into my shirt and stuffed my feet into my shoes without stopping to tie them. With my rucksack hanging from my shoulder, I stepped through the tent flap to find a small crowd around the ashes of a bonfire.

"Tom," Finn said, waving me toward her. "You're with me today."

Rachel and Becca were steadying Katherine as she slipped into the back of the van, while Finn gestured for me to follow her to the black sedan. I could tell immediately that the driver wasn't human. He could barely see over the dash, and gripped the wheel with shovel-like hands attached to long, thin arms. A bristle of white hair stuck out beneath a red beanie, and what I could see of his face revealed a long, bulbous nose. I joined Finn in the back seat and she knocked twice on the plexiglass partition, then settled back as we backed down the gravel road.

She watched the campsite until it was out of sight before speaking. "They're going to follow after a few minutes. Gold and I had it out this morning and I convinced her you should know what to expect. She says you're not a very good listener, and you'd get more from it without distractions from your harem."

"They're not my harem," I objected.

"Of course not," she smiled and patted my leg condescendingly, "but I still need your full attention for this." I must have looked concerned because she cocked her head and grinned back. "You don't trust me, do you?"

"No, that's not—it's just—Miss Gold hardly ever tells me anything."

Finn laughed. "Don't let it bother you too much, she does that to everybody, and you're a special case. She's trying to protect you, but I'm more concerned about your ability to protect yourselves. You can't do that when you have no idea what you're facing."

"My dad."

"Tip of the iceberg. Gold gave me a rundown of what she thinks you know, but I want to hear it from you. What has she told you about your situation?"

I watched the trees pass by without answering, unsure where to begin. "Half fairies are impossible," I said after a long pause, "you can't be two things at once, but apparently I am. It's supposed to make me some kind of monster."

"What do you think about that?"

"I don't know."

Finn nodded to herself, "That's a better answer than I had hoped for. Most people would end up in denial, blow it out of proportion, or try to project it onto someone else."

"Do you really think I'm dangerous?" I'd always been inclined to accept responsibility for the dangers I posed to those around me, but her implication made me angry.

"Of course," she said, "power is always dangerous, but it's not always a threat. I'd be more concerned if you dismissed the responsibility that comes with it. If anything, you've overcompensated."

Finn continued questioning me, probing my understanding of the Fae, of the Veil, and the legacy of my father. She obviously knew about my great grandmother, but didn't bring her into the conversation, focusing instead on my capabilities and what I'd deduced about them.

"Anima?" she raised an eyebrow at my choice of words for the patterns I saw in my head.

I shrugged. "I can't keep calling them Christmas lights."

"I'm not being critical," she said. "How much can you do with it?" I reviewed my conversation with the girls from the night before, omitting what I'd done to Rachel and the strange vision I'd had just before, but adding the incident with Gloria and the geas I'd unintentionally forced on Rachel.

"Practically nothing then," she said when I'd finished. I shook my head in disbelief.

"What's with all the questions, anyway? Can you help me figure out how all this works?"

She shook her head, "You'll get better answers from Becca than me if she can read the Glim. You're probably right about the two sides of your power intersecting though. I see some interesting days in your future." Her eyes sparkled around a teasing smile.

"It's not funny."

"Yes it is, but that's not what the interrogation was for. I needed to evaluate your situation before giving you this." She produced a silver ring, seemingly out of nowhere, and flipped it into the air with her thumb. I scrambled to catch it.

"What is it?"

"It's a ring."

"I see that, what's it for?"

"It's a symbol of your authority as steward of the island."

"I thought Becca already did that with the spell thing, the—whatever that was."

"This is different." She nodded at the circle in my hand. "We're using these to manage security because they're safer than keys and more reliable than biometrics. Put it on the third finger of your left hand, like a wedding ring."

It was far too big, and I held it up to show her. She just grinned back.

"Give it a second."

Suddenly, the ring constricted, growing so tight it hurt. I panicked and tried to yank it off, but I couldn't get it past the knuckle, then it began to burn and I cried out. Finn rested a palm gently against my arm. "Hold on, it's almost done."

"What is—" I began shrilly, but the pain vanished as the silver band relaxed its grip. It still wouldn't come off, but no longer hurt.

"Well that's good, then," Finn said, satisfied.

My heart continued to thud in protest. "What?"

"We were worried your ring might not attune properly. Normal rules don't apply here, so I can't predict what will happen when you're exposed to magic like this."

"Like the circle of grass outside the warehouse?"

"Something like that. I'm just glad you didn't burst into flame."

"This could have set me on fire—"

"No," she laughed, "at least I don't think so. Relax, Tom, it's necessary, and you're fine."

"It won't come off."

"It's not designed to. There's a simple way to do it without hurting yourself, but leave it on for now."

I cautiously examined the smooth metal as it slowly changed from silver to a dull gold, and a pattern began etching itself into the band, giving it texture like a vine growing along its surface. When it reached its end, the metal cracked and flaked open, revealing three tiny emeralds. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

"What's this supposed to do for me?"

"It's a kind of master key. There are wards and locks in your new home, both magic and mundane, and this gives you—administrator privileges."

"Over what?"

"The other keys. Each of the girls will receive their own ring, as will anyone else who frequents the island. Once you know how, you'll be able to determine who can access what and when. It'll also let you past every lock."

I sighed and sat back in my seat, longing for the days when my only responsibilities were limited to school work and managing my medication. "Does it have to be me?"

"Don't be a crybaby, someone needs to be in charge. One ring to rule them all." She intoned then giggled at her own joke. It just made me feel worse.

"What about Katherine? She's a better manager than I am."

"Tom, think. She's subject to you. Giving any of the girls the master ring would be no different from giving it to you, and it just creates an additional security risk."

"Then why not Miss Gold? Or you?"

"We'll have our own, but neither of us will be living there. Besides, do you really want Gold deciding what you're allowed to get into?" I shook my head slightly, which clearly amused Finn. "Look, it's not like I'm asking you to run my company. If you don't want to restrict anyone then don't. Pretend the ring isn't there. You'll still need it to get into the building and use most of the amenities."

"Is this what Miss Gold was talking about when she asked for extra protection?"

"No, these are just fancy I.D. badges. Gold requested a full time bodyguard, but I don't employ soldiers."

I began to understand why my godmother withheld certain information. Knowing she wanted a permanent guard to watch over us left me feeling vulnerable without one. "So you told her no?"

"We settled on a compromise. It wasn't anyone's first option."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What was the compromise?"

Finn's perpetual grin faded slightly. "I'll explain later. You won't understand without context."

We passed a highway marker indicating another thirty miles to the city. The sun was still low on the horizon, casting long shadows over the asphalt.

"How much danger are we in, really?" I asked after several minutes. "Is it worth the trouble? Will all this stuff keep everyone safe?" Finn shrugged noncommittally, not the response I'd expected.

"The courts don't know about the island because they haven't had a reason to care. Now they do. Caratacos is a bastard, but he's clever as the devil himself, and court hunters are very good at their jobs." She looked up and caught my expression. "I'm trying to be honest."

"Thanks," I said, "but I think I might rather be lied to."

Her smile broke through once again. "Don't let it discourage you. It's easy for humanity to think of Fae as gods, and they've repeatedly made that mistake since the beginning, but we're just people, and most of us are tragically flawed. You won't be invincible, but that island is much better than your apartment, and they only found you there because of Gold."

"Wait, I thought she stopped them?"

"It wasn't exactly her fault. Someone told her you had gone binging on the local co-ed population. If she hadn't been so emotional when she caught the hunter snooping around, she'd have kept it alive long enough to ask questions. Then she would have tracked down the other one instead of leading it to your door."

Miss Gold had only returned because of Katherine's clandestine text, a small, impulsive decision that nearly ended in catastrophe. I wondered if she knew.

"It's hard to picture Miss Gold with feelings."

"She's a right cold bitch with a thick shell, but she's still a woman underneath and you're important to her."

"Right," I snorted a laugh, "that's why she tried to kill me."

The perpetual humor left Finn's face and something hard sat deep in her eyes. "If she'd been trying to kill you, Tom, you'd be dead."

I didn't know what to say to that. Of course Miss Gold had been more than capable of ending my life, and she only stopped because of Becca's intervention, but it wasn't as though I presented a difficult target.

"She told me once that my blood was extremely toxic," I said, trying to change the subject, "but she didn't seem afraid of spilling any of it when she broke through my door."

"Oh, that. Gold is... she's immune."

"Like you?"

Finn turned, watching the trees rush by. "No, not exactly."

We sat again in silence as the rural landscape gave way to the outskirts of suburbia and we crossed a waterway that must have been ours, only miles upriver. As the scenery began to take on familiar shapes, Finn spoke again.

"I wanted to do more, but we didn't have the time."

"On the island?"

She nodded. "You'll have everything you need. The foundation wasn't built for a residential space and we ran into a few complications, but you're back on the grid, at least temporarily, so you won't have to worry about plumbing or electricity."

"Where do these rings come in?"

"Everywhere. If you try to cross the bridge without one it'll set off alarms. All of the doors are equipped with electromagnetic locks that'll screw with supernatural efforts to get past them. The river guardian will know not to eat you if you fall into the river."

"Now you're yanking my chain."

"Not really. He knows he shouldn't mess with anyone living there, but it'll take a while for him to get familiar with you, and until then he doesn't have a checklist to tell him who's who."

"Well that's reassuring."

"That's why the rings don't come off."

We passed the city limits of Redgrove and doubled back toward the old bridge while Finn explained how to enable and disable certain locks through a combination of touches and taps. I committed almost none of it to memory. In my defense, I'd been overwhelmed by everything that had happened to me for at least a week, and since I had no intention of limiting anyone's access I saw no value in learning her magical Morse code.

Once we descended the steep grade and braked along the grassy bank of the river, the superficial changes were obvious. Piles of rusted junk that had been scattered across the island had been removed, along with the chain link fence that surrounded the work yard, leaving a sort of concrete patio off the back side of the building.

"You guys work fast," I noted, impressed that clearing the entire property had taken, at most, half a day. Finn didn't answer, but gave me a wry smile as we stepped out of the sedan just short of the bridge. She rapped a knuckle on the window and her driver turned the vehicle around and drove off.

"Hold up," she said and grabbed my arm as I took a step forward.

"What now?"

"The context I told you about. Look." I turned to where she gestured and at first, I saw nothing remarkable. After a few minutes I was ready to call her bluff, but then a brief shimmer glanced off the air directly across from us and vanished.

"What was that?"

"That is a wisp."

"Which means what?"

"A ghost light," she said, watching the space it had briefly occupied. "Ignis Fatuus. They lead unwary travelers to their deaths." I gave her a second to continue, but she just stared straight ahead.

"Finn?"

"Just wait." The air rippled again, shimmering with ethereal light, but this time it didn't fade. "There," she nodded to herself with satisfaction. "I need you to stick your finger in it. The one with the ring."

"What? Why?" I tried to press for more information but she shook her head impatiently and gave me a gentle shove.

"Too many questions, there's no time. Just do it before it disappears again. It's perfectly safe."

I held the ring in front of my face, then, with an anxious frown and a sigh of resolve, I stepped slowly within arms reach of the wisp and stretched out my hand.

Bright flares whirled around me like a fireworks display, and for an instant all other sensation vanished until the ring constricted painfully on my finger again and began to burn. Before I could cry out, a wave of concussive force knocked me back across the bridge to sprawl painfully at Finn's feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked, standing over me, barely holding in her delight. She extended a hand to help me up.

"What the hell?" I shouted, or tried to. It came out as a gasp while I fought to catch my breath.

"Honestly, you did pretty well. Cuthbert bet me you'd pass out," she braced herself while I stood, leaning on her for support. "He owes me twenty bucks. I'll have to buy you a beer as thanks."

"What? That was... did you just prank me?"

"No," she laughed. "Okay maybe a little, but it was going to happen regardless."

"You could have warned me!" I barked between breaths. I was pissed and wanted her to know it.

"The effects aren't always predictable. Besides, if I said anything you'd have stood there agonizing over it for an hour until someone dragged you across. It was more fun this way."

"For you, maybe."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't be a baby. You weren't hurt."

I stood bent over until my lungs began freely accepting air once more. "Fine. Are you going to explain what just happened? Did it attack me?"

"No, wisps are just distortions in the Veil, not sentient like some believe. They're somewhat attracted to people, but they mostly follow the meridians."

"What are—"

"The topography of the aether. Ley lines. Pick one. The science is vague and people use different words based on their understanding."

"Like anima."

"Right. Think of rolling a ball across an uneven surface and you're close. The wisp is the guardian I mentioned on the way over. Normally, it's the last thing you'd want on your property, but with some effort we were able to prescribe its route. In the process, we discovered a few additional benefits. You just experienced the first one."

"Getting knocked on my ass isn't a benefit."

She chuckled mercilessly. "I didn't mean that part. It's tethered to its path, which is defined through the security system. It's all connected. When your ring passed through it, it established an instant, simultaneous link with every point in the local network, and we used that to map your aura to it. Now there are only two ways to bypass the system, one of these rings, provided they have the right permissions, and through the wisp, and no sane person will willingly approach a wisp."

"If they're so dangerous, why did I have to stick my hand in one?"

"Wisps transcend the continuum, and they can alter your perceptions so severely you can't tell between what's real and what's not. You might walk off the island pursuing your deepest desires and drown in the river. But when it came in contact with your ring, you polarized the circuit. Under normal circumstances they're drawn to living auras, but yours will do the reverse."

"Fine, but how's Katherine going to do that without hurting herself and triggering a feedback loop?"

"All subordinate rings are networked through yours, and when you, er... initialized the link, you did it for everyone. Why do you think I didn't go first?"

Relief on behalf of the girls warred with my annoyance at Finn, but even then I could recognize that it was ultimately for our sake. I didn't like Finn's sense of humor—I wasn't sure I liked her at all—but she'd been as good as Miss Gold's promise and I couldn't view her as an enemy. With her quirky grin firmly in place, she skipped confidently across the bridge and I followed behind.

"So this wisp is safe now. To us, I mean." I said it mostly as an alternative to cursing at her.

"Don't think of it that way, Tom. It's still a fissure in your reality, and those are never safe. When most beings transcend that far into the Veil, they're unable to reconcile its raw potential and will fixate on one of two extremes. They'll believe their greatest fear is manifesting before them, or they will see their heart's desire. It's a little like your power, come to think of it, just less specific and it doesn't care if you're male or female."

I ignored the implication. "So people will just follow it off a cliff."

"You get the idea. The same thing happens when a rift opens, only they're big and deep enough for people to walk through. That's what brings Fae into this world."

"Can something come through the wisp?"

"No. They're more like windows than doors. You probably won't even see it most of the time, just don't approach it if you do."

She spun again taking long strides with her short legs across the dry, uneven soil. Though it was still covered in dead grass, there was nothing, not even a bolt or a scrap of cloth, left behind. At night, the barren scene would appear haunted, but at least it was tidy. Finn stopped short of the huge, sliding doors and stood with her arms crossed in front of her, waiting for me to catch up.

"Time to test it," she said and waited. I tried pushing the doors open, but they were either locked or far too heavy. Finn's expression went sour. "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" She didn't wait for me to answer, but held up her own ring then began to chant, performing an intricate series of gestures like a ritual dance that involved both arms and most of her fingers. She ended the incantation with a shout, flinging her arms wide.

I blinked stupidly at her. "Do you expect me to remember all that?"

"No. Just put your palm against the metal frame until you hear it click," she said over her shoulder.

"Then what was—?"

"Pay attention next time if you don't want to be teased."

I grudgingly followed her instructions and the result was immediate. A sharp click and a long, low groan reverberated through the metal walls as the door began to slide open on its own. I couldn't see into the building after standing in the bright morning sun, but instead of the oily, dusty smells of an abandoned industrial building, a warm breeze washed over me from within, wielding hints of earth, ivy, and summer flowers. I squinted down at Finn, who smiled broadly and motioned for me to step inside.

"Welcome to your new home."