Clara was doing her thing, trying to track the owner of the necklace. I felt something pop in. “Look out, guys.”

“What?”

“Fairy alert. And I’ve met this one before. It fancies itself as my dad.”

“Oh dear,” Seb said. “Maybe it knows who owns the necklace, though.”

“More likely it’ll snatch it.”

I turned to look at the fairy. “Try to grab it and I’m sure I can find some cold iron around here. Show yourself.”

Wonder of wonders, it did, taking the form of a little man in green sitting on the counter. Kanesha blinked.

“Is that what they look like?”

“They look like whatever they want to look like and there are all kinds of different types,” I told her, a little wryly. “But that’s what he looks like right now. Who owns the necklace?”

“One of Mab’s daughters.”

“Can you go tell her we have it?”

“I take?” The fairy suggested, a wry grin on his almost human face.

“I’m not that stupid. If you take it neither we nor she will ever see it again and she’ll probably come after us.”

He tried to look innocent. He succeeded about as well as Loki chowing down on a cayenne brownie. “Had to try.”

I grinned. “You know you can’t beat me in a prank war. So…if you tell her where it is, I’m sure I can find something in it for you.”

“Brownie?”

I laughed. “I’ll start making some right now.” The fairy vanished.

“What is it about supernatural tricksters and cayenne brownies?”

“I don’t know!” I called as I went into the kitchen. “Maybe it’s because Loki likes them and nobody wants to be outdone.”

At least the fairy had only asked for brownies, not anything more serious. Although I was keeping an eye on my ingredients. Just because I couldn’t see him any more didn’t mean he’d actually gone back to Faerie. I knew better.

Kanesha slipped into the kitchen. “Maybe it is, but there had better be enough for me.”

I grinned. “Double batch. And if the fairy takes all of them, I’ll make more.” I was combining two boxes of mix even as I spoke – honestly, making them from scratch wasn’t that much better.

“Okay!” she said, cheerfully, leaning against the counter. “Mab’s daughter?”

“Not somebody we want to annoy. Ranking Sidhe are, oh, about Tyz’vel dangerous.”

And it did occur to me that the fairy might say something to make the situation worse.