by Kimbra Swain
“Good grief. How many daughters does she have?” I asked.
“How many sons does your father have?” She replied.
“More than I can count,” I said.
“Exactly. I’ve been exiled to this world for quite some time, but recently my mother requested that I come and visit her. Therefore, I am going. The citizens of the realm will recognize me as royalty. We should be able to pass through the countryside with no resistance.”
“Should be.”
“I won’t lie, because you know the temperamental nature of fairies,” she said.
“That I do,” I replied.
“So, with your permission, I would like to be your patron and guide,” she said.
“Sure,” I said, as the doors behind us opened up. Luther walked in with a simple backpack and Nestor. Betty wasn’t with him. However, Devin flanked him with a wide smile. He was happy to be going home. I was glad to see it.
“Where is your better half?” I asked Luther.
“Someone has to run the diner,” he said. “We said our goodbyes there.”
“Oh! I was hoping to say goodbye myself,” I said.
“You will be back before you know it,” Luther said.
“She better be,” Nestor added.
“You might change your mind about that,” I said.
“Never,” Nestor said, hugging me tightly.
I hoped I would be because there was always the possibility that once I stepped into the Otherworld, my uncle would come for me or any of my father’s enemies. I hoped I had chosen the right people to go with me. I patted my side feeling the pouch of magical liquids that Mike had sent me. I concealed it under the flowing dress without any issues. I didn’t even have to use magic, but I supposed that was due in part to the magic swirling around the dress.
As Remy said, Tennyson offered a couple of his fairy bodyguards to go with us. “Ah, nice. Redshirts,” I said. They looked confused as Tabitha and Remy snickered. “Nevermind. What are your names?”
“I’m Stone. This is Bronx,” he said. Both of them wore expensive three-piece suits and were covered in tattoos.
“Hmm. A rock and a hard place,” I said. Tabitha and Remy laughed again. I was glad that I was amusing someone. Tennyson shook his head, but I thought he was hiding a smile behind his stern façade.
“Has anyone seen Troy? I wanted to speak to him before I left,” I said.
“We had several trips last night. He’s out with one of the other fairies resetting the spells. He said he would talk to you when he got back,” Nestor said.
I growled. “Fine. Let’s do this.”
“Not yet,” Jenny said as she came through the door.
“I thought you were going to help Betty,” I said.
“You asked about my skills,” she replied. “I have a talent…” Her voice trailed off when she saw Tennyson. He clenched his teeth, looking away from her. I looked back and forth between them. She waited for him to make eye-contact with her, but he wouldn’t look at her. I saw an unknown history flash between them. Tennyson’s disregard hurt her, but she gathered her wits and continued her sentence. “Well, talents. I want to go. Your father was right. I can help you.”
“Well, anyone else want to join up?” I said to the tension-filled room. “No? Okay, let’s get moving before Ford shows up with the gypsy horde.”
We walked through the portal into the grove where we held church services. The sky seemed a bit darker than normal, and I wondered what shifted the time and seasons here. It seemed to stay summer most of the time. Sometimes it was slightly cooler like a spring day. The sun shone brightly, but during services, night would fall casting a wonderful darkness around the worship area.
Tennyson gave his men last minute instructions, telling them to follow Rowan’s orders. “I expect you to bring them both back home safely,” he said. They grabbed packs, then proceeded to the center stone in the grassy space.
“I saw that exchange,” I told him.
“And?” he asked.
“What was it about?” I asked, looking at Jenny over his shoulder. She spoke to Tabitha and Remy, completely ignoring my conversation with Tennyson. Luther stood near the center with Devin checking his backpack.
“It’s a long story,” he replied.
“She’s the one Father mentioned,” I said.
“Now is not the time or place,” he gruffed. “You didn’t ask who it was. I didn’t offer. It’s too late to talk about it now.”
“Whatever happened, it was clear that you loved her,” I said.
“I cannot look at her,” he replied.
I noticed his words. He didn’t say he couldn’t stand to look at her. He said couldn’t look at her. The shame was his for whatever reason. I’d pry it out of her on the journey. If not, my dear Uncle would tell me when I returned. “Very well,” I said.
He grabbed my arm gently. “Come home. Don’t make me go and tell him you didn’t come back,” he said.
“Perhaps you should come with me,” I replied.
“That would ensure that you never returned. I’ll keep an eye on Nestor,” he said.
“Remy, too,” I said.
He laughed. “Yes, Remy, too.”
He looked over my shoulder with a big smile on his face. Remy had Tabitha wrapped up in a massive lip lock. She shoved off him, cussing him for the public display of affection. I laughed as I walked past them.
“Shut up,” she muttered to me. I laughed harder.
“Looked like you were in a pickle,” I said.
“I’ve been in a pickle, and that wasn’t a pickle,” she said.
“Yeah, the last time I was in a pickle I got pregnant,” I replied.
We both laughed as Rowan opened a portal to somewhere deeper in the Summer Realm. Nestor hugged me again, whispering in my ear, “Come home, Gracie. By the time you get back, Winnie will be back. Don’t linger. I love you.”
I patted him on the cheek. “Love you, too.” He reached out and touched the bulge of my belly. Rubbing it gently, he smiled, then stepped back.
We walked from the green field of the grove into a large flowered field. Tall flowers rose like cornstalks around us. The blooms looked like sunflowers, but they were in an array of colors, not just yellow.
“The field will conceal us until we reach the main road. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves,” Rowan said. I hadn’t noticed it before, but she carried a large bow and quiver on her back, as well as a belt with several knives. There was something vaguely familiar with her that I just couldn’t place. We walked through the tall flowers following Rowan’s lead. The two redshirts flanked me as Tabitha walked close behind me. Devin didn’t seem to be phased by the fantastical flowers. I was sure he was a son of Summer. I just needed to find his father.
“I should have asked how much walking this would involve,” I smirked.
“Too late for that now,” Tabitha responded.
“That’s why I didn’t ask,” I said. I heard Jenny giggle behind us. Glad I could amuse her too.
“It’s really not that far from here,” Rowan’s voice drifted back to us.
We walked for a least a mile in the rainbow-colored sunflowers. I slowly made my way back to Jenny who walked near the back of the group keeping her distance from Rowan. She couldn’t have been more obvious.
“So, the tension there between you and Tennyson,” I said.
“Don’t go there, Grace,” she said.
“Well, you know me. It’s intriguing that so many people around me seem to know each other. Don’t act like you aren’t trying to stay as far away from Rowan as possible,” I said in a teasing tone.
When she turned her face to me, her features were stone. “Stop. I’m not talking about it,” she said. “If you don’t know who he is, then I’m not telling you.”
“I know who he is. My father calls him Lachlan,” I said. “They kinda made peace last night. Sorta. Kinda.”
“I seriously doubt that,” she snort
ed.
I showed her the healing cut on my hand. “The whole blood oath bit,” I said hoping she would give me the information I was missing.
“Good for you,” she said, then trudged forward. Luther brought up the rear of the group.
“Something wrong?” he asked. “Do you need to stop and rest?”
“No. Have you ever made a blood oath?” I asked.
“Can’t say that I have. My word is usually good enough. Why?” he asked.
“Tennyson Schuyler made a blood oath to me,” I said. Perhaps Luther knew something.
“That’s strange. You don’t find many mob bosses bending to anyone’s will,” he said.
“I thought so too, but he and father used to be friends,” I said.
“Well, that makes sense. He’s your uncle, right?” Luther said.
“Sorta. Kinda,” I said.
Rowan stopped, indicating that we all should stop. In the distance, I heard a sound like rolling thunder. The two men drew close to either side of me. Luther moved closer to me. I could feel the heat radiating off of him.
“What is that?” I whispered.
“Guardians of Summer,” Rowan responded. “I had hoped we would avoid them. Hurry, get to the trees.”
We ran toward the trees we could see just before us. Stepping out of the flowers, into the trees, the torsos of women protruded out of the trees. Their bare breasts peaked at the newcomers, especially the two bulky guards that Tennyson had sent with us. Stone and Bronx eyed them warily. I was happy to see they didn’t immediately fall for the charms of the dryads.
It was as if they spoke as one, but their voices were light on a breeze.
“Welcome to the royal forest. You must hurry,” one said.
Another quickly echoed, “You must hurry. They are coming.”
One on another tree said, “Yes, the royal forest. They hunt you, Winter Queen.”
“Winter Queen,” the first repeated.
They rotated speaking to us as if they were all connected. It was dizzying. Or perhaps I was just dizzy again.
“They hunt you in the royal forest,” the second said.
“Enough! I don’t want to play ring around the dryads. Shut up!” I said.
Rowan grabbed me by the arm. “You can’t speak to them like that,” she scolded.
“Let go of me. Now!” I demanded.
She released my arm and calmed herself. “They will continue to talk. No matter what you say. Grace, you have no power here. You aren’t even in your full form and they know who you are. That means Rhiannon is expecting us.”
“Those that hunt us? They want us dead?” I asked.
“I hope not,” she said staring above my head behind me.
I turned, then flashed into my Winter queen form, pulling power from the Otherworld around me. Whatever danger presented itself would have to get through my most powerful form to hurt the child in my belly. I thought of the vials of liquids that Mike sent for me. A fog might be nice right about now. I pulled the small vape mod out of the folds of my dress, then the vial marked: Dense fog. I had watched Dylan do this the night he dreamed. Opening the cap on the bottle, a small voice said, “One or two drops is enough. Just add power.”
Vocal instructions. Fancy.
Dropping the liquid into the mod, I pulled power from the Otherworld.
“Ah! Yes, a royal uses our power,” one dryad said distracting me from my task. I tried to hide the mod from the group. I was sure they would freak out if they saw it. I cast an easy masking spell on the mod while tucking the vial back into the pouch on my hip.
“Use us, dear queen,” another cooed.
“We feel your strength. We feel your child. He is heat like us,” the last said.
“Like us,” the first repeated.
“We serve the royal queens,” the second said looking at Rowan.
“No, we are exiled. You do not serve us,” she corrected them.
“But the Winter Queen is warm. She is with us,” one said.
“No, her child is warming her,” Rowan explained.
“It has long been since a son of Summer impregnated a daughter of Winter,” the second one said.
“It’s never happened,” Rowan said.
“Yes, it has. Just once,” the third assured her.
“Back in the old days when the Summer had a King. The great father took to himself a cold queen. She became our mother. All of us,” the first said.
“All of us,” the others echoed in succession.
The shadow grew across the thicket, and the dryads sank back in their trees.
“A Summer boy is coming,” the first said. “He is within her.”
“They don’t understand,” Rowan said.
“Dylan wasn’t Summer,” I said.
“No, but they feed off the heat. They think the father was because his son is warm,” Rowan said. “If you have him here, he will be Summer. The first Summer king since the great father,” she said.
“No having babies in the Otherworld,” Tabitha said.
“I agree,” I said as I took a long drag off the vape. When I expelled the vapor, it multiplied with my power. The dense fog enveloped us to hide us from whatever was hunting us. Tabitha saw through my mask, slapping the vape mod out of my hand. It hit a rock and shattered.
“What are you doing?” she said.
“Smoking,” I said.
Jenny picked up the broken mod. “That was stupid, Tabitha. It’s a magic mod. She wasn’t hurting herself or the baby. Geez, give her some credit. You think she would do anything to hurt Dylan’s child?”
“What?” Tabitha said looking at me. Remorse filled her eyes. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and as a healer, she was doing what she thought was best for me and my child.
“It was just a magical liquid to create a fog,” I said. “Now it just looks like a smoke signal,” I said as a being swatted through the small cloud of fog. A very tall being. His shadow covered us all.
The tree man, for lack of a better word, stood more than twenty feet tall. His long legs were the size of sequoia trees. His mostly human male torso connected to the trunks with mottled pale green skin. His eyes were dark brown and his tree limbs towered out of his head like a crown. He carried a long branch with a flashing silver blade.
“Rowan, your mother requests your presence. Along with your guests,” his booming voice shook the trees.
“Eogan! Well met, treekin,” Rowan shouted up to him. “We will follow your lead.”
“We will?” I asked.
“Yes, we know that she knows you are here. We will play her game. I suggest that you stay in that form,” Rowan advised.
“I agree,” Tabitha said. Luther sat back quietly watching the woods around us. Devin stayed close to him. The two redshirts seemed unphased by the hulking tree man standing before us.
“Let’s move it,” I said.
We followed Eogan up the main road to a field full of wildflowers. On each side of us, a stone cliff rose above the meadow on each side. The winding road undulated for no reason other than to lengthen the trip through the lovely scene. The cliffs met in the middle forming a natural bridge. The road passed beneath it. Floral smells wafted around us as butterflies danced from flower to flower. Each one had the face of a human. They smiled with delight seeing us. Summer couldn’t be that bad if the butterflies were friendly.
“Don’t touch them. They will bite off your finger,” Rowan said.
“No!” I scoffed.
“They will,” Tabitha replied. “Have you never been in Summer?”
“Um, no! Winter Fairy. Exile. The church is the closest thing to Summer I’ve ever experienced,” I said, standing in awe of the scenery.
Luther came up very close behind me. “Grace, Summer is enchanting. Do not let it sink into your mind. It is seductive in ways you’ve never experienced. Keep your mind on the task ahead. Finley and the book.”
“Finley and the book,” I repeated.
Rowan nodd
ed, continuing to follow the treekin. As we passed under the arch a large grove of trees sat on a hill. At the center of the hill, a grand castle towered above the tallest of the trees. Golden spires glistened in the sunlight reflecting prisms around the meadow. Between us and it on the road, a cloud of dust kicked up. We could hear the thundering of hooves.
“Fauns?” I asked.
“No, Centaurs. My mother’s royal guard for patrols. The fauns patrol the insides of the castle,”
Rowan explained. “They all are usually friendly. Best behavior, please.”
It was like having a mother along keeping the kids in check. But, we would continue to follow her advice. She hadn’t been wrong yet.
“You don’t have to have the mod to use the vials,” Jenny said behind me.
“Thanks,” I said. She seemed pissed off. I wished I hadn’t pushed the issue with Tennyson. The dust cloud of centaurs approached, and I put on my best Queen face.
“WELCOME, Gloriana, Daughter of Oberon, Queen of the Exiles. Our Queen awaits you. We are here to escort you to the castle. I’m Marshall, Captain of the Centaurs. I humbly offer you my service while you are here in Summer,” he said.
His offer of service surprised me. However, he didn’t offer hospitality. For him to offer it before his Queen would have been a deadly mistake on his part.
“Thank you, Marshall, Captain of the Centaurs. Your offer of service is appreciated,” I said without rejecting it. I didn’t trust anyone, including a devastatingly handsome half-horse man. The fairy inside of me tapped with urgency reminding me that I’d never had a Centaur in all of my exploits. I told my fairy to simmer down. We weren’t here for sex. I supposed it shouldn’t shock me that the part of me that drove my desires had no couth. I’d seen other fairies act on such desires despite losing a mate. As long as I kept it inside, hopefully, no one would know about the little deviant inside of me. I had to remind myself that every fairy here probably had the same deviant voice.
Five other Centaurs flanked him wearing armor on their chests and carrying large spears. Most of them were rather plain compared to Marshall. I wondered if Summer was like human high school. The prettier you were, the further you got at least until high school ended and real life had a way of slapping that illusion out of your head. Each one also had a shield strapped to their back. The tree of life surrounded by intricate knotwork glittered in gold from each one. The tree of life was somewhere here in Summer. In the Garden of Eden, of course, but I’d never been there. It was a symbol of balance and harmony.