“That is why you are apologizing? Meghan, you should have contacted me the second the faelah hurt you!”
His aggressive interruption shocked me. He had moved in close once more, and before I could so much as apologize, again, he scooped me up into a tight hug. My nerve ends caught on fire. No, he wasn’t kissing me, but something about this one action felt suspiciously intimate. I returned his embrace with the same intensity, being careful of my hand.
“You might have died.”
His raw voice suggested withheld emotion and I wondered, with a thrill, if he would kiss me after all. Oh, wouldn’t it be nice to be conscious this time?
But when he pulled away he only held me at arms’ length and gazed at me with dark eyes.
“Promise you’ll not let this happen again. If something of the Otherworld harms you, you let me know as soon as possible. Send Fergus or your own spirit guide. Promise me.”
His words came off as more of a demand than a question, but I shook my head, my emotions still going haywire.
The unmistakable sound of my brothers clambering out of their bunk beds upstairs caused me to jump slightly.
Cade grimaced. “I must go.”
He stood and walked away. I gritted my teeth as severe disappointment slammed into the pit of my stomach. No kiss after all.
When he reached the door, Cade gazed back over his shoulder. “Can you meet me in the swamp next Saturday morning? At sunrise?”
I put aside my disappointment and peered up at him, my mouth curved in a grin. “Of course.”
“Good,” he said, “bring your bow and arrows.”
And with one last glance, he slipped from my room and disappeared into the early morning fog, Fergus trotting silently behind him.
I sighed and fell back into the pillows. For the first time that morning I glanced at my hand. I blinked in surprise. Cade had bandaged it. Carefully, I pulled away some of the gauze, afraid to find a horrible mess beneath. To my astonishment, the wound seemed to be much better, not the red, festering gash from yesterday afternoon.
Giving up on trying to sleep, I got up, brushed my teeth and put on my Sunday clothes: sweatpants and a t-shirt. Hey, if homework has to be done, I might as well be comfortable.
Meridian greeted me when I stepped into the bathroom. I gathered her up with my good hand and walked over to the perch I’d made for her in the corner, placing her on the highest branch.
Once I finished taking care of my morning routine, I plopped myself in front of my computer, cleared off a spot on my desk and opened my math book. Time to be a normal, teenage girl. Sighing with boredom, I glued my eyes to the book and did my best to tackle calculus, but it was very hard to focus when I had some new memories of Cade to fill my mind.
-Six-
Visit
The following week dragged by at a snail’s pace. Early Saturday morning I woke to a gray sky and Fergus standing outside my door. He hadn’t been hanging around as much, now that Meridian was almost full grown, so his presence only meant Cade lingered nearby. I cursed silently when I glanced at the clock. The glowing digits read eight in the morning.
I threw on some warm clothes and headed for the door. Fergus’ whine reminded me to go back and grab my bow and arrows, and to release Meridian for the day. I grinned when I shot her a glance, asleep on her corner perch. She would have insisted on being let out already if she’d been awake. Last Tuesday I’d crawled out of bed only to find her flying around the room like a crazed bat. Okay, maybe a bat was not the right comparison, not after what happened at the football game.
I freaked out at first, before realizing the creature was Meridian. So she’d finally learned how to fly and probably wanted outside. If my own intuition hadn’t told me as much, the strange tingling on the edge of my mind, followed by a sharp, internal voice crying OUT! would have been a pretty significant clue.
The mind link startled me at first, but then I remembered what Cade had said to me about communicating with my spirit guide. I wondered if I could speak back to her, so that afternoon I stood on the small patio outside my door, closed my eyes and concentrated. I tried to summon the weird itchy sensation I’d noticed when she first spoke to me.
Meridian!
Nothing.
Meridian! I tried again.
Just when I started feeling really foolish, she’d returned with a single thought. Up!
I turned my eyes skyward, grinning after finding her perched in one of the eucalyptus trees at the edge of our yard, tearing at some small animal she’d caught for lunch.
That had been four days ago, and now as I crossed the room to open the door, she shook her feathers out and flew from her perch, gliding across the room to land on my shoulder.
Morning, she sent to me.
Yes, I returned with a smile, lovely. Like Meridian.
She nibbled affectionately at my cheek as we stepped onto the equestrian trail. I practically ran into the swamp, tripping over the exposed root of a tree along the way. I barely missed impaling myself with one of my arrows. Meridian left my shoulder in a flurry of feathers and soft chirps for the safety of the sky.
By the time I reached the small meadow where Cade always waited for me, I was out of breath and in a bad mood. He stood there, patiently of course, with an amused look on his face.
“Tough morning?” he asked.
I grimaced at him and mumbled some answer about sleeping through my alarm clock. He insisted on examining my hand, which showed signs of healing. Ten minutes later we stood side by side, plunking arrows into the targets he’d set up before I arrived. Several weeks had gone by since my last practice, but, to my great relief, I hadn’t lost too much of the skill I’d gained over the summer.
After about an hour of me doing my best to hit the center of the target and Cade’s gentle coaxing, I was ready for a break. Cade nodded his agreement and set his bow aside, walking over to a fallen tree to rest against. I sat down beside him on the log, leaned my bow against its side, and proceeded to peel off my archery glove.
Finally, Cade glanced up and caught my eyes with his. There was something there, something more than what he normally revealed, but I couldn’t quite grasp it. My heart sped up. Stupid organ. If it wasn’t such an important necessity to life, I’d try to find some way to get rid of it. Hearts caused far more trouble than what they were worth.
“I want you to come with me to the Otherworld, to Eilé, for a visit.”
Oh. From such an intense gaze I expected something much more daunting, or revealing. My heartbeat slowed, but my skin prickled with goose bumps. He’s only asking you to go with him to the Otherworld. It’s not like he’s asking you out on a date!
“Go with you to Eilé?” I asked as I rubbed at my arms in an attempt to make the goose pimples vanish and to force my conscious to shut up. “Sure, I mean, I guess I’d like to go to Eilé, again. As long as I don’t have to go by myself. Because, well, if those faelah decide to show up . . .”
I was babbling. I shrugged and grinned, trying to lighten the mood. When had everything grown so serious? We had been laughing only a half an hour ago. Heck, I was even hitting the bull’s eye two times out of . . . twenty.
Before I could consider his proposition any further, Meridian swooped down out of the canopy, screeching her delight as she came to rest in a small oak growing only a few feet away. I glanced at her, grinning when I saw the tiny dead faelah hanging from her beak. It was the size of a mouse but had long, ugly, reptilian feet, and black, hairless skin.
“Good girl,” I murmured.
She chittered and got to her meal. Tasty, she sent.
I chuckled and turned my eyes back on Cade. He gave me a small grin and I caught my breath. He looked so relaxed now, sitting in the sun, leaning over with his elbows resting on his knees. His dark auburn hair was slightly disheveled and for the time being his eyes shone with a pale hazel green.
I released a tiny sigh and looked away. Would there ever come a time when he didn’t
have such a distracting effect on me?
“About going to the Otherworld,” Cade continued after a few more moments of silence. He gestured in the general direction of the dolmarehn lying hidden up the gully several hundred yards away.
“The reason I want you to go is so I can test your magic potential.”
Huh? “Test my magic potential? What do you mean?”
He took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter.
“Do you remember Meghan, when I told you about the Faelorehn and their glamour? How it is connected to Eilé itself and how yours isn’t strong because you’ve been in the mortal world all this time?”
I nodded. I remembered. I also remembered that if Cade or any of the faelah stayed in this world too long their natural magic would drain and they’d need to go back to the Otherworld to recharge.
“I guess what I’m saying is, I want to see what you are like, fully charged, or at least more so than you are now.”
“Okay,” I replied, still a bit confused.
He acted as if he planned on asking me to make some impossible sacrifice or suffer through uncomfortable pain.
“In order for that to happen,” Cade continued carefully, “you’ll need to stay in the Otherworld. For more than a single day.”
“Okay.”
I still didn’t fully understand what he meant. What was the big deal? Why did he appear so wary? I could brave the Otherworld for a few days, as long as Cade stayed with me and . . . Oh. Stay more than one day in Eilé. Got it.
I brushed back my hair nervously, turning my eyes towards Meridian. She had managed to gut the creature she’d killed, but witnessing her gory snacking skills felt safer than looking at Cade.
Apparently my brain was on standby mode because it sure wasn’t working very well today. If I wanted to ‘recharge’ enough to display any power, I would have to stay in Eilé for more than twenty four hours. Which meant I would be alone with Cade for over twenty four hours. Alone with Cade, overnight. Now I realized the problem. Funny thing was, the longer I thought about it, the more appealing it seemed. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn’t think so. And this explained Cade’s aloofness. Made perfect sense now.
“Meghan, I would never take advantage of you, or such a situation-”
“No, I know,” I said, cutting him off. Though sometimes I wish you would . . .
I glanced up and smiled, despite the flush creeping along my skin. He still seemed a little guarded, but he relaxed when he realized he hadn’t offended me.
“Your parents will agree to this?” he asked softly, lacing his fingers together and leaning back over his knees.
No. They wouldn’t. Not even if I introduced them to Cade and we both signed a document in our own blood swearing we would keep our hands off of each other. I couldn’t tell them the truth, not yet. One day, far away from now, I would confess everything. But I was still not a hundred percent sure as to what exactly I was. And I really had no idea how to tell them either. I needed to go to Eilé, like Cade suggested, to figure everything out.
“They won’t agree Cade, no matter what we tell them. I’ll have to come up with another way.”
He nodded somberly. I expected him to argue; to insist my parents be informed of our plans, but I think some part of him knew the same thing I did: they would assume I was suffering from another psychotic episode and that would get us nowhere.
“I’ll ask one of my friends to cover for me,” I said.
He nodded again. “It will only be overnight and a few hours into the morning, this time.”
I swallowed. This time?
Putting on a grin that showed more backbone than I had at the moment, I said, “Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out.”
Maybe.
* * *
The entire next week I fretted about asking one of my friends to lie for me. Perhaps I could talk Tully into having a sleepover. Her parents usually went out late on Saturday and came home to sleep half of Sunday away. She could just tell them I planned to come over later and stay the night. They would never know the truth. But I dismissed those thoughts almost as soon as they came to me. I wouldn’t ask Tully this favor. If I did she would insist on learning every detail before forbidding it outright. She would tell me that if I had to sneak off with a boy my parents didn’t know about, then he meant to cause trouble and I should cut him loose. Oh, if only I could tell her the truth. Yes, Cade was trouble, but not in the sense she would think.
No, she would refuse to help me and when I wouldn’t see things her way, she’d threaten to bring it up with my parents and that was too much of a risk.
Robyn on the other hand . . .
At the end of the day on Thursday I managed to pull Robyn aside after school.
She gave me one of her questioning looks and I told her what I had to say was top secret. Her dark eyebrows lifted with interest. She pulled a soda can out of her backpack and popped it open, taking a sip as she eyed me expectantly.
Taking a deep breath, I delved into the story I had invented. I needed her to cover for me at some future date; to say I planned to spend the night on the weekend.
“Not that I’m agreeing,” she said in a casual tone as she examined a dark red fingernail, “but my parents are going to a church convention this weekend. They’re leaving Friday and coming back Sunday.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Oh Robyn, could you please pretend I’m staying the night Saturday? There is something I have to do and I can’t tell my parents, and it will take longer than a day.”
I should have known better than to lay all this out before her and not expect to make some payment in return. This was Robyn, after all.
“Okay, I’ll cover for you,” she eventually conceded, her voice cool and in control. “But you have to tell me what is so important that you’ve got to lie to your parents and stay out all night.”
I grimaced. I knew this was coming, and whatever I told her next had to be scandalous enough to garner her support.
I took a deep breath and said, “I’m meeting a guy.”
Robyn nearly choked on her soda. She coughed a few times, but once her breathing returned to normal she shot me a pointed glance. “Are you freaking serious!?”
“You can’t tell anyone, okay!”
I looked away and scowled. Why hadn’t I come up with a better story before pitching this to her?
“Way to go Meg! Oh, you have to tell me about him. What’s his name? Is he cute? Does he go to our school?”
I blinked, stunned. She was actually smiling.
“I’m going to give my mom and dad your cell phone number,” I continued. “I’ll tell them your parents don’t ever answer the phone unless they recognize who is calling. So if they call you, say I’m in the shower or the bathroom or something.”
“Wow Meghan,” Robyn said with a mischievous grin, “must be some guy.”
“It’s not what you think,” I mumbled back.
Well, at least I was pretty certain it wasn’t what she thought.
“Uh huh, sure it isn’t.”
“Thanks Robyn, I owe you one.”
“I want all the juicy details when you get back. And I hope we get to meet this mystery man some day.”
“Okay.”
I waved a hand over my back as I started off across the track, seeking the path leading off into the swamp. When I reached the oak tree closest to my house, I pulled off my backpack and ripped a piece of binder paper out of a folder and dug around for a pen. I quickly wrote a note to Cade, telling him I was free this weekend to go to Eilé with him. I rolled the letter up and placed the small tube in the knothole.
Once inside, I found the house dark and empty. Thirty minutes later, Mom arrived with the boys. I told her about my plans for the weekend, how I was staying over at Robyn’s.
“That’s nice honey. It will be good for you to get out of the house for a while. Just be sure to leave their number.”
I grinned to cover my gri
mace, trying not to feel guilty about my double lie. Not only would Mom and Dad be appalled at my intention to spend the night with a boy, but they would never let me stay over at a friend’s house if their parents were gone.
Shaking off the pall of guilt, I descended into my room, turned on some music and tackled a pile of waiting homework.
The next morning I checked the oak tree and found a reply.
Meghan,
I’ll meet you tomorrow morning in your backyard before sunup. Be sure to set two alarms this time.
-Cade
I sighed, my breath forming a cloud in the early December air, and folded the note up, placing it in my pocket.
As I walked to Tully’s to catch my ride to school, the anticipation which had begun as a small kernel started expanding in my stomach. I was going to the Otherworld with Cade, to stay overnight. I tried to hide my smile, but Tully noticed.
“Have a good dream last night or something?” she asked as we climbed into her car.
My grin widened. “You could say that.”
* * *
An annoying buzzing sound woke me way earlier than was considered decent by most people. I groaned and cracked open an eye. Four in the morning. Why on earth had I set my alarm clock for that early? Then my mind cleared. I shot up in bed. Cade! The Otherworld! I tossed my sheets back and started getting ready. I had a small backpack loaded with what I’d need: a change of clothes, a few snacks, necessary toiletries . . .
I scribbled a note to my parents, explaining that I decided to go over to Robyn’s early and I’d be back on Sunday. It was a Saturday morning. They wouldn’t be up until at least nine, so hopefully they’d think I had left around eight, not five. I crept upstairs and left the note on the island in the kitchen where it would be found.
I did one last check after returning to my room, then stepped towards my desk and coaxed Meridian awake.
Danger? she sent.
No, journey, I returned with a bit of joy.
She fluffed her feathers and grumbled in her avian way, but didn’t protest as I shifted her onto my shoulder.
The morning was cold when I finally escaped the house. Darkness shrouded the sky, but eventually my sight adjusted and I spotted Cade and Fergus standing at the edge of my backyard. I moved quickly over to them.
Dolmarehn - Book Two of the Otherworld Trilogy Page 6