Winter had barely begun. It shouldn’t even be snowing and yet determined snow fell in swirling patterns, buffeting this way and that thanks to a cheeky gust that was amusing itself. Jenni hunched down further in her blue coat. It wasn’t as warm as the red one. It wasn’t as long either. Nor did it smell right. She hated to admit it, but she had rushed acquiring this coat, swayed by its cobalt tones, and not thinking clearly upon the ramifications of new outerwear. Jenni came with coat. They were a package and this non-red one just wasn’t holding up to its end of the deal. Especially with this unexpectedly harsh weather. If it carried on like this, the entire city of Roshaven would grind to a snowy halt.
A particularly snowflake-packed eddy swooshed into Jenni, making her splutter at eating unwanted weather. She tried to magic the flakes away from her vicinity, but her power sputtered before refusing to do what she wanted. Unfortunately, that was standard practice these days, so she went for a stern talking to instead.
‘Ere, cut that out. I’ll ‘ave words wiv yor mum.’ Jenni wasn’t entirely sure that the wind elemental was female, but she knew them, in passing, and if this mischievous little gust didn’t stop blowing around… well, words would be said. Not that you could talk to the elementals if they didn’t want to listen to you. But at least Jenni could still shout in the wind.
The snowflakes stilled as the gust blustered off somewhere else, and gravity took over their slow descent. The streets of Roshaven fell into a hush and the tired lamps did their best to glow. It was neither cheery nor warm.
The Black Narrows loomed, and Jenni’s shoulders slumped even further. She knew if she patrolled down the Narrows, she’d find someone doing something they weren’t supposed to, and for the first time ever, she couldn’t be bothered to check it out. Patrolling the Black Narrows was meant to be an easy job. A quick collar for the office and a tick on the chart Joe had put up, recording everyone’s arrests. There was a prize hamper for the winner come Yule Eve.
Jenni tried to muster up some enthusiasm. She was two points behind Sparks. The crafty little firebug had been using his extensive network of friends and relations to ferret out crimes and misdemeanours. They would both be behind Willow if she activated her plant network, but the tree nymph was taking the high road and wanted to prove her Catcher skills to their boss without resorting to her wiles.
Thinking about their boss, Ned Spinks, drove Jenni further into her own personal gloom. Their changing relationship was something else she had no control over, along with all this weather and her unreliable magic. Things between them had shifted. To be fair, they’d been evolving slowly but surely for a while. And yet, to Jenni, it had seemed as if they hadn’t quite changed–not yet, and that they were always teetering on the verge of change, so it felt like she still had time to adjust. But then, when she hadn’t been looking, suddenly everything was different.
Okay, so Ned had found out his dad wasn’t who he thought–which was a good thing as his previous dad was the ex-Chief of T.A.R.T.S and no one wanted to be officially associated with the official association of Thieves, Arsonists, Raconteurs, Tarts, and Solicitors. Then he’d married Rose and whilst Jenni had nothing against her empress, she missed living with her boss. True, he’d kept his little narrow house on Wide Street so he could escape the imperial palace from time to time and true again, Jenni was still living there, but it wasn’t the same. After Jenni had met her own father, been hoodwinked by him, and lured into illegal magic skimming, she had become temporary persona non grata with her mother and now her father was one of the most wanted criminals in Efrana. The whole thing gave her an all-over icky feeling.
Jenni kicked some loose pebbles into the opening of the Black Narrows and heard several things scuttling.
‘Yeah, you’d better ‘ide,’ she muttered before wheeling away from the crime encrusted alleyway and heading instead for the tiny pub on Castle Avenue. None of the other Catchers went there because the ceilings were too low. It was a fae pub, the only one in Roshaven, and whilst non-fae were of course welcome, they would find it rather difficult to get inside the smaller than average door and stand up in the smaller than average interior.
Jenni pushed open the door to The Pegasus and breathed in the heady fumes of spiced scumble. There were a few cries of greeting – she was after all the daughter of Momma K, queen of the fae, no matter if Jenni was on speaking terms with her at the moment or not – but on the whole patrons of The Pegasus left her alone. Here she could just be Jenni.
‘Momma K is looking for you, so she is.’
‘Snails!’ Jenni flopped down onto a barstool and ignored the comment from the leprechaun behind the bar. Instead, she raised a finger and watched as the barman poured her a cup of spiced scumble.
‘I’d not be ignoring her if I were you. Are you not going to spell a reply?’
Jenni slurped her drink and scowled over the cup’s rim. She didn’t know if her magic would behave enough to do that.
‘Who says I’m ignoring ‘er? Mebbe I’m just ignoring you.’ She scanned the bar top. ‘Where’s the nuts?’
‘Where’s the nuts she says. For sure, that’s the biggest of your problems, so it is.’ The bartender leaned closer to Jenni. ‘The message has gone out high and low. Tis luck if I’m the first to tell you, but I won’t be the one getting the rap for you not replying.’ He picked up a small golden handbell from a shelf behind the bar and rang it. Delicate chimes rang out.
‘Fanks for that.’ Jenni’s mood soured further. Momma K would now know that Jenni had been told she was looking for her and the longer she left it, the more annoyed Momma K would be. She downed the scumble and reached into her pocket for a coin to pay for her drink.
‘No, no, this one’s on the house,’ grinned the leprechaun, picking up a cloth and wiping sparkly clean glasses that hadn’t been used. ‘What are you going to do about the Jacks, then?’
‘Wot?’
‘The Jack Frosts. They’re here in the city, so they are. Causing mischief and getting up to all sorts of trickery.’
Jenni snorted. Bit rich for a leprechaun to be complaining about a fellow fae getting up to mischief. The barkeep raised an eyebrow at her, so she muttered her thanks and hopped down from the bar stool. She really didn’t feel like heading back out into the falling snowflakes and she really didn’t want to go talk with her mum, but it looked like she didn’t have much of a choice. At least she could pass on the enquiry and ask Momma K what she was doing about the Jacks.
As she came out of The Pegasus, she was surprised to see Ned trying to come in. He was hunched over and walking sideways in an attempt to fit himself through the doorway. On seeing her, he unfolded and backed out.
‘Ah, Jenni, good. I was hoping I’d find you here. Momma K is…’
‘Yeah, yeah, I know. She’s looking for me. S’awright. I’m on me way.’
‘No, that’s not what I was going to say. Well, it is, but she’s not just looking for you. She wants both of us,’ said Ned.
At first Jenni felt better. That meant she probably wasn’t in trouble for anything. Then she felt worried. If Momma K was calling them both, it most likely meant Roshaven was in danger.
‘You ‘eard anyfink about Jacks?’
‘Jack? I don’t think so. Is it a person of interest we need to be aware of?’
‘No, not Jack, Jacks. They’re Jack Frosts. Spiky little fae wot cause mischief when it gets proper cold. Don’t usually see ‘em in the big city but apparently they is ‘ere getting up to stuffs. I dunno. It’s just wot the leprechaun said.’
‘Okay, well, we can add it to the Eyes Open board when we get to the office. Tell the others. What sort of thing are we talking about?’
Jenni huffed. She wasn’t sure. She’d never seen a Jack before. They were country fae, and she was firmly a city gal.
‘C’mon then, we’d better crack on. We can always ask ‘er wot to look out for.’ Jenni led the way through the thick, silent flakes of snow that continued to fall down relentlessly onto the cobbled streets and tiled roofs of the city.
It wasn’t far to the fae grove. It was more or less in the centre of Roshaven, but Jenni was surprised to see how much snow was obstructing the entrance. She didn’t think that many flakes had fallen since it had started snowing. It was almost as if they had been specifically attracted to this spot. They had to scoop out several handfuls before Jenni could make the connection and whisk herself and Ned through to the fae realm. It didn’t help that she had to really concentrate in order to make the connection. Usually it was dead straight forward, second nature. It was a bit of a surprise that she’d had to focus as much as she had.
She was even more surprised when they arrived. The entire realm was encased in deep winter. There was a thick blanket of snow on the ground, on all the plants and trees, and falling heavily from the sky in far greater quantities than it was in Roshaven proper. Large icicles hung prettily from bare branches and jangled musically as cold puffs of wind danced around. Frost sparkled on every surface and both Ned’s breath and her own puffed out in front of their faces like a dragon. Tiny blue dots zoomed about, tinkling.
‘Thems is Jacks,’ said Jenni, pointing the dots out to Ned. ‘Ere, is Slinky awright wiv all this?’ Momentarily distracted from the winter wonderland, she was concerned about the golden sea dragon that had recently adopted the Thief-Catchers.
‘He’s fine. Still sleeping in the bathtub. Joe keeps topping it up with warm water, but Willow thinks he might need to head into hibernation if this winter keeps up. She thinks we ought to take him back to the ocean, where the warmer currents are.’
Jenni shrugged. She would be sad to see the little tyke go. He was fun to have around–scaring patrons of The Noose, great company fishing on the River Whine and a solidness upon her feet when she was stuck in the office doing paperwork. But Willow was probably right, it wasn’t fair keeping Slinky away from his natural habitat. He was a sea dragon, after all.
‘What do you think Momma K wants?’ asked Ned.
Jenni shrugged again.
‘You okay? You’re very quiet.’
Jenni sighed heavily. She really didn’t want to talk about how many things had changed at that particular moment. It would be a difficult conversation at the best of times, and right now wasn’t the best time. ‘Let’s get this over wiv, yeah?’
As they stepped through into Momma K’s inner sanctum, it was like entering a sauna. Beads of sweat soon sprang out on Jenni’s forehead and she was glad she hadn’t given in and wrapped up for the cold. Ned, on the other hand, was scrambling to get out of his hat, scarf, gloves and coat. It appeared as though he had two jumpers on underneath the coat as well. He stood still for a moment, one jumper half peeled off as he looked sceptically at the pile of winter clothes on the floor.
‘S’alright, you can leave it ‘ere. No one will touch it. S’all too big anyways.’
Jenni solved Ned’s conundrum on how many layers to remove and he dumped both jumpers on the pile. He still had a fine-looking purple waistcoat on and a shirt that didn’t seem to have any holes in it for once.
‘New freads?’
‘Eh?’ Ned looked down. ‘Oh, yeah. A present from Rose. She thought I ought to appear a little more professional, but they’re just not as warm as my usual ones.’
It was hard to tell if the pink flush on the backs of his ears was caused by the heat or his embarrassment.
‘Looks awright.’
And whilst it did look alright, it was yet another difference. Every aspect of Jenni’s life seemed to have lots of differences these days.
‘Why is it so hot here?’ asked Ned, fanning his face with his hand.
‘I spect Momma K’s gotta bee in ‘er bonnet bout the cold snap we’re ‘aving. You know wot she’s like. Probably funnelling power to make it ‘otter in ‘ere by making it colder out there or summink.’
They were both glowing warmly by the time they arrived at Momma K’s toadstool. The Fae Queen was being fanned and had an iced beverage in hand. She looked as cool as a cucumber. Ned stood as close to one of the large palm-leaf fans as he dared.
‘Well, we’re ‘ere. Wot do you want?’ Jenni was too hot to be polite.
‘Daughta. Catcha. Is good ya come. Dis winter, it no right. Sometink is bringing it down de mountain.’ She cocked her head to one side and regarded Jenni. ‘Stop fighting it and de magic will flow.’
Jenni sniffed in response.
‘We don’t live near a mountain,’ she said, deciding to ignore the magic advice. ‘And ain’t it the beginning of winter? S’meant to be cold, innit?’
‘Me point exactly.’ Momma K scowled at her daughter’s avoidance. ‘We doh and it is. It should no be dis cold! And you should no be trying so hard.’
Jenni tutted softly under her breath.
‘Winter is the time for scarves and chilly weather.’ Ned quailed a little under Momma K’s withering stare. ‘Admittedly, it is colder than we’d expect for this time of year, but it’s not that unusual. Right?’
Momma K snapped her fingers and the tropical ambience they’d all been wilting under vanished. The fae realm grew dark, and great clouds of breath appeared before them all as they breathed out into the cold. Ned started shivering as snowflakes began rapidly falling. Giant icicles grew before their eyes and convoluted frost patterns materialised on the plants. Tinkly laughter echoed as the tiny blue Jacks swarmed.
‘W w w what’s going on?’ Ned asked, his teeth chattering as he rubbed his arms frantically to try to keep warm, stamping his feet to stop them from turning into blocks of ice.
‘Dis is wat me realm be like if me no warm it up. It no natural. Someone else’s magic daring to change tings. Me no want it. You de catchas. Go catch dis winter bringa. Sort it out.’ She sniffed and clapped her hands imperiously, bringing back the stifling heat. The Jacks squeaked and fled.
‘Where did they go?’ Ned cast about, trying to see the teeny creatures.
‘De Jacks? Nasty little tricksters. Coming out foh de cold and de ice. Me doh approve but me doh have de energy ta control dem. Not when de weather is making dem so strong.’ Momma K shuddered and pulled her wings in tightly. ‘Dis frost… it no good foh wings. If dey freeze den…’ Another shudder rippled through the queen, echoed by the rest of the fae huddled around.
‘So the Jacks are here to stay, then?’ Ned waited for Momma K to confirm with a nod. ‘And what sort of thing can we look forward to from them?’
Momma K sucked her teeth and flicked her fingers.
‘Dey no big big trouble maker. Dey jus meddlesome. Freeze everyting, make pretty pattern dat will mesmerise. Cause slips and falls. Imagine if ice had meany taughts. Dat a Jack.’
While her mum was speaking, Jenni noticed Ned closing his eyes in distress, his human body not used to dealing with such massive changes in the environment so quickly. She was, of course, aware of the abrupt change, but her fae physiology was more robust than Neds and to her it was a fleeting discomfort.
‘You awright, Boss? Mebbe sit down for a minute, yeah?’
Ned slumped to a handy log and took some deep breaths. He looked a little woozy around the edges.
‘You didn’t ‘ave to do that, did you?’ Jenni scowled up at her mum. ‘Wot do you need us for? Can’t you just go out there and find whoeva it is?’
Momma K inspected her fingernails.
‘It too cold. Me wings, dey fragile. Me need ta stay and protect.’ She glared at her daughter. ‘You no got wings. You a catcha–go catch.’ And she daintily unfurled her delicate appendages, gliding up off her toadstool. ‘Be quick, it costing me ta keep dis heat up,’ she said before heading away from Ned and Jenni, the ultimate dismissal.
Jenni sucked her teeth at her mother’s retreating back before turning to check on Ned.
‘Ow you feeling now, Boss?’
‘Yeah. Um, I’m alright.’ He stood up on relatively unshaky legs. ‘Does Momma K really think someone is causing the cold snap? She knows winter is an annual constant, right? And what was all that about your magic?’
‘Nuffink to worry about,’ Jenni said, trying not to care. Just because her magic was a bit stop start at the moment didn’t mean it was anything for anyone else to be concerned about. ‘Bout the winter stuff… I guess she finks there’s summink weird going on. Bright side, at least we know wot the Jacks look like now.’
Jenni stomped to the entrance of the fae realm and waited while Ned put back on all his layers. ‘All set?’ she asked when he was finally redressed. Ned nodded, and she returned them to the streets of Roshaven, a swirl of tiny blue dots in their wake, giggling.
*****
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