“There, there, we are never given more than what we can handle,” Deb whispered to her, petting her hair and smoothing it over her back. Deb looked up and saw me standing there, offering me a sad smile.
“What are you doing here, love?” Deb asked.
“I thought I’d see if I could help clean up. After all, I caused this mess,” I said with a hand gesture to the room at large.
“None of that,” Nancy said, regaining her usual voice. “This is nothing to take blame for. You saved Deb’s life. I wouldn’t care if you had rocked the store to its foundation to do it,” I smiled shyly, a little unnerved by her choice of words, so close to the very thoughts I had just had.
“Thank you,” Deb said, looking at Nancy behind a glitter of unshed tears. “But really, hon, you don’t need to help. This isn’t all that safe and I’d hate for something to happen to you.”
“Yes, that’s a good point,” Nancy said with a nod. I opened my mouth to argue, but just then Tegan chose to rise from my ponytail and hover just over my shoulder. I heard Deb gasp and watched as her eyes grew round for a moment.
“He’s beautiful,” Deb whispered behind her hand that she’d slapped to her mouth.
“Who is?” Nancy asked and I realized she didn’t have second sight like Deb and me. Deb gave me a knowing look and I nodded. I turned my head trying to look at Tegan, but the angle was awkward. He flew forward to look me in the eye.
“We can help, you know,” Tegan said, his voice high with excitement.
“Help with what?” I asked.
“What?” Nancy looked at me, confusion etched in every wrinkle on her face.
“With the mess of course,” he said with a laugh, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That is, if you would have our help.”
“Of course we would, but it’s so much…” Deb interjected, looking down at the floor again.
“Not for us,” Tegan said with a shake of his head and with that he darted back towards the front door and outside.
“Who are you two talking to?” Nancy asked, her voice edging close to hysteria.
“Shay, can you help her?” Deb asked me, gesturing towards Nancy.
“Maybe,” I said and stepped closer to Nancy and raised my hand towards her face. “Nancy, could you close your eyes?”
“What are you doing?” she asked, skepticism clear in her voice, leaning back from me.
“You can’t see what we’re talking to. If you’ll let me, I’ll try to fix that,” I explained, my hand hovering closer to her face.
“Okay…” she said, not too confidently and righting herself, but I could feel her reluctance thick on my tongue and it irked me.
“Don’t worry,” I said and she closed her eyes and I laid my hand over them. Centering myself and taking a cleansing breath, I said, “In this the late morning light, I give the gift of second sight.” The air between my palm and Nancy’s eyes grew warm before I let my hand drop away. Nancy opened her eyes and looked around, letting her brow wrinkle in confusion.
“Um… nothing’s different,” she said.
“Oh yeah, well, he left. I think he’s coming back though,” I explained, but the look on Nancy’s face clearly stated she didn’t believe me. Luckily I didn’t have to defend myself because just then she gasped and her eyes flew wide as she looked past me to the front door. I turned to see what had startled her and saw Tegan flying through the open door, followed by a cloud of butterflies, moths, and fall leaves. I closed my eyes and shook my head, opening my eyes again to see the faeries as they really were, just with wings of the creatures they mimicked so well. Along the floor, I watched as a small group of brownies marched in underneath the cloud of winged faeries, all of them coming right towards us. I held out a hand for Tegan to land on, surprised again at the strength of his legs in my hand.
“If you’ll allow us?” he asked with a bow of his head towards his people.
“Um, sure,” I said, my voice a little breathy, not really knowing what they were doing.
“Where did they all come from?” This came from Deb, who looked like Tegan had just arrived with Christmas morning come months early.
“From your garden, of course. They are ever grateful for the honeysuckle and blackberry bush you’ve planted out there,” Tegan said with a smile.
“Oh…” Deb said, comprehension easing the confused creases from her face.
“Garden?” I asked.
“I, uh, planted flowers in the boxes around the shopping center and there’s a patch of dirt out back where I planted a few that only grow in dark and dank,” Deb managed to explain. I turned and watched as the winged faeries swooped up and down from the floor, deftly picking out the crystals, jewels, and other inventory that were still intact that had been buried under the debris and lifting them to shelves.
Nancy’s face remained confused and a little frightened as she watched the miracle working in front of us. I had a moment of pure anger flood through me as I watched her face and wanted to slap that look off of it. Tegan nudged one of my fingers with his foot to draw my attention towards him. I looked at him and saw in his face the unspoken understanding. Nancy wasn’t reacting this way on purpose; she was just being very human, not believing what she was seeing. I guess I could understand that. Just moments ago she was crying over the thought of the cost and expense it would be for her to have this professionally done and now, thanks to the magic her store promoted, she was saved. It was a little too good to be true.
In what felt like a very short amount of time, I watched the faeries fly out with the glittering shards of glass and broken crystals. The brownies stepped forward, brown and wrinkled like creatures burst from the very earth of the garden, making my heart swell to see them. I felt power tingle and jump over the skin on my arms as they held out their hands, raising the hairs on my arms and sending chills down my back. The tiniest but most sinister looking slivers of glass fought their way free of the carpet and hung in the air. There were so many tiny pieces of glass hidden in the carpet that it looked like a shattered pane of glass hanging in the air, inches above the floor. Another pulse of magic went through the air and the glass disappeared. They turned silently and walked out of the store.
Nancy let out a sound that was half a sob and half laughter. I turned to look at her and saw Deb already going to her to hug her tightly. Nancy’s shoulders shook against Deb’s embrace.
“Why are you crying?” I asked, completely confused.
“I just can’t believe it,” Nancy said with a sniff, pulling away from Deb so she could speak and wipe her face. “I mean, do you have any idea how much that would’ve cost to have professionals come in? I just can’t believe it…” I watched as she stared at the now clean carpet, shaking her head in complete disbelief.
“You own a store devoted to magic and the Craft and you can’t believe you had faeries living in your garden that would help if you’d only ask?” I said and, try as I might to keep my voice even, a little anger peeked out. It had always bothered me that Nancy had final say in her store because she was almost a magical and psychic null. Oftentimes when she’d come into the store she’d have no idea what half the conversations taking place were about. Doesn’t really give the store a lot of credit.
“Well… I mean…” she stuttered under my stare and suddenly looked decades younger than her age when she looked to Deb for rescue. Deb looked at me and we shared a moment where we knew that people like Nancy can be unreachable. When Nancy had opened the store years before I was born, she had done so because she knew there was a market in the county for it and no one else had tapped that market. I didn’t blame her for her entrepreneurship, but I did blame her for not knowing more about the products she sold and promoted. It would be like someone running a comic book shop just for the money, but thought the comics themselves were pointless and lame; your customers won’t appreciate that attitude. I had always promised myself that when Nancy finally decided to retire and sell the place, if Deb didn’
t want to buy, I would try to.
“It’s fine, Nancy,” I said with a wave, trying to make her stop looking at me so desperately. “At least it’s done. Deb, I wouldn’t let it go unanswered,” I said as I started to turn for the door.
“Don’t worry, hon, it won’t.” Deb said from behind me.
“Wait, Shayna, there’s no reason to go away mad. What did I do?” Nancy called to me and I could tell by her voice that she had started towards me, but I didn’t want to look at Nancy’s uncomprehending face again.
“Nancy, just leave it for now,” I heard Deb’s soothing voice, but more than that, I felt it. I would have to question her abilities that she may have neglected to tell me about.
“Just a tip,” I said from the door, looking over my shoulder, “Tegan, the winged faerie I came in with?”
“Yes,” Deb said.
“He’s partial to sweet cream, so I’d imagine his brethren would be too.” Deb nodded at me and I hesitated. “Nancy, the spell will be broken when I leave, so don’t expect to be able to see them after the door closes.” With that I walked out the door, letting it fall closed behind me.
Once I was back in my car, I realized Tegan wasn’t with me. I looked around frantically for a few moments before I called out his name, but there was no answer. Sadness came over me in a wave, heavier than I would have expected for so short a time, but he was the first faerie to come back to me in years. I turned the key in the ignition and, as the engine roared to life, I said a little prayer that he wasn’t gone for good.
I had wanted to stay and talk with Deb about the warning I had gotten earlier that morning about the harm Jeremy was going to cause someone, somewhere, sometime, but I had upset Nancy and that was a big enough headache for her to deal with right now. Besides, I had others that I could go to for help. I drove right over to Jodi’s house, knowing Steven would be there with her. Ever since the incident in the forest last fall our connection had grown exponentially. On that night we had been able to speak mind to mind without touching each other, but that had faded by morning. Fortunately, some of the side effects from all the magic we had called stayed with us. Now we could find each other no matter how far apart we were just by thinking about each other.
***
“You know, I love you, but seriously, do you always have to come to the rescue?” Steven asked from Jodi’s bed after I had arrived and explained to them what the faerie queen had told me. “I mean, we’re not the Three Musketeers!”
“Yeah, but if we can do something about it and might be the only ones who can, then why not us?” Jodi said from the floor where she was bunched up awkwardly, painting her toenails.
“Thank you!” I said a little exasperatedly, giving a dirty look to Steven. “Are you that guy that ignores the screams of a woman or a child in someone’s house just because it’s not someone you know?”
“Oh my god! Of course not!” Steven nearly yelled.
“Well, it’s the same thing! If you know something bad is happening to someone, you don’t ignore it just because it doesn’t affect you directly,” I snapped back at him. “It’s that attitude that makes self-defense instructors tell women to yell ‘fire!’ instead of ‘help!’ now because so few people will respond to that.” I tsked at him shaking my head.
“Good God, Steven, I thought better of you,” Jodi said, her voice a little muffled from her position.
“Ugh! You know that’s not me!” Steven said, his voice sullen and embarrassed. He sat up on the bed, grabbing a pillow and clutching it to his chest, looking for the entire world like a pouting five-year-old.
“Well then, don’t ask stupid questions like that.”
“Dude, what does it say about you that when Shay tells you a freaking faerie queen came to her with a message the first thing you ask about is your precious butt,” Jodi said, straightening out her leg and wiggling her toes. “I mean, come on! Can we focus for one minute?”
“Oh, yeah…” Steven said, looking embarrassed as a flush crept over his cheeks. “Sorry, it’s just something incredible like that happens to Shay and it almost sounds… I don’t know, normal I guess.”
“A faerie queen comes to see me with all her entourage in an orchard and you think that’s normal?” I asked through a laugh.
“I know what you mean,” Jodi said with a knowing look thrown my way.
“This is not normal!” I said, my voice rising a little before I could catch myself. “I mean… it’s amazing.”
“Well, yeah we know that, but we’re not surprised it happened to you, that’s all,” Steven said. “If it had been me, that would’ve been surprising. Even Jodi, although she’d get a visit like that before I would, but we’d still be a little surprised. But not for you, babe.” He finished with his own shrug.
“Look, don’t get us wrong, we’re in awe of it, but we’re almost always in awe of you,” Jodi said, her voice softening as if worried I’d start yelling again.
“But you two have abilities, amazing, wondrous abilities. You act like you’re nothing compared to me,” I heard my voice take on a pleading tone.
“Yeah, but you’re our teacher, you know that. You should be better than us,” Jodi said.
“I’m not better than you two,” I said, shaking my head in disagreement.
“Ha!” Steven said so loudly it made me jump. “Of course you are, but that’s okay. If you weren’t better than us, then we’d’ve never learned what we have so far.”
“Well said,” Jodi nodded at him.
“No, no,” Steven said to me, raising his hand up to stop me from arguing. “Just stop arguing. If you want to be modest, fine, but Jodi and I both know that you live and breathe magic like a fish in water, while Jodi and I are always learning how to swim. Every day we get better, but we’d never challenge you in a race to the end of the pool because you’d beat us every time.” I couldn’t argue with him on that. Although my magic laid primarily in the Earth element, all four elements came to me much easier than to most. Oftentimes when Steven or Jodi wanted to learn a new skill in their elements, I would have to learn it first in order to teach it to them.
“Fine,” I said, rubbing my eyes with my fingertips, pressing against them until lights burst behind my closed eyelids. “Fine, no more arguing, but we can all agree that this is important, more so than we can know just yet if a queen is going to deliver the message rather than just any faerie.”
“Very true,” Jodi said, waving a hand in front of her toes, urging the paint to dry. “What do you want to do about it? Whatever ‘it’ is.”
“Well, I guess we need to keep an eye on Jeremy. What else can we do?” I said, trying to find a place to sit down. Jodi’s room was always a mess; clothing, shoes, books, make-up and even toys always cluttered her floor, bed, and tabletops. “Dude, how you do this?”
“Do what?” Jodi asked.
“Live like this!” I said, waving both hands. “I can’t even sit down!”
“Oh poo,” Jodi said, sticking her tongue out at me. Jodi was as much of a control-freak as I was; it was one of the reasons we got along so well, as well as the main reason we argued as much as we did. But it wasn’t until you got into her room that you remembered she really was the embodiment of the air element. Air elementals could be flighty and erratic, even more so than fire, if left to their own devices.
“Here, come over here,” Steven said pushing aside a pile of clothes and shoes from the bed until we could see the covers. I crawled up on the bed and leaned my back against the wall it was pushed up against.
“Anyway, I guess we just need to keep an eye on him,” I said again.
“Don’t you think we need to do more than that? I mean, we don’t see him enough to know what he’s doing all the time,” Steven asked.
“You mean like follow the guy around all day and night?” Jodi asked skeptically.
“Well… I mean, yeah,” Steven said sounding defensive.
“No, he might be right,” I said, forestalling Jo
di’s retort. “I mean, if you’re going to do something to cause someone harm, you’re probably not going to be obvious about it.”
“Yeah, true. Not really how I want to spend my last week at school,” Jodi said and we all agreed with that sentiment. “Hey, do you think he’s responsible for that Hobyah?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said, nodding.
“Well, if you really think so, why don’t we confront him with that?” Jodi asked.
“Oooh, that’s not a bad idea,” Steven said, sitting up a little straighter.
“Well, you saw how he reacted when we tried to talk to him about the faeries that followed him out of the coffee shop,” I said.
“Yeah, but he was pretty upset then. Maybe if we find him when he’s not freaking out over his brother humiliating him in front of a bunch of people he’ll be more open to discussion,” Jodi said.
“Oh yeah, I can see him reacting real calm to that. ‘Listen, Jeremy, set any angry little faeries on anyone lately?’” Steven said sarcastically, but I still laughed. “Yeah, that’ll be great!”
“I only meant…” Jodi started to say, but I stopped her.
“I know what you meant and you might have something there,” I said with a shrug. “I’d say it couldn’t hurt to ask, but after how strong that little Hobyah was, it just may hurt to ask.”
“Good point,” Steven said darkly.
“Well, we can just go spy on him,” Jodi offered.
“Whatever we do, I think we should get going,” I said, sliding off the bed, setting my feet carefully on the floor, trying not to crush anything hidden in the mess. “Come on,” I said, picking my way to the door. Jodi slid her feet into a pair of flip-flops, careful of the still soft polish on her toes, and followed Steven and me out the door.
We had seen Jeremy haunting our favorite bookstore often enough to use that as our starting point to find Jeremy. If he wasn’t there, I really had no other idea where to find him. We knew where he lived because everyone knew his brother. He was popular enough that every party he threw town half the school turned up for them. But we had no reason to go knocking on his door unless we meant to confront him openly and, as much as I knew he was responsible for that Hobyah in my house, I really didn’t want to ask him directly.
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