by Anne Haley
"There are certain types of trees that we favor. Three of them are in your backyard: oak, ash, and elder. Take a twig from each, from the ground, never break it off the tree, bundle it together with red ribbon and bury these bundles around the perimeter of your property. Anyone that is unwelcome to you won’t be able to cross this line." She reached in her pocket and handed Terra several short strands of the ribbon. "The more bundles you have the better."
"So no witch could come here?" Terra asked.
"Well, not necessarily. We’ve been fighting against only one coven of witches. There are other covens in the world that are good, and they are harmless to us. So it’s not a protection to all witches, no. It works against humans too, you know. Anyone that you don’t feel is welcome, and now that El and I are here it would be if we thought they weren’t welcome either. The protection will feed off of our combined emotions. It can sense if we feel we are in danger."
Terra’s yard was rather large, so they buried five bundles on each side of the property. Once done Terra could immediately feel the cloak of protectiveness stretching over them like a large invisible dome. She felt safe.
"That’s perfect. Plus, in a week or two some thorn bushes will appear around the property also. It’s a sign that this house is of the fae, and only the welcome may cross onto it." Aylin surveyed the yard.
"Like at your home? I noticed it the first time walked through your entrance. It felt like it was finding out if I were a threat or not," Terra said, the memory very clear of her breath quickly leaving her.
"Yes."
"Aylin, I’ve lived her for a few years now. Why haven’t they grown yet?" Terra frowned, looking around the perimeter.
"It all comes down to acceptance. For the first few years that you were a faerie, and didn’t know it, it meant that you were confused and unfocused. Now that you are more aware and gaining power things will fall into place." Aylin said.
Terra chewed on her lip for a few moments. "I still have a lot to learn."
"In time Terra." Aylin put a hand on top of Terra’s. "I promise to teach you every little trick and spell I know."
El couldn’t find anything worth making into a meal, so Terra was sent to the Blue Sister’s Diner to pick up dinner. She returned with salads, broiled chicken, and potatoes. Once they were all fed and leaning back against their chairs, they began questioning Terra.
There had been quite a bit of unusual happenings in town. There were hikers that would come into town and ask the locals about strange rock formations that could be seen from some of the trails that went deep into the woods that hadn’t been there before. Another hiker reported she saw a few women around campfires lighting incense and arranging the rocks. The hikers didn’t disturb the women, only thought they were a bunch of aged hippies starting a new cult.
Several residents reported a man in town asking a lot of questions about religious formations or something else that couldn’t be explained. He came into the bookstore one day on Terra’s day off and sat down with her mother, and for an hour he pestered her about the history of the town and if there were any formations in the woods that couldn’t be explained. He was looking for families that have ancestors from the area, and any kind of ancient local histories.
A few days later Terra was in the bookstore, repairing books in the stock room, when she heard her mother becoming very upset. She went to see what had been going on, and the man had returned to ask Mary, her mother, more questions. The man seemed terribly confused as to why she seemed so upset. "I told you already, I’m not answering any of your damn questions!" Mary stormed around the counter, shaking her fist.
"But you sat down with me the other day, and said I could come back anytime." The man frowned.
Terra was peaking through the crack in the door, and Mary didn’t see her when she snuck a glance at the doorway. "You’re making things up. I don’t have time for this." She pushed the man out the door, and less than an hour later she left claiming a pounding headache. Terra couldn’t explain why, but it was sending alarms off in her radar.
Rising early the next morning, Aylin wandered out onto Sable’s Point near the Trading Post. The thin peninsula consisted of irregular sharp boulders. The end of the point slipped in and out of the water with the crashing waves. The chiseled look of the rocks made perfect seats or steps with their natural formations. Some areas of the rock held small pools of glassy water. The point offered no protection from the cold wind that blew off the lake, but it gave a boater’s perspective of the town.
It was cold, and she had goose bumps under her sweater, but she stayed where she was. The waves crashed into the rocks, making her feel at home near the water’s edge. She laid her palms on the cold stone on either side of her and let the earth speak to her. The rocks here were old, years of taking the beating of the water, polishing the surface into smooth worn stone. She allowed her energy to pass through her into the rocks, and she was given the same in return. The motion of the water sent waves up her arms, filling her heart with its happiness and it’s sorrows. The rock had been lonely as of late, no other being had connected with it for a long time, and its energy was overwhelming to her. She had to push down the feeling of excitement that traveled through her along with years and years of memories of shifting and movement, of erosion and it’s most treasured of being warmed by the sun, she was used to the slow laziness of the trees around her cottage.
She tried to move through the rock, to the water. The lake was calm, and soothing, as opposed to the stone around her. The water was deep and cold, with layers and layers of creatures moving around in it. Aylin’s eyes flew open as her current had reached a distant shore. She couldn’t visibly see it, the distant shore was hidden by the curve of the earth, but she had felt something. Something that she hadn’t expected, another faerie. By the motion of the shield around her, she was a water faerie, possibly a lake faerie.
"Just when I think I’ve seen the last of you," a man said behind her. She turned and looked up at Blake. He was tall and muscular, with cold dark brown eyes that sent a chill right through her. She frowned at him and looked away.
"Not your lucky day," she said with sarcasm.
"When did you get here?" He came closer, so he stood next to her.
"Yesterday. Terra didn’t tell you?" She stood up and crossed her arms.
"No she didn’t."
"Does this hurt your feelings?" She turned to him.
"Honey, it takes a lot to hurt my feelings. Actually, I haven’t talked to her since yesterday morning." He looked away from her.
"Well, at least you know we didn’t come here for you." She turned back to the lake.
"We?" He sounded surprised.
"El too."
"Great," he grumbled. Anger was radiating off him like a space heater. His brow was creased, and worry darkened his eyes. "Just don’t go messing with her head anymore."
She whirled on him now. "Messing with her head? You are unbelievable! Your sister is happy and comfortable in her own skin now. And you accuse me of messing with her head?" She balled up her fists and stuffed them in the pockets of her sweater. She could feel the heat in her palms. She took a step closer to him so her face was very close to his. He looked down at her. "I understand you’re upset that you couldn’t help her like I can, but trying to make me feel bad about it isn’t going to work." She leaned away. "I think it’s best if we stay away from each other while I’m here."
"Yeah, whatever. No arguments here." He turned around and stormed off toward the trees that led to the beach. Her eyes narrowed at his back, and her fingers twitched in her pockets. Blake lifted his foot to take another step, and a tree root sprouted out of the crack in the stone, lifted high enough to catch the toe of his boot. He scrambled to catch himself, his arms flailing around, and his hands slammed onto the ground as he pitched forward.
He stood quickly and brushed his hands off, looking down at the tree root. He stepped his foot on it to push it down, back into the crack, but it
bounced back up when he took his foot off. She heard him mutter an obscenity and then continued to storm off, watching where he stepped carefully.
She took her hands out of her pockets and looked down at them. They were trembling and her palms were glowing. She quickly stuffed her hands back in her pockets and felt like stomping her feet. No one has made her this mad, especially not a human. Sure she gets irritated with the witches, but they have never gotten her to this point. She actually wanted to hit him. Hard.
El was becoming restless sitting around the house. She had fingered through one of the thousand books of Terra’s, baked a large batch of spiced ginger cookies, brewed a pitcher of iced tea, painted her toenails, and organized her clothes for the second time. She tended to get jittery when she had been cooped up too long. Normally, this would be the time she would dabble in her herbs and find new concoctions to make. However, her herbs remained back home, so instead she changed into her running clothes and stepped out into the cool air.
It was a perfect day for running because the sky was clear and the sun felt good on her skin. She could feel it warming her through the layers. She headed toward the opposite direction of town, and played loud, bass pounding music on her mp3 player. Her feet pounded on the pavement in rhythm with her music, the harder it pounded, the faster she ran. The narrow road was lined with trees, and every once in awhile she would pass a gravel driveway that led to somewhere behind the protection of the trees. It gave El the impression the residents here were private people.
Deep in her running trance, she almost missed it. She had gone up the hill and circled around, passing the road to Terra’s house, coming close to town. She kept jogging, but changed her direction to moving backwards until she had a clearer view of the back of a log home. She took the ear buds out and stopped jogging. A man stood behind the house, close to the woods, with his shirt off and appeared to be made of pure rock hard muscle. His back was to her, and from this view she would be tempted into having a few dates with him.
What he did next stopped her heavy breathing. He leaned down to a large tractor tire, wrapped one arm around it and lifted it off the ground. He put his other hand underneath it and carried it over his head. The tire was taller than she was.
El couldn’t believe what she saw right before her eyes. She took a few steps closer and crouched behind a thick shrub that was in the front yard. He had disappeared out of sight around the house. As quietly as she could, El moved toward the back to see what else this guy could do. Shortly he came around the side of the house and the sight before her threw her backward to land hard on the ground. She had to have been mistaken because she knew there is no way that the man was Blake. Absolutely no possible way.
She pulled herself back up on her haunches and peaked around the shrub. He wiped his face with his shirt, and then tossed it onto a tree stump. He walked back toward the backyard again, heading toward a large boulder near the edge of the woods. The boulder was as tall as he was. Placing both hands on it, he planted his feet and pushed. Just when El figured she must have been mistaken with the weight of the tire the boulder rocked. Her mouth dropped open and she quickly covered her mouth to stop herself from gasping. Before her eyes he rolled the boulder onto its side.
Once he was out of sight again she scrambled to her feet and ran at full speed back to Terra’s.
Aylin was washing dishes when El came bursting in the door. She was so out of breath that she couldn’t speak for a full two minutes. "What is it El?" Aylin frowned.
"Blake." El was still breathing hard. "Not normal!"
"Tell me about it. He just doesn’t give up-"
"No!" She grabbed Aylin. "I saw him. He moved a boulder Aylin!"
"What?" Aylin looked at her, doubtful. "It must have been a pretty small boulder."
"It was taller than him. Aylin, he’s not normal!"
"Who isn’t?" Terra asked, walking into the kitchen. She was dressed for work.
"You’re brother." El turned to her. "I saw what he can do!"
"What do you mean?" she asked, pouring coffee into a thermos. It was almost noon and her mom had said not to rush into work today since she had company.
"Don’t play dumb with me." El hitched her hips up onto the counter. "You know what I’m talking about."
"No, I really don’t," Terra shook her head.
El glared at her. Terra was really pulling off the innocent look; her cheeks weren’t even flushing from knowing a secret. "I saw him move a boulder."
Terra’s mouth slacked.
"Yeah!" El pointed at her. "You do know what I’m talking about. How long have you known that he is so strong? I mean, it’s not physically possible for him to be that strong."
"I, uh…" Terra chewed on her lip for a moment and then sighed. "I’ve had some suspicions. He is careful around people, making sure he looks like he’s exerting himself. But I’ve caught him a couple of times, lifting things like they were as light as a piece of paper. Things like tires, furniture, and so on. I’ve never talked to him about it though."
"Maybe he’s just strong," Aylin said.
"Jesus Aylin." El rolled her eyes. "Are you really going to take that route? He is not normal, he’s something more."
"You are blowing this way out of proportion." Terra tightened the top of her thermos.
El jumped down and ran to the door to block Terra in and glared down at her. "I’m not crazy. You just admitted to seeing what he can do to. You need to ask him for an explanation. Ask him what he is!"
"Okay El." Aylin stepped between them. El was beginning to radiate more heat than normal, meaning she was getting pretty mad. "We’re not calling you crazy. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to confront Blake. How on earth would Terra explain that she understands there are beings in the world that aren’t normal?"
"I could tell him what I am," Terra said matter-of-factly. "Maybe being not so normal runs in the family."
"Absolutely not," Aylin snapped. "He never gets to know. That’s not even up for discussion."
Terra looked down at her hands. "But he might understand, considering that he has exceptional capabilities."
"I said no, Terra."
"I’m with Terra." El walked around Aylin to stand by Terra. "If he’s something other than human, than we might be able to use him."
"Yes!" Terra perked up.
"No. He’s not one of us. If you want to confront him about what he is, you’ll have to find another way," Aylin said with finality. Terra opened her mouth, but shut it quickly when Aylin glared down to her. She sighed and turned to walk out.
"I’m going into the store for awhile. I’ll be back later this afternoon," Terra said over her shoulder and left the kitchen, toward the stairs that led to the lower level.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It was a slow afternoon at the bookstore for Terra. She never minded spending her afternoons manning the store. She felt most at home and content in the shop. When she walked through the door each day it was like a welcoming hug. Her nerves calmed, and her head would clear. She had endless patience when customers would ask her dozens of questions, even when those questions all had the same answer. This was her pride and joy, even if it wasn’t her own. Her mom had opened the store when Terra was still in elementary school, with her dad’s help. It had been a part of her life as long as she could remember.
She loved the smell of a book. The paper gave her a sense of the tree that it came from which was an earthy smell, mixed with a metallic rubber of the ink used in the printing. Blake never believed her when she claimed she knew what kind of tree and where it was when it was cut down, and made into paper. A lot were from Minnesota, and those always smelled stronger to her. They smelled like home.
Terra sighed as she looked around the bookstore. Shelf after shelf was full of books. It had been a long time since they’d ever had any open spaces. Once Terra got involved with running the store she made sure the genre of the books was wide, stretching from history to romance to children�
�s books. They featured a large section of local authors. The subjects spanned from art, photography, travel, and fiction. Her father had been adamant on supporting the local artists.
She did have her small business of book repair, and that was her own. That business had been slow, but that only gave her more time to spend on the books she did have to repair. Over the last year she made an attempt to expand her business by allowing a friend of hers to build a website for her. It was a few weeks before she was contacted by anyone interested, and now last week she received two books by mail to be repaired.
She walked to the back of the bookstore and into the back room. She shut her purse in the bottom desk drawer as always, and then went to her corner where she had set up a workbench to repair books. Scraps of book cloth were strewn on the old desk. The three books held in book presses were drying where new spines had been meticulously glued. She removed one, and slipped the wax paper out from the inside of the covers. The book’s spine was just tight enough now, and the loose pages were securely back in their rightful spot. She carefully wrapped the book in craft paper, writing the customer’s name on the front and placed it in desk. She checked the other two books, one was ready to be taken out of the press, and the other still needed more time to dry.
She quickly sent emails out to the two book owners, notifying them they could pick up their old books at their earliest convenience. Two new emails from potential customers was a boost of encouragement. Her business was beginning to catch on, thanks to Owen’s website work. He had built a website for her this past winter, promoting her book repair business.
Owen was a master of computers, which sometimes got him into trouble. He was great at building websites and retrieving data on damaged computers, but Terra knew he dealt with some under the table jobs, hacking into places he shouldn’t be. It worried her, but she kept reminding herself that he was an adult and was making his own decisions. Even though he and Blake managed to be mischief makers since they were young.
