Chapter Four
Drew struggled but was unable to move. Standing in the same spot where he'd entered this place with Pandimora and the little man, his feet felt like they were stuck to the ground. "Hey!" he called, looking up. "Is anybody there?"
Drew was still disbelieving of his surroundings. Wherever he was, everything looked so perfect as to be unreal. The trees in front of him had no dead limbs or off color leaves and the actual color of the bark and leaves was unreal, almost a barrage to his brain since everything was bright and vibrant with life. The moss beneath him was green and springy. Flowers grew along the clearing where he stood in a multitude of colors, some of which he wasn't sure he could even name. He supposed if this was a faerie dimension, he couldn't have dreamed it any better. The air felt a perfect temperature, much more comfortable than the snow and the swiftly dropping temperature where he'd last been. Pandimora had claimed it was a healing sanctuary. Was he really in another dimension, or was it merely an area that had been carefully staged?
A shiver raced up Drew's neck as he heard a distant scream. Was that Pandimora? He struggled to no avail.
He felt something hard at his back and turned his head to see a large tree. Then a chain appeared across his chest. Cursing, he immediately pushed and tugged at the heavy chain as it tightened.
"It will do no good," said a male voice. Drew looked to see the little man who'd pulled Pandimora into the portal. The same one who had stood in the road. About four and a half feet tall, he wore a long sleeved green shirt and black pants with a green vertical stripe down the sides. On his feet he wore black sneakers.
"You almost made me go into a ditch with your stunt in the road," Drew said. "What the heck was that about?"
"I needed you to stop and turn around."
"We could have crashed."
"You didn't. You shouldn't have taken her away."
"How was I to know that? She was in a blinding snowstorm with no protection. Where am I?"
"The healing dimension."
Drew sighed. "Listen, let me go. This isn't necessary." He tugged at the chain.
"We were never introduced," said the man. He bowed in an almost courtly manner. "I'm Irfin."
Drew stopped struggling, staring at the man. "Drew Maddox."
"I know who you are." Irfin looked off into the trees where the light continually changed, varying between dawn and dusk and then an inky twilight. Drew had seen it when he first arrived and just figured someone had a dimmer switch.
"Why this elaborate setup?" Drew asked. "It's a little over the top."
"Do you think so?" The man Irfin smiled. "Thank you."
"It wasn't necessarily a compliment. Did you hear that scream? Is Pandimora all right?" Drew asked.
The man stood tensely for several moments, and then he seemed to relax. His mid-length brown hair stuck out from his head as if he'd pulled it with his fingers.
When Drew had seen him trying to pull Pandimora through some type of lit doorway, he'd reacted instinctively. Little had he known he'd end up a captive in a strange place where nothing matched the world as he knew it. Was he really in a fantasy faerie world? With all the strange things that had been happening, he had a hard time figuring out any of this.
"Don't worry yourself," said Irfin. "All is well. Sometimes it's difficult for humans to believe such a place, or faeries, exist."
Drew stared at Irfin as he sat down, a short stump appearing behind him.
Drew frowned. "How can all be well?" he asked. "Everything here is too perfect, too staged, as if we're in a play and everything is in place."
"On the contrary, this is the real world. Your earth dimension is the stage."
"I suppose next you'll say we're all puppets?"
"I would never say that."
"Release me so I can go find her," Drew said, staring at Irfin as he pulled a tied piece of red string from his pocket. Drew remembered as a kid playing cat's cradle string games, but he'd always played with a second person, usually his sister Pam. Now, Irfin was playing string games all by himself, the colored string suspended in mid-air before him.
"How can you do cat's cradle with one person?" Drew asked, irritated the man ignored his requests to be released.
Irfin looked up at him and grinned. "There is more here than meets the eye."
Drew watched as invisible fingers appeared to work the strings opposite him, ending up with the string in intricate diamond shapes."Ask Pandimora," he said. "She'll confirm I've been helping her."
"I don't know the circumstances of that, seeing as how you jumped the portal without permission," Irfin said in his lilting voice. "You will have to be patient." The man discarded the string. "If Pandimora corroborates your story, you will be released and sent back."
"She looked in a bad way. I'd rather go to her and see if she needs my help."
Irfin smirked. "I don't think you'll be able to help her as much as the magic of the fae."
"What harm can I do if you release me? It's not like I'm familiar with this place. I don't even know how to get out of here."
Irfin raised a brow and he chuckled, his small beard wobbling. "What harm, he says. What harm. A human could wreak terrible havoc in such a magical place."
"At least I'm trying to help. By the look of it, no one else has been helping Pandimora."
Irfin narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"
"She was attacked and no one did a thing to help her."
"It may appear that way, but you, being a human, don't understand the logistics of a magical faerie world."
"Why don't you explain the logistics? It seems I have time on my hands." He needed as much information as possible.
"Well, now, when a human enters the healing sanctuary, they have access to the same knowledge as any other faerie while here. You no doubt saw the attack on Pandimora as she relived it?"
"I saw the attack on her, it was like a -- a movie screen in front of me." He was still a bit shaken over what he'd seen, the old guy throwing what looked like bolts of electric at her as she tried to get away. It made him even more determined to find her. In fact, to Drew, the entire movie experience had seemed like science fiction, but it had also seemed all too real. "Tell me about the elder who attacked her. The one who's still after her."
"That must be sorted out," Irfin said stiffly. "A high elder is over a thousand years old. You don't just accuse him of treachery. There must be a hearing, the facts submitted."
"Meanwhile, I'm assuming he would cover his tracks and clean up his mess."
Irfin's eyes flashed with annoyance. "An elder is not like your politicians. He is an esteemed individual with special powers granted him by the crystals he safe-keeps."
"What are the crystals?"
"The powerful eyes of nature. They keep all worlds operating properly. Physically, they generally measure no longer than a man's palm, but they have an intuitive knowledge about all worlds. They were forged in ancient times from the fires deep beneath the earth's core." Drew heard a sense of pride in Irfin's voice.
"And one person controls these powerful crystals? I have to wonder at giving one person so much power. I presume he comes and goes as he pleases. Perhaps everyone in your world can be kept in ignorance if he decides to shield his less than desirable activities --"
Irfin put up a hand and cut him off. "There are other factors involved. It has not been determined if the high elder did indeed act maliciously or in self-defense. Until we know everything, there will be no judgments made."
"You're supposedly helping Pandimora get well, and yet you're defending this guy -- this Lukais --"
"Ack!" With alarm tightening his face, Irfin threw up a hand. "It is disrespectful for a human to speak an elder's name."
"Okay, this elder then, who may or may not have taken the life of another faerie. Pandimora saw something, then the elder comes after her."
"According to Pandimora's account."
Drew narrowed his eyes. "Don't you believe her? Can these videos o
r whatever it was be edited?"
"You are not in a movie theater! And it is not up to me to believe her." But Irfin avoided looking at him.
"Then who is in charge in this place?"
Impatiently, Irfin stood, hands on hips. "There is no one in charge. This sanctuary is a collective effort of many energies."
"I saw what those pictures, like a movie playing in the air. I saw what Pandimora experienced as, apparently, so did you. How can you doubt she's innocent?"
"You were not there," Irfin said, "so you are not one to judge."
"Do you think she fabricated it? This is all too crazy."
"Hmph -- you've known Pandimora how long?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm a trained cop and now a private investigator with ten years collective experience. You get to know people in that line of work." But even he was feeling skeptical about this entire set up since he'd found her in the road.
Irfin sighed. "Be assured Pandimora will be protected until all the facts are known."
"That sounds wishy-washy to me," Drew said harshly.
"Perhaps. But as you implied reality can be distorted or changed. And the fact is Pandimora is different from most faeries."
Drew arched a brow. Anything about Pandimora intrigued him. He focused back on the task, his investigative instincts kicking in.
"Her heritage is unique," Irfin continued. "She has great curiosity about your race and explores your world as she pleases, much to the displeasure of the elders. She also eavesdrops on conversations. That is how she overheard this exchange between the faerie and the elder."
Drew shrugged. "Seems to me pretty harmless, living as you choose to live, following your interests. It only becomes dangerous when a society bans independence and free thinkers. Who is going to protect her from the elder?"
Irfin looked at him in surprise. "She has not asked for protection. She intends to find the truth of what happened to her family."
Alarm snaked through Drew. "Is she going back to this Aisywel?"
"If Pandimora wishes you to know, she will tell you."
Drew pushed against the chain impatiently.
Irfin watched, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Patience," he said. He stood and sauntered back and forth across the mossy ground as if he had all the time in the world. In his hand appeared a bright orange yo-yo. He unreeled it then pulled it back up toward him. "It's highly unusual for a human to penetrate our sanctuary without an invitation," he said, walking the yo-yo on the ground.
Irfin expertly swung the yo-yo in an arc, performing tricks as it sailed over his head and rolled down his arm, then he quickly caught it on the string and bounced it back and forth between his hands. Swinging it out in front of him, Irfin brought it back under his leg and then over his head.
Drew put his head back against the tree and gently hit his head against the bark a few times. Nope, he wasn't dreaming, he was really here, watching a so-called faerie perform intricate yo-yo tricks. Could this all be true?
As the light faded a little, fireflies began to appear. One flew around his head, then back and forth and paused in front of him, similar to the way a hummingbird would hover in the air.
Drew stared into a pair of eyes that looked vaguely human. "Geez!" It was swiftly gone.
Irfin looked at him, one brow cocked.
"I thought it was a bug," he muttered. "I'm glad I didn't swat it as it flew by my face. I could have killed it."
Irfin laughed, his puckish face and wide mouth making him look like a storybook elf. "You would have received an unpleasant jolt of electricity if you'd tried," he said, then cocked his head, listening.
"Is Pandimora coming?" He wished he knew if she was okay. When they'd entered this place things had gone fuzzy, but he wasn't exactly sure for how long. When he'd come to, she was gone.
"What did he do to her, exactly?"
"Black tendrils of poison must be purged from her system."
Drew felt an escalation of alarm. "And you still think this guy might be innocent? And what about the black strips of material that had been bound around her legs? How can you defend someone who would do that to a woman?" He studied the other man but could see no reaction. "And now I'm in this secret world -- a world within worlds," he muttered. "From what I've seen of you faeries, you could just as easily use mind control instead something as old fashioned as a chain."
Irfin lifted his head and threw back his shoulders. "I will forgive your faux pas this time, but I will tell you only once. I am of the fae, but I am not faerie."
"Okay," Drew said, confused.
"I claim leprechaun as my birthright and I will abide no snide remarks about leprechauns and their pots of gold. I am from a long line of sorcerers."
"A sorcerer?" Drew sighed. "I really am not up on my leprechaun or faerie history. I didn't realize a leprechaun could also be a sorcerer."
"From ancient times there were many clans with pure and distinct family lines. However, the last three centuries the lines have intermingled and blurred. I claim birthright to the first true line of leprechauns."
Drew cocked a brow. "And you also have some kind of power to keep me immobilized?"
"It is an ancient power wielded around humans when the necessity arises."
"So with your powers there's really no need for you to be worried about me damaging anything in this place. Release me," Drew said again.
Irfin shook his head. "Ach, no. We will wait for Pandimora to return." And Irfin sat down once more, staring with narrowed eyes at Drew as he stuffed the bright yo-yo back in his pocket. When he pulled his hand out of the pocket, it was clenched around something else.
Drew crossed his arms over his chest. Irfin opened his fist and dropped several colored, multi-pointed jacks on the stone at his feet.
"Don't you get bored playing games and being stuck on prisoner duty?" he asked as the other man bounced a small red ball and swiped a hand through the jacks to pick them up, then caught the rubber ball again. Irfin tried again but, unable to pick up even one of the multi-pointed jacks, he began to look frustrated.
Irfin gave him his attention, one brow raised. "Who says I'm here all day? And why would I be bored?" he added, surprised. "Boredom comes with idle hands. Mine, as well you see, are never idle. And do not think of yourself as a prisoner." He smiled with great charm. "Think of yourself as a guest in our world." He lifted a brow."Why were you driving out in this fairly desolate area so late at night?"
"I'm a private investigator. I drive all over on cases." Drew didn't intend to tell him he had been on his way to meet with his client Mrs. Palmer. Instead, he remarked, "Where I come from we don't chain our guests to a tree."
"Hmm." Irfin looked thoughtful as he bounced the ball again and managed to grab one jack. "You've never handcuffed a man to a fence, or chased another man through the woods and tackled him around the legs? And what about throwing sand in some hapless fellow's face? I suppose you've never done any of those things, now have you?"
A twitching began between his shoulders. How did Irfin know any of that? "That was all in the line of duty, protecting myself or innocent bystanders before anyone could get hurt. Those men weren't my guests; they had hurt innocent people."
"Ach, so you say."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you also know the circumstances surrounding those events," Drew said dismissively. He had to wonder though how Irfin knew any of that. It had all occurred during his time as a cop. "So what do you do when you're not playing games or spying into human's lives?" he asked.
"I live my life, just as you do."
Drew remained still. "Down here in this place?" Wherever this place was. As far as he knew he could be in some type of underground bunker.
Irfin suddenly dropped the ball and the jacks. "Ach, I give up." He stood and walked away. Drew read the frustration in the stiff set of Irfin's shoulders. Apparently, frustration was similar in his world or theirs.
Drew called after him. "Release me and I'll show you how to win."
Irfin spun on his heel and gave him an assessing glance. "Mmm. That's a tempting offer," he said, rubbing his hand over his short beard. "Very tempting, but probably just a bluff. It's really not about winning, it's about playing."
"I know how to play," Drew said.
Irfin lifted a brow. "Really? Humans are preoccupied with work and have lost much of the ability to play."
"I've played with my niece. We call it jacks."
"A child's past time," said Irfin, nodding. "When I was a child, we called it knucklebones." He sighed, staring off into the forest around them, a somewhat pensive air about him. "Innocent times long past. So much has changed between then and now." He threw Drew a look from under bushy brows. "Long ago, humans would never have been allowed to linger here. We would have scuttled you back to your own realm with nary a hair out of place. You would have woken in the morning and thought it all a dream."
"And why is now different?" Drew asked, curious.
He jerked his chin toward the forest. "Because of Pandimora. There's a cord of attachment between you."
"What does that mean?" Drew asked, an image of a silver cord connecting them through time and space popping into his head. He shook that notion aside. When had he gotten fanciful, for heaven's sake?
"You should use your imagination," Irfin said dryly. "When faerie or human meet someone and there's an attraction, a cord of attachment forms between those individuals. It is not something that can be lightly dismissed, not until the attraction has been played out -- or death occurs. But similar to your human life, even after death a silken strand remains with you."
Suddenly looking very somber, Irfin walked away, under the undulating arch of light brown tree limbs and through a low hanging mist. A narrow golden beam lit his path as a multitude of quickly moving fireflies swarmed the ground ahead of him.
Drew went back over all Irfin had said and wondered was it simply as he said, a healing sanctuary, or was there more to it?
He began to work at the chain again, sliding it sideways little by little. He hoped to find a lock that he could pick or a weakness in the chain. Intent, he kept turning the chain, and blew a breath upwards as sweat ran down, tickling his nose. After some time, however, he finally came to the realization the chain had no beginning or end. It was a continuous link.
"Drew!"
He looked up in relief to hear Pandimora's voice. She approached, clothed in an ivory short sleeved top and matching pants that reached her calves. Her bright blue eyes were clear and free of pain and confusion. Her deep red hair was on top of her head, glistening with tiny drops of moisture. Her feet were bare, her skin had an intriguing blush of color, as if touched by the sun.
He was immediately reminded of when he'd held her earlier, the strange sense of magic she'd exuded. He felt again the incredible sensation of her skin against his and remembered the weird blue light that had woven around them. He'd felt like a teenage boy again as he'd held her close, clearly able to hear her steady heart beat. Everything about her looked alive, fresh. Exotic.
Uncomfortably, he reminded himself he was a thirty-year old adult not an impressionable kid. "You look as if you feel better," he said, forgetting about the chain for a moment.
She nodded. "I am lucky to be revived." She stood so close to him that he caught the unmistakable scent of fresh baked cookies. He was losing it for sure.
"The faerie creatures told me you were under observation," she said with surprise. "I did not know you would be restrained, Drew. I am sorry." She touched his shoulder with her hand.
"Yeah, Irfin's been observing me getting frustrated. Can you free me from this chain?" he asked. "I'm hoping you've got a key."
"Drew, you can free yourself," she said. He stared into her deep blue eyes, a slight dimple peaking in her left cheek. Despite her obvious distress at the chain, he now saw an entirely different woman who sparkled with radiance and health.
She clucked her tongue and pressed his shoulder. "Come, move forward to free yourself."
Drew looked down at the steel chain heavy against his chest.
"Look at the chain closely," she said patiently.
"I am. It's about three inches from my face."
"It's a chain of daisies," she said.
He scowled. "Pandimora, this is no time for jokes, really."
"Study it carefully."
He'd rather have looked at her, but he looked down at the chain as she had instructed. It was no longer made of heavy steel links but rather an interlocking chain of flowers, delicate flowers resembling daisies, except they were blue with red centers.
"What!" He moved forward and the flowers fell to his feet then dried up and melted into the ground.
She bent down toward the flowers. "Thank you, dear flowers, for your service," she said. "Now you may return to your duties in the forest."
Drew lifted a brow, hardly able to believe it all. "They held me captive."
She nodded seriously. "Yes, they have performed a task and it is necessary to thank them and show my appreciation, no matter the service provided."
"You're thanking them for pretending to be heavy steel chain," he muttered. "I am losing my mind."
"Drew, something you should never forget: what you expect to see in any faerie realm is what you will see. You felt yourself bound by something strong and of course you would not look at a daisy and see yourself held in place by daisies. It had to be something that you could not break, like a chain or a heavy rope. That is what you expected to see and that is what you saw."
"I will never live this down. Held captive by a chain of daisies. Did Irfin know?" At her shrug, he grunted. "Of course he did. No doubt he found it particularly amusing to see me struggling against a chain of daisies. He's a sorcerer playing psychological games. Either that or I'm losing my mind."
"You are not losing your mind. Leprechauns can sometimes be a mischievous lot," she conceded. "But he meant no real harm. He was helping to protect this sacred place."
Pandimora leaned in close, her fiery hair brushing his chin, then she tilted her chin back. Her nostrils flared, as if she were inhaling his scent. Drew held perfectly still, mesmerized. Irrationally, he thought he wouldn't mind if she took a bite out of him. Something intriguing about her wound all around him and he in turn leaned closer to her.
She touched his neck with cool fingers and the slight contact left him burning for more. Surprising him, she pressed her full red lips to his. Drew barely had a moment to savor the sensation before she pulled back.
She shrugged. "At times, my curiosity gets the best of me," she said.
He lifted a brow, wondering if she was up to something, but her face looked placid, innocent of guile. Or so it appeared.
"The bottom has truly fallen out of my entire world," she said. "Everything I know has been snatched away."
"You do seem to be better now, which in itself has to be a miracle. But what's happened?"
"I can never return to Aisywel. It no longer exists for me." There was flat finality in her voice.
"What do you mean?"
"I tried to return through a portal but there was only empty space." She looked away, her shoulders slightly hunched. "I can't return."
"God, Pandimora, I'm sorry. Are you sure there isn't another way in?" he said cautiously. Was he buying into this whole faerie realm story? "Irfin claims to be a sorcerer, maybe he can find a way."
"I don't know," she said softly, and the ache in her voice affected him, making him want to protect her.
She pressed her fingertips to her forehead and closed her eyes.
"I don't understand any of this, how this place -- faerie realm even exists," he said. "If it's similar to earth, there's sometimes an alternate way around blockades. Another plan of action. You just have to find the right person to help you figure it out."
She looked like she needed someone to comfort her, hold her close and tell her everything would be okay, but he didn't know that for sure. This entire experience was an unk
nown to him. He was feeling his way as he went along.
Her hair appeared dry, now down on her shoulders, the heavy braid a flame against the milky skin of her neck. Drew had the notion to stroke the delicate skin, but instead he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. If she was a faerie, why even think about going there? He had enough trouble understanding human women.
"You look a lot better," he said. "This place really healed you?" Or she was a good actress, but part of him felt a sense of wonder.
"Yes, although the healing is still being integrated. I need a little more time before I will feel once more like myself, then I must work on a plan."
He looked at her sharply. "What plan?"
"I can't give up, but I'm confused and confusion leaves open the possibility for error. When I was a small child and my sister newly born, our family was torn apart. We grew up in the faerie nursery, never knowing something terrible happened to our parents."
"You grew up in an orphanage?"
She hesitated then nodded. "Similar, but for most faeries it is the way of life. Parents go off living their own lives and leave their children to be raised by the wise elders of the faerie realm." She frowned. "I only recently learned my father Declan and my mother Clare were different. The elder told me my mother was ill -- she had a madness in her." She shook her head. "The questions go around in my head."
Drew swallowed. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know. He said she had terrible headaches. I've never known anything about my parents."
"You're talking about going up against a powerful elder. Do you have any kind of backup or reinforcements?" At her blank look, he said grimly, "I'll help you however I can."
Her expression turned distant. "You cannot be involved anymore."
Stunned, he said, "Can you do this on your own? One person against an elder with special powers -- or so Irfin claims."
"I have to try," she said fiercely. "But a human would have no defense in our world." She waved her hand at their splendid surroundings. "As beautiful and delightful as this world looks, do not be fooled, it could swallow you up so that you were never found. It's not the first time a human has disappeared into the world of the fae. One wrong step and ..." she shrugged.
That sounded almost too dark and ominous to believe, just as everything here looked too fantastical to believe. Drew, a hard nose about everything, felt himself being sucked into this world. Could it all be true, he wondered?
"Geez, Pandimora, God knows I'm coming around to actually believing in faeries after everything I've seen, but it's nothing new that something beautiful can also hide a darkness underneath." He reached for her hand. "Do you think you can leave here and the elder will leave you alone? Look at what he's done to you already," he added tensely. "Let me help you figure this out."
"I can make you go," she said, lips compressed. Her tight grip communicated her distress. Drew looked down, seeing the small blue curls of electricity between their hands.
"I'm sure you can make me go," he said, "but if we work together maybe we can find a solution."
Pandimora looked beyond him into the forest. He watched the trees arch their limbs over them, swaying slightly, as if listening in on their conversation. He narrowed his eyes. Maybe they had to be careful what they said down here too.
He couldn't deny it was a beautiful place, the air filled with a mystical quality he'd never experienced and couldn't even put into words, but no one could live in a fantasy land their entire lives, could they? It would be like existing in a Disney movie.
He didn't want to give her time to cite reasons why he should leave, so he said, "There must be a way I can help you. Maybe we should return to my place and do some research. I'm an investigator after all."
"Right now I don't know how to help myself. I'm struggling to find the truth, and even I might not be who I think I am," she said.
"Maybe that poison is still working on you."
Pandimora shook her head. "I feel very clear headed." Her eyes were almost mesmerizing. "You don't remember me, do you Drew?"
He frowned. "I've felt there was something familiar about you, but to tell the truth I can't place you."
"One summer a long time ago, we played together as children."
Find Me: Faeries Lost Page 5
