Helping the Wolves (Madison Joshi and the Wolves series- Book 2)

|23| Madison

"We'll speak when we reach my palace," the main faerie said. She clapped and as though it was some scripted scene, four faeries flew forward. The moment they landed, they knelt on their knees and bowed to their queen. Maddy didn't know if she was their queen or not, but whatever position she held must be respectful.

Maddy still couldn't get over the fact that she was in the company of werewolves and faeries. What other species were hiding? Demigods? Vampires? Witches and wizards?

"It is easier to reach my palace by air. Since all of you don't have wings, these four faeries will carry you."

"Nope," Maddy said as soon as heard the faerie and she moved away from the faeries. "I would rather take the more difficult path. No way am I going to trust faeries who were trying to kill me a minute ago."

Xander and Jeremy voiced similar opinions while Alexa just growled and snarled.

The faerie smiled a thin smile. "You people are smarter than I expected. It would have been easier to just drop you from the sky but you seemed to have passed the test."

Maddy blanched. "Drop us from the sky? I thought I just proved that we aren't enemies."

"I agree that you aren't enemies. But you haven't proved that you are friends."

"I thought faeries couldn't lie," Maddy mused out loud. She had read several storybooks and all of them had the same fact- faeries could lie. The main faerie smiled and nodded.

"You told that we would talk when we reached the palace. If you can't lie, then you can't harm us until we reach the palace," Maddy said confidently.

The faerie seemed to be amused by the statement. "You are smart. Extremely smart. But unfortunately for you, I am smarter than you. I did tell that we would talk when you reach my palace but I didn't guarantee a safe travel. If you all were to by dropped, completely unintentionally of course, then I can't help it."

Shit. This lady was smart as hell. Maddy felt relieved that they were enemies. She would be a formidable enemy. Maddy just smiled awkwardly and turned to the others. What was their decision? Although Maddy wanted to find out more about the faeries, they needed to save Leia first.

"Actually, we have to find a girl from our pack and we have a time constraint. We need to find her by the full moon. Perhaps after that we can talk," Xander said politely. Maddy couldn't believe how his personality did a complete 180 from the flirt to the professional.

The faerie narrowed her eyes. "Unless you want your head to be severed from your body, you will follow me. I have been polite enough with you. If I want, I can kill you right now and relieve myself of a burden. Now come along."

No one argued with the faerie after that. The four of them quietly followed the main faerie who led the way while the mini army walked behind them with their bows drawn. Talk about tight security.

When the faerie told the journey by land was difficult, Maddy expected some bandits to appear, followed by carnivorous creatures. You now, the kind of creatures encountered by the main character when he/ she goes on quest. There were no bandits or creatures. They literally had to walk on one path continuously until they reached the palace. No right or left turns. Things couldn't get easier than that.

"Where are we right now?" Maddy asked as she took in the sight of the magnificent palace. It was extremely tall and looked intimidating but Maddy suspected that there was a lot of illusions involved. The palace seemed to be floating on a huge cloud.

"The Cubbon Park."

Maddy's eyes widened. "There is no way you could have hidden such a huge castle in a park."

"It is a simple trick of illusion. Something that even young faeries learn to do. Don't act so surprised."

If this was what young faeries could do, Maddy didn't want to know what the queen was capable of.

Soon they approached the palace. Maddy wondered about how they would enter it. It was floating high in the air. As though the main faerie had read her thoughts, she snapped her fingers and a staircase appeared.

The main faerie flew and reached the castle. Behind her was Xander. He first nudged the staircase with his foot to make sure that it was real. He seemed to have realized that the faeries were full of tricks. Once he made sure that the first stair was real, he climbed it and nudged the second stair. This went on for every single step. Alexa, Maddy and Jeremy followed after him. It took up a lot of time but it was necessary. Better be safe than sorry. To their right were the mini army of soldiers, making sure that they didn't run away.

When they had nearly reached the palace, one of the steps suddenly exploded in a burst of smoke and then there was empty air. Luckily, Xander had been checking each stair before climbing so no one was hurt. From their left side, laughter erupted. The same wind chimey laughter. When Maddy turned to that direction, there was nothing but air. In a similar burst of smoke, the main faerie revealed herself.

"All of you are very entertaining. Hard to kill, but somewhat gullible," the faerie said as she smiled happily. She looked genuinely entertained. Maddy wasn't sure if it was an insult or compliment. The faerie smiled and waved her hand. Another set of stairs appeared where the previous set of stairs had disappeared.

"These steps aren't an illusion," she said.

Since, the faeries couldn't tell lies, Maddy knew that the stairs were illusion. Xander glared at the faerie and was about to climb once again when Maddy pulled him back. Crossing her arms across her chest, Maddy glared at the faerie and said, "You told that the stairs weren't an illusion but you didn't tell if they are safe for us or if some other kind of danger is waiting for us."

The faerie grinned from ear to ear. "I told you they were good entertainment," she said to her mini army. Turning to Maddy she said, "The stairs are safe for the four of you."

The four of them started climbing once again. Maddy felt extremely uneasy in the faerie realm. If a simple action like climbing stairs could be turned into a way of killing people, Maddy didn't want to know what kind of danger the palace contained.