by Kimbra Swain
“Grace Ann Bryant meet my wife, Henrietta Purcell,” Chris droned.
“Oh, my stars! It’s the Queen. Oh, my! Should I bow? Dear Heavens, I’m not sure my heart can take the excitement. Oh, Miss Grace, I’ve been dying to meet you ever since I moved to town. I’ve been trying to get Chris to invite you over for dinner. Please come in,” she said waving to the front door.
“Why thank you,” I replied astonished at her adoration.
We followed her into the living room which screamed frumpy to me. Lacy curtains with ruffles, floral print furniture, white end tables and a coffee table full of magazines filled the small living space.
“Dear me, I never imagined. And Mr. Riggs, it’s an honor,” she said fluttering her eyelids at Dylan. She shot an evil look at Chris who promptly put out his cheroot at the door. He entered the room but leaned against a door just inside the main entry. Dylan and I sat down on the couch.
“The honor is mine, ma’am,” Dylan replied in his sweetest southern accent. She fluttered her hand at her face, then winked at me. I chuckled.
“Let me get you both some lemonade. I’ll be right back,” she said as she hurried into the kitchen before I could protest.
Dylan and I both looked at Chris with questioning eyes.
“Not here,” he gruffly replied.
“Soon,” I indicated as Henrietta re-entered with two glasses of lemonade which made me feel awkward because she hadn’t gotten any for herself or Chris.
She set a glass in front of each of us on a delicate hand-crocheted doily. “Here you go. Now tell me, what brings you to the neighborhood?”
“Well, I’d heard that the neighbors were giving you problems. I came out to see if I could do anything to help. Chris and I have been acquainted for many years, and I didn’t mind doing him a favor,” I replied.
“I’m sure it’s just a ruckus that will pass. No need for you to worry your pretty little head. I’m sure you and Mr. Riggs have plenty of other things to do than be here,” she replied. “Ain’t that right, Chris?”
Chris grunted. “Excuse me, I need to make a call,” he said exiting down a hallway and out of sight.
“Forgive him. He’s not used to having a proper house and guests. He doesn’t know that it’s rude to leave company to make phone calls.” Her voice raised with each word talking more to her exiting husband than to either of us.
“It’s no problem. Are you sure everything is okay? I’ll be glad to help if I can,” I reassured her.
“I’m sure all of it will blow over as soon as they realize that I’ll be a great neighbor,” she smiled.
A gust of wind blew outside, then a light knock on the door. Dylan tensed like he did when his thunderbird senses indicated danger. I looked at him. “What?”
“Stay here,” he said approaching the front door. There was another light knock on the door. Henrietta stood. “Please, Mrs. Purcell. Stay there.”
The light knock repeated. “Little pig, little pig, let me in.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled. Dylan shot me a look. He reached for the door handle as I got a magical impression of the being outside. Apparently, not all of my father’s abilities were trapped in my well. Ever since I’d taken on his powers, I had no issues knowing who and what everyone was in the supernatural realm. Before I could protest, Dylan turned the knob on the door. “No!”
The door imploded in on him, throwing him across the room. His fiery wings exploded from his back to balance him before he hit the wall. He clenched his fists in anger. Chris ran into the room as the being stepped into the house.
She couldn’t have been taller than 5 feet, but she floated off the ground by at least 2 feet. Her blue and white dress swirled around her body as a wind whipped around her like a mini-tornado. Large iridescent wings fluttered on her back. Her bright orange hair flared around her head like the snakes of Medusa. With large feline eyes and sharp teeth, she snarled at Chris Purcell. “Give me what is mine or else,” she growled.
Chris’ eyes widened. Henrietta cowered behind the couch. I could hear her whimpering.
“Or what? Are you gonna huff and puff? Blow the house down? I’m pretty sure you have your fairy tales mixed up, Sylph,” I drew her attention to me. Dylan’s nostrils flared as I took control of the situation.
“Queen! Why are you in this house?” she asked.
“Well, let’s see. This is my town. My friends. And frankly, none of your damn business unless you want to make it your business, then I’ll be happy to oblige,” I replied as my tattoo flared. My skin turned milky white. Silvery filigree covered my shoulders and neck. My hair shifted to a platinum blonde.
“You have no idea what he’s done!” she snapped.
“Why don’t you settle down, and we will talk about it,” I suggested.
“Grace,” Dylan warned. I shot him the look he gave me earlier, and his teeth shifted beneath the skin of his face as he ground them together.
“By laws of hospitality, you’ve entered this home uninvited. I could call the wolves to take you in now or I could just put you down myself,” I warned her.
“This isn’t over!” she shouted, as the wind in the room spun around us. The walls shook in the small house, and the sylph took off out the door. Dylan ran out the door as his wings dissipated. Dark black holes were burned into the back of his white t-shirt.
“That was stupid, Grace,” he turned on me.
“What do you mean? She’s gone. Seems like it worked to me,” I said.
“She could have ripped through this house,” he argued.
“But she didn’t,” I replied. “What the hell, Purcell?” I wanted to turn Dylan’s anger away from me.
“I don’t know what she was talking about,” he shrugged as he crossed the room to help Henrietta up off the floor. She whimpered. He pulled her close to him, and she cried into his shoulder. “I think y’all should leave.”
Dylan reached out for me, and I went to him. He cautiously stepped outside, looking all around us. “She’s gone,” I said with the remains of the Purcell home door dangling from its hinges.
“What the hell, Grace?” he said.
I pulled away from him. “What do you mean? I’m not helpless anymore, Dylan! Not that I ever was!”
“You most certainly were. It’s only been a day since you gave up the power. Now you are challenging a sylph. A wind elemental! She could have rocked that house down around us,” he said.
“She wouldn’t have with us there. I knew what she was before you opened the door which by the way, I tried to stop you, but you were the one that let her in,” I reminded him.
“Get in the car,” he said.
“I think I’ll walk,” I replied.
He ran up to me grabbing my arm. “I’m serious. Get in the car,” he said.
“Why are we fighting over this? I don’t understand,” I protested.
“Please, Grace. Get in the car.” His voice softened.
I jerked my arm away from him and got in the car. He slid his hands in his pockets looking over his shoulder toward the direction of the sylph’s retreat. His shoulders slumped. Turning away from him, I stared in the opposite direction as he revved the car to life. He drove like a maniac back to the trailer.
“Go ahead. Get it out!” I yelled at him as we entered the trailer. I knew no one else was home. Winnie would arrive on the school bus soon, so if we were going to fight, we might as well do it before she got home. Rufus ran around my feet barking. He wanted in on the fight, too.
“Is that what you want, Grace? You want me to yell at you?” he asked.
“Rufus, hush! No, but tell me what the hell is wrong with you! Why did a sylph spook you?” I asked. Rufus sat down at my feet waiting for his next opportunity to be vocal.
“For over a month, you’ve been only half here. Sleeping for days. Then all of a sudden, you are fine and back to life as normal like nothing ever happened! What am I supposed to think Grace? That there are no aftereffects
from possessing your father’s power? You don’t have it anymore. You stored it. I can feel the difference in you. You aren’t powerful like that anymore. It’s gone. You can’t just jump into a fight that you can’t win. What if something happened to you? What would Winnie think? What would Levi do?” he spouted in a fury. “What would I do without you?”
Drawing a deep breath, I waited for my anger to subside before I spoke to him. It was very un-Grace-like. “Dylan, I’m fine. I may not have the raw power, but the knowledge is still there. I knew what you were opening the door to, and I tried to stop you. It threw you across the room. I used my position to diffuse the situation. Why is that a bad thing?” I asked.
“You can’t assume that you can do the things you were doing with the power. It’s just not there anymore. Can you just skip from place to place like you did when you had the power?” he asked referring to the night I realized I could leave the trailer without anyone knowing and skip to places around town without shifting to the Otherworld. He would never get over the fact that I left the house without telling him to keep Levi from falling into Ella Jenkin’s sex binge. I apologized. I should have told him, but I didn’t.
“No, besides. I only did that once, and I’ve apologized several times,” I muttered.
He put his hands on my cheeks, but I felt no comfort. He was afraid, and I didn’t like him that way. “How many times do I have to see you die?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said.
Silence.
His eyes searched mine. I wished I knew what he was looking for. Leaning his forehead to mine, he huffed. “I’m sorry. You are right,” he said.
“I’m not arguing with you to be right. I just don’t understand,” I replied.
“Are you hiding something from me?” he asked.
“No,” I replied. I’d confessed to him about the skipping. He knew my bond with Levi was strong. He knew I’d placed my father’s power into the well stone. For the life of me, I had no idea what he was getting at. Placing my hands on his cheeks, I said, “Let’s pretend I’m stupid, and maybe you just tell me what’s brought on this hissy fit.”
“It’s not a hissy fit,” he muttered. “And you aren’t stupid.”
“Good recovery. But, you are right. A hissy fit would kill you,” I teased. He gripped my waist threatening to tickle me. “No, don’t you dare. Answer me.”
He sighed, “It’s stupid.”
“Obviously, it isn’t,” I replied
“Are you pregnant?” he asked.
I bolted back away from him. “What would make you think I was pregnant?”
“You’ve drunk every day since you took on your father’s power. You’ve not overdone it or anything. I just thought that maybe since you didn’t today that you were. Then the sylph. I got protective. I just…” his train of thought wandered away from him.
“Dylan Riggs, I promise that if I get pregnant, I will tell you immediately. I drank to take the edge off the power. It never took much, but it was something my father used to do. It was like that part of him became a part of me. I’d never seen my father drunk. He never did that. I’m not pregnant. I wish I were. I know how important it is to you,” I replied.
He sank down into the recliner with his hands over his face. My heart thudded in my chest for my wonderful man. He’d gone primal daddy on me. I chuckled.
“Don’t you dare laugh,” he muttered. I climbed on to his lap. I could see the edges of a smile under his hands.
“We could give it another try before the bus arrives,” I suggested.
“I don’t think we have time,” he said.
“So, the answer is no?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“The answer is shut up and kiss me,” he said. I obliged.
“Mom!” Winnie called as she hit the front door of the trailer. “Mom!”
“I’m in the bedroom!” I called out to her while still naked and tangled with Dylan. He was giggling like a girl. “Shut up!”
She knocked on the door, and I groaned. “Mom, I’ve got homework. I need help. I want to play and you said my homework has to be done first.”
“You did say that,” Dylan laughed.
“Git off me,” I said shoving his leg off mine. As I struggled to climb out of the bed, he kept grabbing me trying to drag me back in. “Quit!”
“Mom!” Winnie huffed.
“I’m coming! Where is your Uncle?” I asked as I threw on some clothes.
“I don’t know! Help me!” she whimpered as I threw the door open. Dylan didn’t expect it, and in a whirl of sheets, he covered himself up quickly.
“Grace!” he growled. I turned to wink at him, then shut the door behind me.
“Y’all taking a nap?” Winnie asked.
“Yes, we were,” I lied.
“I thought you were better. No more naps,” she said.
“I am better, but I like to nap with Daddy,” I said.
“Oh, I have math,” she said. I groaned.
“Where are you?”
“Damn it! Grace!”
“Oh, nevermind.”
“Yay! Math!” I feigned excitement. “You want some lemonade?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she replied as she pulled papers out of her Hello Kitty backpack. She picked out the ones we needed and sat at the kitchen table. I grabbed a glass, filling it with lemonade as Dylan came out of the bedroom.
“Winnie, how was school?” Dylan asked.
“It was good, Daddy,” she replied. I was pretty sure he melted every time she called him that.
“Did you learn anything new?” he asked as I handed him the glass of lemonade. He sat down next to her.
“We learned that caterpillars make a raccoon and become butterflies,” she said.
He laughed. “Not raccoon. Cocoon.”
“Oh, I thought raccoon sounded weird on the account of they are mean ol’ cusses,” she said. I tried to suppress my giggles. This child was the light of our lives.
“Let’s not say mean ol’ cusses anymore, but yes, a raccoon can be ornery,” Dylan replied. “Let’s do these addition problems together.”
“Okay!” she said.
“What time do you have to meet Riley?” Dylan asked.
“Eight. I’ll go after we get Winnie to bed,” I said.
“I guess I’ll be staying here with her,” he replied.
“Yeah, Levi is with Riley now. I’m not sure if he’s coming home or not,” I said.
“Why not? Ask him,” Dylan said.
“I think I interrupted something when I asked where he was. He’s got something stuck up his butt again. Perhaps this servitude is a bad idea. I could just release him,” I offered.
“Can you do that?” Dylan asked. “I thought it was a lifetime thing.”
“As long as both parties agree, it can be done. I could do it without him, but he’d hate me afterward. It would be painful for both of us. I just need to learn a little temperance when it comes to him,” I said.
“Honey, I love you, but temperance isn’t your strong suit,” Dylan said looking like he was ready to dodge if I threw something at him. Instead, I just turned to watch the trailer park.
“I need to learn a few new tricks,” I said. When my father’s power swirled inside of me, I knew exactly what kind of man he was. His darkness and mine were equal. He held his back as I do. I’d seen him put down some of the worst offenders, but I also saw him have tolerance. I’d given up the power to snap my finger to end a fairy life. Knowing that I could make someone cease to be and fighting the urge to do it was what exhausted me. Now that it was gone, I still had the darkness, just not the nagging feeling to use it every time I didn’t get my way. I wished my father would have taught me how to handle it. I supposed I could go and talk to him.
“Grace,” Dylan called me back to the room.
“Yeah?”
“Talk to me,” he said.
“I think I should go talk to my father,” I said.
“Abou
t? Do you miss the power?” he asked.
“No, but he knew things. How to control himself. How to rule. I’m lost and by the looks of things, Shady Grove isn’t getting any smaller. I want to do right by the fairies here, but at the same time, I’ve got a family to consider,” I said.
He kissed Winnie on the head. She looked up at him adoringly. Leaving her to finish her homework, he came to me. Placing his hand on my cheek, he smiled. “Go talk to him. I’ll stay here. Winnie and I will pop some corn and watch a movie.”
“Yay!” she exclaimed.
“I have all the faith in the world in you, Grace,” he said.
“I have it in us, but the rest of this I’m not so sure about,” I admitted.
He kissed me lightly several times. “Go do what you need to do. I love you,” he said.
“Love you too,” I replied.
When I stepped in the stone circle, my father’s image immediately appeared at the center stone. “Gloriana, I’m happy that you’ve returned,” he said.
“What was inside me?” I asked.
“My power,” he replied.
“Not you?” I asked. “Because that’s beyond icky.”
He chuckled. I’d never heard my father laugh. It rumbled through the greenfield, echoing off the stones. “Just my power,” he replied.
“Then how are you there?” I asked pointing to the stone.
“Once you put the power here, my ghost was able to inhabit it, but I’m bound here. I cannot leave,” he said. “Frankly, I thought I was done with this world.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t keep the power. I constantly wanted to kill someone!” I huffed. It occurred to me that this might be a long conversation, so I plopped down on the grass. “Why did you give it to me? I have a thousand brothers.”
“Not quite a thousand, and several of them would make excellent rulers of the Otherworld. Brock killed many of them when he took over,” he said.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I’m connected to that realm, this world and whatever comes next. This place is in-between your world and whatever comes after. It’s strange and…” his voice trailed off. I saw a moment of weakness in my father.
