by Bonnie Lamer
Xandra frowns up at me. “Are you okay?”
Straightforward is usually the best approach. “I apologize for what my Grandmother said. I did not realize that I wear my feelings for you so freely.”
“What do you mean?”
I mean I should have been more discreet so that Grandmother could not see the lust in my eyes. “I should not have allowed my feelings to be so obvious.”
Xandra has bewilderment all over her face. “I thought she wanted us to get together?”
I sigh and cock my head to the side. “I believe she still does, but she does not want me to embarrass the family by being forced into a hand-fasting. Fairies are supposed to have more self-control than Witches or Cowans.”
I definitely said something wrong. I hastily go back over my words as Xandra thankfully puts the sharp knife she is holding in the sink and then gives me a death glare. “Are you saying that she would think that I would be the one pushing you into sex? No, don’t answer that. I so don’t want to have this conversation.”
I close my eyes and shake my head. I am still an idiot. I just succeeded in making a bad situation worse. Xandra turns away from me and shoves her hand into the soapy water to get the next thing that needs to be washed.
I expected her to be slamming the dishes around in annoyance, so my attention is instantly captured when she becomes still. Slowly, she raises both hands out of the water. One is holding the handle of the knife she had put in the sink when we began talking. The other is holding the tip of the knife. Literally. It has gone in through her palm and come out the other side. In one of the calmest tones of voice she has ever used, she says, “Will you please ask my dad to come here?”
I am thrown for a moment as I look at her hand again. Yes, the knife is still there. How can she be so calm at the moment?
“Now would be great,” she says a little less calmly.
Waking myself up out of my stupor, I throw the towel I have been using to dry dishes onto the counter. Turning on my heel, I go in search of her father who is now in the living room. “Excuse me Mr. Smith, Xandra has managed to stab her hand all the way through with a sharp knife.”
For the second time today, everyone becomes perfectly still for a moment. “All the way through?” her father asks as he begins floating towards the kitchen. He goes through the wall instead of the doorway. Everyone else in the room goes through the doorway. The whole party has gone to see Xandra’s stabbed hand. I just hope they do not ask what she was thinking at the time she did it. I do not think I want to know but I am betting that she was not thinking of stabbing herself with that knife.
“Ow,” Zac says when he sees the knife. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
Through a clenched jaw, Xandra says, “Yes.”
I believe he is considering the safety of his younger child when Xandra’s father sends Zac for some bandages. That gets him away from his sister before her calm façade disappears. Definitely a smart man.
“Can I pull the knife out?” Xandra asks.
“There’s not a lot of bleeding right now, but there may be when you remove the knife. Let’s wait for those gauze pads and Kallen can apply pressure to the wound.”
“Or she could simply use her magic to heal the wound.” Grandmother’s voice rings out loudly in the small space. She has now managed to upset Xandra’s father again. On this one, I am actually on her side but I am going to be wise and keep my mouth shut. Ultimately, I am on the side of harmony with Xandra’s family.
“Modern medicine has been fine for her the past seventeen years; I believe we can take care of this easily enough without magic,” Xandra’s father growls.
“Jim, I think Isla’s right,” her mother says quietly. “Xandra needs to learn to use her magic more. This is an excellent opportunity to practice her healing skills.”
“Funny, I don’t consider a knife through my palm an ‘excellent opportunity,’” Xandra mumbles. Yet another sentence I do not believe she meant to say out loud. She looks up at her mother’s sour expression and says, “Sorry, it just hurts.”
Somewhat appeased, her mother says to Lailah, “Will you get the healing herbs from the closet?”
For the third time, everyone in the room becomes still. At least, everyone who can sense magic becomes still. Xandra has just pulled a lot of it. She is almost at the brink of overflowing. I pull my own magic to be prepared for the worst. Grandmother does the same.
As we watch, Xandra begins to heal her hand without the use of bandages or healing herbs. The knife falls to the floor as the tissue of her hand repairs itself. After several moments, there is no evidence at all that she had any type of injury. She is absolutely amazing.
“I knew you could do it!” her mother says doing some sort of ghostly jig.
Grandmother breaks into the proud moment. “Perhaps now would be a good time to continue our discussion from earlier?” It is obvious that Xandra is now thinking about the conversation we had after we returned from the tree house so Grandmother adds, “The discussion of whether or not you will accompany me back to the Fae realm.”
“Isla,” Xandra’s mother begins but she is cut off.
“Mom, I already said I would go. I do have one condition, though.” She looks up at Grandmother. Literally, as Grandmother is almost as tall as I am.
“Xandra, you are not going.”
Xandra does not respond to her mother. Instead, she keeps her attention on Grandmother. “Kallen has to teach me offensive magic.”
You would think that we had all formed our own circles it is so silent in here. Finally, Grandmother says to me, “You agreed to this?”
I nod slightly. She is not going to be happy with my answer. “Yes.” I admit that was a fairly lukewarm yes.
“Do you realize how dangerous that is?”
I realize it better than anyone else. “Yes.”
Xandra is getting annoyed now. “Why can’t I learn to be proactive instead of reactive?”
Her mother narrows her eyes at her. “Being proactive and going on the offensive are two different things.”
I do not believe her mother made the distinction she set out to make. It certainly has not convinced Xandra of anything different. “If I know someone wants to come after me, why should I have to wait until they use their magic first? Why can’t I go to them?”
“Because we didn’t raise you to be a psychopath,” her father says. There is a twinkling in his eye that indicates he is teasing her. Good for him. Comic relief is something this conversation could definitely use.
“I feel helpless waiting around, hoping that I’ll be able to defend myself from whatever someone throws at me next. Maybe if I’m a little more threatening, people will leave me alone.” I do not think she truly believes that but I am impressed by her expressed optimism. To Grandmother, she adds, “I won’t go if you don’t agree to this.”
Xandra looks so cute trying to be tough and stare Grandmother down. Threatening is not a look she can pull off. But Grandmother is not a stupid woman. Xandra may not be threatening but there is a strong thread of stubbornness laced through her words. One strong enough it is easy to see that she is serious. If Grandmother does not agree, Xandra will not go. Trying to smile like she means it, Grandmother says, “That seems reasonable.” Her eyes belie the truth of her words.
“Then we can leave in the morning?” Xandra says. I do not think she meant that as a question, especially when she adds in a firmer voice, “We should probably get an early start.”
“Xandra…” I believe her mother may actually be planning Xandra’s death. At the very least a long internment in this house.
Xandra’s father jumps in, probably saving his daughter’s life. He gives her mother a new target for her anger. “Julienne, we have to let her go. We discussed this at length earlier.”
She turns her angry eyes towards him. “We did not come to an agreement.”
“Mom, I would rather do this with your support than without it.”
He
r mother closes her eyes and takes several calming breaths which looks odd since she cannot actually breathe. Eventually, she turns to Grandmother. “If you let anything happen to my daughter, I will kill you.” There is a pretty strong promise in her words. I believe she would actually find a way to do that.
If nothing else, Grandmother knows when to be gracious. “I understand. I would feel the same way.” Turning to Xandra and me, she says, “We should leave bright and early tomorrow, so we will need much rest this evening. Perhaps it is time to turn in.”
Yes, we often go to bed at eight o’clock back home. I just shake my head and keep my mouth shut.
Chapter 5
“Okay,” Xandra says and grabs my hand. It takes a moment to register in my mind what she is doing. She is leading me to her bedroom.
We get about three steps when Grandmother stops us with words icier than an arctic freeze. “Kallen. Where do you think you are going?”
Oh how I wish I could put a muzzle on Xandra at times like these. She is completely oblivious to how angry grandmother is. She must be because she says as if Grandmother is dense, “To my room.”
“Why would you do that? Has he left something in there?”
I squeeze Xandra’s hand in an effort to prevent the volcanic eruption that is about to spew from Grandmother’s mouth. With furrowed brows and a distinct ‘are you stupid’ look on her face, Xandra says, “No, because he’s going to sleep in there.” Obviously, I was not successful in communicating through the hand squeeze.
Grandmother’s eyes move slowly to me. I believe they move so slowly because they have become heavy with all the anger and outrage she has managed to pack into them. “You. Will. Not. Sleep. In. Her. Bed.” Each word flies out of her mouth as if they are talons ready to rip my chest open so she can tear my heart from its protective cage. I am seriously tempted to ask Xandra to erect a magical shield between us and Grandmother.
Xandra looks from Grandmother to me. I am not sure whose expression convinces her, Grandmother’s ‘I will murder you if you take one more step in that direction’ or my ‘I believe she would do it.’ “I guess you could sleep on the couch.”
I have to run her words through my mind to make sure she actually said that. I am afraid that my ears heard what they wanted to hear instead of what she actually said. From the somewhat softened look on Grandmother’s face, I must not have imagined it. If a person could die of relief, my funeral would be in the planning stages right now.
Grandmother tilts her head and says through gritted teeth. “I believe that will be for the best.”
Xandra’s parents have been quiet during the exchange. Their faces are blank pages so I have no idea what is running through their spirit minds. “Isla, you are welcome to stay in our room,” Xandra’s mother says evenly. “Xandra can get it ready for you.”
“I would hate to have her go to the trouble for one night. I will sleep in a cot in Xandra’s room.”
In other words, she will hold Xandra hostage so that I do not ravage her in the night. I will admit, there are some things in this realm that I find I like more than in my own. Looser guidelines while courting are something I have acclimated to quite easily. But, we will be back in my realm tomorrow. I suppose I need to abide by Fairy guidelines now.
“The couch will be fine,” I say to Xandra with a smile.
Disappointment flashes in her eyes but she nods. “Do you need anything?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, I will make what I need.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll go to bed then.” There is a distinct pout in her voice that makes it hard not to smile wider.
“Yes, so will I.” I somehow manage to block my own irritation as it tries to express itself through my eyes. I have never seen Grandmother behave like this before. Then again, I have never loved anyone before so neither of us has ever been in this position. I am going to assume she would be like this with anyone, not just Xandra.
I lean down and give Xandra a kiss on the cheek. “I will see you in the morning.” I am going to have to teach her how to make her expression and eyes blank because she is not hiding her irritation at the situation at all.
“My room’s down here,” she says, her voice almost as cold as Grandmothers. Ignoring her tone, Grandmother follows her down the hall. Xandra’s mother gives me a sympathetic nod and then floats after them.
A cold hand on my shoulder startles me. “Your grandmother is a little intense,” Xandra’s father says with a chuckle. “I see a lot of conflict between her and Xandra in the future.”
I groan and shake my head in. “That is a magical showdown I do not want to see. I am afraid both realms would be destroyed.”
He laughs and gives me a pat on the back. Considering the chill that just went down my spine, I am assuming he underestimated the distance between my shirt and my skin. “I have faith in you. You’ll keep them apart.”
Lucky me that I have been given that responsibility. I weigh that in my mind for a moment and decide that being with Xandra is more than worth it. “I will certainly try.”
He gives me an icicle-like pat on the back again. “Alright, I’m going to check on them right now. I’ll see you in the morning.” He floats down the hall.
It is just me and the couch now. Using my magic, I create a pillow and a warm blanket. Now, I just have to wait until the house is asleep and hope that Xandra finds her way back out here. My body reacts to that thought in a way that makes it hard to wait.
About an hour later as I lay wide awake on the couch, I finally hear soft footsteps in the hall. I do not know that I would have heard them if I was not listening so intently. Xandra comes around the corner and stops in the doorway.
“What took you so long?” I whisper and she lets slip a giggle. She quickly claps a hand over her mouth so no one will hear her. “Come here.” I slide over so my back is against the back of the couch making as much room for her as possible. Finally, this ugly, overstuffed thing has grown on me. It may be a tight fit but there is room for two.
When we’re settled under the blanket, Xandra whispers, “I don’t know what to expect tomorrow. What’s it like there?”
I can only imagine what thoughts are running through her mind. I am sure she is thinking the worst. I admit, I may have misled her here and there when I have spoken of home. She is probably expecting a bunch of sky clad Fairies living in tree houses. That will make her reaction to Grandmother’s house that much better. “I would rather you experience it for yourself. I am curious to see your first reaction.”
“You know I don’t like surprises, don’t you?”
I chuckle. “Yes, my impatient little Witch Fairy, I do. But this time, you are just going to have to wait.”
“How do you think the other Sheehogue Fairies will react to me? Do you think they’ll be mad that I’m making myself such an easy target?”
I hate to admit it but I am surprised she has put this much thought into it. Not that she is not capable of it, she has just had so much thrown at her recently that there has to be a million things going on in her mind these days. I had better keep these thoughts to myself. “No,” I whisper in her ear. “First of all, you are never an easy target. And secondly, I think that you will make a positive impression on everyone you meet. That is what worries me.”
Confusion is thick in her voice. “Why?”
I nibble a bit at her ear and neck until a tiny moan escapes her mouth. “You are beautiful, you are intelligent and you are powerful. That is an irresistible combination.” Something I have taken for granted until now. I have not considered how appealing that will be to others. I find I do not like that idea at all.
After a moment, I can hear the smugness in her voice when she says, “Are you jealous already? I haven’t even met another Fairy yet.”
“No, I am not jealous,” I say but even I can hear the jealousy in my words dripping all the way to the floor. “I am simply anticipating competition.”
She laughs and pulls her a
rms tighter around me. “Don’t worry, I’m a one Fairy kind of girl.”
Kissing the soft skin of her neck and cheek, I say, “I hope so.” I fall asleep thinking about how I can keep every male Fairy in the realm away from her.
Chapter 6
I feel the magic before my conscious mind wakes. So of course I am not able to counter it. My brain becomes completely awake just as my head and back hit the floor. If I keep my eyes closed, perhaps I can pretend the fall has rendered me unconscious. Last night I would have considered that cowardly. Today I see it as a reasonable way to stay alive for another ten minutes because I am sure Grandmother will be out for blood after finding the two of us like this. Fully clothed or not, this is not acceptable behavior back home.