Treachery

by E. A. Weston

  Leaving them by the door, I march upstairs to my room to open the windows. Opening the door, I find that my bed is crumpled and some of my clothes are strewn around the room. I quickly run to parents’ room but this one looks okay. Retracing my steps I peer over the banisters.

  “Hey,” I whisper at them. They both turn to look at me as I wave my hand for them to come up. “Shhh,” I whisper again. They climb the stairs on silent feet until they reach me.

  “What is it?” Brokk asks.

  “Someone is here,” I whisper, giving him a disapproving look for talking normally. Slowly he removes his sword and I point to my room. He nods for Aurelia and me to step back out of the way. We move slightly as he creeps forward through the door into my room.

  “How do you know this?” Aurelia asks.

  “Because the bed is messy and my clothes are everywhere,” I answer.

  Brokk steps out of the room whispering in fairy to Aurelia with a nod she turns to me. My eyebrows are raised in question.

  “Someone has been here,” she answers.

  “Yes, I can see that,” I reply, getting annoyed with both of them. I am about to question them on their secret language when the beep from the alarm alerts me to an open door. We all freeze in place and listen to the click of the back door. Brokk moves quietly to the stairs as I step behind the wall with Aurelia. My breathing sounds louder than it should be as I wait to see the intruder. I really hope it’s not one of the drug dealers from across town. Brokk descends the stairs in stealth mode as I watch from my hiding place.

  Brokk leaps down the last few steps landing with his sword out, we watch as he swipes at the person but misses. Aurelia frowns and I inch out further, Brokk attacks again but I can’t see the other person. Aurelia and I lean over the banisters to watch Brokk battle against what to me looks like a child. The kid ducks and dives out of the swords path as Brokk swings. They move in a slow circle until the kid is now facing our way. My breath catches when I catch a glimpse.

  “Stop!” I cry as my body moves toward the stairs.

  Chapter 26

  My feet carry me down the fourteen steps as fast as possible but it’s just not fast enough. As soon as I hit the tile entryway I dive on the person wrapping my arms around her as tears pour from my eyes.

  “What the hell?” I mumble as she tightens her hold on me.

  “Hello,” she says. “I’ve missed you so,” she sighs.

  Pulling back I can’t believe my eyes. “Claudia, what are you doing here?” I ask, wiping my nose on my sleeve. With a gentle smile she hugs me again and for a long time, we just stand together holding onto each other. After a while, we separate and find Aurelia and Brokk watching us cautiously.

  “Princess,” Claudia says giving Aurelia slight bow.

  “Who are you?” Brokk asks, stepping in front of Aurelia.

  “You do not need to fear me, guardian, I will not harm the princess,” Claudia says.

  Turning back to me she smiles and grips my hand, “Goddess I have missed you.”

  “I missed you too,” I reply blinking away tears.

  “So, you know what I am?” she asks.

  “Yes, Killian told me,” I nod.

  With a smile and a wink, she drops her human glamor. My eyes are wide and my jaw slack as I take in the most beautiful fairy I have ever seen. “Wow,” I breathe. “You are amazing,” I say reaching out to brush her silver wings. She gives them a little flutter and I laugh.

  “I have seen you before,” Aurelia says. “At the solstice with my brother.”

  “Yes, I was there at that time,” Claudia smiles and it lights up the whole room.

  “But why?” Aurelia asks, her eyes tighten, as she watches Claudia with suspicion. I move to stand between them but Claudia walks around the coffee table.

  “Sit,” she says to us all. Aurelia and I move. However, Brokk refuses to lower his sword. With a sweep of her hand, Claudia removes his sword and a green band of stone appears on his wrist. Brokk begins to yell in fairy, advancing on Claudia. Aurelia watches speechless. Claudia raises an eyebrow at Brokk who stops talking but refuses to sit.

  “Okay,” Claudia says. She gives Brokk another look but he turns away.

  “You’re a seer?” Aurelia whispers.

  “Yes, I am. But I have been gone from Avalon for a long time, it is my understanding that I am the last seer.” Her smile vanishes as pain flashes in her eyes.

  “Yes,” Aurelia sighs. “I am truly sorry.”

  “You do not need to be unless you had a hand in destroying my people,” Claudia says.

  Aurelia straightens her back with a gasp, “never! I would never hurt my people,” she answers.

  “I know,” Claudia smiles at her.

  “Why are you here in the human realm?” Brokk asks from the side of the room.

  “I am here for my friend,” she smiles at me. “I fear though that things have not gone the way my vision foretold.”

  “What vision?” I ask.

  “Let me start at the beginning,” she smiles gripping my hand again. I really missed her, more than I realized now that we are sitting together.

  “Many moons ago, in Avalon, the Queen came to visit me. She requested a vision for her son. I could only tell her what I saw, which was not very much at that time. I saw him struggle in love for a long time and that was it.” Claudia says. “But then some time later I had another vision and called her to meet me. My vision was of a dark time to come for the prince, he was lost for a long time. Putting his training before everything else but then I saw him here in the human world, happy, and living among humans.

  “Although there would always be an ache in his heart, he would find his true mate here. I did not see who this would be but I knew together they would be truly happy except overtime the ache to return to Avalon would slowly tear them apart. The prince’s deep need to return home and keep his love safe would be at war inside of him. I saw a hard road for him if he did not keep his heart safe. His love would be tested but together, they could make it, only if she truly loved him as he loved her.”

  “What type of hard road?” I ask. Fear has begun to creep into my bones as I watch my beautiful silver-haired fairy friend.

  “I did not see too much I’m afraid. My visions change as time moves on, which is why I am here. I needed to come back to Faircrest to see if our prince was here.” She answers.

  “He was,” I reply. “We went back to Avalon together.”

  Claudia’s silver eyes twitch as she looks at me, “we?” she asks.

  “Yeah,” I nod. “Killian and me,” I smile. “We are true mates.”

  Claudia smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes and she tilts her head. A telltale sign I remember from years ago when she wasn’t sure if a person was telling the truth.

  “Believe me,” I sigh. “We are, we can hear each other's thoughts and feel emotions. When we are apart, it hurts like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Well, it did until a short time ago,” I tell her.

  “The bond broke,” Aurelia supplies.

  “Oh Reagan,” Claudia hugs me again. “I am truly sorry. I should never have left you alone,” she sighs.

  “I did okay, I eventually met Killian and graduated,” I smile. “Have you been living here?” I ask.

  “Yes, I arrived a few weeks ago but I could not find you,” she tells me.

  “I was in Avalon until two days ago but we had to leave,” I look at Aurelia and Brokk.

  “Yes, I fear I know why. I returned because of another vision but I was not sure if my mind was playing tricks on me.” Claudia says climbing to her feet.

  “What of this vision?” Brokk chimes in.

  “It is not clear to me right now but in time it will be,” she answers.

  Brokk crosses his arms then unfolds them and lifts his wrist out to Claudia. “Can you remove this?”

  “Do you still wish to harm me?” Claudia asks.

  “No,” Brokk answers.

  With a poli
te smile, she removes the stone bracelet from Brokk’s wrist, turning she walks to Aurelia taking up her hand. Claudia inspects the green stone on Aurelia’s wrist before whispering words and waving her hand over it. It doesn’t disappear like Brokk’s did but Claudia continues to try. Brokk hovers near Aurelia never taking his eyes from Claudia’s hands. After a few more tries Claudia stops and sighs.

  “I will continue later,” she tells Aurelia, who nods.

  “Why won’t it come off?” I ask.

  “Seer magic is unique to each, I can only tell that this magic is older than mine so I must continue to unwrap the strings of time before I can release the stone.”

  “Wow, how old are you?” I tease.

  “Twenty-three,” Claudia answers with a smile.

  “Yeah, thousand,” I laugh. “Well, now that there is four of us, maybe we should all stay here,” I suggest. No one replies as they look at each other.

  “Sounds good,” Claudia says.

  I volunteer to go back to the apartment and grab the food I just bought. Returning to the house I still don’t see Mr. Brenner anywhere, I hope he is okay. Inside, though, I can hear three fairies having what I can only describe as a heated discussion. Walking through to the kitchen I ignore their raised voices and hisses in favor of putting the food away. It actually feels weird being here again because I’ve come to think of Killian’s apartment as home. Although I didn’t leave without something of his, namely a t-shirt to sleep in and maybe his sweats and his leather jacket.

  The voices simmer down a little but continue with their discussion, in the kitchen I put away the food while humming to myself, but it’s been so long since I heard any music that I just make up the tune as I go. The voices silence causing me to walk into the room to investigate, all three fairies look up at me from their sitting positions.

  “So, are you done arguing?” I ask dryly, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa.

  “Yes, we are,” Claudia says, sternly, while glaring at the others.

  “I guess being the oldest makes you the boss.”

  “I’m not that old,” she says, slapping my thigh.

  “Do I get to know what you were arguing about?” I ask.

  “It is not important,” Aurelia replies.

  With a nod, I leave the room feeling a little pissed off. They are in my home, arguing but yet I’m not privy to the information. I’m beginning to believe that all I’m good for is getting people back to Avalon. Grabbing the keys, I leave the house and drive to Starbucks. When I arrive, I expect to see a rocker girl behind the counter but then I remember that she is gone and chide myself for coming here. It’s purely instinct, though because Alex is usually my number one stop when I need to advise or cheering up.

  Taking my coffee, I sit by the window and watch the street. It seems as though I never existed, in a few short months lives have changed, and people have moved on, yet, here I am. Sipping on my coffee, I indulge my pity party for a few more minutes until a familiar voice asks to sit down. My body stiffens while he joins me.

  “It’s been a while,” he says.

  “Yeah.”

  “I haven’t seen you for a few months, did you take off?”

  “Yes,” I nod. “Killian and I left town for a while, why?”

  Levi smiles a little, “I used to see your friend that worked here. She said you were missing.” He looks at me, taking in my frame that is swallowed up in Killian’s clothes.

  “No, we just took off to the mountains, no cell service,” I lie.

  “Yeah,” he nods. “Anyway, I thought I’d say hi and…” he stops to sip his coffee. “And, to say sorry for being a miserable bastard to you,” he frowns at himself.

  “Wow,” I scoff.

  “Yeah I know, a little too late,” he looks up at me and for the first time, I notice his brown eyes are clear and he looks just as handsome as he did in high school.

  “No, it’s fine,” I tell him. “You don’t need to apologize, the past is the past and I’m sure I wasn’t the best company at the time.”

  “Jesus Reagan, your parents, went missing and I dumped you. What the hell kind of asshole does that?” he asks.

  I’m not sure if he is in some kind of program where he has to make amends but I feel a little uncomfortable. “Levi it’s fine, we were kids and had no business acting like we were anything more than that.”

  Lifting his head, he smiles at me, “look at us, talking like adults.” He laughs a little. “Well, it was good seeing you again Reagan. Take care of yourself,” he says bending down to kiss my cheek.

  “Yeah, you too,” I smile at him and watch as he leaves the store.

  Things really have changed.

  Chapter 27

  Arriving home, I get the sweet smell of pizza and garlic bread. Walking into the kitchen, I find Claudia maneuvering around the island.

  “Hey,” I sigh, taking in the mess.

  “Oh Reagan,” she smiles. “Look, our favorite,” she waves enthusiastically at the food laid out.

  “Wow, Claudia, still making a horrific mess when you cook,” I laugh.

  She huffs and places her hands on her hips while trying to glare at me but it doesn’t quite seem right with her sparkly eyes. “I will have you know, that this,” she waves over the countertop “is what cooking looks like.”

  “Sure it is, if your three years old,” I drawl and then smile at her.

  With a sharp flick of her hair, she turns to the oven removing the warm bread. I help bring the salad to the table and set out some plates. It feels really strange doing this again in this house, even using the plates that belonged to my parents tug at my heart.

  “Where are Aurelia and Brokk,” I ask.

  Claudia waves her delicate hand in the air and rolls her eyes, “in the guest room.”

  “Oh, what are they doing?” I ask with concern.

  “Talking,” she answers. “About how to get back to Avalon.”

  “Wow, what is it with you fairies, wanting to get back there so bad? The way I see it, Connor is a tyrant so why bother,” I sigh.

  Claudia looks up at me considering what I said but then she smirks and gently slaps my arm. “You of all people should want to return.”

  “Why’s that?” I can’t help the sarcasm.

  “Well, I’m pretty sure your true mate is there, waiting for you,” she sings.

  “I don’t think it works like that,” I call out to her retreating form. When she returns carrying the pizza, she looks expectantly at me. “I mean, if we really were true mates then why did the bond break?”

  “Well that’s easy,” she says taking a seat.

  “Shouldn’t we call them,” I motion to the ceiling with my eyes.

  “I did,” she announces. “As I was saying, your bond broke because the bonding ceremony was not completed.”

  “How does that work?”

  Aurelia and Brokk appear from the living room, both of them look stressed out. I watch as they take a seat at the table. We pass around the food and I can’t help but smile when Claudia takes a huge bite of pizza, she always ate like a horse.

  “Well?” I ask.

  “Oh,” she nods while swallowing. “The bonding is quite special. I cannot explain it because it goes beyond the physical. You will know when it truly happens,” she smiles.

  “Can the bond ever be rebuilt?” Aurelia whispers.

  I can almost feel the sadness from her like a wave washing over me. Her eyes seem a little duller again like they did the first night I saw her.

  “If the bond is broken after the ceremony, no,” Claudia says. “It is this reason we can move on if our mate passes before us but if you have not completed the ceremony and your bond is suspended,” she waves her hand. “Then yes, of course for it is not truly broken.”

  Aurelia meets my gaze and we both consider what Claudia has said. I can see a small spark of hope in Aurelia’s golden eyes but I can’t find the same desire within me. Does this mean I don’t really love K
illian? I’m pretty sure I do but just like in death, you learn to adapt to the circumstances and accept that you cannot be with that person anymore.

  “When do we return?” Brokk asks.

  We all turn to Claudia, hoping that she knows because she seems to have all the answers. Unfortunately, all we get from her is shoulder shrug and a frown.

  “We must return, Connor needs to be defeated,” Brokk says sounding angry.

  “We will return when we are supposed to,” Claudia tells him.

  “You do not seem to know much for a seer,” he scoffs.

  “Indeed,” she answers while watching him from the corner of her eye.

  I’m getting the feeling they don’t like each other and I can’t help but feel myself being tugged in two directions. Claudia however, will win, always. She is my friend and I know her, I know she won’t lie to me but Brokk and Aurelia, although related to Killian, I don’t know too well.

  We finish our dinner in silence but you can feel the tension in the room between Claudia and Brokk and then Aurelia is adding sadness on top of it all making me feel like I am suffocating. Leaving the table I take a seat out on the back patio, the cold air assaults me but I welcome the way it clears away the feelings clinging to me.

  Sitting down I pull Killian’s jacket closer around me. I can still smell him mixed with the leather. Who am I kidding? Of course, I love him, just the smell that clings to the leather reminds me of all the times his arms wrapped around me and the hollow pit that has settled in my chest grows. The sky is dark tonight, stars are visible, but the moon is not. It’s a strange contrast to Avalon, where the moon is full every night, hanging from the sky like a giant ripe silver berry waiting to be picked.

  “You seem quiet tonight,” Aurelia says, joining me.

  “Just thinking,” I reply.

  “Yes, I fear we are all thinking,” she sighs, glancing up at the sky.

  “We will get back Aurelia.”

  “I hope so, I fear that I miss home far more than I ever thought I would. The last time I was in this realm, my mother and father brought me. We strolled hand-in-hand through the streets, sidestepping people and cars,” she tells me.