Unhooked

by Lisa Maxwell

“This is really all it takes to scare one of those things?” I ask, glancing up at him doubtfully. The metal feels warm in my hand. “That’s not just any knife, Gwendolyn. It belonged to my mother, the Queen,” he explains. “Long ago the Queen traveled across the boundaries into the human world to find something to defeat the Dark Fey, who so often attacked her court in their attempt to take over this world. She brought back this—a dagger forged in iron and human blood and silver. Together they are deadly to the Dark Ones. To all Fey,” he said, nodding into the mist and taking the dagger back from me. “She used that blade to kill the King of the Dark Ones and to banish what remained of his court to the far ends of this land so her people could live here in safety. They know well enough what this is capable of,” he tells me as he tucks the dagger securely back into the sheath at his side. “And they’re smart enough to avoid it.” “Why don’t you just kill them all with it, then?” I ask.