by J L Collins
I remembered reading about it in the file. "And you had the manor house searched."
"Yes. With no luck, of course. But he wouldn't have been able to hide out here without my knowledge anyway, so I wasn't surprised."
I stood up too, suddenly feeling like my purpose in this whole ordeal was finally worth something. "Okay. I'll head into Arcadia first thing in the morning. I need to figure out what to do with Fiona-Leigh first."
Because there was no way in the world I was letting my daughter into the lands of the Fae.
23
The Enchantment
“. . . And then a giant spaceship came to beam me up inside of it. The blue light, it was so beautiful. . . Okay seriously? Mom? Earth to Mom!"
I snapped to, the spoon in my hand still frozen in mid-air. "Er, sorry. What were you saying, Fi?" I asked through a bite of oatmeal.
Her dark blue eyes narrowed at me. "Did you hear anything I just said?"
The truth was that I was so wrapped up in worrying over what to do about the journey into Arcadia later, that I really hadn't been listening to her. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Sorry. I guess my mind is just elsewhere."
Fiona-Leigh leaned forward on her elbows. "Like where? I was just talking about our game plan for the day. You know, going to the Fairy lands and all that. You've been, right? What's it like, anyway? When I think of Fairies . . . I think of like pointed ears, beautiful faces, really awesome shimmery wings."
This was exactly what I had been worrying about. "Honey . . . I wish it were that simple."
She raised a brow at me, immediately catching the hesitation in my tone. If there was one thing I knew about my daughter, it was that she could smell any resistance from me a mile away.
Washing up her dishes, Fiona-Leigh waited until I was nearly finished with my own breakfast, before settling back down in front of me, her lips pursed together. "Please don't do the thing."
"What thing?"
"You know the thing. The thing where I get super excited about something new, and then you rush in and crash the party with bad news."
Geez, was I really that bad? "Come on, Fi, you know that's not what I'm trying to do here."
She shrugged her thin, freckled shoulder. "Maybe you don't need to . . . But that's exactly what you're doing. What's so wrong with getting excited about Arcadia? I've always wanted to meet the Fairies, even before I realized they were more than just a cosplay costume."
I couldn't exactly fault her, I mean of course she had a point. As levelheaded as Fiona-Leigh was, she had always been into fantasy books and the like. I didn't know whether that was because of her heritage or what, but I could understand her excitement. The thing was… The Fae aren't to be trifled with. They’re a Royal Kingdom older than Spell Haven itself, in fact they’re from the oldest part of the realm — they’ve been around for thousands of years before Witches.
And truthfully, any smart Witch worth her weight in black salt would know to be wary of them. They would look at a young innocent human childlike Fiona-Leigh and see a plaything, something to easily corrupt. At least the pixies would. I took in the excitement in her hopeful eyes and sighed. "I have no intention of you being there in Arcadia. I don't know exactly where I'm supposed to go just yet, anyway. It could be dangerous, and you're such an easy target that I —"
But I knew right away that was the wrong thing to say when I could practically see the fire burning in her eyes.
"Seriously, Mom? An easy target? What, now I'm completely helpless or something? I may not be some powerful Witch, but I'm not stupid, you know!"
I slumped back in my chair, feeling like a total idiot. Of course I would say something wrong, and of course she would be completely offended by it. "I really don’t want to argue with you right now Fiona-Leigh. I’m not trying to upset you, I just feel that —"
But then it hit me. My fingers delved into my jeans pocket, running over the edges of the amethyst pendant. The Stone of Joyce. What if I didn't have to worry about Fiona-Leigh being in Arcadia at all? Or arguing with me over it, for that matter?
Short of tying her up and locking her in a closet somewhere, I wouldn't be able to convince her work would really keep her from finding a way to follow us on the journey... But maybe there was another way.
I slid out of the chair and grabbed my bowl, playing it casual. "I just feel that you would have a better time here."
"Here?" Fiona-Leigh scoffed behind me. "What, playing babysitter to the only feline threatening to take over the world?"
Just on time, Oisín strutted into the kitchen before hopping up onto the counter. "I resent that comment," he said slowly, licking his paw. "I certainly do not need a babysitter."
Still facing away from the two of them, I slipped the pendant over my head and around my neck, tucking it into my shirt. "And we know that," I replied, turning back around. "Except if there's a nearby village that needs plundering."
"Or a ship that needs pirating," Fiona-Leigh joined in.
"Or a raw, smelly fish that needs to be eaten," I added with a grin. "So yeah . . . Maybe you do need a babysitter."
Oisín unmistakably rolled his yellow eyes. "Oh, har har har. You try to take over the realm one time and no one ever lets you forget it. You could learn a thing or two from me, believe it or not."
Both of us burst out laughing. "Mmhmm. What's that?" I asked, my hand on my hip.
I knew we were getting the conversation clear and far away from where it had been only momentarily before, which was exactly my aim.
My favorite set of crystalline salt and pepper shakers were being pushed to the very edge of the countertop, courtesy Oisín's fluffy tail.
"For starters —" the shakers fell to the ground, both of them cracking upon impact, "— how not to piss off your elders."
"Osh! Seriously?" I shrieked, dropping to the floor to quickly pick up the pieces, reminding myself how impolite it would be to curse my furry ancestor into oblivion.
"That's a naughty boy," Fiona-Leigh murmured as she scooped him up into her arms. "You don't have to be so mischievous to get your point across."
"Besides," I said, red-faced, "I hardly believe you are the voice of reason when it comes to not pissing off your ancestors. You honestly expect me to believe you didn't get on everyone's nerves even back in your heyday?"
For such a snappy little thing with ears like radar, Oisín seemed to have completely ignored me.
"Say, you don't happen to have any more of that delicious tuna melt from yesterday just lying around anywhere, do you?" he mewled at me from the safety of her arms.
The silence in the kitchen seemed to be permeating my head. Until the loud crash.
Oisín yowled, hackles raised to the fullest as he jumped up from Fiona-Leigh's arms and skedaddled behind my legs. I frowned, carefully walking to the front of the house to poke my head out the door and see what the heck was going on outside.
"Was it some kind of magic?" Fiona-Leigh's voiced dropped into a whisper behind me.
"No," I replied, scanning the yard. "I think it was just someone accidentally dropping something. Really loudly."
But she smacked her forehead. "Duh! It's Marina's uncle, I bet. He's moving in across the street. She said something about him having his own drum set, so maybe that's what it was.”
"Oh, you mean the new neighbor?" Oisín purred, his thick tail swishing back and forth. "How very intriguing."
"Why am I not surprised that you know more about this neighborhood than even I do?" I sighed as I moved aside the curtain sheers and peered out the front bay window.
Across the street and a couple houses to the left, sure enough, there was a moving truck backing up into the driveway. No one had lived in that house for a few years at least, so it was no wonder that others up and down the road were busy nosily sticking their heads out of doors to scope out the scene. Including me, obviously.
I let the curtain fall back in place, looking back at Fiona-Leigh. "And this is Marina's uncle?"
She nodded. "Yep. She said he just bought the house last week. While we were uh, busy, I guess."
"Speaking of Marina, I forgot to ask you if you mind if I spend the night with her next week. Like all week?"
I was already worrying over how excited she was about the prospect of visiting Arcadia. I didn't need another argument about her being gone for... Wait. What if this was the way out? I quickly shifted gears, the heaviness of the pendant on my chest helping me focus.
Focus. That was it!
It was the oddest thing, not having to whisper the words out loud but instead, letting them sit in my mind's eye. I concentrated on the spell, focusing all of my energy on it until I knew it was ready. Once I was sure Fiona-Leigh wasn't paying attention, I yanked a couple of my hairs from my head and waited until they were the color of the purest lilac before tying them together in a knot.
Focus near and not on far,
Focus on wherever you are.
Keep your mind busy and spent,
Not on where your mother went.
Listen to the words I say,
You will wait until Sunday.
Then the magic will be done,
Focus on only Marina and having fun.
I envisioned these words in my head as if I were speaking them out loud, wrapping my mind around them until they were spinning in circles. The silent chant kept going as I tied the knot of my hair as a protection spell to keep Fiona-Leigh only focused on spending the night with Marina. Nothing else would matter as much to her, and this way she wouldn't try and sneak away to Arcadia somehow. It was tricky and deep down my stomach sunk at the thought of using the magic of the pendant to make sure she stayed put, but if I had to choose between protecting her and having her happy with me, I would always choose to keep her safe.
I sighed, imbibing the magic of my protection into the knot of hair in my hand. How was I going to keep it on her at all times, though? I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to think.
"So?"
I spun around at the sound of her voice. "Huh?"
"So, are you going to let me spend the night with her next weekend or not? I told her we had plans tonight of course, and she said she was going to be at her Uncle's house, anyway. Apparently, he just had one of those big above-ground pools put in. He has to shock the pool with the chlorine chemical stuff, but she was bragging all about how she was going to go swimming this weekend. Ha! If she only knew where I was going to be this weekend!" she laughed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Then it hit me.
"Yeah, um, I actually have something for you. I just remembered! Hold on a sec," I mumbled, fumbling for the pearl earrings I was wearing.
She lifted a delicate eyebrow at me, confused. "Uh . . . you're giving me your earrings? But I thought you loved those?"
It was true—these were my favorite pair. They were actually from Lachlan's Lake, courtesy of a Selkie, but that didn't really matter at the moment.
"Yeah, I um, wanted to give these to you. I thought they would look really pretty on you." I took the other one off while she and Oisín exchanged a look, and I carefully tied the knot protection spell around it until it was almost invisible. "Here, let me put them on you and see."
She took a cautious step forward, still looking at me as if I'd lost my marbles (and truthfully, maybe I had.)
"There," I smiled, inspecting the way they shimmered on her earlobes once I was finished. "Perfect."
"You're so weird sometimes," she mumbled.
But then the tiniest ring of purple light blinked around her pupil, and she froze, searching my face for something.
"Actually . . . I think I might go see if Marina wants to hang out this weekend. It's so cool that her uncle has his own pool! Maybe they'll let me swim, too." she said, doing a complete one-eighty. "Can I go over and ask, Mom?"
Seeing the excitement on her face both relieved me and left me feeling like the crappiest mom, ever. So much for gaining back her trust.
24
The Neighbor
Fiona-Leigh stepped back after knocking on the screen door, throwing her backpack over her shoulder.
Marina's lanky form appeared in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh my god, I'm so excited. I can't believe we have the whole weekend to hang out!" she squealed, throwing open the door for us. "C'mon!"
To be honest, the idea of leaving Fiona-Leigh at home with a strange man I'd never met before for a whole weekend left me feeling slightly sick to my stomach. But Oisín had agreed to skulk around and make sure everything was okay, and after having a long talk with her about how to kick someone hard enough in the crotch that she can get away if necessary, I felt a little better.
The inside of Marina’s uncle’s house was still a mess from moving, with furniture haphazardly stacked all over the place, and boxes upon boxes with very neat handwritten words like "kitchen," and "living room," on them. Did this guy have better handwriting than me or what?
Marina leaned against some of the boxes, still smiling as she pulled her beanie off her head revealing her shock of white blonde hair. "Uncle Sully will be back inside in a few minutes. He's having to mess with the pool pump, I think."
I nodded, still looking around the house.
"That's so cool that he has a pool," Fiona-Leigh said, holding up her backpack. "Where should I put this?"
"I'll take it," Marina replied, pointing down the hallway. "We're staying in the spare bedroom back here. Uncle Sully's room is on the other end of the house," she explained, looking over at me carefully. "And I know you're probably freaking out a little bit, Ms. Brady, but he's a really cool guy, and my parents absolutely trust him. He works for the county, actually."
I raised a brow. "Really? What does he do?" I asked, following them.
"He's the coroner. Sorry, the medical examiner."
Of course he is. I backtracked a little, still looking around, wondering if it wasn't too late after all to lock Fiona-Leigh in the closet somewhere. "That's an, um, interesting job to have."
"Well, it pays the bills anyway," a deep voice chuckled from behind me. “I'm Sully Pritchett, Marina's uncle, by the way. But . . . I'm sure you put that together,” he explained as I spun around.
I found myself staring into dark brown eyes framed by thick eyelashes that would make any girl jealous. Sully Pritchett pushed his hand through the thick tangle of dark curls on his head. "Er, you must be Ms. Brady?" he guessed.
It took every single ounce of my energy to keep my mouth from hanging slightly open, no doubt about to spill some drool from the corner. "Yes," I managed to say, thrusting my hand forward like some kind of maniac. "I'm Gwen Brady. Fiona-Leigh's mother. I've known the Petersons for a long time," I added for some reason.
Sully had the appearance of someone who didn't quite know just how effective his smile was, and when the corner of it twitched under his dark but well-groomed mustache and beard, I was certain that I was moments away from telling him.
I tore my gaze away, my cheeks on fire. "Right, I just wanted to come meet you, since she's supposed to be staying the weekend over here and everything."
"Right," he repeated. "It's nice to meet some of the neighbors. You live across the street, don't you?"
The girls came out from the spare bedroom, giggling to one another, effectively cutting me off from saying something else asinine.
"It's like you're Amish or something," Marina laughed, both of them skirting around us standing in the middle the hallway. "Who doesn't watch Real Housewives? Even my uncle watches it!"
Now it was Sully's turn to look away, embarrassed. Even Real Housewives couldn’t level the field. My cheeks burned even more.
"It must be a pretty good show," I said as I smiled, wanting him to know it wasn't as bad as it sounded. "We don't watch a lot of TV in our house, but I can tell you we're not Amish." Again, Gwen. Why are these things he needs to know?
He ran his hand through his hair again, and I fought the weird swooning effect the best I could. "No
t Amish. Okay, good to know. I may not that there's anything wrong with the Amish, obviously."
I shook my head. "Obviously not. They’re perfectly wonderful people, I'm sure. I've never met any myself but —"
He chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I can't say I have, either. Wait. What are we talking about again?"
We both laughed together, and I felt some of the tension leaving my shoulders.
"I just wanted to thank you for letting her stay here this weekend with you guys. I'm going to be going out of town and I didn't really want her coming along. It's just boring work stuff, I'm sure you know how that goes. Or do you? Being a coroner and all, I bet your work isn't very boring."
Sully gestured for us to walk back into the living room and I followed behind him, not daring to look below his waist at the way his jeans just happened to fit. God, what was wrong with me?
"Boring is probably the last thing I'd say. But it can be very tedious, believe it or not. Intake forms, that kind of thing. It's kind of a thankless job, it's not like anyone's sitting outside of my office, thanking me for dissecting their loved ones or anything. But, you know. It's work. And it's not a problem at all, about Fiona-Leigh coming to stay with us. Marina's always talking about her, I figured I'd eventually meet her one day."
His voice had a funny way of being just deep enough that I could feel the rumbling in my chest. I swallowed hard. "Yes, well, thank you for being the town's coroner. Now at least someone's told you lately."
"Mom? Do you mind if Marina and I go downtown so we can pick out new bathing suits?"
I snapped out of it, fishing for my wallet out of my purse. "Um, yeah I guess so. Do you need any money? I have a twenty I can give you."
Fiona-Leigh stepped back into my view, her eyebrows raised practically all way up her for head. "Are you feeling okay? Did you actually just offer me money? Without referring to my allowance or piggy bank?"
