Precious Stones

by Brandi Bell

"Who's Ruby?" Talia asks Elias.

  "I'm Ruby, who the fuck are you?" Ruby snaps at the princess.

  "Ruby, be nice. This is Princess Talia of the Summer Kingdom, the only person who can possibly save your dad," I growl at her.

  "Oh," she says.

  "How peculiar, your soul feels foreign. It doesn't belong in Caestia at all, but Jade's feels like home," Talia muses.

  "It doesn't feel like home here either, being awake for four hours a day isn't fun," I pout.

  "This gives me something to think on, let's get to the castle. We have a bit of a ride left to get there. It looks closer than it is," she says.

  I climb back on Zombie, but I notice Zeus refused to let Ruby ride again. I guess we are going the slow way.

  "Dumb pooka, why are you so mean to me!" Ruby shouts at him.

  "Because you aren't nice to him, and he doesn't like you," Talia states simply.

  "Ugh, fine I'll walk," she says pouting.

  It took everything I have not to laugh at her. That will just cause a fight. We continue on very slowly, due to Ruby walking, and the sun sets.

  Chapter 46

  Seamus

  I would laugh at the way Zeus treats Ruby, if it didn't slow us down. At least we have met the princess, and she already knows what's going on. Ruby has the worst attitude about being in this land. It halfway calls to my blood, but not like it does to Jade. I fully plan on asking Talia in private if we can separate the two. They shouldn't have to share a body if we can find a way around it.

  Chapter 47

  Ruby

  I can tell everyone thinks it's funny that Jade's stupid pooka makes me walk, except Elias that is. He's nice enough to walk next to me, even though his pooka would let him ride.

  "Look at it this way, Gem, we'll be out of this world before you know it," Elias says, trying to cheer me up.

  "I can't wait. I never want to come back here," I tell him.

  He starts rubbing the back of his neck, a sign he has something to say that makes him uncomfortable.

  "What," I demand.

  "Jade wants to visit occasionally," he tells me.

  "Oh hell no, that bitch ain't bringing me back here!" I scream.

  The group turns around and looks at me, Jade's pooka growls.

  "Vampires, such a selfish bunch," Talia says shaking her head.

  I don't want to give her a reason not to help me, so I shut my mouth. I look at my feet while we walk, and before long I'm gone.

  Antoine

  I can't believe how rude Ruby is. I hope the princess will still help us. She seems to already love Jade, so I'm hoping that's the case.

  "Zeus, did you make Ruby walk again?" Jade asks her pooka.

  I chuckle under my breath, as I watch him transform back to his horse form. She gets a saddle on him and we take off.

  "Welcome back, my dear," I say.

  "Did I miss anything? I thought we were close to the castle," she replies.

  "We would have been there by now, but we had to slow down for your sister," Taila says to her. "Is she always so rude and mean?"

  "Ask Elias and Grady, I never interact with her directly," Jade answers.

  Talia looks at the men and they just shrug their shoulders. I try not to laugh. We're walking up to the front of the castle, and three men come running out.

  "I can't believe you took off like that!" one of them screams at the princess.

  "You know you aren't to leave without at least one of us," the second one chastises her.

  "We were worried to death, please don't do that," the third one says.

  "Oh, you three are too overprotective, I'm fine and I have Deysi with me," she counters. "Besides, I found my friends and we rode back together."

  "They are complete strangers, they could have killed you!" the screaming man says.

  "How rude of me, let me introduce you to my three partners. The yelling man is Flynn, second one is Dorian, and that leaves Beck," she says pointing to each man.

  Flynn is tall and lean with blonde hair that is in a long braid. He has pale blue eyes, and his skin is very pale. Dorian is almost his complete opposite. He is still tall, but has thick muscles, dark brown hair, cut close to his head, and deep brown eyes. Beck is tall and lean, with reddish brown hair, worn long and loose, and green eyes.

  "It's nice to meet you, allow me to introduce my group. I'm Antoine of the Autumn Court, this is Seamus, Grady, Elias, and my beautiful Jade," I say.

  "Jade, as in the girl you've been dreaming about Jade?" Dorian asks Talia.

  "Yes, the same one," she says smiling at him.

  "Nice to meet you, Jade," Dorian says bowing.

  "Nice to meet you too," she says blushing.

  "Let's go inside," Flynn says gruffly.

  A group of brownies come out and take care of the pooka and tack, then we follow the men into the castle.

  Jade

  Zeus is by my side as we follow Talia's men into the castle. It feels like home, in a way the other kingdoms only hinted at. I become sad, knowing we will have to leave soon.

  "What are we doing now?" I ask Talia.

  "We are going to introduce you to the queen, then we'll find a quiet place to talk, just you, me, and our pookas," she says staring down all the men.

  "But Princess---" Flynn starts.

  "No buts, Jade and I are going to talk alone. You men can all do whatever you want," she tells him.

  My men stay quiet, not wanting to argue here. We follow the princess into the throne room and I try my hardest not to gasp. The queen is sitting on her rainbow colored throne with tree branches wrapped around her body. When Antoine said she was losing herself to nature, I didn't realize how literal it was.

  "Your Highness, may I present the travelers the Autumn Queen sent word about. They have a letter for you, would you like to read it," Talia says to the queen.

  I watch as the branches slowly remove themselves from her. Talia looks at her mother with shock. I'm wondering how often she is ignored when she talks to her.

  "Daughter, come forward," the queen says in a detached voice.

  "Yes, Mother?" she asks.

  "The land has told me the time of prophecy is here. Have you dreamt?" the Queen asks Talia.

  "Yes, Mother," she replies.

  "Good, when this passes I will give you the crown. I am tired of this world," the Queen says. "You can handle everything. I don't need to see a letter."

  The branches wrap back around her. We take that as our cue to leave. I follow Talia out of the throne room and down a hallway. We go up a set of stairs. It feels odd being without my men, we haven't been separated since our first night in this land. We enter a sitting room that is decorated in a muted rainbow palette.

  "Please sit, we have much to discuss and not a lot of time," she tells me.

  "What's going on?" I ask confused, as I sit down.

  "I believe you need to know about a prophecy that has been told to my people for hundreds of years,” she starts. "I have prophetic dreams, and I have been dreaming of you and four men. There is also your sister and three men, but you weren't in the same body."

  "That can't be possible," I gasp.

  She smiles, then continues, "The prophecy goes like this: two sisters born of magic not of blood, one of light and one of dark, will unite the realms and heal the tears. The sister of the light will bring her four, each fae blessed. The sister of the dark will fight the pull, but will come when no choice is given. When the sisters unite the worst is in store, when the sisters go their separate ways the portals will open again."

  "That's weird sounding," I say.

  "I always thought so too, until I met you, then Ruby. Now I understand some of it is literal," she tells me. "Would you like to be separated?"

  My jaw drops. I've never really thought about being separated from Ruby, but it would make life simpler. I know she would say yes in a minute.

  "Yes, I would, but I need to save my dad first," I tell her.

 
"I thought you would say that. I'll come and save your dad, if you and all of yours and your sister’s men return with us," she says.

  "Um, that will be a problem," I say slowly.

  "Why?" she asks.

  "Liam is a human, and they can't pass through, and Felix is a turned vampire that cannot be awake when the sun is up," I explain.

  "Oh, is that all? I can fix both of those issues," she says with a smile.

  "Ok, then you have yourself a deal, but I have a question. How can the portals be closed if we came here from the human realm?"

  "Oh, that's easy. Witches, vampires, and other creatures like your incubus, didn't originally come from Caestia. There are many realms that used to be connected, but something happened centuries ago that closed the portals and slowly started killing this land," she answers.

  "Is that why it seems like this world is small?" I question her.

  "Yes, if the prophecy comes true, things will heal and our lands will grow again," she replies.

  "Let's tell the men the plan then," I tell her.

  "Yay, we get to go on a trip," she says jumping up and down.

  I laugh at her excitement, as I follow her down a hallway to another door at the end, Zeus hot on my heels. When she opens the door, seven sets of eyes are staring at us, with less than pleased looks on their faces.

  "Oh stop pouting and get ready. We are going to the human realm to save Jade's dad," she tells them.

  "Can we wait until morning?" Beck asks, "It will be safer."

  "I guess, but I want to hurry," Talia tells him.

  My stomach growls. I haven't eaten since lunch time. With so much going on, it hadn't crossed my mind.

  "Where are my manners today? You must be starving! Let's go get dinner, then we'll get you rooms to sleep in tonight," Talia says.

  "Thank you," I reply, grateful for how well we're being treated.

  "No need to thank me, I should have realized sooner," she tells me.

  We follow her back down to a huge dining room with tables in every color of the rainbow. It's setup much like Autumn and Spring, with a raised table. I was glad to see we wouldn't overlook the group like Winter Kingdom did. Talia leads us to the raised table and we take our seats. The dining room is empty, save for us. A short plump woman comes out and brings us drinks.

  "Thank you Hazel," Talia says to her. Hazel bows and scurries out of the room.

  "She's a brownie," Talia leans over and whispers to me.

  Hazel returns with our food a few minutes later. I could get used to eating like this. I love my junk food back in the human realm, but this tastes even better. I can totally go vegan if it all tastes like this.

  We finish eating, then another brownie shows us to our rooms for the night. Zeus jumps on the bed before anyone else makes it through the door.

  "Oh, you think you get to be a bed hog now?" I ask him, with a smile.

  He proceeds to flop on his side and stretch out, taking up most of the large bed. I shake my head, wondering how I'm going to get him to move. I see the couch on the other side of the room, and come up with a plan.

  "Oh, Zeus, you're missing out on this soft comfy couch. Too bad," I say in a sweet mocking voice.

  It works, he gets up and jumps on the couch, I dive into the bed before he has the chance to change his mind. I look over at my men, "Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to sleep while we have the chance?" I ask them.

  They lay down, before long we're all asleep.

  Chapter 48

  Liam

  I wake up and look at the clock, it's still early. I groan and roll back over. I don't want to be up yet, after I stayed up all night with Felix. It hits me there won't be anyone coming over today, they all left to another realm yesterday. It's not even been twenty four hours since they left. How am I going to handle several days of this, I ask myself. I just hope they make it back in time to save Ruby's dad.

  Chapter 49

  Elias

  I wake up, it's about an hour before dawn. I walk quietly to Jade's room to wake her up before Ruby starts screaming. Zeus is on the couch, he lifts his head, huffs, then puts it back down.

  I shake Jade, she jumps, but doesn't scream. I motion for her to follow me, she slowly gets up, stretches, then follows me back to my room.

  "Sorry, I just didn't want Ruby screaming again," I tell her, rubbing the back of my neck.

  "It's ok, but you still need to wake the guys up. We need to get going to save my dad before time's up," she replies.

  "I know, but I still didn't want the yelling," I tell her.

  "Ok, let's go wake them up," she says, walking to the door.

  I follow her, hoping Ruby doesn't have a fit being in the room with everyone again. She leans over to wake up Grady, as her eyes bleed to red.

  Chapter 50

  Grady

  I wake up to Ruby leaning over me. I'm confused, why would she be leaning over me like this. She looks confused as well, then it hit me, Jade must have been getting ready to wake me up when she changed.

  "Good morning," I say. "I'm guessing you weren't expecting to wake me up."

  "I never know what's going to happen any more," she grumbles.

  "Well cheer up, we are getting ready to go home and save your dad," I tell her.

  "Is that true?" she asks Elias, in a hopeful tone.

  "It is, that's why Jade insisted we wake everyone one up," he explains.

  "Get up you guys!" Ruby yells excitedly.

  "What's going on?" Seamus mumbles.

  "We're going home to save my dad," Ruby says loudly.

  "Ok, calm down, we're getting up," Antoine tells her.

  I chuckle at seeing Ruby being this excited. I'm glad we're going to save their dad, but scared that we won't make it in time. Antoine did tell us time moved differently in each realm.

  Ruby

  I can't believe today is the day we go home, or at least start going that way. I wonder if we have to go back to Kansas City first.

  "Antoine, do we have to go back to your club first, or is there a portal that comes closer to home?" I ask.

  "Since Talia is coming with us, there is a Summer portal that opens in the town next to yours," he says.

  "Yay, it won't be long at all then!" I exclaim. "Wait, how long will it take for us to get to that portal?"

  "Not long at all," he says chuckling at me.

  "I'm glad you find my excitement amusing, nothing is going to bring me down today," I tell him, then stick out my tongue.

  "Why don't we go find the princess and her men?" Seamus suggests.

  "Let's go then," I say, heading towards the door.

  Antoine leads us down the hall, the pookas following us closely. He knocks on the door and a blurry eyed man answers it.

  "What?" the man growls.

  "Flynn, we are ready to go, I thought we were to leave at first light?" Antoine asks him.

  "Hold on, I'll wake the others then check on the princess," he says, shutting the door.

  "He won't need to check on me," a voice says behind me, I jump, "Hello again, Ruby."

  "Hi, so we really are going to save my dad?" I ask.

  "Yes we are, but afterwards you, your men, and Jade's men have to return here to fulfill the second part of the agreement," she explains.

  "My men can't all come, and I'm not coming back without them," I say smugly.

  "Jade explained, and I can fix that," she replies smiling.

  "Oh, ok then," I tell her, at a loss for words.

  The door opens and three men come out. They look shocked to see Talia standing with us.

  "Princess, we were just coming to get you," the man who answered the door says.

  "I'm obviously here, so let's get moving. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back," she tells him.

  She walks down the hall and we follow her. There is a group of fae out front with all of our saddles waiting for us when we reach the outside.

  The sun is already up, so I
'm not sure how long I have before Jade takes over. I look over at Elias.

  "Your two hours are almost up, sorry Gem," he tells me.

  "Who knows what time it is on the other side," I say smiling.

  "You're getting soft on us, Ruby," Grady teases me.

  "Enjoy it while you can, I'm sure it won't last," I shoot back at him.

  "Let's get moving, I want to be back sometime this week," Talia commands.

  I walk towards Jade's pooka...

  Chapter 51

  Jade

  I fall on my face. I guess Ruby was mid step when we changed this time. I get up and look around, we are getting ready to leave it looks like.

  "Are you ok?" Beck asks me.

  "Yeah, I don't think we've ever changed while walking before," I tell him, blushing in embarrassment.

  "Nice to see you this morning, Jade," Talia says.

  "You too, Talia," I say grinning at her.

  "Let's get moving. We can be at the portal within the hour if we move," she commands.

  I climb up on Zeus and we are off. I wonder how we are going to get to the portal so quickly, when it took us so long to cross kingdoms before.

  "I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but how are we going to get back to the portal so quickly if it took us so long to get here?" I ask aloud this time.

  "Oh, there are lots of portals to the human realm. Several in each kingdom, in fact. We chose the one closest to your dad. It's a town away and happens to be in this kingdom," she explains.

  "Oh, that makes much more sense," I reply.

  I zone out as we follow Talia and her men to the portal. I think about what's going to happen after we save my dad, and collect Ruby's men.

  "Wait, I have a question," I say.

  "What, my dear," Antoine asks.

  "Time moves differently here than in the human realm correct?" I ask.