by Cara E Holt
Chapter Two.
I give a melancholy sigh as I look around my bedroom and at the photos on the wall of me and my friends back in England. How my life had changed in such a short time! I ferret around in the bottom of my wardrobe and find my school bag. It will be strange going back to school and acting ‘normal’ again. The school and teachers had been given memory feeds so they would not remember that I or any of my fae friends had been absent from school for the last few weeks. A car horn beeps out front and I throw my bag over my shoulder and head downstairs. Mum is at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me, a big smile plastered all over her lovely face.
“I have missed hearing you stomp down those stairs.”
I laugh. “I have missed stomping down them.”
“Will you have breakfast with us most mornings, please?”
I nod. “I’ll be here every morning as normal.” Lorcen beeps his horn again so I give her a quick hug and rush outside to the car. I climb in the car and smile at my mate.
“Hello boyfriend.”
He laughs and looks heavenward. I have been winding him up about the fact that here in this realm I wouldn’t be his mate or wifey, but his girlfriend.
We arrive at school some five minutes later and Lorcen parks up. “You ready for this?”
I look up confused. “What, school?”
He grins and shakes his head. “No. Ready for the fact that by getting out of this car with me, it will be official to the whole school population that you are dating the high school’s best football player.”
I smile and wink. “I must be in the wrong car then.” I playfully push his shoulder and then climb out of the car. Lorcen walks round to my side and he takes my hand in his and we begin the walk across the car park to school. Eyes turn and notice us and whispers are said behind hands and in ears as we walk by.
“Told you.” Lorcen teases. We head inside and walk to my locker through more stares and whispers. We walk past Lorcen’s ex Morgan and her friends and she pauses in conversation as her eyes fall on our joined hands. I see the shock register on her face. Part of me does feel sorry for her.
Lorcen leans against the locker next to mine as I load my books inside. He gives me a cheeky grin. “Damn I missed your cute ass in those jeans.”
I laugh. “My cute ass missed these jeans.”
A wicked grin crosses his face. “Let’s give them all something to talk about.” Before I can ask what he means, he pulls me against him and leans down to kiss me. I wrap my arms around his neck and return his kisses, getting lost in him and forgetting we are standing in the school corridor.
“Get a room!” One of the football lads shouts and Lorcen grins against my mouth and flips him the bird.
I hear a squeal and pull back from Lorcen to see my best friend Taylor bounding over to us like a woman on a mission.
“So it’s official then?!” She asks gesturing with her hands between me and Lorcen.
Lorcen looks at her innocently “What, this?” He points at me and him. “Nah I can’t stand her.” I elbow him in the stomach and he pulls me in and kisses my forehead and looks down at me with that jaw-dropping smile on his face. “Yeah it’s very much official.”
Taylor gushes. “Aw look at the two of you, all gooey eyed over each other. It’s so darn cute. You two have it bad.” She claps like an over-excited seal.
“I’ll see you in history.” Lorcen says as he leans in for one last kiss. This will be the most time we have spent apart in over a week. I watch him walk off down the corridor, his blue tee hugs against his muscular back and I sigh inside. Taylor waves her hand in front of my face, getting my attention.
“And she is back in the room.”
I laugh and smile at her. “Sorry, I can’t help it.”
Taylor links her arm through mine as we walk to Math. “So guess who has a date tonight?”
I stop and grin at her as she points exaggeratedly at herself. “You by any chance?”
She smiles and squeals. “Yes me!”
I nudge her. “Go on then spill. Who’s the lucky guy?”
A look of uncertainty crosses her face. “I hope it won’t be weird but, well it’s Scott.”
“Oh my god.” I say a little more loudly than intended. “I knew it! I think you will be perfect for each other.”
Taylor breathes in relief and grins. “You really think so?”
I nod firmly. “I know so.”
Morning classes pass quickly and it is soon lunch time. I’m sitting with Taylor and the others when Lorcen comes walking in with Noah and he heads straight over to our table. Maddie moves along so that Lorcen can sit beside me and Noah squeezes in opposite us, between Taylor and Megan.
“Hey Megan.” He grins at her and winks. Megan smiles in response and continues to eat her food. It is strange to see them interact like this, like they are virtual strangers. In fact, why are they pretending they don’t know each other that well they can date at school. Lorcen leans in and kisses my cheek distracting me.
‘We have some where to be tonight.’ He tells me via our mind connection. I look at him puzzled. ‘We do?’
He looks at me and nods discreetly. ‘There’s news on the cauldron.’
I’m suddenly alert. ‘There is?”
He bobs his head. ‘I’ll fill you in later.’ He leans in and kisses me on the lips, smiling.
“Aw you two are adorable.” Taylor gushes, drawing everyone’s eyes to us. I blush deep red.
“I think Ebony’s way too pretty for him.” Noah teases which earns him a potato chip thrown at his head by Lorcen making everyone laugh and the conversation thankfully moves on from Lorcen and me.
My first day at school passes quickly. At least one of my fae friends is in every one of my classes for protective reasons. The classes that Lorcen and I share together however are VERY distracting. He sits behind me and plays with my hair and his legs rest against mine under the table. When he is sitting near me I am so aware of him, my body buzzes at his nearness. Yes, I am so obsessed with him that whenever he’s around, all I can think about are his lips on mine.
Lorcen drives me home at the end of the day or should I say he drives me to my parents’ house. Mum and Dad are still at work but when I walk through the door Scott is sitting on the sofa watching TV.
“Hey.” He greets when I walk in, his eyes not leaving the screen.
“Scott!” I say, thrilled to see him. I have really missed my brother. My first thought is to run over and hug him but then I remember that, to him, I haven’t been gone. I stop in my tracks and casually flop down beside him on the sofa. “So, anything planned tonight?”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Really? As if you don’t know.”
“What?” I feign innocence.
He gives me a knowing grin. “You know full well I have a date with Taylor.”
I cross my legs under me and lean my face on my hands. “So! Where are you taking my best friend?”
He sighs, clearly aggravated by my interest, his eyes not leaving the screen. “We are going to the movies.”
“Cool.” I pause and place my hand on his arm. “Please don’t mess her about. She really is a great girl. I would hate to have to beat you up”
He looks at me then, his brows furrowed. “I won’t. I really like her Eby.”
“Well then that’s great.” I smile. “I have homework to do.” I tell him as I leave the room and use the human way of getting from one room to another by walking. Once in my room I prepare to open the portal to our home but suddenly I find myself standing in the kitchen of our house.
Lorcen swears as he almost walks into me, a glass of juice in his hand.
“How did you get here? I didn’t hear the portal open?”
I look at him as surprised as he is, and shrug my shoulders. “I have no idea. I just thought of you and here I am.”
A big grin crosses his face then. “You sifted here! No fae can sift that distance Ebs. Another Ebony super power hey?”
“Good, as I still hate that portaling business - it makes me feel sick.”
Lorcen holds up a finger as he takes my other hand in his and leads me to the L-shaped sofa. “Hold that thought because as soon as Megan and Noah get here we are portalling home.”
I settle against him on the sofa and Hawkeye comes up and lies at my other side, resting his head on my leg and looking at me adoringly. Right on cue, Megan and Noah enter via the portal, the bright lights of the portal causing me to cover my eyes. The Portal closes but then instantly reopens and I am shocked to see Blaine standing before us. I immediately pull my hands away from Lorcen and he gives me a questioning look.
“Blaine.” I say standing. “This is a nice surprise.”
Blaine smiles at me awkwardly. “Hey Ebony.”
Noah claps his hands together breaking the tension and sits in the swivel chair. “Well isn’t this nice. The mystery crew all together.”
Megan gives him a warning look and he looks at her innocently.
“Blaine’s here to tell us what he knows.” Lorcen explains to me, so we all sit and wait for Blaine to fill us in.
He sits on the coffee table but his eyes don’t meet mine the whole time he talks.
“So Devlon has been detected portalling into this realm. It appears he has a particular interest in Ireland. “
Lorcen nods and brushes his dark locks back off his forehead. He looks at Blaine and then at Noah. “It makes sense that he would start there. Ireland is where I would start.”
“Because of the Tuatha?” I ask. I still didn’t know a lot about my fae family but I had found a book in Lorcen’s library on the history of the Tuatha and had been reading a little of it each night before bed. I have only read the first chapter so far, but it details that the Tuatha had once lived and reigned in Ireland before they were forced to leave and create the fae realm. “Any ideas where he might try first?”
“I have a theory.” Blaine states. He still hasn’t given me any eye contact. “If we portal home, I have our best expert on the Tuatha waiting for us.”
It hurts that Blaine won’t look me in the eye. I know I hurt him and it breaks my heart that I did. The first thing I did after the speedy impromptu mate ceremony was to summon Blaine and tell him privately that I had chosen Lorcen. He had taken it well, almost as if he expected that outcome, but I could tell he was hurt and disappointed. I tried to explain that what I felt for Lorcen was so different to how I felt about him and that this was why I knew that Lorcen was my mate. I lost count of the amount of times I had said I was sorry during that conversation. He had smiled sadly and told me to stop apologising and that he would be okay, but it had broken my heart having to break his. I still did believe strongly that there was someone out there for Blaine and that one day we would understand why the three of us had the same mate mark.
We all portalled together back to the fae realm. I hadn’t expected to be going back so soon. As soon as we passed through the portal our glamour dropped and our fae characteristics, the ears and the sharper more almond-shaped eyes reappeared. We have portalled into a large library in the seelie castle and standing before us is a formidable beast of a man in fae soldier armour. He has long white hair that falls down his back past his shoulders. He has strange tattoos at the side of his eyes that are a unique grey colour. His eyes are sharp and look like they miss very little. He wears a cape of dark blue that looks like leather. His bare arms are covered in the same Celtic-type tattoos that decorate his face.
“Drustan my friend,” Lorcen grins, placing an arm on his shoulder. The guy Drustan places his hand on Lorcen’s opposite shoulder. This is the way fae men greet each other I have learned during my time in this world.
Drustan smiles. “You still owe me an ale for that bet on that horse race.”
Lorcen laughs. “I owe you more than one old friend.” Drustans eyes then fall over Lorcen’s shoulder at me.
“So, this is the poor girl mated to you is it?” He comments jokily.
Lorcen comes to stand beside me, his arm around my waist. “Drustan this is my mate Ebony.”
“Hi.” I say shyly. Drustan has a formidable presence. I wouldn’t like to meet him down a dark alley.
Drustan leans in and kisses my cheek. “Do you know how many nights I had to sit and listen to this one’s drunken ramblings about you and what he would do when he found you?”
I grin and look from him to Lorcen. “No but I’d love for you to tell me” I give Lorcen a teasing look. Lorcen shakes his head at Drustan looking uncomfortable.
“Let’s not go there. Let’s discuss the cauldron shall we?”
I give him a questioning look knowing full well he has just quickly changed the subject. We all take a seat around a small wooden round table in the middle of the room apart from Drustan who stands arms folded across his chest.
“Before I was rescued by my father one of Devlon’s little evil crew had told him they had found a possible location for the cauldron.”
Blaine gives a half grimace. “Chances are we are too late and he has probably found it by now but we need to try.”
I shake my head in disagreement. “I think if he had it then he would have made another attempt to take me. We shouldn’t underestimate him you know. He is very knowledgeable and determined.”
“So where do we start?” Megan asks from her seat beside Noah. Her dark brown eyes looking towards Drustan for the answer.
Drustan smiles. “We go back to where our race began, back to Ireland. There are a number of sites in Ireland that were important to the Tuatha before they created their own realm. We will need to visit all of them.”
Noah drums his hands on the table smiling. “Looks like our evenings are going to be busy then.”
I must look unconvinced as Lorcen observes me with a questioning look on his face. So I say what I am thinking. “Are we expecting to just rock up to one of these ancient sites and find a cauldron just sitting there?”
Drustan laughs. It is a booming laugh too. “If only it were that easy. Magic will have been used to conceal their presence. The four treasures of the Tuatha are said to represent the four elements. The cauldron represents water. My guess is therefore that we will find the cauldron in water.”
I nod feeling somewhat more confident about our mission. “Why did the Tuatha leave such important treasures behind though? I mean surely you’d take them with you if they were so important?”
Drustan bobs his head in response. “It would make more sense to take them but in my many hours reading about the Tuatha it would seem the treasures were formed from the elements of Ireland and that is why they must always remain in the human realm.”
Lorcen sits there nodding, looking deep in thought. “So, what would happen if my brother found the cauldron and took it back into the Fae realm?”
Drustan shrugs again. “No one knows, as no one has ever found the treasures. Some say they are myths and do not really exist.”
Noah stretches out in his chair and yawns. “As interesting as this history lesson is, can we get off on our adventure?”
Drustan looks behind him at the clock on the wall. “We will re-group in an hour. That way it will be night time in the emerald isles and we can explore without human tourists around.”
Chapter Three.
An hour later we have ate and I have changed into a pair of sturdy black boots, black jeans and a hoodie. We portal back into the Fae realm and meet back in the library we were in earlier. Drustan is now dressed in human clothes and he looks even more formidable in jeans and a leather jacket. He looks like he belongs in one of those biker gangs. His long hair is now tied behind his neck. Lorcen is dressed in his trusty grey jeans that hug his fine ass and a black hoodie. Noah and Megan enter the room shortly after we arrive and I smile as I see Melantha is with them. She has a sulky look on her face and her arms are folded.
“What’s eating you Mel?” I ask.
“You were all going to go off on an adventure wit
hout me.”
Lorcen tuts and mutters something about witches under his breath which earns him the stink-eye from Mel. “So you decided to invite yourself?”
She holds her chin in the air and nods. “That I did.” I give her a friendly nudge and she gives me a quick smile before she goes back to sulkily looking at Lorcen. Tonight she is in a black t-shirt which says ‘I put a spell on you’ in white writing.
‘Give her a break Lorc.’ I tell him via our mind connection.
“She could take the cauldron to Devlon or tell him where it is located.” He says out loud to everyone pointing to where she is standing.
Mel stomps her foot on the floor and huffs looking very offended. “How many times! My loyalty lies with Ebony now.”
Lorcen raises an eyebrow and look at her challengingly. “Prove it then.”
She nods her head firmly. “Alright I will prove it.” She pauses then and scrunches her nose looking puzzled. “How do I do that?”
“You can swear an oath, a blood oath. It is that or you don’t take one foot through that portal with us.” Lorcen tells her his arms folded. I touch his arm and look at Mel apologetically.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Mel shakes her head firmly. “No we are doing the blood oath. Then maybe his royal paranoid pants over there will finally believe me!”
Drustan produces a knife from his person and hands it to Lorcen. A small granite bowl appears from nowhere in Lorcen’s other palm. He holds out the knife to Mel. Mel rolls her eyes but takes it from him and proceeds to cut her thumb pad with it and she holds her bleeding thumb over the bowl in Lorcen’s hands.
“I Melantha swear that I pledge my allegiance to Ebony Lockhart. I will protect her and stand beside her in this life and the next.” The blood drips into the bowl and a white glow emits from it.
“Happy now your highness?” Sarcasm laces her words.
Lorcen doesn’t reply but magics the bowl away and holds out his hand for mine. “Let’s make a move then.” He waves his hand in front of the wall and the portal opens up. Mel takes my other hand and gives me sneaky wink, clearly pleased that she is coming with us. Drustan leads us all into the portal and within seconds we are standing in a dark and cold field. The ground feels soft and damp under my feet.
