by Devyn Dawson
I steal a peek at Thorne as he stands alert and gives his undivided attention to what Chip is saying. That is a side of his personality I find most endearing. I’d never tell him that, a girl needs her secrets. It doesn’t matter anyway, we’re just having fun until someone tries to give us a label like dating or boyfriend and girlfriend. My mate could show up out of the blue and suddenly Thorne will just be a thorn in my side.
Why does my brain always take the negative route? I don’t want to hurt Thorne. I saw how Jasmine hurt when she became unbound. Dammit!
“Are you okay?” Thorne whispers in my ear.
I don’t have the strength to say what’s on my mind, so I just nod my head up and down. This is exactly what I’ve tried to avoid…guilt. It isn’t that I think he’d curl up in the fetal position mourning the loss of me, but I might.
“Since everyone’s met, I’m going to go home. I have a freakin’ paper to write for English. Thorne, you should stay here and tell guardian stories with Chip. I’m sure he has a few stories to tell,” I lie. Of course he doesn’t have any juicy stories, but I have to get out of here. I’m suffocating to the point I might have an asthma attack. Caleb agrees to give Thorne a ride home after I insist on leaving right then.
Jessie follows me out to the driveway.
“What’s going on Amber? You can’t hide from me.” Jessie’s still wearing her dress.
I should just suck it up and tell her about Thorne, but I’m too chicken-shit. “Nothing I can’t handle. You know how I feel about all the faerie stuff. Everything has happened so fast, and everyone who’s been a part of it their whole lives don’t understand it takes more than a minute to adjust. Not only that, but school has been hard this year. The math teacher must think we’re all members of MENSA or something. Progress reports go out next week and if I have anything less than a B, I’m going to get lectured and lose my Jeep. I don’t know how you’ve just rolled with the punches.” Oddly enough, I start to feel less stressed about school now that I’ve said it out loud.
“All that might be true, but it isn’t why you’re stressed. You like Thorne,” she holds her hand up at me, “It’s written all over your face. You can’t be around him without having that head over heels look.”
“Okay, so I might like him a little. It doesn’t matter though, he’s your guardian and he’s not a Light Tamer,” I admit. I climb up into the driver’s seat and slide on my sunglasses.
She clucks her tongue and shakes her head back and forth. “I knew it! Have you two kissed yet? Not the kiss in the lunchroom, I mean a real kiss.”
“You’re all about some kissing. Did you not witness the kiss in the lunchroom? It was pretty damn real.”
“You know what I mean!” Jessie says in her best Bronx accent.
“Going all hood are you? I’m not going to talk about this right now. I’m going to break things off with him tomorrow.” Where did that come from?
“What? Why?” She runs around to the other side of the Jeep and sits in the passenger seat.
“His job is to guard you. If anything were to happen and he wasn’t there, he’d get into big trouble. It isn’t like we’re bound together like you and Caleb. You’re supposed to have the whole insta-love thing, that’s what Tamers do. I don’t have time to be a lovesick teenager and miss out on my mate. Don’t give me that look, you know I’m right.” I gnaw on my cuticle as Jessie sits in silence.
She lets out a heavy sigh before she says anything. “Maybe you’re right, but it doesn’t mean you should break up with him. I don’t know what else to say…don’t give up on Thorne.”
There it is, out loud, and now my chest feels like an elephant is sitting on it. “Can we not talk about this right now? I need to get home.” She won’t forget about the conversation, but she respects me enough not to pressure me.
“Call me later if you want to talk,” Jessie stumbles as she tries to cross the driveway in front of me.
“Later tater,” I yell out as I drive away.
Chapter 4. The Woodlands
MY mom’s dog Dracula is barking so loud I can barely think.
“Someone down there! Shut that mutt up! Please!” I yell from my room. When I got home, I finished my homework and now I’m catching up on episodes of Revenge.
“Amber, you have company,” my dad’s voice says through the monitor we all have installed in our rooms.
Company? Who would want to visit me in the middle of the night? Not that eight is late, but no one bothers to drive down a dirt road to get to me. A maniacal friend with a lizard tongue and dragon’s breath is the only kind of visitors who would show up out here. This is how my brain works because I live out in middle of nowhere.
I creep down the stairs, trying to get a visual on my maniacal friend, only to hear the voice I dream about. Thorne is talking to my dad about guns and going out shooting sometime in the near future. That would make my dad happy, maybe he’d start living again. He’s always hiding away from the world in his man-cave.
You better nip this before Dad gets his hopes up, I think to myself.
“Hey you,” I say, overly cheerful.
His eyes zero in on me and for a moment, it’s only the two of us. One heartbeat times seven then seven more before either of us speak. In the background someone is saying something, but they’re not in this moment, our moment.
“Hey back atcha. Can we go somewhere and talk?” Thorne asks, his face is pensive and suddenly I’m worried. Maybe he’s here to tell me it’s over. Wait, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?
“Dad, do you mind if I run to town? I’m finished with my homework and I’ll be home by ten, I promise.” I study my dad’s face and he’s happy for some unknown reason.
“Sure, be back by ten and you can go.”
I reach in the coat closet and grab a windbreaker. The weather has been cooler than usual this fall. The humidity is down, so walking around outside doesn’t give me the frizzy wild hair look.
I smile at Thorne and follow him out to his truck. “I’ve never seen you drive a truck. Is it new?”
“Not too new, but I sent for it. I’ve had it at my place and had someone drive it out to me. It’s nice and sturdy. You want to go downtown, or someplace else?”
“Can we go to Cow Café and get some ice-cream?”
“Sounds good.”
It takes ten minutes to get to the little café with cow-print awnings. We park across the street in front of an old gothic church. The familiar squeaking of bats is too close for comfort. I look up into the Spanish-moss filled tree and see bats flying around.
Without meaning to, I let out a high pitched scream and without looking for cars, I run across to the café. Thorne is behind me laughing his butt off.
“Stop laughing! Those are disease ridden, devil’s creations!” I spew out.
Thorne reaches over and pulls the door open for me. He quit laughing, but I see the humor in his eyes. “Bats are good for mosquitoes, you don’t want downtown swarming with mosquitoes do you?” As if on cue, he smacks one on his arm just as it was starting its evening feast.
“Yeah, you’re not selling the bats to me.”
His mouth curls up in a grin and for two seconds, my heart smiles too.
As we step inside the café, we hear a toy train running the track that’s hanging from the ceiling. Every so often a little puff of smoke is released from its engine and the train horn goes off. My mom is obsessed with all things cow so I buy most of her presents from the extensive gift shop. Dad and I are hopeful she gets over the cows before Christmas.
We’re the only ones in the small café so we pick a table that looks out to the sidewalk. Downtown New Bern, doesn’t have a lot of foot traffic in the evenings once tourist season is over.
“So, are you gonna tell me why you decided to come out to my house, instead of calling?” I ask as I take a mouthful of mint chocolate chip and hold it until I feel the small chunks of chocolate start to melt.
“Tell me something
, and promise me you’ll be honest.”
This doesn’t sound promising. “Always, you know me, keepin’ it real.” I don’t need to hear the question, I know Jessie said something to him. Life was so much easier without any friends who gave a shit. I didn’t have to worry about someone blabbing their mouth every time I tell them not to say anything.
“Why would you want to break things off with me?” Thorne’s eyes are stormy looking. Gone is the laughter, he’s really hurt.
The next time she tells me a secret she doesn’t want me to say to Caleb, I’m blabbing. I audibly sigh as I study his features. “It isn’t as simple as wanting to break things off, it’s a necessity.” Thorne scoots his cup of ice cream to the center of the table and leans back in his chair. “Stop looking like that. I don’t want to, but I need to. What will happen if tomorrow I bond with someone? What will you do? What will I do?” I ramble out.
“Amber, don’t be dumb. People can be bound and not be in a relationship. They taught that to you at school. Ask Miss Gayle, she’ll tell you. Even if you do get the type that is a relationship, I’ll back off. Don’t put an end to something good. You deserve to be happy. I deserve to be happy.”
I make him happy? “That might be true, Thorne, but what about Jessie? You’re her guardian, what happens if you’re with me and you can’t guard her? She requires someone who can be totally focused on her.”
“Yes, she does. I’m not her only guardian, plus she has Caleb. When we’re on the other side of the Shimmer we have methods of communication that will help those times I’m not around. There are potions that will transport me to her side if she needs me. Those are things that I’ve been having meetings about, the options I’ll have when we’re there. Stop over-thinking. I. Am. Here. For. You.”
“Technically, you’re here for her. What if they assign you to a different person?”
“You’re being difficult, Amber. I’ve been placed on permanent status for Jessie. I was planning on telling you tonight. My truck was brought here with all of my things. Since we’re going to be dealing with both realms, I have a lot of options I didn’t have before. You and me? We can work, but only if you want us to.” He’s whispering to me so the girl who’s wiping down the table doesn’t hear us as she prepares to close the shop.
I sit back and reflect on what he’s just told me. My heart is screaming for me to put us both out of our misery and kiss him already. My pride is dangling from the edge. “Are you sure you’ll put Jessie before me?”
“Yes, well I will when it’s a guardian thing. You’re who I want to be with Amber, we work. Plea…”
I jump up from my seat, knocking my chair sideways as I leap onto his lap and kiss him midsentence. My lips are sticky from my ice-cream and he tastes of strawberries and cream. My lip ring clinks against my tooth as we kiss until someone clears their throat. I sheepishly look up into the face of the owner. It isn’t like me to be embarrassed, but I am.
“We’re about to close.” She looks at us as though we’re two little puppies performing tricks. If she says good boy to Thorne, I’ll literally die.
“Yes ma’am,” Thorne says and we both stand up. We gather up our stuff and throw away the trash on the way out.
I wait to say anything until we were in the safety of being outside. “Did you see how she looked at us? I can’t believe we were making out in public.” I laugh and loop my arm with his.
“We weren’t exactly on the kiss-tron at a basketball game. I think she thought we were cute.”
“Oh hell yeah, we’re freakin’ adorable.”
I laugh as a wind sweeps down the street and I feel him shiver. He’s cold natured so it surprises me he doesn’t have on a jacket. Who else shows up to school in a hoodie on a hot August day in North Carolina?
The wind picks up and we run across the street and jump in the truck. I hope he can help me figure out how to get the doors and top on my Jeep before the storm arrives. Hurricane season is at its peak for about another month.
___________
Jessie has a bright green and yellow rain-jacket on over her school uniform. She’s running from her front door to my Jeep. The rain has been coming down since about two in the morning. Jessie’s mom thought she’d be safer with me in the Jeep since Craven County is under a flash flood warning. Thorne is picking Caleb up in his truck and promises to meet us at school.
“Gawd, glad you got your top back on. This is some horrible weather. It was thundering so loud, I thought the house was going to explode. Was it loud at your house?” Jessie pulls down the sun-visor to look in the mirror. “Ugh, why I bothered doing my hair is beyond me.” She flips the visor back up.
“Yeah, it kept me awake until about four. So blabbermouth, what do you have to say for yourself?” I turn sideways to give her my best Sherlock Holmes look.
She holds her hands in the air. “Sue me. If I didn’t, you would have gone through with it and the both of you would be miserable. He told me that he convinced you to stay with him. Of course I want that for you, but not if you feel we’re pressuring you into something you don’t want.”
“Have you seen him? I want him, trust me. No, we’re cool. We’re not like you and Caleb. You know who you’ll grow old with, and that works for you. That doesn’t really work for me at this point in my life, but I’m glad to spend this time with him.”
A buzzing sound comes from Jessie’s purse. It’s probably her mom making sure we got to school okay.
“Shit!” Jessie announces.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Caleb, he said that Thorne says we have to go to the Woodlands this morning. He wants us to meet them at the entrance to the Shimmer. Did Thorne say anything last night?”
“No. Too bad they didn’t give us a heads up while we were still at your house. Now we’re going dressed in our geeky school uniform. Whatever, at least I don’t have to sit through any lectures today.”
___________
Thorne and Caleb are in the truck as we pull up. The parking lot of oyster shells instead of pavement is covered in mud and water. There’s no possible way we’re going to be able to get out and run to the trailer without ruining our shoes.
“Caleb says Thorne has rain boots for us. He picked some up at that store I love so much when Grandma is with me. They’re going to run over and give us the boots so we can get out of the Jeep,” Jessie says as she types in a reply text to him.
“Did he bother to bring us pants?” I ask as I think about wearing a stupid school uniform into the forest.
“He picked up some stuff for us to wear. Caleb says it looks like clothes a kindergartner picks out to wear to school. We’ll see soon enough.” Jessie’s face lights up as she sees Caleb trekking across to us.
Caleb hands her two bags with the rubber boots. We pull the boots out and I almost die laughing. One pair is hot pink with lime green polka dots and the other is hot pink with green zebra stripes. Thankfully the polka dots are size 8 and the other pair is size 9. Jessie is keeping her composure as I laugh so hard once she gets the silly boots on. Mine aren’t bad, I like polka dots.
The guys run with us to the trailer and we huddle under the small awning that covers the porch. Thorne fumbles around as he unlocks the door.
Rain had mysteriously leaked into my boots and soaked my socks. My bare legs feel slimy from the inch thick lotion I smeared on my tan legs when I got out of the shower this morning.
The bag of clothes is emptied on the table. From the looks of it, he understands the clothes that I wear. The clothes he picked for Jessie is hilarious. I should send him bra shopping for us one day, I wonder what his perception of her boobs is.
The set of clothes he picked for me –
1 pair of lime green tights
1 pair of black yoga pants
1 pair of jeggings
1 neon orange t-shirt
1 yellow long sleeved thermal
1 white t-shirt with a vivid graphic design
I’
m not sure if I’m supposed to wear everything at one time, or if it’s my wardrobe for two days.
Jessie was still staring at her set of clothes.
1 pair of jeggings
1 pair of boyfriend jeans
1 pair of white capris
1 blue and white sailor shirt
1 t-shirt with the words for the Soft Kitty song
1 t-shirt from Duck Dynasty with Si on it.
“You’ve never seen what I normally wear have you, Thorne?” Jessie asks as she goes through the clothes and shakes her head back and forth.
“Sorry, it’s the best I could do on the fly,” Thorne admits. “A chaperone will be here soon, so you girls might want to get dressed.”
The guys keep on their uniform, khaki pants and a black polo. Thankfully, they don’t have any silly looking rainboots on.
I opt to wear the tights and thermal shirt under the orange tee he bought. Somehow it all comes together and looks kinda cool with the polka dot boots. Jessie wears her jeggings and Si shirt, which is hilarious.
“Our chaperone is here,” Thorne announces.
We all go to the window that faces the woods to get a glimpse of our guide. A guy dressed in a black military style jacket riding a giant black horse with fancy looking gear emerges from the woods. The blanket under the saddle has a family crest boldly displayed. He’s followed by four unmanned horses into the stable.
“Why do we need a chaperone?” Jessie asks.
“It can be dangerous in the Woodlands. You’re royalty, so there’s more danger for you to be caught for ransom. I’ve heard some crazy stories about fae, so don’t trust anyone, not even our chaperone,” Thorne demands. He throws on a jacket and pats the pockets to make sure he has everything. I’m sure it’s weapons of some sort. “Don’t forget, don’t tell anyone you owe them or say anything like do me a favor. Don’t make any promises either, they’re literal. They’re slick, they don’t forget and have a tendency to collect on their debts in unfavorable ways. Amber, please keep your jokes to a minimal, the Seelie Queen demands everyone to be respectful.”
