Chapter Five
Pandimora studied the rugged planes and sharp angles of Drew's face, his chin with its soft bristle of dark blond stubble, squared and determined. She felt his strong protective instinct that dealt with everyday life on the earth realm. Drew was a man who accomplished much in his world. He wished to help her, but she knew allowing that would endanger him further. She already had mixed feelings about the amount of time they'd spent together. She knew in her heart she was becoming more attracted to him and there could be no happy outcome. She wanted to return to Aisywel and he lived in his world.
"Tell me what you mean," he said now, standing with feet solidly braced in the deep green moss. His deeply muscled chest and shoulders appeared tense. His nose was slightly crooked, and she remembered the day he had broken it while playing football. Throughout his life she had visited the earth realm to watch him grow and change. And his brown eyes were deep and full of his own secrets, eyes she could get lost in. But she could not. She hadn't been able to stay away, having thought of him often since they were children. Assuming she could return to Aisywel again, she would never leave it forever and he would never be happy there.
"Do you remember that summer your faeries friends came to play? Down by the small creek, in the coolness of the forest?"
He frowned. She knew many times it was difficult for humans to remember themselves as the children they used to be.
The light around them extinguished itself suddenly, as happened in all faerie realms. The light faeries bustled out and about, spraying the air with golden trails of light at their feet.
Shimmering gold flakes touched Drew's shoulders, nestling in his hair, even clinging to his long lashes. Behind him was the faint outline of a portal. All she had to do was walk him toward it. By the time he realized her intent, it would be too late. As much as she enjoyed his company, her world was no place for a human. He could become lost here forever. So lost that even she would not be able to find him.
"We often visited, my sister and me."
He took a step back, staring at her intently, dredging up memories from a time he'd pretty much forgotten. His expression turned to shock. "Pandimora -- yes -- but I forgot about that summer, until this instant. My parents were fighting a lot and on the verge of divorce. That summer, we kids were miserable and a bit lost. When you're young, you don't think about the reality of other worlds. I was about seven. At that age you just accept what you see. But then you stopped coming one day."
She smiled a bit sadly. "Your troubles went away and you grew up. I continued to come but your were older and your eyes were closed to me."
"My parents moved us out west for a time, and then we returned years later."
"I have always been here," she said with a smile. "Even when you no longer saw me." A delicious warmth emanated from his body. Every particle of her being felt the raw energy of his aura. She inhaled his refreshing and intoxicating scent deeply, a scent she would know anywhere.
Captivated by her own dangerously increasing desire to interact with Drew, she cautioned herself, but was still curious as to his heart. Had it healed from his love long ago? It was something she could not look inside, it would be like an invasion of his being. Only he could unlock that part of him so that she might see. And there was no time.
"This is beyond anything I know as an adult," he said. "We go about daily life, never knowing what else might be around us." Drew hesitated. "It's kind of weird, but I always had this interest in ancient worlds and cultures. It fascinated me from when I was a child." He frowned. "Now I'm wondering if even though my childhood memory of your visits faded, there was a still something in me that remembered." He shrugged. "I don't know."
Drew pulled a flashlight from his jacket and moved it over the area. She realized that for his human eyes, dark had fallen, while she had little difficulty seeing through the shadows around them.
"Our worlds are different Drew, but there are also similarities. We can communicate without words, just as some individuals may do in your world. Everything experienced in this realm is recorded and heard by all."
"Telepathically," Drew said. "What about Irfin?" he asked. "Can we trust him?"
She looked at him, shocked. "Irfin is of importance here as well as in your world."
"Can we trust him?" he repeated. "How can he live in both worlds? What is his real job?"
"He is very clever, having integrated both worlds into his life a long time ago. It can be done, but sometimes it proves to be a difficult transition for the fae. He is not only a sorcerer but also an inventor who created the protective shield for this healing sanctuary."
"He created all this?"
"And much more."
"How long will the shield keep you safe?"
"I believe I can answer that," stated Irfin, his voice above them in the branches of the trees. "It will protect her until its energy is drained, which will depend upon how many times an energy being tries to breach it." Irfin dropped down out of the tree limbs to the ground and smirked at Drew. "I see you fought your way through our industrial strength daisies."
Drew lifted a brow.
"Hmm." Irfin rubbed his bearded chin and Pandimora saw his green eyes twinkling. "Have you left your sense of humor elsewhere? No matter," Irfin said cheerily, "I have enough humor for a dozen men."
Find Me: Faeries Lost Page 6