by Kimbra Swain
Levi sat her down on the floor, and she hurried off to play with the brownies. Levi came over and sat down at the bar. I offered him a coke which he accepted. He sat there silently as I watched out the window. A large hauler dragged another single-wide into the park. I knew we only had a few spaces left. The dingy trailer looked like it came from a swamp.
“You see this thing?” I asked.
“It’s hideous. We need a no hideous trailer ordinance,” Levi said. “Put that up as my suggestion at the next council meeting.”
“It’s mold green,” I replied.
We watched them tow it slowly down the gravel road to the last spot on the right in the park. We moved to the back windows of the living room to watch them put it in place. It took about an hour, and frankly, we had nothing better to do than watch it. As they finished strapping the trailer down, a puke green antique car pulled up in front of it.
“What kind of car is that?” Levi asked.
“An ugly one,” I replied.
“Really?” Incredulous.
A long-legged woman stepped out of the car. Her back was to us. She had long skinny legs and arms. She wore cut off jean shorts and a lime green tank top. I was beginning to see a color theme. I looked at her closely with my fairy sight. Swirling dark smoky rings rolled around her. Her black hair shimmered in the dimming sunlight reflecting the sunset’s orange hues. Long strands of blonde hair stuck out from the edges of the black strands.
“Hey, she got her clothes out of your closet,” Levi teased. I slapped him on the arm.
“Hush your mouth. Look at her with your sight,” I said.
He stared at her for a moment. “Fuck. What is that?” he asked.
“Trouble,” I replied. “She’s a grindylow of some fashion.”
“A swamp fairy?” he asked, knowing the species. I wasn’t sure where Levi learned all his fairy knowledge. I feared a lot of it came from the internet. However, Levi always asked me about them so that I could give him a good idea of what they really were.
“The grindies can be all sorts, but most are associated with bogs and swamps. She’s a little far from home, I’d say. There are a few places around here she might like, but I doubt she’s here for a vacation,” I replied.
“She looks like she’s staying, Grace,” Levi replied. Incredulous. Again.
“I am going to pop that smart mouth of yours,” I said.
“I’d rather pop yours,” he muttered.
“Really?” I looked at him. Putting my hands on my hips, I couldn’t believe he said what he was thinking. Of course, I got the mental image as well. He blushed realizing I got the full effect, but then shrugged like it was nothing.
“Sorry,” he said.
I laughed uncomfortably. If I ever had any doubts about Levi being a red-blooded heterosexual male, that image just erased all of them. Forever. “Damn, Dublin,” I said backing away from him.
“What are you running from? I’m not going to do anything. All men think like that,” he said.
“I’m not running. I’m just not used to seeing what I know is there,” I said, twirling my finger in the air to indicate the head on his neck. Not the other one. A curse from the bedroom drew my attention away from the horny bard. I shook off the Levi effect and ducked into the room with Dylan. My fiancé. The man I was going to marry.
Levi laughed in my head. Bastard.
“I’m fine,” Dylan growled immediately. He stumbled back toward the bed.
“What did you do?” I asked.
He waved his hand at the bathroom door. “Stubbed my toe. It hurt like a mother,” he said. “I drank too much, baby.”
“Yeah, you did, but it’s okay. You needed a break,” I said.
He rubbed his forehead after he sat down on the bed. “Head hurts,” he grumbled. I dug through my purse on the dresser. I pulled out two pills to give him. He popped them into his mouth without a drip of water. “Winnie home?”
“Yeah, she’s playing in her room. They just moved a trailer down the road into that last spot on the right,” I said. “The owner is a grindylow.”
Dylan’s eyes perked up. “Shit. There goes the neighborhood,” he said.
“Maybe she’s not bad. Just needs a place like the rest of us,” I said.
“Ever met a nice grindy?” he asked.
I shook my head. Grindylows were considered to be kin to Grendel himself. They haunted tales from England to Japan to Australia. They were always females who resided near bogs or swamps. I wasn’t sure why this one was in town. I knew I’d given Dylan the hopeful response, but I had a bad feeling about her. Like the kind when a roach crawls across your shoe.
When I looked back over to Dylan, he had laid back on the bed with his legs draped over the edge. He was out again. I wasn’t sure I could get him back on the bed. However, the times I’d pushed Levi to use his gifts rattled around in my head like a rock in a plastic bottle. I thought of my swirly world move and applied it to Dylan’s body. In an instant, he disappeared from the edge of the bed to return to the center of it.
“Heh. That’s right,” I congratulated myself. Pulling a blanket off the side chair, I draped it over him and quietly left him to sleep it off.
Levi, Winnie and I had dinner together. Levi took Winnie to bed to read a book and get tucked in for the night. Before I went to bed, I looked out the back windows to the newest resident of Cahaba Acres Trailer Park. The green trailer nearly glowed in the moonlight giving off an ominous creepy feel. The lights from the inside were dim but flickered like someone was watching television inside.
“Someone would be pretty bold to move in here to cause trouble with you right here,” Levi said watching me at the window.
“Yeah, I suppose,” I replied. “I thought you were going to bed.”
“I was, but there is something I want to tell you,” he said.
I turned to face him realizing he was doing that blocking thing that I hated. “Okay,” I replied.
“Finley is getting one of those new apartments that Remy built in town. He said he has an extra room if I want to move in with him,” he said.
“You told him no,” I said.
“I told him yes,” he replied. “I won’t be far. You will still be able to talk to me. I’m still your servant, but that tension between us this afternoon, I can’t take that Grace.”
My teeth pressed together so hard that my jaw hurt. I forced back tears. He was right. He needed to go. I was supposed to be breaking his heart, but it felt like mine was shattering into a million pieces. I forced myself to speak. “I understand.”
“Goodnight, Grace,” he said, turning back to his room.
“Levi?”
“Yeah?”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why are there suitcases next to the front door?” Dylan asked from the doorway to our bedroom. I rolled over on the bed to look at him.
“Levi is moving in with Finley,” I said, then rolled back over. Tomorrow was today.
“What in the hell? I thought he was staying?” Dylan said. “Grace, are you okay?”
“No,” I admitted. The bed pressed down behind me. Dylan’s arms surrounded me. He pulled me closer to him. “He needs to go.”
“Did something happen?”
“No. Just the reality of the situation makes it difficult on both of us,” I said. “It will be a good thing. He’s still my servant.”
Dylan rolled me over to look into my tear-filled eyes. “He’s your best friend.”
“You are my best friend,” I said.
“You know what I mean,” he said.
“It’s okay,” I replied. “He will never be happy here.”
Dylan stared down into my eyes. His azure flames cooled with my tears. He brushed the tears from my cheeks. He didn’t say anything.
“Is Winnie gone already?” I asked.
“Yeah, you slept late. She was fine,” he said.
“Okay,” I muttered.
“
I’ll stay home with you,” Dylan said.
“Nonsense. All kids grow up and move out of mom and dad’s place,” I quipped.
Dylan lifted a gorgeous eyebrow. “Mom and dad, huh? Yeah, no.”
“I tried,” I said.
He smiled, but it was one of those where you press your lips together to smile, but it looks more like a frown. He brushed my hair out of my face. There was a light knock on the front door.
“I got it!” Levi called from the front.
I used the palms of my hands to brush away my tears. Pushing Dylan away, I crawled out of bed. Time to suck it up, buttercup. Dylan watched as I got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail.
“You are sexy as hell,” Dylan smiled.
“Compliments will get you nowhere, Sheriff,” I said. He stood, stalking toward me. A sly grin crossed his face that caused my knees to quiver.
His lips pressed to mine. “You are putting on a good face, baby. I love ya.”
“Stop. I’m gonna do this. Don’t make me cry before I get to it,” I said. He nodded, then kissed me once more.
“Call me. I’ll come home if you need me,” he said.
I followed him into the kitchen. He poured coffee into his Yeti cup. Levi emerged from his room with Finley who was carrying a box.
“Morning, Glory,” Finley called out lifting his eyebrows as he said it.
I shook my head at him. “Morning, Fin.”
Dylan wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. His breath brushed over my ear. “Talk to ya later, Glory.”
“You cannot call me a pet name that my brother made up,” I protested again.
He squeezed my ass making me jump. “Watch me,” he laughed as he cruised out the door. I gave him the middle finger salute. He winked. “Later. I promise.”
Men.
“Is this all of it?” Finley asked Levi picking up the last suitcase at the door and the lute case which held the instrument given to him by my father.
“Yeah, everything except my guitar. I’ll get it,” Levi replied, disappearing into his room. Or what was about to be the spare bedroom. Finally, he looked at me when he emerged from the bedroom with the guitar in its case.
“I’ll wait outside,” Finley said picking up on the tension.
“If you need anything, you know I’m always here for you,” I said.
“Grace, I don’t need anything.”
I didn’t know what to say to him, so I walked across the room. Hugging him lightly, I started to step back when he latched on to pull me back to him.
My body rippled with the chilling fairy touch. His hand was flat on the skin of my neck. Tingles of cold pricks tickled my skin as he held on. He didn’t speak. He didn’t take the damn block down. He just held on as if his life depended upon it. I stifled the tears before they fell. When he pulled back the deep denim of his eyes flickered for a moment as an icy sheen swirled around his irises. He was pulling power. His hand slid down over my wrist covering my tattoo. The silver swirls of my winter power ignited at his touch. The tendrils of shining light rippled over my skin. Pulling a lock of my hair between two fingers, he smiled. “I’ve always had a thing for blondes.”
“Lisette, Riley, and Kadence. None of them were blonde,” I said.
“None of them were you,” Levi replied. He let go, stepping back from me. “I’m right down the road. You know I’ll be here in an instant if you need me. I’ll explain everything to Winnie tonight. Do you mind if I take her out to the diner?”
“That’s fine. She will love it.” I held tightly to the strength I was trying to portray. He was just moving down the road from here. Shady Grove was small enough to spit from one end to the other without any effort. I needed to calm the fuck down. “Don’t let my brother corrupt you.”
“Nah. You know me,” he said. “See you this afternoon.”
The goodbye seemed trite. Yes, he would see me this afternoon, but it wouldn’t be the same. My bard was leaving my household. I’d grown so used to Levi that I didn’t know how to react. I refused to allow myself to act inappropriately. By that, I meant that there was a fairy doing flip-flops begging me to do naughty things to Levi. She had always been there, but in this desperate moment, she had more influence on me than I wanted. However, I held myself in place as he walked out to his Harley. Slipping on his helmet, he spoke to Finley who waved to me at the window. I waved back.
Levi mounted the Harley, then looked back over his shoulder at me. A huge grin crossed his face. Then he fired up the hog and tore out of the trailer park slinging gravel.
I’d held it for long enough. Sinking to the floor, I puddled up in a big heap of sadness and loss. You would have thought he had died. After crying for I don’t know how long, I curled up in a ball, falling asleep right there in the middle of the floor.
“Grace, wake up,” someone said, while shaking me violently.
I sprang up at attention to find Jeremiah Freyman staring down at me. “Why are you on the floor?” he asked. I ignored him, pulling myself up off the floor using a stool at the kitchen bar.
I leaned back on the counter trying to gather my balance. Jeremiah looked at me. “What? Can’t a girl take a nap in her trailer?”
“Where is Levi?”
“He moved in with Finley,” I said.
“Finley! Your brother?” he exclaimed.
“Yes, he’s here. Levi needed a break from me,” I replied.
Jeremiah looked worried. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I miss him. I will, but he’s right down the street. Not to mention in my head!” I replied.
“I take it Finley is the one that is taking the items from the vault with Chris Purcell,” he said.
It took Jeremiah long enough to figure it all out. Back before my identity was known to Shady Grove, Jeremiah was on top of all the happenings in this town. He and the Sanhedrin monitored everything. I knew things were getting out of hand here, but I never thought it would be more than the Sanhedrin could handle.
“Jerry, what’s going on with the Sanhedrin?” I asked not expecting him to actually tell me the truth.
“There has been a split. We disagreed on how things should be handled here,” he admitted.
“What do you mean?” I asked, knowing very well that most of the Sanhedrin wanted to eliminate every exile in the world.
“Burn it down or monitor the situation,” he said. “I was on the monitor side.”
“Well, I hope so! Caiaphas never liked me,” I said.
“Actually, he’s with me, the rest started their own group. We’ve been trying to contain the damage,” he said. “We are spread thin and on the verge of open war.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Jeremiah!” I exclaimed. If this offshoot of the zealots decided to roll into Shady Grove, it would be very hard to stop them. The Sanhedrin was Seelie fairies who chose to exile to the real world to monitor the banished fairies who roamed the earth. For the most part, their lack of tolerance exterminated fairies for years. That was until I came along and offered my protection to anyone that lived in Shady Grove.
“I’m telling you now. It’s only a matter of time before they move on us. Have you contacted the sylph?” he asked.
“No. I sent word through Matthew, but his new wife seemed opposed to the idea. I’m at a dead end on it. However, a swarm of zealots sounds a lot more terrifying than an angry sylph. What do you suggest I do?” I asked.
“We need to find the sylph. Get that egg back to her. The Sanhedrin isn’t ready to move yet, their ranks aren’t solid because of the split. It’s brewing,” he said.
The wind picked up outside indicating another storm. Lightning cracked across the sky. A bright flash of green and the lights went out.
“Shit,” I said. I pulled a flashlight out of the drawer in the kitchen. Although it was the middle of the day, the sky darkened. A wave of terror rolled over me. My instincts ignited my tattoo. Sirens started to wail.
The South is litt
ered with large horn sirens indicating a tornado warning. The sirens were to warn residents to take shelter but were largely ineffective if you weren’t outside. Most modern homes had enough insulation to block the sound. However, in the trailer, the noise permeated the walls.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jeremiah exclaimed as we both ran toward the door. Looking to the west a large cloud towered above the center of town.
I frantically dialed my phone. “Come on,” I mumbled watching the cloud swirl in the air.
“We’ve got to get to shelter,” Jeremiah said. “Trailer parks are tornado magnets!”
“Grace! Get away from the trailer,” Dylan’s frantic voice came through the phone. It garbled, and the line went dead.
I felt no panic. No rush to run. I stood mesmerized by the swirling darkness. The fairy queen side of me was a cold bitch. She didn’t run.
“Levi.”
In an instant, Levi appeared at my side. “We need to go,” he said latching on to my arm.
“No,” I said. “It’s her.”
The wind increased pitching the plastic bottles in Tater and Cletus’ yard up into the air. They flew around the trailer park wildly. People came out of the trailers, gathering near Levi and me.
“Get these people out of here,” I said.
“I’m not leaving you here,” Levi said.
“I can take care of the sylph,” I replied.
“I’ll take them,” Jeremiah said, gathering the people around him. Just as Levi appeared, Jeremiah and the people disappeared.
The sirens continued to blare as the cyclone started to lower from the ominous cloud. I felt Levi’s fear.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said.
“I’m not,” he replied.
“Yes, you are,” I said.
“Grace! There is a tornado headed right toward us, and for some crazy reason, you’ve decided to stand in its path. You are insane!” he spouted.
“That’s more like it,” I smiled. “It’s the sylph. I’m not afraid.”
Levi slid his hand down over my tattoo, and the well of power between us opened up like a dam. The violent pulse of magic flowed through both of us. He held his hand up forming a shield around us. The plastic bottles pelted against us. I narrowed my eyes to the swirling cloud.
