Celtic Magic

by Amber LaShell

  “So, why a two-bedroom instead of a one-bedroom?” she asked him.

  “Normally I would choose a one-bedroom, but the view is better from the two-bedroom apartments” he answered her as they continued to climb.

  After just a few minutes they arrived and the doors opened up and they walked out of the elevator and turned to the right.

  “I’m in apartment eight in the corner” he told her as they walked to the door. She couldn’t help but feel a little awed at the size and beauty of the apartment as they walked in. It was the largest apartment she had ever seen. Actually, it was probably bigger than her father’s house. The outside wall was entirely made up of glass and even from across the room, she could see a large terrace.

  Tom pulled her toward it and they walked out onto the terrace where she gasped at what she was seeing. The view was every bit as wonderful as he had said, with downtown directly in front of her, lit up brightly. They were so far up that it looked smaller than she would think it could ever look, and as she looked down saw the large blue swimming pool beneath them.

  “Wow, that is a big pool” she finally managed to get out.

  Tom laughed, “Actually I was wondering if you wanted to go swimming. You see how part of the pool is going into the small building there?” he said pointing to a building to their right.

  Abby nodded, “Well, that is a private part of the pool that has to be rented out, and I took the liberty of asking the security if anyone had it tonight” he told her.

  Abby lifted her eyebrows, “And?” she asked, wanting to know the answer to that.

  “Nobody else rented it out, so I gave them money to let us in” he said.

  Abby smiled, “that sounds like fun, but I don’t have a suit” she told him. Tom gave her the smile he usually got when he was feeling frisky.

  “That’s perfect, I would rather skinny dip anyway, and it’s completely private. The doors lock and everything” he told her. Abby blushed, she had never done anything like that before, but figured it was time to loosen up a little bit.

  “Sure, how long does it take to get down there?” she asked.

  He titled his head to the side, “About two seconds if you pop us down there with your scary magic” he said.

  Abby laughed and grabbed Tom’s hand, immediately making the little lights come and take them to the pool house.

  ***

  Abby’s telephone woke her out of the deep sleep she was in, and she opened her eyes looking around, forgetting where she was for a few seconds. Then, she recognized the large bedroom in Tom’s new apartment and remembered where she was.

  She jumped out of the bed and finally found her phone sitting on Tom’s dresser. As she picked it up she groaned, realizing that it was actually her alarm and not someone calling her. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked around. She noticed for the first time that Tom was not in bed anymore. She also noticed that she was still naked and instinctively covered herself with her arms, and with a glance around the room, spotted a white terry cloth robe lying on the end of the bed.

  She pulled it on, loving how warm and comfy it was, and decided to go looking for Tom. She opened the bedroom door, and the first thing that caught her attention was the smell of bacon. Her stomach growled as she walked out of the bedroom toward the smell. She smiled at the sight she saw as she approached the kitchen.

  Tom standing in front of the stove flipping what looked like eggs in a large black iron skillet. He must have noticed her because he looked up at her and smiled.

  “Great timing, breakfast is now ready” he said. Abby nodded and walked up to him, standing up on her tip toes as she kissed him quickly.

  “Good, because as soon as I smelled that bacon my stomach grumbled, but my alarm woke me up, I have to work today” she told him as she sat at the small breakfast table situated in the kitchen. He sat a plate in front of her with the prettiest omelet she had ever seen and a few strips of bacon on it.

  “That’s okay, I have to go in today too, my dad wants me to take a bigger part in running the hotel, and they have a board meeting today that I really need attend” he said as he sat next to her.

  “What about art school?” she asked him as she dug into her omelet. He sat down next to her and started to eat his own omelet.

  “We are on break right now, but I’m thinking of telling my dad about it. What do you think?” he asked her.

  She smiled, “I think you should” she said. “I think he will understand and support you on it.”

  He nodded, “I think I’m going to tell him today” he said.

  “I think that’s great, let me know how it goes. I have to get ready for work” she said leaning in for a kiss.

  He kissed her back, “I have to go too, love you, see you later” he told her as he walked out the door.

  Chapter 28

  After getting dressed, she looked at her cell phone and saw that she only had a few minutes to get to work, so instead of having Tom drive her, she decided to just pop in.

  She kissed Tom goodbye and disappeared, landing in the back room of the store, where Jasmine was already getting ready to open the boxes of new spell ingredients she had received the day before.

  Abby walked over to her, “Let me put my purse up, then I’ll help you with those boxes” she told her while leaving the back room to drop her purse under the register.

  She grabbed her phone and stuck it in her pocket as she went back into the back room, looking at the boxes Jasmine had started opening.

  “Jasmine?” she asked timidly. Jasmine looked back at her, giving her a questioning look.

  “Why don’t you just put all of this up with magic? Wouldn’t it be easier? I mean, it’s not like customers would see, the store isn’t even open yet?” she asked her.

  Jasmine stood back up, “Normally I would say that I don’t mind the manual labor, and after so many years of doing it the mortal way, I guess I just got used to it. However, I’m feeling a bit tired today, so I think I’ll let you do it for me” she said.

  Abby nodded and closed her eyes, thinking how she wanted everything that was in the box to be opened and on the shelf where it was supposed to go. She felt the heat in her hands and pointed them to the boxes until the heat had completely gone away. She opened her eyes slowly, hoping she hadn’t caught fire to the boxes or destroyed all of Jasmine’s new things, but saw that the boxes were all gone.

  She looked back to Jasmine who shrugged her shoulders and walked into the front room, heading for the shelf where they should be, and Abby followed close behind her, anxious to see if it had worked. Sure enough, as they got close to the shelf, she saw that all of the new ingredients were stacked nicely, right where they belonged. Abby looked around the store, but didn’t see the boxes they came in anywhere.

  “Jasmine, what happened to the boxes?” she asked.

  Jasmine closed her eyes, and then started to laugh, “They are in the dumpsters out back, already broken down. How did you do that so quickly?”

  Abby shrugged, “I don’t know, I just thought of the stuff in the boxes being where they were supposed to be” she said.

  Jasmine nodded, “I guess that included the boxes themselves too. Thanks Abby, I was dreading doing that too” Jasmine said.

  Abby stood behind the register while jasmine unlocked the door, but for once, there wasn’t a line of people waiting outside to come in, so jasmine came and sat on one of the stools next to her behind the counter.

  “So, I know you told me that you were half faerie and half God, but where are your parents? What happened to them?” she asked.

  Jasmine sat back against the counter, “Well, my mother’s name is Aibell, and she was the Faerie Queen for centuries. She was so beautiful, with golden blonde hair, which is unusual for a faerie, most of us have either red hair, or very dark hair” she started.

  “My father’s name is Lenus and he was a Healing God who was still very young at the time, and fell madly in love with my mother. They ha
d a secret romance for years before I was eventually born” she continued.

  Abby was enjoying hearing about someone else’s life for once and didn’t want her to stop, so she tried to encourage her to go on.

  “What happened to them? Are they still together?” she asked.

  Jasmine shook her head, “No, they tried to keep me a secret, but I was just a few months old when Elysia found out about me. At first my mother tried to make it seem as though she had mated with another faerie, as I had already clearly had wings, but Elysia is very powerful, and saw through the lie. After that Elysia had my father banned from the Other World, and my mother was so heartbroken that she left me in the care of your grandparents and left to come to the mortal world to live. I haven’t seen her since” she said sadly.

  Abby was confused, “If your mother is here in this world, then why haven’t you been able to find her? Can’t you look in a Seer’s Orb or sense her or something?” she asked.

  Jasmine sighed, “No, she has masked and hidden all of her powers. She is completely invisible to anyone magical. Believe me I have tried to find her, many times.”

  Abby frowned, she knew how hard it was to grow up without your mother around, and to not be able to find her when you knew she had to be close must have been frustrating.

  “Where is your father, do you see him often?” she continued to probe.

  Jasmine nodded, “Yes, I see him from time to time, not as much now that I’m older, but he went to live on Mount Olympus. He is very good friends with Apollo and so he went to stay with him” she told her.

  Abby wanted to ask more questions but the door chimed and as they looked up she saw a young couple walk into the store.

  ***

  Later that night as they were getting ready to close the store, Abby realized that she hadn’t heard from Tom all day. He usually would at least send her a text or something, but her phone had stayed silent the entire day. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent him a text.

  ‘Are you Okay?’ and it took only a few minutes for her to get an answer back from him, ‘Yes, I have just been crazy busy, but I should be done soon. I’ll come and pick you up when you close and take you to dinner.’

  The text made her feel better, so she texted back her yes then went to help Jasmine get ready to close. Pulling back the curtain to the back room, Abby had a thought come to her,

  “Is it possible to bring regular humans into the Other World?” she asked wondering if it was something she would ever be able to share with Tom.

  Jasmine looked at her thoughtfully for a second, “Well, it is possible, but I don’t know anybody that has actually brought anybody over there. I’m not sure what would happen to them, since our time runs differently over there and everything. I mean, we don’t age, especially while we are over there, but I’m not sure if humans would. I guess it would be weird if they were there for any large amount of time and then came back over here” she said.

  Abby tilted her head, “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Well, for instance, what if a human was to stay in the Other World for ten Years, and aged that way, but when they came back over here, only about ten days would have gone by. Don’t you think people would think it was odd that they aged ten years in only a little over a week?” she asked.

  Abby blinked, “I never thought of it that way. Why does the time run so fast over there?” she asked. Jasmine walked into the front to lock the door.

  “Well, it’s not that it runs fast, it feels the same as here, it’s just that it doesn’t matter as we are immortal and don’t age” she answered as she turned the sign on the door to show closed and started to turn the lights off inside the building.

  “So when I’m here for two or three days before going back over to see my mother, it’s like I’ve been gone for two or three years to her?” she asked.

  Jasmine laughed, “No, it doesn’t quite work that way, and I don’t think I’m explaining it very well. You see, the key word is it feels like time runs over there, but in reality there is no time at all. Does that make any sense?” Jasmine asked her.

  She shook her head, “Not really, but what about me though? I’m half human, will I age and die like a human, or be immortal like a Goddess?” she managed to get out, a little scared of the answer.

  She followed Jasmine back into the back room, “Well, you did grow to adulthood as slow as a human would, but now that all of your powers have been unlocked, and you have been to the Other World, I think you will be more Goddess than human” Jasmine said.

  That was the answer she was dreading to hear as it brought up a question she was too scared to ask out loud, what would happen when she didn’t age and Tom grew old and died?

  Abby’s phone beeped and she pulled it out of her pocket to see a text message from Tom.

  “Hey Jasmine, Tom’s here, we are going to dinner. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” she told her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Jasmine had started to feel like a second mother to her, and it only seemed natural.

  “Okay dear, have a good night” she said back to her before she disappeared, no doubt heading to her apartment. Abby closed her eyes and when she opened them she was sitting in Tom’s car.

  “Man I wish I could do that, it would save so much time” he told her leaning in for a kiss.

  Abby threw her arms around his neck making the most of the kiss; she was still a little shaken up at the thought of him growing old while she still looked the exact same. When they finally separated she smiled at him, trying to keep thoughts like that out of her mind. She would deal with things like that when they came around, she just wanted to enjoy every minute with him.

  “So, where are we going?” she asked him, buckling her seat belt.

  “That depends on you” he answered her. She smiled and tilted her head, he was always so full of surprises.

  “How so?” she asked.

  “Well, are you in the mood for fancy? We could go back to Nobu. I can usually get in without a reservation” he said.

  Abby shook her head, “I don’t know, is it possible to get it to go then have like a picnic on your terrace? I just love the view so much” she asked.

  Tom nodded, “That is a brilliant idea, I knew there was a good reason I loved you” he said with a smile on his face.

  Abby laughed and leaned forward as though she was going to kiss him, but stopped just inches from his lips

  “There better be more than one reason buddy” she whispered.

  He smiled, then leaning the rest of the way kissed her once again.

  Chapter 29

  Abby awoke with a start as she felt as though something bad had happened. It was an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach and as she touched her forehead realized she was drenched in sweat. She needed to get to the Other World, something was seriously wrong there, and as she looked next to her in the bed, hoping she hadn’t woken up Tom, she saw that he wasn’t there. She really needed to find him to let him know she was going to be leaving, so she got out of the bed and started walking around the apartment, thinking that he must have gotten hungry or something.

  She searched the entire apartment, even going out onto the terrace, but he was nowhere in the apartment. Suddenly a blinding pain shot through her stomach that made her bend over suddenly. She had to leave, and she had a bad feeling about Tom not being there in the apartment. Still bent over, she closed her eyes and thought of the castle and tried to send a message to her mother and Jasmine that she was headed there, but she didn’t know if it would actually work that way.

  When she landed in the throne room, her mother and Jasmine were already there standing with their back to her next to the window that was over the Southern Gardens. As though sensing her arrival they both turned suddenly and looked at her, and she noticed that they had horrified expressions on their faces. Their expressions were perfectly matched, so much so that they almost looked to be the same person.

  “What’s the matter, I ha
d a bad feeling that something was happening here, so I headed over right away” she said to them.

  Abby watched as her mother and Jasmine looked at each other, once again using a silent communication that she couldn’t hear. Finally her mother started to speak.

  “It’s Elysia” she said slowly.

  “Is she in the gardens again? I can try to make her leave again, hopefully I can make that happen” she said, starting to walk toward them.

  Her mother came forward and stopped her before she could fully get to the window.

  “It’s more than that. She has somehow found a way to hurt you, deep down” her mother told her. Abby tilted her head in confusion.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, but her mother just pointed at the window.

  Abby walked forward and looked down at the gardens and standing there in the middle of the glittering grass was Elysia, looking right up at the window, holding Tom up in midair, he hands around his neck.

  Abby felt the red hot fury run through her body, it was more powerful than anything she had felt up to this point. She turned back around to her mother and Jasmine.

  “How long has she been down there?” she asked frantically.

  “She appeared just seconds before you did” Jasmine answered her quickly.

  Abby looked down at her hands and noticed that they had turned red once again and knew without a doubt that she wanted nothing more than to kill Elysia. She closed her eyes and made herself appear in the Southern Gardens, directly in front of Elysia.

  “So you have arrived, I was hoping you would find me, you human garbage” Elysia spat out as soon as she landed.

  Abby was too angry to even speak, so instead she started to channel the anger and the power and pointed her hands at Elysia, ready to send flames right at her, but before she could let loose, Elysia pulled Tom right in front of her body.