by M.C. Moore
Chapter 15…
Dinner went pretty smoothly. Kellan was still quiet, but at least she wasn’t outwardly angry at anyone. They briefly discussed Ty’s impeding visit and their father stated his objections once more. Meckenzie informed everyone that Jeff would be participating in the viewing so that he could gather information to run a background check. It was then determined that everyone would watch Ty’s arrival and interview with their father, in the media room upstairs. The TV up there was much larger and there was enough room for everyone to sit comfortably.
Taggart was super excited about getting to try out the equipment and after dinner he went and found Jeff so they could go through the cameras that they might need. Isabel and Meckenzie did the dishes while Kellan disappeared to the gym. Their father took his position in his study, where Meckenzie would ultimately take Ty for his interview.
Everything seemed to on track when the doorbell rang at seven o’clock announcing Ty’s arrival. Meckenzie took in a deep breath and headed for the door. She still felt so unprepared for this, like she was headed into a lion’s den for everyone else’s entertainment. She put on a big smile and opened the door. There Ty stood smiling back at her. Meckenzie felt a slight buzzing begin in the back of her head. She quickly concentrated on her mental walls.
“Hello Ty. It’s nice of you to come over. Won’t you come in?” Meckenzie couldn’t believe her own ability to act as if nothing was amiss. She stepped back and held out an arm indicating that Ty should step into the foyer. She braced herself for the magical alarm to sound, but nothing happened. Meckenzie wondered if the gnome’s hearts were even working, because she really had no doubt in her mind that this boy was up to no good.
As Ty stepped past her, he reached out and grabbed her hand to pull her in for a hug. As he touched her, the buzzing inside Meckenzie’s head intensified and was accompanied by several flashes of what she could only assume were thoughts going through his head. Meckenzie really couldn’t make out anything, she was just getting words. As Ty pulled her in for a hug, she braced herself for whatever would happen next. To her surprise, his lips dipped down and touched hers, sending electricity throughout her body. Her breath caught in her chest, she became light headed.
That’s when it happened; Meckenzie was plunged into his brain. She could see clearly Ty and two other people standing in the park. A girl and boy with his dark hair and crystal blue eyes. They were talking in a huddle, glancing every so often at Meckenzie’s house. Meckenzie couldn’t hear their words, but she could understand the intent. Ty was going to find out once and for all if these were the Trefoil triplets. She could feel the malevolence of his thoughts. The connection broke as he pulled away.
For a moment, Meckenzie had lost all sense of where she was, she swayed a little like she might faint. Ty reached out and took her arm trying to steady her, but all this did was reinstitute the connection that had been made by that intimate kiss. Meckenzie stepped back and leaned up against the wall trying to regain her composure.
“I’m fine,” She said. “I just got a little dizzy there. You have quite the effect on women don’t you.”
Ty laughed, though not all together a trusting laugh. He looked at her trying to discern what had just happened. The look on his face said he wasn’t sure that it was the kiss that had caused her dizziness. Though that was partially true, Meckenzie was going to swear that it was the kiss until she could speak to Isabel.
“My father is waiting for us in the study.” She led the way out of the entry and started towards the stairs.
“You have a lovely home, might I have a tour?” Ty asked.
“I’m sure we will have time after you meet my dad. We don’t want to keep him waiting; I believe he still has some business to attend to this evening.” Meckenzie was hoping this could go as quickly as possible. She didn’t really want to give him the tour, but maybe she could get Taggart to come down and go with them. Meckenzie heard Taggart’s laugh upstairs and wondered if she had been transmitting to him just now.
Her father was on the phone at his desk when they came in. He indicated that they should take a seat in the sitting area, so Meckenzie directed Ty to a seat. The office was open to the night and the air was helping to clear Meckenzie thoughts. She was still contemplating the image she had witnessed in Ty’s head during that kiss. Maybe Ty was planning on taking her tonight. Meckenzie knew that there were enough people here to make sure that didn’t happen, but she really had felt such hatred in his thoughts that she couldn’t imagine what else he was planning. Unless Ty meant to kill them all and the meeting was just a way for him to gain entry into the house.
Meckenzie began to panic; she felt a knot growing in her stomach. She didn’t want to do this anymore, she just wanted to go to bed so she could dream and talk to Morgan. Just as Meckenzie was about to completely freak out and ask Ty to leave, her father got off the phone.
“Hey kids, sorry about that, but when duty calls you best take the phone call.” Her father smiled and made his way over to the sitting area. “Now, what is this I hear about you wanting take my daughter out on a date?”
“Yes sir, I would be most honored if I was allowed to take Meckenzie out tomorrow night. I have a simple evening planned. Dinner close by, then I thought some coffee at the shop around the corner, home by ten.” Ty was quite charming when he wanted to be, but Meckenzie wasn’t falling for it. She had felt the malevolence in his thoughts. Meckenzie knew that there would be no being home by ten.
“Well, I’d like to know a little more about you if that’s okay. Where did you move from? What do you parents do?”
“My parents are both in the export/import business. My mother focuses mainly on antiquities and art. My father has a wide range of materials that he imports. They have always lived in New York; I was at a boarding school in Connecticut for most of my life. I was set to graduate from there this fall, but my younger brother was in an accident there and my parents brought us both home. It was kind of a bummer. I had to leave my friends and it was the only school I’ve ever known. The one good thing that has come of the move is meeting Meckenzie.”
“What did you say your parent’s names were?” Lawrence Desmond asked, going through the list of questions that Jeff had written up for this evening’s interview.
“I didn’t sir, but they are Fredrick and Lillian Rabe.” Ty smiled, he must have felt like he was doing well. Meckenzie just smiled and followed the conversation. She didn’t feel like she could have spoken if she were asked to. She was still experiencing the buzzing that had been happening ever since Ty’s arrival.
“So what are your plans after high school?”
“Well, I will probably go to Brown, my father went there. I was planning on studying business administration, and then probably going into business with my dad. He will be ready in about five or six years to start taking some time off. My mother is always trying to get him to go on a vacation that doesn’t involve stopping over somewhere to visit a business contact, or to view a product.” Ty was giving answers to every question that would have calmed the woes of most parents. In fact it looked like Meckenzie’s father was falling for it as well. She just hoped that upstairs someone was doing everything they could to check out Ty’s story.
“Well, I don’t see any reason why you two can’t go out tomorrow night. You’ll have to take the security guard that is in charge of Meckenzie’s safety, but other than that, I hope the two of you have a nice time.” Meckenzie was floored by her father’s response. She thought there had to be more questions that needed to be answered. There had to be something that could be done to keep her from having to go out with Ty. Meckenzie realized she could have just said no, but what kind of help would she be if she didn’t try to find out everything she could to help her family.
“I guess I’ll give Ty a tour of the house now. Then I have some homework left to do before the evening is ove
r.” Meckenzie walked over to her dad. She leaned down and kissed him gently on the cheek. She wasn’t sure why she did this, maybe as a way of letting her know she loved him in case something happened in the next few minutes.
As Meckenzie was leading Ty out of the study, Taggart came running down the stairs. He had a smile on his face and looked like he was ready to give her a hard time.
“Hey Ty, how are you doing?” Taggart stuck out his hand to shake Ty’s. Ty looked a little thrown off by this gesture. He stuck his hand out and Taggart gave him a hearty hand shake. “What are you guys up to?”
“Meckenzie was about to give me a tour of the house.” Ty responded.
“Oh she is no good at giving the tour; she forgets all the great details of how our grandmother built the house. Let me show you around.” Taggart took up the lead and explained the upstairs were our private living quarters and that it was a strict rule of our dads that no guys were allowed past the third floor. He showed off the spiral staircase and pointed out the dome at the top. He led Ty around the ground floor pointing out the hand carved features and the intricate tile work in the kitchen. He led Ty down to the garden level and explained that how our grandmother had entertained the elite of New York here. Taggart also mentioned how the trips would be having a birthday party there in a few weeks.
Taggart showed off the gym and the swimming pool, all to Meckenzie’s pleasure of not having to deal with it all. Just when Meckenzie thought she couldn’t take another moment of having to smile and pretend nice with Ty, Taggart led them back up the stairs and out to the entry way.
“Well, I know you must be getting back to your homework Meckenzie.” Ty said. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at seven.”
Meckenzie nodded, “Yes that would be nice. See you then.”
With that Ty was out of the house and Meckenzie was able to collapse right there in the entry way. Taggart leaned over her to check her pulse. She was fine, she had just been holding in all the anger and anguish she had felt from the moment Ty walked in the house.
“I’m fine, just help me up.” Meckenzie reached out her hand for a little assistance. Taggart pulled her up and put his arm around her shoulders in case she decided to take another spill onto the floor.
“So what the heck happened?” Taggart asked.
“I really only want to tell the story once, can we get Isabel first? I’ll meet you in the garden.” Meckenzie headed off to the garden and let Taggart locate and retrieve Isabel. It seemed like everyday something happened that required a family meeting. Meckenzie had always wished for adventure in her life. That’s why she and Kellan had made up all those stories about their mother. She just knew that there was adventure there somewhere if she looked hard enough. This might be one of those instances where you should be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Meckenzie just wanted one day to collect her thoughts and be a normal teenager, but she was sure that those days were long gone and far behind her.
Taggart, Isabel, Kellan, and to Meckenzie’s surprise, Jeff came out to the garden. Meckenzie couldn’t imagine that Jeff was here for the magical meeting. Maybe it was just to get the low down on what was determined from the conversation that had happened between Ty and her father.
“I think I have enough to do a background check. Though I would say that all the searching that I did while he was here indicated that he was telling the truth about his parents at least.” Jeff started the conversation off with the pieces of information that he had. “Though I will say it isn’t very hard to set up a background like that. I mean he may or may not be the son of the people he indicated were his parents. I will do some more background research and get back to you in the morning. I think I’ll excuse myself if there is nothing else you need from me.”
Meckenzie really didn’t want him to leave, but she couldn’t think of anything to keep him there. She liked him being around, she felt safer.
“Thanks Jeff for all your work on this. It may just be me being overly cautious.”
Jeff smiled that million dollar smile, “There is no such thing as overly cautious. There is cautious, and there is that behavior that gets people in trouble.”
Taggart laughed, “Isn’t the saying, ‘There is cautious and there is dead.’”
Kellan hit Taggart in the shoulder indicating that he was being a jerk. He just laughed even harder.
“Well, I was hoping to avoid the word dead. I assume we are trying to avoid death by all of this. And I’m sure your sister really doesn’t want to think like that.” Jeff was still protecting Meckenzie. Maybe he felt something too. Meckenzie pushed that thought out of her head remembering how easily she had transmitted to Isabel this afternoon.
Jeff excused himself and everyone else took seats in the garden. It had been a long night for Meckenzie and she still had to go to sleep and talk to Morgan. She really was excited about that part of her day though. Meckenzie knew she would be communicating with her mother tonight, even if she was talking to Morgan.
“So what about that kiss?” Kellan spoke her first words to Meckenzie in days. Were Kellan’s words meant to hurt her a little bit? Everyone was bound to have seen her reaction to the kiss and know that it was not a positive one.
“You know you have been nothing but mean and rude for the last two days Kellan. If you don’t have anything to contribute maybe you should just go away. I don’t have the energy, or even the patience to deal with you right now.” Meckenzie went off on Kellan like she had never done before in her life. Meckenzie had always been the patient one, taking the hits, taking the jabs, and taking Kellan’s foul mood and just loving her no matter what, but Kellan had pushed her too far this time.
“I wouldn’t be here if Isabel hadn’t insisted that I be. I have no urge to participate in any discussions about fairies or a fairy war. I just want my life back.” Kellan had begun yelling. “This is stupid. I want you all to know now that I’m not going to Aquanis, I am staying here. I’m going to college. You can all go run off and fight a war. Get yourselves killed. I’m not going.”
“Kellan, just relax. No one is going anywhere right now. We are just trying to keep ourselves safe. You are going to have to learn how to deal with your powers just like the rest of us. If you don’t, you are going to have a hard time having a college basketball career. It wouldn’t be good for you to go exploding into a giant on the court. For now, just put your anger aside.” Taggart’s words fell on deaf ears. Kellan was having no part of it.
As she stood up to leave, Isabel stood up too. She started mumbling something under her breath. Gradually she got louder and louder. Isabel was pointing her hands and words at Kellan. Isabel was casting a spell, a spell that none of them had heard before. A spell was causing Kellan to have the most frightened look come across her face. Kellan couldn’t move.
Isabel stopped her spell. She slowly made her way to Kellan and gently pushed her back into her chair.
“Now I want you to listen to me. You kind of have to listen to me because you can’t talk or move right now. It’s only temporary, but you need to hear something. You don’t have any control over your life anymore. It’s unfortunate that it has happened this way, but it is what you have to deal with. It’s more than anyone should be asked to deal with, especially a child such as you. You have been given these gifts to help all of Fae kind. They are a great responsibility. The idea that you can control them in the human world is a frivolous one. Kellan, you have too much of a temper. You are a spoiled child and thus you will listen to me. You will go to Aquanis. You will fight this war, and you will stop harassing your sister, it is counterproductive. So if you will calm down and stay here and listen to what we have to discuss I will let you go. If this is something you think you can do then blink twice. If it is not, I will keep you like this while we continue our conversation. So what do you think?”
Kellan didn’t do an
ything at first. She stared hatefully at Isabel. Kellan’s temper was going to be the end of her. Meckenzie had always thought it would benefit her, but now Kellan appeared to have met her match. Isabel was not backing down this time. Isabel turned to go back to her seat.
“Okay, since your sister seems to be attentive, let’s talk about this boy.” Isabel redirected the conversation back to Ty. “I think he is Fae. I felt it when he walked in the house. He is powerful too. I am pretty sure that he is here for you three. I can’t say I know who he is, but he is definitely Fae.”
“Really Meckenzie what was up with the kiss?” Taggart asked again. “You almost passed out afterword.”
“I had a vision. The buzzing started when he walked in the door. Then he touched me and it intensified. When he kissed me, I saw him in the park talking to two other people. They were looking at the house and I felt such malevolence that when he stopped kissing me, I almost fainted.”
“Did you hear anything that they were saying?” Isabel asked.
“No, it was just some gesturing and then a brief flash of the house and the deep feeling of hatred. I was sure he was going to try and kidnap me tonight, or worse, kill us all.” Meckenzie shivered at the last statement. She really hadn’t allowed herself anytime to work through that moment in the foyer, she had just marched on to the rest of her evenings tasks.
All of sudden, Isabel looked at Kellan. She had been sitting paralyzed and mute, but now she was starting to move a little bit. Isabel stood up and began casting another spell. Meckenzie couldn’t tell if it was the same one or not, but Kellan once again looked like something was wrong. Kellan was scared, that much Meckenzie could tell.
When Isabel finished her spell, Kellan was completely mobile again. Her eyes darted from Isabel to Meckenzie and Taggart sitting across from her.
“I’m glad that everyone thought it was okay that she paralyzed me.” Kellan was almost in tears.
“Look Kellan, you just needed a time out. I won’t do it again if you promise to cooperate with us.” Isabel pleaded with Kellan to understand reason. Meckenzie couldn’t say she would have reacted any different if someone had cast the spell on her.
“I think we have all had a long day.” Meckenzie interjected. “I still have to go have my little dream conversation with Morgan.”
Both Taggart and Kellan whipped their heads around to look at Meckenzie.
“Morgan?” Taggart asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, yesterday, I came upon a new gift so to speak. I can communicate with Morgan; she is part of the Morrigan. She and I are set to have another conversation tonight. It is a way that we can communicate with Mom without having to use the courier.”
“Great, Meckenzie gets another cool power, and I’m still she-hulk.” Kellan was openly crying now. “I’m going to bed.”
With that Kellan stormed off. Meckenzie thought it was probably for the best since everything seemed to set Kellan off.
“What do we do about her?” Taggart asked.
“I don’t know.” Meckenzie felt hopeless.
“Give her some more time. I’m sure it will get easier the further along we get.” Isabel tried to stay positive too, but there was a look in her eyes that said she wasn’t sure either.
“Do you mind if I watch you sleep?” Taggart said out of the blue.
“What?” Meckenzie looked at him dumbfounded.
“Yeah, I want to see what happens when you do this dream communication. See if your body does anything out of the ordinary.”
“It might not be a bad idea to have someone in the room with you.” Isabel added.
“Okay, but let me get ready for bed and then I’ll come get you.” Meckenzie felt weird having someone watch her sleep, but she knew that Taggart’s curiosity would only be abated by watching her sleep.
They all headed off in their separate directions. Meckenzie was so tired from her day, she didn’t know if she would even be able to do this. Well, only one way to find out she thought.