by M.M. Shelley
Chapter Four – Sita Knook
As Tatiana and Grasiella parked the scooters in front of G’s house Tatiana said, “My first surfing lesson, it was crazy, Grasiella. I know when you go out on the water you’re going to be a natural. I’m sure Kye would give you lessons if you wanted.”
Grasiella pretended to be listening to her sister, but she kept thinking about the guy they met … Eros. Lolani couldn’t stop gushing on and on about him. She had even paddled her board out to where Eros and his friends were sitting in the water. Grasiella could tell that Eros seemed amused by all the attention she was giving him but that he wasn’t interested.
They unlocked the front door and found that inside of the house there was a single light that was on waiting for them. It light up the stairs and cast everything else into shadows. Tatiana ran up the stairs wanting to beat Grasiella to the use of the shower. Some sort of bug blew past Grasiella who ignored it and followed her sister up the stairs.
The bug flew by Grasiella again as she entered the bedroom and Tatiana swat at it as she pulled out what she wanted for her shower.
“You really want to learn how to surf or is this just an excuse to hang out with Kye?” Grasiella asked amused.
“An excuse?” Tatiana asked. “Why would you think that?” She tried to brush by her sister to get into the bathroom. “I might even use my magic to enhance the board.”
“Tatiana this is a small island. I don’t think we should be doing anything where someone might see. Don’t think I’ll cover for you like last time.” The bug nearly collided into Grasiella’s face. “Besides, G might not like it. She seems kind of different. You know what I mean? What’s with her spending so much time out in her garden?”
“Old people like to garden,” she replied not at all worried with G’s attitude. The bug flew right into Tatiana’s face who cried out. “What is that?” she had her hand to the spot that the bug connected with and gave the sting a rub.
“Did you leave the windows open?” Grasiella asked as she checked the bay windows to make sure they were closed. “This bug is flying around in my face.”
A surprise gasp came from behind Grasiella, who was busy checking the windows, “I am not a bug,” it shouted.
Turning, Grasiella jumped. She was stunned to see who she saw standing behind her in the middle of their bedroom.
“I am not a bug,” it explained again. It had a look of repulsion in its eyes. “Why would you even think that?”
Tatiana, who was not at all surprised and who seemed excited by its arrival said, “No I can see you’re not. Who are you? And better still what are you?” She approached the bug that turned out not to be a bug for a closer examination.
Grasiella was not amused, nor was she interested in anything the creature had to say, “How did you get in here without any of the bells setting off?” Grasiella demanded from her. Every home that housed a magical creature had bells that would sound at the arrival of an uninvited guest. It was a much needed safety precaution, being that they were on the brink of war.
“I made myself small enough to fit to follow you in without noticing me,” she explained. She wasn’t so small now as she stood before Tatiana and Grasiella. She stood to be about four feet five inches, her face was very mature giving a hint about her age and she stood with her feet braced apart as if she was ready to defend herself.
Her arms bent with her hands raised up in front of her ready for one of the twins to lunge at her in attack. Her blue hair was held in a high pony tail and her eyes were a hazel color. “I can make myself any size I need to be at any time.”
“Now why would you want to get in here?” asked Grasiella, trying to decide if the magical creature before her was dangerous or not.
“What are you doing here?” Tatiana asked at the same time.
Turning her head from side to side to look at them both she backed up a few steps, “I needed to get in here.” Her voice became high pitched almost to the point that it hurt the girls’ ears.
“Why?” Grasiella demanded again as she realized the creature might have been exaggerating on the ability to be “any” size she wanted. Grasiella was becoming impatient. She wanted to know why this creature would want to get into the house and why she looked ready to attack them. Grasiella took a step closer to her.
Tatiana saw her sister take that step and could see that Grasiella was preparing throw the girl out, but she still had questions about who the girl was and what the girl wanted. Tatiana knew that Grasiella could easily evict the girl from the house with her martial arts skills and decided that if a fight was imminent, they would both be better off if Tatiana stayed on the sidelines.
Noticing the advancement, the creature shrieked out, “Don’t think to use any magic on me. You can’t use magic on a Fae. Once we enter a house, we charm it. Didn’t anyone tell you that?” The faerie sounded bewildered. How could these two girls not know that magic was useless on a faerie that had charmed a house?
“You’re a faerie? That’s crazy,” Tatiana said as all thoughts of a threat were gone. She threw a quick look at her sister. “This is perfect,” she didn’t see the same excitement leap on Grasiella’s face but she felt honored to meet a member of the Fae. As far as she knew, no one in the family had every seen one and yet here they were talking with one.
“I’m looking for Sita Knook! I know she is being kept here against her will. After she and I have escaped, I will remove the charm I have placed on this house.”
Grasiella could see that the faerie was clearly upset, but had no idea what she was talking about. Who was Sita Knook?
Tatiana looked confused at her twin confused, why would this faerie think that another was being held captive in the house? It was unbelievable. Not only did they have a faerie in their room, but that same faerie had placed a magical charm on the house, preventing them from using any of their magic. This was not good; she gave Grasiella a quick glance, neither one of the twins wanted to be defenseless.
“You placed a charm on our house?” Grasiella asked. This Fae was either seriously mistaken or mental, she thought. “You’re the only Fae in this house,” Grasiella explained. “What would make you to think such a thing? If we had a member of the Fae it could start a war. Do you think our family would risk that?” she demanded.
“Sita Knook is here and yes, I placed a charm on your house,” she said as she simultaneously took a step back further from the girls, who, she noticed, were inching closer to her. She bumped into the dresser, which stood behind her. Just then loud bells began to go off throughout the house, which surprised the faerie. “That’s not possible,” she cried. “They shouldn’t be sounding … I placed a charm on this house.” Clearly upset she continued yelling, “I’m putting this house on notice. Release Sita or I will return and I won’t come back alone.”
A light shot out into the room encircling the faerie that then became incredibly small, so small that she whisked out of the room through a crack in the window sill.
Tatiana ran to the window. “Did you see that? Did you see what she just did?” She was tempted to open the window and had her hands placed on the latch. “Who is Sita Knook?”
“No one has seen a faerie. They are not supposed to be around anymore.”
Grasiella joined her at the window. She placed both her hands on the crack. She looked out trying to follow the lit path of the faerie with her eyes. If it wasn’t for the charm on the house, she would have been able to mentally seek out the faerie as she flew. She would have been able to follow her. “I think Sita Knook must be another faerie, but what made her think that she would be here?”
“Who cares? We have to tell G,” Tatiana was just about to run out of the room. If she had, she would have run straight into G, who at that moment was rushing into the room.
“Girls, Girls, did you see anything? The bells sounded. Something must have come into the house,” there was a hint of fear in her eyes as she searched the room for a
ny signs of an intruder.
“G,” Tatiana was about to share with her grandmother that a faerie had just been in their room, but her sister stopped her with a sharp look.
“No, G,” Grasiella said. “We’ve been in here,” she lied, earning her a questionable look from Tatiana.
“Good, great,” not sparing them anymore time she rushed out of the room to check the rest of the house.
Turning towards her sister, Tatiana demanded, “Why did you lie to her?”
“We hardly know our own grandmother, Tatiana and for all we know that faerie was looking for her because she believes Sita Knook is being kept here.”
“Don’t say that Grasiella and even if G does have what the faerie wants, I’m sure there’s a good reason,” Tatiana replied, taking a step towards her sister, “which is why we need to say something, because that crazy Fae said she’ll be coming back here.” Tatiana looked uneasy with the idea of more faeries visiting the house. It unnerved her, they didn’t seem to be at all like what she had read about.
“Tatiana, I need to show you something.” Walking over to the dresser, she opened the top drawer. Taking out her journal she removed a charred piece of parchment. “I saw mom burn this in the fireplace the day she told us about coming out here.” Handing it to her sister she continued, “After she left, I pulled it out using magic, this is the best I could do to repair it.”
The parchment had black edges. The ink faded away in some spots. Even with all this, Tatiana was able to read what was written on the parchment. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would we be sent out here to be tested?”
“I don’t know. Maybe that Fae is part of the test, but who cares? Who says we have to go along with whatever they’ve got planned? I just don’t think we can trust G. We don’t even know her.”
Folding the parchment whispering Tatiana said, “She’s our grandmother, of course we can trust her.”
Taking the parchment back Grasiella returned it to her journal.
Think. Tatiana needed to think. Closing her eyes, she then asked, “What made the bells sound off?”
Looking at her sister, she knew she really didn’t need to answer that question because only one thing could set off the bells and that would be the arrival of another magical person. Two visitors in one night, perhaps whoever else it was had also been looking for Sita Knook.
“We need to check the house,” Grasiella said as she went back to the windows. “Where would be a good place to keep something that could be any size?”
“G’s office?”
Looking at her sister’s reflection in the window pane, she responded, “Yes but she never goes in there, she’s always in that garden.”
“No,” Tatiana placed her hands on her hips, “We never see her go through the door, but there are other ways to get into a room. We just saw one way done right in front of us.”
They agreed that tomorrow they would begin searching the house for hiding places. Where would be a good place to hide a faerie and why would G be keeping one? Another question was just who was the second visitor and what did he or she want?
