Blue Ridge: Vol. 3 - Escape

by Sophia Gray

  “Please, Robert, he just wants to live.” His mother’s voice wafted across the room. Foster dared a glance at her. She was standing beside Walt. Her voice was its usual silk and her statuesque frame was graceful without meaning to be. She gave Foster a quick look of pity.

  “Live, you say?” he glared at her. “Like one of them?”

  “In whatever manner he chooses.” She calmly replied.

  “He is nearly 21, Julia! He will need to choose soon.”

  “So let him choose.”

  “You know what I mean!” he yelled, his dark eyes flashing like fire. “You said his taking a few courses for fun at the college wouldn’t hurt. You said it was his last year to do it.” His father threw this long arms open wide. “So, I let him. Now there’s a girl! A mortal!”

  Julia moved her hand in a dismissive gesture and took a seat beside Walt. “We are all mortal. Some just meet their mortality a bit quicker. He took two classes last year and nothing happened.”

  With that, Robert turned and glared at his son. “Did you meet this girl last year?”

  “No, Sir, we met yesterday.”

  “Yesterday? And what, now you’re in love?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Robert’s eyes widened with shock before he looked at his wife, who shot a pointed gaze back at Foster. “Now you have another one that’s as crazy as your people!”

  He didn’t get a response, other than Julia’s impassive eyes watching him.

  “Damn the Fae!” he screamed and left the house with Darren right on his heels. Darren made sure he let Foster know how he felt and pushed him off his feet before leaving the house. The door slammed so hard that a picture of lilies and roses fell to the floor. Walt winced and stood to cross the room to pick it up. He placed it gently back on the wall, and bent to squeeze Foster’s shoulder reassuringly.

  “Foster, come walk with me.” His mother said, walking gracefully to the back doors. Foster followed rubbing his throbbing face.

  They walked in silence until they reached the meadow. None of them ever needed extra light at night in the woods. They could see just fine. The meadow was glowing with the silver light of a full moon. Foster closed his eyes and let his other senses enjoy the night around him. His ears could hear insects and small animals scurrying here and there, looking for food or running from the danger of becoming food. Beyond that, he could hear and feel the faint hum that was the earth itself, forever alive; always changing.

  “Foster, do you understand why I have been insistent on giving you and your brothers’ free will to choose your own paths?”

  “No, Mam.”

  She turned to face him in the moonlit meadow. Foster was able to see her in pure form. No Glamour needed. She was Fae. More importantly she was also Sidhe. The most regal and beautiful of the Fae and Elvish races combined. Her skin was pale and her hair looked like white fire in this light. “I wanted you all to be able to choose without the complications your father and I faced.”

  “He’s not allowing me to choose, Mother.”

  Her sigh was sad and distant. “Your father has lost the vision he started with. His kind is not meant to love. If they feel love it must benefit them in some way and then be discarded as soon as it ceases to be useful.” She turned her head to smile at him. “But my kind, our kind, loves because it is the purest of feelings. We love the earth, we love each other, and some even choose to love God.”

  “I am half my father.”

  “Yes, biologically speaking, but not in your heart. Your heart determines who you are. I am half Sidhe, whom are known for coldness and sometimes cruelty. I am capable of such things but I choose in my heart to not indulge in them. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” She said, moving into the meadow with her arms lightly outstretched at her sides to brush the top of the tall grasses as she walked. “Come, Foster, and tell me about this girl.”

  They talked for an hour, circling the field and back again. Foster told his mother everything; how they met, how she looks, how she makes him fell. And then Foster told her about Nadia’s names on her shirt. His mother frowned momentarily.

  “Surely, the child was cleaned up and given clean clothes at the hospital.”

  “Yes, she was, I asked her after she woke up. The police wrote the names down, and eventually Nadia’s parents were told about them.”

  “Most people would not recognize them as Fae names.”

  “I know. Her mother certainly didn’t.”

  “Your father has a council meeting tonight.”

  “Already? I thought he just had one.”

  Her eyes regarded him, the pale green shimmering momentarily. “You were seen in town last night with the girl.”

  Foster cringed inwardly remembering the car and the two figures watching him. “So, I was followed?”

  She nodded. “Darren is concerned about our exposure.”

  “Our exposure? He beds every whore he can get his hands on!”

  She held up a slender hand. “I do not condone your brother’s philandering ways. It is dangerous, and he only did that locally once. Your father took care of the matter.”

  “Why do I have to choose someone of my own bloodline from either side?”

  “It is how we protect ourselves, Foster, you know this.”

  “But you and Dad….”

  “Were very lucky.” She replied sharply. “Your father was just recognized again after twenty one long years. Darren’s impending ceremony has something to do with it, I think, as well as the fact that we have lived modestly and discreetly all these years.”

  “If Nadia knew, she would never tell.”

  “How can you be so certain?”

  Foster looked back at the meadow with longing. They were re-entering the woods and all he wanted was to be out there and feel the night around him. “I can’t explain it, but I just know.”

  His mother nodded. “Be careful, Foster. There are consequences you cannot imagine. Your twenty-first is less than a year away. Could you leave this life so easily just for a girl?”

  “Did you ask yourself that when you married Father?”

  Wistfully she replied, “I wish someone had of asked me.”

  ****

  Nadia waited impatiently for Foster to show up. She had a nagging feeling that the previous two days were only a dream; an impossible dream that would never truly happen to her. Her parents were full of questions when she came home from her last date, and her mother followed her around for at least twenty minutes begging for ‘the details’. Nadia told them enough to send them to bed hopeful that she wouldn’t die an old maid, and her missing church didn’t seem to bother them either, once they found out Foster was coming back the very next day. It amused her on one level and irritated her on another. She was only nineteen. Did they honestly think she would never find the right guy? Her mother had been seventeen when she married, and her father had been twenty-two. So, by her mother’s standards the clock was running out.

  Nadia ran to the bathroom to check her face one last time when she heard the light knock on the door. For a change she had actually applied a small amount of eyeliner and mascara.

  She opened the door with a wide grin. It faded a little when she saw Foster. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Nadia noticed the right side of his face looked pinkish and slightly swollen. “What happened to your face?”

  “Oh yeah.” He said stepping through the door. “I walked into a wall and didn’t sleep very well afterwards.”

  “Oh. Do you want to go back home?”

  He shook his head solemnly and pulled her to him. “Not a chance.” He whispered into her hair.

  Nadia smiled but could feel an uneasiness coming off him. “Would you like some breakfast?”

  “Sure, and some coffee too.”

  “Make yourself at home. The remote’s on the table.”

  Ten minutes later, Nadia brought a plate of
scrambled eggs and toast to him and a steaming cup of coffee. She paused and watched his sleeping form slouched on the couch. He was an impossibly beautiful man. Not just handsome, but beautiful. She had tried to tell Kristen that the night before when she had called to get ‘all the details’, but she had only laughed and told her that she had read too many English romances.

  She set the food and coffee down on the coffee table and tried to sit down beside him as quietly as possible. He nuzzled closer to her and she decided to nap as well. Eggs and toast could be reheated.

  ****

  “More rolls, Foster?” Nadia’s mother beamed. She was thrilled to have another person that she

  could feed. Frank James was a Chevy man, but Crystal James was a cooking woman.

  “Oh, no thank you. If I have any more, I won’t be able to eat that delicious chocolate cake you have over there!”

  Nadia’s mother blushed and began clearing the table so they could have dessert. Nadia rose to help her and soon the house smelled of brewed coffee and rich chocolate. Foster ate two pieces, which pleased her mother to no end.

  After lunch, Nadia’s father took his spot in the recliner and was soon snoring, and her mother was humming happily in the kitchen, washing dishes.

  “Want to go for a drive?” Foster was grinning.

  “Sure.”

  Nadia kissed her mother’s cheek and they left quietly out the front door. Once inside Foster’s vehicle she let out a long relaxed sigh. “They are overbearing today.”

  “No, it’s nice, Nadia. Old school America really. You should cherish it.”

  Nadia gave him a sidelong glance before answering. His statement seemed odd and touched with sadness. “I do, I guess. What is your family like?”

  “Complicated.” Foster drove a few miles out of town and parked on the side of the road. “Nadia…We have become close very quickly.”

  Nadia toyed with the bottom of her t-shirt and felt the disappointment welling up within her. She looked out the window and watched several birds take flight only to circle around and land about two feet from where they originally started. “You think we are moving too fast?”

  “No! Not for me anyway. I just want…” His words caught in his throat and he knew he should tell her everything. Just risk it all and see if she would feel the same way.

  “You want what?”

  Foster twisted in his seat and turned her around so they were facing each other. His eyes were large and conveyed urgency. “Let’s leave this place.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” She could feel the grip on her upper arms tighten and fear ran up her spine.

  Foster sensed it and let her go, running a hand through his hair, as he leaned back in his seat. “I don’t know. I just want to run away. I just want to run away with you.”

  Nadia giggled and laid her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know what is going on today, but that was a very romantic thing to say.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess I’m that kind of guy.”

  “Good. It’s better than the usual.”

  “Which is what?” he asked playing with a strand of her hair.

  “A jerk.”

  “I love you, Nadia.”

  She lifted her head and made sure he was being serious. The set of his jaw and the raw emotion of his eyes told her all she wanted to know. “I love you too.”

  “Love knows no boundaries, nor does it understand time.”

  “That’s beautiful.”

  “Yes.” He said and interlaced his fingers with hers. “My mother told it to me once.”

  “She sounds like a wise lady. I hope I can meet her soon.”

  “She is wise. She’s a princess.”

  ****

  Physics the next morning was full of notes and worry. Mr. Deedle announced their first test would be the next class meeting, and Foster was over twenty minutes late. Nadia felt like a foolish teenager. She watched the door and the clock so much that she missed most of the notes for that time frame. When Foster finally walked in he looked like he hadn’t slept a wink again, and his clothes were rumpled like he had possibly spent the night in his vehicle.

  “Attempt to be on time, Mr. Anak.”

  “Sorry, Mr. Deedle.” Foster gave her a weak smile and opened his notebook. He scribbled something on the first page and slid it to her.

  Sorry if I worried you. Do you work tonight?

  Nadia nodded and slid the notebook back. She couldn’t put her finger on it but her working seemed to bother him. He didn’t frown or show any outward signs, other than she sensed slight stiffening to his body. As soon as Mr. Deedle announced class was over and she had shoved everything into her bag, Foster grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the room and up the stairs into the hallway. He never broke stride, which took some maneuvering since the hall wasn’t empty of bodies. Kristen walked out of her classroom and opened her mouth to say something as they passed, but was cut short by Foster. “Can’t stop. She’ll call you later.” Nadia looked back and shrugged at Kristen, who for once stood speechless. He didn’t stop walking until they were outside and at her vehicle.

  “What’s wrong?” Nadia asked with a higher pitch to her voice than she meant to have. He didn’t answer right away, but kissed her hard instead.

  “Take a trip with me, Nadia. Let’s just get out of this place for a while.”

  “What? Foster, I can’t just leave when school is in session, and neither can you!” She could feel irritation rising in her like bile. “What is really going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  Foster needed time. He needed time that just wasn’t there. Things were exploding at home. Strange people were there the previous evening and they all met in the barn. He tried to eavesdrop but all he heard were a few snatched words about age old agreements, treaties, and that something had to be done about the situation. Foster knew it had to do with him and Nadia.

  The Fae and the Nephilim had a treaty that kept peace between the races. One of the biggest rules was that there was to be a limited amount of exposure with humans and under no circumstances were either race to mate with one on a permanent basis. So Darren just slipped by on that one, of course. The only permanency he knew was loyalty to his father and their ‘business’. The other members of the Council varied in race and the treaties were a nightmare to keep up with.

  “I’m not in trouble. I just really want to go somewhere with you.”

  Nadia wanted to appease him at all costs. “Hey, we could go away for Thanksgiving. My mother will be devastated, but we could go anyway.”

  Foster forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, okay, that sounds like a plan. I guess I can wait that long.”

  “Great! This will be so much fun! Maybe we can go skiing!”

  Foster felt so much for her right then; he knew he would do anything to protect her.

  Nadia knew she would do anything to please him.

  ****

  They parted ways after taking a walk around the campus. Nadia talking excitingly about their impending vacation, and Foster with his head swirling about how to tell her the truth without losing her.

  The rest of the week was a grueling pace of watching her without her knowing it and being with her every chance he had. He knew they were being followed. Eyes seemed to be everywhere, yet he could never see anyone directly, unlike the first night he saw the car at the end of the parking lot.

  Another strange meeting happened that Thursday night, and ended with his father yelling and storming out of the barn. The few Fae that actually showed up wandered back into the forest on foot, and the Nephilim got into their vehicles and drove away. The others had varying modes of transportation, and everyone seemed to scatter to the four winds.

  By Friday after class he was exhausted. He took Nadia to the same restaurant again and followed her to work.

  “Will you call me tonight?”

  “Of course.” He smiled down at her. His arms were loosely draped around her waist, and they stood tha
t way for ten minutes talking and occasionally kissing before Nadia’s boss, Evelyn, yelled out the front door that they should get a room. Foster grinned and yelled back that he was trying but Nadia wouldn’t go. Evelyn cackled an ear splitting laugh and shook her head closing the door.

  “Okay, off to work with you.” He said, letting her go and swatting her behind as she began to walk away.

  “Bye! Call me later!” Nadia felt foolish reminding him again to call, but she still felt the fear of his disinterest lurking in the back of her mind. It was a whirlwind kind of romance that she never wanted to end. Once inside she looked out the window and saw that he was still in the parking lot. Not understanding, she thought it was sweet the way he lingered.