Denial

by R. M. Walker

  “Bloody hell,” she muttered, and the twins hooted with laughter. She was struck mute with awe. Above her were hundreds of lit candles hanging suspended on nothing. The air seemed to shimmer, and she was sure if she reached out she’d be able to touch the magic.

  Nate crouched beside her, putting his hand on her back, but she couldn’t look away from the sight in front of her. She’d seen the twins charm the rabbits, seen Josh make the birds fly away, but this... this was magic—real, physics-defying magic.

  “How do you do it? I mean, how do you...”

  “If you came to see Jonas, you’d find out a lot more than how we do it.” Nate pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

  The others came up, and Matt patted her shoulder as they passed.

  “It’s... it’s like out of a movie.” She sat back on her knees, looking around her.

  There was a dart board on one wall, and a snooker table in the corner. There was a basketball hoop attached to the back wall with several balls lying around. But it was the candles that held her attention.

  “It’s not a movie,” Matt said and crossed to the dartboard with the twins. They drew out the darts and started to play.

  “It’s magic,” she whispered to Nate. “What else can you do?”

  “Come back down with me,” he said, and standing up, he held out his hand to her. She took his hand and let him pull her up. She searched for the wires holding up the candles, but there weren’t any, and she knew it.

  He drew her down the stairs and over to the gear workings. He caught her around the waist and lifted her to sit on the edge.

  “Watch,” he said and stepped back from her.

  She heard a thumping noise as the balls she’d seen lying around came tumbling down the steps. She thought the others were mucking about, but when they bounced up from the floor, they stayed in the air and didn’t drop. She watched as they rotated in the air as if spinning on an invisible finger. They moved into a circle, and then the whole circle of spinning balls started to rotate. It was too much. She pressed her lips together and turned away. She heard the balls fall to the floor, not bouncing like they would normally, but dropping like stones. It was overwhelming to see something defy gravity, to know they were all capable of things well beyond her comprehension.

  “I won’t hurt you. Nothing we do will ever hurt you,” he said urgently, stepping into her line of vision and taking her face in his hands.

  “I don’t... I’ve never...” She stared into his eyes. “It’s unreal, Nate. You broke every physics rule out there! It’s crazy!”

  He smiled at her and stepped forwards slightly, not letting go of her face. “It’s going to seem that way for a while. But it’s how we are, how we’ve always been.”

  “I know what you told me, everything you told me, but it was like...” She trailed off.

  “Listening to a story being told?” he asked her and took another step closer. He pressed against her knees, his face close to hers, his fingers gentle against her skin. “Hearing about it and seeing it are two different things. We’ve never shown anyone what we’ve shown you, besides Jonas.”

  She knew it was a risk including her. They were trusting her with their secret. She put her hands on his waist, holding his gaze. “I will never put you in danger,” she whispered. “I will never tell another soul for as long as I live. I promise.”

  He didn’t say anything, just smiled at her. His eyes dropped to her lips, and her awareness of him changed sharply. He drew in a breath through his nose, and then he was bending, his lips pressing against hers. She tightened her grip on his waist, unable to think over the sudden rush of blood pounding through her head. Her stomach flipped, and her toes curled in her shoes. Her entire world centred on him. Her gaze was caught by his intense, blue eyes as he gently increased the pressure of his lips.

  He lifted his head and rubbed his nose against hers. “I know you would never give us away. I trust you, we all do,” he whispered.

  He kissed her cheek then pulled her into him, setting her head on his shoulder. His fingers tangled in her hair, and she slid her arms around his waist. Her lips still tingled from his kiss. Her emotions were all over the place. She was attracted to him, but it was more than that. She wanted more than friendship with him, but it had only been a chaste kiss. He’d made no effort to deepen the kiss because he viewed her as just a friend.

  It was depressing, gut wrenching. She wanted to cry, but she knew friendship was all she could have anyway. She liked them all equally, enjoyed being with them all equally, and was attracted to them all equally. Even if one of them did want her to be his girlfriend, she couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair. How could it be fair dating one when the others made her stomach flip and her heart race?

  But Nate’s chaste kiss reminded her that it was all pie in the sky. They were just friends.

  “It’s going to be okay, Lily May. Everything will work out.”

  Footsteps echoed on the stairs, and they drew apart.

  “What are you doing down here?” Matt appeared on the steps.

  Lily blushed, unable to look at him. He sounded suspicious. Or was it her guilt that made him sound that way?

  “Showing Lily a little magic with the balls,” Nate replied calmly as he lifted her down. “I think I overwhelmed her though.”

  “It’s just...” She shrugged. “I don’t know. Freaky?”

  “You think we’re freaky?” Nate raised one eyebrow.

  “Not you! Just... well, look at it from my point of view. Gravity was something I couldn’t argue with before tonight. What goes up must come down. Unless you decide different.”

  Matt laughed. “We wondered why every ball disappeared. C’mon, forget magic for a bit, Lily. We’re about to start a game of five o one.”

  “Five o one?”

  “Darts,” Nate answered. “You start at five hundred and one and work backwards. Whoever reaches zero first wins. Every dart is added up and taken away from the total, hence the working backwards.”

  “Oh, that sounds fun.” She followed Matt back up, hesitating at the top at the sight of the floating candles. Would she ever get used to it?

  “Aren’t you worried someone will see it?” she asked.

  “There aren’t any windows on this level. They were blocked in years ago,” Matt pointed out. “No one comes here, and if they did come here when we weren’t around, all they’d see is a lot of candles on the floor. And if we’re here, well...” He waved his hand, and the candles lowered from the air to rest on the floor around the walls.

  “Besides, like Matt says”—Jake snapped his fingers, and all the candles shot back up into the air above their heads—“no one comes here.”

  “Come on, Lily Pad. Highest score goes first.” Josh handed her three darts and pointed at the dartboard hung on the wall.

  “Is this where I stand?” she asked, walking over to a piece of white tape on the floor.

  “Yeah, you can go forwards a bit if you want. Not like we’re playing championship darts here,” Jake said.

  “Have you played darts before?” Matt asked.

  “No. I’ve only seen it on the telly.” She took aim and threw the dart. It hit the wall beside the board and dropped to the floor.

  “Try again,” Josh prompted.

  She threw again, and it hit the board, but outside of the silver wire ring. She took aim again, and this time, managed to get it inside the double one.

  “Out of interest, what number were you aiming for?” Jake asked, taking the darts out.

  “Bullseye.” She laughed. “I’m a bad aim.”

  “You’ll get better the more you do it,” Matt said as he hit treble twenty.

  “Good shot.” She grinned at him, and he smirked at her.

  “Not bad. For a rank amateur.” Jake laughed.

  Matt flipped him off and stood back as Nate took aim. He hit nineteen.

  Josh retrieved the darts and took aim f
irst, getting a double twenty. Jake scraped into the twenty.

  “Matt’s up first, followed by Joshua, me, Nate, and then bringing up the rear is our very lovely Lily Pad!” Jake announced and fetched the darts.

  “Where’s the scoreboard?” Lily asked, looking around her.

  “You’ll see,” Nate said and came to stand beside her as Matt took aim.

  “Ten.” Jake called out his first dart. “Fifteen and twenty. Forty-five.”

  Nate nudged her and indicated for her to look beside the dart board. The air seemed to shimmer, and their names appeared in white chalk on the wall. A line was drawn under the names, and under that, five hundred and one in figures. Under Matt’s name, a new total appeared: four hundred and fifty-six.

  “You said we could forget magic for a bit.” A shudder rippled through her, but she couldn’t look away from the writing.

  “To be honest, forgetting magic when you’re around us in private is going to be hard. We have to hide it so much that when we get to places like this, it’s a relief to be normal,” Josh said.

  She snorted. His idea of normal and her idea of normal were poles apart, but his words caught at her. “It’s hard to hide it?”

  “It itches a little,” Jake said, handing Josh the darts and stepping back from the board. “Like something fizzy running under the skin that you can’t scratch away. It doesn’t happen often, only if we go a while without creating or doing something.”

  As Lily watched the score under Josh’s name change with each dart he threw, their words ran through her mind.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Nate said, taking his turn with the darts. “You aren’t fae, so it won’t affect you like it does us. Or at least, I don’t think it will.” He frowned as if it was something that hadn’t occurred to him.

  She rolled her eyes. “No, you’re right, Nate. I’m not like you, so it won’t affect me at all. I can’t say I’ll get used to”—she waved her hand at the writing on the wall—“this. I think a part of me will always be in some kind of shock.”

  “Lily May, you are—”

  “Here you go, it’s your turn.” Josh cut him off and handed her the three darts. “Take your time, and don’t shut your eye.”

  “Don’t shut my eye?” Ignoring the grunt that Nate let out, she threw herself onto his words like they were a buoy and she was drowning at sea.

  “If you shut one eye it throws off your depth perception. Aim with both eyes, and you’ll have a better chance at hitting what you’re aiming for.”

  She moved to the spot and took aim, not shutting her eye this time. She aimed for the twenty and was pleased when it hit the eighteen. She looked around at him with a grin.

  “Were you aiming for eighteen?” he asked.

  “Well, no. Twenty. But it’s not far off, is it?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Well done.” He winked at her, and she grinned, turning back to the board. She aimed her last two darts and got a ten and five. Her score changed magically. It sent a shiver down her back.

  ~*~*~*~

  “The mist has rolled right in,” Matt said, as he came back up the wooden steps. “Can’t see one foot in front of the other out there.”

  Matt had reached zero first with Nate second, Josh third, and Lily bringing up the rear. It took her ten more throws to reach zero than it took them. But she enjoyed playing with them, and the more she threw her darts, the better she got. She couldn’t get used to watching the scores change by themselves, so she took to keeping her back to it so she couldn’t see it. If the others had noticed, they hadn’t said anything.

  “We can take a steady walk back, or we can nip back,” Nate said.

  “Is she ready for that?” Josh asked doubtfully.

  “Ready for what?” she asked, looking up at him as Nate came over to her.

  “There’s no point in shielding her; she’s with us now,” Nate said.

  “She is here and listening,” Lily said. “What are you talking about?”

  “We can’t fly, you know that, but we can move quite fast.” Matt waved his fingers, and the writing disappeared, making her shudder.

  “Close your eyes, and trust me,” Nate commanded. Stepping forward, he swept her up into his arms. She squealed at the suddenness and opened her mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing. Before she got the chance, the room spun around her, everything blurred, and her stomach heaved. She clamped her eyes shut as her hair whipped around her face. She had the brief impression of damp air on her skin, and then he set her down on her feet.

  “Open your eyes,” he whispered.

  She opened them and gasped; they were in the utility room in the manor. Her whole body started to shake. “How... how...?”

  “We can run quite fast when we want to,” Matt said, coming up behind her and drawing her coat down her arms.

  “You ran...” She didn’t know whether to faint or throw up. Her stomach was still churning.

  Matt stepped in front of her, catching her hand in his. “We’re fae. Remember?”

  “It’s kinda sinking in.” She gripped his hand tightly, taking several deep breaths. They were revealing things that they’d never revealed to anyone except Jonas. Not even their own parents. They were her friends now, and she would accept them for what they were. She would keep her promise to Nate, and by extension, all of them.

  She would never let them down, no matter what they were or where it took her.

  Haunted

  “This is your room. It’s right next to mine,” Matt said.

  Lily took in the beautifully decorated guest bedroom. It was in keeping with the rest of the Georgian manor, complete with a four-poster bed with drapes in pale yellow that matched the curtains at the window. The carpet under her bare feet was pale blue and matched the walls.

  “It’s beautiful.” Lily stepped into the room, admiring the delicately flowered, pale blue wallpaper.

  “It’ll be quieter,” Nate said dryly. “The twins snore like there’s no tomorrow.”

  “We do not!” Josh pushed him into the room so they could come in as well.

  “You do!” Matt insisted.

  “Well, if it’s that bad, we’ll sleep in here,” Josh said slyly, nudging Jake.

  “That’s a good idea,” Matt said. “You two in here, and Lily in with us.”

  Josh shook his head. “No, Lily can stay with us. We’re frightened of the dark.”

  Lily laughed and moved to sit cross-legged at the top of the bed. “I may snore, and then none of you will sleep. Besides, I think I’ll be fine here on my own. Captain Wentworth may yet make an appearance.”

  “Fuck that!” Matt snorted. “This place is haunted, but it wouldn’t be Captain Wentworth knocking on your door.”

  “Really? Are ghosts real as well?”

  “Well, that depends on your idea of what ghosts are like,” Nate said with a shrug. “If you’re thinking white sheets, dragging chains, and moaning, then no, they aren’t. But a person’s presence can remain, like an imprint. Houses absorb the energy that's created inside of them. The older a house, the more energy it’s absorbed; the more it’s seen.”

  “You make it sound as if the house is alive,” she said, not sure she liked what he was saying.

  “Not real, like you and me,” Matt explained. “But alive in the fact that it holds the echoes of everything that happens within it. The stronger an emotion, the more energy is used and released, the more of an imprint it has. Love, hate, passion, anger—it’s all energy which has to go somewhere, and people perceive it as ghosts haunting. It’s not the people, it’s the imprinted energy they left behind.”

  “So, who’s haunting here?” she asked, wondering if she wanted to know.

  “It’s one of the first vicars who lived here. He was a good man, treated his parishioners fairly, and was well liked. He caught a fever and never came out of it. Died in his bed. He wanders the corridors of the house, making sure ev
eryone is okay,” Matt said. “Our ghost’s energy is the strength of his love for people, so it’s benevolent.”

  “And have you ever seen him?” she asked them, not certain if they were winding her up. The others shook their heads, but Matt shrugged.

  “A few times, when it’s been very late, I’ve heard footsteps in the corridors. And when I was little, I used to talk to the man in black that was on the stairs, or at least that’s what I’ve been told. I don’t remember it, though.”

  Lily shivered despite herself, picking at a loose thread on her jumper.

  “Have we scared you?” Jake asked. “Because if we have, then it’s only right we stay to help you feel safe tonight. That bed is big enough for the three of us.”

  She caught the teasing glint in his eyes and pulled a face at him.

  “It’s okay, Lily. We’d trust you, wouldn’t we, Jacob?”

  “Of course! We know you would never pressure us into doing something we weren’t ready for,” Jake teased.

  “I think I’ll be fine.” Lily laughed, pulling the pillow around and hugging it.

  There was a knock on the door, and June stuck her head in, smiling at them. “We just got in and saw your lights on. We’re heading up now as well, though. Will you be all right in here, Lily?”

  “Yes, thank you, Mrs Crowder. It’s a beautiful room,” she replied, smiling at her.

  “Call me June, please. Mrs Crowder is Matt’s grandmother,” she said cheerfully, and then she sent the boys a stern look. “Let her get some sleep, boys. You’ve got college in the morning.” She went out, leaving the door open behind her.

  Nate stood up. “She’s right, we do have an early start. Will you be okay in here?”

  “You probably won’t hear anything,” Matt said, “but if you do pick up on his presence, he won’t hurt you. He only wanders the corridors; he doesn’t go into the rooms.”

  “I’ll be fine, thanks,” she assured him, certain that if Matt and the others never saw him, she wouldn’t either. And that was assuming it wasn’t anything more than an overactive imagination in the first place.