by Anne Haley
Jordan also knew that Aylin had always found it right to stand up for her friends, even when they wouldn’t do it in return. She didn’t have any close friends now, except El and Jordan. "Thank you Jordan," she said quietly.
"It doesn’t help either that he is so nice to look at."
She let out a laugh. "Yes, and it only gets better when he’s angry." She stopped herself and stared at Jordan, not believing what had just come out of her mouth. She hadn’t even been thinking it.
Now it was Jordan who began laughing. "Oh, I could see that. Come on." She stood and opened the door to the stockroom. "You have been banging around in here all morning and there are orders to be done. Don’t let one argument get the best of you. It will be all the more frustrating for him when he sees that your little tiff didn’t get to you." She winked and led Aylin out into the work area.
Aylin found a small stack of five different floral arrangement orders. It was an average amount of orders: two birthdays, one anniversary, and two more for a baby shower. Only one of the orders asked for specific flowers and it had been one of the birthday orders, they asked for a dozen yellow roses. She did that order first, since it was the easiest and least creative arrangement she would do. The others only asked for bright, happy looking arrangements.
She worked out the remaining arrangements after she took a lunch break with Jordan, who had brought sandwiches from the café. She let the front clerk know that she would be heading home for the day when all the orders were filled. When she walked out the front door she found the air to be warm, an average summer day.
Downtown was now bustling with tourists. There were kids running along the sidewalks, some carrying white paper bags that would be full of candies from the sweet shop. The air had been scented with sun block lotion and greenery, depicting an average summer day. She stopped to look into the bookstore, and found it was busy. Terra stood at the counter, checking out a line of customers, and she didn’t look up. But, Aylin stayed and watched her for a little while, wondering what she would have to do. She couldn’t fight with Blake every time she saw him, it would be draining on her, and Terra would get very upset.
As she watched Terra she realized she was focusing on the wrong problem at hand. She had been attacked on the beach. The attack had been so close to her dream that it couldn’t be a coincidence. She needed to find a way to see what this means. An attack with enough force to drain her strength so quickly couldn’t have come from just one witch, but had to be multiple witches. That means they were no longer completely safe on the island. They knew her identity, but that didn’t frighten her nearly as much as the thought of Terra being in danger and not knowing it. Terra would be the most vulnerable, not knowing her own strength or any basic skills to defend herself with. Aylin was going to have to move quickly to bring Terra up to speed with her and El.
The thought of the fog inching along her flesh brought on chills and had the hair on her neck rising. It had been a horrible feeling not being able to move or barely breathe. The thought of El not coming to her rescue at that moment, or if she had been a moment to late, disturbed her deeply. She couldn’t think like that, she thought shaking her head. El had been there and the witches backed off immediately. They wanted her alone. She could take that as good news, if that meant they weren’t strong enough to face two of them.
She tore herself away from the window and continued walking. She had gotten to the end of Main Street when she spotted El across the street, leaning seductively against a wooden bench, flirting shamelessly with an attractive man. She’d never seen him before, and she decided he must be a tourist, and seemed to love the attention from El with the way he watched her and smiled every time her eyes met his. Her laugh traveled across the street and Aylin couldn’t help to smile. That had been one of the reasons she liked to be around El, she always cheered up Aylin when she really needed it. By the looks of it Aylin decided she should plan on having dinner alone, so she made a detour to the grocery store.
She had been about to open the entrance door to the grocery store when she saw someone walking out, and she darted behind some tall plant stands. The man that came out of the store was older with his gray hair stuck out in every direction, and once kind face was distorted into a permanent grimace. His clothing was disheveled, and he only wore one loafer.
The sight of him had Aylin feeling light headed. His name was Robert O’Neil and he was her constant reminder of how careful she always had to be. She had learned it the hard way.
Six years ago, when she had been twenty, she was still learning what the extent of her capabilities had been. Her mother lectured her on only practicing her talents when she was alone or with her mother, never in public. Aylin thought she had been alone on the beach, and even if she thought she wasn’t she hadn’t realized what she had done. She sat on a boulder, watching the waves lap the shore, and quietly sang to herself. It was a song that her father sang to her over and over in her childhood, and it soothed her.
She hadn’t realized Robert had been walking in the shadows, watching her. Not until he stumbled over a rock and knocked his knee. She whipped her head around, her mouth open in shock that she hadn’t heard him before. He smiled at her and asked her to sing again. This time she only hummed the melody, watching him carefully. His eyes glazed over, and he had such a silly smile like he was drunk. He asked her to hum for him for hours, and even followed her home.
Robert became a different man after that night. He had run the local hardware store, but became incapable of doing his job. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. He spent his days in fits of anger and frustration. When he would catch sight of Aylin he grabbed her and shook her, demanding her to sing to him.
One night she hid in the shadows as he sat on her rock. He would hum the first few notes of her father’s melody and then get angry when he couldn’t remember the rest. When she ran home and told her mother this, her mother was furious. She was never to sing or hum ever again because it charmed humans. Humans will become forgetful, will hear a few notes of the tune, and then will be driven to insanity when they can’t finish it.
Robert walked by, not noticing her. When he was a few feet away she swore she heard those three notes that had driven him insane. Robert would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Inside the grocery store, she picked out a filet of salmon when she heard a familiar voice near her. It was a deep voice, but she had only heard it with an angry tone and now it was light and friendly. She looked around and spotted Blake making conversation with Vanessa, the girl that worked in the bakery. Vanessa laughed easily with him, and he smiled genuinely at her. Yes, he did have a great smile, she realized. She’d never seen it, and for a moment felt a hurt that she couldn’t quite understand. An odd feeling came over her like a rock in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t the type to get jealous; maybe she just wondered what it would be like to have a civil conversation with him. She liked Terra, maybe if she could get past the wall that he built up when she was around, she could see that Blake and Terra were more alike than she knew.
She quickly steered herself away from Blake, grabbed a bag of salad to go along with her salmon and headed for the check out lane with her head down. Normally she walked around with her head held high, but today she wanted to sneak home and enjoy the peace and quiet. She needed to relax and unwind. She escaped the grocery store unnoticed and headed for home.
When she turned the corner to her block she realized it wouldn’t be the night she thought it would. Terra sat on her front steps. "Hey!" Terra jumped up and opened the gate for Aylin.
"Hi Terra." Aylin smiled cautiously.
Terra’s smile faltered. "Is this a bad time? I suppose I should have called you first." She started fidgeting with the buckle on her purse.
Aylin put her free hand on Terra’s to stop the fidgeting. "This is a perfect time. I just didn’t expect to see you today. You looked swamped at the bookstore." She unlocked her front door and held it open for
her.
"Yes, it was busy today. But, I imagine the whole summer is like that, with the tourists." Terra shrugged. "I like keeping busy like that. It’s the down time that gets me nervous, lets my mind wander." She followed Aylin to the kitchen.
"Oh? Has it been wandering recently?"
Terra nodded. "I have so many questions, and I really don’t know where to begin. I was hoping you had some time."
"Of course. Let me start up dinner, are you hungry?"
Aylin decided the best way to answer all of Terra’s questions would be to tell her virtually everything she knew. Even though her mother hadn’t been a faerie, she had been trusted with almost everything from Aylin’s father. For a reason that had been unknown to both Aylin and her mother, he knew his time with them was short and tried to show her mother his capabilities and how to teach Aylin when the time came. She started small, with the gardens, teaching Aylin how to revive ailing plants, how to bring them back from the dead, and even how to conjure up new plants. This was all done with the heat of her own hands.
Aylin could also form balls of lights in the palms of her hands. Mastering this is the most important power for faeries because these lights will act as guides, send messages to others, they can be used as weapons when strong enough, and they also have healing powers.
Aylin continued to learn about the capabilities of their minds. It takes more energy and concentration to do, but it is possible to project images into another being’s mind. If they allow their minds to be completely open to each other it forms a mental connection between them, which can be to their advantage. They could be at opposite ends of the earth and still project images to each other. If one is in danger she could flash images in their minds, and it would give them a clear picture of her surroundings. However, projecting can occur involuntarily if she is in the presence of too strong of emotions and doesn’t have any control over her mind. It is possible to put a block on the projections, but that could be dangerous in itself. Too many blocks can sever the connection and it could be near impossible to restore the connection.
Just like any other creature, they have their weaknesses. They’re allergic to iron. It can be fatal if enough of it gets directly into their bloodstream. If it comes into contact with their skin it can severely burn them, and if it is consumed it will weaken them.
Faeries have a longer life span than a normal human being. Their bodies age at a slower rate, and they can live up to two hundred years or longer, more than twice the normal life span of a human.
Whether she even knew herself, Aylin’s mother never told her why she was bond so tightly with the moon. She physically feels the changes and the different phases of the moon. She feels the strongest and most connected on full moons. Two years ago she experienced an eclipse and it had nearly been an out of body experience for her. She had no idea what to expect with the sun and moon connecting, and nothing could have prepared her for what she went through.
As the sun and moon’s edges touched Aylin knew immediately that there was something wrong. She had been sitting on the shore, in her rocky cove, when she couldn’t sense the movement of the water anymore. When the sun was nearly one quarter behind the moon she lost the feeling of the deep, slow pulse of the earth under her feet. She didn’t have the energy running up through her legs, into her heart, giving her a sense of her surroundings. She could only physically feel the cold wet stone.
When the eclipse was complete, and the sun and moon were united she had tears flowing freely down her face. The constant thrum that was always in the back of her mind was gone. Her skin felt cold, despite the eighty-degree weather. She was no longer connected to anything. She felt as if she was back to being human, and nothing more. The earth felt completely empty to her. It had been the worst feeling in the world.
As quickly as her powers had left her, they returned once the eclipse was over. She was left exhausted and weak, and slept for nearly two straight days afterwards. Never again would she take for granted the abilities she possessed. She still searched for the reason of why the eclipse left her feeling powerless.
Aylin paused to study Terra who seemed to be absorbing everything. Aylin began to wonder when Terra would feel overwhelmed, and had wondered this out loud.
"No, don’t stop," Terra said. They were now sitting in Aylin’s garden, overlooking the sea. "The more you explain, the more it is all making so much sense to me!" She bubbled with excitement. "That first year I had kept myself basically locked up in my home because whenever I was outside I felt so weird. Like I could feel the earth breathing and it scared the hell out of me. But this last week has been wonderful. I know now that when my skin begins to tingle there is a storm coming, and when I get mad my hands get really hot. But what you are saying is that any strong emotion can trigger it, and there is a way to control it. This is so great!" She was on the edge of her seat.
"All of that is wonderful, Terra," Aylin said slowly. "However, there is another side to this." She knew that she needed to tell Terra, but she wished she could have El here with her. "There is a price, if you will, for all of this power."
"What do you mean?" Her face fell a little.
"We have a purpose besides bringing life back to dying plants, and playing with balls of lights. Your unique tattoo brands you as the third. Each faerie bears a mark that indicates their purpose is on earth. Some are to keep the waters safe for travelers across the sea, some are to help with growing crops keeping the soil full of nutrients, and some are purely for mischief. And there are many that have the same or similar purpose, but inhabit different parts of the world. We, however, are the only ones with this specific symbol. It marks us as protectors." She let this sink in for a moment.
"Protectors?" Terra frowned.
"Protectors of the elements. Hidden in the woods is something that holds the Power of the Elements. It has a few different names, The Stone, The Keeper of Duile, and we refer to it as The Rune. It appeared in the very first forest of the earth. For centuries the fae have fought against a coven of witches that wish to gain control of The Rune."
Terra tried to stifle her giggles. "Witches? And the power of the elements? Come on, that is straight out of the old folklore tales." She shook her head.
Aylin leaned closer to Terra. "Where do you think they got the idea?"
"You’re being serious?"
"Yes. Very serious. At times of heightened threats the protectors are brought together. Our unique gifts compliment and strengthen each other. We are the last stand between The Rune and those who would use its powers for themselves. It might be hard to digest, but it is our destiny. Lives have been lost protecting this, so don’t take it lightly," she said gravely.
Terra watched Aylin for a moment and saw the sadness that refused to be hidden in her eyes. "Your dad," she whispered.
"Very good." Aylin nodded. "He was protecting The Rune as much as the secret of me. Now that you know, you must be aware of your surroundings at all times. There is always a threat that the witches will find us." She looked at Terra. "As long as we are together when the threat is near, then they will not succeed. They haven’t yet, and never will." She gave her a slight smile. "Tomorrow night El and I will take you to The Rune. It’s time for you to see it and feel it, know why it is ours to protect."
"It’s here on the island?" Terra looked back toward the woods.
"Well," Aylin paused, grasping for the right words, "it’s accessible wherever we need it. If you were back home you would be able to find it if you knew where to look in your forests. It can be anywhere, but only those who are meant to can see it."
"I don’t understand that." Terra frowned. She had disappointment written all over her face.
"Tomorrow you will." Aylin smiled.
Terra was silent for a while, watching the waves crash against the rocky coast in the distance. "I know my brother is giving you a hard time." She didn’t look at Aylin when she spoke, "I’m sorry for the way he is treating you."
"He hasn’t
been the friendliest, that’s for sure. But there is no reason for you to apologize for him. I can handle him." Aylin said gently.
"I just wished he understood that you and El are the reason I am back to my normal self, kind of. He thinks it’s because he’s here and it’s not. But I can’t tell him that, can I?"
"We have all gone through hardships with this, just be thankful you have someone that cares enough for you to follow you here." Aylin sounded sadder than she meant. What was wrong with her? Just the mention of Terra’s brother was bringing her spirits down. She’s never met a person that had this affect on her, and she really didn’t like it.
"I think if he got to know you he would change his mind. You and he are more alike than not." Terra smiled to herself.
"I wouldn’t go that far." Aylin smiled at Terra. She knew it would be up to her to make it easier on Terra, because it was probably out of Blake’s realm to make anything easy on anyone. "Come on, I want to see what your abilities are." She stood and stepped off the brick patio and led Terra toward the bench and pond in the corner of the backyard. "Have you grown anything?" Aylin sat down with her feet tucked under herself.
"Um, no?" Terra shrugged, not really sure what Aylin meant. She sat down next to her, in front of the pond. The sea was to their backs, and when she placed her palms on the ground she could feel the beat of the waves crashing into the sandy shore sending small vibrations through her veins. It was like the ocean was flirting with her, tickling her. She let out a small laugh and looked down at her hands.
Aylin looked at her for a moment, then a smile cracked her sober face. "I forget that you’re so new to this. Can you feel past the waves? Let your mind travel down your arms, into the ground." Aylin had her hands folded in her lap. "Try to block out the waves. Relax your arms."
It was difficult for Terra to block out the crashing waves. After three more waves they were no more than gentle breaths of air in her ears. A deep, long pulse traveled up her arm, louder than a heartbeat that vibrated in her bones. In her mind it sounded like a large drum, and it was only one echoing beat. She opened her eyes to Aylin, "What was that?" She pulled her hands off the ground.