a bell through the night

Stephen called Grace as soon as the scans came in, showing his hands... showing them without the inescapable twist of bone, the parody of the skeleton held together by pins and screws and plate.

“Mmm?” she said, sounding asleep. “Stephen, not that I'm not happy to hear from you, but I do have work tomorrow. Mortal job.”

He heard the rustle of sheets, a lazy pair of thuds, like she was tapping something and too sleepy to manage delicacy. “I have a question about the healing you did.”

“Did something go wrong?” she asked, sounding more alert. “I've done it dozens of times, and you being human shouldn't have done anything.”

“I'm not certain, but it might have interacted oddly with something else that happened,” he said, ignoring Tony's narrowed eyes. Professional paranoid. He was lucky Tony hadn't called in the rest of the team. “Could you come to Stark Tower?”

“Ah, sure,” she said, slowly. “Can I get pants on?”

“If you insist,” he said, ignoring Maddy's snort.

“I walked right into that one,” Grace said, and he could hear her rummaging about. “Lobby good?”

He nodded. “I think you might not want to bounce off the spells on the place.”

“Yes, if I break my nose again Eilidh might actually have me turned into a shrub,” she said. “Give me five minutes to look a bit less like a raccoon that was dragged through a thicket?”

“No problem,” he said.

“You are okay?” she asked, a trickle of worry showing.

“So far, but without knowing exactly what's happening...” he trailed off.

“Understood,” she yawned. “Would coffee be possible?”

“Undoubtedly,” he said. “See you in a few minutes.”

~

Grace had thrown on what looked like half an illusion- ears and a trace of color on her cheeks, very little else. “Stephen, what happened?”

He held out a travel mug with black coffee, and matched the grin she gave him. “Does this help?”

“Offering received,” she said, sipping. “You figured out that I was using it to try to help more?”

“I guessed,” Stephen teased, leading her up to the elevator. He waved to the night receptionist, who was a recent graduate of Xavier's. “Fairy princess, needing a price before offering her services.” He hoped she didn't miss the fact that he wasn't mocking her.

She took another sip of her coffee as he pressed the button to go up, thrilling at it not hurting. “Please don't call me that, modern paranormal romance means that people assume I'll blow them in Central Park.”

He snorted. “That's suspiciously specific. Do I want to know.”

She leaned against him. “Fairy porn. You would not believe what people assume about me. You'd think not being a size two would help.”

He looked down at the v-neck of her t-shirt. “...why would you think that?”

She playfully elbowed him in the ribs. “You've had a filthy mind since asking me out to dinner.”

“I have a horrible track record of people not picking up on more subtle hints,” he said, leaning back. Tony hadn't mirrors or reflective chrome, interestingly enough, more rivets and industrial, if you ignored the arc reactor blue lights on the buttons and on the floor. “I decided that I need to be more direct.”

“I'm enjoying it,” she said, looking up through her eyelashes. “Now, can you take it if I'm the one dishing it out?”

“Why don't we figure it out?” he asked, and of course that was when the door opened.

And somehow they'd gotten Yelena, Jess, and Carol here. And Rhodey, which was fine. Rhodey didn't have quite as much paranoia around magic.

“Now, what exactly happened?” Grace asked, eyes going a little wide. “Because this is a lot of people who can drop kick me through a very high window.”

“Strange vouched for you,” Rhodey said. “And Maddy seems to think you're on the level.”

“For fuck's sake, Strange, how did you sleep through that?” Yelena asked. “Do you know how bad that looks for me to be asking that question?”

Grace gave him a once-over that didn't match the atmosphere in the elevator. “You said you were okay.”

“I am!” he said, holding up his hands, before startling.

The scars were starting to fade.

What on earth...

“His hands expelled a lot of the metal that had been holding them together,” Maddy said. “We have it on a table in the crash room.”

“We're not calling it that,” Tony said. “That looks better than it did when we did the scans.”

He didn't seem happy, which Stephen instinctively bucked at. He'd mostly gotten over wanting to fix his hands, taking new pain management tricks as he could, but right now, he was just... he'd dismissed this as an impossibility.

But reason said this was likely to go downhill soon.

“My spell shouldn't have done that,” Grace said, shaking her head. “I've done it for a cousin who has a metal rod in her leg, and it didn't move. And it was a scratch!”

“Crash room time,” Jess said, moving Carol along.

They all followed, and Stephen pulled Grace into the comfort couch, close to him. Jess took the other side, and was watching with care.

“You aren't going to turn into a sorcerer sized pile of spiders, are you?” she asked, and it took a moment to remember their discussion about her matchmaking.

“No, as far as I can tell,” Stephen said. “I feel fine, at least.”

“But then where did these come from?” Rhodey asked. “They shouldn't be bloody if they just... teleported out of your hands.”

“I have no idea,” Stephen said, before pausing. “Perhaps the scars opened for it?” He'd needed to have cut open quite a few arteries for that sullen maroon coating on the pieces. “It would explain why they just started fading.”

No blood pooled in the skin, however, suggesting that he'd healed from the inside out. It would be fascinating if it was happening to someone else.

“That should have hurt like a bitch,” Carol said, after a moment. “I mean. I hate pulling shit out of me in a fight, and mostly it isn't in a bone.”

“Might have knocked him out,” Rhodey suggested.

There was another noise at the door, and Wong strode in.

“Stephen,” he said, and how did he feel like a child caught in the cookie jar?

Aside from his age, he hadn't been playing about with new spells this time.

“Did you manage to open the puzzle box?” Stephen asked, instead.

“No,” Wong said. “I gave it to one of the adepts, something about cubes and championships. I sent a message to return it as soon as possible, however.”

“Could it have some sort of healing spirit bound to it?” Stephen asked. As terrible as that sounded, it was also the least-terrible option in terms of 'was he in a horror movie.' They would free the spirit, and Stephen just had to be the one to open it.

It would also explain how Alistair hadn't died of anything related to his drug use. It had been a deeply unpleasant snake demon outside of a restaurant, wanting to make its name by killing a higher ranked member of the Order.

“Alia checked on that, she thinks whatever is in there is inanimate,” Wong said, choosing a free chair. “And no curses were found, just the locking spell to keep anyone from forcing it open. Stephen, could Yardley have hit you, or something in the cursebreaking you did?”

“Yardley didn't,” Grace shook her head. “Anything he had was kept internal. And I'm not reacting oddly, from what I can tell, and my doorframe was enchanted to let me know if I have a serious injury or curse when I go through it.” There was a story in the irritation in her voice at that, and he wondered if it had been imposed on her, and if she was the only one who got that information.

“No urge to rip out my still beating heart and eat it?” Tony asked.

“No,” Grace said. “Has that happened here? I think some of the Courts might have sacrifice hunts like that...”

“No, though I might lose my dinner,” Strange said, before frowning. He'd seen no real signs of fever or other reaction to his hands flaying themselves and removing the metal that had been screwed into bone.

“No more than normal,” Maddy said, crossing her legs along a couch. She still wasn't dressed, and Yelena had perched on top of the couch.

Everyone gave her a look.

“You nearly cause hell on earth once,” she said, shaking her head.

“I also have no increased desire to eat Stark's heart,” Yelena said, yawning.

“That definitely is not a pregnancy craving,” Jess confirmed. “Though Yelena and I didn't meet Yardley.”

“Is there any signs of a curse on Stephen?” Carol asked, looking at them all. She'd also had a cup of coffee, and Chewie was on Rhodes' shoulder. Stephen reflected with a twinge of guilt that they had

probably been enjoying a peaceful night in the same city for once. “Like a radiation reading but for magic?”

“We can check,” Wong said. “Though it would have been easier if Stephen had the Eye on him.”

Stephen waved his hand, calling it forth. Even familiar spells came easier, now he wasn't fighting his own nervous system. “We'll take a look?”

Yelena craned her head for a better look as Stephen looked at each hand in turn, frowning. “Is that like shadows on x-ray?” It was clear she didn't think that was the case, with Wong's hand manipulating his and revealed by the Eye as well.

“No,” Wong said, slowly. “Lady Grace, I apologize for any insult, but are you certain this isn't your power?”

Grace peered over, close enough to smell whatever she put in her hair, and shook her head. “It might almost pass for fae power, but it isn't, I think. There might be some particularly isolated kinds I haven't seen, but...”

“It's doesn't look like hers,” Stephen said, after a moment, before tilting his hand again, almost catching a glimpse. But he might be seeing ghosts.

“Could it be a side effect from your magic interacting with whatever this is?” Tony asked. “Like not realizing something has an exothermic reaction to water until everything goes boom?”

Grace bit her lip. “I wouldn't think so? Not for a straight physical healing like this.”

“What type of fae are you?” Stephen asked, trying to think if there was anything he knew about interactions with the fae and other dimensions.

She froze, and he turned his head to better study her. “Grace? We're not accusing you, and we won't judge whatever you say.”

She wasn't a gifted illusionist, from what she said. Nor a particularly powerful healer. Not water or fire related, and he didn't think she was a nymph of some sort...

Her self-depreciating comments kept him apprised of what she didn't specialize in.

She forced a sheepish smile, settling a bit further down in the couch, and trying to appear calm. It might have fooled everyone not Yelena and Maddy. (And Maddy because Maddy was probably prepared to tear into her mind.” “Can I swear, first, on the crossroads, that I did not use my magic in any other way than the healing spell I said I was using? And that I have never enchanted you to get in your head?”

“Grace, I know you haven't,” he said, taking her hands. She was shaking- it was faint, but she was afraid of saying it. There weren't too many options- the most likely would be Banshee, leannán sídhe and... oh, he thought, remembering his dream. “What is the name your Court uses?” he asked his prickly Snow White, so uncertain of her reception in the world all of the sudden.

“Baobhan sith is the term used in around our Court, but,” she looked around. “Siren might be more understood, even if it is a worse fit. It's kind of a catch-all label at this point.”

Little siren, the dream-Clea had called dream-Grace, had part of his mind remembered the dancing, whirling fae with the entrancing voices and gift for working magic with blood, and remembered pale skin and sharp teeth?

“Rather more talent for blood magic,” he agreed. “Which is why you are better with cuts and bruises?”

“Yes,” Grace nodded, stubbornly refusing to look at the others.

“Wait,” Tony said, holding up a hand. Stephen looked up at him, wondering what was going to come out of his mouth. “Do you turn into a giant bird-lady hybrid?”

“Ah, not as such, though my family does turn into ravens and crows,” Grace said, ruefully. She turned to face Tony, leaning against him. “Well, not my father, he's Seer and consort to the Court, and gave up the world for a century, but my sister and mother and I. There is another family that is closer to glastigs, with the deer hooves.”

“Have you drowned sailors?” Tony asked. “Should I invest in earplugs?”

“No to the first, and as to the second,” Grace huffed, relaxing. “You build shit in this tower all the time, don't you? You need earplugs or the damage would have kicked your ass by now.”

“I like her,” Rhodey said, apparently just to tease Tony, but Grace relaxed further.

He realized that she wasn't quite kidding earlier about the large number of people who could drop kick her through a window, and she'd perhaps been worried that they might blame her for his curse.

He squeezed her hand, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Possibly moving too fast, he reflected, but he had a sinking suspicion this conversation had gone badly before. Siren style beings were not exactly well regarded, especially those who occupied the nebulous space between that and succubi-types.

“So how would siren be applicable?” Yelena asked.

“Ah, I can use my voice to compel people?” Grace answered. “So if whatever Stephen was cursed with had been a compulsion spell, my magic would have crashed against it, and we would have known then.” There was a weak smile at that. “Again, I don't go around doing it for anything other than protecting myself and others, and I prefer punching people, but...” She tilted her head. “Wait... Stephen, you didn't wake up when that happened?”

“Do you have something?” Wong asked, leaning forward. He didn't look judgmental, just baffled.

“The healing spell acts like a disinfectant, too, making sure I don't trap dirt or something nasty in it,” Grace said. “It filters through the blood, and is gone in twelve hours or so. I wouldn't even have thought about it, you need it when you need to patch up an idiot teenage boy who is trying to climb Slains Castle. It's passive enough, and unless they were already septic, I don't think anyone would be able to tell without searching for it. But it's carrying healing magic in his blood, meant to blunt pain from cramming in a week's healing in half a minute, or preventing fever.”

“So when the metal came free, I was bleeding,” Stephen said, understanding growing. Here was one answer, at least. “Would that have restarted the spell?”

She did some mental math. “When did you wake up?”

“Doctor Strange arrived in the Tower at three-eighteen in the morning,” JARVIS answered, making her jump.

“That's would be about the twelve hour mark,” Grace mused. “So it would be active, and blood and a curse... I haven't run into this before, and I'm certainly not asking my mother or Viola.”

“Viola?” Jess asked, looking confused.

“My older sister- my mother used to play one, I think, and they named me in hope of the virtue, I believe,” Grace mused. “Though Viola likes her flute, instead. No one else really does, but... it is what it is.”

“Why aren't we asking?” Rhodey asked.

“Because having a meddling fae queen and her heiress poking about with Stephen's body is a bad plan,” Wong said.

Grace flushed, red blotches creeping up her cheeks, and she looked down. “That's... putting it mildly. They wouldn't mean him any harm, but... they are very pushy. And... I am the younger daughter. I usually find living in the mortal world easier on our relationship.”

Yelena nodded at that. “I understand completely. So, is there anything else we can do?”

Stephen put his hand under the Eye and once more, focusing where the wrist plate had been, and this time he couldn't miss what he'd been afraid of, the oil-slick sheen and vertigo feeling that told him what he'd been cursed with.

“It wasn't from the cursebreaking,” Stephen said, trying to keep even and steady. “I wouldn't have known where the problem came from if that was the case. Wong, can you inform Sara and her assistants what we found?”

“Yes,” Wong said, standing. “Stephen, I will be keeping an eye on this.”

“I don't blame you,” Stephen said, feeling brittle, all delight gone. “The healing was just preparation work.”

He'd need to confirm, later, but he suspected his peculiar dream had been the lingering traces of the healing spell protecting him. If it hadn't done that, he wasn't sure what the damage would have been, but his hands probably have either not healed or would still be bleeding.

“And bring me the box as soon as possible, and tell Sara what to look for in Alastair's records,” Stephen continued.

“What is it?” Carol asked.

Stephen looked at the well-hidden but unmistakable signs that the curse had been crafted in the Dark Dimension. “Old ghosts coming home,” he answered.

Now it was Grace's turn to place a comforting hand on him. “But we have a place to start?”

He nodded, slowly, looking around.

This was not the end of the spell, merely a lull before the next phase.