Shades of Valhalla - Inner Origins Book One

by Ellis Logan

  Chapter 26

  We rode for several hours, stopping once to refuel and use the bathroom. As relaxed and close as I felt to Alec when we were riding, the moment we got off the bike it was like we were strangers again. He avoided eye contact with me and got straight to the business of getting gas. I shook out my hair, reveling in the feel of the breeze against my skin after the heat and confinement of the helmet. I headed into the truck stop to find a bathroom and some gloves. As warm as Alec and the October weather were, my fingers still felt frozen from the cool wind after an hour and half on the highway.

  Finding everything I needed I grabbed a couple of small coffees and headed back outside. The heat from the coffees did wonders to thaw out my hands. Smiling, I approached Alec and held out the coffee as a peace offering.

  “Coffee? I added a touch of sugar and some milk to cool it down, hope you don’t mind.”

  “Thanks,” he smiled back at me, reaching out to take the coffee. We stood in silence, taking tentative sips from the coffee. It wasn’t the best, but it was good road fuel.

  “So, um, how much further do we have to go?”

  “We’re almost at the Canadian border, and then it’s another half hour to Montreal, at least. There’s a safe-house there where we can stay overnight. We’ll ditch the motorcycle and switch to something more suitable for the terrain we’ll be covering. We’ll have about half a day’s drive tomorrow on some pretty rough roads. Speaking of which, we should get going,” he finished the rest of his coffee and chucked it in the trash, holding out his hand impatiently to take mine as well.

  I took my time drinking down the rest of it, holding his gaze the whole time. He might be my guardian and keeper for the time being, but I’d be damned if I was going to let him boss me around. I wasn’t sure why, but he was able to get under my skin with the slightest of things.

  He watched me, only the smallest twitch of his lips betraying the smile he was trying to hide.

  “You do realize, don’t you, that right now, at this very moment while we stand out here in the open, the leader of all the Shades on the American continent has every dark fae in the area searching for you?”

  My eyes widened over the rim of my cup, but I kept drinking. Once every drop was gone, I handed the cup to him, and he tossed it over his shoulder neatly into the small trashcan without even looking.

  “Sorry,” I shrugged. “I’m trying to exercise my trust, since I’ve been told that fear is my only true enemy.”

  Alec snorted. “Trust and faith are all well and good, but believe me, we’d rather not want to get caught out here alone with the Dark. I’ll feel a lot more comfortable when we get to Montreal. There are more of us at the safe-house, and very few Dark live that far north.”

  “Hey, I can take care of myself you know.”

  “Really? Like you took care of yourself back there at Vala’s?” He took a step toward me, a threatening look in his eye. “Do you want to try again, maybe prove to me just how well you can take of yourself?”

  I swallowed, but I stood my ground, determined to make Vala proud. “I’m not afraid of you. Even if you can take me down, you don’t scare me.”

  He took another step closer, coming toe to toe with me. “Well, you scare the hell outta me,” he muttered.

  He gazed down at me, and my breath caught. In a flash, he had turned and mounted the bike. “C’mon. Time to go.”

  Confused by his words, I grabbed my helmet and climbed up behind him. No sooner had I placed my hands around him than we were gone, tearing down the road as if the Shades were right on our heels.

  We passed through the border without incident, and arrived in Montreal in the late afternoon. I marveled at the beauty of the city. I’d never been to Canada before and I was surprised at how foreign it actually felt. I’d expected it to be like the U.S., just colder. Maybe more bearded men. More flannel. But Montreal looked more like Europe, a crazy blend of ultra-modern towers, Parisian architecture and old cobblestone streets. It was stunning. Most of the street signs were in French, although a lot of the shop signs were in English, or both.

  I couldn’t wait to get off the bike and explore. Surely Alec wouldn’t make me sit in the safe-house all night long, not when we were in Montreal of all places. Then again, he probably would. Maybe I could sneak out after he’d fallen asleep. Given how moody he was, I figured he could use a good nap.

  We entered a neighborhood lined with Victorian row houses, many of them painted in bright colors much like San Francisco. Little shops and cafes lined some of the streets, their signage clearly indicating that we had entered a pretty trendy, multicultural area. The explorative urge I was feeling tripled.

  Alec guided the bike onto a side street and slowly entered an alley between two homes. The door to a small underground garage opened as we approached, and we parked inside between a flashier looking Ducati and a positively ancient yellow and white International Scout. Several bicycles hung on the walls. After the door automatically lowered noiselessly behind us, my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the garage, illuminated only by a small glowing light switch by a door. I climbed off the bike gingerly, testing my legs before I stood up and readjusting my bags on my shoulders.

  Alec opened the door, leading the way inside up some steps. The muted beats of house music and laughter floated down from above. Someone was obviously home.

  The door at the top of the stair flung open before we reached it, and a slight Asian girl stood there with her hand on her hip.

  “About time! What’d you do, stop for lunch?” She eyed me over Alec’s shoulder. “This the girl?”

  “Yeah, we had brunch at Vala’s.” The girl moaned. Apparently she liked Vala’s cooking, because she muttered “Lucky” under her breath.

  “Siri, this is Amber Slaight. Amber, Siri Alvarsson.” We walked into a sunlit room decorated in brilliant, functional white with green accents. The kitchen, dining room and living room all shared an open layout. Everything gleamed, with Amber standing in stark contrast to the room, clad entirely in black, from her platform Docs and tight leather pants to the off the shoulder sweatshirt and heavy emo eyeliner rimming her deep brown eyes. Her long black hair was up in high pigtails streaked with deep purple. Her only jewelry was a dagger necklace that I suspected was more than ornamental. She was a manga dream.

  Alec nodded at a red-headed lumberjack in torn jeans, work boots and blue flannel lying on the couch. “That big oaf over there’s Ewan Patterson. Dude, get your shoes off the couch, you know Mitch’ll have your head if he sees you.”

  “Och, serves him right, outfittin’ this place all in white. What does he think this is, the damn Ritz or somethin’?” The boy left his feet up, but scooted a bit so his shoes hung off the couch.

  “Not everyone has your taste for corduroy and flannel, Ewan.” Amber flounced over to a chair nearby and flopped down.

  Alec walked over to the huge glass refrigerator and took out two bottles of flavored seltzer, tossing one to me.

  I followed him over to other couch and sat down, taking off my bags. Miko emerged and yawned.

  Any water for me?

  “Sure,” I answered him. “Is it okay if I get some water for Miko?”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot he was even with you. What does he want, is a bowl good?”

  Miko chittered excitedly and I translated for him, “No, just run the tap for him. He says he’d like to wash up a bit, too.”

  Alec nodded and went over to the sink, turning on a thin stream of water. Miko immediately jumped into the sink, using his hands to cup water to his mouth, and then carefully washing his arms and face in the stream. When he was finished, he hopped up on the counter and set himself to the task of grooming his fur. Alec turned off the tap, thoughtfully poured out some trail mix onto a small plate in case Miko was hungry and rejoined us.

  “Okay, so just to clarify – did you just have a conversation with that squirrel?” Amber leaned forward on her knees.

  “Who,
Miko? Sure. Can you understand him?”

  “No, of course not. Even in Aeden there are only a handful of fae who can talk with the animals. Well, other than the Ancients, of course.” She looked at me thoughtfully.

  “My mom told me not too many fae can talk with animals, but I wouldn’t really know. Miko says that he can hear what any animal or person in thinking, though.”

  “Really?” Ewan sat up a bit so he could see me better. “Is he some kind of special squirrel?”

  Miko snorted loudly and started chattering again.

  “Oh, yeah right.” I answered Miko and turned back to Ewan. “He says he’s not special, that all animals can hear all other animals’ thoughts. It’s just the humans and the fae who have interbred with them that have lost that ability. He calls it animal-speak. Oh, and he wants you all to know that he is my personal guardian for the next eleven months, so not to get any ideas about leaving him behind when I go to Aeden.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Alec interjected.

  I sighed. “It’s kind of a long story, but a few weeks ago, I was driving behind this huge truck near Mount Snow and saw it swerve in the road to hit Miko. I actually think it might have been Sullivan Carey driving, but I’m not sure.” I paused, not sure how much I should share. These were other Light fae, like my mom, and right now the only ones who might have all the answers I needed, so I decided not to hold back. “Anyway, I felt really bad and stopped to see how badly the squirrel was hurt. He was unconscious and I held him for a while… Miko actually says he was almost dead but somehow I healed him or something and after a while he ran away fine. A couple weeks later he showed up near my house, and he’s the one who distracted the Shades who busted into our house so I could get away. Now he says he owes me a year of service, some sort of squirrel code of honor or something.”

  “Wait, so you can talk to animals, and you have healing abilities?” Amber clapped her hands and bounced up and down in her seat. “So it’s true then. You really are Bran’s daughter.”

  “Um, I guess? Vala said that was my dad’s name. My mom never knew who my dad was, they met on a military mission and they all had code names, so…What?”

  All three of the Light fae in the room were staring at me slack jawed.

  Alec recovered first. “Sorry, it’s just-”

  “Every fae in Aeden knows who Bran Le Fay is,” Amber interrupted. “You’re telling me your mom didn’t recognize him?”

  Alec glared at Amber. “Jade raised Fredrika here, above below, remember? Without knowing his name, how would she have known? Fred never comes to Aeden, I don’t know if she ever has.”

  “Why would my aunt, I mean, sorry, my grandmother, have kept her out of Aeden?”

  “Most fae stay above below, or in Aeden. The only ones who regularly travel back and forth are fae like us,” Alec gestured to Ewan and Amber.

  “Fae like you?”

  “Light Guards,” Ewan yawned.

  “But, my mom said that she was a guardian, too. That our whole family stayed here to guard the earth from the dark.”

  “She’s a guardian. We are Light Guard. Big difference.” Amber sank back into her chair again. “The Light Guard is the elite of all the guardians. We keep Aeden safe against unwelcome intruders, and we protect the Light council. We are Aeden’s first line defense. I guess you could call us the fae Marines, you know, the best of the best. Hooo yah!” She pumped her fist and laughed at her own antics. “Guardians are skilled, too, don’t get me wrong, but they focus more on the day-to-day livelihood of the humans and animals above below than we do.”

  “Okay, so then you’re saying Bran is what, a Light Guard?”

  “As if! Bran Le Fay isn’t a Light Guard, he’s one of the most powerful a-”

  “Amber,” Alec interrupted her, spearing her with a glance. “Now is not the time.”

  He turned to me with an apologetic smile. “Look, I’m sorry, I know you have questions, but your dad, he asked us to just focus on getting you back safely, and leave any debriefing to him. He wants a chance to explain everything to you himself.”

  I folded my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes. “Oh really, you guys talked about this? You think it’s your right to keep me in the dark more than I have been already? Fine. Keep your little fae secrets. Whatever.” I jumped up and started pacing.

  “You know, you think this is easy for me? You think I give a crap about who my dad might be?” I ranted. “My mom is missing. Missing! Probably being tortured and abused by some Dark psychopath as we speak, and where has he been all these years? I never asked for any of this, I never even had any inkling about this whole, above below bull you guys are talking about. Light fae, dark fae, shades, druid seers. Ugh! I suppose next maybe we can go fight some witches and vampires or something?”

  “Actually,” Ewan drawled, “most witches are just watered-down fae human hybrids. Of course, there are the Druids, but they are pretty much just humans with heightened senses of telepathy and divination.”

  I glared at him. “Gee, thanks, I feel so much better now.”

  “No sweat. Vampires, now that’s a different story, those stories all stem from the way the Dark can use their energetic connections to drain life force from humans. And werewolves are just a branch of fae who can shift, too.”

  “Right, like Fenrir. Miko told me about him.” I sighed and sat down on the arm of his couch. “So, you really think this Bran guy is my dad? I know, I know, you can’t tell me about him. Can you at least tell me if he’s going to be able to help us, I mean, help me and my mom?” I could hear the desperation in my own voice, and hated it.

  Ewan reach up and placed a hand on my arm, smiling kindly at me. “Don’t worry, little girl. We will all be helpin’ you. Bran will make sure of it. You’ll see, he is the best help you could have hoped for.”

  “Little girl, are you kidding me? What are you, twenty two?”

  Ewan laughed, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. It felt comforting. My stomach didn’t react at all, although I felt a warm glow spread through my body. That was it, though. No fireworks, no sunlight, no joy like when Alec had touched me. Apparently, I wouldn’t have to suffer huge bodily mood swings every time a fae touched me. I exhaled, thankful, and couldn’t help letting my eyes slide over to look at Alec. He was staring at me grimly, his mouth set in a line while a small muscle twitched along his jaw. I couldn’t imagine what the problem was now.

  Ewan’s deep voice pulled my attention back to him. “Sorry, force of habit. You remind me of my youngest sister back home, she’s sixteen. But to answer your question, I’m thirty four, and six foot five, both of which pretty much qualify you as little in my eyes, sorry. You want to talk to a twenty two year old, go bug the young twig over there.” He pointed at Alec, who didn’t look any more amused than he had a minute ago.

  I smiled back down at Ewan. “Ok, Redwood. You got it.”

  “Ha, nice one. Redwood, old and tall. I like it.” Amber laughed and wiggled her eyebrows, making Ewan and I join in. Alec made a face and got up.

  “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying tonight.”

  I shrugged and followed him down the hall, grabbing my bags on the way. We passed a couple of closed doors and Alec pointed out the bathroom. He opened the door at the end of the hall, revealing a deep green room with a plush navy blue rug. The dark wooden bed had a canopy over it draped with a simple dark fabric that evoked the night sky. A couple guitars leaned in the corner and a pile of books sat on the floor by the bed. Otherwise, the room was relatively uncluttered.

  “Wow, this is great. Thanks.”

  I sat down on the edge of the bed and bounced a little, testing it out. “Oh, yeah. This is perfect.”

  Alec watched me, his gaze unreadable.

  “Right. Well. I’ll just leave you to freshen up then. Feel free to take a nap if you want, you must be tired after the long ride. Dinner isn’t for a couple hours.”

  He closed the door behind him and I flo
pped back on the bed. Oh, this was a dream. The bed was heavenly soft. I hadn’t thought I was tired, but now I realized a nap would suit me just fine. I kicked off my shoes and crawled up towards the pillows, burrowing my way under the covers. Mmm. My last thought as I tumbled into a dreamless sleep was that I needed to get the brand of their laundry detergent. The pillow and comforter smelled like rich forest air, bringing to mind freshly crushed pine needles with a hint of coriander.