by Bonnie Lamer
“Perhaps it is easier to control Lielle’s mind while she is sleeping,” I say.
“Garren, will you please go to the archives and research Elf prophecies as well as the other subject?” Isla asks her new husband.
Realizing he does not have a choice, he sighs a defeated sigh. “I will. I will also ask the scribe for any information available regarding unusual Elf powers.”
Isla’s smile is filled with relief. She is quite protective of her new husband even though he’s not exactly a weak Fairy. It’s sweet. “Thank you,” she says. Garren kisses her on the cheek before heading back into the house.
As soon as Garren is gone, she turns to Tabitha. “There must be a way someone is controlling the child. Will you please check her soul and mind again? If you find anything unusual, please let us know.”
Tabitha gives her a sour look. “Do you think I would keep it to myself?” Gee, getting attacked by a knife wielding shadow really puts her in a bad mood.
Isla puts a hand to her temple. I assume she has a headache. “Of course not.”
Mollified, Tabitha places her hands on Lielle’s small head. The baby must be getting more comfortable around her because she barely fusses. Perhaps like Taz, she knows Tabitha is her true food source. Tabitha keeps her hands there for several long minutes. Finally, she drops them to her sides. “I probed deeper than I like to with a babe. I feel something, but I am ninety-nine percent certain it is the suggestion Addylyn placed there regarding Kallen and Xandra.”
I stare at Lielle and consider the possibilities. “Maybe she is as the prophecy says. Evil.”
Alita and Kegan have joined us. Alita adamantly shakes her head. “I sense no dark magic when her glamour is doing these things.”
That’s a relief. Thinking aloud, I say, “Then what haven’t we thought of yet?”
“If we knew that, we would have thought of it already,” Kegan snarks. He earns a slap on one arm from Alita and a punch on the other one from Kallen even though he’s still holding the baby. He’s better at multitasking than I am.
“Perhaps Garren will have luck with the archives,” Isla says, sounding more defeated than I have ever heard. Actually, this may be the first time I’ve ever heard her sound defeated. Who knew a baby could wreak this much havoc on our lives?
Turning to Whysper, I say, “You’ve been around the Elves for these past sixty years. Do you know of any who jump into dreams or control minds from a distance?” After all, if there was another Elf here, someone would have sensed him or her by now.
She considers for a moment. “I have no knowledge of any ability to control minds other than influencing emotions with their glamour.”
Not helpful. “What about other babies. Do they come up with weird things like Lielle is doing?”
Whysper glares at the baby. “As I said, I am generally immune to glamour. I have been around several other babies and none of them could produce glamour strong enough for me to see it.” She looks back at me. “Nor have I ever heard of a child doing such things.” Still, not very helpful.
“The babe has had quite a morning and must be thirsty at the very least. I will make her a bottle,” Tabitha says. She goes back into the house and I smile after her. She won’t let stress keep her from taking care of everyone.
Sitting down at the table, Kallen stretches his legs out to another chair and balances Lielle on them. He bounces her a little and she starts to laugh. What a sweet picture this would make. I still don’t want one yet.
Remembering I was supposed to ask Whysper something, I turn to her. Since I can’t think of a nice way to say it and be specific enough to make it a yes or no question, I just blurt it out. “Are you planning to do something to Lielle and blame it on us to start a war between the Elves and Fairies?”
Whysper’s mouth drops open. I wait anxiously to see if it’s because she is appalled I would ask such or thing, or if it’s because she was caught. Fortunately, it’s the former. “No,” she rushes to say when she once again has motor function in her face.
Might as well get all the questions out there and get it over with. “Did you kidnap her and bring her here to start a war?”
Scowling in annoyance now, she says, “No. Why are you giving me the third degree?”
Wow, what an old fashioned term. And, come on, she dropped a baby in our laps. That would make anyone suspicious. “Which Queen told you to bring Lielle to us?”
She responds quickly this time. “Queen Addylyn.”
Kallen looks up at her. “The Elf warrior we spoke to earlier said it would have been impossible for Addylyn to give you such a task.”
Whysper’s face becomes ashen. “There were Elf Warriors here?” She was on her walk along the beach when they came. We forgot about her while we were dealing with them. I hope she didn’t get into any trouble while she was away.
“Yes, and he said it was impossible for Addylyn to have given you those instructions,” Kallen repeats while trying to stare a hole through her head.
Shaking her head, Whysper says, “The Queen knew something was about to happen. She had a vision. As far as I know, I am the only one she told. She gave me specific instructions for when she was seized. I was to take the baby and run before the King Consort had a chance to kill her. Then I was to bring her to you.”
No lies that I can detect have fallen from her lips. I can’t think of another question, so I say, “You should stick close to the house from now on. We don’t want to run the risk of you getting caught if more warriors come.” Whysper’s face pales even more as she nods.
Tabitha comes back out with a bottle for Lielle. She hands it to Kallen. Shifting Lielle so she is cradled in one arm, he places the bottle at her lips and she begins to suck happily on it. Forgetting what happened only a few minutes ago, Kallen is lost. He smiles down at her. I hope he knows I am standing firm on the ‘no babies yet’ position.
“He should be pinching her every few minutes to keep her awake,” Taz informs me. “Otherwise, the odoriferous brat will have us all killed by sundown.”
I’d chastise him, but I’m worried about our general safety, as well. Why did it take so long for Kallen and me to sense the glamour? We could have been killed by the shadowy figures if the cut on Alita’s arm is any indication. Thinking of that, I say to my friend, “Would you like me to heal your arm now?”
“Yes, please. I cannot believe how much a little cut like this hurts.” She takes the hand she was using to stop the blood flow away.
Gasps circle the terrace. “What is that?” Kegan asks.
Alita’s arm has stopped bleeding. At least, it has stopped leaking blood. Now, black ooze is seeping from the wound. Kallen’s brow furrows as he looks at it. “Remnants of glamour?” he suggests.
Isla reaches a hand out and scoops up some of the ooze. Gross. As soon as she does, it begins to flake and eventually disappears completely. “Remarkable,” she says under her breath. To the rest of us, she says, “Part of the glamour is still inside her, left behind when the glamour broke her skin.”
“Does that mean she has this black ooze inside her now?” Kegan asks in horror.
Creating a cloth, Isla wipes Alita’s arm. As she does, the ooze disappears. All that is left is a trail of dried blood. Around the cut, though, are tiny black lines radiating away from the wound. Isla turns to me. “I believe you are the only one who can draw it out.”
I step closer to Alita. “I’ll try.” Closing my eyes, I touch her arm and send out some of the magic I pulled. It finds her wound and she hisses. Healing can sometimes hurt more than the injury itself. In my mind, I explore the cut and torn tissue. I can sense the glamour which remained behind and I begin to pull on it. Alita’s breath grows shallower as she tries to hold still. The process is definitely hurting her.
After several minutes, I finally have all the glamour I could sense out of her. As soon as I pulled it free from her wound, it dissipated. It’s not like removing poison. I didn’t need to take it inside me o
r put it in Taz to get rid of it. Which I am certain he appreciates. Now that it is gone, I concentrate on her wound again, this time healing it. “Done,” I say in a voice which is too cheery from guilt for causing her pain.
Hugging his wife to him, Kegan asks over Alita’s shoulder, “Will there be any lasting effects?”
“If all of the glamour was removed, there should not be,” Isla says matter-of-factly as if she has ever seen something like this before. She really must believe it, though, because I can’t sense a lie from her. I hope she’s right, but what if I missed a teeny tiny drop of it? What would happen to Alia? I guess we need to wait and see.
I sit down at the terrace table next to Kallen. “So, we’re pretty much not going to get any sleep until Lielle is able to go home.”
“You two could move into the garage with it. Then at least the rest of us can sleep,” Taz suggests.
“You could sleep in the garage,” I retort.
“I was here first,” he says haughtily.
Ignoring him again, I lean back in my chair. “I guess we do need to sleep in shifts.” I hate the idea of not having him next to me while I sleep for who knows how long.
“Maybe you could put Lielle’s crib in our room tonight,” Alita offers. “Then you can sleep while we deal with whatever glamour she performs.” It’s a sweet offer, but even she knows it’s not likely they could handle Lielle’s glamour on their own.
Kegan stares bug-eyed at his wife. “Are you insane?”
“You are very kind, Alita,” Isla says softly. “It will be safer for all of us if the child remains in Xandra and Kallen’s room.”
Lucky us. Holding my arms out, I say to Kallen, “Why don’t you go take a nap and I’ll take care of her.”
Kallen mulls it over in his mind. Finally, he says, “Wake me in four hours.”
I nod. “I will.” If not sooner because Lielle is starting to look sleepy again. I can’t imagine how such a small thing can wield so much power. I’m surprised she can stay awake at all.
“I have a meeting at the palace,” Isla says. “Let me know if I am needed here.”
“I will,” Kallen says. Wow, Isla must be worried. She actually wants Kallen to send one of his headache inducing telepathic messages. She kisses the top of his head as she walks by. I’ve never seen her do that before. Are the wedding and the baby in the house really making her grow softer?
As if reading my thoughts, Kegan waits for Isla to be out of hearing range before saying, “She has not done that since we were twelve.” A wide grin on his face, he adds, “Maybe she is hoping for a grandchild sometime in the near future.”
Kallen ignores him as he hands Lielle to me and rises from his chair. Now he reacts by punching his cousin hard in the arm. “Then you and your lovely wife should work on that.”
Kegan snorts. “Perhaps when I am a hundred and fifty.”
Alita looks at him in surprise. “I hope you are not serious.”
Kegan shrugs. “I did not have the best role model for a father, so I doubt I will be very good at it.”
Alita waves a hand in the air as if to fend off his comment. “Nonsense. You are a completely different Fairy than he is.” Kegan’s not convinced but he doesn’t argue with her anymore.
Leaning down to kiss me, Kallen says, “I will see you in four hours.”
Pulling Alita close, Kegan says, “I believe we should nap, as well. I am certain we will be up all night again.” He turns to Whysper. “I bet you could use some rest.” She nods in agreement.
I distinctly remember Kegan and Alita sleeping soundly in our room last night but I don’t say anything. Kegan probably has more than sleep on his mind if the blush on Alita’s cheeks means anything. I groan internally. I really want to make love to Kallen, but that’s on hold as long as Lielle is here. When the two of them disappear back into the house, I peer down at the beautiful baby in my arms. “I guess it’s just you and me for the next few hours.”
Standing up, I teleport us to the library. I figure there must be kids’ books in here somewhere since Kallen grew up in this house. I begin to scan the shelves and considering the size of the place, I’m surprised it only takes me fifteen minutes to find the small section of kids’ books. Obviously, there’s no Dr. Seuss, but there’s more than one that looks cute. I grab them from the shelf and walk over to one of the leather wing back chairs and sit down. Too hard. I try the overstuffed chair by the fireplace and I sink down several inches more than I thought I would. When I finally manage to get up without dropping Lielle, I decide to teleport us and the books back to the living room where I know there is furniture which is just right. And this experience is how I get the idea to tell Lielle the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. I hold her attention with picture books and stories for a good hour. Addylyn must read to her at home. A home I hope she will be able to go back to soon. When Lielle starts to get fussy, it doesn’t take long to figure out it’s her diaper.
I am just about to call Tabitha for a diaper when Taz wakes up. My stories put both him and Felix to sleep. “Oh my god, something died in that thing. That’s why Mama Bacon couldn’t sense another presence, because it’s dead!” he rants under his paws which are trying to cover his nostrils.
I scowl down at him. “When did Tabitha become Mama Bacon?” I can’t help but ask.
“The very first time she gave me bacon,” he says from under his paws. “I simply didn’t feel the need to share it with you.”
I scowl down at him. “You are a terrible Familiar.”
“Yeah? Just remember, I was modeled after you.” Realizing what he said, he adds, “Only infinitely smarter.”
“Yeah, you are,” I mutter. I decide to go track Tabitha down instead of calling out to her. I’m certain she would prefer it. I find her out in her garden pulling fresh herbs. “Tabitha, will you please make a diaper for me? Lielle needs to be changed.”
“Good thing you specified that. She may have thought you needed to be changed,” Taz snarks.
Annoyed, I ask, “Why did you follow me out here?”
“Someone has to keep an eye on the baby when she’s in your care,” he says, trying hard to sound nonchalant about it.
A simpering grin forms on my face. “You are feeling protective of the baby.”
“Not wanting her to die of head trauma because you dropped her is not the same thing as feeling protective. It is simply common courtesy.”
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”
“If the two of you are finished, I believe a fussy baby would really like her diaper changed,” Tabitha says dryly. Rising from her herbs, she creates a new diaper for me. “You will need to make your own someday,” she points out.
That is simply not a good idea. “And have everyone in the realm suddenly wearing a diaper? No way. Kallen will need to make them.”
Shaking her head, Tabitha takes her basket of herbs into the house. I follow because I am not going to change Lielle in the garden. It is already well fertilized. Tabitha washes her hands at the sink. Drying them, she says, “Let me see the child.”
She is determined to get Lielle to like her. “Okay.” I hold a suddenly clingy Lielle out to her.
To both our surprise, the baby doesn’t start crying when Tabitha takes her from me. She isn’t happy about it and her bottom lip is doing a pretty impressive pout, but she lets Tabitha bring her into the living room. I follow after them and Lielle’s eyes never leave me. My next surprise is when Tabitha lays her down and begins to remove the soiled diaper. She is going to change her for me. My heart soars in relief until she hands me the dirty diaper. I didn’t think this through.
Five minutes later, the diaper is rinsed and Tabitha has made it disappear. My hands and fingernails are scrubbed and I am ready to hold Lielle again. “How cute!” I exclaim when I see the pretty, pink flowered dress Tabitha has put on her. I probably should have thought about changing her clothes at some point today. Yup, I’m going to make a great mother.
/> Tabitha holds onto her for a few more minutes. She tries to get her interested in one of the toys she made, but Lielle simply stares at me like I’m the meanest person in the universe for not immediately taking her back. Giving up, Tabitha hands the baby to me. “At least you made progress,” I point out. I have no idea what she is grumbling as she leaves the room. Which is probably a good thing.
I consider asking Tabitha to make a stroller because I’m dying to do something outside of the house. I reconsider when I think of more Elf warriors showing up. Not that I couldn’t handle them. I proved that earlier. It’s the fact they would see Lielle and know with absolute certainty she is in this realm. And they may not be up for having their memories erased. Not that I’d do it again. I’m having trouble dealing with the guilt from last time. Better to keep her inside from now on. I look longingly out the window, though. Until Lielle hits me in the face with a rattle. “That was not very nice,” I tell her, taking the rattle from her. She laughs in response and tries to find another toy to hit me with. Did Addylyn let the baby hit her with things? Because she seems to have had a lot of practice.
I put her on the floor with some toys. She plays happily with them for a bit. She eventually gets bored and wants me to play with her. I’m not falling into the peek-a-boo or block traps again. Keeping myself out of throwing range, I roll a ball to her. She pushes at it and laughs. I soon learn that babies like everything to be repeated for infinity. Are my four hours up yet? I check the clock on the mantle and see I have two hours to go.
“I see the baby is doing a good job teaching you how to roll a ball,” a deep, masculine voice says.
I glower up at my biological father. “Don’t you have a realm to run?” I snark.
Sitting on the couch Lielle and I recently vacated, he smiles, “A task which has become increasingly difficult of late.”
I narrow my eyes. “Are you blaming that on me?”
He smiles. “Of course not.”
Liar. “You know I feel like I have bugs crawling on me when someone lies to me, right?”
