by Sarah Beth
Looking all around she saw no one with her eyes, but her ears couldn’t have been so wrong. She stopped her approach and looked closer to a potted tree by her right shoulder, reaching out her hand ever so gently to touch a silky looking leaf. The voices, far away before, suddenly became clearer.
The trees! It was the plants that were talking to her. She stared at the tree before her and then looked around the room once more. The voices were clear but soft, a comforting hum.
“I see you’ve found my sanctuary.”
Startled, Abby jumped away from the tree and turned to see the Faye smiling at her. “What are they saying to you?”
She glanced at the tree beside her and back at the Faye, “They – they’re welcoming me.” That’s what it felt like, anyway. She wasn’t exactly getting words from the plants, but feeling and emotion. Like they were alive in more ways than the obvious.
A slight nod before he turned around, leaving her to follow him deeper into the room. After a moment and a glance at the tree closest to her, she walked further into the room. Her footsteps so soft she could’ve been walking on snow.
As she passed another table full of potted plants, she noticed a small pond with a bubbling waterfall at the end of the room, a silver watering jug beside it. A large bush sat on the floor before them, a deep green color like the pine trees outside of the glade. The tree felt just as welcoming to her as the other plants in the room, its voice just as calming.
Lord Elazar looked down at her and back to the bush, “What is this one saying to you?”
Looking at the bush, she wasn’t sure. She could feel this plant just as well as the other plants in the room, but it was lost in the murmur of voices and emotion. “I’m not sure...why can I hear them here? I’ve never heard a plant before.”
Lord Elazar turned from her to pick up a pruning tool before answering, “Your magic had been asleep, lying dormant inside you. Not until it was awoken again would you be able to see the world as your people do.” As she watched him, he began to prune the bush. And then he started to sing. It was a low, hollow sound, but it made her heartbeat pick up and warmth fill the room. His voice wasn’t like anything she had heard before. Hypnotizing; it reminded her of wind blowing through leaves.
And the words, she couldn’t understand a word he was saying. The language he was speaking was soft and elegant, one syllable flowing into the next. Even if she did know the language, she wasn’t sure she would be able to discern one word from another. They flowed together like water in a stream. Before her eyes, the bush began to change. It grew, a few inches in height and also in circumference. Its dark branches stretching, new leaves breaking free of their buds. Only when the singing stopped, dropping off in a long syllable, did the bush come to a halt. Transfixed, Abby couldn’t help but stare. With her mouth hanging open slightly, she turned to see Elazar smiling at her.
Wetting her lips, she gestured to the plant. “I – I could do that?”
The Faye chuckled, “With much more training. Yes, that and much more.”
Unable to fathom ever making a plant obey her every word like Elazar had just done, she asked the next question on her mind. “What language was that? It was beautiful…”
He turned from her, grasping the silver watering can behind them. When he turned back, his eyes looked troubled. “It is the language of the Faye, of your heritage.” He began to water the bush before them. “Had you been raised amongst your kind, you would have learned it. Learned how to use it to ask the world around you to change.”
Water trickled from the can, down the leaves and branches, and finally soaked into the earth. Until meeting Elazar, she hadn’t thought much about what she had missed out on, being hidden away. Sure, there was the fact that she never knew her parents. But it was everything else that she had overlooked. There was an entire species, a culture, a language, that she knew nothing about. Her father had robbed her of her birthright.
“What’s going to happen to me now?”
Elazar didn’t answer right away. He went about putting the watering can back in its spot, and cleaning his hands on a light blue rag. Finally, he stopped before her and sighed softly. “I don’t know, child.”
That wasn’t exactly the comforting answer she had been hoping for. Looking back at the bush, she could hear its voice again. Reaching out to her, like tendrils of a vine. She knew what it was asking her. Focusing, pulling on that ever-present warmth in her chest, she let it fill her senses until the room around her fell away. Lifting her hand, she drew it around the leaves closest to her and in the wake of her motion, roses of a brilliant pink bloomed before her eyes. She looked at the flowers for a moment before glancing at her teacher, his eyes danced in the light of the greenhouse.
“You know who my father is.” She didn’t phrase it as a question, because she knew it was true. She had known it since the moment he spoke to her in the meditation room, after she lit the candles. He continued to look at her, a small smile appearing on his lips. She sighed as she looked back at the rose bush, “But you aren’t going to tell me.”
He watched her, she could see him out of the corner of her eye. The small smile still present on his lips. Softly, he said, “No, I’m not.”
Turning around, she walked the few steps to the pond and sat down on the rocks beside it, feeling very tired. “And why not? Isn’t that important information I should have?”
Turning to her, he laced his fingers in front of him.“Because, child, that is something that you will find out when the time is right. Whether I am the person to tell you or not.” He stepped closer to her, until he could rest a hand on her shoulder. He did not, however. “But know this — you are a child of the Earth and the Earth will never abandon you. Do you understand?”
As the room filled with voices again and the warmth in her chest subsided to a comforting presence, she smiled. “Yes, I understand.” She did, maybe for the first time in her life. She understood on the deepest level imaginable. She had never felt at home, had never felt like she belonged. Yet her home had always been there, right under her own two feet.
Chapter Twenty-One
❖
Wesley
He had been sent away like a puppy and he had listened. A growl came from his chest as he paced the kitchen to the living room and back again. Glancing out the window and then at the clock, he knew it was almost time to go get Abby. He said he would be there by sundown, and damn it, he wasn’t going to be a moment later. He knew, deep down, that he was likely going to have to get used to leaving her in the care of the Faye often, while she learned about magic and her abilities. But he didn’t have to like it.
Somehow, in the course of a weekend, this girl had come to mean more to him than possibly anyone ever had. It had been slapping him in the face since he saw her in the cafe and yet he had been too much of a coward to think about it. Alex had known, of course he would’ve been able to tell. And Wesley was fairly certain that his father found it all very funny.
Glancing out the window again he grunted, it had been enough time. He could always wait in the truck if they weren’t finished training. Besides, he thought as he shut the front door, it’s not like Elazar would let him across the pond if they weren’t done. Looking out at the forest beyond the house, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was what his parents had felt like. Before he had been born and ruined it all. Had his mother’s smile made his father’s knees weak? Or had her eyes been all his father could think about?
Just as he got to the truck, a vibration against his thigh made him pause. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen before answering. “Warren, how’s the search going?”
His pack brother grunted on the other end of the phone, “It’s been slow, the cops haven’t exactly been forthcoming with information. But we’re meeting our contact soon — the one Ephram was able to get a hold of — Hopefully, he’ll have some useful information for us. So far we don’t have a lot but we visited the site of the murder earlie
r and Kyle said he could still pick up a scent of dark magic.”
Almost a year later and there were still remnants of dark magic in the soil. Wesley held in a shiver. Kyle had always had the best nose out of all of them, especially when it came to dark magic. If anyone could still pick it up, it would be him. Wesley hoped this contact could tell them more. Any new information about the Portland murder, that happened late last fall, could help them find Jessie. “Are you guys planning to come home tonight still?”
He heard Kyle say something to Warren in the background, but it wasn’t clear enough to make out the words. Warren sighed, “We don’t know, we’ll see how this meeting goes. How did Abby’s meeting with the Faye go?”
Wesley shrugged, despite the fact that he sat alone in his truck. “I don’t know, I’m about to go pick her up.”
Wesley could hear Warren’s movement stop; his feet stopped shuffling around the floor, the breathing through the phone halted for a breath. “You left her there?”
The shock was so evident in Warren’s voice that it took all of Wesley’s control not to growl. “Yes, alright. I was told to leave her there. She said she would be fine.” Through gritted teeth he managed to add, “I was a distraction.”
He hadn’t expected the laugh that came through the other end of the phone, “Oh, kid, I’m sure you are a distraction to the poor girl.”
He so did not have time for this. He growled out, “Just let someone know if you’re staying in the city tonight.”
Warren didn’t stop laughing, it just downgraded to a chuckle, “Don’t you worry about us, we’re big boys. We are perfectly fine on our own, actually. We’re enjoying the alone time.”
Wesley did not need to be thinking about their alone time right then. Or ever.
“Go get your Mate.” said Warren, and then his voice dropped to a whisper as he added, “I can’t believe you left her there.”
The laugh still evident in his voice made Wesley roll his eyes. “Goodbye, Warren.”
He didn’t wait for a reply before he ended the call, tossing his phone onto the bench seat beside him. He glanced at the sky in front of him, where the trees opened up for a small glimpse at the sky beyond. He would be early picking her up, but he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment. Besides, he thought, he always did like the idea of annoying that Faye a bit.
The sun still hung in the sky as he stood outside his truck, leaning against it as he watched the house. He’d been standing there for a good half hour, but he had no doubt that the Faye knew he was there. Although it was likely that he kept that information to himself, and hadn’t informed Abby. That thought annoyed Wesley just a bit. But what other option did he have? He doubted a swim in that pond would end well for him. Movement across the pond made him push off from the truck. The front door opened and Abby and the Faye walked out. He glanced at the sun, it was just above the tree line now, sitting low in the sky. Lord Elazar was always known for punctuality.
He watched, listened intently. But just like every other time he visited this glade, he couldn’t hear a word that was spoken across the water. He could see them speak briefly, watched as Elazar handed over a stack of books to her, before Abby walked across the stone yard and to the edge of the water. She stopped for a moment, looking down at the black expanse of the pond, before bubbles appeared. The stone steps emerged from the water and she began to step across, the stones disappearing again the moment her foot left the surface.
As she got closer to him, he couldn’t help but feel like something was different. Not wrong exactly, although the feeling did have him glancing across the pond at the Faye. The strange man simply bowed his head, before disappearing back into his home.
Abby’s foot finally landed on solid ground and she smiled at him, “You’re right on time.”
He shrugged, but couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on his face when she looked at him like that — happy to see him. “I told you I would be here by sundown. I’m even early.”
She laughed lightly as she walked past him, brushing a hand against his chest as she went. Warmth followed her hand across his shirt, permeating the flannel shirt he wore. He tried to wrack his brain, wondering if she had ever touched him so casually before this and he hadn’t noticed. Doubtful. And calming his wolf didn’t count, not to him.
Without much thought to the idea, he knew exactly what to do with their evening without the pack. He glanced at the sun one last time before going around the truck and jumping in.
She settled into her seat, setting the books down between them and rested a hand on them. As he climbed into the truck and put it into drive, he glanced at them. “Those don’t look like light reading.”
She followed his eyes and chuckled, “No, they probably aren’t. Elazar wasn’t sure when we’d be able to get together again, so he sent these with me. I’m supposed to read them before I see him again.”
There were three books on the seat, each one bigger than the last. Wesley’s brows rose high on his forehead, “All three of them?”
“Yup.”
Wesley fell silent, trying to wrap his head around reading that many pages in any given amount of time. Not that he didn’t read — he quite enjoyed reading. But he’d never read such big books, and certainly not for any kind of schooling. The small dirt road broke out from the trees, but instead of turning back towards the house, Wesley’s turned the other way.
He could see Abby look at him out of the corner of his eye, “Where are going? Isn’t the house the other way?”
He smiled at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes, “You’re right, but we’re not going home just yet. I have an idea.”
He would take her to Aasgard’s Pass someday soon, but they didn’t have enough time to get there by sunset. The nearest overlook was only a few minutes from the glade and had a beautiful view of the valley they had been in. She sat quietly in the truck beside him, but he could tell from her energy that something had shifted inside her.
She held herself differently, straighter. And she hadn’t been nervous like she had been when he left her there. He wanted to ask, but was already going a little faster on the dirt roads than he should have been going, so he focused on driving instead. As soon as the road veered around a bend, Wesley took a path off to the right, barely big enough to fit his truck. He saw Abby look at him, but she didn’t say anything. Content to wait and see what he had planned. A moment later and the trees opened up, revealing a semi-circular area with no trees, leading to the edge of a cliff. The sky was lit up by deep oranges and bright yellows, even some purple towards the horizon line. They had caught the sunset just in time. He stopped the truck and killed the engine.
“Wow.”
He looked over at her. She was looking out the windshield in awe, already able to see some of the sunset from the car. He smiled before opening his door, “Come on, view is better out here.” He let his hand lay gently on the small of her back as he lead her toward the cliff. He half expected her to shy away from his touch. Expecting that whatever conversation they had that morning to have set her walls up again. But after leaving her with the Faye for hours, he couldn’t deny himself a simple guiding touch. It was enough to calm the possessive wolf beneath his skin.
He had noticed it in the truck but now, standing so close to her, he was certain of it — her scent had changed. Not completely. She still smelled of sweet lilac, untouched earth, and fresh rain. But the scent was much stronger now. He realized, a little comically, that she smelt like Faye. The Faye always had an earthy smell to them, more woodsy than floral. But he liked the hint of lilac that seemed to flow off her skin.
He was about to point this out, knowing she would probably get a laugh out of it, when she reached her hand out at a branch as they passed. The aspen’s leaves were brown, having already lost their bright yellow hue. But the moment her hand touched the leaves, color burst forth again, filling the entire tree a moment later. He stopped, dumbfounded, and watched color seep into the leaves. He ha
lf expected the entire forest around them to break out in color, but that didn’t happen. Whatever Abby had done was contained in the one tree.
Abby kept walking for a few steps before turning around to see where he had gone. When he looked away from the tree and searched for her face, her smile was more radiant than he had ever seen it. Without a word she outstretched her hand to him. He waited a second before he walked over and took it in his own. It was warm, warmer than it should have been in the chill of the October dusk. As she pulled him to walk further out onto the cliff side, the grass slowly disappearing to reveal stone under their feet, warmth began to wrap around his forearm and spread into his chest.
Glancing at her, he wasn’t even sure she knew what was happening. Or even if she was doing it on purpose at all. It felt intimate in a way that they had never been. In a way that left Wesley breathless and yet wanting more all at once. She stopped when they were a foot or so away from the cliff’s edge. The sun was barely visible now, it cast bright hues of yellow and orange across the sky, illuminating the few clouds in the blue expanse with pinks. He had to admit, there really was nothing better than a mountain sunset.
He noticed, almost offhandedly, that she hadn’t pulled her hand out of his. Their fingers had intertwined at some point, he wasn’t even aware of when it happened. He had been so focused on the warmth spreading through his body, everything else had faded away. Not a good thing, for a werewolf. To be so engrossed in something that he became unaware of his surroundings. That was one way to end up ambushed and killed. She would be his undoing, he was beginning to realize. But as she watched the sunset, the colors reflecting in her green eyes, a small smile ghosting over her lips, he couldn’t bring himself to care in the slightest.
He would watch the world burn around them, as long she was by his side.
“You’re staring. You’re supposed to be watching the sunset.”