Alice leaned over Quentin's shoulder, her eyes fixed on the glowing computer screen.
"Is he really going to be in the records?" she asked, voice low but sharp with doubt.
Kady didn't look up from the papers she was flipping through. "We won't know until we check, Alice. That's the whole point."
Quentin nodded, his eyes narrowing as he typed. "She's right. Let's see what we've got…"
He scrolled through the old digital registry, the flickering text displaying faded names and records from decades ago. "Okay… August 20th, 1976," he read aloud. "A baby surrendered at St. Gabriel's Hospital. Uh, signed by a nurse Michelle Walker."
Alice frowned, moving closer. "Michelle Walker… and then what?"
"Transferred to a state social worker," Quentin continued, tapping a few keys. "And after that…"
The cursor blinked over an empty screen.
Alice blinked. "What the fuck, there's nothing. No record of adoption, no transfer, no foster documentation. It just… ends."
Kady straightened. "Okay, so where's this Michelle Walker now?"
Quentin typed again, squinting at the screen. "She's, uh… at Merciful Sisters Cemetery."
Alice leaned back. "Resting six comfortable feet underground."
Kady swore softly under her breath. "Oh, shit."
The silence stretched for a moment before Alice crossed her arms and asked, "Where exactly is Kai? I mean, he's the one helping you and Anna hunt down this murderous fox god who is the father, isn't he?"
Kady sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, well he's working on a way to lure the bastard out. Maybe even trap him again. For good this time."
Quentin's head snapped up. "That's insane. How does he even expect to do that?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Kady muttered.
Before any of them could say more, Penny appeared in a blink of displaced air, holding a stack of books.
"Hey," Quentin said, glancing at Alice. "Looks like we've got work to do."
The two of them gathered their things and left leaving Kady and penny alone with the faint hum of the computer screen and a conversation she'd been dreading.
———————————
"Yeahhh, this wasn't what I had in mind when I came back here to pick up that little trinket," Kai muttered, brushing a low-hanging branch from his face.
The woods of Fillory were alive…literally. Veins of faint blue light pulsed through the trees, spreading from root to canopy like glowing arteries. The ground hummed softly beneath their feet, as though the forest itself was breathing… of course the only one who could feel this was Kai.
Eliot walked a few steps ahead, adjusting the royal sash draped across his shoulder. "Oh, please. You're just here as an escort. You should try enjoying the walk, Kai. Nature does wonders for one's health."
Margo smirked, striding beside him. "Yeah, maybe not his mental health though. That ship sailed somewhere around the first homicide."
Kai turned, feigning a wounded look. "Ouch, Margo. Brutal honesty right to the jugular."
She grinned. "You love it."
Kai rolled his eyes but his attention soon shifted back to the forest. The magic here in this part of the forest was… different compared to the other sections. He could feel it moving, not in chaotic bursts like Earth's unstable ley lines, but in smooth, rhythmic waves. 'Like blood through veins,' he thought.
He murmured, almost to himself, "Fascinating."
'Let's hope with Eliot here this goes better than in the series, ' he thought dryly.
Ahead, Margo raised a hand. "Greetings!" she called out into the trees.
Eliot added smoothly, "I am Eliot, High King of Fillory accompanied by the High Queen, Margo, and King Kai."
Kai stopped mid-step and muttered under his breath, "King Kai? Seriously?"
Eliot shrugged with an innocent smile. "You're welcome."
A figure emerged from the trees tall, lean, and earthy. His ears were pointed, and moss crept along his neck and cheek, blooming faintly under the light. His skin carried the texture of bark, and his eyes were a deep shade of green that reflected the forest around him.
Margo tilted her head. "Well, hi there. You're… a nymp?"
Kai smiled. "No, he's a Dryad."
Eliot blinked. "I thought they were all women."
The Dryad regarded them quietly, his expression unreadable.
Eliot cleared his throat. "We've come here on royal business and under a peaceful banner, of course. A request from the rulers of Fillory to the noble Dryads of this forest."
Kai watched silently, half-curious, half-amused. 'At least he's making a better request than Margo did in the original timeline.'
The Dryad's voice was calm but carried the weight of ancient grievance. "The rulers of Fillory have a long and tragic history of arboreal disrespect."
Eliot nodded slowly. "Right. Uh-huh. Fair point. Look the past is the past. We're not here to repeat old mistakes. We're here to make amends and build a better future."
Margo folded her arms, chin tilted up. "Yeah. We're a kinder, gentler Fillory now. And part of that means settling some… minor unrest with our Lorien neighbors before it turns into a full-blown mess."
"Heh. Settle unrest, you mean wage war."
Eliot opened his mouth, closed it, then tried diplomacy. "No — not that. We mean… we mean—"
Margo cut him off with a flat stare. "Look, help us here. We want to make this work respectfully."
The dryad's moss-bright eyes narrowed. "Respectful rulers are a scent the forest does not trust. You come with iron and orders and call it peace. War follows your kind like rot follows fruit."
Kai let the exchange go for a heartbeat longer than he should have. Then he blurred.
One second he was leaning against a trunk, the next he had the dryad by the throat, lifted off the ground so the moss around its jaw shivered. Margo and Eliot went pale; the dryad's limbs kicked soft arcs against the air.
"So," Kai said close enough that his voice bruised the bark behind them, "am I to understand you will not be helping us?"
The dryad's breath rattled. "You, you cannot—"
"If you are not with us," Kai continued, "then you are against us. And believe me, I will slaughter you and burn your groves if you so much as stand with Loria against Fillory. Is that understood?"
The dryad's words came out thin, almost a cracked twig. "Yes."
Eliot's hand rose. "Kai, put him down now."
Kai's grin was slow, wolf-easy. "Go tell your people: if any of you side with the Lorians, I will personally come back and burn you and give whole habit along with all your species to the ground."
He let the dryad go. The creature dropped, scrambling, pulling breath deep as if it'd swallowed smoke. It shot back into the trees and vanished like a bad rumor.
"They aren't going to help us," Kai said, turning to face Elliot and Margo like it was a weather report. "Lorians already got to them."
They exchanged one of those looks as the same thought appeared in both eyes and Margo said, flat: "Shit."
— ✦ —
"If only we could get the name Dana gave the kid," Quentin was saying, rubbing his temple. "If we had that, we would narrow this search by a mile."
Alice tapped the keyboard. "Projecting into the past isn't an option, it's just too dangerous." She didn't have to say more; everyone in the room knew what Penny thought about that word: 'never.'
"How about we go to Dana," Quentin said, pragmatic, "and Penny extracts what we need directly from her?"
Kady snorted. "Quentin, Dana is probably dead by now. That's assuming the fox didn't torch the whole street."
Quentin sighed. "Okay. So… now what?"
At that moment Julia came in "Alicia's helping Marina with a protective weave for Kai," she said without preamble. "Family stuff for me this morning." She gave Kady a quick, guilty smile.
Kai walked through the door next, a little box tucked under one arm like it was some errant takeaway from a cafe. He glanced up and gave the room a lazy, theatrical bow. "Hello, lads."
Julia sidled up and asked, "Did you get it?"
Kai set the box on the table and nodded. Quentin leaned in, curiosity like a cat. "What is it?"
Kai smirked. "You'll see when it's appropriate." He plopped into a chair and watched their faces.
"How are things in Fillory?" Julia asked.
Kai shrugged. "Met the tree-people." He made a face. "Rude bastard. Not all girls, by the way. They've sided with the Lorians."
Penny blinked. "And you let them live?"
Kai lifted both palms. "I did. I told the one I saw: side with Loria, and I'll come back and burn you and your groves to ash. Seems fair." He dropped his voice to an almost affectionate cruelty. "It's a motivational speech. Works every time."
Julia's jaw dropped. "What the fuck, Kai."
Quentin leaned forward, indignant. "You can't do that. You can't threaten an entire species."
Kai shrugged again, like shrugging fixed geopolitics. "Believe me, I can. I would. But diplomacy is for the morning newspaper. For now it bought Margo and Elliot time."
Kady folded her arms and as Kai turned to her and asked. "Any luck on the kid?"
"No name in the registries we could use. Library was a dead end. And all records scrubbed."
Kai's eyes sharpened and sighed before leaning forward.
"Adoptive name," he said, like tossing a coin. "John Spencer Gaines."
Kady went very still. "Wait, how do you—?"
Kai waved a hand dismissively. "Unimportant how I found it. Important is we have a name. That makes tracking him easier."
He looked at Kady, then over at Julia and Penny and the group. "You hunt the kid. I'll hunt the father."
Kady's laugh was brittle. "You mean you'll play nice and hunt a murderer father while hunt and hope not to be killed by the son?"
Kai nodded and spoke with tender cruelty. "I mean we separate priorities. You've got the hands for delicate things. I've got the appetite for inconvenient men."
Quentin rubbed his eyes. "This plan is awful and perfect and we are all terrible people. Great."