by L M Lacee
June called out. “If there are any teachers and anyone with music talent, please see me.”
Sage said “Anyone who have gifts out of control, or wish to learn to use what you have better. See me.”
Claire handed out clipboards as she passed one to Olinda she said. “Start writing Princess!”
“Oh my goodness! You aren’t going to call me that?” Olinda squealed.
Sage passed her on her way to a group of younger females saying. “What do you think? Princess!”
“Ash is a Prince you know?” She called to them both. They grinned and Claire said. “We know but he is bigger than you!”
“Oh well yeah. Still Princess!” And she stomped off to a group of young males.
EPILOGUE
V ery early the next morning Storm picked up Cara from her bed as Charlie picked up Kelsey from hers.
Charlie with Kelsey in her arms, followed Storm and Cara to the balcony overlooking the meadow. “Baby girl!” Storm said. “Can you see your surprise?”
Cara rubbed her eyes as she woke. “Me have supise dada?”
“Yes for you and Kelsey.” He looked to where Kelsey was in her mother’s arms with widened eyes as she looked out over the balcony.
He pointed and said. “Look girls!”
They looked down towards the meadow. The ground was covered in a silver mist, it rose to enfold the meadow in a mystical blanket.
“Isa don’t see nofing dada.”
Kelsey whispered. “I don’t see anything either mama.”
Charlie said. “Wait my babies wait!”
Then slowly a grey shadow moved, then another and then another. Cara was almost bouncing from Storm’s arms. He clamped her to him as she screamed. “Dada, mama, Kelsey. Unicons. Dada me see unicons.”
“Yes sweet girl Unicorns!”
As they watched, more arrived. Mystical silver and white horses with horns stood in the mist of the Unicorn meadow and looked up at Cara. Then they all bowed.
“Dada they are bowing.” said an awed Kelsey.
“Yes.” said Storm. “They are saying hello.”
Cara lent over and yelled. “Ello unicons. I see you. Me unicon too.”
Charlie, Storm and Kelsey laughed at the adorable toddler and as they watched a female with laughing honey eyes and a tall dark male with green eyes walked from the mists surrounded by silver Unicorns.
Cara yelled out. “Sista Olinda me see you wif unicons.”
“We see you Cara. We see you Kelsey.”
Ash’s voice rang out. Accompanied by trumpeting Unicorns. As the sound died away they heard the soft sweet voice of Olinda call out through the early morning mists.
“Good morning family. We introduce you to the Blessing of Dragon’s Gap!
So ends Ash and Olinda’s story but you can return to Dragon’s Gap and meet Ace and Harper in the fifth book in this series.
Ace & Harper’s Story
CHAPTER ONE:
H arper Easton was in the middle of a crisis, a dark cloud of gloom hung over her, shrouding every thought with its taint of despair.
“Cheer up girl it may never happen!” Her friend Frankie advised as she placed her berry shake, it was always a berry shake, on the table between them while sliding her tall slim body, some might say athletic, not Harper. She just called her anorexic! Onto the bench seat opposite her.
“Unfortunately it has already happened.” Harper mumbled into her coffee, yes it was always coffee for her. Frankie eyed her despondent friend and sighed deeply and loudly causing Harper to raise her granite colored eyes, fringed with thick lashes.
Frankie sighed inwardly. How? She asked herself again for the millionth time. Did Harper not see what the world saw when they looked at her? A beautiful, admittedly short woman, Harper was only five foot three in her socks because Frankie was fairly sure Harper didn't own stockings.
She owned the classic hour glass figure of a woman of the forties. Harper was what Frankie thought of as the quintessential woman of that time. With long auburn hair that usually had a soft wave, surrounding her face, unfortunately Frankie saw once again Harper ruthlessly tied her hair back with…was that…Yes….Dear Goddess yes! It was a piece of string. Not even colored string, the horror of it made Frankie close her eyes for a full minute.
On many occasions Frankie addressed Harper’s total lack of dress sense choosing to wear as she had today, jeans and a black tee and boots for goodness sake. Boots! Frankie decided it was time to renew the topic of clothes again with Harper and how clothes projected the right image. As she looked down at herself she nodded. Dressed as she was in a lovely pale green buttoned shirt with white cuffs that matched her white slacks and green shoes with a slight heel she was projecting success.
Frankie knew she was tall at five foot ten inches and slim, not skinny she possessed nice boobs, not too much but not flat chested either which she thought was just right for her. She knew her face was pleasant to look at, not too long or too round and when she looked again this morning, as she did each morning, she still did not have wrinkles and her skin was clear. Her eyes were lovely with long lashes, not thick like Harper’s but still, with mascara they made her eyes pop, of course her eyes were a soft brown which helped. A boyfriend commented once, that she had eyes like a cows.
She knew a compliment when she heard one and she decided that he meant her eyes had a dreamy quality. Her hair was a nice chestnut color that emphasized her cheek bones, at present it was styled into a short bob. Why? Because she inadvertently got it caught in one if Harper's creations and ended up cutting off over half the length to release herself.
Sad as that was Frankie decided to just go with the flow and refused to accept defeat and unlike her friend she would not wallow in despair, she would grow her hair out again, until then she would rock this bob cut. Damn it! Stupid metal statue.
Harper eyed her friend and read every thought that crossed her mind. Frankie Spring, and once again Harper thought, a ridiculous name, should never ever play poker, she was just not devious enough. Unlike Harper who carried with her secrets inside secrets, like the one she had now, she never told Frankie why she was in this town or that she was a sister to Charlie.
Admittedly until a month ago, maybe two, she might stretch that to three months… no more… well maybe, she was almost sure three months… Yeah that would be the maximum amount of time that passed since she found out that her sister was probably not dead!
Still she maybe should have told Frankie. She gave a mental shrug, too late now today she was leaving and it hurt more than it should. She found as she sat looking at her only friend, a friend that was special in more ways than any normal human could be, that leaving her was going to be a hard thing to do. Frankie had abilities she was otherworldly and not a shifter, she was like Harper born on earth but not to human or shifter parents.
Frankie was the only person in recent years to have slipped into Harper’s guarded heart, and as she watched her friend bounce to a song she could only hear, her heart cracked open a little more.
In her twenty eight years of life she had only ever loved three people, one was dead and it seemed like the other was indeed alive and Frankie! So before she changed her mind she blurted out. “I am leaving today, do you want to come with me?”
Frankie mid bounce stopped and listened to her friend. Unlike others Frankie had the ability to listen with more than her ears and she did so now. What she heard surprised and pleased her, she drank her milkshake almost to the bottom and raised her head saying with her habitual smile. “Okay, when do you want to go?” Harper released the air from her lungs in a gust of wind. “I have to go today. I have put it off too long already.”
Frankie pursed her lips in a pout as she drawled, as she thought. “All…righty…then... I am going to need an hour, maybe two tops to get my place closed up.”
Harper said nothing just sat watching her from eyes that became ghost like. Frankie slurped some more of her shake and stared at her fri
end then softly she said. “Oh! I see.”
Harper sighed. “Yeah! It is okay Frankie, it was just a thought. I will miss you though, you are just weird enough to be interesting.”
“I choose to take that as a compliment!” Frankie stated as she did the lip thing again which meant she was thinking. Frankie could not think without making her lips screw up into a pout, it generally made her look crazy or constipated. Harper had come to accept it as another fascinating quirk of Frankie’s, and she did have many.
She truly did not want to leave Frankie if she was honest she was slightly fearful of leaving her, goodness knows what danger Frankie would get into without Harper. The fact Frankie had lived alone without Harper up until five years ago made Harper break out in a cold sweat when she thought about it. It was just like the lip thing it was such a weird thing for a person to do and the worst of it all was that Frankie had no clue she did it or at least Harper was sure she did not know. It was part of what made Harper talk to her when she first arrived in town, the other part, Frankie’s wounded soul ultimately making her stay.
Harper had originally been only passing through the small town but after meeting Frankie she found herself in a barn on the out skirts of town creating her art, that was five years ago. All due to Frankie, who had been standing in front of a vegetable stand, at the street market! Harper stopped because she thought Frankie was hurt or in distress.
It was generally out of character for Harper to even have noticed her or to have stopped long enough to inquire into her health but the loneliness that emanated from Frankie drew Harper to her. Harper knew if she did not stop and at least talk to the woman it would niggle at her until she would be unable to sleep. Some called what she had a gift, she knew it for what it was, an annoying ability of finding out shit about people which she never wanted to know. It was why Harper kept to herself, that and her ability to kill people if they annoyed her too much.
It turned out on this day Frankie was trying to decide between carrots or potatoes, after that first meeting wherever Harper was, Frankie was there. It only took three weeks for her to become a fixture in Harper’s life. There was a mutual benefit that came from Frankie being in her life, Harper eased the loneliness that filled Frankie’s soul and for Harper, Frankie unknowingly kept the darkness in Harper’s soul from overtaking her.
To this day Harper was unsure how Frankie had slipped past her guard and succeeded where others failed by becoming important to her but for better or worse they were friends. An aberration for Harper and a novelty for Frankie, she was a person who danced to her own beat as she often explained to anyone who would listen. She was just too weird for most people, her weirdness just amused Harper.
Now though Frankie was not happy, her friend, her only friend was leaving and she was not coming back and she expected that Frankie was not leaving with her. Well! Frankie thought, She could just think again, who? She asked herself, who would she have? If Harper left. No one! That was who, plus she had sort of promised that guy she would leave with Harper when the time was right. Huh! It seemed like the time was right.
Frankie drank the last little bit of her shake, sighed at the lovely taste and wondered if she should mention the guy who talked to her, she had been waiting to tell Harper for about a year now but something always seemed to come up and she invariably forgot.
As she looked at her small deadly friend she thought maybe now was not the right time as she looked like she had a lot on her mind and there would be time to explain later. Satisfied with that she said. “Well then I am going to definitely need the two hours, so I better get going.”
This is what made Frankie lovable, she asked no questions and did not demand a blow by blow reason for Harper having to leave town. She just decided she would be going with her, and this is also why Harper feared to leave Frankie alone because she did not ask questions, she just had blind faith. It was this that made Harper fear for Frankie and break out in a cold sweat thinking of her alone in the world, vulnerable to any unscrupulous person with a sob story that pulled at Frankie’s soft heart. It was not like it had not happened to Frankie in the past, or so she had told Harper not exactly like that but Harper could read between the lines.
Frankie made to get up and Harper placed her hand on hers. “Frankie, you know what I am saying. I will not be coming back.”
“We,” corrected Frankie softly. “We will not be coming back and all I can say to that is, thank goodness I feel it is time we went on a road trip. So let me go I have shit to do. Did you pack already?”
Harper nodded. “I did.” What she did not say was magic helped her place everything back in her storage unit in New York. Being a half blood faerie, had its advantages. Harper lifted her hand and for the first time in thirteen hours since she decided the time was right to leave and find her sister and demand an explanation, she felt lighter. She smiled whether it was at the sight of Frankie dressed as she was in a green shirt and white trousers with her bob haircut, that looked ridiculously cute on the tall skinny woman, she could not say, or maybe it was the prospect of yelling at her sister. Yeah! That could be it, either way for the first time in hours Harper felt as though the gloom had lifted. “Okay then, see you at your place.”
Frankie squealed with delight and bounced and grinned wider as she shimmied her way out of the diner. Someone of Frankie’s build should not bounce Harper thought, she looked like a Pogo stick. But as usual her thoughts remained hidden behind her impassive face.
CHAPTER TWO:
H arper and Frankie had been at Dragon’s Gap for two days. Five days of travel to get here and Harper was not sure if the trip had been too short or too long, either way Frankie made it enjoyable with her observations along the way and her total lack of worry over where they were going. When they finally arrived at Dragon’s Gap Harper had been a little surprised that Frankie was not acting surprised. She had smiled at Harper and asked. “Don’t you think this is just a wonderful place?” When Harper then asked. “If she knew where she was?” Frankie just laughed and bounced to her own song and replied “Of course, Dragon’s Gap the only place to be.”
Harper had shaken her head and muttered making Frankie smile. That was two days ago so this morning of their third day at Dragon’s Gap Harper had decided they would visit the castle. Not wanting to go through the squealing and sighing and loving looks directed at her, out of soft brown eyes that she knew Frankie would do, as well as her saying over and over again. “Oh my Goddess it is a castle Harper!” Which would just get on her last nerve so she decided not to tell Frankie before they finished eating breakfast. It wasn’t like she didn’t have cause the first day after their arrival, Frankie had said the word castle at least a thousand times, to the point Harper heard it in her freaking sleep.
Harper eyed Frankie again as she sat opposite her in the diner where they were eating breakfast. Frankie was dressed in a flowing dress that displayed flowers on it with a short yellow bolero jacket and tan shoes. Harper unusually refrained from telling her she looked like a walking garden, even after Frankie literally screamed at her to change from her hockey sweater, which was absolutely decent with no holes in it, realizing Frankie would just nag her to either her death or Frankie’s, Harper decided to change with great reluctance into a black tee and her leather jacket.
Frankie had taken one look and screwed her lips up and frowned heavily when she finally returned until Harper accidentally, on purpose, shown Frankie her knives before she stashed them around her body causing Frankie to just sniff loudly in disdain. Harper knew that sniff, her step- mother had been real good at it.
Harper growled with exasperation and slammed from the hotel room with Frankie following and saying. “Childishness will not win you friends Harper!” And she loudly yelled her name which made Harper growl longer. So Harper had not told her where they were going. So how’s that for childishness!
Now thirty minutes later they stood across from said castle and Harper groaned softly as Frankie squealed, �
��Oh my Goddess it is a stone building!”
Ever since she had threatened her with mayhem if she said the word castle again. Frankie found every other word one could imagine to describe the friggin castle! Seriously Harper thought how much could a woman take. “It’s a castle!” Harper snarled. “Call it like it is!”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to upset your feelings or anything I know how…”
“Last nerve Frankie! Last nerve!”
“Yippee!! Castle! Castle. Castle!”
Harper’s lips twitched in humor as she agreed with a sigh. “Yep. Looks like one.”
“Please say we are going in?”
“Yep! Looks that way.”
“Yippee!”
Harper started the trek across the wooden drawbridge, listening to happy Frankie sounds coming from behind her.
“It is a drawbridge Harper.” Frankie said as she walked a little behind her, so she could look around.
“Yep. Looks like it.”
“Oh my Goddess! Was that a Unicorn?” Frankie nearly screamed in her excitement. “Harper there are Unicorns!”
Harper hung her head. “Yep there is and no we have to go in.”
“But later right?”
“Yep Later.”
Frankie was in her own private heaven she hugged herself. Unicorns and an honest to goodness stone castle, right out of the pages of one of her favorite novels. Could this day get any better? He would be here, her one true love, she just knew it. Okay she didn’t really but if this was a book, he would be!
Frankie felt the bubbles of glee bouncing around her blood system as she walked across the wooden drawbridge, okay, really, she skipped across the drawbridge to the castle.
They had been in town for two days looking around getting a feel for the place which is what Harper told Frankie when she had asked what they were doing. This morning Harper said they were going for a walk to see what else was here, as though Frankie had not seen they were heading to the freaking castle that just sang to every one of her senses and had since they arrived. Just because Harper had given her one of her ghost stares that she reserved for people who asked stupid questions when Frankie innocently pointed out the enormous castle a few times or maybe a hundred times on their first day here, that should have been no reason for Harper to demand she never, ever say the word castle again.