by Kimbra Swain
“I just told these people that I was trying to figure this out. I can’t run now,” I said.
“Fine. You stay in contact with me, and we skip if we have to,” he said.
Before we could move further in the door, Caleb and Kady walked toward us. Kady wore her normal smug face, but Caleb’s head swirled with the smoke. I tried to move out of the way, but Kady bumped into me and Levi. Tingles of a new variety shot up my arm.
“What the hell?” I said.
“I felt it,” Levi said. “Hey, Kady, can I speak to you for a moment?” Levi was trying to delay her.
“We are leaving, Rearden. She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Caleb said.
“We could step outside and talk,” I suggested.
“If you think that I want to talk to you, you are as insane as they say you are. Dylan isn’t even cold in the ground and you are fucking Levi,” Kady said.
Why was it always like this with other women? I didn’t understand the need to be so nasty. Even though I had a lower than the low opinion of her, I tried to keep the nastiness to myself. My disdain for her focused on her treatment of Levi. You couldn't mess with my bard without catching my wrath. I might have been just a tad protective. Not that he needed it.
“It’s not what you think,” I said. “Please, may we talk?”
“No,” Kady said, stomping out the door.
Levi and I followed her. He reached out to grab her arm, and Caleb spun around on him so quickly, I couldn’t stop the blow this time. Caleb’s fist landed across Levi’s jaw, but Levi, instead of hitting the ground, swung back at Caleb planting a fist in his gut. Caleb leaned over with the strike, then Levi kneed him in the face. Caleb hit the ground spitting blood. Levi backed away from him.
“We just want to talk,” Levi said through gritted teeth.
Kady was on her knees next to Caleb trying to dab his bloody nose with her shirt.
“Wow,” I said.
Levi beamed with pride in his work. I supposed that Levi was as worthy as any knight I’d come across. “Go inside and get a towel,” I said. He hurried inside leaving me with Caleb and Kady.
“Kady, how are you a fairy?” I asked.
“I can’t talk about that. Why don’t you just leave us alone?” she said.
Levi appeared with a towel. “Nestor is coming with an ice pack,” he said, handing the towel to Kady. People were starting to gather at the door.
“Back inside everyone. Caleb slipped and busted his nose. Nothing to see here,” I said.
Levi and Kady helped him up off the ground. “Sorry,” Levi said.
“I don’t know what came over me. I just wanted to punch your face in for touching her. I’m not usually a fighter,” Caleb said.
“There is some sort of spell or curse going on in town. Making people react in an extreme manner to small infractions. We’ve seen it a couple of times now. However, we tried to stop you, not because of the spell which we could see on you, but because Kady got an upgrade,” I said.
Caleb held his nose in the air as Nestor arrived with the ice pack. He took the towel from Caleb, using it to wrap up the bundle. Then placed it back on Caleb’s nose. “Everything okay out here?” Nestor asked.
“Just fine. Give Troy a call and see if he can send someone over to help monitor the bar for you,” I suggested.
“I already called,” Nestor said, then returned to his patrons.
“We are going to talk about this. You decide where,” I said.
“Why don’t we move over into the parking lot at the Food Mart?” Kady suggested.
“Alright,” I said.
Levi drove us over to the lot as they followed us in Caleb’s Yukon. The sun was starting to set, and I needed to get home to my child, but this was important. I now had two former humans in my town that were now fairies.
“What are you?” I asked.
“You can’t tell?” she asked back.
“I’m just wasting my breath for the fun of it,” I replied.
“We swore not to tell,” Kady said.
“Then you can get out of my town,” I replied.
“Grace, you can’t do that,” Caleb protested. “I know we had a rough time of it back when Malcolm was up to his shit, but he’s out of the picture now. It’s just me and Kady. Something had to be done.”
“Caleb,” Kady scolded.
“Why did something have to be done?” I asked. I was glad that Levi stayed back out of it. He knew that one wrong word from him, and Kady would lose it.
“Do we really have to leave?” she asked.
“Yes. I won’t have people here making promises that might compromise my rule. If you’ve indebted yourself to the likes of the Summer Queen, I can’t trust you,” I said. “I just need you to be truthful.”
Kady sighed then paced back and forth. She looked up to Caleb who shrugged.
“Malcolm enthralled me. I allowed it at first, but the more that our arrangement went on, I decided that I liked Caleb more. But the enthrallment was set in. We were told that it could only be broken by participating in a ceremony that would activate the fairy blood inside of me. Someone took us into Summer where the ritual was completed. The enthrallment was broken. I won’t tell you who took us,” she said.
“I’m not asking that. I want to know about the ceremony. What did they do?” I asked.
“There was a protective circle. People in robes with hoods. The main power figure who had a blue vile of cold liquid and a small piece of weird fruit. I didn’t know what they were, but I knew it was my only chance. I ate the fruit and drank the cold liquid. The next thing I knew, I had wings.”
“Wings?” I asked.
Her form shimmered as she dropped her glamour. Two sets of wings protruded from her back. The wings stretched back and were pale green like a Luna Moth. They were actually quite beautiful. A night creature. A pixie.
“They are beautiful,” Levi said behind me making Kady blush.
“Yes, they are,” Caleb added.
“How did you know to ask to do this?” I asked Caleb.
“I’d seen it done before. Then when Joey Blankenship showed back up as a faun, I knew it was the only way to get Kady away from Mal,” he said.
“And now Mal is with Jenny,” I muttered.
“He can’t enthrall her, because she’s too strong. Kady was only human. Unfortunately, not all fairies are nice guys like Levi and myself,” Caleb said.
“Levi is not a nice guy,” Kady contradicted.
“He didn’t enthrall you, and he could have,” Caleb said back. “I’m sorry I hit you, Levi.”
“It’s no problem. It seems I’m destined to get my ass beat today,” Levi smiled.
They shook hands. “Can we go now?” Kady asked.
“Just one more thing,” I said. “If you stay in Shady Grove, are you staying under my protection?”
Kady’s eyes flashed in the darkness, and her glamour returned hiding her gorgeous wings. “I have no choice,” she said.
“Sure, you do,” I replied.
“Stay or go?” she asked.
“No, you may stay, but not have my protection,” I said.
“She wants your protection,” Caleb said.
“You are as bad as Malcolm,” she growled.
Caleb promptly shut-up, but Kady relented. For a moment, I saw the old Kadence Rayburn who helped us decorate Hot Tin for Christmas last year. “I would like your protection, Grace,” she said.
“Happy to do it,” I replied. “How’s your father?”
“He needs to be changed too, but Rhiannon refused,” Kady said.
“I’ll go see him,” I replied knowing that Tabitha kept close watch over Matthew Rayburn. He lived in his old house, but the once vibrant Druid had succumbed to the wiles of a Summer Fairy. Same story different female. He lived in a psychotic state. It was sad, but I knew why Rhiannon refused to change him. He had been with Robin who had betrayed her. He was an adult knowing full well what she was because of hi
s status as the spiritual leader of the community. He made a huge mistake. If I could figure out how to fix him, I’d do it just to spite her and because I had always liked Matthew.
“Thank you,” she said then coaxed Caleb to their vehicle leaving me standing in the dark with Levi. He watched them pull away.
“Regret letting her go?” I asked.
“Never,” he smiled. “We better get a move on. I know a little boy who needs his momma.”
“It’s only been a few hours, but I’ve missed him,” I replied.
“Come on, Momma,” Levi teased. He decided to drive this time.
A pain shot through my neck as I woke up in the chair next to Aydan’s bed. He slept soundly all night. Perhaps I needed to leave him more often. He seemed so much bigger each day. His thick sandy blonde hair looked so much like Dylan’s. His sweet facial features including that bright smile were just like his father’s. No one would ever doubt whose child he was. He was my piece of Dylan to have forever.
“Stop sleeping in that chair,” Levi’s voice echoed in my head. He was downstairs, but I supposed he felt me wake up.
“Mind your own business, Dublin,” I said.
“You are my business, Grace,” he sassed. His momma must not have taught him to be respectful to his elders. Either that or he just ignored it. I knew better though. His mother taught him to sing. Lately he’d stuck to playing his lute and humming tunes. One day, I wanted to hear him sing again.
I tiptoed out of the nursery to the empty bedroom. My uniform for most days included t-shirts and jean shorts. I had other clothes, but I felt like myself in these. As soon as we returned from Summer, Tab and Remy showed up with bags of clothes for all of us. Winnie loved having clothes brought to her. She said since I was the Queen, she was a princess. She was to me whether or not she fully understood the meaning. I told Tab that she was my personal assistant always bringing me clothes. Winnie promptly corrected me saying the doctor was actually her assistant.
When I passed back by the nursery, Aydan’s little head rolled around when he heard me. His bright blue eyes made contact and he smiled. Make my heart melt, Little Bird.
“Are you ready to get up?” I asked. He wiggled in the bed until I picked him up. We sat back down in the chair, and he had his morning meal. When he was done, he didn’t immediately pass out into a milk coma. He was starting to stay awake for longer periods of time.
I rocked in the glider with him. He and I talked a lot about his daddy. Just as he was about to fall asleep, someone banged on the front door. He woke back up with wide eyes. I tried to comfort him as I listened below.
“I wanna talk to her now!” a man shouted.
“We are having breakfast, Lamar. Can it wait?” Levi asked.
Aydan was drifting off, but with every shout, his eyes shot open. I decided I better go downstairs.
“She’s got to do something about those two humans,” Lamar said.
I strolled down the steps to find Lamar, the peg-legged troll, wobbling on one leg. The real one.
“Morning, Lamar,” I said, as Levi took Aydan from me. “What’s going on?”
“Them two varmints keep stealing my peg. They think they are funny, but they ain’t,” he snorted.
“I thought you had more than one peg?” I asked.
“I do, but some of them are for special occasions,” he said waggling his eyebrows. Levi started coughing uncontrollably. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head, and I couldn’t stop them. There was sometimes when my mind hit the gutter, and sometimes it just wallowed in the sludge. Lord have mercy.
“I’ll talk to Cletus and Tater. They are just playing around. I’m sure they mean no harm,” I said.
“If they don’t stop, they will meet my harpoon peg,” he grunted, then hopped out the door. I noticed the green haze after he left, but Lamar was mostly harmless. I didn’t expect anything to become of it. He’d made friends with Cletus and Tater. They were all cut from the same cloth, but the two idiots loved a practical joke or two or three. They never knew when to stop. With the curse in full effect, poor Lamar would have to put up with their shenanigans.
“Good to see ya!” I called out to him. He waved me off, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Man, he was hoppin’ mad,” Levi said.
Crickets.
“Don’t even,” I said trying to hold back a smile.
“Please don’t,” Astor added.
“Morning, Knight,” I said.
“Where is Winnie?” I asked.
“It’s close to 10 a.m., Grace,” Levi said.
“Well, shit. Aydan slept late,” I said.
“So, did you. There are biscuits in here though,” Astor said.
“Thank you, Astor,” I replied as I picked one up to put butter on it. They were still warm. I had no doubt Astor made sure of it. I watched as Levi coaxed Aydan back to sleep. He lowered him into the playpen in the corner of the room and placed a blanket on him when I heard another car.
Levi looked out the window. “It’s Troy,” he said.
“Please don’t let it be bad news,” I hoped.
Levi met him at the door, then pointed out the sleeping baby as Troy stepped into the house.
“Morning,” he greeted us softly. “Can we talk outside?”
“Sure. May I bring my biscuit?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he laughed. I stepped out onto the porch with him. The heat hit me in the face. It was muggy. I felt like I was trying to breathe in Jello. “Damn, it’s hot.”
“Yep. What’s up?” I asked.
“I thought you should know that Mark got in trouble this morning at school,” he said.
“Already? It’s early in the day,” I said.
“Apparently the argument started yesterday. Some of the kids were making fun of Winnie. She was fine. I’m pretty sure she told them off. Wonder where she learned that?” he smiled.
I shrugged and took another bite of biscuit. “Oh, hell. Do you want a biscuit? Astor made plenty,” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ll get one before I leave. Anyway. Mark is so protective of her,” he said.
“And he got in a fight,” I said.
“Yes, but we’ve taught him to control his anger. It’s important for us with animal instincts to learn that early in life. At least, he didn’t shift. He’s been suspended for a day for fighting. I thought you should know, so you didn’t hear it around town. Plus, I wonder if the spell affected him in some way. If that’s the case, we might consider shutting the school down,” he suggested.
“Perhaps. Come on back inside. We will get you some breakfast to go. Levi and I will start some research on the internet today and see if we can come up with a cause of all of this,” I said.
“In other words, you are going to make Levi do it,” he said.
“Of course, you are,” Levi said.
“Levi is a very capable assistant,” I said.
Troy grunted as he laughed. “You two crack me up.”
“The Grace and Levi Comedy Show. That’s us,” I said.
I could practically hear Levi roll his eyes in my head. Wasn’t that disturbing?
“Hopefully you find something soon. We are breaking up fights all over town. Amanda responded to a call at the Food Mart. Mrs. Frist had Mrs. Purcell face down in the bakery shoving a pie in her face screaming, ‘Eat that, you pig’.”
“Yikes! You know, Mrs. Frist is the one that started the complaint about the Purcell’s moving into Neverland,” I said.
“I didn’t know that,” Troy said biting into a biscuit. “Damn, that’s good, Knight.”
“Thank you,” Astor said beaming with pride. He’d leaned back in a chair at the dining room table to read something on his phone. Levi was still teaching him how to use it, but he had his favorites saved. He knew how to get to what he wanted. Every time I turned around he was playing some silly game where you build your castle and fight off attackers. Just what he needed.
“I’ll be heading out.
Stay near a phone in case we need you in town. This curse is getting worse,” he said as he went out the door. I looked over to Aydan who stirred a little as the door shut, but he seemed to continue sleeping. Levi already had his tablet out searching the internet for curses.
After grabbing another biscuit, I sat down on the couch. “Bring that thing over here so I can see,” I told Levi. He picked up the tablet, then sat next to me on the couch. He had googled curses but found a lot of links about the health benefits of using vulgar language. Go figure. “Try hexes.”
I watched his hands maneuver over the glass screen. When Levi moved into the trailer, I had noted the strength in his hands. They were also worn from hard work. He had told me that he worked on a farm back in Texas. Even now, those years of labor showed in his hands. The screen flashed up with options, and Levi clicked on one. Reading in between bites of biscuits, I scanned the list. Some of them were legitimate spells and magic. It amazed me that such dangerous literature was openly available to any human who knew how to use it. Thankfully, most humans still ignored the magic around them.
“This,” Levi said clicking on a link before I was able to read it.
I knew the moment that the page loaded that we had found what we were looking for. A large Hamsa hand like the necklace that Wendy wore the other day appeared on the screen. Across the top of the page, it said, “The Evil Eye.”
“This is old magic, but most of the time it’s cast unintentionally, ” I said.
“We have a dead human body that indicates it was entirely intentional,” Levi responded.
“Hmm,” I said. “Someone is coming.”
“What?” Levi asked as we heard a knock on the front door.
“Grand central fucking station,” I said.
“You need an office,” Levi responded.
“Will you be my secretary?” I asked.
“Only if I get to get under your desk,” Levi grinned.
“Scandalous,” I said as he opened the door.
“Come in, Mrs. Santiago,” Levi said.
I hadn’t seen Mrs. Santiago since Dylan and I visited her home after I killed her husband. Her wife-beating, traitorous husband. She was carrying a basket of corn. Deacon Giles and the Yule Lads had been planting her fields with corn, but I knew it was too early to harvest. There were growing spells, but we tended to avoid them. One wrong word and you could die of dysentery. Not a good way to go.
