Summer's Gone

by Jen Talty

She swallowed her excitement and refocused her mind to the task at hand.

  “Norse?”

  “I’m here,” he responded, but his voice sounded gruff. As if he’d aged twenty years in the last few hours.

  “Did you see my vision?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you mean your dreams? When you sleep, I seem to go somewhere else.”

  “Can you hear the conversation?”

  “Not really. It’s all fuzzy.”

  “Tell me what you know about Hera. Or Iris.”

  “I don’t know who you are talking about,” Norse said.

  “All right. I need to talk to Drew and his brothers. I’ll let you know if I find out anything about how to get you out.”

  “Please hurry. I feel my mind slipping away.”

  Coral sat on the sofa next to Drew, allowing him to hold her hand. Part of being with him seemed so natural, as if she’d been sitting in this room for years. But he also made her heart race in ways she had never experienced. “We need to find out about a Royal Fairy named Hera who lived in a woman by the name of Iris.”

  “That’s your birth mother,” Nico said. “We were able to trace both your birth and Isadore’s to Iris Goldberg. She died shortly after you were born by an unknown disease, but we’re thinking it was a witch who cast a spell on her, trying to get to you.”

  “Why do you think that?” Drew asked.

  “Because she almost died giving birth to Isadore,” Chaz said, folding his arms across his chest as he stood in front of the fireplace. “When Ralph was actually Peter in the human world, he met Iris and had a short affair. She had Isadore and gave her up for adoption. A few years later, she ran into Peter again and created you. We know she died at the hospital, and we know that your adopted mother took you home.”

  “That means I spoke to my mother in the vision.”

  “But it can’t be a vision unless it’s about something that is going to happen,” Drew said, frowning.

  “But it was, because I think some of what happened, we will see again. Other things are a possibility and we have to consider, I’m seeing the past.” Coral rubbed her temples. She’d never in her life thought so much and that made her sad. Until recently, she had no idea she even liked coffee.

  So now that she was in tune with her mind and emotions, it threw her into a slight panic.

  Drew must have sensed that since he squeezed her hand. “We need to get Cheryl to look into who was the keeper of the Royal Castle at the time the Royals were cast into human form. I met him in the other side of the vision.”

  “That’s a good way to put it,” Coral said, nodding. “I was on one side of the castle, and you were on the other.”

  “Sounds very zen. Very yin and yang,” Chaz said. “What else did you both see?”

  “I went all sorts of places,” Coral said. “I saw all the seasons. But I think the message was that I need to help Norse.”

  “I was told that you are the new visionary,” Drew said. “And that we know more than we think we do and that others won’t believe us.”

  “What do you think you know?” Nico asked.

  “Absolutely nothing.” Drew let out a long breath.

  “Wait a minute.” Coral closed her eyes, digging back into the dream, looking at the cement wall. “The wolf. His image is carved into the castle wall.”

  Chapter 10

  Take the fairy spirit and hide it well.

  Protect her soul from those who kill.

  I cast the dust into the spell.

  Make it so until the time of free will.

  Take the fairy and make her a witch.

  Give her the powers she needs to survive.

  Soon, the reality from the other side will twitch.

  When he does, the fairy inside will be alive.

  Coral clicked on a second document. “The leader of the Coven of the Raindrops is right. It’s a simple spell and would have to be done with a special potion that had elements from whatever the reality is that is necessary to unlock the spirit.”

  “Could that spell have been used on Norse?”

  Coral shook her head. “The spell used on me and Isadore doesn’t hide the person, only the spirit of their true self, which is why Isadore always knew her core personality. Basically, all this spell does is bind the fairy and allow the person to be a witch. The person never changes. In the case of me and Norse, I changed, but was that because of the original spell, or the mixture of the two?”

  She tapped on the computer, hoping she could still find her way into the registry of spells of the witch coven she’d been raised in. Not that her coven would follow the legal rules, but she might be able to find something.

  Drew set a cup of coffee in front of her before sitting down next to her, wrapping his arm around chair. “What are you doing?”

  “Searching for a possession spell.”

  “Witches aren’t supposed to do shit like that. It’s against all governing rules.”

  “Yes, but many spells were written years before the Twilight Crossing Council was instated and all covens were required to register illegal spells.”

  She scrolled through a dozen spells and then let out a long sigh. “Nothing that would split a spirit.”

  “How do we know Norse has been split?” Drew asked with an arch brow.

  “We don’t, but remember we’ve been told we know more than we think we do and that…wait a minute. The visionary. He cast the spell. That has to make sense. Cheryl said that King Lear and his wife had four kids.”

  “Three kids. Three girls. Their son died during childbirth.”

  Coral shook her head. “King Lear was found murdered and his wife and son presumed dead in the fire. Their bodies were never found. Cheryl said some have suspected Aria and their son escaped and let’s not forget Aria was a human.”

  “But her child was a fairy, which meant no powers outside of the castle, but everyone would still know the baby was a fairy. He wouldn’t have stood a chance. The few fairies that weren’t cast out and came into their magic, ended up in the vase or dead.” Drew ran his hand up and down her back in a loving gesture. The more time she spent with him, the closer she felt.

  And the weaker Norse seemed inside the little corner of her mind.

  “Do who know the name of the visionary who helped Lear write the magic that cast out the Royals?” With every answer they found, it created at least ten questions.

  “No. Cheryl is combing through everything we have found on the Royals. Maybe we should go to her and have you look at some of it. You are a visionary, after all.”

  “I am, aren’t I,” she said with a sense of pride, but it quickly faded. She frowned. “Why can’t I see what to do? I’ve only seen what will happen if we don’t make sure Norse is cast out and bottled.”

  Drew leaned back in the chair, clasping his hands behind his head. “The only thing that makes sense to me is that Norse is still in your head, affecting you. It doesn’t matter that you’ve completely changed from the girl who showed up here weeks ago, to something closer to the real Coral. If you were your total self, we’d be feeling differently.”

  “But Norse isn’t blocking anything. If he was, we couldn’t have mated.”

  “Wait a minute.” Drew pushed back his chair with force. It crashed to the floor with a thud. “I claimed you. I know exactly when I did so. It was in the vision when you were sleeping after having your energy drained.” He paced back and forth, something she noticed he and both his brothers tended to do. “Every other fated mate, it’s been the fairy to make the first declaration during—”

  “Oh no. I don’t want to be at your side when you’re in danger of anything. I’m not cut out for that crap like my sister.” Coral’s stomach sloshed as bile rose, slamming into the back of her throat. It had been hard enough for what little of her was in the forefront the day they fled from their father’s house.

  “I’m just saying I’ve done what they call imprinting, and I fee
l it. I know deep in here,” he patted his chest, “that you’re the girl for me forever. However, as long as Norse is standing between us, you can’t do the same.”

  Coral glanced up at Drew. Something deep brewed in her gut. Something real and more intense than she’d ever experienced. Only it stayed an inch below the surface, unable to break through, giving her the life she’d been destined to achieve. “But only wolves claim mates like that.”

  “But you also have to accept me.”

  She blinked, sadness filling her soul. “I accept you, Drew. I accept our fate, only I don’t know what that is exactly, but I’m not holding back and like you said, the more we’re together, the more I know I’m going to love you.”

  He took her hand and helped her from the chair, pulling her against his chest. “Let’s focus on Norse and then things for us will be different. I believe that with everything I am.”

  She didn’t wait for him to lower his head. Instead, she raised up on tiptoe, kissing him first. A need to show him that she did feel something filled her body like a drinking fountain filling a bottle.

  “Let’s go to the main house and sit down with Cheryl. I think you looking over everything with your sister and Daphne might make all the difference in the world.”

  The last thing Drew wanted was to see anyone outside of his brothers, but they had only a day and a half left, and Chaz needed to be in the main house to help with his newborn Wolfairies.

  Which meant, facing his parents.

  He also didn’t know what to do about the faint scent of damp, wet grass, that was all of sudden coming off of Coral. She still smelled like her fairy self, but she started to smell more like a Wolfairy than a fairy and that couldn’t be possible because she couldn’t be pregnant.

  That was fucking impossible.

  “Are you ready for this?” He gripped the doorknob to the back door leading into the kitchen of the farmhouse. His other hand rested on Coral’s back.

  “No,” she said softly. “Is everyone going to think we’ve had sex?”

  “I think everyone knows we’ve got other things right now to deal with, and honestly, while my brothers can be morons, no one is going to care one way or the other, much less ask. Other than fairy and wolf business, my family is pretty good about staying out of each other’s business.”

  “I think I’ll just race off to the den where Cheryl said to meet her and my sisters.”

  “I’m good with that.” He quickly kissed her cheek before pushing open the door.

  “Well, hello you two,” his mother said with a big smile. “I saw you coming so I thought I’d greet you.”

  “Hey, Mom,” he said, cocking his head. “Please don’t say one word about mating,” he projected to his mother. The only human who could hear him.

  “I wouldn’t dare,” his mother said just as his father entered the room.

  “Dad. Please no wise cracks, okay?” he projected to his father.

  His father scowled. “You don’t have to worry about that. But I feel a little differently about this because she’s not taken you. She hasn’t truly accepted you and that concerns me.”

  “You can see she hasn’t?” Drew knew that some wolves have been rejected, and when that happens, they often die of a broken heart. It changes them forever when their mate can’t commit in their own destiny.

  “You both look good,” his father said, shaking Drew’s hand and pulling Coral in for a hug. “I sense it. So did your brothers, but they didn’t want to say anything to you.”

  “She still has Norse living inside her, and he’s blocked so many things.” Drew swallowed, nearly choking on his own breath.

  “I can hear your parents and you talking,” Coral’s voice echoed in Drew’s mind. It was more of a faint whisper, but he heard it and by the look on his father’s face, he heard it too.

  “We’ll all learn to keep conversations private. You can talk to your sisters about how to do it,” his father said, holding Coral by the biceps. “I hope you understand our concerns are for both of you.”

  “Coral, you’re part of our family, and we want you and our son to be happy,” his mother said.

  Drew really hadn’t wanted to have this conversation in front of Coral. She had enough on her plate than to worry about all this mating shit. “Where are Isadore and Daphne?”

  “With Cheryl in the den,” his mother said.

  Drew turned to Coral and opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to say anything.

  “I’ll let you know what I find, if anything.” Coral turned on her heels and made a beeline for the den.

  “I didn’t mean to embarrass her.” His father waved toward the kitchen table.

  Drew took a seat while his mother poured a few mugs of coffee. “She wants to accept her fate, and I think she feels bad that things aren’t happening for us like they did for my brothers, and did you catch the aroma coming from her?” Drew had often felt like a misfit in his own family. Nico and Chaz had been much closer to each other, than to Drew. Cheryl and Chaz had a unique bond and lately, she had the same with Nico. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel close to his brothers, but it was more like he was sometimes the fifth wheel.

  “Even I caught that scent.” His mother set a cup on the table. Steam floated in the air. “Now, not to embarrass you, but I know you and she haven’t had—”

  “No. We haven’t.” He interrupted his mother because he didn’t want to hear the word tumble from her mouth. “And it’s more like a wolf scent, but Norse is a fairy.”

  “You don’t know that for sure,” his father said, sitting across from him. “He could have taken on her fairy traits while he was the dominant personality.”

  “But was he really dominant?” Drew blew into the dark liquid before taking a small sip. It burned his lips. “Coral has changed. It is like she’s a different person, but I’m starting to get the sense that Norse coated her with something like a blinder because she’s still that vibrant, bubbly person when she’s not worrying about saving the world and not feeling like she’s in love with me.”

  “And how do you feel?” his mother asked, leaning against the sink.

  “I’ve been scared and confused from the day I got the call from Gerri, but there is one thing I know for sure. I know Coral is my mate, but—”

  “No buts.” His mother inched across the room. “This union is very different from the first two. Chaz and Daphne unlocked the Royals and their magic and fulfilled the legend of a new species. Nico and Isadore, the protectors, are part of that Legend. We don’t know how you and Coral fit, other than she’s the visionary for the Royals. And we need to find out how Norse fits in all of this.”

  Drew nodded.

  “What else is bothering you?” his father asked in that tone that he used when he demanded the truth from his children.

  He tapped his heart, the ache growing stronger and stronger. “I can feel her rejecting me, even when she says she’s not. Even when I’m kissing her. I know somewhere inside her, she’s saying no.”

  Chapter 11

  Coral stood at the door of the den. She sucked in a deep breath before pushing open the door. “Hello?”

  “Hey, you.” Daphne waved from the floor with one of the twins was tucked under a blanket as she breastfed, fairy dust gently floating to the ceiling. The other twin had been swaddled in a blanket and safely tucked in Isadore’s arms. A dozen or so books lined the floor between the two women.

  Coral’s breath hitched. Her sister looked like the most natural mother in the world. Her smile filled the room with more sunshine and love than any rainbow. “How are you feeling?”

  “That’s a loaded question, and I still feel like I’m fractured even though Norse is fading in the background. I can barely hear him now, so we’ve decided not to communicate until we absolutely have to, but I’m worried we won’t be able to figure it out in time. I’ve seen what will happen if we don’t protect him, and it’s not pretty.”

  “Nico is getting the vase a
nd will bring it here shortly. Hopefully, that will solve all those problems.” Isadore lifted the baby to her chest, patting the child’s back. The colors of the rainbow speckled through the room, sending a sweet warmth over her skin. It was as if the baby knew exactly what was going on.

  “Why don’t you take a seat here with me.” Cheryl sat at a table lined with paper and more books, old books, and some written in languages Coral had never seen. “I want you to look through the images we found of what we believe is the Royal Castle.”

  “I wouldn’t want to sit near me if I were you. Last time I saw you, I tried to kill you.”

  “Interesting you should bring that up.” Cheryl waved her hand. “Royal Fairies don’t make dust that can kill. Protect, yes. But never kill. Not by itself. So, you casted no such spell because you didn’t know you could.”

  “But Norse could have.”

  “And maybe he did.”

  “Another interesting fact we found,” Daphne said as she took one of the twins, laying it over her lap, and patting its back. “Norse means the God of Summer, Sunlight, Life, and Rain.”

  Cheryl pushed a book in front of Coral. “Dayton, the name you wanted to give Norse, means Bright and Sunny Town.”

  “Not exactly the same meaning.” Coral ran her fingers over the faded edges of yellowed paper inside the bounds of a reddish leather book. The top of the page read: The story of Dayton. The boy who never existed.

  “What is this?” Coral glanced around the room, all eyes on her.

  “Why don’t you read it and tell us what you think,” Isadore said.

  Coral took in a slow breath through her nose and out her mouth. Even though her childhood was fuzzy at best, she knew no one had ever asked her opinion before about anything.

  His name is Dayton. He almost lived long ago in a land far away.

  Coral flipped the book over to read the title: The Royal Fairies and the myths and legends surrounding their disappearance. “We’ve always believed in the Royals and the coming of the Wolfairies.”