Faerie Unraveled

by Linda Jordan

  Faerie Unraveled

  The Bones of the Earth Series: Book 1

  by

  Linda Jordan

  Contents

  ~Begin Reading

  ~About the Author

  ~Copyright Information

  ~Table of Contents

  Faerie Unraveled

  Chapter 1 ~ Skye

  Skye squatted on the sidewalk beneath the bare canopy of a giant horse chestnut tree, her stretchy leggings bunching around the knees. Cars drove past periodically. She could smell their exhaust, hear their churning engines which broke the quiet of the night. But the scrawny coyote wasn’t bothered by them. He glared at her, not yet ready to surrender his kill; someone’s orange cat out wandering the night.

  She just watched, not threatening him. Longing to be part of the night, of the wild. Along this main street in Seattle, before dawn, was about as wild as she could find in the city.

  Skye knew the coyote had registered she wasn’t human. Could smell the Fae on her, but wasn’t sure if she was a predator. Probably never met anything like her before.

  Most of Faerie had retreated from the world. Beyond caring. Drowning in their hypnotic pleasures.

  The breeze blew and she caught the sweet scent of lilacs. She closed her eyes at the lovely smell. Remembering other lilacs and more gentle times. Those in Faerie.

  How could Faerie leave humans to their own destruction? When the humans killed Gaia, Faerie would be destroyed as well.

  Most humans had lost their connection with the Earth. They lived crammed in cities such as this one.

  Forgetting the intimate place names. Forgetting the name for what a place looked like when sunlight pierced a dense woodland. Or when the breeze blew just slightly enough to lift a tree’s leaves.

  How could anyone forget such things?

  The coyote finished his meal and scuttled down the now empty street into an alley.

  She’d sought his company, but probably looked too human for his comfort.

  Even though she wore a human’s body, Skye was still a sylph. She’d created the human body, which surrounded her Fae self, and was living in the modern world. The human world.

  A being out of place and time.

  Determined to wage war on the disappearance of the old ways. Her friends no longer rode the thermals with her. She’d had to find new friends. Hawks and eagles.

  Her old friends no longer walked the land with her. Now she walked with coyotes and cats.

  Skye was determined to change what she could. Try to heal the Earth one human body at a time.

  She straightened, feeling her muscles contract, and moved farther down the street. There were a few people walking down here in the business section.

  She followed a couple of men, listening to them argue the merits of a movie they’d both seen the night before. Passed a restaurant where the smells of garlic and bacon made her mouth water. It was tempting to go inside, but human food always left her unsatisfied.

  Fae didn’t need to eat much. They ate mostly for pleasure. She could survive just by eating a small green leaf every day. Mostly, that’s what she did, but it wasn’t extraordinary like the food in Faerie.

  But she wasn’t going back. At least not for a very long time.

  She’d chosen to do her work here. With humans.

  Skye needed to make them understand how precious this Earth was. And to care for the planet, before it was too late.

  Which it might be already.

  A bus stopped and let two people off.

  She held her breath until the bus was gone and the exhaust dissipated. Buses and old delivery trucks were the worst.

  Skye stood in front of the old brick building and punched numbers into the security code box then opened the door. She climbed the stairs to the top floor, opened her door and walked into the nearly empty space.

  It was an older building. With wood floors throughout. Except for the kitchen and bathroom, which were laid with slate tiles. She walked to the window and opened it, seeing clouds move swiftly across the sky.

  She missed flying.

  The cold wind streamed across her face.

  Her wings weren’t visible while she was in this form. They felt cramped inside this body she’d created, but she needed to pass for human to do her work.

  Skye closed the window and turned away from it, taking in the room. A rustic brown wool rug lay in the center, beneath a large picture window which overlooked the street below and the blue and orange Fremont bridge a couple of blocks away.

  She’d grouped three mismatched oak chairs there, around an old wooden coffee table she’d found at the local antique mall. New Age magazines lay on the smooth surface of the table. A vase of lilacs and quince sat on a low bookcase beneath the big window on that side of the room. Two other walls were covered with full size murals one of her clients had painted. One of a forest and one of a hillside with a grand vista of more hills and the sky. It made the room feel expansive.

  This was her waiting room, just off the open kitchen.

  In each of the two other rooms stood a massage table, a wooden chair and a small table which held her herbal oils, a small sound system to play relaxing music on and something from the natural world, a stone, a branch, perhaps a feather. And of course, a candle.

  Skye took off her jacket and hung it in the closet by the front door. Then tugged on the turquoise tunic, pulling it back into place

  She walked into the kitchen and poured purified water into a tea kettle and set it on the stove, turning the burner on.

  She scooped green tea into the teapot and glanced out the window. The sky was coloring a lovely salmon pink. Dawn.

  Her first client would be here in an hour.

  She poured boiling water into the teapot, stirring the leaves with her finger, savoring the steam and heat of the water. Being in a human body always made her feel cold.

  Except when she was working.

  Skye went into the first room, the one with the green door, and sat on the wooden chair, removing her soft leather shoes and putting them in the closet. Her socks she tossed into the hamper.

  She left her feet bare and cranked up the heat in the room. Turning on the massage table warmer, she lit the candle so it would gently scent the air. Then switched on the sound system and gentle Indian flute music began to play.

  Skye turned up the heat in the blue room as well and set the warmer to turn on in an hour and a half. She closed her eyes and asked what her second client needed. The answer came back that burning sandalwood incense would be helpful. She lit a stick and put it in the holder, left the room and closed the door.

  Back in the kitchen, she poured her tea and slid out the drawer which held her laptop. She checked the website and looked at her appointments for the day. She was booked solid until nine tonight. Good.

  The more people she treated and helped heal, the faster the Earth could be healed. People needed to be brought back into balance.

  She sipped the bright tasting tea and checked her messages. No cancellations. And three requests to be worked into the schedule early if there were cancellations. She responded to the messages, offering 9PM slots to each of those for the next several nights.

  Then closed the computer and slid the drawer closed.

  She didn’t like using it or the cell phone. The vibrations in the air surrounding them annoyed her. It felt unpleasant. But there was no avoiding them if she wanted to do her work.

  There were a few others like her. Fae who’d left Faerie to work in the world. To try to save Earth. They didn’t meet often.

  One was a chef in New York, another a garden designer in London, a third was a florist in Rome. Others helped people in large cities around the world, trying to reach as many pe
ople as possible. Nurses, booksellers, interior decorators, therapists, artists, environmentalists and philosophers, all working to save Earth and the humans on it.

  Humanity was responding, sluggishly. It was a slow ship to turn. And it was still heading towards an iceberg.

  Skye turned on some steel drum music and stretched, feeling her human body come more alive. Feeling the blood flow and her soul align once again with the planet’s energy.

  Being on the computer always made her disconnect from the world.

  No wonder people were such a mess.

  She danced, feeling the drum beats pulse through her. Thanking the universe for her life.

  Then she turned off the music, poured more tea and sat in one of the chairs, waiting for her client to arrive.

  He came five minutes early. Skye opened the downstairs door when he called on the little box. Then she unlocked the upstairs door.

  She could hear his heavy steps on the stairs. Sadness and despair filled the air around him.

  Putting her cup next to the sink, she covered the teapot with a towel to keep the tea warm.

  He knocked gently and came through the door, closing it behind him.

  “Good morning Gene,” she said.

  “Good morning,” he replied, in a deep morning voice.

  “Would you like some tea?”

  “No, I already had coffee.”

  He took his coat off and hung it on the coat rack by the door.

  She sat on one of the wooden chairs and he came and sat in another.

  “What would you like to work on this morning?”

  “I’m completely stressed out. Past my deadline on one project. Behind on others. My wife’s mad at me because I missed Hannah’s soccer game last night. So my daughter feels sad too, although she hid it pretty well. I shouldn’t have even taken the time off to be here. But you always make me feel better,” he smiled.

  She could see the wounded young boy inside him. Beaten down by life.

  “Okay, go on into the green room, undress and get on the table.”

  He nodded and walked back towards the room. His dread following him like a huge dark shadow.

  Skye went to the window again, opening it and breathing the lingering fresh air from the night. She grabbed a hair tie from the drawer and pulled back the long, wavy ash blonde hair in a low pony tail at the base of her neck.

  She knew what he needed. She felt the cold outside air on her human skin. She closed her eyes and sat for a minute, trying to slow her breathing. Finally, the Earth’s energy flowed into her, giving her needed strength.

  It was time.

  Skye closed the window, went down the hall and knocked gently on the green door.

  “I’m ready,” he said.

  She entered and closed the door. The window shades were down, letting in a minimum of light. The candle flickered on the table.

  Gene was under the sheet on the massage table, lying on his belly.

  She rubbed some juniper berry oil on her hands to warm them.

  Then she began her magic.

  Loosening his muscles, feeling the tension begin to flow away. She took that tension into her body, transmuted it and returned it to him in the form of energy.

  Skye moved around the table like a dancer, pleased she’d designed this body for such athletic movement. Feeling her feet sliding across the wood floor, drawing the Earth’s power up through the building like blood through veins.

  Her hands felt hot from the power flowing through her.

  With her Fae eyes she could see the dark spots in his body and convinced them to move where they belonged, or to leave.

  She ignored the shadow in the room that hovered behind her. It would feel uncomfortable and leave or it wouldn’t. She couldn’t banish all his demons. He would have to do that.

  She felt Gene begin to release the despair and hopelessness which accompanied him. He breathed in the fire from the candle, the water from a bowl, the fresh air from the outside which had accompanied her into the room, and the earth from the rocks which lined the windowsill.

  Skye felt him come back into his body, to feel alive and hopeful again. The shadow in the room slid out between the cracks around the window.

  Unwanted, it would move on to find another poor soul.

  Gene had a large dark spot around his neck and she held her hands over that for a long time. Finally, the darkness dissipated and went down where it belonged. In his lower torso, to strengthen and stabilize him. His neck still looked raw. Vulnerable. She tried to fill the space with brightness and light. Enough to hold him over, until he could recharge himself.

  Finally, Skye had done as much as she could.

  She held her hands over his heart and said, “You must spend some time in nature to fully heal. To de-stress. I don’t care how you do it. Walk during your lunchtime and see the trees, the sun, the clouds. Go to your daughter’s next soccer game and feel the breeze blowing past. Go for a walk after dinner or before bed and listen to the night sounds. But go outside and smell the air. Notice plants, clouds, wind. Pick up rocks. Touch the earth. That is how you’ll heal yourself.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  She said, “Take your time getting up and dressed. I’ll be out in the other room.”

  Skye left the room, closing the door behind her.

  In the kitchen, she washed her hands with a gentle soap, dried them and poured herself another cup of tea.

  Then she checked to make sure the blue room was ready. The massage table warmer had turned on and the room was filled with sandalwood incense. Perhaps a little too much. She lit the candle and left the door open to let some of the incense out, Then turned on the same sound system and flute music streamed into this room as well.

  Back in the kitchen, she sipped her tea, watching the clouds move across the sky.

  Tonight.

  Tonight she needed to leave this human body behind.

  Become Fae again and fly.

  Gene came out of the room, his face pink from the heat and her work. He looked lighter and carried a vibrancy about him.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” he said, putting the money in a silver bowl on the counter.

  Skye only accepted cash. She didn’t have a bank account. Didn’t want to have a bank account or deal with taxes. Having to explain the Fae thing wouldn’t go over well. She worked with an accountant, who was one of her clients, whom she paid to take care of the internet, phone, electric bills and apartment rental.

  That left her free to do her work.

  Gene scheduled another appointment and left.

  Skye went back into the green room, turned the heat off, opened the curtains and the window and lit some sage to clear the room of his energy.

  She took the sheet off the massage table, stuffed it in the hamper, which she carried out into the hallway. Opening the door, she started the washing machine. Thank goodness the machine was quiet, so she could wash things while she had clients. Because she liked to always have clients.

  Putting the hamper back in the green room, she put a clean sheet on the massage table, closed the window, then the curtains and waved the smoke from the sage around the room. She put the sage out, turned the heat back on, checked that the warmer for the massage table was on and closed the door.

  Ready for the next client in that room.

  Skye liked to always have the next room ready. Sometimes clients came early and it was nice to have a place set up for them to go into while she tidied up the other room. It helped her to keep people moving through seamlessly. Which kept her centered.

  The door entry signal for down below rang and she opened it for Heather.

  She heard Heather bounding up the stairs like a crazed child. She came in Skye’s apartment and closed the front door loudly.

  “Hi,” she said, breathless from the stairs.

  “Good morning.”

  Heather pulled off her hoodie and hung it on the coat rack.

  “I’ve got some
green tea, would you like some?”

  “No thanks, just a glass of water,” said Heather, her breathing slowing a bit.

  Heather poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher of purified water which sat on the counter. She drank the entire glass at once.

  As far as Skye could tell, Heather did everything that way.

  “How are you this morning?”

  Heather put the empty glass over by the sink.

  She said, “I’m all in a jumble this morning. My life’s exploding. Mom fell and broke her hip. I need to fly back there tomorrow. Jim and I are fighting. Again. Work is a mess. They’re laying people off right and left. No one’s job is safe. I’m not sure about mine. Everything’s in chaos.”

  Skye nodded.

  “Why don’t you go into the blue room, get undressed and lie on the table. I’ll be in in about five minutes.”

  “Great,” said Heather, heading off down the hall.

  What a bundle of fire she was today.

  Skye opened the kitchen window to breathe in fresh air. She closed her eyes, trying to find what Heather needed most. When she had it, she closed the window and went down the hall.

  She knocked gently on the door.

  “I’m ready,” said Heather.

  Skye rubbed some lavender oil on her hands and laid them on Heather’s back. Calming the energy and rearranging the priorities. Heather’s energy flowed with her, allowing the changes to happen. Removing a stubborn knot here, breaking up a clog there. Skye’s work allowed the person to move into the best of who they could be.

  If they so chose.

  Some didn’t. Those returned each time with the same problems. Stuck.

  Others moved through their challenges and grew towards lives that fulfilled them. Still others did some combination of both.

  Skye didn’t have the gift of knowing who would move forward and who would remain stuck. Sometimes she predicted correctly, other times not. Now and then a person surprised her completely. After months of being stuck, they suddenly broke free and changed.

  Eventually, Heather’s energy flowed smoothly and serenely. It felt balanced and strong.

  Skye said, “It’s important for you not to get caught up in other people’s drama. You’ve got a lot going on right now. Take time for yourself. Leave the office at lunchtime. Go for a walk outside. When you sense a conflict coming on with Jim, go sit out on your balcony. Breathe in the fresh air. Make sure you take care of yourself while you’re caring for your mom. That will help you stay balanced and strong. Spend some time out in nature. Even if it’s just looking at the moon or clouds before you go to bed.”