16
Alec
Elle and I step through Central Park. According to my spell books, folks like Elle can view the Faerie Lands without using a portal.
“What do you see here?” I ask.
Elle pauses. “You’ve never been to the Faerie Lands before?”
“No. You?”
“Once. It’s not a place I want to visit.”
I nod. Of course. She wouldn’t wish to expose her warden nature. “So why go there at all?”
“Because someone from Faerie once listed a crown for bounty. The Queen of Hearts.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You un-stole something for the queen?”
Elle bobs her head from side to side—it means she’s thinking things through before talking. “I’m not sure it was stolen, really, so much as planted in the human world. A test, if you like. The Queen of Hearts wanted to see if someone would find her crown a
