by Bonnie Lamer
“Is it real?” I ask Kallen over the sound of the elephant’s head banging into our magic.
He shakes his head but I’m not sure if he’s saying no or simply shaking it in wonder. “I do not know,” he admits.
In the crib, Lielle stirs. Her hands make little fists and her face scrunches up. She is waking. As soon as her little eyes pop open, the elephant is gone. The sound of its head pounding against our magic walls is replaced by Lielle’s wails.
“For the love of god, I will harvest the cork myself if that will get you to plug up that thing!” Taz shouts over Lielle’s crying.
Kallen is already out of bed and lifting Lielle from her crib. He holds her to his chest and pats her back awkwardly. He knows as much about comforting babies as I do. “Shh,” he whispers in her ear.
For the second time tonight, our bedroom door crashes open. This time, Tabitha is with Isla and Garren. “What is going on up here?” the plump Fairy demands to know.
Alita and Kegan are right behind them again. “Was there an earthquake?” Kegan asks, wiping the sleep from his bloodshot eyes. I can see them because Isla has lit the room up, causing my own eyes to go into momentary shock.
“Elephant,” I tell them. “Big, angry elephant.”
Tabitha stares at me trying to decide if she’s going to believe me or not. “There are no elephants in the Elf realm.”
Well, that’s strange. I’m pretty sure I can tell the difference between an elephant and a bull, though. Just in case I can’t, I turn to Kallen. “It was an elephant, right?”
He nods. “Yes.” Lielle is beginning to quiet in his arms.
“How strange,” Isla murmurs. She’s not usually a murmurer. She is rattled and I don’t like it when she’s rattled.
“It was going after the baby?” Alita asks, her face the picture of horror.
I shrug. “It was charging at the crib, but I think it was after all of us, not just her.”
“Was it the baby’s glamour?” Tabitha asks.
I look to Kallen for an answer. He is better at discerning whose magic is whose. He nods. “Most definitely.”
“Could someone be controlling the baby through its dreams?” Garren asks Isla.
Isla frowns as she considers his question. “It is possible but whoever is doing it would need to be close and I do not sense any other Elves in the area.”
“Could the baby be evil?” Kegan asks. When we all glare at him, he holds his hands up, palms forward. “I am just asking,” he says defensively. “I mean, Zac was evil for a while and none of us even considered the possibility.”
True. My little brother picked up an extra soul in the Shadow realm and it made him do horrible things. I turn to Tabitha. “He’s right. We should at least consider the possibility. Can you check the baby for extra souls or anything?”
Lips pressed in a thin line, Tabitha moves closer to Kallen and the baby. She holds her arms out for Kallen to give her Lielle. Lielle is not thrilled and demonstrates this by clinging fiercely to Kallen. “It will likely work better if I continue to hold her,” Kallen says.
Not pleased, Tabitha sits on the bed next to them and places her hands on Lielle’s head. The baby sniffles, but doesn’t cry. After a moment, Tabitha removes her hands and shakes her head. “I cannot detect anything.”
“So, the simplest answer is the correct one. She’s having nightmares,” I conclude. “Do they have anything like television in the Elf realm?” So far, humans have been the only race I’ve come across that has that kind of technology. I suppose magical beings have better ways to entertain themselves. “Anywhere she could have seen animals stampeding?”
“What is television?” Garren asks.
“A device used to play video games,” Kegan tells him. He enjoyed video games immensely in my home realm.
Still confused, Garren asks, “What are video games?”
Isla sighs. “That is not important. To answer your question, Xandra, no. There are no televisions in the Elf realm. Perhaps the child heard tales regarding such things.”
Stampeding elephant stories wouldn’t exactly be the best choice as a bedtime story, but I won’t judge. I glance at Lielle who is resting her head against Kallen’s chest. Now that Tabitha has moved away from her, she is calm and starting to look sleepy again. “I think she’s better now,” I say. Yawning, I add, “I would love to go back to sleep.” Not my subtlest hint, but I don’t really care at the moment. I suspect that until Lielle goes home, I will need to take my sleep whenever I can get it.
My yawn is infectious and they start cropping up around the room. Garren places a hand at the small of Isla’s back. “Come, let us leave them to their rest.”
After considering for a moment, Isla finally says, “I believe it best I remain here. If the child has another nightmare, I would like the chance to experience the glamour first hand again.” She thinks she missed something the first time around?
Kallen is so much better at schooling his face than I am. Calmly, he says, “Grandmother, I do not believe that is necessary. Xandra and I are capable of handling the glamour of a baby.”
Isla scowls at him. “I was not implying otherwise. I want to learn more about it and experiencing it first hand is the only way I will do that.”
I am about to argue that the baby will probably sleep through the night now, but Garren speaks first. “I believe the idea of his grandmother spending the night in his room is not any more appealing to him than it would have been for us at his age.”
He is the recipient of Isla’s scowl, now. “You know nothing of me at his age.”
Uh oh. Is this about to be their first marital spat? The euphoria must be wearing off if Garren’s talent for asinine comments due to ignorance and bad timing is returning. Wanting to keep the peace, I quickly say, “It’s okay if you stay.” I ignore Kallen’s ‘I can’t believe you just said that’ look.
I didn’t help the situation apparently because Garren’s foot is too determined to slide down his throat and kick his own ass from the inside. “I would have known plenty about you at that age if you weren’t such a stubborn…” The rage on Isla’s face cuts him off mid-insult. I really hope she doesn’t say what’s on her mind because it might scald our eardrums hearing such naughty words.
“Grandmother, you are welcome to stay. Here,” Kallen says, doing his best to distract Isla from killing her new husband. “This cot should be reasonably comfortable.” He has created a large cot with magic. Actually, it’s more like a twin bed and I’m kind of jealous of the down mattress on it. We could use one of those on our bed.
“She gets a bed? I’m lucky if the wanker lets me sleep on an old rag in the corner,” Taz lies. He always sleeps on the bed.
Isla and Garren glare at each other for a moment before Garren turns and leaves the room. If only he had taken Isla’s ire with him which is so strong it’s peeling the paint from the walls. Kegan shifts nervously from foot to foot ready to make his escape. “We will see you in the morning.” He pulls Alita from the room so fast she almost trips.
Another cot appears next to the first one. “Might as well make it a party,” Tabitha mumbles. She may only be staying to keep Isla from sneaking out to commit murder.
Taz jumps up onto the new cot. “Endless supply of bacon and a feather mattress? I now know true love. You know I am more her Familiar than yours, right?”
“Yes, I do,” I reply dryly.
I am tempted to have Kallen make our bed temporarily disappear and replace it with twin beds. Considering how he and I tangle our bodies together while we are sleeping, having both Isla and Tabitha in the room is an uncomfortable prospect. A quick glance at Kallen confirms I am not the only one who feels like that. “Is she sleeping?” I ask him. Lielle’s eyes are closed but she still seems a little agitated.
Kallen shakes his head. “She is still grasping my t-shirt in her fists.”
“You could rock her,” I suggest.
“It is worth a try.” He rises fro
m the bed with Lielle firmly in his arms. He moves so effortlessly with her. I’m certain my foot would have tangled in the blanket and the two of us would have fallen to the floor. I should probably do yoga. I hear it works wonders for coordination. Do Fairies have yoga instructors?
Isla walks to her cot and sits down. She is still fuming so I don’t even look her way. “I shall dim the lights,” she says. She bypasses dim. The room is now dark. Only the moonlight lets me make out Kallen across the room.
I crawl back under the covers and wait. Isla and Tabitha do the same on their cots. We wait and we wait. After half an hour, I finally whisper into the dark, “She’s still not sleeping?”
“No,” Kallen replies quietly. “I nearly am, though.”
“Try putting her in the crib,” I suggest.
Rising from the chair, Kallen attempts to place Lielle in the crib. She is not having any of it this time. She begins to kick and cry. Kallen picks her right back up again. His eyes find me in the little bit of light left in the room. “Any other suggestions?”
His snarky tone makes me want to give him several suggestions. Not wanting to end up in a fight like Isla and Garren, I keep most of them in my head. “Maybe you could lie down with her.”
“It is too dangerous having a baby in bed with adults,” Isla informs us. “You could accidently suffocate her in her sleep.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. The horrified expression on Kallen’s face tells me he hadn’t, either.
It occurs to me the baby might have other issues going on. “We haven’t changed her in a while.”
The horror on Kallen’s face does not diminish. “I will leave that to you.”
I snort. “No, you will not.”
“I have no idea how to change a diaper,” he argues.
“Um, so. Neither did I a few hours ago.”
With an unhappy sigh, Kallen turns the lights back on and walks to the bed. He places Lielle gently on it. “Talk me through it,” he grunts.
I do. I am quite amused when he pokes himself several times with the pins as I did earlier. What I did not consider, though, was that if he changes the baby it puts me on rinsing duty. I grasp the wet thing by the corners and bring it into the bathroom to rinse out. After scrubbing my hands, I reenter the bedroom and find my husband grinning at me. “What?” I ask.
“As the diaper was only wet, I could have made it disappear without rinsing.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Now you tell me?”
“Revenge is sweet,” he teases. He is back in the rocking chair with Lielle.
I shake my head. “You are so mean.” He only laughs. Tabitha snickers a little, too.
Crawling back onto the bed, I ask, “Do you think she’s afraid to go back to sleep because of the nightmares?”
Kallen gives Isla and Tabitha a surreptitious glance before saying, “It could be.”
“What he means to say is the child may not be comfortable with us in the room,” Isla grouses.
“You are shedding anger,” I mumble.
This time Tabitha chuckles. “The girl is right. Close those stubborn eyes of yours and let the room fill with sleep instead of regret for marrying such a…”
“Wonderful Fairy,” I interject before Tabitha makes Isla’s mood worse. Lielle will never get to sleep if the two of them start arguing.
“Yes, that is what I was about to say,” Tabitha says sardonically.
The room is quiet and despite her ire, it doesn’t take long for Isla to sleep. Soon, Tabitha is snoring. I’m sure that’ll be great for the baby. I wait impatiently for Kallen to be able to come back to bed. About half an hour after the older Fairies fall asleep, he finally rises slowly from the rocking chair and pads softly to the crib. He places Lielle inside it and waits for a couple of minutes. When she doesn’t stir, he tiptoes to the bed and crawls in. Conscious of our company, he pulls me close but not too close. Even if we are married, it still feels weird to be touchy feely with Isla and Tabitha in the room. It doesn’t take long for us to fall asleep along with everyone else.
“For the love of god, get rid of that thing!” Taz shouts over the sound of a rushing train. “All it does is poop and cause trouble. Get a freakin kangaroo if you want that kind of pet. At least they smell better!”
I shield my eyes from the bright headlight coming toward us at what is pretty darn close to a million miles per hour to my sleep addled brain. Magic swirls in the room and forms a dense wall between us and the train. Isla and Tabitha have added their magic to mine and Kallen’s. When the train hits it, I swear the magic gets bruised. The engine car of the train crumples and the sound of bending metal erupts into the room. It’s hard to choose between blindness and deafness. Ultimately, I move my hands from my eyes so I can place fingers in my ears.
The bedroom door is thrown open and Garren is sideswiped by one of the derailed cars when he tries to enter. He stumbles back into the hallway. “Isla!” he calls into the room.
Isla doesn’t respond right away. We are all too busy keeping the train from crushing first Lielle and then us. Keeping my magic focused, I crawl down the bed to the crib. Kallen is right next to me and he reaches inside for Lielle. She holds eager arms out to him. We can see she is crying, but we can’t hear it over the sound of the train.
“Kallen, Xandra!” Kegan shouts into the room from the hallway.
“Give us a minute!” I shout back. Kallen hands Lielle to me and I cradle her close to my chest. I make shushing sounds that she probably can’t hear but I hope from my facial expressions she knows I am trying to soothe her. Slowly, her little body begins to relax in my arms and the force of the train against our magical wall weakens. As Lielle calms, so does the glamour. After what feels like forever but is probably only a minute and a half, the train is gone. The room is once again blissfully quiet and locomotive free.
Isla and Tabitha are both sitting on their beds mouths agape. Finally, Isla calls out, “You may enter.”
Tentatively, Kegan pushes the door open wide. He searches the room for danger before he and Alita step over the threshold. Between them is Garren. Each have one of his arms and they are helping the Fairy into the room. He is holding a hand to his forehead and blood is seeping between his fingers. Isla is across the room in a flash. “Sit him down,” she orders.
“What the hell was that thing?” Garren asks, putting a hand to his aching head.
“A train,” I tell him. I’m not certain he knows what a train is but he doesn’t ask for more information. I assume because his head hurts too much.
Kegan and Alita lead Garren to one of the yellow chairs at the far side of the room. He collapses into it and Isla begins to assess him. “I believe he has a concussion.” Her voice is calm but there is an underlying strain of something in it. I figure out by her next words that she’s suffering from a strain of confusion. “From glamour. He received a concussion from glamour.”
I’m confused, as well. “Didn’t someone say earlier that glamour could be somewhat solid?”
“Solid like a feather pillow,” Kallen says. “No glamour should be as strong as Lielle is producing.” I guess feather pillows couldn’t really cause a concussion.
“I do not like you staying in here,” Garren is telling Isla. “Too dangerous.”
“Precisely why I need to stay,” Isla says tersely. I’m feeling pretty terse myself. He doesn’t want Isla to stay in here but it’s okay if Kallen and I do? Why does Garren make it so hard to like him?
“I’m telling you, kick the thing to the curb. Put it out with the trash. Pawn it off on some unsuspecting sap. Anything!” Taz is whining.
“The baby isn’t going anywhere until we figure out what is going on,” I inform him.
“Yeah? We’ll see if you’re still saying that when you’re ears deep in sleep deprivation.”
Which may be soon but I don’t give him the satisfaction of saying this aloud. I glance at the clock on the nightstand. It seems an hour is all the time Lielle’
s brain needs to move into serious nightmare mode. Poor thing. If it’s bad for us dealing with the glamour, how is she handling the emotions behind it? I glance down at her and am relieved to see her face is no longer scrunched up like a shriveled prune begging for a drop of liquid to make it expand again.
“Perhaps you and I should sleep in shifts,” Kallen suggests. “Lielle seems to be more at peace in one of our arms. Maybe if she is held through the night by us she will not suffer from nightmares.”
“That won’t get awkward when she’s sixteen,” Taz snarks.
Kallen’s right. The only time Lielle really seems to be at peace is when she is being held by one or the other of us. “It’s worth a shot,” I tell him. Providing I don’t fall asleep in the rocking chair and let the baby roll onto the floor. Mom admitted that happened once when I was a baby. Which probably explains a lot about my psyche I don’t want to delve into at the moment. Thinking of Mom and Dad, I frown. “I wonder why the noise of the glamour hasn’t brought Mom and Dad floating in,” I say aloud. It’s not like they sleep.
Isla’s expression is a bit sheepish. “I asked them to patrol the area for signs of Elves or Cowans coming to search for the baby. They are probably far from the house.”
Oh, that makes sense. “And Zac?” I ask.
“Your parents thought it best to send him to the palace until we have a clearer picture of what is going on,” Isla says. Zac has his own room at the palace and is spoiled rotten when he’s there, so I’m sure he didn’t put up much of a fuss about it. Dagda and Tana treat him like they would their own son if they had one. Tana doesn’t harbor any underlying bitterness toward him.
“That’s good, I guess.” If the glamour could give a grown Fairy a concussion, Zac is definitely safer at the palace. “Do you want me to heal Garren?” Who knows, she may still be mad enough at him to let him suffer the effects of a concussion. I, on the other hand, believe a Garren with an addled brain would be even more difficult to live with.
Isla inclines her head. “If you do not mind.”