So Toni gave him the blankest stare she could summon and pulled her wrist from his grasp. “I get it. You’re in charge. No dragon-slaying for the foolish salesgirl today.”
The corner of his luscious mouth lifted ever so slightly in time with one raven eyebrow. “The fair maiden doth have ears.”
“She also doth have a fist, which she’ll gladly shove down your throat if you don’t lay off thee, or ye, or me, or whatever. Now let’s go ignore some henchman and trees.” With that, she turned and marched toward the entry to the Garden of Wings, hopping over the scratchy sting of the thorny tangled vines at the opening with Jon’s soft chuckle ringing in her ears.
“Oh dear,” Wanda murmured, her eyes scanning the landscape of the garden.
Yeahhh. Toni nodded without realizing it as they took their first glance around the Garden of Wings.
“My God, girls. It’s magical. Like every childhood dream realized. Imagine the selfies to be had here,” Marty whispered on a breathy sigh as a blinking blue light whizzed past her head.
All around them multicolored lights dotted the interior of the garden, buzzing and zipping in and out of the foliage of the woods.
“Fairies?” she whispered to Jon in utter awe.
He leaned into her, pressing his lips to her ear and making her shiver. “Indeed, milady. Beautiful, yes?”
Toni nodded, feeling suddenly serene as she allowed her body to lean into Jon’s harder one. “So beautiful,” she murmured, her stomach doing somersaults at Jon’s touch.
These trees, while covered in snow like the rest of the forest, still had leaves on them—leaves in the shape of hearts in ice blue, stringing across the long, bent branches and spilling from the tops of their tall peaks like fountains shooting water. The ice forming on each heart-shaped leaf was crystallized and shimmering as though they’d been dunked in white sugar.
Stumps covered in the greenest moss she’d ever seen were grouped together like small tables, and miniature tea sets sat upon them, the tiny teacups half full. Purple wisteria wound around tree trunks in a riot of endless flowers, draping and swaying in the suddenly very humid air.
Cottages with thatched roofs and circular doors hung like small Chinese lanterns throughout tall oaks with pink and purple leaves, threading their way around the perimeter of the path they took.
And all along the path as they walked, tiny voices much like Dannan’s twittered, the staccato cadence fluttering and quick.
That was when she heard her name, a rhythmic, almost tribal beat, “Toni,Toni,Toni!”
“Keep walking, Dragon Slayer,” Nina coaxed from behind, poking a knuckle between Toni’s shoulder blades.
“You hear it, too?” she asked as sweat beaded her upper lip.
“I hear it. I hear everything these fucks are saying because—vampire.”
Toni nodded, forcing herself to keep her feet moving, trying with every last ounce of will to ignore the merciless chant of her name. But the throb in her head grew, almost hurting.
Carl came up from the rear and nudged her with his antlers, nudging her to keep her feet moving, rubbing his nose against her hand as a reminder to push past this.
“You can do this, Toni!” Jon whisper-yelled in her ear, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. “You must, or succumb to the madness. We’re almost at Elessandra’s.”
Briefly, she wondered why no one else appeared affected by the buzz of the fairies or the whisper of the trees, but the maddening hum of their voices distracted her.
Sweat began to pool between her breasts as the fairies circled her head, calling to her, singing her name, inviting her to partake in their mayhem.
But it was the whispers of the trees that haunted her. “Everyone knows, Toni. They know. They know what you’ve done. They know!”
Still, she fought to press forward, the shoes like weights at the end of her ankles, her head light and heavy at the same time. Dannan’s feet plodded forward, the thump of their heavy slaps against the earth now mingling with the taunts, becoming a drumbeat, a canvass for the whispers.
Each step became like a walk in quicksand until Marty pulled up from the rear and took her other arm. “Sing with me, honey. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. We should be singing carols! Wanda, you start.”
“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose!” Wanda crooned, her voice cracking.
“Who is this Rudolph? Reindeer most certainly do not have shiny noses,” Jon protested, looking at Marty as though she’d sprouted another head.
Toni’s breathing became ragged as the humid air stuck in her throat, but she was determined to focus on anything but the suggestions being whispered in her ear.
“He’s a kids’ story back in my land. He’s an outcast. The other reindeer make fun of him because of his nose. They’re mean assholes. He leaves Santa’s camp—or something, and then he runs into Bigfoot—“
“The Abominable Snowman,” Nina corrected on an amused chuckle.