Pierce smacked the table to make everyone jump. “Don’t call her that,” he threatened, and Sidereal gave him a sour look.

“I was the walking dead once,” I said, and Ivy snorted. “I am right now, actually. But I try.”

Sidereal turned away. The stumps of his wings were covered, but pale ichor had discolored the gauze. My gut twisted. Pierce was right. Without their wings, they couldn’t compete. Death, though hard, would have been a blessing. A blessing I took from them. Think, Rachel. “Maybe there’s a charm to mend your wings?” I offered.

Head tilted, Sidereal turned. “We still have no land.”

“Then maybe you can stay here.”

“Filth!” Jax shouted, wings a harsh clatter and sword pointing. “Never. Never!”

Ivy frowned, and Pierce looked worried. “There’s got to be a way to fix this,” I said.

Sidereal strode forward, having to catch his balance with a hand against the inside of the bubble. “You’d make us live under the protection of pixies?” he snarled, showing his fangs. “You’d make slaves of us?”

“They are backstabbing sneaks!” Jax exclaimed, drawing the attention of the pixies at the fire. “We’ll kill them before letting them into our garden!”

“What’s the big deal?” I said tightly. “You don’t even eat the same things. It’s just a matter of agreeing to abide by the rules of courtesy. And it’s not your decision, it’s your dad’s.” Sitting straighter, I looked for Jenks. “Jenks?” I called, tired of Jax’s adolescent intolerance. It wouldn’t be easy to get pixies and fairies to coexist, but they were going to try.

“They will destroy everything!” Jax exclaimed, red faced as hot glitter sifted from him. “You’re an ignorant lunker!”

Ceri was smiling with an I-told-you-so expression, her arms crossed to show off her middle, and I frowned. “Jenks!” I shouted, listening for his wings and hearing nothing. My gaze slid to Ivy, alarm trickling through me. “When was the last time you saw Jenks?”

“When he told me of the scout,” she said, rising fast.

“Jenks!” I shouted, and even Ceri dropped her arms and looked into the trees.

For five long seconds, we listened for his wings while fear wound tighter through me. Motions rough, I got up from the picnic table, hitting it hard enough to make my leg hurt. Ceri’s hushed “Go find your father” to Jenks’s kids made my chest tighten.

“If you killed him, I will squish you myself,” I threatened Sidereal, and he bared his teeth and hissed at me like a cat.

“Looking forward to it.”

Jax was a flash of pixy dust, and he was gone, having flung himself forty feet straight up to do a rough visual.

“Where are you, Jenks?” I muttered, seeing the darting sparkles of his kids making patterns in the bright sun as they searched. There’d be no reason for him to leave unless …